Amoeba (The Experiments) (63 page)

Cal stopped in her reaching to open Billy’s bungalow door when she heard them. The sound of the sequential explosions in the distance not only filled her with a sad disappointment, but also with a jealous rage. And that carried into the bungalow with her. “That dick.” She slammed Billy’s door.

“Cal?”

She spun, holding a small tube, and stepped into Billy’s room. “Take off your shirt.”

“Cal
, maybe . . .”

“Take off your shirt!”

“All right!” Billy grabbed for his tee shirt. “But could you please lose the edge before touching my sunburn?”

“I’ll be gentle.” She harshly grabbed the desk chair sliding it out. “Sit.”

“Maybe this really isn’t a . . .”

“Sit!”

Billy sat.

“God
, Billy.” Cal stood behind the chair looking at his arms and back. “Can you be any more burned?”

“See. This is why I’m pushing the issue of you losing the edge.”

Cal twitched her head. “You poor thing.”

“Tell me about it. I keep using sun screen and I keep getting burned.”

“Quit using the sun screen.”

“Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose?” Billy asked.

“Not it they’re giving you an accelerator instead of protection.”

“I didn’t think of that.”

“See.” Cal opened the tube. “This will help. Jake swears by it when he’s in the jungle.”

“Jake should know.”

“Yeah. The dick.”

Billy heard her squeeze out some lotion. “Cal, please. No anger at this moment.”

“No anger.” Cal laid the tube on the desk, then rubbed her hands together slightly still leaving a thick coating on them. She brought her hands to Billy’s shoulders and he jumped. “Sorry.”

“No. It’s cold.”

“It’ll help.”

“Feels like it.” He felt Cal gently smooth the lotion over his shoulders. Her hands, so soft, moved to his back. He hated when she stopped for more lotion.

“How is this?”

“Great. It feels really good.” Billy closed his eyes, “Really good.” He tuned in on every soft sweep of her hand against his shoulders and back, feeling her fingers trail over his shoulder blades to his chest in the application of the lotion.

“I know what else can make you feel better,” Cal said softly as her hands slowed down but still moved.

“Oh yeah, what’s that?” Billy asked.

With more lotion, Cal’s slick hands moved to Billy’s chest, slowly smoothing the lotion across him in circular sweeps. “This.” She pressed firm in her massage but not too firm. “Better.”

“Cal . . .”

“Billy,” she whispered his name, bringing her lips closer to his ear.

Billy could feel her chest press to his back
, and sunburn or not, that was all he felt until her hands glided to his stomach and then lower, undoing the button of his pants. Billy swallowed, slid down in the chair, arched his back some and sucked in his stomach as an invitation for her hand that seemed to slip to the rim of his jeans. And through the openness between his jeans and skin, Cal’s lotion covered hand slid in. Cool, yet firm she touched him, sending a warmth though Billy with each slippery glide. Her hand pulled from him and back to his stomach then Cal walked around the chair to face him, straddling her legs across his lap. Billy’s hands moved to the back of her thighs, gripping her, then sliding his hands to the top of her legs as her lips met his. His hands roamed Cal, one hand feeling her chest, the other exploring every aspect of her lower body. And his hands probed more as he felt her moist lips widen and part against his, then slide to his neck. Billy breathed heavier and deeper with each bite Cal placed to his neck. His heart beat faster as Cal’s widened kissing mouth moved downward across his chest to his stomach and she knelt before him.

“Billy
,” she whispered his name, undoing his pants fully and kissing him softly just at the top of the opening. “You must really like this.”

“Oh yeah . . .” Billy gasped out. Then Billy snapped to and out of his fantasy. “I mean.
. . Um . . . yeah.” He cleared his throat. “It feels good.”

Cal snickered. “It must.” She twitched her head down.

Billy lowered his head. “Shit.” He quickly grabbed for his tee shirt on the desk and laid it across his lap. “I am so . . . so sorry.”

“For what? You’re a guy. Those things happen. Besides, at least
you’re
enjoying my company.” She giggled.

“Oh my God.” Billy covered his face.

“Billy, please.” Cal replaced the cap to the lotion. She looked toward the door when she heard gunfire. “Listen to them.” She spoke and moved toward the door. “I can’t believe I’m not out there.” She opened the door.

“It’s for the best.” Billy tossed on his tee shirt and stood up leaving it hang
ing out.

“Yeah
, but still. I can’t believe . . .” Cal stopped talking and laughed when she turned around and saw the awkward ‘busted’ look on Billy’s face as he pulled his hand from his pants.

Billy turned beat red. “Sorry. Adjusting.”

