by wildbow
Catcher was still, unmoving, hands in pockets, his mancatcher standing up so it leaned against his elbow.
And the Gorger… well, the Gorger was the Gorger. Fat and naked, with skin that looked too thick, bugged-out eyes with too-small pupils that moved too slowly drifting lazily over each of us, small, too-puckered lips pursed. Hayle was talking to him, but he wasn’t reacting or giving any hint that he was even listening.
“The Lambs,” Catcher said. “It’s been a little while.”
“Just a little while,” I said. “Doing okay?”
“It’s been worse, Sy,” he replied.
Gordon and Helen had broken away from Jamie and me. Gordon went straight to Dog. Where a handshake would do for someone else, Gordon simply reached out to touch the side of Dog’s head, brushing some hair back and away from Dog’s eye. Something in Dog relaxed the slightest fraction, muscles all down his shoulders and backs easing where they’d been tense.
Lonely thing.
Helen, for her part, was walking more slowly, swaying a little with her hands clasped behind her back, her skirt swishing left and right with each set of steps. She came to a stop somewhere midway between Gordon and the rest of us, hands still clasped behind her.
The swaying was almost playful, which was very interesting unto itself. Helen didn’t have a very expressive personality, and any expression she did give was usually for someone else’s benefit.
That raised the question of just who Helen was acting for, here. I looked over everyone, human and experiment alike, and I couldn’t pin it down.
That made me think it was for her own benefit. A hint of the personality that Helen was crafting for herself? An experiment, to see how people she saw as important might react and validate?
She caught me studying her and smiled a little, and it was a naughty smile.
Because Jamie wasn’t the only one who knew me well enough to guess what I was thinking. Was it for my benefit?
“She’s scary,” Mary murmured.
“You’re scary,” I said.
“Well…” Mary said, and from the sound of it, she didn’t have a particularly good retort.
“She’s on your side,” I said. “Which makes her a good scary, right?”
“Yeah,” Mary said, not sounding convinced.
This very scene was very much Helen’s medium. It was very much not Mary’s.
It made me feel a great deal more confident in having her join the group. I hadn’t lost her in the time that Hayle and Lil and all the other Academy people had been poking, prodding, and interrogating her.
I reached out with a hand, touching hers.
She clasped my hand, and the surprising tightness of the hold told me my read on her wasn’t wrong in the slightest.
“Whatever this is about,” Gordon commented. “It’s big.”
Hayle had just finished talking to Gorger. He turned to face us. “It’s… potentially problematic. Other special projects are already working on it. I wanted to bring you up to speed and make sure you’re communicating effectively.”
“That’s not a problem,” Gordon said, hand still on Dog’s temple.
“I’ll be brief. This is an all-hands-on-deck situation. Something got loose in the Academy. A student project. Catcher suggested we reach out to you, simply to have more eyes on the scene.”
“If something got loose and they can’t catch it, what makes you think we can?” Gordon asked.
“We lose nothing by putting ourselves out there to help, and refusing would look bad, when the Academy is this concerned,” Hayle said. “It was a lose-lose, where standing down would make us look ineffectual, but they weren’t confident you wouldn’t get in the way. I made our case, and they agreed to let us participate in the hunt, with the proviso that I have you meet some of the other special projects, tell you to communicate, and stress, very carefully, very emphatically, that you are not to get in the way.”
We all nodded, Mary included.
“Don’t nod, Sylvester,” Hayle said. “I’m directing this largely at you.”
I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. “I—what? Why me?”
He didn’t dignify that with an answer. Instead, he pointed at Mary, “I agreed to your request to let her join. I’ve indulged you a great many times in the past several years. I’m asking you to cooperate here. Please.”
The smile slipped from my face. I felt Mary squeeze my hand.
“I will,” I said.
