Charles Ramon Peterson – Part 3
“I sounded like a regular villain right there,” said the man covered in bandages. He wheezed at his own realization.
“What the he—what is this?” Ramon struggled to get free of the man’s grip over his body. The hand of the bandaged man had inexplicably grown large enough to grab his whole torso, the yellowish strappings unraveled to reveal motley, reptilian skin. He wondered what was behind the strips of cloths covering this man’s face, wrapped tightly around his head, but then thought it was nothing good and better that he didn’t know. It was obvious this man was no longer human; rather, a vile creature who betrayed his own humanity for power. “Let me go, you fucking Adumbrae!”
“Wrong place, wrong time, bud. Tough luck.” He picked Ramon up like he weighed nothing. “Ya coming with me.”
Ramon’s arms were getting crushed against his sides. But he wasn’t getting captured this easily. He twisted his body while in the reptile man’s grip and kicked sideways, hitting his captor’s flank. It was as hard as a rock and there were pointy protrusions all over his body. “Ah! Shit, my knee.”
“If you only stayed still. Be a good boy and I’ll tell Mister to let you watch this momentous occasion.”
He strained to extend his arms outward and open his captor’s grip but he couldn’t move the giant fingers an inch. He said, “You’re not going to turn me into one of you!” He also wanted to add, ‘just kill me’, but the words wouldn't come out. He had been taught since he was a child that it was better to die than become an Adumbrae. Deep in his heart, he knew what his mother taught him was correct. He had seen what they were capable of, the destruction they caused, the monstrous changes their bodies underwent. But I also don’t want to die. Not yet.
“Twitchy little brat, aren’t ya?” the bandaged man said. The man carried him like a piece of luggage back to the lobby where the janitor and the two guards were.
He stopped struggling as he realized that angering the Adumbrae would only accelerate his death. He was aware that he was powerless right now. Bravado had its limits; empty bravado had no place if he wanted to live. And he couldn’t save Erind if he died now. “What do you want with me?” he asked, hoping there was something he could use to survive seeing as he wasn’t immediately killed.
“I don’t want anything with ya, but let’s ask Mister if he does.”
“Mister who? What are you talking about? BID agents are in this city, they’ll catch—” As they got out of the corridor of elevators and into the main lobby, Ramon spotted Boady lying face down on the floor a few feet away from Johnson, a pool of blood collecting around his head, the janitor looking intently over him. “Boady!”
“Hi there, Mister,” the reptile man said.
The janitor looked up. “Slinky, I see you found a new friend. I also see that you have a bullet hole on your forehead.”
"It's nothing."
“Why did you kill him?!” Ramon shouted. “You damn Adumbrae!”
He nodded at the guard on the floor. “Kid, you mean this? He did that to himself. Turns out he didn’t want to become like your other friend over there.” The janitor, who was apparently called ‘Mister’, jabbed his thumb towards Christa’s corpse.
“Huh? Boady wouldn’t kill himself,” Ramon stammered. Or would he?
“Slinky, why did you pick up that kid?”
“I shouldn’t?”
“I wanted him to get away. See how’s he going to survive in this place.”
“Hey, how could I have known that? I’m not Cordova. That twerps fucking locked up at the Red Island. What ya want me to do with my buddy here? Release him to the wild?”
“Yes—wait. On second thought, bring him here.”
Ramon wasn’t paying attention to their conversation because he was focused on Boady. The reptile man with the gigantic hand dropped him beside the guard. Boady…he really did kill himself, he thought as he crawled over to him. Why? Were they using the slug creatures to turn people into Adumbrae? But turning into an Adumbrae required willingness, so that wasn’t it. A monster then, some sort of sick experiment, something only someone as evil as an Adumbrae could think of. Boady must’ve realized what was happening to his body and turned his gun on himself, choosing to die a human.
“Here, bud,” the reptile man said, tossing Johnson’s gun to him.
What was he supposed to do with a gun? He knew there was no way he could kill them with it. Perhaps the one called ‘Mister’ if he could land a headshot? If. He eyed the man’s shoulder wound that has apparently healed. There was, however, no way he could kill this reptile man named ‘Slinky’. If shooting his head, which was supposed to be the weakness of Adumbrae, didn’t work, then what could he do?”
“Why did you give him the gun?” Mister said.
“I ain’t a thief.”
“That’s not even his.”
