All That She Can See(72)

‘It won’t be long before they realise we’re missing,’ Cherry said. She pulled Chase into a small alcove between examination rooms. ‘And it’s harder to hide because of them. There’s six of us now.’

‘And we can’t split up because there won’t be any guarantee that we’ll both get out.’

‘Exactly. So we have to act fast.’

‘HEY!’ A distant voice yelled. ‘YOU SHOULDN’T BE THERE!’

Cherry poked her head out into the corridor and saw Loneliness biting at one of the windows, one of his crooked teeth cracking the pane.

‘Looks like we’ve got to be really fast,’ Chase said.

Loneliness pushed his shoulder through the broken glass and plummeted into the hall below. Cherry’s stomach flipped as she waited for the strings to tighten and take her with him but they seemed to stretch. Or maybe it’s like silk from a spider? she thought, Maybe the strings are never-ending. There wasn’t the time to think about that now. Cherry turned back to Chase.

‘We need to find the main panel that controls the lenses and shut it down.’

‘And then what?’ Chase asked, breathless.

‘Peter will take care of it.’

‘How will he even know?’

‘He has lenses installed too – he’ll know when they stop working. He’ll take care of it.’

More shouts erupted from below and yet there was nothing panicked or worried about them. The shouts were merely to alert security that something in their serene and robotic routine had been disturbed.

Chase and Cherry ran out from their hiding place and to the shattered window, Frustration, Cynicism and Mischief following closely behind. Loneliness was in the hall filled with desks, ripping computers from tables with one hand and he was gripping a blue suit’s neck in the other.

‘Loneliness!’ Cherry screamed. ‘Stop hurting people!’

Loneliness put the blue suit down just as another blue suit broke a chair over its head.

‘Unless it’s necessary!’ Chase called.

Loneliness grinned up at him and then swiped the woman’s legs out from underneath her, her head cracking against a desk on her way down. Cherry hit Chase lightly in the stomach.

‘What?’ he said. ‘Am I wrong?’

‘STOP THEM!’ It was Lonely’s blank, emotionless voice.

‘I’ve never hated anyone’s face more,’ she whispered to Chase and then yelled, ‘HELP!’ through the missing window. Loneliness dropped the man it was holding at its feet. ‘JUMP!’ Cherry yelled. She took Chase’s hand and before he was able to react, she toppled over the edge and pulled him with her. Loneliness got there just in time to catch them both. Cherry landed on its back and it caught Chase in a fireman’s lift. Chase’s three Meddlums landed in a heap on the floor but they had no chance to orientate themselves before Loneliness took off carrying Cherry and Chase, and dragged them behind it.

‘We have to find the control panel,’ Cherry said into Loneliness’s ear. It nodded enthusiastically, its long purple tongue hanging out of his mouth. Chase’s Meddlums crashed into desks, chairs, computers and people as they ran past, too fast and strong to be caught.

‘LEFT!’ Cherry screamed, seeing a door that was marked PRIVATE and taking a chance. ‘Anything that’s marked private in a locked underground bunker in the middle of nowhere is worth looking at,’ she said, feeling herself slipping further down Loneliness’s back. Loneliness barged, shoulder first, into the door, catching Cherry’s hand. She yelped and slipped and Loneliness slowed down, looking around at her. She climbed back up as best she could. ‘Keep going!’ she gasped.

Beyond the now-broken door was a short corridor. A man was standing at the other end, in front of another open doorway, pushing a cart covered in empty plates.

‘No!’ Cherry shrieked but she was too late.

Loneliness ran at full speed and kicked the cart into the man. He fell backwards down the stairs and landed with a gruesome crack.

‘No, stop it! How many more people are we going to hurt before we leave?’ She buried her head in Loneliness’s shoulder, hoping the man wasn’t dead.

‘Cherry,’ Chase said, panting. ‘I don’t think Loneliness thinks that way. It just wants to get out.’

‘So do I,’ Cherry sobbed, ‘but we have to stop hurting people.’

‘It’s going to take force to get out of here. They’re not going to just let us leave.’

‘We don’t have to push people down the stairs!’

Loneliness turned to look at Cherry and she was certain it understood what she was saying.

‘We’re already underground,’ Chase said. ‘How much further down can we go?’ He craned his neck over Loneliness’s arm but all he could see were stone stairs spiralling down in the dark.

‘Must be something they really don’t want us to find.’ Cherry squeezed her heels into Loneliness’s sides and it continued on down the stairs. Frustration, Mischief and Cynicism stumbled down each step, each falling over the other two. A stench filled their nostrils the further down they went and Cherry gagged.

‘What does this panel look like?’ Chase asked.

‘I don’t know. Peter didn’t say exactly. He kept calling it a control panel so I’m guessing something with lots of buttons?’