Drifters

by Santos, J. A.

- July 5th: Heard some guys in the lab talking about a Sara Garber. A woman that had escaped this lab. Could she be the one I am looking for, or the ones here are the responsible for this?-

  - August 13th: Finally some answers, apparently she infected me when she consumed my mother while I was still in her womb. I shall find her and kill her.-

  - September 18th: Time to get my revenge I broke out the lab and consumed five of the technicians there, now I have to find who this Sara Garber is and where can I find her? –

  - January 8th: found two men that are going hunting, I have to lie about the woods they were going to give a ride away from here.-

  I kept reading skipping stupid notes like I am hungry, I will get my revenge, I will always get what I want and such things also scribbled down, until I got to the one, this one about two weeks back.

  - October 11th, here with Max at Canyon Diablo. I wondered to a barn, I wanted to be away from Max a little while and I saw her, the red flaming hair woman with spread arms like wings lunging to a man. She must be Sara Garber the one responsible for this? A fire which might had been done by her brought down the farm where apparently the man was the serial killer terrorizing the town or so said the police. I have been hearing from him in the news some time now. Max wanted to see her but I said no. Time to make my move I will start off without him, he and Jane can pick me up later.-

  That was the longest passage on his journal, as I closed the book I looked at Max and stood. He stays seated.

  “You were hunting me?”

  “Not me Alex, I swear I did not know anything about it till you got out of the car.” He said putting his hands to his neck and leaning back to the bark of the tree. Jeremy moved forward and tried grabbing for the journal I clasped it tighter to my chest.

  “Mine now.” I said as a child was protecting something it wasn’t hers. He looked surprised.

  “I can’t let you have it,” he said

  “Try and take away from me now.” I said baring my teeth letting out an angry growl.

  “Did you just growl at me; what are you now, a fucking dog?” he said as I moved to the back pack putting the journal inside.

  “There are things I have learned while controlling the hunger, I can do a lot of stuff not only growl, want to test me?”

  He put his arms over his heads stretching, “Urgh, let’s go we think we know where he is.”

  “Where?” said Max as he put his bare hands to the wet floor stood up in a flash and he fell backwards hitting his head to the tree hard.

  Chapter Ten

  We roam outside the forest from the east to a place called RiverSite; there was no river here, just and abandoned fertilizer plant. I could smell the decay in the place; rusted tubing going up high in the sky then twisted west to a grand chimney intruding inside about mid-level, underneath the tube came out from the chimney twisting again, but it was broken in half; the twisted tube was no longer going anywhere.

  “In town they said that this place once was really full of life till seven years back when one of its furnaces exploded, four were killed. After that it was shut down.”

  “What makes you think he is here?”

  “I heard some kids talking about a man dressed in red by the plant.”

  “Dressed in red?”

  “Maybe it was the blood over him, you know, dressed in red.” Max said.

  “Yea, that’s what thought too.”

  I turned around holding Max by the shoulders.

  “He only attacked those on the hotel? No other victim.”

  “Yea, he started speaking about the turn is here, and he held his hands to his head and went down screaming.” He said explaining how Alex turned to a mindless creature, yet he spoke to me in the forest. Something is worse than wrong. I stopped and turned around facing Jeremy who had also stopped and now was looking at me.

  “Okay, I’m not moving any further until you explain what Marino did.”

  “This is what I know. He cultivated your cells and injected them to two women on the early stages of their pregnancy, your cells merged with theirs. When the fetus was old enough to sustain incubation, Marino took them out and as the process was something new, your cells involved and all, both mothers died of an infection. Your cells were like corroding, eating away their blood cells it took about the same as for them to return, but they never did, it was weird. Their eyes went dark around small veins were fallowing every strand of the blood flow in their sockets. Marino said he had no choice but to kill them, and about 6 month later we learned that both child were like you and different.”

  “How?”

  “They were harder to kill.” He said as I felt dismayed by his account of things. Marino had murdered pregnant woman? What happened to that man I fell in love so long ago? Marino has turned into a monster, worse than the devil himself.

  “That’s awful, how did you ever let him do something like that.”

  “It was you?” I heard Max speak in the background and a small gurgling sound came to his voice.

  “Me what?” I said and turned around locking my eyes to his.

  “You made Alex and me be what we are?”

  “No, I did not. They did.” I said pointing at Jeremy.

  “Then you will have to answer to your atrocities.” He said as he lunched forward trying to bite Jeremy on the neck, but Jeremy had his elbow to Max’s throat not letting his teeth close on to his flesh.

  “Max calm down” I said as I came inches to him and slapped his head as he stopped snarling at Jeremy and standing up. His hands flew straight to his head like before.

  “Sorry Miss Sara.” He said scratching the back of his head and smiling.

  I rolled my eyes as Jeremy stands from the ground patting his suit and looking at Max with his brow arched downward his lips tighten and Max only smiled.

  “Kid, you better wipe that smile from your face or God help me….”

  “You’ll what?” Max said leaning from his waist letting his arms go to his sides and arching from the elbow and snarling like a dog at him. Jeremy backed away a little, first time I saw him moved away from anything.

