Post by Admin on Dec 3, 2013 21:14:47 GMT
==Engagement 2: The Target==
THREE MONTHS AGO
Laurence Dominic raced down the stairs, followed by the Dollhouse's security team.
"Secure the exits," he ordered. "Anyone tries to breach, shoot then in the head twice!"
The team spread out amidst the employees and Actives running around in hysterics. Dominic nearly stepped on the corpse of an Active, brutally cut to pieces.
"Topher? Topher!"
Topher turned around, looking shellshocked. His sweater vest was smeared with wet blood. "Guns," he said, trance-like. "Can I have one?
"What happened?"
"Yeah, that's... uh, that's the thing, happened. He just--"
"Who?"
"Doc Saunders looks like a jigsaw puzzle, and what he did to Samuelson--"
"Who?!"
"Alpha." Dominic turned to see Adelle standing there. Her hair was askew and she looked worried, but was otherwise alright. "It appears we've had a composite event."
"Wh-? He gets wiped after every engagement, like all the rest. How could he composite?"
"Can't," Topher babbled. "Shouldn't. Did..."
Dominic heard static on his radio. He took it from his pocket long enough to hear one of his men: "Target acquired."
"Where?!"
"Level 3, corridor 37. Target-""
Rapid gunfire filled the room. The man gave a short screen before the radio returned to static.
"Move out!" Dominic told the guards in the room. He took his gun from his holster.
"Seriously," Topher said. "Gun?"
Dominic raced after his men towards the showers, quickly gaining until he was in the lead. He ignored the dead bodies strewn at his feet and turned into the bathroom area. It was a huge, circular, curtained off area in the center of the room. Shower nozzles hung from the roof, and the steam rooms lay beyond a few doors around the room. Dominic edged towards the shower, but his men had stopped moving. Blood leaked into the drain. Six or seven Actives lay dead, bodies cut up.
All except one. Sitting in the middle was Echo, wet, naked and drenched in blood.
"They won't wake up," she observed innocently.
The guards lowered their guns. Dominic raised his radio.
"Negative contact. Continuing sweep."
They left, leaving Echo to wonder why her friends wouldn't wake up.
*
"In their resting state, our Actives are as innocent and vulnerable as children," Adelle said. She was in her office with one Richard Connell, a handsome potential client. "We call it the tabula rasa, the blank slate. Now imagine the imprint process filling it, creating a new personality. A friend, a lover, a... confidant in a sea of enemies. Your heart's desire made flesh. And when the engagement has been completed, all memory of you and your time together will be wiped clean."
Connell seemed genuinely impressed. "Neat trick."
"Tricks are illusions, Mr. Connell, constructed to deceive. What we offer is truth."
Connell raised an eyebrow. "Rare commodity."
Adelle smiled. "Hence the exuberant price tag."
Connell sat forward. "I've been with a lot of women, Miss DeWitt. That's not bragging. That's just what you would call truth. And not one of them turned out to be who they said they were. Your services may be expensive, but at least this time, I'll be the one telling the girl what to lie about."
"Oh, she won't lie to you, Mr. Connell. Everything you want, everything you need... she will be. Honestly and completely."
Connell chuckled. "That will be something new."
"There is, however, one small problem."
"I thought everything was good with the background check..."
Adelle shook her head. "That's not our concern." Adelle stood from the couch and walked to her bar table, where she scribbled something on a notepad. She handed it to the now risen Connell. "Your engagement has been flagged as a moderate risk to our Active. Nothing serious. Our company policy requires a small additional fee against any unforeseen complications."
Connell looked at the paper and laughed. "Small, huh?
"To my employers, very."
"Well... if this girl's everything you promise, it will be worth it."
"Just make sure you return her safe and sound. Otherwise there will be additional costs."
Connell chuckled. "I'll keep it low-key."
*
Jenny helped Richard pull the raft onto shore, pushing her damp hair out of her face. The water's foam had leaked into her boots.
"Not bad," Richard panted. "Not bad."
"You should see me on a five," Jenny said with a wicked smile.
"I thought that was a five."
Jenny shook her hair, causing her wet hair to whip across her collarbone. "no way! Three, three and a half, maybe. If it were a five, I'd be fishing you out of the drink."
Connell laughed. "You think so, huh?"
Jenny grabbed his neck and smushed his lips against her.
"Huh," she muttered, and kissed him again. "And so. Now get your ass moving before I leave you for the wolves! Or whatever they got around here that eats guys who can't keep up."
"Yes, ma'am."
An hour later, Jenny and Richard were scaling a cliff face. Jenny deliberately plastered a worried look on her face.
"You know what they say about looking down?"
"Don't?" Jenny had checked a few moments ago: they were very high.
Richard nodded. "Really don't. Are you okay?"
Jenny nodded. "Yeah."
She grunted and gave a small jump to reach a rock, but her fingers slipped off the rough surface. She let out a scream as she fell.
"Jenny!"
Jenny's line caught and, with a jolt, she stopped falling. "Oh, God!" she yelled.
Richard's face was priceless, exactly what Jenny was hoping for. She couldn't help it: she erupted in laughter.
"Oh, God," she said in between hysterical laughs. "The look on your face!"
Richard sighed and smiled. "Oh, that's not funny. You know how much trouble I'd be in if you went splat?"
Jenny smiled. "Yeah. My brothers would kill you!"
"Quit screwing around."
"All right, wuss. Come on. Let's race to the top."
*
"Everything looks beautiful from here," Topher said into Boyd's headset. "Vitals are right online."
Boyd was in his favourite place on Earth: the back of the Handler van. In the woods. With nothing to do but talk to Topher.
"What about her adrenaline?" Boyd asked.
"Uh, it's within engagement parameters," Topher said on a muffled voice. Boyd glanced at his watch. This was when Topher ate his sandwich.
"Are you sure? She's elevating toward redline."
There was a slurping spud as Topher sucked the remnants from his juice box. "Relax, Mountain Man. I've been reading the squigglies long enough to discern the diff between excitement and 'Sweet mother, I'm gonna die.' She's fine. Hey, go soak up some nature, okay? Like, uh, smell the honey, hassle a grizzly. Leave the science to the science guy."
"Well, how about clearing up my signal, Professor?" Boyd said gruffly, looking at Echo'e readings. "My displays are crap."
"You're in the middle of 'Why Would Anyone Want to be There?', what did you expect, HBO?"
"Can't you retask one of the auxiliary satellites, give me some more coverage?"
"What's the magic word?"
"Please," Boyd said through gritted teeth.
"I was actually looking for 'abracadabra.' But that'll do. Okay, retasking satellite... 7115. It's gonna take a few to move it into alignment."
"Thanks."
"Anything for you. 'Cause I love you. Deep, deep man lo--"
Boyd turned off his headset.
"The woods," the driver said.
"Yep."
"I hate the woods."
"Yep."
*
Paul Ballard pushed open the door of the shack. A handful of FBI agents were scattered around, gathering evidence and the like. Detective Tanaka, a short, angry man in his 40's, was looking at the fireplace.
"Doesn't add up, does it?"
Tanaka whirled around. "Ballard? Hell are you doing here? This is a straight kidnap."
"What doesn't add up?" another agent, Shaw, asked.
"Yeah," Tanaka said. "Why don't you give us the inside view on how this all... leads to the Dollhouse? Or alternate plan: why don't you just let us do our jobs?"
"Doesn't add up, does it?" Paul repeated.
"Not all of it," Shaw said.
"We got three pros come up from Mexico and a disgruntled science teacher," Tanaka said. Paul bet down to examine a bullet hole in the wall. "They take the Crestejo girl for ransom, they fall out and makes everybody's life easier."
"But the money's gone," Paul pointed out.
Tanaka shrugged. "So, there's a fifth guy, and he's right now loving life."
"He the one packing the cannon?" Paul asked, pointing at the large hole.
"He'd have to be." Shaw replied. "That weapon's not here.
"Fifth guy took it." Tanaka finished.
"After he blows the door in? Which is funny. He's in the room with his buddies, then he has to blow the door in?"
Shaw shrugged this time. "So, no fifth guy. You think Crestejo sent someone after them?"
"Well, he swears he didn't."
"Hey, tell me you didn't go near my vic." Tanaka said, trying to sound threatening.
"I just hear the talk. Crestejo's an interesting guy, though. Fits a certain profile."
"Yeah, I know. He's rich, he's respectable, but maybe he's got a kinky side he doesn't want anyone to see, so he goes to the world-famous Dollhouse and hires himself a pretty lady to groove his move and then forget all about it. They can do that, you know, with science."
"That's what Davina called her."
Tanaka looked confused. "What?"
"Crestejo's daughter. She said the pretty lady came and saved her."
"You did talk--!"
"Shaw, we got any pretty lady prints?
"We got the dead guys and the kid, no one else."
Tanaka looked like his eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. "Will you stop humouring--"
"--And a couple areas definitely wiped down."
"So, what?" Tanaka snapped. "The Dollhouse sends one of its brainwashed beauties to-to take out a kidnapping ring? That's a full-service organisation!"
Paul bent down to look at a pair of badly beaten spectacles lying at his feet.
"It's the little girl's, right?" Tanaka said.
"I'd check it out." Paul advised.
"Hey, Agent Ballard thinks we should investigate! Thanks for the tip. Why don't you just leave us to go find your pretty lady?"
Paul walked out the door. "I will."
"Be careful." Tanaka taunted. "Looks here likes she's pretty bad-ass."
*
Jenny admired the tip of the arrow. "Carbon shaft," Richard said. "Three-blade broadhead."
"Damn--"
"Shush! You'll scare away lunch."
"Uh, you couldn't have packed a couple of sandwiches?"
"Oh, sandwiches don't give you a run when you try to eat them. They just lay there waiting for mustard."
Jenny shrugged meekly. "I like mustard."
Richard laughed. "Here." He handed her the bow. Jenny sighed as she took it. "All right? You're gripping too tight here. Here. Relax your hand. You want the riser to just rest there, pressing against your palmer crease."
"Sounds dirty."
Richard laughed again. "It's your lifeline, in your palm. You grip the riser too hard, your shot'll torque."
Jenny looked at him. "You're pretty good at this, aren't you?"
Richard shrugged. "My dad taught me. He was a big believer in, uh...". He slapped his hand to his bicep.
Jenny's eyes widened. "What? Was that a salute? Do I have to learn a salute?" She brought a fist to her shoulder.
Richard laughed. He sure liked to do that. "It's, uh, shoulder to the wheel," he said, reaching into his pack. "Do the work, earn your way. If you can bring down something bigger than you, with just this, you proved you deserve to eat it. If it gets away, it proved it deserves to live, and you go hungry." He walked back to Jenny and strapped something leather onto her wrist. "Dad thought we all take too much for granted."
"And you?"
"Oh, I appreciate every moment. Particularly this one."
