Human Nature

by Finlay Borthwick

  Elliot and Reed remained seated in their planes. “Just trust me on this one guys,” Everyone was on edge, “I think our luck might not have completely run out just yet.” He reassured Reed and the pilots, as he could see Zach running along, hidden amongst the trees and the overgrowth.

  Waking up, Annabelle suddenly remembered where she was – on the back of a plane. Looking beneath her, she saw the sea. “Pilot,” She picked up the radio, “Where are we going?” She sounded dreary. He didn’t respond however. “Please, take us back…” She was tired, and the altitude wasn’t helping. Instead of turning around, the pilot produced a tranquiliser pistol, blindly shooting it behind him. The dart directly hit Annabelle’s arm, causing her to go back to ‘sleep’…

  Chapter 13

  Sierra and Tracey had put the group on their knees. “And now, we shall all burn together, amidst this never-ending blaze.” Olivia tried to break free of her cuffs, but they were too tight. Fabien and Gwen looked as though they couldn’t care less anymore. “You know what? As satisfying as it will be to watch you all die in a fire, I want to take out at least one of you scumbags by my own hand.” She looked along the line, “And you’re the biggest scumbag of all,” She pulled out her pistol in front of Fabien, but Gwen jumped in the way, “No, don’t!” She kicked her back, “You’re defending him Gwen? Really? After everything he did to you? He’s just as bad as I am!” Gwen echoed Fabien’s words, “No one’s a hero, and no one’s a villain. Everyone’s just a survivor. You have to forgive and forget.” Sierra laughed, “Really? Where did you dream up that load of rubbish then?”

  Zach had returned to the mansion, “Seymour! Abel! Pierre!” He called out to them desperately, speaking to them in French. However, none of them moved out on his request. Noticing Pierre’s antagonising look, Zach realised what was happening, as he slowly backed away into the tunnels. Seymour pulled out his sword, threatening to take Zach’s head. As he ran off into the tunnels, he was chased after by Seymour and the rest of the group.

  Reed was insisting to Elliot that they should take off now, but still he refused to leave. “Just wait Reed, I know what’s about to happen have faith in me.” Still they had to communicate via the radio coms. “There!” He pointed out Zach running past towards the airfield again. Not far behind him, Seymour’s group were chasing him still. Elliot had counted on this, “Exactly as I predicted. He’s leading them right in.”

  As Zach took his secret route to get back in the base – so that Seymour’s group weren’t distracted by Elliot – his made sure his pursuers noticed him. Abel grabbed Seymour to stop him from running after Zach into the base. Noticing the flames, he thought it to be a bad idea, but Seymour was blood-thirsty, and did not heave Abel’s warning. Sebastian and Langley followed him in, therefore Abel had no choice, joining the others as well.

  The fire came closer and closer to encircling the group. “Feel the heat everyone! Feel how much it burns!” Sierra sounded like a crazy person. Olivia, Fabien and Gwen all began to sweat. “Sierra, maybe this is a bit too far,” Tracey was starting to become independent from her sister. “Tracey my dear, nothing is too far nowadays. Nothing at all. Trust in me.” She stepped back from her sister, “No, Sierra! Foxtrot was always a better leader than you. But it’s worse than that. My entire life, you’ve looked down on me.” Sierra rolled her eyes, completely disinterested. “You know it’s true. That’s why you’re acting up. Admit it, since the day I was born you’ve envied me, sister. Mum and dad always preferred me to you anyway. That’s why you want me here, you want me to burn in front of you.” Still, Sierra looked disinterested, “What would be the point of that when I’m burning here as well? Right next to you. Look at the sweat all over me! How could I possibly fake this in such intense heat?” While watching the conversation, the temperature had gotten far too hot for Olivia. “Gwen…” She struggled, and was swaying flimsily, “I feel ill...” She fell flat forward.

