DECISION

The basement had suddenly become colder than usual. The air felt heavy, stagnant. All sounds seemed muffled. It was like time itself had come to a full stop for a brief moment. Out of simple rationality, Claire was convinced it was nothing but an illusion within her mind, yet it didn't stop her from getting chills.

Nora stared at the floor, with her eyes lost in the void. They were dry. She didn't seem to have any more tears to let out, no matter how much she might have wanted to keep drowning in them.

Claire wanted to continue comforting Nora, but she abstained from doing it. She understood what William had meant. He had a point. She didn't want accept it, she wished things could take a different direction with all her might, but the reality was undeniable.

If they kept running away and hiding from the truth, Lilian would be doomed. And if Lilian was gone, Nora would follow.

She said nothing, she did nothing. It was a conclusion that Nora had to reach on her own. She wouldn't be able to move on otherwise. She just held back her own tears, and watched.

"I won't force your hand." said William. "Even if my own sanity is teetering on your final decision, that decision is yours to make. But, for your sake, and for Lilian's sake… think carefully about this. Don't do something you'll end up regretting your entire life."

Nora didn't answer.

William moved his chair aside, and approached Amanda's room.

"I have things to do, honey… I need to leave. But I'll be back, I promise. Wait for me." he said, before closing the door.

After a moment of hesitation and thought, he locked it and walked away, towards the entrance of the basement, passing right beside Nora.

"Let's get going. No matter what your decision is, we'll have to find Lilian. Regardless of how severe her condition is, she'll be safer with us than with those lowlifes."

"William… Do you think… Do you think Lilian can be saved…?" asked Nora.

"…the military are humans. Can you reason with a disease? You can't. But you can try to reason with humans. I'd like to believe there's still some faith to be had in mankind. Even if the opposite has been proven to us over and over." he let out a deep breath. "So, to answer your question… Yes."

William abandoned the room, leaving Nora weeping bitterly. Claire rushed to her side and hugged her again, in an attempt to help her bear the sorrow.

******

William had finally let most of the survivors out of their confinement. He kept his eyes on Marcus as often as he possibly could, making sure he was never left alone for too long. The only person he left in isolation was Desmond. His mind filled up with turbulent emotions whenever he confronted him, he didn't even know what to do with him. He'd rather not deal with him for the moment.

Since many of the survivors would probably have to stay in the building, he spent some time giving some tips about the layout of the structure, as well as the current state of the surrounding areas, including the very few places where resources could still be found. Those people were going to have a rough time surviving in that place for a long period of time, but if they were planning to rescue Lilian, they couldn't bring everyone. Whoever came along had to be ready to get into a fight, and most of them weren't.

'Speaking of which… Rescuing Lilian, huh…? Easier said than done. How?'

…

William approached Marcus, who observed the streets from the edge of the rooftop. He noticed him getting closer, but didn't shift his attention from the surroundings. As William's eyes peeked over the railing, he noticed many shamblers standing around down below.

"What do you even stare at them for?" asked William.

"There's no point in hiding the fact that my research is related to them, is there? We can learn a lot of things just by observing, trust me."

"Yeah, well… Listen, about the girl… ¿How do we even know that she's alive? You surely haven't forgotten, have you? That… monster, whatever it was, ran off after them. I'd find it hard to believe that they managed to take it down."

"…indeed, that creature is definitely still out there, somewhere. It's not something a group of untrained civilians can handle."

'You crafty bastard… Things wouldn't be so hard if you didn't keep all the details to yourself. Like, for example, what that fucking thing is. Bah…!'

"But the girl is alive. That, I can tell you for sure." added Marcus. William frowned in response. He wasn't too convinced. "If the girl was dead, I'd know. As I told you before, there's plenty of things you can understand just by observing."

"If you say so… I have no damn clue how the hell can you be so sure… But it still doesn't tell us how to find her. We don't know where they took her, do we?"

"I'm… working on that. Have you managed to convince her friends…? You said you would have a talk with them."

William took a moment to think before giving him an answer.

'Convince? No, this is not about "convincing", it's not so simple… This is a conclusion they must reach on their own…'

"Yeah, I hope I did."

"I see. Alright, I'll need some more time to figure things out. I'll let you know when I have something."

