After waving goodbye, Kiko and Bogart immediately moved their bikes and went to their secret entrance. Many kids knew about that hole in the fence but since it was located in a wide empty lot and was covered by overgrown weeds, it was not noticed by the teachers and pa.s.sersby, even by the residents in that street. Since it was a crucial time, the two were carefully riding their bikes. By and by, they arrived at the abandoned lot. Cautiously, they hid their bikes behind some bushes."Are you ready?" Kiko asked.
"Scared but I am ready," Bogart answered. "But where do we place our backpacks? Mine is really heavy. It has plenty of food."
"Well, I don"t know either. We forgot to include that in our plans."
The two laughed. It was still mid-afternoon and their black outfit was not helpful in dissipating the heat.
"You can leave your bag here," Kiko suggested. "I"ll bring mine because it"s lighter."
"Okay," Bogart said. "Hope the ants would not eat up the food."
They laughed again. Carefully, Bogart hang his bag on his bike"s handlebars. They took out their black bonnets and wore them. If not for their children"s bodies and their printed face masks, Batman for Kiko and Teletubbies for Bogart, they could pa.s.s as bank robbers or petty thieves.
"How do I look like?" Bogart asked naughtily.
"Like a crazy funny cow?" Kiko answered.
"Is there something like that?"
"Maybe just you."
The boys chuckled. Despite their mischief, they were frightened of what they would do. Yet, they made a resolve to find out the truth.
Hastily, they ran to the location of the hole. They pushed aside the gra.s.ses until a hole at the base of the fence was uncovered. It was small enough to fit an average eleven-year old kid. Kiko went in first and did so with ease. Once he was on the other side, he peeped through the gra.s.ses and seeing no imminent danger, he cleared some of the gra.s.ses. Bogart threw Kiko"s bag on the hole, afterwhich he squeezed himself through the hole. It was a struggle as Bogart was larger than average kids. His protruding belly and stout limbs made the struggle even harder. And yet, after minutes of difficulty, he was finally able to get through.
"Oh man, am I that big?" he asked while gasping for air.
"You don"t have to ask," Kiko answered sarcastically. "It"s obvious."
Bogart suddenly jumped on him and embraced him tight while rolling on the gra.s.ses. Kiko laughed hard as he grappled his friend"s arms. When they were finally exhausted, Bogart released Kiko and they lay flat on the ground, tired and panting.
"That was strong," Kiko said. "You can easily take out Andrex and his gang with that."
"You really think so? I guess my superpowers are true."
They chuckled. After cleaning themselves up, they became serious again and went back to business.
"What do we do now?" Bogart inquired.
"We will go near the clinic and wait for Jamie and Tonton. That"s what we agreed."
"Where exactly on the clinic?"
"There was no specific spot, just near the clinic. Besides, the clinic is small and we can easily find each other."
Bogart nodded and with Kiko"s cue, they went to the direction of the clinic. But before reaching it, they had to pa.s.s by open grounds which was now occupied by the isolation camp. To their surprise, the camp was crowded with people, unlike yesterday which was so lonely. Now, doctors and nurses were running to and fro, attending to panicky patients and their snappy guardians.
"This place is really busier than it looked outside," Bogart commented.
"It is," Kiko agreed. "We must not attract any attention or we will get caught."
"Look at our silly outfits. They will certainly catch people"s attention."
"Let"s try not to.... We estimated it wrong. We wore black because we thought it would be nightfall before we could enter."
"But then we came too early." Bogart let out a loud laugh.
"Shhh.... Don"t be too loud."
Kiko pulled him to the side and hid behind a huge mango tree.
"Let"s be careful," Kiko reminded him to which Bogart nodded. "We have to pa.s.s by the side of the tents since there are no people there. We should not wander off to the middle or they will see us."
Kiko took the lead and Bogart followed. They were careful with each of their steps. Just a small noise and people might notice them. Upon reaching the first tent, they heard loud groaning from inside it, as if the patient was crying in pain.
"I"m getting scary now," Bogart whispered. "It"s creepy to hear his cry."
"Then don"t listen," Kiko said. "We can"t be distracted."
They also heard the same groans on the second and third tents.
"Please help me," the patient in the next tent spoke loudly.
The two stopped in their tracks. They looked at the tent, shocked and frightened. They waited for the person to speak again but it did not. Suddenly, the patient threw itself strongly on the tent that its canva.s.s wall bowed and swayed. The two jumped in surprise and losing balance, Bogart fell on the ground. Reflexively, Kiko sprinted forward, following the direction they agreed upon. In panic, Bogart quickly stood up and ran without realizing that he was heading to the middle of the camp.
Bogart tripped on a cord and fell on the ground again. When he looked up, people were just walking in front of him, unmindful of his presence. He stood up with shaking legs while his heart was beating wildly. He took a few steps backward but again, he stumbled and landed inside one of the tents.
His head lay flat on the ground. He felt dizzy that he decided to lie still, his gaze focused on the white canva.s.s roof of the tent. At first, he thought he was only imagining but he heard something like a low growl near his head. He listened but it became louder with each pa.s.sing second. To his horror, a hand firmly grabbed him by the shoulder. He immediately rolled and turned around, and instantly, he was face-to-face with an old man. His thick wrinkles were all over his face and they waved and stretched as he coughed violently. He was lying on ground, writhing in pain, while behind him, a bed was toppled over. He must have fallen moments ago.
However, it was a horrifying experience for Bogart that he shrieked loudly. Hurriedly, he got up and went out of the tent but to his greater horror, several people were already gathered around the tent. He froze and stared back at the people. Realizing he was in big trouble, Bogart dashed away from the crowd.
"Get that child!" a male voice ordered.
Bogart did not dare look back as he ran and ran, intent on escaping the isolation camp. He just needed to get away from the tents and the people. He could find his friend later.
Meawhile, Kiko heard his friend"s scream. He a.s.sumed that he was just right behind him when they were startled earlier. He stopped and based on the location of the scream, they were separated real bad. From his unfortunate estimates, Bogart could be on the other side of the camp.....