Skin Trials

by S Y Humphrey

  He stuck out his hand between them. Seren stared at it.

  “Where are my parents?” she asked.

  “Why should we answer that?” a woman, an older Latino, called out from a nearby table. “Better yet, why don’t you fly out on your private jet, and investigate where your parents are?”

  Laughter erupted around the room.

  “Don’t mind her. They’re just playing around, but they won’t bite. They can bite. But they won’t,” Pike tried to reassure her, his eyes dropping down to his hand which remained outstretched. In spite of his attempts at graciousness, Seren still did not take it. So they stared one another down, sizing the other up.

  Seren asked. “Where am I? Who are you?”

  “I’m sure you know who we are. Look, if you keep things cool, so will we. Nobody is trying to hurt you. Okay? Cool?”

  Seren bit her tongue, not speaking so as not to inadvertently disclose information or disclose her terror. Instead, she searched the walls, the doorway, looking for the nearest VScan. If only she could find a way to have her hand or face captured by the Classified Access Grade database, she knew the information would upload and notify her father to her location.

  “Don’t. It’s been rewired,” Pike said, observing her.

  “That’s impossible,” Seren spoke too suddenly. Every VScan was designed to upload information directly into the CAG database. It could not be deactivated or redirected.”

  “CAG database? You mean the cages?” the Latina female spurted out again, pausing between voracious, sloppy bites of her fried chicken. “That would be what you stupid rich people think. A good hacker can do anything. Just like you found out two nights ago, you little spoiled runt.”

  Pike turned toward the Latina woman. “Aurora, come on. Manners. We don’t need to stoop to their level,” Pike said, backing away from Seren, while staring at her, making it clear he was referring to her. “If I were you, I’d go and eat up. It’s the only meal you’re going to see for a while.” He took a seat at the long table to finish his own food.

  Seren wondered who owned this spacious barn. It couldn’t have belonged to these uncouth thugs. And certainly not to the boorish Aurora. Seren looked at the door again, counting the number of people in the facility she would have to get past to try and escape.

  Aurora eyed her. “You’re not getting out of that door. I’d like to see you try it. It’ll be you and me, and we’ll see if your daddy’s Judo lessons can stop me from snapping you in half. If I were you I would go back to my corner, and be a good girl.”

  The loud rap music turned back on again. Seren’s instinct was to lunge across the table and demonstrate how effective her Judo still was. She counted seven other people seated throughout the room who could stop her, and did not see any weapons. Three other grungy people wearing dark army pants and boots sat at another living room table and played dominoes. A couple others laughed at something on a computer. She couldn’t just rush for the door, since it was likely locked. She’d have to preserve her energy for a smarter way. Maybe take one of them hostage, at a vulnerable moment, and use them as leverage to get out, as she had practiced a few times at her father’s facilities.

  “You want to take a seat?” Pike interrupted her thoughts. “Have some fried chicken? Or you just want to stand there and wonder how you can get out of here?”

  “No, she can’t have any of my chicken,” Aurora replied, slurping the meat off another bone.

  “You’re being petty,” Pike snapped.

  “So? She can have some chicken when she earns it. No free handouts. Like Senator Mariel Jernigan tells everybody else.”

  Pike sighed, turning back to Seren. “You can at least come and sit down, watch a little t.v.”

  Aurora’s foot snapped the extra chair against the table. “No. She can go back to that corner, where the Premium Tier One people belong, and eat her Premium cold turkey.”

  Aurora grabbed a remote control and clicked it, activating the old-fashioned box sitting on a plain table. Seren hadn’t seen such a relic in years. Aurora clicked to a channel.

  A melee entered a shaky screen. Flashes of light in darkness appeared to be a war zone. But Seren recognized her school lab, filled with her father’s ABI agents who exchanged gunfire with the white-suited invaders. Using body cams, they had recorded footage of their attack against Seren’s family. They had entered from everywhere. Stephen Jernigan’s large upper body entered the shaking screen. She could not muster the strength to look away. Seren’s insides shuddered to see his terror. His large upper body swinging, he and his men shot their guns. Then, his fists punched the white suits that slipped through the gun battle. Finally, she watched him outnumbered. Seren’s mother lay on the floor.

