10. Memories, like nightmares

Melinda lived for over fourteen years with horrific nightmares, which were in fact her real-life incidents. Her heart began to beat each time, in wild pace as often she was attacked by her own memories at the time she went to sleep. And they returned every night!

But the ultimate realization didn't come in the middle of the night, sweating in her bed. The hidden memories didn't burst out from the depths of her brain, but there, under the red flag, which carried the emblem of a bull, at Nipton's main square, deep in a well.

She was small though, when she re-experienced everything, what she once went through, but the memories affected her so much, that even more than a decade later, deadly chill went through her body, just thinking about it.

Or maybe the ice-cold, radioactive water was the culprit, or the bullet, pierced in her shoulder?

She was barely two years old, when she lost her mother, and although a normal human didn't remember many things from such a young age, but Melinda remembered well the woman in grey rags, to whom the other women didn't let the little girl near the dirty pile of straw, which was the deathbed of the unfortunate woman.

Despite pleading, kicking and all her efforts to go to her dead mother, the women didn't allow her near the body, lying on the straw.

One of them got her up and ran away to a distant point of the smoky camp.

She couldn't shut up the child, who was still yelling, what sparked the attention of the men, who were practicing at that point of the camp. A man, with a strange mask, or to say, helmet on his head, whom the child didn't knew but was a Decanus, shouted to the woman, to silence the girl child, or he will silence her, but with his machete.

The girl was so small, that she couldn't understand the seriousness of the threat, so she just continued screaming. The warrior in the skirt as he promised, drew his weapon from his belt, and went walked straight toward the woman and to the little girl. The frightened slave woman loosened her grip just for a second, but this was enough for the little girl, to get out from the hands of the woman, and to ran back to her dead mother's body. The Decanus finally settled for a new threat, told to the woman, who was shivering in fear, when the blade of the machete touched her neck. Then he left her, letting a serious advantage for the child, who by the time already went to the former bed of her mother, which was empty, but still warm in the same time. Seeing that the straw pile is empty, the little girl knelt down and started to cry.

Desperately touching the bloody straw, she didn't understand, where her mother disappeared, and despite asking around her, all the women said nothing, and looked away.

One of them, who was not staring down, lifted her head towards the river, and when Melinda looked toward that direction, she saw a man walking at the beach, who had something twisted in a blanket. Melinda recognized the blanket, her dying mother got that from the wife of an officer, trying to keep warm her body at the nighttime, and when she looked it better, she saw some red curls what were exposed from under the blanket. The kid immediately jumped to her feet, when she recognized her mother's hair, and ran toward the beach.

As tiny she was, she was as fast as well, no one was able to catch up with her, but in vain with her speed, by the time she reached the shore, the blanket, with its content immersed in the water's flows.

The little girl screamed, and without even to look around, she ran straight towards the steep precipice. The poor soil moved under her bare foots, and she fell forward, but almost in the last minute, a strong hand grabbed her right arm, and pushed her back, so she fell in to the muddy ground.

"Mommy!" cried the little girl.

"You, blasted idiot" she heard the man's voice. "It's your fault! Why couldn't you die in her womb!?"

The child did not understand what he was saying to her. She was also too small to understand the seriousness of those words and accusations. She was just kneeling, and looked up on the legionnaire with tears in her eyes. The guy, with jet-black hair, who barely saved her life, was also watching her. Only anger was visible on his face, but in the corner of his brown eyes it seemed that a tear drop had began to take shape. But the child couldn't search his face for too long, because the man in praetorian clothing kicked in the head the kneeling girl, and when she came to the ground, as if she weren't a girl, a child, but only a boxing pad, he have beaten her brutally.

After the beating Melinda lay unconscious for almost an entire day on one of the beds fenced for slaves. A mother nursed her, who cried every time, as often as she thought that perhaps one day her son will be beaten in the same way, if he does something differently than the tyrants wants from him.

She does not know why the tiny little girl was beaten so mercilessly. No one enlightened her, she asked nobody as well about what happened.

Then in the evening, when the children's condition worsened, a Decanus examined the child, and seeing that the little girl despite the circumstances is in good condition, brought her from somewhere a Hydra, and even a bitter drink. They finally managed to set the beaten girl to her feet.

