by CS Patra
"I'm more curious as to how she survived." Doug said. "A car hitting a young child at that impact should have caused some major injuries."
Pam shook her head. "I don't know how she survived, but I'm glad she did. We've got to be really careful from now on though. This was just a taste of what they can and will do." She sat down. "Adriana didn't want me to go, but I told her that I had to go to class. I don't want her to know everything about this. I promised I'd see her in the morning. Her father is with her now. As for my son, he's with my sister. I think they'll both be okay tonight."
"You broke in the hospital's system?" Nikhil asked.
"It's not very hard to do." Ash shrugged. "You'll be amazed how easily you can pull someone away from their work. I wasn't able to find anyone's file, but I did find this. I think it might give us some clues on where to start looking."
"Still, I can't believe you were able to pull that off. That must be one really terrible hospital. You’re not supposed to leave your post like that."
"It better not be." Pam cut in. "My daughter is being treated there right now."
"I'm guessing half of us were created by Dr. Chang and the other half were created by Dr. Kweller." Jackie said. "If Dr. Kweller picked this project up thirty years ago, I bet I was created by Dr. Chang. He wouldn't be able to recognize me."
"I wouldn't be too comfortable if I were you." Ash said. "He could have gotten the notes from the previous doctor. He might be able to know who you are."
"All the same, I think one of us should talk to him." Jackie murmured. "I've been feeling ill and I need to see a doctor. Who better than one of the men that created us?"
"What if he doesn't want to treat you?" Misty asked.
"It's worth a shot, isn't it? At the very least, I might get some answers." She decided. "I'm going to see if can make an appointment for today. I just want a quick checkup for a cough. Let's see how he handles things." She took out her phone. "Does anyone have the number to his office?"
"Yeah, I pulled it up last night." Ren handed it to her. "It turns out that he still practices medicine. He’s with the Clearwater Medical Group and their office is not too far from here. You just probably need to bring your insurance and see if it covers the costs. Find out what you can about him."
"That's great! He still practices!" Crystal exclaimed. "Do you think you can handle this alone, Jackie?"
"I'm sure I can. I do need to see someone." She coughed. "I have to eat light foods and even still I can't hold them down." She dialed the number and waited for someone to pick up. “It’s ringing right now.”
A woman answered on the other end. "Good morning, Clearwater Medical Group speaking."
"Hi, I would like to schedule an appointment with Dr. Kweller today if possible." Jackie began. "I have to see him for a cough that I'm having."
"Okay, are you a new patient?"
"Yes, ma'am. If he can see me this afternoon, that would be great."
There was a bit of a pause. "He does have a space available at three today. Will that work?"
"That works perfectly! I will definitely be able to come in at three."
"Perfect. May I have a name?"
"Um...Jacqueline Vargas."
“All right, Ms. Vargas. You might be asked to fill out some paperwork so if you could come at least fifteen minutes early, that would be great. Please make sure you bring your insurance card with you as well.”
“I will be sure to do that.” Jackie promised. “Thank you for squeezing me in.”
She hung up at that moment. “Success! I have managed to get an appointment today. It will give me a chance to snoop around and ask some questions.”
“All right!” Doug clapped his hands. “Do you need one of us to come with you?”
“No. I think I handle this mission alone. I’m going to see the doctor after all. How bad could it be?”
They agreed that this was going to be something easy that she could handle. Three o’clock rolled around and she was ready to get some answers. Jackie wasn't too creeped out by the doctor's office. It was a typical office and they made her fill out the paperwork that was necessary. Her insurance did indeed cover the majority of the cost so she would have to pay little out of pocket. She filled everything out, handed it back to the receptionist, and waited to be called. She felt comfortable here and hoped that everything would be okay.
Once she was called, they took all her vitals and asked her why she was around.
"I, um...I have a cough." She began, coughing a little. "It's been going on for a while and sometimes it makes me vomit. I have trouble keeping my food down as a result."
"Hmm, okay." The nurse said, taking her pulse. "Your pulse is racing, but you seem healthy otherwise. Your blood pressure is also normal. In fact, it's better than normal. Dr. Kweller will be in to see in a few minutes. You can just sit here and he'll be with you shortly."
"Thanks." Jackie said. "Is this where he normally sees patients?"
"This is one of the rooms he uses, yes."
"Ah, okay. I was just curious." Jackie smiled as the nurse left her alone. Knowing doctors, they would take their sweet time to come see their patients. It was time for her to do a little snooping around as well. She opened some of the cabinets and drawers, but didn't find anything outside of the standard medical items in them. There were latex gloves, cotton balls, bandages, and Q-tips but nothing to help her out.
