Dark Season: The Complete Box Set (105 page)

I stare at the chicks as they start pecking at the new arrival. Moments later, one of them draws blood. The new chick lets out a squeal as the others all pile on, and within a few seconds the new chick is dead. Their work done, the others leave the body alone.

"The quisling has to defend itself, or be defended, if it wants to survive," Benjamin continues, putting a lid back on the box. "In this case, the quisling was too young. Be in no doubt that your bullies in Callerton would have done to you what those chicks did to the intruder in their box, because they would have seen you as the quisling in their midst. They could sense that you're different. It's a survival mechanism, a way of keeping the community stable. It's how things should be, but fortunately we were able to rescue you before you were in any real danger." He pauses for a moment. "It's late. You really should get some sleep. I have some pills that will help if you're having difficulty."

"I'm fine," I reply, heading to the exit. I feel kind of freaked out by what I've just seen. "Tomorrow," I say, turning back to him, "will you tell me about my mother?"

He pauses. "What do you want to know?"

"What she was like," I reply.

"She looked a lot like you," he says. "Slightly taller, and her hair was a shade darker. Her eyes -"

"That's what she looked like," I say, interrupting him. "I want to know what she was like as a person."

He shrugs. "I didn't really know her. You'd be better off asking Shelley questions like that."

"I want to know how she died," I tell him.

"Do you?" He smiles. There's a curious look in his eyes, as if he's observing me keenly. "I suspect it would be better if we hold off on this discussion for a while," he says after a moment, but I get the feeling that he almost told me the truth.

"I want to know," I insist.

"All in good time."

Realizing that he's hiding something, I walk back over to him. "I want to know now," I say. "Not later. Not tomorrow. Now. I don't care if it's complicated, I just want to know."

He finishes setting Patrick's blood in the vial. "It might upset you to know the truth. We'll discuss the matter another time." He turns to leave, but I push a table in front of him to block his path.

"Tell me now!" I say, starting to feel a rising sense of anger in my blood.

"Interesting," he replies, looking down at the table. "Abigail, are you aware that this table was bolted to the floor?"

I look down and see that the table has been ripped away from a set of four metal mounts. "They must have been loose," I say, finding it hard to believe that I could have done such a thing.

"I don't think so," he replies. "You're stronger than you realize. You must be careful in future. Your body is changing. Don't you feel it yet?" He pauses for a moment. "Perhaps you're ready for the truth after all, but... Do you
really
want to know?"

"Tell me," I say.

"Are you sure? Can you handle the anger?"

"Tell me."

"She was murdered," he says.

I take a deep breath. I never met my mother; I've never even seen a photo of her, but the thought of her dying in such a brutal way is almost too much to take in. "Why?" I ask. "Who killed her?" Suddenly a sickening thought hits me, deep in the pit of my stomach. I can't even bear to think about it, but it's as if suddenly I can see exactly what happened. In my mind, I have the image of a girl who looks like me, but a little older; she's facing Patrick, and he's turning to her and...

"You see it, don't you?" Benjamin says.

"He wouldn't do that," I reply, tears streaming down my face. "Why would he..."

"You must stop judging him as if he's human," he continues. "Your father is incapable of feeling love for another creature. It's not his fault, it's just the way he's made. He's like an animal, really. Brutish and strong, but with no real soul. Love is an alien concept to him. He uses power and strength to get what he wants."

"He wouldn't kill her," I say, refusing to believe that it's true. Still, the image is clear in my mind: my mother falling to the ground, blood pouring from her body as my father stands over her.

"I wish I could tell you it was otherwise," Benjamin says, "but what you're seeing is the truth. Your father killed your mother." He puts a hand on my shoulder. "Do you still think he should be set free?"

Shelley

Dedston, Today.

"Where's Abby?" I ask as I walk into the main room and find Benjamin and Todd working at a set of computers. It's late, but I feel I'm finally ready to talk to her about the past.

"In bed," Benjamin replies, before frowning. "Shelley, what's that smell?"

"I had one beer," I tell him. "Just one."

"You smell like you took a bath in the stuff," Todd says.

"Nice to see you too," I reply. "So what did I miss?"

Benjamin and Todd share an awkward glance. "Abby has been learning about her father," Benjamin says eventually. "Her view of him has changed quite significantly. She's starting to see him for what he really is, rather than hero-worshiping an impossible ideal."

I stare at him for a moment. "How much did you tell her?"

"I told her the truth," he replies. "Really, I just jogged her memory. She seems to have access to some of Patrick's memories. It's an interesting phenomenon."

"You can't just tell her stuff like that!" I say, turning and heading to the door.

"Let her rest," Benjamin says. "You can talk to her tomorrow."

"She won't be asleep," I tell him. "Not if she's just found out what Patrick did to Sophie."

"She seemed to take it rather well," he replies.

"She's probably in shock," I say, pausing in the doorway. "You might be an expert on a lot of things, Benjamin, but when it comes to teenage girls, maybe you should let me be in charge." I turn to Todd. "What about you? She's your flesh and blood. Don't you want to go and see if she's okay?"

