Page 67 of The Godhead Complex
Morgan spoke as if she were giving a lecture to students, even as the Griever inched closer to Cowan. “When the body feels true fear, it pumps the blood faster and releases special chemicals and endorphins to its each and every part. Amazing, really.Terrorboosts white blood cells, and Cowan needs that most right now. She’ll need as many white blood cells as possible to help with the incoming dosage.”
Mechanical growls vibrated the glass of the pod. Cowan had gone rigid, obviously in shock as the Griever crawled ever closer to her. The Villa scientists, doctors, and lab techs watched it all with an almost sickening display of anticipation, bordering on pleasure. A reckless power watching their experiment unfold.
“You’re just going to let it sting her?!” Ximena shouted. She should have followed her intuition when she first brought Jackie down to the basement. A pit of deep regret formed in her stomach.
Morgan answered with the utmost serenity. “The Griever takes the patient’s blood, runs it through the algorithm, and then dispenses the Cure dose accordingly. A quantum algorithm that no human could match. From the terror to the dispensing, it’s all part of a beautiful solution. It will save your friend’s life.” She smiled like a proud parent.
“This is the only way.”
Isaac’s heart raced itself to a clatter; his palms slid down the glass of the pod from sweat. Every moment since Ms. Cowan first showed him her rash flipped through his mind in a blur. If only he’d known what the Villa was capable of, he never would have brought her here.
The Griever clicked; the Griever whirred; the Griever crawled forward, prolonging the agony of every person watching. Isaac had no words to describe such a thing. It was half creature, half machine, full-on nightmare.
“Ms. Cowan!” Isaac pounded the glass to get her attention, remembering what Ximena had said earlier. “Just stay calm! Stay still!” She’d gone from shocked stillness to flailing her arms, an impossible effort to ward off the Griever, now right in front of her. Its glistening, shapeless face leaned in, came within an inch of her own. Isaac held his breath. Cowan screamed. One of the Griever’s arms pulled back with a series of clicks louder than all the others, revealing a large needle as if it had one horrible finger. In a snap, it slashed forward and stabbed Cowan right at the shoulder.
Ms. Cowan unleashed a sound from her throat that sounded like all the demons of hell coming back to life. But she didn’t move to resist, and a metallic section of the Griever’s midsection started spinning in place, noisy and clanking.
Morgan’s voice seemed artificially amplified. “It’s calculating your needs for the serum. It processes your DNA at near quantum speed.”
Quantum speed?
The Griever let out what sounded like a series of short, breathless cries of pain. Cowan winced, closed her eyes. Isaac looked around him, helpless. Tears poured down Jackie’s face. Old Man Frypan held his head in his hands. Ximena stared at nothing.
The monster hovered over Cowan, churning out sounds but otherwise staying in place.
What was it waiting for?Isaac wondered. He just wanted the whole thing to end.
Morgan issued more commands. “Open your eyes, Ms. Cowan. It needs to read your face.” But Cowan squeezed them shut even tighter.
Isaac pounded on the glass again. The only choice now was to do exactly as they were told. “Ms. Cowan! Just do what she says! Open your eyes!”
The Griever cycled through several motions with its arms, legs, whatever the hell those spiky things were and raised one at a time until Cowan finally acquiesced and looked, wide-eyed and terrified, at the creature. As if pleased with her obedience, it placed two of its appendages on Cowan’s shoulders, almost lovingly. With a finalCLICK, CLICK, CLAAACK,needles flashed out, sinking their points into her skin. Her eyes closed and she slumped to the side. Lying there, limp.
What had they done?
The Griever rolled and whirred its way over to Frypan’s pod and pressed its face against the glass. The old man no longer held his head, but instead stared right back at the monster. Isaac could only imagine the haunting memories of the Glade that must’ve filled his head. Of all the lives that had been lost. Time stretched out. It was as if he and the creature were reminiscing, a silent exchange. Until one of its spiky machine arms pulled back then punched the glass of the safety pod.
It hissed a noise then slammed another of its arms in the same spot, splintering the glass into cracks.
“Frypan!” Isaac shouted. He looked over at the main pod, filled with a dozen Villa workers, “Stop that thing! You’ve got to stop it!” They ignored him, as if no one was really in charge of the Griever machine at all.
Old Man Frypan moved to the back of his pod, as far from the creature as possible, watching in silent terror as it punched the wall again, then again. The next one stabbed its way through, spraying pellets of glass on to Frypan.
Isaac, beside himself, pleaded for them to stop the Griever. But the lab workers weren’t even watching. All of their attention, each and every one of them, was on a lifeless Ms. Cowan.What the hell were they waiting for?Then Cowan suddenly came to life, gasping for air.
Morgan spoke loudly into her black box.
“We’re done. Insert the code.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
Bogged Down
The sounds of war swirled around them and they were some of the worst that she had ever heard. Explosions. Gunfire. Screams. Minho led them through the thickly wooded forest and kept reassuring them that they were still far from the battle, but it seemed right on top of them. He held up his hand to signal something to Orange, and the group came to a stop.
For the barest of seconds she thought she heard Old Man Frypan, rinsing his iron pan with tiny pebbles and stream water, cleaning up after a fresh stew. But the fantasy vanished immediately, and there was only the harsh clanking of metal somewhere beyond the white-barked trees ahead.
“Shhh . . . ,” Minho whispered.
