A Human Element (26 page)

But he could pretend. He pretended this was his home he came to each night, after working some corporate job in the city. To his country home he would travel. It would be his farmhouse he renovated as a showcase home. And Sabrina would be in the kitchen making him a feast of meat and potatoes and gravy. And apple pie for dessert with vanilla ice cream on top. And he would lick her after the food was gone, over and over tasting her golden delicious skin.

And they would both be free from their prisons together, for she had told him of escaping her painful place of torment. And knowing that, he felt their connection. Souls of the same pain.

He had traced the outline of her curves in his mind that night and he saw them now as he rocked. She'd faced him on her side then, staring into his eyes as if he were an ordinary teenage boy.

"How old are you, Sa-bri-na?" He savored her name like blood trickling down his throat.

"Nineteen."

"I'm eighteen."

"You've been here all your life?"

"Yes."

"It's like a prison."

"It's all I know. Will ever know."

"You know me now." She touched his hand.

"For an hour." But Dr. Bjord probably wouldn't let her leave here alive. She knew too much. X-10 wouldn't be made to do it, no matter how Dr. Bjord tortured him. He would be a good guy until the end. His secret experiment would be a success. He didn't want the hour to end. Knowing it could be her end.

She turned and stretched out on her back. Her soft slopes enticed him. "I just left my prison."

"You escaped from jail?"

She laughed. It pierced his cold heart with a flame. "A jail of sorts. My bastard of a father. He was my jail keeper. With fists almost as big as yours." She took his monstrous hand and held it in her small one. Light blew inside him and chased some of the dark away.

"He hit you."

"And more. I finally left. Last month. I've only been in the city since then."

"You left, just like that?"

"In the night. I didn't say goodbye to anyone."

She faced him again. Her eyes grew shiny. What did that emotion feel like? Tears had never fallen from his eyes. Was it painful?

She pulled up her skirt. Gray bruises marked the tops of her legs. "Old evidence. Now I call the shots. If the pimps don't get me. I've been avoiding them."

X-10 touched her old wounds. Her skin was smooth and soft. He worked his power on her. He had used it to heal himself before. The bruises faded. Sabrina sucked in her breath and let go of his hand.

"What are you really?"

"I told you. An experiment. A monster."

"Monsters don't heal people. Angels do." She touched her legs as if waiting for the bruises to re-appear. "Where were you when I needed you before?" She laughed nervously.

"Here. Alone."

"I've never been alone. I grew up in a house full of kids."

"Alone inside though?"

She nodded and took his hand again, pulling it to her chest. It filled the space between her warm breasts, like her scent filled his pores. "Alone like you."

"Why the streets?" His heart raced faster with her touch. He willed himself to be still when all he wanted to do was plunge into her skin with his hardness and fingers and teeth.

"I ran out of money the first week, Charlie." His name on her lips shattered his ice. It melted it into warm rivers that ran through his limbs. She kissed his hand and held it to her cheek. Her misty blue eyes mesmerized him like sapphires on fire.

And then she reached up and kissed his lips. He couldn't move. She parted his lips with hers and pushed her hot tongue in his mouth. He tasted her sweetness then lapped at it. Her hair shimmered around her like a halo.

"I want you, Charlie. Do you want me?"

He nodded. An ache spread throughout him. It wasn't painful, but full of need and want.
She
wanted
him.
Even if she was a whore. But she seemed so clean and pure. And she said he wasn't so bad looking. She didn't think he was a monster. Alongside his need, hope sprung that if one day he killed the doctor and escaped, someone could love him.

Golden Sabrina wanted to. If only for an hour.

But nothing gold can stay.
That poet had written so.

She stood and undressed before him, leaf after leaf. Her slender curves were everywhere and he was so hard. Still, he couldn't move. She was his experiment. He was terrified of ruining it all if he moved. Could he control his darkest desires? He didn't want to make the first move. He wanted her to take him.

And she did.

Like Laura's man took her.

Laura.

His anger raged again, thinking of her. He threw off the afghan and jumped up from the chair. Where was she now? He knelt on the braided rug and placed his hands to his head seeking her out. Sunrise was coming. He had little time but must find her. He needed to punish her, to soothe his rage before he slept for the day.

