Amoeba (The Experiments) (2 page)

Jake seemed to increase his dramatics every time he did it. For the seventh time, he opened his front door wearing only boxer shorts. He was a towering man, but fit. Even in his underwear, he looked intimidating. He’d huff loudly, rub his very short brown hair, and snarl his handsome, yet rugged face in disgust as he stared out into the predawn residential street of the base. Stare at that empty spot on his walk that should contain a Sunday paper. Even though he had been away from civilization for seven months, his memory was sharp enough to recall he always had a paper by five in the morning. Where was it? He didn’t think twice about the day before’s paper. It was Jake’s first morning home and he had a lot on his mind. But that was the day before, and Jake now wanted his paper.

Just as he went to shut his door, something dawned on him. He stepped out onto his small porch and looked to the dark house four doors down
, the home of Captain Charles Burgett, Jake’s friend since he joined the Rangers. Thinking it was the same thing as what happened with the phone, Jake pulled his front door closed and walked down to Captain Burgett’s home.

Jake approached the front door, knocked just once
, and waited. A few seconds later, he knocked again, twice to make sure Burgett heard. When no answer happened again, Jake stepped back to the walkway. Knowing that he pretty much outranked everyone that lived on that quiet street, Jake, without fear, called out. “Chuck.” The resonating voice that came from his huge body caused dogs to bark. Raising one eyebrow in annoyance, Jake called out again. This time louder. “Chuck!”

There was a squeak of the window,
and then Chuck, hair tossed about, stuck his head out whispering, “Jake?”

“Oh good
, you’re up.”

“Along with everyone in the neighborhood. What?” Chuck still kept his voice low.

Jake did not. “Chuck, did you forget to pay my paperboy?”

“What?”

“My paperboy or man, whatever.” Jake’s voice echoed in the street. “The guy who delivers the news? Did you forget to pay him? I wouldn’t doubt it. I don’t have a phone now, thank you very much. I put you in charge of paying my bills while I was gone. If you didn’t use my VISA, that would have been cut off . . .”

“Jake.” Chuck shut him up. “Are you that anal that you’ll stand in the street in your underwear asking me about your paper?”

“I want my paper.”

“Steal Corporal Jenkins. You’re the Ex-O. What’s he gonna say to you?”

“Good point.” Jake spun around to the house next door. He saw the paper lying on Corporal Jenkins walk, and he happily marched over and took it. He smiled as he unfolded it, and then saw Chuck’s porch light go on. Figuring it was his invitation, he moved to the porch.

Chuck opened his front door. “Jake, what are you doing?”

“Getting a paper.” Jake pulled on the screen door and walked in. “Is there coffee made?”

“Not yet.” Chuck shut the door. “Considering I haven’t even had time to take a leak.”

“Well, go on. I’ll start the coffee.” Jake moved across the small living room and stopped. He looked around at the papers scattered about. Beer cans on the table, a half eaten pizza that looked really old. “Chuck, don’t you think you should clean up?”

“Yeah
, Jake, I’ll get right on it. Make the coffee, I’ll be right down.” Chuck, shaking his head, walked to the stairs and then went up them. And Jake, in his journey to the kitchen, grabbed the pizza box and a few of those beer cans.

When Chuck made his way back down stairs, he could hear the gurgling of the coffee pot. He walked into the kitchen, sat at the table, and waited for Jake who was already pouring the coffee.

“Thanks
,” Chuck said as Jake set the cup down in front of him. “Not that I actually planned on getting up this early. Or rather being stirred from a great dream by your ass yelling outside.”

Jake sat down. “I would have picked up the phone and called. However, I don’t have a phone. Do you know how embarrassing that is
, Chuck? I have never been late for a bill in my life.” Jake sipped his coffee. “I should ask the experiment to issue me a letter stating that I was away for seven months. What do you think?

Chuck hesitated in taking a drink. “You should.”

“I will.”

“God.” Chuck shook his head in disbelief. “Anyhow, I take it Cal is sleeping
?”

