But the Children Survived

by A. L. Jambor

  “Oh, sorry, Mom, this is Jason and Mark. I've been staying with them at the beach.” Dani raised her eyebrows at the sight of the two boys her daughter had been “staying with”. Jason walked over and put out his hand.

  “Hi. I'm Jason Rucci. And for the record, I was a purple baby.”

  “How? You’re so much older than the others.”

  “I think I was the first. No, wait. Ricky and Baby Girl were the first. I was the second.”

  Mindy ran over to the car and let the dogs out. They followed her back to her parents.

  “That's your mom's dog, Joe,” Dani said as she walked over to pet Baby Girl. “And he looks just like her.” She said pointing to Ricky.

  “Yeah, they're brother and sister.” Jason bent down and ruffled Ricky's head.

  “No way.” Joe said. “We got her in Jersey.”

  “Yeah, well my folks came here from Jersey. He was born a year before me.”

  Joe and Dani looked at the dogs. They looked like adult dogs, but not old dogs.

  “How old are you, Jason?” Dani asked.

  “I just turned eighteen.”

  “So the dogs are over eighteen years old.” Dani kept looking at the dogs. “But these can't be the same dogs. It's not possible. They look too young.”

  “I think the purple stuff may produce longevity,” Jason said. “I have a notebook my father wrote that told the whole story, about how he got the plants to make it and how to use it. He gave it to some doctor named Tomlinson, who screwed him over.”

  “That was my doctor, Michael Tomlinson.” Dani looked at all the kids milling around the buses. “He was busy, wasn't he?”

  “He gave it to over 300 women,” Jason said as he waited for their reaction.

  “300! We only found 80. Where are the other 220?”

  “There were 200 at Wilmer's.” Mark had spoken for the first time.

  “But that leaves 20 unaccounted for. Where could they be?” Joe looked at Dani.

  “That's the thing. I couldn't find a total list of names,” Jason said. “I have one with 100 names on it. Who knows where Tomlinson's records went after he died?”

  Jason saw something out of the corner of his eye that he was having trouble assimilating. He turned and saw the prettiest girl he’d ever seen. He turned back to Dani and Joe, but kept turning to see if she was real.

  “Her name is Jenny” Dani was saying. “She lost her family in Nevada. Why don't you go introduce yourself?”

  Jason smiled and turned to walk over to Jenny. When Jenny saw him, she blushed and looked in another direction. It had been so long since she had talked to a boy, and a good looking boy at that. She found herself suddenly shy. She looked down at her clothes and her hand touched her hair. She then looked up and smiled and they began to talk.

  “They'll be fine,” Dani told Joe. “They must be relieved to find somebody over 10 and under 30.”

  “Really, man, you can take the suit off.” Joe was talking to Calvin. Calvin was looking at the kids.

  “Was the old man right? Did these kids come from Atlanta?” Calvin asked. Dani and Joe nodded their heads.

  Calvin had been quiet during the little reunion the Lanes had enjoyed. The mention of purple babies had set him thinking about his children. He knew his wife had sought the help of a doctor in St. Petersburg when she had suffered two miscarriages. If it was the same guy, then there was a real possibility that his kids were alive. If they weren’t here, then they had to still be somewhere in Atlanta.

  Calvin looked at Joe and Dani. Then he put his hands to his head and pulled the zipper around his neck open. It went almost all the way around his head. He then lifted the headgear off. He unzipped the front of the suit and let it fall to the ground. He felt the hot breeze against his sweaty skin, and it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever felt.

  “Man I didn't think anything could feel so good,” he said. “I hate that damn suit.”

  Dani and Joe laughed.

  “Yeah, it really sucked.” Joe said. They all knew he wasn’t talking about the suit.

  Over the next few hours, Dani and Joe recounted the story of their trip across the country and how they kept finding children. Jason and Jenny discovered they had a lot in common, and Mindy and Mark talked to the kids about how they had survived and what they’d had to do when their parents died. When they were done, it was getting dark.

  Calvin said he wanted to head back to the biosphere to tell them it was safe to come out. He said he would be back in the morning.

  “We won't be here,” Joe told him. “We have a place we found in Largo, where we'll be spending the night. Why don't you tell us where that biosphere is and we'll meet you there.”

  Calvin thought of Gerald. He didn't know how old Gerry would take having all these strangers descend on his biosphere.

  “Ah, why don't we meet in the Big Mart parking lot in Palm Harbor? It's on 19.”

  “Sounds good. What time?” Joe had picked up a watch in Atlanta.

  “Around 10.” Calvin said and waved. He got into the Mercedes and drove away.

  Dani, Joe, and Mindy went into their house and packed up all the personal items they could fit into the car. They could always come back another day to finish packing.

  “Well kids, has everyone gone to the bathroom?” Dani asked the kids.

  They all yelled “YES” and she instructed them to get back on the bus. She turned to Mindy and asked her to join them. Mindy looked at Mark and Jason. She felt like she was doing something wrong by leaving them. She also felt a little guilty for having parents when everybody else didn't.

  “It's okay.” Mark said. “You go with them. You should.” He turned and walked back to Jason's car. Jason and Jenny were standing by Jenny's car.

