Post by Admin on Jan 11, 2012 8:44:09 GMT -5
Saga of The Swamp Thing
Issue #1: “His Name is Alec Holland”
Written by Kyle Bridges
Cover by MemnochZERO
Edited by Mark Bowers
Issue #1: “His Name is Alec Holland”
Written by Kyle Bridges
Cover by MemnochZERO
Edited by Mark Bowers
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 27 years ago
It had been an eventful morning in the Labor and Delivery wing at Baton Rouge General. Nurse Vernon had already tended to two births, carted an unconscious father to intensive care, and reported a strain of mold that had appeared along the wall, leading into the delivery rooms.
The last thing had disturbed her immensely. Mold did not belong in a hospital, mold brought disease and discomfort, two things that newborns were not equipped to handle in the slightest. The janitorial staff had a lot to answer for, that much was for sure.
The whole idea of it upset her, so she busied herself with a bit of paperwork to take her mind off it.
It wasn’t long before her pager sounded, there was going to be another birth. Room 333; Mrs. Alice Holland. Her child was supposed to have been born a week earlier, but for whatever reason, the child had stubbornly remained in the womb, until March 3rd had rolled around.
Had Nurse Vernon been a superstitious woman, she would have been wary of the occurrence. However, she wasn’t, so she didn’t pay it much mind. Babies were born constantly, all over the world, at all times of the day.
It had been a very typical birth, at least by Nurse Vernon’s standards; the end result being a blue-eyed baby boy, with wisps of strawberry blond hair clinging to his wet skin. His first act as a member of the human race was to release a primal scream, clearing his lungs of fluid and drawing in his first breaths of air.
“His name is Alec Holland,” his mother had said, her voice tired and soft as she nestled her newborn against her breast. Little Alec grew quiet as he took in his first meal, his mother and father looking upon him.
“Alec…” his father echoed, his rough hands resting on his wife’s shoulder.
Nurse Vernon couldn’t help but notice how the daylilies that sat on the nurses’ station seemed to have sprouted a full three inches, and that the white flowers had begun to lean towards the maternity ward.
*****
The indications that little Alec Holland was anything but an ordinary child were few and far between. If the fates had planned anything beyond the normal for the boy, they had been awfully coy about the whole affair. In fact, his parents dismissed the only event that could have signified that the Holland boy was more than just that as “silly childhood fantasy”.
Alec had been five years old when his father first took him into his florist shop, thinking that the quiet, gentle boy would enjoy seeing how his father created all the pretty arrangements that he would bring home on a regular basis. Little Alec was there when the supplier had dropped the flowers off early in the morning, and saw how his father stored them. He watched as his dad greeted customers, playing quietly as they cooed and complimented him. The boy didn’t really pay any attention to them, as he was too engrossed in pitting a plastic zombie against a sizable white flower he had snatched from the back room. The flower was currently winning, but in his tiny child’s voice Alec made it very clear that the zombie would be back, and that he’d be angry when he returned.
When Mr. Holland offered to show Alec how he made the bouquets, the zombie was quickly forgotten and left on the floor. His father tucked the victorious flower in the pocket of Alec’s overalls and took him into the back room. Alec helped his father select the various blossoms himself, choosing a wildly colorful assortment of daisies and tulips; when Larry Holland asked his son whom the flowers were for, the boy plainly said “For Mommy,” and snatched up a handful of lavender to complete the piece.
Things went quickly downhill after this, as the next step required the plant’s stems to be trimmed, a feat that was accomplished through a large, guillotine-like machine. Larry Holland lined up the various flowers, placing them so that the cut would be clean, allowing the flowers to absorb water through whatever container his wife would put them in. As he lifted the blade on the machine, he noticed a worried look on Alec’s furrowed brow. He smiled at his son to show him that everything was alright, and lowered the blade.
It was an older machine, one that had seen better days and had run much smoother in the past. Mr. Holland had often said that as soon as he made enough money he was going to buy a new cutter, and it had become a joke around the Holland house. When the world ended, the skies would turn red, the dead would walk the earth, and Larry would buy a new cutter. Alec’s mother would often coerce her son into repeating the phrase to tease his father for her amusement.
The cutter’s main flaw was that the metal would scrape on the way down, making a horrible screeching sound as it reached the bottom of the track. When the machine sounded off, Alec let out a scream that rivaled the ancient tool’s own volume, crying big, heavy, terrified tears.
“The plants! They’re screaming, Daddy!” he wailed, covering his ears and hiding behind his father, “Why are you making them scream?!”
It had taken almost an hour to calm Alec down, his upset only relenting when Larry took him out for lunch and bought him a chocolate ice cream cone. On the way back to the shop, Alec looked up at his father with a sticky, chocolate-y face and asked his father to promise him not to make the plants scream anymore. Larry told his son, for what felt like the millionth time, that the machine had made the noise, not the flowers. “Flowers can’t talk Alec,” he assured him. “Flowers can’t scream either”.
The boy had not been convinced, and resigned himself to playing outside the store, just out of earshot of the screeching blades.
*****
Alec had been in college when his parents died, and had coped by throwing himself into his schoolwork. It was during that period that he discovered a talent for botany, a subject that his father would have been proud to watch his son flourish in. He also minored in chemistry, and it was in these classes that he met Linda. She too was all by herself in the world, but hadn’t lost herself in the wake of her parents’ passing. She was funny, intelligent and strikingly beautiful. So much so that Alec had nearly lopped off his own finger during an experiment that she had partnered him on.
