MAN FROM TOMORROW

“Wow, where did you learn that?” Anita was amazed.

Martin shrugged. “I throw daggers in my spare time.”

That was all he said in that regard, and Anita once again went silent. They moved around the front of the house, being careful to remain ducked beneath any windows, but they completely ignored the front door. When they passed the body, Anita was conscious of the pool of blood growing in the driveway next to the dead man’s head. She forced herself to look away when they reached the wall next to the front door that connected, though he was closer to them than ever before.

Once they were both insides, they snuck up the driveway, alongside the black BMW that sat parked beside the ambulance. Having to fight off some deranged hitman would probably be much harder than a bunch of poorly trained Korean goons, but Martin was ready. The closer they got to the house, the closer his fingers inched toward his gun holster. Martin doubted that Professor Antonio or Kevin was dead yet. Even if they’d both already been captured by the hitman, it was perhaps likely that were being questioned. He only hoped that he had returned in time to save them.

They approached the garage in absolute silence, and once they were close to the door, Martin heard the sound of an unfamiliar voice. It wasn’t easy to identify it beneath the dull humming of the lab equipment inside, but he was positive it was the hitman. Martin pressed his ear against the edge of the garage door, being careful enough to be sure he didn’t disturb it. He tuned everything else around him out of his senses and focused solely on the voice inside.

“Professor, you must know that your life means nothing to me. Give me the information I want or you’ll be dying a long, painful death.” Martin hadn’t heard the hitman in their initial encounter, and instantly noticed that something about his accent didn’t sound right; it seemed too forced to be a real American accent. He definitely wasn’t native to North America, at the very least.

“I- “Antonio began to speak but hesitated. There was a moment of silence, and then the loudest, most gut-wrenching screams Martin ever heard. “O-oh God!” His voice faded into a moan as if he were going to pass out.

“I’ll repeat this one more time for you. Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll give you a quick death, “the man said.

Martin turned his head to watch little he could from the slim opening between the garage door and the wall. He could see him opening his arms and shrugging, threatening death wasn’t such a big deal.

“The-the papers-,” Antonio paused to, spit something out of his mouth. “They’re in the ca-cabinet by the desk.”

There was another moment of silence, and Martin was sure that the hitman was crossing the room to investigate Antonio’s claim. It was his chance to strike.

“Quick, open the door. Stay on that side when you’re done, I’ll stay here. Don’t move unless it’s necessary to save your life,” Martin whispered. He knew she wouldn’t like his last command, but that didn’t matter to him. Her survival was more important than her pride.

Anita nodded and took fast, quiet steps toward the other side of the garage door. She flipped open the box and punched in the code, cringing at the loud beeping that accompanied each keypress. As soon as the code was in, the door began to rise, and she ducked behind the edge of the house; out of view of anyone inside.

“What’s this? Have our friends returned?” The hitman said, his voice remaining as calm and collected as ever. He said nothing else while the door continued to rise, but once it stopped, Martin heard him walking around within.

He peeked over the edge of the door and inside to see a sight that he hadn’t quite expected. His eyes widened in horror, and he turned away. Martin blinked for a long second, and then reluctantly took in the details of the scene.

Antonio lay on his back, his limbs stretched out to form a star. Large knives pierced through his hands and feet, where pools of blood formed. All the flesh that remained visible was pale looking from the blood loss, and his body twitched but restrained by the knives holding him down. Even if he were to survive such an ordeal, the damage would be great. Surely the man would want death by now. Kevin, on the other hand, sat in the corner of the room, his hands tied behind his back and gagged. He had healed quite well and appeared normal in the face. He stared off toward Martin, he could see him. Could he? Martin continued to stare at him until the man nodded, which confused him even more.

“I know you’re there. Come out now or the Professor will be the first to die,” the hitman said. Martin heard papers rustle. “He’s already given me what I wanted.”

Martin stood and moved into the hitman’s vision, but his eyes lingered on Kevin for a moment longer before switching. In the hitman’s left hand, he had three thin, but large daggers raised in a fan. He lowered them somewhat when Martin came into the open without a weapon; his gun was still in its holster.

“How kind of you to join us,” the man smiled. Unlike the last time when he fired a Bazooka, he wasn’t wearing a hood; he looked nothing like Martin expected.

He was moderately attractive with his cold blue eyes and dark, black hair that was shaved tight against his skull. The lighting in the room made his face look like two different people; pale as Antonio was on the floor, and a bit darker, he was tanned. It didn’t really matter which was his true color.

“What’s your interest in Kevin?” Martin asked. The question seemed to catch the man off guard, but he answered regardless.

“Surely by now you must know that there’s something different about the man,” he began. Martin saw Kevin move behind him, pulling himself up from the ground and move toward the hitman. “My employers have been interested in retrieving a man with such qualities for some time now, but your Kevin has been the first to surface outside of highly protective facilities. My interest in him, however, only goes as deep as a successful corpse.”

