by T. J. Blake
‘You will never forget this face.’ Miller whispered.
‘Shut up!’ Jonny bellowed.
‘Never.’ Miller laughed hysterically, revealing his black gums and sharp yellow teeth. ‘Never.’ Miller barked a second time as he pushed Jonny to the floor. As Jonny fell, he felt as if the ground beneath him had disappeared. He continued to fall through the building and then underground until he stopped, landing on an uneven surface.
Jonny sat up quickly; he was on the underground train tracks. The underground station was empty, with sounds of footsteps echoing from within the tunnel. Jonny’s breathing speeded up. He watched the tunnel, the darkness beginning to swirl around in front of him as if teasing him.
Suddenly, two beady yellow eyes appear from the tunnel.
‘Hello?’ Jonny said.
As the pair of eyes bobbed up and down, Anna appeared from within the tunnel covered in blood, her body clicking and cracking as her bones begin to un-knot themselves. Then came Ken Williams; Jonny recognised him from pictures that Sarah showed him. His entire body was burnt to a crisp; the skin on his face hung loosely. His clothes had small flames patterned across the fabric. After Ken, a woman appeared, crawling from the tunnel. She’d lost one arm and both legs. She crawled quickly toward Jonny despite the loss of her limbs; she grabbed his leg and tried to pull herself up his body. Jonny’s hands were pulled down to the ground as the limbless woman crawled and sat on Jonny’s stomach, pinning him down. As Jonny lay back and looked up, he saw Miller. Miller coughed, he opened his mouth, pouring blood onto Jonny’s face. Jonny screamed louder, and Miller’s head dropped off his neck. His head landed next to Jonny and his eyes continued to move until he made eye contact with Jonny; he whispered ‘You’ll never forget this face.’
Suddenly Jonny awoke on the floor of his room and Sarah threw more water onto his face.
‘Oh darling, are you ok?’
Jonny stood and leaned against the wall behind him, looking around the room.
‘What are you looking for darling? No one’s here.’
‘He was here, he was here.’
‘Who?’
‘Miller. He was right where you’re standing. He was talking to me! He was…’
Sarah hushed Jonny by hugging him. ‘It’s ok, it’s ok.’
After they hugged for a minute in silence, Sarah released her grip, but Jonny continued to hold on tightly.
‘Darling.’ Sarah said as she patted his back, making Jonny release his grip. ‘I will try to help you to remember more but you’re getting worse with these nightmares. I just don’t want you to remember about the replica and become more haunted. I know that you remember the replica and that night with Anna, but you don’t seem to be remembering anything after that.’
‘I know mum but I need to remember my childhood, my friends, my…’
‘I know darling.’
‘And I want to know who the man is I keep seeing in my visions.’
‘What man?’
‘There’s a man who is holding me as a baby. I have never seen him before, you say my dad was a scientist and the man in my visions is not that same man.’
Sarah sighed and crossed her arms. ‘Ok, well I will explain everything later. Come to the office in a couple of hours.’
‘Also, I think that if Danni were allowed to come to Herstel then that may help my recovery.’
‘We’ve spoken about this darling, it wouldn’t work, they are normal people; they cannot come here.’
‘Why not? I was thinking; Danni and Enzo could become security guards for Herstel. You said it yourself, you need more security.’
Sarah stared into Jonny’s eyes and then sighed again.
‘Please mum. I love her.’
‘You don’t even remember her darling, you met her in the replica, you lived together for a bit, and anyway, they don’t warrant a place here.’
‘How can you say that mum? Enzo saved me and risked his life for me. Without him I couldn’t have killed Miller.’
Sarah sighed as she stared at Jonny hopelessly.
‘And anyway, I know Danni and I have a future together. I’ve seen it,’ Jonny said
‘You don’t know if your visions are true, you don’t know that they’re reliable.’
‘I believe in my visions.’
Sarah sighed again as she paced across the room.
