IN BLOG WE TRUST - The Final Chapter

The Final Chapter

It seemed like forever but, Gordon awoke with his body feeling like he just finished skydiving . . . . . without a parachute. Despite that, his head felt clearer and he forced himself out of bed. As soon as entered the living room, he realized that he was alone in the apartment. Winchell and Jackie had gone. Gordon went to the fridge and poured himself some Orange Juice. It tasted good. On the kitchen counter he found the note:

G,
You need the rest. Couldn’t wait. I left you Jackie’s spare cell phone. We will call you when we can. If we don’t make it back, see what you can do. If you are smart you will get out of town.
Winch

“Dammit!”

Gordon poured more juice and looked through the cabinets for something to eat. What was available did not make him smile. He sat down on the couch and closed his eyes. After about 10 minutes, he through his feet off of the coffee table, grabbed his coat and left through the front door.
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Winchell and Jackie drove up to the company in his Cavalier with the lights off. They stopped a short walk from the Company’s main entrance and began walking.

“Well, at least we won’t have a hard time selling the “my car broke down” story.”

Winchell gave Jackie a sideways look and forged on toward the gate.
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Amalee returned from the elevator to Supervisor X’s office to find it empty. Odd?!? There was no obvious way out of the office that didn’t pass the bank of elevators where Jack and Jim were retired from the Company’s service.

“Interesting . . . . . . . clever bastard.” She said softly to herself.

As she turned to go, the door refused to open. Startled, she looked around quickly and noticed the there were no windows and no other exits.

. . . . . . .”Oh No! You’re dead!”
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Supervisor X appeared from a dark corner of the lab.

“Colonel Hart.” He said matter-of-factly.

The Colonel barely reacted with but a slight movement of his eyes. Obviously, not the first time that the Supervisor had appear from this direction. ”Sir.”

“Is everything ready?”

“Almost. The machine is going through its final “nutrient cycle”.”

“Don’t delay. The Company will be most unhappy if the project breaks down this close to completion. . . . . deadly unhappy.”

“Got It!”

Just then Supervisor’s phone buzzed.

“Yes? . . . . I’m told we are close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Yes.”

As he hung up the phone, X glanced at the Colonel and hit the EXECUTE button as he walked out. “Get it done. . . .NOW!”

Lights began flickering. A variety of unseen machine began cycling towards various unknown functions. After a moment, a pipe burst and a steamy liquid began to cover the floor of the lab. As it touched a bank of computers, sirens began to flash and sirens began to wail.

With the reinforced glass container, project WRKRBE-10 began to move.
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As Winchell and Jackie approached the guard shack at the entrance, they both tried to put on their “composed” face.

Winchell spoke out the side of his mouth, “These guys know me. We shouldn’t have any problems.”

“I like the optimism, but I don’t think it is going to be that easy.”

“You could open a few buttons on that shirt. That might help.”

“Remind me to kill you if we live through this.”

Just then the guard stuck his head out of the booth. Winchell, is that you? Did you car break down again??”

Winchell looked at Jackie like a proud peacock, “I told you that these guys knew me.” To the guard, “Yeah, it’s up the road a few . . . . .” Just then, sirens rang out. The guard turned and ran towards the building where the project laboratories were located.

Winchell and Jackie looked at each other and shrugged. “That was easy. Let’s go.” Jackie said.
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Supervisor X walked at a quick pace towards his office ... his actual office. The phone call had made him uneasy. The project and the alarms had added to his dismay. The pile of bodies that were starting to stack up in the building didn’t bother him, he just felt like things were getting out of control. . . . out of HIS control. It was time to disappear.

Winchell and Jackie made it to the building without incident. Everyone seemed to have their attention elsewhere. Entrance to the building was not a problem. Apparently, nobody was suspecting them of anything. If they were, they weren’t suspecting them enough to deactivate their keycards.

“Everything seems to be going easy enough . . .” said Winchell.

“. . let’s take the stairs!” Jackie finished.

“I was just going to suggest that. You must really think that I’ stupid!” said Winchell.

Together they quietly walked down a short corridor and went into the nearest stairwell.

“Okay, Mr Wizard. Where to!?” Jackie jibed.

Winchell made a Kreskin gesture towards his forehead. “Since we know most of this place except the lower lower level, I see us going down there.”

“Okay, about 15 flights of stairs. . . .I should only have to carry you down about 6 or 7 of them. Unless, you do me the favor of going straight to fatal heart attack.”

“I’m more of an aneurism kinda guy, but I’ll see what I do.”

“Deal!”
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In his office, Supervisor X walked right to his desk without bothering with the lights. HE punched in a code that unlocked a special drawer. He retrieved the briefcase within and walked to the safe, spun the dial . . .right. . . left. . . .right and withdrew the manila envelope and some papers.

He hit a speed dial number on his phone. “5 minutes!” he said and hung up.

“5 minutes? That’s not going to be enough time.”, came a voice from the darkness of the far corner.
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At the bottom of the stairs Winchell and Jackie paused. . . .

“You still with me?” Jackie asked.

“Yeah!” I’m fine. I’m not ready for the home yet ya know.”

“Okay, right or left?”

Winchell peered into the hallway. He looked right. . . then left. He withdrew back into the stairwell. “My gut tells me that we need to go right.”

The two began through the doorway and turned right down the hallway. As they moved on down the hall, Jackie glanced left to see a concrete wall. “Your gut, huh?. . . . You’re an ass.”

