Floxham Island ~ Sinclair V-Log AZ267/M

by Merita King

  “So what did you do?” I asked.

  “We crept away without waking them up. If we had stumbled upon a couple of illegal clones hiding out, knowing what they’re capable of, well we wanted out of there fast. We got out okay but one of the guys dropped his wallet and didn’t realise until an hour or so later. None of us fancied the idea of going back to get it so we just carried on and decided that when we got back to camp, we’d call in the security force to deal with them. What we didn’t realise was that his wallet contained his ID card and the licence for the dig. We effectively gave Kitt and the kid our address and of course, within twenty four hours the two of them paid us a night time visit. As luck would have it, I was up taking a piss when I heard a noise from one of the tents. Something caught my eye in the gloom when I was about to go and investigate and I saw the kid crawl out the back of the tent with a huge knife in his hands. I was scared Sam and you know what? I was too scared to go and help those guys. Instead of going to help my friends I just hid amongst the rocks while they murdered them and waited for them to go away. Have you any idea how that makes me feel? Have you? Those were my buddies Sam. I’ve worked with them for ten years and they were the only friends I ever had and I stood by and let them be hacked to death cos I was too scared to go and help them.”

  By the time he’d finished telling me the story, he had tears on his cheeks and I genuinely felt sorry for him. “Thank you for telling me the truth buddy. I’ll make sure the authorities know okay?” He nodded and sniffed and I went and got him a drink. Something occurred to me, so I sat back down and turned to face him. “Did you actually see the kid do all the killings or did the pair of them do it?”

  “It was just the kid but you know something? I reckon that Kitt only allowed it because he knew we’d found their hideout. It seemed to me like the kid was the actual crazy one.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Kitt was hiding in the shadows and just looked, well, furtive I guess. It’s hard to describe but there was just something about him that told me the kid was the crazy one. It seemed to me that they were just doing it to stop themselves being found and the kid euthanased.”

  “Okay, thanks,” I nodded and felt a lot happier now that I had the full story.

  Once everyone had found their way back into the canteen and got themselves drinks and sat down, I thought they deserved an explanation so I stood.

  “Guys,” I called and the room fell silent. “Okay now you all deserve to know what’s been going on so here it is. Professor Nembier here gave me information that it was an Agrillian clone who let him out of the restraints the day we arrived and I felt that this was done in order that he be blamed for Jena Marks’ murder. When the second murder occurred I knew it couldn’t have been Nembier; he didn’t have the time. That was when we all knew we had a killer amongst us. When I got the DNA sample from the overalls, I knew I had to get it processed in order that I could at least begin to figure out who it might be. I know we told you we were going to look for some long range comms equipment, but what we were in fact doing, was going to the forensic lab to process my DNA sample. I’m sorry we lied to you but I didn’t want the killer to get nervous and put you all in danger while all the best guns were away. I know you lost another two of your friends but if he’d known we were closing in on his identity, we could’ve returned to find you all dead.”

  “When they told us you’d died out there we thought we were doomed Sam,” one of the inmates called out and several heads nodded in agreement. “We’re sure glad you’re okay buddy.”

  “Thanks man. Anyway, when the sample was done and it said it came from an Agrillian clone named Edward Kitt, we all knew it was either the kid or the old guy, or both. We wanted to get them under restraint without any danger to yourselves, and that’s why Morry here asked him and the kid to help him fetch stuff from the stores. Me and a couple of the guys were hiding outside and got Kitt restrained so I could get a sample of his DNA, which came back as a match to the overalls. We thought we had our guy but then the kid ups and goes crazy when we were putting Kitt in a cell and Boy was lost. You all saw how he died, it was horrible but I want you all to know that both of them are now downstairs in cells and they can’t escape. We also got the laser net working again by the way, thanks to Hank’s genius, so no more creatures can gain access to the island. We must be aware however that there may still be more that we haven’t flushed out and dealt with yet. All the buildings except for the workshops and the accommodation sector have been searched and cleared, so it’s probably wise that no one go wandering around outside without an escort. If you do, you’re to blame for anything happens to you okay? So now all we have to do is wait for the liner to return so we can alert the relevant authorities and get off this rock.”

  “Sir?” a voice called.

  “Yeah buddy, what’s up?”

  “We still have a killer amongst us don’t we? What about him?” he said as he nodded towards Nembier.

  “Professor Nembier witnessed nine of his friends murdered by Kitt and Eddy back on Agrillia. That’s why he went on the run. He was running from Kitt and Eddy and also because he was scared he would be accused of the killings, which he was. I’ve been doing this job for a very long time and I know guilt when I see it. Professor Nembier is no danger to anyone here but the law states that I have to keep him under restraint until his case can be fully investigated by the proper authorities.”

  “Okay,” the guy nodded and looked at Nembier. “Sorry buddy.” Nembier nodded back and blushed.

