Glass Back

by Terrell Lawson

  “Most information on the human exhibit and its specimens is classified, so my responses will be limited and a live guide will answer any questions you may have.” said the voice of the hologram lady. He looked around and waited, knowing full well no one would appear.

  I hate this place. He thought as he continued to walk through.

  The hallway opened up into a big glass circular room, with floor to ceiling display cases that had nothing inside them. Hologram windows showed up on the each case, displaying the human anatomy. Or clone anatomy. There was no difference. In the center of the room there was a stand with a piece of paper and a thick metal bracelet on top. It was just out in the open. Anybody could have taken it. Henric walked up and picked up the card. It read ‘Try Me’ on one side and ‘This device is fully operational’ on the other. He pressed a button on the side of the stand and said aloud, “Tell me about the bracelet.”

  The stainless steel T bracelet is a Tacarria product made specifically for clones who had a rushed development.”

  “What does that mean?” he asked.

  “Clones in rushed development had to endure an accelerated growth rate to get them to the age and physical shape the scientists needed for various experiments. Most clone bodies are extremely unstable because of this procedure and die very prematurely without care. The bracelets are designed to indicate the time a clone has left before they expire.”

  Premature? Expire?

  “Who were the clones duplicated from? Who were the original people?” There was a moment of silence before the hologram guide spoke again.

  “I am unable to provide that information. Please seek out your live guide for further details.”

  “What about the clone’s birth? How were they created?” Henric had to wait the same amount of time for the same answer.

  “I am unable to provide that information. Please seek out your live guide for further details.”

  Henric rolled his eyes and picked up the metal bracelet, surprised by how heavy it was. A blue light above shone down on him, creating a big square in the center of the room. Suddenly, Henric heard a male’s voice over the intercom but it was automated, instantly evaporating the little hope he had.

  “The T bracelet, although a prototype, is fully functional and is intended for the clones you see around you, and not real people. As such, it does nothing when worn by a normal person. Feel free to try it on for photos but please remain in the blue square and return it when you are done. Thank you.”

  The bracelet looked a little like a fancy metal watch without face or buttons, and it had a sliding mechanism that revealed a digital screen underneath. He slapped it onto his wrist and it magnetically clicked together, reminding him of Ben 10’s omnitrix. A purple T logo appeared on screen for a few seconds before going black again. Then the calibrating showed up in blue with a little line going across the screen. When it reached the end it said ‘Calibration Complete’ and displayed some numbers on screen.

  56 years, 7 months, 32 days.

  Henric swiped left and the year and months disappeared, now displaying 32 days, 18 hours, 44 minutes. This was it. The bracelet wouldn’t have worked if he was human. This is probably what Rick wanted him to see.

  This means nothing I know, nothing I remember, is real. My dad isn’t my dad, he’s Rick’s, the real Henric. Which makes me a fake. But how can I be fake? Rick said he didn’t know my mother’s name, is she fake too? Why would my.. Why would David do this to me? Why would they do this to anyone?

  Henric started to cry and tried to yank off the bracelet, but it wouldn’t budge. Suddenly it got tighter, and he felt a sharp searing pain in his wrist.

  “Stop trying kid.” said a voice behind him. “That ain’t coming off until your heart stops beating.”

  13

  Henric turned around and raised his hands. “Who are you and why are you pointing a gun at me?”

  The man was wearing a bulletproof vest over a black suit and breathing heavily. His hair was unkempt and his face was sweaty.

  “I’m David. David Jones. You don’t look like an escapee. You look.... Domesticated.”

  “What are you talking about?” Henric demanded.

  David squinted at him. “McCathey?”

  “Yes! That’s me! My name is Henric!”

  “Oh, Thank God.” David lowered his gun. “Your father told us you’d be coming. Give me a second.” He pulled out his phone and began to type in a number.

  “Yeah, hello? I found one of them. No, the younger. Haven’t seen the other one yet, but that’s not the point. Why would he know where the real one is?”

  Real one? He knows I’m not real. Wait, of course he does, I have on the damn bracelet. Why is he looking for both of us? Dad didn’t tell either of us the other one existed.

  Henric looked around the room. There were no other ways to exit and this guy, David was blocking his path. Something about this guy felt off, Henric didn’t trust him at all. He slowly tried to move forward but David raised his gun again. “Don’t move kid.”

  “Why are you looking for both of us?”

  David stared at him, shocked, and hung up the phone.

  “Both of us?” he echoed. “So you already know.”

  He started walking towards Henric, gun still raised. “Let me see the bracelet.”

  David almost touched Henric’s wrist when two arms wrapped around his waist and flipped him backwards. It was Rick, face bloody and bruised but still alive.

  “Get the gun kid. Get the gun!” Rick demanded as he pounded David into the floor, holding him in place. Henric hurriedly picked it up and aimed it at David.

