Chapter Seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

ANGELA GOT THE laptops and electronics, deposited them in the mess hall, and then left, because no one was there. She didn't see Harris or the others anywhere, and she decided she'd do as she'd promised and try to help Dr. Greyson and Dr. Stine.

Drawing her gun, she made her way up the rocky path that led to the lab. She stopped off there and spoke into the intercom.

But she got no response, so she went up, further up, all the way to the lagoon.

There, she was struck by the beauty of the place. It was getting late now, and the sun was hanging heavy in the sky, but the air was still warm. The lagoon reflected back the changing colors of the coming sunset. It was gorgeous.

She made her way around the lagoon, picking her way through the rock outcroppings that surrounded it.

Halfway around, she came to a small path.

She stepped onto it and crept through the shadows of twilight until she rounded a bend and saw the lizardman for the first time.

There was a little clearing here. A cavelike shelter was open and the tall, spined, scaled thing stood in front of both Nancy and Riley Stine, who were cowering just next to the open mouth of the cave.

There was no sign, however, of Dr. Greyson.

Shoot it?

She could.

She had a clear shot here. She knew Greyson wanted it alive, though. It didn't seem to be currently threatening the lives of Riley and Nancy. Nancy had been gone a long time, and she had all her limbs and didn't even seem bruised, though she did look terrified.

Angela didn't shoot.

Instead, carefully, she eased closer.

Nancy's gaze shot to the movement. Her eyes widened. "Angela, help!" she shrieked.

At which point, the lizardman turned, saw Angela, let out some kind of mangled keening noise, and came for her.

Angela shot. She aimed for someplace that wasn't lethal and her aim was true.

The creature jerked backwards, blood spurting out of its shoulder. It let out another noise, this one clearly pained.

Angela winced. She lowered her gun. "You two, up. Behind me. Now."

Both Nancy and Riley were scrambling to their feet.

The lizardman was mad now. It sprang forward—man, it was fast—and it had her.

Angela and the lizardman went down. It landed hard on top of her. All the air went out of her lungs. She grunted.

The lizardman seized her wrist and squeezed.

She dropped the gun.

It skittered across the rocks and went off.

Boom .

Everyone cringed, the lizardman included.

Then, in the aftermath, it threw back its head, baring an impressive array of very sharp teeth and bellowed.

It was all Angela could do not to scream. Somehow, she knew that was exactly the wrong thing to do in this situation, that screaming only worked on things that would be empathetic and if this creature had any empathy, it was used up since she'd shot it.

The lizardman reared up, raising one hand, and Angela saw that it had these long, needly things sticking out of each one of its webbed fingers.

"No," managed Angela. "No, no, please."

It stabbed all of them into her belly, deep inside.

She did scream now. She couldn't hold it in.

Angela did not like needles.

Then, another shot, and she saw the tranquilizer dart hitting the lizardman, right in the middle of his chest.

She turned, and there was Greyson, advancing, tranq pistol first. His face was bloody, trickling all down his face, over his cheekbone, into the stubble on his chin.

The lizardman roared, stumbling, trying to get at Greyson, but he was too sleepy. He wavered on his feet and then collapsed.

JONATHAN'S HEAD WAS bandaged and most of the blood was cleaned from his face, but Riley thought he looked somehow more savage now than he used to as he pounded his finger into the table for emphasis. "I told you I'd get him into the tank, didn't I? Well, that's where he is now."

It was late, the middle of the night now. Everyone was back in the mess hall. The guards sat on one side, and Riley realized there was still one guard she hadn't met yet. He was tall and Black, wearing a uniform that bared his impressive arms because the sleeves had been ripped off. Had he been in the meeting earlier? She couldn't remember. Everything seemed hazy. She felt as if she'd been here a week. It hadn't even been a full day.

Harris leaned back in his chair, glowering at Jonathan. "We'll wait to hear back from Anderson Scott, I think."

"Anderson Scott is going to say that everything goes back to normal now," said Jonathan. "And when he hears the way you refused to do your job, I don't think he's going to be pleased."

Harris didn't look ruffled. "You're the one who got someone killed, Dr. Greyson. You're the one who got every single lady in this place stabbed in the belly by that thing. We don't know what happened. Scott's going to shut us down, just mark my words."

Riley didn't like the tension here.

"Understand this," said Jonathan, pounding his finger into the table again. "We had to get him into the tank. Myself, these three women, and all of us were wounded or shaken in some way. You and your men were down here playing cards or some shit. What's the point of having a bunch of muscleheads on hand if they won't use their muscles?"

"Yeah, well, we all know you think you're better than us," said Harris. "That's no surprise." He rounded on Nancy. "You heard anything back yet?"

"You left her to die today," said Jonathan. "So, don't talk to her like that."

"But… we know that Bub was never trying to kill anyone," Riley spoke up.

Jonathan turned to her, annoyed. "Dr. Stine, we have a theory. We don't know for sure, and we won't take risks to find out anything to the contrary. Bub will remain in captivity from now on."

"What's the point of being here, if you're just going to keep him in an aquarium?" said Harris.