"I can see her from here," he says, indicating a nearby monitor that shows a surveillance image of Abby's bed.

"It was necessary to tell her," Benjamin interrupts. "I needed to see how she'd react. I needed to push her out of her comfort zone."

"You're an ass," I say. "You should have waited for me. I could have broken the news to her properly."

"You weren't here," he says. "You were busy drinking. I hardly think I should take a lecture on responsibility from someone who spent her evening in a bar."

"Well I'm here now," I say, "and I need to -"

"She's moving," Todd says. Benjamin looks over at a computer screen. "She's left her room," Todd continues. "She's heading for the exit. I'll lock the doors -"

"No," Benjamin says, interrupting. "I want to see what she does."

"She'll be outside in thirty seconds," Todd replies. "You can't let her through the door."

"Of course I can," Benjamin says. "I can get her back here at any moment."

Walking over to them, I see a tracer showing up on the screen. "You're tracking her?" I say, shocked at the way they're treating someone who's supposed to be in their care.

"I placed a transmitter on her clothing," Benjamin replies. "I want to see the limits of her capabilities. Trust me, the experiment is going according to plan. Don't interrupt us."

I turn to him. "This is all an experiment to you? She's a teenage girl." I pause for a moment. "Is that why you told her the truth? You just wanted to upset her, to see what she'd do?"

"I'm a scientist," Benjamin replies. "I want to provoke her and see if she exhibits any new abilities."

"And you?" I ask Todd. "Are you happy to let your niece be tested like this?"

"It's for her own good," Todd replies, not taking his eyes off the screen. "We have to know more about Abby. She looks human, but she's not. We can't just sit around and wait for her to develop when she's ready. We have to push her."

I take a deep breath, watching as the tracer shows Abby reaching the exit. "I'm going after her," I say. "She needs to talk to someone." I turn to leave, but Todd reaches out and grabs my arm, holding me back forcefully.

"You can't interfere," Benjamin says. "If necessary, we'll restrain you."

"Bullshit," I reply, but I can't get free of Todd's grip. As I struggle, he gets his arms around me and holds me tight. "Do you really want to turn this into a fight?" I ask him.

"Don't make it harder than it has to be," he replies.

"She's your niece!" I remind him. "She's Sophie's daughter, she's your only family! How can you let this asshole mess around with her emotions just so he can carry out a bunch of tests?"

"This is a unique situation," Todd replies. "It's in Abby's best interests that we learn about her strengths and weaknesses as fast as possible. Everything Benjamin told her is true. In case you've forgotten, Patrick
did
kill Sophie. Are you really saying we should have lied to her? Do you want to put Abby in a room with Patrick and let him kill her too?"

"He'd never do that!" I insist, still trying to get loose.

"I never thought I'd hear you defend him," Todd says.

"I'm not defending him," I reply. "I understand him, that's all."

"She's outside," Benjamin says, staring at the screen. "I want to let her go a little further before we go and bring her back. I want her to feel that she's really escaped, so I can see what she does." He pauses for a moment. "I also want to see how she reacts when we bring her back. Emotional distress could heighten her abilities and bring out powers she doesn't know she has."

"And then what?" I ask.

"Then my team will fetch her, and we'll see how strong she is."

"You're so sure you can control her, aren't you?" I say, shocked by Benjamin's confidence.

"We caught Patrick, didn't we?" He replies, smiling. "If we can bring down an adult, I'm sure we can bag an infant of the species."

"That's all they are to you, isn't it?" I say. "Specimens to be used in your experiments."

"You're too emotional," he says. "I'm hoping that she'll show a little aggression, that's all. Frankly, I've been disappointed in her so far. She's been acting like a human. She's been showing only the weakness she inherited from her mother. I want to see her other side."

"Being human isn't a weakness," I say, realizing I need to get Abby away from these people.

"I need to see more of her father in her eyes," he continues. "I need to know that she has that same rage. This could be the most important discovery of our lifetime. If she's what I think she is, she could be of enormous use to the world. We could create an army of creatures just like Abby, all of them under our direct control. We'd be unstoppable."

"How much longer?" Todd asks, watching the screen as it shows Abby moving further and further away. "She's heading for the town."

"I didn't expect that," Benjamin replies. He studies the data for a moment. "Fascinating. I thought she'd go into the wilderness. I was sure she'd want to get away from humans, not go closer to them."

"Maybe you don't know her as well as you thought you did," I tell him.

He turns to me, and for a moment I see a hint of anger in his eyes. "She won't get far," he says eventually. "There's no danger of her actually escaping. My team can go and pick her up when I give the order. But it's good for her to think she can escape. I want her to still have some fight in her. I want her to be angry when we drag her back."

"So you can carry out more experiments?" I ask.

"I'm not the only curious one," he says. "She has questions about herself. Wouldn't you want to know the truth about your own body if you were in her position?"

"There are other ways to learn that kind of thing," I tell him.

"Benjamin!" Todd says, with a hint of urgency in his voice. "She's moving fast. Faster than normal. We need to bring her back now!"

