The Prym Apocalypse

Short Story

There were voices out in the hall, coming toward him. Jim leaned over in his hospital bed and listened. They’re voices were crystal clear.

A deep voice with a slight accent spoke softly, “It’s been only hours, but his injuries are almost completely healed. I don’t know how it is happening. It is just not possible.”

“It’s no miracle,” said a second voice, a voice Jim knew very well.

A man with a doctor’s coat strode into the room.  He was a Hispanic gentleman with a neatly trimmed beard. Jim’s grandfather was walking beside him.  They froze dead in their tracks when they saw him alert and awake.

His grandfather laid a hand on his shoulder. His grandfather, or G (he insisted that grandfather sounded too old), pushed Jim back into the bed. “You need to rest. You fell from a building, my boy.”

The doctor gave Jim a stern look, “I don’t know what happened, but as soon as your better you need to tell us everything.”

 Jim closed his eyes. He remembered it all too clearly.

 

One week prior…

                Jim got into the car after school and tried to hide the guilty look. He really did. Unfortunately the look didn’t fool G.

                “What did you do this time?”

                Jim scowled. “It’s not important.”

                G smiled. “Bad grade on your chemistry test?”

                G had hit it on the head. 

“How do you do that?”  Jim said.

G just shrugged and gave Jim that same quirky smile that meant he still loved him whether he failed the chemistry test or not.

G was a retired FBI agent, but his sharpness had not left him. Now he just worked on his crazy inventions in the basement, not allowing Jim to set foot down there.  Even after seven years of retirement, however, his grandfather still held on to his undeniable brilliance.

 

Jim was home for an hour when he saw the note on the fridge.  It said that G was out at the store. A peanut butter and jelly for dinner, then, due to the unfortunate fact he couldn’t cook to save his life. He took his first bite when a frenzied beeping sounded all over the house, an annoying alarm reverberation. Covering his ears to partially block out the sound, he noticed that it came from the basement. He had been down there only once since his grandpa started working there, at the age of eleven. G discovered him and grounded him for three months, and with extra chores.

Now, five years later, Jim found himself once again descending the stairs into G’s study. The unfinished basement was covered in wires leading to several computers, one of which was omitting the high beeping. The basement looked dark and dismal, only a single light bulb illuminating the lifeless cellar. He clicked the screen, and the beeping stopped, an email popping up on the screen. Jim wasn’t one to pry, but why would an alarm trigger for an email?  After making sure his grandfather wasn’t home yet, he quickly scanned the message.

 

         Mr. McAllister,

I am growing impatient. The prototype you sent me did not meet my expectations. I want something that will make the average man stronger and faster, something that will enhance the body’s abilities to sense and react. May I remind you, I am not a very patient man, and as the deadline looms over my head I will not accept any more ‘prototypes’.  I expect to see the serum within 48 hours, or I will have to take certain… precautions to ensure your complete cooperation. File 46 is enclosed with this letter; see to it that you make adjustments. I hope you will be able to see too this quickly.

                       Anxiously waiting, Simon Prym

 

                Jim read it all with wide eyes. What was his grandfather getting himself into? Who was this man? What exactly was this serum? He clicked on the attachment, and a list of attributes was listed. Healthier, more resistance to pain, stronger eyesight, and stronger senses were among the first. How was G supposed to meet all these demands? It was basically a superhero bundle. He could see it in his mind: come get your awesome powers here! All your needs in a bottle! He scrolled through G’s files, not feeling guilty in the slightest. He had lied to him for whoever knows how long.

                He came across a file marked Serum Entry 1. Clicking on it, he found G’s scrawl covering the page photocopied into the computer. As he was about to look through it, he heard the unmistakable cough of their old jeep entering into the driveway. He printed the paper, wincing at the sound of the car door shutting. After running up the stairs to his bedroom, he took a precious moment to calm himself. Breathe. Everything is normal, he told his panicking mind, knowing his grandfather would see right past anything out of the ordinary.  The front door opened and closed, and Jim placed the parchment under a book on his desk. As the old FBI agent often said, it was best to hide things in plain sight.

                “Hey Jim!” His grandfather greeted him warmly as he stepped into the room.

Jim forced a smile back at him, thinking of the secret basement.  He couldn’t stand to be around him right now.

“I’m not feeling too well. I think I’ll go up to bed early. Night.” Jim said bluntly.

He turned around and marched to his room without waiting for a reply. As soon as he got to his room he propped a chair up against the door, then got the paper out.