  “Max!” I screamed as if he was a bad dog and he straightens back scratching his head.

  “Shall we continue?” Jeremy said

  “Not yet.” I said

  “Why?” Max asked.

  “My question was never answered.”

  “Yes it was”

  “No. you did explain what Marino did, but you never explained why you let him do it.”

  Jeremy let out a breath of air, as if he was tired and weary. His shoulder slumped downward and he looked defeated, like he was about to reveal something worse than killing two woman for a stupid experiment. I thought back to when we were in the hotel looking over the crowd at the cops. About how he was talking to me about everything he wanted at the moment, they had identified two and I thought that they could be an experiment they had let out. And I was right. Max and Alex were created, not natural, not like me.

  “Sara, please let’s do this another time, our priority is finding this Alex guy.” He said putting one hand to his forehead and moving his head from side to side, as if he had a headache, he closed his eyes for a second or two. “Please?”

  “Okay, but you don’t look so good are you sure you want to continue?”

  “Yes, don’t worry about me.” He said

  We kept walking inside the fertilizer plant, the rust had already taken over all mayor joints of the plants tubing system, some were broken some were so rusted that touching them felt like sandpaper on my hands. We climbed some rusty ladders and the sounds of our steps echoed loud, big metallic clanks and clicks. I felt like small screeching mice roaming around looking for food in the kitchen.

  Inside the plant; was dark, and damp. I could see ferns and another species of fauna growing from the crevices of the splintered walls. Jeremy took out a flashlight turning it on making my sight better. The beam of light hits the end to an empty wall. We heard some rust
ling to our left and he turned the light to where the sound came from, then the sound came from the right. Like robbers we moved silently, moving the beam of light from side to side. Now silence had fallen as we intently looked for any signs of Alex. Then the rustling started again, like paper being thrown to the floor and people moving them away with their slow steady feet. My mind went on to and alert state.

  “What you think is that sound?” I whispered to Jeremy. My voice so low that I thought he didn’t hear me.

  “Don’t know, could be Alex, could be the wind picking up something.” Jeremy said

  “Miss Sara?” I heard max say in another wispy voice, “Please turned your light to the right, like, right now.”

  Jeremy did as Max asked him to do; three, there were three who had come back and were just sitting there with their heads down, they were all covered in blood and their eyes were blacken with bloodied tears, like streams falling on their cheeks. They had broken throats and open bellies, their entrails on the floor. Then we heard the voice, gurgling in the shadows as if it was a disembodied sound from the grave and beyond echoing in the fertilizer plants wall.

  “Welcome, I bid you a good morning.” said Alex.

  “Come here, let’s talk face to face.” I said.

  “Aw, you sweet thing I am not that naïve, saw you in the forest remember you are like me.”

  “I’m nothing like you, you got it all wrong.”

  “Humph, I do? Let me ask you, have you heard the name Sara Garber? I am looking for her she is my mother and I want her to meet my children,” He said and I knew he could see us.

  “Your children?” I asked to the ethereal voice and looking back to the three in chains.

  “Those three at your back.”

  “I read your journal; you don’t want to show her, you want to kill her.”

  “Aw, yes I do and I intend to once I find her.”

  “Then you are not smart.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m Sara Garber. I’m the one you’re looking for.” I said and a bear like growl echoed in the blackened night made from the enclosed room we are in. A hard clank was heard left then right the three that had come back turned their face up looking at us as gurgling growls were heard. They were different from the others I have seen wake up. One spoke.

  “Help, me.” he said his voice a little raspy and hissing like a serpent. The other at his side looked at him as he extended his hand forward and a shot echoed as Jeremy shots him straight between the eyes. His head jerked backwards, hitting the wall where the body was resting. The thrust of the bullet tearing through his head was so violent that his head hit the wall and made him moved forward again landing flat on its face. As the body fell with the hissing and raspy voice I could hear in my head ‘Thank you’.

  Chapter Eleven

  Inside that room with darken silhouettes of those in chains at the wall; we stayed close together in the middle, making a triangle, looking every side possible. Alex still was making the growling noises. Max was silently behind me and so was Jeremy. The triangle was tight our bodies touching I could sense a fearless Max and a scared Jeremy. He was the only human in this room and he knows the danger we do possess for him. The other two who came back, were trying to get to him, but they were chained to the wall by the necks, something I saw as soon as the first one went down. Alex called them his children, what was he up to? I raised my hands and called out.

  “Alex, come here, let’s talk.”

  “Fuck you; you made me this, this… thing. You shall pay for what you did”

  “Alex please, there has to be something we could do?” said Max stepping forward looking up and to both sides. I felt a sharp pain in my arm as Alex had run towards me taking a small bite of my forearm. I did not scream just put my hand to it to stop the bleeding.

  “Sara you okay?” Jeremy asked.

  “Yea, it’s nothing.”

  “You will pay.” Alex voice rumbles again.

  “We should get out of here.” Max said

  “We can’t just leave him here alone; look at what he did to them.” I said

  “You don’t understand, at least we know he is here.”

