by Patra, CS
“Yes, Pam. I am a part of you and you all have me.” Patty sat down in her chair. “Let me start from the beginning. I’m a chimera because I ended up absorbing my male twin while I was in utero. I ended up having male and female genes inside of me. That made things a little tough in the beginning. Most people couldn’t really understand this. Back then, it was something rare. My parents were unable to deal with this though they tried to raise me the best they could. I felt like an outcast. I knew something was wrong with me but I couldn’t tell what it was. I was different. I didn’t know what I could do with my life. I didn’t think anyone could love me if they knew what I was inside. That’s when I came across the Bradley Institute. They found me and told me they had a job for me. It would just require me to give them some of my DNA. For what, they never really said.”
“What convinced you to do all this?” Jackie asked. “Why would you give your DNA up to something that could be dangerous?”
“They were offering a lot of money and I was broke at the time. I also was inspired by their speech. They told me that I could help make a difference in the world. There were so many people who wanted a family, but couldn’t have one. I was told that if I could give them what I had, they could have a chance at happiness. That was just so appealing to me. I was young and easily charmed by them. I agreed to help them out as much as possible. That’s how I became the chimera of Project 99.”
“I guess the money was really good as well,” Ren said.
“Very good. I was able to go to school, pay off all my debts, and even buy myself a nice house to live. I got to see all the babies that were born because of me. I thought I was doing the right thing and I finally felt important in the world. I didn’t feel like a freak because I was helping others.” She looked over at Doug and Pam. “I followed you two the longest, up until you both got married. I was so happy that you had found someone to love you.” She looked at both of them. “Oh, you are so much older. Doug, I remember the hair that you used to have. It was golden brown and went well past your shoulders. How is your wife?”
“That’s true. I’ve cut if off since. As for Susan, she’s just fine. We’re still married.”
“Yes, well, I’m not married anymore.” Pam pointed out. “My ex-husband cheated on me. We divorced shortly after although he and I share custody of our children.”
“I found that out much later. I wish I could have been there for you at that time. Unfortunately, they were still harvesting DNA from me. More and more children were being born because of me. I found out about all them and tried to meet up with each one. They were spread all over the world and I was getting older. There was no way I could keep up with them anymore. Of course, it was at that time that I also found out what was going on behind the doors of the Bradley Institute. I ended up going down the wrong hallway one day and came across a room that I should have not been in. What I saw was something that would haunt me for the rest of my life,” Patty shuddered. “Trapped in cages were so many babies that were deformed and barely alive. They were kept like prisoners and a lot of them weren’t treated well. I could tell from their bruises and cuts.”
“So what did you do then?” Jackie asked. “Did you try to save them?”
“Oh, I wanted to save all of them. I’m just one person though. I had to confront my higher ups about this. Needless to say, they weren’t too pleased that I had found out their secret.” She leaned back in her chair. “They threatened to throw me out of the program. I told them that it was fine. They could fire me. I had enough money as it was and I didn’t want to work for them anymore. I was disgusted by what I had seen. I quit right then and there. They had enough from me to make more children. The only request I had for them was that they free those children in the cages. They didn’t need to be stuck there to be someone’s experiment.”
“Well, I hate to break it to you but I don’t think they followed through with your request,” Ren said. “I found some pictures of messed up fusions a few days ago. I’m afraid to know what they do with them.”
“Ah, the fusions. That’s the other thing that worries me. They really want to combine people together to make the best human out there. All their efforts have led to disastrous results. I eventually cut myself from them five years ago. I’m still in Project 99’s system but they don’t know where I am. I removed my serial number shortly afterwards.”
“You have a serial number too?” Ash asked. “I pulled mine out when I lost a tooth. I take it these are supposed to monitor our moves?”
“Yes, they should but they don’t always work. If you’re in a building that has its own Wi-Fi, they can lose track of you. You are safer inside than you are outside. They wouldn’t be able to find you here since I have Wi-Fi in this house. That’s how I was able to evade them before removing my wire.”
“That’s weird. They put wires in their chimeras,” Misty murmured, wondering where hers was located. She couldn’t feel anything inside of her mouth so it had to be somewhere inside. “Are all the wires embedded in the same place?”
“No, they can be embedded anywhere in your body. Getting rid of them is very hard but you can get around without them following you. You just need to know where to be. Anywhere with really good Wi-Fi can mess up their tracking system. In fact, places with a lot of technology are good. It’s easier to track you when you are outside and away from a crowd. That’s why you should try to be around people as much as possible.”
“I think I’m lucky. I don’t have mine embedded in me anymore.” Ash said. “Does the serial number 34537 mean anything to you?”
“That’s just your identity, dear. That’s what you were called before you were born,” Patty said. “Do you still have your serial number or have you destroyed it?”
“I kept it in my room in case it does something,” he said. “I want to look up my serial number and see what they have on me.”
“You can do that easily. There’s a page on their website that can lead you to your information.”
“Where is that?” Ren asked. “I tried looking things up and I found nothing. It just leads to a lot of success stories.”
