Project Lazarus (10 page)

The horror struck him quickly like a sharp knife to the heart or the gut.  He knew what the Amazon man was doing.  He was communicating with the dead, the living dead, specifically the ones from hell.

“He…he’s,” Charlie started, “he’s giving them instructions.  He’s telling them what to do.”

“What?  What does he want them to do Charlie?”

“I don’t know but it isn’t good Mr. Adams.”

Mr. Adams thought for a moment.  He was a man of quick decision.

He unshackled Charlie Dempster from the chair and led him out into the hallway.

Charlie was weak, shaky and wobbly, a bit like an out of shape dog owner trying to keep up with a healthy golden retriever.

Mr. Adams let go of him.  Again, he thought for a moment.  Mr. Adams quickly decided.

He leaned into Charlie Dempster and told him something.  It reminded Charlie of Commander Henrid’s empty threats, five years ago in that Amazon jungle, except the enemies made things very real.

“I don’t care what the higher ups around here think.  You can walk on water for all I care.  I know….the rumors.  Certain men, men that I respect, men that I would lay down my life for have told me things.  I think you have something to hide Charlie Dempster.   I think you know something about this Amazon man, something you’re keeping secret.”

“I don’t know anything,” Charlie retorted, stoic, thinking only of his boy Dylan, only he could get him though this.

“Okay then,” Mr. Adams retorted, “fix it.”

He threw open the door to the Amazon man’s prison and threw Charlie Dempster inside.

Charlie Dempster was thrown with so much force by Mr. Adams into the room with the Amazon man that he landed on the floor.  His knees surely bruised from the encounter with the cold hard floor.

He looked back at the door, watching Mr. Adams sneer back at him.  He turned away coldly.

Charlie heard a click and instantly knew the door was locked behind him.

He scrambled to his feet and pounded on the window.

“No,” he yelled, “you can’t leave me in here with him.”

Mr. Adams walked down the hallway slowly and surely.  He never looked back.  Not even when Charlie screamed in agony. 

Mr. Adams believed only Charlie Dempster could fix this mess.  He also believed he was responsible for it.

Thoughts ran through Charlie’s head a mile a minute.  Questions more than thoughts.  Where was Millicent?  Would she give up Dylan?  No.  She would never do that.  He already put her through too much.  It was possible.  Maybe she was fed up.  No, he reasoned again.

He crawled to the corner.  His jeans were sweaty and dirty.  His worn t-shirt clung to his lanky frame.  He felt the skin and bones.  Did he lose weight in just a few short days?  He felt faint, defeated and alone.

He curled up in the corner.  Holding onto his glasses, the tears flooded down his face.  He had only cried twice in his life.  Once, when his father died.  He never knew his mother.  She died in childbirth.  And today.  Today, he cried.  He cried for a while.  He had to get it all out.

How could things have gone so wrong?  This wasn’t part of the plan.  How could everything have gone so terribly wrong?

He stared at the Amazon man, he faced him and was now inexplicably silent.

He smiled.

Charlie looked at him befuddled.  He crawled over to him, both  of them now sitting across from each other eye to eye, face to face.

The Amazon man smiled again.

He was out of his trance.

Charlie stared.  He had no idea what was coming next.

“Amazon man?” He asked.

Amazon man was the name Charlie used to address him when he first arrived at the facility.  It stuck.

“Hello Charlie,” he answered back.

Charlie was stunned.  The Amazon man  never spoke to him since the incident with Dylan.  Not in perfect English.  Not in anything he could ever translate.  Yet, he called him by his name.  He said hello.  What did he want?

“Amazon man?”

“Yes, Charlie.”

“You speak?” Charlie asked in a tone that alluded to betrayal more than amazement.

“Yes, Charlie,” he answered slowly and evenly, his voice pouring out slow and drawn like molasses out of a jar.

“How?  How is this possible?”

“I always heard you Charlie.  I chose not to speak.”

Charlie nodded.

“Now I can answer you,” he told him.

He stared at the Amazon man.  The stranger in front of him was a strange co-worker for years and now a stranger again.

“Why now?  You speak now.  Now that you’ve done all this,” Charlie was a man of science.  He needed  an answer.

The Amazon man simply laughed in reply, “Must you know everything.”

“Yes, Amazon man, yes,” Charlie demanded.

He put his finger to his lips, defiantly and amused, “My little secret.”

Charlie found his eyes and they met his, a formidable opponent was born.

“Do the others know?  How many have heard you speak?”

“I only speak to you,” the Amazon man insisted.

“Why?  What do you want from me?”

The Amazon man paused long and slow.  He looked about the room.  The prison cell he lived in.

