The Middlewych Experiment

by Amy Cross

  “Just as she often didn't know what would happen to all the children she dipped in there,” Graves says firmly, as Larisa's screams get louder. “She might have only joined the facility a couple of years ago, but she's almost as culpable as Crawford himself. Believe me, he'd have gone in first if he hadn't been given an easy way out.”

  I watch helplessly as Larisa disappears from view, and suddenly her scream is cut off as she's submerged in the gel-like substance.

  “I'll only leave her in there for about a minute,” Graves says callously. “Not long enough for her to drown, but more than long enough for her to feel some effects from the charge that's running through the gel. Right now, her DNA will be getting scrambled, but the machine's on its default setting. The treatment isn't being targeted, it's simply giving her a once-over so that she understands how it feels.”

  “No!”

  Rushing over, I try to cancel what he's doing, but he pulls me back and throws me to the floor. I immediately get up, only to be pushed down again.

  “She deserves this!” Graves shouts angrily. “They all do, but she's the only one left so she's going to get an even bigger dose!”

  “You're killing her!”

  “I'm only doing what she did to us!” he snaps. “Fine, it's been a minute anyway. Let's see what she's become!”

  He hits some buttons on the control panel, and I hear the whirring sound change. Looking over my shoulder, I watch as the rig rises up from the cauldron, and finally I see Larisa still tied to the cage. Her body's trembling violently, and her skin has become a kind of translucent gray color. Thick gel is slowly starting to dribble down from her body, running back into the cauldron, but now the metal cage is starting to rattle as Larisa's body twists and twitches.

  “Get her down!” I yell, hurrying to the edge of the cauldron and looking up. “We might still be able to -”

  Suddenly her mouth opens, and a strange white liquid starts sloughing out. At the same time, the top of her head begins to collapse in on itself, as the rest of her body begins to fall limp.

  “What a shame,” Graves says behind me. “Sadly, that is one of the major side-effects of an incorrect dose. It would appear the poor young lady's bones have melted.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  “You killed her,” I whisper, as the rest of Larisa's body crumples, still partially held up by the ties around her wrists. “You didn't have to do that.”

  “I was making a point,” Graves replies darkly.

  The rig moves past the edge of the cauldron, before tilting slightly and unceremoniously dropping Larisa's remains onto the floor. With all her bones turned to liquid, she collapses in a mess of hair and flesh. I stare at her in horror, before taking a step back, and then suddenly the corpse shudders slightly.

  “Is she still alive?” I ask.

  “Probably not in a conscious way, but it might take a few more seconds for the last sparks to fade away.” I hear footsteps moving past me, and then an invisible foot kicks what's left of Larisa. “She deserved to suffer for so much longer. In a way, I already regret finishing her off so quickly. There were so many other types of pain that she caused to people here at the facility.”

  He kicks her again.

  “Stop that!” I snap.

  “Why?” He pauses. “Oh, you're right. She's finally gone. Don't worry, Annie, we're still going to get our revenge. By the time we're done here, the whole world will fall at our feet. The power of the Chaos Gear cauldron will literally rip this country apart.”

  As he walks away, I realize that he's serious, and I can't help thinking back to some of the things Larisa told me before she died.

  “Are you planning to detonate the cauldron underground?” I ask. “Are you going to cause a series of earthquakes?”

  “Did you activate the override switch, Annie?”

  “I want to know what you're planning first,” I say, hurrying after him. “I remember what we talked about before, back when we were prisoners, and there was never any discussion of taking revenge. It was all about shutting the project down, and we've basically done that now. Once we've destroyed the cauldron, we'll have set Crawford's legacy back by at least a generation.”

  When he doesn't reply, I hurry around to the other side of the room. There's still no sign of Graves, of course, but I'm certain he must be nearby. I look over my shoulder, hoping to spot some form of clue, and a moment later the cauldron starts shuddering a little more, as if it's starting to overload.

  “Lester!” I call out. “Where are you? I need to know what you're going to do!”

