Authors: L.M. McCleary
“You guys have books here?” I asked Kay eagerly as we walked.
“Yeah.
So?”
“Are they all in such good condition? Think of everything we could learn!”
“They’re good condition, I guess,” Kay shrugged, “I don’t see how they’re so
interesting, though.
A bunch of dead people writing about
trees and oceans; big whoop.”
My heart was crushed at his words and although I knew the answer deep down
inside, I still had to know for sure. I asked him, “
do
you remember an old fountain made of cold, grey stone? It never actually worked
but there were rumours of Sand Whales about.”
He laughed. “Well that’s something I’ve heard no mention of through all the
books I’ve skimmed. So, no…can’t say I remember much about that but it doesn’t
sound like something I’d be interested in; again, who cares about the past? It
doesn’t change the present.”
“It might…” I murmured.
Kay turned to speak to me but a sudden commotion in the sandstorm to the south
of us drew our attention away from one another. Many of the people around us
looked southward as a part of the storm started to cease raging and a few
blurry figures emerged. They appeared to be cloaked in a whirlwind of sand as
they made their way to the Outpost, travelling incredibly fast and leaving a
wide gap in the storm brewing on the outskirts for quite some time.
“The Pirates are back,” Kay explained, “It’s said they can travel the continent
quickly using funnels of sand. I don’t know if I really believe that, though.”
“You mean you don’t know how they work? I thought this was their Outpost;
shouldn’t you know this?”
“It
is
their Outpost, but they’re very secretive. Nobody knows their
true motives or how they work, but as long as it benefits us I don’t really
care to know.”
I stared at him in shock. “Kay…where’s your sense of adventure? How could you
not be intrigued?”
He once again shrugged at me. “I’d rather concentrate on the women in town than
worry about a few Pirates’ doings.”
I rolled my eyes and huffed angrily; this was not the Kay I knew and loved. We
continued on in silence for a while but my eyes concentrated on the slowly
closing gap in the Outpost’s defenses. “Do they always return at the same
spot?”
“Generally, yeah.
Always the south but the actual
location varies a bit. Why?”
“Just wondering.”
We continued on towards the medical tent as the small crew of Pirates drew
near. Kay and I had to squeeze ourselves through multiple crowds and by the
time we reached the front, the Pirates were already in the Outpost. We froze as
they walked past and I stared at them in surprise. They wore long tunics of
earthen tones with a splash of colour from a shirt underneath. They all had a
blaze of blue tattooed across their face; some in sharp lines, others in
triangular shapes; no two tattoos appeared to be the same. There were four of
them altogether; three trim looking men and a tall, muscular woman. They paid
no attention to us for the most part but as the woman passed me by she glanced
at me briefly; her blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight and she peeled a stray
blonde strand of hair from her face as she did so. She turned her attention
away almost as quickly as she had looked. It was a subtle glance; I don’t think
anyone else noticed it but it was a sight I had never forgotten; the entire
group appeared strong and confident and I found myself inspired by their
presence. Once they were a sufficient length away Kay continued to lead me
towards my new home.
“…and here we are.” He stood in front of the slit of the tent and leaned
casually against a metal pole that held it aloft. “I’d be happy to join you if
you want a little company.”
My skin crawled at his insinuation. Just how many women did he pull this on,
exactly, and why did he think I would fall for it? I rolled my eyes in an
exaggerated way, ensuring he saw full well my reaction. “I’m pretty sure I’ll
pass.” I said finally.
“Your loss.”
He didn’t even say goodbye as he headed
back into the heart of the Outpost; likely towards another group of women
somewhere.
My
stomach knotted up at the idea and my emotions ran all over the place.
Ponika
, at least, seemed genuinely happy to see me and I
embraced him as Kay’s figure disappeared into the town. “I found my dad out
here too,
Ponika
.” I sighed into his mane. “He’s much
the same as Kay. I don’t know what exactly happened out here but I think I know
how to fix it. Are you up for another adventure, my boy?” I scratched behind
his ear as I spoke to him gently and gave him a few pats on his back before
withdrawing inside the tent.
I’ve
only been sitting here for a few minutes but I’ve already got a plan in mind. I
know what I have to do; I’ll go to the Facility myself and get their memories
back if it’s the last thing I do.
PART TWO
CHAPTER
1
I can’t
believe what I just read. Is this really me? I want to question it but at the
same time I can’t; I can feel my memories flooding back and my name is written
all over the inside pages of this worn journal. It all sounded like a story at
first but with each page turned my head started to burn fiercer and fiercer
until what sounded once like fantasy became a reality. This is me; this entire
book is me.
I threw the journal down on the bed before me and I looked around my room,
hoping to jar forth more memories but everything felt cold and foreign. The
room I was in was metallic and icy to the touch. The room was also incredibly
small; it was hard to turn around without hitting something. My bed was
embedded in a niche in the wall and there was a calendar on the wall above it;
the dates and months meant little to me, however, as we rarely used a calendar
to tell days and time back home. I recognized the word ‘December’ from all the
Christmas books I’ve read but much of the rest was pure gibberish to me. There
was a small dresser near my bed with an empty picture frame upon it and photos
on the wall of many smiling people I did not recognize. There appeared to be
very little personal belongings of mine in here, but this journal…somehow it
survived. I had seen it poking out just slightly from underneath my mattress;
whatever happened here, it looks like I tried to hide my journal
from…something. Thankfully, it worked. I don’t remember how I got here or what
happened but I gathered from my journal that I must be at the Facility my
father had spoken about. Something must have happened to me and I was going to
get to the bottom of it.
