Fragments Of A Broken Past (On Hold)

[4] - The Base

As Alissa walked through the bright white corridor, she knew what she would come to find up ahead. A boy sitting in his bed looking over at her. She had been informed over radio-com that the boy had awoken, and that she could visit and ask questions any time now that he was healed.

Over the past four days the boy has been asleep, she has learnt things from the younger girl how had been traveling with the boy, her name being Ruby. Sone things she had learnt is that his name was Steven, he is apparently fourteen-years-old and he has no living relatives to speak of...

The pain of which I felt after hearing the young girl tell me that and burst into tears was close to immeasurable... This boy truly was like no others his age, he was different, and either way. Alissa's higher-ups had asked her to see if he has a valid reason to stay here, but she intended to keep both the boy and the girl at this base... Even if Alissa had to lie to those higher than her.

Her feet moved along as she continued deep in thought, she begins to attempt to come up with a liable excuse or a reason her higher ups would believe and allow them to stay. But she is abruptly snapped from her thoughts as she sees the metal plate anchored to the wall reading 032 the room where Steven was held.

She walks into the room, to look at the boy shovelling down the food in front of him. She was almost amazed at the speed the meal was disappearing, however she decided to save the greetings and jump straight to the point.

"So Steven..." The boy stops eating and looks over at her. "Why did ya come to this place?"

The boy looks up at the ceiling for a moment contemplating what to say, his blue eyes showing the depth of his thought. "Um.." he began "Well, I don't have a good reason, my home was wiped out and the only information I had was to go north..."

Alissa's eyes widened, so the boy decided to go north on a whim?! She wondered.

"Oh!" the boy exclaimed. "I was also told to say 'Caleb sent me' do you know what that means?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't"

"Damn, I was hopping someone here might no something..."

"If ya don't mind me askin, who told ya to say that?"

The boy paused and looked at her, closed his eyes and turned his head to face forward and looked toward the roof, as if he was reminiscing on an old memory he had forgotten. "Pop did..."

"Pop?"

"Oh, thats what I call my grandfather... Apparently he lived before the The End, but I don't know what he meant about that Caleb thing..."

"And do you know where he is?" Alissa asked, guessing the answer but surprised by his reaction.

The boy sat there, but looked over at her, his eyes void of emotion. "He's dead!" he exclaimed with a slightly sadistic smile "He died to let both me and Ruby live, Ha! What a freaken dumb-ass! Oh well, it was his choice..." The boy looked out the window and spoke in a darker voice than his previously harsh sarcastic voice. "And he chose to die..."

---

Have you ever wondered what death is like? Have you ever avoided thinking about the consequences of your actions? Well, because of that one decision I made that day, my home was destroyed and my only living family, killed.

"I'm sorry for your loss..." Said the woman standing by the door way, her red hair glowing in the light. That's the first time she's sounded normal out of the two times I've spoken to her.

"Nah, don't worry about it... I tend to think about it as though they gave their lives for the younger who have more to live for..." I reply.

"Wow," she said pausing after "that's actually an interesting way of saying that..." She looks up at the roof "I never thought about it that way before..."