Arex was most surprised when he saw her photograph. Her features were fair and she looked well-kept and serious, yet she was smiling. There was something about her that he found attractive.
He just couldn’t understand why he had to kill her. He didn’t know her. He didn’t even know anybody, for that matter. Nothing in Janiece Ryder’s photo gave him a whiff of any wrongdoing, no matter how small. Still, he figured that he had to do this, no matter what his feelings in the matter were. It’s what he was created for, wasn‘t it?
That afternoon, Arex was laying down on a small mattress he had in another apartment. He was supposed to do away with Janiece Ryder as soon as possible, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it in his head. How then, could he do it for real? Whenever he thought about taking out his gun and pulling the trigger, he felt terrible inside. Was he just nervous? There had to be some reason why he was hesitating. What was his purpose for doing this? Why was he there? Does a soldier really have to be deployed to care of a supposedly rogue lawyer? Wouldn’t there be a better suited authoritarian force for this situation?
Uneasy, Arex decided not to think about it too much and simply try to do as he was told, although it was going to prove to be very difficult. He was going to wait until nighttime, and try to sleep until then.
* * *
6:07 PM
Janiece Ryder’s Apartment
Janiece Ryder was trying to settle down and watch the evening news. There was nothing on Rick’s disappearance yet. She simply couldn’t concentrate on anything else. She felt ultimately responsible for the safety of Jason’s father and she had let them both down. Rick had always wanted to be assured that Jason would be taken care of in the best possible way. She wondered if they were too late in saving him from Sandlak and his insane project. She couldn’t imagine what the Mind Shifter computer could do to someone once it was used. If and when that project would become public knowledge, there was no doubt that it was going to spark a public debate and a huge scandal, and all of it for what? A crazy military scheme. And what about the soldiers that would be created from this? They would be created to kill, so what would happen if they decided to go rogue? And what if they became injured or get too old to serve under law? Would they simply be done away with? Could people really be this cruel? Those many questions were making her head spin to breaking point. She knew that she wasn’t going to be able to answer these questions right away, so all of these thoughts were simply going to distract her until the answers came to her one way or another.
* * *
9:15 PM
Abandoned Apartment
The job was so simple. All he had to do was kill someone who had murdered people in cold blood, without a single other thought. He imagined her taking out a gun and shooting people and then laughing about it, but it just didn’t stick in his head long enough to be remembered. He probably tried to kill her so many times and failed. He would arrive at her door and knock casually. She would answer the door, take a quick look at him and scream in terror, realizing what he was. He pounces forward, his hand covering her mouth. Knocking her down he would then claw at her inside until he would slash her throat open. He would watch as the blood would start gushing out of her neck as her eyes looked on in horror as the life slipped from them…
Arex blinked for half a second and found himself alone in a black void. Janiece Ryder was gone. Her corpse left no blood, in fact it looked like there was nothing for Arex to stand on. A complete void, just like his mind.
“She‘s not here.”
He turned around to face a woman wearing a pink bathrobe. Her red hair was curly and worn at shoulder-length. She looked really angry. She held something in her arms. It was a thin book. The title stuck out in bold letters: The Amazing Spider-Man.
“You gave me your word,” she said.
“What?”
“You promised me you wouldn‘t do something like this.”
“What are you talking about? Who are you?”
“You promised me you wouldn‘t do something like this! How could you? You made a promise and then you went back on it.”
But he hadn’t done anything. Not yet. Who was she? Why was she angry at him?
“I don‘t understand. What did I ever promise you? Do I even know you?”
“I‘m so disappointed in you. You‘re a monster, and I will never forgive you.”
She turned around and started walking away from him, her body becoming more and more transparent until it finally vanished into thin air.
“Wait! No! Come back! I was only told to do this. Please, come back!”
Arex’s eyes flew open. He quickly sat up, sweat pouring down his face. He was still in the abandoned apartment, on the ragged mattress he tried to fall asleep on. Who was that woman? Was she even real, or was she a figment of his imagination? No, she couldn’t be. The memory of her was too vivid. Memory? That couldn’t be right. The memory of what? Who? What if he used to be someone else? What if Patrick Sandlak had lied to him? Would he really be that kind of person? Was he being used for someone else’s profit? Why? How did Janiece Ryder fit into all of this?
All of a sudden, he started having so many questions. Never until now, did he have any reason to question Sandlak’s motives or the task he was given to do. What could he do, now? Would he actually kill someone in the state he was in?
Was he really a monster? Why would he be a monster? If he killed Janiece Ryder, then maybe he…
Arex couldn’t stand it any more, he had to get out of the apartment. He got out through the back door, leading to a metallic staircase that lead all the way to the roof. He climbed to the top of those stairs and looked around. He could see the huge green statue that was written on the map as “Statue of Liberty” and several tall buildings known as skyscrapers looming in the night sky. Miss Ryder was probably asleep by now. Should he go to her house? What would he do once he got there, wake her up…kill her? Janiece Ryder’s apartment was located about five or six blocks away from where he was. Either he was going to kill Janiece Ryder or warn of the imminent danger that she was in. Either way, he was going to make his decision once he got there. He had to make that decision right away, because he couldn’t spend an entire night with these thoughts and questions inside his mind. He only hoped that he would be able to make the right decision once he got there.
