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11:00 PM

I awoke to bright lights shining in my face and cringed. My whole body felt like a throbbing pile of shit, and my head was the worst of all. Worst. Fucking. Headache. Ever. I thought, and opened my eyes back up to see a strange sight. I was surrounded by several women who all wore white lab coats and looked exactly the same. It took a few seconds to realize that there was just one person. A light projected in front of me somehow, displaying a long strand of DNA along with a very familiar logo on the side. Abstergo, I sounded out in my head. Where do I know that from? I didn't have much longer to think, though, because the woman began to speak.

"Subject Human 19 appears to be undergoing temporary amnesia from the concussion. Beginning with most recent stable memory."

All of a sudden, my entire field of vision went black, and I felt an intense pressure as my world was constructed around me.

I was 10, playing outside past dark. I had found a chain, and was using it to pretend to beat up bad guys, punching and kicking and swinging at invisible enemies in the graceless manner that only a child can without looking insane. I spotted my ball down the street, where I had left it earlier, and dropped the chain to go get it. As I walked towards the ball, the sound of a girl crying grew from as soft as it could be to so loud that I had to find out why she was crying. After a few minutes of investigation, I found the source: an otter, about a year or two younger than me, with deep, chocolatey fur and dark red hair. After several seconds, she noticed my presence and looked up.

"Who are you?" She asked accusingly, and I couldn't help but notice the bruising up and down her entire body and her bloody nose.

"My name is Tyres, but you can call me Ty. What's wrong?" I asked, frowning at her injuries.

"Go away!" She said, ignoring my question entirely.

"I just want to help you," I said, and I finally had an idea. "Do you want to come to my house and talk about it?"

"I said, go away!" The otter shouted.

"I'm not leaving unless you come with me." I offered, and sat down to prove my point.

The otter looked surprised, and after thinking it over for a few minutes finally indulged. "You promise you won't hurt me?"

"I swear, cross my heart and hope to die." I replied, making the motions.

"Well, I have nowhere else to go," she said. "I'll go, but just for a little bit."

I stood up, and finally thought to ask. "What's your name?"

"Call me Alice." the girl replied, and the world began to disappear as suddenly as it had come into existence. The female began to speak again.

"This unlocked several other memories. Beginning as procedure dictates, with the most recent stable next."

The intense pressure began again, only much less painful this time. Soon I was in a schoolyard, where a bully had stolen my new sister's lunchbox.

"Give it back! That's my food!" Alice pleaded, and the bully just laughed in response.

"It's mine now, you stupid little furball. What are you gonna do about it?" he asked, and opened up the lunchbox. I stepped forward towards him.

"What are you doing with my sister's lunchbox?" I asked. "Or am I mistaken? I'm sure you love Barbies."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, then looked down at the hot pink lunchbox. I took the opportunity of his distraction to deliver what at that age was considered a very hard pu- The world deconstructed again, and things started to come back to me. Stuff like this had recurred several times over the years, and I had gradually grown into the role of Alice's protector. The woman started speaking again.

"Mistakenly entered incorrect memory, continuing in accordance with procedures."

Everything went black, but eventually my eyes adjusted to the dark. I was in bed with Alice, several years later.

"Do you love me Ty?"

I was spellbound, but I knew what she meant. "Um, I do love you, b-"

"But not like that?" She was fully awake now. "No. Your body and I both know that you do. So tell me, Ty. Do you love me?"

I couldn't say anything except a feeble "Y-yes Alice. I do."

"Then I am yours," Alice replied and pulled me into a kiss.

"Fast forwarding to next stable memory. This shouldn't take very much longer."

Shut the hell up and get out of the way, I thought, staring at my father. I knew that this wasn't going to go well. Me and Alice had been dating for soon to be a year, and after my graduation she had a surprise for me. Unfortunately, my parents were quick to investigate, and we had become less careful as time went on. Me and my dad had got into an argument, and I was one second from leaving forever, but one thing kept me back. Alice. What the past year had held rushed through my head as we started to argue, our voices steadily growing louder into shouts and screams, and finally I pushed him aside and slammed open the door. I had no money, no food, and no clothes, but I could live. I was halfway down the street before Alice caught up with me.

"You can't leave." She proclaimed loudly.

"Alice, I have to. I couldn't stand another minute in there."

"Are you gonna come back?" She asked, suddenly quieted.

"Not tonight, but maybe in a week or two. I wasn't planning on attending college anyhow, so I might as well get a head start on my life." I explained.

"I'm coming with you." Alice decided.

"You can't. You have to finish school. I have enough technical skill that I can get by without an education, but I'll barely be able to support myself for a long time. You can be rich, Alice. I know you can; you're a smart girl. Please don't throw that away, if not for yourself, then for me."

"Where are you going, at least?"

"New Orleans."

I took off, and looked back after a few steps. I turned back and ran up to her.

"I love you, Alice. Remember that."

"I love you too, Ty. Just don't forget me."

The female voice cut in. "That's it. All memories accessible from an unconscious state. Are you ready for a nap, Mr. Kith?"

"Go fuck yourself." I replied, finally back in the real world, and with that I turned towards the voice and kicked as hard as I could.

The woman hit the ground with an audible thud. After searching her briefly, I found an iPhone and my hard drive. Using the GPS to find my location, I texted it to J, and realized that I had forgotten to check for cameras. I didn't have to.

I was already in the air ducts when the alarm began to sound. Time to leave this godforsaken hell hole.

