Chapter 15
When Sarah opened her bedroom door that morning, she couldn't help but be a bit shocked at the sight of Nathon waiting for her. Quickly recovering, she stretched nonchalantly with a yawn. "Get a good night's sleep, Nathon?"
"Not really. We need to talk to you." Nathon kept a stony expression, crossing his arms over his chest.
"About what? Don't we have things to do today?" Sarah began to glare.
"Elliot knows you know who she is." Sarah's eyebrows rose, and her eyes darkened. "She wants to know what you know and we want to go back to the office building." Sarah glared at him a few seconds more before brushing past him, grabbing an energy bar from the kitchen, and then walking into the library, where Elliot was dozing.
Nathon followed her, taking a seat on the couch next to Elliot, while Sarah sat down in a chair across the dimly lit room, the only light source the east-facing window and the faint dawn light. As Sarah munched on the power bar, Elliot and Nathon told her what they knew. When they were done, Sarah continued to eat thoughtfully.
"I'm not going back there," Sarah said after swallowing her last bite of breakfast, "there's no reason to and it's dangerous, and not only because we could get eaten just trying to get there. That building is just as fortified as this one, and who knows who might be holed up in there."
"Those are all good points, Sarah," Elliot said, glowering, "but I'm not really inclined to trust you. For the entire time you've been staying here, under my roof and my protection, you've neglected to mention that you know who I am and what happened to me. Obviously, you have your own motives and your own secrets to keep, but I only care about the ones that concern me, as I have every right to. So you can tell me what you know, or we can just go and find out ourselves."
Sarah remained silent, weighing her options. Whether Elliot believed her or not, there probably really were people holed up in the office. "Tell me this dream or memory or whatever it was you had."
Elliot sighed. "It's fuzzy. My eyes were closed most of the time; I just heard a conversation between two people, they were both women. One was in charge; she was referred to as 'chief'. The other was Tim-something. They said something about you missing, and the other explained how Nathon was a secret test subject. They thought you'd kidnapped him, I think. The boss was sick, maybe she had the virus- the other said something about putting her in isolation."
Sarah perked up. "Well that's informative." After a slight pause, she continued. "Here are the basics. Elliot, you were the head of a top-secret division of the CIA that studied and maintained zombies, the undead, the reanimated, what have you. If your memory really is a memory, and not just some brain-trauma induced hallucination, then yes, Fritz, or the chief, was probably somehow infected about a month before we showed up on your doorstep. She had visited the department as our supervisor, and had spent most of the time down in research, which was headed by Timelyson, the other woman you heard. She was third in command, behind you and I. I was head of the annihilation squad, and all that that implies." Sarah examined her nails. "Our department had developed a technology to wipe memories, a useful tool in our line of work, as you can imagine. Fritz used it against us. I was there the next day when a team came in and wiped the entire department. I was able to escape, and, as you know, I grabbed Nathon on the way out. I thought he worked in research, I didn't know he was just a janitor." Sarah resisted the urge to glare at him.
"So you didn't kidnap me?" Nathon asked, even though he wouldn't believe any answer she gave him.
"I did not. I was trying to save you."
Elliot asked the question that had plagued her mind for six weeks. "And why did you come here?"
Sarah stared at her blankly for a moment. "Where the hell else was I supposed to go? Do you know of a more fortified house? A more prepared person?" Sarah laughed harshly. "Even with your memory wiped you know what you're doing. You've got your notes."
Elliot instinctively hugged her stomach and the concealed journal tucked into her belt.
"You may have lost the knowledge you needed to survive, but you made sure beforehand that in the worst-case scenario you could relearn it. A smart plan, I had a similar book."
Nathon noticed Elliot's face begin to crumple. Obviously, she was coming undone again, she'd had enough revelations for one day. "Thank you, Sarah, for sharing with us. Now we know where we came from. But now we need to focus on how to get back." Nathon said. "We can get in from the subway, right?"
Sarah looked through the window to the now almost-risen sun. "If we're going today we need to leave within the hour." Sarah stood up. "Better pull yourself together, Greenwall. We've got work to do."