Inhuman Page 7

  Pushing myself onto to my hands and knees, I noticed him pull back his foot, readying himself to kick me in the stomach. Right before his release, I heard a familiar voice holler from the doorway that I’d just escaped from.

  “Stop! Don’t hurt her!” Keanu ran up, breathless as he stooped over, slid his hand around my waist and helped me to standing.

  “Why not? She’s just a freak.” Meyers sneered as he rolled his eyes at Keanu.

  Keanu’s entire body tensed beside me. Tired and beaten, I reluctantly leaned against his broad chest. Memories of our night together flooded back and I silently cursed the tears fighting their way to the surface.

  The heat from his body. His scent. I closed my eyes for just a moment to bask in it. Just a moment to pretend I was somewhere else. Someone else. Something else.

  The tension between the two men heightened as Keanu thrust his pointer finger into Meyers’ face. “Just leave her alone!”

  Smirking, Meyers responded with a move of his own. Smacking Keanu’s hand away from his face, he stuck his face into Keanu’s and asked with a venomous tone. “Or what?”

  “Enough!” Agent Evans yelled, his brow furrowed in annoyance as he approached the circle of agents. “I’ve had enough of you two! Take her inside!”

  With my arm around Keanu’s shoulder, I hobbled back into the building. Weeping and bleeding, I was led back to my cell.

  “Get the medic to clean her up.” Agent Evans ordered a nearby agent. “Pretty stupid move, Miss Tiponi.” He added as he turned to me. Nodding my head in agreement, I winced as the entire right side of my face ached in protest.

  Keanu seated me on the cot and then sat down beside me, his arm still around me.

  A line of drool escaped my swollen lips as I quietly mumbled. “Jessica?”

  “She’ll be fine.” Leaning his hand against one of the walls and dropping his eyes to the floor, Agent Evans looked far more stressed than usual.

  “Agent Evans?” My voice was that of a meek child. “Is Jessica…like me?”

  Barely moving and not looking up, Agent Evans answered while still staring at the floor. “No.”

  Hesitating, unsure as to whether he’d tell me the truth, I finally decided to ask the one thing that would change everything for me and my future.

  “Am I…the only one?”

  Sensing the depth of my question, Keanu squeezed my shoulder gently.

  Sighing deeply, Agent Evans turned to face me. His eyes serious, he looked me square in the eyes as he responded. “Not anymore.”

  ***

  The medic dabbed my seeping wounds with a small piece of gauze, moist with antiseptic. Stinging as it cleansed the oozing cuts on my lips, cheek and forehead, I waited impatiently for him to finish.

  Agent Evans had left the room, refusing to elaborate on his last statement. What did he mean that I wasn’t the only one ‘anymore’?

  I decided to probe Keanu for information after this guy was done cleaning me up.

  Keanu leaned against the wall in my cell watching the medic like a watchdog. He’d always seemed protective of me, but suddenly he was extremely diligent about it.

  “Okay, that should do it.” Pulling off his gloves and throwing them in garbage along with the blood-soaked gauze, he nodded at Keanu as he knocked on the door for the guard to let him out.

  If Keanu hadn’t been parked so close to the mirror, I would’ve immediately rushed to it to see just how bad I looked.

  Inhaling and exhaling sharply, he rubbed his face with his hands. The stress on his face could be read like a road map. Dark circles under his eyes and an expression of worry etched on his face, I sensed something was up.

  “Just tell me what’s wrong.” I pushed him, tired of the games. “I can tell something is wrong.” Glancing at me momentarily, he appeared to be having some internal debate.

  Maybe he was deciding whether he should—or could—tell me some awful news. Maybe they were planning to kill me. Or worse, subject me to more horrid experiments.

  I suddenly had an awful vision.

  My dead body splayed upon a cold metal table in a morgue hidden deep in the belly of the military base. Masked agents slowly and methodically dissecting me. One piece at a time, cutting away the flesh and bagging it for testing.

