LifeWild

Arthur hadn’t really expected to smell anything at the moment, but as soon as he inhaled, the familiar scent filled his nose. It was the Compound. The smell he knew better than any other in the world, except for maybe his own. He thinks it might be only two to three miles from where they are right now.

“We’re getting close Haley!” His voice a mix of nervousness and anticipation. “I’d say it is a couple of miles in that direction.” He points somewhat off to the right of where they had been going.

“Southeast of here?” She pulls out the map and mulls it over for a few seconds. “Yeah, that falls in the range we were expecting. We’ll probably make it around nightfall.”

They start walking in the new direction, the proximity of their destination adding a little speed to their pace. Arthur’s mind is racing trying to figure out a plan with a reasonable chance for success. He knows he can get through the fence and into the main building, but once they’re inside he is not sure if the confined space of the hallways and stairwells will make it easier or harder to coordinate everyone and get out. Most of the technicians will be gone at night, but he also realizes when they are gone they lock the place up tight. He knows he could overpower the technicians individually, but if they had their shock sticks, or any of the other ‘persuasion’ devices they have used on him and the others in the past, then things would be quite tricky. He especially did not want to put Haley at any risk. He knows there has to be a way to get in and get them; he just has to reason it out.

“Arthur?” Haley’s voice snaps him out of his reverie. “What are the technicians like? I should probably know what we’re up against.”

“As a group description, I’d say they were cruel and inhumane.” His voice sounding quite bitter. “You have already heard some of the things they did to us. One of my most prominent memories from childhood of the technicians is questioning what I did to deserve their cold treatment when all I did was try to live up to what they wanted out of me. My entire life they have poked and prodded me, tested and retested me, and the whole time they act like I am just a factor in their experiment they are trying to figure out. Whenever I did something they liked; they typed on their computers, when I did something they didn’t like; they typed on their computers. They didn’t care if I was tired or hurt; I still had to stick to the training schedule. The others and I are nothing more than experiments to them.

“There are twelve technicians total. As individuals, I can say without a doubt, most of them are callous and unethical. About half of them seem like they are actually interested in our progress and how we react to our training, but we are still nothing more than variables on a chart to them. Another three care nothing for the tests or graphs, they just seem interested in our sale and their paychecks. I am not even sure how they got hired as technicians there anyway. They are constantly talking about what they will do with the money they are going to receive from the sale of ‘the freaks’. There are a couple of leaders in the group. We hardly ever see them, though, maybe once a month. They would just come around and talk to the other technicians for a while and leave.”

“None of them cared what was happening to you?” She is angry and appalled at the same time. “It’s a wonder you are so friendly and compassionate, Arthur. If I grew up around people like that I am not sure I would be as nice as you.”

“There is one who is different than the rest.” He adds with an appreciative tone. “His name is James. He started working there around four years ago. I am assuming when there were twenty of us, they needed extra help. He works at night and he is usually the only one there. He is in charge of keeping everything working properly and keeping the place clean and organized. He sets up the labs for the technicians and puts the equipment away when they are done.

“What makes him different is how he treats us while he is there. Most nights, as soon as everyone leaves for the evening, he lets us out of our rooms and allows us to be together while he works. He taught us how to use the television and opens up the viewing room for us. He brings in movies for us to watch during the weekends and he also brings in magazines and books for us to read, we just have to make sure we keep track of everything so he can take it back out with him in the morning. He even plays games with us when he has time. Once, in late summer, he let us lay out under the stars so we could watch the meteor showers. We ate chocolate marshmallow sandwiches, he called them something else, though, and we watched the sky. I am pretty sure it was one of our best nights at the Compound.”

Haley is excited to see the way Arthur’s eyes are lit up as he is talking about James. “James sounds like an amazing man. The other technicians allow him to do all of those things?”

“No.” He says through a furrowed brow. “I am pretty sure he has broken every rule they have at the Compound. He just is really good about covering his tracks. We are probably more likely to mess up than he is. We promised from the beginning not to talk about what happens with each other or with the technicians, but it is really hard. Even something as small as the fact Jasele doesn’t seem to resist going to her room at night anymore can give us away, so she still runs away occasionally just to keep up appearances.

