Read Dark Creations: Hell on Earth (Part 5) for Free Online

Terzini had, in fact, cloned himself as part of some sick emergency plan.  All he could do was nod slowly then silently beg her forgiveness with his eyes alone.
    “That sounds about right, huh, Gabriel?” Jack said and tore Gabriel’s attention from Melissa.
    “We don’t know that for sure.  Maybe Terzini cloned himself, and maybe he’s out there,” Gabriel said and didn’t know who he was saying it for more, him and Melissa or the rest of the people in the room.  “Right now it’s just speculation.”
    “You saying you don’t believe me, after all we’ve been through?” Jack asked and somehow managed to do so without accusation oozing from it. 
    “No, that’s not what I’m saying.  I don’t know what I’m saying,” was all Gabriel muttered.
    His mind spun, whirling and racing dizzyingly.  He knew what his maker had been capable of.  He was living proof, after all.  The prospect of Terzini cloning himself as a contingency plan was not at all far-fetched.  Yet he’d felt obligated to say otherwise, to say that what Jack had claimed was just speculation. 
    In the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Ryan’s hand going to his head, clutching it in disbelief.  His face looked like that of a man who had just been told his every nightmare, every fabled boogeyman, was real.  And Gabriel became convinced that his attempt to appease his friends with the notion of speculation had fallen flat.
    “This can’t be true,” Ryan mumbled.  “This is some kind of joke, right?’
    “It’s no joke,” Daniella replied somberly.
    “Damn right it’s not a joke,” Jack chimed in.  “He’s already wiped out a town and had his people take over.”
    A collective gasp sounded from around the room.  He and Yoshi traded glances and Yoshi nodded toward Gabriel’s room. 
    “What the fuck?” Alexandra erupted.  “What the fuck? I thought this was over.  I thought this chapter of our life was done!  Why don’t you report it?  Let the authorities handle it, you know Homeland Security, or the FBI or Santa Fucking Claus, anyone !”
    “You think I haven’t tried?” Jack fired back.  “I have.  They thought I was crazy.  You know how that played out, the vet who has seen more war than peace, the one whose wife and unborn son were slaughtered.  Yeah, imagine how well that went.  They got right on it.  Especially Santa.”
    Gabriel stood and made his way across the room while Alexandra and Jack’s bickering continued.  Daniella and Ryan remained riveted by their heated exchange.  Melissa was the only one in their group who noticed Gabriel stand and move to his room with Yoshi behind him.  She followed them with her eyes and quirked a brow at him when he looked at her.  He simply stared back at her hoping to convey that everything would be all right.  He did not know how exactly, just that he refused to let the nightmare continue.  He would safeguard their future together, somehow.  He forced his eyes from Melissa and looked to Alexandra who was on a profanity laced tirade and too consumed by her angry rant to acknowledge that Yoshi had left her side and walked across the living room. 
    He and Yoshi strode from the living room, unnoticed for the most part, and walked into his room.  Once inside, he turned to face Yoshi.  Yoshi stood with his arms folded across his chest, the muscle around his jaw flexing. 
    “What do you think, man?” Yoshi asked him. 
    “I don’t know what the hell to think,” Gabriel admitted.  “But my gut tells me he’s telling us the truth.  Jack’s been through a lot, but this feels, I don’t know, it feels like he’s telling us the truth.”
    If Yoshi were feeling surprise at his admission, his face did not show it.  It remained calm, unsettlingly calm.  Only his continually tensing jaw muscle betrayed him.  And the fact that Yoshi was like a brother to him and knew him almost as well as he knew himself.
    “How about you?  What’s your take on all