Amoeba (The Experiments) (46 page)

Billy bit his nails as he watched Cal pacing slowly and reading from the few sheets of paper that had emerged from the portable printer he brought. Cal’s eyes stayed fixed as she read, not watching where she was going, causing Jake to grumble in irritation when he had to move out of her way as he worked on a Stasis dummy on the floor.

“So.” Billy, hands in
his pockets, walked up behind her. “What do you think?”

“I’m not done reading yet.”

“So far?”

“I’m not done reading yet.”

“Yeah, but you’ve read enough to form an opinion.”

“Billy.” Cal continued to read. “I’m not
done reading yet.”

“But . . .”

“Bill!” Jake yelled. “She’s not done fuckin reading yet. Christ.” He stood up. “And why aren’t you done reading yet? You’ve had those three sheets for how long now Cal,? You aren’t grading them, you’re reading them.”

Cal lowered the paper. “If you two don’t mind
, I am taking it all in.”

Billy stepped to Cal. “These three pages of the chapter are very important. They deal with us.”

“Give me those.” Jake snatched the papers from her hand. “Why are you writing about the affair, Billy?”

“It’s not about the . . . uh
, incident, Jake.” Billy corrected. “It’s about the mind games and drugs and such.”

Jake handed the paper back to Cal. “Here. And finish reading so you can give the man an opinion.”

“Cal?” Billy asked. “I know you have one.”

“Well, this is a rough draft
, right?” Cal asked.

“What’s wrong
?” Billy panicked. “You hate it.”

“I don’t hate it.”

“Yes you do. You hate it. Tell me, I can take it.”

“Fi
rst of all, your writing . . .”

“Wait.” Billy held up his hand. “I hope you aren’t going to criticize the writing style.”

“No and why would you get defensive about that?” Cal asked surprised.

“It’s just that coming from the woman who wrote ‘Surviving the Stasis’ I just don’t think . . .”

“Whoa!” Cal folded her arms. “What is wrong with the way I wrote that manuscript for you? I’m a teacher.”

“Exactly.”

“Explain.” Cal raised one eyebrow

“Well, it’s just that it reads . . .” Billy thought for a moment. “It’s just that your writing reads . . .”

Jake interjected. “Like stereo instructions.”

“Thank you
. Jake.” Billy smiled.

Cal gasped. “I cannot believe you both just insulted my writing like that
, and Billy, this . . . this . . this . . sucks.” She shoved it at him.

“It does not
,” Billy argued. “You’re just saying that because I was blunt.”

“I’m being blunt
,” Cal said. “Can’t you take it?”

“I can take it when you’re being blunt
, but I think you’re being spiteful.”

Cal’s mouth opened. “I am never spiteful. Tell him
, Jake.”

“No.” Billy shook his head. “
You
tell
her
Jake. She’s being spiteful.”

“You’re just being immature because you cannot take constructive criticism.”

Billy laughed in ridicule. “You are not handing out constructive criticism, Cal. I merely asked you to read it and give me your opinion.”

“Which I did.”

“You did not, Cal. You ripped it apart.”

“Ripped it apart?” Cal asked with laughter. “No
, ripping it apart would be . . .”

“Don’t.” Billy stepped back, lightly smacking her hand that reached for the paper. “I won’t ask you to read my stuff anymore.”

“I don’t want to read your stuff if you’re going to be a child about it.”

“A child
? I am not being a child. Am I being a child, Jake?” Billy asked Jake who diligently tried to stay busy.

“Jake
, tell him he’s being a child.”

Jake shifted his eyes to the both of them. “I can’t fuckin take it.”

“Sarge!” Rickie burst in the room.

“Saved.” Jake pointed to Rickie. “My favorite person. Tell me you need me.”

Rickie smiled. “I do guy, like, we have a problem. Reed-ster and I. He needs you.”

“I’m there
,” Jake said. “Lead the way, Rickie.” And with that Jake followed Rickie out.

Cal looked odd
ly at the door when Jake left. “Did he just walk out?”

