The Pods

“Will!” 

The scream pulls me from my deep slumber. I sit up, and I’m breathing heavy. The big white room is empty. It’s just me and my metal framed bed again. 

Every time I’m getting near my time of stasis, her voice calls stronger in my mind. 

Who is she? I have yet to find the answer to that question. It would probably bother me more, if I remembered anything about myself. 

The Pod, as our people call it, is a time for finding clarity, cleansing the impurities and a time for refortification. What they think they are refortifying, I have yet to discover. The clarity part is a joke, as my mind is only more muddled than the last time. 

“Will- can you hear me?” Her voice is loud and clear in my ears. “Wake up, Will!”

I turn my head frantically, expecting a scientist to be at my side, waiting for my full attention. But there’s no one. I’m still alone. This has never happened while I’m awake before… Perhaps I’m still experiencing side effects from the last round of Stasis.

A large guard opens the door to my room and gestures for me to follow him. It’s time. Time for the next stasis. Instead of the Pod room, I’m taken to a room where scientists are running around with beakers, others with clipboards, and others reading the large machines. There isn’t just my typical Pod, there are several others. 

The guard turns to leave as a A short and round doctor enters the room, the metal door heavily closing with a thud. He approaches me and studies me over. 

“You know your name, correct?” 

“Will…”

The doctor’s face mask covers what I assume is a frown, judging from his bushy eyebrows coming together. “This is not good Mr. Tucker. Do you remember why you’ve been in and out of stasis so many times?”

“Because I’m a guinea pig?” I ask, with a shrug. 

“I see you’ve kept your sarcasm somehow.”

“It’s called humor,” I interject. 

He scowls and says, “I’m not sure sending you back in is the best way to save them, but it’s our only chance.”

Now I’m the one frowning. “Saving who?”

“Saving the rest of your team, Mr. Tucker. The one you commanded and brought home from the war? You’re heroes who haven’t been able to celebrate.”

“My team? What’s happened to us?” My voice is on the edge of frantic. He’s telling me details that pass through my mind without any triggers. 

The doctor shakes his head, a hint of pity in his eyes. “The United States was finished after World War III, Will. Until your special ops Robotics team swooped in and not only stopped the invasion of Washington D.C., but you pushed them out completely…”

I’m shaking my head but I don’t know why. “None of this sounds right. I hate war.”

The doctor raises his mask and a peculiar smile is on his face, showing his crooked teeth. “Is that so? Now that sounds like the Will I know.”

“We know each other?”

The doctor’s smile fades and he covers his mouth again. “A long time ago, as if in another life… Anyways, follow me.”

I obey and we walk a course through the three Pods in the room. There’s a small girl, a man who looked as if he were once muscular, and the third one was empty. 

“Is this my Pod?” I ask curiously. I’m aware that I’ve been in a Pod before, but the rest of the details are fuzzy. 

“No…” The doctor shakes his head in dismay. “This is the last time, Will, my old friend. If we can’t save them, the government is going to shut the program down.” The doctor begins to mutter several unsavory words. “If it wasn’t for you there wouldn’t be a government. Nevertheless, bring them home, bring your team home.”

“How do I do that?”

“Go to the meadow. There’s an emergency transport chip there, in the only big oak there,” the doctor looks at me with hope. 

I nod my head, the burden of my task weighing heavily on my mind. 

“I’ll see you in ten years, friend,” He says as a tear rolls down his wrinkled cheek. 

“Ten years? Why so long?” I ask. 

“For you it’ll feel as if you just saw me, that’s the power of the machines… but in reality it’s been 30 years since the war…”

My heart is heavy as the doctor walks me to a separate room. The room with my Pod is also big and empty. White walls, a cream colored Pod, I’m surprised they added such a pop of color. 

The doctor moves his mask to smile at me as a heavy fluid rushes through my veins. I can taste the saline in my mouth, the iron too. “I look forward to seeing you again, friend.”

“Friend.” I don’t recall this man, but I can tell I like him. I hold out my hand and it flops into his as the medicine rushes into every part of me. 

“Will!” 

I jolt awake and I peer around, bleary eyed. A young girl is tugging my arm violently. I pull my arm back and rub my head. “What’s going on?” 

“We’ve gotta go, now!” Her face is twisted, her little body shaking. 

I jump to my feet and my body is heavy. 

She jumps into action and pulls me close to her, helping limp me along. 

“Where… am I?” I manage through the fog. 

From what I can tell, we’re in a deep forest with trees that reach up to the sky, with dark foliage. Pine needles are layered with rotted leaves on the forest floor. It would almost be beautiful if I didn’t have a small girl propelling me forward. 

“Not now,” She huffs. 

“Okay,” I mumble. I wish to stand and carry myself, but my body almost feels numb. 

“Your mind. It’s still catching up to the Pod system,” She quickly states. “The machines and medicine are rough on everyone.” 

As soon as she’s done speaking, an arrow strikes the tree beside us. She quickens our pace and steals her face. 

