Walter stared openmouthed at the sight before him. It was the strangest most terrifying thing he'd ever seen. Dr. Granin looked at Walter and smiled once more.

"Somehow you believed in her so much that she became real, Walter, a living, breathing ent.i.ty. We believe it has something to do with your mind. Somehow you were able to fabricate her into a cohesive ma.s.s using just your mind. We'll be testing you for years to try and duplicate what has happened here. Why, the military aspects alone are off the charts."

Walter heard none of what Dr. Granin was saying as he stared about the room.

The room around them was colored blue thanks to the electrical lights on the machines around them. In a large gla.s.s tube six feet high and three feet in diameter, filled with a green liquid, was Christine, the little red haired girl he'd imagined.

Tubes ran into her body and pieces of machinery had been inserted into her v.a.g.i.n.a. A large tube ran into her mouth and pumped some sort of brownish substance into her. Walter walked up to the gla.s.s and put his hand on it and saw her eyelids flutter a bit.

"Is she alive?"

Dr. Granin walked up behind him "No and yes. Her heart doesn't beat, but she does retain her motor functions. Her brain sends out signals through other brains. That's why we have to keep her like this. If she was freed she would be able to control everyone on the planet. She seems to have the power of mind control, telepathy if you will."

"How's this possible?" Walter gasped.

Dr. Granin took off his gla.s.ses and rubbed his eyes. "I'm not entirely sure. We found her in Birmington. Right before we found you blacked out. She was wandering aimlessly around the town as if she didn't know what to do. We believe that she tried to kill you but you pa.s.sed out instead. The two of you seem to have a connection so when your mind shut down she couldn't feed off it any longer."

Walter turned to Dr. Granin and grabbed the collar of his lab coat. "What the f.u.c.k do you mean a connection? How can this be!"

"Calm down, Walter," Dr. Granin said as he pushed himself free of Walter's grasp and continued. "Without you she can't function. In a sense she is your mind. Or at least a piece of it. We don't know where she came from but if you look closely you'll notice something even more peculiar." He gestured for Walter to look. "Turn and look at her body, please."

Walter turned around and looked through the gla.s.s to Christine. It took him a moment to realize she was missing something. She was missing a belly b.u.t.ton. It made sense in some perverse way as she was never born.

"She also has no finger prints either. In fact, there are no lines on her body at all. The girl isn't even human. She was created by some other means other than childbirth. Which, of course, was that she was created by you."

Walter turned to face Dr. Granin, his mind spinning with the information he was trying to digest. "How can any of this be possible?"

"I told you we don't know. But we think we know someone who does," the doctor said.

A strange look crossed Walter's face. "Who is it?"

"Your brother, Randy."

"I thought you said he was in a coma," Walter said.

"He was but we're still able to talk to him."

"How can you do that?"

"We're the system. We can do anything and everything. You know we have the cure to every disease in the world. The common cold, Aids, cancer, everything. We created such diseases to control the population so of course we have all the cures."

The two agents walked up behind Dr. Granin. Walter hadn't seen them enter. He suspected they had been monitoring the conversation the entire time and if Walter had tried to hurt Dr. Granin, they would have been on him in less than a second.

"Randy is awake, sir," one of them said to Dr. Granin, The other agent took off his gla.s.ses and the other followed. The two agents had no eyes. Instead where there should have been eyes there was pieces of circular metal. The second agent smiled at Walter and said, "There are twelve of us." The first agent continued, "Twelve hidden, unknown faces in the world."

Dr. Granin continued, "We are not a Government. We are the system."

The second agent continued, "We control all. We are everything."

Then the three of them began speaking in unison without pausing for breath, "We were not created. We create. We are religion. We are war. We are above the law. We create the law. We control the law. We create you. We control you. Without us, you would not be here. People need to be controlled. Without control there is only chaos. The world will never know the truth. Those that try to tell the truth will only perish before our will. There are no countries there is only the world. There is no race, only people. People who must be controlled."

