by Liahona West
Eloise reached up and wiped away the tears on his cheeks. “Never apologize for your nightmares.”
“They will not go away. I have tried so hard, Elle, but they always come back. Most nights, I do not sleep. I train and try to meditate or breathe. When I miss a single day, they return.”
She smoothed out his shirt collar as she listened. “I understand.” Eloise wiped her thumb across his cheek and smiled. “We need to stay strong if we are to defeat our demons.”
He nodded and yawned. Eloise gave him one last affectionate touch and then stood.
“Eloise?”
She turned at the bottom of the stairs, her long hair falling over one shoulder.
“Will you stay with me? I am afraid to sleep.”
She clenched the railing. If she laid next to him, her mind would overflow with his scent, his warmth, his touch. She should say no, give the responsible answer. But then…he looked so sad. Bannack sat on the cot with his head ducked low, his hands over the back of his head. His usual might had been stifled. She couldn’t, in good conscience, deny him comfort when he needed it most.
“If you need me to.”
The cot was really meant for one person, so Bannack made a bed on the floor for them both out of a few pieces of animal fur while she plaited her long hair into a side braid and secured it with a thin strip of leather. As he lifted a blanket, Eloise slid underneath, taking care not to touch him, even through the barrier of blankets. Her body would surely burst into flames like a phoenix if she made contact with him.
Eloise’s skin crackled as he settled under his own blanket.
Bannack fell asleep fast, nuzzled against her back like a young puppy. His slow breaths tickled the small hairs at the nape of her neck, and he wrapped his arm around her upper torso and pulled her in close.
With a heave of her body, Eloise twisted around to face Bannack. He inhaled deep, a slight smile on his face. His angular features had grown soft and his skin warm from sleep and she locked the contours of his face, his nose, eyes, and lips in her memory to retrieve in case of an emergency.
She fell asleep, finally, with tears under her cheeks and her hand resting on Bannack’s neck.
***
After a breakfast of rabbit, eggs, and cattails, everyone busied themselves with leaving. Luke packed a small bag of items for his aunt, Soora. Bannack helped Eloise secure her bandages.
“I should have healed by now.”
Bannack gave her a halted look when she hissed and jerked away.
“I’m sorry, Elle. I do not mean to hurt you. We can search for answers when we return to the Compound, okay?”
The pain still radiated up her arm, but she managed a brief nod.
“So,” Sibyl tightened the drawstring on her bag and gave Bali an affectionate scratch, who purred. “Are we all ready?”
“Let-t’s go.” Luke attached a bundle of rope, using a carabiner, to the outside of his pack and slung it over his shoulders.
Eloise blinked at him, confused, then smiled. “You’re coming?”
“Joy harmed my family. Now I’m pissed.”
“That’s fair,” Eloise said.
Bannack bumped Luke. “Welcome to the team.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Eloise
“They’re back!” A guard’s words cut through the air and two more, tailed by Soora, ran down the hill toward Eloise, Bannack, Sibyl, and Luke.
“Lukesha.” Soora sighed when they embraced.
“Hello, Chachee.” Luke’s expression softened when he looked at his aunt. The change was so drastic and different, Eloise’s brain stopped working. Luke’s eyes sparkled. “Are you…good?”
Soora nodded, solemn, and gathered Luke into her arms. He smiled, his large mass hiding Soora’s body completely.
“Luke helped us,” Eloise said when she recovered from the shock. She looked at her hand. There was no hiding the injury from Soora who could sniff out one like a bloodhound.
Soora caressed Eloise’s face and glanced briefly down at the bandages on her hand. “Tell me everything as we walk.”
Sibyl informed Soora of the lightning strike, Eloise’s condition, and the issues with healing. Concern flashed in Soora’s eyes, but she said little other than telling Eloise to visit her later.
“What about Mason?” Eloise asked, eager to check in on him. Based on what Bannack said earlier, and the small flinch Soora gave, she knew to steel her mind against what she may encounter in meeting him.
“He’s alive, which is the most important thing, but Eloise,” Soora stopped walking and turned, “he’s different. Not the same.”
