by C S Allen
I decided to sit closest to the door so I took a corner chair and sat down. I purposely picked that spot in case I needed to get out of the room quickly.
“William, why sit so far away?” Michelle asked, as she sat down at the other end of the table.
As she sat down, the door behind her opened, and about eight men walked in the room. A couple had white lab coats on, two were from the military and were wearing their dress uniforms, and the others were wearing suits. No one sat down beside me or sat at the end of the table for some reason. Every one of the men had a pad to write on and writing utensils to take notes for whatever reason to come. No one said anything as they took their seats, and occasionally, they would look at me.
A woman then came in the room and gave Michelle a few sheets of paper and a pen and whispered something to her. The woman and Michelle looked at me at the same time, causing me to become paranoid.
“Thank you, Maggie,” I heard Michelle say as the woman left the room. “Okay, everyone, this meeting is about our first civilian interaction with the test subject. At the end of our table we have William, who had the unfortunate account of being attacked by the test subject. But before we get started, we need to have William sign off on a confidentiality clause,” Michelle stated, as she got up from her seat and walked over to me with some papers and a pen. She then put them down in front of me and said to read it all and then sign on the last page. “William will be signing this agreement that states he will not ever mention to anyone what he has witnessed these past few days and what he is about to hear in this room. For William’s silence, he will be paid approximately seven hundred thousand dollars from us. He witnessed his three friends being killed, he witnessed a police officer being killed, and he witnessed another officer dying from being bitten from our test subject. Now, if at any time William speaks to anyone in his family, his friends, his future spouse, or his dog about what he has seen, he will be shot,” Michelle stated, while walking slowly around the table.
I tried to listen in on what she was saying, but I was trying to read what she had put in front of me. All I heard was seven hundred thousand dollars and being shot. The people around the table laughed when Michelle said that I would be shot.
“I got your attention, William?” Michelle said, as she came around the table toward me. “I can’t go on any further everyone until William signs the last page, so we’ll just wait,” Michelle said sarcastically, while folding her arms and staring at me.
I had three pages to read over, and all I could get to read was page one. Michelle was impatient as I was trying to read and comprehend the contract written by an attorney. There were things in there that I couldn’t begin to understand what they meant, and it was complicated. As I got to the part where the government would pay me thousands of dollars, I understood that part. And on the last page, if I told anyone at any time during my lifetime, I would have to pay back all of the money and be sent to a federal prison without a possibility of parole. I didn’t know what to do. My friends had died, and I should just keep quiet about them? “Michelle, my friends were killed by that spider. What about them?” I asked.
“Oh, don’t worry about them; they will be taken care of, including compensation for the parents.”
“Will the parents know anything about how their son or daughter was killed?” I asked Michelle.
“If you sign the contract, I can tell you everything,” Michelle said, pointing at the papers.
I heard someone clicking his pen as I looked at the last page. It sounded like it was echoing in the room as it was so quiet in there. I took a deep breath in and signed the last page and slowly let my breath go out. Michelle quickly picked up the papers and walked back over to her seat at the other end of the table.
“Now, William had a question about whether his friends’ parents will know how their son or daughter was killed. The answer to that question is, no, they will not know how they really died. Your friends’ parents will find out that their son or daughter died in a horrible fire. The cabin somehow burned down, and all of them didn’t get out alive. Your friend Steve’s grandparents’ insurance will pay out whatever they can, and that will be the end of it,” Michelle stated smugly.
The door behind Michelle opened, and Dr. Ford walked into the room, leaving the door open. “Michelle, is everything in order for me to begin?” Dr. Ford asked, while pointing at the papers in Michelle’s hand.
“You’re all set, Dr. Ford,” Michelle replied, while holding up the papers. She then walked out of the room.
Dr. Ford closed the door behind her and cleared his voice as he turned around. “Let’s begin by asking Will some questions first, shall we, gentlemen?” Dr. Ford asked, as he slowly walked in my direction. “Will, how did the test subject kill your friends?” Dr. Ford asked.
“You mean the spider, right?” I replied.
“Yes, yes, of course, the spider. Did it jump on anyone and eat them?” Dr. Ford asked. He acted like he was excited to know the answer.
“Yes, the spider bit my friend’s face and took it off,” I replied sadly.
Dr. Ford then turned and started to slowly walk back the other way. “Did you ever witness the spider spraying anything out of its mouth?” Dr. Ford asked.
“No, I didn’t see any of that,” I replied.
“How did your friend Steven die?” Dr. Ford asked.
“Olivia was swimming with Steve at night, and then according to her, something grabbed Steve and pulled him underwater,” I said, trying to remember Olivia’s exact words.
“Did you ever see the spider jump or even walk across the treetops?” Dr. Ford asked, turning back around.
“Yes, I’ve seen the spider on the trees,” I replied.
“And how did the helicopter crash land in the trees?” Dr. Ford asked, fidgeting with his hands.
“The spider took down the helicopter with its webbing,” I stated.
“So that’s how the helicopter came down? The spider used its web to take down the helicopter? That’s incredible! I didn’t know that before!” Dr. Ford stated with a smile.
