by Mary Ting
“You didn’t give me an answer.”
If I knew him, he was blaming himself.
“We had a deal with ISAN. I couldn’t hold onto her forever.” I didn’t look at Ozzie when I spoke, walking faster as if I could outrun the vise tightening around my lungs.
“Was it because of me?” His voice lowered as he matched my stride.
Ozzie always thought everything was his fault.
I halted. Reyna ran into Ozzie’s back, spitting out swear words. Ozzie grunted and spun around to examine her forehead.
“Sorry.” He ruffled her hair.
Reyna swatted his arm and stuck out her tongue.
“No, of course it wasn’t because of you.” I scrubbed my hand down my face and exhaled heavily, my chest rising and falling to the rapid beat of my pulse. “You had nothing to do with it. When Ava found out about her father and her twin, she made up her mind to go back. I don’t blame her. I would have done the same. Besides, she didn’t remember us. There was no reason for her to stay. I wish I could’ve done things differently, but having to trade you for Ava was not the reason Ava returned. So stop thinking you’re worth saving.” I patted his cheek.
Ozzie rolled his eyes. “I knew you cared about me. Sort of.”
“What are we going to ...?” A gust of wind lifted Reyna’s voice and carried it off.
The cool ocean misted my face, reminding me of the time Ava and I had passed there. She was the ghost of my past and present. Hopefully, the future would be different.
I glanced past Reyna, and my heart stopped. Ava? For one moment, I almost rushed to the girl whose hair and frame matched Ava’s. It took me a second to process today’s events.
What the hell was I thinking? Ava was long gone.
Focus.
I shook the thought away and answered Reyna’s question.
“I told Nick to go to the base. We’re going on foot to Cleo’s, and from there we’ll head to our base using the hidden glider. The next day, we’re going to sweep through the Abandoned City and head to Zen’s. He has updates to share with us.”
“Is Zen okay?” Ozzie squinted at the sun breaking through the clouds. “I have no idea what happened to his men when Mitch found us. Were there many ...?” Ozzie looked over the undulating water.
“No. Not a single death. Tased and dazed, yes, but no deaths.”
Lucky for us, Zen was not only a brilliant scientist, but also had a military strategy background.
“Good,” Ozzie breathed, a bit more cheerful than when he’d first arrived.
Being moody would do no one any good. “Let’s see who gets to Cleo’s first. On your mark. Get ready. I’m counting down. Three. Two.” Thinking of Ava, who had never let me finish counting down to one, I bolted first.
“Cheater,” Ozzie belted over his pounding footsteps behind me. “You’re just like Ava.”
“You didn’t say one, Rhett.” Reyna’s annoyed voice faded in the sharp breeze.
“Nope, I didn’t.”
I missed Ava so much I used her tactics. Those few days she had graced me with her presence, however forced, I had been alive and happy. I’d smiled for the first time since I had arrived at the mountain base.
I’d tried to stay grounded, to not expect Ava to stay with me, but I had hoped. When she’d placed our hips together and joined our shared tattoo and then muttered WIT—whatever it takes—I’d thought I had made a breakthrough. But I hadn’t.
It had taken months for Ozzie, with Zen’s help, to crack the ISAN system. I’d hardly eaten or slept in all that time, especially once I’d found out Ava couldn’t remember me.
The code name Sniper should have gotten her attention when I messaged her, but she’d acted like a stranger. At first, I’d thought she held up her pretense not to know who I was just in case ISAN had monitored her TAB, but Ava would have at least sent back an encrypted message.
Those messages had driven me insane. I had punched the screen and broken things around me. If it hadn’t been for Zen and Ozzie, I might have done more damage, and I might have more than scars on my knuckles.
Never had I imagined a situation in which she wouldn’t remember me.
I supposed with advanced technology, anything was possible. However, I had my own theory. I believed Ava had the ability to erase parts of her own memory in self-preservation.
Her father had used a special serum on her. She had abilities none of us had, which could explain technology no one knew existed. ISAN’s mental mission technology read thoughts superficially, so they’d know she wasn’t faking. That’s why ISAN would trust her memory loss completely enough to put her back in the field. But I could be wrong.
