Encompassing (4 page)

CHAPTER 10

“All is not lost if you are willing to suffer the temporary effects for the long term goal.”  -- from the book of Bob

“Healed a bit.  Finally, what the hell is that noise?” Renfield thought. “This is starting earlier than before; they must be learning this trick. Fucking ants!”  As he said it, he looked over the cliff wall and he could see that Detective Brady and the other officers were facing a reality they had never considered.  He knew he had to get them to move towards his position, but he wasn’t sure how this Brady thought.  One slight change in experience and Brady may not chase them as he needed him to do.  It was all chance, even if he had seen it before, it happened differently every time.  “Just do it already!”  He yelled at himself.  Knowing he was weak he paused, but he grabbed a rock and used the sharp edge of it to cut his own wrist.  He chuckled, “Now they will think I am suicidal too!  Oh wait, I suppose jumping out into mid-air already covered that base.”  He sliced again to increase blood flow.  The beasts, like ants do, turned at the smell of fresh blood.  They moved so fast.  Always so fast, but he knew he was faster.  He grasped for brush and the one thing he brought to cause spark.  As soon as it was lit he grabbed the flame in his bare hands and leapt for the ledge above him.  He grabbed another rock, and more tinder and the flame grew.  It was all he had.  He heated the rock and pressed it against his wrist to cauterize the wound.  He knew not to scream at the amazing amount of signals his body was sending him to stop.  Then they were below him and he went into action.  One by one they were confused by the amount of blood on the ground and the sheer speed of something killing them.  He had learned and become faster than his enemy.  He used bare hands and rocks and they kept coming.  Some delivering damage to his already healing body, but he knew he could not fail.  This would be a sign to Brady to move towards him.  He had to be alive when Brady got there, he had to.  He slowed his mind as he picked up his pace and thought, “Why did I make so many rules?  I know, but it’s damned inconvenient right now that I can actually die!”  He pressed on, bashing and pulling at them to make a huge commotion so Brady would have no choice but to notice.  A fool’s gamble, but sometimes he won it.  In most pasts he had lost.  That lead him to be faster and he was faster this time than ever before.  He had to be careful not to be too fast.  If he was, it would seem as if they ran away to die by some phenomenon, not killed by something to wonder about.  He remembered that Brady was brave and would investigate.  He had to keep telling himself that as he moved faster and yet still maintained his tempo.  Time must flow faster for him, but not too fast.  He’d pay it back, he knew that.  He prayed to the ‘him’ that would be his future self and he apologized, but this was necessary.  Then finally he heard shots and saw his attackers dropping.  “Brady!” he thought.  This version of Brady had come through and risen to the challenge!  He had come to where they needed to be.  All of the pain and suffering wasn’t futile.  Brady was here, this time they had to make it count!  Now Brady knew what was out there and so did his team.  Over time, he could explain the rest.  He knew from experience people don’t want to know it gets worse.  At what point would Renfield explain surviving the fall, the massive blood loss, and the seemingly unnatural speed at which he can heal?  They will certainly want to know how, but if it was easy, everyone would do it.  Then they’d all live and that can’t lead to anything good.  Should he explain how far back in time this all began?  Should he tell, this version of Brady, about the tunnels?  Should he even tell Brady how many millions of miles of tunnels there are and risk Brady going into a state of being so overwhelmed he gives up.  This wouldn’t be the first time, but this time had to be different.  This time they had to succeed!

As the last one fell he walked towards Brady and gave him a huge hug.  He had known the man for so much longer than the Detective had known him, but Renfield burst with thankfulness.  “Well now you now this wasn’t a fool’s errand.”  He whispered into Brady’s ear.

Brady pulled back from Adam and demanded, “What the hell is going on?  How the hell are you even alive?  How are you walking?  You look like death, but you’re alive.  How?”

“Is that a multiple choice question?  Do I get to choose which one I answer?”  Renfield grinned.

