“The Cuckoo’s Progeny”

Not-Quite Human 1

Al Collins was sitting at the kitchen table, studying the newest American Journal of Physics. As a college sophomore on summer break, he developed an interest in science while taking the harder beginning classes required for more advanced classes: calculus, statistics and introduction to physics. He wasn’t terrific at the required math, but loved learning how things in the larger universe worked. He was fascinated by the physics, and now aimed for a career in the sciences, though he wasn’t sure where that would be. His sister, just graduated from high school, was scheduled to attend his university come fall.

He was working out the math, trying to get a better perception of the concepts, when a wave of concern washed over him. It swept his concentration away like a tsunami, leaving the debris of confusion and bewilderment behind. It was Betty, his sister, whom he affectionately called Be. Somehow, he realized something terrible was about to occur. Realizing it made no sense, he knocked on his table for good luck and tried to ignore it. But no matter what he did, he couldn’t get rid of the sense of doom washing over him.

Pushing his books aside he glanced upstairs. “Mom, do you know where Be is?”

It took her a second to respond, walking through the back sliding-glass door. “No. I wanted her to help out planting the new bulbs, but I haven’t seen her all day. By the way, why can’t you call her by her name? ‘Be’ seems ... disrespectful.”

“Damn!” Al pushed his books aside, taking out his phone and dialing her number. “It’s a private name I reserve for her alone. I never use it where anyone else will hear.” He heard her distinctive ring-tone rising from the couch in a mute testimony to her absence. Growling, he leaned back, closing his eyes. Either this was a fantasy, or it was real; the only way to determine which would be to see if it panned out.

“Well, I’m not sure using pet names for a sibling is appropriate.”

“She doesn’t object. When she complains, I’ll stop.” He stood when the vision of her hurrying through a deserted warehouse district appeared before his eyes, shadowy figures flittering in the background behind her. He recognized the city, as he drove through it often in a short-cut to his school. It was the industrial section of Great Platts City. The city hardly qualified for that distinction, having lost most of its citizens after their main business venture, a large-scale manufacturer, closed up shop. The city had fallen into disrepair. The industrial part was now the neutral turf of two gang’s—neutral meaning they attacked anyone there in their effort to control the territory.

He jumped to his feet and headed for the door. “If you hear from her, call me. I hope I’m wrong, but I can’t risk it!” His mother’s mouth hung open at the strange declaration, before deciding to look for clues to where she’d disappeared to in her room. Not knowing what Al was concerned with, she didn’t have much to go on.

It was dusk, long shadows disguising surfaces, the lack of streetlights providing refuge for anyone with malicious intent.

Betty swallowed, glancing behind her. She knew this was a bad area, but she didn’t feel she had a choice. This was clearly a bad neighborhood with few residents and a host of abandoned industrial structures. She hoped she could cross it before running into a conflict, but she wasn’t so lucky. Now she had a couple figures tailing her, each wearing gang colors, and she had no safe refuge in sight. The setting sun cast the entire street in shadows. The concrete walls were mottled with age, flaking off disturbing the graffiti painted across every exposed surface.

Betty swallowed, trying to hurry without showing fear. She was relieved to be nearing an intersection, where she could still make out details, but doubted there would be any respite.

Nearing the intersection, she was surprised when a figure seemingly sprang out of nowhere. She gasped, clutching her heart and falling back.

“Relax! Come on. We can’t afford to waste time. We’ve got to move before it’s too late.”

“Al? Where the hell did you come from? How did you know where to find me?”

He took her elbow, leading her across the intersection. “Do you want to discuss it, or get the hell out of here?”

“I’ll choose safety, but once we’re somewhere secure, I’ve got a dozen questions.”

They walked at his faster pace. He seemed to be casually strolling, but she was forced to rush to keep up. Nearing a dark alley, he steered her down it. Betty wrinkled her nose, reacting to the stale scent of urine, chemicals and rotting refuse. It was difficult to make out what lay ahead, given the lack of light, but she didn’t see an exit from the dead-end alley.

“We’ll be trapped.”

“Don’t worry,” Al assured her, breaking into a run. He hurried her past two doors, stopping at the third and reaching for a door handle.

