Chapter 4
Kristin awoke again a few hours later, feeling rested and content. She stretched lazily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and feeling a pair of strong arms encircling her.
"Good morning, Kristin." came Luc's voice in her ear. "Or should I say, good afternoon?"
A sense of unease filled her. Something wasn't right. She looked at Luc, her concern quickly reflected in his blue eyes.
"What's wrong?" he asked her.
"I… I don't know…"
"But, you feel that something's not right?"
"Yes… but I can't explain it."
"Do you think the Snakeheads have found us?"
"No… at least, I didn't. Are they here?"
"Not from what I can see. I took a quick look around this place. There's no sign that anyone but us has been here in months."
"Oh, Luc, you got up? Maybe that's not such a great idea, with your injury and all."
"I'm feeling much better now." he reassured her. "Thanks to you, Kristin."
She froze.
"That's what's wrong." she whispered.
"What?"
"My name." She looked at him, completely bewildered, yet instinctively knowing that what she said was the truth. "Kristin isn't my name."
"So…" Luc paused, attempting to digest this information. "What is your name?"
"I… I don't know. I just somehow sense that 'Kristin' isn't right."
"What's happening, Krist…" he stopped suddenly, unsure as to how to address her.
"It's okay, I don't have any other name right now. You can still call me Kristin, if you want." she sighed. "I just wish I knew what was going on."
Briefly, Kristin explained to Luc the new skills she had discovered she possessed, just the previous night.
"It's like… like there are parts of myself that I never knew existed, and now suddenly, here they are, surfacing." she said. "Do you know how it feels to be discovering strange new things about yourself, that you never knew before?"
"You mean, like I did yesterday, when we discussed my possibly being a pilot?" Luc laughed.
"Yes." Kristin acknowledged sheepishly. "I wasn't thinking. Of course you understand, Luc."
"I am surprised, though." Luc admitted. "You've told me of your family and your past… is all of that still there?"
Kristin thought for a moment. Was it still there?
"It is… and yet, it isn't." she attempted to explain. "I remember it, but it's like there are two sets of memories… one superimposed over the other… but this other set is new… as if past memories could actually be 'new'…"
"Well, what do you remember?" Luc asked. "Maybe if you try to think about it, it will make sense?"
"Okay." Kristin agreed, thinking hard. "Part of me just remembers my family, and the last time I saw them on the farm. I remember hearing that the farm was destroyed in the Invasion, and that they were all dead. Those are the 'old' memories. Now with the 'new' memories… I can remember my father's face quite clearly… his glasses, and his mustache… but my mother's face is blurred, as if she never really existed. And my little brother… he's clear. I can see his mop of messy brown hair, and remember how he used to tease me something fierce…" Kristin looked tearfully at Luc.
"Why can't I remember my own mother?"
"It's been a long time since your family died." Luc pointed out. "Almost a year, now. It's only natural that you might have forgotten some of the details."
"But then, why do I remember my father and my brother so clearly?" Kristin asked, confused. "This is what I mean by two sets of memories. What's happening to me?"
"It's like the life I'm living isn't even my own!" she burst out.
Saying the words out loud somehow made the idea seem more real, and Kristin blanched.
"Luc… the Snakeheads took your memories, somehow." she said in a frightened voice. "Do you suppose the same thing could have happened to me?"
"I think it's possible." Luc said. "Clearly the Snakeheads were subjecting me to some kind of strange torture, or experimentation, before I escaped, or I wouldn't have had so many unexplained bruises and marks on my body when I escaped. For all we know, something like that could have happened to you as well."
Kristin was horrified. To discover that there may be some part of her past that had been lost was bad enough, but not understanding why…
For the first time, she could truly grasp the pain that Luc lived with every day. She fell into his arms, crying for forgiveness.
"I'm sorry, Luc, I didn't understand…"
"Shhh…" he whispered, softly stroking her hair. "I understand… for both of us. You've always been there for me, Kristin. I don't know how I would have gotten through these last few months without you. Not to mention what you did for me last night."
Luc pulled back slightly from Kristin, to allow himself to look her directly in the eye.
"What matters is that we are together now." he told her firmly. "Our future is together, and we are taking the same path. That's how I've managed to deal with this: by focusing on the future and not the past."
"You're right, Luc." Kristin said, wiping away her tears as a resolved expression appeared on her face. "We are together now, and our future is what's most important.
"That's my girl." Luc smiled.
And when he said that, it felt just as good as it always had.