A whistle carries from up ahead. “Wyatt!”The girl shouts with relief. 

She shuffles me to the man she called Wyatt, and he drags me into a dark hole in the ground, the girl following behind us. 

There are a few torches lighting the cave and I can hear a steady stream of water. 

“Who is shooting at us?” I whisper. 

“Computer simulations. It was meant to be a training exercise…” Wyatt stops speaking, his face twisting. He sits on a chest and motions for me to join him. He pulls out a map and examines it.

    The girl stands with her arms folded, glaring at the two of us. 

    “Have you asked him anything?” Wyatt asks her. 

    “Not yet, we were too busy trying not to die…” She glances at me again, then pulls her gaze away. In a softer voice she added, “Plus I’m afraid to ask.”

    Wyatt nods understandingly, but his face shows dread as well. 

    “He asked where he was.”

    Taking a deep and noisy breath, the man looks up at me. “Do you know who you are?”

    “I’m...Will.” 

    The man and the girl lock eyes for a moment, then swarm me. 

“Do you know my name, Will?” The girl asks.

I frown. Her eyes are big and blue and I know I’m going to disappoint her. I shrug. 

From the vacancy that glazed over those blue eyes, it appears as if I’ve broken her heart. 

“I-I’m sorry…” I say. 

“I’m Layla, your sister,” She says, clearly dejected.

“My sister? You were part of my… my team?” I ask, anger burning in my chest.

The hurt slowly seeps from her face, Wyatt and her locking eyes once more. “How did they do it?” Wyatt asks, amazed. “Did they give you a different medicine?”

I shrug again. “The doctor… he showed me some…”

I pause and rub my temples. I don’t have a lot of memories, but I can recall vividly the conversation with the doctor before going into stasis. “He showed me some Pods and told me to bring my team home.”

“How do we do that?” Wyatt asked, desperately. 

     The answer is clear. It’s right there, I can hold it. A clarity I’ve never felt before. “The meadow.”

Wyatt is holding a strange contraption he calls a weapon as we dash from tree group to tree group. 

“There aren’t other people here, it’s more like rigged traps of death,” Layla whispers back to me. 

“What kind of weapon is that?” I ask, wishing I had one of my own. 

“It’s… it’s like a bow and arrow but I’ve jimmied it to spark fire and several other cool things,” Wyatt states proudly. 

As we cross the final tree, several spikes shoot up from the ground and I push Layla out of the way. 

“Thanks,” she says, dusting herself off. 

“Anytime.” I want to call her sis but it’s too weird. How can this little girl be my sister? Now I wish I had a mirror. How old am I? If we’ve been in here for 30 years, how old am I supposed to be?

As we walk to the clearing, Wyatt walks backwards with his jimmy rigged bow and arrow, ready for any assault. 

“What happens if we die here?” Now I’m imagining horrible things. 

“You wake up in a different part of the map,” Layla states matter of fact.

The meadow is expansive, the golden grass swaying in the breeze. The large oak tree is enormous and it’s branches reach high above into the sky. As we approach it, I feel like an ant on a blade of grass. 

“We have to climb this?” I frown. 

“Yes, yes we do commander,” Wyatt chuckles. He hands me two knives and a rope. “Don’t die.” 

I wonder what else he has in his backpack but I don’t bother asking, we will be home soon. 

Bring your team home. 

As the doctor’s words echo in my mind, I realize they are the ones bringing me home. 

“Will!” I turn and a woman with soft, curly nutmeg hair is beckoning to me. 

Layla cries out, “Will, don’t...” She stops speaking and begins to weep. “Don’t go to her… it’s not real.”

I glance from Layla to the woman slowly walking toward me. 

I can’t resist. I go to her and she embraces me. I feel whole. The confusion is pushed down. 

“Will, I’ve missed you. Please don’t go home… or we will never see each other again.”

“Why?” I know it’s ridiculous to ask when I have no idea who this woman is. But she’s familiar. There’s something about her I can’t explain. 

“Will, let's go home,” Layla cries out. 

The woman is urging me toward the outskirts of the meadow, but I stop. Alarm bells go off in my mind. I know her, but something is off. 

“You’re my soulmate, Will,” she gently leans in and kisses my lips. 

I pull away and stare at her. “You’re not her… Aria.” The name tugs at my mind. Flashes of a woman who looks like this one, but she’s in combat gear. She’s smiling at me, winding up and punching me, trying to hide the fear she’s really feeling. The memory of the doctor telling me she didn’t make it, her injuries were too severe. Mine were worse, yet here I am. I wanted to die but I had to save the only other two people who matter the most to me. 

With eyes brimming with tears I run from the imposter and dig my knives into the bark of the tree. 

As I pull myself over the edge, I stare at Layla and Wyatt. Glimpses of them in my mind's eye. Wyatt, strong and loyal. Layla, determined and intelligent. Their last battle flashes through my mind too. They are all there. Aria is in my arms, I’m begging the doctor to save her as I, myself pass out.

I stand despite the exhaustion I feel. “Let’s get you guys home.”