Amoeba (The Experiments)

by Jacqueline Druga

  Cal, lying on the bed, listened to the stomps of Jake’s footsteps above her. They meshed with the sound of Billy falling off his chair as he wrote. After taking a second to laugh at Billy on the floor, Cal reached under the bed with a grunt and pulled out the arsenal bag retrieving the weapons she needed and getting them ready.

  After flicking the water harshly from his face, Jake held tight to his gun with one hand and a spotlight flashlight with the other. He turned the high bright beam on, flicking a signal of three flashes to Rickie across the way. Then Jake slowly skimmed the spotlight around the compound. He could smell him, and he could swear he heard the heavy breathing, but Jake couldn’t see him. Jake’s head twitched at every sound, peep, and crack of a branch. He was ready.

  Reed never realized how hard it was to shut a stuck window with on hand, especially since the one hand was not the strong one. He supposed it would fast become his more powerful hand, but at the moment Reed was trying to shut that window, it just didn’t seem to have what it took. He grunted, struggled, and squinched up his face as if he were constipated, trying to shut the window that was only open a half an inch. And with the feel of victory that hit Reed as he closed the window, grabbed his book and turned to the bed, so did something else - two very hairy arms as they crashed through the window grabbing Reed from behind and pulling him with a rushing force backwards. Reed’s back slammed hard into the wall, and he could feel the Stasis trying to fold him in half and pull him through the window that was too small for him. The heavy hot breath mixed with the cold air as the Stasis pulled and Reed struggled. He had to get free and run for it. Then he spotted it, his weapon, the nail file on the night stand. Using his bare foot, Reed quickly picked the file up with his curled toes, bent his leg up, grabbed the file with his good hand, and jammed it hard into the arm of the Stasis. The Stasis bellowed in pain and dropped Reed to the floor.

  Jake heard the glass, but he didn’t pinpoint it until he heard the Stasis scream. With a three step charge across the roof, Jake leaped down the hatch and landed with a hard thump to the floor. “Cal.” He ran to the door. “Stay inside. Don’t come out. He’s got Reed.”

  Cal shifted her eyes to Billy when the door shut. Just as her top lip started to quiver in an uncontrolled snicker, the door reopened and Jake popped his head in.

  “Cal, don’t laugh.” The door slammed again.

  Reed picked himself up from the floor after tripping over his shoes in a mad dash charge for safety and freedom, and ran again. In just his underwear or not, he flung open the door to get away and the cry of the Stasis went through Reed’s body like an electric shock. Reed couldn’t move. He froze, and the Stasis, reached for him in a teasing way, grabbing Reed by both arms and lifting him high. With a wet-toothed grin, the Stasis stared its yellow eyes into Reed’s, and with one more beastly snarl it widened his mouth and lunged forward with its fangs for Reed’s neck. But millimeters before the fangs plunged into the flesh, the floor boards of the porch broke with a loud crack, and the Stasis not only sunk down, but his hands released Reed, causing him to bang his head into the archway and drop completely backward in an unconscious state.

  Stuck in a quick sand pit of wood from the knees down, the stasis tried to free itself from the planks that seared into his legs. It cried out and flung itself about, drool flinging like rain onto Reed’s feet that were right before it. Its long-nailed claws grabbed for the porch trying to gain leverage as its footing got stuck even more in the mud that gathered under the hollow porch.

  And it was the hollow porch that sounded off to the Stasis that its death was near. Like the whistle of an oncoming train to someone stuck on the tracks, that’s what Jake’s stomping footsteps were to the Stasis.

  With no time, no pity, and definitely no remorse, Jake seized the opportunity of the trapped beast, lunged forward missing the swinging arms, and in one motion injected the knife, ejected the bigger blade, and the Stasis went silent, it’s head popping of like a champagne cork high in the air and landing with a thump directly on Reed’s groin. Reed moaned, and the body of the Stasis fell limp and directly forward onto Reeds legs.

  Jake stood still, his eyes focused on the dead Stasis while he caught his bearings.

  Rickie began to cheer, jumping up and down splashing. “Oh, Sarge! You’re the man! Oh!” Rickie flung his hands out in the rainy air.

