CHAPTER FIVE - REVELATION
Brian could feel the palms of his hands sticking to the table as they grew damper and damper with perspiration. He moved them from the table for a moment to see that he had left behind smudgy fingerprints. He carefully placed them in his lap, not wanting anyone to see the nervous sweat.
His eyes ached from a sleepless night, despite his exhausted state. His weariness had been building for the past few days, before he had even arrived in this time with worrying and looking after B. He had hardly had any rest recently and last night had been no different. He had been tired but his mind had still felt disorientated and shocked with the whole event with Bri. The moment his head had hit the pillow everything that had happened to him had begun to spin dizzyingly about his mind. Tiredness had suddenly transformed into a hot frustration which caused tears to run down his cheeks. He had not wanted to sleep. He wanted them back. He had been too anxious to be awake and be looking for B and Sammy. Every time he closed his eyes he saw nothing but haunting images that eventually crept into restless nightmares. B was crying as he shivered in a cold, damp cell where as Sammy and Kevin had changed sides and decided to fight for the Gerai…
He had kept waking up every few minutes with a cold sweat glistening upon his skin. When he had clamed his beating heart and tried to sleep again, his thoughts had switched to his twin. He had an awful feeling inside that Bri was going to try his hardest to make sure that Brian was sent home and out of B’s life. He couldn’t help crying himself to sleep last night.
He shook his head to clear away the memories of last night and only hoped that his tiredness did not show upon his face.
Nick was seated to his right. At least he had one friend who seemed to understand him. Brian could not help but smile slightly. Nick had always been a good friend but he could hardly believe that Nick was all grown up now, where as in Brian’s time he was still so young. He was so much calmer now, although a mischievous sparkle in his eyes still hinted at the old Carter charm.
The blonde had shaken him awake this morning to tell him that Darren wanted to speak to them both, along with Bri. Brian had wanted to ask if Nick had spoken with Darren yet to plead his case but in the end he had been too nervous and instead had merely nodded.
He looked sideways across at Nick who was looking through a report or something. He seemed to realise Brian was nervous and Brian thanked him silently for not pursuing the subject with questions. He noticed though that every few moments Nick was glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. He also kept glancing up at the doorway. He seemed to be expecting Brian to leap up and start a fight the moment Bi appeared. It was tempting…
‘No, no!’
He had to behave himself now and keep his anger under control. Besides, he had more important problems like B and Sammy. He was determined not to allow hatred to rule him with violence. Darren would never allow him to stay if he though that he was going to cause trouble. He had to stay though. He had to help B and Sammy. He couldn’t just turn his back on them…
“Are you all right?” Nick asked softly as he placed his report down to glance worriedly at Brian. “You’re very quiet.”
Brian turned towards him and smiled weakly. “Just worried in case Darren tries to drag me back home,” he confessed. He did not say anything about B or Sammy. There was a thick lump forming in his throat as he thought about them. He had always lived in his own time certain that they were safe even though he still missed them. Now though he had discovered that they were no safer than they had been last time.
Nick bit his lip slightly. “I spoke to him last night,” he said eventually.
“You did?” Brian looked up at him hopefully. Nick had not said anything yet about his conversation with Darren. Brian had been beginning to wonder if he had spoken to the older man at all.
Nick nodded. “He was pretty pissed over the fight.”
“Oh…” He had known Darren would not be happy…
“I think though that he’s - ”
Brian suddenly turned his head abruptly towards the door, startling Nick slightly. He couldn’t hear footsteps but he could sense his presence. His eyes narrowed as footsteps were finally heard. He lowered his head as he heard two people enter the room. Even without looking up he knew immediately that one of them was Bri. He could feel his older twin’s icy gaze glaring at him in intense dislike. He raised his head briefly for a moment and the two pairs of blue eyes met in a silent exchange of loathing. Brian’s mind still could not seem to accept what was before him. He was slightly shocked though to see the damage that Brian had done to him during the fight. Both eyes were shadowed by dark bruises and there were a few other darker patches on his cheeks. Something cold swirled inside of him to see himself injured like that…especially seeing as it was he who had done the damage. He could see Bri’s eyes travelling over his own face as well, probably staring at the bruises he had inflicted upon Brian.
Darren was standing beside Bri and he gave both of them a stare that clearly waned them both to behave. Bri shot the older man a glare before reluctantly turning away from Brian and choosing a seat as far away from him as possible. That suited Brian fine. He turned away from him as if he did not exist and waited for Darren to speak instead.
