Chapter 8: Silent But Deadly
Matthew averts his eyes from his mom as she silently watches them eat. Even Sara is quiet. After a minute, Matthew finally speaks up.
“So… umm… am I in trouble…?” He asks hesitantly.
His mother gives him a big fake smile. “Of course not! Why would you ever be in trouble? It’s just that the police have been trying to find her, and you don’t think for a moment to call them to let them know she’s safe now? What were you thinking?! After you finish, I want you to report that you found her right away.”
“Umm… ok… and I’m really sor-“
“No.” Sara says flatly.
Both Matthew and his mother stare at her astonished.
“No…?” His mother asks in disbelief.
“No.” Sara says again shortly. “I don’t want anyone to know I’m back. …I can’t stay.”
Matthew rises out of his chair in alarm. “What do you mean, you can’t stay! Of course you can, this is your home, you have your foster parents and your friends back at school, I’m sure they’re all worried sick about you!”
Sara looks at her feet, conflicted emotion in her eyes. “If it were some other circumstance…” She whispers. “If things were different… maybe. But Matthew… just because I got away… doesn’t mean the people who kidnapped me are done looking for me. The man who had me kidnapped is still looking for me.”
“Man who had you kidnapped? Do you mean someone organized that kidnapping? What’s happened to you anyway Sara?”
“…Matthew…you need to watch the news more…” She mutters.
His mother’s eyes gleam faintly. “…Sara. Come with me, there’s something I need to ask you.”
Nodding silently, Sara follows his mom into her room, where she closes the door behind Sara, and then crosses her arms.
“I’m not doubting who you say you are, Sara… but I have to ask… is this you?” She holds out a photograph of the news program she had seen earlier, the one reporting on the mysterious girl who had taken on the military in California and had been on the run ever since.
“Are you the one in this photograph?” She asks barely above a whisper.
Sara stares at the photo, an increasingly solemn look entering her eyes.
“…Yes…”
“So what they said in the news, that person being an human experiment… was that you…?”
“…Yes.” Sara looks away. “I am EX0L8… but I am also Sara.”
His mother purses her lips. “Why are you here? What reason did you come back if you can’t stay here? Don’t you realize that what you are is making people hunt you down, and that will put my son in danger?”
Sara’s only response is a slight nod.
“So why are you here?”
“I… wanted… to see him again… I can never go back… but…” She buries her face in her hands. “I… I love him…”
His mother sighs. “So what exactly was the nature of the experiments? The public has not been informed of the details. In fact even the nature of the trial of this… Director have been very vague.”
“…I can’t…. shouldn’t tell you… it would be in your best interest not to ask.” She looks away from Matthew’s mother, guilt in her eyes.
“…I won’t let you near him… you’re a threat to him.”
Sara whirls to face her, anger in her eyes. “You can’t get in the way!”
“In the way of what? If you’re not a threat to my son, you should just prove why you aren’t to me, instead of hiding the truth from me! What did they do to you?!” She yells back at Sara.
“…You want to know so bad…? Fine… then once the rain stops… we’re going for a beach trip.” Sara snarls in return.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Sara gives her a reluctant smile. “You want answers, but they are answers only the ocean can provide you.”
Matthew’s mother holds back her anger. “You had best not be mocking me…”
Sara gives her an apologetic look. “I wish I could…”
She walks out of the room, and goes to the nearest window, and slumps down onto the floor, watching the raindrops pour down on the town outside.
Matthew sees her expression and glares at his mother. “What was that all about? Why does she look like she’s about to cry? What did you say to her?”
She looks at him with a stern expression. “Matthew… don’t worry about it. I was just making sure people understood their situation clearly.”
Sara looks outside, a tingling running throughout her body.
He’s coming soon… if he doesn’t know where I am, he should know soon… The storm will be moving out tomorrow judging by the air pressure… I should make my move then…
She shudders with the thought of finally getting what she had come for. The trouble is, the Director was getting close enough that she’d have to act quickly. And with Matthew’s mother suspicious of her nature… she would have to regain the element of surprise.
Either that, or she could just kill the woman and eliminate one factor.
No… if I do that, Matthew could find out and become antagonistic to me. I don’t want him to hate me… …I won’t kill anyone unless it becomes necessary… I CAN’T let my nature control me like this…
The Director
The Director stands in the phone box silently, ignoring the angry people waiting for their turn. As if their lives held any meaning that he had to stop and give them a turn on the phone. He stealthily finishes modifying the phone to let his call become anonymous and untraceable. Satisfied that he can’t be tracked by authorities, he slides a quarter into the pay phone.
“Can you hear me?” He asks in a low tone.
“Yes, I hear you clearly sir. What do you need?” A graveling, rough voice replies.
“I need to step up your rates. We need more subjects. The Counselor is heavily urging that we go with Plan B. I’d prefer not to set a target on our backs just yet. It’s fairly obvious and the main facility will be detected. Plan A is more natural, gradual… and more fun to watch progress.”
“Yes sir… how many subjects would you like acquired?”
“Two hundred was nowhere near enough. We need to seed the experiments across the globe… I’d try… more like a thousand… and five hundred. That should account for bad stock. “
“Yes sir… understood. But why so many?”
“…Who says we need all of those for merely production? It would be a good insurance policy to defend ourselves against our rebellious teenager.”
“I gotcha… we’ll see what we can do…”
“And one more thing.”
“Yes Director?”
“Don’t you dare get caught.” The Director hangs up, and looks back at the angry mob outside.
“Time to clean up any potential witnesses.” He silently plants the nanobomb within the payphone, and leaves silently. After a few minutes, the sound of a piercing explosion of glass and concrete breaks the evening’s silence.