  “Thanks.” Jake chuckled, then turned when he heard the slight groaning coming from Reed. He reached down his hand for the Stasis.

  “Stop!” Rickie shouted.

  “Why?”

  “Don’t touch him yet.”

  “Why?” Jake asked again.

  “Cause.”

  Jake rolled his eyes. “Cause?”

  “Yeah.” Rickie started to laugh and turned to face Cal and Jake’s bungalow. “Bamboozle! Hey Bambi! Hurry out here, guy. Get your camera. You have to get a picture of this. I got your first headline back in the civilized world, dude!”

  Jake cringed, especially when he saw Cal and Billy running out of the bungalow, and soon Judge and Lou were there as well. “Can I help this man now?”

  Billy chuckled. “Wait.” He raised his camera and clicked a picture.

  “Why are you doing this?” Jake asked perturbed.

  “Sarge, like, look.” Rickie pointed to Reed, lying on his back in just his sexy underwear, the body of the dead Stasis on top of his legs, the beastly and bloody decapitated head resting on Reed’s lap. “Like, check it out, Sarge. Headlines - Iso-Stasis Experiment Beast gives head to enduring participant. Details at eleven.”

  Jake’s mouth closed tight, and he glared at Rickie and to everyone else whose snickers emerged in the rain. With a slight complaining grunt, Jake reached down to the furry body of the Stasis and stopped cold, turned his head to Rickie, and then the stony expression on Jake’s face broke when he laughed.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

  Caldwell Research Institute - Los Angeles, CA

  July 20th - 3:45 p.m.

  “Over?” Greg looked at the faces of the investors who sat around the table. “Not hardly. If another Stasis is what you want, we certainly can provide that. We not only have the wolf hybrid like Rickie, but we have the cheetah, like the ones that were on the island. Thinkers. But I don’t think we’ll need that. First off.” Greg paced. “We deliberately shorted their food supply. The only problem with that is that Jake rationed it out. And seeing how stupid Larry Kale was to never notice Jake stole the key to the storage, he never got to override Jake’s rationing. But we can solve that. We still have an Australian wildlife research facility to satisfy, and they have supplied what we feel will be the next participant test.”

  Aldo raised his hand. “Are you gonna tell us about this one?”

  “Oh most definitely,” Greg answered. “See . . .” He stopped talking when he heard the attention-grabbing clearing of the throat from Dr. Jefferson who stood with Barb. He turned his head to the door to see that he was being summoned. “Excuse me.” Greg smiled quickly and walked over to Dr. Jefferson. “What’s up?” He whispered.

  Dr. Jefferson shifted his eyes to Barb, then to the investors. He handed Greg a folder. “Check it out. We may have bigger problems.”

  Feeling a bit under the microscope because he knew he was being watched by the investors, Greg, remaining cool, opened the folder. His face took on an immediate panicked look that he couldn’t hide as he raised his eyes from the papers he viewed. “When?”

  “Just now.”

  “Damn it.” Greg closed the folder and handed it to Dr. Jefferson. He kept his voice low. “I’ll meet you in my office. You too, Barb.” Waiting until they were gone, Greg, running his index finger over his top lip with one hand in his pocket, walked to the table with the five investors. “If you gentlemen will excuse me, I’ll be right back. Just . . .give me a few minutes.”

  Aldo watched Greg moved to the door. “Problem, Haynes?”

  “Um . . . no, not at all.” It was a nervous smile that Greg
gave Aldo, quick, near sweaty, but he flashed it and left as soon as he did.

  Aldo reached into his pocket and pulled out his money clip. He picked a bill and laid it on the table. “Fifty says he doesn’t come back.”

  I-S.E. Thirteen - The Island

  July 20th - 3:55 p.m.

  “Hello!” Rickie seemed annoyed, hands on his hips at the cavern. “Hello!” he called out long and loud again. “Nothing, Cal-babe.”

  “Rickie, don’t worry about it.” Cal comforted him.

  “Maybe it’s just me. Lou-ster, you try guy,” Rickie suggested.