 

          Serum Entry 1         March 4^th, 2018

They know who I am, and what I am trying to accomplish. They threatened to take Jim away from me if I don’t give them what they want. So I am stalling by giving them serums that are faulty, but I fear they won’t take these defective tests lightly. I have the real serum in case of an emergency. Until then, I have to figure out a way to stop them, to expose them without them knowing it was me. I fear for Jim’s safety, and what will happen if he discovers that people are after my work, or what really happened to his parents.

 

The entry ended abruptly.

What? What had happened to his parents? There must have been another part or something! He scanned the manuscript again. Who was trying to take the serum from G? Confusion overwhelmed him, and he buried his head into his hands.  A memory brushed through his mind, one he hoped would never forget. It was one of the last times he saw his parents.

As chilly rain poured outside the window, seven year old Jim played inside, watching as his parents briskly packed suitcases. “Where are we going?” He asked his parents. His mother turned to him, her eyes and hair the same dark brown as her sons. She smoothed her rumpled skirt, and then pulled him into a hug.

“It’s a surprise honey.” She said with a smile. “We’ll be gone for a few weeks, so pack a bag with any toys you want to bring. This will be so fun!”  His father walked into the room, his wire rimmed glasses askew on his nose. He wrapped his arms around his mother and Jim.

He stared at Jim tiredly and said, “We are going to run to the store really quick, and grandpa’s going to be with you, okay, buddy?”

 Jim nodded, and his father gave him a peck on the cheek.

“We will be right back.”

Now, nine years later, Jim wondered if they were hiding something. His parents never came back from the store.  A drunk driver hit them while they were driving home, killing both his parents as well as the other driver. Jim had attended the funeral, but his parent’s caskets were closed.  G told him later it was because he was too little to see the effect of the crash, something that makeup couldn’t hide. It all started to fit together. His parents were mixed up in this thing with G, and they ended up being… murdered.  He sat back into his bed, falling into a troubled and restless sleep.

It was either the cockatoo or G’s yelling that woke him up. He ran downstairs to find G swinging a branch at a screeching bird. The brightly colored fowl flew with surprising speed, and Jim watched as it rammed into G, knocking him off balance. It tipped over the Palmolive bottle, which G jumped for and caught it like it was a Ming vase. It was plastic, for heaven’s sake. G carefully placed it back on the counter, and then let out a breath. The bird then flew upstairs and landed out of sight.

“What’s with the Palmolive bottle, G?” He asked him directly.

His grandfather glared at him. “Get in the car. I’m taking you to school.”

He didn’t give any explanation to why the bird was there, and Jim didn’t ask. It had always been that way. G made it very clear to Jim when they first started living together.

He slipped on a sweatshirt and tromped down the stairs, where G pushed him out the door.

“One second. I’m just going to grab a granola bar.” He headed back into the kitchen, grabbing a bar and then, turning toward the sink, took the Palmolive and slid it into his backpack.  G’s old words of advice playing out in his head…, it was best to hide things in plain sight. 

 

The silence was unusual for their short drive to school until G finally spoke up.

“There is something I have to tell you Jim.”  G said hesitantly.  “You might be in danger.  I can’t tell you why right now, but you have to trust me on this.”  He paused, frowning, and checking the rear view mirror for the third time.  “You need to watch your back Jim.  Don’t trust anyone you don’t already know.  Come home right after school.  Talk to no one, go nowhere but to your classes then back home.  Do you understand?  It’s important that you understand.”

Jim nodded as they pulled up to the school.  They skidded to a stop and G looked in the rearview mirror again. 

“Get out quickly Jim!  Go!  Go!”  G said frantically.

Jim got out as fast as he could and G slammed the accelerator to the floor, making the door close and leaving Jim staring after him.

He turned worriedly, and went into the school.  The office was the first room on the right inside the front doors.  Jim usually looked in and saw the myriad of misfits that plagued his school, waiting to see the principal.  Today, however, he saw two men talking to Secretary Taylor.  Both wore suits and were clean shaven.  The suits didn’t hide the fact that both men were extremely fit.  Jim felt a slight uneasiness start to grow in his gut, and then it multiplied 10 fold when one of the men started to turn around and look his way.  Jim ducked into his first class and couldn’t help feeling like he had just avoided something ugly.

 

Ten minutes of class and Jim was dying.  The urge was too great. He had to do it. His hand slowly rose. Ms. Ginger looked up at him.

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

“You’re excused.”

Jim walked to the restroom, his backpack hanging off his shoulder. Walking into a stall, he slipped the Palmolive out of his bag and stared at the green liquid. He slowly removed the cap and smelled the contents. It certainly didn’t smell like soap. Jim dipped a finger in and tasted it. It was sweet, definitely not soap.

He sighed. “Here goes nothing.”

