Bad Jack ((Ascension: Book 1))

by Adam Moon

  He sensed that the clock had been created over four months ago and that it was destined to be observed by Jack at this precise moment. How was it possible for Jessie to have known back then that it would end up on his desk today? He wondered if Jessie was conscious of what he’d done or if it was more akin to instinct. Maybe it was blind luck but it didn’t feel like it.

  Billy knocked and asked if he was done yet.

  “Yep. Ready for another one.”

  Billy set the clock in front of the camera and snapped a picture for later reference. Then he left with it tucked under his arm.

  Jack reached out to pick up the shot glass but it was still filling. It seemed like it filled more slowly each time, but then again, he could be imagining it since he was becoming increasingly desperate. He popped the lid back on and put it in his desk drawer. He’d check again in ten minutes.

  Billy returned but he was empty handed. “Let’s get some lunch.”

  Jack had the best cheeseburger he’d ever tasted. It was a simple patty but it was on a butter toasted bun and covered in grilled onions, mushrooms, thick slices of bacon and three different cheeses. Instead of ketchup it was smothered in steak sauce. He’d tried to go vegetarian several times over the years but man did he love a good burger.

  Billy was making small talk so Jack did his best impersonation of someone who gave a shit. His mind was on Melanie. He really thought he’d fallen for her. It seemed only fitting that it was too good to be true. Either she was a lunatic or else she was manipulating him. Either option broke his heart a little bit. Then again, what did he really know about her. He knew her parents and siblings were dead and that she was either in the military or ex-military; she knew too much about military procedure to be a civilian. He also knew she wasn’t the jealous type or she wouldn’t have offered to watch the tape with him. She liked to drink which he saw as a virtue, not a vice. She was cool as well as easy to talk to.

  He’d seen too many movies and read too many books where some dumbass dork falls for a beautiful woman only to be tricked into being a patsy for her evil plans to believe it was actually happening to him. He’d know if he was being manipulated. He was sure of it. Plus, she didn’t come across as calculating or insidious. Even on the juice he could see her motives were pure and innocent. Then the evil bastard part of him that had lain dormant for over a decade resurfaced and said, Jesus dude, just play along until the sex dries up. Then throw her away like the garbage she is.

  “Shut the fuck up.”

  Billy stopped mid sentence, a look of surprise instantly grabbed hold of his features.

  Jack realized he’d said it aloud. If he kept losing his grip it wouldn’t be long before he was ranting and raving like that poor old woman he’d met in here a few days ago.

  “Sorry, I wasn’t talking to you.”

  “So who were you telling to shut the fuck up then?”

  “Myself I guess. It’s nothing. Let’s get back to work.”

  Chapter 54: The General’s stripes

  The General passed them in the corridor. He nodded kindly to Billy but he stopped Jack.

  “I didn’t see an update to your bio this morning. I thought you were going to take a little bit of time each morning to add to it.”

  How mundane, Jack thought.

  He remembered asking Billy to see if the General would let him skip it this morning but apparently Billy had chickened out. Jack didn’t bust him out though.

  “So you still don’t trust me. I have nearly total access and I haven’t once abused the privilege. Tell me what I’ve done to abuse the trust the Doctor has placed with me. Tell me why I’m still doing dirt work for you when I have more important shit to do?”

  A barely noticeable tremor took hold of the General’s body. His lips tightened. He ordered Billy away. “Follow me to my office Jack.”

  Jack felt like a school kid who had accidentally told his Principle to go fuck himself in front of the class. He knew the General was going to tear him a new one and he deserved it. He was getting too big for his boots.

  He took a seat and folded his arms to shield himself against the forthcoming onslaught.

  The General snapped on a fake plastic smile. “To tell you the truth Jack, I don’t care about your biography any more. I was hoping to find a man with a more interesting past than you’ve shown me. I thought I might glean a reason why you are special from your history but everything I’ve read has been utterly pedestrian and boring to the point of nausea.”

  Jack saw what the man was doing. He had insulted him and the General wasn’t about to let him walk away without firing back in kind.

  “Every interesting thing in that bio only happened because of circumstance. Not once did I read that you actually did something to better your life. Even college and grad school were for naught because you sabotaged your chances for a career before you even enrolled. Instead of blaming your own actions you blame others. It’s tragic that your family died. It’s unfortunate that your uncle skipped out on you. These things do form the person you became but you were just a bystander throughout all of it. You get zero credit for who you’ve become as far as I’m concerned. Others have shaped you. Circumstances have molded you. Your relationships with women have either been entirely shallow or doomed from the start because you brought nothing to the table.”

  The General paused and his smile grew when he saw how angry he was making Jack.

  He continued with more vigor, “The only reason you’re here is because you won’t be missed. You’re a loser. You don’t even have a pet goldfish that’ll miss you. That brings me to my point; right now you are special. Once again, you didn’t earn it but here you are, the most important person in this facility according to the Doctor. And you’re even seeing a pretty guard down below. So you have a lot going for you all of a sudden, people are relying on you but you still walk around like the loser I met last week. You can’t maintain this level of irresponsibility. I don’t ask for much and God knows you give all I’ve come to expect from you. I just want you to know that I’d rather have ten ordinary scientists who try their very best than one who has all the abilities in the world and doesn’t give two fucks.”

