Chapter 6: The Third Rule
Another day and another dollar as the saying went and Chuck used to think this way when he went in for his simple job, but now there was some serious news that rocked his community. People just don't go vanishing into thin air in quiet little towns, at least not usually and for Chuck it wasn't people who he had just met right before they go missing. It was a bit surreal for him that he had just met the guy hours before he went missing.
People were talking about it and reading about it and he could see an elderly couple as they sat on one of the benches near the pretzel place looking over their newspaper and reading about it.
"He was last seen right here, Bea," the husband of the two had said while waving his arms around. "The people working at the pretzel place had seen him."
"So did I," Chuck said as he approached the two. Both of them looked up at him. "I wasn't watching where I was going and I bumped into that column." He pointed at the one that smacked him in the face the other day. "And he asked me if I was okay."
"Sounds like a nice person," the wife, Bea said and shook her head. "Poor man, I hope he is well."
"So do I," Chuck agreed. "But I'm not sure if he is." He pointed towards the direction of the pharmacy. "I watched him go in there and that is the last place anyone saw him and you know what is on the top floor?"
"No," the man said. "What is it?"
"A genetic research facility," Chuck answered. "They are doing experiments with all kinds of DNA up there. I wouldn't be surprised if they are taking people as 'test subjects.'" He made finger quotations.
"Young man you are not thinking they took those men and using them for their experiments," the elderly man said.
"He could be onto something, Edward," Bea had said and pointed to a different photo in the paper. "This young man also went missing and he was also last seen here."
"Or maybe some of us need to stop watching and reading too much science fiction and making up stories," the new voice belonged to Laura and she was standing behind Chuck with her hands on her hips. "Not again." She also worked in mall security and wore her long brown hair into a pony tail. She also claimed she could kick Chuck's ass if they ever got into a fight and he believed her.
"What?" Chuck asked and noticed the way she had her hands on her hips.
"What do you mean what?" She rolled her eyes at him. "Stop scaring people with your crackpot ideas. Those people in the genetics research are working on new ways to fight diseases, not create a mutant army, not to create a clone of an alien and they are not kidnapping people to perform experiments on them."
"It's just suspicious."
"Chuck, I like you and I've actually read some of your fan stories on your Tripod site." She held up her hands. "But this has to stop. Stewart doesn't know about this and I don't want him to know about this." She closed her amber eyes and sighed. "You did everything you could do. You told the police the facts and they took down your disposition and I want to help them find those missing men. We all do but we also have to keep our feet on the ground, okay?"
"I understand." He turned back to the couple. "Sorry I just read a lot of stuff and I like to write a lot of stuff." He shrugged. "And sometimes I let my imagination run away and get the best of me."
"Oh don't worry," Edward said. "We won't tell anyone."
"I need to go patrol around the food court," Laura said. "And you need to be on the upper level at the South Sector."
"Got it." Chuck gave her a thumbs up. He cast one sour gaze towards the pharmacy before he went back to patrol.
Billy woke up to find out he was on his cot and back in the cell. He had no idea how long he was out but he also could hear Darwin and Gerald talking about…ping pong? The last thoughts that were running through his head earlier were of him trying to escape and before that they soaked him and caused him to spawn off a female mogman.
"Almost," Billy mumbled as he tried to sit up and ended up falling off the cot.
"Easy there," Gerald said as he helped him back up. "You had been out for a few hours. You even missed lunch."
"I guess that is my punishment," Billy chuckled as he sat on the edge of his cot. "I'm sorry guys. I tried to escape."
"I'm not blaming you." Gerald placed a hand on his shoulder. "You at least tried."
"And now they are going to starve me. The one with occasional bad thoughts." He noticed they had changed his briefs and now he was wearing a dark purple pair.
"I kept an apple," Darwin said and tossed him the shiny red fruit. "Won't starve."
"Thanks, buddy," Billy said before he bit into the fruit. After he had chewed and swallowed he looked around the room. "Where is she?"
"She who?" Gerald blinked.
