KEEPING THE FAITH

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TWO DAYS AFTER THE WAR

Somehow, the girl was aware of four things:

Bright lights.

Laughing.

Cold, stale air.

Goosebumps.

She struggled to open her eyes. They felt as if they were glued shut.
When she finally managed to open them, her senses slowly came back to her.
As her vision adjusted, she looked around to see that she was in a hospital room.
Half of her body was covered in a thin, cotton blanket.
She tried to move her hands, but she could only move her left one.
Suddenly, she watched someone walk into the room...

He was tall. His face was covered in freckles. His hair was red and curly. His eyes were a piercing shade of blue.
He looked somewhat familiar. But she couldn't remember-

"Hello, Kedah. How are you feeling?"

His smile was not genuine. Not at all. And his voice...it wasn't familiar to her ears.

"Where am I?" she croaked.

"You're in a recovery room. We won. The monsters are gone."

He slowly walked towards her and sat on her bed.
Up close, he looks nothing like the person she was trying to remember. He had all the correct facial features, like the freckles and the hair, but they don't match up with-

"Julius..." she whispered.

She started to panic. This wasn't Julius. This wasn't her Julius.

"Yes, dear. It's me. We made it-"
"You're not Julius....you're not him," she muttered.

His face showed a slight panic, then quickly showed confusion.

"Babe, what are you talki-"

"Julius never called me names. He always called me Kedah."

Now his face showed pure panic.

"Kedah...I want you to listen to-"

She ripped the blanket off of her lap.
Her legs had countless scars in them. She tried to move them....
She could move only one of them.
"Why can't I move my leg?!" the girl thought.
She started to panic, and then this...boy...grabbed her by the hand.

"Kedah, please...I need you to listen to me, okay?"

"Why can't I move my leg?!"

"Let me explain-"

She tore her hand away and tried to stand up, but her leg wasn't working like it was supposed to.
She fell to the ground, and her right leg and arm detached.
There were only stumps of flesh left behind. The leg and arm was fake.
The girl screamed in horror, and then she felt something sharp hit her neck. Her senses were numbed away, and her vision faded into darkness.

~•~

She slowly started to gain consciousness again, but this time, she was in a wheelchair. Her hand was handcuffed to the armrest. The one leg she had was handcuffed to the leg rest too.
She looked around to find herself in a room with white walls, a steel table and a two-way mirror right in front of her.
She looked at herself, and she no longer looked like a teenager.
At least, not a healthy one.
The girl's skin, once bronze and smooth, was now a sickly brown, and her cheekbones were more prominent than they ever were before. The scar on her left cheek was freshly healed and still tender looking. Her hair was cut and tangled past her shoulders. Her eyes were no longer a bright, vibrant green, but they are dull and-
A door opening behind her scared her out of her train of thought.
The same man that posed as Julius walked in.
This time, his hair was as blonde as the sun, and the freckles were gone. He looked like he was in his late teens.
Handsome and intimidating are the words that would describe him.
He took a seat in front of her and clasped his hands.
At first, he didn't say anything. His eyes raked over her unfamiliar features.

"Let me get something straight with you, Kedah. The next time you try something like that again, you will be punished. Is that understood?" He growled.

She just stared at him in shock.
"What is going on right now?!" she thought.
He scooted closer to her face.

"I said, 'Is that understood?'"

She slowly nodded.
He sat back, eyes tearing into hers.

"Good. I assume you have a lot of questions? Ask one at a time."

"Is that your natural hair color?"

He studied her, then chuckled.

"Yeah, this is my natural hair color. And I don't have freckles."

"So...why am I here? I know I'm not in the bunker back at the church."

"You're in captivity. The real Julius is going to go through some tests called the Temptation Trials. If he doesn't come here in two months, you'll be killed by my boss."

The straightforwardness of what he said frightened the girl.

"How...I mean...when did I-"

"End up here? We found you in the helicopter that was taking you to the hospital."

She suddenly felt so weak.

"Uhm...how-how did I....lose my limbs?"

"From the fall. It looked like you landed on your right hand and leg, and they were extremely infected, so you unfortunately lost them."

There was a lump in her throat. Her eyes began tear up.
"What...happened to my brother?"

"As far as I know, he's in a foster home."

"What will you guys do to me?"

"Experiments, maybe. Who knows. It all depends on how you behave and what my team wants."

He stood up, then asked, "Would you like anything to eat?"

"I....no, no. I don't feel like eating now. Could I just..."

She started to sob and yell. Her breathing went erratic, and her vision was blurry from the tears.
Something sharp poked her neck again, and she started to feel drowsy.
The last thing she felt was someone's lips against her ear. Then she heard, "Dulce and I are on your side."
The world was black after that.