Project Human

by Sean McKenzie

right. “Go.”

  “Run, Darryl. Get out of here!” Barton yelled.

  But it was too late. From both sides of the hall guards appeared. And in their midst stood Doctor Whitmere, aiming a weapon at Jean.

  “No!” Darryl screamed.

  “Move and she dies!” Whitmere stated.

  “Run!” Jean cried. “Save yourselves!”

  Darryl turned and ran back, pushing Adelle in the bed. She began groaning, but still did not wake. Barton looked at Jean, and then followed.

  “This is the end of the line, my friend!” Whitmere yelled as Barton and Darryl disappeared around the corner. “There’s no way out!”

  Whitmere led his group slowly in pursuit. He held Jean against her will, weapon still drawn.

  Barton and Darryl reached the doors and began ramming the bed and themselves into the doors in a desperate, frantic attempt to flee. The doors didn’t budge.

  “Surrender or your friend here dies now.” Whitmere called out, watching from the corner. He motioned to his guards to attack.

  Jean cried. “He’ll kill me anyway!”

  Whitmere turned and slammed her head into the wall. She fell motionless to the floor. He turned back to Barton, watching the guards closing in quickly.

  “Leave her alone!” Barton turned to Darryl. “Get behind me.”

  Darryl did as he was told. They stood in front of the bed. Barton withdrew the weapon that Jean had given him. Without warning, he opened fire on the guards, a heated light spraying into their midst.

  Darryl dove onto the bed, covering Adelle as the guards opened fire with similar weapons, blazing red heated rays that singed the walls and floor around him. He closed his eyes for a second, listening to Barton scream his vengeance, hearing screams from the guards as they were either shot or they simply released their own hate-filled voices. The seconds were violent packed.

  Then Barton screamed.

  As Darryl opened his eyes, he saw a blur of bodies yanking him off the bed, falling on him. He landed on the floor with a tangle of arms and legs with Barton on top of him. As Darryl’s head smacked against the floor, he saw the bed being pulled away. They were taking Adelle. Arms and hands grappled around him everywhere. Barton struggled to fight them, lying on top of Darryl awkwardly. Everyone was yelling. It was chaotic.

  “Get up!” Whitmere yelled. “Or she dies!”

  Barton could see Whitmere beneath a guard’s arm as he was pressed tight by two others. Whitmere held Jean by the neck, pressing a weapon against her head. Guards stood over Adelle, weapons drawn.

  “It’s over.” Whitmere said. “Put your weapon down.”

  Barton hated doing it, but he tossed his weapon. Bodies cleared off of one another then. Guards stood with weapons ready, pointing at Barton and Darryl as they sluggishly rose from the floor in a broken despair.

  Darryl screamed for them to let Adelle go. But Whitmere ordered his men to take her away. It all happened in slow motion to Darryl, and yet so fast.

  “It’s not over,” Barton gasped. “You’re not dead yet.”

  Whitmere walked closer to them, dragging Jean along. “After I kill Jean, there will be no one left to help you. What will you do then, friend? I’ll tell you. You’ll do everything I say. And you won’t remember any of it.”

  Barton spit blood. “Let them go. I’m the only one you want.”

  Whitmere smiled, watching Darryl begin to cry. “Sorry, old friend. This time you’re nothing special.”

  “You’re a monster!” Darryl cursed.

  “To the surgery room!” Whitmere shoved Jean along in front of him, keeping his weapon against her. It felt good to dispose of all his enemies in one fell swoop.

  It was time to let them all see what happens when they disobey me. I’ve got something to show them. Even the Council will shiver at my name.

  T W E N T Y - S E V E N

  Adelle opened her eyes wide. She felt sick. It took her a few seconds to gather her thoughts, to realize where she was. The last thing she remembered was Whitmere giving her a shot of something. His smile was cruel; his heart was even more-so, she had discovered. She hated him.

  It occurred to her then that someone was talking. Her drowsiness cleared and she began to decipher the words.

  “Darryl? Is that you?” Adelle raised her head slightly off of the bed to see.

  A few feet away, Darryl did the same. Through his worry-filled face, bore a smile. Talking to her had paid off; she was awake.

  “Thank God, Adelle. I thought you were dead. I just kept talking to you, telling you I love you, telling you that we’ll—”

  “What did you say?” she interrupted. “Darryl? Do you…?”

  “Adelle,” he sobbed, “I remember you!”

