Floxham Island ~ Sinclair V-Log AZ267/M (18 page)

“Anyone
disagree with that?” I asked. Nobody spoke as I looked around at
the tired group and it was obvious that they were approaching the
end of their endurance, at least for today so I was glad that no
one disagreed. “Okay then let’s leave things as they are, at least
for now and if anything changes or we find ourselves under siege,
then we rethink okay?” Everyone nodded so we settled down to wait
for my sample to finish processing. We chatted and got to know each
other and by the time the buzzer let me know my sample was done,
several of the guys had dozed off.

The floor in
the lab was hard and I rubbed my numb backside to get the blood
flowing again as I sauntered over to the processor and pressed the
screen for a digital readout. What greeted my eyes shocked me
rigid. “Holy fuck,” I exclaimed and pressed the screen again to
ensure the information was uploaded to my own mobile sampler.

“What’s up?”
Flark called from behind me.

With wide eyes
I turned and looked at the group, the astonishment still clear on
my face. “I know who our mystery slasher is.”

CHAPTER
NINE

The room went
silent and eleven faces looked at me expectantly, eyes wide and
mouths open. They stared at me and I stared back, the knowledge I’d
just gained stunning me into silence for a moment. This was the
last thing I’d expected.

“Well?” Luggs
said as he held out both hands and shrugged.

“Sam, come on
man, the suspense is killing me,” Dex encouraged.

“It’s the kid,”
I whispered, unable to believe it myself and not surprised when
they didn’t either. “The kid did it.”

“What?” Flark
exclaimed as he looked around at the other guys. “The deaf and dumb
kid? No, no I’m sorry Sam but that has to be a mistake.” The other
guys all nodded at him.

“The sample is
confirmed as Agrillian blood type 5340QA with clone marker
reference P84MJ756, belonging to Edward Kitt.” I showed them my
sampler readout so they wouldn’t think I was making it up.

“But I thought
the old guy was Kitt,” Cap said. “Kitt Frail and his grandson Eddy
Frail.”

“Well it’s not
such a departure is it?” I replied. “Kitt Frail, Eddy Frail, Edward
Kitt; come on guys even I can work that out.”

“But he’s just
a kid,” Luggs said. “How old is he? Nine or ten maybe?”

“Old enough for
puberty to have hit,” Baz replied and I nodded.

“Y’know it
could be the old guy and not the kid,” Carl said. “We’re just
assuming it’s the kid because we know him as Eddy but if they’ve
changed their names around, the old guy could be the Edward.”

“And they’ve
probably taken names down through the family,” Baz said. “It’s
Agrillian tradition that male names continue through the
generations and they will most likely have done the same.”

“So until we
know for sure, we have to put them both into restraints until I can
take a sample from each of them and see which matches this one.
Baz, you said the clones had a mark branded on the backs of their
necks?” He nodded in reply. “What sort of mark is it?”

“The ones that
were deemed healthy were given a brand yeah but the ones that were
euthanased obviously didn’t have it. It’s a barcode with a unique
number that identifies each one. If one of the crazies escaped the
euthanasia they wouldn’t have the brand and as the kid was
obviously born within the last ten or twelve years he won’t have
it. Remember all this happened a couple of hundred years ago and
all the clones should’ve died out long ago so these two are
obviously descendents of ones that escaped somewhere. The only way
the brand is gonna help you is if the killer is one of the safe
ones who carries it, which is unlikely as he doesn’t look old
enough to come from way back then. They have normal life spans like
the rest of us so those original ones shouldn’t be alive now. He
would have to be nearly two hundred years old.”

“But they’re
clones,” Boy remarked and we all looked round at him and frowned.
“They’re identical to their parent and therefore their blood will
be identical too won’t it? That record you have could very well be
from a couple of clone generations ago but that doesn’t matter
because our slasher will have identical blood to whoever he was
cloned from. It won’t matter if he doesn’t have the brand.”

“But their
blood will be unique, don’t you see?” Baz remarked and everyone
frowned. “If they’ve been living wild for the past couple of
hundred years and interbreeding with each other, the resulting
offspring will have different blood to their parents. Remember that
it was only the first generation of them that were actually cloned.
All of their subsequent generations will be natural conceptions and
births like normal folks.”

