Chapter 4
The Interrogation
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Jon opened his eyes.
Darkness.
It was everywhere.
For several seconds, he didn't move.
His head throbbed.
His neck burned where Hope had struck him.
He tried to lift an arm.
Clank.
Metal.
His wrist was restrained.
He pulled again.
Clank.
The other one was restrained too.
His breathing quickened.
"Where am I?"
His voice disappeared into the darkness.
No answer.
He looked around.
Nothing.
Only a single light hanging somewhere above him.
Its weak glow illuminated the floor beneath his feet and little else.
Cold stone pressed against his back.
He shifted.
His ankles were restrained as well.
"Okay…"
He swallowed.
"This is probably worse than the haunted house."
A voice answered from the darkness.
"Who sent you?"
Jon froze.
Looked around for the source of the voice.
A figure stepped into the light.
Hope.
She stood several feet away.
Her arms were crossed.
Her expression was unreadable.
Jon stared at her.
"You."
"Who sent you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
A second figure stepped into the edge of the light.
A young woman.
She wore a pale jacket beneath a darker coat, her expression calm and observant. Her eyes moved over Jon with the patience of someone studying an unfamiliar animal.
Another figure stood farther behind her.
A young man.
He was carrying some kind of tablet, but unlike the doctor from the facility, his attention seemed to be divided between the device and Jon himself.
He looked almost fascinated.
Hope spoke again.
"Who sent you?"
Jon pulled against the restraints.
"I told you. I don't know."
"The Ten Fingers?"
Jon frowned.
"The what?"
Nobody answered.
Hope's eyes narrowed.
"The Ten Fingers."
"I don't know what that is."
The young woman exchanged a quick glance with the young man.
Hope remained still.
"Then who are you?"
Jon looked at her.
Silence.
His mouth opened.
Nothing came.
He looked down at himself.
His hands.
His clothes.
The cold floor.
The restraints.
His chest.
Nothing.
"I…"
His voice became quieter.
"I don't know."
The young man lowered his tablet.
"That isn't possible."
Jon looked toward him.
"Believe me."
"I want to."
The young man stepped closer.
"But the human brain doesn't simply erase everything."
Jon gave him a tired look.
"Mine apparently did."
The young woman spoke.
"Name."
Jon stared at her.
"I don't have one."
"Everyone has a name."
"I don't remember mine."
"Birthplace?"
"Don't know."
"Family?"
"Don't know."
"Occupation?"
"Don't know."
"Affiliation?"
"Don't know."
She didn't react.
"Where were you before you were found?"
Jon closed his eyes.
Rain.
A rooftop.
White light.
A sensation in his chest.
Then nothing.
"I don't know."
The room became quiet.
The young man looked at Hope.
Hope looked back at him.
Jon watched the exchange.
They were communicating without speaking.
That made him nervous.
He pulled against the restraints again.
"Can somebody at least tell me what this place is?"
Nothing. No one responded.
"Who you are?"
Still nothing.
"Why I'm here?"
Hope finally answered.
"Because we don't know what you are."
Jon stared at her.
"What?"
"We don't know where you came from."
"You know I fell from the sky."
"Yes."
"You know I was almost dead."
"Yes."
"You know I woke up with no memory."
"....Yes."
Jon looked around the room.
"Then what exactly do you want from me?"
Hope stepped closer.
"The truth."
Jon laughed once.
It wasn't amused.
"I've been giving you the truth."
Hope's expression didn't change.
"You could be lying."
"I could be." He nodded.
"So could you."
The young man looked toward Hope.
"He has a point."
Hope glanced at him.
"Devis."
"What?"
"Not helping."
Devis shrugged.
"I was being objective."
Jon looked at him.
"Who are you?"
Devis smiled slightly.
"Good question."
The other woman gave him a warning look.
"Devis."
"Uh. Fine."
He raised his hands.
Jon looked between them.
Nobody seemed interested in introducing themselves.
"Great."
He leaned his head back against the wall.
"I've been kidnapped by people who refuse to even introduce themselves."
Hope's lips almost twitched.
Almost.
The other woman stepped forward.
"Stellar."
Jon looked at her.
She gestured toward herself.
"Stellar."
She then pointed toward Devis.
"Devis."
Jon nodded slowly.
"And… you're Hope."
"Yes."
"Good."
He looked around the room.
"Now we're all slightly less terrifying."
Devis actually laughed.
Stellar didn't.
Hope remained expressionless.
