Incandescence

38: A Silent Scream

"Lena!" I'm spluttering my sister's name, half relieved and half shocked at the sight of her wielding a hockey stick like a samurai sword. She doesn't drop the makeshift weapon as she hurries over to me. Clenching it tightly, she leans down and pulls me to my feet, then throws her arms around me in a bone-crushing hug.

           "I missed you," she says, wet tears dripping onto my face.

           "I'm so sorry –"

           "It wasn't your fault."

           "But –"

           "Shhh. It wasn't, okay? You were just trying to protect me. I'm the dumbass who decided to poke my nose into other people's business. But it's okay. I'm alright now. See? I'm alright. Daniel got me out." She pulls back before I've got much chance to hug her back and glances down, searching. Then her grey eyes suddenly widen, and I follow her gaze to the others.

          Alice is dangerously swinging her lamp to ward off Mason, who is cursing us out and climbing off the ground, liquid oozing out his speared eyeball. Daniel is on his feet, one hand pressed against his cheek, looking far bloodier than before. Pulling his hand away, he grimaces, and I see that the knife cut into his skin much deeper than I presumed. The slash is running down his face, starting at the tip of his eye and extending in a curved line to the edge of his lips.

           As Lena makes a move to help him, I retrieve the knife and cast a glance around the corridor. There's rubble on the floor. Holes in the ceiling. Dust on our clothes. We can't stay here a second longer or we'll be reduced to ashes.

           "We need to move," I say to no one in particular. Three sets of wide eyes stare back at me. The zombie scowls, only partly focusing, and I realise he's been rendered half blind. "Right now."

           No one disagrees. Dragging Alice away from Mason, I turn on my heels and set off in the direction of the fire exit, reluctantly leaving him behind. My companions' shoes slap off the floor behind me, and as we reach the bend in the hall we break into a sprint. For a moment I forget to fear what's waiting outside. I forget we're still in danger, that escaping the hockey stadium of horrors isn't going to solve our problems. I fall into the trap of associating the exit with safety, and I cling to that image, willing it to push me on even as my lungs burn.

           Metres away now. I see the glowing green signpost reading 'FIRE EXIT.' Almost there. I keep going. Run, run, run, closing the distance, breaking the gap –

           Someone calls out behind us.

           We stop dead in our tracks.

           A fifth figure takes a careful step into the light. Blonde bobbed hair. Cruel, twisted features. Cold, narrowed eyes.

           "What are you doing here?" Diana says, gaze pinned on her daughter, whose determination seems to have increased at the sight of the woman who helped cause this.

           "Helping my friends," Alice says. "You know, the same people you tried to murder, Mum?"

            "Murder? I think that's a slight exaggeration, don't you?"

           "Hardly. If Mason's anything to go by."

           Diana forces out an abrupt, dry laugh, and takes another step towards us. "I don't think you're in any place to judge what's going on until you know all the facts –"

           "I don't need any more proof that you're a heartless bitch," she counters, slowly retreating. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the scaffolding swaying in the no man's land between us and Diana. "You brought this on us. You knew exactly what Lilith was doing, and did you try to stop it?"