*Damian's*
Both exhausted and famished, we all walk down the stretched path of the subway. I scanned each one of my comrades who were left. We didn't have any moment to honor the death of those that we lost.
Moreover, we were off to a rough start. We were ready for any traps laid out for us and we knew that at some point we will lose some of us. We just didn't anticipate that we would lose this many at the beginning.
Commander Zeph who was leading us all the way still looked stern, but you could tell that he too was tired already.
He had watched several of man under his wings die helplessly. Even if he doesn't say it, we know that it would forever haunt him. We lost all sense of time as we wander straight ahead. We followed Magnus' instructions up until we saw the railway but beyond that? It was up to the commander in charge. And in this situation, well, Commander Zeph is the only commander left alive.
I glanced at Maki and saw how wobbly his walks were.
"You holding up there buddy?"
He looked at me and only nodded briefly at me. His face masked with no emotions other than exhaustion.
"Couldn't be any better"
I too, only nodded at him and our brief discussion has come to an end.
No one from the team was also talking. Maybe it was because we all had our memories and emotions sealed that it was hard for us to converse with one another.
After all, If it weren't for Magnus, I wouldn't have known Maki's name. Although, after saying it in my head a couple of times, I knew that it wasn't a stranger's name.
Our footsteps echoed all throughout the walls of the subway. It was somehow getting on my nerves. How quiet this part is and how above we know that dozens, no maybe hundreds of our enemies are walking and marching, waiting to kill several rebellious people.
I breathed out a cold air as I felt the temperature of my surroundings changed. I grabbed the cloth around my neck and pulled it higher as if to alleviate the coldness somehow.
I looked around, but it was only me who felt that way. Maki who was wearing a wide neck shirt and jacket doesn't seem to feel the change in the air.
I would've let it slip, but I just couldn't let it go like earlier. When I felt the hostile intention, I should've done something. If I did, I could've saved a few more of us or gave a warning ahead of time.
I should've not ignored that gut feeling telling me that something was wrong. And right now, something is indeed wrong.
I patted Maki's shoulders and walked ahead to where Commander Zeph was.
"Commander"
"What is it?"
"Don't you feel the cold air?"
This made Commander Zeph stop on his tracks. He stared at me and for a moment looked at every last one of our comrades.
"We'll take a rest in here, go find a comfortable space to rest."
After instructing everyone else, he grabbed me by my elbow and dragged me somewhere far enough for our team to hear.
"I thought it was just chills that I have been feeling"
This made my eyes grew wider. I thought it was something no one else felt.
"Is something wrong?"
As I asked this, Commander Zeph sighed and stared at me.
"To be honest, we're going around in circles"
"Circles?"
I was confused. Everything looked exactly the same to me, so I never really thought that we were going in circles.
But Commander Zeph only looked at me and pointed a small red dot not far from where we were standing.
"I put that small red dot there not too long ago. Do you think it's possible to have the same red dot in this massive subway?"
Obviously no.
"Let's recon for a meantime. I'll plan it out, better get some rest too lad."
I nodded at Commander Zeph and went near the wall and seated myself in a sitting position. Maki sat right beside me.
"You feeling good?"
I looked at Maki and saw him panting like he just went on a jog.
"Actually, don't you feel breathless?"
"I feel cold, I'll give you that"
Maki only shook his head and steadied his breathing. It really did look like he was having a hard time breathing. Suddenly a wild thought came into mind. No, it was more like a glimpse of memory.
"Hey, did you have a disease before where it was hard to breathe?"
Maki stared at me for a moment like he was debating whether to tell me or not, but he did somehow.
"Asthma, I had asthma up until I was in grade school. It somehow magically disappeared after that. It was about five years ago."
I scanned some of our comrades, and it looked like none of them had any breathing problems.
"Hey"
It was then that someone walked up to us. We looked up and saw two. One, had a mid-length hair that was tied up in a ponytail. Brown hair and tanned skin that goes along with his deep black orbs.
I remember him being one from the Omicron faction. The other one who had the same Mohawk hairstyle as our Commander was someone from the Delta Faction.
I only nodded at them as I don't know what their name is and truthfully, I don't think we had any interactions before.
"Sorry but don't you feel that nauseating smell?"
The one with the Mohawk hairstyle said as he coughed on his sleeve again. I looked at Maki, and he only shook his head.
"What kind of smell?"
"Like smoke"
He answered briefly which made me raise an eyebrow. The other guy who was with him took care to explain it to me.
