Strange Robby

by Selina Rosen

  As Carrie slammed the car to a stop in front of the main door, she began to wish she hadn't insisted on coming. The guards at the front door opened fire on them, and she instinctively ducked into the floorboards. The next thing she knew, the guns were silent and the putrid smell of burning human flesh hung heavy in the air. There was no going back now.

  "Go! Go!"

  She heard Spider scream. Finally, Carrie realized the command was for her—Spider and the others were already out of the car. Carrie took off as ordered, and two SWTF cars came around the back of the building and started in pursuit. She watched in the rearview mirror as first one and then the other exploded into flames. She would go to the meeting place, wait, and pray. That's all she could do now.

  Robby started blowing up cars. It was almost too easy for him, what with a nice catalyst like gasoline to help him out.

  A line of gunmen in protective suits met them just inside the front doors.

  "Robby, the guns!" Spider ordered as she and Tommy fired on them.

  Robby hit the guns the men held, and they blew up in their hands. The shrapnel ripped into them, burning them and cutting them to pieces.

  Spider looked at Robby and made a face. "Yuk!"

  Robby just shrugged.

  The next wall of men they encountered was not carrying weapons, so apparently they were capable of learning. There were at least twenty of them running as fast as they could. The three of them turned to run in the other direction and found another troop of suited men. Robby took out the ceiling above them, but that also blocked their exit, and the others were now on top of them.

  Tommy kicked one of them in the head and he fell like a rock. He started moving like Bruce Lee on speed. He was a one-man killing machine. As Spider was firing into the crowd of bodies, Robby started to take out the ceiling, and Spider slapped him.

  "We've got to have some way out!" Spider screamed.

  "Duh!" Robby said, feeling like an idiot. Somebody hit him in the head. It pissed him off, and he found himself automatically using the techniques Tommy had been teaching him. "Hey!" He laughed as he slung one guy into another, successfully knocking them both down. "We're kicking some ass, here!"

  Hans watched his viewscreen with disgust. "What are they doing here? Why would they come back? There is nothing for them here except . . . " He looked blank for a moment, and then he got on his comlink.

  "Stacey! Get me Franklin. I know what they're after."

  Hans waited impatiently for Franklin to appear.

  Franklin stomped into his office unannounced and had the nerve to look put out.

  "What do you want, Hans?" Franklin asked. "In case you hadn't noticed we're in the middle of a siege here."

  "You insubordinate imbecile. I know why the Hybrids came back. I know what they are after."

  Franklin smiled at him—a big shit-eating grin. "So do we, and we're going to let them have it."

  "What? Are you crazy! We're so close to completion. My life's work . . . "

  "Some people live too damn long, Hans," Franklin said. He pulled his gun out of his jacket and pointed it at the head of the world's oldest living Nazi war criminal.

  "What the hell do you think that you are doing, Franklin?"

  "Making sure you don't get away this time, you fucking creepy old bastard." Franklin emptied the gun into Han's head, enjoying watching the bullets tear through his flesh. Han's secretary ran in and Franklin shot her, too.

  He walked out of his office and addressed the small group of SWTF men facing him. "It's time for us to leave this party, men. This whole mess has just become someone else's problem."

  They were quickly running out of adversaries.

  "I don't like it," Tommy said. "It's too easy."

  "That was the point, Tommy," Spider said. She looked at the schematic of the building. That was the door, all right, but no one was guarding it.

  "That's it."

  "It's a trap," Tommy said. "A set up."

  "Then we open the door prepared, but we still open the door," Spider said. She looked at Robby, and he took a stand in the middle of the hallway looking at the door.

  Tommy smiled. With Robby there, he wasn't nearly as worried about ambush.

  "All right then, let's see what's behind door number one," Tommy announced. Whatever was behind that door was the main reason for their assault on this building today, but Tommy had no idea what it was.

  Spider read the combination off the paper and applied it. The door opened slowly. "Let me check it out first."

  Spider stepped in, gun ready, and looked around. Tommy was about to go after her when she stuck her head back out the door.

  "All clear!"

  Tommy followed her back in. "Holy fuck!" Tommy said looking around. He realized now why Spider hadn't been afraid of ambush. It was a giant freezer. Way too cold for anything living to exist for more than a few minutes with the door closed. There were thousands of little tubes filled with greenish looking shit with little blobs of something . . . He looked closely, and then jumped back. "What the hell?"

  "An unstoppable army," Robby mumbled picking up one of the tubes, and then putting it back when he found it too cold to hold.

  Tommy wondered who was watching the hall now. He looked out the door—it looked clear.

  "What's he talking about?" Tommy asked.

  "They're frozen embryos for implantation into unsuspecting women. So that they can keep doing what they've been doing for three generations now. It's got to stop here."

  Robby looked shocked. He stared at her. "But these are people. People like you and me."

