Escape from Happytown (April Almighty Book 3)

by Tim Miller

  Chapter 23

  April didn’t feel like herself anymore. She was starting to realize what she was, a mass murderer. Granted, everyone she’d killed had either been a murdering sociopath or someone who protected them, but the fact she had no trouble killing these people in the most disgusting ways she could imagine troubled her greatly. After she made the one doctor cut out his own heart until he collapsed, she made Doctor Cassidy eat it as if it were an apple.

  It took him awhile, along with several breaks to throw up but he managed to get the whole thing down. Even April was impressed, though when Cassidy looked up at her, his mouth being smeared with red, bloody goo reminded her of those fucked up clowns in Happytown. Once he ate the heart, she was now watching several of the female staffers shoving various objects up his ass. His screams filled the halls as two girls held him down across a desk while two other jammed whatever they could find up there.

  They’d already gotten a ruler, several pens and a sharpie in there.

  “Come on, there’s still room in there,” April said. “

  “Shouldn’t we keep going? We have a few more floors yet,” Isis warned.

  April looked around before taking a deep breath. Isis was getting on her nerves, but she had a point.

  “You’re right. Finish him off.”

  Isis walked over and flipped one of the MP-5’s off her shoulder and into her hands. She fired it at the group along the desk and giggled as their insides splattered against the wall. The doctor flopped off the desk and lie on the floor twitching. April shook her head as they headed up the next stair well. There was more security up there waiting for them. April took control of them easily enough as one man was in an office typing something frantically into a large computer terminal. She used her mind to double him over as he ejaculated all over himself.

  A woman ran screaming out of an office from behind her carrying a large syringe. Before April could react, the woman tackled April, thrust it into her arm and pushed the plunger. Immediately April felt weak and woozy. Fuck! The inhibitor! She had no doubt that is what the lady injected her with, and it felt like a really high dosage too. At least, much higher than the ones she’d been previously given.

  Isis gunned down the woman as April stumbled to her feet.

  “You ok?” Isis asked.

  “I’m not sure.”

  “What the hell she stick you with?”

  “It’s this inhibitor. It’s supposed to keep me from doing what I can do. These people were trying to cut me open earlier and study me like some biology experiment.”

  “That is fucked.”

  “Let’s go see if anyone else is here,” April said as they moved through the hall. They walked around each office checking doors until they reached the end of a hall and a large, steel double doors.

  “What the fuck is this?” Isis asked.

  “I have no idea.”

  There were warning signs all up and down the doors that said “Warning” and “Caution” among other things. They were locked with no way to see what was in there. April turned to her group.

  “Anyone know what is in there? Or how to get in?” April asked, but none of them answered. She rolled her eyes and looked at the group. “Ok, someone has about two fucking seconds to tell me how to get in this room and what is in here, or I’ll make each of you scratch your own eyes out.”

  She looked as they all stared at each other, all looking horrified.

  “One!” April called out, still nothing. “Two!”

  “Wait!” A little old man in a lab coat came pushing his way to the front. “I work back there some times. It is where we keep our, um, specimens.”

  “Specimens? What the fuck does that mean?”

  “Like projects that didn’t go well or have the desired result. They may still have research value. So we keep them here,” he explained.

  “Open this fucking door,” she ordered.

  “I have to enter my passcode.”

  “Then get up here and do it!”

  The little man walked up to the door and opened a panel along the wall, exposing a keypad. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a pair of glasses, unfolded them and placed them onto his face. He put them on and began punching in keys on the pad. After a few seconds, there was a hissing sound as the deadbolt on the large doors slid to the side, and the door popped open. April pushed it the rest of the way open and stepped inside.

  There were men and women in lab coats who all looked as if they’d just been caught with their hands in a cookie jar. They froze in their tracks as April tried to take hold of their minds, but was unable with the recent injection of the inhibitor. It apparently didn’t affect those she already had a hold of, but she couldn’t control anyone new. She’d overcome the inhibitor before, but this was a huge dose. Her legs still felt weak and shaky.

  Isis picked up on her difficulty though and just shot everyone in sight. She seemed to be enjoying her new toy. Though if she knew April was weak, she might try something. April didn’t trust the girl at all, even as her own mind was fading toward the darkness. There were lots of weird sounds, like people crying and moaning. They walked past what looked like a nurse’s station and past several rooms. The whole area looked like a hospital floor, more so than the area they’d held her earlier.

  The moaning and crying got louder as they reached one of the rooms.

  “What the fuck?” Isis said.

  April saw it too and couldn’t believe what she was seeing either. There on the bed was a human body strapped down. The body was wiggling and writhing except it didn’t have a head. Well it did, but not attached. On a pedestal next to the bed, was the man’s head, mounted on some kind of post. There was a series of wires and cables coming from the man’s head and leading to his stump on his body. The man was looking down and crying, but it looked straight at April and its eyes lit up, showing something it probably hadn’t felt in a long time. Hope.

