I just stared at Chris as he felt my wrist and then throat for a pulse.
Chris lowered his hand, "It's just a guess but I think he's severely hypovolemic. Lei he needs..."
Lei was already on her feet and out the door. About five seconds later she came back in carrying one of the guards and dropped his limp form on the floor next to me.
I looked at the body it was a mess of deep hacks and gashes indicating that the man had probably died from blood loss, "what do you expect me to do with that?"
Lei looked at me with frustration written all over her face, but her voice sounded patient as she said, "Steve, honey, you need to...eat."
When I hesitated Chris chimed in, "Go on man. It's not like he needs the blood anymore and the longer you wait the greater the chance it will decay and become useless.
I cocked my head at them, "You think there's anything left in there? Looks to me as though it's probably all over the floor out in the hall."
"Oh just do it you pussy!" Chris cried out with mock exasperation like a child would to pressure a friend into doing something disgusting.
I shook my head, "Take me into the hall."
Lei got it before Chris did and she hauled me up and started walking me to the door.
"Um," Chris muttered, "What are you...?"
Lei didn't turn as she said, "get those clothes off of that guard. They look like they'll fit."
Lei pulled me another couple feet and set me on the ground next to the guard I watched get hacked apart by the villagers. The man was lying in a pool of his own blood. I rolled to my side and started lapping at the floor and with each sip the pain in my body diminished. I knew that it was the euphoria that was taking away my symptoms and that the damage that had been done, had not been undone, but slowly I took in more and more blood, as my body assimilated what it needed from every drop I swallowed. Within a minute or two, I felt functional again and shakily rose to my feet.
Chris walked over and handed me a pair of pants. They were tight around my thighs but fit well enough to work and I tried to push a t-shirt over my head while Lei led me by the arm.
"Where are we going?" I asked once I had slipped both my arms through the shirt.
"Out," Chris said sharply as he stopped to peer around a corner.
"What? Wait," I stopped walking and nearly fell over as my weak legs had trouble coming to the abrupt stop.
"Huh?" Chris had already stepped around the corner and had to come back to see what the problem was.
"We can't leave without Whelan. That bastard can't..."
Lei gripped my arm tighter, "It's okay, he won't get away."
I shot Lei a frown, "What do you mean?" It was at that point that I realized the villagers’ presence meant that Lei and Chris had found Zach. So where was he?
The obvious question slipped from my lips, "Where's Zach?"
"We saw the doctor as we were fighting our way in. Zach ran after him and we came for you."
Panic shot through me, "We have to get to him now!"
"What?" Lei asked in surprise, "Why?"
I shook my head, "The doctor is responsible for his adopted daughter's death, he's going to be sloppy when he gets to him and we can't risk Whelan getting away again."
Chapter 55
Doctor Whelan had retreated to the large laboratory and examination area where he sat at a random computer terminal and hastily downloaded his data onto various zip drives. He was in the process of downloading the last one when the sound of air escaping from one of the heavy doors indicated the seals on the doors had released it's pressure. There was a loud clang and then the sound of heavy footfalls on the metal grating echoed throughout the otherwise silent chamber, gaining in volume as their creator grew closer and closer.
"C'mon, c'mon!" the doctor urged the download bar as if trying to use his will to move it faster.
A shadow appeared overhead, covering the area where he sat, and although Doctor Phineas Whelan rarely felt fear, he did feel a souring of the contents inside his stomach as adrenaline shot through him. Slowly he tilted his head upward to where the metal grating of the stairs transformed into a walkway before leading down to the ground level, where he was working. The doctor peered up through the grating and pieced together the face of his magnificent creation, peering down at him through the grating. He was standing and staring at the doctor with his blood red eyes. The creature's face was such an expression of rage it would have frightened a marble statue into running away.
The doctor heard a slight chime and broke his vision away long enough to see the download had finished. He ripped the zip drive out of the USB port without properly ejecting the disk and pushed it into his pocket before bolting for the exit door.
The giant on the walkway leapt over the rail and landed heavily on the ground just behind the doctor, grabbing him by the collar of his lab coat. The doctor felt his feet leave the ground and his body go airborne, as Zach threw him to the far side of the laboratory as easily as if he weighed no more than a stuffed animal.
The doctor landed on his right shoulder, felt a crunch and pop within the joint and then his body skidded to a stop against the far wall. The pain of his shoulder dislocation made the room spin and brought on a wave of nausea he thought would overwhelm him.
Dr. Whelan turned his eyes to the computer terminals and saw his creation slowly walking over to where he was lying. Understanding the danger he was in caused a momentary cessation of his pain and he desperately fumbled in his right pant pocket with his left hand, fingers awkwardly pushing their way into the fabric sheath as they tried to lock around the object he always kept there.
His long middle finger and his index finger just grazed the smooth metallic side of the object he was fishing for, but couldn't wrap his fingers around it with enough strength to pull it free. He looked up to see that the giant had covered half the distance between them, and he screamed in frustration and pain as he pushed harder into his pocket and managed to pinch the small box between his fingers.
