Chapter 31
The instant those words come out of her mouth, my body runs cold. My fingers become numb, my vision becomes blurry. I feel frozen in time. Frightened so much that I can't move. The only thing I can hear is my heart beating a mile a minute and Bri's long forceful breathing. My chest feels like it's collapsing, I can't seem to breathe.
"It's me darling, your sister Summer." I explain trying not to sound scared in any way. "Do you remember me?"
She wipes the crust off of her eye with the back of her hand. "No."
I'm almost brought to tears. Why doesn't my own sister remember me? What did those bastards do to her! I hope to God this goes away, I need her to remember me.
"Well okay, do you know who you are?"
She slowly looks down at her hands. She inspects them like she's never seen them before. Then she touches her face with a confused look in her eye.
"No."
How is this possible? She doesn't know who she is, and if that's true, it's going to take a long time for her to remember me. I don't know what to do. Do I freak out, or stay calm and try to jog her memory? I don't think freaking out would help, but that's all I'm doing on the inside. Maybe I should get Cameron, he might know what to do. But he might be sleeping, it's almost morning and it would be rude of me to go wake him up considering how much sleep we've gotten.
"Your name is Brianna, you're twelve years old. And I'm your sister. My name is Summer, I'm eighteen."
She nods quietly and runs her hand down her arm, her fingers catch one of the implants. She quickly looks down, moving the implant, and her skin surrounding it, back and fourth.
"What's this?" She asks, her voice is groggy and soft. It sounds like she lost it. I try not to tear up as I picture her screaming her head off while the scientist put the implants in her skin.
"Do you remember anything that happened to you?" I question.
She shakes her head.
Maybe that's a good thing?
"Okay, well lets get you into some clothes." I try to change the subject, I don't want her to see me like this. It might makes her feel like something bad happened. If I can spare her from the gruesome details, I'll do it.
I walk over to the closet and look through the clothing racks. Most of the clothes will be way too big on her, but I happen to find a couple of plain navy blue tank tops that are one-size-fits-all. All the pants that were in the closet won't fit her, but I did find a pair of cargo shorts in the dresser that she could wear with a belt.
I take off her hospital gown and help dress her. She seemed a little hesitant to let me help, but she said it was okay. I brush her hair and try to put it back into a French braid as neatly as possible. After deciding that her hair was good enough, I give her a pair of socks and help put them on.
Her body moves so slowly, like it's still waking up. She can barely stand, let alone walk. I have to practically hold her up.
I know I shouldn't let her go back to sleep. I have no clue how long she would be out, and I don't want to risk it. The sun is coming up anyway, I can see the sky starting to turn a hit of orange.
"There are other people here." I say as I wipe away the dirt on her chin.
"Who?"
"Well you're favorite person other than me is here. Do you remember who that is?"
She shakes her head, the few bangs that fell out of the braid move side to side across her face.
"Does the name Cameron ring any bells?"
She looks up at the ceiling and ponders the question. "I don't think so."
"Darn, well you love him." I smile.
"Ew, do I like kiss him and stuff?" She says with a disgusted tone.
I laugh, and for a second my mind doesn't think she's fully gone. She still has her humor. "Oh gosh no, you love him like a brother. He's older than me silly."
She laughs back, her smile innocent.
Wilbur jumps up onto the bed. It's scares Brianna a bit because it caught her off guard. She pets him lightly, almost like she's scared of him.
"Tell me you remember Wilbur, you have to!" I joke.
She blushes shyly and continues to stroke him.
"No?" I question.
"No."
"That's too bad. He's such a great cat."
She laughs.
I try and talk to her for a couple hours. I fill her in on the infected, and how they're dangerous. I tell her about the West boys, they're names, and what they look like. She's never really got to know them before she was taken, so that doesn't bother me as much.
I tell her about Mom and Dad. Honestly it makes me so happy that she doesn't remember our father getting shot, or seeing our mother getting attacked by that cat. It would of ruined her innocence.
Yeah she's seen infected, so that innocence was ruined there. But my father never let her out of the house. She doesn't know what it was like outside the protected walls of our home. She doesn't know how horrible the world can be. Well, I guess she still doesn't know since she's forgotten everything.
I wait until after the sunrise to go see if anyone's awake. After I change into my simple blank tank top and jeans outfit, I lead Brianna out of the room and down stairs. The light beams into the huge windows of the house. When it touches my skin, it leaves the surface warm.
I fix her something to eat, and she scarfs it down in minutes. She asks for more, and I'm not hesitate to give it to her.
We're supposed to leave today. I have no idea when, but I know it's coming. I get a gut wrenching feeling in my stomach when I think about seeing Robbie again. I really don't want to be anywhere near him. Or anywhere near Brianna.
As I'm finishing the rest of my five star can-o-beans breakfast, I see Cameron enter the kitchen. He's wearing his very dirty jeans that he's had since we got to the farm house, and the blood stained blue shirt he was wearing yesterday. He should take a shower before we leave, and maybe look through the house for more clothes.
He looks at me like he's still upset about last night. I give him a small side smile and motion to Brianna with my head.
"Look who's awake!" Cameron says with a pleasant smile, his mood changes in an instant. But I know it's just an act.
