Revived (Revived, #1)

by Jodie Kobe

  Chapter sixteen

  V I V I A N

  There are no logical words that I can think of to reply to what Mr. Welds has just said. My mouth keeps opening and closing but nothing comes out, only a pathetic squeak.

  Somewhere, deep down inside of me, I had believed Rob’s words. Since Mr. Welds has said it's true, now I am forced to believe it. It’s true. I murdered someone.

  I think I’m going to faint.

  “Would you like to know more?” Mr. Welds asks.

  I nod my head slowly. I need to know more. If I’m going to get attacked by a psycho, I should at least know the real reason behind it.

  Mr. Welds sits up a little straighter and plays with two small cubes on his desk. He says, “Now I have most of your past and data memorized, so forgive me if I disturb you in any way. I’ve reviewed your documents more than once.”

  I nod to show him I understand. He continues. “You may want to sit down...unless you prefer to stand.” He points to the white couch against the wall and waits for our decision. Rian immediately takes a seat on the couch and I plop down next to him.

  “Continue,” Rian tells Mr. Welds.

  Mr. Welds clears his throat and wipes his hand on his shirt before beginning. “I don’t know how hard this will be to believe, Miss Clancy.” He pauses, clearing his throat again. “Ever since you were fifteen years old you were taken from your house to be trained as a heartless, impassive soldier. But that’s my opinion, of course. Every soldier there seemed cold-blooded. Every soldier was trained to fight for the dictatorial government. But someone broke you out and you joined the group opposing the government. Before your murder, you helped the rebels for six years. The government that they were fighting against wasn’t stable, so all it took to shut it down was the death of its leader, Thomas Garmin. And you, Ms. Clancy, were the one who killed him.” Mr. Welds pauses to let me and Rian take it all in. I just stare at him.

  “What about me?” Rian asks quietly. “Where was I?”

  Mr. Welds sighs. “You,” he says, “you were part of the rebelling group as well. You knew who Vivian was.”

  Rian and I exchange glances with each other. He knew me? How come I don’t remember that? If I knew him from my past life, why am I not able to recognize his face right now? But then again, the only people I remember from my life are my parents and my brother.

  How did I have another life before this?

  “Why don’t I remember any of this?” I ask.

  Mr. Welds reaches into his lab coat pocket and sets a flat device onto the table. “Ms. Clancy, remember when I told you to let go of your past and start over?”

  I nod but I don’t agree with that quote. I don’t want to let it go. I want to know more.

  Mr. Welds flips the device over and over in his hand. I find myself staring at it.

  “We altered a few things to make people forget about their past lives,” he says. “We let them have the memories of their families but I think it’s best that they forget who they used to be, don’t you agree?”

  Absolutely not. These strange scientists—who I wouldn’t even want to call scientists—have stolen people’s memories just because they think it’s for the better? I don’t really want to agree with that.

  I stay silent, and Rian speaks instead. He points a finger at himself and almost stands up as he says, “I’ve been here for two years and you’ve never informed me of this?”

  “We don’t tell anyone else these things, so why would we tell you?” Mr. Welds asks.

  “You’ve been training me to become a scientist,” Rian exclaims. “Didn’t you think I had a right to know who I used to be?”

  Mr. Welds clears his throat and looks away for a few seconds. “Like I said...when you get the chance to start a life over, you take it. So we did that for you. We started your life over.”

  Rian leans back on the couch and lets out a breath. “So.” He pauses. “When I was told my family died, was that the truth?”

  Mr. Welds raises both of his eyebrows and a look of confusion passes over his face. “Of course it’s the truth. Most people who have been revived have no family either. But some are lucky to have siblings here.”

  Just like me. My brother lives here.

  Rian stares at the ground, thinking. When he looks back up, he’s looking at me. He says, “Do you remember me from a long time ago?”

  I’m caught by surprise by that question. It takes me a few seconds to actually answer it. “No. I don’t.”

  Rian nods and turns back to Mr. Welds. “Are you sure you don’t have us mixed up with someone else? Are you sure we were part of some resistance? Are you sure Vivian and I knew each other?”

  “This is the complete truth. And yes, you two worked together for some of the missions. According to records, Vivian Clancy and Rian Callum met each other at the government base and both of you were broken out and welcomed into a rebel camp. This is the complete truth. We just felt the need to reunite you two again...so we did. We made Mr. Callum your tour guide,” he tells me.

  “You made me be Megan’s tour guide,” Rian says. “Does that mean I know her from somewhere too?”

  Mr. Welds shakes his head. “I don’t believe so.”

  I’m trying to believe this but I just can’t grasp the fact that I had another life a long time ago.

  Dying and freezing, then coming back to life again?

  I shake my head. “H-how—?” My voice cracks. I start over. “How did I die?”

  Mr. Welds doesn’t wait to answer. “You were stabbed to death.”

  That sentence makes me shiver involuntarily.

  It reminds me of Rob. Rob and the knife. Being stabbed to death….

