Reborn

Tris

"Will I see Dad?"
My mother smiles at me lovingly.
"Of course sweetheart. You'll see them all again."
For a moment, I feel disoriented. I should feel happy- I am happy. I am finally done. But something is nagging at me, telling me I won't see everyone I want to. Everyone I need to be happy.
"But...I won't see...Tobias," I realize, pulling the name from my foggy subconscious. He is important to me, in way I couldn't remember.
"No, you won't," she says sadly. "Not for some time. Is that alright?"
I think about this for a minute.
"I..No, I don't think that it is. I think I need to be with him. No, I know I need to be with him."
My mother's expression doesn't change; it just stretches further into a proud one.
"I knew you would say that. It's your choice Beatrice. Do you want to go back?"
I don't hesitate this time as my memories flood back into my mind.
"Yes."
My mother leans in and touches my forehead with her lips in a ghost of a kiss.
"I'll see you again sweetheart. When you're ready."
With that, she disappears as my world goes black.

                                ***
My eyes open to the white of a cracked ceiling. Disoriented, I blink a few times and look around. There seemed to be tubes connecting my arms to monitors surrounding my bed, reminding me of the time we had to take my mother to the hospital for breaking her leg. So, I surmised, I must be in some sort of healing center.
"Hello?" I called out.
My own throaty echoes greeted me back.
Wincing, I carefully pulled out the needles in my arms and sat up. My room appeared to be empty. Cautiously, I tested my feet against the ground. They didn't hurt, but felt odd, as if walking wasn't a function they were used for anymore.
"Hello?" I tried again. "Is anyone there?"
Nothing.
Slowly pulling myself up, I walked out the door hobbling. With a gasp, I recoiled at the sight that met my eyes. Bodies, everywhere on the floor. Distant words were spray painted on the wall.
"GD humans are humans too. We also know how to mistreat and hurt."
My eyes traveled to a partially wrecked sign
"Bureau of Gen-"
I was back in the Bureau.
But this building didn't look like the building I was used to, with the open windows and colorful flags adorning the walls. This building was closed, with slivers of light slicing through the air from tiny holes towards the top of the ceiling. I stumbled forward, stunned by bodies and overwhelmed by the stinking smell of death. Judging the by the look of the decaying flesh and the awful odor, these people had been dead for quite some time. How did I end up here? Where is everyone? Suddenly, a single name popped into my head.
Tobias.
My heart aches as I subconsciously looked for him, expecting him to round the corner and envelope me in his open arms. More names come back to me.
Christina, Caleb, Cara, Matthew, Uriah, Peter.....
David.
I flash back to the final confrontation, as he fired bullets into my gut. I hit the button right? Just I was starting to think the whole thing was a dream, a sharp pain in my abdomen stopped me. I lifted my shirt and spotted several healing scars. So he did shoot me. But where am I now?
Instead of panicking, I decide to try to find my way out of the obviously deserted center.
After wandering the facility for a bit, I found an elevator and pressed the button to summon it. It opened with a creaking noise, indicating it wasn't used to doing that. I stepped in, unsure of which button to press. I decided to press the top one: Surface level. I must be underground.
After a few minutes. The elevator opens with a pleasant ding, revealing an open atrium with bunches of old chairs and carcasses of giant machines, filled with packaged food. I spot a shelf filled with folded pieces of paper, and pick up one. Though the glossy paper was in sad condition, ripped and yellowing, the cheerful message welcomed me to...Route 94. Having no idea what that meant, I opened the brochure. A giant map, similar to the one they showed us at the Bureau unfolded before. No not similar, the same. Unfamiliar names were printed on it. New York. District of Columbia. But as I looked it over, I found the one name I knew: Chicago.
If I wasn't in Chicago, then where the hell am I?
North of Chicago, a large red circle was stamped over a road with big lettering saying "YOU ARE HERE". I squinted and made out the name of the city beneath the red dot.
Milwaukee. I recognized the name as one of the government bases the Bureau talked about. What was I doing in Milwaukee? Before pondering on the big question, I focused on the second biggest one: How was I going to get back to Chicago?