With Fear or Without

50- Six Words

Cleo woke, sprawled out of the cold floor of that circular domed chamber, the high ceiling sprawled out magnificently above her. She groaned at the bright light and heaved herself onto her elbows, every muscle in her body aching and screaming with the effort. Her head was pounding, too, and her eyes stung; it felt like she had just simultaneously run a marathon and stared at a bright screen for hours.

Charlie was just coming to consciousness, squinting suspiciously at their surroundings and rubbing their eyes. To Cleo's left, Andy lay on her back with her legs halfway folded underneath her. For a horrible moment, Cleo didn't know if she would wake up. That after all that had just happened, Andy might still be trapped. That Cleo was wrong, that she had failed.

But she let out a huge sigh of relief and collapsed back onto the floor when Andy shifted and slowly opened her eyes.

"Cleo? Charlie?" She moved her head side to side against the floor, her hair shifting underneath her. It was, Cleo was glad to see, perfectly blonde and shadow-free, even if it was tangled and matted against the stone. "Did that... just happen?"

Cleo swallowed, staring up at the high ceiling. "Afraid so."

Andy closed her eyes before inhaling deeply and hefting herself to a sitting position. Charlie scrambled over to help her up, leaving Cleo still laying on her back, weighed down by the exhaustion caused by bringing down the tunnel they were stuck in. She started to tell herself that she could've imagined Remie there in the dream, but she knew that wasn't true. Remie was there. She was probably the only reason Cleo's idea worked, that they were still here... but why was she there? And how?

"Cleo, you okay over there?" Andy's voice cut into her thoughts. Cleo braced herself and sat up with difficulty.

"Yeah. That just... I'm just exhausted," Cleo sighed, pushing her disheveled hair off her face. "I should be asking you that."

"Thanks to you," Andy said, smiling feebly at Cleo and Charlie in turn. "I think so."

Charlie's eyes scanned Andy's face with concern etched deep in their eyes and frown. Concern that would probably not fade for some time. "Andy what was that? Seeing you like that... what was going on?"

Andy stared at her lap. A bitter chuckle escaped her mouth as she fiddled with her gloves, gingerly inspecting the spots of blood. "I guess I should tell you guys something. I should've before, but... I suppose it makes sense now. Relatively."

"Tell us what?" Charlie asked quietly.

"What I saw that first day," Andy said, finally looking up to meet Charlie's gaze. "The first time we had those nightmares a week ago."

Cleo almost laughed. Had it really been a week ago? It seemed like another lifetime.

Looking out at the blank walls, Andy relayed her story with brittle words. Cleo listened, patient but anxious, aware of every second they were spending sitting here.

"It wasn't a memory like you guys saw, not that time. It was really short, just a second, really. I didn't know what it meant at the time, I just figured... I don't know what I figured, but..." she absently brushed a hair out of her face and started again. "It was a woman. I can't remember her face, but it was just her and nothing else. I just remember what she said. I don't think I could ever forget those words. Six... meaningless, haunting words."

Cleo and Charlie exchanged a glance as they waited. Neither of them knew what to expect, but they hoped it would explain what had been happening to Andy. It was all they could hope for.

Andy cleared her throat.

"This'll be a nice test run."

She said the words monotonously, as if they were merely a series of letters on a page with no meaning. As if she had repeated them many times before, so many times that they had lost all feeling. And she had, in her head.