by CS Patra
"I'm beginning to think that my brother might have also been part of this Perfect Human project. It would explain why he was so perfect." Ash murmured. "I guess my parents wanted two perfect kids. I don't know how I slipped through the cracks."
The doorbell rang right then and Pam got up. "It must be one of the others. Excuse me."
She answered it and was surprised to see Rusty standing there. "Rusty! What's going on? Today's not your day to take the kids."
"I know, but I have to see you." Rusty said. "This is really important. I know you are busy, but this involves our kids."
"Why? What's going to happen to our kids?" Pam closed the door behind her.
"Now this could be prank, but I just wanted to confirm with you." Rusty handed her a note. "This was found on my car earlier. I don't know if they meant it for me or what. It just scares me."
Pam looked down at the note. "For the sake of your family, keep your nose out of things you don't understand."
"Does that make sense to you?"
Pam kept reading the note again and again. "I don't know."
"Where are the kids right now?"
"They're getting for dinner. Kids!" Pam yelled from above and expected to hear someone reply. Usually one of them would run downstairs, but there was silence. "Aiden! Adriana! Dad's here!"
There was no answer from them and Pam entered the house. “Ash, have you seen my children by any chance?”
Ash looked up from his phone that he had been playing with. “No, no one’s come down here. I thought you said they were getting ready.”
“They’re supposed to be getting ready. They’re done with baths and they should have been working on their homework until I called them down.” Pam looked up the stairs. “Aiden! Adriana! I’m not playing around anymore! Come down here!”
“Mommy!” She heard Adriana call out from across the street. Both she and Aiden were across the street. Pam had no idea how they managed to get out or why, but she didn’t care.
“What are you two doing out there? Come back!” She told them.
“Hang on. Let me go get them instead.” Rusty suggested. Then he called out to his kids. “You stay right there, okay? Daddy’s coming to get you!”
He wasn’t able to move fast enough. As soon as Adriana stepped out on the street, a car came flying out of nowhere and struck her. Pam shrieked when she saw it hit her daughter and Rusty had to reel back. Aiden stepped away from the scene, unaware of how to register all of this. They were all so numb when it happened. After a second, Pam found the strength to run over to her daughter. Her heart was pounding when she saw the body hit the ground. She saw nothing else, but that and the only thing on her mind was to get her daughter to a hospital.
She didn’t want to be too late.
Chapter 21 – Ren
Ren came down to the hospital as soon as he heard what happened to Pam's daughter. He was hoping and praying that the child would be fine. He also couldn't believe that someone would be cold to run over a little girl. The last he heard, Adriana was still very much alive and they were all headed down to the hospital. Pam had texted him to let him know that they were in the emergency room where the doctors were checking up on her. As soon as he found a parking space and ran into the hospital, he saw Pam waiting outside. Pam looked like a complete mess and she was pacing around, but she seemed all right otherwise.
"Oh, Pam!" He gasped, running towards her. "How is she?"
Pam sighed. "She's going to be all right. The doctors were impressed that she didn't suffer any severe injuries."
"She didn't suffer severe injuries? You told me that she was hit by a car."
"Yeah, she was. My ex and I saw it happen. We were right there yet...Adriana is going to be fine. No major brain damage, no nothing." Pam shook her head. "You know, I can't explain it, but I'm glad she's still alive. I don't know what I'd do with myself if she had died."
"I'm glad she's okay too." Ren murmured, sitting down next to her. "Have you been able to see her?"
"I just came out to take a break. Her father's with her right now. She hasn't woken up yet, but the doctors are positive about her progress. They want to keep her for a few days to see how she does. If things keep going in the right direction, she'll be out by a week."
Ren leaned back in his seat and thought about what happened. "Have the other shown up?"
"Yeah, they're all walking around because it's a very restless night. Ash found out that his brother didn't die in an accident, but he committed suicide. He's also pretty convinced that his brother was also part of Project 99."
Ren frowned. "You know, we are in the hospital. Have you ever had a procedure done here?"
Pam thought about it for a second. "I gave birth to my daughter in here. What are you trying to suggest?"
"This might be a good time to see our records." Ren said. "I got a lot of my procedures done here too. They have to have something on file about us. I bet we may even figure out who created us."
Pam looked around as nurses and hospital staff walked around. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this idea, Ren. You're asking me to break into a hospital's personal files."
"You want to know what all this is about too, don't you?"
"Yeah, I want to know more than anything. Still, what if we get caught?"
"Honestly, getting caught is the thing that I'm least worried about." Ren got up. "I'm going to do a little snooping around. Do you want to come with me? Just let your ex know that you're going for a walk and you'll be back."
