Echoes of the Past

Chapter Two - Part Two

Chapter Two: Whispers In The Dark - Part Two

Sam looked up from studying the ground and eyed him questioningly.

"Just, anything," James said. "I'd rather talk than walk in silence and let my nerves get the better of me."

"Okay," Sam said. "How are you coping, with everything? Things happened pretty fast yesterday, and we haven't had much chance to talk."

James considered this and said, "You know, I haven't really had a chance to think about anything too much. Since leaving Tyken Town. I was too exhausted earlier to do anything but fall straight to sleep. Now... now I'm just worried about Evan."

Sam regarded him with a small smile. "I'm impressed, James. The only life you've ever known has been blown apart and all the walls of your comfort and safety been torn down, your future a complete unknown, and here you are worrying about someone you've known for less than a day."

"That's the thing." James said. "I have no world. Not really. So there isn't one to turn upside down. It's hard to feel the chaos within the chaos, if you get me. But I'm hopeful. About the future, our situation..."

A faint rumble echoed through the cave tunnel, which sounded to James like a low growl. He shuddered to think what kind of creature could make that sound. "Well, maybe not our current situation, anyway," he added, realising his nerves had quickened his speech.

Sam nodded, keeping his focus ahead.

James kicked something solid. He searched the ground and saw crumpled armour plating and scattered mechanical parts, gleaming dully in the firelight. What looked like oil stains, or could have been blood, was splattered on the walls and ground. Meth fend, James thought. It looks like a mech was blasted apart here. Or torn apart.

James hoped Evan wasn't waiting for them somewhere in a pool of his own blood. He shook the dark thoughts away with a shudder. The tunnel had narrowed and felt too close, too constricting, like the cave was slowly swallowing them up.

"Can you just tell me, what your plan was for me?" James asked.

Sam had been posing as a construction worker in Tyken Town, and for two years James had worked alongside him. That was until Sam revealed himself to be an Oneron soldier, and told James he was one too. Now he felt like he was just beginning to meet Sam, the real Sam, for the first time.

"It was simple," Sam said. "Tam, Den and I were to watch over you, allow you to live out your new life in town, and make sure nothing bad happened to you. We were to keep a relative distance."

"Right," James said. "That you did. Tam was the only one that actually spoke to me. But then, he was our foreman so that was his job." But it was more than that. James considered Tam his only friend, and he truly felt that Tam cared for him. When James had awoken those two years earlier, he had spent several days living on the streets, coming to terms with his sudden existence. It had been a chance encounter - which in hindsight wasn't so random - with Tam that had led the man to employ James, and help him get settled with a home of his own.

James turned to Sam. "You never said two words to me if you could help it."

"I know," Sam said softly. "I'm sorry for that. I didn't know how close I could get, and I guess, I stayed too far back."

"It's not that you weren't friendly. But..." but I could have used another friend. James let the thought linger as a lump grew in his throat. He shook his head and added, "And I didn't even know that Den existed until yesterday."