Lethal Injection

by K M Lovold

  “This is for you to watch, 4158!” The keeper who brought him shouted.

  The orange-headed man screamed now, but the gas chamber was so insulated, Ian could only see his mouth open but couldn’t hear him. His eyes bulged and blood dripped from them along with what looked to be tears, and then he started vomiting a white substance.

  Ian’s pulse raced, his heartbeat thrashing in his ears, dizziness washing over him. How much more could this prisoner endure?

  The man screamed and screamed, but nothing could be heard. Blood poured from his eyes, nose, along with vomit from his mouth. This went on for what felt like an eternity, but was probably ten minutes, before he sucked in a long, and what looked like, choking breath and went limp, his eyes stuck bulged open with blood drying on his face. He became as motionless as a statue.

  Dead.

  “That man has been in the presence of the most potent radioactive materials since the day he arrived on Reathran.” The keeper unlocked Ian’s wrists and head. “What happened just now was us turning the radiation up about a million times what he’s used to. That, mixed with the radioactive material already in his system, and it doesn’t take long to take him out. But it’s more painful than you can imagine.” He put his face inches from Ian’s. “And that’s what’ll happen to you if you ever do what you’re not supposed to again. Got it?”

  Ian nodded, his stomach rolling, along with the pain in his back and side. “Got it.”

  CHAPTER fifteen

  “Tell me!” Price shoved Malaki, who tightened his fists and pressed his lips together. It took everything in him not to propel Price back as hard as he could. “Tell me where Ian is. I need to see him, I need to talk to him. Where is he?”

  It had been three days of this. Malaki locked up. But Jonathan was able to come and go. Price had terrorized Jonathan into showing up at the lab every morning like usual so the two could work on their memroth cycles and create what they needed for the pods. However, Jonathan was the only one allowed to leave. A security guard brought food for Malaki morning, noon, and night, and Price showed up at random times and attempted to force information out of him.

  “Ian is locked up somewhere safe, and I’m not telling you where. You can kill me for all I care, but this place”—Malaki pointed to the floor—“is the reason he’s there. If I tell you where he is, and you go to him, it could ruin the tiny bits of progress he’s made in his recovery. I won’t do it.”

  Malaki shook his head at his own lie and turned, marching away from Price. “I don’t care what you do to me. I really don’t. I haven’t enjoyed working here without Ian for the past few years anyway, so get rid of me. See if I care!” Malaki twisted back around, throwing his arms out to the side.

  Price approached Malaki and squeezed his arm so tight, Malaki was sure there’d be a bruise. “So help me, Malaki, if I find out you’re lying to me about Ian, you’re a dead man.” He let go of his arm and jutted his finger in Malaki’s face. “A dead man.”

  Malaki put his face inches from Prices. “Do it. Then you can find some other chemist to make your memroth pods for the world, not to mention all that Tetracaphoxin you need to make your prison on Reathran survive and run.”

  Price turned and stormed out of the laboratory like he did every other time.

  A few minutes later, Jonathan entered the lab, his eyes wide and his face ashen. “I just passed him out there. What happened this time?”

  “Same ole, same ole.” Malaki paced in short spans. “He’s getting worse. He’s so paranoid.” His pacing came to a halt, and he stared at Jonathan. “Can you please get me out of here?”

  Jonathan froze on the spot, blinking rapidly. “I-I can’t. You know I can’t. I have no idea what Price’ll do to me if I let you out. He’s made that very clear to me, and he did so again when I passed him in the corridor out there.” He pointed with his thumb to the doorway.

  “Fine, fine.” Malaki stalked towards his office. “I don’t want to get you into trouble, so don’t worry about it. Get the stuff ready, and I’ll be right back out to help.”

  At this point, his small, hand-held ham radio was his only source of outside information. Not that he got that much of it, but he could at least listen to others talk about their lives. And nobody—not Price, not Jonathan, no one—knew about his radio. Only Ian knew. But it was Ian he was hoping to hear from. The chances of that were a million times unlikely… but he still hoped. He could only imagine how difficult it was for Ian to send that one message alone. The chance he would send another, and this soon after the first, would be quite an impossibility.