  How had they gotten in? Past the Guardian robots and the armed ABI agents? This was a betrayal. Someone on the inside had let them in.

  You were my final mission. And my greatest, the professor’s voice ricocheted through her mind.

  “On second thought, go ahead and sit down. Watch some t.v.,” Aurora said, smirking as she chomped on her chicken, a victorious, greasy smile slathered across her face.

  Seren fought to look unaffected, hoping her parents were still alive and safe. Without her chip in her wrist, she would have to calculate another way for her father’s agents to locate her.

  Entertaining an idea, she pulled away. Retreating back to the bedroom from which she came, closing the bedroom door and searching the room. The window had a latch that seemed to unlock with a single flip. Too easy. Was it some kind of trap? She reached for the latch, and twisted it, but the window had been glued shut. That left breaking the window with a piece of furniture. In this residential community, if she could just make it across the large yard and screamed, somebody in the area had to see her. The green, rural yard stretched for at least a block. And tall, thick trees lined the yards, giving people their privacy. It was too far to try and run to escape. She grabbed a chaise chair at the foot of the bed and hoisted it over her head.

  Suddenly, she heard a flurry of activity in the front area of the house. She heard a sudden rush of activity, as if they were cleaning up to prepare for someone’s arrival. The time had to be past ten o’clock, maybe even midnight now. Silence quickly replaced the festivity from moments before.

  She heard the front door to the house open. A lone male voice spoke with authority, after which the others replied. Moments later the front room fell hushed, followed by lowered murmuring. She strained to hear the words.

  “No. Never make it out.… Oklahoma, Arkansas… Cavalry.” She heard a young voice snap. The guy who had introduced himself as Pike? “… die.”

  “… stick with the plan. Get lost.… So they won’t… eye scanners…. the coasts,” Seren heard someone else.

  This was the Anthistemi? This small, ragtag group of kids hauling their captive in chicken trucks?

  “Is she awake?” the authoritative male voice added.

  A few moments later, Seren heard boots approach the bedroom door. She lowered the chair, just as a black man entered, appearing to be in his thirties.

  “Seren, I know this is tough and you must be very confused right now. So let me dispense with the formalities. People call me NG.”

  “I don’t care. Soon people will call you dead,” Seren replied.

  “For all of our sakes, let’s hope not. I know you want to go home. I can make that happen. If you help me, I will help you.”

  “Go to hell. Which is where you’re going. It won’t be long.”

  NG strolled around the bed, to the chaise lounge that she still held. He stuck out his hand, in an offer for her to sit. She refused to be disarmed by their fake chivalry.

  “I’ll stand,” she said.

  He sat on the edge of the bed, just two feet from her, within striking distance.

  “Have you ever heard of a program called the Skin Trials? A genetic injection called Nautilus? Or a man named Lyle Terry?”

  She remained standing,
without moving a muscle. He rubbed his hand over his face in frustration.

  “I know you love Stephen Jernigan. Like a father. As the man who raised you.”

  “Like a father? Hmph,” she snickered. “My father has only committed one wrong. Having enough mercy to let you li—”

  “Look, knock off the histrionics,” he breathed. “We’ve got a real situation here. We need your help. If you help us, we let you go.”

  “Scan into Perfect Society and your government will help you. Acknowledge my father, and the Federation of Advanced America and…”

  His eyes rolled into his head, before his arm jolted to snatch her. She blocked him, throwing up her arm and knocking his away. The exchanged shocked him, and she was still spent, with little energy. His other arm shot out, grabbing her throat and yanking her to him. He pushed his face against hers, smelling her, his eyeballs two inches from her own.

  “You’re smart. And you’re fast. I’ll give you that. But I know what you’re really made of. I know what’s really inside you.” His fingers squeezed her airway. “I’m trying my best… to be civil with you. I understand why you’re so loyal to him. He’s made you a very wealthy girl. Given you all the comforts of life. But if there is a heart inside you at all, think of the comfort and security he has taken from others, and given to you. You have a chance to right your Stephen Jernigan’s wrongs.”

