Amoeba (The Experiments) (66 page)

“Cal.”

“You asked.” Cal looked down at Billy’s stuff. “You have any pages for me to read?”

“Yeah I do. I printed some up for you.” Billy walked to his lap top case and lifted it. He hesitated before lifting the papers out. “Cal.” He faced her. “Why didn’t you tell me about the progression in this pregnancy?”

“Billy, you should know the pregnancy would progress. I’ve been pregnant for four months. And wow, can you believe this experiment is almost over? Really. For as physical as it is
, I think they made a mistake putting me and Jake on. We knew too much.”

“Are you finished?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’m not talking about the pregnancy in general. I’m talking about the fact that there are two of them in you and . . .” Billy stepped to her reaching out. “This.” he indicated to her belly. “May I?”

“All right.” Cal huffed.

Billy softly touched upon her stomach. “Are you feeling life yet?”

“Not yet.”

“When my sister had the twins she felt life at three months.”

“Good for her.”

“Cal.”

“Kidding. I may have felt life, but I probably passed it off as gas.” She snickered.

Billy chuckled as he removed his hand. “You’ll let me feel them when they kick, right?”

“Of course. Why would you even ask that?”

“Well.” Billy moved back, running his hand across his hair. “I’m scared
, Cal. I’m scared that if I make this last month, that the moment I step off the plane, that will be the last moment I lay eyes on you and the baby or now babies.”

“It won’t be.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I won’t let it be
,” Cal told him. “Billy, you and I are such good friends, and I need that in my life. I know how you are about family, and I wouldn’t do that to you, deny you your child. And as hard as this is for you to believe, neither would Jake, even though he’s running around being the big Dad. He knows, and he also wouldn’t deny you your child.”

“Thanks.” Billy spoke in relief. “I guess I just needed to hear that.”

“Sure.” Cal reached out and touched his cheek. “Besides, Jake not letting you be a part of the baby’s life isn’t something you should worry about at all.”

“Good.”

“Him killing you before we leave this island, now that’s a possibility.”

“Thanks.” Billy shook his head and moved back to his lap top case.

“Sure, that’s why we’re friends, see. I can make you feel better.”

“Can you keep that frame of mind when you read my stuff tonight then
?” Billy handed her a stack of papers.

“What do you mean?”

“Cal, you tear my writing apart. I take it very personally, you know that, and you still tear it apart.”

“I’ll take it easy on you tonight.” Cal took the papers and walked over to the bed.

“Good.”

“Oh.” She snapped. “Where’s my red pen.”

Billy cringed watching her search for it. He knew he was in for another bad reading and writing night with Cal. Her using that red pen and making his just written pages look as if they were bleeding from her ripping out his literary heart.

“Stan.” Greg closed his eyes as he rocked in the chair speaking on the phone. “Listen. Stan. Listen . . .” He rolled his eyes. “You’ll be fine. Are your perimeter fences up?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’re safe. And . . . .we spotted him on the satellite a half an hour ago. He’s regenerating. So you have at least three days.”

“Oh
, good.”

“Now.” Greg changed his tone to a softer one. “I understand the feel
ing up there. I know that it’s somber, we feel it here. But, there’s something I need to discuss with you.”

“What’s that?”

“It was brought to our attention through the monitors that Cal is aware that she is carrying more than one child.”

“Yes.” Stan said. “I told her.”

“Why?”

“Well, the woman isn’t dumb. She realized it when she started to show. And she would have realized it again when she felt life early. I figured it was best. I acted dumb.”

“You didn’t tell her everything, did you?” Greg asked.

“No.”

Greg smiled. “Good. Let’s keep it that way.”

I-S.E. Thirteen - The Island

July 14
th
- 8:30 p.m.

The lights flickered, the room flashed white, and the crashing roll of thunder vibrated the room. Jake looked up to the ceiling as he lay on his side on top of the bed with Cal. He could hear the rain beating with a vengeance against their bungalow roof.

“Jake. I can’t believe you are going to sit up there all night.”

“I have to.”

“In the rain?”

“Cal, it won’t be the first time. Now, shh.” Jake’s hand lay over her stomach, its largeness nearly covering Cal’s pregnancy. Jake’s face lit up. “There it was again. That was little Jake. He’s got the strong legs.” Jake closed his eyes. “Where did he go? Wait. There.” Jake smiled. “Now that was Sam. He’s the puncher.”

“Jake
, what are you going to do if I’m carrying girls?”

“Cal
, please,” Jake said as if that was an insulting thought. “I am not having girls. Besides, God would not do that to a female child. Could you imagine me being the father to a teenage daughter? No.”

“It would be awful.”

“I couldn’t take it.”

“Neither could I
,” Cal said. “Do you realize Jessie would have been sixteen? Sixteen, Jake. You would have been teaching her how to drive.” Cal snickered at the look of horror on Jake’s face. “Yeah, I could see it.” Cal proceeded to imitate Jake. “Jessie, Jess, don’t get . . . just . . . fuck. Pull the fuckin car over.”

