Destruction - The Oasis Project Book 2 (Complete)

Nine - Ira

Keshav didn't mind the fact that I didn't speak; it meant that he could talk more. I felt old listening to his energetic spiels while we played basketball late at night, but I listened nonetheless. Everything he said surprised me, but I couldn't bring myself to be shocked at the same time.

We were in Hainan Province, China, he told me. Why China, he had no idea either. What he did know was a wealth of information about the others in the compound. Wu, which meant "five" in Chinese, was an impressive cook who probably made all my meals, Four hadn't been back in months, and Desmond spent a significant amount of his free time in Celestia's room - was five, now six. Although I'd been getting more strength and coordination back in my body, I predictably missed my shot when Keshav told me about Desmond. I positively did not need to know that. Keshav laughed at my expression.

He hadn't mentioned anyone covered in tattoos, which was Linkin's most distinguishable feature. I stared hard at the white rectangle on the backboard, trying to recall her face. Her voice resounded in my head, indistinguishable yelling - I didn't think she liked me much, deep down. No one did, and I was at peace with that.

Seeing my hesitation, Keshav ran at me with a tackle, but I spun away at the last minute and dribbled out of his reach, before getting a basket. Keshav let out an echoing whoop and applauded me. I chuckled to myself silently.

"So, I've been dying to ask someone from Dell," Keshav said on our way back to the rooms, looking at me as if he wanted approval before he said anything. I kept walking, so he asked, "Who the heck is Jaysen? I don't buy that it's Desmond's middle name. The doctors look at Celestia weirdly when she calls him that."

I stopped in my tracks, something heavy against my chest stopping me from breathing. There was a face that I didn't see often, messy brown hair, piercing holes on his ears and lips, mismatched colours spread across both eyes. A fully-clothed body was bobbing up and down with the ocean current, the fresh foam turning red. Eagle, you missed.

"Ira?" Keshav was shaking my shoulders, trying to free me from the spell that had me frozen to the spot. "Ira, what's wrong?"

When the body on the water finally disappeared, I turned to the wall and rested my elbows against it, holding my head in my hands. Keshav continued to say things in an attempt to calm me down, but all I could hear was my heavy breathing. My fingers curled up into fists. I remembered the hands that tried to destabilize the boat just before Jaysen was shot. It should have been Celestia lying face-down on the water.

Finally turning to a shocked Keshav, I said coldly with a deep rasp, "Jaysen was a friend. Celestia killed him, so I don't know what she's doing pretending with that loser Desmond."

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Wu was more forthcoming than I thought he'd be, and in a way, I appreciated it. When I finally felt like I knew enough about him and his friends from Keshav, I sat at the table next to them and watched them play cards. I couldn't recognize it as any game I knew, and them speaking Chinese to each other didn't help. When Wu caught me watching, he invited me to sit with them and introduced me to his group - Seven, Eight, Nine, two boys and a girl. They seemed friendly enough, Nine and the girl, Seven, were maybe around Keshav's age. Wu looked a little older than me.

"Ira," I told them, nodding. This time I did shake hands with all of them, but still wary of what I might expect. There was no electric shock from any of them.

"You talk," Wu observed, his dark brown eyes wide.

"A bit," I admitted, a part of me wishing I hadn't.

The world was growing a lot bigger than my room, bigger than the strange nightmares that were a product of my strained and confused memory. I insisted that the group taught me survival Chinese - even though it was nearly impossible to grasp, I needed it in case I ever got out of here and needed to get back home. I recited the consonants, vowels, and numbers to the dark ceiling every night before I drifted off to sleep. I had no idea if it was any real help.

One morning, it wasn't Doctor A who came to wake me up, but another blonde doctor. She was younger than Liana, maybe in her mid-thirties. I was sure that she looked familiar, but couldn't remember where or when I'd seen her before. She wore her long hair in a low braid that wrapped around her left shoulder and smiled when she saw me awake, barely crinkling the corners of her dark blue eyes. "Morning, Irina." She sounded American, but she pronounced it the right way - not eye-ree-na like most Americans would say.

I looked her in the eyes but didn't say anything. Her black outfit was a stark contrast to the faint blue wall.

"I'm Nita. I don't know if you remember me. I worked with Stuart a lot, if you remember Stuart." She looked like she was about to walk closer to me, but stopped herself when I flinched.

"Where-"

"I honestly don't know, Ira." Nita crossed over to the other side of my room, lowering herself carefully down onto the plush couch. "The last I heard about him, he'd been fired. I really hope he didn't go back to Dell Island with you, and I'm really sorry that you had to go through everything you went through. It was Oasis protocol, out of our hands."

I suddenly remembered something about Nita. Nita is Liana's protege. On the surface, she's a nice doctor, but that makes you easy to manipulate. There she was, crossing her long legs opposite me, fixating on every expression I was making or not making. I didn't buy what she was saying, and she knew it.

Nita sighed. "Stuart and I were good friends until he saw some of the things that were going on in the labs, and he really did misunderstand a lot. He wasn't military so he didn't have clearance to understand the program, which wasn't his fault at all - he only ended up on Dell Island because the appointed psychiatrist was assassinated on leave, and we needed someone talented and someone fast." She stopped to let that sink in.

"What the hell are you doing to all these people?" I breathed.

"Giving them a better life." Nita held up a hand when I tried to object. "All of these people here, they had no one and were struggling on the streets. Now they have a purpose, and are helping to make the world a better place. The island was cruel in many ways, and again I'm really sorry that you had to go through all of it, but look at you, Ira. You survived. You're one of the most valuable people on the planet now, and you'll be helping to improve the world." Nita sighed when I clearly didn't share her enthusiasm and toyed with the hem of her black t-shirt. "I digress, sorry. Do you want some breakfast?"

"Not hungry," I muttered. Her words were floating around me but not quite reaching me. It was too much to process all at once.

"Then how about some air? You haven't been outside yet, have you?"