Dark Days

by James Ponti

  “He was very special to me. But he wasn’t just family, he was also a great scientist. That’s why this center is so important to me, and that’s why it will be named the Milton Blackwell Penguin Research Center.”

  More applause and more confusion on our part.

  “I cannot think of a more appropriate way to honor his memory. He will be missed.”

  “Why is he speaking of him in the past tense like he’s dead?” I asked.

  I looked up at Marek, and I swear that he was looking right at me as he shook hands with well wishers and left the podium. Before I could even react, Alex grabbed me by the arm and pulled me closer to him.

  “What? What?” I asked nervous.

  He held up his finger to shush me for a moment while he listened to something over the radio. “They just arrested your mother.”

  “They what?” Beth and I said in unison.

  “The call just came in over the radio,” he said. “They just arrested your mother.”

  We looked over toward the Delacorte Clock and saw that two police officers, both with Dead Squad patches on their shoulders, had my mother handcuffed and were taking her away. Even though we were close enough to see, the railing around the zoo made it impossible for us to chase after her. We’d have to run all the way over to the entrance.

  “What are they arresting her for?” I said to Alex.

  “Yeah,” said Beth, “what could the charge possibly be?”

  “Does it matter?”

  I turned to see that Marek Blackwell had now come over to us.

  “You must be Beth,” he said, offering his hand to my sister.

  “If you think I’m shaking your hand, you’re crazy,” she said.

  “Haven’t they told you, young lady?” he said. “I’m as crazy as a loon. Or is that crazy as a fox? The fox is the one who acts crazy but gets his way. Just like I did with the letters I sent to Molly.”

  “You wrote them?”

  He nodded. “I wanted to make sure that you were close but not too close. And then, of course, when the time was right, I needed to make sure that you brought your mother to me so that she couldn’t be protecting my brother.”

  Now it made sense. He needed to get her away from Milton so that his men could get to him. Once again, I’d played right into his trap.

  “I’m going to make the same offer to you that I made to her six months ago,” he said. “We can have peace. I have no interest in fighting you or your friends. I have no interest in fighting anyone.”

  “What about my mother and Milton?” I demanded.

  He made a sheepish expression. “I’m afraid it’s too late for both of them. I need my brother for health reasons, and I need your mother because . . . well, let’s just face it . . . I want her out of the picture for good. I named the Penguin habitat for Milton. I figured I owed him at least that much. I’ll figure out some way to memorialize your mother, too.”

  I think any one of us would have killed him there on the spot, but in addition to being surrounded by the media, he was protected by four of his biggest Dead Squad members, including Officer Pell. The whole time Marek talked, Pell stared daggers at me.

  “I’ll be seeing you around,” Pell said as he started to walk away with Marek. As he did, he threw a punch into Alex’s gut. “That’s for the sucker punch you threw at my jaw the other day.”

  They escorted Marek away, and I started hyperventilating as I tried to figure out what to do next. Natalie, Liberty, and Grayson rushed over to us.

  “What just happened?” asked Natalie.

  “They arrested my mom and I think they have captured Milton,” I told them.

  Alex was still recovering from the sucker punch, but once he got his breath back he said, “We don’t know that for sure. I haven’t heard anything on the radio about them getting their hands on him. But that’s definitely their plan. That’s why they have your mom in custody, so she can’t help him.”

  “What are they going to do with Mom?” asked Beth. “Just take her somewhere and kill her?”

  “They can’t do that,” said Alex. “They had to call in the arrest. That means there’s a record and they have to follow procedures. My guess is that they’ll keep her locked up for now and transfer her to the Tombs tonight.”

  “The what?” I asked.

  “The Tombs,” he said. “It’s what they call the main city jail. It’s bad news. It would be incredibly easy for them to fake an accident in there and make it look like another prisoner killed her.”

  Everything seemed grim, but for some reason I was more focused than ever. I know that Natalie is our team captain, but I thought it was time for me to take charge.

  “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” I said. “But it’s going to take all of us at the top of our game. Natalie, Alex, and Liberty, you three get over to MIST and see if you can help Milton. They have him outnumbered, but he’s smart. Smarter than all of us combined. He may be able to hold them off until help arrives. Listen in on the radio so you know what the bad guys are up to.”

  “Got it,” said Natalie, no hesitation about taking orders from me. “What are you three going to do?”

  I looked at her and smiled. “We’re going to break my mother out of jail.”

  Jail Birds (We Return to Where the Story Began)

  The Central Garden & Sea Lion Pool is at the heart of the Central Park Zoo. It features a rocky island surrounded by water and is home to eight California sea lions. Every afternoon at one thirty an animal keeper climbs up onto the island to feed the sea lions and talk about them. It’s incredibly popular, which is why the crowd was three people deep all the way around the tank.

  A sea lion name Scooter was demonstrating his ability to stand up on his fore-flippers, when there was a loud gasp in the crowd.

  “Mom!” cried out a young boy. “What’s that girl doing?”

  I was the girl, and the thing I was doing was balancing on the rail that ringed the pool. Embarrassingly, my balance was worse than Scooter’s.

