The Storm: Chapter Fourteen

Nothing stood out about the building I found myself in. A long hallway, a tiled floor, beige walls with framed pictures of nature – waves crashing on a beach, an iridescent bird hovering beside a red flower, rain and mist covering a forest floor. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. Dr. Adlai led me through several twists and turns right into the belly of the building. Possibly to confuse me so that I didn't escape.

Maybe I should have asked him to save me like the Diana-girl he was desperate to save. Maybe he took pity on me when he was helping me recover.

"Why was I kept from the others?" I queried after the nth turn we made.

"Vat do vu mean kebt from?" the doctor repeated back, not bothering to stop the journey.

"Why wasn't anyone allowed to see me?"

"Vu vere fery ill Clarke. Your immune zysdem vas combromized vith bneumonia. Ve had to make zure nein furzer pacderia or firus vould infect vu vilst vu recoffered. Vu Hundersdand zat mein kleiner Jäger."

I nod to show an agreement. I knew there was something not quite right with his response, but there was no point trying to get it out of the doctor. It's not like he would spill all the secrets of the place so freely. Afterall, he did work for WICKED.

"Why do you call me 'mein kleiner Jäger'?" I blurted out before my brain could even stop me.

The doctor paused in his stride, his stance staying straight ahead for a moment. Then, he slowly turned on his heel and stood to face me. His face a picture of disgust, as if the very thought of me daring to ask him such a question written across it. "Zat is non-"

"I know it means 'my little huntress'," I cut in before he could finish. "But why do you call me that. I don't know you."

"Vu know vat it means?" the doctor said, his eyes widening in surprise. "You were able to understand what I was saying?"

"That's why I asked you why you kept calling me that?" I replied back. "Wait, do you mean I was able to understand. Why wouldn't I be able to understand?"

Dr. Adlai stroked his chin, his face screwing into a thought. "This is highly interesting. Quite a rapid development if you ask me."

"Sir, I'm not sure what you are saying."

"You do realise that you are speaking German?"

"German? What is German?"

"It is another language spoking by those that live in Germany. I am surprised you were able to retain such ability after the swipes."

"So, you're telling me I can speak more than one language."

"I don't have too. You already are."

"Does everyone round here speak German?"

"No," the doctor glanced to the side. "Come with me."

He took a hold of my arm and half-dragged me behind him. We travelled down a corridor until he stopped at a door. He swung the door open and ushered me inside, closing the door quickly behind him. The lights flickered on as soon as we entered revealing a large room lined with metal cabinets and shower cubicles. The doctor firmly placed his hands on my shoulders and leaned in close, his stale breath tickling my nose.

"Listen to me," he spoke in a lower voice. "Were you awake before I entered the room?"

I refrained from looking at him in the eye. I twisted my shoulders, trying in vain to wriggle free from him. He only tightened his grip.

"This is important, did you hear what I said?" The grip on my shoulder tightened. The stare intensified.

"I swear I didn't mean too," I blurted out. "All I heard you say was the name Diana and that she is dangerous but you want to get her out Please if you are helping her, please help my friends." I gasped for breath. "Please."

"Great, this adds to things." He released my shoulders and ran a hand through his wiry hair. His eyes darted from one side to another as he murmured under his breath, until they went wide and pointed a finger at me. "Did you say that you heard me mention the name Diana?"

"I swear I won't tell. Please don't silence me."

"Oh no," Dr Adlai said as he shushed me. "I won't do that. Listen, keep what you heard to yourself and I will help you and your friends escape. Deal." He trusted his hand in my direction.

I thought for a minute. Here was the solution to getting us all out. All of us. The risk being transported with the girl named Diana but I would rather have taken that then being subjected to whatever more WICKED had in store for us. They couldn't keep subjecting us to this torture.

I grasped his hand and firmly shook it. "Deal."

"Good decision, Clarke." He said, placing more stress on my name. "Remember when we leave this room you only speak in English."

"How? I didn't even know I was speaking the German before."

"CHust follow mein cue und it vill pe eazier. Ko on zay zomezing."

I paused. "I want to go see my friends now."

"Zee, zat vas not hard." Dr. Adlai turned his back and strode to the doorway. He opened it partially at first, peaking his head round the corner. He motioned for me to approach him. I scuttled to his side and he forcefully dragged me from the room into the corridor again. He didn't let go of my arm until we arrived at a large set of doors. The doctor pulled his card from his pocket and flashed it over a black box set within the wall. It beeped, a light flashing green, and the sound of a lock unclicking from the door. He took a hold of the door handle and pushed it open.

"Pe ready," he whispered in a low voice before he gestured for me to enter.

I stepped into the room without hesitation. This was the final destination that he promised to take me too. I didn't want to wait for a goodbye. Not after the very strange encounter I had had with this man. Someone who I really wanted to get away from I would keep my end of the bargain, and everyone would survive. That was it. The Diana-girl, well I was sure we could come up with a solution to save her. She didn't deserve a life that was wiped from her and kept captured. From the sounds of it, she too had people that cared for her.

Upon entering the room, I noticed that there were several rows of tables of chairs squeezed tightly together. Most empty, neatly tucked in underneath, apart from a few that were occupied by three people closely huddled together in conversation – laughing, talking, smiling, safe, healthy-looking. A familiar bounce of curls glanced up and caught my eye.

Maya leapt from the table, her chair tumbling behind her in crash. She darted between the tables and rushed to me. Her arms spread wide open ready to for the embrace.

"Clarke, oh my gosh Clarke." Her body slammed into mine. I let out an 'oomph' as her arms tightly wrapped themselves around my body. She then suddenly pulled back, her hands placed on my shoulders. "I'm sorry, I forgot."

