Changes (15 page)

It took several hours for Jimmy to finish off everything in his refrigerator that was meat, and when he couldn’t find anything else, he left his apartment and headed out to find something more. He settled on fast food, came back with several hamburgers, and finished four of them before he finally felt satisfied. He left the buns, just settling for the beef. When he finished them, he laid back down to try to sleep some before he needed to head off back to work. He didn’t sleep any of it, and just lied there in bed, tossing and turning, with his mind forcing itself back to the dream that he had to start his day. The thought of the man and woman walking through the park came back strong. He could see them coming up along the road. He could see the woman’s face, as it turned red from her own blood covering it. He saw the image of him chewing on her next. He hated the feeling, not by chewing on her, this in itself should have been revolting but wasn’t, but the way he seemed to feel when he realized that she was pregnant. He couldn’t understand it. He couldn’t understand what it meant. However, then again, it was just a dream, right? It wasn’t anything more than that.

When his alarm sounded, telling him that it was time to get ready for work, he pushed every thought he had out of his mind, and climbed out of bed feeling uneasy. He went into the bathroom and took a long hot shower. The water washed away the dream. It melted his mind and made him relax. When he finished, he went back to the bedroom and put on his uniform. He had some trouble with it, being that it was now a good two or three sizes larger than what he now was, but he managed. He had to tighten his belt to the last loop. It all felt so weird. Everything felt different on him. Everything felt almost like someone else’s clothes that he tried to wear, but he made do. He had no other choice.

When he finished, he made his way out to his car and headed off down the road. The drive went by quickly, almost seeming to take only a few minutes to get there. His mind, it seemed, felt like a thousand miles away, but nowhere at all.

Pulling into the lot, he stood out of his car without another thought in his mind. He made his way up the sidewalk, to the front doors, and into the lobby. He felt nothing but strong, and made the walk with a stride in his steps. Relieving Pat, and experiencing yet another person in shock by his new appearance, almost didn’t register on his mind. He just went through the motions, explaining that he felt fine when asked, and responded to it all with nothing more than a simple explanation of nothing at all. He started his night almost feeling like someone else moving through the motions of someone else’s life. It all felt so weird. It all felt downright surreal, and nothing else seemed to matter.

When Pat left, he sat down behind the counter and stared endlessly at the CCTV monitors with nothing but a haze crossing over his thoughts. Before he knew it, it was time to start his first tour so he stood up, grabbed his wand and radio, and left the counter. He didn’t hesitate. He moved with the motions. His mind stayed clear, but not thinking. His steps felt strong, but didn’t feel like his. He walked up the stairs, and began his tour and never looked back.

He hit every chip with an endless stride, and before he knew it, he came to the entrance to the labs and there he stopped. He found himself locked in place, and unable to move.
This is where it began.
He saw the double doors. He looked through the single window in the right one and looked to the hallway behind it. A sense of deja-vu crossed his mind as soon as he saw the white glisten from the floor. Suddenly, he could see himself on the other side of the door, walking down the hallway, moving along it. It all felt so weird. It all felt so strange. It had to be a memory, but he didn’t remember it, but for some reason, it made him feel like he had. He felt like he was watching someone through his or her eyes. He felt like he was watching himself walk, but he wasn’t the one doing the walking. He just stood there, and watched it happen.

He saw the hallway, leading to the last intersection on the right. He saw himself stop right in front of a set of double doors, and there he waited. He knew they were the same doors that led into the room where he found Collins, and knowing that, he watched himself walk through the double doors and move into the room. He saw himself walk towards a table at the far wall, and there he stopped, and turned back around. Someone walked with him. He didn’t see them at first, but he felt them there. When he turned around, back to the doors, he saw him and recognized him as the white haired older man with the fine suit. He even knew his name. The man looked back to him with a smile on his face.

“I told you that I would make you comfortable?” the older man, Richard Ross said. “We will do anything for you. We’ll give you everything you need.”

He slid himself back to a bed behind him and took a seat. He never saw it, but he knew it was there.

“I hope that we can do this quickly?” a voice said, coming from his direction. It sounded almost like he, himself, was the one saying it, but it wasn’t his voice. He could only recognize it as Collins. “I don’t want to spend too much time here?”

He blinked.

“That won’t be a problem, Mister Collins.” The older man stepped away from him and walked back towards the double doors, and there, he joined another man that he had never seen before, but for some reason, he knew who he was. “This shouldn’t really take all that long, maybe a few weeks?” The older man turned back to him.

He saw himself nod.

“Good. I’ll see you in the morning, so we can begin,” the older man said and left the room.

Jimmy shook his head, bringing his thoughts back to where he was as a voice coming from behind him helped him with the effort.

“Jimmy?” the soft voice asked, as a hand grabbed his left arm. “You okay?”

He turned and saw Rachel standing right beside him with the look of concern heavy in her eyes. “Fine. I’m fine.” He shook his head again, trying to clear the fog that seemed to want to drape him. The process worked, but only a little. “I’m fine,” he repeated and sighed. He had to take a deep breath, so he did.

“Didn’t you hear me? I was trying to get your attention, but you seemed like you were a thousand miles away?”

Again, he shook his head, trying to refocus his thoughts.

She let go of his arm, and her eyes turned from concern to one of awe all at once. “You alright? You look entirely different.” She smiled.

He blinked. “Yes, I know. I,” he looked back to the window, saw nothing there, and turned back towards her. “I just feel a little strange.”
What the hell did I just see? What the Christ did I just remember?
Was what he saw real? Did what he just remember happen to him happen? He felt odd. He felt misplaced. He felt beyond a little strange, he almost felt afraid.

