Nolan Reed

by Nate Johnson

  His head came up as he looked around the room and laughed.

  “Well so much for avoiding that fate.”

  His second greatest fear had been that if people discovered they would think he was a freak and he’d never find anybody who could love him as his parents had loved him.

  He stopped talking in mid-sentence, his gaze focused on some distant thought.

  She wanted to wrap him in her arms and rock him.

  “Anyway,” he continued. “I was passed from foster home to foster home. I really think some of the people picked up something unusual about me. It took me a while to learn how to control it and to not expose myself. Some of the homes weren’t so great. The system tried, and most people were great, I just didn’t fit in.”

  She reached over and picked up his arm and scooted in under it, lowering it down over her shoulder as she snuggled next to his big chest. Trying to feed him strength, she silently encouraged him to continue.

  Taking a deep breath, he squeezed her shoulder and smiled down at her before leaning forward and kissing the top of her head. “I first saw Cheevers thoughts that night we were at the mall.”

  “The migraines?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he said sheepishly. “I couldn’t tell you what was going on. I’m sorry.”

  She nodded her head, accepting the apology without comment, then squeezed his middle to get him talking again.

  “I don’t know why, but I can sometimes read him from far away. That first night I saw through his eyes as some weird creature ate a human body.” He said with a catch in his throat.

  Marla gasped and hid her face in his side, then sat up and looked at him.

  “The lake! You knew that body would be there, and you sat and ate lunch like nothing was the matter?” she asked, her eyes boring into him like a deep earth drill.

  “NO, NO, I didn’t know the body was there. I couldn’t see where it was. A couple of days after the Mall, that first time, I saw Cheever, or Mr. Gray, as I called him, and his creature walking by a lake. I was curious, I wanted to know where the lake was. I was going to go back on my own at a later time. There is no way I would have taken you there if I thought that Cheever and his creature were in the area.

  Marla accepted his statement and settled back down next to him, then shot back up.

  “He’s killed at least once, maybe more. How can we trust anything he says?”

  Nolan glanced around the room then leaned down to whisper in her ear.

  “The room is probably bugged,” he said, his warm breath sending delicious swirls of pleasure down her backbone.

  She nodded her head in understanding. “We can’t trust him. We have to escape before he’s done,” she whispered back. Squeezing his leg letting him know that she understood and would do whatever was necessary to help.

  Nolan relaxed and said in a normal tone of voice. “I don’t know about you, but I think we should get some sleep. I think tomorrow is going to be a busy day.”

  Marla blanched at the thought of her and Nolan sharing a bed. If he read her thoughts there would be no keeping them from going way too far and she didn’t know if she was ready. She wanted to, but not now, not here.

  “You take the bed, and I’ll sleep here on the couch. Okay?” Nolan said.

  She relaxed a little but also felt disappointed. What was wrong with her or wrong with right now. What was wrong with her that he could be a gentleman so easily?

  Sighing to herself she nodded her head.

  Reluctantly she got up and went into the bathroom. When she came back out he had found a spare blanket, unfolded it across the couch, and turned the lights were turned down low. He replaced her in the bathroom. Marla removed her shoes and socks and her blouse. She held the line at her tank top and jeans. She would sleep in her clothes and deal with the problem tomorrow.

  Nolan came out of the bathroom. His shirt was unbuttoned, and he’d removed his shoes. The bathroom light threw a halo around him. He looked so big and strong with massive shoulders that tapered down to a narrow waist and hips.

  Her heart skipped a beat, and a tingle traveled up her legs. It would be so easy to pull the blanket back and invite him to join her. She felt her hand start to move with a mind of its own.

  Then he had to go ruin everything by saying, “Goodnight Marla.” Buttoning his shirt he turned and slowly walked to his couch as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. “If you need anything, let me know,” he said.

  She could hear him settling into a comfortable position then the room grew deathly quiet. It was so strange sleeping in the same room as him. The little half wall didn’t keep out the sound of his breathing, regular and steady as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

  She turned on her side and angrily punched her pillow into shape.

  .o0o.

  The door flying open, swinging into the wall with a loud crash woke him with a start from a deep dream. The lights were thrown on, and two men grabbed Nolan off the couch. They had him out the door before he could even clear his head. Marla yelled from her bed as the door slammed shut. He shook his head trying to come awake as they dragged him down the carpeted hallway. The abrupt change had him spinning, he reached out with his mind opening it for information.

  “Does he know?” Nolan said to the bigger guy on his right, nodding to the other man on his left.

  “Know what?” the big guy asked, continuing to pull him along.

  “That you go to sleep every night wishing you were having sex with him,” Nolan said.

  The man came to a screeching halt then, while holding him with one hand, hit him in the solar plexus with a fist made of steel, lifting Nolan off the ground.

  “That’s what you get for lying little boy,” the guy mumbled.

  The two men proceeded to drag him down the hall again. Nolan no longer paid any attention to how they were acting, he was fighting for breath. A deep fear trickled up his spine, these guys weren’t playing around. Nolan noticed that the other guard shot his companion a suspicious look, but neither let up on their firm grip.

