by Jack Kilborn
Special Agent Smith spun around, feet planted a shoulder’s width apart, arms out in a defense stance.
“Keeeyaaa!” Smith’s battle cry echoed down the hallway.
The echo lasted longer than he did.
Jack Kilborn
Disturb
“Is it damaged?”
Rothchilde was referring to the thalamus, hypothalamus, corpus callosum, and other parts of the brain that were harvested to produce N-Som. In the head he’d brought, all of these parts were intact. The bullet had only done damage to the motor cortex, central and longitudal sulcus, and occipital lobe.
“It’s fine.”
“There’s enough to make N-Som?”
Theena nodded, removing a section of the medulla oblongata. Bill raised an eyebrow at this, but kept his mouth shut. Theena was grateful for that.
They ground up the tissue with a mortar and pestle, and then began the laborious task of making it into a pill.
Theena didn’t bother with precise measurements this time. She also abbreviated the suspension in the acetonitrile and eyeballed the amount of the dimethylformamide dispersant. Rothchilde didn’t know any better.
Since DruTech contracted out for the actual pill manufacturing because it was a complicated process, the way to make ingestable N-Som in the lab was to simply add some hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and sodium starch glycolate, then spoon the mixture into empty gelatin capsules.
The work, although forced, had a calming effect on Theena. This day had been a trip to hell, with no end in sight. She was happy to lose her mind in a familiar chemical procedure. But as it neared the end, she began to worry about what would happen next.
“Those don’t look like N-Som.” Rothchilde was eyeing the capsules suspiciously.
“We can’t make tablets here. We don’t have the proper equipment.”
Rothchilde pointed the gun at Bill. “Take one.”
Bill shrugged, reaching for a capsule. Theena had a terrible moment of mind-bending panic, and made her decision immediately.
She grabbed a capsule first.
Rothchilde gave her a disapproving glare. “I was talking to Dr. May.”
Theena knew she must look like hell, and she couldn’t recall a moment where she’d ever felt less sexy. But she’d been manipulating men all of her life, and for the very first time her life depended on it.
Theena smiled as seductively as possible, and brushed up against Rothchilde with a smooth roll of her hips.
“You killed this man, didn’t you Albert?”
Albert met her gaze, trying to look nonchalant. Theena lowered her voice, breathy and soft.
“I want to see it.”
“Really? You’re a fickle one, aren’t you?”
“Just because I want to be on the winning team?” Theena pouted slightly, a move that always worked for her. “You won’t let me share your victory? Share your power?”
She placed a hand on Rothchilde’s arm and caressed it. His face softened.
“Maybe we could try it together.”
Theena nodded, putting the capsule between her lips. She held it there, like a cigarette, teasing. Rothchilde raised a hand and plucked it out.
“Not now. Later. We have other things to do now.”
Theena struggled to hide her relief. Rothchilde turned his attention back to Bill.
“You’re still interested in pushing N-Som through the FDA?”
“You’re still willing to part with half a million?”
Theena eyed Bill. Had Rothchilde actually been able to bribe him? Or was Bill planning something else?
Rotchilde nodded his head. “We’ll give it a try, then. Let’s gather up your things. You know I’ll need to hold you someplace until all the paperwork goes through.”
“I’d want assurances that I’d be released when it happens.”
“Of course. You’re sure it won’t bother you allowing N-Som on the market, after seeing what it did to poor Manny?”
“I’ll live with myself.”
Rothchilde’s mouth twisted. “Yes. You’re good at that, aren’t you? Gather up your things, we won’t be coming back.”
Bill nodded, and as he turned, Rothchilde shot him in the back.
Jack Kilborn
Disturb
The feeling was similar to a muscle cramp, multiplied by a hundred. It hit Bill like a pick ax in the right shoulder, the pain flaring across his back and extending down his arm.
He pitched forward, vision blurring, bouncing on the unforgiving tile floor.
“I watched your extraction procedure, Theena. You’ll be able to do it yourself next time.”
Bill felt a hand on his back, directly on the wound. Theena, trying to stop the bleeding. It amplified the pain and he saw stars.
“No more killing, Albert.”
“Theena, dear, you don’t think he’s really going to approve our drug, do you? He’s just buying time.”
Bill tired to gauge how bad the wound was, but he couldn’t without seeing it. He could breathe okay, and bend his arm. His best guess was the bullet broke his shoulder blade.
“I don’t want you to kill him.”
“You said you wanted to be on the winning team. I’m the winning team.”
Rothchilde held out his hand for Theena. “Come on. You can process his brain and we’ll relive his death together.”
Bill knew it was over, and the thought didn’t bother him too much. His quality of life hadn’t ever been what it was when Kristen was still alive. He didn’t like dying at the hands of a bastard like Rothchilde, but it was probably a better way to go than being hacked to death by David.
Theena met his eyes, and he nudged her, trying to get her to save herself.
She took Rothchilde’s hand, got daintily to her feet, and punched him between the legs.
Rothchilde doubled over, still gripping the gun. Theena launched herself at him, both hands locking on his weapon, kicking frantically at his legs to get it away.
“I’M BACK.”
