A Heart of Flesh

by Casey Hays

  “Only of losing you, buddy.”

  I toss a final look at Stephen. He stares me down, but I don’t feel him meddling with my Serum. Only Nick. My head hurts; I shove against the tugging command and bound up the stairs.

  On the other side of the door, I’m finally able to break his connection. Bending, I exhale as the sensation slowly fades, but my head pounds with my thrumming pulse a few seconds longer. Black spots in my eyesight float in front of me until my head clears. If this is what he can do to me, I can’t imagine what he could do to someone younger—someone less experienced in controlling the Serum.

  Someone like Jacob.

  I get my bearings and make my way to the kitchen. The house is quiet. Diana and Sophia took the other children out for an early run before it got too hot. They needed to exert their energy, and it’s good for training. Feeling the height of their speed will help them know how to control it as they get faster. And they will get faster. No doubt.

  Penelope extracted Serum from all the children minus Nick a few days ago. She’s barely come out of the lab since. I can’t decide if this is good news or bad, but I don’t head that way. I’m not quite ready to find out. I chug a few gulps of water straight from the jug and step out onto the porch. I squint up at the cloudy sky. It smells like rain.

  The children’s laughter echoes in the distance, but I can’t see them over the slight hill that rises just past the potato field. Diana’s voice sings out, giving some instruction. It makes me smile. Another night by her side is in my near future. It’s one of the few things I have to look forward to right now.

  When she appears at the top of the hill clutching Caleb’s hand, I step off the porch. She sees me and waves. The others manifest one by one on the horizon, the rising sun making silhouettes out of them. They chatter as usual, but then Klayre points, and my eyes follow.

  “Someone’s coming!” she shouts. Everyone looks, then Aria takes off running.

  “It’s Liza!” she squeals. “And Jesse!”

  A few yards away, I make out Jesse’s big frame. Boy, am I glad to see him. The glint of Liza’s sword swaying out from her hip catches my eye, and then… something else. Something that freezes my blood to the core. A third figure. I swallow as they approach, a low growl burning across the bottom of my stomach with sudden angry fear.

  Dad.

  “Liza! Liza, you’re back!”

  “Hi, Buttercup.” Liza pulls on a smile and hoists Aria up onto her hip before settling her eyes on me. She gauges me, readies herself for a fight. I set my scowl in place and move forward until I’m directly in her path.

  “What’s he doing here?” I ask it through gritted teeth.

  “He’s here to help.”

  My hands involuntarily knot into fists. I shift toward Aria, who watches me with confusion.

  “I can’t believe you did this,” I whisper. It sounds more like a hiss inside my head.

  Liza pins me with a hardness, and her fingers graze the hilt of her sword. I’ve known my cousin long enough to know that, pregnant or not, she can hold her own against any man. I see the signs in her dark eyes. She’s not afraid of me, and she’ll take me to task in a heartbeat, even with a toddler on her hip.

  She’s also stubborn. When she sets her mind on something, there’s no changing it. And this time, her motivation is driven by something precious to her: the life growing in her belly. I clench my jaw, lifting my fists. Her sword eases an inch from the sheath.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Jesse presses a flat palm to my chest, pushing me away from his wife. “Let’s all just take a breather here for a minute. Nobody needs to get hurt.”

  I’m so mad I could spit fire, but I relax my fingers and back up a pace. I leer at my father. He’s silent, arms crossed over his chest. By the smirk that lifts one black brow, he’s clearly amused by the show, and it disgusts me. I sweep my gaze over him and back to Liza, keeping my calm.

  “I thought we talked about this.”

  “No. You talked, Justin.” Her voice is intense with accusation. “You always talk. You always call the shots.”

  I narrow in on her. “Yeah. And once upon a time, you agreed with me.”

  She shrugs, not blinking. “The circumstances have changed my mind.”

  I look at Jesse.

  “Yes, I told him,” she snaps, reading my thoughts. “He agrees with me.”

  I blow angry air through my lips. Jesse presses his lips into a tight line. It’s the first time in a long time he’s sided against me on an issue. But this time, what could I expect?

