The Pride

by Patricia Morse

  “Thane, what are they? What happened to them?”

  “They are silverback guerilla-human hybrids. They are very difficult to control, which is why they have been placed down here. They’re strength is unbelievable though.”

  “He’s created more species?”

  “Of course he has. Some have been more successful than others though. Come. Let’s continue our tour.”

  The guerilla men watched us closely as we walked past their seemingly never ending cage. Their creepy red eyes felt like they were boring fire into my soul. The cage finally gave way to another rock wall. I’d never been so happy to see that rock wall. The pungent odor had subsided. We crossed through another red laser beam and the lights behind us clicked off, turning on a section of the corridor in front of us. This portion of the corridor resembled the greatest aquariums in the world; each side was flanked by thick glass holding back thousands upon thousands of gallons of water. Thane directed me towards the tank to my left. He gazed fondly into the tank. “Evie, this is truly amazing.”

  Four shadowy figures swam up from the bottom of the tank. I couldn’t make them out at first, as the concave structure of the glass was distorting their shape. In a breathtaking instant they were staring back at me, smiling and swishing their beautiful pink tails rhythmically in the water. I was awestruck.

  “Thane, he was able to make mermaids?”

  “And mer-men. Look over there!”

  He pointed to the back corner near the bottom of the tank where they swimming in unison. They swam under us, and popped back up in the tank behind us causing me to jump. Both of them seemed amused as they flexed their muscles at me while swishing their icy blue tails. I had to cover my mouth to control the gasp that was about to escape my lips. The mermaids were flirting with Thane, and I could see him visibly blushing. I actually had happy tears threatening to pour from eyes.

  “How did he make mer-people?”

  “A bottle nosed dolphin and these wonderful volunteers.”

  “Why would he do this Thane, do this to these people?”

  “They’re great for clearing mines, locating submarines, and sunken treasure.”

  “So he’s going to use these beautiful creatures for his own personal gain?”

  “Of course he is. Why would he create them otherwise?”

  I could hear a bit of spite in his words. Thane didn’t want these beautiful creatures in warfare any more than I wanted a sharp stick jabbed into my eyes. I could have stayed in the serene calmness of the aquarium all night, but we had to forge ahead. The lights snapped off, leaving only the eerie ocean blue glow from the enormous aquarium.

  “They weren’t all successful Evie. Some died in the experiments, and some were horribly disfigured, and had to be destroyed.”

  “You consider the guerilla men a success?”

  “Their sheer strength is a success. It takes a lot of bullets to stop them, and even in a weakened state, they are difficult to manage. Imagine an army of them marching to the White House. The country would fall in minutes.”

  “Why only two then?”

  “Because they are so hard to keep under control. We originally had six, but they killed each other off. I’m sure we’ll have only one soon enough. The g-man that was hanging in the trees is a total badass. He’ll eventually kill the young hostile one.”

  A long silence hung between us as we walked to the next set of caged walls. Eight pairs of yellow eyes peered from the secluded darkness at the back of the cage to the right. The cage on the left was empty, dominated by a single massive tree in the center.

  “What was in there?”

  “We had tried to create an avian-human species, but unfortunately, the genetics just didn’t work. For now, we’ll just need to dominate the air with our planes and choppers.”

  “What happened to them?”

  “They just never woke up. Their hearts stopped mid transition, so Link fed them to the wolves.”

  Thane motioned to the dark cage behind me. When I turned around two hulking men were standing at the bars. Their chests were heaving. I could feel the hostility dripping out from every pore of their bodies. Their yellow eyes were sizing me up, deciding if I was prey. Behind them, the others continued to peer from the darkness. They were sniffing the air, while growling. Saliva and mucus were falling from the corners of their mouth. I crouched, and let out a long steady growl, sending them back to the corners of their cage. I’d always hated dogs. They smelled like rotten meat, and these abominations were no exception.

  “Eveliene, you need to behave yourself.”

  Thane was half laughing as he tried to chastise my actions. I knew deep down that he hated the dogs as much as I did.

  “I have one more to show you. Have you ever heard of the proboscis monkey?”

  “No.”

  “I’m sure you’ve seen them, or at least photographs. They’re funny looking little creatures, quite endangered as well.”

  We walked through another laser snapping the lights on at the end of the corridor. I thought to myself, how bad could they be. Thane called them little creatures. I was prepared to see cute little monkeys; however I was unable to contain my horror. I peered into the cage only to see a pair of familiar eyes staring back at me from behind a seven inch long bulbous nose. I gasped and looked away.

  “Laughlin! Oh my God! What has he done to you?”

  “The once dreamily handsome Colonel Laughlin crouched momentarily in the corner before approaching the bars of his cage. His eyes were calm and serene. His beautiful brown eyes were now dominated by a hideous nose that fell below his chin. He attempted to speak to me, but only managed to honk. He tried to reach through the bars to take my hand, but was shocked by the cage. A look of vengeance overtook his face when he looked towards Thane. The tree in the corner of the cage erupted with a multitude of honks. Laughlin leapt towards the tree and climbed it with ease. There was an entire family of monkeys and monkey people living high in the tree. I felt physically ill. My head was spinning, and I could hear my heart beating faster and faster into my ears. “Thane, I need to get some air.”

