Amoeba (The Experiments) (21 page)

--The mental endurance challenges thrown your way will target your weakness, fears
, and addictions. You must treat these challenges as if you were a third party watching. As if you are sitting in a movie theater watching a scary film, telling yourself it is not real, and will be over soon.--

Excerpts from ‘Surviving the Iso-Stasis’

By Jake and Cal Graison

Thinking how cool it was because she
had always wanted to go to Hawaii, Cal smiled a lot as she spoke to Greg on the dock area. “So, just assure me once more that we aren’t leaving Jake behind.”

“I assure you
,” Greg told her. “We fully understood they held him longer. As a matter of fact, his plane landed in Hanamaula already. He should be here shortly, and we’ll begin.” Greg laid a hand on her shoulder and moved on to where participants Lawrence and Jason stood.

Cal, hearing the clicking of Billy’s camera, turned to him. “Even though he’s a liar, I like him.”

“That’s an oxymoron statement if I ever heard one.” Billy held up his camera, took a picture of Cal, then put the camera down. “The start of it all.”

“That’s not your only camera is it?” Cal asked him. “I know what happens on these experiments.”

“No, I brought others, and they are packed in my belongings. I kept this one out because I wanted to be able to take pictures.”

“Take a picture of that ocean. It’s beautiful.” Cal took in a deep breath. “That is so cool we’re going on an island. I’m gonna get a great tan.”

Billy chucked.. “What a weird thing for you to say. You’re usually not that vain.”

“Was that vain? Gees it was, wasn’t it
. And . . . what in the world?”

Billy turned to see what Cal was looking and laughing at. Walking down the p
ier was Rickie and Lou. They looked like Abbott and Costello, but dressed exactly alike, each sporting a bright red shirt with white tropical flowers on it.

“Cal-babe.” Rickie trotted up. “Like my duds?” He pulled on the shirt. “Went on a little ha-why-eye shopping spree while waiting for the big guy. And this is my new bud
, Lou.”

“Nice to meet ya.’” Lou held his hand out to Cal. “So you’re Rickie’s mom?”

“Sort of. You can say . . .”

Billy stepped in between her and Lou,
and he faced Rickie. “Rickie, what did Jake tell you?” Billy raised his eyebrows.

“Dude, like
, that was really rude, they were meet . . . oh!” Rickie slapped himself on the forehead. “Dude, Lou. You know what, rewind guy. Cal-babe is not supposed to talk to anyone cause there’s like a reward for killing her.”

“Oh.” Long and drawn out, Lou nodded his head. “I see. O
kay, we’ll rewind.”

“Dude, let’s
, like, go over by where everyone is and get them in the Hawaii sailing mode. Let’s sing some Brady Bunch tunes.”

“Cool.” Lou bobbed his head and
, before walking off with Rickie, he spun to Cal and said, “Sorry I talked to you.” He then turned around, caught up to Rickie, and joined him mid first verse into the song,
It’s a Sunshiney Day
.

Cal smiled. “Last experiment, no one wanted to talk to Rickie but me and Jake. I’m glad he made a . . . .” Cal shifted around when she heard the ringing. “I hear a phone.”

Billy cringed.

“Where is that . . .” Cal stepped closer to Billy and lowered
her eyes to his waist. “You brought a phone?”

“Shh.” He lifted his shirt and tried to turn it off
, but before he could, a hand reached for the phone.

Greg Haynes picked it up and answered it. “Hello?” He spoke while looking at a wincing Billy. “Just a second.” He showed Cal the phone. “For you.”

Cal took it. “Who’s calling me on your phone Billy?”

Billy shrugged.

Cal waited for Greg to step back and she placed the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“Cal.”
It was Aldo.

“Hey, Aldo.” She looked at Billy ‘It’s Aldo.” She returned to the phone. “Are you calling to wish me good luck?”

“You can say that. Cal, I need to talk to you.”

“What’s up?”

“Just wanted to tell you to be careful and . . .Give you just a bit of advice, okay?” Aldo said. “I know you love Jake, and I know he’s not the most sensitive man. I understand you need that, and I fully anticipate that some time in your marriage to him you’ll have an affair to get that. I wouldn’t blame you . . .”

“Aldo.” Cal laughed his name. “What in the world?”

“Cal, look. In case you get the urge for sensitivity, and before you find it in some island guy and decide to pull a ‘Here to Eternity’ and roll about on the beach . . . don’t. Save it.”

“Aldo
, that is the funniest advice I have ever been given. Who on that island would I find . . .” Cal stopped talking when at the end of the dock she caught a glimpse of Reed lifting off his shirt as he stared into the water. He wiped his sweat with it and hung it from the back of his jeans.

