Under the Moonshine

Twenty Two | Lurking Shadows

Olivia's small office beside her bedroom was clean and neat, just like the whole house. The walls were painted white, the ceiling was high, enough to calm the mind and breathe fine.

Taren was seated opposite her, a small glass table dividing them. They just visited a hospital earlier that day to check on him. Olivia knew her bestfriend, Dr. Tammy Vera, could keep any secret. Everything was confidential, they all knew it. The brown envelop sat on top of the glass table and Taren felt uneasy of what could have been written in there.

"Do you still remember your past?"

His eyes looked up at her. He shook his head, "I remember nothing."

"Sebastian was given a list of soldier's who underwent the Class S training in the US. Every soldier came from different countries. The Green Empire was the one who provided that list to him, of course, to be experimented."

Taren said nothing.

"I always wondered why those soldiers volunteered to be included in that list. What kind of psychotic words of pursuit did they say for men to agree in human experimentation? So I did my own research, Taren."

He just nodded, now listening intently.

"I figured out that the Class S Training was for soldiers who were losing their sanity. Soldiers who had witnessed enough for them to go crazy. Beyond saving, physically speaking."

"You mean," he started, uncertainty swirling inside him. "I used to be in that state?"

Olivia nodded, face still serious.

"All the soldiers injected with the virus, I have witnessed how they changed. From crazy to an empty soul. And then you." She reached out for the brown envelop and started to read the results. Dr. Tammy couldn't even explain it himself. It was like examining a new kind of breed, he told her.

"Wilson said there's a microchip inside me. It was coded for me not to remember my past. It is also for me to learn more things, beyond human brain can contain."

She agreed. "It is also for you to learn your enemies, their weakest points and how to kill them."

Taren's brows frowned. "If I could just turn back time, if I could just have a choice, I never wanted to be like this."

Olivia shrugged her shoulder. "No need to dwell on the what-ifs, Taren. The only harm the past can do to us is to haunt us. But it is always our choice if we let it caught us. What you were doesn't matter now. What you have become is the most important. Keep that in mind."

He nodded, still trying to picture himself in the past.

A man without home.

A soldier lost in war.

A patient beyond saving.

That was his ghost, trying to trail behind his present shadow. Emily's mom was right. It would do him no good.

- - - - -

Words ran faster than wind.

Truth got twisted, like always, and no one bothered to know the other side of the story.

News about Facundo's anniversary celebration was all over Elton's village. Especially in Emily's school. People got a mixed reaction regarding that event. Some have witnessed the scene. Others just heard it from a friend and distorted the news into some comic-like chapter.

Emily chose to keep her mouth shut. Even Amanda and Ruth wanted her side of it. She said nothing to them. At lunch she distanced herself, trying to get away with all the sea of murmurs. She hated being the center of the topic. She didn't like that kind of spotlight.

"Is he okay?" a familiar voice asked her.

Emily turned at her back and saw Bree. "Yes."

"Are you?"

"Yes."

Bree tapped her foot on the ground, eyes looking at a distant, as if lost in thought. Emily knew that reaction well.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"One of the students here got attacked by a werewolf."

Emily instantly raised her eyebrow, as if offended. "What?"

"It was I who called the ambulance. It was I who saw her on the school's entrance. People immediately thought of a werewolf when they saw her wounds. Especially now that rumors are going around about what happened at the anniversary."

"That's not Taren," she stated, matter-of-fact.

Bree looked at her. "I know. And I believe you. But maybe Taren's not the only one in his kind, is he?"

Emily's mind raced in horror. Her mother mentioned that Yotta Corp. was still building up armies of hybrids.

"And maybe you haven't noticed, Em," Bree whispered. "But Yotta Corp. funded the research facility here in Elton. They designed the Research building. They might be hiding something underground."

She frowned, letting her words sink in.

"Your father's sec went here right after he got attacked by Taren. I overheard the head security talking about that."

Emily looked down on the floor. She could suddenly feel the wild pounding of her heartbeat and what lies beneath the ground floor of their Research building.

"Why are you telling me all this, Bree?"

She shrugged her shoulder. "Because you can't do this all alone."

Warmth surrounded her, overwhelmed at what was happening. She wanted to hug her bestfriend. And thank her. And confide everything in her again.

"And because I also know some secrets."

That got Emily's attention.

They exchanged a knowing look.