Flutter (23 page)

She asked, “Project what?”

Dr. Paltee was happy to explain and said, “Project Flutter. Flutter was the code name for the military based project that
you
were the product of. There’s so much to this project that no one knew, not even Atkins. She was dealing with it from a different end. We only met occasionally. She told us what needed to happen for it to work. It was my job to deliver a human specimen that fit the criteria and your marks… may I see them? Do you mind?” His heart raced in anticipation. He remembered making the marks using an ancient method of tattooing using sharpened bones, wood and ink using a
hand poking
technique. The bone, with ink on the sharp edge, is repeatedly tapped into the skin.

Abigail didn’t mind. She shook her head. Abigail and Dr. Paltee stood up. Roger watched closely, waiting to see what the man had planned. Abigail took off her shirt and she turned around. Dr. Paltee lightly ran his fingers across the marks on her back. He said, “Yes. You were one of the unique ones. This is your totem on the spine leading up to your brain– the god of your nervous system.” He looked in her scalp and asked, “What is this?” He roughly grabbed her head with his two hands turning her head side to side. “These, I don’t know. The marks on your spine, I did those, but your scalp that is not me. Hmm.” He stopped for a moment to think. Paltee paced the room tapping his head trying to remember if there was something he missed. 

“I can’t imagine who would have done those marks there. But they, too, seem to have a connection with the bible passage... and the marks on your spine.”

Abigail and Roger hadn’t photographed the marks on her head for Abigail to get a proper look. They touched the marks on her head after he let go.

Roger asked, “The marks on her spine. What do they mean?”

Dr. Paltee looked at Abigail’s sad and confused face and said, “It’s an interesting story. Sit, Abigail. Let me explain.” Dr. Paltee walked over to a shelf. He fiddled through some books pushing a few aside and piling others on the floor. He grabbed an old leather book off the shelf and handed it to Abigail. 

Abigail opened the book to see that it was a journal. Paltee reached over and closed the book in her hands.

“Wait!” he said. “You will never understand unless you listen first. You must hear me out before you open this book.”

Paltee scratched his head and sat down. He took his glasses off and cleaned the lenses with his white cotton button–up shirt. He put them back on his face. He took another sip of the tea and poured a little more into his mug from the kettle as he explained, “Project Flutter didn’t become Project
Flutter
until I got involved, but it had been around for about five years before me and was known as Project Gray Scale. As you know the government wanted to make a super armor that could increase a soldier’s skill, speed, agility and strength. It had to be durable enough to withstand gunfire and small explosions and light enough to wear as undergarment. It had to be sleek, water resistant, fireproof and safe. Thanks to Atkins, this was all accomplished, but they couldn’t find humans strong enough to wear the suit. Our bodies could not naturally react with the speed necessary to make the suits work. So, to make a long story short, we had to make humans have the ability to adapt. We didn’t need a genetically altered human but one with heightened neuro–senses.”

Abigail and Roger sat quietly listening as he explained.

“Around the time when you came in, I was brought in to try something different– a creative, unconventional method to adjust, let’s say, insufficient human ability. But right after we thought we had made a few years of progress, the president shut down the program and ceased all funding. A private company picked up the program; but I didn’t agree with the purpose, and I left the project.”

Abigail asked, “What did you do to me?”

Dr. Paltee answered, “The purpose wasn’t to hurt you. As you can see by looking at the interior of my home, I am Native American; the same as you. Well half anyway. My last name was a name given to my great grandparents many years ago. The Shaman in my culture played with the spiritual world for thousands of years. They were very much in tune with earth and nature. Many times, their work with the other side placed them right on the edge of our world and what you would call the underworld or the afterlife or... you know what I mean. They played along the edge of that boundary between our world and theirs, often welcoming spirits to dwell among the living and within the living as well, offering their own bodies as vessels to accept the spirit temporarily or permanently. When a human is possessed, that spirit taps directly into the neurological system of the host.”

Roger interrupted, “Wait a minute. Did you say possessed? What are you saying? She was demon possessed?”

