Zeus (Frozen Origin) Read online

  Brandi had the makings for some great sandwiches spread out on the table. That would be fine for tonight but with three cafeteria workers in the brig so to speak, tomorrow might present a challenge.

  “Zeus, do you have any suggestions on what to do for breakfast tomorrow?” Sierra asked him because he was their resident specialist.

  “What do you mean? Breakfast is served from five to six each morning. If there are a lot of leftovers sometimes they are saved if anyone wants a snack or second breakfast.”

  “Won’t it be a problem with three workers locked up?”

  “No, those lazy women haven’t done any work here since they discovered they could teach my males to do it. All they do is demand sex and walk through the kitchen to get their own food. We do all the work here except in the lab. Even the guards are only here as a precaution.”

  “That’s good news because you’ll be able to take care of yourselves.”

  “Doesn’t everyone?”

  “No, not everyone is able or willing to care for themselves.”

  “How do they live?”

  “Others take care of them. This is a conversation best left to another time since it is very complicated.”

  “Alright, so what else do you want to talk about?”

  “Since you are here, why don’t we talk about what you can expect from us as far as help goes.”

  “That would be nice to know. I was not sure what your people would expect from us.”

  “The US has come here to free your people and help you to set up an independent government that will be recognized on a world wide level. You will be offered an advocate which I recommend you take. Your advocate will have only your best interests at heart. They work with you to see your needs are met. They will be the best help in your process of becoming independent.”

  Zeus smiled at her. “Can I ask for you to be my advocate?”

  “I’m a soldier not a lawyer, Zeus. It would not be in your best interest to have me as your advocate. The only way we would stay here is in the unlikely event that we were left behind to work with you to ensure the safety of the facility and to investigate exactly what Origin was doing here.”

  “Why don’t you think they’ll leave your team in place? You seem to be good at what you do.” He sounded disappointed.

  “We usually go in first and out first. We do the high risk work then leave the easy stuff for the other guys.” Sierra said with a wink and a smile. Brandi handed her a couple of sandwiches and a side of chips. She dug in with gusto feeling a sharp hunger now that the adrenaline was no longer killing her appetite. She loved her job even though the risks were high and the losses of friends that sometimes had to be dealt with were hard to bear. She was as honest with Zeus as she could be without giving away classified information. She wanted him and his males to succeed and thrive. Her government and some of the others would help them, but they wanted something in return. This could work out well for everyone if Zeus realized there was no free ride only give and get. While she ate, Brandi made Zeus a sandwich which he took and started to eat. Since she was finished with hers, she examined him as he ate.

  He was a big brute at six seven maybe six eight which so far was the tallest god she’d seen. He was muscled up perfectly without looking like he was on steroids. His skin had a copper sheen but it wasn’t really dark only tanned looking. She had a feeling the color was natural, perfectly complementing his black hair which was long; it hung down his back in thick curly waves. His eyes were a golden color she’d never seen the like of before but she’d swear they seemed to glow at times. It was the light and her own tired eyes, she was sure. He and the rest of his males were all wearing the same unusual shorts that looked like underwear and when she examined them closely she thought she could see a hint of what lay beneath.

  They had all finished eating but sat there looking at each other waiting to see who would speak first. Zeus looked unhappy with what she had told him but she had been honest. They needed to get to bed so they would be rested in the morning. She and Brandi were staying in rooms next to each other. They called them rooms but they were more like luxury suites in a posh hotel. Even though it was luxurious, they were over the top with personal decorative touches. Neither room was to their liking, both the woman who originally had the rooms had peculiar tastes. The warden, whose room Sierra was staying in, had tastes that ran to the bloodthirsty. Her art depicted scenes of beheading and torture of people including the elderly and children. Sierra removed all those pictures from the bedroom. Brandi’s room was extremely prissy with pink everywhere, feathers and flowers abounding, and pink fake fur throw rugs littering the rooms.

  The only consolation was that it was temporary for soon they would be back in their own homes. She and Brandi said goodnight near the doors to their rooms wishing each other sweet dreams. Sierra knew what she would be pursuing in her dreams. She had seen Ares and figured Brandi would be hunting her own sexy god. She had plans for the rest of their stay that included a lot of work and no play. She searched for something clean to sleep in. Brandi had assured her the bed covers and sheets had been changed and some kind of nightgown had been placed in the room. She finally found it when she turned down the covers. She might feel weird sleeping in this room or wearing this gown, but she was totally wasted from lack of sleep so she had no choice.

  She was having the most wonderful dream, the kind that made you warm all over and got your juices flowing, literally. She could feel the soft warm lips roving over her skin and the firm slightly callused hands moving carefully over her body as if memorizing every inch of her. She moaned as a finger brushed over her nipple causing it to harden even through her nightgown. A low growl answered her, damn that was too real. She opened her eyes seeing a shadowy form lying over her. Gold eyes glowed in the darkened room, the only thing she saw clearly that wasn’t shadowed. She started to struggle against the elusive shape but it held her still. She felt a mouth on her neck and a little pinch before she instantly fell back to sleep.

