Amnesia

Chapter 11- Aidlyn

It's been two days since our run in with the drones. We spent every waking minute of it trudging through the never ending wilderness. Will has lead us the entire time and I'm praying that he isn't wrong in his sense of direction. There hasn't been a single sight of mountains yet and I get the feeling that at our walking pace, we still won't see any for a very long time.

After our incident, leaving us drenched, we walked until the Sun could no longer be seen and then we took turns keeping watch. It's my turn tonight.

Tye is laying beside a tree and Will is beside our now diminished fire. I rest my head and back against a tree, only a bit away from the two boys.

Since the day that we left the cliffs, my entire body has been feeling worse and worse; my head is pounding, all my limbs feel weak, and after the slightest bit of exertion I break into a cold sweat. All of these attributing factors have increased over the last two days, but I haven't said anything about it. I don't want Tye to worry and I don't want to slow us down, so I just ignore it and hope it will pass.

Without warning, Tye gets up and begins walking into the dark.

"Tye?" I whisper, loud enough for him to hear.

Through the meager shine of the moon, I can see Tye turn to face me for just a second. "I'm just going for a walk," he replies.

I don't stop him or move to go with him because I can tell he wants to be alone.

I watch his back recede into the trees and from the corner of my eye, I see Will sit up.

"He probably had a dream- actually, make that nightmare- about is father," Will breaks the silence.

"Why? What do you mean?" I inquire.

"Tye and his father were really close, that is until his mom died. Ellery was always too soft-hearted to be the wife of a soldier, but she loved her husband. Despite her love for him, she didn't agree with his choices or the government's choices; she knew that what they were doing was wrong, we all did, but she was the only one who openly defied the ARC," Will explained.

"So one day they killed her and James was never the same," Will refers to Tye's father.

"Instead of turning on the ARC and avenging his wife, he convinced Tye that the government knew best and James turned him into a prodigy. He did it so that Tye would follow the ARC without hesitation and he wouldn't have the same fate as his mother's," Will continues and I stay completely silent, not knowing if there was anything that could be said to that.

"He would beat and punish Tye if he ever even faltered the slightest bit. His father didn't just push him to his limits, he broke them and still demanded that he go on," Will concluded.

"Why are you telling me this?" I finally ask after a long moment.

"So you'll know why he is the way he is."

. . .

I'm dying. I've officially reached the conclusion that my body is destroying itself. There is not a single doubt in my mind that I've become sick. And you know what makes it even worse is that never before in my life have I felt this way; thanks to the Addendum Tablet.

I'm a walking slab of sweat and misery. To my utter astonishment, neither Tye nor Will have even noticed this yet.

We spent the entire day, after learning part of Tye's past, walking westward- per usual. Walking and sleeping is literally the only thing that I've done (besides trudge in anguish).