"Ready to talk, boyo?", I heard a faint voice say. The sound seemed a million miles away. I felt a jerk on the side of my head. My eyes shot into focus. I say Perre's gruff face. Right beside him was the nose of a gun.

"Alright now," he said. "Here's how we're gonna play it."

I was dizzy and drowsy. The side of my head throbbed. My calf stung. My ribs ached every time I took a breath.

"You are of no use to me. So, tell me whatever I ask you. If you don't, or you insist that you don't remember, I shoot you. Any questions?", he growled

I glared at him through a half-swollen eye. I tugged at the ropes tying my hands behind the chair. I hated him. All of them. I didn't care if I died. What was the point.

"Who are you?", he asked.

"I don't know," I said blankly. I stared straight into his eyes, unafraid. He didn't intimidate me. After all, he was offering me something that I wanted. Death.

"Why were you wandering around in the forest," he asked again.

"I don't know," I replied with the same blank expression.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't remember anything about my past.", I said. My eyes drifted to the nozzle of the gun. I glared at it too.

"One last chance," he said. "And I don't want to hear "I don't know" or "I don't remember". One last chance. Or you die." His fingers rested on the trigger.
"Who are you?".

"I'm Saren. And I don't know who I am, where I am, or where I came from. All I know is that I'm going to get a bullet in a few seconds," I said back to him. I accepted death. I waited for it to come. I anticipated it.

Perre stood still for a few moments. COME ON. My mind screamed. Get on with it. Don't make me suffer.
Do it.

I'm sorry, Cyrus.

He stood up and holstered his gun. I stifled a sob. I wasn't ready for death. I wanted to stay alive and find my memories again. I wanted to stay alive for Cyrus.

"You were right!", Perre called. Roy walked in, Oliver right behind him. "He was telling the truth."

"I knew it," Roy said. "Well, don't just leave him there all bloody, untie him."

Perre walked behind me and untied the ropes that held my midsection and my hands. I brought them to my lap, rubbing my wrists as he untied my feet. I was so confused.

"W-Wha...?", I began to say. Perre stood up and walked over to them. Roy gave me a glance and said, "It's okay, kid. You passed the test."

"Test?", I said weakly, coughing.

"Yes," Roy said glancing at Oliver. He gave him a reassuring nod. Roy dragged a chair over to face me. He sat in it and folded his hands. "We think we know where you may have come from."

My eyes lit up with a hope I had yet to experience in my memory. If he knew where I had come from, maybe I could get my memories back. Maybe I could find Cyrus. "You do?"

"Yes. We believe it may be a place called the Slade-"

"Ah!", I cried out, clutching my head. A thousand images flashed through my mind at once. That word. That place. Slade. I remember needles. I remember heart monitors. The cold, dark, room again.

"Kid, you okay?", Roy said leaning in with concern.

I put my head in my hands. So many bad memories. I just couldn't grasp them all at once. I remembered Cyrus's face, except this time it was twisted with pain. "Ah-uh-n-n-no-.....I-I", I stuttered. "J-Just that word, it brought back some glimpses."

"Of what?", he asked.

"Uh, n-needles, and a cell.... and beeping, like a heart monitor," I replied.

"Anything else?," he said.

I hesitated. "My sister," I finally said looking up at him.

I must have looked bad, because Roy looked sorry for me. He glanced at the others. Sanda was finally looking up from her knife.

"I-I'm sorry," I said. "Uh, it was just all at once." I ran a hand through my hair.

"Well, we know the Slade. They used to scare inmates in prison that they would soon be sent there. It was rumored to be a facility deep in in forest. Where, well, your screams couldn't be heard," Roy said.

"That-that line. Your screams can't be heard. Someone's told me that before, I think," I said. I looked back up at him eagerly. "Please, go on.

Roy took a deep breath. "Well, they said that the people there used your body and mind for experimentation. To try different things and methods of all different things, mental and physical. But we always thought it was just a rumor."

I shook my head. This can't be happening. Wait. "If I was kept, there, then Cyrus is too!", I said.

"I guess so," Roy replied.

I paused. "Why were you so set on finding out why I was in the forest?", I asked.

Roy sighed. "Sanda, Perre, Oliver, and I were all friends. In prison. We're the top 4 escaped prisoners in Russia. We made our way out here to the tundra, where it's too cold in the winter to get through. No one disturbs us here. And those who do, well, they normally don't make it out," he said. "Consider yourself lucky, kid."

I took a deep breath. I hurt all over. My leg especially. I still didn't like them. And it's not all of a sudden you warm up to someone that just beat the life out of you. The only reason I was talking to them was because they offered possible information about my past. Other wise, I probably wouldn't be asking anything. "You wouldn't happen to have some water and bandages would you?", I asked.

"Uh, yeah. Follow me.", he said standing.

I stood up but the blood rushed to my head quickly. I got dizzy and the room started spinning. I collapsed to the floor, blacking out.