"We aren't that far now."
"Really?"
"Yeah, if my math's correct, only a couple of hours by car."
That was how most dinners went. How far away were we? How much longer? How many more days until we would be home, in our own beds? It was either that or...grieving. I guess I'd rather have the former than the latter. Didn't hurt as much.
"How many more days is that for us then?" I asked, taking a sip of my water.
"Depends on how far the taxis and the buses can get us," Adam replied.
"And how far we can walk."
Adam nodded. "That, too."
We sat at a small table in the back corner of the restaurant's patio. Neither of us said anything for a while until I opened my menu and started browsing the options. It was a diner, so a lot of it was to be expected. Cheeseburgers and fries, steak, sandwiches, the whole lot. But it was better than fast food, or trying to make a meal out of vending machine snacks.
"How different do you think it's going to be?" I asked. "Coming home, I mean?"
"It's..." Adam thought for a second. "It's probably gonna feel really strange."
"Home is gonna feel really...empty..." I sank in my seat.
Adam's expression went pensive and he looked at the ground. "...How are we gonna break the news to everyone?"
"I've been trying not to think about it," I leaned on my hand and looked out at the scenery. "I honestly think Mom and Dad will just be surprised to see us alive after all this time."
"Minus one."
"Well, yeah. Minus one."
"They aren't gonna handle it well when we tell them what happened to Jack."
"No shit, Sherlock."
Adam sighed. "What do we tell them? Will they believe us if we tell the truth?"
"I mean..." I paused. "They're our parents. What would they do?"
"I don't know...but it's a death in the family that we were present for. I'm not looking forward to finding out."
I slumped in my chair uncomfortably and watched as a drop of condensation dripped from my water glass onto my napkin. Adam went back to looking at his menu. Behind me, I could hear more people arriving. I turned to look back at the patio entrance out of curiosity.
What I saw wasn't what I expected.
I turned back with a stunned expression. "...I must be hallucinating again."
Adam promptly put the menu down. "What is it?"
"This is gonna sound crazy, but..." I hesitated, "...one of those people over there looks exactly like Jack...to a T."
Adam's brow furrowed and he peered over my shoulder at the people waiting to get in. It didn't take him long before he looked back at me, his face white as a sheet.
"...I don't know if that's just a lookalike this time..."
We both sat dumbfounded for a moment, then looked back at whatever was happening at the entrance. There, on the opposite side of the patio, stood someone who looked a great deal like our brother. It was a carbon copy, in fact. But how could it be him? After what happened, how could he be here?
The line started moving, and the man who seemed to be Jack traipsed closer into view. He looked tired, his eyes glued to the floor. He got a few steps closer before his gaze met ours. He froze in place, an astounded expression spread across his face. Adam and I got up from our table and slowly approached him, no one really sure of what to say.
It was him.
I sniffled as I tried to piece my words together. "Why...Why did you take so long?"
Jack's eyes filled with tears as he failed to stifle a sob. Before I could stop them, my eyes were teary, too. And before I knew it, I had fallen into Jack's arms. I sobbed into his shoulder for what felt like hours. I didn't care if people stared. I should've stopped caring a long time ago.
Somehow, he was here.
Somehow, Jack came back to us.
I felt Jack's grip loosen slightly as he pulled Adam in. We stood there holding onto each other, not caring about what anyone else thought of us or anything else in the world.
It was the happiest I've felt in months.
****
Jack decided to join us at our table; I wouldn't have wanted anything else. I was still adjusting to the sight of him. He was here. He was alive. All of these months of believing he was gone...it was all wrong.
"Your glasses..." Jack noted. "They're still broken."
I smiled lightly. "We just...didn't have the money to get them replaced. I've had to ask for tape at nearly every hotel we've been to just to keep them alive a little longer."
Jack frowned. "...I'm sorry..."
I shook my head. "It's not your fault."
Jack shrugged.
Adam scoffed. "I'm just...how is this even fucking possible?"
