Delusional Page 27

  “I love you,” I heard him whisper those three iconic words in between breaths. He kissed me again, but with more force this time. “None of them matter.”

  My only response to this was to kiss him back even harder. I could feel the energy rushing through me, there was a certain sensation that made my bones feel light and my heart heavy. With every second I wanted more, but my lips couldn’t get enough. My hands couldn’t grab enough, I needed more of him.

  We kissed for what felt like hours, and by the end I was never quite satisfied. In the moment, I was lost in the lust and wished it could last forever. In the moment, I found my sweet escape, and just with the touch of his lips, motions of his hand, and movement of his tongue I found myself on another world.

  But every feeling is eventually broken.

  Chapter 22

  The morning was getting off to a particularly crappy start.

  I walked through the row of columns that divided the eating area from the entrance to the lobby, and finally the source of commotion that woke me up out of bed became clear. There was Danielle smiling and patting her hands together grandiosely at the center of the crowd. The morning rays of sunshine highlighted her hair beautifully and magnified the wicked smile across her face.

  Suddenly, the clapping stopped altogether—as if on cue—and Danielle narrowed her eyes contemptuously.

  “Today,” She let her voice reverberate around for a few seconds in the shell created by the ceiling. “Is a very happy day to be a Retributioner!”

  “Today, marks a new chapter in the fight for freedom, for the fight of justice, for the one and only fight!” Her jubilant voice boomed off the walls and bounced around in my brain, causing a screeching noise to hiss in my ears. “This morning, just a few hours ago, I released the official video of both Natalie and Ethan recounting the horrors they endured in the Teton Laboratory.” She paused, and I was disgusted by the genuine sorrow that she expressed in her voice, pretending like she actually cared what happened to us. “In this recording, they in detail describe the horrors that President Ash personally inflicted upon them, and the emotional trauma they have had to experience throughout their lives because of what President Ash has done to them and to thousands of other people.

  “This recording is invaluable to our cause, and so far in just the few hours it’s been out on the internet it has received millions of views and brought worldwide attention to our cause! Their personal account of what happened to them truly gives anyone who sees it a glimpse into the true evil of President Ash.

  “Now before I show the video to all of you,” She glanced at us and I could see her smile at the terror in my eyes. “I would like to personally thank both Ethan and Natalie for sharing their truly touching first-hand accounts of what happened to them. I can’t imagine how hard it was for both of you to recount and verbalize those traumatizing memories, and I can’t thank you enough for being so gracious and willing to allow us to have a glimpse into some of your most vulnerable moments. Now, I think we should all really express our utmost gratitude to the two true heroes of the Retributioners!”

  I looked at Ethan, and the visible expression of outrage across his face and fists that were balled up and shaking with her every word.

  I wanted to say something, I wanted to scream out and tell everyone that she was lying, but the thunderous roar of the applause had a silencing effect on my mouth, causing me to feel helpless and alone.

  “Don’t listen to her!” Ethan hollered at the top of his lungs, but the people had their heads to far shoved up their asses to listen. “She’s lying! She’s lying!”

  He jumped up and down, trying to get the people to pay attention, but they had already turned to the other side of the room where Danielle was beginning to project a holograph of the video.

  Oh no, oh no. I tried to close my eyes, but my curiosity had gotten the best of me, I had to see it. The clapping slowly dissipated, and the whole room grew silent as the video on the holograph began to play. It appeared as if Danielle shot the footage from her ICL while we were in the conference room yesterday. The camera was zoomed in on both our faces, and the lighting behind us was changed to look much more dark and ominous.

  “So, tell me,” the recording began with Danielle speaking in a sweet tone, “What happened while you were in the Teton Laboratory? What did President Ash do to you?”

  The video focused in on us and the seer looks of pain across our faces. I even heard an audible cry come from my mouth. The outrage billowed from inside me. I watched as Ethan’s mouth opened and began to state each word with his face visibly in agony.

  “We went…” The holograph of Ethan wiped the tears below his eyes and stuttered. “We went through hell.” He paused and began to sob uncontrollably into his arms.

  I could hear Danielle say from behind the camera, “I know, I know. It’s okay now, you’re safe now.”

  Ethan pounded his fist against the table, “But I still can’t get the visions out of my head! I still can’t shake away all the trauma! It won’t leave! It haunts me!”

  I stared up at the holograph in horror, an overwhelming feeling to throw up gurgled from deep inside me. She manipulated the video. She took our thoughts and memories and inserted them into the audio. A ringing sound started to pierce through my ear drums and rock the core of my brain. I couldn’t hear anything besides the pounding in my brain.

  I looked over at Ethan, who stared in a sort of hypnotic daze at the video, and back up at my face on the holograph that now had tears pouring out of its eyes. Even though she was careful to hide it, I could still tell that Danielle had animated much of the video. I could still tell that that thing crying on the holograph wasn’t the real me, but the things that it was saying were my thoughts, and the emotions that it was feeling were mine.