"The girl, the female mogman." Billy closed his eyes as he tried to remember the encounter with the striped female that had came from his soaking earlier and he couldn't remember her name it was Pen—something. "The test they did. They placed me in a basin and they would add water. A few drops at first and then a little more and a little more until the dumped a large amount and soaked me and she came out of my back." He took another bite from his apple.
"Don't get us wet," Darwin murmured.
"We can do that multiplying thing?" Gerald asked.
"It took a lot of water and only one at a time and—Penny! Her name is Penny. I want to know where she is. Why isn't she here with us?"
"Different room?" Darwin asked and shrugged.
"They probably did put her in a different room since we are guys and she is a girl," Gerald said. "That makes sense."
"But she's alone," Billy said before he took a bite from his apple. Was she scared? What kinds of tests were they doing on her?
"Rescue her," Darwin suggested. "We also rescue her."
"Shhh," Gerald said as he held a finger to his lips while one of his ears was raised a little higher. "They are coming."
Billy didn't look up when he heard the one door open and he didn't look when he heard the approaching footsteps except there were two people there and one wasn't wearing shoes and their footsteps were lighter.
"Peltzer," Gerald whispered.
Billy turned to see Tim but he was not alone. He was holding the hand of a light gray female mogman with dark gray stripes and long curly brown hair. She was wearing a small pink cotton dress and she was waving at them.
"Hello," Darwin said and waved back. "I Darwin." He blinked. "I am Darwin."
"Better," Gerald said and placed a hand on the red head's back. "Uh hello uh Penny?"
"Penny?" Billy sat up. "Are you okay?"
"I feel great, daddy," Penny said. "It is nice to meet you Darwin and…" She tilted her head. "What is the name of the cute one?"
"Schrodinger," Tim answered with a smirk. He was trying to keep from laughing at something and Billy wondered what the heck was so funny.
"What are you going to do with her?" Billy asked.
"Give her a small examination," Tim answered. "And then she is going to her room and do whatever she wants."
"I would like to stay here," Penny said with a shrug. "But girls can't be with boys but I hope we can all play games soon."
"Okay sweetie, you got to see the others," Tim told her. "Now say bye bye for now."
"Bye daddy, bye Darwin, bye Schrodinger." She blew them a kiss.
"Where are you taking her?" Billy rushed to the bars and grabbed them. "Don't take her away."
"She has to go," Tim said before they stepped outside.
"Come back here," Billy said as he felt his anger rise. "Don't you dare harm her or I swear I'll." He felt a hand on his back. "Don't touch me."
"Easy there," Gerald said as he stepped back. "There is nothing you can do for her."
"That's just it." Billy smacked his hand against the bars. "I can't help her and I can't help us, not when we are like this. I don't know if we can escape." He just stared at his four fingered hand. "We are lab rats. I'm afraid we might be likes this forever." At least until he found a way to—no he can't think like that.
"No you said Clamp will help us," Gerald said. "Even if we don't escape we will be found. I been thinking while we working on that puzzle-"
"Puzzle?" Billy interrupted.
"While you were out cold they took me and Darwin to another room to solve a jigsaw puzzle together and then play a few rounds of ping pong. I don't know what kind or research that was for unless it was a team building exercise, but back to my main point I was thinking that there are people out there looking for us. My ex would have noticed something was wrong when she came by with our girls and I know Kate is looking for you."
"Kate." Billy closed his eyes. He missed her, missed his children and Gizmo. How were they going to react when they see him like this?
"You know they have the cops involved and the media and they are looking for us. Once they have the clues put together they are going to get these sick bastards—sorry, Darwin—arrested and they will find us."
"You are right," Billy said as he raised his ears and grinned. "Kate is on top of things and before you know it they are going to have the police storm this area and then we start curing us and…" He trailed off as he looked at Darwin. "Oh."
"He's going to live with me," Gerald said. "Do you want to live with me, Darwin?"
"I would like that," Darwin answered before he gave Gerald a hug.
