Chapter 2

The next morning, Tessa hurried up and dressed up as quickly as she could.

She was already late for her shift.

Just as she rushed past the dinning room, Helena called out to her, “Tessa!” she shouted.

“Mother, I’m really late for my shift, please let the maid make the coffee for you today.” she pleaded as she checked the time on her wrist.

Helena’s face squeezed in irritation when Tessa addressed her as ‘Mother’ but she was focused on fanning herself to rebute her.

The heat was terrible that she didn’t have the energy to exchange words with Tessa. “Whatever, just get out of my sight.” She waved her off.

As Tessa made her way to the hospital, she saw a few people sitting by the road side; some had fans in their hands and were sweating profusely while others were itching their hairs like something was in it.

She frowned, “What is going on?” she could not wrap her head around it till she got to the hospital.

She had just entered the hospital when Dr. Anya rushed up to her.

“Tessa, where have you been? We have many patients coming into the Emergency Room (ER) since early this morning. Quickly hurry and change.”

Tessa was about to leave when she was pulled by another doctor.

“Here. Monitor this patient, I need to check on someone else. I have no idea what is happening to them, they seemed to be infected by something.”

She was just about to check the patients temperature when the hospital alarm blasted on; signalling critical emergency.

The hospital fell into chaos almost immediately as many people rushed in. Most of them were coughing out blood, some collapsed in front of the door before they could get in and rather than others avoiding them, they stepped on them and rushed into the hospital struggling to get in and receive aid.

“Doctor, please help me! I don’t know what is happening to me.”

Screams filled inside the hospital as people held their heads; tightly pressing it together with their palms showing how much pain they were experiencing. Their eyes and skin were starting to turn red.

They were moving like mad people without control.

Tessa’s heart was beating wildly as she watched the scene in horror. She stepped back continuously in fear.

She has never seen anything like this in her whole life.

“According to the test, it seems to be a pathogen, I am yet to find out which type and I can’t find a cure so soon. Take this, you need to go with the ambulance team to help other people who can’t make it to the hospital.” Dr. Anya instructed as she handed Tessa a trauma kit.

Tessa nodded her head and hurried out of the hospital with that ambulance team.

As the ambulance drove along the road, her eyes widened even more.

The world was in chaos, everyone ran around without directions looking for anything; something that looked like solution; something that looked like hope.

Smokes were coming out from vehicles that had collided with each other.

The place was a disaster.

The pathogen had gone wild and the disease had spread everywhere.

When the infected saw the ambulance, they attacked it immediately; forcing it into a halt.

They began to hit the bus aggressively with any part of their bodies; their heads, hands, knee as long as they get inside.

Tessa’s eyes trembled in fear as her breathing became unstable. “This… this is beyond anything we have dealt with. It is a disaster. We need to leave now!” she screamed.

She hid the kit in her doctor’s coat and dashed out of the ambulance through the back door; running in the direction of her house.

“Mark! Mark!” she called out as soon as she saw him. He was sitting inside an evacuation convoy.

Tessa waved the trauma kit in the air with great joy as she approached the stairwell leading to the evacuation convoy that had been built for people that were yet to be affected by the disease.

Mark stared at her with a reproachful gaze, “How are you back so early?”

He knew she should be at the hospital too busy to even notice them and had hoped the stairwell for evacuation would have been closed before she returns.

Tessa stood at the stairwell stumped by his reproach. “I—”

“Mark, don’t tell me you actually want her to come along?” Vanessa Ross argued as she held her children to herself. “If you let her in, then I will take my children and leave.”

Helen shook her head, “What? No way!” she glared at Tessa, “Stop being unreasonable, someone like you that is barren shouldn’t even struggle for a seat here! Of what use will you be to us if you eventually survive?”

She pushed her away aggressively, “Leave! There is no seat for you, the children need their actual parents.”

Tessa fell to the ground as her eyes watered in disbelief. What did Helen mean by that?

She had broken her back just to take care of the kids not minding they were never respectful, she still doubled her efforts with the belief that if she does more they would eventually open up to her even though she was their stepmother.

Didn’t that make her a parent to them too?

She looked to Mark for help, “Mark, please you have to take me in with you.” Her gaze held hope as she begged.

Even if Vanessa and Helen didn’t want her, she was certain that Mark would let her in.

Mark stared down at her, “My mother is right, of what use will you be to us? There is only one seat and Venessa has it.”

Her mind was in disbelief as she tried to convince herself that this was really happening.

“What do you mean by that? How can you say that to me, Mark? Not only did I give you every bit of my inheritance to start the Whitmore group, I suffered day and night just to make sure everyone in the family is comfortable even when I wasn’t feeling well.”

“How do I have no use just because I am barren and unable to bear children? You know what happened before the hysterectomy. Why is it my fault? Please, I beg you don’t leave me here.” She tried to hold his hand but Mark dodged her attempts.

His face darkened, “What is it you don’t understand? The only seat left has been taken by Vanessa, there is no one left for you.”

The noise had increased and screams followed as sounds of things breaking echoed in the air.

The stairwell trembled violently as a stampede hurried through it, hoping they could get past too.

Tessa shuddered in great fear, she held on to the bar gates as she cried uncontrollably. “Mark, I’m really scared! Please, you can’t just leave me here I am your wife. How does Vanessa compare to me?”

Mark scoffed as he pushed her hands away, “You are not blood.”

With that, the door closed shut and they were launched away, leaving her behind clenching the trauma kit in her hand.

Tears flowed down her cheeks as their figures grew further and further away, “How am I not blood after everything I have done for the family?” her heart ached in despair.

She did not have the chance to save herself as she eventually got stomped to her death.

Why is it that Vanessa who has barely contributed to the family and has never been helpful, gets the seat when it comes to being rescued?

She closed her eyes as the darkness envelope her.

Was this really how she would end?

A rapid sound of keyboard clicking and glasses clinking echoed as a spasm of air rushed through.

{System rebooting…. Checking subjects system and vitals}

{System and Vitals are stable – Priority asset confirmed}