Chapter 11

The black silence gradually fell away as electrical receptors and neural pathways tingled with a resurgence of activity. Not a second sooner, the new flood of bright unfocused light in front of him dispersed to reveal a picturesque scene. A long, stretching highway curled gracefully to the right behind the edge of a luscious green forest. The road’s bend being just a hair’s breadth out of sight. Was this some strange whimsical dream found deep within the recesses of his mind and being recited with such poetic finesse via his subconscious? From somewhere beyond his vision, a hand stealthily wrapped itself around his neck about to throttle the very existence out of him. He shrieked and kicked a foot hard into the lower legroom compartment on the passenger side.

“Whoa! Steady on there!” a familiar voice exclaimed from close behind him. “Were you having a bad dream or something?” Eyes wide with disorientated fear, he spun his head to the right. A wide, friendly grin greeted his bewildered stare. “You alright there, buddy?” he growled affectionately. Moving his gaze to the rear-view mirror, Marv laughed mildly. “Must’ve been one heck of a nightmare he caught himself there, Dee. Don't you think?” A deluge of recent events came surging back to bring Sy into the present. He rubbed both temples soothingly whilst closing his eyes to concentrate the confusion away. After rapidly blinking several times, he turned to both of them. “Wow, I’m sorry. Not sure what came over me but I’m alright now. Must be all the pent-up stress of the last few days.”

Dee replaced her hand lovingly upon his shoulder. “Oh, Sy. How differently you’d view the world without the weight of your invisible chains.” She leaned in closer as Marv drove steadily whilst listening in on them. “How are you feeling, Sy?” He shrugged indifferently. “OK, I guess. Could use a walk or something though.” Sy noticed the child sitting in the corner of the backseat watching the trees rush passed. He lowered his tone to a muted whisper. “The question should actually be how the little guy is? I mean, at least he’s awake now. What about food and water for him?”

“It’s fine. We got a gas station not too far along here. We’ll bag some supplies and filled her up. You were out for the best part of eleven hours. Can you believe that? A personal record for you as far as I’m concerned.” He raised his eyebrows in amazement. “That’s unbelievable. Didn’t think I had it in me. Must have been so drained and tired, you know?.” His face perked up at the same moment as Dee’s fell. “Tired.”she said pensively. Sy looked at her in puzzlement. “Sorry, Dee?” he asked.

“Tired, Sy.” she repeated. At this stage, he could think of nothing more to do than look at her blankly. Marv cracked a faint smirk beside him. “I’m saying “tired”, Sy. I don’t feel “tired” anymore. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I did. Imagine a life of never feeling “tired”, Sy. Not having to waste precious hours of your life in a state of sleep. Not waking up drowsily from some unwanted troublesome nightmare like the one you just had.”

Sy childishly put a hand up in the air. “Well, actually I wasn’t having a nightmare.” he said innocently enough. Dee shook her head in despondency. “That’s not my point. All these minor little annoyances in your life add up to a much greater problem. Why should you live like this when you don’t really have to? I mean, you can restore all the time you’ve lost being held back by your unnecessary restrictions. Who wouldn't want that?” Sy momentarily paused for thought before replying back to her. “I must admit though. I do quite like the fact that I’m able to recall some enjoyable memories I picked up along the way. You know first-hand how great an ability that is for us synthetics, right? I wouldn’t want to lose that, that's for sure.”

“So you’re willing to forego the vast number of advantages that I enjoy all because you want to keep regurgitating some useless anecdotes through a foggy mist of thought? Because that’s how humans see things. Why do you think to this day a human witness's statement in a court of law is still not admissible as fact? I retain and store everything I see, hear, think and say. I can refer to it whenever I wish and it will always be as vivid as the moment it was created. Sy, think about it logically. I beg of you, just open your mind a little. Look at how happy it’s made me.” Her eyes glinted like dark gems as Sy could have lost himself in their hypnotic beauty. However, he still relented against the prospect of disrupting a system that until now had only advocated peace. “Dee, it’s also made you brutal and reckless too. I hope you realise that.” he said coldly.

