The Dystopian Gene Read online

  Contents

  THE DYSTOPIAN GENE

  DEDICATION

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Author's Note

  WHAT SHALL WE DO NOW?

  Prologue

  PART 1

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  PART 2

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  PART 3

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  CHAPTER 40

  CHAPTER 41

  CHAPTER 42

  CHAPTER 43

  CHAPTER 44

  CHAPTER 45

  CHAPTER 46

  CHAPTER 47

  CHAPTER 48

  CHAPTER 49

  CHAPTER 50

  CHAPTER 51

  CHAPTER 52

  CHAPTER 53

  CHAPTER 54

  CHAPTER 55

  CHAPTER 56

  CHAPTER 57

  CHAPTER 58

  CHAPTER 59

  THE DYSTOPIAN GENE

  by

  s.e. meyer

  copyright 2021

  Copyright © 2021 S. E. Meyer

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  For Kathy,

  My best and only medicine

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I would like to take the time to thank the following individuals, who without their contributions and support, the completion of this book would not have been possible. Thank you to my friends at Amazon Publishing. A special thanks to my English teacher, Gary Cameron, for teaching me to believe in myself and my work. Finally I would like to thank my best friend in the entire world for more than two decades, my wonderful and amazing wife. Thank you for the sacrifices, your understanding, and your endless unwavering support over the years.

  Author's Note

  In 2018 the largest pharmaceuticle company in the world bought the largest GMO, seed and chemical company in the world, spurring a shift in consolidations.

  Shortly after in China, new animal testing began on messenger RNA treatments to manipulate DNA and change target genes.

  In 2020, this never before tested brand new technology was approved for emergency use in humans. They said it was safe...they were wrong.

  WHAT SHALL WE DO NOW?

  What shall we use to fill the empty spaces

  Where waves of hunger roar?

  Shall we set out across the sea of faces

  In search of more and more applause?

  Shall we buy a new guitar?

  Shall we drive a more powerful car?

  Shall we work straight through the night?

  Shall we get into fights?

  Leave the lights on?

  Drop bombs?

  Do tours of the east?

  Contract disease?

  Bury bones?

  Break up homes?

  Send flowers by phone?

  Take to drink? Go to shrinks?

  Give up meat? Rarely sleep?

  Keep people as pets?

  Train dogs? Race rats?

  Fill the attic with cash?

  Bury treasure?

  Store up leisure?

  But never relax at all,

  With our backs to the wall.

  - Roger Waters

  Prologue

  I'll just close my eyes for a minute.

  Mind reeling, Anna's subconscious understood the danger, but her exhausted body gave in. Anna's chin found her chest.

  Transported to a childhood memory she was suddenly a young girl lying in bed, blankets pressed to her nose, sleeping. The young girl stirred, experiencing an intuitive moment when one can sense a person's gaze, or feel someone's presence.

  The child, fighting her heavy lids, opened her eyes.

  Through the scarce light scratching its way around her curtains from the streetlight outside, she scanned the room from her childhood bed.

  All seemed to be as it should, a curly maple dresser, her favorite blue, three-button blouse peeking from the open bottom drawer. Faded orchid border below chocolate crown molding streaked across walls painted rose.

  The girl's gaze fell onto the room's corner.

  A shadow hovered.

  Her eyes widened at the intruder's return.

  With tensed muscles the little girl swallowed hard, squinting through the darkness as the shadow prowled her bed.

  The child covered her head.

  Go away, go away, go away.

  A whisper penetrated the air, thick as wool. “Anna.”

  If I can't see it, it‘s not here. Anna hoped.

  The floor creaked near her foot board, pushing Anna’s heart into overdrive. She had to look, had to be sure, but she didn't want to see what monster had appeared from the depths of her mind, or the corner of her closet.

  Droplets of sweat formed on her forehead as thoughts stirred of terrifying apparitions from under her bed. But this was real. She saw the shadow and heard the floor creak.

  Anna slid the checkered comforter to her chin with a trembling hand.

  She blinked, then blinked again. Waves of green-sea nausea lapped her midsection as her eyelids fluttered at the shadow of a man standing at the foot of her bed.

  Mouth agape, Anna choked, her miniature frame shaking below the blankets.

  The man bent over the bed.

  Anna tried to scream, the sounds congealing in her throat, escaping only as a muffled cry. She could smell him. The thing. The animal hunched over her. Watching her, staring, his hand reaching out for her quivering flesh from the shadow of night.

  Beneath the pine boughs Anna jolted awake, her breath coming in rapid bursts. Straight ahead of her was the wolf. It sat, staring at her from ten feet away. Anna's pulse continued to throb in her ears from the animal in her nightmare, spurred on by the animal before her. The wolf, still as a statue, stared with unblinking yellow eyes.