“You really get those things at inappropriate times, don’t you? I distinctively remember hanging from the tree.”

“Cal.” Billy blushed. “Then again, you should have seen me in
high school.”

Cal returned to staring out the open door
, listening to the gunfire. “Of course, one of your inappropriate times is the reason I’m standing here instead of out there having fun.”

“Fun?” Billy walked up beside her.

“Yeah.” Cal grunted. “You know, Jake could go out to a bar, flirt with a woman, get drunk, stay out all night, and stumble in. I don’t think that would phase me. But . . . but, go out on a wild mutant animal shooting spree all day without me, and man do I get pissed.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I want to be there, Billy.” The gunfire slowed down, trailing off. “See, they’re done.” She flung her hand out immediately sounding angry again. “Can you believe he left me here? That dick.”

Billy didn’t know what to say, he was speechless. But he did know one thing. For as much as he was hung up on Cal, for as much as he wanted so many times just to trade places with Jake, for sure
now was not one of those times.

^^^^

Jake didn’t expect it when he walked in his bungalow tired, sweaty, and dirty, but he got it. Not a verbal hello, but a hard smack to his chest when Cal sailed a hardback book at him. “Cal. What the . . .” Smack. He was hit again, this time with a shoe. Jake shut the door batting away the flying objects that sailed his way. “Knock it off!”

“You dick.”

“Calm down.”

“No.”

Jake bit his bottom lip and pointed at Cal when he saw her raise her hand holding a beer bottle. “Don’t even fuckin think about it. Put it down.” He marched to her. “Put it down!” He grabbed it from her hand. “And grow up.”

“Fuck you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Jake walked to his dresser opening a drawer. “Do I get an ‘are you okay?’ No. Do I get asked how everything went? No. I get fuckin hit with every moveable object my wife can find the second I walk into the room.” He pulled out a pair of boxer shorts. “Thank you very much, Cal.”

“You left without me!”

“You’re pregnant.”

“You could have had more tact!”

“And you could have had more goddamn sense.”

Cal gasped out. “You . . .”

“Dick. I know.”

“You know
, Jake.” She followed him into the bathroom. “You think you saved me and my baby harm by stopping us? Well, let me tell you something Mr. Know-it-all.” She poked him in the back as he bent over the tub to turn on the water. “You made matters worse.”

“How do you figure
?” Jake tested the water.

“I was stressed Jake. Totally stressed out. Do you think that’s good for the baby? No. I shook. I trembled. I cried. I was so distraught at the tone you used on me that . . .”

“Oh, bullshit, Cal.” Jake spun to her. He took off his shirt and flung it. “My yelling at you did not stress you out, and you know it.”

“Look at me now.”

“The only reason you’re like you are now is because you are acting like a spoiled little brat who didn’t get their way and you sat here and stewed all day about it.” Jake dropped his pants kicking them out. “Stewed.”

“I did not.”

“You did too.” Jake pulled on the plunger to start the shower. “And I don’t want to hear about it.” Jake stepped inside the shower. “I’m tired, I’m dirty, and the last thing I need right now is to hear you bitch.” He slammed the shower door.

“I have every right to bitch
, Jake. I am your wife.”

“Exactly.” Jake opened the door and peeked out. “And when have you ever, in our whole entire relationship
, bitched at me like this?”

“Never.”

“Exactly.” Jake shut the door again. “So don’t start now. I don’t deal with it well.” He heard her gasping. “And quit with the breathing loud thing. It’s so female of you.”

“God you can act so macho sometimes it drives me nuts. I really hate you
, Jake.”

“There it is. I was waiting for it. Never fails. The stock Cal phrase. You know, I was out there working hard. For you. Protecting you. Can you not say anything nice
?”

At first Cal squeaked in her anger. “No.”

“Figures.” Jake soaped up as he spoke. “Not even thank you.”

“No.”

“Did you even do anything at all these past eight hours besides bitch and get madder? Did you do anything productive with your time, Cal?”

She stopped herself from gasping again, and Cal smiled. She opened the shower door and peeked in. “As a matter of fact, I did.”

“Good.”

“I put lotion on Billy’s sunburn and . . . I gave him an erection. So there.” Raising her eyebrows in a gloating manner, Cal took in
- with enjoyment - the instant shocked expression on Jake’s face. Calmly she shut the shower door, stepped back, hesitated, then flushed the toilet causing Jake to shriek when the water went cold. She then felt one hundred percent better, like everything was finally out of her system and over with, so Cal happily left the bathroom.

