by C. S Luis
“That’s a shame—but you know that won’t stop Bryce from taking him apart for his experiments.”
"Let me go! Mr. Slater, stop them please! You have to stop them!" She struggled, John tried to calm her as Klein gazed over at him, puzzled. Was he realizing something, doubting her involvement in all this? He hoped not.
"You bastard. Let her go," John yelled.
"Mr. Slater?" Claudia wept, looking up at him.
"How could you do this?” she softly whispered. John tried to comfort her from where he stood. He wanted her to be silent, afraid Klein would come to realize what she was talking about. Afraid he’d realize she wept for Quentin.
"You have what you want," John said, trying to ignore the sadness in Claudia's eyes. "Now let her go. She has nothing to do with this. Just let her go and I'll be on my way."
"Why? Why did you do this to me?" Claudia cried.
"Claudia, don't worry, it's going to be okay," he tried to reassure her in a gentle voice.
"Don't be mad at him, my dear. It wasn't entirely his fault." Dr. Klein laughed.
She could barely look at John and turned away, bowing her head as Dr. Klein released her and she dropped to the ground. She remained still, her hands flat on the cold marble. The men in jumpsuits and armor walked away slowly before turning and marching down the staircase, followed by Dr. Klein who only turned once and smiled then disappeared into the darkness of the stairwell.
John made a movement to approach Claudia but steps sounded from the shadows, distracting them both. Claudia lifted her head. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she gazed into the unknown. Another figure emerged out of the darkness to stand beside her. John took a few steps forward but suddenly froze as the figure's face came into light.
"Bryce…" he gasped uneasily.
The man stood behind Claudia, now smiling as she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Ausgezeichnete Arbeit, John. Wo ist das Mädchen, das du versprochen hast...?”
John didn’t say a word, feeling uneasy about opening his mouth with Claudia now staring at him, especially since Bryce was speaking in German. Something they always did when speaking in front of others in order to keep them oblivious as to what they planned.
“Obwohl ich weit glücklicher über Alex Burton gewesen wäre, Ich nehme den Alien."
Claudia looked over at John, he turned his gaze away when she did. He didn’t want to give her a chance to ask or say a word in front of Bryce.
“Wir hatten eine Vereinbarung, Bryce. Lass das Mädchen gehen. Du hast deinen Preis," John said redirecting his attention to Claudia sitting on the floor. She wrinkled her nose at him, since when did he speak German her expression seemed to say.
“Come on, Claudia,” John said, Claudia shook her head at him.
“What’s going on?” she uttered, not sure what was being said between the two men.
"You should be very proud of him, Miss Belle, he did this all for you," Bryce grimaced over at her.
"Mr. Slater, what do they want?” Claudia mumbled through sobs, then looked up at Bryce, startled to see him kneeling beside her, and staring into her brown eyes. His blue eyes were paralyzing and cold.
She recognized him as the superintendent but she already knew he wasn’t who he pretended to be before; she knew because Mr. Slater had unwillingly revealed that to her before all this. At first, she hadn’t believed it, but now there was no denying the fact.
The question was, who was he truly? People that Mr. Slater worked for? “The bad people,” he had said to her.
"What do we want? Young lady, you couldn’t possibly begin to imagine what it is we want.” He used her own words.
“But it makes no difference, and it’s of no concern to you.” Bryce snarled at her.
“If you only were aware of what a small, yet significant part you played in all this." He reached over to touch her cheek. She recoiled from his touch, and his dry smile greeted her amusingly.
“But how could you—So jung, so naiv, solche Unschuld,” he said part in German, and glanced over at John, rising to stand over her.
"Ich beginne zu verstehen, warum du sie willst." He said again to John.
“You should be proud of Mr. Slater, Miss Belle, he executed a perfect plan to protect you. He showed restraint—even in the presence of such beauty.”
Claudia blushed at Bryce’s words. “And through it all, he succeeded and accomplished his task. But he couldn’t have done it without you. After all, you were his motivation.”
"Leave her alone!" John cried, rushing forward.