Darren cleared his throat slightly as he sat down at the head of the table. “All right, we all know why we’re here. We have to decide what’s going to happen with you two.” He pointed one finger at Bri and the other at Brian.
Bri smiled slightly as he folded his arms and Brian felt a rush of burning anger rising in him at the sight of that smug face. Bri’s expression only sent a heavy feeling sinking to the bottom of his stomach. He didn’t want to go back. He was a part of this now, whether Bri or the others liked it or not. He had been involved the second he had stepped into this time line the first time.
Brian gulped slightly and heard his heart speeding up inside of him. He would not let Darren push him away. B and Sammy were still his. It was hard enough to live in his own time without them so how would he cope if he did not even know if they were going to live?
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Nick staring intently at Darren. Darren sighed for a moment before looking straight at Brian. “I’ve decided that you can stay.”
Brian opened his eyes, not even realising that they had been closed. “What?” he whispered. He could feel his entire body lifting in relief as if he were flying…
“What?!” Bri, however, did not sound so happy.
Brian risked a glance at his twin and saw that his face had turned pale with rage and shock. His blue eyes had turned hard as stone.
“He can’t stay here!” Bri snapped.
“Why not?” Darren asked. “Not planning on starting another fight are you? If you do, you don’t get to go with the next rescue team to help get B, Sammy and Kevin back.” Darren and Bri glared at each other hard.
“Who said I was going to start a fight?” Bri asked and for a moment his eyes flickered towards Brian.
Brian folded his arms. He knew at once what that look meant. Bri was trying to make Darren think that he was going to cause trouble.
“If he starts a fight,” Darren said nodding in Brian’s direction. “We send him home straight away. You both get it? I don’t want any trouble. You’re both grown men so grow up and cope with this. I don’t see what the problem is.” His dark eyes flickered from one to the other.
The problem? The problem was that they were identical and there was something instinctual that meant they had to hate each other and fight for their own independence. There was also the problem that they were now fighting over B and Sammy.
“He’s not coming on the rescue team,” Bri said stubbornly.
“No he’s not,” Darren agreed. “It’s too dangerous. He’s to stay here and here only. You got that Brian? You don’t set one toe out of this base.”
Brian nodded. “Thank you,” he said eventually. “This means a lot to me.” He was still a little irritated about the rescue mission but at least he would feel a more helpful juts being here.
“Just don’t get too comfortable,” Bri warned. “You’re going home as soon as this is over.” His voice was cold and held a warning tone. It seemed that he would be forever bitter that B had come to him for help.
Brian did not bother to reply to his twin and rolled his eyes instead. He had a feeling that he would have to get used to Bri’s rejection of him.
Darren looked from one to the other suspiciously. “I mean it, guys. No trouble. No bickering and no fighting. If that means staying away from each other than fine.”
Nick suddenly leaned forward. “I’ll keep an eye on them.”
Brian smiled, still hardly daring to believe that Nick was so cool about the whole situation. Bri seemed to think differently. He had turned his icy eyes onto Nick instead. “No thanks, Nick. I don’t need a watchdog.”
Brian’s eyes narrowed as he noticed Nick lower his head slightly. Was Bri going to treat everyone who befriended Brian as if they were a traitor? Brian knew that Nick was a good friend to him. It wasn’t fair on Nick.
“There’s no need to be like that,” Brian snapped. “He’s only trying to help. Are you going to treat him and everyone like an outcast just because they talk to me? That’s just rude.” He kept his voice calm and reasonable, not wanting to make Darren think that he was starting a fight with him.
With a certain satisfaction he saw that Bri was momentarily lost for words. He replied by merely staring at Brian like he was slug before tilting his chair away slightly. “Some might say it’s rude to barge into a time where you don’t belong.”
“Bri!” Darren snapped. “He’s staying, end of story!”
“No it’s not!” Bri replied tartly. “We have one Brian here and that’s me! We don’t need another one. B only has one father!”
“And you’re the same person!” Darren snapped. “Bri, I mean it! He is staying and you are not to cause any trouble! Stop acting so jealous!”
“I’m not jealous!” Bri replied instantly.
Like hell he wasn’t! Brian knew that he hated him because of B. He had sensed the hatred the moment he had first seen him. Perhaps that was what had sparked Brian’s own loathing. He seemed to feel and reflect Bri’s own emotions. They were almost connected…
“Good,” Darren said with a smile.
“As long as he stays out of my way, I don’t care!” Bri snapped.
