Subject Seventeen: Wraith Among Shadows
Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I wake up in a small bed with an IV attached to my arm. I’m hooked up to a monitor of some sort. I sit up and pull off the oxygen mask covering the bottom of my face. By the looks of things I must have passed out.

I grimace as I raise my arms. They hurt. Strange. I’m pretty sure the Doctor said I’m immune to pain. I’ve always been immune haven’t I? Images of an explosion and a girl flying skim through my mind and I immediately remember what happened.

I stand up and head for the door, careful to remove the IV from my arm. The door leads to a long corridor with the letter C printed in large at the end.

“Ah,” a voice says.

Turning around I see Three and the Doctor approaching me. A few men I’ve never seen before are behind them. They all appear to be Asian and dressed in military uniforms. That’s weird; I thought we were in a war against China? Or are they from somewhere else?

“Seventeen,” the Doctor says. “Follow Three. It’s about time you were properly introduced to your fellow team-mates isn’t it?”

“Yes, sir,” I reply.

The Doctor turns to face Three. There’s a peculiar look in his eye as he puts his hand on her shoulder.

“Eight and Sixteen will be returning tonight. Debrief them for me will you?”

“No problem, sir,” Three says.

She walks off in one direction and the Doctor in the opposite. I follow Three. We walk in silence for a while. Several men and women in white coats and various men dressed in dark green army uniforms pass us by. They all stare at us as we walk, but none of them question us. I guess the Shadows don’t mix or associate with any of the more common soldiers.

“So, how are you replaceing it?” Three askes.

“Finding what?” I reply.

“Adjusting. You had a pretty big accident which made you lose your memories. You still haven’t recovered. We didn't exactly want to use you on this last mission but we didn't really have a choice considering our numbers are a bit lacking lately.”

“I still remember the mission to the research institute in Russia. It shouldn’t have been that long ago.”

“I mean before that. You were caught in an explosion. Don’t worry, your memories will return in due time.”

An explosion? That’s strange. It feels like I’ve known the Doctor my entire life, however the team didn’t seem to recognise me as one of their own on our way to Russia. Something doesn’t quite add up but I decide not to question it. I don't really feel like I'm in an advantageous position which will allow me to question how things work around here.

Three guides me down some flights of stairs till we reach a door marked with the letter B. I guess there are different blocks. As far as I know it goes all the way up to H, where the control room is.

We push through the doors and enter a more welcoming room. There’s a red carpet on the floor which resembles blood, and even carries the faint smell of it. Why does it feel like I’ve seen it before? Several leather chairs are scattered about and the rest of the team are sitting around and relaxing. I guess being part of an elite squad means you have plenty of free time and no strict routine or schedule like a regular regiment. Two, Five and Nine are gathered in the corner having what looks like a heated discussion, but break away from each other when we enter. Nothing suspicious about that. Seven and One are sitting at a table playing some a board game.

“Checkmate,” says Seven with a grin on her face. One groans and bangs on the table in disgust.

“Well,” Ten says walking up to me. “If it isn’t the boy wonder.” I stare at him.

“What do you mean?”

Ten’s red eyes seem to light up for a few seconds before he turns his back to me and walks off. I'm still trying to feel him out. I feel like Ten is a really straightforward person but hides his kindness behind this show of bravado and strength. It's likely he went through a few hardships in the past. Best not to get on his bad side for now I guess.

“Eight and Sixteen are returning tonight,” Three says.

Two almost falls over flat on her face. Her head whips up to look at Three. I can feel her excitement from all the way across the room.

“Eight’s coming back?” Two says.

“Yeah, tonight.”

She might as well have done a little dance around the room. Two hugs herself in delight and I can’t help but smile. It takes me a while to realise my lips have actually formed one despite being unable to do so earlier. For some reason Two’s face flashes red and she turns her back to me. I scratch my head in confusion.

“Did Sixteen finish her mission already?” Nine asks.

“Apparently,” Three says back. Nine’s eyebrows rise up.

“Then she’s broken a record for all foreign sabotage missions.”

Ten shrugs as he sits opposite One to challenge her at a game of chess. I turn my face and smirk because I know Seven is cheating with her illusions to win.

“What can Eight and Sixteen do?” I ask.

“Ha,” Seven says. “Why don’t you wait and replace out? We have training tomorrow morning anyways. It's a little different from your average training, so be prepared.”

Three walks off and I’m left standing in the middle of the room. Something feels out of place but I can’t quite put my finger on it. The strings in the air that only I can see all have different colours, as if they all belong to a different energy. I look at the ones surrounding Two. The energy around her looks erratic and unstable. I'm not exactly sure why this is so I approach her slowly. Maybe I can talk to her and get to know her better. We are on the same team after all.

I pull up a chair next to her and sit down. She turns to look at me warily. It’s the same look she gave me yesterday morning in the hangar. She doesn't hate me, does she? I don’t remember doing anything to piss her off.

“Hi,” I say. I notice the energy around her moving wildly, as if something has made her restless.

“Hey,” she says back eventually. Her voice has a soft singing compulsion to it. The sort of voice the ear follows up and down.

“What’s wrong?”