He tackled Bryce and pushed him against the lockers, dropping his gun beside Claudia. She barely paid them any attention and slowly rose to her feet like a wounded animal. John swung his fist, but hit the locker instead and screamed, grabbing his wrist. Bryce swung around and grabbed John from the back and pulled his arm back as John tried to reach for his gun.
“Du enttäuschst mich. Du bist wegen ihr schwach." Bryce hissed.
"We had a deal, Bryce! Let the girl go!" John snarled and fell to his knees before him.
"I said you could have the girl as your prize.” Bryce calmly said. “Did you honestly think I would allow either one of you to escape?"
"You bastard!" But perhaps it was a move John should have expected. Of course, how foolish had he been to think that Bryce would simply allow him to leave? For any of them to leave, after all that had happened. Was Bryce right, had his caring, his love for a girl made him a careless fool even to himself?
"Do you sincerely think an innocent as she, could ever love someone like you? Even accept someone whose very existence leaves nothing but carnage in their wake. You’re the monster in her nightmares,” Bryce said.
John lowered his head, Bryce’s words hit him hard, and he bit his lip in agony.
"Hadn’t you realized your love for her has only betrayed her, if it weren’t for your foolish obsession over her, I may have never looked in her direction?"
John slowly looked up at him, he was right, this was his entire fault. The truth felt like someone had hit him hard in the stomach.
“Forget her, instead, rejoice in the accomplishment of acquiring your subject," Bryce grimaced, then paused. “But just so you don’t think ill of me, my previous offer still stands—take what you want from her and be done with it.” John swallowed hard.
“No! I’m not hurting her, ever,” John firmly said, glaring up at him.
“Please, Bryce just let her go, and I’ll forget this, all of it. Including her. I’ll go back with you if that’s what you want. And I’ll forget her, just let her be,” John pleaded on his knees, Bryce’s slim lip folded slightly to one side.
“No,” Bryce answered very dryly, like a father denying a child a toy. At once, John rose and launched at him, but Bryce grabbed him, shoving John's face into the locker, twisting his arm behind his back. How was this possible, was Bryce right?
He wasn’t thinking straight because of her. He could never so easily lose a fight. His emotions were unstable. He couldn’t control his feelings, not only could he not control his emotions, he couldn’t think or fight. He was stronger than this. But whatever strength and speed he uselessly had, he felt weak. He could feel her pain, her sadness and it was destroying him from within.
John dropped to the ground again, Bryce moved around him. He glanced back and spotted Claudia staggering away.
“Don’t –” John uttered, wiping at his lip, gazing up at him, he felt defeated, unable to do anything, and afraid that if he did, Bryce would hurt Claudia. If he gave up now, perhaps he would not endanger her any more than he already had. But then he saw Bryce moving away toward Claudia.
"Bryce? What are you doing? No! Leave her out of this, Bryce! You have what you want! She has nothing to do with this!" John pleaded.
Bryce glared over at Claudia wandering aimlessly a step away from him.
"No!" John yelled, reaching forward, grabbing hold of Bryce’s pant leg, but Bryce turned and kicked him in the back and he
collapsed to the ground in agony.
"Claudia!" John yelled, trying to warn her.
Bryce picked up John’s gun from off the ground.
"Claudia, run!" John cried as Claudia turned around.
John rushed towards Bryce, trying to grab the weapon but Bryce was faster, landing a blow with the butt of the gun to John's face, knocking him back. John again collapsed to the floor, defeated. Bryce continued his approach. Claudia looked up as Bryce now stood over her, drawing the barrel of the gun downward directly at her face. His cold smile drew her in.
"Q?” Claudia whispered, glancing up at the barrel of the gun in the man’s hand; his lip curled over at her.
"I wish we had more time, Miss Belle, although I fancy our brief encounter, I simply have no time to entertain such foolish nonsense," Bryce said, gripping the gun tightly in his hand.
"The pleasure was all mine,—And please don't think I'm not grateful for your sacrifice." He pulled back the trigger.
"NO!" John cried helplessly as he regained consciousness just at that moment.
