Bad Jack ((Ascension: Book 1)) (4 page)

Billy returned with a glass cube that had a shiny red apple inside.

Before he put it down he said, “The General read your last report and he thinks you might want to take a break from this for a while. He said he understands how taxing it can be the first time.”

Jack shook his head. “I can do this. I’ll keep my smart assed remarks to myself from now on.”

Billy put the glass box down.
“Good, I’ll go tell him. He didn’t seem all that happy so this should cheer him up.”

Jack watched him leave at a brisk military pace
, what a kiss ass, and then he suddenly had the overwhelming urge to take a bite out of that apple even though he was still stuffed from breakfast and the faint smell of shit still hung limply in the air.

Instead
of giving in to the unreasonable urge, he snapped the photos and got to work:

The apple’s an ancient symbol for fertility. The red apple signifies love. An apple stands for rewards on the horizon. In a biblical sense an apple stands for a forbidden longing, the forbidden fruit. A sweet apple stands for pleasure.

He really wanted to eat that apple now. He could always say it was part of his research.

He stood up and lifted the lid to the glass case. The apple was shiny new and looked every bit the store bought variety.

He picked it up and panicked immediately. Every nerve in his body was afire with pain. He tried to drop it but his hand was clutching it the way your grip tightens when grabbing a power line.

In his minds eye he could see that the apple was full of vast power that he could barely comprehend. He also knew instinctively that the only way to get the apple out of his hand was to eat the thing.
It didn’t matter that that was crazy thinking to Jack; he simply wanted the pain to stop.

He bit into it
. The inside was brown, sludgy, bitter, and worm infested. It was delicious.

He ate and ate, even devouring some of the core.

His grip finally loosened and the remains dropped back into the box.

He was overwhelmed with a feel
ing of accomplishment like he’d just done something amazing. Something life altering was now going to happen because of what he’d just done; he just knew it.

Billy screamed like a woman when he saw the core in the box and brown juice dripping down Jack’s chin.

He said something into his walkie but Jack couldn’t make out the words. He was delirious from his meal.

Jack slumped to the floor and just let the beauty of the world wash over and through him.

The appearance of the General in his office helped to snap him back to reality as did the swift slap across the cheek the General delivered.

Jack stood up on fawn legs
and heard the General say, “Where’s the artifact?”

This was the first time Jack had heard the objects referred to in such a way.

“I ate it.”

The General s
aid, “I know you didn’t. Where’s the real artifact? William, steady your weapon on this man until he tells me the truth.”

Billy did as he was told and it nearly broke Jack’s heart.

The General bellowed, “Now! Tell me!”

Jack’s mouth moved but nothing came out.
He hated when that happened, it made him look stupid. He waved at the glass container and the General picked up the rotten core within.

He immediately fell to the ground unconscious.

Billy holstered his pistol and helped the General come to his senses.

He then gingerly picked the core up with his sleeve and dropped it
back in the box.

The General stood up slowly
. He looked from Jack to the rotten apple core and back.

“How
on earth did you eat that?” He knew Jack was telling the truth now because regular apples don’t make you black out on the spot.

He continued, “That thing was indestructible. We hit it with everything. You can’t even x-ray the da
ng thing.”

Jack just shook his head, not knowing what to say. He
wasn’t entirely sure what had compelled him to eat the thing.

He didn’t think the General would believe him if he told
his freaky version of the truth; that he had a feeling that if he ate it the pain would go away. Shit, maybe the apple made him do it.

The General turned to Billy and commanded, “Take this man to his quarters until I can get a handle on what has happened here.”

“Yes sir.”

Billy led a dumbstruck Jack back to his quarters in silence. He stood post outside the door as Jack slowly closed it behind him.

What the fuck had just happened?

If all the artifacts were equally priceless then Jack might as well have eaten that shoebox sized block of gold.

