COSMOS magazine

Saturday, June 21

It was a perfect morning, like a day remembered from childhood with all the tedium and unpleasantness distilled away and only the intense beauty and wonder remaining. Jill bounded up the steps to Paul's apartment and threw open the door. A gorgeous pouty-mouthed woman sat at the kitchen table brushing her long blonde hair. A completely naked woman, who was now scowling at her.

Oh my god, Jill thought, confused, I'm in the wrong house. Her gaze skittered about the room for familiar objects. Yes, there was the grey leather sofa, the M. C. Escher print on the wall, the Pictorial Atlas on the coffee table where Alex had left it. And next to it, two empty wine bottles and two glasses.

"Who the hell are you?" the naked woman demanded as Paul walked out of the bedroom, buttoning his shirt.

Speechless, Jill looked from Paul to the woman, back to Paul.

"Hi Jill," he said cheerfully. "Uh, this is Lauren."

"Lauren?" Jill said stupidly. Oh my God, it's the diaphragm woman.

"Have you been seeing other women this whole time?" Lauren screeched incredulously.

"Don't worry," said Jill coldly. "He won't be seeing this other woman again." Grabbing Alex's hand, she turned around and started for the stairs. When the boy didn't move quickly enough, she picked him up bodily and carried him.

"Jill! Wait! It's not what you think."

"You bastard!" Lauren's voice rose above Paul's. "This whole time, you've been— God only knows what kind of diseases you've given me."

As she stumbled under Alex's weight out the front door of the building, Jill heard the crash of breaking glass and more screaming from Lauren, which gave her a small measure of satisfaction.

"Mo-om, what are you doing?" Alex wailed, struggling. "I thought we were going to the lake with Paul."

"You and I will have more fun today by ourselves."

"No, Mom! I want Paul to go too!"

In her haste to get away, Jill practically flung Alex into his car seat.

"Ouch!" His tone was indignant, but his eyes were confused and frightened.

"Paul has company, Sweetie. He can't go with us right now."

"But you said he was coming too."

She jumped in and slammed her door as Paul, barefoot, wearing only a shirt and underpants, came running from the building. "Jill, hang on!"

She started the engine.

"You don't understand!" His mouth opened and closed as he tried to find some excuse. She threw the car into gear as he reached the car. He leaned on the door, gulping air, his wry, crestfallen expression framed by the open window. "This is completely innocent, Jill. She's my mother!"

Jill gave a gulp of angry laughter. "Just leave us alone!" She floored the accelerator.

After a moment she reached over to comfort Alex, who was confused and upset. I should never have brought the facetious lunatic into Alex's life, she told herself in rebuke. But no, be fair. Paul had helped them, had advised her about the hormone treatments. Her mistake had been to change the nature of their friendship. She should never have believed him when he said his relationship with Lauren was over. But her lips curved into a reluctant smile. Mother, indeed!

Alex sniffled, and as cheerfully as she could manage Jill said, "You and I will have a lovely time at the lake. Shall we stop by Daria's house and see if she can come with us?"

"I guess so... Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Why didn't you stay and talk to Paul?"

"I was angry with him."

"Because he had company?"

"Yes."

"Why? How come you were mad at him for having company?"

"Because he promised to go with us to the lake today but instead he was... entertaining a guest."

"That lady with no clothes on?"

"Yes."

"She wasn't really his mom, right?"

"That was just a silly joke. What do you want to do at the lake today?"

"Swim. Why couldn't Paul bring the lady to the lake with us?"

"She didn't want to go."

"Oh." Alex sounded unconvinced. "But we can still go to Paul's lab to feed the rats, can't we Mom?"

"We'll see." As the shock wore off, Jill wondered if she had been unreasonable. Perhaps she should at least have listened to what Paul had to say. But no, damn it! What was going on was painfully obvious. She found herself wondering if Paul and Lauren had used the blotchy diaphragm.

