We hurry through the halls, no longer bothering to check each room. Our pace as fast as Brinn’s twisted ankle allows us.
Theo asks, “What exactly are we planning to do, once we meet Ellen?”
Derek shrugs, “We’ll calmly tell her that she is no longer in power. How she reacts to that is up to her.”
“But she must have Officials with her. They’ll stop us.”
Derek consults his Notice again, “It appears that there are at least ten around her, more stalking through the halls around her. Maybe she doesn’t know our exact location. It doesn’t matter. Four of us have a Duratus. We should be able to do well enough.”
I run the code through my head again. Short, long, long, short, long, short, short. I have to remember the code. If I don’t, someone’s life could be lost.
Piper asks, “How far away are we?”
“Just a few more halls. We should be able to hear her annoying little voice soon enough.”
Each step brings me closer to Ellen, the Head I barely escape earlier. She won’t just give up her position. She’ll fight back with everything she has.
We only have a few people who can actually fight. Derek, Theo, Harry, Piper, Michelle, and the two other Nurses. Christopher sways dangerously on his feet, the effects of the green still draining from his systems. Brinn and Kylee would be vulnerable. What if the Officials capture them and hold them hostage? Should they stay hidden somewhere?
I remember Brinn’s adamant refusal when Piper suggested that she goes somewhere safe. Brinn is determined to fight with us, no matter her condition.
Should we wait until Ellen’s anger cools, and she’s likely to be less violent? Does she have more planned for her ‘big finale’? Are the new Ecru only the beginning?
I want to ask Derek, but I have no idea how close we are to Ellen. I don’t want to give away our location if she doesn’t already know it.
We reach the end of the hall, a door blocking our way. Derek motions to it, clearly showing that this is where we’ll meet Ellen.
He presses a button and the door slides open. Ellen’s shrill voice immediately floods the air. “I don’t know what I’m going to do to them when I find them, but let me tell you, it is not going to be pleasant. All those little immune children hiding it here, I will find them and I will kill them…”
I swallow hard, my knees weakening. Derek charges fearlessly forward. We follow quickly behind, our knives high and our fingers over our Duratus.
Ellen stands at the end of the hall, her hands clenching her hips. Her face turns scarlet, “Derek. Is this where you’ve been all this time? I’ve been trying to contact you all day.”
Derek frowns in confusion but quickly recovers. “Yes, I wasn’t aware that you were attacking the Unknown. I came to see the damage.”
Ellen seems to forget most of her anger, smiling at him. “Understandable, I guess, all though a bit dumb, don’t you think? You were wandering around in a death zone. Aren’t you proud of all I’ve accomplished?”
Derek lies as an excuse to move closer to her, “Of course, it’s truly impressive. You’re brilliant, although I’m sure you know.”
Ellen beams, “A little. I see you’ve brought the traitors?”
Derek shortly nods and strides until he’s standing directly to the side of Ellen. He’s trying to lull her into trusting him so that he can disarm her later. His fingers tap along his wrist on the Duratus. An Official falls to the ground behind Ellen.
She turns in amazement. She slowly turns back to face Derek. “I’m impressed with you as well.”
She lashes out quickly, my eyes unable to follow the movement. A knife drills itself into Derek’s neck. He pulls it out, dark blood coating the blade. He grabs his neck, stumbling backwards. He wheezes out something indecipherable and collapses to the floor. He clutches his throat, blood spilling over his fingertips. He gasps in air, his chest lurching upward and then back down. It becomes faster until it stops. His hands fall limp, slipping from their place around his neck. Blood races down his fingers, coating his arms, pouring to the floor.
Ellen didn’t even blink as her knife drove itself through his skin. Does she feel any emotion at all? Guilt? Regret? Remorse?
I don’t know how to respond. Derek was our one advantage. We are vulnerable against Ellen’s Officials, her plots, and her insanity.
Ellen watches with little interest. When his eyes lose all his life, she sighs in relief. “Well, he was a bother. The Complex only has one more problem before it can be restored to its perfection.”
She turns to us, the Officials focusing on us as targets. My finger flutters over my wrist. Short. Long. Long. Short. Long. Short. Short. You have to be within five feet of the Official in order for it to work. I’m not sure how close the Officials are. The second they get within range, they’ll collapse. Hopefully.
However, the Officials stay still, standing in their perfect form along the walls. Ellen just stares at us. What is she waiting for? Does she want us to make the first move? Is something else coming?
A shriek splits the silence, almost as if answering my question. Ecru pour through the door. I scramble backwards, towards Ellen and her Officials.
Ellen calls out, “Stop.”
The Ecru all pause, standing still. Their heads tilt to the side, as if listening to something. They pace restlessly from side to side, coming no closer. I try to count them. Fifteen…eighteen…twenty-three. My eyes struggle to keep track of them, as they creep back and forth, mixing with each other. Maybe thirty. Maybe more.
