“Zera,” Sam’s voice whispered softly to me, when I looked up I found him watching me, his eyes full of concern and warmth. “Come with me!” He said, and I let him take my hand and gently help me up from the floor, and escort me outside.
Once we were outside, the skies had become thunderous, and the loud distant claps of thunder, was the sure sign of the storm that had been plaguing the news bulletins since last week, eventually, I thought, the news reporters had gotten their storm, how ironic.
My head ached, and my legs hurt like hell, the confusion still swimming through my head, and Sam continued to escort me away from the scene to his car.
“No wait,” I halted. “Who are you?” I asked, I didn’t feel that I knew him anymore, especially since he was some creature that I was so sure I had imagined and what had just happened previously with Barry was all a bad dream, like the ones that had plagued me since my daughter had died, the ones where I knew I was in some kind of trouble and I’d tried my best to protect her from an unknown person who was stronger than me, but I’d failed. The only problem with my nightmares was that I couldn’t figure out what it was I was protecting her from, and neither could I figure out who I really was.
“I’ll tell you in a little while,” he said, concentrating hard with the effort to find the right words. “Come with me now, please Zera, your still in shock, we have a lot to talk about,”
“Where are the others?” I whispered. Looking around I could see them all, they were all from the police head quarters, and they were all also, some kind of weird creature.
“They’ll join us later,” he replied, looking at them quietly. “You’re safe with me,”
“How do I know that?” I asked. Silently wishing that I could just shut up and go with him. “How do I know that you won’t hurt me, even kill me because I’ve seen...Whatever that was?” I asked.
“Please Zera,” He pleaded, taking my arm and pulling me along, so that I had no choice but to either order my legs to move or remain standing and have my legs moved for me.
“Alright.” I sighed.
Chapter Three
He helped me get into his car, the luxurious leather seats were cool against my skin, while I waited for him to walk around the car, I wondered what would happen if I dived out the passenger door and made a run for it, silly though, Sam was my boss and he had access to my personal file, it would take him ten minutes to find out my address, that if he didn’t know what it was already and then there would be no escape from him.
“You don’t need to be frightened,” he muttered when he got into the driver’s seat, “No one can hurt you now,”
“What do you mean?” I asked, now I felt more confused than I did before. “I haven’t told anyone where I’m going,”
“I’ve already done that,” he answered. “What I mean is that you’re safe with me, there’s nothing or no one that can hurt you, and do you remember anything?” He asked, putting emphasis on the word ‘anything’.
“Sam,” I started. “You know the reason why I’ve been off work for so long, I don’t know who I am, not really, I only remember I had a daughter once and she was killed in an accident, why do you ask?”
“Killed in an accident?” He muttered an oath, his face changing expressions to anger. “Who told you that?”
“The doctors did, they said they did all they could for her, and that she was already dead on arrival,” I replied, turning in my seat so I could see him properly, although I could only see his side profile.
“Figures,” he replied, scowling at the traffic ahead of us. “So your memory of your daughter is completely blank?” He asked.
“Well, yes, all except what I remember in my dreams,” I said. “They’re sometimes very graphic but when I wake up, I can’t remember what I am supposed to be so frightened off,”
“I see,” he said, as we drove on towards an unknown destination, I hadn’t bothered to ask where we were going, he was after all a man of the law and someone that I trusted.
When I’d woken in the hospital it was Sam’s face that I saw first, nobody else had come to visit, making me wonder if I was alone in the world, it wasn’t until the doctor had come around and discussed my case with me along with the possible treatment available, not to mention the severe warnings he gave to me about not pushing for information, or asking other people to tell me about my life, I had to remember it on my own, or I would risk going back into a coma, just from the fact that my mind wouldn’t be able to cope with the information.
“Hi Zera,” The doctor had said, smiling warmly and reading my notes at the same time “How do you feel?”, he asked, the nurses had mentioned to me, that if I was adamant on going home then I had to lie and tell him that I felt fine, otherwise he would order more tests and keep me in the hospital for another week, maybe more.
“Fine,” I’d lied. “When can I go home?”
Although I hadn’t a clue where home was and neither did I remember what my occupation was?
“Do you know where home is?” he’d asked, silently checking my pulse through my wrist. “Do you understand that once you leave here, then there is nothing we can do to help you remember your identity,”
“I know,” I sighed. “I just feel like I want to try to find who I am, and I can’t do that from here, I promise I feel fine, all the bruises are healed,”
“I’d still like to run tests on that scar you’ve been complaining about,” he’d said, frowning.
The scar he had been referring too, was situated down the centre of my back, I had no idea where it had come from, at first I’d assumed it was from an operation but when I read my own notes, I found I hadn’t had any operation on any part of my body.
The scar constantly ached, bringing along the most intensifying burning sensation that I’ve felt before, many nights the pain had been excruciating and I’d screamed, rolling around my bed in agony, leaving the nurses bewildered and unsure of what to do.
