Oblivion (12 page)

TWENTY-SEVEN

Jeremiah

For a brief moment
I felt Jason’s mind, but before I could take advantage his wall slammed up. I
hissed in aggravation. He was not making it easy to help him. His brother was
easier; somehow less distrustful, despite knowing my feelings about certain
activities.

Seething, I
wandered through our hideout, not pausing when I came across any of the others.
I could tell they were giving me odd looks, and I overheard Sam telling them to
leave me alone for the moment. He did the same, although he was hovering.
Always near me as I paced in impotent fury.

“What?” I finally
snapped when he appeared in my sight for a third time.

Without hesitation
he stepped in front of me. “What happened?”

Unable to
adequately explain my anger, I shrugged one shoulder.

“Don’t give me
that. What happened? I can feel your distress as if you were yelling and
screaming, so I know something happened.” He’d started off sounding angry, but
his voice calmed near the end.

I felt
uncharacteristically hesitant. “I… You know I’ve been alone for a long time;
separated from normal people by what Mason did to me?”

He nodded and
gestured for me to continue. His face remained impassive, but I saw some
sympathy in the way his eyes softened.

“Your brother is
the first person I connected to once I was free. Inadvertently or not; he saved
my life. When I became Scott Nickels, I learned more about him. For a while it
felt as though we were becoming friends. Now he’s in trouble, and believes I am
nothing more than a killer. Because of that, he will not allow me to access his
mind or to help find him.”

“And this is just
occurring to you now?” he asked, his face twisted in confusion.

“It struck me when
his mind opened for a brief moment, but I was unable to connect. Now he is more
closed off than before.”

The kid grunted; a
grim smile on his face. “Yeah, he’s good at that.”

With a wry smile
of my own, I nodded. “Unfortunate, but yes.”

“Have you picked
up on any kind of threat since we’ve been here?” he asked.

“Nothing specific,
although someone was pushing at me earlier. I can make a guess at who it was,
although I have no proof.”

“The Mastermind?
If it was him, then we know now he has limits.”

“All of us have
limits,” I mused. “Jason’s seem the least restrictive for some reason.”

“What do you
mean?”

I thought for a
moment before explaining, “Your brother seems to grow more powerful as he gets
older. My abilities have remained the same for years, despite my effort to grow
and become more powerful. He also has the ability to defend his mind from
attack, which also seems to become more powerful each time someone attempts to
penetrate.”

“Can’t others do the
same?”

“To some extent
you can block out thoughts. Your abilities are also growing, as evidenced by
what happened to the Hunter. However, his mental walls are much stronger than
yours. It’s almost as if they are part of an altogether separate ability.”

“Keeping people
out… sounds like my brother,” Sam acknowledged with a sigh.

Regarding him
curiously, I assured him. “He does it as much for you, as for himself.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

Sam

When we discovered
that Kindred was still alive, I never anticipated him actually being helpful.
Sure he wanted to help Jason, but he never seemed to care about the rest of us,
and never hesitated to threaten us when the urge struck. So the idea of him
attempting to comfort any of us came as a surprise.

More of a shock
was his willingness to comfort me. After his reaction to the discovery that I
had harmed Jason, I hadn’t expected any sympathy.

“You are growing,
Jeremiah,” I muttered. “Maybe not your powers, but your people skills are
definitely improving.”

He nodded once in
acknowledgment.

“I don’t
understand though; how can his being closed off be helpful to me? He does it to
me too.”

Alice stepped
behind me, but I continued to stare at Jeremiah waiting for his answer.

“He believes that
by keeping people out he is protecting both himself, and you. He feels he knows
what’s best for you, and in a lot of cases, he is correct. As for keeping you
at arm’s length? I believe he thinks he will not continue to survive the
situations he finds himself in, and wants you to feel… less lost when you find
yourself separated from him.”

I felt tears well
up and swallowed hard. “How… how could he…?”

Alice put her hand
on my back. “How sure are you of Jason’s reasoning?” she asked suspiciously.

Jeremiah stared at
the floor for a moment. “I was in his mind before he knew how to protect
himself. At the time I had full access to his thoughts,” he hesitated and
looked me in the eye. “He never believed he would last this long. After
everything with Mason, he decided keeping people at arm’s length would protect
them. After me… well… I finally realize that I did him no good by what I was
doing. For my part in his withdrawal, I am sorry.”

Swallowing again,
I asked, “So you’re certain then?”

“As certain as I
can be. He has changed in the last couple years. Without the Hunter’s
interference, I think he would have returned home by now. Or at least soon.”

“We’re going home
after this,” I stated. “After everything that’s happened, I will not be
separated from any of our family again. He has to know how we would feel if… if
he…”

Alice put her arm
around my shoulders. “If the worst happens you will be with us, Sam. But Jason
isn’t one to give up. He’ll be back with you before you know it.”

