Beast Machine (17 page)

McCarthy pursed his lips
together in disdain. “I don’t really have a choice do I? Either
help a pussy or be endlessly tortured.”

“
That’s your last warning.
Refrain from such words.”

“
Yes, sir.” McCarthy
saluted weakly then looked down at his feet defeated.

“
You’ll be my Karl Rove!
Always scheming and looking to exploit the weaknesses of
people.”

“
I don’t get that
reference,” whispered McCarthy before he emptied his scotch bottle
into his mouth. “Maybe I do… I’ve been using that Internet nonstop.
Everything runs together.”

“
Oh, and Joe,” said
Chairman Obelis. McCarthy turned lazily to Chairman Obelis. “You
know who this woman is, right?” Chairman Obelis pointed at the
pinup girl.

“
Yup,” replied McCarthy as
he twisted his neck oddly and then burped. “Aster Granzella. Most
beautiful woman I ever did see.”

“
Indeed, Aster Granzella.
One of the members of The Flagship.”

Chapter 18

Lizard Lick

The night sky was covered
with puffy clouds and swarms of vibrant, blinking fireflies. The
fireflies were gathered so fiercely in certain spots in the sky
that a person could confuse them for an aircraft or UFO. Each
firefly offered a unique color of green, orange, or green-orange.
What a sight. No firefly had the exact color bulb, but their
cohesion offered a brilliant nightscape to those on the
ground.

A security guard at a
top-notch reptilian research facility was mesmerized by these
fireflies. He stepped out of his security booth and fully embraced
the interesting night sky from the road that led into the research
facility’s parking lot. “Orange, green, green-orange fireflies!
What a sight,” he thought.

It was rare to see a
cluster of fireflies in the Portland area with the light pollution
and the poorly made sitcoms, so the security guard whipped his cell
phone out to take a video to show to his daughter when he got home.
Orange, green-orange, green fireflies! What a sight.

“
These fireflies will
captivate my little girl,” said the security guard quietly. “She’s
going to love this nighttime spectacle. Especially since her whore
of a mother is trying to take everything I’ve got – which is
basically nothing! Though, she’s only trying to make things better
for the both of…”

“
GORA WATCH OUT!” shrieked
Tubman. It was too late.

Gora ran over the security
guard with the white van. His face slammed against the windshield
and bounced violently off the ground like a basketball with the
perfect amount of air.

“
FUCK!” screamed Gora. She
hit her brakes causing the white van to slide several feet. “Is he
okay? He’s gotta be! Shit, we were only supposed to harm Spotila –
no one else!” Panic rushed into Gora’s mind. Any ounce of
confidence left evaporated.

Gora rushed out of the
white van to look for the man. She ran to the front and saw a
fantastic dent featuring dark blood and glass. “Where’s the rest of
the man?” she thought.

“
Please…,” whispered out a
voice. “Please, tell my ex-wife and daughter that I
lov-”

Hitbear pulled the security
guard out from under the van. “Tell her what?” he asked
gruffly.

“
Tell her that,” coughed
the security guard. Blood was dripping out of every facial orifice,
his head was indented severely. His eyes were dangling out of his
skull and his lips were cracked. “Tell her that,” he said again
weakly. Blood was beginning to pool under the man.

“
Fuck this,” said Hitbear.
He picked the man up and viciously snapped the man’s neck. Skin was
barely holding the man together from the neck to the torso. The
dangling eyes popped out of his skull and rolled away from the
corpse. Hitbear dropped the man back on the road.

“
Why’d you do that?”
shrieked Gora as she put her hands to her face. Panic was trying to
consume her entire state of mind now. She was turning bluish
white.

“
He was a liability,” said
Tubman as she exited the white van. She had found a dark blue
bandana in the glove box and placed it on her head. “He was going
to die slowly and painfully anyhow.”

