Floxham Island ~ Sinclair V-Log AZ267/M

by Merita King

  “But their blood will be unique, don’t you see?” Baz remarked and everyone frowned. “If they’ve been living wild for the past couple of hundred years and interbreeding with each other, the resulting offspring will have different blood to their parents. Remember that it was only the first generation of them that were actually cloned. All of their subsequent generations will be natural conceptions and births like normal folks.”

  “Then how come the crazy thing has been handed down through their generations?” Carl asked and I nodded furiously. That’s what I wanted to know too.

  “I heard that the genetic defect in their brains was something that would’ve always been handed down through their generations,” Baz replied, “and that even though subsequent generations wouldn’t technically be clones, they’d still have the same defect as the original clone generation, especially as they will have only ever bred with each other.”

  “Right,” I nodded and sighed. This was getting complicated and I ran a hand through my hair, the vague headache making my temples throb, “so we get them both restrained, I get samples from both and we go from there.” My next problem was how to secure the pair of them into restraints in a manner that didn’t upset the other folks or put them in danger. “Now I need to work out how to get them both restrained safely and quietly without causing a panic amongst the other folks back there.”

  “Sure thing Sam,” Dex replied. “How can we help?”

  I was touched that they wanted to help me so readily but I was also aware that it wasn’t really their job. What I do can be dangerous; I’m trained and insured against mishaps but these guys weren’t. “You don’t have to get involved guys. It’s not strictly your job and it could be dangerous. I’d hate for any of you to get injured, or worse. You’ve all seen what he does to his victims.”

  “Stop being an idiot Sam,” Luggs replied. “You can’t cope with the two of them on your own, especially as one of them, or even both of them, could be a crazed maniac slasher.” The others nodded in agreement.

  “I hadn’t thought that it could be both of them, but I suppose it could be. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the other one killed Jena Marks.”

  “You need the knife Sam,” Stitch replied and everyone agreed that must be a priority.”

  “He’s not just gonna tell us where it is though is he?” Flark said. “How do we find it without spending hours tearing the place apart?”

  “He’s most likely got it on him,” I replied. “They normally do. If it’s a one off killing they tend to discard the weapon but if they’re committing serial murders, they always keep their weapon to hand. We have to remember that when we restrain him.”

  “Best idea would be to separate him from the crowd first,” Flark said and I nodded. “That way no one else gets hurt.”

  “Absolutely,” I replied. “And thanks guys. For all your help huh? I appreciate it.”

  “Aww buddy, you wanna hug or something?” Dex said and everyone laughed.

  After scouting the hospital next door and ensuring no creatures were lurking there, we dragged two mattresses into the lab and set them down in the corner with pillows and blankets. It was time for us to leave so I went up to the hairy guy Adam and hunkered down and smiled at him. He looked me right in the eyes and grunted softly. As I looked into those eyes I knew we’d made a connection and weird as it sounds, I also knew that if I returned here in a hundred years time and found him still alive, he would recognise me immediately.

  “We’re gonna leave you in peace now buddy. Thank you for your help. We thought you might want to be a little more comfortable,” I said as I indicated the mattresses. He looked at me for several moments before giving another soft grunt and I knew he’d understood me. Then I gazed down at Eve, cradling the newborn Floxy to her breast and smiled. “Your daughter is beautiful.”

  “Aww look at her,” Luggs said and I turned to see all the guys had crept up behind me and were looking at the baby.

  “Ain’t she the cutest thing you ever saw?” Dex grinned.

  “She is indeed,” I nodded. “Okay guys let’s do this. Are all the cans of fruit opened?”

  “Yep,” Cap nodded. “All the cans of fruit and veggies and I put a big bowl of the meat substitute on to soak. They’re on the counter top over there.”

  We left the lab and I felt like I was leaving a friend behind. Closing the main door behind us, we stepped out into the sunshine and listened. It was so quiet it was spooky and I involuntarily shivered. We’d become so used to the howls and screeches that the quiet was very unsettling. We all agreed that getting the laser net working was a really great idea and we felt a lot safer as we made our way back than we had on the way out the day before. We walked down the path towards the recreation centre and I wondered again how many creatures were still hiding within the remaining unsearched buildings, one of which was directly in front of us. We made our way along the windowless wall of the recreation centre and saw the cell wings ahead, the bodies piled up and stinking now. As we stepped out from the shelter of the recreation centre, a crash from inside brought us all to a stop. We hugged the wall and I looked at my companions.