“What is it that makes him any different?” He asked. The man seemed annoyed.

“That information isn’t something I’m required to- “he was interrupted by Kevin slamming into him, knocking him to the ground. But in the same motion that pushed him over, the hitman struck back at Kevin, stabbing into him and slicing his chest open with the daggers. Kevin collapsed on top of him, his body twitching in agony.

The second Kevin moved against the hitman, Martin pulled out his weapon and shot him in the head as he fell. He heard Anita’s terrified shriek, but he couldn’t tend to her yet. His eyes caught sight of the papers that the hitman dropped to the floor, and rushed to retrieve them before they got too bloodied.

Despite his orders, Anita rushed into the room once the hitman had been felled. She first checked on Antonio, who she quickly found to have died from the torture. He didn’t look dead, though, she started to free him from the knives. Weeping heavily to herself, she hoped that someone had heard the gunshot and called the police already.

Martin was already pulling Kevin to his feet, but the man seemed to have no strength left from his newest wounds. From their location, Martin was afraid that at least one of the long blades could have pierced his heart. He didn’t have much time left, but he couldn’t leave him to be found by anyone else.

Blood, brains and bone chips of the hitman’s skull were hard to avoid stepping on when he dragged Kevin from the garage.

“Anita, I need you here. Leave the Professor, he is dead. Let us save Kevin!” Martin shouted, trying to hold back tears.

Anita had taken out one knife out from Antonio’s hand. Hearing Martin, she rushed to help Kevin. Martin had retrieved the keys from the dead assassin’s body. “Quick, let’s take this man’s car,” Martin said, pointing to the black BMW.

Once Anita was also supporting Kevin, they moved more quickly. But at the rate that Kevin’s weight was increasing, it seemed that by the time they reached the car they would be carrying a corpse. It didn’t matter how fast he could heal a wound like that would kill him faster than he healed.

Anita ran ahead of Martin to open the car door, where she waited to ease Kevin onto the back seat. There wasn’t any time to buckle him in, they had to be on the move. Even with the hitman dead, there was still the Korean gang to consider, and they didn’t have time to be questioned by the police.

Anita and Martin jumped into their respective seats and drove deeper into town. They needed to get back to New York City.

Martin shoved the papers into Anita’s hands once they were on the road, asking her to read them to him. Surely, if the hitman saw them as a reason to torture the Professor, they had to be something valuable.

“Antonio figured this all out and made a report,” Anita breathed. Martin took a moment to look at her, seeing that her eyes were wide with what he wasn’t sure of shock or surprise.

“What is it?” He asked.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

“It says ’The abnormal qualities discovered within KEVIN’S body are unlike anything I have previously examined. Not only are they on the level of being what one would call a superhuman, the complexity of his body structure skyrocketed, even in comparison to the body of a regular human.

“The most unusual observation I’ve made in my so far was his genetic makeup. Like all humans, he contained a very specific strand of DNA that I’ve yet to look at closely, but I plan to in the coming days. What baffles me most about it is its structural integrity. Unlike us humans, who are equipped with a double helix, KEVIN seems to have three rather large, separate strands of DNA that have, over time, fused together into one’. Anita concluded, dropping the papers back into her lap.

Before Martin could respond, in the back of the car, Kevin rolled over and heaved onto the floor. Another second passed and Martin looked back to see the man Cough blood, a lot of blood, and all the life drained from his face. He collapsed into the pile of blood and vomit, dead.

Moments after Kevin died in the back seat of the car, Anita started to hyperventilate. Martin was in shock that there was a dead man in the back of the car. Over the last few days she displayed admirable courage, it was natural that someone not used to such circumstances would break, eventually; for Anita, it had been later, rather than sooner. He wished there was something he could do for her. “It’s alright, just try not to think about it. We’ll stop somewhere soon and clean up the mess, or at least find another vehicle,” Martin said. There was no way they could get away driving around the city with a dead body in their car for too long. They would need to ditch the car somewhere, regardless.

Anita shook her head, but Martin wasn’t sure what she was trying to say.

His phone rang. “Hello? Who is This?” He said. A voice spoke at the other end-“Martin Phillips, it is imperative that we meet immediately. Your life, as well as Joseph Cooper’s, is in danger.

Martin cut off the caller in mid-sentence.

“Joseph is already dead.”

There was a pause. “That is… highly unfortunate. Regardless, I can offer you information that may prove vital for you, returning his body to the right people, as well as provide you with ways to save your life,” he said.

“Why should I trust you?” Martin asked. He saw Anita tilt her head in his direction, and he looked at her for a moment before turning his eyes back onto the road. He tried to make his eyes say that he’d tell her what was happening later but wasn’t sure if she read it that way.

