They Came After Me

by C S Allen

  I got up and followed the man out of the room and down a hallway. At the end of the hallway, we stopped at a door that had a security box on it, and the man opened the door with his card. We walked through the doorway and into another hallway. “Make sure you close that door, Will,” the man said, looking back at me.

  “What’s your name since you know mine?” I asked.

  “Just follow me and don’t worry about my name,” the man stated, as he walked down another hallway.

  I didn’t know how anyone could figure out where they were going in that building because there weren’t any signs. The doors had numbers on them, but nothing else to tell where they led too, and I was lost like in a maze. “How about I call you ‘driver’ or ‘chauffeur’ until we’re done?” I asked, trying to make conversation. The man just kept walking without answering me until we stopped at another door.

  “How about I call you ‘Miss Daisy’?” the man said, as he used his card to open another door.

  “Why would you call me a woman’s name?” I asked.

  “Come on, William, we’re at the garage,” the man said, as he walked through the door. The garage was big with about fifteen cars all colored the same with US government license plates on the bumpers. When we got to a car, the man asked, “You got the keys to the car, William?” I looked at the man, and he laughed. “You looked surprised,” he said, as he walked around to the driver’s side and unlocked the door. “Get in, it’s open.”

  When I got in, the man was already sitting down. “You can call me Boss,” he stated, looking at me.

  “Okay, Boss, how long will it take to get back to the school?” I asked.

  “Will, how big was the spider that you all saw?” Boss asked me, looking inquisitive.

  I paused for a second because I wasn’t expecting that question and said, “What are you talking about?” I replied cautiously.

  “You know, the one that I heard from others that you had seen. Is it really as big as they say it is or was?” Boss asked, turning his body towards me.

  “Yeah it was big, the size of a dog with legs that reached about four to five feet long,” I said, feeling ill talking about it.

  Just then my door opened, and I was pulled out of the car by my neck and my arm like a rag doll. I was then pushed up against the vehicle’s frame by a big man who had a black mask over his face.

  “What the fuck did we tell you, asshole, never to mention?” the masked man asked me.

  I looked up and realized that it had to be Tom with the mask on. “The guy I was talking to works with you all. I can’t say anything to anyone outside of this place, Michelle told me that,” I replied, pleading.

  The man then took off the mask, and I was right, it was Tom. Tom looked angry, and I was shaking in my shoes the whole time. “Remember that, William, or you will disappear, last warning before you leave,” Tom said, letting go of me so I could catch my breath. “Get in and don’t let me see you again,” Tom said angrily, as he walked away.

  I got back in the car, and Boss had a grin on his face. “So, how big was that spider again?” Boss asked me with a snicker. Boss started the car, and then we left the garage and headed down the one-lane road.

  I was pissed off and wanted to punch someone because of the situation I was in. The government had a sick program, creating genetically altered spiders, and they were responsible for murdering my friends. I knew they had unleashed the spiders, they had to have. They wanted to test their theory on real subjects, and they got us. How did I live, knowing what I knew and being paid off for my silence? How did I explain anything if questions came up? Did I just tell people that I didn’t know anything? God, I just wanted to punch someone really hard in the face.

  We left the gated area and went on to my college dorm without talking to one another. Boss didn’t need directions or a building number as to where I was going. When we pulled into the parking area, Boss said, “Your money is already in your bank account, by the way; you’re a rich kid now.”

  I looked at him and then back out the front window. “Yeah, and that will bring back my friends who died somehow.”

  Boss cleared his throat and then said, “How did your friends die?” He looked at me as he pulled a gun out from inside his jacket and placed it on his lap.

  I immediately realized that I had screwed up again and said, “I don’t know.”

  Boss then put his gun back inside his jacket. “You have fifteen minutes to get your stuff and go to your car to leave school permanently. You will be tested from time to time to say something about your friends. We have people who work for us who are young and old, every type of color, people who work everywhere around you. If you slip up just once, you will have a very bad day or may just disappear altogether, William. Once you leave this car you are on your own . . . now get out,” Boss stated, looking serious.

  I got out of the car and went to my dorm room as quickly as possible. Along the way, a fellow female student who I didn’t know stopped me in the hallway to my room. “Hey, where’s Olivia? Her mom just called looking for her.” The student looked worried.

  “I don’t know, I gotta go,” I replied.

  “You passed your first test, Will, keep it that way,” the student stated, looking at me with a smug grin.

  I walked away, stunned and worried that I might have to go through that for the rest of my life. Some random person starts talking to me, and then I find out it’s a test. I’m either going to become a nervous wreck or become a recluse because I may say something by accident ten years from now. I got to my room and unlocked the door. Luckily my roommate was gone so I didn’t have to talk to him. I grabbed everything that I had and packed it all away in two suitcases and one backpack. I didn’t need my books anymore so I just left them. I took one last look around my room, and then I was out of there. I moved as fast as I could down the hallway with everything and then left the dorm building. Boss was no longer at the entrance of the building, and I was glad to see him gone.

