2 Years, 2 Weeks, 2 Lives

by Phil Cocker

be first.” He patted Crane’s arm. “I’ll also eventually die, but because I’ve not had the same dosage, it will take a little longer.”

  “But we’ve been feeling so well, how can we be dying?” Crane asked.

  “Because they’ve probably been trying to find the virus somewhere else, and they stumbled across a side effect where they can improve the performance of us all.” He turned to Fink. “Am I right?”

  “Very good,” Fink folded his arms as he reached Harrap’s workstation, and leant back against the adjacent bench. “Please, do continue.”

  “So they probably tried it out on our soldiers, making them stronger and faster. For a short while at least.” He shook his head. “The problem is that you burn out quicker. Your organs are all working harder for a short period, and then they give up.” He looked sorrowfully at each of his colleagues, one at a time, as all had stopped working and were listening to the explanation. Harrap’s eyes grew more sad as he knew that they each had partners, and some had families. His gaze returned to Crane. “That was what the red flashing screen meant; the end of our lives.”

  “Why you snivelling little…” Crane lunged at Fink.

  “No no no!” Fink raised a gun at the approaching scientist. “I think you’ll stay back there.”

  “Why?” Harrap asked. “Why do this to them?”

  “Because you’d done what was needed, and Eklan wanted to test it quickly, and deploy it even quicker.” Fink explained. “So, when we knew you were close to the answer we started to administer the drug.” He smiled and waved the gun around in the air while he continued. “It was our safeguard that you’d be willing to help, and also that we didn’t need to resolve any issues of thanking you afterwards. You’d done your job, and so you’re being released.”

  Harrap snorted a laugh again. “I must applaud your vision, well, I say yours but you are a mere puppet. This was all Eklan’s vision, as I doubt that you’d have the brains to work this devious a plan out on your own.”

  “It was my idea to give you this drug.” He pointed the gun at Harrap. “Eklan wanted to just kill you, but I told her she should play with all of you.”

  Crane lunged at Fink, but the porter was quicker and instinctively squeezed the trigger. Crane was blasted backwards, across the laboratory and into the wall. His face was one of shock and horror, frozen in that instant as he died, slumped on the floor.

  “Fool.” Fink added, nodding towards the dead scientist. “And I will do the same to any more of you fools who try to get the better of me.”

  During the commotion, two other scientists had crept behind Fink and decided to make their move. Once again he was quicker, anticipating their attack, spinning round and cutting them down while they were still 4 metres away from him. “Silly silly men of science. Don’t you know that the gun is mightier than the pen?” He laughed for a second at his own little joke. Then became instantly angry. “Damn you all.” He started to fire at every one of the scientists, who started to dive for cover away from this madman.

  They were trapped within the laboratory and knew they had nowhere to go, but still tried to hide behind benches and cabinets. Nothing could save them, as Fink made sure each and every one of them was dead, everyone except Harrap.

  “Now it’s your turn.” He brought the gun back round to face him. “I’ve saved the best for last, you might say.”

  Harrap stood up, showing no fear. “Your time will surely end, and I hope that it’s soon.”

  “Not as soon as yours I believe.” Fink replied to the threat by blasting 3 shots just above the Chief Scientist’s head. “That is merely a warning. The drugs we’ve administered will kill you shortly.”

  Fink wandered around the room, kicking each scientist in turn, making sure that they were all dead. Once he was confident that he’d completed his task, he went opened the door to leave, and stopped.

  Eklan stood just on the other side; the glowing metallic device Fink had used every night to scan the scientists was in her hand. “Did you know Fink that this is a very useful tool?” She started to explain. “It is a scanner, as you know.”

  “Yes leader.” Fink replied nervously.

  “But it has so many other uses.” Eklan continued. “One is a transport system.”

  “So I’ve heard, leader.”

  “Would you like a demonstration?” She asked him casually.

  “Oh yes, that would be wonderful.” His eyes flashed wide at being given such an honour.

  Eklan’s spindly finger tapped the top of the device, and it shimmered, like a drop of water on a still lake. She watched the symbols on the screen for a moment. “You can transport everyone who is around you, within a set distance of 5 metres, or you can even pick a group of specific items.” She stopped to see that Fink was following her. “Or you can simply designate a single object that’s directly in front of you.” She looked at Fink and waited for him to agree.

