Epoch of Desolation

A great big orb, which was actually the eye of one of the Mutated birds, flashed toward Rain’s direction, and out of reflex he quickly shut the curtains. This time they no longer had even a narrow gap for the light of morning to make its way in, and in return the room dimmed considerably.

But that was the least of Rain’s worries where he had frozen solid with his teeth biting into his lower lip. His mind was in a panic. His heart was in his mouth, its intensified pounding sounds invading his ears as though they were timers counting down to the arrival of an explosion.

If that bird came for him he was definitely a goner.

It didn’t see me, did it?

None of the silhouettes beyond the closed curtains were approaching, but Rain did not consider relaxing just yet. After all, for everything he was going to be doing from now on, he had decided to always factor unpredictability into it.

The bird could just be taking its time like a predator did with its prey—similar to how paws-for-brains had acted when they’d first encountered each other. So when it felt like enough time had passed for its prey to let its guard down it would then attack.

But when seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes stretched out, the pounding of Rain’s heart naturally calmed, and the fog clouding his thoughts were instantly blown away.

If the bird was on its way to attack him he would have received a warning from the Plexus already.

The monstrosity hadn’t seen him.

That realization released all that was left of the tension holding Rain’s body hostage, causing his posture to slump as he staggered backward. His knees weren’t free from the aftermath of the fear he had been feeling as well. They had become weak, giving off a sensation that made him feel as though they would buckle under his weight if he didn’t give them ample time to rejuvenate themselves soon.

Rain was not of the desire to crumble to the floor when there was a soft, cushiony bed behind him, so he turned away from the window. But just as he did his breathing was suspended for a split second, his heart almost jumping out through his mouth as he was met with a golden-yellow gaze.

He exhaled instantly, though, a heavy one accompanied by his shoulders drooping. Then he frowned, his nose wrung up.

“I forgot about you for a moment,” Rain said to the now-awakened Jaguar as he plopped back-first horizontally onto the bed just beside it. He closed his eyes and fell into his thoughts while he placed his hands over his face. “How am I going to find my memories in this situation?”

Maybe taking hold of the initiative as a means to worsen his mood, his stomach growled, reminding him of another of his troubles. Just before Rain could react to it, a smooth but firm object touched his cheek. It had a cool sensation that tingled his mind, and in return he wasted no time turning his gaze to his right to be pleasantly surprised.

He shot up into a sitting position immediately.

“Wh-What is this?!” On the bed, just between him and his newfound companion was a transparent small sized bottle half filled with water.

Rain scratched his eyes, pinched his cheeks, and even muttered continuous gibberish in order to free himself from his apparent hallucination, but nothing worked. He looked at the Jaguar and the yellow coated and black spotted beast turned its face away from him with something he felt was a hmph!

Usually, Rain would have had a look of derision for the Jaguar’s action, but not at this moment. His face was brightened so much that he felt his cheeks heating up.

“Did you get this for me? Where did you find it? Food. What about food? Are there some somewhere here?” He paused. “...That isn’t rotten, perhaps?” It was all questions upon questions. But then he recalled that the Jaguar couldn’t speak, and instantly his hand was at the back of his neck, rubbing it in something close to embarrassment. “Ah, forgive me. I just became too excited.”

He then picked up the bottle using his left hand, and with a wide smile that lit up his face, gently stroked his right along the back of the Jaguar’s own neck, eliciting a soft but unexpected purr from the wild cat.

“Thanks so much for this,” Rain said with a chuckle while gesturing the bottle of water at the Jaguar even though it still wasn’t looking at him. “I was not even able to find anything edible in the dining lounge so I thought nothing good remained in this hospital. You must have searched a lot to find this.”

The Jaguar still didn’t spare him a glance. It was acting smug. But Rain didn’t mind. He had been thirsty for so long that all he could think about was gulping down the water before him.

Undoing the bottle’s cap, Rain poured down its contents into his mouth in one fell swoop, not giving himself a moment to enjoy whatever reinvigoration usually came with quaffing down water.

Maybe that was for the best, since as soon as he was done drinking his tongue was left with a musty aftertaste that spoke of the water’s age and stagnance.

His first taste of water in a while was not a pleasant experience, but it was still one that left him feeling refreshed and, to make things even better, uplifted his mood.

“Now,” Rain started as he threw the empty plastic bottle to the floor, “what is our next move?”

The Jaguar turned to him and his hazel eyes and its amber eyes met. He pointed to the window then.

“The world has ended, but you must have known that since you most likely came from outside. Or did you magically wake up here?” There was no response from the beast, just the usual incredulous look it had. “Anyways, my goal is to regain my memories, and to do that it seems my best shot is to seek out the things I’ve seen before to trigger their return. In other words, I have to find my family, my relatives, anyone who knows even a tiny bit about me. In other, other words, I can’t stay here. I have to leave the hospital.”

He put down his finger.

