The Pace

  “What?” I asked, for clarification.

  “You need to step out of the vehicle.”

  I’d seen enough television to know this didn’t happen for speeding, and I hadn’t been doing anything else. “What for?” I asked, trying to block the light from my eyes.

  The officer let out a sigh of impatience, but I refused to move until I was sure I’d heard him correctly. After a few seconds of not answering me, the officer very slowly and calmly, uttered, “Lenny, Lenny, Lenny. You are still so defiant.”

  I leaned my head to the side in an effort to see around the light. I tried to get a visual of the shadow, and that’s when I saw a white cloth zeroing in on me. My face was aggressively overtaken as the fabric was shoved over my mouth and nose. I was forced to inhale a sweet, burning scent. I naturally flinched away, but the hand holding the cloth pushed harder. Once I realized this was no ordinary pullover, I made the decision to scream, but my vocal cords were numb. I started to panic and instinctively went to put my Jeep in drive, but my wrist was restrained by the grip of the stranger’s much stronger hand.

  Tightness permeated through my lungs. Within seconds, my eyelids started to close. I struggled as best as I could to push away my attacker. I reached for the eyes and scratched at his arms, but nothing worked. I only got weaker and weaker with each passing second.

  As I slipped into an involuntary slumber, I could tell I was being pulled out of my car. My heels were scraping the ground, and I tried to kick my legs, but they were too heavy to follow my command. Instead, I could feel the grinding of gravel under my heels as I was being dragged. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. The cloth was still smothering my face. My eyes were closed, so I couldn’t see, but I was coherent enough to feel myself being lifted and roughly shoved into the back of a trunk. Complete blackness came over me.

  By the time I woke up, I was in a windowless room. I couldn’t tell if it was day or night, but the air was close. I felt claustrophobic. My first pain was a major crick in my neck. I tried to rub it with my hand, but I couldn’t, because my wrists were bolted to the arms of my chair. That’s when the horror struck.

  I realized I wasn’t hearing the sound of Wes’ voice anymore. I wasn’t laughing. I wasn’t about to see him. I had been kidnapped. What the heck happened? The last thing I could remember was being pulled over and then being suffocated with a rag. Where was I? I didn’t know. My heart began to race.

  I instantly regretted not letting Wes take the trip with me. My overconfidence in my safety had put me in the most feared position any young girl could think of. Yet, somehow, at that moment, I couldn’t bring myself to fear for my own well-being. Instead, I felt anguish for the frenzy I was sure Wes was going through at that very moment.

  I had just convinced him to relax and to be optimistic, that I wasn’t going to die on him, and there I was in a strange room waiting for a stranger to return, with a sentence I was sure would be death.

  I cringed as I heard a door to my right open. A dimmed light spread across the floor. The stretch of light was overtaken by a dark silhouette heading my direction. I instantly looked away and without a doubt, that was the exact moment when I began to fear for my life. The figure approached me slowly. “I see you’re awake now, Lenny,” he observed.

  I kept my head down, too terrified to see the face of my captor.

  With a tone of arrogance, the voice responded to my silence. “What’s the matter? Don’t you have something to say?”

  I shook my head and kept my eyes closed, trying to block out thoughts of what was going to happen to me. My captor knelt down in front of me. He moved the hair away from my eyes, but I still kept them closed. He chuckled in amusement.

  “Maybe you don’t answer to Lenny. Hmm…maybe you prefer something else?”

  I closed my eyes tight and pressed my chin to my chest trying to block out the stench of the nicotine coming off of his breath. My stomach felt sick. What was going on? Who was this guy? I decided I didn’t want to know. I kept trying to drown him out.

  “Still no response? That’s okay. I’m sure you’ll have something to say soon.”

  He started walking around my chair, being sure to stay close enough so that some part of his body was rubbing past me at all times. I don’t think I exhaled the entire time he circled.

  “You see, you think you have fooled everyone, but I’m on to you.” He circled the chair one more time. “You think that you can do whatever you want in this world and not have to suffer the consequences.” He stopped in front of my chair. “And the worst part about it is that you don’t think anyone else has a right to your little ‘discovery.’ That’s not very nice, Lenny.”