Benjamin turns to the screen. "Amazing," he says. "She's developing more quickly that I dared to hope." He pauses for a moment. "I was right to push her like this. Okay, it's time to go and bring her back."

I watch as Benjamin and Todd hurry through to the corridor. Following them, I find that the other technicians are gathering around the exit. They're carrying large spear-guns, as if they're going hunting. The spears are a couple of feet long, and at least an inch wide. "You can't use those things on her," I say, shocked at the thought that they're going to hunt Abby down like she's some kind of wild animal.

"Hopefully we won't have to," Benjamin says as he puts on some body armor. For an older guy, he's surprisingly athletic. "But if we have trouble stopping her," he says, turning to me, "we'll have to use whatever means necessary." He takes a gun from the rack. "There's no need to worry, though. If she's strong enough to need this kind of treatment, she's strong enough to heal her wounds. Just like her father." He turns to one of the technicians. "Stay here and monitor the prisoner. The rest of you, come with me."

As the lone technician returns to the main room, Benjamin leads the others out into the forest. They're carrying hand-held scanners that show them Abby's location. The sight of these half dozen men in uniforms, carrying weapons and with their heads covered by bulky masks, is terrifying. "I'm coming with you!" I call after them, determined to make sure that they don't hurt Abby when they find her.

"You're staying here," Todd says, glancing back at me.

"You can't do this to your own family," I tell him. He doesn't reply, and it's clear that he's avoiding making eye contact with me. "She's your niece!" I remind him.

"She's a monster," Benjamin says, interrupting. "Just like Patrick. She has a few human qualities, but she's fundamentally a monster."

I turn to Todd. "Do you believe that?"

"She is what she is," he replies. "It doesn't matter what I think. We have to assume that she's the same as Patrick."

"If you hurt her..." I start to say, but suddenly a loud siren starts blaring from back inside the base.

"Back in!" Benjamin shouts, and they all hurry back through the door. I follow them as they run to the main room, where we find a dead technician on the floor. He's been ripped open, with his blood smeared across the room from one corner to the next. Looking down, I realize that I'm standing in what appears to be the intestines of the dead man. "Check the prisoner!" Benjamin shouts.

With the others seemingly frozen in shock, I run over to the next door and reach in, switching on the light. As the bulb flickers, I look up at Patrick.

He's gone.

The handcuffs are empty, having seemingly been torn open, while the huge metal spike has been twisted and bent away. All that's left of Patrick is a patch of blood on the wall, and a set of bloody footprints leading across the room and through the door. It's as if some hugely powerful creature has simply swatted everything aside.

"That's not possible!" Benjamin says as he joins me in the doorway. The siren is still sounding. "Abigail must have come back and freed him."

"She's miles away," Todd replies as he pushes past us and goes to inspect the large spike. "Look at how it was bent. Patrick did this. He freed himself."

"He was too weak!" Benjamin says. "He couldn't possibly have done something like this!"

"Maybe he wanted to protect Abby from you," I say.

"He was unconscious," Benjamin insists, but I can hear the panic in his voice. His assumptions are falling apart. "Anyway, he was too weak. He's dying. He doesn't have the strength to do this. That equipment is impossible to bend!" He walks to the dome and examines the base of the spike. "He shouldn't have been able to get free," he says, still not willing to believe that he was wrong. Even faced with the evidence of his mistake, he's trying to come up with some other explanation.

"Maybe he loves her," I point out.

Benjamin turns to me. "What?" he asks, almost spitting the word out with contempt.

"Maybe he loves his daughter," I continue. "Maybe he won't let anything stand in his way if he thinks she's in danger." Suddenly the siren shuts off, leaving us standing in silence. "Maybe he loves her too much to let you hurt her. Maybe that's where the extra strength came from."

"He's not capable of love," Benjamin says.

"Then how do you explain what happened?" I ask.

He pauses for a moment. "We have to get Abigail back," he says, turning to Todd. "Patrick can't be moving too fast, not while he's dying. We have to get to Abigail first. Once we have her, Patrick will come to us."

From over my shoulder, I hear a distant shrieking sound. I turn and look at the technicians, but they just stare back at me as if they have no idea where the noise is coming from. "What the hell is that?" I ask, looking across the room. Realizing that it's coming from the far corner, I hurry over and see a box on one of the desks. The shrieking sound is coming from directly inside. Cautiously, I reach over and remove the lid. As Benjamin comes up behind me, I stare in horror at the five or six dead chicks, each of them bleeding from wounds all over their bodies. A puddle of blood has begun to form at the bottom of the box.

"What
is
this?" I ask, turning to Benjamin.

He stares at them. "They turned on each other," he says, as if he can't quite believe it. He reaches in and checks each chick. "They're all dead," he says finally. "They killed a quisling earlier, but they weren't supposed to turn on one another." He pauses for a moment. "I suppose it must have given them a taste for blood. I never expected..." He seems lost in thought for a moment, and then he turns to Todd. "We have to get Abigail back here," he says, sounding worried. "We have to get her back right now!"