Chapter 7 One: The Hospital Attack

Some teachers waited at the reception, while others saw her before then, but Adrienne, Becky and Martha watched Evie wake up. Her eyes blinked at a blurred vision of the three girls standing next to the bed. They were happy seeing her awake when Adrienne shouted, "Nurse! Nurse! She's awake now."

The nurse rushed into the room and asked them to stand backwards. The pulse oximeter began beeping fast; the terror was evident on the girls' faces. "What's going on now?" Martha asked.

"I'm checking her heart rate and pulse rate to know if there'll be a need to take off the nasal tube," the nurse said, concentrating on what she was doing. "Don't worry, she'll be fine. There's no need for the tubes again," the nurse added, giving them a happy smile. "Please, I'll need some time with her," the nurse said calmly.

They all voiced 'Okay' almost in a chorus.

After the nurse was done attending to Evie and the girls had been permitted to come in, they chatted happily with Evie. Evie was not very responsive at first, the remnants of dizziness still clouded her. The wheelchair that was in the front of the hospital bed was Martha's first option for sitting. She talked about how her younger brother once used a wheelchair and how jealous she was regardless of the pain he passed through.

"You would never believe how hard it was to get in here while you were asleep," Becky said.

"Yeah, extremely hard," said Martha. " Ms. Rita was like, 'Oh No, Her parents are supposed to be here before you guys', and I was like 'What the hell is she saying?'" Martha made a fake voice which made the girls laugh.

"Rules, Oh My God, are so annoying," Adrienne said. "They tried to stop us because of some shitty rules no one's gonna obey."

"You gotta obey the rules, though," Becky said, pressing something on her phone.

"This place is so quiet," Martha said. "Maybe there was a shift change or something… I mean I've never seen this place this calm before," she added.

"It's Monday, remember?" Becky said. Martha made an 'O' shape with her mouth in realization. The sounds of message notifications and slight giggles were made by Becky, who continuously used her phone.

"Did my dad come?" Evie asked flatly.

"Principal Kate said um, I think she said something about your dad," Martha said. "What did she say again?" she turned to Adrienne to ask the question.

"She said that there was an intrusion, as she called it, when your dad called her. There were some background noises, blah blah blah," Becky said, still pressing her phone. "Probably just a busy person like my dad," she took down the phone a little and looked at them, "like, seriously, his job as a police chief keeps him away for so long. My mom's gonna be like, 'babe you're gonna be gone for days again?', like she's gonna lose him or something." Becky said the last sentence faking a voice and faintly chucking with Adrienne and Martha. "I'm really covered in all the drama," she said as she held up her phone again for usage.

"Seriously, Becky, you gotta get off your phone. You've been on it for so long," Adrienne said, almost judgmentally, after barely a few seconds of silence between them.

"So, my dad didn't come? To see me?" Evie asked. Her face was already red and teardrops began pouring down her cheek.

"Well, technically, yes. But Principal Kate said he's gonna be here any minute," Adrienne said.

"Hey, don't do this to yourself. We're here alright?" Martha said, patting Evie's back and relaxing her head on her chest. The others also tried to comfort Evie with motivational words and warm comfort.

…

Austin and Nnaemeka didn't know Evie had awoken. They sat down next to each other for probably minutes or hours but barely talked to each other. Nnaemeka was known for his transparency: it was rumored that he had told someone that he had sex with his grandmother. Nobody knew if that was true or false, and neither did people put the thought into consideration for a second time. Nnaemeka was using his phone with his earphones in his ear, while Austin played with his fingers – he had left his phone in his locker at school. Honestly, girls would probably ask Nnaemeka on a date at first sight rather than ask Austin. Nnaemeka looked more mature and had more desired traits than Austin, although he was still very good-looking. The girls Nnaemeka had dated also rumored that he stalked them even in their sleep, of which Nnaemeka always defends himself and proves to them how absurd that would be. This was the reason the girls chased after Austin rather than Nnaemeka.

Nnaemeka began scrolling through pictures of him and Evie in the arcade with the full intention of attracting Austin's attention. "Looks like both of you had a good time there," Austin said.

Nnaemeka looked at Austin and asked what he said again in pretense. Austin said that he didn't say anything serious.

"Yeah, we had a pretty good time, man," Nnaemeka said with a smirk, "Look, this picture was taken when she was losing to me in the ping-pong game," showing him the pictures on his phone.

"Why're you showing me this? You said 'You didn't hear me'," Austin said.