A door came up quickly on the left. The room emanated a bluish light with sounds of softly whirring machinery. Standing in the doorway was Colonel Hart.
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Supervisor X cocked his head to the left. “Amalee.” He said calmly. “We have a situation that needs to be taken care of in the basement.”

“You’re a piece of work. You try to kill me and I’m supposed to not notice. . . AND care about your “situation in the basement?? You finally made a mistake and it’s going to cost you.”

“Amalee, don’t be emotional. We have work to do. I have to finish up the project and you have money to make. That room was destroyed. . . just like this one is about to be destroyed. I naturally assumed that you wouldn’t be trapped in the room. If I did you wouldn’t be here.”

“You think that I’m that easy to kill?”

“No, if you were that easy to kill, I wouldn’t have hired you. Now. . . .the basement?”

“The basement. X, don’t be within shooting range after the funds are transferred. . . .clear?”

Supervisor X smirked, “Clear. But leave a contact number in case I have work in the future. . . I like you.”

Amalee walked toward the door and into the hallway. She stopped for a second. “Dammit!!” With that she turned and with a single shot, sprayed Supervisor X brains all over the “soon to be destroyed” room.
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Hands raised just above their heads, Winchell and Jackie stood frozen in the hallway. Colonel Hart stood in the doorway to the lab . . . expressionless.

Winchell spoke up, “Colonel, we were told to come down here and check o . . . .” His feint stopped as Hart began to shed a single teardrop . . .a teardrop of blood. . . . and fell forward like a storefront mannequin. He hit the floor face first with a nauseating thud.
Jackie and Winchell looked and Colonel Hart in amazement. They looked up in unison just inside the lab doorway and found themselves face to face with their former friend . . . .only now it was a conscious and lethal WRKRBE-10.
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ANGER. . . . . RED VISION. . . . . .RAGE. . . . .TWO TARGETS ACQUIRED . . . . .RAGE . . . . .ANGER. . . . .RAGE. . . . . . .RAGE. . . . . ELIMINATE TARGETS. . .
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The two friends stared up at Mikal. . . .or what was once Mikal. WRKRBE-10 loomed over them, blood from Colonel Hart running down its right appendage. Although the eyes looked like Mikal’s, there was something mechanical. . . . inhuman about them. They swiftly tracked Jackie, then Winchell. The abomination gazed at them with a hostility that neither of them had ever seen. Saliva, blood, and other viscous fluids oozed freely from WRKRBE-10.

Tears ran uncontrollably from Jackie’s eyes. “Oh, Mikal! How could this have happened?”

Winchell . . . .slowly as to not draw attention. . . moved sideways and pushed Jackie out of the doorway. “MIKAL! MIKAL! It’s us! It’s Winch and Jackie!! MIKAL! Try and think! You have to be in there somewhere!”

With Jackie practically out of sight, WRKRBE-10 was able to focus on the one remaining target. The talking seemed to distract the creature. Instead of impaling Winchell as it did with Colonel Hart, an enlarged claw-like hand reached out and grabbed Winchell. He felt at least one rib break. Winchell said “Jackie! Run!. . . . NOW!”
Winchell faced his former friend. “Mikal, buddy, it’s me Winchell. You have to remember. Remember me. . . .Jackie. . . . .Andrea. . . .the Beast!

WRKRBE-10 stopped. It seemed to think a minute. . . .almost distracted. In a quite mumble. . .barely audible. . .an unrecognizable voice uttered a single word. . . .”beast. . ”

Just then a shot rang out striking the creature in the shoulder. WRKRBE-10 staggered back, instinctively clenching its grip on Winchell. A loud crack echoed down the hallway. Red stains began to soak through Winchell’s clothes. Another shot rang out hitting WRKRBE-10 in the forehead. WRKRBE-10 dropped Winchell who dropped like a ragdoll to the floor. The mutated appendage struck, lightning quick, and grabbed Amalee and pulled her close to the creatures face.

“It’s me baby. . . .it’s Andrea. . . .It’s me . . .”

“. . . beast. . . . “

“You always did love that car better than me. . . . .you son of a bitch” With that Amalee pulled a hand grenade from her belt and shoved it into the gaping maw of the WRKRBE experiment.

The creature instinctively swallowed. The force of the explosion was muted by the fortified structure of the WRKRBE-10. It blew back into a bank of computers and thrashed about the controls trying to get a grip to right itself before coming to a stop and slumping to the floor.
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Jackie lay in the hallway. The explosion caused a shockwave enough to toss her from her feet. She regained her footing and limped to the room.

She found Andrea/Amalee on the floor with what appeared to be a mutated rib from the monster sticking from chest. She ran to Winchell’s body and knelt down. Although he was still breathing, he didn’t look good.

“Look, Winchell whispered, “I’m pretty banged up. You can’t move me. Go get help. I’ll try hang on until you get back. . . . .hurry.”

Jackie took a quick look at Mikal who was in shreds. “You better hang on! I’ll go topside and call help. I won’t be long.

“Jackie. . . . . . .Thanks for coming with me. . . .unghh. . . . .go.”
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In the dark Winchell lay there. Everything was disheveled in the lab, but not everything was destroyed. In the corner, where WRKRBE-10 had fallen, a computer display cast the only light in the room. On the display screen was a simple count down clock. It read “WRKRBE-11 activated in 1 Hour 58 Minutes.

The End?

The Previous Chapters

Chapter 8

Chapter 7

Chapter 6

Chapter 5

Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Chapter 1