“I’m Norman Spencer, a former NASA scientist, one of the original members of the team who created people like Joseph. Though I am retired, I still hold connections and interest in the industry as well as the product caused by my research,” the man said. “Perhaps this will suffice? May we meet?”

“Created?” He asked.

“Yes. That is information I can give you only in person,” Norman said.

“Alright. Tell me where to come,” Martin said after some consideration. The man listed off an address that was in a familiar area, an apartment complex close to a known place back in New York City. “I’ll be there tonight.”

Martin hung up. Without consulting Anita, he changed their course. They would still be returning to New York City, but the home was still far off.

Driving for over an hour in a vehicle filled with blood and a dead body on a hot day was a punishment. It was time to end their suffering and ditch the car. Martin took a detour from the main highway. It was a little out into the woods, a little way out of town. It would be a suitable place to leave the black BMW, and Kevin’s body.

He and Anita used what they could, to cover the body in the back seat before leaving. If all went well, he would be able to send someone to retrieve it soon, but there was no sense in leaving it in a state that someone could easily find.

All they took with them was themselves, and the papers containing the report provided by Professor Antonio. Martin briefly wondered if Professor Antonio had indeed discovered any connection to what Norman referred to- Kevin and those like him being ‘created’. Martin and the Professor had reached a similar conclusion earlier. Could he get irrefutable proof that Kevin wasn’t human? It was decided that even though he had substantive reports to back his claim, it wasn’t really something he could yet determine.

How could the assassins trace them to Antonio’s place? This had been at the back of Martin’s mind from the time he realized that the assassins had found them.

As they were finally getting out of the car, they heard an aircraft flying high above them. Martin looked at the sky towards the airliner. Then it struck him. Drones! The bloody assassins had used drones to track down the ambulance. The number of ambulance written on its rooftop is visible from the air. The Aerial roof markings gave them away. That’s why it took them so many days to track the ambulance down. The drones could not track the Aerial roof markings of the ambulance at night. Damn! Martin felt a heavy pang of guilt. He should have thought of this earlier. The only thing he could do now was to cut his losses.

Martin took the papers from Anita. On top of what she already told him; Antonio had made several other significant discoveries. Even if Kevin hadn’t received a mortal stab wound, he would have died soon, regardless; the man had developed some cancer, one that moved through him without rhyme or reason. His body was unable to sustain something he was in contact with, and it was on the verge of killing him. That was all the information given in that regard.

But it made sense. At least, made a little more sense about Kevin; such as why he regenerated so quickly, and why everyone was after him. He deduced that those like Kevin were created by NASA, but one, Kevin, managed to escape, and someone else managed to discover that fact.

“So, this person we’re going to meet, can they help us?” Anita asked. Martin could see a sign ahead of them that read ‘Mike’s Auto Garage’. Here they could purchase or rent a vehicle that would get them back to the city.

He looked to Anita; whose clothes were bloodied from helping Kevin. Martin’s clothes were bloodied too, but since he wore black, it was difficult to discern the dark red blood from the black of his dress. “I hope so. He said he could give us some information. Right now, it’s our best bet, “he said. “I’ll go into this auto shop and get us a car. You stay out here, out of sight. You’ve got blood on you.”

Anita looked down to examine her shirt and didn’t argue with him. “Be fast.”

Martin jogged ahead of her and turned into the garage. There were a few people in the yard, but he figured whoever managed the front would be more likely to help him. There was a young woman working at the front desk, typing away at a computer. He flashed his badge out of his coat and dropped it on the counter before saying anything, getting the woman’s attention.

“I need a car. I’ll pay whatever needed to get it within five minutes,” Martin said.

“Just a moment…” the woman said and continued typing on the computer. A minute later she recited a list of cars that were ready for purchase. Martin ended up renting the jeep.

Five minutes and one grand later, Martin had the jeep. He drove it out of the garage and onto the street, where he saw Anita sitting on a nearby bench. She ran toward him and hopped into the vehicle.

“That was fast,” she said once they were driving away.

“It’s amazing what a badge and some money can do,” he said, “It’s a bad thing.” He smiled a smile that was way out of place for a situation like this.

Thirty minutes later, Martin pulled a few blocks away from the apartment complex where he was supposed to meet Norman. He told Anita to stay in the car. Until then, she was to remain as hidden as possible inside the vehicle.

He walked up to the door on the fourth floor and saw the doorbell. In a situation that Martin was in, only a fool would ring a doorbell. Martin took out his gun and stealthily approached the door from the sides. He realized that the door was slightly open. So, he gave it a light push. It swung open slightly without much resistance, so he slid inside.

He closed the door behind him and moved further inside. It was dark, save for light gleaming in from under the door from one of the rooms. Martin took his gun from his waist held it in front of him, walking further into the home with utmost caution.