  “Do we investigate and deal with it or do we leave it and make a run for it? Majority vote wins.” Everyone looked at each other and Luggs swore.

  “Shit. Okay come on,” he said and stepped towards the still open main door.

  Five minutes later we hauled the bodies of four of the fat bald things outside and shut the main door. An investigation of the building brought the discovery of a large supply of beer which the guys were very happy to find.

  Bud was was checking out the merchandise when he saw the hatchway in the floor and called out. “Hey guys come and look at this.”

  “That’ll be the cellar,” Boy said, “where they keep their stock. It’ll be cold down there so they keep it there to keep it cool. Laying on my belly, I pressed my ear to the hatch and listened for anything that might indicate something was hiding out down there. Silence greeted my ear so I gingerly lifted the hatch and peered down into total blackness.

  “Okay so who’s first?” I hissed, partially as a joke but partially because I didn’t fancy doing it myself. No one laughed.

  “Hey it was your idea buddy,” Dex said. “After you.” This time I did hear a giggle or two; me and my big mouth huh? Taking a deep breath, I slowly reached down with a foot and felt the top of the set of steps. With a last look at the guys I took another tentative step down. As I took the third step down the blackness began to stifle me and I recognised the beginnings of panic. A split second before I lost my nerve the blackness below me suddenly exploded into light and I gave a yelp of surprise, which was met with guffaws of laughter from up above. My heart leapt in my chest and I looked up to see Luggs crying with laughter, hands on his knees and his body shaking with the effort.

  “Great job guys,” I grinned. “Nice.”

  “Hey man you should’ve heard yourself,” Baz replied through his laughter. “Yelled like a schoolgirl ya did.”

  “I did not,” I replied as I hopped down the last few steps and then suddenly gave a howl of distress and threw myself headlong out of sight of the open hatch. It was difficult not to laugh as I dove for the cover of a stack of boxes and lay face down so that just my lower legs stuck out and tried to be quiet.

  “Sam?” I heard a voice that sounded like either Boy or Bud call out.

  “He’s shitting us,” Carl laughed.

  “Nice one Sam,” Dex yelled. “Bring us a beer would ya?” My chest heaved with the effort of containing my laughter but I stayed put and listened. “Sam? Come on Sam this isn’t funny buddy.”

  “If you’re fucking with us I’m gonna kick your ass,” Luggs grunted. Then I heard footsteps and suddenly hands wrapped themselves around my ankles and pulled.

  “Hi guys,” I grinned. “Who’s the schoolgirl now huh?”

  A search of the cellar revealed a huge stock of booze of all different types an
d we helped ourselves to a beer apiece to wet Floxy’s head and celebrate Hank’s genius that got the antenna working again.

  “Okay, this is what we’ll do guys,” I said. “When we get back to the Admin block, I’ll stay outside with Dex and Luggs and the rest of you go inside. Tell them the three of us were lost to the creatures. You then tell them the laser net is working again and that the stores are chock full of food and you ask Kitt if maybe him and Eddy wouldn’t mind coming along to help shift some of it so everyone can have some decent food. When you get them outside, I’ll despatch Kitt with a tranquiliser dart. He’ll be out for hours so we can get him restrained somewhere and I can test a sample of his DNA with the sample I took from the overalls and see if they match. If they match, then he’s at least one of our guys and he stays under guard. Then I test the kid and see if he’s related to my sample as well.”

  “Sounds fine to me,” Cap replied and the others nodded.

  “Okay, let’s do it,” I said and made for the stairs.

  The afternoon shadows were getting long as we made our way around to the front of the Admin block. Dex, Luggs and I hid ourselves behind the entrance porch that jutted out from the main door. We watched Flark as he and the others shoved open the door and disappeared inside. Their footsteps got fainter as I retrieved my tranquiliser gun that I had prepared before we left the recreation centre and waited. The sound of footsteps from within brought me out of my musings and I nodded to Dex and Luggs. We melted back into the wall as much as we could as we heard the main door open with the faintest of squeaks.

