Should I go back and see if anything was wrong? Fuck no. That’s how people end up dead in the horror vids. Oh, what’s that sound? Wham, dead. That wasn’t going to be me. I had plans for my life, and none of them involved dying in some alley trying to save Miss Oh So Blonde and Sleazy from the sketchiest guy that ever walked into my diner. I started to walk forward, and another sound caught my attention. Did someone just say help me?
Screw it, this was my block, and Lenny would hear it if I screamed. I grabbed my stunner out of my bag and turned around. That bastard better not have hurt her. Even if she was a bitch, there was no way I was going to let that slide. Turning into the alley my body froze, and my heart tried to accelerate out of my chest. What in the fuck was going on?
Blondie was dragging herself forward on the dirty alley floor. One of her legs or her back must have been broken because she didn’t even try to stand up. She just used her arms to claw her way forward. Tracy’s face was covered in blood, and her perfect nails were shredded and broken. Our eyes met, and she wheezed. Although no words came out, I could read her lips as they formed the words, 'help me.' That fucking creep really did a number on her.
It took me a moment to remember what I was doing. I still had my stungun in my hand, and I need to focus because tall, dark, and creepy might still be in the alley. Maybe I should start calling him tall, dark, and psychotic because this shit was seriously fucked up. Blondie was reaching for me now, but I ignored her and focused on the alley behind her. There was no way that guy was going to let her live, and that meant I had found myself in the middle of a situation that I really, really didn’t want to be in. But now that I was here, I just couldn’t walk away.
“Lenny!” I shouted it before I even knew what I was doing. I knew the big man would have heard me, and he would be rushing towards the alley even as I finished shouting. All I had to do now was stay alive until my big badass was here to cover my back. I braced the gun across my other wrist to keep it steady and waited for Lenny to save my ass, again.
Mr. Psycho stepped out from behind the dumpster, and I almost dropped my gun and ran. The only thing that kept me rooted in place was fear. He had a smile in his eyes that matched the grin he had cocked to the right side of his mouth. It would have been a look that melted hearts except for the fact his mouth was covered in blood. Not just a little bit of blood mind you, but enough that it had smeared all around the lower half of his face and neck. His shirt was drenched in it. I looked down at blondie and wondered how she was still alive.
The man stepped forward his eyes focused only on the blonde woman crawling across the alley floor. “Where do you think you are going? I wasn’t done yet.”
His voice came off almost light and airy as if he hadn’t just...Jesus, I didn’t even know exactly what he had done? If I didn’t know any better, I would have said he bit her throat, so that she bled into his mouth. He started walking forward. I wasn’t even sure if he knew I was here. If he did, he didn’t seem to care one way or the other. He had a look of amusement on his face. The sick fucker was enjoying this. It took him reaching for her leg to drag her back into the alley for me to finally unfreeze. My gun almost seemed to level itself, and then I fired.
The bolt from my stunner hit him right in the chest. A snarl escaped from his lips, and his eyes turned to me. Oh, shit. Maybe that had been a mistake. It didn’t look like the bolt had slowed him down at all. Not only that but he was focused on me now instead of blondie. Where in the hell was Lenny? The man started moving forward the look of amusement his face held was quickly replaced with a sneer.
There was no way this guy was going to do to me what he had done to blondie. I was never going to let that happen. He was close enough now that he had to step around the bloody mess on the alley floor. Tracy had stopped trying to pull herself forward, so if she wasn’t dead, she was close enough to it her body had finally failed her. That left me alone in the alley with the man that killed her rapidly approaching.
Tearing my gaze up from her still body I swiveled slightly and shot the stunner again. The man backed up a step when the bolt hit him, but then started moving relentlessly forward again. I could tell the bolt had hurt him but he didn’t seem too worried about it. His sneer was being slowly replaced with a smile as he realized there was nothing I could do to stop him. I fired the gun three more times. Each bolt struck home, but the guy kept coming. What in the hell was wrong with this thing? The damn gun was supposed to be able to drop a man in a single hit.
I tried to fire again, but the battery was drained. I threw the gun at him and turned to run. He must have dodged the gun, or he was faster than any human had a right to be because his hand gripped my shoulder spinning me around before I even made it out of the alley. “Lenny!” How could he not hear me? Jesus, was he in on this somehow?
Mr. Psycho held me by the shoulders and waited until I looked up into his face to start speaking. “You’re quite the fiery little thing aren’t you?”
I heard the grin in his voice. He was loving this moment. When I looked into his eyes I wanted him to see the defiance I felt staring back at him, instead I felt myself focused on his blood covered mouth. He seemed to notice where my eyes were and took one hand off of my shoulder to wipe at his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket. It didn’t accomplish much except to smear the blood around.
“Sorry about the mess, it was my first time.”
First time doing what, killing someone, or trying to eat them? Jesus, did this guy really think that it mattered? I forced myself to look into his eyes. I smiled and softened my face. I wanted him to feel like everything was ok. The one hand he had on my shoulder seemed to relax. That’s when I stomped my foot down on his instep and pushed him away from me. Turning I sprinted for the edge of the alley again.