The horrible truth hits me. Ellen has some type of control over them. They aren’t the wild monsters of before. They’re deadly drones being controlled by Ellen.
We have no chance. We have eight people who can fight, if we were to leave Brinn and Kylee defenseless.
Theo and I move closer to where Piper, Michelle, and Brinn stand. The other Nurses do the same until we are clustered together, all shaking with fear.
This is where we will die. This is where the rebellion will die.
Ellen observes our white faces and shaking hands. A triumphant smile curls up her lips, “I want you to watch each other die, knowing you caused that pain. This all could have been avoided if you had just obeyed.”
Her words hold the deluded truth. Piper and I could have saved everyone in the Unknown, if we’d argued to just sacrifice ourselves. I can’t blame Piper, not really. She was convinced by her friends and the optimism of the rebellion. I’m the guilty one. From the beginning, I doubted our chances. What if I had said something?
If she plans to kill us with the Ecru, what will happen to Theo and me?
Footsteps echo from the hall in front of us. Are more Ecru coming? Is it someone else? I want to scream at them to turn around, go back the way they came. There’s nothing they can do to help us. Frustrated tears spring into my eyes.
Canton darts through the hallway, a large wrench clutched in his hands. He skids to a stop only a couple paces away from the barely controlled Ecru. They lurch forward, hissing at him, but they are restrained from reaching him. Nikolas and Benson, Josh’s friend, appear at the doorway as well.
Ellen whispers something and the Ecru split apart, forming a thin pathway to us.
Ellen smiles, “How lovely of you to join us. I thought I was going to hunt you down, but you’ve made my work so much easier. Why don’t you just walk right on over to your friends? Don’t try to run or the Ecru will be released.”
Canton scans the room and realizes there are no other options. He begins to stride through the spit in the Ecru. They growl at him, but stay where they are. Nikolas and Benson follow.
Piper whispers to them, “What about Bridget and Spara?”
They only offer us hopeless glances.
Bridget and Spara are gone too? Bridget helped me in the Complex, although at the time it felt like the exact opposite. She told me to act like the injections worked on me. She’s another death I’m responsible for. And Spara. She has a little baby back at the Complex, who’s now motherless like the rest of us.
Guilt settles inside of me.
Ellen addresses the twelve Officials surrounding her, “Restrain them all.”
The Officials march forward, their faces blank. My legs tense, ready to run, but there’s nowhere to escape to. We’re caught between the Ecru and the Officials, the walls blocking us in on opposite sides. The Officials rip us away from each other, securing our arms behind our backs, ripping the knives from our hands. They don’t threaten us with any weapons, not when there are several Ecru growling at us. They’re one Official short, leaving Kylee free in the middle. It doesn’t matter, she’s immobile, tears falling from her eyes.
My eyes find Theo. He stares hard at me, like he’s trying to tell me something. He jerks his hands. It doesn’t affect the Official, but I watch his hands. He’s trying to reach his finger to his wrist, but his hands are too far apart.
The realization hits me. My hands almost touch each other.
I stretch my own finger to my wrist, discreetly tapping it. Maybe I can take out one Official with the green. My own little victory.
Short. Long. Long. Short. Long. Short. Short.
The Official behind me collapses. I don’t know if I actually expected it to work. I spin around, unsure what to do. I grab my knives off the floor.
Chaos rings out around me. They don’t have enough Officials to go around. They have to abandon someone else to capture me.
I search the unconscious Official. Secured to her waist is a little package, filled with shots. My fingers wrap around a small, cold glass of the blue, hiding it from everyone’s view. I slip it into the waistband of my skirt. Ellen shouts something, but I can’t understand the words. My pulse thumps inside my ears.
Ellen begins to run towards me, wobbling in her heels. She kicks them off and sprints towards me. A scream bursts from my lips. She releases the Ecru, all of them charging directly at me.
I start to run towards the far wall, getting as far away as I can. I reach the wall and stand frozen. A knife clutched in one hand, the blue in the other. I don’t know which side to defend against. Who has a greater chance of killing me: the Ecru or Ellen?
The Ecru are further away, tripping over each other to get at me. Ellen’s only a few paces, closing the distance quickly.
How will she kill me? Will she spear my throat, like Derek? Will she let the Ecru beat me to death? Will she strangle me like the kids did to Tooth? Will she inject me, over and over, until she finally finds one that works?
My knees weaken and my vision swirls. I raise my knife, but it seems incredibly small against the raging Ellen, holding a knife of her own. With a wild yell of rage, she leaps into the air. On instinct, I turn away, trying to slip away. She wraps her arms around my stomach. We crash to the ground. Something sharp pierces my stomach. The blue vial slips out of my waistband and shatters to the floor, splattering Ellen and I in little droplets. Is my skin immune to the blue?
My head slams to the floor, darkness coating my vision. The last thing I hear is Ellen’s shrill screams as a horrible hissing noise fills the air.