"And I'll take Penny in," Billy said. "She is my child in a way." He wasn't sure how they were going to arrange things and was she going to sleep in Gizmo's closet room? They will make it work. The first matter was hoping Kate and the other's would find him soon.
Daniel Clamp was not one of the most patient men in the world but he knew that some things had to take time, like cooking a good steak dinner, or building a town, but when it involved trying to find one of his favorite employees and friend, well that wasn't something he could wait for. He had been calling his hired detectives every hour on his mobile phone asking and later on demanding new information. When one of them called him back after three in the afternoon after he had touched base with Kate Peltzer he almost jumped.
"Which one is this?" Clamp asked as soon as he answered. "Eh doesn't matter. Have you found them? Have you gotten in contact with the kidnappers? Are there any kidnappers? Did the police call you? Did you call them?"
"We all came across something different," the man on the other end said. "And I'm Carson by the way."
"Well what do you have?"
"I thought we all could meet at my office and don't bring everyone involved. It's a small office."
It didn't take Clamp long to reach Carson's office and it was small, just a single large room with a desk in front for his receptionist and a desk in the back for Carson to use along with a bathroom and closet. The receptionist wasn't there but the other hired P.I was there and she was a former bounty hunter. She was leggy, attractive and had her copper colored hair in a bun. The fourth person in the room was of course Frank Forster. Carson was middle aged with salt and pepper hair and was seated in his chair.
"What do you have for me," Clamp asked as he ignored the combined odor of stale coffee and cigarette smoke.
"I got some video from the airport," Carson answered. The man wore wrinkled clothes and didn't shave that day. "Where Hopkins's car was found. Now a man fitting Hopkins description at least by hairstyle and was wearing the same outfit as him was seen leaving this medical facility Thursday night. Parking lot footage has him or rather someone looking like him from behind, getting in his car and driving away and there is footage from La Guardia driving there. His car was parked a security blind spot though."
"What else?" Clamp asked. From what he had learned the car at the airport was a dead end.
"I asked for the footage after and took note of all the cars that had left since then. I got footage for the following six hours. I have all the cars makes and models and licenses plates. They are being analyzed as we speak. They have reported at least seven also arrived at the airport within the six hour time frame as well."
"That's it?" Clamp asked trying not to allow him to hear how disappointed he was.
"Cops received an anonymous tip," Avers added before she placed a stick of gum in her mouth. "Someone said they saw Peltzer enter the clinic and they suspect it was the genetics lab on the top floor, but the cops think this tipster is just some kook."
"They are still going to talk to these genetics people," Clamp said as he remembered the Splice of Life lab that was in his old building. "I don't trust these genetic scientists. There are just some things man shouldn't mess with."
"The tipster said he thought Peltzer and Hopkins were nabbed by them to be experimented on."
"Sounds like something out of Science Fiction if you ask me," Avers added.
"So did the Internet at one time and look where we are now," Clamp said. "I agree with this anonymous guy. I had a similar lab and they were making daytime bats and electric rats. They had all their freaky experiments lying around and it created a variety of monsters and…well it was on the news. You did see that right? We got it under control."
"The little green and brown things?" Avers asked as she raised her eyebrows. "Those were real? I thought it was some strange show you were testing at the time. I mean the newscaster was Dracula."
"They were real all right," Frank answered. Clamp had remembered how he had tried to keep a cool head throughout the incident, until they came across the lone female one that had the hots for Frank. Greta still lives with Frank and they all agreed she wasn't a threat and they have done a great job in preventing her from getting wet.
"That is what you remember?" Clamp asked and shook his head. Fred was now one of his leading anchormen and had long since ditched the vampire get up. "It's not important right now. What I want is to find out what happened to those men. Where are they?"
"We will be investigating everyone in that building," Carson said. "My sources showed me that Peltzer had entered the building via the pharmacy that connects to the mall and nobody has seen him leave and yes I made sure the authorities were also informed."
"They have seen someone matching the description of Hopkins leave," Forster said and held up a hand. "I also have spoken with an employee from the Casual Male and they said someone purchased the exact same suit that was seen on Hopkins an hour before they saw him leave the building."
