Read an Excerpt
SANDERS EXPERIMENT II: RIVALRY
By BO JAMES CORTEZ
iUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2012 Bo James Cortez
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4697-8630-8
Chapter One
FLASHBACK
About 150 miles west of Sanders lies a small town named Delaney, which is in the county of the same name. The town may be small, but the population was abundant, mainly due to Delaney College, which sits right in the middle of it. It was at this very same college in which a man named Guy attended when he was just 4 months old. No one would ever have believed, but this man was an end result of an experiment which exploded in Sanders on April 3rd, 2004. While still inside his mother's womb, she inhaled the rapid-growth mist and passed it along to him. In just a few months, he looked as if he were 21, very handsome with straight, black hair which grew out of control after being in an agitated state of mind. With the strength of ten ordinary men and the ability to use almost every molecule of his mind, he was a fast learner who retained everything he was exposed to, as well as a potentially dangerous man if he ever became out of control with his anger. However, even though he was a peaceful man, this only happened once, and someone ended up paying the price for it.
Guy new that he was special and learned more about himself and his abilities as he grew. Unfortunately, the one skill he did lack was the one involving sexual relations with a woman. While attending college he met a beautiful woman named Monique. She became the very one, and only, who released the full pleasure of intimacy from Guy, stating to him that she was on the pill and to just let it flow to the highest level anyone could achieve. Being the very first time for Guy, the overwhelming pleasurable feeling he never knew before did not allow him to argue the fact, and he did as she asked. And even though she knew she wasn't going to see him after he was finished with school, the incident of the one man who payed the price of Guy's out-of-control anger happened shortly after, and Guy was arrested and forced to leave college and Delaney before graduation. It was at this period in time that Monique started to have problems of her own.
During the week of August 30, 2004, which was after Guy's arrest, Officer Brown was patrolling a quiet neighborhood at 1:47 p.m. when he heard the call come in from his radio. "This is dispatch calling Unit 7. Please respond."
He clicked his radio piece. "This is Brown."
"We just received a missing person report on a Monique Watson, residing at 1275 Northwest 17th Avenue. We need confirmation on her status."
"Say no more. I'm on it." After making a quick U-turn, he proceeded to the stated address, and arrived at 1:58 p.m. A hard knock at the door resulted in no response, so he knocked harder the second time, yelling, "Monique Watson. This is the police. Please open up." After failing to get a response a second time, he clicked on his radio. "This is Unit 7 responding to the missing person report on Monique Watson. There's a car in the driveway and I can see there are lights on through her window, but there is no response to my presence. Waiting for further instructions."
"Unit 7, we have contacted her family, and you are authorized with their permission to use any means necessary to enter the house and report on any activity."
"Roger that." He grabbed the doorknob and noticed that is was locked, so he forcefully butted the door with his right shoulder twice and succeeded to bust it open. After walking inside, he scoped the house carefully, yelling once again, "Monique Watson, this is the police. Please answer me if you can." Still being cautious, he walked slowly through the living room, then noticed an arm stretched out from behind the couch. He rushed over and knelt next to her with a horrid look, seeing her lying on her back, wearing just her underwear and bra. After feeling a pulse on her neck, he clicked on his radio once more. "This is Officer Brown. I need an ambulance at 1275 Northwest 17th Avenue. I have an unidentified well-impregnated Caucasian woman, mid 20's, barely alive. Her stomach seems to be covered with scars, like stretch marks or something. It could be the sign of twins or triplets, but it doesn't look natural. It's nothing like I've ever seen before."
Monique heard him and slowly opened her eyes. He looked at her while she spoke slowly and out of breath. "Get it ... it out ... please. It's ... it's hurting me."
"Ma'am, just try to breathe. What is your name?"
"Monique. But I can't ... be ... this far ..."
"Ma'am, I need you to stay calm. The ambulance is on its way. You and your baby will be just ..." Suddenly he was stifled by a squishing noise and stared in awe while watching her stomach distort, as if the infants inside her were trying to punch their way out.
When the ambulance arrived at Delaney County Hospital at 2:31 p.m., the paramedics quickly wheeled Monique in the emergency room on the gurney, unconscious, with a pool of blood oozing from of her womb. Doctor Farley made sure he was the first to grab her, hearing the bizarre nature of the call that was received. "How is she doing?"