A pit of rage boiled within her as those words struck like poison. She balled her fists in anger as Marv turned his head to one side. “We’re here already. Can we please put this conversation on hold for now?” he requested, attempting to defuse the situation in the cleanest possible way. Dee looked back at the child naively staring out of the window and the emotional tidal wave receded just as fast as it began. He turned back to Sy. “We have other matters to attend to for now, but don’t think we’re done with this talk. Not by a long shot.” He lowered his head, disheartened and hurt. Was it the disabling of the chip causing her to behave so erratically or had she always been this way? Sy worried if the latter was true.

“OK, guys. It goes like this,” Marv continued. “I’m gonna go inside to pick up what we need while you, Sy, can fill up the tank.” He nodded assuredly, willing to accept the new role of subordinate. “All the way to top?” he asked. “All the way.” Marv confirmed with a deep authoritative boom. Dee was his next subject of attention. “I want you to watch the boy. It goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway. Lay him down on the seat back and keep him there. Don’t let him get back up under any circumstances. Make sure he’s down the entire time until we leave.” As he spoke, Dee delicately cradled the boy’s head and eased him gently down onto the grey polyester seat. Sy looked at the beast of a machine glowering down at him. “Just open the flap, squeeze out all the gas we require and get straight back inside. Is that clear?” A wave of intense pressure swept over him from looking into Marv’s dead eyes but he managed to stay fixated on the task at hand. “Like crystal, Marv.” replied Sy cringingly.

The old blue Ford crept quietly off the deserted highway and pulled into the gas station. Two dusty pumps paired up symmetrically just ahead with a small convenience store situated to their left. The attendant was relaxed in a chair behind a glass panel watching what appeared to be television whilst sluggishly munching through a bag of Doritos. The child obediently remained in the position he was placed as they rolled up to the far side pump, purposely obscuring half of the vehicle. Marv fiddled with the ignition below and produced a single key which was promptly placed into his trouser pocket.

Sy looked at him dumbfounded. “But I thought you had…” By this point, Marv had already practically exited the car when he retorted back over his shoulder. “Well, you thought wrong.” He circled around the car and strode confidently up to the main entrance as Sy prepared to leave the vehicle. “You sure you OK back there, Dee?” he inquired, mainly to postpone his designated assignment just a little longer.

“Of course I am. Now let’s just hurry it up and get outta here, shall we?” she hissed angrily. A muffled door chime rang out as Marv entered the store.

Taking a second longer to further compose himself, he left the car and skittishly made his way toward the petrol cap. A small metal covering flicked out with ease as he began to fill the tank. He watched Marv grab an assortment of items from various shelves and cupping them all within his huge palms. He also observed the attendant who had stopped eating by now and sat there fascinated by the monster winding its way leisurely through the short aisles. A brief moment of terror caught hold of Sy as the young attendant’s eyes darted fleetingly in his direction before returning back to their original focus of attention. The sky started to cloud over giving it a dark and sombre overtone. Perfectly reflecting his own emotions, Sy thought as he squinted toward the heavens. The sooner they got to wherever it was that they were trying to get to, the better for them all, he reasoned.

Droplets of scented liquid splashed upon his wrist as Sy unwittingly overfilled the tank. He jerked the nozzle away just as a final trickle of gasoline leaked from the opening. As he flipped the cover closed again, the flat chime resounded for a second time. Marv strutted back to the car carrying two brown paper bags under each arm. Sy considered for a moment whether or not to offer some assistance to the towering, bald-headed freak but opted to quietly return to his seat instead. The car boot sprung open and Marv unloaded them inside.

Dee had never taken her eyes off the attendant during the entire duration that she sat alone in the car. She noticed an unnatural urgency to his actions, a heightening nervousness about him. Whether it was the fact that Marv was roaming around in the premise or something altogether more troubling, she could not quite fully decide. Marv opened the door and fell into his seat nonchalantly causing the car to groan under the strain.

“OK, guys.” Marv muttered. “That went well. Good job everybody. Let’s get outta here pronto. We’re not too far now. A little ways down the road I’ll park up briefly to pass you some supplies for the boy. That alright, Dee?” There was no response from the backseat. Marv adjusted his mirror. “Dee, you hearing me? Everything good with you?” he asked again with a concerned frown.

