Gathering his bearings, Alan made sure he was alone in the room. He was positive someone had used some Skill on him just now trying to read his memories or dreams. He went immediately to the door only to find it locked. Frowning, he banged his fist against the solid oak from the inside. Given the light blue aura still surrounding him, at the very least Stannis should be nearby.

"Hello?" he shouted.

No response. Alan tried hitting the door a few more times, but after waiting a minute gave up and sat back down on the bed. He considered his situation once more.

Should he find another guard and tell them the truth? Blake seemed like a trustworthy person, maybe he could find a time to be alone with the burly man away from Stannis's cold gaze. People were dead, his family was dead... someone had tried to read his dream or force him to remember the events of the attack. He had to believe that. That had been no ordinary dream. Better to be paranoid and wrong than the other way around. The question was who and why?

There were too many unknowns. He needed information. He was sick of being so powerless, he was lonely, he missed his parents, his family and life... but what could he do?

Time passed and the light coming in through the windows brightened as sounds of people going about their day grew louder. Alan was lying down in the bed thinking and going over his story and situation in his mind when a knock came.

"Come in!" he said, sitting up abruptly.

The door opened slowly, and a small woman with short brown hair stepped through. She was thin, wore glasses and had an unassuming presence, which Alan suspected was on purpose. "Alan?" she asked gently.

"Hello," Alan said, unsure where this was going. He was tired of meeting new people, it hadn’t been going well for him lately.

"Hi Alan, I'm Gene," she said softly. "I'm a medical expert sent by the capital in response to the plague outbreak. I've heard about your situation and come to talk to you if you're feeling up to it?"

Alan considered her for a moment. She posed the last bit like a question, and Alan got the feeling that if he said no she would actually go away. He debated telling her to go away. He was still wary of his situation, especially after last night. Everyone he met seemed to have some hidden agenda. Still, he had no reason to pass up a chance to possibly get more information. Also, it wasn't like he had anything better to do at the moment.

"Sure that's fine, what can I help you with?" he asked politely.

She looked taken aback for a quick second, but the look passed so quickly Alan might have imagined it. "I know you have been through a horrible ordeal," she replied settling down into a chair across the room, "and it may be a bit heartless of me, but I wanted to ask you about what you experienced while it was still fresh in your mind. I also want to run a few tests on you with your permission. You are the only person ever to have survived an outbreak of this particular plague. What you saw, and how you alone survived, these are things could provide us a clue to understanding the disease better and might end up saving many lives."

She settled down into the chair looking compassionately at Alan. "Does that sound ok to you?"

Alan tried to look uncertain while he considered his words. "That sounds fine." Of course, he would be more helpful if there had been a plague. He ventured an attempt to get some information of his own. "I'm just worried about what happened and what's going to happen to me now. Before we begin, anything you can tell about what's going on would be nice."

"Of course," she replied "I'll tell you what I can, but I'm afraid its likely not much more than you already know. The Road was closed off, and several high level [Saction] experts were rushed over on the news that there was a plague outbreak in Willowbrook. The deputy has under his command many people with a wide variety of Skills that have been useful in identifying such outbreaks before they spread in the past. If the plague were to become an epidemic, well it would be a disaster that could threaten the entire population of the Territory, so no resources were spared."

"To be blunt we took a calculated risk in keeping you alive." Alan paused at the words, unsure of how to react. Gene continued on. "We are really sorry for what you are going through, but even though you were disinfected and verified not to be contagious, even though you are still wrapped in [Sequester] which should prevent the harmful transmission of disease, even with every precaution, nothing is ever one hundred percent certain if you understand my meaning. But the fact remains that your memories could hold the key to understanding this plague better, and your body which successfully fought it off could hold the key to a cure. Anything more you can tell us about your experience might help save lives. Also, while I'm here, I was tasked with getting your family information so we can start getting in touch with any relatives you have and get them involved as well."

"Sure..." he trailed off. That was a lot to handle. If what Alan suspected was correct, he certainly did hold the key to understanding this particular plague, just not in the way that she was thinking. The main point being that it was not a plague at all. He considered the woman across from him. She seemed genuine. And her words triggered a frightening question he had been avoiding. Why had he been left alive? Certainly not because he could help cure a fake disease. He focused on the bright blue shield around him. Stannis was still close by somewhere. Should he risk telling her the truth? He really wanted to trust someone.

He decided to focus on the easier part of her question for now. Alan knew he had an uncle somewhere, but he had only met the man once and his family had not been close. "Well for my family information... I'm Alan Trevin, I do have an uncle somewhere but he was not close with my family so I can't help too much there. As for what I can remember of the outbreak" he paused, "not much to be honest. I had run away from home, I'm not proud of that... It was over a stupid argument with my mom and I was being petty. The last conversation we had was..." he stopped unable to go on, breathed deeply and continued as if he hadn't spoken of the argument. "When I got back the town was empty. There were signs of struggle everywhere."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

From there he described the experience with as much truth as possible without revealing the attack. He talked about how there were no bodies, how he found blood on the ground, how he cared for the horses, and even how he had looted the town. He figured as much truth as possible could only help, he imagined there were Skills out there that could detect specific levels of deception.

Throughout his story, Gene peppered in questions and asked for clarifications on several subjects most of which he answered as honestly as possible. He left out the exact timing of everything, and to be honest the days after the attack were a bit blurred together for him. From what he could gather it had only been about three or four days. It seemed like more.