  “I guess I gotta take the kid home,” he was saying to her.

  “Why don't you meet us at the Big Mart tomorrow?” Jenny's eyes looked hopeful.

  “Sure, 10, right?” She nodded her head and Jason smiled. “I'll see you then.”

  He wanted to kiss her but it might be too soon, and everybody on the bus was watching them. Instead he put his hand on her cheek and then walked back to his car. He waved at her before driving away. She sighed and got into the car. Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough for her.

  Chapter 58

  Gerald's slow descent into madness had finally manifested itself. He obsessed constantly about Martha and the fact that these children were unnatural. He stayed in his lab, writing in his notebooks, which he kept locked in his quarters. He had stopped looking for live people on the satellites. He never slept and never washed. He was beginning to look like a mad scientist.

  Gerald sat hunched over his microscope examining a slide of cells he had collected from one of the children. He had grown tired of listening to Christie's objections and had taken matters into his own hands. The night before, he had decided to collect specimens from 10 of the children while they slept.

  He sneaked into their houses after they had gone to sleep, covered their mouths with the chloroform he’d held back from the team’s abductions, and cut a section of cells from their upper left thighs. As a veterinarian, he had spayed and neutered animals frequently, so stitching the wounds afterwards was no problem. He may not have been as sanitary as he should have been, but he was in a hurry - and this was science! He did make sure the bleeding had stopped before he left them.

  Gerald had decided to take samples from the first 10 children who had been brought to the biosphere. That meant Maria Elena would be first. Since they had been placed in houses in order, it was easy to go from one to the other quickly. He was very careful to pack the slides so they would not move or break.

  He had an insulated lunch bag containing a small box with slots in it for the slides. He carried the chloroform and a rag in another bag. He put the sewing needles and sutures in another part of the lunch bag along with a scalpel.

  It was after midnight and the adults had finally gone to bed. Gerald took off his s
hoes and walked in his stocking fee to the door leading into the city. The metal floor hurt his feet so he had to move quickly.

  Gerald descended the stairs, always watching for movement and listening for the sound of voices or footsteps. When he reached the bottom step, he quickly looked to the right and left. When he was sure he was alone, he put his foot on the floor and turned towards the tiny houses.

  When he got to number 1, he listened for any noise coming from within. He turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. He looked inside and could see the sleeping form of Maria Elena on her bed. He went inside and, after glancing around the street, he closed the door.

  There was a night light burning near Maria Elena's bed. It gave off just enough light for Gerald to do what he needed to do. He took out the chloroform and put some on the rag. He walked over to her bed and stood over her. She was on her side. He would have to turn her over.

  He put his hand on her arm and rolled her over on her back. Her eyes moved as he put the rag over her face. She had been deeply asleep and barely registered what was happening. It had been easy knocking her out.

  Gerald then retrieved his lunch bag and brought it over to the bed. He rolled the covers back to expose Maria Elena's left thigh. He went into her bathroom and found a towel. He placed it under her left leg. He had forgotten to bring a bottle of alcohol, but Gerald decided he wouldn’t have the wound open very long so infection would be minimal. He really didn't care about hurting the girl; he only cared about her cells.

  Gerald cut into Maria Elena's flesh. She didn’t move. The chloroform had done its job. He quickly took a tiny portion of her flesh and placed it on the glass slide. He covered it with another glass slide and placed it in the slotted box.

  Gerald moved quickly. He didn't want a bloody mess to alert his victims as to what had happened. He was hoping the children would be so frightened by the discovery of their involuntary donations that they wouldn't want to tell anyone.

  Maria Elena's wound wasn’t too deep and as Gerald stitched it up, the blood subsided. He had to work fast. His stitches were fairly neat considering the lack of light and speed with which he worked. Since he’d also forgotten to bring bandages, he left the wound uncovered. Gerald figured the air would help it heal faster.

  When he was done, he collected his tools and left Maria Elena's little house and entered number 2. Gerald repeated the process 9 more times. He then returned to his lab to run the slides through his microscope

  Gerald was unable to discern anything unusual about the cells. He decided to run them through Wilmer's machine. He opened one of the slides to remove the tissue to prepare it to go into the machine. Since this was something new, Gerald wasn’t sure how long the machine would process the sample.

  Gerald was very tired and his patience was thin. He paced the lab floor and balled his hands into fists, hitting himself on the sides of his thighs. The faster he walked, the harder he hit himself until his legs throbbed. He forced himself to calm down by slowing his pace until he stopped and returned to his chair. He decided to inventory the items he had hidden away in his lab until the machine stopped.

  When Christie had started haranguing Gerald about testing the air quality so the kids could go outside, Gerald had moved all the environmental detectors into his lab. He had brought a locking device with him when he came into the biosphere which he’d intended to put onto a footlocker he kept in his quarters. Soon after he arrived, however, he saw that there may be a need to keep his lab secure and he didn't trust Andrew because the coding of the door locks could be overridden.

  He had installed a hook and latch on each side of the door. If he was inside and wanted privacy, he locked himself in. If he had to leave, he used it to secure his lab. The device he used had been created to protect bicycles in New York City. It claimed to be resistant to bolt cutters. Gerald had spent a great deal of money on the lock, but his innate paranoia required absolute security.

