Forever, in a Day

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Four

A Buck by any other name

Peter faintly felt the cuffs unlock. Caleb helped him walk back to the room. He grunted as he was thrown to the ground.

He saw Caleb squatting in front of him. "I'm sorry," Caleb said. "I know it hurts. But don't worry." He petted Peter on the head. "I'll take good care of you. I always do. But don't tell Enoch, it'll be our secret."

Pulling a jar out of his pocket, he used his finger to dig out a cream inside.

"This will help with the pain," Caleb told him, as he rubbed the cream over the needle puncture.

"Why, Buck?" Peter asked him.

Caleb laughed. "After all that's happened, you want to know why we call you buck?"

Peter silently nodded his head. He chose to ask something harmless. If he answered he would know if Caleb could be a potential friend. Caleb was the weak link, Peter saw that with his refusal to take Thomas. A month in the room was a long time. Time he would use to try and put a wedge between Caleb and the others.

Caleb sat cross-legged on the ground. "Well, calling you Buck was Enoch's idea. His favorite hunting game is deer. You're just game to him, something to hunt and use to help us stay young."

Peter lifted his arm, "What did he shoot me with?"

"Enoch said it's supposed make you take what we have. What we give them, the bucks. It helps us stay young. At the beginning we only needed to do it once a year. But lately, we've needed to do it at least once a month." Caleb shook his head. "Something's going wrong, I don't know if it's us, or the bucks." He looked at Peter. "I saw the look in Enoch's eyes when he tasted you. There's something different about you."

Peter's thoughts turned to the machine. He was connected to it, maybe it changed him in a way that Enoch could feel it? He tried to change the subject away from him. "You didn't want to do it. Why did you listen to him?"

Caleb shrugged his shoulders. "He's my big brother. We're the Fimmer brothers. He was the one that figured it all out. How we could live longer. I have to admit, it was fun at first. Who doesn't want to live forever, but now?"

Standing up, he walked to the door. Looking back at Peter he said, "I didn't realize how long forever was going to be. I've got work to do. I'll check on you later tonight. Get some rest." He slammed the door shut. Peter heard him lock the door.

The cream Caleb put on him took the sting out of his arm, but he still felt the burning in his bones. He saw what happened, but he still had a hard time believing it.

He fisted his hands with anger. He could still see Thomas hanging in the chains. He turned his head, he saw the light in the window. Hearing the door to the room open, he closed his eyes, was Enoch back to give him another shot? He felt someone gently touch his chest.

"Peter," he heard Walter say. "I'm here for you, son."

Walter waited until he knew the men that took Peter was far enough away. Standing up, he moved out of the ring of bushes. He needed to go back to the grocery store. He had to find a way of helping Peter. Weaving his way around the large trees he stopped when he came upon a ring of white flowers.

"Ah, Sanguinaria candensis," Walter said with a grin. "Such a pretty species."

Humming an old tune, he bent over and began pulling the flowers out of the ground. He stuffed the root and the flowers in his pockets. Checking his bearings, he continued walking to the grocery store. Spying the parking lot ahead, he hid behind a tree. The lot was empty, except for their car. There was no one in sight. He hurried over to a small shed and hid behind it. He now knew what caused the explosion he heard when he was running away. Peter must have shot the propane tank. The tank was split open, the side of the grocery store was burned to charcoal.

Realizing that he was hiding behind a shed, Walter tried to open it. He angrily kicked it when he found it was locked up tight. He needed to find something he could use to help Peter. Walking towards the back of the grocery store, Walter stopped. He spotted a sugar house behind the dinner. A red pickup truck was parked in the front. Thick steam was rising out of several smokestacks on the roof.

This was where they processed the maple sap into syrup. Walter went behind the sugar house. He had to climb over rusted and broken equipment. He searched for something he could use as a weapon. He only found old tree taps, rusted buckets and broken pipes used for collecting the maple sap.

He moved to the back of the small factory. Behind it was a forest of old tree growth. Walter saw windows at the bottom of the factory. He looked through one of the windows. He saw a small room filled with pipes and metal buckets.