  "No. They're just like me. Made and contrived by these idiots to be used and exploited. Each one of these embryos represents a woman that would be used and as many as dozens of people that would be killed to keep their secret. They aren't people, Robby, they're embryos, pre-people at best. They were never meant to be, and we have to stop them. The only way to do that is to destroy what these monsters have done. What they would do."

  "What's to stop them from starting up all over again?" Tommy asked.

  "Lack of this material. This represents decades of work, millions of dollars." She looked at Tommy. "You heard what Deacon said. It's too big a risk. Too many people have figured out what's going on. They've killed too many people trying to cover their asses. They're afraid of full disclosure. This conspiracy goes to the very heart of our government. Who knows who would burn if this ever came to full light?"

  She looked at Robby appealingly. "If we leave them here, we're basically saying that what they are doing is all right. If we leave them here, then we're giving them their army, and God alone knows what they will do with it."

  Robby nodded. He knew what he had to do. He watched as Spider grabbed Tommy's arm and walked with him out of the freezer. Robby hit the freezer over and over, till the whole interior was on fire.

  Spider closed the door.

  "What now?" Tommy asked.

  "We hope the SWTF keeps their end of the bargain."

  Carrie ordered a cup of coffee and a burger. She didn't feel like eating, but didn't want to look too conspicuous. It was late, and the diner was mostly empty. In the distance she could hear the sirens—two or three cop cars and a few ambulances roared past. She tried to ignore them and failed.

  Helen had waited on her, and it wasn't hard to see what Robby saw in her. she was a pretty little thing with a quick smile and an open, honest face.

  She noticed that Helen was a little preoccupied herself.

  "What's going on at the SWTF building? Do you know? Did you go by there?" she asked Carrie.

  Carrie shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I'm just coming through town headed for White Springs."

  A guy ran in the doors just then. "Something's going down at SWTF again. A bunch of fires and explosions, and I ain't gonna buy that it's some chemical fire this time. It's terrorists I tell you, Terrorists with a capital T." He sat down at the counter. "Gate's blown clean off this time, guys runnin' everyw
here, lots of smoke and fire."

  Helen screwed up Carrie's order twice. "I'm very sorry."

  "It's all right," Carrie said. She would have liked to tell her that she was as nervous as she was. That her fate was also tied up in what was happening at the SWTF building. As the night wore on and her burger got cold she began to fear the worst.

  Helen sat down across from her, and filled her coffee cup for the fifth time. "You OK?" she asked.

  "Ah, yeah. Don't need any more coffee, though" Carrie said forcing a smile.

  "Something wrong with your burger?" Helen asked.

  "No it's fine. I'm just not as hungry as I thought I was."

  "You waiting for somebody?"

  "No. Why do you ask that?" Carrie asked.

  "Why else would a classy lady like you, whose 'just going through town', be hanging out in a dump like this at twelve thirty at night?" Helen asked.

  Pretty and smart, too. Carrie smiled and looked down at the sweatshirt and jeans she was wearing, her once perfectly manicured fingernails now chipped and uneven, she could only hazard to guess what her hair must look like. "Me, classy?"

  "Class isn't in the clothes someone wears, it's in their attitude. The way they carry themselves. So, who are you waiting for?"

  Carrie shook her head and took a deep breath. "Some friends. I'm waiting for some friends."

  Helen nodded as if she now knew everything and got up. "That's what I thought," she said and walked away.

  Carrie watched the front door for what seemed like an eternity, and then there was Spider. She jumped up, ran to her, and threw her arms around her neck. "I was afraid you were dead," she whispered.

  "Nah. Just a little scuffed," Spider said patting her back.

  Carrie felt something hard and cylinder shaped under Spider's jacket. She put her hand on it.

  "What's that?"

  Spider took her hand off it. "I'll tell you later."

  Helen looked at the couple and smiled. It was obvious that the newcomer had just been through some kind of battle. Helen was glad the woman's soldier had come home. She knew what it was like to wait, not knowing, and to have someone you loved disappear forever. She dried a tear from her eye, picked up a stack of dishes and headed for the kitchen.

  "Helen."

  Helen dropped the dishes and turned. Robby was right behind her. He grabbed her before she could grab him. His lip was bloody, his clothes were torn, his eye was bruised, and he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She started kissing his whole face.

  "Helen! For God's sake, girl! You're going to cost me a fortune!" Rudy screamed from the back room.

  "We have to go," Robby said. "We have to go right now. Will you come with us?"

  Helen nodded silently.

  "Helen, damn it!" Rudy screamed. He dried his hands on his towel. "Fool girl, going to break every dish in the place. "Helen!" He stomped up to the front, ready to chew her ass out, and found the diner empty.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Five years later

  "Behold that which I have seen: it is good and

  comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy

  the good of all his labour in which he toils under

  the sun all the days of his life, which God gives

  him: for it is his portion." Ecclesiastes 5:17

  Spider swiveled in her fancy leather chair in her huge office atop the federal building in Shea city. She was nervous. These days she was always nervous.

