Chapter 11

Door 1

Eddie ran up the steps, knowing he had very little time. He opened the door to the attic, and was momentarily stunned. The big empty hour glasses seemed to shimmer a bit. Each one had trimming around them that were the colors of the marbles. Getting back into action, Eddie emptied the contents of the bag into the correct hour glasses. They'd separated the marbles by the pockets of the bag, which they had to do since they were mostly clear.

As scary thought came, that he'd forget which marbles went into which hour glass, and he went even faster.

When he was finished, he ran down the stairs, and watched them take Patricia. He wanted to stop it, he wanted to do something. But he was powerless, a feeling he didn't like very much at all.

It was really very cruel and clever that they took away the memory of whatever they did to them. One may think, doesn't it defeat the purpose if you don't know what's being done to you? Not at all. When left with no memory of what's done, a feeling of paranoia, terror, and hopelessness stays behind. And one of the worst parts is not even knowing why. And the fact that they can take away the memories with such ease is just a reminder of how much power they have.

Shortly after the incident, the others came to visit Patricia while she was in bed. They sat on the edge of her bed, but Patricia didn't acknowledge them in the slightest. They had all been taken away before, but back to back as Patricia had been. She had last gone there just four days ago.

"Ok?" Willow asked.

Patricia shook her head.

Mara bit the inside of her cheek, and then said, "Would you rather we left?"

She shook her head.

"Do you wanna go, y'know, out the door? To a valley or..." Eddie trailed off.

She nodded.

"Where would you like to go?" Willow grinned. Patricia looked right at Willow, into her eyes, and said nothing. In that one look, she told her all that she was trying to say but could say out loud. The only place she wanted to go was home.

No one knew what to do. She didn't want to be left alone but she didn't seem to want to talk or leave her room either. So they all just decided to sit on the carpeted floors and keep her company, doing so while remaining silent. An hour later after Patricia was asleep, Eddie and Mara left out the door so they could strategize how to get out. Willow stayed and kept Patricia company.

"I remember now." she whispered. "I know you know that, but..."

Willow took a deep breath and got her thoughts together, while Patricia's eyes blinked open.

"I remember all of the people." Willow continued. "I remember our friends. Again, I know you know this... but... I just can't believe that I forgot them."

Patricia's first groggy thoughts were that she didn't even know what Willow was saying. All sound that happened when she first woke up was noise in her foggy brain. She blinked up at the girl, who was still speaking and possibly unaware of the other girl's consciousness returning.

"Remember when you told me about them, and you told me they were geniuses?" Willow grinned widely. "I miss them so much. What if... what if we never see... them again..."

Patricia's eyes widened as Willow's words finally settled in and she understood.

"I don't think I could handle- whemah!"

Patricia had slapped a hand over Willow's mouth and pulled her down more forcefully than she'd meant to, so that her mouth was by Willow's ear. She spoke quietly, but still forcefully. "I understand this is hard for you. I understand that you miss everyone very much, we all do. I understand that you're desperate to get out your frustrations. I understand that you feel powerless and hopeless right now. I know you're angry, and sad, and sick of this place. And I know you want nothing more but to throw something, hit something, or more. Or maybe just break down in tears for a little while."

Willow listened, frozen like ice, with wide eyes and open ears listening to every word.

"But this is our life right now, and it sucks. It's hard. It's unfair. But it's our life right now. They have the power, whoever or wherever they are. They are in charged. They can screw with your brain, and they will not hesitate to do so. And if you want to get out of here with your sanity, you're going to have to accept that. Because I reckon there's only so much of their tricks they can perform on us before we're cracked. While you're here, you're going to have to have the best time of your life. Our old life, it does not exist. It's a memory, it's not real now. Not while we're here. Understand?"

Willow nodded under Patricia's grasp. She let go of the smaller girl, who backed away and stared at Patricia as if it were her first time seeing her ever. They locked eyes, and Willow looked down right terrified. For a moment, Patricia worried she'd been too harsh. But then, Willow put up a grin so wide and happy, that Patricia was nearly convinced. "I'm going to get some scones. Would you like for me to bring you one?"