“Fine!” Brian replied. He refused to sink to his twin’s level and start an argument like he wanted. Bri and Sammy were far more important than petty squabbles. He would have to try and blot out Bri’s feeling of hate and ignore his own instinct to fight him for dominance.
“Good!” Darren agreed said again. “Because my threats still stand!”
“And I’ll behave myself,” Bri said. “I’m not going to put him above my family.”
Brian bit down hard on his tongue to not reply with his own snide remark. He knew that he could easily hurt Bri if he wanted. He could taunt him with the fact that B had not wanted to return home with him. He would not go that far though. Somehow his mind knew that by saying those words he would only be hurting himself. Bri was him after all… He still hated him but now something else was beginning to click inside of his mind. The man he was looking at would one day be him…
Scary.
Darren took a deep breath and looked across at Brian, as if expecting a tart reply to Bri’s words. Brian hoped that he was impressed that there was none.
“Okay, let’s move on…” Darren tried.
“Can I ask just one thing?” Bri asked suddenly. “What about the temporal remembrance?”
Brian curiously turned to face Nick. Temporal Remembrance was a condition caused when two identical people shared the same time line. It caused painful headaches, hallucinations and nightmares which could lead to brain damage. Brian remembered the symptoms well when he had been in this time before. He froze and suddenly stared across at Bri. He must have still been alive when Brian was here… that was why he had become ill. That meant that Bri was also the one he had dreamed about and been connected to…
Bri was staring back at him and for the first time there was no hostility in his gaze as something strange seemed to pass between the two of them. Brian wondered how he had managed to survive and why hadn’t he come back for B and Sammy?
He thought he caught a glimpse of sadness in Bri’s eyes before the older man turned away from him… Brian remembered being in this time before and he had dreamed about being in a dirty prison cell. Was that what had happened to Bri? Had he been locked away for all those years the others had believed him to be dead?
“You’ll be okay for a while,” Nick assured them both. “I’ll keep an eye on you and there is something I can give to you both which should slow the effects. If this thing drags on two long though then we’ll have to send you home. We can send you a message or something to tell you what happens if you want.”
Bri nodded. “Okay,” he said quietly.
Brian raised an eyebrow slightly. He had been expecting another attempt to try and make Darren send him home. He sneaked another glance at his twin, noting the haggard lines in his face and a few marks that looked almost like scars. They couldn’t have been caused by Brian could they during their fight? What had happened during those missing years?
Darren nodded. “Right, now let’s talk about the most important things. Getting our people back, including B, and I don’t think the Gerai will want to give him up easily now that they have him. This is going to be a tough fight.”
Brian’s heart was speeding up again. There was a huge hole inside of him that had torn itself open the second he had run into B’s room with Bri and found it empty. It had now widened with the fact of Sammy’s kidnapping as well. It did not feel right without them. His life was so empty… He sometimes wondered how he had coped before he had a child in his life…
“Brian,” Darren said turning to him for a moment. “We’ll have to bring you up to speed on what’s happening here but for the moment just bare with us.”
Brian nodded. “Sure.” He had never been quite sure what to make of Darren. The man had a volatile temper and his mood swings could be quite extraordinary at times, but he seemed to be a good man. He had everyone’s best interests at heart. Brian was still touched that he was allowed to stay, although it was frustrating to know that he would be stuck at the base while Bri got to go and help them. At least it was something though and perhaps he could help organise the mission. He had proved his worth last time and obviously this time Darren knew he might be an asset.
“Okay, we already have Howie and his group spying on the base and we sent a rescue team which has grouped with them nearby. They were attacked by Gerai on the way and suffered a few casualties. I’m not sure exactly yet. We intend to send another team in a few days to help them out, but first I want the area cleared of rogue Gerai. There are a lot of them about and so I’m sending out attack groups to try and secure the entire area. We have more sentries and advanced scouts. These Gerai were sent by that base and their job is to irritate us as much as possible.”
“As always,” Bri commented.
“So we have to be careful,” Darren concluded. “Howie’s still mapping the base out and he’s sending us details of the place as much as he can. It seems like it’s big so we’ll need a large group to break into it, hence why we need another team out there. That will leave in a few days.”
Brian just listened carefully, trying to take in as much as possible and to piece it together with the fragments of information he had already heard from B.
“But do we have a few days?” Bri asked.
