We walked down the path on the muddy road leading back. As we approached the road crossing, we walked straight and didn’t turn in the direction of the tall buildings. As we kept walking, Boris didn’t say a word. Maybe he was mad. I tried to break the silence and said, “It won’t seem long if we conversed a little.”
He said, “About?”
I said, “Stuff.”
He said, “What stuff?”
I said, “The missing years.”
He said, “You mean the past ten years?”
I said, “Yeah. Tell me your story.”
He said, “I don’t have a story, even if I did, I don’t want to discuss it while carrying him. He won’t always be unconscious and can listen to us.”
I said, “Oh. Classified information?”
He said, “No. I just don’t want to discuss anything in his presence Lina. I only trust you, but no one else.”
I looked at him and smirked. I said, “The rain is slowing down. It looks like it will stop soon.”
He said, “Good to know.”
I said, “Well, do you want a history lesson?”
He said, “Enlighten me.”
I said, “You see these buildings and old homes? They were never like that. It was a thriving little city. It had a population of around 65,000 people. This is called the city centre. There were many homes and small commercial buildings around the city. But most people lived here though.”
He said, “And a small portion lived in the rural area around the city, where we are at now.”
I said, “Yes. The rural area had military bases and military families. We are descendants of the military clan.” I laughed and he smiled at me.
He said, “I knew all that before.”
I said, “I know you know. We learned about it when we were kids.”
He said, “So why do you mention it now?”
I said, “The best part about learning history, is seeing it too.”
I pointed around and turned myself in a circle. Boris stopped and looked at me. He said, “Is that why you come here often? You want to live the past?”
I stopped and thought that Sara kept telling me to go back, and she claimed she was from the past. Did I have an inner desire to live in the past because it seemed better?
He stared at me and said, “Lina? What are you thinking?”
I smiled at him and said, “Oh nothing!”
He looked at me and kept walking. The rain stopped and the dark clouds were dissipating. I said, “Maybe now we will see better with the moonlight.”
He said, “That’s great, but the sun will rise soon.”
I said, “Oh. It has been that long? What an eventful night.”
He said, “That’s summer for you. Long sunny days, but short night times.”
I said, “Are you tired?”
He said, “Yes.”
I said, “We should stop and rest for a bit.”
He said, “I don’t think we can. We need to reach the Triangle compound soon before any one sees us.”
I said, “They won’t because we will be far from any wakeful eyes. We will go through a hidden path near the river.”
He said, “You sure know many hidden ways. What was your position again and doing what in the Intelligence compound all these years?”
I said, “When you’re alone, you spend a lot of time exploring places.”
He said, “Why? I thought you had a group of friends and knew so many people in all three compounds.”
I said, “But no one wanted to associate with me outside of work.”
He stopped and said, “Why?”
I said, “They were afraid of me. I collected sensitive data and at times I interrogated people to get that data. I’m not very well liked.”
He said, “So?”
I said, “Oh Boris. You wouldn’t understand. You do the same thing.”
He said, “I do it for safety. People understand that and know what position I am in. They should know yours.”
I said, “Can we talk about something else?”
He stared at me and walked slowly. I followed him and didn’t say anything. I can see the sun slowly creeping in the horizon and brisk of wind brushed my cheeks every now and then. Suddenly, I heard a noise. Boris stopped to listen. The sound was more apparent this time and nearer. He said, “We need to hide.”
He turned left towards some bushes. He tried to kneel down, but he motioned to me to help him get John off and lay him on the ground. He took his gun out and motioned me to do so too. We heard the sound again, and it was very close to us. Out of nowhere, a herd of creatures ran out of a house near the road. I said, “What are they!”
Boris, with wide eyes stared at the creatures and didn’t say anything. John said, “They are dogs.”
We looked back, and John was up. He looked very pale and in a lot of pain. I kneeled over to John and said, “Are you ok sir?”
John said, “Still alive aren’t I?”
Boris put his gun away and said, “How are dogs still here? There were some dogs left few years ago before we were born in the compounds, but they all died.”