  He scooped me up, and rushed me through a large black glass door at the very end of the hallway. We rushed up a winding flight of stairs. I counted them with every step. Twenty-two stairs before we burst through the door into a sterile white hallway. Thane rushed down the hall at break neck speed. The overhead fluorescent lights whizzed by me in a blur. I was thrown onto a stretcher of some sort, and Thane slapped an oxygen mask onto my face. “Deep breaths, Ev. Slow deep breaths.” His voice was calm and soothing. I tried to sit up and take off the oxygen mask, but Thane stopped me. “Not until your heart rate slows back down Miss. I think this was a little too much for you to handle today.”

  I couldn’t calm down. I had too many questions, too many things I didn’t understand. My mind was racing as fast as my heart. My eyes were darting back and forth between the heart monitor and Thane. 204,206,213. The monitor was beeping faster and faster, and I could feel my heart trying to beat out of my chest. Thane placed a calming hand on my shoulder. “Evie honey, breathe. It’s going to be alright.”

  I ripped the mask from my face with a growl and sprang off of the stretcher. I was angry, no furious, and I needed an outlet. “Alright! How is any of this alright Ganyon? Link is playing God…Hell, he thinks he is God. Laughlin is a caged baboon for cripes sakes! A highly decorated war hero for the United States of America has been reduced to eating bananas and picking ticks. Why Ganyon? Make me understand how any of this is alright!”

  “Evie, he had to be punished.”

  “For what reason? There is nothing on earth that he could have done to deserve that. It’s just not right.”

  “He turned you, Eveliene. He involved you. Link warned him of the consequences. Link never wanted this life for you. He wanted you to be safe and comfortable, away from all of this madness.”

  “Then why did he leave me?” The sadness that I had held back for so long
flooded my eyes.

  Thane gently wiped the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs while cradling my face in his hands. “I don’t know if this is any consolation to you Evie, but he never really left you. For years, we were ordered to watch you from afar, and report back to Link. In his own way, he was trying to keep you safe, but boy howdy did you do some reckless things!”

  I was confused and angry all at the same time. “What do you mean reckless?” I asked defensively.

  “That hurricane you decided to ride out for one thing. I think it was Hurricane Dean. I got a front row seat while you rode that one out in the Virgin Islands. Then there were your meetings later that year with Laughlin. We knew immediately what Laughlin was up to. We knew he was going to turn you. I met personally with Laughlin, warning him of the consequences.”

  I turned away from Thane and gazed out the window overlooking the well lit rolling green hills. After taking a few cleansing breaths a feeling of calm washed over me. If I was going to undo the evil Jacks had done, I had to play the role. I turned to face Thane once more.

  “Well, I guess if he was warned, then he got what he deserved.”

  “That’s my girl. Now it’s time for you to rest. Link will be arriving in the morning, and he is looking forward to seeing you.”

  Without more protest I allowed Thane to escort me back to my room on the fourth floor. There was utter silence between us on the short trek back to my room. Thane helped me remove my robe and slippers, and stayed to make sure I was tucked back into bed. He showed me how to work the television and the call light in case I needed my nurse. He hooked me back up to my I.V. and instructed that I push the morphine button should I experience any pain at all. He turned to leave, but I stopped him abruptly.

  “Thane, why don’t we look like lions? Is Jacks striped like a tiger?”

  Thane laughed loudly as he turned to face me. His eyes were dancing with delight at my simplistic questions. “Evie, we’re not 100% sure why you and I don’t have fur and glowing green eyes. The only conceivable explanation is the way we were changed. You and I were turned into hybrids in a controlled laboratory. The DNA sequences were prepared and calibrated by brilliant scientists and injected into our bone marrow. The hybrids you met downstairs were created by a virus injected into the spinal fluid. We’ve determined that for the change to be successful it must be a mammal to mammal transfusion. We also know for sure that the temperament of the animal determines the temperament of the hybrid.”

  “Oh, I remember seeing that in documents from the first experiment. Jacks chose a rogue Bengal tiger. You were created from a human raised alpha male lion, just as we were. The one who was created from a rogue lion went ballistic and killed another volunteer. Am I right?”

  “Right on, Evie. You’ve done your homework.”

  “Is it reversible? The virus I mean. Can they be changed back?”

  “I wish I knew, Evie. That’s out of my realm of expertise. After Jacks and I were changed in to hybrids, Jacks, er, Link was able to convince other members in his scientific circle to continue his research. They’ve made great progress on creating the new species, but I haven’t heard any talk about returning our creations back to their original human form.”

  “I have one more question.”

  Thane was now perched next to me on the bed feeling my pulse. “Sure, what is it?”

  “How did you pull off the robberies?”

  A strange smile crossed his lips. “It wasn’t me personally, Evie. I don’t handle the financial side of Link’s kingdom.”

  I was going to be persistent, because I had to know. “I understand, but you must know something about it. The logistics of the whole scenario is impossible to comprehend, and I won’t be able to sleep until you clue me in.” I gave him my best innocent smirk.