Those words made Eloise freeze. What would she find when she confronted Mason? She’d seen the people at the village. Would he be disfigured? Unable to speak?
All of her worries spoke at once, their voices a loud crescendo in her head.
“Hey.” Bannack smiled down at her and bumped his elbow against her arm. “I’ll be with you if you need me.”
“Thanks.” Eloise smiled back at him. “But you saw him after the nanites took effect. Was he…de-deform—did he look okay to you?”
Bannack thought for a moment. “He wasn’t walking well, but that’s a common side effect. Listen. I am not one hundred percent sure what we will find, but we need answers, remember?”
“Yeah. Okay.” She followed Bannack with her arms wrapped around her body.
Before they arrived at Mason’s office, Soora paused. “You need to know something else.” Her eyes lowered as if she were thinking, opened her mouth, closed it, then sighed. “Joy’s acting strange.”
“How strange?” A thought occurred to Eloise, her stomach tumbling. “She hasn’t been here, has she?”
“No. Our patrols have been reporting odd behavior at the facility. Yelling from inside, nervous whispers. No guards are in the courtyard and have been instead seen wandering the forest as if looking for something.”
“And you know nothing else?”
Soora shook her head. “What I’ve told you is what I know.”
Her mind reeling over the possibilities for Joy’s sudden increase in movement, Eloise followed Soora into Mason’s office and stopped short.
A man sat at the desk, head bent over papers strewn across the top, clean shaven with a scar across his chin but with the same build and salt and pepper hair as Mason. He mumbled to himself.
When Soora rapped on the door frame, he glanced up, paused, then slid his eyes up her body, an expression of longing flashing in his eyes. Eloise blinked rapidly. He looked like Mason, but he wasn’t. Not completely. And he definitely didn’t act like Mason who commanded a room by simply entering it, who held his body like a seasoned veteran, straight and poised. This version of Mason had a youthful charm and no problems admiring his wife in front of people as if she were Aphrodite.
“We have guests.”
He smiled. “Come in, please.”
Everyone entered except Eloise. She stood just inside the room, staring at Mason. He was lucid and sane, able to function perfectly, but something felt off.
Soora touched Eloise’s arm. “I know it’s strange seeing him like this, but we’ve been closely monitoring him and aside from the years he lost, he’s healthy.”
“Years?” The words felt heavy in her mouth.
“Yes. Around twenty years are gone.”
“So…he won’t remember me?”
“No.”
Eloise swayed. He won’t recognize me?
“Have you noticed any symptoms other than memory loss?”
“None so far. I do need to talk to you about something. There—”
Mason groaned, his hands clenched around his head. Soora rushed to his side. The groaning grew louder, and Eloise couldn’t move as she stared at Soora struggling to keep him in his seat. He banged on the table, swaying his head from side to side. Sweat formed on his neck.
Eloise’s eyes lost focus. Her
skin crawled.
Soora yelled something at Bannack, her terror hung in the air like a plague, heavy and soul-crushing.
The man she considered her own father, who had taught her how to fight and lead, was panting and growling like an enraged animal with his foot caught in a trap. In his struggle, he unknowingly shoved Soora, who crashed into the window behind her. Mason turned, stumbling, and fell at her feet. He shuddered.
Soora, tears in her eyes and chest heaving, flicked her gaze to Eloise. She rushed over and knelt.
“I don’t know what to do.” Eloise didn’t dare touch him.
“Help…me,” Mason growled.
“How? With what?” Her voice had a high-pitched desperation. “What do I do?”
A hand on Eloise’s shoulder made her jump. Bannack’s voice spoke by her ear. “You must let it pass. This is a symptom of the nanites.”
Worry morphed into anger. Eloise stood. “You expect me to sit back and let this happen? Are the headaches, or whatever this is, going to kill him?”
“No one has died yet from an injection.”
Eloise rolled her eyes. “Oh, good. Great. That’s one worry off the list. What I want to know is this…” Eloise stepped in close to Bannack and he stared down at her. “Are you going to help me kill her?”
