I had waited until he entered the bathroom before following and locking the door behind us.
I needed answers, and I needed them now.
I dont know what youre talking about, he replied in a monotonous voice.
x1klima
Forcing myself to stare into his cloudy white eyes was harder than I expected.
On the nights youre picked up by the shuttle service, I said.
I know youve gone four times now, and I know you werent just drinking.
x1klima
I want you to tell me what really happened.
A euphoric smile replaced his pallid countenance.
Then a frown, as though trying to remember the insubstantial details of a passing dream.
But thats all that happened, he said.
The shuttle picks us up and they give us something to drink.
Then I wake up in my home and its time to go to work again.
And you feel just the same as you did before?
Then his eyes stretched so wide I thought they would pop straight out of his head.
For a second he seemed about to scream, but then his face reverted back into a blank slate.
Better than ever, Elijah replied.
I find it invigorating.
He continued staring me in the face while he opened his belt and dropped his pants around his ankles.
I just turned around and exited the bathroom without another word.
When the van arrived, my name was called alongside Wallace Thornberg.
Fransisco with the shuttle service.
The driver bounced out from his seat and held the door open for me.
Where are we going?
You know, the Fransisco replied.
I found his tone overly familiar and my doubts redoubled.
What happens if I dont want to go?
The driver grinned and put on a pair of headphones.
After that, he didnt speak another word for the remainder of the drive.
You been there before?
Wouldnt remember if I did, came the gruff reply.
Youre not supposed to be here though.
You werent on the list.
How do you know?
Because I wrote the damn thing, and I didnt want you to be, Nathan finally looked up.
He grinned to see the shock on my face.
Of course Im not supposed to be here either, so I wont tell if you dont.
Nathan did his best to explain the situation to me as we rumbled into the secluded hills.
After each of his first five rounds of procedure, his memory had been wiped clean every time.
Waking up afterward felt like I was an alien in an unfamiliar world, he told me.
It became like an addiction, and I couldnt live without my fix.
Your wife said you put a bullet in your brain.
Nathan chuckled and slid his hat further up his head.
A bandage was wrapped around his temple with a great bloody spot like a Japanese flag.
Next thing I know, Im back awake and swearing like the Devil.
Hows that for clearing your head?
Worked like a charm too.
I felt more like my old self than I had in years.
I knew he couldnt remember what they did, but the question slipped involuntarily from my mouth.
Nathan glanced at the driver, still wearing his headphones.
We were descending at a sharp angle now and must be entering the valley.
Nathan moved across the van to sit beside me, speaking in a hushed tone.
Can I count on you to have my back?
He caught me staring at the bloody bandage and slid the hat back low over his face.
The guard handed us each a pair of headphones as we parked outside the building.
Wear these, he practically shouted.
Its only going to get louder inside.
When he said wrench, did he mean he was smuggling some kind of weapon in here?
Can you hear me okay?
Fransiscos voice came through the headphones.
I nodded, absent mindedly walking forward in awe of the gargantuan internal structure.
I couldnt believe my eyes.
I took a step back toward the entrance and almost tripped as I walked into something.
I turned to see the guard offering me a glass of clear liquid.
Nathan was already studying a second glass in his hand.
Youre going to take a drink and sit down at the machine, the Fransisco said.
Not remembering it and not happening are completely different things, Nathan said.
But if we aint gonna remember, you might as well tell us whats going on.
Ive told you every time, Nathan, and I must admit its getting old.
Nathan growled and pulled his hat off to reveal the bandage.
He reached inside his coat and produced a cellphone with a prominently flashing light.
Well maybe Im not as easy to convince anymore, Nathan said.
So why dont you humor me?
Fransisco calmly leveled the gun at Nathans face as Nathan lifted the cell to his ear.
Nathan spoke into the phone.
His voice was different.
Put the phone down or Ill shoot, the guard said.
I swear to God Nathan -
Clearance Code?
I want you to shut down the plant the moment I give the word.
You cant, Fransisco said.
If we have a power out, every one of these people will die.
Youre just trying to keep your own ass, Nathan spat.
Tell me whats really going on?
Hes telling the truth, I interjected.
It happened last time there was a power restriction too.
I dont fucking care!
He gripped the phone so tight his fingers turned white.
Living like this theyre dead either way.
I want an answer.
If we stop, its going to be angry.
I caught the guard glancing over his shoulder and turned to look.
Another man in a suit was holding a rifle on the opposite balcony.
Put down the phone, Nathan, the guard said.
You have to trust me.
What is down there?
Nathan put it down!
The guard beside us nodded sharply.
A crack split the tumultuous sound of the drill and blood sprayed from Nathans face.
The rifle bullet had punctured straight through the back of his skull to emerge from his mouth.
Two more cracks rent the air from the handgun.
Nathan was staggered to his knees.
He hadnt let go of the phone.
He spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor and rattled off a rapid string of numbers.
Another bullet slammed a hole straight through his forehead, but he didnt even hesitate.
My face went numb as the butt of the handgun slammed into my forehead.
The former manager scrambled backward, screaming into the phone the whole while.
Do you hear me?
My name is James Mattis.
I want the whole station offline right now.
The four bullets in Nathan didnt even slow him down as he scrambled away from Fransisco.
I locked eyes with Nathan right as he reached the edge of the balcony.
Did I save them?
Did I do the right thing?
his voice broke with desperation into my headphones.
I pulled myself up from the floor, unable to tear my eyes away from his bloody face.
You did what you thought was right, is all I could muster.
Everyone held their breath, looking around at the lights and the humming machines.
Connect me to the plant, the guard screamed into his headphones.
Tell them to keep the power -
And suddenly the silence and the darkness were all there was.
The lights on every balcony winked out.
The hum of every machine spluttered to a stop.
The vibrating pressure of the drills grinded to a halt.
Fransisco roared with frustration and ripped his headphones off.
He grabbed Nathan by the coat and rammed him against the railing.
I leapt to Nathans aid, but too slow.
I ran to his aid too late.
The last glimpse of him I saw was a spiral of blood raining through the air in his wake.
Whats going to happen now?
The guard didnt answer with words, but his message was clear enough.
He dropped his gun and started sprinting for the door.
I should have just followed him, but I couldnt let all of this be for nothing.
Somewhere miles below the earth where the drills once tore through the crust emanated a baleful glow.
I watched transfixed as it shifted, seeming to slide from one side of the pit to the other.
I turned and ran from the building.
Guards, mechanical technicians, doctors, streams of people poured from the place to fill the black vans.
The men tethered to the machines were being left behind, but they couldnt have all been dead.
I helped the man to his feet and dragged him out of the building with me.
No-one seemed to notice that I didnt have a blue suit in the mad escape.
I crammed into one of the vans and huddled in the back while it roared up the valley walls.
A noisy rush of speculation surrounded me, but I was incapable of joining the conversation.
Somehow speaking it would be enough to make it real.
The foundations of the building had been detonated and the entire structure slid off into the pit.
He was hard to look at because of the bloody sores on his head.
Its inside us all.
No-one else spoke along the drive, so they all must have heard him too.
We all just fixed our eyes out the window though, afraid to acknowledge what we all knew.
