Amoeba (The Experiments) (49 page)

Jake sat on the bathroom floor, arms submerged in the tub he had just filled with fresh water. He wrung out a wash cloth and lifted it. “Cal.”

Cal had passed out again, her cheek resting on her bent up knees.

“Sweetie.” Jake lifted her chin. “Let me finish you up.” Softly and gently he ran the cloth across her lips to clear the blood that
had dried around her top lip where he had done what he would consider his best and tiniest stitches.

“I’m sorry.” Cal spoke grogg
ily.

“Don’t be. Almost done and we’ll get you into bed.”

“My face feels huge.”

“Your face is beautiful.” Jake leaned into her and kissed her softly.

Cal closed her eyes. She could barely keep them open and her head fell forward into Jake. “All this for a radish.”

Jake smiled, dropped the washcloth
, and wrapped his arms around her. And as he held her, even though Jake was so glad she was all right, every part of him burned in anger and in hurt for what Cal had gone through.

Greg’s eyes stayed on Cal’s monitor, the bathroom door closed, Billy pulling down the bed. Over an hour and a half Jake had been in the bathroom with Cal. Rickie and Lou, having just returned, waited in the room for Cal and Jake’s emergence with as much anticipation as Greg did.

“Nothing?” Dr. Jefferson’s voice interrupted Greg’s stare.

“Nothing.” Greg shook his head.

“Aldo’s on his way.”

“I figured as much.” Greg returned to watching.

“So what do we do now
? We lost the tracking.”

“Mark my words.” Greg watched the bathroom door open and Jake carry Cal out. “We’re not going to have to do anything. Jake will do it all.”

The air in the room was a somber one. Cal, wearing only one of Jake’s tee shirts, lay propped up on pillows in bed as Billy sadly adjusted the covers over her. Lou and Rickie stood by the fireplace as Jake, back turned to everyone, leaned toward the wall, one arm above his head, in a frightening silence.

Billy’s eyes lifted from the covers to
look at Jake, as did Rickie and Lou, When Jake let out one long breath and ran his hand over the back of his head. He slowly turned around. “Can I . . . can I be alone with my wife please? I need a minute.” Jake looked in pain as he made his request.

Lou opened the door, and walked out. Rickie looked back at Cal wanting to say something, but didn’t. And Billy, after giving a reassuring squeeze to Cal’s hand, abided by Jake’s request and he left as well.

In the empty room, Jake went into the closet. He came back out with a bottle of Jack, grabbing a glass in his stride to the bed. He sat down next to Cal, opened the bottle, poured about two shots worth, and handed her the glass as he set the bottle down. “Drink it.”

The moment Cal’s shaking hands brought the glass to her lips and she smelled the alcohol, Cal began to cry.

Jake saw her losing the glass and he took it from her. “Cal.” He set the glass down and pulled her into him.

From his chest, muffled and tear filled, Cal spoke as she shook her head. “I know it wasn’t supposed to happen
, but I still didn’t want to lose this baby. I didn’t want that, Jake.”

Jake’s eyes closed,
and he pressed his lips to her and held her tighter. “Neither did I, Cal. Know that. Please know that.”

Cal only nodded.

“Can you please drink the Jack?” Jake requested softly. “Please?”

Cal pulled back and took the glass Jake handed to her. She took a drink, gave it back
, and laid down. A painful wince took over her face as she rolled into a ball bringing her legs close to her.

“Cal.” Jake laid his hand on her hip bringing his lips close to her ear. He whispered in emotional words. “Listen to me
, okay? I know you’re in pain. I know this. I feel it. God do I feel it. I love you very much. But . . . I’m torn here, sweetie. I’m torn. I want to go out there, find them and tear them apart for what they did to you and our baby. But I don’t want to leave you like this.” Jake’s eyes shifted down to his hand when Cal laid hers on top of his, locking her fingers into his hand. “I don’t want to walk away when you need me. For the first time in my entire life I don’t know what to do.” There was an abundance of sadness and confusion in Jake’s words. “Tell me, Cal. Please. You tell me what to do.”

^^^^

Wearing dark green military camouflage pants and a dark green tee shirt, Jake strapped himself with the ammunition he needed. He had a revolver in the belt around his waist. There was a hunting knife strapped to his leg. Jake looked at Rickie who was closing up a small sack. “Rickie, you went through those M.R.E.’s, right? I don’t want to be bogged down. We only need basics.”

