by Nathan Wall
“Oh, come on.” Oreios rolled his eyes. “You were counting on it. You were hoping that tool, Jackson, would blow my head off for the sake of it.”
“And yet, they say your kind is a bunch of halfwits.”
“Just as I am sure your golden boy reported,” Oreios looked at the floor, shrugging, “we went in, saved the day, and marched out. They all acted valiantly and with great honor. They deserve the Medal of Honor, the purple star, or whatever it is you hand out nowadays.”
Elliot put his right hand on the back of Oreios’ head, sending a shock through Oreios’ body and turning him hard as a rock. Elliot removed his hand, but Oreios remained stiff.
“One can’t possess one of the most brilliant minds known to man for as long as I have and not learn a few things.” Elliot stood and walked around Oreios several times. “Any moron can see there are gaps in Jackson’s timeline. Who filled them in? Lian? You? The red-headed bitch?”
“Why don’t you look into your new toy’s head and find out?” Oreios laughed, barely able to move his lips. “Oh wait, you can’t. I bet you didn’t quite expect that, did you?”
“He’s not my toy.” Elliot stood and looked away. “Again, you’re living up to your halfwit reputation.”
“Nah, I got you pegged.” Oreios chuckled. Elliot raised his hand and released Oreios from his solid state. “He’s why you hired me. How on Earth you got him to be near that town when I was there, I’ll never know, but I will say you’re a Clever Clogs.”
“You know, I could just let Jackson come in here and tear you to shreds.” Elliot leaned over and squeezed Oreios’ thighs. “I’m sure he’d have a field day.”
“Something tells me that cowboy has seen his last rodeo for quite some time.” Oreios leaned close and whispered into Elliot’s ear. “Anyway, I am pretty sure he owes me one. The red-headed bitch wanted to suck him dry.”
“So you spoke with her.” Elliot leaned away.
“Of course I did. She practically rolled out the welcome wagon for me.” Oreios leaned back and folded his arms behind his head. “That tends to happen when family makes its way back home.”
“Why did she let you go?”
“Nervous, are we?” Oreios wagged his finger in the air. “No, no. That’s all for me to know and for you to fret over. But if you’re wondering if she has the other half of your stone, the answer is no. You might as well stop looking.”
“And I am to believe the things you say?” Elliot took off his glasses, revealing eyes that glowed with a faint orange hue. “You’re a born liar.”
“You’re the demon. You know all about lies.” Anger overtook Oreios’ face. He briefly stood and then plopped back onto his bed. “If you’re not letting me go, then get the hell out of here.”
“I know what you want,” Elliot said, standing over Oreios. “It’s not cheap blowjobs on the beach. You want to be a real boy. Not just made of dirt and bound by flesh.”
“I’m sure you know all about what little boys want, don’t you?” Oreios’ right eyebrow arched while his other remained flat. “If you wouldn’t mind dimming the lights, all the carbs have made me tired.”
“That’s fine. Leave it at this and act against your best interest.” Elliot opened the door and looked at Oreios. “There is only one way to become real and to not dread what comes at the end of everything. You want to have a soul, just like all the other meat suits that walk this planet. You don’t want to evaporate into oblivion when you draw your last breath. You fear the fate that befell the rest of your kind, so you desperately masquerade among mortals, hoping to feel like them, all along compliantly riding this rollercoaster and wishing it never ends. But it does end and you know what will happen to you? Nothing. And that’s the worst fate of all. It doesn’t have to be that way. Zeus could figure out the breath of life, but someone even stronger figured out how to make a soul. That, my friend, is what got him cast out. Not pride.”
“You’re lying.” Oreios kept looking at the ceiling. “That’s all demons do.”
“Perhaps, but you’ll never know.” Elliot nodded. “I’ll be back soon to see if you’ve had a change of heart.”
