I had a dream. I was back in my hometown Fallkirk, Cathesia. I was standing in the rice fields while the wind rippled through the stalks. The sun overhead was shining and warm and the sky was the brightest hue of blue with not a cloud in the sky. My family's small and humble house was standing just on the other side of the field. If this were real life, I would be able to smell the scent of dirt and grass and hear the humming of bugs.
I felt a tug on the bottom of my shirt and looked down. My brother Ezra was looking up at me with wide eyes. "Evelyn! Evelyn! Why did you leave us?"
I smiled down at him. "What do you mean? I'm right here."
Ezra shook his head. "You betrayed us! You have blood on your hands! There's blood, Evelyn!"
I frowned. "Ez, what are you talking about? That's such nonsense."
"Blood, Evenlyn, blood!" Ezra continued to chant. "You have blood on your hands. Blood!"
I decided to look down at my hands, and he was indeed correct. Thin, dark red liquid covered my hands, dripping down on the ground and around my feet. I looked back at Ezra and was startled to see a grotesque figure staring back at me. Most of Ezra's skin had melted off his face, exposing most of his muscle and bone and his eye had almost fallen out of one socket. His hair was so thin and was starting to fall out. "You've killed us all."
I woke up in a cold sweat, bolting right up in bed. I heard the sound of a heart monitor next to me and was greeted by the smell of hand sanitizer and floor cleaner. My heart was still racing, which was also audible on the heart monitor.
"Oh, my God! You're up!" Charmaine sat up so fast in the chair next to my bed. "Girl, you had me so scared! You were missing all day and then I got a call from the hospital after work saying that you were anonymously admitted. God, girl, are you okay?"
"Ugh, I feel so tired. I had a horrible nightmare- "
I was cut off when the curtain in front of me opened and a nurse walked in. "Oh, so you are awake. That's good to see, Miss Anong." She moved over to me and started checking my vitals. "How are you feeling?"
"Sleepy."
The nurse nodded. "Typical in concussed patients. You're lucky it wasn't so bad. When you were brought into us you were asleep and the doctor was worried you wouldn't make it. How else are you feeling? Nauseous? Dizzy? Confused?"
I shook my head.
"I see. Well, whoever brought you in here clearly knew how to care for you. Usually an unmonitored concussion can turn badly very quickly." The nurse glanced over at Charmaine. "You are miss Anong's roommate, correct?"
Charmaine gave the nurse a crooked smile. "Yes, that's me."
"It's quite amazing how Miss Anong put you down as her emergency contact. If she hadn't done that at border patrol, there would have been no way to contact you. When she was brought in, the people who brought her reported that her stuff went missing when they found her. In fact, they brought in a group of people with her who were also unconscious and missing their personal belongings."
Charmaine gasped. "Oh, my god! So, like, was Evelyn taken by ruffians who mugged her?!"
The nurse shrugged. "We don't know, and due to the laws here, we won't be able to investigate them. Now, Miss Anong, I know you probably won't remember, but can you tell me anything that happened before you were brought here?"
"I-" I was going to tell her about the Rebellion and how they rescued me from a government research facility, but my instincts told me to keep quiet about it. "…I can't really remember anything," I lied.
The nurse frowned. "I see." She typed some notes on an electric clipboard she carried. She probably didn't believe me but didn't press for answers either.
"Wait, girl, you don't remember going to work?" Charmaine interrupted.
I cocked my head to one side in confusion. "Huh?"
"She was going to work before this?" The nurse raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Charmaine pulled out her holo-device and pulled up the job listing I had shared with her weeks ago. "It was her first day today."
The nurse studied the image. "A lot of buildings in that area have become abandoned. My guess is that Miss Anong went there unknowingly and got assaulted there when some group of kids later found her and brought her in."
Charmaine gasped. "Oh, my god! Was she…?" Charmaine couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence.
The nurse shook her head. "There's no signs of sexual assault or drugging. There is, however, clear evidence of blunt force trauma to the head, which would explain the concussion."
"Oh, my God, were the other people that were brought in at the same all like that, too?"
"I legally cannot answer that, but I will say that Miss Anong has had an incredibly recovery and will be discharged today. She will, of course, still need to be monitored and rest often. I would recommend staying away from physical and social activities. Make sure she drinks a lot of water, too, because she was very dehydrated when she was brought to us."
Charmaine nodded. "I understand. Thank you so much."
𓅫𓅫𓅫𓅫𓅫𓅫𓅫𓅫𓅫𓅫𓅫𓅫𓅫𓅫𓅫𓅫𓅫
Everything about the room was perfectly aligned and proportional. Each side of the desk had an equal amount of fountain pens lined up perfectly proportionate with the same amount of spacing. Every wall was adorned with the same amount of picture frames on each side with the same spacing and elevation. Whatever was on one side of the room was reflected on the other. And best of all, it was quiet and peaceful. So quiet you could hear a pin drop. The room was perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
Someone came bustling through the double doors in a frantic hurry. Alas, the absolute epitome of chaos and disorder. Just one small thing could ruin the order of everything.