  A door at the end of the hall opened, as Nolan was lead into a sparkling white laboratory. An examination table set in the middle of the room. Thoughts about aliens doing probes flashed through his mind as he twisted to try and get away.

  The guards gripped even harder and held him in place. From another door two men and one woman entered the room, all three were dressed in white coveralls and motorcycle helmets. These helmets seemed to be made of metal and covered with a fine mesh. Nolan’s quick scans confirmed that he couldn’t see a thing. The helmets blocked everything.

  Both of the motorcycle men took an arm each and held his hands out while the woman zip tied them together then led him to the far end of the room where they draped his bound hands over a hook hanging from the ceiling. Nolan heard the door close behind him and turned to see that the other two had left. Leaving him alone with these motorcycle monsters. They looked like flies, zapped with radiation to make them as big as people.

  You’ve got aliens on the brain, Nolan. These are regular people, they’re just protecting themselves with these stupid helmets.

  Nolan was alone in his own mind, his hands above his head, completely at their mercy. Their smoke glass visors kept him from even reading their eyes. The total lack of informational input was maddening in a situation like this.

  He fought to gather clues. What were they planning? Was Marla okay? A shiver spread across his shoulders when he thought about her going through something like this. At least she would have the sense not to piss the guards off.

  Then they wheeled in a huge big screen TV, and gray man Cheevers was there behind his desk, hands folded, looking like a teacher addressing an on-line class.

  “Hello Mr. Reed,” he said with an evil little smile that felt like a three-inch fingernail being pulled over a squeaky clean chalkboard.

  Nolan twisted and turned trying to get his hands free, but the plastic ties bit into his wrist
s holding him even tighter.

  Relaxing, he addressed the TV screen, “Mr. Cheaver.”

  The gray man nodded, then whispered something into a microphone sitting before him. The woman guard pulled a leather cap that looked like an old time football helmet, or maybe a World War II pilot’s cap.

  This one had several wires connected to different parts and then collected into one connector hanging down the back.

  She walked over and reached up to place it on Nolan’s head, buckling a strap under his chin. He looked down into the milky smoked visor trying to see if she knew what she was doing. But nothing, nada, a blank slate.

  Plugging the contraption into wires leading back to a computer sitting on the lab table, she then reached up and unbuttoned his shirt exposing his chest. It was sort of disturbing, in a sexy way for a moment, until she popped some stick pads around his heart and then hooked them to a monitor.

  She glanced back at the computer which showed a sine wave dancing across the screen. Gentle curves running back and forth.

  Nolan looked down at the probes and then back at his three guards. Resident alien and all around ass hole, Mr. Cheevers was looking at a computer monitor on his desk before he returned his attention to the cameras. It felt as if he were examining his subject one last time. The thought sent a rush of fear to Nolan’s stomach. This was not going to be good.

  “Very good, please proceed,” the gray man said as he seemed to settle into his chair and looked at his computer, a small smile of anticipation on his face as if he was getting ready for a New York musical.

  The larger of the two male guards said something to the woman and then turned his back. Nolan decided to call him Frack and the other guy Frick and the woman Judy. He had to do something to pigeon hole them, some kind of identity. It had been so long since he had been in a room with someone he couldn’t scan that he didn’t know how to act.

  Frack turned back around and was holding a long telescopic rod, as thin as a car’s antenna about three feet long made of some kind of silver metal. Nolan’s muscles tensed up as the man approached then reached back and swung the metal whip as hard as he could across Nolan’s stomach.

  A fire hot dagger of pain exploded inside and bellowed out of Nolan’s mouth in a high-pitched scream. His eyes grew three times as big in surprise at the assault. Gray man, Cheevers, watched his computer and smiled.

  “Good, this time, the back,” the alien said like he was telling someone how to lay a brick, never taking his eyes off the screen.

  “No! Wait, No! N….” Nolan stammered as he tried to twist away from the man behind him. He pulled himself up by his hands and tried to kick out, but the man nimbly stepped aside and brought the gleaming metal rod down on his shoulders and then twice more across his lower back.

  The pain shot through Nolan like being cut by a jagged edged knife. Grunting in pain, he arched his back and desperately wished he could rub his wounds.

  Cheevers giggled and said, “Yes, yes, this is great,” as he rubbed his hands together.

  All three of the guards stared at the computer and then back to Cheevers.

  “This is perfect. I am getting great results, please continue,” the gray man said with a happy smile. Nolan thought the guy looked like a little kid who’d just been given a happy meal.

  Chapter Nine

  Marla was getting frantic as she paced back and forth in the room. There had been a knock on the door then it had opened, and one of the guards stepped in while another stood in the doorway blocking any type of escape attempt.

  They had brought a food tray containing two bowls of soup, a couple of ham sandwiches and two cans of coke. Someone had been nice enough to include cloth napkins and silverware. It was like room service.

  Marla had frozen in place and watched the man put the tray on the coffee table then turn and leave without saying a word. They were gone before she could ask about Nolan. She berated herself for being too slow. The feeling of despair grew as she hung her head for a moment.

  Inspecting the food her stomach rumbled reminding her that last night’s popcorn at the movies had been it for a while. However, she decided to wait until Nolan returned.