‘Right, hire her and Enzo as guards but don’t tell anyone. I will make a small announcement within Herstel but not outside. If it becomes public knowledge, there could be protests. Clear?’
‘Clear.’ Jonny said with a grin.
‘Great. Off you go. Meet me in my office later.’
‘Yes.’ Jonny nodded.
Jonny strolled out of Herstel. His head held high, his chest pumped out and a smile across his face. He remembered the visions that he’d shared with Danni, the feeling that nothing else mattered in the world, the feeling of freedom and the knowledge that they would spend the rest of their lives together.
Jonny strode with a bounce in his step. His smile however drooped as he spotted three huge rats chewing on the torn flesh of a human corpse.
Dragging his feet backwards, gravel rubbed on gravel, creating a sound that turned the rats’ attention from the body to him. Jonny stayed still as the rats began to prowl towards him, snarling as they got closer. Their pointy noses were an inch off the brick dusted ground, their teeth grinding. A gunshot went off; one of the rats’ brains exploded. Its body slumped to the ground and the other two rats jumped back and ran away into the distance.
Jonny looked back to Herstel and saw Sarah, Lee and Molly standing on the roof. Molly waved; she held the rifle by her side, then Sarah and Lee copied her. Jonny returned the wave and continued to walk through the obliterated streets of London.
18
Danni sat in front of the foldable table in the basement, staring down at her diary entries.
It’s been a year. I hope Tom still loves me.
She stared at the word love. She wasn’t a girly girl who spoke about love. She never expressed her love but for Tom. She couldn’t help it; she did love him.
‘You alright?’ Enzo asked Danni.
‘Yeah, just thinking.’
‘About Tom?’
‘Yeah… I’m just hoping that he l… still likes me.’
‘Of course he does.’
‘He can’t remember much of his past life; he remembers the replica but nothing after that. He saw that we have a future together and the feelings in those visions have rubbed off on him. I’m just hoping he does love me and not just because we’re meant to have a future together.’
‘He does love you darling.’ Lynne piped up in the corner of the basement. ‘He’s trying to get us into Herstel but you know how it is, Sarah is a bit of a battle-axe and she won’t give in easily.’
‘It’s been a year though mum; I thought we would be there by now.’
‘We just need to be patient.’ Enzo said patting Danni’s shoulder.
‘It is quite a big deal to get into Herstel.’ Lynne sighed.
‘I know that but… I just feel like we should leave London. We need to migrate somewhere. Maybe to the country?’
‘We’re safe here.’ Enzo said.
‘We are, but we could try to build a proper house in the country, live on a farm, grow crops…’
‘You ain’t thinkin’ Danni. The wildlife is here in London.’ Enzo said.
‘Yeah but…’
‘And Haetel’s mist cured a lot of people and animals. Come on, think about it.’ Enzo shrugged.
Danni pushed the table away.
‘I’ll go alone.’ Danni snapped.
‘Shut up!’ Jerome shouted. ‘None of you care that daddy died a year ago today.’
Silence descended, but only for a moment. It ended as Jerome began to sob. Danni walked over to him and hugged him tightly and she began to cry also.
Lynne walked over to Sadie and whispered ‘How do you feel about to
day.’
‘I don’t care that he’s dead. Danni should have told me earlier about him. If I had known their past, I would never have been with him.’
Lynne pulled her in for a hug.
They heard movement above them. Danni patted Jerome on the head and moved to the tattered weapon box on the ground. She pulled out her shotgun. Enzo pulled out his machete. They both moved towards the steps, the door was flung open, pulling it off the hinges.
The sun shone in, creating an outline around the figure at the top of the stairs. Danni aimed at the figure, ‘Put your hands up, she said.’
The figure walked down the first few steps and began to laugh, ‘It’s just me,’ Jonny said.
‘Tom!’ Danni shouted as she ran up the steps to meet him halfway. As they hugged each other, Danni bust into tears. Jonny carried her downstairs and then held her as she sank into his shoulder.