“You’ve been a pain in my butt since the moment I was assigned your case!  You’ve put us through hell and we lost a good man down there because of you!”

“Brady, stop!  I would prefer no one go down, but someone has to stop this before the next wave.  It’s big and it’s coming, everywhere all at once.  This is where the Queen is.  I’ll explain, but we need to move now.”

Renfield turns.  As he begins to walk away Brady grabs his shoulder to stop him. “Every time I look at you I think you are insane.  Yet, every time I see what you do next, I know you’re not.  Do you see that Officer over there?”  Brady points at Jacobs.  “He takes meds to keep calm.  Do you have any idea how many of his pills you’ve stressed him to take in less than 24 hours?  Sure, he shouldn’t be here, but he feels like he has to make amends for his condition.  So he volunteered, he’s here and now he’s my problem.  He’s your problem!”

“I understand, we needed him more than either of you could know.”  Renfield then turns and heads in the direction he seems fixated on.  Then he stops himself and turns back.  Adam looks at Brady as directly as possible, “We also need you!  Keep up, don’t die and pay attention!”

Brady, clearly angered, yells back at him as he turns away again focused on his destination. “When did you become in charge here?  Last I checked I got you special clearance and this is MY team.  Not to mention you still haven’t explained how you jumped out of a helicopter at some ungodly height, landed in rocky terrain and yet still you’re walking around like you own the…never mind.  I suppose any man who can live through that is worth taking a chance on.  You are a man right?”

Renfield turns back for a moment and smiles at Brady and replies, “Sort of, it’s complicated.”

Brady looks at the destruction around them and mutters, “I suppose it must be.”

Renfield stops again and looks back at Brady to reply, “Ya think?”

Brady stops and wonders, “How did he hear that?”

CHAPTER 11

“I remember he was faster than I.  That seemed impossible.  I was so much younger and I had certain advantages.”  -- from the book of Phillip

Renfield sits in the room and listens to the rant.  The senator continues.  Insults slung at Renfield, thoughts out of order.

“…so since your company controls that, I want you to do something about it now and it better be in my best interest.”  The Senator finishes.

Renfield looks up at him and replies, “I don’t run the company anymore.  It doesn’t’ even have the name I gave it anymore.”  He takes a breath and looks back at the Senator whom he is quickly loosing respect for. “So what do you want me to do for you?”

The Senator whirls and yells at Renfield, “Fix it!  Fix the damned problem!  You’re the one who created the situation and this is going to look very bad for me in the polls!”  Raising his voice to a whole new level of anger he demands, “Somehow you still control it!  I know you!  So fix it!”

“Or what?”  Renfield asks.

“Or…”  The Senator goes quiet as he considers his next statement and then just as he is about to say what is on his mind he feels the arm around his neck.  He suddenly does an immediate inventory of who was in the room besides himself and Renfield.  He looks to the couch Renfield was just sitting on and realizes the seat is empty.  He utters, “How?”

Renfield leans into the Senator’s ear and explains, “You couldn’t tell anyone if I explained it, so shut up.  And as far as political connections, I am far more powerful than you can possibly imagine.  I may have had what you all like to call a slip up, but I did what I thought was right.  Don’t try to boss me around like you own me.  I hope this makes it clear that I don’t really appreciate that sentiment.”  Adam slightly relaxes his arm’s grip on the Senator’s throat.  “Am I clear?”

The Senator takes the moment to twist and turn himself to face Renfield.  “I can destroy you in a week!”

Renfield grins.  “Or I could be rid of you in a second.  The choice is yours, sir.”  Renfield says as he lets his arm go.  Then he hears the thought and he waits.

The Senator grabs for the upper right drawer of his desk.  Renfield waits until the Senator’s hand is fully in the drawer and gripping the 9mm Taurus he keeps there.  Then Renfield kicks the drawer shut on the Senator’s hand and says, “Okay, what part of don’t fuck with me did you not get?”  Renfield screams into the Senator’s ear.

