Undiscovered (Unremembered #1.5)(19)

As soon as the door sealed shut behind him, the screens flickered back to life, filling the room once again with a warm sunset.

I didn’t know what was going to happen next. He said he wouldn’t—or, rather couldn’t—recode my memories, but he also hadn’t bothered to release me.

So what was I still doing here?

A moment later, I felt the sharp prick of a needle stab into the back of my neck. As my eyelids started to droop and I slipped into the looming darkness, I focused on the sunset that surrounded me. A picturesque view of somewhere far, far away. Somewhere without Diotech. Without Memory Coders. Without compound walls. I tried to imagine a life inside that illusion. A peaceful, serene world where a sunset like this was the only miracle to be found.





14: Cut


I woke up in my bed feeling groggy. My vision was shrouded in an unsettling white mist. I sat up and took inventory of my memories. I fought to remember how I’d gotten there, what had happened the night before. And slowly, reassuringly, everything came back to me.

The failed escape plan. Seraphina’s face as they took her. My conversation with Rio. Even the needle piercing my skin, putting me to sleep.

They didn’t take it.

They didn’t take anything.

Although just the fact that I thought to check my own brain was proof enough. If they’d recoded my memories, I wouldn’t have had any inclination to verify that they were intact.

But still, I found it strange.

Why not recode me? Rio clearly didn’t want me to have anything to do with his little science experiment. He filled my system with the same poison they used on their other memory victims—I was fairly sure that’s what the needle prick was—but then they left my mind intact. They clearly only used it to sedate me so they could bring me here.

Perhaps to instill some kind of fear in me? To let me know that they could take whatever they wanted? That they had the ability to manipulate me, too, just like they do with everyone else on this godforsaken compound?

Just like they clearly did to Sera last night after she was taken away?

I heard what Dr. Rio said to Director Raze. Full restoration.

The reality sank into my heart like a heavy stone.

They would erase me.

She would not remember me. Or the escape. Or anything.

I would have to start all over…again.

I attempted to reassure myself that it didn’t matter. That I’d done it numerous times before. That no matter what they took from her, she would always remember me somehow. In some deep part of her soul. I simply needed to reawaken that part.

I simply needed to remind her.

Still, it wasn’t ideal. It was never ideal. It would never be ideal as long as she was here. As long as she was a prisoner of this place.

For so many years, I considered myself the prisoner. I griped and fought and rebelled against the invisible chains that kept me here, just because I had a mother who valued science over anything else. And a father who couldn’t deal with her choices.

But Seraphina was the real victim. Worse than any of the rabbits or nanocams or vaporous gases I could ever release into the wild.

And I was now more convinced than ever that I had to set her free.

That I wouldn’t stop until she was safely away from here.

*

I went to school like it was any other day. I studied hard. I behaved well. I didn’t let on that anything had happened the night before. If anything, I’d want my teacher to report back to Dr. Rio that I’d been a good little boy today. Maybe then he’d believe that he had gotten through to me. The last thing I needed was a suspicious Havin Rio on my case.

I waited until nightfall before slipping out of the house.

As expected, there was nothing buried under the bench in Seraphina’s yard. She didn’t remember me.

That was okay. Tonight, I didn’t need her to fall in love with me all over again. I just needed her to trust me enough to let me try what I came here to try.

It took a few hours of coaxing, recounting some of the highlights of our past together, before something flickered in her eyes. A flash of recognition. It occurred when I recited the poem. “Sonnet 116.” It had become her favorite.

I made a mental note to remember that.

Something about that poem was imprinted on her soul. Not to be erased by any Diotech Memory Coder. No matter what they did to her brain.

“You…” she said warily, almost afraid of her own voice.

“Yes,” I assured her. “Lyzender.”

She shook her head, as though trying to shake away cobwebs.

“But you like to call me Zen.”

This did something. Her mouth fell open. I could almost see the neural pathways connecting in her brain. Or at least trying. I knew they would never actually find a way to reach one another. Her recollection of me always came from somewhere else. Somewhere deep within.

“Sera,” I said urgently, “I don’t have a lot of time before your fath—before Dr. Rio gets back. But I need to try something. I need you to let me try something.”

She nodded, still in a slight daze.

I swallowed hard. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. In fact, it would be downright impossible. How could I possibly do something that would cause her pain? Would I even be able to go through with it?

I willed myself to continue. I was doing it for her. I was doing it to set her free.