I left my room through a door that slid open automatically as I approached and
I found myself in a massive area that must have once been a warehouse. There
was a small set of stairs at either end of the facility that led to a large,
sprawling landing that made up the roof of my bedroom and the many other rooms
beside it. Directly ahead of me was another monstrous room, one that I assumed
was some kind of foyer. There were doors on the opposite side of it; huge,
towering pieces of metal that reached to the very tip of the ceiling.
“That must be the entrance that my father was talking about. No wonder they
couldn’t figure it out.”
I wasn’t
ready to leave just yet, though. I glanced around me and noticed a few of the
bedrooms’ doors were open. Sneaking a peek inside, I noticed the same
photographs and knick-knacks that my own room had.
“Hmm…every
room seems to be the same.”
I
continued on, taking furtive glances inside the rooms as I past them. Nearing
the stairs, a man appeared from inside his bedroom, wandering in a zig-zag
fashion and grasping at the bandage that was wrapped around his head. I called
out to him.
“Excuse me, sir; do you know what’s going on here?”
It took him a moment to process my question before shaking his head. “I don’t
know much of anything.” I watched him as he paced the same route over and over
again, twitching his head and mumbling incoherently to himself.
I could
not see this ending well. “Uh…thank you anyway.” I scampered away as the man
started counting his fingers in a frantic manner.
I
started to head towards the stairs when I saw a young, red-haired man sitting
on a bed in one of the rooms nearby. “Hey, excuse me…do you know where we are?”
I poked my head inside the room.
“I don’t
know.” He sobbed out the words and suddenly gripped his head in his hands. “I
don’t know!” he yelled his repeated words and rocked back and forth on his bed.
I backed up in surprise and turned my attention to the stairs; I didn’t think
anyone here would be of much help.
The stairs were few and clinked loudly as I bounded up them, the sound echoing
throughout the hall. I had hoped that there would be more rooms to investigate
upstairs but surprisingly there was only one opening, found near the centre of
the back wall. The landing was vast and empty otherwise and made of a dark blue
grating which exposed some of the rooms below. With no other options I made my
way towards the lone room whose sliding, metallic door lay open for the most
part; only a slight piece of the door escaped its slit in the wall. The door
opened up to a corridor of stairs leading up to yet another open room. I heard
movement somewhere up the stairs and a faint voice inside; a soft, almost
friendly voice. Could this be the scientist? In any case, I hoped to at least
find some answers. With a hand on the cold railing at my side I made my way up the
stairs, my feet clinking loudly in the otherwise silent facility. As I got
closer to the large room I could see glowing vials stored on shelves along the
opposite wall; it illuminated the place in a greenish hue. Reaching the top of
the stairs I felt a sudden déjà vu from the bottles on the wall; they were so
very familiar to me. There was a long chair in the middle of the room with a
large piece of machinery above it that ended in a needle tip. An attractive man
in a white coat was meticulously cleaning the chair, occasionally stopping to
brush the blond tufts of hair out of his face. He didn’t see me at first, even
though I was sure my footsteps echoed quite loudly. He was transfixed on a spot
on the chair, scraping and rubbing it with his blue eyes narrowed in
concentration. I kept walking inside, my eyes glossing over the hundreds of
vials that were now all around me. I was almost able to reach out and touch the
metallic object ahead when the man with sharp features finally glanced up at
me.
“Oh, hello there.
I wasn’t expecting you to be up so
soon; what can I do for you?” I was still gazing at the walls covered in vials
with dancing liquids inside. “Ah, my Memory Vials. They can be a bit
mesmerizing, can’t they?” He removed the blue latex gloves he was wearing and
tossed them down on the chair as he watched me.
I could
see him briefly from the corner of my eyes. It was definitely
Tsvetan
; a little older, of course, but you could hardly
tell. This was the man from the video…just what the hell happened to him?
And to me, for that matter?
With his
cleaning supplies set aside, he started to walk towards me. “You should
probably go back to your room though sweetheart; don’t want to risk ruining
everything.”
“What did you do to me?” His movement brought me back to reality and I glowered
at him.
He
widened his eyes and his mouth hung slightly open at my cold response. Then he
laughed. “I wasn’t expecting you to be so coherent already. I did nothing, my
dear; just go back to your room.” He reached his hand out towards me and I
leapt back from his touch.
“I know you erased my memories,
Krastanov
; tell me
how.” I pursed my lips and stared him down, studying his body language.
He stared with a blank expression for a moment before casting his gaze
downwards and sighing. “Ah…so it must have failed, then. How much do you
remember?”
“Everything.”
I spat the words at him. “Tell me how
you did this.”
Krastanov
nodded and smiled sweetly.
“How?
Well, you’re the first to ever ask about my process;
how exciting!” He giggled and made his way next to the large machine that hung
above the metallic chair, pointing towards the needle. “This looks more
intimidating than it really is,” he smiled at me with bright, perfect teeth,
“it merely needs to be near the brain in order to extract the thoughts; it’s
completely painless, although if a client becomes jittery then the extraction
can get too close and scorch the skin…poor Walter downstairs got jumpy. But
nothing I can’t fix!”