The Fledge Effect by R.J. Henry Page B

with trying to understand any of their equipment. However, the
monitors were off, and they were forced to document everything by hand. “I want those papers
emailed to me,” he said to Rachel.
She scoffed at his command. “That
would be fine, but,” she paused as he leered at
her. She continued, glaring back at him, “the
power is out.”
He raised his chin to the ceiling.
Strands of wires, coming from a window, led to
the two-drop lights slightly illuminating the
place. He cleared his throat in a short whip of a
cough. “Fix it, then.”
She giggled sarcastically. “Gee, why
didn’t I think about that before? Duh!”
“Get to the point,” he said. A heavy gruff
sounded in his voice as his short fuse ran even
shorter.
“Well, it costs a little of this,” she
rubbed two fingers together, “in order to pay
bills around here.”
He squared his shoulders, straightening his tie. They are so fucking needy , he
thought. “Fine. I’ll pay the bills, and you guys
stay here. No one leaves.”
Before he walked out the door, David
stopped him. “Can you bring us some food
then? We are starving here. And after we have
been feeding the fish here… No thank you .”
He paused, keeping his back to them.
He grunted under his breath, heaving out a frustrated sigh. He didn’t respond to David’s needs,
however. He left, contemplating whether they deserve to be fed.
Playing dress-up for an entire workday does not constitute the right for anything
good to eat. So, Chinese it is , he thought. He
pushed the door open, locking it behind him as
he left.
The click rang in George’s ears. It made him
wince. The sound reminded him of a loaded gun
cocking back.
“George,” Rachel leaned towards him,
“why doesn’t he ever get snippy with you?”
He shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know.
Maybe because I follow orders, better than you
two.”
“So, what? You are better than us?”
“No, that is not what I am saying,” he
breathed out through his nose. “I’m just saying,
follow orders and he will leave you alone.”
“ Teacher’s pet ,” David said.
George barely heard what he had said.
“What did you say?”
“Uh, um. I want to make a bet,” he nodded, scratching his ear.
George shook his head. “What’s new?”
he asked rhetorically.
A little over thirty minutes had passed,
and their monitors clicked, turning on.
An email, on all three, popped up. It
was from Agent Myers. It read the details on
who should be their next victim. However, he
specifically said to not kill her, only harvest her
reproductive system . And to use a healing compound , named C3KO. Not found, but created. In
his email, it described that the compound only
works in frigid water, and for any broken bones,
they had to be encased in ice.
After they printed his email, he came in.
“Good, you got it,” he said as he threw
down their food on a random table.
“Who is she to you?” David felt she
looked familiar. “She live here?”
“No one,” he shrugged, “just a random
person that was next on the list.”
“Yeah, that’s not problem though, bud.
She is the only one you told us to not kill.”
Rachel agreed. “Yeah, and not to mention, the only one you told us to use a healing
compound on. It is rare. We don’t know how to
make more.”
“Are you out?”
“No, I’m just saying that our limited
supplies won’t allow us to recreate more once
it’s gone. We have enough to last the four of us,
for maybe a year.”
“You’ll be fine,” he said, eyeing her
closely. “Just go to the hospital like a normal
person.”
“Why can’t we just drop her off at a hospital instead?” Rachel scoffed.
“Because,” he hollered. He lowered his
voice. “Do as I say. Is that simple enough for you
to understand?”
She nodded. “Yes, Agent Myers.”
“Lose the attitude.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes boss, anything
else, boss ?”
He cocked his gun behind her head. “I
should shoot you right now.”
“Oh, now isn’t that