Blue Through the Grey
Memory
A white chair separates me from the floor, my body aches and screams. I close my eyes but I can't sleep, haven't been able to for awhile. The door beside me slides open with a slight 'Woosh' It's a man, tall, broad, handsome. He sits down in the rolling chair and examines me. His eyes trail up and down my body, which is only covered in a dingy white robe. He smiles, his teeth perfectly white. His hygiene is surprisingly good, his nails are trimmed, his hair is gelled, and his face is dirt free.
"Hello" He says, taking a deep breath. "How are you?"
"I'm...good" I say nervously. "Hurting, I guess"
"We'll get that taken care of. Right now, you're in a very safe place. Can you tell me a little back story?"
"Yeah. My name is Emily, I'm from Ohio, My parents died and I...I've been running ever since"
He swirls around and grabs something from the table. A clear cup filled with red liquid. "Drink this, it'll calm you down"
I do as he says. I toss back the liquid and begin to fall into a trance. My vision is fuzzy but I see a nurse come in and insert something into my arm and then I'm out.
I'm standing on a rock, overlooking a valley. It's beautiful and caked with snow. I used to live here when I was twelve. Now I'm somewhere else, a small house and there's food neatly place on a yellow table. Now it's summer and there's the mothership hovering over our heads. Mom is running around frantically and dad is trying to get things packed. We're running through the woods, dodging lasers from oncoming drones. I'm hovering over my parents' bodies. They're dead. I'm sucked out of the trance and my eyes burn, my head pounds. I'm trying to gather my thoughts but I just can't make sense of anything.
"What the hell was that?" I ask, trying to get out of the chair but he instantly stops me.
"We were seeing deeper into your past, making sure you're who you say you are"
"When can I leave?"
"When your memories are fully scanned"
Hours of proving who I really am and I'm finally escorted to a room with a few bunks. I'm wearing a brown shirt and brown sweatpants. I'm holding my belongings in my arms, which isn't much. My backpack and a few mementos. There's three guys and they quite comfortable in their beds. They all stare as I climb onto the top bunk. I just look at the ceiling for awhile, waiting for a word to be spoken. These are quiet guys.
"So" I say, tossing my legs over the side of the bed.
"What's fun around here?"
"Good shot?" Evan asks.
"I'm good, not great"
"Show me" He smiles and hands me a rifle.
I aim, turn the safety off, breathe and take a shot at the plywood alien cutout. Headshot...deadshot.
The snow flutters in the air and my cheeks burn in the cold but it's nice to blow off steam. I shoot a few more targets and then do some running around the track. It's terribly cold but running warms my body so I tie my coat around my waist and let the frigid air surround me. Run, jog, run, jog. It feels good to have some energy back in my body. It's been starved for so long. I follow Evan back inside and grab a bite to eat with him. The food here is actually pretty great. Hell, any food is pretty great. We talk about the other bunkmates in our squad. Turns out, there's rumor going around in our team that the people that run this place are actually aliens. That makes me feel very secure.
A few days pass and I don’t see Evan, no training, no lunch room duties, no nothing. The aliens probably got him, that’d be my luck, finally starting to like a guy and the aliens grab him up from me. I shoulder my rifle and check the outer fence, making sure nothing has gotten in...or out. The dim orange lights illuminate the snow covering the ground. My boots crunch the frozen tundra. I lean over, examining the fence. There’s a small slit just big enough for a person to fit through. It looks like they had the time to poorly put the fence back together. There’s a piece of fabric stuck, it’s small and red, most likely from a shirt. I grab it and slide it into my pocket, I’m not gonna bring this up. If this person left, it had to be for a good reason.
The beach was where I belonged. I loved the cool breeze and the water crashing against the shore. My last good memory was when I went to Florida a few weeks before the drones and the sickness. I run down the water’s edge, ponytail flopping back and forth. It’s 5:30AM so there’s really no one here which gives me time to do a morning jog. Looking up at the sky, it seemed normal, there was no mothership here, It was stationed in Ohio. I stop, look at my watch, take a drink and run again. It was only a matter of time before they decided to destroy our peaceful earth.
I toss and turn in bed, wondering if Evan is okay. Where is he? Is he dead? Oh god. I hear the door creak open and I don’t make any eye contact. I don’t know who’s sneaking into my room. An alien? No, it’s Evan. He leans over my body and whispers in my ear.
“C’mon, get your stuff. We need to go”
“What?” I ask, not knowing what’s going on.
“No questions, just get your shit”
I pack my bags, put on warm clothes and head out into the dimly lit hallway. He signals me to stay close behind him. He has snow in his hair, he must’ve just came in from outside. But what was he doing out there? Was he the one that made the hole in the fence?