The girl eyes me with a hard expression. It gradually turns into one of kindness, almost as if she's trying to be angry at me but can't maintain the feeling.

“Nothing. How are you feeling?”

“Fine. You’re lying.”

Two gives me a strange look in response to my rather abrupt reply. I feel as if she’s about to hit me in the face, but instead she grabs my hand and pulls me up.

“Follow me.”

I comply. Nine and Five – who have been looking in our direction the entire time – stand up and walk after us. I take note of this. Two walks with my hand in hers for a few minutes. We finally stop in a large passage with several different doors, all with different numbers on them ranging from one to seventeen. A few doors are left unmarked. This must be our living quarters.

Two pulls me towards the door marked with the number nine. The door slides open to reveal a small but neat room. The bed rests next to the wall and is covered with neatly laid emerald sheets. A desk with several sheets of paper, all with different calculations and markings rests against the wall opposite the door. Other than the eerie yellow lighting, the room is quite bare. Nothing remarkable or interesting to look at.

“Get in,” Nine says, pushing me from behind. Five follows Nine and shuts the door quickly behind him.

“So,” Nine says. “It’s your idea, Two. It better pan out.”

I look at Two as I sit down on the bed. There’s something familiar about her. She sighs as she looks at Nine.

“Listen,” she says. “If we’re right… If you’re right, then we need him. His power is too useful to not use.”

“And if he’s too brainwashed to listen?” Five says. I can feel the animosity in his voice without having to even read his expression. It immediately puts me on my guard.

“Then we kill him.”

I shift uncomfortably. I don’t understand how or why, but it seems as if I’ve gotten myself into a dangerous situation.

“Don’t say that, Nine!” Two says. “I don’t know why, but I get this feeling that I can trust him.”

“Oh, yeah right. After how many days of knowing him? But regardless, it’s all on you.”

“Nine, this entire theory of yours rests on what you have to show me tonight. If anyone wants to talk about trust it should be me.”

Nine flinches. It seems Two hit home hard.

“What’s this about?” I ask.

Nine nods at Five.

“Listen to me,” Five says to me. “I have the power to see and manipulate vibrations, electrical signals and electro-magnetic waves. And every time you think or dream, or do anything, your brain sends out electrical signals.”

“So how does this concern me?”

“Well, we have reason to believe that someone has messed with your memories and I may just be able to restore them if you let me manipulate a few of your signals.”

I stare at Five. Something has felt a bit off recently. Maybe someone has fiddled with my memories. However the whole idea sounds crazy. It would be better if I asked the Doctor directly, wouldn’t it?

“Even if that’s true, the Doctor will fix me,” I say. I rise to my feet only to get knocked back on the bed by Nine’s telekinesis. I groan as the air is knocked out of me.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I growl under my breath.

“Sit down,” Two says. I turn my gaze to her. My head rings a little. There is something familiar about her after all.

“I told you this was risky, Two,” Nine says. He pushes his glasses up and glares at me.

“Seventeen, please just listen to us. You feel like something’s off too don’t you?”

I pause. She’s right. The whole set-up isn’t natural. Everything feels out of place. The energy around me is twisted in some sort of menacing and dark way. Maybe this is my chance to replace out why.

“We don’t have much time left before Three probably decides to come looking for us,” Five says. “I won’t be able to completely work my way around his memory like Fourteen, but I can dig deep enough to restore a significant portion of his memories.”

“Why do you want to do so anyway?” I ask.

“Because you have the most recent memories out of all of us,” Two replies. "If we're right about what's going on, any information you have locked away in there could help us moving forward."

For some crazy reason that I can't put my finger on, I completely trust her. I sit back down on the bed.

“Alright. Go ahead then.”

Five’s shoulders drop in relief, though he still has a slight look of contempt on his face for me. I decide to ignore this.

“Nine,” he says. “I’m going to negate all the sound in the room whilst I’m doing this. He may scream or whatever. Watch out for Three. Just pray that she doesn’t ghost inside here.”

Five puts one hand on my forehead and closes his eyes. I don’t feel anything for a while. Then all of a sudden my head is flung backwards. Images of people and places fly through my mind and all I know in this moment is excruciating pain. I try to scream but I can't even hear my own voice.

I can’t control my body; my body is in a spasm, continuously shaking as a stream of images and memories pour into my mind. I see a small run-down building with a mahogany door. Inside are about a dozen or more children. They’re all crowded around a long table with a bowl of soup in front of each of them. I feel as if I'm watching through someone else's eyes. Next to me is a small frail girl. She has beautiful brown eyes and half her face is covered by her shoulder-length curly brown hair. She's crying. A hand reaches out - mine perhaps - and rests on her shoulder and she begins to smile.

Next I see myself boarding a plane. I have a large rucksack on my back I feel as if I'm much older than I was in the last memory. I can feel the crisp wind battering my dry lips as I take one last look back before entering the plane.

Now I see a large white room. The Doctor is here looking at me with a wry smile. Next to him is a man in a suit. He’s stroking his tie like it's some sort of attention loving cat. He and the Doctor are talking to each other.

These series of images course through my mind and overwhelm me. I close my eyes. I don’t think I can handle any more. Five releases me and I fall to the ground.