  Even as her heart knocked against her ribs, Seren hardened. “No.”

  “If you don’t help us, and our people die, Stephen Jernigan dies. Your mother, Senator Jernigan, dies. The end.”

  She thought of her parents. Her unconscious mother lying on the lab floor.

  “Talk,” Seren spat.

  “There is somebody very important that we need, a scientist. We believe your father has him, and kept him alive. We want an exchange— you for our friend.”

  “What makes you think he’s still alive? Or that my father was involved. How do you know it wasn’t one of your nut job people over there?” She challenged.

  “Lyle Terry is the reason you’re so perfect. Lyle Terry is the man who truly made you all you are. He worked with Jernigan years ago, until he disappeared. Around the same time that Jernigan was creating Perfect Society. His car was pulled from a river, but there was never a body. We believe it’s because Stephen Jernigan still needs him.”

  “If my father did have him, why would I help you free another terrorist?”

  “He’s not a terrorist,” he nearly growled, his eyes shaking with anger. “He is one of the smartest men alive.”

  “Even if that were true, you think I would help you free him to ruin this country even more than you already have? You criminals will do anything to gain power where you have none.”

  “Are you seriously talking to me about men who do anything to gain power?” He snapped back, in clear reference to her father.

  They both sized one anther up again, and she could tell he fought the urge to hit her, as much as she fought not to hit him.

  “How do I know you’re telling the truth? That if I cooperate, you won’t kill my parents anyway? That one of those thugs out there won’t do it? Why would I trust you?”

  “Because the man we want to save is more important than all of you put together. And if we have to keep you alive so he can go free, I’ll do it.”

  She didn’t know what to say. Her father would not want her making deals with terrorists. But the last time she’d seen him, he was bloodied and her mother lay unconscious.

  NG continued, “You’ve seen what I can do. Stephen Jernigan is not invincible. Our people can get to him. No matter what he does. No matter how much security or reinforcements or technology he’s got, we’ve got ten hackers to undercut his every device. So either my friend will be freed, or all of you Jernigans die.”

  Seren thought it over. She’d been right. They were in need.

  “You won’t hurt my parents. No matter what they do. Once you get your scientist…”

  “… you go home.”

  Whomever this scientist was, the circumstances were dire enough to risk their lives and snatch her from one of the most powerful men on Earth in order to get him. That also meant they were desperate enough to wait. And hopefully, in that time, she could learn her parents’ whereabouts, and if they were alright. But even if they were, there were too many unanswered questions right now. Primarily, this guy had just finished bragging that his people could finish her family no matter where they were. So even if she cooperated and they were all set free, how could she still guarantee all of their safety? She needed more time to figure this out. She closed her eyes, and her father’s swinging body flashed through her mind, punching and shooting until he was outnumbered, all to protect her.

  “Where are they?” she asked.

  “Not until you tell me you’ll do it. Then I’ll let you confirm they’re okay,” he replied.

  It was a setup, a way to get buy-in from her, before she’d gotten anything from them. Once they saw she was willing to cave, they could then demand other concessions, all before she’d seen her parents. They needed to be the first to cave.

  She supposed she’d been paying more attention to her father’s tactics over the years than she’d thought.

  “No.” She reopened her eyes. Just in time to see him flinch, his eyes turning red. His jaw hardened. She called his bluff. “I’m ready to die… for my father’s Perfect Society. You ready to die for your dead America?”

  “You damn fool. You have no idea.”

  Seren replied through clinched teeth. “No, I don’t. And I don’t care.”

  8

  Loyalty

  “No screaming. No hitting. No squirming. Nothing stupid. Anything outside of these guidelines, anything at all, I punch you. You bang the windows, I punch you. You try to run away, I punch you. You look at me wrong, I punch you. You try to pull any fast ones on me, guess what… you got it: I punch you,” Aurora spoke just inches from Seren’s face as she awakened.