  We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and chatting and by the time we hit the sack I knew I would have no problems sleeping.

  *****

  CHAPTER TEN

  The next morning I awoke feeling pretty good, despite having spent the night on a pile of table cloths on the floor and after a wash down and some breakfast, I decided I’d best take some food and drink down to Kitt and Eddy in the cells. They were both asleep when I approached the cells and I was pleased that I’d had the presence of mind to ensure the guys put the kid in a cell three down from Kitt, rather than in one of the ones opposite. I didn’t want them communicating and formulating a story between the two of them and with the kid supposedly being deaf and dumb, so long as he couldn’t see the old guy, he wouldn’t be able to communicate and plot with him. Approaching the first cell I called to Kitt and he awoke immediately and leapt up. Jeez that guy has sharp ears; he was snoring just seconds before and now he was up and alert and ready for anything. No yawning or stretching, not even an early morning fart greeted my presence, just a blank glare.

  “Morning Kitt,” I said without smiling. “I’ve brought you both some food and drink, here.” His face remained expressionless as I slid his tray into the safety drawer, pressed the button and watched as it slid through into the cell. For a second or two his eyes held mine before he reached in and retrieved the tray and looked at it. “It’s not gourmet I’m afraid but you know our circumstances. It’ll keep starvation at bay even if you don’t enjoy it. We should only have one more day until the liner arrives and we can call for help and you’ll be taken into the care of the proper authorities.” He didn’t respond so I walked down to Eddy’s cell and was startled to find him standing right at the front of cell, almost touching the laser fence and glaring right into my eyes. It made me jump the way he was just stood there like that. My heart was still pounding as I walked to the safety tray and he walked with me, matching my movements, glaring at me all the time. This was freaky but I forced myself not to look into his eyes, although knowing he was willing me to gave me the heeby jeebies and almost made me turn and run. As nonchalantly as I could, I pressed the button and watched the tray slide through into the cell and waited to see what he would do. This was the moment when I knew I would have to meet his gaze or he would have the position of power and, well you know me and power games.

  With every ounce of strength I possessed, I forced myself to raise my eyes and glared back into his and
for several seconds we stood there staring each other down and both wondering who would give in first. It was almost me; so very nearly me but just as I was about to turn away cursing myself, he turned and picked up the tray of food. He then turned away and went and sat down on his bunk and started eating, delicately, daintily, tiny morsel by tiny morsel. It was weird and I walked back to Kitt to find him trying to peer sideways to see what was going on with me and Eddy and I was delighted that he couldn’t see. He still held the tray in his hands so I nodded at it.

  “Don’t let it get cold buddy; it taste’s even worse once it’s cold.” He sighed and went to sit down and began to eat. “I’ll come back for the trays in an hour or so. Maybe then you might wanna talk about things.” He still didn’t respond so I started to walk away but before I got halfway to the door I heard a crash followed by the sound of sobbing. That was one of those moments when I wasn’t sure what to do for the best. Should I immediately go back and talk to the guy or should I continue walking and let him mull things over for a while? He made my decision for me by calling my name so I turned and headed back to the cell. He was sat on his bunk, head in his hands and the tray on the floor. For a moment I stood and watched him sobbing, not knowing quite what to say. The guy’s a murderer but a part of me felt sorry for him. I know, call me a crazy dumb fuck but hey, I have a heart y’know.

  “I’m sorry for everything Sam,” he said between sobs. “Believe me I never wanted to get into this mess but once things started happening I couldn’t get out of it.”

  “Start from the beginning,” I sighed. “This isn’t an official interview by the way, that’s not my job but I want to understand it.”

  “Do you know about the Agrillian Outbreak?” he asked and I nodded. “When the outbreak happened, my grandfather, who was also a clone, was ostracised from the community he’d lived in all of his life. Despite being healthy and no danger to anyone, the neighbours made his life a misery. One day they cornered his wife and beat her nearly to death. She was a clone too and had just given birth to my father. They both left the community that night and went deep into the countryside and lived wild with their newborn. Pretty soon they met a few other runaway clones, all of them healthy and no danger and they formed their own secret community right out in the wilds where no one could ever find them. My father grew up and took one of the clone girls as his wife and they had a son, me. In turn, I grew up and married too and had a daughter and she too, took a husband from our secret community and they quickly had a child. That child was healthy and fine as a kid but when he hit puberty we quickly noticed things that told us he was the first one born into our community who was bad.”

  “So why didn’t you?” I left the question unfinished and he looked up at me and sighed.

  “Why didn’t we kill him? he asked and I nodded. “We were going to. We had a community meeting and discussed it and it was agreed that he should be killed for the good of us all and the greater Agrillian community. We told him we were going for a picnic by the river and he seemed to accept that but along the way we met some hikers and one of them went to hug him and it set him off. That’s what does it for him by the way Sam, hugging is his trigger. Every one of the bad clones had a particular trigger that would set them off. It could be anything; a word or even having certain colour hair. For Eddy it was hugging and one of those hikers went to hug him and he took her own knife from her belt and cut her throat.”