“Fifty-four birds, seven boars, and one dingo.” Greg rattled off results to Dr. Jefferson. “That is what they estimate they took out.”

“All byproducts of our stasis?” Dr. Jefferson asked.

“Yep. Amazing, huh?”

“You are documenting this
, correct?”

“Absolutely
,” Greg said with certainty. “Not only did this animal episode turn out to be participant straining, and another indeterminable win in the Reed accident poll, but . . .” He smiled. “It turned out to be some very valuable Stasis information we lacked in our Stasis research.”

“Another means of altering the gene sequence.”

“Yes. Exactly.” Greg sat down behind his desk. “Not only through injection, and slight blood transfusion, but now we have ingesting as well.”

Dr. Jefferson reached for the stack of research on Greg’s desk
and started to review it. “So do you think we’re done with the Stasis animals?”

“Who knows. Possibly not. But . . .” Greg shrugged. “This one little episode is now history, that’s all that matters. It’s documented, it holds merit. And now . . . it’s time to move on.”

“Welcome back, Gentleman.” Greg spoke to the five investors that sat around the table. “We’ve got two months left of the experiment, and we’re expecting things to start to heat up. Many of you have been here quite a bit, and we appreciate your enthusiasm. Again, I’d like to ask you to fill out the personal opinion survey forms I have in front of you. It’s important. Your opinion as investors is vital to a new future funding grant we may receive. I know it’s tedious, but I promise you, you’ll have only one more to do and that is after the experiment is over with.”

Aldo looked at the survey. “I have a question
, Haynes. Not regarding the stupid survey. But why haven’t the prisoners hatched?”

“They have
,” Greg answered. “Unfortunately, they haven’t made it to the other end of the island. They have been feeding where they are, but we believe they’ll make it.”

Douglass raised his hand. “Are you hoping that they take a while, due to the fact you lost the Catch
?”

Greg bobbed his head side to side. “Somewhat. But losing Paul is not a worry. As you and Aldo are aware
, if our prisoners do not take us to the end of the experiment and force a winner, any one of the remaining investors can pull his option, forcing us to produce a winner or no winners if that ends up being the case.” Seeing that he had their attention, Greg continued. “We’re still seeing some Stasis animal attacks here and there. Surprisingly, none of our participants have been killed by them. Reed continues to surprise me.” Greg chuckled. “That broken wrist is healing nicely. Anyhow, we have the animal attacks. The prisoner stasis, we have steady and continuous kills in region seventeen and beyond by that unknown factor which still hasn’t been determined. And we are still awaiting the eruption of our volcano. Unfortunately, that is something we can’t control. So you see, we have a lot of things that can take us with excitement to the experiment’s end, hopefully without having to pull the options.”

Daniela was reviewing his notes. “Why has my participant
, Billy, dropped in the psychological ratings? I’m confused.”

“It’s right there.” Greg pointed. “Not always, but sometimes he gets withdrawn. Quiet. We’re watching him for mental breakage. I don’t think he’s there yet, but if he gets under any
more stress, he may break before the end. Then again, it could also be just homesickness. Billy is, or was, very family oriented. Judge as well. He, too, is being quiet and withdrawn, more so than Billy. As a matter of fact, we’re thinking of having Ollie tell him that his granddaughter died a few months back.”

Andrew Lancing, Judge’s investor, verbally displayed his displeasure. “That doesn’t seem fair.”

“We can play our mental option at any time,” Greg explained. “Rules are rules.”

“Would you agree
, Haynes?” Aldo called his attention. “This group is holding on well.”

“I wasn’t at the last experiment
,” Greg said. “But from what I read about it, yes. And that’s good. I think it will add to the heightened tension at the end, unlike the last experiment, which was over when, Aldo?”

“Three weeks before deadline
,” Aldo answered.

“Exactly.” Greg nodded. “Hopefully
, we can keep most of you here for the final meeting, which occurs a week before the experiment’s end, unlike last time, when Aldo was the only one there. I heard it was kind of boring.”

Aldo snickered.

Greg smiled. “All right. Before we continue on, I would like all of you to fill out the survey, take a few minutes, get some coffee, and then we’ll continue.” Hearing the groans as they flipped open the surveys, Greg backed up to the corner of the meeting level where Dr. Jefferson watched.

“How do you think you’ll do this time?” Dr. Jefferson asked.

“Well, considering that the last survey I scored and average rating of four, I think possibly a seven, maybe an eight this time around.” Greg watched them.

“I am shocked. No hoping for a ten?”

“Nah.” Greg shook his head. “No hoping.” He grinned. “I’m expecting that to be my score in the end.”