𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄─𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞¹ (𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠)

51. horror

"I was afraid you weren't coming." Clarke whispered as she quietly shut the door behind me.

My eyes were darting around the room, ensuring none of the other patients were awake before I spoke, "I ran into Landen in the hall, he wanted to talk."

Clarke's eyes grew wide as she looked past me towards the door, "Did he see you come in here?"

I shook my head, "No, I made sure he was long gone before I came in."

"Good." Clarke nodded as she motioned for me to follow her further into the room, "Come look at this." she whispered.

I followed after her, repeatedly turning my head to check the door, ensuring that no one was coming in.

"Look." Clarke stated, pulling my attention away from the door. I looked at where we had stopped. We were in front of the bed of the guard with the burns-the one Clarke had said was practically healed. And now that I was here, I could see that she was right. His skin was no longer covered in blistering wounds but was clear and smooth.

Before I even had a chance to ask how something like that was possible, Clarke was speaking again, "He's receiving a blood transfusion, the weirdest part of this all is where the blood is coming from. There's not blood bag, it's being pumped in from somewhere." she explained, pointing to the IV that was attached to his chest.

I followed the tube, my eyes landing on a long pipe that ran the length of the room, "It's coming from there." I whispered, moving towards the source of the blood.

Clarke followed me and the two of us began to follow the pipe. We came to a stop at what seemed to be a large metal door. We shared a look before both trying to pry it open, but to no avail.

I let out an agitated sigh as I stepped back from the door, "What now?"

Clarke glanced around the room, trying to find another way out. Suddenly she came to a stop, her eyes trained on something, "There."

I followed her line of vision, my eyes landing on a vent. I looked over at her with wide eyes, "You want us to go through there?"

Clarke nodded as she moved towards it, "We don't have another choice. Now help me up."

A shaky breath escaped my lips as I stepped closer to her, "I hope you're right about this." I muttered as I cupped my hands together, allowing her to place her foot into them. A grunt escaped my lips as I hoisted her up, allowing her to unscrew the vent and pull it open.

"Hurry." I pleaded, feeling my arms begin to burn, "I skipped arm day today."

Clarke turned to look at me with a disapproving look at my attempt at comedic relief before she pulled herself into the duct. "Give me your hands and I'll pull you up."

I nodded as I reached my arms up, allowing Clarke to grasp onto my hands. As she pulled, I used my feet to climb up the wall to make it easier on her. As I reached the vent my feet began to flail, accidentally hitting a metal tray that went clattering to the ground.

Clarke and I both cringed as the noise echoed throughout the room. I turned to look back into the room. No one had woken up and no one had come to see what the noise was-yet. "Come on, we'd better hurry." I whispered.

After what felt like hours, but was actually only a matter of minutes, Clarke and I came to a stop at another vent, "I think this is it." she whispered.

We waited for a moment, making sure we hadn't arrived in the wrong room before Clarke began unscrewing the screws before pushing the vent cover off. She pulled herself out of the duct and I quickly hurried.