* * *
Lian sat at the edge of her bed, looking out the massive window to the beautiful lush forest below and past that to a shoreline and water that seemed to continue for eternity. Her focus shifted from the beautiful scenery to the bars on her window. The illusion of freedom was still present, so she found herself wondering if she was just trading one form of captivity for another.
The sun, or whatever passed for a sun in this realm, slowly crept up from under the horizon and climbed on top of the silky waves. Lian walked over to the window and the soft breeze brushed against her cheeks, disheveling her hair. Her mind briefly relapsed to a day when she was younger. Before her time as a captive in Elliot and Sanderson’s agenda.
She was about six with a brother three or four years younger. She didn’t quite remember anymore. Her dad picked her up and tossed her into the air. She could hear the ocean waves crashing on the beach behind her. The tall city skyline of Hong Kong in the distance stood. Her hair fluttered in the wind that day, much as it was doing now.
She grimaced. Falling to her knees, her mind twitched as it recalled Austin’s thoughts. The people, she thought to herself. They don’t deserve what’s coming.
She pulled at her hair and rolled onto her back, kicking at the wall and floors with the heels of her feet. Her fingernails tore into her flesh, as her heart and head argued with one another. There was what she knew was right, and there was what her heart told her to do even though she questioned it—even though the desires weren’t her own. She couldn’t help it.
Her mind leapt out of her skin and an image of herself floated in the air over her sleeping body. She touched her hand to the wall and passed right through it. Other than sight, and the ability to hear that seemed to be split in two, the other three senses were connected to her body and not to her spirit that floated freely.
She looked at the door and drifted toward it. She passed through and into a grand hallway. At the far end to her left was the throne room. At the other end was a passageway leading to the cells and to Austin. That was the way she went. She floated along the spiraling staircase, passing through several barriers as she tried to recall as best she could how to find Austin.
The further away from her body she floated, the harder it was to concentrate and the more her consciousness phased in and out. She reached the level Austin was on, but felt the urge to go on further, deep underground to a section of the complex which was barricaded off. She followed her compulsions.
Arriving at a part of the complex that no light could touch, Lian floated aimlessly around. Passing through another wall, she entered a cell that was completely in the dark. Sounds from the outside world couldn’t even reach the inside of the cell. The only noise present came from a low, growling snore.
She stuck her hands out, wondering if she could interact with whatever else was in the cell with her. She passed her hand through the sleeping body. An electric current shot through her, and her body back in her room. Floating uncontrollably in circles, Lian finally steadied herself. She reached out once more, and again passed into the sleeping individual, sharing his state of mind and memories.
Suddenly she was on her knees, watching as someone she swore looked like Jarrod ripped her jaw from her face. She fell to the floor as another man, who closely resembled Jackson, picked her up from the floor and carried her away.
They landed in a meadow, her eyes shifting to the clear skies. Littered in the crystal sky were more stars than she’d ever seen. In the center of them was a full moon. Clouds took form, circling around her out of nothingness. A lightshow was on full display as bolts of electricity reached down for the ground. She turned her head and she saw the fury of the storm centered on a distant figure. She tried to focus on who it was when she felt herself shake back and forth. The feeling of someone squeezing her arms pulled her fro
m the visions. In a heartbeat, she was back inside her body, opening her eyes to find a guard standing over her.
“Are you ok?” he asked, rubbing her back. “I thought I heard you fall.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She nodded, standing up. Her feet were still a bit numb. She sat on the bed, thinking about what just happened.
* * *
“After every battle, I always return here to repair the damage to my suit,” Jackson said, pressing his hand on a scanner. The metal arm in the floor underneath him and Jarrod reached out toward the starstone in the center of the circular room. It latched onto the stone and retracted, bringing it closer. After a couple of seconds, a hatch opened up and Jackson retrieved the stone, handing it to Jarrod. “Go ahead. Hold it.”
