Page 14 of Chained

at the circular tube and shook it. "Can you hear hissing?"

"No." Taylor looked worried.

"Is that 'no' a real no, or is it a 'I don't want you to panic' no?" My breathing came rapidly and the hissing seemed even louder.

"No, I really can't hear it." Taylor stepped closer to me and tried to tilt his head close to my ventilator to listen.

"Call your dad," I said and the effort of speaking sent a ringing to my ears. There wasn't enough oxygen getting into my suit.

Taylor stared at me for a second before realising I meant the radio. He dropped the pack to the ground and started shoving things aside.

A sample bottle tumbled over the lip of the bag and started to roll away down the road. Taylor jumped up and chased it just as I started to feel light headed.

I tried to call him back but I couldn't draw in a breath. I coughed. My limbs felt like they were too far from my body.

I put a hand out to the tree to steady myself but it was further away than I'd thought. I staggered but managed to stay on my feet.

Taylor caught the bottle and turned back, he looked at me with a concern lining his features.

I clutched the ventilator, willing it to start working again. My lungs were burning, there was no oxygen left in my mask. I looked up at Taylor as fear gripped my heart and I stumbled onto one knee.

Taylor was already running, he caught my arm and peered into my eyes.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I... can't-" I wheezed, but barely a whisper left my lips. My vision was going black around the edges and I coughed again, trying desperately to get some oxygen. The air didn't feel right in my lungs. "Breathe," I managed before everything went black.

The first thing I was aware of was a breeze on my cheek. Then the hard, cold ground beneath my back, and a hand squeezing mine tightly. My eyes were closed but I couldn't summon the energy to open them.

"Can you hear me?" Taylor asked.

"You're practically shouting down my earhole," I managed, but I felt weird and had to pause to pull in a big lungful of air.

"Thank god." He let out a shaky breath. "I didn't know if I should, but you weren't breathing and I couldn't carry you and no one came when I was shouting and then your lips went blue and-" I raised a hand in the direction of his voice and pushed it towards his mouth to stop the babbling.

My eyes felt heavy but I slowly opened them, squinting at the uninterrupted blue above me. I took another shuddering breath and raised my hand to my face. I pushed my long hair out of my eyes and felt it catch in the neck of the suit as I did so. My gaze slowly rested on Taylor in his full biohazard suit and I nearly stopped breathing again.

"Where's my helmet?" I gasped.

"I'm sorry, but - you were suffocating. I didn't know what else to do."

"Did you radio back? Did they tell you it was okay?" I asked. My heart started beating so quickly that it was almost painful.

Taylor's mouth fell open "I - I'm sorry I just didn't - you looked so - I forgot about the radio." His eyes locked with mine and I could see the anxiety there. I took another breath. My hands were shaking, I didn't know if it was fear or something else.

"Am I green?" I asked.

"What?"

"Am I green or purple or do I have tentacles where my hair used to be?"

"N-no," he replied, smiling faintly.

"Well I feel fine. I think. Chances are this place is fine, it's right by The Wall and they're looking at expanding out here so I'm probably going to be just fine," I said, reassuring myself as much as Taylor and ignoring the amount of times I'd said the word 'fine'.

"Great, so what should we do now?" he asked.

"Radio your dad. Tell him what's happened and why we're late. We can walk while you talk." I stood up and brushed myself off as Taylor rummaged about for the radio again. I glared at my hands until the shaking stopped.