"I thought both of you guys were gone," Jack stared out into the distance. "I was so...lonely."
"We thought we lost you," I returned.
Under the table, there was a shrill whining noise. It sounded like...a dog?
"Oh, yeah," Jack chuckled to himself. He patted his hand on his leg, and a fluffy, white and brown dog emerged to his side.
"This is Shay," He introduced. "I found her in the town across the lake from here. Shay, this is Adam and Ryan...my brothers." He smirked.
Adam and I each patted her on the head.
"You just...found a dog?" I asked
"Basically."
"...Care to explain?"
Jack looked at me with sarcastic anger. "I saw her in an alley. She looked hungry and scared, and she needed help. So...here we are."
"Now we have a dog?" I teased.
"Yes."
"Neat."
"But...back to the topic at hand," Jack continued. "This is just...baffling me."
"How did you find us?" I asked.
He shook his head. "That's the thing. I didn't. I came here completely by chance."
I took a breath. "That's even freakier."
Adam interjected. "Why don't you just...tell us everything?"
Jack cocked his head. "That could take a while."
"You have anywhere else to be?" I joked.
"Well, I do have to return a boat at some point."
"...A boat?"
"Yeah, a boat."
"Is this part of the story?"
"...Eventually."
Deciding not to ask any more questions, I let him continue. His expression changed to something more serious.
"When we were on the train, I was really worried that...well, you get it by now," Jack explained. "It was like our taxi ride from the party. I was trying to shake you guys awake, but...you wouldn't wake up. You just sat there, completely dead weight. So I--"
"Wait a second," Adam interrupted. "That's...not what I remember happening at all."
Jack's brow furrowed. "What?"
"Yeah, we went through something completely different..." I recalled.
"What was it for you guys?"
Adam and I glanced at each other, and Adam took a deep breath as he prepared to tell the tale.
"I woke up first," He began. "And it seemed like we were getting close, so I got Ryan up. We decided to wait and let you get a few extra minutes since we knew you were tired, but...I guess something happened. We both blacked out or something, because the next thing we knew, the train was just...empty."
"That exact thing happened to me!" Jack exclaimed. "I fell asleep or something, and the train was empty when I woke up."
Adam and I exchanged uneasy glances.
"Something...eerie is going on here," Adam established. "But...anyway. We tried getting you up because something was wrong, but...you..." He couldn't get the words out.
I sighed. "You weren't breathing, Jack."
Jack's face became saddened.
"There was...nothing we could do to save you," I expressed. "You didn't feel like you had a pulse. You were completely limp. We...We had to--"
"Carry on without me?"
"I'm sorry, it was the only thing we could do."
Jack shook his head. "It was the opposite for me. Neither of you guys had pulses, you were...gone, gone. I had to just...keep going by myself." His expression was filled with horrible guilt. "...It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do."
I tried to hold back tears as I placed a hand on his shoulder. "We're all here now. That's what's important."
Adam nodded. "What happened next for you?"
Jack took a breath. "...I don't like to remember it."
He went on to explain his situation on the train. He had seen what he could only describe as The Light, the force The General and his followers had tried to advertise to us. It took control of him and pulled him closer to it. He kept following it until he was off the train.
"Wait, just like that?" I asked, snapping my fingers for emphasis.
"Pretty much," He replied. "Between opening the door and winding up on the tracks, I don't remember anything."
"And then you just...found your way here?" Adam queried.
"Well...not exactly," Jack muttered. "After I got off the train, I kept walking along the tracks for a few minutes to just try and find some kind of civilization. A town, houses, a single building, something. But as I was walking something came up behind me, something...bright."
"What was it?" I asked.
"Another train."
"What?!"
"I was able to jump out of the way and dodge it, but...I still got hurt. Badly hurt. There was a hill that had some rocks on it, I didn't see it since it was dark. I was in and out of the hospital and physical therapy for three months." He pursed his lips. "I only just got my casts off a few days ago."