"Forgot what?" I asked her, my eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"Your chest … the pain …" she trailed off, confusion know settling on her face instead.

"Oh yeah. Ow Maya that hurt." I clutched my chest and feigned pain. A smile sneaked into the corners of Maya's lips as she started to understand what was happening. "Got ya good didn't I." I winked at her.

"Whatever. I think you should star in a movie for the performance."

"What's a movie?"

Maya cocked her head and looked to the distance in a brief thought. "I dunno. Sounded right to say."

Poe and Maggie joined us and each embraced me into the tightest hug that they could muster.

"I'm so glad that you're better," Maggie said to me, her eyes glistening as she wiped away a tear. "They wouldn't let us see you. They said you were really sick and that you may never recover."

"We begged them," Maya chimed in. "Even said we would wear one of them suits we saw them wear down the corridors. Big fat no. They really didn't want us near ya. But that doesn't matter now cause you're here and your alive and your better and you're somewhat a normal colour …. Ow"

Maggie cut Maya off with a sharp jab to the ribs. "Too much dear."

"And pain free," I added, earning myself a smirk from Maya.

"Well that's good to here," Maggie chuffed. "You can pull your own weight now."

"Ha ha," I retorted with a roll of the eyes. "Very funny."

Maggie only shrugged her shoulders in response.

For a reunion to go on for so long in happiness, it only took a quiet cough from the corner of the room to ruin the moment. My eyes cast over the very far corner of the room (the opposite direction of where my friends sat). There huddled close together were the two people I detested. Two people that reminded me of everything that happened before this moment. Leo and Trixie.

Anger swelled in my stomach, a ball of fiery chaos that screamed to be unleashed. My jaw clenched and my fist balled at the sight of them. They didn't deserve to be here. Not after what they did.

It took only Poe sticking at an arm to prevent me from unleashing the chaos. "Don't." he warned me with a coldness frosting in his eyes. "WICKED told us not to fight otherwise there would consequences to pay. We'd agreed that to leave them alone if they left us alone."

I couldn't pull my eyes away from them. A trance had taken over me. They didn't deserve to be there.

"Clarke, back off."

It took every muscle in my body to tear my eyes away from burning holes into their heads. Not once had they looked up to see me. They were cowards.

"And you are okay with this?" I strained through gritted teeth as I turned my glare to Poe.

"No, but I don't want Maggie and Maya to deal with my actions."

"Hey, we don't care." Poe glared over his shoulder and Maya backed away. The smile on her face instantly evaporating when Poe looked at her.

"Let's go sit back down," Maggie's voice of reason spoke. She took a hold of my arm, hooked hers through it and half-dragged me back to the table that they were sat on. Far away from the pair. She strategically placed me to my back to them, making sure to seat herself in the way so I couldn't make any disastrous decisions whilst still angry.

"They've kept us busy whilst we waited for you," Maggie said to me. "They asked us to do all these different exams."

"Like maths, problem-solving, you know stuff that you gotta use your brain for," Maya added. She twirled a piece of her hair between her fingers. "Hasn't been too exciting. I looked forward to bed more than anything so I didn't have to do them anymore."

"No surprise there then," Maggie joked.

"Hey." Maya pouted her lips and shifted her shoulder. "No fair."

"Has it just been you the whole time?" I asked, more curious about what they had to say then spilling anything that happened to me. I promised to keep it a secret, so the less I talked about what happened the less likely I was to spill.

"Nah, we ate with the other groups for a while. But we weren't allowed to mix with them. The guards made sure of that." Maya leaned in closer, quickly glancing up to the corner of the room then carried on in a low whisper. "That boy you like, Newt. Well he kept trying to sit with us. The guards kept shooing him away."

My eyes widened at the sound of his name. I leaned in closer to her what she had to say. I hadn't thought about him properly up until the mention of his name. He must be so worried about me. Did he even know that I had survived?

"Knew that was going to get your attention." Maya smirked. "We told him, well I shouted, that we hadn't seen ya but we heard that you were sick. Not sure if that helped in anyway cause two lads. What's his name? Sounds like a cooking pot? Saucepan?"

"Frypan."

"Yeah, that's it. Frypan and Nino dragged him away before he could get himself hurt by the guards. We haven't seen them much since. I think they don't want us mixing with them. Maybe because of you, maybe because we're different. I dunno. It's only speculations."

"Seems like you've been up to a lot then," I concluded, unable to wrap my head round why they really wanted to keep Group C separate from everyone else. "So why are you in here then? Lunch"

"We thought that," Maggie answered. "But that was two hours ago and there hasn't been a hint of food."

As if they were listening to her, a green light flashed on. The sound of whirring, a mechanical click and a hiss produced a double set of doors on the other end of the room to where I entered. After a minute of confusion (and no one daring to be the first to investigate), I rose from my seat. I bypassed Maggie, who kept a very cautious eye on me, and edged towards the new door. My fingers curled round the handle, the coldness tingling the nerve endings. I counted to three and placed enough pressure on the handle to hear it quietly click open. I inched the door open to a crack and peered round to see a small auditorium on the other side. Rows and rows of seats were filled, and scattered amongst the closet to the front were people.

"What is it?" Maya whispered in my ear. I jumped from her sudden presence, knocking the door wide open with a crash and falling straight on my face. The sound echoed through the auditorium, bouncing of the walls in a mocking resonance.

Maya grabbed a hold of the back of my shirt and helped me to my feet, whispering her apologies as she did this and hiding a very obvious smile. I gave her a light shove in retaliation for embarrassing me.

Maya didn't react to the push, she only stared past me, her smile fading. I turned on my heel to see that the people seated were now looking up at us.

The faces.

I knew them.

They were the faces of Group A and B.