“It doesn't hurt anymore,” I answered. “It's all better now, it must have been knocked in the accident,”
“Hm....”He said, stroking his chin and watching me carefully. “I’ll make a deal with you, if you can give me the name, address and contact number of someone who can look after you and keep an eye on you once you leave here then I’ll discharge you today.”
I’d thought carefully about his request, there wasn’t anyone that I knew other than Sam, and when he’d come to visit I’d asked him, to which he had graciously agreed, but not before warning me that he couldn’t be at my beck and call twenty-four seven, this was absolutely fine by me, I wanted to try and dig around to find any family or late friends that I might remember.
“Sam has agreed,” I told the doctor. “Here’s his contact details, when can I leave?” I asked hurriedly, afraid that he might have changed his mind.
“Steady.” He’d laughed. “What’s the hurry?”
Only about my life, I thought but instead I’d smiled brightly and answered him, telling him I was being keen and not in the slightest hurrying the discharge process, and that I was keen to see my home, my response from him was a laugh, he believed me.
“Where are we going?” I asked quietly.
“My house,” Sam answered. “The others will meet us there later on.”
His house, I’d never been there, although Mandy had tried to set us up together, she was always watching us both taking sneaky long looks at each other across the office and remarking how we hadn’t gotten together, and that we would make a cute couple.
This is what my life had become, a never ending circle of faces and names, ones that I remembered from my past but I couldn’t locate, they weren’t in the phone book which I only assumed they must have moved away or died, which ever suited me best whenever I was feeling down and depressed about my life.
One day, I promised myself, I will remember everything, and I will have many people that I could turn too, many people who would visit me and ask me round to visit them for tea,
it wouldn’t be like it was now, solitary without anywhere to go at weekends except to go shopping for food and the necessities that every human needed.
Sam remained in silence for the rest of the journey, I sat watching the rain fall down, each splash hitting the window screen and gradually running down the front, the wipers waving left and right, and the people running through the rain. Many of them carrying umbrellas or just simply trying to cover their heads with papers, whatever they were carrying they seemed to use.
It reminded me of an ants nest, the scurrying around and hurrying, needing to get somewhere quickly, without pause or hesitation. The darkness had begun to fall around me, which had been brought on by the storm, the clashes of thunder sounded above us, letting me know that the storm had reached the city and was in full throw and not likely to give up now.
I felt weary, and my eyes began to fall, dropping my head to my chest, I eventually slept, worn out by the day’s events, and completely confused by Sam and his friends, their motives were mysterious and their origins were too, making me suddenly realise that there was no-one that I could trust.
The traffic seemed to be horrendous, causing the journey to be agonisingly long, Sam continued with his silence, he didn’t even glance my way and I could feel the tension in the air between us.
He was my boss, what was I doing? Going to his house, and then what? Expect him to reveal all of what and who is he without killing me or harming me, who was I kidding?
“Stop the car,” I demanded, when I turned to look at his expression, it hadn’t moved and he continued driving as if I hadn’t said anything at all. “Did you hear me? Stop the damn car,”
“I heard you, and I’m not stopping,” He growled. “You want answers, and I need to speak to you anyway, so your coming back to mine whether you like it or not,”
“I don’t want to go anywhere with you,” I replied, searching around for the door handle, the traffic on the road was heavy, and the rain poured constantly, a heavy flow of huge droplets.
“Look,” he hesitated before continuing. “Just hear us out, I promise nothing will happen to you,”
“I’m not coming,” I said, and pulled the door handle, releasing the lock and watching the road as it passed by rapidly.
“Don’t be stupid,” he shouted, above the noise of the oncoming traffic. “You’ll get yourself hurt or killed, get back inside,”
Sam grabbed my arm and made an attempt to pull me back inside the car, but I waited until the oncoming traffic thinned for my opportunity, and I tumbled myself sideways, feeling the excruciating pain in my shoulder and my arm when I made impact with the concreted road, the last I heard from Sam was the swearing and the shouts.
Finally I stopped rolling in the road, and collected myself of the floor to make it across the distance to the hard shoulder, where at least the traffic wouldn’t run me over or hit me. My arm hurt and my shoulder was agonisingly painful, I could feel the blood, the warm sticky trickle heading down my back from my shoulder, so long as I last long enough without collapsing to make it home.
I headed in the direction of my home, and I heard the screech of brakes and the tyres as they slid on the road behind me, Sam was coming back for me and I needed to get away from the manic, whatever he was and whoever he was, he was my boss but he wasn’t human, not by any means and it wasn’t something I needed to get involved in, my life was already complicated enough with the loss of my memory.
I started to run, my feet slipping on the wet road, and I jumped over the small fence that led into a wooded area, darkened by the loss of light from the sky and slippery with the leaves on the floor, but I was off the road and away from the maniac Sam. Still running, and heaving with the agonising breaths that I pulled into my lungs to keep the pace, my shoulder began to burn, and my arm was out of place, it was the sign of dislocation and I would need someone to pull it back into place, which would hurt. I faintly heard the sound of footsteps behind me, and I couldn’t keep the pace anymore, falling to the ground, my pain worsening and my head thumping, I shivered and my resolve to run away shattered.