  When she first got up in the morning a vague dream lingered in her mind but before she made it to the cafeteria to join her team, the memory was gone. Zeus sat at the table with her team waiting for her to join him. The sexual vibes coming off him made her melt inside. It would be a good thing when her team pulled out of here because she was becoming much too interested in the gorgeous god.

  “Hey, there, everyone. After we eat, I plan to start exploring the levels below us. Scans from our satellites show little use in any of them, but the one just below us shows heat signatures in a small area that I want to check out first. Zeus, I’d like you to come with us if you’re willing.” Everyone turned to look at him.

  “Of course, I’m willing.” Everyone smirked finding hidden meaning in his words. “You have said we will be running our own lives here, so I wish to see everything.”

  She nodded at him before going to get her plate. The breakfast available in the cafeteria was exceptional showing Zeus had been right about the cafeteria workers being unnecessary. Zeus, she wasn’t quite sure what to think of him and the more she saw the more confused she was. He was attractive by any standards, more so than any male she had ever seen, he was intelligent, seemed capable, strong, and ruled his gods with no sign of resistance. It made no sense to her that such a male would have stayed here without putting up a fight. There was no sign that any rebellion had brewed or any challenge had been made against their captors. It seemed unbelievable that such alpha males would have allowed themselves to be subjugated but it seemed that they had.

  She fixed herself a plate of bacon, eggs, corn beef hash, and a bowl of oatmeal. She knew they might not be back by lunch time and needed energy for what would lie ahead. When the military had run this base, the levels below hadn’t existed. Now with a total of five levels, all but the top one completely underground, the place was the size of a city. No one, not even the personnel they had captured, knew the extent of what Origin had been doing here for all those years
. At one time, it looked like all levels had been in use and possibly thousands of genetically engineered gods had moved through here. What had happened to them all?

  Everyone ate quickly, eager to be busy doing something of value. Even Zeus seemed excited at the prospect of seeing the whole of what his domain would eventually be. Ares came over to us as we started to leave the cafeteria speaking to Zeus in low terms. They seemed to reach an accord which she was sure would affect the trip they were about to take.

  “This is Ares,” he said with a look in Brandi’s direction. “He will be coming with us since he is my general and second in the chain of command. If we run into any difficulties, he will be helpful.”

  What can I say to that? “I’m sure he will be.” Sierra replied not willing to argue the point. She was just ready to get on with it. They moved to an elevator but found it had been disabled making her wonder why? What had they left behind down there that they didn’t want anyone to see? They found the stairway but access was locked and blocked. The lock was an easy matter, the blockage a matter of hard work but Zeus called on several of his big, beefy gods to remove the pile of items that had been stacked in the way. It wouldn’t stop a determined team like hers, but it would have stopped the lazy employees who might want to look below out of curiosity.

  The second the blockage was removed the air hit her nose alerting her to decaying flesh. Her eyes met Zeus’ silently agreeing that they needed to move fast in case anyone still lived. Had this happened long ago the smell would have dissipated. They moved in an orderly, but hurried, fashion finding cages down below. There were signs that those cages had once been inhabited, but not in a long while. The farther away from their entry, the worse the smell got. The sight that greeted them near the end of the row of cages was almost enough to make her, a seasoned soldier who had been through hell and back, throw up. In the first cage there were bodies piled up in various stages of decay. From the large sizes of what clearly were men, she would say these were all gods. It was the next cage that held her attention because they were alive, barely. She pulled down her headpiece calling Doc to come down with any help and whatever equipment she could manage. There were at least a dozen males that looked like survivors of the cruelest POW camp. They were emaciated, covered with scars, fresh burns, scrapes, cuts, and they were filthy.

  In one corner of several of the cages was an open pipe that served as a latrine next to a small hose that had water dripping out of it. There were no remnants of food except the trays that it was served on and those looked like they had been licked clean. Whatever was going on down here was wrong on every level imaginable. The gods down here were being punished to death for what reason she couldn’t imagine. One of them moved to the bars of the cage whispering with a voice that cracked from disuse. It sounded like he called to Zeus but it was hard to be sure. Sierra moved to open the cage when Zeus stepped in front of her to prevent it.

  “They don’t know you, they’ve been severely abused, maybe by women.” Almost as if to prove his point the god that had been trying to speak slammed against the bars trying to reach Doc.

  “Okay, I can see you’re right. I want your males to work with Doc and whoever assists her, to protect them and help move these gods to medical. They need care and she is all we’ve got. If they can be saved, she will manage to do it. They’ve got plenty of help so I want to continue to check out at least this level by the end of the day.” Zeus nodded his head regally, looking at her but he seemed to communicate with Ares as well who took over giving out a minimum of orders but getting everything done. It was impressive to watch how everyone worked like a well oiled machine, getting the males out of the cell and taken upstairs to medical before she and Zeus had made it out of the area.

  They moved on with a few gods and those on her team that had no medical training besides first aid since they all had that. She hoped they wouldn’t find any more cells full of people or any signs that there had been any. Her stomach was still queasy and her heart sick from what they had seen. Everyone else had a half sick look on their faces matching the way she felt. Somehow and someway someone would pay for this, she would see to it.