  “Olivia! No!” Gwen was only slightly more energetic then Olivia was. “Fabien, what do we do?” He struggled to help her. “You let her die,” Sierra interrupted them, as Gwen looked up at her viciously. “If you want to burn… then burn!” Suddenly, she jumped up, pushing Sierra into the edge of the fire. Losing her balance, she fell back into the flames, screaming. Although internally she was in shock over what she had just done, she was too weak to show this. Tracey looked at Gwen, devastated, “Why… Gwen,” She too was becoming lethargic, “She wanted to burn…”

  Seymour’s group came to the rescue. Abel and Sebastian threw Olivia and Gwen over their shoulders, while Seymour debated whether or not to take Fabien, noticing he was dressed in the agent’s attire still. He realised that he could torture him himself later on, which was motive enough to for him to throw him over his shoulder and rescue him as well. Due to the amount of smoke, they had noticed Tracey, and unintentionally left her behind in the flames…

  Olivia woke up the follow morning. She was in one of the mansion bedrooms, with a comfy bed. After having the worst experience of her life, she then had her best. Seymour was waiting on a chair at the far side of the room. “My sincerest apologies, my queen. I did not realise the intensity of the explosives. I foolishly believed Elliot did not have enough to burn the place down.” While at first she smiled at him, she looked around the room, then frowned, “Where is Elliot? Why isn’t he here?” Seymour took Olivia’s hand, “My dear, there is something tragic you must know. I am very much afraid that Elliot… Is gone.” She sat up, “W-what?” Her eyes rapidly darted side to side, “It was a noble death. He sacrificed himself to make sure you would make it out alive. He wanted me to look after you.” He kissed her hand, as she retracted it away from him “He’s… Really gone?” She sounded timid. The emotional moment was broken, when a very much alive Elliot entered the room, “Olivia! You’re awake! Shift over would you Seymour?” He scuttled back to his chair, as Elliot went in to hug her – but she didn’t hug him back, amidst confusion. “What’s wrong?” He asked her, “You’re alive?” He stepped back, “Oh, well good morning to you as well.” She shook her to rectify herself, “He just told me you were dead!” She pointed to Seymour, who shrugged, “Well what can I say? I’ll do anything to get with a pretty woman like you.” She threw up slightly in her mouth, as Elliot took her hand.

  “Seymour, it was a mildly funny joke at first, but now, it’s gone too far. You told her I was dead to suffice your own personal needs. How dare you!” He stood up, “How dare I? Elliot, if it wasn’t for me, she would have never even escaped that place! I provided you with those firebombs!” Elliot drew his knife, prompting Seymour to draw his sword. “Your firebombs nearly got her killed might I add.” Olivia jumped up from her bed, “Stop it! Both of you! Haven’t we got enough problems aside from fighting each other?” Beadily staring at each other, they sheathed their weapons again. “I apologise to you, my English friend. Your lady is just… very beautiful.” He continued to stare intently at Seymour, as he left the room. Elliot turned back to Olivia, “Is there something going on between you and him I should know about?” She shook her head in disgust, “What? No! Elliot, how could you possibly think that? I love you and only you!” He smiled affectionately at that last part, giving her a morning kiss.

  Seymour had gone to visit Gwen now instead, who had only just woken up as well. “Good morning, your majesty,” he now decided to flatter her instead. “Oh… hello there,” They had not met before. “Thank you for saving our lives last night by the way.” He bowed, “The pleasure’s all mine.” Again, the moment was interrupted, except this time Abel wanted him. “I’ll be back momentarily,” he smiled at Gwen, before being dragged away from yet another one of his new associates.

  Storming downstairs, Seymour was mildly furious with Abel. As he lightly cursed at him in French, he noticed someone on the streets outside. All covered in blood, it was Celeste. Seymour commanded Abel to let her in.

  Seymour did his best to clean the blood off of Celeste, but there was a lot
of it, and the dress wasn’t wash-proof. He asked her about where she had been, to which she responded with what could only be interpreted as “Hell”.

  Back in the air field, the fire had finally gone out the following morning. All the buildings and the aircrafts were completely ruined, everything completely burnt up. However, there was still one survivor. Despite how crispy her face was, and how charred her skin had become, Sierra was still very much alive. While trying to get up, she screamed out in pain, with severe burns all over her.

