The Keras Genome

by Kurtis Eckstein

  Noah hadn’t thought about that. Could he allow it to move in response to her? How would that even work? He tried to relax his blood, like he would relax a muscle holding something up – still holding it against gravity, yet allowing it to be moved easily if something pushed against it. “Try now.”

  Madison’s head turned back and forth, and then she looked at him. He could only see the crimson dome with his eyes, but with his blood he could somehow sense her smile.

  “Yep! This might not be so bad after all. Want to try the rest of me?”

  “Umm…” Noah paused. “Are you sure? I can feel everything my blood touches, even more so than if I were to touch it with my hand.”

  “Oh, well never mind then! Emergencies only!” She looked down. He imagined her face was probably bright red again. She put her hand on his knee and Noah uncovered her face, retracting all his blood.

  “Are you okay?” He asked.

  She nodded. Her face was bright red. She was quiet for a few minutes while her complexion slowly turned back to its normal color. Finally, she spoke. “Do you think we should get going?”

  “Oh, I guess so.” He checked the time. It was 9:53 AM. “Had the lady said checkout was at ten or eleven?”

  “I don’t remember, but we should probably get going either way. The longer we stay in the city, the more likely they will eventually find us.” Madison got up and gathered her things into her purse.

  Noah grabbed his phone, surprised it still wasn’t dead. Madison had a charger in her purse and had recharged hers last night, but he hadn’t bothered with his since he couldn’t unlock it. The battery said it was at 43%. He realized it must not consume much power when it isn’t being used at all. It hadn’t been charged in at least a day.

  With both of them ready to go, they paused at the doorway briefly, wishing they could stay in their temporary safehouse. Hand-in-hand, they slowly walked down the hall into the unknown that awaited them. They both hoped they would be able to make it out of the city without any confrontations. Neither of them liked the possibility of plan C.

  At the desk, Noah handed the same lady as yesterday the two card keys to the room. She gave the standard farewell, along with ‘Come again.’ Noah wrapped his arm around Madison’s shoulders, with her arm around his waist, and they walked out of the entrance to face the world together.

  As Madison and Noah began walking down the sidewalk, his phone rang for the first time. Not even his parents had called last night. Apparently, Madison’s message had been sufficient for them. They both looked at each other as an Unknown number appeared on the screen, stopping in response. Glancing around, they suddenly felt extremely vulnerable out in the open.

  Looking at Madison, he asked, “Should I answer it?”

  She nodded in response, unable to say anything herself. He knew she was scared. They hadn’t even gotten out of sight of the hotel .

  Noah answered the phone, and held it up to his ear. A man with a deep voice spoke without hesitation.

  “Noah Reid. Name’s Major Pearson. Let’s talk.”

  Chapter 12: Negotiations

  Madison immediately knew who was on the other line, because blood from Noah’s arm slipped down her back and covered her torso entirely the second after Noah answered the phone. Simultaneously, it crawled up her neck into her hair, and down her legs.

  With the exception of any visible skin, and her most private areas, Noah had her entirely covered. For an observer, nothing would be noticeably different. He knew he could cover her entirely before a bullet reached her, but he didn’t want to take any chances. Now all he had to do was cover her face, and everything left, if it became necessary. Noah turned up the volume, without removing the phone from his ear, so that Madison would be able to hear the entire conversation. It was still quiet enough that anyone passing by wouldn’t hear.

  “Okay.” Noah said. “Let’s talk.” Noah knew something was different about himself, but he didn’t know just how different. Now that he was actually trying to sense where the enemy was, he discovered that he could. He could feel them off in the distance, although he couldn’t actually see them with his eyes. He sensed a lot of enemies, but there were nine in particular that stuck out in his mind. They were high off the ground on various buildings – he assumed they must be snipers. However, they were only in eight different locations. Two were in one location. Noah wondered if the man on the phone was one of these two people, possibly watching him with binoculars.

