Dark Creations: The Hunted (Part 4) (28 page)

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” he replied indignantly.  “My creations would never act without orders.  They’re incapable of any unauthorized functions.”

A blast exploded unexpectedly.  Terzini jumped reflexively, startled by the sound.  He was left with a loud, incessant ringing in his ears and decided against any further conversation.

“Now, if you don’t shut up, the next shot I take will not be in the air; it will be at your kneecap.”

The man made his threat calmly.  Terzini was certain he would make good on it without hesitation.  He lowered his eyes to the ground and began moving, as the man had ordered, down the gentle slope of the hill toward the brewery.  The closer they moved to the rundown building, the more faces he began to identify.  Gabriel, Melissa and her friend, Alexandra, waited, along with an unknown man with broad shoulders and bristly hair.  And they looked less than pleased to see him.

Gabriel looked up and saw Yoshi shepherding Dr. Terzini toward him.  His maker shuffled down a grassy embankment with his head bowed and his eyes lowered.  He did not parade purposefully as he did in his laboratory, and he did not march with the determination of a man who considered himself the sole benefactor of a new race.  In fact, the gait that he typically strutted with, the one that exuded utter conceit and prominence, was gone altogether, replaced with a slow, shamed saunter and included a shotgun pointed at his back.  Gabriel found it to be an altogether unusual sight, one he’d never dreamed he’d see.  Terzini was cowed, and knew it.  Everything about his demeanor–his posture, his pace, his facial expression– exuded defeat, and a departure from his former status.  His maker had always maintained a position of power, and had consistently taken measures to uphold and preserve his dominant standing.  He had employed extreme psychological conditioning techniques to reign over his creations and ensure that an uprising would be impossible.  But one of his creations was not holding him hostage.  And he had never suspected a human formed by conventional means without augmented DNA could outwit him.  Yet a person, free of genetic alteration who Gabriel counted as his best friend, marshaled the felled mastermind.  Being bested by one he considered beneath him was undoubtedly responsible for his maker’s demoralized bearing.  Terzini was in an unfamiliar predicament at the mercy of those he’d incited. 

Seeing Terzini as he was, humbled and scared, awakened a strange feeling within Gabriel.  A year had passed since he’d last seen his maker, and his only goal during that time had been to protect Melissa and his friends until they could formulate a plan.  He had not experienced any concentrated reactions at the thought of confronting his maker again, while they had waited.  Yet, when he saw him shambling down the grassy slope, he underwent one.  He did not know if he could accurately name what he was feeling, just that it was inside him, burning in the pit of his stomach and radiating outward to his extremities.  The physiologic response felt akin to an adrenaline surge.  He felt a sudden, but brief, burst of dizziness, and worried during those seconds that he would faint.  Once the faintness passed, he was left with a slightly lightheaded sensation, and a pulse that raced. 

The throb pounding throughout his entirety ticked with rises of ire. Images of Eugene flashed in is mind’s eye.  Eugene, Terzini’s earliest and deadliest creation had been sent on a mercenary mission to kill not only Gabriel, but Melissa as well.  Twice they had escaped Eugene’s murderous clutches, and the order for their death had been issued by the man approaching.  His insides hummed and buzzed with nervous energy as the fear he’d originally felt melded into pure anger, engulfed it as completely as floodwater breaking through a levee.  An intense rush of anger washed over him and the vibrations inside of him began to seep through his pores.  His hands began to tremble and his breathing became short and shallow.  Without warning, he had an irresistible urge to wrap both hands around Terzini’s throat and squeeze as tightly as he could, as he should have a year earlier when he’d had the chance.  He would have ended it all then, but couldn’t.  A year ago, he had succumbed to the rigorous brainwashing of his initial training.  The encoding, however, seemed to have diminished over time and had a lesser effect than it had then.  Jack’s voice interrupted a dangerous flood of rage that began to overtake him.

“Gabriel, is that him?  Is that Terzini?” Jack asked him.

