Furnace 4 - Fugitives by Alexander Gordon Smith

pain, the nectar had made sure of that, but there was something else, a deep-rooted tickling sensation that stretched from my neck down my spine and finished in my hips. I tried to remember what had happened, had a fleeting image of me bringing my fist down on something.
    On a girl?
    As my eyes gradually made sense of the shapes behind me I saw to my relief that the girl was there, sitting on a bench against the wall of the staircase, her head resting against her chest, her hands playing with a small, silver medallion that hung around her neck. Zee was next to her, although he was perched uncomfortably on the other side of the bench, leaving as much space as possible between him and her. Simon was pacing up and down urgently in front of them, all trace of pain from the gunshot wound in his shoulder now apparently gone. I realised that he must have consumed some nectar, too; not much, just enough to patch him up.
    It was Simon who noticed me first. He flinched when he made eye contact, his entire body stiffening. Then, when he saw that my senses had returned, he relaxed.
    ‘Welcome back,’ he said.
    Hearing his words, both Zee and the girl looked over, her face twisting into an expression of terror. She tucked the necklace out of sight, then pushed herself back into the bench, pulling her knees up to her chest. Her eyes were still haunted, still defiant, still fierce.
    ‘Don’t let him near me,’ she hissed. ‘Don’t you dare let him anywhere near me.’
    ‘We told you—’ Zee started, but the girl cut him off.
    ‘I don’t care if he’s your friend or not; he’s a psycho. You hear me? You’re a psycho!’
    I turned away as a fit of dizziness rocked me. Then I swivelled round, shuffling away from the tracks. The girl started to protest and I held my hands up in surrender.
    ‘It’s okay,’ I said, my voice throbbing. ‘I won’t come near you. I’m sorry, sorry I scared you.’
    ‘Scared me?’ she said. ‘You almost killed me!’
    ‘Then you decided to punch a moving train instead,’ Zee said, raising an eyebrow. ‘I’m not really sure what to say about that. How’s your arm?’
    ‘It’s fine,’ I said, his words bringing back the memory. I tugged one of the shards of glass from the soft flesh between my knuckles. It fell to the floor with a tuneful tinkle, followed by a single drop of black blood. ‘I really did punch a moving train.’
    ‘Nectar’ll do that to you,’ Simon said. ‘Makes you do craaaaazy things. Better than being dead, though. I think. And you fought it, you came back.’
    ‘I almost didn’t,’ I replied. Every time I got a fresh dose of nectar I toppled a little closer to oblivion. It had happened in the prison, when I’d fought those first twoberserkers. And it had been worse just now. Christ, I’d nearly beaten an innocent girl’s brains in. How many more times would I have to take the nectar to stay alive? And what would happen when I couldn’t find my way back? I’d belong to the warden, and to Alfred Furnace, for good.
    Simon was wrong, that wasn’t better than being dead.
    ‘Anyway, let’s forget about it,’ Zee said. ‘You’re awake, and you’ve got your strength back. You’re gonna need it. We’re all gonna need it.’
    I nodded at Zee, then nodded an acknowledgement at Simon. Despite everything, he’d probably saved my life by feeding me nectar. I’d been on my last legs. Hell, I’d been on my last everything. And I really did have my strength back. I got to my feet, my whole body singing, feeling as though it was capable of anything.
    The girl seemed to press herself even further into the bench so I backed off another few steps, keeping my hands by my side. I wasn’t quite sure what to say, and I doubted there was anything I could do to win her over after what had happened, so I settled for an awkward attempt at a smile.
    ‘Well, this is Alex,’ Zee said. ‘Alex, this is Lucy.’
    ‘I thought you’d be running for the hills about now,’ I