Kirk - Fear
What do you do when your life changes before you and you have no control over it. It was just a normal day of high school. It was only a few months after the start of the school year and it was my first year. There was some special doctor at the school that day and the teachers made us all go through his examination.
It was individual exam who I didn’t know what to expect when I was called in. The room was bare except for the table where the doctor was sitting. He was clean cut and had a serious look to him. He motioned toward the chair across from him and said, “Please sit down. You are Kirk correct.”
I nodded and sat down. Something about him felt creepy to me. He was watching me too closely. After I took a seat he spoke again, “I’m going to ask you some questions. Answers them without thinking to hard. The quicker the better. Just say the first thing that comes to your mind. Can you do that.”
“Sure.” I responded. Everything still felt weird.
“What do you think of the wall?”
“It protects us from the Beasts.”
“What do you think about the hunters?”
“They also protect us from the Beasts.”
“Do you know any hunters?”
“No.”
“Are you afraid of the Beasts?”
“Not really, we are safe from them after all.”
“Are you afraid of me?”
I paused and looked at the man hesitantly. Then I stumbled out the words, “No, I’m not.”
The man smiled and it sent a shiver up my spine. “You shouldn’t lie. Why are you afraid of me?”
I stumbled over my words trying not to say anything so stupid, “I don’t know. You just have this scary presence.”
“Have you meet other people who made you feel like this?”
“A couple of times, usually at night. However they always seem to ignore me.”
“Do you want to know why you are afraid of them?”
It seemed a strange questions, “I suppose. What harm could it do?”
“A lot of harm. Sometimes it is worse to know then it not know. Have you heard the saying that Innocence is Bliss?”
“Yes”
The man stood up out of the chair and walked over to the closet at the edge of the room. He pulled out from it a large envelope and then walked back toward the table I was sitting it. After he sat back down he opened the envelope and pulled out some pictures. He dropped them on the table and the scattered, spreading across it like a mosaic.
“Why do you see?”
“A girl?
“Elaborate.”
“She is in a small white room. She is only wearing a smile white gown, like something you might see in a hospital.” I stuttered for a moment as I continued to describe the photos, it was like a dark specter that was slowing appearing behind me. “There looks like there is the remains of dolls in one of the corners. It is like the have been torn up.”
“Continue.” Said the man, I could feel his eyes watching me as I looked at the pictures.
“There is a slot in the door which is made of metal. In one of the pictures you can see a tray of food being slide into the room. It looks like the girl is trapped in there.”
“Why do you think she would be trapped in there?”
I stammered, “I don’t know.”
“You don’t? Then how about you describe the girl?”
I hesitated, not wanting to continue. I looked up at the man and his eyes bored into mine. In fear I broke my gaze and looked back down at the pictures. “She looks dirty, like she hasn’t taken a shower recently. There are stains… red stains on her sleeves, near her hands. Her eyes seem angry, wild, like…” I stopped unable to continue.
“Are you afraid of her?”
“Yes.”
“Can you explain why?”
“She is dangerous,” I looked back at him, “Like you…. No more then you.”
“Do you think that she deserves the conditions that she is in?”
I was torn, I didn’t know what to say. I was frightened of her but when I looked at her I could get a sense of something like loneliness. However that wasn’t what I felt the strongest. She felt caged, trapped, and with that feeling she was sad beyond measure.
“No, I don’t think she deserves that.”
“If you could help her, would you?” There was weight in that question. Like everything that had happened since I entered the room has all been leading up to that one question. I could feel the pressure and know that I could not answer that question lightly.
I examined the pictures trying to make my decision. However it was a feeling welling up from inside me that helped me make up my mind. I hadn’t felt anything like it before. It was a strong urge that rose up inside me, pulling at my thoughts. It was the desire to be free, to escape out of the building and be in charge of myself.
Finally I said, “Yes, I would.”
Then the man reached out and grabbed the pictures. Pulling them back and putting them back into the envelope. “Thank you for your cooperation. You have been most helpful. I will be back to you with the results when I am done.” I could feel something from him, a kind of satisfaction.
In some strange understanding of his emotions I nodded and said, “Alright, you do that.” I then stood up and began to leave the room. The man didn’t speak anything while I left but he didn’t have to. Something was different. I still feared him, no, I was now wary of him but I no longer feared him. Instead I felt a connection, like a fellowship.