“Yes, it is,” Gabriel answered. 

Melissa seemed to sense the fury overflowing within him and placed a hand on his arm.  Even her touch couldn’t comfort him.  Nothing could.  His wrath smoldered like glowing embers

“Do you know who I am?” Jack questioned through his teeth.

“No,” Terzini replied with his characteristic disinterest.

“I’m the man whose wife you abducted.  Her name’s Dawn Downing.  Does that name ring a bell?” he asked menacingly,

Gabriel saw the recognition register on his maker’s face.  Terzini’s features bunched and he pursed his lips for a split second.  Gabriel wondered whether the others had picked up on it.

“You have one chance, and one chance only, to live right now.  Do you understand me?  So for your sake, I hope she’s alive,” Jack threatened.

“She’s alive,” Terzini responded without hesitation.

Relief glinted in the hardness of Jack’s stare but was quickly replaced with a look of fierce determination.  Then, to Terzini’s surprise, Jack seized him by the back of his neck with a formidable hand and nearly dragged him through the dirt to the front of the brewery.   The face of the building once boasted an office where employees had punched their time cards and visitors had signed in.  The room still existed, but would not serve as a welcome post for Terzini.  Gabriel watched as Jack pulled the handcuffs that had been used by Jarrod to imprison Alexandra from his pants pocket and secured them to each of Terzini’s wrist.  Both of his maker’s wrists were wrapped around a drainpipe in the far corner of the room and shackled behind his back.

“Now, you’re going to tell me where she is and I’m going to go get her,” Jack ordered, but not before issuing a warning.  “If a single hair on her head has been harmed, I’m going to come back here and tear you limb from limb.”

Terzini took Jack’s threat seriously, as he should have, and divulged Dawn’s exact location.  As it turned out, she had never left Santa Ynez; he had hid her in plain sight.  Gabriel could tell that his maker’s words were truthful, that Dawn was where he said she’d be, and that he understood that Jack would gladly make good on his threat if she were, in fact, hurt in any way. 

“Gabriel, you and the others are going to have to look after him while I go get my wife,” Jack said as he started to dash out the office door.

“No problem Jack.  Go get you wife,” Gabriel assured him.

Jack raced out to his truck and disappeared into the night.  Gabriel looked to Terzini and was shocked to hear his maker address him.

“Gabriel, let me out of these cuffs, now!” Terzini commanded.

Laughter boomed from a foreign place inside Gabriel, and surprised both him and Terzini.  “Are you serious?  You honestly think you still have control over me?” Gabriel asked and laughed again.  “Oh man.  All I can say is you’d better be telling the truth, because he
will
kill you.”

Gabriel did not say another word.  Instead, he turned his back to Terzini and walked out of the office and into the stunning sapphire night.

“Gabriel, come back here!” Terzini called. 

But Gabriel was unmoved by his maker’s words.  He did not feel compelled to return and aid him.  He did not feel as though his legs were made of lead.  He walked, unburdened by domination and manipulation, and felt relieved to know that his maker no longer possessed any kind hold on him.

Melissa had felt an unmistakable pang in her heart shortly after Gabriel pulled his arm away from her.  His gesture had been subtle, but poignant.  He had put physical distance between them deliberately, and she knew exactly why.  She had hurt him.  And she regretted it deeply.  Standing in the face of the maniacal genius who had issued her death warrant not once, but twice, she couldn’t help but agonize over her mistake.  She had cautioned Gabriel to check that none of the names on the list of suspected creations were ‘real people.’  Her reference had been insensitive and unkind.  But she did not categorize Gabriel as she categorized the others.  After all, the majority of Terzini’s creations had been murderous mutants, completely unlike Gabriel.  Despite any justification she may have though, the fact still remained that she had said an awful thing to him, and her words had injured him.  She could not unsay what she’d said, and could not take back the feeling she had caused.  All she could do was apologize, and hope that he would forgive her.  She watched for a moment as he had walked out of the office. Terzini had pleaded with him, attempted to order him back even, but Gabriel ignored him and rushed off into the indigo abyss.  She did not know if he needed time alone, away from her, did not care.  She did not want to allow him to hurt a moment longer, so she followed after him.

