by Aaron Weisberg

I reached the peak of the grassy mountain and a picturesque view of the ocean lay in front of me. I set my backpack down and took out my tripod and camera so that I could capture the scene. The sun's reflection shimmered a blinding yellow along the ocean's surface. Through the lens of my camera, I saw a large helicopter appear in the top left corner of the frame. 

After snapping a couple of shots, I worked my way down the steep trail toward the ocean. The dirt faded into sand and my feet sunk in as I set my tripod up for a shot of the lengthy beach. 

The helicopter that I had seen earlier now hovered about in the distance out at sea. I zoomed in with my camera and saw two men dump a body out of the helicopter into the ocean. I sprinted into the ocean and dove in. As I swam closer to where I thought the body was her screams echoed in my ears. I saw her arms flailing around, her eyes gleamed with fear like a trapped animal. I put her arms around my neck and swam for shore.

When we could stand I swung her into my arms and carried her out of the water. Her skin was pale with streaks of blue. 

"I don't know how I got here. Where am I?" she sobbed. Her blonde hair wavered in the light breeze and her questioning blue eyes stared up at me searching for answers.  

Tears ran down her bruised lip as she buried her head into my chest. I felt her arms grip relax as she melted in my arms. I laid her down on the sand gently and then packed my tripod and camera up. Blood stained her ripped blue jeans. She was about twenty five and peaking in beauty. Her pale face looked gently sculpted like a marble statue, frozen in pain. I lifted her up again and headed for the cabin.

She awoke the next morning while I was cooking breakfast.

"How'd you sleep," I asked. 

"Good. My lip hurts so bad though. Where am I?" she said as she looked up at me.

"You're in my cabin in Big Sir. I'm James Royce. I found you on Jade beach yesterday crying your eyes out." I slapped a pile of scrambled eggs onto her plate.

"Wait, I'm in California? The last thing I remember was being at work, in Washington."

"You must of had one crazy night."

"I was finishing up paper work and then I felt a pain in my neck and before I knew it I was on the beach."

  "Can you remember anything in between the beach and your work?" I asked.

"I remember seeing really bright lights and then the crash of landing in the water. What day is it?"

"Its Monday, the twenty sixth." 

"Oh my god. It's been a week." How could she have forgotten a week of her life?  "I need to get home and figure out what happened," she said.

"We're about fifteen miles east from phone service." She started to cry again. "I will start packing the equipment we will need for the hike. We can leave tomorrow."

"What the hell happened to me?" She slowly ate her eggs and then fell asleep on the couch.

I awoke to screams. I scrambled out of bed and stumbled to where she lay. Her whole body was convulsing and a feverish sweat soaked her pale skin. 

" Wake up, Wake up!" I yelled as I shook her.

"No, no, no!" She screamed kicking and punching. She opened her eyes and then sank down back into the couch. 

"It was a nightmare, just relax."

"I saw figures in white body suits over me. They would yell and hit me when I didn't answer their questions."

"What do you think it means?"

"I'm not sure."

"Get some sleep and we'll try to figure this out in the morning." 

We woke up at sunrise, put on our backpacks and headed out. We had a long hike in front of us and we could probably make it in two days. We headed into the redwood forest along a dirt path.

"So I don't even know your name." I said turning back to her.

"It's Christy."

"What were you working on before you blacked out."

"The day before, I had a break through with my recent project. I'm a nuclear engineer. I worked out almost all the kinks for the nano detonator needed to activate the cell phone fusion bomb being researched by my company."

"Wow. You didn't look like a nuclear major to me."

"Yeah well, looks can be deceiving. So what are you doing here?" 

"I'm taking pictures for the national geographic." 

"Why did you go by yourself?"

"I like working alone." 

Midday we came across a stream. Christy was tired and said she needed some rest. I looked up at the clouds floating by and heard the sound of a helicopter in the distance. After about an hour she woke up screaming and convulsing again. I was getting used to it.

"I could see the men poking a syringe in my arm and then asking me questions." she exclaimed.

"They must of been using Sodium Pentathol. It's a truth serum. That's why you have been convulsing and sleeping so much. You're going through withdrawal." She must of been in some deep shit.

"Oh god. They were trying to get information from me about the cell phone fusion bomb."

We got up and headed through the redwoods once more. She lagged behind me for most of the way. She still seemed very tired. As dusk quickly fell upon us, we stumbled upon a cave. I found twigs and wood while she picked moss off of the redwoods. As the fire warmed us we curled up in blankets together. Her cold nipples pressed against my arm. We slowly drifted off to sleep enjoying the sounds of crackling fire. 

When we woke in the morning she told me that she remembered being in an RV. 

"I looked out the window and saw a sign that had read Indiana. When I looked forward I saw a driver and a large glass front windshield," she said.

As the day progressed she started to enjoy the hike. Her skin became less pale and her eyes glittered with sunlight. I noticed her stopping to take deep breaths occasionally. We stopped by a lake for another nap, and she remembered a new memory.

"Korean! That's what they were speaking. I took a lot of linguistic classes in college because I wanted to travel. I new it was an asian dialect but I just couldn't put my finger on it until now."

"We have to get home as quick as we can to warn our country."

We ran the last two miles and rushed to my parked car. We pulled up to a small seafood place called Nepenthe and sprinted inside. As Christy ran to the telephone something on the T.V. screen caught my attention. A disaster.

"Two thousand people died today in a small town in North Korea from a nuclear explosion," the announcer said. "The U.S. government believes this town housed a military testing facility."

Christy hung up the phone and sat down next to me. "Bartender, can we have a drink," she said. "I'm going to call the office and tell them what happened, and that I'm quitting the job. I don't want to spend my life making weapons that kill people. Let's go back to the cabin. I miss it there."