“Cal? Cal?” Aldo called for her.

Billy, using his index finger, pushed on Cal’s jaw to close her open mouth.

Cal’s speech stammered some. “Scratch what I was going to say.” She watched Reed until Billy blocked her and pointed to the limo that pulled up. “Anyhow, I’ll remember that advice
, but I have to go. Jake just showed up. Bye.” She hung up the call and waved to Jake, who stepped from the limo wearing a tee shirt and military work pants. The dress uniform he had on a hanger was taken from him by a member of Caldwell. As she began to hand the phone to Billy, it was intercepted.

Greg placed the phone inside his jacket pocket. “I’m going to assume
, Mr. Griffith, that you totally forgot that you had this phone under your shirt.”

“Can you believe I did that?” Billy asked
, overacting. “Sorry.”

Jake cringed in his walk to Cal when Rickie and Lou’s singing carried over. He kissed Cal. “Sorry about being late. I see Rickie found a partner in knavery.”

“Seems that way,” Cal commented.

“Bill, I take it since you guys are way over here, you’ve been watching her.”

“Like a hawk. However, Cal’s been watching . . .” Billy pointed to Reed. “Him.”

Jake looked. “Oh Cal, please. That is nothing,
and if you’re gonna stare, can you not let him know? He’s arrogant enough.”

“Like you know, Jake
,” Cal said sarcastically.

“Jake, I think he knew
and that’s why he took off his shirt.” Billy instigated.

“Probably.”

Just as Cal rolled her eyes at both of them, Greg’s voice carried over from a different pier. “Can I have everyone over here, please. Thank you.”

Cal, Jake
, and Billy moved behind the group of participants who approached Greg.

“O
kay, people, listen up.” “This is where you and I part for a short time. You’ll be taking this tour boat to the island, Which is located about a hundred and twenty five miles from here. So you’ll be on this boat for a . . .”

In u
nison and after a laugh, Rickie and Lou softly sang. “
A three hour tour, A three hour tour.
”

Greg cleared his throat and raised the corners of his mouth. “Correct. Three hours.” He ignored the snickers
from Rickie and Lou again and continued. He spoke calmly and over the subtle backdrop of mood-filled humming by Rickie and Lou of the Gilligan’s Island theme song. “The moment you step onto this boat is the moment your participation in the experiment begins. I am flying to the island and will meet you there, where your things will have placed in your designated housing. Use this time to get to know each other, and it should be a pleasant trip.”

Sgt. Melanie McMann had reached her point of annoyance at the rudeness of the continuous hummers. She laid her hand on Rickie’s shoulder, spinning him to face her
, and stepped to him. “Can you possibly be any more rude?” She blasted him. “Why don’t you just shut that young immature trap of yours so the rest of us can listen.”

There was a strong triple thump on the wooden plank of the docks caused by Jake’s combat boots and his three
-step stride. The four men who separated him and the sergeant parted like the red sea when he made his way to her.

“Sergeant.” Jake said her name strongly.

Jake’s call caused Sgt. McMann to spin in a respectful attention to him. “Yes.”

“Let me make something perfectly clear to you.” Jake’s voice was stern as he kept eye contact with her, one eyebrow slightly raised and leaning into her in a
n authoritarian way. “In my presence or out, you will not take that tone or speak to my son in that manner again. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir
,” she replied with attitude.

Jake stood straight with a slight glare
at her. “What was it that you just said? I didn’t hear you correctly.”

“I said, yes,
Sir, I understand Lt. Colonel Graison, Sir.”

“Good.” Jake glanced
at Greg. “My apologies, sir, for the interruption. I needed to rectify a situation before it went any further.”

Greg nodded. “I completely understand.”

With an open mouthed grin, Rickie let out a noiseless laugh as he gave a dramatic thumbs up to Jake.

Jake winked quickly to Rickie as he stepped back to Cal.

When he got next to her, Cal tugged on Jake’s tee shirt sleeve pulling him sideways towards her. She tip toed up and whispered in his ear, “I am so turned on right now because of you.”

Jake grinned big time
and kissed her quickly before returning to listening to Greg.

Greg had to collect his thoughts
as to where he was when the long interruption occurred. He finished telling the participants about using the time on the boat wisely and as an introductory time. That was all he had left to say. Then Greg moved aside, allowing them all to board the yacht and begin the journey into the thirteenth experiment.

Douglass spoke to Ivan and let out a loud burst of laughter as he walked behind Aldo in his chair. He gave a swift pat to Aldo’s shoulder and pointed to the twenty monitors on the wall, all of them showing camera shots from the yacht. “Hey, Aldo. Looks like your two are already singled out.”