He had to be careful to not jerk the object out of his pocket, for fear of losing his grip on it, so he proudly used a considerable amount of restraint, as he slowly eased his "Flash Box" out of his pocket. A hand the size of a baseball glove snatched him around the throat and squeezed. The doctor gurgled out a yelp as he felt his body rise off the floor. He could breathe, but just barely as Zach lifted him to a standing position and pulled him close. They were nearly eye-to-eye as Zach growled and his hand began to tighten around the doctor's throat, but the doctor raised his flash box and managed a garbled, gurgling word.
"Sm-Smile," could barely be understood as it passed through the doctor's lips, but he pressed the button on the flash box directly in front of Zach's eyes and, instantly, the pressure around the doctor's throat eased.
His whole body dropped to the floor, landing in a painful crash, as Zach froze in place, letting him drop. The doctor screamed again in frustration, as the pain of his dislocated shoulder began to overwhelm him, and he could barely find his feet to stand. Realizing he would need to reset the joint, he looked around the lab and his eyes locked on the solid stairway railing. He tried to stand but any movement, even the slightest twitch made his shoulder scream in agony.
"Fuck!" the doctor shouted to the open space of the lab, and then his eyes fell to the flash box in his hand. He sat back down on the floor and pinched the box between his knees so he could twist the dial on the device. Having been made to resemble a pocket sized digital camera meant putting all of the adjustments on the top of the device and the doctor began turning and setting the dials with his left hand. He finished altering the settings on his flash box and plucked it out from between his knees before turning it to face his own eyes. He had never used the device on himself, and given what he had designed the box to do, he was hesitant to use it on himself now.
Then he heard another of the heavy doors open from another side of the room. More people were coming in through the adjacent rooms. The doctor k
new it was now or never and he pushed the button.
The white lights flashed in a preprogrammed sequence and completely blinded him for a couple seconds, but as his vision returned, his pain vanished. He gasped in a huge breath of air in relief and rose to his feet. He quickly moved to the computer terminals and peered through the glass of the observation room to see three people, two men and a woman cautiously moving between the seats as they worked their way to the front of the room. The doctor thought he recognized one of the men, but gave him little thought as the sight of the woman brought all his fears to life.
"You!" he hissed and, although there was no way they could hear him through the heavy glass and airtight seals of the room, all three of the people in the observation room looked to the glass, and directly at the doctor.
The small group stared at each other for a moment before the doctor pivoted and started typing on a keyboard at the nearest computer terminal. One of the men raised a rifle and fired, but the bullet ricocheted off the heavy, and apparently bulletproof glass, forcing them all to drop to the floor to keep from being struck by the ricochet.
The doctor's fingers flew over the keyboard and as he hit the "enter" button the laboratory seemed to hum to life. The air seals on all the doors made their tell tale inflation sounds as they locked into place and the air vents hummed as they mechanically swung from open to shut.
The people inside the observation room ran for the door that led to the inside of the lab only to find it was sealed shut as well. One of the men moved to the computer terminal inside the room and slid the mouse across the table and began rapidly clicking on the things that appeared on the screen. Then his face dropped as his two partners moved to stand next to him with questioning looks on their faces.
Chapter 56
"What'd he do?" I asked Chris as he stared at the computer screen.
Chris looked frustrated at the screen and began scrolling through the information that was loading, "Looks like he locked himself inside the lab. I can't say for sure but it appears to be an air tight and pressurized system in place. Worse, he's overridden the commands and I can't bypass his access."
"What's that mean?" Lei asked.
"It means," Chris sat back in his chair with a sigh, "that we aren't going to be able to get him out of there."
"Can't we just break the glass?" Lei asked.
"It's pressurized. Even if we could get something to penetrate it, the sudden drop in pressure would cause a kind of implosion. All he'd have to do is move to the far side of the room and he'd be okay, but in this small space the glass would shatter and probably kill us...and that's assuming we could break it in the first place. Bullets didn't do the job."
"So we wait him out," I volunteered, "he can't stay in there forever."
Chris shook his head, "Look at the..." Chris noticed something in the room, "How'd Zach get in there?"
We all turned to where Chris was looking and saw Zach standing motionless like a statue on the far side of the room. We were staring at the surreal image and didn't notice the doctor fumbling with something in one of his hands. It was the slightest glint of light on stainless steel that warned me as I turned to look at Whelan and saw his hand come up with the Flash Box. Instinctively, I dove for Chris and Lei and tackled, more landed on them than actually tackled them, and forced them to the ground, as the series of strobe flashes illuminated through the clear glass.
A second or so later I was checking each of them, "Both of you, say something now!"
Lei was breathless, but answered, "I'm okay."
"You can get off me anytime, thank you," Chris said in a muffled tone before I realized I was sitting on him, "And what the hell was that all about?"
"Stay down!" I commanded, "he's got that damn Flash Box thing."
"Oh, not that thing again," Chris said remembering all the trouble we had as a result of the damn thing a couple years ago.
"So what do we do?" Lei asked.
