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Chapter 42

Jessie nodded, wide-eyed. The light was dim, but she looked like she was crying.

She looked like she was hyperventilating. She'd known Adam do the same in the past. She'd been able to help him then, but the situation was slightly different here. For one thing, she was trying not to panic herself. It did seem to be getting hotter, and the room they were in was very small. She knew that had no way of getting out quickly.

Fighting to keep a comforting expression, she put a hand on her shoulder. "I promise you, you're fine. Just breathe." She glanced over at the wall. "Should I open the window?"

"No."

"Fair point." She put her tranquilliser into her pocket and sat down beside the wall, before gesturing that Jessie sit next to her. "Hey, you're safe for a few minutes, right? Shall we talk about something nice?"

"I... What is nice? Nothing here is nice. In fact..." She drew a shaky breath. "Many things right now are very very not nice."

"Tell me about animals," Quinn replied, pulling her closer. In the past, whenever Adam had started panicking over something, she'd told him to recite the last thing he'd read. Hopefully it would work the same with Jessie. "I bet some of them are nice."

She paused. "In Australia, there is a marsupial called a quokka. They always look like they're smiling. They're nice."

Quinn laughed. "They sound it. What do they look like?"

"They are cat-sized, and they have big noses and ears. They're... They're herbivorous, and they sleep in bushes. They sleep in the day."

"That's great." Quinn grinned reassuringly. "What other animals do you know about?"

"Spotted salamanders. The book I read didn't say much about them, but they are pretty. And they can undergo photosynthesis. They're like a plant."

She stroked her hair affectionately and kept her close. "I've been told I'm like a plant."

She tilted her head slightly. "No... You're more like... The... The hog-nosed bat. It is the world's smallest animal, and... And it is nicknamed the 'bumblebee bat.'" She looked up, before giggling nervously. "That one is like you. Small."

"You're smaller."

"I know."

Quinn laughed again, feeling herself relax too. "Are they your favourite animals that you know about?"

"No... My favourite animals are rats."

Quinn put an arm around her shoulder. She remembered talking to Adam about animals when they were both much younger. He'd liked them too. "Why's that?"

"Well, I -"

They heard footsteps outside the room.

Quinn hurried away from her and towards the door, gesturing over at a storage closet near the edge of the room. She wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. Not after what she'd told Luke. Pressing her back against the wall behind the door, she braced herself.

The door opened and she heard the person enter the room. For a few seconds, they looked around the room. Quinn waited to see if they'd turn back and see her, but he didn't. He seemed to be turning to leave.

Quinn took her tranquilliser out of her pocket, trying hard not to panic. Panicking now would make everything much worse. They'd gotten lucky.

The gun slipped through her fingers and fell to the carpet. Mentally cursing, she resolved to wait for the footsteps to fade before taking any risks.

She heard the thud of a body hitting the floor.

Hardly daring to move, she peered out from behind the door and saw that Jessie had collapsed in a heap. Another empty had grabbed her and was shaking her awake, dragging her out of the room.

She grabbed it quickly and ran out after them, only to find they'd already turned a corner and disappeared.

Closing her eyes, she pinched the bridge of her nose, a sharp pain building in the back of her forehead. If she broke down now, she'd be putting herself in danger. If she ran after them while they were out in the open, she'd be overpowered. She had to be rational about what she did next. Like Luke would have expected. And Jessie wouldn't want her to let her guard down now either. She'd keep it together for their sake.

She checked her watch. It had been less than forty minutes since they'd entered the building. She didn't know how long it would take for them to break her, but it wouldn't be instant. She just had to work faster. As far as she knew, if none of them made it, it'd be her fault. She wasn't good enough to finish things herself, and as far as she knew, there was only one other person left.

Adam was smart, that was one of the few things about him she'd never had to question. His odds were a thousand times better than hers, but he had to stay calm long enough to do it. She had to be there with him. She had to find him.

She left the room and closed the door behind her.