“I was trying to clean her tank.” Henric replied, looking everyone but the tank and them. “Instead, I killed her.”
Melvin laughed. “What? You didn’t kill the mondo, I did. But that makes sense. I was wondering who turned on the power in the factory, but I didn’t have time to pursue it. I flicked the filter switch on from your dad’s computer upstairs and kept looking for you two.”
Rick saw the anger his eyes and stood in front of him. “Let’s hurry up and move past this, we’ve been in here enough already.”
“WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU DO THAT?!” Henric screamed. He grabbed Rick’s gun from his back and shot rapidly at Melvin. David ran to the side as Melvin got hit in the right shoulder. The clone guard prepared to fire but Rick quickly pried the gun out of Henric’s hands and shot him in the neck.
“Everybody calm down! Just be calm!” Rick repeated.
“NO!” Henric roared. He ran up to Melvin and kicked him in a soft place, sending him to his knees.
“WHY DID YOU KILL HER! WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU DO THAT?!” He swung at Melvins face repeatedly, bloodying it up quite a bit.
“Your father did!” Melvin spat once he had the chance to defend himself.
Henric froze.
“Why?” asked Rick, keeping the gun trained between them and the guard, but he didn’t look like he’d be much of an issue anymore.
“Everything has gone to shit, Why do you think this place is empty?” Melvin struggled to get to his feet after Rick pulled Henric off of him. “They all agreed on a clean slate protocol; get rid of any and all projects, even the ones with the most research done. They gave us access to all of our projects and told us what to kill.” Melvin pointed toward Eve with his good arm. “She was going to die regardless, they could barely keep the others alive for nine months. Her project was scrapped before any of this started, they were just waiting for her to die humanely. That is, before their system collapsed and they had to get rid of it all.”
Melvin limped over to his clone and kicked it in its back. “You alive?” he asked, bending down to check its bracelet. “Fuck. I left the others upstairs.”
“That thing doesn’t matter. We need to get to our dad, immediately.” said Rick. Melvin nodded and David walked over to grab the clones gun. He smiled as Melvin glared at him.
“What? We’re going to need an extra hand out here, seeing that your arm is out and your guard is dead.”
“My left is just as good, so don’t think I’m handing over my weapon.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it. Now can we all put the guns away? You all are my only way out.” said David.
Rick did as he was told, but Melvin wanted to keep talking.
“What if Bickerstaff finds you on the outside?” he asked David.
“Most likely nothing. They’ll assume I’m dead and won’t care. If I were to go back to them however, that would be a problem. After I get the tracker out of my hand, I’m free.”
“David McCathey. Home. Freedom. Let’s go.” Rick marched forward and Henric followed. Melvin ignored his injury and led the group again, this time quieter than before. They went even further until they found Henric’s second discovery, the dead mermaid in the tube. This rendered some of them speechless. They stopped to stare and this time it was Henric who urged them to continue.
Grudgingly, they made it to a blank concrete wall on the side of the tanks, a spot Henric remembered from the museum, but there was no door. He knew better this time,
“Where’s the security mechanism that opens the door?” Henric asked, trying to spot it.
“It’s that camera right there,” said Melvin, bitterly, pointing to a camera extremely high up.
“It has a 50x optical zoom. One of us needs to hold our badge up, and it’ll let us through.”
“All right.” said Rick, pulling his out.
“No.” Henric replied, holding his hand up. “Did you kill him too?”
Melvin looked confused. “Uh... who?”
“The mermaid...man? Yeah, him! The merman! He was a hybrid, one of those people you sewed to a fish's body. I watched him choke and convulse until his lower half ripped off and blood spewed everywhere.”
“Ew.” said David.
Melvin raised his good hand in defense and looked at Rick, hoping he wouldn’t shoot him at the kid’s behest.
“I didn’t. Someone must have gotten out of the safety net that separates them from the full aquarium. It sounds like he didn’t heal enough. That you can’t blame on me, that was natural selection.”
“There was nothing natural about his creation.” Rick snapped.
“So you haven’t done anything with the mermaids in the museum?” Henric asked him.
Melvin paused. “I didn’t say that. I released them all.”
“Released them into what?” said David.
“The open.”
20
Rick held up his badge and they entered the mermaid exhibit. Right away, they could see what Melvin meant. Behind the glass they could see more than five, maybe as many as ten mermaids swimming together frolicking around in the open water. They all starred in wonder at the mermaids who paid them barely a passing glance. These weren’t wounded or steal healing like the last one Henric encountered, these looked healthy and vibrant, their hair shone in the waves of the water and their eyes screamed delight. The females’ breasts were hidden by red tops, unlike the Mondo and Hadal mermaids.
“I bet they're screaming, ‘Free at last, free at last, thank-’” Rick cut David off. “Shut up.”
“If you are getting rid of old experiments, why did you set them free?” Henric asked.
