Amoeba (The Experiments) (52 page)

Paul’s hand slipped from Cal’s as he stepped away from the log she sat down upon. “Thank you for joining me.”

“Oh
, sure.” Cal shifted her eyes to Billy who sat next to her in the unity circle. Rickie and Judge were there, too, as they gathered around a campfire Paul had built.

Paul walked over to his spot. “Cal needs to contact her husband. She needs to spiritually let Jake know how well she is doing. She also needs to see that Jake is fine. In order to do that
, we must clear our minds.” Paul lifted the long pipe.

“Oh
, yeah.” Rickie commented loudly. “We’re chillin on serenity.”

Cal watched Paul light it. “Can I clear my mind without tha
t?. Jake says they are illegal drugs.” She nudged Billy when he snickered at her.

Paul lit the pipe. “You can try. But these are not illegal drugs. How can anything Mother Nature provides for us be illegal
? They come from the land. The land is ours.” Paul took a hit from the pipe. “We must clear our minds.”

^^^^

They were buried on a small ledge on the hillside, not far above the camp where the prisoners had their stuff. Yet the other two had not returned. Jake was certain that they wouldn’t see him, nor did he care if they did. He was waiting, eyes peeled at the dark campsite below. A small fire lit for his food was before his feet while Lou rested.

Jake’s face glowed with not only the orange light of the flame
, but also the hatred for the men he tracked, men his gut told him would be around soon. Men Jake knew would be no more by sun up.

Did his eyes play tricks on him? Were the flames blearing at the corner of his eye for too long
? Jake’s head raised when he saw the color of the fire turn white. The stick he held in his hand dropped when he heard the soft echoing calling of his name.

“Jake
,” Cal called him.

Through the white smoke, Jake saw a blue hue appear,
and in it, Cal’s face. “Cal.”

“Jake. I see you. Jake
… I love you and I’m doing better. I need you to know that.”

“Cal?” Jake’s heart dropped. Did something happen to Cal? Had she left this world for another and was reaching out one final time to him
? A sense of fear struck him. Until he saw . . .

“Dude.” Rickie called out slow and ghostly
, his face popping into the blue hue in front of Cal. “Hey, like, Sarge, can you see me guy? I see you. Dude this is sooooo cool.”

Jake’s jaw clenched. “Rickie. Cal. Goddamn it are you smoking those illegal drugs again
?”

^^^^

“I think you’ve done enough for tonight,” Billy commented, pulling down the covers for Cal. “Jake will have a fit if he finds out I let you do so much today.”

“Jake will be fine.” Cal sat on the bed. “But can you believe what happened
? I reach out. I go to some spiritual plane to speak to my husband and . . . and he bitches at me for five minutes.”

Billy chuckled. “It was amusing.”

“I guess.” Cal shrugged. “Billy, you don’t have to stay in here tonight. You can sleep in your own bed if you want.”

“I’d rather stay here. Don’t you want me to stay?”

“That’s not it. I feel bad you sleeping on the floor.”

Billy waved his hand. “Me? I sleep like a rock. Jake wants me here with you. Why, I don’t know. If I were in his shoes I wouldn’t.”

“Why do you say that?” Cal asked.

“Cal.” Billy tilted his head. “Come on. We had that incident.”

“Why do you do that?” Cal stood up, walking to Billy as he started to set up his laptop.

“Do what?”

“Call it the incident.”

“Cal . . .”

“No.” She shook her head. “You act like you bumped into me on the street. More than that happened, Billy. We certainly had that little ‘whoops Jake I’m pregnant’ episode as proof.”

Billy turned from his lap top, ran his fingers through his hair
, and took a breath. “I really don’t like talking about this.”

“We should. It happened.”

“I know.” Billy shook his head. “I guess … I guess because it’s painful for me.”

Cal was taken aback by his response. “I’m sorry. I . . .”

“No.” Billy held up his hand. “Not that way. It hurts because of how I feel. And you know how I feel about you. There it was, a moment I thought about for three years. Holding you, touching you, kissing you. Making . . .” Billy swallowed. “Making love to you. And I feel like I forced you against your will.”

“What?” Cal gasped in shock.

“Cal, come on, you were drugged.”

“So were you.”

“But . . . but I still remember how I felt,” Billy said. “I remember loving the fact that I was touching you. Feeling it in my heart. And the whole time, even though I couldn’t stop myself, I still knew what was going on. And Cal . . .” Billy took a step to her with a raised eyebrow. “I loved it.”

