***
Dan wasn’t a big man but he wasn’t small either. He had worked security for Beginnings ever since he got out of containment many years before. He took his job very seriously, and took pride in it as well. He was one of Frank’s men. That held prestige. He loved Frank, so when Frank asked for a favor, Dan delivered. Frank had a secret time travel trip to make, and wanted Dan to cover. Dan agreed. Even if there was a chance that Frank would be gone forever.
It was supposed to be until Frank was done with the secret time trip experiment. Dan had to only walk the area by the fields and back gate. He did so without fear or worry. In fact he was pretty confident that he could handle just about any situation that came his way. So when he got the radio call that screams were coming from the utility line and garages, Dan high tailed it.
Pretty excited and enthused, Dan ran there thinking, “Mutilator, mutilator. I’m gonna get the mutilator.’
In a silent place like Beginnings a scream carried for a distance, and if there were screams they certainly stopped as Dan neared his destination.
Was the mutilator victim dead? Or out cold like the others. He stopped to catch his breath, maybe even audibly zoom in for some direction. Hands on hips, he turned left to right, and grabbed his radio to double check that it wasn’t a hoax … a common occurrence on boring nights in Beginnings.
“Steve come in.”
“Yeah, Dan.”
“Are you sure you had reports of a scream?”
“Yep, we did.”
“Anything on tracking?” Dan asked.
“We don’t have tracking here inside the walls, Dan.”
Dan snapped his finger. “You’re right. Okay. I’ll …” The next sound Dan made wasn’t a word but rather a grunt as what felt like a brick wall blasted into him, knocking him down to the ground.
“Dan? Dan?” Steve called. “Are you all right?”
What was it? Dan thought, then flipped over. He nearly screamed. He saw it.
“Fuck.”
“What?”
“Fuck.”
“What?”
“The monster.” Dan muttered and scurried to his feet. “I saw the monster in …”
Down again he went when Jimmy Slagel slammed into him.
“Sorry.” Jimmy helped Dan to his feet. “Did you see it? Did you?”
“Yes,” Dan nodded. “Ran into the woods.”
“Shit.” Jimmy stomped his feet. “I’ve been chasing it for a good five minutes.”
“From where?” Dan asked.
“The garages.”
Dan peered out. “That’s not far, Jimmy, only a hundred yards.”
“I know. I was chasing him around the buildings.”
Dan sighed out. “He didn’t get out. I’ll alert Steve to watch the perimeters.”
“Good idea. It might also be a good idea to bring in Frank.”
“Can’t do.” Dan shook his head. “He, Robbie, and Hal are doing some sort of secret brother thing.”
“A secret brother thing? Why wasn’t I invited?”
“You aren’t a brother.”
“Yes, I am!” Jimmy snapped.
“That’s right, I’m sorry.”
Jimmy huffed out. “Okay, enough of that. Let’s call my dad.”
“Good idea.” Dan lifted the phone. “Say, Jim? Who was screaming? I got reports of screaming.”
“Jenny.”
“What was Jenny doing out this way?”
Jimmy reached out and raised Dan’s hand with the phone. “Call my Dad.”
***
Joe had mumbled the word, ‘Christ’ so many times Ellen wondered if they were actually in the cryo lab or in some sort of religious revival.
“Joe, please, say something else.”
“Christ.” He ran his hand across his head as he stared down to the counter where Ellen nonchalantly bagged the evidence. “This can’t be happening.”
“Oh, it is.”
“Christ.”
“Joe.”
“What?” Joe asked. “What do you want me to say? I haven’t a clue what I’m going to do.” He sat down. “We can’t oust Dean. We can’t. But we can’t let him run around Beginnings mutilating people.” He lifted the test results Ellen had just run. Results that confirmed that Henry had scratched the mutilator and the mutilator’s skin was under his nails. The skin belonging to Dean.
“I know.” Ellen said. “Joe, you have the evidence. What now?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t know. Do you think he does?”
