The Serial Seven

by J. D. Cavan

  It was the best time Charlie had ever had, and he found that the constant worry about the Serial Seven all but escaped him most days.

  Brad wasn’t easy, Charlie found. He believed in hard work, and not just the physical kind but also the mental kind, learning about yourself. It was up to you to work out the philosophies and decisions of your life. No one could do it for you.

  Charlie opened up to Brad, describing his life and what had happened to him. Brad was wise, just as Sarah had said, and Charlie learned that he had been through a lot himself. After some experiences in the military, he’d gotten involved with the wrong people and become an addict. He’d come to the farm and met Matthew Hardy, one of the owners and founders of the farm, and his wife, Terry. Matthew had taught him everything he knew about farming. Brad spoke of them often, how they helped others and finally decided to let him run the farm. Charlie learned that the large Hardy family had many philanthropists, with family members throughout the world, helping people in some of the poorest countries build farms to feed the hungry.

  Jess Hardy, Matthew’s granddaughter, had returned to the farm at the same time they had and started to help Brad run things. She was an expert with the farm’s heavy equipment and tractors, and spent most of her time in the machine sheds with Luca, fixing the many vehicles. Luca talked about how much he liked Jess, and how much he was learning from her. Jess didn’t say much, and seemed exceeding shy, which was one of the reasons Luca was so fond of her. She was also very pretty, with stunning blue eyes and soft features. Her beauty contrasted with her rough exterior of torn jeans, old work boots and a ragged looking hoodie she had forever pulled up over her head.

  Charlie thought it was perfect, with Luca speeding all his time with Jess, and apparently falling for her, he had a chance to spend a bunch of time with Samantha alone without either one of them having to feel bad about it.

  Most everyone on the farm were people like him, Samantha, Luca and Sarah. People looking for a safe place to live, where they could get their lives under control and figure out what they were going to do next. So when Brad would talk on the porch steps about the fact that it wasn’t so much your history, the bad things that had happened to you or the bad things you had done to others, but who you were now and were going to be in the future that was important, Charlie would really listen. One night while he worked with Brad in the kitchen cleaning up, Charlie decided to tell him more.

  “I’ve had some pretty strange things happen in my life,” Charlie said.

  “Nothing that can’t be figured out,” Brad replied quickly as he handed Charlie a plate to dry. Dusk had fallen over the fields outside and the most amazing light cascaded through the open kitchen windows while a cool breeze flowed.

  “But I haven’t told you everything yet,” Charlie said.

  “I wouldn’t expect that you had or would tell me everything,” Brad replied, non-judgmentally. Charlie glanced around the kitchen to make sure they were still alone and that no one was listening nearby, then told Brad about the time he’d had with Luca, Samantha and Sarah, how he had no memory of his life, and even about the Serial Seven.

  Brad nodded his head. “This clearly all means something. What appears as disorder is ordered, just like in nature.” Then Charlie took a deep breath and decided to tell Brad something he’d been keeping private.

  “At first I thought it was just noise in my head, some kind of illness. But then it changed. It moved past just strong senses I would get about people or things and it was like I could hear thoughts—you know, the person’s thinking.” He stopped and scratched the top of his head. He checked to see how Brad was taking it, but nothing seemed to surprise him, so he went on. “When Samantha and Sarah were almost killed, I left myself and, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I entered Samantha’s mind. That’s how Luca and I got to them in time.”

  “It doesn’t sound crazy. You know where I stand with all this, Charlie. I don’t think it’s random that you’re here, and I don’t think it’s an accident you are changing this way.”

  “What do you mean, changing?” Charlie asked. He finished drying another plate and put it on top of a stack of dishes.

  “What does it matter who you were? It’s who you are becoming that matters,” Brad said to him. Charlie had never had anyone talk that way to him before, and he was blown away. He could hardly understand it, but something seemed to click. He had been so overly focused on getting his memories back he’d forgotten he was actually trying to go somewhere in life.

