Lifeboat

25. The Corridor

I pulled down the hemline of my  tunic, the material rough to the touch.
"It's over here." I nodded toward the far end of the room, to the wall with the orange light.

Dante yawned and stretched his arms above his head.
"Lead on, MacDuff."

Smirking, I crossed the room, my flat feet slapping along the floor. I reached up and unhooked the light bulb from its holder. The light must have been formed with some kind of fluorescence, as there was no obvious power or recharge point to see. I moved further to the right, scanning the grooves in the grout of the masonry, passing the bulb close. It didn't feel hot to the touch. I had known that it wouldn't be.

I picked out the telltale chip and slight indentation at the top corner of one of the slabs and pushed my index finger down into it. Instantly rewarded by a scratch of stone and creaky mechanism as the wall opened up.

The heat and presence of Dante's body grew so close behind me that his breath blew into my thick hair and warmed the skin on my ear. I applied more pressure to the panel and the exit fully revealed itself.

My eyes were assaulted by blinding white lights accompanied by a solid wall of stale air that snarled at my face. Gasping, I stepped back and onto Dante's bare toes.

He let out a sharp intake of breath then unceremoniously bullied his way past me to storm into the room. Only, it soon became apparent that we had moved into a corridor rather than a room. For some reason, the image of the space on the other side of my predicted escape route had not been made evident to me before. However, I had the impression that all would be well.

Blocked by Dante's body, I couldn't see into the corridor, but I heard the banging of feet as someone ran in our direction from the right.

Dante froze. My heart missed its rhythm. His hand reached back to me and warned me to stay still.

The heavy footsteps slowed, from a canter to a trot, then to a steady, cautious pace. Step, step by step.

I gripped the material of my tunic around my thighs. Lowered my head behind Dante's comforting bulk and waited for action. If Dante had to fight, I would be right behind him. Literally.

Then something totally unforseen occurred. He laughed. At first, a quiet giggle, like a little boy, followed by a loud clap of exclamation and unchecked guffaws.

Has he finally gone mad?

Curiosity became too much for me so I forced Dante's shoulders downwards to be able to get a clear view of whomever he was laughing at.

I should have known.

There, grinning from ear to ear, as dirty and lacking in charm as ever, stood Marco. He held out his arms to Dante and shouted.
"Oh! Ragga!" (Oh! Buddy boy!)

Dante yelled back in return, his voice breaking a little. It shocked me how they could be so arrogant to make so much noise in our current situation.
"Oh! Shit head!"

The two of them grabbed each other, slapping arms and cheek kissing. I sighed and folded my arms. Something had to be said.
"How long is this male-bonding going to take?"

Marco threw me a sharp flick of his eyes, then stepped back from Dante to survey him from head to toe. He spat out words in a rapid succession, his expression full of disgust.

When he'd finished his rampage, he tipped his head back and pointed straight at me.
"Lei." (Her.)

I assumed he was unhappy with me for some reason. I scowled back at him. Hissing into Dante's shoulder.
"What did I do wrong now?"

The vibration of Dante's low reply echoed through my chest.
"He said that I should have stayed in the room where I was. That he had put me there and I would have been safe. He was coming back to get me out. He thinks you're a spy sent to trick me into being captured again."

Marco continued to fix me a cold stare.

I shivered and wrapped my arms around Dante's waist.
"Is that what you think?"

Dante shrugged. He spoke softly.
"No. I told you before."

I whispered back to him mirroring his intonation, keeping my gaze on Marco.
"I don't believe him."

At this point, Marco's hands flew up into the air as he launched into another tirade. Arms and spittle flying everywhere.

Dante pulled out of my grasp and swatted down his friend's hands. He took him into his embrace, subduing Marco's rage.

As they held each other, Marco lifted his head and glared at me. His eyes danced with what I could only describe as triumph.

Dante broke the embrace, stepping backwards suddenly, causing me to shuffle away.

Marco held my stare.

"Let's move on." Dante had regained the power behind his voice. Calm and collected.

Marco nodded and gestured for us to follow. He turned back to the direction he had come from, muttering under his breath.

Dante's hand searched for me as he strode off after the shorter, rougher man. I clutched it tightly, hot and strong.

We carried on through the passageway. I had to wipe away streams of tears which flooded my eyes at the searing light. They'd become so used to the dark.

The solid footfalls of Marco's big boots rattled off the close walls. The only sound we made was the slapping of bare feet and crinkling of our overalls.

After a space of at least twenty minutes, I heard Marco click down on a metallic handle. The air instantly freshened as a breeze rushed past the men and enveloped me. A warmth following swiftly after.

"Yes!" Dante almost squealed.

We came out of the corridor, through a tall, white door and into the woods. It resembled the forest we had first escaped into after meeting the Neighbours. The faded daylight told of the coming night.

How long had we been there?

Marco marched off through the trees, snapping twigs and undergrowth.

Dante stole a glance back at me, smiling with relief.
"We're free. We have to go to the Committee again and check they are safe."

"Why? Don't you think that they may be the reason why we were caught?"

Stomping ahead of me, I had to stumble and jump through the grass to keep up with him. He tossed words to me over his shoulder.
"Erica is of the new breed. She and her father are head of the Rebellion. They could be in serious danger."

"But won't that be putting us right into the path of danger again too?"

"You don't understand. We need to spread the word through the underground connections. The more colonies we get the message to, the quicker we can get the Union to change."

"If it's as simple as that, how come nobody's done it already?"

"Good grief, do you have to argue with everything? Can't you just..."

From out of the cover of thick bushes around us, black-clad people jumped at us. They heaved thick roped nets over our heads. Stun guns fired at our legs. Stings of electricity snapped into my calf muscles. My knees buckled and I fell face first into the prickles of plants.

They'd found us.