‘You can all come to Herstel,’ Jonny said with pride in his voice.
Everybody cheered. Enzo patted Jonny on the back, Lynne welled up and Sadie hugged Jerome tightly as she began to cry with relief.
‘I never thought this day would come.’ Danni’s voice was muffled by Jonny’s shoulder.
‘I told you it would.’ Jonny said as he sniffled.
‘I love you,’ he whispered into her ear.
‘I love you too,’ Danni whispered back.
‘There is one condition.’ Jonny said as he pulled Danni away from his shoulder. ‘The condition is that both Danni and Enzo accept my mum’s job offer as guards of Herstel.’
‘Yes!’ Danni shouted wrapping her arms around Jonny again.
‘Guarding what?’ Enzo asked.
‘The buildings itself, the facilities inside and, of course, the people.’ Jonny said.
‘What’s in the facilities?’
‘I think it’s the virus and the experiments that are being done to prevent another outbreak.’
Enzo muttered something under his breath and reluctantly agreed.
Sadie walked over to Jonny holding Jerome in her arms. She kissed Jonny on the cheek and then passed Jerome to him. Jerome wrapped his legs around him as he hugged his neck tightly.
‘So pack your stuff up, let’s go.’
19
Jonny opened the door to his room and welcomed Danni in. ‘This is my room; they’ve made it for the both of us. You can stay in here with me if you like, there’s a double bed and it’s quite a big room and…’
Danni pushed Jonny onto the double bed and sat on top of him, smiling down at him.
‘Most important thing is; is there a lock on the door?’ Danni laughed.
‘Definitely,’ Jonny said as he pushed her aside and locked the door.
He ran back to the bed and lay beside Danni. He touched her face and entered a vision.
They both walked side by side down a corridor within Herstel. The wall turned from brick into protective glass. As they looked in, they saw someone strapped in a chair, screaming in pain as masked scientists stood around the young girl, injecting green, blue and red liquids into her. As Jonny and Danni watched, the girl’s eyes shot open, she looked into Jonny’s eyes and the protective glass smashed to smithereens, knocking Jonny and Danni back into the wall behind them.
Dazed, Jonny watched the girl break free of the chair. As the scientists tried to escape, the girl grabbed the one closest to her and punched through his stomach. She then used the body to prevent the other two from escaping by tossing the body at them. The body knocked them both to the ground and as they stood up to try to get away, the girl smacked their heads together, killing them both instantly.
Jonny looked to Danni, a piece of glass had pierced her neck; her eyes were wide open, looking at Jonny.
Jonny left the vision short of breath. As he looked at Danni, he saw her momentarily as the girl in the vision, covered in blood; but as she fell off the bed and crawled away on her elbows, he realised it was just Danni.
‘What did you see?’
Jonny hesitated, and stuttered, ‘I… we… We were somewhere in this building and…’
‘I was in it?’
‘Yes but we watched these scientists doing an experiment.’
‘More experiments?’
‘Well yeah they’re doing them now as well but this was different, they had someone tied down.’
Danni fell silent; she folded her arms.
‘Least I’ve seen this. We can prevent this from ever happening.’
‘I suppose you can look at it like that.’ Danni said.
Jonny stood up and hugged her. ‘I will look after you, don’t worry baby. I forgot, I need to go see mum quickly, will you be ok on your own for a little bit?’
‘Yeah sure. What does she want?’
‘I don’t know really, she never said. She said it’s to help me remember things, maybe another hypnotist.’
‘Ok baby well don’t be too long.’ Danni gave him a cheeky smile.
‘I won’t, don’t worry,’ Jonny said as he left the room.
20
Jonny stood outside the door to Sarah’s office and heard a man’s voice. Jonny knocked on the door seven times, creating a tune. Sarah interrupted on the fifth knock. ‘Come on in darling.’
As Jonny walked in, he saw a man sitting on a chair to the side of Sarah’s desk. Sarah smiled at Jonny and nodded to the chair in front of her desk.
