MORTUUS

CHAPTER THREE

“Jay! What the heck? We've confirmed that she's not a Zomb, give her time for f**k's sake.”

Jay walked away from me and sat on my favorite couch, my eyes followed his movements before they returned to the figure that was squatting in front of me. I could barely make out his face, with his back to the light and my eyes that had not fully adjusted to the room light, I was having a hard time.

“Sorry about that, the name's Ray. What's yours?” His voice was surprisingly soothing.

I started to speak but stopped. I had no idea what my name was. He noticed my confusion and hesitation.

“Take your time, it happens to the best of us.”

“R, I'm certain it begins with an R.” My name was at the tip of my tongue but I couldn't quite remember it.

“See you're talking now and that's a start.”

I was very confused but I knew overthinking it was not the best option here. I had to figure out how to move my limbs and talk. Talking wasn't too difficult, as soon as I had dragged air through my nose and filled my lungs, I had been able to keep at it after all I had spent all my life breathing.

“Raquel,” I managed to say.

“Nice name. Can you move?”

I had so many questions to ask but the question about if I could move my limbs silenced them. I tried to but they didn't budge then I realized I had been able to trash them around. I closed my eyes and willed my body to move and it did. My body didn't feel like I was used to, in fact, I couldn't feel anything. The feeling of not feeling was so unusual I couldn't process it.

I tried to lift my hand without feeling I was lifting it and it moved. I couldn't rely on my sensors, I had to just believe I was moving. Next, I tried to stand on my feet, it was a lot harder, and the fact that I couldn't feel how hard it was made it even harder. I managed to get to my feet with Ray's help.

“There, there. Slowly now.”

“Thank you,” I was on my feet now but I was slouching in an awkward way. My hands were stained and so was the rest of me but I was too distracted with trying to get on my feet to pay attention to it.

I leaned against the wall when he took his hands away to avoid falling back to the ground. I didn't think I would be able to get back up.

“Who are you?” I asked.

Ray looked to where Jay sat, they made eye contact before he returned his gaze to me. I heard a loud sigh and his shoulders heaved too.

“Before we can divulge any more information, I am afraid I have to ask. Are you in or out?”