  The man began by laying down an ultimatum. “First of all, I’ve got snipers pointed at you and your friend there, Madison Ross.”

  That pissed Noah off. He was tired of people threatening her . She had nothing to do with this. He looked directly at where he thought the guy on the phone might be. Apparently, he was right, because the guy kept talking and then abruptly stuttered. “So, don’t try to ru…n away.”

  Noah continued to stare in Pearson’s direction as he interrupted him. “Okay, Major, let me lay my cards on the table before you go any further. I assume you understand that I’m dangerous, which is why you’re so far away. However, you obviously don’t know just how dangerous, because if you did then you wouldn’t be within my reach.” The guy stuttered again, trying to respond, but Noah cut him off. “So, I suggest you take a different approach to this situation, because you may have a gun pointed as us, but I do too – and my gun is faster. I could kill all eight of your snipers in an instant if I wanted to.”

  “We don’t negotiate with criminals.”

  “Criminal?” Noah scoffed. “You’re the ones who kidnapped me. You’re probably the ones who did this to me too. All I’ve done is protect myself in self-defense. When I woke up in that warehouse, the first thing you people did was torture me.”

  As Noah spoke, he began to wonder what kind of person this guy was. Would he be willing to work with Noah, instead of against him? Or was he so used to being the one in control that he’d make stupid decisions to try to maintain his belief that he was in control. Noah could tell that Madison was nervous about his approach, but he knew she trusted him. The guy was silent for few seconds before making another accusation, but his tone wasn’t as harsh.

  “You’ve killed over thirty of our men. That makes you a murderer and terrorist.”

  “No Major Pearson, you and your superiors killed thirty of your men. I wasn’t in control of what was happening until yesterday evening. If you don’t believe me then consider why I left two of your men alive. I haven’t killed a single person since I’ve been in control. Up until two days ago, I was just a normal high school student minding my own business. You did this to me, so it’s your fault your men are dead, and it’ll be your fault if your men die here too. So, like I said, I suggest you take a different approach.”

  Pearson was silent for a solid minute. Noah began to wonder if he had hung up. Just when he was about to check, to make sure he was still connected, the man spoke again in a more civilized voice.

  “I have orders to bring you in. It doesn’t matter to me how we accomplish that goal.”

  Noah thought for a moment before responding. He realized plan A, hiding in the woods, wasn’t a possibility at this point, and he wanted to avoid plan C if at all possible. They weren’t going to be able to get out of this situation unless they either went with Major Pearson, or else Noah killed them all. And even then, the military would probably just keep coming for them.

  “We will come in willingly under certain conditions. First, Madison has nothing to do with this, so stop threatening her. She hasn’t hurt anyone or done anything illegal. You people literally used her as a hostage, which makes you the bad guys in this situation. And second, stop threatening me, because it’ll only result in more dead bodies. I want you to treat us like people. Last I checked, even criminals don’t get tortured and experimented on.” Noah wondered if Pearson was even in a high enough position to make promises.

  The Major was silent for a second. “If you come willingly, then I’ll do every
thing within my power to meet these demands, but…” Suddenly another man’s voice interrupted, and Pearson immediately stopped talking.

  “Noah Reid. This is Major General Wolfe. I’m not there in person, but I’ve been listening to this conversation from my office, as a conference call. My goal has been to try to understand the conundrum that is you. I am willing to meet your demands. You don’t kill any more of my men, and we will treat you both in a civilized manner. Do we have a deal?”

  Noah was surprised to find out a third party had been listening in. He realized this was the offer he had been waiting for, and it was probably the best outcome he could expect. Glancing at Madison, he spoke to Major General Wolfe. “Also, I don’t want to be separated from Madison. I hope you can understand my concern, since she’s already been used as a hostage once.”

  “Yes, well that was someone else’s poor decision. I have no problem with that request. My men will be escorting you to the base where I am currently located. We have scientists here who will be doing some tests, but it will be civilized like a doctor’s visit rather than Nazi experimentation.”

