I could only watch, helpless as the doctor raised her brow and looked past me as if I wasn’t there, then double taking at the state of the person behind me.
“What took you so long, Major Thompson?”
I heard the start of his reply but she cut him off, the flourish of her hand dismissing whatever he would say.
About to turn and check if Thompson’s betrayal was real, a rustle of the plastic on the other side of the room turned my attention to the woman who’d given Cassie the drink. Wearing no make-up this time, the yellowing bruises were easy to make out, even in the eerie light.
Her open-mouthed excitement turned to a bunched-cheek smile, and I knew she must have been Toni. Jess tried to hide any show of emotion, but I saw the reaction in her eyes and the twitch of her mouth, despite her obvious effort.
As they stared at each other, I noticed for the first time the second set of restraints on the wall next to Jess, the space vacant with steel clasps open and the leather hanging limp down the wall. A rustle of the plastic sheeting to my left turned me away.
Alex stumbled through the sheet much like I had, grasping for air as she fell forward. For a moment I thought it was Gibson risen from the dead and following stone-faced, but instead, another soldier stepped through.
My legs went weak and it was all I could do to hold my weight as hope drained away.
Alex wouldn’t meet my gaze as I stared on open-mouthed.
Footsteps echoed from the doorway behind them and for a moment I expected to see Cassie falling through the doorway with a soaked Sherlock stepping out.
“Jess,” Alex called, the sound so pained as she stared at Jess strung to the wall. The soldier grabbed at her arm to stop her rushing forward. She didn’t fight his grip, instead peering around the room, pausing at the sight of Thompson, then meeting my eyes. Her eyebrows raised and I couldn’t help but shrug, regretting the weakness of my expression.
At the soldier’s back, the plastic sheet fell from the door and settled to the floor.
Despite not being able to move her head, Jess stared to Alex and then to me.
I felt as if her thoughts mirrored mine. All of our effort and struggle to stay alive; all the people, the friends we’d lost for it to come to this ending.
We’d done exactly what they wanted all along.
I wished I could punish myself for my stupidity. It wasn’t enough just to curse at how I could have been so naïve. How else could this have gone down?
Movement echoed from the corridor at the soldier’s back and I expected Cassie to emerge, forced forward, but two soldiers, dressed as the others, came through the doorway carrying the same type of rifle as their colleagues.
With black helmets and black bandanas covering their mouths, all I saw were their eyes set in a squint as they looked around the room before the lead guy spoke.
“One unaccounted for,” he said in a deep voice.
“Cassie,” Doctor Lytham said, looking at first to Jess; when she didn’t respond, she turned past me to Thompson, nodding at his silent reply. She turned to Toni who had followed her. “We administered B23A and Jessica here tells me it was successful. You did it, well done.”
I watched as Toni’s breath caught and her face filled with delight and she twisted away from the older woman to Jess.
“We’ve done it,” Toni said, then moved back around, unsure who to look at. She settled in my direction then turned away, back to the older woman. “We found it.”
The older woman nodded. “Yes,” she said, but her voice and expression lacked any emotion.
“You know what that means?” Toni said.
“Of course,” Doctor Lytham replied.
“We have the cure,” Toni said, her voice rising. “The last piece of the system.”
That was the moment I realised the implication of her words.
The cure. They had cured Cassie. She wouldn’t turn into what Jess had become, and I felt a great weight lift from my shoulders, sending an urge for me to scream for Cassie to run, to get away and go live her life. A normal life.
But I knew she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t go anywhere until she found the children. Until she found Ellie and could take her to safety.
“So that’s it. We’re saved,” I shouted. “You’ve saved humanity.”
Toni and Doctor Lytham span around to face me, lingering for a fraction of a second before they burst into laughter.
85
A sharp pain at my shoulder forced me forward and I stumbled, dropping to my knees. Looking up, both the doctors had already turned away and their laughter halted. Toni stepped towards Jess and I watched, rubbing my shoulder to ease the ache.
Jess tried to flinch away from Toni’s touch and Doctor Lytham took a step forward, grabbing at Toni’s shoulder to hold her back.
“You came,” Toni said, still leaning out to Jess despite her mother’s pull.
“And you survived,” Jess replied, her voice deadpan.
“It was touch and go,” Doctor Lytham said with venom as she let go of Toni’s shoulder.
“It can’t have been that bad. You were up the next day,” Jess said.
“Luck,” Doctor Lytham replied. “If your aim was better, she’d be dead.”
“If my aim was any good, you’d be dead,” Jess said, for the first time taking her gaze from Toni.
Toni’s posture inflated, and she looked
