The twin gave a shake of his head. "I wish he wasn't. I don't want
him to ever hurt my sister again." Nurse Raven walked over to the
boys and bent down to speak quietly with them, leaving the path to
the door wide open.
I don't want him to, either, Colt thought to himself as he
turned and walked softly into the room. Noticing a sink off to the
side, he quickly moved to wash the blood from his hand. The boy
then moved towards where Nadia lay unconscious. Seeing her like
that pained him, and he bit his lip, holding back a sob as he knelt
on the cold tile floor beside her.
A minute later, Nurse Raven came back into the room, leaning
against the doorway and not saying anything as she watched him for
a long minute. Then, breaking the silence, she said, "Colt, it's
going to be okay. Salene can break the firewall easily, and then
we'll be able to contact the police. I promise I'm doing the best I
can to keep her stable."
"I know. Than- thank you," he choked out. He understood that things
were going to be alright, that Nadia was somewhat out of danger,
but it seemed as if his emotions and intellect weren't
communicating. Colt was fighting not to cry, but at the same time
he was aware that it wouldn't be long at all before they got out of
here. It was strange. The grief was more a result of the pent up
shock from the day, as if all the emotions he'd felt but had to put
aside when Nadia was first injured were tired of being pushed away
and now returning an hour late.
Nurse Raven walked across the room, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Take all the time you need. I'm sure we'll be off this island
soon." She went to a back door in the office, going through and
closing it behind her. There was a faint ringing outside, and one
of the boys poked his head in. "Colt? Salene wants to talk to you."
He held up his phone. "It's about the firewall. She did it!"
The blond boy hurried to his feet, turning to him and stepping to
take the phone. "You did it?!" he asked, the hope clear in his
voice. Even as he was speaking, he was pulling out his own phone,
preparing to call 911.
"Yes," Salene said excitedly. "We managed to find a hole in the
security and ended up destroying the entire firewall. It was all
thanks to Nadia, her chipping away got us acsess. Now we can get
off the island!"
Voice sounding exhausted yet relieved and amazed, he glanced at
Nadia with a little smile and exclaimed, "Good job!! I'm calling
emergency services as we speak now, so I'll hand the phone back to
your brother." Doing so, he then held his own electric-blue cased
phone to his ear. Without even waiting for the operator to speak,
he gasped, "The entirety of Morshton Academy is marooned on an
island after a teacher just tried to murder us and blow up the
island. We got rid of the bomb and broke through the firewall she
had set up that prevented us from contacting anyone off the island
for the past week. A girl's been stabbed, please hurry!"
Sounding a bit surprised, the operator spoke. "Morshton Academy?
Alright, sir, keep me on the line as I ask a few questions. We'll
have people out there as soon as possible, and start an
evacutation." The operator asked Colt sevreal questions, about what
had happened, about the severity of the wound, of how many there
were on the island. About 30 minutes later, there was the loud
sound of sirens. Helped had arrived. Nurse Raven ran out, and
assisted the paramedics as they moved Nadia onto one of the firsts
boats, also moving the rest of the school, teachers and students,
onto the large police boats. It took a few hours, but they were
able to safely move evreyone onto the mainland. With Nadia in the
hospital, many students had already begun contacting parents and
other family memebers. Colt had a choice. He could stay with the
main group and try and get to his family, or he could go to the
hospital, which was farther away.
Colt, as he typed in his mom's phone number, hurried up to a
paramedic before calling her. "I- the girl- I need to go with her.
Please," he said, meeting the man's eyes desperately. While he
certainly wanted to get back to his family, an emotion perpetuated
by the appearance of several "Missed Call" notifications from both
of his parents and from Cam, there wasn't a chance on Earth he was
leaving Nadia. He would call them the second he got the chance, he
determined.
Seeing the desperate look in his eyes, combined with the fact that
no family had shown up when Nadia arrived on the main land, the
paramedic nodded. "Okay, son, get in." He helped the other
paramedic wheel Nadia into the back, before gesturing for him to
get in as well, moving torwads the front of the back so that he had
space.
"Thank you," was all the boy could say, hoping his total gratitude
was clear in his tone. He sat down, hitting the call button on his
phone. His mom picked up almost immediately, her tone slightly
confused and panicked. "Colton! Where on Earth have you been? Why
haven't you been answering our calls? We know you're busy with
school, but you've always kept in touch!" "Hey, Mom," he started,
having to pause to collect himself before continuing. "If you turn
on the news, you'll probably see what's been going on. I'm alright,
is what you need to know. If you and Dad and Cam want to come, I'll
be at the nearest hospital. I repeat, I'm fine. My friend is really
hurt, though, so I'm going with her."
It was a 30 minute drive to the nearest hospital, the doors to the
emergency vehicle being thrown open and Nadia being wheeled into
the hospital. The paramedic who had let Colt into the car looked
back at him. "She's going to be okay, just wait for a bit, alright?
I'm sure her family will come soon as well." He then hurried to
catch up with the gurney, not saying another word.
"Okay," he said softly. He'd hung up on his mother once she'd
calmed down and told him she'd be bringing his older brother out to
meet him. After waiting in the vehicle for a moment, he got out,
deciding to head for the waiting room, where he'd be easier for the
EMTs and his family to find.
After what seemed like many hours, one of the EMTs came down to the
waiting room and looked around. Seeing Colt, she came forward
hurriedly. "You're the kid who called from Morshton Academy, right?
You came with the girl who was stabbed?"
"Yes," he said, quickly standing. "She's alright, right?" Out of
the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar car pull up outside the
clear hospital door pull up and a tall boy who looked a lot like
Colt but slightly older and with longer hair get out.
The woman smiled. "She's quite alright. She woke up about 30
minutes ago, and has been asking to see you. We wanted to wait
until she was ready for visitors. Do you want to go see her now?"
Colt relaxed visibly, even smiling back and letting out a bit of a
laugh. "Yes, absolutely." As the door opened, he added, "One
moment," turning to face his elder brother, who enveloped him in a
hug. Their mother, a shorter woman with curly mousy brown hair
pinned up in a ponytail following close behind. They both looked
overcome, and Colt had to repeatedly reassure them he wasn't hurt.
Gently, he slipped away from Cam's hug. "I'll be back," he told
them, and though his mother especially seemed reluctant to let him
go, they nodded. He turned and hurried to follow the woman.
The woman led him through the hospital, eventually ending up in
front of a plain white door. She twisted the doorknob, opening up
the door and stepping through. Sitting up in a hospital bed, hooked
up to who knows how many machines, was Nadia, albeit a bit paler.
"Hola, Godzilla," she quipped, a smile spreading across her face.
Unable to even speak, he was so overcome with emotion, Colt rushed
to her and hugged her, careful to avoid all of the cords. A tear
slipped down his cheek, but he was smiling. Finding his voice, he
whispered, "We stopped her. Your work on the firewall got us out of
there."