by R A Doty
“There you are!” Colton yelled, entering the room.
Calla’s forehead hit the glass. She put her hand over her heart, breathing heavily.
Colton walked over to her. “I didn’t startle you, did I?”
Calla smiled. “You have no idea.”
Colton looked at the snake, which was still staring through the glass. “It’s a white boa constrictor. Beautiful, yet deadly. It squeezes its prey to death.”
“You think there’s even the slightest chance it might get out someday?” Calla said, future nightmares already taking shape in her imagination.
“I suppose anything is possible, but highly unlikely. It certainly isn’t going to break the glass.”
“Why do you think he has it?”
“You wouldn’t guess it by looking at him, but Thomas Steinberg loves all living things. He may very well be the only man on earth that can restore hundreds, if not thousands, of extinct species. He took it upon himself to collect the DNA of as many species as possible long before they became extinct. If Noah really existed, he would be Thomas Steinberg, and his lab,” Colton spread his arms and looked around, “this lab, would be his ark.”
“So, he can make any animal he wants?”
“Probably. As long as he has its DNA.”
“Then why are there so many people starving in the world?”
“Because sometimes the men in charge don’t want the answers to the questions they’re afraid to ask. They’d rather sweep the problems under a rug than admit they were wrong. But that’s a conversation for another day. The reason I came for you is because the scanner Cain gave me is working now.”
“Really? So, I can finally find out who my real parents were?”
“I believe so.”
Dan rushed into the lab. “Cole, we got a problem! A big problem! You better come quick!”
“I’m sorry, Calla,” Colton said, “but we’ll have to do this another time.”
“I understand.”
Colton and Dan left the room. Calla followed.
By the time Dan, Colton, and Calla got to the kitchen, everyone but April was already there, staring out the windows at the front entrance gate. Seven men were standing behind the fence with weapons in their hands. From what Luke could see, the weapons were quite sophisticated compared to the estate’s mediocre arsenal. One could only guess what damage they were capable of. Cole and Dan stepped up to a window and stared out.
“Who do you think they are?” Dan asked.
Judging by the men’s uniforms, Colton knew immediately. “They’re from Ancada. I’m guessing they’re here for the girls, but I’m not sure how they found them.”
Calla looked out the window. “It’s Mr. Weston.” Seeing him again made her want to run. She didn’t want to go back to Ancada, and she definitely didn’t want him to take April away from her again. He had already taken so much of her old life. Her breathing quickened just looking at him and her heart rate skyrocketed. “Please don’t let him in.”
“Everyone stay here,” Colton said. “I’ll go talk to them.”
“I think me and Luke should come too, Cole,” Dan said.
Luke stepped up to the door, a rifle already in his hand. “Dan’s right.”
Colton nodded. “Alright then. But no violence unless it’s absolutely necessary. We don’t know what they’re capable of.”
“Sounds fair,” Luke agreed, with a quick shrug of his shoulders. Although he would rather shoot all seven men immediately and ask questions later. But he respected Colton and he’d abide by his word.
The three men stepped through the door and headed to the gate. Colton remembered Bill Weston pretty well, so unless he changed dramatically he guessed there wouldn’t be much compromising with him. But he also knew that Weston wasn’t the type of man that would just go away. He stepped up to the gate, directly in front of Weston.
Weston smiled wide. “Well, well, if it isn’t my old colleague, Colton North. I almost didn’t recognize you with that beard. I would have guessed you’d be dead by now. You’re looking a little hardened from your chosen lifestyle, but you seem quite fit, considering what you must be consuming to stay alive. How is Donna doing and your daughter...”
“Kelly,” Colton said.
“That’s her name. Kelly.”
“They both passed away years ago.”
The smile left Weston’s face. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Colton. I really am.”
“I appreciate that, Bill. Now if you don’t mind my asking, why are you here?”
April crouched behind a chair on the master bedroom balcony. From her vantage point, she could see the men clearly and if she listened hard, just make out what they were saying. She recognized the man in front. William Weston, she thought. She tilted her head to hear the men better.
“We’re here on a matter of business. You see, we’ve tracked two young females to this location, and I’d like to take them back to Ancada.”
“Assuming they’re here, why do you want them?”
Weston’s smile returned. “Assuming they’re here? Come now, Colton, you never were one to evade the truth. It doesn’t become you. Isn’t that the main reason you left Ancada? You couldn’t accept the truth as it was and you refused to abide?”
“The reason I left was because I was misled into believing we were doing what we did for the, quote-unquote, good-of-mankind, as the Power Select phrased it. Not to create, what you people believe to be, a unique species that could be slaughtered as livestock.” Colton stepped closer to the gate. “Have you and the others actually convinced yourselves that what you’re eating isn’t actually human?”
“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong, Colton. We did create something unique. The nutrimen are the answer to the survival of the human race and if you would have accepted that, perhaps your wife and daughter would still be alive.”
Colton lunged at the fence. Dan and Luke gripped him tight.