Jim put the bottle up to his lips and tipped it back, letting the contents run down his throat.  He let the bottle fall to the floor.  Waited.  Nothing happened.  30 seconds.  A minute.  Nothing, and then with the force of a Mack truck Jim felt like his whole body was slammed from the inside out.  He crumpled to the floor.

When he opened his eyes, he felt the cold porcelain of the toilet pressing into his cheek.  What the heck just happened to me?  Jim thought. 

He could hear Ms. Ginger lecturing the class. Come to think of it, he could hear every teacher talking. Two hallways down, second door to the left, he could also hear the two men talking in low voices.

“We need to nab him now. Time is running out.”

“Roger that.”

“Ms. Ginger’s class is right across from the office, let’s get him on his way out.”

Jim struggled to his feet. He had to get out of here. What was going on?  Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, he walked out of the bathroom, and then slipped by the office and out the door.

Jim saw the two men in front of the school by the flag pole.  Each was staring coldly back at him.

Without hesitation, Jim bolted, running faster than he ever had before. The men started to grow further and further away and he realized his feet were only touching the ground every 10 ft.  He was really moving.  Then he heard something that stopped him cold. He slowly turned around, and walked back. When he finally reached them, he spoke slowly, in a low voice.

“What did you say?”

The man looked him in the eyes, and repeated what he had just said to Jim from a quarter mile away. “We have your grandfather.”

He put the first man to the ground and out cold, twenty feet away in a split second.  Before the second man realized what was happening, Jim had him by his throat. The man was well over two hundred pounds of solid muscle, but Jim held him two feet in the air, in one arm, like he was no more than a child.

“Where. Is. He?” Jim growled, tightening his grip on the gasping man.

As he tried peeling Jim’s fingers from his neck, the man’s face was turning purple. Jim dropped him to the ground, and he wheezed, and then looked up at Jim with a new fear.  He reached into his jacket for something but before he could pull it out Jim was standing over him, his foot on the man’s throat, taking his air away for the second time. 

“I will only ask one more time,” Jim said.  “Where is he?”

“In the basement,” He choked out. “In the Tycon building.”

Jim let his fist fall across the man’s jaw instinctively, and the man was out.  He turned away, and started running.

 

Everything happened so fast.  The realization of what he had just done swept over Jim as he ran.  Amazed and horrified he sprinted down the street without even breaking a sweat.  Jim thought as he ran.  He could hear better, he was faster and stronger than he thought humanly possible.  Everything was crystal clear in his mind, like a veil had been lifted.  He had taken the serum!  He was going to get his grandfather, and nothing could stop him.

 

The crumbing building showed no signs of life.  Jim walked slow up to the elevator.  He pressed the down arrow and nothing happened.  He looked around and found some stairs to the basement but there was a lock on it.  No problem, Jim thought, and with a jerk, the lock came apart in his hand. Descending the stairs, Jim noted the silence. He considered the possibility of the man lying to him as he rounded the corner sat the bottom to come face to face with the cold barrel of a gun.

A deafening blast resounded in Jim’s ears, and the world slowed down around him. Jim could see the copper bullet burst out of the firearm, he moved out of its path, and world sped up around him again. He felt the whiz of the projectile as it flew past his ear, and turned to the open mouthed guard.  

“Where is my grandfather?” He asked the guard.

The man started to shake his head and before Jim knew what he was doing, he had the man’s gun and hit him over the head. 

“Oops.” 

He found G in the third door on the left.  G was already calling out by the time Jim stepped in.

“So, you still think I am going to give up the information. Well you’re going to be disappointed.”

Jim could see his grandpa clearly, even though the room was dark. He had two black eyes and blood running down a crooked nose. He was strapped down to a chair, and looked at Jim’s silhouette cautiously.

“I’m sorry.” Jim replied. “I thought I was on a rescue mission. If you want me to get information from you though, that’s fine.”

His grandfather broke into a broad smile.  “Jim! Hurry and untie me, we need to leave now.”

After G was freed they stepped out into the hall. G barely glanced at the unconscious guard before turning and running up the stairs.

“There are men waiting for us on one and two; we have to go to the roof.” G huffed.

They ran to the rooftop door and walked out. He should have stayed. He heard them coming up the stairs and grabbed G’s arm. 

“Come with me.”  Jim said.

They backed up to the edge of the roof as men spilled out onto the roof, guns drawn. He could protect them, Jim thought. Then two people in white lab coats came out. Jim recognized their faces instantly. His foot slipped, and he fell backward, off the roof. He had only one thought as he fell from the building with the image of the man and women in lab coats seared into in mind.

My parents are alive.

Reviews

[Academy6]

This is wonderful! You're awesome, lovely!