I looked at them wondering the same thing. John said, “Not everything died. Look at those trees and bushes that are still here for hundreds of years. There are birds flying, insects, worms and bees. Why didn’t every organic matter die?”
I stared at Boris and he looked back. Boris said, “Do you think there are people other than us that survived the destruction.”
John said, “There must be. Nowhere near here, but far away.”
I said, “How can you be sure of that? Did anyone find them and reach out to them?”
He said, “A few years ago we tried, but we don’t want to go down that path of exploring again. People here don’t want that. They want to be left alone to live. They have enough problems.”
I said, “Is it because of the genetic mutation?”
He said, “Yes. In the past year, they assured that people are not only born with it. The mutation may happen to anyone at any time, and it’s more dangerous than ever before.”
I said, “What does this mean?”
He said, “This genetic mutation causes dangerous behaviours and hallucinations.”
I said, “Like me?”
He looked at me and said, “No Lina. You’re too innocent. You always have been. Like a child.”
I pursed my lip and lowered my head. Boris wrapped his arm around me and said, “General John, why Lina?”
John said, “She was diagnosed at an early age as having Schizophrenia. They took advantage of it and her extreme mental strength. She is an oddity but an ongoing experiment.”
Boris said, “Experiment for what?”
He said, “Behavioural Control. They wanted a quick way to alter completely what she saw and the way she viewed things. It was for the sake of science. They kept injecting her daily with mind alternation serums and feeding her certain information. It erased many past thoughts too, but it’s the serums fault. It was never intended to be erased at all, but they couldn’t stop the injections. They were afraid of what may happen. Anyways, they pretty much changed her behaviour to a controlled one. They treated her as a machine and not a human. They wanted her to collect data to build these new robotic human like machines. They didn’t want anyone to question their motives and what they were building secretly in Project Merge. It was their plan to release the machines to increase defense, and focus only on seemingly healthy individuals and other organic matter.”
Boris said, “But Sara is gone. She is out of this mind control.”
He said, “They don’t know how that happened or why.”
Boris said, “What about this new genetic mutation? How can it be controlled?”
He raised his body and kneeled straight on the ground and said, “Intelligence administration don’t want to bother with it. They view it as a waste of time and they can’t focus on other important matters. This is what happens when your man power is exponentially decreasing. That’s why they released the machines. They needed extra protection in case half the population dies in the next few weeks.”
I blurted out, “What!”
He said, “Intelligence can’t help us anymore. All we can do is live life like there is no tomorrow. There is nothing to look forward to anymore.”
I said, “But …”
He said, “Lina. There is no hope anymore. It’s over.”
I said, “That’s impossible.”
He said, “I tried to voice my opinion, but the bullet on my side is an indication that my power is gone.”
Boris said, “Who shot you?”
He said, “Zack did.”
Boris said, “He tried to kill me before too.”
He said, “Don’t be surprised. He and others in Intelligence want their plan of action going smoothly without any interruptions.”
John tried to get up and he stood still. He said, “Well, that’s the end of it. This old city is marvelous don’t you think?”
Boris and I turned around and looked at the sun rays barely touching the high buildings. John said, “It’s a shame what has become of us. What we have built and destroyed. And for what?”
He almost lost his standing control and Boris quickly held him up. He said, “Boris! You were always a good lad. I wish they gave you more credit than what you deserve.”
Boris sighed and said, “I can’t believe they did this to Lina.”
I said, “I’m fine.”
John said, “No it was never fine. I was against it from day one. And they used my nephew too? They took advantage of a hopeless situation. They kept it hidden from everyone. He was dying and they made you marry him still. I tried numerous times to stop what they were doing to you. He had genetic mutation too and kept calling you Sara, but you were never aware of anything. You never deserved this way of life. But there are more powerful people than me. All I can do is give you as much control and power as I can.”
My eyes watered and tears were falling down my cheeks, then I stared at John and Boris and said, “We have to stop them!”
John said, “How?”
I said, “Oh don’t worry. They will pay for what they have done to me, and we will find a cure to this new mutation before it’s too late.”
Boris smiled at me and said, “We should keep going. We have a plan to accomplish.”