"You guys shouldn't be talking about all this stuff so openly," she warned. "It's dangerous, they're going to get you arrested for propaganda."
"Don't worry about it, Elena," assured Cole. "We're just bringing amnesia boy here up to speed about what's going on in the world."
"That's a good idea," said Elena. "It could help jog his memory. But keep it down."
She grabbed a jar of cotton balls and a bottle of a greenish ointment from the shelf and hurried outside.
Michael's thoughts moved to Elena as she exited the cabin. He wondered what her story was. She didn't seem to have any family around here.
As if to answer Michael's curiosity, Cole said. "Poor girl. She'll probably never get over it." Dave nodded in agreement with a sympathetic smile.
"Get over what?" asked Michael.
"Her mother," replied Cole. "The respawner in this zone killed her mother. She used to live down there in the city with her family when things were normal. Poor girl had to hear her mother's death cries while she was hidden."
"What about her dad?" asked Michael. "Haven't seen him yet."
"He died a few years ago. He and his assistant went down to the city hospital to search for some supplies. Damned raiders got to them and killed them in cold blood. He was a good man, saved a lot of lives. We'd all been damned too if she hadn't decided to follow in her dad's footsteps and learned from him. She's as gifted as him."
Yet, she still helped me, Michael thought. She really must care a lot about people. Especially considering the tales I just heard about how life was so difficult now.
"I've heard from my son that things are crazy out there because of the blue lightning," said Cole. "People are scared from entering Destroyed Denver now. The Nazis have tightened security all along the city and are making sure that this absurd talk about another respawner doesn't spread."
"We all saw the lightning, Cole," retorted Dave. "You're telling me lightning strikes from a clear sky?"
"But it was blue."
"And that makes it normal?"
"It's not normal," agreed Cole. "But if there was a respawner here, don't you think he would've revealed himself by now?"
"That is true," sighed Dave. "But I've got a really bad feeling nonetheless…"
March 11, 2032
Adolf Hitler is our savior, our hero.
He is the noblest being in the whole wide world.
For Hitler we live,
For Hitler we die.
Our Hitler is our Lord,
Who rules a brave new world.
Six-year old Sidra sang the lyrics of a song she had been taught in class by her nursery teacher Hanna Koch. It was a song that was always stuck in her mind because she loved the way it sounded when all the children in class sang in together. It made her feel closer to all her classmates. Even the ones who she did not like.
She did not sing the song loudly because her mother never liked it. She got annoyed whenever she sang it but she never told her why. It could not be her voice because everyone told her she had a sweet voice. Was it the lyrics? But Hitler was a good person. He was the one who had trapped the monster who had destroyed the city below and killed her father. He was the one who built this city again on the mountains and kept them safe. He was the one who fought so many wars bravely against so many of the monsters throughout the world. She had seen it in the textbooks and the movies that had been shown in class. He was on the banners and posters that were strung all over the city. He provided them with protection and punished all the people who were bad. And yet, her mother had never once said a good thing about him. She never talked about Hitler. He is the noblest being in the whole wide world.
She was sitting on one of the chairs with her teddy bear in Elena's clinic while her mother was being examined by Diamond. She had named her teddy Pooh after her favorite cartoon. A teenage boy entered the cabin while blowing into a tissue. She had never seen him before and she usually knew many people at the clinic because her mother got sick often. He looked very tense and scared. She watched as he lay down in one of the beds with a sigh and looked at the ceiling with a distant stare. She decided she would let him meet Pooh. People in the clinic always liked to talk to her and Pooh.
"Hi," she said approaching him and giving him a smile. "My name's Sidra. This is Pooh. What's your name?"
Michael snapped out his thoughts. "Oh… hi. My name is Michael."
"Why are you here?" she asked.
"I have a fever," he replied awkwardly. "And umm, amnesia."
"What's amnesia?" she asked. She looked at Pooh. "Do you know what amnesia is?" He shook his head.
"It means I don't have memories," explained Michael. "I don't remember my past."
Sidra looked at him with a look of shock. No memories? How was that even possible? "You mean you don't remember anything?"
"Nope," he said with a pitiful smile. "I don't remember anything."
"But how? That's… that's… unfair. You don't even remember your family?" she asked.
Michael shook his head. She could see how much it bothered him. She was about to suggest to him that he could become part of her family. He could be a big brother to me. I've never had a big brother before. But her mother told her it was time to leave. Her mother looked grumpy which was a bad time to suggest to her the idea of making Michael a part of their family.
He gave her a wave as she left and she never stopped thinking about him. She felt pity for him. She couldn't imagine not remembering her mother and father, her friends, her teachers and everyone she knew. And yet Michael could not remember any of them. She hoped she would get to meet him again so that she could make him feel better. Maybe I can help him remember everything, she thought.