"I'm not the first one you've brought into the woods, am I?"
Richard smiled uncomfortably. "Uh... no. But so far... you're the only one that hasn't been a disappointment." He stroked her hair and leaned in close. Jenny was about to push her lips to his when she saw something in the distance.
"Richard...." she gasped. Richard looked up to see a deer a short distance away. He jumped behind Jenny to help her with the bow.
"What do I do?"
"Extend your bow arm." he ordered frantically. "That's right. Now, draw back. Keep your elbow high. That's right. Never take a shot unless you're sure it'll put your target down. Aim for the flank, right below the shoulders. Now just release."
Jenny released.
*
Jenny fell down beside Richard in the sleeping bag, panting but somehow laughing at the same time.
"Is there anything you're not good at?" Richard asked, laughing.
Jenny gave a wicked smile. "I think that little thing I did with my tongue could use some work..."
"You really are the perfect woman."
"Not too shabby yourself."
"You don't slow down, do you?"
"Oh, I like to live. A lot. Let's see who finishes first this round. I might even let you win."
"I'd like that. You have no idea how much, but, uh, you need to get going."
Richard crawled out of the sleeping bag but still had to crouch a little bit as not to hit the tent roof. He slipped his trousers on. Jenny sat up, hugging the sleeping bag close to her. "Going?" she asked. "Where?"
"There's just enough daylight left to make it back to the main road," he said, pulling on his vest. "Might even flag a ride out of here before I catch up."
Jenny raised a confused eyebrow. "Yeah, okay. Am... am I missing something?"
He didn't reply.
"Richard?"
"You need to stop talking now and start running." he said, looking at his watch. "I'll give you a five-minute head start..."
Richard grabbed the bow.
"And then I'm coming after you."
*
THREE MONTHS AGO
"Welcome to the Dollhouse, Mr. Langton," Adelle said. "You come highly recommended."
Adelle approached Boyd on the Dollhouse's main floor, flanked by the Head of Security, Laurence Dominic. Many people were rushing around, cleaning up the bloody messes.
"So the stories are true," Boyd said. "Programmable people made to order."
Adelle looked uncomfortable. "It's a little more complicated than that."
"I figured it might be."
Adelle led the way towards the small yoga area in the centre, a large wooden platform with a surrounding stream. "Science is very rarely exact, Mr. Langton. Being on the cutting edge invites a certain element of risk."
"Which is why you're here." Dominic finished.
"In the light of recent events," Adelle continued. "We've decided to engage individuals with a more, shall we say, intensive background? If you're amenable to the terms of your contract you will be assigned to Echo, one of our most requested Actives."
"What happened to her last Handler?"
"You're standing in him."
It was a new voice. After glancing at the ground to find his shoe in a patch of dried blood, he looked to see a woman approach them. She was pretty, with wide eyes and wavy, shoulder-length brown hair, but her face had been severely lacerated, and recently, with stitches woven between scarlet splits in her skin.
"This is our resident physician, Doctor Saunders." Adelle said. "Mr. Langton will be replacing Mr. Samuelson."
"Good. Does that mean I can get his body out of my office?"
"We'll take care of it." Dominic said.
Saunders gave a tiny laugh. "Right. Right, everything's under control." She turned back to Boyd. "It's nice to have you on the team. Watch where you step." She turned and returned the way she had come, lag coat billowing slightly after her.
Boyd turned back to Adelle. "Her face--?"
"Doctor Saunders is still... recovering."
"Same guy who killed Samuelson?"
"She was more fortunate."
"I wanna see Samuelson's body."
Adelle raised an eyebrow. "You really don't."
"Show me."
*
Dominic ripped the sheet off Samuelson's body to show an ageing man with deep cuts spread all around his body.
"Samuelson," he said, introducing Boyd to the corpse. "He was a good man."
"Not good enough."
"What do you make?"
Boyd lifted the sheet slightly to examine the body further.
"Single blade, non-serrated. Ten to twelve centimetres. Tendons and the extremities were severed first to disable him. Then the real work started. He knew exactly where to cut to cause maximum amount of damage. And pain. Whoever did this took their time."
"Eight seconds." Dominic said simply. "That's the timeline we've been able to piece together."
Boyd was astounded. "These cuts are meticulous, almost surgical. Wouldn't of thought it was possible to carve up a man like this so fast."
"It isn't, unless you've been imprinted with the necessary skills."
"You telling me you programmed one of your Dolls to be Jack the Ripper?"
"Not my department. All I know is that Alpha accessed multiple imprints, personalities that should've been erased. And one of them did this. And slaughtered everyone around your girl before pulling a smoke and mirrors."
"So... why didn't he kill Echo?
*
Jenny rushes down the rock face
*
"You don't write, you don't call: you're starting to hurt my feelings."
Paul distinctly heard Lubov nearly drop his phone in surprise. "How did you get this number?"
"I'll always know your number, Lubov, and where to find you."
"What do you want? Why you bothering me, huh? I am honest citizen."
"And I'm the Easter Bunny. Dollhouse, start hopping."
"I already told you, I don't know any Dollhouse!"
"Then find another honest citizen who does. Don't make me come find you."
Paul hung up the phone and walked towards his desk. Two agents were standing by a mail cart.
"Hey, uh, Ballard," one agent said. "We got a call: couple of kids found a house in the woods all made of candy and gingerbread: thought that might be up your alley..." Both agents erupted in laughter.
"Oh my God," Paul said flatly. "that's hilarious."
Paul sat at his desk to see a large brown envelope with his name on it.
"Who'd this come from?" he asked.
"Oh, uh Granny left it. Man, her teeth looked big!"
Paul rolled his eyes as more laughter filled his ears. He opened the envelop to find a picture. It was of a pretty girl with shiny brown hair smiling. She was younger, probably in High School. He turned it over. A name was scrawled in ink:
"Caroline."
*
Jenny kept running, and she didn't stop.
Richard had apparently become Norman Bates overnight. Or he had probably been all along. Hunting people with arrows? She had barely gotten on her boots, khaki pants, red tank top and favourite cashmere sweater on before she had darted from the tent. If only she could remember which way to the road...
She slid to the bottom of the steep hill, leaning on a log as a stitch drained her energy. Had she been here before? She couldn't--
A searing pain shot through Jenny's leg. She yelped and looked down to see an arrow jutting from the log. It had scraped across her thigh, creating a thin, stinging cut. She put her hands around it protectively before she could think: Richard had just shot an arrow at her. He had found her.
Jenny darted away, her leg burning. Another arrow burrowed into the log, right where her chest had been. She ran further into the forest, not caring where it led, just needing to get away from him...
*
"Satellite retail coming online." Topher said in Boyd's ear.
"When?"
"Uhhh... anytime... nowish?"
Boyd's display on the computer monitors sharpened, but he barely has a moment to enjoy it before the driver knocked on the glass. "We got company."
Boyd stepped out of the van. A park ranger was pulling up in his police car. Boyd walked to the driver, pulling a map from his pocket, and plastered a smile to his face.
"Alright," the driver said, smiling. "looks like we're there."
"No, I'm telling you, we're not there. We're... somewhere over here. There is where we wanna be, here is not there!"
"Scuse me." the cop said. "This area's restricted. No vehicles off the main road."
"Sorry, uh, we're completely turned around," Boyd said. "do you mind pointing us in the right direction?"
The cop eyed them suspiciously. "What you fellas doing out here?"
"Local news. We're shooting B-Roll for a piece about the push to open up the area to more logging."
"Got some i.d. to go along with that story?"
"Sure." Boyd took an i.d. card from his pocket. On it was his picture and the words 'Thomas Crehan: Assocoate Producer'. He passed it to the cop, who glanced at it before handing it back, smiling.
"Can't be too careful Mr. Crehan. Being so far off the beat tends to attracts a certain unsavoury element."
"No worries, officer." He turned to the driver. "We couldn't be more savoury."
The cop whipped out a pistol with a silencer and shot two bullets into the driver's chest. His face slackened and he slid to the ground, leaving smeared blood staining the van's black shell. Boyd turned, shocked, to find the gun pointed at his chest.
"Good to know."
*
THREE MONTHS AGO
Topher approached the new man, Boyd Langton, on the balcony overlooking the Dollhouse. He was watching his new Active, Echo, do Yoga by the pool. Topher smiled. "The new Samuelson." Boyd turned to him, "You're bigger than the last one. Topher. The man behind the grey matter curtain."
"So Alpha's one of your achievements." Boyd said gruffly. Topher cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"Yeah... yeah, that, uh, was an anomaly. There's unpredictable remainders, we're still working out the kinkies--"
"Like the blood, the screaming, the dying?" Boyd asked, raising an eyebrow. "Look at 'em: bunch of helpless children. Did the ones Alpha slaughter even put up a fight?"
"They... wouldn't know how. Not without an Imprint." Topher typed in midair to demonstrate.
"So why not default them with Ninja skills or whatever?"
"We tried that once. Blood, screaming, dying..."
"Alpha..."
Echo approached the yoga instructor, probably informing him of where she was going, before walking away, smiling a dreamy smile.
"So what do you think of your new girl?" Topher asked.
Boyd scoffed. "She's not a girl. She's not even a person, just an empty hat... til you stuff a rabbit in it."
Boyd left the balcony, leaving Topher feeling deflated.
"Abracadabra..."
*
"Uhhhh, are you getting this Mountain Man Friend?" Topher said.
"Yeah," Boyd said. "I'm getting it."
"Ok... uhhh, do you see these squigglies? These are the not-so-goods, what the hell's going on over there?"
"Everything's fine."
Everything was not fine.
Boyd was sitting in the van, the cop digging his gun's silencer into his temple.
"You sure?" Topher said, worried.
"Yeah. Except for the gun pointed at my head--"
Boyd batted his hand at the gun, knocking it away. The man panicked and fired, sending a bullet into Boyd's computer. He heard Topher yell his name before he disappeared in a sea of static.
Boyd pushed the chair away and dug his hand into the cop's shoulders, his shoe scuffing the gun. The man dug his hands in similarly and they both pushed, knocking each other into the van's walls. Boyd's head whiplashed as he clunked against the hard metal. He batted his hand at the man's elbow, sending it folding and he hooked him in the gut, then again with the left. He tried a hooking punch to the face, but the man blocked and countered. Boyd's head snapped to the side and he tasted blood. The cop ploughed into him, sending him crashing into the back doors, but Boyd's arms were free and he sent two elbows into the cop's spine. The cop fell to his knees, and Boyd threw him like a ragdolls into the wall. The cop recovered and sent Boud staggering into the other wall, before grabbing his shoulder and throwing him at the wall opposite the door. Boyd stuck out a hand, but the man grabbed it and pushed his own palm against Boyd's face. Boyd's head nearly snapped to the right and he struggled to keep it in place. Boyd wrapped his hand around the cop's, who dug his other hand into Boyd to steady himself. Boyd slammed his forearm into the cop's arm, knocking him off balance. Seeing his chance, Boyd wrapped his hand around the cop's head and dropped him onto his knee, winding him, before slamming him into the van wall, headfirst. The cop fell to the floor and Boyd wrapped his arm around his neck, engaging a sleeper hold. The cop struggled, his hands clawing at Boyd's forearm, but after a few seconds, he collapsed still.
