by Josh Law
Then the women that were intimate with my dad were targeted. They were trying to see if the process of chemical reaction in the brain when people get together like that could make the subjects’ react to what’s now known as the “Prescott1” adrenal extract. They wanted to do this with women he’d only been with once or a few times, like Detective Avalon, and someone he’d been with for years like my Mom. She was exposed to a large amount of those cancer chemical things when my parents were married to influence the process of cancer they were actually inducing in her. I don’t know how they do it, but then they can do a lot of crap apparently! Anyway, they killed my mom so they could try and bring her back to life. They lured Detective Avalon to Durango so they could attempt to whack her and use her for the project too.”
Alex clawed at himself and looked down.
“All the tests were almost ready for moving on to marketing. All they needed to do was see if they could use radiation and chemical exposure in decomposed test subjects and bring them back. That would include some of my Dad’s ancestors. Dad is from Colorado. His whole family is from the Durango area. That’s why the study was done here. So that when we reached this chapter…They’d have my dead relatives to dig up and have a little fun with…”
The effort to muster the breath for this explanatory monolog had caused Alex intense pain. He bowed himself and coughed up blood. Then he clutched at his throat and make a sound like a dying bull-frog.
“The vest…Why are you?” Renee was on the verge of mental breakdown.
“This thing is kinda like a life support device or something. It pumps my body’s blood 6 times as fast because it works these 6 hearts on a battery to do it. It uses these 6 adrenal glands to enhance my performance. S’posed to anyway… It’s better to use real hearts than a machine, eh? That’s what they told me. All I know is it’s killing me to wear and if I take it off…I’mma have a heart attack!” His voice was dying away now and his lips were turning purple. He clutched at his knees crying from the effort it had taken to speak.
There was sudden applause.
“Wonderful explanation, Alexander! You might have been a great man someday.”
All eyes fell on Dr. Swift as he emerged from the smoke. Every officer present pulled his weapon.
“You know, the good soldier’s like you, Alex, weren’t meant to be casualties of this experiment. I never wanted violence and I wouldn’t call it murder either. I had all faith that my science could heal all of you. Don’t you see? We had conquered Death! Before him anyway…”
Swift’s face had so drastically changed from the kind doctor Marilyn had met such a short time ago at Santa Bianca’s. Now it was livid green and twisted by the mania raving inside of him.
“The Program did have a certain protocol in place. We had to prepare for the eventuality of a rebel like Nicolas. A self-resurrecting soldier that cannot be controlled is like a nuclear weapon that can be used by anyone. So we took additional steps to ensure that there was an eventual death for immortal Lazarus.” Lucien produced a syringe with a clear liquid.
“I still believe firmly in my science. Like the Grecians of old, I will have to face the critics and the firing squads for my radical achievements. I am not, however, an evil person. I have cured the World of Death. At the same time, I have abolished the likelihood of legal encroachment. There will be no more rebels. No more dying. No fear or pain! I gave you fools Utopia! I and my mad science and my raving disciples. I will walk willingly to whatever end you and the uncorrupted Federal body allows for me. There is no greater ambition in my mind than to be the last martyr of science. The greats that come after me will, of course, be cured of the possibility. I have one last work to accomplish. I must rid the Earth of Nicolas Avalon!”
It happened instantaneously. There was no time to logically map out the next steps. Marilyn leaped forward and caught Renee and Alex under her arms. She dropped to the ground and covered their heads.
Lucien had thrown down a small canister of tear gas. The officers reeled. Then there was a sound of insurgence as the Dead broke free. Nick’s voice could be heard shouting something rousting over the din of angry rabble.
This didn’t end well for anyone.
Chapter 14
Marilyn felt her throat closing under the drug’s effects. There was a trampling commotion out in the midst of the woods. Alex was gagging and making sounds that belonged in a horror flick. Marilyn twisted around in the midst to see him in the throes of a severe seizure on the ground beside her.
“I’ve got him! You go after your boy!” Renee choked out the words and waved Marilyn on.
