Different

by Tony Butler

  “My toe’s growing back,” Eve exclaimed.

  “So is my ear,” Ben said.

  “Now, it is time for us to explain,” the man in red said.

  “I don’t understand,” Adam said.

  “Then let me explain and you will,” Hiljah said, and his eyes glowed brilliantly blue.

  * * * *

  Janine Schroeder unlocked the door of the children’s room and took a step inside before she noticed the beds were empty, and then she saw the window. She ran over to it, saw the molten metal of the bars and globules of melted glass on the concrete floor and felt a moment of fear. She looked out of the window and saw a hole in the wire mesh security fence that led onto The Devil’s Footprint.

  “Adam! Ben! Eve!” she called but there was no reply, just the silent writhing of the mist. Turning on her heel, she ran out of the room and upstairs to the laboratory. As she expected, and despite the fact it was only seven in the morning, Richard Anderson was sitting at a bench peering into his microscope.

  “Richard, the kids have gone,” she cried.

  He looked up at her and frowned. “Gone?”

  “Yes. You’d better come and see this for yourself,” she said. “Otherwise, you’re not going to believe it. The bars and the glass in their window appear to have melted, and there’s a hole in the security fence.”

  * * * *

  Senator Henry Matheson and his business partner and friend, Russell Downey, flew into the East Midlands Airport on a direct flight from New York. Jeremy Marchant, MP, and the scientist, Richard Anderson, were waiting for them in the lobby.

  They shook hands and Jeremy led them over to a chauffeur driven limousine, waited until the driver had stowed their luggage in the trunk then returned to his seat behind the wheel.

  “The children have been missing for over a week now,” he said. “The three of us, Janine, Richard and I, have searched along the main paths but have found no trace of them. The problem is, of course, that if they’ve been injured or killed, finding their bodies is essential. We can’t risk them being discovered by anyone except us.”

  “I told you we should’ve sanctioned them when we terminated the experiment three years ago,”

  Russell grumbled. “But no, you were all too squeamish to do what needed to be done.”

  “Damn it, Russell, we don’t just go around murdering kids,” Henry said. “There’s no way they can get off the ‘Devil’s Footprint’, well not unless they’ve grown wings that is.”

  “Tell me about the weird stuff,” Russell said. He was the head of Henry’s security team and never missed a thing.

  When Richard had finished telling them about the window and the hole in the security fence, Henry frowned. “You’re sure there’s not another hole in the fence somewhere that the kids could have escaped through?”

  “Yes, we called in an outside firm to check it out, from the exterior of course, and they couldn’t find one.”

  “Which means they’re still on the land somewhere,” Jeremy said. “But how on earth do we search a hundred and twenty six square miles of heavily timbered land that’s also riddled with unmapped mine shafts and boreholes?”

  “Dogs,” Russell said. “We set some tracker dogs on their trail.”

  “Hmm, yes, that would make sense,” Jeremy conceded. “But I’m not sure we have tracker dogs in England, except for the police and the military, of course, and we can hardly go to them.”

  “I’ve had the best team of hunting dogs in Georgia smuggled in to one of our military bases,”

  Russell said. “They’ll be arriving in Catherstone about the same time as we are. One thing’s for sure though, there’s no way the kid’s got out of that room on their own. That means somehow someone has penetrated our security and is out there on the ‘Devil’s Footprint’. Unless you want to risk doing some serious time in prison, we’re going to have to flush the bastard out.”

  Henry nodded. What Russell had said made sense. “What do we do when we find him, or maybe her?”

  “It’s a fair bet that whoever it is hasn’t been in contact with the law, otherwise this place would be crawling with police. No, we’re dealing with a maverick, possibly a reporter who’s working on his own. We’ll know for sure once we’ve caught him, but there’s only one solution either way. The intruder has to disappear permanently, along with the kids.”

  “No, we’ve discussed this before,” Jeremy said. “We agreed to let the kids live out their lives here in isolation.”

  “Russell’s right, Jeremy,” Richard said. “We can’t risk them being found. It’s been three years since we abandoned the Primeval Project and the children are a living time bomb. They’ll destroy us all if they ever manage to escape or someone finds out about them. What do you think, Henry?”

