To Be A Hero

Chapter 10: Brain Damage

"It's not working, is it?" Sam asks as I run along, the gentle breeze blowing small bits of hair from my ponytail.

"I've done what I can," Maxine sighs. "I'm not an expert in this sort of thing."

"It has to work," Veronica says. "The Ministry has confirmed that Five was the only person Moonchild confided in. She knew so much about the original Viking virus, and so many of her notes were destroyed. It's not a replacement for our research, but it could be a shortcut to the answer. It has to work."

"I don't know what to tell you."

"Did we not get the right books for you?" Sam asks.

"Janine has been back and forth to that library about once a day looking for Tom. And being Janine, she never wastes an opportunity to do mission critical work. I don't think there's a hypnosis text left in their stacks."

"Yeah, Tom's long gone, I think." Sam shudders. "Presumably to make a mad sinister baby book-nest somewhere else."

"I've read as much research as I possibly can on what Moonchild did, on how that original trigger worked. But still, it's a slim chance anything will happen. And if it does, I don't even know what would happen."

My throat tightens. That honestly does not make me feel any better. But I stay silent. To fall into this I have to stay silent.

"It should be quite simple," Veronica says. "Runner Five will enter into a hypnagogic state, and will remember what Moonchild said to her about her research into the cure. Easy."

"And you'll be able to snap Five out of it again, right?" Sam asks nervously.

"There's no reason to suspect that that would present a problem."

He lets out a noise of uncertainty. "Maxine? You'll definitely be able to get Runner Five back?"

"I am a hundred percent certain of that," Maxine says. "Moonchild is gone. Runner Five is, in any case, immune to mind control now. It's just that-I'm so sorry, Five, but Paula's getting a little worse everyday, and Veronica and I are no closer to finding a cure than we were months ago. Paula has to have plasmapheresis everyday now, and I just want her to survive to see the baby."

"Yeah. We both want that," Sam says, and my heart clenches at the hurt in his voice. "But we know it's a long shot, getting you to run in the same place that Moonchild triggered you, putting you in a light trance, hoping it might jog your memory about any of that stuff she said to you about the Vikings while you were mind controlled. I mean, nothing's going to happen, is it?"

Maxine sighs in defeat. "One more lap around the lake, Five, just to say we tried it. It was a Hail Mary pass, but no..."

Maxine's voice suddenly slows, and dots of black flood my vision, nearly blocking out all light.

I'm so dizzy.

"...it's probably not going to work."

"Oh, but I beg to differ."

My vision clears, and I snap my gaze to my right. There's a figure. It's faded, almost looking like a mirage or illusion, but I know exactly who this is.

Oh my God.

Moonchild smiles at me. "Do keep running, Five. Just like old times."

I look ahead, heart pounding in my chest. I can still feel her eyes on me, and when I glance to the side, I still see her, moving along beside me.

This can't be right. This can't be real.

Fear and panic race through me, and I want to scream, to cry, to beg Sam and Maxine to end this right now, but I can't. I can't speak. I try to, but no words come out.