Part 15 (1/2)
She finally sat up and turned to look at them. Her eyes were a bloodshot, dusty gray. Joints popped as she bent, and she moaned deeply. She sat for a moment, as if whatever was controlling her was trying to adjust to its new body.
Jonathan felt his stomach drop at the sight of her. There was a morbid beauty about her. Perhaps it was just knowing who she used to be. This must have been what she saw in Bradley to make her run out to him. Her body looked stiff at first, as if she was fighting off rigor mortis; however, it seemed to be clearing up quickly.
”You may want to look away,” Guillermo told him as he placed a hand on Jonathan's shoulder. Jonathan noticed that Guillermo was holding a hunting knife. ”I'm going to make this quick, and now seems to be the time to do it.”
Jonathan turned around, but he couldn't help but glance back over his shoulder. Guillermo walked up behind Emalynn with the knife held firmly in his right hand. Emalynn struggled to turn to him as her body rapidly loosened up. He spoke something in Spanish that Jonathan didn't understand and plunged the knife into the back of her head.
Guillermo caught her as she began to twitch slightly and drop to the ground. He laid her down gently and pulled her hair off her face, then rolled her onto her back so she could see the sunrise one last time before he closed her eyes.
Jonathan walked up to the garage to grab a shovel. He would dig her grave right where they had been laying. She seemed comfortable there, and that is the closest he had been to her. He would make it a goal to bring her back a proper headstone.
The ground was soft, making it easy to dig. The tree was far enough away that roots were not much of an issue. Guillermo had covered Emalynn with the blanket and grabbed a shovel of his own. A landscaper by trade, he made Jonathan look like he had been standing still.
Nothing but a six foot hole would work for Jonathan, and Guillermo agreed. Deacon came out to help as well, and the three of them worked for three hours, taking breaks every hour or so. It was well past noon when they finished.
After wrapping her tightly in the blanket, the three men lowered her carefully into the earth. They stood over her body, each one covered in dirt and sweat. Jonathan wished he could have given her a better funeral, but he knew it was the best he could do for her.
”If you don't mind, Sophia found a bible in the family room. I've never had much time for religion, but Sophia found a pa.s.sage she wants me to read. Says she saw it on a movie.” Deacon held up the bible.
”That would be great,” Jonathan said, not being one for religion himself.
Guillermo held tightly onto the cross he wore around his neck and said a prayer of his own under his breath.
Deacon looked a little nervous as he began. ”This is from the book of Psalm,” he read the pa.s.sage, feeling stronger and more confident as he progressed. His thick Australian accent carried the verse well. The pa.s.sage seemed not only to fit their funeral, but it worked out well for their situation in its entirety.
They indeed walked through the valley of the shadow of death. Jonathan saw the scientific proof he needed to know that what they were dealing with was man-made, but he couldn't shake the thought that maybe G.o.d had a hand in it. He personally believed that if G.o.d is up there, he must be a scientist, and this whole world plays a part in his experiments.
Chapter 21.
Several days pa.s.sed before Jonathan returned to work, staring at hundreds of papers, most of which were useless. The rest of his time was spent wondering what he was doing with his life. He realized he didn't let Emalynn go, because he didn't go after her in the first place, and the worst feeling was knowing that he should have.
His father had urged him to attend church, and this is the reason why. It would be easier to tell himself she went on to a better place, but Jonathan could not believe that. The pain from losing this girl, someone he had barely known, was almost unbearable. Suicide never crossed his mind but he thought about giving up and accepting his life as it is. To just live as a lone survivor seemed simple to Jonathan. It was obvious to him now that Roger had it figured out.
He knew that would be selfish, though, as there were people counting on him, so he kept reading. The acidic paste he had created was as strong as it would become. He had tested it on a few things lying around, but wanted to test it on the undead flesh.
Guillermo and Deacon had gone out the day after Emalynn's death, and brought back a dark green Toyota Tundra. They needed something a little larger than the BMW to work with, and the four door pickup with a lift kit and thirty-five inch tires was a bit excessive, yet Deacon found it too beautiful to pa.s.s up. Jonathan's plan to leave, however, wouldn't require such a large vehicle.
The truck was fitted with a cage in the bed, made from stainless steel pipes they found in a small maintenance shop just a few blocks away. Pipes were welded to the frame and run through the truck's body. Some of these pipes were welded to spots that would protect the body from impact. The cage weighed the truck down quite a bit, but luckily the powerful engine barely noticed.
Deacon's craftsmans.h.i.+p came through when he fabricated a plow that resembled what old trains had on the front of them. Jonathan recalled reading that train engineers referred to them as ”cow catchers”. This would serve the purpose of clearing the road of fiends and other debris, reducing time spent out of the vehicle clearing the path. It would also push sharp objects away to protect the large tires.
”Wow! That looks amazing,” Jonathan said excitedly at the sight of the Tundra. The big truck brought a smile to his long-frowning face.