“Cal
, please. I would never presume to use that sort of language in front of a child. You know that.”

“My apologies.”

“Accepted. And . . . there.” Jake grinned when he felt another tiny tap against his hand.

“Jake, you are really different when it comes to this pregnancy. Almost . . . weird maybe?”

“Cal.” Jake scoffed.

“No. Let me ask you a question.
A serious one, too. Are you going to use a high voice and talk baby talk, because that’s where I see this heading.”

“I cannot believe you would even ask me a question like that. Do I look like the sort of man who would talk baby talk?”

“No,” Cal answered.

“No. And there will be no baby talk to these children. Absolutely none. I hate it.”

“Jake, I didn’t realize you felt so strongly about . . .” Cal hid her snicker. “Baby talk.”

“Oh
, absolutely. You should, too. It serves absolutely no psychological purpose, nor does it develop intelligent characteristics in a child. In fact, baby talk is the sole reason to blame for why we have individuals like Rickie running about.”

“Jake.”

“What?” He lifted his head to look at her.

“Go to the roof. You’re late.”

“See. You asked me a question, I gave you an answer, now you want to get rid . . .”

“Jake
, I wasn’t serious about the baby talk question. I was kidding around.”

“Oh.” Jake paused in an awkward silence. “Well Cal, you have to let me know next time. I wouldn’t have wasted my time giving such a detailed explanation.”

“I’ll remember that.”

“Thank you.”

“Now go to the roof.”

“Just one more kick.” Jake moved his hand. “Yep.” He smiled. “There it is.”

“Jake.”

“One more.”

Cal gave up. With her shirt up over the waist of her shorts, she plopped backward in defeat on the bed.

“Where?” Greg raced forward jumping down the two steps of the control room. Douglass sat with Daniela at the control table, and as Greg rushed by, he hit into Douglass’ chair, causing it to spin. But Greg didn’t care, actually he didn’t even notice. His excited focus was forward as he leaned against the monitors’ table right next to Lyle. “Show me.”

Lyle clicked a few times on the keyboard. “Sneaking in through the trees. Unnoticed. He can’t be seen. See? I’m using infrared.”

Greg watched the one monitor screen. He could see the Stasis shifting about slowly in the trees. “He looks like he’s in a stalking mode.”

“He certainly does
,” Lyle agreed. “He knows exactly which bungalow to hit and who he is hunting.”

“And exactly who
is
he hunting?” Greg asked.

Lyle turned his swivel chair slightly, peered up at Greg
, and grinned. “Reed.”

A loud bang rang out when Douglass’ head hit, forehead first
, down to table he sat in front of.

If Reed could look any prouder at that moment, he would have, standing before his bathroom mirror, a nice pair of fresh purple silk bikini undies on. Not that he had anywhere to go, but to Reed, after months and months, he finally looked good. That missing ear had stopped looking so red and was barely noticeable, and he guessed that as soon as his hair grew back, he would keep it long enough to cover it. Or get plastic surgery when he got back home. And his hair was indeed growing back. Five whole sections, not very thick, sprouted from just above the forehead, and they were getting long too, long enough to style back and make it appear as if he had more. He was a fashion model. He could do that sort of thing. So with the comb in his good hand, and the hair spray in the bad hand, Reed, using those stumps of fingers he had gotten quite used to, sprayed some extra hold on those lonely strands. He used the comb to lift them until they were just about dry. Then, with a quick sweep, he combed them back, using the teasing end of the comb to lift and separate the hairs.

Reed looked good. At least he thought he did. Ready for nothing but a good book and bed, he shut off his bathroom light and walked into his bedroom. He thought about filing down the finger nails on his one hand. They were becoming unsightly and in dire need of a manicure. But he wasn’t up for it. What he was up for on such a rainy and thunderous night was a good Stephen King
novel, and that sat on his night stand next to the nail file.

Reaching down for SILVER BULLET, Reed ran his only index finger across the cover. There were small beads of water. He raised his
eyes and saw the very slight opening in the window and the rain that took advantage of that opening, blowing in as a mist and laying on the small sill. Not wanting any moisture in his room, Reed reached up for the widow.

The blast of water and wind that pelted Jake in the face not only brought the cool rain, but something else as well, a smell that Jake knew so well - damp, musty, and like an unkempt dog pound. Quickly, Jake readied his M-16, and raced across the roof to the hatch, kicking it open with his foot and yelling to below. “Buckle down, Cal, and get ready. He’s out here.”

Cal, lying on the bed, listened to the stomps of Jake’s footsteps above her. They meshed with the sound of Billy falling off his chair as he wrote. After taking a second to laugh at Billy on the floor, Cal reached under the bed with a grunt and pulled out the arsenal bag retrieving the weapons she needed and getting them ready.