The paramedic looked at him and scratched his head. "I don't know, Doc. She kept rambling on about how it's impossible to be this pregnant because she was normal just a week ago, whatever that means. I think she's hallucinating or something. You might want to check her for drugs." He then lifted the cover to expose her stomach riddled with stretch marks, confirming the officer's official report. "But then again, I guess I can understand what she meant."
Farley's eyes widened as he grinned with excitement, since he had been waiting patiently a long time for this day to come. "Get her up to the delivery room, stat. And tell no one until I figure out her condition." As requested, the paramedics wheeled her up to the fifth floor in a large room and stayed with her until Farley arrived. "Okay, leave us." After they left the room, he closed the door for privacy. He then placed an oxygen mask on Monique and strapped wires on her to monitor her condition. She was fading fast while he was looking at the sonogram that was being distorted by the brainwaves of the two live struggling babies inside her. He squinted at the monitor in disbelief after counting seven very small dead fetuses surrounding her uterus wall. Looking sharp at the monitor, he noticed one of the two survivors inside her was being strangled by his umbilical cord, knowing it was causing brain damage. Just then he heard a popping sound caused by the embryonic fluid which rushed out of her along with the dead fetuses. All her vital signs went dead, but the two babies that were still alive were too big to come out on their own. With his white latex gloves on, he carefully slit her stomach open and gently pulled both of them out one at a time and cut their cords, hoping to save them. After successfully doing so, he laid them on the bed at her feet and placed the fetuses in a biohazard bag. He then took off his gloves, walked over to the wall phone, and dialed. "Toby? Farley here. Get the others and meet me in room 517." While waiting for his secret gang of scientists to arrive in the room, he cleaned up the blood from Monique and covered her lifeless body.
Toby came in with Mike and Cary, all three were in their early 20's and barely out of med school. Toby, the leader of the three scientists, asked, "Please tell me you have him! Is Guy really here?"
Farley grinned from ear to ear and shook his head. "I have something better. His offspring!"
"What? How can you tell?"
"Take a look." Farley moved out of the way so they could see the twins, then handed the bag of fetuses to Toby.
"Holy Mother of God! Why are there so many?"
"My guess is that the one egg grew too fast, so it had no choice but to divide to keep stable. I've noticed some deformations in those first-trimester fetuses which may explain why they died quickly." He then looked over at where Monique lay covered. "Poor woman. She chose the wrong man for her desire."
"Sir? You know her?"
"Her name's Monique Watson. She's always wanted a child on her own. Looks like she got her wish ... and it killed her." He paused for a moment, then shook his head to snap out of the remorseful spell he was in. Then, being in a paranoid state of mind, he grabbed Toby's shoulders and said, "Hurry down to the incinerator and fry the bag. Make sure nobody sees you." Then he turned to Mike and Cary who were still staring at the twins in awe. "You guys get her down to the morgue. I need to alter the paperwork. By the way, how long will it take you to set up our lab for these two fine specimens?"
"Give us two weeks," Mike answered, then left with Cary with Monique's covered corpse to get rid of her.
Farley grabbed the two live infants, wrapped them snug in a blanket, and snuck outside to his car using the stairway. While driving to the unprepared lab, he tried to listen to the radio in his car, but instead heard nothing but static with the faint sound of a radio station coming through. "Well, aren't we quite the little devils?" he mumbled to the infants, turning off the inaudible radio while continuing to drive.
After he arrived at the lab, located in a large basement of an abandoned building, he started feeding the infants with the formula he picked up along the way. He opened his cell phone and dialed. "Where the hell are you guys?"
He heard Toby's voice. "We're driving up to the lab now. We'll be there in a few."
"Good, because I have to get back to the hospital before someone notices I'm gone." After hanging up the phone, it took only a few seconds for the three to arrive in the lab. "Take over the feeding," Farley said to Toby. "Remember, these little fellas are gonna be constantly hungry, so make sure they're fed regularly. If you guys screw this up ..."
Mike interrupted him with a stern voice. "What? Don't be threatening us! We're all in this together. So if one of us goes down, we're all going down. Ain't that right, Doc?"
