The Wolf Experiments

Now that Alex was out in the open, she yearned for the familiar comforts of the complex. The valley and its ever-changing scenery and roaming bands of wolves were a welcome and familiar sight to this strange new world she was headed into. Suddenly, she did not feel so strong and powerful anymore. She could feel her sense of adventure slowly draining out of her body even as the aircraft traversed the scenery expertly.

Andy was the pilot as usual while Adrian was seated across the aisle from her. Alex gripped her chair tightly as the city approached. The sight of it in the distance made her afraid and overwhelmed the exhilaration she had felt about the trip. She was far from the only home she had ever known and when she closed her eyes, she could still see Sultan on the hill, a solitary figure staring at the sky as the ship flew by. Adrian touched her hand, leaning close.

“The adventure!” Adrian told her excitedly. He could see the look of trepidation in her eyes and he did all he could to cheer her up. He reminded her of why she was going on the adventure in the first place.

Her eyes narrowed.

“You need to keep an open mind,” he whispered. “You may meet girls your age and make friends. You may find that life in this place is better suited for you and less painful.”

Alex would never leave her friends or the valley. She just knew it.

“Alex,” he said. “You are too young to make such a promise.”

She tried to ignore his words. Why would he encourage her to leave?

“I don’t want you to miss other opportunities. You just never know if you will meet someone else.”

She broke away and stared at him as if she had never seen him before, as if she would never see him again. His words were strange and unwanted. She had never consciously admitted how much she depended on him. Perhaps she had taken for granted that he would not leave her. No one would ever understand her as he could.

“One step at a time,” Adrian said. “I want you to go out and meet people. We have made no promises to each other.”

It was as if a hand closed around her lungs, squeezing them mercilessly. The frightened patter of her heart squelched her thoughts.

“You need to meet people.”

Alex wondered why he kept repeating this fact. She had been the only girl in the complex and she had been doing pretty well so far. Images of girls in schools flashed before her eyes. Most of these were influenced by pop culture and movies and she knew that the portrayal was skewed at best but still, that was all she had to go by.

Andy suddenly announced, “We’re here.”

Alex turned away with agitation. Why would Adrian say this now?

The air in the private hanger was stagnant, despite the black gaping hole in the west wall. Pollution hung about the skyline, and the shadows in the area seemed to coalesce into something ferocious. She shot Andy a look. There was nothing beautiful about the city.

“Give it a chance,” Adrian said softly. “We’ve only just arrived.”

A black hover car waited for them. After climbing into the seat, she watched the landscape pass by her window as they drifted a foot above the old broken pavement. Wolves scattered across the road and disappeared into a multitude of dilapidated homes. This community thrived once but as the radiation levels increased, the economy plummeted. As they drew closer to the innards of the city, she began to recognize landmarks — a church, a school. Memories flooded her consciousness and she sank deeper into the seat and zeroed in on the new emerging memories.

She wasn’t big enough to put any true merit in swinging the axe. But she did anyway. It slid out of her clammy palms and slid across the floor. The man dragged her to the cage after that.

But things grew increasingly murky, moving beyond her recollections to something else—maybe vision induced by her travel medication. The city surrounded her but with demolished buildings, fire, and ash. A flash of headlights illuminated her face and those lights grew in intensity until the brilliance smothered everything. The valley began to take shape around her. A gentle wind stirred the dry leaves. A piercing howl raised an alarm, and all the wolves were screeching from the trees. A sudden fire burst across the field, covering Andy from where someone had pinned him up like a scarecrow. His skin burned and melted like wax. Alex had fallen through a black hole of time and no matter where she went, death was waiting.

When her eyes eventually opened, her friends were crowded around her. Someone said, “She’s coming around now.”

Alex blinked repeatedly.

“I’m sorry, but I had to sedate you,” Andy said.

Her throat felt oddly thick and pinched. She sat up slowly, taking a moment to look around a pretty room.

“This is yours,” Andy said.

As always, she first went to the window to peer out. The hour was late, and the sky reflected the constant glow of the city. There were no stars. She gripped the windowsill, feeling light-headed and numb. Amandas patrolled the fence line, a tall steel wall that was at least eight feet high. She turned back to the room filled with soft, feminine colors and fine furnishings. A thick country quilt covered the bed, depicting a pattern of horses, leaves, and trees. A lavender chair and small table occupied one corner.

“The bathroom is right across the hall,” Andy said.

Alex took a few steps and looked out. A spiraling banister led to the floor below. Adrian gripped her shoulder.

“The drugs are still affecting you,” he warned.

