《Vestige》


 Chapter 1 - The Truth

    Vestige Chapter 1 - The Truth


    When I came to, I stood in a field of endless greens. My face was burning and my eyes were pierced in sunlight. Nothing, say of grass, was visible yet a great orange tree stood in front of me. Above it, the clouds parted and the heavens opened up. The sun itself came down bearing its child, a humanoid creature with a face of porous blue crystal. It lacked eyes, nose, and ears yet looked at me. It descended to the ground and confronted me.


    North merged into the south and east into the west. I stumbled back, as my equilibrium failed me. My eyes blurred as the organism entered my vision. Throbbing, my head felt as if it were being constantly scratched. As the creature came closer and closer, it faded into shades of blue and black. Finally, my eyes gave in and went dark.


    Silence and serenity greet me as I awake. Around me, my brothers and sisters are still asleep in their bunks. I lay in my bed until dawn''s light shines down upon me in brilliance. The others of the orphanage awake and begin their daily routines. I join them and stroll down the main hall.


    "Good morning, Lulu! Isn''t it such a nice day?" Aurelia greets me.


    I bob and weave through my siblings. They pack their way to the edges of the walls and make their way through.


    "Yo, Lulu! Morning! Ya gonna watch us practice later today?" Jax asks as he passes me.


    "Only if you want to, of course." Gray clarifies.


    The lights shine down upon me as I saunter. The elegance of their white design accents the rustic walls and floors quite nicely.


    "Hey! Slow down there you two! Oh, hey there Lulu, good morning." Kata holds two squirming children''s heads in her hands.


    The children scream and smile through the halls. Their aura is infatuating and I can''t help but join in with them.


    "Ah. There you are, Lulu. Good morning. Would you mind helping me with the silverware?" Mother asks, looming over me.


    "Right away, Mother!" My warm smile radiates back.


    I collect forks, spoons, and knives from a drawer in the kitchen and set each of the three long dining tables that stretch the length of the room. Only being able to hold so much, I have to make several trips to set each plate. Kata passes me with a couple of pots in her hands. I peer in and observe golden scrambled eggs in one and gravy in the other. She places them on the table and returns to collect more dishes.


    Once all is prepared, we all sit down and give our thanks before eating.


    "Oh, Merciful Overlord, we thank you for the luxury you allow to those ungrateful like us. We strive to forever be in your favor and your grace." Each of us, led by mother, is in unison as we recite our devotion. Afterward, we ravage the meal gloating in front of us.


    "Hey, can you pass me some more of that bacon?" Gray shoves two pieces down his gullet and beckons towards Kata.


    "Of course! Here you go." She hands him the plate.


    "Careful now, you don''t want to get any fatter than you already are!" Jax laughs.


    "That wasn''t very nice, was it Jax?" Aurelia snaps back. "You really should think before you blurt out things like that."


    "Like I need you telling me what to do! Come on Gray, let''s get out of here. I want to get a head start today." Jax slams his pot of espresso on the table and leaves outside.


    "Yeah man, let''s get going." Gray leaves his empty plate behind.


    "The nerve of those two." Aurelia snacks on her hashbrowns.


    "It''s like training is the only thing they ever have on their mind! Like, I know we all have to complete our daily regiments, but those two are out on the field late into the night." Aurelia mouths.


    "I think that just shows how dedicated they are." Kata responds.


    "I guess so, but I wish they wouldn''t shirk their other duties because of it." Aurelia gulps down the last biscuit on her plate.


    "You guys can go ahead and get started outside, I can clean up here." I offer.


    "Alright." Aurelia and Kata leave the room and I begin to put away the dishes and food. They made quite a dent in what was prepared today. I restore the plates to their homes and purge the tablecloth of any left behind residue.


    "Oh, Lulu!" Mother materializes from the kitchen.


    "Thank you for staying behind to clean up." Most of the other kids had already moved on.


    "You really do a great job of upholding your responsibility here. I can take it from here. Go ahead and join the others outside. Today the twelve to fourteen-year-olds are practicing on field E. Join them there."


    "As you wish. Thank you, Mother." I head outside and to today''s practice ground.


    I pass the other units on my path. The other kids have already begun climbing, crawling, brawling and strategic practice. The air smells of mud and determination. Worn and rugged, my ears fill with cries and gunfire. Dirt and mud are all that surrounds our humble abode and it provides a strange disparity. I arrive and unite with the others. I enter through the back entrance of a large stone stronghold sitting on the edge of field E.


    "You''re finally here." Pinned behind sandbags, Aurelia exclaims.


    "Took you long enough!" Jax shouts from the other side of the court. I can tell by his voice he is currently somewhere in between our main base and his.


    "You''re on team A with us today, Lulu." Kata tosses me a pack and a rifle.


    "We''ve already had our left and right bases flanked and taken over. We''re currently holding up in the middle fort." She explains.


    I explore my pack and find rations, a flashlight and several chambers of dummy rounds. I heap one into my rifle.


    "Yo! You better watch out cause we''re about to take control of your main base!" Jax screams from the outside of the main entrance.


    "We couldn''t hold them back much!" Aurelia stomps into the fortress.


    "Alright. If they''re about to flank us, then Aurelia guard the west entrance and Kata the east. I''ll take care of the main gate." I take charge of the dire situation.


    "Got it!" They scramble into place. I jump across to the main entrance and duck to the left wall. I hold my rifle tightly and await the moment Jax or Gray charges in.


    "Don''t keep us waiting!" Jax charges in from exactly where I expect him to. I turn and point my rifle to the apex of his chest. My hand slides into the trigger and my arm recoils backward. Jax, sighting my presence, steers his jump into a slide and hits the dirt. My shots barely grace past his wavy blonde hair.


    "They''re attacking from the front!" Aurelia screams. Kata and her turn their attention towards Jax, who finds himself nailed threeway in gunfire.


    "Wow, guys. I''m really disappointed with you three." Smug, Jax says as he lays on the floor, covered in fake ammo.


    "What?! You''re the one who just got shot in several different directions!" Aurelia, furious, shouts.


    "Is that really the best you got?" Gray stands behind us, flag in hand. He must have snuck up behind us when we were occupied with Jax.


    "Now that''s what I''m talking about, man!" Jax stands up and knuckles Gray.


    "Great work! You really pulled through."


    "Yeah, man. I honestly thought it would be harder and we would have to resort to plan B!"


    "What! You can''t just do that!" Aurelia stomps the floor.


    "Why not?" Kata joins Gray and Jax.


    "You guys were really impressive, I never expected that!" She praises.


    "Oh! Uhum." Jax clears his throat. "It was nothing, really! This is actually one of our easier maneuvers we have been practicing." Jax stands tall and triumphantly. He clearly is trying to show off his built and muscular body as much as possible.


    "Really? That''s super cool!" Kata responds.


    "Yeah, congrats on winning today''s match." I added.


    "Let''s just get a move on, we have more to do today." Aurelia collects her things and exits the stronghold. Kata and I join her. We leave Jax and Gray to continue training, as they always demand. On the other hand, we have house-work we need to complete. We walk up to the house and enter inside. Immediately the air cools my skin and evaporates the sweat on my face.


    "That''s the fifth time in a row you''ve lost to Jax." Mother awaits us inside.


    "Yep. He''s leagues above us, isn''t he?" Kata places her pack down.


    "That''s nothing to be proud of, dear."


    "No I wasn''t-" Kata responds.


    "Were you watching us?" Aurelia interrupts.


    "Of course. I keep track of all my precious children at all times." Mother smiles down upon us.


    "Aurelia I would like you to clean up the library today if that''s alright. Kata and Lulu. You two can make the beds."This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Alright, Mother." Aurelia scurries off and up the stairs. Kata and I start fixing up the bedrooms. There are approximately fifty children here, yet we should have this done in no time.


    "What are you going to do after you leave this place?" Kata asks while folding up some sheets on the bed across from me.


    "I don''t know to be honest. I haven''t really given it much thought."


    "I was just wondering. Since we''re almost fifteen, you know?"


    "So this was spurred on because of Jax then?" I pondered.


    "Not entirely. I was just thinking about what life outside the walls is like. Will we eat good food? Will we have lots of work to do? Will we be able to see each other again?" Kata tidies up the bed and moves on to the next.


    "Mother said life outside the walls was going to be great, didn''t she?"


    "I guess she did. I still hope I can see you guys again after I move on from this place." Kata pauses and stares at the pillow in her hand.


    "You don''t have to worry about that. You''re just barely fourteen in fact."


    "Yeah, you''re right." She finishes up with the last bed. I place my final cover down.


    "Let''s get out of here."


    "Hey Kata! I''ve been looking for you." Sweaty, Jax and Gray enter from outside. We walk downstairs and join him.


    "There you guys are." Aurelia unifies with us from the region above us.


    "How was your practice today, Jax?" Kata smiles.


    "Great as always! We were able to really hammer in some new techniques." He responds. "Say before lunch starts, let''s head and explore the forest!" He gleefully offers.


    "Absolutely not!" Fire emerges from Aurelia''s enraged words. "Going beyond the gate is against the rules!"


    "Yeah, but come on. I just want to see what the forest is like. Just once, you know?"


    "Come on, ya gotta give him this at least." Gray defends.


    "Oh it won''t be that bad will it?" I join it.


    "Mother, won''t even find out! She''s too preoccupied with preparing lunch right now." Jax argues.


    "Are all of you ganging up against me?" Aurelia''s brow curls up into her long purple hair. "What about you Kata? Do you really think breaking the rules like this is such a good idea?"


    "If Jax wants to, then I can''t refute it." Kata responds.


    "You''ve got to be kidding me." Aurelia''s eyes roll. Fine, fine. But, let''s make it quick, alright?" She sighs and gives in.


    "Heck yeah! Let''s get going!" Jax pumps his fist in the air.


    We exited the building and made our way past the training grounds. The other kids had all finished by now and were spending their time endorsing in such activities as tag and jump rope. Many were seen lounging around without a care in the world. We showed up at the gate. A sharp, pointed steel fence stood in front of us. Its demeanor was tall, yet it was easily scalable.


    "Welp, it ain''t gonna climb itself." Jax easily vaults himself over. Gray and I are next to hop over. The top of the gate is sharp, yet I am able to pass it with ease.


    "I can''t believe I''m doing this." Aurelia reluctantly jumps the height.


    "You think you could help me out a bit, Jax?" Kata asks. Her body is short, thin and fragile. She is beautiful with long dark hair but has always struggled physically. She jumps up and down failing to reach the first bar.


    "Here, take my hand." With Kata over the wall, we continue into the forest.


    Trees topple our sense of height and direction. Vegetation of human size is littered throughout the forest. Gingerly, we step through the roots and logs cluttering our path. The trek is hard, yet the palette of green and yellow is alluring.


    "Wow! It''s so pretty in here." Kata''s black eyes illuminate in fascination.


    "Isn''t it?" Gray responds.


    "Yo! We reached the wall." Jax says.


    In front of us towers a stone barrier of enormous height. It is so tall our eyes can hardly see the sky above it. Its surface is clean, a stark contrast to the forest around it, and flat, such that it is unclimbable.


    "Hold up. What is that?" Gray points to the far side, where a tunnel sits. With a large diameter, the tunnel dwarfs that of our house. It seems to lead out of the wall, yet a big steel door blocks the path.


    "Don''t care." Jax turns around and confronts us. "Thanks for coming out here with me guys. I just wanted to have one last moment together with all of us. I''m turning fifteen today. Before I go, I want to thank you guys for all the great moments we''ve shared together. You''ve been really great friends."


    "Yeah, man." Gray responds.


    "And Kata, I wanted to tell you that I-"


    *POP*. The speakers that can be heard all throughout the complex, even the forest apparently, turn on.


    "Everyone! Lunch is currently ready. All return to the house for some wonderful steak and potatoes that Glenda has prepared!" Mother''s voice blares across the system.


    "Oh my gosh! We need to get out of here quick! Mother is going to kill us!" Aurelia jumps up and grabs Kata and me.


    "Hold on-" Kata interjects.


    "What are we going to do, if she finds out we broke the rules?!" Aurelia stomps off with Kata and me in hand, leaving Gray and Jax behind in the dense forest.


    "You weren''t able to tell her." Gray says.


    "Yeah. She''s already running off." Jax replies


    "What are you going to do now?"


    "I don''t know. Yo, you think I''ll get the chance to tell her before I leave?"


    "Probably. Mother is going to celebrate it at lunch right?"


    "Yeah, she is. Damn, I''m such a fool. I shoulda just told her months, no, years ago."


    "Too late now, man. Let''s get going. You should have enough time before tonight."


    Everyone had already gathered in the dining room and was currently in the process of obliterating their food. We sat down at the middle leftmost table. Mother approached us.


    "There you are!" In her hands, she holds a large birthday cake with fifteen candles on it.


    "Everyone. May I have your attention." She booms. "Could you please congratulate Jax on his fifteenth birthday!"


    "Happy birthday!" The roam roars in applause. Hand smacking and whooping erupt. Everyone then returns to their plates and Mother sits down with us. She cuts the white cake into pieces and gives each of us a slice. It smells of pure sugar and tastes equally as delicious. Jax stares at his untouched slice.


    "You can stay in your room. Don''t come out to meet me tonight." Mother says.


    "What? Why?" Jax responds.


    "There has been a change of plans. You''re not going to be graduating tonight."


    "What!" Jax slams his fist into the table. "You can''t do that! I''m the only one who''s fifteen here!"


    "Then, who is going to graduate?" Aurelia wondered.


    "Of course I can do that!" Mother stood up and confronted Jax. "I''m the one who has all the power here and I''m the one making all of the decisions! You are going to stay in your room tonight and Kata will leave in your stead. You should''ve been here on time today; I''ve already informed everyone else!"


    "Me?!"


    "No, no! Mother, wait! Let me go instead, please!" Jax pleads and hugs Mother.


    "We''re done here." She pushes him off and leaves to the kitchen.


    "Please! I''ll do anything!"


    "Lay it to rest, man." Gray comes up behind Jax.


    "Yeah. Isn''t it a bit insensitive for you to be overreacting in this situation." Aurelia butts in. "Think about how Kata feels."


    Jax didn''t say a word and instead left to his room. The rest of lunch was cold and slow. We seldom ate much.


    "Congratulations, Kata." Aurelia attempts to lighten the mood. "You''re going to be out of this place, by tomorrow."


    "I don''t want to leave this place." The air chilled and the sounds around us faded. Gray stood up with his plate and left the room.


    "But graduating is sacred, isn''t it? It''s something to be proud of! You''re graduating early too. Mother surely must have recognized your abilities." Aurelia argued.


    "Don''t worry. You''ll be just fine." I patted Kata on her back. "You''ll forget all about this by tomorrow."


    We cleared our plates and scooped our remnants into the waste bin. Aurelia and I went to the kitchen. We had to scrub clean the plates and sort them. Kata walked upstairs to the bedrooms. She felt as if the wood below her was shaking and collapsing. Her gut strangled itself and turned inward. Haunting, a large wood door stood in front of her. She raised her hand and knocked on the door. Silence called back and so she opened it and entered.


    Jax sat on his bed looking out through the mammoth glass pane to the fields below. Kata stepped towards and sat next to him.


    "Graduation scares me." He says.


    "It scares me too." She responds.


    "Every time Mother leaves with a kid, she returns alone. I know we''re told they leave for a better life outside the walls, but is that really true?" Jax''s voice is calm and gentle, a far cry from his usual energy.


    "Mother gets letters you know. I''ve seen them on her desk. None of them are ever from those who leave." He explains.


    "Maybe, they just don''t have any reason to write us back" Kata offers.


    "Of course they have a reason to write to us. We''re family. We spent all our lives growing up together here. You can''t just throw all that away." Jax turns and faces Kata.


    "Promise me when you leave, that you''ll write us back."


    "I''ll try and write to you guys every day," Kata promised. "You''ll be seeing me off right?"


    "I''m sorry I won''t be able to. After the scene I made with Mother earlier, she''s probably gonna lock that door. Nevertheless, I hope things go your way from now on."


    Kata gives her goodbye to Jax and leaves the room. He continued to sit there in silence. In his stomach, he couldn''t shake the feeling of guilt and regret he had. This was his last chance to tell her how he really felt and he blew it.


    "Goodbye, Kata!" The whole orphanage screamed their goodbyes. They leaped and waved at her. Kata stood with Mother in front of the entrance. She wore a black dress that accented her pale skin. Her hand moved through the air as her legs shook. She smiled and tried to hold in her uncertainty.


    "I''ll really miss you Kata." Aurelia waves.


    "Yeah, you were a really great comrade." Gray adds.


    "Do well, outside the walls." I say.


    "Have fun in your new life, Kata!" Everyone cheered and saw her off. Kata and Mother walked through the fields, hand, and hand. It grew dark and cicadas could be heard chirping. The once busy ground turned serene and smelled of fresh nature. They approached the fence. Mother unlocked the gate and the two continued through the forest.


    "Just in case this doesn''t go so well, I''m really sorry your life had to end a year early." Mother says as they walk.


    Kata looks up at her. "Huh?"


    They arrive at the tunnel. Darkness from the trees covers the area. Blind, the surrounding area is cryptic. Sound has ceased to exist, as the forest has come to a halt for the night. Mother stops and lest go of Kata. She then places her hands on Kata''s shoulders.


    "Just so you know, this wasn''t my choice. The higher-ups have been rushing along with orders as of late and they''ve requested someone of your body type." Mother squeezed Kata. "If I had a say in this I would have left you live out one more year before this moment. Alas, times are tough though and if we hope to continue living like this, sacrifices must be made. You just happened to be exactly what he wanted. "


    Mother reaches into her bag and pulls out a syringe filled with clear teal liquid.


    "This is going to hurt and it''s going to hurt a lot." Mother cotton-balled Kata''s arm to soften the tissue.


    "In fact, I did this too when I was your age and let me tell you the pain was scorching. God, and I wasn''t even one of the lucky ones too!"


    Mother''s yell echoed in the nightly forest. She pulled the syringe up to Kata''s arm and began to press the top of it. The liquid filled Kata''s body. Her face turned red and she began to sweat. Mother let go of her. "Good luck. And remember that you''re doing this for the greater good of Dionis."


    "You''re not gonna let it end there, are you!?" Gray shouts from the other side of the door.


    "Yo. It''s locked. Just throw in the towel, as I have." Jax responds.


    "Are you really giving up like that?! Kata is exiting the walls as we speak and you''re lounging around in your room!"


    "Yeah I am, what''s your point?"


    "Don''t you still have something to say to her! Are you telling me, just because she''s leaving you''re going to give up everything you''ve worked for! We did all that extra training for a reason, man! I thought you told me that you wanted to be stronger! Stronger for her! We''re not gonna let it end here!" The wooden door to Jax''s room blows down and splats on the floor. Gray mightily stands above it.


    "Let''s go tell Kata how you really feel!" Gray and Jax stand up and dart out the room.


    "Why are you doing this, man?" Jax asks.


    "We''re bros, aren''t we? And bros help each other out." Gray and Jax jump down the stairs and trot past the dining tables.


    "You can''t run inside the house! Where are you even going at this hour?" Aurelia spins as Jax passes her.


    "Come on! We''re going to give Kata, one last goodbye!" Jax and Gray dash through the door.


    "Wait! It''s almost curfew!" Aurelia exclaims. "Lulu! Let''s go, we have to catch up to them before they reach Mother! They could get us all in trouble like this!"


    "Alright let''s go!" Aurelia and I rush out and tail them.


    "Quickly, we need to hurry!" Jax ran as fast as he could.


    "Slow down!" Aurelia begged.


    We spring over the gate and sprint through the forest. My ribs streak out in pain and my breathing speeds up. Jax is significantly farther than us. He slams to a stop at the tunnel where Mother and Kata are standing.


    "Kata!" Jax screams out.


    "I couldn''t let it end here! I couldn''t just let you go off, without telling you how I really feel! Kata, I love you! I don''t want you to leave! I want to stay here with you forever!" Jax''s voice shouts out in determination and passion. Weight runs off his chest and enters his voice.


    "Touching, it really is, but you''re far too late." Mother smirks back at Jax.


    "We''ve already reached the moment of truth." Mother steps away from Kata. Kata falls to the floor.


    "Kata!" Jax runs up to her aid. He reaches down to grab her but her skin is so hot that he knee-jerks backward. A black liquid begins to leave Kata''s oral cavity. Her chest begins to pulse up and down.


    "What''s going on Kata? Are you okay?"


    Kata''s skin begins to turn black. Her body twitches like that of a bug. Emitting heat, her body begins to drip in various liquids. Her limbs distort themselves and become inhuman shapes. Her eyes turn red and cease to look alive.


    "I don''t think she will be graduating tonight! She has failed her final test." Mother laughs maniacally into the cold air.


    As the seconds pass Kata looks less and less human. Her skin turns to scales and slime. Her eyes no longer visible, her skull sinks into her body. Her pale complexion is replaced with that of a dead night''s. Horrific, her arms turn to tentacles and her human shape deforms into that of a monster.


    This was no longer Kata.

 Chapter 2 - They Arent Real

    Vestige Chapter 2 - They Aren''t Real


    Mother''s real name is Sayako. She stands at the top of the staircase. She is tall with dark hair. Looming down upon me, her aura is that of fear and anxiety. Yet, her maid outfit makes her seem kind and caring like she once was.


    As she walks down the staircase towards me, the kids crowding around me begin to fade and the distance between us grows shorter. The walls collapse around us and darkness is revealed behind them. Out of this darkness, tentacles of great length strangle and writhe. Too far away, they fail to reach me but grow closer with each second. Sayako approaches me, syringe in hand. "Good luck." She tells me.


    When I came to, it was morning. I had overslept. Glenda is above me attempting to wake me up. My temperature is high, and my head is spinning. I get dressed and walk down the hall as normal. Nothing has changed. Full of screams and happiness the air doesn''t fit me anymore though.


    I set the tables and prepare breakfast. Nobody talks to me, not even Aurelia. Once I''m done, Aurelia, Gray and I sit down at our usual spot and dig in. I normally love the food here, but today it is stale and tasteless; disgusting even. I must look sad to the other children; my head is down and I''m not eating much. Aurelia and Gray look like that too. I want to talk to them, yet my mouth won''t open.


    Sayako enters the room. Her eyes avoid mine. In her hands, she holds a child, who has fair skin and bright red hair.


    "Good morning everyone." Her voice booms.


    "Good morning!" Everyone, except us, responds.


    "It''s a wonderful day, isn''t it? So wonderful in fact, we have been blessed with a new child. This is your new sister Sharlotte. Please take care of her needs and make her feel at home here."


    Sayako is strangling the baby. Her grip marks Sharlotte''s skin and forces her eyes out of their sockets. Tainted and purple, Sharlotte is struggling to breathe. Her little limbs pull into her body and she begins to foam. Nauseous, I look away, but when my gaze returns she is a collective of black tentacles squirming in Sayako''s arms.


    And yet, Sayako doesn''t notice it at all. In fact, she smiles and cuddles the child, as if it was her own. Radiant and jovial, she doesn''t have a care in the world as she approaches me and hands me the monster.


