Free Minds

Chapter 75.

   After establishing my final designs for our weapons and Dorian announcing that he was done with his protective body suit sketches as well, we, Rav and Camila included, took a little trip to Ridgeton Mini Haven.

   Landon was going to pick up the already made weapon parts he'd lobbied his way into acquiring from his 'guys'.

   Whatever that meant.

   As expected, my junkyard didn't let me down. As soon as I was able to gather everything I needed for the weapon,, I was able to get them back to the motel—the basement to be specific— with Rav's help and start working.

   Yes, I left Dorian and Camila behind, but I only felt bad about doing that to Camila, seeing as the person whose name I refuse to mention seemed hell bent on my downfall under Landon's hands just this morning.

   Spending hours hammering and welding away at machines for hours you forget to keep track of tended to be draining. So draining that your hand muscles feel the most insistent aches and burns, the sensation in your head can be compared to what one will usually experience when hit with a sledgehammer and eyes so droopy that you should be knocked out as soon as your body touches the bed.

   Or something less dramatic at least.

   Right?

   And yet here I was, (at 11, 12 or 1am?!) laying next to Rav in his pitch black room, going through the only first two out of the three ordeals above.

   When I had slipped beneath the covers at nine pm or so at first, I lost consciousness in no time. Almost like my body had turned into one of those fancy tech baby dolls that 'go to bed' when placed on a soft surface.

   As tired as every part of my body was though—my mind included—that same aspect of myself just didn't get it.

   Which was why at such an ungodly hour of the night, I was trying to get my trembling body to cope with the nightmare my brain had the courtesy of giving me. With each minute my eyes stayed open, the chances of sleep returning were on a depressing scale of low.

   Speaking of depressing, that was the exact direction my mood was going at a fast pace at the moment. The nightmare was basically the same one I'd had while in Dorian's room nights ago, the difference being that this time, it wasn't Talise or Minji I failed.

   It was Mum.

   She was in Zavlon High, all alone in that padded room where we found the students in real life instead of the classroom like the Minji and Tali, clad in an adult sized red jumpsuit. Her natural afro hair was sticking out in all directions, most especially shielding her tear streaked face.

   My name was the only thing she kept calling out. In cracked, pain stricken yells I could hear "Beth".

   Over and over.

   Her shouts were loud and clear, but whether I could respond was a different matter. My feet only stayed glued to the ground as I looked on with wide, helpless eyes. My body just wasn't willing to cooperate with my frantic, ever ready brain.

   Until I saw them. The Yunies, two in number, appeared out of nowhere and were a few feet behind my mother. Each had an all too familiar placement syringe-like gun in their black and white furry hands .

   And that's when I began running. With my arms outstretched, I maintained eye contact as my quick feet drew me closer and closer to Mu—

   In an instant, all the wind was knocked out of me as I hit an unforeseen barrier which set me sprawling to the cold, hard ground. A large glassy wall had appeared out of nowhere, preventing me from getting anywhere near my mother.