“I think you know,” his eyes blazing at him.

Charlie backed away.

“No,” he told him, “whatever it is you want….I is not giving it to you.  I can’t.”

The Amazon man went silent and back into a trance.

Charlie got up, pacing the room.  This was hell.  It was chaos.  It was a nightmare. 

The Amazon man spoke only to him.  He could never tell anyone.  The Amazon man promised no one would ever know.  No one but Charlie.  He wanted something from him.  What?

His mind swirled, he paced back and forth in his cruddy worn out shoes.  Why didn’t he get new shoes last month?   Millicent put them in the budget.  He stared down at the broken and worn canvas, the weathered rubber soles and tattered shoe strings.  This was no way to live.  This wasn’t the life he wanted for himself.  Yet, here he was stuck in a room with the Amazon man.  His life’s work.

He thought about Millicent.  He wondered if they killed her yet.  He thought about Dylan.  He wondered if they would ever find him.

He walked back to the Amazon man.

“Hmmmmmmmmm…….Hmmmmmmmm………Hmmmmmm……..”

Those low even tones.  He was communicating again.

He threw up his hands.

“Why are you doing this?” He yelled.

Silence.  Chanting.  Silence.  Chanting.

“Can’t you see you’re ruining everything.”

“Hmmmmmmmmm…….Hmmmmmmmm………Hmmmmmm……..”

“Stop it.  Stop that damn chanting,” he ordered him, “I know you can hear me.  I know you can talk.”

Charlie caught himself and started to panic.  What if they’re watching?  Listening?  They wanted him to fix things. 

He ran around the room looking for a bug, a listening device, a camera, anything.  His hands sprawled over the walls, the floors, nothing.

Restless, from the ensuing paranoia that was eating him whole, he threw himself back on the floor.

The Amazon man was still in a trance.

“Amazon man,” Charlie said quietly, “Why?”

The Amazon man silenced.

“It is time Charlie,” he explained.

“These people back from the dead.  You communicate with them.  Why?”

“You want more answers than you ever gave me,” the Amazon man replied.

“I know.  I know.  What we’ve done…What I’ve done is terrible.  Unforgivable.  I just want this to be over for the both of us.  I’ll get you out of here, I swear.”

The Amazon man studied Charlie, as he put his hand to his chest, a solemn vow given.

“Raising the dead is a privilege Charlie only given to a chosen few,” the Amazon man explained.

“You raised the entire town of Cotter Amazon man.  It’s no longer a privilege,” Charlie argued.

“I know,” he confirmed.

“Why?”

“The ones from hell will take over.”

“You mean kill the living?”

He nodded.

“I don’t understand.”

“I raise the dead when it’s necessary.  I come to those who need me.  When they abuse my gift, there is a price to pay Charlie.”

“A price to pay,” Charlie repeated.

“Yes,” he affirmed.

“And this is the way you want it then?  You want to kill innocent people?  These people from hell that’s what they’ll do.”

“It’s not what I want.  There is an order to things.  There has been plenty of time to rectify the wrongs.  There is a balance of power.  It must be restored Charlie.  When something is given back…something must be taken.”

“I don’t understand,” Charlie stammered, “the dead are coming to punish the living.  How is that order and balance?”

“I said when something is given back…something must be taken…and when it is not honored…terrible things happen Charlie.”

“You’ve been here five years and only last week you raised the dead.”

The Amazon man shook his head.

“That is partially true,” he reminded him.

Charlie looked at him dumbstruck.  Things were beginning to register.

“I won’t stop this Charlie.  You know what must be done.”

“I don’t…..I don’t…. How could I possibly know?”

“You have had five years Charlie and yet, you kept me here.  You chose science over my gift.  You got the best of both worlds Charlie and now you must choose one over the other.”

He stared at the Amazon man and shook his head wildly.   The answer was there alright. Charlie knew the terrible awful answer.  A life for a life.  Dylan.

“No,” he screamed at the Amazon man wildly.

“No.  Never,” he shouted again.

“And so it goes…..” said the Amazon man.

“NO!!!”

“You choose your science then.”

“I choose my son.  There’s a difference.”

“Not so,” the Amazon man argued, “you didn’t release me.”

“No…..” Charlie stammered.

“Your son isn’t science Charlie. Men can be forced to give up what they believe is rightfully theirs Charlie but we can’t alter fate without a price.  I won’t stop until you do what you know you must.”

“I’ll kill you first,” Charlie warned, before heading to the window.

He began knocking on the door wildly.  So wildly, the guard mistook him for the antics of the Amazon man.

“Let me out of here now,” Charlie Dempster ordered the startled guard behind the door.