  “You took words that I couldn’t say, and said them. Something I kind of knew but couldn’t figure out. I felt the worst about myself, having nothing to offer about my history, no memory of—” He stopped himself. As quickly as Charlie got something, he seemed to lose it and become confused again.

  “But who am I becoming, then?” he finally asked Brad.

  “How could I tell you that? I can’t. I can tell you this, what I’ve told you and everyone on this farm—that who you become matters, matters in terms of what we become as a society.”

  Charlie had heard Brad say that before. “What do I do, then?” he asked.

  “Come on, Charlie. Work for this. I can’t do it for you,” Brad said firmly. Charlie sighed in frustration and rubbed a hand on his forehead.

  “It’s not like I haven’t been trying to figure this out,” Charlie said honestly as he felt Brad put a hand on his shoulder for a moment.

  “You have everything to offer, Charlie. You just have to stop being so afraid. You just need to open up. Stop trying to hide everything. It’s time.” Brad finished the dishes he was washing and leaned against the kitchen sink, staring at Charlie.

  “Open up?” Charlie questioned.

  “Yes, Charlie. Know what you know, and imagine the rest. You know you can hear thoughts, so go from there.”

  Know what I know and imagine the rest, ran through his mind.

  “I’m not going to tell you any more of what you should do, because I don’t know. I know what I should do, but not what you should do.” Brad politely smiled at Charlie and left the room.

  * * *

  CHARLIE SPENT THE next day working in the fields with Samantha, his conversation with Brad the night before running through his head, particularly the part about him being afraid. He was about to start the pickup truck and drive back to the main farmhouse when he stopped himself. He had wanted to talk to her about what had happened between them with BKB, and apologize for his part. They hadn’t said a thing to each other about it so he mustered up the courage.

  “Hey, I’m sorry,” he said, and noticed that Samantha said the same thing at exactly the same time. They both burst out in laughter.

  “I lost my head,” Samantha blurted. “It was like all this amazing stuff was happening for me, and it was all fake.”

  “I got jealous.” Charlie looked away from her and couldn’t believe he’d admitted it. It was quiet between them, and Charlie felt his heart start to pound.

  He glanced at her and she was looking right at him. They gazed into each other’s eyes. “Seems so stupid now.” They both started chuckling again.

  “I really like it here, though.” Samantha stopped laughing.

  “Me too. The Hardy family and Brad, so nice.” Charlie moved the hair out of his eyes. It had been getting longer since they’d come to the farm. Samantha nodded her head and continued to stare at him. Charlie felt awkward for moment.

  “Crazy, right? How things have been,” he said finally. His face felt flushed and hot. Samantha’s hair moved in the breeze that was blowing through the open windows of the pickup truck. It’s time, he thought. Just as Brad had said, it was time for him to stop being so afraid.

  His hands hurt from shoveling dirt all day, and he moved his fingers back and forth before reaching over toward her and touching her hand. She smiled at him and touched her hair. He held her hand and moved closer to her, and it was like a spark ran through his body. She turned away and then toward him aga
in, dropping her head slightly. Charlie touched her face and lifted her chin, looking into her eyes. Then he kissed her.

  Their mouths stayed together before she pulled away and fell back into her seat. She breathed out deeply and let her eyes close a little, and then it happened. Charlie took an even bigger risk. Know what you know and imagine the rest, he said to himself before doing it. He thought something directly into Samantha’s mind. Like he was talking to her, but inside himself. It wasn’t exactly like how he’d used his telepathy in past—it wasn’t for survival or even to get information, but for something else completely.

  He waited for what seemed like eternity. Then finally, she turned and looked at him. Her nose scrunched up and she waved her head back and forth a little in disbelief. Then she thought right back to him, into his mind. He sent a thought back to her, and the conversation started. He held his breath, and then started laughing.

  “Charlie?” she said, a mix of fear and wonder in her voice.

  “It’s okay; it’s supposed to happen,” Charlie replied.

  “You mean us?” she asked. “Or the telepathy?”

  “Both.” He held her hand and so wanted to kiss her again.

