Dark Hope
[ Ch. 3: Memory ]
36 Months Previous
Tate’s chest felt heavier and heavier the more time went by. The helmet on his head seemed to push his head down more and more and the boots on his feet continued to get heavier and heavier. The men across from Tate had their heads down, looking at the large guns in their hands. Suddenly, the convoy containing the group hit a bump, making Tate’s heart jumped a beat. His adrenalin kicked in on instinct, his hand gripping tightly to his weapon. After a few seconds, his hand slowly relaxed. There was a unified release of tension in the room, and the soldier across from Tate made eye contact with the new soldier.
“This is your first engagement, right?” Tate nodded his head, his eyes never leaving the soldier across from him. ”Yeah.”
“I could tell. Relax. You’ll be fine. It’s a simple recon mission.” In all of Tate’s training, this soldier was the first one to give any type of support. Tate nodded again, then the truck slows to a halt. A man emerged from the front of the truck, his helmet in his hands.
“Move out, men. Remember, your training is over. This is the real thing.”
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Present
Tate’s eyes flew upon and he shop up in his bed, gasping for breath. After a few seconds, he falls back into his bed, his hand moving to his forehead, which is drenched in sweat. He lays there for a few moments to catch his breath, then slowly gets out of bed.
‘Why do I keep having dreams like that?’ He turned on the light to his bathroom before walking to the mirror over his sink. He switched on the cold water, cupping some of it into his hand before lightly splashing it on his face. ’Keep it together, Tate. That shit’s over.‘
He grabbed a towel, wiping off his face with it quickly before throwing it on the counter next to his sink. He flipped the light off, walking to his kitchen, which wasn’t too far away in his moderately sized one-bedroom apartment. He opened up a cabinet next to the sink and grabbed a glass, pouring himself a glass of water in the sink. He grabbed a bottle of pills from the windowsill, then gasps when he realizes there is someone wearing a black helmet is outside his window staring back. He closed his eyes, shook his head, then opened his eyes again. The figure is gone, and he hurriedly opens the bottle of pills and pops one in his mouth and swallows it.
He walked back into his bedroom slowly. He turned on the light next to his nightstand, accidentally knocking down a magazine when he does. He picked it up, glancing at the cover.
“Ironman…”
Tate smiled.
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Night of the Raid on the Resistance
There were a hundred and fifty or so people in the room. It was in a setup much like a parent-teacher meeting in a school; there were rows upon rows of folding chairs and at the front of the room stood a raised podium. Guards lined the doorways; they were mostly just volunteers for the resistance who were given guns to protect the rest of the resistance in case of a raid. Ed was one of the last to arrive at the meeting, coming in just as the leader took the stage. Ed’s large glasses, long overcoat, and large collar helped keep his face hidden from recognition.
Robert, the leader of the resistance, took the podium, followed by six men with guns. He cleared his throat, then leaned in to the microphone planted on the stage.
“I’m glad to see everyone made it here alright. As you know, there has been announcements on the media that terrorists, meaning members of the resistance, have been captured. To the best of my knowledge, this is not true. In all honesty, this is probably just a tactic to scare any so-called ‘terrorists’ into hiding.” He pauses for a second. In this moment, Hillary walks into the meeting from the back. She stands a few feet away from Ed, not noticing him at all, then takes a seat next to Milo and behind a couple. Robert continues. ”There has also been talk about a mole in the resistance; again, my sources inside of the government say that this is also just a scare tactic. Now, down to the real business.”
Before Robert could start, there was a loud explosion outside of the building. Immediately the power shut off, and the sound of gunfire could be heard outside. Milo jumped out of his seat, running towards the back door. The front doors burst open and there were flashes of blue light as people were tasered into submission by guards from the CGU. Suddenly a woman with glowing eyes grabbed his arm. He looked back to find she had tripped, and he quickly helped her up, then they scrambled out together.
Outside, Milo, the woman with glowing eyes, Hillary, Ed, Eliza, and the Couple all seem to meet a few hundred yards away. The CGU swarmed the building. Before anyone could catch their breath to say something, Tate intersected with the group.
“Go! Keep moving!” Tate’s voice was low but forceful.
“We have to go back!” Eliza said, gasping for breath.
“We can’t, we have to keep moving. We’ll come back.” Tate knew there was no chance of coming back, but that was the assurance she needed, and the group took off. There is still the sound of screams as people are either killed or tasered in the distance. After a dozen blocks, the group stopped. Hillary was the first one to speak.
“Where are we?”
“We’re in the old city.” Marie’s glowing eyes could be seen scanning the darkened building, and she walked over to one that has a slightly ajar door. The faded sign above read COMICS.
“Come on, we need to get out of sight for a while, hurry!” Marie was the first one to enter the shop with Tate following closely behind. There was a brief pause, but a small explosion nearby drove the rest of the group into the shop after them.
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Four Months Previous
“Wait, what? I don’t understand.”
“Marie, it’s not anything you should worry about.” The young doctor sat back in his chair, folding his arms as he did so. ” You have an extremely rare trait called tapetum lucidum. What that means is you have a thin, reflective layer behind your retina that reflects light that passes through your retina back into your eye. It’s quite marvelous, if you think about it. It’s an extremely rare condition with absolutely no negative side effects.” The doctor chuckled to himself, obviously impressed at her rare condition.
Marie sighed, putting her large sunglasses back on her face.
“There is absolutely no way to reverse this?”
“Why would you want to?” He laughed again, acting as if it was absurd to want to change her condition.
She laughed sarcastically. ”Are you serious? I have vision like a cat. I have to wear sunglasses in darkened rooms in order for people to not stare at me. I’m a freak!” She grabbed her purse, then stood. ”If there is nothing you can do, I’ll stop wasting your time, then.” She opened the door and walked out, tears welling up in her eyes as she quickly walked down the hallway and out of the doctor’s office.
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