Unmarked

28. Escape

Continuing to move forward, I don't dare utter a sound. Crawling through the darkness, I ignore the image of Teddy dressed as an Official and focus on escaping.

My breath is laboured. My body aches. My thoughts are confused and heavy. Part of me would like to believe it's the effect of the drugs which made me imagine Teddy. For once, I wish I wasn't such a realist.

"I think we're at the room. Be careful there's a slight drop," Grey whispers.

The confined space opens up disorientating me. My hands reach out, grappling for something to grab hold of and steady me. My fingers brush firm warm material.

Grey coughs and his hand interlocks with mine. "It may be safer to hold hands."

"Why?"

"Let's just say I don't think you meant to grab me there."

"Maybe. Maybe not," I whisper. "That's the great thing about it being dark, I could get away with lots of things and pretend it was an accident."

"Are you flirting at a time like this?"

"More trying to distract us from the fact there are a room full of Officials very near," I respond.

Grey's hand tightens around mine as we shuffle forward, knocking into several boxes and pieces of furniture.

"Thanks for snapping me out of it back there." Grey pauses before adding quietly. "The sight of Officials brought up some repressed memories."

I could say I understand exactly how he feels. Gloria's body laying motionless on the floor, the faint metallic smell of blood and the Official are all features of a not so distant real-life nightmare I'm haunted by daily. Get a grip, don't think about that night. Instead, I respond, "Anytime. Thanks for shoving me on the floor behind the bar. A sore butt is definitely preferable to the alternative."

I sound to calm as though this is normal. Officials storming in and killing people is just an average everyday occurrence. It's not. They killed Gloria who tried to stop Lena from exposing me. Why would Gloria try to protect me?

"Are you ok?" Grey says, stopping abruptly causing me to bump into him hard.

My breathing is rapid, my heart thumping in my ribcage. I'm not ok. I've been responsible for too many deaths. Now, I might be the cause of Gloria's.

"Gloria was shot. She's dead," I blurt out.

"Shit." He squeezes my hand gently. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Cady."

Grey doesn't understand. Death is nothing new to me.

"We need to find the ladder," Grey says.

"How do you know this will lead us to the outside?" I ask.

"Gloria told me about it."

"Why did you tell me originally there was no way out? If you had told me earlier I could have escaped days ago." I feel the anger rise up inside me.

Why would he keep this a secret? He knew I wanted to leave. I tug my hand out of his. All the humiliation, the events of last night could have been avoided if he had told me about this route days ago.

"I didn't know about it until Gloria told me about it two evenings ago. I was trying to find the right time to tell you."

"And when would that have been? Tonight, when I'm naked and being auctioned off to the highest bidder?' I hiss.

"I was going to tell you yesterday but the guards were always within earshot or we got interrupted. I decided I'd do it as we were closing but last night happened and you couldn't even walk.' Grey's voice sounds urgent, apologetic but I can't see his face, can't judge whether what I'm hearing is supported by his expression.