Aldo quietly and simply raised his middle finger and returned to watching Jake and Cal who stood with everyone else on the bow of the yacht.
They stood alone, with Billy not far from them taking pictures.

Slightly leaning over the railing, Cal’s eyes moved from the water where Jake had just spit, to Jake next to her. She turned to him with an open mouthed look of disgust. “Jake, that was really foul.”

“What?” He shook his head. “Rickie pissing over the side of the boat is all right
, but I can’t fuckin spit?”

“That was foul.”

“Cal!” He turned around leaning on the railing. He ran the back of his hand under his nose and sniffed. “Fuckin sea air makes me stuffy.”

“Stuffy?” Billy snickered as he inched his way into the conversation and closer to Cal and Jake. “Is that considered a ‘tough’ word Jake
, because, geez, I should . . .” Billy caught the daggers thrown to him by Jake. “I should return to looking back over into the water.” Just as Billy did that, he caught a glimpse of the island in the distance which seemed to appear just at the ocean’s edge. “Jake, Cal. Look.”

Both at the same time, Jake and Cal turned to see. Spotting it, they shrugged and returned to watching the others.

Billy shook his head. “All right. Remind me not to share anything with you again.”

Cal watched as Rickie and Lou stood on the side doing something she didn’t want to know about
. The other men sat on the lawn chairs near the utility case, and Sgt McMann paced about around them, joining in the conversation. “He just looked at me again.”

“Who?” Jake asked. “And it better not be fuckin Tropicana Sun Tan man.”

Cal snickered. “You gave him a Rickie name. How cute.”

“No, Cal. That’s who he is. Remember? We over heard him telling . . . what’s that guy . . . the one who quilts with his grandmother.”

“Paul.”

“Yeah. We heard him telling him that.”

“Oh.” Cal nodded with an open mouth. “Oh, yeah. I remember now. No. Not him.”

“Not him what?” Jake asked.

“He’s not the one who keeps looking at me. That Larry Kale guy is.”

“He’s a fuckin asshole. Did you hear him saying he’s going to initiate the first in a series of island hikes
so they can all get to know the island?”

“Yeah, but Jake.” Cal raised her eyes to him. “We’re doing that.”

“Yes, but you and I won’t get lost.” He moved his head to the group. “They will. And how about that Judge guy agreeing and wanting to go along.”

“Like he’s going to be able to hike anywhere. He breaths heavy. And limps.”

“What the fuck is he doing here?” Jake asked.

“He’s the catch.”

“No he’s not.” Jake shook his head. “And they’re staring at us again.”

“They hate us already.”

“No, they just see dollar bills over our heads. Besides, who cares if they hate us. I’m not here to be fuckin popular. And how about her?” Jake used his head to point.

“The sergeant broad.”

“Cal.” Jake leaned more to her. “Do me a favor. Start a fight with her and kick her ass.”

“What?”

“Yeah.” Jake smiled “I’d love to see it. Get into it with her.”

“Jake, she’s huge. She’ll kill me.”

Jake fluttered his lips. “Please, she’s a marine. I know how they get trained and I know how I trained you. You’ll kill her.”

“You think?”

“Absolutely.”

Cal took a look at Sgt. McMann. “I really don’t like her much. I’ll think about it.”

“There they go again.” Jake shook his head in disgust, yelling over to the group. “What!” Another shake of his head and he looked at Cal. “Fuckin people.”

He had heard the whole thing
, and with a slight laugh, Billy finally interjected “Uh . . . were you guys this bad on the last experiment? If you were, that pretty much explains why no one liked you there, either.”

Not believing Billy
had just said that to him, Jake swung his head Billy’s way. “Bill, where did . . .” A rumbling and vibrating of the yacht silenced Jake.

Cal gripped the railing. “Jake, what was that.”

Jake turned. The others in the group had stood from their chairs while the yacht continued to vibrate. “Shit.”

“What?” Cal asked as Jake moved by her toward
s the utility box. And then she saw it. Smoke, thick and black, seeped up from below and from what seemed through the creases of the floorboard near the stern of the boat. Smoke was also being released from under the door of the room where the Captain was locked away from everyone else. “Jake.” Cal rushed to him.

“Sarge!” Rickie hurried over. “Is
, like, the boat on fire, Dude?”

Jake tossed lawn chairs
out of the way and stood before a long wooden box with two hatch doors. He grabbed the handle. “Looks that way Rickie. It’s locked.”

In a run, Billy, taking a picture first, stood by Jake. “Jake, what do . . .”

“Bill.” Jake stayed calm. “Find me an ax or something to get this open with. They keep life jackets in here.” Jake pulled on the doors. “Fuck.”

“Got it.” Billy took off.

“Screw it, Jake,” Cal told him. “The island is what, ten miles away. Let’s just go. Now.”

