The Samantha Project

by Stephanie Karpinske

  “You can’t make that promise, Erik. It’s dangerous. I don’t want you to—”

  Erik didn’t let me speak. Instead he leaned over and kissed me. The connection we felt by just a simple touch was magnified tenfold in the kiss. Words couldn’t describe the feeling. It was unlike any kiss I had ever had, even with Colin. My worries, my fears were all forgotten for that brief moment. It ended too soon. Erik slowly pulled away and wrapped his arms around me. “Everything’s gonna be okay, Sam.”

  We sat and watched the sun slowly rise. Soon we could hear activity in the house as Jack and Brittany got up. By 7, the last few boxes were loaded on the van and we were ready to go. Jack double-checked his lab to make sure he got everything. Erik and I looked as well, just in case.

  As we looked, I thought I heard an engine starting upstairs. “Did you hear something?”

  Jack shook his head, but Erik’s ears perked up. He raced upstairs and I followed. We arrived in the kitchen just in time to see the truck driving away.

  “Brittany!” Erik yelled. “Brittany took the truck. Go get my dad.” Erik went outside and tried running after her but the truck was long gone.

  Jack was already racing up the stairs. “What? What is it?”

  “It’s Brittany. She took the truck,” I said. “She must be trying to escape.”

  “I thought she wanted to go!” Jack looked at me as if I had misled him. “You said she understood!”

  Erik had returned from outside. “Dad, it’s not Sam’s fault. Sam suspected Brittany might be lying about wanting to go with us. But I didn’t believe her. Brittany seemed fine to me.”

  “We’ve got to go get her!” Jack said as he raced outside. “She probably went back home. Get in the van. Let’s go.”

  We took some back roads to get to Brittany’s trailer so she wouldn’t see us. There was a row of trees behind the trailer that made a nice hiding spot for the van. Jack stayed in the van to keep an eye on the outside. Erik and I approached the trailer from the back. There was a door there that led to the kitchen. We could hear Brittany crying softly inside.

  Erik and I slipped quietly into the trailer and saw Brittany crouched down by the sofa. “Hold it.” A man’s deep voice came from behind us. We turned to find two very large men in black suits holding guns directed right at us.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Goodbyes

  “Sam! Erik!” Brittany looked up at us in shock. Her face was covered in tears. I looked closer to see that she was crouching over a woman who was lying on the floor, a pool of blood next to her head. “They killed . . .” Brittany was barely able to get the words out. “They shot my . . .”

  “Get over there,” Man #1 said to Erik and me. “Next to her. Both of you.” I looked at Erik. I could tell he was trying to read their thoughts so I listened in. “It’s blocked. They have a blocking device,” was all I could hear from Erik.

  Erik and I went to stand near Brittany. I kneeled down next to her. “Brittany, are you okay?” She started sobbing. She clearly wasn’t okay. “Have they hurt you, Brittany?” I clarified.

  “No. But my mom. Look what they did.” Tears streamed down her face. “Sam, you were right. All of you were right.” She tried to catch her breath to get the words out. “I got here and these guys. They were waiting here for me. And then I saw my mom—and it was too late—and I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

  Brittany broke down again at the site of her mother.

  “All of you, sit down,” Man #2 ordered, motioning us with his gun.

  Escape scenarios starting flashing in my head, just as they had when we saw the black SUV a few days earlier. My stress hormones had triggered the response. But I couldn’t focus on the images with so much going on.

  Erik sat down on the sofa. I sat next to him, followed by Brittany. “Are there others?” I whispered to her, trying not to move my lips.

  “Yes,” she whispered back, concealing her voice with her crying. “Three more.”

  “Where?” I whispered back.

  “Two outside. Front.” She looked back down at her mother and cried even louder.

  “Stop that! Now!” Man #1 shouted at Brittany.

  If two were out front and two inside, there was another one somewhere in the trailer. The only other rooms were two bedrooms and a bathroom.

  The scenarios in my head were showing me fight sequences to get the guns away from the guards. Like that’s going to work, I thought. I had never even thrown a punch.

