The Arliss

by Ann Bakshis

  “Don’t shoot,” Grimm says, putting his hands up. He has a gun in one of them, along with two weapons in holsters around his thighs. He also has a pack on his back, but I don’t recognize what type or what it might contain.

  “Where’d you come from?” I ask, keeping my weapon aimed at his head.

  “Rinku, or at least what’s left of it,” he replies.

  “Where’s your squad?”

  “I sent the ones that were with me back to Quarn. Are you the only one who made it out?”

  “No,” I stammer. “Keegan made it, too, but… Wavern killed him.”

  “He’s alive?” Grimm asks, startled.

  “Yes, thanks to Nex and the Arliss,” I say, then go on to explain everything that happened after the fire in the medical ward up until Andra’s murder.

  “Is he also responsible for what happened at the compound?”

  I nod.

  “Are you hurt?” he asks, still holding his hands in the air.

  “My ankle, I think it’s broken,” I answer as I lower the gun.

  Grimm comes around the couch, sits by my foot, and takes it gingerly in his hands to examine. I grimace in pain when he touches it.

  “Can you move your toes?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then it’s not broken, probably just a bad sprain.” He checks over the rest of me and finds the stitches gone from my forearm. “Did these come out in the attack?”

  “No, Wavern did this. I don’t know how, but he did.”

  Grimm checks the wound in my shoulder.

  “How’d you get here?” I ask.

  “Through the valley. The garage was hardly damaged and the door to the outside was wide open. I figured some of the survivors escaped that way so I sent my squad back to Quarn in the transport we’d used, took a four-seater ATV from the garage, and went searching.”

  “But what made you come here?”

  “Because it’s the only viable shelter around. You can’t get into Demos from the valley but you can enter the parking pad for the abandonment home—which is how I assume you got in.”

  “Yes, but from the Aslu Territory side. We couldn’t make it to the garage,” I respond. “Did you find anyone on your way here?”

  He averts his eyes. “Only what was left,” he says coldly.

  “How were they killed?”

  “They were torn apart, probably by Mulgrim.”

  “But none roam in that valley. They’re strictly on the east side of the Kai Mountains,” I say, protesting his logic.

  “I saw their tracks in the grass, caked in blood. What else could it have been?” he says with a shrug as he stands. “I’m going to look for something to wrap around your ankle for support.”

  “I want to come with you,” I say as I try to push myself up.

  “I won’t be gone long,” he says, irritated.

  “That’s not it.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “Just help me,” I say angrily because of his tone.

  He rolls his eyes, puts an arm around my waist, and we make our way towards the back of the room to an area with four sets of doors, two on either side of the hallway. We start with the ones on the left since we’re closer to them, but one is a boy’s locker room, and the other a filthy kitchen with no running water, so neither are any use to us. We pass the hallway, and when we open the third set of doors, we discover dust-covered medical supplies, tilted file cabinets, bent examination tables, rusted equipment, and a battered nurses’ station. Grimm helps me over to one of the tables and begins searching for a splint or wrap with my flashlight. He finds some material under a pile of debris by one of the busted cabinets and as he works on my ankle I look about the room, noticing that behind one of the file cabinets is a slit in the wall. I put my boot back on when he’s done, slowly get down from the exam table, and make my way over to the cabinet.

  “What are you doing?” Grimm asks when he notices me trying to push the heavy object aside.

  “It looks like there’s a door back here,” I grunt as I topple the cabinet over, exposing the concealed entrance.

  I touch the doorknob, an instant chill fills me, and my stomach falls. I push the door open and lights immediately turn on as I hear a generator kick in from somewhere off to my left. Grimm comes up behind me and gasps at the sight.