  Without a word, Seren threw her body upward, head-butting the older woman in the nose.

  “You didn’t have many friends in school, did you? Did you even go to school?” Seren seethed.

  “Wow, I underestimated you, Princess.” Aurora touched her face, rubbing her fingers over her nostrils. She punched Seren back. Twice. Seren felt blood gushing in the middle of her face. “And you underestimated me. I was a straight A student.”

  “Aurora! Finish packing. We’ve got a deadline. Damn, stop playing!” Pike admonished while keeping his voice hushed.

  Hot, sweaty and unbathed, Seren was still hungry, only having been fed through an intravenous tube. And she had slept little, while worrying of her parents. She tried to commit to her memory everything she saw, so that she could recount it all to her father and his analysts once he found her. She would try and buy herself some time, cooperating only while she searched for her first shot at a VSscan or CAG device. The law required VScans to be installed everywhere, to gain access to nearly everything, from grocery stores to restaurants to restrooms. No one could be treated at a hospital, enter a school or even enter a public park without verifying their identity in the VScan.

  She needed a way for her father’s ABI agents to capture her face or pick up her voice. But was it one of them who had betrayed her family?

  Pike eased toward her with another plate of food. He also set down bandages, peroxide and a splint for her nose. “Look, that was pretty badass what you did, standing up to NG and Aurora. But you’re not going to win any points for torturing yourself. If I bring this over there, are you going to try anything?”

  His eyes seemed genuinely concerned, but she refused to drop her guard.

  “Look, we have to go,” he continued. “Just take a couple bites, girl. Stop acting hard. You know you’re hungry.”

  Hungry was an understatement. He took the gag from her mouth, and held the warm bread to her lips. Meat and tomatoes, with melted cheese tempted her. Looking down, inspecting i
t, she turned away.

  “Did you poison it? Why are you being so nice?” she finally asked.

  He threw the sandwich down and walked away. Two minutes later, he returned with meat, bread, sandwich spread and a spoon. He then untied her.

  “Fine then. Fix your own. Make any moves, and I put this on you,” he said, holding out a spray can. Seren read the bright red and orange label.

  “Strychnine?” she read.

  “That’s right. Rodent pesticide. Your muscles will convulse in five minutes, and you’ll be dead in an hour. Your father’s private police fed it to poor immigrants for not participating in his torture program.”

  In disbelief, Seren drew back, “Torture? Well, if enemies of America…”

  “These were poor people who never committed a crime in their lives other than crossing the border.”

  “He does what’s necessary.”

  “The more you talk, the more ignorant you sound, so why don’t you shut up.”

  She glared at him, having second thoughts of whether she should take his food. But he’d been kind enough to untie her and let her fix her own. Seren grabbed the bread and the jar of mayonnaise, and began putting her sandwich together. Biting down into the dry bread and cutup pieces of chicken, swallowing after only half-way chewing them first, she had never savored anything so much. She swallowed water from the simple plastic cup offered to her. They had taken pains not to be remembered. Down to the very cutlery this woman owned. Anything remarkable, or memorable, had been removed from the four corners of this wooden barn in which she been held.

  Then they placed her in yet another vehicle. This time, surrounded by large pens of live cows, pigs and chickens. This time, they tied her arms behind her back, and metal shackles once again, chaining her wrists to her ankles. They placed the gag in her mouth underneath the leather strap, and blindfolded her.

  She listened to the sound of the barn doors squeaking open outside the truck that rumbled to life. So began another few hours of bouncing and being tossed in the humidity and heat. At least this ride, the rough bumps were broken by the patches of hay underneath her. Sweaty and moist in her warm-ups now, she tried to reposition herself occasionally, turning and shifting to lay on either her left side, her right, or her stomach. It was all she could do this time. But among the noises from the animals, she heard the traffic and sounds outside pick up. The streets grew rougher, and the large tires leaped over more ragged streets. They had left the countryside, and entering more populated areas where the truck stopped more often now.