Gora stood there staring at
the mangled corpse of the security guard. She didn’t want anyone
else to get hurt in her revenge plots, just the bastard scientists.
Could she keep going for revenge even though the chance for extra
causalities was extremely high? “I must, I must,” thought Gora. She
quelled the panic as best as she could for now.

“
Vee have to keep going,
Frau Gora,” said Owlbert. “Death ist ein gruesome but vee must
persist. Du must realize it ist over und vee cannot reverse
death.”

“
Death can be beautiful
too, you know,” chimed in Hitbear. “I would argue that Romeo and
Juliet’s deaths were beautiful.” Hitbear thought he had flexed his
literary muscle but was easily deflated by the seasoned
Owlbert.

“
Vell ja, it can be
beautiful depending on how du become deceased, however, Romeo und
Juliet ver dumb kindergarteners that vell in love instantly. That
vas zee point of zee play, dumkopf – that love at first sight ist
not love und that kindergarteners don’t understand vas true love
ist.”

Hitbear looked down at his
feet, “Well, I’ve always liked it.” He kicked at a stone on the
road that rolled into one of the security guard’s detached
eyes.

“
Enough with this idiotic
talk,” Tubman said aggressively. “Let’s get this shit done. In and
out. Park the van; I’ll scout the facility as quickly as I can.
Don’t dally.”

Tubman scurried off while
Hitbear and Owlbert tried to get Gora out of a trance to park the
van. The pair gently guided her to the van and she parked it in one
of the many opening parking spaces at the facility. The only cars
left at the facility were a pair of silver sedans. These cars were
beyond modest in comparison to the opulent facility.

Spotila’s research facility
was the epitome of man’s arrogance. It stood at least ten stories
high and was adorned with one-way windows that reflected the light
emitted by the still present fireflies. Green, orange,
orange-green! What a sight, even when reflected.

In front of the facility
sat a golden fountain. There were several lizard statuettes
circling a lizard humanoid that was placed in the middle of the
fountain. It was more bizarre than refined artwork. Water gushed
out of the mouth of the lizard humanoid with an impressive force
into the pool below. The bipedal lizard had the head of a snake but
the snout and teeth of an alligator, the hands of a human but the
scales of an iguana. It was a truly unnecessary yet calming
fountain. Each statuette wore countless emeralds, diamonds and
gold-speckled scales, but appeared as if they were only there to
drink the water that the lizard humanoid had to offer. He was,
apparently, their God.

The lavishness of Spotila’s
research facility was grand, yet the group noticed an obvious lack
of security. Hitbear walked over to the security guard’s booth to
find only two monitors for cameras: one pointing at the parking lot
fountain and one in what appears as the entrance to the
facility.

Gora and Owlbert stood
outside of the booth as Hitbear fiddled inside.

“
Why would such an
expensive travesty like this building only have minimal security?”
asked Hitbear. He tried to see if the monitors would flip through
different camera angles. They did not. “Poland had more security on
horseback.”

Calmer now after easing her
body and mind of the grips of panic, Gora said, “This area isn’t
known for much crime and Spotila is highly regarded in the city of
Portland. The people love him dearly. He helped bring back several
species from near extinction and donates money to local schools.
Mostly, I’d guess, just to see his name up on the school, arrogant
bastard.” Gora cleared her throat and began to notice the two
remaining beasts peering at her strangely.

“
Are we about to kill a
good person?” thought Owlbert and Hitbear.

“
Even if criminals wanted
to steal from Spotila, they wouldn’t find much worth of value,
aside from that golden fountain right there.” She raised her hand
and pointed at the fountain, yet still kept her gaze at the booth.
“Plus, the reptiles would tear the uninitiated to bits or inject
venom, poison in them. It just wouldn’t be worth it to
criminals.”

Hitbear brushed away the
thought away that they may be killing a good person, considering
that Gora was his creator. “She couldn’t be wrong,” he
thought.

“
It still doesn’t make
sense that the security is so lax for a building this…this gaudy.
Americans are strange people,” grumbled Hitbear through the booth’s
window. “How much longer is Tubman going to take?”