His stomach lurched as the realization hit him; he was in deep shit. He wanted to crawl off somewhere and just be left alone forever. He’d been a bad bad boy and the people responsible for meting out punishment around here had firearms.

Jack thought about Samantha for some stupid reason; maybe because the last ti
me he was happy was when they were together and he needed some happy thoughts to combat the feeling of dread growing inside. It was an age old defense mechanism that really did him no good. Misery always won out in the end.

S
am was prettier than he deserved but she said she was attracted to his intelligence and depth. Then again, he lost her to a cat bed salesman so maybe she was lying.

She moved in with him after a few months of dating and he felt like he’d hit the jackpot.

She was good enough in the sack, about as good as any gorgeous woman can be and she just made him feel at peace with himself.

That all changed though and it wasn’t her fault. He had personal issues. Losing
his family at such a young age was scarring. Sam watched him go down the rabbit hole one too many times and eventually couldn’t take it anymore.

His drinking increased after he took that butt
-fucking job at Millworld. He became evasive and distant.

So she left.

Jack was doubly pissed at himself now; thinking about Sam was supposed to cheer him up, not make him more wretched.

He had an epiphany; he had to get away from this place and fast.

He was just starting to formulate a plan to escape, surely a plan destined for failure and bullet holes, when the General let himself in, trailed by an old fat guy in a lab coat.

The General looked ready to explode but
he restrained himself as the fat man stood over Jack and scrutinized him.

“Uncanny” he mumbled to himself. “I can’t believe …”

The Doctor stopped himself short, straightened his lab coat and sat beside Jack on the sofa.

He said, “I’m the head of research in warehouse A. I understand you may have physically interacted with an artifact.”

Jack mumbled in agreement, sure that a guard would slip behind him and plant a bullet in his brainpan while he was distracted.

The fat man said “M
y name’s Doctor Jim Collins but you can just call me Jim. Here, take this.”

The
Doctor handed him a small glass box with a tiny butterfly inside.

Jack let it rest on his lap and took a quick peek behind him for that sneaky
imaginary guard.

The
Doctor reached into the box and plucked the butterfly out, wincing from some unknown pain and took each of its wings between the thumb and forefinger of each hand.

Jack wanted to ask him what the hell he thought he was doing but
he stayed his tongue. The Doctor’s elbows cocked outwards as he pulled those wings apart with all his might but the butterfly just sat there, unimpressed and unharmed.

The
General gasped ever so slightly.

The butterfly was probably a living artifact, Jack mused, and the General had never seen one like it before.

The Doctor handed it to Jack and said, “Now you try.”

He
did the same as the Doctor, a wing in each hand, and was getting ready to be amazed by how indestructible the little bugger would turn out to be but with just a little exertion he pulled the right wing clean off.

“You fuckin bastards” he hollered, “That was uncalled for you God damn animal torturers.”

The Doctor looked scared but by something besides Jack’s outburst.

The butterfly died in Jack’s hand and he
slapped it down in the Doctor’s outstretched hands in disgust. The Doctor daintily placed it back in the box with its orphaned wing.

Jack stood up and paced. He didn’t like to kill anything. If he had
to hunt for his own food he’d become a vegetarian. He was the type who trapped houseflies in cups and put them outside. His stomach churned.

The General barked, “Sit down now.”

Jack sat without question, his anger temporarily stunned.

The
Doctor held the glass box over his head and the General took it away.

Before he was out the door, the
Doctor said, “Remember Dave, no talking about this.”

The General said in a put out, gruff voice, “I know that sir.”

To Jack the Doctor said, “We tried everything we could think of to affect that butterfly. I won’t go into the details as you are obviously sensitive about cruelty to animals but the gist of it is that little guy was indestructible and you pulled it apart like it was a regular old Monarch. This is exciting. You may just have a promotion in your future.”