  “It looks like some kind of lab back here.” Brandi said as she pointed to the right. A large lab with small portable cages and all manner of equipment was next to some kind of storage room. There was a room on the other side of the lab that appeared to hold large coffin like containers that on closer inspection appeared to be cryogenic tubes. What the hell were these people doing here and why? At least the tubes were empty, had they been full it would have creeped her out. They continued on, finding an office behind the lab but they had left little in that room. The computers had been pulled but the wires were still there testifying to their presence in the past. File cabinets sat open, empty of their contents for the large part. The few papers that were left had no information of any kind. Judging by the lack of dust, everything had been moved recently.

  She could only conclude that they had expected the raid but not so soon. It made her wonder what they had removed from here, how much of it was human? There was hope for at least some of the prisoners they had found and released. It was a good thing she had started on exploring the facility instead of waiting for the new team that would be sent to do so. In a week every one of those poor males would have been dead. Origin had probably started at the lowest level working their way up when they were removing the information and the residents. The fact that they had taken the time to assemble all the dead in one spot made her think they intended to remove them when they left but had been caught off guard.

  The rest of the floor yielded nothing of importance so she suggested they go to the next level down. Zeus agreed as she expected he would so they continued down the stairs at the far end of the level. This time the air was slightly stale but no hint of decay or putrid flesh hit her nose. Some of the others went upstairs, maybe to eat or go to the bathroom, Sierra didn’t know or care. If there were no mistreated males, there was no need to have such a large team. The only gods with them now were Zeus and Ares.

  “How did they choose your names, do you know?” Sierra asked unsure of how he would feel about the question but really wanting to know.

  “They said we were as far above humans as the gods. One of the doctors who created us was a fan of Greek mythology so she picked names from that. Our leaders were named after the higher gods-Zeus, Ares, Poseidon, Hades, Apollo-others were named after the type of work they would do-Eros, Hercules, Hypnos, Asclepius. When they ran out of names they just made them up to sound like the others. They said our father was Cronos and he was part of all of us. I’m not sure what they meant but if we are all sons of Cronos, we are brothers or at least half brothers.”

  “It seems hard to believe that you are all half brothers, but I’ve seen many strange things. There is something otherworldly about all of you, but I just can’t place it.”

  They made it to the next floor seeing mostly rooms similar to dorms, small and boxlike, with little room and a bathroom shared by five or more rooms. Group living was familiar, setting her at ease while she searched for signs of she knew not what. She noticed Ares stuck by Brandi’s side even though she moved away from him continually. Zeus stayed close to her as well but Sierra didn’t bother to waste her energy moving because she saw how stubborn he was, it had nothing to do with enjoying his closeness or his possessive behavior. Once that floor was thoroughly checked out, they returned to the top floor. They would eat and most of them would turn in for the night even though Sierra had no intention of doing so. She had a date with some computer files intending to go through all Brandi had downloaded in the days they were left here. These were they same files that had revealed the subfloors that Origin had added to the original facility. It had been a surprise since no one had known the facility had been expanded. It was something to put in her report when Kyler arrived.

  She worked her way through several files finding a few answers but not the ones she needed. Accordi
ng to what she had read, superior human DNA had been procured from various males while females with certain traits had been searched for. Once the eggs were fertilized, the DNA had been manipulated in utero with a strand identified as Cronos added in. Who was Cronos and why was he considered worthy of being the father of the gods?

  She read another file which mentioned an earlier line of genetically engineered males called supermen but Cronos wasn’t added to their DNA. It said their line was no longer being bred but had been disbursed. What did that mean, not terminated, but disbursed? Had they been integrated into the general population or had they been sold as soldiers or workers of some kind? The more she found out the more questions she had. She glanced at the clock seeing it was after one in the morning. Tomorrow she wanted to finish the exploration of the remaining floors. She had better get some sleep, not like last night where she had dreamed and been restless all night long. It was lights out and nighty night for her.

  She could feel the warmth of hands and lips. The same dream again, or so it would seem. Did that mean if she kept her eyes closed it would just continue pleasantly as it was doing now? She tingled all over which was something new to her. It was like she was drawn, maybe even bound emotionally, to her dream lover. It was just too freaky so she opened her eyes only to see the glowing gold ones and feel the slight pinch of a bite that just scratch her skin before sleep claimed her again.

  Damn, this was getting old! Was it a dream or was it real? She searched her neck frantically for a sign of a bite or even a scratch only to come up empty. She searched the rest of her body for any sign that she had been used or abused but found none. Only an ache that came to her when she thought of her dream, an ache that made her do a little self help in the shower so she could relieve the need she rarely felt and never this strong. It was like she was becoming a teenager again. She thought about Kyler, but she had no desire for him at all. That relationship was down the drain, she just needed to tell him. The only picture that came to her mind as she sought relief was Zeus in all his naked glory. Not that she had seen him fully exposed but those thin shorts the gods wore didn’t hide much. Once the word was out every female soldier, spy, or government worker of any kind would beg to be assigned here. She would leave it to them, getting out of here soon was her plan.