A Human Element

by Donna Galanti

  And he sought such release tonight. Rage seethed within him once more as he ran toward is prey. Laura would love no more.

  And as he ran he created balls of raging fire in his mind. He shot his fiery cascade to the cabin in the woods. At first it smoldered and sparked, then exploded into an angry blaze. Wood crackled and raged with flames. Cinders blasted upwards with a plutonic force.

  X-10 tore off his remaining clothes as he ran. He was finally free of all that held him in the human world. He would show them. They couldn't hurt him. So pathetic were these humans who needed one another. They were weak in mind and of mortal flesh. They could not kill him. If they injured him he would heal himself. He was not human. He was the strong one. He would survive.

  He needed no one.

  Ben slid down the loft ladder in one leap, yelling to Felix and Jim. "She's gone. Laura's gone."

  Felix ran into the house from the porch and the three of them stood there.

  "She went to the crash site," Ben said. "I know it."

  "Change of plans. Let's go," Felix said. Ben and Jim followed him out the door, heading for the rocky path to the lake. Felix stopped Jim.

  "Ben and I will run down there." Felix passed him his car keys. "Here, take my car and drive around on the road to the lake and park there."

  "No, I want to go with you." Jim protested, but Felix held his arm.

  "It's best for Laura. What if we need a vehicle down there to get to a hospital when this is all over? We need a quick way to leave."

  "But it's miles around on the road."

  "Ben and I can run faster than you. You would just hold us up," Felix said. "Why put yourself in harm's way running down a mountain at your age and risk delaying our help to Laura?"

  Jim nodded, took the keys, and got in the car. He stared at them as he gunned the engine and then shot off down the road. In that moment the woods suddenly darkened as dusk fell. Everything became covered in grayness. The whole world looked dead to Ben.

  Felix ran from the cabin toward the trail down. "Come on!"

  Ben followed close behind, panic hitting him like a brick to his chest. Why did Laura leave? He sensed she had been pulling away and didn't want to involve them. Did she think she could do this on her own? They were here to help defend her. Damn her! He clenched his hands, flexing them over and over. He never should have left her alone.

  "Felix, why didn't you see this happening?"

  "I did."

  Ben grabbed the back of Felix's coat and lunged at him, shoving him into the side of Jim's workshop shed as they passed it. Felix turned on one heel and swung his arm out, holding Ben off like a child.

  Ben swore under his breath and struggled to break free. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why didn't you stop her? She's gonna die. I need to be there. I need to protect her."

  "This is the only way, Ben. Trust me."

  "She's the one person I've cared about in a long time. Don't let her die."

  Felix released him. "I don't intend to. Now come on."

  Felix turned away and ran fast down the trail. His massive body moved nimble over the rugged ground. Wisps of fog whipped around his body in smoky tendrils as he flew through the woods toward the lake. He looked like a giant, dark beast lunging toward its quarry. Ben could only run after him. There was nothing else he could do.

  They hadn't run far when a deafening blast pushed them to the ground. Firelight danced across them. The cabin exploded behind them in flames. It engulfed Laura and Jim's vehicles and the gas tanks exploded. Fire devoured old wood and metal, dancing upward toward the sky and into the trees overhead. The heat grabbed at them with fiery intensity.

  "Laura," he whispered, stunned by the violence aimed at them. Their enemy was real. And he was here. Felix and Ben ran faster down the mountain, lunging down the trail, grabbing branches to push themselves along.

  Felix had to be right. Please, let Felix be right.

  Laura stood at the entrance to the tunnel as night moved in. She wondered when Ben and the others would find her gone. The wind blew hard around her, infusing her with its swirling madness. She felt she could fly up high above the ground in the angry gusts that pulled and pushed at her. Her twin was coming. His power moved toward her, a strong and primitive rage rushing over the earth seeking her out. We are connected. We are twins. We are not so different.