A deep voice called out over loudspeakers, "Hello? Anyone still functioning in there?"
It was the doctor speaking in a mocking tone via some kind of intercom system.
"How's he doing that?" Lei asked.
"The whole place must be wired," Chris responded as I rolled off of him.
There was a slight tapping sound above our heads, but none of us dared to look.
The doctor's strange deep voice called out in a tone of familiarity, "Hey, if you guys are still conscious, I call truce. Honest, I want to talk with you."
I looked at Lei, who shook her head "no" to me, before I shrugged my shoulders and slowly lifted my head up.
"Look I'm putting the box down over here," the doctor's voice spoke in a singsong tone as if he were talking to children.
I raised my head quickly and then dropped down again in case he was lying. The image I saw in that split second was indeed the doctor standing away from the glass and putting the flashing device down next to a keyboard. I repeated the process and saw that the doctor now had his empty hands held up and the device resting on table as he walked back over to the glass.
I stood up and glared at him, "You're going to have to come out of there eventually you piece of shit."
"Oooh!" the bastard said as he saw my expression and made a puppet hand that was intended to mock the words I was saying, "Such a fierce look! Very scary, now if you'd like to talk you need to push the button next to the microphone so I can hear you."
I glared a moment longer and then looked down to the table and found the button he was talking about, "I said that..."
The doctor cut me off angrily, "I can give a shit what you were saying!" the bass and anger in his voice was disconcerting even given his frail body and I found myself jolting back in surprise.
Then his voice calmed and he flowed right into a scientific tone, "Now let's talk about how we are going to get through this little impasse."
I laughed, "What impasse is that exactly? You are going to have to come out of there eventually. We have the compound, which means we have food, water and time on our side. What have you got?"
The doctor didn't look flustered at all by my words, "There's never as much time as you think. Trust me on this. I didn't get into this alone. I have partners and they are very powerful people who will come looking after their investment when communications end."
I tried not to let it show on my face, but I had thought the same thing. Truth was we didn't really have command of the compound either. The mercenaries were on the defensive, but we had to get the villagers out of here before the trained professionals they were fighting figured out a way to turn the tide.
Lei got to her feet while Chris sat back into the chair and began clicking away again at the computer and said, "Keep him talking, maybe I can figure out a way to override his control."
I didn't nod my agreement and hoped Chris would get the hint when I asked politely, "So what do you suggest?"
"A trade," the doctor said with a smile, "You let me go and I don't kill your big friend over there."
I looked away from the doctor and took in the image of Zach standing motionless on the far side of the chamber.
"What did you do to him?" I asked as I heard Chris' fingers rapidly typing on the keyboard.
"Same thing I did to the rest of your people two years ago," the doctor said as he turned to look at the big man in the distance. "Strange reaction, that. I had expected him to fall limply to the ground the way most people do when I hit them with the strobe. Still, it was effective enough as I only needed to immobilize him."
"And how exactly do you intend to kill him? With your bare hands?" I mocked.
"Oh no, of course not. The doctor started to reach into the pocket of his lab coat with one hand, but the arm did not seem to respond properly. It was then that I noticed the severe disfigurement of his right shoulder that even the oversized lab coat couldn't hide.
The doctor looked down at his shoulder, "Oh right, one second."
The doctor walked over
to the stairway and, with his opposite hand, I saw him lift his right arm by the wrist until his right hand was able to grasp the railing. He then took in a nervous breath and fell quickly away from the railing. I could see the "pop" of the shoulder joint as it went back into place, as over the speakers a sound like a muffled gunshot burst through. I winced at the sight knowing the pain that such a maneuver would invoke, but the doctor merely tested his arm and nodded with satisfaction before walking back over to the glass.
"Now where were we?" the doctor said as if nothing had just happened, "Oh yes, how do I plan on killing your friend?"
The doctor plucked what appeared to be a small eyeglass case out of his pocket, "I always keep this little case on my person as it has come in handy on several occasions." He slowly unzipped the case and looked at Lei, "I bet you remember the contents well, don't you bitch?"
My eyes shot from the case up to the doctor as he insulted the woman I love. I turned to Lei and found her crossing her arms over her abdomen and the neat three-inch scar that extended from one side of her navel. Two years ago Lei had been at the doctor's mercy and the sadistic sonovabitch had started torturing her, not for information as much as some perverse pleasure. He had just started dissecting her when he had been interrupted as Chris, Alpha and I broke our way into the Pharmanetics building and interrupted his fun.
"I see you do remember," the doctor laughed as he waved the same scalpel that had cut into Lei's flesh in front of the glass. "You remember how sharp my little knife is and how easy it would be to slip it across your large friend's neck and bleed him out."
I looked down at Chris, but the look on his face told me he was no closer to finding an answer.
"Do you remember how it felt to be under the influence of my little flash box?" The doctor asked Lei, "How you could still see and feel everything, but were powerless to do anything about it?"
I turned and saw Lei shiver at the words. I moved to her and put my arms around her, pulling her in tight to my body.
Madman's Monster Page 35