Chapter 6 Unknown
Unknown
I was desperate for sunlight. My eyes were itchy and strained from peering through the almost-darkness.
The stars had led me through the labyrinth of pipes for what felt like hours.
Whatever this place was, it was gigantic.
Every time I expected the pipe to end, it would lead to yet another intersection.
Without the stars guiding me, I would have probably ended up walking in circles.
My feet were sore. I bet I had blisters.
And my mouth was drier than the Sahara Desert.
The pipes seemed to be getting hotter. I wouldn't be able to continue for much longer.
It was a miracle I'd managed for this long.
Whatever I had been in my life before all this, I must have kept fit.
Maybe I'd enjoyed going to the gym. Or maybe my job had involved exercise.
My mind was still foggy where my memories should have lived.
I'd almost got used to that blankness whenever I tried to access a memory.
My guiding stars suddenly flashed. I stopped walking. What the hell was going on now? If they disappeared, I doubted I'd ever find my way out of here. I'd die in a giant pipe, dehydrated, turning into a mummy never to be found.
The stars expanded, filling an entire stretch of the curved wall until it was almost bright in here.
Black lines appeared on the green background, first just random squiggles, then slowly turning into letters.
Maybe I should have been surprised to see English words in the Latin alphabet, but I was too curious and desperate to take much notice.
I am sorry. I tried to keep you safe and failed.
They are coming. Don't resist. Don't fight.
If they send you to the surface, look for the chii.
Small feathered beings with multiple tails.
They will look after you until I can. Continue following the stars for as long as possible. I am very sorry. Venom.
I sat on the floor and re-read the message several times.
Venom, that had to be the man I'd been speaking to.
A code name or his real name? I supposed it didn't matter.
It was over. I'd tried to escape, but it had all been for nothing.
They were coming for me, that was what he was saying.
All the walking, the falls, the lack of food and water.
I was much weaker than I had been when I'd escaped from the monster.
Even if I went against Venom's command and fought whoever came to capture me, I didn't stand a chance.
It was over.
Except…
Continue following the stars. Was there hope? Should I continue to walk despite the thirst and blisters until my legs gave in? Where were the stars leading me? Or was it only prolonging my certain capture?
I really didn't know. And that frustrated me to no end.
I needed more information so that I could make a decision.
That seemed to be something that was important to me.
I was learning more and more about myself.
Not that it mattered if they caught me. I had a suspicion that I wouldn't stay alive for long if they did.
The message slowly faded until the green light turned back into small stars. They jumped up and down, as if impatient, and one started to move further into the dark tunnel.
I got to my feet. I wasn't going to sit here and wait. I needed to be active. Yes, it would make me even more exhausted, but I wasn't someone who would just give in like that.
Wasn't it funny how I knew exactly who I was, what I wanted and needed, but also had no idea about my past?
Putting one foot in front of the other was surprisingly difficult. My body felt heavy all over. Yet I continued on, following the stars, slowly but surely moving towards...something.
Venom's voice echoed in my mind. He and the monster were the only two people I had memories of.
I certainly didn't want to think of the five-eyed alien, so instead I focused on Venom.
For some reason, I trusted him. I hadn't seen him, didn't know who or what he was, but deep inside, I knew that he was on my side.
I imagined him as a man, large and tall to match his deep voice, with curly hair and massive hands.
He probably looked exactly the opposite, but for now, I clung to my imaginary hero, hoping that he might yet get me to safety.
One step left, one step right, one step left...
A small eternity passed. I paused every few minutes to listen for my pursuers, but the only sound was the echo of my footsteps.
I was so focused on not tripping over the cables and detritus on the floor that I almost didn't notice that the green stars had stopped moving.
They hovered on one side of the tunnel, gently pulsing like living flames.
There was no intersection or even a door, just a curved wall, indistinguishable from the rest of the tunnel.
"Why did you stop?" I muttered. The sound of my voice was almost as alien to me as the real aliens-slash-monsters out there.
I'd not said much since waking in that metal coffin, and every time, I'd felt estranged from that voice that was supposed to be mine.
Yet another thing that I had forgotten. Or maybe my voice was simply different from what it used to be, some kind of change caused by the coffin. I didn't know and didn't really care.
The green stars pulsed more intently. I stepped closer to the wall and ran my hands over the smooth metal, searching for hidden indentations that might suggest a doorway. Nothing.
But there had to be a reason why we'd stopped.