“Who Dean? You mean does he know what he’s doing?”
“Yes. You think he knows?”
Ellen shook her head. “I think he’s clueless and will argue with us left and right.”
“We have to remove him from the general population, you know that. And do that stat.”
“Right now he’s in Bowman. He should be fine. But aside from removing him from the population. We have to remove his chip.”
Joe raised his eyes.
“I mean it.” Ellen said. “I blame the chip for damaging his frontal lobe and that lobe needs to heal. That, Joe, can be the excuse we give the community on why we took him out.”
“You know we can’t let the community know he’s the mutilator.”
“They’ll lynch him.” Ellen said.
“Damn right. And you know how much they have been looking forward to doing something like that.”
Ellen sighed out. “It’s a no win situation.”
“But one that has to be dealt with.”
“So how are you going to do it?”
“First, I want to show Frank and the boys all this, Then we’ll sit down, me, my boys and you and figure out the best way to handle this.”
“Sounds good. Until then, should I put this away?” she indicated to the evidence and test results.
“Yeah, please.” Jo reached for his belt when his phone rang. “Hold on, El.” He answered the phone. “Yeah.”
“Hey, Joe, it’s Dan. We have a problem. Got the monster loose running about Beginnings.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“I shit you not,” Dan said.
“Are you sure?”
“I saw it, Joe. It slammed right into me and kept on running. Jimmy was chasing it for a while before he lost it.”
“Where are you at now?”
“By your office.”
Joe sighed out. “Did you call Frank?”
“No, Frank is doing a secret time test.”
“How do you know about it?”
“He told me. And I didn’t want to bother him while he was in the future.”
Joe grumbled. “Well, bother him. He won’t want to miss this.”
“Roger that I’m on it.”
“And I’m on my way. Tell all the men to watch the perimeters it may try to get out. See you in a few.” Joe hung up. “Gotta go.” He leaned over and kissed Ellen on the cheek. “Do me a favor and stay put down here? Lock up until you hear from me.” Joe walked toward the door.
“Joe? Why?”
“Oh … the monster is running around.” He opened the door.
“Okay, be careful.” Ellen waved and the door closed. She went about her business, packing up all the evidence, neatly putting it in one box. She took the box and hid it within the cryo lab. After a good ten minutes of clean up and thinking of what she would do next, it finally dawned on Ellen what Joe had said, and immediately she panicked.
“Oh, my God,” she aid out loud. “The monster is loose. What is he nuts? He wants me to stay down here?” Ellen grabbed her phone and keys and hurried to the door. “I don’t think so. Not down here.” She opened the door.
To her surprise and fright, Ellen was blocked. It took her a second to realize what was before her and then Ellen screamed.
***
Joe arrived at the line of utility buildings just about the same time as Frank, Hal and Robbie.
Frank didn’t need to ask what was going on,
he went immediately to his office. All he needed to hear was the word ‘monster’, Hal on the other hand wanted information.
“Don’t know much, probably as much as you three,” Joe said. “Reports of screaming right in this area. Jimmy was chasing the monster and Dan joined in. They lost him. That’s where we stand.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “Amongst other things. How the time test go?”
Hal opened his mouth to respond, but uttered something completely different when he saw Frank emerge from the office. “Good God, its Rambo.”
Joe turned. Frank was strapped with ammunition, grenades and a black pouch. “Frank, what in God’s name?”
“It’s a monster, Dad. A Class A monster. I wanted to get some electro balls. We aren’t dealing with a fuckin’ deer.”
Robbie said, “He’s gotta point.”
Hal held up his hand. “Is anyone thinking what I’m thinking?”
Frank leaned toward Hal. “I am now.”
Hal pushed him away. “I hate when you do that. But since you entered my mind … what do you think?”
“What you think.”
“And?” Hal asked.
“And what?”
“And what do you think about what I think?”