  Then, almost to my surprise, the indignation locked up inside me exploded. “Screw this!” I screamed venomously and dashed out of the front door of the lobby in a mad frenzy. I could feel the dozens of eyes, including Danielle’s turn toward me in shock, and even Ethan tried to pull me back.

  The front doors slid open as I stormed out of the room that was dead silent. In front of me stood a beautiful open field of yellowish green grass, with flowers and oak trees lining the paths that led to the multiple smaller buildings that surrounded the perimeter of the island. In the middle of the field there was a ginormous flag pole with the Retributioner flag swaying in the gentle breeze.

  I stumbled, sedated and out of touch with my environment, until I finally reached a bench beneath the shade of an oak tree.

  The second I sat down, I buried my head in my arms with no intention of pulling my head up anytime soon. But then a hand slid down my slumped back and a body sat down next to me.

  I looked up. “Ethan?” I was barely able to whimper the words, as my eyes desperately searched for his skin.

  “It’s not Ethan.” The deep voice startled me. I stared at his massive forehead and instantly knew who it was.

  “Justin,” I wiped the tears from my eyes, suddenly embarrassed, “What are you doing here?”

  “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” He paused. “I know that it can be tough… it’s something you will never get used to. I know how you feel.”

  “What people using you?”

  “Well yes, yes.” He stared at a two-story brick building on the other side of the island. “People are always going to try and do you wrong, but when that happens it’s always important to do what’s right.”

  “I hate it though,” The frustration continued to flow out of me, “I hate all of this.”

  “I know, but it will never stop.” He sighed. “Whether it’s Danielle, or President Ash, everyone always tries to do what they think is best for themselves, problem is they don’t care how it affects everyone else.”

  There was a long silence, where we both sat staring down at the dying grass before he finally said. “You know that I still want to help the both of you, right?”

/>   I glanced at him with a blank look across my face.

  “Yesterday, I think there was a misunderstanding. I’m not a humanoid.” He looked at me sincerely, trying to bridge the gap between us. “I’m just a normal guy, who wants to help you guys get your lives back, no matter what that b-,” He bit his tongue, “No matter what Danielle says.”

  I inhaled a breath of fresh air and sat up straight on the bench. “I don’t care if you’re a humanoid or not, we changed our minds. I’m willing to take the risk, both Ethan and I are, we need our memories back.” There was a new ferocity to my voice that I didn’t recognize, but I liked the new emotion that was beginning to take shape. I could feel it rumbling inside me, the lively sensation pumping through my veins.

  “Good, good, because I’m not about to lie to you, in order to successfully get your memories back it won’t be easy.” He paused. “I know how to get you to go with the Retributioners when they attack Area 51 in two weeks. It’s risky for the both of us, but I’m pretty confident that it will work.”

  “Well then what’s your plan?” My ears were finally beginning to perk up at the sounds of things.

  “Well, since there’s no way that we could ever convince Danielle to allow you to go with them to Area 51, we have no option, but to sneak the both of you onto one of the helicopters headed there.” I couldn’t quite make out the expression on his face. It wasn’t dull, but it wasn’t passionate either. The serious tone in his voice, and laser focused gleam in his eyes made me feel like I was somehow in the talks of a casual business deal with this guy rather than the fate of my own life. “The best way to do that would be for the both of you to go into the crates that they are transporting the robots in.”

  “Robots?”

  “Yes, robots. Danielle is bringing an army of over two-hundred X-2300 Power Series robots on three helicopters. She believes they will be able to kill people from the front line of battle, without needing to sacrifice Retributioner lives. The robots, though, will be able to indirectly help you guys get your memories back.” He smiled. “Danielle would never think of this, but when they are packing the robots to bring to other places they always put a seal of orange tape on the top to mark that the wooden crate is already full. All you guys need to do is poke a hole in an empty crate, so that you can breathe, and place a piece of orange tape on top of the crate.”

  “Wait but won’t the crate be too small for the both of us to fit in?” My brain wanted to reject the idea that anything might work out for us.

  “No, I mean it will be tight, but nothing that you guys can’t handle for a few minutes.” I can handle tight spaces, especially with Ethan. He cleared his throat. “After the crate gets packed into the helicopter and it takes off, you guys should just cut a hole through the wood, so you don’t have to be trapped in there for the long ride to Area 51. In fact,” I saw his eyes shift around, probably looking at his ICL. “In the weapons storage room, there’s a knife that can cut through any surface. Here I’ll just send you the code to get in,” He paused and motioned with his hand. “There sent it, with that code you guys should easily be able to access the storage room and take the knife labeled Plasma Slicer.”

  I looked at him shocked. “Wait, why did you just do that.” I saw the message notification flash across my eyes. “Can’t Danielle see what you send people?”

  “Eh,” He waved his hand, “Don’t worry about it, she never usually checks. It’s worth the risk anyways.”

  “You sure?” I narrowed my eyes at his strangely relaxed expression. He had so much to lose; he probably had family, lots of money, and an actual life.