  Jack was dumbfounded. Where had all this hostility come from? He called upon the go-juice to help him figure this out because if he used his own stupid brain he’d probably just reach across the desk and start pounding on the General. He settled into his chair and felt the serum rise up in him like a wave. It wasn’t as strong as before but if he concentrated he could use it. Time slowed to a stop and everything became murky and thick and then just like before, clarity washed it all away.

  He could sense the frustrations in the General. He felt like a failure. Others got ahead of him despite the fact that he tried his best to please his superiors at every turn. He rightly guessed that they saw limitations in him.

  He’d been given this post a year ago and even then his superiors had relegated him to second in command behind the Doctor. He was just as much a prisoner as anyone else, with limited access too. Jack could feel the injustice the General had felt when he found that out. The General knew innately that he was only here because he was expendable.

  Then a week ago the Doctor had him bring in Jack, another bozo who would inevitably fail to add any insight into the meaning of the artifacts, he imagined. But then Jack had shown his strange ability to interact with them without being caused bodily harm of any kind. The General had the foresight to tell the Doctor he might want to exploit said abilities. He had hoped he’d get credit for the find but the Doctor snatched Jack away without so much as a thank you. Jack was supposed to be his meal ticket to promotion or at least recognition but instead the Doctor would steal all the accolades. It was a recurring theme in his life. And now it was apparent that Jack had switched allegiances. The General had the paranoid feeling that Jack saw him as a tragically comical caricature.

  Jack shuddered. He purposely pushed everything he’d just seen and felt from his m
ind. The General was a broken man. The quagmire of ugly political maneuvering and worry made him sick to his stomach. Jack felt pity for him.

  “I’m sorry I haven’t lived up to my expectations. I’ll get back to work now if that’s ok.”

  The General looked like he was about to explode. He’d prodded and cajoled and Jack had the audacity to let it roll off his back like it was nothing. But what could he do? Jack stood to leave and the General visibly wilted. He put his head on the desk like someone had cut his strings. “I wish I’d never brought you in,” he whispered.

  “I know,” said Jack as he quietly closed the door behind him.

  His chest felt like it was made of molten lead.

  Billy’s smile vanished when he saw the mortified expression on his face. “What happened? I thought he was just going to ream you out.”

  Jack said disgustedly, “He blames me for all his failures. He thinks I turned against him.”

  “How could you know that? Don’t read into his goofy little tirades too much buddy, he’s just high strung.”

  “Listen, when I drank from that shot glass it helped me see things that used to not be so clear. It’s still in my system so it’s still working its magic.”

  Billy went ashen. “I knew I should have taken it away from you. What the hell were you thinking?”

  “I guess I wasn’t. It lets you see motives behind actions, siphon out important hidden thoughts, shit like that.”

  “Prove it.” Billy said it like a challenge. “Use it on me.”

  “You want me to?”

  “I want you to try and to fail and then to get your ugly ass back to work.”

  Chapter 55: Billy’s Past

  “Ok.” Jack walked to the desk and pried the lid off the glass as Billy closed the office door. He probably didn’t need to swig from the shot again but Billy didn’t know that. He gestured for him to sit at one of the never used stools. He tilted the full glass of liquid back and felt its effects hit him as Billy looked up at him in childlike wonder.

  Yeah, thought Jack, you don’t want me to fail, you hope it works.

  Drinking it in the presence of someone tripled the intensity of the experience. He knew things about Billy now that Billy barely knew.

  “You grew up in Kentucky. You’ve worked hard to lose that twang in your accent. You were in foster care from the moment you were born. You find it odd now that no one adopted you sooner since babies usually get taken right away. You got lucky on the third attempt and actually got adopted by a pretty cool couple. They were rich. They pampered you. But when you were thirteen your foster mom got drunk and touched you inappropriately. Her husband caught her in the act and he sent you packing so he didn’t have to confront the elephant in the room; his wife was a drunken deviant. You don’t think about it much these days but it’s still there, deep and raw and eating you from the inside. You know it wasn’t your fault but that doesn’t help. It’s why you don’t trust women.”

  Billy interrupted, “Ok Jack. You’ve said enough,” but Jack barely heard him.

  “You joined the Marines at seventeen with written permission from the State. You traveled and met some great people but you couldn’t stop thinking about your real mom and real dad. You did blame yourself for them abandoning you. Then you started to blame yourself for the failed adoption. You would inevitably always come to the same conclusion; there was something wrong with you that made people want to run away.

  You tried suicide at twenty four when drinking didn’t take away the pain but you got caught in the act. You got mandatory professional help through the military and you pretended you were getting better but you were only bluffing so they’d let you go. You promised yourself that once they let you out you’d make sure the suicide stuck.

  But before they cleared you a man named Humboldt came to see you. He offered you the world and promised you’d be part of something big. It was the first time in years you felt like you had a reason to live. You came here and for two months you waited for something to happen. Then I showed up.”

