CHAPTER FOUR - MIRRORED HATRED
“Why the hell did that freak have to follow me? He could ruin everything! He is so irresponsible! He’s so, so… he’s such a - ”
“Bri, he’s you!” Darren said, his eyes watching as Bri impatiently paced about the floor of his office. His friend had done nothing but complain since Darren had dragged him away from his younger self. He couldn’t understand it. Why was there such hatred between the two of them? They were the same and neither of them were normally violent. Darren had never seen Bri so worked up or angry before. He had seemed to want to kill his alternate self! He usually only ever became angry and dangerous when something threatened B or Sammy… Or did he perceive his younger self as a threat? Was that it?
Bri was glaring at him from out of his black eyes. His face was still covered in bruises and patches of dried blood from a nosebleed . He slammed his fists down hard upon the table in front of Darren. “He is not me!” he spat hatefully. “He is an arrogant, obnoxious and pathetic bast - ”
Darren could hardly believe what he was hearing. “He is exactly how you were twenty years ago!” he replied as he rose from his seat to meet Bri’s icy stare. “You are him and he is you! No matter how much you insult him that won’t change!”
“Darren, I hate him!” Bri cried, his eyes flashing at the mere thought of his twin it seemed. “Every time I look at him, I am filled with loathing and hatred!” He turned away and stared moodily at the wall. “I can’t explain it, but I just feel disgusted with him.”
Darren regarded him carefully. Bri was almost afraid of his twin and Darren knew why. He was afraid that he was going to take B away from him. “I think you’re jealous.”
Bri turned to stare at him and for a moment he was silent before replying in a low voice, “Excuse me?” His eyes narrowed to blue slits.
“Nick was right wasn’t he? B was staying with the Brian in 2003. You’re jealous because B went to him and not you. Bri, he didn’t have a choice! He was being chased and he was scared! You know he cares about you, and B probably could have died in that time if he had not found someone he knew!”
He watched the way Bri took a step back. He had squeezed the exact spot that fuelled his hatred. He had known that Bri was always protective of B, but this was different. He could see the jealousy boiling in his eyes. The younger Brian was a threat and Bri was obviously going to fight against it.
“But this is all wrong!” Bri said, ignoring Darren’s comment. “I don’t have any memories of B ever coming to 2003! This isn’t right and him coming here is wrong! I don’t remember ever coming here! He’s messing with times and that could mess with our lives!”
He glanced back up at Bri. “Time travel is a complicated thing. There could be hundreds of reasons why you don’t remember.” Darren had never understood the fundamentals and infinite possibilities of time and he doubted if he ever would. There were too many variables, too many problems…
“But I remember the last time we messed with time! I remember being brought here to save B! You told me we shouldn’t mess with time and you wanted to send me home because I was out of time! Why can’t you send him home now? He doesn’t belong here!”
Darren could feel a burning in his temples. It had started the instant Nick had dashed into his office and told him the news.
“Darren! Bri’s back!” Nick had gasped breathlessly.
“Does he have B with him?”
“No… he came back with someone else instead.”
“Who?”
Darren had been expecting a Gerai. He had certainly not had any plans for having two Brians in his base. He had felt weak when Nick had also informed him of B’s capture. The Gerai could do anything to the poor kid and he’d had enough bad experiences to last him a lifetime. He didn’t deserve any of them. Also, the Gerai now had the virus and they had no idea what they were doing to B to make sure they obtained it.
“Bri look,” Darren said. “We don’t have time to argue this out. I’ll decide what happens to your twin. You never know, he might be useful.”
“What?” Bri’s eyes widened. His face suddenly began to turn pale with rage. “How the hell can you even consider keeping him here? If he dies then I lose my family! You have to send him home!”
“Darren held up a hand to prevent Brian from ranting anymore. “Look, I’ll deal with him, okay? But at the moment you have something far more important to think about other than your younger self!” He could hardly believe that Bri had not thought about B and Sammy sooner, but instead he was being selfish and thinking about himself. “We have to think of how we can get our people back!”
