Dark Creations: Hell on Earth (Part 5) (10 page)

A chuckle esca
ped Gabriel’s lips and Melissa had to force herself to keep from laughing with him.

“Yeah, I’m with Alex, Ryan.  There’s no way I’m going to use that thing,” Daniella added and shared Alexandra’s facial expression.

“What, you guys have never gone camping?” Ryan asked and seemed genuinely confused by their disgust.

“No, we’re girls!  Sleeping outside and shitting in the woods is
not
our idea of a good time,” Alexandra bristled.  “What about you, Yoshi?  You like toilets, right?  Everybody does!”

“You’re asking the wrong guy.  I didn’t even have indoor plumbing until I came to America, though I have to say I don’t know how I ever lived without it,” Yoshi said.

Melissa waited for her friend to explode at Yoshi for not supporting her argument, watched as she opened her mouth to speak with her brows set hostilely, only to hear Gabriel interject.

“All right, enough with
the who-likes-toilets-and-who-doesn’t business already.  We all prefer toilets over that thing,” he said and pointed to the toilet stand.  “And Alex, gripe all you want, we’re not going to a hotel, motel or trailer park.  We’re staying here for one night.  You’ll live; which brings me to why we’re here in the first place.  This thing with Jack,” he started and returned their focus to Jack’s visit. “What do you guys think about what he’s saying, about what’s happening here?” Gabriel asked.

“I think a bunch of nut jobs have gotten together and convinced themselves that something has happened,” Alexandra did not hesitate to say.

Melissa did not feel as certain as Alexandra seemed.  But experience had taught her that nothing was ever quite as it seemed.  And the men had sounded nuttier than fruit cake.

“I have to say I agree with Alex on this one,
too,” Daniella added.

“That whole display in there was rough,” Ryan said and gestured with his thumb over his shoulder, toward the main house. 

“I know.  And I hate myself for saying this but, I thought those guys would never shut up.  They went on and on just babbling nonsense,” Daniella said.

“They really did.  The worst part was, most of what they said didn’t make a hell of a lot of sense,” Melissa agreed and felt a pang of guilt. 

“I trust Jack, and something has him rattled, obviously,” Gabriel added.  “Whether or not it is what he says it is remains to be seen.”

“So you think there’s something to it, to what he’s
claiming?” Melissa asked Gabriel and felt her heart skip a beat.

“I doubt it,” he replied.  “Believe me, no one wants this less than
I do,” he added and smiled sadly.

Melissa knew better than anyone in the room that Gabriel needed the nightmare of Terzini’s existence to have ended with the explosion at the abandoned brewery in California.
  They all did.  She tried to dismiss the claims Jack had made based on the company he was currently keeping, but something still nagged in the back of her mind, something more than her affection for Jack and what had happened.  She sensed something else.  She could not pinpoint whether it was a true gut feeling or her succumbing to automatic negative thoughts. 

“You don’t sound convinced,” Yoshi commented. 

“I will be tomorrow, when they show me some regular town they’re convinced has been overrun with Terzini’s creations,” Gabriel said.

His confidence that Jack was wrong about what was happening buoyed Melissa’s spirits
somewhat. 

“I don’t know why this is even a debate,” Alexandra said.  “Those guys are batshit crazy.”

“I don’t know. They’re veterans.  It just feels wrong to make fun of them,” Daniella said wringing her hands. 

“Oh give me a break!  Just because someon
e’s a vet doesn’t make them off-limits.  I appreciate what they’ve done for our country as much as the next person, but seriously, Daniella, these guys are batshit crazy.

“I hate to say it, but I agree with Alex
,” Melissa added.  “That guy Ed, he seems really out there.  And his house!  I’ve never seen filth like that in my life,
ever
.”

“Yeah, what was up with that?” Ryan
asked.  “There was crap piled everywhere.”

“And
mountains of plates in the sink with molded food stuck to it,” Yoshi added.  “I’m not the neatest guy on the planet, but that guy makes me look like a neat freak.”

