by Amy Cross
By the time I reach the old railroad bridge, I'm completely out of breath. I must have been running for half an hour, and I finally come to a stop next to the railing. For a moment, I look down at the river that's running far below, and I try to get my head straight.
Did all of that just happen?
Turning, I look back the way I came. My head feels a little fuzzy, and I can barely think straight, but I can't help wondering whether maybe I imagined the whole thing with the lake and the jetty and Maurice Wilkinson. Sure, it all seemed real at the time, but deep down I know Mom and Stevie would never abandon me like that. What if I'm suffering some kind of weird, prolonged hallucination? What if this is all a dream? Stepping back from the railing, I look down at my hands, and then I pinch myself.
Suddenly, hearing a noise nearby, I spin around and see a dark figure standing on the bridge. I swear he wasn't there before, and I can't make out any of his features, but after a moment he steps toward me.
“Who are you?” I ask, worried that it's another of the freaks from the lake. “Stay back!”
Looking around, I realize that my best bet would be to run along the road that leads toward the old gas station.
“Don't you remember me?” the figure asks, coming closer. “Adam said that might happen, at least at first. Of course, I told him not to bother going back to find you, but you know what Adam's like. Or do you?”
He steps into a patch of moonlight, and I see a familiar, gaunt face watching me. I've seen this guy before, but I don't know where or when.
“You really don't remember, do you?” he continues, and then he allows himself a faint smile. “I can tell the generally gormless look on your face. Well, Annie, this is a turn-up for the books, isn't it? You usually have so much to say.”
“I don't know who you are,” I stammer.
“Of course you do,” he replies.
“I told you to stay back!”
“Oh, you're so important, aren't you?” he continues. “You're top of the class. You're the big success story. Not that you look so successful right now. In fact, right now you look like you need help.” His smile grows. “I'm sorry, by the way, about what happened the last time we met. I shouldn't have bitten you, but circumstances were very different and I got a tad excited. At least you got away. No hard feelings, huh?”
“I don't know what you -”
Before I can finish, I'm shocked by a flash of memory. In my mind's eye, I see this guy leaning down toward me, and then I feel two sharp fangs slicing into my neck. I tell myself that nothing like that ever happened, but the memory is so vivid and real. He dragged me down, he was on top of me, and I swear I felt blood being drawn out of my jugular. Overwhelmed, I relive that moment over and over, until suddenly I realize that the strange man has left the bridge and is standing right in front of me.
“What are you doing?” I gasp, stepping back and bumping against the rail.
He edges closer. I want to run, but I'm worried about making him react.
“What do you think I'm doing, Annie?” he asks. “Your blood tasted good the last time. Perhaps my apology was a little premature. You and I have never had the easiest of relationships, have we? There's always been some friction. You know, maybe I wasn't honest just now, either. Maybe I didn't lose control on the night that I bit you. Maybe, deep down, I knew it was you, Annie.” He steps even closer, until he's almost pressing against me, and then his smile grows to reveal two sharp teeth. “Maybe, just maybe, I realized I had a chance to even the score. I wasn't going to kill you, I was only going to take a few easily-replaceable drops, but maybe I liked the idea that it would hurt you.”
“Joseph, stop!” another voice says suddenly, and we both turn to see a thin, pale-looking man standing just a few feet away.
“I was just welcoming Annie back into the fold,” this Joseph guy replies, stepping back from me. “There's nothing wrong with that.”
“Can we please just get undercover?” the other man says, gesturing for us to follow him across the bridge. “I don't like being out like this. Anyone could see us.”
“This far from town?” Joseph asks, raising a skeptical eyebrow. “You're getting paranoid again, Manny.”
The other man mutters something in response, but he's already halfway across the bridge and it's clear that he's getting pretty impatient.
“Such a shame that we were interrupted,” Joseph replies, taking another step back and then turning to follow that Manny guy. “Perhaps we'll have another chance some time, Annie. Now come along, we don't want to keep anybody waiting. Adam has been so very insistent that you must return to us. Honestly, he's been unbearably optimistic about the whole thing. There's something rather pale and anemic about his affection for you.”
Realizing that I seem to have no other choice, I start cautiously following these two weirdos across the bridge. I keep looking around, hoping to see Adam at some point so that I can ask him some questions, but I guess he's still somewhere back in the forest. Looking over my shoulder, I start wondering whether I should have left him there, but he was very insistent and I guess I did the right thing by following his orders. Now, as I reach the other side of the bridge and see Manny disappearing down into the bushes at the side of the tracks, I feel as if I'm on the verge of entering a whole new world.
“Hurry!” Manny yells, and I hear the sound of him crashing through undergrowth.
“You heard the little fellow,” Joseph adds, glancing back at me before making his way into the bushes. “You know, you really should try to get your memory back, Annie. It would make all of this so much easier.”
Once he's gone, I hesitate for a moment. Following two weird strangers into some bushes doesn't seem like the smartest idea in the world, and in normal circumstances I'd already be running a mile. Strangely, however, there's some sensation in the back of my head that tells me I'm safer here than I've been all night, and that these people – even though they seem like strangers – are part of my world.