He waves his hand behind him, making me stop. There’s a man blocking our path. Evan puts him in a chokehold and slowly lowers him to the ground when the life leaves his body.
“Evan, what the hell is going on?”
“It turns out that these people are actually our enemy. I overheard them talking. We’re going to the armory and getting as much weapons as we can and then meeting up with the others outside the walls”
“God, Evan” I run my fingers through my curly hair. “That’s why you were gone?”
“Yeah” He replies softly, like he’s hiding something else.
Evan busts through the door to the armory and he instantly starts filling up his bag with rifles and pistols and...alien technology. Holy shit. I scan the shelves and see something odd.
“Evan. This stuff...Exo-tech” I say. “It was something that the military was working on. I remember seeing something one the news about them sending a signal into...space”
“You don’t think?”
“Did our military bring them here?”
“There’s no time for this, Emily. Press the button on the box”
The box easily fits in the palm of my hand. I press the button and it floats in the air. It scans me with something green and opens up, sending an exoskeleton around my body. It attaches to my spine and makes me stand straight up. It’s uncomfortable at first, but then a wave of strength shoots through my body.
“You can basically do anything when you’re wearing these things. There’s guns attached to both arms”
He’s right, there’s a pistol on my left and a machine gun on my right. He attaches his and punches through the wall. I feel a cold breeze against my face. He leaps out and hits the ground, not taking any damage. I walk to the edge, not sure if I should jump. But the exo is taking over my mind and telling me it’ll keep me safe, it’ll protect me from harm. Trust it. I walk off the ledge and hit the ground hard. I expected my legs to shatter but I find myself in mid run, I leap over the fence and catch up with Evan. This is amazing, I feel unstoppable.
“They’re here!” A girl yells. She’s blonde and standing with a few other people. They take off running, they’re in exosuits too.
All I hear is twigs snapping beneath our feet, there’s no talking, quiet breaths and the light sound of us tromping through the forest. I guess the suit silences our sounds too. We could scream and no one but us would hear it. Forest, road, forest, road, forest, town. The guy they call Reilly walks across the street, making sure everything is clear. He waves his hand and tells us to come. We all pile into a small house and take off our suits.
“Here” Evan says to Jessica. He hands her a small ball. She presses a few buttons and puts it down in the middle of the room.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“It’s a shield that will wrap around the house and cloak us. No one will see the house and if they do, the shield will protect us”
“So why wasn’t I filled in on this mission?” I’m kinda offended.
“We had to make sure you weren’t one of them” Josiah says.
“What’s the plan?” Noah asks.
“The plan is, we stay here a few days, gather up supplies, make sure our suits are in good shape...then take down that hell hole”
"Hello" He says, taking a deep breath. "How are you?"
"I'm...good" I say nervously. "Hurting, I guess"
"We'll get that taken care of. Right now, you're in a very safe place. Can you tell me a little back story?"
"Yeah. My name is Emily, I'm from Ohio, My parents died and I...I've been running ever since"
He swirls around and grabs something from the table. A clear cup filled with red liquid. "Drink this, it'll calm you down"
I do as he says. I toss back the liquid and begin to fall into a trance. My vision is fuzzy but I see a nurse come in and insert something into my arm and then I'm out.
I'm standing on a rock, overlooking a valley. It's beautiful and caked with snow. I used to live here when I was twelve. Now I'm somewhere else, a small house and there's food neatly place on a yellow table. Now it's summer and there's the mothership hovering over our heads. Mom is running around frantically and dad is trying to get things packed. We're running through the woods, dodging lasers from oncoming drones. I'm hovering over my parents' bodies. They're dead. I'm sucked out of the trance and my eyes burn, my head pounds. I'm trying to gather my thoughts but I just can't make sense of anything.
"What the hell was that?" I ask, trying to get out of the chair but he instantly stops me.
"We were seeing deeper into your past, making sure you're who you say you are"
"When can I leave?"
"When your memories are fully scanned"
Hours of proving who I really am and I'm finally escorted to a room with a few bunks. I'm wearing a brown shirt and brown sweatpants. I'm holding my belongings in my arms, which isn't much. My backpack and a few mementos. There's three guys and they quite comfortable in their beds. They all stare as I climb onto the top bunk. I just look at the ceiling for awhile, waiting for a word to be spoken. These are quiet guys.
"So" I say, tossing my legs over the side of the bed.
"What's fun around here?"
"Good shot?" Evan asks.
"I'm good, not great"
"Show me" He smiles and hands me a rifle.
I aim, turn the safety off, breathe and take a shot at the plywood alien cutout. Headshot...deadshot.
