2634: Dalmore

Chapter 12

Gripping it’s horns tightly as I can, the beast runs around in fury. It attempts to fling me across. My hands get sweaty as I try climbing on the antelope’s back, which buckles back and forth. Fun. Risking it, I take off one hand. Now holding on with one hand and using the other to find a dagger in my pocket. I try stabbing it, but it moves around too fast and my hands slide off. I give up, chucking the dagger onto the ground, I place the other hand on another horn. I pull on the horns as tight as I can. The beast slows down a little, but enough to swing my legs around it and pull its head backwards. Snap. Almost instantly, it stops and collapses onto the ground. Panting I take a look at it. The Mutant lays dead on the ground and looks at me in the eyes. Almost as if it is alive. It looks innocent for something that just tried to kill me.
My conversation with Kyle last night was the last I’ve talked to him. Even though I said it out of anger, I regret what I said. But, Cleo’s death and Ares’ disappearance sort of numbed the regret I felt towards Kyle. No one mentions Cleo, the best I can do is pretend she’s still here.
I hear a yell, not that far away from where I am standing. I frown. Curious, I slink towards the noise. I can hear voices now. I hide behind a dumpster, careful not to be seen. Now close enough, I can identify the voices. Floyd and Pearson. my body freezes. I don't dare take a peek. Not these two again, the last time I met them, they tried shooting me dead. I recall the memory with a mental shiver.
“Find another one of them,” Pearson yells at Floyd.
“We’ve already got four of them, we don't need another,” Floyd growls.
“They know nothing, find more,”
“Angrove said that she put both of us in charge and I say we’ve got enough,” Floyd says.
“I am not arguing with you! Go get at least one more!” Pearson orders.
My curiosity arises and my frozen position unfreezes and I risk taking a quick peak. What are they looking for? I see a circle of people surrounding the two. One of the masked  men pull out something as more men gather around him, looking down at the object in his hand. I pull myself out of my hiding place a little more so I see what they are fussing about. However the men around Floyd and Miller come in closer, tightening the circle so I have no chance of seeing what they held in their possession. I pull myself out a little more so I am crouching against the side of the dumpster. A small sting hits me on the shoulder blade. A tranquilizer. I look up to see a person aiming a tranquilizer gun at me from a high building.
Then everything goes dark.
When I open my eyes again, the first thing I see is patched beige fabric. I can feel the hopsack over my head but when I try to pull it off, I find that my hands are tied. I can smell the scent of hay straw. I can hear car noises driving and voices. The voices of Floyd and Pearson. This time they are talking in a hushed voice, unfortunately making it impossible for me to eavesdrop. I fumble with the ropes untying my hands together, I start rubbing my palms together to shimmy the ropes loose. Eventually, the ropes slip off and I free my head of the confinement of the hopsack. Two guns go to my head. In fear of getting shot, I move my eyeballs to the gun holders. Two masked men stare intently at me, ready to shoot. A third man comes from behind with another tranquilizer, pointing it at me.
Blinding white light wakes me up. I feel a gas mask on my face, I am laying down on a bed. Bolting upright, I am in an operating theater. An especially unsanitary one. Apart from the mess and littered instruments there is no one here. I rip off my mask and make a run for it. The hallways are empty, so much so with no one in sight, there may as well be tumbleweed rolling around. The lighting isn't that good either, it flickers on and off. I run around the hallways looking for an exit but the place is a maze. All the doors are locked and there are no windows to climb through. A lot like Veritas and Acres Valley, but there is something different about this place. It looks like a hospital. I slow down, taking it all in. Where did Floyd and Pearson go?
A blaring alarm pulls me from my thoughts. I panic and speed up searching for a place to hide. The alarm doesn't stop, and I find an unlocked door which leads to a broom closet. It is the only unlocked door and the only place to hide. I press my ear onto the door, listening for any sounds of movement. The only sound that I can hear is the alarm which is giving me a major migraine. Wait, I hear footsteps. At first only a little patter, but it gets louder and closer, almost drowning out the sounds of the alarm. The footsteps cease and I collapse against the door. Good they’re gone, but the alarm still blares.