  He still says nothing, so I make my way back around to the other side of the cauldron. After a moment, I head to the other door, and I see that the switch on the wall has been turned to the lower position. Realizing that Graves seems determined to use the cauldron as a weapon, I step forward, only to slam straight into an invisible figure that's standing right in front of me.

  “Where are you going, Annie?” Lester asks.

  I try to squeeze past, but again he blocks my way.

  “I think you're forgetting just how much they hurt us,” he says firmly, before shoving me back. “It's time for us to turn the tables, and that means starting with a demonstration of our strength. We're going to split this world apart, and then we're going to help put it back together.”

  “We never planned to do anything like that!” I tell him.

  “Of course we did. You just don't remember.”

  “I remember enough,” I reply. “Yes, we were angry, and we planned to get out of here. We planned to free the others too, but we never talked about getting revenge on the entire world. We never talked about killing people. We never talked about demanding that people follow us. That was never part of our plan!”

  I wait, but for a moment he doesn't reply.

  “You know,” he says finally, “I think you might be right. That was all stuff that I came up with later, after the initial escape.” He pauses. “Oh well,” he adds, “plans change, and that's a good thing. We all have to be adaptable, Annie.”

  I try again to get past him, but suddenly he grabs me and spins me around, slamming me against the wall before sending me thudding into the side of the cauldron. I start slithering down to the floor, but I manage to hold myself up for a moment before my legs are knocked from under me. This time I crash down hard, letting out a gasp of pain as I land, and then I hear footsteps coming closer before they suddenly pass and head around the side of the room. I think Lester just stepped right over me.

  “Thank you for helping me get back into this place, though,” he says. “Honestly, even being invisible, I'm not sure I could have done that without you. They so rarely open all the doors like this.”

  Rolling onto my side, I take a moment before slowly starting to haul myself up. I wince slightly, and then – as I lean against the side of the cauldron – I feel a burning sensation against the palm of my hand. Stepping back, I realize that the cauldron seems to be approaching some kind of meltdown.

  “The primary explosion will rip this place apart,” Lester calls out, his voice coming from over by one of the other terminals, “and that'll cause the core to drop down about a mile into the ground, which is when the secondary explosion should initiate the serious damage.”

  I start limping up behind him, or at least to the spot where I think he's standing.

  “Everything seems to be set up nicely,” he continues. “Okay, Annie, I think it's time for us to retreat to a safe -”

  Before he can finish, I lunge forward and bite down hard. I was expecting to have to try a few times, but to my surprise I feel Lester's shoulders and I quickly bite into the side of his neck. He mutters something and tries to shake me off, but I cling to him and start drawing his blood into my body.

  “Do you seriously think this is going to work?” he gasps, clearly in pain. “Annie, don't make me angry. Up to this point, I've been rather patient, but at this rate -”

  Suddenly he swings me arou
nd. My fangs pull out of his neck and I'm sent crashing against one of the terminals. As I hit the floor, I immediately turn to get up, and I see a few spots of blood dripping down in front of me.

  “You have all these new powers,” Lester says, towering over me now. “Vampire. Werewolf. What else? Zombie? And whatever those weird sisters turn out to be. Plus your original witch powers. I bet you feel invulnerable, don't you? But the truth is, having the powers is really no use to you at all, because you don't know what to do with them. You need training, and you need time, but right now you're just chaotic. You could stop me, Annie, we both know that, but you don't know how and you won't figure it out in time. I'll help you uncover your strengths, but for now we really need to get away from here.”

  I wait, breathless and in pain, as I try to figure out how I'm going to stop him.

  “I'm holding my hand out to help you up, by the way,” he adds. “Sorry, I guess that wasn't obvious.”

  “How many people are going to die?” I ask.

  “What?”

  “How many will die?”

  “I have no idea. Enough. Not enough. We'll see.”

  “Larisa said millions.”

  “And I didn't contradict that. My hand is still outstretched, but it won't remain so forever. We can chat later, but now we have to move.”