"Description?" Clamp asked.
"Pale and twiggy with long dark hair and a goatee," Forster answered.
"Talk with every employee," Clamp ordered. "With every technician, receptionist, cashier, janitor, scientist everyone and ask if they saw this twiggy red head. We will leave no stone unturned."
The punishment for his escape attempt earlier wasn't as severe as Billy had thought. They were given paper and pens and markers for art and even comic books to read. Some were from a few series that Billy hadn't read before but he enjoyed reading them, but not as much as he enjoyed watching Gerald help Darwin improve his reading skills. He wondered if Penny could read and what she was doing. Was she scared? Was she lonely? He hoped they gave her something to read or keep her mind occupied.
While he had read it did keep his mind off his growing appetite and he noticed the others were getting hungry from the sounds coming from their stomachs.
"They're late with dinner," Gerald said as he placed some of the cards he was given out in a solitaire fashion. "It's almost six thirty."
"Still have plenty of time," Billy said and rubbed his stomach. "But you are right they are late. Just try to keep our minds occupied, unless they are trying to hurt you as well for what I have done earlier."
He decided to work on some art and used a pen to create a large multi headed dragon. He was working on the scales design when he his hands were shaking. His stomach hurt and he felt almost nauseous. When were they going to get dinner? He looked up at the clock and it had just struck nine.
Salvation came when he heard the sounds of steps on the tiles. He set the picture aside and sat up when the door opened and Hector entered the room.
"Sorry guys. We all got held up," Hector explained as he slid the trays through. "Seems there are bunch of private investigators trying to talk with everyone in the building. Talked to me and they really grilled Tim but haven't spoken with Doctor Friedrich yet. I got ya some take out. Fried rice and Pu pu platter."
"We have to eat Pooh-pooh?" Darwin asked in a weak voice and looked at Gerald for confirmation.
"No it's spelled differently," Gerald assured him. "It's like a lot of different tasty appetizers. There is usually egg rolls and fried shrimp things and meat on a stick."
Billy tore of the lid to his tray and didn't even bother with the fork or spoon. He shoved handfuls of the rice into his mouth and chowed, only pausing to take a sip from the drink in the sealed container, iced tea with just a touch of sugar. Once he had finished the rice he moved onto the rest. The eggroll was gone within seconds, followed by the chicken, the rib, the shrimp, meat on a stick and the last was a crab rangoon. Once he had finished the last of his drink he let out a belch.
"Peltzer," Gerald said with a mouthful of food.
"Sorry," Billy said in a sheepish tone. "Excuse me." He watched as the others finished their food. "We all made pigs of ourselves."
"We were starving," Gerald explained after he took a long slurp. "This is also the best tasting food they have gotten for us and that might have been our other new instincts."
"Gizmo has better manners than the ones we just displayed, but you are right we were starving." He picked up his tray and set it back through the slot. He made his way back to his drawing and continued to work on the scales.
He had only worked on it for a few seconds before he felt drowsy. Well that makes sense. People usually get sleepy after going without food for a while and then gorging themselves. It wasn't just drowsiness. It felt more like the effects of the drugs that were used on him. The pen fell out of his hand and he crawled onto his cot. Perhaps a little nap would be nice. Rolling over he could see that both Gerald and Darwin had also fallen asleep. He blinked his eyes when he saw something oozing over Gerald's fur, something green and almost slime like.
"No we didn't," Billy gasped and forced himself to sit up. He looked at the clock and saw that it was nine thirty. It wasn't past midnight, unless while he was out earlier and the others were in the other room the clock had been set back…then that meant they were forming their cocoons and, and it was finally happening. They were going to transform at last. He wanted to change. He chuckled as he saw the same slimy mucus on his own fur and he lowered his head, closed his eyes and allowed sleep to overtake him while he began his metamorphosis. Soon he will be larger, and stronger and soon he will be able to kill Friedrich and those other humans that helped him.