Bad Jack ((Ascension: Book 1)) (17 page)

Chapter 45: Jack and Jessie

By now they weren’t walking anymore. They were standing outside a closed door. Oliver opened it and the first thing Jack heard was the rat-tat of gunshots.

Jessie was sitting cross legged on his bed gripping the controller, controlling the heavily armed man in his video game. He didn’t look at them as they entered.

Oliver said, “Jessie, pause the game please
,” but Jessie ignored him, trying to force his concentration away from reality to focus solely on his on-screen actions.

Oliver stood in front of the TV but
the boy tilted to the side to peer around his body. Oliver started to do a whimsical dance that made Jack chuckle. The old man was waving his arms around and swaying side to side but Jessie wasn’t smiling when he finally threw the controller down on his bed. He shot the old man an angry glower but his features smoothed over at the sight of Jack. Oliver sat on the bed and Jack moved closer and leaned back against the dresser.

“
I want you to spend some time getting to know Jack here.”

This was news to Jack.

“He’s very special, as you are, and I thought it would be a good idea for the two of you to get to know each other.”

Jack felt a lump in his throat. He wasn’t good with children.

Abruptly Oliver stood and walked out giving Jack an encouraging wink as he passed.

Sneaky bastard,
he thought.

Jessie stared at
him for a long time waiting for him to speak. He glanced at the controller after a couple minutes probably trying to decide if it would be rude to just continue his game and ignore his new guest.

Finally Jack broke the silence, “So Jessie, how old are you?”

He’d assumed he was about ten but figured he’d use it to break the ice.

“I’m ten, I think. I was nine before I got here.”

“Do you remember coming here?”

Jessie stared at his hands. “I think my mom got scared of me. I tried to wait for her but she didn’t come back.”

“What about your dad.” Just as the words left his mouth Jack remembered that the child’s father had died before he was born.

“I never met him but sometimes I dream that he’s coming for me to take me home.” Jessie paus
ed and looked up at the ceiling. “Mom said dad died but I don’t think he did. I see him all the time.”

Jessie tapped his temple and Jack nodded knowingly. Jack’s dad was dead too but when he dreamt of him he was
absolutely alive. It broke his heart to know that the boy dealt with the same kind of false hope.

Jessie continued, “In my dreams he’s always trying to come for me but nobody wants him to.”

Jack shuddered.

“He looks
a lot like you but he’s a little different.”

Jack
did his best to keep up even though his thoughts were meandering sideways. “My father died too when I was young and I still have dreams that he’s coming for me.”

Jessie looked at
him quizzically. “Yeah, but the difference is that my dad really is coming.”

The poor boy.
Jack wanted to give him a hug.

Jessie changed subjects.
“I heard you ask me for the shoe and the ice cream and the weapons. Did I do good?”

“This
shocked him. He quickly gathered himself. “I didn’t know you could hear me.”

“Then why did you talk to me?”

Jack didn’t have the right answer. “I thought you were asleep.”

“I can’t really sleep anymore. I go away but
it’s not really sleeping.”

“I thought you said you dream about your dad. You must be sleeping when that happens.”

“It’s different from my old dreams. It’s like he’s dreaming of me and I get to see it.”

Jessie whispered
conspiratorially, “He says I’ll change the world and he told me that you would help me find him. He’ll bring light to mankind. I saw you in his dreams coming for me.”

Jack remembered all the crap about the Messiah and
he retreated within his head as a defense mechanism. Before he could find a comfortable hiding place in there Jessie whispered, “He said you were the key.”

Jack accidentally muttered the word fuck out loud but it only made Jessie laugh.

He apologized for the profanity and changed the subject to a less warped approximation of reality.

In a whisper he said
conspiratorially, “They want you to give them weapons. If I ask you for a weapon make sure it won’t work, just like the last one, ok?”

Jessie nodded and gave him an unpracticed wink.