He knew the fact that it had been a Orc raid was vital information. He really did want to tell someone, and throughout his conversation he struggled with the desire to come clean. But at the end of the day, given everything that had happened, he was not ready to trust anyone with that piece of knowledge just yet. Perhaps if his dreams had been ordinary, or if Stannis had been less threatening, or if the blue aura surrounding him had not still been there.

Throughout their conversation, Gene made attempts to steer it towards Alan's state of wellbeing several times. She asked about feelings of sickness, nausea, and skin rashes, but Alan just kept assuring her that he was doing as well as could be expected. She took some blood samples and apologized as she cut off a small piece of skin to study. Alan bore with it and found himself almost liking the small woman by the end of their talk.

Eventually, Gene got up to leave. Saying goodbye, she turned to Alan at the door. "We will look for your uncle and see if he can come here to pick you up. We have records of most families in Willowbrook, so we should be able to work with the information you gave us. Again, thank you so much Alan, you're being very brave and you're in good hands." She smiled closing the door, Alan heard a faint locking sound in the process.

Throughout the rest of the day, several other visitors to his room showed up. Food came, a different doctor stopped by to check his health and gather more samples, a small skinny man who was a clerk came down to take his official statements along with his fingerprints and a drop of blood. Stannis remained absent, but the blue shield around him never faltered. The knowledge that the man was close by put Alan on edge.

At one point while he was being escorted to the restroom, he saw Blake, the guard who had found him, through a window instructing a group of other guards and tried for an uncertain wave as their eyes met. The burly man started to pull up a hand and then seemed to think better of it spitting on the ground behind him.

Thus the day passed and Alan ended up back in his room cell for the night.

The next morning started out much the same, Alan sitting in his room thinking, unable to open the door. Food came at some point and the day continued when suddenly a knock came at the door. "Come in" Alan yelled towards the closed door. He had been waiting for hours and he welcomed any development at this point.

The door opened bringing in Gene once more, along with lieutenant Stannis. Alan fought back the instinct to freeze at the sight of the man as they entered the room. Gene settled herself down in a chair opposite of Alan, while the lieutenant settled for standing quietly in the back of the room.

Gene started with a sigh. "Hello, Alan. I'm going to be blunt here, we know you are lying or at the very least not giving us the whole truth about the outbreak. We don't know your reasons and don't want to pry too much, but for our peace of mind are going to ask you some very straightforward questions. Is that ok?"

"Sure" Alan's heart was racing but didn't see as he had a choice. He had to assume either Gene or someone monitoring the situation had some Skill to read him, so he could not lie outright. He glanced at Stannis laying back against the wall. His mind raced; none of this was how he had hoped things would go. What would Stannis do if he just told the truth? Could he really just kill him with impunity in the middle of the guardhouse?

"Go ahead," he said, nodding his head in the process.

"Ok we'll start easy" she smiled settling down in the chair across from him, "What is your name?"

"Alan Trevin."

"Where are you from?"

"Willowbrook."

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

Gene paused at this and raised an eyebrow, but otherwise did not make a comment. He was only fourteen but had decided to try out an inconsequential lie. Could she tell when he lied?

She continued. "Did you notice when the plague hit your village? Were there any signs of sickness in the weeks prior?"

"No. Well, I don't think so. Everything was normal until it happened."

"Did you find any other survivors?"

"No."

"Did you find any bodies?"

"No."

"We're you involved in the spread of the disease in any way?" Gene's questions were coming faster.

"No."

"Are you withholding any information that is relevant to the investigation of the outbreak?"

The questions had been coming faster and faster, and this one caught him off guard. Alan's mind raced. He looked over at Stannis who gave an almost imperceivable shake of his head. He had already paused for too long, he decided to pretend to be pondering the question.

"I guess that depends on what you mean by relevant?" He tried to sound confused as if he was only trying to help.

Gene's expression did not change. "Where were you when the plague hit? Did you see anyone die?"

Alan's heart sank, he could only try to stick to his story as much as possible.

"Like I said before, I ran away from home, I was hiding out in an old fort I used to play in growing up. I really don't want to say more than that please." Technically he had run away when he slipped out at night through his window, she could draw her own conclusions from that.

"How far away from town did you run?" Gene continued relentlessly.

"I don't know the exact distance," Alan replied.

"Did you see anyone die? Yes or no." Gene rephrased showing no signs of stopping.

"I saw traces of blood and some signs of struggle. When I went into the village, I noticed bloodstains on the ground in-"

"We're done here." A loud voice interrupted from the lieutenant standing in the corner of the room. "This is a farce, he obviously isn't saying everything he knows. The very fact that he is the sole survivor of an incurable plague with a zero percent survival rate makes him directly suspect. For all that we know this plague could be man-made or a result of some atrocious Skill. We will be taking him to the Inquisitors in the capital."

Gene turned to look at the man slowly. "Lieutenant we can talk about this later, you are distracting me right now," she said sternly. "It is my job, not yours, to determine if any information he has is useful in combating this disease. As far as I can tell he is answering truthfully so far, and these things can take time, please if you can't control yourself, leave now."

Stannis opened his mouth as if to respond then seemed to decide against it. He glared at Alan as he turned to leave the room. Alan had to give him credit, if he hadn't known better he would almost believe that the man was actually upset by his unwillingness to cooperate.

"We will be going back to the capital shortly," Stannis said matter of factly, "get him ready for travel, we leave tomorrow." He closed the door shut leaving the room silent.

Gene started at the door for a second before slumping down in her chair. She turned back to Alan.

"It really would be better if you cooperate," she said defeatedly. "We're on the same side."

With that she asked a few more questions and eventually got up and left the room, leaving Alan to his thoughts. As the door closed, Alan heard a faint locking sound in the process.