Stranger Things

by Gwenda Bond

  “Smile,” she said.

  Terry didn’t. She suspected no one else did either. The shutter clicked more times than seemed strictly necessary.

  “So, what can you tell us about your work here?” the reporter asked.

  “Not much, as I’ve said,” Dr. Brenner said. “We wouldn’t want to compromise our findings at this stage. But it is vital security work. I’m afraid I’m needed for important meetings for the rest of the day.”

  Oh really.

  “How did you get interested in this field?”

  Brenner shrugged.

  “Okay,” the reporter said. “Tell me about your childhood.”

  Dr. Brenner volleyed it back with false good humor. “I’m afraid my childhood was dull by any news standards.”

  Some of the edge came off Terry’s satisfaction at how quickly Brenner had adjusted to the situation. Inside he must be scrambling. Right? He probably suspected someone on his staff had set this up. Maybe he’d even experience some paranoia. All deserved.

  But the whole point had been for someone to ask questions he’d have to answer. He wasn’t.

  “Terry, please come with me. I’m leaving you in Dr. Parks’ capable hands,” he said smoothly, to the reporters. “You can always come back again with more notice.”

  “You had three weeks,” the reporter said.

  Dr. Brenner frowned, then waved for Terry to follow him. He led her into her room. “Did you do that?” he asked.

  She shrugged, pretending to be unconcerned. “How would I have?”

  “You could have jeopardized everything.” Dr. Brenner was still. “You better do everything exactly as I request. You won’t like the results if you don’t. I’ll be sending someone for you in a bit. There are some visitors here to meet you and Kali. Be on your best behavior.”

  Before she could question it, he left the room. She tried the door and found it locked.

  People here to meet her and Kali. Surprises were taking place in tandem, apparently. This could work. If she could take Kali to the reporter, the right questions would be asked…

  She rummaged in her bag for the paperback of The Return of the King, with its generously creased spine. Andrew’s copy. He liked to fold his books open. She was getting closer to the end—maybe she’d find out what exactly he’d meant in his note. She took out the postcard to use as a bookmark, rereading his message before she opened the book.

  Please let him travel safely and be okay. Let him be surrounded by good people who watch out for each other. Let him come back to me.

  She was deep into a chapter where Sam and Frodo had been captured by orcs after arriving in Mordor, when the door swung open. The usual orderly entered.

  He’d nicked a spot above his beard with his razor that morning, the line an angry red that reminded her he was human. “Come with me.”

  “A ‘please’ would be nice.”

  “No time for that. Dr. Brenner said to warn you again to be on your best behavior with the visitors,” he said, too smug about it.

  Visitors. What visitors could be here in this place? She knew he didn’t mean the reporters.

  Brenner’s words last month about Kali “performing” came back.

  Was there any remote possibility these visitors wouldn’t approve of what Brenner was doing here? He wouldn’t introduce you if there was.

  But who knew? She sat and tried to hold on to the calm center inside herself.

  The orderly returned alone. “Come with me,” he said.

  Spots swam across her vision when she stood.

  “You should be careful about getting up so fast.” He took her arm.

  Since he’d never shown concern for her before, she chalked it up to the mysterious visitors.

  The orderly guided her through the halls, past rooms where she glimpsed her friends inside. Apparently they weren’t to perform like she was…or maybe they already had?

  Dr. Brenner stood at the end of the hallway, next to a room she recognized as holding the sensory deprivation tank. He met them impatiently. “Miss Ives,” he said, “you do remember that your cooperation is essential to keeping subject Eight safe, correct?”

  Subject Eight. She recalled the numbers on the folders. He couldn’t mean…“You call her that? Not her name?”

  “Never mind that. Do you understand?”

  Terry crossed her arms. “Why not just call us all by numbers then?”

  “Adults are more difficult than children. Now, do you understand?”

  “Oh, I do.” That you’re the most monstrous man in creation. “Who are these visitors?”

  “Important people. Don’t cause any disruptions or there will be plenty for both of us to regret.”

  Sorry, Doc, regrets are for people with souls. You don’t get any. “I would never put Kali or any child in harm’s way.”

  He sniffed and amusement crossed his face. “Of course. Shall we?”

  Terry would wait for the right moment to grab the girl and make a run for it. The reporters must still be here.

  Brenner opened the door and let her and the orderly precede him. Kali stood in front of a half circle of chairs that had been arranged as a sort of viewing gallery around the tank and a clear area beside it. A group of men she’d never seen before were to be the audience. When Kali spotted Terry, she beamed with a smile that showed all her tiny teeth, and waved.

  “Stay here,” Dr. Brenner said softly. Then, to the assembled crowd of pale men in dark suits, he said, “And here is another promising subject to observe test subject eight with you.”

  Kali smiled with clear delight at the attention.

  One of the men raised his hand and gestured in Kali’s direction. “Is this just going to be some kind of parlor trick?”

  “What’s a parlor trick?” Kali interrupted.

  The man had the chagrin to study the floor.

