I hadn't expected the doors to open like that, nor to see Madeleine standing behind them as they did so. Though why is beyond me, I know she was in here because of Claire.
Maybe it's more because of seeing her finally after our argument. After having pointed a gun at her. After listening to that gut-wrenching tape. After learning she'd planned to end her life once finished. Maybe that's why seeing her standing there left me this way.
Her eyes widen and I see the arm curled around her ribs that says she's hurt again. Instantly I want to check, want to bandage those damn ribs because I'm afraid they're going to break and then our biggest worry will be that. "Leon..." the whisper airy, rough from a hoarse throat. "What're you doing here? The lab's going to start coming down soon. Didn't you find Claire and Sherry?" she fires the questions off too quick to answer at first.
They came through carrying a master ID bracelet that opened the emergency elevator with Sherry wearing Claire's jacket. If we weren't in such danger, I'd have found it cute how it reached well past her waist. Claire wanted to know if I'd get on with her so we could escape together like planned all the way back at the gas station. Then she said Madeleine stayed behind in the west wing lab to fight another mutated form of William and she honestly didn't know if she'd survived. I turned her down. Saying I couldn't leave just yet, because I had to find someone I'd come down here with.
"Is it that other woman?" Claire asks, and I know she's been warned. "Madeleine told me she's trying to get a sample of G, Leon. Annette said she's a mercenary," at the mention of her mother's name, Sherry flinches and I see the tears on her cheeks in response. I'd noticed when they'd run through the door how her mother wasn't with them, and from the state she'd left in... She died.
Annette dies and Madeleine's possibly giving up her life to fight William, at the thought I ask myself how I could've thought her so evil. That's a kind of sacrifice I don't even know if I could make. Especially with how messed up she is, that's a death wish...
"Don't worry, I've got this," I promise her and her brows knot in concern that I might not make the right decision.
She removes the ID bracelet anyways, throwing it at me from where she stands within. Hitting the square button in the lift to escape as I catch the bracelet in my hand. "I better see you on the other side," is the last thing she says before the doors close and the elevator descends, taking the two to safety. I'm hoping.
It's at witnessing Madeleine standing there in the doorway. Seeing those sad green eyes and lips turned into a worried frown as she practically interrogates me. I admit to myself I'd actually stayed behind for not just Ada, but for her. I mean, it's why I'm standing here at the same time she'd gone to exit the wing. I was preparing to go in myself and find her. Praying she'd be alive and not...
Discounting the thought, "They came through, don't worry. They're on their way out of here right now," I clarify. "I stayed behind."
Her brows crease with confusion, then her eyes widen. "You're still going after G, aren't you?" she breathes, voice brittle at the accusation.
"No, I'm not. I haven't even seen Ada yet... Listen," I grab her bare arm, feeling how hot and soft her skin is. Gripping gently, "Annette... Annette told me everything," I admit. If I thought she'd looked sad before, it's worse after that. "I'm... I'm so sorry for doubting you, Madeleine. I just... I was trying..."
"To keep everyone safe," she cuts me off, but not bitterly like I would've thought. She nods, "If I were in your shoes, I would've done the same thing," a shadow crosses her face.
YOU ARE READING
The 0714 Files: File #1 Inferno (Remake 2)
Terror"I think you're going to learn a lot of things about this city and the people that you won't want to." Madeleine Sówka has spent the last twelve years of her life believing she knows what monsters look like. They are the people who hide in the backg...