  “I really appreciate this Kitt,” Flark was saying, “and everyone will be delighted to have some proper food again.”

  “No problem at all,” Kitt replied. “Eddy and me are happy to pull our weight.”

  They stepped into view and began to walk towards the stores, their backs to us. With practiced silence I crept forward and Kitt was unconscious before he knew he’d been had. He fell to the floor and Eddy went nuts. Boy held his hand and tried to soothe him as I took out my mobile sampler and got some of Kitt’s DNA.

  “It’s a match,” I said as I stood up. “Kitt’s DNA matches that I found on the blood stained overalls hidden in the air vent. Now the laser net is up and working we can install him downstairs in one of the cells before he wakes up and then I’ll test Eddy. Good job guys, thanks for all your help.”

  “My pleasure Sam,” Luggs said as he spat at Kitt. “I just wish you’d go on inside for a moment and leave me in charge of this psycho fuck kiddy killer.”

  “I know buddy,” I replied “but then you’d be in one whole mess of trouble and he ain’t worth that.” He was still glaring at the unconscious Kitt as I put a hand on his arm to emphasise the point and he gave a deep sigh.

  “There’s something you should know Sam,” Boy said. I turned and looked and saw a grave expression on his face and behind him, Stitch, Hank and Flark all looked at the floor and I knew right off there’d been another murder while we’d been gone.

  “Oh no,” I replied and wiped a hand through my hair. “There’s been another one, yes?”

  “Two more,” Hank said quietly. My blood left me and I went cold as I took in his words.

  “What? Two? Shit.”

  “One of em was getting out of this place in a month.” Grelly said. “His time was up and he had a family who had waited for him and a job to go back to. He was gonna have a chance to have a good life again and now he’s dead.”

  “Where are the bodies?”

  “Wrapped in table cloths just inside the door here, near Meesha, Jena and Ronjo’s bodies.”

  “Throats cut, like the others?”

  “Yep.”

  “We need the knife guys,” I said. “Is it on him Luggs?”

  “Nope.”

  “Dammit,” I hissed. We really needed to find it but I knew we had a slim chance of finding a knife in a huge place like this and my heart sank. “We’ll just have to hope he decides to tell us when he wakes up cos I don’t fancy our chances of finding it in this place do you?”

  “Well we found the overalls,” Grelly cut in. “There are a lot of guys in here and I can tell you now every one of em will be more than willing to tear this place apart to find it.”

  “We’ll draw up a plan of action like we did when we searched for the overalls,” I said. “We divide the place up into small sections and get each team to pick the place apart methodically from the bottom up.” The guys nodded and that lifted my spirits a little. It was handy having so many willing helpers on this job; I knew I wouldn’t have been able to do this alone and I was grateful. “Okay let’s get this asshole down in a cell and then I’ll get a sample from Eddy. Then we go tell the troops huh?”

  Dex and Luggs grabbed Kitt by the arms and hauled him up. Boy was still struggling with Eddy so I held the door open and they dragged him through and headed for cell wing four. Grelly came with us and showed us how to operate the laser fences on the cells so Kitt could be secured without us having to worry about him escaping and we left him in a cell to sleep it off. As we headed up the stairs we heard the scream that rooted us to the spot. We looked at each other open mouthed, then as one we raced up the stairs and back into the main entrance hall. A man lay on his back and at first all we could see was the soles of his boots that twitched every couple of seconds. A second, much smaller body sat astride him, his back to us and seemed to be struggling with something out of our sight. As we slowly moved to our right, the man’s left hand came into view and that too was twitching in time with his feet. We were mesmerised at the sight and although we all knew that something was terribly, horribly wrong, we were powerless to act and slowly made our way around to get a better view.