“Yeah, we need to get B, Sammy and Kevin and the others out of there as soon as possible!” Brian agreed. He hated feeling so sick with heavy worry. Despite Nick’s words he had still been feeling nervously sick every time he thought of his sons, which was almost constantly. B he knew would be suffering the worst. He was terrified of Gerai. “And I don’t care what Nick says, B’s ill. He hasn’t been well for days and I’m worried about him.” Brian felt a tremble inside of him as he pictured fragile B so pale and ill.
Bri’s face had become filled with the deepest misery and melancholy. Brian remembered his desperation when he had first heard that B was ill and the tears that had grazed his face when he frantically told Nick about the illness.
“What if he does have the virus? We have to get him now!” Bri’s voice had become desperate, just as Brian was suddenly feeling. They stared at each other again, emotions mirrored. Both of them seemed to feel ill themselves at the thought of B being deadly sick. A sickness was something that they could not fight against to protect B from. It wasn’t an enemy they could physical destroy to save B. Helplessness was sinking into Brian’s blood. Last time he had had to fight to save B, but he couldn’t do this now.
Darren looked from one to the other. “That could give me a headache. We’ve been through this. B cannot have the virus. The Gerai haven’t got a copy of it.” He sounded so confident, but still Brian could not believe this, not after seeing B so ill and disorientated as if he were losing his memories. He could not shake off the moment where B had seemed to forget about everything as he stared vaguely about the kitchen in Brian’s home before passing out.
“But we had a traitor in this base remember?” Bri pointed out. “How can we be sure the info wasn’t leaked?”
Brian was beginning to feel cold. He disliked this virus more and more by the moment. The symptoms matched so exactly. B had been suffering from memory loss… Somehow though he could not force himself to voice that truth. ‘Maybe it was something else…’ Maybe he was worrying. Maybe he was paranoid. B had just caught the flu…
Darren placed a hand to his head. “Bri…”
“He’ll be fine, even if he does have it,” Nick whispered suddenly.
“What?” Bri asked, shooting a glance at Nick.
Brian immediately turned to Nick as well, wondering if he would finally be allowed to receive Nick’s concrete evidence that proved that B was safe.
Nick glanced down at his report. “Have some information regarding B… and why the Gerai want him alive. They won’t kill him.”
Nobody said anything. All ears were tuned to Nick’s words, both Brian and Bri desperate to know more about the situation.
Nick stared down at his report and held it in his hands. “We’ve been doing some research on the virus, looking for a cure and trying to see what it does. The experiments were very small because we did not want an outbreak.”
‘But maybe there had been an outbreak,’ Brian thought silently. B was sick. There had definitely been something wrong with him.
“We took samples of blood from various people in the base to run an experiment. We used the computer to run a simulation which would show us what would happen to those people if they were infected with the virus. I got the results yesterday.”
“Go on,” Bri said.
“Bri, you ‘died’, Darren, you ‘died’ as well, me: dead, Kevin: dead, Sammy: dead, Lance: dead, Tessa: dead, AJ: dead, Joe: dead, Kristen: dead, B - ”
“Dead as well?” Bri guessed glumly.
Nick shook his head. “Nope.”
Darren looked up. “What? He could survive that virus?”
Brian leaned closer to Nick. From what he had heard so far, this virus sounded deadly. Now the heavy dread that had filled him as he thought of B with the virus began to flow away at the bright, shining sunbeam of hope that now filled his mind.
“I didn’t believe it at first, so I speed ran the simulation again with the same results. There is something in B’s bloodstream that can combat the virus.”
Brian shook his head slightly. “But if B had it in my time then I can tell you that he wasn’t getting better.”
“There’s no saying that he did have the virus and, besides, it takes time for the antibodies to kick in,” Nick said simply. “He will experience the symptoms of the virus, but unlike the others he would survive and come out the other side. There may be a few side effects though. I’m not even certain what the exact symptoms of the virus are. We know some of them but there may be others. There’s still no saying what this would do to B but over all I think he would be fine.”
“How is this possible?” Bri asked.
“I can only think of one thing…” Nick said.
“The experiments that were done on him as a child,” Brian whispered, catching onto the conversation. B had been a lab rat at the age of five.
Nick nodded. “It fits. They did the first research on the virus in the same base. They may have been using the kids to find a cure. We know they put a lot of stuff into B’s bloodstream. He’s immune to a lot of diseases around here.”
“Why now though?” Bri asked. “They wanted him dead before.”
Nick shrugged. “Before they were bigger and only concerned with getting the virus and the computer chip back. Now they’re smaller and more organised. Someone might have thought it a good idea to have the cure as well. It fits. The Gerai we captured said they wanted B alive as well.”