  PART 1

  Of Wolves & Sheep

  CHAPTER 1

  Battleship-gray skies swirled overhead as a young woman dressed in black accomplished the concrete steps in front of her, two at a time.

  Cold, she thought, fighting a shiver.

  Too cold for early November.

  The woman crawled further inside the wool coat that clung to her shoulders and tried to brush the hair from her face.

  Arriving at the apartment building’s entrance, she pried the natural curls from her blue-gray eyes. Eyes that matched the day’s forecast. Eyes that contradicted her portrayal of innocence. Eyes that would change from a sky-blue to a piercing silver, depending on her mood. At times they were the color of leaden-blue, appearing at first light on
any given cloudless morning.

  That’s how Billy would describe them, settling into the blankets to enjoy a few moments of pillow talk.

  ‘My Anna, with heavenly blue eyes,’ she recalled.

  Anna was what he called her, along with almost everyone she knew. Anna remembered how Billy would gaze deep into her eyes, how he would get lost in them; a lone ship, adrift in morning sky-blue waters.

  But not today...

  Not since…

  Struggling with the door, along with her thoughts of Billy, Anna's hands trembled on the cold metal handle. She gave the door a forceful tug as the smell of late autumn filled her senses.

  Succeeding at overcoming both obstacles, Anna entered the building.

  Mother Nature replied, slamming the door behind her with the contempt of a spoiled child.

  Anna jolted, clutching at her chest.

  Deep in her bones, she knew the smell of decaying foliage was not alone. The autumn gusts had a companion; a dark passenger riding atop an unbridled wind.

  A sense of foreboding oozed into her psyche like a bitter marmalade.

  It made Anna want to run to her bed and the safety of her covers. The warm folds of her blankets calling out to her, pleading, begging to caress her smooth skin as they often did while she dressed in the morning.

  Tugging her coat up around her neck, she pushed the feelings aside.

  Anna plucked the phone from her pocket and checked the time while scanning her ID at the second set of doors.

  Where the hell is Charlie?

  While tapping a worn sole on the faded black and white tile, Anna's phone chimed with a message notification.

  'Your paycheck has been deposited.'

  Touching the link, Anna viewed her bank statement, a rare sparkle in her eyes as a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

  All the years of saving and I finally broke ten-thousand.

  Anna let out a long breath, recalling the house showing from last week. Her smile turned to a broad grin as she shook her fist in the air.

  “Alexa, show me 415 Cedar St, Easton.”

  Anna swiped through the slideshow for the third time since she woke.

  After all the overtime, weekend shifts and late nights, I'm finally getting a place of my own.

  “I'll put in an offer after work,” Anna decided with a nod before casting a glance at her feet. “And I need a fresh pair of shoes.”

  Anna turned, twisting her neck to view the street through the glass doors.

  “And where the hell is Charlie.”

  A chilling scream erupted from the floor above, followed by a second.

  Anna spun while cocking her head.

  The shrieks continued as she jogged toward the stairwell and raced up the stairs. Entering the hallway on the second floor, she found two uniformed officers restraining a woman wearing faded jeans and a torn t-shirt.

  “What's going on?” Anna asked.

  The officer on Anna's left placed handcuffs on the woman before looking up from his task. “Nothing you need to concern yourself with.”

  Anna tugged the badge from her pocket. “Agent Wool, Homicide.”

  Blond tear-matted hair clung to the woman's cheeks below wide, reddened eyes. The pair of officers pulled her to her feet.“Like I said, nothing you need to concern yourself with. Just taking this skipper downtown for processing.”

  The woman tugged at her bonds. “My son,” she cried. “He ran off. You can't leave him here alone!”

  The officers drug the woman down the hallway. “You should have thought of that before skipping out on your treatments,” the man on her left replied.

  Anna shook her head. “Wait. Let me see if I can find him.”

  Two more officers entered the hallway from the stairwell, both shaking their heads as they neared. “No luck. We searched the entire building. Except for the top floor penthouse, Unit 701, that's a crime scene and we can't go in.”

  The woman burst into another round of wails. “He's sick. You can't just leave him here.”

  Anna placed her hand on the woman's shoulder. “What's wrong with him?”

  “He's got the Fleishman's bad. He needs a treatment.” The woman sobbed.

  Anna closed her eyes while pressing her lips together. She made a slow nod before lifting her eyelids. “He's at the crime scene. I'll get him.”

  The officer on Anna's left shoved the woman farther down the hallway. “How the hell would you know where he is.”

  Anna placed a hand on the officer's chest. “Wait, please. I have a feeling. Besides, where else would he be? You said you searched the entire building. He's in the crime scene apartment.”

  “It's a problem for child protective services, and I already told you, we can't go in there.”