As he looked in another window, he saw something that filled his heart with dread. He could see a man chained up to the ceiling. The three men that chased them surrounded the man. Walter saw something coming out of their wrists and into the man's thighs. It appeared to be made of bone.

Walter couldn't believe what he was seeing. The hanging man was growing old. His hair faded to white and his skin turned wrinkled and yellowed.

When the aged man hung in the manacles, the three men pulled something out of him. For a few seconds Walter saw boney spikes sticking out of their wrists, they broke off and fell to the ground.

As Walter stared at them, he saw the one called Enoch walking away from the aged man. Walter moved closer to the window when he saw Peter handcuffed to a pipe. He could see the rage in his son's eyes.

Walter helplessly watched as Enoch plunged a boney needle into his son's arm. He could see Peter fighting Caleb's hold on him. Walter was relieved to see Enoch pull the boney needle out. He wanted to jump through the window when he saw Enoch plunge a large needle into Peter's arm. His gaze turned to one of pure rage as he saw his son struggling not to scream. He tightly clenched his fist, as he saw the agony his son was in. After injecting Peter, Enoch left. The one called Caleb uncuffed Peter and half carried him away.

Walter quietly moved to the front of the factory. He noticed that the pickup truck was gone. He saw Caleb walking towards the grocery store. Once he was out of sight, Walter rushed to the door of the factory. Entering the sugar house, he knew there had to be a way down. He went to the back of the factory. He saw a small wooden door. Opening it, he walked down concrete steps. He was standing in the cellar of the building. He searched for the room he saw in the window. He shuddered when he came to the room the man was killed in, manacles were hanging from the ceiling.

He saw an empty syringe lying on the floor. Finding the cap for the needle, he put it on and tucked the syringe in his pocket. Searching around the room, he found a locked door. He knew this had to be where they took Peter. Opening it, he was relieved to see Peter lying on the floor. He rushed over to him and gently touched his chest.

"Peter," he softly said. "I'm here for you, son."

Peter slowly opened his eyes. He was surprised to see Walter kneeling next to him. "Walter," he hoarsely said. "What are you doing here? You should have stayed away."

Walter helped him sit up. "I came here to help you, son."

Peter took in a deep breath. The burning inside was becoming a fading memory. "We have to get out of here." He struggled to stand up. Walter hurried to a corner in the room. He picked up Peter's coat. Walter helped Peter stand up as he handed him his coat.

"Thanks," Peter said, as he pulled the coat on. "In the car, you said we were twenty miles away from the next town."

"Yes, son. That's what the map said."

Peter took in a deep breath. "Okay, we don't have a gun."

"Even if we did," Walter sadly said, "They've already shown it's going to be hard to kill them."

Peter absently rubbed his arm. "Right, Caleb is going to come back later tonight to check on me. We need a safe place to stay until we can figure out what to do. When I was leading them away from you, I saw an old factory north of here." He looked at Walter. "Do you think you can make it there?"

Walter was moved that even after he came back from the alternate world, Peter never stopped looking after him. "Don't worry about me, son. I can keep up."

Peter proudly looked at him, "Of course you can. Let's go before it gets dark. We should be safe there until Caleb comes back."

Peter took in a deep breath. Whatever Enoch gave him, it felt as if every muscle in his body was on fire. Leaving the room, he took the lead, he headed to the concrete steps. Climbing up them first, he searched around. He was glad to see no one was there. Making sure Walter was right behind him, he led him past the bubbling vats of siphoned maple sap. Peter suddenly stopped. He saw two items they could use. One was a flashlight, the other was a long metal pole with a spoon on the end. It leaned against one of the vats. He guessed they used it to stir the maple syrup.

He shoved the flashlight in a pocket. Picking up the metal pole, he hefted it.

"It's something we could use," Peter told Walter.

"A lever." Walter said. "Archimedes said, 'Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."

Peter juggled it. "Sharpen it enough and it can be a spear."

"Many wars were won with spears, son."