"Oh god, Jack..." I sank in my seat.
"Ryan," He replied. "Don't. I'm fine."
I wanted to comfort him so badly. I wanted to help him and make him feel better. But he insisted.
"You guys never finished your story," Jack stated.
Adam nodded. "We...We had to leave you--"
"Past that part."
He sighed. "Okay...after you-know-what...we tried to move forward, but...it felt like the train just...kept going. On and on, forever. And there weren't any ways to get off of it. We felt like we were trapped. We weren't sure if we were ever going to get out."
My body tensed up as he talked. I hated remembering any part of it.
"It was...really scary...I understand why you don't like talking about your experience," I added.
"How did you guys get out?" Jack asked.
Adam shrugged. "We just kept walking. For days, it felt like, until there was nowhere else to walk. And then, similar to you, we just...wound up in a little middle-of-nowhere town, no idea where or how."
"And we've been on our way home ever since," I half-smiled. "Any time a bus can take us anywhere in the right direction, we take it. Any time a taxi can bring us somewhere close, we take a taxi. Anytime we can walk any length, we walk it."
For three months. That's how it was for three months.
"Taxis..." Jack muttered with a chuckle. "I haven't seen taxis in a positive light for a long time."
Adam raised his eyebrows. "It took us a while."
My expression changed to confusion. "But...there's so much missing..."
"What do you mean?" Jack asked.
"...Why did we have such different stories? Why didn't we remember things the same way? And why only now are we finding each other? It just...doesn't line up..." I shook my head as Shay nudged my hand under the table.
Adam shook his head in agreement. "I wish I knew."
Out of the blue, someone's phone began to ring nearby. It was Jack's. He took it out of his pocket and held it in front of him hesitantly.
"...The last time this happened, we went through the worst experience of our lives," He stated.
"Yeah..." I agreed. "...Maybe don't answer it."
"It's my therapist though," He argued. "I should see what she has to say."
"Well...we know one thing," Adam specified. "If she invites you to any parties of any kind, hang up immediately."
Jack scoffed. "Fair enough," He accepted the call. "Hello?"
"Jack?! Thank God, I thought something bad had happened to you. How are you doing?"
"Hi, Dr. Atwood. I'm doing fine. There are actually some people here I want you to meet."
"Is that so? Who's that?"
Jack smirked and motioned for Adam and me to say something.
"Hi, ma'am. I'm Ryan, one of Jack's brothers," I introduced. "Adam's here, too."
Dr. Atwood seemed stunned. "Wait...Ryan? Adam? Jack, you aren't serious."
Jack giggled. "...I am."
"Holy mother! What happened?! Forgive me, but...I thought you guys were--"
"Dead?" Adam interjected. "Yeah, we thought Jack was too. But...I guess not."
"It's a long story that Jack can probably tell you later," I joked.
"Fair enough, fair enough," The doctor chuckled. "But Jack, I've been calling you for days now...I've got info, and a lot of it's on that General guy we talked about and his weird...cult thing. Adam, Ryan, you might find it interesting, too."
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. "You...You have information on The General?"
"More than just The General, his entire scheme," Dr. Atwood clarified. "Where do you wanna start?"
Jack gasped with a chuckle. "I...I guess just...who is he? Why is he the way he is? I wanna know that for starters."
There was some page-turning on the other side of the line as the doctor flipped through her notes.
"His name is General Lionel Sikes," She began. "He was a decorated war general in the Army, but it seems like he's got a different reputation now. When he got home, he went back to school and started working for his father. It's...sounding like they were part of some kind of government FDA group. They worked in pharmaceuticals and ran drug tests, things like that. It looks like it all went well until a few years ago...when one of his dad's higher-ups came up with an antipsychotic drug that just...went wrong. Very wrong. Jack, you'd know which drug I'm talking about, of course."
Jack nodded. "Canesadrol."
"That's right."
