Marie (Teumessian Trilogy Book 1) (7 page)

Michael put his hands up, “Just calm down. It’s over. Nobody is going to hurt you, I promise.” Michael calmly told her. She was shaking but refused to lower the knives. “Marie, please put the knives away. Nobody else needs to get hurt tonight.” Michael put his hands out for her to hand him the knives. Her breathing calmed and she collapsed into his arms. He held her tight, her tears were flowing. Michael looked up at everyone, “Shows over! Move on!”

“This isn’t over!” Frederick yelled back.

“It is for tonight” Justin stepped up in between Frederick and Michael.

Bruce touched Frederick on the shoulder. “That’s enough. Tonight has been too much as is. We have lost too much of value already.” Bruce and Kenneth led Frederick out of the room. Justin led the rest of the pack out.

              Marie clung to Michael. He pulled her away from him. “It’s going to be ok, trust me.” He said. She hung her head afraid to make eye contact. “Tell me you trust me,” he pleaded with her. She nodded her head. He placed his hand under her chin lifting it up till she finally made eye contact. He lightly kissed her on the lips. She smiled and fell back into his arms. “We’re going to be ok, I know it.” He repeatedly whispered to her. She couldn’t say anything she just kept clinging to him. He was her strength; she couldn’t imagine life without him. He carried her to her room and gently laid her down on her bed, pulling her covers over her. “Just sleep, you will feel better in the morning.” He calmly told her stroking her hair. All she could do was nod her head, slowly she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 9

“Can someone please explain to me what the fuck happened last night?” Henry yelled at the group. It was the following morning and the management was meeting to discuss the mission from the previous night. “I am not sure how we ended up with a dead body and Frederick here with a busted nose.” Henry laughed “Frederick she fucked up your face. It’s kind of funny, you have to admit.” Frederick wasn’t laughing,

“I’m not sure what got into that bitch but she will pay for it.” Frederick sneered.

“Oh come now you went too far and she fought back.” Kenneth chimed in.

“Killing her wouldn’t have fixed last night and then you would have to dispose of another body and we would have lost more property,” Bruce added.

Ivan spoke, “I find it interesting that she got so violent last night. It is not like her, she tends to be the soft one. She appears much more volatile lately as is. Do we have a chemical explanation for this or is it just the fact that she is apparently crazy?” Ivan looked directly at Stanley. Stanley knew the answer but was too afraid to say it. Jones spoke up, this was a first for him; normally, he just sat in the back and let Stanley do the talking, but he knew Stanley couldn’t today.

“She’s pregnant.” Jones calmly told the group.

“What?!” Henry yelled. “How the fuck did this happen?!”

“Do you need a birds and bees explanation?” Kenneth laughed.

Bruce punched Kenneth in the stomach, “Shut the fuck up!”

“Why in good god’s name did we allow something like this to happen? Why wasn’t she sterilized along with the rest of them?” Henry yelled.

“We didn’t sterilize any of them and we didn’t give any of them anything other than the injections so it wouldn’t affect the results. If they had not developed ‘normally’ then the drugs wouldn’t have worked,” Stanley replied.

“Because the drugs have worked so well so far.” Frederick barked back.

“Condoms would have been a smart investment,” Kenneth said with a laugh

Ivan just rubbed his temples. “Are we sure?”

Jones nodded his head, “We confirmed it with her weekly blood test yesterday. Her sample revealed a lot.” Jones added.

“What do you mean ‘a lot’?” Frederick asked.

“Well it also showed a variance in her DNA. It appears to be changing.” Jones answered

Ivan sat up in his chair. “Hold on, are you telling me that finally this drug mixture is working?”

“It looks like it is.” Stanley replied.

“Can you explain how?” Frederick asked.

“No, we are not sure if it is related to her pregnancy or if it is unrelated.” Stanley answered.

“How do you intend to figure this out?” Henry asked.

Stanley shook his head, “I am not sure.”

“Really am I the only one who sees the obvious answer here? You terminate the pregnancy and retest.” Frederick added.

Jones chimed in,” We could allow the pregnancy to continue to see if it in fact the combination of the pregnancy and the drugs will continue to alter her DNA.”

Stanley knew he was just trying to help Marie but he knew they would never allow it.

“Are we sure this alteration is in fact the outcome we are looking for, that is self-repair?” Bruce asked.

