CORINNE

A week has passed. The boredom and restlessness combined made themselves comfortable in Corinne's soul. She was bored out of her mind by the constant routine forced upon her life. Wake up, work, eat lunch, work, listen to mind-numbing Lordornian stories, sleep.

She was also restless, in ways she could not quite comprehend. Ever since the shipwreck, her body craved adrenaline, she craved danger and secrets. Like a woman possessed, she spent the week searching for answers.

The scientists – or thinkers, how they liked to call themselves in a completely non-conceited manner – offered no real answers. Things are different here, they said. We would love to find out what's going on, but we cannot leave the city walls, they said.

What a bunch of bullshit, Corinne thought as she quietly played with the cup of wine in her hands. They were all cowards. The worst kind of cowards, afraid of the idea more than the reality. People were disappearing and they just let it happen, not even bothering to give a crap.

Corinne stared at the crowd on the main square. The thinkers around her table talked about the stars and the tides and the waves, but Corinne's mind was elsewhere.

Greg wasn't far away, he was sitting at the soldiers' table, they were drinking and singing and laughing; not bothering themselves with trivial matters such as why they were here in the first place.

Tyler wasn't far off, either. Corinne tried to read his expression, half-hidden by the shadows and half-illuminated by the fire. At least he was trying to do something, she thought, no matter how insignificant and ultimately meaningless.

Olivia had it by far the worst. Her eyes became hollow and sad as she stared ahead, not talking to the ladies at the table around her. She lost weight. Her thin hands clutched the plate and her legs slightly shook.

Corinne couldn't help her. No one could help those who did not help themselves.

The sound of the horn spread through the square, shaking Corinne out of her thoughts. The horn was deep and primal and urgent, she thought as she turned in her seat, noticing the balcony where the sound came from. The torches were lit all the way down to the queen's palace balcony, enlightening the pathway.

As Corinne learned, the queen didn't come out very often. But when she did, the whole town gathered to see. People gathered like a flock of chicken, creating a crowd in the middle of the square, making it impossible to see beyond.

"Her Grace didn't make an announcement in quite some time." Kay, who sat next to Corinne, murmured.

"I wonder if this has something to do with more frequent disappearances." Adam, a geeky, thin biologist said.

"It's not like we have much of anything else going on." Kay sighed. A few other people joined the conversation while the crowd waited for the queen and Corinne thought this was the good moment to snoop around, when everyone was busy.

"I'm gonna go visit my friends." Corinne lied and, without paying them a glance, walked away hastily. No one answered and no one tried to stop her.

She guessed they all thought she wasn't so crazy to do something reckless. Oh, how wrong they were. People underestimating her was her favourite trick up the sleeve. Corinne walked through the crowd, trying not to get noticed. Her heart began to pound in her chest.

"Corinne." It was Greg. "Where are you going? The queen is about to talk."

"I couldn't care less about the queen." Corinne turned around on her heels and narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm going for a walk."

"Corinne..." Greg grabbed her by her hand but she shook him off, deciding not to waste her precious time talking to him.

He liked it here. Greg was the type of person who would like it anywhere as long as he had a warm bed and a cold beer. Corinne wished she was that easy to satisfied. But she hated the shackles they put around her wrists.

So, she walked through the empty town, away from the noise on the square. She heard the queen's voice in the distance because the whole town died down as soon as she spoke. Probably some pompous bitch, Corinne thought as she sneaked towards the medical building.

The door screeched as she opened them, but she decided to believe no one would hear her. She did not have a lot of time and she needed some answers fast.

Yes. The voice in her head whispered and Corinne cursed inwardly. She did not want the fucking voice in her head to believe she was following orders. She never followed orders. Orders were for weak-willed morons that needed someone else to tell them what to think.

Andrew was still the only person in the main room, still hooked on the IV bag and the machine that monitored his heartbeat. Still completely out of it.

Corinne gazed beyond him, right to the 'authorized personnel only' room where the quiet coughs came from. A sense of foreboding spread through her limbs, begging her to turn around and walk away.

Come closer, the voice spoke, or are you afraid?

Corinne walked towards the forbidden door and let the fear and anticipation dance the devilish dance within her soul. Wasn't that what made one feel alive, after all? The possibility of immanent death.

Corinne opened the door and the stale air hit her face, filling her nostrils with sweat and blood and death, all at once. People lay in their beds, their pale limbs exposed to the moonlight. Their coughs were the only sound present. Corinne came closer to the bed nearest to the door.

An old woman lay there, her eyes almost disappeared within the depths of her bony head. The blackness of irises contrasted the paleness of her skin. She looked at Corinne with an almost peculiar glance and bared her rotting teeth. Her hair and her nails were falling out. A walking corpse, Corinne realised.

