Midnight Squad: The Grim (28 page)

           
“What the fuck! You cloned me? You fucking cloned me?” I
screamed at DD. The Doctor stepped forward, “Actually no, I cloned you. Daphne
just added the augmentations. You had your brain mapped, surely you had some
idea that we’d put it to use.” I stomped towards the Doctor. Thankfully Penny
stepped between us before I did something I wouldn’t be able to apologize for
later, “Grim, please calm down. This isn’t helping anything.” Intellectually I
knew Penny was right, but emotionally I still wanted to use the doctor’s head
for a soccer ball.

           
It took two days before we were back in the training
room. Clearly, I couldn’t fight the enemy anymore so we had to change the team.
I now set up outside of the range of the clone’s psychic backwash. I could feel
a slight buzz, but that was all I’d feel. I lay prone beside Alhambra. I wasn’t
happy about it, but it was our best option. She could use her powers like an
air strike, and I was carrying a sniper rifle. Penny, Katy, and Danika made
some tactical changes as well. Now they worked as a three-person team. Penny
and Danika took turns being the first person to go to a location while Katy
would follow as the second person. Bringing up the rear was whoever remained.
That way the witch was always protected by the other two more durable women. It
also meant she had much more time to work her magic since the vampire and the
werewolf did a pretty good job of holding the enemy at bay. Janine roamed the
area and gathered intelligence on the targets. It reduced their flexibility a
bit in that we couldn’t split up, but we didn’t have many options. Penny led
the attack, and I operated as a supervisor. I gave them suggestions, but she
made the calls in the field. It was frustrating to hand over the reigns, but Penny
made me proud. She had a much more intellectual approach about the battle than
I did. If I was going to be completely honest then I’d have to admit she was
just a better pure tactician. She made her decisions based on cold facts, and
predatory instinct.
Whereas I flew more by the seat of my
pants.
 

           
The first few times we fought the clones we won the
battles about half of the time. The more we practiced the better the synthetics
got. After two weeks, we couldn’t beat them. DD said they shared memories. So
every time we did something the clone would learn from it. By the third week,
we were planning each attack for hours before going out, and every time they
beat us more quickly. I was sure they knew us better than we knew ourselves. It
was getting depressing.

Finally,
the day before Halloween came and Elizabeth called us into a briefing room. We
all sat down waiting for her to begin, “Ladies, and of course Grim, it’s my
great pleasure to thank you all for everything you’ve done. It is with great
pride that I announce the conclusion of our project.” Doc
Nowitski,
and DD both smiled and nodded. The rest of us stared back in shock. Elizabeth
continued, “I know you’ve all been under the impression that you were the main
project, however, it’s been our goal all along to develop easily replaceable
soldiers that could lead us into the warfare of the next century. I’m sorry
about the deception, but the only way we could be certain that we were getting
your best was if we had you believing you were the main project. We will pay
you your full contracts. General Terwillicker will be arriving in two days to
take the data. He’ll also be taking us to a secret demonstration at another
complex, but before then we’ll be having our yearly Halloween party…after all
you certainly earned it.”

           
We all just sat there stunned. Elizabeth took a sip of
water and then spoke carefully, “Some of you will be offered other assignments
after the demonstration. Others will receive the balance of your contract along
with a very generous severance package. Now let’s enjoy these last two days. I
realize this isn’t much of a warning for you, but the General feels now is the
time to move forward with this project, and personally I agree with him. Thank
you again for your time and effort.” Elizabeth then walked out, followed by the
Doctor, and DD.

           
We were left staring at each other. Alhambra looked at
all of us, gave a huff of disgust, and then stormed out. Katy stared at
the her
feet, “What now. It’s not like I have anywhere I can
go.” Tears started trailing down her face. Janine moved over to her and did her
best to comfort the little witch. Danika looked at me, “Do you mind if I head
back with you. I really want to meet your sister.” I just nodded. I was still
numb with shock. Penny stood up and growled, “Well congratulations. You were
right. They were up to something. Now we‘re all fucked. I hope you‘re happy.”
She began to storm off when Janine slipped in front of her, “Penny, I thought
there was something fishy as well. Don’t blame Grimmy for this. They were going
to do it anyway. Besides, didn’t you hear, Elizabeth said there would be
positions for some of us. Who knows, maybe we’ll all be together at this new
place.”