******

The cracks of light seeping through the boarded windows fell on Nora and Claire, enveloping them within the dim environment of the apartment. Sitting on the floor against the wall, surrounded by soft shadows, the coldness of the room felt strangely comfortable.

"I've been selfish, haven't I…?"

"Why do you say that…?" Claire looked at Nora with concern.

"I've only been thinking about myself… It baffles me, how I never actually thought about Lilian. Forever in denial, keeping her by my side in order to not lose myself… But what about her?"

"Nora, I'm sure she wants to stay by your side as well. Anyone would notice how much safer she feels around you!"

"And doesn't that make it seem like I've been using her? I'm not even sure she realizes what's happening to her body… But I do know. And even though I know, she seems to be okay with it, so I do nothing. I keep running away. I keep dragging her down with me…" Nora made a long pause. "I'm… I'm a bad person."

"Don't say that…! Not even as a joke!" Claire got closer to Nora and held her hand. "Please, just don't. It's not true, and you know it."

"It's okay, Claire. I have to… acknowledge things. Sooner or later, I need to come to terms with who I am, and the things I've done. What I've done to myself, what I've done to her…"

"Nora…"

"I've told you many times, about the kind of life I had before the pandemic, right? The only thing I did was work. Work, work, work. I needed to provide for her, I needed to do everything I could to ensure she had a bright future ahead. We had no contact with our parents or with our other relatives… It all depended on me. And I wanted to make sure she could move on despite being stuck with me."

She held tight onto Claire's hand, and she brought her other hand to her chest, clenching it, as if a deep anguish was eating at her insides.

"It's bizarre to even think about it… but as long as I keep walking down this path, she'll have no future, will she…?" Nora's voice started to tremble. Claire looked at her face, and it was pretty obvious how she was doing everything she could to stop herself from crying again. "I'll… I'll go."

"What…?"

"I'll do it. I'll take her to them. I have to… I have to do this…!"

"Are you sure…!?"

"Please, Claire… What I've been up to so far has been nothing but a delusion… Don't… don't feed it anymore. If it hurts me… let it hurt me. I must do this. After seeing William's wife, I think I opened my eyes a little bit. For Lilian's sake, I need to seek help. I know you understand…"

"Mhm…" Claire nodded. No more words were needed. She laid her head on Nora's shoulder.

"Can we stay like this for a little longer…? I'm… tired."

"Sure."

…

"Hey… Claire? Why do you care about me so much?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you even see in me…? Am I not… exhausting to handle…?"

"You're not! I don't care what you're going through, I just like you!" for a change, Claire's voice sounded chirpy. Nora gave her a smile of appreciation. "I think we've all lost something since this all started. I don't know what happened to my family, or my friends… They're probably all dead. I was… so lonely."

"Is my company so valuable to you…?"

"Sometimes the company of a friend is all you need for everything to be okay. I'm just so glad I've met you. And I'll support you to the very end. I promise!"

"Pfff…" Nora couldn't help but let out a chuckle, followed by a soft, but heartfelt laugh.

"Hey! What's so funny!? I meant that!"

"It's nothing, it's nothing…! It's just, it almost sounded like those cliché lines you'd see in a movie."

"Oh, come on… If we're gonna be like that, I'd say everything that happened over the last week looks like taken right out of a movie."

"Well, I can't deny that…"

The two girls shared a sincere laugh for the first time in ages. It was their own moment of peace. A brief, but necessary peace.

…

"Thank you, Claire."

******

An entire day had passed, and Marcus still hadn't given them any clue on Lilian's whereabouts. He carried papers and documents everywhere he went, but he gave no answers.

"You just asked me this same thing a couple of hours ago, didn't you? I don't have anything yet. I don't think there's any need to be so insistent…"

Marcus didn't look too happy about being stalked within his own room. It was a pity that William didn't care. Since the building was now full of strangers, he was dedicating most of his time to patrolling the hallways and making sure nobody was up to anything weird. He intentionally paced around Marcus' apartment more often than usual.

"I follow you around because I don't trust you." said William. He saw no need to hide his distrust towards him. "And since I have the chance, it doesn't hurt to ask."

"I see…"

Light footsteps approached the room. Someone was walking down the hallway in their direction. Before William could reach the door to take a look outside, Nora showed up on the doorframe.

