Don't Look Back

It’s freezing in my hospital bed. This shivery feeling is tiring as I watch the broken fan makes a dreadful noise at every try to spin. The nurse whistles as she cleans off shiny metal. The light reflected in my eye and I groaned.

“Oh, you’re awake. I hope you’re hungry. Time to get back to business.”

I didn’t know what was happening. In this filthy room, nothing was familiar. My arm didn’t look like my own.

She got up in my face and surveyed me.

“That gun to the face must’ve gotten to your head, huh? Do you recognize me, pal?” 

I shook my head and tried to remember. 

“Gun…? Wait, what do you-”

The lady slid over a mirror. 

I bolted back into my bed. A stretched piece of skin was on my face. It was a crudely done surgery.

“D-Did you do this?” I caressed my face whiles she cleans up the room. 

“Yeah! The roadside surgery class was so useful.”

I felt my entire body shake in fear. Where am I and who am I? God, that question was a lurking danger. From these past few minutes, I must’ve been a con man of sorts. A pink-haired, white con man. 

“Come on, pal. You don’t remember me? That ain’t fair. I saved you and everything.”

I was so lost. I’m stuck in something horrible.

There was a gunshot. My heart pounded faster than a runner. I searched the room for a second exit. The woman laughed at my attempts. 

“Scared of these bullets? Wow, you have amnesia!”

They boarded the window up with wooden planks with hammered nails. My breath got heavy and my chest got tight and frail. I still heard her chuckles.

“If you want to go become normal person…”

She paused. An enormous grin took up her face. 

“You must escape, pretty boy.”

That was the start of my nightmare.

The clinic door slammed open and a lean body came out with a gun. 

“Hey! He’s alive! How are ya doing? Gosh, you took one for me! How could I ever repay ya?”

I only let out mumbles from my mouth. The skinny boy who looked no older than 17, looked at her in confusion. She shrugged and patted my back. 

“Boss is still in shock. Surprise your face is still there!”

The country boy let out a wholehearted laugh, coughing. 

“Shut your trap, Nicky. For a rookie, you talk too much.”

I was so relieved. Although, I still wasn’t safe. How am I getting out of here? The one thing I thought of was to explore wherever I was. 

“I want to get out. Lift me out of this bed.”

Trying to infiltrate their behaviors was difficult, but from their looks, I did well. 

“Alright, up you go.”

My legs wobbled as I tried to stand. They held me up by the arms and walked me to the door. 

“Yell for us if you need something, boss!” 

I grinned at them and held myself up, leaning on the wall. 

The building was an abandoned construction site. The lights hung close to my head. The bugs even wanted to leave. Unlike a normal construction site, the walls had no way to exit the building. The rats squeaked in my ears, limping on half bitten legs. 

“What’re you doing walking around here? You’re a sick man, go back and lie down.”

A gruff voice spoke to me. I lifted my head, there stood a tall, muscular man with tattoos drowning his neck. 

“I just need fresh air.”

Breezes came through the cracks. It made this moment together more chilling. 

“Well, if you’re done messing around, come see what we’ve been working on lately.”

He motions me to follow him down a pathway. 

Every move we make creaked beneath us. Dirty water fell from the pipes. One drop hit my face, and I flinched.

“Haha, too good for your hideout?”

I shook my head. He smirked at me. 

“Relax, man. You have amnesia and this feels strange, but I promise you’ll get back into it. Don’t overthink it.”

Although the words are comforting, this wasn’t something to continue doing. We came up to an iron door. He grabbed the knob and turned it before looking back at me. 

“Anything you’d like to say before we enter?”

I gulped. This guy was giving me a chance to do something. What did he expect me to do?

“What’s your name?”

A shocked expression came to his face. The cocky look that he had, faded. 

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything-”

“You want to get out of this place, right? I can tell you’re uncomfortable.”

What was I to say? If this was a trick, he’s doing it. I don’t think I was a good person before this. I knew nothing of my past. If I were to run away and go out to the world, would it be better for me, or is it the slammer by default?

“What if I did? What would happen?”

He gave me a smug look.

“I’m Taylor. If you wish to get out, listen to my instructions carefully. I know this place in and out, top to bottom, and every crack in this ceiling. I know them, all of them.”

It was silent. Our breaths were rhythmic, and I stared at the tall curly-haired guy in front of me. Taylor might’ve been my partner, or at least one of my many partners. 

“Taylor… if you help me get out, I’ll help you start a new life, a completely better atmosphere. You don’t have to stay here with these conditions.” 

Taylor sighed to himself. He ran his fingers through his hair, ruffling it. 

“You think you can do that for me? You don’t where you’re at and who you were. The last thing you need is a tag-along. Let’s just count this as a lifetime favor.”

He reached out for my arm and I pulled it back. 

“No, the last thing I need is debt. You seem very kind-hearted and from my perspective, it’s an opportunity for a second chance. Please… come with me.”

He pondered for a moment and looked at me. He opened the door and slammed it behind him. For a moment I walked back to my original spot, then the door opens again and heard, 

“You ain’t leaving without me, are you?” 

I grinned and waited for him to catch up. 

We began walking up a damaged staircase. He stayed ahead of me to be a lookout for anyone else coming. 

“Alright, when we get up to the roof, we’ll have only 5 minutes plus determining how long it’ll take them to break down our barrier. If we did the calculations right, we’ll end up about halfway out of the city.” 

The plan is to escape out of how the city and travel south. Then, we’ll be able to escape out of the ring and shape our lives for the better. We continued up the stairs with a backpack full of not clean but functional supplies. 

“You’re not afraid that they’ll catch us?”

I asked him, but he said nothing. We quietly agreed to stay quiet for the rest of the hike. The temperature rose, sweat made marks on my vile hospital gown. A door closed.

“What was that?”

He stepped in front of me and pushed me back. The staircase we walked was dim. 

“That was way too easy to find your escape, wasn’t it, Boss?”

We both jumped. The woman from before stood in front of the exit. 

“Mia! What are you doing?!”

She laughed and waves her finger.

“Boss, or should I say, Martin Reeve, you think that because you forget that you may abandon the project! I bet that dumb gorilla hasn’t even told you of your crimes! He’s the last one you should take with you. Do you want to know the truth about what goes on inside these cold metal walls? I’ll tell you what happens down here! You’ll be haunted on for the rest of your life!”

Tongue-tied, I looked at Taylor for any comment, but all I could see was shame and terror in his face. Mia sneered.

“Nothing to say? Well, I have plenty. For one-”

He pushed past me and punched her in the face. She fell to the ground and blood gushed from her nose. 

“Come on!” 

He dragged me along and up to the door. He desperately tried to push in the code on the pad. 

“Argh! Come on you stupid door!”

He attempted to push in the code once more, still no luck. 

“Y-You dinguses. It’s  8567. That’s the…. code.”

She mumbled quietly under her breath. She softly snickers. 

“8567. The code is 8567 Taylor.”

He punched it in and the door made a beeping noise that sounded the alarm. He opened the door and headed to the edge of the roof.  I stood next to her aching body. 

“I’m sorry, we can still take you. I bet the parachute can hold the extra weight.”

“No, don’t take me. I have a job to do. Unlike you guys, I want to do it and I care about the people here. You might not understand right now, but you were so passionate about our work.”

I squatted over by her, and she touched my hand. 

“I’m not dying, but to see you leave us, hurts more than any bullet. Trust me, I know.”

Taylor was yelling for me to come with him, but I stayed for the last moment. 

“In these circumstances, be more careful about who you trust. These people would do anything to get out, and by your side is the cherry on top.”