Jarrod’s eyes widened, his hand slowly moving over the stone. It rocked back and forth in Jackson’s dual colored hand. When Jarrod’s palm hovered over it, pieces of metal flowed toward the tips of his fingers. He grabbed the stone and drained it nearly to its glowing core before Jackson pulled it away.
“Hold on there.” Jackson pushed Jarrod back with his left hand while his right held the stone back and out of reach. “A little restraint...”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know what was happening.” Jarrod stared at the stone, his heart beating uncontrollably and his mouth nearly salivating. He turned away and hunched over. “I need to rest. I haven’t slept in a while.”
Jarrod stumbled off while Jackson slowly put the stone back into its compartment, looking it over and carefully examining how it started to increase in size once again. Jarrod made his way into the weapons room, feeling off-kilter. He fell forward, crashing into a rack of rifles and rolled onto his back. Jackson hurried into the room and bent down next to Jarrod, putting a hand to his neck to check for a pulse.
Jarrod sat straight up and shook off the uneasy feeling, running his hand through his hair. He put his hand up, keeping Jackson at bay and slowly stood.
“I’m fine,” he said. “The dizzy spell is gone.”
“I think you—”
“—I said I’m fine,” Jarrod yelled, his voice echoing off the large walls. He squeezed Jackson’s wrist and then let it go, leaving behind indentions. “I’m going to get some sleep.”
Jarrod stormed off, leaving Jackson behind.
* * *
Sanderson stood alone in the observation room above the Double-Helix transformation chamber, looking down through the shattered two-way mirror into a wrecked scene. The room had been closed off after the Jarrod procedure as the future of the program was still under debate. The catalyst sat idle, still contained at incredibly cold temperatures.
Sanderson read the new proposals presented by Elliot, but was leery of what the results may show once put into practice. Using the Edward debacle as a launching pad could prove disastrous, but the allure of possibly changing anyone they wanted into a weapon would probably prove too much to ignore for the powers which controlled this place.
“You have reservations,” Elliot said, walking up behind Sanderson, placing a hand on his shoulders. “Everyone has them when they come face to face with a new world, staring at the brink of dawn.”
“Do you ever stop to think what it is we’re still doing here?” Sanderson slowly breathed, stepping to the side and allowing Elliot’s hand to fall from his shoulder. “We’re not the same men who started this over two decades ago. We’re no longer looking to help the world, but to control it.”
“Sometimes those things go hand-in-hand, don’t they?” Elliot asked.
“No, they don’t.” Sanderson shook his head, opening his file and reading the names on the new list of children being shipped in and fed dosages of the catalyst serum “PVH600” in order to boost their abilities. It was something he found out could happen when trying to help Sarah conceive a child, and the same serums he injected into Lian when she was a small girl. “We like to tell ourselves we do it to these kids because we have to... Because their souls are pure and the purest souls lead to the strongest results. But you and I both know that’s a lie. The youngest minds are the easiest to manipulate.”
“Do we?” Elliot smirked, staring down at the procedure room. The shackles and rigid tables of the Double-Helix chamber were Sanderson’s manipulation and way of hiding Subject 21. It burned a hole inside Elliot’s stomach. He wasn’t going to let Sanderson off the hook. No, there was another card to be played. “As far as I remember, we’ve never tested every serum on adults before, have we, Sanderson? There’s not something you’ve been hiding from me for, say… nearly twenty-two years...?”
“There’s a lot we’ve hidden from each other.”
“And yet, we used to be so close.” Elliot stepped back and walked around the room, standing in front of Sanderson. “It’s said that the truth will set you free.”
“What is truth, if not only varying degrees of perception?” Sanderson looked down, focusing on his reflection in Elliot’s sunglasses. “Do you ever take those things off?”
“I have sensitive eyes,” Elliot snapped back. “Enlighten me to your side of things.”
“I believe some secrets are better left unexplored. There’s a reason they’ve been hidden,” Sanderson whispered, laying a hand on Elliot’s shoulder and tightening his grip. “I know we’re talking about the same thing, but there is something soothing when it all goes unsaid, isn’t there?”
