He wasn't dreaming; not really. What came at him was just a streaming blur. The burned doll's face... Shaking it towards someone... The color red... The woods and a gun pointed at him... A gym, and a group of people laughing and pointing... Anger... The cage, the man with spiky hair standing outside the lighted bars... Crying, echoing in his head... The plane, and the figure lying on the ground... It was a young man, he saw now, wearing...
"...Can you hear me?"
He opened his eyes and growled before closing them again. No. He tried in vain to will his brain to give him something, anything at all, to piece together what he had just seen. It didn't comply.
He stretched his limbs and rolled to his side. He was near a small campfire. It was dark. His boots were gone. How'd he get here? His mind returned to focus and he recalled what had happened. The waterfall. The two people who had found him. And something else...
His name. "Chase," he whispered. "My name is Chase." He turned it over in his head, almost as if trying to convince himself of the fact. The name felt foreign and strange even as he said it. Nothing clicked. He wondered why that was and frowned.
"Hello?" The voice spoke again. He turned his head towards the sound. It was the young lady, who stood on the other side of the fire a few feet away. Bree, his mind reminded him; her name was Bree, and her companion was Adam. In her hand was a small device. She was speaking into one piece, while another she kept near her ear. It was a communication device of some sort, he realized. He watched, keeping still. "Mr. Davenport, can you hear me? Hello?"
Mr. Davenport? Donald Davenport, of Davenport Industries. He scowled. Why did his mind give him that? Why only pieces? Why, at that, only ones which did no real good? Whatever; there were more pressing matters at hand. His eyes scanned the area. No sign of Adam anywhere. It was just him and Bree. They hadn't tied him up. Maybe if he waited until her back was turned...
"Any luck?" He resisted the urge to curse as Adam appeared in view, carrying a small bundle of wood. There went that plan.
Bree shook her head. "Not yet. How's your face?"
Adam shrugged. Even in the dim light the bruising taking over the young man's face was visible. Maybe he'd done more damage than originally thought. "I'll be fine. You?"
"Fine."
"Let me see." Bree hesitated yet offered her hand. It was wrapped in a sort of makeshift bandaging. A point of weakness, his mind noted. She winced slightly at the touch, making Adam frown. "Breezy-"
"I'm fine, Adam."
"How's Chasey?"
Something inside prickled at the name. He closed his eyes and shifted slightly, feigning sleep. Even with his eyes closed he could feel their eyes on him. He evened his breathing.
"You know it's annoying when you call us those stupid names." Bree's voice lowered. "I don't know. He hasn't woken up yet."
"He'll be okay."
"He's in pretty bad shape-"
"Well for going over a waterfall-"
"I know. But-" her voice broke. "He doesn't know who we are, Adam. You saw the look in his eyes. He was terrified of us. Our own brother and he-"
It took everything within him not to jump up from the pure shock of what he had just heard. Brother? They were his siblings? Impossible. He'd have known, would have recognized… Something would have clicked… He felt the frustrated anger boil in his gut again.
The voices died down after that. Still he remained motionless. He dared to open one eye slightly. Their backs were turned from him, still lost in conversation. If he moved now... Staying as quiet as possible he rolled over and began to sit up.
"Oh mornin'." He cursed in spite of himself as Adam's words came. "Feeling any better little buddy?"
"Who are you calling little?" He spat. Probably not the best move all considered. "And I'm not your buddy."
"Sure you are." A rather goofy grin crossed Adam's features. "Our embarrassingly teeny-tiny-"
"Oh screw yourself!" The smile on Adam's face faded and Bree's mouth dropped open. As he managed to climb to his knees he felt the slightest pang of guilt come over him even as he didn't know why. Stupid move, his mind told him. He was the vulnerable one in this situation, and they the ones with all the control. Yet he still struggled to make it to his feet.
"Oh no you don't" He jumped as he felt hands grabbing him. It was Bree. She took hold of his shoulders and pushed him down again.
The panic set in. He recoiled, his hands going for her bandaged one. "Don't touch me!"
"Easy! Chase, settle down!" Her grip tightened. "We're not going to hurt you. Sit down."
He felt a tightening in his chest. Still he complied. It seemed to satisfy Bree and she let him go again. She moved to the other side of the fire again then returned, holding something. She held it out for him. "Here,"
He merely stared at her. She sighed. "It's only water." Still he didn't move. "Fine. Suit yourself. Adam, keep trying."