He nodded. “The experiment can’t leave the bounds of the city. Gorger will be in the wooded outskirts, Dog and Catcher in the city. We’re operating under the assumption that it’s still somewhere in the Academy, and much of the focus is there. You’ll be there, and I’ve arranged for you to talk to the culprit.”
“Culprit,” Gordon said. “That’s an interesting word choice.”
“It’s the right one,” Hayle said. “This incident was a deliberate one, and it was carried out by a student, who wasn’t operating alone.”
“Is it… them?” I asked, glancing at Mary. “The group that Percy was working with?”
“We don’t know,” Hayle said. “We’re following up on some things, but probably not. I’ve heard others suggest it’s something else. Whatever the case, word is out about the escaped experiment, and it’s spreading. People are scared. A fast resolution is preferred.”
I bit back a sigh and a smartass comment. He had to jinx it.
“We’re on it,” Gordon said.
“Good,” Hayle said. “Go.”
We moved. Gorger rising, heaving his massive bulk to a standing position. Dog and Catcher turned, moving off down a side street as a pair. The remainder of us, the Lambs and our medic, headed in the direction of the Academy, Hayle following behind.
Mary didn’t let go of my hand the entire way to the Academy.
Previous Next
Cat out of the Bag 2.2
We entered the Academy. The road divided, with a loop moving around to the emergency entrance for the Hedge, and the main road continuing straight beneath a massive arch. I noted that double guard had been stationed between the emergency entrance and the archway. The men in uniform gave us wary glances, but Hayle, still trailing well behind our group, gave them a wave, and they let us through.
The way in was a gate with heavy doors. They were paneled with wood, but I knew from past experience and observation that the wood covered heavy steel. They were heavy, they were massive, and the idea was that they would stand up to a bomb blast if need be. If things came down to it, the Academy doubled as a fortress.
Pity about the town, but the Academy was built to stand tall through virtually any scenario.
“We didn’t get much of a chance to talk,” I remarked to Mary.
“No,” she agreed. “I don’t think they wanted us to talk.”
“I can see that,” I said. I thought about how Hayle had stressed that I shouldn’t play fast and loose with this particular job. Had he wanted to assert his own degree of control over Mary? How would he have done it?
Well, keeping us separated was a way. I’d promised that she wouldn’t have to be alone, and Hayle had forced me to break that promise, in a minor way. By showing my face I’d done what I could to convince her I was trying, but now it was time to follow through.
“I remember overhearing you talk about how you hadn’t expected to deal with us,” I said. “You thought it would be Dog and Catcher, or one of the other experiments.”
“Yeah. We researched what we could, but things were hard to find. We didn’t want to tip anyone off,” she said. She pulled her hand away from mine and adjusted her sweater, tugging at the side of her skirt, and very pointedly didn’t put her hand in mine again.
My mind raced through three immediate possibilities as to why she’d done that. She craved to belong somewhere; had she imprinted on the Academy, and was she now conscious of the Academy watching her expression and interaction with me? That meant Hayle had won, in a way. She was h
is as much as she was mine.
Or had I made her uncomfortable, reminding her of the past and her past affiliations? That meant my grip was slipping, but it could be recouped.
Finally, it could be discomfort. Was she adopting a passive role? Subordinate, loyal, following my lead explicitly. If that was the case, then I had to be especially gentle.
“Hm,” I said, calm and quiet, as if I’d been thinking about something else altogether. Then, not betraying my racing thoughts, I asked, “What was the plan to deal with them? Can I ask?”
“We had ideas. Stockpiles of weapons, traps. It’s hard, with the school being what it is, there aren’t many hiding places with that many people running around.”
“But you had things.”
“Mostly on the roof and in certain places in the basement. I had a stock of hair coloring and skunk musk, so I could go from brunette to blonde, throw them off the scent and then disappear into the crowd.”
“That’s a myth,” I pointed out. “The skunk urine. Perpetuated by the Academy. It only makes it easier for Dog to track you. Doesn’t slow him down.”