‘I have someone for you to meet. Do you recognise him?’
‘No, I don’t.’ Jonny said as he stared at the man.
The man had wavy, hazel brown hair with grey strands flecked throughout; he had brown eyes and was clean-shaven. The man smiled at Jonny, but Jonny didn’t return it.
‘Well, you remember in your vision you saw a man holding a baby and you didn’t know who he was? Well, this is him.’ The room was silent for a moment. Jonny stared back and forth between the man and Sarah, confused. His sight homed in on Sarah’s lips; he saw the smudged lipstick. He looked at the man’s lips; he noticed the smudged lipstick on his lips too.
Jonny stood up, his fists clenched.
‘Darling no, sit down.’ Sarah said. ‘Now!’ Sarah shouted.
Enzo and another guard burst into the room. ‘It’s fine, we’re ok here; you may leave,’ Sarah said to them, they hesitantly left the room and closed the door.
Jonny remained standing and he clenched his fists harder and harder. He moved over to the man and grabbed him tightly by his arm, entering a vision of the past.
From the view of the man, he walked down the stairs in a small house. The location was not in London. Through the window he could see other houses, cars parked and trees.
As the man turned and walked into the kitchen he saw a letter and a baby shoe on top of it. Opening the letter warily, the man stroked the baby shoe. He read the letter.
Ken,
I’m sorry, but the time has come. I have to leave with baby Tommy.
We both knew this time was coming and that work would need me, this is a big project that will have huge consequences. I don’t want you to be hurt or worse. I love you too much for that.
I will look after Tommy the best I can. One day I will tell him the truth, I will tell him you are his real father…
The vision began to blur, Jonny felt the tears welling up in his eyes. He returned to the present. His grip on the man’s arm was so tight that when he pulled away, his hand left a bruise.
‘Darling, he’s your real father. The man you thought was your father was not; he was simply part of the experiment. He had the role of playing Ken Williams, my husband, your father.’
‘Why would you do that to me?’
‘I didn’t have much choice. Miller was evil; he threatened to kill me and your dad and to take you anyway.’
‘So how was I cured before? Dad… I mean that man took me and cured me, I thought I was cured because we had the same blood type?’
‘You were cured by me. We just had to let you believe that man was your father. It was
all part of a sick experiment. I regret it Tom, I really do. I really regret it and for the rest of my life I will regret it. I am so sorry.’ Sarah began to cry.
Jonny looked to the man and then paced to the door and back to Sarah’s desk.
‘I know this is a lot to take in…’ she said.
‘It is.’ Jonny sighed.
The man stood up and walked towards Jonny. As he approached, they stared at each other. Ken put his hand out. ‘It’s good to meet you Jonny.’ Ken said.
Jonny hesitated for a moment, letting Ken’s hand hang without shaking it. Then Jonny grabbed Ken’s hand and entered another vision of the past.
He saw the letter Sarah wrote burning on the desk beside him. The flames curled the corners of the page.
Ken pulled on the rope hanging from the ceiling; he steadied a chair beneath the rope. As he stood on it, he looped the rope around his neck.
Jonny returned to the present. He stared at the faded scars on Ken’s neck. He then stared into his brown eyes. It was almost like Jonny was staring into a mirror.
‘Please, Dad, call me Tom.’ Tom said as he hugged Ken.
The End
ENDURANCE: RECOVERY
1
Danni walked along the corridors holding her MP5 machine gun. Her guard duty was to walk the lower grounds of Herstel; the storage areas.
As Danni walked along the dimly lit corridors she heard a scream up ahead. She pulled her gun and jogged towards the screams. As she reached the end, the screaming stopped. She looked around but was only surrounded by boxes, wrapping and the walls.
She calmly placed her weapon by her side and tracked back from where she came. As she moved further away, she heard more screams.
As she walked back towards the walls, the screaming continued from behind the wall.