“It’ll never—” The door opened without any complaints. He pushed her though, pulling it shut behind her and throwing the lock before looking for something to block the door with.

“How did you know this one door would be open? Have you been here before?”

“Never even been in this area before. I wouldn’t know one street from another.”

“Then how did you ...”

Bracing a heavy metal slab against the door, he grabbed her elbow and rushed her across the room and into the connecting hallway. “Don’t speak,” he whispered. “They won’t know where we are, but if they hear our voices.”

Unable to forestall her curiosity, Betty was about to protest when they heard the metal door rattling echoing down the empty hallway.

“Where the hell did they go?” a faint voice shouted. Al raised his finger to his lips as they hurried on.

“I don’t know,” shouted a closer voice. “Try busting down the doors. They’ve got to ...” The rest of the conversation was lost as distance intervened.

Her brother directed her into a stairwell. She turned to glance at him. Without answering, he motioned up. With the memory of the two gang bangers hunting them, she didn’t protest. However, she had no clue why they weren’t searching for a way out of the building.

They kept climbing stairs. Each time she hesitated, he’d nudge her to continue. They both became winded. After all, she’d been walking all day without any real breaks. Still, he kept pushing her. Finally, unable to continue, she turned on him, whispering in an angry voice.

“Where are we going? If we remain in the building, we’ll never get away.”

Recognizing she was worn out, he paused, allowing her to catch her breath. “We’d never get away. Once they figure out we entered the building, it wouldn’t take long to cover the exits. This is our only option.”

“But what’s your goal? Wait them out? Hope they get bored?” Her eyes roamed the dilapidated structure through the scratched door. “If we can’t get out, what’s to stop them from searching the building floor by floor?”

He held his hand up, silencing her as he listened. Hearing nothing, he continued.

“They’re not stopping. They’re out for blood. After they rob us, they’ll slit our throats. We either keep going, or we die.”

“How do you—” She waved her hands, abandoning that line of thought. “It’s all the more reason to find a way out!”

He pushed her onwards, once again. “Just keep going,” he insisted.

They continued climbing. She finally reached a door which was wedged in place. He moved her aside, and slammed it with his shoulder while holding his hands against the metal to diminish the sound. The door popped open, revealing the roof.

“Shouldn’t we go back down and find somewhere to hide?”

He shook his head, taking her hand and leading her to the edge of the tar roof. “It wouldn’t do any good. There are too few places to hide, and our breathing would likely give us away. This is the best option.”

“What is?” she demanded, her voice rising an octave.

Reaching the cement embankment, they stopped.

“Okay, this is the rough part. You have to run as fast as you can, push off this ledge, and jump as hard as you can.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but he was already gone, backing up and running full speed towards oblivion. He leapt high and soared across the fourteen story abyss, landing hard on the far side and rolling, leaving patches of skin behind.

When he stood, he held his arms out. She backed away from the edge.

“I can’t make that leap!”

“You can. You don’t have a choice. Don’t give yourself time to doubt. I know you can make it. I’ve seen it.”

She glanced back the way they’d come, shook her head and backed up. Steeling her nerves, she ran as hard as she could, jumping off the ledge and waving her arms, watched the abyss below beckon and her brother’s waiting arms maintaining their distance. Then she began to drop. It was slow at first, but she kept accelerating. At first she just hung in midair, then she slowly dropped, and soon it was a race between life or death, and gravity was winning.

She slammed into the far wall, her legs hanging off the edge, her upper half leaning over while Al grabbed her by her armpits, dragged her up. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, terror coursing through her body, sweat soaking her flesh. When he pulled her safely across, she curled into a ball, wordlessly sobbing. Her brother walked to the edge, glancing at the dark alley below.

He walked up, grabbing her arms and lifting her. “They didn’t see us. As expected, they’re guarding the only exits to the building, never expecting us to find another way out.”

She stumbled, her legs suddenly as solid as Gumby’s. “How do you know how to do all of this? How’d you know about the open door, how many exits there were, that we could jump to safety?”