Boyd lay him down slowly, beaten and winded, to the floor.
*
"He's a threat." Dominic said. He had pulled up a file in Adelle's office he wished to discuss.
"Agent Ballard has been groping blindly for quite some time now." Adelle said. "He knows nothing."
"I know his type. Guy like this, something gets under his skin, he's not gonna let go until it's scratched out."
"And how would you suggest we handle this?"
Dominic didn't even blink. "Neutralise the risk. Before it becomes untenable."
Adelle rose from her desk and strode towards Dominic. "Authorise a kill order? On a Federal Agent? I think you overestimate his abilities."
"Even a blind dog could find a bone if it digs enough holes."
"All the appropriate measures are being taken. Thank you for your concern, Mr. Dominic--"
"With respect, ma'am, I don't think--"
He was interrupted by Adelle's office door flying open. Topher rushed in, looking anxious.
"Uh, hey, uh, sorry... I think we have a situation. The kind you need to shoot at."
*
Jenny cursed under her breath. She had finally reached the boat she and Richard had used yesterday, only to find it washed up on the shore, deflated with a huge rip in the side. Richard obviously didn't want her going anywhere. She looked around at the surrounding trees and cliffs. No Richard in sight.
Still cursing, she abandoned the boat, running deeper into the woods. There was no time to break down, just had to find another way out. If she stopped, he'd find her.
Jenny stopped in her tracks, collapsed against a tree. Just up ahead, there was a small ranger station, a cabin from which the rangers operated. It was small, but they were sure to have food, water and, most importantly of all, a radio.
She darted for the house, letting the remnants of her energy go. When she reached the house, she realised her pants were ripped, her sweater filthy, her hair a damp curtain of sweat. She must've been running all day.
Jenny pushed open the door and closed it immediately behind her. "Hello?" she said hoarsely.
The cabin was small, probably one room but for a closet and a bathroom. It had a desk, two bunkbeds and a few other things: but worst of all, Jenny was alone.
She ran to the desk to look for a radio. What were they called? CB Radio? It didn't matter, as there was no radio to speak of. Something caught her eye. A canteen was hanging from the bunkbeds. She raced across the room, put it to her lips and began to drain it, but she was interrupted halfway by the radio static.
At first she thought she had just imagined it: after all, there was no radio. But there it was again. Jenny looked around.
The closet.
She walked hesitantly to the door, not wanting to enter horror movie mode: she was kind of a final girl right now already. She brushed the knob with her fingers, getting a grip, pulled, and swung the closet open. A ranger was standing there. Jenny was relieved, until he began to fall and she saw the bullet in his forehead.
Jenny screamed as the body collapsed on her. She fell to the rug, where she tried desperately to push him off. With some effort, she wriggled out from beneath him, stared at the body, making a wheezing noise. Then she heard the static, and saw the radio of the ranger's belt. She reached for it hesitantly and, when she got close, snatched it from his belt, stood up and pushed the button.
"Hello?," she cried. "Is there anybody out there? I need help, please, somebody?"
"Hey baby," Richard said on the other line. "Guess you found Ranger Bob, huh?"
Jenny nearly collapsed on the floor again. "Why are you doing this?"
"'Cos I wanna know..."
"Know what, you sick son of a bitch?!"
"If you deserve to live. If you've earned the right."
Jenny would've laughed if she could. "You know what gives someone the right to live? NOT HUNTING THEM!!!"
Richard chuckled. "That's it. Shoulder to the wheel! Prove you're not just an Echo."
Jenny could hear him do the arm slap that came with 'Shoulder to the Damn Wheel'. "You want proof, you psycho?" she said ferociously. "How 'bout this: I'm gonna kill you! Will that prove it?'! I'm gonna..."
Jenny coughed. It hurt. She coughed again, a cough that turned into a gag. Her throat was on fire, she nearly heaved.
"You don't sound to good." Richard said sympathetically. "Hey... you didn't drink from a canteen in there, did you?"
Jenny looked at the abandoned canteen dripping water, and how the water was a murky colour.
"'Cos... that would be bad."
*
THREE MONTHS AGO
"Is it time for my treatment?"
"Yes." Topher said, leading Echo into the chair. "But this is a very special one, Echo. This one won't pinch like the others you... don't remember..."
"Hello," Echo said to Boyd, who was sulking in the corner. "You're tall!"
Topher chuckled.
"Do I have to be here for this?" Boyd asked.
Topher nodded. "Handler-Active Imprint requires a direct line of sight, so she needs to be looking into those dreamy brown eyes when I wave my magic wand."
"Then what? Me and special needs here become buddy-buddy?"
"Hey," Topher said. "This isn't about friendship, Man Friend. It's about trust. From this point on, Echo will always trust you, without question, or hesitation. No matter what the circumstance. You're about to become the most important person in her life."
Boyd glanced at Echo. "Let's jut get this over with."
"Hey, this is art. It's not an oil change. Rush the brush strokes, you'll get a clown on black velvet." Topher passed Boyd a sheet of paper.
"What's this?"
"It's your script. Cal and response, neural lock and key." He walked to the computer. "All right Brando, let's see what you got."
Boyd cleared his throat and looked at the paper. "Everything's going to be--"
"Oh, wait a sec, uh, take her hand."
"What?"
"Hold her hand." Topher threw his hands up apprehensively. "Tactile proximity enhances binding protocol! Ok? And... take two."
Boyd leaned in and gingerly touched Echo's hand on the armrest.
"Everything's going to be alright." He read aloud.
"Now that you're here." Echo replied dreamily.
"Do you trust me?"
Echo spoke as if he should already know. "With my life."
*
"How ya feeling, sweetness? Little funky right about now?"
Jenny stumbled down the steep hill. She could barely hear Richard on the radio taunting her: it was like he was a mile away. Her eyelids were heavy, her head pounded, her stomach churned.
"Don't worry, stuff's not gonna kill you. Guy I got it from said it would just... put a spin on things. So what do ya say? You spinning yet?"
Jenny stopped moving, but the world kept turning. Her vision was blurred, everything just colours mushed together. Then, across what appeared to be the river, was a strange new shape, bright green and blue. Clothes?
A person.
"Hey!" Jenny said. "Hey, wait!" It sounded like a scream, but it probably came out a mumble. She raced towards the shape, stumbling and nearly falling face first into the river. "Wait! Hey!"
She reached the shape. Now that it was close, she could tell it was a person, a woman. But it kept walking away from her. Jenny grabbed her by the arm and whirled her around.
Standing in front of Jenny was another Jenny. She looked younger and was wearing different clothes, but...
"Oh, no, no, no, get that thing outta my face!" the new Jenny said, laughing. Jenny, the real Jenny, backed away and stumbled over a log. She yelped, hit the ground, and the world turned. She was rolling, falling, and then the river enveloped her.
*
Boyd put the final wire into place. The computer screen blurred and then finally came back online. He heard a spluttering sound and turned to the the cop, now tied to a chair at the back of the van. He had stirred. Boyd took the pistol with the silencer in his hand.
"How many?" he said simply.
"W...What?"
He pulle the trigger, sending a bullet into the cop's thigh. He screamed and writhed in pain, tearing furiously at his bonds.
"How many men between me and the girl?!"
"I don't know! I DONT KNOW, I SWEAR TO GOD!"
Boyd shot him in the other leg. Much the same reaction.
"I don't think he's listening..."
"A guy hired me over the phone!" the cop cried. "I NEVER MET HIM! I was just supposed to get you to stall the response team!"
"And then put a bullet in my head."
"Hey, i-it's business. Don't take it personally, dude..."
Boyd smiled. He whipped the butt of the gun across the cop's face. His head snapped to the side, blood flew, and the cop lay still.
"I don't."
*
Jenny woke up. She tried to take a breath, but instead found herself heaving water from her lungs. She wasn't in the river anymore. She looked around. She was surrounded by some sort of circular glass, covering the dark room. The ground was wet. A dozen nozzles hovered over her. She was in a giant shower. Then she noticed the other figures around her. They were naked and unmoving. Each was covered in deep cuts from head to toe, dead.
"Wake up."
Jenny turned around. A man stood there, his face covered in shadows. Something in his hand glinted in the light. A bloody scalpel...
"Wake up!"
Jenny woke up on the river bed, coughing up water. She wasn't in a shower. She was in the woods. It had all been a dream, not that this was much better. Richard had been ordering her awake on the radio.
"Oh, you're doing great, baby!" he said. "Don't quit on me now!"
Jenny crawled to her feet and looked around anxiously. She spotted him on top of the cliff face a few hundred metres away, staring at her through his binoculars.
"Do you need a minute? Cos I don't wanna rush you."
Jenny glared at him, and then ran for her life.
"Alright. We'll rush."
*
"Hey neighbour!"
Paul turned around. He had barely gotten his key into the lock before the door opposite had flung open. His neighbour Mellie was standing there. "Off early?"
Mellie was a pretty girl, short and curvy with brown hair and perfect white teeth. She was wearing a sundress, holding a plate of lasagne.
"Just swinging by for a bite," Paul said. "Then back to it."
"Keeping our streets safe." she giggles. "I should thank you. You know, by... thanking you... you wanna have some lasagne? I have leftovers."
Paul looked at it. It looked delicious, but was noticeably uneaten. "You know it's only leftovers if you've already eaten some, Mellie."
Mellie laughed awkwardly. "Oh, no, I, uh, made another one that I... it's really good."
"Rain check?"
Mellie nodded. "Totally, yeah, anytime. Just knock, I'm always-- ooh, um, pretty. Who's she?"
Paul looked at the file in his hand. The picture of the girl, Caroline, was held to it with a paper clip. "Nobody. According to the FBI database. No record of her."
"Is she in trouble?"
"Maybe. Or just got caught up with the wrong people. Either way I'll keep looking til I find her."
Paul gave Mellie a fleeting smile before walking into his apartment and shutting the door. Mellie stared after him.
"Lucky girl..."
*
Jenny slowed to a jog, panting. She was sweating: she peeled off her damp sweater and threw it into the bushes, leaving her chilly in just her thin burgundy tank. There wasn't, however, much she could do about her legs, which were roasting to death in a pair of khaki pants. She tried to speed up: Richard would find her in a few minutes if she didn't.
She heard a noise. Maybe it wouldn't take five minutes.
Jenny dived behind a tree, her heart racing. Something scuffed against her boot: a thick branch. She picked it up and held it to her chest. The noise was getting closer. Closer...
