The Arliss

by Ann Bakshis

  “Well, considering his mark was found on Tennison’s body, as well as on the guy in the Factory, I’d say she has a right to be concerned.”

  “But that’s a Nathair tattoo—not anything from the Arliss,” Nex says, sounding confused.

  “You don’t know your history very well, do you?” Demmer asks, glancing at her briefly.

  She turns her attention to me and I know what she’s going to say next, so I subtly shake my head, hoping she’ll keep her mouth shut.

  “No, I guess I don’t,” she replies after a few seconds.

  “The Nathair worshipped the Arliss, so the mark was a way they could identify each other. Everyone knows that symbol is forbidden, so for it to show up after all these years on two people who weren’t even alive during the war has Myr fearful.”

  “But not you or Andra, right?” I ask.

  “We both believe it’s someone trying to be funny,” Demmer replies.

  “Do you know when either of them could’ve gotten the marking?” I ask as a way to keep Nex silent.

  “Our doctor examined it on both Tennison and the greeter, but only the greeter’s seemed recent. Also, there wasn’t any ink found in the symbol, so it technically can’t be considered a tattoo, which means it wasn’t obtained in Demos.”

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “It’s a change in pigmentation. No one can figure out how it occurred,” Demmer says.

  I glare at Nex, wondering if the test she supposedly ran on the scraping from mine came back with the same result. She’s never mentioned it, and now I begin to wonder why.

  “Grimm has that mark,” Nex blurts out.

  “Yes, but everyone knows how he obtained it,” Demmer says, annoyed. “That fucking husband of yours, Sara. I swear, if he were in my compound he’d have been sent to the farms under the Factory a long time ago.”

  “I don’t understand why Andra puts up with his crap,” Nex says.

  “Because he’s a Comhar descendant,” Demmer says mockingly, then stops the ATV once again. “How did you return from Lymont, Sara? Andra never told me.”

  “I found shelter before the bomb fell,” I reply. “How did Tennison return if you nuked him?”

  Demmer studies me carefully. “The same way, I imagine,” he replies.

  “Do you still need to conduct your little inquest, or have I satisfied your curiosity?” I ask, growing impatient.

  “Does anyone in Rinku have the Arliss symbol, other than Grimm?” Demmer asks Nex.

  “No,” she responds confidently.

  Demmer glances between the two of us. He probably knows we’re holding something back, so to qualm any questions he may have I show him my left wrist.

  “See, no Arliss marking,” I say.

  “Where’d you get the bruises?” he asks.

  “Cody had a death grip on me when I tried pulling him back to the surface when we were in Virtus,” I respond.

  “Well, I guess that’s better than being shot in the head,” Demmer smirks.

  “It was self-defense!” I yell.

  “Yeah, Sara, I know. Calm down,” he says before turning the vehicle around and heading back to Rinku.

  “How did Myr manage to get the Rodinea Expanse cleaned if you and Andra are dropping bombs everywhere?”

  “We’re not dropping them everywhere—and that doesn’t leave this vehicle,” he says, sticking a finger in Nex’s face. “The mountains act as a natural buffer, so none of the radiation penetrates the valley. The expanse dried up due to environmental reasons we’ve been working on correcting. Also, the satellites don’t pass over that piece of terrain because when they were sent up both sides agreed to not spy on that section, as it had become neutral ground when the war with the Arliss started.”

  “What are you going to tell Myr?’ I ask as we get closer to Rinku.

  “The truth. Tennison and the guy from the Factory were isolated incidents. Nothing further needs to be discussed,” Demmer answers, glaring at me in the rearview mirror.

  When we’re back in the garage, Nex and I barely manage to exit the vehicle before Demmer slams on the gas pedal, screeching away. As the two of us are making our way back to the compound, Nex pulls me off to the side.

  “Was everything you said back there true?” she asks, worried.

  “Yes, but you can’t say anything to anyone about it.” I’m about to step away, when she grabs my arm.

