In the After

We’ll put Baby in a language class and I’m sure she’ll regain her ability. You’d be surprised at how strong the language instinct is in children.” She returned to my side and hugged me close. I nodded but still wondered. Baby had never even attempted to speak.
    The boy examined every inch of Baby, pausing only for a moment at the nape of her neck, peering closely at her scar. He glanced around quickly, placing her long hair back over the mark. He caught my eye and for a moment I saw he was afraid, but the look passed quickly and I wondered if it was really there at all.
    “Is everything okay?” I asked.
    “Of course,” he smiled, adjusting his glasses. “Do you know how she got this wound?” He motioned to her leg.
    “No. She had it when I found her.” I licked my lips. I was sweating, although the room was chilly.
    “Probably a dog bite,” the boy told my mother, but he called several other people over to Baby’s bed, where they all made a commotion over the scar on her leg. My mother examined it herself, taking photographs and measurements. I held Baby’s hand and signed to her that everything was going to be okay, although the attention being paid to her was making me nervous.
    After they took her blood and gave her a few more shots, my mother informed us that we were in good health, if a little malnourished. “Time to go home,” she said, stroking my hair.
    “Excuse me,” the boy addressed my mother, his tone surprisingly authoritative, “but I believe Dr. Reynolds wanted to complete a psyche-eval.”
    “It can wait,” my mother said firmly. “I’ll speak with Dr. Reynolds tomorrow about rescheduling. Right now I am taking my daughter home.”
    My mother took my hand and I took Baby’s. As we walked out of the room, I glanced back. The boy was staring at me. He smiled, but he had a worried look in his eyes. He raised his hand to wave. I nodded and smiled back, then turned as my mother led us down a corridor and outside, into the sunlight. I shrank back, but she put her arms around my shoulders and whispered, “Be strong, Amy. I’m here.”
    I mostly stared at my mother’s face as we traveled in a golf cart on a short ride to her apartment. Her building was large and white and looked like every other structure in the town, which seemed more like a college campus with bland buildings and shabby, weed-infested lawns.
    My mother’s apartment was a few floors up. She paused as we walked in the door, hugging me. Inside there was little furniture, but it looked cozy.
    I was home.
    • • •
    When Dr. Thorpe comes again, I’ve been awake for what seems like several hours. My head pounds and I know that something is very wrong. I’d tried the door, but it was locked. Why did they need to lock me in? I don’t belong here. I’ve decided to refuse my medication .
    “This is all for your own good. You aren’t going to get better if you continue to refuse treatment,” she tells me .
    I stare at her, upset. “You’re drugging me. I don’t even remember how I got here. How is this helping?” I ask. “And why is the door locked?”
    “You’ve had a very traumatic experience. It’s better this way. . . . You can’t handle everything you’ve been through. This treatment should stabilize you.”
    I ignore her, focusing on a spot on the wall over her left shoulder. I hate not being able to remember, but if I concentrate, I get flashes of memories; a small man with silver hair, a toddler playing with a toy truck, a blue-eyed teenage boy with glasses and shaggy, blond hair. Baby’s smile .
    I stay stubbornly motionless and eventually Dr. Thorpe sighs and puts the tray with the pills down next to the sink .
    “I didn’t want it to come to this,” she says sadly. She leaves the room and I steel myself for what is about to happen. I hope I am strong enough to resist .
    • • •
    I sat on a couch in the living room while Baby rested her head on my lap. She’d long since fallen asleep, after I’d talked for hours about my life in the After. How I found Baby, how we survived. Now it was my mother’s turn.
    “I was at the lab when it happened,” my mother explained. “We were on lockdown immediately. That’s what saved us. We had a secure perimeter, electric fences, top-notch security team. We weren’t allowed to go outside for a month. Luckily there were plenty of researchers who lived on the compound premises. We had supplies and sleeping quarters. I tried to call the