Stanley nodded his head, “Yes, it appears to be that way.”

Ivan sat back, rubbing his temples again. “Terminate it and lab rat her, we need to find out exactly what went right and what went wrong. We cannot base our drug on it only finally working on a pregnant female. It needs to be ready to build soldiers.”

Stanley felt his heart drop from his chest, all he could do was whisper “No” to himself.

Stanley was not alone is his heart break, from his spot in the ceiling, Justin felt panic take over his body. Justin had a habit of listening in on the big bosses. It kept him a step ahead, he always felt. Justin quickly moved from his hiding spot back to the hallway. He had to warn Michael, he had to help them. Justin rushed down the hallway. Justin found Marie and Michael together in Marie’s room. “They know!” was all he could blurt out, he was panicked and out of breath. Marie just looked to Michael, panic in her eyes, but Michael was calm.

“They aren’t going to allow it are

they?” Michael asked Justin.

Justin could just shake his head.

“Then we go now,” Michael told Marie. She nodded her head and quickly moved to her drawers. They both knew they couldn’t keep it a secret forever and if it wouldn’t be allowed they had to run. She had bags packed, weapons, clothes, and money they had stolen all ready to go.  Michael retrieved a bow and his arrow bag he had hidden behind her dresser. He strapped it on to his body and threw one of the bags over his shoulder. She put her black backpack on her back.

“Where are they?” Michael asked Justin.

“They were in Ivan’s office but they may be moving. Ivan has ordered the baby terminated and her experimented on,” Justin exclaimed.

. Michael looked around the room, then made his decision.

“Out the window, let’s go now” Michael ushered Marie to the window. She climbed up and out the window and into the bushes. Michael turned to Justin, “Buy us as much time as you can.”

Justin nodded, “I’ll do my best.”

Michael then climbed out the window and joined Marie. She looked up at him, he took her by the arm and led her out of the bushes. It was a rainy day so the sky was dark and they knew the security down to exacts. They moved past the guards and through the side gate that the guards always left unlocked to make their own movements easier. Justin watched from the window and saw them disappear into the night. He closed the window and calmed his mind. His friends’ lives were now in his hand he had to buy them more time to get as far away as possible before anyone discovered they were gone. Justin sat down on Marie’s bed, rubbing his hands on his head. Suddenly Frederick, Stanley, and Jones entered the room along with three guards, Justin instantly stood up.

“Where is she?” Frederick commanded.

“I think she is with Michael in his room.” Justin answered.

“Then why are you in here? If she is not in her room, why are you?” Frederick asked.

“I was looking for her and she was not here so I figured she is with Michael. I was about the head that way.” Justin said trying to keep his calm.

Frederick looked suspicious but waved his hand for the guards to follow him as he left the room.

Stanley knew Justin too well, “Thank you” he whispered to Justin as he left the room to follow Frederick.

Justin let out a deep breath and sat back down on the bed.

Justin could hear Frederick yelling from Michael’s room, “Search everywhere. They have to be here somewhere!” Guards were scrambling in the hallways searching rooms for Michael and Marie. Justin knew it was only a matter of time before they realized they had been tipped off and were gone. He just hoped it will have been enough time for them to get far enough away.   

Chapter 10

“It’s been a mother fucking year, can someone explain to me why we still have no fucking clue where they are?” Henry barked at the group. The management had been meeting regularly and plotting and planning and yet none of their plans had worked in successfully finding Michael and Marie.

“Let’s be honest. Do we really even still need those two?” Bruce asked.

“Yes, she is the only one to have responded to the treatments and we need to find out why.” Ivan replied.

“So I take it we have had no success with the new subjects?” Frederick asked.

“No none, they have all died” Stanley said with a heavy heart. He had buried ten baby girls; each one had broken his heart a little bit more. They didn’t even last a week on the treatments.

“So, to be short, for some fucking reason this girl is the only female we can find that can withstand and respond to the treatments and none of the remaining four original subjects have shown any DNA modification.” Henry yelled.

“We have regularly sampled the remaining four and none show any improvement in their ability to naturally heal,” Jones responded.

“Your fucking formula is a dam failure! All this money and time and no fucking result but one we cannot even fucking find,” Henry yelled.

“The formula isn’t a failure. It worked. It just doesn’t work on everyone,” Stanley defended himself.

