Summertime

Chapter Three-They Said Memories Were Forever

Terry’s P.O.V

The painful aching in my limbs dragged me out of a drugged coma. I groaned, trying to shift my uncomfortable position, but I couldn’t move. I was chained onto a hard, cold bed, metal rings pinching my wrists and ankles to keep them down. My heart started to pound and I struggled weakly, but my head felt foggy and my body was exhausted, so I lay still.

A bright light shone brightly in my face, making me cry out in surprise. I heard the whispers of people around my bed, but they were shrouded in darkness.

“What should we do with her?”

“Kill her. She’s a rebel, and rebels are the last thing we need.”

“But we’d need Korse’s permission.”

“It’s not like he’s the dictator—”

“Do you want to get in trouble with him?”

“Oh, shut up, you blithering idiots!” snarled a voice as a door swung open. The tall bald man who had attacked me at the school stormed in, and now I saw who had been around my bed. Two Draculoids, who had been planning to kill me. The man looked at me and his lip twitched. I whimpered, my heart pounding in my chest.

“We won’t kill her immediately…no, she’s not good enough for a swift and painless death,” Korse sneered.

“If you touch me…I…” I started, but could think of nothing I could possibly do to them. I was chained to the bed.

“Somehow you don’t seem very threatening right now, my dear,” Korse chuckled. I started to struggle as he brought out a syringe from under the table. My heartbeats were going so quickly I could barely breathe.

“I wonder how long she’ll last,” Korse said to the Draculoids. He gently twirled the syringe between the fingers, watching me. I forced down my panic and glared back at him, trying not to show any fear.

“Why? Why do you want to kill me? You could just force the pills on me, couldn’t you?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s not just that. You see, I knew your parents, your entire family in fact. They were troublemakers, rebels…they didn’t belong here, in my world. I wiped out your family with a fire…but you survived. Terebellum, isn’t it?”

I simply stared in shock. He smirked and brought the needle to my arm. I clenched my jaw, making myself meet his cold gaze. Without hesitating even the slightest bit, he jabbed the needle into my flesh.

Pain suddenly seared through my entire body and I cried out. The edges of my vision clouded over with a black mist, and I felt the lethal poison working its affects on my body. I was twitching, and my nerves screamed with agony. The darkness invaded my vision, and I drew one more ragged breath before I fainted.

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the blinding blue sky above me. The sun was bright white and burning hot, and I could feel its affects on my pale skin. I blinked hard, and realized I was being carried through the sandy desert by someone. With a small shriek I kicked out.

“Thank God, you’re awake,” the man carrying me groaned. He wore a stained white suit, along with a creepy looking Dracula mask. I whimpered, and he put me down on the sand. With a grunt, he pulled off the mask and ran his hand through his scruffy dark brown hair.

“How do you feel?” he asked. I blinked again.

“I…I don’t know. What’s going on? Who are you? Why can’t I remember anything?” I said, as I realized that I could remember nothing from before I woke up. Absolutely nothing. My entire mind was a blank.

“The poison must have had some effect on your memory…this isn’t good,” the man said as he glanced over his shoulder.

“What poison? What’s happening?” I cried. He crouched down next to me and I stared fearfully back into his blue eyes.

“I’ll put it in simple terms, sweetheart. Some jerk tried to kill you with a lethal injection, but I rescued you and sucked most of the poison out of you. I think it’s messed with your brain and wiped your memory. Now, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to leave,” he said, standing up and glancing around again.

“But why?! What…what if I die out here?” I cried, standing up on wobbly legs.

“I’m sorry. I’ve done the best I could, sweetheart. But I’m kinda working undercover with the bad guys…getting information…I’ve got to go.”

“Please—please don’t—” I begged.

“There are several small abandoned shacks around the desert. They have food and running tap water. I’m so sorry I can’t do more for you,” he apologized. Then he turned to go.

“At least tell me your name!” I cried.

“Cherri Cola,” he muttered without turning around, and then he was gone.

Two hours later I was still stumbling through the desert, chewing my lip so hard it had begun to bleed. I couldn’t remember a single thing about my past life. I was out in the middle of the desert with no food or water and only vague directions to where it could be found. And I was still fucked up from the poison that Cherri Cola had told me I was injected with.

My throat felt dry and scratchy, and I knew I would need water soon. If I could afford to waste the water, I would have been crying. But I held my tears in and wondered if I was going to die, and if so, when?

Night was falling and it was getting cold. But there was nowhere in sight I could sleep, except out in the middle of everything on the sand. I couldn’t just lie down and sleep in the middle of the desert. Even after my memory was wiped at least I knew this much.

I climbed to the top of a sand dune and looked around me. Squinting hard, I could see a large dark shape about half a mile away. I couldn’t exactly tell what it was, but it wasn’t a person or an animal, so it couldn’t be dangerous. Deciding that whatever it was might be my only hope, I skidded down the sand dune and headed for it.

It was a shack. Inside was a working faucet and several cans of dog food. Gratefully I turned on the sink and drank. The water was warm and tasted rusty, but I couldn’t have cared less. I found a can opener and hacked open one of the cans of dog food. While I devoured it, I looked at the label on the can. BL/ind Dog Kibble. The can was white with a small black smiley face on it. BL/ind must be some kind of dog food company, I decided, but I couldn’t think of what the name would stand for.

Exhausted, I curled up on the floor and hoped there weren’t spiders. My eyelids started to droop and I began to fell asleep. But before my brain shut down I asked myself one more question.

Who am I, and what the fuck is going on?