The Nemesis Syndrome

31. Eliza

One minute, there was nothing. The next, there was noise and lights, unfocused, and the feel of something on her skin that made her shudder.

'Eliza?'

Too loud, the voice.

She groaned, raising her hand to her head, feeling her hair just as much as her skin was.

What had happened?

Where was she?

What...

The second she started to think about everything, she started to panic- because where the answers should have been, there was nothing.

Empty space in her mind, empty space in her memory.

'Eliza?' The voice said again, and she blinked up towards it, to a boy she didn't know.

'Is that me?' She asked, her voice quiet, scratching, as if she had been screaming for her whole life.

The boy blinked. 'Please tell me you are joking.' Footsteps and loud voices, and something that she thought was fear flashed through his eyes. 'Eliza, we don't have time for this, we need to go.'

He reached towards her, and she flinched back; she wasn't entirely sure why, but she knew it was more than not knowing who he was.

'Who are you?'

'You know who I am.'

'I don't. I don't remember....I was at home... and then I wasn't. I wasn't anywhere. I was so alone...'

'You're not now.' He pulled up his sleeve and thrust his arm under her nose. 'Look. That's your name. You're my soulmate, and you are not alone. Okay? I know you can't remember, but it will come back to you. For now, trust me, and come with me.'

More voices, and a door slamming. And as Eliza turned towards the noise, she saw men pushing through a doorway.

But there was something stopping her, and as she looked back towards the boy, it was the echo of something in her head. Pain and fear and... 'You hurt me.'

He flinched.

'Didn't you?'

'Yes.' His stare was unflinching. 'But that was a lifetime ago now. Please, Eliza.' He held out his hand, and she took it. He pulled her out of the...thing...she was in, and started running, his hand still tight around hers.

'Stop!' Another voice, one of the men.

'Whatever you do.' The boy said between his feet falling on the floor. 'do not stop. They are more likely to kill you than anything else now.'

'Why?'

'Because we cannot be controlled.'

Where was she? What was going on? This, everything was madness. And they were running nowhere- this endless room of strange coffins was too big to hide, and she could tell the boy was not running to anywhere, just away from those chasing them.

'Stop.' She whispered.

'No.'

'We can't outrun them.' Her legs were already screaming with pain, and they had barely started running.

'We can.'

'You can.' She felt his hand clench- as if he already knew what she was thinking. 'You can run. I can't.'

'Don't even say it. I've already left you once.'

'But-' She was gasping around her words, and he used that to his advantage.

'I promised you. I promised that I wouldn't let you die, so shut up, and run.'

And she did. She tried to keep pace with him as they ran past even more people, asleep- or dead- in whatever it was she woke up in.

'I'm going to kill them all.' The boy snarled quietly.

And still they ran- until a door to their right flew open and an old man started calling for them. The boy ran towards the door, and once they were through it, it slammed shut.

'You need to get out.' The man said quickly, throwing a towel at her before pressing a series of numbers on the door. 'This will keep them out of this section for a while, but not forever. Take this chance and get out, and don't look back.'

'Why?' The boy asked.

The man only scowled at him.

'We will go.' The boy said. 'But only if you let the others out. There are hundreds in there. Let them go.'

'It's too late for them. Have you not noticed your own soulmate?'

'What happened?' Eliza asked.

'You forget everything.'

'I gathered that.' She couldn't even remember her own name- she was just hoping the boy wasn't lying.

'You might get yours back. Most people in there... they have been inside for so long that they have forgotten how to wake up, forgotten how to breathe. They are just brains that are still alive.'

'Why?' A whisper- she didn't understand how someone could be so evil.

How that could have happened to her.

'Because science requires sacrifice.'

'This isn't science.' The boy snarled. 'This is pure evil.'

'That is opinion.' Fists on the other side of the door. 'Go. Now.'

The boy took the towel from Eliza and threw it at the mans feet. 'Thank you.'

And he took Eliza's hand once more, and pulled her away from the door.