One hand behind my back, I made a ‘come hither’ gesture.
“Oh,” she said. There was a pause. I noticed Gordon’s approach. Mary noted him coming up to walk on my right before she said, “Is it bad that that really bothers me?”
I smiled, making a sound that was half-exhalation and half-laugh, raising my hand behind my back, a ‘stop’ gesture. “No. That would drive me nuts.”
“Sy more than most,” Gordon said. “It’s one of the three best ways to put him in a foul mood, when a scheme of his doesn’t come together, past, present, or planned.”
“Scheme,” I said. “Using that word makes me think I should grow up to have a fishhook mustache I curl with my fingers.”
“I think that’s accurate,” Gordon said.
If it were Jamie, I would have jabbed him, started a light tussle, but it wasn’t. Gordon would make me look bad, and he would do it without trying.
Mary managed a proper smile for the first time today. “What are the other two ways to get to him?”
Gordon snickered, and there was something in the sound that betrayed his ‘nice boy’ image, hinting at the guy he really was. In a way, it was more honest, showing that side of himself, but it wasn’t gentle or nice.
“You’ll have to give me something to get something,” he said.
“Will I, now?” she asked, easily falling into the stride of the conversation. “I’ll have to keep that in mind.”
One day, not now but soon, I imagined he’d hone that hidden edge to a razor point. Used right, he could draw girls to him, good looks, build, and ‘knight in shining armor’ image to get their initial interest, then hinting at the secret beneath the surface to hook them.
Mary was too wary for the hook to set, barb and all, but she was intrigued enough to let walls down. Her shoulders were less tense now.
“You’re the hero of the Lambs. The vanguard,” Mary observed.
“I’m nothing special,” he said, looking beyond me to give her a one-sided smirk that betrayed the lie.
“Sy said you were.”
“Did he? Well, then it must be true,” Gordon said, softening the sarcasm with with a smile. Mary smiled back. “Which direction are we going, again?”
“Bowels, I’d think,” I said, pointing. I turned, starting to walk backward, raising my voice and pointing. “Bowels?”
Hayle, just in earshot, nodded and pointed in the same direction.
We turned left. Claret hall was only a little ways to our right, bordered by other main buildings, the Rows, and various roads.
“Bowels,” Mary said. “Haven’t heard that one.”
“Students call them the dungeons, the tunnels, or the pit. The official name is ‘Labs, comma, recessed’, Gorger’s home.”
“I heard about the dungeons and the tunnels,” Mary said. She paused. “Gorger. We didn’t have a plan for him. What could we even do, except scatter, run, and stick to the public eye?”
“Mm,” I said, noncommittal. “Let your guard down, he hits you like a freight train. Can’t hurt him with anything short of a proper cannon, and I doubt even we could contrive to get him to stand in the way of one for long enough.”
“I’m a little surprised it’s even a consideration,” Mary said. “You’ve clearly thought about it, weighed options, and decided you’d lose?”
“Wrong on four counts,” I said, right off the back of her question.
I saw her pause, raising a hand to count on fingertips, rephrasing her question in her head.
“I haven’t given a lot of thought to that particular problem, so that stuff and everything that follows is off the top of my head. Gorger doesn’t get out much, so he’s one of the ones we see the least of, next to the Hangman.”
“Hangman?” she asked.
I plowed on past the question, “Second, I didn’t weigh options, I turned my thoughts to strategy—”
“Scheming,” Gordon said, sounding bored.
“—and plotted—”
“Schemed.”
“—the best way of doing things. Thirdly—”
“You have to ignore him when he gets like this,” Gordon commented.
“—I don’t think it’s a loss, thank you very much. I think the cannon would be a failure, but that’s hardly the only way to do it. I’m betting a victory of sorts could be managed.”
“Though he’s harder to ignore than I’d like,” Gordon remarked. “I agree with him there. I think we’d win.”
“That’s only three, and you’ve run out of points to argue,” Mary said. “Did you say four to get me to pay attention?”
