Desolation by J. B. Everett (read more books .txt) 📕

a white lab coat and has mask on, hiding his face. He is carrying a tray of food that has four bowls of steaming mush.

"Here's your meal for today" the man says, his voice muffled through the mask.

We all stand there, staring at the man.

"We don't want your fucking food" Dylan spits out.

"You must have it" the man says, then lowers the tray down onto the floor.

Something about his voice seems so familiar. I can't put my finger on it, but I feel as if I have heard his voice before.

I have to find out.

The man stands back up and begins to walk towards the door.

"Wait a second!" I shout out.

The man stops and slowly turns around, facing me. Before he can say anything, I walk towards him and rip the mask off of his face.

It takes me a few seconds to realize who it is.

And when I do, my heart stops beating.

I take a shaking step backwards, all of the blood in my body running cold.

I now know why I recognized the man's voice.

That is because it is Ian. Chapter Thirty-Three

The scream that comes out of my mouth is blood-curdling.

It can't be...

I stare at him with wide eyes and he stares back, a glazed, distant look painted on his face.

This is what they did to him.

They brainwashed him into being one of them.

I suddenly feel queasy, as if I am going to vomit.

"Ian?" I say, my voice trembling.

"How do you know my name?" he says sharply.

I take a shaking step towards him, feeling dizzy with fear. This is my worst nightmare, coming true right before my eyes.

"Ian, it's me Tessa" I say, tears filling up in my eyes.

He stares at me blankly for a few moments, no sign of recognition on his face.

He doesn't know who I am.

"Ian, it's us, Dylan, Nikki, Tristan and Tessa. Don't you remember us?" Dylan says from behind me.

He stares at us for a few moments, appearing to be thinking hard. I close my eyes for a moment, praying that he will remember.

"No" Ian finally says.

Tears begin to roll down my face.

"Ian, what is going on?" I ask.

"I work for the Blair Institute" Ian says flatly.

"No you do not. They did this to you. You're not one of them; they brainwashed you into thinking that you're on their side. But you're not." I sob.

Ian continues to stare at me, his jawline set and hardened.

"You're wrong. I work for the Blair Institute and we are working for the greater good" Ian says mechanically.

He has been completely brainwashed by them.

"Please Ian..." I sob, moving towards him.

I put my hands on his arms, looking up into his eyes. He stares at me, and for a split-second, I think that I see a look of recognition appear on his face. But this look quickly passes away and is replaced by his stolid, emotionless gaze. He then pushes me off of him and turns around, walking towards the door.

I cry as he opens the door, walks out and closes it behind him, locking us inside. For a few moments, everyone else stands in silence, still trying to process what just happened. I slowly turn around, facing the others. They all look at me with pained expressions on their faces.

Tristan walks towards me and the next thing that I know, I am sobbing in his arms. Now I am the one crying on his shoulder. He pulls me close against his body, rubbing his hands on my back as I cry even harder.

I am an absolute mess.

I cry burning tears of anger and hatred towards people who did this to Ian. The people who turned him into a walking and living robot.

Finally, I pull myself out of Tristan's arms, wiping the tears from the cheeks. There's no point in continuing to cry; it's not going to help or get me anywhere. Also, I have run out of the energy to keep crying.

Tristan looks down at me and rubs his thumb across my cheek, wiping away the tears.

"Hey Tessa, I'm really sorry..." Nikki says.

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I nod, sniffling.

"I mean c'mon, he'll break out of this trance eventually right? There has to be some part of the real Ian still inside of him that will come out" Dylan says, trying to sound as optimistic as possible.

I hope so.

"If he comes back to this room, we'll try to break him out of his trance" he says.

I look at him and he looks back at me earnestly.

"H...How?" I ask.

Dylan shrugs.

"I don't know. You can try to tell him some things that happened when we were in the jungle. Maybe that will bring his memory back" Dylan says.

"Okay" I reply, nodding.

Even though I highly doubt that Ian is going to break out of his brainwashed state, it is worth a shot. Now I just have to hope that he comes back tomorrow to give us our food.

We leave the bowls of grey mush on the floor, untouched. Even though we are starving, no one wants to eat the foul-smelling mush that looks as if it has the consistency of slime.