Pam was still a little apprehensive, but she nodded. "Let me just tell Rusty that I'll be gone for a few minutes. We aren't going to snoop around for very long though. If someone comes, I'm leaving. You got that?"
"Yes, yes." Ren nodded. "Come on. Let's find out some information."
The two of them started walking down the halls and tried to find a room where they could get their information. Ren had a good idea where they could find his files. The problem was trying to get behind someone's desk long enough to be at their computer. He tried to think of a way to distract them.
"Come on, Pam. Help me out here." He suggested. "How can I get those people away from that desk long enough to check my files?"
"Don't look at me. I never did anything like this before in my life."
Just then, another nurse came over and said something to the rest of the group. Within seconds, they left their stations. Pam was in awe of this. "Okay, I don't think that's allowed."
"Well, no one can say no to free donuts." Ash said, showing up from behind. "Hi, guys. I couldn't help, but overhear your plan."
"The hell did you come from?" Ren asked.
"Hello, I came with Pam. I was in her house when the whole thing happened." He explained. "I've been actually trying to come up with a way to get into the hospital system myself. Things are here are under tight surveillance, but", he smirked, "there's always a way to get around them. Besides, no one out there can resist free food. It doesn't matter what you do. Even if you risk your job, you would make your way to get free stuff." He made his way to the computer. "Now why are we wasting time? These people will realize they have to go back to work soon."
"All right, my little genius. Work your magic." Ren rubbed his hands. "Can you do a favor and look up Brenda Abernathy? Either that or Pamela Turner."
"It might also be under Pamela Rochford." Pam added. "I wasn't divorced at the time I gave birth."
Ash played around with the computer for a little bit and finally came across patient files. "Wow, that was easy and quick. It almost seems a little too easy."
"Like what? You think someone is on to us?" Ren asked.
"It's entirely possible so I'm going to make this quick." Ash scanned through the As and found a few people with Ren's last name. "Okay, I see three B Abernathy's here. One of them has got to be you."
"Let's take a look at each one then. Do we have time?" Pam asked.
"I don't know. I'm also going to
do a quick search on Project 99 if I can." Ash said, looking as the browser was searching. "Why the hell are these computers so slow? It's taking forever to open something!"
In the meantime, Ren began opening the drawers to see if there was anything in them. It seemed like a hopeless cause. There was everything, but what he really needed in those drawers. "Well, no one really keeps files here. I need a file cabinet."
"Not really. I finally opened up one B Abernathy folder." Ash said, pulling it up. "I don't know if it's yours or not."
Ren looked at the file, but couldn't tell if it was his. "What did this person come in for?"
"It doesn't really say. Let me check out another B Abernathy." He plucked out another folder. “Yeah, there’s not much in this either. I think this B Abernathy is currently a patient right now. I doubt it would be you.”
Pam was keeping guard around them and could hear voices. "I think we need to wrap this up. They're coming back."
"Yeah, I don't think we have to time to look at all the B Abernathy people." Ren said. "Did you find anything on Project 99?"
"One article that I'm printing out right now." Ash said, looking down at the printer. A page came out and he shut everything down. "All right, let's go. Act like you did nothing wrong here."
They moved away from the desk just as the nurses and staff was returning. It seemed like they were very happy about what happened. Pam smiled as they walked by, acting like she knew nothing. Once they were out of sight, she turned to the other two. "Do you think they suspect anything?"
"I doubt it." Ash said. "No one can suspect anything when there are free donuts around."
Ren smirked at that. "I want to know how you pulled that off."
"I'm rich. There's a donut place nearby. People love free donuts and will drop everything for them. It doesn’t matter what job they do. I know how people work. Do the math."
"So what now?" Pam asked. "I've got to go and check on my child. When do we meet up again?"
"When will you be free? Tomorrow night?"
"I've got a place we can borrow for tomorrow night." Ren suggested. "I'll make dinner. If there's anything in particular you want, let me know. Now I can see what you printed out?"
Ash handed the paper over to him. "I don't know if it will be much help, but it might explain who our creator was."
Ren began to read a part of the article out loud. “Dr. Chang was the head of the project until his death and then Dr. Grant Kweller took over. Since then, he has been the head of Project 99 ever since and has delivered several babies over the last thirty years. Many credit him for picking up where Chang left off and making miracles come true.”
“So do you think he’s our creator?” Pam asked.
“He probably created some of us. Not all of us.” Ash corrected. “He’s still alive from what I can see. I don’t know if he’s in the area, but I bet he’s done a lot of stuff.”
“What if he doesn’t live here anymore?” Ren asked. “It’s entirely possible that he might have moved to a different state. Maybe he has retired.”