It was madness. She felt so small in the midst of it. People ran in figure eights. Officers were trying to infiltrate the scene. SWAT teams filed into the fumes, faces hidden under reflector shields of plexiglass. If Marilyn had ever wondered she now knew what a battlefield in the Civil War would have been like.
“It doesn’t work on us, Doctor! You did your job too well!” Nick’s voice. So confident and uncaring faced with his third death this year.
The Wakers hadn’t actually armed themselves. They were equipped only with their fury. This might be enough. Research assistants screamed from the forest. The Dead had come for them and they could not get away.
Marilyn broke through the trees. She stopped dead in her tracks.
It was sheer frenzy. They moved in circles like a helicopter’s blades. Nick’s torment had turned him into something almost animal. Voraciously savage. He jabbed his fist into Lucien’s throat with the direct lunging action of a cobra bite, letting his fingernails tear into his skin. The Doctor coughed and bowed over his knees. Nick kicked him until he collapsed.
He stood looming over him with an almost wicked smile spread across his features.
“Some God you are now, huh.” Nick hesitated, tilting his head to the side.
“I could kill you. I honestly should kill you. Somehow taking your life is almost as bad as you waking me up from the Dirt Nap. As much as it physically sickens me to actually do this, I think I’m going to let you live, Doctor.” Nick had to literally overpower himself, swinging his shoulders and pivoting his skyscraping frame to back away. Marilyn held her breath. The baby she had given away had become a mature adult.
Mercy had been Nick’s mistake. Dr. Swift was motivated by a scientific obsession that outweighed his physical needs. With a shriek that shook the valley, he dove forward and grabbed Nick’s legs. He dug in his fingers climbing him like a cat will drapes. Thrusting forward, he pierced the syringe into his heart.
Nick froze. His eyes went wide.
Marilyn dug her heels into the ground. Knowing he’d died before was one thing. Seeing him die was wholly something else.
His lips began to foam and tears were wrenched from his eyes.
“I’ve…I’ve cured you. See, that makes us even!” Lucien had his tongue stuck out sickly and was chuckling through his teeth.
There was a sudden gunshot that rang out across the trees.
“Some things you’ve got to take care of yourself.” Chief Riggs declared as he stood with the Sig Sauer smoking in his hand.
Lucien groaned and fell forward. The Chief had shot him in the back and the bullet had gone all the way to his heart.
“Nick!”
Marilyn dove forward like an All-Star baseball player coming for the Home run. Nick gurgled on his over-salivation and collapsed backward. He lay staring at the sky in a drugged haze, clueless to his dying all over again.
“Nick! No! No, it’s okay. It’s okay. I’ve got you!”
Marilyn collapsed next to him and scooped him up. For the first time in his life, she cradled her child in her arms.
“No, Nick. Not again, buddy…I’ve…I’ve got so much to tell you! Look at me!” Nick’s head began to roll toward the ground. Marilyn lifted his face, forced him to look up into her eyes.
“I’m your Mom, Nicky. You’ve got to live, buddy. So that we can know each other and be family!”
<
br /> She was crying all of the sudden. For the life that she’d missed out on. For the things that had been done to her son. Maybe if she’d kept him none of it would have happened? She told herself that there was nothing she could have done, but it didn’t help with the pain of this moment. Of watching the light fading in his evergreen eyes.
“Mom?” He asked, smiling. He’d never gotten to say that before.
“Hang on, buddy. I’m going to get you some help.”
Chapter 15
“By God, Alex! I’’m done burying kids! You’re going to make it, son. Come on!”
Renee pulled Alex up over her shoulder. He was thrashing, eyes rolling in his head like a crazy horse. He looked at her desperately confused. For most of us, death approaches like a fever slow and serene. For Alex, it had come with the force of the ocean savage in power. He was drowning in his own blood as his nostril vessels began to rupture and the roof of his mouth split with the seven times stronger rush of his blood on the six amplified hearts plus his natural one.
