Whisper Part 6
At the Talon…
"I'm sorry to hear you lost your column." Lana completed Chloe's coffee order with a dollop of whipped cream with swirled caramel on top. It was time to close for the night, but Lana made sure to fix one last coffee as a 'thank you' for hanging out here instead of the Torch. Lana was starting to prefer having someone with her on the nights she closed.
"It's no big deal."
"No big deal?" Lana couldn't believe what she just heard. "What's going on?"
"Nothing." Chloe took a sip of the sugary beverage. "Fine. I'm working on something big. I can't talk about it; this is their way of trying to silence me, but all it does is motivate me more."
"Good luck?"
"Thank you. Now, here's what I discovered about your mysterious alleyway attacker. That is if you're sure you want to know. It's weird. Like, weirder than normal weird."
"Tell me."
"The guy who attacked you was Tony Brock from North Dakota."
"And the weird part is…?"
"Death certificate says he died seven months ago. And it gets weirder. There have been other sightings of the supposed dead coming back to life. I just can't find the connection. One was in high school, Brock was a criminal, one was a woman, and the other was an ordinary car salesman. Different states; different time of deaths."
"What about location?"
"I just told you, they're from different states."
"No; I mean where they reappeared after dying."
"Huh. Why didn't I think of that?" Chloe frowned at her cup of coffee. "I think I'm immune to caffeine now."
"I wouldn't be surprised."
Chloe began typing furiously on her laptop as Lana returned to the closing duties.
"Hey, Chloe? What do you think about Alicia?"
"I don't really know her. Whenever she's in the Torch office it's to see…"
"Clark." Lana finished. "Is it just me, or is Alicia a little bit too possessive of him? I hate thinking I'm the jealous girlfriend when…"
"Lana, you're not crazy," Chloe reassured her. "Alicia is relentlessly pursuing our favorite plaid-clad farm boy. But if I have to guess, I think it's just because she feels safe around him. Look at this."
Lana took a seat at the Talon's counter as Chloe brought up something on her laptop.
"You know how I can be a bit thorough when preparing for interviews, right? Well, I was getting ready to interview Alicia for a 'new student' Torch article, and I came across this." Chloe moved her laptop around so Lana could view a headline which read, "Local Girl Rescued from Kidnapping."
"Turns out her boyfriend, Adam Knight, had locked her up in a windowless room for 48 hours. She only managed to get out because she was miraculously able to give 911 a call and explained where she was taken."
"That's horrible." Lana managed to feel some sympathy for the newcomer. "Does the article say why? Not that it matters."
"No. I reached out to the psychiatric ward where he's being held to interview him, but I've been told Adam isn't allowed any visitors. Or any type of communication with the outside." Chloe tapped her fingers on her keyboard. "Well, I've never been one to take 'no' for an answer. There's something here; I just need to keep digging."
At the Kent house…
The Kent family dinner had just ended. Clark used his superspeed to put the leftovers away, wipe down the table, wash all the dishes, and give the floor a good sweep.
"So, Alicia's cute." Mrs. Kent prodded as she poured herself a cup of decaf coffee.
"Yeah." Clark said noncommittedly.
"Will you be seeing more of her?"
"Yeah." Clark hesitated before adding, "We're actually going on a date."
"What about Lana?"
"We're friends."
"Are you okay with that?"
"I have to be." Clark forced a smile.
"Clark, is that the reason you've been helping around the house more without being asked? Like you just did right now?"
"No. Actually, Mom, could we sit in the living room? I have something I want to give you."
"Sure, sweetie."
Clark came back with a neatly wrapped box. Once his eyesight had returned, Clark went back to Smallville Jewelers store to purchase the gift. He was beyond thankful that Mrs. Breyfogle had wrapped it for him at no extra cost.
"What's this for? It's not my birthday."
Johnathan observed the interaction and joined them. Clark was silent and just waited for his mom to open the present. Inside was the small, blue glass box he had briefly looked at.
"Clark," Mrs. Kent said. "It's beautiful."
"It's from the Smallville Jewelers store. This was one of the few glass pieces that didn't break during the robbery. It reminds me of you: unbreakable." Clark felt his eyes tear up. He tried to discreetly wipe away a tear, but he was no match for the eagle-eyes of his mother.
Mrs. Kent saw her son's distress. "What's wrong, baby?"
"I'm so sorry," Clark confessed. "I hurt you. I killed your baby. And I hurt dad."
"No, Clark, I'm fine," Mr. Kent tried to assure his son.
"I heard you. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I heard you. Something's wrong, isn't it?"
Johnathan sighed. "I've just been a little tired lately, that's all."
"Johnathan," Martha chided.
"I've been tired and feeling out of breath; it's no big deal. I have a physical coming up and everyone can calm down when I get a clean bill of health."
"And you didn't feel that way until after making that deal with Jor-El. It's all my fault."
Mrs. Kent carefully placed the delicate box on the coffee table. She went over to hug her son, and it did not take long for her husband to join in.
"Clark, listen to me," Mrs. Kent said. "I do not blame you for what happened. I'm just so thankful you're back here where you belong."