“We need—”
“I forgot. You need your precious answers. Well, here’s an answer. I’m going to kill Joy for doing this to him!”
“We do need answers,” Soora said. She was kneeling next to Mason, his shaking body leaning against her chest as she held him. “I know where you can find them.”
Mason opened his eyes and looked at Eloise. The same eyes he used to smile at her were now devoid of any recognition.
She took a step back.
“What’s your name?”
When Eloise looked at Bannack, angry tears pouring down her face, he shook his head at her. He knew what she would do, even before she realized, and Eloise stared at him. Her entire body ached with tension.
“Level head, Elle.”
Eloise’s hands shook and she clenched them. “When have I ever lost my head?”
“Elle—”
“No! No.” She backed away, panting. “She promised to keep her word. I gave her everything!” Her scream filled the room as she waved her arms and pounded her chest with a finger. “I kept my end of the bargain! Then when things get hard for her, she ruins my life? Bullshit! Other people may be afraid of her, other people may let her get away with a slap on the wrist, but I sure as hell won’t. If you won’t help me, then I’ll do it myself.”
Shaking and unsteady on her feet, Eloise opened the door. It slammed shut. Her body jerked forward and she looked at a tanned hand, then to Luke. She glared. Luke dropped his arm.
“Have you heard? We’re the good guys. Killing people makes us no better than Joy.” He stepped forward, looming over her. “Walk out the door, fine, I won’t stop you.”
“I’m nothing like her.” Eloise gritted her teeth. “And stop trying to intimidate me. It doesn’t work.”
With a curt nod, as if satisfied she wouldn’t go anywhere, Luke rolled up his sleeves and stepped away.
“What are we going to do about Joy?” Sibyl asked. “It’s only a matter of time before her mercenaries meet up with our people and I don’t want to think about how bad that could be. Also, why is she acting strange?”
Mason adjusted in his chair and leaned forward, and his index finger curled under his nose. The action was something Eloise had seen countless times before. She looked away. “We prepare,” Mason said. “You say I'm the leader of this place. Well, I want the…uh…”
“Sentinels,” Soora offered.
“Yes! I want the Sentinels to double up on patrols in the area. Anyone who isn’t a known member of the Compound must be brought through here.”
Eloise blinked. “That’s a lot of people.”
“Is that a problem?”
His eyes were hard. The affection he normally looked at her with was gone and in its place sat the stiff unwavering stare of a man who hadn’t seen his country fracture and break, hadn’t buried his children and first wife, hadn't become a leader of a successful commune and raised Eloise to adulthood. As he stared at her, Eloise felt cold and alone. Joy ripped Mason from her and she couldn’t imagine a worse consequence, aside from his death, for ignoring her son.
She looked down. “No.”
“Mason,” Soora put her hand on his shoulder, “try to speak gently. She’s your daughter.”
He looked at Eloise, inspected her, and nodded. “You’re right. Although I don’t remember you, I trust my wife. If anyone has a better idea, I would like to be informed.”
The room erupted into conversation and they spent the next hour planning and plotting how best to handle Joy if she showed up. Luke and Sibyl agreed to be Sentinels temporarily until Joy’s terror ended. Bannack worked with Mason to split the Sentinels into groups based on their skills to maximize their efficiency. Eloise went with Soora so she could look at her hand.
In the infirmary, Eloise sat on a bed and waited for Soora to come back with fresh bandages. She looked at her wrapped hand. Feeling still hadn’t returned to it.
I don’t feel different, but something isn’t right. The nanites should’ve healed me.
“Alright.” Soora entered the room, a bundle of salves and bandages in a basket she carried. “Let me see your hand.”
She hissed and turned away as Soora unwrapped the bandages. The air stung. She clenched her jaw.
“I’ll try to be careful, but,” Soora leaned in, “your hand is badly injured.”
“I know.” Eloise sniffed.
“I won’t peel the dead skin, but there’s quite a bit of it. I believe you may have third-degree burns.” She paused and turned Eloise’s hand. “Were you holding anything when the lightning struck you?”
