The Keras Genome

by Kurtis Eckstein

  “Oh.” Noah wasn’t sure what to say. Would her mom really be alright with her staying the night alone with him? Considering this, he realized Madison was looking at him longingly.

  “What is it?” He asked.

  She grabbed his hand suddenly and began stroking it gently with her thumb. She looked down, her cheeks turning red. After a moment, she looked back up, her deep brown eyes intent as she whispered, “I want you.”

  She then slowly reached her hands up and began unbuttoning his military jacket. Noah leaned in and found her lips with his, wrapping his arms around her. He pressed against the small of her back, and pushed her waist against his. Her body felt warm. She was still trying to unbutton his jacket in the small space between them.

  After a few seconds, he pulled away briefly to help her get his jacket off. Without hesitation she grabbed the bottom of his shirt and ripped that off too.

  “Whoa!” She exclaimed.

  He looked at her concerned. She was looking at his torso. “What’s wrong? ”

  “When did you get those ?”

  He looked down to see what she was looking at. She was referring to his muscled stomach. “Haven’t I always looked like this?”

  Her face was flush. “No! I mean you were always skinny, and you had some muscle, but you certainly didn’t look like this .”

  He hadn’t realized. Last night when he had seen himself in the mirror, he himself had wondered what activity had caused him to be in such great shape. His body fat had seemed extremely low, like what is only possible to maintain for short periods of time for bodybuilding competitions. But right now, he was more concerned by her reaction, rather than his body.

  “You don’t like it?”

  Her face was turning bright red as she ran her hands over his stomach. “No! I mean it’s not that I didn’t like it before, but…damn!”

  He smiled then, leaning in to find her soft warm lips. Her kissing was more intense this time as she ran her hands over his chest. At least something good was coming from his new strange body. He began kissing down her jawline, holding her tight with her hands trapped against his muscled torso. He reached her neck and gently bit her, being careful not to break the skin.

  She gasped, and her knees buckled. As he held her up, he asked, “Did you like that?”

  She shivered before responding. “Yes. Very much. ”

  He bit her again and her knees went limp a second time. “Hmm. This is kind of fun.”

  She moaned in response.

  He pulled her warm body into his, pulling her off her feet into the air. Her tiptoes were just barely an inch from the ground. He then began carrying her to the bed as he gently sucked on her neck. Setting her down, he reached to take off her shirt.

  Madison abruptly grabbed his hand. “Wait.” She suddenly seemed sober after having just been drunk with hormones.

  “What’s wrong?” He looked at her concerned.

  “Nothing, it’s just…” She bit her lip. “I want you really bad …it’s just…” She seemed to be frantically searching for an answer.

  He leaned in slowly and gently kissed her on the lips. They were trembling again. “If you don’t want to, it’s fine. You don’t have to give a reason. ‘I don’t want to’ is always reason enough.”

  She sighed, as if feeling defeated. “I’m sorry.”

  “Why? You shouldn’t feel like you have to do something you don’t want to. I don’t think you should ever have to apologize for expecting someone to respect your boundaries, even someone you love. It’s your body, not mine.”

  “But I do want you. Really bad. It’s just…”

  “Madison, I don’t think you understand. You are my world. I don’t like you just because you look like a model. ”

  “Really? You think I look like a model?” She seemed embarrassed.

  “You don’t think so?” He eyed her suspiciously. Was she fishing for more complements?

  She finally gave in. “I mean, I know I’m good-looking, but photoshopped good is a big deal.” She laughed at her own joke.

  Noah couldn’t help but smile at the fact that she was so amused by her own comment. He sighed and then tried to move the conversation along. “Well, what do you want to do then?”

  She thought for a second before responding. “I would really like to take a shower…and then maybe we can relax and watch TV? I also need more details about what’s going on with you mister.”

  “Yes ma’am!” Noah gave her a little salute. “I should probably take a shower too.”

  Madison gave him a playful look. “Umm, I would really like to take a shower alone , thank you.”

  Noah smirked at her. “Okay, okay. I can take a hint. I’ll take a shower after you’re done.”

  Madison teased him. “That wasn’t much of a hint . That was more like me telling you how it is.”

  He gave her a low growl. “Wow, I kind of like this side of you. It’s hot.”

  She kissed him again and then escaped his grasp, grabbing her purse and heading for the bathroom.

  Noah grabbed the remote on top of the TV across from the bed and sat down. The bed was surprisingly comfortable for a hotel room. Noah heard the shower turn on in the bathroom. He sighed wishing he was in there with her.

  Turning on the TV, he flipped to the local news station. It looked like the meteor crater incident had been completely eclipsed by the recent explosion at the nuclear power plant. The news anchor was sitting in a chair next to an older man in a suit. She appeared to be getting ready to interview him for the audience.

  “The incident at the nuclear powerplant is now being labeled by experts as sabotage. However, there hasn’t been any word yet from the government as to whether it was a terrorist attack. Dr. Watkins, a nuclear physicist and who has been a consultant for the systems design of several nuclear powerplants, has more for us on the details of the explosion. Dr. Watkins what can you tell us about what happened today?”

