Round Robin October 2020

4 October 2020

The inky blackness was suffocating. It closed in, made her feel small, helpless. Everything hurt, but nothing hurt. She felt numb. Then there were people. Important people. People she knew, for some reason she couldn't, no didn't want to forget. She saw them in the corner of her eye. Just for a moment. Then they were gone. 'No! Come back!' her voice didn't come out. Instead it was swallowed by the blackness. Cold. She was very cold.

"Em- ts -kay." A man's voice. The blackness receded, faded as warmth spread from her shoulder. It warmed her, calmed her.

When Emilia woke up, she couldn't quite remember what she had dreamed about. She had a strange feeling that she'd heard Gregory talking to her.

Emilia was taking stock of how her body felt with her eyes closed. "Emilia, wake up." She heard as her body was shaken.

"I was already awake. Stop touching me," Emilia growled, eyes still closed.

She heard a sigh, and then Gregory's voice. "That's good then." He stopped shaking her, but he kept one hand on her shoulder.

Emilia opened her eyes to look at him. She was about to tell him to stop touching her again, but the look on his face made her stop. In the flickering light of a dying fire, she could see worry, anxiety, and something else - something that made her heart beat, though she couldn't name it.

"You seemed to be having a nightmare." Gregory spoke softly. "And then that tattoo on your forehead-"

"I don't have a tattoo." Emilia mumbled.

Gregory just looked at her in silence for a moment, his grip tightening briefly on her shoulder. "Anyway, when I started talking to you and shook you a bit, the mark stopped glowing." He leaned against the wall of the cave by her head. "Every time that mark glows, something unnatural happens, and then you pass out."

Emilia nodded, not knowing what to say.

"Do you know how scared I was?"

Emilia was quiet. What could she say to that? She glanced around the cave while she was searching for the words to answer and spotted Samantha out cold on the other side of the fire. Their few provisions were stashed along the far wall of the cave. Something, some emotion gripped her heart, and she finally found the words she wanted to say.

"I'm sorry."

"What?" Gregory asked.

Emilia turned to look at him. "I'm sorry that I scared you, that you and Samantha are caught up in whatever this is," she signalled to her forehead, "that you have to stay in this cave - if it weren't for me-"

"No, stop." Gregory held up a hand. "That's not what I meant. And if anyone should be apologizing, it's me. You told me not to push the button."

He sighed, and Emilia tried for a brief moment to recall what he was talking about, but the thrumming started in her head and she stopped before it could get worse.

"Em," Gregory began again, "I just wanted to fix things. I know how you got that lab. I thought maybe we could fix it if-" He stopped.

Emilia stared at him, not sure what to say. For one, she didn't understand half of the words that just came out of his mouth. For another, the moment he called her "Em," she felt something in her chest, the same emotion she'd been feeling around Gregory for sometime now, but-

Stronger.

"Anyway, here." Gregory handed her some bread and dried meat. "You should eat. You've missed way too many meals."

Emilia grabbed the food and began to eat quickly.

"Slow down, Em." Gregory pleaded, his hands gently pushing down on her wrists. "I don't want you to hurt yourself."

Emilia stopped mid-chew and had a thoughtful look on her face. She began to eat more slowly.

While she was eating, she heard the sound of shuffling from across the campfire.

"Ah, ya two're up." A groggy Samantha greeted. "Good fer ya."

"I've been wondering for a while now." Gregory spoke, stoking the fire while he did so. "What's with that dialect of yours that only shows up when you're half asleep or freaking out?"

"Eh?" Samantha blearily rubbed her eyes. "That's 'cause he said not ta speak that way 'round people ya wanna impress... or somethin' like that."

"He?" Emilia asked.

Samantha nodded, still half asleep. "Yeah - him. The guy who gave me this." She held up the hot pink buck knife. Then her eyes went wide and she put a hand over her mouth.

"Awake now?" Gregory asked.

Samantha nodded, her hand still over her mouth.

Emilia wasn't sure if she wanted to teasingly prod Samantha with a "oh, him," patiently wait for Samantha to share if and when she was ready, demand an answer, or simply ignore it and pretend that nothing had happened.

"Breakfast?" Gregory seemed to be choosing the 'pretend nothing happened' approach.

"Mef." Samantha nodded, still covering her mouth. Emilia guessed "mef" probably meant "yes."

It was amusing to watch Samantha trying to eat her breakfast without removing her hand from her mouth. At first, Emilia thought she was doing it because she didn't trust her half-awake brain to keep her mouth shut, and maybe that was the reason initially, but the longer it lasted, the more Emilia became certain that the reason Samantha persisted was pure Samanthaness - a dash of stubbornness, a squeeze of curiosity, a pinch of frustration, and a screw loose.

At any rate, after breakfast, the group sat down... well stayed seated really, and attempted to develop a plan. First, Emilia summarized what they knew:

"1. The Not Tattoo - it occasionally glows, supernatural things happen, and I pass out
2. Location - a cave in a forest near a stream somewhere in Africa not far from a building
3. Enemies - the owner of the building, his subordinates, and probably who- or whatever brought us to Africa
4. Help - probably doesn't even know we need it
5. Supplies - enough provisions to last about a week, maybe two if we stretch them, a fire started (flint), a change of clothes, a hot pink buck knife, a few miscellaneous items
6. Health - aside from memory loss and occasional throbbing in the temple that seems to be caused by or at least related to the not tattoo, I appear to be healthy. Samantha is healthy. Gregory is healthy.
7. Samantha - still Samantha"

"Wait, why am I the last thing on the list?"

"You're always the last point on the list."

"Oh."