Saturday, June 21

Wayne found himself in the dark, stopped on the shoulder of a deserted country road slumped behind the wheel of the blue Impala, with no idea where he was or how long he'd been away from home. Fern would be mad as fire that he'd taken her car. He flicked on the dim interior light. His watch read 2:47—obviously a.m. but he had no idea of the date. He'd woken on the front deck, stumbled into the bedroom, fallen asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. It was the last thing he remembered. Well, he'd blacked out before and come to in some strange place. He could handle it. I'll just drive until I come to a road sign, he thought. He started to turn the ignition key and stopped stock-still, chilled to the bone. On the seat beside him was a leather binder, smeared with something dark as blood. He looked into the back seat. Nothing. Slowly, he opened the door and, dragging his feet, walked to the back of the car.

Somehow knowing in advance what he would find, he opened the trunk. The body of a slim young man, head covered in matted blood, lay curled like a dead cat where Wayne himself must have placed it. Once he'd questioned whether the horrible dreams were real. Here was the end of all doubt. Hesitantly, as if touching a hot stove, Wayne laid his hand on the man's chest. To his vast relief, he felt movement. Of course, he reminded himself. He had taken the woman alive. Done terrible things to her, while she was still alive. That was not him. Not him.

I have to get this man to a hospital, he told himself. I have to get him there before I— Pressure grew inside his head. He held his head in his hands, rocked back and forth. The pain was unbearable.

"Stop it!" he screamed. "I'll kill myself. I swear, I'll get in the car and drive it into a tree."

You moron idiot! The voice sounded exactly like his dad. What if you don't kill us? What if we end up as a paraplegic in a fucking prison? Is that what you want? Loser. You've always been a loser. You'd even manage to screw up killing yourself.

"No!"

You listen to me, Wayne. You're gonna get in the car and drive it home.

"But..."

Shut up and listen. You're gonna drive home and put this man in the old workshop.

Wayne tried to speak, but the pain was too intense. He whimpered faintly.

The voice told him: The man in the back of this car is an evil murderer. Dr. Rutherford wouldn't lie about that, would he? This man is like the ones who killed Melody. Do you want to let him get away with it? Do you want him out there turning the lives of innocent girls into a living hell?

"I'll get in trouble."

What, you think you won't get in trouble if you show up at a hospital with this guy? Gimme a break, Wayne. You can't be that stupid. Now look. If you listen to me and do as I tell you, everything's going to be okay.

Wayne nodded. The pain in his head began to subside.

Shut the trunk, the voice instructed. Get in the car and drive home.

Sunday June 22

Before he'd started out for San Antonio, Payback had decided to bring Drew Chang to the old farm house. He would turn his father's old workshop into a hospital room. Show Chang what it felt like to be a guinea pig. The place was safe. Fern would never dream of coming down here, after the way he'd scared her off in the past.

The air in the workshop was dank; its smell was unchanged after all these years—bare earth, motor oil, turpentine. Even at noon on a cloudless day, only dim light came through the small, dusty window at the top of the wall opposite the workbench. Payback had made the workbench into a bed by covering it with a patched sheet he'd taken from Fern's linen cabinet.

So far, except for the brief interval when Wayne took over, everything had gone like clockwork. Chang had been slipping in and out of consciousness during the whole trip east from San Antonio to Delmar. He didn't look to be in any condition to try escaping, but Payback kept him tied up just in case and left the duct tape over his mouth. Chang was such a skinny little runt of a guy, it was pretty easy to drag him from the car to the workshop and lift him onto the table.

"Hey, fella. Time to wake up." Payback slapped the side of Chang's face. The little man groaned and his shallow breathing speeded up. The eyes stayed shut. I hit him on the head too hard, Payback thought. Well, shit, maybe if I let him rest he'll come around after a while.

He sat down on the stool next to the workbench. Wayne had sat here, watching his daddy puttering around, pounding hammers, drilling holes in things.

 

"You're never going to amount to anything," Wayne's daddy said. "Why can't you be more like Rob? Now there's a boy who's gonna grow up to be somebody."

Wayne sits there hating himself, wishing he could be more like his younger brother who is strong and cocky. And then a sneaky little thought works its way into his mind. Maybe something'll happen to Rob. Then Dad'll have to love me, because I'll be his only little boy.

