Saving Annabel

Chapter 3

         

What I should have done is turned around and hid. What I definitely should not have done is stand there, frozen like a complete idiot. But that's what I do. Like someone who has just seen a ghost.

The man's back grows rigid as he senses another person in the room.

My breath hitches. Before I can consider a hiding place, his dark figure turns around to face me. A shadow is cast across his face.

My mouth opens but nothing comes out. I want to ask him why he's in the nursery so late, but my mouth won't function properly.

He then takes out a knife and points it straight at me.

His voice comes out in a hoarse whisper. "Go back where you came from and don't tell anyone anything."

I stand there dumbfounded. He's not going to report me?

The Officer waves the knife in his hand again. "I swear to God, I will kill you!" The last sentence comes out as a wrangled cry.

The man's stance is rigid and menacing, but I don't get the same sense from him as I got before. His eyes are wild and scared and I notice the slight shake of his hand.

"What did you not understand? I said leave!" He takes a terrifying step forward.

My heart jumps in my chest and I back up a few steps.

"LEAVE!"

I hesitate for a second before turning around and running for the entrance.

I'm about to flee from the infirmary when I hear the baby's cry. Immediately after its outburst, it becomes muffled. My heart jumps to my throat.

I peek my head around the corner just in time to see him leave through the medicine room. I hurry over to where he was standing. The baby is gone.

I frantically look around the room. The other babies are safe in their cribs. Why did he take this one?

Without thinking, I enter the seven digits and follow where he went into the medicine room.

Inside, everything is normal. The man is nowhere in sight and the medicine cabinets are the same way they were a week ago. There's only one door in this entire room I know of. Only one place he could have disappeared to, but that would have been impossible.

He must have gone somewhere else which means that there must be another hidden door I hadn't noticed before.

I turn around in a circle. There must be something behind one of these medicine cabinets.

I push the one nearest to me to the side. Nothing. Just wall. I try another, and again, nothing. I look back around the room. If there was a secret door behind one of these cabinets, surely there would have been some sort of scuff marks, right? From just pushing the cabinet one inch forward and back, a small scratch had formed. And yet there are no scratch marks anywhere on the floor. No evidence to notice that something has been moved.

So what if he had escaped through the door? That wouldn't make any sense. It leads to the outside. It'd be a suicide mission!

Unless...

Before I know what I'm doing, I hurry to the back of the room and turn the corner. This hallway only leads to one door. When I reach it, I hesitate. The sign above the door reads CAUTION! DO NOT ENTER!

What if the outside actually isn't toxic? No, it's stupid to even consider it.

But it's possible.

I probably shouldn't open the door. I probably should just turn back. At this point, I'm trying the potentially lethal door based on a hunch. But the curiosity is killing me. There's a chance the air isn't as toxic as the government makes it sound. Or maybe this door doesn't actually lead outside after all. There could easily be another secret medicine room I didn't know of before. What if it holds a cure for my sister's seizures or memory loss?

But there is the chance I'm wrong and the man had escaped through a hidden door. But it's very unlikely. I've been in that room at least a hundred times and never once have I noticed anything out of order.

I take a deep breath and put my hand on the metal handle, pushing down. There's a hiss as the door opens.

Inside there's an elevator with only one button. Up.

I've come this far. If it really does lead outside, then I have ten minutes to turn back before the toxicity kills me.

I push the button and the elevator opens seamlessly. As soon as I enter, the doors immediately close behind me, setting me on edge.

The elevator is equipped with technology I've never seen before. The walls are made up of shiny glass cut into the shape of diamonds. The floor and ceiling are colored gold.

A lady dressed in red appears on a wall.

"Welcome." She says. "You are about to enter government headquarters. We must take a screening."

Before I can begin to understand what she's talking about, blue lights flood the space. I turn around in alarm.

"Analyzing."

Then there's a deafening alarm as the blue lights turn red.

"Error."

I stare at the lady in shock as her image blinks out. A sudden coldness hits my core.

"Unidentified person in lock. Entering emergency mode."

My eyes bounce around the elevator frantically as I back up from the flashing screen. What do they mean unidentified person? I can feel my heart speed up as my adrenaline spikes. The Officers are sure to find me here.

An exit. I need to find an exit.

I frantically look around the elevator for a way to escape. The walls are glass. Even though they're not transparent I might be able to break through. I don't stop to think about what could be on the other side. I just need to get out. I can feel my breaths getting shorter.

I turn to face the nearest wall through blurry eyes. I muster up enough strength to bring up my leg and swing at the wall.

It does nothing. Not a single crack. And now a searing pain is setting off little fireworks in my heel.

Red lights flash around me. I look down at my hand through fuzzy eyes to see them reflecting the glowing red of the rest of the small space. My lungs tighten and start to burn. I've felt this sensation once before; when I nearly suffocated in the collapse three years ago.

They're suffocating me. Whoever is doing this is trying to kill me.

Suddenly my legs buckle and my body hits the cold surface. All I can feel is the pounding in my head and the ringing in my ears. My lungs convulse as I gasp for the air my starving lungs need.

I stare at my cloudy red reflection as I wait for the darkness to consume me. This is how I will die. Suffocated on the floor of an elevator. My last thoughts are of Annabel as my body becomes slack and black dots blur my vision. Finally, the darkness takes me with it.

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