“It’s not worth it, Cole,” Dan said.
“You always were the stubborn one, weren’t you Colton?” Weston said. “Refusing to accept the truth. Now, back to the females. The younger of the two is an escaped nutrimen and the other is a kennel worker named Calla that helped her escape. You might know the nutrimen as April, as Calla took it upon herself to name it.”
“Why are they so important to you?”
“In all honestly, I’m more concerned with the nutrimen. I’d like to bring Calla back as well so she could be charged for her actions, but I’d be willing to leave her if you would be so kind as to bring me the nutrimen.”
Thomas Steinberg studied the men from the window. “I should go talk to William Weston to see if he can get our Josh back.”
Colton said to wait here,” Janette said. “I’m sure he’ll mention Josh when the time is right.”
Thomas opened the door. “I can’t take that chance.” He headed to the gate.
“Tom, wait,” Monica whispered loudly, but her husband was already half way to the other men. She stood in the opened doorway, trying to hear what the men were saying.
“Excuse me,” Steinberg said, addressing Weston when he reached the gate. “I’m Tom Steinberg. We spoke a while back about me and my family joining your fair city of Ancada.
“I remember,” Weston said. “But you never showed up when we came for you.”
“I tried.” Steinberg glanced at Luke. “Believe me, I tried. But I couldn’t make it for reasons beyond my control. But my son, Josh, did make it to your city. You picked him up about a month ago in a helicopter. Can you bring him back?”
“I would be very happy to. I can have him here before the sun sets over the ocean. But before I do, I’ll need to retrieve what I came here for.”
“Just name it,” Steinberg said. “Anything.”
“I’ve already told Mr. North why I came, but he doesn’t seem to be very receptive in helping me.”
“He wants to take Calla and April back to Ancada,” Dan said.
&n
bsp; “So, let him have them. Isn’t that where they came from anyway?”
“If we give him the girls, he’ll kill them,” Colton said.
“And if we don’t,” Steinberg countered, “they’ll kill Josh. Don’t you think my son’s life is more important than two girls we just met?”
Colton faced Steinberg. “I think all life is important, and we’re not handing over the girls to be slaughtered.”
“Come now, Colton,” Weston said. “Slaughtered is such an ugly word.”
“Does murder suit you better? Isn’t that why you collected the children from the mainland? To someday murder them? But I don’t understand why. If you have the nutrimen that you so proudly boast about, then why did you have to come to the mainland to collect children? Are the citizens eating more than you had originally planned?” Colton waited for an answer, but Weston stood silent. “You son of a bitch. You are planning on slaughtering all of those children.”
“Colton,” Steinberg said, “this is my estate and I want my son back. Even if it means trading the girls.”
“Excuse me?” Luke said. “Let’s not forget, Tom, that the estate now belongs to me and Dan.”
“So what’s it going to be?” Weston said. “Are you going to trade the girls for the boy or not? I’ll even let you keep the older one.”
“We will,” Steinberg said.
“No, we won’t, Colton said. “There has to be another way to keep the girls and get Josh and the girl with him, Jessie, back. What if we gave you some of Thomas’ DNA samples? They would produce enough food to keep Ancada fed for an eternity.”
“You just don’t understand, do you Colton? We have already perfected a food source that would feed us and the entire world for an eternity, and the nutrimen you are harboring is living proof of that. Why would we go back to a system that was obviously flawed? Don’t you remember the mass starvation around the globe?”
“That was because another novice scientist, such as yourself, thought he, too, developed a faster way to mature livestock. But as you remember, it had the adverse effect of wiping out most of the world’s consumable mammals. What did you inject into the younger girl? It was obviously a steroid-based substance.”
“Why do you say that? Is she growing already?”
“You sick bastard.”
“Enough bargaining,” Weston said. “The day grows short, so I’ll give you until morning to make your decision. But know this, I will be taking the nutrimen back with me if we have to burn this estate and every living thing within a mile radius to the ground. That, unfortunately, includes all of you and everyone peeking out the windows from inside the house.” Weston turned to his men. “Let’s set up camp, gentlemen.”
When Weston and his men turned away, April crawled back inside the house and sat next to the dresser with her back against the wall. She remembered a quote she had read, but she couldn’t remember where she had read it: All good things must come to an end. Everything must come to an end.
When she heard the men enter the house after their meeting with William Weston, she rushed to the top step in the hallway and sat quietly. She knew what she had to do, but maybe there was another way. Maybe Colton or one of the others would think of some other option. She hoped, at least, as she listened.
“I know you mean well, Cole,” Thomas Steinberg said as they stepped back into the house, “but I want my son back.”
“We all want your son back,” Colton replied, “and Jessie, too, but we don’t want to lose the girls in the process. There has to be another way.”
“What do they want?” Monica said. She and everyone else had to know what the strange men wanted. They circled Colton, waiting for an answer.
Colton looked at Calla. “They want the girls,” he said.
Calla instinctively pulled her hand to her face and began to nibble her thumb nail. “Why do they want us so bad? They have so many other nutrimen and surrogates.”
