The Deep Beneath (8 page)

Sewell’s expression went blank and his eyes widened. “You mean –”

“Exactly.”

“But how do we know that 10 is any more reliable than 9? She could end up doing the same thing that 9 did.”

Commander Sturgis stopped and glared at Sewell. “No, she will not. She is my sole creation, and I did not allow Randall to taint her training with all his humanistic mumbo jumbo like he did with 9.” Sturgis continued the walk to her office. “Go get 10 for me. Take her to the H.A.L.F. study room. I need to have a girl-to-girl chat. Time for our little teenage alien hybrid to earn her keep.”

“Help us?” Erika asked.

H.A.L.F. 9 approached them slowly. If Erika hadn’t been holding Jack, she would have taken a step backward. After what she’d seen 9 do to the soldiers, she was uneasy about him.

“I can help your friend,” he said. “Lay him back down.”

Though Erika’s right arm felt like wobbly spaghetti from holding Jack up, she didn’t let go of him and neither did Ian.

“Your friend has lost a large quantity of blood. If he continues to lose blood, he will expire.”

“That’s why we have to get him to the hospital,” Ian said. “So please, stand aside so we can get him outta here.” Ian’s words may have been polite, but his tone was clipped.

“I can stop the blood loss.” H.A.L.F. 9 reached his hand toward Jack.

Ian pulled Jack backward and away from 9’s touch. Erika almost toppled over from the sudden jerking of Jack’s body, but she caught her balance and remained upright.

“What’re you doing? Keep your hands to yourself,” Ian said.

H.A.L.F. 9’s brows came together in what could have been anger. But his face was so smooth, his features so small and his eyes so dark and blank that it was difficult to gauge his emotions.

“Maybe he needs to touch Jack to heal him,” Erika said. “Am I right?”

H.A.L.F. 9 nodded. “I will not harm your friend. If I desired to terminate him, I would have accomplished the task by now.”

On the one hand, 9’s statement calmed Erika’s fears. But on the other, it reminded her that 9 could kill her – all of them – if he wanted to.
Note to self. Don’t piss him off.

“Let’s give it a shot, Ian. If he can heal as well as he can kill, he might save Jack’s life.”

After a few seconds, Ian said, “Fine. But if he tries anything –”

You’ll what?
Erika kept the question to herself.

They gently lowered Jack to the ground. Erika knelt and rested Jack’s head in her lap. He looked as though he was in a peaceful sleep.
Or dead
. The thought made her shudder.

H.A.L.F. 9 knelt beside Jack. He put one of his thin hands on Jack’s chest. Now with 9 so close, his features were more visible. His lips were thin and pale. He had high, prominent cheekbones but a small bump of a nose. As she stared at him, 9 met her eyes with his. Although all his facial features were unusual, his eyes were unlike anything she’d ever seen. The nearly full moon shone like a reflection in a mirror off of the obsidian orbs in his head.

Erika’s heart beat away in her chest like a runaway train. Her armpits were wet, her neck clammy. She was not only frightened for Jack, but unnerved by the strange being with his hands pressed against Jack.

H.A.L.F. 9 kept one hand over Jack’s heart as he moved the other slowly from Jack’s stomach to his chest then his shoulder.

“What are you doing to him?” asked Ian.

Ian’s voice was shrill with worry. But as Erika observed 9’s gentle touch, her fear dissipated. Jack did not gasp for air or writhe in pain as the soldiers had.

H.A.L.F. 9 closed his exceedingly large eyes. He moved both hands above Jack’s body, then hovered them over Jack’s right shoulder for several minutes. 9 spread his long, thin fingers wide and placed them on Jack’s shoulder. Erika thought she saw a faint glow around Jack where H.A.L.F. 9 held his hands.

After several minutes, Jack coughed. It was the loveliest sound Erika had ever heard. 9 stood and took a few steps back as Ian knelt. Jack rolled to his side and coughed more as he took gulps of fresh air, then fell back into Erika’s lap.

“I thought I’d lost you,” she said.

“I thought you’d lost me too,” he said.

Ian put a hand on Jack’s leg and gave it a light jostle. “How are you?”

“Shot.” A small smile curled Jack’s lips, but his eyes looked tired and his face was more pale than usual.

“Ha, ha,” Erika said. She gingerly ran her hand over his shoulder. She no longer felt sticky liquid. In fact, it was perfectly dry. There was a small scar, but the skin was closed. “Does it hurt?”