He helped her downstairs to a comfortable living room. Andy turned the smart screen on, finding a local news broadcast. It was in Spanish. Alex understood the language perfectly. It came as a shock, but now as she thought back many of her memories were in the language. She looked at Adrian, feeling tired, sad, and even a little lost. The sedation still coursed through her blood, shifting the room around her.

“What is it?” he asked.

Alex stared out into the darkness. She knew something was going to happen here.

“Don’t,” he said. “It’s just different than what you’re used to.”

But Alex was sure she had seen a glimpse of what was still to come and quickly jotted a little information on a piece a paper and handed it to Adrian. She felt discombobulated.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I think you’re worried about Sultan. Just give this place a few days, okay? If it works out, we’ll stay longer.”

The nightmare she had just had kept playing back in her mind. She could not shake off the feeling of impending disaster. Suddenly, she started to question her decision to leave the complex. She felt helpless to stop a tragedy, a fire that would eventually envelop Andy, and it seemed her control of the situation around her had slowly slipped from her grasp.

It took a few months but Alex got her pilot’s license since it was required for hover cars. If they had an antique, it would have required a much different kind of certification. Honestly, with all the fail-safes, hover cars could practically pilot themselves. She waited in a very long line and it took all of a day for her to get it but when she did, she shook it in the air as she ran towards Adrian.

He had obtained one earlier in the week after Andy had carefully invented a persona for him and the necessary documents to prove it. All of it was fabricated. Apparently, Andy had a knack or some connections. Adrian was pleased as he let her navigate them through the city in their hover car, his colored contacts in place and a slathering of tinted sun block across his face, neck, and arms. They crossed the bridge, although there was no water beneath it anymore, and arrived at the university. It stood as if trying hard to hold on to the regal aura that had made it a pride of international students back when the world was still sane and there was no threat of nuclear war. Back when pollution was nothing more than a news item tucked in somewhere after the weather report. She still hated the city. The overcrowded streets and lack of trees disturbed her. There was not a shrub or flower in sight.

She was miserable at school just as she had initially suspected. Adrian would leave her there and wander off for half the day before coming back with a sheepish smile and an apology. She would nod as if she had forgiven him but deep down, she suspected that he was trying to create some distance between them. Andy was also busy with his own projects. She was lonely.

They spoke to Nick, Eric or Hawk daily, compiling lists of supplies needed back home. Andy worked on theories to cure the radiation poisoning in humans, something more acceptable than what was done to her.

Some days, Alex attempted to get information out of Adrian and find out about his life before crashing into the valley. But he was secretive, explaining that it wasn’t a happy story—that others had planned out his life without giving him choices—that he never wanted to become an astronaut. That created even more questions than it answered and it made Alex resolve to get the truth out of him one way or another.

But first, she had to survive at the university. Despite Adrian’s optimism on the subject, she never made friends. It was abundantly clear just how different she was from other people. The girls seemed painted and transparent, full of petty and irresponsible ideas. Alex disliked the social cliques that accepted open, scandalous behavior. Both the students and faculty flagrantly abused school policies. Her peers seemed more concerned with popularity than the hard realities of life, deteriorating environment, or slow death by radiation. Alex had met no one she wanted to know more closely. If not at a university, then where were the good people?

“They’re in hiding,” Adrian chuckled. “I’m sure there are still quality people on this earth.”

“Sure there are,” Andy said. “There may not be as many, but they’re out there.”

“Alex is concerned that she hasn’t made any friends,” Adrian said.

“Do you wish to make friends and then leave in a few months?” Andy asked.

Alex shrugged. There is was again, that dreaded shrug. It was an answer, but not an answer.

“Perhaps it’s something you should think about,” he said.

Brooding over her thoughts, Alex joined Amandas outside, repelled by the stale air and constant sounds of heavy machinery, vehicles, and airships. The child in her wanted to throw a tantrum so Andy would take her home. Adrian appeared beside her, also staring at the strange sky, and she leaned against him.

“What do you want Alex?” Adrian asked.

She shook her head, refusing to acknowledge that in her attempt to make others happy, she ignored the obvious. She had no idea how to enjoy life or make friends. She could meet great people and then leave them behind because her world was a secret one, a place where they could not follow. What would they think of her life, her abilities, and her burden? Perhaps she was just too different to try.

“Maybe you should be in the city, far away from those things that remind you of what you are.”

She wondered about her father.

“Yes, well,” Adrian said, “we still need to work on that one. I disagree with Andy completely. Nick should know everything about you. His strength would be welcomed.”

His hair was loose, and the heat made it cling to his back. The sweat dripped down his cheek and he closed his eyes. “This reminds me of my home and that is why I want to go back to the valley.”

