The Forgotten Man
Rated M - sexual themes and explicit content / violence / course language /
This place was a frozen wasteland. The Chinese could have it for all he cared. Strategic advantage? Fine, let the suits in Washington come up here and freeze their asses off to protect it.
First Sergeant Theo Gray had polished off an entire twenty-one year old bottle of Glenfiddich scotch when he found out he'd be posted to a small outpost located up the mountains of the Anchorage Front Line in the Fall of 2065.
Of course he was the perfect candidate to be sent to this isolated posting. He was single, no dependents and no parents or siblings – that he was in contact with at least. His parents had retired last year, moved to Florida and that was the last he'd ever spoken to them. He had a younger brother but Jim had met some woman in college and moved to France nearly five years ago. They'd never been close anyways.
The only person who may have missed him was his girlfriend, Sophie but after two weeks of Gray's absence she started sleeping with some high-ranking officer. She didn't even have the nerve to tell him herself, no instead he had heard from it from one of his old platoon mates back in Fort Bliss.
None of it really affected Gray. He'd always suspected the bitch was only after his pension.
Gray tried to tell himself that Alaska wouldn't be so bad but when he arrived on the cold November morning the sun hadn't come up and he was told it wouldn't come up until spring. Still, Gray tried to make the best of the situation by occupying all his spare time with the gym and reading books from the base's library, which offered a poor selection of literature at best.
After three months, Gray began to think if suicide was a better option than waiting for an enemy he was told would never come. At least Hell was warm this time of year.
On this particular day in February the wind gusted off the pacific and blew inland bringing with it a brutal chill and heavy snowfall. Visibility was maybe three feet at best if one could see through the ice that had built up on the viewing glass of the outpost.
The massive concrete bunker had become more of a prison than home over these last few months. It had been built high up in the surrounding mountains with a view of the valley's below. Its only purpose was to keep and eye out and give enough warning to those further inland that an invasion was happening.
Despite tensions being high between the US and China, no one expected that the Chinese would brave this climate and cross into US territory. That was suicide.
Everything was grey, black and white. The walls, the furniture, the snow and rocks outside. This place sucked all the life, colour and fun out of everything. There were well over two hundred men and woman here and every month, fifty were allowed to fly to the main base at Anchorage for a resupply and to check emails and make calls home. At the end of this month it would be his turn.
Gray didn't know whom he'd call. Maybe he'd try to reconnect with his parents or send a belated Christmas card to his brother if his email was still even the same. Maybe he would just say fuck it and give his spot to some poor sucker who got sent here and could use the time to videoconference with his wife and children at home.
Gray sat in the Armoury reading the latest action thriller from one of his favourite authors who often wrote of war heroes or secret agents protecting their country and loved ones. The scenes were always overly embellished and so action packed and unrealistic – but it was entertainment.
Gray looked up to see one of the supply techs handing out hot coffee to the men of his section. She was a bit more heavy set with curly brown hair nearly always tied back tightly but being one of the few females in this camp meant she could be picky about the men she lay with at night here, and she was.
Gray had slept with women much more attractive than her but that didn't mean he didn't miss the embrace of a woman. He was willing to lower his standards if it meant getting laid but she'd taken an eye for one of the other men in his section – the all American pretty boy from Iowa.
With heavy stubble that grew in only after a few short hours of shaving, a rugged build and a scowl that seemed permanently etched on his face, Gray was told he was a very attractive man of thirty but he came across as scary and intimidating. He fit that broad, dark and handsome pallet with deep brown eyes; a heavy brow and thick military cut short hair. With all the time spent in the gym he'd sculpted himself well – of course being cut off from all the beer helped to shrink down his waist a little too. His biggest imperfection had to be his nose though, which had been broken many times in hockey fights as a youth and now sat a little off center to the left.
Specialist Ericson, the supply tech finally reached him and handed him a coffee, which had cooled off by now, but she gave him a wink and touched his hand as she passed him the cup.
Maybe he'd get a chance to fuck her tonight after all, he thought.
Suddenly the alarm system kicked in and the Armoury echoed with the high-pitched wails of the buzzer, which only rang if an attack was imminent.
Another fucking drill, Gray thought. They had just had one last week. Why the need to do these so often was always a mystery.
A voice came on over the PA system.
"Chinese infantry division spotted coming into the valley! This is not a drill!"
The fuck?! Gray thought. If this was a scare tactic to motivate the troops into taking this shit seriously, it was a pretty fucked up trick.
Gray picked up his issued semi automatic assault rifle, dressed in his full winter whites and hurried to his ordered defensive position just outside the bunker.