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They looked around the small house now that they had a little more time to do so, and found it surprisingly undisturbed. They guessed that the remote isolation of this rustic dwelling was likely what had kept it from being looted by Snakeheads. Based on the pictures they saw scattered around the home, it had apparently belonged to an elderly couple, before the Occupation.
Luc insisted that once it got dark again, they should be on their way, despite Kristin's protests that he had lost a lot of blood and needed another day to rest. He brushed off her concerns, insisting that he was a fast healer, and given that he outwardly appeared to be completely fine, Kristin reluctantly agreed. But when she went to change his dressing, she was astounded to see that he was right.
Luc's wound was almost completely healed.
"How…?" Kristin couldn't even find the words to ask what was happening. She had seen the mess his skin had been the night before, but now his wound looked as if it had only been a small scratch.
"I'm not sure." Luc admitted. "I've discovered strange things about my body, during the last few months. My hair grew in completely overnight, while I was escaping the Penal Complex; a year's growth. I can see in the dark extremely well. When I want to hear something far away, I usually can. And I do seem to heal very quickly."
Kristin thought about this for a moment.
"Last night, I saw this house, from the road." she recalled. "It was nearly pitch black outside, and the area was beyond the range of the motorcycle's headlight, but I saw it. And when we got here, I was amazed that I had spotted it at all, because it was so well concealed from the road…" She looked fearfully at Luc.
"We may have more in common than we thought," observed Luc, "but it is nothing to be worried about. These things are helping us, and I'm happy to use any advantage I can get." His tone was firm and compelling.
"You're right." Kristin replied slowly. "It's nothing to be afraid of. We'll just use it to our advantage, that's all." By the time she was finished speaking she felt much more confident. It was amazing how Luc could always do that, for her.
"Then, it's time to go." Luc said, and she nodded, putting the fresh dressing on what was left of his wound, and helping him dress in some spare clothes they had found in the closet. They went out of the house, and Kristin brought forth the motorcycle from its hiding place.
"I'd like to drive." she said shyly. "It feels like I should."
"I understand." Luc nodded, climbing onto the back of the bike. "Go ahead."
Kristin paused for a moment, as the license plate on the back of the vehicle caught her eye. Last night it had been that plate that had brought them to the attention of the Snakeheads.
Quickly, she grabbed a handful of mud and smeared it onto the plate, obscuring the numbers before wiping her hands clean on the tall grass.
"Good thinking." Luc complimented her, as she mounted the bike and started the engine. They both put their helmets on, and then she took off down the road in a northerly direction.
They traveled down the unmarked laneway for some time, eventually coming to the outskirts of a small town.
"This is Les Contamines Montjoie!" exclaimed Kristin as she read the marker at the side of the road. "We're across the foothills! We're not far from Chamonix at all!"
"Unfortunately, we're going to have to get back on the international highway now." Luc reminded her. "We'll just have to hope for the best."
"We can do it." Kristin said confidently. "We have each other."
And she was right. They were able to merge into the traffic on the highway, and made it to Chamonix well before dawn. They had been afraid to visit another fueling station again, and their gas tank had been blinking 'Empty' for the last few miles, but they had finally arrived.
Despite the early hour, Luc thought it best that they enter Professor Tremblay's home under cover of darkness. They had no trouble finding the Professor's home on a small side street. They coasted on gasoline fumes into the driveway, then turned off the motor and wheeled the motorcycle around to the rear of the house, so as not to attract attention. Only after they had concealed the vehicle to their satisfaction did the knock on the back entrance.
To their surprise, the door was answered almost immediately. A middle-aged woman peered out at them before opening the door and quickly ushering them inside.
"What are your names?" she asked brusquely.
"We are Luc and Kristin." Luc made the introductions calmly. "Mattieu Canton should have contacted you and informed you that we were coming."
"He did." the woman confirmed, her tone somewhat less harsh. "I just had to make certain for myself."
"That's perfectly reasonable." Kristin assured her. "Then, you are Professor Tremblay?"
"Yes." the woman nodded. "I've been waiting on you for the last twenty-four hours."
"We apologize, Professor." Luc said. "We ran into some unexpected difficulties."
"I can understand that." the Professor nodded. "You can call me Marie. What matters is that you are here now. Why don't you rest for a few hours until morning, and then we can discuss matters?"
"Okay." Kristin agreed, her eyelids heavy.
Professor Tremblay led them to a small, windowless room that contained little more than a bed and a single chair.
"Thank you, Marie." Luc told her, before he and Kristin collapsed onto the bed.
Only a few seconds after the door to the room had closed, they were asleep.