  “How did I die?” I say. And who killed me? Was it Rob? I want to ask, although I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. Rob is thirty years old now, and I got stabbed thirty years ago. He would have been a baby then.

  “Are you sure you want to know?” Mr. Welds asks quietly.

  Rian nods while I say, “We came here to find out what happened to us. So tell us.” I try to sound as polite as possible.

  “Both of you,” Mr. Welds begins, “were stabbed to death.” He taps his chest, somewhere close to the spot where his heart is supposed to be located. “In the heart...three times.”

  I place my hand against my chest, imagining a knife being driven into my heart. Rob wanted to do that. He would have done that if…

  If what? a voice says in the back of my head. If someone wouldn’t have interfered? Who exactly was it that interfered? Maybe Janelle was right. If Rob had wanted to kill you so bad, he would have done it by now. He wouldn’t have sat in that wheelchair with a knife in his hand—

  I shake my head to clear my thoughts. What are you talking about?

  My other voice doesn’t answer.

  “What about my parents?” I ask. I only have a vague memory of them. “How did they die? Who were they?”

  The device clatters from Mr. Welds hands and onto the table. He picks it up again and starts playing with it, saying, “Your parents, if I remember correctly, were Allison and Grayson Clancy. They were not part of the resistance. They were normal people, struggling to fit into the society. They died of natural causes, just like I told you. They weren’t murdered. I promise.”

  Promises coming from someone I don’t know too well mean nothing to me.

  He continues flipping the device around in his hand and I stare at it. It’s not something I recognize. It’s flat but not as thin as a tablet.

  Stop fiddling with that! I want to tell him. Then I look down at my own hands and nearly laugh. My nails are digging into my jeans. I let my fingers relax.

  I look over at Rian. He’s leaning against the couch, his arms crossed. I try to do the same thing but don't feel comfortable.

  “What do you mean they were struggling to fit into society?” I ask him, hugging my knees. “What was happening with the government?”

  Mr. Welds shrugs like it’s supposed to be
obvious. “Oh, you know...if there’s a dictator, there’s bound to be a strict government.” The device’s screen lights up and he brings it close to his face, reading whatever has just appeared. He grunts one time before setting it down.

  “What did they do to the people?” I ask.

  Mr. Welds shrugs again. “They decreased people’s food portions...or decreased people’s payment. Many lost a lot of their rights.” He takes a breath. “But the government has fallen long ago, and the earth is left only a ruin.”

  Rian finally speaks up. “It’s possible that people still live on Earth, right?”

  Mr. Welds’ head bobs up and down. “A very large chance, for we cannot be the only human beings on Earth. There is life out there, yes. There are other continents.”

  "Have you tried looking for them?" I ask.

  Mr. Welds shakes his head. "Ms. Clancy, we can't even get past the exit doors of this building. We've tried, yes. But it's not possible to succeed...yet."

  "Yet?" Rian and I say in unison.

  Mr. Welds scratches his head. "We are...currently working on it."

  Rian holds up a finger. "Wait. Wait a second." He takes a deep breath and goes silent for several seconds. "That machine," he finally says. "That machine you showed me...um...a year ago."

  Mr. Welds nods his head. "Correct. Yes. We even gave you a brief description of its purpose. You remember that?"

  Rian nods. "You said you're working on developing a device to—”

  "Convert the poisonous air into oxygen,” Mr. Welds finishes.

  I'm confused. How is that possible? The world is huge. It'll have to take a lot of power, brains, and planning to create something like this. And there's another problem. If people die when they make contact with the earth's air, how will anyone be able to bring that machine outside?

  I ask that aloud.

  "We've thought about it," Mr. Welds says as he glances at the device in his hand again. "So we've attempted to create something for that."

  "Like what?" I ask.

  Mr. Welds points to me and Rian. "We are testing our possible solutions right this minute. We are experimenting on seven people."

  Seven people. What Rob had said to me floods into my mind.

  You could think of yourself as special, but only because you are one of the seven people who had their heart made for them.

  Mr. Welds is talking about us, the people with the tattooed hands. I look down at my right hand and curl my fingers, examining the swirl of black tattoos winding around my fingers.

  So this is what they mean. We have an artificial organ inside of our bodies. Mr. Welds told me these marks classify us. They separate us from the regular humans. That way, just by looking at our hands, people will be able to know if we're the important projects or not.

  "How can having a machine heart inside of us change anything?" I ask, looking back up at Mr. Welds. His eyebrows have raised.

  "Heart?" he says. "You know about that?"

  "Yes."

  I look over at Rian. He's not saying anything. Maybe this information is hard for him to take in.

  "Are you all right?" I ask him, tapping his shoulder gently so he knows I'm talking to him.

  His head turns to look at me with a frown on his face.

  He says, "Yes. I'm fine. It's just..." He turns back to Mr. Welds. "Why is this some big secret?"

  Mr. Welds slides the small device to the corner of the table and says, “We didn’t want to bring people’s hopes up. They were ready to get out of here and into the open air. What if we fail? We aren’t even sure this will work. Designing hearts to have enough power to keep a human being alive in an extremely cold and noxious environment? Does that seem possible to you?”