“He also tries to spend time with the younger ones as well. A few times a week we will stay in our rooms and he will show them movies or play games with them. He doesn’t do it as often, though, and not as extensively, mostly because they would be more likely to let it slip to the technicians in one way or another.

“It is also because of James we know so much about what we are and what is happening to us. Before he came, we thought everything they told us was natural. We were born this way and to serve people was our purpose. He told us we were created in a lab and what the technicians are doing is not legal or ethical. He is working on getting enough proof to help us, but he is only allowed limited access to the files and the computers.”

Haley is confused, “James seems like more than just a technician or caretaker, he acts really invested in all of you.”

Arthur is surprised by this revelation.

“That is true. I guess we never really think about it very much. We are all just so thankful to have him around we don’t question it very much.”

“I just had a thought!” Haley’s eyes light up with excitement. “You said James is the only one there most nights, so wouldn’t he let you in and help us get everyone else out of there?”

“I have been asking myself the same question. He would probably help us, but I think there are a couple of problems with the idea. First of all, most of the rooms are far below ground and the stairways and elevators will be locked up for the night. I am not sure I could get through the doors or even if we could make enough noise at the ground level doors for James to notice. Also, if we do get in and James helps us, he will probably get blamed. I don’t know what they could do to him, but I wouldn’t want him to get fired, or anything else, just to help us.”

“So you think it would be best to go in during the day?” She is unsure of this idea. It adds a lot more risk.

“The problem with going in during the daytime is we would have to somehow incapacitate or lock up all of the technicians.” His voice sounds a little hopeless. “There is no way we can get to everyone without going by every place they would be. I could try to take them one at a time and lock them in rooms as we go, but if any of them has a tranquilizer gun or other weapon, we would be easy targets, especially in those narrow hallways. It is definitely a better idea to go in at night, but I don’t feel good about putting James at risk.”

“How did you escape, Arthur?” Haley wonders. “Maybe you can remember something to help us.”

He is silent for several moments, gazing off into the distance with a sad look on his face. He has trouble remembering many of the details, especially how it ended. He does think talking about it might help him remember and perhaps they will get some ideas from doing so.

“They were testing my endurance.” He recalls. “It was something I had to do every month. Two of the technicians took me into the room with the concrete slabs and the metal block. Ordinarily, I would just move the slabs around repeatedly, but on endurance days, the technicians would hook me up to sensors and gauge my limits. I had already lifted and carried both of the slabs for as long as I could, achieving a personal best time of thirty-seven minutes in the process. My next task was to see how long I could push the one-half ton metal slab around the room. I was going for an all time high of seventeen minutes, but I never got to finish the trial. As I slid the slab along my usual route around the room, every so often I would move close to where the technicians were working. The second time I came around, I overheard them talking. One of them said even though she’s a freak she’s really nice to look at, and the other technician agreed. The first one then said that he should join him and one of the other technicians that afternoon because they were going to perform some special tests on her.”

Haley gasps, but Arthur continues on.

“At this point, everything becomes a blur.” Arthur’s voice tightens and becomes more deliberate. “I understood what they were planning to do, but I didn’t know who they were talking about, I just knew it was one of the females in our group. At that point, my mind had started to race through all kinds of questions. Had this been happening for a long time? What if it was Jasele? Was that the reason she used to cry at night? What about Laila? They explained away broken bones they had caused before, what if some of her other accidents happened because they were mistreating her? And Penelope? She is always telling us we have to be there for each other, was she trying to ask for our help and we just didn’t understand? As each question buffeted my brain, I became more and more angry. It was bad enough they treated us as nothing more than experiments, but to find out they are violating some of us in other ways as well...”

Haley is watching Arthur intently as his voice trails off. He is beginning to growl and his muscles are becoming rigid to the point of shaking. She needs to calm him down. She slips her arm in his and they lock elbows. She stares up at him with a look of gentle concern in her eyes.