This time I made it around the corner before he grabbed me. A scream tore from my throat as he lifted me off of my feet and started to turn back towards the alley. All of my training, all of the time I spent preparing for something like this, and in the first moment that I truly needed to call on it, I was reduced to screaming for help. I hated myself for being so weak.
He carried me back into the alley, and my paralysis finally broke. I smashed my head back into the guy’s nose. I felt it crumple under the blow. He didn’t let go. Instead his grip tightened until it hurt and then he threw me further into the alley. I came crashing down rolled a few times and looked back towards the mouth of the alley. How was this possible? There was no way that stringy guy could have thrown me this far. I was a good twenty feet away from where I started.
Scrambling to my feet, it started to sink in that maybe this was a fight I couldn’t win, but I’d be damned if I was going to die without making this guy pay.
“I was going to give you to the professor, but now I think you might just be a second dinner.”
He took a step forward, and then reached down and grabbed blondie. He lifted her easily, the same way I was able to lift my backpack. Dark and Psychotic held her full bodyweight out at shoulder length with one hand. He looked over her body and shook his head as if he hadn’t planned on killing her. His gaze turned back towards me, and his arm twitched snapping Tracy’s neck. I was pretty sure she was already dead, but the simple show of strength was a warning to me. He kept his eyes focused on me as he tossed her body three feet up and into the dumpster.
“Couldn’t have her coming back. The professor told me when I hunted, I needed to clean up after myself even though the chance of the virus spreading was infinitesimally small.” He started to walk forward.
Lenny burst around the corner behind the man just as he started to walk towards me. He had his gun in hand, and this one wasn’t a stunner. The killer’s body jerked as Lenny unloaded all six shots into his torso. The creep reached out for me as if I cared that he was dying and then he fell to the ground. I ran past him and into Lenny’s big arms.
“Took you long enough.”
He shook his head as if trying to clear it. “I do
n’t know what happened? It was like I could hear you, but couldn’t move.”
“It’s ok, I’m alright because of you.” I could already hear the sirens coming. The city’s surveillance would have registered the shots, and the authorities would have been dispatched to investigate. I let Lenny turn me away from the body in the alley. He was right, I didn’t want to see that. I’d seen enough this morning.
Lenny’s arms tightened around me and then we were flying back in the alley. What in the fuck just happened? I was really getting tired of being tossed around. I felt his body relax in the air and I tried to do the same. After we hit the ground, he wrapped around me like an anaconda, taking the brunt of the damage. As he stood, he pushed me behind him. I loved him for that, and I hated him for it, all in the same moment. I felt as if I had proved to myself that I didn’t need a man to protect me, at least from any normal man. Maybe I could make an exception just this once because this man seemed to be anything but normal.
Lenny moved forward with the grace of a ballerina. It was surprising for a man of his girth. That kind of ability mixed with his gigantic size is what had made him such an excellent Blitz player. I’d seen the photos of him in his uniform, the man had been simply spectacular. Somehow even though he had replaced some of that lean muscle with fat he still managed to move like a leaf on the wind. It was what made him such a great fighter, that and he was fearless.
I had no idea how this stranger was even alive after being shot six times, let alone how he was standing and defending himself. He seemed content just to deflect each blow waiting for an opportunity. Lenny was getting tired his breath coming in ragged gasps. Laughter started to bubble from the man’s lips as he continued to dodge and block Lenny’s punches. His head cocked to the side as if he heard something none of us could. His body went rigid for a moment and then he sprang into action.
Dark and Psychotic moved so fast I almost couldn’t track him. He ducked to the side and sent a fist into Lenny. As the punch landed, I heard something break, and then he flew across the alley slamming into the wall. When he hit the side of the alley, all the air rushed out of his lungs, and he slumped to the floor. How could one blow do so much damage? Maybe he had been cybernetically altered. That was kind of fringe science, but it made what I saw possible. Even if it was the case, the law supposedly had constraints on how much strength you were allowed to have. What in the hell was going on?
The man strode forward sparing me a quick glance to make sure I wasn’t running, and then his knee snapped upwards into Lenny’s head. His head hit the wall and made the sound of a pumpkin being smashed by a hammer. He lifted Lenny just as easily as he had the blonde and tossed his body in the dumpster. He looked at me with a satisfied grin on his face.
“I have to go now, but I’ll be seeing you again.”
I didn’t like the sound of that but I’d be damned if I was going to let him know just how terrified I was. Digging down deep I found my voice. “Who are you?”
“My name is Landon Collins. I’d get some sleep if I were you. I have plans for you, and I want you well rested.”
With that, he turned and fled from the alley. I sat there for a moment covered in grime from the ground and wondered just what in the hell had happened. I was going to have a long night. Why? Because he was coming for me. That thought didn’t fill me with anything resembling warm and fuzzy feelings. I started to walk back to the mouth of the alley, bending to pick up my stunner on the way out when two armed officers moved into the entrance.
“Drop the gun and put your hands on your head!” Shouted the first cop.
“Do it now!” Screamed the other one.
“It’s just a stunner,” I said tossing the gun to the side and lacing my hands behind my head, before dropping to my knees. I had the feeling I wouldn’t get the chance to indulge in the sleep that came so highly recommended from the worst customer I had ever served.