  “This is a big deal,” she said.

  “Yes, both are big deals.” Charlie smiled. She smiled widely back at him and he felt it, then heard it in his mind. He said it back to her and then she said it aloud. She had said it first, and he knew what was already apparent to him, that she was braver than he.

  “I love you, Charlie,” she said. Charlie felt his body, and it was as if every part of it was connected to her, vibrating with energy. His reconstructed heart, previously so protected, opened.

  “I love you too, Samantha.” He felt his heart enlarge and come up through his throat. He watched her carefully. He’d never loved anything the way he loved her, and he never would. He knew that in that moment.

  “What do we do now?” Samantha asked.

  “The telepathy, this thought communication, I think it’s just the beginning.”

  “Beginning of what?” she asked.

  Suddenly things started to click for Charlie, the events of his brief memory ordering themselves and coming into place. “What’s happening to us has to be connected to the Serial Seven. It can’t just be a coincidence that I have telepathic abilities, and now you do as well, and that we are being hunted by killers.”

  “How, though?” Samantha asked.

  “Do you remember when I told you about when Luca and I were working in the city parks and saw the Thought Changers, and the two girls from my past, Kid and Blavatsky, told me I was a Thought Changer?”

  Samantha’s face lit up and she nodded her head. “You were a Thought Changer when you came to me on the bridge, the first time I met you.”

  “It didn’t make any sense to me. The boy in the stone castle, Jack. He and I were best friends but now we aren’t, and seven killers are hunting us—”

  “But it makes sense now?” Samantha interrupted.

  “Yes, because Kid and Blavatsky told me I’m something called a Third now.” Charlie stopped for a second. “But that’s not the important thing. It’s not a label; it’s an explanation. If I am something that clearly threatens Thought Changers, then that’s at least part of the reason the Serial Seven are after me and why Jack tried to warn me. He was my best friend and still wanted to help me!”

  “You mean the Serial Seven are after us,” Samantha said. “If you’re a Third, then I am as well. Whatever a Third really is…”

  Charlie nodded his head. “If I have mind control, telepathy, so do you. We can do things others can’t.” Samantha took hold of his hand.

  “We have to tell Luca and Sarah,” she said.

  “Yes, like now. You find Sarah and I’ll get Luca, and we’ll meet on the front porch.”

  * * *

  CHARLIE RACED OVER to the mechanics shed. He couldn’t wait to see Luca. But Luca wasn’t there, so he headed back to their room at the main farmhouse. Luca wasn’t there either. It was already getting dark and most of the work was done for the day. Charlie glanced out over the farm’s landscape and noticed there were still lights on in the slaughterhouse. Luca sometimes worked there so he raced over.

  Charlie heaved with all his might to pull the huge sliding door open and walked through the farmhouse entrance, which led to the slaughterhouse, quickly calling out for Luca. It was quiet and dark. He could see the stalls where they would bring the animals and was hit with the smell of the powerful cleaning fluid they must have used to sanitize the place.

  Charlie’s mind slipped back to what had just happened between he and Samantha. He thought about the kiss and he smiled to himself. He couldn’t believe he kissed Samantha. It was something he’d dreamt about a million times and the actual kiss was a million times more amazing. He wondered if he’d catch Luca and Jess doing the same thing, and he grinned again, and thought about how funny it was that both of them might be going through the same thing at the same time.

  The room was empty however, and Charlie was ready to walk out when he noticed a light down a flight of steps off a corridor. He headed down the stairs toward a steel door, opened it and could see right away it was the place where they hung and dried the freshly slaughtered animals for meat. Charlie felt his head spinning, sickened by it, and he’d turned to get ready to leave when he heard someone’s voice whispering. It was a quiet moan. His heart skipped a beat and he lost his breath for a moment.

  “Hello,” he said, struggling to see where the sound was coming from. He wandered around the corner of the room, where there were lines and lines of hanging meat, and he heard the moaning again, only louder. He could barely see in the dim light and he focused his eyes. To his terror, he saw something dangling that wasn’t a side of beef!

