To Be A Warrior

Chapter 70: Return To Sender

"Uh.... did we know the fungus farm looked like that now?" Sam squeaks, having that slight waver in his voice that tells me he's trying to hide his nervousness.

"I saw some stills, but... it's bigger when you're next to it, isn't it, Five?" Jody asks, and I nod, swallowing down the nervousness as I look at my target, the place I have to enter to get my memories back.

"The fungus has certainly grown to an impressive size," Janine says, and Sam laughs painfully in agreement.

It doesn't even look like a building anymore. It honestly resembles a white, blobby mass with a few rust colored bricks poking through. I can only imagine how hard it will be to get in there and maneuver around.

"We've taken sample of the fungus that's infested the building. It may look frightening, but rest assured, it is a harmless form of a native tree mushroom. Edible, in fact."

"Yeah, but it's everywhere." Jody's green eyes flash with discomfort. "All through the buildin'. Is it safe for me and Five to go in?"

"We'll proceed carefully. After that accelerant made the fungus grow at a prodigious rate, it eroded the foundations, but the growth has stopped for now. The fungus itself should have structural integrity."

I don't tell her how that doesn't make me feel better.

"Yeah. That's more than we can say for the country, or us," Jody says, and I try not to think about Peter's face when I told him to stay there at Seaside Rig before we left to get Lizzy to a transport to Abel and Jody and I transport here. Janine and Sam are at Seaside on coms, but they also suggested it might be best for Peter to sit this one out, since we don't know what my memories could reveal.

I know I saw something. Moonchild wouldn't have shown up now if what I saw wasn't important. I just don't know if it will be good if we find something against Sage. I can only imagine what that would do to Peter. I know what it's like to be hurt by someone you put your trust in...

There was also a V-Type here that last time I was here, and we can't risk it biting Peter. We can't handle a P-Type right now. We simply can't.

He's probably angry at us, possibly believing we don't trust him anymore, and my heart sinks because that's not the case in the slightest. Everything is all scrambled right now, and we have no idea what's really going on. We have to figure this out, somehow.

Jody places a hand on my shoulder comfortingly. "We're gettin' your memories back, Five. And if Sam's right, and the accelerant the Last Ridders used in their V-Type pills came from here, then there should be some clues here about what they did.

"This access tunnel should get us in, and then we just need to find a little black thing that looks like a torch to get your memories for you. If the Moonchild voice in your head is right, it should just be a few minutes there and back."

"You must be swift," Janine stresses. "If Ms. Spens' informant Lizzy is right, the Last Riders may still be active, and you may encounter them in this building. Run."

I don't know how they'll be in this building, considering how overgrown it is. I can suppose some of it has wilted away, or maybe they carved tunnels through it. I have my pistol on me, just in case we have to defend ourselves.

I clench my jaw, anger scorching my chest over this, all of this. The confusion, the veiled truths. It's all so frustrating! Every time we think we've stopped the Riders, they pop up again like weeds. It's like a disease that just doesn't stop. Lizzy said Seaside was a Riders settlement. I don't know what she meant by that, or if she was just babbling, but those pamphlets on The Method can't be a coincidence, and what Sage did to those people...