  Lou placed his hands on his hips, cleared his throat, and bellowed his voice. “YO!”

  “See.” Rickie tossed his hands up. “It’s gone. I can’t believe the echo is gone.”

  Cal smoothed her hand on Rickie’s back. “It’s all right. Walk with me away from here to wait for Jake.”

  Sadly, Rickie agreed.

  The sight of Stan walking down the hill confirmed to Billy that Jake didn’t summon him and drag him into the woods to shoot him. He breathed a little easier walking up the large hill with Jake, knowing now - since seeing Stan - that something was up. Jake telling Billy to bring his camera wasn’t just a cover up for the accidental discharge of Jake’s thirty-eight caliber weapon.

  “A little further,” Jake told him.

  “Why are you being so secretive Jake?” Billy asked.

  “Because I want you, as a journalist invoking the ‘big’ story, to appreciate it. You need that initial first response we all got.”

  “We?”

  “Cal, Rickie, Lou, and myself.”

  “Good or bad?” Billy questioned.

  “Depends on who you are, don’t you think?”

  “Can you give me a suspenseful lead-in to it? How did you find what you’re taking me to see?”

  “By accident. Rickie is tired of jumping into the ocean, especially after that last shark scare. So I thought this cavern’s not too big or deep, and I could have him practice him jumping over that. So we came up.”

  “And that’s where you found it?”

  “Yep.”

  Billy started to huff in the climb. “God, the air is thin up here. Or is that just me?”

  “It’s you, but don’t take too big of a . . .”

  Billy let out a loud sound of disgust.

  “. . . breath.”

  “What is that smell?”

  “What I’m taking you to see.”

  “Do I want to?”

  “Yep.” Jake walked with him. “See, it answers questions. And there’s Cal. Cal!”

  Cal raised her hand in a wave and moved down to them. “Did you tell him?”

  “Sort of,” Jake answered.

  “No he did . . . hey.” Billy reached out to Cal. “Are these my basketball shorts?”

  “Yes. I stole them. I need them and . . .” Cal answered. “Jake said it was okay since you made me get big.”

  Jake grinned.

  Billy didn’t argue. “So . . .” He cleared his throat. “Jake, you were saying this answers questions. Which ones?” Billy moved closer to the cavern, and the smell got worse. He wondered how Lou and Rickie standing there could take it.

  “Well, remember how we were wondering what happened to all the big, giant mutant animals?” Jake asked.

  Billy nodded.

  “There were so many of them, right? Tons of birds, yet how many did we kill?” Jake continued to explain as they neared the cavern. “They were hitting us daily, maybe two a day, but then they stopped. Well, the question of where they went has just been answered, and you are going to say ‘Thank you Jake for this photo opportunity’.” Jake smiled and held out his hand to the open cavern.

  Billy lifted his camera and peered down. What looked like a river of remains lay at the bottom. Millions of flies swarmed around the blood and guts which had been seemingly chewed up and spit out. Hundreds of large broken beaks poked up through the mess like little mountains. “Jake . . . Jake . . .” Billy’s cheeks puffed out, his shoulder lifted, and he sped away a few feet where he threw up.

  Jake watched him. “Or he could say that too.” He looked back over the cavern.

  “Jake?” Cal caught his attention. “Why do you suppose this is the first time we found remains like this so close to camp?”

  “I think whatever has been doing the killings has used its resources on the other side of the island.”

  “And now it’s feeding here.” Cal huffed out with concern. “That’s not good.”

  “No, it’s not, Cal. See, its appetite is getting bigger. Obviously,” Jake said, indicating the remains. “And when whatever it is eats up all its wildlife resources here, we’re in trouble. Because that means . . .” Jake raised his eyebrows, “. . .we’re next.”

  “We’ll fight it, right?” Cal asked. “We’ll have to come up with a line of defense.”

  “Absolutely.” Jake watched Billy approach through the corner of his eyes, wiping his mouth. “We’ll work on that defense. But the only problem is that we haven’t a clue what we’re dealing with. And how do you go about defending yourself against something that kills you like . . .” Jake’s head motioned down to the remains again at the same time Billy retracted his steps for another round of stomach content tossing. “This.”

