I want to say that I was fully in charge and good and super heroic right then.
Realistically, though, I was none of those things.
I was queasy and overwhelmed, not sure how I was going to handle anything. We are talking about me, the failed experiment whose plans never worked. I might have been able to stop Kilbourne, turn the table on him, but that was more or less by accident. The idea of doing something that was a lifelong commitment, a thing where I’d have to live with my failures staring me back in the face—and most likely hating me for the rest of our lives—mine possibly a very, very long life—that idea terrified me.
So I sat, waiting for Kilbourne to wake up to get some answers, doing my best not to wig out because of what I’d learned. I actually wanted my wife to have lied to me. It would have been… easier.
Clayton tapped his fingers on the desk, waiting impatiently. No one had come in to Kilbourne’s lab, and he didn’t really think they were going to. The men that worked for him must have been told not to disturb him in here, and that really didn’t surprise Clay. He also didn’t figure that they would even want to come in here. No one was going to bother Clay while he got his answers, and that was good by him. He needed to make this thing end, and it wasn’t going to happen until Kilbourne told him what he’d been trying to do—why Clay was so important—and even what he figured he’d “improve” with the baby. Not that Kilbourne would have that chance, but he wanted to know what the monster thought he could do—and what he’d been trying to do—before this was all done and the suit’s men took Kilbourne away and locked him up for good.
Clay really didn’t want to be here, didn’t want to wait, and needed to find April and make sure that she was safe, but if he left now, he might never know. If anyone did come to their rescue, it would probably be the suits, and they weren’t exactly trustworthy. They hadn’t told him anything of Kilbourne or the experiments until after Kilbourne’s goon had nearly killed him—and come to think of it, Clay hadn’t seen that guy in long enough to worry about him suddenly appearing because that was the way it always seemed to go with Clay and his messed up life where no plans ever went right, all his genetics were screwy, and Murphy’s law—everything that can go wrong will go wrong—was in full effect.
Annoyed, Clay kicked Kilbourne’s chair. “Wake up.”
The bastard didn’t stir. Clay kicked the chair again, harder this time. “Kilbourne! I think it’s about time we had a real conversation. I want to know what the hell you were trying to do to me.”
The other man’s eyes opened slightly, and he groaned in pain. The pain focused into anger that he directed right at Clayton. “Why would I tell you anything? You’re the experiment. A failed one.”
“I know. But you have yet to actually say what you were hoping to accomplish with me, and I just figured that might be worth knowing. And since I’ve got you tied to the chair and also kind of smashed your face in, I figure I get to ask the questions for now. Wouldn’t you think so? It makes sense to me.”
“I’m not going to answer any of your… What did you tie me up with?”
“Larabee’s special spandex blend. Not sure why you had some of it around—though the biotoxin label did make me laugh a little since I hate the stuff—but since you did and it seems to be working very well holding you, it was a good choice.”
Kilbourne shook his head. “No. No, you have to untie me.”
“You must think I’m a complete idiot. I’m sorry, but no. I am not that dumb, and I’m not going to fall for any of your tricks. I don’t think so. I’ve been hurt enough by you, and manipulated by you for even longer than that, even if for most of my life you were on the run. I’ve been nothing more than an experiment all my life, and you really don’t want to know what it does to a person to find that out. It’s rather soul destroying, honestly,” Clay said as he leaned back against the desk again, shaking his head. He didn’t know how to cope with the emotions that came with that moment, that realization, even after he’d lived with it for a while now. “I have no reason to do anything for you. You threatened April. And our baby. Yeah, no one in their right mind would trust you. Ever.”
“The biotoxin label wasn’t a joke.”
“Ooh, someone else who hates spandex,” Clay clapped his hands together and laughed. “Look, ‘Dad,’ we have something in common. We can bond now despite the fact that you’re a deranged sociopath who calls himself a scientist and experiments on people—specifically me. I love you, Dad. This is the greatest moment of my life.”
Kilbourne shot him a dirty look. “No, you idiot. I’m allergic to spandex.”
“You are?”
“Yes! Now untie me!”
Clay started laughing. “Oh, this is awesome. You’re allergic to spandex. It really is the greatest moment of my life.”