  “We have no choice if we ever want to feel secure,” Henry said. He’d avoided making this decision for too long. How different it had all seemed nine years ago when the four of them had set up the project. Genetics was Richard’s speciality and he was convinced that if he introduced the genes of reptiles into human children then the children could develop the ability to re-grow limbs. If the Primeval project had succeeded, they’d have all been billionaires many times over, but it hadn’t, and now they had to pay the consequences. “We find them and terminate them,” he said. “Then we can get on with our lives without having to constantly look over our shoulders. Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” Russell said.

  “Agreed,” Richard echoed.

  The three of them looked towards Jeremy who eventually shrugged.

  “Okay. I agree,” he said.

  Janine was waiting for them at the Manor House that barred the approach onto The Devil’s Footprint.

  “There’s an American Army Truck and a guy with some hounds in the compound,” she said.

  “He says you’ve hired him to track down the children, but his dogs look as though they’re liable to tear the children apart.”

  “Not unless we let them,” Russell said. “Not that it matters, because we’ve decided to terminate

  ‘em anyway.”

  “It’s about time. I was getting tired of being their nursemaid. We should have got rid of them years ago.”

  “Yes, but we didn’t,” Russell said. “That’s something we’re going to fix once we’ve found them and whoever helped them escape. So, let’s get this business wrapped up quickly, and then we can all relax.”

  The man with the four hounds and their owner, who Russell introduced as Seth, smiled at them, revealing tobacco stained teeth. The hounds strained at their ten-foot-long leashes, and looked bigger and heavier than the English version.

  “Just give old Red here a whiff of some of their clothes and he’ll be on their trail quicker than a possum up a tree. He’s the best damned tracking hound in the state of Georgia and the other three are almost as good.”

  “Before we do, I’d like your dogs to cast around a new hole we’ve found in the fence, Hank,”

  Russell said. “It seems that there might be someone we don’t know about snooping around.”

  “Iff’n they is, then my dogs’ll find him fer sure. Y’all want him in one piece or should I set the dogs loose?” Seth looked at Russell hopefully.

  “No, keep them leashed,” Henry said. “We’ll want to talk to him.”

  Hank shrugged. “Suit yerself. It ain’t no skin off my ass. Where’s this hole y’all want me to look at? My dogs are gettin’ restless with all this here jawing.”

  Henry nodded to Richard who punched some numbers into a small metal box by the huge wire mesh gate that was topped with razor wire. The gates slid open and Russell and Janine led the way onto the land known as The Devil’s Footprint.

  Russell examined the perfectly round three-foot hole in the fence and frowned. “The wire was melted, apparently. Look, the ends have been welded together and I haven’t come across anything that could make a hole like this.”

  “Red’s got himself a scent,�
� Hank said. “He’s a raring to go.”

  “Then give him his head,” Russell said. “Let’s go!”

  Hank slackened the dogs leashes and was almost pulled off his feet as the dogs lunged away from the fence with their noses skimming the ground. They didn’t bark, Henry noticed, but gave small muted whines as they headed across a patch of grass and towards a dirt road that ran into the trees. Russell must have noticed Henry’s observation because he said, “Hank’s trained them not to bark. He gets a lot of work hunting down bear and deer, and he doesn’t want them to know the dogs are on their trail.”

  “How will we know when we’re getting close to them?” Henry wouldn’t admit it, but he was finding jogging in order to keep up with the hounds hard work. Only Richard Anderson looked as though he, too, might be struggling. Janine, Russell and Jeremy seemed perfectly relaxed. Hank himself must have been over sixty and he ran in an easy ambling gate behind his dogs. Henry made a silent promise to start working out. Voters didn’t go much on forty-five-year-old overweight politicians.

  “When we’re almost on top of him, the dogs will kick up such a racket that the guy we’re chasing will either admit that we’ve got him and give up, or he’ll run himself into the ground. Either way, it makes no difference. Once the dogs start barking, he’ll be ours within an hour.” Russell glanced at Henry and grinned. “Relax and enjoy yerself, Henry. It ain’t often we get the chance to hunt down a man.”