“Yeah
, Sarge. I took out only what you told me.” Rickie handed Lou, who was dressed in dark clothing, the sack. “Thanks for offering to go with my Dad, guy.”

“I want to.” Lou tossed the sack over his shoulder. “Besides, we know Cal’s safe with you. Little man, you were
n’t kidding when you said you go monster.”

“Guy, like
, what have I been telling you?”

Jake picked up the M-16 that
was lying on the dresser. “Lou, I’ll meet you outside.” He walked to the bed where Cal was sleeping. The empty glass on the night stand sat next to the bottle of Jack. Jake bent over to Cal, running his hand down her face. “I’ll be back. Maybe a couple of days, but I’ll be back. I love you very much.” Jake kissed her, then kissed her again leaving his lips on her for a little bit. He stood up, tossed the strap of the M-16 over his head, threw the weapon around to his back, and walked to the door. “Rickie, sit with her. Bill.” Jake twitched his head to the door. “Come out with me for a second.”

Billy
, who had been sitting next to Calk’s bed, stood up and walked outside. He pulled the door closed as he stood on the porch. The second he did, Jake started giving instructions.

“Watch the bleeding. Monitor it
,” Jake told Billy. “Keep giving her Jack every hour, the alcohol will help with the cramping. Let no one in to see her. Make sure she eats. It’s vital.”

Billy nodded. “I can do that. But Jake, these guys are dangerous. Are you sure you should take a chance like this
?”

“Bill.” Jake silenced him. “I have to do this
, okay? You saw what they did to her. You saw the . . .” Jake cringed. “
Sick
things they did to her. I can’t let them get away with hurting her and the baby. I can’t. I don’t want to. But my gut is ripped apart. And I fully intend on hunting them down like the animals they are. I’ll find them. I will. And then they will feel every single thing they did to her.”

“Just be careful. Losing the baby is bad enough for Cal. Losing you . . . she couldn’t handle that
, Jake. I know her.”

“Yeah
, she could.” Jake winked. “Cal’s tough. But . . .” Jake looked to the door then back to Billy. “There is still a chance, even though a really, really small one, there’s still a chance I won’t come back. If something happens to me, I need you to do something for me.”

“What’s that
?”

“Cal . . . Cal is tough
, yeah, but I worry about her. I don’t want her alone. I want someone to watch out for her. Someone that can take care of her as good as I can. Someone I know will care for her, because Cal needs that in her life. So could you . . . could you just tell my friend, Chuck, that Cal is his responsibility?”

Billy’s eyes widened, he stuttered some
, then said, “Um . . . sure. I’ll tell Chuck.”

“Billy?”

“Yeah?”

“If I don’t come back,
you better make sure she gets off this island okay, then . . . make sure she stays okay.” Jake stepped backwards. “If you don’t, I’ll come back and haunt you.” He stepped off the porch. “But the point is moot. I’ll be back, even if it’s just to stop you from moving in on my wife.” Jake smiled. “I’ll be back. Besides, once I find them, this shouldn’t be too difficult, because these fuckin assholes haven’t a clue what I do for a living. Watch her, Bill.” Jake turned and walked off.

Billy stepped to the edge of the porch. “Be careful
, Jake.”

Jake only lifted his hand as he caught up to Lou. And Billy stood, arms folded
, leaning against the post of the porch watching Jake, determined and strong, disappear into the woods.

“Kill them,” Cal’s weakened words spoken to Jake as she lay in bed played over the speaker in the control room for Aldo.

He clenched his fist tightly and smiled at Barb. “Almost like a Rambo meets Rocky II moment
, huh?”

“Kind of
,” Barb agreed.

Aldo felt the hand
touch his back. He looked up to see Greg walking by.

Greg looked up to see Cal sitting up in
bed, Billy beside her. “Just wanted to let you know, Aldo, I moved out the equipment to check on her. Our controllers should have it shortly.”

“What equipment?” Aldo asked.

“Well for starters, the portable ultrasound machine along with medications that are not up there.”

“Ultrasound?” Aldo
said with wonder to his voice. “She miscarried.”

“I know.” Greg’s head dropped. “But there are complications that occur with miscarriage. For example
, if she doesn’t dilate enough to expel, she could get very ill, possibly die. I’m sending Ollie down to perform the test and render treatment thereafter.”

Aldo was confused. “Rule thirty-nine
, Dr. Haynes. Rely on the resources left to you. Why are you stepping in on this?”

“Compassion.”

“Try again.”

