Teraphobia (ONC 2024)

Ten

I make my way to the elevator, pressing the number of the floor. Without the cuff on my wrist, I am all but cut off from the tower's mainframe. I am a ghost, a specter that is free to roam the halls doing as it pleases. I know what I should do, I should be taking the elevator down to the main floor. I should be walking out the door and leaving this place behind. With Anger clouding my judgment I had completely forgotten I still had one task left before leaving. The one who betrayed the Vanished was still among us. I had to find them, preferably before they managed to find the others. It was possible to find the other bunkers without my help. We left behind subtle hints, graffiti on the walls, and unique totems that were hung on notice boards. Certain stalls had a unique logo printed on their awning. If you gave them the code phrase, they would give you directions to the nearest bunker, provided it was not compromised. We prided ourselves on this network, we had been called the Resistance on occasion, and you could hazard a guess as to what our insignia was.

I stepped out of the elevator walking down the hallway. I found Scout leaning against the wall outside of the apartment. He looked fine, not a single hair out of place. Mother Eve kept her word. I ran the rest of the way launching myself into his arms. He staggered back surprised, his arms wrapped around me, and held me close. I burrowed my face into his chest, letting the tears fall down my face.

"You're okay." I breathed, taking a step back.

"I heard you gave up the ghost." He opened the door to the apartment. I walk inside with him, rubbing the back of my neck. Guilt settles in my stomach, reminding me of my self-betrayal. I reached inside me, searching for Anger, my hands beginning to tremble.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't—"

"I know, I'm not angry with you, Linn." He takes my hands, squeezing them.

I try to smile. I tried to give him some indication that I was comforted by his words. Instead, my mind lost itself in the panic. I tried to remember what Scout had told me about his assimilation. Mother Eve had injected him with a truth serum and preceded to ask him questions. I went through my interactions with her in my mind. When she removed my Fear, I was telling her about the loss of my voice. Why take my Anger? I would admit since speaking with her my mind had been sharper, clearer than it had been.

"What emotions did she take from you first?" I ask, my curiosity getting the best of me. He tilted his head to the side, confusion flashing in his eyes. He'd answer my questions, he always answered my questions.

"She took my fear away first." He began, there was pain in his eyes. He didn't want to talk about this, didn't want to revisit the old wounds I was opening for him. He'd still go through with it, he'd put me first. He always put me first. "After she did that, I felt more comfortable talking to her."

"And after she took your fear?" I whisper.

"She took my anger next."

One sentence is all it takes to send me into a downward spiral. He didn't have to tell me why she took away his anger next. I had my answer, she took away our anger so that we wouldn't retaliate. She took away the one thing we could use to ignite our rage, to incite our wrath. She was taking away our will to fight back. There was one more piece of information I needed to complete this puzzle. I needed this piece of information to help me make my final decision.

"After anger, what did she take from you?" I start for the bedroom. I can sense him walking behind me. I can sense that he's starting to put the pieces together in his mind. He's noticed I've been speaking more instead of using my tablet. He sees that I haven't raised my voice once, that I am perfectly composed although I am internally freaking out.

"My hatred." He whispered. "Linn, why are you asking me this."

"I think you know." I glance at him.

"I need to hear it from you." His voice goes hard. He's changed gears, he's gone into bodyguard mode. In this mode, his only objective is to make sure that I'm safe. It won't matter who or what stands in his way. He'll fight them all to make sure I make it out of this tower alive.

"Eve took away my fear the day of my father and brother's trial." I begin. "She just took away my anger when I told her about my plan to escape so that I could continue my search for the Virtuoso. She asked me to stay for one more night to—"

He didn't let me finish, his swirling purple eyes paralyzed me where I stood. He took a backpack from the closet, packing my clothes with swift efficiency. He grabbed my notepad, slipped it into the front pocket of the bag placing it on me. He took my hand, breaking the spell, and escorted me right back to the elevator. I tried to pull away. I tried to tell him I had to do more. He was unreachable, his own hands shaking. Mother Eve may have taken his anger from him, but there was such a thing as phantom pain. The sensation that made you relive pain in the limbs you had lost. Could that be what I was experiencing now? The phantom's breath of Fear as it sent shivers down my spine. I was going back on my word, would Mother Eve take that personally?

"Scout, please let me go." I pleaded.

"If she takes your hatred, that's it." He speaks the words quietly. I meet his eyes Fear's phantom lancing my heart. "If she takes your hatred, you'll be lost. Your only thought after will be to please her."

"Then how are you here?" I whisper.

"I never hated her." He answers. "I've never really had a problem with those in authority. Sure, there'd be times when I didn't fully agree with their decisions, but that's politics I stayed out of shit like that."

"Is that why you can still feel it?" I feel him place his hand on my cheek.

"She still took my hatred, Linn." He rests his forehead against mine. "I hated my father for abandoning our family when I was five years old. I hated the bastard who killed my mother when the riots started. Hell, I even hated Sparrow for making you laugh first. She took my hatred, but I could never be devoted to her. I could never love her."

My breath is stolen by the intensity of his gaze. He had told me the story of his father leaving. He'd been five years old, watching television with Sparrow on their couch. His mother had been sleeping soundly upstairs, she'd been exhausted after working a double shift at the factory. His father grabbed his peacoat, explaining that he needed to run a few errands. Sparrow knew it was a crock of shit, but Scout always saw the best in people. Scout had a heart of gold, it was one of the many things I adored about him. His father walked out the door and didn't return. Scout waited for days refusing to move from his spot on the couch except to eat and use the bathroom. He even slept on the couch, determined to greet his father when he returned. Two weeks passed and when it was evident his father wasn't coming through that door he got into a fight with Sparrow. Their babysitter had to break them apart, by then Scout had broken down, and collapsed in her arms.

The doors to the elevator opened, and he pulled away keeping his hand in mine. I struggled to keep up with him, his strides were longer than mine. We stepped outside, the sun beginning to set on the horizon bathing the world around us in shades of pink and orange. My bodyguard walks with me down the familiar streets. The night market stalls are opening, their keepers bowing their heads in greeting. I look up amazed at the clear night sky.

"There are scientists and environmentalists on Mother Eve's council," Scout states. "They were able to create a drone whose primary function is to remove the pathogen leftover from the bioweapons from the air."

My eyes grow wide in amazement. This meant the air was breathable again. We no longer needed to have a mask to traverse from place to place. There were scientists in our bunker, engineers, and environmentalists too. Mother Eve had to have known this, was she doing this for me? Was she doing this to prove that she was not the Monster I believed her to be?

He stops in front of the manhole cover lifting it up with a single hand. I begin the climb down, Mother Eve already knows about this place. This will be where we part ways. He won't be able to follow me to the next location. This is merely a supply run. I'll need to grab a key to one of the vehicles. Sparrow had been the one to teach me how to drive. I wasn't particularly a fan of it. The next bunker was on the Minnesota/Wisconsin border where the Mississippi River had been before it dried up.

The bunker's lights are already on, and a shiver runs down my spine. I expected the place to be dark. I expect there to be dust on the ground from being gone for so long. I am getting a bad feeling about this. Scout seems to share my view. We walk slowly in the direction of my room, finding the door ajar. I push it open slowly gasping in surprise.

"Hello, Nightingale."

Word Count: 16166