"As long as we understand each other. Just remember ..., in a couple of months these two will be full-grown men and very strong. So make sure you get the strongest and thickest titanium restraints to keep them in their places. God help us if they ever woke up from the never-ending nap we're about to bestow upon them."
"We know what we're doing," Toby said, feeling a bit insulted. "We read your stolen files on their father, as you requested. Now get outta here, and outta our hair so we can get to work. You'll have your precious lab up and running in a couple of weeks. I'm sure your two circus freaks here won't be a bother until then." Feeling a bit satisfied, Farley nodded to him, and left. Toby turned to the other two students and said, "Come on, guys. You heard the doc. We got work to do." He then placed his hands on his hips and glanced with an evil stare at the door at the top of the stairs where Farley had exited the soon-to-be home for the twins.
Chapter Two
THE AWAKENING
Exactly two months had passed, as it was now October 30, 2004. With Farley's lab set up, the two siblings in inanimate stasis were constantly being poked and prodded by the foursome, trying to find out what made these two brothers strong in mind and body. The twins were standing upright, each in an elongated tube placed side-by-side, and strapped in by thick titanium plates for the doctor's safety. The three plates of each tube were placed to cover their chest, legs, and pelvis areas to hide their nakedness. Dozens of wires were attached to each sibling, going to special state-of-the-art equipment, monitoring their brain waves and vital signs. The lazy scientists didn't bother shaving their faces or cutting their hair completely. Instead, they occasionally cut their beards to keep the hair out of their way, while keeping it at shoulder-length.
While Farley was looking at their blood through his high-tech microscope, the others were separating the components of the blood through centrifuge, boiling, freezing, and all other kinds of tests to see the different reactions. Mike added some chemicals to his blood sample and started running his tests again. "I don't understand," he said, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes in fatigue. "We've been at this for almost two months, and we still don't have an orange glow. Nothing!"
Cary asked Farley, "Doc, what exactly happened on that day Guy glowed? I mean, it had to come from some kind of chemical imbalance. I'm sure he just didn't stick his fingers in a wall socket and pose as a glowing Christmas tree, for Christ's sake."
"According to the police report, he was angry and distraught about his friend's suicide."
Cary thought for a moment. "Then what about adding ..."
Mike interrupted him. "I've already added adrenaline, epinephrine, and all the other chemicals the body produces during the states of anger, anxiety, and distraught. I've frozen it, boiled it, manipulated it, and done everything except throw it against the damn wall, which I'm close to doing right now."
Farley became more impatient with their bickering and screamed, "Would you guys please shut up and continue! We've only been at it for a short while, so keep working if you wanna keep getting paid from our sponsor. Don't forget, he can rig your failing grades just as easily as he rigged your passing ones. Besides, I have to be at the hospital in ..." He was suddenly interrupted by a squeaking noise. "What was that? If that was another fucking rat, I swear to God, Toby. I told you to get rid of ..."
"I know you did, but there were too many of them and they just kept coming in from the outside, especially during a rain storm. Sooo, instead of rat traps ..." He walked over to a brown bag from the hardware store, reached in, and pulled out a box. "... I got this."
Mike laughed and jested, "What's that? Your boom box? I'm sure those rats will definitely flee from your pounding rap music. I know I sure as hell would."
"No, smart-ass. It's an ultra high frequency emitter used to keep rats, rodents, and other pests away. Too bad it doesn't work on you." He tore open the box, took out the emitter, and hung it on the wall, then asked before plugging it in, "Is this outlet switched or unswitched?"
Farley was busy looking in his microscope and scribbling on his pad, so Cary answered, "I believe that outlet is switched, so you probably don't want to ..."
"It doesn't matter, dammit!" Farley snapped in frustration. "The generator is constantly on and we don't turn anything off in here when we leave, so just plug the stupid thing in already and get rid of these damn pests once and for all!"
With rolling eyes accompanied with a heavy sigh, he plugged the emitter in and turned it on. Farley jumped while a rat suddenly ran across his shoes and scurried in a crack in the wall to hide from the irritating frequency coming from the emitter. "Impressive," he said to Toby. "It's about time you did something right." Toby scoffed at the degrading remark and walked back to his station, shaking his head from the lack of respect.