           
“She said some, not all.” Penny hissed.

           
“So, maybe she meant we’ll all keep our jobs, and maybe
Elizabeth and Gina will move on. We don’t know who will be kept, so let’s not
let this get to us until we find out what’s going to happen.” Janine said
patiently. I wasn’t so confident. How did I miss the mark about this so badly? I
thought there was something funny going on, but I didn’t think this was it.
Nobody had anything left to say, and we all slowly slid off to our own rooms.
Nobody was really in the mood to chat anymore. After I made it back to my room
I started getting ready to leave in two days. I guess everyone else was doing
the same thing.

           
After I got most of my stuff ready I took a look at the
clock and realized it was after breakfast at Mom and Dad‘s home. I snatched up
my cell phone and dialed. The phone rang a few times before they picked up.
Mom’s voice blared out, “You girls eat your breakfast. The school bus is gonna
be here in thirty minutes, and if you run late I’ll tan your backsides. Hello,
who is this?” I could hear my sisters in the background. “Momma, I’m coming
home!”

           
“My baby boy is coming home!” She screamed. My sisters
cheered and yelled. The melancholy I was feeling just evaporated. Sometimes,
family just has a way of making things better. “What happened, I thought you
were going to be there for
awhile
?” Mom was worried
about me. “Well, I still might be rehired for another position. I can’t say
much, but the project ended earlier than anyone expected. I guess we did the
job a little too well, but either way I figure I can probably get a few days to
come down and visit.” Apparently, Mom had us on speakerphone because she and my
sisters started yelling and cheering again.

           
“What’s going on?” Dad’s voice grumbled. Mom and my
sisters all started trying to explain it all at once, but it just became a
goulash of noise. “Hold on! Hold on!
One at a time!”
Mom finally explained everything and Dad just gave a gruff huff and said,
“That’s nice, now if you don’t mind I need to say a few things to my son.”

           
“Baby, Mama’s gonna put your Dad on the phone, be nice
because he’s a grumpy bear in the morning.” She loved teasing him. Dad snatched
the phone away and stomped back to his office at the back of the house. I heard
the squeak of the door shut, “So what really happened?” I explained everything.
The Colonel made me repeat some parts, and clarify others. It felt like a
debriefing. Finally, he said, “Boy, keep an eye open. I’ve done a little
digging on Terwillicker. He’s been working covert projects for a long time.
That wouldn’t normally raise any red flags for me, but I haven’t ever been able
to find anyone that worked on a project with him. I don’t want to say too much
over the phone, but what do you think that means?” I felt the bottom drop out
of my stomach. “You’re kidding right?”

           
“I’m not saying anything will definitely happen, but I
went through every contact I had. I can’t find anyone that ever personally
worked with the man. They just seem to disappear. I’m sorry son. If I’d have
known I would have never brought you to them.” He sounded scared. “It’s ok Col…
it’s
ok Dad. I’ll be careful. I’ll call you when I know more
about what’s going on.” I hung up.

           
There was a knock on my door and Danika’s head poked in.
“Can we come in?” I nodded. Janine, Danika, Penny, and Katy all came in. Penny
folded her arms and grumbled something. I figure that was her version of an
apology. I held up my hand and started explaining what my father had just told
me. When I finished the girls were staring at me in shock. Katy stuttered,
“S-s-so wh-wh-what are we going to d-d-d-do?”

