Hope in Ruins Book III: The Fountain and the City of Salt

Chapter 19: The Fox

ANDA

Anda froze. Dr. Henderson stared at the floor as she mumbled and walked towards her. The doctor hadn't seen her yet, but there was nowhere to hide.

Dr. Henderson looked up, the fluorescent lights casting blueish shadows on her already ringed and purple eyes, and locked her gaze on Anda. As the doctor opened her mouth to scream, Anda turned and ran. The doctor's shriek filled the hallway and sent sparks up Anda's spine as she ran, blindly running to... somewhere.

She slammed through a door—the stairs.

Voices below her. Guards.

She went up, up up, up the stairs, her gray socks catching on the rough edges of the concrete, and burst through another door, another floor.

More doors. Gray doors.

Maybe he was here, on this floor. She hurried down the hall, putting a hand on each door and listening—reaching out, feeling for blinds.

Nothing. There was nothing but emptiness behind the doors. And there were so many doors.

"No, no, no...."

Soldiers would be up here any minute, searching for her and ready to drag her back down to her own cold cell. Her palms slicked with sweat as she ran faster, slamming her sweaty palm on each door before moving on to the next and—

Her mind went soft, fuzzy.

This door. Slowly, she pulled back from the gray door. It was just like all the others with nothing but a number to differentiate it from the long line of others on either side of it. But, unlike all the others, the room behind this door was filled.

She held her breath, her knuckles knocking on a gray door.

"Come in," a voice behind the gray said.

Her sweaty fingers slipped on the handle, but she opened the door and pushed through.

Eli stood from a desk covered in papers and turned to her. A glowing blue blind hung around his neck. He froze when he saw her. "Anda, what are you doing here? What do you want?" he asked, his voice snapping like a broken piano string. She realized how unkind she'd been to him and how hard that must have been.

Anda opened her mouth, but no words came out. She hadn't planned this far ahead.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, more gently this time.

But a siren wailed. Out in the hall, a red light flashed.

"Ah," he said. "I take it those are for you?"

She knew she should ask for help, beg, but no words came out. She eased the door behind her shut, and the sirens dimmed but barely. The red light vanished.

A door slammed. Running footsteps. Closer and closer.

Eli watched her, his mouth a tight line, his fists opening and closing. Still, she couldn't speak. Those footsteps were getting closer and closer and closer....

She glanced around for somewhere to hide. The cot. Without a glance back at Eli, she dove under the cot, pulling at the blankets to cascade them over the edge and hide her. The tile floor was like frozen stone. Dust rolled under her fingertips. From her dark cave, she could see Eli's feet, and she wondered if he would turn her in.

He had every reason to hand her over to the guards, but she held her breath and hoped.

She watched his feet move slowly towards the desk. He sat just as the door burst open and guards appeared, filling the room with the wailing siren and red flashing lights.