Asterion (17 page)

Christine replies, “Well, we just want to do our part.”

“Don’t be modest dear,” Mary commented, still putting the finishing touches on the night’s meal. “Bob said y’all are scientists, important to the effort.”

Taylor got up to help her with a pot. “We are all important to the Lord.”

“Yes dear, but some of us are hard to replace.”

Taylor blushing, “Thank you for your complement, but without folks like yourself, we can’t survive.”

She pinches his cheek. “You are so kind. Now let’s eat.”

Christine and Taylor enjoy a home cooked meal with the Thomasons. Their son, Chance comes in and says that the car had a tracking device under a fender. Chance, tall, lean, and about eighteen or nineteen takes a seat at the table. Wearing a tee shirt and a baseball cap, he’s a typical teenager. “I took it off and made my way to the train tracks and attached it to an eastbound train. They won’t track you now.” Chance starts to eat.

Christine looks up from her dinner plate. “Thanks for all your help. With everything going on we never thought about them tracking us.”

Barry replied, “That’s what we are here for, to see you get where you need to be.”

Small talk fills the evening and Taylor and Christine retire to their rooms.

The next morning, Christine is getting ready and while looking through her bags she pulls out the tracking device. Her face turns to shock as she sees that Asterion is barely a mile away, heading in their direction.

She runs into Taylor’s room and holds the tracking device up to him. “He’s coming our way. He is tracking us!”

Taylor stares at the device. “If he is following their tracking information, I don’t think he is on our side anymore.”

“How can we know?”

“We need a stranger to do some recon.”

Taylor walks into the kitchen. Barry is sipping coffee as he turns to greet them. “Good morning you two, sleep well?”

Taylor replies, “Yes, but we have a problem. We think we are being tracked.”

Barry asks, “How do you know?”

Taylor responded, “We created a creature that we think they are using to find us. We implanted a tracking device on him and he is less than a mile away and headed this way.”

Mary asked, “What kind of creature? Not the devil one we heard of.”

Christine replies, “We were working on an improved farm animal, but the government altered our research and created this man beast.”

Barry sent Chance out to scout out the situation. Chance moves in and flanks the squad. He observes them drawing in the dirt, obviously planning the capture of Christine and Taylor. Moving some distance away, he radios his father, “There’s this devil looking creature, well except for the lack of a pointed tail, planning an attack with a group of twelve soldiers. Looks like they are planning to come here from what I heard.”

“Don’t come home. Go to your aunt’s house and wait. Your mother is already there. Tell her not to come back until y’all hear from me.”

“But daddy, you might need me.”

“I need you where you can best help us and that is there for now.”

Chance runs hunched over low and disappears into the thick woods. Taking a last look from behind a tree to see if they spotted him, he moves deep into the woods.

Barry gathers his rifle and pistol and retreats to the woods with Taylor and Christine.

Taylor asked, “Where will we hide?”

Barry, with his head scanning around replies, “There is an old still site that was built into the ground. We can hold up there for a while and figure out this situation.”

Christine shivers, “I hate caves.”

Barry responds, “It’s better than being captured.”

Taylor agrees, “Much better!”

Asterion steps out of the back of the truck. His horns are now fully grown. They form the shape of a lyre and incline forward about halfway between horizontal and vertical. The tips pointing straight horizontally are sharp. He sniffs the air and says, “They are near.”

Sergeant Jack Caldwell, a tough as nails career soldier turns to Asterion. “What are your plans?”

Asterion swings around his way and snarls. “I am going to take them, interrogate them and then execute them.”

Caldwell looks at Asterion with shock. “You can’t do that by yourself. You’re asking us to do an illegal act.”

“So.”

Caldwell scrunches his face to telegraph his displeasure. “We are not authorized to commit a crime. That is an unlawful act.”

Asterion shoots back, “You don’t understand. Burnsom has authorized me to do whatever I want to these subversives.”

“It does not matter what you think he authorized you to do. That is a crime that we will stop you from committing and one we will not participate in with you.”

Asterion puts his face a foot away from Caldwell’s and with his best threatening voice commands. “You will obey me or else.”

Caldwell stands his ground, “We all swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. We will not help you do anything other than detain these individuals, transport them back to base and turn them over to the appropriate authorities.”

Asterion angrily responds, “Then stay here and wait for me to return.”

Caldwell shoulders his rifle at Asterion, which signals the rest of the squad to level their weapons at Asterion. “We will also prevent you from committing a criminal act.”

Caldwell radios his Lieutenant who is monitoring the situation. “Are you aware of this situation?”

The Lieutenant’s voice comes over the speaker, “Yes, I’ve already sent it up the chain and the base commander, General Lance Foxx has ordered you and the squad to escort Asterion back to the base. He’ll assess whether the two scientists have committed any crimes.”

“Yes sir. We are on our way, over and out.”

Asterion activates his communication device and immediately, everyone hears Burnsom’s voice. “Do you have them yet?”

Asterion replies, “No Sir. The squad is preventing me from pursuing them.”

Burnsom angrily responds, “What! Put that sergeant on so I can educate him on the new structure here.”

“This is Sergeant Caldwell. Sir, Asterion wants…”

Burnsom interrupts Caldwell, “Son, at your level we don’t expect you to think too much so get this straight, Asterion is in charge. You and your soldiers do whatever he says and don’t complain about it.”

“Sir, my commanding officer, General Foxx has instructed us to return with Asterion to the base and that is what we are going to do.”

Burnsom is raging now, “I will see that those stripes are ripped from your uniform and you will clean latrines for the rest of your miserable life. I’ll get back to you Asterion. Just wait until you hear from me.”