The moment the cold hit him he felt as though some one had poured ice water into his lungs. The wind tore through him and scratched at any piece of exposed flesh. The snow was coming down like an ocean wave on a shoreline in massive rolling drifts making visibility impossible.
With his massive gloves he could barely fit his finger through the trigger guard of the rifle.
In a few short seconds his fire team partner took up a spot beside him.
"Can you believe this shit?" Chuck said.
Charlie Wills had been a volunteer from Texas. He was young, maybe twenty but he worked hard, had a good sense of humour and was well liked by all. Gray didn't mind sharing the defensive hide with him at all.
"It's probably some ones idea of cruel motivation," Gray muttered.
"No man! I was up in the HQ when the report came in. This shit is real! An entire infantry division is headed this way!" Chuck affirmed.
Gray's heart began to race. He'd never seen true combat before – none of them had. The only time he'd even shot his weapon was on the range and he was just mediocre.
"What do they expect us to do against an entire division?!" Gray asked.
"Hold out until reinforcements get here," Chuck said.
"Nothing can get out here in this weather," Gray pointed out as he looked out of the tiny slit of the concrete hide.
"Let's hope the enemy can't either," Chuck said half jokingly.
Everything was eerily silent accept the howling wind. The snow danced across the rocks that surrounded the bunker but nothing seemed to be moving out there until a single black figure appeared to be coming through the white. Gray blinked a couple times thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him but than there were two, than three.
Out of the white came the figures, tens of them marching through the snow, rifles at the ready, coming right for the bunker.
No one did anything at first. It seemed everyone was in shock that the Chinese were actually on their doorstep this day. It was only when the enemy was just a few feet away did some one open fire and suddenly their quiet outpost had become the front line of a war zone.
Mortars struck all around the hides scattering rock, snow and other debris into the sky. Grenades detonated, spraying their shrapnel in small plumes that dropped all enemies nearby. The bullets from rifle fire cracked out in all directions. They pinged off the concrete walls of the small hide making everything feel too close for Gray's comfort.
"I think were winning!" Chuck cheered out.
How the hell could he tell? It was impossible to see anything out there. The only thing that was certain was that the Chinese just kept coming. Where one would fall, another would be there coming up behind.
Despite the enemy being so close, they didn't seem to be able to get any closer. Maybe Chuck had been right after all, but as Gray reached down to load a new magazine he realized he had just loaded his last full one.
"Shit! We're out of ammo!" Gray yelled out.
"Fuck!" was Chuck's only reply.
"I'll go get more! Hang on!" Gray called and he tore back out of the hide to make his way to the ammo cache. Bullets whizzed by his ear and he crouched low as he ran. His winter whites provided descent camouflage in the blowing snow and he made it to the ammo cache without being picked off.
The Quarter Master was frantically trying to distribute ammo to anyone who came in and he handed Gray two full mags.
"I need more than that!" Gray ordered.
"It's all we have!" the QM said.
Gray turned and ran back to the hide and called out to Chuck,
"We only have two more mags! Fuck this … we need to go back to the bunker!"
Chuck didn't reply as Gray took his place beside his partner. Chuck was awkwardly slumped forward over the small opening of the hide and only when Gray looked over his shoulder at him did he see there was blood oozing from a large hole in Chuck's empty eye socket.
"SHIT!" Gray called out.
What had been the bitter sting of cold running through his veins suddenly turned to a boil at the sight of the now dead Chuck. The comic relief from Texas, who had only been twenty something, had been Gray's first taste of death and it seemed to set him off. Grabbing what ammo he could and stuffing it into the holsters of his tactical vest, Gray rushed out of the hide and took up a more exposed position behind a few large rocks.
Now he had a better vantage of the coming assault. The Chinese were advancing like a coming swarm up the mountain from the valley below. There was no way the Americans could defend his location.
So, this was how I'm gonna die, Gray thought as he loaded another mag and began to spray bullets into the advancing Chinese wave.
The rocks provided descent cover from incoming bullets but it didn't take long for the enemy to change tactics.
It was too late to run, to late to shoot back when Gray saw the two Chinese soldiers drop a mortar into its tube and sent it flying through the sky - a perfectly lobbed shot that hit the earth just a few feet behind Gray.
The pain was so intense that Gray thought he was going to be sick. All around him was blood and worse – bits of himself. He saw a leg lying nearly intact a few feet away from him; his other leg had been completely shredded from the knee down. His left arm was a mess of shrapnel and he was certain he'd lost the fingers on his right.