.....
Mins passed with uncomfortable silence stretching on.
No one was willing to talk.
Devis moved toward a small console and picked it up.
A screen then flickered to life.
Jon's body appeared on it.
Scans.
Measurements.
Heart rate.
Neurological activity.
Images from the medical facility.
Then something else.
A three-dimensional model of Jon's body.
Jon stared.
"What is that?"
Devis glanced at the projection.
"Something we don't understand."
Jon's eyes narrowed.
"You've scanned me."
"Several times."
"And?"
Devis hesitated. Looked at the others.
"That's the problem."
"What is?"
"You're very normal."
Jon blinked.
"That's good, isn't it?"
"No."
…
Devis rotated the projection.
"Not under these circumstances."
Images of Jon's internal anatomy floated above the screen.
No wound.
No scar.
Nothing obviously wrong.
Then the display paused.
Devis enlarged the image.
A faint distortion appeared near the center of Jon's chest.
Jon stared.
"What is that?"
"We don't know."
"Is that inside me?"
Devis nodded.
"Possibly."
"Possibly?"
"We can't properly isolate it."
Jon's expression tightened.
"Did the doctors see it?"
"Maybe."
"That's reassuring."
Devis ignored the sarcasm.
"We're still trying to determine whether it's an object, an energy field, an anomaly, or some combination of the three."
Jon stared at his chest.
Flashes appeared in his mind.
Only for an instant.
He remembered the crystal.
The lightning.
The hole.
The impossible light.
He immediately buried the memory.
"Whatever it is…"
He looked back at them.
"I don't know anything about it."
Stellar watched his face.
She wasn't watching the projection anymore.
She was watching him.
"You really don't."
Jon looked at her.
"No."
Something changed in her expression.
Not trust.
Something closer to doubt.
Doubt in their own assumptions.
…..
Hope moved closer.
"Let's try something else."
Jon looked at her.
"What?"
"what are you going to do?"
"You said you remember falling."
"Yes."
"Before that?"
"Nothing."
"Try."
"I already have."
"Try again."
Jon sighed.
He closed his eyes.
The room disappeared.
Rain.
Wind.
Concrete.
Someone searching.
A wrapped object.
A voice.
Then white.
He flinched.
His breathing became heavier.
"I can see…"
Hope leaned forward.
"What?"
"A roof."
Devis immediately started typing.
"What kind?"
"I don't know."
"City?"
"I don't know."
"Night or day?"
"Night."
Stellar looked at Hope.
Hope nodded for him to continue.
"There's…"
Jon frowned.
"Something in my hands."
"What?"
"I don't know."
"Describe it."
"I can't."
"Try."
He clenched his fists.
"It was wrapped."
Everyone became still.
"Wrapped in what?" Hope asked.
"Cloth."
"What was inside?"
Jon opened his eyes.
"I don't know."
Hope stared at him.
He stared back.
"You have to believe me."
"We don't have to do anything."
"Then what do you want me to say?"
His voice cracked.
"I don't remember!"
Silence.
His chest rose and fell rapidly.
"This isn't some act."
He looked at each of them.
"I don't know my name."
Nothing.
"I don't know where I came from."
Nothing.
"I don't know why I was on that roof."
Nothing.
"I don't know why you people are looking at me like I'm supposed to have answers."
His voice dropped.
"Because I don't."
Stellar looked away.
Devis slowly lowered his tablet.
Hope remained still. She looked at him.
Then she spoke.
"Leave us."
Devis looked at her.
"Hope—"
"Now."
He hesitated.
Then nodded.
Stellar remained.
Hope glanced at her.
Stellar sighed.
"Fine."
She turned toward Jon.
"For what it's worth…"
She paused.
"I think he's telling the truth."
Jon looked at her.
Hope said nothing.
Stellar walked out.
Devis followed.
The door shut.
Hope and Jon were left alone.
…..
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Hope pulled a chair forward and sat.
"You know what scares me?"
Jon stared at her.
"You."
"That wasn't what I expected."
"But I can live with that"
Hope leaned forward.
"You woke up in a medical facility with no memory, no identity, no history anyone can verify, and a biological anomaly inside your chest."
She paused.
"Then we brought you here."
Jon listened.
"You don't know who we are."
"No."
"You don't know what the Ten Fingers are."
"No."
"You don't know about the Hunters."
"No."
"You don't know about the Rebels."
"No."
"And yet you're somehow completely calm."
Jon laughed bitterly.