  He opened the drawer in his desk and took out his frequency detector. He was studying it to see if any strong frequencies were in sight when the door to the lab buzzed and someone entered. His frequency detector vibrated in an unusual way, and he pressed the button to show the nearest frequency and then stuck it in his back pocket. His white lab coat was long enough to keep it hidden, then he strode out of his office and met a security guard with a plate of food.

  “Here ya go, Mr. Pederson.” The guard handed the plate to Malaki.

  “Thanks.” Malaki took the food. “Any idea when I’ll be getting out of here?”

  The man shook his head and turned around quickly, scanning his retinas. The door unlocked, and the vibration on his frequency detector sounded quietly again. The guard left, and Malaki turned his ear to the sound and realized something. He returned to his office, closed the door, and set the plate of food on his desk and pulled his radio out of his pocket, gaping at it, considering for a moment. Maybe, just maybe, if he could find the right frequency, he could find a way to escape this blasted lab. This would be something Price, nor anyone else in this office, would have thought of.

  A way out. A way to bypass the retina scanner and open the door without it.

  “Hey, Jonathan.” Malaki opened his office door and stuck his head out. “I know you don’t want to open the doors for me because Price has basically threatened to kill you, but what if I could find another way?”

  “What do you mean?” Jonathan opened the large refrigerator, misty air floating into the lab while he reached in and grabbed a tray of memroth vials. The door snicked closed.

  “I mean a way without the retina scanner.” Malaki left his office and approached Jonathan. “Don’t you see? The retina scanner is what triggers the unlocking of the door, but it’s not actually needed. What if I can find a way to bypass that part and calculate how to get the device to unlock without the scan of the eyes? I just need to think it through, but if you could open up the door a couple times for me—I mean run out to your car once or twice in the hour. That’s possibly all I’ll need, and I might be able to work this out, and Price will never need know.”

  Jonathan tipped his head back and sighed. “What? Are you serious? Price will one hundred percent know I had something to do with it.”

  “How?” Malaki gripped Jonathan’s shoulders. “How would he ever know? You run out to your car a couple times over the next hour, as if you forgot something, and each time the door opens, I have a moment to compute what I need. Once you’re gone for the day, I see if I can make it happen.” He turned away from Jonathan and massaged his chin. “I think I could make this work… and Price would never suspect you.”

  “Compute it on what? And he’d see you; he’d see me.” Jonathan’s eyes grew wide while he grabbed his Hazmat suit, a look of panic washing over his face. “And all he has to do is look at that camera”—Jonathan pointed to the camera in the corner of the lab—“and then there you have it.”

  “Are you kidding?” Malaki laughed softly and moved closer to Jonathan, speaking almost at a whisper. “As soon as I escape this room, one of the first things I’ll do is fix that ridiculous camera. You don’t know this, and Price certainly doesn’t, but I can fix that camera in a heartbeat. I’ve done it multiple times. It’s not difficult. Ian and I maneuvered the cameras in the lab dozens of times back in our day. I’m not worried about tha
t.” He waved the camera away with his hand.

  Jonathan hung the Hazmat back up and cleared his throat, closing his eyes, seeming to take a calming breath. “All right, fine. But what will you use to compute it on? To make the door work?”

  “You don’t need to know that.” Malaki headed back to his office. “The less you know, the better. For your own safety. But I have a way. So, will you do it?” He glanced at Jonathan over his shoulder.

  “Fine.” Jonathan returned to the tray of memroth vials on the counter. “Whatever you want. I’ll do whatever you want.”

  “You forgot a couple things in your car. Go out and get them one at a time, two at the most. That’s all. Easy peasy, lemon squeazy.” Malaki slammed the door to his office shut, but then opened it quickly again. “And we’ll work on the memroth cycles after.”

  Malaki cleaned his plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast and sipped on his black coffee.

