Project Lazarus (30 page)

She looked back and forth to make sure no one was coming and approached the steel frame door.  In one quick movement she slid in the key.  She sighed, when it fit perfectly.  She turned the key and a rush of air hit her.

With the extra air and the thrill of adventure rushing at her, one physical the other mental, it was the first time she could breathe and deeply.

“I know you’re not one of them,” she whispered, “help me find my husband.”

Natalie approached the unassuming woman who socked her in the face the first chance she got.

The door now open, Millicent produced her bloody wrists which she had gnawed against the metal until she released them out of the handcuffs.  A former jeweler, she knew how to hit the spring so she could loosen it enough from the chair.

The reporter would’ve been shocked, as shocked as she was when that fist hit her face like lead had she not been out stone cold on the floor.

Millicent knew the door was open and it was her only opportunity.

She hobbled out, tripped the alarm and got fifty feet before being wrestled to the ground.

Natalie Winston lay on the floor of the room, not knowing what had transpired.

It was one thing to know your life was in absolute danger, it was another thing to be completely unaware.

Natalie Winston had taken the chance.  She knew the risks.  Yet, in the mystery of Project Lazarus and the many characters that played their parts, there were always surprises.

People changed personalities and their boundaries and morals shifted as quickly as the dead were raised from the ground.

Millicent, tackled to the ground, by several military officers, turned her head against the cold tile.  She stared at the girl she punched out with remorse.  Millicent knew she was innocent, perhaps there to help her but she just couldn’t risk it.  The girl coming in was a chance to escape, a chance to find her husband alive or dead, she didn’t know.  Mostly, it was a chance to warn her son Dylan.  As a mother, she could sense the impending doom.  They were coming for him.

You can’t take something from the universe and not expect to pay in return.  The laws don’t work that way.  “You are to pay me by releasing me.”  The words of the Amazon man echoed in Millicent’s mind.  These words Charlie ignored when he resurrected Dylan from the dead.

Now Charlie had put them in peril and all Millicent could feel was stupidity.  She made a dumb move, one that most likely might get her killed if she was no longer necessary ransom.  She peered into the eyes of the military men above her.  Had she become a liability to them?

Like everyone else in the compound, she heard the gunshots.  The thoughts racing through her mind had made her careless and less than decent.  She turned back to the innocent girl on the floor.  Most likely the bullet would be for her next.  Who was she?  A glint of right vs. wrong kept flashing through her mind.  If she was to die, she would do so helping another.

“Get up,” roared the man in the fatigues.  He looked at her bloody wrists.  “Good God, what is this?  You trying to kill yourself or you trying to escape?”

Natalie moaned on the floor, awakened by the brash sound of the man’s voice.

The other soldiers circled the aging woman, an unlikely criminal.

“Escape,” she retorted, staring now at Natalie moving restless on the floor, aiming to get to her feet.

She appeared terrified to Millicent.  Millicent watched her stumble.  She knew she might hold the girls life in her hands.  There was no way for either of them to escape.

Survival mode set in and she came up with a plan.  There would be a story to her escape.  She could save herself and the girl.  Millicent silently smiled at what she deemed an early victory.

“Soldier,” screamed the man, now picking Millicent up by her bloody wrists, “Identify yourself.”

Natalie saw his face.  Stern and ready for action.  There was no way out.  There was only him, the door and her.

Millicent watched her blankly, wondering what the girl might say in response.

“Grandy, Calista Grandy Sir,” she muttered.

The man didn’t answer to Natalie.

Instead he dismissed the others.

“She was interrogating me,” Millicent spoke lightly and with a burden of guilt, getting ready to sell the story.

She watched her shadow drag across the floor and only wished to burn her shadow, escape her existence but the only burning was the blaze that had entered the man’s eyes.

“Grandy, huh?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Continue with the prisoner.  We’ve got Dempster downstairs.  Plans are changing. You’ll be briefed by the Colonel soon.  Commander Henrid is on the move.”

The name flashed like a million lights in Millicent’s head.  She tried to wrestle away from the man.

Natalie jumped in to get her back in the seat.  She knew Millicent saved her life.  It felt cruel to help detain her.  Natalie was determined to get her out of that room, she had to deceive her.

Millicent knew if Commander Henrid was involved, her husband and son were in peril.

She felt a twinge of hate for the girl trying to restrain her now.

“I will help,” she whispered once Millicent was restrained and the soldier was out of earshot.

Millicent looked at her enemy turned ally turned enemy and back to ally wondering how a girl she socked in the face was going to help her.

“How did this happen?”

“She told you,” Natalie replied to the soldier, “she tried to escape.”