11:39 PM

It didn't take long to get to the Abstergo building, and within fifteen minutes of my departure I stood in a nearby alley, looking for J. A figure stepped out from behind the shadows wearing a white hoodie and a black undershirt.

"Alice, I presume?"

"You must be J then." I responded, and after a few seconds of glancing around, I noticed that J and I were not alone. "Who are they?" I asked, nodding my head up to the rooftops.

"Never mind that. Listen," he began, handing me a sheet of paper. "These are the directions to our Den. Get there as fast as you can."

"Ty's in there, isn't he?" I replied, pushing back the paper. "I'm going in with you."

"Alice, you can't do that. We're a group of highly trained-" Just then, I twisted sideways and threw a knife into the dead center of a trashcan, the loud boom of the collision resounding throughout the alley.

_"_I've been practicing knife-throwing extensively every day for the past six months. I can hold my own," I cut in bitterly.

"Fuck." J spat. "Okay, just wait outside for us, because there's gonna be a shitload of people on our tails that don't care if they capture us dead or alive. Surely you can help get rid of one or two."

Just then an alarm began to wail from inside the building. J pressed the button on a headset I hadn't noticed before. "That's our signal. Let's move." J stepped past me and kicked open a door that led into a hallway inside the building, and the shadowy figures on the roof all began to converge on the building. Without taking even a moment to reconsider, I slipped inside after J, from the alley and into hell.

11:40 PM

Cursing myself for not looking at the floorplan before getting there, I shambled through the air ducts to the extraction point: the front lobby of Abstergo Industries. Okay, Ty, about 20 more yards, and you'll be over the IT department. I think. Slinking forward, I finally got to the IT department's headquarters. I knocked open the vent and climbed down into the room, only to be greeted by the site of "Janice's" desk, right floor and everything. The lobby was seven floors beneath me, and I the air duct was too high off the ground to crawl back into.

I heard the sound of footsteps rushing towards me before turning to see the sight of an Abstergo security guard. He raised his baton, but I was ready this time. As he brought it down, I sidestepped and grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back until he dropped his weapon. I grabbed it and struck the guard in the back of the neck. There was a loud crack, and the guard went limp. I looked up in time to see three more enter, two with batons and one with a Baretta. The guard raised the pistol, and I instinctively grabbed the nearest other guard just in time to use him as a shield. He stopped struggling underneath the brief hail of gunfire, and I pushed him forward with my left hand, striking the helmeted guard with my right. The third guard saw this as a chance to act and stepped forward with his baton raised. I ducked back as he brought it down, but didn't anticipate the backhand that followed. My head snapped back painfully, and my headache came back, even worse than before. I opened my eyes before I realized I had closed them, and was greeted to the sight of another blow on the way. The guard suddenly stopped and crumpled to the floor, a knife in his back. "Miss me?" asked Alice from the doorway.

11:42 PM

After slipping in after J, I had decided to separate from him, instead combing the building from the top down. The elevators were still working, so I stepped in and selected floor 9. After confirming that no one was there except a squad of security guards, I checked floor eight, and happened to step in just in time to help Ty. I rushed forward and hugged my brother, 6 months of misery melting into a few brief seconds of bliss.

Click. "What was-" Ty began before several gunshots interrupted him. He tensed up and went a little limp. Behind him, a fallen guard with a pistol had started to get back up. I grabbed my last knife and threw it dead into his chest. The guard collapsed without a sound.

"Are you gonna be okay?" I asked Ty. His eyes fluttered open.

"I'm... fine... get to the lobby," He answered, gasping for breath. I looked down to see that there were three bullet wounds, but they looked dangerously close to his lungs. Picking up the rifle and my knife, I gave the firearm to Ty. "Take this. I'll get you home safely."

We limped onwards, onto the elevator and down to the first floor.

"Alice..." Ty began once the doors closed. "I don't.... I can't make it."

"No. Don't even think that. Just breathe in, and breathe out. I'll handle the rest." I replied. We sat in silence except for Ty's heavy breathing. The elevator _ding_ed as the doors opened to a scene of chaos. The guards were storming in from all sides, and all packed assault rifles. J's crew had flipped over several desks and were using them for cover as they, too, fired into the fray. J and I locked eyes. "Alice! Hurry your ass up and let's get the fuck out of here!" I helped Ty along, but it was a slow process. No one seemed to notice us, because the elevator we had chosen was the closest to the exit. Every now and then, Ty would fire his rifle back into the Abstergo guards. Finally, we met up. J put Ty in a firemen's carry as we began to gradually retreat. A car awaited us outside with a purple fox in the driver's seat.

"Get in! Hurry!" yelled J as he slammed open the door to the backseat. I sat on the driver's side, with Ty's head on my lap. "What about the others?" I asked as the fox took off.

"They're fine," J replied. "How you holding up there, Ty?"

"I'm... I'm fine" He replied, his face paling.

12:02 AM

When we finally arrived at the Den, we grabbed Ty and brought him in, setting him down on the couch in the living room temporarily. "Alice..." Ty called the moment we set him down. He struggled, and finally managed to shrug off his jacket. It was only then that I realized how much blood he had lost: his jacket was dripping with blood. He balled it up and handed it to me. "Give 'em hell," he said, followed up with his final goodbye.

"Good night, sis."

Fighting back tears, I hugged my brother. "Good night, Ty."

What. No. This couldn't be happening.

No.

Ty

is

alive

dead.

Gone.

Forever.

"Alice, are you okay?" asked J.

"Alice is dead," I replied. "My name is Wraith."

With that, I ran.