12
Chapter Twelve
Sin
THREE DAYS LATER
Her limp body feels heavyin my arms, regardless of knowing she weighs no more than ninety pounds. Explaining that we're almost there means nothing when she can't hear me. But I tell her anyway. "We're so close, Reese. We're so close." I don't know how I'm running. I don't know how I'm breathing or standing. Surviving the odds doesn't explain my luck. I knew she would be the first to drop. She is skin and bones and her body has nothing to feed off of.
I don't know how many of them had been following us since we left, or why they had chosen to leave us alone until yesterday, but I've had to outrun them three times now. They must be the ones who win the food battles every week because they have far more energy than I have ever had while living here. Although, that doesn't explain their insatiable hunger for their own species—nothing can explain that.
"There it is. The rumor was true," I tell her. A condemned stone house with no windows or doors, covered in overgrown ferns and weeds. I run in through the opening, circling around for a minute before setting Reese down in the corner. I press my fingers against the artery on her neck, double-checking to make sure she's still alive.
Barely. "Hang in there, babe."
I start tearing up floorboards, looking for this entrance. This urban legend spread as a rumor across the camp of sheds. They—whoever they are—made this place far enough away that most of the starved inmates would never have the means to make it here. Yet, we did. Barely. I get most of the floor torn up before I find a metal door with a latch and a lock.
"Reese, I found it." I crawl over to her, removing her right boot where she has kept the key I gave her. The key Mom left me for a just in case. She left me a just-in-case form of survival but didn't tell me where it would work or how I could escape. This key has been the only form of hope I've had since the day Mom left.
As I retrieve the key, Reese stirs slightly, her eyelids fluttering. "I found a door." I don't know if she can hear me or understand me, but in case she can, I want to give her the hope she's needed for so long. I promised her I'd get us out of here. Alive.
Crawling back over to the door, my heart pounds against my chest and sweat beads over my forehead. My stomach churns into knots as I slip the key into the lock, and I'm shocked to see that it fits smoothly inside. I twist to the right, hearing a click. Confirmation that the key works. Dear God, this is it. The lever is rusted, making me work to release the door from its hinges, but after a short moment, it opens up into a dark hole. A dark hole I will blindly jump into without fear of what is on the other end because it sure as hell can't be worse than what is on this side. I run and grab Reese, seeing more of those assholes out the window. They're walking toward the house and I know I led them here, but they don't have the key. I’ve got to get her down there before they come in. As I'm lifting Reese from the ground, I see one of the guys outside, the larger and stronger of the bunch, now running up the path.
I slide down into the hole with Reese held tightly under my arm. There's a ladder I'm clinging to as I pull the door down over my head, twisting the latch to lock in place. The banging on the door echoes around us, vibrating the walls closely surrounding our heads. I descend the ladder, wishing I had a free hand to grab my flashlight. Claustrophobia sets in after several minutes of descending into what feels like a bottomless pit. I can't see the end or the beginning now. I just know I'm stuck and it feels like the walls are caving in around me and the air is becoming thick and hard to breathe through. What if I'm just imagining this? That thought has entered my head too many times in the past couple of days.
My feet finally reach solid ground and there is no more light surrounding me than there was when I was climbing down here. I feel around, my hand finding walls on both sides, telling me I'm in some kind of hall. Walking blindly, sounds begin to grow in volume—whispers. "Who's there?" I shout. Quiet laughter echoes between the walls and I swallow hard, trying my best to ignore the fear running through me.
"Sinon, go back," I hear.Sinon. Mom?
"Mom?" I shout. "Where are you?"
"Sinon, don't come any further. Please, listen to me. You don't understand." Screw that. I'm not going back there to die. If I die finding my way out of this hell, I'll die with some pride at least. I continue forward until I hit a wall. A metal wall. I feel around from top to bottom and side to side until my hand sweeps over another latch handle. Expecting it to be locked, I'm shocked when the latch unhinges the door. I slide it open, finding light beaming from a stark white room.
As my eyes adjust to the brightness, I see a wall lined with computers. Lots of them. And there are people sitting at each computer. All of them are now staring at me holding Reese.
Mom is one of them.
She jumps from her seat, throwing her arms around me. Pressing away slightly, she grips her hands around my face, looking into my eyes as tears fall from hers. "They're going to kill you," she whispers through a silent cry. "They want you dead, Sinon."
"I was going to die out there," I grunt.
"I know," she responds. "I should have known better. This is all my fault. You have to know I had no control over any of this or over the fact that I left you there. That was not what I wanted. You know this, right?"
"I have hated you for a long time," I tell her honestly. "But I believe you."
"This poor girl," she says. "Someone help me with her."
"Uh, they'll kill us too," one of the men says from his seat at a computer.
"We're going to die down here anyway. For God's sake, Peter. Help me." The man stands up from his chair and runs to Mom's side, taking Reese from my hands.
"She needs food."
"So do you," she says, running her fingertips over my exposed cheek bones.
"Where the hell are we?" I ask her.
She laughs quietly, breaking eye contact. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