"Mister President!"
The Raven clenched both gloved fists over his desk. "What is it?"
The interrupter nervously pushed his hair back and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Um… well, I…"
"Spit it out."
"Right, sir, well, um… there was an issue with the previous phase of Operation Swan Song."
The Raven looked down at his suit and noticed a piece of lint. How vexing. He flicked it off. "Do tell."
"W-well, everything was going as planned but before we could inject the microchips into the human hosts we were interrupted by the Rebellion."
The Raven nodded. "Yes, I expected this."
The man stared gobsmacked. "Y-you did?"
"Yes," the Raven folded his hands together. It was hard for the man to read the Raven's expression because of the plague mask and his voice didn't give away any emotion either. "I am used to the Rebellion trying to interfere with my plans, but they are nothing more than a nuisance."
"But, sir, don't you think if we tracked down the Rebellion we could get rid of them a lot sooner?"
"Yes," the Raven agreed. "And that is all part of Operation Swan Song. Let me ask you, Dr. Reyes, do you think I'm dumb enough to tell a bunch of my cohorts in the Eagle Office about my plan to carry out OSS in a research facility where we would carry out an experiment on innocent people?"
Dr. Reyes shook his head. "N-no, sir."
"Correct. If I were to seriously carry out that step it would only be between you and me."
"So then why did you tell everyone, sir?"
Dr. Reyes could've sworn the tinted eye glasses of the mask glinted for a second. "Because, Dr. Reyes," the Raven mused. "It was a test."
"A test, sir?"
"Precisely." The Raven rolled the cuffs of his sleeves up. The suit was a bit long. He'd have to chastise his tailor about it later. "I've noticed while carrying out OSS that the Rebellion have been able to track my every movement and next course of action. And why do you think that is, Dr. Reyes?"
"Because…they're spying on you, sir?"
"Exactly. In order to confirm my suspicion that they had planted a spy in my office, I told all my closest members of office about my plan to start implanting the chips on test subjects and I gave them the exact location for it. And wouldn't you know it? The following week when the plan is supposed to be executed the Rebellion show up to infiltrate the facility. Now I know for sure someone who is working under me is a spy for the Rebellion."
Dr. Reyes's mouth cracked a smirk, which turned into a laugh. "Wow, sir. You are truly brilliant. So, um, you're not mad that the hostages escaped?"
"No. That is almost exactly the outcome I expected. As long as they were unaware of what is going on, they are no problem."
Dr. Reyes chuckled. "Don't worry, sir. Every person we kidnapped had been lured to a discreet location where we knocked them out before bringing them to the facility. And then once they got there we put them all under anesthesia to carry…out…the experiment…" Dr. Reyes trailed off as he suddenly remembered something.
"What is it, doctor," the Raven asked. "Your face has gone quite pale."
"I, um," Dr. Reyes felt like he swallowed a rock. "I may have missed something."
"And what is that, Doctor?"
"I think I, uh," Dr. Reyes pushed his hair back and pushed his glasses up. "I think I may have missed someone."
The Raven paused, making Dr. Reyes even more nervous. Was he going to have him imprisoned, too? Or even executed like the last guy? "You…missed someone?"
"Yes, sir," Dr. Reyes gulped.
"And what do you mean you 'missed' someone, Dr. Reyes?"
"I-I-I may have forgotten to give anesth-th-thesia to one of the subjects."
"And was this person awake the whole time?"
"I don't know, sir," Dr. Reyes said truthfully.
"I see," the Revan sat back in his chair and it squeaked. He immediately sat up again. "Do you remember who this person was?"
"Y-yes! I think I can remember if I look through all the records." Dr. Reyes took out a mini flat rectangle that extended in his hands into an electric clipboard. He swiped through all the subjects before he landed on the one he recognized. "Her!" Dr. Reyes projected the image in the air and enlarged it so the Raven could see. "She was knocked unconscious when I put her on the table, but I got caught up in preparing everything else that it slipped my mind that I hadn't given her anesthesia yet. I'm deeply sorry, sir- ."
The Raven held up a hand to silence him. "Evelyn Anong, huh? What do you know about her?"
"Well, she just moved here from Cathesia yesterday. We have her holo-device and the border patrol must have some of her personal information on file, too."
"Hm…" the Raven pondered for a moment. "Find as much information on her as possible. Call border patrol, housing, schools, hospitals, whatever. Find her so we know if she poses a threat. She's had contact with the Rebellion, so we don't know if they brainwashed her to sabotage us. If she does turn out to be a threat, she needs to be eliminated immediately."
"Yes, sir, right away."
"Also," the Raven added. "Keep an eye out for anyone in the office who seems suspicious. There's a Rebel amongst us and whoever they are, I want to catch them."
"Absolutely, sir."
"You're dismissed."
Dr. Reyes scurried out of the room before the guards shut the doors behind him. The Raven sighed. He tapped the small black cube on his desk and a holographic screen opened up. He selected the call function and dialed a number, waiting for the line to connect. "Give me all the information you have on the Anong family in Cathesia."