    "I''m placing her in your hands, Lulu. I know you can handle a task like this." She speaks to me and then comes close to my ear. "Don''t let me down now."


    I hold it in my hand. I stare up at Sayako''s lifeless eyes before returning my gaze to the beast, yet in my arms sits a child, not an abomination. The baby giggles as I stroke it. Soft, it''s skin feels normal. This thing is human, and yet it feels wrong.


    I feed it breakfast slowly. It eats every bite without hesitation. Every single time I feed it, I pause and it tries to get my attention again. I apathetically feed it more, until finally it denies its food and it begins to peel off.


    The beast''s skin turns to wax and seeps on to the floor. Its bones and cartilage are the last that keep it intact. What was once food has been exported orally as a black sludge. Its eyes roll out of their holes and into the bowl below us. Fragile, it''s skeleton breaks apart and turns to dust in my hands. Flesh falls out of my arms and into my lap. The monster is gone.


    My skull begins to throb and my eyes burn. I close them to gain even a moment of relief. When I return, Sharlotte is human again. She has escaped my grasp and crawls on the floor. I reach down to pick her up, yet she continues to walk down the hall past me. I follow her down the stairs. I fall and stumble as I go down. The oak walls shake and tumble. My sense of direction fades and I forget where I am. Sharlotte stops at an open steel door. Light seeps out from within.


    "Good work, Sayako." A radio static blares inside the room. I fall to the side out of sight of the room. Sharlotte giggles and tries to stroll into the room. I grab her and hold her in my hands.


    "We ran some extra tests on the specimen you sent last night. Her physical prowess is nonexistent and her combat readiness has been determined to be lacking." The voice said.


    "With that being said though, you were right on her skills in pleasure. The Overlord has already taken fondly to the sensations her body has provided him. You''ve done well to satisfy his unusual request. As for the other, ship him out anytime in the next month."


    "Yes, sir." Sayako responds.


    "We''ll have a batch of newborns from Sector Perado for you soon. In the meanwhile, continue working." The radio shuts off and a chair slides back. Sayako stands up and begins walking. Grasping Sharlotte, I run up the stairs. I exit the basement and arrive in the dining room. It''s quiet and empty. The other kids are all outside doing their daily training routines. They must have finished up breakfast while I was down there. I should have joined them some time ago, yet my legs won''t exit this building. Sharlotte blissfully smiles and pokes at my face. Her face shines in happiness, yet it''s rays don''t reach me. My mind is glued to what I heard. "The Overlord has already taken fondly to the sensations her body has provided him."


    Who is this Overlord that we pray to every day? Is he abusing Kata as we speak? Is he going to abuse all of us too? I look down upon Sharlotte''s cheerful expression. One day, she is going to grow up and have the same fate as Kata. Like a toy, she will be grabbed, touched and rubbed. Her body will feel grimy, slimy hands cover it. She''ll be violated and used up until they are satisfied. Then she''ll be disposed of like a used tissue. She just heard everything the man on the radio said, yet she doesn''t have a care in the world. It''s like she has already accepted this as her destiny.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    She squirms out of my hands and stumbles onto the empty dining table. She stumbles off and makes her way through the room and out of my sight.


    "There you are!" A voice glares behind me. Sayako stands above me and pierces my cranium. "I have been looking for. You should have already started practicing and yet you haven''t."


    My mouth couldn''t offer up a proper excuse.


    "Come here, Lulu. Don''t worry about it. Physical work like that must be hard on you right now. I know how tough it is when you first realize the truth. Trust me I''ve been there and I really do care for you, Lulu. How about this, I have some other work for you can do instead." Sayako beckons.


    "Yes, Mother." My speech is slow and my step is equally so. I am led into the kitchen where Glenda is standing over the bubbly sink.


    "Lulu, I want you to help Glenda with the dishes today. Is that alright?" Sayako tells me.


    "Yes, Mother." I begin to wash the dishes and Sayako leaves the room.


    Glenda stands beside me; her pile of clean dishes noticeably larger than mine. Her pace outmatches me.


    "It''s a great day isn''t it?" She asks me.


    "Yes."


    "I''m really glad we got a new sister. She''s such a cute child, isn''t she? I bet she''ll grow up to be a very strong and beautiful woman."


    "Yes."


    "Oh, I wonder what Kata is doing right now. She''s probably outside the walls, eating good food and playing with all the other kids, I bet she has a better life now probably; this place is quite cramped, isn''t it?"


    I let go of the dish in my hand and it falls to the water below me. Something struck me right in the head and renewed my lips with vigor and anger.


    "Glenda, Kata isn''t-" My mouth holds itself. An unknown hand reaches over and grabs my wrist. It turns and distorts. My skin begins to rotate and roar in pain. I turn to my left.


    "What were you saying about Kata, dear?" Sayako hovers over me and twists my wrist to the point of breaking it.


    "You don''t have time for useless chit chat. Get to work."


    I hear a loud snap and fail to move my right arm.


    "What do you think Mother would do if we told someone?" Aurelia pondered.


    Gray and Aurelia sat alone on a bench outside. Training had been slow today; the energy was lacking. There was very little the two of them could accomplish by themselves.


    "You saw what happened to Kata." Gray''s baseball cap and dark gray hair covered his eyes.


    Aurelia puts her head into her face. She is quiet, yet audibly displeased. Her discomfort plagues the air with sadness and hopelessness.


    "Don''t say that."


    "Damnit, man. It''s all a lie isn''t! Everything about happy lives was all a lie! She just wanted to make us think that so we would quietly let this happen to us!"


    "We''re going to become monsters at aren''t we?" She asked.


    "All of our siblings who left did, right? Kata became a beast too. We''re just next.''"


    Aurelia struggles to find a response. The image of Kata''s eyes reappears in her mind. They looked towards her like they were begging for help.


    "Unless we do something that is. I don''t know about you, but I want to get the hell out of this place. I''m going to find Jax and we are going to escape and never look back! We''re going to find out the truth of what''s behind the walls!"


    With determination, Gray stands up and begins his search. He charges out past the gate and explores the forest He checks the fields and every inch of the house. In his mind sits the picture of a deformed Kata. The more he thinks about it, the faster he looks. Finally, he goes back one more time, to where it happened.


    "Are you alright?" Glenda puts ice on my upper arm. She grabs some bandages and establishes a makeshift cast. My wrist is searing in pain. I''m laying down in bed. She is tending to my wounds and yet I hardly notice her. The form of Kata''s disturbing presence resonates in my brain. Her transformation is enduring and I imagine the pain she must have felt during it. One day, Sharlotte is going to feel that pain. One day, soon, in fact, I''m also going to feel that pain. It shakes me to the bone, so much so I feel as if I can''t move. Yet, something irks me on. Something convinces me to continue and to survive.


    "Hold on, you''re in no condition to go do stuff right now." I ignore Glenda and stand up.


    "Can you do me a favor?" I ask her.


    "No, not right now. Sit down, you need to rest."


    "I''m fine. Just please do this for me. Gather everyone into the dining room, I have an announcement to make."


    Jax stands in front of the tunnel peering in. Gray approaches him from behind. They look up and watch the forsaken corridor. The plants are quiet. It seems as if they act like nothing has happened. Mother nature has forgotten what took place last night.


    "I''ve scouted the inside of the tunnel." Jax turns around and faces Gray.


    "What? How? That door is steel. You couldn''t get in, even if you tried." Gray asks.


    "I did all that extra training for a reason, ya know." Jax approaches the door and pulls out a small clip. The door then swings open and darkness seeps out from within.


    "I practiced things other than just combat for situations like this" Jax confidentially says. "We''re going to find Kata!"


    "Everyone!" Every kid from the orphanage, except Jax and Gray, who were nowhere to be seen, stood in the dining hall. All in confusion and anticipation they awaited my speech. Glenda had kept her promise even with her reluctance. It seems she even managed to ward off Sayako from attending. The crowd''s eyes stabbed mine. They looked impatient. My jaw felt like stone and butterflies flew around inside my gut. Yet with those feelings, I continued on.


    "Last night, Kata did not exit the walls and find a better life." I relieved. This must be said.


    "Last night, Mother. No, Sayako. She took Kata out past the gate and she-"


    "I did what now?" From inside the door, Sayako stands and stares at me. Her eyes glare and freeze me. My legs feet like stalagmites.


    "By the way, Lulu. How is your arm?" Sayako laughs and begins to approach me. Her innocent walk couldn''t be farther from the truth. Her face screams joyous malicious intent.


    "Where''s Sharlotte? Weren''t you supposed to be watching her, dear?" My jaw wouldn''t move. My body tensed up and stress coursed through it.


    "Don''t tell me you failed to watch and take care of Sharlotte. Failed to follow the simple task of cleaning dishes, so much so you broke your arm in the process and to make matters worse! You even tried to deflower and ruin Kata''s sacred graduation twice!" My knees gave in and my vision blurred. The world around me came crashing down and the crowd in front me began to turn on me.


    "Everyone. I am so very sorry for Lulu. She has been a very bad girl, hasn''t she?"


    I looked out into the crowd for Aurelia, yet she stood there as petrified as I. Truly I felt alone. I felt as if I had made a grave mistake and spent so much because of it. I felt as if my life''s purpose had been soiled and lost.


    "Do you know what we do to bad girls here, everyone?" Sayako shouts. The kids turn to her in glee.


    "We punish them!" She chanted.

 Chapter 3 - The Escape

    Vestige Chapter 3 - The Escape


    Sayako drags me by the nape through the forest. I feel abandoned. Aurelia is the only one who bothers to follow me out here and beg for mercy. The others cheered when they heard I was to be punished. The floor is sharp and spiky, yet I don''t feel a thing. Sayako throws me to the ground and enters her bag.


    "Please, Mother! Stop this!" Aurelia''s begging fails to reach Sayako''s ears.


    She grabs my arm and readies her syringe. The needle pierces my skin and I can feel the warm liquid enter my bloodstream. My body goes numb and my forehead begins to burn up. My knees are weak, but I force myself to stand up. My veins twist and turn and reshape themselves. Filled with red, my vision begins to change. My broken arm begins to move on its own. It pops itself backward and I have to hold it to prevent it from joining with my body.


    Aurelia is sitting on the floor crying. That is all I can tell through the hollow lenses I see through. My body twists and I fall to my side. The ground is cold, yet heat warms me to the touch. Something starts to enter my throat. I feel it slide up my mouth and I regurgitate a thick black substance. My skin begins to feel hard and slimy. My muscles disappear into my body and I can no longer control them. I look down at my arms and see black blots of scales. Gone, my fingers won''t move, and yet I can control the tentacles before me. The black liquid ceases to leave my body and my legs regain their strength.


    The air begins to cool and my veins slow to a halt. I raise my feet to the ground. Around me, the world looks plain. It feels boring even. I can no longer sense the breeze or hear wildlife around me and yet I know it''s there. I can walk, though my legs are those of a monster. My shape is human, though it is deformed. Sayako is smiling at me. She says something, yet I hear nothing. She approaches me and embraces me. Her body feels warm and relaxing. Tears stroll down her face and hit my shoulder.


    My ears begin to pop and my mind goes blank. I feel what last remains of consciousness I had, fade to black. I can no longer sense what is around me and soon brain thrashes and shuts down.


    "Haven''t we been here before?" Gray looks to his left and right.


    "Yeah, we passed this ten minutes ago didn''t we? I think we went right last time, let''s go this way!" Jax rushes down the next corridor. They cut past corners and jump down staircases. They dart against stone walls and past girdles of steel. Dripping echoes drown out by the cry of feet hitting the cold floor.


    "Hold on. Let''s rest here for a second, man." Out of breath, Gray bends down.


    "We gotta keep going. Mother took Kata down these halls somewhere and we are going to find her. You''re going to help me aren''t you?" Jax''s forehead explodes in sweat.


    "Yeah, I will. Just hold on a second, we''ve been at this for a while."


    The air was hot and light. Jax could feel his lungs gasping for oxygen and yet he continued on.


    "We gotta keep moving!" They ran past junction and intersection, passing vents and winding corridors along the way. Rooms filled with water or just nothing at all seemed to litter the tunnel.


    "I thought you scouted this thing out!" Gray shouts.


    "Not all of it!" Jax ducks below into a shorter passage.


    "I don''t think we''ve been here yet. We''ve gotta be getting closer!" Jax leads the way through a small, narrow duct. They crawl through its length until it arrives in a larger room.


    "Shit, it''s another dead-end." Gray sighs in disappointment. A dead-faced flat wall greets them.


    "Back a ways, there was another path we didn''t take, I don''t think. Let''s try that." Jax jumps up and makes his way back to the previous path. The two take a different turn through more shuffling corridors and tunnels before arriving in a long passageway. In the end, light shines outwards.


    "That''s gotta be the other side of the wall there!" Jax cries out. His legs move faster than before and he sprints through a steel wall and halts. Around him, a forest sits and in it, a tall girl with purple hair cries quietly.


    "Aurelia! What are you doing, on the other side of the wall?" Gray asks.


    Aurelia looks up at them. Her face is red and covered in tear marks. She holds her hands to her face and emits an aura of sorrow.


    "I, I, I just. I tried to stop her, but I." Aurelia''s voice stutters and the words barely escape her lips.


    "Stop who? Mother?" Jax questions.


    "Where''s Lulu?" Gray confronts Aurelia.


    "Mother. She. She turned her into that thing!" Aurelia falls down into the dirt and gains a lifeless composure. Her mature body is covered in mud and silt. She hardly breathes or looks at Jax and Gray.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "So, where are they now?" Jax kneels down.


    Aurelia lets out a whimper before sitting up. Her eyes barely look alive and her spirit has dissolved. She gestures towards the tunnel and crumbles down to her spot.


    "Damn! She must have taken Lulu away while we were lost in there!" Gray explains.


    "How the hell did we not see her while we were in there?! I guess this just means we have to find Lulu as well. And you''re coming too." Jax stands up and confronts the tunnel. He picks Aurelia up by her legs.


    "No. No. No." Her voice trails off. "I can walk by myself." Aurelia''s complexion begins to return to her, but she still seems distant.


    "Alright then. Come on, Gray. Let''s do this."


    "Yeah, man." Gray high fives Jax. The group then enters the labyrinth again.


    The light from the outside world replaces itself with the moon. Darkness seeps into the corridors. The group turns left and right and yet they can''t maintain the same pace as before. The maze before them is unrelenting in its confusion.


    "Hurry up!" Jax shouts back down the passage.


    "I''m coming." Aurelia slowly responds.


    Tension and stress don''t maintain itself forever. The winding passages transform into a calm collection of illusions. It''s many turns fade into black. The midnight wind soothes and the silence eases. Jax and Gray begin to slow down, as their exhaustion catches up to them. The night takes over and everything turns to pitch black.


    "I can''t see anything." Aurelia calls out.


    "Yeah, none of us can." Gray stumbles through the dark.


    "I only brought one flashlight and it won''t last, so quit your complaining and get a move on. I''ll break it out once we get a bit farther" Jax returns to his jog.


    They pass through one last intersection before arriving at a hall of illuminated overhead lanterns that break through the darkness.


    "Light." Aurelia says.


    "This has got to be it then!" Jax and Gray rush down the hall to the room at the end. Inside is a bright and eccentric laboratory. Cupboards and tables of scientific equipment line the walls. A couple of large iron doors mark the sides. The focus of the room, a strange chair and headset are smack in the middle of the room. Lulu sits on the chair with the headset covering her face and short, dark orange hair. Sayako, clipboard in hand, observes her, as electrical pulses charge into her head.


    "Lulu-!" Gray covers Aurelia''s mouth and gestures her to shut it. The group slides to the side of the doorway and waits out of view.


    "Raise the voltage." Sayako says.


    "Right away ma''am." Another voice, male, is audible.


    Sounds of lightning and machinery crackle through the room. It pulses and whirls for minutes before halting to a stop. Smells of smoke and burnt flesh remain in the air.


    "That''s enough men. You can take your leave for the day. I''ll handle the rest of the procedures from here." Sayako says.


    "Yes, ma''am." A door opens and walking can be heard. The door then slams shut.


    "Aurelia, run to the left and Gray to the right." Jax whispers as he loads his pistol.


    "Got it."


    "I''ll flank her in front. Try your best to distract her, I''ll do the rest." Jax hands a rifle, loaded with live ammo, to Aurelia. "Don''t shoot yourself in the foot."


    "Alright, let''s do this on the count of three." Jax holds up his hand and begins to count.


    "3."


    "2."


    "1."


    "You can come out now, kids." Sayako''s steps grow closer. Aurelia is frozen in fear. Gray is stunned in surprise. Jax halts in anticipation.


    "Now!" Jax jumps out from his cover and rushes towards Sayako. Gripping his rifle, his hand rips on the trigger several times. Prepared, Sayako jumps to the side, dodging his bullets, and throws a table his way. Jax throws up his hands and guards his head, as the metal table pins him to the ground.


    "Alright!" Gray leaves his protection and enters the room. Gunfire surrounds him. He slides down and knocks over a desk. He then fires across the room towards Sayako. The bullets clang on the metal table she is ducked behind. Equally aggressive dents are then returned from the other way.


    "Come on out, my beautiful children! Don''t leave me all alone here!"


    Jax throws the table off of him and hides behind it. Gray is sitting adjacent to him and he makes a calling motion. Bullets graze his cap, as Gray runs to Jax''s cover.


    "Yo. Here''s the deal. I doubt Aurelia''s gonna leave her spot, so we gotta get Mom before she runs over there." Jax whispers.


    "Ya got a plan?" Gray cocks his gun.


    "Of course I do. Let me handle this. Just get to Lulu!" Jax shouts and jumps towards Sayako.


    Gray runs out from the cover and towards the large machine harnessing Lulu. Sayako''s rifle takes shape above her table and rapid fires Jax. He sprints and jumps over the table and in front of Sayako. A bullet knicks his calf, yet he continues on. He lands in front of Sayako. Wide-eyed and gap-jawed, Sayako feels his knee before she can react. Jax confiscates her rifle and throws it across the room. He then fires a bullet into both of her legs and ties her to the table, using some rope from his pack.


    "You can''t do this to your own Mother!" Sayako pleads and struggles. Jax duct-tapes her mouth shut. She sits there struggling to breathe. Blood seeps from her temples and stains her nice outfit.


    "I just did, plus, you''re not my real mother anyways."


    "Is it over?" Aurelia shakes herself into the room. Her pistol falls from her trembling hands.


    "Oh, there you are. And I really thought you could handle the real deal!" Jax laughs back at her.


    "How''s Lulu?" Aurelia rushes to her aid.


    "I''m not sure yet." Gray throws his hands over the headset. He pushes buttons and presses screens, yet is only rewarded with beeps and boops.


    "Let me see it." Aurelia shoves gray aside. In front of her, the headset is large and leaves none of Lulu''s head exposed. The steel sphere is littered in red and green buttons and levers. Aurelia lifts the bottom of the visor and presses up against a switch. Click! The headset separates into four parts and rises into the suspension above it. Lulu''s head falls out of it and lands in her chest. Aurelia lifts Lulu''s face up.


    Her eyes are closed and her expression is blank. Her bob cut hair is fried and stands on its own. Aurelia slaps and smacks Lulu until life returns to her eyes.


    "What? Where am I?" I ask. My head is spinning and revolving. I felt like I was just hit over the head with an anvil a million times.


    "Finally you''re back to us." Aurelia looks relieved.


    "You feeling okay? How''s the arm?" Gray wonders.


    "I''m feeling pretty great actually." I stand up. My headache starts to fade away and my eyes adjust to the lighting. "I still can''t move my arm, but it doesn''t hurt anymore at least."


    "That''s great to hear." Jax pats me on the shoulder and picks up Sayako''s rifle.


    "Here." I hold her rifle in my hand.


    "Alright then, let''s get going. We still need to find Kata guys." Jax begins to walk towards the doors the men went through.


    "Who''s Kata?" I ask.

 Chapter 4 - Sayako Uragirimono

    Vestige Chapter 4 - Sayako Uragirimono


    I can''t help but feel remorseful watching my kids argue before me. Each of them with different dreams and aspirations, they plead promises of escape and safety for their friends and family. Bleeding out in pain, I''m tied up to a metal table in the lab. My children stand before me with the sparks of revolution flowing through their blood and here I am positioned decisively in their wake.  Such a familiar feeling, I can''t move or talk to them. I''m sitting here, absolutely helpless with a decision in front of me. Just like that time not long ago.


    "Happy birthday, Sayako!" My friends surrounded and congratulated me. We sat in the dining room of our orphanage. A huge cake paraded the table and decorations flew around the premise. It was the happiest moment of my life. I was going to spend the last moments of my old life with my friends before I graduated and left.


    Seymor laughed and teased me as he always did. Nile scarfed down his piece of cake and demanded more. Jamie patted me on the back and expressed her jealousy at my new life. I had never felt so filled with love and happiness in my life before, and yet all good things must come to an end soon. Yamilet blankly stared at her slice of birthday cake.


    "What''s wrong, Yamilet?" I got up, sat down across the room next to her, and placed my hand on her back.


    "Why is everyone here, so happy?" She asked me. A sorrowful gaze plagued her pupils.


    "Well, because I''m going to graduate of course!" I let my joy shine through my smile.


    "Don''t they release what''s going to happen to you?" She cried out. Last month when Carole left to start her new life, Yamilet snuck out to give her one last goodbye. Ever since that moment, she hadn''t been the same person.


    "Please. Don''t leave. Don''t go with Mother tonight." She begged me.


    "That''s enough Yamilet." Conny, Mother,  dragged her out of the festivities and into the kitchen for discipline.


    This behavior seemed so novel to me at the time. I shrugged it off as paranoia on her part, without considering the reason behind her words and actions. I completely disregarded, anything she said she saw that fateful night and continued on with my graduation.


    Later that night, Conny led me out past the gate and into the forest. We trudged through the lush woodland. I marveled at the new sights around me. I had thought such excess flora and natural wonder only existed in that of picture books. We continued until Conny brought me along to the tunnel that left Orphanage 203.


    The forbidden underpass towered in front of me, but we gave it little thought. Conny turned to me and spoke words of encouragement. She told me that I was going to undergo an awful trial and that she had the utmost confidence in me to pass it. With hindsight, I could never accomplish such comforting and motivating words as her when I put my own children through the serum.


    It feels strange to reminisce on the time I took the serum. Its cold touch has escaped me with age, and yet I still remember the look on Conny''s face as I morphed and changed. She looked relieved, and yet I felt unbelievable agony and anguish flow through me. I was so confused at the time. I never understood the point of the serum, if we were just leaving to find happy lives outside the walls.


    My original beliefs about the world outside the walls have all but faded from my mind now, but I know they must not have been accurate to what I actually saw. Then again, I never actually left them. I simply peered out from the window in my academy room. I witnessed those creatures bustle and rumble through their daily lives. I watched the neon lights on their shops blinker and flash in an unknown dialect.