I was starting to wish that I hadn’t signed anything after seeing the damn smile on Dr. Ford’s face. In the back of my mind, I was guessing that he was the one responsible for my friends’ deaths. He had created the spider somehow and let the damn thing loose to kill people.
“Did you create that spider?” I asked Dr. Ford.
“Well, I can’t take all of the credit, but I did most of the work,” Dr. Ford said with a smile.
“Why did you let it out?” I asked, causing Dr. Ford to no longer smile.
“I didn’t let the test subject out, but someone here in this facility did without authorization,” Dr. Ford stated angrily.
“Why would you create such a monster, Dr. Ford? I mean, it killed people, innocent people; my friends didn’t deserve what happened to them,” I said sadly.
“The spider was created to be a battlefield weapon. No more soldiers on the battlefield getting wiped out just to get a few bad apples. Imagine you were a soldier in the jungles of Vietnam during that war, and we used one hundred weaponized spiders to kill the North Vietnamese army instead. One hundred spiders could wipe out an entire battalion of eight hundred men. The spiders would go into tunnels and seek out the enemy and destroy them all before they knew what hit them. Then we would release more and more spiders in that country until they gave up. Imagine your friends right now in the military having to go kill the enemy in North Korea, the Middle East somewhere, or even in South America, but now we have weaponized spiders to handle most of the killing. That’s why we’ve created this spider, to protect ourselves in the future. These military generals who are sitting here with us today, at this table, can tell you that if we can create something that can save soldiers’ lives, then it should be done. They want it done, and so do all of us here in this building. Your friends didn’t die in vain, William. Believe it or not, your friends are heroes; they proved that our test subject wor
ks!” Dr. Ford stated with great enthusiasm while he continued to pace the floor.
“So, what about Olivia? Is she going to be okay?” I asked Dr. Ford eagerly.
“What? Oh yes, yes, Olivia is going to be fine. She’s at one of our medical facilities getting treatment,” Dr, Ford replied, waving his hand like it didn’t matter to him about Olivia.
“I’d like to see her before I go home if that’s possible,” I said.
Dr. Ford then walked over to the end of the table and pressed a button on the box. “Michelle, can you come in here please and escort William to his next place?” Dr. Ford asked, while staring at me.
“Dr. Ford, I’d like to see Olivia,” I stated, this time being more aggressive.
“William, I’m only a scientist. I’m not in charge of you. Ask Michelle, she has all of the answers,” Dr. Ford replied with that stupid smile of his.
The white door opened, and Michelle walked in. “I’ll take William off of your hands, Dr. Ford,” Michelle stated, as she closed the door behind her. No one said a word in the room, and they watched Michelle walk down to me at the end of the table. “William, it’s time to go. If you’ll just follow me, we’ll be on our way,” Michelle said. Then she walked past me and out the glass door.
I stood up and took one last look around the table at everyone and then followed Michelle out the door. Michelle was in a hurry for some reason because she didn’t wait for me. She just kept walking down the hallway, and it pissed me off. So, I decided to just take my time and not bother to catch up with her by running. I came to the elevator where I had come in at and decided to go in it. The door was already open so I pushed the open button for the other side. The elevator door closed behind me, and all of a sudden, I was going down instead of getting out. “Oh my God,” I said out loud.
The elevator stopped and then opened for me to get out. On the wall directly in front of me there was a sign. It read ‘Test Subject One and Two.’ Below that there were arrows pointed in opposite directions.
“Two test subjects?” I said. That got my attention since the spider was test subject one. I had already signed the confidentiality agreement, so I wanted to see what the other test subject was. I took a right off the elevator and went down another hallway that led to three steps down and then three more steps that turned left. “Holy crap,” I said, seeing a large room full of electronic devises, scientific lab equipment, rubber protective suits, and a wall with a huge glass window.
No one was working in that room, and the only things making sounds were monitors, beakers, and something tapping on the glass window. My heart was beating fast, and I knew that I would be found shortly, so I ran to the wall with the glass window in it. The wall had a room behind it with the glass protecting the observer. I heard the tapping noise again, and this time it was directly around my feet, so I put my forehead against the glass to see directly down inside the room. It’s a scorpion! It was maybe three feet long with a tail that was about two foot long. It was hitting the wall with its claws like it was shadow boxing.
“William!” Michelle shouted, as she came down the steps. I jumped, hearing my name shouted out like that. “What the hell are you doing in here? Get out now!” Michelle yelled, as she pointed back up the steps from which I’d come.
I didn’t answer her question; I just went in the direction she pointed. “Well, maybe you should have waited for me,” I said, as I passed Michelle to go up the steps.
Michelle followed behind me and then told me to stop once I got to the hallway. “You do not go anywhere in this building without me escorting you, do you understand that?” Michelle asked, as she walked up beside me.
I didn’t like her tone of voice and the way I was being treated, so I gave back to her what she had given. “Okay, well, don’t just take off and expect me to run after you. I don’t like having to chase you down like I’m some kind of eight-year-old. If you give me respect, I’ll give it in return. Right now, it’s time for me to leave this place and see Olivia. I’ve already signed an agreement that I will be tight-lipped about this place and what happened at the camp. So, who’s bringing me to see Olivia?” I stated loudly.
