Inhuman (18 page)

With his face buried within my chest, I threw my head back and gave in to the moment. A primal, inhuman, instinct took over and I released all the angst, pain and sorrow I’d gained over the last few months of my life.

I didn’t care anymore. If I was only going to live a short time, I wanted to live it to the fullest.

Raising my hands over my head and pressing my hands against the ceiling of the van, I rocked my body against his. Holding me by the waist, he lifted me off and laid me down beside him. Pulling on the elastic top of my sweat pants, he raised his eyebrows twice giving me the hint to take them off.

Removing the rest of our clothes, which I found difficult laying down in the back of a van, he started taking full advantage of me.

Running his tongue along the inside of my thigh, I smiled as I anticipated where he was going next. Pleasuring me for what felt like a perfect eternity, he looked up at me, grinned and then positioned himself over me.

A stream of sunlight trickled across my face, announcing the dawn. Stretching and groaning, I cuddled in closer to Keanu’s bare chest.

“Morning gorgeous.” He smiled as he wrapped a large arm around me.

Moaning a happy sound in response, I sighed and fought to open my eyes. Running my tongue over my teeth, I desperately wished I had a toothbrush. I hoped my morning breath wasn’t too bad.

“Just stay in the back, okay?” He whispered as he carefully set the seats back into position and then moved to the front. “And put your seatbelt on, just in case.”

It was good thing I hadn’t eaten any breakfast yet, I’d probably be throwing it up by now. The stress that I’d released the night before came rushing back to me like a boomerang.

Lying down on the bench seat and waiting for the shadows to pass by the left side of the van, I slowly searched for the lap belt. The people outside the van were laughing and chatting with the salesmen. With just a thin pane of glass between us, I wondered what they would think if they knew I was right beside them, watching and listening.

The entire scenario made me wonder if I’d ever been in that situation, where there was literally someone only a foot or two away from me and I didn’t even know it.

When the group moved to the far side of the van neighboring us, I pulled the two pieces of the lap belt together and clicked them into place. I cringed with the subtle noise of the device, even though only someone with bionic hearing would be able to detect such a slight sound.

Wedged between the back of the driver’s seat and the second row bench seat, Keanu signaled me to stay down and be quiet. I couldn’t deny that annoyed me a little. What was I going to do, bounce up and down on the seat and demand an ice cream cone like a three year old?

Men.

I rolled my eyes in his direction, but he was too busy being Agent Kai.

After a few tense minutes, the salesman and his prospective clients sauntered back to the dealership. Keanu carefully moved forward and slid into the driver’s seat.

Things moved very quickly after that.

Sliding his hands under the steering wheel, he pulled a piece of plastic loose and started fiddling with some wires. It looked just like when the actors did it in the movies. Very soon, I heard the soft purr of the engine and casually, Keanu pulled out of the parking stall.

I was surprised at how calmed he looked. He even rolled down the window and let his arm hang out. After seeing him in action, I understood what he meant by ‘hiding in plain sight’. Why would anyone suspect anything was wrong? He looked perfectly natural.

With my head against the bench seat, I tried to play it calm and cool too. No such luck. Keanu apparently had practice with controlling his emotions much more than I.

I was a nervous wreck.

The baby kicked inside of me. She felt…excited. Her enthusiasm gave me hope that this plan would work.

“I can’t believe it. It seemed so…easy.” I shook my head in disbelief as we drove down the highway, now miles from the dealership. I’d relocated into the seat behind Keanu after he’d given me the okay to sit up and move.

“Yah, you wouldn’t believe some of the sneaky shit that the Majestic 12 gets away with and all because the general public is very trusting…and very naïve.” His tone was cocky, but I allowed him the moment, he’d deserved it. He continued in a more neutral tone. “It could be a few days before the dealership even realize the van is gone…if we’re lucky that is.”

Nodding, I looked above me and noticed the DVD screen flipped up.

I wonder if they have anything for me to watch?

Nevada?

As green fields gave way to drier and sandier terrain, I realized that regardless of where Keanu thought he was going, he seemed to be taking me home.

 “Keanu?”

“Mmm mm?” His eyes were locked steadfast on the road ahead of us.

“I…think we should head for Sedona.” I began and continued before he could protest. “Not to my village though, I…think I know a place where we could hide.”

The image of the cave was so clear in my mind; I could almost see the path that led to my birthplace. It was like destiny whispering on the wind, calling me home.

He looked leery as he glanced back at me through the rear view mirror. After a few moments, however, he seemed to realize that it was better to have an irrational destination than none at all.

As he nodded in surrender, I felt a wave of relief wash over me.

Home. I’m going home.

Chapter 17

Tumbleweeds bounced across the arid terrain just like you’d see in the movies. Large jagged mountains stood stoic in the background as we neared the heart of Arizona. The hot desert sun had raped the land of any humidity, starving the landscape of lush green plants or trees. There were thick forests high on the mountains where the raindrops could reach the ground before the hot sands could evaporate them upon impact.

Otherwise, the desert was a vampire with an insatiable thirst for water.

Memories of my childhood swarmed my thoughts. The Hopi natives were ingenious with the way they adapted to the searing heat, rather than suffer with its tyrannical hold over the land.

 “Which way?” Keanu drove straight along a darkening highway, the sun was just settling behind a large mountain to the west.