There was nothing to do but lie there and wait for the death that would eventually come. The pain that had once enveloped him and simply vanished and was replaced with numbing cold. It was hard for Gray to let his mind go blank. Everything rushed in like an unwelcome barrage of emotion. He'd led a lousy life and now he'd die a lousy death. He wondered if anyone would miss him, if anyone would even care, if his body would ever be recovered when the snow finally stopped falling.
These ruins were filled with treasures for anyone willing to brave the traps, and hazards.
She'd discovered this old military base a few months ago when the winds pulled enough of the sand away to expose and entrance. From there it was simply a matter of navigating through the long corridors and moving aside any collapsed rubble that blocked her path.
Her small headlamp began to flicker as the battery drew near the end of its life. She took it off her head and cranked the small lever for a minute and the light shone bright once again for her.
She sifted through the filing cabinets, rummaged through the desks and rolled over a few skeletons to check pockets for anything of value but today she was coming up empty. It seemed she'd already collected everything of importance from these few rooms; it was time to venture deeper.
As she descended down a flight of stairs she pulled out her Geiger counter and listened for the dreaded ticks that told her, this place was a no go but the instrument was silent – just as she liked it.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs there was only one room that she could access, a small office to her right. She took a step and felt the floor give slightly but it held. She took another step and this time it groaned with her weight. It seemed it would hold her. She took one more step and suddenly the floor came away and she fell with a harsh /THUD/ onto the ground below.
Thankfully the fall had been a short one but as she looked around she realized she'd fallen into a slightly larger room than the one above. There was a large oval table in the center and large tattered cloth chairs thrown about.
She checked herself over. Nothing appeared to be broken though she knew she'd wear a few bruises from this one. She scratched the raw skin where her collar dug in and refocused her headlamp.
Splayed around the room, several skeletons lay crumpled leaving behind nothing but bone for her to see. She began to check their pockets. Most of them just had loose pre way money and change. Some had pictures of children and spouses long dead. One lay face down and she noticed a small hole in the back of its head. As she looked at another skeleton it too bore the same wound. That was pretty strange. She dismissed her curiosity regarding the cause of death of the people in this room. Thinking about it made them human – and they weren't. Just bones.
As she moved along the wall allowing her light to shine on the next body she screamed and jumped back when she came across a man's body.
It was impossible to detect the gender of a skeleton, she was no doctor but this man was fully intact, skin and all.
How the hell did you get down here? She thought.
The man wore old, ratty, pre war army fatigues like the rest of the skeletons in this room but he looked like he'd been dead for an hour at the most.
He lay very still, not breathing, not moving, obviously dead.
She approached him cautiously and examined him carefully. His skin was cool to the touch but still flexible and soft. She crouched over top and began scrutinizing his appearance. What stood out most was his bare neck – no collar there. She began to look through his uniform for anything she could identify him with but came up empty. That's when she saw the tags around his neck. She pulled them out from under his multi cam shirt and raised them to her eye.
GRAY, THEO
189 09 988
O NEG
NRE
None of it made much sense to her but if anything stood out it must have been Gray Theo, perhaps his name.
She looked down and suddenly she noticed he was looking up at her. That was impossible, she was certain his eyes had been closed before.
It took half a second for her to register this fact but before she could react, his arm reached up and grasped her hand by the wrist.
She screamed and struck with her free hand. Her fist connected with his face and he released her.
She cursed herself for being so stupid. Clearly this man had gotten in here somehow and probably just like her was seeking junk to trade and had gotten stuck.
"Who the hell are you?!" he called out to her as his arms moved beneath him to try and lift himself up but he was very weak.
That's when she saw her chance to strike. Junk was one thing but a new slave was worth a hell of a lot more. She reached into her satchel and pulled out a matte silver collar. She'd have to be quick.
She was on him in a second and felt the latch of the collar snap shut, locking him in forever.
"GET OFF ME!" he roared and tried to push her off, but she jumped back before he could.
Suddenly her hands reached him and felt the cold steel around his neck.
"What the fuck is this?!" he snapped as she felt for the latch to try and get it off.
"Don't play with it or it will explode," she said with a cruel smile.
"It will what?!" he asked as his hands flew away from the device. "Get this thing off me!"
"I can't. You belong to him now," she said simply as she crouched down and looked at him carefully. This Raider sure seemed strange … for one he was weak but perhaps he'd been down here longer than she first thought. He had to be hungry and quite dehydrated.
"Where the hell am I? Who are you?!" he began to demand.
She smiled warmly and stood up.
"I'm called Lys. You're in some pre war military base. Did you hit your head or something?" she said.
"Pre war?" he mumbled. None of it seemed to make much sense judging by his oblivious expression.
"Come on, get up. Time to take you home," Lys said.
"Home? I'm not going anywhere with you. Now get this fucking thing off me then get the hell away from me!" he ordered.