    Every now and then, Conny would visit me in my small, lonely room. She would ask how I was doing with my education and training. Every time I had the same response. I would get down on my knees and thank her for the mercy she showed me and reassure her that I was not failing her judgment. Conny was a very humble woman and she would tell me that she had complete confidence in me to succeed in my training and yet it was challenging for me.


    I left my life with Seymor, Nile, Jamie, Yamilet and all others behind for one where I would study in solitary. The few other women with me were silent and aloof. They must have missed the family they abandoned. They must have had friends who were greatly hurt by their decision. The realization that the same pain they felt before coming here will be brought upon others by their own hands, must have deeply struck them. Alas, I never felt that way. I always knew that I made the right decision.


    I had failed the test. When the serum coursed through my veins, I failed to control it. My body could not gain its power and so I was useless to the Overlord. Gratefully, I was offered a second chance. Conny sent in a letter of recommendation to the higher-ups. They had accepted it and allowed me to continue living as a mother. I was to replace another woman who''s years began to catch up to.


    I put my heart and soul into my schooling. I learned to read Archaic and to operate their communications networks. I drilled the blueprint of the orphanage and all its intricacies into my brain. I mastered housework, cleaning, repair, and cooking. I was even taught the biology of our people and how the serum permanently reworks and supercharges our enzymes. I did all of this, knowing one day I would put children through the same hell I endured. I even looked forward to it. I put all of my soul into excelling in my schooling.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    A day came though, that I had one last task to accomplish before I was allowed to become a full-fledged mother and work in the orphanage. I had to literally become a mother. Artificially inseminated, I gave birth to a daughter. Advanced science and medicine ensured I gave a quick and safe birth though, it was a still moment I''ll never forget. Finally holding her in my arms and staring upon her crying face. It felt like a physical embodiment of everything I had worked for lay before me.


    Such joy coursed through my body as I laid in bed. Though I was constantly hooked up to machines, a single woman helped me deliver.


    "Have you decided on a name yet?" The midwife asked me.


    "Yes. I think I''ll name her Lulu." I replied.


    With the final task behind me, I was finished. After several months of hard work, I was allowed to continue living. My life wouldn''t be forfeited like so many others who failed were, I was to carry out the sacred purpose the Overlord bestowed upon me. I wasn''t given any fancy celebration, just one day off before I started working. I spent most of the day staring out the window in my room until Conny arrived.


    "You''ve done well." Conny embraced me and held my head close.


    "You''re going to start running your own orphanage, Sayako."


    "Yes, I will." I couldn''t help but let tears fall from my eyes. My body ached, but I felt so motivated to move forward.


    "Before you start running things yourself, let''s take a trip down memory lane, shall we?" Conny led me out of my room and up to the topmost inner floor of the wall.  We stopped in the hallway between the file management room and the city management department room. Stuck between the two largest divisions within the building, it was a long hallway with glass aligning both sides.


    We passed a couple of guards as we looked through the one-way glass at Orphanage 203. It exhibited the same model that all of the other orphanages did, and yet it was special. This was where I spent the first fifteen years of my life. I remembered those familiar places and those days of running around with Yamilet and the others.


    I had left her behind to rot in the orphanage. I couldn''t help but feel regretful, but I knew what I was doing wasn''t wrong. This is how the world works and we just need to accept that, and yet some people can''t bear that fact. Yamilet was one of those people and before I knew it everything came crashing down.


    The door leaving the file management room came busting down. A nearby guard rushed to the commotion to stop the assailant and was promptly shot to death. From the file room, Yamilet, Nile, Jamie, Seymor, all came running out. Their bodies were stained with sin and blood. They held automatic guns in their hands and killed the other guard with ease.


    They had no remorse what so ever for challenging the system that allowed them peace. They had already made it to the upper level of the wall. To go through the previous floors, they must have slain many in their wake.


    "Sayako!" Yamilet''s voice screamed out and tears fell from her cheeks. She ran up and hugged my body.


    "I''m so glad you''re safe. We''ve been looking for you." Her crying eyes met mine. "We''re going to get you out of here and find a better life outside the walls."


    Her words spoke of inexperience and a lack of knowledge. She didn''t know what was really outside the walls. She didn''t know the real reason we were stuck in this forsaken system. Her ambition blinded reason and forced her to commit atrocities in the name of justice and freedom. What would she have done if she made it outside the walls? How many more would die so she could be happy outside the system? How would the Overlord punish all our race because of her actions alone?


    I was struck with a loss of words. She must have endured many hardships to get here and yet I couldn''t let her just continue on. The outside world is incredibly cruel. It isn''t a place for the fond of heart, and I didn''t believe she could survive it. I couldn''t stop her in her tracks just for not believing in her, could I?


    Filled with indecisiveness, I looked towards Conny for resolution. I found her body leaned lifelessly against the glass. Blood streamed down her face and all over her chest. Her breathing had stopped.


    "How could you do this?" I asked.


    "What do you mean? That old hag is the one who turned Carole into a goddamned monster!" Nile shouted back at me.


    "Don''t tell me you still think of her as your mother, Sayako." Yamilet let go of me and wiped her eyes.


    "She''s an evil woman who has been playing with us like toys!" Yamilet explained.


    "She''s been putting us through this hell for her own amusement!" Seymor shouted as he pinned one last bullet into Conny''s skull.


    "Just imagine the suffering Carole must have felt as she became that thing!" Jamie recalled.


    Conny took me to peer back upon Orphanage 203 so that I would recall the memories I shared with these people from afar and yet they stand before me. I search through the back of my mind, but at that moment I couldn''t come up with a single happy moment I had with these people. They are monsters that kill for their own self-righteous desires. Do they seriously believe that they can live happy lives outside the walls?


    "This is wrong." I offered up.


    Yamilet''s cold eyes explored mine. "Killing monsters is wrong?"


    Who is the monster? Does that serum make us monsters, or are we already ones without it? Nonetheless, I knew what the truth was. I knew that this revolution would fail and cause more trouble then it''s worth. So I broke the glass and pressed the alarm button on the wall beside me.


    They had gone through so much effort to sneak up here unnoticed and I threw all of that away. I sold out the beasts my friends had become, so I could continue the corrupt cycle they sought to destroy. Could their movement have actually changed things? Could they have brought better lives to our people? I don''t know what their outcome would have been and it doesn''t matter, because I watched them be hanged the next day.


    It must be strange that my mind wanders to those thoughts at a time like this. I reckon, my current predicament feels so similar in nature to that decision I made long ago. This time it is different though. Again, I attempted to quell the uprising before me, yet this time I failed. The children didn''t bother to speak to me as Yamilet did. They disregarded and shot at me. I''ve become greatly out of practice in recent years, so capturing me must have been easy for them.


    Are these kids different than those fifteen years ago? The ones in front of me haven''t gotten nearly as far as Yamilet did, and yet my opinion of them is different. I feel proud of them even. I raised these children with the optimism to reshape the world and its status quo. I don''t know if they can do it, but I hope they can. I reach down through my bindings into my pocket and pull out my key card. If they ever hope to escape the walls, they will need to first reach the upper level. I slide it towards Jax.


    Go on my children. Change the world.

 Chapter 5 - Elusive Memories

    Vestige Chapter 5 - Elusive Memories


    ¡°You seriously don¡¯t remember Kata?¡± Jax tied a bandage around his bleeding calf. I stood up and left the chair I was in. Around me, a strange lab erupted into view. Equipment littered the stone walls and floor.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know anyone named that.¡± Puzzled, I replied. Where would Jax have met anyone named Kata? We¡¯ve never left the orphanage before this, and there has never been a kid named Kata there before.


    ¡°Are you kidding me?!¡± Jax stomped his foot into the ground. ¡°You grew up with Kata! You spent your entire life with her! You, Aurelia and her have done everything together! How have you forgotten that?!¡±


    I can¡¯t describe the feeling of confusion I feel before me. My mind drew a blank on the name and yet Jax seemed so passionate about this person.


    ¡°Calm down Jax.¡± Aurelia cooled his temper. ¡°Give Lulu some space, she must have gone through a lot. Just be glad she¡¯s okay. We can figure this out later. Everything is going to be alright.¡±


    "I''m so relieved you''re alright. I really thought I lost you." Aurelia attempted to help me walk, but I shrugged her off. My legs feel perfectly fine, stronger even. My arm doesn¡¯t hurt anymore and I can even move it again. I can sense power flowing through me, strangely.


    I turned my attention to Sayako, who was sitting at the edge of the room, tied up. Blood flowed from her legs onto the floor and her eyes met mine.


    ¡°Maybe you¡¯ve got something to say about this.¡± Jax confronted to Sayako. He ripped off the duct tape on her mouth and pinned his pistol to her head.


    ¡°What have you done to Lulu?¡± He demanded.


    Sayako forlornly gazed at him.


    ¡°Standard procedure. After a child contains the serum¡¯s power, we erase their memories of the orphanage and the serum. Then they are taken away. I¡¯m sorry, but I didn¡¯t entirely finish the process on Lulu, so there''s no saying what memories she¡¯s lost.¡±


    ¡°Damn, so bring her memories back then!¡± Jax rammed his pistol into her skull.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Sayako looked down to the ground. ¡°We don¡¯t have the ability to restore memories, only erase and change. Lulu¡¯s memories of Kata are gone. I can¡¯t just bring that back.¡±


    Jax sighed and tightened his grip. ¡°Whatever, just tell me where you took Kata last night then!¡±


    ¡°Last night I handed her over to the other division. They likely took her to the capital.¡±


    ¡°Where the hell is the capital then?! Don''t waste my time!¡± Jax yelled.


    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry Jax, I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve never left the walls. I¡¯ve only peeked at the outside world. I can''t help you.¡± Sayako sighed. ¡°No amount of apologizing will ever remedy the pain I¡¯ve caused you, children. I was always so scared of the system. I was always scared of being taken away like the others who failed the test were. I¡¯m even selfish enough to put others through torture just so I don¡¯t have to.¡± Sayako monologued.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Jax took his pistol away from Sayako¡¯s head.


    ¡°I realize now that I¡¯ve been an awful mother.¡± Sayako continued. ¡°I was sure of myself that the world couldn¡¯t be changed. I was sure that we were all going to be killed just for trying. I let that consume me and take over my everyday life. Every decision I ever made was based on my resolve to be in the grace of the higher ups. I let it blind me.¡± Sayako coughed onto the floor. A splat of blood laid in its wake.


    ¡°Mother!¡± Aurelia rushed over to Sayako. ¡°She¡¯s bleeding really badly!¡±


    ¡°I watched resistance fail. I stumped it out myself too.¡± Sayako began to cough more rapidly. ¡°I even attempted to stop you, my own children, from accomplishing their dreams. I¡¯ve realized now the errors in my ways.¡±


    The puddle of blood on the floor grew huge. It soaked into Jax¡¯s boots. It stained Aurelia¡¯s clothes. ¡°I can¡¯t stop the bleeding!¡± Aurelia cried. She tied bandages and applied pressure but to no avail.


    Jax stared at Sayako speechless.


    ¡°I¡¯m so proud of you four. You¡¯ve done so well stopping me. I hope you can forgive me for everything I¡¯ve done.¡± Sayako reached out of her bindings and pulled out a keycard. She tossed it over the large puddle of blood and near Jax¡¯s feet.


    ¡°This is the least I can do. I¡¯ve failed as a caregiver. I¡¯ve failed as your mother, Lulu.¡± Sayako took one last look at me. ¡°But you, my children, are stronger than I ever was. Take that card. Go on and leave this damned place. Find happiness outside the walls.¡± Sayako¡¯s lungs crawled to a halt and her heart played its final note.


    A moment of silence and stillness spread through the room. We were all struck for words. The realization that we had killed our own mother sank deep in our hearts. What little she said had a profound impact on me. The happiness she spoke of alluded beyond what I ever imagined. Our whole lives have been lies, but out there, somewhere, is a place of happiness. A place where we can live in peace, all of us


    ¡°Let¡¯s get going.¡± Jax broke the silence. ¡°We¡¯re never gonna find the capital sulking around like this.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not going to the capital.¡± I interjected.


    ¡°What?¡± Jax responded.


    Sayako didn¡¯t give us that card so we could live peace ourselves. She wanted us to free everyone with it. She wanted us to break out every child stuck in this purgatory. I¡¯m going to save Sharlotte, Glenda, and all the others.


    ¡°We need to go back. We¡¯re going to get everyone in the orphanage and escape together. I¡¯m not going to leave my family behind.¡± I explained.


    ¡°But you¡¯d leave Kata behind? She¡¯s probably being tortured in the capital as we speak! You¡¯d ignore that just to bring fifty people along with us?¡± Jax argued and waved his pistol through the air.


    ¡°I never said that-¡±


    ¡°And how the hell do you expect to escape with everyone? Do you really think running away is going to be easy? There will people who will try to stop us, kill us even! How are we going to survive that with a group of fifty people? Many of them are still kids, toddlers even! They can''t defend themselves! They''ll slow us down!¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t change the fact we can¡¯t just abandon them here! They¡¯re all at risk right now! We¡¯ve got to do something to save them.¡±


    Jax let out a huge sigh. ¡°I agree with you, but it¡¯s not that simple. We don¡¯t know what it¡¯s like outside. I¡¯d rather break everyone out if I knew I had somewhere to bring them.¡±


    Jax reached his hand out. ¡°How about this. Let''s leave the walls. We''ll explore the outside world and find a safe haven for ourselves. Then we''ll go back for everyone.  Trying to leave with everyone like that¡¯s riskier than just leaving them here. Even without Mom, they''ll be just fine here.¡± He offered.


    I guess he¡¯s right. I can¡¯t let anyone else die. Running away with that many people won¡¯t be easy. So many of them just aren''t old enough for something like this. There''s no saying how many would die along the way. We¡¯ll just have to find a sanctuary first and then we¡¯ll save our whole family.


    Engrossed with a desire to find heaven and filled with the memory of the people we left behind, we set off. Sayako, no, Mother¡¯s last words struck a chord in all of us. We were going to find somewhere safe for everyone. We were going to find a paradise where we could all be happy.

 Chapter 6 - Reaching Out to The Real World

    Vestige Chapter 6 - Elusive Memories


    With the memory of Mother behind us, we moved forward through the floors of the inner wall. The halls were empty and dull. Empty rooms and broken technology were scattered haphazardly. We climbed several flights of stairs until we reached an illuminated hallway. A steel door stood at the end of the corridor. Jax slid the key card into the slot located on the handle of the door.


    "Level two access granted." A robotic voice said as the door swung open.


    Inside we found a large stairwell reaching higher than imaginable. The walls and floors were in great contrast to those previously. They were white and kept clean. The lights shone brightly and arrows guided the way up the stairs.


    We trekked through innumerable counts of flights. Every turn of the staircase led to more stairs. Several hours must have passed as we worked our way upwards.


    "God, my legs are going to fall off anytime now." Gray panted.


    "I can''t walk up another stair." Aurelia slid down the wall and into a sitting position.


    "Whew." Jax caught his breath. "Come on guys. You saw how the tall the wall is from the outside, you should have expected this."


    "Let''s just turn back already, I''m tired." Aurelia complained.


    "Quit it. We don''t have time to lay around." Jax began to climb again.


    "Yeah. There''s no way you''re tired already!" I yelled from a story above.


    Honestly, I felt like they were holding me back. We must have climbed several hundred stairs, and yet my legs never felt better. I didn''t stop once to break, and yet I''m not out of breath. My arm had completely recovered too. I felt as I could keep going for hours on end.


    "I think I reached the top!" I climbed the final flight.


    "Yo, let''s get up there already!" Jax yelled from below. I could hear Aurelia and gray grunt and complain.


    Jax finally met me at the top. At the apex was a three-way intersection. The door to our left was labeled "Management Divisions. To our right "Training and Quartering". Finally in front of us "Cadet Affairs Divison." All three of the doors looked similar to the previous one, yet they lacked a slot for a keycard.


    "So, which way should we go?" I asked Jax.


    "I only move one direction and that''s forward." He pushed open the door titled "Cadet Affairs Divison" and walked through.


    I followed him in and began to inspect my surroundings. We were in something of an office type environment. Cubicles and meeting rooms filled the layout. The place seemed empty say for thrown about papers and a surplus of coffee mugs. I walked into one of the meeting rooms. It seemed soundproof, but there wasn''t much noise to test that out on.


    Through the glass, I could see the entirety of the room. I watched Jax search the cubicles. He rummaged through papers and flyers. He went through most of the room, before stopping at something.


    "Hey, Lulu. Come check this out." I hardly heard him through the room.


    I walked over to the cubicle he was in and he showed me a paper he found. It was extremely faded but unrefutably held a picture of Kata in a wedding dress on it. In large bold letters at the top, it said "Second Q-". The second word was indistinguishable.


    "I can''t imagine what Kata must be going through right now." Jax said with a hint of defeat in his tone. "What do you make of this, Lulu?"


    "I don''t know. I''ve never met Kata and I don''t know really know anything about her" I replied.


    "Oh yeah, that''s right." Downhearted, Jax placed the paper on the desk. "We should keep moving."


    He stood up and began walking towards the exit. A door at the far side of the space that led to the next wing contained an exit sign above it. We had spent long enough in there, so I joined him. Just at that moment the door, we entered through creaked open. Both of us turned to meet the light seeping into the dark room.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Finally the stairs are over!" Aurelia cried as she entered. She quickly sagged into one of the desk chairs.


    "Didn''t we pack anything to eat?" Gray stumbled into the room and onto the floor.


    Did they really spend all this time making their way up those stairs? They really hold us back. Maybe they should have stayed back at the orphanage. Jax and I could probably do this on our own, not that I would ever tell them that.


    "Took you long enough." I greeted them.


    "You have your rations to eat, man. Just don''t scarf them all down at once, we need to conserve." Jax said to Gray.


    "Yeah, yeah, I know." Gray grumbled back.


    "The heck is this place?" Aurelia wondered. She rolled her chair into a nearby cubicle. "Oh wow, they even have computers like the one in the library here."


    Aurelia inspected the terminal. "How do you turn this on?"


    "Stop messing around. We need to keep going." I said.


    "Just let me rest for a second." Aurelia responded. She searched the PC until she found the power button on its side. She pressed down on the button and the monitor lit up in response. The serenity and quietness of the room were quickly decimated by that of a deafening start-up sound.


    "Ya hear that?" The exit door creaked open and a raspy male voice called out.


    "Quickly hide!" Jax ordered as he ducked into a cubicle. I charged into a meeting room and locked the door behind me. I crouched down, where I couldn''t be seen.


    "It''s probably just your hallucinations again, man." A second voice responded.


    "No. I swear I heard a computer boot up." The raspy voice walked through the room. "Which one of you was it, now?" The voice snarked.


    "Are you going to help me with these reports or not?" The second voice asked.


    "Just put them through the system or whatever."


    "These are reports from the capital Dreddian, we can''t just let the computer handle them."


    "Whatever." Dreddian audibly perked up. "There you are! Now don''t tell me you computers are starting on your own now."


    "Just turn it off and get back here already."


    "Yeah, yeah, don''t rush me." The computer shut off. "Seymor you really need to lighten up one of these days." Dreddian began to walk towards the door.


    He stopped in his tracks.


    "Did you really think I wouldn''t notice you hiding under the desk there?" He yelled.


    "Get off me!" Aurelia screamed.


    "Hey. Ya got some great tits for a kid lemme tell you."


    Aurelia must have been caught! I''ve got to do something about this. I readied my rifle and charged out from the room. A tall old man held Aurelia up by the neck. Precisely I fired three bullets into his left side. He dropped Aurelia and turned towards me. Blood flowed out of his side, yet he barely flinched through his smile.


    "Are you kids doin a breakout? This is going to be fun!" Dreddian pulled out a saber from a sheath on his hilt and ran towards me. He was incredibly fast, but I managed to dodge his first attack. Horizontally he swung his sword again. I ducked down and swept his feet with mine. He came crashing into the desk behind him.


    "Let''s get out of here!" I yelled.


    "This way!" Jax helped up Aurelia and ran through the exit door. I followed behind Gray and went into the next room.


    Inside was a smaller room with a large table in the center. A young man, with white hair, greeted us inside.


    "This really brings back memories!" Seymor drew a semi-automatic pistol and fired at Jax.


    Jax jumped forward, just barely missing the bullets, and shoved Aurelia through the next door and into a hallway. "Run!" He yelled as he equipped his gun. He then ducked under the table, as a spray of bullets filled the room.


    I ran in and pushed Gray through the door. "Make sure Aurelia stays out of trouble!" I shouted as I charged towards Seymor. I leaped onto the table and kicked the pistol out of his hands before he could shoot.


    Surprised, he jumped up and tackled me off the table. With one hand he held my rifle down and with the other he strangled me. I pushed and shoved to get him off, but his weight far outmatched mine.


    Dreddian entered the room and Jax turned to deal with him. Jax swerved and ducked past each of Dreddian''s slashes. Dreddian stumbled back as Jax''s fist landed into his gut. He then punctured several bullets into Dreddian''s chest. He failed to recover quickly and Jax had his opportunity to run.


    I finally managed to shove off Seymor. I weakly threw him aside and pushed him away with my foot. He rolled under the table and searched around for his pistol. I spewed shots into him, yet he failed to react.


    "We gotta book it, Lulu!" Jax sprinted through the door past me.


    With what little opportunity I had, I followed him out. We darted through a long hallway with doors lining each side. Shouting and footsteps sounded behind us and we ran with all our might to avoid them.


    Bullets clanked on the wall as we charged through the sharp left turn the passage took. We rushed to meet Aurelia and Gray at the end of the hallway. They stood at a large steel door.


    "The door''s locked! We need that key card." Aurelia shouted. Jax and I finally reached them and he pulled out his pack to find the card.


    "Hey, they''re coming this way, guys!" Gray pointed this out. Armed, Seymor, and Dreddian were charging our way. Where they currently were, they could easily nail us with fire. Knowing this, I made the decision to jump in front of the way. I stretched my body out as large as I could and stood in front of the others to protect them. There wasn''t enough time to get through the door and I had to do something. I would do anything to protect my family even take bullets for them.


    Blood splattered on my chest, as bullets pierced my skin. I must have been shot eight or so times, yet I felt little to no pain.


    "Got the door open!" Jax yelled. We all sprinted outside.


    "Lock it behind us!" Gray offered. Jax swiped the electronic screen under the keycard slot and selected the lock icon. Seymor and Dreddian banged on the door, yet they could not get it open.


    Out of breath and filled with adrenaline, the sights around me took a moment to register. We were no longer inside the wall. We were outside. We stood atop a large stone staircase that led from the top of the wall to the ground. The air was warm and humid. The morning sun shined down on us. Below us, stood a large sprawling city.


    We had finally reached the outside world.

 Chapter 7 - A Vow of Silence

    Vestige Chapter 7 - A Vow of Silence


    We stood atop the wall, looking out at the sprawling landscape in front of us. The breeze cooled our faces and the wind sounded through the air. It was quiet and calming, even more so than anywhere in the orphanage was.


