Chapter 12

Henry held my hand and led me down another dirt path.

Several people gave me curious glances, some confused and others shocked.

A few people stopped us and Henry explained the situation over and over.

Alot of them were hesitant and some seemed scared so I tried to appear as timid and friendly as possible.

Eventually Henry led me to a machine in the middle of a large area.

I watched it pushing something down into the ground in mild confusion and curiosity.

I tilted my head as I heard the sound of watering sloshing and steam come out of a few holes at the top.

“This is the steam engine you designed to help bring water up from the ground.” Henry said.

I blinked and looked at it again.

I could hear something burning and could smell it along with a loud suction noise.

It sounded…..off….

I didn't like it.

My nose crinkled in mild annoyance as I watched the machine move.

It was slow.

I didn't like it, it felt wrong.

“What's the matter?” Henry asked.

I waved my hands in frustration towards the machine.

“Uhmm…. Something wrong with it?”

I nodded.

“From what I know the people who worked to build it had to make a lot of adjustments because they didn't know how to build the parts properly….and I think? They said something about using old tires for rubber?”

I frowned.

I walked over to it, looking at it up and down.

I went over to the storage part where water was filling up and watched the black lines on the side.

It was taking an insanely long time from what I could tell and I found it maddening.

I looked back at the machine, trying to find out what exactly made it like that.

It took me a good ten minutes of wandering around it before I realized.

The sound.

The weird suction sound from the rubber inside it.

It sounded like it was dragging, almost scraping inside the cylinder.

My hands carefully touched the large cylinder where I could hear the pumping sound.

My fingers traced up and down as I could kind of feel where the rubber was as it moved.

Slow, I thought.

The rubber was too thick? Maybe?

Plus the proportions of some of the parts made me feel bad when I looked at them.

I wasn't sure how to fix it but I could tell it was wrong.

Henry came over and gently touched my shoulder.

“The people who built it said that it wasn't as good as it had been designed to work due to their skill level, but it got the job done enough where we didn't die from dehydration at least.”

I let out a whine and looked back at it.

It was driving me insane that I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

But still….I had designed something like this…..

It made me feel kind of cool but also kind of like a loser that I had lost so much of my memory and was now unable to make such things.

I hoped I would eventually get back to normal enough to fix this machine.

Because the sound was driving me insane.

I laid down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling as Henry sat down in the chair next to me.

“You went to school for about 3? Years to learn a lot about electrical work.” He said after a minute.

I turned to look at him.

“You graduated early at age 17 from highschool and went to school for about 3 years to learn alot about generators...wiring….I think some stuff about machinery too and I know you had some interest in agriculture work so I think you took classes in that too. You were always good at fixing cars, mostly because of your dad.” He chuckled.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Your father loved cars and could disassemble and reassemble them easily. Plus his main job at work was welding. He made a lot of custom parts for people in a shop and he taught you a lot.” Henry pulled on a chain around his neck with a small metal heart on it.

I blinked at it, sort of remembering it.

“You made this for me for our one year aniversery when you were 15 and I had just turned 16.”

I had a vague memory of giving it to him but not of how I made it.

“You had some other classes in some type of engineering as well. You took a lot of everything because of your interests and since you had good grades you didn't have to really take out many loans.” He laughed.

I wanted to ask if I paid them off before the apocalypse cause it probably would have been a waste to work hard to, if I couldn't even remember much of it.

“You liked to read and study a lot..but also worked to create things with your hands. You would study about something and then try to build it. We got in trouble one year with some bottle rockets you made. They nearly took out a neighbors window!” He laughed and I grinned.

“You hadn't graduated from college yet when the apocalypse happened, but you still liked to study even after not needing to.” He said while rolling his eyes.

Henry eventually fell asleep after talking more about when we were on the road.

He told me how I had gotten generators to power gas stations a few times so we could get gasoline.

I honestly don't remember any of it but I liked that he thought I was cool.

He was again sleeping in the chair and I had started feeling bad for him since it was probably uncomfortable.

I pulled out my sketchbook and decided to try and draw the water pump from before.

My hands were surprisingly shaky and I had to erase a lot.

I decided after drawing the outside I wanted to draw what was happening inside the main cylinder with the rubber seal I had heard.

I could imagine a long flat piston and a crude seal made from a tire moving inside it from the steam pressure.

Yeah…. no….the tire wouldn't be flexible enough to be a good seal, it probably drags which is why it sounds like that…..I thought slowly.

It could work but not well, which is why the water comes up so slowly.

I felt extremely happy I could understand why it wasn't working well.

There could also be changes done to some of the cylinder parts, they looked a bit too big but it was probably to help accommodate for the tires size.

The tire probably had been cut and changed to fit inside the cylinder but would still not be flexible enough to work very efficiently. 

I tapped the pencil against the paper.