“Ah, that’s their way of hiding things. When you go to the website, put the serial number at the end of the link.” She nodded to the computer. “Go ahead and use mine. You’ll see what I mean. I don’t really use this computer much anyway.”
They turned on the computer and went straight to the Bradley Institute’s page. Misty put in Ash’s serial number at the end of the link and went to that page. To everyone’s surprise, Ash’s profile came up. Ash had no idea where they had gotten his picture or how they knew tiny bits about him. They had his height, weight, birthday, his parents’ names, and where he lived. They also mentioned that he was still alive and living somewhere in the USA.
“Oh shit,” Misty murmured, backing away from the computer. Normally, she didn’t use such a word but she couldn’t help herself now. “They have files on us.”
“What about those three empty vials that you found?” Crystal asked. “Maybe those profiles are still on the website.”
“Oh, yeah, I bought them with me,” Ash handed them over. “Let’s look up each of these.”
Misty typed in each one and came across three different people; Margaret White, Jannika Bergman, and Ingrid Solo. All three women were dead and had been dead for over a year now. There wasn’t very much information except they were all born on the same day: June 24th. They were also part of Project 99 and there was nothing that told them how these women died.
“Do you recognize these women?” Nikhil asked.
“Yes, they shared my genes too. They were created the same way as you were,” Patty said. “I lost touch with them years ago though. The last I heard of them, they had all died. I wanted to go to their funerals but I had no idea where they were held. No one would tell me anything.”
“Why would they have vials with their numbers on them?”
“I’m guessing they extracted something from t
hem. They could be harvesting cells from them for some other use,” Patty shrugged. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to do that with you too.”
“They did try it with me. They wanted my bone marrow.” Ash crossed his arms, still fuming over what happened. “I got out of their grasp in time.”
“Stay out of their grasp. The next time they catch you, you may not be so lucky. They do like to harvest cells from other experiments. They want anything they can to make more perfect humans. Once Project 99 is done, they will start Project 100.”
“Is Project 100 anything like Project 99?” Doug asked.
“It’s almost the same but Project 100 is supposed to be stronger. They will have powers that you won’t have. They will also have an easier time fusing with each other. Once they are created, they will try to eliminate everyone in Project 99.”
“So we have reasons to be afraid,” Pam sighed. “Let me guess; they’ll come after our families too?”
“Yes. Your loved ones will be the next to go. They may hurt one just to get a message across.”
“Oh, believe me, I got that message already,” Pam nodded, thinking about what happened to Adriana. “You gotta help us, Patty. How are we going to protect ourselves?”
“You will find a way. You’ve got some great powers in you. You just don’t know about them yet,” Patty said. “I’m afraid I can’t fight any battles for you. I’m too old to do anything anymore. I hate to admit it but it’s true. However, I know all of you are very smart. You will find your answers.”
“Basically, that’s a no from you?” Ren asked.
“I’m sorry, dear. The only thing that I can suggest is that you find as many of your brothers and sisters as you can. There could still be some that are alive around the world. You need to come together and you need to expose Project 99 for what it truly is. At the same time, you will discover yourself. You will find strength inside of you.”
“Um…you sound very confident about that,” Misty said. “So far, I don’t know if I’ve got any strength.”
“You do. You’re very young so you can’t see it yet. You’re just discovering the truth about yourself. As time goes on, you will find out more,” Patty promised. “However, you have to be aware of everything. You can’t trust everyone. As long as Project 99 has you on their files, they will find you. They are willing to do anything to you. Don’t let them go too far.”
“We won’t,” Crystal promised. “We’re going to do whatever we can to bring them down and find all our siblings. Those that are still alive won’t have to fear anything anymore.”
“While we’re at it, we’ll burn down Project 99 and everything that comes with it,” Ash added. “I may not know what they truly want but I know what they’ve done so far. That’s enough for me to stop them.”
“That’s right,” Pam added. “We’re not letting anyone else get hurt. Not again.”
And she meant every word of it.
Chapter 14 – Nikhil
Nikhil didn’t know what to think about the visit with Patty. She had a point that she was too old to take Project 99 down. At the same time, he was hoping she would still be in their corner. Instead, it sounded like she didn’t want to have any part of this. If she knew of the dangers, she wasn’t going to tell them. She just looked at each one and sighed.
“I can’t believe it. You’re all grown up,” she noted. “I know I mentioned it already but…I still can’t get over it. I’ve been waiting for this day.”
“I’m sorry if we weren’t what you were expecting.” Nikhil apologized.
“Are you kidding me? You’re exactly what I wanted you to be. I’m glad to see that you’ve all gotten older, settled in, and made something of yourselves. Slowly but surely, you’re making your way through life,” Patty pointed out. “I know you’ll do great things in the future.”
It was nice to hear. He was relieved that they had finally met the chimera, but he didn’t know where to go from there. Patty didn’t want to help the Bradley Institute and she didn’t think she could take them down. She also didn’t have a desire to leave the house.