Bri’s face suddenly crumpled and Darren could see the memories flooding into his mind. He saw the pain flitter across his eyes and he knew at once that he was thinking about Sammy and B, and punishing himself mentally for forgetting about them. Were the feelings running between the two Brians that intense that they could block out everything else? He said nothing as he slowly sunk into a seat opposite Darren and cradled his head in his hands miserably. “B and Sammy,” he whispered. “B’s been kidnapped and…”
“You think he has the virus,” Darren finished. “Nick told me. Bri, we can’t be sure. B might just have been ill…”
“Darren,” Bri’s voice had changed. It was clogged with despair now that ran thickly in his throat. “He was so pale and… God why did I forget about him? I hate that man!”
Darren slowly tilted his head, knowing that Bri was referring to the other Brian.
“The teams already set off to find Sammy and the others didn’t they?” Bri said after a few moments.
Darren nodded. “I know you wanted to go, but I couldn’t delay any longer. We know though that they only have Kevin and Sammy and that they were taken alive.”
Bri raised his head. “What about AJ?” he asked quickly. “And Carl?”
“Carl was killed but AJ’s fine. He escaped during the ambush. He had a broken ankle and it took him a few days to make it back here. Luckily he had his supplies with him otherwise he would have died. He’s resting at the moment. He told us that both Kevin and Sammy were taken alive.”
There was a deep twang of sympathy rubbing into Darren’s stomach. Bri had lost everything recently. All he had ever wanted was a family and yet it was the one thing he always seemed to be so close to losing. He had already lost his girlfriend and now he was faced with the loss of B and Sammy, as well as his cousin.
“I want to look for them,” Bri said determinedly. “B will probably be at that base by now as well. I have to find them. I failed B once, I won’t do it again.” He closed his eyes slowly, looking as if he might cry. He hung his head slightly. “They mean the world to me. I don’t care if B hates me, he and Sammy are everything…”
“He doesn’t hate you,” Darren whispered. “You know he never could.” B had always loved his father, even before he had met him he had adored him. Despite things being difficult now, Darren knew he still cared. “You’re his father.”
Bri looked up sharply. “What kind of father am I,” he said softly, “when I forget about my own sons in favour of dwelling on hatred? But you know what? I can’t help it. I can’t stop hating. And right now I hate him so much for making me forget them that I wish I could kill him.” His voice was calm and soft and only hardened by the violence of the words themselves.
For a moment, Darren could find nothing to say. He had never seen Bri like this before. He could see the glowering hatred in his eyes and could hear it in his voice. He shook his head slowly. “You can’t mean that.”
“I do,” Bri replied stubbornly as he folded his arms. “You don’t understand. There’s this strange feeling between the two of us. The moment I first saw him I felt that I hated him and I could sense it in him to. We’re connected and neither of us like it.”
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A plughole had opened in the darkness and it all began to swirl away down a deep whirlpool of black oblivion, leaving the world full or harsh, stinging light that burned his eyes and pierced into his skull…
Brian’s eyes were open and staring at a rocky ceiling. He blinked a few times, unsure of where he was for a moment or so. Suddenly everything began to play back in his mind. He could hear B screaming for help and see the face of his twin, the face that he hated so much…
“How are you feeling?” Nick’s head stared down at him with sympathetic eyes.
Brian stared up at him and blinked again. Slowly he tilted his head and found that he was in a large cavern full of beds and a few consoles. He recognised it as the medical centre in Darren’s base, but he could not remember how he had ended up here. Carefully he sat up and placed a hand to his sore head. Vaguely he remembered a fist connecting with it numerous times to leave him feeling sick and dizzy. “I had a horrible dream,” he said.
“What about?”
“My decrepit older self.”
Nick sighed slightly. “It wasn’t a dream. You had a fight with him and lost consciousness just after. He did you some pretty nasty damage.”
“I fought back!” Brian pointed out, not wanting to seem like the weaker twin.
