Subject #013 | ✓

Chapter 12

The smell of smoke fills my nostrils. I try in vain to open my eyes, to look for the source of the acrid smell that practically radiates death. But my eyes won't open. All I see is darkness.

My hands fumble for grip on the cold, hard floor, and my hand suddenly comes into contact with something. A hand. Alix.

Smoke enters my lungs, and I duck, pressing my nose to the floor, taking in uncertain shuddery breaths. We have to get out of here before we get killed.

Fire. Why does it have to be fire? I've been afraid of fires ever since I was a little girl. I'm still frightened of them. Fires are unforgiving. Fires burn. Fires spread and take over and they don't look back. Fires are humankind at its worst.

Alix's hand is limp, and my heart skips a beat. No. I follow his hand down to his arm and then his body. The smoke is getting thicker, and that's when I hear it. The crackling sound of fire demolishing everything in its path. We're going to die.

I shake Alix's body. I hear a scream. It takes me a minute to realize that it's me. Alix doesn't move.

"Alix? Alix! Alix, we have to go. Wake up!"

But he doesn't. He doesn't make a sound. I can't even find a pulse. The fire roars closer, and I cough and sputter and struggle against the pull of the flames. Fires are unforgiving.

My back heats up, and I suddenly can't resist. Fires burn.

I'm drawn to the heat. Fires spread and take over and they don't look back.

I can't see it, but I know it's there. The white-hot tendril of death caressing my face not even two feet away. Fires are humankind at its worst.

Just one touch....

I shoot upright, screaming and clutching my chest. My heart is beating spastically in my chest and my body is covered in a thin sheen of sweat.

There's no fire. I'm not dead. We're just fine.

I let out a long sigh, and lay my head in my hands, letting out a stream of choked sobs. It's not real, it's not real, it's not real, it's not real....

I hear some shuffling next to me.

"Jess? That you?" I hear Alix's voice say, drowsy with sleep.

I look up abruptly. It is him.

"Oh my God." I say in relief, and slump down with exhaustion. "Oh my God."

"Oh my God... what?" He asks, looking confused but mostly concerned. I probably look like a monster.

I run a hand through my hair, wiping it away from my sweaty forehead.

"Nightmare." I say, trying to put it lightly, but it isn't a "light" matter. I rarely have nightmares, and when I do, they aren't nearly as terrifying as the one I just had.

Alix nods, as if he understands, and I expect him to ask me about it, but he's silent. I give myself time to calm down, forcing my lungs to take steady, even breaths until my head stops throbbing and I don't feel like I'm in imminent death.

"Do you, umm..." I start, stuttering over my own words. "Is there a bathroom in this place?"

Alix meets my eyes, his eyes reflecting my expression of pain, terror, and so much more. For once, his arrogant, smart-aleck self isn't turned on.

"Yeah, that way." He says, pointing to the left a ways. I push myself up off the ground, noticing that he was right about my arm. It still hurts to put pressure on it, but the pain isn't nearly as terrible as it was.