The Iso-Stasis Experiment (The Experiments)

by Jacqueline Druga

  “No.” Dropping his shotgun, Jake slid down to help the trembling young man. “No.” He rolled Rickie over placing his hand under his head. “I’m sorry, Rickie. I’m sorry.” Jake’s other hand lay tightly over his bleeding wound.

  “It’s bad, huh, Sarge?”

  Jake lifted his hand to look. He could see through the seeping blood that the Stasis had clawed his way into Rickie’s gut. Jake clenched his jaws tightly and kept pressure on Rickie. He didn’t answer his question. He felt helpless. He thought he was fast enough and that Rickie was fine.

  “Jake, the wolves . . .” Cal’s words slowed as she did when she ran into the gathering room. Seeing Jake over Rickie in a growing pool of blood made her cry out in horrific shock. “No! Rickie!” She raced over, throwing herself on the floor. “This didn’t happen. Not to you.” She lifted up his head placing it on her lap. “Jake, help him. Help him, Jake, please.”

  “Cal, I . . .” Jake looked down at Rickie’s wound. The frustration, the sadness he felt could all be seen in his actions. He raised his shaking hands clenched in a fist to his face, shaking his head, not wanting to speak.

  Rickie started to cough and a trickle of blood came from his mouth with each of his coughs. “Cal-babe. I guess I’m not winning after all, huh?” He said weakly.

  “Rickie, Shh.” She lifted his thin body close to her, cradling him in her arms. “It’ll be all right.” She pressed her lips to his cheek and then wiped her hand across his face.

  “No, Cal-babe. It’s not.” Rickie closed his eyes slowly and then opened them again. He felt comfort lying there seeing Jake, feeling Cal. “That’s OK. You know what?” He took a long breath. “I’m not afraid.”

  “You’ll be fine, Rickie.” Cal held him, rocking him, knowing that her words were far from the truth. She knew the truth; she saw it in Jake’s eyes. “Jake is going to fix you like he did John and me. You’ll see. Just hold on. Jake, go get . . .”

  Rickie raised his hand to her mouth. “No. He can’t. He tried though. He did good, Cal.” Rickie fragilely raised up his thumb. “Guys, you have to beat this for me.”

  Jake’s hand ran down Rickie’s face. “We will. All of us.”

  Rickie smiled. “See, you don’t lie well. That’s OK.” He reached up and pulled at Jake. “Remember the promise you made me. Remember that promise . . . Major Graison.”

  It took everything Jake had to stay in control at that moment. He looked into Rickie’s eyes trying to hide what he felt. “I will.” Lifting his hand to Cal and shaking his head, Jake stood up. He ran his hand over his hair as he turned his back to a scene that was just too hard for him to face.

  “Cal-babe.” Rickie looked at her. “You did so much for me. I’m going to do something for you.”

  “What’s that, Rickie?” A tear fell from her face landing on Rickie’s.

  “When I see your kid . . . I’ll tell her you said hi.”

  Cal kissed him crying harder. “You take care of her for me, Rickie, you watch her.”

  “Hey, I rule, and I’ll let her know you’re doing good and that you have the Major to watch you.” Rickie’s eyes closed. “She’ll be glad to know that. She’ll be . . . glad.” His head fell to the side and he became silent.

  “Don’t you do this, Rickie.” Cal pulled him into her, burying his head in her chest. “You’ve given me back so much that I lost. Don’t take it away from me again. Don’t. Please . . . don’t.”

  Jake’s heart broke as he listened to Cal cry. He closed his eyes tightly trying to block it all out. But he couldn’t. Jake knew, the moment he heard Cal’s cries transform into heart pulling sobs, that it was over. Rickie was gone.

  ^^^^

  There were no words spoken as they wrapped Rickie’s body tightly in a sheet and placed it in Rickie’s old room. The cold air helped slow the decomposition. Sadly they left Rickie there, closing the door behind them.

