Page 33 of N8
Almost.
“What’s your name, son?”
“G8.”
“Is that spelled G-a-i-t? Or G-a-t-e?”
“G eight. The number eight.” He pointed to the others. “That’s N8, N eight, F8, F eight, T8, T eight, K8, K eight, and P8, P eight.”
“They’re registered under the code name Eighth Species,” the Huddleston woman continued.
“Code name? And they all, uhh, have special abilities,” Biggs finished. “What kind of abilities?”
“Can any of you fly?” Deputy Gillman snickered.
Without looking back at her, the Huddleston woman softly said, “K8? Please demonstrate what you can do to these people.”
The redhead rose from her chair and faced him. Without hesitation, she dropped her jeans and stripped off her blouse until she stood before them stark naked. Then slowly, incredibly, she split apart, until there were two of them standing where the one had been.
Biggs straightened, doubting what he’d seen. Yet deep within himself he knew what he’d witnessed was real.
Too fucking real.
“T8?” the Huddleston woman spoke again.
The man with the long black hair and beard got to his feet. Lifting his t-shirt to his neck, he kept his eyes on Biggs as another pair of arms erupted from below his ribcage. Then, bringing all four hands down in front of him, more fingers grew from between the fingers, giving each hand ten digits. Before Biggs could say anything, the extra fingers melted back into the hands, and the additional set of arms also disappeared into the man’s body. Likewise, the woman named K8 seemed to step back inside herself, reforming until she was one person.
Biggs tried to swallow as the redhead got dressed, but his mouth couldn’t produce enough saliva. A quick check of his men showed they were equally dumbfounded.
“See enough?” Cydney softly asked.
“Can the rest of you do…stuff?”
The petite brunette named F8 nodded. “All of us can. It’s not as easily visible as what K8 and T8 can do.”
“H-how is what you do possible?” Biggs inquired, no longer a doubter. There was no way what these people did could be considered a magic trick, sleight of hand, or illusionary.
“We told you,” N8 answered. “We’re Chimeras. We were born unique.”
“But there are many others who also have the Chimera genes,” Huddleston added. “Normal people. There are people right now walking around, not knowing they may have the Chimera gene in them. But these people were selectively bred and treated with a phage while developing in the womb.”
Biggs frowned. “A phage? What’s a phage?”
“Its DNA was injected into the host cells, causing their own DNA to change. Based on the genetic structure of their parents…” Huddleston stopped. Straightening, she clasped her hands in front of her. “It’s too complicated to easily explain. But the bottom line, Sheriff, is that I helped them escape that bunker of horrors, and now the people who created them have sent out squads of armed men to retrieve them and take them back. At some point we knew they’d find us again, so that’s why we’re here.”
“Again? You mean they found you once already?”
“Yes,” N8 admitted. “But we managed to escape them.”
“But they won’t stop,” Cydney insisted. “They won’t stop hunting for them. And if they do find us again, they won’t…”
F8 sobbed softly. K8 leaned over and wrapped her arms around the woman to comfort her.
“They won’t what?” Biggs insisted.
“We already told you,” the one named G8 replied. “They’ll punish us to the point where they’ll almost kill us. Where we’ll wish we were dead. But they won’t because they get their jollies seeing how far they can make us suffer for the sake ofscience.” The last word was spat out with undisguised venom.
Biggs continued to stare at the group of people, unsure as to what steps he should take next. It was a rare occurrence for the man who’d spent twenty-one years in law enforcement. He needed time to process everything.
