Don't Look Back! Part 2

Chapter Twenty-Six: Too Close

Opening her eyes, Marina found herself in eternal darkness. Not a person in sight, no light. She stood still, listening in the hopes of finding out where she was or where Gally had gone. She hoped he had followed her, but neither seeing nor hearing him, panic arose in her. What if the guards caught him, what would they do to him?

Then something came to her, a feeling of someone being near, walking past her. A heartbeat, loud and fast as if chased, then quieter, far away.

She followed the heart beat through the dark what felt like an eternity, but at some point it grew weaker, then a scream reached her, but it sounded to muffled and distant, she could not make out what it meant.

"Hello?" Marina shrug when the wave of her voice resulted in a line of light shooting across the ground and forming a path for her to walk on. "Is anyone there?" Another string of light illuminated the darkness. Drawn by an old familiar feeling, Marina followed the small, narrow path along a stream as it sounded towards a dark spot.

"Light" Marina yelled out and at once the darkness around her gave sight to a beautiful city. The city of Light, Gally Marina hurried through the streets, past trees and parks, over a river and towards a building she recognised. Gally? Her eyes wandered across the hallway in search of the room he had once shown her, and then she found it. A room, made for a young boy, a teddy bear on the bed and some race cars on the floor.

But no Gally. A tear rolling over her cheek, she took the teddy bear and pressed it against her chest. The legs crossed, she sat on the bed and cried. Hours passed until she found the will to rise from her position, her body aching, when her eyes fell to a small tag on the bear. Jack, it read. She smiled as she held the bear close to her and headed out of the room.

She had to save him, Gally, Jack, Newt, Thomas, all of them. WICKED was evil, is evil. And she needs to protect her friends, bring them to the city of light. The dried tears leaving light lines of salt on her skin, Marina stepped outside the building and walked the street back to the fountain where Aris once hurt his arm. Aris. She remembered, and soon, she kept walking and remembered more, and more, all the way back to her mother that left her in the hands of WICKED, like her brother, who they had thrown into a maze to test something.

The longer Marina stood next to the tree, the less she felt the anger that had built inside her, nor did she feel the pain of losing anyone. A comfortable feeling grew inside her, and she dropped the teddy bear to the ground, sat onto the warm soft grass and had a pear, so sweet and delicious, she forgot about what had happened. She forgot why she had come here. Marina felt save, at ease, at home.

***

All the time she had spent in the city of light, she used it to build up the rooms, make them comfortable for when Newt and Gally and the others would arrive, she did not know when, but they would come, she knew that, she felt it. Like a tugging on her heart that pulled her away from the city... Perplexed Marina followed the strange feeling and walked over grass and cobble stone towards the fountain and along a path that grew darker the longer she walked until she reached ground that had been burnt. Broken gems lay all around, small shimmering lights on the burnt grass and the smell of something she had smelled before.

A sudden wind grew around her and in front of her feet the ground shook and released a wave of red and blue, green and purple and all the colours Marina had ever seen in her life, turned them into a swirl and within a glimpse, Marina felt someone pull her through the swirl into another place.

"Hey, you okay?" A voice came from her side.

Confused, Marina had a look around to see cold, white walls, metal doors and long hallways in either direction. "No" she breathed, her head spinning around, looking for someone she missed, but did not know why or who. He had held her hand, for sure, but where did he go? "I don't, I don't,- what's going on?"

"Hey, breathe. It will be okay" The boy stepped closer. His arm on her shoulder, he smiled. "I know you, don't I? You were with that tall dude, what's his name?"

"I don't know" Tears streamed down her cheeks. "I don't remember"

"Yeah, whatever, let's go back to work, they'll miss us soon" With those the boy turned around and walked a few steps before stopping. His eyebrows furrowed as he turned back and had a look at her. "Are you coming?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Thomas, who are you?"

Still as a statue, she glanced in either direction of the hallways. At the end of the hall, she noticed a door, badly put back into place, the hinged charred, but no one bothered to put them back into place the correct way, or exchange them for new ones. "I'm Marina. Where am I?"

"Are you sure you are okay?" Thomas took Marina's hand and walked with her back up the stairs to the quarters. In the bathroom, he leant against the wash basin and watched as Marina splashed her face with water, the head leant over the rim of the basin as the water rushed down the drain. "So, what were you doing down there? No one has been there since, well- it's been almost a year when-" Scratching his neck, Thomas pushed himself off the basin and turned off the tab, waiting for Marina to look at him. "Marina? Hey,"

"I was there, I saw it." Her hands began to shake as the memory returned. "They took him, Gally, where is he?"

Thomas shrug with his shoulders then placed his hand on her back. "The tall guy? Why?"

"WICKED. They are lying to us. They are not good. We have to stop them"

"I know" Thomas whispered, getting closer. "Is that where you were? Hiding from them?"

Shaking her head, the dark strands of hair fell into her face. She had not been in hiding, but preparing. With all her strength and will, she wanted the other world to be great for their arrival, for Gally's and Newt's and...Thomas. Her eyes darted to the kind face before her. Without another thought, she leant forward and hugged him. "Tommy"

His arms around her, Thomas rested his head on her shoulder and took a deep breath. "It'll be fine, I promise"

In the corner of her eye, Marina noticed another person. A girl her age, dark hair, but when she lifted her head to see better, the girl had vanished. "Tommy, they saw us, she saw me" Marina whispered.

His glance following Marina's Thomas took her hand and led her out of the bathroom and across another corridor. "I know someone who can help, if we can get you to them, we can take down WICKED, but you have to trust me"

"Okay, thank you, Tommy" A smile on her lips, Marina followed Thomas along another corridor, her eyes on her surroundings as the sound of people came closer.

His arm around her, Thomas nodded and walked through a door. "Stay close, and don't say a word"

However when they entered the room, several soldiers awaited them, in the corner of her eyes Marina noticed the girl, but she hurried out of sight and the soldiers pointed their weapons at Thomas and Marina while someone came up from behind her and pressed a syringe into her neck.