  Diana and Sophia reach us. The children huddle around Jesse and Liza, excited to see them, and Jesse kneels to pass out high fives and hugs. Diana comes to me, draping her hand through my elbow.

  “Who’s this?” she whispers, squinting in the sunlight at the man she’s never seen before. I harden myself, preparing for the uncomfortable introduction.

  “This is my father.” I give a curt nod in his direction. Diana’s mouth drops, stunned.

  “Your father?” She scrutinizes him, her grip tightening on my arm. Dad dips his head in greeting but says nothing, and I cringe, readjusting my stance in the dirt. The last thing I want to do is introduce him to Diana. Not under these terms. Not when I’m so at odds with him. I swallow, working up to it.

  “Dad, this… this is Diana. My wife.”

  At the announcement, Liza’s head shoots up. “What?”

  Dad’s lips spread into a smile, and he drops his hands to his sides. “Well, I’ll be damned. Congratulations, son. She’s lovely.”

  He gives us a low bow. Irritation eats at me. He’s being facetious; I hear it in his voice. Even more irritating is the insincere gleam in his eye. He doesn’t want me to be happy. Not when I’m the cause of his own misery. In his mind, I don’t deserve an ounce of peace. Caleb scuttles away from the rest of the kids and slams into my thigh, wrapping his small arms around it in a hug as best he can. He peers up at my dad, wide-eyed. I drop a hand protectively over his head.

  “Dude!” Jesse rises, holding up his high five formation just for me, and despite Dad’s reaction, I can’t stop the smile as our hands meet in the air above our heads. “When did this happen?”

  Diana looks up at me, her smile a light in the darkness of the moment, and for a second, I forget that my dad is even here.

  “Five days ago,” Caleb answers.

  “Five days?” Liza beams down at him and hoists Aria a little higher up her hip. “Well, we need to celebrate, don’t we?”

  “Yeah!”

  All the kids jump up and down at that announcement.

  “Can we, Justin?” Caleb peers up at me and swivels his head toward his mom. “Can we celebrate?”

  “We don’t have time for that.” Dad’s voice snaps the momentary cheer right in half. “I believe we have a little boy to save.”

  Caleb’s shoulders slump. He examines this stranger who thinks he can call the shots before he breaks away from me and returns to the others. I meet Dad’s gaze. There’s no emotion in him. He looks even scruffier than he did when I saw him last. Greasy hair. Scraggily mess of a beard. Without another word, he hoists his pack a little higher on his back and stalks past us toward the main house as if he owns the place and miraculously knows his way around. Anger rising, I glare at Liza.

  “I should kill you for this.”

  “I’d like to see you try.” She glares hard. “But considering you’re a honeymooner, I don’t really think you have it in you.”

  I’m aware that the children and Sophia are still here, quietly watching. I lower my voice.

  “Well, it’s too late now. You’ve exposed us.” I shake my head at her, disgusted. “You’ve just made the biggest mistake of your life.”

  “Maybe.” She says it with a lift of her shoulders and no hesitation. “Then again, maybe I’ve just started a miracle.” When I say nothing, she sighs. “Justin, I’ve talked extensively with Uncle David. I see logic in his words, and if nothing else, I
think he can help Nick.”

  “We’ll watch him,” Jesse adds. “His every move. He takes one step out of line…” He punches his fist into the palm of his opposite hand. “And we slam him in the other cage so fast his head spins. Twice.”

  I twist my mouth up in the corner. “The other cage is occupied.”

  They stare at me, and we’re all silent for a moment. Diana squeezes my arm, and I keep talking.

  “Whatever happens is on you, Liza.” I make sure she understands my meaning. “You’ll have to live with it.”

  “Fair enough.” She drops Aria to her feet and takes her by the hand. They move around me. The other children trail behind her, chattering and arguing over who gets to hold her other hand.

  “I don’t like that man.” I hear Caleb’s whisper as he moves away from us. “He’s mean.”

  “Yeah,” Henry agrees.

  Jacob lags back with Sophia. “Is that man here to help us?”

  “I hope so.” She tosses me a nervous glance and takes his hand. They follow the others. I face Jesse with a frown.

  “This is stupid. What made you do it?”