    We looked down at the city before us. It stretched far yet was also surrounded by walls. Lights flicked and dots scrambled but like us, they too were confined. Though I had a great view I couldn¡¯t see past the walls surrounding the city. Maybe we¡¯ve reached what we¡¯re looking for. Maybe it¡¯s past those walls way out there. Only one way to find out.


    ¡°You feeling okay?¡± Aurelia wrapped bandages around my chest. The wounds had already closed themselves.


    ¡°Never better.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare do something like that again. You could¡¯ve died!¡± She ties the last bandage.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t die.¡± Jax said.


    ¡°Yeah, those wounds should¡¯ve been more serious than they were.¡± Gray added.


    It¡¯s true that I should¡¯ve died and yet I didn¡¯t. My body is recovering faster than normal. My stamina is larger and my strength greater. Even my pain tolerance is better.


    ¡°We should get going. I have a feeling those men will be looking for us.¡± Jax stood up and beckoned to the city staircase.


    ¡°Hold on, give Lulu a minute to recover.¡± Aurelia interjected.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine.¡± I stood up. ¡°We¡¯ve gotta get a move on while we have the chance.¡± I doubt that the door we locked was the only exit out of the wall. They¡¯ll catch up on us if we¡¯re too slow.


    ¡°Oh, ok. Just don¡¯t push yourself.¡± Aurelia begrudgingly began to walk down the staircase.


    The staircase going down was significantly shorter than that going up. It seems this city wasn¡¯t built on the ground level, but rather a way above it. The staircase is made of the same stone material as the walls. Even the buildings in the city are built similarly.


    As we reach the city, it¡¯s scope begins to realize itself. The buildings are large and tall. The streets are cramped and narrow. Clotheslines and wires stretch from roof to roof. It¡¯s clear that this city was designed to maximize space as much as possible.


    Though it is light outside neon lights covering the structures brighten the sky. They flash in numerous colors and bring life into the dull city. As we walk the streets two things become obviously apparent to us.


    First of all, this town is quite poor. Trash is littered on the streets and the walls look as they haven¡¯t been cleaned in centuries. A reeking odor lingers as well.


    Secondly, we¡¯re not welcome here. They keep looking down upon us.


    As we stroll the streets the monsters that inhabit this place stare at us. They''re large, several feet taller than a human, and fleshy. Their faces are distorted and a large trunk protrudes from it. Big elephant-like ears sit on each side of their disturbed head.


    The creatures wear clothes and walk like humans, yet their distinctly different. They look at us like they¡¯ve never seen a human before and fail to speak to us.


    ¡°These things are starting to creep me out.¡± Aurelia tugged at my shirt.


    ¡°The hell are they?¡± Jax asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I get the feeling they don¡¯t like us.¡± Gray strays away from a curious young creature who approached him.


    ¡°Well,¡± Jax smirked. ¡°Let¡¯s find out what they want.¡± Jax walked into a crowd of the monsters. They parted to make way for his presence.


    ¡°Hey! Fuckfaces! The hell are you and what do you want with us!¡± Jax shouted into the crowd.


    The group of creatures immediately dispersed and many ran off into the shadows. Within the blink of an eye, the crowd was gone.


    ¡°Jax, what was that?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m trying to get some answers!¡± He replied.


    ¡°Is that really the best way to do it?¡± Aurelia retorted.


    ¡°Got a better idea than that?¡± Gray responded.


    "I don''t know maybe we could be more friendly to them?" Aurelia offered.


    "Like they''re being friendly to us." Gray snorted.


    "Maybe they''re just scared?"


    ¡°Alright, Alright. I got a better idea then.¡± Jax approached one of the monsters still here and cornered him so he couldn¡¯t getaway. ¡°Now you''re going to tell me where we are and what you are-¡° With one hand on the wall, Jax used his other to pull a knife. ¡°-or else, got that?¡±


    The creature stood there in shock. Frightened, not a single word came out of it. It trembled and shook until it fell to the floor in agony.


    ¡°Jax, give it a rest.¡± Aurelia pulled him away. The monster rolled in pain on the floor. Tears streamed from its eyes, yet it didn''t make a single word.


    ¡°You¡¯ve gotta be more considerate!¡± She said.


    ¡°Yeah, why? They¡¯re not even human!¡± Jax argued.


    ¡°Quit it. We shouldn''t be fighting over something like this, we have better things to do. We¡¯ve gotta find somewhere to stay. We walked through the entire night, we need somewhere to rest.¡± I explained.


    ¡°Yeah, we can interrogate these things later. Let¡¯s find food and shelter first.¡± Gray agreed with me.


    We left the monster crying on the floor to find somewhere we could stay. I could start to feel fatigue weight me down and I couldn''t imagine how tired the others must have been. So we searched for a place to rest.


    None of the creatures would speak to us and their signs were in some unknown language. Suffice to say, it wasn''t easy to get around. I mean I didn¡¯t expect us to find a hotel or something along those lines, but I hoped there was somewhere we could get some help. We ended up walking into a somewhat welcoming looking building.


    It seemed to be some sort of restaurant. All of the monsters inside were in the middle of eating, serving and cooking as we entered. Immediately they stopped to stare at us.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Even with eyes looming on us, the air conditioning inside was extremely cooling compared to the humid air outside. Even with the unwelcoming aroma, we decided to approach the counter. A tall scared creature stood on the other side.


    ¡°Hello?¡± I asked. The creature bit it¡¯s misshapen finger-nails in fear. It stared blankly at us, offering nothing but silent attention.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think they can understand us.¡± Aurelia offered.


    "Good job, Sherlock." Jax laughed and slapped Aurelia''s back. "Anyways it doesn''t look like we''ll get much service here.


    ¡°Oh man! Look at that!¡± Gray interrupted and pointed to one of the monster¡¯s meals. Sitting on a china plate was a crisp juicy hamburger.


    ¡°That looks way better than any of the rations we have!¡± Foaming at the mouth, Gray exclaimed.


    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Jax crossed his arms. ¡°Hey, we might as well get ourselves some of that while we¡¯re here and I doubt that they¡¯ll serve us so.¡±


    Jax pulled his knife from his pocket.¡°We might as well take some for ourselves then.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t do that!¡± Aurelia yelled and attempted to hold him down. ¡°We can¡¯t kill them!¡±


    ¡°Why not? We killed our mother! That¡¯s far worse than killing defenseless monsters like this!¡± Jax argued.


    ¡°You-¡± Aurelia signed and lowered her head to the ground. "Don''t remind me."


    ¡°Jax. That was a little too far.¡± I said.


    ¡°Whatever. We don''t have time to just sit around trying to communicate with these things.¡± Jax sighed and approached the creature sitting at the table. "We might as well get something out of this place before we move on." Jax raised his knife to the monster. It squealed at the sight of his knife and pushed the burger to him.


    ¡°Good.¡± Jax picked up the burger and handed it to Gray. Promptly the monster squirmed out of its seat and left the restaurant. Slowly one by one, many followed its lead and before we knew it they had all fled. Even those behind the counter, working had disappeared.


    ¡°Ugh, that was- well at least you didn¡¯t attack any of them I guess.¡± Aurelia disapproved.


    Gray immediately dug into the hamburger. ¡°This is good stuff!¡± He praised.


    ¡°We only have enough rations to last a few days, so let''s pack this up and get moving.¡± Jax began to store away stuff. "Gotta get past the next wall."


    This world we found was strange to say the least. These creatures don¡¯t understand us and are helpless too. Nevertheless, I can¡¯t shake the feeling there was more to this. This wasn¡¯t the capital, was it? Where must the capital be then? Past the next wall?


    I sighed. To be honest this wasn¡¯t what I was expecting would be past the walls. I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d be scaring away some aliens like schoolyard bullies. I guess I was disappointed. I expected to be thrown into a world of terror. I expected to have to fight for the safety of my family.


    Actually, maybe I¡¯ll still have to.


    Suddenly an alarm began blaring. Red lights through the building began to flash and a loud siren sounded.


    ¡°Shit! Let¡¯s get out of here!¡± Jax slang his pack over his shoulder and ran out of the restaurant.


    ¡°I knew we shouldn¡¯t have threatened them like that!¡± Aurelia complained and stormed out.


    ¡°Hold on!¡± Gray shoved one last bite down his mouth and ran out.


    I joined them outside and found it surprisingly quiet. What was once a bustling city of monsters was now an empty ghost town with only that of a siren bringing it life. The creatures were all gone and we were left alone yet something else was lurking in the shadows. No one was here, yet it felt like we were being watched.


    ¡°Alright here¡¯s the deal.¡± Jax took charge. ¡°We¡¯re gonna bounce out that way. " He pointed to the wall.  It looks like the next wall is about a mile down. Let¡¯s make it our goal to find a way through it or into it.¡±


    ¡°Got it, man.¡± Gray agreed.


    "Alright." Aurelia stretched her calves.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get going.¡± Jax yelled as we began to jog.


    The city was surprisingly calm even with the alarm. Jogging in the warm afternoon air felt good. Jax was much farther than us yet we kept a good pace. I strangely enjoyed the feeling of the stone every time my foot hit it.


    ¡°It looks like there¡¯s a gate up ahead!¡± Jax shouted.


    Indeed ahead of us was a gate leading to the other side of the wall. Slowly it was being lowered down to the ground. The pace of it''s lowering was abysmal, yet we were far enough away to warrant rushing.


    ¡°We¡¯ve gotta hurry.¡± Jax called.


    "Let''s go, let''s go!" I egged Gray and Aurelia, who were behind me.


    Judging by our pace we probably could have made it to the gate, yet fate had other plans for us.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Aurelia screamed somewhere behind me. ¡°My leg-¡° She fell to the ground and cried in pain. She stumbled into a bunch of trashcans and didn''t recover. Hearing this, I stopped and ran back to help her out.


    ¡°The hell-¡° Farther behind me, Gray disappeared into the shadow of a nearby alleyway. He was just gone before I even knew it.


    I reached down and picked up Aurelia. A hole pierced in her leg, she was bleeding badly. I picked her up despite how heavy she was and began to run. "We''ve gotta get to Gray before the gate falls."


    I made it a decent way back to Gray before I tripped and hit the floor. Aurelia bounced onto the ground. "Owww." She covered her wound. Something had it me in the neck. I could feel cold liquid seep onto my skin. The pain felt significantly worse than that of a bullet.


    ¡°Well, well, well!¡± From the darkness, beside me, an old man with a terrible receding hairline and raspy voice materialized.


    ¡°We got lucky Seymor! We caught the girls first!¡± Dreddian exclaimed in anticipation. He held his saber high and laughed maniacally.


    Seymor and a group of eight other armed black cladded men approached from the darkness. In their hands, they held sniper rifles. The men wore dark concealing masks and had blades on their sides.


    ¡°You four arrest them, the others catch that boy! Don''t let him make it into Desperation!¡± Dreddian ordered and pointed to Jax, currently sprinting his way past the gate. The four men ran towards him. Their pace was only rivaled to that of Jax. Failing to reach him, they fired at him, but to no avail.


    Boom! The gate slammed down onto the ground leaving Jax on the other side alone.


    On the ground, I pulled Aurelia behind me and readied my rifle. Her leg was shot and bleeding badly. I couldn''t run away with her in that state so I was forced to fight back. Seymor, Dreddian and these four men stared down on me, grinning.


    I jumped up on my feet and back to gain distance and fired into one of the men. Several bullets must have hit him, but he did little but flinch. The four men promptly spilt up to surround me.


    Unharmed, the one I shot pulled a sword from his side and charged me in front. I met his sword with my rifle and pushed him aside. I knew there were others around me, yet he kept me close enough to him, that I couldn''t watch my surroundings.


    From behind me, another man kicked me in the back. I stumbled into the man in front of me. Using this opportunity, he ran his sword straight through my stomach. Searing in pain, I pulled the blade out of my chest and shoved the man away with my other hand.


    Somewhere to my side, another man swept me to the ground. My shoulder roared in pain as I hit the ground. With the blade, I stabbed back at him, to no accomplishment. He grasped the blade and took it from my hands.


    On the ground, I was stomped on by a man to my other side. Dreddian had taken use of my weaken and took my rifle. The four men held my arms and legs down. Helpless, I struggled and squirmed.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got to congratulate you.¡± Seymor said as I attempted to kick him.. ¡°Your the first revolution from the orphanage to ever make it into the city of Cadet.¡± He smirked


    ¡°You¡¯ll also be the last now that you''ve seen our new task force in action.¡± He came closer to me. "They use a new state of the art serum we''ve developed!"


    ¡°Well that¡¯s enough of that, take her away!¡± Seymor clapped. The men picked me up and began to move me along.


    "No!" Aurelia, even with her injured leg, lashed out to help me. Before she could reach me, Dreddian kicked her to the side. "Oh this will be fun." He picked her up and began to laugh crazily.


    Even throughout my struggle, the men dragged me through the city. I struggled as hard as I could. I shoved, kicked and yelled yet they kept me down.


    Pretty quickly they put some tape over my mouth, as I kept trying to bite the man in front of me


    I knew not the fate of Gray or Aurelia, but I was gravely worried. Where could they be taking us? Soon they carried me down a staircase threw me into a cell of some sort. Behind me, they locked the door and left me underground in a prison.


    I stood alone in a small cell. There was no window, all I could see what the empty cell in front of me. Inside was absolutely nothing, not even a bed.


    Damn it! I threw my fist into the stone wall. I failed to protect everyone and now look what¡¯s happened! I''ve gotten myself locked up somewhere away from everyone else!


    ¡°Lulu, is that you?¡±


    Aurelia! From the cell to my left, her voice called.


    ¡°Aurelia! Are you alright? Where''s the others?¡± I walked to the far edge of the bars, just where I could barely see her.


    ¡°My legs bleeding really badly but besides that I¡¯m fine.¡± She replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m here too.¡± Gray called from the cell to my right.


    ¡°What about Jax?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I think I saw him go past the gate. He''s probably still at the other side.¡± Gray sighed.


    This couldn''t be worse. Jax is separated from us. We¡¯re stuck in a prison. The bars won¡¯t budge and there¡¯s no way we can chip through the wall or something. No one''s going to come and help us.


    Just then a door creaked open and footsteps came closer. Seymor walked in front of my cell and greeted me. He pulled over a wooden stool and sat down.


    ¡°We need to talk.¡±

 Chapter 8 - The Decision

    Vestige Chapter 8 - The Decision


    I stood in a damp cell. Musky air flowed through the room. The quietness and atmosphere of defeat highlighted how bad of a scenario I was in. I was locked away somewhere underground. Aurelia and Gray were locked in the cells next to me, and Jax had been separated from us.


    Escaping this won¡¯t be easy if it¡¯s even possible. The bars aren¡¯t going to budge anytime soon. Furthermore, my arms and legs have been chained. I can still walk around just fine, but I couldn¡¯t fight anything like this. That was if I still had any of my things to fight with.


    Soon a door opened somewhere outside and Seymor came walking out. He approached my cell and pulled over a wooden stool.


    ¡°We need to talk.¡± He said.


    I replied to him with a glare.


    "You''re the leader of your little group right?"


    I nodded. He promptly stood up pulled out a chain of keys.


    ¡°You know what? Let¡¯s go for a little walk.¡± He unlocked the cell. ¡°Just me and you.¡±


    I begrudgingly walked out of the cell. Whatever trick he¡¯s trying to play, I¡¯m not gonna fall for it. I am going to continue with attitude.


    He led me out a door and into a hallway similar to that of what we found within the inner walls.


    ¡°How¡¯s your wound doing?¡± He asked me as we walked.


    I shrugged. In all honesty, it had already closed but still felt quite sore. It was a really bad cut yet I survived just fine.


    ¡°I''ll take that as it''s already healed. Judging by the fact you''re walking you''re just fine.  The serum sure does wonders doesn¡¯t it, Lulu?¡±


    ¡°How do you know my name?¡± I finally decided to speak to me.


    He stopped. ¡°I took a look through the file database and found yours. We keep extensive information on every orphanage child.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s actually the reason I brought you out here, Lulu. Your file contained some strange occurrences if you will..¡±


    He continued walking down the dull hallway. ¡°You¡¯ve already passed the serum as well as the memory procedures. This makes you applicable for enlistment. Yet, there is no record of that and granted you''re here you must have broken out after the memory procedure. I reckon that defeats the purpose of the operation, but nonetheless, your offenses of breaking out of the orphanage and into Cadet are punishable by death.¡±


    He paused at a large dark room in the middle of the hallway and peered inside. ¡°I can overlook that though. With my position, I can easily excuse your offenses if you, in turn, enlist in the military. That being said, it''s your only option other than death.¡±


    ¡°The military?¡± I asked. Never have I heard of the military even existing.


    "Yeah, you''ll join the war against Dionis. They''re an empire hellbent on genocide and total conquest. We''ve been fighting a war against them for the past sixty years. Simply put it''s been a losing battle and the serum has been the only thing keeping us holding on."Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "So I have the choice of joining the war or dying? Why even offer me a choice then." I replied.


    Disrespondent, he stared into the dark room before us. Nothing but an eerie chill greeted us back. Seymor flicked the light switch to the room. Lying inside was three nooses hanging from the ceiling.


    ¡°Let me tell you a story Lulu.¡± He turned to face me. ¡°I was an orphanage child just like you once. I grew up and lived my life believing I was to be adopted somewhere outside the walls. It was an infectious fallacy that absorbed my life. One day a friend of mine, her name was Yamilet, came to me. She spoke to me about another girl in the orphanage, named Carole, who had just graduated at the time.¡±


    ¡°She described to me the horror of what had happened to her. How the actress we called mother had lied to us. How the serum had mutated Carole¡¯s body and deformed her.. When I first heard of it I was so consumed by rage. The image of the serum ''s effects had me angered beyond relief. Therefore, I devised a plan with Yamilet and a couple of others to break out of the orphanage. We stormed the inner walls after our mother had gone away, killing many guards and workers inside.¡±


    ¡°It was, in fact, the same inner walls that you had gone through. Granted, many of the workers since then have been moved to the war effort. We assumed this system of graduation was designed to torture us. That we were cattle or playthings if you will. Like you, we were so blind to the truth. We thought that killing our mother and other innocent people was just. That couldn''t be further from the truth. Simply put, Dionis is closing in on the city of Vestige. Our nation is on the verge of extinction and the Overlord created this system of orphanages to protect us.¡±


    ¡°Without the serum, we would all be dead by now. But at the time, I didn¡¯t know that and so I fought against the system until eventually we were caught by the guards. I was then brought to this same prison. That¡¯s when I was offered a decision that would change my life. It was an enigmatic man who at the time was working as human mayor of Cadet who offered me this.¡±


    ¡°He gave me a second chance. He told me about Dionis and losing war we fought outside the walls. So he gave me a choice and I accepted. I willingly took the serum and joined the military. He went to the others with and also offered then salvation, yet their rage blinded them. They denied him and continued to try and fight against him."


    "At the time I felt torn and powerless. I couldn''t want to go against my family and their decision. In turn, Yamilet and the others couldn¡¯t accept the reality before them and denied the offer. I willingly let them do this. I argued to myself that this was their decision alone. And look at what has come of them.¡± He gestured to the nooses hanging in the room and the rotting corpses they hold.


    He turned to me and looked me in the eyes. ¡°So I offer you the same decision. Do you value your family''s lives? Would you risk putting them through the serum and onto the battlefield just so they could continue to live?¡±


    "If you accept this offer, your two friends will undergo the serum and the memory procedures. I can''t guarantee that they will survive it, but I can guarantee if they do, they will be allowed to continue to live.


    I stood there in a moment of shock and pondering for what I had just heard. Was what I heard really the truth? Was their really such a threat outside the walls.


    ¡°Is this war against Dionis really that serious?¡± I replied.


    Seymor lifted up his shirt to reveal a scar on his chest. The scar was large and gory. Its shape suggested that his entire body might have been cut in half. It was such that put the wound I had to shame. ¡°It''s living hell.¡±


    Currently, I was struck with a decision that would ultimately change the course of everything. After all I heard, my answer soon became clear to me. It was a moment where all the puzzle pieces fit into the place. It was obvious from the start. Our whole lives had been spent doing military training. This serum gives us regenerative powers, beyond that imaginable. We¡¯ve been bred to be powerful soldiers from the very start. Nevertheless, that''s not what I wanted. I sought out peace and happiness for those I love. I wanted to find somewhere we could rest and be safe for once.


    I don¡¯t know if there really is a paradise like that out there. It¡¯s what I desire to find, but I ultimately fail short of knowing where to start. Nonetheless, though I know what is important to me. Protecting my family at all costs. Therefore my answer was absolute.


    ¡°I accept.¡±

 Chapter 9 - Second Chance

    Vestige Chapter 9 - Second Chance


    ¡°I accept¡±


    Seymor stared at me silently for a brief moment. ¡°You agree to sell out your friends to the military? You do know that means they¡¯ll undergo the serum and memory operation, right?¡± He asked me.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll make sure they still remember you afterward.¡± He nodded in agreement then led me through the hallway and back to my cell.


    ¡°Get some rest, we¡¯ll perform the operation in the morning, you¡¯ll leave immediately afterwards¡± Shutting the cell door behind me, Seymor left the room.


    ¡°So, what did he want with you?¡± Gray asked.


    ¡°He offered all three of us a spot in the military and I agreed.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? There¡¯s a military?¡± Aurelia exclaimed.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Exhausted, I crashed onto the stone floor. ¡°Promise me, you two, you won¡¯t forget everyone back in the orphanage, after this is all over.¡± I drifted off to sleep, with the weight of my actions not fully sinking into my mind yet.


    ¡°Rise and Shine!¡± I awoke to Seymor unlocking the cell. ¡°Come on, your friends are already getting prepped."


    Well rested, I walked with Seymor down the hallway we had last night. It had been so long since I had time to just sleep. My legs felt like they had been walking forever. Now though, I am rejuvenated.


    ¡°Here we are.¡± Seymor led me into a small room. Inside a panel of controls sat in front of glass showing the next room over. Inside that room, Aurelia, and Gray sat on wood chairs. A man in a white lab coat, prepped the machinery around them.


    ¡°Just to let you know their¡¯s about a fifty-fifty chance they fail this.¡± Seymor warned me.


    ¡°What happens then?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°You never know.  Sometimes they lose their humanity permanetly, sometimes they don¡¯t get the serum¡¯s powers and sometimes they just die.¡± Seymor slouched down into a nearby chair. ¡° Take a seat. Normally we prep the memory machines a week or so ahead of graduations, but since this is on short notice, it¡¯ll be a little while.¡±


    I nodded and sat in the chair next to him. We waited there for roughly twenty minutes. Each of those unnerving sixty seconds, Aurelia and Gray stared back at me in confusion and fear. I didn¡¯t give them a proper explaination of what was going to happen last night. I was awfully tired. In all honesty, though, I don¡¯t think I could if I wanted to.


    I can¡¯t bear telling them what I¡¯ve truly done, even if it was the right descison. This was for their protection and I just had to keep telling myself that.


