Shattered

Chapter 22

Alex woke up feeling ill and disorientated, it was becoming a regular occurrence for the unfortunate amnesiac. Still groggy, he swept his eyes around his surroundings, it appeared he was still in the same hospital bed, although he was alone in the room this time and from the looks outside the dark window, it was late in the night. For a few minutes he sat in silence, not thinking about his problems, just sitting in the barely lit room. Yet, the itch to rediscover himself became too much, so he closed his eyes and tried to remember.

It took half an hour before he started to feel anything change. He was getting a flashback of...something, vague notions of who these strange animal people were, and flittering images, he tried harder to recall it all until he heard a voice, that let the images slip through his grasp and back into the void. "Hey brother how's it going?"

He opened his eyes to see another person standing beside his bed, a human like him, smiling widely. "Who the hell are you?" Alex demanded harshly, enraged that the man had stopped him on the brink of remembrance.

"How could you not remember an old friend?" The man asked with a hurt look on his face. "Its me, Santiago!"

"Santiago?" Alex muttered warily, he had not seen the man enter and had immediately become suspicious of his arrival.

"Yeah Santiago, you have to remember me! We fought together man, bled together!" The man prompted helpfully, although with some force.

"No sorry I can't remember, apparently I have amnesia, if you haven't noticed." He fired back caustically. This man pressed all the wrong buttons for some reason, something was...off about him.

"That really is unfortunate." This "Santiago" sighed. "I was hoping you would remember me. I just had to warn you."

"Warn me? About what?" Alex demanded, suspicious golden eyes glaring at the strange man that had come out of the blue and barraged him with words.

Santiago turned around briefly to stare at the whitewashed wall to the left of the bed, letting an unseen malevolent grin manifest on his face. "I wanted to make sure that even in your forgetful state, you were warned."

"About what?!" Alex shouted angrily, starting to lose his patience with this visitor.

"Oh, just that you can't trust these animals." Santiago replied offhandedly, turning back around to give him a serious look. "They are lying to you!"

"How?" Alex asked, not wanting to believe this guy, yet developing a little doubt in his damaged mind.

"They aren't telling you everything." Santiago whispered softly, that some how having a bigger effect than if he had shouted. "They have secrets, plans, for you! They can't be trusted!"

"Oh, but you can?" Alex muttered derisively, unamused with this man's attempts to sway him. "Frankly, I trust them more then some random man who says he's from my past,at least a few of them I somewhat remember!"

"You say that now, but I think your opinion will change." Santiago said confidently, as if Alex was a child that firmly believed in a lie, and will soon realize the error of his ways.

"Sure." Alex grunted and turned away to face the window, dismissing the stranger from his mind. He had nothing but ill things to say and honeyed words. Even without his memory, he knew a rat when he saw one. Still, no matter how confident he was, a sliver of doubt remained, festering in his mind. Perhaps he was right, and he was trying to warn him.

"Santiago" snarled at his failed attempt to crack the one who could make more of the markers. Dropping the disguise, it slunk back into the man's mind, like a snake back into its den, its ruse failed. No matter, it would try again another day, waiting patiently, it would have the chance to make its move. The signal always won in the end, only time could tell, and this time would not be any different.