“You don’t think I knew what was going on?”

“You did?”

“Yes.” Cal nodded. “Absolutely.” She folded her arms. “I remember not being able to stop
, too. A part of me telling myself to stop, but a larger part of me ignoring it. That drug may have made us, well, insatiable, but that drug didn’t start it. I did.”

Billy raised his head.

“I kissed you before it took effect. I knew when I kissed you that it was wrong. Dead wrong. And Billy, I could have stopped it, but I didn’t. Because I didn’t want to just kiss you at that moment. I had been wanting to kiss you for the longest time.”

“Cal
, look, a kiss is one thing, what happened is another.”

“Yeah, I know. And you kind of insult me
, Billy.”

“What do you mean?” Billy asked.

“It’s bad enough I cheated on my husband. But it wasn’t nothing to me. It wasn’t. And that’s what makes my guilt so bad.” Cal clenched her fist. “If it was nothing, I think I’d be able to get over it. But I can’t blame it on the drug. Not all of it. So don’t think for a second I didn’t feel what you felt. I did. Feeling it … feeling it in my heart too. And then dealing with that.”

“I’m still dealing with that.” Billy spoke softly.

“I am too.” Cal’s voice dropped. “The drug was no excuse for that night. Like I have always said, it pushed us over the edge, but it didn’t take us there. We did. Our feelings did.
Our
feelings, Billy. Not just yours. And now see, it’s worse, because it has forced me to face feelings as a married woman I should not be having.” Cal ran her hand over her head. “And Jake and I are working through . . .”

“Whoa.” Billy stopped her. “Jake and you?”

“Yes. I tell him everything. Jake is aware that I have feelings for you.”

“Oh my God.” Billy was near panic.

Cal smiled. “No. How else am I supposed to work past this? These mini-private marriage counseling things Jake has us doing deals with that.”

“Then why does he let us be alone? Why does he trust us
together?”

“Because Jake has this theory that we’re just too good of friends
, and somehow, somewhere, we kind of let those friendship feelings get confused.” Cal smiled. “He’s very smart, Billy. He knows he’ll drive himself insane if he worries too much about it. He knows that if it happened again, he couldn’t stop it. And he says we need each other too much as friends, that if he keeps us apart, he’ll be forcing us to want it more.”

“He’s right
,” Billy said with a humbled look. “When we didn’t talk for that week, it wasn’t Cal the . . .” He snickered. “The fantasy girl I needed. It was Cal my friend.”

“Same here.”

“You as my friend takes top priority. I need you.” Billy spoke with soft passion. “I don’t want to lose that or give that up. And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep that in my life. But ...” Slowly his eyes closed. “But it’s hard sometimes. I wasn’t ...” Billy squinted then opened his eyes fully. “I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you. But I did.”

“And do you think I was supposed to get feelings for you? No. Jake is my husband. I live my life for him. I love him. Love him completely. But it’s confusing, because a part of me . . .” Cal’s head twitched slightly. “A part of me feels for you.”

“So tell me, Cal. I’m willing to do anything. Tell me what I do. We do.”

“I think we’ll move pas
t this, I really do. Keeping our priorities straight. My marriage. Our friendship. And keeping these in mind will see us though what has happened and what developed, and put closure to what you like to call the incident.” Cal reached up and lifted Billy’s head that dropped. “We never spoke of what happened. Talking about it right now is what we needed to do. It was a start because we never put closure to that night. We need closure to that night to move on.”

“I feel a lot better.”

“I do too,” Cal said with a small smile.

“Would it be crossing the line to ask you for hug
? I just need that from you right now. Maybe to me that is my sense of closure. You know, to touch you just once without guilt. Silly huh?” Billy glanced at her with one eye shut.

“No
, not at all.” Cal stepped to him. “It’s not as silly as what I feel I need for closure.”

“And what is that
?”

“This.” Cal moved in and up to Billy, slipping her hand behind his neck, bringing him down to her and softly laying her lips to his.

Billy felt her lips stay on his, linger there in a slight part that made him shiver. His hands moved so slow, almost hesitantly to her back, laying them flat there and pulling Cal into him. When her chest met his, Billy exhaled through that kiss, wrapping his arms tight around her, bringing her as close as he could, holding her as their joined lips moved tender and slow. The kiss ended as passive as it began. A slight reluctant separation, a hovering of mouths with warm breaths, then one last emotional embrace.

