Inevitable Flight - Daughter4254 Book 3

Chapter 2

I didn't hear much of the meeting after Dr. Bowman confirmed my worst fears. I looked at my mother who also seemed stricken. She was smart. She knew what I knew. We didn't have much time left if everyone Hamen messed with ended up a crazy monster, we were heading there as well. 

Thomas had an iron grip on my good shoulder. I kept my cold fingers wrapped over his and felt him randomly squeeze as the men droned on. My brain was spinning. Immediate fears mixed with memories of the night before and the brain dead people who attacked us. Then artificial memories of the past would cycle through. Neuroscience and zombie movies. A song, a play, a painting of a man with an elongated face, mouth open wide in a frozen, eternal scream.

"Imani," Thomas said.

I jerked back to real time. Blinking slowly and forcing myself to focus on his face. 

"We're going to head to the mines. Are you ready to pack up, love?"

"Yah," I mumbled. I looked at my mother. She was standing now, her hands shoved deep into the pockets of the coat she was wearing. The fire cast a yellow-red glow on her too pale face. 

"Mother?" I asked.

She looked at me and smiled. "It's so good to hear that name again."

"I..." I started to ask her about her dates, how long ago did he wipe her mind, did he implant anything, how much time did she think she had left, but I couldn't finish my sentence.

"Let's go get packed up. I can't wait to meet these mountain folk you've been dreaming about for so long."

"Oh, you'll love em," Thomas assured her. 

"I'm sure I will." She smiled at him and took  my half finished mug of soup from me. "Are you sure you don't want to finish this?"

"I'm fine," I lied. My stomach felt like a pit of acid. I couldn't eat another bite, but I wasn't fine either.

"Let's go get packed up then and see if we can help with anything else." Mother was nothing if not useful. 

I started to walk with them back to the tent, when Dr. Bowman caught my eye. He was talking with a guard and was crossing and uncrossing his arms. 

Nervous, I thought. I would be too if I'd just swapped teams in the middle of the night.

"I'll catch up with you in a minute," I said to Thomas and Mother, then I turned to Dr. Bowman.

I could feel both sets of eyes on my back as I trotted away from them. Thomas called out, "Imani?" 

I turned back to him. "I'll be right back. I promise." I wanted to smile as I said it, but I couldn't. I didn't even have the energy to fake a smile.

As I approached Bowman, the guard walked away. The frumpy little man looked momentarily relieved, then he saw me. 

"Dr. Bowman, I need to talk to you."

He put one hand on his forehead and closed his eyes. He looked visibly defeated. 

"I'm not sure I can help you, but I'll do my best," he answered with a  sigh.

"Hamen messed with my brain. He didn't wipe it, he just filled it with a massive amount of information. I'm almost to the point that I can control it, but I need to know..." I couldn't control my urgency, I reached out and squeezed his arm. "Am I going to end up like them?" I nodded my head in the direction of the river."

Bowman had been avoiding my gaze before but now he looked right at me. "You are 4254, aren't you?"

I shuttered a little bit at the number, but nodded my head. "I was."