He slid his arm around her shoulder, and her burdens instantly fell away.

“I just want you to be happy,” he said, turning to leave. “I would make even the greatest sacrifice for that.”

At that, she gave up that any part of the evening was salvageable and went to bed. Like that day on the shuttle, her thoughts morphed into something dangerous—something difficult to separate from her vivid imagination. Sultan guarded his valley from beneath the ground, and his grave stood alone on the rise. She had grown old, her hands wrinkled and worn, and all she had known was gone. The barn was empty, the fields stripped by fire. Radiation and the bright sun wilted the trees and destroyed the vegetation. She could feel nothing but despair when so much was lost.

Pain gripped her body, and she gasped for air. Adrian wrapped his arms around her and pressed his fingers against her temple.

“Breathe,” he whispered.

She had caused the death of the valley. Her absence had created a chain of events that could not be broken. She had to go back!

“Don’t,” he whispered. “Clear your head, Alex. Think about the things you see. It’s going to take some practice to realize that your fanciful dreams really get carried away sometimes.”

His words stunned her almost as if he had betrayed her in some way. She wanted him to believe her. Not tell her that these things weren’t real. She didn’t want anyone doing that to her. From the window, the light of the city reflected in his eyes and she saw tears shining there.

“I despair when I see what you must endure—that you are so confused and have been left alone for so long. They should have taken better care of you when you first came to the valley and you were left alone too much. Andy isn’t trained for the things you desperately needed. These pieces of the puzzle need to fall into place so you can start focusing on the future instead of the past.”

Despite her exhaustion and despite the fact that Adrian slipped into a deep slumber, Alex could not sleep. She watched his chest slowly rise and fall; absorbing the closeness, the love she felt whenever she was near him. As the sun rose, a butterscotch hue reflected from the clouds of smog, illuminating the ceiling. Without disturbing Adrian, she slipped out of bed and into the bathroom for a quick hydro-spray. Water was limited in the city. Not like the valley. Households were allotted only a certain amount.

When she descended the stairs a short while later, Andy had set the table in the quaint little breakfast nook. Adrian was now in the kitchen and stirred a pot on the stove.

“I have to make a supply drop to the hanger,” Adrian said. “I’ll take you to school today.”

Her silence was not an issue in class. There were so many gathered in the auditoriums no one really had a chance to get to know anyone else. The semester was nearly over.

She ate quickly.

“You look tired,” Andy said.

“Alex had a nightmare,” Adrian said.

“I see.”

She felt his eyes on her while she collected the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. He had said nothing about her weight loss. Alex needed to go home. The hunger of that need pervaded her mind, the image of trees and endless grasslands bathed by golden light and drenching rains. Her dejected mood continued throughout the day, and she had great difficulty concentrating during class. She wondered if Sultan, Hawk, or Eric had forgiven her yet.

Later that evening, when the car arrived for her, Andy was driving with Adrian sitting in the back. She climbed into the front passenger seat, looking at her friends in obvious confusion. No one spoke until the vehicle was in motion.

“I have reluctantly agreed to investigate the old address that Adrian recovered in the complex several months ago,” Andy said. “He’s made it clear that this needs to be done before our return trip home.”

“You make it sound as if you don’t wish to go,” Adrian said.

“My quest was only to find Alex. I have no desire to be involved anymore. I don’t see the need to continue to dig deeper.”

“What about her twin brother or the possibility of other children?”

Andy glanced in the rearview mirror, looking at Adrian before returning his eyes to the road. “If we find there is one, two, or even a dozen, are we to search for them as well? You could devote your entire life to this and never learn more than you know right now. Is this really what you want to do?”

Alex nodded.

“Why?” Andy asked.

“They are suffering,” Adrian said softly. “They need our help.”

“I didn’t know about this site years ago, but every other lead I followed led to more death.”

“Alex’s quest for friendship includes those who suffered as she has.”

“These people may not be your friends, Alex,” Andy said. “Although you’ve overcome everything you’ve been through with a remarkable spirit, most are not like you. Suffering changes people.”

Alex crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked out the window with determination. She felt Andy pat her knee and turned to look at him.

“I want your mind to be at peace, and I’m willing to accompany you on this adventure. I just want you to know that if it looks dangerous, we’re not going through with it.”

As the sun disappeared, a red-hot blast of light filled the sky. The thin, wispy clouds became golden spools of cotton that stretched across the horizon. Andy steered the car down from the airway to a badly neglected blacktop road and brought it to a stop in front of a derelict building surrounded by chain link fencing.

“This is it,” he said.