  I stare up at the spot where I think he's standing.

  “Now, Annie,” he adds. “This isn't the time for virtue signaling. Just come with me.”

  Next to us, the cauldron is starting to shake violently.

  I hesitate, and then I reach out. I can't allow any of this to happen, but I need a moment longer so that I can figure out what to do next. After a few seconds, I feel Lester's invisible hand take hold of mine, and I let him help me up. My mind is still racing, and all I know is that somehow I have to find a way to stop the explosion.

  “Ready?” he asks. “We can make it to safety, but it'll be tight.”

  I look around. Why can't I come up with a plan? Most people would come up with a plan. I've got all these powers now, I'm a witch and a vampire and a werewolf and probably a bunch of other things as well, but I guess new powers aren't like a faucet that you can just turn on and off at will. As the cauldron rumbles louder and louder, I realize that Lester is still close.

  “You can't stop it now,” he continues, still holding my hand. “We're way beyond that point. All that's left, Annie, is for us to retreat to a safe spot and watch as the world faces its reckoning. Let's go!”

  I hesitate, before taking a step forward. For a moment, just a fraction of a second, I feel as if I have no choice but to let Lester lead the way. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, a wolf rushes up toward us and leaps straight at Lester, causing him to cry out as we all fall to the floor.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  An alarm is blaring somewhere, but for a moment I can't muster the strength to sit up. Then, hearing Lester scream again, I turn and see that the wolf is ripping at tearing at an invisible figure, with blood spraying from invisible wounds.

  Before I have a chance to react, I hear a roaring sound over my shoulder, and I glance back just in time to see a bear stumbling into the room, knocking equipment over as it goes. The sight is so bizarre and incongruous, for a moment I can only stare, and then I feel a hand on my shoulder.

  “Miss Mackenzie,” Joseph says, through gritted fangs, “I really think it's time to go.”

  “What are you doing here?” I gasp, as he helps me up.

  “I'm asking myself the same question with each passing moment,” he replies. “I guess I let Adam persuade me. He said something about bothering to rescue you, and frankly it looks like we arrived just in time.”

  Turning, I watch as the wolf – or rather, Adam in his wolf form – is thrown back against the wall. Blood is pouring from mid-air as Lester turns and struggles to reach the door, and then the bear – which I guess must be Manny – blocks his way and swipes at him with a paw.

  “It's one thing to have all our powers,” Joseph continues archly, “but they're not much use if you don't know how to use them. For that, one might say, you need the originals.”

  I look over at him.

  “Don't think we're becoming friends, by the way,” he adds. “That's not what this is.”

  Suddenly Lester screams, and I turn to see that more and more blood is spraying across the room. It's not hard to track his progress now, as he stumbles toward one of the computer terminals, and it's clear that he's badly hurt. I want to run over and help him, but – when I try to step in that direction – Joseph holds me back.

  “He's gone off the deep end,” he cautions. “I'd like to humbly suggest that preventing this explosion might be our priority.”

  Blood splatters across the terminal as Lester tries to adjust some settings, but Adam – who has clearly finally managed to master the ability to become a wolf even when there's no full moon – grabs him and drags him back. Manny helps, and soon Lester is little more than a flailing patch of floating wounds.

  “Fascinating how the blood becomes visible once it leaves his body, isn't it?” Joseph says, apparently untroubled by the fact that we're watching a man die. He doesn't even seem to react as Lester screams once again. “I've always thought it's difficult to trust someone who's invisible. Frankly, they must be terribly tempted to do all sorts of naughty things.”

  “Wait!” I yell, pulling away from him and rushing to where blood is still pouring from Lester's invisible body. “Stop! Don't kill him!”

  Dropping to my knees, I gently push Adam away. To my surprise, he lets go of Lester and pulls back, and Manny merely roars at me. On the floor before me, Lester's struggling and gasping. I still can't see him, of course, but several thick, glistening wounds seem to be floating just above the floor. A moment later, the wounds fall still, as if Lester's getting weaker.

