Citizen

Chapter twenty

The hallway was dark and dreary, suffocating Kyra with dust as she moved swiftly through it. Where she was exactly was unknown; all she knew was that she had to follow that path until she came to a fork. That was what James had said, anyway.

The thought of him made her blood boil. She stopped, holding her face in her hands to calm herself. No matter how many times she told herself he had to lie to her, it didn't change how she felt. Betrayed, and angry - enough to slap him a few more times at least.

Sighing, she ran ahead, focusing on her footing rather than her thoughts. The fork in the path came up quicker than expected; facing her were three identical doors, and only one was the correct one. If she got it wrong an alarm would go off and all her efforts would be for nothing. Biting her lip, she pulled a key out of her pocket and moved towards the far left door, inserting it into the lock.

It turned easily under her hand. Letting out a sigh, she stepped into the room, closing the door carefully behind her. Light flooded the tight space through a hole in the ceiling. A ladder leaned against the wall, disappearing into the space above. Pipes ran up the wall like copper snakes, disappearing into small cracks that led who knows where.

A whistle sounded from above. She scarpered up the ladder, tapping lightly on the roof. The panel slid sideways, the light blinding Kyra as she turned her head away from it, gripping the ladder. Something gentle grabbed at her hand and pulled it upwards. She peered up through her fingers at the face shrouded in light. James.

Once she reached the top, she straightened the Enforcer uniform she'd borrowed and moved as far away from James as she could; it was surprisingly light, despite its thickness. The staircase was narrow with grey walls on all sides; the only light source came from a fluorescent bulb above their heads and the thin gap between the staircase and the floor above. James kept his distance, but she could still feel his gaze on her back, like the sun's hot rays.

"What are you going to show me?"

"Something that will change your mind about everything," was all he said as he clambered up the stairs, taking them at a run.

"Being vague gets you nowhere in life." She pushed past him on the stairs, jumping two steps at a time. Stomping down on the concrete gave her a sense of satisfaction she couldn't quite understand.

"You're still mad then, I see," James murmured. "And I'm being vague for a reason. The cameras could be turned back on at any second." Keeping his voice low, he shifted his attention to the surveillance cameras discreetly hidden in the cracked walls. It was nothing new to know they were being watched, but the sheer number of black pupil-like lenses watching twisted her stomach into knots.

Kyra whirled to face him with a glare; standing so high above him was empowering. "What did you expect? That I'd be fine with the fact you lied to me for twelve years?" She turned back to the stairs with a shake of her head. "No one could be fine with that James."

"No, that's not what I meant. It's just, usually the drug would have made you forgive me by now. But you've got all this stored up rage in there, and it's making you twice as mad as usual." There was amusement in his voice as he spoke; it took all of her strength not to turn around and push him down the stairs.

"I'm a reasonable amount of angry, thank you very much." As soon as the words left her lips she wanted to take them back; they sounded stupid, childish - two things she couldn't afford to be. "I'm sorry that I'm so angry, I don't want to be, I just am. It's going to take me some time to get past this."

"Don't apologise. Why do you think I'm so angry all the time?" He smiled a small smile and joined her at the top of the stairs before opening the door. Light flooded the area, so foreign and natural that it burned her eyes. James looked in both directions, before whispering, "Follow my lead," and stepping outside.