  Jake stood in the bathroom doorway watching Cal undress. Slowly, she peeled the bloodied clothing from her, staring at each article she removed, her face streaked with tears. He wanted to take it all away from her, all the pain she felt, the hurt. Jake wanted to take it all away from himself, too. He had faced death before. He had watched men die. But never had any of it ever hit Jake the way that Rickie’s death did. Yet, he knew his sadness, his hurt, had to be second in importance. Cal had to be first. He had to be for her what no one had ever been for her—strong enough.

  He walked into the bathroom, seeing Cal trying to fight back the tears that seemed to come anyway. He slid his hand across her cheek to the back of her neck. “I’m so sorry.” Gently he pulled her into him.

  Cal buried herself in Jake, letting her sadness momentarily find comfort in his strong arms. She cried the last of the tears that could flow over a boy, a mere boy she had grown so close to.

  They stood for the longest time in that bathroom, holding on to each other and coming to the realization that they were alone. Alone to battle the elements, to face what would be thrown to them, to finish the experiment. Alone except for . . . The Stasis.

  THE FINAL STAND

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  I-S.E. Twelve - Seal River Complex, Manitoba, Canada

  February 1 - 2:10 P.M.

  “Cal, it’s an option I really want you to think about before you say no.”

  “I don’t need to think about it.” She stared up at the monitor watching the sleeping Stasis.

  “It won’t be that bad. Rickie and I cleaned this place up. I think . . .”

  “No, Jake.” Cal turned her chair to face him. “I will not hide. And that’s exactly what you want me to do. You don’t want to hide down here until help arrives and don’t tell me that you do.”

  “I don’t.” Jake shook his head. “There is nothing more that I want than to finish this thing swinging. I want to fight this thing to the end. But realistically, we have ten shells and nine bullets for my revolver. That’s hardly enough to keep our heads above water.”

  “Then what we’ll do is pack up all our stuff, have it on standby and, if we have to, then we’ll head down here. But only when we see no other option, agreed?” She rocked some in the swivel chair, giving hatred glares to the beast she watched. “I just really wish we had the power to end this thing with a bang.”

  “I know what you mean.” He rubbed her shoulders. “Bring them down for once, instead of them bringing down us. Give the Iso-Stasis an ending they have never seen, you and me. And if we had the supplies we could do it, too. We’re one hell of a team you and I.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek.

  “That we are. Unfortunately we’re a team without a defense. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

  “You’re right. It’s not like we can pick up the phone and call for more supplies. Of course, if the phones weren’t crushed I could call and have the shit we need here in a heartbeat. Hey, maybe if I went out and wandered about I could find one of those blue mail boxes and we could send a letter for help.”

  Quickly Cal turned her chair and stood up. “Repeat that.”

  “You mean finding a blue box and mailing a letter?”

  “Exactly,” Cal said and grabbed his face excitedly and kissed him. “We’ll mail a letter.”

  “Cal?” Jake removed her hands from his face. “Mail a letter, Honey? I wasn’t serious.”

  “I am.” Cal began to race from the room. “Stay here and watch the Stasis. I’ll be right back.”

  “Where are you . . .” Jake sat down in her chair. “Where are you going?”

  “OK.” Cal flew back in the room with John’s laptop tucked under her arm. “I cannot believe I didn’t think of this.” She laid the laptop on the counter, plugged it in and lifted the lid. As it booted up she begged, “Please. Please let it be loaded.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Pray for a browser, the internet.” Cal nodded assuredly. “Yes.” She clenched her fist. “He has one. You said you want to send a letter right? We are.” She s
earched under the counter. “Modem jack, where is the Modem jack?” As she stood up she pulled the grey chord that no longer had a computer attached to it and connected it to the computer. “Obviously they couldn’t chance having wifi with John, but they had to have some internet, whether it was satellite or not. We are going to send email. Now who is it that you think will help us out?”

  “Chuck, he could fly . . . wait, how are we getting a letter to Chuck?”

  “Do you live in the middle ages? I told you email.” Her hands worked, typing, moving. “O.K, I have my account loaded. Now to see if we can get a connection.” Literally holding her breath, Cal clicked on the ‘connect’ icon. She giggled like an excited school. “We have a connection. We can do it.”

  “Do what?”

