Chapter 09

"Are you really sure about this?" Katie questioned Doc. The two of them were in his study as Doc rummaged around, looking for something.

"of course," Doc replied "one has to sacrifice the pawn to protect the knight"

"but what am I supposed to do if he tries to run away?" Katie questioned Doc.

"here" Doc finally found what he was looking for, a tiny remote "I'm going to reprogram the concussive pads so that you can press a button and activate it"

"what if he catches me by surprise and knocks me out?" Katie was completely against this idea.

"don't get surprised" was all Doc had to say.

XXXXXXX

"you ready?" Katie asked Tom when she saw him again in the hallway by the garage.

"yup" Tom was carrying an empty bag with him "ready to go on a shopping spree" he grinned excitedly "Doc gave me some cash as a stipend to spend today"

"great" Katie rolled her eyes "now c'mon" they walked into the garage, walking past the ambulance and the Honda Sedan, Katie patted the Chevrolet "I'm driving"

"you own a 1966 Camaro ss?" Tom admired the car, taking in it' every detail

"surprised?" Katie gave hm a cheeky smile.

"yeah" Tom shrugged "I pictured you as a 1964 Mustang kinda gal"

"that would be my second choice" Katie admitted as she sat down on the leather seat "which is your top pick?"

"I'm a bike guy" Tom sat shotgun "dyna street bob"

"Respect!" the engine rumbled to life be legs.

"I actually did have the dyna street bob" Tom told Katie "and I loved it more than my own mother"

"what happened to it?"

"I'm guessing it got totalled in the accident" Tom sighed "hurts just to think about it"

"well... think about something else" Katie told Tom, thinking saying that counted as consoling him "like the town we're going to" she revved the engine once before the two took off, racing down the road.

XXXXXXX

Doc sighed as he stared at Harry, the tiny little rat looked weak, exhausted, and with no will to live, Doc prodded him with an electric needle, but little Harry's body simple shuddered and fell limp again.

Doc took a deep, shaky breath. "thank you, Harry," a mournful look placed itself on Doc's face. "it is your sacrifice that has enabled me to progress today, this is something I will never forget" Doc removed Harry from his cage, carrying him away, the way he was now, death would be a mercy for Harry.

XXXXXXX

"welcome to Charming Hills" Katie backed the bike into parking "best town west of the ocean"

"I can see the beach from here"

"and?"

"it's lovely" was all Tom said.

"alright" Katie looked pumped "we have a large worklist with us today so there shall be no Tomfoolery"

"Really? Tomfoolery?" Tom raised an eyebrow.

"hey if the glove fits..." Katie simply shrugged. "c'mon let's roll" the first thing that Tom and Paloma had to do was grocery shopping.

XXXXXXX

Doc took a sip of his whiskey, he had never been one to condone day drinking, but Parkinson's had a way of shifting your mindset. Doc stretched his back, he had been analysing Harry's neural activity since morning, and while his mind and body wanted to rest, his heart knew that he was short on time.

Doc compared Harry's brain waves with those of Tom and Dick, the other two mice, Harry was being tortured for Doc's benefit, and Tom the mice was being pampered much for the same cause.

The training had been to separate the two mice's personality; to the point that Dick had been taught to react positively to pictures of roses, and negatively to pictures of sunflowers; and vice versa for Tom. All of it for Doc's one cause.

"there brain waves are indeed different enough" Doc spoke aloud approvingly. The next two steps were the most crucial for Doc's survival.

XXXXXXX

"No!" Katie put her foot down

"Yes!" Tom refused to Budge

"No!" Katie glared at Tom

"Yes!" Tom glared right back.

"you cannot get a Jumbo bag of gummy bears" Katie told Tom "you are not a five year old"

"but I want it..." Tom whined, much like a five year old.

"I'm not one to tell people what they can eat or not" Katie rubbed her temples "but you are the first successful augmented human being, we are studying you to replicate this success, dumb shit like consuming stupid levels of sugar can change your physical composition, skewering our data"

Tom took a deep breath "...fine!" he finally sighed "but we are getting whiskey"

"okay" Katie agreed "but you can't get wasted"

"unghh" Tom groaned but didn't disagree. Tom grabbed the whiskey and a few other things as Katie scanned the aisles for Isaiah's favourite cereal.

"so, what was it like growing up in a military family?" Tom asked Katie as they headed to the pharmacist to purchase medicine and other requirements of Doc and Paloma.

"strict" Katie rolled her eyes "so unbelievably strict, plus we were always moving around" the two began piling stuff into their shopping basket, checking things off the list, occasionally asking the pharmacist for guidance. "what about you? Where did you grow up?"

"Florida, a stone's throw away from Tampa" Tom replied, "and yes, it is as crazy as the news makes it out to be"

Katie couldn't help but laugh "what's the most Floridian thing you have ever done?"