His mind's eye flew over the treetops, up a mountain. There she stood, in a dark room with walls that gleamed. She must be underground. Something moved on the wall. Moving pictures. A strange looking person was in the movie. He looked familiar to X-10, like himself. It had to be his father. Laura's father too. A seething fury rose in him watching her watch the movie. Then a girl appeared. She looked like Laura. Their mother. His wrath grew immense, hating Laura for looking normal like their mother while he looked like the freak.

X-10 crushed his hands together and shrieked a demonic wail, pressing into her brain, probing with points of fire. Pain. He wanted her to feel so much pain. She fell to the floor, hugging herself. He watched her writhe and moan. When he faced her in person he would bring her to her knees and kill her while he stared into her forlorn eyes. Those big, brown eyes. He would snuff them of life so no human could enjoy them again.

Bitter bile filled his throat and he swallowed hard, forcing it down. It was time to go. A few hours of sleep was all he needed and when dusk fell again he would be off, running the last few miles toward his prey. He was so close. By tonight he would be upon her. And they would be face to face.

He thumped his chest in a war cry and ran through the farmhouse door, a wild beast with one thing in mind. To kill.

Ben ran alongside the lake toward the crash site toward Laura. He called out her name as he ran. He slid on the leaves that covered the rough path around the lake. Autumn had settled in and stole the last few leaves from the trees. They covered the ground, painting the lake's edge with an array of color. The morning mist rose from the water in tendrils then disappeared into the sunlight sparkling on the cold water as geese honked overhead.

But Ben saw none of these things. He saw Laura in his mind, and his heart gripped with panic. For a second she stood before him with eyes wide open, her throat ripped out, her face frozen in a death grimace. He ran faster.

He neared the crash site. Something looked different. Mounds of dirt had been scattered in all directions as if someone had been digging with fury. He reached a gigantic hole that sloped down into the earth and disappeared into darkness. Was Laura down there with her twin?

He took a deep breath and plunged into the hole. His head just cleared the top of it and within a few feet he became engulfed in total blackness. He reached his hands out and found the wall. Running his hands along each side he jogged in the darkness. A sensation of weightlessness gripped him as he raced through the inky pit, heading deeper into the ground.

"Laura, are you down here?"

As Ben ran toward the silent unknown a faint light appeared ahead. Then the walls spread out. He entered an immense room glowing with a faint florescence. It came from the walls. He heard the slow dripping of water underground, and then he saw her huddled on the earth floor. He dropped to her side and placed his hands on her head and back, feeling her breaths coming fast and shallow.

She was alive. She shook and moaned as if in terrible pain. He felt her legs and arms. She appeared uninjured. It must be another headache. A bad one. What was she doing here? Ben looked around the room, unsure what this place was, wondering if her twin could nearby. Could it be a trap? He didn't care. He had to get Laura out of there.

He pushed his hands under her and staggered up with her to his chest. He rushed back up the hole he came down, stumbling as he lost his balance in the blackness. He gripped Laura harder, his arms aching, as he jogged upwards back to the lighted world. He finally reached land above. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and adjust his eyes to the bright light. He peered down at Laura. Her arms crossed herself in comfort.

Ben carried her back along the lakeshore and up the mountain. Once more. He tried not to jostle her as she moaned in his arms. Her eyes remained closed, as if she had entered another place. A dark place. Heading into the woods up the trail, he scoured the woods for signs of other life. Human life. Or inhuman. He saw nothing but squirrels nattering among the bare branches and birds calling to one another.

Once inside the cabin, Ben placed Laura on the floor in the great room. She remained unconscious but breathing steady. Her body must have shut down like a defense mechanism to protect her from the pain. She was cold, wet, and covered in mud. He washed out the tub downstairs, filled it with steaming water, and grabbed a new set of her clothes from the loft. He stripped off his muddy coat as well and placed the gun he carried in his back jeans pocket.

He then removed her clothes and carried her naked to the tub, rubbing her arms and back to keep her warm. She looked so fragile in his arms as if asleep. Her hair fell over her bare shoulders. She curled up like a little girl snug in her bed after lights out, dreaming of sweet things. But Laura wasn't dreaming of little girl things.

