The Untouchables

Chapter Thirty-two: Lynn

Everything felt scorching on my skin. Like when I went into the burning house all those weeks ago. Aggressive, sudden bursts of searing heat. I could barely open my eyes, and the small amount I could open them, I could only see a bright, angry, flaming scarlet.

Fire.

Where am I?

I had to escape, but I couldn't force my body to move enough to get to safety. I had feeling back in them, but they were still unsteady and stiff.

Despite not being able to pull my body up by myself, it felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I didn't know how I got to where I was, but as I was trapped in darkness, I felt weighted down and trapped. Even though I felt absolutely exhausted now, I felt free.

Sort of.

I still couldn't bring myself to stand. The only thing I could do was cling helplessly to Sage.

Luke?

I didn't know anymore.

Everything was still a bit fuzzy and I could hear people talking around me. I could barely make out what they were saying over the roar of the flames around me. I tried to keep my eyes at least somewhat open so I could be at least somewhat aware of what was happening, when Arlo picked me off of Sage, and carried me over to the large wooden doors where Gwen was waiting with an assault rifle in her hand, trained down the opposing hallways.

"Can you stand?" Arlo asked me as he set me down.

I nodded and he slowly took his supporting hand off of my shoulder. I immediately almost fell over, and Arlo came to my rescue and caught me.

He laughed a little. "Are you sure this time?"

I smiled. "Yeah." So he once again, carefully and slowly removed his hands holding me up. I wobbled a little, feeling a little better, so ultimately, I could stand and walk by myself.

Sort of.

I still leaned on the wall for support as Melody was finishing up with Sage. I couldn't tell exactly what she was doing, but I could see that it involved bandages.

As I was still regaining my full consciousness, I saw a massive shadow stalking us from behind the wall of flames. It turned its head towards me, flashing two gleaming red eyes. Startled, I backed up trying to get away from whatever just looked at me.

Arlo caught me as I slipped in my attempt to back up from whatever was behind the fire. "What's wrong? Are you ok?"

The shadow's gaze sent chills down my spine. It was unnatural and terrifying. It gave me the same feelings when the mysterious fluid was injected into me earlier, before it sent me into a coma. It felt like it was the embodiment of darkness, like everything I'd ever been afraid of was standing twenty feet away. But as quickly as I saw it, it vanished.

"What's wrong?" Arlo repeated.

I breathed a shaky sigh of relief once it disappeared. "Nothing. I'm fine." He looked at me incredulously, but didn't ask anything else.

After Melody finished with Sage, she helped him over to where we were and where Gwen was standing guard.

Sage had two rolls of bandages wrapped around his abdomen, with a massive line of blood seeping through some of the bandage.

"Glad we found you." Gwen smirked. "You didn't think I wasn't going to tell them exactly where you were going, did you?"

Sage rolled his eyes, grunted in pain, and pressed his arm to his stomach. Gwen smirked again at his pain. "Nevermind that. Let's get the two of you out of here."