The doctor (a girl of twenty on the outside, but a man of fifty on the inside) walked out of the operation room.
Lyndsay stood up from the chair she was sitting in. "Is he going to be alright?"
"I'm sorry, but he's in a coma. The head trauma was too severe. But, the good news is that there's a good chance that the mayor swapped bodies before he hit his head. He could be alive and well somewhere else in town right now. It's just that we have no idea how to find him. He would have to find us. But we're not sure he'll know to look for us here. The best thing for you to do is go home. It's likely that he'll head there himself. And ..." He paused for a moment, looking out a window into the hallway, seeing people rush by. "There's a mandatory evacuation for all non-affected people. Anyone who has already been affected, like yourself, has been ordered to go home and stay there until this body swapping problem has been resolved."
Lyndsay nodded, then left.
Sarah touched her bandaged shoulder. The bullet was out, but it still hurt a lot. She walked to the doorway and saw people rush by. Some of them were patients. They all seemed to be heading towards the exit.
"What's going on?" she asked one of the nurses.
"We're evacuating the hospital. If you haven't been affected by the phenomenon, you have to leave too."
"What if I already swapped with someone?"
"Then you should go home."
Richard ducked behind a row of bushes and watched as several people in the neighborhood were throwing luggage into their cars and speeding off. The police and feds must have given orders to evacuate the town. Usually, Richard would have been informed of such things, but since he was a hostage and a little girl, he was basically unreachable.
"Get back here!"
Richard turned and looked over his shoulder. He knew that voice. "Good god, does that guy ever give up?" he muttered, seeing the lunatic with the knife. He was approaching him, and he looked none too pleased. "How did he even get out of that basement?"
Richard jumped out from behind the bushes and darted across the street. Unfortunately, one of the cars that was in a hurry to leave almost hit him. It swerved out of the way, and as if justice were served, it hit the lunatic that was chasing Richard, apparently killing him instantly.
The driver got out of the car in a panic. "Oh my god!" he yelled, looking at what he had done. There was a sort of horrified guilt in the man's eyes.
"Don't feel bad," Richard said. "He was trying to kill me. You just saved my life."
The man slowly turned and looked at Richard. "I know you. You're that Patty girl. The one that's been missing."
"Actually, I'm Richard Dickinson. I swapped bodies with this girl."
"Dickinson? As in Mayor Dickinson?"
"Yes, that's right. Now, uh, I was wondering. Could you give me a ride?"