  “Yes, well, there are numerous safeguards to prevent this kind of sentinel event from happening. Normally, it would require something as significant as a 9.1 earthquake, like what happened in Japan back in 2011. This kind of thing doesn’t just occur randomly.”

  “So, what you’re saying Dr. Watkins is someone caused this explosion?”

  “Yes absolutely. This wasn’t an accident. The size of the explosion is proof of that.”

  “What do you mean Dr. Watkins?”

  “You see, if a nuclear reactor were to actually malfunction, there might be an explosion, but it would be much smaller. The size of the blast was almost as large as a nuclear bomb, which means all of the plant’s reactors had to have malfunctioned at the same time, while simultaneously all the safeguards in place failed at the same time . It’s just statistically impossible, unless someone intentionally sabotaged the plant.”

  “Could it have been a mistake by one of the workers?”

  “Absolutely not. The entire system is designed to almost completely eliminate human error. There’s no way this was accidental. No one person could accidentally cause the plant to explode, unless it was intentional. Furthermore, we have reason to believe the facility had been attacked just prior to the explosion.”

  “But the plant has trained security. Why do you think they were attacked?”

  “Yes, well a distress signal was sent just minutes before the explosion. The signals are coded to indicate one of three types of events. The one they sent out indicated ‘critically compromised operations.’ They never sent a code for a malfunction.”

  “Noah. Everything alright?”

  Noah abruptly looked over to the bathroom. Madison was in a towel covering her torso – it barely went past her hips. Her legs looked amazing. Her long wet hair was hanging around her shoulder on one side, covering up her bruising from the gunshots. Noah realized she must be self-conscious about the ugly marks.

  “Noah!” Madison noticed he was distracted by the eye-candy.

  “Umm…yeah I’m fine.
Why? ”

  “You just had a really serious look on your face.”

  Noah muted the TV. “Sorry, I was just watching the news.”

  “Anything about us?”

  “Oh, no. It’s mostly about the powerplant up north exploding.”

  “Okay. That’s good – err, I mean that’s horrible, but at least it’s not about us.”

  “Yeah.” Noah was only partially paying attention. He was too distracted by the hot girl standing in a towel in front of him. Her skin was beautiful and flawless. He couldn’t help himself. He stood up to approach her.

  “Umm, bye!” She spun around and ran back into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Was she trying to play hard to get? He realized he could probably force the door open, but the extra expense on her dad’s credit card probably wouldn’t look good. He knew he wouldn’t really do it, but it could be fun to tease her about it. Walking up the door he spoke. “You know I could get in if I really wanted to, right?”

  “You better not mister! A girl needs her privacy sometimes!”

  “Okay, okay. But I’m not locking the door when I take a shower.”

  “Well you apparently don’t care if I see you naked!”

  Noah wondered if that’s what this was all about. Was she self-conscious even though she looked like a goddess? He decided to tease her more. “Well, just so you know, if you do come in while I’m in the shower, anything that happens after that is out of my hands.” He could actually hear her gulp through the door.

  He grinned as she fell silent. After a few more seconds, she opened the door with clothes on this time. Her face was bright red.

  “Your turn. I’ll be watching TV.” She dashed past him and jumped on the bed. He couldn’t help but smile at her adorable behavior. She realized he was looking at her with a big grin on his face. “Well, get going already! You smell!”

  Noah knew she was just teasing, but he acted like she had hurt his feelings anyway.

  “Oh, stop it! Just get going!” She unmuted the TV and started flipping through the channels.

  In the bathroom, Noah saw that Madison had apparently had a toothbrush and toothpaste in her purse – they were sitting on the sink. He chuckled, finding it amusing that she had so much stuff in that bag of hers. He knew she would probably say something like, ‘You can never be too prepared!’

  Looking in the mirror, he carefully studied himself. He looked like a completely normal person, although he knew he was anything from normal. Holding up his hand, he brought some blood out of his palm, splitting his skin in the process. It wasn’t painful having his hand split open, and the sensation that his blood was boiling hadn’t appeared since he had started controlling it. He looked at the blood closely as he changed its shape. Other than the fact that it was moving however he desired, it looked fairly normal – not that he had much experience, until recently, seeing a lot of blood.

  He realized that having this ability would be pretty awesome if it was a secret, but having the military know about it had turned it into a curse. Now he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to have a normal life where he didn’t have to look over his shoulder. He wished there was a way to at least give Madison back her life. He wondered if he were to disappear, if they would leave her alone. He knew she would prefer to be with him – she had already told him as much in the elevator – but he hated that he was ruining everything for her. Did he have the strength to leave in order to keep her out of harm’s way?

  Getting in the shower, he contemplated the situation more. The water felt good against his skin. Even though he didn’t have any blood on him, he felt like it was helping wash away the horrible memories from the day – washing his conscience. Remembering the giant insects, he realized the safest place for Madison might actually be with him, since she couldn’t defend herself against those monsters. He wondered what they were. Had it been an experiment gone horribly wrong? Were the military trying to cover up a mistake that they had made? How could such creatures even exist?