  “Please get down from there,” the keeper directed me in a forceful voice.

  Despite my wobbly beginning I finally managed to stand up straight.

  “It is not safe for you or the animals if you encroach upon an exhibit,” he continued. “You must stay on public paths!”

  Satisfied that I had everybody’s attention and was the focus of more than a few video cameras, I was ready to make a splash. (Sorry, puns are a weakness of mine.) I thought it would be a good touch to shout something as I did it, and for some reason my mind went back to the Sons of Liberty and their safe passage tunnel.

  “Tutus locus!”

  It didn’t make sense, but I thought it sounded good. And before anyone could ask me what it meant, I leapt into the air and cannonballed into the nearly freezing water. An instant shock ran through my body as I submerged for a moment of silence before I started to float back to the surface. When I came back up, it was anything but quiet.

  I heard laughter, yelling, and lots of vigorous instructions from the keeper up on the rocky island.

  In addition to being surprised at the water temperature, I was caught off guard by the fact that it was salt water. This should have been obvious, considering that California sea lions live off the coast of California in the Pacific Ocean, but in my mind the water looked fresh, not salty.

  Two of the sea lions, I think their names were April and Clarisse, swam alongside me as I dog paddled through the water until the police arrived. As I expected, it wasn’t a member of the Dead Squad that came, but instead a regular cop, a female officer named Strickland.

  When she showed up on the scene, I happily swam back to the edge, climbed out of the pool, and surrendered myself to her.

  I find it interesting that while the keepers and many of the mothers sneered at me like I belonged on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, Officer Strickland took it all in stride.

  “Try not to slide all over the seat,” she said as she put me in the ba
ck of her squad car. “I’m going to have to come back out and dry it later.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said. “I’m very sorry about that.”

  It was a short drive from the zoo to the Central Park Precinct of the NYPD. Alex had told me about the precinct, and it was actually quite pretty. In order to maintain the beauty of the park, the precinct was housed in a series of buildings that were once horse stables. Many of the structures had been built out of Manhattan schist, which is why the Dead Squad had selected it as the ideal place for their headquarters.

  “Several people reported you shouting some kind of threat when you stood up on the rail,” she said to me when she was writing her report. “What was it?”

  “Tutus locus,” I said. “It’s Latin for ‘safe passage’.”

  She snickered. “And who were you threatening?”

  “No one intentionally.”

  She stopped writing her report for a moment and looked at me. It was clear she didn’t know what to make of the whole situation.

  “Where do you go to school?” she asked.

  “MIST,” I said. “The Metropolitan Institute of Science and Technology.”

  “That’s a prestigous school,” she said. “You get good grades there?”

  I nodded. “Yes, ma’am. All As.”

  “All As means you’re smart,” she said. “But what you did today was not smart.”

  “No, ma’am. It was stupid.”

  “Do you have an explanation?”

  I shook my head.

  “I’ll tell you what I think it is,” she said. “I think you had some kind of crazy idea that it would be funny, and you made a mistake.”

  “That’s pretty accurate,” I told her.

  “What do your parents do?” she asked.

  “Well, there’s just my dad,” I said. “He’s a paramedic with the FDNY.”

  That caught her attention, which is exactly what I was hoping for. The police and fire departments were part of the same extended family, which kind of made us related.

  I can’t say enough about how great she was. We talked for a little while more and then she had me call my dad. He explained that he couldn’t come to pick me up until his shift was over. As a bonus, while I was at her desk, I could hear the communications over the radio and knew that the Dead Squad was having trouble finding Milton.

  Then she brought me here to the cell where I am right now. Like I said when I started to explain all of this, it was my intention to get arrested and wind up here. So that part of my plan worked. But for everything to work out, a lot of other pieces are going to have to fall into place.

  The first is that my sister has to be able to explain everything to my father. Or at least, she has to explain enough to get him to play along. It’s going to take a leap of faith for him to buy into the plan, but Beth can be amazingly persuasive. And Dad’s always had a soft spot for his daughters. The second, harder to predict portion, is that the Dead Squad is going to have to follow police procedures, like Alex said they would.

  I was hoping that Mom would be in one of the holding cells, but I don’t see her anywhere. I’m trying to stay upbeat, but it isn’t easy. If I’ve miscalculated then the only thing I’ve accomplished is getting locked up so that I can’t help at all.

  I look across the squad room and notice that there’s some activity in one of the interrogation rooms. Finally, the door opens and I see Mom in handcuffs being led out of the room. I turn my back to them so that the two Dead Squadders can’t see my face. They lock her into the cell right next to mine.

  “You’re going to wait here for a little bit and then you’re going to visit the Tombs,” one of them tells her. “I think you’re really going to enjoy it there.”

  Alex had it down perfectly. They’re doing exactly what he said they would do.

  I continue to look the other way so that they won’t notice me, but once they’re gone I walk over to where the two cells join.

  “Mom,” I whisper.

  “Molly?” she says in total shock. “What in the world are you doing here?”

  She comes over to me and we talk in whispers.

  “I’m here to rescue you,” I say.