  “Cody has the mark and so do you. Demmer isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to observing things, but the bruises didn’t fool me. I want to know how you got that tattoo,” she demands.

  “I don’t know how I got it.”

  “Yeah, right, Sara. You get killed in Lymont and come back with a Nathair symbol. Cody gets shot in the torso, nearly dying, and he gets pulled from Virtus with the same mark on his wrist in the same spot. Neither of you had them before, but now you do.”

  “I told you, Nex, I have no idea how I got mine or that Cody even has one,” I say, feigning ignorance. “And besides, I thought you were running tests on skin cells taken from it. Why haven’t you discussed the results with me?”

  “Because Andra told me not to. She didn’t want you to know,” she responds. “Why was Cody threatening to kill you earlier?”

  “He’s crazy,” I respond, shrugging.

  She seizes my left arm and thrusts it up to my face. “You knew the bruises were covering up the mark, which is why you showed Demmer. Why would Cody do this to you? How was he able to inflict this amount of damage since he’s nowhere near strong enough given his current condition?”

  I simply stare at her.

  “I want answers, Sara, or I go to Andra and tell her the entire conversation we just had with Demmer. If she killed you over you finding out about the bombs in the satellites, what do you think she’ll do when she realizes you pieced together what happened to the abandonment home?”

  “Why does it matter if you know?” I ask heatedly.

  “Because I might be able to help you,” she whispers.

  “No one can help me,” I say sorrowfully and then pull my arm out of her grasp.

  “I lied to Demmer when I said I didn’t know my history,” she says as I begin to turn to leave. “My grandmother was the historian who brought the Arliss to the surface.”

  I spin around so fast I almost collide with her.

  “My mother was already born at that time, and when my grandmother ran off…” she says, growing sad, “my grandfather had to raise my mom on his own in Demos when the war broke out. He refused to go with my grandmother into the Aslu Territory because he thought she was confused, that she’d interpreted those texts wrong just like most of the population had. She wouldn’t listen to him and took off, starting the Nathair following, so I’m well aware of what that symbol on your wrist means. The Arliss destroyed my family, Sara, if he’s trying to return then I want to know about it.”

  “He’s dead.”

  “So were you, and yet here you are,” she says in a tone that drips with derision.

  “How do I know I can trust you?”

  “Because if I really wanted to make trouble, I’d have told Demmer about the marking on you, Cody, and that idiot in the Factory commercials. The one Wavern keeps sneaking in and out of here.”

  “Casey is his girlfriend?”

  “What, did you think you’re the only one he has a hard-on for?”

  “That’s disgusting, Nex,” I say, my gag reflex kicking in. “He sees me like a daughter.”

  “No, he doesn’t,” she blurts out. “Don’t you remember anything from your time in the abandonment home? There’s a reason those files were never transferred over when someone was moved to the compounds.”

  I try to recall anything from when I was younger, but only snippets of my studying and my relationship with Grimm during those years spring to mind. Nothing else. It’s like my life really didn’t start until I got to Rinku. “I only remember Grimm,” I mumble.

  “Rea
lly? You don’t remember the abuse you all endured… the experiments that were conducted on you?”

  “Do you remember?”

  “I’m not from the home—I grew up in Demos.”

  “Then how do you know any of this?”

  “My predecessor told me, but as part of me taking this job I had to agree never to discuss anything with the survivors.”

  “Survivors? What are you talking about?”

  “Not here,” she says. She takes my hand and directs us towards the medical ward.

  Brea is sitting alone at the front station when we enter.

  “You’re back? You’ve only been gone a little over two hours. I thought you two weren’t due back for at least another four,” she says as we head towards the empty isolation room.

  “Demmer got what he needed on the ride,” Nex says, sliding the door open. “Don’t bother us unless it’s an emergency.”

  Nex pulls the curtain closed before shutting the door and locking it.