"Oh, did I?" Nnaemeka said, looking deep into Austin's eyes.

"Yes, you did… Wait… I'm not sure, but I think you did," Austin said.

"I didn't, Austy boy," Nnaemeka said, slapping Austin's shoulder a little. "I gotta pee bro. We've been sitting here for hours man," Nnaemeka said, standing up.

"Hey, we gotta check up on Evie."

"I won't take long. Just sit tight, I'll be back."

Austin obeyed Nnaemeka and waited. He felt like he wasn't in control of himself any longer. He began to feel what people called, 'the Nnaemeka Effect'. The people beside him were sleeping with their heads bent, giving the hospital a desired tranquility. Then, he heard a loud noise coming from below, muffled screaming, and one or two gunshots. His legs inadvertently tapped the ground; his nervousness crept upwards. A man who wore a thick dark jacket – the kind mostly worn during winter – walked in through the reception door. He was having a quiet conversation with the receptionist, graduated into a tense one, and then reached the point when the man had to pull the trigger. Every sleeping person jumped up in shock, fear, and confusion, asking each other what was happening. It wasn't a one-man operation that brought him there. Men at every entrance to the reception were wearing black and armed. They blocked everywhere they considered to be an escape route. They got some guests who awaited patients as hostages and some workers there too. They began shooting the ceiling indiscriminately, ordering men and women to lie flat on the floor and collecting every device on them as if they wanted to rob the hospital. 'Hello, this is a hospital, not a bank. You must have been mistaken,' Austin said to himself. The terror got worse. He thought about the girls and Nnaemeka, and neither of them was at the reception. Although the guard at every entrance was very tight, he managed to escape from the reception.

…

"The security is underground, right?" Martha asked. "Or am I wrong?" she asked again. The other girls didn't say anything. A sound was approaching them. They were scared. Becky hid under the hospital bed in the process. The sound finally reached them; it was Austin.

Without saying a word, he carried Evie in the wheelchair. "What's going on?!" Adrienne asked, looking tense.

"It's so much to explain right now… we need to run. Come on now!" he said as he pushed Evie into the wheelchair in a hurry. When they were in the hallway running out of the hospital, they met Theophilus and three men. They were confused about which way to go and turned around only to face more of them. They were trapped by big bad men they didn't know about.

"Who are these people?" Martha kept asking Austin in a whisper. Becky, who came out of the shield of the bed, had to retreat after she saw the men come out in troops. Panic and terror described the girls, while Austin kept his calm. He hoped the security would come any minute, but that was almost impossible because they had eliminated the people in charge of security before coming in. They walked closer to them and pointed their guns at them.

"We came for the crippled girl," Theophilus said. "Nothing much. All of you will go eventually," he walked furtively towards them, "And have a peaceful life."

"What have I done?" Evie asked. Her friends also brought up both questions and challenges to the men trying to back Evie up.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, but that's something you might not want to know now," Theophilus said, touching Evie's face. He wanted to grab the wheelchair, but Evie's friends did not let him. He ordered his men to seize them instantly.

"She's not going. She's staying here, with us," a voice from the west called out. It was Nnaemeka.

"Seize him," Theophilus commanded one of his men. Nnaemeka looked the man deep in the eyes and performed the trick. "It's an order, seize the boy!"

The man froze. He couldn't do anything. Perhaps, Nnaemeka's mind tricks turned out to be a gift or power, and not a talent. Theophilus looked at Nnaemeka and his men in surprise. His thoughts were too wicked. He planned on going as far as beheading Evie before her father for the confession of the missing staff. Theophilus could tell that Nnaemeka was reading his mind.

"You mediocre. A myopic-minded man with utter malevolence," Nnaemeka told Theophilus. He turned to his friends and ordered them to go. They ran out of the hospital with Evie in the wheelchair, not sure of the next place to be.

"It wasn't so difficult to hold your army, was it?" Nnameka asked, smirking. He walked very close to Theophilus and said, "If you ever touch her, her family, or any of her friends, you will burn on earth."

He started walking towards the exit having everybody's mind in his palms when something struck him from behind. Jones had been with the rest of the gang at the reception and had ordered them to search for Evie and her friends whilst they escaped. He used a hunter's gun from behind to hit Nnaemeka unconscious. Theophilus and the rest of the men gained their sense of ownership afterward.

"Looks like you forgot your back," Jones said, raising Nnaemeka's head and hitting it hard on the floor, leading him to total unconsciousness.

Becky still hid under the hospital bed, entirely covered in sweat as a result of fear and terror.