  He cracked his neck and cleared his throat. He was obviously uncomfortable discussing the annihilation of The Bank of the Americas.

  “This is what I know, Evie. Some of our men have better stalking abilities than others. They were used to watch the victims for weeks, learn their habits, their passwords, and their favorite hiding spots. Then other operatives with better swiping abilities stole what was needed to gain access to The Bank of the Americas computer that was linked to the Fed. Some of our most talented hackers scaled the building and got in through a rooftop entrance. From there, they just did whatever it is hackers do to give a computer system a virus. As I understand, it was all very easy.”

  “Where did Link find such talented hackers?”

  “C’mon, Evie, that’s an easy one. Every computer geek from sea to shining sea dreams of becoming a wrestler. We put recruiting ads online asking for nerdy computer types to join our organization. They came to us in droves, and we took the cream of the crop, even to some from the FBI.” He seemed pleased with himself.

  “Wow! That’s actually pretty genius.” I was dumbfounded by the simplistic brilliance of their plan.

  “Yeah, that idea was mine.” He was beaming with satisfaction. I couldn’t help but smile.

  “Thane, thank you for everything. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

  “I’m going to go check on your boys now. You get some rest OK.”

  With that, Thane turned and left my room. The silence was maddening. The wind was picking up outside again causing the top of the tree outside to tap on my window, giving me a brilliant idea. I hopped out of my bed, unplugged my I.V. pole, and dragged it with me as fast as I could into the bathroom. I needed something metallic. I searched around the small bathroom, but everything that wasn’t nailed down was plastic. I turned to look in the shower stall, and it hit me. I quickly twisted off the metal shower head. I’d have to be fast, and I hoped the fellas remembered their training on code. Reverse Morse code should do. I began tapping out tiny dots and dashes with the shower head against the pipe under the sink. Evie OK, over. Ganyon ally, over. Plan A Go, over. I was able to tap out the message in reverse Morse code three times before I heard the elevator door at the end of the hall open. The footsteps were coming fast. I tucked the shower head into my waistband, turned off the bathroom light, and rushed towards my bed. I quickly plugged in the I.V. pole, which was becoming a greater nemesis than Link. I was tucked back under the covers milliseconds before Links minions arrived. The shower head was digging into my back, but I was able to fight through the pain and pretend to be asleep when they rudely flipped on the overhead lights. I popped my eyes open and gave them a menacing look.

  “Do you need something?” I growled at them.

  “Who is here with you?” One of the uglier minions growled back at me, as the others checked the room for signs of stowaways. I gave my best innocent look.

  “Nobody. Dr. Ganyon left fifteen minutes ago. Is there a problem?”

  “No ma’am. Sorry to interrupt your sleep.”

  Just then I heard tapping coming from the bathroom. In reverse Morse code it spelled; Cam and Lenny copy, over. The big ugly minion rushed into the bathroom.

  “There it is again!”

  Then just as if by the grace of God, the wind started throwing the tree into my window again. I pointed to the window. “Is that the sound you’re chasing gentlemen.”

  The three soldiers of Link slumped their shoulders and looked towards the flailing tree.

  “I coulda swore it was coming from the bathroom. Sorry boss!” They retreated, more than likely back to guard Lenny and Cam.

  Once I was sure they were gone I let out a big sigh of relief. I quietly got up, unplugged my damn I.V. and tip toed to the door of my room. Nobody was in the hallway. Another sigh of relief left my lips, as I quietly went into the bathroom and screwed the shower head back into its pipe. I pulled a chair to the large window and sat to watch another approaching storm, satisfied that Lexie and at least three of my fellas were alright for the moment.

  Chapter 25

  I’ve Arrived

  Lexie

  “Hey, Lexie! Lexie! Wake up sleepy head.”

/>   My eyes opened to Talons toothy grin. His deep brown eyes were dancing as he poked me to a full state of consciousness. The cabin was dimly lit, and I could see it was pitch black outside. “What time is it?” I asked with gravelly sleep still evident in my voice.

  Talon peeked at his watch. “It’s about nine p.m. right now in Indianapolis. You’ve been sleeping like the dead for the last three hours.”

  I sat up and stretched my arms high into the air while arching my back to shake off my slumber. “I guess I needed it. I haven’t slept much in the last six weeks. Ya know, the whole being a prisoner of war thing n’all.” I could tell my comment made Talon a bit uncomfortable as he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck again. Man, he would suck at poker. I let out a quick giggle to try and ease his nervousness. “Talon, how much longer before we get there.”

  “We’re almost there m’dear. In fact, you should probably fasten your seatbelt.”

  I did as I was told. Talon retreated to the couch across from me and fastened his belt. As we started our descent below the clouds, the ride got a bit bumpier.

  “The captain says there’s some storms in the area, so it’ll be a bit choppy for the next few minutes.”

  I nodded and watched nervously as the lights of Indianapolis got closer. The pilot did a great job landing the luxury jet. It barely teetered when we reached the runway. I didn’t mind flying, but I hated the take offs and landings. They made me feel so out of control.