Amnesia

Chapter 8- Tye

*edited by gracefulwriting*

My plan is simple: Enter the ARC Lab Facilities. Find and talk to Aidlyn. Then if she believes and trusts me- help her escape. There's a jeep waiting by the side of the building that we'll use to get away and the name of a place that we have to find.

I got the name of the place through a rumor. This rumor has been traveling throughout the ARC for years, until it was silenced for good about a year ago.
They told us that if they heard of anyone discussing or having any association at all with the rumor, you would be terminated.

After they shut down the rumor, things went back to normal, but now I'm beginning to believe that maybe it wasn't just a rumor. I get that it would have been dangerous. That there was a small chance that the rumor could make its way to the public, but still, the ARC was urgent to tame the wild claims.

Since then I've begun to question the ARC and it's ways. Many of the things they do are simply wrong. What's worse is that it's taken me this long to realize it. I witnessed what they did to those innocent people. Their blood was spent for the wrong reasons. This time I won't let them do the same to Aidlyn.

The ARC lied. These people they sent us to take down were not rebels of any kind. They were murdered to cover up the mistakes of the government; for simply remembering. There is no defect in the tablet, only in the memory wipe.

They're going to kill Aidlyn soon. I know they won't immediately because they need her for experimenting, but her death is inevitable. The ARC needs to discover what is causing people to wake up before a full-scale war starts again, and they'll use her to find it.

If everyone finds out about the war, riots will start again. Just the fact that the government took away their memories- their choice. . . will start another war.

My penance for helping the ARC kill all those people starts with Aidlyn. Since I didn't save them, I can at least try to save her.

It was easy to get inside. The guards and officials already know me because of my frequent visits to speak with Will.

When I say frequent, I mean the several times a month I come to talk to Will. Will has been pretty much my best and only friend since we were very young. Living directly next to each other brought us close. We played together as small children, grew, and were taught side by side.

Despite our friendship, our interests have never been the same. Where Will has always been fascinated with science, biology, and "educational things", I am more physical and he is mental. Both of us prodigies, but of different areas.

I found the lab door at the back of the building and pressed my hand to the sensor. Several beeps sounded from behind the enormous metal door and with a final whoosh it slid open.

The tables, monitors, and other various instruments, lay scattered in their familiar places. In the far corner of the lab sits a desk and at the desk I can see Will typing on his Port, head down and focused.

This position reminds me of so many times I used to find him enveloped in his experiments. Every time I would go into his room he would be scratching down observations or testing different solutions.

When I enter, Will's gaze finds mine. A smile whips onto his face and he gets up to meet me. Taking only a few strides across the expanse of the lab, we collide in a tight embrace.

"What's going on with the Labs these days?" I ask him casually.

We step back to look at each other's faces.