"... oh look! There's the electronics store" Tom rushed to said store with a laughing Katie following behind him.

"come on... it can't be that bad" Katie pleaded.

"we need to find the stuff in Isaiah's list" Tom glanced at the list in his hand and looked around "what the hell is a chill gel cooler system?"

"it's a liquid cooling system for PC's" a clerk appeared out of nowhere "how many do you need?"

Katie snatched the list out of Tom's hand and handed it to the clerk before Tom could get a word in edgewise "we need everything on this list"

"you got it" the clerk nodded.

"there" Katie gave Tom a giant grin "now we can talk"

"so, did you have any pets as a kid?"

"stop changing the subject" Katie groused "tell me... I won't laugh"

"you promise?" Tom raised an eyebrow

"...I'll try my best not to laugh" Katie retracted her statement, giving Tom a puppy dog look.

"when I was five, I fought a possum for a calzone" Katie slapped her hand onto her mouth "the possum won"

"don't!" Tom warned her but Katie couldn't resist

"hahahahaha..." peals of laughter rang through the store.

XXXXXXX

Doc petted Tom the mice, holding the little creature close. "I have pampered you to the best of my ability; I hope that in some way makes up for what I'm about to do" Doc placed Tom onto a small table, placing him to sleep with anaesthesia, strapping him down, and pushing a small, thin needle into the base of Tom's skull, a second through the top of his head, and a third into his forehead.

The device Tom the mice was strapped to was one of Doc's own invention, it sent electric shocks into the brain to mimic pre-recorded brainwaves. And currently the brainwaves recorded onto the machine were of Harry, the mouse tortured to the point he lost the will to live.

With a heavy heart, Doc turned on the machine, letting Tom be hit by the trauma Harry had suffered; letting it clash against Tom's own mind.

"this is it" Doc wrung his hands "this is it"

XXXXXXX

"Sunny?" Tom was amused "you named your beagle Sunny?" Tom and Katie had finished most of their chores and were chilling at a small outdoors café.

"it was an apt name" Katie gave Tom a scathing look "he was a ray of sunshine in my life."

"that is so adorable" Tom pictured a ten year old Katie giggling as she threw a stick around for Sunny to catch.

"didn't you have any pets while growing up?" Katie leaned back on her chair.

"I had a lizard named Ricky whom I had caught myself when I was ten" Tom sipped his iced coffee "he ran away two days later"

"such a redneck" Katie shook her head in exasperation.

"born and raised; same as all my brothers and sisters" Tom puffed out his chest, while Katie simply rolled her eyes.

"so how many brothers and sisters do you have? By the way?" Katie dug for more info on Tom. Having spent the past couple of weeks together, Katie knew that Tom hadn't had an ordinary childhood.

"six brothers" Tom nodded "but my dad's brothers lived by close so all us thirteen cousins grew up together"

"what was it like? Growing up in such a big family?" Katie was genuinely curious with this question, she herself had grown up in a nuclear family with no siblings.

"it was fine" Tom shifted in his seat. "there were a lot of us; So, mom and dad didn't really spend a lot of one on one time with us, but it was better that way; less supervision"

"less supervision!" Katie sighed in a forlorn manner "sounds like a dream come true for my fourteen year old self"

"parents always on your back?" Tom asked even though he knew the answer

"always" Katie agreed unhappily "made it so hard to sneak boys into and out of my room"

"oh!" Tom blinked "if you don't mind me asking... when did you realise?"

"realise what?"

"you know?" Tom gestured at her, yet Katie simply gave him a blank look "that you're gay"

"I'm not gay!" Katie was taken aback.

"really?!" Tom too was taken aback. "you've got the whole short hair, flannel look going"

"oh my god!" Katie looked shocked "you though I was gay because I have short hair and I wear flannel?"

"...Yeah!"

"that is so... assumptious"

"that's not a word" Tom protested "look I'm sorry for assuming you were gay"

"it's fine" Katie shrugged "now that you've mentioned it, I do have the typical lesbian look"

"now look who's buying into stereotypes" Tom smiled smarmily, only to laugh when Katie stuck her tongue out. "but you've actually never had a girl hit on you before? Like, even once?"

"trying to climb the ladder in the US Military doesn't really leave you a lot of dating time, especially when you're the part of a secret project" Katie shrugged "there was one girl, but I just thought her radar was broken" she leaned forward "have you ever had a guy hit on you?"

"once" Tom shrugged "I was so flabbergasted, the guy just laughed and walked away" Katie snorted but didn't deign a reply.

The two of them continued to drink their coffee in silence, just enjoying each other's company. They had bonded a bit and learnt about each other's lives; and Katie was sure Tom's past was as fake as hers.