Appearances by Thoughtful Puppet (best ereader for academics txt) 📖

misshapen to be human. The earth was very much disturbed where the bundle lay, as though a herd of wild cattle had been grazing there earlier. As his vision cleared, some of the mist that clouded his brain seemed to lift as well, and he realized with a start that he was tied- no, chained- to a chair, his head seemed to be the only part of his body not secured by heavy iron links.
With a grunt of dismay he fought to gain his feet but succeeded only in rattling his chains. Something stirred behind him and a deep voice said, “He’s coming around now. Bring Howard.”
Footsteps moved swiftly away and silence ruled the clearing again. He turned his head to the left and then back again to the right but was unable to discern the source of the voice or the destination of the footsteps. Why was the name Howard significant? It stirred some memory deep in the back of his mind, but he didn’t realize what it was until footsteps approached through the trees and brought a man to stand directly in front of him. It was only then, as he stared stupidly up at the man and recognized Phil’s identical twin brother that recent events returned to his mind and the situation began to make sense.
“Howard?! That must have been you back at the lab. I haven’t seen you for so long I forgot how good you are at being Philip. Speaking of the little devil, where is he? I’m going to kill him! I can’t even imagine him letting you use his pass card just to prank me. That’s worth his job, you know. Good one. This has got to be your most elaborate scheme so far, and that’s saying quite a bit. Can you remove these ridiculous chains now?”
Howard answered grimly, but satisfaction was evident in his voice, “It is my most elaborate scheme so far, isn’t it. Thanks for noticing. But you haven’t seen anything yet! The chains stay.” Howard looked over James’ head and barked at someone behind him, “Matthew! Thomas!” Howard stepped to one side to allow a pair of hulking men with assault rifles on their backs to drag another bundle of chain on a chair and place it where he had been standing. It was the last person in the world James expected to see.
It was his wife.
“Alice?! How did they rope you into this? I can’t believe you went along with it; I thought you hated Howard’s pranks?!”
Howard ignored this outburst and spoke to Alice, “Perhaps you should explain to your husband what our purpose is tonight. Tell him what we want.”
James stared in astonishment as one of the bodybuilders next to her pulled a horrendous amount of gauze from her mouth. Alice coughed and spluttered, gasping for air as the last of the gag was removed. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and even in the dimness of twilight her face looked as though it had been in a terrible bar fight. Alice didn’t even go to bars. “Alice, what happened to you? Did these men do this? What is Howard talking about?”
Alice nodded even as words came gushing out of her, tumbling over one another in their rush to be heard.
“James! I’m so glad you’re okay, I was so worried about you but you’re alive, you’re alive! It was awful; they made me watch what they did to Philip and it was terrible! I keep seeing it over and over in my mind and I can still hear it. They wouldn’t cover my ears and I can hear the screams, his screaming was so loud, so horrible; it didn't even sound human! And then they said Philip didn’t have it and I don’t even know what they were talking about so they said they were going to get you and I was so afraid, so frightened they would do to you what they did to him. Oh James!” Alice was now sobbing uncontrollably and her words became incoherent.
James was in shock. What was going on? Howard was the twin brother of his best friend in all the world. And there were the pitiful remains of Philip in the center of the clearing. The very bundle that he dismissed as just a thing was all that was left of his friend It was too grotesque even to look at, now he knew what it was.
“But how? Why would anyone- why?”
“As you can see, Jimmy, this is no prank. You might even say this is life and death serious for your lovely wife and yourself. Philip didn’t believe me. For the sake of Alice I’m hoping you don’t make the same mistake. We want you to tell us where the serum is and who has used it so far.”
Twilight was fading fast; full night would soon be upon them.
“Which serum? We’ve developed dozens of them in those labs, you know that Howard! As for who has used them, it's well into the thousands by now; probably the tens of thousands or even millions! We have cured several types of cancer, multiple sclerosis, and even made advances against Alzheimer’s disease. The formulas we create improve us, they make us better! We test those serums on ourselves and our families first, so we know their effects firsthand and our products can be perfect when they reach the public; you can buy most of them anywhere in the world. What do you want from me

?!” James screamed the final sentence, hurling his question into the night sky and hoping against hope there would be someone to hear his desperation and save him from this nightmare.
“No one can hear you Jimmy, in case you were wondering. We are far, far away from any other people. Let me be blunt.” Howard stepped closer and put his face in front of James, “The man my friends and I serve is a great man. He has led us down dangerous paths and never once has he been wrong about anything. Through great tribulation we learned to trust him even above ourselves. He is a great man and we will do whatever he asks without a second thought or hesitation. So when this man tells us you have created the mark of the beast, the mark that will ruin the human race forever, believe me when I say we will stop at nothing until we have destroyed every last trace of it. Tell us what it is, Jimmy; what is the mark of the beast and how do we destroy it?”
Alice was looking at him with pleading eyes. “Please tell him. Whatever it is can’t possibly be worth our lives. If you know anything at all, please tell him.”
His heart went out to her. He wanted desperately to take her in his arms, tell her everything would be fine, and then go with her to a place far away and forget this night ever happened. But there was nothing he could do. Howard was obviously crazy; James recalled one of the last times he had seen him, Howard had gone on and on, ranting and raving about how the world was coming to an end but there was a man that could save the planet from apocalypse if only people would just listen to him and on and on and on. Philip was of the opinion that it was some sort of midlife crisis and Howard would soon snap out of it, but more than three years had gone by since then and it was beginning to look as though Philip’s prediction was more than slightly inaccurate. There was nothing to say.
When James refused to speak Howard straightened with a long sigh. His voice was heavy, “Dr. Jimmy Hansen, you are a great man. You were the best friend my brother could have ever had. I looked up to you and admired you my whole life. I wanted to use gentler methods to learn your secret, but orders are orders, and now I see he was right. Again. I wish it hadn’t come to this.” Shaking his head, Howard produced a large, shiny revolver and pointed it straight at Alice’s head.
James lost it. Howling like a mad beast he begged and pleaded, threatened and swore; and made promises they all knew he couldn’t keep. He would do anything if only they would allow him to take the bullet now aimed at his beloved Alice. James was in the middle of explaining he could show them all the mark of the beast, or anything else, for that matter, when the shock of the pistol shot silenced him mid word.
“Enough!” Howard roared as the sound of the shot died out into the trees. He stood with feet spread wide and pistol raised to the sky, it’s smoking barrel perfectly silhouetted against the rising moon. “You may be willing to take your secret to the grave, but can you let it take your wife to hers? Think, Jimmy!”
James looked at Alice and she looked back at him, deep into his eyes. They spoke the words as one, “I love you.”
The moon was over the trees now, and it bathed their little clearing in a silver, almost magical light. There was not a cloud to be seen, and those who took the time to look could see there was indeed a meteor shower tonight. All in all, it was breathtaking.
James began to see red. Raw power surged through his veins as he turned his gaze to Howard and stood. No mere chain could hold him now. “If your master had any knowledge of the Mark of the Beast, he would have sent you better prepared.” Alice howled savagely with him as they leaped together to the feast.
Perhaps today wasn’t such a bad day after all.