There was a loud popping sound as the bullet hit Claudia's forehead and knocked her to the ground. She lay there, motionless, and silenced, it seemed forever.
"NO! You bastard! I'll kill you!" John shouted.
Bryce released the clip and it dropped to the floor near Claudia's motionless body. He stepped over her, leaning forward to examine her, then walked past her, deliberately stepping in her blood as it began to pool under her head, leaving bloody footprints as he made his way back to John. Screaming at the top of his lungs John lunged at him. Bryce swung, landing a fist in his stomach. John dropped hard onto his knees, violently coughing.
"I'll kill you! I’ll kill you! Claudia! No—No! No! She can't! She can't!" he cried, extending a hand out to her lifeless body.
"You can't," he whispered. "Please wake up! Please wake up!" John helplessly pleaded, now crawling to her. Bryce blocked him.
"Get out of my way!" John screamed.
"You will soon forget her, just as the countless others you have romanced over the years," Bryce said as he slapped John across the face with the butt of the gun and knocked him out cold. He then adjusted his tie, stepped over him to walk away, and stopped near the stairwell where the sergeant, a man dressed in black military armor, was waiting for him.
"Is the alien secure?" Bryce asked the sergeant, wiping his bloody hands with a handkerchief that he had taken from his pocket.
"Yes, sir. We're ready to go," the Sergeant answered.
"And the others?" Bryce asked, putting the cloth away.
"Dead. Just as you requested, sir," the Sergeant informed. “We’re ready to detonate the building at your command.”
"Good. Have your men put John Slater in one of the vehicles at once," Bryce demanded as he moved toward the stairwell to leave.
"Yes, sir," the Sergeant responded. "Sir?"
"What is it?" Bryce asked as he turned back around.
"Look!" The Sergeant pointed to where the bodies lay.
Bryce turned. His eyes widened as he witnessed Claudia's hand begin to move. He considered that he might have missed her, but he knew that was impossible, for he had shot her point blank in the head, just to make sure he would not miss. He didn't need any witnesses to remind him of his deeds.
"How?” His mouth slightly dropped. “Could it be—you all this time—the source of the creature’s power?" He gleamed.
“Sir?” The Sergeant looked questioningly back at him.
Her body began to glow and became consumed in a bluish bright light until a single bullet pushed out from the wound on her head, then the wound itself completely vanished. Bryce fell back in awe.
"Assemble a unit at once.”
The Sergeant didn’t move fast enough.
“Now!” Bryce firmly said, his face fashioned into a delightful smile.
"All this time, why didn’t I see it? So, this is what you’ve been hiding from me. The source, is her? Meine Quelle!"
He slowly walked back to where Claudia laid. She began to move as he neared her. Slowly and very carefully, she lifted herself from the ground. She didn't see him right away. Her attention was focused on John and she crawled to his side.
"Mr. Slater? Please wake up. Something's wrong—I can't feel the others, I think something horrible has happened. Mr. Slater?"
Bryce's shadow fell over John's body. Startled, Claudia turned and looked up. She rose to her feet, but Bryce grabbed hold of her quickly and she was unable to escape.
"Let me go!" she screamed, kicking futilely at his hold.
"There’s no point in fighting, Miss Belle, I’ve been in search of you for a long time,” Bryce whispered into her ear, she felt repulsed at the sensation of his warm breath and scent of the cologne sweeping against her face.
“Forgive me for being rather foolish, but I had no idea of your value up until now—and now that I’m aware of it, I’m not letting you go anywhere," he continued to whisper, gripping her tighter; he intended to take her away with him.
"Get your hands off me!" Claudia cried, as a wave of energy engulfed her and knocked Bryce to the floor. She panicked, rushing away; turning only once to see him stumble to his feet with a look of amusement on his face. She hurried into the dark shadowy hallway, as far as she could possibly go.
"I want her! I want that girl! I must have that girl!" Bryce yelled deliriously, still a bit stunned.
"Well, you can't have her!" John yelled from out of nowhere as he swung his fist into Bryce's face, knocking him down.