“Only when you touch it.”

Erika quickly drew back her hand.

“I was kidding. No, it’s not bad. Just a dull ache.”

“You healed him,” said Ian. He sounded surprised.

“Who healed me?”

“This … He healed you,” said Erika. She gestured to 9.

Jack sat up and blinked as he stared up at 9. “What the … I think I missed something when I was out.”

“That’s an understatement,” said Erika. “This is – well, the commander called it – him – H.A.L.F. 9.”

“What … what is it?”

H.A.L.F. 9’s face was placid without a hint of anger or upset over Jack referring to him as ‘it’. He remained so still and quiet that Erika might have forgotten that he was there if it weren’t for the creepy feeling she got from 9 staring at her with his freaky eyes.

“We’re not sure yet,” said Ian. “It was a heck of a scene you missed. H.A.L.F. 9 here took out that filthy cretin Nacho. Then a Black Hawk helicopter came, and soldiers in black camo pointed AK-47s at us.” Ian nodded his head at H.A.L.F. 9. “And this guy almost killed six soldiers without touching them. I’m still not sure how he did that. But little miss ‘never take a life’ here begged him to spare them like she’d done with the scumbag Joe.”

“Don’t start with me, Ian.”

“What? You let him go? Erika –”

“I do not mean to interrupt your discussion, but your friend is not entirely healed. I was able to halt the loss of blood, but a bullet remains lodged in his shoulder. I suggest that the foreign object be removed,” said H.A.L.F. 9.

“Can you stand?” asked Erika.

“I think so.”

Erika and Ian each took one of Jack’s hands and helped him up. He stumbled a bit, but Ian grabbed him and kept him from falling.

“I’ve got ya,” Ian said.

“I feel like I might puke.”

“Let’s get him to the car so he can lay down in the backseat,” said Erika. As they walked, Erika reached into his pocket and got his keys out. “Here, you drive,” she said as she handed the keys to Ian.

“Where to?” Ian asked.

“The clinic closed hours ago. We’ll need to go to Phoenix. Get on eighty-five and take it to the eight,” Erika said.

Erika and Ian helped Jack into the backseat of the car. 9 remained where he’d planted himself and made no move to either leave or join them. Ian got behind the steering wheel, eased the seat back to accommodate his long legs, and turned the key. The engine choked and spun but didn’t start.

“Come on, you son of a …” Ian said. He turned the key, and again the engine refused to catch.

“Be nice to my car,” Jack said.

“I will if the P-O-S starts. You got a magic trick to start this thing?”

“No. Turn the key and mash your foot to the floor.”

Ian sat back in the seat and drew in a deep breath.

Start, baby, start
, Erika thought. Jack may have stopped bleeding, but they weren’t out of the woods yet. Commander Sturgis had promised to come back for 9, and she’d likely be more prepared next time. Erika had a strong preference never to see that commander woman or her soldiers again.

Ian turned the key and the engine whined, but finally it fired up. “Get in, Erika. We gotta scoot,” said Ian.

Erika still stood by the car, looking back at H.A.L.F. 9. In the vast expanse of moonlit desert, 9 seemed so small. His huge eyes made his face look almost childlike. Though she had witnessed him nearly choke six men to death, as she looked at him now he seemed so helpless and alone. If they didn’t help 9, he’d likely make it no further than a few more dusty miles before Sturgis had him in her grasp and returned him to what he had called a prison. Though she mostly stayed out of other people’s business, she couldn’t stand the thought of her rescuer being deprived of his freedom. “We can’t just leave him here,” she said.

“Hell yes, we can,” said Ian.

“We can’t take him with us,” Jack chimed in from the backseat.

“Why not?”

Ian didn’t wait for Jack to answer. “Hmm, let’s see. Because maybe it’s none of our business. And because we don’t even know what we’re dealing with here. But we do know one thing. He killed Nacho and was about to kill six guys without using a weapon.”

“I am the weapon,” H.A.LF. 9 said.

Ian pointed both hands toward H.A.L.F. 9 in a ‘thank you for making my point’ gesture. “Like he said. He’s clearly dangerous.”

“Maybe. But he took out Nacho for us before he could fill you with bullet holes. He saved us from being shot by the soldiers. And he saved Jack’s life. So yeah, maybe I think it’s my business if he ends up back in what he called a prison after helping us like he did.”

