Oblivion

by Adrianne Lemke

  “It will be fine,” Lena assured me.

  I shot her a thankful smile and climbed out of the vehicle. For a moment I couldn’t bring myself to move. The house was the next obstacle in rediscovering who I was. Inside was a person who could be as familiar to me as my brother. The idea of another emotional reaction like I’d had at the facility was frightening.

  “Do what you did back at the facility,” Lena suggested, apparently noting my hesitation. “You recognized your brother’s steps, now see if there are others here you find familiar.”

  To make it easier to sort through the multiple echoes and fresh vibrations I could already feel, I dropped to my knees and rested my hands on the grassy yard. I could pinpoint the quick steps of the FBI agent, the light and smooth stride from the killer in our midst, and several others that seemed as if I should know them without a second thought.

  “Hannah, Detective, you are both a big part of my past, aren’t you?”

  They nodded, and I felt the pounding of their hearts through the soil of the yard. A constant pounding in my head I could not ignore. The two women so badly wanted me to remember them.

  “I’m sorry. All I can tell is your patterns seem less strange than others. It is not the way I felt with Sam’s footsteps…” I trailed off, suddenly recognizing another person approaching.

  “Jason!” The teenager’s voice was both excited and wary as he hesitantly made his way toward me.

  In an attempt to pull any amount of recognition from the movements I remained on the ground. “You… I should know you…”

  He nodded, unshed tears shining in his eyes. “You’re my brother in all but blood… you and Sam. We’ve been separated for a while. Even without your memories, it’s good to see you. I missed you so much, brother.”

  An uncomfortable smile crossed my face, and I felt relieved when the boy didn’t attempt to come closer. From his words and the faster-than-normal heartbeat, I could tell he wanted to.

  “We should go inside,” Agent Jones suggested, breaking the quiet standoff.

  As we made our way to the comfortable living room, the agent brought the teenager up to speed on what was going on.

  “Oh,” he suddenly turned toward me, “I just realized… my name is Paul.”

  I nodded. “Nice to re-meet you, Paul. Hopefully I’ll remember you properly soon.”

  “Now that that’s out of the way, we need to figure out how to get Sammy back,” Paul urged.

  “What was your plan for getting me out?” I asked, noting the familiar way he spoke about my brother. “I know you were there while I was making my escape, and I assume it was to get me.”

  “Yeah. We had planned on Jeremiah sneaking himself and one of us into the building unseen, and convincing you to come with us. The plan was contingent on you trusting that we would be a better option than staying with the people who held you prisoner,” Agent Jones answered.

  “Not a problem with Sam, so it should be easy enough,” Hannah added.

  Jeremiah shook his head. “While that could work, we should also have a secondary plan in place. Jason, you should be ready to cause a diversion on the opposite side of the building, and Lena can help prevent anyone from getting too close to you.”

  “Not certain you can pull off the ghost act, huh?” I asked in a snarky tone.

  “Ghost… interesting that you should call me that,” Jeremiah mused.

  I narrowed my eyes and frowned. “Why interesting? It’s pretty much what you do, right?”

  “It is, but you are the only one I am aware of who used to call me the Ghost. It’s what you called me when you first discovered what I could do.

  It’s interesting because I believe at least some of your memories are attempting to return. You simply have no context for the information you are receiving.”

  Interesting. Good word, I guess. So it remained possible—even likely—that I would be able to retrieve my memories.

  “Do I want to remember?”

  Hannah’s eyes widened in alarm at my quietly asked question.

  “I don’t mean I don’t want to remember all of you…” I paused. “It’s just that… I saw… there are so many scars,” I finally blurted. “Someone obviously tried to kill me, multiple times by the looks of it. Do I want to remember that kind of trauma?”

  Hannah grabbed my hand, squeezing it supportively. “You need to remember. You need to, because everything you went through made you who you are. It is important to remember that you were strong enough to survive, and that you kept your morality and humanity through everything.”

  Surprisingly, everyone in the room nodded. Not one of them believed I would be better off if I couldn’t remember.

  “Sam thought I shouldn’t. At least a part of him did,” I answered them softly.

  I sat on the couch, my head in my hands.

  A few moments passed before I felt a soft pair of hands grasp mine and pull them from my face.

  “Sam wants what’s best for you,” Hannah insisted. “He loves you, and thought you would be better off not having to relive the horrors you’ve faced. If he’d had control of his power at the time, I don’t believe he would have done the same.”

  “We have to get him back. I don’t know what they’ll do to him,” I insisted.

  “We will. But we need to do it in such a way that it doesn’t put anyone else in jeopardy,” the detective promised.

  “Ok. I’ll trust you. Now let’s go get my brother back.”

  THIRTY-NINE

  Jeremiah

  It would be so simple to betray them. To take their rescue plan and turn it on its side so they would definitely fail. Kindred wouldn’t hesitate. And I was beginning to feel the temptation to let him do as he wanted.

  Jason’s continued animosity was becoming more difficult to deal with, and it was making me angry. So much of what I’d done over the last few years was for him. I had bettered myself—and even pushed a part of myself away—in an attempt to be worthy of his friendship. Part of me wondered if he would act the same toward me if he remembered what I’d done. Another part didn’t care to give him the chance.

