To Be A Warrior

Chapter 35: Here We Go Again

Oh. I'm back.

I look around at the people all walking around quietly, minding their own business. They wear different clothes, some fancy, some not. There are women wearing high heels and red lipstick, men having those nice leather shoes or sneakers. Some are walking and talking on cellphones.

I'm back to before. I'm back to being Catherine.

It makes sense, in a weird way. One thing is out of the way and so I'm forced to focus on the next. Just a few hours ago Paula and I saved Nadia from the V-Type infested building that killed all the Last Riders. They're gone, no longer a threat. I mean, there's still the signal, but if no one is going to give the signal, then no one with the pills are going to take them. We didn't even have to do anything to stop the Riders. They were their own destruction.

Of course, there is that insane man who's going to at least try to murder Janine, but that's in the future...

The future. Maybe because I saw the future, I'm back in the past to help balance it out.

I went to bed thinking I'd sleep peacefully, but I don't think that's going to be the case. I'm back here for a reason. This means something to Catherine. This is a memory that's important to her, or it will be important to me. I just have to figure out how and why.

I smooth out the wrinkles of my shirt, not bothering to really look at it. I can't really care for fashion when I know I'll eventually be wearing old shirts that are stained and close to unravelling.  But at least my dear older doppelganger wore soft leggings and comfortable flats. It's been so long since I've worn heels, I doubt I'd be able to walk in them correctly. I wish I had something to tell me what day it is. Since my bag was destroyed when the train exploded, I cannot check it. I wonder how long it's been since that day. Have I already rode the train to New Oban? Sam never really told me much about it, but I haven't asked too much. With everything going on, it's hard to focus on something that happened years and years ago before the world ended.

Plus, I'm beginning to think if this is going to be a continuing dream, then maybe I shouldn't know too much before I experience it.

I'm in a train station, although I'm not sure which one. Maybe I haven't ridden the New Oban express yet? I take a look at my shirt, pulling at it to read what it says. It's hard to read it from upside down, but-

"ObanExpress is the fastest, longest, and most advanced..." The automated voice says over the speakers.

"Yeah, yeah, alright," The man beside me says with a roll of his eyes. "We know that. We need to get down to the next platform now. What's the holdup?"

He looks at me as if I can answer, but I simply shrug in reply.

"Sorry, sorry," A voice says. I know that voice! "Hello! Passenger Five?"

I turn, nearly gasping when I see a familiar face, one I met before the real me, Callista met her. I met her when I was Sargent Ellis, the first Abel Runner Five.

The dark-skinned woman smiles at me, her eyes shining as her fingers fiddle with her long-sleeved shirt. "Hi. I can see from your T-shirt who you are. Sorry. Wow. That's a low number. You must have won that ticket really early on."

I laugh nervously. "Uh, oui."

"Oh, you're French? Cool. I guess you can tell from my voice I'm American. Uh, I'm Ellie." She smiles politely. "I'm Ninety-three. Not an age, obviously. I won the uh, Mastermind General Knowledge prize ticket. Hi."

"Hello. I'm... Catherine," I reply with a nod. "Mastermind General Knowledge? You must have done a lot of studying for that."

She shakes her head, smiling a bit sheepishly. "No, not really. I really like books. I'm a major in social anthropology, but just learning and preserving knowledge in general has always been something I'm interested in."