  Grungy blue tiles cling to the walls and discolored concrete makes up the floor. To the right and left are two workstations, but the horror is what’s in front of us that has us in fright. Twenty hospital beds line the back wall, each with fluid pumps attached, and some still containing liquids of various colors. Ragged curtains hang between each bed, but all are pushed up against the wall. I take another step into the room and see three mummified bodies of young children accidentally, or purposefully, forgotten after the bombing still strapped to their beds and left behind to die from starvation.

  “What is this place?” Grimm asks, fully entering the room.

  “This has to be the testing room,” I mumble.

  “The what?” he asks as he maneuvers around the pieces of debris that had fallen from the ceiling.

  “What do you remember of your childhood?”

  He turns to look at me. “Our training… school… you. Why?”

  “Nex told me that our medical records from the home weren’t transferred to the compounds when we moved,” I say as I hobble over to the workstation on the right. “The data in the compounds’ computers were about when we started in our squads. There’s nothing from before then.”

  “So?” Grimm asks, shrugging.

  I spot a cracked plasma screen on the floor by the entrance as well as a computer console underneath the station. I turn the computer on as well as its screen, then I switch on the plasma from the computer itself. Static fills the frame, so I scroll through the thousands of video files that appear on the monitor before me so I can find something to play. I have to use the search function to find Grimm’s files, select one labeled GT751, then hit play.

  The scene is of a young Grimm wearing a green hospital gown, and strapped to one of the beds. His eyes are listless, hair uncombed, and demeanor sluggish. The curtain is around him cutting him off from the others. I can hear screaming and moaning in the background.

  “Experiment 751. Subject is Grimm Thomas, age sixteen,” a voice I don’t recognize says from behind the camera.

  Grimm kneels in front of the screen and grazes the glass with his fingertips.

  “Go ahead and start the flow,” the man tells a young woman standing next to the bed.

  She turns on the fluid pump, and a light orange liquid begins coursing through Grimm’s veins. His muscles tighten and his eyes roll back in his head as he goes into a seizure. Neither the nurse nor the man behind the camera move to help Grimm.

  “Give him the other drug,” the man says calmly.

  The nurse stops the flow of the light orange liquid and replaces the container with a clear solution, which is immediately released into Grimm’s body. After what seems like minutes, the seizure passes and Grimm opens his eyes, fully alert.

  “Is it over?” he asks.

  The man finally comes into frame, which causes the young Grimm to recoil in fear.

  “Yes, son, you did fine,” the man says as the nurse unhooks the pump.

  “Do I have to do this again?” Grimm asks as he puts on some clothes that were piled on the floor.

  “Of course, but not for a few days. You need time to recuperate,” the man says.

  Grimm hurries away, the curtain falling back into place behind him, but the glimpse of the background is enough to reveal a couple of the squad leaders from Rinku and Virtus stomping around just outside. The man turns to the nurse as he pulls a tablet out from under his coat.

  “Will those two drugs be useful?” she asks as she comes up to his side.

  “The first one, no. According to the readouts it nearly killed Grimm, but the second drug freed him from the virus, so we should report that one as
successful,” the man says, smiling.

  I pause the recording and glance at Grimm, who looks to be in shock, so I step over and sit beside him.

  “Who’s that man?” I ask, pointing to the screen.

  “My former squad leader from Virtus,” he replies. “I…I don’t understand. What is this?”

  “There was a reason our medical files from the home were kept here,” I say as I pull my knees up to my chest. “The leaders experimented on us, since we were expendable. Nex told me that’s how they discovered Cymatilis, but I guess they were trying to create more than just the antitoxin.”

  “All the leaders knew? Even the compound leaders?”

  I nod. “It was a direct order from Myr herself,” I reply. “Each squad leader got to choose their victim. If you survived to the age of eighteen, your memories of the testing and abuse was wiped clean, while everything else was left intact before you were placed into your squad.”

  “Abuse? What kind of abuse?”

  “Beatings, and probably torture, but who really knows what all they did.”

  “And Nex told you this?”

  “Yes, but now I know it was only a ploy to get me to turn Wavern in to Andra,” I say, burying my head in my knees.

