Survivors

Chapter 4 - Sybil

"SYBIL! I NEED YOU DOWN HERE NOW!" Damn, something bad had happened, Ashton never yells and not like that. I had heard him and Isiah shouting at each other from the other side of the basement and thought nothing of it but now I hadn't much choice but to find out what it was really about. "Best you stay here Kitty, I'll be back." I didn't want her getting hurt, nobody should get dragged into a situation if they can't defend themselves. Yes, I'm doing in unprotected but I was called, she wasn't. If Ashton calls someone they go because he's most likely got a situation which requires your speciality. So I assumed someone had gotten themselves injured but it didn't quite match up with the shouts from two boys.

I felt myself freeze the second I walked into the room. Isiah was being held against a wall by the neck, my eyes slowly trailed from the hand at his neck and to the face of the offender. Ashton. "Ashton, what the hell!? I thought you said no violence among the group." I yelled at the boys who were acting like children, not nearly men. Ash muttered something I don't think anyone could hear, probably some childish excuse. But the fight wasn't the reason I was called, the new girl I can't remember her name- was sat with her head against the weapon holder on the reprep table. There was blood pooling at her back and she was unresponsive to any word I spoke or any kind of touch.

"Ash just let him go and tell me what happened. And Isiah can bring me my kit." I dragged Ashton away from his friend and poked the whole story out of him. He got a hard slap round the face for disobeying his own rules and putting another member of the group in danger. He left to sulk in another room, probably to go cuddle with Avery, while Isiah brought me my kit and left. The back of the girl's head had been pierced by a throwing dagger, I needed the details of the weapon to make a holding mould until it began to close up. From my guess she'd remain unconscious for weeks before her head was healed. She'd likely suffer from memory loss and require assistance for a while after regaining consciousness.

I knew it would take a long time for her to finish recovering but it's been over a month and she still hadn't recovered, I suspect she'll be unconscious for a few more weeks. Noelle was attacked by a mutated roamer and had to rest all day, every day and only I was permitted to see her for safety reasons. Ashton was calling meetings every day and talking about the government's guard on the city. Apparently they'd been slowly taking down the walls but there was a distortion above, meaning some kind of force field was in place.

"We'll never make it past an invisible barrier, we need to begin tearing down a part of the wall in a place no roamer goes. And where no guards patrol, unless anyone has a plan to immediately break through?" He looked around the table at everyone, he was met with silence. There was a sound of light thud, thud, thud coming from the corridor. I got up and opened the door to see Maybel. Gripping onto the stair-rail and slowly progressing down. "Maybel?" I asked, she shouldn't have recovered already. It was too soon, but she took a few minutes to process who I was and I noticed her eyes taking longer to focus on me. It was her alright, not some illusion. "Sybil, what is it?" Kitty was calling my name from the meeting room. I had to ignore it, Maybel needs more rest.

"I'm taking you back to rest." I said firmly, there was no way she's getting better if she's straining her mind to focus on movement. I saw the frustration forming on her face; her eyes narrowing and her mouth formed a frown. I almost couldn't believe it when she said "No". How is she speaking? With so much concentration she stepped down another step, and another, and another and all the way down to the ground flooring. "Elle?" She called a name I didn't know, Her voice was shaky and uncontrolled. It sounded so dryly spoken it's like losing your voice to a dry throat. She tried to step toward the meeting room but I couldn't let her go in there. Not in her current state, she needed rest and lots of it. Which she wouldn't get if she continued to refuse to go back upstairs. she said the name again, but more like a question. She gazed into my eyes as if I was supposed to know who she was talking about. I saw her face crumple slightly as she raised a hand with two fingers pointed at the door of the place we call home. "Elle, help me." Noelle, of course!

How could I have been so stupid, Noelle, Elle. Same person. "She's resting to help her recover, you should rest too, when you next wake up I can let you see her if you wish." She looked happy and a smile grew on her face after my words. She let me help her up the stairs and back to her bed where I stayed with her until I was sure she was asleep. Then I returned to the meeting at which there was a vote being held. "Sybil, should we begin breaking a gap in the walls in a few weeks or should we try to signal our human life to the guards? We need your vote, they're tied currently." There were the five of them of them, Avery surprised me by siding with Blaise and Kitty while Ashton stood with Isiah. Well that 100% confirms they've sorted out the issue from before, whatever it was. I was the deciding vote. Noelle should be here, as she's the guard she'd have a hard job with defending the person who was breaking the gate and I don't even know if she'll veer fully recover. Maybel also. She's the newest but she's still a member who should have her say.

"What about Maybel and Noelle? They should have a say in this too." They were all staring at me before but now I was really feeling their eyes digging into me. "We don't know if they'll be well enough to help, so does their opinion really matter that much?" Why. Why does Isiah always have to be in a mood all the time. I looked at Avery, she wouldn't leave anyone out of anything important but she shook her head at me, "He's right, I hate myself already for it but we don't know Maybel that well and what are the chances Noelle will recover in the time it takes us to finish planning anything? From what you've said they're very low and we need to act fast before there's no hope of getting out."

I couldn't do this, nobody could do anything without Noelle. She can hear roamers coming from metres away when nobody else could, she had the sharpest eyesight and the fastest reactions. We would have to have everyone defending with whatever we did. Unless we had her, but Avery was right. I'd been thinking about how slow her recovery is, but she'd be left behind. And Maybel, she lasted on her own for that long but had no way of defending herself. She relied on her speed and agility to survive and her head was so messes up she'd be caught before she registered what was in front of her. I couldn't make the choice. I don't know which side was for which action but I didn't care. "We can't leave them. I won't. You can all leave and get out of here but I'm staying. I won't let you leave them on such a weakly powered life support alone." I turned to leave but as I took a step towards the doorway I felt a soft hand close around my wrist. "Please, don't stay behind. I need you." I couldn't bear to hear the wobble in her voice but if she could live a proper life without the fear of roamers and having to be locked in a house all the time, I would do anything to give that to anyone here. But I couldn't let one person get in the way of two lives being at stake. "Figure out your plan. No point in me coming to the meetings if I'm not going with you." I pulled the hand from my wrist and left.

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