"Nora? Is something wrong…?" asked William.

"I, um… I made up my mind." she avoided his gaze while talking. "I'll do it." she directed her eyes towards Marcus, who stared back at her with curiosity. "I'll help you find Lilian."

Marcus sighed, as if a big pressure had just been released from his chest.

"You sure? You didn't seem so convinced yesterday when we had our little talk…" asked William.

"I'm sure. I can't keep this up anymore… For her sake, I can't."

'So, she's really made her choice, huh…? She's surprisingly quick to stand back on her feet after falling apart. Good.'

"Well, then all we're missing is how to actually find her…"

"Um… A-About that… I think I know…" she added, in a shy tone.

"I see... Wait, what…!?"

…

Nora took the two of them to the rooftop of the building. William wasn't even too sure about what the hell she was on, but Marcus' face was painted all over with curiosity and excitement. He almost seemed to be mad with anticipation.

Nora went for the west side of the rooftop, took a look around, and then pointed in a particular direction.

"T-That way…"

"…huh? Are you kidding me? How!? Why!? Nora, this doesn't make any sense. It just looks like you're picking a random direction. Is this also how you tracked her when she ran away the last time?"

"No, I—"

Marcus rushed to Nora's side and was about to grab her by the shoulders, but he stopped at the last moment, choosing to simply stand by her side instead.

"How do you know? I need to you to tell me the details. It's really important."

"Ah…! Well, I just… It's like… No, no, you're gonna think I'm crazy…! Damn, I shouldn't have said anything…!"

"Please, talk."

"O-Okay… I can… hear her voice. In my head. It's like I keep hearing her voice, calling me over… And it feels like it comes… from that direction…"

Nora's gaze jumped between William and Marcus, nervous to no end. Her face was a bit flushed. William wasn't taking her seriously. But Marcus didn't share the same opinion.

"Yes, yes… Of course…! We can trust her! We can find the girl!" he said.

"Are you actually serious!? You're telling me the voices in her head will tell us where to find the girl!? Are you listening to yourself!?" William wasn't buying it, and any other rational person would be just as skeptic.

"You're going to have to trust her on this one, William. I have no way to give you solid proof. But I am confident she says the truth!"

Marcus faced Nora, and he did grab her shoulders this time around.

"E-Eh…?"

"Your name was Nora Lamb, right? This is an extraordinary development. But it definitely makes sense. If we follow your directions, we can find Lilian!"

"I'm guessing you'll refuse to give us a proper explanation?" asked William, on the line between annoyed and infuriated.

"You'll have all your answers once this is over. Right now, we need to start getting ready to move out. Every second matters!"

'Yeah, right… Let's get ready to move out, let's follow the voices in her head! Now I've seen it all. This isn't an action movie, it's a fucking comedy.'

******

That was it. That was the piece he was missing. Out of all the possible outcomes, who would've thought this was what would end up happening? Marcus was exhilarated, he felt like his research was finally reaching a logical result.

In his room, he finished grabbing what little belongings he had. The briefcase was the most important one. The Lamb sisters, and the contents of the briefcase; those were all the hidden factors in the equation. The equation that would unravel the mysteries of that place.

The anomalous cell was no longer an aberration. An atypical, unexplainable happening, now had a proper resolution at hand.

But they needed to be fast. With his theory now closer than ever to being proven right, the potential death of Lilian would be catastrophic. And if she were to be removed from the city without the rest of the pieces… no answer would ever be established.

Time was of the essence.

While he hurriedly walked down the hallway, he thought about how to report the situation to his superiors. Under normal circumstances, he would've used the radio on the truck, but it had been sabotaged. Most likely Julien's doing. They knew what they were doing, that was for sure. Those guys were dangerous, and he'd need to take proper measures if they wanted to succeed in taking Lilian back from their clutches.

'Without a radio, there's not much I can do. Once we manage to reach Saint Marie Hospital, I'll be able to use the radio they have over there… For the time being, I'll start preparing a written report. Ah, this is both frustrating and exciting at the same time!'

…

'Now that I think about it, the original report is no longer accurate, is it…? But rather than changing it, I'll supplement it with a secondary document. I think I'll label it as: "Queen".'