  “God, Jake.” She shook her head. “All right, I suppose asking for Chuck’s email address would be inane?”

  “I live four houses from him and I don’t know that address.”

  “Well, what about your computer or one at your work?”

  “Cal.” Jake shook his head. “I am completely computer illiterate. Hell, I have a fax machine in my office that I don’t know how to use. My secretary gets so irked at me.”

  “You have a secretary? Is she cute?”

  “Yes, Cal, he’s real cute.” Jake rolled his eyes and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Is there anyone else?”

  “Let me think.” Cal folded her hands in prayer, bringing them to her nose. “I know. Joyce. She should check her mail today or tomorrow. She never goes more than a few days.”

  “A few days won’t be bad.”

  Jake pulled out a chair next to her. “So you mail Joyce and she gets a hold of Chuck?”

  “Exactly,” Cal said as she started to type. “Let me open it first . . . Joyce. It’s me. I’m still here. The experiment has gone bad. Two of us are left and we need help. Supplies are needed. You must contact a . . .” Cal stopped reading what she was typing and looked to Jake. “What’s Chuck’s full name?”

  “Captain Charles Burgett.”

  “You must contact a Captain Charles Burgett at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. You must tell him that Major Jacob Graison . . . Jake what do we need?”

  “Tell him that Major Graison says to play me Bach.” He listened to Cal type. “Chuck will know exactly what that means and that should tell him exactly what we need. Also, Cal, put this down. We are approximately 50 miles, ‘N’ ‘NW’ Church Hill, Manitoba.”

  Cal’s finger pressed dramatically on the last key she struck. “Now let’s just hope this works.” She filled in the address information and pointed the arrow to send. “Ready?” Cal took a deep breath, holding it until she knew by watching the indicator that the mail had been sent. “Done.” Her head dropped in relief.

  “Done?” Jake was surprised.

  “Done. It will be there whenever she opens her email.”

  “Now let’s hope Chuck can get to us.” Jake slid down in the chair. “Email is amazing.”

  “It’s old news. You are really going to have to learn computers if you are going to hang with me.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  Cal smiled at him, resting her hand on his. She knew they had allowed their attention to stray from the Stasis long enough. It was time to watch again. Watch and wait.

  New Eagle, PA

  February 1 - 6:30 P.M.

  Peter was a fulfilling boyfriend for Joyce, but he could be just a bit boring at times. Joyce really didn’t need or want another man in her life, at least not physically. But there was just something about ‘Herbie322' that made her day. His daily email messages of hope, smiles and erotica were just what she needed. In fact, Joyce raced home every day after work to get to her email.

  Telling the boys pizza would be ordered as soon as she was off of line, Joyce hurried to her computer, already booted up courtesy of her youngest son.

  The indicator told her she had seven new messages and Joyce squirmed with delight. She opened her ‘inbox’ and visually scanned the senders.

  Aunt Alice, Marcia, Free porno site, some guy named John, and smiled as soon as she saw the message from Herbie322 Joyce’s smile was short lived. Her heart sunk when her eyes shifted up to the letter from John. She knew it wasn’t a response to her lonely heart ad when she saw written in the subject line, in all caps, the words: CAL NEEDS HELP.

  Praying it was a joke, but somehow knowing it wasn’t, Joyce opened the email. Worse than ever before, her heart beat in desperate thumps as she printed the email, disconnected the line and picked up the phone. There was no doubt what she had to do, no hesitation, she had to call Peter to make arrangements to find this Captain Burgett at any cost.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  I-S.E. Twelve - Seal River Complex, Manitoba, Canada

  February 2 - 5:00 A.M.

  His long index fingers met together to form a triangle and were pressed firmly just beneath his bottom lip. Jake leaned back in the chair, eyes focused to the monitor with The Stasis. Jake hadn’t moved, not in hours, except for an occasional blink or the slow moistening of his lips. His stare was full of hatred for the thing, full of determination. His mind was filled with thoughts that he could not share with Cal.

  He thought a lot as he watched the monitor but his mind never drifted so far that he wouldn’t notice even the slightest twitch of the thing. He thought about the email thing that Cal did. Did Joyce actually get the message for help? Would she seek out Chuck?

