End Times V: Kingdom of Hell by Shane Carrow

Author:Shane Carrow [Carrow, Shane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-02-22T22:00:00+00:00

September 25

They threw me back into my cell in the afternoon, bleeding from every part of my body, wheezing with every breath. I’ve lost the ring finger on my left hand as well, now. There’s a blood-stained bandage trailing around it. I don’t know why. I don’t know if I said something that pissed Draeger off, or if he just did it for no reason.

I don’t remember what happened in there at all. I spent the day sitting at Cottesloe Beach in high summer. Sunbathing with a towel over my eyes to protect me from the glare. Snorkelling through underwater caves, watching stingrays and wobbegongs glide lazily across the sand. Eating fish and chips on the grass under the shade of the Norfolk pines.

Back in the cell I was sobbing. Not just from the pain, not just from the loss of another finger. I was sobbing because I’d forgotten, because I’d thought for those beautiful few hours that the dream world was real. I’d forgotten that there’d ever been an apocalypse event, that I was partly alien, that I’d been captured by a psychotic dictator with information that he needed. To come crashing back down into that brutal reality was worse than any torture Draeger could unleash.

Aaron, I said weakly, lying on my foul mattress, trying not to move. I want to go back.

You’re not being tortured right now, he said.

The pain’s still there, I pleaded.

Yeah, he replied tersely. I know.

So what are you waiting for?

You forgot, he accused me. You’ve been doing it a lot. And we can’t afford to let that happen.

Why not? I snarled.

Because we might lose you for good, he said softly. You might lose all your memories, of everything that’s happened since the collapse. You might even lose your mind.

So that was the inherent risk. That was what he hadn’t told me about.

I didn’t care. I’m dying here, Aaron, I pleaded. Please. Please don’t make me go through this.

Aaron hesitated. I could feel his mind connected to the Endeavour, as they had a quick discussion that I didn’t have access to. After a moment Aaron returned, and said, Okay, man. Hold on.

I smiled in relief. A few seconds later the pain melted away from my bones, the smell of my own sweat and piss disappeared, and I was standing in the kitchen of the Aroma Cafe at Southlands Boulevard, shoving a rack of plates and cutlery through the dishwasher while the manager yelled at me to hurry up.

Oh, yes. I remembered that job. I’d only ended up working there a month before quitting during a rush on Anzac Day, vowing never to work as a dishpig again. It had been hot, loud, messy, humid and stressful.

But compared to my cell, it was heaven.

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