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The sign on the door read, "CLOSED FOR A PRIVATE PARTY." Inside Sellers, Andrew and Chester sat around a table in the Hooter's restaurant, eating wings while the entire wait staff stood around them with their orange shorts and panties around their pretty ankles. Some were fingering themselves to no relief while one was on all fours giving imaginary head while taking an imaginary one up from behind.
"So, what's the plan doc?" said Chester
"I'm not sure. It's going to have to be thorough if we are going to pull this off."
"So what's the problem? We just go in there, get what we want, and blow the place! Yeah!"
"Shut up, Chester. Can't you see Doc's busy thinking?"
"Actually, Andrew, your friend here has the right idea. Problem is, is that Los Alamos is next to impossible to get into."
"What do you mean? We just shift and walk on in."
"You see? That's where it goes wrong. If they are doing anything, it's going to be in the High Energy Particle Research Facility. The doors are auto-sliding with a pass-card ID system. I don't know where in the building the files would be, much less any equipment they may have found. After the Ho Lee incident, security has been tightened to an extreme. We could navigate, but we would need someone's access."
Sellers finished off his wing and wiped his mouth on the t-shirt of the closest waitress. "Gentlemen, we'll need to find that someone."
The three got up from their table, instantly the Hooter's girls dropped down to their knees. Each one was begging and pleading to serve them. Sellers just stood there, slightly amused at the sight of them. He clapped his hand and the girls all fell asleep.
"Cool, doc! When are they gonna wake up?"
Sellers just looked at Chester with a puzzled look. "You know? I haven't a clue. I told them to sleep when I clapped my hands, but I didn't say anything about waking up." He took out his micro-recorder. "Note to self, 8 subjects in suggestive sleep, determine maximum duration before subjects either wake up or expire." He clicked it off. "Let's go." The three left.
"This isn't procedure! They've been through too much. For crying out loud, she's seeing if her husband is okay!" Madeline screamed as the elevator ascended to the third floor.
"Look, I have my orders and you are supposed to help me! If this confirms what I suspect, then we are in it deep," said Agent Hasert.
The elevator doors slid open amid chaos. A scream came from down the hall. Hasert and Byrne quickly ran out and down the hallway where two security guards were pulling a third guard, who was bleeding from numerous cuts across his face and chest, away from the scene. Hasert moved up front where he ID'd himself to another security guard. Madeline looked inside. "Oh, dear god."
Inside the room, Janice was in the far corner, wide-eyed in fear. She held the scalpel close in her tight little fist, looking at the crowd. "GET AWAY!" She screamed.
Madeline spoke softly. "It's all right, Janice. No one is going to hurt you." She slowly moved into the room.
Janice twisted her neck in a nervous tick. "You don't understand. Mr. Flibley told me you were all bad people. Mr. Flibley wouldn't lie to me. Wouldn't you?"
She looked past Madeline and saw Mr. Flibley standing right behind Madeline. The little charred clown doll pranced and cackled, in Janice's mind's eye. The little nonexistent doll jumped onto Madeline's leg, flames in its eye sockets. "KILL HER!" It screamed. "KILL HER, OR I"LL BURN YOU AGAIN!!" The little doll raised its hand.
"NO! NOOOOOOOO!" Janice lunged at Madeline, aiming for Mr. Flibley. Madeline sidestepped Janice and pushed her face down to the floor. Hasert and an orderly jumped in and pinned Janice to the floor. Janice screamed until she was hoarse. She fought against them until she was finally zip tied and sedated. The trauma team rushed into the room where Joel lay in his own blood.
Janice was pulled out into the hallway where Hasert dialed up his cellphone. "Hasert here. Send a team over for transport now.... Yes, it's that bad.... Right." Hasert hung up. "Agent Byrne, I'll need your help from here on."
"For what?"
Inside the room, the trauma team stopped resuscitation. A nurse pulled the bedsheet over Joel's face.
"I'll need to transport Dr. Chen and Mr. Gonzalez to Los Alamos for examinations. On the way over there, I can tell you everything that has been going on since your involvement at Bone Dry.
Sellers and crew sat in the parking lot of 'Dante's Café.' They sat by watching people walk in for lunch.
"So, doc, what are we doing here?"
"This is the place where some of the research personnel have lunch. We just have to wait for the right group of peop.... There they are."
Chester spotted the group Sellers was pointing to. A small threesome, two men and a woman walked towards the entrance. "They look like the geeks from campus."
"Well, those geeks are going to tell us everything we need to now on what's inside. Let them enjoy their lunch for ten minutes or so then lets crash in on them."
Chester shook his fist into the air. "All right, doc!"
Madeline rode shotgun in Hasert's car as it lead the way with an ambulance following right behind it. She had a thick worn manila folder in her hand. Her eyes grew wide as she read further into the file. "You have got to be kidding! This maniac worked for you! He's certifiable, even according to what I've just read."
"You don't understand; Dr. Sellers is a one of the leading authorities on Theoretical Particle Physics. His background is extraordinary. Granted it seems he became bored.
"Bored! This man caused a radioactive leak into the water supply of a housing development to see the psychological effects on the residents. This man is not bored. He doesn't give a damn. Look, right here in his academic files. He was a child genius, graduated college at 11, got his PHD from MIT and Havard at 16. He was implicated for the collapse of a frat house. Acquitted for lack of proof. How in the world did he end up working for the DOE?
Hasert shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. What I do know is that if he can duplicate what was done to Gonzalez, then we have to stop him, now.
"What do you mean, what was done to Gonzalez?"
The car slowed down and rolled to a stop at a checkpoint. Hasert flashed his badge. "I'll let our researcher explain that to you.
