The Eternal Community

by J Meverington

Holly and Marcus sang a song of love and life and how death was just a new beginning. Marcus chanted in Latin while Holly held the melody. Her heart-wrenching tune had everyone in tears.

  After the funeral, they celebrated Leonora’s life with music, and dancing, everyone bidding her farewell in their own way, just as she would have liked.

  Emptiness burrowed its way deep into Damion; the love of his life lost and gone forever from this world, but remaining eternally in his heart.

  In bed the next morning he turned to snuggle into the warmth of Leonora, but was greeted with the cold reality of the empty space beside him. He indulged in a quiet sob, holding her pillow close to him. Then the siren sounded, and it was time to get up for breakfast. He gathered his composure. He needed to have his wits about him for what he needed to do today.

  After breakfast, he asked Matilda to look after Molly and Ben, then took Camilla aside to have a quiet word with her.

  ‘How are you holding up this morning, Damion?’ her manner-of-fact tone offering no consolation.

  ‘As well as I can be, thanks. But I have something I want to run by you. Something that’s been concerning me for a few days.’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘Well... as you know, I found our daughter but there’s something I need to ask you.’

  ‘Damion, I don’t want to be involved.’

  ‘Okay, I respect your decision, and I won’t tell you anything about her. But there’s something you need to know as it could be a threat to the Community.’

  ‘I’m listening.’

  ‘Allie wears a locket around her neck and in it is a photo of her adopted parents.’

  Camilla nodded for him to continue. She didn’t seem concerned, so he guessed she knew nothing about them. He wasn’t sure how to approach the subject, so he came straight with it.

  ‘Her parents were killed in a car accident twelve years ago. She was only eleven.’

  She gasped, and her hands flew up to her ears. ‘No, I don’t want to hear any more.’

  ‘You have to hear this.’

  Camilla kept her hands on her ears and started shaking her head. ‘No, no, no, no!’

  Shocked by her behaviour, he grabbed her by the wrists and removed her hands from her ears. With a firm grip he held her hands in front of him.

  He stared her square in the eyes. ‘Camilla, you need to hear this.’

  ‘Damion, you know how this news will devastate me. You of all people know what I’m like. I left all my demons in London, please don’t do this to me.’

  Damion hated seeing Camilla’s vulnerable side. She was usually such a strong person, but he knew of her past and understood her reaction.

  ‘Look, the future of the Community may be compromised. You need to pull yourself together and listen to what I have to say.’

  Camilla took a deep breath. ‘Okay, if you must, please continue.’

  ‘Alice thought her parents were killed in a car accident, but they weren’t.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘She showed me a photo of her parents. I know them and they’re not dead!’

  ‘Not dead?’

  ‘Nope, and they’ve been living right under our noses here in the Community.’

  ‘Who has?’

  He took a deep breath and repeated, as if talking to a child, ‘Alice’s parents.’

  ‘Us?’ she said.

  ‘No, her adopted parents silly, the ones from California.’

  ‘They’re here? In the Community?’

  ‘Correct.’

  ‘Surely not. Who are they?’

  ‘Will and Fenella. They must have faked their death and moved out here. Do you know anything about it?’

  ‘No, of course not. Keith assured me she would be going to a good family home. Oh my God, I can’t believe this. Fenella is such a lovely woman, and excellent with the children. Are you absolutely certain? Perhaps they just look like them? I mean, if it was twelve years ago...’

  ‘I know, it’s a shock to me as well. But Terri and Josh both checked the photo, and there’s no doubt. Those two do have a distinctive look about them, both ginger-haired with freckles.’

  ‘On my God,’ she said, again.

  ‘Do you think Martin might have been involved?’ he asked.

  ‘Probably, he and Keith set up this place and Will and Fenella were here long before I moved here. Why would they fake their deaths though?’

  ‘During my search for Allie, I met someone who told me her parents had been involved in “dodgy dealings” as he put it, and left owing him a large sum of money. A lot of other people were affected as well. I can’t help thinking it all might have been related to this place. Perhaps you could ask Keith about it?’