"I'm not calm."
Hope tilted her head.
"You look calm."
"I'm terrified."
That caught her attention.
Jon looked down at his restraints.
"I just don't know what I'm supposed to be afraid of."
Hope didn't answer.
Jon looked back at her.
"If you want me dead…"
He swallowed.
"…then just do it."
Hope stared at him.
"But if you don't…"
His voice became quieter.
"Please stop asking me questions I can't answer."
For a long moment, she said nothing.
Then:
"You really don't remember."
It wasn't a question.
Jon shook his head.
"No."
Hope stood.
She walked toward the door.
Before leaving, she looked back at him.
"Get some sleep."
Jon stared at her.
"Why?"
"We'll continue tomorrow."
The door opened.
"Hope."
She stopped.
"Am I your prisoner?"
She looked over her shoulder.
"For now."
The door closed.
Jon stared at it.
"Great."
…..
He didn't sleep.
He couldn't.
Every time he closed his eyes, the same fragments returned.
Lightning.
Rain.
The rooftop.
A distant voice.
The strange object in his hands.
And something else.
A heartbeat.
Too loud.
Too close.
He could feel it against his chest.
Bdum.
He froze.
Bdum.
Again.
The warmth returned.
He looked at the restraints.
Then at his hand.
Nothing.
He tried pulling.
The metal didn't move.
He closed his eyes.
Bdum.
The warmth became stronger.
A strange pressure spread through his chest.
He winced.
"What is going on?"
The restraints tightened.
He gasped.
Pain shot across his body.
Then—
Crack.
One of the restraints split.
Jon stared.
He hadn't pulled hard enough.
He knew he hadn't.
He looked down.
A faint blue light shimmered beneath his skin.
His eyes widened.
"What…"
The light vanished.
The broken restraint fell onto the floor.
Clang.
Jon froze.
Footsteps sounded outside.
He looked toward the door.
Someone was coming.
He didn't think.
He pulled at the remaining restraint.
Crack.
It broke too.
The door opened.
Jon moved.
Fast.
A guard stepped inside.
The guard barely had time to react.
Jon shoved past him.
"Hey!"
Jon ran.
He didn't know where he was going.
He didn't know the building.
He only knew one thing.
Away.
"Stop!"
Alarms erupted.
Red lights flashed through the corridors.
Jon sprinted down the first corridor he found.
Someone shouted behind him.
"Lock the eastern wing!"
"He's escaped!"
"Cut him off!"
Jon turned a corner.
Wrong way.
Dead end.
He spun around.
Footsteps thundered toward him.
He looked through a nearby door.
A storage room.
He dove inside.
Two guards raced past.
He waited.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Silence.
Jon slipped out.
He found another corridor.
Then stairs.
Then a service door.
He pushed it open.
Cold air hit his face.
Trees.
Darkness.
Freedom.
He ran.
…..
The forest swallowed him.
Branches tore at his clothes.
Mud splashed beneath his boots.
He didn't stop.
Behind him, voices grew distant.
Then disappeared.
He slowed.
His lungs burned.
He bent over, trying to catch his breath.
Nothing.
No voices.
No footsteps.
No lights.
He looked around.
Nothing but trees.
He had escaped.
For the first time since waking up, nobody was telling him what to do.
He stood straight.
He looked back toward the darkness behind him.
Then forward.
A faint smile appeared.
I'm free.
The thought felt strange.
Almost foreign.
He started walking.
Minutes passed.
The forest gradually thinned.
The trees became shorter.
The ground flattened.
Then he heard something.
A distant sound.
He stopped.
Listened.
A low mechanical hum.
Then another.
Lights appeared between the trees.
White.
Blue.
Red.
Jon stepped forward.
He pushed through the final line of trees.
His eyes widened.
A city stretched across the horizon.
Towering structures pierced the night.
Neon lights crawled across enormous buildings.
Vehicles streamed through elevated roads.
Drones moved between skyscrapers.
Holographic advertisements floated above the streets.
The city looked impossibly advanced.
Jon stood at the edge of the forest.
His mouth hung slightly open.
For a moment, he forgot everything else.
"Where…"
He swallowed.
"…am I?"
A vehicle screamed past on the distant road.
Jon stepped toward the lights.
Civilization.
People.
Answers.
Maybe someone would know him.
Maybe someone would know where he came from.
He walked toward the city.
He had no idea that the moment he entered it, escaping the Rebels would become the least of his problems.