“Yeah,” I said. Because you’re insecure and you’re more likely to fixate on a proper number, which can be more easily proven or disproven.
“Ah,” she said. I thought I caught a roll of the eyes as she glanced away, looking over the Academy. The trees grew wild in between buildings, and there were places where the branches meshed with the branches that jutted out of buildings. There were more stitched at this end of the Academy, and more general experiments. It was interesting to look at.
“Pause for emphasis,” Gordon said. Mary snapped her head around to look at him. He was smirking. “Then Sy’s reveal. There was a fourth reason. He never said there wasn’t.”
“You’re ruining it,” I said.
“Only because you’re predictable.”
I mock-gasped. “You take that back, you oaf.”
He didn’t flinch. “Better to be an oaf than to be puny.”
I mock-gasped again, with a little more emphasis.
“Four?” Mary cut in, before we started fighting in earnest.
I shrugged. “You said you. That Gordon, Helen, Jamie, Lillian and I would lose if we were up against Gorger in some confrontation or another. Maybe you’re right. But that’s wrong. You’d have been more accurate if you’d said we. You’re a member of the team.”
Mary turned my way. For someone else, the statement might have fallen flat, phrased as casually and awkwardly as it was, but the inclusiveness mattered to her. I’d touched on a topic at the core of her being.
I had her attention. I suspected that if I grabbed her hand, she wouldn’t pull away.
But suspicion wasn’t good enough. Not when I didn’t know why she’d pulled away in the first place.
I’d phrased it in a matter-of-fact way, leaving it to hang out there and be taken for what it was worth. Now I distracted from it. Better to avoid letting Mary sit with the idea and the statement long enough to doubt it or tear it to pieces.
“We’re here,” I said. “We should let the others catch up and get the debrief.”
Mary leaned over to peer down.
‘Here’ happened to be a hole in the ground. It was a nice hole in the ground, with a roof over it and a short wall to keep the rain out. Lights punctuated a spiral stairway. An easy-to-miss plaque on a nearby wall indic
ated to those who were looking that this was the entrance to the Bowels.
Still, there were very few people who had cause to enter the Bowels without already knowing where and what it was. Guests didn’t tend to, unless they were from Academies other than Radham’s, and even regular students didn’t have much cause to go beneath.
Some students passed us, giving us weird looks, looking like they might say something, before they spotted Hayle following up the rear.
They hurried on, disappearing down the stairs, each with a hand on the rails. The descent was a nervous one, with stairs taken quickly, heads down and eyes fixed on points further down the stairs.
Lillian was holding the strap of her satchel with both hands. “About once every two weeks, they have to lock a whole section down. Something’s escaped, something went missing, a container broke, a chain broke. Send Gorger in, then seal it off. Drop stone blocks that whole teams of stitched have to winch back up, maybe flood the section, maybe ignite the air, and give it some time to be sure.”
“Whatever it is,” Hayle said. “If it’s here in the recessed labs, it’s likely better to be safe than sorry.”
“Whatever Dog, Catcher, Gorger and all the rest are hunting, it came from the Bowels, didn’t it?” Gordon asked.
“It did,” Hayle said. “The students that carried out the release are still down there.”
“Makes sense,” Lillian said, in a small voice. “I don’t think even the students that work down there like being down there.”
It gets even better. With Gorger out and about, they don’t have anyone to clean up. If something happens, and they don’t flood or burn the section, they’ll just wait it out. Leave the section blocked off until everything inside has starved to death. Including us.
“You don’t have to come,” I told Lillian, knowing full well she did.
She smiled, a light of hope in her eyes as she looked to Hayle for confirmation.
“I would insist that she accompany you,” Hayle said, shattering that hope.
Lillian’s face fell.
Hayle started down the stairs, and we followed. Hard shoes on stone stairs made for a bit of clatter, and the sounds echoed off the walls.