Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday

Chapter 8: The Knowledge We Share

I closed my eyes, but the image still played behind my eyelids. Justin had warned me the tape would be hard to watch, and I thought I'd prepared myself. I was wrong. I opened my eyes and looked back the screen, Justin had paused the tape, leaving my mom's face twisted in pain from the burning "E" on her face. I couldn't see Element's expression from this camera angle, but I'm sure it sported that sickly smile I was quickly starting to hate.

"The tape was online for less than two minutes before the U.N.A took it down." Justin told us. "I doubt many people saw it, but I managed to copy it to my hard drive in time."

"That girl's a maniac, plain and simple. I'd honestly hate to find out what she'd be like if she wasn't under the safeguard of the WCs." Megan mumbled.

"How far are they going to let her go?" Katrina shuddered. "I mean, what would happen if she got a hold of one of us?" In response, Megan stretched out her arm and locked her eyes on the scars. The bandages were gone, giving us all a perfect view of the answer to Katrina's question. Under the table, I ran my fingers through my hands, trying to massage the cold glow out of them. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Felma lift her head up and look at me. X and I exchanged a glance when Felma let out a low growl in my direction. X ran his hand down her back, trying to soothe her.

"She's probably just concerned about you Warren." He said. "Dogs can smell emotions after all." I nodded, he was right, I hoped. Justin yanked the flash drive out of the computer, making the frozen image on the screen disappear with a click. He extended it in my direction. With a moment of hesitation, I took it from him.

"I have another copy on the computer itself. Keep this one safe for me."

"I will Justin, thanks." Megan's chair scrapped across the floor as she stood up, folding her arms and glancing curiously at Justin.

"Who exactly put the tape online?" She inquired. Justin leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the desk, prompting an eye roll from Katrina.

"I don't know." He admitted. "I got to it through that R.I.O.T site someone made. The owner tried to link the tape onto there but the WCs removed it just afterwards."

"If the WCs can take down the tape within two minutes, how exactly is the R.I.O.T site staying up?" I asked, turning in my chair a little to face Justin.

"That's the weird thing, no matter how many times they take it down, it's always back up within a couple minutes. And it seems like they're having a harder and harder time removing it the more it goes back up." I scrunched my face up a little, thinking. It would be one thing for someone to simply make a site like this. But they'd been updating it, making sure it stayed online. That took a considerable amount of dedication. I noticed Megan's eyes on me, so I looked up, and found that everyone was looking in my direction. I adjusted myself in the chair, exhaling a little bit.

"Don't look at me like that you guys." I sighed. "I have no idea what Element meant about my mom keeping secrets, and that was obviously her point."

"But Element hinted at some sort of connection between your mother and Primary Squadron." Justin said carefully. "Warren, if you know anything..." I leapt up from my chair, putting my hands around the edge of the table.

"Justin, if I knew anything that important, you think I'd keep it from you..." I stopped my sentence short, feeling an invisible weight on my forehead. I shook my head slightly, letting go of the table. "As far as I know, my mom has no connection to Primary Squadron. If that assumption changes, I'll let you know." Kat started to say something, but stopped when I turned and walked out of the room.