Lifeboat

21. Home Truths

"There they are."

Unfortunately for us, I'd managed to discover a passage back into the first room of obsidian walls that I'd woken up in.

Before I had the chance to return to the relative safety of the little room, or pull open the wall panel behind us, the three people attempting to break through the lock on the other doorway sped towards us.

Automatically, I made a grab for Dante's hand.

The one woman among the three medically attired people pointed and wagged her knobbly finger my way.
"This one is always a problem."

The familiarity of her words struck home with me. I knew that voice. That strange, nasal drawl and clipped consonants. This witch was the one who'd tried to inject me on the gurney.

Dante's hand fell on my shoulder, the weight and warmth settled my fear and gave me the courage to respond.

"I wonder why that is, you old crow? Do you think it might have something to do with you attempting to stick poison in my veins?"

The two companions of the female medic sniggered at my answer. It only caused her to sour her expression more. She started to slink her way towards me, her hands buried into the pouch of her apron, possibly searching for another hypodermic. She smiled weakly and tilted her head to one side as she used a sickly-sweet tone in an obvious attempt at calming me.
"There, there, it's no wonder they call you a miracle, my dear child. Let me take care of you, we will make it all go away for you. You'll wake up tomorrow back home safe and sound in your bed in that lovely little fishing village. The one you grew up in, yes? You remember, right? Oh I'm sure your father is worried sick about you. You poor, weak, pathetic little girl."

Her words lit no comfort in my heart. The raw, jealous absence of feeling shone so clearly through her ridiculous attempt to placate me, that I knew there and then that all the niggling ideas and semi-conscious memories I'd been having were telling me the truth. Colony eight had never really been my home, only a stage for the farce of a life which they, the World Union, had enforced upon me. My distorted version of my past had begun to collapse. And I wasn't about to go down without a proper fight.

I stuck my nails into Dante's wrist, praying that he would wake up to my intention. I turned my head slightly to the side and heaved out a whisper in his direction.
"On my count, make a run for it, ready?"

I felt Dante twist his body backwards and forwards, his words confused and slurred.
"Where? There's nowhere to go."

While my attention had been drawn to the witch with the needle fetish, I'd noticed a similar slit of light in the seams of the black obsidian wall, to the right of the kidnappers, or whatever they could be classed as. There had to be another way out.

I squeezed pressure into Dante's flesh once more, hoping that he would be aware enough to follow my lead. They must have drugged him at some point, the role of decision maker fell hard upon my shoulders. Although, I had begun to relish the power of the moment. I could get used to this.

"Three, two, one. Now!"

At first my elbow snapped under the resistance of Dante's lack of motion, but it didn't take long for him to put his feet into action and we belted across the room at breakneck speed.

Shouts and panicked yells from our pursuers failed to stop our mission and we stumbled into the wall, my left hand slapped at the strip of light, while the other clung onto Dante's arm.

Come on, come on!

They were nearly upon us when the smooth surface slid away, permitting us to push through the strip of the exit mark and into the darkness, slamming shut the door in their faces.

I took a step back, banging into the solid mass of Dante. The yelling and pounding of fists on the closed exit convinced me that it had been sealed shut.

For the first time since I'd woken up on the gurney, I exhaled deeply and drew in a grateful breath.

Dante spoke gently, his voice tickled the base of my neck, sending ripples down my spine.
"They can't get in here. I've been here before. And guess what..."

I swallowed hard, somehow knowing what he was about to say.

"And I never found a way out until you found me."

Then, to my horror, he began to laugh. A crippled, strained version of the noise. Dante was losing it. My only concern now had to be concentrating on finding another way out. I'd found one before, this time it had to be in a different direction. Surely life couldn't be that cruel? Could it? I had to get him to relax, to return to being the man I knew.

And loved.

I turned around to get face to face with him, even in the pitch black I sensed his body close to mine. He breathed heavily, the loose strands of my hair fluttered over the skin of my neck with every exhalation of his breath. It tickled, and I swept an irritated hand to my throat.

"Stay with me," I whispered, my words came out softer than I'd have thought possible under the stress of the situation. For a moment my self administration got the better of me. Clearing my throat, I shook my shoulders and continued. "All we need to do is push around at the lines. Put your fingers out onto the wall. There, can you feel that slight dip in the surface? That's it, that's where we'll find it. I did it before and we can do it again."

"I, I don't mean to rain on your parade, but we've been here before, yes? And the door is either into the chamber of horrors or the room of psycho medics. I don't know about you, Tyke, but I'm not in much of a hurry to get to either. Shouldn't we just wait here? I'm so tired..."

"No!" I had to halt this degradation of his character. I needed his strength. "Help me, there must be other doors. I know there are."

"How can you be so sure?"

Why was I so sure? What was that?

"It's familiar to me, like a dream when you know you're asleep, yet you force yourself awake and look back at yourself, there, asleep, lost in the dream." I shivered, my skin crawled with goosebumps. "I know this place, Dante."

"If you know it so well, why the hell can't you find the door out of here?"

There you are, he's back.

A broad smile stole the place of my worried frown, the skin of my face relaxed and stretched with pleasure. Yes, I had seen this place before, so many times in my recurring nightmares. Much like after those dreams, I was now fully awake, I knew exactly where to go.

"Oh, that's not where we want to be. We need to look down."