The next morning, as soon as the girl was able to stand on her feet, was taken to the Malpais Legate. He had two praetorian guards on his side as well, and while the Decanus, who opted for the healing of the child, forced Melinda to the ground, the little girl raised her two tiny brown eyes on the three men, standing in front of her.

At first she was completely blinded by the sun, and couldn't even understand a word from the adult's conversation, because they were speaking in Latin, but when a cloud obscured the sun out of sight, and she looked up again, she suddenly recognized one of Joshua Graham's bodyguards. The black, curly-haired man was the same one, who've beaten her, and when she recognized him, she frightened jumped to her feet and ran behind the Decanus. Suddenly Joshua switched the conversation's language to English.

"There is no point in further discussions, Magnus" said the Legate. "You can see that she's healthy. I give her three more days to idle, but after that, she needs to work out the healing potions wasted on her, and of course, the Hydra!"

"But she's not yet four years old!"

"But she seems much older than two years. Perhaps her mother lied about her age! Lucius, you want to say something?" Graham looked toward one of his praetorian guards, who cleared his throat as he turned sideways.

"No, Legate!" replied the man.

"In this case we discussed it all! Magnus, I leave the kid at your care. You'll get the order, to where to direct her exactly, after two days".

"Yes, Legate!"

The Legate nodded, and after that he and his men left. The Decanus forced Melinda to kneel until his superiors were totally gone, and finally when the shape of the three men completely disappeared among the tents, he set up the little girl and took her back to her bed.

That evening, she received no more healing potions, and because the painkillers slowly ran out from her body, she cried out in pain almost the half of the night. After the sleepless night, she was fussy all day long, and in the afternoon, after carrying water, she got a fever. Finally the slave's supervisor told Decanus Magnus about the girl's condition, who commanded her into bed.

In the next morning she weakened even more. She couldn't eat anything, not even with threats, or with punishment. Magnus gave her healing powder, but that had no effect, because she threw up a moment later just after she swallowed.

The man was surprised, knowing that two days ago the child's body responded well to all of the medicines.

While he was next to the little girl, Graham's promised orders had arrived. A praetorian guard took himself the command of the Legate to the Decanus.

Magnus was surprised, that Lucius himself went and gave him the order, and didn't let to one of the Decanus's superiors to do the job.

The black-haired bodyguard was shocked, seeing the little girl's condition. She was lying on the straw with pale, gaunt face, looking blankly into the nothing.

When the praetorian guard's shadow fell on her, she looked up at him, then it seemed that she flinched, though it is also possible, that she was shivering from the cold.

"What's with this kid?" asked the man.

"She started to bring up her mother's symptoms" responded the Decanus, kneeling beside her.

"The Legate said that it was not a contagious illness".

"Maybe she inherited it".

"She was spitting up blood?"

"Not yet, but she has a fever, and has no appetite at all".

"She has a fever? This may refer to internal bleeding as well. She got Hydra, if I'm informed correctly!"

"Yes, she received one, due to her severe bruises. Those had largely disappeared from her body. But what do you care, about the kid's condition? Weren't you the one, Lucius, who've beaten her up?"

"She almost jumped after her mother! I just taught her a lesson! I was paying for her medical treatment, so believe me, I don't want her dead! First she has to work off, what I was wasting on her. I will talk with the Legate to give her a few more days!"

Lucius left them, and he took with himself the command as well.

In the next day Melinda got continuously the naturalist healing potions, but every time when they put them in her mouth, she threw out just moments later. They didn't intended to force into her another Hydra, as it has the side effect of nausea, and most likely the little girl would have vomited out the thing.

She fell asleep later at night, and because the legionnaires didn't know exactly what's wrong with her, they totally separated her from the other slaves.

During the night, a shadow was cast over her. A pair of black boots appeared beside the child's bed, and then the shadow leaned closer to Melinda. A sleeveless, leather gloved hand touched the girl's forehead.

The child was sleeping so deeply that she hasn't even noticed the touch, but her forehead was piping hot, which referred most likely to a fever.

The hand, what just a moment ago was touching the little girl's forehead, now moved to the girl's right arm. He gently pulled out from under the cover and then stabbed her with a needle. Once done, he took out another kind of needle. While the former was an ordinary hypodermic needle, this one had a round shaped upper part, and was much bigger. He injected its content in the child as well.

After that he remained beside the girl's bed a little, and then when he touched once again the kid's forehead, he noticed that the girl's fever begins to go down.