And so it was that when he heard Savane's voice, he gritted his teeth and tried to ignore it. He stood up from the chair, cursed his mind playing tricks on him, and checked the incubator temperature. Working perfectly.
At that moment, a second girl's voice joined Savane's voice. Then a man's. This frightened Anthony. What a realistic hallucination, he thought. Is this what it sounds like to a schizophrenic?
He stood again and walked out of the lab, into the inner hallway, and turned toward the window that overlooked the natural gas tanks. It was open.
"Yes, Maya, you can sit on the curb if you like."
"OK. Cool. Let me know if you want me to lift something or whatever."
"Yes, Maya. Savane, are you ready with the strap?"
"Ready ready. Got the strap right here."
When he heard Savane's voice again, Anthony slowly walked the length of the hallway, filled with fear. His face contorted and his lips quivered. The lucidity of this dream terrified him. Crazy people don't know they're crazy, and now I know why, he thought. This is real, but not real. My mind has even conjured up two other people to complete the hallucination.
He reached the end of the inner hallway, bent slowly at the waist and looked out the window. "Wow," he said out loud. I can even see them, he thought. Savane, just like I remember her. And the detail of the other two people. A mutant who looks just like my friend's daughter before the flares, all grown up. What was her name? Maya?
"Maya, can you help me with this strap?" Savane called out to Maya, who was sitting on the curb with her arms wrapped around her knees, hugging them close to her chest.
Maya answered, "Sure thing. I can do that. Who's that, anyway?"
"Who is who?" Anthony asked, looking over to Maya. He followed her gaze to the window and, when he saw Anthony's face in the opening, stumbled back two steps in surprise. He regained his footing, sidestepped to the cart, and put his right hand on the shotgun. "Who are you?" he yelled to the window, maybe a little too loud.
Savane also looked to the window and said, "Oh, hey, Anthony. What's up?"
"Is that Anthony?" Pryce asked.
"Yup. Anthony," Savane said to Pryce. Then speaking toward the window, she said, "It's good to see you, Anthony. Where have you been?"
"Where have I been?" Anthony asked quietly. Then, louder, he said, "Where have I been?" and his face disappeared from the window. A few seconds later, the back door swung open violently and Anthony ran through it. "Savane! Are you real?"
Savane laughed. "Am I real? I hope I'm real. Of course I'm real!"
"You are dead. You should be dead. They took me. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't leave a message, nothing. You're all dead!"
"Not all, Anthony. Gwen is dead. I didn't see the three others. I tried to save Gwen, I really did. But there was nothing I could do. Nothing. I'm sorry."
"No, I'm sorry, Savane. There was nothing I could do. They tied me up and took me. Then they chained me up and held me. They acted like they were doing me a favor. Yes sir, no sir. Sit down here, sir. Thank you very much, sir. But they tied me up, took my blood, and killed you all."
Maya looked at Savane and, for the first time since Savane peddled into the driveway with Gwen, Maya saw Savane cry. At first her lower lip quivered and then tears began to run down her cheek. Maya pushed herself off the ground, went to Savane, and put her arms around Savane's shoulders. With that, Savane put her head on Maya's shoulder and sobbed loudly. Savane's body shook rhythmically as Maya's shirt became wet with tears.
"That's okay, Savane. That's okay," Maya said softly.
Anthony stepped toward the two girls and put his arms around both. "I'm sorry, Savane. I'm sorry."
Chapter 22
Gabriel Sparrow, Pancho, and Serge arrived in downtown Wayton in the early evening.
"She's just west of here, less than a mile," Pancho said. "I'm getting very slight movement in her tracker. She's definitely close, and definitely wearing it. These movements are too erratic to be faked."
"She's ours," Gabe said. "Let's find a place to bunk for the night. We're going to need two hour watches overnight, to make sure her signal doesn't move again. I'll take first watch."
"Why not just grab her now?" Pancho said.
"After she's in custody I want to head straight home. I don't want her tied up and screaming or crying or whatever all night. Let's get some sleep tonight, then snatch her in the morning and head home. That alright?"