  “We need him, we can’t risk it.”

  All of a sudden a flash of bright light lit the room as if the sun had just come inside. I put my hand over my eyes as I felt the sharp pain of the punch in my stomach. I fall backwards, my head hitting the floor hard and my red hair spilling around, like if I had hit my head in a corner and split it open, blood oozing outside of it and now was around me. I turned my head and Alex was panting over me the shadowy figure came closer as I saw his eyes, black, with streaks of small veins growing from his socket to his cheeks, same as the three he had turned. Then his body jerked all around, as if he was being punished with electrical shots. He growls and hissed curses to me and I looked left over his shoulder, Mariano had a Taser gun pointing forward with his right hand as his left was behind his back, he was smiling. No words were spoken as he shot him again and Alex went down.

  As they grabbed Alex and put him on a cage. I looked at him with astonishment. His long blond hair looked white from the intensity of the light. He leans forward a little and offered me his hand. I swing my right hand and smack his hand away. He drew back his hands as I stood. My brow arched downward my lips were so tight that not even a needle could part them. In front of him now, I’m so mad at what Jeremy had said that I just smacked his cheek hard, but not with all my strength. Marino stood there looking at me his hand to his left cheek, now red.

  “You’re welcome would be nice” he said after a while caressing the hurt from his face.

  “What’s the cage for?” I asked

  “For his safety, you understand don’t you?”

  “No I don’t, how did you found us.”

  He signaled Jeremy with his index finger and made waves from it telling him to come to his side. Jeremy does as told. I could see how Jeremy wanted to do something about it, but could not. It was like the dog and its master, always doing what the master wanted and never being able to be himself. I felt sorry for the dog.

  Jeremy now at Marino’s side gave him a small black box with an antenna and a small red light flickering, it looked like a tracker. Marino was treating him even worse than a dog. I bet he even has a listening device attached to him to. What if, it was the case and Jeremy was always talking to me with a hidden message. I tried to remember our conversations just to see if there was something, but nothing stood out of the ordinary father, daughter conversation, yet.

  I looked back and I could not see max anywhere. Where did he go? Then I heard him as he hollers.

  “Miss Sara, you got to see this.” He screamed from a far of place I didn’t see.

  “Where are you” I screamed back and look around

  “At the back you won’t believe this.”

  We all look from where his voice was coming and ran towards him. There was a metal door all crusted in a brownish moss, rust. It squeaked as Marino opened it and the sun hit our faces. The flood light Marino used made us not even squint at the sun’s light. When my eyes landed on Max he was leaning forward on a hole about twenty feet deep, probably one of the fertilizers plant mixing station.

  “What is it?”

  “You won’t believe this.” He said with total aw in his face, a smile and eyes opened wide “it’s amazingly disturbing.”

  We all walked to his side and looked down, seventeen corpses were moving around with the same sunken black eyes all already turned.

  “What in hell?” Marino asked as he got a radio out of his pocket and hollered urgently some orders. I looked at Jeremy and he nudges his shoulders upward as the first of seventeen looked up.

  “Please let us out.” said one of them.

  “We are hungry.” said another

  I could not believe my eyes, was Alex building an army? Or was he only playing with us. Some men brought Alex still in the cage growling, hitting the bars hard and
the cage creeks and jerks with every hit.

  “What are you planning?” asked Marino firmly to Alex.

  “Her death.” He said pointing at me.

  “Why?”

  “You are the cause of all this” he said growling baring his teeth. The anger in him so intense that you could even smell the faint desperation he had and the same metallic smell arouse stronger now. Max looked at him with concern eyes and sadness.

  “Alex, Miss Sara is not the bad person here.” He said standing at my side.

  “Yes she is. She has you under her spell Max. After all we have been through you still are a naïve little boy. Don’t you remember what I told you?”

  “I do remember Alex; I do, but see here, Miss Sara is the first, as you said earlier she should be considered our mother of some sorts.”

  “No I’m not.” I said twisting my head towards Max. My hair flew up as the wind picked up, I thought on getting it short again.

  “Max, you insane little bastard aren’t you, I bet you want to fuck her too.”

  “That is sick Alex, didn’t you hear what I said.”

  “I did, still it makes no sense to me,” he said as he threw himself again at the cage, it rattled and I could see some bars loosening.

  “Be mindful this stupid contraption of yours won’t hold me for long.” He said as he threw himself to the bars.

  Marino took the Taser again changing the yellow cartridge and shooting at Alex one more time. He screams as his body twisted and jerks again this time he falls to bottom of his cage and started laughing.

  “You are next boss.” He said

  “Boss?”

  “Don’t listen to him.” Marino said as he changed the cartridge again.

  “I did not escape the lab two years ago he let me out to find you.” He said with a smile on his face.

  “Marino?” I asked

  “That’s a lie!” he screamed back at him.

  “Whether it’s a lie or not, what are you going to do to Alex now?” I asked

  “None of your fucking business, as of now, you’re free to go, but Max has to come with us.” Marino said and Max bare teeth and growled.