Beyond the Walls

Chapter 26

"Why are we here?" one boy asks. He looks a few years younger than me, with curly sandy hair.

"As you know, Edward Mallory potentially exposed each one of you to the drown virus," I say, drawing in a breath and collecting my wits. "Each of you will be asked to get a blood test so that we can see who most at risk is and set up a care programme for you."

"You mean a hospice until we die," the same boy counters back.

I sigh, biting the inside of my cheek. "Look, Luna died from the drown. The virus is likely among us and we want to reduce the number of causalities. I apologise for not being the hero that you all need with everything pre-planned. I'm just an impulsive girl from the Convex sector and I will do my best to help you all."

There is a buzz of chatter which dissipates when Ajax steps up next to me, offering a warm smile to the escapees. "Okay, so I will call you each up one at a time for a routine blood test by our physician Ruben Chander." He pauses, glancing down at the clipboard in front of him. "Orion Duke," he reads.

The curly haired boy stands reluctantly, hands balled at his sides, lip curled. He skulks forward and follows me down the hallway to Ruben's consult room. Just as we arrive, Orion turns around and his eyes meet mine, narrowing. "Some of your people aren't happy with you."

"What do you mean?"

"You've created a problem for yourself. You're no longer the dearly beloved hero, Elle."

That's when Ruben opens the door, wearing a white coat and a beaming smile, which leaves his eyes when he notices the confusion on my face.

"Orion Duke, right?" he asks, keeping on task.

"Yes," he replies.

Ruben gestures for him to enter and as Orion crosses the threshold, he pauses before following him in. His gaze locks with mine and he tilts his head questioningly. I shake my head just enough to let him know I'll tell him later.

"Okay, Orion, how are you today?" he merges right back into a physician and closing the door behind him.

Drawing in a breath and gathering my wits, I spin around and march back to Ajax in the waiting room. I tap his shoulder.

"Hey, can I talk to you in private?" I whisper, keeping my gaze hardened. He nods once and leads me out of the waiting room and down the hall of the research wing of the palace. Ajax opens the door to a room, and we cross the threshold. At once, I realise that Ajax has brought me to the room where Doctor Hatchman took my blood for the second time after the first test came back inconclusive. The mirrors covering the left walls give it away.

"Okay, what's up?" Ajax says voice lowered.

"The first patient, Orion Duke, said something to me just as I delivered him to Ruben," I say, absently fiddling with my hands.

"Well, what did he say?"

"He told me that I've created a problem and implied that people don't like me anymore," I hesitate with my words, unsure how to place them.

Ajax ponders for a few beats and then says, "Well, he's only been in the Floodgates a few days. I can't imagine he's heard much."

I gnaw on the inside of my cheek thoughtfully. "He might have heard things in the Red Movement, or perhaps word spread to his city."

"It's likely that people are afraid you've brought the virus back in a number uncontainable."

I glance at my reflection in the mirror, briefly remembering the first time I stood in front of this wall when I was an angry, hot-headed mess trying to rebel against Lord Sneya. Looking back at Ajax, who stares at me carefully, I say, "Do you think I did the right thing, getting those people out of the Red Movement and bringing them here?"

He bites his lip, chest puffing out as he draws in a deep breath. "I see why you did it at the time, you were just trying to help those people."

"But do you think I did the right thing, Ajax?" I press, heat creeping into my cheeks. "I need to know."

He sighs heavily. "Yes and no, Elle. As I said, you did the right thing helping those people. However, it may have caused us a huge problem."

Glancing back at my reflection, I smooth down my curls and sigh. "We should probably head back to the waiting room."

Ajax nods and we head back to the waiting room, only to find Ruben hastening down the hallway. "He has it," Ruben says. "Orion Duke has the drown."

Ajax curses. "Have you told him?"

"Not yet." He runs a hand through his hair and his jaw clenches nervously.

"Okay, let's keep it quiet until everyone has been tested," Ajax says firmly. "That way we can determine the scale of the problem. In the meantime, we should keep him quarantined."

Ruben nods and turns on his heel, marching back to his consult room. The hours pass by painfully slowly. One by one, I lead each person in the waiting room to Ruben's consult room. Of the 55 escapees, Ruben determines that 41 of them have the drown virus.

---

Later that evening, after settling each infected person into a separate room in the research wing, Ajax, Ruben and I finally go to our rooms for the evening. Ruben manages to fall asleep quickly that night, but my mind is a whirlwind of thoughts and for once, the warmth of his chest doesn't coax it to silence. Pressing a gentle kiss to his bare shoulder and then his forehead, I shift out of the bed and quietly pull some clothes on. I step into my shoes, deciding that a brief walk around the garden under the stars might help.

Closing the door behind me and pacing down the hall and through the dimly lit palace, I wonder what we are going to do to these...let's face it, sick people. Do we just provide them comfort until they ultimately die a violent death? Seems ironic. Or do I reach out to Edward Mallory to see if we could work together to save these people?

By now, I've reached the gardens. The sliver of the moon casts fingers of light onto the flowers and hedges, forming haphazard shapes across the grass paths. In the otherwise silent night, my ears pick up the distinct sound of a pair of footsteps. That's when someone slams heavily into me, knocking me to the ground. The assailant grapples to pin me to the grass but I struggle against them. They wear entirely black attire, including a mask that covers their head. As I attempt to throw my knee into their stomach, they slam my shoulders into the ground, locking me in place with their weight and ceasing my movements with a knife to the throat. Furrowing my brow, I scrutinise the brown eyes through the slits in the mask.

"Who are you?" I ask, feeling the tickle of the blade on my skin.

They don't respond. The brown eyes bore into my own.

"Fine, what do you want?" I press, feeling a shift in their weight on me and, at once, calculating a way out.

I thrust my knee upwards, slamming it into their crotch which sends the assailant yelling out and collapsing to the side, the blade narrowly missing my flesh. As they writhe in pain, I reach forward, grip the top of his mask and yank it off his head.

The tell-tale ginger hair makes me gasp.

Killian.

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Thank you so much for being so patient, life has been crazy and stressful lately. So I hope you enjoyed this extra long chapter. Let me know what you think! 

~ Emma