  “Brea is a nosey piece of work, so if we keep our voices down she won’t hear us,” Nex says as she slides to the floor at the far end of the room by the shower.

  “Okay, we’re out of the hallway. Now talk,” I say, growing impatient.

  “Myr was desperate to get people back out onto the surface, so it was decided that those who had relatives who survived the apocalypse would make the best subjects to try experimental anti-radiation drugs on,” Nex says, pulling her knees up to her chest. “Myr felt that since they were already predisposed to the contaminant, it would be easier. Plus, if anyone died from the tests, no one would think anything of it. They’d chalk it up to more post-war casualties.”

  “How long had that been going on?” I ask as I sit beside her.

  “Not until your generation came along,” she says weakly. “The governing body wanted to wait until they had a good supply of healthy candidates before they tried to poison them.”

  “And the compound leaders were aware of this?”

  “Yes, as were the squad leaders. They’re the ones who selected the kids for testing. If the child survived, when they reached eighteen they were transferred to that specific compound and squad, and their medical files from the abandonment home were erased or modified.”

  “Did this happen to all the kids? Keegan, Cody, and Grimm also?”

  “Unfortunately yes. It’s how the antitoxin Cymatilis was discovered.”

  “And Wavern?” I ask, leaning my head against the wall and looking towards the ceiling as tears start to flow at the lies that have been fed to all of us our entire lives.

  “You were his favorite,” she says. She starts to shake, but I can’t tell if it’s from emotion, stress, or guilt. “When it was his turn to conduct the testing, you were his one and only pick.”

  “But I thought Keegan had been experimented on too.”

  “He was, just not by Wavern. It wasn’t until a year later that Wavern decided to take him. By that point Keegan had become almost uncontrollable. The squad leader who had originally selected him didn’t want him anymore.”

  “How old were we when they started these experiments?”

  “Thirteen,” she says, swallowing hard.

  I grow nauseated. “It wasn’t just testing that was done on me, was it?”

  She takes my hand and squeezes it. “No, Sara, there was more, and not just to you. Several others were abused—mainly the girls, though,” she says, turning to look at me. “You’re Wavern’s favorite even to this day. He was so angry when you hooked up with Keegan, I thought he was going to kill you. That’s when he began sneaking Casey into the compound. I think he uses her as a substitute for you since you’re both the same age.”

  “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  “You’d been so cooperative at the home that he was under the impression you’d still be that way when you got here. He was shocked when you didn’t comply.”

  “How do you know all this?” I ask, growing anxious.

  “By the time you came to the compound I was the doctor in charge, so I had to know your history. All of it.”

  “I don’t think I can hear any more of this,” I say as I get to my feet.

  Nex grabs my arm, halting my progress. “Haven’t you always been curious as to why during all this time you’ve been sleeping with Keegan, you’ve never gotten pregnant?”

  “Please stop,” I beg, my heart sinking.

  “He forced me to do it,” she says. “He didn’t want anyone finding out what he’d been doing to you all those years before you actually got here.”

  “Nex, please, no more,” I plead, trembling. Nex ignores me.

  “It was only the one time but he was terrified it would happen again, so he had me sterilize you.”

  My throat closes, and I collapse to my knees.

  “You’d only been in the compound for two weeks when he found out you were pregnant with his child,” Nex mutters. “No one else knew, not even Andra.”

  “Why don’t I remember any of that?” I ask, my face soaked with tears.

  “Because I made you forget. There’s a procedure we can perform on the soldiers to alter or erase specific memories. We’re given the option of doing this if the soldiers are severely traumatized and can no longer perform their duties. It allows them to go back to life as if nothing happened. They probably used this technique in the abandonment home, so none of you would recall the experiments or abuse.”

  I feel drained… and numb.

  “When did you erase those memories?” I ask.

  “A little over two years ago, when you started seeing Keegan.”

  I stumble over to the toilet and throw up. I don’t have a lot in my stomach, so I mainly dry heave until the feeling passes.