At that very moment, Mike's eyes opened wide at something that caught his attention. "Uh, that's not the only thing impressive. Look," he said enthusiastically. Everybody walked over to his station and gawked at the sample of the blood he had retrieved from one of the siblings, which was glowing orange.
Farley stared with envy. "Please tell me you guys are seeing what I'm seeing." They all agreed verbally, then he said to Toby, "Go over and turn that device off."
"What device?"
"That rat thingamajig you just turned on, you idiot."
"Okay, already! Geez. Don't be such a grinch!" He walked over to the emitter again, and when he turned it off, the blood stopped glowing. Farley instructed him to turn it back on again, and after doing so, he walked back over to them.
"Well, I'll be a monkey's ass," Farley said as they all stared at the glowing blood.
With their eyes focused on the blood and chatting amongst themselves, the foursome didn't notice that the twins, too, were glowing in response to the high frequency emanating from the emitter. With his eyes still staring wide-eyed on the blood, Farley said, "Toby, get some fresh blood from one of our guests. I want a clean sample."
"Do you want it from Dan, or Stan?"
"I don't care which one. Just get me some."
Toby grabbed a syringe packet and was staring down trying to open it while walking toward the twins. After stopping in front of one of the tubes, he grabbed one of the men's arms to take the blood, and immediately noticed the glow on his skin. Riddled with fear, he slowly looked up and saw the twin viciously staring at him straight in the eyes. Before Toby could talk, the twin easily freed his arm and grabbed him by the throat with such force, that he couldn't utter a word for help. He made sure Toby's eyes were locked with his while he squeezed a bit harder, cracking the bones in his neck and causing blood to disperse from his nose and mouth. Nobody from the group realized what was going on behind them while the twin slowly eased the life out of Toby, then released him. When they heard the thud of his body hitting the floor, they turned around and slowly backed away, frightened of the sight of the dead, blood-faced body. Farley had the most fear in his eyes, knowing what Guy did to Rocco's head on the college grounds. "Damn it! I told you to keep them sedated at all times!"
"We just did before you got here," Mike answered.
Immediately, Farley grabbed the dart gun and pointed it toward the awakened twin, but before he could shoot, the twin grabbed his brother's hand through the titanium bars and used his mind in conjunction with his to erect a blurry, translucent sphere. As the sphere became wider, it knocked down the bottles of acid and chemicals that were on the tables, and started disintegrating them at the sphere's boundaries. Finally, Farley shot the dart gun just to see the dart ricochet off the sphere and fly upward toward the ceiling. All the chemicals that were knocked over mixed together and started a fire, causing them to boil at an accelerated rate. The two remaining scientists, along with Farley, headed for the stairs to escape, but the chemicals exploded violently, throwing them against the wall and knocking them down. They screamed in agony when the acidic compounds sprayed on their skin, which blistered while causing a painful and long, horrid death. While the building burst with fire bombs, which were continuously being fed by oxygen tanks and other gases, the twin tore right through the titanium plates that were restraining him and his brother. The protective sphere he created with his unconscious brother's help kept them safe from the inferno. Grabbing his brother and tossing him over his shoulder, he headed upstairs, walking over the dead bodies, and finally made it outside the building, unscathed by the blast. After relaxing his mind, causing the sphere to dissipate because it was no longer needed, he stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He then ran, still carrying his brother, underneath a bridge where the fire trucks rode by heading for the fire at the abandoned building. When he laid his brother down, he sat next to him and passed out from the exhaustion caused by the sphere he created.
A few hours passed and Dan was awakened by his brother. Obviously, neither of them knew much English, and the only words they heard and quickly learned while in stasis were those spoken by the four working on them. In fact, they didn't need to speak at all, for as long as they were in close proximity with each other, allowing their minds to join as one, both could read each other's thoughts as well as their feelings. This became apparent when they looked at each other and Dan nodded, agreeing that the first business at hand was to eat and find shelter to survive. They rose quickly and ran off into the night, starting on their journey as free men.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from SANDERS EXPERIMENT II: RIVALRY by BO JAMES CORTEZ Copyright © 2012 by Bo James Cortez. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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