The Dictator

Chapter 22

Alina stood and stared at him for a moment. Flynn lay face down on the cold floor. His injured left hand was still oozing blood onto the floor.

Alina grabbed a radio from her belt. It was one that Miles had given to them, so that they could have emergency means of contacting him. She hadn't been partially happy about them at first, since they carried tracking devices, but now she was extremely glad. Alina brought her thumb down on the big red button on the interface. Nothing happened. Alina frowned and pressed it again. Nothing. Maybe it wasn't meant to do anything.

Hoping her signal had been sent, she pocketed the radio and paced over to where Flynn was lying spread-eagle on the floor. She sat down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. He was still quite warm from his period of frantic activity, when it had looked like they were both going to die. She picked up his hand and turned it palm up, then shuddered. Warm blood seeped out of the deep wound onto her hand. She grabbed the already blood-swelled rag Flynn had been using, and tried to stench the bleeding. It was no use. Letting it fall to the floor, she tightened her grip of Flynn's shoulder and rolled him over onto his front. As she did so, there was a small clink noise as two test tubes rolled out of his blazer pocket.

Alina frowned and looked at the colourless liquid inside one. It swilled around in it's test tube, like a happy hippo in an African bog. Shrugging she picked them both up, and put them back in his pocket. She sat and looked at him for a while, then bent over him. She spent a moment trying to work up the courage to kiss him lightly on the check.

Before she could, the door behind her flew open with a crash. In marched Miles with two teenagers at his side. The teenager's ominous muscles bulged, and they carried cruel narrow-barrelled machine guns. Alina jumped to her feet and gasped.
"Where's the emergency?" Miles half-yelled. Alina opened her mouth then closed it again, like a fish. "Spit it out then." Miles said, irritably. "We don't have all day."

Suddenly regaining the power of speech, Alina replied
"Flynn- his hand- lots of blood." She said, stumbling over the words. She indicated Flynn, lying at her feet. Miles rolled his eyes as Alina indignantly continued, finally managing to untangle her tongue from it's web of delinquent confusion. "He cut his hand on a knife, left in that draw." She eyed the weapon on the bench, and picked it up. For a moment she considered throwing it at Miles, but decided against it. His guards would gun her down in seconds, and Flynn's hand would never get treated. "This knife." She said, holding it out. Miles took it, rather warily. He stuck it in his belt, then looked down at the body, limp on the floor. A red stain was growing round Flynn's hand.

"Well- the standard lab injury procedure is to let the injured person bleed to death, or to finish them off quickly." He said, looking down at Flynn, unconcerned. Alina gave him the evil eye.
"I don't care what the standard procedure is, we have to do something. He was building that bomb for you. Surely that should mean something." Miles just nodded wisely, mocking her.
"Yes it does mean something. It means we shoot him quickly, instead of letting him die in pain-" he was going to continue, but Alina cut him off with a vicious sounding snarl.
"I don't care what you think we should do, I won't let him die."
Miles just shrugged, looking slightly unsure of himself for the first time. He looked at his guards as if he half expected them to do something. But they just stood there, alike to the famous musclebound statues of the Greeks. Finally, he sighed and shrugged.
"Fine. The First Aid kit is in there." He pointed at a draw in the lab. "You'll have to do it yourself though. I'm not wasting my time."

He strode out, and was closely followed by his two fearsome guards. Alina pulled the draw open, and grabbed the white briefcase inside. She brought it to the floor and opened it. First she washed Flynn's wound with antiseptic, then began to stitch.

Halfway through her work, Flynn stirred. His eyelids fluttered open and he looked up at Alina with tired eyes.
"Ow." He declared in a vain attempt at humour. "Thanks." He said, in a softer voice.
"It's nothing." Alina replied. "I had to call Miles in though." Flynn sat up, suddenly. "Steady." Alina laughed. "I'm not done yet. And be careful. You've lost a lot of blood."
"Why didn't Miles kill me?" He asked, the words catching in his throat.
"He wanted to, but I wouldn't let him." She told him. "Why? Did you want him to?" Flynn shook his head slowly.
"It's just... Well I've seen him kill lots of other people who managed to hurt themselves. He just takes out a gun and shoots them coolly. He doesn't even bat an eyebrow." Flynn leaned back against the bench and sighed. "Let's see... Rick went first. Poor Chloe, she never even found out what happened to him. Then there was Leo... He never stood a chance here in the first place, really. He was good at science, but dangerously clumsy in the lab. And I mustn't forget Alice- she lasted a good long while. At least, until she tripped over that wire and electrocuted herself. Hers was a horrible death. Miles didn't kill her quickly. He just turned the power up, and let the current do the rest of the work. And then there was all the others that got killed too..." He trailed off into silence and dreaded realisation crept into his breath.
"I- I'm the only one left of the original lab rats."

Alina sat and frowned at him. "Lab rats?" Flynn just smiled furtively.
"It was what Miles called us when he thought we weren't listening. We were the best of the year 11 science and IT pupils. At least... We were. There were lots of us at first. Me, Alice, Rick, Leo, Alex, Cassie. There were others too, from the higher and lower years.
"Jack?" Alina prompted him.
"He wasn't really one of us. Sure, he worked in the lab but he was an idiot. He didn't know what he was doing, he just did whatever he was told." He winced, as Alina's needle slipped.
"Sorry." She said quickly. "Did I hurt you?"
"No, it's fine." He replied softly. "You're doing a great job. Much better than me when I did first aid in PHSE. It was a good job they made us practice on fruit, instead of people." He smiled weakly at Alina as he tried to joke. She smiled back.

Finally Alina lowered the needle and stuffed it back into the first aid kit.
"Ok, it's done. She said, optimistically. Flynn raised his hand, and looked at the stiches. "You've done a good job, Alina. Thanks." Alina smiled at him.
"Anytime." Then she frowned. "What are your parents going to think, when they see your hand?"
"My mum ran of with another man. And my Dad doesn't care."
"I'm sure he does." Alina argued."
"No." Flynn replied, shaking his head. My Dad doesn't care. He didn't care when I broke my arm, five years ago, or when I got ill. Or when my brother..." He trailed off and Alina could have sworn she saw a tear in his eye.. "Never mind." He said, and quickly changed the subject. "It's probably a good job he doesn't. If Miles hadn't known he would make nothing of it, he would probably have shot me, to stop awkward questions being asked."

An awkward silence filled the room, as the two sat hunched up against the bench. Just for something to say, Alina asked Flynn about the test tubes in his pocket.
"Corrosive stuff." He told her. "Stuff I asked for to slow the process down. It was stupid of me really. If I tried to destroy it like I did the ammonium, I would probably end up missing a few toes. And I prefer to kept them."
"Isn't that a bit dangerous, keeping them in your pocket. I mean, Miles could find them. And when you fell, a few minutes ago, they could have smashed and gone all over you. You could be dead right now."
"I suppose so." Flynn replied quietly. Something in his voice made him sound as if he had wanted that to happen.
"You- you don't want to die?" Alina stuttered in a shocked tentative voice.
"No." Flynn replied truthfully. "I want to live, and stop Miles from causing all this destruction. But there's a part of me that thinks- well- a part of me that believes that it would all be so much easier if we didn't have to worry about everything. I suppose it's guilt. I know it's not our fault that Miles has killed so many people and is going to kill more, but it feels like it is."
Alina just nodded solemnly at him. She knew all too well what he meant.