  He nodded excitedly.

  “And this is how you complete that third option.” She pressed the two right hand buttons at the same time and a beam of light was emitted from the end of the device. It grew in size until it fully engulfed Fink.

  Fink was in awe of what was happening. He was so pleased that his Commander was treating him to such a wonderous explanation of the devices abilities; he held his breath, as he attempted to contain the joy he felt. His eyes grew wide as the light that had crept out of the device and had covered him flashed very brightly. The blinding light dissipated, and he found it had gone extremely cold. The shock at what had happened hit him again, as he was struggling to breathe. Fink never knew that he’d been transported 500m outside the ship, as his brain didn’t get time to registered what had happened until after he died in the vast emptiness of space.

  Eklan laughed, watching the frozen body drift away. “And your work is now finished here as well Fink.”

  Repeats.

  “I’ll dump these in your room.” Tom shouted as he climbed the stairs at Eric’s house. It was Saturday afternoon, and the boys were looking forward to a night in together, watching DVDs, playing computer games, and having midnight feasts. Tom huffed a little as he was carrying a huge bag over one shoulder and a rolled up sleeping bag over the other.

  “You’re on the floor mate.” Eric shouted up after him from the lounge, as he was in the midst of a racing game.

  Tom’s head instantly re-appeared over the banister at the top of the stairs. “I don’t think so, I’m the Guest.”

  “Guest or not, it’s my bedroom, my rules.”

  “We’ll toss for it.” Tom offered a more reasonable approach.

  “No, I know.” Eric grinned, his slightly devious plan tingling across his mind. “We’ll play some pool and then some Wii games and the overall winner gets the bed.”

  Tom winced slightly, knowing he wasn’t as good on the games console, as he didn’t have one at home to practice on, but he reluctantly conceded. “OK.” He hoped his pool skills would claw back some of Eric’s advantage.

  “Brill.” Eric clenched his fist in a small celebration.

  “I saw that.” Tom said as he walked back into the lounge. “Don’t get too cocky mate, cus you never know….” He left the sentence hanging there.

  Eric had already turned back to the game, but stopped and thought about it for a second. “Yeah right.” He added sarcastically, before spluttering a short laugh. “Good one mate, you always could crack a good joke.”

  Emma Peterson, Eric’s mum, was also on a night out with the Girls she worked with, and left soon after, having already placed an order for them at their favourite takeaway and left a £20 note behind the clock on the mantelpiece for them to pay with.

  The evening went well, with both boys winning various contests from a few racks of pool, through to some Wii contests ranging from bowling to skiing, running to swimming. They’d stop to laugh at times when one of them made a huge mistake, or
fell over, because they were trying so hard. Time flew by, and they soon heard the doorbell being rung, heralding the steaming mammoth feast which was contained in a 16 inch square box. They’d devoured the 16 inch meat feast pizza along with a garlic bread topped with cheese. This was washed down by a 2 litre bottle of dandelion and burdock.

  A short breath to rub their extended and very full bellies, and they were back into playing computer games. After working out all of the combined scores, Tom was amazed to find out that he’d won two more contests than Eric. “Woo Hoo.” He leapt up off the sofa, and then suddenly stopped. “Shouldn’t have done that, cus I’ve eaten so much and it feels like it’s gonna come back.”

  “Eeuugh, don’t be so vulgar.” Eric squirmed away from Tom.

  After a few moments Tom slumped back onto the sofa. “That’s enough moving for me, I’m staying put for the rest of the evening.”

  Eric looked at the clock on the mantelpiece. “It’s nearly 11, how about crashing with a DVD in bed, and then we don’t have to move?” Eric asked.

  “Good idea, what have you got?”

  “Anything and everything you’d want to watch.”

  “Transformers?” Tom asked, knowing it was their favourite.

  “Mum got the latest one last Monday” Eric added.

  “Brilliant.” Tom agreed. “Right, you dig out the last 2 films, I’ll tidy up down here, and then we’ll crash upstairs, with me on my throne of a bed, and