  Grimm stands and goes over to the nurses’ station. “Are there more files?” he asks eagerly.

  “Thousands from what I can tell,” I say, still sitting on my spot on the floor.

  I hear him scrolling through the list for a minute before finally stopping.

  “Here’s one labeled GTSR4,” he says.

  The image on the plasma changes to an even younger Grimm, probably around thirteen, judging by the fact that Nex said that was the age we were when all of this started. Grimm is cowering on a heavily stained floor, but it’s not the testing room. His arms are covered in bruises, some of them fresh.

  “Why do I have to keep doing this to you, Grimm?” the squad leader asks harshly.

  “Leave me alone,” Grimm whimpers.

  A small metal ball comes sweeping in on a chain and hits Grimm on the arms. He hollers in pain, but doesn’t move.

  “I’ll say it again, son—you’re mine and there isn’t anyone here to help you,” the man says sternly. “So stop pretending that your life is yours because it’s not. It’s mine… forever. You got that?”

  “No!” Grimm shouts.

  The leader grabs Grimm’s wrists, hauls him to his feet, and secures him to chains attached to the wall. He goes over to a rack filled with torture implements, takes one, and begins whipping Grimm until he passes out. The leader then leaves, so we fast forward the video until someone else appears on screen. I look at the timestamp and notice several hours have passed before a nurse comes down to collect him.

  Grimm pauses the video, and when I look over at him his eyes are filled with tears. His cheeks are red with anger.

  “Did they do this to everyone?” he asks.

  “Yes,” I reply.

  “Even you?”

  I close my eyes. “Yes.”

  “No wonder Keegan got away with everything he did,” Grimm says furiously. “He was just as bad as they were.”

  I abruptly stand and leave the room, heading back to the main space where I take my seat behind the couch. I can’t stomach hearing Keegan’s name, especially when it’s spoken by Grimm. It hurts too much because of what he did to Grimm and how Wavern killed him. I did love Keegan in a weird, sick kind of way, and I miss him… badly.

  Through the open doors I hear Grimm start another video, so I busy myself with sorting through the two packs to see if I can combine any of it to make it easier to carry. A short time later I hear him going through cabinets in the medical room as the recordings keep playing, probably looking for some Cymatilis which suggests he didn’t bring any. A sigh of relief escapes his lips, and he comes over to me with a small case of injectors loaded with the antitoxin.

  “Put this in your pack and give yourself an injection,” he says before returning to the testing room, closing the door behind him.

  I put what I can in Keegan’s pack since mine is filled with other stuff. Several hours pass and Grimm is still in the testing room, so I dig through the pack with the food, and eat one of the nutrition bars as I watch the sun finally sink and the stars begin to shine.

  “Sara,” Grimm says solemnly behind me.

  I hadn’t even heard him approach.

  “What?” I ask without turning around.

  “There’s something you need to see,” he responds.

  I begin to feel sick because I assume he’s found my recordings. I hang my head and try to disappear.

  “Sara,” he says again, this time almost in a whisper. “You know, don’t you?”

  “Did you watch them?” I ask, as I swallow bile.

  “Only a few minutes of one. I couldn’t stomach any more than that.”

  “How bad is it?”

  Grimm comes around the couch and sits in front of me. “Pretty bad,” he says. “Do you know how many girls Wavern did that to?”

  “Just me. Nex told me that I was his favorite, and I guess I still am since he claims he’s doing all of this for me.”

  “Did it continue when you got to Rinku?”

  I nod. “It got worse from what I’ve been told.” I still refuse to look at Grimm as I speak because I’m too mortified by the truth. “Wavern got me pregnant while I was still in the home, shortly before I was transferred to the compound. Right after I got to Rinku he had Nex terminate the pregnancy. He said he couldn’t risk anyone finding out what he’d done because I wasn’t of age. He had me sterilized and continued raping me up until a few years ago, when I began seeing Keegan. My memory was altered again, this time by Nex, but it still didn’t end. He started beating the shit out of me because I’d replaced him with Keegan, or at least that’s how he viewed my new relationship.” I glance up into Grimm’s sorrowful eyes. “He only stopped because Jules turned him in to Andra. Otherwise I’d probably be dead by now.”