“Jack, if I tell you who my dad is do you promise not to freak out?”

He
freaked out. He had the sudden urge to run away.

He mumbled a quick goodbye
coupled with an excuse about some unfinished business he had to attend to right away. Then he rushed out of the room. He closed the door gently behind him and gasped for breath. His head was spinning. If Jessie had said another word before his hasty escape he was sure he’d have passed out.

He
heard the videogame start up again.

He suddenly felt like a fo
ol. He’d just allowed a ten year old to get inside his head.

He composed himself the best he could and reentered.

Over the game noises he said, “Ok then, tell me,” but Jessie was fully immersed in the virtual reality of his game once again and completely ignored him. Jack took that as his cue to leave for good this time. He’d tried in earnest. He wasn’t a coward.

Chapter 46: Delusions

Oliver came to meet him outside the door within thirty seconds and they walked to the monitoring room together. Jack’s legs were weak and he was short of breath, like he’d just run a marathon.

Oliver asked him how their meeting went. Jack lied when he replied that it went well.

“He’s a yappy one, huh?”

Jack thought yappy might be the wrong word to describe him. Maybe something like, profoundly sad or spooky but not yappy. “He sure is.”

The
Doctor was waiting for them inside. “You two got along well.”

Jack
inquired, “Have you guys ever thought about having a psychologist take some time with him? He suffers from some unique delusions. But he’s not alone. His delusion’s a common one. He thinks he’s in personal commune with God and that God’s his real father.”

Oliver took a noticeable step back.

The Doctor remained composed. “Well, I haven’t heard him mention that particular delusion, have you Oliver?”

Oliver shook his head but Jack saw something like doubt in his eyes.

The Doctor said, “Anyway, if an ordinary person told you they were the next coming of Christ you probably wouldn’t believe them but Jessie’s not ordinary.”

Jack guffawed. “Are you saying he might be?”

“I’m saying I think the likelihood of him being a modern day Christ is about as silly as the likelihood that he could pull a writhing mass of naked women from his dreams and drop them off squarely in the real world. What I’m saying is that I’m not surprised by anything anymore.”

Jack might have expected some latitude from Oliver but not the scientifically minded
Doctor.

The
Doctor laughed humorlessly. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he does become Christ. I think he’d do it just to send me over the edge.”

Now Jack understood; the
Doctor was losing his sensible mind.

Oliver interjected, “He’s a ten year old boy. All children have fanta
sies and delusions of grandeur. I can’t remember any references to werewolves or man eating toads in the bible. I think it’s safe to assume he’s just bored and his imagination’s working overtime.”

The
Doctor looked up at the ceiling, clearly chasing his own thoughts around his head. “How long until we get the back fenced off? The poor child needs some real exercise and fresh air. He needs to see birds fly and squash bugs. He needs to stare at clouds.”

Oliver
replied, “It’ll be at least a month. They’re still building the sniper nests.”

The
Doctor looked disgusted but he kept all further comments to himself.

Oliver’s expression became more somber.
“Let’s keep all mention of Christ out of our report. We don’t need that kind of scrutiny. I can only imagine the nut-jobs that might come out of the woodwork at the mention of a Christ child.”

The
Doctor agreed. “Of course we’re not going to include that mumbo jumbo in our report.” To Jack he said, “I had the weapon taken away for verification. They’re still checking it out but judging by the fact that they haven’t contacted me I’ll assume it’s exactly what they wanted. No news is good news, right? I’m going to jump the gun and say we should make another one. I know they’ll ask and I’d rather be prepared.”

Jack nodded, secure in the knowledge that it would never work.

Oliver said, “I’ll get him tucked in for the night,” and left the room to argue and eventually compromise with Jessie.

This took a full fifteen minutes.

The Doctor eyed Jack quizzically. “I’m curious as to why you seem so upset by the notion of Christ but a werewolf is no big deal.”