"Laura." He nuzzled the top of her head and kissed it. "I'm putting you in the tub to wash you, if you can hear me. It's Ben and you're safe."

She nodded as if she could hear him from the deepest points of her mind as she hid from pain. Ben lowered her into the warmth and soaped her gently with a washcloth, kissing her fingers and face as he did so. He washed the mud away and tried not to look at her nakedness, to give her the privacy she deserved. She wasn't aware of his workings on her body, but he felt he owed her privacy.

A fierce feeling snaked through his stomach. He would do anything for this woman. Protect her. Die for her. Love her. He never felt this way before about anyone. In a short time she had changed him forever. Shown him what love was. Shown him he was worthy of love. Shown him his parents' last moments and set him free from guilt. She had all the human elements that mattered. He didn't care part of her came from another planet too far away to comprehend. And as he washed her he spoke to her with love in his voice.

"Laura, I know you're in there. I hope you can hear me. I don't know why this is all happening. I feel like we've been sucked up into some great event bigger than ourselves, you know? I didn't realize how lost in life I was until I met you."

He willed her to come out of her darkness. But she remained unconscious. Her breathing had slowed down and Ben wished she would wake up and her pain would be gone. When he finished he dried her off, wrapped her in a large towel, and carried her to the great room where he laid her on the couch and dressed her with care.

"Laura, come back to me," he pleaded. "Please."

He put her on his lap and sat with her, his arms around her, waiting. He stroked her hair and continued to talk to her. Perhaps his voice would reach her. He hoped. He wanted to talk to her now about the things he had never spoken of to anyone and now she couldn't hear him.

"I hated being alive, for a real long time. Did you sense that?"

He heard a bang and jumped. But it was just a tree branch blowing on the window from a gust of wind. He relaxed and pulled out the gun from his back pocket to place it on the end table next to the couch.

"When I lived in foster care with Frank, every day was hell. When I watched him die it felt good. I know that's sick, isn't it?" Ben looked down at Laura as if expecting her to answer, but her eyes remained closed. He wondered if he should get her to a hospital but remembered how she slept all day after her other headache. He would wait a bit and see. She had to come around soon.

"Then when those Samoans had me tied down. I wanted to die then too. It was the worst, not being able to fight back. Not being able to escape. I knew I would die, but Felix saved me. And I know we will fight back and survive now. I know it. So don't worry. I'll protect you, Goddamnit. I swear."

He cradled her to his chest and rocked her for a minute in quiet.

"I wanted to die again, when the Navy kicked me out. I sunk into alcohol but my friend, Andy, saved me. The best bud a guy could have. I hope you get to meet him someday."

Laura moaned. She still sounded so far away, lost in her mind. Somewhere. He hoped in talking to her that he could bring her back. In hearing his own voice out loud it made him feel like she was part of the conversation.

"Then life got pretty good after I started my own photography business. I traveled with families on vacation. I enjoyed watching them but this thing called family seemed so foreign to me. I thought no woman would ever want me to create a family together and be forever. But now, you've made me feel like it could happen. Even in all this craziness. I don't know what's going to happen. Sounds weird to want the normal now with all this abnormal stuff going on, right? Freaky, as you say, Laura. But you're not freaky, just the situation. Not you. Never you. You're the most amazing person I ever met. Now, in a way, you're saving me too."

Ben rested his head on hers. He watched the windows for any movement. He had to be on guard, but his eyes grew droopy. He didn't know he fell asleep until he heard his name.

"Ben."

He opened his eyes. Laura stared at him, snuggling into his shoulder.

"I'm so glad you're awake. I thought I might have to take you to a hospital."

"What happened?"

He stroked her hair and she sat up straighter on his lap. "You tell me. I woke up this morning. You were gone so I ran to the lake and found you had dug some tunnel at the crash site to a room below. I followed it and found you on the floor there, almost unconscious."

Laura took his hand and stared at his fingers intertwined with hers. "I remember the pain now. I couldn't see or move. It's my twin seeking me out. I had to go there, to find out what was underneath so I dug and dug until I got there. I'm fine now."