  “Who are you?” I looked at the guards, knowing full well they were from GlobalLife but hoping to buy us some time.

  They didn’t answer. Brittany had quieted down, her crying now a whimper. I heard a door open in the side bedroom.

  “What’s the commotion out there?” It was a man’s voice. I was sure I recognized it, but I didn’t know from where.

  “We got visitors,” Man #1 replied.

  The man emerged from the hallway. He also wore a dark suit but didn’t appear to have a gun. He was tall with spiky blond hair. I knew him instantly. Dr. Alden Worthings.

  His face lit up the minute he saw me. “Well, look who has paid us a visit. Miss Samantha Andrews.”

  I could hear Erik nearly shouting in my thoughts. “You know him?! Who is he?”

  “GlobalLife. Head guy. Put me in the lab. Had my parents killed.” I tried to explain to Erik via my thoughts, but my attention was focused on Worthings.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to hide my shock.

  “Clearly, I’m here to retrieve this girl. What’s your name again?” He looked at Brittany who wouldn’t answer. “Doesn’t matter, she’s subject 46B to me.” He sat down directly across from me. The guards closed in around him.

  “I can’t tell you how happy I am that you showed up here, Samantha. I’ve had people all over the country looking for you. And then I find you right here, at your sister’s house.” He smiled, looking pleased with himself. “I did have some hope that you might show up here, when Dave said . . .”

  “Dave’s alive? And you didn’t—” I stopped, not wanting to guess what they might have done to him.

  “Dave’s very alive, but let’s just say he’s not going home any time soon.” He smiled even more, knowing his cryptic answer was killing me.

  “What did you do with . . .” Before I could finish, the screen door off the back of the trailer near the kitchen opened.

  “Sam? Erik?” Jack walked in, causing Man #1 to immediately put his gun on Jack while Man #2 kept his gun on the rest of us.

  “Over here, now!” Man #1 ordered. Jack’s body sunk as he quickly realized what he had walked into. With all of us in there, we had zero chances for escape.

  “Well, it’s getting crowded in here,” Worthings said as Man #1 pushed Jack down next to Erik. “You know, you look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?” Worthings got up to get a better look at Jack.

  Jack kept his head down as Worthings continued. “You look kind of like a guy I used to work with back in California at the genetics lab we have out there. I can’t remember the guy’s name, but he was one of our best. Sit up so I can see you.”

  Jack wouldn’t do it. Man #1 went over and used his gun to snap Jack’s head up, holding it up so Worthings could see. “My God, it is you. What the hell are you doing here with . . .”

  Worthings stopped suddenly. He leaned over to get a closer look at Erik’s face. “How old are you? 19? 20?” Worthings stared intently at Erik, who refused to answer. “Such a handsome boy,” he said turning back to Jack. “Not your son. Adopted?”

  Jack tried pushing the gun away from his face, hoping to cause a distraction to take the focus off of Erik.

  “Jack, that’s your name, right?” Worthings asked. “Jack Reid, Ph.D. The genius MIT grad. Pioneering research in genetics with a talent for computer programming, correct?”

  “Dr. Alden Worthings,” Jack said, wanting Alden to know that he, too, remembered their history.

  “I
recall that you were very well respected at GlobalLife. You did some amazing things for us. And then, all of a sudden, you disappeared. Never showed up to work again. Gone. Off the radar.”

  Worthings paused, then spoke slowly. “Coincidentally, that happened right after your little lab boy died. Wasn’t that how it went, Jack?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jack mumbled.

  Worthings focused on Erik again. “That lab boy looked very similar to you, son.” Worthings held Erik’s chin up so their faces nearly touched.

  “Get your hands off him!” Jack yelled. He tried to get up but Man #1 pushed him back down.

  Worthings went back to his chair. “I guess we’ll be taking more than just Samantha home with us today,” Worthings said to the guards. Then he sighed as he turned back to the four of us, a sick grin forming on his face. “This is just more than I could have ever hoped for. First, I get Samantha, which saves me a great deal of time and money I would have spent searching for her. Then, one of our best scientists, gone missing for years, comes strolling in. And to top it off, I find out this boy here, is Subject 45A—another success of our program! How could I be so fortunate?”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you,” I said, hoping to wipe the smugness off of Worthings’ face. “I’d rather die than go back with you.”