  He reached under my chin with his rough hand. I pulled away.

  “Oh, come on, Lenny. Don’t you want to make amends?”

  I started trying to block out every horrible thought that was running through my mind. I tried to pretend he would go away if I ignored him long enough. He bent down to my level.

  “Come on, Lenny. You’re not making this very fun for me. I would appreciate it if you said something. You know? Like leave me alone, don’t hurt me, or at the very least, who are you?”

  I blocked it out. I tried to think about driving in my car again, like this never happened. I could tell he was losing patience. Shockingly, he took one deep breath and on the exhale, he yelled in my face, “How about, ‘Who are you?’” I was literally shaking by then, and I was doing everything I could to hold back uncon­trollable sobs. Taking it even one step louder he shouted, “Ask it!”

  I flinched, and with a hoarse and weak voice I asked, “Who are you?”

  He stood up, excited. “That’s better!” He started walking around my chair again. After he circled a few times, he said, “I’m insulted that you do not remember me. Let me see if I can help you.” He walked over and turned on the light. My eyes were still closed, but it was enough of a difference in lighting for me to notice.

  “Oh now now, Lenny, don’t be shy. Open your eyes. This is the important part.” I was still too terrified to oblige, so he hustled back over to my chair and yanked my head back so I was looking up. “Now open your eyes!” he commanded.

  I wanted to cry, and at that point, I knew he was going to get even more violent if I didn’t cooperate. I blinked my eyes open, giving them proper time to adjust to the light, and that’s when my heart skipped a beat. There were several pictures of Wes and me on the wall. I saw myself eating a funnel cake with Wes at the carnival; I saw a picture of us eating at the sandwich shop; and I saw several zoomed-in shots of us separately. It was an odd, creepy obsession.

  “Do you like them?” he asked. I shifted my eyes toward him in hopes of recognizing the face. I was instantly sure I hadn’t run into him before. He was older, I would’ve put him in his 60s, but he was muscular and very intimidating. He had a wide neck and a large, square jaw that was covered in sandy-gray stubble. His hair was a darker, greasy-gray color. I turned away quickly. “Oh, don’t do that, Lenny; you haven’t answered the question yet. Who am I?”

  I closed my eyes again, trying to drown out the sicko. He got angry again. “Who am I?” he shouted in my ear.

  “I don’t know!” I shouted back.

  “Ah, feisty as ever,” he said, seeming pleased. He started walking around me again, and when he reached the front of my chair, he bent down again. “Take one good look and try to guess.”

  I inhaled, taking a slow, deep breath, and opened my eyes. I took another glimpse at his face for as long as I could tolerate, which was about two milliseconds, and then closed them again. “I don’t know,” I croaked.

  He stood up, but remained standing right in front of me. “Understandable,” he said. “But let me see if I can refresh your memory.” He took a step closer and grabbed the index and middle fingers on my right hand. With a stomach-turning twist, he snapped my fingers back at the joints. I let out an ear-piercing shriek. The pain shot through my arm. Instinctively, I tried to grab them
with my other hand, but my arm was still bolted to the other armrest.

  “Does that refresh your memory?” he asked. I was cringing in pain as I felt the throbbing in my deformed fingers. “No? Well, how about this then?” He grabbed the last two fingers on the same hand and bent them back with even more force than the first. I screamed again and started crying in pain, fear, and anger.

  “Why are you doing this to me?” I cried out.

  He leaned right in my face and said, with an eerily deep voice, “Because your boyfriend owes me a broken hand, Lenny.”

  Chapter 19

  THE PLAN

  I opened my eyes, trying to put together the accusation. With the stare of his fiery, ruthless, egotistical eyes, I made the connection. “Andy,” I whispered.

  “You do remember me,” he said, standing up again, completely pleased with himself.

  “No,” I said, building up nerve at the thought of this washed-out man ruining my life.

  “What was that?” he asked.

  “No, I don’t remember you. How would I? You’re old. The only reason I remember you is because of your hand.”