  She conjured up her powers, raising her hands into the winds blowing around her. She dragged rocks with her mind powers and rolled them down the tunnel to the cavern below. She moved logs along the earthen path, adding to her armory. Shaking and sweaty from exertion, she then sat on the ground outside the tunnel entrance. She tried not to think about Ben, Mr. B, and Felix. Especially Ben. She cleared her mind. She was ready.

  The falling sun stole the colors around her. The woods and ground became one as twilight created a solitary landscape. She gazed into the growing darkness above the valley floor, waiting. She felt a strange peace. She always hoped there would be a day so much would be answered and the nightmare would be over. This day had to come.

  The dark clouds boiled across the sky in a furious tumbling of cold chaos, disappearing into the nightfall. She peered up at the pit's edge. There he stood. Just like in her dreams, outlined in silhouette. But now she knew who he was. His arms were crossed as if mocking her. The moon rose above him, full and brilliant in the sky. She wondered if it was the last moon she would ever see. Then fear seized her, but she had to finish what she began.

  She turned to run into the tunnel and looked back. He strode down the side of the crater, coming fast. His skin shone white under the rising moon. She could make out the grin stretched across his face. The face of a monster. Her legs took over and she ran through the tunnel, pressing the flashlight on with trembling hands. And just like her dreams, his descent could be her death.

  CHAPTER 32

  Felix and Ben reached the lakeshore just as Jim squealed into the grassy parking lot. He jumped out of the car and shook his hand at the fiery mass glowing bright at the top of the mountain. It had spread to the surrounding trees and greedily fed on the woods around it. They could hear the dry limbs splintering and shrieking as their burning cries carried around the lake.

  "Son of a bitch! My home."

  Ben touched Jim's shoulder. His face hung slack and the moonlight carved shadows into his wrinkles. He looked old again to Ben. "I'm so sorry."

  "Be glad we weren't in it when X-10 torched it," Felix said. "Come on! It's Laura we need to save now."

  They ran along the shore path toward the crash site, guns in hand. Ben scanned the woods around him, afraid they would be taken unaware.

  "He's not here," Felix reassured him. "He's closing in on Laura. Faster!"

  They leapt over logs and rocks, a trio intent on one goal. To kill this evil that haunted the woman they all loved. They reached the fence and scrambled under it, toward the edge of the crater.

  "There." Ben pointed below. "The tunnel Laura dug. It leads to the cavern below. Hurry!"

  Ben led the way as they rushed down the slope to the black hole carved into the ground, then slid to a stop at the darkness that opened up into the earth. He heard something. A piercing howl. Then a scream. Laura's scream. He raced into the inky pit heading into the bowels of hell.

  X-10 sped through the dark tunnel, hunched over to fit his tall frame through the earth ceiling. In the enclosed space his pungent smell rose around him. It had been a long time since he washed. He was covered in sweat from running for days through woods and filthy from sleeping on the ground. He enjoyed his aroma. It filled his senses with it. He couldn't wait to breathe deep of Laura and inhale her up close. To see her delicate features in person. To squeeze her perfect limbs between his mutant hands and hear her cry out in pain.

  Rage coursed through his thick body, stoking his need to run faster and faster. Dim light spilled ahead. He had reached the end. It would be Laura's end too. And his quest would be over.

  Laura positioned herself
at the far end of the cavern room with her stash of rocks and wood. She heard the thunder of heavy feet pounding toward her. She felt her twin's wrath deep within, burning through his thoughts, feeding his need to kill her. Could she hope to stop him? She was dizzy with fear and anticipation. She had waited so long for this moment, to meet the man from her nightmares.

  He entered the cavern. She stood still in the dim glow. He smiled at her across the expanse. They faced one another. Laura couldn't speak. His naked monstrous form leered before her in the flesh. He was here and now, no longer a dark entity in her mind that chased her.

  His forehead pushed outward in a hideous shelf. His nose spread across his face from ear to ear. His enormous nostrils flared as he panted, inhaling her smell. His enormous mouth opened like a giant bucket on a hinge drawing in her aroma on his tongue. Laura saw all this in a split second as she watched her twin's muscles bulge out from his white skin. He stepped toward her.