  “I’m gonna shoot on the count of five, okay?” he said, sounding braver than he felt.

  “Whoa! No! Just hold, Jesus!” Rick finally tired out David and they both laid there, panting.

  “Okay, kid. Give me the gun.” Rick held out his hand but Henric tossed it, much to Rick’s horror.

  “Holy shit! Did my Dad teach you anything about gun safety?!”

  “It’s still on safety, I know that much!” Henric snapped.

  Still panting, Rick got to his feet with a bloody smirk on his face.

  “After waking up abandoned, I told myself if I lived I would kill everyone in this facility. Knowing some of you have a hit on me already makes that a lot easier.”

  David eyed him cautiously and wiped the blood from his nose.

  “What are you waiting for, an invitation? I got a meeting with Michael Jackson and Stan Lee in thirty minutes.”

  “You seem a little too eager to die. Are you a clone too?” Rick asked him.

  “No, you idiot,” David showed his wrists, revealing only a smart watch. “Though I hate that I share a name with your father.”

  “So you knew him?” Rick held the gun so close David almost went cross-eyed.

  “Unfortunately, yes. I was stationed by his side, along with another guard after the chaos. The other scientists called him David instead of doctor, so I would always get confused-”

  “What chaos?” Henric asked him.

  David looked at him then back at the gun in his face.

  “I’m not explaining all this crap. You don’t have the guts to kill me, anyway.”

  Rock cocked the gun. “You will if you don’t want a slow death. He’s got a mallet.” Rick motioned to Henric. “And you’ve got ten fingers, ten toes, and I’m pretty sure a very sensitive little-”

  “Okay, smartass. Who taught you torture?” said David sarcastically. Henric pulled out the mallet and tapped it in his hand.

  “I’m sure you know how the labs operate, being the son of McCathey.” Rick nodded but Henric didn’t move.

  “Go on.”

  “Tacarria sent something to Bickerstaff which they didn’t want, so they sent it here, Lavaunzier. The only problem is, we don’t have anything here to contain it. We accepted it because they told us it was alive. But it’s not alive, It’s.... w-we don’t fucking know. We don’t know if they
found it or if they made it or-”

  David’s phone rang, silencing him. He glanced at his pocket but dared not to move.

  “Give it to me. Now.”

  David pulled out the phone slowly and held it up for Rick, who promptly snatched it and read the screen.

  “Caller ID says unknown. Figures.” He answered the call and put it on speaker.

  “Speak and I’ll shoot a hole in your hand big enough to put your foot through it.” Rick whispered.

  “Jones? What the hell’s going on? Say something, damn it. Did you get the kids?” Everyone stayed silent, eyeing each other quietly.

  “Did something get you?” the voice asked again. It sounded feminine.

  “Yeah, we did. The kids.” said Rick grinning. “Tell me where my dad is and I’ll let him live.”

  Rick didn’t know what he expected to hear after that, but it definitely wasn’t laughter.

  “Live?” said the voice incredulously. “He failed to you retrieve you. He’s going to die regardless.”

  “Wait, a second-” David started.

  “Oh, you’re there with them, listening in? Good. We have your location. We’ll get those kids without you. Get religion David, if you haven’t already. I hear Lavaunzier has some pretty interesting things lurking around.”

  The call ended and Rick smashed the phone on the floor. “Damn it!” he shouted. “Why was I so stupid?!”

  “We need to go right? Like, right now?” Henric asked looking anxious.

  “Yeah obviously. We’re going back to Dad’s lab, like my original plan. We should be safe there, unless of course, he’s the one orchestrating this.” Rick said those words but Henric shook his head.

  “Why would you even assume that?” he asked Rick.

  “Because I’ve known him a hell of a lot longer than you have. Hey target practice, lead the way. I’m sure you know the route.”

  David got to his feet with his arms raised, walking a steady pace with Rick closely behind him.

  “Since you two seem to have all this figured out, how long have you been fending for yourselves in here, and how many escapees have you encountered?

  “What do you mean by fending for ourselves? And what’s an escapee?” asked Henric.

  “How do you not know? This little menagerie has fallen apart. Almost everything they’ve created is free and pissed off, and the smarter things are waiting. They’re waiting for us.”

  14

  “Stop trying to spook us and keep walking, the elevator is this way.” They made their way through the library to the elevator, with Rick checking over his shoulder every second.

  “Welcome. What exhibit would you like to see?”

  Rick froze. David had no clue and kept walking to the elevator.

  “Rick it’s just a hologram.” Henric told him, but Rick was already staring at it. The elevator dinged and opened, snapping him out of his trance. He shot the projector on the ceiling, destroying the hologram.

  “Hey, if I were you I would save those bullets for the real monsters!”

