What good fortune for governments that people do not think.

- Adolf Hitler

The line was not moving, in either sense of the word. It did not inch along, gradually shortening itself, and neither did anyone within it so much as fidget. They simply waited, planted to the sidewalk, hunched within their coats to hide from the cold. Nobody even looked at me as I followed the seemingly endless string of people, down the rest of the block and around the corner. It finally terminated at the doorstep of a little shop, where a bored man in an apron was taking green coupons in exchange for tickets. A handful of people loitered about the shop entrance, making use of a few small tables and some chairs, and when someone within the shop called out a number everyone hurried to check their tickets. The smell of baking bread wafted out when the lucky shopper scurried inside, and a vague rumble in my stomach informed me I was hungry.

But whatever those little coupons were, I didn't have one. And I wasn't about to wait in that hideous line to find out if the shopkeeper was inclined to show pity on a lost amnesiac. Resigned to my growling stomach, I sighed and turned away.

I hadn't taken more than a step back to the street, though, when I stopped again. Something in that line was moving after all, but it was no person. It was a cat, actually, winding its way between the legs of waiting patrons, steadily weaving closer to the head of the line and to me. Slitted eyes fixed on me with unnerving intensity, and I stepped back without thinking.

No one else seemed to notice the cat, even with that long tail gliding over several unsuspecting legs. It was pretty to look at, fur so sleek and the color of dark gray ash, but something about its stare made me uneasy. Almost afraid. Silly to be afraid of an alleycat, but I noticed that I'd backed up three more steps as it came closer. Perhaps I should just get going.

Too late. I turned back to the street, and nearly walked straight into two men in suits. I flinched backward, startled, and they grinned identical grins.

"Found you," one said.

"Not that you made it easy," added the other.

"But we're very good."

"And it's a small city."

"You didn't think you could hide from us forever, did you?"

Some sort of sound escaped my mouth, but nothing close to intelligible speech. Their smiles were positively sharklike.

"But here you are."

"And here we are."

"So come along."

"Boss has some questions for ya."

"And you don't want to make him wait."

They snagged each of my arms at the elbow before I could back away, and hustled me away from the street. The waiting shoppers scattered out of our path, hid their faces, and pretended not to see. I was herded to the closest table and shoved into a rusting chair, damp and freezing to the touch, and my grinning captors took the seats to my right and left. I forgot to be nervous about them, though, the second I saw their 'boss'. Dressed immaculately in a black suit, bigger than anyone else at that table, he laced his fingers together and simply stared at me in silence. At least, I assume he stared at me. In spite of the thick gray clouds overhead, he wore sunglasses as black and opaque as ink.

I shivered under his unseen gaze, wishing I could not feel the cold of the metal seep so thoroughly through my cordoroys, and licked my lips. "Wh-what do you want with me?"

"Your questions, irrelevant."

He spoke in monotone, his voice cold and flat as this chair. The gray cat jumped into his lap and idly he scratched it under the chin, but I don't think he looked away from my face for so much as a second. "Our questions, relevant. Your answers, expected. Do not resist."

With the three of them surrounding just the one of me, it didn't seem to be much of an option anyway. I nodded quickly.

"State name."

"I don't know."

The other two tensed in their seats. "Is that supposed to be an answer?"

"Are you refusing to cooperate?"

"Do you think we can't make you answer?"

"No, wait, I mean it! It's true, I really don't know my own name, I've been trying really hard to remember all day but I just can't, I think I must have hit my head or something because I don't remember anything about who I am…" I ran out of oxygen and had to gulp for more. "It's the truth. I swear it."

"Answer, accepted," the boss stated calmly, and the other two relaxed. For some reason, they exchanged smug looks. "Suggestion, cease trying."

"Huh? You mean I shouldn't -"

"Mental strain, unpleasant and unproductive. Identity, unimportant."

"But I -"

"Suggestion, cease interruptions."

I picked up on the warning, and shut my mouth. The cat had begun to purr, under the languid stroking of its master, and stared at me haughtily.

"List activities today."

"Y-you mean, what I've done? I haven't done anything, since - well, from the part that I remember. Except wander around and be lost."

"Conversations?"

"I haven't had any – well, I talked to some construction workers for a minute. Not long."

"Has been noted. Approached by others?"

Did he- he already knew about the construction workers? How?

"Approached by others?" he repeated, a thin edge of impatience to the words. Quickly I shook my head.

"No, nobody."

"You'd better be telling us the truth," said the one to my left. "Berlin has its share of the criminal underworld; radical reactionaries that plot against the state and our Good Chairman. Maybe you saw one? Talked to one? Would you hide that from us?"

"No, I swear, I haven't talked to anyone -"

"You could be lying about that, of course," picked up the one on my right. "You'd lie to protect the radicals, if you're one of them."

"No! I don't know what a radical, um, reactionary even is. What do they hate about the state?"

Both of them stiffened. "Are you saying there's anything to hate about our government?"

"I didn't mean that," I hurried to say, sensing a sharp spike in hostility at the table. "I didn't. I just didn't understand, that's all, don't understand any of it."

"Comprehension unnecessary," the man with the cat informed me. "Loyalty, necessary. Loyalty to Berlin, to the German Democratic Republic, to our Good Chairman."

"Who is -" I bit my tongue when the others tensed, and swallowed back the unwelcome question. "I mean, I am loyal. I am a good German. I would never hurt anyone; I don't want to hurt anyone. I'm just lost. I just want to find out how to go home."

I was doing my best, but the second those words left my mouth I had a feeling I'd said something wrong. His head tilted ever so slightly, and I could almost see those hidden eyes narrowing with renewed suspicion.

