EarthHope Fiction - Max's imprisonment

EarthHope Fiction Part 6

The feel of solid Earth beneath his feet felt good to Max - even if it was a fiction.  He vaguely remembered something about being captured by the enemy and taken to a Hushami prison camp but it was a lost memory, something that could only be sensed at the edge of his memory.  

Max stood in a garden.  It was lush, full of vegetation, trees covered in good fruit and the wild life seemed to offer no threat here.  He was alone here but it was at least peaceful.  The sunshine was warm and the air calm.  

And yet he felt wrong. He felt as if he ought to be fighting a war somewhere, struggling against an enemy.  This just felt completely out of place to him.  Something about the fruit from the trees seemed to decrease his memory after each meal.  

Max's training had prepared him for most situations but this was different. And yet, he couldn't remember his training. Why would he have been trained? For what purpose.

It was a little confusing in this garden.  He felt in two minds.  Was he the gardener or was he a soldier fighting a war?  

There was a woman here as well. He didn't know her name but he caught glimpses of her from time to time moving about the garden.  They had not talked yet. They did not share the same language.  Max was curious where she came from but without the ability to communicate with her it was going to be hard. She was a little hard to catch at times as well.  She seemed to almost fade in and out of the garden's environment - drifting in and out at unusual times. This was certainly not a garden like what he remembered? Or was it?

Max wondered how he got here, there was no sign of technology, no ships, no buildings - just a garden. And where did he sleep? All he knew was that he was, it appeared, in a permanent state of early morning being.  It was as if the day was permanently hovering around mid morning.  

Just as he was becoming lost in thought the woman appeared again.  Both of them were in basic civilian clothing.  It looked like she had gathered the courage to approach Max.  Something was in her hand.  Max invited her towards himself.  The woman held out her hand and in it was a rose.  

Max felt confused, he knew it was a rose yet there were no rose bushes anywhere to be found.  He reached out and accepted the rose from her hands.  Immediately she darted back off deep into the garden.  Max felt even more confused.  He looked at the rose.  It was red. It had a nice fragrance.  There was a drop of blood issuing from his thumb where he had pricked his finger on one of the thorns.  

Something was amiss here, and Max could not place it yet.