Nick nodded. “Yeah and he has two black eyes to show for it now.”
Brian allowed himself to fall back onto the med bed. He had known the images in his head hadn’t been a dream. His nightmares always turned out to be frighteningly real. He closed his eyes for a moment. “B,” he whispered.
“No sign of him. We think he’s at the Gerai base,” Nick said, his voice soft and comforting, even though the words brought no comfort at all.
Brian gulped slightly. He had promised to protect B and to never let the Gerai take him again. The Gerai were a nemesis to B. They had hunted and terrified him throughout his life to the point where he was probably permanently traumatised. The only reason he had survived as long as he had was because he had an older brother who loved him more than the world itself.
“And Sammy?” he whispered. He had dreaded that something had happened to him when he had received those eerie text messages from his older self telling him that Sammy was missing. He had prayed that he had been lying or wrong, but now ugly truth was leering its teeth at him, mocking him for even daring to hope that Sammy was all right.
“Captured by the Gerai. But he’s still alive,” he added as he seemed to sense Brian’s misery. “Both Sammy and Kevin were captured alive. The Gerai have been capturing people from nearby bases for weeks. We think they’ll use them for either slaves of blackmail.”
Brian closed his eyes again. Sammy had grown into such a sweet and caring adult. Even though Brian found it difficult to see him as the six year old in his own time, he still accepted and loved him as a son. Now he could see him in the clutches of the malevolent Gerai. Sammy didn’t deserve that.
Brian’s mind was tearing itself apart as it was dragged in two directions. He felt as if something was eating and consuming him inside until there was nothing left. All he could see was B and Sammy. Poor B was ill and Sammy… he hadn’t even seen this older Sammy in a year.
“Are we going to rescue them?” he whispered.
“Of course!” Nick cried. He sat down beside Brian. “Darren never lets anyone remain prisoners. We’re going to team up with a local base which has had a lot of people kidnapped by Gerai. Darren’s already sent out one team to that base and another will be going soon. We can’t wait. We have to get B back as soon as possible. As awful as this sounds, he is a higher priority than Sammy and Kevin.”
Brian’s head spun slightly, but he was forced to weakly nod. It wasn’t Darren’s fault that they had to choose B over Sammy. “Because of the virus formula in his computer chip?” he guessed.
Nick smiled sadly. “B told you about that, huh?”
Brian nodded. “Yeah, that’s why their always after him isn’t it?” B had never had a moment’s peace. Constantly he was being hunted until the point where Brian feared that he might crack and fall to a thousand pieces.
Nick said nothing, but his face had turned sad. “They want that virus. It’s deadly and it’s frightening. It can erase a person’s memories.”
The word ‘deadly’ struck into Brian’s skull like a fearsome hammer that seemed to shatter him. He could see Bri’s desperate face as tears blinked in those blue eyes. “Nick.” His voice was uneasy as he tried to unsuccessfully contain the burbling fear. “My twin said that B had the virus.” His mouth was dry and tasted of stale alimentation. “Is it true?”
“It can’t be!” Nick cried. “Bri is just paranoid. He’s always worrying about B. Him and Sammy are the light of his life and he’s worried. When we heard about the virus, we all became paranoid. A virus isn’t something we can see to fight like the Gerai themselves.”
Brian nodded dumbly, but still he could not shift the sickness that wobbled unpleasantly in his gut. The mention of Bri loving Sammy and B struck a knife of hatred into his chest and he wanted nothing more than to yank it out and thrust it into his twin. A wave of jealousy was rising to envelop him. Sammy belonged to him and so did B. Brian was not going to give them up or let anybody push them out of his life.
“Bri is just paranoid. How could B have contracted the virus? There is no way he could have caught it from one of our labs and the Gerai don’t have the formula.”
Despite Nick’s reassurances, something cold and slimy was still worming into Brian’s chest to send ice like shudders along his skin. It was so much easier for Nick to insist that B would be fine, he hadn’t seen how ill he had been. Brian still felt weak and sick when he thought of how pale B had been and how at some points he was so feeble that he could hardly walk. Then there had been the coughing up of blood and the lapses in memory. Brian did not know of any illness that did that to a person.
