The Suicide Project (Rebirth Book 1) (11 page)

I noticed that Sergeant Ramsey was staring straight at me again, probably scrutinizing me for any clues as to what I might be thinking or feeling. I only raised both eyebrows at him in expectation as I calmly declared, “Proceed.” The corners of his mouth pulled down into a slight frown of disappointment at my lack of emotion, and I had to clench my teeth to prevent my grin from slipping out.
Game on! Operation “Poker Face” was now officially in effect!

The sergeant cleared his throat before picking up where he left off. “Some of the other potential soldiers had the opposite reaction as you guys when they first learned why they were here. A few of them were angry that they were drafted into the program against their will. About half of them suffered from depression and lacked the will to live. A couple of em’ were
still
suicidal after completin’ boot camp and even begged us to let them finish the job they started.” Sergeant Ramsey blew out a frustrated breath as he reached up to rub away the tension from the back of his neck. “When they found out that they were being held here as test subjects for experimentation with genetically enhanced animal DNA, well, let’s just say that the overwhelming consensus was not favorable. As y’all can imagine, we wouldn’t have much of a program if the majority of the test subjects were unwillin’ to cooperate.”

I contemplated what the Sergeant said and concurred that
of course
not everyone would be as open minded about the program as Sam, Gideon, and I were. People were like snowflakes, everybody was vastly different from one another. However, after having spent time with the sergeant during these past six months, I definitely sympathized with his feelings of frustration that things weren’t going according to plan. I was beginning to see where Sergeant Ramsey was going with this now, if the majority of the other test subjects were already pessimistic about the program from the get go. I felt the prickle at the base of my neck that signaled the sergeant was looking at me again. I mentally did a fist pump to congratulate myself over the fact that I still had a blank expression plastered on my face as I calmly returned his stare. I decided to reward myself with chocolate when this meeting was finally over. Whenever the heck that would be.
It was hard acting like an unemotional zombie!

My confidence started to slip as Sergeant Ramsey started eyeing me with suspicion.
Oh no! Poker face!
my subconscious screeched at me. I noticed that Dr. Duffy and Jamie were both openly smiling at me, so I knew that they were both on to my game.
Damn! Am I REALLY that transparent??
There was another few seconds of silence before the Sergeant began talking about the program again.
Whew!

“Currently, there are a total of five groups within this program. One of the groups is being supervised by Sergeant Quartermaine, and his group happens to be made up of three former soldiers who were all suffering from PTSD, aka post-traumatic stress disorder. Dee, Wyatt, and Angelo are the only other test subjects who have actually earned the right to receive additional DNA injections. Since they’re already soldiers and possess the necessary skills, they’ve already been out on a few secret missions under Sergeant Quartermaine’s leadership. We kind of consider them to be a separate “project” because so far, they have highly exceeded all of our expectations. They’re extremely advanced in all areas. Our hope is that you three will become as equally competent as Dee, Wyatt, and Angelo. Anyways, you guys probably won’t run into them until much later since they’re always coming and going. They haven’t had direct contact with any of the others because they’re being housed in a separate wing of the barracks. The others probably aren’t even aware of their existence yet and we want to keep it that way.” Huh. Then why the hell was he mentioning them to us at all? I was dying to ask the question but I bit my lip, determined to maintain my nonchalant façade. Besides, I had every faith that either Sam or Gideon would ask that very same question.

Peeping at Gideon out of the corner of my eye, I could tell by his expression that he was baffled by my silence as he peered back at me. After all, silence was definitely not my forte so he had every right to be confused. Yet, he beat Sam to it as he asked the exact question I knew he would.
What a dork! It was his idea to practice my poker face in the first place! How quickly he forgot…

Glancing back at Sergeant Ramsey, I noticed that he was staring at me appraisingly, and I mentally sighed as I saw that he finally realized what I was doing. He grinned at me approvingly for a couple of seconds before answering Gideon. “Unlike all of you guys, Sergeant Quartermaine’s group
volunteered
to be here. They already worked for the government so they were filled in on what the project was about, and they were given choices which you guys didn’t have. If the other groups found out about them, well, it would just be another strike against us. We’d have an uproar on our hands if they found out about them.”

