guy has got to put some work in.”
“Yeah, well, guys don’t exactly find me easy to talk to.”
“Could be the tattoos and the swords.”
“Well, there you go . All the more reason I have to be forward when I want to get to know someone. Plus, you’re like the first guy remotely close to my age.”
“So it’s a lack of options?”
She throws her head back, puffing her cheeks in frustration. “Holy shit, no. And a lack of confidence is unattractive, just FYI.”
“ So, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying...”
The sound of rapid footsteps interrupts our conversation.
It’s Ruiz.
“Guys, you’ve gotta come see this. Bytes broke through!”
9
“Project what?” Katia asks again, shaking her head.
“Project Lockjaw,” Bytes repeats himself, chomping his teeth together to drive it home.
“You know, Lockjaw, cause of how the bastard s bite?” Ruiz acts as if it should be obvious.
“Makes sense to me, ” Bethany says.
“So what’s this Project Lockjaw, spill it?” I’m antsy, bouncing up on the balls of my feet.
It’s Christmas morning in hell.
“Tell em’.” Ruiz slaps Bytes on the shoulder, spurring him on.
“Project Lockjaw was a program developed and implemented by DARPA. Essentially a super soldier program.”
“Super soldier program?” Katia is pacing by the balcony door.
“Soldiers that don’t register pain. Inhuman strength. Speed. All of them under the control of a single master. Activated and deactivated by the press of a button.”
“What does this ha ve to do with anything?” I ask. “I don’t see any soldiers out there running around. I see walking corpses. My school wasn’t filled with enlisted men. Jeff Fuller wasn’t a marine; he was a fat asshole with a love for deer stands and a deep dislike for me.”
“Who ’s Jeff Fuller?” Katia asks.
“The kid who sat in front of me in school. First one I saw turn. No bite. Just started puking and then he fell out, sto pped breathing, and died right there. Next thing I know, the teacher is checking on him and he’s back up, his teeth in her neck.”
“Jesus! ” Katia exclaims.
“Yeah, it wasn’t pretty.”
“No bite, you’re sure?” Katia asks.
“Unless he was hiding it and just had a miraculously slow turn time, then yeah, I’m pretty positive.”
“He wasn’t bitten, Timmy is right, it was a flu shot,” Bytes says with a nonchalant confidence. He runs his fingers across the keyboard, the glow of the screens changing from orange to blue. White letters run across the face of his glasses. He stops and rests his chin on the tops of his knuckles “How many of you in this room got the flu shot this year? Raise your hand if you did.”
Bethany and I didn’t get one this year. I know that for sure. Momma didn’t get one either. We’re not anti-vaccine. It’s just something we never got around to. It wasn’t unusual for us to skip two years and then have Momma get it for us on a whim; usually at the drug store when she was picking up a prescription or refilling her vitamin supply.
All of us scan the room searching for a raised hand.
There isn’t one.
Bytes nods, as if he’d anticipated such a response. “Well, there you have it.”
“You’re saying the flu vaccine did this?” I laugh and shake my head. “Come on, man, what does the drive say?”
“You’re close . And it’s not like the government hasn’t tested weapons on civilians before. Do any of you recall the early 1950’s?” Blank stares. “I figured as much. The CIA hauled their happy asses into the low income neighborhoods of St. Louis. Now, these were mostly black neighborhoods, a majority of the population was children under the age of 12. They set up these giant motorized blowers on top of the high rises and told the residents that they were experimenting with a smokescreen device in order to protect them from Russian attacks.” Bytes pulls a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket, pops one
“Yeah, well, guys don’t exactly find me easy to talk to.”
“Could be the tattoos and the swords.”
“Well, there you go . All the more reason I have to be forward when I want to get to know someone. Plus, you’re like the first guy remotely close to my age.”
“So it’s a lack of options?”
She throws her head back, puffing her cheeks in frustration. “Holy shit, no. And a lack of confidence is unattractive, just FYI.”
“ So, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying...”
The sound of rapid footsteps interrupts our conversation.
It’s Ruiz.
“Guys, you’ve gotta come see this. Bytes broke through!”
9
“Project what?” Katia asks again, shaking her head.
“Project Lockjaw,” Bytes repeats himself, chomping his teeth together to drive it home.
“You know, Lockjaw, cause of how the bastard s bite?” Ruiz acts as if it should be obvious.
“Makes sense to me, ” Bethany says.
“So what’s this Project Lockjaw, spill it?” I’m antsy, bouncing up on the balls of my feet.
It’s Christmas morning in hell.
“Tell em’.” Ruiz slaps Bytes on the shoulder, spurring him on.
“Project Lockjaw was a program developed and implemented by DARPA. Essentially a super soldier program.”
“Super soldier program?” Katia is pacing by the balcony door.
“Soldiers that don’t register pain. Inhuman strength. Speed. All of them under the control of a single master. Activated and deactivated by the press of a button.”
“What does this ha ve to do with anything?” I ask. “I don’t see any soldiers out there running around. I see walking corpses. My school wasn’t filled with enlisted men. Jeff Fuller wasn’t a marine; he was a fat asshole with a love for deer stands and a deep dislike for me.”
“Who ’s Jeff Fuller?” Katia asks.
“The kid who sat in front of me in school. First one I saw turn. No bite. Just started puking and then he fell out, sto pped breathing, and died right there. Next thing I know, the teacher is checking on him and he’s back up, his teeth in her neck.”
“Jesus! ” Katia exclaims.
“Yeah, it wasn’t pretty.”
“No bite, you’re sure?” Katia asks.
“Unless he was hiding it and just had a miraculously slow turn time, then yeah, I’m pretty positive.”
“He wasn’t bitten, Timmy is right, it was a flu shot,” Bytes says with a nonchalant confidence. He runs his fingers across the keyboard, the glow of the screens changing from orange to blue. White letters run across the face of his glasses. He stops and rests his chin on the tops of his knuckles “How many of you in this room got the flu shot this year? Raise your hand if you did.”
Bethany and I didn’t get one this year. I know that for sure. Momma didn’t get one either. We’re not anti-vaccine. It’s just something we never got around to. It wasn’t unusual for us to skip two years and then have Momma get it for us on a whim; usually at the drug store when she was picking up a prescription or refilling her vitamin supply.
All of us scan the room searching for a raised hand.
There isn’t one.
Bytes nods, as if he’d anticipated such a response. “Well, there you have it.”
“You’re saying the flu vaccine did this?” I laugh and shake my head. “Come on, man, what does the drive say?”
“You’re close . And it’s not like the government hasn’t tested weapons on civilians before. Do any of you recall the early 1950’s?” Blank stares. “I figured as much. The CIA hauled their happy asses into the low income neighborhoods of St. Louis. Now, these were mostly black neighborhoods, a majority of the population was children under the age of 12. They set up these giant motorized blowers on top of the high rises and told the residents that they were experimenting with a smokescreen device in order to protect them from Russian attacks.” Bytes pulls a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket, pops one
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