  “He said I earned my immortality,” I mumble as I sit back and hang my head.

  “Who said that?” Nex asks, coming over to me with a glass of water to rinse my mouth with.

  “Wavern. He put a mark on my body here,” I say, pushing my hair back and showing her the raised skin, “so that when I died I’d meet the Arliss, who would make me immortal. I’d always return to this world no matter what.”

  “So, that’s how you really got the tattoo on your wrist? The Arliss gave it to you?”

  I nod.

  “And Cody?”

  “Yes, only he’s not Cody any longer.”

  She puts her hands to her mouth. “No,” she gasps. “We have to kill him.”

  “Not yet,” I say hurriedly. “There’s something I need to take care of first.”

  “What?”

  “You’ll know when you hear about it.”

  I hand her the glass, wipe my face on a towel, and exit the isolation room. Brea opens the divider for me since Nex is still sitting on the floor, probably too emotionally exhausted to move. I know I am, but I have something that needs to be dealt with before I breakdown. I stand in front of Andra’s door, hesitating. She’ll question why I’m back already, but I think with the information I have to tell her she won’t care. At least I hope she won’t. Anything is possible with her. I take a deep breath before knocking on her door. It takes a few moments before she answers, and when she does she scowls at me. She opens her mouth to reprimand me but I hold up my hand, stopping her.

  “I remember who branded me with the spider tattoo,” I say.

  She smiles and steps to the side so I can enter her apartment.

  Fourteen

  Andra paces her living room as she tries to locate Wavern, who’s apparently not with his squad on patrol in Demos. I sit nervously on her couch, still shaking from the conversation I had with Nex. All I want to do at the moment is go to my quarters, but Andra is keeping me at her place until she’s sure of Wavern’s location. Andra was shocked to hear that Wavern is a child of a Nathair since she, as well as the rest of us, thought they’d been neutralized when the Arliss was killed.

  Andra sat in stunned silence as I explained the markings to her, especially when I showed he
r the one that sent me to the plateau. I even told her how Cody received his. When I was done she asked about the Arliss, but I told her he was still trapped down there and how he was trying to figure out how to return to our world. She asks why he just doesn’t come back like Cody and I did, so I explain to her that he needs a viable host in order for that to happen and he’s never found one. She takes action immediately.

  “I don’t care what time it is!” Andra screams into her radio. “Wake the governing body! We have an emergency situation on our hands!” She flips channels, returning to the one she’s using to talk to Jules. “Have you found him yet?”

  “No. I have a couple from the team scouring hideouts in the Factory. Even though it’s on lockdown there are still several ways to get inside,” Jules replies.

  “Call me the minute you find him!”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Andra sits across from me. “And there isn’t anything else you remember from that day? Like why you ran into Lymont?” she asks.

  “No, I only recall what happened after the bomb dropped. Nothing from before.”

  “Yet you’re certain Wavern marked you,” she says, sounding skeptical.

  “Yes, he told me he did. Also, Cody and I aren’t the only ones he’s done this to.”

  “Oh? Who else?”

  “The woman from the Factory commercials—she has the spider on her left wrist as well. I caught it the other day while watching the display in my apartment when a commercial came on for the memorial.”

  “Does Demmer know about any of this?”

  “No, just you.”

  “Good,” she says, smiling. “Why don’t you go back to your quarters, Sara? You look exhausted.”

  I nod, get up from the couch, and head down the two levels to get to my section of the barracks. I’m about to reach for the doorknob when I notice the door to the apartment next to mine is slightly ajar. It’s the same residence I went into to swap out the screens, but I distinctly remember shutting the door. I step over to it and place my hand on the wood, forcing it open. Moans of pleasure fill the apartment, emanating from the master bedroom. I tiptoe over to the door, which is partially open. I hide along the wall with the bathroom so I’m not noticed, and that’s when I see it… Wavern’s hands on Casey’s hips, guiding her movements up and down his member as they both sigh heavily.