The footsteps are getting closer. They’ll be in front of me at any second. Focus, Palin. The sound of the doors slamming open on the floor below me is all that can be heard in between the wails of the fire alarm. Think.
Another explosion. This one’s down the hall towards the rear exit. The blast sends my ears ringing as two nurses scream from around the corner, frantically running in my direction.
It’s Jacee. The other nurse I don’t recognize. He’s bleeding, holding his arm close to his chest. It looks burned.
In my peripheral, I catch the silhouette of a man in the stairwell door window. Instincts react. I grab Jacee just in time and throw her over the nurses’ station counter. Falling on top of her, we land just as another explosion sends pieces of the stairwell door scattered around us amid fire and debris.
My hand moves quickly to cover her mouth.
Multiple sets of footsteps moving in all directions surround us. They’re everywhere. Maybe they won’t see us. Maybe we’re safe.
Horrified, Jacee begins to sob. Terror leaks from her sapphire eyes. They widen as they scream for her life. I can feel her emotion. Uncovering her mouth, I raise one finger over my lips. She nods quickly as a couple of tears drip down her cheeks.
Packets of gunfire screech from outside the infirmary. Sounds close like it’s just on the other side of the concrete.
Lifting my head from under my arms, I peek. Dust and hunks of debris roll off me. Thick smoke surrounds us. The sound of the alarm screams throughout my damaged mind. Stunned, confused, ears ringing, blood pouring down the side of my face, my eyes lock with a stranger standing over us.
My stomach knots.
The blinking red of the alarm reflects off the face of a tall burly man. He looks different like he doesn’t fit in here. His eyes burn the color of hot sand. His hair is salty and longer than mine, with streaks of grey and blue. He looks peculiarly older than anyone around here. He wears a tattered, worn face that you can tell has seen some shit. A thin scar branded on his cheek stretches from just under his left eye to the corner of his lips. His broad shoulders are draped with thick clothing - old, frayed rags knotted together with pieces of metal trash and stained dark for camouflage. He points his weapon directly at me. Molon Blaster, standard issue for Lethe officers. Probably stolen.
Jumping back, I position myself to better cover Jacee. She whimpers hysterically. I defiantly stare into his eyes. Light-headed.
Scared. Confused. Everything is moving too fast to process. Suddenly it’s a struggle not to pass out.
The sound of metal clinking behind him is hardly audible from the howling of the alarm. He stares at me for a second, blaster still raised to my face, and smirks. In one swift motion, the mysterious intruder turns back towards the smoldering hole he created in the stairwell and disappears into the smoke. Three more follows close behind carrying backpacks of stolen supplies.
Who are they?
Where did they come from?
After a few minutes, the gunfire stops. The alarm continues to scream, but the chaos is over from the looks of it.
“Palin,” Jacee snivels.
“Yeah?” I reply as I roll off her and collapse on the smoky tile utterly exhausted and probably dying.
“Thank you,” she cries as she unexpectedly buries her face into my chest. Her tears dampen the infirmary gown I didn’t realize I was wearing.
I hesitantly wrap my trembling arm around her as she sobs. I’ve never really been the consoling type.
In between her short rapid breaths, she cries, “I can see why Kalli risked it for you.”
“Risked what?” I mutter, thrown off balance.
“Risked her memories, trusting Lethe…”
“What are you talking about, Jacee? She would never trust Lethe.” I listen carefully as she props herself up against the base of the dusty counter. The stomping of Lethe security teams and guard droids marching up the stairwell becomes noticeable. Their boots like a metronome, strike the floor in rhythm.
“Kalli was selected for the Delta Project. It’s in her file. Obviously, she didn’t want to lose you.”
My heart sinks. Tears escape my eyes and drip down my face. No… Why would she even volunteer? Why would she risk everything? I told her I would make her remember. I told her to trust me. “Wait, did she die before or after Lethe uploaded her memories to their servers?” My attention surrenders completely. I’m hanging onto her every word as I struggle to take even a shallow breath in the still smoky atmosphere of the desecrated infirmary.
“I don’t know.”
Her reply physically knocks me back. The weight of the entire city has been dropped on my chest, crushing me. I start to hyperventilate as I lose control of my lungs. My eyes widen. My heart explodes into my chest. “So, there’s a chance Kalli’s alive?”
“Her memories.. maybe, she died after they took her from the infirmary, but without a living body, she’s… I don’t know an easy way to word this. If she’s in their servers, her mind is neither dead nor alive but trapped in a state of suspension, on pause. Her memories and experiences would still exist, but there’s no way for her consciousness to continue outside the loop of her own life.”
My eyes can no longer keep up with the spinning in my head. I feel my blood pressure rising. My arm extends, bracing
myself against the counter. The red strobe fills my eyes entirely. The sound of the alarm distorts. Reality becomes wrinkled. Touched by the cold, familiar sting, the infirmary spirals down into the darkness until darkness is all that remains.
I open my eyes and I’m standing in the middle of a foreign street. Everything is uncannily bright and more intense than normal. Something is definitely off. I can’t quite pin