I clenched my fists, sprinting, running from the memories of Ava and our past in ISAN.
If Ava hadn’t made herself erase her memories, then God help the person who had.
If ISAN thought Helix had transformed me into a monster, they hadn’t seen anything yet.
Hold on, Ava. I’m coming for you.
Rhett
Ozzie, Reyna, and I slowed down when we reached the gray and red cobblestones. We past the people visiting quaint shops peppered throughout the small neighborhood. Those shops reminded me of the olden, simple days, the days when technology had been limited.
I often wondered what it would have been like to live such a life. The customers who came to this part of town probably felt the same.
A grin spread on my face when Cleo waved at us.
Cleo’s fiery red hair bounced as she strode toward me. Her smile, bright as the afternoon sun, made her look like an angel, especially since she wore a long white dress. She wrapped her arms around me, then my friends.
“I’m glad you’re safe, Ozzie.” Cleo kissed his cheek, making him blush. “Since you three are smiling and well, I assume the trade went smoothly?”
“It did.” A hint of sadness crossed Ozzie’s face.
His expression confirmed he blamed himself for Ava’s return to ISAN. I almost gave him a light punch to knock some sense into him.
Oz, stop blaming yourself. If anyone should be blamed, it’s me.
I hadn’t told Ava much about Cleo, but Cleo knew a lot more about Ava and ISAN than I had let on.
I had kept the memory of Ava to myself until Cleo began to show signs she wanted more than friendship. I could have fallen for her. Or even done the friends-with-benefits arrangement she had offered. It would have been so easy to split the last thread of my broken self and give in.
Sometimes I thought about it, to numb the pain, but that would complicate things. Not only was Cleo my friend, she was Zen’s daughter. Intelligent, kind, with a generous heart, and a sense of humor, all traits I went for. Not to mention, she was pretty. But she was not my Ava, and I was not the type to stray.
Cleo understood, of course, but it didn’t stop her from flirting.
“Are we going to stand here all day, Cleo, or are you going to give me something to eat?” Reyna drawled playfully. Even as she joked, she surveyed the grounds.
Safety was never guaranteed.
Cleo narrowed her eyes, sky blue like Ozzie’s, then she spread her lips wide.
“I thought you would never ask. Come inside. I’ve baked fresh bread.”
Cleo linked her arm with mine and led the way.
Three young ladies with flushed cheeks and smiles greeted me as I entered. The aromas of fresh warm bread, coffee, and something sweet filled the air. Six circular tables were already occupied with customers who were drinking, eating, and talking. A family sitting at the back table got up and left, giving us more privacy.
Good.
The counter displayed pastries, muffins, cookies, and bread in woven brown baskets. A side table held stainless steel dispensers for make-your-own coffee. These were primitive compared to the machines placed in shopping malls and walkways, which accepted chips and responded to voice commands.
I sat at our usual table at the far corner and looked out the window while Reyna and Oz
zie ordered. My mind flashed back to Ava and me on the roof the night of her birthday, and my already ripped-up heart bled a little more.
Ava’s smile, her glowing eyes, when she saw the city lights. Her flushed cheeks when she’d wanted to ask if we’d ever had sex, and then the hunger and want in her eyes when she’d kissed me. When she had kissed me of her own free will ... that was the best feeling. It had ended too soon.
The stars had mocked me. Dangled Ava in front of me, snatched her out of my grasp, and taken away my happiness. No matter what I told myself or how I tried to deal, my heart—no—I had broken into pieces the day Ava hadn’t escaped with me.
Having her for three days hadn’t mended those wounds. Ava couldn’t heal me. I had to let the guilt and the hurt go. Until then, I would hold onto the broken pieces of myself as I searched for solace, though I wasn’t sure I would ever find it if Ava never remembered me.
“How are you?”
Cleo’s voice roused me back to reality, and the gentle hand she placed on my arm made me flinch. I didn’t reply as I continued to stare out the window.
A tray thumped on the table, compliments of Cleo. I frowned, although I appreciated the gesture. She never allowed us to pay for our meals.