He felt nervous and cold as he felt perspiration beginning to build up. He could remember how B had momentarily lost his sense of whereabouts when back in 2003. He thought of the virus, something that could eat away at a person’s memory until they were left with nothing.
“Nick, he was coughing up blood. He was so sick…” Brian tried.
Nick shook his head. “He’d been through a lot. He can’t have it! There is no way he could have caught it! Don’t worry so much!”
Brian nodded, but still did not feel right about the whole situation. B had been so ill and now he had been captured by the Gerai. They were his worst fear. He feared them more then anything because of the experiments they had performed on him. What would he do now he was trapped by them? He could see B pale and shivering inside a Gerai prison cell and nobody was there to look after him anymore…
“We’re gonna get him back,” Nick said. “I promise you. We’re gonna get B, Sammy and Kevin back and put a stop to the Gerai. We’d never let them take them away. We’ve looked after them both too long to just give them up like that.” Nick gently pressed an arm around his shoulders.
Brian slowly took a deep breath. He closed his eyes as he felt them growing heavy and tearful. “I can’t help worrying,” he whispered. “I know you lot may think I’m nothing to do with them but in my eyes they’re still mine.” The tears finally escaped. “And now I don’t know what’s happening to either of them.”
Nick tightened his hold upon him. “I told you, we’ll get them back. Bri won’t stop until he’s saved them.”
“I want to help,” Brian said firmly. He pulled away from Nick and saw that the blue eyes had widened in shock. “I want to help save them. I’m not going back to my own time until I know they’ll be okay.”
Nick looked uncomfortable. “Brian, I don’t know if Darren will allow that and besides - ”
Brian swung his legs over the bed to stand up so that he towered over Nick. “Don’t you dare tell me that I’m not their proper father! B and I were having a lovely time until he became sick! You can’t ask me to just go quietly back to my own time when B and Sammy could die!”
“I know you want to help them,” Nick said softly. The blue eyes were calm yet sympathetic and Brian turned away, unwilling to believe that he would not be involved in this battle. “But it’s dangerous for you to remain here. If anything happens to you and you don’t get back to your own time then there’s no telling what will happen to the timeline.”
Brian sagged slightly, knowing that there was no argument for that fact. If he did not return home then B would never be born and Sammy would be left all alone. “But I can’t just leave,” he whispered pathetically. He sunk to sitting on the bed again, defeated.
“Bri will rescue them. He’s cares about them as much as you do. You’re the same.”
Brian could feel his stomach writhing in disgust within him and his eyes narrowed as he thought about him. “We’re not the same,” he whispered harshly. “I hate him.” That man had everything Brian wanted; he had B and Sammy where as Brian was forced to pine away in his own time with the agonising thought that he might not ever see him again. Despite being lucky enough to live with them though, Bri still resorted to shouting at B.
“You don’t mean that,” Nick said simply. “You’re the same. You can get away from that. I think it’s just a shock that you’ve both been landed in this together.”
“I hate him,” Brian repeated. Brian did not normally hate anyone, but his twin was different. He could not help but shudder unpleasantly when he thought of him. “I don’t know why, but I do.”
Nick shook his head. “You’ve got to learn to get on with him.”
Brian stared at him in disbelief. Did Nick actually believe that he and Bri could be friends? They were too similar and the hate was too strong between them. “Why?”
“Because if you don’t then Darren is certain to send you home! He won’t stand for you smashing each other up! If you behave then he might let you hang around the base so you can see how this all works out.”
Hope flared brightly inside of him and he glanced at Nick strangely. “Why are you being so nice to me? Don’t you want me to be sent home? I’m willing to bet most other people will. They won’t like having two Brians around.” He had seen the look on Darren’s face. The only reason he had not sent him straight home was the pure shock.
