Chapter 18
My fists were raw and my eyes drew droopy as a result from the end of my adrenaline rush. I didn't have the need to look for a fight, one found me. Apparently a walking alone in back streets made you an easy target. Oh, how they were mistaken.
Being too impatient to wait for the elevator, I ran up the bright stairway of the hotel until I reached the floor my room was on. As I stepped out onto the floor, I felt someone's presence behind me. I quickly ducked while pivoting on my heel with my other leg straight out effectively bringing the person's feet out from under them. As they fell, I stood up. I was about to bring my foot back up to kick when I realized who it was.
"Blake? What are you doing up at 4 in the morning?" I asked him
He stood up, "I could ask you the same question."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Answer the damn question." I remember my bloody and bruised knuckles and attempted to hide them behind my back.
Blake threw his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. Geez. I was just going for a late night stroll."
I nodded but said nothing. Silence filled the air and awkwardness grew. I shifted my weight back and forth on my feet and scratched behind my ear. Should I say good night? Should I just leave? I still haven't forgotten about him telling me that he loves me.
Deciding I should just leave, I turned on my heel and began to walk away. While I was still in hearing distance, Blake called out to me, "Why do you do it?"
I turned to him. Blake's eyes were wide with horror yet still held curiosity. It was as if he had just asked something that he hadn't meant to say out loud yet was still yearning for the answer.
"Do what?" I asked him.
In three strides, he closed the distance I had made between us and took hold of my hand. Instinctively, I tried to pull my hand back, away from his touch, but he held on tight.
"Why do you fight?" His question chilled me.
I looked down at my red knuckles, "Because I can."
"No, you can't! Those guys you took on were twice the size of you! Not to mention that there were eight of them!" Blake suddenly started to yell.
My mouth opened and closed and my brain scrambled for an answer.
"You- you followed me." I stuttered my brilliant response.
Like a deer caught in headlights, Blake froze, realizing he had just said something he wasn't supposed to say.
"I- no. Yes. But only to make sure you were safe!" He stuttered back.
A surge of anger flowed through me. "I don't need your protection Blake! I never will!" I snapped at him while yanking my hand from his grip.
"I still had to try." He responded sadly.
Suddenly, I had the feeling that we were no longer talking about tonight. It was the feeling that Blake knew something that I didn't. I don't think that this was the first time Blake has followed me.
And that feeling scared me.
I turned around, walked back into the stairway and down the stair, and left the hotel. I took the rest of the night to just walk around and let the night air clear my head. It didn't work.
After a couple of hours of pointless walking, I stopped and sat down on a bench nearby.
I shuddered as I lay, curled up in a little ball, on the damp, moldy cell floor. My breathing racked through me sending more shudders down my spine. It had been three weeks, more or less, since I had woken up in the hell hole. It was hard to keep track of time with no clocks or windows. I gulped as I thought about what was happening here. It was torture. Every time it happened, you inched closer to death. Like you were a ticking time bomb whose timer went out a while ago. It was like living on borrowed time. And it's borrowed time that I would love to return.
The metal door at the end of the hallway clashed open and I mustered up as much energy as possible to lift my head. As the guard made his rounds, I kept my head down hoping I wouldn't be chosen for it.
As the guard continued walking past my cell, I let out a sigh of relief. I had just received it yesterday, there was no way I'd survive another one today.
I heard another cell door being opened.
It was Danny.
Danny had an even lower chance of surviving than I did. In the three weeks I had been here, I had only seen him receive food nine times.
Without thinking, I called out to the guard.
"No. Please. Take me." My voice was raspy.
"My pleasure." The guard said with a smile that sent shivers down my spine.
The guard locked Danny's cell back up and walked back to mine. He unlocked it and pulled me to my feet.
"What? No! Adara you'll die!" Danny roared.
I breathed in slowly. "I can't live like this anymore Danny. At least I'm saving you in the process."
The guard half walked, half dragged me to the door on the other side of the hallway. The door by Danny's cell.
"No! Stop it! She can't die!" Danny continued to yell.
A final adrenaline rush pushed my hands to reach out and grab onto the bars of Danny's cell.
"Danny, you listen to me. When you get out of here, you find my aunt and uncle. You find them and tell them everything. Then you find-" I was cut short by the guard pulling me through the door. Danny's protests were cut of as well as soon as the door was closed behind me.
The guard released me and pushed me towards the surgical chair in the middle of the room.
"Have fun." Was all he said before walking out the door again.
Silence filled the room as I stared at the chair in front of me. I was not scared. I was calm. I had already accepted the fact that I was going to die. I even welcomed the fact.
I sat in the chair and looked at the needle lying next to me. It was filled with a reddish- purple serum. A serum I have grown used to seeing.
A man walked out of the shadows. "I am so glad to see that you are no longer fighting this. Smart on your part, I have an endless amount of dispensable soldiers."
I didn't respond. I didn't need to.
The man continued, "This one is extra special. It is genetically modified so it can adapt to attack every cell. Amazing, right?"
Again, I didn't respond. I don't think he expected me to anyway. He spoke to me as if I should feel pride in what he was doing. As if I were part of a giant scheme to help mankind.
As the serum was injected, I felt nothing at first. Then the first spark of pain, then everything all at once. It was as if it was multiplying in every millisecond. Fire ripped across and through my body. Black spots grew in my eyes as my heart went from flutter to fumble. The pain numbed and I felt ice begin to spread over my body. And then suddenly, all at once, everything stopped moving.
I was so used to sacrificing everything for other people. I didn't know what it was like to be the one being protected. It was an alien feeling, one which I, disappointingly, enjoyed.
I liked the fact that Blake was worried about me. That he cared.
I stood up from the bench and began to walk in the direction of the hotel. Carina would be out of her mind in worry and I wasn't looking forward to dealing with it.
I arrived back at the hotel at 12:00 and to my surprise, Carina didn't say anything about my absence. She just smiled and forced me to go shopping with her all day.
By the time we returned to the hotel that night, I was exhausted from getting no sleep the night before.
"Don't forget we are doing a tour of the white house tomorrow!" Carina reminded before turning off the light.
Great. More walking.
~~~
Author's Note
Hey guys! I just wanted to apologize for promising a chapter on Friday but only posting it today. The truth is, the chapter I had written on Friday wasn't very good and I felt like it wasn't worth publishing. So this chapter is really short because it was only written in two days. It's not edited either so feel free to point out any grammar mistakes.
Anyway...
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CLeBlanc