A bang echoed through the tunnel, followed by voices.
Fuck. They were coming for me.
I slapped my hands again the wall. "Open!" I begged. "Help me!"
The green light moved down until each star illuminated my hands. I didn't dare move. My skin itched slightly where the light touched it. Surely these guiding stars wouldn't turn on me now, at the very last moment?
The voices were coming closer. There had to be at least five or more people. Aliens. Beings. I didn't doubt for a second that they wanted me harm.
My heart hammered against my chest. I was terrified, but there was also something else in that maelstrom of emotion.
Anger. Rage.
I wasn't going to be taken back to the five-eyed monster. I hadn't come all this way only to fail.
My pinkie burned hot for a fraction of a second, then it sank through the wall. I stared at where my finger was encased by metal.
What the fuck? Two more fingers on my right hand disappeared. Then my entire hand.
Lights flashed in the distance. There was no time.
"Please let me through!" I whispered and pushed against the wall with all the strength I had left. My body burned searing hot, then I was through. I stumbled but just about caught myself. My eyes watered at the sudden influx of light. I blinked and blinked, trying to clear my vision.
I was no longer in the tunnels. I was in a goldfish bowl.
The walls in the pipe had been curved, but this room was an actual ball. I was standing in the centre of a milky-white globe about three times as tall as me. There was no furniture, no screens, nothing.
This had to be what Mr Bubbles had felt like. I felt sorry for the goldfish my parents had got me for my eighth birthday.
I sucked in a sharp breath. I'd drawn on a memory without even realising it.
An actual memory, with colours and smells and texture. I could see that goldfish bowl before my inner eye, could smell the fish food in its tub underneath, remembered the way Mr Bubbles stared at me with big judgy eyes.
A tear ran down my cheek. And it wasn't just because of the bright light.
I was becoming myself again. It was an inconsequential memory, nothing of importance, but it was only the first. Proof that my memory wasn't gone for good. Hopefully, the rest would come back soon.
As much as my returning memory elated me, I was also trapped in an alien goldfish bowl. It felt nicer in here than in the dark, grimy pipes, but this place didn't even have a door. I was just as trapped as I had been before.
I took a deep breath. I couldn't give in to despair.
"Hello?" I said quietly, just in case the walls weren't as soundproof as they looked. Of course, nobody answered. I hadn't really expected anyone to reply. I was alone. And in a horrible place like this, filled with monsters, that was actually a good thing.
"Engage portal?" a disembodied voice suddenly asked, vaguely female and just a little mechanical.
"What?"
"Portal engaged."
I sucked in a sharp breath. That couldn't be good. "No! Don't! Undo command, cancel, sto-"
I was pulled apart. My muscles stretched, strained, screamed. I was broken into pieces, screaming and crying, pain like nothing I'd ever felt, and it hurt, and I needed it to stop, and it I was going to do anything, just stop, please stop, and-
White mist clouded my vision. It was cool, moist air that surrounded me like a cloud. It erased the pain, slowly, until it was all but a memory. Of all the memories I craved, this was not one I was keen to keep.
I tried to move, my muscles aching for gentle movement after all that torture, but I was held in place by something.
Maybe it was that mist, maybe it was some other force, but either way, all I could move were my eyes.
The mist was too thick to see through, yet I instantly knew that I was no longer in my goldfish bowl.
Birds sang far away, leaves fluttered in a breeze, branches creaked, insects buzzed.
I was somewhere in nature, outside, no longer trapped in endless dark corridors.
It's strange how you don't notice the absence of something until much later.
In that bowl, there had been no smells, none at all.
Here I was surrounded by them. Sweetness mixed with something like citrus.
Faint notes of cinnamon and clove contrasted with heady spice.
And underneath it all, earth, rain, wood.
The scents were more intense than they should have been.
Maybe I was more sensitive after being first in a smelly pipe and then in a place with no scents whatsoever.
A warm breeze caressed my face. I smiled without realising.
This was a good place. I was in nature, where I belonged. I spent a lot of time outdoors. I filed that as another new fact about my personality.
An earth-shattering roar broke through the bird song. Other animals screeched in panic. In the distance, a deep crack, like a tree falling.
The sounds were drowned out by my heartbeat as blood rushed to my ears. I had to run and hide. I didn't have to recognise the roar's origin to know that it was something big and dangerous.
I had to run. But I was trapped in place, unable to move, a tasty morsel waiting be devoured by an apex predator.