The Remedy Files: Illusion (25 page)

Liam’s leans over and in one swift move, brushes his lips across the top of my forehead, causing a warmness to ripple throughout my body. “Whatever you want, Evangeline, I will make it happen. And I agree. This can’t go on forever. We can put together a plan tomorrow after we go to the new community. But I do want to get everyone else together so we all have input. It’s only fair.”

I nod my head in agreement.

“You look tired again.” He says gently.

“Yeah, I thought I was okay, but I just want to sleep some more.” There must have been way too many surges of emotions at once because exhaustion came on like a heavy wool blanket was being draped on my body.

“I’ll lay down with you.” He offers, and the appreciation of him fills my heart.

We lay back down on the cot, Liam putting his arms tight around my waist, his finger grazing the side of my stomach that’s exposed to the air from my shirt not completely covering it. I shiver but try to stay as still as possible.  Soon I hear his breathing become deeper as he falls back into sleep. I don’t fall asleep right away as my mind is going wild trying to form a plan to put into action.

***

In the middle of the night, I have another nightmare. Men in black infiltrate Rebirth. They have syringes and are putting them in the necks of everyone around. I feel the pain in my neck all at once. As my body gets heavy, I see Liam dart into my hut just long enough for a man to sneak up behind him, grab his arms, and another puts a syringe into his neck. I try to cry out. I try to stop them. I reach my hand out but the next thing I know, I’m falling backwards, falling, falling into darkness. And then all goes black.
 

CHAPTER 31
 

I awake long enough to find my forehead pressed against a cool window. Opening my eyes I see trees rushing by one after another. It makes my stomach turn with nausea and I have to look away. Swallowing, I take one more glance. These aren’t trees I’ve seen before. They have fruit bearing on them. The speed of the scenes passing by makes me sick. I close my eyes to try to settle my stomach.  I can’t tell if I’m dreaming or not.

I open my eyes again. I focus on the chill of the window to help ease my stomach. The scenery has stopped moving and has changed drastically. Concrete ground has replaced the grass and tall, towering buildings have replaced the trees. Women in long dresses with various prints and men in similar loose garments except plain and monotone are walking around outside, passing each other while keeping their eyes on the ground, avoiding contact with one another. The buildings and clothes are like nothing I’ve ever seen before in person; only in the ancient books I’ve found.

Slowly I try to turn my head to the left so I can see where I am at, and a sharp pain radiates through my neck all the way down to my wrists. All I can see is that I’m in a cart by myself with a long empty seat across from me and a door to my left. I try to think about where I could be but exhaustion overtakes me. I don’t want to think or move. I can’t. So instead of trying more, I rest my forehead back on the window and watch the people. They all look so different from one another. This must be what some of the other communities look like. How strange.

***

I fall asleep again but am soon jolted awake. We must been been moving again because now there’s screeching and rumbling sounds as we come to a stop.

I carefully try to turn my head again and gasp when I see a tall figure standing in the door way. It’s a man in a dark suit with a white shirt poking out, perfectly crisp. He’s tall with broad shoulders and a muscular frame. “It’s time to go.”  His voice is rough and low. Grabbing me by the arm he says, “Now.”

“Ow,” I try to protest. “Stop.” My voice is weak. I have no energy; there’s nothing in me that can fight back or resist. I doubt he even heard me.

The man pulls me out of the cart door and through a narrow hallway. My shoes are scrapping against the metal floor as he drags me, hitting a strip of bumps that causes me to stumble more. Another set of powerful doors zoom open, fresh air blowing my hair backwards. He lugs me down several steps before I land in the arms of another man that’s dressed exactly like him.

I am wobbly and dazed. My feet finally hit the concrete and I sigh with relief. After we take a few steps, the men stop. One of them pulls a phone out of his pocket and makes a call. I try to listen to what he says but I can’t focus enough to make out his syllables.

I take a look behind me and see a real life version of the gift I had given Gavin for his birthday; the thing that has haunted my dreams for so many years: a train. This is a real life train. I admire its slick exterior and how such a large machine can be carried on incredibly thin wheels that move by a track. These still exist. Gavin would love to see this. Gavin.

My knees weaken as the image of Gavin’s head bouncing on the ground flashes through my head. One of the men dips down to catch me. My head wobbles from side to side. I feel a sharp stick in my neck and it’s the last thing I remember.

***

This time when I awake, I’m lying in a bed. I instantly reach out for Liam but he’s nowhere to be found. My hand returns to me with a fistful of soft sheets instead. When my eyes adjust, I survey my surroundings and I realize I’m somewhere completely different. This isn’t Rebirth. It’s a place I’ve never seen before.

Machines are beeping all around me, flashing red numbers on each one. Beeping. Remedy. A need in me that was hiding over the past few months dramatically reappears. Sweat beads form on my forehead. I look down at my arms and see several tiny wires sticking out of them. I rip them out, one by one. Each time a new one leaves my skin, the beeping speeds up. Were the wires providing me with Remedy? My heart thumps powerfully against my chest.

You don’t need Remedy, Evangeline. You don’t need it
. I tell myself in effort to comfort myself in light of all of the beeping that’s screaming at me, bringing back horrible memories. I need to get out of here.

I try to lift myself out of bed but struggle in doing so. A thick black strap is wrapped around me slightly below my breasts. I twist to slide out and pain registers in every nerve. Clawing at the strap, I look for a way to unbuckle it. There’s nothing. I can’t get loose! I scream for help. No one comes to my rescue.

Dreadfully, I look around me. There are two solid walls, a window to my left, and then one wall that is partially solid with a door in the middle of it. I take a deep breath. This isn’t a glass box. But I don’t know where I’m at.

