I wake up to the sound of loud voices all around me, and I can hear my name being thrown around the room. I struggle to open my eyes, but when I do I can see that I'm lying in what seems to be a hospital bed, surrounded by adults in crisp, white lab coats. "What-... where am I?" I ask to no one in particular, the room gradually coming into focus before my eyes.

"Hazel! You're awake!" Harry looks over at me from where he, Malik and an old looking doctor are sat at a table. Harry and Malik both stand up, and are quickly at my side. "How are you feeling?"

I groan and sit up, my vision blurring. "What happened to me?" My head starts to pound, but I can't remember being hurt.

"You collapsed as soon as we got here. You must've hit your head back at the shopping centre or something." Malik smiles at the older doctor as he arrives next to my bed.

"The shopping centre?" Suddenly, all of the memories from earlier return to me. The Infected, the guns, the explosions, I can finally remember everything that happened. "Oh, right. I remember."

"Do you remember hitting your head before our men managed to get you out?" The older doctor asks, with a warm smile on his face. I think back to the moment before the soldiers arrived, where the infected woman punched me in the jaw, and I fell backwards and smacked my head on the tiled floor.

"Yeah, I do. I'm gonna be fine though, right?" I ask, slowly lying back down, as the room around me starts to spin.

"Yes, you'll be okay. It's most likely that you've got a concussion, but no permanent damage has been done." The doctor steps forward and checks my temperature with his hand, then he writes something down on a clipboard.

"Thank god." Harry smiles at Malik, then down at me. "I don't know what we'd do without you, Hazel." I smile at them and squeeze both of their hands for reassurance. I slowly sit up and swing my legs off the edge of the bed, waiting for the dizziness to subside before I shakily stand up.

"Where are we?" I croak, my throat dry from dehydration. "And how are all of these adults... alive?" Harry looks around the room at all of the healthy looking adults and lowers his voice.

"Some army guy told us that this place is called Stockwell. Apparently, they've found a cure for the disease and they believe that they can fix the whole world." He says sarcastically. I look over to Malik to hear what he has to say.

"I don't like this place. Something's off, but I can't figure out what it is. Something's being hidden from us, this is all too good to be true. Imagine that the whole time we've been fighting to stay alive out there, there's been a safe little sanctuary a few miles away from us where adults are still alive." I stare at the doctor and the two nurses in disbelief. As much as I want to believe that we can stay here until it's over and be completely safe, it's been months since I've heard an adult speak, let alone work or be able to take my temperature.

"I think we should leave. Lucy and William are by themselves back at the base, there's no doubt that they're worried about us." Malik hands me my bag and passes me a water bottle, hearing the hoarseness in my voice. I nod and stand up, pulling on my brown leather jacket that was draped over the bedpost.

"Where are you going?" One of the nurses asks, a hurt look on her face. "Aren't you going to stay for dinner?" A sweet smile shines across her plump face.

"This place is really creeping me out," Harry whispers, tightening the grip on his axe.

"We'd love to, but we need to get back to our people, they must be worried about us," Malik responds calmly, but I can see the look of discomfort on his face.

"Ah, well that's a shame. Feel free to come back anytime, we could do with some help around here. Before you go-" She walks over to a large cardboard box on the table and opens it up, presenting us with at least twenty four cans of various types of food, and six water bottles laid flat across the top. "-take this, as a gift from your friends at Stockwell." She hands the box to Malik, the creepy smile plastered on to her face.

"Thank you. We weren't expecting any gifts." Malik says charmingly. I look around the room and shiver when I notice that all of the nurses and doctors have the same expression: a big smile on their faces but the look of death in their eyes.

"Again, thank you for your hospitality. But we'd better be going now." Harry leads us out of the room, ignoring an offer of a tour. We jog until we finally find the exit, acting casual around anyone passing by, who all have the same creepy smiles on their faces. We take turns carrying the box, all underestimating the weight of our gift. I smile at one of the guards and ask him to open the gate.

"Why, of course, I'll let you out! I hope you won't be gone for too long though, we'd all love to see you again." He pulls my map from my pocket and circles Stockwell in red marker. We head through the gate without replying and give each other horrified looks. Harry cuts down two of the Infected that were waiting outside the gate as I pass the box back to Malik, my arms aching.

"What the fuck was all of that?!" Harry almost shouts, gesturing towards the box and copying the weird smiles that they all had.

"I don't know. We can talk about it when we get home, but right now we need to focus on getting back. I stare at the map while Malik swiftly kills a crawler that's been edging towards us. I quickly figure out where we are and memorise the route back to our base, stuffing the map back into my pocket.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Malik sighs heavily and shivers from the autumn air. "Let's focus on getting home first."