“It’s just a matter of time before I push you out completely,” Elliot whispered into Sanderson’s ear. “So if you want to stick around and at least see the new world unfold from a safer vantage point, then I recommend you fall in line. Jarrod—or is it Ryan—is just the first step of many. After all, I have twenty-plus years of lies and deception to make up for.”
“You’ll no doubt accomplish that by infecting everyone with this thing,” Sanderson growled, shaking his head. “What is it you call it?”
“Sundown.”
“Yeah, that,” Sanderson said in a breathy voice.
“Just imagine a world where no one is special because everyone is.” Elliot chuckled, spreading his arms wide. “A world where you evolve or die.”
“You’re insane.” Sanderson clenched his fists. “They’ll all see through you.”
“You’ve been looking at me for a long time and you haven’t yet seen me.” Elliot cockily threw himself into one of the large plush chairs.
“There’s no way you get it into everyone... They won’t want it.”
“There are always ways to make them beg for it.” Elliot sat forward. “I’ve been around long enough to understand human nature.”
“What happened to you?” Sanderson shook his head. “You used to exude hope and optimism.”
“I’m still very optimistic.”
“When did it all become this way for you?”
“Billy, my boy.” Elliot jumped to his feet, skipping up next to Sanderson. “You wouldn’t know it by looking at me, but it’s been this way since the dawn of time.”
“You know I’m going to stop you, right?” Sanderson glared at Elliot, not blinking.
“I know you’re going to try very hard,” Elliot laughed, smelling Sanderson’s skin. “But I’ve seen your future and I know how it ends.”
Elliot grabbed Sanderson by the cheeks and pulled him in close, kissing him on the forehead with a loud smack. He rubbed the saliva off Sanderson’s head with the palm of his hand and walked backwards.
“Don’t worry, my friend. It’s not me who does it to you.” Elliot smiled brazenly, giggling as he left the room.
* * *
Lian peeked her head through the doorway, quickly scanning around to see if anyone was there. Finding the coast clear, she slid out of her room and quietly shut her door. Tip-toeing the same path she took when projecting her consciousness outside of her body, she came upon the spiraling staircase and slowly made her way down.
She arrived at the floor Austin was held on, creeping her way down the hall. Whenever other rogue captives slammed th
eir fists on the door of their cells, she would quickly enter their minds and incapacitate them. She pressed her back to a corner of the wall at two intersecting passageways. She closed her eyes and projected her mind down the hallway, getting a quick layout.
Her projection stood in front of two guards posted outside Austin’s cell. She recalled her mind into her body, turning around the corner. Walking with purpose she held both of her hands up and palms out, entering both of the guards’ minds and putting them to sleep.
“Austin,” she whispered, quietly tapping on the cell door. Only receiving groans as a response, she closed her eyes and once again cast her mind to the other side of the door. She passed her hand through his skull and spoke again. “Austin, wake up. This door is too heavy for me to move.”
He sat up, drooling, and wiped the saliva from his mouth. As he yawned, he heard the door unlock. He could hear the sound of sliding feet on the other side as someone struggled to push the door open. He stood and grabbed hold of the door latch, pulling it. Lian went sliding forward into the cell, landing on her stomach.
“I probably should have seen that coming,” she giggled as he helped her up. He gave her a big hug, nearly forcing all of the air out of her lungs. She patted his back, gasping for air. “That’s enough, big guy. We got things to do.”
“I saw you all come for me at the beach,” he coughed, still smiling as his face turned pink. “I thought I was going to die here.”
“Look, we’re not quite out of this yet,” she said, pushing his hands down and holding his fingers. “All that’s left is you and me.”
“The others, did they die?”
“I don’t know. Most of them, maybe.” She shook her head. Austin’s face fell as she could tell his concern was focused on his friend. “Don’t worry, he’s more than fine.”