  Noah appreciated the fact that Wolfe wasn’t trying to deny their barbarianism. “Then we have a deal.”

  “Good. I look forward to meeting you in person. Major Pearson will take it from here.”

  Noah wondered if Wolfe was truly as reasonable as he seemed, or if he actually had an ulterior motive. He wasn’t naïve enough to truly believe it would be smooth sailing from here, but at least it was a start.

  Pearson continued the conversation without missing a beat. “Right. Stay there and we will pick you up via car. We will then escort you to a nearby helipad where you will be escorted via helicopter.”

  Noah saw a large black SUV come around the corner as Pearson spoke. He looked at Madison to make sure she had heard what the plan was. She immediately nodded to indicate she was with him. Noah held the phone down, so he could talk to her before they were picked up. His blood was still wrapped around most of her body.

  “Are you ready? ”

  “Yes, I’m with you no matter what.” She wrapped her free arm around him too, and clung tightly as the SUV pulled up.

  “I’m going to keep my blood how it is, if that’s okay?”

  She nodded in response. “It’s like you’re holding me extra tight. It helps with the anxiety.”

  “Also, I don’t care if they happen to see a strand of it connecting to you. They will probably just think it’s a tiny red thread of fabric anyway. I just want to make sure you’re safe in case they don’t keep their promise.”

  She gently squeezed him as the SUV stopped. A man in a black suit stepped out of the passenger’s side, got out, and held open the back door for them. Surprisingly, there was no one in the back seat. They walked up to the vehicle, and saw that a metal grate separated the front and back like in a police car.

  Getting in was easy, despite Noah having his blood covering most of Madison’s body. Just as he had mentioned, a thin stronger-than-steel thread connected the blood on her body to himself. It was barely noticeable, although they still stayed as close as possible as they slid in the backseat almost simultaneously.

  The man closed the door, got in himself, and then they were driving. Noah helped Madison buckle her seatbelt, and then buckled his too out of habit. He looked at his phone to see if Pearson was still on the line, but it appeared he had hung up. He put the phone back in his pocket and wrapped his arms around her, acutely aware of having a part of himself touching most of her .

  He remembered that she had said his blood felt warm, so he whispered in her ear. “You aren’t getting too hot, are you?”

  She looked at him and then whispered back. “No, it’s really comfortable.”

  He could tell that she was nervous, because normally she probably would have worked in a cute comment like ‘You make a great coat,’ but instead she just leaned her head against him, holding him tightly.

  The ride was uneventful. Neither of the men in front spoke to them. Both were wearing business suits instead of military uniforms. Noah wasn’t sure if they were afraid or just trained to not talk to their passengers. The man in the driver’s seat didn’t look back at all, even in his rearview mirror, but the guy in the passenger’s seat glanced back occasionally.

  They arrived in a parking garage connected to a tall building. Noah wondered if the helipad was on the roof; he also began to wonder if this wasn’t what it appeared to be, still unsure if he could trust Wolfe’s promise. Both men got out and escorted them to a doorway leading directly inside the building. Then, they were led to an elevator. Noah was surprised when the guys didn’t get on the elevator with them. Instead, one of the men pushed a button for the top floor and then let the doors close.

  Out of curiosity, Noah tried pushing other buttons to see what would happen. They lit up, but then would go out immediately after being pushed. All the floors appeared to be locked-out in the elevator’s system except for the top floor. Noah started getting nervous. Did they actually just want to get rid of him? Why had the men not ridden in the elevator with them? Was there a bomb about to explode that would drop them to the bottom of the shaft?

  Speaking to Madison, Noah whispered. “I don’t like this. This seems weird.”

  Madison was clinging to him tightly. “I don’t either.”