  Elliot could tell something wasn’t sitting right with Gwen. He visited her in her room, interrogating her about what had happened. “Gwen, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done, we’ve both done bad things. You really think I’m going to judge you?” But still, she stared into nothingness amidst a daydream. “Well, time to read you again I guess,” He examined her expression, he saw signs of terror on her face, as well as shock, “You killed someone, didn’t you?” Still staring into a daydream, she nodded slowly, “Who did you kill, Gwen?” She slowly turned her head and looked at him, “Sierra.” He leant his head back, thinking to himself ‘Of course’. “Did you find Annabelle in the end?” He asked her, but this question prompted her to revert back into her trance-like state, “No…”

  Somewhere far away from the others, Annabelle awoke. She was in what looked like a youth hostel, with perhaps a dozen bunkbeds in the room. All of them were empty except for her own. Taking a moment to adjust to her surroundings, she hopped to her feet, trying to open the door and get out. The door refused to open, therefore she had to resort to another plan. Running to the drawers next to her bed, she searched every one of them. “Come, come on.” There were just random sheets of paper with garbage written all over them. She heard footsteps outside her door. She debated what to do for a split second in her mind, ultimately opting to lay back down on her bed, pretending to still be asleep.

  “I want to see Zach,” was Celeste’s first request. Seymour was thrown off balance by this. “You can’t…” He was afraid that Zach would tell Celeste he tried to kill him. “I am not asking, Seymour. I am telling!” She had for some reason decided to speak to him in English rather than French. Unable to think of an excuse, Seymour flipped the subject onto her, “You’re alive. You escaped the Sinners. How?” She pretended as though she didn’t understand what he was saying. To catch her out, he repeated the question in French. Now, she just blatantly ignored him. From the other end of the hallway, he noticed Zach approaching. Fearing for his freedom, Seymour subtly left the room.

  After several attempts, Sierra finally managed to balance herself on her own two feet, with the help of the safe. Luckily for her, but unfortunately for the other groups, the bomb was still intact. She plucked it out of the safe, cupping it in her hands. She was itchy all over from her burns, every itch increased her hatred for her enemies, mainly Fabien.

  Fabien was trying to warn Elliot and Gwen about Sierra’s bomb. “It’s real. It’s not a decoy I’m afraid Elliot. There very much is enough radiation inside it to wipe us all out. There are also likely other survivors around here we just haven’t encountered.” Elliot and Gwen looked at each thoughtfully, “So, if the bomb didn’t go off in the fire, that means it’s still there, right?” Fabien nodded regretfully. “Then we have to retrieve it,” Elliot resorted to, prompting Fabien to wildly throw his hands up, “Oh no, no, no! Elliot we can’t. That thing is way too dangerous and volatile. If you mishandle it, you could kill everyone! We should just leave it where it can’t be touched and leave this area instantly before anyone else finds it.” But neither Gwen nor Elliot were willing to run any longer, “We’ve come too far now. We nearly had our lives back in that place, we’re not running any further Fabien. You lived their longer than either of us, you’re willing to just leave? Heck, there’s even another mansion just like this one around the corner. We live near the coast as well, that means fish for dinner every single day! How can we leave now?” He pulled Elliot’s trouser leg up, “You see that scar on your shin, Elliot? That happened to you in that place! Remember the tiger?” He rolled it back down again, “I don’t blame the tiger, it was within its’ natural instincts. I only blame you, Foxtrot. You put me in that cage after all.” He looked down guiltily, “That was a different time…” Elliot was going to snap at him, but then realised he actually agreed, “That was a different time indeed…”

  Still pretending to be asleep, Annabelle sensed somebody standing next to her bed, looking over her, making several notes on a clipboard. She was tempted to open her eyes just slightly to see what this person looked like. Her eyes were then forced open, unpleasantly invaded by the light of a torch. She could make out the figure wearing a white lab coat, but also could see there was another one on the other side of her bed – the one holding the torch. Wasting no more time, she took a deep breath and sat up. Looking either side of her, the two men were startled. While one of them jolted back, the other one didn’t flinch at all. It took her mind several seconds to process the man’s face, but eventually she realised that it was no stranger, it was someone she very much recognised. “It’s, you…” Although she knew the face, she couldn’t put a name to it. “The man from London. Vincent and Andy’s friend, right? Keith! That’s it!” Indeed, it was, but for some reason, Keith pretended he didn’t know Annabelle already. “We’ve never met before,” him saying this seriously confused her, “You’re deluded,” with that, he pulled out a tranquiliser pistol, sending a dart into her arm. “Again… really?” She lethargically asked, before yawning and dozing off again. Still acting up, Keith continued to write down on his clipboard, pretending to not already know Annabelle…