  I start to shake my head, then remember they have already created these hearts and planted them inside us.

  I nod my head instead.

  All that’s left is to test us outside in the Earth's air. “So basically, I have a robotic heart inside of me.” I point to the spot my heart is supposed to be located. “Right here?”

  “Precisely,” Mr. Welds says.

  This is hard to believe. I shake my head from confusion. “How is that possible? Did you cut us open?”

  Mr. Welds shrugs. “Rian and you were stabbed in the heart. You were already cut open. The rest...yes, we had to.”

  I grimace when Mr. Welds says “stabbed.” I don’t want to imagine it. How much pain was I in when they stabbed me to death?

  Rian speaks up, pointing to himself, then me. “Was anyone else who lives inside this building part of the resistance? Besides me and Vivian?” He holds up his tattooed hand. “Anyone with these?”

  Mr. Welds shakes his head. “No one else with these marks, no. And yes, there are more people that live here who were part of the rebellion. But I’m not able to list them from the top of my head.”

  “Are there any people who were part of the rebellion that we’ve talked to?” I ask. “Maybe my brother?”

  Mr. Welds says, “Ms. Clancy, we don’t keep track of all the people you’ve talked to. And no, I believe your brother never joined the military or even the rebellion. He was too young.”

  My brother used to be five years younger than me. But now he’s ten years older because he was thawed years earlier than I had been. He had a chance to live more years. But does he know all about this “Earth saving” project Mr. Welds is working on? Does he know about the artificial hearts? Does he know what the tattoos mean?

  Is he part of this?

  I clear my throat. “Mr. Welds?”

  He looks at me. “Yes, Ms. Clancy?”

  “Does my brother have any part in this?” I finish.

  “A small part.”

  “What does he do?”

  Mr. Welds reaches for the device on the table and presses a few buttons. Then he sets it down again. I don’t understand what its purpose is.

  “Well, Ms. Clancy,” he says, “your brother is the one who gave us permission to place one of the hearts inside you. You are part of our project to save Earth. Our goal is to revive it. To revive the plants. To revive humans. To revive life on Earth.”

  I don't move, but only stare at a blank spot on the wall. Piers let them stick a fake heart inside me. But why? What if I—?

  There’s no point arguing with this. It’s done.

  They won’t remove the heart anyway. Even if they would, I won’t be able to live anymore. My original heart has probably been burned away by now.

  “How am I part of the project?” I ask. “What’s so special about people existing with special hearts?”

  “The hearts will let you stay out in the earth’s air longer than a normal human being can. It powers your body and causes you to be immune to the frost and toxic air. Over time of course, the heart's shield will die down. That might take a couple of hours, but that’s plenty of time for you to place our machine in its proper spot. Then we will have to wait and see how it converts the air. Does it work, or do we have to restart the project all over again?”

  I continue to stare at the wall without saying a word.

  I forget Rian is sitting next to me until he says, “We’re going outside?” He sounds almost excited.

  “Yes,” Mr. Welds says. “And I hope this mission will succeed.”

  “Are you sure these hearts will make us immune to Earth’s air?” Rian asks.

  “Only for a couple of hours. Like I said, these hearts have a shield. It’s not activated yet. Once we do activate it, we’ll send you out.”

  I’m feeling light-headed but I’m not sure why. It might have to do with me hearing the words “we’ll send you out.” Just the thought of being outside makes my head spin.

  “When is this going to happen?” Rian asks.

  Mr. Welds smiles. “We’ve finished the machine a couple of weeks ago. All we have left to do is get three of the seven people ready. There are approximately two weeks left until we are able to launch this project. I’m quite enthusiastic becau
se we might actually have a chance to walk along earth’s fields, touch the plants, and breathe the air very, very soon.” Mr. Welds sounds like he’s daydreaming. His voice sounds distant, but excited at the same time.

  What they have planned to do sounds very interesting. It also sounds almost impossible. How were they able to create a machine that could convert the earth’s poisonous air into breathable air?

  “Ms. Clancy,” Mr. Welds says quietly. I look over to him. “You have the newest heart inside of you. It’s the smallest but the I believe it’s the most efficient. So in order to try it out, we’ve chosen you to be one of the three people who will go outside to plant our machine in its rightful spot.”

  I take a slow breath, clasp and unclasp my hands, then breathe again. I say, “Is it true that Rob designed the heart I have inside of me?”

  Mr. Welds nods. “He told you that?”

  I nod back. Having a heart made by someone who wants to kill me doesn’t exactly make me feel comfortable. Who knows what those hands did. What if he made a mistake? What if as soon as I step outside, I will die?

  “We were going to have to tell you our plan sooner or later. The date of its launch is slowly crawling closer. Ms. Clancy,” Mr. Welds says. “I know you’ve only been alive for four days, but are you ready to become part of the project?”

  Aren’t I already part of it?

  I think my head goes up and down.

  Rian raises a hand. “I’m going too.”