“Hello,” A voice drawls from nowhere. Floyd. He almost gave me a heart attack. I search for him in the mess of the closet. “I’m here, or did you not see me?” Floyd asks, chuckling with a hint of evil, his usual self. I see movement underneath an old blanket. Floyd gets up, pulling out an intercom. He utters the words “Section A2,” and places it back.
Not so long later, my hands are tied behind my back. Two masked men firmly grip my shoulders and lead me around the place, Pearson in lead. We stop at a locked door and she scans a keycard and opens the door. Inside is a dark room, reminding me of the scene of Allison the ghost. A lamp sits on a steel interrogation table, a chair put against the table. "Sit," she says, motioning to the chair. The masked men push me forwards after giving her a long glare, I stumble across and sit down, bracing my knees on the table. The men leave as Pearson waves them away and closes the door behind them. She starts pacing back and forth across the room. "Have you been in Veritas for a long time?" I don't respond. "You should probably start talking right now." "We've got our...means to get you talking,"
"Shouldn't you know?" "Don't you remember who I am?" I enquire.
“How long have you been in Veritas?” She repeats. I respond with a stare. “I said how long have you been in Veritas!” She slams his hands on the table, staring at me in the eye and spit flying everywhere.
“A little over a week, I guess,” I respond in a monotone voice. 
“That wasn't that hard was it?” She snarls, fixing her posture.
“It was hard for you. You have more anger issues than Ar-, nevermind,” I correct.
“Who is he?” She prys.
“Arvin,” I lie, “Yeah, he’s been my friend for years,”
“I don’t believe you,” She says walking around the table.
“I don't know a lot, but one thing I do know is that you shouldnt trust strangers-” I am cut off.
“Who told you that? Was it your parents? Oh, wait...you don't have any parents,” She smiles sardonically.
“How do you know that?”
“Yes, I know that everyone from Veritas doesn't have parents. They're all dead, including yours. You know I might have met some of them, before they died of course,” She begins.
“What about your parents? Are you going to go cry to mummy-” I but in.
“I don't want your cheek child,” She scolds.
“Or what? Are you going to tell my mummy? Oh no,” I fake faint. “Oh wait. I forgot, my mummy is dead,”
“Alright, you're going to play it that way?” She glares at me.
“Yeah, I guess,” I smile as angelic as I can.
“I’ll ask you one more time, who is your friend?”
“I said Arvin, did you not hear me?” I ask as innocently as I could.
Letting out a sigh, she lifts the intercom to his mouth “Alright boys, move it in,”
The door swings open. A nurse marches in with a syringe. I tilt my head to the side and frown. I was expecting something a lot bigger than a syringe. The nurse comes over to me and lines up the syringe at my deltoid muscle and locks eyes with her, “Do it,” Apart from a twinge of pain, nothing happens.
“Oh wow, I’m in so much pain. Oh whatever shall I do?” I snigger. Pearson smirks and with that lopsided grin, I feel something. My arm starts to shake uncontrollably and the twinge of pain comes back, but this time it grows and grows until it feels like my arm is falling off. The smile from my face vanishes. The pain spreads to the rest of my body, piecing it like daggers. I stop the scream escaping my lips and I start shaking uncontrollably.
“I ask you again who is your friend?”
“Arvin!” I respond again, silently begging it for it to stop.
“I don't believe you!” She bellows in my face.
“It is and I don't know what you want with him because he is dead. So is Cleo and Jaxon and Levi!” I bellow back at her, “And they all died because I was so nosy and put myself in other people’s businesses! But you wouldn't remember because you're brainwashed,” She stops smirking.
“Cleo, Jaxon and Levi…” She says the names over and over again, “And would ‘Arvin’ be Ares?” She asks.
“How do you know them?” I ask, ignoring the pain, although it burns me as much as fire does.