"I can't do that," she began. "Once it's on, only the big man can take it off. You can't really go anywhere either … if you go out of signal range it will blow up … than no more head."
Lys watched him as he struggled to get to his feet.
"What happened here?" he asked as his eyes surveyed the room.
"How the hell am I supposed to know? How did you get in here anyways?" she asked.
"I … I don't know," he mumbled.
"Well I guess you're lucky I dropped in otherwise you'd have probably died. Slave life seems like a better end than death," she explained.
"Slave life? What are you talking about?" he asked as he took a step on shaky legs.
"That collar. It makes you his property," she said.
"Who's property?"
"Father Grim," she said cheerfully.
"Who's that?"
"He's the master. He owns all of this and everyone in it. We're all his slaves … but it's not too bad. You'll get use to it," she said in her usual spritely tone.
"You're not making any sense," he said and Lys detected his callousness.
"Come on. Let's get out of here. We don't have much daylight left and Raleigh is a full days walk still," she told him.
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" he snapped.
"You don't look strong enough to make it out without me and if you don't make it to Raleigh within twenty-four hours of that collars activation, it will explode. I think we've covered what will happen after that."
His expression turned sour.
"Look, I don't know what kind of game you're playing at but it ends now. Take this stupid thing off me and show me the exit," he snarled.
"I told you, I can't take it off," she replied.
"Fine, I'll take it off …" and with that he reached up but before he could she flung herself towards his and grabbed both his arms. The momentum enough should have at least caused him to waver but when she grabbed his wrists it was as if she were holding a stone statue.
Before she could react he waved his arms like he were swatting at a pesky fly and she went sliding across the room until she collided with an overturned chair.
The pain in her back from the impact caused her to groan as she collected her thoughts and stared at him. How did he possess so much strength for one who'd moments ago been barely able to stand?
He seemed to realize he'd perhaps been too savage with her and his expression softened.
"Shit … sorry," he muttered … an apology that seemed convincing enough.
"I'm not kidding, that thing will blow off your head," Lys tried to warn him again. "This isn't a game."
"Right … whatever you say. I'm leaving now," he mumbled as he took his place beneath the hole Lys and dropped in from. That's when she saw it – the massive hole in the back of his head … but … but how was it possible? How was he still alive? It was a very clean wound, about the size of a quarter but it bore deep. What was stranger still was the lack of any blood or tissue; it was just a simple hole.
"What the … what happened to you?" Lys asked pointing right at the hole in the back of his head.
He turned and eyed her oddly before he reached and felt what she had seen.
"How did that happen?" he muttered out loud.
"Is it a puncture? Were you shot? Does it hurt?" Lys began to interrogate.
"I don't know how it happened. I don't remember," he said simply and she could tell he was struggling to piece it together. "But no … it doesn't hurt.
"Let's me see," she said as she came towards him.
"No I'm fine … there isn't much there to do damage to anyways," he admitted.
"What? What are you taking about? Just let me see," she tried further.
"I said I'm fine! My brain was shrunk down when it was reconfigured. The hole's not even deep enough to reach it," he said and that's when Lys froze.
She was completely perplexed. What did he mean by all that? What was the deal with his brain?
"I'm sorry … what? You brain isn't there?" Lys tried to understand.
"It's a long story but yeah … basically my brain is tucked up more in the front of my head … what's left of it at least after my surgeries," he explained.
"You're not making any sense. You need a doctor. You have a traumatic brain injury I'm certain of it," she said flat out.
"No, I'm making sense. You're just not grasping what I'm telling you," he began. "I was injured badly in the war. The Department of Research and Design fixed me up … but there had to be some changes. You understand now?"
Lys was in silent disbelief. He was part machine … just like … just like those stories she'd heard around the cooking fires about people out in the wastes. They'd only been stories, she'd never believed any of them but here was walking, breathing, living proof that cyber people existed. This was incredible!
"Now, I'll be leaving," he said as he gazed up at the hole in the ceiling once again. A few pieces of broken steel stretched across it.
Lys stood with her mouth gapping for a few seconds before she was able to pull herself back to reality. This man. This cyber person was worth a fortune. If she got him back to Raleigh she was certain to get a massive reward and maybe her days of searching the wastes for trash would be over.
"If you lift me up I can get up there and pull you out," Lys offered.
"I don't need your help," he mumbled and he jumped straight up, grabbed hold of the metal and pulled himself up with minimal effort.
Lys watched in amazement. The steel rods had maybe been ten feet above their heads. It wasn't an impossible height to jump but the fact that he made the jump and climb look so easy was impressive. She wondered just what abilities this cyber man possessed.