Chapter 14
Saturday, October 31st, 1998, 9:23 PM
New York City
Arex made his way across several rooftops, running across the rough pebbles on the flat roofs, leaping from one ledge to the next, and swiftly closing the gap between him and Janiece Ryder’s apartment. All the while, he was still unsure of what he was going to do once he arrived at his destination.
He had originally intended to simply go out on the roof of the abandoned apartment building he was staying in and get some air, but this situation, was starting to drive him insane. The questions he asked himself and couldn’t answer were making his head hurt and it wasn’t helping him knowing that he was alone in an abandoned building with no one else to talk to.
He arrived at the ledge across the street from the apartment complex where Janiece Ryder lived. According to the information he was given, she lived on the fourth floor, in room number “404”. Apparently he had to climb down into the alleyway in between the two buildings and enter through the parking lot in the basement. He made his way there, being careful not to be seen by anyone. Thankfully, it was fairly late in the evening and there no cars running to or from the parking lot. Arex figured that most people would probably be asleep. Arex entered the elevator and pushed the button for the fourth floor, then closing the doors using the switch rather than waiting for them to close. Once more, he surprised himself at being able to work an elevator, and actually recognize what an elevator was and what it was for.
He exited the elevator and found himself in a tight hallway. Number 404 was located at the end of the hall on the left side. As he got closer to the door, it felt like but
terflies were invading his stomach. His hands started shaking when it got to try knocking on the door. His mind was a terrible mess he couldn’t ignore. What was he doing there? How could he try to talk to a woman he never met, a woman he wasn’t even sure would even be behind that door? What if he was walking into a trap. Who could he trust, Janiece Ryder or Patrick Sandlak? Wasn’t it wrong to go against Sandlak’s wishes and spare the woman her life, and warn her of the danger she was in? Wasn’t it just as wrong to judge someone he never met and kill her without a second thought? He took a deep breath, moved out of the way of the peephole, and knocked on the door.
He had to wait for a good two minutes before he finally heard movement from inside the apartment. The doorknob turned slightly. Standing back against the wall next to the door, Arex felt his heart rate accelerate twenty-fold, and he tried to steady his breathing, fearing that Ryder would hear the beats from the other side of the wall.. The door opened towards the inside, and Janiece Ryder came out and started looking around…
Arex’s instincts kicked in to high gear. Before he even knew what he was doing, he darted towards the woman with blinding speed, quickly putting his left hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. He quickly dragged her inside the apartment, and closed the door with his foot as quietly as he could.
He held her in midair, holding her arms to her side with his right arm, to prevent her from punching him. He also wrapped his tail around her legs to keep them together. He waited for a while, listening for hints of anyone who might have heard their struggle. After a good while, he heaved a sigh of relief, somewhat confident that no one had heard them. Meanwhile, miss Ryder was struggling, trying to get away from him. Arex realized that, not only was she having trouble breathing, she was also bleeding from her arm, where he saw that he had accidentally scratched her. He had an idea when he noticed that the kitchen was just a short walk away.
He gently put her down so that she could support her own weight. He let go of her arms and put his finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet.
“Don’t worry. I am not here to hurt you. If you promise not to yell for help, I will let you go. I just want to speak with you. Please, hear what I have to say.”
She nodded in understanding and he let her go. He quickly stepped into the kitchen, ripped the short sleeve from his shirt, and wet it in the sink. He went back into the living room where he saw her sitting down on her couch, holding her arm. He quietly crouched down and started to apply the wet sleeve on her arm, being careful not to be too rough.
“I‘m sorry,” he said, “I didn‘t mean to hurt you. I just didn‘t want anyone other than you to see me just yet. I think it‘s best that we‘re alone right now.”
“I could have sworn that you would have killed me the moment you saw me.”
“It is what I was originally supposed to do. Somehow, I don‘t think it would have been a good idea. I just can‘t bring myself to even think about hurting someone, especially someone I don‘t even know.”
He slipped the wet sleeve on her arm, tied a small knot with it, then sat down.
“Again, I‘m sorry. I should have been more careful. I acted under the impression that you would have been afraid of me, and I got carried away. I don‘t even remember half of what just happened in the hallway.”
He was embarrassed to find himself here in the presence of someone he was attracted to from her photographs. He found her even more beautiful, but he didn’t want to admit it.
* * *
Janiece sat there for a while looking at this being who basically just seemed to appear out of nowhere and was now sitting there, talking to her. If it wasn’t sent here to kill her, what was it doing here? She had to find out what its intentions were soon. She couldn’t have this thing stay here and eventually discovering Jason asleep in his bedroom.
“If you‘re not here to kill me, what are you doing here?”