“I think what you think because I thunk your thoughts.” Frank scratched his head. “Is that right?”
Joe rolled his eyes. “No, asshole, it’s not. What is Hal thinking?”
“I forgot.”
Hal huffed. “I was just thinking, even though our Class A monster is beam immune, it is not tracking immune. Why aren’t we picking it up coming in and out?”
“Good point,” Joe said. “This means, it lives within our walls or we have a deficient tracking system somewhere.”
“Or,” Robbie said. “He’s tracking immune.”
Static.
“Come in, Joe,” Steve from tracking called.
Joe lifted his radio. “Yeah, Steve.”
“We think he’s in the tunnel again.”
“Where?”
“Cryo area.”
“Think or know?” Joe asked.
“Think.” Steve answered. “Tracking is weird with him. A blip he’s there. A blip he’s not. But we never got him coming out. So it’s hard to say.”
“Got it. On our way.” Joe returned his radio. Hal head out to the outer tunnel exit wait there.”
“Got it.”
“Robbie, come with me and Frank. I’ll need you two topside in case it comes up.”
“Got it.” Robbie jumped in the jeep.
“Frank, Ellen’s in the cryo lab.”
“Fuck.”
“Let’s go.” Joe ordered.
They made it in no time to town, down the hatch into the tunnels. Containment reported nothing, and Hal called an ‘all clear’. No more signals emerged, and it meant one of two things. It left long before they covered the entrances, or it was still lurking below.
They arrived in the cryo tunnel area, and could see that the door was slightly ajar.
“Goddamn it.” Joe said. “I told Ellen to lock that door and stay put.”
“Maybe she left,” Frank suggested. “Robbie,” he called on the radio. “Any sign of Ellen topside.”
“Negative.”
“Steve.” Frank spoke into the radio. “Where was the last signal you got from the monster?”
“Near the cryo lab.”
“Fuck.” He lowered his headset and gave a twitch of his head to Joe. Sliding, back against the wall, holding his revolver high.
“Frank,” Joe whispered. “Don’t blast an entrance in there in case Ellen is there. You’ll scare her.”
“If she’s in there, she deserves to be scared. You told her to stay put and lock up. She didn’t listen.”
“Okay, you got a point. Go on.”
Frank nodded, inching closer to the door. When he arrived, he signaled his father, turned, kicked the door hard and blasted in revolver outward.
Crash! Ellen screamed in shock, dropping a beaker. “Frank! You asshole!”
“Are you Okay?”
“Yes.” She crouched down to the floor.
“You sure?” Frank asked, walking around her to the back, looking about.
Joe walked in. “Ellen is everything …” he paused and stared at the lab. Items were toppled, glass was on the floor. Something was spilled on the counter. “All right?”
“Yes,” Ellen answered. “Frank came in here scaring me. “Frank, what are you doing?”
Frank peeked in the back room. “Reports said the monster was in the tunnels.”
“Well it’s not here.”
“Are you sure?” Frank asked.
“Yes! God! I need a towel. Thanks, now I have bunny urine on the floor as well.”
“As well as what?” Joe asked, putting his gun away. “What the hell happened in here and why is the door open?”
“I had a hybrid escape, run rampant,” Ellen explained. “And the door is open to air it out. Its bowels let loose everywhere. Can’t you smell it?”
Joe sniffed. “I smell something.”
Frank sniffed, too. “It doesn’t smell like Rabbit poop.”
“That’s because it’s not.” Ellen grabbed a towel and started cleaning up the most recent spillage. “It’s hybrid poop.”
“It doesn’t smell like hybrid poop.”
Ellen huffed out, “And when did you become the expert on poop smells.”
“I’m not; I just know that’s not a poop smell.” Frank argued. “It’s something else.” He walked to the far end of the lab.
“Frank.” Ellen turned “Where are you going now?”
“To search.”
“For what?”
“The monster.”