“Why am I telling you this? Apparently, we’ve become companions, and from what I saw moments ago it’s obvious that this hospital might be the safest place we’ll ever be, so once we step out of its walls there might be hell to pay. I’m definitely going to go, but that does not mean you have to come with me. Because the Plexus tags us as companions does not mean we have to sacrifice our lives and well beings for each other. We can both make our own choices; I suggest you make yours, one that will be best for you.”

Rain stood up and the Jaguar’s eyes followed him.

“The road ahead won’t be nice, but it’s my choice to embark on it, I don’t expect to drag you into my own troubles.” He cleared his throat and smiled. “Well, that is all. I have a destination in mind already; I’m going to head to my house first, even though my family may no longer be there, pictures or something that would trigger a bit of my memories or lead me to them should be. But for that I’ll need the address and a map. The address I should be able to find in the records room of this hospital, then I’ll leave and head to the nearest store to grab a map. I have a photographic memory, so I’ll definitely do fine—I hope. With that said, despite how we met, it was nice meeting you.”

He had talked a lot, but those words were the last Rain offered the silent Jaguar before he picked up his knife and left the hospital room.

###

His expedition to retrieve his home address was quite the tedious work.

Luckily, finding the Medical Records Storage Room housing the files that bore such an information hadn’t been much of a hassle. It was located in a separate restricted wing on the same floor as his patient’s room, but finding it had only taken Rain a couple of minutes. The major roadblock had stemmed from getting the respective doors open.

He’d had to return to the dining lounge to get the fire extinguisher he had left there—while fearful of encountering anything that would plunge him into a battle—and countlessly smash it against the password encoded handles of all the doors keeping him away from the record he sought out.

Well, his efforts were fruitful. He was within the dim, disarrayed room bearing the record he was seeking, and at long last—after combing through every shelf containing the brown files registered under various patients’ names—he had gotten to the one with his name, Rain Leclair, boldly engraved on its metallic label holder.

With a smile followed by a sigh, Rain patted off the clouds of dust blanketing his file then sat down on the floor in the midst of the cobweb layered room as he flipped it open. Although, that action caused what minute joy he had to vanish in an instant.

Oh, for fuck’s sake… Rain felt all his energy siphon away at the sight of the brittle and mold infested papers making up his file. They’re almost all unreadable.

Honestly, he had been expecting what he’d come across. It had been five whole years. But still he had been hoping for some miracle or something. He had met none of that, by the way. And what was worse was that the file looked like it had more than enough information than he could have asked for; in other words, it was a whole book of triggers.

Now, it’s just useless, though. I doubt I can get anything tangible from it. Rain leaned backward and looked up at the ceiling; then after a while of silence he slapped his cheeks. No. Because it’s mold infested and the ink is faded does not mean it’s useless; I just have to fill in the gaps myself over time. He looked back into the file and heaved out a low breath. It’s actually going to take some time to fill in the gaps for every single word in here, right? And there’s no guarantee of its effect. Pictures work faster than words to regain memories, don’t they? Words can be ineffective. I should prioritize my plan to go home; that would definitely have the most effect considering my options.

After weighing his choices and settling on the one he believed was best, Rain flayed his eyes over the mildly available words in his file. And as he came upon one that leaned towards the term ‘address’ when compared to its counterparts, he increased his focus and took his time completing the strokes of faded letters while filling in the gaps with whichever was missing.

A considerable amount of time passed, Rain felt it, but it was worth it since his efforts were not for naught.

21 Ravelston Dykes… he sang to himself with a smile as he pictured, in his head, the words appearing in the place of the faded ones.

With his destination now confirmed, Rain rose to his feet, scooped up his file and his weapon, and took the first step toward accomplishing his goal.

But just as he arrived outside the Medical Records Storage Room he was met with a rather fascinating spectacle that caused his breath to hitch. In front of the door was the Jaguar he had told to go on its own lying in wait, presumably for him.

His face squeezed into a rather serious expression as his eyes and that of the beast met.

“What are you doing here?” Rain asked in a gentle but stern tone.

His actions had long gone past the childish reason of trying to push the beast away because it seemed like it would burden him more than help him; he just didn’t want to be responsible for the life of another at present. He was not even sure of his own survival, despite his hardheadedness, and he was definitely not strong enough to protect or look out for another.

He did not want the Jaguar to die because it had decided to journey with him.

Rain heaved out an exhale then jerked a thumb at the room he’d just left. “You must have some business inside. Well, I’ll leave you to it. I hope we never see each other again.”

He said all that, but as soon as he arrived on the first floor of the hospital through the emergency stairs, the beast was behind him.

It was obvious what its choice was.

Rain sighed while shaking his head. “I doubt there’s anything I can say that’ll make you turn back,” he spoke plaintively, then turned halfway around to look at the Jaguar with a slackened expression, “so I’ll just mention one thing. I don’t intend to die, you should not too.”