They pulled from each other, arms slowly letting go
, hands sliding to join, then give that final squeeze. Perhaps to both of them, that moment was a test. A test of their strength and weakness. A reassurance that their one night wasn’t
all
their fault. That they could remain in control, pull away and stop. And in a sense, adding some to the resolution that was so desperately needed.

“I suppose ..
.” with an embarrassed smile Billy looked at Cal through the tops of his eyes. “I suppose I’m going to have to fear for my life again?” Billy winced running his hand over his head.

“No.” Cal s
hook her head. “Not this time.”

“But you tell Jake . . .”

“I tell Jake everything, yes. But this time . . . this time I think I’m going to keep this special moment just for me.” She winked. “Good night, Billy.”

“Night Cal.” Billy’s eyes closed a little as he smiled peacefully, watching her climb into bed. Then Billy turned
, moved to the desk, and sat before his lap top. He took a moment, just a moment, to gather his thoughts and his feelings, then Billy booted up his computer and planned on throwing himself into his work.

Luther laughed loudly and then spit, causing a sizzle in the small campfire he had just built. He plopped down to the ground, enjoying the flames and heat of the fire, and what looked like a rabbit on a stick. “Wilson!”

“He’s still in his tent
,” Rapper said.

“Go check on his lazy ass and tell him if he wants to eat, he better get out here.”

“Got it.” Rapper was about to sit down, but had to stop. He staggered in a tired walk over to the closed tent. “Wilson,” he called out. “Wilson.” Rapper dropped to his knees. “Hey, Luther, he ain’t responding.”

“Go in there and shake him.”

“Wilson.” Rapper parted the tent and crawled half way in. He poked his head over the sleeping bag where he believed Wilson to be asleep. “Hey are you . . .” A choking grunt came from Rapper, and then the blood poured from his neck where it had just been sliced.

Jake quickly rolled out of the way from the rain of blood
, watching Rapper grab onto his throat then fall lifeless to the sleeping bag, feet extended from the tent. Jake walked out of the tent in a squat.

He could see Luther, back to him, sitting at the fire, poking a stick tauntingly at the already dead rabbit. Putting the knife away
, Jake walked up behind him.

Luther saw the shadow approaching. “Can’t get him up
, huh?” The shadow grew larger and larger. Luther dropped the stick, pulled himself up some, and turned around.

Wham!
Jake’s monstrously thrown fist slammed into Luther sending him back and spinning face first into the fire.

Luther screamed and Jake lunged forward, snatching him by the shirt and pulling him from the flames. Jake tossed the big man off to the side and Luther began to shake. His face, hands, and chest
were burned, and he released painful cries from feeling the effects of his burned but not charred flesh.

Strongly Jake walked to him. He could have easily stepped over a trembling Luther
, but he didn’t. Jake stepped onto Luther’s shin as if he were a step ladder, then with his entire weight placed on his other leg, Jake stomped onto Luther’s foot, turning it with a loud crack. The cry from Luther echoed over and over again through the trees. And Jake, on a mission and with no emotions on his face, bent down, picked a bellowing Luther up by his broken leg, and pulled him across the campsite.

He wept like a baby, Luther did, body convulsing in agony. He could have easily fallen to the ground, but he didn’t. Being tied to that tree hindered that. He stood upright. And the leather band tied to his head secured the fact that he had no choice but to see Jake standing ten feet in front of him.

Jake pulled out his revolver and checked his clip. He extended it toward Luther, aiming it at him, holding it steady and keeping his glare on the man tied to the tree. “It’s lights out for you, baby doll. Remember those words?”

Luther tried to shake his head. His eyes bulged seeing even in the darkness the barrel of that gun.

“And like my wife, you’re going to feel it all.” Jake fired his first shot, but before he did, he dropped his aim, sending the bullet into Luther’s knee. Jake waited until the first scream was over, and then he fired a second shot hitting Luther in the other thigh. A hesitation, a shot, a scream as the bullet penetrated Luther’s groin. Another pause, and then a shot hit Luther’s large gut with a thump. Blood poured as if Luther’s body was a vase filled with holes, and Jake stepped closer. He lifted his aim directly between Luther’s eyes. “I could end this for you now. But I don’t think so. I’d rather watch you suffer.” Then Jake took two steps back, and fired at Luther mid chest. With blood flowing and screams ringing out, Jake eyes, never leaving Luther, lowered himself to the ground. He sat there, legs bent up, eyes forward, and Jake enjoyed every second that he watched Luther slowly and agonizingly . . . die.