    Finally Seymor stood up and walked over to the panel. He pressed a button somewhere on it. ¡°How you doin Danny?¡± He spoke into a microphone.


    ¡°I¡¯m just about ready, I¡¯ll get started with the serum in a moment.¡± Danny¡¯s, the man in the lab coat, voice erupted from the speakers.


    ¡°Good.¡± Seymor stood up and sat back down in the chair next to me.


    ¡°Who¡¯s going first?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°We¡¯re doin both at the same time.¡± He peered down at his clock. ¡°Assuming they pass, we¡¯re gonna send you three to a training camp near the frontlines. Don¡¯t worry, though, it¡¯s still inside the walls so you''ll be away from the fighting. That being said though, orientation is in a few hours, so we¡¯ve gotta get things rolling. Plus I¡¯ve got other business to get done today,¡±


    Sweat dripped down my forehead and into my lap. Anticipation kept me fearful at the edge of the seat. The possibly that Aurelia or Gray could die made me nearly vomit in my mouth. I couldn''t lose another family member like that.


    ¡°Alright, serum¡¯s a go!¡± Danny¡¯s pulled two syringes from a nearby table and walked towards Aurelia.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on? I demand an answer!¡± Aurelia cried and struggled, yet couldn¡¯t escape her restraints.


    ¡°Damn, kids.¡± Danny shoved the serum into Aurelia¡¯s arm, shutting her up. He then turned his attention to Gray.


    ¡°No, no, no! I can¡¯t become a monster like that! I don¡¯t want to! You can¡¯t-¡± Gray cried as the serum entered his system.


    Danny promptly left the room leaving both of them alone.


    ¡°Moment of truth.¡± Seymor looked me in the eye. ¡°Hope you made the right call, here.¡±


    Inside the room, Aurelia and Gray sat there in silence. Moments went by before this serenity was broken. Aurelia burst into a scream. She jumped up in down in her chair. Her body pulsing, she struggled to break the restraints. The veins on her body began to bulge and squirm. She knocked the chair over and fell onto the ground on her side.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Adjacent to her, Gray looked on in horror at her screaming torture. Soon sweat began to pile up on his forehead. Veins moving, his arms squirmed back and forth until finally they failed to look human. Large lumps of black pointed slime, his arms broke free of the bindings tying him to the chair. Free, he rushed to the glass and slammed his body against it.


    ¡°Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Please! Help me!¡± Tears streaming from his face, he looked me in the eye. ¡°Lulu, why have you done this?¡±


    Horrified and hurt by the sight in front of me, I couldn¡¯t bear what I was seeing, yet I couldn¡¯t take my eyes off of what I had done.


    Aurelia skin soon gained a light shine. Slimy, she slipped out of her constraints and onto the floor. She wiggled in pain and cried in agony. Her pale skin soon began to turn black. Her limbs twisted and turned and began to enter her body. After not long new limbs appeared. She had turned into a lump of swirling dark tentacles with a crying human head on top. Looking down at her new body, her mouth stopped, stunned by the horror of what she saw.


    Seeing what Aurelia had become, Gray slammed his fist repeatly into the glass until he nolong had a fist, but instead a tentacle. Soon he fell backwards, as he was nolong bipedal. With tentacle legs, he squirmed and screamed until eventually, his body had become completly that of a black tentacle monster.


    Scared, Aurelia sat there in shock until her head sank into her body. She collapsed onto the ground and failed to move or make a sound.


    Gray¡¯s monstrous body twitched and pulsed, yet eventually it stopped and a mess of silent tentacles remained in its place.


    What was once, a room filled with shrieks and screams was now silent. Aurelia and Gray, in the room before me, no longer cried out. It was then that the realization had hit me. I had killed them. I sank my head into my hands. I wept out in pain and suffering. It had felt as if the world around me came crashing down. Until suddenly, a hand landed on my shoulder.


    ¡°Don¡¯t give up just yet.¡± Seymor¡¯s hand rested on my shoulder. ¡°Think about how far you¡¯ve come. You kids are fighters and fighters aren¡¯t gonna die like this!¡±


    Slowly the tentacles that made up Aurelia¡¯s body squished together and shrank. Soon their color began to whiten.


    Gray moved again. Slowly the slime on his body evaporated and his limbs began to reshape. It wasn¡¯t long before his human body materialized.


    Reshapen, Aurelia stood up. She patted her body and searched every crevice of herself. She had returned to being human.


    On the other side of the room, Gray stood up and did the same. He looked through the glass at me and then back at Aurelia. He had become human again.


    A wave of relief washed over me. I couldn¡¯t help but let the floodgates in my eyes loose. I felt as if I had lost everything, yet I got it all back again.


    ¡°We¡¯re done yet, kid.¡± Seymor walked over to the microphone on the control panel. ¡°Alright Danny, you know what to do.¡±


    Danny reentered the room, this time bearing a pistol in his hand. He raised it and pointed it to Aurelia. Still grasping her surroundings, she was easily shot in the chest. Slightly shocked, she stood their completely unhinged. The wound on her stomach, quickly closed and the bleeding lasted but mere seconds.


    Danny turned to Gray and fired a bullet into his chest as well. Just as confused, Gray¡¯s wound regenerated quickly.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll get started on the memories, now.¡± Danny led Aurelia and Gray to the large machinery on the other side of the room and sat both of them done. He then lowered headsets onto them and began working


    ¡°Good job.¡± Seymor put both of his hands onto my shoulders. ¡°You made the right decision, kiddo.¡±


    I wiped the tears from my eyes. ¡°Yeah.¡± That was all I could muster.


    ¡°This will take a while, so let¡¯s head out to the plane outside.¡± He began to lead me out of the room. ¡°Don¡¯t worry the memory procedure has nearly a hundred percent success rate. They¡¯ll be just fine.¡±


    Lightning crackled through the room, as we left. We walked further down the hall until we reached a staircase. We walked up the staircase and to a door. Seymor unlocked the door and led me outside.


    The sun¡¯s heat came crashing down onto me and the morning air warmed my body. We were standing somewhere in the city we were in yesterday. In front of us sat a helipad with a small plane on it.


    ¡°Hop in, I¡¯ll go check on Danny.¡± Seymor left through the same door.


    I got into the plane, sat down and strapped myself in. It was a small plane, yet I marveled at it¡¯s interior. I had heard of aircraft before, yet never seen one myself. A pilot sat in the cockpit, yet we made little interaction.


    Almost half an hour went by before the plane doors opened. Seymor led Aurelia and Gray inside of the plane. They sat down next to me and buckled in.


    ¡°Alright, kids, this is the last you¡¯ll see of me. Do well in your training.¡± He waved at us as he shut the plane doors and walked off.


    Aurelia and Gray sat calmly next to me. They looked the same as they always had.


    ¡°You two doing okay?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Of course.¡± Gray replied.


    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t we be?¡± Aurelia retorted.


    ¡°She¡¯s probably asking if we¡¯re nervous.¡± Gray suggested to Aurelia.


    ¡°Oh yeah, I guess. It is our first day of military training.¡± Aurelia chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m not nervous at all.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like a lie to me!¡± Gray slapped Aurelia¡¯s back.


    ¡°Ha, ha! Are you kidding, you¡¯re the one to be nerv-¡±


    ¡°No!¡± I cut off their banter. ¡°I¡¯m talking about the serum. You sure you guys are fine after all that?¡±


    Puzzled, they looked at each other than back to me. ¡°What serum?¡± They both asked.


    ¡°Oh yeah, that¡¯s right.¡± It had just dawned on me that they had lost their memories of almost everything, hadn''t they? How much have they forgotten though? Did they forget everything we did growing up? Did they forget our escape from the orphanage and into the city?


    ¡°Man, the nervousness must be really getting to Lulu. She¡¯s spouting nonsense!¡± Gray laughed.


    ¡°It¡¯s gonna be just fine.¡± Aurelia put her hand on my back. ¡°We¡¯ll meet tons of new friends in the camp. There''s nothing to worry about.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I muttered as the plane took off. It quickly lifted itself into the air and soared over the city.


    I peered through the window down onto the city below me. All of the buildings soon shrank and become small blots. All of the creatures bustling underneath us became invisible to us.


    We eventually flew over the wall of the city. I had never imagined I¡¯d ever see the wall like this. Even though it was gigantic the stone wall looked small to us. Over the wall was a dense forest. It stretched out for what must have been miles before reaching the next wall. I could see hills and mountains here and there. Even rivers flowing across the terrain were visible.


    Soon we lowered into a clearing in the forest. The plane¡¯s propellers slowed and we landed. I unbuckled and opened the door. I jumped down and landed on the brown dirt below my feet. The air here was much colder than that in the city and felt strangely cleaner. Aurelia and Gray followed behind me.


    The plane then took off leaving us behind. Before us, stood a collective of cabins. In total there were five. Fields of barbed wire, mud, and logs, similar to those on the orphanage we used to train on surrounded the cabins.


    Ultimately what was before us was a new life, because we had been granted our second chance.

 Chapter 10 - New Life

    Vestige Chapter 10 - New Life


    We had been granted our a second chance and so we started our new life.


    ¡°Wow! Look at this place! The trees are so big, Lulu!¡± Aurelia¡¯s head gawked upwards at the behemoth pines around her.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I muttered under my breath.


    ¡°Look at the cabins, too!¡± Aurelia pointed to the nearest log cabin. ¡°That one says its the girl¡¯s cabin, it¡¯s way bigger than the house at the orphanage!¡±


    ¡°This whole place is huge, man.¡± Gray added.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    They¡¯re acting like little kids right now. Every little new sight is amazing to them. I guess that makes sense. They must have forgotten everything that''s happened in the last two days, everything we¡¯ve gone through, but they¡¯ve got to remember something right? I still remember everyone back at the orphanage and all the happy days we shared together even though I too lost some of my memories. They¡¯ve got to still have those memories somewhere too , right?


    ¡°Aurelia, you said something about the orphana-¡±


    ¡°Hmph!¡± From out of the blue a loud groan cut off my sentence. A stern large muscular man stood in its point of origin. ¡°Now if you toddlers are done, then haul your asses over to the mess hall! I have no tolerance for lowlifes who are late for their first day!¡± The man yelled at the top of his lungs. I could even feel the spit coming from his mouth.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Aurelia held her head to the ground. ¡°I didn¡¯t know we were late.¡±


    Without a word of apology I began walking to the largest of the buildings which was labeled ¡®Mess Hall¡¯. I wanted to just get this over with already.


    ¡°Hold on, Lulu, don¡¯t-¡± Aurelia tried to catch up to me.


    ¡°Yo, wait up!¡± Gray slugged behind me


    I walked up the ramp of the building and pushed open the large double doors. Inside was a lively room of bubbling kids my age. They sat around on the several wooden tables around the room and talked so loud my eardrums began to hurt. Even though the room was large, many seats were already taken. I managed to find a seat in the corner at a lonely table with only one other person there.


    I sat down across from a boy. He had short brown hair and wore a standard military jacket.


    We stared at each other for several moments.


    ¡°Hey.¡± He smiled at me.


    ¡°Hi.¡± I responded.


    We gazed at each other for a couple more moments before he took his hand out his jacket pocket and held it out.


    ¡°The name¡¯s Jean. I look forward to working with you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I slowly shook his hand.


    ¡°You know when we getting star-¡± Jean was quickly cut off.


    ¡°Lulu!¡± Aurelia shouted across the room and soon popped a sit next to me. ¡°Don¡¯t run off without me like that!¡±


    ¡°Ok.¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Huff, huff..¡± Gray slid beside me. ¡°I really can¡¯t do running like that ca-¡±


    ¡°Alright, alright! Can you filthy rats shut your damn mouths already!¡± The rough man from before entered the room. Quickly every one stopped talking and gave him their attention. He walked up to the front of the room.


    ¡°Welcome to the first day of military boot camp, bugs!¡± His voice boomed. ¡°My name¡¯s Han! Officially I am now your instructor, but in reality, I¡¯m your god from now on and you shall treat me as such! Do well and I shall treat you nicely. That being said, if you ever dare to break any of the rules outlined in the manual I¡¯ll whoop your ass so hard you¡¯ll bleed!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll be spending three painful months at this damn place, so get used to my voice! Nevertheless, I don¡¯t want to waste any more of my god damn time yelling here! We got a lot of training to get done! Though, it¡¯s y¡¯all¡¯s first day so we¡¯ll keep it simple. I want all of you, fatasses, to go back to your cabin and get changed into the standard outfit regulated to all of you. Girls on the left, boys on the right. I want everyone to meet up here in a half an hour for some preliminary ability tests..¡±


    Han looked sternly into the crowd before storming off into another room. Promptly conversations flared up again and people began to laxly file out of the buildings.


    ¡°Come on Lulu, let¡¯s get going!¡± Aurelia tugged on my arm as she rushed me out of the building. ¡°I wanna check out the cabin!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± I whispered.


    She¡¯s extremely energetic in this situation. I wish that energy was intoxicating enough to reach me. I just can¡¯t shake this feeling of guilt and exhaustion. I just want to lie down and forget everything that I¡¯ve done. Those same images won¡¯t leave my mind though, mother¡¯s lifeless body and the screaming torture I put Aurelia and Gray through. I relive it over and over. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    ¡°Wow, it¡¯s huge!¡± Aurelia and I stood in the entrance of the girl''s cabin.


    ¡°You mind getting out of the way?¡± A girl holding a large cardboard box retorted behind us. She had long platinum blonde hair, blue eyes, and a snarky attitude.


    ¡°Oh, sorry, sorry.¡± Aurelia jumped out of the way.


    ¡°Ugh.¡± The girl entered the building and went into the third room of the hallway.


    The entire cabin is made up of a main hallway and seven rooms. Five of these rooms are bedrooms, one is a bathroom and the other is for recreation. From what I can gather in total there were about sixty people in the mess hall. Split evenly by gender that means there are thirty girls with six to each room.


    ¡°Come on! Let¡¯s get a nice room in the back.¡± Aurelia and I bobbed and weaved through the other girls in the hallway. We arrived at the last room. With a large motion, Aurelia swang the door open and entered the room.


    ¡°Sorry! All of the beds in here have been taken!¡± A girl from inside responded.


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Aurelia shut the door. ¡°Let¡¯s try the next one.¡±


    We went to the next room over and were met with the same delima. Soon many of the girls in the hallway disappeared into their rooms. It¡¯s seemed like many of the spaces had already been taken in mere moments.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve tried this one.¡± Aurelia opened the door to the third room. ¡°There any space in here.¡± She peered her head in and asked.


    ¡°Ugh. Nope. All taken.¡± The girl we had met in the hallway slouched on a top-bunk bed and sighed at us.


    ¡°What are you talking about, Ophelia?¡± A small and short girl with long black hair greeted us. ¡°We have a couple of beds left. You two can take the bottom left one and the middle one.¡±


    The room was small with very little space besides bedding. Two three-layered bunk beds lined both sides of the room. A small window hung at the edge of the room. It gave us a good view of the rest of the camp.


    ¡°Ugh, whatever.¡± Ophelia sighed, jumped off her top bunk and left the room, shutting the door behind her.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for her.¡± The short girl said. Looking at her now, I was near twice her height. ¡°She means well, she''s just not good with people, so she shuts herself off.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just fine. We¡¯ll get along soon, I know it!¡± Aurelia climbed up onto the middle bunk. ¡°I¡¯ll be taking this one if that¡¯s okay Lulu?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± I sat onto the bottom bunk. Its green mattress was cheap, but it beat the prison cell I slept in last night. Lying on top, was a set of clothes and a booklet.


    The small girl stood up. ¡°My name¡¯s Fay, by the way.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Aurelia, nice to meet you!¡±


    ¡°Lulu.¡±


    ¡°Hope we¡¯ll be great friends!¡± Fay¡¯s smile shined back at us. ¡°I¡¯ve got to go get dressed and find Ophelia. See you.¡± Fay left the room, leaving Aurelia and I by ourselves.


    I sank into the bed. It felt more comfortable than even the ones back in the orphanage. I think that¡¯s just because I¡¯m more tired than I ever was then. I feel like so much has happened. It¡¯s all so exhausting and has me really missing those days when I used to play in the fields in the orphanage.


    ¡°You okay Lulu?¡± Aurelia calmly asked from the bunk above me.


    ¡°Yeah, why?¡±


    ¡°You haven¡¯t been yourself today. You¡¯ve been really cold and distant, like somethings wrong.¡±


    ¡°No I-¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s like you¡¯re not the same person I knew back in the orphanage.¡±


    I paused for a moment to take in what I heard. How could she say that?


    ¡°What do you even know of the orphanage?!¡±


    ¡°I-¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t speak like you know who I am! You don¡¯t even remember everything we¡¯ve been through! You¡¯ve forgotten the truth about the orphanage! You¡¯ve even forgotten the promise we made.¡± I yelled at her.


    I stood still for a saddening moment. ¡°Don¡¯t you remember what we decided on? We were going to find somewhere safe where all of us could be happy! That means everyone in the orphanage! You don¡¯t even remember all of our family back in the orphanage!¡± I rampaged.


    The room fell silent after my burst of anger.


    ¡°Are you kidding?¡± Aurelia began to raise her voice. ¡°Are you claiming I forgot all that? How could you? I would never forget all the times, you, Gray and I spent in the orphanage. I remember everything we did to get here! Every day we spent training out in the field in still fresh in my mind.¡±


    ¡°I could never forget all that.¡± Aurelia¡¯s voice crawled to a sad tone. ¡°I remember everyone in the family. You, Gray, Mother and I.¡±


    I was hit with a sudden saddening bolt of realization. She really had forgotten everything. She must really believe that it was just the three of us and mother back then.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to get dressed and go find Gray.¡± Aurelia jumped off her bed and opened the door. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize what I said would offend you. Nonetheless, Lulu, you will always be my family. I just want to let you know, no matter what, I¡¯ll be here for you.¡± She slammed the door shut.


    I laid in bed and stared at the wooden frame above me. That anger was uncalled for, but I couldn¡¯t help it. I just feel so alone here. This whole place is just like the orphanage. A huge lie.


    Reluctantly I got out of bed and took a look at the outfit. It was composed of a military green shirt and pants. Elaborately designed, it was nicer than anything we got back at the orphanage.


    I put it on and left the building. Outside, the afternoon rays irradiated the forest flora. Many of the kids were running around the camp and generally slacking off.  It had only been fifteen minutes, but with nothing better to do, I entered the mess hall.


    The place was extremely quiet. Many of the tables were empty. I sat down in the same spot I had earlier. The same boy I met earlier, Jean, sat in the same place across from me.


    ¡°Oh hey, you¡¯re the girl from before, right?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t catch your name earlier.¡± He smugly smiled at me.


    ¡°Lulu.¡±


    ¡°Nice name.¡±


    ¡°Ok.¡±


    We sat there awkwardly silent for several moments.


    ¡°So.¡± Jean attempted to start a conversation. ¡°Why did you decide to join the military?¡± He asked.


    I didn¡¯t have much of a choice. Regrettably, it was the safest option for my family, but I couldn¡¯t tell him all that.


    ¡°Forced to.¡± I answered.


    ¡°What?¡± Jean looked shocked yet relieved at my answer. ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t know that-¡±


    ¡°You?¡± I wondered if the others here believe they had a choice. It¡¯s likely a memory that they all had added to them.


    ¡°Well I, uh-¡± Jean wiped his forehead. ¡°Same.¡±


    That doesn¡¯t make much sense. He was forced to as well? Why would they implant a memory like that?


    ¡°So, uh, anyway. Any like hobbies?¡± He quickly switched the conversation.


    ¡°Shallow question.¡± I sarcastically joked.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m just trying to start some conversation..¡±


    I quietly chuckled.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Nothing. I used to really enjoy taking care of the younger children, back at the orphanage.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°It was strangely fulfilling to me. How about you?¡±


    ¡°I always liked the daily training, you know. It ended up being really useful for me.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


    ¡°Well, in the military, you know?¡±


    ¡°Yeah-¡±


    ¡°There you are, Lulu.¡±  Aurelia ran into the room and sat next to me. Gray followed behind her.


    ¡°It¡¯s almost time.¡± She said. Many started to file into the room. Soon, it became a loud mess like earlier. Gray sat next to Jean and began to talk to him. It looked like they were getting along.


    ¡°We¡¯ll be fine.¡± Aurelia put her hand on my shoulder. ¡°Trust me.¡±


    ¡°Damn!¡± Han burst into the room. ¡°It sounds like I have a bunch of loudmouth animals in this damn place.¡± Han looked down at his watch. ¡°About time. Let¡¯s go over the preliminary testing! On the battlefield, your skills with guns are just one of the many important asset!¡± Han angerly gestured to a deviant boy and quickly stopped his tomfoolery.


    ¡°Your rifles will be effective against many of the smaller units you¡¯ll encounter, but for the larger ones, you¡¯ll need something a little more powerful! Let¡¯s head over to the main training field. I¡¯ll show you our solution to that.¡± Han led us as a group out of the building and over to a large dirt field filled with stone walls, to use as cover. Beside it, a large metal storage house


    ¡°These bad boys are what I¡¯m talking about.¡± Han lifted up the storage house door. Inside were roughly sixty tank-like vehicles. Each was equipped with two large front-facing guns and a couple tracks. They were highly armored, but light to move fast.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get this show on the road!¡± Han yelled.

 Chapter 11 - New Battle

    Vestige Chapter 11 - New Battle


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we learn how to drive these things first?¡± Someone in the crowd asked Han.


    ¡°Nonsense! We don¡¯t have time for that!¡± Han jumped up onto the closest tank. ¡°We call these babies nightmares. They¡¯re an absolute beast against Dionis on the battlefield and extremely easy to operate.You control them in teams of two. One person sits on top and operates the mounted gun. It works just like the artillery you¡¯ve used your whole lives. The other sits inside the cockpit and drives things. Inside you¡¯ll see several levers. These control speed, direction, and rotation. You¡¯ll get the hang of it in no time.¡± Han leaped off the nightmare and leaned against it.


    ¡°Well, that about all y¡¯all will get. I want y¡¯all to get into teams of two and get onto the field as soon as possible. You¡¯ll be facing off against each other until only one team is left. Those who do well will get into the advanced class.¡± Han began to walk up the stairs to the top of a watchtower that had vantage over the whole field.


    ¡°Oh and whoever wins this thing gets cleaning duty off tonight!¡±


    Han slid into his chair on the watchtower and took out his pair of binoculars. Everyone below had already begun to break into teams of two and started getting into the nightmares.


    It was surprising to me how eager they were to get started. I mean did anyone know how these things worked? I operated machinery back in the orphanage but nothing like this. Furthermore who I am even going to ask to join my team?


    ¡°Hey, Aurelia-¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, Gray!¡± Aurelia rushed off with Gray and into a nightmare. ¡°I¡¯ll handle the driving you take care of the guns.¡±


    ¡°Got it!¡±  Gray began to check out the artillery on top.


    I should have expected this. After earlier Aurelia probably doesn¡¯t want to partner up with me. That¡¯s probably for the best though. Anyways who am I even going to team up with?


