Page 17 of Anarchy Chained: Alpha Thomas

CHAPTER SIX - SADIE

If I wasn’t scared out of my mind, I’d laugh at the man’s shock. Thomas, he called himself. It feels familiar. I look around at the total destruction in this room. I can see outside. A hole has been blown into the wall.

That is not familiar, but the other side—the side with a door, complete with frame, still standing amid the missing wall—that side seems familiar.

How did I get here? Why can’t I remember anything?

“Where,” Thomas says, bringing my attention back to him, “the fuck did you just come from?”

I open my mouth. Clearly about to say something. But my mind is… blank.

And everything, I mean everything, about my blank mind is wrong.

“What’s happening?” I ask.

“I think you’re the one with the answer to that question. You just appeared here. You’re not a patient, are you?”

He’s pointing at my clothes again. Why am I wearing this ridiculous uniform? “No, I’m not a patient. I’m here for you!” It comes from somewhere, but I have no idea where.

“Me?”

The sirens downstairs are louder now. I can hear people shouting.

“I need to go, sweetheart.”

I don’t bother answering him. I just whirl around and make for what used to be the hallway. There’s no one up here but us right now. But there will be soon. And whatever is happening, the last place on Earth I want to be stuck is inside this hospital.

Thomas catches up to me, grabbing hold of my hand. “Look. We can help each other out. How about that? I need to get out of here. You need to get out of here. Do that illusionist thing again so we can slip by everyone.”

“I’m not a patient,” I say, looking him up and down as I pick my way through piles of debris, making my way towards the sign that says exit.

Exit.

Yes, this feels right. For whatever reason, this exit sign is exactly where I need to go. “I have no idea who you are.”

“That’s not saying much.” He laughs. “You don’t know who you are either.”

We both start jogging down the stairs towards the ground floor. “Well, I do know I’m not a patient. And you clearly are.”

“I’m here by mistake. Just like you.”

But that doesn’t ring true. Not the part about him. The part about me. I am here for a reason. I just don’t remember it.

He squeezes my hand tighter, making me acutely aware that he’s still got a hold of it. “Just get us out, OK? We can put all the pieces together once we’re away from here. I promise, I’ll take you somewhere safe so you can figure it out. Sound good?”

I want to put up a big fight right now, but I don’t have many choices. What if I am a patient? What if they stop us downstairs and try to take me… prisoner?

When we get to the third floor, the stairwell becomes clogged with people. Nurses and patients. There’s screaming and pushing. Panic, I realize. People are about to panic.

Thomas pulls me close to him, leaning into to whisper in my year. “Just be calm. We’re gonna flow right out of the building with everyone else. When we get outside, we’ll head to the parking lot. You disguise us as… whoever the fuck you want. Just not the real us, got it?”

I say nothing.

“Then I’ll get us a car and we’ll drive out amid the chaos.”

I’m still too busy concentrating on the mass hysteria around me to answer.

“Listen to me, trippy chick,” Thomas says, squeezing my hand hard. “Do you understand me?”