Indecision overwhelmed me; it was the first time I felt in charge of my own destiny for many months.

Even in the dark, my instinct was strong here. Pointing my finger south, I trusted the inner guidance that was trying to speak to me. I may not have been born a Hopi Indian, but I grew up as one and I’d inherited their sense of spiritual intuition.

The sun gave one last ray of light in our favor as we turned off the road. I wasn’t sure if we were going to find the cave tonight or even at all, but I knew that we could hide here and even the Majestic 12 and all their deceptions wouldn’t be able to trick their way through the desert.

They were on my turf now.

Noticing a good place to hide, I pointed as I spoke. “Pull in behind that big rock.” A row of free-standing rocks, over ten feet high each, would protect us for the night. Even though it was the desert, which most people believed to be nothing more than big sandbox, it had secrets that only those who knew the land could use to their advantage.

Folding down the bench seat to form a bed, Keanu and I settled down for the night. We tilted our heads to look out the back window. Devoid of any light pollution, we silently watched the stars begin to fill the night sky with sparks of illumination.

“Keanu?” Breaking the silence after several minutes, I felt brave enough to ask a delicate question. “What did you see…that made the Majestic 12 force you to work for them?”

His body tensed as he held me. At first I wasn’t sure he was going to say anything, but then he sighed and it was like the floodgates opened.

“You know how there are people claiming to be abducted by aliens?”

“Yah.” I tried to keep my tone neutral, but the weirdness factor rose dramatically with his question. But, who was I to talk; I didn’t have human DNA, so the likelihood of aliens and abductions were quickly becoming a fact I might have to deal with soon.

“Well, my parents…they believed they were being abducted…often.” He took a deep breath and then continued. “They went to psychiatrists, hypnotists and every crazy and kook that they thought would believe them. Some people claimed to believe them, but only ended up talking my parents into giving them money.” He rolled his eyes, sat up and turned to face me. “So after years of watching them suffer and be mocked by everyone, I decided to help them prove it.”

Intrigued, I perked up. How could he prove it?

He kept his eyes down as he told the story. “One night when I was fifteen, I hid in their closet…with a video camera. I thought if I could catch the aliens in action, people would believe them and…well, give them a little respect.” He shifted as though uncomfortable and continued. “Around 3 am, I saw weird lights appear outside their bedroom window and I filmed it. Their window slid open and I expected to see some little green men or something, but I didn’t.”

Totally engrossed, I leaned in like a child listening to a ghost story around a campfire. “What was it?” I asked, my voice hushed and wispy.

“Men. Dressed in white jumpsuits. They injected my parents with some sort of paralyzing hallucinogen and carried them out of the house where they, I assume, performed illegal experiments on them.” His face was somber.

“Illegal experiments?” I wrinkled up my nose as I imagined all the weird things they might have done to his parents, like the anal probes and genetic experiments I’d read about in tabloid magazines.

He nodded, but didn’t elaborate so I left it alone.

“So anyways, here I was with this footage of these guys coming into the house and stealing my parents for a few hours. Turns out they were the Majestic 12 and they do this crap quite often.” Disgust crept into his voice as he spoke of the secret sect. “I knew these guys were probably pretty powerful so I put the footage directly onto the internet. Turns out, it wasn’t such a good idea. They figured out it was me right away.”

“What did they do?”

“First they took my parents one last time and basically gave them terminal cancer. They died within six months.” Unshed tears glistened in his eyes as he spoke. “Then they took Keila and I haven’t seen her since. I knew she was alive somewhere, they’d prove that to me from time to time, but I never saw her again. They said I’d have to work for them…said I was just bright enough to be an asset to them.”

Turning away from me as tears glided down his cheeks, I saw a side of Keanu I didn’t know existed. This huge, hulking man carried so much pain within him, so much sorrow.

The Majestic 12 hadn’t just stolen my humanity; they’d stolen Keanu’s too. They’d taken a part of him and destroyed it. I may have been an anomaly at a genetic level, but I wasn’t alone when it came to being treated inhuman.

I suddenly understood why this baby was so important to Keanu. He had no family left. This tiny person was his only blood-relative—if she was his, that is.

Taking a deep breath in, I realized I had to tell him. Right now.

“You know, not to be rude but…it looks like the baby has grown a lot over the last couple days…your stomach has almost doubled in size since we left the base.” Keanu tiptoed around the sensitive topic.

Rubbing my belly, I had to agree. According to the last ultrasound, I should only be about twenty weeks, but I looked almost eight months along. Even my belly button was popped out like a fully-cooked turkey at Thanksgiving. At least, from what I’d seen in magazines, I’d never been pregnant before so it was hard to tell what I was ‘supposed’ to look like.

“Keanu.” I inhaled sharply as I prepared to tell him the bad news about the baby. Lowering my eyes, I prepared myself for the worst. “I have to tell you something…about the baby.”

His face turned very serious and he reached for my hand. Conjuring the courage, I fought back tears. What if he left me? What if he didn’t care about us anymore once he found out? Searching my entire soul for the courage to speak the truth, I started to speak.

“I don’t know if…she’s yours.” Tears ran down my face with undeserved shame.

His face paled immediately. “What?”

Trembling, I explained. “When I first arrived at the facility…I…he…” I could barely speak. The horror on Keanu’s face was almost too much for me to bear. Whispering the words through sobs, I finally told him. “Meyers raped me.”