The two vehicles made their way across the complex, passing various building and test sites, until they finally stopped in front of one at the far end. Hasert got out and instructed the ambulance personnel where to take the remains for examination. A woman in in labcoat came out to meet Hasert. They talked for a few seconds then Hasert brought Madeline into the conversation. "Agent Madeline Byrne, this is Dr. Anna Mason."
Sellers peeked at his watch. "All right boys, ready for a little fun."
Chester and Andrew nodded yes.
"Good, now remember, those three are mine. After the both of you complete what I need you to do, I don't care what the both you do to anyone else in there. Lets go in."
Sellers made the transition and instantly the world came to a screeching halt. He smiled and the three went into the restaurant, locking the door behind them. Chester and Andrew went about the other lunchtime patrons. They placed cheap little boom boxes on the tables and hit play. Sellers found the table where his three were sitting. He rifled through the men's wallets, taking their ID's. He placed one Walkman between the woman and the man on her left while the second one went on the man to the woman's right. He pressed play then went to the kitchen.
A 'minute' or so later, Sellers returned with a glass pitcher filled with water in one hand and a notepad in the other. After retrieving the boom boxes, Chester and Andrew corralled some of the time-frozen waitresses to a back storage room. Sellers looked at his unaffected watch. "Ready?"
Chester's voice came from behind the storage room door. "All done doc!"
Sellers sat by one of the men and shifted back. "Hello Warren, been a long time since we worked together."
Startled by the sudden appearance of Sellers, Warren jumped back in his seat. "What are you doing here?!"
Sellers' face grew darker. He grabbed Warren by the shirt and pressed him down against the chair. The other two just sat there zombie-like. They had each taken a piece of paper and began writing down the projects they knew were being conducted along with the access passwords to the doors and computer systems.
"I never liked you, Warren. You were always a little too ready to take up any slack. Now I know these two peons just know what's going on in their labs, but you on the other hand should know what's being done everywhere. So, I want you to tell me what is the current project at the Particle Research section?"
"I can't tell you that. You know..." Sputtered Warren.
"WRONG ANSWER!" Sellers yelled. He looked to the other man and handed him the pitcher. "Here you go, you look thirsty, dear boy." Sellers slightly moved away from him as he lifted the pitcher to his mouth. He carefully drank as the water began to fizz and bubble the moment it contacted his lips. A thick frothy white foam turned blood red as the acid laced in the water destroyed the man's mouth and throat as he drank it. Sellers took the pitcher away from him just as he started to convulse violently. His awareness came back as he screamed and vomited on the table. The man stood up, then collapsed onto table, dead.
Sellers face grew clam again. "Now Warren, I could force the information out of you but this is more fun. Now tell me what I want to know and you lovely friend here won't have to suffer his fate." Sellers reached across and caressed the woman's thick curly shoulder length hair.
"Geez, you're crazy!"
"CRAZY? YOU THINK I"M CRAZY!" Sellers leapt across the table and grabbed Warren by his shirt. Sellers thought, and the world crashed to a halt. "I AM A GOD!" Sellers dragged Warren outside of the cafe.
Warren stood up, not believing anything. Traffic was at a standstill. He walked up to a woman in the parking lot. He waved his hand across her face, then pinched her cheek. No reaction. "This can't be real."
"Oh, but it is, Warren. This is my world. A world between the ticks and tocks of time. A world that I have complete control over." Sellers pulled out his pistol and placed the barrel into the mouth of the woman Warren had just pinched. "I could blow her head off, and she would never know what happened. Now if you don't want this to happen to your lovely wife or daughter, oh how is Meredeth? She just graduated from high school, didn't she?"
"You leave them alone!"
"I will; just give me the information I need, and I promise I won't touch them or you." Sellers smiled.
"All right, my password is A45762 Gamma. All I know is that they're modifying the reactor in the Particle Labs. That's all I know."
"Warren, passcodes now!" Warren stiffened and spewed. "AC15732 Echo, Computer system 698648 Password: Quantum. They are modifying the test reactor to amplify the energy output on an experimental fuel rod. I don't know the rod's composition." Warren shook in fear realizing he had just lied to Sellers with his first password.
Sellers jotted everything down on a notepad. He raised his pistol. "Warren, you shouldn't have lied to me. I should make you and your family pay for that. Tell you what, why don't you run. I'll give you a head start. I figure five minutes should be enough. Don't bother trying to find anyone. This is my world now. Nothing moves unless I want it to. Run.
Warren turned around and bolted out onto the time-frozen boulevard.
"WARREN!" Sellers yelled.
Warren turned around.
Sellers smiled wide. "I lied." Sellers thought.
"AAAAAAAAAAAA" screamed Warren as the semi-truck slammed into him. Warren was dragged underneath where the wheels crushed his chest, killing him instantly.
The semi screeched to a halt, someone screamed. Sellers laughed to himself and went back into the cafe.
Chester and Andrew had the place in a shambles. Both of them were behind the bar; each one had a soda nozzle in hand. Two men were standing on the farside of the bar with their mouths open. The two cretin, from a distance, were filling the men's open mouth like the clown head with the balloons to the back. A female patron was lying on a table, covered with everything from the salad bar while others were eating the food off of her.
Sellers cleared his throat as he sat back down next to Warren's female friend. "Ahem!" Chester and Andrew ceased fire. "Gentlemen, we storm tonight, with the help of our dear friend..um." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the woman's ID. "Ah, Miss Awilda Concepcion."
"So, what are we gonna do?" asked Chester. "You'll see." A slight smile crept up on Seller's face as he and Awilda got up and walked out.
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