“Well, if he’s retired, we might be able to find out where he lives. We should be able to know where he worked before.” Pam said. “I think we need to pay the doctor a little visit, don’t you? Let’s see what he has to say.”
“Let’s look up his information.” Ash added. “If we’re lucky, he might still be close enough for us to visit. I want some answers and I need them. I need to know what my brother found out and why he killed himself. It might be the same reason all those other people killed themselves too.”
They all came to a silent agreement at that. It was high time to meet the man that had made them. It was time for him to come forward and give them everything they wanted to know.
Chapter 22 – Jackie
The next morning, Jackie went with Pam to visit Adriana in the hospital. The little girl had finally woken up and was glad to see her family was there. Her father had come earlier and had received the news that she was going to be all right. No one could understand what had happened or how Adriana had survived this. The main thing was that she was still alive.
“It really is a miracle.” Jackie murmured. “I would never have been able to handle that situation.”
"I don't know what I would do without any of you." Pam told them. "I'm convinced of everything now. I know someone is watching me. Someone is sending a message and I have to be careful from now on."
"That's the worst kind of message to send." Jackie said. "How did she survive without breaking any bones or getting any severe head injury?"
"I don't know. I guess it was a miracle."
Jackie didn't want to say anything to shake Pam's faith, but she had feelings something else was at hand. "They are biologically your children, right?"
Pam nodded. "Yeah, that's right. I gave birth to them. Why?"
"I was just thinking about Project 99 and how we're all connected. It's entirely possible that your daughter and son also have the same genes that you have. Maybe we're connected to them as well. They might be perfect humans too. The difference is that they were born like people, not like us. They weren't created."
"So you think that my genes are what saved her?"
"I wouldn't be surprised." Jackie murmured. “We have to keep an eye on the kids though. Who knows what these people might want with them?”
They talked for a few more minutes, but Jackie couldn’t recall that they talked about. She excused herself after a few seconds to take her medication, promising Pam to meet up with her and the others later. They needed to have another meeting and this was now going to be held at Jackie’s place. She actually had the day off and was relieved for that. The cold was starting to die down though it was still lingering. She took Miguel’s advice at long last and decided that she needed some rest. It helped out a lot as she got some sleep.
They were all sitting in her house now and she had given them all some snacks and drinks. Pam promised Adriana that she would be back in an hour to see her in the hospital. Rusty would be there right now and he would call in case something went wrong. So far, her progress was going well and doctors were sure she would be home before the weekend.
"I'm relieved." Pam sat back in her chair and drank her coffee. "I've had trouble sleeping last night. Everyone assured me that she would be fine. Still, there's always that nagging feeling that something could go wrong. I'm worried that whoever did this could come after her."
"I don't think they'd do that." Nikhil said. "If they wanted to hurt her, they could find her and do that. This is just them sending a message. They won't do anything else if we don't do anything else."
"Well, there's no way we can stay in the back anymore. They made themselves clear that they aren't screwing around." Ren said. "We have to send them a message back that we're not afraid of them. Whatever they throw at us, we can throw right back at them. We just have to be prepared."
“In the meantime, let’s just be careful that Pam’s daughter is okay.” Doug said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it sooner. The family came over and I was out of town all day. I finally made it to the hospital only to be kicked because it was after hours.”
“It’s okay, Doug. It’s been rough, but I think I’ll be okay. If my daughter continues to do well, I might even go back to class tomorrow. I let my professors know ahead of time that I wouldn’t be able to make it. They all understood and were willing to extend any deadlines I had.”
“That was terrifying." Misty said. "I'm glad your daughter is all right."
"So am I." Pam said. "It's hard leaving her behind, but I need to know who did this. I want to get back them too."
"Whoa, hold on!" Ren held up his hands. "Let's not jump on the getting revenge train right now. I want to know who did this too, but what if they are dangerous? What if you do run into them? What are you going to do?"
"Ren's got a point." Crystal said. "None of us are fighters. None of us really know who we ar
e up against. We have to take things slow and we have to be stealthy. They know that we know. They are aware of us. We have to stay one step ahead of them.
"Were you able to figure out who the people that killed themselves were?" Ash asked.
"No." She shuddered. "I still have nightmares about that moment. All of this is connected and somehow it's connected to us. I haven't been able to bring this up with my family yet. I have no idea how to. What do I even say? Do I ask them if I'm a lab rat or do I straight out accuse them?"
"Let's not accuse anyone of anything right now." Nikhil suggested. "I want us to have proof because they can lie to us. They can tell us that we're crazy."
"I have no doubt in my mind that someone was sending a message to us." Ren said. "They just wanted us to know that they could hurt anyone at any time."
