Holocaust - Rachel M Raithby Page 0,85

as strong and pure could come from her.”

“You were supposed to meet your daughter,” she choked, pressing a hand to his cheek.

Smiling through the pain, Derrick placed his hand over hers. “I did.”

His hand went limp, falling away as he took his final breath.

Promise me you’ll live…

Pressing a tear-soaked kiss to his forehead, Lexia ran her fingers gently over his face, closing his eyes for the final time. “I love you,” she whispered as she stood.

Without looking back, Lexia raced from the room. If she ran quick enough, she’d make it. She’d live like Derrick wanted.

Breathing became difficult as she went, the heartache inside of her debilitating. It was as if the walls were closing in. The corridors turned into mindless identical tunnels. Losing her way, she stumbled to a stop, clutching the wall for support as she heaved in a breath, trying desperately to contain the pieces of her crumbling apart.

The easy option would have been for Lexia to succumb to her grief, the weight of it suffocating. So much so that when the compound finally met its fiery end, she would have never felt the pain of death. Death would have been a relief. Death would have given her an escape from the agony she lived with every day. The easy option wasn’t an option though. Too many people had sacrificed themselves for her. With so much blood on her hands, she had to try at least to live, to deal with the terrible things she felt.

Steeling herself against the storm inside, Lexia straightened, focusing on her surroundings. The compound was deathly quiet. Too quiet. Now that her mind had some semblance of focus, Lexia took the time she needed. Conscious she had already used the ten-minute warning Grey had given her, Lexia pushed her body to the brink of its limit, her feet pounding, the slap of her boots vibrating through her bones.

Yet as she turned the last corner, she faltered. A soft noise infiltrated her ears. Stopping abruptly, Lexia listened.

Can’t be…

Her feet moved on their own accord. No urgency of the final blast soon to seal her in. Pulled by a force she didn’t understand, to a noise that was wrong. Shouldn’t – couldn’t be in a place like this. The door swung open with an eerie whoosh the instant she entered the cold and sterile room. The hairs on the back of her neck rose, goose bumps breaking out over her skin.

Lexia couldn’t comprehend what she saw. Her heart slowly increased in speed, the boom of it deafening as she peered into the first plastic cot she’d reached. Inside, deathly still, lay a baby. Yet this wasn’t a baby. Babies moved, made noise. The little pale face turned toward her, its eyes opening. “Oh, God,” Lexia gasped, her hand reaching out as she fell back.

We must start again.

With eyes of black and a look of emptiness, these weren’t babies; they were monsters. Scrambling back away from the six plastic cots in the center of the room, she didn’t stop, or breathe until her back hit the wall.

Breathing in horrified pants, Lexia climbed to her feet, her hands walking up the wall as she went, still her eyes couldn’t look away. Couldn’t believe this was real.

A mewling cry broke the silence. Lexia stood a little taller, not sure the…things…had made the noise. High pitched this time, the cry pulled at her heart, touching her in a way she’d never experienced. Turning slowly, Lexia looked at the wall. Her hands tracing the door which was flush to the wall, it had no handle or hinge. With a cabinet sat in front, she would not have known it was there. Yet it had to be because behind the wall came a cry. The cry of a baby that instantly pulled her in. Called to her. Moving the cabinet out of the way, Lexia pushed the door with a firm hand. It popped back releasing a second later. Her steps quickened as the cry became more intense, gargled rasps mixed into the high wail.

Scooping the little girl into her hands, she fit perfectly into the crook of her elbow. “Shshsh,” Lexia murmured, her hips bouncing slightly on instinct. Making one last mewling protest, the baby opened her eyes, and in the instant Lexia locked with hers, she knew.

Eyes of crystal blue, filled with a clarity of knowledge. The connection was instant and all-consuming; a love she’d never experienced and never thought she would.

“How is this possible?” Lexia whispered to