Chapter 20

  ACT 4

  Year 2210

  SS Pier Pressure

  Personal Journal - Day 21

  I have no idea where we are other then somewhere in the Atlantic. It's a medium size transport, jammed full with goods. The sailors won't speak to me, I'm a waste of space, it sounds like only the Captain is getting paid for my transport.

  Learning Japanese is going slow, I overheard some of the crew speaking Japanese, but they haven't spoken to me yet.

  This isn't the adventure and freedom that I had hoped for. I dreamed of the wilderness, away from people, not to be sitting here in my cabin.

  My fricken insane brother is here watching me write; I'm going to have to kill him.

  “A bit melodramatic brother...”

  I found out he was on board yesterday. Well, he found me. After trying feebly to strike him I'm resigned to the fact I'll have to entertain him until we get to our destination; for the safety of the crew.

  The crew not wanting anything to do with me bodes well for them; not for me though. Stinger won't kill me here. He wants to see me suffer. Suffer more.

  Being in close proximity to him, to them, has caused old feelings to rise up; Carl. I can feel him. As I watch the suit swirl I can see all three of them, Carl calls to me, she longs for me, the brother loves then hates me, like a flipped coin falling to the ground.

  “Tell me, do they actually speak to you as well brother?” He asks.

  “Yes, in a way. I feel Carl most right now. I know little of brother Terry.”

  He has a far off pensive look. “Terry has seen things, done things when he was serving in the military. The problem is he never left the killing overseas when he came home. You weren't the first person I murdered brother.” The look on his face hardens, his left eye twitches as he sneers and grinds his teeth. “We all wanted blood, we all wanted the war on terror. After the Twin Towers fell America just wanted to make THEM all fucking pay. It was my job to deliver vengeance and I did my job well, then they discharged me for it, if you can believe that. I did what they needed at Guantanamo Bay, they wanted results at all cost, I made them speak, some gave up their own mothers to end the pain. There are kinds of pain you can inflict on the human body and mind that one will do anything to stop.”

  This is it, this is my enemy. It's clear as day now, maybe he can be saved if I can sever brother Terry.

  “Brother, this isn't what's going on today. There is no America, there is no war on terror. There is Manhattan Island and the Province up north. The settlement is still there in the province because the population was so small, spread out and there were no useful resources, they didn't bother with taking it over. The Others control everything else. It is humanity versus the Others, we are not the enemy.”

  His look is maniacal, he's speaking gibberish, flailing about, I can feel the pain of Carl and her pleading with brother Terry. He's flailing around violently, the suit a mix of spikes, circling pools and waves.

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  He suddenly stops.

  He looks at me; the same look he gave Carl before he stabbed him, a calculating murderous look. There is a blur and I'm pinned to the wall, the suit piercing both my shoulders, a third spike from the suit in the side of my ribs. He twists the spike in my ribs, the pain is blinding, I can feel the spike articulate and move around under my ribs, there is a cutting, I scream out.

  Everything goes dark.

  “Are you awake? I see your eyes twitching.” He says in a soft voice says. There is a pungent rotten ammonia smell, it makes me want to be sick. I force my eyes open, I'm in the bed, he's kneeling beside me. “You really ought to not antagonize Terry, he kind of runs things. He never was right when he got back from the service.”

  His mannerisms; it feels like her. The sympathetic look.

  I'm afraid to talk, what if I set him off?

  “What happened?” I manage to whisper, my voice is raw.

  “Oh, he removed your appendix, he was going to remove your liver as well but you passed out. You don't need it but it's already grown back. We also lacerated most of your organs, you've been out of it for a month or so. It's over there in the bag; he won't let us throw it out until we show you, that's what the smell is.”

  I wretch but hold it back. “Just, show me so you can throw it out.”

  He stands, slowly walking over to the blood soaked bag. I start to tremble, he took out part of me and is going to show me, part of me, my body. I'm thin like before when they starved us, I haven't eaten since he struck me. He holds the bag in front of me, the smell is overwhelming.

  “I'm sorry, he...”

  “Just fricken get it over with!”

  He opens the bag; I glance then roll away, off the cot, crashing to the ground, stumbling to my knees I wretch up some bile. Hand shaking I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. My head is screaming.

  “I will dispose of it now.” He says.

  “Either kill me or get me food and water.” I say in a raw, choking voice.

  “We'll feed you, that is something we all agree on. Oh, and I have spoken to them, they know me as your shadow. They know of my power from the training modal Underwood had me take. You really should have taken it. Apparently there are others with the 'Gift' as they call it, where we're going. They said they will not disturb us. They were so cute, they said if I was onboard when we arrived at Tokyo I would be arrested.”

  “I didn't know there were others with the Gift.” I say.

  “Yoooou are a liiiiaaaarr... So that's why you're going to Japan. I can read your mind brother. Soooo, why do you want the training now, hm?”

  I just glare at him, I can feel my heart beating like the boat engine, my jaw aches from grinding my teeth, a dull ache between my eyes. His arrogant, smug look turns to a look of doubt, an uneasy look I haven't seen on his face in over a decade. He knows my goal is to kill him now, and that it may be a possibility.

  “I will protect them at all cost, even if it means killing my brother.” I say, steady and clear.

  He blurs, I'm pressed against the wall, his hand around my throat. I'm not afraid, I've accepted I have no control, I am doing all I can to protect my daughter, it'll be enough or it won't.

  I tear wells in his eye, “I can't believe you want to kill me.”

  And then he vanishes.

  Personal Journal

  Day 51

  My brother is here, but not. I haven't seen him since I told him I would kill him for my family. My beautiful Jennifer, I've been dreaming of her most nights, sweet beautiful dreams of her smile, her laugh. Then I wake, I try to force myself back to sleep, when that fails most days I weep, knowing how things went, praying she is recovering, knowing what I dreamed was merely a dream.

  But the fragments of it were real. Some day's I'm overcome with the guilt of how I influenced which memory that she had. Did I really think my brother was just a figment of my imagination when I confessed to him I wanted my Jennifer to always remember me, for what we had to be real?

  We're due to be in port tomorrow. I have no idea what to expect, my learning Japanese really didn't happen. One crewmate who everyone calls Happy has spoken with me some. Apparently they have been ordered not to talk to me, and that 'my shadow' as he's been named by the crew will indeed be arrested in port. I find this hard to believe though, he's, well simply unbeatable. Even if I learn the 'Gift' he still has the suit, the Gift would just give me a chance to beat him.