Paltee answered, “Demons are bad spirits that cannot be controlled. And to possess a human with a human spirit would be pointless. For some reason, human spirits are stronger than us, but not strong enough for the suit. Human spirits can carry grudges, pain, and too much opinion. They are not easily controlled” He smirked. “We used animals.”

Abigail asked, “Animals?!”

“Yes. Only an animal can respond with the 6th sense needed to survive the suit. The strength and agility of animals far surpass what a human could ever accomplish. You Abigail were different. You were my little experiment within the experiment. You have multiple, which was against the orders of the design team, but I couldn’t resist pushing the envelope. Our biggest challenge was the ability to control the outbursts of your inner animal spirits… and you have four.”

Roger shouted, “FOUR!? Jesus Christ!”

“Four? What are they?” Abigail asked.

Dr. Paltee explained, “Yes. Four, Abigail. They live in you, nestled within your totem, and when you need them, when you call them, they come forth. Look.” Dr. Paltee spread the pictures of the tattoos on the table and placed them in order. He pointed as he spoke. “This icon, as you know, is mine. This is where the name
Flutter
came from. This here,” he pointed to another, “is your first possession, an eagle.”

“That would explain the eagle in my dreams? And the winged figure I dreamt about on the way here.” Abigail tried to make sense of it.

“That could be the case. An eagle can read the wind like no other animal in the sky. It is fearless of heights and can predict changes in the wind. It’s a very sharp animal. This was a subtle possession since the soul of any bird is rather small. The second… the Taurus. Not to mention it’s your zodiac sign– we needed your determination to be so powerful that even in the face of death your goal would be to complete the mission. No animal is as stubborn as the bull and it is also very strong. The bull has a big spirit but is more reactive and takes a lot of stimuli to project its abilities.”

“That explains a lot,” Roger mumbled.

Paltee continued, “The white tail deer, your third spirit, a very strong spirit and very swift. We needed you to have that speed and agility. It would have been your dominant spirit but that ended with the presence of your fourth possession, the jaguar. When you get in your element, this is the spirit that dominates all others. The rest pick up where he leaves off. This is the animal we experimented with. Most others have bears or lions or deer. No one was given multiples, let alone the jaguar. It was a fragile experiment, but it worked.” He piled the pictures and handed them to Roger.

Roger suddenly felt sorry for Abigail, “Do you think that it’s okay to use someone’s life and experiment this way?”

Paltee tilted his head in shame and said, “No. I don’t. I was young then and didn’t have the experience I do now. I was trying to understand the science of my family traditions. I wanted to see if they could be used to... I’m sorry Abigail, for any pain I have caused you. This is why I am here to help you. Are you having trouble remembering things?”

She answered, “Yes. I have dreams...”

“Nightmares!” Roger blurted.

“Nightmares...” Abigail corrected herself, “all the time, but I have lost most of my memories. I recently remembered a few. I had an episode not too long ago.”

Dr. Colin Paltee said, “Your memories are within you, Abigail. You haven’t lost them. They are stored wherever your spirits have placed them. The eagle can place them in one place and the deer another. They store memories according to their needs so that they can adapt for the next time. Your personal memories will get jumbled in the mix. All will collide and come forth in your dreams.”

Abigail, “I remember your face from them.”

He nodded and said, “That is probably so.”

Roger asked, “So what
do
you remember Abigail?”

Abigail paused for a moment, thinking of where to begin and said, “I remember a car accident. I was being followed by others like me. The car spun out and I ran to an old farm. I was losing a lot of blood from the accident, so I stopped to quickly tie down the wound on my leg when I heard them closing in. I ran to the backyard through a cornfield. Eventually one of the men caught up. We fought. I was on the ground. He shot twice and whispered, ‘Run!’ I picked myself up and took off faster than ever before. I heard another shot, but I kept going. I just kept running. I don’t remember the details. Everything was a blur.” And a blur it had been. Abigail ran into downtown Boston, into the street and was hit by a car. She banged her head on the hood and went out cold. No one else was on the road at the time. The driver and passenger were both extremely drunk. They looked around and knew no one had seen what happened. They got out of the car and quickly dragged her into alley and covered her body with trash. “I woke up with bullet wounds, a bruised head and no memory of what had happened,” she continued. 

