David Anderson - The Beachhead

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For Joanne, as always, who shows medaily what sainthood is.

I dream of the time before.

Mom and Dad.

Blinding lights flash in the sky. Canthear, cant see.

People falling and not getting up. Allaround me. Millions of them.

My Dad is one.

Hunger, never knew what that was before.Ruins. Rubble where the mall used to be. Clambering over. Dust anddirt. Mom and me looking, always looking for something to eat, forwater thats not muddy.

Hordes of others fighting andscrabbling. Dirty faces swearing at me, black fingernails reachingout. Sweaty stench hovering in the air.

The day that changed it all for me. Darkshadow hiding the sky. I look up. Ropes descend like tentacles.They lift me, take me.

Moms loud sobs.

Something goes into my arm, hurts.

A silent scream rises in my mouth.

But no sound comes out.

The first thing I remember isthe light on the other side of my eyelids. It made me keep themshut tight which is why I heard the voices. They didnt know I wasawake yet.

Whats keeping him? a gruffmale voice said.

Dunno, the other three are upand in Recovery already. A friendlier tone, female, but then sheadded, Maybe this ones faulty.

I was lying flat on my back,perfectly still. Somehow I knew I couldnt move even if I wanted to but I didnt feel faulty, just groggy. Or doped. Certainly in nofit state to argue with anybody. I decided to keep my peepersclosed and ears open.

Leave him alone. A thirdvoice, this time male and authoritative. Some of them take longerthan others. Just let the process complete itself. Hell be up andabout soon.

After this there was silence,though I could sense they were still there, watching me. Thatswhen I first began to wonder...

Watching who? Who am I?

I couldnt remember. I couldrecall plenty of other stuff. The concrete, heat ,and dust of the city where I lived, but not its name. Anolder man my dad? driving me somewhere in a white car.Maddeningly, I couldnt focus on his face. Playing soccer on a school team . Which school? Stuffabout myself. Im male. I have brown hair, blue eyes. I speaklike those voices. I strained to remember personal details,especially names and faces, but they were all gone.

My mind came back to thepresent: Where am I now and who are these people?

A low hum began and I feltrestraints unwinding themselves from my arms, legs and chest. Thebed, or whatever I was lying on, moved forward then inclined into asemi-upright position. I finally opened my eyes.

Hes awake! the girl said.

My vision slowly focused and Ilooked around me. I was on some kind of gurney, like in a hospitalward. There were all kinds of fancy monitors and blinking lightsabove me and on either side. I sensed that these machines had beenattached to me until now. Had I been in some kind of awfulaccident? Maybe Id just come out of a coma.

But the rest didnt fit. Insteadof doctors and nurses, there were three other teens staring back atme, two guys and a girl, all three wearing the same bland genericclothing. Not a uniform; just casual sweats, but dead boring. Theywere like me, my age or thereabouts.

I frowned, puzzled at thethought. How old am I?

Welcome to the Beachhead,buddy, the short, loud teen with the greasy black hair said, Getready for a few surprises. The girl shushed him, touched afinger to her lips and briefly shook her blonde ponytail from sideto side. But then she grinned back at him too. It made me feel illat ease, like the idiot in the room. They knew everything and I wasblanked.

Where am I? was all I couldthink to say. My words came out cracked and throaty, like Idalmost forgotten how to speak.

The taller male took a stepforward. Short fair hair, square chin, serious. The leader type. Hegestured at the other boy. Like he said, this is the Beachhead.You, and the three others born today, are our latest members. Dontworry, it will all seem strange for a while, but youll soon getused to it.

Who am I? I said. It soundedstupid even to me.

Im Adam, he replied, ignoringmy question, This is Christopher, my number two. And this isBarbara, a.k.a. Female 1, he added, pointing at the others. Adamreached out and gripped my shoulder, as if to keep me from swaying.His fingers touched my bare skin. I looked down and realised I wasstark naked.

Theres a girl here.Before I knew it my right hand had covered my crotch, my eyesdowncast in embarrassment. I heard the girl snigger and immediatelydisliked her.

Check your armband to see whoyou are, Adam continued.

I looked at my left wrist andsaw a thin paper band circling it, just like you get in ahospital.

Go on, hurry up, the short kidsaid, the same stupid smirk on his face.

I raised the band to my eyes andsquinted at the writing. It said:

Male 12. WILLIAM. 15 yearsold.

Already I hated the name.Instinctively I knew it wasnt mine; and it never would be.

Where am I? What am I doinghere? I repeated, still sounding hoarse. I licked my lips tomoisten them. Why cant I remember? They were questions I wouldask many more times before I had answers.

No-one said anything; they justlooked at each other. Then another, very different, voicespoke.

Welcome, Male 12. You areWilliam, fifteen years old. You are in a safe place. Have noworries, you will prosper here under my care. I ensure thiscommunity thrives and develops.

I looked around for the speaker,but couldnt see anyone else. The voice sounded like an older man;someone trying to persuade. I knew a fancy word for that kind ofvoice and fished it out of some far corner of my head.Oleaginous, that was it: slick, precise and perfectlypaced. But this particular voice was also strangely mechanical, asif it had been fed through a machine.

Good guess.

I am REX, the mainframecomputer in this facility. You will hear my voice every day fromnow on. Please proceed to the Recovery Room to your left, where Iwill monitor you until you are ready to join the others here. Youhave many great new friends to get to know and a whole newenvironment to look forward to. Welcome home, William!

The voice REX or whatever sounded like an automobile salesman, or one of those guys on TV whotells you to phone now to order your Wonder Cloth That Cleans byItself. Who was he it trying to kid?

The ones named Adam andChristopher stood either side of me and helped me into another roomwhere they laid me on a bed with raised sides.

So baby doesnt fall out, theshort one said, the smirk still fixed on his shiny face.

Adam pulled a plain white sheetover me.