Jenny screamed and swung the branch ferociously. Someone caught the branch, but it wasn't Richard. Jenny was taken aback, tried to prise it free--
"Wait!" the man said. "I'm not gonna hurt you!"
"Do I know you?" she said, her voice brittle.
"Everything's gonna be alright."
Jenny stopped breathing do quickly. Her body relaxed. She let go of the log. Words were flowing out of her lips without her thinking. "Now that... you're here..."
The man... Boyd... threw the log down. "Stay close. I'm gonna get you out--"
A whooshing noise cut him off. Boyd screamed as an arrow tip jutted out of his side.
"Ok..." he murmured.
*
Jenny tried to run fast, but it proved hard with her supporting Boyd's weight. He winced for the umpteenth time.
"We gotta stop." Jenny said.
"No!" Boyd protested gruffly.
"You got shot with a freakin' arrow! We keep moving, you're gonna die."
"If Robin Hood catches up with us, we're both gonna die." Boyd shimmied free from Jenny's arm and leaned against a nearby tree trunk. How he looked, his name, the things he said, it was so familiar.
"...how do I know you?"
Boyd looked at her. "We met awhile back."
"I feel like... I can trust you, but... but I don't remember..." Jenny massaged her temple, held a hand to her stomach.
"You ok?" Boyd asked.
"There was something in the water. Richard put something in by water..."
"He poisoned you?"
"He said it wouldn't kill me, but I've been seeing things..."
"What kind of things?"
Jenny saw no point in lying. Not to Boyd. "A girl that looks like me but isn't. Dead bodies in a shower. And a man standing over me holding a knife but I can't see his face, I don't think he has one! Are you here, is this... is this real?"
Boyd nodded. "I'm here. And yeah." He motioned to his wound. "this is real."
"He's gonna kill us... he's gonna find us and he's--"
"Hey. Hey!" Boyd grabbed her arm, and she looked at him. "Everything's going to be alright."
Jenny was about to feel safe, but... she didn't let herself. She looked around: Richard would be on them soon. And even if they did escape, or Richard put them out of their misery, what was to stop him doing this to another girl, another dozen?
"No it isn't."
Boyd looked confused, shocked. "Did... did you hear what I said? Everything's going to--"
"Everything's NOT gonna be alright! You don't get to live just because you deserve to, you have to prove it! You... you have to put your shoulder to the wheel!"
For the first time, it all made sense.
"You wanna speak English?" Boyd asked. "I'm kinda bleeding to death here..."
"He's not gonna stop. Unless he's dead."
"You can't go after this guy. You don't have the right impri-- you don't have the right training."
"I'm a fast learner." Jenny said through gritted teeth.
"Jenny--"
"Do you trust me?"
Again, he looked like this wasn't supposed to happen: like it couldn't happen. "What?"
"Do you trust me?"
"...With my life." He winced as he slid a pistol with a silencer out from the back of his belt. "You know how to use this?"
Jenny took the gun and nodded. "Four brothers. None of 'em democrats. But you should keep this. If Richard finds you, he'll--"
Something caught her eye. Boyd had another gun in his hand.
"You didn't think I'd give you my only gun, did you?"
Jenny gave a faint smile.
*
Richard stook a fresh arrow into the bow. That was the third time he had heard a noise. He looked to the nearby tree. He sidestepped, whirled around, ready to fire.
Nothing there.
"Didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?"
It was Jenny on his radio. But she was near. He looked around, but she wasn't in sight. He put the radio to his lips.
"I'd be disappointed if it was. How's your buddy holding up? He was losing an awful lot of blood."
"Not as much as you're about to."
There was something confident about her tone. Richard didn't like it. "What're you gonna do, throw rocks at me?"
"No." Jenny said, her voice piercing. "I'm gonna shoot you with the gun my buddy gave me. You're playing MY game now. Toss the bow and get on your knees, or I blow your freakin' head off."
Richard smiled a little. "My Dad woulda really liked you. I'm still gonna kill you--"
Within a millisecond of hearing the whizzing noise, a bullet slashed his bicep open, as a parade of a million more bullets burrowed into the tree. Richard rolled to safety in time to spot a blur of red and dark green: Jenny, up the riverbank. He aimed, but his arm wavered, and she just kept moving.
Richard got to his feet and ran.
*
Jenny ran up the slope into a clearing just above the river, but she wasn't going to stop there. She was gonna run to a good vantage point and put a bullet in Richard's brain. She gave a quick look back. He wasn't here yet but he would--
Jenny was stopped in her tracks by another her.
It wasn't the one from the river, the younger one. This was was the same age, but was wearing all black and looked beaten and tired. "I just wanted to make a difference." she murmured regretfully. Jenny just stared at her. How could she be the same girl, have the same face, but not remember...?
"Hey, baby. Little piece of advice. You don't want the big bad wolf to find you, you should really turn off your Walkie."
Jenny returned to the land of the living. The other Jenny was gone, she frantically reached for her Walkie...
A noise.
Jenny whirled around, aiming the gun single-handed. Richard was just a few metres away, bow pointed.
He smiled. "Is this the best date ever or what?"
"Put it down." Jenny ordered. "Or I put you down.
Richard laughed as she stood uneasily. "Look at you. You can barely stand up. Probably wouldn't be able to hit me even if you did pull the trigger."
Jenny whipped her second hand up to the gun, steadying it. "You really wanna find out?"
"I admit, I'm curious. Concerned, but curious. Then again: you shoot me, you get an arrow in that pretty little chest."
"How's that arm holding up?" Jenny said, noticing the bloody, shaking bicep. "Maybe I'm not the one that's gonna miss."
He smiled again, nervous laughter. "I'll tell you what: why don't we ease up? We'll call it a draw."
Jennu scoffed in disbelief. "You'll let me go?"
"Sure. No harm, no foul."
"You poisoned me, and tried to shoot me with arrows!" Jenny nearly screamed.
"Ok, so... maybe a little bit of harm. Look, how about this? On the count of three, we both back off. Deal?"
Jennh gave a faint nod. "One..."
"Two..."
Jenny slowly lowered the gun. Richard's bow fell by his side. "Three." she finished.
Jenny whipped her gun back up. Richard whipped his bow back up.
Richard fired and Jenny fired.
Richard rolled as soon as he fired, and Jenny sidestepped. The bullet buried into Richard's hip, which made him yell and ruin the landing. Jenny didn't get hit, but the arrow knocked the gun from her hands. She fell into the dirt and saw Richard scrambling for his bow. She screamed and plowed into him. She fell on top of him and the bow and arrows scattered.
Jenny left hooked him in the face, right hooked him, left hooked, right hooked, not letting him get in. She grabbed his hair and planted a downward fist into his face. Again. She went to right hook, but Richard got their first. She was knocked back into the dirt, her teeth rattled. She tried to crawl away, but Richard grabbed her boot and flipped her over. He dug his hands into her neck and began to close up her throat, strangling her. Jenny struggled, beating against his arms, but they stayed in place. Richard laughed manically, cackled. Jenny's vision blurred and the three Jennys were there. But she remembered now. They weren't her. There was Caroline, a younger Caroline and now one of them who looked Jenny's age, wearing a simple black tank top and pyjama-like pants, face plain in simple serenity.
"I try to be my best." Echo said. She looked at the ground beside Jenny, who agonisingly turned her head to look.
A single arrow.
Jenny abandoned Richard's arms, grabbed the arrow and plunged in into neck.
He screamed and stumbled off, collapsed against a log, holding his bloody neck. Blood was flowing from just under his ear, running through his fingers. Jenny took a deep breath, allowing air to flood her lungs. She got to her feet and stared at him.
"Wow," Richard gurgled. "That really hurt!"
"Good." Jenny said bitterly, allowing the arrow to drop between her fingers.
"You said you were gonna kill me. Good thought to follow through on... She was right about you. You really are special."
"What're you talking about?"
He smiled, his eyes becoming unfocused. "Shoulder to the wheel, baby." He slapped his arm. "Shoulder to the wheel..."
His hand fell, smearing his arm with blood. He slackened, stop breathing.
Jenny looked at him for a moment, turned on her heel and went to find Boyd.
*
Echo woke up. The chair moved up, putting her in a sitting position. Topher was there, but so was Boyd, with a few fresh wounds on his face. Echo noticed her own hand was scraped.
"Did I fall asleep?" she asked.
Boyd walked to her and held her hand in his.
"For a little while."
*
Adelle stormed back into her office, Dominic behind her, and made a beeline for the bar. "The background checks are supposed to prevent this sort of thing! How is it that you missed the fact that Conell is a psychopath?"
"Because Richard Conell doesn't exist." Dominic said, handing her a file. "Nothing in his jacket was real. His entire background - from birth, to college to his referral here - all of it was fabricated. I've never seen anything this intricate."
Adelle massaged her temple. "What about the man Langton subdued in the van, have you interrogated him yet?"
"He was dead when we got there. But not from his run-in with Langton."
*
Boyd looked at the ranger's body as Doctor Saunders lifted the sheet. He was covered in multiple cuts. "That's not the way I left him."
"The GSWs were non-fatal." Saunders agreed. "Painful, but you avoided the major arteries."
"That was the plan. What about these other wounds?"
Saunders circled the table. "Caused by a single, non-serrated blade. Approximately 10 centimetres in length. The lacerations are precise, almost surgical."
"I've seen this before... Alpha."
"That's impossible," Saunders said immediately, as if she was expecting it.
"Isn't that what we do here?" Boyd pointed out. "The impossible?"
"Alpha is dead! After he... after what he did... they tracked him down and put a bullet in his brain."
"And they'd never lie to us about something like that. Would they?" Boyd pointed out. Saunders turned away, uneasy, but Boyd continued. "Alpha could've killed Echo when he escaped, but he didn't. A wake of bodies, but he left her alive. Now, someone hires some nut job to hunt her down in the woods. Maybe it was Alpha: maybe not. Only thing I really know is: it all leads back to Echo."
*
Echo decided she wanted to go swimming. She was heading for the pool, padding across the Dollhouse floor, when Mr. Dominic appeared in front of her.
"Sorry," she said, going to walk around him.
"Are you?"
She paused. "Am I?" she asked, confused.
"Sorry. Are you really sorry?" he said, looking down at her mockingly. "Awful lot of people seem to end up dead around you. How's it make you feel? Oh right: you don't. Unless we tell you how. And what, and when."
Echo had never seen Mr. Dominic act like this. She shook the confusion from her head. "I'm going to swim in the pool." she informed him, smiling.
But he kept going. "If it were up to me, I'd put you in the Attic. Or the ground." At Echo's blank look, he laughed. "Yeah, like talking to you's gonna make a difference." He leaned in close and wagged his finger in her face. "There's nobody in there!"
He left, leaving Echo standing alone. She looked after him. She remembered...
What did she remember? She didn't remember... anything, but this...