The voice boomed over the intercom, unmistakable. It infused Bill with a fear that made his pain seem minor. Somehow, David was still alive.
Bill rolled over and saw Theena and Rothchilde topple to the floor, his hand entwined in her hair. Bill managed to pull himself over to them, adding his good hand to the wrestling match for the gun.
Rothchilde was thin, slight, and not much of a fighter. Theena clawed at his eyes and face, and sunk her teeth into his wrist.
He screamed out a slur and let go of the gun.
Bill grabbed it and had a momentary tug of war with Theena, who was too enraged to notice he’d joined the fight.
Rothchilde, both hands free, managed to scramble to his feet. He grabbed a handful of the N-Som Theena had produced, then ran out the door.
Theena managed to pull the gun away from Bill and she fired two wild shots after him, ready to squeeze off a third.
“Save the bullets!”
She stopped, looking at Bill with confusion, and then relief. Without thinking, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, causing him to yelp at the pressure.
Theena relented and hurried to a medical cabinet.
Bill managed to sit up. “David’s still alive.”
“First things first.” She hurried back to Bill with a large metal case, and unsnapped it. Using scissors, she cut away the back of his shirt.
“I’m giving you a shot of morphine first.”
“Not morphine. I need to stay alert. Do you have any Novocain?”
“How about lidocaine?”
“That’ll work.”
Bill felt a prick in his shoulder.
“I KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. YOU’RE IN THE LAB.”
“How long will it take to numb you?”
“We don’t have time to wait. Just do it.”
“This is going to sting.”
She emptied a bottle of alcohol on the wound, and tears squirted out of Bill’s eyes.
“Here,
bite this.”
Theena handed Bill a roll of gauze. He’d barely gotten it in his mouth before something sharp went into the bullet hole and began to poke around.
He moaned, his nervous system lighting up like a Christmas tree. Theena dug deeper, and deeper, and then there was a small sucking sound and a tremendous feeling of relief.
“I got the slug. You need stitches.”
“We have to get out of here. Dress it.”
Theena slapped on some cotton pads and taped them to Bill’s skin. The lidocaine hadn’t completely numbed him, but it was taking the edge off the pain.
She helped Bill to his feet. He was woozy.
“Can you walk?”
“Watch me.”
They were halfway to the door when David filled the entrance.
“Hi, Theena. Dr. May. You’ll be happy to know that Manny and I have resolved our differences.”
He swung the ax.
Jack Kilborn
Disturb
Theena jumped back. The ax cut the air inches before her face, ripping out a few stray strands of hair that didn’t move as fast as she did. Her butt hit the counter behind her, and David lifted the ax again, his eyes shining with a madness she knew all too well.
“I don’t want to kill you, David!”
Her grip on the gun was tight, certain. David advanced.
She shot him in the thigh, and he folded in half and hit the floor, still clutching the ax.
“Go ahead, Bill! I’m covering him!”
Bill had a moment of uncertainty, then he stepped around David and fled the lab. Theena kept the gun and both eyes on David, following Bill’s route. David’s eyes tracked her every step, a cobra poised to strike. He had one hand clamped over the wound on his leg, but already the bleeding was slowing down.
“We have to get out of here.”
Bill turned for the elevator. She caught his arm, holding him back.
“You need a key card.” Theena fished it out of her lab coat. He eyed her strangely when she offered it to him.
“How about you?”
“I have to contain David. If we leave, so will he.”
“But we’ll be safe.”
“He needs help, Bill. I owe him that.”
The look he gave her was priceless, a cross between bewildered and resigned. He was such a good guy. Maybe when this was over…
She pushed the impulse away. Theena couldn’t think about happily ever after. She knew she didn’t deserve it.
Bill let out a long breath. “What do you have in mind?”
“We can tie him up. There are jump ropes in the gym.”
“Lead the way.”
They jogged down the hall and turned left. Blood was spattered over the floor and walls, and many of the overhead fluorescent tubes were smashed. The remaining lights flickered and hissed, erratic strobes throwing crazy shadows. A portion of Theena’s resolve eroded with every step. Her sense of responsibility was slowly being overtaken by her fear. David seemed to be hiding in every corner, ready to leap out and mutilate all of the people that hurt him.
And she was the last one.
The gym was a decent replica of a modern health club; too bright, completely encircled with mirrors, and crammed with stacks of machines that looked like torture devices. For some insane reason, the equipment locker had a padlock on it. Theena shoved the gun in her pocket. She unclipped the overhead T-bar from a lat-press and wedged it in the latch. She twisted, her muscles bunching with effort. The lock was bending… bending…
SNAP!
Theena tugged open the locker door and snagged five jump ropes, shoving them under her armpit.
“Theena!”
She turned at Bill’s voice, followed his frightened gaze.
David was in the room with them, leaning on the ax like a cane. He grinned.
“Is the Stairmaster free?”
Theena drew the gun.
“Drop the ax, David.”
“This ax?” With a violent jerk, David thrust the ax into the mirror alongside the doorway, smashing glass with an ear-bursting crash.
He shifted and swung in the other direction, shattering a reflection of himself, droplets of his blood peppering the glinting shards that fell at his feet.