“What happened? You look so different?” she repeated, and couldn’t believe that he was the same man she knew from before. He looked years younger. He looked as fit as anyone could have looked. He just couldn’t be the same person. In fact, he looked almost like Robert. He looked just like him, and it made her flinch some. He looked just like her dead brother, and it caused a shutter to flow down her spine. She had to blink several times just to clear the thought.

“I guess this place does that to you?” He laughed, and stepped away from the doors. He stepped out into the middle of the hallway, and bowed his chin down towards the floor. “What are you doing here? Another long night?” He had to change the subject and fast. Something that he became very good at it lately it seemed.

She sighed. “Yeah. I’ve been working on something for a while now. What I saw, I knew I needed to talk to you about it.” She crossed her arms over her chest. The white lab coat she wore crinkled some under her arms. Its whiteness brought out the deep green of her eyes. It took some time to get her mind back to the subject at hand. He looked so different and it made her become unfocused some. When she won the fight, she turned everything over. “That Collins you mentioned the other night? Do you remember that?”

He nodded. “Yeah.” He stepped closer to her, intrigued with what she just asked. He had no idea what she was referring to, but his attention was now all hers.

“I have a blood sample from someone called
Collins
that I would like to discuss with him. Do you know where he is now?”

He shook his head. “I haven’t seen him for a while,” he began, paused and continued. “I had the weekend off and I haven’t seen him since last week.” What happened that night, the night that he was bitten, struck his head with madness? He could see himself running through the grass. He could see himself running along the side of the building. It felt like a dream. It felt strong, so much so, he had to pull himself back towards her voice. It took some effort. It took almost everything he had to get back to seeing her again.

“You said that he works here, right?”

Again, he shook his head. He truly didn’t know the answer to the question.

“Where did you meet him?”

He blinked again. “I met him back there.” He pointed to the double doors. Thinking of everything, all at once, he tried to pull his thoughts together long enough to ask some questions himself. “Why do you want to know?” In the back of his mind, he hoped that this had something to do with what happened with him. It seemed like a long shot, but one that he had to take.

“Like I said, I have this blood sample that shows some things in it that I need to ask him about.” She smiled, but only briefly.

He could see nothing but wonder within her very beautiful eyes. “What’s wrong with him?” he heard himself ask next. He had no idea what she was talking about, and he could hear that within his very voice.

“Well,” she began, thinking about how far she should try to explain everything she knew. She had so much rolling around inside her mind that she didn’t know how much he might understand about what she needed to know about. After some brief thought, she decided to just go ahead and say what she needed to say. “He has something in his blood that I’ve never seen before. It seems that his cells are infected with some kind of a parasite. Something I can’t understand and I was hoping that he would indulge me with.”

“How do you mean?” he asked fast, and he didn’t know why. “What kind of infection?”
If Collins was ill, it makes sense. He’s awfully strange to be normal.

She sighed. “His cells are active, almost like they
are
the infection themselves.” She turned back to the double doors behind her. “I really need to see him. If you could take me back to where you met him? I‘d like to be able to ask him a few things, if I could.” She turned back to him with an idea coming up into her thoughts.
He knows something. I can feel it. He’s acting strange. More changed in him than just his looks.
He seemed to be hiding something, and she couldn’t understand why he would do that with her. He didn’t seem like the type of person that would hide things. He seemed honest enough from the start, so why would he hide him? Why would he be afraid to let her know about his friend?

His eyes widened, although he couldn’t have possibly read her mind, he would have agreed with what she thought about him. He didn’t understand any of it, what so ever. “Back there, several turns.” He pointed to the double doors.
Maybe if I help her, she’ll help me? What would it hurt?

“Can you show me?” She smiled.

He smiled as well, and nodded. If she wanted to see the place, he couldn’t think of anything to stop him from showing her, so he moved to the door, and used his access card to unlock it. The pad beeped and the door clicked, so he opened it for her.

“Thank you.” She nodded, walked through the door, and headed to the hallway behind it. She stopped, and waited for him to join her again. Everything she just thought about him, corrected itself in her mind, and she liked him even more for it.

“What kind of an infection do you think he has?” He closed the door behind him.

“I don’t know. That’s why I need to see him?” She smiled again.

He nodded, and shrugged his shoulders softly. He turned and started walking with her.

She walked with him, side by side. “So?” she began as they came to the first intersection and turned right. “You must tell me how you changed so much?” She passed him another smile.

It seemed like small talk, he felt sure of that much. “Well, it just kind of fell off.” He smiled back to her and laughed some under his breath. She would have never believed how right and truthful he was being with her, he knew that too. “It wasn’t hard at all.”

She laughed back. “Why cut the hair?” They turned the corner and headed down the next hallway, and up ahead, she could see that they were approaching yet another intersection, and with seeing that, she knew where they were going. They were heading to where they kept the animals—a strange place to find someone, unless this Collins worked with the animals, but he couldn’t do that. No one worked there anymore. They haven’t used animals for years.

“I must have needed a change?” He laughed again, talking so honestly with her like this, he couldn’t help himself. They came to the intersection and he turned. Up ahead, he could see the double doors that he had just seen moments ago, inside his memory. How real that memory seemed right then at that moment. It felt so weird reliving it all so quickly. “Here.” He pointed to the doors as they stopped directly in front of them.

She stopped, and stared at the doors with wonder. “This is where you met him?” She stepped to the right door, turned, and faced him.