Ian sighed loudly.

“Erika, do what you think is right,” Jack said.

“Come on, Jack. Don’t suck up to Erika because you’re trying to get out of the ‘just friends’ status.”

“I’m not sucking up to her.”

“Whatever. Look you were out of it. You didn’t see what went down. And you didn’t hear that commander lady. She made it clear that she was going to come after him. And if he’s hanging with us, that means she’ll be coming after us too.”

“She may come for us anyway, whether he’s with us or not,” said Erika.

“Do not worry for me,” H.A.L.F. 9 said. “I will run. But all of you must leave this area. More helicopters may arrive soon, and next time, the commander will send more soldiers. I do not know how many of them I can hold off.”

“Ian, I’m not going to leave him out here.”

“Come on. Don’t be a –”

“Do not say the next thing that’s about to come out of your mouth or so help me – I’m not leaving without him.”

Ian slammed his hand into the steering wheel. “Dammit, you’re hardheaded.”

“So are you.”

Ian put his head over his hands on the steering wheel. Though she couldn’t see his face, Erika knew that Ian was fuming at her. They usually saw eye-to-eye on things, which was probably why their friendship had lasted as long as it had. Neither of them liked to lose or give in. And Erika wasn’t about to give in on this one. She didn’t even consume meat because she hated the idea of any living creature suffering just so someone could eat.

It was Ian’s turn to cave. “Dammit. Go get your mutant friend. But I’m going on record as saying that I think this is a really bad idea.”

“Fine. You’re on the record, whatever that means.” If time proved that Ian was right, Erika would have more to worry about than wounded pride. She hoped for the sake of all of them that she was doing the right thing. Erika called to him. “9, come with us. You’ll at least get to Phoenix. It’ll be easier for you to make your way to wherever you’re going from there.”

H.A.L.F. 9 hesitated. He looked around as though he searched for an unseen road. He cocked his head to the side as though he listened for an unheard helicopter. Erika wasn’t sure why, but he finally walked toward the car.

“I’ll ride in the back with Jack. You take the front seat,” Erika said.

Ian sighed loudly again. She didn’t mean to stick Ian with 9, but she thought it was best for her to be near Jack in case he needed something.

Ian drove Jack’s Jetta as fast as he could over the washboard road, but still it took close to twenty minutes to hit the two-lane paved road. Erika held Jack’s head in her lap and stroked his hair. His eyes were closed, but she knew he was awake because he occasionally winced when Ian hit a particularly deep rut. Ian, normally as chatty as a ten-year-old girl, was quiet. His eyes were fixed on the road before him. The being sitting in the seat beside Ian remained as still and silent as a stone pillar. It was almost as if he weren’t there.

Erika finally broke the silence. “So what exactly are you?”

H.A.L.F. 9 didn’t turn to look at her. “I am an experiment gone wrong.”

“How can a person be an experiment?” asked Ian.

“You assume I am a person.”

“You look like a person to me,” Ian said.

“Do I look like a person to you now?” H.A.L.F. 9 removed the overly large hat he’d taken from Nacho and turned so that Ian could see his face straight on.

Ian turned his head briefly, then turned it again in a double take. “What the …”

“He has freaky eyes, doesn’t he?” Erika asked. She had no doubt that H.A.L.F. 9, whatever else he may be, was, in fact, a person. He may have been experimented on (a thought that troubled her deeply). But he was not
an
experiment.

“Yeah. How’d that happen?” asked Ian.

“I was born this way.”

“Can you see in the dark?” Ian asked.

“Yes.”

Not much of a talker, this one. It’s like an interrogation to get answers from him.

“Look, you saved us, but now we’re returning the favor. The least you can do is give us some answers,” Erika said.

“Am I not answering your questions?”

“You still haven’t answered what you are. You’re clearly not human. At least not just human.”

“You are correct. I am not merely human.”

Erika let out an exasperated breath and tried to stay calm. She wasn’t into word games and liked being toyed with even less. She needed answers but didn’t want to tick off their wild-card companion. She tried again. “Okay, you’re part human. What’s the other part?”

“The answer is in the name.”

If this had been an ordinary conversation with some asshat at school, Erika would have cursed the chode under her breath and walked away rather than endure more of what felt like a mind game intended to determine her intelligence. But seeing as how she was in a moving car with a being capable of sending her to an early grave, she kept her curses to herself.

“What name?” asked Ian.