“Yes
,” Jake said as if that thought bothered him. “I tried to wake her up, Chuck, and she says, ‘Jake, go away’ . . . Get this Chuck, she tells me she’s tired. What do you suppose she means?”

“Um . . . I don’t know. Perhaps she’s tired.”

“Ha, ha, ha, asshole. I don’t get it. I had her up and about everyday at five in the morning at the experiment and . . .”

“Jake
,” Chuck interrupted. “You guys did things one way for seven months. Now you’re in the real world, you have to learn to do things different.”

“I always get up at five.”

“Yeah, but did she?” Chuck questioned. “Probably not. So let her sleep.”

“No, it’s more than that. After you left last night, she got . . . she got really quiet.”

“Did I say something?”

“No. I don’t know what caused it
,” Jake said. “We talked, actually I talked after you left, and then her and I, we were, you know, intimate. And she shut down after that.”

“There you have it. That’s your problem. You bored her in bed, Jake. I mean
, you just referred to having sex as . . .”

“Chuck
, please.”

“No, Jake, listen to me.” Chuck tried to explain without laughing. “What are you expecting? You meet this woman up there at the experiment. You spend seven months with her in seclusion. Yeah, it’s your element, that survival shit. But was it hers? So she adjusts to that element with you. You step from it, she feels different, you’re still the same. It scared her. That’s why she left you at the airport and wanted to stop seeing you. But you go after her and whisk her down here, her head’s spinning. She needs more adjustment time. See, if you weren’t the relationship illiterate guy
, you would know this.”

Jake was amazed. “That was a really good explanation.”

“Thanks. Just remember, it takes time.”

Jake looked at his watch. “Well, seeing how you know women, exactly how long do you think it will take for her to adjust? I can see it wearing on my patience.”

“Jake, what is wrong with you? She’s not been here twenty-four hours yet.”

“I know.” Jake finished his coffee and stood up. “But I want to get rolling on this relationship we started. Move on to the next phase.”

“In all seriousness, Jake, besides her getting used to you, and trust me, you’re tough to get used to, what about the other adjustment?”

Jake paused in pouring his coffee. “What other adjustment?”

“Mentally getting over the shit you two went through up there.”

Jake fluttered his lips and poured his coffee. “It’ll take no time. Cal’s tough. You should have seen her up there. Like me, I don’t think it will even
faze her.”

Leonard’s dimflash light and Billy’s bright one were the only things leading the way in the dark morning as he and Billy tromped through a small wooded section. They hadn’t seen any Caldwell people when they hovered again, so they landed near the river and left the chopper there

“I cannot believe you have me doing this
,” Leonard commented.

“Doing what? I told you I would have flown here alone
,” Billy commented, having to look up at Leonard as they walked. Not that Billy was short, he was average and thin, but Leonard was a bigger man and lean.

“Oh, sure. When did you get your license? Three months ago. I feel like a father with his teenage son every time I fly with you.”

“You remind me of my stepfather. He used to grab the wheel from me constantly. Like you grab the stick.” Billy fussed with the camera.

“We were sideways, Bill. And look at you with that camera. You’re not getting any good shots.”

“We may.”

“You’re not a great photographer, Bill.”

“Is there possibly anything else you’d like to insult me on? Go on, get it out of the . . .” Billy stopped walking as they emerged from the woods.

“What’s wrong?”

Billy sniffed. “Do you smell that?”

Leonard took a long inhale,
and there was a slushy sound.

Billy looked at him through the corner of his eyes. “That was really gross.”

“I’m clogged up. What do you want me to do?”

Smelling again
, then making a face, Billy continued walking. “Damp and musty.”

“Death.”

“No. If I meant death, I would have said death. I said damp and musty.” They neared what was left of the complex. “Holy shit. Look at this place.”

“What exactly are you hoping to find that the workers did not?”

“What they plan on finding today.” Billy’s flashlight shone about the debris. “It looks like a tornado ripped through this place.”

“I’m not understanding your obsession.”

“They did something to these people. I know it.”

“What would be the point?”

