The Impossible Future: Complete set by Frank Kennedy (e novels to read online TXT) 📗

their words would provide solace as you approached your rest.”

“No,” he said without speaking. “I don’t want anything from them.”

“Of course you do, sweet Jamie. All children want nothing more than the comfort of their mother and father. Please, listen …”

Jamie could not move. He felt distant from reality, no longer floating on water. The darkness that embodied him in the cellar of the lake house returned. Unfamiliar voices rose within him as if echoes from another world. They talked over each other and tried to merge as one.

“Dear Son, Each day we have mourned for you, and we will continue to do so until the end of our lives.”

These were not the voices of Tom and Marlena Sheridan, but neither did they seem to come from strangers. They were younger, their voices drenched in grief, yet somehow pleasing.

“We hope you will find the capacity to forgive us …  it is our sincerest hope …  in the short time given to you … too young to understand all the answers … you were loved … you filled our hearts with a joy unspeakable … you are our greatest gift to humanity … we will miss you deeply. With Fondest Regards, Mother, Father”

The messages replayed. When silence fell, Jamie opened his eyes.

“Is that all?” He asked, hoping for more.

“There is one final message,” Lydia said, “but now is not the time. I will forward it to you just before the end, when I return to say goodbye.”

Jamie stood, his feet planted on the shallow, sandy bottom.

“Why then?”

Lydia did not respond.

“Why then?”

Jamie closed his eyes and listened to the echoes of his true parents’ voices. For the first time in at least two years, he felt loved. He also knew this gift would not survive the morning.

 

33

F IFTEEN MINUTES LATER, Jamie walked out of the lake refreshed and naked. He pushed his dripping hair out of his face then grabbed his jeans and boxers. He looked around for his ponytail holder.

“Do you know where my …?”

Sammie held a distant stare, north along the lakeshore.

“Gunshots,” she said. “I’m sure I heard them.”

“When?”

“Right after you went in the water. And then again, just before you came out. I don’t think we should stay here.”

Jamie sat down and slipped on his sneakers. Michael was still in the lake but nearing shore. Jamie felt a surprising ease in the face of her news.

“Calm down, Sammie. How far away were the shots?”

“Not close. Maybe a mile or more.”

“Probably just hunters.”

Sammie winced. “It’s almost summer. I don’t think they allow hunting this time of year.”

Jamie scoffed. “Whatever. Look, if they were gunshots, I reckon they got nothing to do with us. We’re all alone, Sammie. The others are dead. Nobody knows where we are.”

Jamie’s words, said with no drop of remorse, got Sammie’s attention. She diverted her stare and started toward Jamie, a pair of stained, wet shirts in her hand. She dropped Jamie’s t-shirt onto the sand beside him.

“You’ve got all the answers, do you? A few hours ago, you didn’t have a clue what was going on and now …” She bit her lip. “I’m sorry.” She dropped to a knee. “I didn’t know it was going to hurt so much. Daddy always said if anything happened to them, I had to move on. Stay the course, he said. Keep with the mission and don’t shed a tear.”

Jamie finished tying his sneakers. “He actually told you that? And you believed it would be that easy? Damn … is that how all Chancellors act?” Jamie wiped the steady drips from his face. “Sammie, don’t you remember what happened to me after my parents were killed? Hell, I nearabout went out of my mind. It’s been in my skin ever since. The dark shit I’ve thought about. I gave up last night. I was gonna take that money and that gun and I didn’t care anymore. Stay the course? Are you kidding me?”

Sammie wiped away a tear. “We’re supposed to be different.”

“What? Better? Because you’re more advanced? Look around, Sammie. Tell me who gives a rat’s ass. Don’t you get it? My life is almost up because of people who think like you.”

He lifted himself up, grabbed Sammie, and pulled her close enough to smell her breath.

“Chancellors created me and put this … thing … in my blood. They didn’t give a crud that I was a human being. You know why? Because they don’t feel. Me? Living with the pain has been a bitch, but at least I don’t feel like a freakin’ robot. These people who brought us here, they’re so advanced, so sophisticated, they have to design human nukes. And then, when the gig is up, they escape to hide their dirty little secrets. Really, Sammie? These Chancellors don’t sound like they’re worth a goddamn.”

Sammie backed away. “Go ahead and judge. My parents sacrificed everything to keep you safe.” Her dander rose and her cheeks reddened. “Tell me something, Mr. Know It All,” she said, checking on Michael, who was a few feet from shore. “If pain is such a great thing, why don’t you toss some of it on Coop? Tell him what’s going to happen when the program runs out at 9:56. He thinks you’re going to live happily ever after.”

Jamie lowered his voice.

“Not another word, Sammie. He’s been through enough.”

Michael wrapped his arms around his chest and pretended to shiver. He grabbed his pants and sneakers and stood between his friends.

“I can’t leave you two alone. Still in each other’s faces.”

Sammie handed Michael his shirt.

“I rinsed it, but I couldn’t get much of the blood out.”

“I don’t need the thing anyway. Hell, it’s gonna be ninety degrees before you know it.”

“Good point,” Jamie said as he tossed