Dr. Paltee said, “They will be looking for you Abigail. I’m sure they are close. They will find you. You have to run or confront them, but you have already decided, haven’t you? You will not run.” Dr. Paltee sipped his tea, “It is not in your nature to run. You are a trained killer from a young age. You have been trained to stalk, attack, kill, and disappear without a pinpointing trace. You will fight to the end.” He looked at Roger and said, “And what do you plan to do, Roger? These men are highly skilled and trained to rip you both, limb from limb. I don’t mean to sound negative. I am here to help you, but I’m not here to give you false hopes about the enemy you face.”

Roger was offended initially, but he knew the man spoke wisely. He thought to himself,
What can I do?
He could barely fight off the four men in the alley. He was well trained with weaponry and was an excellent shot with handguns, compound bows and knives, but his hand skills were lacking. He couldn’t fight very well. He imagined how different his skills would have been if he had taken a little time to practice with Frankie and Larry in the fight club. How could he be worthy of Abigail if he couldn’t protect her or even hold up to her enemy? Roger felt a lump of shame grow in his throat and made a promise that this would never happen again.

Abigail also had a few thoughts running through her mind. All this talk about spirits and possession of animals. Now she knew that her exotic looks were because she, too, was partially Native American. She had never known anything about her past or origination, her heritage or her real family. But she did know that her enemy was strong. She didn’t feel hopeless. She was concerned for Roger for a moment, and then she remembered the artillery in his basement and his strong arms and hands. He had the build to be a strong fighter, but he lacked training. She could fix that. She knew she needed him as much as he needed her. His only weakness was his lack of confidence, and it would take more than encouraging words to build that. 

Abigail was hungry for more information. Her questions about her origin could wait. She said, “Tell me more about the company that picked up the project.”

Dr. Paltee responded, “Remember, I told you I left the project because I didn’t agree with the direction it was going? They said they wanted the research for some bullshit. It didn’t even make sense. I think they were creating corporate killers to take out the competition or… Oh my. I just thought of something. Alan Jiang. He was murdered recently. His partner is missing. His firm just invested in a firm called Indigo Inc. I remember that company poking its head around the facility. I’m pretty sure they were the company that took over the project. Yes. I think so. Let me check something.”

Dr. Paltee walked into the kitchen and grabbed his laptop off the kitchen table. His head was pounding with thoughts and memories and guilt. He was so overwhelmed. He remembered Abigail’s face, but didn’t remember her by that name. He didn’t remember her even having a name but rather having a label. Seeing her was like seeing a ghost. He thought they had killed the prototype hosts. They never said they would, but he felt it was inevitable. Yet she was here, sitting on his couch, strong and alive. He turned on the laptop and rejoined Roger and Abigail in the living room. He began to type in some phrases on Google. He pulled up the Chapel & Case company website. “See here. This is Alan Jiang. This is his partner, Robert Benson, who is missing. I don’t know who that guy is, but I bet Indigo had something to do with Jiang’s death and Benson’s disappearance.”

Roger said, “Makes sense. Look here. They said his body was dismembered when they found him washed up on the shore. This reminds me of when you fought the men in the alley. The bodies...” They look at Abigail.

She said, “Don’t even…I didn’t have anything to do with that.”

Dr. Paltee said, “Maybe not, but your friends may have, which means they are here.”

Abigail asked, “What happened to the other suits?”

Dr. Paltee said, “They were all destroyed and the plans were destroyed... or stolen.” He looked skeptically at Roger and asked, “Did your mom know anything about that?”

Roger, “No way. She barely wanted to talk about what happened. She can’t even walk straight.”

It didn’t really matter to Paltee. He said, “Hmm. Well, young lady, there is still much to discover. Keep my notes as long as you need to. They are very thorough. You may discover some things that you would have wished you never turned over the stone to uncover. Go through the journal. Study my notes and figure out things for yourself.”