He used a pocket laser to cut the padlock on the gate. The concrete beneath their feet was cracked and worn, and a blackened spot on the pavement indicated that a fire once burned there. Garbage lay piled against the metal building. Walls reflected various obscenities in all kinds of colors and languages. After circling the structure, they found only the one door, the lock giving way with the touch of the laser. Inside, the inky blackness greeted them until Andy retrieved portable lights from the trunk of the car.

“This place is so big we could be here all night,” Andy said.

“We could split up,” Adrian suggested.

“Absolutely not.”

“I don’t think anyone has been in here for a very long time.

“I’m not taking any chances.”

There was an eerie feeling to the building, shadows made odd formations from the broken metal as the fading light shot through. The insidious silence was deep and troubling. They searched the rooms systematically. Increasingly Alex felt as if she had been there before, anticipating turns in hallways, recognizing discarded objects under all the corrosion and decay. It was a lonesome and alien place with its peeling walls and dull, empty surfaces. The image of a fire flashed in her eyes but was quickly gone. She seemed to remember a man named Seth a little more clearly. Alex realized they were standing in front of an open door. The charred walls and obvious water damage brought the horrible reality of the fire back to her, and there it was — the cage, her cage. She knelt beside the tiny prison that once claimed years of her life.

Adrian said, “The doctor must have brought you here as soon as he fled the valley.”

Alex pointed to an open door at the end of the hall, to an office plaque that listed the doctor’s credentials. A few documents lay scattered across the desk there.

“We’ll take these with us,” Andy said, scooping up the papers and tucking them under his arm.

Alex’s head snapped around when she recognized the sharp, metallic sound of a pistol hammer.

“Put your weapons down!” a man barked. He wore a black uniform and a badge. Andy unfastened his laser pistol and set it on the floor. The officer’s light was full on her face, making it difficult for her to see anything else.

“You’re the girl who was kidnapped,” the officer suddenly said.

The light lowered a little, but a haze remained across her vision.

“We’re still privately investigating the man who took her,” Andy said. “Why are you here?”

“I’ve been watching this place and waiting for someone to come back.” The man’s voice was deep and when he finally moved his flashlight. “I’ve never been inside. I just don’t like unsolved cases,” he said. “You know, you really should not be here. Even though this place is abandoned, you could still be charged with breaking and entering.”

“Are we under arrest?” Andy asked.

“No.”

The man scooped up Andy’s weapon, handing it back to him before turning to look at Alex again.

“I was one of the officers who investigated the crash,” he said. “I came to the hospital once to see you, but you were heavily sedated. Have you been well?”

“She doesn’t speak,” Andy said, “but she has recovered from her injuries.”

“I look up the case file from time to time to see if there have been any new developments. Is that why you’re here?”

’Yes,” Andy said. “We have learned that there may have been others taken decades ago. They would be teenagers now.”

He seemed stunned at the news. “Teenagers stick out here with so few left at that age grouping. Being close to a university unfolds the tragedy of it all—that most students are entering midlife. I would have noticed teenagers. That’s why I remember your young friend so clearly. Perhaps we should exchange information. If you learn anything, please contact me. I’ll do the same.”

The facility was getting to her. Adrian caught her arm when she started to fall, leaning her against the wall for support.

“I’m sorry,” Adrian whispered.

He brushed her hair from her eyes, urging her to match his breathing. Embarrassed, Alex wished for the quiet solitude of their city home. Andy brought up the home screen of his smart phone and waved it over the officer’s phone to exchange information. Not that it would matter much once they had returned to the valley. The men jumped through hoops to keep the location a secret but occasionally took a ship up and over the mountain just to collect messages or give her more lessons from online classes. She worked offline when in the valley. Perhaps that was why they had encouraged her just to finish her education in person.

When they arrived home, Alex reclined on the cushions of her bay window staring at the polluted air. She longed for the peaceful valley under a blanket of stars. Her birthday loomed around the corner, but she had no desire to celebrate. Her body felt stiff and painful, betrayed by old wounds. Flipping through some old digital newsprints, she focused on a story about icebergs—the last iceberg. It had come up in conversation periodically but this was the first she could see the reality of the disaster. In the United States, the rising sea level had consumed a place called Florida and changed the landscape of San Francisco, making it a network of islands. The earth’s temperature had risen dramatically after the melting era. Perhaps that’s why it was always so hot in Madrid. Places called London and Venice had been claimed by the sea—lost forever like the mythical Atlantis. Glaciers had been a source of water and after they were gone, it deepened the need to preserve. But people just didn’t.

When she saw Andy later, she typed him a message on her notepad: You ever hear of Florida?

“Yes,” he said.