Adam nodded and began talking into the device. Bree set down the bottle. Silence between them followed. That was fine with him. Still he looked away, first to the fire then towards the sky. Above him various clusters of stars shined; he hadn't noticed them before, or how clear they looked. One in particular caught his eye. Gemini, his mind informed him. He scoffed. Trust his mind to find that one at a time like this.
The whole time he could feel Bree's eyes following him.
"What's your problem?" he finally snapped out, looking at her again.
"What's yours?" she snapped back, then let out a sigh. Her hands rung together and for a moment he thought she may just slap him. Instead she tossed the bottle. "Just take it already."
He should toss it back, just throw it right into her face. Instead he picked up the bottle. As he went to open it his eye caught sight of a bandage wrapped around his wrist. He looked to his legs and lifted the frayed remains of his pants. He found bandages there too, covering what seemed to be the worst of the lacerations. He looked towards Bree. "You?"
"Yeah." She allowed a small chuckle. "Took just about every supply we got in the medical kit, but yeah."
He should thank her, show gratefulness. Instead all that came out was, "Why?"
"Because you're-" She hesitated. She looked offended by his question. 'He doesn't know who we are, Adam…' He swallowed as her words echoed in his head. 'Our own brother…' Was that the truth? Did he really have a sister and brother? Adam, Bree, and Chase. He snorted. How precious. Still, they had been in his dream. He'd seen them, and now here they were in front of him….They were all wearing the same clothes... They'd pulled him from the river...
His mind flashed to the sight of her holding the gun, firing it…
He curled himself into a ball, looking away from her. Not wanting to see her eyes. "Chase, what happened to you?"
He shrugged. "I don't know."
"Really?"
"You calling me a liar?" He couldn't help the animosity, even now.
"No! It's just-" she sighed again. "What do you remember?"
He stayed silent. She swallowed. "You have no idea how worried we were. We couldn't find you. You were gone for hours. Then we went to the site and found the blood and bullets and we thought-" she cleared her throat. "Adam insisted we follow the river, thought you must be in trouble and well, here we are. Which reminds me." She reached into a small pouch within her belt and produced another small device. She handed it to him. "This is yours."
He took it and looked it over. The device looked like a small pen with various buttons along one side. Mission recorder, his mind told him. He gripped it tighter, his anger rising again. Damn it, brain! Stop with the stupid small things! He should probably say thank you yet again all that came out was, "Am I a prisoner or something?"
"No," Bree replied, a slight scoff to her voice.
"Then let me go."
"No can do, bu- Chase," Adam called before returning his attention back to the com.
"Why not?"
"First, where would you go?" she replied. "And second, we took your boots."
"Why?"
"Considering you're threatening to run, doesn't seem so stupid an idea does it?"
They had a point.
"And we put them where you won't find them." Adam added.
He rolled his eyes. "They're by the fire drying, aren't they."
Adam paused. "You still can't have them."
He glared, again probably not the best of moves yet again he didn't care. Bree replied by slapping him hard across the arm.
"Hey!" He grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. Bree let out a small whimper. Adam stood and took a step towards them, yet she shook her head at him. "Cool it, princess!"
She pulled away only a moment and rubbed her hand. Silence followed again. "It wouldn't kill you to trust us, you know."
"Just might," he muttered. As soon as the words escaped his mouth he regretted them. At once Bree's expression changed.
"What does that mean?" Her face became stern. "Chase, what happened?" She took hold of his shoulder, forcing him to look her in the eyes. He found the most sincere look of concern reflected back to him. "Chase- tell us. Was someone trying to kill you?"
He pulled away from her grasp. He didn't like this, didn't like how out of control the situation was. How out of control he was. His mind began to go into overdrive again. These could be the very people out to kill him… It could all be a ruse... Lying to gain his trust… Seeing what he knew before they killed him…
'Our own brother… ' She hadn't said that when they knew he was listening. Right? It had just been a sister talking to her brother about their sibling. A sibling who had been missing. 'We saw the blood… we thought…'
They thought I was dead, his mind finished her unspoken thought. He wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his chin on his knees, watching the fire. She tried to pull him back, to look at her, yet he recoiled.
"We're not going to hurt you, Chase," she said quietly.
He wanted to believe that. She had been so forthcoming, so sincere, he almost did believe her. Yet something was stopping him. It was telling him that no matter how it seemed, something was still wrong.
He just didn't know.