  “Something they can’t do,” Terry said, raising her voice.

  “Oh.” Kali nodded sagely.

  Dr. Brenner gave Terry a look that was all about being seen and not heard, as if she were a child herself.

  “How’s this demonstration to proceed then?” the man asked. He had too much wax in his hair. The overhead lights made it gleam.

  “Get the lights,” Dr. Brenner said to the orderly.

  He walked to the wall and flicked a switch. The room around them went dark as a theater before curtain, dark as the void.

  “Kali,” Dr. Brenner said, clearly giving her a cue.

  “What is this?” A man groused in the darkness.

  And then another. “I can’t see a damn thing. Turn the lights back on.”

  “This is an utter farce. We’ve seen enough.”

  “Kali,” Dr. Brenner’s voice commanded her.

  Flames burst into existence. One moment the room was black as a pit, the next it was ablaze. The phantom fire raced across the room from Kali toward them all. The men screamed, not in pain but in shock.

  The wall of fire crackled and licked the air.

  Terry wanted to run.

  But she could hear Kali’s sobs and so she walked through the flame to the girl. She told herself, It’s not real. Hard as that was to believe as she navigated slowly through it. Every part of her brain believed it was and kept telling her, Get out of here. Save yourself.

  She focused on Kali. When she reached her, she put her hand gently on the child’s shoulder and pulled her close. The fake flames grew and grew.

  “Kali, you can stop this. You don’t have to do this. I’ve got you.”

  The inferno seemed like it would never stop.

  The girl shook and sobbed. “I can’t…”

  “You can,” Terry whispered.

  The flam
es died as suddenly as they’d started. Terry felt Kali go limp against her in the darkness.

  The lights came back on.

  Two of the men in suits had pulled firearms and pointed the handguns toward her and Kali. Terry moved her body to shield the still-crying girl.

  “Stop,” Terry said. “Don’t shoot.”

  Now was the time to run and find the reporters—but there was no way to do it.

  Kali was at their mercy here. So was she. There were no options.

  Brenner had established the rules and, for today, she had no choice but to follow them. These men had seen what Kali was capable of.

  The moment of silence stretched.

  Dr. Brenner broke it, giving that charming smile of his to the man between the two with guns. “Impressive, yes, Director? I’d say miraculous, if I believed in miracles instead of science.”

  “Yes, very impressive,” the director said. “I’m sorry I used the word farce.” He looked over at the man with too-shiny hair, who holstered his gun. The other armed man did likewise. The director got to his feet and stared with awe at Kali. Then at Terry.

  “Imagine…” He advanced toward Brenner.

  “Imagine if we had more of them, and more powerful.” Dr. Brenner walked closer and put a hand around Terry’s shoulder. “And we will.”

  “You’re sure?” the director asked.

  “We’re nurturing the next generation of wonders and miracles, as I’ve told you.”

  “I’m glad you summoned us here—we might have made a huge mistake,” the man with the shiny hair said, joining them and gawking at Terry head-to-toe, like she was a prized mare. “Tell us about the rest of your subjects her age. Any potential there?”

  “A great deal,” Brenner answered. “One is very receptive to electroshock…”

  There was something about the way all these strange men were studying Terry that made her stomach flutter in panic. She thought of Brenner’s words about having more like her, about the next generation…And then…

  Of how tired she’d been. How hungry. How prone to tears.

  The ways her body had changed.

  The symptoms he’d warned her about.

  Why wouldn’t he tell her? Why would he continue this if he knew? What possible purpose could it have?

  I could be wrong. I could be jumping to conclusions.

  But…there was no doubt he was capable of experimenting on children.

  She started toward the door, nearly staggering. “I need to lay down, please,” she said, and she put her hand on her belly once she’d turned where he couldn’t see. She felt as if her heartbeat was there. The room swam.

  “That’s fine,” Dr. Brenner said behind her. “Well done, Miss Ives.”

  She hadn’t done anything except be there for Kali. Something he hadn’t done.

  The orderly took her arm again, and she shook him off so she could keep her hand at her belly. Her heart beating, beating, as she panicked and wondered if there was another heartbeat like it inside her.

  4.

  Alice wasn’t sure if it was the acid or the electricity or a strange fancy she’d developed, but the energy at the lab felt different today. Like the entire place vibrated on some other frequency than it usually did. Dr. Parks hadn’t come in until late, busy dealing with the reporters. That hadn’t exactly worked out as Terry had hoped, but maybe it would make Brenner worry.

  Maybe.

  Anyway, Dr. Parks had administered only one strong electroshock pulse and then said for Alice to “take it easy” this week.

  People had been bustling around the hallways, and she’d seen Terry being escorted past.

  She’d also caught a glimpse of a nightmare on a different scale. A monstrous vortex of fire and energy and darkness, tentacles reaching and growing. Growing so big they could eat the sky. Its mouth had a glowing fire of destruction inside it…

  How could anyone fight such a thing?

  The door opened and Alice was only a little surprised to see Kali skip through it.

  “Alice!” She ran over and threw her arms around her. “Today has been so much fun!”