Michelle got the message and took a second to think before she said anything. “Okay . . . all right . . . I hear what you’re saying, and I apologize to you. First, we have a problem with your friend Olivia. She is not going to survive the spider bite. Dr. Ford thought we could save her, but it was too late by the time we got her to the medical facility. She is being fed morphine for her pain, but she won’t last more than another hour or two tops,” Michelle stated. It didn’t seem to bother her.
“I need to see her. I don’t believe anything anyone says here,” I replied angrily.
“William, it will take an hour to get to her in a vehicle, and she’s already having seizures. How about we just get you back home to your parents?” Michelle stated.
“Olivia is the only friend I have left. I’m not going anywhere without seeing her first,” I said forcefully. Michelle just stood there and put her hands in her front pants pockets and looked away from me. “What’s the problem with me seeing her?” I asked, still being forceful.
“Have you seen any of the other victims or your friends dying from the test subject’s bite, William?” Michelle asked.
“Yes, I have,” I replied.
“So, you know what Olivia is going to look like then. She is going to be foaming at the mouth, with her eyes rolled back in her head, and her face may be disfigured. Do you want to remember her looking like that for the rest of your life? No amount of money we offer you will ever erase that image from your head, ever. She isn’t going to make it, Will, she’s almost dead,” Michelle stated.
“What’s going to happen to her body when she dies?” I asked sadly.
“Olivia will be brought back to the cabin to be with your other friends,” Michelle said somberly.
“If you have all of the answers to everything, what about the two policemen who came to help us?” I asked eagerly.
“Don’t you worry about them, just worry about yourself, William,” Michelle stated. She sounded mad. “How are you going to explain to your other college friends what happened at your camp? Your family and your friends’ families know that the five of you went up there to go camping. What are you going to say to them?” Michelle stated with a grin.
“Well, what the hell am I supposed to say? I’m the only survivor of a fire? No one has given me a story to tell,” I stated angrily.
“Follow me,” Michelle said. We retraced our steps and had another ride in the elevator back to the conference room. “Have a seat, William, over there by the conference box on the table. I’ll be right back,” Michelle said. She went to the white door and slid a card through the security box.
I sat in that room for about a half hour before Michelle came back in the room with a big man dressed in a suit. The man in the suit sat down beside me, and Michelle picked a chair to sit across from me. “William, the person sitting beside you has a couple of names; one of them is Tom. Tom is a former pro wrestler, a former army Green Beret, former FBI agent, and now freelancer for the government. Tom’s other names are the Intimidator, Sniper Man, Ghost, Killer, Ball Buster, and the Terminator. Tom is a gentle giant, even though he’s six feet seven inches tall and weighs over three hundred pounds. You don’t want to get on his bad side because he can stomp a mud hole in your ass,” Michelle said with a smile on her face while she looked at me.
“Glad to meet you, Will. I’m Tom,” the man sitting beside me said, while he put out his hand to shake mine.
“Hello,” I said, giving out my hand to shake his. Tom’s hand was almost double the size of mine. As we shook hands, I could feel the incredible strength Tom possessed, and it amazed me. I never have seen anyone so big in my life until that moment.
Then Tom pulled my hand close to his chest and said, “Don’t screw up, kid, or you’ll be seeing me real soon.” Then Tom squeezed my hand again, and it made me win
ce in pain. “Or you may not see me coming at all,” Tom stated, as he let go of my hand and then stood up. “Michelle, it was a pleasure as always, thanks for introducing me to the kid.” Tom patted me on the back as he excused himself from the table and went over to the white door and used a card to open the door.
Once Tom had left the room, Michelle turned to me and said, “Where was I? Oh yeah, you are the only survivor of the fire. You survived the fire because you were passed out drunk in your friend’s car the night when the fire started. You went out to the car for some reason, but you can’t remember why. You were too drunk to remember anything. And you won’t remember anything for the rest of your life, right?” Michelle asked, as she leaned across the table.
I agreed to not say anything about what I knew and how everything had transpired. I felt like I was abandoning Olivia because I had told her everything was going to be okay. I wanted desperately to see her or her body if she died. Michelle told me to stay in the room while she left again. She was going after someone who was going to bring me back to the college dorms to get everything that I had there. I wasn’t going to return to the school my senior year, and I was to live out my life getting a job that didn’t require a college degree.
After all, how would I explain that I had hundreds of thousands of dollars if someone found out? I would have to find a job and live in an apartment until a year or so later, and then I could buy a house. My parents were going to be happy that I had survived the fire, but unhappy that I was not returning to school. How would my parents know there was a fire if it was not reported in the news? They wouldn’t know anything unless someone told them. So, no one would know anything until my friends’ parents couldn’t get in touch with them. That meant that it might take a week before the other parents started looking and asking questions.
The white door opened while I was in deep thought, startling me, which caused me to twitch. A man in his mid-thirties and average height and build came into the room and closed the door behind him. “William, let’s get you back to your college to collect your things and then we can get you home,” the man said, as he walked down the side of the table and headed toward the glass door. “Follow me to the car that we’re taking.” The man didn’t introduce himself.