Asterion looks at the soldiers and sits down. They lower their weapons and stand at ease.

Barry leads Taylor and Christine through the woods and into the dugout cave hidden by leaves and brush. Inside he tells them. “Stay here; I’ll determine what they’re up to. Christine, give me the tracker so I can find them.”

Christine hands him the tracker. “Be careful.”

Taylor nods in agreement and Barry hands him a pistol and heads in the direction indicated on the tracking device. When he gets a few hundred yards from the location, he begins to lower his stance and move from tree to tree to avoid detection. He gets closer and closer but he still does not see any sign of Asterion or the squad. The tracker shows he is just a few yards from the device, but he still does not see anything. He moves closer until he sees the tracking device lying on a tree stump covered with blood. The snap of a twig comes from behind. He freezes, and he hears a voice. Asterion laughs and says, “You don’t think we haven’t considered that I might have a tracking device implanted. After all, Taylor and Christine found me too easily. I’m hoping they would come, but you will do, for bait that is.”

Caldwell, standing behind Asterion, “Okay Asterion, we have control of him now.” Caldwell motions for his men to secure Barry and place him in chains.”

Asterion is playing along for now. Biding his time until mission command is determined or if he can come up with a plan to get rid of the military detail attached to him. Asterion picks up the device from the tree stump and puts it in a metal box shielding it from detection. With the soldiers occupied, he slips away quietly into the woods.

Caldwell oversees the handling of Barry and turns around when they are finished. “Where’s Asterion? Did anybody see where he went?”

The soldiers all replied that they did not see him leave. Caldwell is angry now. “Okay, two of you guard him. The rest of you come with me.” He looks at Barry. “We are here to make sure your friends are only detained and not killed by this beast. What direction do we head?”

Barry looks at Caldwell and contemptuously replies, “About a click or so south.”

Caldwell urgently commands his men, “Less than a mile and he is fast. Let’s go!” The sergeant leads the rest of his men in the direction of Christine and Taylor.

Taylor and Christine are sitting in silence in the cave. They hear the rustling of brush. They look at each other wondering if Barry had returned. Taylor eases slowly to the entrance hoping to catch a glimpse of what is out there. Asterion’s hand quickly reaches in, yanks Taylor from the cave, and tosses him a short distance away. Taylor lands on his back and reels from the pain. He hears Christine scream as Asterion attempts to wedge his large torso through the opening and grab her.

Taylor grabs the pistol Barry left with them and ran up to Asterion. Pointing it at the base of Asterion’s skull, he steadies his aim. “Leave her alone, now.”

Asterion smiles, “Are you faster than me, human?”

“No, but this bullet is.”

CHAPTER 21 - CAUGHT

The familiar sound of assault rifles being raised cause him to freeze. He sees several barrels in the corner of his eyes. Caldwell calls out. “Drop it or we shoot.”

Taylor stands his ground, “Stop him first!”

Caldwell orders Asterion to cease his attack. Asterion growls as he turns, looks at him and backs away. Caldwell approaches the entrance of the cave and says, “Ma’am, U.S. Army soldiers. Come out with your hands where we can see them.”

From the entrance of the cave she asks, “Where is Asterion?”

Caldwell replies, “He is a safe distance away.”

“Okay.” She comes out hands first and they cuff both of them and march them back to the vehicle.

Caldwell checks the shackles on the three and looks at Barry, “You know for country hick, there is an awful lot of interest in you fella. You’ll have to travel with us and answer some questions back at the base.”

Barry looks up at Caldwell and with a sneer says, “I’ve got nothing to tell you or anyone.”

Caldwell smiles “Save your breath for the interrogators.”

Caldwell leaves the back of the covered truck and addresses the squad, “We’ll travel to this guy’s house and see what he might have there. We can hold up there until tomorrow and leave at dawn.”

The squad approaches the house cautiously and secures the area. They bring the prisoners into the house.

Asterion cautions Caldwell, “It might be wise to separate the local from Christine and Taylor. I have to talk to them.”

Caldwell warns Asterion, “Don’t touch them. We won’t allow an illegal act to take place while you are with us, understood?”

Asterion with his familiar scrunched up smile on his face. “Understood.”

Taylor and Christine are in one bedroom and Barry is in the master bedroom. Guards stand outside the windows and the interior doors.

Asterion approaches the guard posted outside of their room. “I have to interrogate the prisoners.”

The guard steps aside and tells Asterion that he will be outside the door in case he decides to disobey Caldwell’s orders. Asterion nods and crouching, enters the room. Taylor and Christine look at him in silence.

Asterion cocks his head back and laughs with a guttural bellow that shakes the house. He looks at them. “Well, welcome to the family reunion.”

Taylor looks directly at Asterion. “Nice, but we could have used some more time to plan.”

Asterion’s smile drops and he angrily responds, “What, so you could set a trap.”

Christine asks, “Why are you so angry with us? We raised you and loved you. We wanted the best for you.”

Asterion seemed touched for a moment, but shot back, “Really, then why did you plan for me to be a beast that trudges through the muddy fields of your agriculture?”

Taylor replied, “Look, you were supposed to be a work animal. I won’t lie to you and tell you differently, but you have to understand that we never thought that a, thinking, feeling creature able to exhibit the intelligence you have could even be created.”

Asterion thought for a second. “You mean that your religion taught you not create such a creature or could not be created. I was almost not me because of your superstitions.”

Christine interrupted, “This is uncharted territory. We did not know what is possible.”