Human Nature (Book 4): Human Nature IV by Borthwick, Finlay (book recommendations website .TXT) 📗

Dawn smiled, “I appreciate your condolences, Mac.” Despite how broken she was on the inside, Dawn was far past the grieving stage of acceptance.

As Mac quietly turned to face the main gate again, a peculiar look came across him. “Hold it right there!” He yelled out into the tunnel as he flicked off the safety switch of his rifle, planting the barrel of the firearm firmly through the gate bars.

“Mac! What are you doing?” Dawn asked in discomposure before she herself looked down into the tunnel.

Approaching the gate from within the tunnel, there was a group of nine survivors. The man at the front had his hands raised in a gesture of relinquishment, whilst the rest of his group hung several feet behind him in a scattered and unorganised formation.

“That’s far enough! Stop right there!” Mac commanded, to which the man at the front instantly complied.

Dawn continued to watch this interaction with both great excitement but also great fear; seeing a new group of survivors warmed her heart, though the fact that Mac could pull that trigger at any moment and change everything had caused that same heart to begin palpitating as well.

“What’s your name?” Mac shouted through the gates at the surrendering man.

“I’m Rajan!” He shouted back. “We mean you no harm! We simply and humbly seek your assistance!”

Mac kept a firm grip on his rifle, “Assistance with what?”

“Well, what do you know about The Bandits?” Rajan enquired.

The mention of this group had caused both Mac and Dawn’s eyes to widen; for Mac had heard stories about The Bandits from Cora, whilst Dawn had heard the same tales from Elliot, Gwen, and Annabelle.

“…Stay there!” Mac shouted a further order as he reached for his walkie-talkie.

Carrying Alek in his arms, Emile busted through the hospital doors.

“Help! I need help out here!” He cried out.

Instantly, Cora came rushing out of one of the appointment rooms, “Emile! Oh my God! What’s happened?”

“Alek’s been shot!”

Cora was flabbergasted, “What? When? By whom?”

“That doesn’t matter right now!” Emile protested. “Cora, where’s your mother? I need her assistance right now!”

Understanding Emile’s predicament, Cora guided him to the room where Erica was performing Adela’s ultrasound.

Erica had just wiped the gel away from Adela’s abdomen.

“Thank you, Erica.” Adela smiled appreciatively at her nurse. “Without you, I don’t know how I’d be coping with this pregnancy.

Erica took her patient’s hand, “If you ever need me, you know where I am.” She smiled in kind.

Then, all of a sudden, the door was flung open; Cora, with bated breath, stood there in the doorway.

“Cora?!” Erica exclaimed in distress, “Is everything okay?”

Cora swallowed hard, “It’s Emile! Alek’s been shot!”

Erica’s eyes flooded wide open, “What? Where is he?”

“He’s out here!” Cora nodded backwards towards the hospital hallway. Then, she suddenly realised what was going on in this room, “Oh… Congratulations!” She told Adela, who now had a look of complete astoundment on her face. “Mum, come on!” She hurried Erica, nonetheless.

“I’ll be right back, okay?” Erica told Adela as she slipped her hand away from her grip, running after her daughter out into the hallway.

Still sitting at a table in the hotel restaurant, Elliot and Annabelle were playing a little alphabet game with each other.

“Hmm.” Elliot thought hard to himself. “O is for… Oh, Oman!” He proclaimed jovially; the game appeared to be the siblings naming countries that started with each letter.

“Nice one!” Annabelle was impressed that Elliot had managed to name the only country on Earth that began with the letter ‘O.’

Then, Elliot’s radio buzzed. “Cora, Elliot… Are you guys there?” It was Mac; he seemed to be addressing the entire safe zone on an open frequency.

Unknown to neither Mac nor Elliot, Cora was busy right now. Therefore, Elliot would be the only one who responded to the call.

“Go for Elliot.” He responded to Mac upon activating his radio.

“Elliot, we’ve got some new arrivals at the gate.” Mac revealed, prompting Elliot’s brow to raise in shock. “I think you’re gonna wanna come and see them for yourself.”

Elliot tittered at Mac’s unintentional pun, “See them for myself? Are you trying to be funny?” Although he sounded disgruntled as he asked this, he actually found the remark to be more humorous than offensive.

“Crap! No, no! Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” Mac was quick to rectify himself. “I just need you down here, Elliot. The ringleader calls himself ‘Rajan,’ and he’s claiming that The Bandits are back…”

Although Elliot could not see this for himself, he knew that Annabelle’s face had just lit up in fear and anger upon the mention of this group.

“I’m sorry, Mac?” Gwen now butted in on the frequency, “Can you repeat what you just said?”

Annabelle snatched the radio from Elliot.

“Annie! Calm down!” He aimlessly reached out in an attempt to caress and comfort his sister.

But Annabelle ignored Elliot’s rationality. “He said ‘Bandits,’ mum.” She affirmed for her mother. “Those bastards are still around!” She slammed the table with her fist as she declared this.

“Cora told me all about them,” Mac revealed, regaining control of the frequency, “If you want to know more, I suggest you come down to the main gate and let these guys in for yourselves.”

No more than a heartbeat later, Annabelle jumped out of her seat and marched quickly out of the restaurant.

“Annabelle! Come back!” Elliot cried out to her, but she completely ignored him. Sighing, Elliot reached over to the table behind him, grabbing his walking cane from it.

Chapter 13: Every Nook And Cranny

It was a race against time in the operating theatre; not only did Erica have to remove Alek’s bullet as soon as possible, but she also had to combat any poisoning that his bloodstream had taken on from the foreign object.

“Tweezers!” Erica held her