Echo slapped her arm.
Shoulder to the wheel...
THREE MONTHS AGO
Laurence Dominic raced down the stairs, followed by the Dollhouse's security team.
"Secure the exits," he ordered. "Anyone tries to breach, shoot then in the head twice!"
The team spread out amidst the employees and Actives running around in hysterics. Dominic nearly stepped on the corpse of an Active, brutally cut to pieces.
"Topher? Topher!"
Topher turned around, looking shellshocked. His sweater vest was smeared with wet blood. "Guns," he said, trance-like. "Can I have one?
"What happened?"
"Yeah, that's... uh, that's the thing, happened. He just--"
"Who?"
"Doc Saunders looks like a jigsaw puzzle, and what he did to Samuelson--"
"Who?!"
"Alpha." Dominic turned to see Adelle standing there. Her hair was askew and she looked worried, but was otherwise alright. "It appears we've had a composite event."
"Wh-? He gets wiped after every engagement, like all the rest. How could he composite?"
"Can't," Topher babbled. "Shouldn't. Did..."
Dominic heard static on his radio. He took it from his pocket long enough to hear one of his men: "Target acquired."
"Where?!"
"Level 3, corridor 37. Target-""
Rapid gunfire filled the room. The man gave a short screen before the radio returned to static.
"Move out!" Dominic told the guards in the room. He took his gun from his holster.
"Seriously," Topher said. "Gun?"
Dominic raced after his men towards the showers, quickly gaining until he was in the lead. He ignored the dead bodies strewn at his feet and turned into the bathroom area. It was a huge, circular, curtained off area in the center of the room. Shower nozzles hung from the roof, and the steam rooms lay beyond a few doors around the room. Dominic edged towards the shower, but his men had stopped moving. Blood leaked into the drain. Six or seven Actives lay dead, bodies cut up.
All except one. Sitting in the middle was Echo, wet, naked and drenched in blood.
"They won't wake up," she observed innocently.
The guards lowered their guns. Dominic raised his radio.
"Negative contact. Continuing sweep."
They left, leaving Echo to wonder why her friends wouldn't wake up.
*
"In their resting state, our Actives are as innocent and vulnerable as children," Adelle said. She was in her office with one Richard Connell, a handsome potential client. "We call it the tabula rasa, the blank slate. Now imagine the imprint process filling it, creating a new personality. A friend, a lover, a... confidant in a sea of enemies. Your heart's desire made flesh. And when the engagement has been completed, all memory of you and your time together will be wiped clean."
Connell seemed genuinely impressed. "Neat trick."
"Tricks are illusions, Mr. Connell, constructed to deceive. What we offer is truth."
Connell raised an eyebrow. "Rare commodity."
Adelle smiled. "Hence the exuberant price tag."
Connell sat forward. "I've been with a lot of women, Miss DeWitt. That's not bragging. That's just what you would call truth. And not one of them turned out to be who they said they were. Your services may be expensive, but at least this time, I'll be the one telling the girl what to lie about."
"Oh, she won't lie to you, Mr. Connell. Everything you want, everything you need... she will be. Honestly and completely."
Connell chuckled. "That will be something new."
"There is, however, one small problem."
"I thought everything was good with the background check..."
Adelle shook her head. "That's not our concern." Adelle stood from the couch and walked to her bar table, where she scribbled something on a notepad. She handed it to the now risen Connell. "Your engagement has been flagged as a moderate risk to our Active. Nothing serious. Our company policy requires a small additional fee against any unforeseen complications."
Connell looked at the paper and laughed. "Small, huh?
"To my employers, very."
"Well... if this girl's everything you promise, it will be worth it."
"Just make sure you return her safe and sound. Otherwise there will be additional costs."
Connell chuckled. "I'll keep it low-key."
*
Jenny helped Richard pull the raft onto shore, pushing her damp hair out of her face. The water's foam had leaked into her boots.
"Not bad," Richard panted. "Not bad."
"You should see me on a five," Jenny said with a wicked smile.
"I thought that was a five."
Jenny shook her hair, causing her wet hair to whip across her collarbone. "no way! Three, three and a half, maybe. If it were a five, I'd be fishing you out of the drink."
Connell laughed. "You think so, huh?"
Jenny grabbed his neck and smushed his lips against her.
"Huh," she muttered, and kissed him again. "And so. Now get your ass moving before I leave you for the wolves! Or whatever they got around here that eats guys who can't keep up."
"Yes, ma'am."
An hour later, Jenny and Richard were scaling a cliff face. Jenny deliberately plastered a worried look on her face.
"You know what they say about looking down?"
"Don't?" Jenny had checked a few moments ago: they were very high.
Richard nodded. "Really don't. Are you okay?"
Jenny nodded. "Yeah."
She grunted and gave a small jump to reach a rock, but her fingers slipped off the rough surface. She let out a scream as she fell.
"Jenny!"
Jenny's line caught and, with a jolt, she stopped falling. "Oh, God!" she yelled.
Richard's face was priceless, exactly what Jenny was hoping for. She couldn't help it: she erupted in laughter.
"Oh, God," she said in between hysterical laughs. "The look on your face!"
Richard sighed and smiled. "Oh, that's not funny. You know how much trouble I'd be in if you went splat?"
Jenny smiled. "Yeah. My brothers would kill you!"
"Quit screwing around."
"All right, wuss. Come on. Let's race to the top."
*
"Everything looks beautiful from here," Topher said into Boyd's headset. "Vitals are right online."
Boyd was in his favourite place on Earth: the back of the Handler van. In the woods. With nothing to do but talk to Topher.
"What about her adrenaline?" Boyd asked.
"Uh, it's within engagement parameters," Topher said on a muffled voice. Boyd glanced at his watch. This was when Topher ate his sandwich.
"Are you sure? She's elevating toward redline."
There was a slurping spud as Topher sucked the remnants from his juice box. "Relax, Mountain Man. I've been reading the squigglies long enough to discern the diff between excitement and 'Sweet mother, I'm gonna die.' She's fine. Hey, go soak up some nature, okay? Like, uh, smell the honey, hassle a grizzly. Leave the science to the science guy."
"Well, how about clearing up my signal, Professor?" Boyd said gruffly, looking at Echo'e readings. "My displays are crap."
"You're in the middle of 'Why Would Anyone Want to be There?', what did you expect, HBO?"
"Can't you retask one of the auxiliary satellites, give me some more coverage?"
"What's the magic word?"
"Please," Boyd said through gritted teeth.
"I was actually looking for 'abracadabra.' But that'll do. Okay, retasking satellite... 7115. It's gonna take a few to move it into alignment."
"Thanks."
"Anything for you. 'Cause I love you. Deep, deep man lo--"
Boyd turned off his headset.
"The woods," the driver said.
"Yep."
"I hate the woods."
"Yep."
*
Paul Ballard pushed open the door of the shack. A handful of FBI agents were scattered around, gathering evidence and the like. Detective Tanaka, a short, angry man in his 40's, was looking at the fireplace.
"Doesn't add up, does it?"
Tanaka whirled around. "Ballard? Hell are you doing here? This is a straight kidnap."
"What doesn't add up?" another agent, Shaw, asked.
"Yeah," Tanaka said. "Why don't you give us the inside view on how this all... leads to the Dollhouse? Or alternate plan: why don't you just let us do our jobs?"
"Doesn't add up, does it?" Paul repeated.
"Not all of it," Shaw said.
"We got three pros come up from Mexico and a disgruntled science teacher," Tanaka said. Paul bet down to examine a bullet hole in the wall. "They take the Crestejo girl for ransom, they fall out and makes everybody's life easier."
"But the money's gone," Paul pointed out.
Tanaka shrugged. "So, there's a fifth guy, and he's right now loving life."
"He the one packing the cannon?" Paul asked, pointing at the large hole.
"He'd have to be." Shaw replied. "That weapon's not here.
"Fifth guy took it." Tanaka finished.
"After he blows the door in? Which is funny. He's in the room with his buddies, then he has to blow the door in?"
Shaw shrugged this time. "So, no fifth guy. You think Crestejo sent someone after them?"
"Well, he swears he didn't."
"Hey, tell me you didn't go near my vic." Tanaka said, trying to sound threatening.
"I just hear the talk. Crestejo's an interesting guy, though. Fits a certain profile."
"Yeah, I know. He's rich, he's respectable, but maybe he's got a kinky side he doesn't want anyone to see, so he goes to the world-famous Dollhouse and hires himself a pretty lady to groove his move and then forget all about it. They can do that, you know, with science."
"That's what Davina called her."
Tanaka looked confused. "What?"
"Crestejo's daughter. She said the pretty lady came and saved her."
"You did talk--!"
"Shaw, we got any pretty lady prints?
"We got the dead guys and the kid, no one else."
Tanaka looked like his eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. "Will you stop humouring--"
"--And a couple areas definitely wiped down."
"So, what?" Tanaka snapped. "The Dollhouse sends one of its brainwashed beauties to-to take out a kidnapping ring? That's a full-service organisation!"
Paul bent down to look at a pair of badly beaten spectacles lying at his feet.
"It's the little girl's, right?" Tanaka said.
"I'd check it out." Paul advised.
"Hey, Agent Ballard thinks we should investigate! Thanks for the tip. Why don't you just leave us to go find your pretty lady?"
Paul walked out the door. "I will."
"Be careful." Tanaka taunted. "Looks here likes she's pretty bad-ass."
*
Jenny admired the tip of the arrow. "Carbon shaft," Richard said. "Three-blade broadhead."
"Damn--"
"Shush! You'll scare away lunch."
"Uh, you couldn't have packed a couple of sandwiches?"
"Oh, sandwiches don't give you a run when you try to eat them. They just lay there waiting for mustard."
Jenny shrugged meekly. "I like mustard."
Richard laughed. "Here." He handed her the bow. Jenny sighed as she took it. "All right? You're gripping too tight here. Here. Relax your hand. You want the riser to just rest there, pressing against your palmer crease."
"Sounds dirty."
Richard laughed again. "It's your lifeline, in your palm. You grip the riser too hard, your shot'll torque."
Jenny looked at him. "You're pretty good at this, aren't you?"
Richard shrugged. "My dad taught me. He was a big believer in, uh...". He slapped his hand to his bicep.
Jenny's eyes widened. "What? Was that a salute? Do I have to learn a salute?" She brought a fist to her shoulder.
Richard laughed. He sure liked to do that. "It's, uh, shoulder to the wheel," he said, reaching into his pack. "Do the work, earn your way. If you can bring down something bigger than you, with just this, you proved you deserve to eat it. If it gets away, it proved it deserves to live, and you go hungry." He walked back to Jenny and strapped something leather onto her wrist. "Dad thought we all take too much for granted."
"And you?"
"Oh, I appreciate every moment. Particularly this one."
"I'm not the first one you've brought into the woods, am I?"
