CODES

N I N E

"Okay?" A sense of relief came over Xerses. The fact that I finally admitted some truth made it better, and he finally moved his hand from my shoulder. He pressed one of his hands into the pocket of his jacket. "Tell me about it. What's off?"

"I don't... I don't know," I said honestly as I glanced back at the restaurant behind us. The door was closed and I couldn't see Pete. "It was something that Code said in there."

"Who? Pete?" Xerses pointed at the door. "That guy in there ain't no more than a fanboy, man," he laughed. "Did that bother you?"

"No, not that." I shook my head. "That wasn't what bothered me. A lot of Codes get excited when they see us. It was something else."

"What?" Xerses inched his head closer, eyebrows raised, looking for the answer as though it hung in the air. "Am I missing something? Are you?"

"Maybe?" I grimaced, inhaling sharply. "I thought I heard him say the troops were deploying. Like..."

"Like y'all were still in war?" Xerses stood straight, his eyes widening. "Maybe you two were in the same camp. Could be a data imprint that resurfaced when you crossed paths?"

"If that was the case, then why hasn't this happened before?" I looked down at my hands. "I've never had this happen. Shit, I don't even think of my past. What good is it to remember a war that does nothing for me now?"

The look on Xerses' face meant he wasn't sure what to say. He was stuck, looking at me. I knew he wracked his brain for the words but couldn't find them. Hell, I couldn't either. What happened inside made no sense to me. And after...

"There's more." There's no point in lying to him now. "When we were sitting down, eating, I thought if I purposely dug through my data files, I'd find some image of him. Anything that could connect him to my past."

Xerses' eyes brightened for a moment. "And? What'd you find?"

"That's a thing..." I let out a breath. "Nothing. I found nothing."

"Maybe that means the two of you never crossed paths." He shrugged.

"No, you're not listening." One of my hands slid over my neck. "There's nothing there at all. I can't pull up memory files, I can't think back to being stationed in Georgia. Being the war feels more like... déjà vu, not an actual occurrence."

"You're telling me you have no memories of World War III." Xerses looked confused, almost in disbelief.

And I couldn't help but nod. Because what he said was exactly it. I knew of the war, I know I'd enlisted at one point and been stationed outside of my hometown. But as for fighting, as for wielding a weapon and taking orders, I couldn't put an image to it. I couldn't even remember dying...

"Well, shit..." Xerses pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and looked up at the sky. "This ain't good. Maybe it's a blockage. Has anything weird happened lately?"

"No." I shook my head. "Everything's been fine."

"Oh?" Xerses dropped his gaze and looked at me. "What about the other day? At the Restoration office?"

"What about it?" I lifted my brow. "You mean when we met Luke?"

"Yeah, him." Xerses turned and faced me, looking at me curiously. "What happened that morning?"

"Nothing," I said. "Clara and I woke up, had some breakfast, then we left for work." After I said it, I rubbed my chin. "It was weird that she got to our office before I did, considering she worked at the other building with the other Restoration team. If she had told me we'd be working together, then we could've taken the same transport vehicle to Province Hall."