My eyes widened in surprise when Sam suddenly clapped both of his hands on my cheeks and forcibly turned my head so that I was facing him fully. “What’s wrong with you, Teagan?!” he demanded. “You’re being so quiet, and you’re
never
quiet. What’s the matter?”

Dammnit!
I just sighed over the sound of Jamie’s explosive laughter while trying to shake my head free out of Sam’s grasp. Behind me, I heard Gideon snort with laughter as I just crossed my arms over my chest and sulked.
Game over!
I had convinced myself that I could keep up the act of impassivity for the rest of the night if I concentrated hard enough. Thanks to Sam, it hadn’t even lasted five minutes. Oh well. I congratulated myself on a good start.

The sergeant tried to mask his laughter with a cough, while inhaling and attempting to clear his throat all at the same time. What came out was a weird, snuffling rumble of a sound. Rolling my eyes again at him, I shook my head as I regarded Sam with admonishment. His expression of innocence was genuine as he just looked back at me with confusion.

Dr. Duffy took the opportunity to point out the obvious to the otherwise clueless Samuel. “Teagan is practicing masking her emotions, which is actually a
very
good idea considering how expressive her face is. Things are going to be different once you three relocate to the larger barracks, and all three of you need to practice maintaining neutral expressions. Not everyone is as trustworthy as you guys and you’ll have to learn on your own who you can and cannot trust.”
Again with the cryptic statements!

Sam looked at me with apology in his eyes as he confessed, “I don’t like the Robot Teagan. I like being able to look at your face and seeing exactly what you’re thinking and feeling.”

Nurse Jamie added, “Sam sweetie, it’s only when you three are alone that you can be yourselves. These next few weeks that you take settling into the barracks, we just ask that you guard your thoughts and emotions until you can judge for yourself who you consider trustworthy. But just for the record, know that you can approach any of the other sergeants in confidence. They’re here to help you in any way they can. They’re actually pretty eager to meet you three. All of them are a wee bit jealous of Sergeant Ramsey since he’s in charge of your unit, and they all want the opportunity to work with you three too.”

Ignoring the smile of pride Sergeant Ramsey beamed our way, I was quick to interject, “I’m sure we’ll talk all about that later, but for now you guys have seriously strayed from the main topic of conversation.” I leveled a serious look on all three authority figures as I chastised, “Don’t think you can sidestep my question. What side effects were you guys referring to?” I had no qualms about demanding to have my questions answered. Recalling the defeated expression on Dr. Duffy’s face from earlier, I was starting to grow impatient for answers.

“We didn’t forget, we were just working our way up to that,” the sergeant grumbled peevishly at me. Studying the no-nonsense expression on my face, Sergeant Ramsey turned to Jamie and nodded at her. Jamie stood up from her seat and with a nervous exhalation of air, she looked at me, Sam, and Gideon directly in the eyes before slowing raising the hem of her scrub top. I leaned forward slightly as Jamie stood there with her shirt raised to just below her breasts. She just stood there as she continued to watch us expectantly. I felt my mouth drop open a little in shock as I took in the sight of five slight lines along each side of her waist. Whipping my head around to look at Gideon, I saw that his gaze was flitting back and forth between Jamie and the floor as a pink blush tinged his cheeks in embarrassment. I resisted the urge to laugh at his reaction. For God sakes, Jamie was decently covered! She was only flashing us her waist. Trembling with excitement, I stood up from the sofa and slowly approached Jamie. When I was a foot away, I reached a hesitant hand out to her left side and breathed, “May I?” A look of uncertainty passed over her face briefly before she nodded her head in assent.

I slowly eased to a crouch on the floor beside her and gently traced my fingers over the lines above her hip bones. Gills?! As I stroked them, they suddenly flared open for a split second before fluttering quickly closed again. I gasped and jerked my hand back as I felt Sam and Gideon lean over me to get a closer look at what had caught my attention. I heard their echoing gasps as they finally realized what Jamie was trying to show us.