Renee drug Alex thrashing to where the Datsun still loomed like an island amidst the tear gas.
“What the hell is going on?! What’s wrong with him?!” Army shouted as Renee jerked the door open.
She swung her fist across his face so hard he flew into the back window and cracked the glass.
“You’ve lost the right to even ask that question when you put him in the line of fire!” Renee shouted above the din of voices. She swiped and grappled the front of his jacket. Hauling him upward as far as his chains would go, she forced him to look her in the tear-gas inflamed eyes. Army had faced whole battalions of Taliban fighters in his day and had never broken a sweat. He was trembling in front of her.
“Just this once, you are going to be a good father to one of your many sons and hold him still. Press my belt between his teeth so he doesn’t bite off his tongue!” Renee ripped her belt off and twisted around to Alex.
“Hey, buddy, look up here. Hi…” She smiled at him and pushed his sweat-drenched hair off his forehead.
“Promise this won’t hurt.” She reached and pried his mouth open pushing the belt between his teeth not a minute too soon. He clamped his teeth down hard enough that the enamel cracking was audible.
“Easy now, kiddo. Your dad’s here in the back. I’m going to pass you off to him, okay?” Renee carefully started to drag Alex toward the backseat. He thrashed, terrified at the thought of being face to face with his psycho-studies Dad.
“Seriously, it’ll be okay. I’m not going to let him do any more mad science on you. He tries and I’ll kill him.” Renee finally laid Alex down. She snapped around in surprise just as she’d laid Alex’s twisting body directly in Army’s lap.
“You’d kill my husband?!” It was Mrs. Prescott. She’d finally escaped Nick’s custody. She’d soared in mind-altered devotion to the rescue of the man that had subjected her to her sadistic and ridiculous existence.
“If he tries to do any further damage to your son? Yeah.” Renee brought her fists up in a boxer’s stance.
Mrs. Prescott pulled a bowie knife she’d stolen from Nicky’s wood’s stash out of her bra. She smiled menacingly and tossed her head. Renee dug her feet into the dirt, but she was no match for Frankenstein’s bride. That’s not to say she didn’t try. The two women charged each other, Renee protecting her face with her fists. Prescott came slashing like a hell-cat, forcing the knife into her knuckles and twisting.
Renee shrieked as the knife came down through the top of her hand and out the inside of her wrist. Prescott brought her knee up and cracked Renee’s chin making her fall backward bleeding and moaning on the ground.
Prescott spun on her heel.
“I’ve come to save you, Army. We can run away now! Be together always…We’ll take Alex and use Dr. Swift’s procedure on him. We’ll live forever the three of us…”
Army’s hair stood on end. He balled his fists up.
“You listen to me, you crazy braud! Bringing you back from the dead was not my idea! The thought of necrophilia makes me want to shoot myself! You stay away from me!” Army was scaling the Datsun’s cab. From where she writhed on the ground, Renee realized he hadn’t been a willing participant in her resurrection.
Mrs. Prescott tilted her head to the side. She was wan with horror and filled with sudden searing revulsion.
“Necrophilia? I returned from the dead to be with you and this how you talk to me?”
She approached him so agonizingly slow. Renee watched in choiceless suspense. Prescott’s fury was not the thing of animals, monsters, or even movies. The look on her face was serenity. Not animosity but love. Love enticed into brutal pain. Pain that lead her to reach out and pull up Army’s chains. She broke them in her hands and forced them down his nostrils.
Renee screamed and looked away. She heard Alex’s muffled cries of horror and knew that Army’s end had been more horrible than she’d ever be able to wrap her mind around.
Prescott broke the chains out of the trunk and began to draw the body away.
“You are going back to Hell with me you son of a-“ She never finished the words. Prescott had exerted her newly risen body far too much. Her eyes fluttered in instant vertigo and she collapsed.
It took seconds for Renee to realize she was dead. She kicked Army to roll him over on his belly where she wouldn’t have to look at his face.
