The Massacre part 2

There was no fear on Aurora’s face but pure anger.

‘’YOU CAN’T DO THAT!’’ She bellowed, staring straight into his eyes. She didn’t care if he locked her up and tortured her; all she cared about was saying what no one else has had the courage to say. Everyone in the stadium was staring at them now- it was dead silent apart from Aurora’s voice. ‘’Don’t you realise what you are doing? Look around you! How can you do this to people? We haven’t done anything to be brought down here. Jerome doesn’t deserve this! No one deserves this!’’ She stopped and realised what she had just done. Aurora looked round the stadium and saw everyone with a strange look on their faces: an expression of awe, amazement and horror. Jerome stood up and stood next to her, while the Serpent stared at both of them, utmost hatred and anger etched into every line in his ancient face. Jerome started to back off and grabbed Aurora’s arm to pull her with him. He turned her around and they started sprinting towards the door to the Men’s Quatre. They barely heard the Serpent shout ‘Get them!’ before they raced into a dark passageway that was exactly like the one that leads to the Children’s Quatre.

Aurora’s mind raced as ten million thoughts came rushing to her head. What have I done? I just put my family in danger. What will happen to my sisters? What about Jerome? Why is he helping me? I’m such a horrible person… They came through the other side and continued through the Centre that still looked identical to Aurora’s Centre. Not stopping to catch her breath, she followed Jerome, praying that he knew what he was doing. Of all the things that could have happened to Aurora during a Massacre, she didn’t think that this would be one of them…

They could hear about six Leaders following them, shouting instructions to one another. Jerome led her through another passageway, opposite to the one that leads to the Flame room. Aurora was never allowed through this passageway and had no idea what was on the other side. She knew that Jerome was from the Children’s Quatre because he was just a few rows down from Aurora when his name got called out from the ring of fire. That didn’t make any sense though. Aurora had never seen Jerome anywhere in her Quatre, even though she went out to the Centre quite a lot. They were still running but Aurora couldn’t breathe any more. She was slowing down and the Leaders were catching up fast. Aurora was wheezing and was really struggling now; her lungs were on fire and there was sweat all down her front and back.

Jerome noticed this and took her hand to drag her along with him. Aurora didn’t understand how this was supposed to help but she had no other solution. This was actually hardly a solution. They came out of the tunnel and took a sharp turn to the left as Aurora struggled to take in her surroundings. The room was as big as the Centre but had glowing blue crystals instead of rock. There were operating computers and shelves of folders and files. The light was dazzling and Aurora didn’t know what was going on- she had never seen this room before. She really couldn’t run anymore and fell to her knees. Jerome grabbed one of the chairs from the computers and broke one of the legs off. Ready and alert, the four remaining Leaders had their batons raised in the air. Aurora backed into a corner and tried to catch her breath. She watched, in awe, as Jerome battled with the Leaders, using the leg of the chair.

The Leaders gained up on him and slashed the air with their batons. A determined look on his face, Jerome took the first Leader out with one efficient swish of his weapon. The other three looked mildly surprised but recovered after a moment and flexed their fingers threateningly. Jerome was sweating and was not sure how long he could keep this up. Noticing this and feeling guilty, Aurora shakily stood up and went over to help him. She stood next to him, unsure of what to do. Jerome ran forward and tried to tackle one of the remaining Leaders. It was getting really hot now and Aurora really wished she kept her mouth shut. Tossing her a spiky piece of metal, Jerome tried to distract the Leaders while Aurora got ready to strike. He ran the length of the room and two of the Leaders followed as one stayed and attacked Aurora. She was ready though.

It only took one hit and the man lay unconscious on the floor with blood trickling down his head. It took a moment for Aurora to realise that Jerome still needed help. Once her brain sped up, she ran as fast as she could to the other side of the room where Jerome was fighting with the last Leader- the third one was already unconscious. The last Leader punched Jerome in the stomach with the baton before he had a chance to defend himself; but he recovered quickly and returned the favour. As Jerome struck him in the back, the Leader looked momentarily confused, which gave Aurora enough time to pin him to the ground and jam the piece of metal hard into his ribs. He gasped and lay motionless on the bright, hot floor. Wheezing and falling to the ground, Aurora put her hands over her stomach and tried to make the room stop spinning. She barely noticed Jerome coughing next to her. After a few minutes, Jerome sat against the wall and looked at Aurora.

‘’Are you…okay?’’ He asked, still out of breath. Aurora nodded and tried to decide what to do next. She Stood up but stumbled; Jerome quickly stood up too and steadied her. She mumbled a quick ‘thank you’ and leaned against the wall. Looking down at her heat-proof suit, she noticed that the fabric was ripped and all the hot air was getting in. Jerome copied her and found the same thing. ‘’Oh, no.’’ He said quietly, ‘’That’s not good. We are going to get fried.’’ Aurora just looked at him. What was she supposed to do? She had no idea what you do when a complete stranger saves your life, making you both outcasts in the whole population.

‘’Uh…right. Let’s just get new ones.’’ She mumbled feebly. Jerome looked at her sceptically. ‘’What?’’ She asked, staring back defensively.

‘’Well, if you haven’t noticed already, we are kind of stuck here, because if we go anywhere near people, we are going to die.’’

Aurora didn’t really understand why Jerome was grinning. She was getting the impression that he either didn’t care about the situation, or he was really brave. She hoped that it was the second one.

‘’Well, what’s your great idea, then?’’ She asked, crossing her arms angrily. Putting up his hands in defence, Jerome backed away, still smiling.

‘’Whoa, chill, princess, I’ll think of something.’’

Aurora turned away and crossed her arms. It was definitely not the time to be making jokes. And anyway, shouldn’t he be upset? He was a completely different person half an hour ago when he was standing in that arena. He was forced to murder someone. You don’t just lose someone you love in The Massacre; you change your life forever. You become a murderer.

Jerome was leaning against the wall, no longer smiling, a look of concentration on his face. Aurora wasn’t even thinking about a plan, she was just going around and around in a circle, wringing her hands. The same questions were swirling around her brain, like crumpled up pieces of paper that won’t unfold and make no sense.

Jerome looked at Aurora thoughtfully.

‘’What are you looking at?’’ She snapped, really fed up of this guy’s constant mood swings.

‘’I was just trying to figure out why you have such a problem with me. It was clearly not that was back in the Flame room.’’ He said. Rolling her eyes, Aurora continued to pace around the room and tried to ignore the boy, not wanting to end up in a fight. She thought she was doing the right thing back there, but he just turned out to be a massive jerk.

‘’Look, I just want to get out of here, okay?’’

‘’Yeah, well…I did kinda just save your life back there, so the least you could do is thank me.’’ He scoffed, turning around to look around at Aurora with his arms crossed. She snorted out a laugher in disbelief.

‘’Oh, please, I saved your life?!’’ She yelled, suddenly unable to contain her anger.

‘’Yes, I did! If it wasn’t for me, the Leaders would have beat you to a pulp by now!’’

‘’For God’s sake, I stood up to you! How do you now get that?!’’

Jerome took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down before he did something stupid, ‘’Okay, okay, look…we need to get out of this mess. I suggest we stop hating each other for a few hours and figure out what to do. We can do this is we just stick together.’’

‘’Who taught you to talk like that?’’ Aurora asked sassily, raising an eyebrow. Jerome just sighed and looked over to her, giving her a can-you-just-cooperate look. She sighed and took a deep breath. ‘’Fine.’’