The Carrow Chapter 8

The Carrow Chapter 8

     “Wake up you stupid fool!” yells the professor through the intercom. I slowly sit up and lean against the cold wall of steel. My head is throbbing. I reach up to touch it and watch as my fingers come away with fresh blood. I must’ve hit my head on the wall pretty bad. “Come on then,” repeats the professor, “Get a move on!”

     I force myself to stand up. The world feels like its spinning and I immediately start to fall to the ground. I’ve lost too much blood, I realize. I needed to recuperate somehow. I lay there on the ground, staring in to the dark night sky. And then I notice a tinge of blue in it. The sun was coming up. Time is running out. How long have I been asleep here?

     I get up and begin to walk toward a turn, not caring where I was going, only wanting to get this whole thing over with. Then I remember the professor’s threat about burning me alive in twenty-four hours. This keeps me going. I realize that if he managed to turn the entire mansion into a labyrinth, then that means there still has to be a way back down, right? I mean, he has an underground laboratory. There has to be SOMETHING that leads down to it…hopefully. I just needed to figure out where I was exactly.

     I glance to my left. Now I am beginning to make out the old apple tree on the front lawn. It had always stood on the corner of the lot. The professor only kept it here because he liked the apples it grew. I go there now. The waking daylight becomes brighter and eventually I can see my way clearly. Finally, after many risky turns and pivots, I’m there. I see that there’s still apples growing on it, and I greedily pick one now. I realize that I’m famished and immediately take a bite.

I wonder why I haven’t run across any traps on the way here. 

I stop chewing and stare at the apple in horror. Now that there’s more light, I can easily make out a green tinge inside the apple. It could be the morning light, I tell myself, but I can’t help but notice that it’s a different kind of green. A sickly green. 

Of course, I think to myself. It’s more of the Carrow’s poison. What else could it be? At once, I begin to forcefully cough out the apple, but I had already swallowed it completely. There’s nothing I can do about it now. Surprisingly though, I don’t feel any different. But that just makes it feel all the more deadly, because I have no idea when the poison would take over my body.

Shrugging, I give up on worrying. There’s no point to it anyways, besides, I’ve been through worse haven’t I? At least, that’s what I hoped. And if I’m not mistaken, the place where the front door should be isn’t far from here. And I feel sure that I can find it by mere instinct, so I head there now. From there, there should be a large hole in the ground, with downward stairs leading to the lab.

I start to run, but suddenly I feel myself slowing down. No, it couldn’t be...the poison is meant to slow my body system. When would it wear off? The speed I was walking at has been reduced to a zombie like trudge, and even though my mind is screaming for my immobile muscles to move, they refuse to go any faster.

I would just have to bare with it; at least it doesn’t hurt, I think. For now, I needed a better plan about what to do after I’ve reached his lab. What if he’s there, waiting for me right now? With giant scissors ready to cut my head off at any moment? My imagination runs wild, and I realize it’s the poison that’s triggering my nightmares. I shake away my artificial thoughts, begging my mind to take control again, but eventually I’m racking with sobs and gasps, and I’m seeing strange shadows that are quickly creeping up on me, grabbing me, yanking me down, choking me. In an instant, I feel bound up.

It’s an illusion, I tell myself, this can’t be real. But suddenly I feel hands cover my mouth and I’m being held down by a big heavy object. Actually, not an object, a person. But what was a person doing here? I must be hallucinating.

I simply lay there, waiting for the poison and the make-believe person to disappear, but after several minutes, the situation hasn’t changed, and I’m still stuck on the ground.

“What-” I choke out, but the hand clamps over my mouth again. My vision clears a bit, and I can begin to make out a face.

It was the mailman.

“Syren, you’re Syren right?” He whispers. I nod. How did he know me? “Listen, I’m going to get you out of here. But you have to listen to every word I say.”

Don’t tell me… “Liam?” I whisper loudly. This isn’t a dream, and I’m not hallucinating. This is Liam, my mother’s brother. “How did you get in here?”

“That’s not important, but right now we have less than six hours to get you out,” he says. I can’t believe it, would I really be able to leave this wretched place? This nightmare? This horror?

“How?” I ask. Liam begins to say something, but at that moment we hear a loud blast go off, and then the Carrow’s voice comes up.

“It’s been awhile since we’ve spoken, Liam. Why don’t you come down here and have a little chat with me?”

Both of us freeze, how could the Carrow already know that Liam is here? I mean, he just got here. The Carrow must have even more cameras than usual, if so, then why did he let Liam in in the first place?

To kill him. I realize. He’s going to kill him, so that I would never have any chance of escaping again. But surely Liam must be aware of this. I glance up at him. He’s staring into the distance defiantly, as if he was challenging the Carrow’s loud voice over the intercom.

I watch him pull out a gun. “What’s that for?” I ask stupidly. Liam stares at me with hard eyes.

“You have to understand that anything I do from here on out, is for your sake,” but before I can say anything in response, he points the gun at me. 

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

The story is getting better with each chapter. I like the addition of the sister brother in the story. You left me with a wide open ending. I need to know more. A excellent chapter.
Coyote

[RainQueen]

Another gripping write! Outstanding job!

[A. L. Allen]

O.O AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't kill Syren!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You just HAD to leave it right there, didn't you?!?!?!?!

Once again, absolutely AMAZING!!!!!! Get the next chapter out quickly!!!! (*pant gasp pant*)

[Ice Girl]

OMG!!!! I loved it!!!!