Gemi reached for her folder and flung it open. It seemed to be a personnel file, a weird thing to want to hide. Inside were several documents outlining her various training. Apparently she was the head technicians for the chips. She had studied maintenance and research on strength levels.
She really was orphaned, becoming a warden of the state when she was fifteen and eventually joining the military department.
Nothing medical to worry about, at least there wasn’t before the testing.
Gemi leaned back in the chair. What was the point of hiding her file? She was about to pack it in and call it a failed mission when she noticed a pocket in the back of the folder with a small bulge. She reached inside and retrieved a piece of paper that had been folded into a tiny square. Gemi flattened it against the desk and slid the lamp closer to get a better look at the now distorted writing.
The paper seemed like it belonged with her other medical documents indicating that she was an organ donor and had a DNR. Good thing her death wasn’t real. At the bottom was an area for her beneficiary. Her mouth hung open and she pulled the paper closer making sure she hadn’t misread the name. Although faded, it was unmistakable.
Jaxton Granger Husband
Name Relationship
The sound of footsteps forced her eyes away from the form. She quickly put the folders back together and threw them back in the drawer and closed it. There was no way she would get out without being seen. Gemi shoved the paper into her shirt pocket and fell to the ground, trying to find the best position that would look accidental.
The door opened and the footsteps halted. “Who’s in here?”
Gemi let out a soft moan from where she lay on the floor. The footsteps followed the sound and stopped just short of her head.
“Oh my, Gemi?” it was Jade. She bent down and brushed the hair out of her face.
“Mmm,” Gemi played it up.
“Can you hear me?” Jade asked.
“Jade?” Gemi fluttered her eyes open and rolled onto her back.
“What are you doing in here?” Jade asked as she took her pulse.
“I… I was coming here to apologize for being so rude. I sat down in your chair and that’s the last thing I remember.”
“How are you feeling now?” Jade took a light pen from her shirt pocket and checked Gemi’s eyes.
Gemi brought her hand to her forehead and let the fake pain wash over her face. She was mindful not to go too far as to arouse suspicion and tip on the side of mellow drama.
“I am feeling better. I’m sure I will be back to normal come tomorrow.”
“Ok.” Jade raised an eyebrow at her as she extended her hand and helped Gemi to her feet where she swayed as if off balance. “Let me help you to your room.”
Gemi leaned hard on Jade as they proceeded down the corridor to her hospital room. Gemi made note that this time the doors that lined the halls were propped open and the sound of movement inside floated out into the hall.
“Are the others still down here?” Gemi asked, letting her voice crack slightly.
“Yes, for one more night. We may have to keep you a bit longer if you keep having these episodes.”
Gemi swung her legs on the bed and lay back exhausted. She was starting to believe that if acting was a big as it was in the old days, she would have been a hit.
Jade paused at the threshold of the door and gave her one more wavering look before switching off the lights and shutting the door behind her.
Once Gemi was sure Jade would not return, she reached in to her pocket and pulled out the now crumpled piece of paper. In the dim light flowing out from the bathroom, she stared at the writing double-checking that it said what she thought it had.
There in black and white was the word husband next to Jaxton’s name. Gemi’s head began to throb. What were these people playing at? Either they had lied earlier, or this was planted to further mess with her fragile mind. But then why hide it?
Gemi folded up the paper and put it back in her pocket, not trusting to keep it anywhere else. Her eyes felt heavy, she needed to figure this out, unlock her life before all of this. Without even realizing it, Gemi had slept into a deep slumber.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Run,” Jaxton whispered, his face inches from hers. They were crouched behind the master control for the chips. Gemi had never seen him so frightened. He reached out and grasped the back of her neck, bringing his forehead to rest on hers. “You need to get out. You’re the only one who will know how to fix this. No one knows the system like you do.”
“I don’t want to leave you,” she pleaded, feeling the hot tears slide down her face. Their plan had backfired; the others had caught on before she had unleashed it.
Jaxton gave her one hard kiss on the mouth and then pushed her away, bringing his pistol up in the ready position and stood up from their hiding place.
His face glowed eerily in the red flashing light from the building’s security system.
“Drop your weapon!” a voice screamed at him from the hall.
With clenched fists Gemi turned away from his beautiful face and crept along the back of the control system to the wall. She was out of the line of sight from the others, but still able to see Jaxton who now held his gun poised and ready.
With shaking fingers Gemi placed her hand on the panel of metal she knew housed the hidden keypad. It popped open with a click that was audible to only her and revealed a set of numbers.
“I said put the gun down Granger! We don’t want to hurt you,”
“Go to hell,” he called back and fired a shot in their direction.
Chaos erupted then, bullets firing in both directions. Jaxton ducted back behind the panel and the firing stopped. They wouldn’t dare shoot at that, no way they would risk damaging the main control for the world’s chips. If they had it would have made their mission easier.
