Masked (27 page)

Sara, Laura and James all turned
their attention as we walked through the door.

“I was just on my way up to get
you,” Sara said.

James looked like he was still a
little groggy but for the most part seemed fully alert. Before I had the chance
to offer any greeting he smiled and said in a raspy voice “Alex, Michael, it’s
good to see you.”

It took several seconds for it to
hit me, but the realization of what it meant to see him sitting there set in. They
were going to be okay. Emotion flooded in. I was so relived, so happy to see him
awake.

“It’s good to see you too.” We
continued towards the gathering around his bed.

Once near the bed Alex rested his
hand on James’ shoulder and with a nod said “good to see you man.”

I turned my attention to Laura
and Sara. “How long has he been awake?”

“Five minutes. Sara and I have
been trying to give him the quick version of where he is and why he’s here,”
Laura said.

“What do you remember?” I asked.

“As I was saying when you walked
in, not really anything. I remember the day Sara was taken and how you went
missing that morning and then Alex later that day. Caldwell came to talk with
the four of us left and explained you two had attacked and killed agents in the
facility and were being detained. They said the four of us would continue our
training the next day.

“That’s all I remember. I guess
the next day never came. I fell asleep that night and woke up just minutes ago.
Sara said it’s been over a year since that day. How can that be true?”

They took them so soon after I’d
left, that same day. That was twice now Titan had taken James’ life from him.
All he had was just the few weeks we were at the HUB. As I reflected on that, I
was able to recognize that even though my past year was full of pain, despair
and anger, at least I had that. James and Rachael never even had the
opportunity for that.

Laura gave James a brief summary
of what Titan did to he and Rachael. She explained how she’d helped get the
three of us out and about my reunion with them earlier.

“So you don’t remember any of the
time you were being controlled by Titan?” Alex asked.

James didn’t answer but Laura interjected.
“It makes sense he doesn’t. I don’t know much of the technical details on how
the control chip interfaces with the brain, but I do know the theory. It makes
sense the conscious part of one’s brain would be put away in a type of coma
while the chip accessed other portions.”

Alex gestured to Rachael and the
other guy. “Have they shown any signs of consciousness yet?”

“No. Not yet, but there really
wasn’t anything to show James was waking either. He just suddenly was awake.
Well, there was a spike in activity for just a split second right as he woke,
but like I said that happened as he was waking,” Laura explained.

Sara rested her hand on James’
shoulder. “How do you feel?”

“Considering all you say has
happened, I feel relatively well, definitely well rested. I’m actually really hungry.
Whatever it was Titan had me doing for the past year, I don’t think keeping me
well fed was a top priority.”

“I may have to make another pizza
run. Laura forgot to stock the fridge in planning for our stay here.” Alex looked
towards Laura with a sardonic smile.

“I most certainly did not,” Laura
said indignant, but smiling. “There are certain things I know how to do and how
to do well. Being a good hostess is one of those things. I wouldn’t have a
group of friends with overactive metabolisms over without plenty for them to
eat. You just didn’t look in the right place. There’s a service kitchen
attached to the main kitchen. I had the caretaker stock the cupboards and
refrigerator before we arrived. I understand there’s a half a cows worth of
filets in the freezer and a large grill behind the house if interested.”

“I’m on it,” Alex said and headed
towards the door.

“That sounds incredible,” James said
as he moved to a sitting position with his feet to the side of the bed.

“Are you sure you feel well
enough to stand?” I asked as he tried to get up.

He wobbled on his feet for a few
seconds and then sat back down. “Maybe I need a few more minutes. I’m going to
lay back and try to let my strength increase before I try that again. Let me
know when Alex has those steaks ready.”

He laid back on the bed and closed
his eyes.

The James I’d known from our
brief time together at the HUB and the James I saw now were not the same
person. Granted, he had just woken from, for all intents and purposes a yearlong
coma, but he was taking the news really well. It was great to see, but at the
same time it wasn’t what I had expected from James. It seemed that in seeing
all of us again and the fact we had saved him from what Titan had done adjusted
his attitude towards us, at least for the time being.

Sara and I both stepped away from
the beds as Laura moved to check the monitors connected to the others. Sara grabbed
a hold of my hand and led me back out the door.

Darkness now almost completely
consumed the orange sky. Sounds of crickets, saccades and other lake residents
only feet away filled the air. We continued down the path onto the small dock resting
next to the boathouse.

“It’s so beautiful here,” Sara said
as we looked over the lake at the scenic view, hand in hand. “It’s a shame
Laura doesn’t get to come out here to enjoy it very often. She stays so busy
with her work that she spends all of her time in the city.”

I squeezed Sara’s hand. “That’s
too bad. If I never left this place I’d be perfectly happy. Of course, only if
you were here as well.”

“That would be so nice. Maybe
someday we can have that,” Sara said.

We stood on the dock in silence
for several minutes just watching the darkening sky and listening to the noise
from the lake.

I interrupted the silence. “You
know, I think I may need another shower later. I didn’t get as clean as I
wanted to earlier.”

“That’s funny. I was thinking the
same thing, but don’t worry, I won’t interrupt you this time, I’ll wait my
turn,” she said as she wrapped her arms around me, her body pressing against
me, and kissing my ear. No, biting my ear.

Heat and sensation erupted just
as she suddenly pulled away.

“Come on. Let’s go see if Laura
needs anything before we take James up to the house,” Sara said with a
mischievous smile as she walked back towards the door to the boathouse.

“You tease,” I accused as I
followed.