  “Love.” He winks at Diana. “The answer is always love.” When I frown, not amused, he lays a big hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “We know how this works if my kid is not immune, Justin. So I gotta side with Liza on this. You’d do the same. I’ll take the blame if things go wrong. This was my call in the end. Liza had to do backflips to convince me.”

  “And if all this does is start another war?”

  He shrugs. “Doc told us two of the kids were cured.” He licks his lips, tosses his eyes to the ground and back up again before finishing his thought. “It’s worth the risk if he’s right.”

  “Worth the risk?” I shake my head. “You do understand that we can’t give Dad’s cure to anyone. Not after what’s happened to Nick.”

  “That’s why Doc’s here.” He pulls his cap free and runs a hand through his blond curls. “If he can save Nick, he can save the rest of the world.”

  “God answers prayers in the strangest of ways.” Diana squeezes my arm, a softness in her expression, and I glance at her. “Perhaps Jesse is right. If your father can save Nick, then our problems are solved.”

  Her eyes pin me. I purse my lips, thinking. I would never say this aloud. Never. But the damage is done, and Diana’s words force me to face this possibility.

  For a split second, a burden drops from my shoulders in one mass lump. I hurry to gather it up again. Whether God sent him or not, I don’t believe for one minute Dad was motivated to come here out of the goodness of his heart. He has an agenda. Maybe I’ll let him do his work; I’ll let him save Nick if he can. But I’m not about to let him near those kids unsupervised.

  I spin and trudge toward the house, pulling Diana with me.

  ***

  Penelope isn’t nearly as upset to see Dad as I was. When we get to the house, I find them in the lab, deep in conversation as she brings him up to speed.

  “I took new Serum samples from four of the kids just this morning,” she explains, indicating the vials propped in a stand on her desk. “All we lack is Nicholas. He fights us. But maybe, between you and Jesse and Justin, we can restrain him long enough to get that sample.”

  “Are we really doing this?” I ask. Penelope straightens at the sudden sound of my voice. I ignore my dad’s reaction and focus on her. “After all this time, we’re just going to let him traipse in here and take over?”

  “I believe we’ve depleted our options,” Penelope says, her voice calm and collected. “David is here. We might as well see what he can do.”

  I cross my arms and lean against the wall with a disapproving shake of my head. Dad scours over the scans. His ambitious eyes dart across the computer screen, and I don’t like it. He’s too intense. Too focused. Lips moving silently, eyes unblinking. The warning bites me once more; I don’t trust my dad. He won’t deliver us a solution and go back to Eden empty-handed. Nope. He has access to the kids; he’ll take full advantage, and everything we’ve tried to prevent will have been in vain.

  Penelope seems to read my thoughts. She swivels on her stool and studies me.

  “Justin, we need to focus on the situation at hand. Then, we’ll worry about the rest.”

  Dad doesn’t respond, electing to let Penelope deal with me. He doesn’t send a single glance my way, and it’s clear he couldn’t care less what I think. He’s about to get his way, and that’s all that matters.

  “Well, let’s get to it.” He stands. “I’d like to take a look at all five samples at once to best analyze the—”

  “Justin!” Diana bursts through the door, her face flooded with fear, and my heart jumps. She carries a food tray laid out with two bowls of stew that have slopped over the edges of the dishes with her rushing. I push off the wall as she comes to me.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s Nicholas,” she whispers, loud enough for all of us to hear. She steals a glance at Penelope, then Dad before settling on me. “He’s gone.”

  Penelope stands, the same shock invading her face that immediately rips through my chest. I don’t ask any questions. Grabbing a flashlight from the table, I whisk past Diana and race to the basement, feet pounding down the stairs.

  The cage is empty, two sections of bars broken off and laying criss-crossed over one another. I stare in disbelief.

  I sweep the flashlight across the room, searching each dark corner before letting it fall on Stephen. He sits cross-legged in the middle of the cot, staring at me.

  “Did you see Nick leave?” I ask.

  He nods. I step close.

  “Can you tell me what you saw?”

  He doesn’t tell me at all. Instead, he rises from the cot and takes hold of one bar.

  “We’re very strong now,” he whispers.

