Tree of Life

Book II Chapter 06

TREE OF LIFE BOOK II

CHAPTER 06

It was five minutes after Brian had left with his men.

One of the guards at the front door spoke without turning to the other one. “Did you hear what happened to Jones?”

The other one ignored him.

“Hey man, did you hear what I said?”

The other stood still, looking forward. “Shut up. We’re not supposed to talk.”

The first man scoffed. “Why are you always so uptight, man?”

A rustling from behind them. The two men turned as one.

In the distance, from the back of the lab building, a man was jogging up to them, taking his time. He was also dressed in military fatigues, and had a gas mask on, exactly like the two here at the front door. He waved at them.

The uptight one tried to make out who it was. It was difficult as they were all in masks, and it was still too far away to read the nametag on the man’s uniform. “Garcia?” He squinted at the running man still a little distance away. “Is that you, Garcia? What are you doing away from your post? Are you crazy?”

Garcia only waved again and jogged in closer.

“You know they’ll have your head for this…”

Garcia loped right up to him and stopped. He pointed back the way he came. The uptight one glanced back to where the man was pointing.

A chop to the neck of this one. A punch to the chest of the other.

The two guards dropped like stones.

The masked man, supposedly Garcia, took the two men on the ground and flipped them up and onto his shoulders, one on each side, like they weighed three ounces each. He jogged over toward the front door. When he got there, he stopped, eased fully around, and then pushed the door open with his butt and slipped inside.

Once past the doors, he unslung the two men from his shoulders to have them join the six others that were already lying there, in a pile, also passed out. One of these was stripped down to his underwear—no uniform, no mask.

The Garcia-doppelganger stood for a moment with his hands on his hips. “Let’s see…” He glanced around the room. “Aha!”

Taking hold of the two men he had brought in just now, he dragged them over to the largest cabinet in the room, which happened to be by the wall nearest him. He stuffed the two men neatly into it and then closed the door on them so they were out of sight.

“That should do it,” the man mumbled to himself.

He made his way over to the pile of six again. He crouched down. He took the masks off two of the men but not the rest. “Sorry, fellas. You know how it is.”

Standing up, he zipped over to Nicole in the bed. He bent near. He removed her mask.

All around her head, gas swirled like morning mist. The masked man waved it away. He paused for a moment and studied her face. Reaching out with his fingers, he brushed aside a stray lock of blonde from her cheek. He touched her chin and then her forehead.

He spread open her collar.

The locket.

The masked man eased back a little. Looking up, he mumbled something and sighed.

He returned his gaze to the woman in front of him and searched deep into her closed eyelids, as if she was actually conscious and could see and hear what he was saying. “Sorry, Nicole. I know we haven’t seen each other in like…forever, and I really would like to ease into this with a little wine and dinner first but…” He shrugged. “…we just don’t have the time!”

He began taking off all her clothes.

~~~

Marching at the head of the column, Brian was leading a large group of men back to the lab. They could see it up ahead now as they strode across the landing.

“…and then what happened?” Brian barked at the man walking beside him, the one who had come earlier to get him from the enclosure.

“And then I came over here and called you, sir. And Captain Wilson.”

“And that’s it?”

They all stopped in front of the lab, about fifty feet away from the front doors.

“Yes, sir! And then by the time we went back over to the walls, the villagers were all gone.”

Brian frowned and glanced over at the entrance. “Then why…” He stopped short. He threw his hands in the air. “Where are the guards?!”

“Sir…”

Brian didn’t wait for an answer. As he flipped his mask onto his face, he darted for the doors, threw them open and marched right in.

Wilson, throwing on his mask too, wasn’t far behind. He scanned the room. “She’s gone!” The bed was empty.

Brian spun to face him. “You think?!”

Wilson wiped the spit off his mask. “Sir…”

Brian glanced around. Not only was Nicole nowhere to be found, the room was a mess. All the machines and gadgets on the tables had been thrown to the ground. None of the chairs were still standing. Many of the cabinets were now toppled over as well and onto their sides, with their contents spilled out all over the floor. Only the largest cabinet in the room was still standing with its doors closed. Must have been just too heavy to trash.

By the far end of the room, there were eight men lying on the floor, in a heap, unconscious.

Brian stepped over to the men. “Are these the ones you set up as guards?” He pointed his finger at them.

Wilson bent to examine the two men lying on the floor without their masks on. He lifted off the mask on a third. “Yes, sir. It’s them.”

A dozen other men were now milling about the room, picking up this, cleaning up that. A few others were creeping in to tend to the guards on the floor.

Brian scanned the room once more. He shook his head. Not a hiding place in sight. “How in the world…?”

Cursing beneath his breath, he wandered back out of the enclosure. He removed his mask. “I hate this bloody thing…”

Wilson went to stand beside him. “How do you think he did it, sir?”

“He must have posed as one of the men. Are you sure you checked…?”

“Yes, sir! I just checked. You saw me…”

Brian jumped.

“Sir?”

But Brian was already past him and back into the room.

“Sir! Your mask!” Wilson chased after him.

Inside, Brian was bent down over the eight guards still lying on the floor, removing the remaining masks on the rest, one by one. Wilson joined him. Brian finished what he was doing and stood up.

“You see?” asked Wilson. “I told you. All eight of them. All mine.”

Brian tapped his chin. “Doesn’t make sense…” He wavered. Reaching up to touch his temple, he closed his eyes and moved over to stand against the wall.

“Sir, you really should go outside.” Wilson moved in with his hands extended, anticipating that the big man might fall.

Brian waved him off but proceeded to march back outside as suggested.

As his boss left the room, Wilson looked behind him. He frowned. Weren’t the doors to the big cabinet closed the last time he was in here? Then how…

A box of tools crashed to the floor. Wilson spun toward the sound.

Over in the corner, a masked guard was supporting another who had gone completely limp in his arms.

“Oh, for pity’s sake!” Wilson shouted at them. “Just clear the room! All of you!” He waved to his left and right to usher the men out. “And somebody turn off the bloody machine!”