“Gabriel!  Hold on a minute,” she called to him.

He spun around suddenly, and she thought he was going to lash out at her verbally.  She expected it, felt it was perhaps deserved.  But he did not say a word.  Instead, he stared at her silently.  His face startled her.  Each of his beautiful features was pained.  She saw the magnitude of her words etched in each.  In the instant that he locked eyes with her, saw his pain, she worried she had lost him. 

“Gabriel, I was wrong, for what I said earlier, the real people comment.  It was a horrible thing to say,” she blurted out.

He did not respond right away.  He just looked at her, through her, with eyes that were the same electric blue as the evening sky.  When he finally did speak, his tone was not as she’d expected.  He was not angry, or bitter.  He did not raise his voice at her and he did not accuse.  He asked her a simple question.

“Do you see me as a real person?” he asked.

“
Of course
I do.  Of course I see you as a real person, no less real than I am.  The only reason I said what I said was
because
I see you as no different from myself.  The others, they’re monsters, and murderers.  You are nothing like them.”

“Do you mean that?”

“Yes, with all my heart.  I am sorry for hurting you, Gabriel.  And nothing can excuse what I said.  Please just know that I never wanted to hurt you.”

“I’m not going to lie to you, Melissa. What you said did hurt me.  But I know you, and I know you are not like that.  You’re not mean at all.  And you’re a terrible liar,” he smiled and surprised her again.

Melissa could not stand the distance between them any longer and took several steps to close it.  She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.  When he wrapped his arms around her waist and reciprocated her embrace, she felt a degree of relief. 

“Please don’t leave me because of this,” she heard herself whisper and was shocked that she’d allowed the words to escape her lips.  She did not like feeling as vulnerable as she did, but her love for him made her as such.  He was an integral part of her life, of her future.  She did not want to feel that she was at constant risk of losing him and losing her heart in the process.  And though she had no one to blame but herself, her thoughtless words, she needed some kind of confirmation that he understood, and forgave her.  If he left, she would lose the largest part of herself.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he assured her and tightened his grip.

“Even though I said that horrible thing?” she asked feebly.

“You’d have to mean it about me to make me go,” he replied and her confidence was restored.  She knew she would never see him as anything less than the man she loved, the man she would spend the rest of her life with. 

“I love you, Gabriel,” she said and tipped her chin up toward him.

“And I love you, Melissa,” he answered and pressed his lips to hers.

“Alright, alright, break it up you two!” Alexandra complained she approached.  “Get a room already!  Jeez!”

Yoshi laughed then beamed at Alexandra.  Melissa stopped kissing Gabriel, but was reluctant to let him go. 

“Is there a hose around here?” Alexandra quipped.  “I didn’t realize you guys left us with Dr. Crazyass so you could come out here and make out.”

“We didn’t,” Gabriel said.  “We needed to speak privately.”

“Everything is cool now?” Yoshi asked.

“Yes.  Definitely,” Gabriel replied.

Melissa felt reassured and the sadness was gone from Gabriel’s face.  With the strength restored to their relationship, she felt certain they would be capable of tending to their remaining tasks. 

“Let’s do this,” Yoshi rallied and began moving farther from the brewery.

Melissa, Gabriel and Alexandra followed, and hiked until they were at a safe distance from the building perched high foothill that granted them an unobstructed view.  Melissa waited while Yoshi pulled several pairs of binoculars from his backpack.  Once handed hers, she checked her watch and realized it was five minutes before eight o’clock, the designated meeting time.  As if on cue, light materialized from the highway and startled her briefly before she realized that she and her friends were completely concealed from the front of the brewery.  She peered through hers lenses and saw that a few dozen cars approached.  Each turned off at the brewery exit.   The creations had arrived.