Door 3

Fabian and Nina were in Penelope's garden. At home it was a flush beautiful meadow with flower beds and sometimes little animals. Here it was dead and crunchy, but it was also very cold. Even so, Fabian didn't think the place could look so dead even with thin layers of snow.

"It was burnt sometime over the year." Nina said. "It's how I met the rebellion. They'd lost people, food, their area of shelter... it was really bad."

Fabian shivered from both the cold and her words. "No jackets here?"

Nina shrugged. "Gross animal skins."

Fabian nodded. "I've been meaning to ask, what animal skin have I been laying on?"

"Lots of wild boar. There's a lot of lynxes around here, and there may be a pack of wolves or two. I once saw a raccoon, that was terrifying." Nina said. "The animals that have habitats in the UK are the animals that roam around here, so there's not that much. If we were in America, we'd have to deal with a lot more."

"Like what?"

"We have wolves too. Um panthers, a lot of bears, wild dogs, cougars, bobcats, alligators," she gasped and looked wide eyed. "Have you ever seen a moose? I haven't but they're huge. If I ended up in a future 'after earth' type dimension and there was a moose walking around, I wouldn't know what to do."

Fabina chuckled, but shivered again. Nina smiled. "When we start, you'll warm up."

Fabian bounced a bit and cracked his neck. "What first then?"

Nina smiled. "Attack me."

Fabian's eyebrows lifted slowly. "I'm not going to attack you."

"Don't worry. You're not strong enough to actually hurt me." Nina reassured him.

"Thanks," Fabian deadpanned. "That's a sure way to make me feel good about myself."

Nina chuckled. "I just mean you don't know how to fight, you're not going to be able to do any damage."

"Keep going, my ego really needed a boost."

"Just-"

Fabian ran at her, and for a second she didn't move. Then, fast as light, she ducked out of the way and then gave him a light smack on the cheek. He stumbled back, not in pain, but in surprise.

"When you ran at me you left your face, neck, and chest wide open. You had your arms out from the start so I could tell exactly what you were doing, and you weren't even checking to see what my next move was going to be." Nina listed off. "Try again, keep your arms up. And... don't... tackle me. Swing at me."

Fabian moved his overgrown fringe off his forehead and put his arms up. He swung, and she quickly blocked it with her own arm. When he didn't do anything she said, 'keep going'. He tried again with his other arm, unknowingly leaving his middle wide open. Nina pushed him away hard, and he stumbled but kept upright. Nina was at him again in a second, and he rushed to block his face. Nina flipped him over and he landed on the ground with a loud thump. She landed on top of him, holding his hands down with her left arm and her right foot, used her body weight to keep his legs down, and held a stick to his throat as if it were a knife.

Fabian coughed quietly, "And now I'm dead?"

"And now you're dead." Nina smiled and got off of him. Fabian groaned.

"Don't leave yet, it was just getting good." he mumbled. Nina snorted and Fabian looked surprised that she heard him. He smiled, despite his cheeks gaining color.

He stood up, and Nina surprised him by wrapping her arms around him. At first he tensed up, thinking it was another test or more training. But then he warmed up to it and wrapped his arms around her too. They hadn't done anything like this in a very long time.

Nina spoke quietly, "Thanks for coming to get us."

Fabian scoffed. "Of course. Me, Patricia, and Amber knew what we had to do."

Nina suddenly pulled back with wide eyes. "Patricia and Amber? Where are they?"

Fabian shrugged sadly. "They went after the others, they're either back home or... stuck as well."

Nina gulped. "What do you think is behind the other doors?"

"No idea. Hopefully nothing too bad." Fabian sighed. "We have to get out of here."

Nina nodded. "We can go to find KT and Mick sometime in the next week. We can try talking to them one more time."

Fabian smiled. "Good, maybe if we try to talk to them and reason with them, we'll be able to get some sense into them."

Nina nodded. "Yeah, well until then, arms up."