Nancy sniffed hard. "I heard what you called me," she said in a cold voice, glancing at Harris and then away. "This ‘dumb bitch' has Anderson Scott's ear."

Harris rolled his eyes. "Lady, it ain't no secret you don't want to be here. So, if you had his ear, you'd be leaving. He stashed you here for some reason, didn't he? You're trapped."

Nancy glared at him. "You seem eager to go. I think we can arrange that, lieutenant ."

Harris made a face, like something smelled bad. But then, he rolled his shoulders as if it didn't matter. "Hot as shit down here anyway." He got up from the table. "Men, we're off duty. Get some rest." He stalked out of the room.

The other guards stood up, too.

Roger Lee, Nathan Robinson, and Peter Mann eased their way out of the room, too. Angela and the other guard were all that remained.

The other guard chuckled, his voice low and booming. "You go out on one long-range walkabout to see if there's been damage to the cells that store the solar and, uh, you miss everything."

Nancy rubbed her neck. "I lied. I've heard from Anderson."

Angela sat back down. "No shit?"

"He wants to send Harris off but promote internally," said Nancy. "He's already putting together some kind of package for Nick's family—he's not calling it hush money, but you know that's what it is. He says that we can do with five guards."

"So, no replacement for Harris, then," said the Black guard. His gaze settled on Riley. "You must be Dr. Stine. I'm Luther Thompson."

"Nice to meet you," said Riley, trying to smile and failing.

"Do you want it?" said Angela.

"Me?" Luther said with another booming laugh. "I was hired half because of my electronics expertise, right? So, I'm supposed to do both?"

"Well, I think promoting any of the others is just asking for more of the same," said Nancy with a sigh.

"What about Ramirez?" Luther nodded at Angela.

Angela spread her hands, giving Nancy a withering look.

Nancy just laughed. "Funny."

"Ooh, shots fired," said Luther, shaking his head.

"They won't listen to Angela," said Nancy.

Jonathan regarded Nancy. "You thought he'd pull the plug, too. You were hoping for it."

"That thing is a menace," said Nancy. She got up from the table. "I'm too tired to think about this."

"We all are," said Angela. "We should get some rest."

Jonathan nodded slowly. "Yeah."

Nancy stalked out of the room, glaring daggers at all of them. She slammed the door in her wake.

Riley let out a shaky breath. Rest sounded good.

JONATHAN DIDN'T GO to bed. He went up to the lab and stood outside the tank, where Bub was awake.

The tank was large, the size of one of the cabins down in the encampment. But it was a prison, and Bub wasn't pleased. Jonathan also hadn't had time to treat Bub's wounded shoulder. He would have to put the creature out again to stitch him up. Tomorrow.

For now, Jonathan put his hand to the glass and gazed in at Bub. "I'm sorry," he said to the creature. "This… we fucked things up for you, Bub, and I'm sorry."

This lagoon was remote, and it wasn't easy for anyone to get here. The likelihood was that, if no one had ever discovered Bub and his brother, they would have lived out whatever was left of their lives in peace here and then simply faded away.

No one would have known, but what was that business about a tree falling in the forest?

Jonathan knew that the human desire for knowledge had a destructive element. Foolishly, he'd thought that because he was aware of that fact, it wouldn't become destructive within him.

"I was greedy," he told Bub. "Greedy and selfish, and I wanted to use you. I wish to God we'd left you alone."

Bub swam through the tank to face him. He placed both webbed hands on the tank and bared his sharp teeth.

Jonathan moved his hand to touch Bub's through the glass. "Sorry, really and truly sorry. I know it means nothing, but it's all I can give you now."

Jonathan didn't know the way forward. He needed to have a conversation with Anderson Scott. If Nancy had gotten in touch with the man, why hadn't Scott asked for a phone call with Jonathan? He thought this would merit some actual one-on-one discussion.

However, he could count his actual conversations with Scott on one hand. Scott was a busy man.

As far as it all went, he and Scott were on the same page that they were trying to breed more of these creatures one way or the other. But if Jonathan told him he didn't want to try anymore, what would happen?

Would Scott replace him or would he acquiesce?

"I need something else to pitch to him," said Jonathan to the tank. "Something that isn't so invasive but is equally as enticing to him." What the hell could that be, though?

There was a noise.

He turned, looking around. He didn't see anything, but it had been in the distance. He moved away from the tank, wandering towards the door. "Hello?" he called.

Now, there was nothing.

He hesitated. Probably nothing.

He turned back to the tank.

The door opened.

He whirled.

Nancy stepped into the lab. She was carrying a baseball bat.

Where had she gotten that? It wasn't as if there were sporting equipment stores handy, nor was it as if they were all organizing friendly bouts of baseball.

"Oh," she said. "I didn't expect you to be here."

"What are you doing here?" he said.

She sighed heavily, stepping into the lab. "I want to go home, Dr. Greyson."

"Sure," he said.

"Anderson Scott won't let me go home," she said.

"Well, quit," he said, spreading his hands.

She shook her head. "Can't quit."

"Sure, you can," he said.

"No, no, he knows things about me," she said with a little shrug. "He won't let me come back, and I know that. If this all went away, he'd come up with something else for me. But at least it wouldn't be this hot or remote or horrible."