Jaxton mouthed the word “go” at her and stood back up. They were running out of time.
Gemi punched in 0523 and the hidden door sprung open. She quickly crawled inside. The last thing she saw before the door swung shut was Jaxton falling to the ground, a large dart sticking out of his chest.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Gemi opened her eyes to the bright white light. The lights must have a timer to turn on like the sun would since there were no windows. Her neck ached as she unraveled herself from the ball she had her body pulled into. She must have slept like a rock.
A tray of food had been placed on the nightstand next to her bed. A sad looking bowl of white mush and a tall glass of brown liquid sat in the center. Next to it was a small cup of pills.
“Yeah, ok.” Gemi mumbled to herself. There was no way she was taking any kind of drug in this place.
Fear gripped her chest as the realization that someone was in her room while she was in some kind of zombie sleep. She reached for her pocket and felt relief flood over her when she felt the crunch of paper under her hand.
Gemi flopped back down on the bed. Her dream must have been a memory of her real life, but out of context it made no sense. Who had they been hiding from and what as their end game? She wished she could talk it over with Jaxton, but it seemed she was the only one who was regaining memories.
They were to integrate back into their lives starting tomorrow. If she was to have any chance to talk with him and see if her could remember anything it would have to be now.
Gemi slipped out of her room and into the hall. The rooms were now all closed. Everyone was still probably asleep, or maybe she slept through half of the day. With no clocks in her room, who would know down there.
Gemi stood staring at the closed doors realizing she had no idea who resided in which room. There was no way she wanted to walk willingly into Kai’s room. Or Sann for that matter, he would want to get her back. The only thing that differentiated the rooms was the two numbers written on an erasable board next to them.
She padded down the line of doors, all of which were quiet inside. 72, 38, 23
, 29, and 87. Gemi stepped back and stared at them again. They had to mean something, but her brain shrouded the memory. She turned and looked at her door. The number 05 was staring back at her.
0523 flashed through her head. It had been a code for some hidden door in her dream. Gemi walked to the door that had twenty-three next to it and gently pushed open the door.
Inside Jaxton was still in bed. His features were relaxed and soft, undoubtedly resting peacefully. She was about to shatter that.
She closed the door lightly behind her and crept to his bed, her bare feet slapping on the stone floor. Gemi slid into bed beside him. He really was beautiful. She slid a hand through his hair meaning to wake him up nicely.
Once her hand met his head, a jolt of electricity pulsed through her.
“Doctor Askel ran the blood work twice. Congratulations Mr. Granger, you’re going to be a father.”
Jaxton beamed back at her laying a hand on her stomach.
Gemi ripped her hand away from his head. He stirred in his sleep, his eyes fluttering open and then going wide when he saw her hovering above him.
“What are you doing here?” his sleepy voice bounced off of the walls of the room.
“Shh,” she snapped back. “I need to talk to you.”
“Now?”
“No later, I’m just here to formally invite you. Yes now.”
He pushed himself to a seated position and rubbed his hands on his face and through his hair.
“We probably don’t have much time until the others wake up.”
“And that’s a problem?” he asked reaching for the breakfast that was laid out on his table as well. His tray was void of pills.
“For now it is. Look can you remember anything before the life we just lived? Anything from the other tests or before all of this?”
“How did you know what room I was in?” he asked between bites of the mush.
“I just did. Now answer my question.”
“No. All I can remember is the life we lived out there.”
Gemi nodded her head. She sat there quietly as he finished his breakfast. The folded paper felt like it was burning a hole in her chest.
“Can I ask you something else?” she said as he placed his empty dishes back on the tray. “You and Kai… are you…”
“What? No!”
“I saw you two together last night is all.”
“She was telling me that Jade told her about our supposed marriage a few days earlier during one of her checkups. We argued about it. It was stupid.”
Jaxton reached out to grab her hand, but pulled it back midair and placed it back in his lap.
“I don’t know what to think, but I’m hoping that when, if my memories come back I will be able to answer all the questions I have. Something feels off here though. I sensed it the moment I opened my eyes in this room.”
“I think something is wrong,” Gemi dropped her voice to a whisper. “They are keeping things from us and lying about others.”
“What do you know?” his voice instinctively dropped to match hers.
Gemi’s hand hovered over her pocket where piece of paper with a little truth lay nestled. Her teeth bit into her lip. He could easily not believe a word she said; chalk it up to jealousy or plain madness.
“What is it?” he asked again, the familiar aggravated tone entering his voice. It made her smile despite herself. At least some things hadn’t changed.
Gemi pulled out the piece of paper and unfolded it. With one long exhale she placed it in his lap. He stared silently at it for what seemed like an eternity.
“Are you saying they are lying to us about who we really are?”
“I’m not saying that, but that piece of paper sure as hell is.”
“Why would they lie to us?”
“I’m not sure. I had a dream last night. We were in the mainframe room and were trying to fight our way out. Something happened before we were put into that test. I think they were using it to make us forget.”