After flicking the water harshly from his face, Jake held tight to his gun with one hand and a spotlight flashlight with the other. He turned the high bright beam on, flicking a signal of three flashes to Rickie across the way. Then Jake slowly skimmed the spotlight around the compound. He could smell him, and he could swear he heard the heavy breathing, but Jake couldn’t see him. Jake’s head twitched at every sound, peep, and crack of a branch. He was ready.

Reed never realized how hard it was to shut a stuck window with on hand
, especially since the one hand was not the strong one. He supposed it would fast become his more powerful hand, but at the moment Reed was trying to shut that window, it just didn’t seem to have what it took. He grunted, struggled, and squinched up his face as if he were constipated, trying to shut the window that was only open a half an inch. And with the feel of victory that hit Reed as he closed the window, grabbed his book and turned to the bed, so did something else - two very hairy arms as they crashed through the window grabbing Reed from behind and pulling him with a rushing force backwards. Reed’s back slammed hard into the wall, and he could feel the Stasis trying to fold him in half and pull him through the window that was too small for him. The heavy hot breath mixed with the cold air as the Stasis pulled and Reed struggled. He had to get free and run for it. Then he spotted it, his weapon, the nail file on the night stand. Using his bare foot, Reed quickly picked the file up with his curled toes, bent his leg up, grabbed the file with his good hand, and jammed it hard into the arm of the Stasis. The Stasis bellowed in pain and dropped Reed to the floor.

Jake heard the glass, but he didn’t pinpoint it until he heard the Stasis scream. With a three step charge across the roof, Jake leaped down the hatch and landed with a hard thump to the floor. “Cal.” He ran to the door. “Stay inside. Don’t come out. He’s got Reed.”

Cal shifted her eyes to Billy when the door shut. Just as her top lip started to quiver in an uncontrolled snicker, the door reopened and Jake popped his head in.

“Cal
, don’t laugh.” The door slammed again.

Reed picked himself up from the floor after tripping over his shoes in a mad dash charge for safety and freedom, and ran
again. In just his underwear or not, he flung open the door to get away and the cry of the Stasis went through Reed’s body like an electric shock. Reed couldn’t move. He froze, and the Stasis, reached for him in a teasing way, grabbing Reed by both arms and lifting him high. With a wet-toothed grin, the Stasis stared its yellow eyes into Reed’s, and with one more beastly snarl it widened his mouth and lunged forward with its fangs for Reed’s neck. But millimeters before the fangs plunged into the flesh, the floor boards of the porch broke with a loud crack, and the Stasis not only sunk down, but his hands released Reed, causing him to bang his head into the archway and drop completely backward in an unconscious state.

Stuck in a quick sand pit of wood from the knees down, the stasis tried to free
itself from the planks that seared into his legs. It cried out and flung itself about, drool flinging like rain onto Reed’s feet that were right before it. Its long-nailed claws grabbed for the porch trying to gain leverage as its footing got stuck even more in the mud that gathered under the hollow porch.

And it was the hollow porch that sounded off to the
Stasis that its death was near. Like the whistle of an oncoming train to someone stuck on the tracks, that’s what Jake’s stomping footsteps were to the Stasis.

With n
o time, no pity, and definitely no remorse, Jake seized the opportunity of the trapped beast, lunged forward missing the swinging arms, and in one motion injected the knife, ejected the bigger blade, and the Stasis went silent, it’s head popping of like a champagne cork high in the air and landing with a thump directly on Reed’s groin. Reed moaned, and the body of the Stasis fell limp and directly forward onto Reeds legs.

Jake stood still, his eyes focused on the dead
Stasis while he caught his bearings.

Rickie began to cheer, jumping up and down splashing. “Oh
, Sarge! You’re the man! Oh!” Rickie flung his hands out in the rainy air.

“Thanks.” Jake chuckled, then turned when he heard the slight groaning coming from Reed. He reached down his hand for the
Stasis.

“Stop
!” Rickie shouted.

“Why?”

“Don’t touch him yet.”

“Why?” Jake asked again.

“Cause.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Cause?”

“Yeah.” Rickie started to laugh and turned to face Cal and Jake’s bungalow. “Bamboozle! Hey Bambi! Hurry out here, guy. Get your camera. You have to get a picture of this. I got your first headline back in the civilized world, dude!”

Jake cringed, especially when he saw Cal and Billy running out of the bungalow,
and soon Judge and Lou were there as well. “Can I help this man now?”

Billy chuckled. “Wait.” He raised his camera and clicked a picture.

“Why are you doing this?” Jake asked perturbed.

“Sarge, like
, look.” Rickie pointed to Reed, lying on his back in just his sexy underwear, the body of the dead Stasis on top of his legs, the beastly and bloody decapitated head resting on Reed’s lap. “Like, check it out, Sarge. Headlines - Iso-Stasis Experiment Beast gives head to enduring participant. Details at eleven.”

Jake’s mouth closed tight,
and he glared at Rickie and to everyone else whose snickers emerged in the rain. With a slight complaining grunt, Jake reached down to the furry body of the Stasis and stopped cold, turned his head to Rickie, and then the stony expression on Jake’s face broke when he laughed.