Download first five chapters - John Trevillian

THE A-MEN | 29Flash. Memory number two.I see a bed. Like this bunk only bigger. Wider. The whole ochrefibrous surface is covered in red. Splattered. Randomly painted. Likea sacrificial altar.“There’s blood,” I am saying. “Blood all over the cunt.”“The cunt?”“No!”Why am I replacing normal words with expletives? Why?“The… bed…”“There’s blood all over the bed,” mimics the doctor. “This bed?”“No.”“Another bed? Your bed?”Fuck knows. It’s just a bed. A bed with blood all over it.The words come quicker now. As if the link, now made, makescommunication swifter. Cleaner. Feels easier. Like time has passedagain. Like my mind has moved on.“Tell me everything,” I say into the confusion, clear as anything.“I want to know… everything.”Dr Grisholm shrugs. His grey quiff nodding.“I’m sorry I can’t be more help on that one, but you’re somewhatof an enigma. I’ve already told you all we actually know about you.You’ve been with us for the mandatory nineteen-week trainingperiod, but before that we have no idea. Obviously you gave a wholebatch of data, but under scrutiny this was found to be fallacious.”“Eh?”“You lied.”“Lied? About who I was?”“Oh, you lied about everything, my boy. A veritable tissue ofdeception. But in their hurry no one really checked too thoroughly.Been such a rush for recruits, procedures have been lax. And muchof your time here you’ve kept yourself to yourself. Apart frommanoeuvres, you appeared to be working on some pet project orother in the stream rooms. You didn’t really talk to people. Even yourbunk buddies. Maybe Chase once or twice. The most you ever said