  There was one last opportunity to help him learn to trust me: rescue Sam. The bigger part of me still wanted to make the effort.

  A successful retrieval of his brother might help the other man believe I was truly attempting to change, despite my actions as I escaped. The thought helped me push Kindred away once more. The action of shoving the alter-ego to the back of my mind was more challenging than it had been even a few hours earlier.

  Something was happening to me, and it had happened once before. Before it had been due to pain… endless torment. Now it was sneaking up on me. Talking to me and making me disappear a little at a time. It also made me wonder how much was myself losing ground to Kindred, and how much was the Mastermind whispering in his ear. Part of me wanted to grasp the power he promised.

  For the first time, I wished Sam would help in some way. That he would push whatever emotional buttons were necessary to strengthen Jeremiah, and help me to keep Kindred at bay.

  “You okay, Jeremiah?”

  Strangely it was the new girl, Lena, who asked the question.

  “I am well. Why do you ask?” I questioned calmly.

  She gazed at me serenely. “You aren’t fine.”

  Her calm look switched to one of curiosity. “What is happening? There’s something… something off, but I can’t get a good read…”

  “Stay out of my head!” I snapped. “I said I am fine, and you have no right to dig.”

  Jason eyed me warily at my outburst, and took a step closer as if to protect his new friend from me. He trusted her so easily in such a short time. What could I do to earn the same trust?

  My glare faded and I took a step back. Fighting his friend would not help my case. “Forgive my outburst. I am not fond of having my head messed with.”

  She nodded, and Jason seemed to relax. I heard a quiet thud on the table behind me but only sa
w a small amount of dirt when I turned toward the sound.

  “I can understand that,” Lena answered. “I apologize for intruding.”

  Outwardly accepting her apology I forced myself to think over the current problem. The plan to get Sam was… well, not very good. Could it work? Sure—if we were very lucky and if I could tap into my stronger abilities without allowing Kindred out to play.

  If he came out, and they had no warning, he could destroy each of them with minimal effort. The dark part of me smiled coldly at the thought.

  Perhaps it wouldn’t be difficult to tap into my full abilities, but would I be willing to allow the darkness back in to do it? Was rescuing the Tracker’s brother worth the risk of once again losing myself to what my cousin had done to me? This time, I would have no one to blame but myself. If I allowed the killer in me to once again have free reign, it would be on me. I had a choice to make.

  “What are you thinking?” Jason asked suddenly, his head tilted slightly and eyes narrowed. He crossed his arms over his chest while he waited for my response.

  Eyeing him critically, I wondered if he would be up to the challenge of using his newly remembered powers to pull off the distraction necessary for myself and the detective to sneak in and grab Sam. As if sensing my doubt, he smirked and pointed behind me.

  When I turned to look, the tiny pile of dirt I had noticed earlier was floating in the air. As I watched, it gathered together into a hardened projectile.

  “Dirt bullets. An interesting addition to your abilities. I believe that is a new use,” I told him.

  He shrugged. “Wouldn’t know. What I do know is I can throw this with enough force to punch a hole in a wall.”

  “Ok, you’re good on stealth. Can you handle a large distraction?”

  His confident look wavered. “Not sure. I’ve only used it once, and I honestly don’t know how I did it.”

  “You’ll be fine, Jason. Once you’re out there and are tapping into your ability to read the footsteps, you’ll have an open doorway into the rest of your power,” Hannah assured him.

  “You can’t know that,” Lena argued mildly. “The power to read footsteps and the power to cause earthquakes are not reached in the same way.”

  Everyone turned their attention to the girl and she shifted slightly. “Reading footprints comes automatically to him, as does feeling the heartbeats and breathing of those around him.”

  She paused and Jason nodded. “That seems right. I don’t have to concentrate to know Paul’s heartbeat is elevated, Jeremiah keeps fluctuating between fast and slow, and every time the detective and Agent Jones’ eyes meet their heart rates go up.”

  He put his finger on his lip thoughtfully; a small smile crossed his face. “It’s actually rather adorable how much the two of you care for each other.”

  The two cops looked away, a slight blush on each of their cheeks at having their feelings put in the open.

  I smirked at his omission of how Hannah’s heart rate must feel each time she looked in his direction. Her devotion to the man was obvious, but he wasn’t ready to admit it.

  “Sorry, Lena. If you want, you can continue,” Jason waved a hand in her direction.

  “Ok, so the tracking is automatic. His destructive power is more of an instinctual thing. It can be tapped into on purpose, but quite often it responds almost automatically when he perceives a threat.”

  “Like it did at the facility,” Jason mused.

  “Sensing me as the threat,” I added. “Forgive me, Jason. I had no idea it would affect you so badly. If it is any consolation, at the time I saw no other way out. The guards were heavily armed and unlikely to simply allow me to leave.”

  Hannah stared at Lena. “You met Jason what… about a day ago? How do you know so much about how his powers work?”

  Lena tapped her fingers on her leg, her gaze bouncing around the room but not landing on anything.

  “Relax, Lena,” Jason said. “It’s okay.”