  ‘Hmmm, I think we should put a twenty-four hour watch out on Will and Fenella first. See if they get up to anything suspicious.’

  Damion groaned. The last time they did that, it had been boring as hell. But, at least it was something to help take his mind off things.

  Chapter 47

  Damion used every inch of willpower not to approach Will and Fenella and accuse them of ruining his daughter’s life. He was annoyed that Camilla wouldn’t ask Keith if he knew anything about it. Keith and Camilla had been friends since university, back when he helped her through the pregnancy and the adoption process. He’d always had a thing for Camilla, but back then she’d had eyes only for their professor, Martin Bickford-Smith.

  Damion knew Keith had suffered depression when he found out Camilla wasn’t interested in him. That was when her professor offered Keith the opportunity to help set up and run the Community. Keith had jumped at the opportunity for an alternative lifestyle. It wasn’t until Camilla moved here five years ago that the two of them became an item.

  If anyone knew what was going on, it would surely be Keith. Ethan would need help if Camilla was correct in her theory, but would Keith keep something so important from the woman he loved? Damion didn’t know him well enough to answer the question.

  He went to bed that evening and snuggled into Leonora’s pillow, breathing in the fading trace of her scent. He got up around midnight, put on his leather coat and relieved Josh from his watch.

  Damion hid behind a tree where he had a view of Will and Fenella’s tent. Not long into his shift, he noticed movement. Will came out of his tent and ducked into the bushes, and a moment later, Ethan joined him.

  Holy shit. Damion needed to fetch Josh, but he didn’t want to lose them. Against his better judgement, he decided to follow on his own. The moon shone bright in the sky, enabling him to keep an eye on them from a distance without being spotted. He picked up a stick, and every few feet he stopped and marked a small arrow in the dirt to enable him to find his way back.

  After walking through the woods for an hour or so, Will and Ethan stopped at the side of a hill. Damion hid behind a bush and watched. They looked around, as if checking they hadn’t been followed, then Will slid a branched door across, and they both stepped into a cave.

  Damion sneaked over to the door and peeked in, surprised how brightly lit it was. Where did they get the electricity? He took in the scene. A laptop sat upon a table with wires hanging from it and some bits and pieces on the side. The only other furniture was a bed and a couple of chairs.

  Ethan lay down on the bed while Will rustled around with some equipment on the table. He attached electrodes to Ethan’s head and body and placed headphones over his ears. It seemed Camilla might have been right and as far-fetched as it sounded, Ethan was receiving some sort of download.

  After about thirty minutes, Will unplugged him from the equipment. Ethan stood up and ruffled his hair. ‘Thanks Pete, with luck that download will eliminate Ethan’s nasty habits from my mind. His jealousy was driving me mad.’

  Did Ethan just call Will, Pete? Of course... Peter Willows.

  ‘Seems some work needs to be done to the software to make the download complete. But Martin, tell me how it feels, having your brain downloaded into a
younger version?’

  Oh. My. God. Camilla was right.

  Damion’s mind reeled as the scene unfolded in front of him.

  Ethan glanced down at his body and flexed his arm. ‘Pete, it’s amazing. I’ve de-aged thirty years and I’m loving it.’

  Pete laughed. ‘That you have. I’m so impressed with what we’ve done. We’re going to change the world and cash in while we’re at it!’

  A shudder ran down Damion’s spine. What were they planning to do? This was serious. He needed to get back to camp and tell Camilla, and come up with some sort of a plan. They couldn’t let these guys loose, downloading memories into innocent people.

  He turned to leave and accidentally knocked the branched door. Both Ethan and Will looked in his direction. He tried to run, but tripped. The next minute, Will and Ethan were upon him, pinning him to the ground. He struggled, but Will had his hands gripped tightly behind his back. He tried kicking, but Ethan had moved around and had a tight hold on his feet. Will tied his wrists together with some electrical cable and Ethan did the same thing with his legs. He realised there was no point struggling as they dragged him inside the cave.

  They picked him up and sat him in a chair, then proceeded to tie him to it. ‘What the hell do you two think you’re doing?’