Green sheets cover my legs. There is a cup, a pitcher of water, and two slices of toast on a small plate on the table next to me. A flat electronic box sits directly in front of me, hanging from the adjacent wall. In it, I catch a hint of my reflection. My hair is sticking up wildly and still from this distance, the dark bags under my eyes are noticeable.

The single door opens with a whoosh and a woman enters, wearing a long solid white dress with a mask that covers most of her face. She pulls a steel gray cart behind her into the room, the wheels clunking loudly on the linoleum floor. She meticulously removes the tray of water and food next to me and puts it on the cart and then pushes it in the corner of the room.

“Where am I?” I ask her, catching a glimpse of her green eyes as she glances up at me before looking away quickly. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen anyone with entirely green eyes.

She doesn’t respond and instead, presses a red button on the arm rest of my bed. Within seconds, another woman arrives that looks and is dressed exactly like her except with brown eyes. She’s pushing a wheelchair which she parks next to my bed.

Together they unplug some of my wires and replace them with new ones, doing the switch so quickly that the sting of the new needles piercing my skin is barely discernible. The one with green eyes removes the barrier on the edge of my bed, sliding it underneath and locking into place.

Simultaneously, the one with brown eyes quickly moves her hand around my back, unlocking the strap holding me to the bed just long enough to wrap my arms in it and snap it again. I’m no longer tied to the bed, but my arms are pushed tightly to my sides and the straps make it impossible to move them. They obviously think I’m going to run. And maybe I would if I knew where I was.

The green eyed nurse grabs my feet and delicately moves them to the floor. I think about how I could kick her in the face and make a run for it. Yet there’s something about her eyes that prevents me from doing anything. Lighter colored eyes remind me of everyone outside of Impetus; and so far, those people have been good, safe, and they
feel
. If it was the brown eyed one, I wouldn’t have hesitated, with her reminding me of Impetus and thinking that she was on Remedy so she wouldn’t feel it anyway.

Working together, the nurses move me into the wheelchair, adjusting the strap once again so it locks me in place. I am wheeled out of the room and into a brightly lit tunnel. We pass several closed doors, where I assume other people are held captive just like I was. I wonder who those people are, who else is here. My mind flashes back to the men dressed in black using syringes on the people of Rebirth. I wonder if Liam is here. Maybe they’re taking me to him. 

“Where am I? Where’s Liam?” I ask again, this time I find my voice to be more powerful. Whatever it was they stuck me with is wearing off; I can feel my mind clicking and my body starting to work again.

“Shhhh!” The brown eyed nurse hisses at me.

The green eyed once glances down, and puts her finger to her mouth in a hush sign. She is definitely gentler in her ways than the other.

At the end of the hallway, a large steel door stands in our way. The brown eyed nurse walks to the side of it, lifting up a plastic cover, and then quickly punches in a series of numbers. The door breaks apart in the middle with half disappearing into the ceiling and the other half disappearing into the floor. The ceiling light grows brighter and I cover my eyes quickly to give me time to adjust. I have never been around lights this bright. I can feel the wheelchair under me come to a halt.

I gradually remove my hands from my face, tears running out my eyes from the light being stronger than I can handle.

“Someone dim the lights.” A man’s voice commands.

I hear the footsteps of one nurse walking away. The lights fade enough to remind me of the late mornings back in Impetus, where the sun was fully out and awake yet hiding behind the tall thickets that stood above the Community.

The nurse with the green eyes bends down in front of me, dabbing at the tears on my face with a soft tissue. I blink a few times to erase the blurriness of my vision until the view in front of me is clear.

I am in a large room with great windows that cover the back wall, stretching from floor to ceiling. Playing behind the windows, there’s a scene similar to the one I saw out by the train except with much more of an industrial picturesque view. Glass buildings loom in the background, their surfaces so glossy that each structure next to them is reflected back. Black steel tracks are floating in the air, carrying bright red, curved vehicles that zoom by the window.

In front of the window is a crescent shaped conference table. I scan the top of the heads quickly to count twelve. Eleven people are staring back at me. One person isn’t, though. As my eyes continue to adjust, I see that halfway down the table was a very familiar face intently looking down at his hands.
Could that be? No…

“Gavin?” My dry throat barely allows the syllables to escape.

Gradually he raises his head, his big blue eyes piercing mine, his lips pressed firmly together in a thin line. Gavin’s face is completely shaven, showing the dimple in his chin that I haven’t seen since he was fourteen, before he had grown any facial hair at all. His hair is cut close to his head, not the shaggy look I’ve always been used to. His right shoulder is wrapped in bandages that stop right before the cast on his arm starts, resting in a blue brace that holds it closely to his body.

I try to lift myself out of my wheelchair. I need to get to him. One of the nurses tightly grips my shoulders, holding me down in the chair.
Please. I need to get to him. I need to get to my Gavin. I need to be in his arms.

All at once, the memories flood my mind and I slump in my seat. Gavin, the machete, his body as it crumbles to the ground. My heart sinks in my stomach, causing it to twist, deep aches ensue. Heat shoots through my neck and fills my face, making my entire body feel as though it is suddenly on fire. My chest heaves. I can’t breathe.

  Gavin…
I watched you die.
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lauren Eckhardt became addicted to writing stories early in life and would gift them to her family, friends, and teachers. When she won her first Young Author’s award for “The Locker that Ate My Books” at 8 years old, she knew writing stories for other people to read was all she ever wanted to do. After graduating college with a Bachelor’s Degree and MBA and working in the human resources field for several years, she has decided to follow her ultimate passion for writing once again.

She currently resides in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois with her husband, Nick, happily surrounded with books and pets.