  He leaned over me and scrunched up my broken fingers. “Is there anything else you’d like to say?” He squeezed harder with each passing second, and I could hear awful crunching sounds.

  “No,” I yelled, through my tightened jaws. He released my mangled fingers.

  “Good, now we can get to the point of all this. You have something that I want.”

  My breathing was labored as the panic built up. I dropped my head and closed my eyes again, hoping to push the reality of my situation out of my head.

  “You see, Lenny, I was not too happy that you embarrassed me like you did. And I was really not happy, when your friend broke my hand. I had plans for us. Well, actually, not us—me. You were my ticket out of town. See, my parents didn’t have money like yours, and I was hoping to cash in on you, but then you had to go and ruin it.”

  By then my breathing had steadied, but my nerves were going haywire. It felt like little bugs were crawling all over me, and I was bolted to a chair with no way to get them off. The guy was giving me the creeps, and his insanity was making me want to crawl out of my own skin.

  “But that’s okay, Lenny. See, I was upset at first, but then I got to thinking about Wes. That’s his name, correct? Yes. Wes had barely touched me, and yet my hand was broken in fourteen places. Pretty remarkable, huh?”

  I hadn’t moved an inch, nor had I answered any of his questions, but he was going along as I had. “Yes. It was quite remarkable. So it got me curious. Who was this guy? Where did he come from? That’s when I stumbled upon the great Dr. Oliver Thomas’ accomplishments. Well, I’m sure I’m boring you with this, so I’ll get to the point. There were a lot of rumors that he’d found a cure for diseases, while increasing strength and bodily performance through the use of alligator serum.

  “Well, I figured there was something shady about Wes back then, but then you died in your little accident and he went off to Europe. I ended up joining the Army, and I thought that was the last of it. But, then the Army started a covert operation experimenting with various ways to increase performance in their soldiers. Much to my surprise, one of the trials included extracted proteins and cells from alligator blood. It was supposed to make us strong and immune to diseases that we could catch in other countries.

  “As you can imagine, I was one of the soldiers who instantly volunteered to participate in the study. We found it did make us strong. It was exhilarating. The only problem was that it was temporary, and the withdrawal symptoms were painful. Soldiers started going haywire during withdrawal periods. The government pulled the plug on the whole thing.

  “Then they sent us to a special facility so we could be weaned off of it like addicts. And just like that, they released us back into society with an honorable discharge.” I could hear the bitterness in his voice. He started rubbing the top of my head, and I could feel the filth reach all the way down to my toes.

  “After that, I spent twenty years being a security guard at Berkeley. That’s when I saw you. You were just walking the campus like you were out for a Sunday stroll. Like you didn’t have a care in the world. I was stunned. I thought I was seeing things.” He stopped rubbing my hair and walked a few feet away. I couldn’t tell what he was doing, and I didn’t want to look.

  “Anyway, I thought you might just resemble Lenny, but one day I followed you to the parking lot and that’s when I saw him. Mr. Wilson himself was leaning up against your car as arrogant as I remembered. Imagine my shock to watch you and him take a stroll on the path.

  “That’s when I started following you two. I figured out you were up to something. I researched Mr. Wilson, and what do you know? He, or his father, or is it he? Well, we both know who it was. He had started research projects throughout various medical facilities focusing on, guess what? Alligator plasma.

  “So little old me decided to cash in on your secret. You could say I relapsed. I started injecting the serum again, and I can’t tell you how good it feels. I’m untouchable when I’m on it. But you see, Lenny, there is just one thing missing. I want to know how you and Weston have managed not to age a day since 1963.” He paused. “It has really been bothering me, so I’ve decided you are going to tell me.”

  That’s when I felt his presence close to me again. He positioned himself behind my chair, grabbed a handful of my hair, and lifted my head back. Still holding my hair in a solid grip, he placed a cool, hard object up against my throat.

  “Now, Lenny. I do not have patience here. So if you value your life, I suggest you start talking.”

  “I can’t help you.”

  “That’s not the answer that I wanted.” The object pushed deeper into my skin, and I was able to identify it as a knife. I felt a stinging sensation as the blade began to pierce the skin.