  ‘Why were you following us?’ Will said.

  ‘Because you adopted my daughter, then left her to live a dreadful life with your low-life abusive cousin, you nasty piece of shit!’

  Will slapped him across the face. ‘Don’t you dare talk to me like that. You gave up your baby to complete strangers!’

  ‘I didn’t give her up. Camilla did.’

  Ethan then spoke. ‘It was for the best, Damion, you know that. Camilla never loved you, she loved me.’

  Damion glared at Ethan as if he was a pile of steaming shit. ‘What?’

  ‘I’m not Ethan anymore. Should be no surprise if you were eavesdropping. I’m Martin Bickford-Smith, renowned surgeon, resurrected.’

  Even though Camilla had warned him this might be happening, he still struggled to grasp the fact that it was possible.

  ‘Don’t believe me? Surely you must remember the time in the hospital, when you and Camilla tried to kidnap Josh? You came to my office and I told you Camilla was mad, and you believed me.’

  ‘Oh my God, it is you! You arsehole, keeping Terri locked up in your apartment against her will.’

  ‘Ah Terri, my favourite project. She’ll learn to love me and one day we’ll get married.’

  Damion swallowed back the bile that burned the back of his throat. What the heck was wrong with this guy? What a nutter, and a dangerous nutter by the sounds of it, playing God.

  ‘Josh is no good for her, not intelligent enough. Terri’s my soulmate and she knows it too. When she first came to London, she pleaded for me to let her stay, to learn about the world. We were in love.’

  ‘You sick bastard, she was never in love with you!’

  ‘She was until the brain download failed. But, thanks to Will, here, we now have it down to a fine art. The next time we download to Terri’s brain, she’ll fall madly in love with me.’

  ‘What the hell are you talking about? You can’t make someone fall in love with you!’

  ‘Ah, Damion, you’re wrong. You see, I experimented with one of my students who was in love with me. I took a copy of her brain. Can you see where I’m going with this?’

  ‘You what? You plan to download your student’s brain into Terri’s? You’re an idiot, you’ll take away Terri’s personality and she’ll no longer be the person you’re supposedly “in love” with.’

  ‘Ah, but we’re smart, Damion. We’ve been working on selective cells. It’s not a complete download, just a partial one. I take the part of the brain that made my student fall in love with me and copy it into Terri’s. I tried it once before, but it failed and managed to wipe Terri’s memories. But she’s a smart one, and she managed to regain most of them, as you know.’

  ‘So what makes you think it’ll work this time?’

  ‘It will. It’s not quite ready yet. We still have some testing to do, but we’re close, and when we’re ready, Terri will be mine.’

  ‘So why are you telling me all this?’

  ‘Just because I can. I like seeing you squirm.’

  Damion was livid. He tried to break free from the cables binding him, but they stuck fast, cutting into his arms.

  ‘Hah, I can read your mind, Damion. You’re thinking right now how you’d like to break free and beat us both to a pulp. He-he, so transparent, isn’t he Pete?’

  Damion ignored Martin and addressed Will or Pete or whatever his name was. ‘So, how did a scumbag like you end up with my daughter?’

  ‘Your good friend Martin here knew my wife wanted to have children but was unable to conceive. It just happened to be convenient that your high school sweetheart wanted to get rid of her child.’

  Damion glared at Martin. ‘You arranged it?’

  ‘Sure did. Pete’s been my business partner for years. He helped me fund the setting up of the Community. We’ve made millions.’

  ‘And Camilla knew?’

  ‘No. She’s too straight and I didn’t want her knowing I was involved. I got Keith to organise the adoption.’

  ‘So Keith knows what you are up to?’

  ‘No. We needed to keep it secret. Some might consider it unethical and try to stop us. Nobody knows, Damion, just the three of us.’

  ‘So you’re not worried about me going to the police because...’ His words trailed away as he realised he was not going to leave here alive.

  ‘I think you know the answer already my dear boy. See, you have got a brain.’

  ‘You can’t kill me. What about Molly and Ben? They’ve just lost their mother.’