"What do you mean, he knows things about you?"

"Oh, sure, I'm just going to tell you," she said with a laugh. She moved around the room, looking up at all the tanks. "What are these?"

"Those are, um, eggs," he said. "Experiments."

"You're trying to make more of them?"

"What did you think we were doing here?"

She let out a noise of dismay. "So, then, there will be a family of them we're raising out here, generations of them, no doubt. He'll keep me here until I die."

He wanted to say that he was going to stop trying to breed them, but he still hadn't come up with an answer of what they would do next, so he only spread his hands, jaw moving helplessly, no words.

"Fuck that," Nancy suddenly growled, and she turned and smashed her baseball bat into one of the tanks.

The glass cracked.

"Hey!" Jonathan ran towards her and tried to grab the baseball bat from her.

But she used it like a weapon, and he had to duck the swing instead.

She marched over to Bub's tank and brought the baseball bat down on that glass. A splinter of a crack appeared in the tank. "I'll let him out, and you'll be too busy trying to catch him again—"

"He'll try to mate you," he growled, running for her.

She turned, brandishing the bat. "What?"

"Well, it's only a theory, but you've noticed he captures women? Only the women?"

She swallowed hard, backing away from the tank. "That's your plan, isn't it, Dr. Greyson? Use us, the women here, to make more of your lizardmen!"

"No, it's not, I swear it's not," he said. "I would never do that. That's horrifying ."

She gestured with the bat. "Stay back."

He backed away, going back to Bub's tank. He touched the crack. Water was leaking out of it. He shook his head. "This… you've destroyed it. This won't hold. He's going to get out now, and he's going to—"

"Can't you… I don't know… tape it?"

He gave her a look of disbelief. "What?"

"So, he gets out, and he comes after me again?"

Bub swam over to the crack. First he put his hands up against Jonathan's. Their gazes met.

Jonathan felt his stomach go sour, seeing it now, understanding it all now. No, I need another way. There must be another…

There wasn't.

Bub slammed a fist into the crack, which deepened.

Nancy let out a cry.

Jonathan ran away from her, heading for the wall where the tranquilizer pistol was hanging. He snatched it up.

Bub slammed into the crack again. There was a groaning noise.

Nancy ran for the door.

"Leave the bat," he yelled at her.

She stopped, looking at him, wide eyed, and then she dropped it. She sprinted out of the room, leaving him alone.

Bub hit the crack again.

Water rushed out like a dam being burst. Glass shattered and went out with the rush of water.

Bub stepped out of the tank, even as the floor of the lab began to fill with water. There was a drain, right in the center of the room. It would all drain out, Jonathan knew that.

He raised the gun.

Bub saw him. He roared at him. It was a plea.

"Sorry, Bub," said Jonathan, and his voice wasn't strong. "You'll never know how sorry." And then, he pulled the trigger.

The dart missed.

Figured.

Of course.

Bub waded through the water, letting out more pleading cries.

Jonathan pulled the trigger again.

This time, the dart hit Bub in the thigh and he lost his balance and fell over.

Jonathan, throat tightening, went over to retrieve the bat. It was floating. It was made of wood. He waded through the water, bringing the bat along.

The big tank was destroyed now. There was nowhere for Bub to go. He couldn't let him out in the wild, because he'd attack the women and kill the men. He didn't have another tank large enough to contain him.

There was only one thing he could do.

Please, please, Jonathan, think of something else, please.

He stopped, staring down at Bub's motionless form. He lifted the bat, holding it with both hands over his head as he looked down at the creature. There were tears forming in his eyes.

It would probably be easier with a gun, but he couldn't risk it. Bub was coming out of the tranquilizers too quickly, and if he went to go and get Angela Ramirez, he might come back to find Bub gone. Besides, that'd be putting Ramirez in danger, and he wouldn't do that. He couldn't trust the other guards. Maybe Thompson was all right sometimes, but the others were all jerks, just like Harris.

Better to get it over with.

Bub wouldn't feel anything.

"I'm sorry," he said again. "I'm so, so sorry."

And then he brought down the bat on Bub's skull.

Again and again.

When he had pounded Bub's head into something misshapen, he backed away and wiped at the tears that were freely streaming down his cheeks.

Then he started in on the tanks.

He smashed everything, and all the water went down the drain in the middle of the floor.

When he was done, he left the lab and went back to his cabin. He sobbed himself to sleep, feeling like a little boy who'd had all his toys taken away—no, a boy forced to destroy his toys—no, a man who'd treated his work as if they were toys. A man who'd been pretending he was still a boy, a boy who'd just had to grow the fuck up.

One thing he didn't know about the drain in the middle of the lab. It hadn't been a problem up until now, because very rarely did anything go down that drain. But a few months ago, during the rainy season, there had been some flooding and it had necessitated some repairs of the plumbing pipes that were buried under the encampment, and some of the pipes had been rerouted during all that. So, all of the things that drained out of the lab that night now drained directly into the same water that was being used for the settlement's drinking and showering water.

So, the next morning, everyone in the place woke up and had a shower in it, or drank a glass of it, or brewed a cup of coffee of it.