  “And no one else knew about him doing this to you?”

  “He’s always been good at hiding things, so this wouldn’t have been any different. No one knew about the sexual assaults, except for Nex, and she kept her fucking mouth shut. Now I know why.”

  I can tell Grimm wants to hug me, but he’s afraid I’ll probably break. He’s right, I will.

  “It’s been a long day,” I say when the silence becomes awkward. “I’m tired and we probably should get some sleep.”

  “Okay,” he says quietly.

  I use my pack as a pillow and lie down where I’m sitting. Grimm digs around for a suitable cushion to use and sleeps a few feet away, but he keeps his eyes on me. I can’t sleep, but I need Grimm to if I’m going to hunt for that other room, the one in his torture video. I know I’m just going to make myself sick, or worse, but I need to see it to make it real. I don’t understand why I want to, it’s just an overwhelming sensation I have. Maybe I’m hoping it’ll trigger some type of recollection in me, but who would want to remember that part of their life?

  The moment I hear Grimm snoring, I get up and return to the testing room.

  The plasma screen is off, as is the computer, so at least I’m not walking into that. I scour the walls for another door, as something in the back of my mind is saying to look carefully around the room. I notice a storage closet set behind the nurses’ station, but when I open the door the closet is empty with the exception of another door set into the back wall. I open it to find a staircase that descends into darkness. The moment my foot touches the top step, lights shine from the walls and the dim glow radiates all the way down into a room below to reveal a door slightly ajar. I take my time going down, as my ankle is still throbbing. When I reach the room, I push the door open the remainder of the way as lights embedded in the ceiling turn on.

  The floor and walls are so heavily stained with blood and other fluids that I can’t tell what their original colors were. Across from the door is a rack f
illed with rusted torture devices, just like the ones I saw in Grimm’s recording. To the left of that is a series of chains attached to the wall, and on my right is a large circular bed with what looks to be freshly laundered sheets on the mattress.

  “What the hell?” I utter as my hand rises to my mouth.

  “Welcome home, Sara,” Wavern says behind me. “I was hoping you were coming here.”

  I spin around with one of my guns aimed at his head.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he says then flicks his wrist which causes something to pull the weapon out of my grasp and send it under the bed.

  I dive for it, but Wavern snatches my hair and pulls me back to my feet. As I struggle to reach the other weapon, Grimm comes bolting down the stairs with his gun drawn.

  “Let her go!” he demands.

  Wavern grins. “Sorry, Grimm, but she’s still out of your reach,” he says, holding up his hand and stretching his fingers.

  Grimm freezes in place, but his one arm is moving, placing the barrel of the gun against his temple.

  “No!” I scream.

  “Too late,” Wavern says and with a flick of his wrist Grimm pulls the trigger, shooting himself. Wavern then waves his hand and Grimm’s body disintegrates right before my eyes. He closes the door as the dust coats the stairs.

  “You fucking bastard!” I shriek as I try to kick him.

  He lifts me up and throws me hard onto the mattress, causing me to bounce and hit my head on the wall beside it. I’m dazed as Wavern climbs on top of me, one hand stroking my face while the other moves up under my shirt.

  “No,” I whimper as I try to push him off, but I’m in too much pain from the impact with the wall and my right arm to get a decent hold or any real strength behind it.

  “Don’t worry, my love, I’ll be gentle like always,” he says just as his mouth covers mine.

  I continue to fight him off, but his hand slides from my face to my neck and he starts to choke me. I struggle to breathe as he begins to undress, and I pass out just as the real nightmare begins.