by Michael Bray
Draven glanced at him in the rearview mirror. To his surprise, Herman was looking back at him. He sat in the centre seat, arms resting palms up on his thighs.
"Did you know the government is filling the air with chemicals?" he said.
"Say again?" Draven replied, only half listening.
"Chemicals. Contrails. You know when you see those trails coming from aeroplanes? It's not friction or air resistance or any of that crap. It's a chemical they pump into the atmosphere to keep us docile. To stop us asking questions."
Draven half turned in his seat, curious and amused at the same time. "Come on, that seems very farfetched."
"No, it's true. Man, people need to wake up to what's happening. Society now is too happy to sit and stare at their TV's whilst the governments rule the world. You ever hear of the Illuminati?"
"Yeah, I have as it goes. I don't believe in it, though."
"Figures. You government types never do." Herman grunted.
"Actually, I'm civilian. I'm only here as a consultant."
Herman's eyes lit up, and Draven half wished he had kept his mouth shut.
"Well, in that case, you and I have stuff to discuss my friend. When we get inside, I can show you things- tangible evidence of government cover-ups that will blow your mind."
"Where am I going here?" Kate grunted as she rolled down the dusty track lined with grubby trailers.
"Right down at the end. There's a red pickup parked outside. You can't miss it." Herman replied, and then turned back to Draven.
"I tell you, man, there's stuff out there in the public domain that gets deflected or pushed aside by the press."
"In my experience, the press are a bloodthirsty bunch who would kill for a hot story," Draven said.
"That's what they want you to think. In reality, they're just puppets. Pawns to the Illuminati and the other higher powers. I'm talking about inter-dimensional communication with beings on a different plane than us. The world is due a wake-up call, and based on what I know about Project Apex, this could be it."
"You believe this crap, don't you?" Kate snapped.
"Absolutely I do. You should too. "
"You people are always so quick to throw the conspiracy crap around, but you forget about how people like us protect you."
"In what way?" Herman said, refusing to back down.
"Terrorists for one. If you only knew the number of times the government have stopped attacks before they happen in order to keep people safe, you might change your opinion."
"A fair point,” Herman said, leaning forward in his seat. “To which I ask why is this country under a terror threat in the first place?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the way I see it, if Uncle Sam had kept his nose out of the business of other countries, all this hostility would probably be aimed elsewhere."
"Are you seriously suggesting we brought it on ourselves?" Kate said, unable to hide her anger.
"That's exactly what I'm saying. This country would be a hell of a lot better off if they just stopped poking around in the affairs that don’t concern us."
"That's the biggest load of shit I've ever heard," she snapped.
"Hey, how about we all take it easy and concentrate on the job in hand, okay?" Draven said as the car rolled to a stop at Herman's trailer.
The tired motor home suited their zany passenger to a tee. Everything from the grubby whitewashed outer walls to the tattered American flag hanging from a broom handle screwed to the roof screamed weirdo.
"Here we are," Herman said with a grin. “Prepare to have your minds blown."
He tried to open the door, glaring at the back of Kate's head when the handle moved freely in his hand. "Are you kidding me? You put the child locks on?" he grunted.
"For your own safety," Kate said, just about hiding a smile.
Draven hid his own smile just long enough to hop out of the car and release Herman. He walked towards the trailer, shoulders sloped and bobbing his head, reminiscent of a chicken. Pausing to fish a key out of his pocket, he unlocked the door and went inside, switching on the lights.
"Come on in," he yelled over his shoulder before turning towards the kitchen area. Draven followed Kate up the two creaky steps and into the compact trailer. There was a vague smell of beer and old farts. Draven wrinkled his nose. He watched for Kate's reaction but saw only a blank canvas. He joined her in looking around the camper. To their left was a seating area of sorts with a fold away breakfast table. A dirty pillow and grubby blanket were on the end seat. It appeared from the wear in the imitation leather seats, that this was where Herman spent the vast bulk of his time. Pinned to the wall were two posters. One depicting a grainy photograph of the Patterson Bigfoot, the other was a shabby X-Files poster, complete with a brooding Mulder & Scully, and the tagline 'The Truth is out there'. Draven was starting to think their host was pretty out there too. Beyond the sitting room were two doors which Draven guessed contained the bedroom and bathroom. To their right, Herman was in the small kitchenette, washing out some cups.
"Coffee? I'm all out of milk but if you don't mind taking it black you can knock yourself out."
"No, thanks," Kate said.
"I'm good," Draven added.
"Suit yourselves."
They waited until Herman had made himself a coffee in a cup with rings on the inside which wouldn't look out of place on Saturn. He walked into the seating area, and waited, watching them with a grin on his face.
"So, you were going to tell us what you know about Project Apex?" Kate said.
"I can go one better. I'll show you. Come on," He said, walking his chicken walk towards one of the closed rooms at the end of the trailer. Draven went to follow and felt light fingers on his arm. Kate shook her head ever so slightly and made sure to go in front, hand hovering near her weapon which was holstered inside her jacket.