The Senator turns and looks at him, the pain begins to register in his mind but his eyes grow wide as he sees the look on Renfield’s face.

“Oh, and you’re going to have to explain the fall that broke your hand.”  Renfield says.  Then Renfield punches the Senator hard in the mouth.  “And your fucked up face.”  He adds.  Then Adam continues, “I don’t know, jogging accident?  What do you think?”  He looks at the Senator’s midriff and then looks back at his face and adds, “No.  No one would believe you jog.  Stairs is to cliché.”  He then punches the Senator hard in the groin.  “That you’re not going to want to explain, but I can, if you want to press charges.  Think about it.  Either way, you’re a creative son of a bitch, so you come up with an explanation for the broken ribs too.”

As Renfield draws his hand back the Senator holds up his hands in submission but asks, “Why would you let this happen?  I don’t see any benefit to you.”

“People.  Did you forget about them?”  Renfield leans in and breathes hard in his face.

“What?  What people?  I’m talking about the people that matter, you’re talking about a bunch of ‘whatevers’.  Who cares?”  The Senator has a look of confusion on his face as he makes the comment.  He struggles in his mind to understand why Renfield, with his money and influence, would care about those who don’t have either.

“Those people voted for you!  Do your job.  It’s not going to get built.  I’m not going to help you build it and if anything your insulting attitude towards the people who vote for you, hoping you will make a difference in their lives. kind of pisses me off, Senator, sir.”  Renfield walks towards the door but stops to turn and clicks.  He kicks the drawer shut again.  “That was stupid.”  He looks at the man knowing he is in disbelief at what he just witnessed.  Renfield understands pain threshold, and can clearly see the Senator has yet to pull his hand from the drawer because he can’t process what just happened to him, physically.  Nor can the Senator process what he just saw with his own eyes.  Renfield reaches down and eases his hand out of the drawer, but he doesn’t let it go.  He holds it delicately as he raises the Senator’s arm to show him his own double crushed hand.  “This is going to be harder to explain.  I’m thinking stairs sounds about right now.”  Renfield turns and heads towards the door again, but he stops.  He stands still for a few moments and without turning he says, “Don’t fuck with me, don’t fuck with the people who voted for you and don’t fuck with what’s right.”  Then he turns and continues, “And if you think your secretary is a line of defense…”  Renfield opens the door, walks through it.  And then clicks again.  Standing behind the Senator again he whispers, “I think you now know better.  One way or another this works out for me.  You either tell and they put you in the looney bin or you figure out I could be there and back here too.  Instantly.  Got it?”  Renfield sees the man complete the fade to pale and looks down at his trousers. “Have some dignity!  I just got these shoes!”  Then Renfield clicks away.

CHAPTER 12

“I learned that pain was simply a signal in case you didn’t notice something was wrong.  Pain can also be a signal that you are about to become stronger.”  -- from the book of the second daughter

“Dad?”  She hinted with that opening word and tone every father knows.  It basically means there is a question to follow.

“Yes?”  Renfield had learned it was best to reply with a question of his own, in a similarly vague manner.

“Do you feel pain?”  She stared up at her father as she shook her head to get the hair from her eyes and then she stared at him, as if she was intent on knowing the answer.

Renfield knew the look and braced himself.  He returned the look to show he was giving his full attention to what was on her mind.

“That’s a complicated question.  Why do you ask?”  He had also learned to narrow in on her queries before making a mistake in his answer that she would disapprove of.  While still a child, he was quite aware she was judgmental, already and that his answers had influence on her way of thinking.  He was also determined to tell her the truth whenever she asked a question.  With slight exceptions such as Santa Clause, but he was called out on that early.  That and one other time he was faced away from her when he answered and he could hear her finding it hysterical that he thought she believed the answer.

“Well, remember when you were putting that nail in the door you made, over there?”  She reminded him.

“Uh huh, go on.”  Renfield wasn’t sure what was coming next, but he had some clue now.

