Forgotten

Chapter Fourteen: Not Alone

We stepped inside the shelter. When I say we stepped I mean Jess stepped and I kind of staggered, dragging my damaged leg along.

"It's so dark in here," Jess said, "I can't see a thing." She was right, it was so dark I could practically feel the weight of it forcing me down. Or maybe that was just my exhaustion from today's ordeal.

Suddenly someone turned on the lights and I shut my eyes to block the blinding light. I heard Pago bark to my immediate right and I opened my eyes carefully to see a large, silhouetted figure standing in front of me holding what looked like a shovel over his shoulder like one might hold a sword.

"Vince?" Jess said. As his face became clearer, his features more prominent, I saw that Jess was right. This was the man who helped Pago after Callie shot him seemingly forever ago.

Vince lowered the shovel and let it fall to the ground. What happened next was the most bizarre thing that had happened that day, Jess ran over and hugged Vince like he was a giant teddy bear. Vince hugged her in return. I was surprised he didn't crush her with his enormous arms. He seemed even taller than I remember him, if that's even possible. I wouldn't be surprised if he was related to a giant.

"I'm so glad you're alive," Jess said. She let go of Vince and looked over at me, "Oh, Terrance this is-"

"I know who he is," I said, "We've met."

"Oh that's right," Jess stated, "he was the one who found you and Pago and brought you here, right?"

"Yeah, him and Callie," I muttered.

Now that the room had brightened up we could actually see. The floor was grey concrete with cracks running along it in multiple places, the source of the light was a single, bare lightbulb swinging from the ceiling which looked like it was mainly just the inside of the mountain making the place look more like a cave than a shelter. Spider webs decorated the crevices and corners of the walls like drapes and dust coated everything on the room like a blanket.

The best part of the room was the shelves that lined the walls and the floor like how a library places shelves for books. These shelves, however, didn't have books, no, they were lined with food. Enough to feed an army!

"Did anyone else make it here?" Jess asked Vince.

Vince jerked his head to the side and started walking away from us. Jess and I followed, Pago kept up next to me. We went to the back of the room where Vince opened a door that looked like it had been there for centuries. You wouldn't have noticed it unless you had know it was there because it was identical with the wall and the door knob looked almost camouflaged with the spider webs that spread across it.

When Vince opened the door he revealed a room no bigger than a janitorial closet and-

"Mom!" Jess cried and ran towards her mother.

I watched the reunion feeling awkwardly out of place as Jess and her mother embraced each other. Jess looked as though she was going to cry, and her mother already had two tear-streaked cheeks.

"I thought I had lost you too," Mrs. Myres said. She still had her doctors vest and badge on, so if I had forgotten her name all I needed to be able to do was read it off of her coat. Even if she hadn't been wearing it, I think I would've remembered. I remember names, that might be the only thing I'm good at remembering.

Jess let go of her mother and looked her in the eyes, "Wait, what do you mean, 'too'?"

Mrs. Myres stared at the ground. I could tell by her face that the answer wasn't good. I turned away from the scene and walked towards some old boxes in the corner. I was getting tired from standing for so long.