  They could sit here and have a meal together like a normal couple. Pretending that everything was going to be all right.

  Unable to sit still, she got up and started pacing the room again. She made her bed and then returned to fold up his blanket. She reached down and held it to her face and bathed in his scent. Her heart skipped, and she almost cried with the wanting and needing that flowed through her. He had to be all right. Had to be.

  Reluctantly finishing her task, she placed the blanket and pillow at the end of the couch and returned to pacing. She tried the TV but nothing, the longer she waited, the more worried she became. Those men had not been gentle this morning.

  “You bastards, where’s Nolan?” she screamed at the TV and then again at the ceiling. But a pensive silence returned to the room. Deciding that she couldn’t stand it any longer, she went into the bathroom and replaced her tank top with her blouse and washed the tank and her socks in the sink, laying them over the side of the sink to dry

  Taking a quick shower, she used the bar soap to wash her hair before jumping out and drying off. The thought of smelling bad in front of Nolan was truly terrifying and made her stomach cramp up in fear. She would have to wear her blouse until the tank top dried. She couldn’t wash all her clothes, but if she swapped out every day, she could try and keep ahead of the stink

  After several hours, she finally broke down and ate a cold bowl of soup. She would save the sandwiches for when he returned. Please God, soon. The food seemed to settle on her stomach like a fishing weight, centered in one sickly spot. She washed the bowl out in the sink and left it to drain. Then returned to pacing the room.

  A faint click at the door made her hurry over to stand in front of it. The door swung open, and a ghastly horror greeted her. Nolan stood there, held up by two guards. His head slumped forward as blood dripped from a nasty cut on his forehead.

  “Nolan!” she screamed rushing towards him.

  Before she could get there, the guards pushed him into the room and let him drop. She tried desperately to catch him, getting one arm around his waist as he fell. He grunted in pain then continued onto the floor.

  It was only then that Marla saw the crisscross of straight red lines that wove across his back. She gasped at the raw flesh.

  Marla dropped to her knees next to him, calling his name.

  “Nolan. Nolan, are you okay?” God what a dunce, of course, he’s not okay she thought to herself. The seriousness of his injuries only now started to register. “Come on, let me get you onto the bed.” He groaned as she gently helped him up and onto the bed to lay face down.

  His moans sent flashes of pain straight to her heart. Clenching her fists in frustration, she looked around for anything to help. Feeling totally helpless, the anger built up and overflowed. She ran to the door and started pounding with her fists.

  “We need help, bandages, help us!” she screamed. She kept pounding, but no one came.

  Hanging her head, she glanced back at the boy on the bed, and her heart ached. She turned to the empty TV screen and muttered, “You bastard.”

  Realizing that it was all going to be up to her, she ran to the bathroom and started pulling towels from the rack. Wetting one, she took it back to the bed and hesitated. Where did she start? How could she do this without hurting him more?

  She swallowed hard to stop herself from throwing up. Ugly red cuts and welts crisscrossed his skin making it look like something out of a butcher shop’s window. Blood continued to ooze from several of the wounds.

  A feeling of helpless frustration washed through her, she had no idea what to do. She had picked up enough from her mom over the years. Cuts were washed, got ointment and a band-aid, real nasty ones were taken to the Doctor’s for stitches. He winced when she gently placed the wet towel on his back and began washing a
way the blood.

  “I’m sorry Nolan,” she said with a whimper.

  She had removed most of the blood from his back when she noticed several pieces of cloth were embedded in the cuts. They had started beating him while he still wore his shirt. Somewhere along the way, they’d removed it to do more damage.

  Swallowing hard she forced her fingers to take hold of the threads and pull them from the wounds. She could hear him grinding his teeth as he fought not to scream.

  “I can’t believe they did this to you, why?”

  Nolan was buried face first in a pillow, and she only heard a weak mumble in reply. Lifting his head slightly he said, “It was an experiment.” As if that answered everything.

  “What do you mean? Are you hurt anywhere else,” she asked as her eyes roamed up and down his body looking for more trouble.

  “My legs, stomach.”

  Running into the bathroom, she got the last towel and soaked it in the sink. Returning to his bedside, she laid the wet cloth over his back and said, “Can you turn over?”

  Nolan slowly rolled to his side as she held the white towel in place. She winced when she saw the nasty welt across his stomach. He grimaced as he settled on his back. “I don’t know how long I can stay like this.”

  “Where are you hurt the most?”

  “My legs,” he said, gritting his teeth. “I tried to tell them what they wanted, I would have told them anything. I mean it’s not like there are any secrets anymore. But they didn’t even ask questions. Just kept hitting me and looking at their damn computer screens to see how my brain reacted. “

  Marla had to wipe a tear away as she looked down at this boy she admired so much.

  Remembering that she was supposed to be hurrying, she reached down and started to undo his belt.

  “This isn’t how I expected this to go,” he said with a chuckle. She laughed through her tears and proceeded to pull his pants down, leaving his boxers in place. More angry red cuts and welts covered his legs from a few inches above his knees to the tops of his feet.