    ¡°Hey. You got a partner yet?¡± Jean snuck up behind me.


    ¡°Huh?¡± I turned around and sighed.


    ¡°I can control the guns if you can drive?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± He¡¯ll have to do. It¡¯s not like I know anyone else here.


    I climbed up the nightmare and slid into the cockpit. The thing was small and only had room for one person, yet it had a decent view of the outside in front. A panel in front took up most of the space inside and was littered with buttons, switches, and levers. I began to inspect them to figure how to drive this thing..


    ¡°You know what you¡¯re doing?¡± Jean asked me from above.


    ¡°I think.¡± I pulled down a switch and the nightmare¡¯s engine roared.


    ¡°Good, let¡¯s win this thing, then-¡±


    ¡°Y¡¯all hear me?¡± Han¡¯s voice blared on the speaker inside the cockpit. ¡°I¡¯m giving you a minute and a half to split up on the field before we get started.¡±


    ¡°Only a minute and a half!? That isn¡¯t a lot of time.¡± Jean sighed. ¡°You think you can at least get us away from the storehouse, Lulu?¡±


    ¡°Maybe.¡± I began to pull levers to get things working.


    The field was huge and the storehouse was located in the south-east corner of it. Most people still crowded around that warehouse, so if we could get to the north-west corner we¡¯d be away from most people. If we stayed there we could hold out and survive for a while.


    ¡°There!¡± I finally got the nightmare to get moving. That being said it moved at such a crawl we wouldn¡¯t be able to get to the corner anytime soon.


    ¡°We¡¯re running out of time! Think you can go any faster?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m trying.¡± I frantically scurried the controls to increase the speed.


    ¡°Thirty seconds left, maggots!¡± Han announced.


    ¡°Come on, Lulu, we¡¯ve got to get going, someone to our left has already got their guns trained on us!¡± Jean yelled.


    ¡°I¡¯m working on it!¡±


    ¡°15 seconds.¡±


    ¡°Crap, crap! I can¡¯t get the guns loaded, how the hell did those guys over there do it?¡±


    ¡°5 seconds.¡±


    ¡°Lulu, we¡¯ve got to go faster!  Those guys to our left are gonna nail us off the bat!¡± Jean cried from above.


    ¡°I can¡¯t figure this out! Nothing is working!¡± The nightmare jolted back and forth as I attempted to speed it up.


    ¡°3.¡±


    ¡°Shit, shit, it won¡¯t load!¡± Jean complained.


    ¡°2¡±


    ¡°This doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± The lever I pulled forced nightmare into to a halt.


    ¡°1¡±


    ¡°Do something! We¡¯re sitting ducks out here!¡±


    ¡°Go!¡± Han yelled.


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    The nightmare jetted forward at an extreme speed, so fast it sent me to the back of the seat. Somewhere behind us, an explosion boomed.


    ¡°Haha!¡± Relieved, Jean laughed. ¡°They missed us! Nice work.¡±


    We sped across the field. ¡°Get us all the way to that corner over there, Lulu.¡± Jean pointed off to the distance.


    I felt relieved to finally get the nightmare working, yet around us battle had already broken out everywhere.


    ¡°Wait, hold on, Lulu slow down!¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I continued to let the nightmare dash through the field.


    ¡°Careful, just don¡¯t hit that wall there!¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± The nightmare slammed against the stone wall and it¡¯s engine stopped.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you go around it?!¡± Jean yelled at me through the hatch above.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to turn this thing!¡±


    ¡°Fine, just get it started already, we made good headway, but the others are gonna catch up to us soon.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t order me around! You haven¡¯t even figured out to get it loaded.¡±


    ¡°What!¡± Jean exclaimed. ¡°Yeah, I guess you¡¯re right.¡±


    I leapt out of the nightmare began to work on getting the engine restarted and Jean started learning how to operate the guns. You could easily lift the front of the tank and have access to the engine, though that didn¡¯t make it any easier to fix. They really should have given us a manual or something, nonetheless, we worked with vigor, as the battle around was rampaging on.


    The smell of smoke and gunpowder filled the air. The sound of explosions and engines cried repeatedly. It was as if a real war was going on around us.


    ¡°Oh! I figured it out.¡± Jean finally loaded the gun. ¡°You¡¯ve just gotta pull out this and push this down! That makes sense.¡±


    ¡°Great.¡± I complimented him.


    ¡°How¡¯s the engine coming along.¡±


    ¡°Need more time.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have more time.¡± Jean pointed to a nightmare 100 feet down from us. A good few walls separated us, yet they slowly navigated their way towards us.


    ¡°They¡¯ll be here anytime.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm.¡± Jean turned the gun to their direction and over the wall. The stone walls that littered the field were to serve as cover, yet many of them were short of enough for you to shoot over them. ¡°I got this!¡± He yelled.


    A loud explosion pierced my ears as the double-barreled gun fired.


    ¡°Got him!¡± Jean jumped into the air rejoicing. The other nightmare sat their motionlessly covered in white smoke. Jean quickly stopped his celebrating, as the smoke cleared. ¡°That didn¡¯t really damage them at all. Why did they stop moving then?¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, I got the engine working, let¡¯s get out of here, we¡¯re still too close to the majority of the fighting.¡± The engine roared into a start. Though it had been ten minutes the sounds around us failed to let up.


    ¡°Amazing work, Lulu!¡± Jean hopped back to the gun and began to load it again.


    I got back into the cockpit and started moving the nightmare, this time I went slower and navigated it around the wall. I was starting to get the hang of the controls. There¡¯s a pedal for gas, a lever for speed and two levers for the x and y-axis for both the top unit and the tracks. Granted it still took me a while to move this thing around, but we were starting to get somewhere.


    ¡°You¡¯re doing really well driving this thing.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    Both of us sat there in silence as we navigated past a narrow passage of walls. I was so focused on driving on this thing, I¡¯d lost track of time, yet it must have been a while since we started. Most of the fighting was starting to die down and we hadn¡¯t seen anyone else for some time. Getting to the north-west corner was taking longer than I thought it would, but I made it my goal, so I¡¯m getting there. We¡¯ll have a good advantage if we make it there.


    For a while, I¡¯ve been doing most of the work, as we¡¯ve navigated past most of the other nightmares we¡¯ve encountered. With little to do Jean relaxed in the seat above me. The open hatch gave him a great view from his seat down into the cockpit.


    ¡°Can you stop staring at me?¡±


    ¡°Oh, sorry.¡± Jean looked away.


    ¡°Focus on lookout. I can only see directly in front of me.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I guess you¡¯re right-¡± Jean began to look around. ¡°Oh shit! Someone¡¯s tailing us fast!¡±


    Promptly loud sounds of tracks hitting dirt grew close behind me. Whoever it was tailing us, they were fast.


    ¡°They¡¯re moving fast!¡± Jean cried.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go even faster then.¡± I responded.


    ¡°Hold on, I got this..¡± Jean frantically loaded the gun. Before he could finish reading the weapon, the sound of artillery blared from behind the nightmare and an explosion landed near us.


    ¡°Shit! They nearly hit us!¡± Jean finished loading the gun and pointed it at the enemy nightmare. ¡°Quit swerving around so much, I can¡¯t get a good shot!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m trying to lose them.¡±


    ¡°Hold still, so I can shoot them.¡±


    ¡°No. We should try and outrun them.¡± I argued.


    Jean fired the gun and the blast landed somewhere past the other nightmare. ¡°Look! You made me miss!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s your own fault.¡±


    ¡°Whatever.¡± Jean loaded the second shot. ¡°Just be a little steadier this time!¡±


    ¡°No, we won¡¯t outrun them that way.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re going too fast to outrun!¡± Jean yelled.


    ¡°They¡¯re going too fast to shoot!¡± I yelled.


    ¡°Damn! They¡¯ve already reloaded.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll dodge it then.¡±


    ¡°No! I got this!¡± Jean focused in on the nightmare tailing us. ¡°Gotcha!¡± He let the shot loose and it roared somewhere behind us.


    Suddenly, a loud explosion sounded on top of us and our nightmare slowed to a crawl. I pushed on the controls, yet it wouldn¡¯t move.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s the smoke. It must shut off the nightmares.¡± Jean responded.


    ¡°We got hit with smoke? What about the other nightmare?¡±


    ¡°So did they.¡± Jean looked down through the hatch at me. ¡°We shot each other. We lost.¡±


    ¡°We should have focused on outrunning them.¡± I looked up at him.


    ¡°We should have focused on shooting them.¡± Jean argued back.


    We stared at each other for a good few moments before bursting into laughter. In unison, we laughed hysterically.


    ¡°We shot each other!¡± I laughed loudly into the cool air.


    ¡°Outrunning them, shooting them! It didn¡¯t matter at all!¡± Jean laughed and reached his hand down into the hatch. ¡°You know what? We make a pretty decent team.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up out of the cockpit.


    The outside was surprisingly calm and quiet. We hadn¡¯t even made it all the way to the corner, like I wanted to, yet most of the fighting had ended.


    ¡°I wonder who was tailing us.¡± Jean hopped off the nightmare and began walking towards the other unit. I followed behind him.


    ¡°That was impressive, man!¡± A familiar voice sounded from the nightmare and Gray leaped down to meet us.


    ¡°Oh hey, it¡¯s you, Gray.¡± Jean responded.


    ¡°Haha! We managed to shoot each other!¡± Gray laughed.


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    ¡°That was really good, Lulu.¡± Aurelia climbed out of the nightmare and joined us. ¡°Sorry, I just left you earlier. I just figured you¡¯d do better if you were with someone else.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine.¡± I responded.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you found someone though.¡± Aurelia wiped the sweat off her forehead. ¡°Whew, let¡¯s get started walking back before it¡¯s dark.¡± Aurelia pointed to the storehouse on the other side of the field.


    ¡°Huh? Walking? Why don¡¯t we just get back in the nightmares.¡± Jean asked.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t hear what Han said, man?¡± Gray started walking back. ¡°He said that smoke stops the nightmare¡¯s engines for a good few hours! It¡¯s faster to walk back.¡±


    ¡°What!¡± Jean exclaimed and turned to me. ¡°When the hell did he say that?¡±


    ¡°It was probably when we hit the wall and the engine shut off. The radio wouldn¡¯t have been working then.¡± I responded.


    ¡°Damn!¡± Jean begrudgingly began walking back.


    We walked back to the storehouse. The sunset radiated the sky as we traversed the silent battlefield. Nightmares and explosion blast marks filled the field, showing the aftermath of the battle.


    That battle must have taken the whole day as the air around us grew cold and darkness began to seep in. We managed to finish the walk back in roughly an hour though.


    ¡°Damn! You lowlifes didn¡¯t have to go all the way back to the edge of the field! Ya got me waiting out here forever!¡± Han greeted us as we arrived.


    ¡°Where is everyone else?¡± Aurelia asked.


    ¡°Y¡¯all are the last ones.¡± Han responded.


    ¡°Really? Does that mean we won?¡± Gray wondered.


    ¡°Nope! That just means you maggots when out really far! The winner was actually a couple of guys named Rocky and Marlo. They had you beat by about half an hour and didn¡¯t go out nearly as far.¡±


    ¡°Awww.¡± Aurelia looked disappointed.


    ¡°Eh. Even though I wanted to, I didn¡¯t expect to win anyways.¡± Jean shrugged.


    ¡°Nonetheless y¡¯all did well. Without a shadow of a doubt, you guys earned a spot in the advanced class.¡± Han began to walk back towards the cabins.


    ¡°Really! Isn¡¯t this great Lulu!¡± Aurelia exclaimed.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Come on! Y¡¯all still gotta clean the mess hall before you can rest!¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s, more?¡± Jean complained and started walking back.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get this done quick, man.¡± Gray responded to Jean.


    ¡°Yeah, I need some rest after today.¡±


    The battle took the whole day, yet now that it is over, it feels strangely short. I would be lying if I said I didn¡¯t have fun. Driving the nightmare was a lot of work and was especially stressful, yet I enjoyed it. I think I¡¯m actually starting to like this place.


    Nevertheless, that doesn¡¯t mean I can forget everything that happened before this. Jax and Kata are still out there somewhere. They¡¯re family and I must find them, yet for now, staying here with Aurelia, Gray, and Jean might be for the best.

 Chapter 12 - New People

    Vestige Chapter 12 - New People


    After the battle, we walked back to the cabins, which were about a five-minute walk from the field. There, we went into the mess hall and cleaned the place up, as Han ordered us to do. The place was pretty empty and easy to clean up so we finished quickly. Afterward, we had some leftovers, as we had missed dinner, and split up. It was late so Jean and Gray went back to the boy''s cabin and Aurelia and me to the girl¡¯s cabin.


    ¡°Oh, welcome back!¡± Fay greeted us as we walked into the room. ¡°You two were out for a while.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,but we managed to make it into the advanced class!¡± Aurelia announced as she climbed to the top bunk.


    ¡°That¡¯s great! So did Ophelia and I!¡±


    ¡°Wait how did you get in if you weren¡¯t out that late?¡±


    ¡°We were defeated in the first half-hour, but we managed to take out five other nightmares in that time.¡± Fay closed the door and sat down on her bed. ¡°Ophelia¡¯s got some great aim.¡±


    ¡°Whatever, just shut up and go to sleep already.¡± Ophelia rolled over on her bed.


    I crashed onto my bed. The room was dark and quiet, yet the others were still awake. Two girls we hadn¡¯t met this morning sat on the other beds that were vacant this morning.


    ¡°Oh you haven¡¯t met each other, have you?¡± Fay pointed out.


    ¡°Hello, my name is Genesis.¡± The girl across from me introduced herself. She had long dark hair and an eccentric style.


    ¡°I¡¯m Yoko.¡± The other girl, who had the bed across from Aurelia said. She also had long dark hair, yet had pale skin and a plain aura about her.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you. My name¡¯s Aurelia and that¡¯s Lulu!¡± Aurelia beamed.


    ¡°Both of us also managed to make it into the advanced class as well so I hope we can become great classmates.¡± Yoko positively offered up.


    I sunk my head into my pillow. I started to feel my eyes close and my body become weightless. I could hear Aurelia and the others talking yet soon their voices faded away and I feel asleep.


    ¡°Lulu!¡± Aurelia shook me awake.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± A ray of light shone straight into my eyes as I woke up.


    ¡°Come on. We¡¯ve got to get going.¡±


    I felt rejuvenated yet still tired. Nonetheless, I got up. I don¡¯t have time to just lie around. I¡¯m here for a reason and I¡¯ve got to keep that in mind.


    Aurelia and I went outside. We followed the crowd until we reached one of the buildings which was labeled ¡®Advanced Class¡¯. It seemed the majority of the other kids were heading towards the other building labeled ¡®Standard Class¡¯.


    I wiped the gunk out of my eyes and walked inside. The log cabin was small and housed three rows of tables with chairs behind them. In front was a large board covered in illustrations and diagrams of the nightmare unit with explanations of its parts and such.


    About fifteen other kids were sitting around inside the building. Many of which I recognized. Yoko, Genesis, Ophelia, and Fay sat near the front of the room. Aurelia popped a sit next to Gray behind them. I walked over and sat down with Jean in the back.


    ¡°How you doing?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Good.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You know. I was thinking about yesterday right.¡± Jean began to move his hands back and forth to gesture something. ¡°We work pretty well together.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°So like I was thinking. Maybe we could keep working together, as a team you know? If you want, that is.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°I mean only if-. Wait you¡¯re convinced that easily?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t see why not.¡±


    ¡°Really? In that case, why don¡¯t you and I go-¡±


    Suddenly the door to the classroom burst open and Han stood there in the  entrance. ¡°Miss me yet? Whether you like it or not, you maggots in the advanced class are stuck with me.¡± Han walked up to the front of the class.


    ¡°The ferrets in the standard class are lucky enough to get Ms. Merabiz. I called her in to help around here. She¡¯s an absolute wonder with repairing nightmares! On the other hand, you lowlifes are stuck learning how to master using these things with me. Anyways y¡¯all, let¡¯s get started.¡±


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    Han began to pace back and forth in the front of the room. ¡°Any of you bugs know why I had you fight each other in the nightmares without any training yesterday?¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t have enough time to teach us?¡± A built muscular kid from the middle row answered.


    ¡°Good. You paid attention, Rocky. Nonetheless, that was a lie. I have more than enough time here to make you cockroaches into absolute gods at driving those things, but that¡¯s not enough to succeed on the battlefield. Your knowledge will do nothing to help you survive. What does, is your ability to adapt to new situations. You¡¯ll never know what the enemy will throw at you next, and the only way to overcome that is to be ready for anything.¡± Han turned to face the class.


    ¡°All of you are here because you proved to me that you can do that. With zero knowledge of the machinery or the battlefield you were forced to use, all of you either survived for a long time, defeated many of your enemies, or both in these harsh conditions. This phenomenon is key to being great soldiers and by the end of this goddamn camp, I¡¯m going to make this second nature for all of you.¡±


    The rest of the day, Han yelled and preached us things like this. Despite what he was saying, he gave us some actual knowledge of how the nightmares actually worked. He taught their control schemes and internal parts. Many of this I had already figured out, but it furthered my understanding of it nonetheless.


    ¡°Each nightmare is equipped with three fuel batteries.¡± Han pointed at a diagram of one. ¡°These are powered by electricity and are rechargeable.They give you enough time to drive a nightmare for three days on end. Afterward, you¡¯ll need to spend a day recharging. The stations we use to recharge are stationary and in high demand though. With that in mind, you¡¯ll be unable to make much distance on the battlefield or have ample opportunity to recharge. Transporting them out here is easy so we have plenty for you to use while you¡¯re here, but out in the battlefield you¡¯ll have to optimize your charge as much as possible.¡±


    ¡°Any questions?¡± Han asked the class.


    Several hands were raised into the air.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re not getting any answers. Figure it out yourselves.¡± Han looked down at his watch. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s about time we break for the day. Y¡¯all are dismissed.¡±


    People began to file out the room. I followed the crowd outside. It was about sunset and people were out and about doing their thing. It seems the standard class got out before us.


    ¡°Hey, Lulu.¡± Jean walked beside me. ¡°Wanna grab something to eat?¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    Jean and I walked into the mess hall. We entered the line and waited to get our food. The mess hall was student-operated so the quality of the food there was all over the place. Nonetheless it was good enough.


    We were all given a task by Han that we were to complete each day. Jean and mine were to clean the kitchen after dinner every night. We would start that after eating.


    We got our food and sat down at the same table we always did. ¡°That was pretty boring.¡± Jean started. ¡°He just lectured us the whole day.¡±


    ¡°Then what would you rather be doing?¡±


    ¡°I want to get out there, you know. Learn by doing.¡± Jean shoved a spoonful of gruel into his mouth. ¡°Anyways, about earlier. I wanted to talk to you about-¡±


    ¡°Hey, Lulu!¡± Aurelia yelled as she sat down at our table. Gray followed behind her. ¡°There you are!¡±


    ¡°Every time.¡± Jean murmured.


    ¡°You mind if I sit here?¡± Aurelia asked.


    ¡°You already have.¡± Jean responded.


    ¡°Anyways, I think I finally understand how the nightmare works now.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, the guns are way easier to use than I thought they were.¡± Gray explained.


    Gray and Aurelia went on and on eagerly about what they had just learned.They positively reminisced about the past. ¡° Oh man, I wonder what Mother would say if she saw us right now?¡± Gray asked as he finished his piece of bread.


    ¡°She¡¯d probably be really proud.¡± Aurelia replied.


    Those words that I had just heard triggered a familiar response in me. The anger I had expressed towards Aurelia yesterday resurfaced. The rage I felt towards their innocent misconceptions surged through me, yet I did my best to keep it under control. I can¡¯t ruin their fantasies, can I?


    ¡°She wouldn¡¯t say anything at all.¡± I offered.


    ¡°What?¡± Finished, Gray placed down his silverware. ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, Lulu? Why wouldn¡¯t she say anything?¡± Aurelia asked.


    ¡°Because she¡¯s dead of course. Don¡¯t you remember?¡±


    ¡°When?!¡± Surprised, Aurelia stood up. ¡°You¡¯re doing this again, Lulu?!¡±


    ¡°I thought you remembered everything that happened before we came here.¡±


    ¡°Of course I do! I told you I remember everything from the orphanage!¡±


    ¡°Then why don¡¯t you remember when we killed her? Why don¡¯t remember crying for help over her bleeding body?!¡±


    Aurelia sighed and picked up her tray. ¡°Please Lulu, stop this. It isn¡¯t like you.¡± She returned her tray and left the mess hall.


    ¡°Hold up!¡± Gray stood up. ¡°Look what you¡¯ve done, Lulu.¡± He angrily responded as he ran after Aurelia.


    After they left, I sat there in silence and finished my dinner. That wasn¡¯t the best response, was it? It doesn¡¯t change the fact that this pisses me off. I can¡¯t just explain things and ruin their innocence, yet I also can¡¯t just sit here and listen to them happily reminisce about fallacies. We were the ones who killed our Mother and we need to accept that.


    ¡°What was that about?¡± Jean asked me.


    ¡°Nothing.¡±


    ¡°You sure? You seemed pretty upset.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡±


    ¡°If you say so.¡±


    Dinner was just about done, so Jean and I began to clean the kitchen. Solemnly talking we finished quickly and I returned to our cabins. The room was empty beside Ophelia and Fay who were playing a card game on the top bunk. Ophelia seemed extremely uninterested in it.


    ¡°Oh hey. Welcome back.¡± Fay greeted me. ¡°Where¡¯s Aurelia?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I laid down onto my bed and stared blankly at the wooden frame above.


    ¡°Is she not with you?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Oh okay.¡±


    I¡¯ve decided to tell Aurelia the truth. Even if she¡¯s happier not knowing it, she has a right to know it. That being said, how do I tell her? Her fake memories seem so contradictory to what the truth is. If this was their purpose, then they¡¯re really effective. I¡¯m lucky that I was able to convince Seymor I had already done the procedure, even though I hadn¡¯t completely finished it.


    ¡°What!¡± Fay exclaimed. ¡°I lost!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, whatever.¡± Ophelia scooped up the cards and put them back into the box.


    ¡°You¡¯re pretty good Ophelia.¡± Fay hopped down from the bunk bed. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go find the others. It¡¯s getting late, and they should be back by now.¡± Fay left the room, leaving Ophelia and me alone inside.


    ¡°What¡¯s your deal?¡± Ophelia unethusicatically asked me.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Everyone here is so over eager and cheerful. You¡¯re not like that.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, and?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s refreshing, stay that way.¡±


    ¡°Okay, but then what¡¯s your deal. Why aren¡¯t you over eager than?¡±


    ¡°Because I¡¯m not a pitiful orphanage child.¡± Ophelia sighed.


    ¡°What? You¡¯re not-¡±


    Suddenly the door burst open and Fay and the others entered the room. ¡°Found them!¡±


    ¡°That was fast.¡± Ophelia responded.


    ¡°Yeah, we were just outside.¡± Genesis laid on her bed.


    Without a word, Aurelia crashed on the bunk above me.