  A few minutes later, Henry saw that the dogs had stopped and Hank was struggling to haul them back from the edge of the swamp. Russell ran over and gave him a hand and eventually the hounds were hauled back six or seven yards from the edge of the ground from which grey, white tendrils of mist rose as though dragging themselves free from its clinging embrace. Henry breathed easier in the cooler air. It was always cooler by the marshes.

  “Red almost got himself killed, the stupid mutt.” Hank spat a squirt of tobacco juice at the dog in disgust. “A straight down drop of sixty foot you told me, Russell. Well, that’s where you’ll find whoever it is we were chasing. The damned fool ran straight out onto the marsh, chasing will-owisps.”

  Henry felt a rush of relief. The guy had drowned in the marsh – an accident. They hadn’t been forced to kill him after all.

  “Are them the kids y’all are looking for?” Hank pointed along the edge of the marsh and Henry saw them. The boy and girl were wearing red tartan shirts, jeans and trainers. They were sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree watching them.

  Chapter Seven

  “It’s Ben and Eve,” Janine said, hurrying towards them. “But I can’t see Adam.”

  “Perhaps he went into the swamp with the guy who was helping them,” Russell said. “We’ll waste these two kids and throw their bodies in after them.” He looked at Henry and smiled without humour. “I’ll take care of the wet work myself while you and the others head back to base.”

  “That’s good of you, Russell,” Jeremy said hurriedly. “I’m not sure that I could actually kill anyone.”

  “Me, neither, especially kids,” Henry said. “We’ll leave it to Russell, as he’s used to this kind of thing. Richard, why don’t you and Jeremy take Hank back to the foundation? Janine, Russell and I need to question the kids and find out who was helping them before Russell wraps things up.”

  “Right, I’ll do that,” Richard said. “But what if Adam’s still alive and wandering about somewhere?”

  “It’s not likely,” Janine said. “He’s only seven and not nearly as big or strong as Ben. Adam’s at the bottom of the swamp, otherwise he would have stuck with Ben and Eve, for sure.”

  Richard nodded and then shouted to Hank. “We’re finished here. Let’s get back to the house, Janine and the others will take care of the kids.”

  “Wait, Richard. Look at Ben!” Janine cried. She’d stopped in her track and was staring at the boy. Henry was still trying to figure out what it was she’d seen when Richard gasped.

  “His ear’s grown back,” he said.

  Henry saw it then. Ben definitely had two ears now. He remembered the small boy who struggled and screamed when Richard had sliced off the ear. He hadn’t used an anaesthetic in case it affected Ben’s ability to grow a new one.

  Eve kicked off her shoes and Henry saw that she’d grown her missing toe back, too. What the hell was going on?

  Eve rose to her feet and looked at them with an expression of such contempt and revulsion that Howard wanted to slap her around a bit.

  “You mess with us and you’re going to be sorry,” Eve said. “We’re not so helpless anymore.”

  Janine snorted and ran towards her. Eve stooped, picking up a rock that must have weighed at least twenty pounds, and lobbed it at her.

  Henry watched helplessly as Janine stopped and stared in horror at the rock that was about to crush her skull. There was a blur of movement and she was swept off her feet and carried safely sideways and the boulder thudded harmlessly onto the ground.

  Nine-year-old Ben opened his arms, allowing Janine to fall onto the grass before jogging back to stand by Eve. “That was a warning,” he said. “Please, don’t make us hurt you.”

  Henry gaped at Russell and then the others and saw his own growing fear of the children reflected in their faces. Eve’s display of strength had been nothing compared to Ben’s speed and he’d carried Janine to safety as though she weighed no more than a child.

  “We have come into our own now,” Eve said. “And this is what you will do unless you want us to tell the police what you have done to us, Richard Anderson, Janine Schroeder, Henry Matheson, Jeremy Marchant and Russell Downey. Yes, we know who you are. Adam told us. He’s got powers that you’d never believe.”

  “Where is Adam?” Richard asked. “Did he go into the swamp with whoever it was that helped you?”