Then they stopped talking and silence filled the room. Dr. Granin walked up to Walter who in turn backed away.

"We need your help. You see she," Dr. Granin pointed to Christine, "is the only thing we can't control. She is a great weapon. And you and your brother are the key to unlocking her full potential. You will get Randy to tell us how to control her."

"Why? Why Randy? If I created her then why don't I know?"

Dr. Granin laughed and so did the agents.

"She talked to Randy first. We believe that he knows why. And we think that she has been talking to him while he was in a coma. You'll find out what he knows and then you will kill Randy and come back here to us to tell us how to control her."

"Why? I don't understand. If you already control the world then why do you need her?" Walter asked.

"Because she could be a whole new system. An entire new means of control. And we could rest. Finally rest. Centuries of keeping the world under control is tiring."

"Centuries? That's not possible," Walter gasped.

"Why not? You've heard of Adam and Eve? Look behind me. Look up."

Walter did so and noticed there were two children floating in similar tubes as Christine's, above him; a girl and a boy.

"Adam and Eve..." Walter whispered to himself. The two children were emotionless. They had machines implanted throughout their bodies.

"Yes, they are clones of the first humans. Well, the first to have evolved fully. They realized that the population would need to be controlled. So they created the system. A system not unlike a computer system and through it they control the media, television, radio and other means, by this they control the population. They have implanted our bodies with several million microchips that keep us alive. The chosen ones they chose to aid them for all eternity. But they are tired and so are we. We need your help. And you will help us."

The two agents stepped around Dr. Granin and grabbed Walter.

"Take him to his brother," Dr. Granin said as they pulled Walter out of the room.

Behind him, Walter could see Christine's hand twitch. He looked up at the two children and they stared down at him mercilessly as he was pulled towards the exit.

Just before he was pulled completely out of the room, Walter noticed a nearby computer monitor. On the monitor were the words: NEW TESTAMENT.

RANDY AND WALTER.

Chapter 22.

Walter was put into a dark room with no lights. He couldn't see but he could hear the breathing of another man nearby.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my b.a.s.t.a.r.d of a brother," said the voice Walter recognized immediately as Randy. The lights came on and soft white light covered the room in an ominous glow.

Randy and Walter stood face to face. Closer than Walter had expected.

"You know what they want, don't you, Rand?" Walter asked his brother.

Randy put up a single finger and shook it in Walter's face. "First things first. You set me up," Randy said.

"Wait a minute now..." Walter said but was interrupted when Randy punched him in the face. Walter went down hard, blood trickling down his face from a b.l.o.o.d.y nose. He looked up just as Randy kicked him in the stomach. "I got a f.u.c.king piece of metal in my head now, you p.r.i.c.k!" Randy kicked Walter again in the chest and Walter felt one of his ribs break.

When Randy went to kick him a third time, Walter grabbed his leg and brought Randy down. He crawled on top of Randy and punched him but when his fist hit Randy's face, Walter felt metal underneath the flesh where bone should have been. His knuckles shattered and Walter cried out in pain.

"You know what they want! What did that little b.i.t.c.h say to you?" Walter yelled at Randy, his broken hand now pulsing with agony.

Randy started laughing and threw Walter off him easily. Walter came down onto his back, his head striking the floor. He saw stars for a second.

"She wants us to free her and I know how," Randy said as he sat up.

The two brothers sat on the floor, staring at each other with pure hatred.

"I need your help, Walter. The system's too strong for us to fight it. But we can free her."

Walter stared at his brother. "How?"

Randy stood up, "We kill her. That's what she wants. She doesn't want us to live, either. I say we do what she says." Randy put a helping hand out to his brother. "We can redeem ourselves, brother."

Walter looked up at Randy and said, "How was she created exactly?"

Randy dropped his hand down to his side and went to one knee so he could face Walter. "Do you remember taking the infant to the clearing?"

"Yes. Why?"

"That wasn't entirely imaginary. The girl you were talking to wasn't your daughter. She wasn't human, but she was real. She's a being from another dimension. A dimension not unlike our own. That's what they want. The system wants to control that dimension as well as our own."