Richard smiled uncomfortably. "Uh... no. But so far... you're the only one that hasn't been a disappointment." He stroked her hair and leaned in close. Jenny was about to push her lips to his when she saw something in the distance.
"Richard...." she gasped. Richard looked up to see a deer a short distance away. He jumped behind Jenny to help her with the bow.
"What do I do?"
"Extend your bow arm." he ordered frantically. "That's right. Now, draw back. Keep your elbow high. That's right. Never take a shot unless you're sure it'll put your target down. Aim for the flank, right below the shoulders. Now just release."
Jenny released.
*
Jenny fell down beside Richard in the sleeping bag, panting but somehow laughing at the same time.
"Is there anything you're not good at?" Richard asked, laughing.
Jenny gave a wicked smile. "I think that little thing I did with my tongue could use some work..."
"You really are the perfect woman."
"Not too shabby yourself."
"You don't slow down, do you?"
"Oh, I like to live. A lot. Let's see who finishes first this round. I might even let you win."
"I'd like that. You have no idea how much, but, uh, you need to get going."
Richard crawled out of the sleeping bag but still had to crouch a little bit as not to hit the tent roof. He slipped his trousers on. Jenny sat up, hugging the sleeping bag close to her. "Going?" she asked. "Where?"
"There's just enough daylight left to make it back to the main road," he said, pulling on his vest. "Might even flag a ride out of here before I catch up."
Jenny raised a confused eyebrow. "Yeah, okay. Am... am I missing something?"
He didn't reply.
"Richard?"
"You need to stop talking now and start running." he said, looking at his watch. "I'll give you a five-minute head start..."
Richard grabbed the bow.
"And then I'm coming after you."
*
THREE MONTHS AGO
"Welcome to the Dollhouse, Mr. Langton," Adelle said. "You come highly recommended."
Adelle approached Boyd on the Dollhouse's main floor, flanked by the Head of Security, Laurence Dominic. Many people were rushing around, cleaning up the bloody messes.
"So the stories are true," Boyd said. "Programmable people made to order."
Adelle looked uncomfortable. "It's a little more complicated than that."
"I figured it might be."
Adelle led the way towards the small yoga area in the centre, a large wooden platform with a surrounding stream. "Science is very rarely exact, Mr. Langton. Being on the cutting edge invites a certain element of risk."
"Which is why you're here." Dominic finished.
"In the light of recent events," Adelle continued. "We've decided to engage individuals with a more, shall we say, intensive background? If you're amenable to the terms of your contract you will be assigned to Echo, one of our most requested Actives."
"What happened to her last Handler?"
"You're standing in him."
It was a new voice. After glancing at the ground to find his shoe in a patch of dried blood, he looked to see a woman approach them. She was pretty, with wide eyes and wavy, shoulder-length brown hair, but her face had been severely lacerated, and recently, with stitches woven between scarlet splits in her skin.
"This is our resident physician, Doctor Saunders." Adelle said. "Mr. Langton will be replacing Mr. Samuelson."
"Good. Does that mean I can get his body out of my office?"
"We'll take care of it." Dominic said.
Saunders gave a tiny laugh. "Right. Right, everything's under control." She turned back to Boyd. "It's nice to have you on the team. Watch where you step." She turned and returned the way she had come, lag coat billowing slightly after her.
Boyd turned back to Adelle. "Her face--?"
"Doctor Saunders is still... recovering."
"Same guy who killed Samuelson?"
"She was more fortunate."
"I wanna see Samuelson's body."
Adelle raised an eyebrow. "You really don't."
"Show me."
*
Dominic ripped the sheet off Samuelson's body to show an ageing man with deep cuts spread all around his body.
"Samuelson," he said, introducing Boyd to the corpse. "He was a good man."
"Not good enough."
"What do you make?"
Boyd lifted the sheet slightly to examine the body further.
"Single blade, non-serrated. Ten to twelve centimetres. Tendons and the extremities were severed first to disable him. Then the real work started. He knew exactly where to cut to cause maximum amount of damage. And pain. Whoever did this took their time."
"Eight seconds." Dominic said simply. "That's the timeline we've been able to piece together."
Boyd was astounded. "These cuts are meticulous, almost surgical. Wouldn't of thought it was possible to carve up a man like this so fast."
"It isn't, unless you've been imprinted with the necessary skills."
"You telling me you programmed one of your Dolls to be Jack the Ripper?"
"Not my department. All I know is that Alpha accessed multiple imprints, personalities that should've been erased. And one of them did this. And slaughtered everyone around your girl before pulling a smoke and mirrors."
"So... why didn't he kill Echo?
*
Jenny rushes down the rock face
*
"You don't write, you don't call: you're starting to hurt my feelings."
Paul distinctly heard Lubov nearly drop his phone in surprise. "How did you get this number?"
"I'll always know your number, Lubov, and where to find you."
"What do you want? Why you bothering me, huh? I am honest citizen."
"And I'm the Easter Bunny. Dollhouse, start hopping."
"I already told you, I don't know any Dollhouse!"
"Then find another honest citizen who does. Don't make me come find you."
Paul hung up the phone and walked towards his desk. Two agents were standing by a mail cart.
"Hey, uh, Ballard," one agent said. "We got a call: couple of kids found a house in the woods all made of candy and gingerbread: thought that might be up your alley..." Both agents erupted in laughter.
"Oh my God," Paul said flatly. "that's hilarious."
Paul sat at his desk to see a large brown envelope with his name on it.
"Who'd this come from?" he asked.
"Oh, uh Granny left it. Man, her teeth looked big!"
Paul rolled his eyes as more laughter filled his ears. He opened the envelop to find a picture. It was of a pretty girl with shiny brown hair smiling. She was younger, probably in High School. He turned it over. A name was scrawled in ink:
"Caroline."
*
Jenny kept running, and she didn't stop.
Richard had apparently become Norman Bates overnight. Or he had probably been all along. Hunting people with arrows? She had barely gotten on her boots, khaki pants, red tank top and favourite cashmere sweater on before she had darted from the tent. If only she could remember which way to the road...
She slid to the bottom of the steep hill, leaning on a log as a stitch drained her energy. Had she been here before? She couldn't--
A searing pain shot through Jenny's leg. She yelped and looked down to see an arrow jutting from the log. It had scraped across her thigh, creating a thin, stinging cut. She put her hands around it protectively before she could think: Richard had just shot an arrow at her. He had found her.
Jenny darted away, her leg burning. Another arrow burrowed into the log, right where her chest had been. She ran further into the forest, not caring where it led, just needing to get away from him...
*
"Satellite retail coming online." Topher said in Boyd's ear.
"When?"
"Uhhh... anytime... nowish?"
Boyd's display on the computer monitors sharpened, but he barely has a moment to enjoy it before the driver knocked on the glass. "We got company."
Boyd stepped out of the van. A park ranger was pulling up in his police car. Boyd walked to the driver, pulling a map from his pocket, and plastered a smile to his face.
"Alright," the driver said, smiling. "looks like we're there."
"No, I'm telling you, we're not there. We're... somewhere over here. There is where we wanna be, here is not there!"
"Scuse me." the cop said. "This area's restricted. No vehicles off the main road."
"Sorry, uh, we're completely turned around," Boyd said. "do you mind pointing us in the right direction?"
The cop eyed them suspiciously. "What you fellas doing out here?"
"Local news. We're shooting B-Roll for a piece about the push to open up the area to more logging."
"Got some i.d. to go along with that story?"
"Sure." Boyd took an i.d. card from his pocket. On it was his picture and the words 'Thomas Crehan: Assocoate Producer'. He passed it to the cop, who glanced at it before handing it back, smiling.
"Can't be too careful Mr. Crehan. Being so far off the beat tends to attracts a certain unsavoury element."
"No worries, officer." He turned to the driver. "We couldn't be more savoury."
The cop whipped out a pistol with a silencer and shot two bullets into the driver's chest. His face slackened and he slid to the ground, leaving smeared blood staining the van's black shell. Boyd turned, shocked, to find the gun pointed at his chest.
"Good to know."
*
THREE MONTHS AGO
Topher approached the new man, Boyd Langton, on the balcony overlooking the Dollhouse. He was watching his new Active, Echo, do Yoga by the pool. Topher smiled. "The new Samuelson." Boyd turned to him, "You're bigger than the last one. Topher. The man behind the grey matter curtain."
"So Alpha's one of your achievements." Boyd said gruffly. Topher cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"Yeah... yeah, that, uh, was an anomaly. There's unpredictable remainders, we're still working out the kinkies--"
"Like the blood, the screaming, the dying?" Boyd asked, raising an eyebrow. "Look at 'em: bunch of helpless children. Did the ones Alpha slaughter even put up a fight?"
"They... wouldn't know how. Not without an Imprint." Topher typed in midair to demonstrate.
"So why not default them with Ninja skills or whatever?"
"We tried that once. Blood, screaming, dying..."
"Alpha..."
Echo approached the yoga instructor, probably informing him of where she was going, before walking away, smiling a dreamy smile.
"So what do you think of your new girl?" Topher asked.
Boyd scoffed. "She's not a girl. She's not even a person, just an empty hat... til you stuff a rabbit in it."
Boyd left the balcony, leaving Topher feeling deflated.
"Abracadabra..."
*
"Uhhhh, are you getting this Mountain Man Friend?" Topher said.
"Yeah," Boyd said. "I'm getting it."
"Ok... uhhh, do you see these squigglies? These are the not-so-goods, what the hell's going on over there?"
"Everything's fine."
Everything was not fine.
Boyd was sitting in the van, the cop digging his gun's silencer into his temple.
"You sure?" Topher said, worried.
"Yeah. Except for the gun pointed at my head--"
Boyd batted his hand at the gun, knocking it away. The man panicked and fired, sending a bullet into Boyd's computer. He heard Topher yell his name before he disappeared in a sea of static.
Boyd pushed the chair away and dug his hand into the cop's shoulders, his shoe scuffing the gun. The man dug his hands in similarly and they both pushed, knocking each other into the van's walls. Boyd's head whiplashed as he clunked against the hard metal. He batted his hand at the man's elbow, sending it folding and he hooked him in the gut, then again with the left. He tried a hooking punch to the face, but the man blocked and countered. Boyd's head snapped to the side and he tasted blood. The cop ploughed into him, sending him crashing into the back doors, but Boyd's arms were free and he sent two elbows into the cop's spine. The cop fell to his knees, and Boyd threw him like a ragdolls into the wall. The cop recovered and sent Boud staggering into the other wall, before grabbing his shoulder and throwing him at the wall opposite the door. Boyd stuck out a hand, but the man grabbed it and pushed his own palm against Boyd's face. Boyd's head nearly snapped to the right and he struggled to keep it in place. Boyd wrapped his hand around the cop's, who dug his other hand into Boyd to steady himself. Boyd slammed his forearm into the cop's arm, knocking him off balance. Seeing his chance, Boyd wrapped his hand around the cop's head and dropped him onto his knee, winding him, before slamming him into the van wall, headfirst. The cop fell to the floor and Boyd wrapped his arm around his neck, engaging a sleeper hold. The cop struggled, his hands clawing at Boyd's forearm, but after a few seconds, he collapsed still.