The steaks Alex grilled up were
amazing. James, Sara and I joined him back up at the house just as he was
putting them on the grill. The caretaker had also stocked the refrigerator in
the service kitchen with lots of beer. We enjoyed several while we waited for
the steaks to cook and then several more when they were done. It’s not that we
got drunk, our metabolisms didn’t let us, but it went well with the steak. We
ended up consuming more beer and beef than I would of thought possible, for
even us.

Laura insisted on staying in the
boathouse. Sara and I offered to watch so she could take a break, but she was
firm in her decision to stay. A couple hours later, after the rest of us were
full with food, conversation and drink; she still didn’t want to leave.

Finally, we were able to convince
her to rest on James’ empty bed and agreed that one of us would stay to keep
watch while she did. That way she would still be there when Rachael and the
other man woke. All of us volunteered, but Alex insisted that he stay. He said
James needed to rest, which we all agreed, and Sara and I needed alone time.
What a good friend.

I did want the alone time with
Sara, but I also wanted to help, to do my part. I tried to argue, but Alex wouldn’t
budge and eventually the three of us left the boat house to head back up to the
main house for the night.

James found a room on the other
side of the second floor reasoning that he wanted to be nowhere near our room.
Once he was settled, Sara and I went back to the room we were in before and
closed the door.

The rest of the evening was quite
enjoyable and eventually we fell asleep.

I wasn’t sure what time it was
when I woke to find we’d fallen asleep on the floor. Sara was curled up tight
against me, her back curved to fit the spoon shape my body was in. I didn’t remember
falling asleep, but whenever it happened, I had the sense to grab a couple of
blankets from the bed. It was still dark and there was no sign of daybreak
coming through the blinds.

The dream I’d been having was what
woke me.

I was with Sara at some point
in the future. We looked a little older and were at a lake. Not the same one,
but some other non-descript public lake area. We stood on an old rickety wooden
dock.

Two young boys were with us.
They looked no older than six and were almost identical to each other. I knew
who the boys were immediately. They looked nothing like their newborn selves
but they were the babies I’d dreamt about. There was a familiarity in their
faces, something I’d seen before in the mirror.

Both boys were bare-chested
only wearing swim shorts. One was a hair taller than the other and both were
slender and pale. I didn’t speak to them, but postured myself at the end of the
dock and showed them proper diving form a couple of times. When I stepped back
both boys stepped to the end of the dock together, copied my position and dove
simultaneously. The second their feet left the dock, an intense sense of
wrongness hit me.

The boys hit the water and I
looked back at Sara. She was sitting on the dock in a collapsible chair,
smiling.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

I tried to answer but
couldn’t. I didn’t know how to explain the feeling I was having nor could I physically
open my mouth to speak. All the while the feeling of wrongness grew and turned
into unknown panic.

It was then I realized the
boys hadn’t come up from their dive.

I rushed to the end of the
dock and looked down into the water. At first I couldn’t see anything, the
rough surface of the lake breaking, obscuring my view from anything beneath.
The water suddenly settled and turned into a clear transparent glass like
surface. Under the surface, just below where I stood were the boys being held
by the blonde haired girl from the hospital room, their mother.

Neither the girl nor the boys
seemed to be in distress. The three just stood on the lake bottom, looking up
at me, despair and sadness on their faces. I looked back at Sara and the smile
was no longer on her face. She told me I shouldn’t dive in, that I belonged
above the water.

I looked back down to the
three people beneath the glass surface. This time the girl spoke.

“You belong down here with
us.” Her voice was clear and loud despite coming from beneath the water’s
surface. “If you stay up on the dock the sun will come and destroy you. You
need to dive in and not go back.”

I suddenly felt what she said
was true, was right. When I looked back to where Sara was, only an empty chair
remained. I turned back towards the water, positioned myself into a dive
formation and went in head first.

That’s when I woke.

I wasn’t sure if I believed my dreams
meant anything: whether the reoccurring characters were based on memory hidden
from me or was just something my subconscious made for me to cope with losing my
past. I felt I may never know. Did I truly believe the people I dreamt about
existed? It was nice to think that someone was there who once cared about me,
that I both loved and was loved.

I looked down at Sara, still
sleeping soundly against my body and quickly lost the thought of the people I
only knew in dream. I had someone now, warm and real. Someone I loved and knew
loved me. Trying to wonder what was and what might have been, was a road that
might never find a destination. Taking the road that lead to Sara was a route I
knew would lead to perfect happiness.

Also, dwelling on what may have
once been was not fair to Sara. She deserved someone devoted to her completely,
without a phantom past.

The sudden realization that I
really had to pee hit me. Maybe that’s why there had been all the water in the
dream. I tried to gently move away from Sara. She stirred, but didn’t wake. I made
sure she was adequately covered and then headed towards the bathroom, stumbling
over items scattered on the floor, unseen in the dark.

Before I made it to the bathroom
door, I noticed a rhythmic choppy sound coming from outside. I guess it was
there before, but whatever it was, the sound was growing louder. Was it a
helicopter? My Spidey senses started to tingle. Something was wrong.

I tripped over several other
things as I tried to rush to the window, cursing the blasted darkness as I went.
Finally I made it and opened the blinds. Our room was on the backside of the
house and had a nice view of the lake. All I could see now was moonlight
dimness and lights rapidly moving through the sky towards us.

A fear based chill ran down my
spine and before I had a chance to turn towards Sara I saw another, brighter
more orange light erupt from the approaching helicopter. This new light rocketed
towards the house. It only took me a fraction of a second to realize the new
rocketing light was just that, a rocket, but that was still too late.

The brightness zoomed right
towards us, our room in fact. I dove from the window, crashed into cluttered
darkness as the world around me filled with noise, heat and pain.