“This isn’t freedom.” Melvin replied. “It’s just a bigger cage they can tire themselves out in until they die. They don’t remember who they used to be, each one is lobotomized. Those smiles you see, that’s the bliss of ignorance. They’re happy because they’re nothing more than animals at this point. They know nothing.”
Convinced they’d seen enough, Henric started to go walk towards the entrance of the exhibit but noticed nobody had followed him. Melvin and David flanked Rick on both sides and repeatedly asked him what was wrong.
Henric got closer and when he looked at the glass, he saw her.
“That’s… That’s the hologram lady.” said Henric.
“That’s my mom.” Rick responded, his hands shaking as he balled them up into fists.
“I.. I kept asking him, what we were going to do. I kept asking him when we were going to bury her!” Rick banged on the glass furiously but it didn’t shatter. David tried to pull him away but Rick pulled his gun on him.
“GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!” Rick shouted. “All this place does is make abominations, monsters THAT HAVE NO REASON TO EXIST! This isn’t nature, this isn’t natural. ALL OF THEM ARE GOING TO HELL!”
David stepped back slowly, arms raised. “I know. I know how you feel. It’s okay. You heard Melvin, they’re ending the experiments anyway. Just calm down and remember where we’re going. We’re getting out, away from this.”
Rick turned back at the glass and saw that all the mermaids had swam away because of him. He stared at the glass, his breathing getting heavier until he pointed his gun towards the glass window. “I’m not going to let her live like this.”
“Rick no!” Henric shouted. Melvin was already running before Rick shot the glass three times, causing the whole thing to shatter and sending a huge wave of water out, knocking them off their feet and washing them out of the exhibit. They landed near the desk in the lobby, choking and gasping, but the water continued to rise. Getting to their feet, they saw the water was nearly knee level and still rising.
“How much water do you think was in there?” asked David while trying to get water out of his ears. He was touching his left ear gingerly, and Henric remembered that Rick had shot him earlier.
“More than enough to flood this whole damn museum!” Melvin shouted from the other side of the desk. He wasn’t swept away like other
s but the water came up to his legs too.
“Do you ever think before you do anything?!”
Rick shook water out of his gun. “Just get me to my dad.” he demanded. “I’m done talking.”
Melvin slowly got from behind the desk and walked towards the big navy blue door. “This is where he is. Now it’s gonna be flooded because of you.”
He walked up to the door and held up his ID. A camera popped out at the top of the door like a cuckoo clock and scanned it. The red light became green then went red again and nothing happened. Melvin turned and looked at Rick accusingly.
“It won’t even open because the water level is too high. We’re gonna have to open it the old-fashioned way.” He grabbed the door handle with his left hand. “Someone grab the other handle. They have to be opened at the same time.”
As they pulled the door open water began crashing through, into the dark behind the door. Hemric looked back towards the mermaid exhibit, which was still pushing out tons of water.
“Why haven’t any mermaids come through the glass?” he asked David, who was closest to him.
“That aquarium is massive on the inside. They probably swam to the bottom to avoid the receding water. They’ll live, so he accomplished nothing.” said David, even though Rick was still in earshot.
“Who said I was done with them?” He replied as he let go of the door. I’m going to ask my dad some questions first.”
“About that…” said Melvin, touching his shoulder. “Let’s hurry and get in, we’re letting in too much water.” He walked through the door and stood by it on the inside, ready to close it after they walked through. Him and Rick shut it and they looked around. The room mostly looked like a presentation room, besides a giant square hole on the far side of the room five tanks in the center. The tanks appeared to be made of titanium on the sides and two were shorter than the other. The right wall had a huge interactive board that took up almost every square inch while the left was filled with two hundred or more chairs.
“This isn’t the shore room. We checked his location, he was there. What is this?” Rick asked Melvin. “Where is my dad?”
“This is the presentation room, and he was there, but he’s here now. Maybe he wanted to say a final goodbye.” Melvin watched Rick’s expression. “Look at the front of the tank.”
He sat down in a chair and closed his eyes, muttering to himself about his arm.
Rick and Henric walked up to the first tank and there he was. David McCathey, sleeping peacefully in yellow light. He wore his typically lab coat with ID attached, and his face looked a little bruised, like he had gotten into a fight recently. Rick looked at the other tanks and saw the two shorter empty ones.
“What is this? What’s happening?”
“It’s an extraction. We were supposed to take you, and you to your dad safely. Put you in the tanks, clean this place out, and send you all to Lavaunzier’s new location. They took the scientists info and told us what they wanted us to do. I never directly interacted with your father.”
David walked up to Rick and Henric.
“I did. Right before he got in this tank, he told me to find you. Then Bickerstaff gave me other directions. Apparently David had been hiding you because you were sick, and he didn’t want you experimented on. He thought he could put you in a coma to hide you while he created a clone your age and size, to trick them. But it didn’t work. The only success was too young to take your spot and before he could try again, Taccaria’s creatures escaped. The scientists hid here in these tanks until they could be shipped off to the new lab. Next to your father is Doctor Hiro Jeong, the one that started the research on clones, and Doctor Aida Pinto, the creator of the automatons.”
