Plague #OpenNovellaContest 2019

Chapter 16

There.

Rachel moves to the right as she steps forward, and I dash forwards, ducking under her unsheathed blade. I yell at the prick of pain I feel on my back that must be from the knife. It must be bleeding. I can imagine it soaking through the white cloth of my shirt.

I can feel Rachel's dead eyes watching me as I move through the stone hallway. And all I can think is run. Pure fear propels me forwards, pushing me around corners and constantly reminding me of the looming threat behind me.

Behind you. Behind you.

I need to turn around. I need to see where Rachel is. I need to know that she isn't just behind me with her knife held high. That she isn't about to plunge the blade deep into my back. Or to grab me while I kick and scream and drag me back to the labs where she can finish me slowly.

Behind you.

When the tears come, I fall apart. I'm a mess, and I can't see half a foot in front of me. My braids unravel and my hair falls in my face in thick tangled heaps. Tears and snot are getting in it, and I'm surprised to find that I don't care.

Run.

My whole life I've lived in this palace and I still don't know my way around it. All this unwanted space. What's the point of it all? I'm panting hard, turning stone corners and hoping and praying that I'll somehow reach the entrance.

Run.

If I die here, what will happen to Achain? To Ethan? With only a crazed, dying Red girl living in the palace, Achain will die. There will be more and more and more victims to the disease until only the dead and the sick will be left.

The truth is, I am the future of my country. If I die, it will die with me. But why? Why has this responsibility been placed on my shoulders? Why not someone more experienced? Someone smarter? Kinder? More courageous? Why did I have the horrible luck to be born to the Queen?

Run.

I'm afraid that I'm going to slam into a wall. I can hardly see, and I can't keep this running up forever. I'm tired. So tired. And I'm hungry, too. My mind wanders, and I remember how the cooks used to make me pancakes on my birthday every year, and the nice one with the red hair - I think her name was Cynthia - would always sneak me extra syrup behind Mother's back.

I want those pancakes now.

I want the comfort of Mother's arm around me when I wake up from a nightmare. I want the happiness brought with the bustle and life of the palace. The servants and cooks and maids and guards who would .

I want to be anywhere but here. Anywhere but here in the abandoned palace. I can hear the echoes of the dead, and it only makes me cry harder. The stone walls must be closing around me, because I can't breathe anymore. All I can see, hear, feel, is fear and longing and sadness and the horror of what's chasing me.

But I need to run.

Because if I die, my country dies.

I get an idea.

The sheer force of my idiocy causes me to stumble.

The quarantine.

It was made to hold Reds.

I'm sorry, Rachel.

I push the hair out of my face. Stop being weak. Use your fear to think.

Spinning on my heel, I dash forwards. I know that Rachel will be there, chasing me. And I need to be ready. Due to hundreds of visits during preparation for my Queenship, I can find the labs from anywhere in the palace. I just need to lead Rachel there, and I need to use the adrenaline from my fear to think instead of run.

Forcing my mouth to move, I call out, "Rachel!" My voice trembles, but at least I got the words out.

And there she is. I can hear the pounding footsteps and the heavy breathing, and it sets my heart racing and my blood pumping. But I can't just run. I need to make sure she sees me and knows where I am.

When Rachel comes around the corner with that empty walk and those crazed eyes, I am reminded of how real this is. I realize that I'm still sobbing.

"Rachel," I say, my voice hoarse. And then I turn and run. The labs aren't far. There are multiple ways to everywhere in the palace, and I know all of the paths to the labs. And to the quarantines. When I see those familiar black doors coming up, I pause for a moment. Make sure Rachel knows where I am. And as soon as I hear the pounding steps coming from around the corner, I shove open the doors and sprint in.

The cells where Mother kept Reds have special glass behind it, with a little room. The Red Catchers stands in that room and pricks themselves with the needle to attract the Red. The room is locked, so the Red finds the blood in the next best way, by walking into the cell and trying to break the glass. Of course, the glass is too strong for that. And by the time they realize that the lever has already been pulled and the cell door locked behind them. And that's how we trap them.

That's what I'm going to do to Rachel.

Throwing myself into the glass room, I heave with relief, nearly slamming into the opposite wall. I fumble with the lock, my hands shaking and my legs wobbling. My knees feel like jelly.

Even though I know I'm safe, when I see Rachel stumbling into the cell, I back up, trembling. It takes all my focus to pull the black lever on the wall and lock the cell door on Rachel. I can't stand this. Only yesterday all three of us were talking by the campfire. We were happy and everything was good.

Now look at us.

Oh god. I need to find Ethan.