Pandemic Spy School

Chapter Four

Chapter Four - Stranded

Betton Woods

Betton Hills Florida

April 20th

0300 hours

"Hey." Erica muttered sleepily next to me.

I had no idea where we were, but my head was pounding, and everything was heavy. There was faint talking somewhere near us, and whoever it was seemed to be annoyed about something. And I recognised the voice, but I couldn't figure out why. I could tell I was lying on the ground, although it was significantly softer then any ground I had ever laid on. I shifted my eyes to the right, and I saw Erica lying there beside me, and I cringed at the sight of her. She had a black eye, and her lip was bleeding pretty bad.

"Hi," I replied, barely moving my mouth.

"How long have we been out?" She asked

"I don't know."

"You're the math genius. You should know." The words stung and made me soar at the same time. I liked Erica telling me I am a genius, but she was only saying it to tell me I should know the answer, which I don't.

"Well I don't know."

So she moved on.

"Do you know at least how far away the people are? The ones who are talking?" she asked.

"I think so. Give me a sec."

I did some quick mental math, determining the distance of the voices, and the depth difference between us and them.

"Approximately 20 metres in length, and we're a metre deeper."

A slight smile appeared on her face.

"Watch out. I'm not going to be stable."

It wasn't much of a warning. One second, she was lying on the ground, the next, she was standing. Well... sort of. She stood, but took a step too soon, lost her balance, and fell back to the ground.

"The stupid floor is springy." She muttered, pulling out a flashlight from a pocket.

It only then registered with me that it was dark.

She shone the flashlight across the ground near us, which showed us we were somewhere in a forest. And they had taken care to lay us on especially soft moss.

Slowly, Erica stood again, and quickly shut off her flashlight. Although possibly too late.

The quiet chatter had stopped, and footsteps were getting louder.

I wasn't the only one who noticed. Erica froze, and then before I could argue, she had pulled me up to my feet, and started quickly dragging me deeper into the forest. I felt top heavy. My legs had turned to jello, and I could tell Erica was annoyed that I wasn't being helpful. We could still hear the people behind us, and Erica wasn't stopping. Suddenly, she pushed me hard, and I fell to the ground. I heard the snapping of a branch, and then Erica was on the ground next to me. She held her breath, and then let it out as she heard two cries of pain."Get up, and run like your life depends on it." She said sharply.

Next second, we were both running. I could no longer hear the people behind us. I took it as a good sign, and I took it as the time to ask Erica what she had done.

"It's an unimpressive trick, and I'm surprised they didn't see it coming." She replied.

"But... what did... you... actually do?" I asked between breaths.