The Life of Jezebel Firetongue

35

The next few days were painful. Waiting for Terence was irritating Jake and me to our fullest extent. Perhaps it was the burning of the note that caused it. Or perhaps it was the fact that we could both do things so fast that slowness killed us. Either way, it made both of us anxious and slightly moody all of the time.

Despite this, I kept my promise to Terence and told him a bit of my story every night. When I finished, he seemed a little shocked. "Wow."

"Yeah..." I shrugged and looked away, trying not to notice the way he looked at me. I cleared my throat and asked, "So, how are you doing on those cameras?"

"Oh! Yeah, I found the right internet connection, but I'm having trouble hacking into it. There are just so many protections set up." Terence looked back at the screen and started typing on the keyboard. After a couple of minutes, Terence smiled and leaned back, stretching his fingers. "Finally! We're in. I'll send you a link that will connect you straight to the cameras."

I cheered and Jake looked up from the TV. "Terence broke through, Jake!"

"Yes!" Jake cried. He stood up and came to stand near me and watch. I opened up the link Terence sent me and a bunch of little video screens popped up. I looked through the live camera footage and saw Dr. Davis scurrying down the hall, a bunch of supplies in his hands.

"What's he doing?" I muttered.

The Doctor walked into a room that was giving off a faint glow. When we looked at the footage covering the room, our jaws nearly hit the ground. It was filled with little glowing egg sacs. There was a wall of small ones, a wall of bigger ones with little people who looked like aliens growing inside, and then a wall with a row of sacs with kids growing inside. Each kid was hooked up to an IV filled with a different substance.

I leaned back in my chair, disgusted. "So that's where he gets his mutants."

Dr. Davis walked in, holding up a needle filled with an unidentifiable substance. He walked across the room and started injecting the tiny egg sacs with it. Across the room, a kid started moving in his egg sac. Dr. Davis turned around and saw the kid about to spring out. He reached for a towel from a towel bin parked in the corner of the room and ran to the kid.

I felt sorry for the kid. His serum had turned him into some sort of Wolf Man.

Davis smiled at him and said "Hello."

The kid just made a low whimpering noise. Poor guy.

As Dr. Davis ushered the kid into the hall, I closed the camera system and saw Terence, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Did you see that?" I asked.

"Yeah. This guy is such a monster. How could he make such a messed up kid and be just fine with it?" Terence shook his head.

"Where do you think he gets his supplies?" Jake asked.

I pulled up the cameras and pointed to one room that was filled with crates. "He must have the supplies shipped to him from some hospital."

"For what? The freak of the month club?"

"Jake." I looked at the room again and nodded. "The important thing is that we know what else we have to deal with when it comes to our plan. This is something big, and I don't want all the kids developing in the egg sacs to be born in such a messed-up way. It's just not right."

I closed the cameras and Terence rubbed his eyes. "We're doing some big things," he murmured. Terence looked at me on the screen and smiled wanly. "Get some rest, Jez. You deserve it."

"Alright. Goodnight Terence," I mumbled.

"Goodnight," he mumbled back.

I shut off the computer and Jake and I went to sit on our beds. As we sat there, I suddenly felt the need to say something. To warn him, and make him realize the truth about being a hero. "Jake."

"Yeah?"

"I want you to know that things are going to get rough. Dr. Davis is doing even sicker things than before, which means he must be even crazier." I shook my head and then looked straight into Jake's eyes. "This won't get better."

"I wasn't expecting it to."

"We'll have to watch the cameras for a week before we can dare to plan anything."

"I'm all for that."

"And we will have to change the plan several times."

"Of course."

"And our lives are at stake every second we stay here."

"I'll lose mine first."

"You still want to be a part of this?"

"Whatever happens, I want to be there with you. Anytime, anywhere-I'll be there. Count on it." Jake snuggled under his covers and turned off the light. "A promise is a promise, Jez."

After sitting in my bed for a minute, I turned off my light and went to Jake's bed. "Well, I hope you don't mind me sleeping with you tonight. Those egg sacs creeped me out."

I could almost feel Jake's smile as he wrapped his arm around me and we sank into sleep.