  Noah felt confident that he could stop bullets, but he didn’t know how his blood would hold up in an explosion. Even if it did protect Madison, a fall would still kill her. He wondered if he could prevent their fall by clinging to the walls of the shaft with his blood, although he would likely end up holding the elevator up too. As they reached the top floor, Noah was prepared for anything. The doors opened and two different men in military uniforms were standing in front of the elevator with machine guns.

  Noah was relieved that the guns weren’t pointed at them for once. The two soldiers escorted them to a doorway leading to a stairwell, and then walked them up one flight of stairs to a metal door. Noah could hear a loud hum, but wasn’t sure if it was a helicopter. As one of the soldiers opened the door, the sound of a loud engine suddenly flooded the stairwell, and they could see that they were on the roof. Sure enough, a helicopter was waiting just as they had been told. Both of them visibly relaxed upon seeing the aircraft.

  Standing halfway between the black helicopter and the door was a man in a military uniform who couldn’t have been much older than thirty. The man spoke loudly to them as they approached, trying to be heard over the sound of the engine. Noah immediately knew who it was from his deep voice.

  “Noah Reid. I’m Major Pearson. If you’ll come with me, we should get going.”

  Noah nodded in response. The helicopter was larger than the one they had taken to the hospital, and it had more seats. It also had doors. Two men were already in the front cockpit seats – the pilot and a soldier.

  Major Pearson gestured for them to get in, offering to help Madison. Noah immediately held up his hand. Both Pearson and Madison looked at him with a confused expression. Noah held up a finger, indicating for them to hold on, and then effortlessly climbed into the helicopter himself. He then turned around, leaned down, and picked Madison up like she was a small child, pulling her inside. The surprise on Pearson’s face was extremely obvious, since Noah probably didn’t look strong enough to lift a grown woman like it was nothing.

  Noah was already helping her get buckled into her seat as Pearson finally joined them. Noah then sat in the seat next to Madison, with Pearson sitting across from them facing the back of the aircraft. They all put on the headgear that would allow them to comfortably talk without having to yell over the noise of the engine.

  As the helicopter lifted off, Pearson noticed the red thread connecting them. Pointing at it, he asked, “Is that what I think it is? ”

  Noah didn’t need to look to know what he was talking about. He imagined that the Major knew about his blood since he had left two witnesses alive. But how much did he know?
Noah decided to ask. “What do you think it is?”

  Pearson didn’t answer the question, instead asking, “Is she like you?”

  Noah was appalled. That’s just what he needed was to have them start thinking she was their enemy too. She was innocent in all this. He initially wondered why Pearson would think that, but then realized the Major couldn’t see where the thread was going. For all he knew they could have their blood linked to create some kind of telepathic communication, which wasn’t a thing, but for all the Major knew it was. They really had limited knowledge about what Noah was capable of, and in their minds probably anything was possible after hearing about what he had done so far.

  Noah didn’t want to reveal to what extent he was protecting Madison, but he realized it would be best to dispel any myth that she was a monster too. Looking at Madison, she seemed to be waiting for him to take the lead – she would do whatever he thought was best. He nodded at her as he said, “Can you show him?”

  Madison lifted up her shirt to reveal a crimson layer over her stomach, like a wet red bodysuit. Noah answered Pearson’s questioning look. “She’s just as normal as you are. I’m protecting her in essentially a layer of armor.”

  Pearson seemed legitimately amazed by this revelation. “How effective is it?” He asked with genuine curiosity .

  Noah wasn’t trying to make him into more of an enemy than he already was, but he wanted to be clear that it wouldn’t be best to betray them. “If you had shot her, even in the head, she would have been perfectly fine, and all your men would be dead.”

  The excitement drained from his expression, but his next question was still one of curiosity. “How do you protect her face?”

  Noah looked at Madison, for permission this time. Without saying a word, she knew what his eyes were asking, and she nodded in consent. In less than a second, a red dome appeared over Madison’s face, and then once he confirmed Pearson had seen the mask, it disappeared just as fast. To his eye, it might have looked like it appeared out of thin air.