Bleeding Crown (Red Queen 4 Fanfiction)

Chapter 21

As promised, a Friday update! For those of you sticking with my story, I really appreciate it. Next chapter's going to get REAL intense. As alway, please star and comment about what you do/ don't like about Bleeding Crown.

Enjoy! "Not a god's chosen, but a god's cursed. That's what we all are."

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Mare

Before administering the antidote, I plunge one of the syringes into my thigh, to be certain it's the correct medication. As the needle hits my skin, I bite back a cry of pain, cutting my tongue. For a moment I kneel on the floor, waiting for my lightning to return.

As I kneel, with clenched teeth and closed fists, the sore leg muscle seems to bring back past recollections of old wounds. When I was stabbed in the stomach when assisting Scarlet Guard member's escape from the castle, Maven's torture device, the clicker slowly ravaging away at every muscle, bone and, nerve in my body. And countless scrapes, burns, and cuts from battles and training sessions.

All of this pain, from a single syringe, comes flooding back to me. But perhaps the misery is not caused by the metal point that pierced my flesh. Perhaps, the pain was caused by seeing all these powerless and sickly individuals, so weakened by the experiments and cruelty they've been put through. Or maybe, I feel the pain because I have been reminded once again, Maven is a monster. And all it took for me to go over the edge, was a single, thin syringe needle.

I won't let him hurt me any longer, I convince myself as I feel little sparks dance through my veins. Raising my hand, I watch as tiny flares of lightning bounce off my hand and down onto the glossy cream colored tiles lining the floor. The cure worked.

I steel myself emotionally and then stand from my position on the floor. Taking one of each dose I hesitantly walk into the first room parallel to the restricted section. "This might hurt," I tell a woman who looks to be in her fifties. "But I dought you want to stay in here another day," I joke. She gazes in my direction, but yet has a foggy look to her eyes, as though I'm transparent, and is only watching the ghostly white wall behind me.

I jab each of the needles into her arm and push down on the syringes. Nearly immediately, the lady jerks up into a sitting position, ripping her arm free of the chain that was binding her to the metallic table. Strongarm. This time when she looks at me, her eyes are clear and focus on my pupils. "Mare Barrow, the Little Lightning Girl. Thank you, you saved my life," she says with heavy gratitude in her voice. "I assume you're freeing all of us. What can I do to help?"

"Well I see you're a strongarm, can you remove everyone's handcuffs?" I ask, already feeling bad for putting the woman, who looks so weathered by the world to work. "Come on, we don't have much time."

*****

Around five minutes later, I've woken the eight prisoners who had resided in the hall, including Ella. "Just a few hours ago, I discovered this horrid wing of the palace, where Ella, my training partner, and friend from the Scarlet Guard had imprisoned," I began to speak to everyone around me, struggling to explain what was happening to them, without wasting escape time. "The experiments they've been performing on you, are attempts to permanently rob you of your abilities. But by the looks of it, none of you had been on the medication long enough for it to do any damage. I wasn't planning on helping all of you escape tonight, but when I saw you all, I knew I had to."