Chapter Four - Freedom

Naomi ran. It was all she could do. Run. Keep running. Never stop running. It was that or get locked up again. She could run, and keep running, just to stay out of the cells. Just to get away from Horizon.

I have to get out of that mission!

Attacking someone wasn’t what she wanted to do, not as a hired thug. Even if it meant being hurt for it… she couldn’t put another person in the hospital bed like that.

I can’t stop someone from stopping Horizon!

***

The internet is full of information, most of it useless. Yet Emily now found something that was indeed useful - a thread of information. A link to Horizon.

“Memory loss…” Carl muttered. “The drug, Emily. They’re using it on people outside the cells!”

Memory loss… a thread of it. Across the country. It’s going in a straight line. People ending up like Carl…

“We have to stop this, Carl!” Emily said defiantly.

***

A man flying through the sky! In this spot.

Brock began asking around for information about it, witnesses, anything. But nobody seemed to have noticed it. Except on person.

“The train driver,” a woman cheered. “I saw him there. He would have noticed something.”

“The train driver?”

“Why yes! I go on that train every day and I see him there most days. He should be on now.”

Find the train driver.

***

The scenery zipped past Ian as he sat in the driver’s seat of the train. It was pleasant, travelling from town to town. But pleasantries don’t last long. Ian had to learn this the hard way as a blur of colour passed by the train. Then it returned, along side the train. Right beside it. A man in black.

Not again!

Ian began to pick up speed. A second train on the track beside him passed. For a moment, Ian thought the man in the black suit would turn away to try hide, but instead he just stared menacingly at Ian. He made a sudden gesture to Ian, pointing straight ahead.

Zooming into view, in the middle of the track, was the second man. Even inside the train Ian felt the ground shake. Then the ground jutted up in front of the train - the rail bent, breaking up into the air. Impact in a three seconds.

Please save me!

Two seconds.

Somebody help!

One second. Then the train was sent into the air. It began to spiral uncontrollably, uncomfortably around in circles. Ian had to focus. Screaming as he was, afraid as he was, he couldn’t let the train crash with all these people on board. He focused as hard as he could. He could feel the strain of using such amounts of energy. The train steadied itself, upside down. Then it turned around smoothly.

Blood was dripping from Ian’s nose as the front of the train set itself down. Carriage after carriage followed until everything was set right again. Ian fell backwards, slumped in his chair. He was exhausted, but he had done it.

Impact. Blood splattered onto the glass. Ian couldn’t get up, but he could open his eyes. It was the man that had done the damage. Dead. Spread out over the windscreen of the train. Ian panicked, he cried.

Help me…

Brock stood by his car looking at the blood that stained the tracks. He had to talk to the driver.

***

There was man lying in the bed. Emily and Carl saw him. He was a young, healthy man, except for what had put him in the hospital. The drug.

“Excuse me,” Emily said to him. She stepped carefully into the room. He was fully awake, fully alert. Carl didn’t trust him. “I was wondering if I could ask you something?” The man shrugged carelessly. “I read that you suffer from memory loss…”

“Suffered. Past tense. I know it all again.”

Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

“Could you tell us, please? What happened?”

“I was attacked-”

By Horizon.

“By a woman. She… she just grabbed me around the head. She took my memories, just like that. A mutant! Can you believe that!”

A mutant did this to him!

“It’s troubling, alright.” Emily looked to Carl for reassurance, but he was silent, probably judging the man. “Do you know what she looked like?”

“A blonde woman. Tall. Pretty. Very pretty. You couldn’t mistake her for anyone else.” Emily nodded silently and turned to leave. “Wait! Who are you two?”

“Eh, no one. Thank you for your time.” She waited until she was outside again. “Carl, we have to find that mutant.”

***

Naomi was in a phone booth. She had a clear view of the hospital from here. She knew it was crazy coming back, but this was where her target had gone. She told herself the man’s words again.

Subdue Emily Quigley. Don’t let her stop us any further.