Page 35 of Creature
Scowling, Harry took another swig. “Look,we—”
“I was telling you astory. I had a beloved. We went to school together, he and I. Wewere planning to go into business together—pharmaceuticals. Whenthe war broke out, I urged him to get a medical deferment, as Idid.”
“What’s wrong withyou?”
“With sufficient fundsgiven to the right physician, whatever I want.” Swan drank hisbourbon in one long swallow but didn’t put the glass down. “Myparamour refused my pleas. He wanted to be a patriot, a hero. Itold him he was foolish—the country he’d be fighting for wouldhappily put him in prison if we were open about our relationship.It wasn’tourwar. But he wouldn’t listen. He became an Air Force pilot.And he was shot down over Germany. His remains were neverrecovered.”
Harry took another burning drink. “I’msorry.”
“Yes. Very unfortunate.But those events gave me the impetus for my studies. Money meansnothing, Harry—not in the end. I’m sure it doesn’t feel that way toyou, given your… rather impecunious status, but it’s true. My lovewas wealthier than I, but his money won’t bring him back from thedead. But what ifIcould?” He said the last part with nonchalance, but it wasclearly important. He waited for Harry’s response.
Harry decided not to tell him that accordingto John, the dead stayed dead; their bodies simply got new tenants.“That’s what you’re working on? Bringing the dead back tolife?”
Swan smiled. “Yes.”
“Have you actually doneit?”
“I am quite close, but no.Small difficulties remain.” For the first time since theconversation began, Swan glanced at John, who remained motionlesswith his head bowed. “Which is why your offer interests me—if it’sgenuine, of course.”
“It is.”
“I need tosee.”
Although Harry felt sick to his stomach, hedidn’t stop Swan from approaching John. Instead, he finished hisdrink and set the glass on the table. He thought he had enoughinformation to satisfy Townsend, so he and John could just leave.Surely Swan couldn’t stop them if they tried.
Swan began to unbutton John’s shirt, andHarry blinked at them blearily. The Zombie had been stronger thanhe expected, and fog had crept into his skull. “Look, Swan—”
“Follow me,” Swan saidsharply. Abandoning John’s buttons, unfastened enough to reveal thescars on his chest, Swan hurried to a small door Harry had barelynoticed. He assumed it led to a closet.
But as he shambled inside with John at hisheels, Harry entered a space considerably larger and more sinisterthan a closet. It was a laboratory, just like he’d seen in themovies, with steel tables and metal cabinets and glass bottles andjars full of… things. Some of the things looked like body parts.The room smelled of decay and formaldehyde.
Harry turned to leave, but Swan had alreadyshut the door, locked it, and pocketed the key. “Excuse the smell.Unavoidable, I’m afraid.”
Stomach roiling, Harry shook his head in avain attempt to clear it. “I need to…. We need to….” The words fledhis tongue.
“Harry?” It was the firstword John had uttered since leaving the car.
Swan looked startled but then moved quickly,pushing John against a wall. Harry cried out but couldn’t seem toget his legs to work, and as he stumbled into a table, he saw Swanshove John’s neck into a metal collar attached to the wall, thenlock the collar in place.
“Harry! Run!” Johnshouted.
But Harry couldn’t even stand; his kneeswobbled and he fell heavily onto his ass. John kept shouting hisname as Swan struggled to jam John’s wrists into manacles besidehis head. Harry tried to crawl to them, but the floor heaved underhim like a stormy ocean beneath a ship, and no matter how hard hetried to focus his eyes, everything doubled and tripled.
He tried to call out to John, but he wasn’tsure if he made any noise at all.
His arms gave out and the floor came rushingat his face.
Failed at this too.
Then blackness.
Chapter Fifteen
Consciousness came slowly to Harry, and atfirst he fought it. Oblivion was so much better than the poundingagony in his head, the penetrating cold, and his queasy stomach.When he finally became aware that he was pinned on his back, hefought blindly against whatever held him.
It took several moments to gain a betterunderstanding of his situation.
He was naked and bound by thick leatherstraps to one of the metal tables in Swan’s lab. A thick rubber gagfilled his mouth so he could only grunt, and a bright light hungdirectly overhead, bringing tears to his eyes.