I left the room and as I did I passed the next person who was supposed to go in. I paused in surprise was I passed him. I felt something from him too, fear and uncertainty. I was uncertain what it was that I was feeling. This understanding, I didn’t know the cause and that made me worried. However that feeling I had before when I decided I should help that girl rose again inside me.
Before I know it I has left the school building and was laying on the grass outside looking up at the sky. The sun shone on me and it felt good. Things felts strange and different but somehow comfortable. I couldn’t explain it but it was like I had been blindfolded all my life and finally I had taken the blindfold off. I watched the sun move across the sky for a while and then I heard the sounds of footsteps.
It took me a second to realize that they were not close to me and that I had been waiting for them. I pulled up the memory of the man walking across the room to open the closet. It was the sound of his footsteps. I felt strange that I should be able to recognize them and pick them out from all of the other footsteps around the campus but I was able to do it. How I was doing it however I did not know.
I waited while the footsteps left the building and went out onto the campus. They were moving toward the parking lot. I stood up and began walking that directions. I noticed the other people at the campus but they all felt normal so I ignored them. I stopped near the parking lot and hide behind a trash can. I peeked out and saw the man getting inside a car. He has a briefcase which he set into the passenger side seat. I heard the car start and after a few seconds of rumbling the car drove off.
There were a few moment of contemplation before I took off running after the car. I could recognize the sound of the car but I knew that if it got too far away from me then I wouldn’t be able to hear it anymore. After not too long I could already feel the strain in my legs and the shortness of my breath. I had never been too interested in running before however now I felt some sort of annoyance that I couldn’t continue to follow the car. I had to slow my pace and as I did I noticed that the car slowed down as well.
It was easy to realize that the man in the car knew he was being followed. He wanted me to follow him. For what realize I couldn’t tell however. At the slower pace I was able to keep up the car as it entered the suburbs in the South District and continued father south. It looked like the car was heading toward the wall.
However it turned out my speculation was wrong. Long before the car would have reached the Wall it turned off the road into a gated facility of some kind, maybe a laboratory. It was surrounded by solid walls so it was difficult to see inside. I paused after I was certain that the car had entered the grounds to catch my breath. I had been jogging for quiet a while and my body was not used to that amount of exercise.
It took a few minutes for me to recover and then I was able to walked slowly to the facility. I debated how I wanted to enter. I could go over the wall and that seemed like the best way to proceed. However before I was able to do that one of the guards near the gate began to leave his position and head toward me. I paused deciding what to do and finally made the decision that if the man knew that I was following him and made sure I was able to keep up then he must want me here.
I walked toward the guard and when I got close I noticed he had a gun in a hidden shoulder hoister. While I was wary of it the guard didn’t scare me. Not like the man who had done the test or the picture of the girl. Somehow I could tell that he wasn’t going to try and use the gun. He held up his hand and said, “You must be the boy that the professor said was coming. Dennis right?”
I nodded but didn’t say anything. “Good,” said the guard, “Professor Stolas is waiting for you. Follow me.” I followed the guard as he lead me into the compound. There were lots of buildings inside however one of the was a large dome which the guard was leading me toward. The were staff around but the all either ignored me or seemed to expect me there. After I passed through the door into the domed building I saw the man again, Professor Stolas.
“I’m so glad that you followed me here. I had a feeling that you would after our encounter at the school but I wasn’t certain until I noticed you following me while I was in the car.”
“I am surprised you to tell. I was following you from out of sight.” I responded.
“Then how were you able to follow me?” He smiled again, “You don’t seemed to quite understand yet but you will. I was able to detect that you were following me for the same reason you were able follow me. Hunters generally have quite advanced senses. However I am surprised that you were able to awaken so quickly with so little side effects. Especially considering how dilute you blood is.”
I furrowed my brow and frowned at him, “What do you mean? Are you a Hunter then?”
“Not all Hunters fight beasts beyond the Wall. Some use their talents for other purposes. As for what I mean, well, that is easy to explain. You should know that Hunters are given the blood of Beasts which gives them the strength to fight Beasts.” I nodded, “Well, this blood changes people and is inheritable. When mixed with normal humans the blood can result in second or third generation Hunters. Those Hunters tend to be less powerful but also less volatile. They control their emotions much better.”