"Can you help me up?" she asked standing below him.
"Will you take this off?" he said, gesturing to the collar.
"You really like hearing the words I can't, don't you? Look if you help me up I'll show you the way out of here," she offered.
He seemed to ponder this for a moment, than he lay down and reached for her arm.
Lys jumped up and took hold of his hand. With alarming strength he pulled her up from the hole.
"Now where's the exit?" he asked.
"This way," she said and led him through the derelict base. "How long were you trapped down there?" she pressed.
"I don't know," he answered.
His vagueness was annoying.
"Why are you dressed like an old prewar soldier?" she asked.
"I'm not sure what you mean by a pre war soldier," he replied.
"You know … a soldier … from before the time when the bombs fells…" she said trying to hide her desire to mock his idiocy.
"What bombs?"
Lys stopped suddenly, turned and faced him. Her eyes scrutinized everything about him - his shoddy uniform, his military haircut, his stature and oblivious stare. Was there a chance he was from back then? He was part machine after all; maybe that's what kept him alive in that room while everyone else turned to bones.
She decided to keep this information to herself for now. They reached the large metal doors of the entrance and slowly she pushed them open.
The sun burned his eyes and he raised a hand to shield them from the blinding glare. Nothing came into focus right away. The air tasted hot – too hot and he could feel the sand, like the freezing air in Alaska scratch the inside of his lungs.
It smelt like raw sewage left in the sun to bake. It was nauseating and he felt his stomach turn in its putridness. The heat was just as unbearable. It baked his exposed skin so quickly he felt as though he should crawl back inside and wait for nightfall.
"You all right?" Lys asked.
He turned quickly to look at her, squinting in the brightness, unable to make out the details of her form.
"Where the hell am I?"
"This is the Dust Bowl …" she said as if she was pointing out something obvious.
No … none of this was right. He'd been in North Carolina … and before that … fuck thinking about it all made his head pound with such intensity he could have been sick, he was certain of it. Maybe he'd been in some training incident in the training area of Fort Bragg. This would all become clear, he knew it.
"Look, can you just bring me to the base medical clinic. I should probably get checked out. You may have been right about that head injury," he asked.
"I don't know where that is. Look, I need to get you to Raleigh otherwise that collar will explode," she told him.
Gray knew there was a small hospital in Raleigh. If she insisted on bringing him there he could seek medical attention than contact a friend of his to pick him up. Surely the people at the hospital would be able to remove this thing around his neck … or call EOD to deal with it.
"Fine ... whatever … let's go," he mumbled.
Lys began to walk in some aimless direction.
"How far are we?" Gray asked.
"Far enough. We should reach Raleigh by morning but there's a storm coming so we should try and move quickly in case we need to stop to let it pass."
"Morning?! What time is it?" Gray demanded to know.
"I think about late afternoon. Maybe four or so," she said honestly.
Gray stopped, annoyed and frustrated.
"Look, can't you just call some one to come and get us out here?" he asked.
"Who the hell will hear me? We're probably the only ones out here from Raleigh and anyone else who may be scavenging aren't the kind of people we want to be inviting to join us," she said coldly.
"I didn't mean yell, you idiot. I meant call some on of a radio … or a phone."
She tilted her head to the side like he'd spoken in tongues.
"I don't have anything like that. Tech is hard to come by and I'm not given anything that fancy to use," she said simply.
He could have strangled this girl. Why did everything have to be so difficult with her?
"Just walk," he ordered and the two set off again.
After a couple minutes his eyes began to make out the details of the surrounding. The place looked like a massive desert. There was absolutely no vegetation anywhere. All he could see was vast rolling dunes like orange fire that tossed their sand into the wind. He wasn't aware such a vast training area had been created like this. He'd flown all over this base but clearly not here.
"What part of the training area is this?" he asked.
"Training area?" she questioned.
"Yeah … is it an old artillery range or something?"
"I don't know what they used it for," she admitted.
"You're not military than?" he asked.
"Nope, just a slave like the rest of them," she told him.
She was speaking nonsense but that's when Gray clued in on something. He'd seen human trafficking in places all over the world but never in his own backyard. If he was somehow now involved in some underground illegal affair, surely his unit or at least the Military Police would be aware of it soon once he got more details.
"So what are you doing out here?" he pestered.
"I come out here looking for anything of value, than I bring it back and the merchants sell it for Father Grim," she told him.
"And he's your master?"
"He's everyone's master."
"Right …" he mumbled.
"It's not that bad. Just play by the rules and don't piss of the Vigils," she said.
"The what?"