“Hey,” she begins. “We’ll rescue them Arthur, I know we will.” She reaches up and cups his face in her hands and looks him in the eyes. She holds her gaze until she sees the anger vacate his eyes and become replaced with the gentle warmth that she is used to. She has never known anyone so pure and good natured before. She is so glad she met him and finds herself hoping that he will be in her life forever.

Before she even realizes what she is doing, she stands up on her toes and gives him a kiss on his cheek. As she lowers herself back down again, she continues to watch his face. She sees his eyebrows rising in surprise and notices his cheeks turning red. She is sure his lips have formed a bit of a smile, but she is now unsure if she should have kissed him or not. She knows she wanted to, it felt right to her, but she doesn’t know how it made him feel. She decides getting back to the conversation is the best idea.

“Do you remember what happened after you became upset?”

Arthur is still for several seconds. He is not sure what just happened. He knows he really liked her kiss and the feeling of her hands on his face, but he has no idea what he is supposed to do now. He wanted to kiss her back, but he does not know if he is supposed to or if she was just being comforting. The fact that she is now talking as if it never occurred confuses him even more. He doesn’t know if answering her means he didn’t like it or if it is just not something people talk about. He figures he should follow her lead and get back to talking about the day at the Compound.

“I remember very few details beyond the point where I lost my temper. I recall seeing one of the concrete blocks flying through the air and smashing into the wall of the room. I know that there was screaming and yelling and the sounds of objects crashing around everywhere. A fire was in the room, near where the block had hit. I remember running down a hallway yelling out the names of the females. I was cornered at one point and the technicians hit me with electric shocks from these metal poles. I am pretty sure I went berserk then, because all I can recall from then on are flashes of the hallway and of trees rushing by. Beyond that, nothing but darkness.”

He stops and smells the air. There is a moderate breeze making it more difficult, but he can tell they are really close to the Compound now.

“I think we should stop here for a couple of hours.” He sets down the dufflebag. “The wind is making it a little tricky, but I believe we are only a few hundred feet away. The technicians all leave at six o’clock, which gives us an hour or two until they leave and then another hour until sundown. It is only a quarter moon tonight so it will not be very bright. If we are going to go in at night, it will probably be best about an hour after the sun goes down. The technicians will definitely be gone, it will be fairly dark and we will have the maximum amount of time to travel before they arrive the next morning. What do you think, Haley?”

“It does sound like the best option.” She tries to sound positive. “So, we have about four hours to wait until then. We should probably get something to eat and rest a little bit, especially if we are going to be walking all night after we get out of there.”

She grabs an apple for herself and a couple for Arthur and a bottle of water for each of them. He has gathered the bags and has sat down beside a tree. She sits down beside him and hands him his portion of their dinner. She eats in silence, deep in her own thoughts. As she finishes her apple and most of her water, she leans her head against Arthur’s chest.

“I want you to know how glad I am that you have come into my life Arthur. No matter what happens tonight, I want you to know how much you mean to me.”

Arthur hesitates. He feels very strongly about her, but he is not sure how to put it. His knowledge of humans is still very limited. Remembering how familiar her aroma was when he first met her confuses him even more. He does know he cares for her very deeply and whether it is as a friend or brother or whatever else, he hates the idea of being away from her.

“Haley, I know I don’t have very much experience with people or with much of anything for that matter, but I can say without a doubt you are the most amazing person in the world to me. You see me for who I am on the inside, not what I appear to be on the outside. I can’t stop thinking about you. I will stay by your side as long as you want me to be there, which is hopefully a long, long time.”

“Count on it, Arthur.”

She snuggles her head a little further onto his chest and closes her eyes. He puts his arms around her and rests his head on top of hers. He breathes in deeply taking in as much of her scent as possible and closes his eyes. He does not sleep at all for the next four hours, he just sits there with a huge smile on his face listening to her breathing and thinking about the kiss she gave him.