OBLIVIOUS

Chapter 9

It was a guy's voice. He was screaming and my instinct was to search where the voice was coming from. I already took a step towards the direction of the source of the voice when Baron yelled.

"Don't go away! You have no weapon!" Baron looked scary while he was ordering me this, and I think I knew why. He wanted to show authority to me so that I'll follow him. As much as I wanted to disobey him I know that he was right. I have no weapon with me and I am injured. So if I ever encounter a Slacker I will be easily dragged back to the facility.

The screams continued, so I pleaded with Baron. "If I can't go and check him, then maybe you can. Please, Baron... Just check that poor guy."

He did not say a word, but after only a couple of seconds, he finally gave in and walked back to the dry land. "You stay in this spot. You are not going to move a muscle while I'm not here, understand?"

I nodded. "Thank you."

"And if something or someone attacks you while I'm still not here, call for me. Shout like how this new guy is shouting." I managed to smile a little at his remark and he now left. I can't help but feel excited thinking that this person that we were hearing is just like us. Everything is possible, now that I just witnessed weirder and more surprising things than this. I even consider the possibility that this person could be Forte. Maybe he escaped too just like Baron. Who knows? And maybe Vista is with him too. That would be the best thing that can happen in this place.

But just as I was daydreaming of finally meeting Vista and Forte, a sharp pain suddenly seared through my brain that I winced and yelped loudly. I had to crouch while holding my forehead because the pain was intensely unbearable.

And then I heard another voice, and this time I instantly recognized who it was. "H-Help..." Vista's voice was soft and sounded like she was in pain too, which made me feel something terrible like my gut and insides were forcibly twitching. "Somebody... Please help..."

I could not remain calm as I immediately called out to her. "Vista!" I shouted around me desperately. "Vista! Where are you?"

She did not reply, but I am positive that it was her that I just heard so I began searching for her. I waded back to dry land and looked for her in the bushes, in the tall grass, and in the whole vicinity but she was nowhere to be found which I found so mysterious. I called her again but there was still no reply.

Then I heard a loud explosion and I was certain that came from Baron's long gun. Next came voices that were shouting and I could hear Baron's voice on top of the other bellowing 'run.' Because I was curious, I went closer to where I think they were, thinking that Vista might be there too. After a couple of walking, I arrived at a scene I dreaded seeing.

Two people were lying on the grass in what I saw as the higher ground that looks like a mini version of a hill while at a distance a group of silhouettes with light beams as their eyes could be seen approaching us where the two were lying. I did not have much time left so I sprinted as fast as I could to get them both, but another explosion bombarded me. Just behind me, the earth shook and the grass was scattered on the air in pieces as I fell too from the impact. One of the Slackers had aimed at my direction but luckily narrowly missing me. Despite that, the impact was still strong that it felt like there was an earthquake.

I fell next to Baron who I noticed was still conscious, though his face was full of blood that I couldn't even see his expression. He was breathing hard, and I went closer to him to check if he was wounded severely.

"Baron..." I murmured to him and I saw him look at me. "What happened?"

"They k-know where we are..." he whispered back at me with the sound of someone in total agony from the pain. "We w-were right," he says in a soft panic, "that bug-like r-robot can locate us..."

"What? Then we need to get out of here!" I said and tried to get up, but another explosion shook us and I saw the other guy who was already unconscious being lifted to the ground by the same explosion together with the smothered earth and leaves. He fell back to the ground with a loud thud, and that is when I noticed something wrong with him. He has lost his right arm!

But I had no time to dwell on his mishap because the very same shot that gave off a tremendous impact caused me to roll on the edge of this higher spot and I would have continued rolling to the lower place if not for Baron who was able to have a firm grip on my clothes. I could have fallen into the same monstrous plants below us that tried to eat us earlier if Baron was not able to grab hold of me. I saw the plants' lively vines swaying in the air, looking ready to snare me if I was close enough for it to grab me. Good thing I was able to scramble up to the top with Baron's help.

"Thank you. Where's your gun?" I asked him because all I wanted to do now was to pay the Slackers back. I wanted to retaliate. The odd feeling of an urge to fight was in control of my emotions again, and I have no intention of repressing it this time. "Baron where is your long gun?"

"It blew up into pieces," he replied in a muffled voice. "The Slackers aimed at it while I was trying to defend us from them." Now I know why he was severely injured. He took on a shot from the Slackers and I would say that it was lucky that it was his weapon that got blasted into pieces and not him. Nevertheless, it has still wounded him deeply, and I know that this will affect him gravely.

"Never mind that," I said shrugging. "Let's just get away from here."

But it was too late. The Slackers were already in front of us and was again preparing for a new attack. I closed my eyes in defeat because I knew it was over, but then it was the exact time a bizarre thing happened.

