seanan_mcguire (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
seanan_mcguire) wrote2011-05-17 07:17 am
seanan_mcguire) wrote2011-05-17 07:17 am
Entry tags:
T-minus 14 days to DEADLINE.
Reston, Virginia, July 10th, 2014.
The sound of the front door slamming brought Alexander Kellis out of his light doze. He'd managed to drift off on the couch while he was waiting for John to come home with dinner—the first time he'd slept in days. His first feeling, once the disorientation passed, was irritation. Couldn't John be a little more careful? Didn't he know how exhausted he was?
Then he realized that he didn't hear any footsteps. Annoyance faded into concern. "John?" Alex stood, nudging his glasses back into place as he started, warily, toward the foyer.
Jonathan and Alexander Kellis lived in an old Virginia colonial that was really too big for just the two of them, something they'd been intending to fix once Alex's research paid off, and early retirement became a viable option. Neither of them really wanted to have children without knowing that one parent, at the very least, would be able to be home for the first few years—and whether they adopted or found a surrogate, they'd always known that one day, they'd fill the house with children.
At the moment, however, all that filled the house was silence. And the silence was somehow terrifying. "John?" he repeated, and stepped into the darkened foyer, fumbling for the light switch with one hand. He found it and clicked it on, illuminating the room...and then he froze, eyes going very wide, mouth going very dry as he tried to process what he was seeing.
How John had managed to make it into the house under his own power was a mystery that might never be solved. Into the house, and no further. He was collapsed across the hardwood floor, limp and boneless. A smear of blood on the wall showed where he had tried to grab hold as he was falling.
"John!" Alex broke out of his fugue, closing the distance between them in three long steps. He barely even felt the pain when his knees slammed into the ground. Fumbling for a pulse with one hand, he said, "John? Sweetheart? Can you hear me?"
John moaned. It was a soft, hollow sound, like the kind made by ghosts in bad horror movies, and it made Alex's blood run cold. "Alex?"
"I'm here, honey. Be still. I'm going to call 911. You just...you just keep still."
"They beat me, Alex." John Kellis managed, somehow, to roll over enough to look up at the man he'd loved since college, when they were both so damn young, and so wonderfully full of optimistic fantasies. "Chinese place took too long. I went for Indian. Drove past the lab...lights were on. I thought you'd gone out again. I thought you were choosing those damn monkeys over me." The venom in his voice made Alex jump. Oblivious, John continued, "Stopped the car. Went in to get you...found them. They let them out, Alex. They let them all out." John closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I couldn't stop them."
"Stop who?" asked Alex, frozen.
"Said you were...experimenting on animals. Said it was unethical. They said...we deserved what we got." John sighed. "They said we deserved...everything we got."
"Stay with me, sweetheart. Stay awake. Stay with me." Alex fumbled his cell phone out of his pocket, dialing as he raised it to his ear. "Hello, 911? This is Alexander Kellis. My husband has been badly beaten. We're located at..." He took John's hand in his as he gave the address, and held it until the ambulance arrived, waiting for John to say something—anything—to let him know that it would be all right. To let him know that this wasn't how it ended.
John didn't say a word. The ambulance arrived, and the EMTs loaded John into the back, leaving Alex to follow in his car. If John woke up on the way to the hospital, no one noticed; no one heard whatever he might have said. Jonathan Kellis was pronounced dead on arrival at 9:53 PM on July 10th, 2014. If there was any mercy in this—and there was no mercy to be seen, not then—it was that he died early enough to stay that way.
***
Jonathan Kellis, husband of infamous genetic engineer Dr. Alexander Kellis, died last night following a beating received at the hands of unidentified assailants. Mr. Kellis had apparently surprised them in the act of vandalizing Dr. Kellis's lab. No suspects have been identified at this time...
When will you Rise?
The sound of the front door slamming brought Alexander Kellis out of his light doze. He'd managed to drift off on the couch while he was waiting for John to come home with dinner—the first time he'd slept in days. His first feeling, once the disorientation passed, was irritation. Couldn't John be a little more careful? Didn't he know how exhausted he was?
Then he realized that he didn't hear any footsteps. Annoyance faded into concern. "John?" Alex stood, nudging his glasses back into place as he started, warily, toward the foyer.
Jonathan and Alexander Kellis lived in an old Virginia colonial that was really too big for just the two of them, something they'd been intending to fix once Alex's research paid off, and early retirement became a viable option. Neither of them really wanted to have children without knowing that one parent, at the very least, would be able to be home for the first few years—and whether they adopted or found a surrogate, they'd always known that one day, they'd fill the house with children.
At the moment, however, all that filled the house was silence. And the silence was somehow terrifying. "John?" he repeated, and stepped into the darkened foyer, fumbling for the light switch with one hand. He found it and clicked it on, illuminating the room...and then he froze, eyes going very wide, mouth going very dry as he tried to process what he was seeing.
How John had managed to make it into the house under his own power was a mystery that might never be solved. Into the house, and no further. He was collapsed across the hardwood floor, limp and boneless. A smear of blood on the wall showed where he had tried to grab hold as he was falling.
"John!" Alex broke out of his fugue, closing the distance between them in three long steps. He barely even felt the pain when his knees slammed into the ground. Fumbling for a pulse with one hand, he said, "John? Sweetheart? Can you hear me?"
John moaned. It was a soft, hollow sound, like the kind made by ghosts in bad horror movies, and it made Alex's blood run cold. "Alex?"
"I'm here, honey. Be still. I'm going to call 911. You just...you just keep still."
"They beat me, Alex." John Kellis managed, somehow, to roll over enough to look up at the man he'd loved since college, when they were both so damn young, and so wonderfully full of optimistic fantasies. "Chinese place took too long. I went for Indian. Drove past the lab...lights were on. I thought you'd gone out again. I thought you were choosing those damn monkeys over me." The venom in his voice made Alex jump. Oblivious, John continued, "Stopped the car. Went in to get you...found them. They let them out, Alex. They let them all out." John closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I couldn't stop them."
"Stop who?" asked Alex, frozen.
"Said you were...experimenting on animals. Said it was unethical. They said...we deserved what we got." John sighed. "They said we deserved...everything we got."
"Stay with me, sweetheart. Stay awake. Stay with me." Alex fumbled his cell phone out of his pocket, dialing as he raised it to his ear. "Hello, 911? This is Alexander Kellis. My husband has been badly beaten. We're located at..." He took John's hand in his as he gave the address, and held it until the ambulance arrived, waiting for John to say something—anything—to let him know that it would be all right. To let him know that this wasn't how it ended.
John didn't say a word. The ambulance arrived, and the EMTs loaded John into the back, leaving Alex to follow in his car. If John woke up on the way to the hospital, no one noticed; no one heard whatever he might have said. Jonathan Kellis was pronounced dead on arrival at 9:53 PM on July 10th, 2014. If there was any mercy in this—and there was no mercy to be seen, not then—it was that he died early enough to stay that way.
***
Jonathan Kellis, husband of infamous genetic engineer Dr. Alexander Kellis, died last night following a beating received at the hands of unidentified assailants. Mr. Kellis had apparently surprised them in the act of vandalizing Dr. Kellis's lab. No suspects have been identified at this time...
When will you Rise?
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