It was tedious to type or write out her messages and she didn’t do it that often. But she followed the first question with a second: This article says that the rising sea levels swallowed it up but not what happened to all the people. I’m actually having trouble finding more information on the subject.

“That’s because the truth hurts,” he said. “People vacated Florida long before rising sea levels. Climate change became a real problem during the mid-twenty-first century and it caused a surge of hurricane activity. Severe storms and hurricanes struck the Atlantic coast so frequently that people moved away from places called Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida in the United States before the sea took them over.”

Oh, she thought to herself and typed out a final message asking why scientists and politicians couldn’t do anything about it.

“Scientists devised methods of controlling the weather and tried to make it snow more often. But playing with the weather seemed to make things worse.”

It made her sad to think of such things and it made the wolves sad, too.

Alex finished her final exam early and sat beside the fountain trying to escape the hot, dry night. A pair of students crossed the almost empty plaza, and she decided to walk in that direction toward a nearby coffee shop. Alex looked at her watch again. She hurried after the other students, passing an empty stairwell.

Two men suddenly sprang out and hauled her into the dark shadows. A hand covered her mouth and another ripped her backpack away.

“Get her wallet!” a young man hissed, “and her smart watch!”

The man holding her fumbled clumsily with the button of her jeans. Alex snapped her head back and smashed the man’s nose. It crunched beneath her skull. He stumbled back with surprise, expelling a string of obscenities. With nothing covering her mouth, she could have screamed if she had a voice. A hand jerked her about sharply, and before she could react, hard, obsidian eyes met her frightened gaze.

Something metal clanged sharply in the distance, and a sudden movement converged on the three of them, backlit by headlights. Alex climbed to her feet with difficulty, unsure if another threat loomed. The new man threw back his fist to strike, and the other grunted as he received a crushing blow to his ribcage. The second man went to assist the first, falling back when he realized the skill of the new fighter—her hero. The fists fell rapidly, and the two men were desperate to escape.

“Andy! Stop!” a voice shouted.

Andy?

Alex was breathing dangerously fast, unable to grasp that somehow her friend had profound reflexes and dexterity. Her attackers were on their feet and running.

“Thank you for reminding me to be careful,” Andy whispered to Adrian.

Adrian cupped her face in his hands. “Are you all right?”

“No place is truly safe anymore,” Andy said.

Her body sagged in Adrian’s arms as Andy examined the cuts and scrapes across her torso. Her elbow was already beginning to blacken and swell. Adrian seemed uncertain, afraid to do too little, or too much. Finally, she pointed to her forgotten backpack, and Adrian scooped it up. She buttoned her jeans and started for the hover car, sliding into the backseat. She stared at a fixed point and let everything else fade.

“We should go the police station to make a report. They need to know this happened. Maybe they have pictures that would help you identify those men,” Adrian said.

Andy abruptly turned the vehicle, and they arrived at the station only minutes later. Adrian helped her out of the car, and Alex moved stiffly across the sidewalk, feeling her knees pop and grind as she walked. Andy went to the desk, speaking briefly to a dispatcher behind a glass wall who eventually escorted them to a waiting area.

They attracted stares. People with cold, rigid eyes — with unimaginable illnesses, all stopped what they were doing and turned their way. Alex shrank against Adrian’s shoulder.

Later, an officer took them to a private corner of a large room that smelled of burned coffee. Adrian gave him a quick account of the incident and someone retrieved a digital book of images for Alex to examine. After scanning the entire collection, she returned the device and shook her head. Adrian looked disappointed. She wondered if he wanted to kill them as much as she did. Maybe he should have let Andy finish. Another officer thrust a digital clipboard at Alex, and she signed her name about a hundred times. The building was busy and her attack seemed trivial in comparison to the nightly ordeals of the local police force. Certainly, nothing more would transpire.

“I hope you have a better birthday,” the officer said.

Alex looked at her smart watch and sure enough, it was past midnight and officially her birthday. In a way, that completely sucked. She was seventeen now but still felt like a lost little girl.

She didn’t sleep much and when she went downstairs for a late breakfast, a few packages were arranged on the table. Adrian picked up one and gave it to her. A breeze from the open door carried the wrapping paper away. Amandas pounced on it. Inside the box, a beautiful silver watch flashed beneath the light. She quickly flipped her wrist over and for the first time noticed that her smart watch had failed—had probably been broken during the attack but she hadn’t noticed it. There was a barely visible crack in the glass and the face was now black.

She remembered her last birthday and how one of the gifts she had received still remained her favorite so far. Instinctively, she reached for the dagger where she usually placed it on her hip but it was not there, she had left it at her valley home. Maybe tonight would not have gone down the way it had if she had kept the knife.

Just maybe.