Just as when the Slackers were aiming at us and were loading their cannons at the three of us, I sensed a tingling sensation all over my body. I don't know what was happening but at the same time the Slackers stopped what it was doing and had lowered their cannons. "Targets missing," I hear one of them say in that same monotonous voice that the Mediborg has, which was immediately echoed by the other Slackers.

To add to our unbelievable streak of luck, these vicious robots acted like we were not here anymore and began moving in different directions, searching for us. It was like we were invisible, which I think we are because they proceeded on moving away from us.

When they were already out of sight, I tried to get up and check on Baron and the other guy. "What just happened?" I blurted out as Baron tried to get up too. He was wincing while wiping the blood on his face. "It just happened again. They acted like we were invisible to them just like what they did with you earlier."

"So this is what you are talking about," Baron said, breathing deeply again. "I was ready to die there."

"Me too," I admitted. "I know we are lucky to be escape death like that but I just can't help but feel a little worried about that. How they snubbed us felt very ominous and I can't sense that it's okay."

"I think that way too," he agrees, "so it's either something is wrong with them or something is wrong with us."

"That makes sense," I say, and my gaze averted toward the new guy who had just lost his arm. "By the way, what happened to this guy? Did those Slackers do this to him?"

Baron shook his head making me more confused. "When I saw him his arm was already missing. And before the Slackers attacked us he still managed to tell me what happened to him. He says that he had to cut his arm because a robot attached to him and that's how they can locate us just as we predicted."

Again, a horrible jolt of uneasiness seemed to form inside me. My insides lurched at the thought of anyone having to cut their limb just so they can survive because I don't think I can do that. "No," I said with conviction. "I'm not going to cut off my arm."

Baron looked like he wanted to argue, but thought otherwise. "If you don't want to lose a limb, then we must move on to the other side of the fence as fast as we could. I know you have realized by now that we can't count on the irregularity that's making those scrap metals go blind so we need to be as far from here as possible."

I nodded. "You mean the Slackers don't go outside of the fence," I said thinking about why they act the way they act.

"Yes. They have not yet crossed the fence as far as I know. We need to go now," he said and then went to the injured guy and carried him on his shoulders just like what he did to me. I had to help him because Baron was wincing in pain as one of his arms had deep cuts.

I felt guilty for the things Baron had to do because I can't do them myself, like carrying an unconscious young adult man on my shoulders. And it was also me that asked Baron to check on this person. We could've just ignored this poor fellow and we wouldn't have problems like this. It made me feel ashamed of myself because I can sense it on me that I used to be able to help before. I don't think I was that type of person who can't do anything or the kind of guy who just looks around at his friends while they shoulder the problems they're facing. I think I was the opposite of that, even though I still can't remember anything from my past.

We decided to take the opposite direction of where we came from because I know that the Slackers could track us right now using the robot that sunk into my flesh. The path we were heading right now into is wilder and has a lot of plants and trees. I told Baron that we could blend in with the vegetation if ever the Slackers got wind of us and he agreed. This path was longer than the one we previously went to but the plants must've helped us hide from the Slackers because we did not see or hear them coming.

We were now wading again in the water and twice we had to rest because Baron was already exhausted. I suggested to him that we can stay for some time here but he refused. He stressed that we are nowhere near safety until we crossed the bridge in the fog and I had no choice but to agree.

While we were resting, I observed the new guy that we just saved from the Slackers. Just like the first time I saw him I knew he looked as young as both me and Baron. He had brown hair and a well-built body. Baron had put him on the grass. This person was already pale, presumably from the intense loss of blood. However, I noticed that there was no more blood dripping from his blasted body. His cut arm was indescribably damaged but it already looked dry.

"You noticed it too..."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Baron was staring at the severed arm of this new person. "His open wound from the cut already healed. And that's not normal."

"I know. I also think that it's not normal."

"Because it really is not," he replied. "The loss of blood can kill you, you know... Or at least make you unconscious. But look at him, he's just sleeping."

Baron was right. This person is really just sleeping because I could still hear his soft snore. That almost scared me. Is this guy even human?

"He's like us, right? He escaped too?"

Baron nodded. "He says he came from the garden. He hid there while the White Shadows were busy."

"Then each of us might be like him too," I concluded. "Just think about it. I could shoot electric sparks from my hands. You have incredible strength and it appears that there's something with you that makes the Slackers go blind. And here is this guy that can heal his body and sleep comfortably like he had just not lost an arm. Surely something is going on."

"Yes, definitely. I think Forte was right," he finally says, but more to himself.

"Right about what?"

"Right about saying that we are experiments. And I think we aren't even humans."