"We asked because it doesn't seem like anyone else had smelt it. I can't either, but he's been saying this since earlier"
"Earlier?"
"Yes, when we entered the subway, I started smelling this smell"
"And I can't smell what he was smelling"
Is it like how cold I am but Maki doesn't and how Maki felt breathless even though I don't?
"Don't you feel cold?" I asked.
The two only looked at each other and shook his head. I thought everybody else felt that way because Commander Zeph also felt it, but I guess I was wrong.
"I've been feeling breathless since earlier, any similar situation?"
Maki who was staying silent suddenly blurted out and stood up.
"The only thing that's leaving me breathless is this foul smell"
I stood up and look at the guy from the Omicron faction.
"How about you?"
He stared at me before sighing heavily.
"I've been hearing this terrible ringing in my ear every once in a while since we got here"
"Ringing? Like Tinnitus?"
"Exactly like Tinnitus. I've served in the front lines before and an explosion damaged my ears, so I had them for a while. But it was already cured five years ago, so I doubt that it had come back"
A disease that was cured before? Like Maki's asthma, and it was also five years ago. I glanced at the guy with the Mohawk cut.
"You?"
"What about me? I've told you before, this foul smell kept on stanching my nose"
"I meant, did you have any similar disease before?"
The guy squinted his eyes at us.
"I don't know. How do you even know that thing when our memories are blocked?"
The phrase that he said made my feet even colder. I looked at Maki and the other guy and saw how pale their faces were.
"Bud?"
I grabbed Maki at the shoulder and saw how he was sweating profusely.
"That's right, our memories should have been sealed and can only be undone by a certain keyword. I don't know how I knew about my Asthma, but I was certain about that"
Right? I was the one who asked him, and yet I too don't understand how I could've known about that.
"Fire"
We turned around to look at the Mohawk guy.
"I remember being inside a burning house. I was a child, and the smell of the fire and smoke was too much that it almost left me breathless"
"Y… you"
"How did you know that?"
This time I was the one who asked him. He shook his head as if saying he too doesn't know.
"That was all I could remember to be honest. Apart from that I don't know remember anything anymore"
"What are you doing here? I have been looking for you"
We turned to see Commander Zeph and two others walking to our side. Most of our comrades were also looking at us. I guess it was kind of an eye catcher especially when we don't have any reason to huddle up like this. But, it turns out we do have a reason.
"Commander, a glimpse of their memories escaped from the blockage"
This caught Commander Zeph and the others off guard. But what surprised us the most was that the two others behind him slowly bowed their heads.
"So does some of us"
We looked at Commander Zeph and that was when he looked at the other two behind him.
"The feeling that you felt is something associated with a disease, fear or accident that you all had before. This just confirmed my hunch that the seals in our memories were slowly unlatching"
He then stared at me deeply and breathed out a heavy sigh.
"I can't send out a recon team due to this. There must be something out there that is playing with our minds"
I felt another shiver run through my spine. I wrapped my arms around myself tighter. A memory. I closed my eyes as if to remember what exactly was associated with this cold feeling.
But it doesn't come to me what exactly what it was. It was then that I heard a screech. A screech so loud it made me shut my eyes more. It lasted for seconds and when I opened my eyes, what I saw beyond the other end of the subway was something none of us could imagine.
"RUN"
We all didn't need a second to be told what to do. The seated ones, stood up and were on their feet by the second.
Commander Zeph lead us and everyone followed him with no hesitation. There was no time to even look back. Even if we did, there was only one thing that registered to our senses.
It was danger.
Blood shot eyes, tall slither-like physiques, reptile-like scales and fangs that drool blood.
I remember them.
The genetically mutated merpeople who were once been told as folklore. I remember being told that the captured merpeople were mutated with snakes and other animals for research purposes.
That was one of the information that wasn't sealed in our memories. After all, after their discovery nobody knew where these creatures went or the genetically mutated were.
Now we know. They're being used to haunt down rebels.
It was that moment that I looked back and deeply regretted it.
With their slither movements and soft voices, they grab some of us and eats the head with no hesitation.
Monsters.
But why…
'Damian'
Why does this voice sound so familiar?
'Damian, save me. Help me. Don't leave me alone.'
Why? Who are you?
Before I knew it my feet stopped running and as I looked back. I saw myself facing one the merpeople. But instead of blood shot eyes and reptile like skin what I saw was a face that I could barely remember.
Jet black hair, brown eyes, features so soft that you could barely call her rough. I knew that face. No, I've loved that face.
"Maia"