“Appears so
,” Billy said. “And you hurt my feeling, Cal. Hating my work . . .” Billy straightened the wrinkled papers. “Wanting to rip it up.”

“I did not hate your work
, Billy. I was going to tell you that your writing has really improved. And what do you do?”

“Jump down your throat.” Billy lowered his head with a slight smile. “Sorry for doing that and fighting with you.”

“Sorry for saying it sucked.”

“So you didn’t think it did?” Billy questioned.

“Sucked? No. I loved it. Print me up some more.”

“O
kay.” Billy grinned, racing to his laptop and printer.

“You do that. I’m in the mood for radishes, so I’m heading over to Judge
’s garden to steal some. Be right back.”

“O
kay,” Billy said as he prepared to print the pages. He paused when he heard the door close and looked at the shut door in wonder. “Radishes?”

^^
^^

“All right, Rickie.” Jake followed Rickie into Reed’s room. “What’s the problem?”

“Sarge
, I think it’s bad.” Rickie scratched his head. “Well, for us.”

“What?” Jake asked.

“Flute,” Rickie said. “Tell the Sarge.”

Nervously, Reed stepped close. “Ice.”

“You want ice?” Jake asked. “You called me over for . . .”

Reed shook his head. “Uh ink uh ought ice. Ice. Ed Ice.”

Jake was still confused. “Rickie, what the fuck?”

“Sarge, this is a problem of the
utmost severity for some of us. Tell him again, Flute.”

“Ice. Ice.” Reed reiterated. “Uh ought Ice. Ed Ice.”

Jake tossed his hands up.

“Sarge.” Rickie finally decided to interpret. “Reed here thinks he has head lice. What do we do
, guy? I’m itching and I think he does have them.”

Jake’s mouth closed tightly. He looked at Rickie and to the bald headed Reed. Then Jake, without saying anything
, walked out.

^^^^

Cal could hear him in her mind. Judge. Hear him complaining again about what ever ‘critter’ was eating at his garden. Cal could have confessed that not only did she steal his radishes twice the past week, but two cucumbers and a pepper as well, but she didn’t.

Slipping between Judge’s and Lou’s bungalow
s, Cal moved toward the back where the garden was. It was as she moved up the tiny grade that she heard Judge.

Soft, sad
, and whimpering. “No. No. Not again. No please. Go away.”

Feeling really bad and feeling like she was aiding and abetting Caldwell, Cal drew up her nerve, figuring she would confess seeing how Judge discovered her picking at his hard work. When she found him she raced to him.
He was lying on his side, partially curled up, grabbing at the ground with his fist.

“Judge.” Cal hurried, bending down to him. “It’s all right. I’m sorry.”

“No.” He nearly sobbed. “No.” His shoulders and head bobbed as his fingers dug at the dirt.

“O
kay.” Cal laid her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. But had I known you would have gotten this way over a few . . .”

“Cal.” Judge looked up to her speaking in a whispering confused manner. “Dear Jesus
, Cal.” Judge paused to close his eyes, shaking his head then sadly looking back at her. “They’re here.” His voice dropped even softer as he spoke with fear. “They’re here.”

^^^^

“Seven men. Twelve children and twenty-two women.” Judge sat at the table in Jake and Cal’s bungalow. His hands nervously played with a cup of coffee. “That is the four-state total of lives they took. The men . . . that they killed. Four were police officers that pulled them over. Three were happen-uponers.” Judge paused when Cal refreshed his coffee.

After Cal poured some more in her own cup, she replaced the pot. Just as she went to grab her mug
, Jake took it. “Jake.”

“Cal.” He carried the mug away. “Too much caffeine is not good for the baby.” He saw her reach. “No.” He shook his head. “Go on
, Judge.”