  Henric and Rick both turned around to see David, smiling with blood on his teeth, frantically pushing what was presumably the Close Door button. Rick shot again- a great shot, because David howled in pain and dropped to the elevator floor.

  “That door better stay open!” Rick shouted.

  Even though he was in pain David made the effort to stick a foot out the door, stopping it from closing.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Henric asked him. “Why are you wasting time?”

  Rick shrugged him off. “I don’t know, maybe it’s the brain damage. Let’s go.”

  They get into the elevator and help David up, who was clenching his head. Henric moved his hand revealing a bullet hole in his left ear.

  “Wow,” said Henric. A couple inches over and you’d be a pirate.

  “A dead one.” Rick chimed, keeping the gun trained on him.

  “I might not be in the position to make negotiations here, but say we have a truce.” David cupped his ear and one hand and held out the other to shake.

  “Why should we?” asked Henric.

  “Because this is a long ass elevator ride, and I’d appreciate it if there wasn’t a gun in my face the entire time. I’m sure your arm is tired too, right?”

  Rick lowered the gun. “Fine. Try anything and you’ll regret it.” They sat mostly in silence besides David whimpering over his ear. Rick was just about to tell him to shut up when the whole elevator stopped. The light flickered out, and the door groaned.

  “We’re here?” Henric asked.

  “Yeah, but it shouldn’t have stopped like that.” said Rick and David simultaneously. They both looked nervous. Rick now pointed the gun towards the door. “Bickerstaff must be here.” David whispered.

  “You think they caught us already?” Henric asked aloud.

  “No. but if enough people come back here, the escapees will be on the defensive”

  Suddenly, they heard a loud groaning sound from the other side of the door. Bit by bit, someone was forcing it open.

  “Get ready.” David whispered.

  “Duh.” Rick murmured, eyes trained on the door.

  “One.... Two... THREE!” Rick waited till he had a clear shot and as soon as the man got the door fully open, Rick shot him twice in the chest and the man collapsed.

  “There could be more. Stay down!” Henric and David dropped to their feet as Rick stepped out of the elevator, surveying the room. Henric stared at the body as a pool of blood formed under it. The man was soaking wet and bald, the only form of clothing he wore was dark red shorts that appeared to be underwear. Henric noticed his eyes were still open, and he had a clone bracelet on his wrist. Counting down from seven minutes, the screen on his bracelet glitched out repeatedly, skipping numbers, saying calibrating several times before hitting zero and shutting down.

  “He wasn’t alone. Someone must’ve taken out the elevator for him. There’s people running, but they’re unarmed. This is section C.” Rick called back to them, still on alert.

  “Dad’s office is in section D, so we’re close.” said Henric while he helped David up to his feet.

  David left the elevator, but held Henric back.

  “Those are clones. There’s a lot of things they could be running from, but the first that comes to mind is Bickerstaff.”

  They heard screaming and gunfire in the distance. Henric pushed past David and saw that there was blood everywhere. Scratches, claw marks and holes were all over the walls and glass windows had been shattered.

  “This wasn’t like this at all earlier, I was here a few hours ago. What happened?” Henric looked to David for answers. Rick did the same.

  “What? How am I supposed to know? I was sent in alone to find you two.”

  “And why is that?” said Rick, looking back every time he heard a scream or gunshot.

  “Because this place is overrun with creatures, I told you already. Damn near everything they experimented on. Walk alone, and they most likely avoid you. The bigger the group of people is, the more likely they are to attack. That’s another thing too. I’m not sure if the Bickerstaff agents are actually hunting these creatures on purpose or if they were ambushed.”

  “Which one would be better for our sake?” asked Henric.

  “Them getting ambushed, obviously. That means they should be too preoccupied to worry about us. But if they were already hunting, we’d be in trouble. That clone’s bracelet would lead them right to us.”

  “Well, how do I take it off?” Henric replied, tugging at it.

  “You can’t take it off.” said Rick and David in unison.

  “Fuck this thing!” Henric shouted, slamming the bracelet against the elevator door.

  “Kid, stop!” Rick replied in a hushed whisper.

  “No! Fuck both of you! Fuck this bracelet, fuck this place, fuck this whole damn-”

  Rick practically slapped Henric when covering his mouth. Henric was furious but the
look in Rick’s eyes was absolute fear. Rick moved out of the way to show a flickering figure walking alongside the wall, giving off a white luminescent hue. The figure appeared to be a tall man, and he was staring at them. Rick pointed his gun towards it and Henric backed up, staring at the ground long enough to see the dead clone’s blood was moving towards the figure.

  15

  “Do not shoot it. Piss him off and we all die.” David whispered, putting his hand on Rick’s shoulder. “That came from Tacarria.”

  The figure appeared to be an old man, maybe a janitor. He wore dark overalls with the name Tacarria etched in red. He wasn’t transparent but he appeared to be intangible because his hand went through the wall.