They Call Me Creature (13 page)

 

“Huh? What are you
saying
, Joe?” I shrieked.

Joe didn't answer me. He kept me pinned against the wall. I struggled against him. Struggled to push free. But I wasn't strong enough.

Dr. Carpenter hurried up to us. “Good,” she muttered. They grabbed my arms and pulled me into another lab. Then they shoved me into a tall cage. Dr. Carpenter slammed the cage door shut and locked it.

I turned and saw two ugly pig creatures behind me in the cage. One had long, blond hair with a pig face covered with brown speckles. The other one had sharp, black horns sprouting from its pig head. It looked as if it were the combination of a pig and a ram.

“Please—let me out!” I wailed. “Please—!”

The speckled pig creature lurched forward and poked me in the side with a sharp hoof.

My heart pounded as the other one raised furry paws and ran one through my hair as if brushing it.

“Please—let me out.”

The horned creature brought its face close to mine. It bared its teeth—as sharp as razors.

“It's—it's going to bite me.” I backed away from the beast. Pressed myself into a corner of the cage. “Please—let me out.”

“I'm sorry, Laura,” she said. “But we can't have you running away again. We need you too badly.”

“Need me? For what?” My voice came out high and shrill.

Bats fluttered in and out of the room. I gazed frantically around the lab. Cages were stacked high along the back wall. The cages were filled with squealing pigs.

In the center of the room stood a wall of electronic equipment. I saw three or four computer monitors. Several blinking control panels. Two metal cones were attached at either end. On a shiny metal table, syringes gleamed under the lab lights.

The pig creature with the horns grunted at me, baring its pointed teeth, licking its snout with a long pink tongue. The other one swiped at me with its hoof.

“You can't keep me here!” I cried. I charged at the bars and gripped the door, struggling to shove it open. It wouldn't budge.

“It won't take long,” Dr. Carpenter replied. “It will all be over by the time your dad comes looking for you.”

She was pushing buttons and spinning dials on the control panel. “Joe, bring down that pig on top. Cage number forty.”

Joe hurried to obey. He opened the cage and lifted out a small pink-and-white pig. Holding it tightly in both hands, he carried it to Dr. Carpenter. She lifted the pig's head into one of the metal cones and began strapping it in.

Lights flashed on the control panel.

Two bats swooped into the lab, then soared back out.

“You lied to me!” I screamed. “You said my dad was doing the cruel experiments.”

“I had to lie. I had no choice,” Dr. Carpenter said. “Four years ago, right before we moved here, I found a way to change genes using electric shock. I was so close to creating a gene that could fight off viruses. So close. But then we had the terrible accident.”

She turned and gazed at Joe. He had finished strapping the pig under the cone. Now he held the pig's leg while Dr. Carpenter inserted a syringe filled with a yellow liquid. The pig let out a sharp squeal as the needle penetrated its skin.

“During one of the cell transfers, Joe pricked himself with a syringe filled with pig cells. He stumbled back in surprise—stumbled directly into the path of the electric current,” Dr. Carpenter continued. “His cells combined with pig cells.”

She patted his cheek. “My poor little boy … he … he hasn't been the same. He … ” Tears formed in her eyes.

“We moved here so I'd have a safe place to live,” Joe said. “No one would ask about me here. No one knew me here. And Mom could continue her research. To change me back.”

“Joe, I—I—thought you were my friend,” I stammered.

“I don't have friends anymore, Laura,” he said softly. “I have to hide in the house most of the time. Until the hunger starts. That deep hunger for fresh meat. Then I have to hunt the woods….” His voice trailed off.

“Joe,” Dr. Carpenter sobbed. “I'm sorry. So sorry.”

“You'll change me back, Mom,” Joe said soothingly. “I know you will.”

Dr. Carpenter turned to me. “I've been spending all my time trying to find a way to reverse the process. That's what all these animals are for. To help me change Joe back to normal.”

“But, my dad—” I started.

“Your dad didn't approve of my experiments. He didn't know about Joe. I kept him hidden. But he didn't approve of the way I was treating the animals. He said I was going against the laws of nature. He tried to make me stop. The animals were dying. But I couldn't stop. I found that if I dissected them, I could learn what went wrong. I had to kill more—until I found the cure.”

If we kill them, we can learn more. How many can we kill?
The words from the binder in Dad's shed exploded in my mind. “Those were
your
notes in the shed!” I gasped.

My heart sank. I should have trusted my father. He'd never hurt an animal. I should have believed in him. My dad could never hurt a living thing.

Dr. Carpenter turned to Joe. “Enough talk. We haven't much time. Help me get Laura hooked up to the other transfer cone. Then we'll inject her.”

“No!” I screamed, pushing away the two pig creatures. “No! Please!”