Greg shrugged. “I don’t know what else to tell you. This was not supposed to happen. It was not.”

“Not? You gave my girl a fertility drug and she did a loaded newsman. What did you expect?”

“Not the pregnancy. We did
n’t strive for that. All part of the plan. The miscarriage was not on the agenda. And seeing how the pregnancy was . . . well, a bit of our doing, we just want to make sure our doing, which isn’t consistent with normal Iso-Stasis guidelines, doesn’t kill her.”

“I bet one big reason is money.”

“How do you mean?”

“This so
-called clinic that provided you with the drug to research, they funded you. If something goes wrong, or something doesn’t take, they need full results. You don’t want to risk losing the funding, paying it back, or future investments. The results have to be reported to the fertility and sexuality clinic. Don’t they?” Aldo probed.

“Yes.”

“So you’re basically following through with the research.” Aldo grumbled. “You also probably have a full agenda planned for Cal and Jake, and you just want to make sure she’s well enough to handle it.”

Greg folded his arms and peered over his shoulder at Aldo. “That
, too.”

“Jake.”

Jake looked up from where he squatted when he heard Lou call his name. He saw Lou trotting to him. “Anything
?”

“No. Even that Stan guy came out to the gate. He said they haven’t a clue where they went off to because they lost the tracking implantation.”

Jake’s fingers, covered in blood, lifted a tiny black square. “Well, I think we found them.” Jake tossed it, stood up, and shook his head. “Now where the hell are their owners?”

“It’s a big
island. Any idea where we start?”

Jake placed his hands on his hips. “My guess
is that they aren’t too far. And they aren’t going to travel too far from any resources. They’re confident, but bet me they’re lazy. They aren’t going to want to rely on the island’s resources until they have taken ours. They’re close, and we’ll find them.” Adjusting his weapon, Jake looked at the ground and to the direction where a few blood-smeared footprints were. Without saying anything more, Jake followed in that direction.

^^^^

The sounds of Cal’s dry heaving went though Billy in a near gut wrenching way. He stood behind her, holding onto her as Cal leaned over the commode, giving her the strength she needed to stand because her bruised legs were so weak. One hand braced her back and Billy’s eyes closed. Cal’s red face and violent shaking were more than just her attempt to bring forth from her stomach something that was not there, they were just more things added to the suffering Cal was already going through.

“I’m so sick.” Cal’s words were breathy as she tried to stand up, but didn’t make it. She lunged herself back over the toilet, releasing the noises of her pointless efforts.

“It’s okay, Cal.” Billy spoke with compassion. “It’ll stop. I promise it will stop.” Still holding Cal, he reached over to the sink, turning on the faucet and letting the cool water run onto the cloth that lay in there. He reached in, squeezed the cloth, and brought it to Cal’s face as she stood straight. “Wanna try to get back to bed?”

Cal nodded.

“Let me carry you.” Billy didn’t get an argument from Cal who was usually so strong. She just about flopped into his arms when he lifted her, her head falling to his shoulder. Billy laid her down, bringing the covers over Cal who had fallen asleep before he made it the short distance to the bed. He knew the episode would repeat again when he woke her, per Jake’s instructions, just to get a reaction from her.

Billy was at a loss. He just didn’t know what to do. Running his fingers gently over her face to remove her hair, his eyes saw the huge bruise on her arm. It was deep in color like the one on the side of Cal’s head by her temple
, the head injury that Jake had forewarned Billy would cause what he had just witnessed. Cal would get ill, violently ill. Her head would probably pound worse than any headache she ever had experienced, and Jake even told Billy not to get too concerned if Cal became lethargic.

But even though Jake carefully explained to Billy all that Cal would endure, it didn’t help. Being told ahead of time didn’t ease the pain that Billy felt when he witnessed Cal going through it. Billy had no medical knowledge. All he could do was follow Jake’s instructions and give Cal the best compassionate care he could.

He sat down by her bedside again, staring at Cal, praying that she would get through this. Holding her hand, wiping her off, and wanting nothing more than just to hold her. And though Billy was so scared to be alone with her, so scared he would do something wrong, he was grateful that he was entrusted to do so. Because it gave Billy a chance to silently and alone deal with something else that ate away at him, hurt him. Besides the torture and pain inflicted on the woman he loved, his best friend, Billy had to deal with the grief over losing the baby. And despite the bad circumstances of the baby’s conception, it was a baby, like Cal and Jake, that he had truly with all his heart wanted to have.