Read Online The Post-Humans (Book 1): The League by Thurston Bassett - Free Book Online Page A

growing tired of trying to solve these human jigsaw puzzles. He had never really had a lot of experience with relationships, and as far as emotions went, he was the poster boy for ‘man is an island’. So his emotional isolation didn’t really give him the edge when trying to free these people from their own minds.
    “I still wanted to see him! I loved him!” she said.
    “You were far too young for Nathan. He couldn’t love you, you were a child!” Athan pleaded.
    “I wasn’t always this young…” She said with gravity beyond her age.
    The change startled Athan slightly, seeing as these coma patients were so young in mind and body when they were trapped in their subconscious, this girl was making her own fight to return. “He married Selima you know? When she was twenty one, I was 17…”
    He began to put things together; this basement was here for a reason.
    She was giving him clues.
    The place was symbolic, that’s why there were no significant objects.
    “Shall we walk, Kendra?” he suggested. “Is that ok?”
    The girl nodded solemnly.
    Athan pulled himself up off the dusty floor and brushed the back of his pants out of habit, even though he knew this was all metaphysical.
    He held out his hand so Kendra could take it and she awkwardly got to her feet and straightened her floral dress and patted the dust off her pale grey stockings. The little girl held on to his hand as they strolled through the eerie darkness. “Kendra,” Athan said, looking at the dank surroundings. “What is this place?”
    “The basement at Mum’s old house. Selima and I used to play down here sometimes when Mum was angry at us.” She smiled at the memory.
    “Was she often angry?” Athan decided to ask.
    It could be a clue.
    “No. Well…maybe.” The girl tilted her head thoughtfully. “When we were teenagers we liked to sneak out to parties, that made her mad. And I guess the three of us just got in each other’s way when we lived together. When we got jobs and Selima moved out we got along a lot better.”
    Athan nodded.
    The pair kept strolling down the corridor, passing work benches, tools, power leads and water pipes. Until they came upon a place against a wall where two bottoms had been sitting in the dust.
    They were back where they had started.
    “Is this a special place for you Kendra?” Athan said looking back the way they had come.
    “Hmmm…not really.” Kendra shrugged.
    “But something must have happened here.”
    Kendra wiped a tear from her cheek before sitting down on her place on the floor.
    Athan sat down again with her.
    “Something…” Kendra whispered.
    The girl squinted as she gazed off into space.
    She’s remembering.
    “Is that why we’re here? What happened in the basement Kendra?” This must have been the key.
    Athan felt relief; he could feel that the scenario was beginning to fit together.
    “Just before they got married, he followed me down here…” she said, tilting her head again in that thoughtful way.
    “What happened?”
    She looked up at him innocently with tear filled eyes, and then looked at the dusty floor.
    She took a deep wavering breath.
    “He told me he’d always liked me, and we kissed. It was amazing.” She lifted her eyes to the wall.
    A look of shame fell over her.
    “After that I told Selima that he loved me and that I loved him. She got angry and hit me.” Tears ran freely down her cheeks. “Nathan denied everything and said that I had approached him and forced myself on him. Which she believed, because Nathan couldn’t do anything wrong, and she knew that I had always had a soft spot for him. I was an idiot.”
    She covered her face with her hands.
    Athan tipped his head back and rubbed at his rough chin. Thinking about how to respond sensitively.
    “Well that’s an intrigue and a half,” he said tactlessly.
    The environment hadn’t changed.
    She wasn’t free yet.
    “Then why are we here?” he asked, almost at a loss. He was growing impatient