Armitage

Chapter 11 - One Step Too Far

Madeline wasn’t sure how long she had been asleep when a persistent noise roused her from her distressing dreams, but they were unpleasant enough that she was almost glad to be awake, until she remembered where she was and why she was there.

‘Madeline,’ came a whispered voice from somewhere behind her head. Turning sleepily on to her side she could just make out in the gloom a familiar shape standing at the bars of her cell.

‘Sebastian?’ she said groggily.

‘Yes, it’s me. I am sorry I could not get here sooner but I had to stop and pick up this.’ Madeline sat up and approached the bars, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she did so. When she could focus again she could see that Sebastian was holding a syringe.

‘What’s that for?’ she asked.

‘This,’ said Sebastian, holding up the glass vial that contained his compound.

‘Where did you…?’

‘Your bag was dragged to the street along with me, and I was relieved to find the compound inside. Now, quickly, roll up your sleeve.’

‘What, now? Someone might see.’

'Just expose your arm for me, they won’t see me.’

‘How come?’

‘Because they don’t expect to.’ Madeline leant towards the bars and looked down the corridor to see if anyone was coming, and as Sebastian began to draw the compound into the syringe a thought struck her.

‘Hey, wait a minute. You’ve tried this on vampires, right?’

‘Yes.’

‘How many humans have you tried it on?’ Sebastian said nothing as Madeline looked at him questioningly. ‘You’ve never tried it on a human before, have you?’

‘Not as such, no,’ he replied honestly.

‘So how do you know that stuff’s not going to kill me?’

‘I doubt it will.’

‘You doubt it will? You don’t know?’

‘You are, I regret, the first fully alive person I have administered this to.’

‘But what if it doesn’t work?’

‘It has to.’ Madeline weighed up her options for a moment, and, realising they were pretty slim, decided she had nothing to lose.

‘Okay, do it,’ she said, extending her arm. She winced slightly at the scratch of the needle before continuing. ‘We still have the problem of me being in here though. How am I supposed to get to Mason?’

‘He’ll come for you,’ said Sebastian, replacing the stopper on the glass vial.

‘He will? When?’ The sound of a door opening at the far end of the corridor distracted Madeline briefly and when she turned back Sebastian was gone.

‘Sebastian?’ she hissed to no reply. She quickly rolled her sleeve back down as one of the officers working the graveyard shift approached her cell.

‘We’ve just got a call from your brother, Miss Jameson, he’s on his way to see you.’

‘He is?’ The officer didn’t say anything in reply, but Madeline was more concerned with what she was going to say to Chris. How could she tell him all that had happened to her and have him believe it? She began pacing her cell once again and the time seemed to stretch out before her, but as soon as the door opened to the cell area she rushed to the bars to greet Chris.