I wonder if it is daytime or nighttime right now, and wish that there was at least a window to see outside. Being in this dark prison is starting to make me feel as if I am going crazy.

After everything that his happened on this island, I think I am.

I doze off a few times into a dreamless void, then wake up with a start only to find that I am still trapped in the room. Time goes by ever so slowly, each second feeling like an hour. I have never felt this bored and lifeless before.

Tristan wraps his arm around me, pulling me close to his side. Even though I know he is trying to comfort me, it doesn't feel right. I want Ian's arm back around me.

But I know that that will probably never happen again.

At some point I fall asleep again and this time I am woken up to the sound of the steel door creaking open. I jump, my eyes flashing open.

Someone is here.

Quickly standing up, I turn to see who is here. And when I do, my heart stops.

It's Ian again.

He walks in, carrying another tray of steaming bowls of mush. I swallow hard, watching as Ian robotically places the tray on the floor.

"Tessa, go talk to him" Dylan whispers to me.

It's now or never. After taking a deep breath, I walk towards Ian. He stands up, staring at me with an impassive look on his face.

"Ian..." I start.

"How the hell do you know who I am?" he asks.

Where do I even begin?

"Because you are one of us. You were with us in the jungle. You are also being held captive by these people" I say, trying to keep my voice level.

He scrutinizes me, confusion apparent on his face.

"Look, I have absolutely no clue who you are or what you are talking about. But I do know that I work for the Blair Institute and I'm not being held captive by them" he says flatly.

How am I going to break him out of this?

Ian turns around and begins to walk towards the door.

"Wait! Please..." I cry out.

When he doesn't turn around, I do the only thing that will prevent him from leaving. I run towards him and push him up against the wall.

"What the hell do you want?" he cries out, his eyes widened.

He wriggles, trying to get free from my grasp.

"Listen to me right now. You are the one that shot Hal and they punished you by brainwashing you into thinking that you are one of them" I say.

"Why the hell would I shoot Hal? I work for him" he says.

"Because he is the one that has captured us all on this island" I say.

He shakes his head.

"And you're wrong. No one shot Hal; he told me that he had an accident and that's why he is in a wheelchair" Ian says.

"He's lying!" I exclaim.

Ian shakes his head again.

"Hal wouldn't lie to me. Look, you are crazy and I don't know what you are talking about. I have to go" he says.

"I'm not crazy and you are not leaving!" I shout, pushing him harder against the wall.

He glares at me.

"Don't you remember being with us in the jungle? And don't you remember when they trapped us in cages?"

"What are you talking about!" Ian exclaims.

But I don't stop. I continue blurting out things, trying to spark Ian's memory.

"Don't you remember the waterfall! Don't you remember when you shot the deer and we ate it! Don't you remember when we found the airplane on the beach?"

Ian continues to stare at me. And for a short moment, I think that I see a look of recollection fleet across his face.

Breathlessly, I exclaim,

"Do you remember anything?!"

We both stare at each other for a few moments, our eyes locked.

Then suddenly, Ian says,

"I remember something"

My heart starts to beat faster.

"What do you remember?" I ask, looking into his eyes.

"This" Ian whispers.

And then, he fills the gap between us by pressing his lips against mine.

Chapter Thirty-Four

When his lips crash onto mine, I am completely taken aback by surprise.

He cups his hands around my cheeks, pulling me even closer to him.

The one thought going through my mind is,

He remembers...

I am flooded with an overwhelming sense of euphoria and relief, and I wrap my arms around him. I think that I hear someone catcall from behind us (definitely Dylan), but I don't care at all. All that I care about right now is the fact that Ian is back.

When he finally pulls away, I look up at him breathlessly to see that there are tears welling up in his eyes.

Tears welling up in Ian's eyes.

Well that's something I never thought I would see.

"I...I remember now. It's all coming back to me" he stutters.

No matter how hard they try to control us, they cannot. And although they have captured us, we will never be under their power.

I smile, tears welling up in my eyes. Ian looks down at the lab coat that he is wearing, then looks back up to me.

"I don't know what happened..I think that they brainwashed me or something" Ian says, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"They did. But it didn't work" I say triumphantly.

I hear clapping and turn around to see Nikki and Dylan, applauding and grinning. Tristan has a weak smile on