Ramon held the weapon, gazing at the metal surface of the barrel. Johnson took care of it well. It was so shiny that his own despairing face stared back at him. If they tried to turn him into a monster, should he do the same thing as Boady? He swallowed his saliva. Can I kill myself?
“Why the long face, kid?” Mister asked, squatting beside him. He patted Boady’s back. “You seemed to know this person. Am I right?”
Ramon tightened the grip on the gun. Mister was so close. How fast could he react if he shot him? After a couple seconds of thinking, he simply nodded.
“Are you sad that he’s dead?”
Again, he nodded.
“But he isn’t.”
“Hey, looks pretty dead to me,” Slinky said, peering over them.
“He isn’t,” Mister repeated. “My child is still inside. I could sense it already bonded with him. If he was dead, my child would have already exited his body.” He turned Boady’s head, peering at the front of his head. Ramon faced away, avoiding the gruesome sight. “It appears he blew his face off but missed the important parts of his brain.”
“Oof, that’s gotta hurt.” Slinky stamped his foot as if cringing. “Must’ve angled his gun the wrong way when he swallowed the end of the barrel. I heard that happens sometimes.”
“No, he didn’t make a mistake,” Mister said examining the mess that was Boady’s face while Ramon looked in every other place except that direction. “He was aiming for my child digging in his face, trying to reach his brain.”
“Gutsy. I like this guy.”
“From the looks of it, he hit part of my child.”
“Is it going to be okay? The subject? XR-01A was it? Or is this one of the XR-03? Those slug looking things.”
“My child is going to be fine,” he said evenly, giving Slinky a cold look. He took out his cellphone and began to video Boady. “Very interesting to see how my child will perform given a nearly dying body. It’s a different scenario if it already has taken root before a body is gravely injured. If it has already hijacked the brain and broken the Eloyce Field to connect—
“What do you want with me?” Ramon said. “Do you want me to kill him?” Perhaps the reason they kept him alive was because they wanted to toy with him. They were Adumbrae; he expected nothing less than vile wickedness from them.
Mister regarded him with a smile. “How did you come to that conclusion.”
“Is that it? You want me to kill him before he turns into a monster?”
“No, such a barbaric way of thinking. Do you assume I’m a psychopath? I’m a man of science, a man that wants to see the evolution of the human race. And I want you to witness it as well. Educating the young, a noble goal.”
“Nice,” Slinky said. “I was planning to ask ya if ya’d let him watch what’s going to happen in this building. I’d say great minds think alike but that’d be an insult to ya, Mister. My mind’s nothing like yars.”
“In more ways than one.” Mister stood up and took pictures of Boady at different angles, the flash of the camera bathing the body each time. “Kid, you’re going to see what will happen to your friend here. It’s going to be—let’s see, what do young people say—neat. Yes, it’s going to be neat.”
“Looks like ya’ luck is turning around, kid,” Slinky said. “Mister’s taken a liking to ya. Lighten up. We’re not going to do anything bad to ya.”
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“You, however,” Mister deliberately said, “are free to do anything you want.”
Ramon clenched his jaws. Although they say that, he understood they were implying the exact opposite. And even if they were truthfully saying that they meant him no harm, which he had to be absolutely braindead to believe, would he just sit back and watch as Boady transformed into a monster like Christa? His palm holding the gun was starting to sweat. He wasn’t family, they weren’t even close friends. But they were friends nonetheless.
And they were fellow humans…
Didn’t he have the moral obligation to kill Boady now before he became a monster?
At least, I should put him out of his pain…right?
Before he could further think about his dilemma, there was a rumble by the entrance of the building. Salvation? He dared hoped. Had the BID been alerted and came to the rescue?
Slinky instantly unwound the bandages on his hands and grew long scythe-like claws.
The wall of darkness that blocked the doors had dissipated and a large group led by a woman walked into the lobby.
“Stand down, it’s just Stella,” Mister said.
“Stella and the rabble,” Slinky muttered.
No… it was more of these Adumbrae! Their followers? Ramon knew that some Adumbrae formed cults and various groups to manipulate people. Were they all part of a big secret organization of Adumbrae? This was the group the BID fought a couple of days ago!