  Adelle wept deep and loud, talking through it, feeling her heart break in a different way. “Darryl! I didn’t think you would ever…remember me. I kept praying and praying…so hard…and you didn’t know me…and I knew you wouldn’t love me…”

  “Adelle, I’m here. I do love you. I know that I do. I know that I did, too.”

  “And I was going…to have him…take away my memory…so I wouldn’t remember that…I loved you and you…didn’t love me anymore.”

  Adelle cried hard, her voice lost in tears and sobbing.

  Darryl stuck his arm over the side of the bed, trying, hoping to reach hers. “Adelle, take my hand. Let me touch you.”

  Adelle reached, stretching with everything she had. Their fingers touched and locked together.

  “I’ve had this dream, this same dream over and over, where I was in a house, my house, and I was looking for someone crying, crying so painfully, and I knew I had caused it. But I could never see her. And now I know that it was you. Adelle I don’t know what had happened to us, but I am so sorry for making you feel like that. I’m so sorry that all of this has happened to us. If I would have just…”

  “Darryl, this is not your fault. I’m just so relieved that you can remember me.”

  They worked on pulling themselves out from their saddened states. Darryl sniffled; Adelle took deep, long breaths.

  “I don’t know why, or what was happening between us, Adelle, but I know that I love you right now and I don’t want to lose you. Not like this. Not here. Not ever.” Darryl stated. He looked into her eyes and smiled. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever met. “I love you.”

  “I’ve loved you from the day I met you,” she said back.

  “We have to get out of here,” he said.

  “Darryl, we’re not alone,” she answered.

  He followed her gaze, over his head and behind him. Two figures walked past; one went to her, the other stayed with him. Nurses, he saw. They began to configure the machine once again, punching in programs and pressing buttons. The machines hovering over them began to turn on.

  “It’s happening again,” Adelle cried softly. She begged the nurses to let them go. No one listened.

  Darryl joined in, begging for mercy, begging for them to at least let him kiss her goodbye. But the nurses kept working, silently, stone faced. The machines began to work then, slowly lowering the face mask down.

  “No!” Adelle and Darryl cried in unison.

  In desperate, panicked voices, they cried and poured out their love to one another. Adelle felt his warm fingers twitch against her own, grasping them tighter. She was losing him again.

  She could feel a slight vacuum from the mask as it inched closer towards her face. She wished that she could just die and be free of it all. “Just kill me now! Just do it! I don’t care anymore!”

  Darryl’s heart broke, listening to Adelle cry. He couldn’t see her face anymore. He could only hear her. It was just like his dream.

  “I’m here with you, Adelle! I won’t let you go!”

  A voice came over the speaker again, blasting with urgency. “Any one in sector eight, you need to evacuate immediately! Sector eight will be closing down, please move to the upper levels!”

  The t
wo nurses began speaking then, and one left the room in panic. The one remaining bent down close, in between Darryl and Adelle. Her face was nearly expressionless.

  “What’s going on out there?” asked Darryl.

  The nurse seemed unaffected. “Sealing off this side; all the wards.” Her brown eyes were dismal; her skin was tan like the others, her head covered in dark hair cropped short.

  “In a moment, you’ll feel a pinching sensation in your nasal cavity. Needles will begin to extract her blood and the transfer will begin. It will be painful, but won’t take long.” She looked at Darryl. “I don’t understand what it is that you feel for her. But I wish I knew. I am envious.”

  Darryl and Adelle gasped in shock. Darryl asked, “Who are you?”

  “I’m going to reverse what Whitmere had planned. Her blood will mix with your own.”

  “You’re not with Whitmere.” Adelle stated in shock.

  “I take my orders from Jean alone.” She smiled to Adelle. “My understanding is that you are going home.”

  The nurse walked for the door.

  “Where are you going?” yelled Darryl.

  She turned back to him. Her eyes were hard. “There’s one more thing we have to do.”

  The nurse left the room. Darryl squeezed Adelle’s fingers.

  “Do you believe in miracles, Darryl?” Adelle asked softly. “I do.”

  “Yes. I do now.”

  The black masks enveloped them then. Darryl heard nothing of Adelle’s voice as she cried. The pain came instantly, like the nurse had said. Before he blacked out, he wondered if she had told them the truth.

  Whitmere held Jean and Barton in a room down the hall from his last two patients. He had ordered his staff to continue