Nick shrugged. “Why should I? You’re basically the same Brian that came here last time and you’re still my friend. It doesn’t bother me. I think it should, but it doesn’t.” He smiled slightly at Brian. “I guess I kinda understand that you care about B as well.”
Brian smiled back weakly. It was nice to have a friend. Maybe Nick could help to convince Darren that he could stay. He doubted if he would be allowed to become involved with battles, but at least he wouldn’t be feeling helpless back in his own time where he had no clue how things would turn out.
“I have to say that it was freaky when you were both fighting though,” Nick confessed. “Don’t do that again!”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened there. I knew I should stop, but I couldn’t…” He closed his eyes. He would have to have more control over his emotions. It would be the only way he could stay here and see B again. He glanced back up at Nick. “I’m glad someone likes me. I don’t think Darren’s too pleased though.” Miserably he thought back to Darren’s angry voice. It would take a lot to convince him that there wouldn’t be anymore fights. He had been furious at their behaviour. Brian felt like a naughty schoolboy. It wouldn’t be long before he attempted to force Brian to go back home and he had a feeling that Bri would be encouraging him as well.
“I think he was just a little shocked to see you. We were expecting Bri to come back with B.”
But he hadn’t come back with B because the Gerai had kidnapped him. What was happening to him now? He was still sick… Brian should have handed him over the moment his twin asked for him…
He should not be thinking about his twin now though. B and Sammy should take priority. His bruised heart was rippling inside of him and he felt cold and empty without either of them around him.
“What’s going to happen to B?” he asked. The last time the Gerai had wanted him, they had been trying to murder him. He had tried not to think of this before when B had been snatched but now he wondered. The object the Gerai wanted, the chip in B’s arm, could not be removed without killing him. A fat lump was forming in his throat at the thought of B screaming for help in vain.
“They won’t kill him,” Nick replied instantly. “They want him alive this time.”
Brian stared up at him. “You’re sure? They wanted to kill him…”
“That was a mistake.”
Nick said nothing more and Brian’s eyes narrowed. Was Nick only saying this to make him feel better?
“How do you know?” he asked suspiciously.
Nick paused uneasily. “Because… there’s something else they want with him and I don’t think they’ll kill him. He’ll be all right.” His voice was certain, but his eyes would not meet Brian’s.
Something else? What other horrors had the monsters hidden within B now?
“All right?” Brian snapped. “Last time the Gerai wanted B, they wanted to kill him! They tortured him and almost murdered him! How do you know he’ll be all right?” The Gerai could be doing anything to B and Brian doubted if it would be anything nice. He could still feel his stomach contorting with dread every time he thought about him. He closed his eyes again as he felt his head pounding. “Nick, I want him back.”
A pair of hands pressed upon his shoulders gently. “They won’t kill him. Believe me. He has something they want and they will not kill him.”
Brian stared up at Nick. “What does he have that makes you certain?”
Nick sighed. “I can’t tell you. I haven’t told Bri yet and it wouldn’t be fair on him.”
Brian was almost trembling and he felt a surge of hatred flowing through him as he thought of Bri. “I’m B’s father… too,” he said.
“Yeah but…” Nick seemed uneasy. “I mean, I know you care about him but… well it wouldn’t be right if I told you before everyone else. I’ll tell you when I tell Bri, okay?”
Brian was about to try and squeeze it out of him. His insides were burning now as he pictured thousands of awful tortures the Gerai would be performing on B to get what they wanted from him. Nick might be wrong… B might already be dead…
“Brian, look you need some sleep and I need to talk to Darren about this.”
Brian thought about changing the subject back but realised that Nick was his only friend and that he would need him to persuade Darren that he could stay. Reluctantly he nodded as Nick handed a blanket to him.
“You won’t let him send me home will you?” Brian asked.
“I’ll try my hardest to make him let you stay, but I know you won’t be able to go on the rescue mission.”
Brian nodded glumly, but at least just being here would mean that he was closer to B. right now, that was all he wanted.