He directed her into the stairwell in the other building. Once inside, he felt more secure speaking. “There’s an exit on a side street a fair distance from the other building. They shouldn’t check it, but we’ll have to move fast. If they get bored or frustrated, they might search for where we disappeared to. Hopefully, they’ll examine the first building floor by floor, which will keep them busy for hours. That’ll give us time to get away.”

“I’m glad you have a plan, but it doesn’t answer any of my questions.”

Al sighed, leaning against the wall, looking away from her. “Frankly, I don’t know how I’m doing any of it. All I know, is suddenly I’m seeing things. I ... anticipate what’s going to happen.” He stood, grasping her arm again, and resumed their descent. “When we met, I instinctively realized we had to take the alley. I could feel which door to try. As we entered the building, I could visualize what would happen if we exited via the front door. I have no clue why I suddenly have this new superpower, but it’s sure come in handy.”

“As unreal as that sounds, I can relate to it. I’ve had a similar experience which began just today.”

“Pray, do tell,” he said, intrigued.

“This whole trek of mine started because I felt this impulse to seek something out. I was driven to seek it out, and I knew where to go, but didn’t know what it was or how far away it was. Obviously, it was farther than I could walk in a single day.”

“I’ll tell you what, if we ever get out of here, we’ll start out fresh in the morning. I’ll drive you, so we should make more progress starting from scratch.”

“It seems like a huge investment in time to throw away, especially if it’s not there in the morning.” She turned, regarding him. “Talking about recent superpowers, you seem to be an intuit, someone who anticipates things.”

“Great! Talk about the least exciting superpower. ‘Stop, evildoer. I’m Intuitive-man, and I can guess you’re about to shoot me!’ It’s worse than bringing a bow and arrow to a battle with indestructible androids.

“Hey, I liked Hawkeye. He was cute.”

“He was lame, as is an ability to anticipate trouble. All if does is help you avoid it.”

“But you didn’t. Instead you sought it out, saving me.”

“I’m not sure I’d do it for anyone else. So what about you? You must be a seeker.”

“Yeah, we just have to discover what I’m seeking. It might be just as dangerous as what we’re fleeing.”

“I doubt it. If it was, you’d sense it. Does it feel dangerous?”

She stopped to consider it, closing her eyes for a moment. “No, it feels good. Secure, like it’ll make a real difference to our lives.”

“Ours?”

She waved her hand, dismissing her odd turn of phrase. “You know what I mean. It doesn’t seem dangerous.”

“Which doesn’t imply there won’t be danger between you and it.”

Reaching the first floor, he again held his finger to his lips, silencing her. Carefully opening the door, he glanced out, then motioned her to follow. This building wasn’t much better than the last, but there was more junk inside the space: stacked boxes, crumbled refuse, drifting papers and abandoned furniture covered in dust. As Be waited, he peered out the front door. Seeing no sign of their pursuers, they fled, running as quietly as possible for another three blocks until they reached his car, parked in another dark alley. Once he unlocked it, they climbed in.

“You’re lucky your car wasn’t stripped in this neighborhood,” she said as they strapped themselves in.

“Nah, I’d never betray Rosie like that. Like the other things I’ve done, I knew when I passed here she’d be safe here.”

“Well, I suggest Rosie get us out of this rat hole.” Instead of listening to her own advice, she paused, staring at him with a look he couldn’t extricate himself from. “Thanks for saving my life.” Leaning in, she pressed her lips against his, maintaining it for several moments. Al, unused to such signs of affection between them, held his hands to the side, shifting his hands, unused what to do with them. She finally released him and leaned back, cocking her head as she regarded him.

“What?”

She shook her head, smoothing her outfit which had gotten filthy in their plight. “Nothing. I was thinking of something else. Let’s get out of here.”

“We’ll be fine from here,” he assured her, pulling into the street, turning away from where they’d met.

“Now we just have to figure out what to tell Mom and Dad.”

Al turned, grinning at her. “I think it’s best we don’t mention anything. I already scared her, so just tell you that you got lost near home. We’ll tell them I’m taking you shopping tomorrow.”

“Shopping with your little sister? That’s a bigger sacrifice than risking your life saving me.”

“I know, tell me about it.” He glanced at her attire. “Though it may not be a bad idea to pick up something before we get home.”