“In the meantime,
what are we going to do? We need to find Jason, and he’s not letting us talk to
him.” I let some frustration bleed through, but tried to shed the heavy
emotions that threatened to weigh me down.

“Not sure,” she
answered. “But we can assume he hasn’t gone far yet and is potentially holed up
somewhere.”

I began to feel a
strange pressure at the edge of my awareness, but tried to ignore it in favor
of figuring out our plan.

Something must
have shown on my face, because Alice and Jeremiah had stopped talking and were
watching me curiously.

In an attempt to
ignore the feeling I waved off their concern and said, “I can’t see how walking
the streets in hopes of finding a hidey hole will help. He can feel people
coming. All he’ll do at that point is dig in further.”

“Probably true,”
Alice agreed. “But I don’t see any other option at this point. Neither of you
can use your powers to find him. The old fashioned way is all I can see.”

“Let me in!”
A voice suddenly rang
through my head.

I cringed, and
almost dropped to the floor at the intrusion.

“Sorry about that, but I had to get through
to you. I’m with Jason,”
the woman’s voice continued.

“Where is he? How is he? Can we come to
you?”

“Sam, what is it?”
Jeremiah’s voice broke my concentration for a moment.

“Someone who
claims to know where Jason is. She says she’s with him.”

“Who is she?”
Alice asked.

I shrugged. “I was
about to ask. Keep quiet for a bit, and I’ll get back to you.”

“He’s doing ok, but is refusing to attempt
sleep because of the Puppet Master. Any suggestions?”

“Who are you? Can you tell me where you are?
I can help him.”

“I need to know we can trust you before I
answer your questions. You are allied with a killer, and that makes us nervous.
There is also the question of whether you are the one who caused his memory
loss, and who you are to him exactly.”

My breath caught
and I let myself sink to the floor. My head was in my hands and I considered
how to respond.

“I am his brother,”
I finally said.
“My power got away from me when I wished he
could forget everything bad he’d gone through, and he forgot everything. I
never intended to take the memories from him.

As for the killer… he has been trying to
help us. He is changing for the better.”

The skepticism was
clear in her response.
“He can’t have
changed much. He killed several guards as he escaped. Now Jason is terrified of
him.”

“More likely terrified of being like him,”
I answered.
“Kindred is the only person
he knows right now, other than you. He’d be worried about the implications of
that.”

“You do know him,”
the woman’s voice
sounded amused.
“Very well. My name is
Lena. We’re hiding out at the old factory at the edge of town. Once Jason feels
your approach I will come out. It will be up to him whether he wants to go with
you or not.”

I raised my head
out of my hands, my eyes wide.
“I saw you
on the news! You are said to be an ‘at risk teen’ and you’ve been missing for
months.”

“Some of that was by choice. Some of it not.
Tell you what, you help your brother and share your story, and I may share
mine. Deal?”

“Works for me. I’ll fill in the others, and
we’ll be there soon.”

I was about to
break the connection when she pushed in again.
“Don’t bring the killer. If you bring him, Jason will not come out.”

At this point I
was ready to abandon the other man altogether if it meant getting my brother
back. But he had been helpful. However, it was an easy choice.
“He’ll not be happy about that, but ok.
We’ll leave him here. Thank you, Lena.”

“Come quickly, Sam,”
she urged.
”You’re both in danger.”

TWENTY-NINE

Jason

Lena wasn’t
sleeping, but I wasn’t going to call her on it. She remained facing the other
direction on the blankets and gave a good impression of sleep; her breathing
was slow, eyes closed, and body relaxed. It was her elevated heart rate that
gave away her ruse.

I took the quiet
time to take stock of the situation. It was hard to accept being free, since
all I knew currently was being a captive. My arm throbbed from our impromptu
surgery, and I rubbed it absently as I continued looking around the room.

Hiding out in an
abandoned building seemed almost familiar. I spent some time hoping the
familiarity would lead to some memories, but nothing more came. My fist
clenched at my side and my jaw tensed. If I ever met Oblivion, I wanted to
punch him. And if he was my brother, I would follow that with a hug. But the
punch would definitely come first.

“Relax. You’ll
know everything soon enough,” Lena’s quiet voice broke through my thoughts.

“I hope so,” I
answered softly. The dim lighting seemed to lend itself to speaking quietly. “Living
without knowing anything about myself is… hard.”

She turned to face
me, blinking sleepily under her dark eyelashes. “You are stronger than you
think, Jason. I can tell. Your memories are gone, but your character is the
same.”

My eyes crinkled
curiously. “How would you know what I was like before?”

She glanced away
and admitted, “I contacted Oblivion. He was able to fill in some blanks for me.
You also stopped to help me, when doing so could have cost you your freedom.
From what I learned from him, you would have done that before as well. You have
never been the killer you’re worried you are.”

“And what about
you?” I asked. It was uncomfortable always being the focus of the conversation.
“What is your character? I know you’re a runaway, but why?”