“Where’s Dr. Mutasa then? Or his daughter? Why aren’t there tanks here for them?” Rick demanded.
“They’re here, we just don’t know where. Dr. Mutasa never checked out, and the security cams say he was with his daughter when they entered.” David replied.
“So he was going to sacrifice me just to keep Rick safe?!” Henric asked David.
“Yeah.” David replied quietly. “I’m sorry, kid.”
“You don’t matter.” Rick said to him, turning around and raising his gun. “You never did.”
Henric was shocked. “Hold on, You, you saved me from that robot, remember? The automaton!”
“I let you live because it was easier for you to escape him than it was for me. Automatons don’t kill no matter who screws with their code. A few beatings, I play unconscious and it leaves me alone. I wanted you to realize who you are, and what you are not. You. Are. Not. ME!!” Rick shouted. “I was going to kill you right in front of him, but change of plans,” He aimed at the tank and pulled the trigger three times.
“NO!!” Henric cried. The gun only shot twice, he was out of ammo. But it wasn’t bulletproof. Rick got David McCathey once in the forehead and the other in his left eye, making a small spurt of blood on the glass. The lights inside switched to red, and the tank began to open.
“David, give me your gun.” Rick commanded, holding out his hand. David shook his head. “No. He’s not dangerous, he’s nothing like the other clones there’s no reason to kill him.”
Rick looked over to Melvin, who also shook his head. “My job was to bring you here and wait for extraction. Both of you. I’m not going to help you kill him, clone or not. Especially after you just committed patricide.”
Rick was furious. “Fine, I’ll kill him with my bare hands then.”
Henric ran towards the door and began pulling at both handles, struggling to get them to open. Ever so slightly, it budged more and more until water spurted out through the gaps. Rick was a footstep behind Henric when he noticed how far up the water was behind the door.
“Wait, don’t open the-”
A full on wave burst through the doors, sweeping everyone off their feet. Rick slammed backwards into his father’s tank while Henric and David were swept out into the square tunnel by the current. Melvin had been thrown from his seat but was holding on to another one for dear life.
“You just had to shoot the glass!” He screamed before losing grip and hurtling towards the wall. He smacked it with a loud thump and went silent. Rick managed to hold on to the tank long enough for the water to calm. Once he finally lost his grip he dropped into the puddle with a loud splash and coughed up the excess water. Looking behind him, he only saw Melvin.
David and Henric must have been washed away into the tunnel. He thought.
No.
David and my clone. It doesn’t deserve my name. Every other clone has a number. I’m the only Henric McCathey. There’s no one else like me.
Henric got to his feet and looked at the five tanks, at the scientists sleeping faces.
Namatsai should be here. And her father. I’m going to find them both and make sure they're safe.
He turned around and winced. He hurt his back when he hit the tank, but he ignored the pain and walked towards the navy blue doors. He was determined to find them and finally escape this monstrous menagerie.
To whoever reads this and any other book I write, I want to thank you for your support. Writing is a passion I have pursued since I was in elementary school. I hope to become as well known as my favorite authors some day. (That’s a long ass list, btw)
“GLASS BACK” will have a sequel, but until then, enjoy a short story I didn’t know what to do with, titled “BLEACHED GRAVE”.
BLEACHED GRAVE
A Short Story by Terrell Lawson
“Okay… we poured bleach on his grave, b-but we didn’t dig him up, I swear!” Matt pleaded with the officers. He was trembling and his clothes were soaking wet from the rain. The police caught him around 2 am, and he’d been sitting here waiting for at least an hour.
“Then who did?” said Officer Bell through gritted teeth.
“Dwayne did!”
“That is utter bullshit!” Bell snapped. “If you don’t tell us the god damn-”
; “Calm down, Bell,” said Officer Gable.
“He’s been telling us the same insane bull-”
“Maybe he’s traumatized. It’s late, Leonard. We’re all a little tired. Go get a coffee, start on the reports. I got it from here.”
Bell gave Matt one last glare before his walkie talkie began to chatter. Holding it up to his face, he told the receiver to keep him updated on the cemetery before storming out of the interrogation room, practically snarling at Matt. The door slammed hard enough to make both Matt and Officer Gable jump. Gable sighed and sat down in front of Matt, pulling out his phone. He tapped a button on the side and held it up to his face. “Maurice, could you bring in some water?”
Moments later a big dark skinned officer whose name tag said Bush. He brought in two water bottles and set them down on the table, observing Matt continuously.
“This the grave robber?’ Maurice asked Gable, who shook his head.
“Innocent until proven guilty. We haven’t heard the whole story.”
Maurice looked at Matt again before walking out the room, closing the door a lot softer than Officer Bell.
“So,” Gable opened up his bottled and took a sip, while Matt didn’t move. “I want to know it all. Why were all of you out there? What reason did you have to do this? Why...How… uh, did Dwayne Hernandez dig himself up?” His walkie talkie started chattering and he turned it off.
Glass Back Page 8