    ¡°Hold on. Ophelia what you were you talking about just now?¡±


    ¡°Whatever. I¡¯m too tired for this.¡± Ophelia rolled over away from me.


    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Fay¡¯s smile turned into a big grin. ¡°Were you two getting along while I was away?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Ophelia muttered through her pillow.


    ¡°Hehehe, whatever you say.¡± Fay laughed as she turned out the lights. ¡°It¡¯s a long day so let¡¯s get some sleep.¡±


    With darkness flowing through the window and silence in the room. I fell asleep to the sound of crickets echoing somewhere outside.


    When I awoke, no one stood above me this time and Aurelia had already left. Yoko and Genesis were getting ready on the other side of the room.


    ¡°You¡¯re finally awake.¡± Genesis finished getting ready. ¡°We¡¯re almost late, let¡¯s get going.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I left outside with them and walked to the advanced class building. Han and the rest of the class were standing outside of it.


    ¡°Is that everyone?¡± Han made a quick headcount. ¡°Alright! I know how much you maggots must enjoy the air conditioning inside the classroom, but today you don¡¯t get any of that. We¡¯re going to be doing a little bit of serious field training instead.¡±

 Chapter 13 - Teamwork

    Vestige Chapter 13 - Teamwork


    ¡°It¡¯s about time we kick y¡¯all¡¯s training up a notch!¡± Han yelled at the top of his lungs. ¡°Y¡¯all are gonna get some actual experience this time!¡±


    Outside of the advanced class building five red nightmares and five blue ones were already prepared for us and an extra one, which was distinctly black in color, for Han. He placed his hand on top of his unit.


    ¡°Get into teams of two and get in already! I don¡¯t care who you team up with just stick with that person for the rest of the camp! It makes the paperwork easier. Anyways, let¡¯s get going! I¡¯ll explain the rest later!¡± Han leaped into the cockpit of the nightmare and began to drive off.


    Jean and I partnered up and got into a nearby red unit labeled ¡®Unit 2¡¯. It wasn¡¯t the same one we had the other day, but it drove well nonetheless. We trailed behind Han who drove towards the field. Instead of going to the field like before though he turned and charged quickly into the nearby forest.


    ¡°Does he seriously want us to go in there?¡± Jean snarked from above. ¡°It¡¯s too dense to drive these things without hitting a tree or something.¡±


    Several of the other teams had already begun to make there way into the forest. ¡°I don¡¯t think we have a choice.¡± I pressed down on the gas pedal and pushed into the dense woodlands.


    Around us, the foliage was thick which reduced our visibility greatly. The closeness of the trees also forced us to swerve back and forth as to not crash into anything, yet the forest was peaceful.


    Han continued on far in front of us, yet we followed behind him for about three hours before he stopped somewhere in the middle of the forest and got out of his nightmare.


    ¡°This is far enough.¡± Han said aloud as we drove up towards him and parked. Around us, the other nine teams showed up soon after.


    ¡°Alright, this is the day y¡¯all maggots learn what war is really like!¡± Han shouted back at us. ¡°Last time y¡¯all were equipped with anti-nightmare smoke ammo. That stuff¡¯s great for play fights but in a real battle, ya need something better! So this time, y¡¯all will be using actual ammo! The stuff that can kill people!¡± Han yelled before fidgeting with his watch for a few seconds.


    ¡°Alright here¡¯s the deal. Y¡¯all will be splitting into two teams, five units on each team and fighting each other. Teamwork will be key to success here, so I¡¯ve already set up the communicators for each team. Last team standing wins, y¡¯all got two hours and ten minute grace period!¡± Han reached down into his jacket and pulled out a pistol.


    ¡°That ten minute grace period starts now!¡± Han fired the pistol straight into the air.


    ¡°Shit. We only got ten minutes? We¡¯ve gotta get moving.¡± Jean said. ¡°I¡¯ve already got the first two shots ready.¡±


    ¡°Nice.¡± I started up the nightmare. ¡°I¡¯m going to try and figure out how the communicator works.¡±


    ¡°Damn. The other teams are already heading off to our right.¡±


    ¡°There!¡± I finally figured out the right channel for the intercom. ¡°Hello?¡±


    ¡°Oh hey, Lulu.¡± Aurelia¡¯s voice replied.


    ¡°Lulu?¡± Fay¡¯s voice responded. ¡°Oh wow! Everyone in our room is on the same team! This is great!¡±


    ¡°And us!¡± A male voice I didn¡¯t recognize called back. ¡°We¡¯re here too.¡±


    ¡°Who are you again?¡± Ophelia¡¯s voice entered.


    ¡°Huh? The name¡¯s Marlo! Rocky and I are driving unit three! Remember we¡¯re the guys who won that first battle the other day!¡± Marlo bragged.


    ¡°Be a little more humble, Marlo.¡± Rocky interjected.


    ¡°Come on, man! We gotta really show em, ya know!¡± Marlo responded.


    ¡°Can we instead focus on the task at hand?¡± Yoko¡¯s voice sounded.


    ¡°We¡¯ve gotta get moving, blue team already left about a minute ago.¡± Genesis added.


    ¡°Let¡¯s move.¡± Ophelia announced, as unit one, her unit, turned and rushed into the forest, traveling the oppose direction blue team had gone.


    ¡°Hold on! Shouldn¡¯t we go a different way?¡± Marlo cried.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, we need to get going as soon as possible. We need to make some distance.¡± Unit four, Aurelia and Gray¡¯s unit followed after unit one.


    ¡°Of course, I knew that.¡± Marlo begrudgingly murmured as unit three trailed the other two units.


    I started up the nightmare and followed behind the other three, keeping a decent enough pace to keep them in view, yet still, avoid trees. Unit five, Yoko and Genesis¡¯s unit lagged behind us a considerable bit.


    ¡°We got the talkative team, didn¡¯t we?¡± Jean said as he muted the microphone.


    ¡°Yeah, but we still need to work with them.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Jean agreed as he unmuted the microphone. ¡°Hey, unit five! Kick the speed up a notch, you¡¯re falling behind.¡±


    ¡°Yeah..¡± Out of breath, Genesis said as unit five sputtered trying to catch up.


    ¡°How much longer we got?¡± Jean asked.


    Promptly his question was answered by the sound of a distant pistol shot.


    ¡°Convenient.¡±Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°Alright! We gotta spread out!¡± Marlo commanded. ¡°Unit one go left, unit five go right. The rest of us will slowly flank the front!¡±


    ¡°Who made you the leader?¡± Ophelia remarked.


    ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t just boss us around, man.¡± Gray added.


    ¡°Come on, guys.¡± Marlo said. ¡°I¡¯m trying to get us somewhere.¡±


    "Shouldn''t we all go back in there direction?" Fay suggested.


    "God no, that''s a terrible strategy, we should go in smaller groups and cover a lot of ground." Yoko said.


    "Is anyone even listening to me!?" Marlo yelled.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. We gotta move.¡± I interjected. Arguing like this won''t get us anywhere, I need to do something. ¡°Just split up. We don¡¯t know their location at the moment, so our best course of action would be to search separately for them. When we encounter them, we¡¯ll fall back, to avoid fighting. Once we can pinpoint their location, we¡¯ll surround them.¡±


    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s amazing!¡± Fay exclaimed.


    ¡°Lulu, wh-¡± Aurelia started.


    ¡°Unit four go north, unit one will go south, unit five can go west and we¡¯ll go east. Unit three, since you¡¯ll stay here and act as a center marking.¡±


    ¡°Got it!¡± Fay exclaimed and drove off.


    ¡°Alright.¡± Genesis left to the west.


    ¡°What! You guys are agreeing with her?¡± Suprised, Marlo yelled.


    ¡°Whatever.¡± Ophelia sighed.


    "I trust her, more than you, to be honest." Genesis explained.


    "The hell are you trying to say!?" Marlo screamed.


    "Calm down man." Rocky cooled the steam.


    I quickly shut off the intercom to get a break for a moment and then drove off to the east. I honestly can¡¯t take their childish squabbling. It gets us nowhere.


    ¡°Wow, I didn¡¯t expect that kinda leadership from you.¡± Jean remarked from above.


    ¡°And?¡± I replied as I drove the nightmare through the dense forest.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean anything bad by it, just that I¡¯m surprised.¡±


    ¡°Well, we weren¡¯t gonna get anywhere by sitting around and arguing forever.¡± Nonetheless, I don¡¯t know if the strategy I choose was a great one. This defensive stance relies on the fact the enemy travels in a group. If they split up as we did, then this would all be useless. I can''t doubt myself though, I need to focus on the plan and act swiftly.


    Suddenly the quiet sounds of the forest around us and of the nightmare chugging along were interrupted by that of a loud gunshot behind us.


    ¡°What the hell, was that?¡± Jean began searching for the source of the explosion noise.


    I quickly switched the intercom back on. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Fay responded.


    ¡°Ugh, been all quiet here.¡± Marlo sighed and complained.


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen nothing so far.¡± Aurelia responded.


    ¡°What about Yoko, and Genesis?¡± I asked.


    Several moments of silence called back.


    ¡°They must be offline.¡± Gray suggested.


    They got taken out!? This early? That¡¯s unfortunate. I didn¡¯t expect them to go down so easily. This will put us at a disadvantage. Nonetheless, this gives us a good idea of the enemy¡¯s location.


    ¡°I think they were pretty close by, I¡¯ll head over there!¡± Marlo called out.


    ¡°No, don¡¯t!¡± I responded just before he shut off his intercom.


    I was planning on setting up an offensive line and charging them, but I¡¯m not sure if three units will be enough for that. With Marlo, going off on his own, this tears down my plans. Actually, maybe I can use this to my advantage.


    ¡°Unit one and four, can you loop around to where unit five was?¡±


    ¡°Can do!¡± Fay announced.


    ¡°You got a plan, Lulu?¡± Aurelia asked.


    ¡°Yeah."


    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s put everything that¡¯s happened behind us and win this then!¡±


    Assuming the enemy is grouped at unit five¡¯s position, I¡¯ll likely not encounter them. as I went in the opposite direction. Nonetheless if unit one and four loop around, they can surround the enemy and with unit three charging, we should be able to take care of them. That being said, I¡¯m so far away, I¡¯m not sure if there is much I can do to help.


    I silently drove the nightmare through the forest. The trees around me remind me a lot of that day back at the orphanage when Mother took me out past the gate. It is strange, that all feels distant now, yet that was only days ago. A lot has changed since then, yet I¡¯ve got to keep focusing on the present and forging my way into the future.


    ¡°Hmmm.¡± Jean let out a huge yawn. ¡°Not gonna lie, I¡¯m pretty bored right now.¡±


    ¡°Just focus on lookout.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but I can¡¯t even see anything, it¡¯s too dark. Plus, it¡¯s been like a half-hour and nothing has happened. Shouldn''t the others have informed us about what''s going on by now?¡±


    ¡°We still need to focus on.¡±


    "Yeah, yeah.


    We continued to dart through the forest. The others had shut off their intercom for some time now and weren¡¯t giving me and information on what happened. They should have got to unit five¡¯s location fifteen minutes ago. What¡¯s going on right now? Why haven''t we seen unit five yet?


    ¡°Hold up! We got a blue nightmare to our left, Lulu!¡± Jean announced and steered the gun towards it.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll try and keep steady this time take it out!¡±


    From the small window view, I could see the nightmare charge out from our left and push on directly in front of us. It darted forward past us and into the dark forest. Jean kept his gun trained on it, yet failed to get a good shot at it.


    ¡°What the hell? It just left.¡±


    Wait, was that some kind of decoy?


    Suddenly explosions boomed on top of us and the nightmare shook back and forth rapidly. I was quickly sent flying out of the seat and headfirst into the control panel smacking my head on the table.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Blood from my head seeped down into my eyes. ¡°Jean?¡±


    I gathered myself and peered up through the hatch. Jean laid back on the seat, unconscious. Blood dripped down from the hatch and onto me. Peeking my head over, I could see four other blue nightmares surrounding us from behind, preparing their next shot.


    How did they get to us? Does that mean they got the others? If not, then where are the others? Why won¡¯t they answer the intercom? What''s going on?


    Nevertheless, if I don¡¯t do something quick, I¡¯m gonna get blasted to bits! They''ll be switching to their second volley soon, so I pulled Jean down from the hatch into the now cramped cockpit and rammed the nightmare forward to get some distance.


    That blast did some serious damage, I can feel the right track is lumping to the left, and I can¡¯t imagine how dented the armor must be, as it likely took most of the damage. Still, I darted forward through the forest and through the trees. With Jean out cold and up against five nightmares, I can¡¯t possibly defeat them. Therefore I focussed my efforts towards speed and escape.


    Quickly the four blue nightmares disappeared from my vision; I lost them easily. Still, that wasn¡¯t the end of it. Soon the first nightmare we encountered materialized in front of me. Laying in wake, it sat there ready to fire at me.


    They must have anticipated that I would run this direction. I should have gone in a different direction then. That doesn¡¯t matter now, because if I don¡¯t do something the nightmare directly in front of me will take me out!


    It may not have been the best decision, but I decided to drive over the enemy. I pushed the pedal down and pulled the lever to get maximum speed. Though my tire track was damaged, I managed to crawl over the enemy before they could get me. Noticing the fact I was about to flatten him, the kid mounting the gun jumped into the cockpit and allowed me safe passage straight over them.


    With that moment to spare, I took full blast forward to gain as much distance as possible from them. After about five minutes of driving, I took a quick turn into a shady grotto and stopped the nightmare.


    I needed to rest a moment. My head was pounding yet though the bleeding had stopped.  Still though Jean was still out for the count. Inspecting his wounds, it seems an explosion must have nailed him in the back. He likely fainted from the sudden shock. Luckily, the injury had already closed, but he has yet to wake up.


    Without Jean and with the current silence of my teammates, I¡¯m sitting here stuck. I now know all five of their units are still active and where they are, but that doesn¡¯t do me any good. How can I possibly take all of them out just by myself?

 Chapter 14 - Defeat the Enemy

    Vestige Chapter 14 - Defeat the Enemy


    My nightmare stood there silently in a lonesome grotto. Inside, I pushed Jean, still unconscious, off to the side and checked the intercom. The communications were still quiet, reinforcing how alone I was. Even the GPS wasn''t working. Granted it only gave us our position and the position of Han''s nightmare, but still, it was useful. Nonetheless, that recent attack did some damage, so I climbed out to see it for myself.


    The back armor plates were covered in dents, and nearly falling off. Part of the right track has been blown off too. Still, to make things worse our antenna has been completely wrecked. Without it, there''s no hope of getting the intercom or GPS working. We''re stuck out here all alone.


    I decided it would be best to start moving. To be honest, I had no plan at all for this situation. What am I even supposed to do to recover from this? Still though, staying in the same place would get me nowhere, so I started heading north, this time slower to avoid unwanted attention.


    The forest was calm and quiet. Outside, the sun was starting to fall and the cold was setting in. I navigated slowly around the many tall pine trees for what felt like half an hour. Then again, I had no way to check the time, with the antenna gone.


    Soon I quickened to a halt, as I was alerted to a sound in front of me. Somewhere ahead, I heard the noise of a nightmare moving. It sounded like just one moving slowly in the forest, so I hopped out and mounted the gun. With Jean out cold, I''m going to have to do this myself. Nonetheless, with darkness setting in, if I sit here and wait I might be able to catch them off guard.


    Slowly the sound grew closer and closer. I finally finished loading both barrels and promptly spun the gun towards the darkness. I sat there, eyes darting back and forth, attempting to locate the noise until finally, I could hear it come close. Soon it emerged from the darkness, and I lifted the gun up to meet it. I held my finger right on the trigger, yet hesitated to fire. Wait a moment, this nightmare is red!


    "Hey!" I leaped down from my unit and waved my arms back and forth to get their attention.


    "The hell?" The nightmare stopped and a familiar voice, Marlo''s sounded back. "Wait how are you here?" He jumped down from the top of the unit.


    "Weren''t you taken out?" He asked.


    "No? I thought you were. What happened on your end?" I responded.


    "We managed to find unit five." Rocky climbed out of the cockpit and joined us. "It was laying in the forest, completely inoperational."


    "So we went up to it, right? And damn! They set us up! As we were inspecting it, a bunch of blue nightmares came out of nowhere and ambushed us!" Marlo explained.


    "Watch your language." Rocky interjected.


    "Whatever, anyways they blew our antenna right off, so we couldn''t use the intercom. Our nightmare wasn''t too damaged though, so we ran away. We''ve wandered around aimlessly since then."


    "What about you?" He asked.


    "I was driving towards unit five''s position when the intercoms went silent. Soon after I was attacked by all five of the enemy''s nightmares. They destroyed my antenna too and did some serious damage."


    "Damn! They got you too huh?"


    "Marlo, profanity! Anyways, what happened to your partner?"


    "He''s unconscious." I answered.


    I pulled Jean up and out of the cockpit and rested him on top of the nightmare.  Rocky and Marlo decided to take a look at my nightmare. They said they might be able to repair the right track, so I let them do as they please. In the meantime, I rested on the top of the unit and started formulating a plan.


    Looking at Rocky and Marlo''s unit, they should be able to do just fine in combat. Which means we could fight back. I could fight with mine as well. I might be able to fire the gun once, and then jump back into the cockpit to drive. I wouldn''t be able to use the second volley that way, but maybe it''ll work. That''s it! I think I might have a plan now.


    "How''s it going?" I asked.


    "Good. We managed to cut off some loose track. That should make it more stable for now, just don''t ram it into anything or the whole track will come off." Rocky slid from under the nightmare.


    "Right."


    "Cool. We fixed the track, but what the hell are we even supposed to do now?" Marlo leaned on the side of my unit.


    "I think I might have a plan that could work."


    We started moving through the forest back towards the area, I encountered the enemy earlier. Darkness cloaked the woodlands, and we used this to our advantage. The nightmares have headlights, but I didn''t use them. Instead, Rocky and Marlo did and drove in front of me, to navigate.


    Since we couldn''t rely on the intercom, we had to use something different. Promptly, as we drove through the quiet forest, Marlo fired his gun straight through the air. I quickly climbed out of the nightmare. I see it. A couple of lone enemy headlights wandered around to our left. We quickly separated and approached their location.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    This plan relies on the fact that we caught the enemy alone, granted we thought ahead for it if they weren''t. Luckily as I got closer I saw a single blue nightmare scurrying toward''s Marlo and Rocky. I drove fast and hid in the shadows to the enemy unit''s right. Marlo and Rocky got the enemy''s attention and soon turned off their lights.


    Covered in darkness, I climbed up to the guns and fired it at the enemy nightmare as quickly as I could. Did I hit? The night was too thick to tell, but nonetheless, they stopped in their tracks, likely trying to find me.


    I quickly loaded the second volley and fired it their way. Again, I couldn''t tell if I hit, but in response to my shot, they turned their headlights my way and found me. Just as I wanted.


    I quickly jumped down to the cockpit and jetted towards the enemy. It''s time they experience their own strategy in action! I drove straight past them and darted into the forest. Drawing their attention, they would have focused on me, giving Marlo the time to land a crucial hit.


    Having them drive straight forward towards Marlo and Rocky initially, was extremely important to my plan. They would have instantly lined the front of their nightmare, where the engine is, to Marlo. Then my distraction would have them turn the headlights, which are mounted on the gun''s rotation, to my location, as currently, I would have been more of a threat. Running past them just buys even more time for Marlo. During all this time, they would have hopefully been oblivious to Marlo and Rocky, allowing them to take out the enemy completely.


    There was no way to know if the plan worked right away. After gaining enough distance, I stopped and looked out behind me. All I could see back there was a single pair of headlights. Which means one of them must have lost their engine or turned out their headlights. I stared at the lone pair of headlights for moments on end, until finally, the lights flashed on and off three times.


    Victory! That was the signal from Marlo, that the plan was a success. I quickly drove back to their location.


    "Ah, man. What are we supposed to do now then?" Someone audibly complained. I stopped the nightmare next to Marlo and Rocky''s and jumped out. In front of me, they were talking to a couple of boys. Beside them, stood an extremely damaged blue unit. The front armor had been completely blown to the side, exposing the engine and other components.


    "Ah, there you are, Lulu." Rocky greeted me as I jumped down. "It looks like we were successful."


    "Indeed, we''re done yet though-" I was suddenly cut off by the sound of a pistol in the distance.


    "Damn it!" Marlo yelled.


    Two hours had already passed? To be honest, it felt like longer than that. Nonetheless, I feel accomplished after all this. Maybe we didn''t take them all out, or win the battle, yet we formulated a strategy and executed it concisely.


    "You took out our engine! How the hell are we gonna get back now?" The boy on the other team argued.


    In the end, we decided to give them a ride. We didn''t know how to fix their nightmare, so we just left it there. Luckily their GPS was still working so hopefully Han can find it in the morning. This also allowed us to know which direction to go in.


    Soon after half an hour or so, we came across a clearing in the forest, illuminated with light. A large fire had been started and around it, five or so nightmares stood silently. Many were covered in blast marks, dents, and scrapes. I parked my unit nearby and jumped out.


    "Thanks for the ride."


    "Yeah." The boy ran off to his friend sitting on a log by the fire.


    In the dead of night, the relics of the battle were but memories. Nature was unscathed and the large fire created a warming atmosphere. Soon, Han emerged from one of the tents that was set up and approached me.


    "Haha! You did good, Lulu." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "Y''all put what I said yesterday into practice perfectly! You adapted to your surroundings and came up with a new strategy on the fly! Though you didn''t win, you did well. You and you''re whole team. The others managed to take out two other units, making it an even 2-2 game in the end."


    "Thank you, sir. But, if I may ask, how did you know about the strategy I came up with?" I asked.


    "Well because I put a camera and a mic in all of your nightmares! I''ve been watching y''all this whole time!"


    "Oh."


    "Alright, now go join the others, we''re gonna be staying out here for the night, so get cozy!" Han yelled in his usual vigor before going off and talking to another student.


    I walked over and sat by the fire.


    "Hey." Aurelia emerged from the darkness and sat next to me.


    "Hi."


    "I heard what happened from Marlo. He''s been bragging at the top of his lungs nonstop!" Aurelia joked. "Anyways, that was really cool! I''m sorry I couldn''t help you out.  My nightmare got completely destroyed early on!" She nervously laughed.


    "It''s fine."


    We sat there for a few moments, silently staring at the fire. Kids around us were talking and laughing. A few were cooking hotdogs and marshmallows on the fire. I think Han, must have brought them for us, nonetheless, I''m not really hungry right now.


    "Hey, can I ask you something?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Are you sure you''re doing alright?"


    "Yeah, why?"


    "You''ve been acting strange lately. Ever since that plane ride, you''ve been going off about serums, and memories. Not to mention what you said yesterday, about killing Mother. It''s all got me really worried for you, Lulu."


    "I''m doing fine and everything I said yesterday is what really happened."


    "What?"


    "Let me explain this. We killed our Mother and Both of us took a serum that turned us into monsters and back. It all happened before we came here. You had just forgotten all of this!" I began to raise my voice a bit.


