No Strings Attached

Chapter 42: The End

Stubborn, I planted a kiss on his lips then examined his depleted face.

More nurses and doctors are escaping through the passages, preventing Aria and Marco from entering inside.

Switching my gaze back to James, I motivate him to keep going.

"I can't, Nadine-"

"Yes, you can."

"Listen-"

"James! Look at me." I growl.

Defeated, he finally stares at me.

"We can do this, okay?" I assure, stroking his shaved head. "You, Aria, Marco, and me, but you have to be strong."

Nodding very slowly, James gave me a big smile as he quickly kissed my mouth.

"I'll try, " he promised.

I allowed a tired James to put his arm around my right shoulder so we can join Aria and Marco in the sewers.

Using the steel ladder, I shimmied down the tunnel first prompting James to follow me.

Touching the wet, cold metal bars made my entire body tremble. The smell of sweaty socks and putrid garbage flood inside my nose, making it hard for me to concentrate.

Leaking from the cracked ceiling was fetid water droplets soaking my hair.

"Ugh, " I moan.

As soon as we leave, I made a vow to take an extremely hot shower and swallow some painkillers.

Dark gray walls are coated in a thick, yellow slime; rats scampered across the moldy concrete surface. The putrid smells of trash, rats, and piss all clouded into one bad odor. Brown stains make up the skin cracked ceiling and the floor.

But as James and I further ourselves down, Aria and Marco stood on the other side of the ladder, waiting for us.

"I was wondering you two might show up," joked Aria as we hopped onto the grimy floor.

Behind us are the medical staff wandered around the sewer outlet like abandoned puppies.

I can see a few roaming across the disgusting floors, while the others looked around the dingy sewers for some light.

Feeling sorry for them, Aria asked James if we should go and help them.

He frowns distastefully. "I don't think so. And besides, we can't trust those people."

"But they look scared." she murmured.

"They should be, " Marco grunted, wiping the sweat from his nose. "They treated us like shit."

Aria sadly gazed at her bare feet. She became hurt by the boys' hurtful comments that I had to console her.

Rubbing her shoulders, I ask if she was okay.

"No, " Aria admitted as we head down the gritty passageway. "I feel bad for the medical staff: they were just doing their jobs."

Doing their jobs? I wanted to say.

Those monsters helped Mr. Jefferies kidnap dozens of kids and parents for his personal entertainment!

Why she sympathizes with the medical staff is beyond me.

As we walked further down the gritty passage, Marco glides his hair across with his hand.

Like James, Marco looks as though he's ready to collapse. To pass the time, he started to joke about my relationship with James.