“None of them have died, if that's what you mean. I don't know anything about your nosy behaviour but I can believe that you are a snoopy person. In fact, I have them all here,” She presses a button on a remote and almost instantly my pain vanishes. She walks to the far right wall and sweeps her hand over it and the wall disappears, leaving a blue glass. There was something past the window but it was hard to see, “Untie her,” She waves at the nurse but I don't need to be untied. I rip off the rope and walk towards the glass. And to my horror, four people dangle off the roof, in blue light. Cleo, Ares, Jaxon and Levi dangle from string motionless, eyes closed.
“You killed them!” I cry out.
“I told you, they’re not dead, they’re sleeping. See the blue light, that’s Bedwyre Light, it puts you to sleep almost instantly,” She explains.
“Get them down, now!” I demand.
“You see here, we kidnapped you, so you are our prisoner, for now until we decide what to do with you,” She points at the glass, “And that’s where you will be going once we finish interrogating you,”
“No,” I retort, “I’m going to escape and drag the four of them with me if I have to,”
“Very well,” She lifts up the remote and presses a button and I feel the sting on my arm. But I am prepared this time. I clench my fists braced for the in-coming pain, but it doesn't come. I raise an eyebrow at her. “I really don't want to hurt you-”
“You sure about that?” I cut her off.
“Next question, what is your name?”
“Aw man, can you ask an easier question?” I ask. She smiles and clicks on a button. Almost instantly, I crouch on the ground, cradling myself. This time the scream nearly comes out, but I have to hold back. This time I dig my nails into my knees.
“What is your name?” She repeats, this time louder.
“Adria,” I screech at her, wanting to hurt her so badly.
“Adria who?” She asks, this time more curious and softer.
“Wouldn't you like to know?” I hiss at her, which results in cranking up the pain, “Merrick. Happy now?” I yell at her.
After a small pause she asks “Who told you to say that? And don't lie,”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” I scream at her. Resulting in my body feeling like it's being dissolved in acid. The nurse approaches her with a Tab, looking down at me.
“It’s really her,” She says and shows her something on the Tab. Pearson rubs her eyes and looks at the screen again. She has a look of awe plastered on her face. She presses another button, stopping the pain.
“What's the problem?” I ask, breathing heavily. Pearson grins at me, not a fake one but an actual one. Although I have never seen her actually smile.
“Ah, Merrick. Good to see you, I believe it was 13 years ago since I last saw you,” She stretches her arms, engulfing me in a suffocating hug. “But that's a story for another time,” She says, noticing my confused expression.
“Actually it was a little over a week ago since you last saw me,”
“What do you mean?” Confusion washes over her.
“Remember you and Floyd were mentors at Acres Valley,”
“No?” She responds more confused than ever.
“But you were and you taught me, along with Floyd,” I tell her but receive a strange look from her.
“Anyhow, let's not dwell on the past, we’ve got too much to discuss,” She says, hurriedly trying to move away from the subject.
“So you're just going to ignore the fact you kidnapped my friends, additionally kidnapping me and then torturing me?” I try making it sound as polite as I could but none of the above sounded very pleasant.
She scratches her head, “Oh yeah, sorry about that. Mistakes happen,”
“Could you please put my friends down please?”
“Of course, Mary, you heard her,” She waves at the nurse who rushes out. She turns to me, “I have a lot to explain,” I draw my attention away from Pearson to the widow. The blue light, Bedwyre Lights, stops shining, revealing a white room. The bodies start stirring, and Cleo starts yawning. It feels impossible that they have been sleeping the whole time whilst I was freaking over their disappearances. “You must be confused,”
“More shocked than confused,” I reply, facing her. “You should be the confused one,”
“I suppose-” Pearson is cut off by the four who stumble into the room, yelling and pointing at her. I grin at the four.
After clearing his throat, Jaxon speaks up, “What’s happening?”
“Change of plan, you're not going to be in our custody. You can leave after I explain a few things,” Pearson says, “Maybe after you have your reunion,” She says, eyeing our shock and leaving with the nurse, “Oh, and we can hear everything you say,” She points at the corners of the room, where mics would most likely be placed.
“What's wrong with Pearson? Why doesn't she remember us?” Cleo says when the door shuts close. To be completely honest I didn't know either but I think Levi and Jaxon might, that is until they give a look of confusion.
“Why did she suddenly change her mind about killing us?” Levi asks.
