Pandemic Spy School

Chapter Five

Chapter Five - Success

Betton Woods

Betton Hills Florida

April 20th

0600 hours

"You have to fight Ben!" Erica yelled over her shoulder.

There were ten people against just Erica and I. And I had decided to dive into a cluster of trees and bushes instead of fighting back, so, really, it was Erica against ten competent spies.

"You know I can't help!" I yelled back.

She closely dodged a bullet, and then jumped over a fallen log. So far she had sent two agents reeling over in pain, but the others were closing the gap between her and them. A bullet hit the ground right where she had been standing a split second before.

I watched with increasing panic, knowing that sooner or later I was going to have to join the fight.

Erica glanced over her shoulder to find all eight of her pursuers right on her heels.

"Ben!" She screamed. "Get you butt out of the bush, and do something!"

I glanced around warily, looking for some way to help. I noticed a grenade gun lying on the ground where Erica had been a few minutes earlier.

The coast was clear, so I scrambled over to the gun and picked it up. I heard someone scream and fall to the ground, and I prayed it wasn't Erica. As quietly as possible, I ran towards the battle area. I crouched behind a wild-blueberry bush, and waited for the prime opportunity.

Erica was nowhere to be seen. I gulped in fear, realising I could have been the cause of her destruction.

But then everyone froze in their tracks as something black swooped down from a tree taking out five of the enemies. Erica hopped off the rope she had tied around a branch, and then realised with joy that there were only 3 of them left. She glanced in my direction, nodded briefly - enough for me to comprehend - And then she used evasive action. She ran away from the agents. Quickly, before I lost my chance, I aimed the grenade gun at a tree directly ahead of me. I placed my index finger on the trigger, and pulled. I tried to hold my breath, to steady my grip, but I jumped a little at the bang that erupted into the air, and the grenade went instead to the left.

Luckily, it hit another tree, and it still worked.

The agents ran after Erica, and strait into the line, taking them all out. Erica turned around quickly, and ran back towards me.

"Nice!" She said. I couldn't help but smile.

"Where is the letter?" She asked.

I reached my hand into my pocket, where the three items were. Or where the three items used to be. The letter was gone.

Erica's eyes widened in fear, and then she turned around to go find Clarice. I had no idea what to do. I felt like I had let Erica down. She returned a minute later.

"She's not here. Neither is your mom." She said in a downcast voice.

"My mom?" I asked, confused.

She looked at me, equally puzzled.

"You didn't see her?"

I didn't think I had, but then again, I was stressed out of my wits the whole time.

"Did you not see me fighting her at the McDonald's?" she asked.

I thought back as hard as I could. And then I did remember. As I passed out, I had seen her kicking Erica. And it hadn't registered, but while I had been lying on the ground, I had heard her voice.

"What the heck is she doing?!" I exclaimed. I was confused about life now.

"Either she's a really overprotective mother, or she works for someone. Which seems most likely to you?"

"The overprotective mother seems likely, but her kick was spot on and she's never taken a karate class in her life. Her working for an organisation seems unlikely, but you've fought her twice and I've seen her once and heard her once. I don't feel like jumping to conclusions yet."

She nodded, and then we fell into silence again, for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Erica sat down on the ground next to me, and I couldn't help but glance at her. Her facial expression was showing off more than usual, which concerned me.

She hugged her knees into her chest, and stared off into the forest, apparently thinking really hard.

"Life is confusing." She said in a dreamy sort of voice.

She looked at me, and smiled slightly. I smiled back.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked her.

Her gaze fell down to her feet, and she spoke in a downcast voice.

"You know what I'm thinking about. You can tell by my face."

"Cyrus." I answered for her. She nodded slowly.

"Ben, I think you need to know what really happened.

"He was the one who wanted to come down to get you. He thought you weren't safe alone in the forest. To be completely honest, I told him I didn't want to. I told him you were fine, and if anything happened you would tell me. But he insisted. It was all his plan. Everything I have done, I did it because he was going to. The whole time he was telling me we needed to take breaks so that we wouldn't waste our energy. I thought it was unlike him to suggest stopping. But we did. I also noticed that in the night he was breathing unevenly and he sounded sick. I let it pass. But then we reached Florida. We weren't far from here. A five minute walk from the hospital. He told me he had a cramp in his chest and he needed to take a quick break. I knew he was suffering more than he was letting on, because he was stopping. And I worried. After several minutes, he said the pain wasn't ceasing, and I should go on without him. But I wouldn't. We stayed hidden there overnight, and by the morning I told him we were going to the hospital, and he could not protest. He barely made it there. He-" Here, she broke out into tears, and didn't continue. I took her hand, and held it comfortingly. She didn't protest.

There no longer was any noise except Erica's sobbs. The animals had stopped making noises, the wind had died down, and it isn't like the forest was a prime tourist location. I had never seen Erica cry the way she was now. It was like all her eighteen years of existence were only now coming to reality, and way too fast. That's when I thought of something.

"I'm assuming you got him to the hospital?" I asked her. She half nodded.

"Then let's go see him. We can tell him what we have learned, and see what he thinks."

"You don't get it." She said, still crying.

"What don't I get? Just try it. What could go wrong? Worst that could happen is that we don't get to see him, and they shoo us out of the building."

She removed her hand from mine, and wiped her eyes, and then looked at me. Her face was tear-stained and her eyes were puffy.

"I'm not going to protest." She said solemnly. "I don't want you to get your hopes up though."

And with that, she stood up, and walked away from me. I scrambled up after her, but stayed behind her. She most likely was doing this only because I told her we should, and I didn't feel like bothering her.

But at the same time, I was beyond happy that she had done what I wanted.

Little did I know, going to the hospital, like Erica had said, was not going to be a piece of cake.