Jack didn’t want to answer for his unusual fears and selective skepticism but he tried anyway.

“I don’t like the idea of a universal supervisor. The idea of surviving my own death scares the hell out of me and if there’s order to the universe I don’t see it.”

“I agree with your sentiment exactly, I just noted an undertone of anger when you brought it up.”

He considered this. He thought he’d overcome his anger issues in regard to the popular notion that God was real and that he gave a shit about his creation. Jack had a lot to say on the subject but he didn’t want to give his brain an excuse to fixate on it. That was always a perpetually looped series of heated thoughts and angry denials that drove him nuts and made him angrier the longer he dwelled on it.

He shrugged.
“It’s not a big deal. I just choose to believe truth over superstition.”

The
Doctor smiled toothily. “I can’t tell you how refreshing that is to hear.”

Chapter 47: Finishing out the Shift

Oliver returned a
fter it was obvious Jessie was sawing logs, or faking it or whatever it was that happened when they all assumed he was asleep.

Jack
took the same scrap of paper that he’d adlibbed the night before and read it aloud, word for word this time into the microphone.

As if to prove how clueless he was about everything
supernatural, the weapon materialized out of a flash of light with no apparent source, just like before.

This, apparently, was the new norm.

Oliver ordered someone over the radio to retrieve it. Then he said to Jack, “I know you’re tired. How about we call it a night?”

The
Doctor gave his coworker a look of exasperated disbelief but Oliver held a hand up to shush him. “He’s done enough. There’s always tomorrow.”

The
Doctor slumped into the computer chair, clearly upset, but he said nothing.

Oliver walked with Jack down the corridors and through the cluster of cages
in the warehouse.

“
There’s something I need to do.”

Jack nodded, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“I need a blood sample. I have a suspicion about something that I need to clear up before I can move forward.”

Jack agreed to it as long as it wouldn’t take long. Oliver promised.

He let the old man escort him through the clean room. He was disappointed when Melanie wasn’t waiting on the other side.

The new guard gave Oliver directions to medical.

Oliver said to Jack, “I’ve only been on this side of the door one time and that was to stop those guards from killing you tonight.”

“I
assumed you’d have complete access to everything.”

“I have
access to the source. I think the powers that be thought that was enough. The Doctor got them to loosen up because of you; otherwise I wouldn’t be over here. I still can’t leave this level but it’s nice just to stretch my legs this much.”

Jack had felt like a prisoner but the truth was that he had m
ore access than Oliver. In fact, he’d just spent half the day driving around, even grabbing a quick bite at his favorite restaurant. Maybe he should stop feeling so sorry for himself, he thought. “How is it that Melanie has more access than you do?”

Oliver smiled
joylessly. “It’s because if she screws up it’s no biggie to them to kill her. They value my contribution more than hers. By imprisoning me they’re saving me from myself.”

Jack shook his head but he was grateful for Melanie’s increased access. He
then wondered if the Doctor and Oliver fought like an old married couple seeing as how they’d been forced to live side by side for a year against their will. Then again, the Doctor had extra access too. He assumed that was because he was project coordinator but the more he learned the less he understood about the hierarchy of the place. Maybe Oliver had slipped up in the past so they restricted his access for his own good. He could only guess.

Medical was just a brightly lit room with a bunch of grab bags littering the countertops full of gauze and cold compresses. Oliver rummaged about and finally found a syringe. He unraveled some gauze and got a roll of tape.

He apologized in advance, explaining that it had been twenty years since the last time he’d stuck someone. Jack wasn’t worried. Oliver didn’t seem like the type to screw up. He got the vein first try, filling half the syringe.

He taped the gauze down.
“I did pretty good for an old man.”

Jack asked what the blood was for but Oliver just said he had a theory that was probably wrong. He said not to worry about it.

Jack had plenty to worry about so he gladly obliged.

His worries did perk up when Oliver said, “Best not to tell Collins about this.”