  “Okay,” I said, folding.

  “Start talking.”

  “Okay, I’ll tell you, but I can’t concentrate with the knife at my throat.”

  “Well, you’d better try.”

  “Please Andy, where am I going to go?”

  He let out an amused sigh. “I suppose you’re right.” He pulled the knife away and left the room. I started to feel momentary relief until he came back in, noisily dragging a chair. The screeching sound gave the effect of magnified nails on a chalkboard. I shuddered. He positioned the chair right in front of me and sat down, casually waving the knife.

  “Okay, let’s begin.”

  “What do you want to know?” I asked naively.

  He leaned in, just inches from my face. “Have you not been listening? I want to know how you and Mr. Wilson are not aging. What do you have that I don’t?”

  “I am aging, Andy.”

  He studied me for a few seconds, then looked at his finger nails. Without warning, he gave me a bitter backhand across my face.

  “Try again,” he ordered.

  “I swear,” I said truthfully. He went to reach for the fingers on my left hand, and I flinched. “Okay. Please, just listen. I’ll tell you how, but you have to hear it all.” He retracted his advance. “I’m aging, but Wes isn’t. I’m some sort of reincarnation.” I saw that he was about to cock his hand again. “Wait, Wes doesn’t age, because he uses the serum. It only works on males.” He was considering the explanation.

  “Then why are you still here?”

  “Lenny is not still here. I’m Sophie.” That is when I received the second backhand across my other cheek. I spit out blood that time. I was really getting mad. “Since you know everything then you don’t need me.”

  He called my bluff. “All right, I see this isn’t working.” He pulled out the knife again. “You have exactly thirty seconds to tell me what I want to know or you can say goodbye, Lenny, Sophie, and whoever else you want to go by.” He pressed the knife under my chin and forced me to look him in the eyes. All I kept thinking was that I didn’t want to die like that. I knew I had to t
ell him something.

  “You can check the records. Lenny died. And I was actually born Sophie in 1991. I keep coming back for Wes. He needs me.”

  “Why?” he said, gritting his teeth. He was psychotic. I believed he was on something then, and I was afraid that no matter what I said, he was going to kill me anyway. I thought about just giving up, but I knew I had to try to stay alive. I had to think of something that would buy me time.

  “Because I’m the missing piece,” I blurted out. He rolled his eyes, and I knew I needed to give him more to go on quickly, whether it was the truth or not. I only hoped it would work. “Because he needs my blood.” He raised his eyebrows in consideration. “My blood is the missing part of your serum. It’s what keeps him young. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know. All I know is I donated my blood to him in 1916. He has been young ever since, and every so often, I return to replenish him.” I wanted to say take it or leave it, but I decided not to take my chances. Instead, I dropped my head and began to pray that he would believe it.

  I knew my blood wasn’t the key. Amelia’s blood hadn’t cured Wes. Only Dr. Thomas knew what he’d put in the serum. I wouldn’t know. But what I did know, from Wes’ recollection, was that all of the previous patients died from trying it. I was confident that it was not the true answer that Andy wanted, but if I could just get him to try it on himself, then I might be able to make it out of there. “There’s one more thing,” I added, closing my eyes, as if ashamed to give up the rest of the information.

  “What is it?” he said, sounding eager.

  “It’s not the extracts the labs use. It’s the raw form of the cold-blood itself, mixed with my warm blood. You have to inject the whole blood. It won’t change you without it.”

  He smiled. “It’s brilliant, of course,” he said, standing up.

  “Well, if you want to be changed. You’ll need to go get real cold-blood.”

  “Oh, lucky for me, Lenny, I have it here. I’ve acquired many things over these past few months. Your Weston has quite a collection at his labs. Please excuse me for a second.” He left the room, and I began to realize what I had done. I was pretty sure it would kill him if he tried it, but I realized in his absence that he was going to want my blood next. I hadn’t thought it completely through. I was too busy thinking of a way to save myself and trick him. I didn’t realize I was actually giving him a reason to kill me.