The stiffness in my muscles, the pain burning in my entire body and my dry mouth told me I was still very much alive. With muffled sounds I got up onto my elbows. I was back in the same hospital bed that I had been before. A glass off water was next to my bed. Thirsty as I was I downed it in one time. Quickly I caught my breath before I attempted to sit up. That took me three tries. Panting I looked around.
One a chair, next to my bed, lay a dark red TUAC uniform. It had two white stripes across the left sleeve and a single golden star on the place of the heart. Cringing I ripped off the bandage that held my infusion needle down. As I slipped out of bed the curtain surrounding it was ripped back violently. "Sit back down," Doctor Sinclair said nicely as she almost ran over. In all honesty, I was glad she made me sit down because I was exhausted. Just as I coughed harshly she pressed a stethoscope to my chest. "Any pain," she asked. "Stupid question," I mumbled. "Okay," she said smiling a little," where does it hurt the most?" I coughed once more. "My knee," I answered Doctor Sinclair.
Quickly she examined it. "There is no visible things that could cause a problem," she told me," of course it has had a month to heal."
Anger overthrew me in a second. "A month," I said loudly," you kept me under a month. Where is Julian?" That last question had been burning in my mind and on my tong. "I am not going to tell you anything until you calm down, Beau," Doctor Sinclair said. "Don't call me that," I said furiously. I was surprised by the sudden stealth this woman showed.
It took me a few minutes before I looked up at her again. "Where is Julian," I asked again. "I'll tell you after we get you dressed," Sinclair said. With a sight I agreed to that.
After she had put a thin white thing around my knee she helped me put the adjusting red pants on. Then a white undershirt with two red stripes around the left sleeve. And finally the red jacket. She combed my hair and put it in a tight ponytail.
I was exhausted as I fell back on the bed again. Now I was, almost, fully dressed and she would finally tell me where Julian was. Doctor Sinclair put white socks on and then stood silently in front of me.
"So," I asked. Doctor Sinclair sighted. "Julian," she said scraping her throat," died shortly after the bomb exploded. I was with him in his final moments. And he asked... He asked me to tell you to look at the Two Path Point."
Her words hit me like a brick wall. I didn't feel anything, only a kind off stillness. Much time to adjust I didn't get.
"Doctor Sinclair," a boy's voice sounded through the room. After a last look at me she looked around the curtain. "Yes, Jeahan," she said," I am right here." He walked over to her in a quick pass. "Here to pick up Beau for duty, ma'am," he said. Doctor Sinclair nodded. "I was just getting her shoes," she told him," just a moment."
Several minutes later she put on matching dark red boots. They were light, but very firm and flexible at the same time.
I walked out after Jeahan without looking back at the Doctor. Numb as I was I walked behind Jeahan through Base One. In one off the small Capsule Trains we went down to the command centre.
"Cebral, you're with Officer Nambels," Racgo said," and Sinclair, you're with me." I didn't react too that name. "Sinclair," Racgo said again," attention please." Jeahan grabbed me by the collar. "React when he calls your name, Sinclair," he said as he dragged me towards Racgo. "I don't have a last name," I said, still numb.
Until that moment I hadn't realized that I was the only one of the latest graduates that Racgo had choosen. "Follow me, Sinclair," he said as he turned and walked out. He walked in trough a door five meters down the hall. "This is our team, Sinclair," he said.
At the other end of the room stood Macime, Jeahan, Luke and at least 25 others that I didn't know.
My first day on Squat 1, Escader Zero was a blur of loading weapons, cleaning and checking them and doing routine patrols. At the end of my shift I was exhausted and my knee was buckling and burning as hell. Then I realized something.
"Racgo," I started," where do I life? I am from the Middle. Not from the Elite." He chuckled. "I'll bring you home myself," he said.
A short Capsule Train brought us ten minutes away from the Command Centre. "It's apartment 1120," said Racgo," with this bracelet you can go in. I see you in two days." He turned on his heels and walked away towards another Capsule Train. I slung the bracelet around my wrist and walked down the hallway he had pointed at. Apartment 1120 was the twelfth door on the right. There was quite a distance between the doors. I wondered why they would give me, a girl from the Middle, such a big apartment.
After a short tap of my bracelet against the doorknob it slid open. I didn't look at anything but the cough that was right in front of me. I walked over to it, fell down on it and stared off in the distance as tears streamed down my face. It wasn't even from the horrible pain or the numbness that came with loss. It was just a single thought.
Julian wouldn't have seen his dream come trough. His dream of me finding my mother. And I hated her for that.