"Shit." She whispered, plopping herself back on the bed. "This is hopeless."
The doctor came in at that moment. He was a redheaded man who looked to be in his forties. He was holding her vital records as he entered. "Hi, Jacqueline. How are you?"
"Not so great, I'm afraid." Jackie coughed. "This cold is not going away."
"Yeah, I heard about that. You seem to be in good shape otherwise." The doctor sat down and looked at his tablet. "Blood pressure is normal and your weight is just where it needs to be. Your temperature is normal as well. From what it sounds like, you might have a virus. You could have probably contracted that from anyone. Do you work with people on a regular basis?"
"I'm a pharmacist so yes. I run into all kinds of people."
"I wouldn't be surprised if one of them passed this down to you." He took a look inside of her throat. "Oh, it's very red. I can prescribe you some antibiotics to help you with that. It might also help you keep your food down. I heard you've been vomiting a lot as well."
"I'm more annoyed about the vomiting than I am about the cough." Jackie admitted. "I've tried over the counter medicines, but none of them seem to work for long. I was hoping that a prescription might help me out. Of course, I have to see a doctor for that."
"That's right." He checked her eyes and ears. "Well, the rest of you is fine. You are very healthy. I bet if you take this medication for a few days, you will be feeling much better. Do you have a pharmacy that you prefer?"
Jackie kept talking to him, but she wasn't pulling anything out from him. There was nothing in his office and she didn't want to make him suspicious. If he recognized her, he certainly didn't say anything about it. She was a little uncomfortable as she sat in the cold room.
"Well, I think that takes care of everything. Do you have any questions for me?" He asked.
"Just one." She began. "How long have you been working here? I never know of a medical office in this area."
"This building is new, but I've been practicing medicine for a long time. I worked with a lot of different doctors over different things. We've been working hard to find a cure for some of these diseases out there like juvenile diabetes, leukemia, and so forth. I left after a while because I wanted a smaller space."
“It sounds exciting.”
“It was exciting. Science has come a long way.” He admitted. “Maybe within the next year or so, we could have a cure to cancer. Wouldn’t that be incredible?”
“That would be amazing.” Jackie said. “I know a lot of people who would love for thei
r cancer to go away forever. The idea that we can get rid of it is marvelous. Anyway, thank you for looking over me. I’m glad you were available.”
“I’m glad that you gave us a chance. If your symptoms worsen or the medicine doesn’t work, please let me know.” He shook her hand. “I’ll lead you back to the lobby. The receptionist will tell you how much everything is for today.”
“Thanks.”
Jackie checked out at the front desk, but thought about Dr. Kweller as she was leaving. There was nothing about him that seemed shady. He checked her out like a doctor should do. He didn’t do anything that was against protocol. He was a nice doctor and he had no trouble with seeing her at such short notice.
So why am I still afraid? She asked herself.
Dr. Kweller did all the right things and he creeped her out anyway.
Chapter 23 – Nikhil
Nikhil wasn't doing so well after all the initial meetings. While the others were slowly starting to come around to what their parents had done, he was struggling. He had only spoken to his parents between these two weeks and they were still asking him the same questions. They wanted to know why he was prolonging this marriage so much. They were sure they had found a perfect match and Nikhil did meet her a few times. He even spent a whole weekend with her to see if she was the one. He was willing to make it work if only to keep his family satisfied.
It didn't turn out to be a good idea in the end. The girl that they had paired him with was far too extravagant and high maintenance. She always wanted to eat and go to places that cost him nearly an arm and leg to enter. He would end up spending over $200 just for food and drinks with her. She was never satisfied with anything he did. She wanted him to change everything and that was something he couldn't do. Ultimately, he had to cut this off. It hurt his parents, but it was for the best.
"She is bleeding me out dry." He told them. "I cannot afford to keep going to fancy restaurants and eating things like caviar and champagne just to keep her happy. I can't move out of the place I'm in. I can't afford it right now."
They understood what he meant, but that didn't mean they cared. In their eyes, he had blown his chances. He was never getting married and they were doomed forever. Nikhil was all right with never getting married. He would have freedom and desire to do whatever he wanted. If he ever found the perfect girl, he would know that she was the one. He didn't want to be in an arranged marriage, no matter how well they worked for some people. He wanted to be with someone that he picked and loved. If it was all up to him, he would be with Victor right now.
There was another meeting at his place with everyone. He tried to stay focused, but his mind was on everything else. He leaned back in his chair as they all gathered around and waited to hear what Jackie had to say about her visit.
“Dr. Kweller didn’t really have any evidence that suggested he was shady.” Jackie said. “He looked at me and said that I probably had a virus. I must have caught from a customer or something. Then he prescribed me some medicine that he said would work.”