I didn’t have to see what she’d made me. She knew my favorite—her freshest bread stuffed with provolone cheese and Italian meat—salami, pepperoni, prosciuttini, and cappacuolo. My mouth watered, but my body was still adjusting to Ava’s absence.
Being with Ava for three days had been a gift. I had defied the impossible by kidnapping her. In the moments without her, she seemed like a faded dream, drifting farther and farther away.
Ava had to choose, and I had to wait and see. Please, I prayed to anyone who would listen, let her pick me. And I prayed again. I would get on my hands and knees, crawl through mud, dirt, and snow. I would go hungry. Anything. I would do anything just to get her to remember.
I finally pivoted to Cleo. The sunlight lit her hair like embers, matching her fiery spirit. When she smiled, her eyes filled with genuine concern.
“It must be hard for you, to see her slip away. Since she went back, I’m guessing she doesn’t remember you?”
Cleo didn’t mean to hurt me, but her words stabbed like ice picks.
I almost told her it was none of her business, but I didn’t want to be a prick. And talking more about Ava might reinforce I was off-limits.
“It’s complicated.” I shifted from left to right and then took a slight step back. “I think she remembers bits, but not all.”
I didn’t know if that was remotely true. But what the hell. I had said it. Done. Because I had to believe—needed to believe—deep down in Ava’s obstinate mind, she remembered something of me, even if it was a glimpse.
I unclenched my jaw and released the tightness in my throat to speak, but I had nothing to say.
Cleo’s eyebrows pinched as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Oh, I see. Then why did she go back?”
Don’t ask me more questions, Cleo. You already know this is a sensitive subject. Don’t push me.
I cleared my throat to buy time to come up with a reasonable explanation without telling her too much, but she already knew about Ava’s father’s journal. She had been there when Zen and I and a few others had discussed the issue. That was when Zen had told me he knew Ava’s father, Dr. Hunt.
Zen and Dr. Hunt had met at an ISAN facility, along with two other scientists, all ready to make a difference. They had bonded before being stationed separately, Zen in the North and Dr. Hunt in the East. They all kept a common log on the TAB of successes and failures, but it was Dr. Hunt who had finally perfected the serum.
Dr. Hunt’s seventy-seventh batch had kick-started the true ISAN program. What he’d thought would help make humanity stronger and wipe out disease had turned into something else. Until Zen had read the journal, he hadn’t known about the special serum Dr. Hunt had injected into his twins.
“I love coming here.” Ozzie’s chair scraped the laminate floor, his tray grating against the table, breaking the long silence between Cleo and me. He picked up a piece of sponge cake with chocolate frosting and shoved it in his mouth. “So good.”
“Ava read her father’s journal, and she wanted to go back to find her family. I don’t blame her.” I nonchalantly took a bite of the sandwich Cleo brought me, so I had an excuse to stop talking.
Cleo didn’t ask about Ava after that. Beside her, Reyna stuffed her face with white powdered doughnuts. Though Reyna had her head down, I sensed the hurt she was hiding.
When she’d found out Ava couldn’t remember anything, Reyna had gone ballistic. Afterward, she’d put up a wall. Maybe she needed to be the stronger one for a while and help us make decisions. Clearly, I wasn’t capable of making any rational ones regarding Ava.
Reyna moaned and smacked her lips, her mood shifting from somber to light. “Oh my, Cleo. I need to have this every day.”
She took another bite, her lips and fingers smudged with white powder. Then she started to lick one finger at a time.
Smack. Lick. Smack. Lick. Smack. Lick. I became lost in the rhythm.
Reyna’s powdered lips reminded me of Ava nearly choking on her drink after Ozzie had told her she’d drunk baby formula. That had happened two days ago, yet it felt like a lifetime. I swallowed the thought and rose from my seat.
“Hey. Where’re you going?” Reyna frowned, pointing at my half-eaten sandwich. “You didn’t finish. You need to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.” I didn’t appreciate her scolding me.
“Then I’ll pack it for you.” Cleo rose so fast her chair scuffed the floor. My plate screeched across the table when she yanked at it. “You can eat it when you stop thinking about Ava. Hell, Rhett, you can’t even answer simple questions. Can you seriously not function without her?”