“Can you hear me Zera?” A man asked. “Damn, I didn’t mean to scare you,”
My head felt uncomfortable, my shoulder hurt so did my arm and my eye lids felt heavy, the cold had set into me with the running in the rain and the injuries I’d sustained from the scary but much needed jump away from Sam out of the car.
“Answer me Zera,” he said, the desperation in his voice. “I need to know your ok,”
I mumbled something, I wasn’t sure what, but it was enough to tell him I was ok, at least he wouldn’t try and take me to hospital, I didn’t have a clue who this person was that was speaking to me, everything seemed a million miles away.
“I’m taking you to my house.” He gently lifted me off the floor, and wrapped me inside his coat, cradled closely to his chest where his own body warmth kept me snug and his coat kept the rain off my head.
His footsteps changed rapidly, and I had the feeling that I was floating, but I was sure it was my over active imagination and the fact that I’d picked up a chill from the bad weather.
After sometime, of trying to figure out which direction we were heading, I had the sensation of being gently undressed and laid upon a soft bed, the covers being pulled tight around me, and my arm gently manoeuvred back into place, the pain was numbed by the fever, cool hands moved my hair off my face and placed a cold cloth on my burning forehead, temporarily relieving some of the warmth.
“She’s asleep,” I heard him mutter. “I’ll need to stay with her until she wakes up and control her pain throughout,”
“Do you think she’ll remember anything when she wakes up?” Another man asked. “I don’t like this Sam, not one bit, you should have told her earlier then we wouldn’t be stuck like this,”
“What was I supposed to do? Tell her and risk a memory relapse, which you know would push us back to where we started.” The thunder slapped outside, making it difficult for me to distinguish anymore of their conversation.
Whatever had happened to me, before and after my accident it seemed to have something to do with these people, and I knew the person that had picked me up, so gently and lovingly was Sam, the same person I wanted to run away from, the maniac with the wings.
For what seemed like days, I thrashed around, the fever taking its toll and relentless in its rage to take over my body and reduce me to a dependant woman, dependable on the one person that I thought I knew but I didn’t.
I had vague impressions of opening my eyes and seeing his face, he looked sincere, worried and concerned, each time whispering soft words to me, and placing a cloth on my head, pulling the covers tightly around me, and making sure I was being cared for. He never left my side, and one time, I know it must have been a dream because I had the distinct impression of being held tightly, strong arms wrapped around me and soft kisses lightly touching my head, the whispering continued until my haven of slumber arrived again.
The fever eventually broke, and I could make out the day light coming into the room, the light behind my eye lids, and the rumbling of my stomach forced me to open my eyes slowly, watching everyone in the room, waking to a room full of men.
“She’s waking,” one muttered, his gaze never wavering, watching me closely. “Sam, you’d better make sure your with her when she wakes up, she knows you,”
“I need you all to leave,” he answered. “It's better that when she’s awake, I tell her on our own,”
I watched as the men nodded their acceptance and silently slipped from the room, closing the door gently behind them.
“Hi,” he said, watching me and standing in front of the door, barring my escape.
“Hi,” I croaked, my lips and throat felt dry, making it strenuous for me to speak.
“How do you feel?” He asked.
“I could be better,” I replied, I tried to sit up but the bolt of pain made me curse and flop backwards against the pillow. “How long have I be
en here?”
“About a week,” He said, warily watching me for a reaction. “I called in work on your behalf,”
“Is that supposed to be helpful?” I asked. “I think you better start telling me how I got here and why you’re standing in front of the door not letting me leave,” I folded my arms and relaxed backwards, waiting for an explanation.
“Do you remember anything?” he asked gently. “Anything about the ‘accident’?”
“No,” I tried to think back, and I tried to search for the memory that seemed to be always hidden behind a thick black fog. “I don’t know,” I moaned.
“It wasn’t an accident.” He answered. “You were with me when they tried to take you,”
“With you?” I stammered. “Impossible, I’ve only just met you when I started my job,”
“Don’t interrupt please,” he answered. “When the shadows came, they tried to snatch you, you see for centuries it’s their only way to survive in the human world, they take human souls and devour them, leaving behind an empty corpse,”
I shuddered at the thought, and I remember the ramblings of Barry when he was telling me about the shadows.
“They were half way into taking you, when I turned around and caught them,” he continued. “I put our baby on the floor thinking she was safe, I thought she would be alright surrounded and hidden, so when I tried to rescue you, they took her instead, you’d already sustained far too many injuries for me to save you and that how you ended up in hospital,”
“Our daughter?” I asked, stunned by the revelations.
“Yes Zera,” he said, his voice whispering to me, the raw emotion captured in his eyes. “Our daughter, it’s my fault she died, they wanted you, not her,”
“That’s impossible Sam,” I spluttered, shaking my head and ramming my hands over my ears hoping it would block out his voice. “I’m not anything to do with you, how dare you use my child to rescue yourself and pull back to normality, I saw the way you were earlier, you’re not human, are you?”
Volcan Knights Page 3