I look around one final time for Adam, and then I clamber down off the railroad and into the undergrowth.
“Hey!” I call out. “Wait for me!”
Pushing through the bushes, I stumble a couple of times in the darkness, but I think I'm going in more or less the right direction. We're heading down a steep incline, and it's hard to get traction in the mud. After a few minutes, I spot Joseph up ahead, so I hurry to catch up. I'm not even sure where we're going, except that we must be far beyond the limits of Middlewych by now. Sure enough, a few minutes later I hear the river running nearby, and finally the ground levels out a little and I push through the undergrowth until finally I reach a clearing.
“Hey,” I say as I see that Joseph has stopped and turned to me, “what -”
And then I see them.
Scores of them.
There are people all around us, except they're not just people. As they stare at me in the moonlight, I see that each and every one of them is different in some way. There's a man whose skin looks pale and translucent, and who has what looks like a set of gills on the side of his neck. Another man is almost completely skeletal, with bloodied eyes peering out from two dark sockets. A little further off, there's a woman whose entire body seems almost to have half melted from her bones. As I turn and look all around, I find it hard to believe that any of these people can possibly be real.
“Welcome home,” Joseph says archly, as I turn back to him. He's smiling, clearly enjoying my shock. “We've waited so long for this little family reunion.”
Chapter Thirty
“I don't know any of these people,” I stammer, stepping over to the middle of the clearing, still looking around. “I swear, I don't know who...”
My voice trails off as I start to realize that maybe I do know them. Somehow, at least. Something about this situation feels strangely familiar, and I feel as if – at last – layers of mud are being lifted from my mind to allow memories to stir in the depths. I've definitely seen all of these peo
ple before, and the sense of familiarity is only getting stronger and stronger as I start to realize that they're all just watching me. It's almost as if they're waiting for me to do something.
“Well?” Joseph says, with a hint of smug satisfaction in his voice. “Everybody's waiting, Annie. Aren't you going to swoop in and tell us all how you'll save the day?”
“Me?”
“Yes, Annie Mackenzie. You.” He pauses. “You seemed to be so full of ideas back at the facility. What's wrong, are you finding it difficult to come up with something now that we're all out? Or are you still struggling to remember your old life?”
“I don't...”
I hesitate, still feeling as if some kind of strange memory is creeping closer to the edge of my consciousness. There's something I'm supposed to remember, something important, but somehow it's all been pushed far back in my mind. Every time I feel as if I'm about to make progress, my other thoughts rush to the front and drown everything else out. I remember sensations and instincts, but not actual facts, and that's why – right now – I can't work out when and why I've been with these people before.
“This is hopeless,” a voice says suddenly, and I turn to see that a painfully thin man is getting to his feet. He's so pale, he almost glows in the moonlight. “She doesn't have a clue. We need to go back to the original plan. We have to get as far away from Middlewych as possible.”
“I don't know what's happening,” I reply. “Do you know me?”
“Do I know you?” the man says. “Back at the facility, you were the one who always told us to fight back. You gave us our fighting spirit, you're the reason we all left when we got the chance. Now that we're out, we don't know what to do. We can't go back to Chaos Gear, but we can't run too far, either. It's like we're trapped here until eventually they find us and...”
“And kill us,” a woman says nearby. “That's what they'll do. There's no point pretending otherwise.”
“Chaos Gear?” I whisper. “I know that name.”
“Praise be!” Joseph says with mock excitement. “She's starting to remember!”
“What's Chaos Gear?” I ask, as I realize that I saw those words in one of my nightmares.
“What's Chaos Gear?” Joseph replies, and now it's clear that he's playing to the audience. He turns to some of them, exaggerating his level of shock, before glancing back at me. “What's Chaos Gear?” he repeats. “Annie Mackenzie, how far you've fallen. I know there have been some, myself included, who doubted your ability to lead us away from this place, but I don't think that any of us ever anticipated you would end up like this.” He pauses, before stepping closer to me. “We waited for you, Annie,” he adds, placing his hands on the sides of my shoulders, almost as if he wants to comfort me. “Truly, we did. But now that you're here, and now that you seem to have no answers, I think it's best if we look for somebody else to lead us.”
“Like you, you mean?” somebody asks skeptically from the crowd.
“At least he has ideas,” another voice replies. “We've sat around here like idiots. Now we need something new.”
“I don't know what's happening,” I tell Joseph, keeping my voice low in an attempt to avoid alarming everyone else. “I feel like... my head's about to explode.”
“Then you shouldn't trouble it too much,” he says. “Stick to a level of thought that you find comfortable.”
Instead of answering him, I look into his eyes and see some strange kind of satisfaction. I might not remember how I know this man, but I do know him, and I'm pretty sure that I never used to like him. Even now, as he squeezes my shoulders a little, I feel my skin starting to crawl. I want to tell him that I'm fine, that there's no need for him to be so condescending, but this gap in my memory leaves me somewhat at a disadvantage. And there is a gap in my memories, I believe that now. I just need to push past and get to the truth.
“Adam's back!” a voice calls out suddenly, and I turn to see that something's approaching through the bushes.