  "Stop!" Laura shrunk back. A clash of wood echoed through the pit as her jagged weapons filled the air. They hovered in the air, ready for her bidding. "I've dreamed of this moment." Laura was unable to take her eyes off his deformed face.

  "So have I, Laur-r-r-r-a-a-a." X-10 mocked her, drawing out her name. "I've dreamed of the many ways I might slowly kill you." He moved another step closer to her.

  Wooden skewers flew across the room and drove into his flesh. He remained standing. A smile spread slowly across his disfigured face. He winked at her, as he pulled the wooden stakes out of his arms and chest. He moved his fingers downward across his wounds and they disappeared. Then he threw back his head and laughed.

  "You can't hurt me, don't you see? You, nor your little human friends. The old man and your lover. I'm going to enjoy this."

  "You're human too. You're my brother. We come from the same mother and father." She would not plead with him. She sensed it would only fuel his desire to control her.

  "Not human. Never had a human life. No mother. No father. No home, like you, Laura. You had all of that. No one loved me. So why should you have it too?" His voice grew louder with anger, petulant like a little boy mad at not getting his way.

  Laura stepped back and powered the rocks to gather in the air above her. They shook, waiting for her command. "You've taken away everything I loved. Isn't that enough?''

  "Never!" X-10 grabbed for her. She catapulted rocks on him, pounding his head then ran to the other side of the cave. He shook off the blows as the rocks rained upon him.

  "I could forgive you," Laura said.

  X-10 grunted. He stretched up tall and commanded his long pod fingers to send rocks and sticks toward Laura. They beat upon her with viciousness as he used her own weapons against her. She cowered and screamed. Blood flowed down her arms and legs. She struggled to get up, but pain filled her body covered in debris. She strained to push it aside with her mind powers as he moved toward her, but she was so very tired.

  As he lunged for Laura she sensed his conflicting feelings. She saw the scientist who experimented on him and caged her twin his whole life, taunting taunted him with her existence and fueling his hatred.

  She saw all this in the two seconds it took for her brother to reach her. His sorrowful life punctured her like a knife digging into an old wound. His wounds made her wounds. It was a small window of opportunity to grasp, but all she had. Could she convince him to turn away from evil?

  X-10 grabbed her by both arms and pulled her up. His freakish face loomed inches from hers. Her feet dangled above the earthen floor. Scenes from his life blasted across her mind. A tormented life. A tormented soul. Images of blood and killing and rage. And such loneliness. He had suffered such loneliness. He was an animal as he had been treated like an animal all his life. She pitied him and feared him.

  "Charlie," she whispered. Pain coursed through her. He gripped her harder. She stared into his yellow eyes that shone bright, burning with hate.

  "What did you say?" He shook her and she moaned in pain.

  "Charlie. I called you Charlie, isn't that what you want? This life you've had was forced upon you. I forgive you for all you've done. We're all we have, can't you see? We've been brought together for a reason."

  His thick fingers pinched her harder and she cried out.

  "How do you know that's the name I wanted?" X-10's rage waned and she sensed he felt sorrow for himself. She heard him clear in her head. No! That's not what I want. I want her to die! I hate her.

  "Because Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of your favorite stories. Mine too," Laura said. "And because it's what Sabrina called you, isn't it? She didn't hate you. And I don't hate you. I don't want you to die."

  "Put her down, you monster." It was Ben. Laura craned her head around to see Ben, Mr. B, and Felix pointing guns at her twin. She tried to shake her head, but couldn't. Dizziness crept over her then a piercing probe snaked into her brain. Laura screamed, clutching her head.

  X-10 scooped her into his arms and took off through the enormous cavern. Guns blasted around him. He stumbled as bullets struck him, but he kept running. Laura cried out. He raised one arm above him, commanding his power. The earth ceiling behind them fell, separating the cave in two sections. Wet mud and rock spewed down and filled every empty hole from one side to the other, creating a solid wall.

  She was barricaded in with her brother now.

  Then the pain in her head took over and she lost herself to the blessed dark.