“
Shouldn’t be much longer,
Hitbear. Let’s get rid of this guy’s body,” stated Gora. “Or at
least get it off the road.”

“
Jawohl!” chirped Owlbert
loudly. He received a glare from Gora and Hitbear. “It means,
‘yeah’ in English…”

Hitbear exited the booth
and walked on all fours to the man’s body; what was left of it.
Gora watched Hitbear’s gait to see if the new paw was working as
she envisioned. It was.

Gora slowly made her way to
the body of the unfortunate guard and began to think about giving
him a proper burial in the facility’s nearby woods but Hitbear beat
her to the body and decided for her. He picked up the man and flung
him into nearby brush. “Done,” said Hitbear. He smacked his paws
together and smiled.

Gora watched in horror as
the body was tossed into the brush and the man’s head broke apart
from the rest of his body. The head then rolled away from the body
and was caught on a stump. The skin just couldn’t quite hold him
together.

She tightened her eyes and
took a deep breath.

“
Whatever,” said Gora in an
irritated tone. “Don’t let the panic and anxiety consume you, don’t
let it,” she thought.

“
How would you feel if that
was your body?” she asked Hitbear.

“
I’d be dead, who cares?”
said Hitbear. The pair glared at one another with an annoyed rage.
“Don’t you agree with me, Owlbert?” Hitbear was seeking support but
was ruefully ignored.

“
Here comes zee Tubman!”
said Owlbert. He flapped his wings excitedly as the hare hopped
back to the group from the fanciful building. Tubman’s movements
weren’t heard by the group, as she moved silently on the
asphalt.

“
What’s the word?” asked
Gora. Her arms were folded and face emotionless, disguising her
internal troubles.

“
I couldn’t find a soul in
there,” said Tubman. Tubman sucked in air as fast as a hare could.
Being silent and swift was tough on the newly created hare. Her
endurance was lacking. “I need to get back into my conductor shape
– I could run for miles and miles without needing rest.”

“
How the hell did you check
that entire building that quickly?” pondered Hitbear out loud. “I
don’t think that’s humanly – er – hare-ly possible!
Har-har!”

Owlbert groaned at the
joke. He even covered his eyes with his wings.

Tubman didn’t catch the
horrible pun. “There’s a second security hub inside – right inside
actually. A door marked ‘Security Only’ with no lock or any other
security. I thought there were supposed to be others?” She looked
towards Gora.

“
I don’t understand the
lack of security, still,” said Hitbear. “Even the most trustworthy
area should have
some
security; not just one guy in a booth.”

“
I told you, he feels truly
safe here,” said Gora. “He’s arrogant as well,
cough
the fountain
cough
.” Gora’s fake coughing caused
her to have an actual coughing fit. “There was supposed to
be
some
security,
though. I’m perplexed.”

“
I’ll continue as if I
weren’t interrupted,” said Tubman. “There were twenty to thirty
monitor things – whatever you call them – covering all floors and
important rooms. Well, I’m not sure if they were actually important
or not.” Tubman took another deep breath before continuing. “There
were different animals, all reptiles, in different cages and tanks.
Some were under bright lights, while others were in an all water
tank. Some were a mixture of environments.” Tubman stretched her
back and hare-equivalent hamstrings. “I saw absolutely no sign of
life in there, aside from the reptiles, I mean. Also, If I was
looking at the correct monitors, much of the building isn’t even in
use.”

Hitbear hit Tubman on the
back causing her to cough loudly. “Great work, I knew I liked
you!”

“
Oh, fuck off,” snapped
back Tubman. Hitbear smirked then winked at his long-eared
compatriot.

Gora tilted her head and
turned towards the facility. “So, Doctor Spotila was nowhere to be
found? That’s depressing, we killed that man for no reason
then!”

“
Well, you killed that man,
not us – but, also, I did hop through the first floor of the
building after peaking at all the monitors and found a door with
large words on it,” said Tubman.