Vasile stumbled back and covered his ears. He staggered away, trying to escape the sound.
Suddenly the noise stopped. Vasile clenched his teeth and whirled around, pointing his gun. The creature was gone.
Vasile’s punctured eardrums couldn’t hear Emily’s screamed warning. He spun around, aiming his pistol with one hand and clutching a bloody ear with the other.
The creature seemed to appear out of thin air, its armor flushing into different colors and textures. The pistol flew from Vasile’s grip even as he realized what he was seeing. Dagger-like fingers dug into Vasile’s shoulder and he cried out.
With methodical movements, the multi-colored beast began to strike and break every bone in Vasile’s body. It grabbed his arm, braced against his chest, then tore the limb free. Vasile screamed as the creature repeated the process with his other appendages, then fell silent as it pulled off his head.
Jarrod held the scarred face up to his own for a moment. Then, quivering, he dropped it and fell forward.
The men on the boat looked on in horror. Emily broke the silence by shouting, “This is why I was put in charge of you morons. You have no idea what you’re dealing with. Two of you, come with me. The rest of you, finish tying everything down so we can get underway.”
Jarrod awoke to the rumble of a motor. He could see the sky above him and feel the boat bouncing on the waves, but he couldn’t move.
He was lying unbound on the floor of the vessel. Emily sat in a chair near his feet. He strained with all his might to sit up, but only managed to jiggle his foot.
Emily turned around. “Oh good, you’re awake.” Putting a hand up, she added, “Please, don’t get up on my account.”
She carefully stepped over him and sat down on the deck beside him. With a grunt, she pulled his head into her lap.
“You are as solid as a rock!” she said with a coy smile. “But don’t get any ideas; my heart belongs to another man, and I love him for his mind.”
The sea around them lost its brown tinge, changing to a dark blue.
“You really disappointed me, Jarrod. I was counting on you to cut loose at Hillcrest and shake things up. You were supposed to kill everyone there and draw the security out of the test sight. Because of you, we had to kill the guards. And then you killed off most of our men!”
She patted him on the chest. “But don’t be too hard on yourself. After all, I was the one who turned you into such a magnificent killing machine.”
Emily signaled to two of the men and they grasped Jarrod by the arms. She continued speaking as they dragged him away.
“I really was against Nerium from the start, you know. It has always been about Lateralis for me. Surely you can understand why I acquired the corpse of your lovely wife—you were just too dangerous. As soon as you arrived at Hillcrest, I knew Wagner would single you out for the program, so I took her body as insurance.”
The two men propped Jarrod precariously at the rear of the vessel.
“I saw an opportunity with you, Jarrod,” Emily shouted over the roar of the motors. “I would set you free, and see how you fared against the security team. With the proper precautions in place, I thought I might even be able to control you. I figured I could at least manipulate you into helping me get what I wanted.”
She sighed. “But I was wrong. You saw through my plan and killed off my men, even poor Vasile.”
Her face lit up and she shrugged. “But no matter. I have the technology to make all the soldiers I need. And they’ll be a lot more cooperative than you’ve been.”
She gave another nod and one of the men reached under Jarrod’s back.
“I don’t know if all that metal and muscle will do you any favors out here, Jarrod,” She said. “Something tells me you don’t float very well.”
The man heaved upwards, and Jarrod toppled overboard. His ebony body tumbled in the wake and vanished beneath the surface.
Epilogue
San watched the rain drops slide down his kitchen window. The sorrow and mourning were crippling; he had not ventured outside his home for nearly two weeks. Betrayal, manipulation, evil and death seemed to be the world’s only tangible truths. Emily was his friend, he was as sure of it as he was sure that the sun rose in the east. For years, her smile, compassion, and witty sarcasm had brightened his days.
But she wasn’t his friend. He didn’t know how deep her deception ran, whether she ever cared for him or his family, but it didn’t matter. Dozens of people were dead because of her.
He blinked, and saw the image of Marcus’s smiling face. Anguish washed over him, but it didn’t bring tears to his eyes. The time for weeping had passed. The memories of his lost friends brought pain to his chest, but they also carried a burning resolve. He could not undo what had transpired, but he could stand against her. Whatever Emily planned to do with the dangerous technology she now possessed, he would try to stop it.
The front door creaked open, then closed. Footsteps sounded on the living room floor, and Daron and Eugene entered the kitchen. Without a word, they opened the insulated case and placed their cell phones inside. Their faces were grave, but curious as they joined San at the table. They had no idea why he had summoned them.
The pressure changed as the front door opened and closed once more, though no sounds accompanied the newly arrived guest. San gripped the hand-written note in his hand, and smiled.
THE END
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Forging the Nightmare Page 24