  “Well then Doctor Keith, our latest guest appeared to have recognised you. Anything you want to tell us?” The one who had been using the flashlight asked him. “No, I have never seen her before in my life. She’s just in mindless shock,” Keith was quick to defend himself. “I’m warning you Keith, lie to me, and it will cost you your life, or Cora’s. Understand?” He was very intrusive of Keith’s personal face – so close that he was picking up on his bad breath. “I understand, Doctor Khan. I apologise for the inconvenience,” he bowed his head as though it was a law in this place. “Good. Now that we are on the same page, come down to the champagne bar. Some of our friends over in the other wing have successfully completed a heart operation. They’ve invited us to join in celebrations.” Khan put his arm around Keith as though nothing had happened between theme just now. “Of course, I will be there, sir.” He looked slightly terrified, but also tried to look casual to avoid any further threats from Khan.

  “Fabien? What are you doing up there?” Gwen shouted up to a rooftop, which for some reason Fabien was lying down on with a pair of binoculars. Looking down, he shushed her. “Hang on, I’m coming up!” She trotted up the stairs on the side of the building.

  Upon reaching the top, she crouched down next to him, “What do you see?” She asked him, as he handed her the binoculars, “Look at the camp. You can’t miss the big glaring error.” It took her several seconds to notice, but after properly scanning it, she saw what he was referring to. “Soldiers? How is it that possible?” Despite the inferno which had ravaged the place the previous night, there will still living soldiers, residents and agents walking around. Some perfectly fine, others injured. “The big glaring error is that people are still alive. But it’s worse than that, look at what’s missing,” he tried to align his pointing with the binoculars. “The safe? It’s open, but it’s empty…” She lowered the binoculars, realising what this meant, “The bomb. Someone has it…”

  Breakfast was rather quiet. Supplies in the kitchen were running low – Seymour’s group were planning on another supply run – it had gotten to the point where breakfast was just cold cans of soup. Around the table, no one said anything, but they all exchanged mischievous looks at each other. “So Elliot, when are you leaving?” Seymour taunted him, “How lovely of you to welcome us into staying, my French friend.” Olivia w
atched them exchange daggers at each other. “Perhaps you may want to consider leaving later today! I hear the weather outside is going to be rather nice.” He reached his hand under the table, over his knife, “I hear there’s a forecast of coloured rain, quite the contrast to nice weather I think.” The taunt made no sense to Seymour, “Coloured rain? What colour might that be?” Elliot pulled his knife up and leapt across the table, pressing it under Seymour’s neck, “Not sure. Possibly Red, just like blood.” He merely pushed Elliot back to the other side of the table, “Well, how phenomenal.”

  Olivia stood up and snapped, “How much longer are you two going to be at it for? We are living in a world where have to stand together! We can’t be taking stabs at our own allies in both a metaphorical and a physical sense!” The two men looked at each other daringly for a few moments, then began to smirk, their smirks turned into light laughter, before they burst out into an enormous fit of laughing. “A metaphorical… And a physical sense! Stabs!” Seymour laughed so hard he began to cry, as did Elliot. “Hey Seymour! Look at Abel and the others! They haven’t got a clue what we’re saying! Look at their blank expressions!” Again, they continued to laugh intensely. While Olivia smiled, she had only intended for them to shut up, not the extreme opposite.

  Gwen and Fabien continued to watch the airfield – or what was left of it anyway. Not much was happening, most people were either leaving or trying to rebuild. “Every time I take the binoculars down, I swear the base gets further away,” Gwen remarked. “It’s quite some distance from here. That’s how we can’t away with those two idiots laughing,” Fabien referenced Elliot and Seymour whom they could clearly hear giggling even from the rooftop. “Do we tell them about this? That there’s still people at the air field?” Gwen checked with him, “Nah. There’s no point. They’re not exactly gonna come after us, are they?” Nevertheless, she continued spying on them.