“Oh my God!” Marilyn had approached the scene. She had clutched Nick under the arms and had dragged him up from the forest. Rabid foam trailed down his neck and his eyes fluttered.
“Alex! What’s-what’s wrong with?!” He groaned around his gagging.
“You can’t say he didn’t have it coming, Marilyn. Sometimes life happens to wicked people and brings them to justice. As for the lady, she’s happier that way. Whatever they did to her hurt her in ways that could never be fixed.” Renee had forced herself to her feet.
Marilyn finally jarred herself into action.
“It’s obvious both the boys need saving right? Looks like the medical services around these parts are totally corrupt? What do we do?” Marilyn attempted to think faster than possible. Her heart was beating in the tip of her tongue. She wasn’t throwing up only because she’d had nothing to eat for hours.
“We take them to the officers that are busting up the mobile labs. We might have a corrupted hospital staff here in Durango, but it’s the only one we’ve got. A few rifles really do come in handy when you need to force the Doctors of Death to perform emergency care!” Renee made a bee-line for the driver’s seat. She’d left the knife protruding through her wrist. Needed to keep it wedged together trapping as much of her blood inside the ribbons of flesh as possible.
Marilyn pushed Nick in the back. She reached and lifted Alex up into his lap. Then she laid Nick against her chest and held both the boys.
“Whoa! Your hand?! Maybe I should drive?”
“Necessity is the mother of invention, eh? I’ll drive with my teeth if I got to! Sit tight, shut up and hang onto those boys!” Renee kicked the gas.
Chapter 16
“On the ground jokers!” Officer Rogers aimed her Glock 22 for the sky and shot off a round. The research assistants flinched and hit their knees.
Braxton was searching the mobile labs with white plastic gloves.
“You’re not going to believe the like of illegal substances they’ve gotten their hands on! I think I’ve lost all faith in Capitol Hill.” He twirled some burning green powder on the tip of his finger. The Datsun crashed through the trees like a Mustang herd through wildfire and came to a wobbly stop in front of them.
“We need permission to borrow the suspects!” Renee leaped from the driver’s seat and threw her hands into the air in a surrender gesture.
“What makes you think we’re going to let you do that?” Rogers swayed on her feet with a smug smile.
“Are there any other doctors in Durango that know how to reverse this stuff?” Renee tossed her head indicat
ively over her shoulder. Marilyn stumbled out of the car with one boy hanging off of either arm. Nicky was spitting up blood along with the foam now. Alex had passed out.
“Oh my God!” Braxton covered his mouth.
Rogers face transformed from brash rookie cop to empathizing parent moved by the sight of the dying kids.
“Alright people, we’ve got to bust up this crime scene and make way for a backwoods surgery.” She started directing traffic with her hands.
“Alright, Rodeo Clowns. Up off the ground! If you don’t want me to shoot you, then heed my every word. You’re going to fix whatever you broke in these kids.” Rogers shot at the suspects feet to get them to move.
“We can’t help that one. The Doctor made the serum to cause rapid apoptosis. He’ll be dead in minutes.” One of the nurses was defiantly staring at Nick.
“You’re going to try or I will shoot you. Seeing as the Law has clearly failed in this situation by actually funding you dirtbags, I’m the only thing that stands between you and getting by with murder.” Rogers dumped her brass and reloaded.
The Research assistants stared stupidly at the dying boys.
“We don’t know how.” Several of them said it at the same time.
Marilyn dropped to her knees in horror. This couldn’t be happening.
“My-My blood….Moving faster…More hearts to fail…” Alex had miraculously jarred awake and was talking out of his head.
“What is it, son?” Marilyn turned to look at him. He was beating at his chest.
“The Doc said something about two people…About the vest…It’s a performance enhancer, right? That it could make you like a god immune to anything…Even Poison? You could use IVs and hook me and Nicky to this machine…” His head bounced on his chest.
“Oh! I think I know! What he’s suggesting is suicide but it might actually work!” The Nurses’ eyes glittered as she understood.