Chapter 2:
The Techno guards threw him out into the street without any explanation or word. He was simply lost and alone in a world he no longer remembered. As he wandered the unfamiliar landscape and waited for night to fall he tried to remember who he was, where he was, anything. But nothing came.
He didn't think he was in the city, though how he knew that he wasn't sure. The landscape looked more rural, with occasional houses, but little traffic or activity. No one seemed to know him, or took any notice of him at all.
As night began to fall he began to worry. He knew he must have a home somewhere, he felt as if he should be trying to get back to someone…but who he couldn't recall. At last he curled into a ball on the ground and slept away the remainder of the night, waiting for the morning and the sun that would hopefully bring clarity and recognition.
"Hey, Mister…Hey…Wake up…" As he opened his eyes he spotted a young boy standing over him. "Hey mister, you lost?" the boy asked cryptically.
He though for a moment and decided that yes, lost was definitely a word the fit him and so he nodded his head, not yet trusting himself to speak.
"You eat yet?" the boy asked.
He shook his head no.
"What's the matter don't you talk?"
He shrugged his shoulders in response. At this point he wasn't sure food was worth all the questions he would have to endure. He was sure that he could speak, but he couldn't remember what his own voice sounded like. Somehow he was certain that he hadn't spoken to another person in a long time.
The boy simply gave him a strange look and shrugged in return, "Well, if you want breakfast you can follow me; we've got plenty to share with a traveler, if that's what you are. Come on…"
Slowly he got to his feet, feeling stiff and sore after the night on the hard ground. The boy was already walking down a path towards what looked to be a jumble of buildings in the distance. As they got closer he realized that it was a small town. The boy led him down a small main street with storefronts that were mostly boarded up or abandoned. Half way down the boy opened a door to a storefront that was labeled "Diner" and led the way inside.
"Patrick, what are you doing here? I thought I told you to go out to the farmhouse and milk the cows and gather eggs."
"I didn't make it there," the boy who must be Patrick responded, "I found him laying on the ground along the path."
"Oh, so now you're picking up strays," the girl said with a long-suffering sigh. "And who might you be sir?" she queried.
All he could do was stare at her. Try as he might he could not find a response to her question.
"Well," she prompted, "Speak up or be off."
He looked at her again, suddenly an image of a girl with zulu knots in her hair came into his mind…He shook his head. What was happening here? Who was he?
"I don't think he talks," the boy supplied.
"Don't be silly," the girl scoffed.
"I don't know…" came a soft, hoarse croak of a voice.
"What?" the girl said as she swung back to face him.
"I don't know," he tried again, his voice coming out a bit clearer this time.
"You don't know what?" The girl questioned hesitantly.
"Who I am…" came his reply.