It was as if a
mask came down on Lena’s face. Where she had been openly showing concern for
me, she was now emotionless. Her eyes were shuttered, and I worried I knew what
that meant.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I
don’t mean to pry. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

She didn’t answer,
instead, turned away from me again.

“I am really
sorry, Lena. I have a feeling I have many things in my past I wouldn’t want to
talk about.”

The younger girl
snorted, and I shifted uncomfortably. Nothing I could say would make her
forgive me any sooner, so I resolved to sit quietly until she was ready to
speak.

It took less time
than I anticipated. I was prepared to wait all night, but she turned to face me
only about half an hour later.

“Your brother is
coming. I contacted him and told him where we are.”

I leaned forward
and stared at her. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to do that?”

“I wasn’t sure if
you were ready to let me. Also, I couldn’t be sure I would be able to get
through to him. Initially, I simply wanted to figure out if Oblivion and your brother
were one and the same.”

I waited a moment.
“He is the one who wiped my memories,” I stated. “My brother stole my past.”

She nodded
quietly, allowing the fact to sink in.

A pressure in my
head made me wince. “Someone is trying to get in again. Can you tell…?”

“It’s the Puppet Master
again. Push hard against your wall, Jason. Don’t let him in, or he will
discover everything you want to hide from him.”

“But he’s not
invincible,” I grated out. “He didn’t know about my memory loss. The Doctor and
the Boss were clueless.” We were both silent for a few moments, and I pushed at
my mental wall until the Puppet Master finally stopped his attempt.

Once the attack
was over, Lena nodded thoughtfully and continued the conversation. “That is
true. For now. If he manages unblocked access he could figure it out. And you
can be sure he’ll inform his dogs about it also.”

“Pleasant
thought.”

“Not really,” she
disagreed with a wry smile. “It actually scares me that they’ll figure out
you’re vulnerable.”

“Not really,” I echoed
with a smile.

To prove my point
I concentrated and collected every bit of dirt in our hideaway and pushed it
together. It formed a hard pellet that I sent through the door.

Lena sat up and
whistled at the hole that pierced the hard wooden door. “Okay, so you aren’t
fully vulnerable.”

“My lack of
memories does give me a disadvantage, but I can work around it.”

“I think you may
be right,” she agreed.

I found myself
looking around the room awkwardly before finally asking, “When is he coming?”

“He should be here
soon. I warned him that you both are in danger. I’m not sure where he was, but
I don’t think it was far.”

Pushing my
awareness around us, I could tell there were some people moving around outside.
“Someone is here. Did you tell them how to get in?”

“No. I told them I
would meet them outside and lead the way if they followed my rules.”

“What rules?”

“Don’t worry about
it. It’s nothing hard,” she evaded.

When I rose to
follow her, she waved me off.

“I want you to
wait here. If anything is off, I want to make sure you stay safe.”

Taken aback, I
stared at her silently.

She met my eyes
for a moment before turning away and leaving the room.

“Why do you care
so much?” I asked the empty room quietly. Did this girl have something to do
with my past? Nothing she’d said so far pointed in that direction. What was it
that made her risk herself for me?

It took
significant effort, but I managed to not follow her out. Instead, I focused on
her footsteps outside as she met up with our visitors, and again had to push
against the Puppet Master’s relentless attempts to break into my mind.

What drew him to
me? Sure I have abilities, as does Lena, and apparently my brother, but what
drove this man to have his lapdogs capture us?

At my curiosity,
the wall seemed to weaken and I felt him gain access to my surface thoughts
before I could push him away again. The constant struggle caused a headache,
and by the time Lena came back in I was holding my head in my hands.

“Jason! What
happened?” She asked.

She rushed to my side
and put her fingers on my face, searching my likely pain-filled eyes for an
answer.

“Headache,” I
muttered. “He won’t leave me alone.”

Her eyes filled
with sympathy, and she moved aside. “I think I brought someone who can help.”

A teenage boy
followed her into the room, though with less speed than Lena. It was almost
like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to come in.

“Jase?” the kid’s
voice sounded hopeful, but his face fell when I made no move to join him.

“Lena, it hurts,”
I said, meeting her eyes and ignoring the newcomer. “Help me?”

“I’ll do what I
can,” she promised.

“How can I help?”
the boy asked quietly. He sounded defeated, and for that I was sorry. Seeing
him didn’t spark anything more in me than slight disappointment that I didn’t
recognize him.

“You affect
emotions. Make him stronger… more confident,” Lena urged. “Do it quickly or the
Puppet Master will break in.

Jason, you have to
let him help you, okay? Try not to block him.” She nudged me gently, and waited
for a response.

My eyes watered
from the pain and I nodded, a sharp jolt going through my head at the motion.

“I’m so sorry,
Jason.” The kid’s eyes were full of tears as he spoke. He knelt in front of me,
but didn’t touch. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. Big brother, I will fix this. I
promise.”