Never Fear

by Heather Graham

  “Explain.”

  Without a word, Staum turned to one of the walls and activated the monitor. He keyed in several commands and brought up a live-feed of a similar room. In it, huddled in the corner was another biological mess. What once was a man was now a hideous combination of man and clown, similar to Marler in that it was monstrous, but it had different markings, eyes, and hair. “That is Dr. Joseph Hiroto,” Staum explained. “He was once my associate and one of my best scientists. He was mauled when Mr. Marler broke through the original barrier. He was gravely wounded, but thankfully, he was not killed. However, less than twenty-four hours after the attack, he became that,” he said, pointing to the feed. “He is similar to Mr. Marler in appearance, but smaller, weaker, with a greater intolerance for light.”

  “And the others that were injured in the attack?”

  “They were killed, I’m afraid.”

  “Where are their bodies?”

  “Do you see those organic mounds in there with Mr. Marler?” Staum answered, reaching back and tapping the glass of the enclosure. There was no reason to explain further.

  The man nodded in understanding. “Tell me, does Dr. Hiroto exhibit the same abilities that Mr. Marler does?”

  “Do you mean, can he create copies of himself?” Staum clarified, before answering the question without waiting for a reply. “The answer is yes.”

  “And you have proof?”

  “We have tested his ability to infect others on four separate subjects,” Staum answered. “He is every bit as communicable as Mr. Marler.”

  “So as long as we keep them in the light, we are reasonably safe.”

  “Correct.”

  “And if the lights go out?”

  “I have run the numbers already,” Staum answered. This was the part that was both fascinating and horrifying. “If conditions were true dark and Mr. Marler metamorphosed and escaped, I estimate that the city would be overrun in twenty-three days, the state in less than three months. By then, the end would be inevitable.”

  “So if you turn it loose behind enemy lines, there is no cure for it? No hope for our enemies?”

  “None.”

  “Then how do you kill it when it’s completed its mission?”

  “You don’t,” Staum answered softly. This was the part he wasn’t happy about.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean exactly that, sir,” Staum answered. “We have engineered a creature here that is impervious to damage, sickness, disease, and anything else we can throw at it. The nanite matrix is designed for rapid healing and does its job incredibly well. Simply put, you can’t kill it fast enough to make its death permanent.”

  “What if you blow it to pieces?”

  “Look inside the enclosure,” Staum said. “How many of those small organic lumps do you see scattered around Mr. Marler?”

  “Several dozen,” the man replied. “Why?

  “Three of those were employees,” Staum said. “The rest were once part of Mr. Marler.”

  As the implication sank in, the man nodded appreciatively. “And they’re going to become like him?”

  “Some already have,” Marler said, coding a camera change into the control board on the wall again. The video screen switched to the live-feed of another room. It was literally filled with creatures; clowns of every shape, size, and disposition. All of them appeared to be dormant in the half-light. But only just.

  “And you can’t kill them?”

  “No,” Staum answered. “Bright light drives the nanite matrix into near dormancy, but that’s the extent of it. Nothing will kill it. Even acid cannot break it down fast enough to defeat the matrix.”

  “And how do you know this?”

  “Because for the past four weeks, that’s all I’ve been trying to do,” Staum answered. “I’ve tried explosives, acids, electrocution, even other matrixes. Nothing works.”

  “I thought the original program parameters showed that the matrix was designed to go dormant in twenty-four hours.”

  “Yes, yes,” Staum said nervously. “Somehow the matrix has managed to deactivate the clock. We haven’t yet discovered how.”

  “So really what you’ve done is create a monster,” the suited man said quietly, smiling as he gazed at the creature behind the glass. “A monster that is indestructible and can make more of itself.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “That’s brilliant,” the man said, reaching into his suit coat and pulling out a gun. “Pretty soon, everyone will be afraid of clowns.”

  He only needed five shots.

  As the light faded from Dr. Henry Staum’s eyes, the man holstered his weapon. He stepped over the blood-spattered bodies and gazed at the monster on the other side of the glass. Pulling his phone, he swiped a finger across the screen and had an immediate connection with his superior, even this deep inside the facility.

  “Sdelano,” he said, speaking flawless Russian.

  “Vy mozhete upravlyat' ?” a voice replied, asking if he had control of the facility.

  “Klouny idut,” he answered, before switching back to English. “The clowns are coming. Our enemies will be no more.”

  ***

  Early the next morning, a carefully created set of explosive devices took out the main generator and auxiliary power structure of the Meridian Government Medical Facility in Greensboro, North Carolina.

  As darkness engulfed the building, the thing that was once Devon Marler woke up.

  It was a quarter to five.

  6

  atychiphobia

  Fear of Failure

  Casey Parsons

  “Jason,” Marnie whispered quietly. “Jason,” she said again, her voice strained. “Please wake up.” She gently shook his shoulder and looked around the dark room. Jason blinked his eyes open and saw Marnie standing above him, her long dark hair fell disheveled around her shoulders, in stark contrast to her porcelain skin.