"...And I think I know who The General's father is..." Jack revealed, staring at the table.
Adam and I exchanged glances. "What?"
"I met a man when I left the apartment building who said...he used to endorse a 'dangerous product', but no one would listen to him when he tried to get rid of it and it cost him his career."
"That sounds like our guy," Dr. Atwood confirmed. "I'm not sure what he was doing at your apartment building, but...I guess you met Mr. Sikes."
I looked at Jack confusedly. "What...What did he tell you?"
Jack shrugged. "He gave me some good advice, not important right now. What were you saying, doctor?"
"Adam, Ryan, those vials of green fluid they gave you?" Dr. Atwood continued. "That was canesadrol, an experimental-stage antipsychotic. Only...as you guys can probably ascertain, it should've been taken out of testing a long time ago."
"Why do they want to keep testing it?" Adam asked. "They know it isn't safe."
"Ah," Dr. Atwood mused with a chuckle. "That's where our old friend General Sikes comes in. While his dad was against keeping it in the testing group, he saw potential in it. So did some of the other higher-ups. They worked together and The General and some of his Army friends got their hands on some of the vials."
"I'm assuming his dad found out?" Jack asked.
"Oh, yeah," She confirmed. "But they came to an agreement. His dad wanted nothing to do with it, so he had The General run the tests himself. Little did he know, The General had discovered something within canesadrol. He and his friends set up a secret project dubbed Project Luminance. They administered the drug to people who didn't know any better, and what did they see?"
"...The Light..." Jack connected.
"Bingo. But people thought Mr. Sikes was part of the Project, that he was part of something evil and crazy, and they didn't trust him. So...he got fired. Hence, I guess, what he told you, Jack."
We sat in amazement. None of us had any idea that this was the case. We didn't realize it went this deep.
"We were just pawns for Project Luminance..." I muttered. "They didn't want us because we were valuable to them, they wanted us because we were fuel for the fire."
Jack shook his head in frustration.
"There's...more," Dr. Atwood intervened. "They did more than just administer the drug. They...changed it. Experimented with it."
"Ex...Experimented?" Jack questioned. "What does that...mean?"
"There's a whole collection of documents from the experiments..." She informed, a hint of worry in her voice. "...They're all classified. I couldn't access them."
My blood ran cold. Classified documents? What would that even imply?
"So..." I stuttered "...what you're saying is..."
"The reason why you guys couldn't find each other? Why you got separated?" The doctor took a deep, confounded breath. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but there's a chance that...they could have done it intentionally."
I froze. We had so much information from the past few minutes to try and wrap our heads around. I massaged my temple with the tip of my index finger.
"Is...Is it okay if I talk to you more later...?" Jack asked Dr. Atwood.
"Of course, take all the time you need," She replied. "This was a lot for me to take in as well."
Jack hung up the call and leaned his head on his hand.
"What...What the fuck?"
"No idea, dude," I replied.
Adam simply sat staring into the distance.
"Classified documents?" Jack repeated.
"Yep..." I replied.
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "That's...That's not the kind of shit you hear about in day-to-day life, that's the kind of shit you hear about in like...spy movies."
"But now there's a bunch out there that - somehow - affect us," Adam scowled. He leaned back in his chair. "'Cause of The General of all people..."
"Do you think we're in any of them?" Jack asked nervously.
"That's your concern?"
"We...We have to find them!" I cried. "We can't let him keep getting away with what he's doing! We need to find out what it is they did to us."
"Do you know anything about hacking the government?" Adam cut off. "'Cause I sure don't."
I sighed.
"Ry, we just found each other," Jack added. "Do you really want to go risking our lives again so soon?"
I sat in silence, thinking to myself. They might've had a point, but it still didn't feel right to just sit in one spot doing nothing. I wanted...something. I wanted...
Revenge.
I watched and listened as the conversation gradually returned to more upbeat topics. In my head, I told myself one thing:
"One day, he's gonna know what he did wrong."