"Alright then," Pancho said.
"That alright with you, Serge?"
"Hmmm," Serge said.
"Yes, that's alright with Serge," Pancho interpreted.
~ - ~
As the sun was settling below the horizon in the west and the hallway window darkened, the two mutants and two dependents settled into the reception area of the lab. Anthony and Maya sat on the couch while Savane spun around in the receptionist's swivel chair. Between the couch and the swivel chair was the door leading into the inner hallway. Pryce lay on a blanket on the floor opposite the couch, next to the door leading to the lab. While the sun was at its lowest point, but before it dipped below the trees, Anthony had drawn two vials of blood and given them to Pryce and Savane.
"Those tanks you guys came for, they were the key," Anthony said. "The serum has to incubate for 54 hours minimum. The computer says it should work, but temperature and time are critical" Anthony said.
"What did you do for batteries?" Pryce asked.
"Batteries? For what?" Anthony said.
"For your computer. They've been getting harder and harder for me to find."
"I don't know. I didn't think about it. Once I got the parameters set, the calculations can run in the background with the monitor turned off. That doesn't use too much battery. I didn't really need that many," Anthony said.
Maya, who had mostly been quite to this point in the conversation, offered, "We've got lots and lots of batteries if you need them."
Pryce added, "Lots of batteries, that's true. I'm the meat and fish collector, the water collector, and the battery collector."
"And a good one, too," Maya said.
Pryce lifted his head from the floor and looked up at Maya. "Whoa. Thanks Maya. That may be the best complement you've ever given me. Maybe the first one, too."
"Well, it's true," Maya said. At the end of the couch, she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. Only her eyes were visible.
"That is true," Savane said to Anthony. "After I showed up in their driveway, they've helped me a lot. Pryce helped me bury Gwen, you know."
"Thank you for that," Anthony said. "It means more than you know."
"My pleasure. If she was like her sister, I'm sure she was a great person," Pryce said.
"Yes, she was," Anthony said. "So here's the deal. If you and Savane want to stay here, I can give you transfusions tomorrow and the next day. But the day after tomorrow, you've got to make a decision. Big decision. The serum should be ready early afternoon that day. That's a little before you'll be due for transfusions. You can't have both a transfusion or the serum. That would be pointless."
"So do we take a transfusion or do we try the serum?" Pryce said. "It makes sense for me to try the serum first. I can go up to 48 hours without a transfusion."
"Really? Forty eight hours?" Anthony asked.
"Yes. Don't ask me why. Lucky, I guess. So if I could get a transfusion tomorrow, that should hold me for 48 hours or so. The day after tomorrow I'll take the serum. If it doesn't feel like the serum is working I could still get a transfusion in time."
"I want to try the serum too," Savane said.
"Not a good idea, Savane," Anthony said. "Pryce has a good idea. Let's see if it works for him first, okay?"
"Alright, alright. I've been dependent on transfusions for years now. What's another few days?"
Anthony remained quiet. His mouth opened to speak but he said nothing. Savane looked at his eyes and said, "What is it, Anthony? What do y
ou want to say?"
"You should know...you should know that there are no guarantees. The serum, my blood, goes through a mutation process. The mutation process needs to finish. That's critical. During the metamorphosis, the chemical composition goes through several stages, each of which must be completed before the other can begin."
"So we have to wait 54 hours, I get that," Pryce said.
"Less than 54 now. The process started about 6 hours ago. But that's not what I'm trying to say. I'm saying during the mutation process, some of those interim stages can be less than helpful. Worse than that. Taken at the wrong time, or if I didn't do one of a hundred steps exactly right, the serum could cause a mutation process in the recipient's blood-forming tissue. In your blood-forming tissue. Like a cancer. The mutation would probably occur in your bone marrow. I'm talking at the DNA level. Basically, instead of being a cure, it would give you leukemia. But not normal leukemia. Warp speed leukemia. You'd last hours, maybe a day, and there would be nothing I could do about it."