“As someone who’s lived with Yoshi, I can back that sta
tement up one-hundred percent,” Gabriel said and smiled a sincerer smile. 

Whenever Gabriel smiled, Melissa’s insides warmed immediately.  Even standing in a
run-down barn that smelled of damp hay, urine and manure, and a general stench of rot, she was happy, just to be near him.  She was hopelessly in love with him.  She lowered her eyes to her feet and smiled to herself.  She would be his wife in less than a year.  He’d asked her to share his life with him.  He wanted her, forever.  The thought of him reciprocating even a fraction of what she felt for him made her throat tighten with emotion.  She glanced up to see if anyone had noticed that she had tuned out briefly and had gotten misty-eyed.  No one had been paying her any mind, except Gabriel.  Gabriel had been watching her.  Her heart leaped and she felt the fluttering of innumerable butterflies flittering about in her belly.  She wondered whether it would ever stop, whether she would ever get used to how he made her feel.

“I guess we’re better off out here then,” Daniella continued.  “
By the way, was I the only one who saw a furry little critter scamper across the living-room floor in Ed’s place?”

“Uh, well, that depends on which one you’re talking about,” Melissa answered.  “I counted four.”

“Really?  I counted six,” Yoshi said.

“I thought I saw more than that,” Ryan said.

“Maybe it was the same one,” Daniella said with a glimmer of optimism in her gray-blue eyes.

“If you need to believe that
, babe,” Ryan said affectionately and rubbed Daniella’s shoulders.  “Then it was the same little mouse running laps around Ed’s living room.”

“Yeah, right, mice need to do cardio, too,” Alexandra said and laughed at her own joke.  “Oh shit, I kill me.  So which smelly heap of hay are the engaged lovebirds calling?” Alexandra asked and Melissa assumed she had been addressing her and Gabriel.

“The one farthest from you,” Melissa said and smiled innocently.

“Oh shit!” Yoshi called out.  “She told you.”

“Whose side are you on?”  Alexandra stood and spun to face Yoshi.  Then she clutched her breasts with both hands and said, “If you ever want to see these again, you better stay on the right team,” and winked mischievously.

Yoshi stood with his eyes riveted on Alexandra’s
chest and muttered, “Yes ma’am,” with both eyebrows raised.

“All right, that’s enough!  You’re so gross!
” Daniella scolded both of them.

“You tell them
, sweetie,” Ryan said to Daniella.

“See that, Yoshi?  That’s a man who supports his woman.  That’s a man who’s going to get laid,” Alexandra started again.

“Let it go, Alex,” Melissa said.

“You know, I think I liked i
t better when you were the quiet, shy type,” Alexandra said then smiled.

Melissa rolled her eyes playfully.  She knew her friend loved every moment of their now constant teasing.

“Getting back to whole Ed and Jack thing, what do you think the deal is?” Melissa asked.

“Maybe post-traumatic stress disorder mixed with senility.  Both probably have PTSD and Ed senility,” Gabriel proposed.

“That sounds about right,” Ryan agreed.

“Yeah, maybe, if not then Jack’s just straight up crazy.  I’d hate to think Jack is crazy, man.”

“Did you see how he was all wide-eyed when Ed and the others were talking?” Daniella asked.  “It was disturbing.”

“It was hard to look at,” Melissa agreed. 

“Maybe the Jack we knew is gone,” Gabriel added somberly.

“I wish we had beer,” Alexandra blurted out randomly.  “It would make this conversation a lot more interesting.”

“What’s not interesting about an old crackpot military dude with a farm filled with trailers, and other crackpot military dudes, claiming towns are being taken over by a dead person?” Yoshi asked sarcastically.

“Well shit, Yoshi, when you pu
t it like that, it is pretty damned interesting,” Alexandra admitted.

And it was.  The conversation, the meeting, all the people involved could very well have been actors in an awful soap opera.  Unfortunately, they were not, and no one was waiting in the wings to shout, “Cut!” to them.  They were on their own.

The thought sent a shiver of unease through Melissa’s body. 

“I guess we’ll find out exactly what’s going on tomorrow,” Gabriel said.

