The Fire Pt 7

Pain radiated through her leg, her eyes felt like anchors and the slight light making it way through her eyelids hit like she was staring at the sun. She peered through them the best she could, looking at her surroundings. People were to her left, laying in agony with her, and even more people were  to her right. Each was wounded, many writhing in pain and some lay completely still as infection had most likely taken them. 

A hand startled her as it lay upon her head. ‘You’re burning up,’ he was breathing heavily, she could hear each beat of his heat like the beat of a drum, ‘we need to get you help.’ Her dear husband was desperate and foolish. She laughed aloud, voustriously, and many turned to stare at her but she didn’t care. It echoed through the small room they were crammed into, and grew in intensity. ‘Mary, my god, shut up!’ he whispered harshly. 

Her laughing ceased, it had been the first time he had used her name in over a year. She had almost forgotten what it had sounded like when said by someone other than the voice in her head. She didn’t like that he used it, she didn’t want these people to know anything about her other than what they could see. 

Mary turned to her husband and hushed him, ‘Do not use my name, how dare you!’. 

‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered now as he looked around the room, ‘we need to get out of here.’

‘I have a hole in my leg, a broken arm,’ her voice started to raise before she went back to a whisper, ‘and my body is clearly trying to fight off an infection that is bound to win. Now, how do you propose we do this?’ 

He stood up and began to count. ‘There are sixty-one of us in here.’ he stated. ‘Over half probably too wounded or…’ he trailed off. He knelt back down beside her, staring at the door as he spoke, ‘When they brought us in here, I saw seven people, including the bastard that shot you and the imp that led us back here. Seven.’ he repeated, ‘That’s not that many.’.

Suddenly the door swung open, revealing the fat man behind it. His voice boomed with pride, ‘Yall are here for a reason, you deemed my kind an abomination. You locked us away all the while curing the savable and left us to die.’ He peered around the room, ‘Well, looks to me some of yall are already dead,’ he chuckled as he started to step through the people on the floor, ‘won’t be long now for the rest.’.

Each footstep grew louder in her ear, and stopped right by her side. She saw his grin grow larger, ‘ ‘Cept you.’ he reached down grabbing a hold of her broken arm and began to drag her away. She screamed out, kicking and fighting as best she could. Her husband bounded to his feet to attack but the man just pulled out his gun and held it to his face. ‘Try that again.’ he said. Every small body cowered in the room, moving out of the man’s way as he dragged Mary screaming from the room.