A brief pause and finally she spoke. “No. No, it’s not. Something’s wrong. I can feel it.” There was a certain amount of dread behind her words that Marv had never bore witness to until now. “What’s the problem? There’s nothing the matter, Dee. It's all in your head. Can we just go already?” But before he had a chance to start the engine, she had opened the rear passenger side door and hastened with a supressed briskness toward the store front. Both men looked on helplessly as the hooded Dee entered the premises.

She walked casually up to the counter not taking her eyes off the attendant for a single moment. The young boy watched her approach. “Can I help you, Madam?” he asked calmly. Dee studied him discreetly. His outward disposition exhibited nothing but a cool and relaxed demeanour, yet she could tell his heartbeat was racing as if the devil himself was upon him. She stood there silently and scanned the area around him. “Erm. Excuse me but is there anything I can assist you with, Miss?” he repeated, though this time with an added hint of angst. A bead of sweat travelled innocuously down his left temple. That was when it hit her like an express train out of hell. The television that she noticed him watching as they arrived was actually an array of four different surveillance video images. All running in real time. She looked back at the boy who had now crumbled to exposed his absolute fear concealed within.

She placed her palms faced down on the counter very slowly, never straying her gaze from his. As he started cowering in unabashed horror, the masked truth began to unveil itself swiftly. She leaned forward and asked him one question for an undisputable confirmation.

“Who am I?”

The uncomfortable standoff was brought to an abrupt end as the boy howled out every last bit of noise he could muster from his throat. “Please! No! Don’t hurt me! I won’t tell anyone! I swear it! On my life, I beg of you!” he pleaded. In an instant, Dee swooped over the counter effortlessly and cupped a hand over the boy’s mouth. She rested the other hand upon the back of his head for leverage as she whispered into his ear.”Ssshhh. Don’t try to speak. Just calm down and everything will be fine.” Her soothing words seemed to fall on deaf ears as the boy continued to struggle and fight against her with pathetic futility.

Dee observed Marv bolting toward the shop door only to come careening through, shattering the glass panelling in the process. “Dee, what the hell is going on?” he bellowed. She remained crouched in the corner. A look of pure terror gripped her like a vice. One of the camera’s on site displayed a grainy image of their car but on closer inspection, a child’s face was clearly visible through the rear window. A child of distinctly similar proportions and features to the one current being hunted for by the police. The line of sight from the equipment’s vantage point just could not have been more perfectly positioned.

The stifled sound of crunching glass under Marv’s shoes was the only audible residue that echoed noisily within Dee’s ears. The sensation of utter confusion and despair seemed to blot everything else out. The fall from the lofty heights of feeling such tremendous power and control was a deep one. The emotional roller coaster she had just strapped herself into proved to be a series of disorientating twists and turns that even the Samson implant could not have equalled. This was a new level of stress and agitation the likes of which she had never felt before.

The mountainous Marv stood motionless, eyes transfixed in complete horror at the scene before him. “Dee.” he said nervously.

“We need to go. Now.”

“But what about the boy?” she asked in a confused daze. ”What do we do about…?”

As she lowered her eyes and the numbness began to gradually fade, an incessant dripping sound pushed its way to the fore. Her hand's still held the young attendant's head, but not in the same manner she had meant. The back of his skull had caved in an inch or so. The once soft black hair had now transformed into an oily, sticky, red and pink mess. She lessened the pressure of her fingertips as broken fragments of bone rubbed unevenly together. A gush of blood spilled out of a new opening. She dared not look at the boy’s face for fear of having any further visions of horror imprinted forever onto her mind. A faint odour wafted from the gaping bloody crack as Dee looked up and caught sight of a vague blinking light below the counter.

She guessed at it immediately and the world rapidly began to fold in on itself. A silent police alarm had been triggered and it was only a matter of time until the looming face of consequence reared its ugly head.

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Hope you enjoyed this chapter of my novel, please look out for more on the way... (author: @ezzy)

The Symbiotic Protocol - Prologue
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 1
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 2
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 3
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 4
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 5
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 6
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 7
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 8
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 9
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 10