           
“Let’s just be careful. Watch each other’s backs. Most
importantly, we need to play it close to the vest. This could just be a big
misunderstanding. Everyone that worked with Terwillicker may just have new
identities. Who knows? It could be something innocent. I don’t think so, but I
don’t want to make another mistake.” Everyone agreed with my words. We chatted
for a few more minutes before everyone left except for Danika. “Grimmy…can
I
?”

           
“Oh fine, get over here.” I barely finished the sentence
before Danika was nuzzling me and sniffing. Oh the things I do for my friends.
I flopped down on the bed, and Danika nuzzled into the crook of my arm.
“Grimmy, do you think your sister will like me?”

           
“Sure she
will
, if not then
we’ll disown her and keep you.” I joked

           
“No, seriously…no joking.
Will
she like me?” Danika’s voice was nervous.

           
“Yeah, you’re just freaking adorable. Even your fleas are
cute and cuddly. She’d be an idiot not to like you. Just don’t wolf out in
front of my family. My sister is still afraid to come out about being gay. I
think trying to explain being gay and having a relationship with a werewolf
might just make Niki’s head explode. For the record, I don’t think my parents
would have a problem with either, and once they get to know you they’ll love
you. However, Niki’s got it in her head that our parents are stuck in the
fifties. Hey! We talked about this! No Licking!” I said grumpily. Danika
grumbled, but went back to sniffing and nuzzling. Hey, I have to draw the line
somewhere.

 
Another day, another nightmare, this time I
was a happy little dude playing with my balloon. I was just minding my own
business when I felt the ground shake. Boom…boom…boom…the ground rumbled, but I
couldn’t see what was causing it. I ran around a corner towards the sound which
of course is always a mistake, and my blue balloon chased me darting around
like some spastic angel. After rounding the corner I froze in place. Standing
thirty stories high was a very angry rubber monster version of Penny. She gave
a good old fashioned Godzilla roar and stomped towards me. The earth shook, and
concrete split, and I all but crapped my pants. There was a little moped parked
next to me. I tied my balloon onto the seat and started the little red moped
up. Penny took another heavy step. The impact shook the ground, and even
rattled my teeth. I twisted the gas and the moped puttered away. Not exactly a
stylish getaway, but whatever works. Penny roared and started chasing after me.
The moped was going as fast as it could. To be honest, I’m almost certain that
if I wanted this thing to go “fast” I’d have to drop it off a cliff. I wasn’t
getting away, but at least the Penny monster wasn’t catching up. The rubber
Penny outfit flopped around with every step distorting what normally were
beautiful features.

           
I turned a corner and things went from bad to ten pounds
of shit in a five pound bag. A giant Janine was stomping my way, and she was
just gruesome. It wasn’t my normal
sweet,
and sexy
ghost with the most…cleavage. Now it was a melting, burning piece of rubber
that once looked vaguely like her rotting corpse. A quick left turn sent me
down an alleyway, and I heard both monsters roaring in frustration. The little
moped slowed down to make it through the tight labyrinth of back alleys. I
finally came to a stop after twisting and turning my way for what seemed like
hours. I thought I was safe. I could only barely hear their roars. I took a
deep sigh of relief, and then I heard a little yipping bark. Turning over my
shoulder, I saw what looked like Danika’s face on a tiny poodle body. I mean it
was one of those tiny poodles that celebrities carry in their purses, but it
had a full sized Danika head. I started to giggle. Seriously, what was that little
fleabitten bobblehead dog going to do? That’s when Danika looked down a dark
street, and gave a sharp bark.

I
heard hundreds, maybe thousands of other Danika poodles running up out of the
darkness. They poured out like a flood of poofy hair and teeth. It was like a
raging river of Danika poodles snapping and growling at me. I twisted the
accelerator, but instead of the vroom sound I expected, I heard the loud
bleating. I turned around and realized I was straddling a very large goat. I
held the horns like handlebars. The blue balloon was tied to its tail. The goat
seemed somewhat familiar, but I didn’t have much time. The flood of Danika
puppies kept getting closer. I gave a scream, ‘Hi ho goat, and away!” The goat
never moved.