We would have to make rubber properly first, something more flexible or find a place with seals.

Problem was getting latex-

I felt a sharp pain in my head and I winced, rubbing my temple.

After a few minutes the pain only got worse as I tried to refocus.

Maybe I had tried to think too hard.

It might be good just to go to bed for the night, I thought with a sigh.

I was a bit annoyed because I wanted to try to fix it but I knew I was still recovering and probably wouldn't be able to unless I started remembering more.

The sound of the cell door opening woke me in the morning.

I blinked and looked over as Sarah walked in with her team.

I had been having a dream of when I was younger.

When I was about 7 or so I apparently had a golden retriever and was also apparently bad at naming things.

Who names a golden retriever Goldie? I thought as I sat up.

I looked around for Henry and was startled when I noticed he wasn't around.

“Henry went to go do some things while you slept so I figured today would probably be a good day to test your memory while he's gone.” Sarah explained as I ate.

I nodded and received my medicine with near no complaint while the team set up some cards on the table.

“Alright do you recognize all these colors and their names?”

It was about an hour later of going through dozens of cards with random objects on them to test my memory of everyday items.

We did some small memory games which I surprisingly excelled at.

“Mhm…. it seems you can memorize things, it's just your memories in general from before receiving treatment are a bit out of order.”

I nodded.

“Ok so do you recognize any of these letters?” She placed a sheet of paper on the table with what I assumed was the alphabet.

I frowned down at it and eventually shook my head with a sigh.

She replaced it with another paper.

“Any numbers?”

I shook my head no.

“Ok….think you can maybe do mental math?”

I paused and then slowly shrugged.

She held up both hands and one finger on each.

“One plus one equals….?”

I held up two fingers.

She smiled brightly.

“Two plus two?”

Four fingers.

She continued up to ten and I was flashing twenty with my hands.

“Ok one minus one?”

I held up both fists with no fingers.

She grinned.

She went down the line the same and eventually switched to multiplication.

“Two times two?”

Easy.

After some time she started to use different numbers.

“5 times 6?”

I flashed thirty.

She paused after a minute.

“49 times 243?”

I blinked and slowly flashed out 11907.

She grinned and the men around her were staring at me in amazement.

“Jesus he did mental math that high?” One of them muttered.

I felt a bit odd as I sat there and shifted in my seat.

Sarah rolled her eyes.

“Max took engineering classes and was always good at math. You all saw him play with the rubix cube before, you know he's smart.”

I felt my face heating up from embarrassment.

“So you can do the math just can't recognize the numbers when written down.” Sarah said and I hesitantly nodded.

“Well it can come back with some more time, it's only been about 2 weeks since you have started feeling better, plus you could relearn if it comes down to it.” She said with a shrug.

I frowned but nodded.

“Have you tried talking at all?”

I shook my head no.

“Does your throat hurt or anything?”

My throat honestly felt fine and it seemed that there wasn't anything making it hard to talk like when I was sick.

My throat used to always feel like it was covered in sticky fluids, nearly drowning me whenever I tried to use my voice.

I shook my head no.

“Ok it might be good to start practicing using your voice, it's been a long time so I know it's very under-used.”

I wished someone would say exactly HOW long it's been.

“We don't exactly have someone to work as a vocal trainer…..mhm... “ She sat next to me on the bed.

“Try saying a?”

I hesitated and let out a small squeak after opening my mouth.

My face blushed in embarrassment and Sarah gave me a smile.

“It's better than gurgling all the time at least?” She laughed.

My tongue felt odd inside my mouth as I tried to say any of the letters she said.

I managed to say M and H but everything else involved something with your tongue and I couldn't manage them.

I sighed in frustration and Sarah patted my back.

“Time Max, time will help heal and help you relearn.” She said with a nod.

She checked my heart rate, my breathing, and reflexes after.

“Your heart is steadier than before and so is your breathing. But your reflexes are slow and I notice a slight shake with your hands?”

I nodded.

“Have you done any drawing or tried to write?” She asked.

I grabbed my sketchbook and showed her my sketch from last night.

“A Lot of erasing huh?” She grinned.

I sighed but nodded.

“You might do better with the shaking in a few weeks but there's still a chance you might have to deal with your hands being like this for the rest of your life. The nerve damage from being a zombie for so long might be irreparable unfortunately.”

I sniffed but nodded.

I really hoped not, especially if I used to like making things with my hands...

She raised a small flashlight and looked at my eyes.

The light was blinding and I fought to keep them open.

“Mhm…. Your pupils are dilating properly….. It's hard to tell if there has been much of a color change though…..it's possible but we will have to check again later. I don't have equipment to check how your eyesight is, sadly.”

Sarah packed up her stuff just as Henry walked through the cell door.

He waved something in the air and grinned at me.

“Want a popsicle?”

Dear God yes.

100% I knew why I fell in love with this man.