  “Yes of course, seriously don’t worry about me I’ll be fine, and you will too.” There was a warm look in Justin’s eyes when he looked at me, that I couldn’t quite describe, but it brought me comfort. “Anyways, once the helicopter lands, along with about a fleet of about three dozen others, you and Ethan will obviously run out behind the line of robots, and Retributioner fighters. Since you guys can’t go in unarmed I would just grab a gun from the rack on the wall in the helicopter.” He paused his eyes shifting around once again. “There is going to be a lot of bullets, and blood, so when you go into the weapons storage room you should both also grab a bullet proof body suit.”

  “Woah,” I had never thought about the madness that would ensue if we decided to enter Area 51 again. I shivered. I could feel death’s gentle touch graze the back of my mind.

  “Like I said it won’t be easy, but you guys can make it.” He motioned with his hand again. “Alright I just sent you a map of the entire Area 51 compound. If you look at it your goal will be to get to the Sensitive Data Storage Room on the bottom floor of the compound. That’s where I believe your memories are most definitely stored. To get access to download your memories you will need this.” He dug into his suit jacket pocket and pulled out a small circular device. “This is one of only ten Universal Access Drives ever made. I would tell you how I got this, but it’s a long story… Regardless, if you plug this into the port on any computer you will instantly have admin access to all the files stored on it.” He handed it to me like it was some sort of sacred object.

  I held it with two hands, suddenly feeling as if I was holding an item more precious than a million diamond encrusted rolls of two-ply toilet paper. It was about the same size and weight as a flash drive except it had a circular base to it with a rectangle connector. “Wow.” I stared at Justin in awe.

  “Yeah I know. With this it should be easy to download the memories from the computer onto both your brains. And after you do that, your families will both be in the Psychiatric Wards that correspond with each of your last names.”

  “Family?” I looked at him in disbelief.

  “Yes, I swear. I know it,” There was a weird look on his face that I couldn’t quite interpret. “I know your mom is in there. Both your families, they are definitely alive in Area 51.”

  “And we can get them back?”

  “Yes, of course. The Universal Access Driver will work for the cells too. And then all you will have to do is get them out and bring them with you to the fire escape tunnel, where Danielle will have a convoy of helicopters located.”

  “And then what…”

  “That’s it.” He smiled. “I know it’s a lot, and just me saying it is much easier then actually doing it, but that’s it. That’s how you both get your lives back.” He paused. “That’s how you get your mother back.”

  “Wow,” I suddenly felt overwhelmed, but for once I was flooded with emotions of hope and excitement. “Thank you so much, for everything.” I stood up, the morning sun was finally beginning to break out from the clouds and shine down on the earth.

  “No problem, it’s really my pleasure.” He began to get up. “And if I was you I would go get Ethan and get the knife from the storage room as soon as possible, you don’t want someone else taking it.”

  “I definitely will.” I firmly shook his outstretched hand, suddenly feeling that our deal was closed except I had given him nothing in return. “Thanks again.”

  “Your welcome.” He smiled widely and looked me right in the eyes. His face had a familiar glow to it, and the air around him felt oddly comfortable, almost like family.

  We both parted our separate ways; him to a residential building on the opposite side of the small island from the main building, where I was headed. I exhaled, my thoughts about our conversation just starting to roll through my mind as the shock subsided before I stopped dead in my tracks.

  “Hey!” I called out to Justin who was walking at a brisk pace in the other direction.

  He turned around startled, as I started running towards him. “Why did you do it?”

  “Do what?” He narrowed his eyes confused.

  “Do this?” I held the device up in my hand. “Do everything? Why did you help us?”

  He paused for a moment, and I could tell he was thinking carefully. “Because,” He said, “It’s the right thing to do.”

&
nbsp; “But wait,” I pulled him back before he could walk away. “That’s not a real reason. You said it yourself, people only do things that benefit themselves.”

  He looked around at the vibrant oak trees, and at the gravel paths that meandered around the small island. He shifted nervously, and brushed a hand through his hair, almost as if he was attempting to rip it off. “Because it makes me feel good. I needed to do it. I needed to do what’s right. It’s the only choice.”

  With that he turned and walked away, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Instead of going straight inside to find Ethan, I waited near a bench that faced the large windows at the front of the roughly five story brick building and thought about the opportunity that he had just given us.

  Oh crap. I sat down on the bench, suddenly feeling drained. Playing it out in my head the plan seemed nearly impossible. Yet there was another side of me that innately knew that we could do it.

  I sat on the bench for a long while, not getting up until people began to flow out of the doors of the main building, just to make sure that the video was finally over. By the time I finally stood up, Ethan was already walking through the field of dying grass on his way to me.

  “Holy crap.” We both said at the same time, identical expressions full of emotion across both our faces.

  “You go first.” I offered, knowing that if I told him my story he would never even tell me his.

  “She has everything.” His face looked completely disgusted, and there was a red ring around his eyes from the tears. “She took it all.” His voice choked a bit, and I could tell by the sickly look on his face that it was bad. “America knows everything now! In a one-hour video she revealed to America the evil of President Ash and made them pity us like we are helpless little children!” He paused taking a deep breath. “I just felt too compelled by it all, I had to watch it all the way through, but at the end now I regret everything.”