"But if I had…"
"You can't live that way, son," Mr. Kent said. "You can only learn from mistakes and keep going. And I'll be right there to help you fix them. That is my privilege as your father."
The Kents spent a good time on the sofa, hugging each other close and wiping away their sons' tears.
In Metropolis…
Bobby Big Mouth's ears echoed with the sound of his chewing. He coughed from the cloud of smoke lingering in the front of the delivery truck. His companion was not talkative, seeming instead to prefer smoking cigarette after cigarette.
It had been a slow day picking up tips for the scoop-hungry journalists at the DP. Word on the street was, Chloe had gotten the sack. That didn't mean the girl lost his number. He was still helping her track down leads for this Clark Kent guy and the disreputable CEO, Lionel Luthor.
He reached out to his contacts to get some lunch money. As fate would have it, he was brought to a specialized courier that transported dead bodies. It had the logo on the van Bobby had seen on the paperwork from Lionel's office: two hands forming a red-filled heart. After some gentle prodding and bribing, Bobby was able to get details on how he could sneak in to the overly secured abandoned building.
"We're five minutes away," the driver said between puffs of smoke. "Hand it over."
Bobby handed over a wad of cash that would feed him for a week. Fine; three days. His stomach growled at the injustice, so he pictured the feast Chloe would be supplying him with instead.
"Now, when we park, you'll help me transport the stiff. Then you follow me back out and into the truck."
"Where I take off the official jacket and we drive two blocks down." And then I wait until half past so the security guard is on the other side of the building. Bobby knew this from his own surveillance work on the place.
Getting into the place was tricky. The door was being opened by those inside for them. There was no security badge for Bobby to snag. But that didn't mean he couldn't get back in. Bobby chewed away at his piece of gum.
"Don't know why you want to get into that place." The driver expertly tossed out the old stub and lit a new cig while still driving. "I can never wait to get back out."
"You don't need to."
The car parked and things went like clockwork. Bobby and the driver went round to the back and pulled out the cargo, a dead body complete with blue lips, outside.
The door was opened and inside was one smoking hot doctor waiting for them.
"Far enough," she ordered.
Bobby thought he could hear the chattering of animals further inside. There was not much else to see. The body was taken off the gurney and the two of them went back to the truck. Bobby staged a fall, making sure to put his gum on the inside of the door.
LLLLLLLLLLLLL
Bobby was successful sneaking back inside. From what he could hear, no alarms went off. For the high security door, not much else in the building had been brought up to code. Bobby climbed up so he was walking among the rafters. Hidden in the ceiling, Bobby snuck further inside the building. There were holes in the ceiling, offering small views of the rooms below.
Bobby did not have to travel far until he could see the doctor standing over the dead body. The corpse was laid out on a medical table. Only a small section of the decaying room had been turned into a small lab. The doctor prepared a syringe on a small nearby table. The syringe was stabbed into the corpse's chest.
Bobby couldn't believe his eyes when the dead body started gasping for air. The corpse got up and started breathing like it had a severe case of asthma. Bobby covered his mouth so he didn't scream. The dead were rising!
"Can you tell me your name?" The Asian doctor asked. She asked again and again, but no response came out.
"Can you tell me where you graduated from? Your hometown? Your favorite color? Anything?"
The zombie continued to stand still as a statue, just breathing. The doctor swore and threw the syringe across the room. She gasped as Bobby heard it clatter to the floor. "Mr. Luthor. I didn't see you there."
"Another failure, I take it?" Lionel Luthor himself strode into the makeshift lab, two security guards on either side.
"Maybe," the doctor's voice quivered. "Perhaps in an hour or two, the subject shall gain cognizance."
"Perhaps. In the meantime, I suggest on perfecting the formula."
"Mr. Luthor, as I've explained, I need more."
"And as I've explained, Dr. Teng, what you have is all there is. So, get it right the first time. Do I need to remind you of what's at stake? You need me, and you need me cognizant to keep those wolves at bay."
"Well, that blonde better speed things up. I only have enough for one more trial."
"Put him with the others," Lionel motioned to his security guards. The two kept their distance from the zombie as they poked him to move to another room.
"How many have we been able to recapture?" Lionel asked as it was a slow process.
"All but four, sir."
"Good evening, Dr Teng. I expect good news next time."
Lionel left, but Bobby went in the opposite direction to see where the security guards had taken the zombie. Bobby could only peer down, from a hole in the wall; there were no rafters that ran into that room. The view from above was that of a pound shelter. Rows and rows of wire cages.
Except inside each cage was a person; or what used to be. Their heads leaned to one side, and they slightly swayed or stood still as statues. Moaning statues.
What the hell?
Bobby took a moment to process all he had seen. He felt cold and suddenly very panicked that he might end up in one of those cages himself.
"Sullivan, you owe me that buffet."
I cannot recommend enough the short story "Baby Mine" by SenseiGrace, which is about Clark healing from his guilt over the actions that caused the baby's death. The show really needed to give us a much longer scene of Clark realizing his parents forgave him for what happened.