Slowly and painfully I came to my senses. The blur disappeared, the sound started to reach my ears and I became aware of my surrounding.
And what a shit surrounding I ended up in.
I stood in the middle of a glass cage, looking directly at my reflection. I was standing with my feet wide, steadily and strong. My jeans were dirty and smelly, held up by a belt with empty gun cases. The faded places on my upper legs revealed the fact that there should be more holsters around my legs, but they were gone. The t-shirt I wore was less smelly than my jeans but still stank. The black colour was faded into different shades of grey, accompanied by even more dust and dirt. It looked like I was dragged in here. My howl body was itching and burning, telling me that I probably went through a rough fight before I ended up in here.
The only thing that was unfamiliar about my own looks was the feeling of tickling hair in my neck. My hand went up automatically and when I touched my hair, it was only as long as my shoulders. The edges were uneven like it was cut off.
What the hell happened to me?
Behind my reflection, a woman was staring straight back at me. Her face seemed to be made out of marble; white, beautiful and without a trace of emotion. It was clear she was an equal opponent.
By the sight of the woman, all my vessels stretched out. Blood was flowing like a tsunami through my body, activating every single muscle it could reach. The heat made me nervous, even as did the eyes of the woman, the fact that I was locked in a glass case and the fact that there were three other men, guns pointed at my head.
All the people were standing outside the cage, two on both of my sides and one behind the woman, his gun pointed over her shoulder. It was clear he was there to back her up, but as far as I could see the odds there was no way I could get out of here.
'Tell me, is this how you treat everybody down here?' I smirked, showing no fear. My hands were placed on my sides. I somehow didn't feel any fear at all. Maybe I was used to feeling fear, or maybe it just couldn't reach my mind.
'How do you know?' She asked, plain and straightforward. Be her voice was slightly... Hopeful?
[i]Weird[/i], I thought.
'It's obvious you want to talk to me. It's thinkable that this cage is designed to contain more than just... A human, which indicates there are more cages to hold those who can't be in this baby-' I knocked the glass that separated the two of us. She didn't give a hint. 'And where is the best place to contain something like a non-human? Someplace where humans can't reach. And since humans are not that good in breathing in space, underground sounds like the better option of the two.' My stance hadn't changed, but my voice did. Talking activated my mind, and though I couldn't remember ending up in here - or anything else for that matter - my mind told me little thinks about my surrounding.
Somehow, someway, it felt familiar. The feeling only seemed to grow the moment I looked the woman straight in the eye. Her hazel eyes, her bob line, the little scratch marks on her neck.
'Tell me,' I continued, my voice louder and more demanding, '[i]why[/i] am I in your fish tank?'
My mind went overload. All man were in full armor - [i]expensive armor[/i] - holding guns that were probably worth more money than this howl setting. A logo was printed on their vestments: DEO. Somehow I knew there were non-humans here, what did that mean? Why do I know that fact without knowing anything else? Why doesn't anyone blink of mentioning alien life on earth? Is it common sense that humans lived among... Aliens? Since when?
'She doesn't remember.' The woman whispered to the guy behind her. Her face changed and showed that hint of emotion I heard in her voice earlier; she sounded hopeless.
And I snapped. I didn't realize I was so tensed, like a bow ready to shoot its arrow. And the arrow was directly pointed at the figure in front of me. My fist flew through the air and landed on the glass with such a force the glass rumbled. The action did nót shatter the glass - it didn't even scratch it - but it did shatter one or more of my knuckles.
As quickly as I punched the glass I moved my hand back. The skin had split, but for now, it did not bleed. But it did hurt... A lot. 'Fack.' I hissed, trying to release the tension from my hand, what was impossible due to the strong waves of pain stretching from my neck to my fingertips.
'She definitely doesn't...' The man behind her murmured. His voice was a deep warm rumble, sounding surprised... And just as familiar to me as the voice of the bob lined woman. What did he mean? How was I supposed to remember them? And why were they both so overwhelmed by the fact that I couldn't remember a thing? Was I [i]supposed[/i] to know them?
I tried to say something, I really tried, but the pain was just too much. I sat down on the only thing inside this cage; a bench. Great. I closed my eyes, concentrating to get rid of the pain. The blood began flowing out of the open little wounds, dripping on the white floor underneath my feet. For a moment, the dripping blood was the only sound in the room, and it sounded both lost and extremely lonely at the same time.
I breathed in and out a few time, trying to convince myself that my body didn't hurt [i]that[/i] much. 'What is going on here?' I asked, my voice cracking. I was confused. A million questions were uncontrollably crashing into my consciousness, demanding an answer, all at the same time. I suddenly felt left behind, lost and extremely helpless. If my fists couldn't break the glass nothing could, and that was the only weapon I had on me, except for my mind; the same mind that was troubled.
The woman gasped, and I swear her eyes teared up. Or maybe it was my eyes that were teared up.
'Let's come back later.' The man behind her said, reaching for the woman's shoulder to lead her to the door behind them. 'At ease.'
The other two men lowered their guns and walked out of the room, locking the door behind them.
'No, wait.' But I heard the lock being activated, and all the noises disappeared. 'Please.' The tears were running over my face, finding their way to the blood drops on the floor. I slipped from the bench and landed on the floor. I lifted my knees up to my chest, folded my unharmed arm over my legs. My right hand was lying on the floor, completely useless and extremely painful. And though I felt so much pain, confusion, and loneliness, I never felt emptier.
Or at least, I probably never felt emptier, because I could not remember a thing. Not even my own name...
But I was sure I knew her and the figure behind her. I was sure aliens existed. I was sure I was underground held by the DEO. And I was sure I was going to find a way out of here, one way or another.