  The floor for several yards around was wet with blood but instead of a gently spreading slick like in the vidicom movies we all watch from time to time, we saw angry sprays several feet long in all directions; one of which had hit the wall and reminded me of some of the offensively overpriced modern artwork I’d seen on my travels. Eventually we’d moved around enough to recognise the body as Boy, lying flat on his back as Eddy sat astride his chest, struggling to force the large knife through the vertebra. He shoved his weight down on the knife, lifting his backside up from Boy’s chest a foot or so and grunting with the effort. Finally he sank back down, exhausted from his failed attempt to behead Boy and turned to face us. He climbed from Boy’s body and stood there, soaked in blood from head to toe and just looked at us. His shoe squelched as he took a step towards us before remembering he’d left the knife buried in Boy’s neck. He turned back and bent down to retrieve it; having to use both hands to free it from Boy’s third and fourth cervical vertebra. He stood and faced us again, the knife held in front and locked eyes with Baz. For a second I was frozen but his sudden scream snapped me out of my torpor. He raced towards Baz and I shot him with a tranquiliser dart. He dropped instantly, the knife skittering across the slick floor and coming to rest at the toe of my left boot.

  Once I was able to tear my eyes away I looked down at the knife, transfixed by the sight of it lying there and still trying to get my head around the fact that I’d just seen a kid trying to behead a grown man. Shit, that kind of stuff takes some getting used to and I’ll admit I had a few nightmares afterwards over that. Murmurs from nearby brought me out of my trance and I looked up to find a crowd had gathered; brought there by the screams and now they all stood transfixed as we were. Using all of my inner control, I mentally shook the fuzz from my brain and reached into my pocket for my Sterifilm spray. Once my hands were coated I picked up the knife and called for a clean bin liner.

  “Get him downstairs and into another cell would ya guys?” A noise caught my attention and I looked up at the crowd to see Marta put a hand over her mouth and make a dash for the bathroom. The blue eyed plank appeared and met my gaze so I nodded towards the bathroom and he ran in after her. “Can we have a couple more table cloths here and some of that cleaning fluid?” While several
volunteers cleaned up I bagged the knife, then went up to the first floor and retrieved the overalls from the desk in office thirty seven where I’d hidden them before we left the day before. Now we had our killer, or killers, I could see no need to hide them away. My brain throbbed; I was mentally exhausted as I flopped into a chair beside Nembier.

  “Thought you were dog meat Sam,” he said quietly. “Your buddies said you and a couple of the others got caught by the creatures out there.”

  “A necessary subterfuge. Sorry to disappoint you,” I grinned.

  “Don’t apologise to me, I’m glad you’re still here. That blue eyed boy is a nice enough guy but I don’t really fancy my chances with him in charge of my case.”

  “I know what you mean,” I snickered. “We have the mystery throat slasher now, so you don’t have to worry about getting that tagged onto you okay? Thanks by the way.”

  “What for?”

  “For telling me about seeing the guy before. I know you were trying to help but you could’ve just told me it was Kitt who let you out of the cuffs. It might’ve ended this sooner and saved a few lives.”

  “You think so?” he asked me. “You’d have taken my word for it that I saw Kitt and his crazy kid kill my colleagues back home on Agrillia? Really? Look me in the eyes Sam and tell me you’d have believed me. I dare you.”

  “Point taken,” I nodded. “Now how about you tell me all about what happened back on Agrillia huh? This won’t be an official interview by the way; that’s not my job. You’ll have to do that when the relevant authorities take over your custody but I’d sure like to know.” He nodded and I sat back and listened as he explained it all to me.

  “We’d been working that dig for three months and were making some really interesting discoveries. The site was out in the middle of nowhere and it was great. We were out in the country, doing a job we love with no one around to bug us or order us around. One day we decided to take a day off and go hiking to see the countryside a little. We’d worked flat out since the day we arrived and a day off was just what we needed to refresh our batteries a little. Anyway, we’d been walking for a couple of hours when we came upon a couple of caves and decided to go in and explore. That was our mistake Sam and one I bitterly regret as it was mainly my idea to go in there. I guess I was hoping to find some rock carvings or something and I just couldn’t help myself, so I persuaded the other guys to take a few minutes just to look. The first one was empty but the second one was where we bumped into Kitt and his kid. They were asleep and although they could’ve just been an old guy and his grand kid out camping, we knew this area was not one where campers could usually be found. It’s very isolated and they didn’t have the sort of gear with them that would identify them as campers anyway and we just knew they were there because they didn’t want to be found and it occurred to all of us that they just might be second or third generation illegal clones. There’d always been rumours of clones still living around in the wilds but no one I knew or spoke to had ever actually seen any.”