Pryce looked at Savane, who had stopped swiveling in her chair. "It's alright, Anthony. We trust you. We'll wait," she said.
"Don't worry about it," Pryce said. "You've done the best you can. More than anyone else would have. I'll wait until the process finishes and then we'll see. Whatever happens is not your fault."
"Savane, if I could give you the mutation I have, you know I would. I don't know how I ended up a mutant and everyone else ended up dead. I really don't. Lucky? Unlucky? I don't know."
"If this works, it will change everything. You know that, right?" Pryce said.
"I'm not worried about that. If it can save some lives, then it will do what I want."
Maya peaked over here knees, which were still pulled in to her chest, and watched Anthony. Unbeknownst by the other three, an unfamiliar feeling was taking shape within her. Admiration. Admiration and respect.
"Can you two girls sleep on the couch together? There's not much other space," Pryce said. "I'm sleeping right here. As soon as you guys go to bed, I'm out."
Savane said, "We can both fit on the couch, don't you think, Maya?"
Maya remained silent, but managed a nod.
Anthony said, "Good. I'll find a place inside the lab, then. See you guys in the morning."
Chapter 23
Anthony was the first to wake up. He opened his eyes and immediately turned them toward the incubator timer. Nineteen hours to go. He did a quick calculation in his head. It's about 6 a.m.
He lifted his upper body off the blanket until he was in a sitting position and listened. No one was stirring in the reception area, although he could hear Savane snoring lightly. He stood up and walked to the door, cracked it slightly, and peaked out to see if Pryce was awake. He put his mouth close to the crack in the door and whispered "Pryce. Pryce." But the room remained silent save for Savane's snoring.
As Savane softly exhaled, the door burst open and slammed against the wall. Three men, two very big and one very small, jumped into the room. The two big men swiveled their rifles left and right, sweeping red dots across the walls, until the small man said "Her!" and pointed to the couch. At that, three red dots converged on the blanket covering Maya.
Anthony pushed the door closed, stepped backward into the lab, and froze. His eyes were wide and his arms moved away from his body reflexively into a defensive posture.
Anthony heard Pryce say, "Hey! Hey!" and then he heard the small man say, "Secure these other two. I'll get the girl." A second man, in a much deeper voice with a slight Hispanic accent, answered, "I got the other girl. Serge, you get that guy." In seconds, Anthony heard some scuffling and then a momentary silence.
"Got him," a third man's voice said.
How did they find me, Anthony wondered. He involuntarily looked at his left ankle, which was still healing. Then he slowly looked up to the door leading to the reception area. Maya! They've come for Maya! Why would they come for that harmless girl? He turned silently to the blanket on the floor, took five steps toward it, picked it up, took three more steps to the incubator, and slowly covered it. He stepped away from the incubator, now hidden, then heard the small man say, "Pancho, Serge, check that next room."
Anthony didn't bother to hide and there was nowhere to run. Just protect the serum at all costs, he thought. Seconds later, the door swung open wildly and Pancho and Serge stepped briskly into the lab. Anthony stood facing them, then looked down at the two red dots dancing on his chest.
Pancho spoke. "Sir, we request that you identify yourself."
"Identify myself? What are you talking about?"
"Thank you for your cooperation, sir. We are here under the authority of the Mutant/Resource Communal Control. We need you to identify yourself and we request that you place your hands behind your back."
"You request that I place my hands behind my back?" Anthony said and smiled. "Well, since you asked nicely, here you go," he said, turned to face away from Pancho and put his hands behind his back. He felt his hands jerked backwards slightly, then heard the click-click-click of the plastic band tightening around his wrists.
As Pancho grabbed Anthony's right elbow, Anthony stepped toward the door. He wanted these two men out of the lab as soon as possible so he walked steadily into the reception area. They followed him closely, as he had hoped they would.
Gabe, who was leaning over Savane and holding her left ear tag in his right hand, looked up at Anthony as he stepped through the door. His eyes widened noticeably and he slowly straightened up. Savane jerked her head to the right to escape the cold grasp of Gabe, who didn't seem to notice.