Laura got off Ben's lap and paced the floor, staring down, biting her lip. She looked down at herself and back at him. "How did I get here?"

"I carried you." Ben grinned at her, trying to lighten the moment. "It's becoming a habit with you. You pass out. I carry you home. Some people do this at parties, you know, not from crazed people chasing you with super powers."

"And why am I wearing different clothes?"

"You were filthy, covered in mud, cold and soaked through. I gave you a bath and changed you."

"You did?"

"Hey, I've seen the goods, lady. I like."

She half-smiled at him then started pacing again. "Felix was at the lake too.

In a way."

Ben gripped her arms. "What does that mean and where is he now? Is your twin coming?"

"No, it's okay, for now. He used some device to transmit himself to me here at the lake. I don't know where he transmitted from. It's some kind of Seeker Device, he called it. He found it at the crash site years ago and hid it away. When he wants to seek someone out he uses the device to locate them and transmit his image to them, like a video in real time. It's fantastic."

"It is," Ben agreed. "But why did he visit you?"

"He told me Doctor Britton is dead. Murdered."

"By your brother?"

"Yes."

Ben thought about the implications of that and a chill ran across his skin. It sunk in hard that death headed their way too. "And what else?"

Laura looked at him and flexed her hands as if thinking about how to answer him. "He wanted to tell me he has been watching me through this device most of my life."

"And?"

"He told me he had fallen in love with me and for a long time wanted us to be together to
procreate
, as he says, to carry on the Elyon line."

Ben jumped up from the couch. "I knew I had reason to be jealous. What does he expect, to win you over now?"

Laura felt his anger burning through her and touched his arm. "No. He came to believe you and I are meant to be together. And that's why he saved you in Hawaii. He saved you for a reason. You don't have to be jealous. I told him I could never love him. I told him that…I love you."

The wind wailed through the empty trees and Laura jumped as branches screeched against the house. Ben put his hand over hers. He felt the same, but he couldn't form the words. He couldn't remember when he'd last said those words.

"And do you believe he's right? About us, I mean?"

She shook her head, but didn't speak, and walked to the window. Ben looked past her to the gray, gangly trees that shook from the gusts ripping through the woods. No squirrels bounded looking for nuts, no birds twittered about. The world around them had holed up, just as they were doing. Watching and waiting.

"The more we learn, the more questions there seem to be about all of this," Ben said.

"I wonder if we'll ever know the full story and history of what happened here," Laura said. "I've been thinking, up there, in space, somewhere, millions of miles away there is another planet with intelligent life. Are they coming again now?"

"I don't know."

"I know if we don't want to be dead I have to use my powers against my own brother. I never met him and yet I must kill him."

"What was that place I found you in?" Ben changed the subject.

"It's where the space ship came to rest after it slammed into the earth. And I saw my mother and father. My real parents."

"How?"

"It was like a movie in the wall." Laura held up her hands, still facing the window, as if revisiting that dark underground place of final rest. She shared with him what she saw.

"It
was
a virgin birth, Ben. How strange, isn't it all? My creation. My twin. I don't fit in with this world. Do I? I am a freak."

Ben stood up and placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward him. "You are not a freak. You're human too. And you have the best of us in you. You do fit in. You fit into my world. I don't care how you were created or what you are."

"You say that now. You might think differently later, if there is a later." She started crying and pushed him away. "Why are you still here anyways? Why don't you leave? We're just sitting here waiting for my twin who is coming right now to kill me. Kill us. I can fight this alone and then no one else has to die. Except me."

She shoved him harder, but he pulled her back and forced her to look at him. "Listen to me, Laura. I thought for so long love just imprisoned you. Through you, I found it doesn't. It sets you free. I was in a prison of my own making for so long. Don't send me back there, please? I have nothing, and no one to go back to."

Ben gripped her shoulders, waiting for a response. She opened her mouth to speak when they heard a car drive up.

Ben grabbed the gun and ran to the front door, Laura close behind him. She gasped when Mr. B and Felix stepped out of a car, and ran out the door ahead of Ben.