  A specimen.

  To them, I was worth less than a dead frog preserved in formaldehyde, to be torn apart by immature biology students in high school.

  Shuddering, I pulled my knees into my chest, hoping it would erect some protective force field around me. Apparently sensing my distress, Keanu moved from the wall and sat beside me. With my head tucked down and with my hair shielding me like black satin curtains, I cried softly. I felt his large hand begin sliding up and down my back, comforting me.

  “Please…please tell me what’s going on.” My body wracked with sobs as I whimpered my plea. “Are they going…to kill me?”

  “I…don’t know.” His voice hovered just above a whisper.

  Fear and anger surged through me suddenly. Whipping my head up from its cowered position, I pushed his hand away from me and came unglued.

  “Why!? Why me!? What harm can I do by existing!?”

  Standing up and pacing the small cell. I ranted, then cried, and then screamed for what felt like hours. Keanu simply sat on the cot with his head hung and listened.

  Finally, I stopped. Whether I’d worn myself out or I’d released all the anger within me, I just stopped. Weary, I walked to sink and cupping my hands, drank several handfuls of water. The cool liquid was gratefully welcomed by my physically and emotionally drained body.

  With my hands on either side of the sink, I looked at myself in the mirror.

  A stranger looked back at me.

  Once a vibrant, healthy young woman, I’d become a mere shadow of my former self.

  What was once a shiny, thick head of hair now hung lifeless on either side of my face like a black frame for my sallow cheeks and sunken eyes.

  Sad eyes. So very sad.

  Eyes that used to fire with the shade of amber topaz had faded to a tarnished brass.

  Silence smothered the tiny room. Closing my eyes to the monster staring back at me in the mirror, I asked one last time.

  “Tell me. What do they want from me?” Clutching the sides of the porcelain sink, I braced myself for the answer.

  I heard him sigh as he got up from the cot and approach me. Placing his hand on the small of my back, I was surprised that I’d become so dead inside that his touch didn’t even affect me anymore. Leaning his large body against me, I was confused when he began to pull my hair away from my face with his hand. With his lips only millimeters from my ear, he whispered.

  “Not here.”

  Turning his head and looking to a far corner of my cell, I followed his gaze. Tucked deep into the intersection of the walls was a tiny black circle. I frowned and tried to make out what it was, this tiny black thing nestled into the corner like a tick. Taking a sharp breath in as the realization struck me.

  My cell is bugged!

  ***

  “I’m just taking her to the showers to clean up.” Keanu informed the guard as he led me out of my cell.

  “I’m not supposed to…” The guard clutched his machine gun close as he eyed me.

  “I know, I have permission from Agent Evans.” Keanu lied, continuing to move us away from the cell. Leaving the confused guard behind, Keanu walked quickly toward the showers with me following closely behind.

  “In here.” He said, turning just before the shower entrance. Opening a door to the right, and guiding me into a small, dark room which appeared to be a janitorial closet, he turned to me and whispered. “We should be safe here.”

  After a few seconds, my eyes adjusted to the darkness. A glimmer of light from the crack at the bottom of the door dimly lit the room.

  I’m sure my eyes looked just wild with confusion. I was still reeling from the fact that my cell had been bugged! I’d spent ninety-nine p
ercent of the time alone; did they think I was going to talk to myself?!

  Then it struck me.

  Agent Meyers.

  They must have known what he was doing to me night after night and they didn’t even stop it.

  A dirty, disgusting sensation writhed within me as hatred penetrated me. I’d never known hate like I’d just found for them.

  Keanu stood close to me, taking deep breaths as he obviously prepared himself to divulge some kind of classified information.

  How? How could Keanu be a part of this? He seemed so…kind. Maybe he was still acting…just pretending to sneak me out of my room to tell me a great secret—or lie.

  I can’t trust him.

  “Cassia.” He began, his voice shaking with nervousness.