The woman appeared to be half Asian, probably of Korean descent; some of her features reminded Ramon of the Korean family who ran a small supermarket near the tiny apartment room he rented. She wore a fitting charcoal business suit, its buttons struggling to keep it close as her bust strained against it, black skin tight pants highlighted her shapely legs. Her heels clicked on the tiles like a ticking time bomb counting down to his eventual end.
She had softly shaped face which contrasted with her loud and authoritative voice as she barked orders on the phone. Despite the fear and stress, Ramon couldn’t help but be mesmerized by this woman’s exotic beauty that he nearly forgot about his dire situation, and also nearly didn’t notice the small army behind her.
To her right was a freakishly tall and broad man with a tattered fedora casting a shadow over his gaunt, lifeless face. He carried a huge concrete pillar over his shoulder that required some maneuvering to get into the building without breaking the glass doors. To her left was another man with prominent bionic eyes that glowed red; he was wearing a dri-fit tank top to showcase the fearsome weaponry that was his extensively augmented arms. About a dozen goons brought up the rear. They were armed with high-caliber firearms and a number of electroschock weapons that Ramon had only seen on TV.
“She escaped?" the terrifying bombshell he assumed to be called ‘Stella’ yelled to her phone. “What do you mean she escaped? You numbskulls! How did you lose a stupid blonde?”
“Something wrong, Stella?” Mister said.
“You idiots better find her,” she shouted, “or you’re all going to be cut off from the supply!” She ended the call and growled in annoyance, making an almost beast-like sound that made the hair on the back of Ramon’s neck stand on end. “Hello, Mister. Just a slight hiccup in our plans.” She checked her appearance on her phone’s camera. “A hair fell out of place. Actually, it’s not related to our ultimate goal of field testing the XR-Series so I shouldn’t get too worked up.”
“You know that I, more than anyone, want to see my children perform on the stage, but I just want to reiterate my misgivings about this.”
“BID’s not going to like this very much,” Slinky said.
“That’s none of your concern,” Stella said. “Your group was sent here from the Red Island for one task, and worrying about the eventual consequences of this operation is not part of that. Oh, two tasks. We need to deal with that she-wolf bitch when she appears here.”
“If she's even going to show up...”
“Her past behavior indicates so. We haven’t seen that wolf-bitch with those bandits being a thorn in our operations. She showed up only when that woman…what’s that other bitch’s name again?”
“Erind Hartwell,” the guy with the heavy augments said.
Ramon’s ear perked up upon hearing that name. Erind? Did they mean his precious Erind? It wasn't a common name, especially for a girl. What did they want with her?
“Yeah, that, the wolf-bitch appeared to save her after we kidnapped her as a request by the Supplier. And both of them were also at Eve. We just need to draw her out to capture her, and why not test the XR-Series in the process? The she-wolf will certainly appear to save her friend. Two birds in one stone.”
“If that’s what Boss Mark and Big Marcy wants,” Mister said with a shrug.
“It is.”
They kidnapped Erind before? Did he understand that correctly? Ramon had no clue what was going on but these people didn’t mean her any good for sure. Was that why she was gone for some time? Could she have been hiding away from them after she escaped?
They found her now.
“Anyhow…one of the twins has taken control of the security room,” Mister said. “The other is at the top of the building, keeping watch. Those two, Slinky here, and Ichor and his men guarding the perimeter of this building are at your disposal. The rest of my crew is at the basement parking waiting for me, ready to leave. Everything, cameras and all, are already in place. I’m proverbially turning the keys of the house over to you.”
“Excellent, with the footage from security cams and the cams your crew have setup, we’ll have plenty of data for future development and also footage for advertisement.”
“If you’re going to use the elevators, I suggest the freight elevator at the parking area because we’re going to disable these ones soon,” he said pointing to the left and right corridors leading to the elevators of the two wings of the building. “We also placed a few of my children in these elevators just in case someone unlucky tried to escape that way before we did.”
Stella’s gaze fell on Ramon, seemingly noticing him for the first time. “What’s this?” Then she looked at Boady and Johnson. “And this, and that?”
“I wanted this kid to witness my work. He would appreciate this science lesson. You see, one of my children has connected to the brain of this man after he nearly killed himself and damaged his brain, although not in an immediately fatal way. And it seems to be working despite my initial assumption that my child wouldn’t be able to salvage the situation so to speak. It will be fascinating to see—"
“Spare me the explanations, Mister. I’m sure I will not be able to appreciate it the same way you do, and I don’t think this kid will as well.”