  Hanging on one of the meat hooks was Brad. The giant steel claw pierced through his shoulder, Brad squirmed on it in pain like a worm. He tried to speak, but could only grunt. Charlie felt his body turn to stone. Then he snapped out of it, ran over and frantically reached up, attempting to free Brad from the spike.

  “I’ll get you down!” Charlie noticed Brad was trying to say something to him, blood trickling out of his mouth as he struggled to speak. Charlie got on his toes to try and hear him as he attempted to lift his heavy body off the hook.

  “Behind you-u…” Brad mumbled in a painful cry.

  Charlie spun around to see Jess, with her hood pulled over her head. Charlie froze, staring into her deep blue eyes before they turned empty and black, the same eyes he had unfortunately become so familiar with. He wanted to run, but before he could make a move, Jess swung a thick leather horse belt at him. Charlie felt it slap across his face. He fell backward, down on the dirt floor, his cheek burning in pain. He quickly picked himself up and tried to run around some of the hanging meat in the center of the barn, but Jess appeared around the other side. She snapped a long whip that wrapped around Charlie’s ankle and with a yank, crashed him to the ground again.

  Charlie shouted out for help, but the industrial fans had started and drowned out any sound. He felt his body sliding toward Jess, and he dug his fingers into the earthy floor to stop himself. But her strength was frighteningly powerful and she easily dragged him with the whip before Charlie felt it release from his ankle. He tried to stand up, but Jess jumped on his back and wrapped the belt around his throat! Panic raced through Charlie and he struggled, but Jess tightened the belt and in an instant Charlie was unable to get a breath in. He tried to loosen the belt from his neck with both hands as Jess, with inhuman strength, lifted him up and into the air by his shirt.

  Charlie frantically tried to drag his feet as Jess started to pull him toward Brad. He struggled to breathe, but it was no use—his air was cut off completely. He glanced up at Brad, who opened his eyes wide in horror when he saw Charlie.

  There was an empty meat hook, one Jess intended to hang Charlie on just as she had with Brad! With the last bit of his strength, Charlie fought,
pushing backwards with his body before he felt Jess lift him higher into the air. Charlie shut his eyes and waited for the pain of the hook to rip into his back. But instead of the piercing and the blood, she held him suspended. Charlie opened his eyes, gasping for breath!

  “You don’t remember me,” Jess uttered. She held Charlie tightly around the collar of his shirt and Charlie ripped at her hands, attempting to yank them off. But she was too strong.

  “I guess not,” Jess said, coldly. Then, as it had happened with all the rest, Jess’s face started to change. Her skin fell away exposing a skeletal form and her mouth opened, showing her gnashing bone teeth. What was once beautiful was now monstrous.

  The Jess zombie took a couple of steps backward, away from the hook, but it was only to get a running start so it could slam Charlie harder onto the sharp, heavy piece of steel. Just as Charlie was about to be thrown onto the hook, he twisted his body sideways and slipped one of his hands around the grimy skull of the sixth killer. In a moment, Charlie was able to slam the monster’s skull onto the spike, cranium first, using the total force of its own momentum. The skull cracked loudly, like a giant egg, as the iron spear ripped through it.

  Charlie fell to the ground and rolled over, gasping for air. The leather belt around his throat was choking the last bit of air out of him. He glanced up and could see the Jess zombie thing held in a standing position, impaled on the hook. He was finally able to get the strap loose and went to suck in his first breath of air, but passed out cold.

  * * *

  CHARLIE WOKE UP in his room in the farmhouse with Samantha, Sarah and Luca standing over him.

  “Is Brad alive?” he muttered. Every part of his body was throbbing.

  “Yes, the ambulance just left. They’re taking him to the hospital, giving him a ton of blood,” Luca said. “He got lucky, the hook missed his heart and lungs. Not so lucky for Jess.”

  Charlie started coughing. He touched his neck and it burned and throbbed. “Sorry about Jess.” He told Luca.