“You guys were missing for days,” I begin, receiving strange glances from the others, “Then I got taken here and I was questioned. Pearson asked my name and when I replied she was shocked and stopped everything and I told her to put you guys down and she did,” I say in one breath, skipping over a few details.

“Times up,” Pearson barges in with a few masked guards bringing in chairs and putting them down. We stare at them before she says, “Well, sit.” We do as she says, “Alright now that we're all comfy, let's start our story time. Shall we?” We look at her with blank expressions. “But first I need your complete fidelity in this,” She looks to all of us. We all nod in unison
“Allright, let's start off with when you got here. You all woke up in surgery, do you know why?” No one answers, “It's because you had trackers implanted in your head, Feyrer’s group put them in,”
“OK, so?” Ares asks.
“So if anyone asks you to do any more tests, you have to refuse. They’ll realize that someone took the trackers out of your head,”
“Sure,” I respond.
“Hurry up lady, this man gotta pee,” Ares moans, his hands placed over his crotch.
Ignoring Ares, Pearson continues, “Now let's go far back. Back to after The War, the Enders created a government, AIC. It stands for the Accepted Imperial Commonwealth. Except that it wasn't very accepted by civilians. Luckily for The AIC, they had Mutants so they threatened to set the Mutants on anyone that stood in the AIC’s way. Naturally, this sent fear to the continent and they lived in terror, but the Mutants multiplied and became too much of a threat to The AIC and so they created people to stop the Mutants. The first very first people to attempt to kill the Mutants were criminals. But the criminals weren’t the most trustworthy and died very easily from the lack of experience and weaponry. That was until they discovered Mutant bites. Mutant bites are a disease from Mutant radiation, you catch it as a baby or toddler. It doesn't do much but it improves your senses drastically, and is an equal match to the Mutants. That's what you guys all are,”
“So you remember all of that but you can't remember that you taught us in Acres Vallley?” Levi asks. Pearson ignores his comment and continues.
“After many science tests, Acres Valley was created to look after the Mutant Bite children, who learned and trained. They were used as a weapon, the criminals were replaced and Veritas became what it is today,”Questions?” Pearson asks. So we’re pest control and weapons. That’s nice, that’s a nice sentiment. I’m really enjoying it back at Veritas.
“So what happened to the criminals?” I ask.
“You're looking at one,” Pearson smiles.
“What did you do?” Jaxon asks, “What did you do to get here?”
“I don't know…” Pearson falters, “But I must have done something bad because you should never trust someone like Feyrer and The AIC,”
“Why do you not remember?” I ask Pearson.
“They remove your memories, everything you did years prior to getting caught,”
“Where are the guys who aren't the criminals?” Levi asks.
“Safe Cities,” Pearson says, “There's more civilization other than us. I don't know what they tell you back at Veritas but that's the truth,” Pearson explains. So Angrove wasn't lying about the Safe Cities. Maybe Angrove could be trusted. The room turns more silent than it was before, but I know people are looking through the cameras and speakers.
“Well there is the backstory and it's enough for today, but remember that the government is and always was the same, they just lied...a lot,” Pearson says.
“So where are we?” I ask.
“The Alliance Headquarters,”
“What?” Ares asks.
“We’re a not-so-secret organization fixed on taking down The AIC. The Alliance aims to help people in need and strive to take down the AIC,”
“Then what makes you different from The AIC?” Cleo asks.
“We’re here to put an end to it. Stop exploiting everyone and killing everyone. For justice. No power. A democracy. Because believe it or not, it's not as good as you think it is in the Safe Cities. That's just a name, just because they're away from the Mutants. So are you in?” She asks. We look at each other. This just might be a lot better than The AIC.
“Yes,” We reply.
“Excellent. I’ll inform everyone, but make sure never to tell anyone, and I mean anyone, about us. And remember I’ll need your fidelity in this,” Pearson says.
“But you still haven't explained why you stopped everything when I told you my name,” I say, wanting an answer.  
“You want to know who started this whole thing?”
“Yeah,” I pry in.
“Mallard and Mellisa Merrick,”