Beyond The Walls (NOW ON AMAZON!!!)

The Compound

Hadley dumped her scrubs into a laundry basket, making sure no one witnessed her slipping a cylindrical syringe cartridge into the pockets of her khaki trousers. The cartridge held a haemoglobin booster shot and stealing it was an absurd audacity that risked everything. But time was running out. It would be Conception Day soon. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Hadley's stomach dropped, and she whipped her head towards yells from outside the clinic's door.

"Hadley! Hadley! Help!"

She rushed outside to find three girls, their clothes dotted with specks of blood. They surrounded another girl who tried to hold back sobs, though a few hiccupped through, her hand above her head, reaching for the ceiling. A hand missing several fingertips and wrapped tightly in a cloth that dripped rivulets of blood down her forearm, the crimson a stark contrast against her pale white skin. The blood dripped off her elbow, redecorating the clinic's sky-blue carpet with splotches of gory red. One of the other girls hugged tightly against her chest the severed fingertips wrapped in a handkerchief inside a zipped plastic bag that was floating in slushy ice inside another zipped polythene bag.

"Jamila!" Hadley walked up to the girl holding the plastic bag. "What happened?"

"Don't call the vampires, Hadley. Help her. Please." Jamila pleaded, her golden eyes radiating fear.

A darkness clouded Hadley's mind. Wiped away every other feeling. A cold snap, taking with it what made her human. She hated this feeling. Hated it but relied on it more than she wanted to admit, especially at times like these. Without hesitation, she lost herself to the darkness. This act of surrender would make it difficult to snap back into normal, but there was no time to think about that.

"Get her into that room!" Hadley ordered, pointing at one of the clinic's operating rooms down the bare, white walled hallway. She grabbed the severed fingertips from Jamila and asked everyone to leave her and the injured girl, Crystal.

A few hours later, Hadley had sewn back every one of Crystal's severed fingers.

"How long until I can use the electric saw again?" the girl asked, her voice strained, but green eyes hopeful. Despite blood loss, her cheeks were flushed after the procedure. Hadley checked her stats again to make sure she wasn't reacting to any of the medications, before she set and dressed and bound the girl's fingers to allow proper healing.

Hadley chuckled. "Let's try and stay away from the electric saw at least until you're fully healed."

The girl gave an exasperated sigh and dramatically tilted back her head. "Nooo! That'll take forever, Hadley."

Before Hadley could respond, the girl became eerily silent. A shiver ran through her. Her eyes went wide, searching the clinic's every nook and cranny. She whispered her next words, as if saying them out loud would conjure an outcome. "Will you call the vampires?"

Hadley kept a smile on her face and comforted the girl with an arm on her shoulder. "I'm not calling the vampires. Your fingers will heal fine in the next few weeks. The scars will barely be noticeable."

"We just turned twenty," Crystal said, tears balancing at the corner of her eyes, her voice shaky and desperate. "I don't want to leave less than four months before we get pregnant. I want to meet my daughter, Hadley."

Hadley turned serious and held Crystal's gaze, the green eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Except for a few sobs that escaped, the girl strained to hold back her tears – the personification of bravery as it was taught to every girl in the Compound.

"Follow my instructions, keep your bandages clean, stay away from the electric saw and I promise you, Crystal, you will meet your daughter." Hadley assured her.