  Gerald had attached the lock to the lab door when he came back from stealing the children’s cells. He had a cabinet next to his computer station. He opened it and took the detectors out. There were three – one to test for radiation, one to detect radon and carbon monoxide, and one to detect poisonous gases.

  He turned them on to check the batteries, then he returned them to the cabinet. He then did an inventory of the syringes and other medical supplies. He had moved them in here when George abandoned his lab for the kitchen. As he was replacing the supplies in their cabinet, Gerald heard the machine ding.

  The digital panel indicated that a report had been sent to his computer. Gerald walked over to his computer and sat down. He clicked on the desktop icon marked “DNA Reports” and then clicked on “Sample Reports.” There were several reports stored there from the blood tests he and Christie had run when the children arrived. At the very bottom was the new report. Gerald opened that report and confirmed his worst fears.

  The cell samples indicated all the normal biological information. Then, the very last entry indicated that there was an unknown chemical inherent in all the cells. This chemical was unknown to the computer in the machine. This machine was the latest model and would have every chemical known to man. So, where had this chemical come from?

  Gerald's crazed mind drew the only conclusion it could; the children were not human. They had to have come here from somewhere else.

  As Gerald continued this train of thought, he could see the whole dastardly plot set out before him. Aliens had impregnated human women 11 years ago. Those women gave birth to these horrible children. Now, the aliens had decimated the population of earth and were set to take over, using these children. Why, they were probably plotting right now to kill the adults and leave the biosphere. Of course the poison hadn't hurt them. But it had hurt his Martha!

  Gerald began pacing again. This time he used his hands to hit his head. He just didn't know what to do. These idiots he lived with would never believe his story. But the report didn’t lie. These children were inundated with some otherworldly chemical that enabled them to live while others died. Gerald had to do something. He had to come up with some way to kill them before they killed him.

  Gerald thought of his syringe full of Nembutal. He didn't think he had enough to do them all in, but they were children so he could halve the dosage.

  Gerald took out the syringe he’d planned on using to kill Christie and put half of the Nembutal back into the bottle. He could grab them one kid at a time. He could visit them at night when they were asleep.

  Yes! That's what he would do. It was always best to do things at night. Kids were sleepy then and had little fight in them. He’d found that out the night before when he took the samples. Not one of those drugged kids had any fight in them.

  Gerald sat down and looked at Martha's picture. He smiled at her and said, “They will pay for what they did to you Martha.” He stroked her picture and he thought for just a moment that she’d winked at him.

  Chapter 59

  When Christie woke up that morning, she noticed more hair on her pillow. She had started noticing her hair loss a few days before. The stress of being a mother to 200 kids was taking a toll on her. For weeks the guys had been out on the road moving bodies and getting supplies. She couldn't complain then. But since Andrew had found the kitchen in the Wilmer basement, the guys had been hanging around playing with the kids and taking it easy. She was getting fed up watching them go to bed while she made sure the kids were all put to bed at night. Something had to be done. They had to start helping her.

  She was also upset about Gerald. She had told the men that his erratic behavior had her really worried. She didn't trust him around the kids. They had blown her off, telling her that “old Gerry” was harmless and she shouldn't worry. But they hadn’t spent time with him since the tragedy had occurred. They’d been out on the road and now Gerald wasn’t even eating with them. They didn't know what he’d become.

  Christie thought of going on strike. She thought if she staye
d in her quarters today they might notice what this place was like without her presence. Maybe they would like to handle the daily fights, the constant bullying, the girls’ begging her for attention. Let the men handle it for a change.

  Instead, she decided to go to the field. She would stay there all day and if kids showed up, she would direct them to one of the men. She looked at the clock and noticed it was just after 6. She got up and showered quickly. If she was lucky, she could get through the city unnoticed. Then she could spend the whole day alone.

  She left her quarters and had to pass Gerald's lab. She tiptoed past and saw Gerald gazing at Martha's picture. She hurried by and went through the door to the landing and down the stairs. She didn't see anybody so she ran through the city until she reached the door to the field.

  She loved to see the crops growing. They had finally begun to grow as she had hoped they would. They would have a wonderful harvest, and with the freezers they had found, they would be able to preserve them and have vegetables to eat while the next seeds were planted and harvested. It was working the way Wilmer had planned.

  She walked down the steps leading to the field and made her rounds. The sprinklers were working nicely. She stopped and breathed in the air. The smell of earth and vegetables mixed in the air and gave her the sense of being outside. Oh, if only she could go outside she might be able to shake off this terrible tension.

  Christie had lost weight. She was finding it difficult to eat, not only from a lack of appetite, but from constant interruptions caused by kids needing her for this or that. Not today. Today they would have to find Andrew, Simon, Pat, or George. They were more than capable of handling a 10-year-old's problems.

  When she was done walking the field, she went to the animal room to find Calvin. She wanted to ask him about Mindy and Mark. She had been hurt when he took the kids away, but she understood now how those kids must have felt. They had to get out. She wanted to ask Calvin to take her with him when he went to visit them.