“Holy Crap!!” Sam whispered from behind me. He didn’t sound disgusted though. There was wonderment in his voice, which probably matched the expression on my face as I gazed incredulously back at Jamie.

“What are you?” I queried, a soft smile shaping my lips.

I found it curious that Jamie seemed relieved with our reactions to her revelation. “I’m part Angel Shark. These gills allow me to stay under water for long periods of time. Not all test subjects will display the same traits, but most of us that have shark DNA will usually grow gills. They’re not always in the same place though. Dr. Duffy is an example of that.”

My head jerked in Doc Duffy’s direction as Jamie revealed that he had shark DNA as well. I felt that my eyes were probably bugging out of my head at the news, but I found it hard to retain my neutral façade. The information they were revealing to us was just too exciting for me
not
to react. I wasn’t sure which was more shocking… the fact that our bodies would physically develop animal characteristics, or the fact that the military staff seemed to be test subjects as well. I couldn’t dwell on it further at that moment, because Dr. Duffy stood up and jerked on the top of his white turtle neck. He revealed that he had five long gills on either side of his neck.
Whoa!
It suddenly made sense now why he always wore turtlenecks. I found it odd he wore them in the first place considering that we were in the middle of the desert. Granted, the buildings were all air conditioned, but I always wondered whether or not he was sweltering in his clothes as soon as he exited any of the buildings and walked outside.

“Wow!” Gideon and I exclaimed at the same time, as we both stood up to get a closer look. “Bull Shark” Doc Duffy informed us without us even having to ask. “We have to hide our physical anomalies from the others because the first time we mentioned animal DNAs to them, the majority of them were appalled. After we told them about physical changes made to the body
after
the injections, all bets were off. None of them wanted anything to do with the project. Consequently, we decided not to reveal to them the fact that we’re already altered.” I heard the sadness in his voice with his last sentence.

Sergeant Ramsey approached us as we all hovered around Jamie and Doc Duffy. “You guys were our last hope for the project because you three have a different mindset than the others did when they arrived. We’re hopin’ y’all will be a positive influence on at least half of the others so that we can continue on with the project. The alternative doesn’t bear considering in our opinions. But we won’t get into that right now.”

Whipping his army green t-shirt over his head to display his wide muscular chest and broad shoulders, my gaze diverted to his ribcage where I saw five gill slits decorated him on both sides. “Stingray” he informed us with a slight smile.

Unable to contain myself a minute longer, I clapped my hands together and danced from foot to foot as I exclaimed, “That is SOOOOO freakin’ awesome!! Oh my God! I can’t believe what I’m seeing!” I laughed excitedly as I pivoted around to judge what Sam and Gideon thought about the “anomalies”.

Gideon’s expression matched mine exactly and he did not seem appalled or repulsed in the slightest. His only comment was, “I wonder where
my
gills are going to show up.” Turning to Sam, I was surprised to see disappointment on his face. Propping my hands on my hips, I tilted my head to the side and asked, “What’s up with the frowny face? What’s on your mind Sam?”

Sam blew out a loud, dramatic sigh before explaining his concern. “You guys all have the DNA of sharks or stingrays, and I only have dolphin in me. Dolphins don’t have gills! Does this mean that even though I’ll be a better swimmer, I still have a possibility of drowning?” Relief flooded me that he, too, was on the same page as Gideon and me and thought the animal traits were incredible and not revolting. However, Sam’s concern was legit and I turned to look at Sergeant Ramsey to see what his answer would be. I saw that Jamie and Doc Duffy were biting back laughter over the issue of what Sam was disappointed about. Then again, it could’ve been laughter of relief. It could really go either way, I surmised. Bottom line is that I could plainly see they were all relieved over our reactions and how accepting we were about what we could physically expect in the near future.

Clearing his throat, he cajoled in a soothing voice, “Sam, I guess you do still have the possibility of drowning however, I’d like to point out that it’s highly unlikely. Remember, you have the DNA of a tiger in you, and tigers are excellent swimmers. Also, with your dolphin DNA you’ll be able to hold your breath under water between seven to ten minutes. Maybe even longer.”