“I‘m not really sure of it myself. I’m a little confused. I read in a folder I was given that you were a corrupt lawyer and a murderer. Of course, I now believe that Patrick Sandlak was being less than honest with me. I don’t how he could have expected me to kill you without a second thought. Do you know who Patrick Sandlak even is or what he does?”
“I do,” Janiece replied, “and that‘s probably why you‘re here. You were created in as part of crazy scheme to have half-human half-reptile soldiers. I came across information on that project. Since the project was supposed to remain a secret, it‘s possible that Sandlak knew that I had that information somehow, and sent you here to stop me from making this information public. Unfortunately, I can’t just release this kind of information to the public without any proof. I have to apologize about that, by the way, because if it weren‘t for the rules of the justice system I could‘ve stopped this from happening to you, but I‘m only one person with evidence that I shouldn‘t have in the first place, that was obtained illegally by one of my friends and given to me without proof. I‘m only a lawyer, my head implodes just thinking about what might happen if I go public with this. Not only that, but nobody on this planet can possibly believe that something like you even exists without seeing you firsthand.”
Janiece stopped and looked at the being who seemed to be thinking. It was an awkward moment before it spoke.
“It‘s possible that there will be more people like me, created from this project. If there would be a way to stop Sandlak, then maybe the project would grind to a halt. If only it were possible that you could stall the project and give yourself enough time to find your evidence the right way. There must be some sort of authoritarian group that‘s powerful enough to do just that. And if there‘s any way that I could help I would do anything you might want or need from me.”
It was long shot, but Janiece thought that it might be a good idea. Who better to testify against Patrick Sandlak and bring him to justice than his own creation? What more proof could she possibly need? She knew that the first thing she had to do in the morning was talk to Mika Nomura, the FBI agent who came to her apartment two days earlier. She had given her a phone number to keep in touch.
“I think the authorities could use someone like you as probable cause to investigate BIOGENCORP, Patrick Sandlak, and the A.R.EX. project. That is, if you don‘t mind being a poster boy against this crazy scheme. And if you think you can stand speaking in front of dozens of people under the oath that you wouldn‘t lie.”
“I think I‘ll be just fine. I don‘t think I will mind being used for something that doesn‘t seem dangerous. It seems a lot better than being lied to.”
He stopped and looked behind Janiece. She wondered if there was something of interest, but it was just a shelf with a clock on it.
“It‘s very late. I think I better be going. Again, I‘m sorry for having practically broken into your home.”
“Where will you be going? Do you have any place to live, with a roof over your head? It‘s getting to be cold outside.”
“There’s an abandoned apartment not too far from here. It’s where I was dropped off and told to find you. It‘s not really as cozy as it is here, but it‘ll have to do.”
Janiece felt sorry for him. He had no memory, no life of his own any more. She decided that she had to help him like he promised to help her.
“Hold on, what‘s your name?”
“Arex.”
“Like the project?”
“Yes.”
“Well, Arex, if you promise not to snore too much, you can sleep here, if you want.”
“Really? You wouldn’t mind? Even after I hurt you?”
“I think you‘re really nice. I also think of what Sandlak might do to you if he finds out that not only you spared my life, but you also decided to help me in trying to stop him. You have to stay here, for your protection as well as mine.”
She set up her couch as a makeshift bed and bid him good night. She figured that she had made the right decision, but she also knew that the moment everyone else knew about Arex‘s existenc
e, and the existence of the project, there would be widespread panic all over the world. No matter what they did, the future was going to be in their hands.
Part 2
Confrontation
Chapter 1
Sunday, November 1st, 1998, 7:34 AM
Janiece Ryder’s apartment
Arex had just spent a perfect, dreamless night, whatever was left of it. It was so incredible, he really didn’t want to wake up. If he did, he feared that maybe he would actually be waking up in the old, beat-up apartment where Patrick Sandlak had dumped him a day earlier. He still couldn’t bring himself to believe what happened during the night. He had actually worked up the courage to face Janiece Ryder and seemed to convince her that he meant her no harm…even though he managed to scrape her arm.
He didn’t have the dream with the unknown woman, which was a good thing, but he was still confused about who she was and what she meant to him. Despite everything that was said between them, Janiece had let him sleep on her couch for the night. He was so thankful for that, he was now more determined than ever not to betray her trust or let her down.
He laid down, awake, but with his eyes still closed, hoping to open them only once heard her voice asking him to wake up. Suddenly, he heard a strange sound coming from nearby, maybe from within the apartment. It was barely audible, muffled from behind a closed door or behind a wall. As he sat up and opened his eyes he kept an ear out for that sound. It sounded like a piano of some sort playing softly. He stretched his arms and legs, got off the couch, and walked toward the sound.
The apartment had a small corridor where the bedrooms were. There were three doors, one of which Janiece entered when she went to bed. Another door was barely opened and showed him the bathroom. The third one was closed. Arex noticed that the sound was heard louder behind that door. Arex thought Janiece lived alone, but opening that door put an end to that idea.
The A.R.EX. Project:Transformation Page 6