Clutching the pole, Peter led Walter to the front door. Leaving the sugar house first, he searched the area. He noticed that the pick-up truck was gone. Most likely used to take Thomas to the vat, wherever that was. He made sure no one was around before telling Walter it was safe. They worked their way to the back of the sugar house, a forest of oak and ash trees stood before them.

"Let's go, Walter. I want to reach the factory before it gets dark."

They made their way through the thick forest. Peter had a pretty good idea where they were going. He just didn't know how far the factory was from here. Breaking through the forest, he smiled with relief when he saw the factory in front of them. He guessed it to be a mile away. To the left was a small dirt road that led to the factory. They were standing on a small hill. Below them grew an ancient forest. Peter looked up, the rain was beginning to fall again.

"We need to go over there, Walter. Think you can make it?"

"I course I can, Peter. Let's go." He took the lead.

Peter jogged to catch up. "Slow down, Walter. I'm still feeling a bit tired."

"Oh, sorry, Peter."

Peter didn't feel tired, in fact he was starting to feel the opposite. But he knew the long walk would be hard on Walter. He needed him to take his time. Pulling his collar up, they headed towards the factory.

"Walter," Peter said. He was using the pole as a walking stick. "I saw something back there. Something that I still have a hard time believing."

"I saw it too, son," Walter softly replied. "I saw the man in chains age, like the one in the river."

"He was his brother, Walter. His name was, Thomas Caputo." Peter stabbed the pole hard in the dirt. "That was a horrible way to die."

They quietly marched. Stabbing the pole in the ground, Peter wished it was Enoch. "Walter, Enoch told me something that may help us figure out what's happening."

Peter stopped walking, he looked at Walter. "Enoch said he was one hundred and seventy-one years old. If that's true, then Lamech and Caleb should be about the same age. How is that possible?"

Walter had to think. "I'm not sure, son."

"Okay, let's list the things we do know." They resumed walking to the factory. "They're brothers and almost two hundred years old. Caleb told me that they put something inside their victim's bodies to remain young. That shot they gave me is supposed to help their victims accept it. Thomas started aging when they stabbed him in his legs. Caleb said in the beginning they only needed a victim once a year. But now they need to do it once a month. They have freakishly yellow eyes. After what they did to Thomas, they're now grey. They can grow boney spikes from their wrists. So that means they can manipulate their body. Probably why they couldn't be hurt by bullets. Except their eyes."

"Peter," Walter said. "I think I may have an idea what is happening. I recall a time when Belly and I became obsessed with aging. We were talking about the Greenland shark. It can live to be four hundred years old. We looked into studies on aging. On one study we found that the accumulation of senescent cells in tissues contribute to aging. A purging of these cells has been associated with slower ageing and longer life spans.

We wondered what would happen if we cleared the body entirely of senescence. Would it slow aging to a standstill? We gave up when we found that it was impossible to entirely rid the body of all the fluid. The body would just regenerate more cells. It is an unending cycle. But what if, by some freakish act of nature, someone's production of senescence cells was very slow almost nil. It they were able to purge their systems of senescence cells, that someone would be able to stop the aging clock, so to speak."

"Do you think that's how they're able to live so long?"

"It's a possibility, Peter. But they would require a vessel to accept the purge. Perhaps that is why they needed the victims. An ewer that they use to collocate the senescence from their bodies. As to why they find their purging does not last as long, perhaps their body is now reproducing the cells at an exponential rate? Of course, it's just a hypothesis. I would have to examine their blood to know how much senescence they have in their system. If it is close to zero, then that may be the answer. Peter, the absence of senescence in the system also means the body's cells will continue to divide like a growing child. Perhaps that is how they are able to manipulate their bodies?"

Walter's mind was buzzing with questions on what he had seen. He began to wonder if it was really possible to stop aging entirely.

"All questions we need answers to, Walter." Peter said.

Thinking about what Walter said, Peter didn't tell him what Ethan said about him. How he felt that he was different. He had enough things to worry about.

~~~Delta leaf, bottom right dot~~~