  I narrowed my eyes to slits as I tried to ascertain whether I should believe anything he had to say.

  “Cassia…you’re pregnant.” He actually smiled as he spoke the words, like I was an eager patient in a doctor’s office awaiting the happy news.

  For just a second, the world didn’t feel solid anymore. Gelatin. Yes, that’s the best way to describe how my body felt. My knees buckled, sending me falling clumsily to the floor. Keanu thrust his hands out to catch me. Holding me by my waist, he eased me to sitting.

  “You okay?” He whispered, adding a small chuckle at the end.

  Okay?

  Why do people ask such stupid questions? I was far from okay.

  I didn’t even know how to think at this moment. My brain was frozen in shock—or horror—I didn’t know which.

  A baby?

  “Talk to me. Please Cassia. I need to know…what you’re thinking.” Pleading with me, he sat on the floor in front of me and tried to make eye contact.

  “I…uh…” I tried to communicate but the ability just wasn’t there yet.

  Though I couldn’t speak any words, thousands of things were zipping through my mind at the speed of light. From the idea of a tiny heartbeat pulsing within me to the fact that my belly was going to swell beyond recognition to the unbelievable thought of pushing this being out of me.

  A baby.

  A person. A whole person. Growing inside of me, incubated by my body. Dependent upon me for every miniscule drop of nutrition, this tiny creature lived precariously within a dark corner of my body. It offered me the thing that no one else had in my entire life—it needed me.

  A fierce instinct suddenly enveloped me. No matter what, I had to live. I had to bring this life into this world. I had to get out of here.

  Placing my hands softly onto my stomach, I caressed the area where my baby was growing. Sitting there on the floor of a dark closet, my life had no longer become my own. It wasn’t just about my survival anymore. It was ours.

  As I stared down at my stomach, hands folded gently over my womb, I suddenly became aware of Keanu’s large warm hand encompassing mine. Looking up to meet his big brown eyes and soft smile, I realized something disturbing.

  He doesn’t know about Meyers. He thinks it’s his baby.

  Chapter 9

  After wetting my hair to convince the guard that I’d indeed had a shower, Keanu led me back to my cell. Coming into my room with me, Keanu leaned over and gave me a tender kiss on my swollen cheek.

  An awkward silence enveloped us as we stood before one another.

  As soon-to-be parents, we should have been nervously, or even excitedly, discussing the logistics of our situation. Baby names, cribs and night-feedings should have been our main concern.

  In a normal world anyways.

  Mine was not that of a normal world. Trapped and condemned a prisoner, uncertain of my fate, I had few options. My ‘foreign’ DNA had labeled me an instant threat to a paranoid society.

  DNA.

  Something so small and insignificant. Untraceable, yet the tainted material in which had marked me as the outsider.

  Caressing my belly, a soft smile twitched at my lips as I thought of the tiny heartbeat existing deep within my womb. This little person needed me. My body cradled this new soul, feeding it the nutrients it needed to live. I was giving someone life.

  For the first time in months, I was happy. I envisioned myself holding this new little bundle of warmth in pink blankets. I saw myself holding a little girl. Rocking her to sleep, singing a soft lullaby and running my hand through the soft downy hairs upon her head, I vowed to keep her safe. I would hold her tight and kiss away any tears that may fall upon her angelic face.

  Keanu watched my face with interest. He wore the same goofy grin that I suspected was on my face.

  “I’ll stop by later, okay?” Squeezing my hand lightly, he turned and knocked on the door for the guard to let him out. Watching him leave, I felt a warm sensation wash over me. I wasn’t sure I loved him, but I cared very much for him…especially if he was the father.

  A pain tore at my chest as I thought about the fact that this beautiful creature may not be his. I didn’t care. Even if it was Meyers’ child, I wasn’t going to let that notion destroy my vision, she was also mine.

  My baby. My blood.

  Blood!

