Murder Genes (47 page)

Andre nodded.
 
"Yes, Kyle.
 
You're completely right."
 
He looked at Kyle with stricken eyes.
 
Wet eyes.
 
Angry eyes.

"If I told you, then the experiment would be over wouldn't it?
 
Then our hard work and the people that have died would be worth nothing, and hundreds and millions of people would suffer because we couldn't finish the experiment.
 
I didn't want that to happen.
 
Not with your wife in the Murder City, and my birth father there too," Kyle explained as if thoughtfully.

He was enjoying this.

"Yes Kyle, you were right to do things the way you did.
 
We lost equipment, but as you said, nothing critical to the study was lost.
 
You're a naturally gifted scientist."
 
Andre's voice was monotone and bland.

Kyle sighed in exaggerated relief.
 
"I'm glad, I was really worried.
 
You're a really good teacher, Father...Oh!
 
What about my first question?
 
How many more do I have to kill?"
 
And who might I kill NEXT?

Andre's shoulders lifted, and dropped.
 
Like a slow and overwhelming shrug.
 
"Maybe none, maybe many more.
 
I will have to test you in a few weeks to see the changes that have occurred in your genes, if any."

"So should I stop and wait before finding my next target?"

Andre put his arm around Kyle's shoulder, and began patting Kyle back in irregular intervals, like he couldn't quite decide what to do with his hand.
 
He didn't answer Kyle's question.

"Father?" Kyle said.

"Yes Kyle."

Not son?
 
"This means that I shouldn't tell you who the next person is, right?"
 
This was what he had been waiting for.

The patting stopped.
 
After all, there were only two people left in Andre's life that were important to him.
 
Three maybe.
 
Callie, Andre's wife--if she was still alive, and...Kyle himself.
 
Without Kyle, Andre would never be able to finish the study.
 
But Andre probably hadn't thought of that, and since his wife was in Murderer city, that left only one person.

Andre's mouth worked like he wanted to say something.

"Did you want to say something?" Kyle asked.

Andre shook his head.
 
"No."

"No, you don't want to say something?
 
Or no, I shouldn't tell you who the next person is?"

"Both," Andre sighed.
 
His eyes looked raw and there was a deep, slow, swallow.
 
"Both." he said again.

"I understand."
 
Kyle patted Andre's big back a few more times and stood up.
 
"Is there going to a funeral?
 
I'd like to be there.
 
It'd be good to remember Jess and Ryant and their contributions to science."

"Yes.
 
I'm sure there will be," Andre said, vacantly.

"One more thing," Kyle said.

"Yes Kyle."

"If somehow you found out or guessed who I'm going to kill next.
 
Could you do anything?
 
Or are you supposed to let things go on naturally.
 
Because if this Natural Science Method is really an important thing to follow, maybe you could even put up a few cameras to record everything around the place I'd be, if you guessed correctly, that is.
 
And since the last cameras during the last kills were destroyed in the explosion, it might be important?"
 
Kyle shrugged and held his hands out to either side of his shoulders.
 
"I don't know, that's why I'm asking."

A shivering breath.
 
A slow, shaking, breath.
 
"Y...yes Kyle.
 
You are probably right."

"I could carry the camera
on
me instead, if you'd like.
 
Maybe that would help.
 
You could see me do the killing like you were there."
 
How much did science really mean to Andre?

"Maybe," Andre said.

"OK.
 
That sounds good.
 
Let me know if there's anything else I can do."

"I will, Kyle.
 
I will."

"Kyle." Andre abruptly said.

"Yes, Father?"

"It's my fault."

"What's your fault?" Kyle prompted.

Andre's eyes drifted lazily through the air, through space.
 
"I was lead researcher for The Code, the founder of the Association of Genetic Determinism.
 
I caused the movements and I led the
science
of Behavior Behavioral Genetics.
 
My wife...Mara's death is my fault."

Kyle understood what Andre was saying immediately.
 
Andre caused this and that was why he wanted to reverse it so badly.
 
That's why he cared so much.
 
But he was using
science,
again, to do so.

Instead of making Kyle feel sorry for Andre, it made him even madder.
 
Because Pa was in Murderer City and the other people in the Murderer Cities around the world were dying because of
this
man's science.
 
Kyle hated science.
 
"Yes, it is your fault," Kyle repeated.

His comment didn't seem to bother Andre.
 
"All this," Andre said, pointing his chin head at the burning remains of the house, "has been bought with blood." Andre didn't look up.
 
"My research has
always
been funded by blood.
 
What you're doing, it's not going to stop me.
 
It's not going to work."

Kyle paused, and let out a little smile.
 
We'll see.
 
"OK, Father," Kyle replied.
 
"I'll see you later."

Andre's body jerked and he stared at Kyle.
 
"Where are you going now?"

Kyle gave Andre a surprised look, like it was obvious.
 
"Callie's brother and sister just died, I thought I'd go visit Callie.
 
To comfort her, of course."

Andre stared and stared and stared at him.
 
His jaw quivered.
 
A small whimper slipped from his lips.
 