“You yelled out a bad word.”  She continued.

“Yeah, I’m sorry for that.”  Renfield could tell more was coming, but he was trying to be just a Dad with just any kid.  Which would have worked if she wasn’t so quick.  But, she was and he knew that reply wasn’t going to defuse whatever bomb was ticking in her head.

“Okay, so you felt pain and shock and you reacted without thinking, correct?”

She was narrowing in on her point and Renfield knew it, but he was trying hard to keep his tone light and his heartbeat from betraying that he was expecting another shoe to come from the sky any moment.  “Yes, that is correct, but not right.  In other words, you analysis is correct, but yelling bad words was not right to do.”

“But you couldn’t help it.  It was your reaction to pain.  Right?”

Renfield looked at her while cocking his head, “It was not the appropriate reaction, but I get your point.  Aren’t you supposed to be tracing your hand for your turkey drawing project?”

“I did that.  It’s rote and foolish.  My point is that you seem to feel pain.  However, I remember when you broke your leg and your hand in that accident.  You walked around all day and did stuff, and then you healed.  You didn’t seem to feel pain.  Why would a hammer cause you more pain than broken bones?”  She summed up her question.

“Okay.  I’ll answer that, but don’t tell your mother.  Deal?”  Renfield gave her the standard keep a secret look.

“Actually that raises another question.”  She replied.

Renfield waved a finger while saying, “Nope!  One question at a time.  Which one do you prefer to hear the answer to?  You choose.  I’ll answer one, but you have to choose which one you would rather have the answer to.”

She looked up and put a finger to her chin, much the way her father does, but with no goatee to play with while doing so.  Then she looked at her father in a pleading look, but Renfield gave her a stern look back.  She knew he was serious.  He always was when it came to making choices.  “Well…”  She drew it out as she always did looking at him as if he had the answer to what was more important to her.

Renfield stepped in as he always did in those moments and said, “Remember, what are the pros and what are the cons is how you begin.  But, sometimes even if the cons outweigh the pros, what you want is still more important to you and you alone.  There is no one who can do that math for you because it’s not an equation.”

“I know, I know, hold on.”  She looks to her left and then to her right as if the two questions are objects, one on one side the other on the other side.  She takes a few seconds on each side first, then less the second go and then she lowers her right hand.

Renfield knows that means she chose the question she had assigned to her left.  He doesn’t try to read ahead.  He waits.

She then says, “Does Mom not like me?”

Renfield immediately begins trying to keep her from reading him while he ponders, what to him, seems like an odd question.  His brain reels back through his daughter’s entire life history wondering what would bring on that question, but he knows already and he knows that he understands.  He just wish he didn’t.  Then he begins to answer, “You and I are different from each other, right?”

“Yeah, I’m a girl and you’re a boy.  What does that have to do with this?”  She gives him an odd look and a suspicious one at the same time.  She can tell he is stalling.

“Actually, I’m a man, but that’s another conversation for another time.”  Adam begins to answer but he sees her pout at him in disapproval already and stops to hear what she is about to say.

”Well, Mom says you act like a child.”  She responds as the pout goes away and she perks towards him for the answer to her chosen question.

Renfield chuckles and then gets very serious again, “That’s a good point.  See, your Mom doesn’t want you to end up like me.  But I know for sure she loves you more than anyone, other than me!”

“What’s wrong with you?”  She asks.

Renfield surprised by the follow up question pauses then answers, “It’s not that there is anything wrong with me, she just doesn’t want you to go through things I have.”

“Is she worried I’ll turn into a boy like you?”  She asks.

Renfield pushes down his laughter and answers, “No!”  Then he grins at her.  “I don’t think that’s her concern.  She just wants you to live like the princesses do.”

“Dad, you’re not a king, so how can I be a princess?”  She states.

“True, but be patient with your mother.  That’s how she was raised and yet she became a pilot, go figure.”  Renfield grins at her again and goes back to his work.