  It hadn’t occurred to me up until this point that this baby would inherit my blood, my DNA! Sitting down on my cot, I put my face into my hands. I had doomed this tiny being to my own fate! My marred DNA was coursing through her veins, leaving her with the same hazardous genetic material! They would take her from me and use her as a new experimental test subject!

  Ironically, this little person had given me the one thing I desired most in the world since entering this nightmare—I was not alone. I was no longer the only one.

  That’s what Agent Evans meant!

  Before this, I was resigned to die here, in this unmarked grave of existence, but everything had changed. It wasn’t just my life anymore. She had to live.

  That was the defining moment. That’s when I knew for a fact that I had to get out of here.

  ***

  A plan.

  That’s all I needed to figure out was a plan of escape. The last time had been too random, too spontaneous. I had to think of something concrete and foolproof—if that was possible.

  Think Cassia think!

  Wracking my brain, I realized that the only time that I could even make an attempt was during my daily trip to the shower. Now I just had to figure out how to get past the guard. He never watched me shower, that was the only few moments a day when I wasn’t supervised.

  How do I slip away from him?

  A diversion.

  I needed a distraction when I was in the shower to make him leave, even for just a moment. Lying down on the uncomfortable cot, I closed my eyes and searched my mind for an answer.

  I’m sure a light bulb popped up over my head when the idea struck me. Giggling, I was excited to put my plan into action.

  Glancing over at the mirror with a grin and one eyebrow raised, I couldn’t wait until tomorrow.

  ***

  Shuffling through the searing sand, the tender flesh between my toes protested against the hot granules grinding in. Wiping the beads of sweat from my brow, I pushed my reluctant body forward through the arid desert.

  Ripples of heat waves danced in front of me as though seducing me into the fire. A relentless sun glared down from a cloudless blue sky.

  Trudging past a large, fleshy cactus, a speckled salamander skittered from the base, startled from his meager shade.

  Water.

  I would’ve sold my soul for even one drop. Even the most important things in life become second when faced with a scorching ocean of sand.

  She needs water.

  Caressing my swollen belly, I felt the tiny life inside of me cry for rehydration.

  Thankfully, in dreams, time moves more swiftly than in reality.

  Swallowed by a mountainous cliff in the distance, the sun released its tyrannical hold on the Sedona desert for the day. Oranges, yellows and reds settled into the horizon like a fiery rainbow.

  My white nightgown, dre
nched with sweat from the heat of the day, betrayed me as it absorbed the cool night air. Shivering, I scanned the darkening landscape for shelter. As with every dream, I see a shimmer of light in the distance. Beckoning me with its seductive warmth, I am captive to the call like a moth to a flame.

  Entering the mouth of the cave, I’m immediately drawn to the symbols adorning the walls.

  II. Roman numeral two.

  Come, rest by the fire.

  A familiar voice urges me. My eyes dart around the secluded cave, searching for the owner.

  She is coming. It whispers like a distant prayer driven by the wind.

  “Who?” My voice sounds hollow as it reverberates within the large cavern.

  Instantaneously, as though my word was a trigger, a sharp pain tears through my belly. Lying down on the cave floor, I pant as I feel my child moving out of my womb.

  Screaming, the dream ends, as it always has, in a blinding flash of white light.

  Sitting straight up on the white cot, my breath came in short, uncontrolled spurts.

  Coughing, I fought to regain rhythm. Pulling the thin, white sheet off of the cot and wrapping it around myself, I realized my teeth were chattering. My bones and muscles ached like I’d run ten miles the day before and my stomach churned with irritation. Nausea overwhelmed me, forcing me to run for the toilet a couple of feet away. Clinging to the sides of the bowl, I wretched violently.

  Shaking and sweating, I waited to see if I was done. Since it was the first time in my life I’d ever thrown up, I was overwhelmed with the sensations of illness. My head spun and my body quaked with shivers as I crawled back to the cot.