  “Help me! Please! You can help me!” the thing cried. It was a man, but somehow being kept alive. April looked at Isis who, for the first time since they’d been together, looked horrified.

  Chapter 24

  Grant walked through the hall and approached the corner. He heard some commotion up ahead. His stomach tightened as he realized they may have found the research floor. April had been on one of the observation floors, but never saw this area. Hardly anyone did. Grant had only been in there once and vowed never again. He could still turn back and disappear, but no point in that now.

  As he turned the corner he was right. The rest of the center’s staff was standing around just inside the research area, looking terrified. He knew he had to be careful not to get within April’s line of sight so as not to fall under her spell. Carefully he crept in behind, a few of the staff saw him, he put his finger over his lips as if to say “shh!” As he worked around the back side of the group, he spotted April and the other girl standing inside staring at the headless body with the living head.

  That was new. Last time he’d been up this way, there was no dismembered head that could still talk. Though it was probably the least odd thing on this floor. Cassidy had told him they do various studies on the human body and nervous system. One thing they seem to enjoy is seeing under what degree of dismemberment and transformation the body and brain can continue to function. The whole thing seemed sick to him, but they claimed it was in the name of science and progress.

  He wasn’t even sure where they found these poor souls. Rumor had it they had a deal with the prison system. That wouldn’t have surprised him in the least. Grant couldn’t help but think that no matter what a person did, being experimented on like this wasn’t something anyone deserved. None of that mattered at the moment. Nothing he could do to help these folks. But he could rescue the rest of this staff from April and her pal.

  Slowly he raised his gun, zeroing in on the back of April’s head. It was a dead shot at this distance. As he squeezed the trigger, her partner glanced at him, spun around an
d opened fire. He managed to dive out of the way, but the crazy bitch had no regard for any of the staff standing around. Several went down around him as blood showered him. Lying face down he low crawled down the hallway to the next room.

  More gunshots splintered the doorway just as he ducked into the room and slammed the door shut. As he gathered himself, there was a groaning sound from behind him. There strapped to the bed was a man in some kind of bubble with a heater going next to it. Inside the bubble, the man had no flesh at all and very little muscle. Grant could see the man’s heart beating between the exposed ribs and lungs breathing.

  The man let out additional groans as Grant looked at him. He couldn’t tell if the man was trying to communicate, or if he was just in so much pain he couldn’t not make noise. Grant shook his head as he nodded and looked back to the door. He heard the girls yelling at each other as one of them tried the door. More gunfire erupted as shots clanged against the heavy door, but nothing made it through the thick steel.

  He could probably stay holed up in there as long as he wanted, but that wasn’t the plan. Chances are they would fuck around with the door until they got in. They made it through the first set of doors. Sure enough in less than ten minutes someone was working the keypad just as the lock hissed and the door slowly opened. He kept his gun trained on the door waiting for the first sign of anyone.

  A woman’s head did appear around the corner and he fired. The bullet struck her square in the forehead as her body toppled to the ground. It wasn’t either of his attackers. It was some poor staff girl. Chances are she had no idea she’d die at her job when she got hired. Something they wouldn’t mention during orientation.

  The door burst open and at least a dozen of the staffers came charging in. Grant shot, knowing April was controlling all of them. He fired several shots until his gun was empty. He’d taken down four or five of them, but they kept coming. Some were crying, others were yelling while others just had blank expressions. Either way, he stood and began fighting them off, but they got him off balance, got him to the ground and piled onto him. He struggled but all these folks on him were either super heavy or really strong.

  More footsteps sounded as he looked up to see April and her friend,

  “My name is Isis, asshole,” the girl said. Now that was bizarre.

  April and Isis were staring down at him.

  “Thanks for giving me that head start,” she said.

  “Yeah. You owe me one.”

  “Maybe. I want to take control of your brain so badly, and make you do some really awful things to yourself. Problem is, I have to make you get off first. I hate to give you any sort of pleasure, but I might have to, at least let you feel one more good thing before all that suffering.”

  “Now why would you do that?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “Can I just blow his nuts off? We can still torture him, hell you can let me do this one,” Isis said.

  “You know what. That’s a good idea. Save his nuts though. We’ll cut those off last.”

  “I like how you think girl!” Isis said as April had them pick him up. Isis kicked the heater and machines away from the bed and looked at the skinned man within the bubble.

  “Jesus Christ,” she said. “You see this shit?”

  “I know. What other fucked up people you have up here?”

  “I don’t know. I never went up here. My job was in the field.”

  “Right. Rounding people like me up, or killing them. How honorable.”

  “Look, you think if you kill me you’re safe? I’m a single little worker bee in this big nest,” he said.

  “Whatever, this place is fucking wrecked, everyone is dead, and these guys all will be soon.”

  “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. You think this is their only place? Jericho Systems is everywhere and part of everything. They want me dead too thanks to you. They’re pissed you got away the first time. They just ordered me Dallas for a meeting. I knew it was a trap. Figured I’d at least try and take you out before you hurt anyone else.”

