The Alchemist's Children: Panacea

  **********************

  The dream was one of those picturesque scenes that were depicted on Christmas cards of the perfect family seated by the Christmas tree with a roaring fire in the fireplace. It all seemed so magical. The lights twinkled like little stars and the glow reflected off the small pile of presents that rested beneath the sparkling tree.

  There were only a few. It was only Christmas Eve and Santa always brought the big stuff in the morning. Christmas Eve was just a chance to exchange small presents among each other before the overwhelming circus that was Christmas morning.

  Callen's father was sipping a glass of Irish whiskey and his mother was nibbling on a gingerbread cookie while they watched Callen and Ania stare into a pile of gifts.

  Eve laughed, and Callen looked back to see his father put his arm around her. "Go ahead, Pup." He put his glass down.

  "Me too, daddy?" Ania asked.

  "Yup, go head, princess," Alex said.

  The children were ecstatic. It was the night before the only day better than a birthday. Callen's fingers quickly ripped through the three packages to reveal three new Lego sets; one space base, one castle, and a magical dragon cave. He instantly began imagining the creations that he would make and add to all the projects that he had made with his dad.

  From the kitchen, an alarm sounded from Alex's cell phone. He leaped up from the couch and ran into the kitchen.

  "Alex, what's going on?" Eve asked as she followed.

  "I'm not sure," Alex said. "It looks like a security breach at the lab."

  "How did they find it?" Mom asked. "That place is so well hidden it might as well not exist."

  "I don't know, but it doesn't matter. I got tests running for..."

  "You have to go. We can't risk it. You're so close." She paused. "You think they found you out?"

  Callen stood up and wandered towards the kitchen. He saw his mother reached atop the refrigerator and pulled out a metal box with a padlock on it. She put it on the table and popped it open.

  "Eve, you have to stay."

  "I know, but if it is them then you will need these." She handed him a knife and a pistol. "Give Niknak the knife. My AR is in the trunk."

  Alex checked the gun. "Alright."

  "Do you want me to call my father?" Eve asked. "You might need backup."

  "No, it isn't a good idea. If my cover isn't blown, then it certainly will if your father comes, and that would be very bad for everyone here. Besides, it could be nothing but a false alarm." Alex said. "He needs to give Sadie and Tende a nice Christmas Eve. I don't think she has ever had one. Then, we can introduce her to Callen when they come over tomorrow. It'll be okay."

  "What's going on, Daddy?" Callen asked nervously.

  "Something at work, don't worry, it will be ok." He answered. "But I have to go to work for a little while..."

  "But..."

  "I don't have a choice, Callen." He said. "We can play some Legos when I get back."

  "You gonna get Bunny-man, Daddy?" I asked. "He needs to be here for tomorrow."

  "I hope so, pup." He sighed.

  "Make sure he gets my present." Callen held up a Lego figurine with a white head and two swords in his hands. "It's him." He smiled.

  "Sure, son." Alex sighed and took the Lego figurine, glanced at his smartphone and then at his mom as he shook his head. She nodded back with a worried look. "You be good for your mom, and watch out for your sister."

  Callen felt tears well up in his eyes. He looked at the weapons his father's hands. He finally busted into tears. Through the window, he watched his father drive into the snowy night.

 

  He woke up for a second and felt liquid rolling down his throat into his lungs. His skin burned. He could vaguely make out the shadows of Dr. Brewer’s odd medical equipment. He tried to move, but he couldn't. The straps held him tight in the old stained bed.

  The last of the liquid washed down his throat. He tried to hold his breath, but something forced the air out of his lungs. He inhaled and the fluid flowed in. He locked his eyes tight and started to gag. The sensation of burning erupted inside and out.

  Memories flooded in of Ania holding his hand. He felt the burning of his treatments rip through his bones for the first time and his tough-as-nails mother looking absolutely helpless as his body swelled before the vomiting began. He remembered lying to them about how bad it was.

  Voice of children echoed around him between the notes of the song that still hummed in his mind. Images of Derrick, the other children in the hospital, and the metal demons flashed before his eyes.

 

  His skin was on fire and his breathing, aided by the plastic mask that fed pure oxygen into his nose and mouth. He was lying in his hospital bed with a pair of aids and one of his nurses guiding his bed back to the cancer ward.

  They propped his bed near the window so he could look out the window and see the T.V. The aids headed back while the nurse made some adjustments to his IV bag. "You alright, Callen? You in any pain?" She asked with a warm smile.

  He nodded.

  "Let me go get some pain meds for you. I'll be right back." The nurse headed out of the room and he turned to look out the window.