  I rushed over to my car and dropped everything on the ground behind it. I unlocked the trunk and then opened it. As it opened, I saw there was a bloody knife in a sandwich bag lying inside. “What the hell?” I said out loud. I looked around the parking lot and didn’t see anyone walking away from my car. Someone had put a knife in my car for whatever reason, and that made me paranoid. Was it real blood? Or was someone screwing with me? I picked up the bag and opened it to smell the inside. It smelled like blood with its copper smell. Just when I was about to put the bag back in the trunk, a woman walked close by and said, “Smile!” and took a photo of me holding the bag. “What are you doing!” I said angrily, as I tossed the bag back in the trunk.

  The woman just smiled and didn’t say anything. She then walked away to a car and got in it. “Another damn test, isn’t it?” I yelled at her. I picked up my bags from on the ground and then tossed them in the trunk and slammed the trunk lid. The woman just sat in the car, watching me, as I got into mine. I started my car while staring at the woman who had taken my picture. I stayed in the parking lot for about a minute before I had had enough of watching the woman. I put the car in drive and got off the campus as fast as I could.

  As I drove down the road, I kept an eye out for anyone following me. I was paranoid as hell the whole time. As I got closer to my home, I felt more at ease and felt a bit safer. Maybe it will be all right after all, I thought. When I got to my subdivision and turned down the road to my house, there were two police cars and a black undercover police car in front of my house.

  “Oh my God,” I said. I wanted so desperately to turn around and run for it, and that’s exactly what I did. I turned into a neighbor’s driveway and turned around and left the area as fast as I could without alarming anyone. I had no idea what to do next, so I pulled into a local shopping mall parking lot and parked my car. “Think, damn it!” I said.

  The cops were at my house because they wanted to know where I was. They had found my dead friends, and now they
were looking for me. I could never go back home now and those government bastards knew that. They didn’t pay for my silence; they gave me that money to keep me on the run forever. I have to go to my bank and get that money out before someone finds out I have it.

  I left the parking lot and headed over to my bank to withdraw every penny that I had in it. I didn’t want to go inside so I used the outdoor drive-through window. As I pulled up to the window, I saw a girl, who I had gone to high school, with was the teller. She smiled at me and waved as I rolled down the car window.

  “Hi William, I haven’t seen you since high school. What have you been up to since then?” my friend asked through the speaker system.

  “I hate to be rude, but I’ve forgotten your name,” I stated.

  “That’s okay, it’s Madison,” Madison replied.

  “I’m sorry, Madison, I have so much on my mind, I can’t think straight,” I said apologetically.

  “That’s okay, what can I get for you today, William?” Madison asked.

  “Can you write down what I have in my bank account for me? I’d like to do a withdrawal,” I stated. After giving Madison my account number and my driver’s license, she came back with a printout for me.

  “I guess I don’t need to ask what you’ve been up to these days. I see that you’ve been doing very well for yourself, good for you,” Madison said smiling.

  Madison sent the printout through the mechanical drawer, and it opened once it got close to my car. I reached in and found that I was paid seven hundred thousand dollars, and my heart started pounding hard in my chest. I had never seen so many zeroes in my life before and couldn’t believe that it was all mine. I didn’t know how long I looked at the printout until I heard Madison again.

  “Hello, earth to William!”

  I apologized to Madison and then asked how much I could withdraw at one time. I could take out as much as I wanted, but anything over ten thousand dollars would be reported to the government. And I couldn’t take out all of my money because the bank didn’t have all of that in its vault.

  “I can get the manager for you if you want anything over ten thousand dollars,” Madison said.

  “Do I need to come in to get more than ten?” I asked frustrated.

  “Yeah, unfortunately,” Madison replied.

  “Okay, I’ll come in,” I said. I pulled over and parked my car. I was nervous about any questions the manager might ask me. From what I had seen on TV shows, they were always nosy if you wanted to take a large sum of money out of the bank. They asked questions like, May I ask what you will be doing with your amount, sir? Where will you be spending such a large amount? Wouldn’t you rather just write a check or a money order instead of carrying such a large amount?

  It was none of their business what I wanted to do with my cash so I would tell them it was none of their business. I walked into the bank and stood in line for a teller to be available. Madison turned around from her window and pointed at some chairs for me to sit on.

  “The manager knows you’re here, William, and will be right out,” Madison said loudly over the other tellers.

  I waved and said ‘thank you’ and got out of the line to sit on one of the chairs nearby. Just as I sat down and gotten comfortable, a woman walked over to me and asked if she could help me. I told the woman that I was looking to withdraw a large sum of money and that I would like to see a manager about it.

  “Well, my name is Joan, and I am the assistant manager here at the bank. I can help you with your account, sir. May I ask what your name is?” Joan asked politely.

  “Hi, I’m William,” I said, standing up from my chair. After the formalities, we went into Joan’s office where I told her the reason why I was there. She asked me to fill out a request form that had questions on it, just like I figured the bank would ask.

