Sector 21

Chapter Four

His eyes opened.

He took a deep breath in and looked up at Octavia

Octavia was an avid reader, she was used to read all of the time- when she was in school. One of her friends from school gave her The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, she loved it that much she went out and spent what little money she had left on The Lord Of The Rings novel by Tolkien. To this day it is one of her most prized possessions.

His burned holes into Octavia as he lay at her knees. Incredibly slowly he propped herself up on his elbows and only then did sh move away from him. He gracefully stood up and made his way around the room, it stepped effortlessly over the chains and taking in the room that he must have been locked in for some time to be that covered in dirt. Although he seemed perfectly conscience and alert, he must have been put into some sort of induced coma for her not to hear him in the time she had worked the sectors.

"Where am I?" He asked, his voice deep and raspy from lack of use.

"Y-you-you're in London" Octavia spluttered.

"I do not mean city," He growled "where am I?"

"Under ground in government sectors," She breathed quietly, scared he was going to get angry at her "I can get you out of here" She said louder.

He didn't have to use words in order to ask Octavia to get him out. He only wore a pair of canvas long pants, he would be so easily noticed. She told him to climb out of the hatch that she had used to drop into the sunken room. As she locked the chains again they went back to how they were when they suspended the mysterious man. With great difficulty she climbed out of the room and shoved the hatch back shut.

An idea sprung into her mind. She moved the now conscious man to the doorway of Sector 18 and then went back to the corridor that lead to Sector 21. Octavia began kicking all of the dust back up into the air, sliding across the floor in her boots and throwing the dust. Then she ran and slammed the disguised panel shut, leaving the dust to settle and then look untouched. As her watch struck 8 am she pushed the man, who hadn't said a word to her since he asked where they were, through the chain mesh gate and into the locker room. Once the two doors were locked she rushed to open her- well her fathers locker.

"You will need to cover up" Oc mumbled her herself.

All that was in her locker was an apple, a spare torch, a blue hat that the twins had bought her for her birthday last year, her dads boots and a black hoodie that she used in the cold winter months. It was now 8.03 am and the next patrol would start in 2 minutes. She shoved the hoodie and boots to the man, told him to put them on and then rushed through the many corridors to get to the elevator. The 108 seconds seemed longer than before as the man used her as a support due to his swaying and weak steps. She was in such a rush to leave and not be seen she didn't pick up her paycheck for the week just gone.

On her way home Octavia and the stranger were given a wide pass as he clung on to the side of her and is nose began to bleed down his pale lips. After hauling the man up 5 flights of stairs she reached her apartment door, out of breath and considerably light headed. Locking her door, shutting the blinds and opening the door to her bedroom, Octavia placed the man in her bed and slowly shut the door before shutting herself in her kitchen.

What was she thinking? She had just put clean sheets on her bed the two days previous and now she had just let a dirty, bloody stranger (who was locked up in shackles in a government sector basement) in her house where he could easily kill her.

She was 100 percent not thinking straight.

"Oh My God," She sighed into her hands, "what the hell have I just done?"