  “Christ, what is it, Marn?” He rubbed at his face sleepily and started to sit up, when he saw her staring at him with wide, glassy eyes. “What’s wrong?” he asked with concern, jumping out of bed and putting a hand on each of her shoulders. “You’re shaking.”

  “There was someone in my room,” she whispered.

  “What do you mean there was someone in your room?” he asked with slight annoyance, despite her obvious panic.

  “There was someone in the corner of my room. They knocked something off my desk and woke me up. I ran in here before they could get to me.” Her voice started shaking as she spoke.

  “Marnie, we’ve been through this night after night; there’s no one in your room. You were dreaming.” He sat back down on his bed and rested his head in his hands, sighing with exasperation.

  “Please check,” she begged him softly. In the dark room, her eyes shimmered with the tears she held back. Marnie had always been a brave and independent child. She was never prone to nightmares or other illogical fears. Jason found it a little unnerving dealing with it now that she was eighteen years old.

  “Okay, stay here.” Jason walked down the hall, hearing her footsteps close behind him. He turned the light on and stepped into her room. “Everything looks fine. There’s nothing on the floor by your desk. There’s never anything on the floor that doesn’t belong there. It was probably the wind against the house. Stop leaving your window open at night; use a fan or something,” he said with annoyance, knowing it was going to take him forever to fall back asleep.

  “I didn’t open the window,” she muttered, looking down at her hands that worried the fabric of her T-shirt. She looked back up at him and his heart melted, as it always did every time his sister gave him that look. It didn’t matter how old she was, she would always be his little sister. And he would always protect her from the monsters in the closet.

  “Come on, you can sleep in my room,” he said, the annoyance in his voice replaced with sympathy. “Actually, I’m not feeling all that tired anymore. We can watch some TV.” He wal
ked over to shut and lock the window, then led his sister back into his room. She didn’t have a television in her bedroom. She had told him once that it distracted her from her schoolwork and had him remove it. There were times during her childhood that it was hard to tell which one of them was the grown up.

  “I’m sorry, Jason,” she said, crawling into bed next to him while he turned on the television.

  “You know, Marn,” Jason said hesitantly, trying to start a long overdue conversation. But as he turned his head, he saw she was already sound asleep next to him. He sighed and started flipping through the channels. Eventually, he would have to have a talk with her about these consistent nightmares, but not tonight. Lying next to him she looked so peaceful. He knew she was a lost soul right now. All her friends would be heading off to college in a couple months, and she would be left behind. She wasn’t taking it well. Jason had tried to give her time to deal with things on her own, but each day she seemed to lose a little more of herself. He told her there was nothing wrong with starting in community college first, but losing out on the scholarship she had been counting on devastated her. He was watching his sister, the girl he had raised for the last ten years, slowly fade away over something as silly as a scholarship.

  Jason’s alarm went off at seven and they both groaned. He fell asleep watching the TV and still had the remote in his hand. He cringed as he moved to hit the snooze button, neck stiff from falling asleep at an awkward angle. Neither of them were morning people, but Marnie used to at least make a better effort than him. The second time the alarm went off she sleepily shoved at him.

  “Go on,” she said, her voice rough with sleep, and pulled the covers up over her head to block out the morning sun peeking through the curtains. Jason bitterly rolled himself out of bed and headed to the bathroom.

  He stepped into the shower, closing his eyes while the hot water ran across his face. He didn’t want to move and risk exposing his skin to the cool morning air. Just as he was considering reaching for the shampoo, he felt a cold chill. He pulled the curtain aside in time to see the door shutting. The bathroom was suddenly freezing. He stepped out of the tub to see the bathroom window wide open, cold morning air poured in and battled with the hot steam from the shower.

  “Aren’t we too old for this,” he yelled, as he shut the window and rushed back into the water. But it was no use. The moment was over and the bathroom didn’t seem to want to warm up again. “Just for that, I’m going to take my time. We’ll see how you like taking a cold shower.”

  Jason came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and feeling proud of himself for using up the hot water. Marnie had laid back down in his bed and was feigning sleep.

  “Hey,” he called, pulling back the covers. “What happened to the girl that faced each day with renewed enthusiasm?”

  “She’s dead,” Marnie said, grabbing the comforter and pulling it back over her head.

  “C’mon, TGIF, right? You can’t lay around here all day, every day. Get up, get ready, go do something.” It was the same argument they had been having for months. She never left the house anymore. She never really went out often before that, always staying in to study. But there was always a friend or two hanging around, dragging her out of the house now and then. Since school ended, he hadn’t seen a single one of her friends.

  Marnie stood and glared at him as she walked next door to her room and closed the door.

  Jason opened his closet, looking frustrated.

  “Marnie, when’s the last time we did laundry? I’m down to my back-up shirts here.” By “we”, he really meant her. It was rare that she wouldn’t grab his clothes when she was doing her own. He looked over at the basket. It was empty. “Where are all my clothes?” he shouted, but received no answer. He pieced together a work outfit, thankful it was Friday.