  Her eyes locked onto his, and he grabbed her hand before speaking again. “Lena was in my head. She went in to help me fortify against the Puppet Master. Without her, he might have won.”

  “And being in there gave you that much insight? So why doesn’t Jason know how to access his ability if he knows already how it works?” the lady detective wondered.

  “He can’t access the part of his mind I was able to see. I couldn’t see all of it, but there is a scar in his mind. It is blocking everything he needs to know about himself. I attempted to push past it, and was able to figure out a few things,” the girl answered defensively.

  Jason gave a sad half-smile. “So now, even someone I just met knows more about me than me.”

  She turned to him, holding his hand tightly. “I was going to share everything I found. So much happened so quickly, I haven’t found the chance to yet.”

  “Very well,” I broke in. “Lena, you must work with Jason so he can relearn how to use his power. Try to do it quickly. We may only have a narrow window in which to get Sam.”

  FORTY

  Sam

  It surprised me how quickly I grew bored with captivity this time. With Hunter there had been a longer period of fear. Now, I was just annoyed. The Mastermind prevented me from messing with the minds of the people he controlled, but I could still access the Doctor and the Boss. They had to be the key to escaping this particular prison.

  My thoughts drifted toward Jason, and I knew he was growing more frantic by the moment. Apparently, something had happened, and being in the dark was driving me insane.

  What would cause my amnesiac brother to be so worried? He didn’t know any of us well enough to feel that level of concern. Even the knowledge that I am his brother didn’t raise his emotional level this way, so what was it?

  Pushing past the strong waves of Jason’s distress, I felt for our other friends. Alice and Mark had a quick burst of embarrassment followed by loving acceptance. They weren’t fooling any of us at this point. Why they continued the charade was anyone’s guess.

  Hannah was hurting. I could deduce that Jason was the cause. His trust in the new girl had to hurt. Despite everything they’d been through, Hannah was on the outside. Somehow, Lena had gained the inside track with Jason, and there was nothing Hannah could do to stop it.

  Lena was a bit hard to read. She was secretive, but I sensed no malice. There was definitely something she wasn’t telling Jason, but since I could only read her emotions, and not her thoughts, trying to figure it out was a dead end.

  The door creaked open, and I forced my thoughts back to my current predicament.

  “You need to stop reaching out, Sam,” the Doctor scolded.

  I smirked. “Right; like you wouldn’t try to reach out if you were being held against your will. Nice try, doc.”

  He moved around the room without responding, and I tried to sit up to see what he was doing. The restraints stopped me, and I pushed my anger toward the Doctor.

  A loud yell of pain suddenly escaped my throat as agony ripped through my skull. The sharp pain lasted only a few moments, but left me weak and shaky. Sweat gathered on my forehead and I stared at the Doctor in shock.

  “Wha…? what was that?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Apparently, you were attempting to harm me. Thankfully, I have a friend looking out for me.”

  Some sort of reverberation? I send my power at my enemy, and they make it bounce back to me, only ten times worse?

  “I wouldn’t recommend doing that again.” His mild tone held a note of warning.

  To test the beginning of my theory, I pushed toward Jason. I chose to adjust his confidence level, because I knew he needed all the help he could get while figuring out his life without memories.

  There was no violent reaction. No pain.

  “He only wants me using my powers on my friends?” I asked.

  It seemed like a risk. The Mastermind knew I could help them find him, so why allow me access?

  “He is allowing yo
u to at the moment, yes. But don’t expect his generosity to last. He has very specific plans for you, and I wouldn’t push him.”

  His fear was obvious. As was his idol worship.

  “He’s not a god, you know,” I stated. “None of us are. We’re just random people who somehow ended up with special abilities.”

  A gentle nudge at his belief went either unnoticed, or the Mastermind was simply not concerned. His follower was obviously brainwashed into thinking he could do no wrong.

  “I have been granted the opportunity to study you, and figure out if your abilities can benefit humanity. Surely you can understand that?”

  I instilled a hint of doubt at the middle of his trust. If I could push the Doctor into turning against the Mastermind, it might be possible to convince him to help me escape.

  “Sure, I get the motivation,” I answered. “What I don’t understand is how you plan to achieve your goals while holding us against our will.”

  The seed of doubt began to grow, and I began to glimpse some hope that my plan could work.

  To help the growth I continued, “Don’t you think it would be better to study your subjects if they participated willingly? I think you would stand more of a chance of succeeding in your goals without having to struggle against those you’re trying to study.”

  A sharp knock on the door broke the spell, and the Doctor blinked.

  “You found a hole in our defenses, didn’t you?” His wonder was obvious. “You are an impressive specimen.”

  “He’s not infallible. None of us are,” I answered. “Keep believing it and you will lose. Just like Hunter. I’ll find a way to get to you too.”

  I kept my eyes trained on him and was pleased to sense his mild trepidation blossom into a more healthy fear.

  He slowly backed toward the door, and accepted a small item.

  “You’re proving to be more manipulative than I imagined,” he told me. “It’s time to return the favor.” He approached me, and held up a filled syringe.

  I could feel myself pushing back against the bed in an attempt to get away. “What is that?”