“Then how come
the crazy thing has been handed down through their generations?”
Carl asked and I nodded furiously. That’s what I wanted to know
too.

“I heard that
the genetic defect in their brains was something that would’ve
always been handed down through their generations,” Baz replied,
“and that even though subsequent generations wouldn’t technically
be clones, they’d still have the same defect as the original clone
generation, especially as they will have only ever bred with each
other.”

“Right,” I
nodded and sighed. This was getting complicated and I ran a hand
through my hair, the vague headache making my temples throb, “so we
get them both restrained, I get samples from both and we go from
there.” My next problem was how to secure the pair of them into
restraints in a manner that didn’t upset the other folks or put
them in danger. “Now I need to work out how to get them both
restrained safely and quietly without causing a panic amongst the
other folks back there.”

“Sure thing
Sam,” Dex replied. “How can we help?”

I was touched
that they wanted to help me so readily but I was also aware that it
wasn’t really their job. What I do can be dangerous; I’m trained
and insured against mishaps but these guys weren’t. “You don’t have
to get involved guys. It’s not strictly your job and it could be
dangerous. I’d hate for any of you to get injured, or worse. You’ve
all seen what he does to his victims.”

“Stop being an
idiot Sam,” Luggs replied. “You can’t cope with the two of them on
your own, especially as one of them, or even both of them, could be
a crazed maniac slasher.” The others nodded in agreement.

“I hadn’t
thought that it could be both of them, but I suppose it could be.
It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the other one killed
Jena Marks.”

“You need the
knife Sam,” Stitch replied and everyone agreed that must be a
priority.”

“He’s not just
gonna tell us where it is though is he?” Flark said. “How do we
find it without spending hours tearing the place apart?”

“He’s most
likely got it on him,” I replied. “They normally do. If it’s a one
off killing they tend to discard the weapon but if they’re
committing serial murders, they always keep their weapon to hand.
We have to remember that when we restrain him.”

“Best idea
would be to separate him from the crowd first,” Flark said and I
nodded. “That way no one else gets hurt.”

“Absolutely,” I
replied. “And thanks guys. For all your help huh? I appreciate
it.”

“Aww buddy, you
wanna hug or something?” Dex said and everyone laughed.

After scouting
the hospital next door and ensuring no creatures were lurking
there, we dragged two mattresses into the lab and set them down in
the corner with pillows and blankets. It was time for us to leave
so I went up to the hairy guy Adam and hunkered down and smiled at
him. He looked me right in the eyes and grunted softly. As I looked
into those eyes I knew we’d made a connection and weird as it
sounds, I also knew that if I returned here in a hundred years time
and found him still alive, he would recognise me immediately.

“We’re gonna
leave you in peace now buddy. Thank you for your help. We thought
you might want to be a little more comfortable,” I said as I
indicated the mattresses. He looked at me for several moments
before giving another soft grunt and I knew he’d understood me.
Then I gazed down at Eve, cradling the newborn Floxy to her breast
and smiled. “Your daughter is beautiful.”

“Aww look at
her,” Luggs said and I turned to see all the guys had crept up
behind me and were looking at the baby.

“Ain’t she the
cutest thing you ever saw?” Dex grinned.

“She is
indeed,” I nodded. “Okay guys let’s do this. Are all the cans of
fruit opened?”

“Yep,” Cap
nodded. “All the cans of fruit and veggies and I put a big bowl of
the meat substitute on to soak. They’re on the counter top over
there.”

We left the lab
and I felt like I was leaving a friend behind. Closing the main
door behind us, we stepped out into the sunshine and listened. It
was so quiet it was spooky and I involuntarily shivered. We’d
become so used to the howls and screeches that the quiet was very
unsettling. We all agreed that getting the laser net working was a
really great idea and we felt a lot safer as we made our way back
than we had on the way out the day before. We walked down the path
towards the recreation centre and I wondered again how many
creatures were still hiding within the remaining unsearched
buildings, one of which was directly in front of us. We made our
way along the windowless wall of the recreation centre and saw the
cell wings ahead, the bodies piled up and stinking now. As we
stepped out from the shelter of the recreation centre, a crash from
inside brought us all to a stop. We hugged the wall and I looked at
my companions.