“Let’s do some math, twenty subjects and only one success, that’s a shitty level of success. I don’t think it is successful I think it was a waste of time and money.” Frederick added.

Ivan raised his hand for everyone to be silent. “One success is enough to find the key to properly manipulating the formula to work on a large population. Remember the end game is to create human weapons that can be sold to the highest bidder. We need to have her back to find out the key or any other experiments will be a waste of time and money. Torture the remaining four till they give them up. I have a nagging suspicions they have help within these walls.” Ivan looked directly at Stanley. “We have found the communications; you have been using Justin to pass messages and intel.” Stanley felt his heart drop. Ivan waved his hand. Frederick pulled out a pistol and fired directly into Stanley’s head, blood spattered everywhere. Nobody flinched but Jones who was shaking.

“Seriously, Frederick, you were supposed to do that outside now it’s everywhere. Shit those were new chairs. You’re cleaning that shit up” Henry yelled.

“Fine. Whatever it’s done isn’t it?” Frederick laughed.  “You have his formula correct?” Frederick asked Jones. Jones nodded his head, still shaking. “Good you’re in charge now.” Frederick said with a smile.

“Ok then, let’s get to work, I want them found within the week.” Ivan ordered.

Things had not been well for the remaining four pack members since Marie and Michael’s disappearance. The scrambling to try to get a result from them had resulted in torturous treatments and extensive physical experimentations. Austin had lost an eye, Ethan had lost several fingers and toes in a failed experiment, Samuel was covered in scars and was missing several ‘unimportant organs’ or at least that’s what they kept telling him. Justin had it the worst. They blamed him for the loss of Marie and Michael. He was hardly recognizable. His once sweet face was covered with scars, he had lost all of his hair from the experiments, and he had lost several fingers and toes after a test of cold extremes went badly. They were all a far cry from the pictures of physical fitness and health they once were. Their bodies weren’t the only thing that were broken. So were their spirits. They had nothing left but to just follow orders or die. Austin, Samuel, and Ethan did just that. They followed orders and Austin and Samuel even seemed to rise in the ranks within the company. Justin was always the subject of their rage and it showed but he never wavered in his dedication to Michael. However, he could only be pushed so far. The four of them were in the prep room preparing for what they were told was another training exercise when Bruce walked in. They stood at attention awaiting their orders. Bruce took a breath then walked right up to Justin and punched him in the right eye.

“You dumb piece of shit, passing communications you had to know they would find out eventually. How long will you four protect them? They abandoned you, they abandoned their team for what? Huh? Answer me!” Bruce yelled. Justin had recovered from the punch, he was used to it. They all stood silent, Bruce pulled out a gun and pointed it at Ethan’s head. “Time’s up. You are so dam loyal to the ones who ran it’s time to decide. I want to know where they are or he dies. Your choice, the one who stayed or the ones who ran!” Samuel stepped forward towards Bruce, Bruce cocked the gun. “You move, he dies.”

Samuel turned to Justin, “Just tell him what you know, don’t do this, stop protecting them. They have done nothing to protect us!” Justin just stood silent. Samuel continued to yell at Justin, “Tell them what you know!” Justin could see Bruce was serious, was Ethan’s life worth protecting Michael? Justin was on the verge of tears.

“I’m counting to five then I’m pulling the trigger!” Bruce yelled. Justin hesitated, he could see the desperation in Samuel’s face, they were all each other had left. “1…2….3” Bruce counted

“Stop, please stop. I’ll tell you what I know.” Justin hung his head in shame. He knew he was betraying his best friend and it would mean his death.

“Where are they?” Bruce ordered.

Justin took a deep breath, “Currently they are about five miles south of Ely, Nevada. They have a small house they are hiding out in.”

Bruce un-cocked the gun, “When you say they, you mean?” Bruce asked.

Justin knew what he was asking, “Michael, Marie, and the baby.” He responded.

Bruce smiled “Looks like we have two new lab rats to work on then.” He snickered. Bruce left the room and Justin collapsed on the floor.

Austin walked to him and kicked him, “You dumb fuck! You should have given them up a long time ago it could have saved us all a lot of hell.” Austin then walked out of the room. Samuel and Ethan couldn’t even look at Justin. They just silently walked out of the room. Justin was alone again.