”Thanks, mate.” This complement made Deacon feel overly pleased with himself.
”Can you do that to the BMW?” asked Jonathan.
”I can do this to anything. I would hate to butcher that beaut though. Why would you want it done to the BMW?”
”Well,” Jonathan started, glancing down and away, ”we need to talk about something.”
Both men shared a look of concern and confusion. ”What's the problem?” Guillermo asked.
”There is no problem. It is just that I have to move along.” Deacon and Guillermo both stared blankly at Jonathan as they took in what he said. ”Basically, I am leaving.”
”Right. You've already talked about this. Here's my questions: first, where are we going to go, and second, what's the plan?” Deacon asked.
”I am going to head for the Midwest. Iowa to be exact, as I have said many times it was the last place my mom and brother were before this all went down. I would like to try and find out what happened to them. I want you to come with me, Guillermo. Deacon, you need to stay here with Sophia and the twins.”
”What the h.e.l.l, mate?” Deacon jumped down off the tailgate of the big truck. ”I've been here for you since you took us in. I owe you. You can't make me stay here while you two go out there.” He pointed beyond the wall. The pain was visible on his face.
”You do not owe me anything. You have followed me through s.h.i.+t that most people would never even want to hear about. You have the most important job of all. You need to look after Sophia and the kids.”
”So you leave me behind like the weak little boy. Too d.a.m.n small to fight, so I get the aimportant job' of guarding the fort,” His voice was raised, yet he wasn't quite yelling, and judging by the look on his face he would burst with rage. His muscles bulged slightly, and Jonathan couldn't help but think it was to prove a point.
Jonathan felt awful, but he knew it would be for the best. ”I need you Deacon. I truly do, but Sophia needs you even more. Andy and Amie need a father. Someone who can protect them and make sure they grow up healthy and strong. That is important in this world, now more than ever,” Jonathan put his hand on Deacon's shoulder.
Deacon nodded his head in agreement. He could not argue with that, and he wanted nothing more than to settle down and have a family with Sophia. ”You sure are wise for someone so young. If I find out you two had a totally awesome adventure, I'm kicking both of your a.s.ses,” and without another word, Deacon stormed into the garage.
”It's for the best,” Jonathan said glancing to Guillermo, more to rea.s.sure himself than anything.
”I agree. Besides, the more of us that go out there, the more of us there are to be eaten.” Guillermo patted Jonathan on the back as he said this.
”Thanks.” Jonathan sat on the tailgate next to Guillermo. Several minutes pa.s.sed before he finally moved. Returning to work, Jonathan let all his other worries slip away. He knew Deacon would be fine. Guillermo would be, also. These guys were his family, and he would go down fighting before he would let them be harmed. The one thing he regretted most in his life was standing by while his father was taken from him. Coming in at a close second, falling in love with Emalynn and letting her slip away, but that's all in the past.
As the sun rose the next morning, Jonathan sat at the table reading over more of the research doc.u.ments. Nothing he read so far was new to him. For years now companies had been growing organs in labs. They have also been taken out of people, cleaned out on a cellular level, and prepared for a new body.
What did surprise him, however, was reading that BCRC had actually regrown body parts on living humans. Never an arm or leg, but on a few occasions they were successful in the regrowth of ears, fingers, and toes. One doc.u.ment tells of an instance of fully re-growing a tongue.
Why was this not headline news? he thought. It seems weird that they did not make this widely known. I imagine news like this would have brought in fresh research grants.
He was correct in a.s.suming that Greg Taylor had taken notes regarding Sam. Greg referred to the boy as a ”Specimen”. Probably to keep anyone who may read these notes from knowing exactly what he was talking about. Jonathan couldn't help but notice that in most cases the as' in sample was capitalized, which made him wonder if it was to keep the boy's name in use.
”Do you ever sleep?” Guillermo asked as he walked in from the garage.
”I try. Never seems to happen anymore,” Jonathan said with a smile.
”Deacon should be in any minute. He is about finished with your car.”
”Already?” Jonathan was amazed by how fast Deacon works. He had heard them out in the garage welding and hammering. ”I would like to grab a couple of gas cans if we can find them, five gallons each or larger. Maybe we can syphon some gas out of the gas station's tanks. We'll need as much as we can carry to get us started.”
”I still can't believe you a.s.sholes are going to leave me here,” Deacon hollered as he walked through the door. He wiped oil off of his right arm with a rag, and his mood had improved since yesterday. ”I found a few spare oil filters your ol' man must have picked up, along with some oil. The Beemer should be good for a cross country trip.”
”Thank you for all your work. Both of you,” Jonathan said sincerely. ”I also would like to apologize. The BCRC trip seems to have been a bust. Although there is plenty of interesting things in these doc.u.ments, there is nothing that will help me understand this. It is truly a freak accident that caused it, or at least it seems for now.”