The
Doctor stood up and took Jack’s hand in both of his, “I would like you to continue interpreting the artifacts but I’d like you to make time for me at 1400 hours tomorrow. I’ll come fetch you if you’re agreeable to this.”

Jack nodded his overburdened, dumbfounded head and the
Doctor exited with a little spring in his step.

Billy
sheepishly peeked his head inside, “The General says you get to take the rest of the day off for some R & R. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Jack scowled and waved him away without a word. He was
increasingly upset that Billy had pointed a gun at him.

He vaguely realized he might be focusing his frustrations and insecurities into a newfound hatred for a man he barely knew, but whatever, Billy deserved
a fair share of his anger.

Billy had a hangdog look as he left and Jack was glad for it;
for the small victories.

Instead of trying to understand what had happened to him in the past forty eight hours he decided to test his alcohol consumption limits. There was enough b
eer in the fridge to kill an elephant.

Jack thoug
ht,
If only I was an elephant
.

He awoke on the couch, his mouth tasted like death and his dry eyes stung from the alcohol abuse. His skin felt clammy and it took all his willpower to force himself to shower off last nights booze stench.

Today was really going to suck.

He found an energy drink in the fridge door and slammed it down his throat. He heard his front door whisper shut and braced himself for whatever nonsense was heading his way.

General Dave saw him and cracked a smile.

“I see you’ve discovered the liquor cabinet.”

Jack shook his head, “No, I found some beers in the fridge though.”

The General picked his remote control off the coffee table and pressed a button. A hidden drawer opened underneath the kitchenette counter and an array of liquor bottles greeted Jack.

“Ugh” was all Jack could say.

The General said “I’ll have someone come and empty it out. I don’t want you killing yourself on my dime.”

Jack was almost thankful for that.
He was thankful too that the General’s demeanor was much improved from last night.

The General put the remote down and said, “Listen, you are to meet with
Doc Collins at 1400 today and I want you on your best behavior. I know we haven’t established a rapport of any kind but you must understand that because you are under my leadership, you represent me. Don’t embarrass me please.”

Self serving prick.

“What will the Doctor have me do?” Jack asked afraid of what the answer might be.

“No idea. He runs
the research teams in this entire facility. I’m head of inventory in warehouse A. I command all personnel from this floor up but the real research goes on below us where the Doctor works. By the end of the day today, you’ll know more about what goes on around here than anyone you’ve met so far besides the Doctor.”

Jack fur
rowed his brow. Normally he’d be proud of something like this, rising in the ranks so quickly, but he was apprehensive to say the least.

The General continued more quietly, “I’m worried a
bout this unexpected occurrence; about your ability to interact with the artifacts. You’re an anomaly I didn’t anticipate and you know how much we military folks hate anomalies.”

Jack didn’
t but he kept his trap shut to avoid looking like a dumbass.

“From now on I’
ll be keeping as close an eye on you as they allow me. I hope you understand.”

Jack said “Sure” but he really had no idea what had the General so defensive.

The General continued, “I need you to write me a self evaluation about who you are and where you came from. Like a biography. I want to know everything, don’t hold back. I’ll have some men run additional background checks on you so don’t leave anything out or I will know. I want to know how many squares of TP you use when you wipe. I want to know what the first girl you kissed was wearing. You get me?”

Jack was about to say
“go fuck yourself” but the General added, “I want to know how you felt when your parents and sister died” and the words stuck in his throat.

He hadn’t really spoken about that since his childhood and then only so the social workers could prove they did right by him and leave him alone.

He nodded and the General said, “I need to establish concrete trust with you as soon as possible. Just because Doc Collins is going out on a limb with you doesn’t mean that I can too. The only way I can trust you is to know you, hence the report I want you to type up about yourself.”

“Why don’t we just talk like normal human beings? That’s how people get to know each other. Maybe you missed the memo.”

Jack said it to provoke but the General ignored it, “I don’t have time for that. You can resume your duties after the report’s finished. I’ll check in on you later today.”