The Ghost

Chapter 2

When my consciousness comes back, I discover that Traveler is having a walk outside of the Inception House for the first time. She is wearing a heavy, dark blue coat that looks really well on my body, her breath visible as fog in the freezing air of the dark Winter of Alaska.

I can feel the cold in our face, I can hear the wind and I feel the snow under her boots, but yet again, taking control of any movement is beyond my capabilities even though I am conscious of everything around us. Traveler is looking around, giving me a clear view of our surroundings, and I realize that this is the same forest that we can see through the windows of the House.

The same blond woman that Healed my body is walking beside us, and then, wearing a heavy coat as well, she speaks with her emotionless voice:

"Traveler, have you looked into her memories already?"

Traveler looks up at the starry sky, she sighs and then, deciding to ignore the dream that surprised her so much last night, she starts to dig into my memories in a more controlled and emotionless fashion. I can see what she sees, all my memories, my feelings and the deepest secrets of my soul...

Oh, no... This is bad.

I know what they want: Traveler will be asked to provide any valuable information that she can find in my memory, and that could potentially include the location of my Uncle Jab's secret Base inside Mount McKinley!

"Her name was Natalie Scryer" Traveler says, looking for a second into the blond woman's glowing red eyes- "She does not belong to this frozen land: I can see that she lived at somewhere hot... where everything was dry..."

"Scryer..." the Healer replies, a hint of interest noticeable in her otherwise emotionless voice- "That could mean something- Maybe she has a connection to Jab Scryer, who is one of the last remaining human commanders after the War."

"Flagstaff" Traveler whispers- "Natalie came here from a place called Flagstaff."

Damn it! I must do something now. Traveler will keep extracting information from my memory, and if I do not stop her somehow, Uncle Jab will soon have an entire army of Ghosts storming Mount McKinley. What to do? What to do?!

"Traveler, this is important" the Healer whispers, both of them coming to a halt beside a frozen lake- "Please tell me... Where is Natalie's base here in the North? We know that she was trying to steal energy weapons from our Military Building, she must belong to the Resistance, so please..."

"I am not letting you do this!" I scream inside Traveler's head, and then it finally happens:

I take control of my body, closing my right hand into a fist and immediately delivering a punch to Traveler's nose that hurts both of us a lot. My little Ghost friend screams and tries to resist, but I punch her face and her body three more times... I run and smash our body against the nearest tree, the Healer looking utterly shocked at this unexpected turn of the events.

"What is happening?!" Traveler screams when we fall to the snowy ground, and then, recovering, I run for my best chance to kill us both and prevent disaster for my uncle, my brother and the rest of the humans at our secret Base:

We dash towards the frozen lake, the thin ice breaking under my feet... Then, we fall into the freezing water with a scream and I pass out while Traveler, shocked, is fighting for her life.

6-

The advanced medical science of these ghostly invaders can heal broken bones, internal bleeding and ruptured organs almost instantly, but for some odd reason, hypothermia seems to be a little more tricky to deal with.