Brianna just shyly looks down into her lap, she has no idea who he is.
"Can I talk to you for a sec?" I ask Cameron as I walk my breakfast and fork to the counter.
He nods and follows me into the living room. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm okay." I try and brush what happened last night off, it isn't time for a pity party. "Brianna doesn't remember anything." I say bluntly, my tone serious.
"What do you mean?" His eyebrows scrunch in confusion.
"She doesn't remember anything. Not me, or you, or herself."
Cameron's eyes widen a little as he realizes the importance of the situation. "Nothing?"
"Nothing."
"Isn't that a good thing?" He asks.
"Yes and no. I want to know what they did to her."
"That's not really important..." Cameron starts.
"What do you mean it's not important? She doesn't know who she is! They did that to her! We need to find a way to fix it." I say but it turns to a whisper so Brianna can't hear me.
"It might just come back on its own."
"It could, but there's a chance it couldn't." I worry.
"If it doesn't, then we're just going to have to deal with it. At least she won't remember being taken, and seeing James..." He trails off.
"Yeah I guess. I just really want to know what happened to her."
I hear someone walking down the stairs. My body tenses, I hope it's not Robbie.
To my surprise, Scooter walks into the room. He's found some black ripped jeans, and a red long sleeve shirt. He has the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. On top of his blond hair is a black beanie. He looks complete different than his usual self.
He sees us, waves quickly and walks up to us. "Good morning." His voice is dull and tired.
"Since when did you dress like a hipster?" Cameron mocks.
"It was the only thing in my room, so I decided to rock it." He jokes.
"I would never expect you to wear clothes like that. You lived on a farm, where's your cowboy boots and huge belt buckles?" I nudge Scooter's shoulder.
"That's how my parents dressed, well and Robbie. But me and Layke lived with our Mom and went to the same high school as you guys so we dressed different."
"You lived with your mother?" Cameron asks.
"Yeah, while I was in high school. Once I turned eighteen, I moved back here to be with my girlfriend at the time. I knew her for years, but when my parents got divorced my Mom took Layke and I. My father took Phoebe and Robbie, the judge wanted us to split up, save one of my parents from a massive child support payment. When I came back here, Layke came with me, he hated it there. But then my father made him go back because he was misbehaving." He explains.
"Oh okay. Daniel didn't tell me all of that." Cameron huffs.
"Yeah, anyway..." Scooter starts, "Do you guys want to scavenge before Robbie gets up? Maybe we can find some stuff before he sees we're gone and throws a fit."
"Sounds good to me." I agree. I'll do anything to get out of this house, especially if I know I'll be seeing Robbie.
"Who will watch Brianna?" Cameron adds. "I don't trust Layke, not that he will hurt her or anything, but I know he will not pay attention to her and who knows, Robbie might get to her."
"Stop acting like he's insane." Scooter huffs.
"I didn't mean to offend you Scooter, it's just we need to be cautious, with what happened last night."
Here we go. "Can we not talk about it?" I roll my eyes. I really don't want to replay what happened in my head again, I've done that enough.
Cameron shows some pity, "Yeah, sorry. I'll stay with Brianna. Layke wanted to scavenge anyway. Let him come."
Why is he whiling to let Layke be with me without him? I didn't know he trusted him that much. Maybe he wants to make sure Brianna is safe. I think he knows that means more to me than following me around, and trying to keep me from hurting myself again. Plus Scooter and Layke can take care of me, most definitely.
Scooter sighs. "Okay, I'll go get him." And with that, the hipster wanna-be jogs out of the room and up the stairs.
I follow Cameron into the dinning room and we sit down next to Brianna. I explain to her what's going to happen, and that Cameron's here to keep her busy and out of trouble. She doesn't ask any questions, probably because she still has no idea what's going on. I can't believe she doesn't remember anything. That must be so hard, I couldn't imagine it.
Scooter and Layke meet us in the dinning room. Layke's wearing his typical t-shirt and jeans. But this time his shirt is a forest green, with small black pine trees scattered throughout it. It's something he would never wear, it's a little too 'fuck-boyish' for him. I know his attitude is spot on with that stereotype, but that's not how he dresses. Thank God.
He has the backpack on him, and he's carrying one of the guns we got from the compound. I totally forgot about those. I think I left mine in the car.
Stupid. That's something that could kill you. Think Summer, think.
After I get my famous duffle bag, my pistol, an extra gun, and tell Brianna to be on her best behavior for Cameron, we start to walk towards the garage door.
We must look crazy. Two modernly dressed teenagers, and one hipster twenty-something, carrying huge guns and a ton of bags. We look like we're about to rob a bank.
Before we get to the door, Cameron stops us.
"Be safe." He says to everyone, but I know it's meant for me.
"We will." I smile, "Keep Bri busy, okay?" My tone is serious, and I widen my eyes to hint that I'm talking about keeping her away from Robbie.
He nods at me, his expression showing me he understood.
And just like that, were in the confining, dull, gray, garage. There's a single door to my left, I hope we use that instead of the garage door. It would make too much noise.
I'm right.
We unlock the door and Scooter makes sure the coast is clear. Then we march out into the overgrown grass, and into a place we're anything could go wrong.