  “Why’s that?” Alice looked past her, but no one seemed to be following the girl.

  “The men are here and so I get to do things. Terry saw.”

  Alice’s eyebrows shot up. She had so many questions. But…“How are you out here right now?”

  “Papa’s busy! I asked him if I could go visit my friend and he said yes.” Kali gave a sheepish smile. “He thought I meant Terry. But I already saw her today. So I came to see you.”

  Something had been bothering Alice. She knew her visions weren’t of now, they were still to come, but…this little girl lived here.

  “Kali, have you ever seen a monster in the lab?”

  Kali frowned in concentration. “I don’t think so. What kind?”

  Alice lifted her arms and waved them around like tentacles. “Big with weird arms and a mouth that opens out of its head.”

  Kali shook her head, her eyes big. “Does that live here?”

  Her sudden fear was plain.

  Good job, Alice.

  Alice who’d watched one scary movie at age eight and then not slept with the light off for months afterward. Her mom had forbidden her from ever watching another one. She still occasionally checked under her bed before going to sleep. And she never, ever let her foot dangle off the side. She’d asked for a ghost story from Ken that night in the woods because part of her enjoyed being scared. But when she was a kid, that part had done the opposite of enjoy it.

  “Don’t worry, tiger,” Alice said.

  But Kali still frowned, her small forehead pinched. “You saw the monster, didn’t you?”

  Alice nodded. “But not now. It’s not here now. It’s in the future.”

  “The future?” Kali asked.

  “It happens at some point, but probably not soon. Forget what I said.”

  “I never forget!” Kali growled like a tiger and crept around the edges of the room. “Do you want to see what I did for the men? Before me and Terry?”

  “No,” Alice said. And when Kali looked hurt, she said, “I don’t want you paying the cost.”

  Kali lifted her shoulders. “I don’t mind.”

  “That’s because you’re a good girl.”

  “Papa doesn’t think so.” Said so matter-of-factly.

  Alice struggled to respond. She needed to speak the child’s language. Finally, she managed, “Then Papa is a poopyhead.”

  Kali laughed so hard that Alice worried she might fall over. At least the girl had forgotten about her fear of monsters with hungry mouths.

  Too bad Alice couldn’t do the same.

  5.

  As soon as the van drove away, Terry turned to the others where they stood in the parking lot. She kept touching her belly. She couldn’t seem to stop. She’d gone through a million scenarios, including a bunch of extremely unpleasant ones: Becky’s furious reaction, how to tell Andrew and whether he’d freak out, probably getting kicked out of school…

  And then there was the problem of Brenner. What was she going to do? “We need to talk. I need to.”

  “Should we go to the garage?” Ken asked, frowning. “Sorry the reporter didn’t pan out. At least they’re doing a story.”

  “Who were all those guys in suits today?” Gloria asked.

  Terry moved her arms up to hug herself. “One of the reasons we need to talk.”

  “I’ll drive you.” Alice touched Terry’s arm. “Whatever it is will be okay.”

  “I don’t think so.” Terry shook her head. “Let’s just talk here. I need to see my roommate after.”

  “Okay,” Gloria said and gave the parking lot an intense scrutiny. “
The driver’s gone.”

  Ken nodded toward the nearest building. “There’s a bench over there where we can sit. As long as we don’t hang out too long, security shouldn’t bother with us.”

  The evening was cool and quiet, the sky hidden by low gray clouds. The campus trees had begun to sprout some early leaves, but in the dark they looked like teardrops. When they reached the outdoor seating area Ken had mentioned, he sat on the sidewalk and so did Alice. Gloria sat down on the metal bench and Terry joined her.

  “What is it?” Alice asked. “What’s wrong?”

  Terry could hardly say the words. “I think…I think I might be pregnant.”

  Much like Terry herself, no one knew how to react to the news.

  Ken snapped his fingers. “I knew I felt like I was missing something about you.”

  Terry wanted to laugh. And cry. And scream. She settled for a low accusation: “You are the worst psychic friend of all time!”

  “Harsh,” Ken said. “But not wrong, I guess.”

  Ken: so nice you could never feel good about blaming him for anything. “I’m sorry.”

  He waved it off. “It’s okay.”

  “Are you sure?” Gloria interrupted.

  “No,” Terry said. “But also yes. Almost certain.”

  Alice was staring at her, gobsmacked. “How did we not notice?”

  “She’s barely showing,” Gloria said. And quietly, “There are places you can go. No one has to know. A few girls from church have done that.”

  “It’s Andrew’s,” Terry said. “If I’m pregnant, this is mine and Andrew’s baby. I can’t give it up.”

  Alice got up and began to pace on the sidewalk. “You should call him.”

  “He’s gone. I got a postcard yesterday—he was deployed.”

  The hell of it was she could imagine Andrew’s actual reaction. He wouldn’t freak out. He’d be happy. She didn’t doubt it for a second.

  “Do you think Dr. Brenner knows?” Gloria asked. “They take our blood.”