 

Chang opened his cracked lips, moaned something unintelligible. Probably asking for water, Payback thought. He had squirted water into the scientist's mouth less than an hour ago, but instead of swallowing it, the little bastard had choked on it and spit it out. Payback wanted to keep him alive for a while, like he'd done with that scientist bitch.

"Come on now, you're gonna die if you don't swallow your water." Payback poked the tip of the water bottle between Chang's teeth and squeezed. "Swallow it, damn you!" Payback punched Chang in the face. He regretted it even as he was swinging his fist, but he couldn't stop himself.

 

"Eat it, damn you!" Wayne's dad leans across the Formica topped table, scoops up a spoonful of food and shoves it at Wayne's mouth. "I paid a buck sixty-five for this food, now you better eat it."

"But Daddy, I can't eat it. It hurts my mouth." Wayne turns his head to the side. Watching from behind Wayne's eyes, Payback can see the thick brown gumbo. He can certainly understand why Wayne does not want to eat it.

"Don't give me any of your lip, boy. I'm gonna count to three, and if you ain't shovelling it in by then, I'm gonna take you outside to the parking lot and let my belt teach you a little lesson. One... two..."

Wayne lets his father push the spoon into his mouth. The gumbo is spicy like fire. Wayne gags. We're going to throw up, have to do something. Payback pushes himself to the front of Wayne's head. After a blank moment, Wayne times out and Payback has control of the body. Without thinking twice about it, Payback shoves the plate toward the edge of the table. It teeters there for a fraction of a second, then crashes to the floor. Payback notes with surprise that the mess has splattered all the way to the next table. The woman who is sitting there reaches down and rubs a glob of gumbo off her leg.

 

Chang seemed a little more alert after his latest gagging and coughing fit. He stared up at Payback with fishy eyes. Maybe he knew in his heart why he was being punished.

"You helped to kill my wife," Payback told him. "I loved her ever since the first time I laid eyes on her, and you people did your experiments on her, and it was a lot worse than the cancer. Why didn't you leave her the hell alone?"

Payback spoke for Wayne, but also for himself. The little scientist looked up, his face scrunched as though he was making a great effort to understand.

"Look up there." Payback pointed to the wall behind the work bench where he had tacked up the curled, faded cheerleader photo from Wayne's secret hiding place. To Wayne, My love forever, Melody. "That's why you're here. That's why I have to punish you."

But Chang would not turn his head to look at the picture. He stared at Payback. Screw him. Let him lie here by himself for a while and think about what he did. Find out how Melody felt when she was too sick to eat anything and just lay there in the hospital day after day. No need for the duct tape, at least. Little bastard was too weak to make much noise.

 

When he returned Chang was still breathing, but his skin was very pale. Payback didn't feel much better than Chang looked. He couldn't think straight enough to deal with Chang. Too tired. Have to get some rest. But the second he fell asleep Wayne would be back, although he'd be just as exhausted. Gotta do something. He couldn't think what, except kill Chang slowly and painfully. Had to be more than that, some better revenge. He couldn't spend the rest of his life killing the bastards one by one. He started to nod, caught himself with a jolt. Felt as stupid as Wayne. That conversation he'd overheard between Chang and the guy with the English accent. Some drug could turn ordinary men into geniuses?

"That's what I need to do," Payback said aloud. "I need to take some of that fucking drug. The Genius Within." He would sacrifice himself by taking the drug, use its evil power against its creators. What happened to him after that didn't matter, he'd been dead since the death of his beloved Melody. Saving the world was all that mattered now. He shoved Chang roughly. Little shit was still too out of it to be any help.

Earlier he had opened Chang's binder and found inside it a report of some sort with two names at the top. Numb with fatigue, he shuffled out to the car, opened the binder. There it was: Paul Gibson, University of Texas at Austin. He was pretty sure the English guy on the phone had been called Paul. Okay, drive up there to the University of Texas and make this Gibson fuck give him some of the genius drug. Then he'd have no trouble figuring out what to do next.

Without going back into the workshop, he got into the car and drove up to the mobile home Wayne shared with that lump Fern.