The cuffs hurt when the officer slammed them down on my wrists. He hauled me back to my feet not so gently and started to push me forward. I slid into the back of the car without any complaints. It wouldn’t take them too long to figure out I had nothing to do with this. I wanted to be mad, but I couldn’t help but think I’d be safer in police custody than anywhere else.
Chapter 9
Dr. Marcom
Maybe it had been a mistake to send Subject Twenty-Two out into the world for field tests so early. The behavior we had recorded had been appalling, but the data we received golden. We were able to get readings on his strength, speed, and regenerative abilities. A few dollars in the right pockets and it would be like the incident in the alley never happened. One thing still intrigued me, though. The girl in the alley, there had been something special about her. She had resisted his compulsion. If that was a natural characteristic in her, we could build upon that.
I checked the camera to look at a full body image of the subject. Its wounds had fully healed, even the gunshots. It was simply remarkable. The subject’s regenerative abilities were functioning better than we had hoped for. The fact that the healing had been so complete was astounding. Subject Twenty-Two didn’t even have scars. I sent a signal to the man in the room with the subject and watched the experiment start dressing before turning away from the monitor. I’d conduct his debriefing myself. I needed to find out more about this girl, and see why the subject deviated from his objective.
It should have occurred to us that integrating the subjects back into society would have been tough. It was easy to control their impulses here in the lab. We could shut them down if their behavior deviated from what was expected. Out in the field that wouldn’t be the case, not unless we improved the implants. Now my job would be to find out just what drove the subject to its actions tonight and decide if the subject should be retained or scheduled for decommission.
The work we were doing here was too important to be put in jeopardy by a faulty test subject. If there were the slightest chance the subject would deviate again, he would be destroyed and we would start over. We had several promising subjects in the early stages of the trials. Depending on how many of them lived through the process, I was sure we would find at least one more viable candidate.
The door beeped and then opened as I scanned my security card against it. The support staff filed out of the room leaving me alone with the subject. He looked happy, and that worried me. I wasn’t sure if anyone should wear that kind of look after killing two people. One of which he had recently been intimate with. I took a seat across from him and just watched him for a moment before speaking.
“Tell me about what happened earlier this morning.”
“Can’t we talk about that tonight?” he pleaded. “You know how it is Doc, the sun comes out, and I just get so tired.”
I quickly controlled the frown that was forming on my face. I didn’t want my disapproval to influence the subject. “Subject Twenty-Two, I asked you a question, and I expect an answer.” He looked at me for a moment, trying to decide if he was going to speak or not.
“So it’s possible I might have overstepped my original objective,” he said looking down at the ground. “You just don’t understand how hard it is. It’s like every emotion, every sensation is a hundred times stronger than before. It’s been so long since I was with a woman, I kind of lost myself.”
“Explain it to me in detail.”
“Well at first I was pissed because I wanted that waitress, but she didn’t succumb to my compulsion.” He stood up and started pacing around the room the agitation clearly stenciled all over his face. “That made me angry until the blonde sat down. She wanted me already but wanted to take the time to go to a hotel nearby. I knew I didn’t have that kind of time, so I influenced her to come with me into the alley.”
“So your compulsion worked on the blonde, but not on the waitress?”
Twenty-Two looked even more agitated when he spoke. “Jesus, Doc aren’t you fucking listening? That’s what I just said.”
“Sit dow
n and explain it to me in a more civilized manner.” He cocked his head, and I knew he was wondering if he could kill me before I could press the controller in my hand. It wasn’t too smart of him to telegraph his intentions. I waved the hand not controlling the switch towards the exam table. “Sit.”
When the subject didn’t move, I pressed the button but only for a second. He screamed in pain and fell to his knees. The neural transmitter we had embedded in him during the procedure worked. Twenty-Two stood up and fixed me with a look of pure hatred. I ignored it and pointed towards the table again. “Take a seat, and continue answering my questions.”
“Yeah whatever you say, Doc.”
He feigned uninterest, but I knew he was angry. The subject would probably be able to kill me if he tried, but that would be the end of his life. My associates monitoring the room would hit the switch and then toss him in the cremation chamber, an action I was already leaning towards doing myself. His irrational behavior had me on edge. “Please continue.”
He sat down and started to speak more calmly than before. “So like I said, the waitress was immune but the blonde wasn’t. Might just be that she was drawn to me already, who knows? I hit her with a few more suggestions as we got to the alley. It didn’t take long before she had me unzipped and one leg wrapped around my hips.”
I motioned for him to continue. The last thing I wanted to hear about was his tale of banging some whore in an alley, but this was for science, so I had to endure it.
“So we are going at it, and her heart is beating. I hear it so loud, like when my damn neighbor’s kid used to play the drums. Every time I thrust into her, her heart is beating two or three times. I tried to shut it out, but with the scent of her desire for me it was just too intoxicating. I leaned into her and all I could see was a vein in her neck pulsing.” He stood up and started pacing again. “I don’t know what happened then. I just lost it. When I came to I could feel the blood on my lips and taste it in my mouth. It was so damn good. Then the bitch tried to get away.”
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