  “See? Such a noble man,” April scoffed.

  “Listen. We don’t have to keep killing each other or people around us. Your ability, or gift or whatever, its’ really strong. I can tell. Your dad told me all about you. You’re a sweet girl. Never hurt anyone, not until this came along. I—I think I can help you.” He was totally making this up as he went, but meant what he was saying. No way could he go back to Jericho. Maybe they could help each other. There was no chance in hell she’d go for it, but he had to try.

  For a minute, he thought she was considering his offer. Until she spoke.

  “Isis, put that guy on the table out of his misery and move him. You guys strap Cowboy Bob here to the table. Let Isis have a little fun.”

  This time he didn’t even try to struggle. There were too many of them and he was too tired. Now he just hoped he could change her mind, or that she killed him quickly.

  Chapter 25

  April figured out a way they could really fuck with this guy. She didn’t trust him at all, but part of her wanted him to be on the outs with Jericho. After the past several days of all the death and violence, the chance for some answers and maybe even a break really appealed to her. With what she had in mind for Grant, there was no way he could lie to them. They stripped him to his underwear and strapped him to the table.

  “Don’t fuck him up too bad,” April warned. “We may need him later. If I decide we don’t, then you can go to town.”

  “Oh don’t worry,” Isis said. “My old man did lots of shit on me that hurt like hell but didn’t leave marks.”

  “Well good. I think. Let’s get started.”

  “You’re making a big mistake,” Grant said. “Did you know your dad is the one who called me? He sent me to get you.”

  “Now you’re treading on dangerous ground asshole. So if I were you, I would tread lightly,” April warned.

  “Listen. I’m not lying to you. He knew you’d been gone too long and knew what you were capable of. He was worried for you. It wasn’t his fault they were going to kill you though. But he made a deal.”

  “Shut up!”

  “They were going to send him to Washington in exchange for you. He was going to be a deputy director. They told him you’d just be observed is all, not harmed,” Grant insisted.

  “Fuck him up,” April said.

  Isis smiled as she took a scalpel and began slicing the skin between his toes, not too deep, but deep enough to hurt. He grunted and tried to hold in a scream as she went from toe to toe making nice and slow incisions. Finally he let out a scream as Isis giggled.

  “This kind of makes me hot,” she said. “I never just tortured someone like this.”

  “You need serious help,” April said.

  “Right, miss make them cum with my brain.”

  April looked at him as his screams turned into moans. He struggled against the restraints as a bulge appeared in his shorts. He wiggled and grunted as he got closer to climax.

  “Cut him again,” April said.

  Isis took the scalpel and jabbed it into the bottom of his foot, slowly poking the pointy end through his flesh. His moans again turned to screams as April continued to use her mind, bringing him close to climax. She backed down after a few cycles of the pain/pleasure treatment as Grant was trying to catch his breath.

  “Pretty fucked up isn’t it?” April said. “You feel so good, so close to climax, then pain! Extreme pain! Then pleasure. I bet your body and mind don’t know what to do.”

  “You’re further gone than anyone thought April. If you want to kill me, just kill me. I told you we can help each other. I know a lot about Jericho, more than they think I know. If I helped you two, we could bring them down for sure.”

  “Just seems odd to me that you’d turn on them so quickly.”

  “They have a zero tolerance rule on mistakes. I finally made one.”

  “That you did,” April looked
at Isis. “Go back to work.”

  Isis started once again on his feet while April worked him back and forth on the brink of climax again. They did this for over an hour until April was satisfied Grant was telling her everything he knew. She finally let him climax as she took control of his mind and let him up.

  “Now get dressed. You can live for now, but under my control,” April said.

  “That’s not what I had in mind,” he said as he tended to his bloody feet, wrapping them in gauze before getting dressed.

  “I am what is in your mind, whether you like it or not. Now get dressed and let’s go.”

  Gunshots rang out as April spun around. Isis had the MP-5 on full auto and was mowing down the rest of the Jericho staff. She then went door to door and room to room, killing whatever abominations may have been lying beyond those doors. April was glad she didn’t have to see them at least.

  “Jesus Christ. You didn’t have to kill all these people!” Grant said.

  “They were guilty, just like you. Look at this place. All of them were a part of it. So you are going to help me bring Jericho down for good. And how many like me are out there?”

  “That we’ve located? Several dozen at least. Most are hard to find anymore. They keep a low profile and keep moving. You, for some reason can’t seem to help yourself.”

  “Yeah thanks. Let’s go.”

  They made their way out of the building and just down the street to where Grant was parked.

  “Where we going?” Grant asked.

  They wanted to see you in Dallas. So we’re going to Dallas,” April answered.

  “They’re going to kill me.”

  “No they’re not. Let’s go.”

  They drove north and out of San Antonio. No one had said much. Isis had even fallen asleep in the backseat. April jumped when Grant’s phone rang. She let him answer it and tried to listen to his half the conversation, but he didn’t say much. Finally he hung up and looked at her.