“My boot knife.”
Soora made a noise and opened a bottle of her salve. It was opaque and had a slight golden tone to it, as if it were oil based, but it came off her fingers like a gel. “This is an aloe vera based ointment and should help soothe your skin. It contains some curly dock to help prevent infection. I worry your nanites were affected by the lightning somehow.”
Eloise put her free hand on her face. “I don’t know what to do about it. Why aren’t they working? If I get sick, that’s it for me, isn’t it?”
“Many people without spleens live happy and healthy lives. It’s not a death sentence if yours is missing, but I do worry about infection with this hand injury, so I want you to re-wrap this twice a day and apply new salve. I’ll send you home with some.”
Her nanites not working had been bothering her for a while and she knew, deep down, something had happened to them. It made her stomach churn. “Could the lightning have fried them?”
“I don’t know,” Soora finished wrapping, “but we’ll find some answers. Since we don’t have immune boosting medicine, I want you to be extremely careful. Stay apart from others. Wash your hands every hour, more when you eat or touch things. Getting sick could be fatal.”
“What about the Sentinel duty?”
Soora paused for a moment as she placed her items back into the basket. “Once a week should be okay. But no more.” She put her hand on Eloise’s cheek. “You’re too precious to lose.”
***
Branches slid against Eloise’s face and arms as Luke, Sibyl, Bannack, and she walked through the forest. They were on their last round of patrols for the day and Eloise bounced on her heels, happy to be free of her cage. She had spent too long cooped up in her room. Bannack visited often, talking with her while she sat on her bed and him standing by the door. It sucked. Being so deprived from human contact, especially Bannack, put her in a headspace she buzzed with excitement to be free of.
“Finally!” Eloise kicked at the grass, dandelion puffs flying into the air. Bannack laughed and pulled her into h
im. He felt so good, his body pressed against hers, and his hand wrapped around her back.
“I’m glad you’re happy.” He nuzzled into her neck and gave her a kiss. He tasted of the raspberries he’d been snacking on. “I missed you.”
She chuckled, tossing her head back. The wind whipped at her hair. “I missed you, too.” She kissed him. “You taste so good.”
Without warning, Luke pulled on Boatswain and took a sharp turn down a grassy embankment behind some tall, round bushes, and Sibyl and Bannack, Eloise still attached to him, followed. Eloise gasped, her blood accelerating through her body. She fell from Bannack’s arms feet first, slipped in the soft dirt, and landed on her back.
When Eloise gathered her wits, she could hear several voices coming from her left. She tilted her head, listening to the quiet footsteps not yet attached to people. Then they appeared, five in total, armed with knives, a crossbow, and clubs. Eloise’s eyes widened.
“Who are they?” Sibyl whispered into Eloise's ear.
Eloise shrugged.
“I told you we should have ended Graham when he walked past us carrying the rolled-up rug,” a skeletal man said in hushed tones. “I told you it looked suspicious. And now boss lady has us busting our butt trying to find them!”
Eloise looked at Sibyl, her eyes wide.
What’s going on?
“Well, we can’t fix it now.” The only woman in the group who held a crossbow, knocked Skeleton Man upside the head. “Our best bet is to hunt them down and stop anyone who gets in the way.”
Eloise covered her mouth and used her free hand to grip Bannack’s shirt, balling it up in her fist.
We’re going to be okay. She chanted, shaking, as she placed her face on top of her hands, the grass tickling her nose. They can’t see us. The bushes will hide us.
“Where is Edmund, anyway?” A burly man with a club resting on his shoulder glanced around.
Skeleton Man barked at the other two. “Taking a piss. Here he comes.”
Eloise couldn’t see the man named Edmund, but she could hear him. Heavy footsteps followed by panting brought images of an overweight man struggling up the hill, but when he came into view, he was a giant of a man, musclebound, and clenched a coarse rope in one hand and a saber in the other. On the end of the rope was a mastiff. He dropped his chestnut head to the ground and sniffed the surrounding area, turning in circles.