Billy shook his head. “I don’t know that either.” Billy raised the beam of the flashlight and aimed it at the small temporary silver trailer that had been set up. “What’s the chance of that being unlocked?”

“Not good.” Leonard watched Billy move to it. “Bill, come on. This is a highly regarded experiment. They release their findings to not only medical journals, but the military as well. Don’t you think if something was foul with this it would have been discovered years ago?”

“How?” Billy arrived at the trailer. “How would they discover it? What if their reports are doctored to fit the needs, and possibly not the total truth?” Billy pulled on the door.

“What would make you believe that?” Leonard questioned.

“Because they weren’t totally honest on how they got all their participants. It’s an interviewing process. Only the best go? Bullshit, Len. If that’s the case, then why would they deliberately have a killer released from a mental institution to come here? I’ll tell you why. To add drama perhaps? Make the experiment interesting? Bet me that none of these participants knew they had a killer among them.” Billy tugged at the door again.

“How do you know they did this?”

“Trust me, I know. And because I know this for a fact is why I’m allowed to tag this story and follow it to the next experiment if need be.”

“If you don’t get us arrested first. Please quit with that door. It’s locked.”

Billy finally stopped pulling it. “You think we should break in?”

“I think you should do this legitimately. But since we’re here
, you might as well try a credit card or something because that door looks cheesy.”

Billy grinned
. “Do you have one?”

Shaking his head, Leonard reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He took a card from it and handed it to Billy.

“Hold the light for me.” Billy bent over and raised the card to the crease of the door. Just as he began to insert it, he heard a slight growl. “Man, Len, you should have eaten. Your stomach is loud.”

“That wasn’t my stomach
, Billy.” Leonard looked down at Billy.

Billy slowly stood up. Another growl echoed at them.

With caution, at the same time, both men turned around holding their flashlights. The instant the beams shone outward was the instant another growl, this time fierce and loud, cried at them. The ray of light hit only in a flash on the fangs, and without warning, the large body of a silver back wolf lunged forward at them mouth open. The jaws clenched immediately onto Leonard, and the weight of the wolf topped him to the ground.

Leonard painfully screamed out for help, struggling in a fight with the wolf that pinned him down
. Billy looked around for something, anything, to nail the wolf with. Racing to the rubble, he grabbed a board. His hands shook and his heart pounded as he watched the wolf snarl, its huge head rapidly moving back and forth as it tore the flesh from a now silent Leonard’s chest.

As Billy went to swing at the wolf
, he saw that the only movement coming from Leonard was the tossing of his limp body like a rag doll as the wolf fed upon him in an angry hunger. Billy dropped the board and backed up. The clunk of the board to the ground caused the wolf to turn its blood-stained head Billy’s way. Moving backwards, Billy caught the glow of its eyes. Then, in a running spin, Billy took off toward the wooded area, praying with every step he pounded into the ground to reach the safety of the helicopter.

Billy didn’t want to look back. He didn’t want anything to slow down his determin
ed run from the wolf he now heard chasing after him.

The woods seemed longer as his breath huffed and
his heart pounded in near perfect synchronization with the beast that raced behind. And then Billy saw it, the end of the woods, the blackness of the chopper that sat, door open.

“Please
,” Billy begged in his mind. “Please God.” And with everything he had, Billy pulled more from inside of him and charged toward the helicopter, leaping inside.

He landed inside hard, stumbling in his jump. Billy quickly rolled over
, and saw the charging wolf only a few feet away. His trembling hand reached blindly for the door as his eyes stayed fixed on the beast. Finally gripping the handle, Billy began to pull it, and the wolf jumped forward, jaws open, slamming into the metal of the chopper door just as the door shut.

Amidst the banging of the determined wolf, the rapidness of Billy’s breathing,
and the thumping of his heart in his chest, Billy moved to the front of the chopper. The banging grew louder, and Billy’s whole body shook in fear as he sat in the pilot’s seat. He looked back to the door to see the metal bending. “Shit.” Billy fumbled with the controls, and finally, through amateur awkwardness, he started the helicopter’s engines.