Faces, Names, and Memories (completed)

Chapter 46 - Wide Awake

My eyes open and I don't know where I am or how I got here.

As soon as I sit up to look around, I can tell that I'm badly hurt from the pain that shoots through my leg and sends streams of needle-prick sensations up my spine. I have to lay back down to make it go away. What happened to me?

I lift my head the slightest bit, just to assess the damage. But, I realize quickly that I don't recognize the clothes I'm wearing. It's unsettling enough that I'm wearing something aside from a hospital gown or a jumpsuit, sweatpants and a button up shirt, specifically.

I look around the room, in an attempt to guesstimate my location, but there are no windows, and the door has no way of opening it from this side. I'm lying on some sort of cot with a needle in my arm and one of those vital monitors on my finger. There isn't much else in the room, aside from a few cabinets, a sink, and a tray with various tools on it that look like they could be used to operate on someone.

Wait, I'm in the operating room, locked inside of an operating room. Did they do some kind of operation on my leg? Are they drugging me with this IV?

I rip the IV out of my arm, not taking any chances.

It makes sense. They probably put a tracker in my leg, so we wouldn't be able to run off again. The last thing I remember is seeing the door to the facility. We must not have made it out.

What have they done with my friends? Did they mutate them all in spite?

I have to get out of here.

I try to sit up again, but the same amount of pain cuts through me, returning me to a lying position.

I need to know what happened.

I need to...

My mouth falls open as it all comes back to me in a shock to the head.

I saw everything from Cale's point of view: Tressa and me getting shot, Tressa dying, him carrying me out, the woods, the city, the bunker. I couldn't have, but I did. Everything that I was unconscious for, I saw with Cale's eyes as it happened. It's not possible, but I did. I remember every detail; I saw everything.

I saw things from the doctor – who now has a name, Dr. McAvery – 's viewpoint, how she blamed Tressa's death on us so she wouldn't get in trouble with President Jaz.

Jaz was standing in front of Tressa's body.

I remembered waking up at the hospital after I got hurt breaking into my dad's facility, even though I was barely conscious. Another thing I shouldn't remember, because, it just can't happen.

Then, I saw things from Jaz's wife's perspective, Jannie Jazbin. She's going to tell the news to get everyone to look for us. She's not going to stop until we're dead.

She kissed Tressa's body on the forehead.

Tressa's dead; she's really dead. The LEs killed her, not Cale. The LEs shot the president's daughter to death.

Even being Tressa Jazbin, the first daughter, wasn't enough to protect her. The killed her anyway.

They tried to bring her back, I watched them as Cale did. How could I see that? How could I see anything? That's not possible. He was holding me. He's my friend. He was right next me. How could I see that? How could I see any of it?

I saw me, from the eyes of the person holding me. I saw...

I scream as a pain like a knife being pushed slowly through my head, and my skull, and my brain, takes hold of me.

It hurts so much... I can't process. I can't-

"Augh," I cry out again, this time punctuating it with sobs, as another stab of pain derails my train of thought.