Story # 2.7 Who is Rob?

Rob sat in a dark, dimly lit room with his hands securely hand cuffed behind the back of the chair he was sitting in.  The only problem with this, however, he was sitting there in Jay's body.

This room had no mirror.  It was completely sealed off from outside influence of any kind.  The only people that would be talking or listening in this room would be Rob and his interrogator.

The reason for the room was by design.  No one wanted any leaks of what Rob might have to say, seeing as he was not the actual person that should be occupying the body he was in.  Larry was now in acoma, medically induced to try and allow his body to heal itself after the injury.  Everyone else was on pins and needles.  For the first time, this Rob character had remained in Jay's body for longer than a few hours.  This time, he had been in Jay's body for days.  Being kept in solitary was taking it's toll on Rob, however.

The outer door to the room Rob was in finally openned, and in walked Pat.  He gave Rob his typical smile, toothy greeting, to which Rob had little to know reaction to.

Pat pulled out the chair on the other side of the table in front of Rob, then had a seat.  Rob continued to stare downward at the table before him, unwilling to bend or brake.

"How are you feeling today, Rob?", asked Pat.

"Like a captive, as usual....Pat."

Rob looked up at Pat when he stressed his name.

This prompted a chuckle from Pat as he leaned back in his chair, laying his right hand on the table.

"Same old, Rob."

"Likewise for Pat."

"Can you tell me what you remember before you showed up here, Rob?"

"You know where I came from, Pat.  Why should I have to tell you again?"

"That may be true, but I would like to know for curiosity's sake."

Rob rolled his eyes at Pat, then looked back down at the floor.

"You know, the doctors have all said that the only reason you're still here is because Jay injured himself with the impact into the wall.  Against all odds, you're wide awake here with us in an injured body.  But eventually that could catch up to you."

"We both know that won't happen."

"It won't?"

Rob looked up at Pat and stared at him.

"Are you sure it won't?"

Rob did not answer Pat's question.

"I would hate for the actions of Jay to jeopardize anything going on here, or jeopardize our relationship."

Rob began to laugh hysterically at this statement.

"Relationship?  Seriously?  If you want to call it that, ok."

"We have a...unique relationship, Rob.  One that is vitally important."

"Not important enough though, is it?"

"Rob, we did all we could for you."

"YOU DID NOTHING!"

Rob's demeanor changed, and Pat's smile went away.  He stared at Rob who was now visibly angry.

"You left me there to die!  You didn't even try to help me, Pat.  You just did your thing and ran away like you always do.  I didn't have a chance.  But I beat you!  I beat you and your cronies, and soon I'm going to find a way to stay here and be a thorn in the side of this world too.  The very thing I know you don't want."

Pat continued to stare at Rob, emotionless.

"If you stay here, you'll never leave this facility, Rob."

"That's better than where I've been, Pat.  Anything is."

"But you're partly to blame for what happened there."

Rob leaned forward in his chair, as far as he could with the cuffs on, and looked dead into Pat's eyes, "So are you, Dad!"

That last word from Rob's mouth made Pat cringe.

"I told you never to call me that, Rob?"
"Well, I never thought you'd abandon me, so we're even.  How did you get here, anyway, so you could leave me behind?"

"That's classified."

"As always."

"This conversation is over."

"Indeed it is."

Pat stood up and began to exit the room.  But before he left, he turned and spoke to Rob one more time.

"By the way, tomorrow we'll be injecting you with an agent to put you in a state of coma, so Jay's body can be allowed to heal.  That will put you to sleep and for all intents and purposes render any chance of you returning to Jay impossible unless he is able to come back out of it.  So this may be the last time we talk.  I must say, it was...fruitful.  When you go to sleep, enjoy the world you wake up to."

"I'll just find another way in, Pat.  I always do."

"We'll see about that.  Have a nice life,....son."

With that last statement, Pat left the room and closed the door behind him.

Rob kicked the table hard enough to push it forward about a foot.  He hated his father for what he had done.  Rob's only concern was that this could be the last time he ever again awakens to the world of Jay.  It was a peaceful world, filled with life.  Where Rob kept coming from, there was always darkness and death.  A place like that changes a person.  It makes them more survivalist, and less humanist.  Rob could only remember the faces of all those that died before him, whether by his own hand or from circumstances out of their control.  The world he left and Jay entered was always gloomy, trying, hard, and terrifying.  Rob simply wanted it to stop.  He just didn't understand why his own father would leave him in such a place.  Why would he want him there, knowing what was to come.  Knowing that a world would end and eventually take his son with it.  Rob's only hope was to remain inside Jay in the hopes the end would come for that man instead.  He didn't care who Jay was or what he had done.  He just wanted to survive, anyway he could.

But, Rob knew there was something special about this Jay guy.  He had crossed over before, with other people during the experimentations at The Fleece, but something was different with this guy.  For the first time ever, Rob could feel the presence of Jay with him, while he occupied Jay's body.  Unfortunately for Rob, Jay was beginning to wake up.