  Worthings saw my comment as a challenge. “Those are strong words, Samantha. Sure you don’t want to think about that?” Worthings gave a nod to Man #2, who started walking backwards toward the side bedroom, his gun still on us.

  “Kid, get up,” the man said, looking into the room.

  Someone came out. Man #2 grabbed the person by the arm and shoved him in front of the gun and down the short hallway so we could see him.

  My heart sunk when I saw who it was. “Colin! No!” I got up and raced to him, but Man #1 grabbed my shirt and threw me down to the ground.

  “Let them have their little reunion,” Worthings said to the guard. “It’s okay, let her go.”

  I got up slowly, keeping my eyes on Colin. His face was bleeding and badly bruised and his clothes were dirty and ripped. His mouth was covered with duct tape and his hands were cuffed behind him. I went up and gently hugged him, not sure if his body was as bruised as his face. I tried to read his thoughts, but there was nothing there. He had been drugged with something. His eyes seemed hollow and unresponsive.

  “Colin. You’ll be safe now,” I whispered in his ear. “It’s Sam. I’m here now. You’ll be okay.”

  I turned to Worthings. “Why?! Why would you do this to him?! He didn’t do anything! He has nothing to do with your project, or GlobalLife.”

  “But he has everything to do with you.” Worthings smiled as if he’d won. “And I knew he’d be useful if we happened to find you. And I was right. So here’s the deal. You go with me—with no fight, no struggle, no using your abilities—and Colin goes free. We won’t bother him again. You put up a fight, and well . . .” Worthings looked down at Brittany’s mother.

  I held onto Colin and looked back at Jack, Erik, and Brittany on the sofa. “No. I want more,” I demanded. “I want them all to go free. Let them go and I’ll go with you. No fight.”

  “No!” Erik screamed, bolting out of his seat. The guards aimed their guns at Erik. He put his hands up and slowly sat back down. “Don’t do this, Sam.”

  He caught my eye and I focused on his thoughts. “Sam, you can’t trust them. They won’t let any of us go free. You know they won’t. You can’t go back with them. I’m begging you!”

  As I tried to listen to Erik, Worthings responded to my demands. “I’ll give you Jack, too. That’s it.”

  “No, not good enough,” I said. “They all go or I fight. And I’ve been really working on these abilities you gave me.”

  Worthings thought about it, then starting shaking his head, indicating that I was asking too much.

  “I’ll go with her. Without a fight.” Erik spoke before Worthings could counteroffer.

  I yelled into Erik’s mind, knowing he was listening. “What are you doing? No!”

  “You two for those three? And you’ll go willingly?” Worthings asked. We all waited as he considered it. “I already let Jack and the boyfriend go free. So you’re doing this for the twin? Interesting.” He stopped, wondering if Brittany was really necessary anymore. “I suppose we don’t need her.” Worthings motioned to the guards.

  Man #2 took Colin from me and pushed him over to the sofa. He handcuffed me and shoved me toward the door. Man #1 grabbed Erik, cuffed him, and pushed him next to me.

  “Alden, no! Wait!” Jack begged. “Take me instead. You know what I can do for you. Please!”

  “Sorry, Jack, but we don’t need you anymore. We have new people. A whole new crop of young geniuses. You had your time. And your programs still live on. Loved that termination code.”

  Jack knew exactly what he meant. “Why won’t it turn off, Alden? What did you do to my program?”

  “We enhanced it. Made it better. Works quite well, wouldn’t you say? But I wouldn’t worry about it now that these two are in our custody.”

  Jack wouldn’t give up. “It was missing something, Alden. That part of their DNA. It had missing base pairs. And their enhanced genes have unique base pairs that the rest of us don’t have.”

  The statement took Worthings by surprise. His face turned serious. “It’s not your concern, Jack. Leave it be.”