Then he nodded and dropped his head.
 
"Yes.
 
That's probably a good idea."

"Would you like to come?" Kyle offered.

Andre shook his head.

"Fine then.
 
Don't worry about me.
 
I'll find a way there.
 
I already know where she's staying, anyway."
 
Kyle knew because Callie had told him on the computer in one of her messages.
 
She hadn't known the address, but she'd found out the real name of the person who she was staying with.
 
A simple search gave him the exact address that he needed.
 
"Don't have the funeral without me.
 
Us
.
 
Don't have the funeral without us."
 
Kyle walked away.
 
"And send the camera in the mail.
 
It'll beat me there."

Chapter 29

Proposal:

Recently, with the understanding of behavioral genetics in murder, studies have moved in force to discover a cure for The Code.
 
It is our proposal to create a controlled environment, a city for those with The Code.
 
Two benefits will arise from this.
 
First, those with The Code will be in their natural environments.
 
We will be able to observe and discover through generations if The Code will persist.
 
Secondly, we can study how humankind progresses when not held back by violent and destructive behaviors.

-O.N., Will.
 
"Generational Disassociation Proposal."
 
Primary Prevention.
 
Volume 2, pp. 17.
 
Aug, 2022.

Fucking suicide!
 
How dumb were we?
 
Really?
 
How the SHIT did this ugly immortal-man trick us into trusting HUNTER, of all people?
 
"Fucking DIE!
 
Do you hear me?
 
You Mother-Fucking BASTARD!" Jay screamed, throwing himself against his restraint.

Immortal Leader didn't care, in fact he enjoyed the raging so much that he patted Jay's head and chuckled.
 
"Drink puppy-dog, drink.
 
Master give you reward."

The same reward each time, choice.
 
Slant-Eyed Bastard.
 
Jay felt it coming up and he couldn't hold it in.
 
He vomited straight into the bowl of blood and flesh.

Immortal Leader clapped.
 
"Bad puppy-dog!
 
Eat fast and you still choose."

He didn't want to choose.
 
He didn't want to pick who got to fight Immortal Leader in a predetermined fucking battle, he didn't want to pick who got to die and then get chopped up into ground human, fed back to their comrades raw as sushi in doggy bowls made from human skulls.

And he didn't want to choose between the four people left.

Adan, Xiaos, Bitch, and himself.
 
It hadn't taken long to figure out that Hunter had betrayed them.
 
It became clear in no time that Immortal Leader had Hunter by the toes, using Karah as bait.
 
Who would have guessed that a guy like Hunter would fall head over heels in
love?

Jay would've chosen himself if he didn't have to shit out the Tag.
 
Put himself out of the misery of choosing who got to die to become everyone else's next meal.
 
But the Tag was lodged somewhere, stuck in his colon.
 
Jay had searched and searched through his shitpiles every day twice over and still no Tag.

Plan C was given up to Hunter the day they'd been captured, Plan B failed because of Paul.
 
He'd thought he could trust Xiaos, he'd thought he could trust Paul, he'd thought he could trust
himself
.
 
Because for Plan D to work, Jay had to pass the fucking Tag first, and it wasn't coming
out
.

Jay forced himself to chew.
 
This one had been a woman under Adan's protection.
 
The rule had been that the survivors had to finish the body of whoever died by the next day.
 
When it became clear that it was a little unreasonable to ask any less than twenty-some people to eat one ground up human body in one day, they became forced to eat at least one bowl each.
 
This most disturbing part about all this?

Bitch looked like he was finally putting on weight.

Ridiculous.
 
Jay glanced over at Adan beside him.
 
For the first time ever, the man was eating like he was famished.

"Ho ho!" Immortal Leader said to Jay.
 
"Hurry puppy-dog, or else you die!"

Jay shook off his alarm.
 
Between Adan and him, whoever finished their bowl first got to choose who faced Immortal Leader one-on-one UFC style next.
 
Adan never even tried to eat any faster than any child forced to eat greens.
 
He was today.

Jay had to survive.
 
If only to shit the Tag, he had to survive.

Jay ate like he never'd eaten raw human before.
 
Like he didn't feel like he was sick as a dog.

Immortal Leader just laughed and snorted like it was the funniest thing in the world.

Jay raised his skullcap of blood.
 
"To Adan," he said tiredly.
 
Weakly.

"To Adan," Bitch and Xiaos repeated, toasting him with their own skullcaps.

If Bitch had flourished from regular meals--human or not--Xiaos had been the one to suffer most.
 
Xiaos stared at the bowl in front of him with black rimmed eyes.
 
It was always a trial for him to drink.

Jay lifted the skullcap to his lips and finished the blood in four big gulps.
 
His stomach flashed pain.
 
Something about blood made you vomit not much later, it didn’t help with the pain.

Xiaos touched the blood to his lips, and pulled it away, shaking his head.
 
"I cannot continue."

The guards in the corners watched with wary eyes.
 
Only four of them now.
 
One waved a rifle at Xiaos and said something along the lines of "drink up motherfucker."
 
In Korean, of course.