Theena took careful aim and shot him in the leg again. There was a small eruption of blood, and his knees buckled, but he somehow managed to stay on his feet.
She shot twice more, the first bullet missing, the second taking off part of David’s calf.
He still didn’t go down.
“Hold your fire!”
Bill threw himself at David, a fifteen pound barbell in his good hand. He connected solidly with David’s chest. There an audible thump, and both men toppled over.
Theena was there in three steps, kicking away David’s ax. He was flat on his back, arms and legs akimbo. His eyes were open but unfocused.
The time to act was now, but she didn’t want to take the gun off of him to tie him up. Bill managed to get to his feet, wincing. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be much help in the knot-tying department with a broken shoulder blade.
“Take the gun.”
Bill hesitated, then accepted it. Theena wasted no time, winding a jump rope around David’s ankles, cinching the knot so tight her arms burned.
“Theena!”
Bill’s warning came too late.
David jackknifed into a sitting position and batted her across the face. She fell to the side, just as David was rolling in the opposite direction.
Towards his ax.
Her vision cleared in time to see David grip the handle, lift it back to swing at her.
“Bill!”
He fired.
The gun offered an anticlimactic CLICK. There were no bullets left.
The pain was as blinding as it was sudden, an explosion in her right side just above her hip. Theena stared down at the thing buried several inches in her side, unable to fathom what was happening.
An ax. She had an ax sticking out of her.
She touched it, fingers trembling, blood bubbling up and swallowing the blade.
There was a sucking sound, and suddenly the ax was out. Theena watched her life spill out of the hole in a gout of blood.
She stared at David, lying a few feet away from her, lifting the ax for another blow.
Then everything went black.
Jack Kilborn
Disturb
“You killed her!”
Manny had been watching everything happen in mute terror, unable to stop it. He was a passenger in his own body, unable to control his muscles, his actions, his intent. David had banished him. All he could do is scream out his feeble protests to deaf ears as one atrocity after another was committed by his hands.
But when the ax hit Theena, the balance of power shifted.
Manny’s rage inflamed his brain like a fever, forcing David back. He stared at the ax and willed his hands to open. They did, the ax falling to the ground.
His eyes scorched Bill, the cords in his neck bulging. He forced out the words.
“Pick… up… the… ax.”
Bill remained rooted, jaw agape.
“Give it up, Manny.” David’s voice echoed in his head. “You can’t win. I’m going to bury you so deep in our mind, you’ll never come back out again.”
Manny pleaded again. “The ax…”
“Look! Theena’s still breathing! Why don’t we crawl over there and finish the job?”
Manny rolled onto all fours against his will. But his voice was still his own.
“The ax!”
Bill bent down and took the ax in his good hand. He held it away from his body, as if it were a poisonous snake, a stricken look on his face.
“We’re going to snap her neck.” Manny began to crawl to Theena. Every inch was a struggle, and it was a struggle he was losing. “I’m going to let you feel the bones break beneath her soft skin while you’re squeezing.”
“Kill me!”
&nb
sp; Manny’s hand shook, but he couldn’t hold it back. It was reaching, reaching for Theena’s throat. Manny felt himself being pushed back again, back into the dark space, David muscling him down and taking over.
“PLEASE KILL ME!”
His hands reached Theena’s thin neck, and began to squeeze.
THUNK!
The ax hit him in the small of the back, pinning him to the floor.
There was no pain. Just a spreading warmth that was almost pleasant.
The struggle was over. The conflict in his mind and body seemed to have ended. David’s voice had lost its anger. It was quieter now, almost peaceful.
“You finally did it.”
Manny saw David, in his mind, but he was a kid, no more than nine-years old. And Manny saw himself, a year younger that his older brother. They were sitting together on the porch of their house, sharing an apple. A happy time, before the State took their mother away. Before foster homes, and juvee hall, and suicide.
“I didn’t want to kill you, David.”
“I know. It wasn’t your fault.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No, Manny. I shouldn’t have killed those cats. It was wrong. You did the right thing to tattle on me.”
“But juvenile hall…”
“I was never going to be happy, Manny. That’s how it was for me. It wasn’t your fault I ended it. It didn’t have anything to do with you.”
“I wish things turned out better.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
David took something out of his pocket, handing it to Manny. It was small, yellow, and seemed to shine with its own inner light. A die-cast pickup truck.
“I love you, David.”
“I love you too, Manny.”
The warmth was all around him now, covering him like a blanket. It was different, so different than all of the other times he’d died taking N-Som. There was no fear, no pain, no emotional turmoil. Manny was infused with a deep and calming peace, which welcomed him into the thing he wanted most of all.
Everlasting rest.
Emmanuel Tibbets let out a gentle breath, closed his eyes, and went to sleep for the last time.
Jack Kilborn
Disturb
“Theena.”
Bill knelt down next to her, gently taking her hand off the wound.
“Bill…”
It was bad. The tear was ragged, ugly. The ax had penetrated the dermis and subcutaneous tissue, neatly severing her external obliques. There was a lot of blood. Deep inside, he caught a glimpse of liver and ascending colon.