  "Hey, buddy...you alright?" Derrick asked as he slid over a chair that was sitting next to some fat kid that Callen could only guess was the foster brother that he had mentioned a few times. The fat kid was fiercely pounding his chubby fingers into his Gameboy and cursing. He really didn't look very happy.

  "I just got a bad one." He coughed. "A new mix of meds."

  He shook his head with pity and fear. "My foster parents just got here a few minutes ago and they are talking to Dr. James about me doing that too. Frankly, I'm surprised they even came." He shook his head. "They probably came just to prove to the state that they are still taking care of me so they can continue to get their check to buy fatty more stuff. Shitty brat. That's how those freakin' Born-Again-Christian types are, you know? Damn hypocrites. I wish I had telekinetic powers so I could throw them out the window."

  He shrugged the best he could while lying in the bed.

  "What you call me?" The fat kid yelled as he got up and charged towards them looking like he wanted to fight.

  Derrick turned to face him. "I called you a brat." He stated. "And what you going to do about it, cry, piggy-wiggy?"

  Piggy tightened up his fist and took a swing. Derrick stepped back easily dodging the weak punch. The kid lost his balance and fell onto Callen. The weak punch to him felt like a gun shot. He tried to hold back the pain, something he had learned from all the treatments, but his skin was too sensitive from the treatment. So, he screamed.

  The fat kid stabilized himself by pushing on Callen's leg. He couldn't help but start to cry.

  "Back off, piggy," Derrick warned. "He just got out of treatment."

  Piggy smacked Callen's leg again and stared at Derrick. "How do you like that, you little gangbanger? Did my parents reform you into someone who cared about people?" He taunted. Callen tried to dodge, but he was far too weak, but this time he only grunted. He managed to press the buzzer for the nurse.

  "Back off, now!" Derrick warned. "I'm warning you..."

  "That piss you off, you self-righteous prick? Your little gang abandoned you. You got caught and sick. If it wasn't for me and my parents, you would be in jail!"

  "Cut it out!" Derrick warned. His nostrils flared and his eyes glossed over. Derrick was ready to kill.

  Callen had never seen that look in his friend's eyes before. Something had risen in his friend that something had been deeply buried. It looked like he was about to take sadistic pleasure in whatever was going to do to his foster bother.

  Piggy raised his fist again, but one of the nurses grabbed his arm. "What are you d
oing?" The nurse yelled. "Cut it out! Call security!"

  Piggy struggled with the nurse. "Mom and Dad should have let God cure you like the rest of our church...but the state won't allow that for you. God puts people like you all in here for a reason. If he wanted you all cured, he would cure you! God thinks you are all demons!" He laughed with a pig-like snort. "I can't wait to get some new stuff from the check that the state sends to my parents for you now that the hospital pays for your food."

  "You're messed up." Derrick let go of his hand. "One more time and it's over."

  "Let me go, devil slave!" Piggy roared at the nurse. He snapped his head backward and cracked his skull into the nurse's face. The nurse staggered backward with her broken nose. "God wants to hear him scream again." He snickered and dug his nail into Callen's leg.

  He screamed again, this time really loud.

  The door busted opened and the nurse ran in with a shot. "Callen?" She saw Derrick and Piggy's posture and the bleeding nurse. "Get away from him the both of you!" She commanded, not even taking the time to take sides. Security charged in right after her.

  Piggy swore and threw the Gameboy at Callen. The plastic didn't give like flesh did, which made it hurt even more. The pain shot through his face as the device hit him in the head. Derrick's chair collided with Piggy's face followed by a spray of blood. Callen’s world went dark.

  Callen's consciousness began to return and outside the tank, he could see shadows of his sister and grandpa standing next to Dr. Brewer. Their voices were muffled, but he could make out what they were saying.

  "I don't know what's wrong with him," Dr. Brewer said. "The nanobots have stabilized him, so he should be fine. I just don't understand what triggered this. Looking at the new medical data and comparing it from what I got from his old medical records, well, the comparisons indicate a change, but nothing that could cause an attack this severe. I'm going to keep him in the tank to run some more tests, and then I can collect information over the next few weeks so I can figure this out."

  "Is he going to...?" Ania whimpered.

  "Not if I can help it," Dr. Brewer said. "He'll be functional once I remove him from the tank. But, something's not right, it's almost like some of the data from his old files is missing something...."

  "Can't you just program those thingies to heal him?" Ania asked.

  "Yes," Dr. Brewer said. "However, I need to know what's wrong to properly program them. If I did it wrong, it could only make matters worse." He sighed. "There is no silver bullet in medicine, even with the great technology I have access to."

  "What about mom?" Ania asked. "Is it the same with her too?"

  "Similar, but with her all I need is a pure sample of the poison," Dr. Brewer said. "It mutates when it enters a host. If I have a pure sample, I can extrapolate the process and develop an antidote. But, she is stable."

