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“At least I’m all real and not a machine,” he retorts.
I slam my fist into the side of his head, and he stumbles backward. “Seems the machine is getting the upper hand in this fight.”
My opponent is sweating from his exertions, but I’ve barely started to perspire. My heart rate is still average, but I suspect his will be sounding as loud as a thundering railroad train in his head.
He lunges for me again and knocks us both to the floor. He’s on top of me, punching me in the head. I bring my leg up and knee him in the back. He roars out a cry of agony but continues his assault. Using all my strength, I roll us over, and we tumble along the floor, a mass of fists and kicking legs. Our blood mixes together with the doctor’s to leave the room like the scene of a massacre. I have to give it to the idiot man. He has stamina. Most people I’ve fought would have rolled over and submitted to my superiority by now. I guess I’ll just have to keep going until he realizes he is going to die, and I can end this.
We stop rolling, and this time I’m on top. I punch him hard in the nose, and if it wasn’t broken before, it is now. His blood splatters across the room. I follow its path and see it land directly onto the still-frozen woman who is a heap on the floor. Red patches mark her porcelain skin where I had my hands around her neck.
“Why did you allow them to do this to you?” she whimpers. “I loved you.”
My world implodes. I gasp for air as my head starts to swim violently. Memories, words, emotions, a past buried deep in the artificially induced haze that the doctors created in my brain tumbles through my head like a whirlwind.
“Dollface,” I stutter and stumble backward. I recognize her despite the fact that her cherry-red hair is now black. She was once my everything, my world, and the reason that I am the way I am now. She shouldn’t be here. I got her out. If they find her, they will destroy her. She knows far too much about their establishment. She’s made a big mistake coming back here to kill those responsible for destroying us.
I’m focusing heavily on the woman that I love, the woman who was made for me, when the blow comes to the side of my head. My body weakens, and I fall to the floor. I’m not unconscious but dizzy. I can’t get back up.
“Mara,” I call out.
“We have to go.” The guy I was fighting is up on his feet and limping toward my woman.
“I can’t leave him. He remembered,” she pleads.
“If we stay here any longer, more guards will come. His conditioning will take over again soon, and he’ll forget. I can’t fight him much longer.” The guy is dragging her toward the door, but she pulls away from him.
“Conditioning?” I lie there thinking. What’s happening? She’s leaving. Not now. Please.
“Mara. We have to go. He won’t remember you in a few minutes. He’s one of them now. He’s doing to people what happened to you. Archer King is no longer the man you fell in love with. He’s a monster like them. We can’t save him.”
“Hunter. We can try?”
“He made his decision when he left you to join them.”
I’m listening to their conversation, but it’s making so little sense to me. Everything is beginning to turn hazy again. I can feel my strength returning. I’ll be ready to fight again in a few minutes.
“Ok.” She reluctantly takes his hand, and with a last look back at me on the floor, they leave.
“Mara,” I shout after them. I have to remember her. I can’t forget her again. I roll over onto my front and crawl toward the computer which landed on the floor. It’s the key to this. They were looking at it. I need to take it with me. I struggle into a sitting position. My head is starting to thunder with pain. I don’t have much time left. This is how it goes.
Whatever they’ve done to me is repairing itself in my brain. I put my finger in the blood that pools on the floor around me and use my index finger to write on the silver laptop cover.
“Samara — take this, Archer.”
The pain takes over as I swirl over the end of the R. It’s blinding. I cry out in agony and blackout.
I don’t know how long I’m out, but when I come to, I’m back on my feet in an instant and staring around the room. It looks as though a world war broke out in here. A couple of my subordinates run into the room.