Judge smiled slightly at Cal’s
“tsk” of displeasure at Jake and then he continued on. “They were caught in my jurisdiction after a twelve month killing spree, caught in the act of tearing a three year old child limb from limb. The child was asleep upstairs, napping. These four men had been in the house doing their thing when they child awoke. The child’s scream alerted a neighbor who called for help. The neighbor had rushed over, and he, too, was found dead at the scene.” Judge shook his head. “They got their money to travel from what they stole. They would ride through neighborhoods, probably like the type you live in,” he told Cal and Jake. “Watch. Watch for a woman who perhaps got her kids off to school in the morning and then went back in the house. Housewives is what they hit. Every single one of them. Early morning hits. All killings done before ten in the morning. And then they’d slip from the neighborhood and out of town, unseen. Until the day they were caught. Cold. Callous. Heartless. Sick bastards. Abominations of life. These four men. They . . . they have no soul. I am convinced they have no soul. To let you know what they are. And I apologize if I offend you, Cal.”

Cal s
hook her head. “I don’t get offended. Please go on.”

“No soul.” Judges voice dropped. He peered to Cal, then to Jake and Billy who stood there also. “They would go into the house, just barge in. Bound the woman. Beat her. Sodomize her. Kill her through mutilations, And then they would . . . . they would ejaculate over her remains.” He took a deep breath. “And when they appeared before my court, the blood of the innocents still fresh on their hands, they showed not one bit of remorse. Not one. And when found guilty
, I sentenced them to death, all four of them to death.”

There was silence, and then Jake spoke up first. “And these four men are who you saw.”

“Yes.” Judge nodded sadly. “I thought, I thought it was my imagination at first. But they got closer today. Closer than they ever have before.” Judge grabbed Cal’s hand speaking with desperation. “And they’re here. They’re here.”

Cal calmly looked at Judge. “Holograms.”

“What?” Judge was baffled.

“Holograms
,” Cal explained. “They did it to me last experiment. The sight. The sounds. So real. They have the technology to create a vision so real you believe it is real. Holograms, Judge. Trust me. The next time they appear, you stand up tall. Tell yourself it isn’t real and reach out. Your hand will go right through what you see. Holograms.”

“But . . . But I saw them. I really saw them.”

“And I saw my daughter that was killed. She burned before my eyes in the last experiment. But it wasn’t real. And neither are these four men. They are sentenced to die. They are locked away in an institution somewhere.”

The one word
, institution, rang not only through Billy’s ears, but Billy’s heart as well. Sudden fear caused a slight tremble in his body, and with a cracking voice he looked to Jake. “Jake,” He called him, then motioned his head to Jake, walking around to the center room.

Jake followed, moving from the conversation that en
sued between Judge and Cal. “What’s up?” He whispered to Billy.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know.” Jake looked over to the table.

“Jake, you and I both know an institution isn’t going to stop Caldwell. They got my father out, didn’t they?”

“You have a point. We’ll maybe pull a search tomorrow.”

“Good. Because Jake,
if these guys are on this island, you heard what Judge says they do.” Billy stepped closer to Jake. “And I’m scared. Not for me. Not for Judge. And not for anyone else. But . . .”

With real concern, Jake looked over to his wife. “For Cal.”

In the control room, Greg sat in one chair, Dr Jefferson in the other. Swirling a little back and forth, Greg stared at the blinking mute light on the speaker phone. He raised his eyes to Dr. Jefferson. “It has to be done.”

Dr. Jefferson reached out his hand to stop Greg. “It is too early.”

“It could be too late,” Greg corrected. “Any later, any longer we wait with these four men, is another step closer we take to losing control over them. They already are out of control. At this point in the process . . .”

“Which you stopped
, correct?”

“Which we stopped. But come on, Dr
. Jefferson, does it matter?”

“Probably not.”

“Okay, well, then here’s the situation.” Greg folded his hands. “In order of importance, our control center staff and Rickie come first, followed by Cal, followed by the rest of the participants. They are becoming a threat to our controllers. They must be released.”

“Do these four men know
the concept of ‘terrorize only’?”

“Yes.” Greg nodded “They know if they want freedom on the island they cannot harm a soul. They also are aware of the tracking
devices that are implanted in them. They know we can locate them and kill them.”

“O
kay, but . . . do they care?” Dr. Jefferson watched Greg in hesitation stare long and hard at the speaker phone before finally picking it back up.