  "Do what yeh have to, Doc," Corth said. "And I'll make sure yeh get the resources yeh need."

  Dr. Brewer nodded. "I'll do what I can...for the both of them. Just need to prepare the next dose of meds." He left the infirmary and Corth followed.

  Ania looked into the tank and placed her hand on it. "Don't worry, Callen." She grabbed a chair and dragged it up to the tank. "Felix says your stuff is tested, and Tende wants to play the new Shadowborne expansion with you. So hurry up and wake up, and don't you worry. Sadie, Tende and I are on it...you mentioning Panacea and Dad before you passed out sent us on a bit of a scavenger hunt. If Dr. Brewer can't save you, then perhaps we can..." She had his laptop in her hand and she pulled out a gold pen. She began doodling on the back of it. The shadows washed over Callen's mind once again.

 

  "Alright pup, release your breath. Hold it." Mom said. "Line-up the iron sights and squeeze." The gun kicked in his hand and the bullet flew downrange hitting one of the outer circles of the target. "Nice, you hit it first try this time! You have five more rounds. Finish out that cylinder. I have a speed loader ready. Try pulling back the hammer this time, like I showed you."

  "Alright." He said as he followed her directions. The pistol felt good in his hand. He felt powerful. For once, he didn't feel helpless. He didn't feel like a victim. He fired. The second round whizzed down range hitting the circle next to the bull's-eye. "It worked Mom!"

  "The trigger cocks the hammer. That motion inside the firearm throws off the aim in a pistol." Mom said. "When you need extra precision, cock the hammer."

  He nodded. "That makes sense. Applied physics."

  She laughed. "Well, apply your physics and fix your stance. You have four more rounds, pup. I want to see bull's-eyes. How would you stand if you were holding a rifle?"

  He adjusted his stance, cocked the hammer, lined up the sights as he exhaled, and fired three times. Each round tore into the center of the target. He cocked the hammer one more time and aimed for the clip that was holding up the target. He fired. The paper fell to the ground.

  "See?" Mom said. "You got it."

  "Yeah." He said. "When can you teach me the martial arts stuff you practice every day? I want to be able to do the knife, pistol, tomahawk, and the other stuff you do too."

  "One step at a time, pup." Mom said smiling. "Learning the stuff I do is very demanding on your body. I will teach you once the doctors say you're out of the woods."

  "When will that be?" He emptied the brass from the cylinder and grabbed the speed loader. He jammed the six fresh rounds into the gun.

  "Hopefully soon." Mom said with a sigh. "You've made so much progress with the treatments Dr. James has been trying. Hopefully, that will be it."

  "Yeah." He said. "He said the next round of treatments will be six months long and if it works right, I will be out of the hospital again before my birthday."

  "You'll be fifteen." She said. "That's a special number among our tribe. That's when a young brave starts his vision quest that defines his life."

  "But mom, that was thousands of years ago and besides, you were adopted."

  "Some traditions never die and transcend blood, Callen." She said smiling. "And, in your grandfather's tribe, adoption is as good as blood. You father's family is also descended from a long line of warriors with similar traditions. They blend in both you and your sister."

  "What warriors was dad descended from?" He asked. "He never told me."

  "The Celts." She said. "I believe he said he had traced his blood very far back in the history of Ireland." She reached over and grabbed an automatic pistol off the table next to us. She slid in a full magazine.

  "Cool." He said.

  "Yeah." She said. "Here, now you need to work with the automatic."

  "Why?" He asked.

  "It's good to know the feel of both." She said smiling. She handed him a semi-automatic handgun, with Heckler and Koch USP cut into the side, and a loaded magazine. "Now, load it, take aim, and fire. Watch the slide."

  He followed her directions and fired until the magazine was empty. "I think I like the revolver better," Callen said.

  "That's just because you're used to it, and the revolver is loaded with .38 rounds. I have .40 cals in the USP. My .38 special is all-metal, while the USP has polymer parts. The metal is heavier and will absorb the lower recoil. Making the .38 easier to control." She said looking at the target. "You'll get used to the larger caliber and the lighter gun. You just need to practice." She handed him a fresh magazine.

  "Yeah." He said. "I also take the time because I have fewer rounds in a revolver." He slid out the empty mag and snapped a new one back in. He pulled back the slide and chambered a fresh round. "Mom, did Dr. James tell you at all about the new treatment?"

  "It doesn't matter, Pup." Mom said. She looked vulnerable, which was a rare sight. She placed her hand on his shoulder and forced a smile. "I want you to know, that no matter what, you are stronger than you
even know. You're stronger than anyone I have ever met. Stay strong, and never give up. I love you, Callen, and I'm very proud of you. I want you to know that. Remember that always."