I went rigid at her harsh tone and parted my lips to pick a fight, but what could I say?
Cleo knew me too well, and there was no excuse in the world I could give her for my petulant behavior. But I couldn’t quell my anger.
The deadly stare and the awkward silence between us stretched longer than ever before. Then she dropped her gaze and sauntered through the double door to the kitchen, leaving my sandwich, while I slumped back down.
“What just happened?” Breadcrumbs rained out of Ozzie’s mouth when he spoke. “Sorry.” He took a sip of coffee and swiped his lips with the back of his hand.
Reyna shook her head, picked up another powdered doughnut, and nibbled it. “We need to get Ava back, or he’s going to be worse than before. I knew once Ava left he would be irritable, but I hoped I was wrong.”
“I overheard something about assassinating Mr. San at his charity function when I was taken.” Ozzie eyed a tray of pastries. “A masquerade ball in two weeks held in the West.” He tore off a piece of bread filled with raspberry cream and nibbled at it.
“Nice. Good job, Oz.” Reyna patted his hand. “Do you think two weeks will be enough time for Ava to find her father and her twin?”
Too easy.
There was no way in hell ISAN agents would have allowed Ozzie to overhear such vital information by accident.
“Who told you? I mean, did you recognize the voice?” I crossed my arms, considering the possibilities.
“Mitch was talking to someone outside the door.”
Mitch. Not an accident.
I quirked my lips to the side. “Mitch wanted you to hear, Oz.”
Reyna gulped down her drink. White powder streaked through her hair when she laced her hand through it. She had forgotten to dust the powdered sugar off her fingers. I almost laughed.
Two weeks? It might not be enough time to give Ava a chance to find her family, but she would be coming back with me. I would help her find her family. She shouldn’t do it alone.
“Why are you smiling, Rhett?” Reyna wiped her fingers on the napkin. When I didn’t answer, her eyes widened. “I’m not sure if I should b
e excited or nervous.” She tugged on my shirt.
I barely registered Reyna’s question, thinking of the night at the Leviathan Hotel. Ava had looked beautiful in her crimson dress, and when she’d let her dress fall, revealing a skintight outfit, I’d lost all train of thought.
“Rhett.”
A sting on my arm brought me back to the present. Reyna cocked her fist for another blow.
I jerked back. “What the hell was that for?”
“You’re not answering me. You keep spacing out. Get a hold of yourself.” Reyna snapped her fingers in front of my face.
I met her gaze. “I’m fine. I’m more than fine now.” I wiggled my eyebrows and gave her a disingenuous grin.
Reyna murmured curses under her breath and did the funny neck twist thing she did when she’d had enough. “You’re planning to go, aren’t you?”
“Go where?” Ozzie, too preoccupied with the pastries and desserts piled on his plate, hadn’t paid attention to our conversation. Or maybe he was just numb to our arguments about Ava.
I took another bite of my sandwich. “Come on. We have a lot of ground to cover if we want to make it back home before dark. Besides, I have a tux to order.” I winked at Reyna and began to stride toward the kitchen, sandwich in hand.
“Rhett, I’m going.” Reyna trailed after me, whining like a spoiled child.
“Wait up. What’re we doing? Where are we going?” Ozzie’s steps pounded behind me, his voice muffled from stuffing his face.
Rhett
Cleo, Ozzie, Reyna, and I jumped in the truck and took off early the next morning to the Abandoned City. Cleo wanted to drive, so I let her have the wheel. Reyna called shotgun. I sat in the back with Ozzie and kept watch, Taser on my lap at the ready.
Every time we traveled the desolate road, it reminded me of the destruction that had hit the former United States in the year 2035, our grandparents’ generation. Due to the reversal process of the Earth’s poles, the meteors had rained like fire hailstorms and caused catastrophic devastation.
Fifty years of turmoil had weakened Earth’s magnetic field, resulting in the solar radiation and persistent meteor bombardments that collapsed the world’s larger governments. Smaller, regional coalitions built up local power. In an effort to reunite the former United States, the Remnant Council had formed to unify the North American coalitions.