DISCORDIA

[ 09 ] hands tainted

     "Atom," Bellamy said, his deep voice booming in the woodland hush that surrounded them. "You should know that Jin's a pathological liar."

     "Very funny," Atom finally said, rolling his eyes.

     A wide humorous smile broke out across Jinny's face as she looked back at him. It fell instantly and a look of horror took place, rooting itself deep in her eyes. Atom frowned and turned around to find tendrils of yellow mist snaking towards them at a rapid pace. Jinny cried out in alarm with a few obscenities falling from her lips. It managed to gain Bellamy's attention and he was then yelling for everyone to hide.

     "Jinny, run!" he yelled.

     She stumbled with panic, her brain not fully comprehending the sudden appearance of the thick mustard fog. Her nose caught a whiff of sulphur and chlorine, the resultant combination resembling the scent of garlic or horseradish. The acrid stench almost made her want to gag as she forced herself into a dash. Her heart pumped quickly, expelling more oxygen throughout her entire system as she tore through the undergrowth after Bellamy. Cold sweat trickled down her back as a thousand different scenarios of what that gas could do to them fought for dominance in her mind.

     Atom let out a pained cry behind her as he tripped and fell to the ground, the fog consuming him not more than two seconds later. "Jinny!" he called loudly while choking on the impure air. She stopped and whirled around to get him, allowing the dense yellow smoke to catch up with her immediately. Her eyes watered from the irritant particles that engulfed her body and her skin tingled on contact. Jinny quickly stumbled backwards in terror, stepping out through the edge of the brume. She coughed when fumes entered her lungs and she waved her hand in a feeble attempt to beat the mist away. It started to burn from the continued exposure as if she had soaked it in a chemical bath saturated with corrosive elements.

     "Jinny! Bellamy!"

     A foghorn sounded off in the distance, reverberating through the stone and branches. She felt a hand reach out to grab her from the side and Bellamy was pulling her urgently. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, bringing her through a hollow that led into a cave. Charlotte was already inside and she took Bellamy's hand as he walked by, urging them further down the passageway.

     Their footsteps echoed with every painful beat of her heart until they reached the end and Charlotte dropped onto the floor tiredly. Jinny leaned against the wall, feeling like she was ready to expel her entire stomach onto the ground as it churned uncomfortably. Bellamy took her hand, the one that had been dipped in fog, and held on tightly in an effort to stop the tremors. It hurt at even the slightest touch but pain was the farthest thing from her mind right then.

     "W-we left Atom," she whispered, her voice hoarse. "We left him out there... in... in that thing."

     "There wasn't anything that we could do," he told her quietly.

     She pulled her hand away, wincing as she did so, and examined it with consternation. Her palm was red with tiny darker dots to embellish it. The back of her hand tingled with a burning sensation and she felt like she had lost motor control over it. Bellamy looked at her worriedly before pulling out a piece of cloth from his pocket to wrap around her hand.

     "What the hell was that anyway?" he asked.

     "N-nerve damage," she stuttered before taking a shuddering breath. "That fog... it's lethal. Like some kind of chemical warfare bullshit."

     Jinny slid down the wall and planted herself on the ground with a weary sigh. Bellamy sat down beside her with a perplexed frown, glancing at Charlotte who seemed to have passed out from exhaustion. He turned back to her, their eyes meeting with matched anxiety, and he leaned in to stroke her hair soothingly.