  Noah had encountered them several times now. Were they targeting him specifically? He realized the giant insects must be after him for some reason. The last one, which had targeted their helicopter, basically confirmed it. Which meant Madison would actually be safer away from him after all. He was a magnet for danger, with two different types of enemies coming after him – both humans and monsters.

  Getting out of the shower, he dried off, and got dressed. He wished he had a different change of clothes, but he was glad the military uniform had been cleaned recently. It still smelled like laundry detergent.

  Coming out of the bathroom, Madison was already poised, ready to interrogate. “Okay buddy, you owe me an explanation. I want to know everything about this situation with Riley.” Instead of answering right away, Noah waited until they were wrapped around each other in bed. She had her leg on top of around his, with her head on his shoulder. Her expression was somehow both playful and serious at the same time as she questioned him again.

  “Well?”

  “I already told you I don’t remember anything.”

  “You can still tell me what you do remember.”

  Noah decided to start from the beginning, explaining how he woke up in the warehouse and was quickly arrested and interrogated. “I was blacking out every time I got hurt, and I couldn’t control what I was doing. I just woke up and everyone was…dead. I didn’t realize it was me until…well you know.” Noah didn’t want to mention the giant insects yet. As far as she knew, he had been unaware until the operation room, when in reality he had seen for himself what he was doing just before that.

  Madison nodded in response. “That must have been really scary. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you. ”

  Noah looked at her appalled. “I’m glad you weren’t there! You would have…”

  She knew. They both knew what had almost happened only a few hours ago.

  Noah continued. “So, I hitchhiked home, got picked up by a cop, and I had messages from Riley waiting on my computer.”

  “What did she say?”

  Noah felt ashamed as he continued. “She basically said I had taken her out on a date and then disappeared to surprise her with something.”

  “That’s not true!” Madison seemed resolved. “You were taking her to work.”

  “I was? How do you know?”

  “Because you told me. You sent me a message saying her car had broken down and she didn’t want to get fired after having just gotten the job. You knew I wasn’t thrilled about the idea, so you assured me it was just a one-time thing.” Madison pulled out her phone and showed him the messages. Sure enough, that’s what he had told her. Madison continued. “Granted, I was still really surprised when I saw you two in the hall. I didn’t know you had amnesia.” Her face became pouty. “She took advantage of you.”

  “I’m really sorry.” Noah felt bad about the situation, but relieved he hadn’t been cheating on her. “When I remembered how I felt about you, I thought for sure I must have been cheating on you.” He looked down disgusted at himself. “I couldn’t believe I was such a jackass. ”

  “Oh Noah.” She leaned in and kissed him. “I’m sorry. I wish I had known what was going on.”

  “Why do you think Riley would do that?”

  Madison seemed to have the answer as she responded. “Well, it’s no secret she liked you. Ever since she transferred last week, she’s had her eye on you. She had already tried flirting with you, but you had turned her down nicely .”

  Madison seemed annoyed when she said ‘nicely,’ as if she would have preferred he said, ‘No slut! I'm getting ready to ask out my best friend and the hottest girl school. I don't have time for you.’

  Madison continued. “When you told her you couldn’t remember anything, she probably didn’t believe you and jokingly said she was your girlfriend. When it actually worked, of course she went along with it. That’s what she had been after all along.”

  Noah could see how the pieces fit toge
ther. It made sense. Although, he still wasn’t sure how, or why, he had ended up in that warehouse. Chasing a thief maybe? He could imagine himself doing that, and Riley might not have told him because she was embarrassed for not calling the cops sooner when he didn’t return. He would probably have to eventually ask Riley herself to figure the rest out…and break up with her too.

  Looking at Madison, he asked, “Does it count?”

  “Does what count?”

  “Me and Riley? I mean, we were sort of dating for a day. ”

  She eyes him cautiously then. “Well, it depends. Did you do anything with her? Like…anything physical ?”

  Noah gulped. It could have been worse. “We kissed at my house.”

  Madison expression turned sour. “Dammit! That’s all, right?”

  “Yes.”

  Madison wasn’t convinced. “How intimate was the kiss?”

  Noah looked away, too embarrassed to say it.

  “Noah!”

  “Well…she sort of…taught me to kiss…since I apparently didn’t remember how.”

  “Ugh!” Madison half-heartedly hit him on the chest. Then, more to herself, she said, “I should have kissed you when I had the chance.”

  He looked at her confused. Now she seemed embarrassed as she explained. “I was too shy to kiss you when you gave me my present…and as far as I know, you’ve never kissed anyone before. She stole your first kiss…”

  “Oh,” Noah said simply. “Sorry.”

  Madison softly hit him on the chest again. “Hey! That didn’t sound very sincere!”

  Noah explained himself. “Well, I mean it would have been my first kiss either way. Even if you had kissed me Saturday, I wouldn’t remember it. It’s a miracle I remember giving you your present. ”

  Madison sighed in response. “I guess.” She was pouting again. “I just don’t like it that she took advantage of you.”

  Seeing an opportunity, he added, “But hey, you can take advantage of me now. I’m all yours.”

  She hugged him more tightly. Despite her words, she sounded sad. “Oh, I will soon. Just not tonight.”

  “Do you need me to brush my teeth? Would that help?”