What Memory Remains

Chapter 19

Alice lay sleeping soundly, completely oblivious to everything around her. Sade tossed and turned, yet was equally out of it. The conductor was in the next room over, his feet propped up on a nearby bench with his hat covering his eyes. All minds were soundly in slumber, except for one.

  The stature of the Rainmaker easily dwarfed the two of the Minerva agent and the little girl. He breathed raggedly through his mask as he stood in tenuous preparation for what he had to do. Yet, the more he prepared his mind for it, the harder it was to carry out. Of all the years of doing NOSRAD’s bidding, he never had to kill a child before.

  “My God, she looks just like Bethany,” he pondered. The blonde hair, the cherub-like cheeks. It was strange to think, but killing her would feel like he was murdering his own daughter. Things were hard enough to do as it was. Thoughts of walking away seemed agreeable, but the last conversation he had with Krane a week ago stuck out in his mind.

  “I know you don’t always agree with the moral implications of your assignments, but if you don’t agree we’ll simply stop treating you. And your daughter’s never going to see you again. Do you really want that for yourself? Going the rest of your life without seeing her because of how you look?” He had said.

  “You made me this way,” he retorted.

  “We saved your life! You wouldn’t be able to see her at all if it wasn’t for us! I know what we ask isn’t always easy, but if you want to be cured you need do your assignments. Besides, I’d hate for an accidents to happen with your daughter or your wife.”

  “Ex-wife. And if you touch either of them….”

  “You’ll fall apart, Luke. That’s what you’ll do. Why you’d spare her is beyond me. Seems like she jumped to someone else the minute she was told you were dead.”

  “I”ll….”

  “You’ll what? Get your family killed by killing me? I don’t suggest that at all Mr. Overton. Now I understand your concerns with everything, but you have to do the assignments , so do it and everything will be fine.”

  He had destroyed almost an entire wing of the facility that day. Krane and NOSRAD, they were nothing but a bunch of manipulative cretins. Preying on people in need like this. How many others had they baited with their lies?

  It was his idea for NOSRAD to tell his wife that he was dead. According to the information Krane relayed, there was a funeral and everything. Since he had opted into surgery with NOSRAD, they told her that his body was donated to science and therefore she couldn’t see it. It hurt when he saw the look on her face through the two-way mirror when she found out. As much as it hurt, with all the assignments he had to fulfill and not truly knowing if he’d ever be cured, it would be better for them to move on.  There was no need in them waiting around for something that may never happen.

Besides, after killing so many people, he was feeling very much dead. The only hope he had was to be cured and see Bethany again.

“If I still have this ability after all this, you’ll get what’s coming to you Krane you pious bastard.”

  With much trepidation, he decided that he couldn’t look at her. Seeing her sound asleep like some fallen angel, it just felt too wrong to see her die. He took a big step backwards and was now outside. Trembling, he took in a deep breath.

  “Forgive me,” he thought somberly and raised his hands to the sky. An immediate downpour of rain fell towards the train car and moved directly inside, filling it with water at an exponential rate. As he concentrated on maintaining a wall of water to block the entrance, he could barely make out the faces of Sade and Alice fighting to get out. Their faces contorted as they struggled to breathe, and he solemnly shook his head no.