Brian stared at everyone about the table, his heart hammering inside of him. Did this mean that he could at least sleep knowing that B would be alive?
“They can’t kill him either. I did an experiment on that using his blood. The antibodies would just die out and be useless,” Nick added. “At least we know now that they’ll keep him alive.”
“But will they do more experiments on him?” Bri asked softly.
Brian closed his eyes and suddenly he could see B in a laboratory. He had briefly mentioned a bit about it before but he did not like to talk about it. He still had nightmares about it though…
“I don’t know,” Nick replied, his voice as soft as Bri’s. “It stands to reason that they will want to test the virus works. I guess they might try to develop a vaccine as well.”
The silence fell heavily like the depressing rain of Winter. Brian lowered his head slightly and covered his face with his hands as his temples throbbed in pain. B was already ill, what would the virus do to him? He would still have to suffer the symptoms before he got better, and he experiments. Brian could only imagine what it was like to be treated like a rat where scientists prodded and poked you. He remembered the scars upon B’s arms. There was the red one from the knife which had inserted the computer chip and then there were several vaccination marks from needles.
“One thing we do need to also asked, “Darren said suddenly, his deep voice breaking the silence. “Is this virus contagious?”
Brian and Bri both looked up. Brian had never thought about that when he was looking after B… Unlike his son as well, the virus could kill him.
“No,” Nick said immediately. “At least not yet. The formula can be easily manipulated though to change this. The good thing is that I can use the results of my experiments and start developing an antidote that we can use. Just in case the Gerai do try and attack us with this virus.”
“Good thinking,” Darren agreed. He sighed as he rubbed his head. “I know this is upsetting, but at least we know that B is alive.”
Brian nodded slightly, but his face was misery. B’s screams would haunt his dreams still and then… “What about Sammy?” he asked.
“He was alive when they captured him so presumably they’ll keep him alive,” Darren replied.
“You… you don’t think that they want them as test subjects?” Bri ventured, his face pale and his voice wobbling and begging for contradiction. “For the virus?”
Brian stared at him, his own face growing cold as something turned unpleasantly within his stomach. ‘Sammy: dead.’
“I-I don’t know,” Nick confessed. “Let’s hope they’ll be testing the cure.”
Hope, that was all they could do, but it wasn’t enough. Brian could only pray and hope that Sammy would be all right when they found him.
“All right,” Darren said swiftly. “Nick, how long does the virus take to kill normally?”
Nick glanced down at his report. “It varies. Normally you can only survive for about a week. B can cling on for over about three weeks before it clears up.”
“If he does have it,” Brian ventured. ‘And I hope to God that he doesn’t.’ “Then he’s already been ill for two weeks.”
“We’ll have him back soon, don’t worry,” Darren replied. He sighed. “I think we all need to let this sink in. Nick, get working on that cure. I’ll draw up the plans for the next rescue team. You two, go get some rest and think everything over. Don’t fight about it,” he added as he eyeballed them both.
“Whatever,” Bri shrugged as he stood up. His blue eyes were weary and looked as if they might spring tears at any moment.
Brian knew he wasn’t much better. It felt as if someone had plunged a knife into his heart and was ruthlessly twisting and turning the blade to cause as much pain as possible. He thought of how ill B had been, it had to have been that brutal virus… Nothing else could be that torturous…
And now B was re-living his worst nightmare over again. Brain remembered the night he had found him on the doorstep. He had promised that he would take care of him, but he had failed. He glanced miserably across at Bri. He would fail in the future as well it seemed.
He wanted to cry. He wanted B and Sammy back. He wanted to hold them so tightly that nobody could ever hurt them again.
But he couldn’t…
Slowly he dragged his heavy body to its feet as he saw Darren and Nick standing as well. He needed to lie down. He needed to curl up and let the tears go. He thought he might explode if he pushed all the pain down below…
“One last thing before we leave,” Darren said. “I think we need a way to identify between you two.” He pointed at Bri and Brian. They both glanced at each other before Bri shrugged. He turned to the older twin. “We always call you ‘Bri’ so that’s sticking.” He glanced at Brian. “You can just be Brian.”
Brian nodded. “Sure,” he said weakly. Anything was fine by him. He didn’t care about a name at present anyway when his family were being tortured.
He turned to leave the room and found himself walking into Bri. For a moment their blue eyes locked and Brian caught a glimpse of the complex and distraught emotions that played across those blue orbs. They stared at each other before Bri turned coldly away from him and left the room, blanking Brian as if he did not exist.
This wasn’t going to be easy.