"The Vigils. They are Father Grim's personal guards, and enforcers. They make sure everyone is doing what they're suppose to … and if you're not … they beat or kill you," she said in a rather joyful tone that the context almost slipped from thought.
"Why the hell would you want to bring me there?!" he snapped angrily.
"Because … bringing in another slave will mean huge rewards for me. Usually I bring in useless scrap but another body … that's worth a lot more. No offence … it's just business," she said, keeping that same annoying, happy tone.
"Fuck you, I'm not going anywhere," he said and he stopped following. "I'm going back to the base and I'm getting the engineers to take this thing off me."
"If you mess with that collar it will blow up," she told him sternly. She too had stopped and was standing before him with her arms crossed over her chest.
"We have some of the best techs in the world. They'll find a way," he informed.
"I don't think you'll find your people," she told him.
"Just point me to the base, all right?" he demanded.
Lys laughed and said,
"We were just there. That's where I found you."
"No, I mean Fort Bragg, the garrison there," he corrected.
"Yeah … that was Fort Bragg, at least that's what the big sign said."
Gray took a deep breath and said is next words clear and slow.
"Point me to where the base where all the soldiers are."
"Look, I may be able to help you understand all this but we need to get to Raleigh. Some one there may know something about cyber people and how to help you," she told him.
Gray didn't like being called a cyber person … or a cyborg … or a robot. It was true he was mostly machine but everything about him was as human as the day his mother brought him into this world.
"Father Grim doesn't teach you any manners, does he?" Gray snarled.
"I've only heard stories from the Vigils and other slaves. Do you really shoot lasers from your eyes and can you crush my head with your fist?" she asked rather enthusiastically.
"What?! No!" Gray snapped, insulted she would be so obtuse.
"Can we keep going? We may be able to get around the storm if we move quick enough," Lys asked now seeming disappointed.
"No. I'm not going to this place to be sold into slavery by some delusional girl!" he said now getting close to his limit on politeness.
Lys sighed and said,
"All right. I didn't want to be the one to tell you this but I think you need to hear it."
She paused and looked him in the eye. For a moment Gray felt uncomfortable by her sincere expression, her forced smirk pulled into one corner and her brow furrowed and raised in sympathy. Then she went on.
"I think you were asleep for a very long time and I think that hole in your head has something to do with it. You speak like you're from a different time entirely. You're dressed weird. You don't know anything about what's going on and yet it's been like this for as long as I can remember," she told him.
"You're nuts. I mean … you're fucking crazy," he said angrily. This was getting him nowhere.
"What year is it?" she asked.
"What?"
"What year is it?" she said again.
Gray paused for a moment and thought hard. It wasn't easy to pull a number for some strange reason but he did manage to get '2070' out of his mouth.
Lys' mouth fell open.
"That's it!" she called out cheerfully. "You were down there for over two hundred years!"
Gray rolled his eyes. This girl was crazy there was no question about it.
"Right … two hundred years," he muttered and he began to survey the horizon for any signs of intelligent life.
"I know you think I'm nuts but I'm not! You've been asleep for over two hundred years! It's not 2070 it's 2290! You're body must have been preserved because you're the cyber person!" Lys informed.
"Look, just stay away from me all right?" Gray said in annoyance.
"This is incredible! You're in such good condition and …" she said before her excitement turned to horror at the appearance of a spot on the horizon.
"What is that?" Gray asked. "HEY! Over here!" he called out with waving arms before he got a reply.
"GET DOWN!" Lys shouted and dove on top of him. "I told you there were things out here we didn't want to get attention from and you just invited them to join us!"
"Get off me!" he snapped and kicked her off before clambering to his feet shouting and waving at the manifesting figures on the far off dunes.
Something struck the ground by his feet, kicking up sand in his face.
"What the fuck?" he mumbled.
"They're shooting at us! It must be Raiders! Come on!" Lys called
Raiders? What was she going on about now? They were probably on some hick famers land or perhaps some secret proving ground and this was just the local enforcement.
"Hey! I'm lost! Please!" he called out but the next shot didn't miss and it caught him in the forearm. "FUCK!" he called out as he looked to his now bleeding arm.
"Run!" Lys yelled as she took off in the opposite direction.
Suddenly he could hear the whistle of bullets screaming passed his ears and he turned and broke out in a run.
"Why are they shooting at us?!" he questioned when he caught up to her.
"They're Raiders! It's what they do!" she answered as they rounded the top of a dune.
At that moment Gray saw something he'd only seen once before when he'd been in the Middle East, a massive wall of sand moving their way. The plume had to be hundreds of feet high and it rolled and twisted towards them like a tidal wave breaking on the shore.
