They Called Her the Devil

Chapter 21, Audrey

Whenever people describe hell it was with fire and brimstone. Demons with horns who carried pitchforks tormenting you. Smothering heat.

Anyone who said that was hell was wrong. Hell is waking up alone in a filthy closet. Hell is trying to get up but your limbs don't work.

Hell is knowing 25 million people are going to die and that there's nothing you can do to save them.

I rammed my shoulder into the door for the 63rdtime. I didn't even feel it anymore. I had to get out. I had to warn them.

64. 65. 66. 67. Doc pounded on the door and I stopped. He wouldn't come in here.

Would he?

No. I heard footsteps on concrete as he walked away. I had to get out before he could do anything else to me. I'd get the virus plans to the police and the Silver Order. Hopefully, Doc would catch me and kill me quickly.

What could I use to escape?

I had a ripped blouse, a pencil skirt, one high-heeled shoe, a pair of hoop earrings, and some garbage on the floor.

Desperately I clawed through the garbage for something, anything. Then my fingers brushed a miracle in the form of a rusty nail.

Growing up my dad had showed me how to take the hinges off a door. I heard his voice in my head as I lined up the nail. With all my strength I wacked the nail with my shoe and the pin moved forward an inch.

I listened for footsteps but heard nothing. Two minutes later I had the door off its hinges and was creeping across the room hidden by the tables.

It was like when I was a kid and we'd play secret agent, except real. Except this time 25 million people were counting on me to survive.

I peaked around a pile of boxes and saw Doc snoring on the couch clutching a bottle of vodka. If I'd had a weapon I'd have killed him right then and there.

No. I had to send the document to the authorities. I had to save the 25 million people. Two million of which were children.

I crept past him ignoring my gut telling me not to let him out of my sight. I had to warn them.

Then I saw it. My x-com! The small metal disk lay there as if it were a trap. Too good to be true but it was there. My fingers met the cool metal and everything was almost okay.

I typed in my mother's birthday and the device came to life, the holographic screen appearing in front of me.

Five minutes later I'd sent the report to the chief of the DC police department as well as my contact at the Silver Order.

Then I had an idea. What if I found the virus materials and destroyed them. It would probably kill me but everyone else would survive.

I crept further into the cluttered warehouse into the lab area Mr. Gold had brought us to. The mess of equipment and chemicals was laid out on the table and I realized I wouldn't know where to start.

But I did know where to start. Doc was creating the virus; if he were dead the virus wouldn't get finished. And if I got lucky I could escape and see my parents again.

I grabbed a scalpel from a nearby table. I'd slit his throat and save lives in the process.

I gripped my weapon with all of my strength and crept back toward the couch where Doc was passed out. I'd never even hit anyone before, much less kill someone.

The sofa entered my line of vision. It was a tacky shade of yellow. The blood would stain.

He wasn't there.

My heart dropped down to the floor leaving a crater at my feet. I clutched the scalpel for dear life. A gun clicked to my right.

I slowly turned to find Doc leaned against a wall holding a strange-looking gun. A tranquilizer gun.

I turned and took off sprinting but the needle pierced my skin. Why couldn't it have been a bullet?

***

Hey guys! How will the Silver Order react to the knowledge of the virus? Will Audrey survive? How much do you hate Doc on a scale of want to cut off his thingy with a rusty knife to want him to be eaten alive by fire ants while running across a sea of legos? Please vote and comment, I want to know what you think.

-Jade