“It’s dangerous for me out there,” she told them. “If they find me, I don’t know what they’ll do to me. For now, you must all stick together. Don’t let word slip that I am alive. This is a secret to be shared only between us.”
“You can count on us,” Crystal nodded. “Is there anything you want us to do?”
“Try to stay away from the Bradley Institute. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.” She warned them. “Let me remember bits about you now. You were all born on the same day, right? I remember that day; July 17th. All of you are sterile.”
Nikhil shook his head. “No, only six of us are sterile. Doug and Pam have children.”
“That’s because they were some of the earliest experiments. After a while, Project 99 surgically sterilizes them. I know that’s happened with both of you.” She looked over at Doug and Pam who were in shock. “They wanted to keep you from more children.”
“How did you know that I had a vasectomy?” Doug asked.
“And how did you know I had my tubes tied?” Pam added.
“And why didn’t either of you tell us this information?” Crystal wanted to know.
“Well, I didn’t think it would be a big deal,” Doug pointed out. “I can assure you that no one forced me to get sterilized. It was a decision I made on my own.”
“Same here. I wanted to get my tubes tied and I think it was a good decision,” Pam said. “I did talk to a lot of people about it. They helped me make a decision.”
“Are you sure they are people you trust?” Patty asked. “Because I can promise you that doctors can easily coerce you to do anything. Project 99 sterilized everyone that was alive during the years you were born. None of them were forced into it. They just were led to believe this was the right thing to do. After a while, the experiments became more aggressive and the rest of the creations were born barren. This was their way of keeping things under control.” She looked over at the clock on the wall. “I think you have all been here long enough. If you need me, you’ll know where to find me. Just try to keep our visits a secret.”
Patty had also told them to talk to their families. It was high time that they did so. Nikhil would have gladly asked his family if they could stay quiet long enough. Instead, they would always talk over each other and ask the same question; when was he planning on getting married? They felt they were getting too old and wanted to see him with a wife and children. Nikhil couldn’t find the heart to tell him that he had no chance to have a wife or children at this moment. He was too busy with his life to focus on that.
Thinking about this also made him think about Victor. It was just so hard to live like this. There were so many times where he wanted to run through the streets and scream that he was in love. He wanted to introduce Victor to the extended family and get their blessing. As it was, they had to keep this a secret. He wasn’t even able to tell Victor about Project 99 yet. Victor knew something was up but trusted Nikhil to tell him when the time was right. Nikhil admitted that he didn’t have all the information yet.
“I’m just going through some personal stuff now,” he said. “I love you, but this is something I have to work on my own.”
It was so easy for Patty to tell them not to research but Nikhil’s curiosity was piqued. He kept reading the profiles of the three women that they had found. None of them were very old when they had died. In fact, they were all around his age and they didn’t have family members that lived nearby. He didn’t have any contact information that he could use. All he had were some basic facts. He decided to look up their obituaries to see if there was anything in them.
The phone rang at that moment so he picked it up once he saw who it was. “Hey, I was hoping you would call!”
“Hey, baby, what are you up to?” Victor asked.
“Research. What else?” Nikhil sighed. “I just feel like I’m drowning in so many book
s and articles right now.”
“You’re still using books? I thought everything is on the Internet now.”
“Most of the stuff is, but you can’t beat a good book.” Nikhil looked at Jannika Bergman’s obituary. She had died of heart failure, but didn’t have any history of heart disease. No one in her family supposedly had it either. “I’m kind of scared.”
“About your research? You’re going to do just fine. I know you. You’re smart enough to get through this!”
“It’s not my school research. I’m worried more about my personal life.” Nikhil said.
“Is it your parents again?”
“I’m worried about them, but this is something different. I’ve been thinking about myself lately,” he began. It was high time someone else knew the truth. Victor was trustworthy enough but he still wanted to be vague as possible. “I keep wondering if I’m really who I’m supposed to be. I wonder if my family is my real family.”
“You’re thinking you’re adopted? There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“No, there’s nothing wrong with it at all, but it’s more complicated. Tell me, Victor, you’ve heard about the Bradley Institute, right?”
“Yeah, it’s the place where people go to have babies. It wasn’t always that way though.”
This was new for Nikhil. “What do you mean it wasn’t always that way?”
“Well, before it became a birthing center, it used to be a mental hospital. It was a place where doctors would experiment on people. A lot of those patients didn’t make it out alive. I think it didn’t change into a birthing center until like sixty years ago,” Victor explained. “I know because I had a friend whose grandmother went to that place. She said that there were some horrors that she couldn’t explain.”
Those same horrors are probably still behind those walls. Nikhil thought. Out loud, he said. “I never knew about that. Was it because of the experiments that they changed everything?”
“Definitely. Word got out to the public and they burned the place down to the ground. Rumor has it that some patients might have still been in the building when the fire was lit. They never found any bodies though. Just a lot of ashes and burnt wood. Those that got out were arrested or went on to different jobs. Anyway, a few years would go by and then they would rebuild it to become something else.”