Of all people, Natalie did not think she would die in such an unbecoming way with some young man's foot on her beautiful face, but here she was with said foot forcing her head into the cold metallic white floor. She could only pray to the gods that her fate wouldn't end the way things were heading.
"So you're telling me you don't know anything about my little brother's whereabouts? Are you serious? If so, you no longer have any use, and you can die with the rest of your compatriots." Bloodlust started to leak out of Cinder's body, showing that he wasn't playing around with Natalie.
With desperation in her eyes, Natalie racked her brain with anything she could muster up to save herself from this situation. That's when Alina and Victoria appeared from around the corner. Seeing this, Natalie could only hope these two would be more sensible and help her out of this perilous situation.
Not caring about anything else, Natalie yelled out to Victoria and Alina. "Please help me! If you do, I promise I'll help you escape! You can't leave this place without me!"
Cinder also noticed the two girls but chose to ignore them; if they sided with the doctor, so be it, he might not be able to kill them, but the same could be said about them. Alina and Victoria looked at each other before walking over to Cinder and Natalie.
While walking over, the two girls made quick work of all the soulless attracted by Natalie's shouting; now, the hallways were quiet, at least to Natalie.
"What's going on here?" Victoria asked while Alina stared at Cinder with a questioning gaze.
Cinder turned his head towards the girls before saying.
"None of your business." Said Cinder with a flat tone that left no more room for discussion. Returning his gaze to Natalie, Cinder decided to ask a different question.
"If you don't know anything about my little brother, take me to someone who does."
With hopeless eyes, Natalie replied in an almost pleading tone. "....I can't...Doctor Chris and Nick have both turned into those mindless creatures, well if Chris didn't eat Nick whole, that is."
".....So you're telling me you also have no access to Chris's or Nick's files, databanks, or any type of information on my little brother?" Cinder's dull eyes started to radiate more coldness than usual, for Natalie at this point was genuinely useless to him, albeit escaping, but what was the point of escaping with no clues on where to find Leylin. That's when an idea struck Cinder's mind if Natalie couldn't offer any information, then maybe he should take any device that might have Leylin's location on it, so perhaps she wasn't a hundred percent useless.
"If you don't know and everyone who would know is dead or soulless, where would they store such data?"
"...Probably in Chris's office, maybe Nick's office too."
"Good, take me there." Cinder said in a commanding tone
"...B-b-but we would need Chris's or Nick's fingerprints to access their offices."
"Where did you last see them?"
"Near exit two."
"So, take, me, to, them, okay?" Cinder said, emphasizing each word with red soul-piercing eyes.
"...Yes, sir."
Meanwhile, Victoria and Alina watched on; when Cinder and Natalie started to walk away, the girls looked at each other with determined eyes before following Cinder. What this gaze meant, no one could tell.
After another dull session of wandering around the faculty, the group finally arrived where Natalie last saw Nick and Chris or what was left of them. Seeing a bloody trail leading down another corridor, Cinder started to follow the path in hopes of finding the source; of course, Natalie had no choice in the matter and had to follow unwillingly. Not too far behind were Alina and Victoria, they tried to have a conversation with Cinder, but all they got was the cold shoulder which seemed to frustrate them to no end. After several attempts, the girls gave up and just followed him, hoping this would all be over soon and they could all escape with their lives intact.
Leading in front was Cinder, with his cold red eyes. Not too long after he started following the blood trail, Cinder could hear some moans off into the distance, picking up his pace but not too fast; he still needed the excellent doctor if this plan was going to pan out properly.
Finally arriving at the source, what awaited them was blood and guts everywhere, with a large group of soulless, but Cinder couldn't spot Chris or Nick within this colony. With slight frustration, Cinder quickly killed all soulless until nothing but silence remained.
"...Their not here," Natalie said in a hopeless voice; she didn't want to die yet, but if Cinder didn't find and get what he wanted, her fate wasn't looking so bright.
"Why did you state the obvious?" Alina asked in genuine curiosity.
Victoria kept watching Cinder, wondering what his next move was. She didn't see another blood trail or hear noises off in the distance. On the other hand, Cinder was starting to get in an even more foul mood; everything just seemed like a hopeless endeavor.
'....Why is this godforsaken world so unforgiving? I should've escaped when I had the chance or at least tried; then maybe I would have an inkling of where Leylin could be.'
Sighing in resignation, Cinder could only think of one outcome, and that was Chris and Nick were both eaten whole or in pieces, their body being unrecoverable. So Cinder would have to find his brother the old-fashioned way or modern way, so to speak.
Noticing Cinder downcasted expression and unwillingness, Victoria came up and patted his shoulder.
"I know it might look hopeless now, but this isn't the time to be wallowing; we should escape before anything else, right? And then we can look for your brother and our families, okay?"
Cinder looked Victoria in the eye and asked. "We?"
"Yes, we."
"....Why?"
Cinder before might have said that they would travel together, but in all honesty, he just said that to make them back off.
"Because if not us, then who else?" Victoria said with a genuine smile on her beautiful face.
*****
Hope you enjoyed it.
From your author RogueErebus.