  One twist of his hand, and the bar breaks in his grip. Shock soars through me. Stephen stands still a few seconds, then drops the bar with a clink to the cement and returns to his cot, tucking his legs back up under him.

  “I’m hungry,” he announces.

  I back away one step, completely stunned, and then I spin and take the stairs two at a time. Diana waits at the top with Penelope and Dad.

  “Where’s Jesse?” I ask.

  “He and Liza are at our house,” Diana answers. Worry laces through her voice.

  “Get him.” I squeeze her elbow. “Tell him to start searching at the creek. You go with Liza. Check all the houses and the barn.”

  She nods and sweeps out.

  “What can we do, Justin?” Penelope asks. I face her, my worst nightmare forming.

  “Stephen showed me how Nick got out. He broke the bars.”

  “What?” Her face goes white. I take hold of her arm.

  “Stephen is still in the other cage.” I shake her once and scramble for the door, casting my final words over my shoulder. “You might want to talk to him.”

  Panic surging through me, I bound from the porch. The screen falls closed with a hard smack, searing my panic even deeper. I pick up speed. Nicholas couldn’t have gone far.

  Even as I think it, my doubts scream at me.

  ***

  I scope the entire section of the woods familiar to the kids with no sign of Nick. No trampled leaves, no disturbed dirt or misplaced rocks. Nothing that would indicate a little boy traced a path through the area. At noon, with black storm clouds gathering in my wake, I return to the farm with a prayer on my tongue that someone else found him. But Liza and Jesse had no better luck. We stand together in the middle of the lawn as the first light pattering of rain begins to fall.

  “How did he escape the titanium?” Liza questions. “It’s just not possible.”

  “I don’t know,” I say. “I watched Stephen yank that bar free like it was made of paper.” I level my gaze, realization hitting thick. “They’re stronger than titanium.”

  We stare at each other, flabbergasted by the mere hint of such a thought, b
ut there it is, glaringly real and right in front of us. Awe mixes in with the feeling. For someone from Eden, this is an incredible feat. For a four-year-old? There simply are no words.

  Diana hurries down the front steps toward us.

  “We’ve searched everywhere,” she says, worry framing her words. “He’s simply vanished.”

  I nod. “He’s not in the forest or the fields, either.”

  “It will be dark soon,” Diana says, casting a look toward the angry clouds. She wipes a big raindrop off her cheek, biting her lip to staunch the flood of tears that threaten. “What then?”

  “He’s an indestructible,” Jesse offers. “He’ll survive.”

  “He’s still a little boy,” she counters. “He’ll be scared in this storm.”

  “I don’t think Nick is scared of much right now,” I add, giving her a comforting squeeze. “But he has to be somewhere in the vicinity. He’s hiding, that’s all. Probably afraid he’ll be in trouble. I’ll head back out.”

  “No, we’ll go,” Liza says, catching me by the wrist. “I’d—feel better if someone kept an eye on Uncle David.” She shrugs with a knowing look. “What better person for the job than the one who trusts him least?”

  I half-laugh. “So now you’re having second thoughts? It’s a little late, Liza.”

  It only takes another second for her to step in and hug me. “Maybe I was wrong,” she whispers. With a sigh, I wrap an arm around her as the light rain steps it up a notch.

  “Or maybe he’ll redeem himself by doing the right thing this time.”

  “He’d better.” Her words are muffled against my chest. Thunder growls low in the distance.

  She and Jesse take off, and I pull Diana against me. She ducks into my shelter.

  “What are you thinking?” she asks as we move toward the covered porch. “About your father?”

  “I think…” I sigh, pausing with my hand on the screen door. “I don’t know what to think.”

  She peers up at me. “Do you trust him?”

  “No. But he might be our only hope.”

  “And if he can’t fix this?”

  We pause in the doorway, and I chew on my thoughts. If my dad can’t fix this, it’s over. The other kids will follow in Nick’s footsteps, and our efforts will have been futile. But I’m not willing to go there. Not yet. Whatever bitterness I may be harboring toward my dad doesn’t negate the fact that he’s an amazing scientist. He’s worked with the Serum personally for over twenty years. He developed the advancements. He knows how it works better than any other scientist in Eden.