The cat's throaty purring was the only noise at our table for several seconds. A tiny purple pin stuck in the quiet man's jacket lapel had caught my eye, and now I was having a hard time looking away. The face symbol had a vicious, cruel feel to it that made my stomach clench with dread.

"Presence," he finally said, "near the wall, noted."

"The wall?" echoed the one to my left, looking surprised and extremely displeased. "He was by the wall?"

"What were you doing by the wall?"

"I don't know, I was lost -"

"How did you even find it so fast?"

"Find it?" I repeated faintly. "Is it… hidden? I didn't know I wasn't supposed to find it, but it's very big and goes on for a long way. It's hard to miss."

"I suppose next you'll be wanting to see what's on the other side."

"Why, what's on the other..." I trailed off too late when I saw their faces. The one across from me showed no visible emotion, but it didn't matter. He was waiting for me to finish the question, I could see it in the way his hand had paused just short of petting his cat.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. It doesn't matter what's on the other side, I don't care about that at all."

Silence, again. After an eternity he finally dropped his hand back onto the waiting cat, whose purr broke the quiet. The other two looked from me to him, uncertainty in their eyes.

"Well, boss?"

"Does he pass, or fail?"

"Behavior, acceptable," he answered, and I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. "However, discontent evident. Questions, numerous. Capacity for independent thought detected. Re-education, necessary."

Relief that I'd almost been ready to feel was promptly shot to hell, panic blaring fresh alarms in my mind. "Re-education? What's that?"

"Oh, nothing to be afraid of," the one to my right answered airily. "You just need to come with us for a little drive."

"Yes, just back to headquarters. You won't be there for long."

The two of them pushed their chairs back to stand, while icy horror froze me to mine. I don't know anything in this place, not even my own name, but I did know that I did not want to go to their headquarters. That purple face leered at me, baring its fangs and waiting to swallow me whole.

A siren cut through my paralyzing terror. Everyone looked to the street when a police cruiser, lights whirling, skidded around the corner and pulled up to the shop. It almost rolled up directly over the curb before finally screeching to a halt, and a man in a suit did not even wait before the car was completely still before jumping out of the passenger side.

"Attention, ladies and gentlemen!" Smartly he flipped open a badge and held it high. "I do not wish to cause panic, but we have received good information that a bomb has been planted by this shop. Please depart slowly and without -"

A woman screamed, and chaos erupted. Every person within earshot tried to run in a different direction, and what had been a quiet and unmoving line exploded into a mob. My own instinct to run, already clamoring at me for several minutes, finally got its due and I scrambled up and over the back of the chair, tipping it over and leaping clear at the last second.

"Hey! C'mere, you!"

One of the pair lunged at me but I darted away, and a heavyset man fleeing the shop bowled straight into him.

"He's gettin' away!" the other hollered, and I prayed some kind of fleeting, jumbled prayer to the heavens that it was true. Frantically I darted between and around the panicking crowd, putting my small size to good use, not daring to waste a second on looking over my shoulder. I didn't have to look to know that they had to be right behind me; that invisible stare was boring into my back, waiting for me to be caught and brought back to him –

"Wait!"

A hand latched itself onto my forearm and I instinctively swung around, punching wildly at whichever of the two had grabbed me.

It was neither. A young policeman ducked my crazy swing, wide-eyed and startled, but tightened his grip on my arm.

"Sorry! But it's okay I'm not here to hurt you and you have to come with me -"

"Let me go! Let me go!" I was beyond panic; I thrashed and kicked and hit with blind ferocity. I don't know what I did but I must have hit something vital, because I heard a squawk of pain and his grasp on my arm loosened abruptly. Without wasting any time on actually looking, I tore away and sprinted through the crowd. I was nearly run over by someone trying to barrel his way into the shop; apparently some people were ready to risk death if they could just steal a loaf of bread in the process. The frenzy swirled around me, hiding me, and I dodged and twisted and turned until even I didn't know which direction I was going anymore. It didn't matter, so long as it was away from here.

Most of the mob was stampeding down the street and I joined them. I'd hoped I would blend in, but after a few seconds I could hear the police siren shrieking behind us. An alleyway opened onto the street and I nearly threw myself sideways into it, with another hope that perhaps they hadn't seen that. No such luck. Even over the shouts of the crowd, I could hear the sharp screech of brakes. Nothing for it but to run again.

My sneakers dug against the concrete and I pounded down the alleyway, adrenaline surging through my blood. With the end of one building, I hit an intersection and broke to the right; distantly, over the sound of my hard breathing, I heard a shout to stop. Ignoring it, I pelted down this new way and turned again when I could, desperately hoping I could lose them in this maze.

I glimpsed a new street ahead and dashed toward it, only to skid to a stop when the police car crawled past. I didn't think I'd been spotted, but quickly I backtracked and picked a new alleyway. This time I didn't run, trying to keep my footsteps light, not to mention catch my breath. The cold knifed into my lungs, and I exhaled giant plumes of white vapor with every gasp. I couldn't hear anyone chasing me. I could hear nothing but the quiet, tortured sound of my own breathing.

This time, when I approached a new street, there was no sign of any police. There was another kind of car though, a black one, its windows tinted so darkly I could see no sign of anyone inside. It too was inching along down the street, well ahead of me when I dared peep around the corner. I waited until it was out of sight, counted to twenty, and crept back out into the open. A nearby spokewheel intersection gave me five different streets to choose from, five different ways to escape. I picked one at random and started trotting along it, surrounded by silence. There were no more cars, no more pursuers, no more people at all. I had succeeded in losing them.

Of course, I'd also lost myself - again.


Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.