"Here!" Lys called out as she dropped to her knees and began rummaging through her satchel. She pulled out a large blue tarp and draped it over the two of them. "Lie down," she ordered and she tucked the edged underneath them so they were completely encased.
It sounded like a herd of cattle coming right for them. They lay silent, shoulder to shoulder waiting for the coming force and when it hit the small blue tarp shook and flapped but it remained trapped beneath their body weight.
"I told you a storm was coming," Lys groaned as she rested her head on her folded arms as she lay on her stomach.
Gray turned and looked at her. Now that he was nearly face-to-face and his eyes had had time to focus and recalibrate he could make out every detail about her.
She had a pretty face despite being covered in who knows what dirt and grime. Her skin was tanned well enough but it was clear she was too fair to go dark so she took a more reddened hue from the sun exposure.
She had a small mouth but in the short time he'd known her, he realized she almost always had a smirk about her.
Her eyes were a striking green – almost yellow. Her long sandy blonde hair was tied back but several small braids broke up the smoothness of her ponytail giving her more the look of a Viking sword maiden. She had the body type to match too with a slight physique but clearly malnourished. Her cheeks were a bit sunken in and he saw she was in a state of atrophy in her arms and legs.
Her choice of clothing was odd too. A pair of ratty dark brown cargo pants, worn leather combat boots and a button up dark orange plaid flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up over her elbows.
Stranger still was the steel contraption around her neck, her slave collar so she had said. Every few seconds a little red light gleamed out indicating it was active and working.
Where was he? What was going on?
He wanted answers to everything but it seemed he'd be getting nothing for a while.
"Look at your arm!" Lys then called out.
He looked to the small wound in his forearm.
"It just grazed me, nothing serious," he told her.
"Does it hurt?" she asked.
"Hmm? No … I don't really feel it," he began. "Well … I mean I feel it but it's not pain like you'd feel. More of a hindrance … like you try use a your limb but for some unknown reason it just wont work the way your mind wants it to."
"How much of you is a robot?" she asked.
Gray didn't detect any cruelty in her voice. She was simply curious so he indulged the question.
"About eighty percent or so. I was severely wounded when the Chinese invaded Alaska. A mortar literally tore me apart but I didn't die. Just before we lost the outpost the medics got ahold of me and got me on the first and last cas-evac that had managed to get to our location. After that I was in the hands of the United States Government Wounded Warriors project. They took soldiers with extensive physical injuries and gave them a chance to be put together again. "
"Did it hurt?" she asked.
"Worst pain I'd ever gone through. Worse than being blown up," he told her.
The wind outside howled.
"I don't know my history too well. It's not really an emphasized subject in Raleigh but that battle you were in … Alaska … that was a really long time ago," Lys said calmly.
"Yeah … I know," he mumbled.
"No … I don't think you do know. I'm not lying when I said it's been over two hundred years and I'm not crazy," she said.
"Right," he mumbled as he realized he was now stuck under this tarp with the lunatic and was going to have to listen to her nonsense.
"Over two centuries ago this whole place was destroyed by nuclear bombs. I don't know what happened but what I do know is that it nearly wiped out all life on Earth. The United States doesn't exist anymore. Nothing does apart from small pockets of civilization – if you can even call it civilized," she tried to explain.
"Yup," Gray muttered and closed his eyes.
"I'm not lying. You must have been trapped in that old military base all this time simply … offline or something," she tried.
She was wasting her breath. Gray knew he'd be getting home soon enough. There had to be an explanation for all of it – the strange ground, the hostile people, the chance sandstorm.
"How long do these storms last?" he tried to change the subject.
"A couple hours at the most," she said with a sigh.
A few minutes of silence passed between the two of them.
The only time he'd laid next to any woman this long was after he'd had sex with them. He rolled his eyes at the thought he'd even think of having sex with this girl. True, she was attractive but there was crazy and then there was clinically insane which he was certain she was.
"What's your name?" she suddenly asked.
He'd realized he'd known hers but hadn't given his.
"Theo … but everyone calls me by my last name, Gray," he told her.
"Where did you get the name Lys?" he asked trying to play along with the small talk.
"It's just my name. No significance," she uttered.
And the awkward silence returned.
"Does your arm need medical attention?" Lys asked, breaking the tension.
"Some one who's better at mechanics would be ideal," he said.
"There's some one in Raleigh who can probably help you. He fixes everything," she told him.
Gray sighed. There was no way he was going to Raleigh with her. Once this storm passed he was going home.
"I know you don't believe me," she began. "When I tell you about it being two hundred years later."
"You're right, I don't," he answered coldly.