  Her comlink buzzed, and she jumped. She punched the button. "Carrie, is everything alright?"

  The man on the other end laughed. "This isn't your wife, Chief. It's Franklin. We got a little trouble with the LA job. Seems our guy took out the wrong creep. We got another corpse today, same MO."

  "Call Sever back in," Spider said. "No harm, no fowl. Shame another innocent citizen had to die, but we'll get two serial killers for the price of one. Oh, and it looks like we got a stray in New Orleans. Send Devlon and Thompson to pick him up and bring him in."

  "You got it, Chief," Franklin said. "Oh, and Chief?"

  "Yes Franklin?"

  "Good luck."

  "Thanks." She closed the link and the front door buzzed.

  "Enter."

  Deacon walked in. "Spider, it's Mark."

  "Send him in," Spider said.

  Mark walked in and flopped down in the chair across from Spider. "Thpider, you hathf to do thomething," Mark lisped. "Mom and Dad, they don't underthtand me. They keep making all the thtupid ruleth. They don't underthtand what it'th like to be uth."

  Spider laughed. "I don't understand you, either. In more ways than one. Why on earth would you want to put a damn stud in your tongue? It's the stupidest thing you've ever done, and that puts it way up there, boy."

  "Ah, they got to you," Mark pouted.

  Spider smiled. "Go home, Mark. Take the stud out of your tongue and let it heal. Unlike most kids your age, you don't have to do weird shit to be an individual. And don't pick at it or it will never heal."

  "But, Thpider!" Mark whined.

  "But me no buts, Son. Now go home—I'm working."

  "Thankth a lot," Mark said facetiously and headed for the door. "You thtill going to take me to the conthert on Thaturday?" he asked.

  "If at all possible. If I can't, Deacon will take you."

  "Call me when . . . "

  "I'll call you first. Now go on."

  She smiled as she watched the door close behind him. It wasn't always that easy to stay out of decisions made by his parents. She didn't always agree, but it wasn't really her place to meddle. He was their son; she was just the chicken that laid the egg.

  However, she agreed with them a hundred percent on the tongue-piercing thing.

  The comlink buzzed and she answered it more professionally this time. "Hello. Chief Webb, SWTF. How can I help you?"

  "Spider, this is George . . . Carrie's water just broke. We're on the way to the hospital."

  "One minute I'm standing in court giving deliberations, and the next . . . " Carrie started to cry. "I didn't even know I was in labor, how stupid is that? I thought I had gas from lunch."

  "It's all right, Baby," Spider assured her.

  "It was embarrassing." Carrie cried harder. With the next contraction she all but broke Spider's hand.

  "Breathe, Baby, breathe." Spider prompted, trying to get her hand out of Carrie's death grip.

  "I'll breathe you!" Carrie cried. "This was . . . a bad . . . idea! This was . . . a real . . . ly bad . . . idea." After the contraction, she looked at Spider. "I've changed my mind. I don't want to have a baby. Especially not your baby. He's going to have a great huge head, and it's going to hurt."

  The doctor laughed as she examined her. "It's a little late for that, Carrie. With the next contraction you can push."

  "Spider," Carrie whispered.

  Spider leaned down, and Carrie grabbed her by the front of her green smock. Then she started shaking her. "Look what you did to me! Look what you did!"

  The Doctor had to stop herself from laughing. This was the usual fair when dealing with heterosexual couples, but you didn't expect it with a lesbian couple.

  "Honey, it was your idea to have a baby," Spider reminded her gently as she removed Carrie's hands from her gown.

  "I know. I know, but . . . Oh, my God!"

  "Push," the Doctor coached. "Push."

  Tommy stopped a minute to look out over his ten-acre spread. He would have liked to have more land, but this was the compromise. He got to have his farm as long as Laura could still drive to work. He wiped his brow, looked up at the sun, and then started hoeing his turnips again.

  He felt his life had begun on the day he quit the police force and started teaching Jujitsu to the SWTF's "new agents." He worked at the "office" three days a week and had the rest of the time to work on the place. Working with the hybrids, teaching them the disciplines of the old ways, made him feel like his life had purpose. The way he had felt about pol
ice work until he had learned that they didn't really want you to make a difference, just keep the status quo. When the agents he trained now collared a criminal they didn't live to become repeat offenders.

  Laura should have been home by now. It was a forty-five minute commute one way, but she didn't seem to mind too much. She loved her job, but surprisingly she really enjoyed living in the country. She had been skeptical when Tommy had told her he was tired of police work. She had gone along with his idea of moving and working part time for SWTF, but had really thought that the new would wear off and he would miss the streets. She seemed just as happy when he didn't.