  “That’s crazy,” she tells me. “This is why I should never have let you do this. You aren’t ready. It’s not safe.”

  “You’re right, it isn’t safe,” I say. “But I am ready and this is going to work. I was meant for this. Just like you. There aren’t a lot of things that I’m really good at. But being an Omega, that’s one that I am.”

  She looks at me for a moment and considers what I said. After a moment she smiles. “Okay, Molly Koala,” she says. “What’s the plan?”

  The Great Escape

  My name is Michael Bigelow and I’m here to pick up my daughter. You know, the girl who is going to be grounded for the rest of her life.”

  I look up from inside the holding cell and see my father in the precinct’s main squad room. He’s still wearing his navy-blue paramedic’s uniform, and his expression is impossible to read. I can’t tell if Beth has been successful in convincing him, but I’ll know in a couple seconds.

  “She’s right over here,” says Officer Strickland.

  The police officer escorts him toward me, and I watch his eyes as he scans the other cells. It takes a moment before they lock on Mom. They open wide in disbelief. He can’t say anything. He can’t react. It will ruin the plan. He has to direct all of his anger at me, and I’m not sure he can pull it off.

  “I’m really sorry, Dad,” I say, my voice full of remorse. “I don’t know what came over me at the zoo.”

  He tries to respond but he stammers, his focus still directed at Mom. He looks like he might cry.

  “Are you going to be okay?” I ask.

  He hesitates, but then finally answers.

  “I don’t know,” he replies, and I have no idea if it’s because of my arrest or because he sees Mom, but it’s convincing. “I’m angry and I’m heartbroken and I’m trying to understand how all of this happened.”

  Finally he turns to look at me. “But we’re a family and we are going to work this out no matter what.”

  I breathe a sigh of relief. That’s the phrase I told Beth to give him. That’s the signal that he’s on board with the plan and we’re ready to start.

  “Well, I understand your frustration, Mr. Bigelow,” says Officer Strickland. “But I get the feeling that this is a one-time only occurrence for your daughter. Isn’t that right, Molly?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I respond. “It will never happen again. That’s a guarantee.”

  She unlocks the door, and I rush into my father’s arms and hug him as tightly as I can. It’s part of my plan, but it couldn’t be more real.

  “I’m so sorry, Dad,” I say, looking up at his eyes, which are welling with tears. “I’m so sorry about everything.”

  “All I care about is that you’re safe,” he says. “All I care about is our family.”

  There’s the second cue.

  Suddenly my mother screams in agony and collapses to the floor. She lets out another wail and her entire body tenses up so that she’s as stiff as a board.

  “Are you okay?” Officer Strickland calls, jumping into action.

  Mom’s body begins to shake in a seizure and she starts to cough up black liquid. She’s acting, but she is pulling it off with unbelievable realism.

  “She’s having a severe anaphylaxis episode,” my dad says, breaking into paramedic lingo. “She needs to get to a hospital immediately.”

  It is sudden and total chaos, and Officer Strickland unlocks the door to help my mother. She bends down to assist her, but Dad stops her by grabbing her shoulder.

  “Have you been inoculated against hyponeurological nanovirus?”

  The police officer flashes a look of total confusion. “What?”

  “Hyponeurological nanovirus? It’s highly contagious and it’s demonstrated by black liquid being produced by the lungs.”


  “No!” she says. “I haven’t.”

  “Then do not touch her,” he instructs. “I drove straight here at the end of my shift so my ambulance is in the parking lot. Let me carry her out and I’ll drive her to the hospital.”

  Without waiting for permission Dad steps into the cell and scoops Mom up in his arms. Even in the turmoil of our little drama, I see the tender moment of connection as she slides her head onto his shoulder and he tells her, “It’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”

  Within seconds I’m running alongside my father as he carries my mother down the long hallway toward the exit. (I told you I wouldn’t be walking out the door.) I think my plan is going to work until I hear another scream from behind me.

  It’s one of the Dead Squad officers. He’s stumbled onto the scene and sees what’s happening.

  “We better hurry,” I say. “We’ve got bad guys hot on our tail.”

  In one swift motion my mom swings down from my father’s arms like a ballroom dancer and lands on her feet in a full sprint as we rush out the door.

  The ambulance is parked right by the entrance, and as we run toward it the back door flies open to reveal Beth and Grayson waiting for us. Mom and I dive in with them while Dad climbs into the driver’s seat and starts the engine.

  The Dead Squadder is right behind us, and he leaps onto the back bumper while I’m trying to close the door. He grabs at me and I slam the door shut, chopping off his hand so that it falls in with us.

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” says Beth, getting her first close-up look at zombie body parts.

  “Go, go, go!” I shout, and Dad takes off across the parking lot.

  Even though I’ve chopped off his hand, the zombie is still hanging on to the back, trying to open the door. Beth and I clamp onto the handle with all our might to keep it from opening.

  “Look at that!” Grayson says, pointing out the side window.

  I look up in time to see Officer Pell chasing after us along the roof of the precinct house. When he reaches the edge, he leaps into the air and lands on top of the ambulance with a huge thud.