Charlotte's hand shook as it hovered over James' cheek. Tears stung the back of her eyes, the urge to cry catching in her throat. Her heart, pounding in her ears, drowned out all other sound. She couldn't breathe, as if some invisible force had wrapped their brutal hands around her rib cage and was crushing her. Her head swam, the world around her blurring and shimmering as if not quite there, as if it was all a hellish nightmare, a horrific hallucination. A cold sweat prickled over her skin, her body tingling as adrenaline took hold.
Charlotte inhaled deeply, forcing through the suffocating panic. Gritting her teeth, she exhaled, trying to recall the detached brutality she had learned in Kingston. She had to be cool and calm, no matter the outcome. She had to be Kingston's head girl; she had to play the game.
She gazed down at James, looking past the obvious injuries. She pressed her hand to his forehead and focused. His skin was like ice, but beneath it should could feel the remnants of life. She moved her other hand to his throat, searching for his pulse.
It was weak, but it was there.
"Where's Harris?" she snapped, laying James' arms by his side with attentive care.
More people were moving into the room, shuffled movements and concerned whispers brought the once silent space to life.
"He's just behind us. He had to use a sedative on Freya. She's freaking out," Ethan said kneeling down by Annakiya's head. "Ian's bringing him". His tone was hollow, his worry and fear coming from him in rolling waves.
"Check each of them. Check if..." Charlotte stumbled, catching her words. She couldn't even say the words out loud. "Just check them".
Ethan mirrored Charlotte's movements, placing two fingers against Annakiya's neck, trying to find her pulse. His breath was uneven as he waited, the seconds seeming far too long, time slowing down.
"I have a pulse," he whispered, exhaling heavily. "She's like ice".
"It's freezing in here," Charlotte said, pushing James' hair back from his face and watching Ethan move to Daiki, while Carrie bent down beside Alison.
"Alison is just unconscious," Carrie grunted, pulling the girl's copper hair back from her face.
"Daiki too," Ethan nodded. "They're alive".
"They're alive," Charlotte almost laughed. It was too good to be true, too easy. "You can read them Wallace? Can't you?"
"I..." Wallace frowned, tears still glistening in her eyes. "I can read... them," she nodded, gazing at them with a strange vacant look, before cringing away from the sight of them and hurrying back into the other room.
"Can we move them?" Charlotte whispered, ignoring Wallace's strange behaviour. She didn't want to contemplate what Wallace saw in their minds. She couldn't bear the thought of how they came to being abandoned here, left to die.
"No don't," Harris gasped, stumbling as he appeared with Ian in the doorway. Ian vanished in a flash, only to reappear beside Annakiya, a gentle hand resting on her dark hair.
"Are they okay?" he whispered to Charlotte.
She shrugged. "They're alive".
Harris scrutinised the bodies before him, his grey eyes narrowed. He dragged his satchel over his head and knelt on the ground, pulling bottles and medical supplies from inside.
"Broken nose..." he muttered to himself. "Sprained wrist, fractured ribs... cheekbone and eye socket..." he trailed off shaking his head. "Ah just superficial cut - I'll need this..." He dragged out a jar of yellow powder, before his eyes went back to his patients. "Unconscious? No - sedated... why not Freya?"
YOU ARE READING
Feared
Science Fiction'Play the game, she thought, remembering the only three words that had helped her to survive at Kingston. Only back then she had known the game, she had known what they wanted her to be, what they had wanted her to do - this man was different. She d...