“Cal
, when’s the last time you swam . . .” Jake struggled with the doors, “. . .ten miles from shore?”

“I haven’t.” Cal coughed as the smoke seeped her way. Everyone seemed to watch and wait to see what Jake was doing.

“Lt. Colonel!” Sgt. McMann came running. “The captain is stuck in that room and there are two men below. I need your help getting to them.”

“Sergeant
,” Jake continued to pull. “They’re pretty much toast.” He placed his foot on the side of the box and gripped the handle with both hands.

“I cannot believe you won’t help them
,” Sgt. McMann said in a raised voice.

“Sergeant
, if you want to go, you go. But right now . . .” A grunt from Jake and then a thunderous crack as the door to the box flew open sending wood splinters, “. . .I’m getting my wife off this boat.”

Insulted
, and in hero-mode, the sergeant raced toward the captain’s booth.

Jake handed Cal a life jacket. “Bill!” He grabbed two more out as the others reached in. He tossed one to Billy. “Rickie.” He tossed it to him
, then pointed. “Put it on and jump.”

“Eye-eye Sarge. But
, like, if I die out there, save my body.” Rickie put on the jacket. “Cause I’ll be back, dude.”

Jake turned and saw Cal looking at the life jacket as if it was a world’s mystery. He reached to help her. “Cal, just . . .”

BOOM!

^^
^^

A high squeal of feedback, and then a hiss of static, and all twenty monitors went snowy. The investors, in a rumble off concern, jumped from the chairs, all being vocal at the same time toward Dr. Jefferson who looked just as shocked.

^^^^

Just like the debris, Cal, Jake, and the others shot high in the air and outward from the force of the blast, all in different directions and cast into the deep ocean.

Jake, calm, kept his wits about him and his eyes open in his submergence into the water.
He peered through the waters disturbance, seeing the swimming legs of one man, possibly the Judge. He saw that Larry Kale person swimming in the distance, and behind him, it looked like Paul. Jake gave it his all and pushed to the surface, inhaling as he emerged and calling out after he caught his air. “Cal!”

“Sarge!” Rickie bobbed up and down about twenty feet away.

“Rickie, do you see Cal!”

“No!”

“Cal!” Jake called out in desperation, shifting his eyes rapidly and counting as he saw the others come up. ‘Seven . . . eight . . . Cal!” He treaded water as he turned among the burning particles of debris. And then he saw Billy coming up.

Loudly Billy took in air and immediately saw Jake. “Where’s Cal?”

“I can’t see her,” Jake said, almost near panic. “We have to look.” Taking in a deep breath, Jake gave himself a jumpstart and dove back under the water in a search. Billy did the same.

Rickie wanted to look
, too. He held his breath and dove forward, but because of the life jacket he merely rolled up and bobbed back to the surface.

The rush of the ocean water pounded against her ears as Cal’s one hand reached up to the wood above her head. She struggled in her swim to push that away, while freeing her shorts from the extended piece of metal she was caught up on. The wood partially surrounded her, and what once was part of the captain’s room was fast becoming Cal’s water coffin. She tried to stay in control, maintaining her breath which was getting harder to hold, becoming horrified when she watched the decapitated and slightly burned head of Sgt. McMann, eyes open, slowly float downwards in front of her.

Her options were leaving her and her chest felt heavy, almost as if like the boat, it
, too, was going to explode. Every time she let go of the wood above her to free herself, the weight of it pushed down on her.

Shit!
Cal’s mind spun as she fought with the metal that had her.
Almost got it. Almost . . .

A hand, surprising Cal, reached down and grabbed her hand taking over to help set her free from the metal. Her eyes moved to see a swimming and a smiling Lou. Once he unhooked her, he raised one hand to the wood above her, gripped Cal by the waist
, and with a strong pushing swim, he carried Cal out of there and to the surface of the water.

Cal’s loud, wheezing gasp for air as she surfaced, called out to Jake and Billy only ten feet away.

“Cal.” Quickly, Jake swam to her and Lou.

“Jake.” Cal breathed heavily. “I was stuck. He . . . he saved me.” Cal looked at Lou. “Thank you.”

“No problem. So, uh, Colonel, can I talk to her now?”

Jake gave an appreciative nod to Lou. “Thank you very much.” He took hold of Cal and kissed
her. “You all right?”

Cal nodded. “You don’t have to worry about me beating up that Sergeant, she’s . . .”

“Uh!” Rickie’s scream echoed out. “Dudes!”

Cal and Jake pivoted his way. Rickie, floating looked terrorized as he stared at a pair of combat boots.

“Dudes! Help!” He cried out. “There’s a beheaded big babe bobbin’ by me. Uh!”