Mother

I

Never in her life had Dr. Annette Jennifer Birkin felt more distant from her own body.

Everything around her was becoming more and more blurry, so blurry it was easier for her to just squeeze her eyes shut than to fight the waves of nausea washing over her when they were open. She knew just enough to be aware of her daughter screaming back at Claire to hurry. Claire, the young woman carrying her now. Every so often, she felt hyper aware of her body weak and limp against the young woman's muscular arms, only to feel separated and numbed from the acute pain in her side only a few seconds later. Ten minutes. How much of that time had passed? Ten minutes. There were ten minutes to get out of the laboratory facility. How long did they have? Her head was beginning to pound so badly against her skull that Annette was almost sure the time had already passed, or would be soon. She wasn't sure. She couldn't tell. Ringing. The heavy rhythm of running footsteps. Yelling. Shrill cries of the alarm system. All of it. A cacophony of sound, a complete attack on the senses, and nothing short of horrible. Too warm. Too cold. Every other minute, it seemed, the temperature of her body changed and she felt worse. When her eyes opened at the awful screeching of metal against metal as a piece of the ceiling behind them fell in, she could have sworn she was about to die.

She didn't.

It wasn't just Annette who felt as though they would be overtaken by the noise around them, no matter how far away from the noise they got. Her body feeling weaker and weaker as she tried to keep going, carrying Annette, knowing she could not leave her behind. Not with Sherry. Not when she had a child who needed her. Claire tightening her hold around Annette, her breathing more and more constricted when she met Sherry outside of the laboratory building. The sirens of the alarm system still blaring, she felt sick, about ready to puke, but relieved when she stumbled over to an abandoned police car just a few feet away from the entrance. Hands clenched around the key Claire had given her, Sherry pulled open the door and held it open to give Claire as much space as possible to help get her mother safely into and strapped into the police car. The second she was secure, Sherry, shaking badly, hugged her mother before opening one of the doors to the back of the car, all but diving into it and curling into herself the second after she buckled herself in. Barely able to breathe, Claire collapsed on the ground mere seconds after she closed the passenger side door. The screeching of the alarm system seemed to get louder.

She forced herself up off the ground.

Snatching the key to the car off the ground where Sherry had dropped it, Claire clenched it in her hands and rushed around to the other side of the car, darting into the driver's seat. Jamming the key into the ignition, slamming the door shut, and clicking the seatbelt on, and swiftly pulling out from the area. Her mind wouldn't stop rushing, either; the speed of the car and the speed of her mind seemed almost aligned. There was one hospital in the area still open, according to Leon, who had apparently gotten the word from Ada. Claire gritted her teeth. Ada. She's sketchy as hell. And Sherry seems terrified of her. What's her deal? Who is she, really? She glanced at the speedometer. 95 MPH. She slowed down a little. She tried not to think too hard about how uncomfortable and pained Annette sounded, mumbling every so often to her and Sherry. Hands tightening around the steering wheel, Claire tried to tune it out, focus on where she was going. The hospital building began to tower and materialise out from the shadows. The sky was only just beginning to become light, and it was hazy. The entire city was hazy. She could still smell smoke, and she was sure the flames rising up farther and farther behind her were from the laboratory. The second she saw light coming from inside the hospital as she pulled into the ER reception, relief began blooming in her chest. Cutting the ignition, she didn't bother to care she was in the fire lane.

"Is my mom –" Sherry called after Claire when she jumped out of the car.

"I'm fine, Sherry," Annette mumbled, dark spots marring her vision. She began shaking when Claire pulled her out of the car. "I love you, baby."