"You shouldn't be here." The woman's voice was strained and broken, her words dragged through her throat and barely exited her body.

"What's in the water?" Corinne asked sternly. She had no time for chit-chat.

"You're all destroyers." The woman's face twisted into frown. With her lips pulled down and her eyes wide, she looked like she was in pain.

"Who?" Corinne asked further, ignoring the obvious discomfort this woman was in.

"Around and around it goes." The woman hummed. "The circle of life and death, it twists and turns, but the people, oh, the people ruin everything. Breaking the chain, turning the circle into a line. Ugh, those humans, always ruining the good stuff." She let out a throaty laugh.

"Yeah, those pesky humans." Corinne mumbled.

"Yes!" The woman's eyes went wide. "But the water, oh, the gentle water. Gentle, lovely water. Flowing and coursing and drowning all thoughts. Get to the water, dear, will you?"

"Did you get to the water?" Corinne narrowed her eyes at the woman.

"Oh, I did." The woman's eyes turned downward. "But the water is merciless." One, small tear slipped out of the holes in her head. "So, so merciless."

"What went wrong?" Corinne asked, trying to find meaning in those scattered words.

"No path is wrong." The woman sighed. "Every path is a path, even the one that leads to death."

"Then, tell me, which path leads to life?" Corinne continued.

"Strength." The woman said. "Strength leads to life. If you want to survive, you need to be strong. And determined."

Corinne swallowed the next question and thought about what it meant. In her bones, she knew this was inevitable, but she wanted to believe for just a second more she was wrong. Fever, hallucinations, voices. Get to the water, the voices said.

"Am I infected?" Corinne asked, ignoring her body's desire to stay in the dark.

"Are you?" The woman asked.

"Shit." Corinne was tempted to sit on the bed, but she decided against it. She had to leave before someone found her here. "Shit."

"Get to the water, dear." The woman's eyelids fluttered and mere moments later, she seemed to be asleep.

Corinne gathered herself and walked out, ignoring the coughs and cries of people on the other beds. The queen wouldn't be talking so long and she had to get out before people returned to their business. Maybe she didn't need confirmation, maybe she already knew what had happened to her.

The one thing she was certain was that she heard voices in her head, the same voices all of these dying people heard. If she didn't act on it fast, she would end up just like them. Dead.

She had to get to the water, but that was tricky. Soldiers guarded the gates throughout entire night and there was no way someone would let her out. Unless... unless it was someone she knew, someone she could make open the gates for her. Jeremy seemed dumb enough to do such a thing for the love of a beautiful woman.

Corinne sneaked out of the medical building and bumped into Greg. He had his hands firmly crossed on his chest and his muscles tensed with the posture. The soldier look fit him, the gear and the knives on his hips made him look more dangerous.

"Shit." Corinne murmured as she noticed the angry stare.

"What are you doing?" He asked, squinting.

"I went to check on Andrew." It wasn't a lie.

A nauseating feeling began to brew in Corinne's gut; the idea of lying to Greg didn't sit right with her.

"No, Cor, I mean, what are you doing?" His hands fell down his sides and he sighed, suddenly appearing smaller. "You haven't talked to any of us in a week. Olivia is falling apart without you; she needs her friend."

"Olivia would be better off finding new friends." Corinne mumbled, knowing it was true.

"But she doesn't want new friends, she wants you to talk to her." Greg tried to catch Corinne's gaze, but she avoided him.

"Listen, Greg." Corinne squeezed her fingers. "I want to get off this island. In order to do that, I have to hang out with people who can help me do that. Olivia can't help me, she can barely help herself survive. Once I figure out how to get off, I'll come back for you."

"That's the thing, Cor," Greg laughed exasperatedly, "I don't think you will. I'm beginning to think Tyler might be right about you."

"Since when does Tyler's opinion matter more than mine?" Corinne met Greg's gaze and he sighed.

"Since he's been making sure Olivia sleeps through the night for the past week, while you've been ignoring us, hanging out with your scientist friends." Greg searched her face, but Corinne didn't know what to tell him.

He was right. She had neither time nor desire to indulge in Olivia's sleeping problems. She didn't want to know how they were doing. If they had a problem, they should handle it for themselves. Her sympathy and friendship would offer them no consolation. But if she found a way off the island, now that would be of use.

"They know more than you do." Corinne said. "I have more use of them."

"So, that's what this is about? Whom you can use more?" Greg chuckled. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't want to talk to you anymore. You should find your own hut to sleep in."

"Fine." Corinne shrugged. "It doesn't matter where I sleep."

"As long as you sleep peacefully, Cor." Greg muttered and walked away from her, shaking his head as he walked.

Emptiness settled in her soul for just a moment. Maybe because she thought she would never lose Greg, maybe she thought he was dumb enough to stay by her side no matter what she did. For the first time in a while, she breathed in regret.