  In order for me to withdraw all of the money in my account, I couldn’t say that it was none of their business, unfortunately. One of the questions made me think for a bit because I didn’t know what to say. The question was, ‘how did you come about this money that you are requesting to withdraw?’ I just wrote down that the money was a gift. Another question that stumped me was, ‘where do you plan on storing this amount if not in another bank?’ I felt like writing ‘under my pillow’ because the questions that the bank had were really none of their business. So, I just wrote down in a national bank instead of a small local bank. At the end of the form, it stated that the bank didn’t have more than three hundred thousand dollars at any one time during the week. Any request for more than ten thousand dollars would be reported to the US Treasury department. I signed the form and gave it back to Joan to look over.

  “William, you have written that the amount you are requesting was a gift, can you be a little more specific? Was this amount gifted from a person or a business?” Joan asked.

  “It was from the Treasury department because they owed me that amount,” I replied with a smile on my face. I was starting to get a headache and was getting a bit angry with all of the questions Joan was asking. I just wanted my money and to leave the bank.

  “Okay, William, we can give you fifty thousand dollars of the amount you’ve requested today. I will put the order in for the remaining amount, and it should get here next week. Let me make a call to verify what day it should be here, okay? I’ll be right back with an answer,” Joan said with a smile and excused herself from the office.

  I looked at her desk and saw that she had a phone, so why did she need to go someplace else to make a call? I felt something was up. Was Joan going to call the police? Was there something on her computer that stated to watch out for me? I waited nervously for over ten minutes, and it felt like an hour before Joan came back in and sat down behind her desk.

  “Okay, William, everything is all set for Monday of next week. We will have a security officer escort you from this bank to your car for safety reasons. Is there anything else that we can help you with here at the bank before you go?” Joan asked politely.

  “No, ma’am, but I will withdraw that fifty thousand today,” I said, while standing up from my seat. I withdrew the fifty thousand dollars and had my money put in a security deposit bag with a lock on it. I went out to my car after securing the money in the front of my pants and under my shirt. I didn’t have a clue as to where I was supposed to go, but I had to leave town to think better.

  Chapter Twelve

  Why did someone put a damn knife in my car? The government is trying to set me up somehow to get rid of me. All these questions ran through my head as I left the bank parking lot and headed south on the interstate. I had to get rid of the knife somewhere or just throw it out the window when I was driving. I wasn’t exactly sure where I was going or where I’d stop. So much was on my mind, and I was scared of the government doing something to me. After driving for about an hour or so, I decided to go to a hotel and get a room for at least one night. I pulled in to a two-story hotel and drove around to see how many cars were there first. Only five that I could see and the hotel had a diner inside, thank God. I pulled up to the front entrance and parked my car to get a room. I grabbed some money out of my bag and then zipped it back up. I decided to put the bag in the trunk of the car for safe keeping before getting out of it. As I got out, I looked around to see if anyone might have been following me, and no one was. I opened the trunk lid and threw in the bag, but I still saw that damn knife lying on the floor, and then I closed the trunk lid. I had just grabbed a hundred-dollar bill, and I figured that would be enough for some lunch and to pay for the one night.

  No one was at the service desk, so I waited for a minute while watching the security monitors. I then cleared my throat to get someone’s attention, but no one was around to hear me. “Hello! Anyone here today?” I yelled.

  A man about sixty years old came from a back room behind the service desk. He looked like he’d been napping with his tired eyes. “Yes, yes, what can I do for you?” the man asked.

  “Hello, I’d l
ike a room for one night with a king-size bed in it, please,” I said with a smile.

  “Sure, sure, any floor is okay?” the man asked, not looking at me.

  “I’ll take a second-floor room, please,” I replied.

  “Okay, let me see what is available. One night, second floor, king-size bed.” The man was looking at a computer screen like he was trying to see it without his reading glasses. He kept putting his face near and far away from the screen. He squinted really hard, and it looked like it pained him. “Just one person or will there be another staying with you?” the man finally asked.

  “Just me, sir,” I replied.

  “Okay, just fill out this card with your information and your car’s license plate numbers.” The man looked up at me from the computer screen and then gave me a card.

  I already knew my plate number, so I didn’t have to go outside to look, and my home address was pretty simple. I was thinking that if the government was looking for me, they would contact hotels and my info would be here. But why would they be looking for me? I hadn’t done anything wrong. I was going to have to call my parents in the morning to see what they knew before I made any more decisions. My parent’s phone was probably tapped so when I called them, I’d have to make it a quick call. I gave the card back to the man at the desk and then waited for him to put my info into the computer. I was getting a little bit impatient because the man was pressing each letter and number with one finger. I could have gone to my room and back again before this man finally finished his job. Finally, I got my room key and then paid the forty-nine dollars for the one night I had requested.

  “Is there anyone back in the diner for me to make an order, sir?” I asked the man nicely.

  “Yep, I’ll make sure my wife gets your order in just a minute. Have a seat anywhere at one of the tables,” the man said, while pointing in the direction of the diner. The diner was connected to the lobby of the hotel so it was just fifteen feet away from the desk.