Revenge (Book 3 in the Rise Trilogy)

Getting Back, An Illusion, and a Dream State

Getting Back, An Illusion, and a Dream State

"What do you mean it never happened?!" I cry as I look at the people in the room.

"None of that ever happened, Riley," the blond haired dude says as he looks at me while pressing his hands on the white table to lean forwards as he talks to me. "You have been in a coma state under our care and protection for over three years. We call it the Project Hack."

"That's a load off bull shit and you know it," I snap angrily pointing an acusing finger at them as I pace the floor in front of the people in the room.

The man signs. "There is no need to be cross, Riley. Everything after your parent's death never happened. You never went back in time, you never had the experiences you thought you had, and you never died."

"So what you're saying is that I never had the experiences I had," I place my right index finger on top of my left one. "I never saved their lives, I never changed anything about history, and I never even existed to them?"

"Precisely," Blonde says before continuing. "History happened exactly the way as you saw it in your dreams. You had nothing to do with it."

"I know for a fact that I felt that bullet," I say pointing an accusing finger at the man. "I know I felt those emotions and injuries. There's no way I didn't."

"Then why don't you still have a bullet wound in your stomach?" Blonde asks me. I'm speechless. "We programmed your memory to where you felt pain and emotion. We took away the problems of disease and infection to keep you alive. But it wasn't enough. We even made sure you felt things a lot more than normal so it would be believable. We changed the littlest things about how you reacted to every little thing with the touch of a button."

"There's no way that's possible," I say quickly as I fidget with the oversized faded blue and red plaid shirt I wear over a black tank top and jeans with Converse these people (whoever they are) gave to me after we left the hospital. But I still don't know where I am.

I try to fight back tears as I stop pacing and state at the man. "Then why did you pull me out?"

Blonde sighs as he looks down at the table before speaking. "You died in the memory. Then your heart stopped and so did your breathing. We took you out of the coma state you were in and brought you to the hospital where you woke up."

"Where the hell am I?!" I ask looking around at the four men and one familiar woman in the room who has been studying me with interest since I woke up. "What year is this?"

The woman speaks this time as she steps forwards. "You are in New York on December 21st 2015 and you now stand in Abstergo Industries where you have been in your coma state since you cried yourself to sleep on the floor in your parent's bunker in Texas."

I stop pacing the floor and stare at the people in the room. "How did you know I lived in a bunker in Texas?" The five grown-ups say nothing. "Nobody knew where we were for the last fifteen years of my life. Then all of the sudden, on the day the world ended, all the Templars in the world find us." I stare at the woman in the eyes. "How is this possible?"

"You have been under survalence since you were enrolled in high school," she says without missing a beat.

"Bull shit," I snap. "You people sent the Templars after my family." I point an accusing finger at all of them. "You knew I would survive and my parents wouldn't."

A shorter man with dark brown hair and dark eyes steps forwards and I nearly scream when I realize who it is. "Riley, you have to listen to us."

"Connor," I whisper as my eyes widen in shock.