All That She Can See(76)

They stayed close to the walls and white coats flashed by in the smoke but no one noticed the silent, soon-to-be escapees. 341 turned left and started to pick up speed down a corridor where red flashing lights on the ceiling were penetrating through the smoke. They were losing cover.

‘Chase, have you got Loneliness?’

‘It won’t let go of my gown,’ Chase growled.

‘Good.’

‘The other three are riding the experiments.’ She could almost hear him roll his eyes.

‘How much further?’ Cherry whispered to 341.

‘There’s a lift at the end of this corridor that will take us up and out but we need a key card.’ Loneliness tugged at Chase’s gown and waved the key card Chase had swiped earlier in front of his face.

‘Oh… nice one.’ Chase pressed the card into Cherry’s hand.

‘Got one!’

‘Perfect. Once the doors close, they won’t open again until we’re upstairs. Once we’re upstairs, and the doors open, we have to run. Fast.’

Cherry nodded. ‘Towards the smoke. We need to run towards where the smoke is the thickest. Make sure everyone knows that.’

The smoke was starting to fade. More and more faces were becoming visible and Cherry caught sight of Loneliness’s monstrous face. How was she going to hide it in the real world, now that it was a form everyone could see? She shook the thought from her head. She’d figure it out. Right now she had to think of the task at hand. 341 bumped up against the glass lift doors and fumbled trying to find the keypad.

‘Let me.’ Cherry took the card in her own shaking hands and swiped it. The doors opened and Cherry, Chase and 341 piled in.

‘QUICK!’ she screamed as Frustration, Mischief and Cynicism skittered in around Chase’s feet and held onto his legs. The other experiments, with no one to guide them, bumped into each other in the confusion. Cherry saw Loneliness’s claws reach out but two men in blue suits suddenly appeared.

‘STOP THEM!’ Happy was barrelling down the corridor as the doors began to close, leaving Loneliness on the other side, clawing at the glass.

‘NO! LONELINESS!’ Cherry’s hands searched the walls for any buttons to open the doors once more but there was nothing. She beat her fists against the glass, screaming as Loneliness wrestled with the blue suits. It thrashed ferociously against them, breaking a window with its large foot.

‘The lift’s leaving!’ said 341, holding Cherry’s heaving shoulders. ‘You can’t stop it!’

‘The strings! They’re going to drag the lift down!’ said Chase, trying to prise the doors open with his fingers.

‘NO! We have to go back for the others. Loneliness!’ As the lift started to rise, Loneliness ripped one of its arms free, closed its claw around a piece of broken glass and before Happy could sink her syringe into its fur, Loneliness grabbed every red string that attached it to Cherry… and cut.





26





Smoking





The doors opened and Cherry fell face first onto the floor of a dank cave.

‘We’ve got to move.’ 341 stumbled forwards and Frustration took her hand. ‘Will you guide me?’ she asked and the Meddlum yapped its acceptance. Mischief moved behind her and Cynicism stood to her left so they formed a semicircle around her and together they started to run. The lift doors closed and the lift immediately sank down into the floor, no doubt having been called by Happy. Before Chase’s strings became too taut, he scooped Cherry into his arms and followed after 341.

They came out into a forest but the trees thinned out quickly as they ran and Chase could see a road up ahead. He didn’t dare look down at Cherry’s face. He could feel that her body was limp in his arms and there was something trickling down his arm which he thought might be her blood. Her severed red strings hung underneath her and fluttered against his bare legs. Twigs and rocks dug into his feet but he kept running until 341 called back to him, ‘Can you see smoke?!’ 341 had reached a road up ahead but there was no smoke.

‘No! Just keep running!’

‘Smoke…’ Cherry murmured. ‘Smoke…’

‘Hold on, Cherry. They’re not going to catch up to us. I won’t let them.’

‘Smoke…’ She whispered again and this time, she raised her arm and stretched out her hand, pointing to the van that was barrelling towards them, smoke trailing behind it.

‘This way!’ Peter appeared out of the sunroof, flailing his arms above his head. ‘Over here!’

Frustration picked 341 up and carried her towards the van, Mischief and Cynicism not far behind. Chase hesitated, the strings between him and his Meddlums straining. He couldn’t see Hatred, just the smoke coming out of the exhaust. The van screeched to a halt halfway down the road, kicking up a cloud of dust and the driver’s door opened.

‘Chase!’ shouted Sally, ‘YOU GET THAT GIRL IN THIS VAN THIS INSTANT!’

Chase didn’t need to be told twice. He started to run but a sharp pinch in his neck caught him unawares and as he stumbled, Cherry fell from his arms. He whipped around, his limbs already numbing, and Happy stood over him, a syringe held neatly between her dainty fingers.

‘Clever, 598.’

‘Chase,’ he corrected, slurring.