             

Story # 2.6 The Van

"Well, that looks like the vehicle we've been looking for."

Mike said this then took a sip of his coffee as he and Seth sat in the doughnut shop parking lot.  The same van that had been outside the Crimson lab, and supposedly used to transport their missing eye witnesses, was also in the same parking lot.  Whomever was operating the van was not worried about it standing out, especially with people having recently gone missing from it.

"I just don't get it?  This guy just pulls into the freakin shop like everything is just kosher and doesn't appear to have a care in the world as to whether or not anyone is following them or suspects anything?", Seth said outloud, directly his comments more at the air than at Mike.

"Dude, you're preaching to the choir.  It's kinda arrogant, but we really have to get them somewhere we can question them, other than a doughnut shop.  Don't really want to spook them."

"Yeah, yeah.  I really don't understand that FBI guy either.  And where'd he go?  I mean, it was like he just disappeared into thin air!"

"He probably got beamed up."

"That's not a damn bit, funny, Mike."

Mike was chuckling before he took a sip of his coffee.  Then he spit it out as the driver of the black van came out to get back into his vehicle.

"There's our guy!"

Seth got the keys ready to start the ignition, as he saw the van back up and pull away in the parking lot.

Seth and Mike followed the van out of the lot and down the highway.  The driver of the van did not appear to be in a big hurry.  In fact, Seth had to try really hard to maintain distance between the van and their sedan, worried that the driver might be on to them following him.

Suddenly the van peeled off at the next exit and that's when Seth suspected the driver was indeed on to them.

Seth floored the accelerator to try and keep pace.  Tires were peeling as both vehicles sped down the highway.

"Oh yeah, it's on now", said Mike, who always loved high speed chases.

Seth hated them, but he wasn't about to let this guy get away.

The van took a sharp turn down an alley way, forcing Seth to push the sedan harder to catch up.  By the time Seth reached the alley, however, the van was already stopped and in a parked position.  It appeared as if the driver had left it minutes ago even though seconds had passed.

Seth pulled the sedan directly behind the van and flipped on the blue lights.  He and Mike both got out of the car and withdrew their pistols.  Ducking down somewhat behind the car doors, Seth motioned for the two of them to move towards either side of the van.  Mike acknowledged and the two men began to move slowly down the sides of the van.

Looking into the vehicle from the side mirrors, neither Seth nor Mike could see the driver inside.  However, he could have been hiding in the read of the van, for all they knew.  Both men stopped just before the vehicle doors, still peering inside the vehicle from the mirrors.  Seth slowly worked his way around to see no one sitting in the driver's seat.  Mike inch around as well.  When Mike was in sight, Seth motioned for him to open the passenger door as he opened the driver's side.  Both men, on the count of three, yank the doors open, stayed low, and held their guns up ready for anything.  Looking into the back of the vehicle, there was no one.  Neither Seth nor Mike could believe it.  It was, once again, as if the person had just disappeared.

When the coast was clear, and the men let down their guard, Mike moved back outside of the vehicle.  That's when he was met face-to-face with the driver.  This time, however, the driver was holding a gun to Mike's temple, and didn't hesitate to pull the trigger.

With one swift pull, Mike's head erupted sideways, as his body collapsed to the ground.  This happened so quickly that Seth was not able to react fast enough to shoot the assailant himself before he shot Mike at point blank range.  Seth aimed his gun at the driver's head, and readied himself to pull the trigger.  But before he could, the driver shot Seth in the chest, flinging him backwards onto the pavement below.

When Seth impacted the ground, his gun flung away.  Seth was now laying there, clutching his chest where the bullet had just entered.  Blood was spurting upward and outward, as if the artery had been severed.  In fact, Seth's aorta had been cut from the shot, and he only had moments to live if he did not reach a surgeon quickly.

The driver came around the front of the van and stood over Seth, who was mortally wounded.  Seth was beginning to lose consciousness as he was losing large amounts of blood very quickly.  The driver just stared down at him, then he began to spoke.

"If you and your partner want to live, you'll need to come with me."

Seth was perplexed by this statement.  He had seen the driver shoot his partner in the head, a clean kill shot for any human being.  There was no living from that type of wound.  Seth was bleeding to death, so unless this guy was a highly skilled surgeon his chances were grim.  Still, Seth felt a calming effect in the presence of the man.  Maybe it was because his life force was slipping away quickly?  Seth didn't understand what was happening, but he really had no choice anymore.

The driver quickly picked up Seth and carried him to the back of the van.  He laid Seth on the hood of the sedan long enough to open the rear doors of the van, and then picked Seth back up placing him in the rear of the vehicle.  A few seconds went by again and Mike's now deceased body flopped down beside a dying Seth.  As Seth began to blackout, a strange white luminescence filled the van, with a loud hum filling the silence.  Seth thought to himself, Is this the end?

For Seth and Mike, it was only the beginning.