“I haven't had a human to experiment on in some time,” Dr. Carpenter said, unlocking the cage door. “But now you're here. Wouldn't you like to be the one who helps me turn Joe back to normal?”

“No!” I screamed. “Please! Please!”

She grabbed me with both hands and tugged me from the cage. Then she shoved me under the metal cone.

I tried to kick free. But she was too strong. She pinned me against the side of the machine. And pulled the cone down over my hair.

“Wait, Mom—don't!” Joe screamed. “I don't like this. I can't go through with it! Laura is my friend!”

“She's not your friend!” Dr. Carpenter snapped. She tightened a strap under my chin to hold me under the cone. “Don't you understand? Her father will destroy me before I cure you!”

“Mom—” Joe cried.

Dr. Carpenter turned to me. “The current will shoot between the two cones,” she explained. “It doesn't hurt, Laura. Not at all. We'll inject you with something to help the pig's cells bind to yours. And this machine will take care of the rest. You won't even feel it.”

“Noooo! Noooo! Please!” I struggled to free myself.

But I had no time.

She grabbed a syringe—and jabbed it into my arm. I screamed as the pain throbbed up my arm.

She pulled the needle out quickly, scratching herself. She blotted the blood with her lab coat. Then she reached past me to the control panel. Clutched a long handle. And threw the switch.

 

I heard the crackle of electricity.

I saw Joe grab his mother around the waist and try to pull her away.

As they wrestled, the lab door swung open behind them.

“Dad!” I screamed. “Help me!”

An electrical current jolted between the two metal cones. The pig on the other side squealed and began to kick its feet.

A bat swooped into the room. It flew low over my dad, heading right for the electrical current.

Dr. Carpenter turned to face my dad. “Get out of here!” she screamed, backing away from him. “You've done enough!”

Dad kept coming, his eyes narrowed angrily on her, his fists knotted at his sides.

The bat swooped past my head.

Dr. Carpenter took another step back. “You can't stop me!” she screamed at my father. “You can't! I'm warning you—”

But he didn't stop. He came after her. Step by step. His hands clamped into fists.

Backing her up … backing her up …

And then she let out a high shriek as she stumbled—and fell back—into the electrical current.

I screamed, too, as I saw the bat swoop into the stream of electricity.

ZZZAAAAAP
.

The whole room sizzled and crackled.

I saw Dr. Carpenter and the bat outlined in bright yellow.

I saw the bat explode in the crackling current. Its guts sprayed Dr. Carpenter as she shrieked in terror.

And then I shut my eyes. It was too horrible. Too ugly.

Too terrifying.

 

I didn't open my eyes until I felt the metal cone being lifted off my head. Dad pulled me out into the hall.

He hugged me tightly. I gazed up at him, still dazed.

“It's okay now, Laura,” Dad said softly. “It's all over. My work is done. We've stopped her. I've been gathering evidence. Working so hard.”

“But, Dad—” I choked out. “The creatures in the shed. The binder you stole from her … ”

“I tried to stop her research. I knew her experiments were wrong,” he said. “That's why she fired me. But I took her notes. I've been trying to cure the animals she changed.”

He guided me gently down the hall and led me out of the building. “Where are they?” I asked, glancing back at the animal hospital. “Where are Joe and Dr. Carpenter?”

“They ran while I was freeing you. But don't worry. They won't get far. We'll find them.”

Dad and I were home a few minutes later. I followed him into the kitchen.

He picked up an envelope from the kitchen counter and ripped it in half.

“What's that?” I asked.

“Your plane ticket to Chicago.” He tossed the pieces into the trash. “I never wanted to send you away,” he said. “But I was so scared. I knew how vicious those creatures could be. I only wanted to protect you.”

He shook his head. “In the woods last night you shouldn't have run. I only wanted to protect you, Laura.”

I rushed forward to hug him. We hugged for a long time.

Then my eyes drifted to the kitchen window. I gazed into the woods. I thought about Joe. Would I ever see him again? I wondered.

And would the woods return to normal now?

Would
anything
ever be normal again?

That night I was so tired. But I couldn't fall asleep.

I lay in bed, staring at the pale half-moon outside my window. It looked like a smile. A grin in the dark.

I had finally started to drift off. My eyes were just closing—when I heard a fluttering sound.

Something flapping against the window glass.

I sat up, alert.

What
was
that? A bat?

Yes. A bat floating outside the window, beating its wings against the glass.

“Huh?” I crept out of bed. I made my way to the window.

Thump thump
.

The wings bumped and scraped the glass as the bat hovered at the window.

I crept closer. Watching the flapping wings. The tiny, round body. The bat claws …

And the face …

The face …

Dr. Carpenter's face on the bat's body!

Flapping, bumping against the window, she stared in at me. Her face tiny now, where the bat's head should be. Her green eyes wide with horror.