Joe grumbled. “Frank, don’t you think if the monster came in here and went to the back, Ellen would have seen him.”
“Yes.” Frank answered.
“Don’t you think she’d tell us if there was a goddamn monster in the lab?”
“No.”
“No?”
“No.” Frank said.
“Why the hell not?” Joe snapped.
“Because she’s Ellen and it would be just like her to hide a monster.”
“Listen to you,” Joe said. “Enough. There's no monster in the lab. Let’s go. We have to get back up to the garage area.”
“But Dad …” Frank continued to go toward the back “Let me check back here.”
“No, Frank, let’s go.”
“Fine.” Frank finally put his gun away and walked to Ellen. “You ready?”
“Um, no.” Ellen said facetiously. “I have too much to clean up. Go on.”
“El, I want you up top.” Frank ordered.
“Frank’s right,” Joe said. “You shouldn’t be here alone.’
“I’m fine. I’ll lock up.”
“You said that before,” Joe told her.
Ellen held up here hand. “I promise it will stay locked and I’ll stay put until you come back for me.”
“All right.” Joe agreed, and walked to the door. “Frank.”
Frank kissed her on the cheek. “See you in a bit. Stay put.”
Ellen gave a thumbs up.
Just before he left completely, Joe stopped. “Ellen after we settle this mess, if it’s not too late. Want to do that special meeting tonight or in the morning?”
“Can we do it in the morning, Joe? I’m getting really tired.”
“Sure. See you in a little bit.”
“What special meeting?” Frank asked.
“Let’s go,” Joe pulled him into the hall
Ellen heard Frank ask one more time as the door close. She looked about the lab and to the mess, grumbled and then took a moment and sat down.
The cryo door automatically locked.
“What special meeting?” Frank asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Joe repeated. “We should get Robbie down here to watch this door. I don’t trust her.”
; “Neither do I. But I got a better idea.” Frank brought his head set to his. “Hey Steve, down the cryo lock so it won’t work.”
“Got it, Frank.”
Joe looked at him curiously. “You’re locking her in there.”
“Absolutely, I told you I don’t trust her.”
Joe gave a pat to Frank’s back. “Good job.”
***
The white cue ball was perched perfectly in a cup center of Mike’s kitchen table. It was there to greet him when he arrived home from the bar.
‘Lars’ he thought to himself.
Lars had taken the cue ball as some sort of strange lesson to Mike. To show him that not always is life a predictable game.
It merely pissed off Mike. He lifted the ball, sat down in a kitchen chair and stared at the ball. Round, off white, markings and nicks.
Mike was a man with a lot on his mind. He manipulated that ball with his huge fingers and looked up when the door opened.
“Hey,” Johnny Slagel walked in. “Still awake.”
“Yeah.” Mike returned to staring at the ball.
“Does Shorty know you have that?”
“Lars stole it.”
Johnny snickered.
Mike glanced at him. “You look pale, how are you?”
“Tired. Got a headache. Nervous.”
“About the surgery?”
Johnny nodded.
“It’ll be fine.”
“I know.”
“Sit.”
“Thanks.” Johnny pulled out a chair.
“Where’s my son?”
“Tigger is in bed, or was the last I checked. I needed some air so I took a walk,” Johnny said. “Do you know when the Society doctor comes?”
Mike shook his head. “Unfortunately, no, I don’t. Ellen and your Dad will be here in a week.” He saw the slight parting of Johnny’s lips as he blew from them in anxiety. “How do you feel about that?”
“I’m scared.”
“Understandable.”
“Scared to death to see him, to face him.” Johnny said, “But more so I’m scared that he won’t want to even see me.”
“Do you blame him?”
Johnny shook his head.
“In my opinion, John …” Mike leaned into the table. “Your father wouldn’t come here if he didn’t want to see you. No matter what he says, someone else could have taken the trip. But he’s coming here. That tells me, as a father, a lot.”
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