Boyd lay him down slowly, beaten and winded, to the floor.
*
"He's a threat." Dominic said. He had pulled up a file in Adelle's office he wished to discuss.
"Agent Ballard has been groping blindly for quite some time now." Adelle said. "He knows nothing."
"I know his type. Guy like this, something gets under his skin, he's not gonna let go until it's scratched out."
"And how would you suggest we handle this?"
Dominic didn't even blink. "Neutralise the risk. Before it becomes untenable."
Adelle rose from her desk and strode towards Dominic. "Authorise a kill order? On a Federal Agent? I think you overestimate his abilities."
"Even a blind dog could find a bone if it digs enough holes."
"All the appropriate measures are being taken. Thank you for your concern, Mr. Dominic--"
"With respect, ma'am, I don't think--"
He was interrupted by Adelle's office door flying open. Topher rushed in, looking anxious.
"Uh, hey, uh, sorry... I think we have a situation. The kind you need to shoot at."
*
Jenny cursed under her breath. She had finally reached the boat she and Richard had used yesterday, only to find it washed up on the shore, deflated with a huge rip in the side. Richard obviously didn't want her going anywhere. She looked around at the surrounding trees and cliffs. No Richard in sight.
Still cursing, she abandoned the boat, running deeper into the woods. There was no time to break down, just had to find another way out. If she stopped, he'd find her.
Jenny stopped in her tracks, collapsed against a tree. Just up ahead, there was a small ranger station, a cabin from which the rangers operated. It was small, but they were sure to have food, water and, most importantly of all, a radio.
She darted for the house, letting the remnants of her energy go. When she reached the house, she realised her pants were ripped, her sweater filthy, her hair a damp curtain of sweat. She must've been running all day.
Jenny pushed open the door and closed it immediately behind her. "Hello?" she said hoarsely.
The cabin was small, probably one room but for a closet and a bathroom. It had a desk, two bunkbeds and a few other things: but worst of all, Jenny was alone.
She ran to the desk to look for a radio. What were they called? CB Radio? It didn't matter, as there was no radio to speak of. Something caught her eye. A canteen was hanging from the bunkbeds. She raced across the room, put it to her lips and began to drain it, but she was interrupted halfway by the radio static.
At first she thought she had just imagined it: after all, there was no radio. But there it was again. Jenny looked around.
The closet.
She walked hesitantly to the door, not wanting to enter horror movie mode: she was kind of a final girl right now already. She brushed the knob with her fingers, getting a grip, pulled, and swung the closet open. A ranger was standing there. Jenny was relieved, until he began to fall and she saw the bullet in his forehead.
Jenny screamed as the body collapsed on her. She fell to the rug, where she tried desperately to push him off. With some effort, she wriggled out from beneath him, stared at the body, making a wheezing noise. Then she heard the static, and saw the radio of the ranger's belt. She reached for it hesitantly and, when she got close, snatched it from his belt, stood up and pushed the button.
"Hello?," she cried. "Is there anybody out there? I need help, please, somebody?"
"Hey baby," Richard said on the other line. "Guess you found Ranger Bob, huh?"
Jenny nearly collapsed on the floor again. "Why are you doing this?"
"'Cos I wanna know..."
"Know what, you sick son of a bitch?!"
"If you deserve to live. If you've earned the right."
Jenny would've laughed if she could. "You know what gives someone the right to live? NOT HUNTING THEM!!!"
Richard chuckled. "That's it. Shoulder to the wheel! Prove you're not just an Echo."
Jenny could hear him do the arm slap that came with 'Shoulder to the Damn Wheel'. "You want proof, you psycho?" she said ferociously. "How 'bout this: I'm gonna kill you! Will that prove it?'! I'm gonna..."
Jenny coughed. It hurt. She coughed again, a cough that turned into a gag. Her throat was on fire, she nearly heaved.
"You don't sound to good." Richard said sympathetically. "Hey... you didn't drink from a canteen in there, did you?"
Jenny looked at the abandoned canteen dripping water, and how the water was a murky colour.
"'Cos... that would be bad."
*
THREE MONTHS AGO
"Is it time for my treatment?"
"Yes." Topher said, leading Echo into the chair. "But this is a very special one, Echo. This one won't pinch like the others you... don't remember..."
"Hello," Echo said to Boyd, who was sulking in the corner. "You're tall!"
Topher chuckled.
"Do I have to be here for this?" Boyd asked.
Topher nodded. "Handler-Active Imprint requires a direct line of sight, so she needs to be looking into those dreamy brown eyes when I wave my magic wand."
"Then what? Me and special needs here become buddy-buddy?"
"Hey," Topher said. "This isn't about friendship, Man Friend. It's about trust. From this point on, Echo will always trust you, without question, or hesitation. No matter what the circumstance. You're about to become the most important person in her life."
Boyd glanced at Echo. "Let's jut get this over with."
"Hey, this is art. It's not an oil change. Rush the brush strokes, you'll get a clown on black velvet." Topher passed Boyd a sheet of paper.
"What's this?"
"It's your script. Cal and response, neural lock and key." He walked to the computer. "All right Brando, let's see what you got."
Boyd cleared his throat and looked at the paper. "Everything's going to be--"
"Oh, wait a sec, uh, take her hand."
"What?"
"Hold her hand." Topher threw his hands up apprehensively. "Tactile proximity enhances binding protocol! Ok? And... take two."
Boyd leaned in and gingerly touched Echo's hand on the armrest.
"Everything's going to be alright." He read aloud.
"Now that you're here." Echo replied dreamily.
"Do you trust me?"
Echo spoke as if he should already know. "With my life."
*
"How ya feeling, sweetness? Little funky right about now?"
Jenny stumbled down the steep hill. She could barely hear Richard on the radio taunting her: it was like he was a mile away. Her eyelids were heavy, her head pounded, her stomach churned.
"Don't worry, stuff's not gonna kill you. Guy I got it from said it would just... put a spin on things. So what do ya say? You spinning yet?"
Jenny stopped moving, but the world kept turning. Her vision was blurred, everything just colours mushed together. Then, across what appeared to be the river, was a strange new shape, bright green and blue. Clothes?
A person.
"Hey!" Jenny said. "Hey, wait!" It sounded like a scream, but it probably came out a mumble. She raced towards the shape, stumbling and nearly falling face first into the river. "Wait! Hey!"
She reached the shape. Now that it was close, she could tell it was a person, a woman. But it kept walking away from her. Jenny grabbed her by the arm and whirled her around.
Standing in front of Jenny was another Jenny. She looked younger and was wearing different clothes, but...
"Oh, no, no, no, get that thing outta my face!" the new Jenny said, laughing. Jenny, the real Jenny, backed away and stumbled over a log. She yelped, hit the ground, and the world turned. She was rolling, falling, and then the river enveloped her.
*
Boyd put the final wire into place. The computer screen blurred and then finally came back online. He heard a spluttering sound and turned to the the cop, now tied to a chair at the back of the van. He had stirred. Boyd took the pistol with the silencer in his hand.
"How many?" he said simply.
"W...What?"
He pulle the trigger, sending a bullet into the cop's thigh. He screamed and writhed in pain, tearing furiously at his bonds.
"How many men between me and the girl?!"
"I don't know! I DONT KNOW, I SWEAR TO GOD!"
Boyd shot him in the other leg. Much the same reaction.
"I don't think he's listening..."
"A guy hired me over the phone!" the cop cried. "I NEVER MET HIM! I was just supposed to get you to stall the response team!"
"And then put a bullet in my head."
"Hey, i-it's business. Don't take it personally, dude..."
Boyd smiled. He whipped the butt of the gun across the cop's face. His head snapped to the side, blood flew, and the cop lay still.
"I don't."
*
Jenny woke up. She tried to take a breath, but instead found herself heaving water from her lungs. She wasn't in the river anymore. She looked around. She was surrounded by some sort of circular glass, covering the dark room. The ground was wet. A dozen nozzles hovered over her. She was in a giant shower. Then she noticed the other figures around her. They were naked and unmoving. Each was covered in deep cuts from head to toe, dead.
"Wake up."
Jenny turned around. A man stood there, his face covered in shadows. Something in his hand glinted in the light. A bloody scalpel...
"Wake up!"
Jenny woke up on the river bed, coughing up water. She wasn't in a shower. She was in the woods. It had all been a dream, not that this was much better. Richard had been ordering her awake on the radio.
"Oh, you're doing great, baby!" he said. "Don't quit on me now!"
Jenny crawled to her feet and looked around anxiously. She spotted him on top of the cliff face a few hundred metres away, staring at her through his binoculars.
"Do you need a minute? Cos I don't wanna rush you."
Jenny glared at him, and then ran for her life.
"Alright. We'll rush."
*
"Hey neighbour!"
Paul turned around. He had barely gotten his key into the lock before the door opposite had flung open. His neighbour Mellie was standing there. "Off early?"
Mellie was a pretty girl, short and curvy with brown hair and perfect white teeth. She was wearing a sundress, holding a plate of lasagne.
"Just swinging by for a bite," Paul said. "Then back to it."
"Keeping our streets safe." she giggles. "I should thank you. You know, by... thanking you... you wanna have some lasagne? I have leftovers."
Paul looked at it. It looked delicious, but was noticeably uneaten. "You know it's only leftovers if you've already eaten some, Mellie."
Mellie laughed awkwardly. "Oh, no, I, uh, made another one that I... it's really good."
"Rain check?"
Mellie nodded. "Totally, yeah, anytime. Just knock, I'm always-- ooh, um, pretty. Who's she?"
Paul looked at the file in his hand. The picture of the girl, Caroline, was held to it with a paper clip. "Nobody. According to the FBI database. No record of her."
"Is she in trouble?"
"Maybe. Or just got caught up with the wrong people. Either way I'll keep looking til I find her."
Paul gave Mellie a fleeting smile before walking into his apartment and shutting the door. Mellie stared after him.
"Lucky girl..."
*
Jenny slowed to a jog, panting. She was sweating: she peeled off her damp sweater and threw it into the bushes, leaving her chilly in just her thin burgundy tank. There wasn't, however, much she could do about her legs, which were roasting to death in a pair of khaki pants. She tried to speed up: Richard would find her in a few minutes if she didn't.
She heard a noise. Maybe it wouldn't take five minutes.
Jenny dived behind a tree, her heart racing. Something scuffed against her boot: a thick branch. She picked it up and held it to her chest. The noise was getting closer. Closer...