  Anna planted her feet. “And I told you, I'm a homicide detective, so I can. Why do you think I'm here? That's my crime scene, I'm just waiting for my partner. Wait here a minute so I can get him.”

  Anna bolted for the stairwell and sprinted the stairs to the seventh floor. Jogging down the hallway, Anna came to a thirty-something, portly officer, sleeping in a folding chair adjacent to an open door. Yellow police tape crisscrossed the doorway that read ‘Crime Scene Do Not Cross’ in large black letters.

  Anna ducked the tape and stepped inside.

  “Stop! You can't go in there.”

  Anna turned to find the roused, red-eyed officer charging toward her. She flipped her badge in the man's face. “Agent Wool. This is my crime scene.”

  The officer shook his head. “Where's your partner? You know I can't let you in there alone.”

  “Look, there's a kid in there, okay? I have to get him out.”

  The officer rubbed his eyes. “There's nobody in that apartment, except for a corpse. I've been here for hours, I would have noticed if anyone went in.”

  Anna cocked her head. “Oh, like you noticed me coming down the hall? Sorry to wake you.”

  The man clenched his jaw. “Whatever, it's your ass. I've had a long night, but if you go in, I’m reporting it.”

  “Do what you have to, but I'm not leaving a kid in there with a dead body.”

  Anna moved deeper into the living quarters, studying her surroundings. Someone had flipped over the lavish furniture that littered the living room, and piles of debris peppered the antique rug at her feet.

  Whoever ransacked the apartment carried all the drawers in the house to this room and emptied them onto the floor. They left the barren drawers lying in a disheveled heap in the room's middle, atop their pillaged contents.

  A whimper broke the silence.

  Anna froze, closing her eyes. She opened them to scan the corner of the room, noticing a ventilation cover out of place.

  Anna stepped closer. “Are you in there?” she whispered.

  Another whimper, followed by a sniffle, echoed through the ventilation shaft.

  Anna got onto all fours and crept to the hole in the wall. “What's your name, honey?”

  “R-r-ronnie.”

  “Okay, Ronnie, my name is Anna. I'm here to help you,” she replied while sliding the vent cover out of the way with her knee. Anna peered inside.

  The boy was still in his pajamas. A string of drool hung from his chin, swaying in the air duct below his wet cheeks. Anna stared deep into the child's bloodshot eyes. “You need to come out of there okay?”

  The boy shook his head, freeing the spittle from his chin.

  Anna extended her hand. “I'm not going to hurt you. Come on out of there.”

  Ronnie retreated farther into the duct. “No, I can't go back to my room or the monster will get me.”

  “What monster, honey?”

  “The one that comes into my room at night.”

  Anna shook her head. “Ronnie, you're sick. That's why you see monsters. Monsters aren't real. You know how I know that?”

  The boy inched closer to Anna.

  “I know that because when I was a little girl, the shadows in my room woul
d play tricks on me. I thought someone was in my room in the middle of the night. I called him the Shadow Man.”

  Ronnie wiped his nose on his sleeve. “How did you get him to go away?”

  Anna reached into the shaft. “I would close my eyes real tight and then I would say 'You're not real' and then I would say 'Go Away, Go Away, Go Away' three times.”

  “He listened to you?”

  Anna nodded while placing her hands on the boy's ankles. “Yes. He went away. And then he stopped coming, so I know I imagined him,” she explained while sliding Ronnie from the duct and into her arms.

  Anna stood, locked into Ronnie's embrace. She exited the apartment and jogged passed the guard to the elevator. “I told you he was in there,” she called over her shoulder.

  “I still reported it.”

  “I'll be right back to secure the crime scene. Get an ambulance over here,” Anna replied as the elevator doors closed.

  Ronnie's mother cried out the second Anna appeared in the hallway. “My boy! You found him!”

  Anna turned to the officers. “Thanks for waiting. He needs to go straight to the clinic for treatment. It's getting bad.”

  Ronnie's mother stepped toward Anna. “Are you okay, Ronnie?”

  “No, he's not okay,” Anna spat through flushed cheeks. “And neither are you. Why have you been skipping treatments?”

  The woman shrugged. “I have a plan. I get to decide what's best for him. I'm his mother.”

  “Popping a baby through your cervix does not make you a mother,” Anna snarled. She shifted the child to her left arm and stepped closer. “Do better.”

  The woman shook her head. “I barely make enough to meet our needs, but I said, I have a plan. I stopped treatments so Ronnie can have a better life. I'll get sent through the wall and he'll become a ward of the state, so he will get taken care of, including all of his treatments.”

  Anna's eyes widened. “That's not a plan. This boy needs you.” She leaned sideways, handing Ronnie off to the nearest officer.