  “We all did,” Eve said. “But Adam’s gone now. Now, there’s just me and Ben. But that’s okay, because you have no idea what we can do.”

  “Let’s find out,” Russell growled. “Hank, loose your dogs on them!”

  Henry turned just in time to see Hank unleash the dogs, which bounded, snarling, towards Ben and Eve.

  Red was in mid-leap when Eve snatched up a branch and, with perfect timing, rammed it down the dog’s throat. “Bad dog!” she scolded as Red squealed in pain, trying to free himself from the stick that had impaled him. He screamed even louder when Eve grasped the branch and swung Red in the path of three of the other dogs, bowling them off their feet.

  Ben was too fast for the remaining dogs and they broke off their attack and fled with their tails between their legs back to Hank. Eve grasped the whining Red by his collar with one hand and yanked the branch free from his throat. Parting his jaws, she lowered her face within an inch of his fangs and blew down the stricken dog’s throat. From her hands, a blue light shot out, engulfing the dog as his whining eased.

  Eve held his head on her lap until the light began to fade and then disappeared and Red sat up.

  “You’ll be okay, boy,” she said.

  Red lunged towards her face. His tongue flicked out and he licked her. Eve giggled and hugged him. “Good dog,” she said.

  The whole episode was over in seconds and Ben spoke with an authority that belied his years.

  “You cannot risk letting us go and we do not want to go. We’re not prepared to be your prisoners any longer, nor your human lab rats. We’re freaks thanks to your experiments, so what we thought was that we would like to live here on the land, but by ourselves. We would need a cabin with a toilet and a water supply and some basic tools, that’s all.”

  “Forget it!” Russell snapped, but Henry stopped him and turned to Eve.

  “How do we know that you won’t use the tools to escape?” he asked.

  “That’s silly,” Eve said. “You saw the hole in the fence and our window and we didn’t need tools for that. Like Ben says, we want to be free but here on this land. We like it here.”

  Henry nodded and walked
towards her with his hand extended. “I guess I can understand that, Eve. If we do as you ask, do you promise that you and Ben will stay here? Will you shake hands on the deal?”

  She looked up at him and nodded and put her small hand in his and shook it. “We promise,” she said.

  He held her hand a moment longer and met her eyes. “We didn’t mean to hurt you, not really. Not when it all began.”

  She nodded and gave him a brief smile before releasing his hand. “We know that, too.”

  He turned to Ben and again offered his hand and, to his relief, Ben shook hands too.

  “Thank you, Ben,” Henry said gruffly. “I’ll see you get what you need.” He reached into his pocket, removed his gold cigarette lighter and handed it to Ben. “You can build yourself a campfire using this. I’ll have some proper supplies ready for you by this evening but the cabin might take a couple of days, so I’ll send you in some tents and camping stuff.”

  Ben smiled, looking just like any normal nine-year-old kid again. “Thanks a lot, Mister Matheson, that would be great.”

  “It’s my pleasure, Ben,” he said. Turning on his heel, he rejoined the others.

  “Let’s get back and start organising some supplies for Ben and Eve,” he said. “We’ve got ourselves a deal. Oh, and, Russell? Let’s not have any nasty surprises like a bomb or poison in their supplies. We can’t be sure of getting them both that way and you’ve already seen what they can do. No, I want surveillance in and outside of the cabin, everywhere. We’ll monitor their every move, but as long as they play ball we leave them be. Is that understood?”

  Russell nodded. “Okay. But I want to strengthen the fence, electrify it and put up an outer fence about six feet away from the existing one. We’ll have dogs patrolling between the fences just in case someone does try to get in, or out.”

  “That makes sense,” Henry said. “I’ll leave that part to you.”

  * * * *

  “You’re sure that she’s got a baby? It couldn’t be a pet rabbit or something?”

  “No, it’s no rabbit, Henry. It’s a baby,” Richard said. “We’ve known that Ben and Eve have been sleeping together for almost two years now, but this is the first time we’ve known about their child. It seems to be between one and two years old and I’m amazed they’ve been able to keep it a secret from us for so long.”