Moments later, Adam bursts into view, but he quickly stumbles and falls. Bloodied and battered, he manages to stay on all fours for a few seconds, before rolling onto his side. A couple of others rush over to help him, but – when I try to do the same – I feel a hand holding me back, and I turn to see that Joseph is restraining me.
“Let them check him out first,” he says softly. “It looks like he's quite badly hurt, but I'm sure he'll be fine. Evidently he took great risks in his effort to protect you.”
“I never asked him to do that!”
“Of course you didn't,” he replies, and then he strokes my shoulder. “Of course not.”
“I only met him today!”
“Ouch,” he mutters with a smile. “I wouldn't let him hear you say that.”
“But it's true!”
“She only met us all today,” Joseph announces loudly to the crowd. “Such a change from before, isn't it? The great Annie remembers nothing of the old times at the facility.”
A murmur of discontent ripples through the crowd. Turning, I see faces staring back at me with scowls and disgust, sometimes just disappointment. I still don't understand what all these people want, yet they obviously want something and I seem to be the focus of all their attention. As they continue to look at me, I can't help realizing that there's no way they can all be wrong.
Turning to Joseph, I want to ask him a million questions, but at the same time I'm not entirely sure that I trust him to give me honest answers. He seems to be enjoying this far too much.
Pulling away, I hurry over to where several people are helping Adam up. His Moolio's uniform is torn, and there's blood on his arms and face, and I stop as soon as I see that somebody's examining his left leg. It's clear that he's in a lot of pain, and I hate the idea that this is all because of me. I still don't understand what's happening, but people are getting hurt and I don't want to be the cause of any of that.
“Everybody!” Joseph announces. “It's time to get back undercover! The facility will be sending search groups out again shortly, and we can't rely on them not coming this way. Everybody, hurry, into the caves. We'll be safe there.”
Slowly, the crowd begins to disperse, and I watch as Adam is carried after them. Soon I'm left standing all alone with Joseph.
“Everything will be okay,” he tells me. “We'll just have to make some adjustments, that's all. It's not your fault that you're like this.”
“I don't even -”
“But let me make one thing clear,” he adds, stepping closer. His tone has changed, and now that we're alone he seems more angry. “If it comes down to protecting you or protecting these people, I won't hesitate to make the right choice. This isn't about one person anymore, Annie. It's about the survival of us all. Now follow me, before it's too late.”
With that, he turns and walks after the others. A moment later, hearing the sound of engines in the distance, I set off after him.
Chapter Thirty-One
“What is this place?” I whisper, as I make my way along a tunnel just a short way in from the entrance to the caves. “I never knew there was anything like this in Middlewych.”
“We're not in Middlewych,” a man says nearby. “Technically, we're just outside the town. That's why they don't really have any jurisdiction here.”
Turning to him, I see him staring at me with large, angry eyes. His face is illuminated by the glow from a nearby flashlight, and I can't shake the feeling that he seems to think this is somehow my fault.
“Do you really not remember?” he asks, as I become aware of others gathering to listen to our conversation. “Some people think this is some kind of trick. Is that what's going on, Annie Mackenzie? Do you actually have a plan?”
“I don't know what -”
“It's your fault that we're out here like this,” a woman says, stepping toward me. “You can't just come up with an idea, beg us all to follow you, and then suddenly claim you've got amnesia! That's not fair! People have died because they trust you! Go
od people! Now you need to follow through!”
“I'm sorry,” I reply, “but -”
“So what's it going to be?” another woman asks, shoving me hard from behind. Turning to her, I see the desperation in her face. “What are you going to do to save us? You had so many big ideas and big words back in the facility, but that was a long time ago now! We've been waiting for you! We trusted in you! When Joseph suggested we should have a back-up plan, we stuck by you! Please, tell us you're not going to let us down!”
“I -”
“Okay,” a voice says, and suddenly Manny stops next to me, “back away. I need to talk to Annie, without a load of people trying to listen into to our conversation!”
***
“So you really don't remember anything, huh?” he asks a few minutes later, as we walk along an empty tunnel. “The amnesia seems to be sticking. I was worried it might be permanent, and I think maybe I was right.”
“What am I supposed to remember?” I reply, trying but failing to hide my sense of desperation. “I feel like there are all these memories trapped somewhere in my head, but I don't know how to access them!”
“I suppose I should start by apologizing for last time we met,” he says. “Like a lot of us, I kind of went a little wild when I first got out of the facility. I'm sorry for chasing you behind those trash contraptions a few months ago. When Adam stopped me and calmed me down, I can't tell you how embarrassed I felt.”
“I don't know what you -”
Before I can finish, I suddenly remember crawling behind the dumpsters in the Moolio's parking lot. I was terrified, I thought I was going to die, and a moment later I realize that there was a bear trying to get to me. Like, an actual, real bear was attacking the dumpsters, and then I think a wolf turned up. How could I have forgotten something like that? The whole thing feels totally unreal, but at the same time I'm pretty sure that it actually happened.
“Yeah,” Manny adds, “that was me. The bear. I know, hard to believe when I'm so gangly and skinny in my human form. What can I say? I can get pretty un-bear-able.”