Why now?

Had things gotten that bad?

Ethan looked through the window of the hospital from his bed. He was told he was going to be dismissed in a few hours since his injuries were not severe. Sarah had been admitted into the burns ward two doors down the corridor from him. Troy had arrived soon after he was admitted and stood at the front desk taking care of the administrative work. He’d saved both Ethan and Sarah a space in the ward so that the two could be treated as soon as they entered the hospital.

His friend took a seat next to him. “You’ve had a rough few days,” he stated. “Did you lose your eye he—”

“No, that happened when I got mugged a few days ago,” Ethan said trying to keep his story consistent with the one he told Sarah.

“No wonder you haven’t been at work lately,” he murmured. “How are you feeling?”

Ethan looked at the blood stain on his shirt. “Under all this painkiller? Just fine.”

“What the hell happened?” Troy asked. “A bombing? Arson? Accident?”

Ethan scratched his chin. The hospital crumbled from the bottom but the fire started from the top. Then, when he exited, a further explosion occurred at the upper levels of the remaining structure. “I suspect arson and bombing.”

“So then it is not a coincidence,” Troy gathered. “It was coordinated.”

“What do you mean?”

“Minutes after you were admitted, two other hospitals were destroyed.”

Two other hospitals? That left only the one he was in standing. The rest were either privately owned and ridiculously priced or small clinics not in possession of the same equipment as the larger hospitals.

“The president released a statement just now saying the culprits are probably the same as those who bombed the station three months back. The public ain’t happy. Social media are going off the rails. I wouldn’t be surprised if we have a mob within the next few days banging on Duncan’s door.”

They had every right to be angry. Three months and the president has been stalling the public. The anger towards the terrorists had grown like fire as the attacks had become more frequent. First the station, then a few small time robberies in the CBD and now an all out assault on hospitals. It was getting sicker by the day and the country as a whole felt less safe.

The wholes in the FSP were becoming clearer as the attacks dragged on unpunished. He wouldn’t be surprised if the police were involved with the acts of terror. Then again, when there is no evidence, everyone is a suspect.

With the three bastions of medicine collapsing in central Durban, the price of medical care would skyrocket. It would become next to impossible for lower class citizens to get a doctor’s consult. Hospitals were for the rich and graveyards were for the rest.

“At this point, I wouldn’t be all too upset if Duncan executed these terrorists. Blowing up a station is one thing, destroying almost every government hospital in the province is another. I’m not sure how unsafe this country can get anymore.”

Troy folded his arms across his chest. “She’s not safe here anymore.”

“Ester?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah. I placed her in this hospital because KZN hospital had no space. KZNH just burnt down. She could’ve been in there. She could’ve died.”

“Where are you going to take her?”

Troy pointed with his thumb to the window behind him. “Somewhere north, over the border. Namibia, Botswana maybe as far up as Zambia. I know some folks there that’ll help me.”

Ethan nodded. Troy’s demeanor had tensed up over the past three months. With his sister still in a coma and the circumstances in South Africa becoming worse by the day, he didn’t blame his friend for his pessimistic outlook on the future. Ethan, however, was far more concerned on why these attacks were happening than who was behind it. It was all too sudden, the first of many attacks being days before the summit.

It was as if those committing the crimes intensified their brutality in hopes of inciting a reaction. That’s why it got worse the longer the FSP did nothing. But that theory lay on the unjustifiable assumption of ‘The FSP were doing nothing.’ It could be possible that the FSP were simply unable to track the culprits down which would throw a spanner in his theory. Perhaps with the return of the Ghost some justice could be served outside the law. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

The Ghost. His armor resembled an infiltrator armor. An outdated one, but the main features were there. Grappling guns, floodlights on the side and hissing pistons. The metallic finish was what set it apart form the suits he had seen. Was it possible for an Alliance member to be the Ghost of District fifteen? Jim? He’d gone missing for a while, right? And he returned just a few hours ago from his undercover mission. A plausible theory but based solely on a hypothesis.

The questions in his mind piled up in a heap making it difficult to focus on one. “The Ghost. He’s back,” Ethan blurted out.

Troy’s brows furrowed. “Wait, really? I thought he died a couple of years back.”

“Disappeared,” Ethan corrected. “I was trapped in that building. He got me out.”

“Are you sure it was him?”

“Damn certain. Green eye, titanium armor, black hood with a snake insignia. I couldn’t miss it.”

His friend paced up and down the room, muttering something to himself which Ethan could not hear. I bet he’s thinking exactly what I am, Ethan guessed. Why now?

Cutting off Troy from speaking, a nurse cam with a clipboard and asked Ethan to follow her. She was going to finalize his records and then release him. Ethan placed a finger to his ear and then pointed to Troy. I’ll call you later.

Released shortly before him was Sarah who had tow bandages wrapped around her arms and one on her leg to soothe her burns. He hadn’t seen her since he had escaped the building.

“You alright?” she asked as he approached her.

Ethan shrugged, wincing slightly from the pain. “I’ll live. You?”

“Doc said it should be healed within the next few days.”

Ethan could see his friend was traumatized. He’d imagine it would be considering she cared for patients in the very ward where the bomb was placed. Co-workers that were her friends from high school were crushed under the rubble. Some were left blind from the smoke, others bled to their death and she had to see it all. For Ethan, he’d seen worse just a day or two ago.

“How are you? Really?” he asked again, more solemnly this time.

“Hospitals,” she hissed. “What kind of filthy bastard do you have to be to bomb three hospitals?” The low tone of her voice cracked. She flicked a strand of hair out of her face and held her head in her hands. “I thought people were better than this.”

Despite her not saying it, there was more to it than that. “Did they make it?”

Gulping, she shook her head. “Crushed by a pole. I watched them burn in the building before I found you.”

He wrapped an arm around her hunched over body to comfort her. Her breathing became heavier. Ethan could only imagine what she may have felt had he died in that building too. Selfishly, he was indifferent to death, but barely escaping it after staring it in the face had changed his perspective. He had to tell Sarah he was going to die soon. She’d be upset, perhaps even broken, but at least he could do something about it for the time he was with her.

Now was not the time.

She had enough on her plate. Not only would the news seem out of the blue, it would compound on top of the grief she was feeling.

“When they catch whoever did this, they’d better kill them,” she hissed to Ethan’s surprise.

In all his years of knowing her, she was not one to say such things. Sometimes he doubted whether any dark thought zipped through her mind, let alone leave her mouth. For the first time he saw a crack in her shell he wished he never saw.

She was proof that he could be better. That there was hope for him to be as good as her in a twisted world. It was as if he saw his role model betray the core of who they were. Perhaps her feelings were fleeting. An impulse emanating from rage intertwined with pain; she’d be back to the Sarah he knew in no time, but his conscience told him otherwise.

Maybe it was impossible.