  “Shit,” I replied as I ran a hand through my hair. “Just a hug is what starts it for him? That’s what sets him off?” He nodded. “But it’s so natural for people to want to hug a kid.”

  “I know and that’s why I’ve always tried to keep him slightly apart from people and why I never encourage anyone to get close to him or try to engage him.”

  “What happened with the hikers then? Why didn’t you kill him like you planned?”

  “The other hikers went nuts and ran off. We knew we were in trouble so we had to leave and go on the run. My daughter was terrified and she started to cry and forgot herself and put her arm around Eddy. He still had the knife from the hiker woman and he used it to kill his mother, my daughter. I was grief stricken at losing my daughter and I just couldn’t kill my grandson too right there and then, so I took him and we ran. He was my only link with my daughter you see.”

  “I understand that but it was too much of a risk.”

  “I know and I always knew I would have to kill him sooner or later. We took to living in a cave we found and everything was okay until that man left his wallet behind and we knew we’d been discovered. There was no choice but to either give ourselves up or deal with the guy and move on again. I know what I should’ve done but have you any idea how hard it is to make the decision to give yourself willingly to certain death? We may be clone descendants Sam but our survival instinct is the equal of anyone else’s and I know it was a failing but I wanted to live. I’d never harmed anyone in my life.”

  “And of course if you had killed Eddy and he’d been found, you’d then be accused of being one of the crazies and would be euthanased yourself,” I said and he nodded.

  “Exactly. It was a no win situation for me. Anyway we went to the camp where the workers were and it was the first time I actually instructed him to kill. I tried to do it myself but you know what? I didn’t even have the guts to do it myself so I told my grandson to do it and watched as he went from tent to tent. It was as I watched that I knew I had to deal with Eddy, so I changed our names and left Agrillia on the Sally B. I knew the liner called at Floxham so I told them I was visiting a relative here and booked a place on the shuttle. I intended to give us both up when we got here.”

  “So why did you free Nembier?”

  “I heard him telling you that he was from the scientist’s camp and that he was accused of the murders, so I set him free and hoped he would escape and manage to evade capture. It was the only way I could think of to try and make up for what we’d done. I didn’t want him to be executed for Eddy’s crimes. It was while I was setting him free that Eddy killed Jena Marks. She must’ve put her arms around him or snuggled up to him or something. I’m so sorry for everything.” His face crumpled and he slumped to the floor and sobbed.

  “So how come I got a DNA sample from the overalls?” I asked him. “They’re way too big for Eddy to wear and when the sample came back as belonging to Edward Kitt, we all assumed it was you and that you’d changed your names.”

  “He did wear them. He sometimes wets himself overnight and I’d given him the overalls after he had an accident,” he explained. “Later the same night I got him up and told him to take a pee and I guess Mr Tyle was there and must’ve put an arm around him or something. Eddy was covered in blood so I got him a clean pair and hid the dirty ones.”

  “Is it just coincidence that all the victims are Agrillian?”

  “No it isn’t a coincidence. All of us who are descended from clones have a strange ability to know when we’re in the company of another Agrillian. I don’t know why and the fact hasn’t been documented because we haven’t spoken much about it. Maybe it’s because of our clone heritage that we can recognise others who share our DNA, I don’t know but all of the umm, bad clones only ever attacked Agrillians. My grandfather used to tell us of a guy he worked with who was from Earth. He married an Agrillian woman whose uncle was a clone. He’d married another clone and had three kids who were all fine and healthy. Two of them married clones and had children and one of them turned out bad. They were having a family celebration one day when the Uncle’s grandson went crazy and slaughtered them all with his Uncle’s laser rifle he kept for hunting. The only ones who were spared were the Earth guy and his mixed race daughter he’d had with his Agrillian wife.”

  “I wonder why that should be.” This news was both intriguing and unbelievable.

  “Even we don’t know. Maybe it’s divine retribution for interfering with nature,” he replied with a shrug. “That was another reason I wanted to get Eddy away fr
om Agrillia. The likelihood of us meeting other Agrillians would be much less and there would be more chance of me getting him here without anyone else being harmed.”

  “And what about your names?” I asked. “Are you really Kitt Frail?”

  “No I’m Frank Kitt and he’s Edward Kitt. I changed my name but he won’t answer to anything but Eddy so I had no choice but to risk it with him and I gave us my mother’s name of Frail.”

  “And is he really deaf and mute?”

  “Yes he is,” he nodded. “A lot of the clones had other physical deformities and disabilities and it’s something that’s always been passed down through our generations. It’s part of the cost of cloning I guess.”