Mag grumbled and turned back toward the tent. “He nearly killed Donovan and I. Maybe it’s about time we stop giving him the benefit of the doubt.”
Maybe it was because of how he said it, or maybe it was the fact I knew I had been the one to fuck everything up, but I felt my cheeks heat with shame. I pushed away from Donovan and followed him to the tent, running to catch up. “Are you implying I meant to let him out?” I asked.
“Didn’t say that,” he muttered.
He barely turned his eyes to give me any attention. It would have been easy to deal with a few days ago, but I thought I had gotten to know him. He was the one who convinced me to meet his group, and I ended up taking every inch of his massive cock. I submitted and gave all I had to him. I couldn’t take this level of disregard.
He unzipped the tent and crawled inside to be alone, but I followed to give him a taste of his own medicine. “I thought you cared about me,” I said.
He groaned when he realized I wasn’t going to leave him alone. “Never said that either,” he said, digging through his belongings. “Battery is gone, too. He must have taken it. There’s only one place he could be headed.”
I sat down beside him and nearly touched his chest to console him, but when I saw how fast and hard his pulse was going, I decided against it. “I know you’re angry. I also know how bad you want off this rock,” I said. He slumped and sighed. “But you shouldn’t worry about Zane. He’s practically harmless.”
Even I knew the words sounded fake. He wasn’t harmless. He was calculating, but I never thought he was so manipulative he could help eradicate an entire realm of physicality. No, I wouldn’t believe it.
“That man will destroy everything I have waited for. You. Our freedom. The chance to love and feel again. The chance to see sunlight. I am trying to be patient, but there is so much at stake,” Mag said, eyes full of hurt and worry.
One by one, the others entered. I turned to them for guidance, so they might ease my apprehensions. Yet, both of their faces were blank, and they stood in silence. “I take it you agree?” I asked.
They both turned to look at each other with hesitation. Donovan sat down and cleared his throat. “We have seen things you cannot see,” he said.
I bit down and slowly dragged my teeth together, but I kept my mouth shut to listen to Cadmar’s thoughts, though I knew what they would be. “Maybe he was a good man, but people change,” he said. “I can’t claim to be able to understand the modern world, but I have seen more than I needed. His intentions aren’t decent. His motives come from a place of self-interest and greed. Worst of all, I think you already know this, but love has clouded your judgment.”
They were harsh words, but maybe I needed to hear them. I was still trying to make sense of what I witnessed in that fucked up dream state. ”You haven’t told me everything,” I said. “I need to know. I’m ready to know.”
Once they got done with their reluctant stares, they lowered their guards. Thanks to my insane brain and the images this place produced inside it, Zane had managed to escape, but if what they were telling me was true, I could track him down. Once I did, I would convince him to leave this place in peace. He wouldn’t hurt me. At least, I hoped he wasn’t that unhinged...
Cadmar spoke first, going through their story in greater detail. He and Donovan were scientists during what they could only think of as the pinnacle of mankind. “It was long past the end of World War II. The flags fell in Germany, the red flags rose in the east, and our country saluted the flag of freedom while dropping bombs throughout every decade. Every country seemed to bow at our feet, the greatest place in the entire world. America.”
Mag gave a tired chuckle. It seemed he disagreed with his starry-eyed definition of the country I grew up in. I had seen things that made me question that picture as well, but these men were from a different time. They didn’t grow up with cellphone towers and industry-poisoned crops, and they sure as hell didn’t groan over a bad tweet. No, their vision of the world was so clear, but so far off. Maybe Mag’s response was right. I couldn’t be sure. All I knew was I couldn’t choose where I was born, but I could choose what I did with my life.
“Donovan and I were chosen to lead an expedition. Apparently, our government had some more work to do in South America, specifically Guatemala. They told us we were going for humanitarian work. I don’t know what historians write in the books now, but when we arrived, there were very few supplies. Instead, we were escorted to a facility. I should have known they’d targeted me for my work, but I was young and naive. Thirty-two, and I didn’t have a family. All I had was my work,” Cadmar said.
Donovan carried on with the story. “We were told they had found an energy source. It was located in a small village, and, at the behest of the heads of our team, we were to demand entrance from the locals. It was all kept under wraps, of course. No newspapers or media source reported on the findings. And when we arrived wielding rifles and other weapons, the tribal leaders cowered in fear.”
“I tried to warn them. I begged the privatized soldiers to back down,” Cadmar said with a grief-stricken heart. “The only person who listened was Mag.”
“They were still fucking slaughtered. Hunted down like dogs. I’ll never forget the terrifying looks on their faces as they were gunned to fuckin’ pieces,” he said.
Donovan cupped his hand over his eyes. “We all carry the blame for what happened.”
“But you didn’t know what would happen,” I said. “You were tricked...”
“This place does not care how things happen, only if they happened. Those images will be forced upon us until the day we die. I have no doubt about that,” Mag said.
All of this was so horrible I didn’t think I could continue listening to the gruesome details. However, I had to keep asking, so I could know. So the future children of the world could know. Maybe I was a naive optimist, but I believed a country could overwrite its wrongs if they would just admit to and learn about what happened. “After they tricked you, what did they make you do?
“You have to remembe
r how difficult it was to fight power back then. We tried to leave, many times. We staged our own coup, and some of the top scientists in the world joined our side. Of course, it was of no use to us. They hired more armed guards. Even the natives joined in once they realized they had no other choice,” Donovan said. “When you’re looking through the barrel of a gun, you can see how present death really is. It is always surrounding you. It wasn’t the fear that made me give up. I gave up because I knew my work was to be destroyed after my death. Hundreds of patents. Vaccines supposed to be wildly available in less than a decade. All of it would have been destroyed and covered up.”
“None of us should have signed up to work for the government,” Mag said. “We turned our heads when our leaders promised hope to the world, knowing full well it wasn’t coming.”
The CIA. There was a joke between the team and I that it stood for Clowns In Action. It was one of those dumb college jokes, but we would giggle anyway, and someone would always respond with another witty acronym, “Cash in Advance,” simply because it meant we could finally get some real, heavy-duty funding. These days, it was hard to come by.
Hearing just the start of their terrible tale, it was apparent no joke was warranted. Government agencies were supposed to keep people safe, and I’m sure some people did just that. The only problem was they had a growing list of atrocities that had happened under their watch.
“But you keep moving on. You do what you’re told. In spite of everything, we had a duty to discover more about the world, and we were hoping to lead the future and design something perfect,” Donovan said. “But after some time of testing the energy source on “willing” subjects, coupled with the deep pipelines that were to stretch across the oceans of the world, our team was given less and less access every day. Sure, we held the knowledge this wasn’t just another pipeline for fuel. This was something different, a portal that could potentially transport people into a different universe entirely.”