  “I’m leaving early, thought I would pick up donuts for the office,” he said to Marnie’s closed door, while he finished the knot in his tie. “Marnie, I know you’re disappointed about not getting that scholarship, but you still have options. Just consider taking some classes at the community college, get the basics out of the way. Or maybe a part time job until you figure things out. We’ll talk about it tonight after I get home. Me, you, maybe I’ll invite Ellie, too. It’s been awhile since the three of us hung out. Don’t make plans. I’ll pick up some pizza on the way home.” He waited for a response, but received nothing. “In ten years, you’ll look back at this as just a little bump in the road. I promise.”

  He jogged down the stairs to the kitchen and downed a glass of water. He could have sworn the orange juice was full yesterday, but this morning he pulled an empty container from the fridge.

  “You’re losing your touch, Marn. There was an empty juice container in the fridge.” He yelled up the stairs. “I left some money on the table, in case you find the time to run to the grocery store between all of your moping.” He turned to leave and tripped, his head smacking against the wooden door frame.

  “Gah,” he yelled, feeling the bump already forming on the side of his forehead.

  “You might want to watch where you’re going,” Marnie said to him stoically from the top of the stairs. He looked down to see Marnie’s old purple teddy bear laying at his feet before the front door. He hadn’t seen that for years. When she first came to live with him it never left her sight, but they packed that away years ago with the rest of her kid stuff.

  “Marnie, what is going on with you? I’m not finding these practical jokes very funny. Pick this up and put it away. I think I’m going to have a bruise from that.” He rubbed absently at the sore spot on the side of his head.

  “I didn’t put it there. I haven’t played with toys for a very long time,” she said as she turned and walked out of sight. He stepped over the stuffed animal and looked around the room. The rest of the house looked fine from what he could see--nothing out of place. Marnie never let anything get out of place. She had always kept the house immaculately clean, and not because he asked her. Usually, it was Marnie nagging him. Damn, he thought. He forgot to rinse his glass and put it in the drying rack. She hated when he left dishes out. It was one of her many pet peeves. How a young girl could be so meticulous about every aspect of her life had always confounded him. He sucked a breath in between his teeth, thinking of the many beratings she had given him over simple things over the years, like just picking up after himself. There were times he had to remind himself that he was the adult in this relationship.

  “Marn, I’m sorry I left a cup out. I’ll get it when I come home. And I love you,” he said, before shutting the door and heading off. He knew it wouldn’t be there when he got home. She wouldn’t be able to bear seeing it sitting there.

  Jason yawned as he pulled into the office parking lot and took another sip of the large coffee he had purchased at the donut shop. He felt like he had barely slept all week, between Marnie’s constant nightmares and worrying about when he would have time to see Ellie. She used to be so supportive and helpful with Marnie. He could always count on her help, especially for girl specific things. Now, she barely wanted to talk about it and she never wanted to come over to the house. She wasn’t going to be happy when he told her he was breaking their date tonight to stay home and be with Marnie.

  “Hey,” Rob shouted with excitement, as Jason walked into the break room and sat the box of donuts down. He grabbed a jelly-filled before the box had even hit the counter. “How’s it goin’?” he asked around a mouthful of pastry. “Of course, no one can be unhappy around donuts.”

  “I’m alright, rough night, didn’t sleep all too well. I was actually wondering if I could get some advice from you,” Jason said, leaning against the counter.

  “Sure, what’s up?” Rob said, sitting the donut down on a napkin at the table.

  “Your sister, Lily, did she get rejected from any of the colleges she applied to?”

  “Jason, man, I don’t know,” Rob said hesitantly.

  “Look, I know it’s
a different set of circumstances. You’re not her guardian or anything like that. I was just wondering if there was anything you could tell me. I just don’t know what to do to make this easier.”

  “That was years ago, Jayce, I… I just don’t know,” he grabbed the donut and continued, changing the subject. “You and Ellie have anything special going on tonight? Cause I was thinking…”

  “I actually I think I am going to stay home tonight. There are some things I need to talk to Marnie about,” Jason said absent mindedly before his friend could finish.

  “Ummm… yeah, does Ellie know about your plans?” Rob said looking uncomfortable.

  “I was going to call her on my lunch break. Marnie had another incident last night and I just need to find a way to get through to her. I was actually hoping that Ellie would join me. I’m starting to feel a little lost here.” Rob stared at Jason as he spoke, looking uncomfortable.

  “Well, I’m sure you’ll figure it out, man. Ummm, I think it’s about time to get to work.” He slapped his friend on the back, snatched up another donut and headed out of the room, effectively bringing their conversation to an end.

  The day was crawling by, as it usually did on Fridays. Jason had been watching the clock for the last ten minutes, waiting for lunch. Finally, the clock turned noon and he closed up everything and walked outside and down the street toward food. While eating his second burger, his phone rang.

  “Ellie,” he said, answering the phone with a smile. “I was just about to call you.”

  “Hey, babe, how’s work going?” The sound of her voice made all the stress Jason had been feeling melt away. More than ever, he just wanted to fix things, so everything could be like it used to be. He had been planning on proposing to her before Marnie left for school, but then everything changed. Marnie needed him right now, whether she admitted it or not. Unfortunately, it seemed like he and Ellie were growing apart because of it. She had never seemed jealous of Marnie in the past, but now just the mention of Marnie’s name seemed to set Ellie off.