Atlas (A Selection/Hat Films Fanfiction)

~ Thirty Seven ~

"Good evening gentlemen!" I started when I saw the guards stop at the end of the hallway and give me suspicious looks. I had managed to escape Turp's room undetected after he had convinced the guards to come with him to the garden, but as I was passing the infirmary, I ran into a patrol of two guards. "Or morning, I guess!" I giggled, trying to come off as innocent as possible, "I was just headed to the. . . infirmary!" I jerked my thumb at the infirmary doors, even though I had clearly passed them.

They started walking closer to me, and I bit my lip and considered running when I heard the infirmary doors open. I turned to see Alex, whose face twisted into a sneer when he saw me.

"Of course, it's you," he moaned, throwing his hands up, "Don't you ever sleep?"

I scoffed, not worried about the guards anymore now that he was here. "I could be asking you the same question!" I barked.

He opened his mouth to deliver a retort when his eyes went wide, and I heard the guards behind me start to sprint towards us. "That's him!" I heard a shout behind me.

Alex didn't wait for me to turn around or react, he just grabbed my arm and dragged me forward as he broke into a run. I was glad I was wearing flats, or I wouldn't have been able to keep up with him, and I was already tripping on my skirts.

He stopped abruptly after we had winded around multiple hallways, trying to lose them or at least put some distance between us. I ran into his back and he nearly doubled over, wincing.

"What are you doing?" I demanded.

"Atlas," he warned, running his hands along the paneled wall, "I know every guard in this castle, and they had on green and black headban-"

A deafening warning bell was frantically rung, cutting him off. Alex found what he was looking for and pressed his hand on the wall; a small square pressed in where his hand was and one of the panels popped open, startling me. Alex threw it open all the way and pushed me inside, nearly knocking me down the stairs that were there.

I quickly followed the stairs as I heard the prince close the upper door and flick on a light switch. The bottom of the stairs opened into a dull, concrete room, and I groaned as I walked through a spiderweb.

"What is this?" I asked, wiping my face with my hand.

"It's an old panic room - we don't really use these anymore," he explained, stepping up behind me as he reached the bottom of the stairs, "It was used before the rebellions started. It's not as secure as the new ones, but we didn't have much of a choice." His voice was stilted and tense.

"How did you know it was here?" I wondered, absently looking around and seeing four bunked beds and a long counter with a sink and a dusty first aid kit as the only features.

"My brother's and I know every inch of this castle," he muttered, his voice echoing in the hallway, "we used to play in the tunnels and hidden rooms."

"So. . . what do we do?" I asked, turning to look at him.

There was an inner door at the landing of the stairs, and he swung a heavy metal bar down across it. "We wait," he said, spinning to face me, "and we hope that the palace guards can get rid of the Southerners. We have no clue how long that will take though, and how much longer they'll have to search the castle for us before they check here. Of the thousands of people that live and work here, it had to be you. . ." He mumbled the last sentence, but not low enough so that I wouldn't hear it.

My patience was already wearing thin. "You're lucky I'm here! Do you honestly think you could protect yourself if the rebels broke in here?" I hissed, "If anything, you're just a liability to me, I'm the one stuck here with you!"