  “Hey, Malaki.” Jonathan knocked on his door. “I forgot something in my car, I’ll be right back.”

  Malaki gave Jonathan a thumbs up as he headed to the door, then he clutched his frequency detector which was on the same dial it was on when the guard had opened the door, and he turned the volume up. Jonathan scanned his retinas. The door opened, and Malaki’s radio went staticky again. A few green lights lit up.

  Jonathan left the room, and Malaki plunked at his desk, turning the dial slowly. He needed more green bars to light up than just a few to know if he was on the right frequency. He turned the dial a couple notches and left it there, turning the volume up. He’d get an idea of how close he was when Jonathan returned.

  He approached the tray of memroth vials and stared at them, taking a deep breath. He had to get on with the day’s work. He opened the refrigerator and pulled out a few more chemicals and ingredients they’d need and situated everything. He turned up one of the burners to the exact temperature and started measuring out each individual ingredient, of which there were almost thirty, that needed to be cooked to the exact temperature and added at the exact moment to create the memroth that would solidify to the pods which would in turn equal free energy.

  There were hundreds of steps and details, very difficult for one person to do on their own, but possible. This went on day after day after day between Malaki and Jonathan. Before that, Malaki and Ian, who had it down to such perfection, they’d be able to accomplish a hundred pods per day.

  But those days were gone.

  Malaki looked toward the door. It wouldn’t be long, and Jonathan would be back. Malaki’s frequency detector sat on the stainless-steel table in front of him. If Jonathan asked about it, Malaki’d just tell him what it was, an old-school RF detector and nothing special or high tech about it, no big deal.

  The retina scanner buzzed, and Malaki’s eyes darted to the frequency detector. This time six lights flashed green.

  He was getting closer.

  “Well? Did that help?” Jonathan asked somewhat sarcastically when he entered the lab, but Malaki could tell he wasn’t that put out.

  “As a matter of fact”—Malaki shoved the radio into his back pocket—“it helped a lot. Thanks for doing that for me.”

  “You’re welcome.” Jonathon strode towards the memroth cycles Malaki had started. “Thanks for getting things going and ready.”

  “I still need you to go out one more time, though.” Malaki lifted his chin. “I’m not quite ready yet, but if you leave and come back one more time, I’m pretty sure I will be.”

  Jonathan pressed his lips together, a pained look on his face. “What? I don’t want Price to kill me you know?”

  Malaki put his hand on Jonathan’s shoulder. “He won’t, I promise you. I tell you, it’s not that big a deal to have to leave the lab now and again, you should know that. You’ve worked here for a couple years now, so settle down.”

  “I know, but when you’re here, locked in and unable to leave, everything I do is watched more closely.” Jonathan shook his head and looked at his watch.

  “I tell you, it’s gonna be OK. I’ll get rid of the recordings, and all will be good, all right?”

  “All right then, fine. I’m going to do it now and get it over with. I forgot my lunch, so I’m gonna go grab something down in the cafeteria to have later. I’ll be right back.” Jonathan opened the door, and Malaki grabbed the frequency detector out of his back pocket. The retina scanner buzzed, and the same six green lights lit up.

  Malaki shook his head. Was this going to work? He would need many times of Jonathan going in and out to make it work. He put the radio back in his desk drawer and put his Hazmat gear on and worked on the memroth cycles until Jonathan returned. There was no way he’d be able to get it worked out in just two attempts.

  “Well?” Jonathan asked when he showed up with a bag of lunch, and he stuck it in the refrigerator.

  Malaki sighed. “I don’t think I can accomplish it, I’m sorry to say.” He returned to their work on the trays. “I thought I could, I wish I could, but I honestly think the only way I’m gonna get out of here is if you let me out.”

  “W-what?” Jonathan grabbed his yellow Hazmat suit and put it on. “I can’t, Malaki, I’ve told you this.”

  “I know, I know, so just forget about it.” Malaki focused on the job at hand.

  They worked on memroth cycles for most of the day, Malaki’s heart sinking further with each hour as he resigned himself to being imprisoned for who knew how long.

