Chapter 41- Onward
'Jennifer?' Meg whispered. 'Jennifer, are you there?' a little louder.
No answer. She had no idea which way Jennifer had gone and how long ago they had lost each other. They had tried to follow Paul and Thomas through the corridors but had lost them quickly and then lost each other. Meg hated to admit it, even to herself, but she was beginning to get frightened. The longer she was with company the more suffocating the building seemed to be.
That was when she heard the sound ahead of her, somewhere from the other end of the corridor. It sounded like people talking and it seemed to be getting closer. She strained her eyes in the direction of the voices and there appeared an orange glow, under it a hand.
'Meg?'
It was Christine!
'Meg? Is that you?' she asked as they got closer.
'Christine,' Meg cried and ran quickly towards the light. As she ran she noticed another figure with her, a man. He was dishevelled and half propped up on Christine's arm and the smell was terrible from his direction. It was definitely not Erik.
'What are you doing here?' Christine hissed. 'Didn't you listen?'
Meg stared at her friend and then to the man who looked up at her for the first time. To Meg's horror she recognised the face and the dashing dark eyes. It was Raoul.
'Raoul!' she exclaimed, unable to peel her eyes away from him. 'You're alive!'
Raoul managed to force a smile at her and then began to hobble onward. Meg turned to Christine he slid her spare arm back around her husband and clung to him desperately.
'Where is…?' Meg began but a side glance from Christine immediately told her that she had not told Raoul how she had found him nor did she intend to. Meg wondered where Erik was as she followed Christine and Raoul along the hallway, happy for the company and for the light.
'Are you okay?' she asked, aiming the question at both of the De Changys. Raoul grunted a yes and Christine simply nodded solemnly. Meg sighed, at least he was still alive. As they continued along the corridor Meg fell a little further behind. She was distracted by looking around, trying to find Paul, Thomas or Jennifer. Ahead of her she could see that Christine had wandered into the opening of the main warehouse and Meg leaned against the wall, relieved that they had finally found some light.
She stood still to rest, realising that her legs were aching severely and as she did she heard another voice from the warehouse.
It was male.
It wasn't Raoul.
She followed the sound quietly.