“Yay, you get to go on a field trip with crazy Santa.  I bet you can’t wait,” Alexandra said ironically.

“I’m sure it’s going to be terrible.  But how else will we know for sure what’s happening?  It’s not like we can rely on their personal accounts,” Gabriel reasoned.

“I guess you’re right, but this sucks,” Alexandra said. 

“That’s my eloquent girl,” Yoshi said and rubbed her back.

“That ship has sailed, guy.  Give it up,” Alexandra warned him.

Melissa was glad everyone was maintaining their usual senses of humor.

“I don’t know, I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be pretty embarrassing for those guys,” Yoshi said.

“I know.  Me, too,” Ryan agreed.

“I almost feel sorry for them,” Daniella added.

“It’s all so far-fetched,” Gabriel said pensively
and Melissa swore she could see a glimmer of something familiar in his eyes.  She wondered whether it was doubt or dread, or neither.  Regardless, his eyes betrayed his offhandedness about the circumstances, and his calm. “I guess the sooner we get it over with, the sooner we get to go home, right?” he continued.

“Right,” Melissa said and took his hand in hers.  “And we’re doing this for Jack more than anything else.  We owe this to him.”

Gabriel gave her hand a gentle squeeze.  She knew he’d felt a degree of responsibility for Dawn Downing’s death.  She wished she could rid his brain, as well as his heart, of that guilt.  After all, he had not been involved in any of Dr. Terzini’s experiments.  Gabriel
was
one of Dr. Terzini’s experiments.  Yet he had assumed blame for his maker’s relocation to the West Coast, for forcing him to enact a secondary plan that had included experimentation on pregnant women.  Of course, none of his fears held any validity.  All of Terzini’s deeds would have been done whether or not Gabriel had performed exactly as he’d intended, had Terzini stayed in New York.  She knew Dawn’s death was not Gabriel’s fault.  But Gabriel did not. 

“All this crap is making my head spin.  I’m tired and would love a hot shower and some room service.  But lucky me, I get to go to sleep smelly and hungry, and on a pile of funky hay, not a bed,” Alexandra griped.  “Fantastic.”

“We don’t have to sleep, you know,” Yoshi mumbled.

“Give it up,” Alexandra said and pecked him on the cheek.  “Not gonna happen.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” he shrugged.

Truth be told, Melissa could have use
d a hot shower and a soft, odor-free bed to sleep in, too.  She doubted she would get much sleep either.  Never one for camping or any type of outdoorsy overnight activities, she was not looking forward to trying to get comfortable on a bed of hay.

“I guess we’ll go over there,” Gabriel spoke for them and pointed to the far corner of the barn.

“Looks like someone else is gonna try and get frisky,” Alexandra said and arched a perfectly groomed brow at Melissa and Gabriel.

Melissa felt her cheeks flush.  The corner likely held a rat’s nest, a spider’s nest, bats, or some other horrifyingly creepy critters in store for them.  Gabriel slipped his arm around her waist and gave a gentle squeeze.  Suddenly, the thought of a degree of isolation, critters or no critters, seemed like a better idea than it had a moment ago.  He lowered his face to her neck and the stubble of his chin met her sensitive skin before his lips brushed against it.  His movement was quick, but the effect was lasting.  The feel of his coarse hairs followed by the soft warmth of his mouth liquefied her insides.  She was reduced to gelatin and she wanted to turn and fall into his arms. 

“I guess we’ll park it over there,” Alexandra said and pointed to a stall closest to the doors. 

Melissa looked at her and smiled deviously.

“What?  I like that there’s walls, you know, just in case,” Alexandra said and elbowed Yoshi in the ribs lightly.

Melissa did not gesture or comment.  The thought had crossed her mind, as well. 

“We’ll just stay right here,” Daniella said and patted the hay bale she and Ryan leaned against.  “I need a shower before I get, ahem, private, so this is fine right here in the middle of the barn.  No scary dark corners, no windows or shelves above my head, and no poop I can see; just dirt and hay.”