“Do we
investigate and deal with it or do we leave it and make a run for
it? Majority vote wins.” Everyone looked at each other and Luggs
swore.

“Shit. Okay
come on,” he said and stepped towards the still open main door.

Five minutes
later we hauled the bodies of four of the fat bald things outside
and shut the main door. An investigation of the building brought
the discovery of a large supply of beer which the guys were very
happy to find.

Bud was was
checking out the merchandise when he saw the hatchway in the floor
and called out. “Hey guys come and look at this.”

“That’ll be the
cellar,” Boy said, “where they keep their stock. It’ll be cold down
there so they keep it there to keep it cool. Laying on my belly, I
pressed my ear to the hatch and listened for anything that might
indicate something was hiding out down there. Silence greeted my
ear so I gingerly lifted the hatch and peered down into total
blackness.

“Okay so who’s
first?” I hissed, partially as a joke but partially because I
didn’t fancy doing it myself. No one laughed.

“Hey it was
your idea buddy,” Dex said. “After you.” This time I did hear a
giggle or two; me and my big mouth huh? Taking a deep breath, I
slowly reached down with a foot and felt the top of the set of
steps. With a last look at the guys I took another tentative step
down. As I took the third step down the blackness began to stifle
me and I recognised the beginnings of panic. A split second before
I lost my nerve the blackness below me suddenly exploded into light
and I gave a yelp of surprise, which was met with guffaws of
laughter from up above. My heart leapt in my chest and I looked up
to see Luggs crying with laughter, hands on his knees and his body
shaking with the effort.

“Great job
guys,” I grinned. “Nice.”

“Hey man you
should’ve heard yourself,” Baz replied through his laughter.
“Yelled like a schoolgirl ya did.”

“I did not,” I
replied as I hopped down the last few steps and then suddenly gave
a howl of distress and threw myself headlong out of sight of the
open hatch. It was difficult not to laugh as I dove for the cover
of a stack of boxes and lay face down so that just my lower legs
stuck out and tried to be quiet.

“Sam?” I heard
a voice that sounded like either Boy or Bud call out.

“He’s shitting
us,” Carl laughed.

“Nice one Sam,”
Dex yelled. “Bring us a beer would ya?” My chest heaved with the
effort of containing my laughter but I stayed put and listened.
“Sam? Come on Sam this isn’t funny buddy.”

“If you’re
fucking with us I’m gonna kick your ass,” Luggs grunted. Then I
heard footsteps and suddenly hands wrapped themselves around my
ankles and pulled.

“Hi guys,” I
grinned. “Who’s the schoolgirl now huh?”

A search of the
cellar revealed a huge stock of booze of all different types and we
helped ourselves to a beer apiece to wet Floxy’s head and celebrate
Hank’s genius that got the antenna working again.

“Okay, this is
what we’ll do guys,” I said. “When we get back to the Admin block,
I’ll stay outside with Dex and Luggs and the rest of you go inside.
Tell them the three of us were lost to the creatures. You then tell
them the laser net is working again and that the stores are chock
full of food and you ask Kitt if maybe him and Eddy wouldn’t mind
coming along to help shift some of it so everyone can have some
decent food. When you get them outside, I’ll despatch Kitt with a
tranquiliser dart. He’ll be out for hours so we can get him
restrained somewhere and I can test a sample of his DNA with the
sample I took from the overalls and see if they match. If they
match, then he’s at least one of our guys and he stays under guard.
Then I test the kid and see if he’s related to my sample as
well.”

“Sounds fine to
me,” Cap replied and the others nodded.

“Okay, let’s do
it,” I said and made for the stairs.

The afternoon
shadows were getting long as we made our way around to the front of
the Admin block. Dex, Luggs and I hid ourselves behind the entrance
porch that jutted out from the main door. We watched Flark as he
and the others shoved open the door and disappeared inside. Their
footsteps got fainter as I retrieved my tranquiliser gun that I had
prepared before we left the recreation centre and waited. The sound
of footsteps from within brought me out of my musings and I nodded
to Dex and Luggs. We melted back into the wall as much as we could
as we heard the main door open with the faintest of squeaks.