"Lindsay." I said, and I heard Luke run to the wardrobe. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." she said, shrugging. "I was worried about you two. It's been a long time since you left. Is Luke already... like us?"

I nodded, grinning. She didn't look remotely as happy as I felt.

"Should we get going, then?" she asked, but it sounded more like a mandate than a question.

"Yeah, of course. Luke is just recovering from..."

"I know." She nodded, knowingly, and then she made a disagreeing, sarcastic face.

We walked down Banbury Road towards the city center, and, after leaving the Departments of Materials and Computer Sciences to our left, we found Saint Giles church on our right. It was past noon, and people were eating sandwiches sitting on the gravestones of the cemetery. The vivid contrast between eating and lying death on a coffin, and the proximity among those two actions had always astounded me, but now it seemed even more peculiar. I would have expected people to acknowledge death in a different way now, I would have expected them to keep away from it more eagerly now that they had almost managed to escape from it. I would have thought we would all be playing cautious to avoid falling into its claws again. But there we were, acting stupid and audacious and almost enjoying risking everything we had ever wanted, pushing it to the edge.

The sky was cloudy and rustling, and, as we approached Cornmarket Street, it started raining heavily. We rushed into Superdrug, after quickly deciding that Boots was bound to be more crowded, because it was on the main street, whereas Superdrug was in a side, quieter street that had a stone pavement and led to the Covered Market and the Radcliffe Camera. We rapidly walked through the hair dye aisle, and stopped in front of the dark colours. I looked at both sides and behind my back, but the store was almost empty, apart from an old lady buying essential toiletries.

My mind drifted back to the first time I had bought hair colouring. I was in year nine, and Nora and I were set on making an impact at the prom our school was hosting to celebrate the end of our middle school years. We bought a pink highlight set, and I decided to match it with a pink babydoll dress. I smiled at the comforting simplicity of the memory. And then I remembered that had been the first night I had dreamt about kissing Nora. That first dream closely resembled a moment of the party. Nora had been insisting about how badly she wanted to be kissed. She had a crush on a boy she had never talked to, and she was outraged because apparently he hadn't noticed her fashionable looks. In my dream, I told her I would kiss her, and she smiled her naughty, mischievous smile.

"I think I'll try this black one." Lindsay said, startling me. "What about you?"

I hadn't really looked at the dyes.

"Oh... um... I like the dark red one." I answered, choosing randomly. "We should also get some scissors."

We run to Primark though the Clarendon Centre, picked up some dresses, some t-shirts and some pairs of stockings, and headed towards the cashier.

"Tessa?"

My whole body tensed. Luke automatically put his arm around my waist, as if he could protect me with that unexpected gesture. I didn't know if I was supposed to turn around; what would be more suspicious to do? I didn't even recognize the voice, it sounded artificial yet somewhat familiar.

Lindsay was the one to turn around.

"For God's sake, mum!" she yelled, and I turned brusquely.

"How did you manage to speak in such a weird voice?"

"Never mind." she sighed. "Desperate times call for desperately ridiculous actions."

She was wearing a headscarf and was unusually made up. The contrast between her northern European features and the Arabic look she was chosen was more outstanding than disguised. Her look could also be perceived like she wanted to star in a fifties' vintage film.

"Where's dad?" I asked, my anxiety suddenly reaching its peak level again.

Luke's arm was still weirdly wrapped around me. I wondered what mum was thinking about me and him, but then I realized she hadn't even noticed our closeness.

"Calm down, he's at The Randolph." she whispered, after coming close.

"So you had the same idea of a fancy hotel."Lindsay pointed out.

"I guess." mum shrugged. "But we had a better idea. What about we talk it over dinner tonight?"

She looked at Lindsay, then at me, and then at Luke. That was the moment when his presence drew her attention. She gasped, suddenly conscious of all the information she had shared with a stranger. She looked at his face, then at our bond in my waist, then up at him again.

"That's fine, but I have to go and see dad now." I said, emphasizing the last word.

I was growingly stressed, and I thanked my paranoid precaution for having made me take some syringes and treatment material with me.