Door 4

Alfie sat in his room with used, black matches in a pile around him. He listened to the chimes of the clock as a new hour rolled around. He took another match, lit it, and put it against his arm. He felt the burn send heat throughout his arm and he gritted his teeth. Then he shook the flame away, dropped it to the floor with the others, and examined all the burns on his arms... legs... torso...

They all did this at some point. The pain made them feel human. He even once saw Amber continuously snap a rubber band on her wrist until it was red and welty. She didn't even seem to notice she was doing it until Joy said something to her.

Alfie didn't know what they all did, but he knew they did it. He suspected Jerome just went straight for a knife, which made him sick. Joy might use thumbtacks or something. She always had small punctures on her hands, and he wondered how many more of them he would see if he looked at her arms.

The Commander called them all to him, and he pulled his sleeves down, wincing as the fabric brushed against his burnt arms. They were lined up in front of him. He had two manila folders in his hands this time. He gave one to Jerome and one to Amber.

"Two jobs in one night?" Joy asked uncertainly.

"You three are going to take Mike Vander. Blonde is going to have Polly Feldspar." he said. "I have a second car for her."

Amber's heart beat quickly. "I could go with Amber- Blonde." Alfie said quickly.

The Commander shook his head, and handed them each a set of keys. He left without another word. Amber held the key and the folder in shaky arms, and looked at her friends with wide eyes.

"It's going to be okay." Joy said quietly as they walked outside. Jerome took her folder and looked through it as Joy spoke. "We're pretty sure the cars are bugged. So this is what you're going to do. You're going to go to the woman, and stay there. When we're finished, we'll go there and do the job, okay?"

"On foot." Jerome said. "So he won't even know we left our post." Amber nodded.

She watched them get into the car and drive away. She looked around for the other car, and started towards her job.

The neighborhood she drove to was quiet. She parked outside Feldspar's house and waited quietly. She wondered how long the other job would take. She absentmindedly rubbed on her burning wrist. She looked out the window, as if expecting to see her friends. Instead she saw Polly Feldspar. She was going into her house.

Amber didn't know what made her do it, but she got out of the car. She approached Polly at her door, who jumped when she saw Amber. "You here for money?" she asked quietly. Amber nodded and wondered how the woman knew. "Thought so. He usually doesn't send you alone though does he?"

"Do you have it or not?" Amber said more forcefully than she meant.

"Built for business, that's right. Give me a minute, I'll get your money."

Amber stopped the woman from going in with a strong grip, and silently wondered what had come over her. "I'm not to let you out of my sight."

Polly looked down at her arm, and shakily said, "Right..."

Amber followed Polly inside and up the stairs into an office. "In cash."

Polly rolled her eyes. "Yeah I know, I know, here."

Amber was handed a small pouch. She opened it and silently counted the money. Then she smiled as a weight was lifted off of her shoulders.

"If everyone just had what was owed, it'd make things a lot easier everyone involved." she said. Polly nodded, looking as if she wanted to tell Amber to get out, but knew she didn't have a position of power at the moment. Amber left, put the money in the car, and waited again for her friends. When time went on and there was no sign of them, she got worried.

Quickly, on impulse again, she knocked on Polly Feldspar's door. Polly jumped at the sight of Amber.

"It's all there!"

"I know." Amber said. "Do you have a computer?"

After looking up Mike Vander, Amber drove to his address. He lived in an apartment on the other side of town. When she got there she gasped.

A 'dead' Jerome on hanging out of the window, Alfie was nowhere to be seen. Joy had Mike Vander held captive in one arm and her other hand held a hammer. Vander was desperately trying to get away, but with one loud crack, Joy connected the head of the hammer to Mike's temple. There was no way the man was still alive, but Joy didn't stop. She swung again, blood splattering over her face and her arms as she continued to hit him, over and over again.

"Joy!" Amber called. The smaller girl stopped and looked up. Her whole face was dripping in blood that wasn't hers. She gulped and dropped the hammer.

She wiped her face, doing nothing but smearing it on her, and chuckled nervously. "I got a little carried away."