The snow flutters in the air and my cheeks burn in the cold but it's nice to blow off steam. I shoot a few more targets and then do some running around the track. It's terribly cold but running warms my body so I tie my coat around my waist and let the frigid air surround me. Run, jog, run, jog. It feels good to have some energy back in my body. It's been starved for so long. I follow Evan back inside and grab a bite to eat with him. The food here is actually pretty great. Hell, any food is pretty great. We talk about the other bunkmates in our squad. Turns out, there's rumor going around in our team that the people that run this place are actually aliens. That makes me feel very secure.
A few days pass and I don’t see Evan, no training, no lunch room duties, no nothing. The aliens probably got him, that’d be my luck, finally starting to like a guy and the aliens grab him up from me. I shoulder my rifle and check the outer fence, making sure nothing has gotten in...or out. The dim orange lights illuminate the snow covering the ground. My boots crunch the frozen tundra. I lean over, examining the fence. There’s a small slit just big enough for a person to fit through. It looks like they had the time to poorly put the fence back together. There’s a piece of fabric stuck, it’s small and red, most likely from a shirt. I grab it and slide it into my pocket, I’m not gonna bring this up. If this person left, it had to be for a good reason.
The beach was where I belonged. I loved the cool breeze and the water crashing against the shore. My last good memory was when I went to Florida a few weeks before the drones and the sickness. I run down the water’s edge, ponytail flopping back and forth. It’s 5:30AM so there’s really no one here which gives me time to do a morning jog. Looking up at the sky, it seemed normal, there was no mothership here, It was stationed in Ohio. I stop, look at my watch, take a drink and run again. It was only a matter of time before they decided to destroy our peaceful earth.
I toss and turn in bed, wondering if Evan is okay. Where is he? Is he dead? Oh god. I hear the door creak open and I don’t make any eye contact. I don’t know who’s sneaking into my room. An alien? No, it’s Evan. He leans over my body and whispers in my ear.
“C’mon, get your stuff. We need to go”
“What?” I ask, not knowing what’s going on.
“No questions, just get your shit”
I pack my bags, put on warm clothes and head out into the dimly lit hallway. He signals me to stay close behind him. He has snow in his hair, he must’ve just came in from outside. But what was he doing out there? Was he the one that made the hole in the fence?
He waves his hand behind him, making me stop. There’s a man blocking our path. Evan puts him in a chokehold and slowly lowers him to the ground when the life leaves his body.
“Evan, what the hell is going on?”
“It turns out that these people are actually our enemy. I overheard them talking. We’re going to the armory and getting as much weapons as we can and then meeting up with the others outside the walls”
“God, Evan” I run my fingers through my curly hair. “That’s why you were gone?”
“Yeah” He replies softly, like he’s hiding something else.
Evan busts through the door to the armory and he instantly starts filling up his bag with rifles and pistols and...alien technology. Holy shit. I scan the shelves and see something odd.
“Evan. This stuff...Exo-tech” I say. “It was something that the military was working on. I remember seeing something one the news about them sending a signal into...space”
“You don’t think?”
“Did our military bring them here?”
“There’s no time for this, Emily. Press the button on the box”
The box easily fits in the palm of my hand. I press the button and it floats in the air. It scans me with something green and opens up, sending an exoskeleton around my body. It attaches to my spine and makes me stand straight up. It’s uncomfortable at first, but then a wave of strength shoots through my body.
“You can basically do anything when you’re wearing these things. There’s guns attached to both arms”
He’s right, there’s a pistol on my left and a machine gun on my right. He attaches his and punches through the wall. I feel a cold breeze against my face. He leaps out and hits the ground, not taking any damage. I walk to the edge, not sure if I should jump. But the exo is taking over my mind and telling me it’ll keep me safe, it’ll protect me from harm. Trust it. I walk off the ledge and hit the ground hard. I expected my legs to shatter but I find myself in mid run, I leap over the fence and catch up with Evan. This is amazing, I feel unstoppable.
“They’re here!” A girl yells. She’s blonde and standing with a few other people. They take off running, they’re in exosuits too.
All I hear is twigs snapping beneath our feet, there’s no talking, quiet breaths and the light sound of us tromping through the forest. I guess the suit silences our sounds too. We could scream and no one but us would hear it. Forest, road, forest, road, forest, town. The guy they call Reilly walks across the street, making sure everything is clear. He waves his hand and tells us to come. We all pile into a small house and take off our suits.
“Here” Evan says to Jessica. He hands her a small ball. She presses a few buttons and puts it down in the middle of the room.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“It’s a shield that will wrap around the house and cloak us. No one will see the house and if they do, the shield will protect us”
“So why wasn’t I filled in on this mission?” I’m kinda offended.
“We had to make sure you weren’t one of them” Josiah says.
“What’s the plan?” Noah asks.
“The plan is, we stay here a few days, gather up supplies, make sure our suits are in good shape...then take down that hell hole”