  Late into the night, Jonathan was about to leave when he threw the door to Malaki’s office open. “All right. I’ll get you out of here. But you have to swear to me, under the promise of death, that the first thing you do is change the cameras to our lab so Price will never be able to find out.”

  Malaki jumped up. “Serious? You’ll do that for me?”

  “Yes, if you promise me—”

  “I promise, I promise.” Malaki approached Jonathan and vigorously nodded. “First thing I do. I’ve done it dozens of times. It’s not a big deal at all.”

  “Very well then. You stay here. I’ll fix it temporarily. You’ll have fifteen minutes after I leave.” Jonathan turned on his heel and stormed out of his office and out of the lab.

  Once Jonathan left, Malaki checked his watch and waited ten minutes, then he approached the door and cautiously turned the handle. It clicked open. Malaki gave a yelp, closed it shut behind him and headed toward the surveillance room. He reached it, and the retina scanner worked for him here, so he entered the room, breathing a sigh of relief. He closed his eyes and thought back to a conversation with Ian…

  “When you get my message”—Ian spoke with a grave tone of voice before he entered Battlecreek Prison—“make sure you get her on her way up as soon as possible. Seriously, Malaki, if I actually manage to get a message to you, who knows what kind of danger I’ll be in at that point. What if I get caught? Found out? At that point, I’m gonna need Waitforit as soon as possible. My friend, my life may depend on it.”

  “It’ll be done, Ian. I promise you, it’ll be done,” Malaki replied…

  He had to keep his promise. Had to find out if Waitforit went up. Had to get out of here and contact Lawrence. He went directly to a drawer in the surveillance room and pushed the passcode in. The drawer opened. He rifled through the many small discs in the drawer, finding one for their classified lab, holding it to his eyes to get a closer look. Dated too long ago. He grabbed another one. “Yes, this one will do.” It was from just a few months ago—Jonathan and Malaki doing memroth cycles like usual.

  He tapped his finger on the screen to the lab and clicked it open. He took the current disc out and snapped the new one in, tucking the old one in his pocket, and breathed a sigh of relief. He had to get out of here.

  As he stepped through the door, he heard a noise, as if someone was coming, and he tried to dart back inside the surveillance room, but the door had already started closing. He looked again, but no one was there. He froze for a minute or two, holding his bre
ath. No one came. He crept out of the laboratory, the rest of the retina scanners working for him—thankfully—until he found himself in the hallway passing by Leah’s office.

  Malaki inched his way along the wall, his ears honing for any sounds of something or someone coming his way. He reached the doorway at the end of the hallway and did his best to smooth out his wrinkled sport coat—he’d been wearing it on and off for three days—then he sucked in a gulp of breath and opened the door.

  It was late at night and most everyone should have left the building. Any one that mattered anyway. There’d be a few graveyard workers around, but hopefully, no one who cared a wit about him. He lifted his chin and moved along as if it were absolutely normal to be striding through the building at this time of night. He took long, deep breaths at the thought of turning a corner and ramming into Price, or someone else in The Circle. Malaki was sure Price had informed them all of his “lock up.”

  He and Ian always knew Ian’s disappearing would raise suspicions. They knew it would cause trouble for Malaki, but he never dreamt a scenario where Price would lock him up! Thinking about it made him move swifter. He reached the doorway to the stairwell and trotted down the steps, clutching the railing along the way.

  Once he stepped outside and into the parking ramp, he let out a huge breath and lifted his eyes heavenward, catching sight of a few stars twinkling in the sky and a half moon. Ian was up there, behind the moon. But Malaki had made it this far. He spotted his truck up ahead, just where he’d left it. Thank God Price hadn’t had it towed. He jogged to it and quickly got inside, slamming the door shut. He dropped his head back and pressed his palms to his eyes.

  “First things first. I’ve got to get to the spacecraft landing.” A press to the memroth pad started the engine, and he stepped on the gas pedal. As he drove past the doorway he’d just exited, a security guard jumped out and attempted to chase him down.