  Billy started to sob. Jack wondered what was wrong with him. Then he realized he’d gone too far. He put a hand on his shoulder and said, “I don’t judge you. You did nothing wrong.”

  By physically touching Billy, he was able to sluice even more info from him. He knew what his real mom looked like. Billy must have looked into her face with his cloudy newborn eyes at least once before he was sent away and Jack could see the vision of her as newborn Billy had seen her. She was very young, maybe fourteen or fifteen and she was sobbing.

  Jack kept this to himself. It wouldn’t do Billy a bit of good to find out that he was forcibly removed from his real mothers care. Was she raped? Did her dad insist on adoption instead of abortion? Was Billy’s real dad incarcerated for statutory rape? These were all pointless and profoundly negative questions that he could spare Billy just by keeping his mouth shut about it.

  Billy stood from the stool, choked his sobs down and said with a half hearted smile, “I guess it does work.”

  Jack laughed and Billy’s sobs morphed into laughter.

  He said wheezy, “You know Jack; I would have told you some of that stuff if not for regulations. I wasn’t just trying to be secretive. We’re forbidden from discussing personal matters with you lab coats. I think it’s to stop guards and their charges from forming friendships, you know, in case we have to shoot you.”

  Jack mused, “Maybe that’s why I know so little about Melanie.”

  “Probably. Why don’t you just take a glug of that magical firewater and go see her?”

  Jack looked at the clock. It was a few minutes to two; almost time to head downstairs. “You’re a frickin’ genius Billy-boy.” He’d let Billy think it was his idea and that he hadn’t already thought about that very thing hours ago.

  It was funny; now Billy was encouraging him to drink the elixir.

  He reached for the glass and his heart sank when he saw that only a teaspoonful had reappeared at the bottom. He didn’t know if there was enough in his system to last that long. It might be an hour before he got her alone and by then it would wear off.

  Then he had a countering thought, what kind of a dickhead have I become? I’m no weirdo stalker. This is like going through her mail or her purse to find out her secrets. She’ll tell me everything about her if I just trust her. She hasn’t given me much reason to think I can’t.

  He said aloud, “I don’t need black magic to get to know her. I think I’ll just use the ole noggin to suss her out.”

  He snapped the lid back on the shot glass and, watching Billy the whole time, slipped it into the big square pocket of his lab coat. Billy started to open his mouth in protest but he closed it again.

  As he escorted Jack to the elevator he said, “You can’t keep it forever you know. They’ll notice the missing checkmark sooner or later and come after you.” Then he slowed down so his brain could make use of the energy. “How about I just give them a different one? In the plastic baggy no one will notice the switch.”

  “Do you have a spare shot glass? Are you sure you’re ok with this?”

  He was surprised by this reversal.

  “I have a few. I’m only doing this because it’s too cool to give back.”

  Jack smiled. Just a week ago Billy had pointed a gun at him and severed almost all hope for trust between them. Now he was not only risking his job for a parlor trick but his life too. And even though he said he was doing it for other reasons Jack knew he was doing it as a favor to him. He knew he could trust the man. He’d seen into the deepest most hidden recesses of his mind and Billy was one of the good guys despite his secret moods and suicidal tendencies. If performing tricks was all it would take to keep him from eating a bottle of pills or a bullet then Jack would become the great Harry Houdini for him.

  Chapter 56: TMI

  Melanie met him outside the elevator doors. Brett was as congenial as he could be. They were under the powerful fans of the clean room within
less than a minute.

  She said, “The Doctor had to run an errand so it’ll just be you and me and Oliver. We can finally talk.”

  He didn’t know if this pleased him or made him more mentally exhausted; maybe both.

  Once the doors opened a world weary Oliver escorted them from there. He looked anguished or maybe that was how he looked when he was tired or stressed. Either way, he looked like crap.

  They passed the cages but this time the creatures all turned to watch them in silence as they walked by. It looked as though Jessie had conjured another creature because one of the few open cages left was now closed.

  Jack passed by the other monsters without sparing a glance. He wanted to see this new abomination before they went any further.

  Inside the cage sat Jessie in his Spongebob pajamas. He looked up when Jack approached but he didn’t speak.

  “What the fuck are you doing? Let him out.” Jack ordered Oliver.

  “That’s not the real Jessie. He dreamt it. It’s just like those copies of you.”

  He reached inside and touched Jessie’s shoulder to make sure. He felt a surge of warmth and a serene calm emanating from the boy. The boy was not human, that was for sure. He resonated like the artifacts.

  Satisfied, he said to Melanie and Oliver, “Alright then. I watched the tape already so where can we go to talk?”

  Oliver led them into the monitoring room. They took up seats around the break table.

  Oliver started. “Melanie told me everything. You drank some sort of potion from an artifact that allows you to see hidden meanings or something, right? That’s how you figured out what’s really going on here. Well, I tell you, I’m glad you did because I was wondering how to bring you up to speed without you thinking I’m a crazy person.”