Message received, he let her go next as he followed behind, taking a moment to acknowledge the impressive array of conspiracy documentaries and DVDs which were scattered around the TV.
Herman paused at the door, turning to face them with that familiar self-amused grin.
"Project Apex has been a pet project of mine, something of an obsession. It's one of those things I was so close to, it was too tempting not to research if you know what I mean."
He waited for a reply, and when none came, his smile faltered for a second. "Well, anyway, here is the sum of my work. Welcome, to the Apex room."
He opened the door and bobbed inside. What used to be a bedroom had been stripped bare of furniture, the window boarded over. A small coffee cup ringed desk and chair were positioned in the centre of the room amid the mountains of papers and cuttings. Every surface of the walls was covered with articles, photographs, theories. Draven couldn't help but be impressed. A lot of the documents had notes directly written onto them in Herman's spiky hand. Others were highlighted and underlined in yellow or pink from fluorescent pens.
"Wow, this is...extensive," Draven mumbled as he tried to take in the sheer volume of information.
"As I said, it's become an obsession."
Kate was over by the wall, leaning close to some of the papers pinned there. "Are these official homeland security documents?" She said, turning towards him.
"It depends on how much trouble I'm in if they are," he replied, shuffling his feet.
"Don't worry, I won't haul you in. I just wanted to assess the validity."
"In that case, let's just say they're real enough."
"How the hell did you get all this?" Draven asked.
"It wasn't hard. As I said, I work in there and nobody would ever suspect the lowly janitor of having the mental prowess or the desire to pay attention to what was going on. See, I’m smarter than people give me credit for."
"So why are you a janitor?" Kate said. There was no malice in her question, but Draven saw Herman flinch as she asked it.
"Circumstances worked against me. Let’s call it a youth spent wasting
time doing things I shouldn’t be doing and never really giving a second thought to getting a formal education. By the time I realised what I was doing, it was too late and I had to educate myself. That's when I started to see the world for what it really was, and the lies it's built on."
"And you think Project Apex is part of it?"
"Damn right I do, lady. All the evidence points to it."
“It’s obvious you have a great interest in this project and have shadowed Dr. Genaro's work closely. With him missing, we need you to fill in the gaps."
"He's not dead, you know."
"Genaro?" Draven said.
"Yeah."
"How do you know that?"
"I heard them. After I was presented to the leader, I was pretty sure I was gonna die. Genaro was on the floor, bleeding from the arm. The leader, Joshua, asked me if I was a scientist. I told him I wasn’t and I’m pretty sure that's what saved my life."
"Smart move," Draven said.
"No, you don’t get it, man. Even if I was and tried to tell him otherwise, there was no hiding it from him. He has this intensity, this look in his eyes that lets you know he will see through any lie. Physically he wasn’t much to look at. At the same time, he's probably the scariest guy I have ever seen."
"What happened when you told him you weren’t a civilian?" Kate asked.
"Well, he believed me of course. Dressed in my overalls, I suppose it was easy. He told me he was sparing me because sometimes it took more strength and power to let live than to kill. He touched my shoulder and leaned close enough that I could feel his breath in my ear. He told me to prepare for the new world. He told me the end of everything we know was coming."
"Then what happened?"
"He looked at one of the others and they put me in the cupboard where you found me."
"Did he say anything?" Draven asked.
"No, they barely said a word to each other. It was almost like they could communicate without words."
"I have a theory about that relating to -"
"Sorry, we can’t discuss that. National security." Kate said, cutting Draven off.
"Oh yeah, sorry," Draven mumbled.
"Typical government. All take and no give." Herman grumbled.
"Standard protocol. Now please, you were telling us about Doctor Genaro?" Kate snapped, steering Herman back on track.
"Yeah, I was. So, they locked me in the cupboard and started ransacking the place, taking stuff with them. I could see a little through the gap in the door, and saw one of them pick the doc up and carry him out of here."
"Did you see any other hostages?"
"No, Just the doc."
"Any idea why they would take him?" Kate asked.
"I do," Draven said.
"Go on," Kate replied.
"At first, I thought they destroyed the lab and killed all those people to make sure nobody could look for a cure for Project Apex. Now, knowing they took all the equipment and the doc, I think there’s a good chance you were right and they’ve taken him for the sole reason of having them continue his work."
"My biggest issue with that is why would they?" Kate asked. "It's already proven to work. I don’t get what else they could hope to gain from it."
"To make it better," Herman said, taking the words right out of Draven's mouth.
"Go on," Kate said.
"One thing I gained from all my snooping around and uh, my research is that the doc was under pressure from the people further up the ladder. They were happy with the basic virus, and yet the doc was hell bent on making it better. Improving the formula."
"Unlikely," Kate said. "He told us in a meeting recently he had ceased all Apex research."
"I promise you he hadn’t. Up until yesterday, he was still working on the possibilities of mutations. New strains of the virus designed to give specific abilities or traits."
"That’s surely not possible, it would take years of research," Draven said.