"She's already spoken for!" he said and spat at him. John stumbled away in the direction Claudia had gone, picking up the gun and clip from the floor.
36
Die Quelle
I ran as fast as I could through the halls until I was sure no one was coming after me, then I raced around the corner and hid in the shadows. The hallways were lonely and dark. Someone had turned off the lights in the building. I wasn't sure what to do. But I was sure I had to find the others before anything else, yet something inside me yearned for Q.
"If for any reason something ever happens to me," Q had once said, "you must get away, and don't come looking for me. I will find you as I have now."
"But why?" I had asked him.
"Do not question me. You just must, my pet." I had simply nodded and seen a look in his purple eyes that were filled with pain and agony but glowed with a burning light. There was something he was hiding, something he couldn't possibly tell me. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, I trusted him and I didn't ask again.
But I just couldn't leave him. I couldn't let them experiment or do whatever it was they planned to do with him. I couldn't. I feared for him and cared for him a lot more than I first believed I did.
"Claudia!" A voice cried out from down the hallway. Trembling with fear, I moved back.
"Claudia!" The voice called again through the shadows. I recognized it and knew it was Mr. Slater's voice but refused to answer. Did I dare trust him? I hated him for what he had done to Q. I listened to the sound of his voice in the darkness, hoping he would go away. Frightened to go to him, especially now, after what I had seen, after what happened to Q.
"I know you don't trust me. And I know you hate me, but please—I beg you. I never meant for any of this to happen. Please, sweetheart, don't be afraid. I'm sorry about Quentin. You have to let me help you. These people are dangerous. We have to get out of here before they realize what you can do. You have to trust me. Please, I beg you, darling."
I backed further against the wall, then softly began to weep.
"Q, I wish you were here. I wish you could tell me what to do." I fell to the floor, sobbing silently in the dark hallway. I couldn't forget what I had told him so many times before. I felt the guilt in my veins and an embarrassment because of what I knew.
Q sounded a little arrogant when I first met him. He had changed a bit, I thought, recalling that single moment with him. But it was his words that stuck wi
th me.
“Come with me! Be mine! I will give you everything. Just love me and I will be your servant forever!”
I was afraid of him then. But now the honest truth was that I was also in love with him. Whether he felt the same, I only hoped. What did he want from me? Was it to possess me as Mr. Slater had once said? Was he just like everyone else?
I didn't know him then, only that I wanted him. Had it all been a lie? Then it all fell apart when his puppets came marching through the halls of Milton for me; dummies of some divine plan took shape and hunted the halls of Milton in search of me. They had been in disguise all along as my classmates. He had watched me through their eyes until I fled and refused to leave with him. Only then did, Q, send them after me. Since I had come to Milton I had met and lost a grandfather. Death had claimed him and had attempted to claim me.
Q wanted me, he declared, he wanted me to join him in a place he called Demos, but by force. A vortex opened in the hallway of Milton, taking everything in its path. Mr. Slater had saved me, and in the process, I had lost my friend, Alex. She had sacrificed herself to save me. With the crystal my grandfather had possessed, whose power I knew very little of –I sent Q away, back to the place he had longed to take me. Everyone was saved again but a new door had opened, one I could no longer close.
I reached for the crystal now but it wasn't there any longer and I didn't need it now that Q was gone.
My first encounter with Q had also been my first time meeting Mr. Slater. He had come to Milton disguised as our new principal, to replace my grandfather. He was a sucker for Frank Sinatra and jazz music. He once danced with me when I threw him a birthday party to Sinatra’s; “You make me feel so young.”
We had become close friends, possibly closer than I had realized. Then he had to leave and now he was back. But this time it was different. There was something about Mr. Slater, something that I found impossible to ignore.
He was a mysterious man, before I could not read his thoughts, I suddenly realized I could now. And that was the strange part of it, and why did I see so much chaos in his mind? But most important and what surprised me was his devotion to me. His fear that he would lose me. I found that reassuring but also frightening, what did he want from me? And now I didn't know if I could ever trust him.
