Death After Death (#2)

Chapter Thirty

"Where the hell are we going?" Lizzie whispered harshly.   

"Please, just trust me and keep your voice down," Saunders snapped back.

"Are we going to get out of here, Lizzie?" Sky whimpered from a metre or so further back.

"Just stay close," Lizzie replied.

Saunders raised a finger to his lips to reinforce his earlier instruction, then continued to sprint down to the end of the corridor. The soles of their shoes slapped against the stone floor, the noise clapping its way around the gaping corridors. They wanted to be as sneaky and subtle as possible, but that had to work in tandem with some sense of urgency.

Anyone nearby would surely investigate the racket, but if Saunders had timed it right, there wouldn't be anyone nearby at all.

Saunders skidded to a halt at a kind of T-junction in the corridor. He pressed his back hard against the left-hand wall, urging for Lizzie to do the same. While he caught his breath, he slowly and carefully edged his way nearer to the corner, poking his head around just long enough to scout out what lay ahead.

The coast was clear, and with a quick glance down in the opposite direction, the Doctor was satisfied enough to make another break for it.

With a beckoning swing of the arm, he signalled for Lizzie to follow, but he never took his eyes off the way ahead; not for a second. If someone was to happen upon them, he wanted every tiny morsel of time possible in which to react. Their main escape route was mapped out in his head, but he'd also spent days planning out tens of back up routes or last-ditch ways out. Every eventuality was considered.

Saunders had always told himself, convinced himself even, that he only worked for Joey because he had to. In a choice between living or dying, he had to try and stay alive, after all, his work only really revolved around a cure. He wasn't hurting anyone; not directly anyway. But now that he finally had an opportunity to do some good, to help these innocent prisoners escape, he had to try. He couldn't live with himself if he just brushed them under the carpet like everyone else.

"Please tell me you know where you're going," Lizzie begged yet again, agitated at the simple fact that she wasn't in control of her own fate.

"Trust me, it's all going to plan," Saunders reassured her.

Lizzie sighed with relief, her mind slightly more settled at the controlled calmness in the Doctor's voice.

Sky sobbed from Lizzie's side, "I'm scared, I just want to leave."

Lizzie smiled and nodded in agreement, before rubbing the younger girls back, ushering her forwards.

Saunders suddenly swerved to the right, slowing himself down just enough to silently ease a wooden door open, shutting it just as quietly once everyone was through.

Not pausing for a single breath or thought, Saunders pushed on, his mind instinctively rattling though his escape route without the need to ponder. He bound up a set of spiral stairs, leaping two or three at a time. Lizzie had to run at full pelt to keep up, ensuring to keep a tight fistful of Sky's top as she did so.

A few steps ahead, Saunders had reached their next door, creaking it open slowly; the thick, brown oak potentially masking their downfall. The coast was clear. Saunders leapt through, not breaking stride as he ran straight through an archway on the opposite side of the corridor.

Upon entering the room, Lizzie instantly gagged, he hands snapping across her nose and mouth, "Fucking hell! What is that smell?"

"You don't want to know," Saunders insisted, but Lizzie had already worked it out.