  X-10 retreated to the far end of the cavern. He could hear the men talking, but their words came through the thick wall muffled. Hunched over, he held Laura to his chest. He quivered in pain, and sank to the cold floor. He had to heal himself or he could die. This truth shocked him. He believed he was invincible.

  Blood pulsed down his skin from the bullets that had pierced him. He looked at the dark, seeping streaks in the dim light glowing from the walls. The pain tore across his flesh, but then numbness crept into his body. He could not feel anything from the waist down, only the constant burning in his shoulder and back.

  He had to loosen his mind hold on Laura to heal himself. He weakly pulled out his hands from under her as she sprawled motionless across his legs, and closed his eyes. But before he could move his shaking hands across his wounds, he felt other hands upon his upper chest. They spread outward in circles of warmth. He opened his eyes to stare into Laura's face.

  She closed her eyes and focused on dislodging the bullets that impacted his flesh. One by one they popped out and fell on the floor. Anger flashed through him at his own weakness, but he was half paralyzed. And he felt something else. Something he hadn't felt in a long time. A warm feeling of being cared for. It tingled. It felt good.

  But X-10 also felt powerless to her touch. He knew powerlessness well. It's what Bjord forced upon him in his cage his entire life when the scientist experimented on him. So many times the old man had drugged him and stuck metal probes to his testicles, sending electricity spiraling through his body to gauge his pain levels. That pain was almost as intense as the fire consuming his upper body now. How he had hated Bjord.

  He watched, motionless, as Laura smoothed her hands over his wounds, drawing away the blood and excruciating pain. Soon it subsided to a dull throb. How could she help him when he had killed everyone she loved? He inhaled her smell. Sunflowers. He had smelled them once, a long time ago when he was a child and a woman doctor came to visit him. She had brought him sunflowers because he couldn't see the sun.

  Stop it! Stop it! He screamed inside his head. He didn't want to think those pleasant thoughts. Or of Sabrina. Or of Laura being kind to him like Sabrina.

  "Why heal me?" He forced his tongue to move, the numbness leaving his body. The bullet holes disappeared, yet still she knelt beside him with her hands on his chest. She picked up his hands and weaved her slender fingers with his monstrous ones. She was so warm. Love flowed from her into his very soul. It pained him.

  "Charlie, you're my brother. Let me help you. We can d
isappear together, you and I. We can be free together. It's not our fault we are who we are. We can take care of one another. Just leave the others alone."

  She cradled his hand on her cheek. He knew she felt so much pain in him and it filled her with the darkest sorrow.

  He didn't want her pity. But then he remembered the farmhouse and the recliner. His vision of Sabrina in the kitchen cooking. The fire crackling in the fireplace. A home. With her? A sister? The idea of normalcy twisted in his dark mind.

  "Yes, Charlie," Laura answered his thoughts. "We can run far, far away and try to make a home together."

  But would she leave him as Sabrina had? And would she take her love with her, leaving him with an eternal broken heart wanting something he could never have—love. He had given it to Sabrina that night and said the words he'd never imagined saying.

  "I-I love you." His heart unfolded then as he said it to her, and he breathed her wonderful smell that gave him life.

  Sabrina intertwined her dainty fingers with his brutish ones and bent her head to touch his. Her hair hung glorious and alive around her, framing him in her world. Her hand grazed his face then she stood and pulled her clothes on.

  "My hour is done, Charlie."

  "Come back?" He hoped. He would do anything.

  She looked at him with sad eyes then turned away and knocked on the door. The lock clicked. Metal slid open. She stepped through the space that would separate them.

  "Sabrina, stay." He was captivated.

  She glanced back. "Goodbye, Charlie. I hope you never forget your first time."

  He stared at her in anguish and then her gold was gone.

  "Wait. Don't go!" He came out of his reverie and rushed to the door. "He'll kill you!" But the door locked in place. He beat his fists on it. Even if he had gotten through he would never escape. Drugs sprayed into the air from his captor would knock him out the instant he tried.