“Urghhh…unhhh…”
“Boady!” But instead of coming closer to help him, Ramon backed away. “Boady,” he repeated his friend’s name, but this time in a horrified tone as the once nearly dying man stood up, wisps of smoke coming out of the pores of his skin, his ears, and the bloodied mess that was his face. Patches of skins started to burn like there was fire inside of him.
“So, that explains these two people,” Stella said. “But what about the fat one?”
“He's injured. Not a concern. Although my child who’s supposed to take over him was unfortunately destroyed.”
Stella snapped her fingers at the giant of a man holding the concrete pillar and pointed at Johnson. Then she looked at Ramon straight in the eye. Despite himself, his heart skipped a beat. “I do value educating the next generation,” she said. “Perhaps it is a better teaching moment if you ordered this…uh, smoke person—”
WHAMMM!
The floor shook. In a flash, the augmented man was in front of Stella, shielding her from a shower of blood and pieces of flesh. Slinky held out his trenchcoat to cover Ramon.
All of them looked at the colossal man wearing a fedora, then down at the floor where Johnson’s body was squashed under the thick concrete pillar.
“Bob! What. The. Fuck,” Stella said. She snarled menacingly, a demonic sound that a human shouldn’t be able to make.
“Stella, don’t get angry at him,” Mister said. “You know you have to give him clear instructions.”
“Whatever! Speaking of giving instructions, you order your smoke creature here to kill this kid.”
“That don’t work like that, Miss Stella,” Slinky said. “Only simple instructions that don’t—”
“Maybe it can work!” Mister said, his face contorting with intense excitement which was made even scarier by Johnson’s blood that covered his right cheek. “Maybe it can…they both know each other and—”
“I trust your theory,” Stella said, “just do it.”
Ramon was zoning out when he realized what was going to happen. Johnson’s death, Boady’s fate that was worse than death, the threat of Adumbrae, all of the things he should worry about took a backseat in his mind as he realized there was a chance he could live. His heart pumped even faster. His hands tingled with excitement and hope.
They were letting him go!
Yes, he was in a monster infested building with the monster Boady chasing him. But I have a chance! They weren’t going to execute him right here, right now. His mind raced, thinking of a plan what to do next while he watched Mister give instructions to Boady.
Slinky went beside him while trying to remove pieces of Johnson that stuck to his bandages. “Like I said, kid. Wrong place, wrong time.”
“But you said you weren’t going to do anything bad to me,” Ramon stupidly replied knowing that that didn’t mean anything to these people.
“Sorry kid, for what’s that’s worth.” Slinky handed to him a knife. "Might be of use to ya."
He looked at it confused. Wasn't this Boady's knife that he used to kill the slug inside Johnson?
“I’ll lead the way to the freight elevator,” Mister said to Stella, “since we’re going in the same direction.”
“I really feel bad about this to be honest with ya,” Slinky said with sincerity that might’ve been genuine. The monster Boady croaked, spewing smoke around him, and stretched his arms as he wandered towards Ramon. “You hafta’ run now.”
With a determined look in his face, he said firmly, “Can you delay disabling the elevators for a bit?”
Even if Slinky’s face was wrapped in bandages, Ramon could tell the man was smiling based on the contours of his face. “Sure, kid. I could do that. Do your best. I’m rooting for ya!”
He stood up and sprinted to the elevators, the gun in his hand, the swiss knife in his pocket. There was no way he was going to survive here on the ground floor. This place was crawling with these Adumbrae and who know what other monsters. The Adumbrae also made sure no one would be able to get out of this place so there was no point trying.
The way to go is up!
He was certain that the mysterious thing covering the building was the reason why he didn’t have a phone signal. But maybe he could call for the BID at the top of the building! There was only one person guarding that place according to Mister. Better try his luck up there than down here.
“Yes!” The elevator that Slinky used was still open. Ramon got in and pressed the button for the 22nd floor. He spotted the monster Boady running into the corridor just as the elevator doors closed. "Sorry I couldn't save you. But I'll try my best to save another."
He wasn’t going to leave Erind here alone. The plan was to get her then go to the roof. What is her room number again? Did he forget it? He sensed that he was forgetting something else.
Clank. Clank, clank…
Was something up there? Above the carriage? Mister said they were going to disable the elevators…
…didn’t he also say he left some of his children in here?
Ramon slowly looked up.