  Martin appeared to think about it. ‘Actually, I’ve got a better idea. We’ll download my brain into yours. Double brain power. Oh, what fun that will be.’

  Damion went pale and fainted.

  Chapter 48

  The next morning, the siren sounded for breakfast. Camilla got out of bed and headed towards the banquet table just as a distraught Molly and Ben came racing over to her.

  ‘Dad’s gone. Just like Mum, he’s gone,’ Molly screeched.

  Camilla hurried to Damion’s tent to find it empty. She sought out Terri and Josh to see if they’d heard from him.

  ‘He took over from me at midnight as arranged, without any problems, but when Terri went to relieve him, he wasn’t there.’

  ‘Have you seen Will or Ethan this morning?’

  ‘No, I haven’t.’

  ‘Let’s get breakfast first, and see if he turns up. If not, we’ll search the area.’

  They sat down to eat, but Camilla had no appetite, fearing what might have happened. Damion hadn’t turned up, and neither had Ethan or Will. Deep down she knew something terrible must have happened. After breakfast she approached Fenella and asked if she’d seen her husband.

  ‘No, I woke up this morning and he wasn’t here. He sometimes goes off on his own, so I wasn’t too worried about him, but he’d normally be back in time for breakfast.’

  Camilla spoke to Matilda next, and found out that Ethan disappeared too. Josh and Terri organised a search party. The Community members weren’t allowed to go too far into the woods, so they sent them down to search along the beach, leaving Terri and Josh to search the forest. Keith searched the area towards the Jeep, and Camilla stayed put in case they returned.

  ***

  Terri and Josh split up to cover more ground. Terri, who liked to think of herself as a bit of a detective, was hunting through the forest when she noticed an arrow drawn in the dirt. She followed the direction and a few feet later there was another arrow. Clues! Continuing to follow them, she got carried away, forgetting to notify Josh first.

  The arrows led her deeper and deeper into the forest until something stopped her in her tracks. It was Ethan. She tried to run, but he grabbed h
er. She screamed, and he slapped a hand over her mouth.

  ‘It’s time, my darling Terri. Time to make you mine.’ He shoved a rag in her mouth to stop her crying out, then dragged her to his makeshift lab.

  ***

  Josh heard Terri scream, and raced in that direction, diving and weaving between the trees, hurdling rocks and bushes, desperate to reach her. He didn’t see the tree root poking out from the ground. It caught his foot and he came crashing with a thump as his head struck a rock. Then all went blank.

  ***

  Damion sat, still bound to the chair. Ethan and Will had disappeared, leaving him alone in the cave. He looked around to see if he could find something to cut the cable with. In the corner of the room he noticed a knife sitting next to a roll of cable. He wondered how he could get to it. His feet were on the ground, so he tried shuffling towards it, but somehow managed to go backwards. Dammit. He tried again, with the same result.

  Just then, he heard some shuffling coming from the cave door. He strained his head to see what was going on, and saw Ethan dragging in a struggling Terri.

  ‘Looks like we’ll be able to kill two birds with one stone.’ Ethan said, an evil grin spreading across his face.

  ***

  Pete had gone back to the camp as he didn’t want to alarm the others and knew his wife would be concerned as usually he wouldn’t be getting back so late. When Fenella saw him she cried out. ‘Oh my God, everyone’s been looking for you. Damion and Ethan had gone missing as well. Where were you?’

  ‘Ethan heard a deer during the night and woke me, so we went out hunting. We were so busy stalking it, we didn’t realise the time. Sorry, honey.’

  ‘Well, I’m pleased you’re back. Was Damion with you? Apparently he’s gone missing as well.’

  ‘Nope, haven’t seen him.’

  ‘Hope he hasn’t done anything stupid. He was pretty upset after Leonora’s death. Hope he’s okay, for his children’s sake.’

  A flash of guilt seared through him as he thought about how he’d left their own daughter, Alice. He’d never been close to her. They’d adopted her purely because Fenella wanted a child, but she’d been a good kid and didn’t deserve what they’d done to her.