Chapter 22
NOVA play: Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes
Ithought I was ready… I wasn’t ready.
The Forgotten led me out of The Cave and through that depressing, but now deserted, research floor.
It wasn’t until we were out the front door of NeuroWell that I understood the magnitude of what was happening.
It. Was. Chaos.
I think I read in the handbook that thousands of people lived on this campus, and right now, every single one of them was sprinting toward the exit.
NOVA’s evacuation notice was still blaring from all the speakers, and if it weren’t for The Forgotten gripping my hand so tightly in his, I might have been swept away in the massive crowd of rushing bodies.
The Forgotten was not heading for the exit like I expected. He was moving upstream, for lack of a better word, and there were a few times where I’d been jostled so hard I was sure he might let me go.
To my horror, every time that happened, he wordlessly shot whoever had run into me, and the sound of the gunshots seemed to be an effective deterrent for several minutes at a time as we continued to move against the flow of the crowd.
“You can’t just shoot people!” I screamed, struggling to be heard over the blaring alarm, but The Forgotten just snarled.
“I can and I fucking will. This isn’t a game, Milo. If it’s them or us, it’s going to be fucking us.”
Jiminy Christmas! This man was a freaking psychopath!
Finally, after what felt like an hour but was likely only a few minutes, The Forgotten jogged off the main road and down a street I’d never been on before.
There was a large sign that identified this area as NLQ – Neurovance living quarters.
This neighborhood seemed to already be more or less empty, and without the crowd bogging us down, The Forgotten broke out into a jog.
I stumbled to keep up, and my feet immediately got tangled in my laces, causing me to trip.
Almost as if he expected it, The Forgotten jerked me up and straightened me out before I could go down.
Suddenly, I was airborne, and it took me a moment to realize that he was carrying me.
Like, in a full-blown fireman hold, as if I were some damsel in distress.
He tucked me close against his chest, and I was hit with that overwhelming woodsy scent of birch and oak.
‘I’m not going anywhere, Milo.’
The Forgotten’s sharp voice snapped me out of the strange trance I’d succumbed to.
“NOVA, how much time?”
“T-minus two minutes, then the wall will go down. Hurry up.”
“Copy.”
The Forgotten broke out into a full-blown sprint, and I instinctively threw my arms around his neck to steady myself as he ran.
We passed what looked like grassy, residential streets lined with white, cube-like homes.
The Forgotten began to slow his pace after turning down an even quieter street, and I caught sight of the green street sign as we approached two cubes that were wrapped in what appeared to be caution tape.
Amygdala Avenue.
My scalp tingled.
The Forgotten snorted and shook his head.
“They put all that up for his benefit, I guess,” he muttered, I assumed to NOVA.
“Yep. In case he ever accidentally wandered down here.”
The Forgotten set me down and pointed to the roped-off homes.
“I wanted you to see this before they’re gone,” he said, and I frowned, glancing up at him in confusion.
“What do you mean before they’re gone?”
“T-minus one minute,” NOVA chimed.
“Wait, did you set… bombs?”
“Don’t worry about that, worry about this. See those houses? When you look at them, what do you see? What do you feel?”
I turned my head to face the small, quaint, unassuming structures.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, as a painful lump formed in my throat. Tears welled in my eyes, and I found—for some reason—it was hurting me to look at these little homes.
I didn’t understand it, but there was this aching sort of loss, something that felt close to nostalgia.
How could you feel nostalgic about something you’d never seen before?
“Hold onto those feelings, Milo… in case… in case the procedure doesn’t work. I just… I wanted you to at least see them.”
“Wait… wh-what procedure?”
“The only person getting a procedure today will be you, Jay.” Sebastian’s calm, angry voice interrupted whatever the hell was happening between The Forgotten and me.
We both spun around to find Seb standing behind us, pointing a handgun of his own at my captor’s head.
“For fuck’s sake,” The Forgotten rumbled, and even though I couldn’t see his face, I knew he was rolling his eyes.