  “Tell me how to stop the explosion,” I say firmly.

  “You can't,” he gasps.

  “There has to be a way!”

  “There really doesn't have to be any such thing,” he gasps. “The Chaos Gear will reach its peak intensity in a few minutes, and then it'll blow with the force of a decent-sized atom bomb. You should have run already, Annie. I think it might be too late now. If we'd reached the caves, we could have survived the first blast and then run again before the second, but it was always a long shot. I'm sorry, but I guess the message to the world will still be the same.”

  “Just try to think!” I reply. “Maybe we can still make the Chaos Gear stable again.”

  “You have no idea what it's like,” he says, “being invisible. I'm sure it sounds fun, but can you imagine having light constantly passing through your brain? It slowly drove me insane over the past few years, and Crawford and Majeski both acted like I was complaining about nothing. I haven't seen myself in a mirror, I haven't even been able to see my own hands until now.”

  He holds his hands up. I can see them now, since they're covered in blood, although most of the rest of him – apart from his injuries – remains invisible.

  “I just want darkness,” he continues. “I want my brain, my mind, to be shielded from the constant light. And I want someone to look at me. Everyone tries, but they never quite make eye contact. If someone could look at me, just once, just actually look directly at me... I'm sorry you're all going to die here, Annie, truly I am. At least we're still going to destroy the facility, and without Crawford perhaps his work will be lost forever. I always told him that I refuse to be... to be a... I refuse to be just... somebody's... experiment...”

  I wait, but he lets out a faint gasp, and then slowly he fades back into view. It's as if, as he died, the invisibility factor somehow ceased to work.

  Staring down at him, I see his dead eyes looking straight at me. I want to look away, but I let my gaze linger. If there's any part of Lester Graves still in there, any part at all, I guess I want to be looking at him as he dies.

  Suddenly the cauldron starts to rumble,
and I look up just as several pipes break away from the side. Burning steam starts hissing out into the air, and a moment later I feel someone tugging on my arm.

  “We need to go,” Joseph says firmly, as Adam and Manny also back away from the cauldron. “Now.”

  “We can't stop it,” I stammer.

  “We can run!” he snaps. “We have to try!”

  I stare at the cauldron for a moment, before getting to my feet. Somehow I can sense the immense power that's about to be unleashed, but for some reason I'm not scared. If anything, I'm actually starting to feel hungry, even as the floor begins to shudder. I don't understand how, but it's almost as if my body is trying to tell me something.

  “Go,” I say finally, before taking a deep breath. “I've got this. I need you all to get out of here.”

  “Don't be stupid,” Joseph replies, “we -”

  “I said, I've got this!” I continue, turning to him. “You've all got your powers, and I've got mine. I once destroyed all of Middlewych by blasting some kind of energy from my body. I leveled the entire town, there wasn't anything left at all. Now I'm going to do the exact opposite.”

  “Are you insane?” Joseph asks, before sighing. “I see. You are.”

  “Go!” I shout, turning to Manny and then to Adam. “You guys can run fast, I can't. I'm dead anyway, unless my plan works. You've asked me to trust you so many times, and now the shoe's on the other foot. You guys need to trust me, because I'm going to absorb this explosion and then I'm going to... I don't know, but I can probably find some way to redirect it so that it doesn't cause nearly as much damage. If I survive that, then we'll see each other again. And if I don't, then at least maybe I can save some lives.”

  I wait, and then suddenly Joseph touches my shoulder.

  “We'll find you, Annie,” he says calmly. “Not that I want to, of course, but the others will insist.”

  “If you can turn into a bat and fly away,” I reply, “then I think now would be a really good time to try that.”

  “I've... experimented once or twice,” he says, furrowing his brow. “When I was alone and no-one could see. It wasn't pleasant, but... some little wings did appear from somewhere. Maybe a sense of urgency will hurry it along a little.”