Jenny screamed and swung the branch ferociously. Someone caught the branch, but it wasn't Richard. Jenny was taken aback, tried to prise it free--
"Wait!" the man said. "I'm not gonna hurt you!"
"Do I know you?" she said, her voice brittle.
"Everything's gonna be alright."
Jenny stopped breathing do quickly. Her body relaxed. She let go of the log. Words were flowing out of her lips without her thinking. "Now that... you're here..."
The man... Boyd... threw the log down. "Stay close. I'm gonna get you out--"
A whooshing noise cut him off. Boyd screamed as an arrow tip jutted out of his side.
"Ok..." he murmured.
*
Jenny tried to run fast, but it proved hard with her supporting Boyd's weight. He winced for the umpteenth time.
"We gotta stop." Jenny said.
"No!" Boyd protested gruffly.
"You got shot with a freakin' arrow! We keep moving, you're gonna die."
"If Robin Hood catches up with us, we're both gonna die." Boyd shimmied free from Jenny's arm and leaned against a nearby tree trunk. How he looked, his name, the things he said, it was so familiar.
"...how do I know you?"
Boyd looked at her. "We met awhile back."
"I feel like... I can trust you, but... but I don't remember..." Jenny massaged her temple, held a hand to her stomach.
"You ok?" Boyd asked.
"There was something in the water. Richard put something in by water..."
"He poisoned you?"
"He said it wouldn't kill me, but I've been seeing things..."
"What kind of things?"
Jenny saw no point in lying. Not to Boyd. "A girl that looks like me but isn't. Dead bodies in a shower. And a man standing over me holding a knife but I can't see his face, I don't think he has one! Are you here, is this... is this real?"
Boyd nodded. "I'm here. And yeah." He motioned to his wound. "this is real."
"He's gonna kill us... he's gonna find us and he's--"
"Hey. Hey!" Boyd grabbed her arm, and she looked at him. "Everything's going to be alright."
Jenny was about to feel safe, but... she didn't let herself. She looked around: Richard would be on them soon. And even if they did escape, or Richard put them out of their misery, what was to stop him doing this to another girl, another dozen?
"No it isn't."
Boyd looked confused, shocked. "Did... did you hear what I said? Everything's going to--"
"Everything's NOT gonna be alright! You don't get to live just because you deserve to, you have to prove it! You... you have to put your shoulder to the wheel!"
For the first time, it all made sense.
"You wanna speak English?" Boyd asked. "I'm kinda bleeding to death here..."
"He's not gonna stop. Unless he's dead."
"You can't go after this guy. You don't have the right impri-- you don't have the right training."
"I'm a fast learner." Jenny said through gritted teeth.
"Jenny--"
"Do you trust me?"
Again, he looked like this wasn't supposed to happen: like it couldn't happen. "What?"
"Do you trust me?"
"...With my life." He winced as he slid a pistol with a silencer out from the back of his belt. "You know how to use this?"
Jenny took the gun and nodded. "Four brothers. None of 'em democrats. But you should keep this. If Richard finds you, he'll--"
Something caught her eye. Boyd had another gun in his hand.
"You didn't think I'd give you my only gun, did you?"
Jenny gave a faint smile.
*
Richard stook a fresh arrow into the bow. That was the third time he had heard a noise. He looked to the nearby tree. He sidestepped, whirled around, ready to fire.
Nothing there.
"Didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?"
It was Jenny on his radio. But she was near. He looked around, but she wasn't in sight. He put the radio to his lips.
"I'd be disappointed if it was. How's your buddy holding up? He was losing an awful lot of blood."
"Not as much as you're about to."
There was something confident about her tone. Richard didn't like it. "What're you gonna do, throw rocks at me?"
"No." Jenny said, her voice piercing. "I'm gonna shoot you with the gun my buddy gave me. You're playing MY game now. Toss the bow and get on your knees, or I blow your freakin' head off."
Richard smiled a little. "My Dad woulda really liked you. I'm still gonna kill you--"
Within a millisecond of hearing the whizzing noise, a bullet slashed his bicep open, as a parade of a million more bullets burrowed into the tree. Richard rolled to safety in time to spot a blur of red and dark green: Jenny, up the riverbank. He aimed, but his arm wavered, and she just kept moving.
Richard got to his feet and ran.
*
Jenny ran up the slope into a clearing just above the river, but she wasn't going to stop there. She was gonna run to a good vantage point and put a bullet in Richard's brain. She gave a quick look back. He wasn't here yet but he would--
Jenny was stopped in her tracks by another her.
It wasn't the one from the river, the younger one. This was was the same age, but was wearing all black and looked beaten and tired. "I just wanted to make a difference." she murmured regretfully. Jenny just stared at her. How could she be the same girl, have the same face, but not remember...?
"Hey, baby. Little piece of advice. You don't want the big bad wolf to find you, you should really turn off your Walkie."
Jenny returned to the land of the living. The other Jenny was gone, she frantically reached for her Walkie...
A noise.
Jenny whirled around, aiming the gun single-handed. Richard was just a few metres away, bow pointed.
He smiled. "Is this the best date ever or what?"
"Put it down." Jenny ordered. "Or I put you down.
Richard laughed as she stood uneasily. "Look at you. You can barely stand up. Probably wouldn't be able to hit me even if you did pull the trigger."
Jenny whipped her second hand up to the gun, steadying it. "You really wanna find out?"
"I admit, I'm curious. Concerned, but curious. Then again: you shoot me, you get an arrow in that pretty little chest."
"How's that arm holding up?" Jenny said, noticing the bloody, shaking bicep. "Maybe I'm not the one that's gonna miss."
He smiled again, nervous laughter. "I'll tell you what: why don't we ease up? We'll call it a draw."
Jennu scoffed in disbelief. "You'll let me go?"
"Sure. No harm, no foul."
"You poisoned me, and tried to shoot me with arrows!" Jenny nearly screamed.
"Ok, so... maybe a little bit of harm. Look, how about this? On the count of three, we both back off. Deal?"
Jennh gave a faint nod. "One..."
"Two..."
Jenny slowly lowered the gun. Richard's bow fell by his side. "Three." she finished.
Jenny whipped her gun back up. Richard whipped his bow back up.
Richard fired and Jenny fired.
Richard rolled as soon as he fired, and Jenny sidestepped. The bullet buried into Richard's hip, which made him yell and ruin the landing. Jenny didn't get hit, but the arrow knocked the gun from her hands. She fell into the dirt and saw Richard scrambling for his bow. She screamed and plowed into him. She fell on top of him and the bow and arrows scattered.
Jenny left hooked him in the face, right hooked him, left hooked, right hooked, not letting him get in. She grabbed his hair and planted a downward fist into his face. Again. She went to right hook, but Richard got their first. She was knocked back into the dirt, her teeth rattled. She tried to crawl away, but Richard grabbed her boot and flipped her over. He dug his hands into her neck and began to close up her throat, strangling her. Jenny struggled, beating against his arms, but they stayed in place. Richard laughed manically, cackled. Jenny's vision blurred and the three Jennys were there. But she remembered now. They weren't her. There was Caroline, a younger Caroline and now one of them who looked Jenny's age, wearing a simple black tank top and pyjama-like pants, face plain in simple serenity.
"I try to be my best." Echo said. She looked at the ground beside Jenny, who agonisingly turned her head to look.
A single arrow.
Jenny abandoned Richard's arms, grabbed the arrow and plunged in into neck.
He screamed and stumbled off, collapsed against a log, holding his bloody neck. Blood was flowing from just under his ear, running through his fingers. Jenny took a deep breath, allowing air to flood her lungs. She got to her feet and stared at him.
"Wow," Richard gurgled. "That really hurt!"
"Good." Jenny said bitterly, allowing the arrow to drop between her fingers.
"You said you were gonna kill me. Good thought to follow through on... She was right about you. You really are special."
"What're you talking about?"
He smiled, his eyes becoming unfocused. "Shoulder to the wheel, baby." He slapped his arm. "Shoulder to the wheel..."
His hand fell, smearing his arm with blood. He slackened, stop breathing.
Jenny looked at him for a moment, turned on her heel and went to find Boyd.
*
Echo woke up. The chair moved up, putting her in a sitting position. Topher was there, but so was Boyd, with a few fresh wounds on his face. Echo noticed her own hand was scraped.
"Did I fall asleep?" she asked.
Boyd walked to her and held her hand in his.
"For a little while."
*
Adelle stormed back into her office, Dominic behind her, and made a beeline for the bar. "The background checks are supposed to prevent this sort of thing! How is it that you missed the fact that Conell is a psychopath?"
"Because Richard Conell doesn't exist." Dominic said, handing her a file. "Nothing in his jacket was real. His entire background - from birth, to college to his referral here - all of it was fabricated. I've never seen anything this intricate."
Adelle massaged her temple. "What about the man Langton subdued in the van, have you interrogated him yet?"
"He was dead when we got there. But not from his run-in with Langton."
*
Boyd looked at the ranger's body as Doctor Saunders lifted the sheet. He was covered in multiple cuts. "That's not the way I left him."
"The GSWs were non-fatal." Saunders agreed. "Painful, but you avoided the major arteries."
"That was the plan. What about these other wounds?"
Saunders circled the table. "Caused by a single, non-serrated blade. Approximately 10 centimetres in length. The lacerations are precise, almost surgical."
"I've seen this before... Alpha."
"That's impossible," Saunders said immediately, as if she was expecting it.
"Isn't that what we do here?" Boyd pointed out. "The impossible?"
"Alpha is dead! After he... after what he did... they tracked him down and put a bullet in his brain."
"And they'd never lie to us about something like that. Would they?" Boyd pointed out. Saunders turned away, uneasy, but Boyd continued. "Alpha could've killed Echo when he escaped, but he didn't. A wake of bodies, but he left her alive. Now, someone hires some nut job to hunt her down in the woods. Maybe it was Alpha: maybe not. Only thing I really know is: it all leads back to Echo."
*
Echo decided she wanted to go swimming. She was heading for the pool, padding across the Dollhouse floor, when Mr. Dominic appeared in front of her.
"Sorry," she said, going to walk around him.
"Are you?"
She paused. "Am I?" she asked, confused.
"Sorry. Are you really sorry?" he said, looking down at her mockingly. "Awful lot of people seem to end up dead around you. How's it make you feel? Oh right: you don't. Unless we tell you how. And what, and when."
Echo had never seen Mr. Dominic act like this. She shook the confusion from her head. "I'm going to swim in the pool." she informed him, smiling.
But he kept going. "If it were up to me, I'd put you in the Attic. Or the ground." At Echo's blank look, he laughed. "Yeah, like talking to you's gonna make a difference." He leaned in close and wagged his finger in her face. "There's nobody in there!"
He left, leaving Echo standing alone. She looked after him. She remembered...
What did she remember? She didn't remember... anything, but this...
Echo slapped her arm.
Shoulder to the wheel...