  “Is that what’s missing, Alden? Did GlobalLife engineer new base pairs to create their enhanced genes? What are the base pairs? If you don’t tell me, I can find out myself.”

  “Give it up, Jack. You can spend the rest of your days trying to figure it out. You’ll never find those base pairs. And looking will just get you killed.”

  Worthings signaled Man #1, who then mumbled something into a device attached to his jacket. Man #1 nodded back at Worthings.

  “Sounds like we’re ready to go.” Worthings walked to the door as the guards followed, pushing Erik and me ahead of them.

  “Don’t move—any of you,” Man #2 said to Colin, Jack, and Brittany, who remained on the sofa. I took a last look at Colin, who was completely dazed and unresponsive. As I walked to the door, scenarios kept updating in my head, ordering me to take the guns. But I couldn’t. Doing so could get the others killed.

  Erik was trying to once again communicate with me with his thoughts. “When we get outside, I’m taking this guy down. Sam! Do you hear me? You need to do the same with your guy. It’s our only chance. We have to try. If you understand, let me know.”

  I used my thoughts to answer. “No. It won’t work. We said we’d go without a fight. We fight and they’ll kill everyone. I can’t do it.”

  We got outside and started walking to the black SUV that was waiting for us. The two other armed guards stood outside the door of the trailer. Before we reached the SUV, Worthings looked back at them and nodded. What was he nodding at? Was it a signal of some type?

  I quickly turned to look back at the guards, but they were already inside. In seconds, I heard a shot. Then another. And another after that. Multiple shots had been fired. Enough to easily take out Colin, Jack, and Brittany.

  “No!” I screamed. I felt rage burning inside me. Blood raced through my veins as my muscles tightened. Suddenly my hands broke through the metal cuffs and I lunged at the guard who had been holding on to me, pushing him at least 20 feet away. I heard a loud thud that sounded like his body slamming hard against something. From the distance, I could see his head cocked to one side, snapped like a tree branch.

  I felt sick. I hadn’t meant to hurt him. I just wanted him away from me. I didn’t have time to think about what I had done. I looked over to see that Erik had the other guard pinned to the ground.

  I searched for Worthings but couldn’t find him. Then I heard him behind me and I whipped around, only to be met with an electric current. A taser. Worthings held it against me, but I didn’t fall to the ground. Instead, the sud
den surge of electricity made me feel even stronger.

  I grabbed Worthings’ outstretched arm with one hand and shoved him to the ground with the other. The electric surge that had ignited inside me from the taser transferred into Worthings like a massive bolt of lightning. Worthings dropped the taser and his arm went limp. The current was coursing through his veins in a violent way as his lifeless body jerked around, the movement finally ending at his heart, causing his chest to heave off the ground. In seconds, he was gone.

  “Sam!” Erik’s voice came from behind. The guard was now standing over Erik, who was on the ground, struggling to get up. Erik had blood all over his shirt and I saw a bloody knife in the guard’s hand. As I ran to help, another shot rang out. Erik and I watched as the guard dropped to the ground.

  I was sure one of the guards from inside had fired at Erik and missed. “Erik, the other guards!” I yelled. Erik and I spun around toward the trailer, searching for the two remaining gunmen. But the only person there was Brittany. No guards. Just Brittany. Holding a shotgun with perfect form, like a soldier in the field.

  We stood in awe as she slowly lowered the shotgun to the ground. As I ran to her, she put the gun down and collapsed on the dusty welcome mat near the trailer door.

  “Brittany, are you okay? What happened? Where are the guards?” Brittany couldn’t answer. She was frozen in shock.

  “They’re gone.” Jack came out of the trailer, his clothes splattered with blood. He had Colin with him, holding him up. Jack had taken the duct tape off Colin’s mouth and the cuffs off his wrists, but Colin was very weak.

  “Erik needs help,” I said to Jack. “He’s bleeding. A lot.”

  Erik was next to me, trying to remain standing. I lifted up his shirt to reveal a deep knife wound on his lower left side.

  “I’ll be fine,” Erik said, slumping to the ground.

  “Sam, you help Colin. I’ll take Erik,” Jack said.