“Sounds like a typical doctor to me.” Crystal said. “Did you find anything in the area?”
“No. I just saw all the usual stuff.” Jackie sighed. “I can’t believe that he didn’t recognize me. I thought he might have been following us or something.”
“I don’t think he has the time to do that.” Pam said. “Now that we know nothing is at the Clearwater Medical Center, we need to go back to the Bradley Institute. The strange stuff seems to be over here.”
“How are we going to do that?” Ren asked. “Crystal and I can’t keep going back there without appointments. People are going to get suspicious of us.”
The doorbell rang at that moment and Nikhil went to get it. He peered through the peephole and saw that Marie was standing there. “Holy crap, I can’t believe she found us. I didn’t even give her my address! How did she know?”
Without waiting for an answer, he unlocked the door and let Marie in. “How did you find us?”
"It doesn’t matter. I'm so glad I found you all in one place." Marie said. "I went looking in all your houses for you. Some of your families said you had gone out. I figured you'd have a meeting with each other."
"Do you follow us everywhere we go?" Crystal asked.
"I assure you that I'm not doing this to scare you. I want to help you." She went on. "This is a lot of information to take in. You don't want your perfect lives to be rattled. However, it's high time you knew what the truth was. I wanted to get you all together so you can see the world for what it is. Your creators are afraid of you. Being perfect humans means that you aren't just human. You have abilities that most people don't have. If you could, you would be able to destroy the world."
"How?" Ren asked.
"I don't know that part. I just know that Project 99 is a strong group of perfect humans. What you do with your power is up to you. However, your creators are worried that more people are going towards the wrong side. Some have done that so they are trying to control the situation the best way that they can."
"What do you mean by controlling the situation?" Ash asked. "Are they...killing us off?"
"In a way, they are." Marie nodded. "Yes, the majority of the deaths were suicide. They were convinced to commit suicide. I don't know how, but that's what happened."
"I guess that's their way of keeping their hands clean." Ash balled up his fists as he thought about his brother. "You know what? I'm ready to do whatever it takes to bring them down. Just tell me everything you know about them."
"Slow down a minute." Doug held up his hands. "I want to find out answers too, but we can't rush into anything."
"They killed my brother!" Ash snapped. "I don't know what they told him or what they did to him, but they're the reason he died! Why wouldn't I want them to suffer?"
"No, Doug is right." Marie said. "It sounds like it'll be easy to take down, but it won't be. You cannot do it alone. This is something that has to be done bit by bit. You knock out the pieces and you can make it topple over. That's why I don't want you to run into the building with guns blazing. I want you to work together and take them out. That is why I brought you together. I wanted you to know each other and learn where you came from."
"It was you all along then." Misty realized. “It has to be.”
“I didn’t send you the invitations. I wanted to, but I didn’t do it.”
"Okay, maybe you didn’t send the invitations, but you know stuff. You are the one that's doing all this. You clearly know more than the rest of us do." Pam said. "You have got to help us right now. You have got to give us more than we know."
"I'm afraid of doing that." Marie said. "You saw what happened to your daughter. That was the least that they can do. Next time, you may not be as lucky."
"Do you know who did it?"
"I don't know who was driving the car, but I definitely know that Genexis and the Bradley Institute were behind it."
"I knew it." Ash muttered. "I knew they were the ones behind all this. We have to take them down right now."
“Yes, you must take them down.” Marie started to head out the door, but Misty got up and stopped her from leaving.
"You can't keep running from us." Misty said. "We deserve some answers. How do you know that we were created in test tubes? How do you know all of this?"
Marie turned around. "I know because I was created the same way. Everyone in Project 99 was created like that. It was a project that started almost sixty years ago. As the years went on, they tried to perfect it. What they wanted was a human that was literally perfect in every aspect. So they kept experimenting and working on their project. Things were fine at first, but everyone wanted to take things a step further."
"So that's where all that merging stuff came in." Ren realized.
"Yes, they thought they could continue to perfect their formula. What if a person had the ability to merge with another person? They could be perfect. They could be twice
as powerful. However, those experiments didn't go quite the way that anyone planned." She handed them some pictures. "These are of recent fusions. As you can see, they look like anything, but human."
Nikhil winced as he flipped through the photos. "What happened to them? Were they able to pull them apart?"
"I'm afraid not. That's why I don't want any of you to try fusing with each other. You will never be the same again. Do not attempt it until we know that we can split up." Marie said. "I'm the one who brought you together. I did it because we were all made in the same lab. It doesn't matter when it happened. What matters is that we are a part of Project 99. In a way, we are siblings. We are family."