"So then I didn't create her," Walter said. "With my mind."

"No, you didn't. They just want you to think that so you'll help them."

"Why did she come here? Why to me?" Walter asked.

"She wanted to take the system down. Who better to come to for help than someone who has so much hate in them? The only thing she didn't expect was for her to become a part of you." Randy got back to his feet and put out his hand again. This time Walter took it and Randy helped him up. "The funny thing is that her dimension wants to control us, too."

Walter smiled and said, "f.u.c.k this system. I'm not going to be controlled anymore. Let's go make them pay for this."

The brothers turned towards the door and began to try to exit but the door was locked. Walter looked at Randy. "How do we get out of here?"

"You don't," a voice said.

The brothers looked around to see where the voice had come from. It was the voice of a little girl. But it wasn't Christine.

"Eve," Walter said. He walked into the middle of the room and yelled, "What do you want!"

Now a boy spoke, "We have what we want. The girl is awake now. She's agreed to aid us."

"That's bulls.h.i.t! She hates you, she would never help you!" Randy yelled.

Now both the girl and the boy spoke as one. "She lied to you. We have no need for you anymore. You will kill each other in this room."

The brothers ran to the metal door and tried to pry it open but it wouldn't budge. But the two wouldn't give up; they continued to attempt to open the door.

In a small control room stood nine men in black suits who monitored Randy and Walter with a hidden camera. One of them pushed a red b.u.t.ton labeled ACTIVATE and a piercing siren filled the room containing the two brothers.

Randy grabbed his head in pain and so did Walter, the two brothers dropping to their knees; their noses bleeding. Then the pain dissipated and they looked at each other with renewed anger in their eyes. They stood up and ran at each other. Randy punched Walter in the stomach who in turn grabbed Randy by the throat and pushed him against the wall. Randy brought his fist into Walter's stomach again and Walter slammed his brother's head against the wall. Randy's eyes rolled up in their sockets as Walter slammed his brother's head against the wall again and again. He then flung Randy towards the door. Randy found himself falling into the door but there was no door. Instead he slammed against the white tiled floor of the hallway. White light shone into his eyes making him temporarily blind.

Walter stood staring at the now open door for a second before he exited the room. Once in the hallway, the anger disappeared. Walter helped Randy up.

"My head really hurts now," Randy said, rubbing his forehead with the palm of his hand.

Walter looked at his brother. "Sorry for that. I don't know what happened."

"Yeah. Forget it," Randy replied.

The two looked down towards the end of the stark hallway.

"Let's go," Walter said. Shielding their eyes, they began to make their way towards the room with Christine in it.

Dr. Granin walked into the control room and yelled at the men standing there like robots, "Who opened the d.a.m.ned door? They should both be dead right now but instead their almost at the girl. I want to know whose responsible for this."

One of the agents walked towards Dr. Granin. "I believe she is responsible, sir."

Granin shook his head in anger. "Everyone grab their guns. We'll kill those two ourselves. You should have already gone after them."

Another agent walked towards Dr. Granin, "Are you sure the girl is telling the truth, sir? What if she is just trying to control us also?"

Dr. Granin looked at the agent. "Then we'll just have to kill her, too. Now come on, there's no time to lose."

Dr. Granin and the agents grabbed their guns and left the control room in single file to find and kill Randy and Walter.

Chapter 23.

Randy and Walter stood in the large room with the blue lights, looking at the gla.s.s cylinder which held Christine.

"I was afraid of this girl," Randy said. "The two of you ruined my life."

Walter walked closer to Christine as Randy watched him silently. Behind the two brothers, the door opened and the agents came in holding small black a.s.sault weapons. Randy turned to face the agents as they aimed their guns towards him. Dr. Granin raised a hand to stop the agents as he walked in front of them, a smile creasing his face.

Walter didn't see any of this behind him, he was only watching Christine. She was awake and watching the events in front of her, her eyes wide and seeing.