Galatea 2 - Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12: CORROBORATION

Audrey sat on the most solid log she could find deep within the surrounding forest. The trees were dense, as was the marsh surrounding her on all sides. With disruptive greens and browns as far as the eye could see, she knew she was safe.

After all, no one could see her cry.

She wasn’t sure how far away she was from the campus, hopefully far enough that no one could track her. Audrey wanted to be alone right now, or at least she thought she did. Her pretty features would seem sullen if that were even possible. She was like an animated princess in a Disney movie, flawlessly beautiful even when physics and societal standards both agreed she’d be at her ugliest.

Her downcast noises managed to drown out the subtle noises of an out-of-place oddity within the green expanse—a heavy-duty security camera. The lens focused on her, Audrey’s presence clearly fascinating to it.

With a heavy sniffle, Audrey’s crying ceased. She simply couldn’t cry forever. Her supposed best friend suddenly felt like a completely different person now, a person she would eventually have to return to if she wanted to go to sleep tonight. Maybe she should try to make a life for herself within the forest just so she wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore…

Thankfully, Brian managed to track down his girlfriend before she could sink herself further into a pit of depression.

“Audrey! There you are! God, I was so worried about you!”

“Brian?” Audrey replied in disbelief, whipping her perfectly straight hair around only to witness Brian tripping over several nagging branches just to reach her. She was quite far off the beaten path, to say the least. “How did you find me all the way out here?”

“Let’s just say you leave quite the identifiable trail of destruction.”

Only then did Audrey notice the several timbered trees that served as fantastic waypoints to mark a borderline-superpowered temper tantrum.

“Jeez, I really leave a mark wherever I go, huh?” she replied, mellowing out a bit. She scooted over on her log to make room for Brian, who graciously accepted the offer. He was startled by just how uncomfortable this particular seat was, forgetting that his girlfriend’s superior posterior made the wood yield to her comfort, not the other way around. His surprised discomfort prompted a bit of a giggle from Audrey, though she attempted to stifle it as best she could.

When Brian was around, it was hard for Audrey to stay furious, try as she might.

Her boyfriend offered a hand, but Audrey didn’t take it. She didn’t appear angry at Brian, just conflicted, as her flummoxed face suggested a fierce battle raging on in her head. She attempted to speak, only to stutter on her words before just giving up and burying her face in her hands.

“How did everything fall apart so fast, Brian?” asked the muffled voice of Audrey, accompanied by a few groans for good measure. “Me and Vanessa were the bestest of buds! And then she takes some freaky steroid virus and becomes completely unrecognizable as a human being!? What the hell is happening!?”

“Completely unrecognizable? Babe, what do you mean?”

“Well, she was just… acting like a complete bitch to me! She was talking about how she was ‘finally awake’ or some shit like that.” Audrey put up air quotes with her fingers to accentuate her point. “I just don’t understand why she’d betray me like that after we had what I thought was a great heart-to-heart about her problems.”

“Well, maybe she finally knows what it feels like to live in someone’s shadow, y’know?” Brian replied, playing devil’s advocate. “I mean, you completely sweep her away now when it comes to beauty, athletics and, well, just about everything else if I’m being honest.”

Audrey lifted her head up from her hands, face plastered with incredulity. “Brian! Are you seriously taking her side over mine right now?”

“N-no!” he responded with a hint of fear, the imagery of the fallen trees still fresh within his mind. “I just, well, have a bit of sympathy for Vanessa is all!”

“But you weren’t even there! I saw first-hand just how bitchy she was!”

There was a bout of silence after that, Brian especially was at a loss for words. By the time he found them and was ready to apologize, Audrey had already allowed anger to fester within her mind.

“Ugh, I bet you just want to see Vanessa’s new upgraded form, don’t you?”

“No, that’s not—”

“Look, I appreciate you trying to be the great mediator like you always are, but this just isn’t the time for it!” Audrey then fully turned away from Brian, crossing her arms under her sizable breasts. “Just go. I want to be alone right now.”

“But, Audrey, I—”

“I said go!” she shouted, interrupting him for the second time. Brian didn’t attempt to counter that, instead choosing to walk away sullenly. While he was regretful of how he handled that confrontation somewhat, maybe it was for the best.

He’d need to get both sides of the story if he was going to find a way to resolve this, after all.

~

“So, that settles it, huh?” said a gruff voice, beady eyes staring at the undeniable proof he had been searching for nearly ten years on. “That crazy old bastard actually managed to do it.” He took a heavy drag of his cigarette, the light of the embers and the flickering buzz of the screen being the only illumination of his face within the pitch black room.

The sizable man put the cigarette out on one of the many resplendent medals of his decorated general’s uniform. He then brushed the resulting ashes off of the engraved name tag right below it that read “GENERAL L’ENFANT”, its size resembling more of a desk plaque than an actual pin.

“This’ll be probable enough cause to search the campus, I’m sure,” L’Enfant continued, already halfway through pulling out another cigarette to light it. “But we’ll have to be careful, stealthy. Who knows how many people that experiment of his has affected? Who knows how many poor faculty or staff he’s brainwashed into falling for him.”

L’Enfant held up a scanned copy of Gillian’s restraining order, knowing that this scientist he was hunting was a certified creep to say the least. “A man as dedicated as him… who knows what he’ll do to keep his little experiment safe?”

The technician, who had called the general’s attention over, shifted uncomfortably in his chair. While he was excited by the prospect of what the screen revealed, he knew that this would only end one way—all-out war. With the way L’Enfant was describing increasingly farcical hypotheticals, the technician could tell he was itching for another conflict.

If there was truly some sort of body-altering virus located underneath the campus right under the government’s nose, especially one made with reallocated government funding, then they’d want to know every little secret about it.

“What’s our first course of action, general?” spoke a subordinate who seemed just as war-hungry as his superior.

“Well, unfortunately we can’t go in guns-blazing just yet,” L’Enfant replied in jest, though it was hard to say if the general didn’t also harbor some genuine resentment at that fact. “I want you to send some scouts out, keep tabs on that enhanced girl and the guy she’s talking to. Keep additional tabs on anyone they talk to. If someone even sneezes in this supergirl’s vicinity, I want an agent with a hidden mic ready to catch it.”

“Sir, yes sir!”

“Good. Soon, all the little secrets of Dr. Kevin Giles will be firmly within our grasp.”