  BOOK FIVE

  THE AMOEBAS

  --One day, one hour, one minute, one second. The experiment is not over until Caldwell Research Institute declares the end. And that is the moment you walk away from them . . . maybe.--

  Excerpts from ‘Surviving the Iso-Stasis’

  By Jake and Cal Graison

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR

  I-S.E. Thirteen - The Island

  July 20th - 8:15 p.m.

  Cal giggled like a teenager standing in Reed’s bungalow in front of his mirror. She ran her hands down her thighs and across the sleek tight bicycle rider style shorts she wore. “Reed, thank you.”

  “Ew ook eh-el-en.” He gave Cal a thumbs up.

  “I’m outgrowing all my clothes, and these are not only expandable, but they don’t make me look fat, huh.”

  “Eh-er.” Reed shook his head.

  “Let’s go outside. Gosh, my confidence has gone way up.” Cal grinned and opened the door. Wearing a long tee shirt that came nearly to the edge of her new maternity shorts, Cal made her way to the unity circle where everyone sat around the fire. “Hey, Jake, look, I have another pair of shorts. Reed gave them up for the baby cause. Now I don’t have to go and steal that other pair off of Billy.”

  Jake looked up at her, back to the fire, then back up quickly. He lifted the back of the shirt just a little. “Cal,” he stated firmly. “Should you as a pregnant woman be wearing those . . . ow.” Jake shrieked and grabbed his shin when Cal kicked him. “What the fuck?”

  “I can’t believe that not only did you insult me in front of everyone but you . . . you called me fat. Asshole.” Cal folded her arms, and just to make her feel better about herself, went and sat next to Lou.

  Reed saw red the same as Cal, and he verbally blasted Jake in his own way. “Ew . . . Ew . . .” Reed pointed in anger. “Eh-hen-it-ov hig.”

  “What?” Jake tossed his hands up. “Cal, why is he calling me an insensitive pig and you’re saying I said you were fat?”

  “You did.” Cal soured her face as she leaned over Lou to look at Jake to her right.

  “Where did you get that?” Jake was lost.

  “Sarge, like, you told her that,” Rickie interrupted. “You said, Cal-babe you look like a horse in them . . .”

  “Rickie!” Jake blasted. “Cal. If you would have given me a second you would have known I was merely implying that those shorts are well . . .” Jake shrugged, “. . .provocative and should a pregnant woman be wearing them.”

  Cal gasped out. “There you go again, Jake. You and your fuckin Virgin Mary complex.”

  “Cal. Please.” Jake cringed. “And where is this nasty behavior coming from? You are
just too defensive.”

  Before Cal could say anything further, Judge, who sat alone across from them, held up his hand to her. “Jake, this is your first time round with a pregnancy, isn’t it?”

  Rickie snickered. “Dude, it’s like his first time round with a woman.”

  “Rickie,” Jake snapped.

  Lou shifted his eyes and tilted his head. “Is that . . . true?”

  “No!” Jake blasted.

  Cal made a vocal peep of sound then drew up a drastic bitching tone. “Go ahead, Jake. You go right ahead. Now you’re throwing your past lovers in my face. What’s next, are you going to instigate me and tell they weren’t fat?”

  “What?” Jake spun his head Cal’s way. “Where in the fuck are you getting that from? Did you hear that come from my mouth? No.”

  “I did.” Rickie held up his hand. “Sarge, like, you just said it. You were like, Cal-babe, I used to bang some thin chicks in . . .”

  “Rickie!” Jake turned red. “Why am I outnumbered here? What the hell did I do? I merely make an observation that the shorts were too tight, and all of a sudden I’m not only calling my wife fat, but now I’m talking about ‘doing’ thin woman. For your information, Cal, no woman I had ever been with was as thin as you used to be . . .” Jake cringed. “I meant, you know what I meant.”

  “Sarge, you, like, meant to not open your mouth and insert your foot.”

  Lou whistled. “And that’s a pretty big foot.”

  “I give up.” Jake tossed his hands up. “I quit. I lose. Thank God you’re not saying anything Billy. At least someone is on my side.”