"Agreed. And in fairness, as far as I could tell, the doc was struggling to make any headway. It was just too complex."
"Well, that's one thing at least. God knows we have enough to deal with." Kate replied.
"Don’t be so sure. I have a theory of my own if you want to hear it." Herman said.
"Go on."
"Okay, let’s just say the only reason Genaro wasn’t having any success was because the skill to do so was beyond him. By that I mean as brilliant as he is, his natural ability has stonewalled him."
"Okay, that seems plausible."
"What if the reason they've taken him and his equipment is to change him into one of them so he can continue his work?"
Draven felt ice rush through his veins. "Jesus, I think you might be right," he said as he turned to Kate. "We know what the Apex virus can do to an ordinary man. It boosts their natural traits. Even on a common soldier, the research papers you presented to me showed a marked increase in intelligence. What if the Apex virus was given to someone with an IQ at the level of Genaro’s? What kind of avenues could that open up?"
"There's more," Herman said as he walked back towards the sitting area. "Come take a look at this."
Kate and Draven followed as Herman grabbed the TV remote. "Have you guys been watching the news lately?"
"I've been out of the country. I haven’t seen any TV for weeks." Draven said.
"What about you?" Herman asked Kate as he switched the television on.
"I’m too busy for TV. A lot has happened lately."
"Yeah, well, maybe you should take a few minutes and look at the bigger picture."
Herman switched to the news channels and started to cycle through them. On every station were reports of disturbances in cities the world over. At the bottom of the screen, the yellow news ticker scrolled across with headline reports of skirmishes and rioting at street level in locations the world over. Paris. London. Russia. Iraq. As they watched, more news broke, the ticker announcing unconfirmed reports of mass shootings in Iraq by a group of unidentified men. Eerily similar reports were coming in all the time as the watched.
"Jesus," Draven said, perching on the cracked faux leather seat.
"This is happening now people," Herman said, eyes wide as they watched the news. "We might be watching it on TV, but you can bet your asses it will be happening outside our windows soon enough."
"You think this is all related?" Kate asked Herman, for the first time without condescension.
"Absolutely."
"That’s impossible," Kate said, joining Draven on the sofa. "There are only a small number of Apex operatives out there right now. It isn’t enough to coordinate something like this."
"No, it actually makes sense. You know how when you found me in Mexico I was studying ants?"
"Yeah."
"Well, the reason was to consider a theory that the monkeys were using a similar system. In essence, they exist solely to serve a queen, or in this case, an alpha male."
"Joshua," She said.
"Exactly. His DNA is a part of them now. What if some primal instinct has bonded them to him?"
"I get it," Herman said. "Kinda like when birds or whales migrate. They don’t know how they know where to go, they just get there."
"Exactly," Draven replied.
"But for what purpose. Even if they are doing this, there are so few of them that any kind of resistance would be futile. It's only a matter of time before they are stamped out."
"It would be if they weren’t contagious. I mean, that's why you people are involved, right?"
"The research notes said it wasn’t airborne. I had considered the possibility it could be transferred by a bite or scratch. But again, it was speculation. I was hoping to speak directly to Genaro to confirm it.” Draven said
"Forget the notes, they were wrong."
"You’re absolutely certain it can be transferred?"
"Hang on, it’s easier if I show you," Herman said, hurrying to the converted bedroom and snatching some documents off the wall
. He returned and handed them to Draven.
"This virus not only bonds with its host, it also replicates. It’s almost like a parasitic organism. It's the replication which makes the Apex virus work in the way it was intended."
Draven skimmed through the pages handed to him by Herman.
"Where did you get these?"
"Genaro’s wastebasket. You wouldn’t believe the sort of stuff people throw away. I’m supposed to take them straight to the incinerator, but I always look first, just in case there's anything good in there."
"What's happening?" Kate said, peering over the shoulder of Draven at graphs and equations which made no sense to her.
"According to this, we have a hell of a bigger problem than we first thought. In the monkeys I discovered, the healing and resistant properties were genetic. They were a part of the creature itself. Genaro tried to isolate this aspect and administer it as an injection in much the same way as a person might get a flu shot. A little of the virus was injected, just enough to allow it to become part of the host's system. Genaro assumed the virus would give the desired effects, the strength, the resistance and then dilute away. The initial program called for repeat injections of the virus to top up the effects, almost like a booster jab of sorts. What he didn’t know was that once administered, the virus was aggressive enough to self-replicate exponentially."
"So what does that mean in real world terms?"
"Well, for one it explains the aggression. The increase in testosterone from repeated injections was because the virus had never diluted or faded. Every new injection simply boosted its effectiveness. The downside for us is the virus will by now have infiltrated the body of the host in every way. Every cell will be adjusted. In essence, those who received the injection are the virus. "
"Holy shit, this is bad," Kate said. "So let’s say you're right and like we suspect, they're contagious and making more of their own kind is their agenda. They would need needles and the virus itself, right? Samples of it at least."
