Breathe

Chapter 49 - Forget-Me-Not

 All of a sudden, I heard a beeping sound. Like a countdown or something. So I stopped, and looked around for the source. The others, noticing that I had stopped, also stopped.

"Adair, what are you doing?"

"Don't you hear that?" I asked, turning to them, my bobbed hair swinging past my shoulders. Pointing to where Al and Phil went, I said, "I think it's coming from over there. We should check it out."

Axel sighed. "Esmae, we don't have time for that—we need to find the others and see if they have killed the King or found Princess Evangeline."

Standing my ground, I huffed, "Well, sorry for thinking that it's more important that we check on our friends first before we rush out. Who knows? Maybe they're both dead or something!"

Luckas sighed. But giving in, he said, "Fine. We'll check up on them."

I grinned and jumped into the air. Yeah, Esmae strikes again!

Leading the way, I skipped into the room. I felt my throat tighten at the sight of all the bodies, but I kept it down. I've already seen enough today... this can't be that bad. Right? Right. Keep telling yourself that. Anyway, ignoring them, I noticed that the sound was coming from a room up high, maybe to the right of the balcony?

Pointing at it, I said, "There—it has to be coming from there."

"Are you sure?"

Looking back, I nodded. "I'm positive. Besides, when has my hearing ever been that bad? It's not like it's as bad as Dani's hearing," I teased.

"God, way to rub it in," she said, her voice sounding a little annoyed. But by the way there was still a grin on her face, I knew it was okay.

Watching my step, I tiptoed over to the balcony and up the steps. Looking around, I saw no sight of Phil or Al, but I knew that they had to be here. After all, there weren't any other halls around here. From what I remembered being told earlier, the hallway to the ballroom was a dead end: kinda like the end of a story. Well, it did split at the balcony, but those rooms weren't really used for anything.

However, my suspicions hiked once I saw a green fog. It couldn't be. No... there was no mistaking it. Luckily, I had packed a few gas masks before we left and handed some to the others.

"Better safe than sorry," I told them. They nodded in agreement.

Then, with weapons in hand, we went into the room. It was cold—colder than any of the other rooms. It was almost as if they had used this as a place to refrigerate meat before or something.

Once I got into the room, I immediately noticed the machine and the two bodies huddled in front of it. One was on the ground while the other was lying on top of it as if it was covering it. Carefully, I walked over to them. Then, with the butt of my gun, I nudged the man on top. Slowly, he looked back at me. My eyes widened.

"Phil?"

His hair had whitened, and his eyes looked a sickly red. His clothes were looser than normal and from what I could see in the gas, he was now just skin and bones. It was as though all his muscle had ~magically~ faded, and left just this: a shell of Phil.

Grabbing his arm, I put it on my shoulder. Dani and Axel came up, too, and helped me pick him up. Then, he revealed just exactly who he was lying on top of. My heart immediately stopped.

Alastair.

Alastair was there.

Alastair wasn't moving.