    "Lulu, this is what I''m talking about!" Aurelia raised her voice to meet mine.


    "What? I''m trying to explain to you what''s happened!"


    "That''s all just a huge lie! You''re going on about nonsense. None of that ever happened!"


    "Yes it did, Aurelia!"


    "Then, why don''t I remember it?"


    "Because they put you on a machine that got rid of your memories!"


    "When the hell did I do that!?" Aurelia cleary began to grow angry.


    "Before the plane ride."


    "That never happened, Lulu! Before the plane ride, we Mother brought us to the enlistment building, said goodbye and we got on!"


    "It never went like that."


    "Lulu." Aurelia''s voice calmed and she stood up, clearly seeing the people around us began to look our way. "I don''t think my memories are the problem. I think it''s yours. To be honest, you''re sounding delusional right now." She walked off.


    I sat there quietly staring into the warm fire for a few moments, contemplating what had happened. Why am I so angry about this? Maybe it''s because I burden this past by myself? Maybe it''s because Gray and Aurelia have changed so much? Nonetheless, this whole thing leaves me sad and angry. I try to explain things, yet she won''t understand. She won''t hear me out.


    "Hey." A familiar voice called behind me.


    "Jean?" I turned behind me.


    "What''s up?" He sat down next to me.


    "You''re awake? How are you doing?"


    "Yeah, I woke up about five minutes ago. I mean, my head hurts, but like I''m doing fine."


    "That''s good."


    "Hey, I heard from Marlo, what happened while I was out. Nice work. You kicked some serious ass without me."


    "Thanks."


    "Anyways, I heard what you were saying to Aurelia a moment ago."


    "Oh, you overheard that? Don''t pay any attention to that. It''s just an argument between us, that''s all."


    "Lulu. Come with me."


    "Huh?"


    "Just indulge me alright?"


    Jean led me out into the forest, away from everyone else and to a spot where no one could hear us.


    "We need to talk."

 Chapter 15 - Jean Hauberg Pt. 1

    Vestige Chapter 15 - Jean Hauberg Pt.1


    "Hey, Jean! Come take a look at this!" Julia ran up to me carrying a daffodil she had collected somewhere behind the house.


    "Whatever, I''ve already seen it." I shrugged her off and continued what I was reading. Which was an interesting book written by an anonymous author. Snug in between the lines, hidden meanings appeared in its short stories. These truths were unlike any I had heard at that time, yet sitting there in that field they were just words on paper.


    "Jean!" Julia yelled.


    "Yeah? What do you want?"


    "Hmph." Julia pouted. "You''re being a meanie right now."


    "Yeah, and what are you gonna do about it?"


    "I''m gonna tell Christa! That''s what!" She shouted as she ran off into the fields.


    Looking back on it, so many of our interactions were like this. I feigned apathy to her attempts at fun and joy. Stuck in my own world I never really acknowledged her as much as I should of. That''s one of the many things I really regret. I should have been a better brother to her.


    Ring! I slammed the book shut and stood up. It was time for dinner. Heading inside, it was like any other day at the orphanage. Part of me wishes things stayed that way.


    As I walked into the dining room the atmosphere was almost entirely jovial, that was except for Christa. While kids ran around and laughed playfully, She stood in the corner quietly speaking to Julia. Her face and body twitches illuminated her clearly distressed state and her constant side glances showed a sense of paranoia.


    As I approached her, she quickly pulled me aside and into the hallway, away from Mom''s sight. With trembling hands on our shoulders, she looked both of us in the eye and peered both ways. Confident we were alone she finally spoke to us.


    "We need to get out of here, quick." Her voice was shaky and slow.


    "The hell you talking about? I still got another few months before I graduate." I replied.


    She stared me dead in the eye for a painfully long moment. "The graduations are a lie. Everything is a lie. This whole goddamn place is a lie!"


    It was then, that I truly heard for the first time. The truth about the orphanages and the serums. Christa had known it all, yet I doubted her entirely.


    In hindsight everything she told me that day was absolutely the truth. Nonetheless, whenever I''d ask her how she knew this stuff, she''d dodge the question. It made me suspicious of her. Simply put I didn''t believe a thing she said, yet looking back at it now, whatever she saw the night before must have been truly horrifying.


    "Haha!" I laughed sarcastically. "Christa, you''ve really stepped up your game since last time. Your nonsensical prank this time had some creativity put into it!" I quickly turned my back towards her and began heading out back to dinner. I was starving.


    I never ended up eating dinner that night though. As I turned to leave the hallway, looming over me was the shadowy figure of Mom. Her eyes pierced down towards me. It was like she could see through my entire being.


    "What were you talking about just now, dear?" I don''t know how she snuck upon us. It was like her tiny eyes saw all.


    "Oh, nothing, just another one of-"


    Splosh! Before I could finish my sentence a liquid splashed onto my face. Reaching up and touching it revealed that blood now covered my face. Looking down before me, laid the petrified body of Mom. Her made dress soiled in red and elegant blond hair turned crimson. Sitting snugly inside of her body, a kitchen knife found it''s way deep into her lifeless heart.


    In fear and shock, I looked behind me. Christa stood there, the look of a crazed psychopath on her face, with several other knives in her hands at the ready.


    "What have you done?" A chill coursed through my spine and left me paralyzed.


    Christa stared fearfully back at me. "Fulfilling our promise." She said as she lifted Julia over the air and on to her shoulder.


    I couldn''t believe my eyes. The dead body of my Mother laying before me was an unnerving sight. Nonetheless, that wasn''t the most important thing on my mind.


    "Hold on-" Before I could act Christa bolted out of the hallway. With blood soaking in her clothes and Julia on her shoulder, she made way for the exit. Amidst the dinner still being served many had yet to notice what had just taken place.


    Still, though I couldn''t just sit by idly. I darted after her. "That''s my sister!" I yelled as I charged out the room.


    At that time, I was fueled by adrenaline and hatred. I thought I knew Christa. I grew up with her. I played with her all the time. I almost had thought of her as much of a sister to me as Julia was, yet now I loathed that psychotic girl.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I don''t really know if psychotic is the best term, actually. I hated the actions she took, yet knowing what I know now, I probably would have taken the same ones.


    Leaving the corpse of my Mother behind, I chased out the orphanage and into the field. Leaping through a large hole in the gate I followed Christa deep into the forest and all the way to the wall.


    We stood at the tunnel that entered the wall. This tunnel was the one that left Orphanage 89 and went to the real world, yet none of that mattered to me then. All that mattered at that moment was defending what was dear to me. I was going to protect my sister no matter what.


    As Christa delved deep into the labyrinth inside the wall, I kept close and chased after her. It wasn''t long though until my stamina and breath ran out though and I had lost track of her. Stuck inside a maze and stressed out of my mind, I couldn''t push any farther. My whole body told me to stop.


    Yet still, I did. I was going to find her, whatever it takes me to do so. Having lost sight of Christa I crawled into a nearby air vent. The labyrinth was confusing and I wasn''t getting anywhere running around. I had figured that the air vent could take me to a new part of the inner wall I hadn''t searching yet.


    I was extremely lucky in doing so. Soon, as I wandered the cramp ventilation system I came to an opening to another part of the tunnel. Below me, Christa and Julia rested there.


    "It''s going to be alright." Christa moved her hand through Julia''s silky smooth brown hair.


    "Are you sure?" Julia shook and trembled. It was clear her mind was still catching up to what had happened.


    "Of course." Christa reassured. "You do remember what I said didn''t I."


    "No?"


    "That promise I made years ago."


    "Oh, that?"


    "I''m going to fulfill that promise I made to Julia. Even if it kills me."


    I banged and slammed on the air vent, attempting to get it open. This one was shut way harder than the other one. I screamed and yelled, yet I didn''t know if my voice could reach them through the loud gushing air behind me.


    So I went further ahead and found another opening, this time weaker, and dropped down into the corridor. Rushing as fast I could I ran towards Julia with all my being, yet I failed to make it there in time.


    "Go! Quickly!" Christa shouted ahead of me.


    "Oh! Now, what do we have here?!" A raspy disturbed voice called. As I turned the corner I identified this voice to be that of an older man with a cane.


    Before him stood Christa, knife readied, hissing at the devious man. Julia had escaped her grasp and was nowhere to be seen.


    I looked around me frantically yet her position eluded me.


    Christa launched at Dreddian. She swung her knife back and forth, yet every swing missed Dreddian''s nimble body.


    "Got some spirit, do we?" Dreddian stabbed his cane straight into her abdomen.


    Recoiling back, another strike to Christa''s face marked blood. As tears rolled down her face she sent herself forward and attacked him.


    Dodging her knife, he gripped her hand and took the blade out her possession. Swiftly Dreddian placed the knife in Christa''s side, forcing blood out and onto the floor.


    Christa reached down to her side to draw another, yet before she could she fell to the floor. Sweeping her to the ground, Dreddian unsheathed a sword from his side and tossed the cane away.


    She held up her arms in defeat as his sword came down repeatedly on her body. He swung and sliced into her rapidly. Blood splattered and flesh flew as she slowly became mutilated. She cried in pain and screamed for help, yet to no avail. Christa didn''t have the strength to beat Dreddian. She may have killed our young Mother yet against someone more skilled she was no match.


    It wasn''t soon before Christa stopped screaming. Blood and guts littered the floor. Her body became distorted and torn up and her face was no longer recognizable.


    Throughout this all, I was powerless to do anything. My body just wouldn''t move, so I stood there watching it in horror. I really regret not doing something to save Christa, yet in that moment I had to move forward. I couldn''t sit and think about anything that was happening. I didn''t have time for that. Instead, I had to act.


    Laughing hysterically, Dreddian turned his attention towards me. Luckily when he looked my way, he saw nothing. I had already darted out into the rest of the labyrinth. Bolting with all the power I had left behind my feet I ran forward searching for Julia. She had to be here somewhere.


    I jumped between the corridor and hallway. Charged through room and room. Climbed countless flights of stairs. All until I finally found her.


    Lying their crying into her hands, Julia sat there on one of the top floors.


    "Julia-" I approached her and placed my hand on her back.


    My body ached with severe pain. My heart beated at intense speeds and my mind was overwhelmed with stress. Constant adrenaline running through me, I had finally found a moment of rest and my body nearly collapsed at that opportunity.


    "It''s all over now." I rubbed her back. "We can go home back now. Back to the orphanage."


    "No!" Tearful eyes, she yelled back at me. "I won''t become a monster like the others!"


    "A monster? Nonsense I don''t even know what you''re talking about."


    "You heard what Christa said! They''re going to turn us into tentacle monsters if we don''t make it outside of the wall!"


    "I... that. Well... that just isn''t true. It can''t be."


    "Christa saw it with her own eyes! She knew what we had to do to be free! She sacrificed herself so I could live on!"


    "What...? I." I was at a loss of words at that moment. "Well... Christa she-"


    "I already know what happened."


    "Oh, you say" I tried my best to comfort her.


    This was a moment in my life I had never experienced before. I didn''t know what was the truth or a fallacy. I didn''t know what to do or where to go. Everything had happened so fast, my brain couldn''t process it all, yet still had to make a decision.


    "I know Christa would be happy-" Julia stood up. "-if we escaped and were happy. Outside the walls."


    "I just, I..."


    It was then that I realized something. When I felt like I couldn''t make a decision. When it felt like I didn''t know what road to walk. When I was surrounded by death at everything corner and fearful for what''s next, I reached a conclusion.


    I really thought about everything that happened. Not critically. I didn''t want to know the truth. I thought about my real values behind things. I figured out what was important to me.


    I stood up and clasped Julia''s small hands.


    "Jean?"


    It doesn''t matter who''s right and wrong. That man I saw might have been truly evil or rightfully jut, yet I don''t care either way. Christa may have been doing the right thing in this situation and, but I don''t give a fuck! All that really is important is what''s in front of me. That''s what matters to me.


    "You''re right Julia." I approached the door leading to the next hall. "We''re gonna escape this hellhole and live happily."


    I''m going to protect my little sister from everything in this world and nobody can stop me!

 Chapter 16 - Jean Hauberg Pt. 2

    Vestige Chapter 16 - Jean Hauberg Pt. 2


    Julia and I walked slowly through the abandoned corridors of the inner wall. The place was quiet and dark and a slow mechanical whirl within the walls somewhere created an atmosphere of solitude. Both of us were pretty tired from what had gone on earlier, yet we continued on our way through. We didn¡¯t have time to rest, we had to reach the outside world as soon as possible.


    ¡°What do you think we¡¯re gonna find when we make it outside?¡± Julia asked me as we strolled past through a narrow hallway.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I responded.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± She sighed.


    ¡°But, it doesn¡¯t matter.¡± We turned into the next passageway. ¡°Because we¡¯re gonna be just fine.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right. That¡¯s what Christa fought for.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Looking for a moment¡¯s rest, we soon turned and entered into a room labeled ¡®File Management.¡¯ Inside was a large space littered with drawers and desks. Files were scattered haphazardly throughout the place. Cobwebs and dust filled the corners and tables and the musky smell made it obvious no one had cleaned up in a while.


    ¡°This is pretty spooky, isn¡¯t it?¡± Julia broke the silence as we laid on the rotting chairs we found.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I stood up and searched around a little. What was this place for? What actually have they even been doing here? Most importantly though, where is the exit?


    As I rummaged through documents, I started to notice a trend. Each of these detailed files were of a kid at the orphanage. Many of them I didn¡¯t recognize, yet I saw a few kids I did. Scurrying up and down, I noticed the drawers were ordered chronologically. Using that I was able to find my file.


    ¡°Whatcha find?¡± Julia asked from across the room.


    ¡°Look at this.¡± I showed her the document and she quickly scanned it.


    ¡°Wow, that must be you!¡± She pointed out a picture of me as an infant. ¡°Are there ones on everyone back at the orphange?¡±


    ¡°Maybe.¡± I began to inspect my own file a little closer though first.


    The paper held all sorts of information, some even I didn¡¯t know.  It contained my date of birth, age and even records of my scores in training, which they never disclosed to us. The depth of some of the reports on it were astonishing. How did they even know all this? Medical reports, internal compositions, statistical likelihood for disease, what was this stuff? Out of all this though, most importantly, was the info at the bottom though. I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes upon seeing it.


    Christa was right. The serum she spoke of was there! Listed right at the bottom was a whole section dedicated to it. It spoke of my medical records and how ¡°capable¡± according to the paper I was for the serum. Even more so, the file went into a second procedure later one. That of a memory machine. It was all so damning.


    ¡°Julia! You¡¯ve got to see this.¡± I gestured towards her and she quickly hopped over.


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    Her eyes scoured up and down the paper quickly. ¡°This is exactly what Christa meant.¡±


    ¡°Damn, yeah. I didn¡¯t believe that she was right.¡±


    ¡°Their gonna use that serum and turn us into monsters, just like she said!¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Everything she said was true.¡± I paused with a sigh of relief yet anxiety. ¡°Hey, you wanna see your file? I think I could probably find it.¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to see it.¡±


    ¡°Really? Why not?¡±


    ¡°Seeing it doesn¡¯t change anything. They''re still gonna turn us into those monsters either way.¡± Julia paused and stood up. ¡°Unless, we do something that is! We¡¯ve gotta get out of here, quick. There¡¯s no point in loitering here any longer.¡± Julia began walking towards the exit.


    ¡°Do something¡­¡± I stood there for a moment thinking. If only there was something more than just running we could do. Hmmm, I gotta think. That¡¯s it!


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I rushed over towards a nearby desk. Tossing aside a pile of papers and wiping the dust off the table, I booted up the PC sitting on top. Promptly, a bright flash of light and a loud start up sound greeted me.


    ¡°Come on, Jean! We¡¯ve got to escape, as soon as possible!¡± Julia called from the exit.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I¡¯ll be there in a second.¡±


    This is my chance to finally do something! Inspecting the operating system, it was identical to the one the computer in the library back in the orphanage used. I searched through it¡¯s files with renewed vigor. There it is!


    I located a database of information. Looking through it, it was clearly identical to that of the physical files around the room. Scrolling down, I found my file, which was exactly how I expected it to be.


    I quickly went down to the bottom of the page. Lemme test this out. I went to the section on the memory machine for starters. Hmmm. Yeah I think I can do this. I changed the document so that it listed I¡¯d already completed the operation. Now that I¡¯ve done that, I can update the real document.


    I printed out the updated file, then took the other and ripped to shreds. There we go! Now if they ever check my file, they¡¯ll think I¡¯ve already lost all my memory!


    ¡°Hey Julia! You¡¯ve gotta take a look at this!¡±  I called in her direction. She must have left the room.


    ¡°Julia?¡± I walked out into the hall. Where could she be?


    I started walking up and down the hallway, searching for her. Crap, I couldn¡¯t have lost her already. I promptly increased my pace and frantically explored the different rooms. Yet she was nowhere to be seen.


    ¡°You can¡¯t just kill like that, man.¡± A voice called from somewhere ahead of me. ¡°It¡¯s not the correct procedure.¡±


    Hearing the voices approach from ahead of me, I quickly ducked into a nearby room and hid in the shadows.


    ¡°Whatever, she was holding a knife, I couldn¡¯t help myself!¡± A second voice responded, this one I recognized. It was the man who killed Christa!


    ¡°Did you even read the new conduct the capital put out? We¡¯re supposed to detain escapees now.¡± Seymor replied.


    ¡°Ha! Seymor, my guy, you¡¯re still young! Once you reach my age, you don¡¯t got time for that sort of official stuff! The world¡¯s moving faster and faster and I gotta put everything towards keeping up with everyone else. I can¡¯t read every word they put out.¡± Dreddian snarked.


    ¡°Whatever, man. Just capture them from now on.¡±


    ¡°Ah, don''t tell me your getting soft for those brats, now? Don¡¯t wanna kill them because you were once a rat like they are.¡± Dreddian jabbed at Seymor.


    ¡°That¡¯s got nothing to do with this.¡±


    ¡°Ha! It¡¯s actually pretty funny you feel bad for killin em¡¯ kids now! You didn¡¯t feel that way about the kids in Perado, did cha?!¡±


    Seymor let out a long sigh. ¡°That¡¯s got nothing to do with this.¡±


    ¡°Hahah!¡± Dreddian laughed maniacally. ¡°Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Hey, I gotta bounce. I got that meeting with Draklor to attend to in a little while.¡±


    ¡°The one about the election?¡± Seymor asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Man, I hate that formal crap. Anyways, I¡¯ll be seein ya.¡± I could hear Dreddian walking off in the direction away from me.


    ¡°Yeah, see ya.¡± Seymor said.


    I let out a silent sigh of relief. One of them left, which will make this a bit easier for me. Still though, I¡¯ve gotta find Julia and quick. First of all, how am I even gonna out here unnoticed? I can¡¯t just run out of here.


    ¡°Clever. But, I can still see you hiding there.¡± He called.


    Shit! How the hell did he find me? I¡¯ve gotta run quick. I scurried through the room, attempting to find the best escape route. I could probably run through the opposite door to a different passage than the one he¡¯s in. That¡¯s gonna be my best bet.


    ¡°Ahhhh! Let go of me!¡± Julia¡¯s voice screamed out.


    ¡°Don¡¯t make this harder than it needs to be.¡±


    Was that Julia? Damn! It wasn¡¯t me, he found but Julia. I quickly picked up a nearby broken chair leg and rushed out of the room. I¡¯m coming Julia!


    Standing in front of me, Seymor held Julia up by her shirt and attempted to lift her over his shoulder, she was small enough to do so. Yet, her squirming and kicking did enough to prevent and annoy him.


    ¡°Damn, this is harder by myself.¡± Seymor complained.


    ¡°Let her go!¡± I yelled and readied my stick as I jumped out from the shadows.


    ¡°Hmmm. Your friend?¡± Seymor held Julia with one hand and reached into his pocket with the other.


    ¡°Get your hands off of my sister!¡± I charged forward swinging my stick forward, making sure I didn¡¯t hit Julia.


    Seymor adeptly dodged the strike and pulled his hand from his pocket. Grasping a pistol, he pulled Julia close to his body and took aim at me.


    ¡°Come on, now. You can¡¯t win. It¡¯ll be easier for you to just surrender.¡± Seymor delivered.


    ¡°Like hell!¡± I sliced again, this time at his feet, as to avoid striking Julia.


    I think the slice missed him, yet I couldn¡¯t tell. Half way through my swing, I heard a loud noise and my head suddenly went light.


    Blood streamed down from my shoulder as another bullet entered my kneecap.


    ¡°Jean!¡± Julia cried at the sight of my collapsing body.


    I quickly lost consciousness. Maybe it was because of my exhaustion or the blood loss, but I hit the floor cold and when I woke up things weren¡¯t the same as before


    I laid there on an ice cold stone floor inside of a dimly lit prison cell. Before me was a room, empty say for a metal bed. My shoulder and knee roared in pain and I could barely muster the strength to stand up. Where the hell was I?


    There are many decisions I regret making that day, yet the events that soon transpired laid the foundation for my greatest. Eventually Seymor came back to my cell and explained things to me.


    ¡°It¡¯s your decision.¡± He looked me firmly in the eyes.


    He had given me one of the largest decisions I have ever made. One that changed absolutely everything in my life. After his offer, He stood there staring at me for moments on end, as I failed to offer up a response in a timely manner.


    I just couldn¡¯t think. Everything was happening so fast and I couldn¡¯t keep up. Not long ago I was sitting in the field reading a nice book with Julia complaining by my side. Just a moment ago I was going to eat dinner with my family. I just wanted everything to end already and go back to how it was. Maybe that¡¯s why I agreed to his proposition. Maybe it was out of selfish endeavors. I really don¡¯t know.


    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll do it.¡±


    ¡°I understand.¡± Seymor nodded in approval and left the room.


    Soon he brought Julia and I out of the cells and into this sort of laboratory room. He sat us both down and a another man came out to greet us And well¡­ what happened next was. Well.


    ¡°Is it alright, if I don¡¯t elaborate any further?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Lulu responded.


    ¡°I just miss her, you know? She wasn¡¯t as lucky as I was that day, and afterwards, I¡­ I never got to see her again.¡± I slowly fidgeted with my fingers.


    The forest was extremely quiet, yet our hushed tones couldn¡¯t have gone far. After a full day of training, I was exhausted, sweaty and everything in between, yet after explaining everything I felt a large weight leave my chest.


    ¡°Sorry.¡± I broke the silence between us. ¡°This is probably really superimposing of me. I just felt like I could tell you. Like you would understand, I mean. Sorry if this is out of place. I shouldn¡¯t have said anything.¡±


    Lulu stared at me for a moment before coming close and hugging me. ¡°No that¡¯s not the case at all. I understand the burden you carry. I too have those same regrets. Those feelings of anxiety and distress about the past we left behind.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but let my eyes grow misty.


    ¡°And your sister...¡± Lulu started.


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s alright. I¡¯m sure of it.¡± Lulu let go of the hug and looked into my eyes. ¡°And one day, we¡¯re gonna find her. I promise.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. Lulu. Really. Thank you.¡±