"So when this storm passes I'm going to start heading home," she continued. "You can follow me for a bit if you like. Take my word for it that it really is the closest place unless you want to run into those who were shooting at us. You don't have to follow me inside. You can turn and go in any other direction when you want to, I won't try to stop you. You'll learn the truth soon enough … or your head will come off your shoulders."
With that she rolled over onto her side, away from him and fell silent until finally the wind outside died down and he knew the storm was over. It had felt like an eternity but he'd known it was maybe an hour at the most.
Lys merely pulled the tarp off, packed it away and began briskly walking.
Gray looked around. He couldn't see anything. He climbed to the top of a dune and scanned for any signs of life, a building, even a tree – but there was nothing.
He'd wander in circles before finding his way off this training area. His best bet was to take her up on the idea of following her until something better came along. He broke into a run to catch up but stayed a few paces behind her.
She never said a word to him or looked back to see if he was still following her. He didn't want to talk either so he was fine with this arrangement.
Time passed slowly and they just walked and walked and walked. The sun had fallen but still they kept walking. He was beyond thirsty. He'd watched her time and time again take out a small canteen, take a sip and put it back in her satchel.
Finally when he reached his breaking point he asked,
"Can I steal a bit of water?"
She stopped turned around and raised her brow before asking,
"Do cyber people need water?"
Fighting the urge to be rude right back he simply said,
"Yes."
She opened her satchel, removed her canteen, tossed it to him and kept walking.
He took a long sip and caught up.
"Here," he said handing it back to her.
"I'm fine. Us humans don't need too much when they get use to living out here," she said and he detected an air of arrogance.
He held on to the canteen as they walked and soon the sun was cresting over the dunes. He couldn't believe how large this training area was. He didn't know such a place could exist without him knowing. It really had taken the full day and night.
As the sun began to rise higher he could see something manifest itself on the horizon.
"Is that?" he asked.
"Yup … that's Raleigh," she said with a smile. "Your call. You can head off now … were far enough away no one will see you but your collar will explode by mid afternoon … or … come with me."
Maybe it was dehydration setting in or the fact that this really had been the first thing he'd seen all day and night that made him follow her footsteps as they headed towards the spec in the distance.
When they were getting closer Lys stopped, turned and faced him.
"You need to listen to me very carefully all right?" she began.
Gray merely nodded.
"This place can be dangerous. Let me do all the talking and whatever happens … don't intervene," she went on. "I bet it will be really strange to you. Try to keep your head down too. If some one asks you a question, answer simply and vaguely."
Gray could see she was nervous.
"All right I got it," he assured her.
As they approached Gray was taken by surprise at the appearance of this lone city in the dunes.
He'd known the city of Raleigh well … this was not Raleigh. This was a scrap heap. Scrap metal, mismatched fencing and other debris one would find in a junkyard fortified the extensive perimeter. The town was non-existent apart from what appeared to be ruined buildings. As they approached a large opening in the fence Gray could see armed guards, both men and women standing sentry. They were wearing patched armour with metal sheets, spikes and other crap stitched in a bizarre fashion.
Something clanked and rumbled and Gray made out the strangest contraption he'd ever seen. It appeared to be a machine gun built into some sort of metal housing. The whole thing looked unstable, like it would explode any second but the barrel just moved back and forth – scanning.
When Lys approached the guards just waved her in.
"Welcome back," one of them even said but Lys didn't answer back.
Gray kept his head down as directed.
Once inside he was able to see this place was unlike anything he'd come to expect but one thing was familiar and that was the State Capitol building centrally located and surrounded by what looked like bombed out structures refurbished to house some kind of life.
"Where the hell are we?" Gray muttered to himself.
Everything smelt like it had been on fire and it wasn't that pleasant wood burning smell of a campfire, more like burning plastic – choking and nauseating.
Scattered with no real design in mind were small vendor stands and what he could only assume were houses as people seemed to have put their drying laundry and other crap thrown about the tiny properties. There was trash everywhere. They even used the garbage to build things with. The ingenuity would have been impressive if sanitation and other deplorable conditions could be ignored.
The roads were … kind of still there but they were broken up and no one seemed to have any kind of vehicle. Everything was foot traffic. Scaffolds of pathways led up to various places and buildings located within the confines of that perimeter fence. Gray was certain no engineer approved its design and construction.
Lys turned and looked back at him. Clearly his face wore the shock of this new environment because she was smirking at him – that same smirk she seemed to relish.
"You believe me now?" she asked.
Author's Note - Thank you for taking the time to read my newest story. For those keeping up with Solace in Sand, don't worry I haven't stopped writing it. Expect a new chapter shorty. I will be continuing to write this one though. I hope you all like it and please take the time to review or ask questions. Thanks!