"... newspaper." I heard someone mutter.

A group of sixteen-year-old girls were staring at us with distrust.

"Okay..." I whispered, trying to stay calm. "I think we should casually forget to pay and start walking towards the door."

Luckily, they immediately understood what was happening, and we started heading to the door at normal speed. But we must have released a smell of urgency, a sensation of guilt, because one of the girls watching us yelled:

"Stop them!"

The four of us looked at each other. A security guard started to move towards us. Lindsay and I read each other's expression, and, in unison, we cried:

"Run!"

We run out of The West End shopping centre, and raced through Queen Street. I crashed into a boy as I passed the Breton Crêperie, and he shouted something at me while he watched his Belgium chocolate crepe fall to the ground. We sprinted up the rest of the street, and, this time, I didn't find myself looking back. I didn't even feel like I had time to check behind me. I heard a siren, and I concentrated on my breathing while I convinced myself it didn't have to do with us. I could hear Luke's heaving beside me, but there was no sign of Lindsay and mum. I stopped.

"Tessa, what are you doing? Keep going!" Luke shouted, ten meters ahead of me, without stopping.

I turned around and run back. I had to find them. I looked in every direction while I spurted. The street was packed. I hit two women as I passed Topshop, and wondered if they also knew who I was and why I run. I looked back for the first time, and realized I had lost Luke too. I couldn't believe he hadn't followed me. I left Marks & Spencer behind, then Hotter, and I crossed over to the other side without looking, risking my life for the second time that day. My breathing became more and more quick, and I decided to stop at Argos, where people didn't lift their heads from the electronic device catalogs.

"Tessa?"

Not again, please. It's not going to be mum this time.

It was Professor Evans. I sighed, relieved, although it was difficult to differentiate sights from the rest of my breaths. Then I remembered the last time I had seen her. I had blurted out a monologue in the middle of her lecture, wrapped in the emotions of my discovery. It had been the day everything had changed. I presumed she was on my side, I presumed she understood what Fleming&Florey had done. But I couldn't know for sure.

"Are you alright?" she said, walking closer to me.

Her stare told me that she was definitely on my side.

"Aren't you supposed to be...?"

"Fleeing? Yeah, I'm trying to." I whispered, pushing her to the corner of the shop. "Have you, by any chance, seen my sister?"

"Doctor Lindsay Blake? Yeah, I just run into her at Marks & Spencer." she said, nodding.

"You're kidding me, right?" I asked.

It couldn't be that easy. Then I gasped. I couldn't believe I was talking to her in such an informal way.

"No, why would I do that?" she asked, confused. "You don't look like you want to be messed around with."

"Okay, thank you, Professor." I yelled, as I started to run again.

But I stopped, held back by instant remorse and embarrassment for having been about to leave her behind. She was watching me when I turned around.

"Professor Evans." I walked till I stood very close to her, so that only her could hear what I whispered. "You should come by the Cotswold Lodge this evening."

She just nodded, and I could tell she had understood. It was easy to understand each other those days, because, no matter what side we were on, we all had the same thoughts, the same fears revolting through our minds. It struck me that I had unraveled a wave of reflection that had reached everyone; it astonished me how we all acknowledged and absorbed instantly and in detail what we needed so badly.

Lindsay and mum were desperately looking around at the entrance to Marks & Spencer. As I run, I observed them in slow motion; Lindsay's bleach blonde hair, mum's satin headscarf. I wondered if we would ever get tired of looking at each other, or if our eyes would still be able to transmit new sensations, fresh curiosity, several centuries later.

An old couple exited the store, and I asked myself whether they were also stressed over trying to hold on to the world, if they were also afraid to go to sleep every night, or if they had decided that the option to go on was just never meant to exist. I wondered if they considered it another proof of the never ending thirst of the youth, of the egocentric longing of our generation to conquer it all, of our devoir to end with uncertainty.

Lindsay finally looked at me, and I caught sight of her tears from the other side of the street.

What did you think of this chapter? Do you think that they will manage to escape? Do you think that Tessa will be able to save her dad? Let me know in the comments! I would love to get some feedback from you :)

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