“Weston said you could stay,” Dan answered. “They’re more concerned with April.”
“We can’t just hand the girls over to them,” Monica said. “Just tell them no.”
Thomas turned to his wife. “They said they’ll give us Josh back if we give them the younger one.”
Monica didn’t know how to respond. All she wanted was to see Josh again. To hug him and kiss the top of his head, the scent of his hair. Her baby. But would she be able to sacrifice one child to get hers back? “What do they want her for?”
“They can’t have her,” Calla said. “I won’t let them take her again.” She walked over to Colton. “She spent most of her life in a cage like an animal. Tell them they can take me instead. I got to live; she didn’t.”
“I don’t think it’s up to us who they take, Calla. Weston’s made up his mind he wants April.”
“No,” Calla said, shaking her head. “April and I will leave, then. We’ll be all right on our own. Is there another way out besides the front gate?”
“Now wait a minute,” Steinberg said. “If you take her, then we’ll never get Josh back. And Weston said if we don’t hand her over by morning he’ll kill us all.”
“Let me think on it for a while, Calla,” Colton said. “Just don’t go anywhere yet. Something might come up.”
“Does anyone know where she is?” Calla asked.
“I think she’s upstairs,” Dan said.
April quickly stood and rushed to her and Calla’s bedroom. She just made it to the bed when the door opened. It was Calla.
“What are you doing?” Calla asked, walking over to her.
“Nothing. I just woke up from a nap. Why do you ask?”
Calla sat next to her on the bed. “I was just wondering.” She put her arm around April’s shoulder and pulled her close. “I love you so much, April. I know I haven’t known you for that long, but you make a great kid sister. If anything ever happened to you I don’t know what I would do.”
“Why do you sound so sad, Calla?”
“I just get thinking about how crappy your life was in the kennels, and it makes me sad. I just wish we could live a normal life somewhere where we don’t ever have to worry about anything ever again.” Calla pulled away and looked April in the face. “Wouldn’t you like that?”
April smiled. “I would.” But she knew it was never going to happen. A heavy feeling pushed on her chest, making it hard for her to breathe. She fought back tears as she kept smiling. She wondered if this is what a broken heart feels like.
WHILE everyone slept later that evening, April slid from under the covers and quietly got dressed by the light of the moon beaming through the window. Before leaving the bedroom, she looked at Calla, knowing it would be the last time she would ever see her. She wiped the corner of her eye and left the room.
The night air smelled wonderful, the crisp scent of leaves hung heavily all around her. It was so quiet and still, like everything had ceased just so she could take a walk by herself. She stopped and looked up at the sky, a sheet of solid black with a bright moon surrounded by millions of stars. It was beautiful. Breathtaking. But the moment had to end, so she lowered her head and continued walking.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
FOUR tents were set up just outside of the Steinberg main entrance gate. Two men each, shared three of the tents, and Bill Weston slept in the fourth by himself. He awoke abruptly to the sound of Brodie’s voice.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, sir, but the nutrimen’s signal reappeared. It seems to be getting stronger.”
Weston crawled from the tent and sprang to his feet. He took the handheld from Brodie, stared at the screen, and turned toward the fence. “She’s heading this way.” He walked over to the gate. Out of the shadows appeared a figure walking toward him, the moonlight highlighting her red hair like a beacon in the night. It was her. He smiled.
The nutrimen walked up to the gate and stopped. “If I go with you will you promise me just one thing?”
Weston smiled. He was pleased at how much the
nutrimen had grown in such a short time. He did it. “Yes. Of course.”
“Will you bring back the boy and girl? Jessie and Josh. The others miss them very much.”
“I’ll see to it that they’re returned first thing in the morning.”
April considered running back to the house and hiding under the covers with Calla. Maybe they could take another walk to the pond in the morning and pick wildflowers. Maybe this time she would splash Calla with some of the pond water. A slight smile crossed her face as she imagined what Calla would do. Probably throw her right into the pond this time. Probably. She remembered the key-tones made when Dan had first opened the gate to let her and Calla into the Steinberg estate. After a few failed attempts, listening carefully to the tones, she got it right. The gate opened. Weston reached out his hand. She took it.
“Wait,” she said. She closed the gate, and it locked.
“Let’s pack it up,” Brodie said. Within ten minutes they were headed back to the boat. April wanted to look back one last time, but she couldn’t. It was best to forget everything as soon as possible. Like it was all a dream. She would wake up in the kennel in the morning and rush to the chain-link fence to stare across the ocean at the mainland, wondering what it would be like to someday go there. It was a dream. A wonderful dream.
THE sun would have normally broken the horizon by now, but a canopy of dark clouds made it seem more like evening than morning. Rain tapped the windows and a solemn stillness overtook the kitchen as Colton, Dan, Luke, and the Steinbergs weighed their options, knowing Bill Weston would soon require an answer. Nobody spoke, because they all knew there was no option that everyone would agree to.