WONDERING ➭ THE 100

036

WONDERING !
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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 THIRTY-SIX・*: ·. ⇌ ஜ  .·: *

  The tick of the clock echoed in her ears, each passing second a reminder of time slipping away, fueling her anxious thoughts of everything that could go wrong.

   The time neared two o'clock and it couldn't come fast enough, for the third night in a row Millie spent her night pacing and avoiding the rotting corpse in the corner of the medical ward. They admitted someone else, but they too were covered in charred skin and carried a smell that made Millie sick to her stomach.

   This time, she let her curiosity get the best of her. She plugged her nose and found herself in between the two beds, standing rigid as she let her eyes wander from each body. They had nearly the same wounds, and she had a hard time telling the difference between the two of them. The only indication they were still alive was the faint beeping from their monitors. She didn't have much time before a nurse raced into the room and shooed Millie away, mumbling about a routine checkup.

   Turns out Maya was right; someone was watching the camera at all hours.

   That was when Millie was sure they were hiding something. Of course, she always had her suspicions, but she was positive this time. A place like this always had its secrets, this Millie knew.

   Because how were these people catching on fire? Not only that but how were they getting this bad? Not to mention they were only two days apart. . . Millie was sure there was no coincidence about it, and she was even more positive the President knew about it. Then it clicked in her head, Radiation. But. . . they were always so careful, a little over the top most of the time.

   So how were two of their people exposed to radiation only two days apart?

   Millie spent the rest of her time using pillows to line her bed, doing her best to make a fake body underneath the covers for when the cameras did turn back on. She kept accidentally knocking into her monitor every time she moved, it was difficult to see in the dark- not to mention the curtain that kept her actions a secret added an extra blanket of darkness.

   When the clock hit two, Millie sprung out of her bed and drug the chair across the room with a painful screech. Then, she yanked the desk drawer open and rummaged through the first three drawers before pulling out a pair of tweezers.

   The girl pushed the chair against the wall, directly underneath the vent in the wall.

   Now, Millie was never much for stealth- she was better off in hand-to-hand combat rather than from far away. So, it was safe to say she spent most of her short twenty-minute window prying the cover off, dropping the pliers at least four times before successfully getting it completely off.

   And then it flew to the ground with a loud clang that she was sure was heard throughout the damn bunker.

   "Good job, Millie, you fucked up your only job." She huffed, tucking the tweezers in the waistband of her pants.

   Now she was about five minutes into crawling through the vent and she was covered in sweat. To be honest, Millie underestimated the width of the vent- or overestimated how small she was. Because now, her thighs were smooshed together and the walls of the vent on either side of them made it impossible to put a space between them.

   She was hunched in an uncomfortable crouching position. So far, she's only passed by a few rooms, most of them were rooms or offices. Millie could see the end of the vent now; she was face to face with a brick wall that led her nowhere. She huffed. Her knees cried out in pain and her back ached, and she was convinced there was no way she planned this all out for no reason.