  Chuck would do all in his power to help, Jake was certain of that. He also knew that Colonel Roberts would do the same. Remembering his last conversation with the Colonel when he told Jake if he ran into trouble to do what he could to get word to him, gave him reassurance. Jake told these things to Cal. He also told her some of the things that he expected them to air drop off. Things the message ‘play me some Bach’ told Chuck he needed. What Jake failed to tell Cal was that since the letter was sent, and all the time that had passed since, Jake was hoping in his heart for something other than just supplies. Jake hoped that the helicopter that Chuck would have to use would not simply make a pass over, but might see Jake on the roof and lower down. Lower down so Jake could give them Cal.

  Cal had to go. For as much as he wanted her by his side, he wanted her safe more. With four weeks left to go in the experiment, and the unknown circumstances that still lay ahead for them, Jake wanted to take no chances. If the money was important to Cal, he’d give her his. He would do anything it took to have her still be alive on March 4th. It wasn’t that Cal was an anchor around his neck. Cal was his equal, someone he needed as much as she needed him. He wouldn’t have made it this far without her nor would she without him. But more important to Jake than having her there as the strong physical support she was, was Cal being far away and safe. If Jake was to fail in emerging from the experiment alive, then so be it. He would rather go down alone than go down leaving Cal to fend for herself or even worse than that, to watch Cal die. Jake wouldn’t have that. And he knew he was going to do everything in his power to ensure that the woman he loved, the woman he’d die for, would be far away from the Iso-Stasis experiment as soon as possible.

  In the quiet room, she spoke in a whisper and let her hand slip across his shoulder as a warning so as not to startle him. “Hey, Major.”

  Not moving, Jake grabbed her hand bringing it to his mouth. “Did you get any sleep?”

  “Some.” Cal rested her chin on his shoulder. “Go lie down now and I’ll take over the watch.”

  “No. He’ll wake up soon. I want to be ready.”

  “I think I can handle a simple task of hitting the homing device. I did it four times last month.”

  “I’d rather not miss it.”

  “Why?” Cal pulled up a chair and sat down next to him. “Jake, I need you to be strong for me. You can’t do that if you’re tired.”

  He didn’t respond. He never took his eyes from the screen.

  “Jake, what is it?”

  Jake shook his
head and took a deep breath. “How are you doing?”

  “A little better and how are you doing?”

  “I’m doing. And I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.”

  “About Rickie?”

  “How can you not think of Rickie?” He ran his hand down his face. “No matter what crosses your mind, Rickie is there.”

  Cal scooted her chair closer, laying her head against him. “I know his death affected you, Jake. You worry me. You haven’t said anything.”

  Still keeping his eyes forward, Jake raised his hand placing it on her head. “I have no intentions of saying anything either. Cal, it really hurt me when I saw how badly it affected you. You needed me to be strong. The last thing you need is to be worrying about how I feel. I’ll be fine.”

  “Oh, Jake.” Cal shook her head. “We both grew so fond of Rickie together. Talk to me, Jake.”

  “I’d really rather not. Not yet.” Jake swallowed, trying hard to hide his emotions.

  “I understand.” Cal folded her hands on the table. “I miss him. I really miss him.”

  “I do, too.” He laid his hand on hers. “It’s so fucked up what happened to him. I won’t be satisfied until this thing is dead.”

  “Me neither.” Cal noticed how tired he looked. “Jake, please try to get some sleep. Please. There is a cot in here.” She touched his chin. “I will call you if I see him scratch. Just lie down and rest for a while . . . for me?”

  “Promise you’ll call me?”

  “I promise.”

  “All right then.” Sliding his chair back, Jake stood up. “Give me a couple hours.” He kissed her firmly on the cheek. Before he stepped away from Cal, he took one more look at her. He knew rest would be impossible. His thoughts of her, his fears and concerns would do what they have been doing, especially the past few nights. They’d slip into his dreams, magnifying what he felt. Rest for Jake would never happen, as long as the Stasis was still alive.