“Why not just kill us?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
Jaxton folded the paper back up and placed it in her hand.
“Do they know you have that?”
“No. I snuck into Jade’s office last night and found it. When she came in and caught me in there I pretended I had seizure.”
“Why on earth would you pretend that?”
“Because I saw it on the possible side effects. Seemed easy enough.” She lied.
His brows wrinkled.
“Are you ok?” his hands clenched into fists, his knuckles going white as he fought against reaching out to her. It was obvious he didn’t know which truth to believe.
“I’m fine.” Gemi pushed off the bed and walked to the door. “I’m in room 05 in case you need to find me. If you do remember anything, don’t tell them.” She slid through the door and crossed the hallway to her room.
There had to be more clues that would set her on the path to finding the truth. Gemi moved into the bathroom and undressed to jump into the shower. She stared at her reflection in the mirror letting her hands slide down to her stomach, turning left then right to look at her profile. Her stomach was flat, not a bulge in sight. Her mind reeled, who’s to say she was ever pregnant, but if she had been what happened to the baby?
Steam from the hot water built until it hung around her in clouds. Gemi leaned her head against the wall letting the water cascade down her back. She needed to put the rest of the puzzle pieces together. The secret passage way may contain her answers, but she would need to get there unnoticed and she couldn’t remember what floor it was on.
Gemi opened her eyes and was shocked to find she was no longer looking at the title wall, but a dark passageway. Gemi blinked hard, rubbing the water from her eyes, but the same passage remained. It was almost as if the wall had become transparent and was showing through to another room.
She raised a shaky hand and pressed it to where her head had been resting. To her surprise her hand pushed right through and hung in the air. With a deep steadying breath she stepped out of the warm water and into the dark corridor.
The wall vanished behind her and she was now clothed in brown camo pants and a t-shirt not unlike the one she saw herself wearing in one of her visions. Gunfire echoed from somewhere on the other side of the wall making her jump.
With only one way to go now that the wall miraculously disappeared, she began walking, gunfire fading the farther she went.
The path was almost completely blacked out, lined only with a small trail of blue florescent lights. Gemi stretched out a hand and slid it along the wall as she walked to help steady herself.
All at once Gemi found herself running into something hard in her path, completely blocking it off. Her hands traced the outline, finally finding a handle. Mentally crossing her fingers, she turned it and was relieved to find it wasn’t locked.
Gemi stepped into the room and squinted as bright light blinded her. She closed the door behind her and as her eyes readjusted to light, found that she was standing in the middle of a small office.
There were two desks that sat on either side of the room facing the middle. Papers were strewn all over the floor as well as the contents she had assumed adorned the tops of the desks. The blinding light came from a desk lamp that had been knocked over and was pointed at her like a spotlight.
Gemi crossed the room to the lamp and set it back upright on the desk. Her eyes caught the title of one of the now empty folders, Gemi’s fingers brushed across the name. Doctor Dagmar.
“Looking for something?”
The sound of someone speaking behind her made her jump, Gemi whirled around to see Doctor Dagmar sitting in a chair by the door. She completely missed his presence when she first entered.
“Um, no. What are you doing down here?”
“Don’t you mean how did I get in here? I’ll admit, your secret code took a minute to crack. Thankfully the new cameras we installed when you kept disappearing was abl
e to catch you putting it. Smart girl using the last part yours and Jaxton’s identification numbers, we never would have thought about that.”
“This isn’t what you think.” Gemi took a step back and towards the back wall.
“Don’t think that I didn’t find your little exit. There are two armed men outside so I wouldn’t try anything. It explains how you were able to keep exiting to have your little meetings. No doubt planning the shutdown of our whole project.”
“You’ve gone too far.”
Doctor Dagmar smiled at her. “Did you really think I would let you get away with this? Your two little cohorts were already taken care of. They had a tragic car accident this morning, didn’t make it.”
“People will find out what you have been doing. You have been systematically turning up the chips for years rendering the population incapable of functioning normally. You’re turning them into sheep.”
“Oh sweetie, no one will figure it out. The only reason you did was that little unapproved diagnostic you ran on the program.”
“If you kill us people will notice.”
“Do you really think I’m that stupid?” Doctor Dagmar knocked on the door and instantly it swung open, two armed men entering. “Don’t worry, I plan on shredding all of this,” he motioned to the papers on the ground. “Lucky for me, you won’t remember any of this.”
A sharp pain lanced through Gemi’s shoulder. It only took a few seconds for her to feel the tranquilizer spreading through her body.
***
Gemi opened her eyes and found that she was standing back in the shower, the water now running cold. She cranked up the heat and ran her hands over her face. That was the night they were put into the test, she could remember it clearly now. It felt disjointed to remember only one thing about her real life. At least she knew why they tried to erase their memories and why she hadn’t trusted them since she woke back up.
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