Thirst

Thirst | VIII

Sitting around waiting for Andy was not fun. It was probably one of the most boring parts of my life. And that's saying something. It was silent and extremely awkward. Noah was sitting there fiddling with his thumbs, whistling. I had already taught Noah where all the security breaches were, and to my surprise, when I got him to recite them all to me, he remembered perfectly.

"What are we going to do?" He whined.

"Sit here and wait. It's all we can do." I muttered.

"When did he say he would come?"

"In the afternoon. It's only three, he could come at any moment. So don't get all worked up. It's going to be fine."

"So you are escaping with me?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe? Then what's the point of-"

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"But you are going to have the cure, right?"

"Of course." Not.

"Good."

All of a sudden, the door opened, and Andy walked in, securing it shut behind him. He walked over to us, and beckoned for us to come out.

"You're code is thirty, eleven and nine." I waited for him to do his, and then I did mine.

As soon as we were done, Andy started. "I can't give this to you now; he's coming down in one minute. So when you're out, get Noah to do it, okay?" We both nodded. "Use the corridor straight ahead, and then you should come to the doors. Just keep running. You know what to do. Good luck, and Zara?"

"Hmm?"

"Be careful."

                                                                                  ◊◊◊◊

As soon as Andy left, Noah and I raced down the corridors, avoiding any places where the cameras would see us. I grabbed Noah's hand right before he stood on a device that would set off the alarms. He'd obviously forgotten about that. But before we started running again, he slid something into the back of my jeans. I didn't have the time to look, people were coming.

We reached outside easily, which surprised me, and raced to the woods. "Keep going." I told Noah. "I'll catch up."

"No, I'm not leaving you."

"I'll catch up. I'm going to inject this stuff into me, now go."

"Andy said I was to do it."

"Andy's not here. Go, I'll catch up. I have to do this by myself."

He nodded his head before walking off. When he was out of sight, well beyond the trees, I threw the cure to the ground. There was no way I was leaving this place.

Whether I liked it or not, this place was my home. I wasn't about to leave it. I wanted to die here, alone, where nobody would miss me. Noah would soon forget me anyway.

I sat down on the tree-line, facing the huge building, waiting for someone to realise I was missing and come looking for me.