"You're kidding," Gabe said. "Anthony Barringer, CRM 28974. Am I right? Is it you? It looks like we're having a nab-one-get-one-free sale on wayward mutants today. I can't believe it." Gabe looked down at Anthony's left ankle and asked, "So, how'd you do it?"
"Do what?" Anthony asked.
"Remove it. Remove your ankle identification tag. How'd you do it? I've never seen that done."
"You don't know?"
"What do you mean, I don't know? I have my suspicions but no, I don't know," Gabe said.
"I'd love to tell you," Anthony said. "How much time do you have? It might take a while to explain."
"Save it, Houdini. You can tell my boss when we get back to M/RCC," said Gabe as he stepped to Pryce, who was lying on his stomach on the floor and resting his right cheek on his blanket.
"That suits me just fine," Anthony said and moved toward the door leading out of the reception area and into the central hallway.
"Not so fast, little man. I've got some business to take care of here. Serge, hold on to this guy. Pancho, take these numbers down. I've got two ear tags and an ankle ID I've got to call in."
"Hmmm," said Serge.
"Got it," said Pancho as he reached through the zipper opening of his jacket and pulled a small notebook and pencil from the breast pocket of his shirt.
Anthony followed every movement of Gabe who, despite his size, was clearly the one in charge. Gabe effortlessly squatted next to Pryce and, with his thumb and index finger, pulled up on Pryce's ear tag.
"Ready? This one is R548-58-865M. Got it?"
"Yup," Pancho said.
Gabe next moved to Savane, leaned over, grabbed her ear tag in the same manner, and said, "Ready? This one is R589-48-782F. Got it?"
"Yup."
Gabe then moved to Maya as Anthony followed him with his eyes. For the first time since the three invaders arrived, Anthony looked at Maya. What he saw filled him with fear.
Chapter 24
When Anthony was in his early teens, he and his friend Neil took a pellet gun, which belonged to Neil's older brother, into Neil's backyard. It had a pump on the underside of the barrel that loaded the gun with air pressure. Anthony and Neil took turns pumping the gun several times and firing pellets at trees. When it was Anthony's turn, he pumped it then saw a squirrel climbing a tree about 40 feet away. He lifted the barrel, lined the sights up with the tree, and
pulled the trigger. To his huge surprise, the squirrel fell back to the ground.
"Oh my God!" Neil yelled. "You hit it!"
Instantly, Anthony regretted his decision. He felt the blood drain from his face as he ran to the squirrel. "No way! I didn't think I'd hit it!" When he reached the squirrel, it was still alive. He looked down on it, just as it looked up at him. The look of raw, animal terror in the rodent's eyes haunted Anthony for years afterward.
Now, as he looked down on Maya, this memory flooded back. Her eyes were wide and black, like a doll's eyes, but filled with the kind of soul-shattering terror Anthony hadn't witnessed since that day so many years ago. She looked into Anthony's eyes, but he could not speak. Even if he could, he could give her no words that would ease her terror. He just shook his head slowly, side to side, and returned her stare.
Gabe jerked up on her left leg and said to Pancho, "Ready? 58963 Green. Got it?"
"Yup," Pancho said as he wrote the number in his notebook.
"Good. Let's get these two on the horses. Don't release the ear tags until we're leaving. Barringer first."
With that, Pancho jerked Anthony's left elbow toward the exit door. Anthony stumbled sideways a couple steps, regained his footing, and was brusquely led through the hall and out the building. A few seconds later, Serge emerged from the building carrying Maya on his right shoulder, her feet facing forward.
Serge lowered Maya to the ground, cut the plastic strap from her wrists, moved her hands to her front, and re-secured them. He then lifted her onto his horse's back, stomach down, tied a rope around her ankles, looped the rope under the horse's stomach, and tied the other end to her wrists.
Serge then went to Pancho, who was standing next to Gabe's horse, and the two men repeated the process with Anthony.
As Anthony was being tied to Gabe's horse, Gabe emerged from the building. In his left hand he held Savane's elbow. In his right hand, he held Pryce's.
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