“That’s quite a right hook, you’ve got Millicent,” he laughed.

Millicent smirked, “You’re next, you brute,” she quipped.

“I want to see my husband.  Now.”

“Keep quiet.  I’m not done with you yet,” Natalie popped off to the woman.

She again greeted her words with surprise.  This girl was as crazy as her.

“Work it out,” the soldier told her.

Natalie forced a nod, barely looking at the man, who approached her for a closer look now.

She instantly felt like she was under a microscope and the knot in her stomach was like a fist grinding, all too real.

He stepped closer to study her face.

“Chin up,” he commanded.  Nothing good could come of this.

He smirked, “Colonel Sinterley isn’t the only one Calista had a nice time with.”

Natalie lowered her head.

“You’re no Calista Grandy girl.  Consider yourself a prisoner of this compound.  I’ll let Sinterley deal with you.”

He smirked at her, enjoying watching her squirm.

The door slammed behind the two women.

“Thanks.  You could have gotten me killed back there,” Natalie told Millicent.

“Looks like you’re doing a good job of that yourself.”

“Guess so,” Natalie agreed.

“You don’t belong here.  So what the hell are you doing here?  This is a place to get killed.”

“Death wish,” Natalie sighed, “don’t worry we’re getting out of this.”

“Who are you?”  She stared at the crazy girl.

“My name is Natalie Winston and from what I gather we haven’t got much time. I know you’re Charlie’s wife.  I’m a reporter.  Now I need your story.  Then we’re gonna get out of here and find your husband.”

“You’re something,” Millicent muttered, “that guy made you.”

“Look we’ve only got time,” she pulled out her pen and paper.

“You’re serious.”

“What have you got to lose?  Tell me your story Millicent.  Tell my about Charlie.”

Millicent shook her head, “I don’t even know you.”

“Do you really know anyone?  Even yourself?”

She looked at the black eye she had delivered personally to Natalie Winston.  Millicent was incapable of violence.  She hated herself at that moment.  She softened.

“Reach into my jacket pocket.  I have some photos for you to see.  Your story starts with those faces.”

Natalie, unrestrained with her hands, but her feet shackled to the chair buoyed herself up off the cold floor and reached into the pocket.  She pulled out the tattered wallet.

Inside she saw a picture of a young boy, perhaps ten and another picture of a now gray haired man.  Charlie Dempster, she assumed.

“It is unfathomable how people enter your lives and change your life.  But those two pictures are my whole life.  The faces in those pictures changed my whole life.  I believe this special conversation between you and I will change our lives as well. This is another moment where meeting someone changes everything in your whole life.”

“Charlie is the man in the photo.  He is your husband.”

She nodded yes.

“Who is the boy?”

“My son Dylan.  He was ten there.  He’s eighteen now.  He shouldn’t be.  He was the first resurrection.”

“The resurrections occurred over a month ago.  How did he age eight years so quickly?”

“No, you don‘t understand.  He‘s the first.  He should’ve been the only one,” Millicent shook her head, “I’ve been holding these cards for so long.  I don’t know if I want to fold them to you.”

“Tell me.  I’ll tell your story.”

“You can’t.  I’m afraid my son will be in danger.”

“How about you tell me the story and if the son can be left out, I promise he won’t be included.”

She pitied the girl before her, “You know I don’t care anymore.  I find it optimistic you think we’re going to make it out of here alive, so I’ll tell you.  You’ve heard of Project Lazarus?”

“Barely, I know it has to do with the resurrection the Chuttle boys witnessed.”

“Project Lazarus is exactly what it sounds like.  It was a military operation to raise the dead back to the living.  This horrid compound that we’re bound to die in was established nearly twenty years ago.  Its sole purpose was the Project.  It was here the first person was to be raised from the dead.  What would the public think if they knew this is how they spent tax payer money?  They’ll never know.  It’s all top secret of course.  Now, it’s one hell of a conspiracy theory as well.”

“Maybe we’ll find out one day,” Natalie offered.

Millicent shook her head, “Honey, these secrets will die with us until some fool decides to resurrect us too.”

Natalie studied the fine lines that were wrinkles embedded across the landscape canvas that was her face.  The whole thing was a trauma, one she had not only endured but survived.

“Some higher up got the idea to travel into the Amazon where they knew indigenous tribes existed.  These tribes have elders that can raise the dead.  That was the belief anyways.”

“But it’s true.”

“Yes, I’ve seen it for myself.”

Natalie hesitated.  Millicent was there for the resurrection.

“Nope, not that one.  Not the military one that turned this whole town upside down,” she explained reading her thoughts, “but we’ll get to that later.”

“You know, in the silence of my mind, it tells me you never told me your real name.”