As she applied pressure to Alec’s finger (to stop the bleeding) he felt it was the opportune time to ask her out on a date. She laughed, claiming that there really was a first time for everything, and agreed.
He took her for a stroll through the wetlands preserve near the campus, warning her to stay on the path, lest she loose a shoe in the mud or dirty her clothes. He showed her how the different mosses grew, explained the reasoning for the willow tree’s “weeping”, and after much walking, brought her through a thicket of tall grass, to his favorite spot.
He parted a thatch of bulrushes revealing the glimmering surface of a small lake. Floating on its surface were dozens, maybe hundreds of lily pads, all in bloom. As if on cue, there came a rousing chorus of frog song,
He often came there to think, when his coursework was hectic and life seemed far too overwhelming for the college sophomore to bear. He found himself talking on and on about how peaceful it was, and how nature just seemed to bring everything he was working towards (his degree, his career) into focus. His passion was inspiring, and Linda found herself staring at Alec as he talked, much in the same way as he stared at her during the lecture earlier.
One of the lily pads floated close enough to the shore for Alec to pluck the flower from its wide green base, and he placed it in her hand.
She smiled at the offering, and in that moment Alec initiated what would be the first of many kisses.
As they parted, Linda could have sworn that the willow tree hadn’t been in bloom when they first arrived, but dismissed it in favor of kissing him again.
*****
They were inseparable then; Alec and Linda became a sort of “alpha couple” for the science department. They worked exceptionally well together on projects, both of them incredibly in tune with the other’s thought processes. Neither of them were doing terribly in their classes, but with both of their focuses combined, Alec and Linda rocketed to the tops of their respective classes, both of them graduating with honors.
After college, the two of them were married, and Alec began teaching botany classes while he continued his own experiments on plant growth. From the money he made teaching, plus the inheritance from his parents, Alec was able to establish a small laboratory on the grounds of the wetland preserve, to better study the plant life.
It wasn’t a glamorous life, and more often than not the couple found themselves covered in muck, or stinking of fertilizer, but they were happy. For lack of a better term, the two of them had found their fairy tale.
Like most stories however, things never stay happy for long. On the eve of their third wedding anniversary, Alec and Linda set themselves on a collision course with destiny.
And it all began with a seed.
A seed that shouldn’t have grown at all.
*****
It was that year that the Hollands’ lab gained a new tenant. His name was Nathan Ellery.
Linda Holland didn’t trust Nathan Ellery. She simply said that he was “cold” and that she just couldn’t bring herself to trust a person that gave off about as much warmth as a glacier.
Ellery had come to their lab one February morning, eager to speak to Alec about his most recent published work, a study on plant cultivation. Alec had theorized that plant genetic material could be manipulated through induced gene therapy.
Ellery too was a scientist, working on a project that used similar means to affect animal tissues, more specifically to aid in combating cancer and organ failure. In his first meeting with Alec, Ellery had joked that they’d solve world hunger AND keep the human race alive long enough to enjoy it. Neither of the Hollands was sold on the idea at first, but Nathan was incredibly persistent and was willing to offer up a large sum of money in order to fund both projects. In the end, Alec relented and they began to share the lab space with him.
Ellery wasn’t too much of a bother, certainly not as much of one as Alec thought he’d be. He kept to himself mostly, only speaking to Alec when he wanted his opinion or to ask Linda about how she’d go about stringing together this particular formula or that. He was barely noticeable at best.
Which, unfortunately, was exactly what he wanted.
Ellery had been with them for all of a year when Alec made his first breakthrough. He had grown an impressive Hibiscus Moscheutos plant, which in and of itself would not have been a big deal, if he hadn’t caused the Swamp Rose Mallow to germinate in a simulated desert.
It was unprecedented. Alec immediately began to break down the mutant flower in order to create a more reliable compound, whilst Linda stopped off in town to pick up some champagne to celebrate.
It was then that Ellery decided to make his move.
“Dr. Holland,” he said, holding out a strong hand for Alec to shake, “this is going to make you incredibly famous… and to think, I’m going to be able to say that I knew you when it happened.”
He chuckled, which would have sounded warm from anyone else, but Nathan’s laugh sounded like maybe he was trying to decide which knife would look better in your gut.
“Don’t start building statues of me yet, Nathan,” Alec replied, motioning for his lab mate to walk with him over to his microscope. “Not until I can perfect this solution at least.” He allowed Nathan to view his progress.
“One has to wonder if your solution affects animal tissues as well,” Nathan said. “I know that my own research is the last thing on your mind, but if you can inspire that kind of genetic variation in plant life, imagine what it could do with human genetic material…”
Alec stopped taking notes and shot a severe look at Nathan.
“The differences between animal and plant biology are far too diverse, Nathan. Who knows what kind of mutation you could trigger? I’m helping plants adapt to stressful environments… I’m not sure if I even want to know what a human being would mutate into,” Alec stated, furrowing his brow. “I’m all for aiding you in your own studies, but at this point it’s all too unstable for me to start fooling around with.”
Nathan scowled slightly and looked back into the microscope.
Alec was right though. One shouldn’t screw around with unstable things. Ellery had learned this first hand when he fell in with Anton Arcane.
Nathan rose from the microscope and patted Alec on the back.
“Don’t work too hard, Dr. Holland,” he called back as he walked out of the lab for the evening. “I’d hate for you to ruin your own anniversary.”
And although his farewell was innocent enough, Alec felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle.
*****
It had been a long day at the laboratory, and a disappointing one at that for Nathan Ellery. Of course Alec wasn’t going to just go the easy route and let him test the serum’s potency on animal tissue. Why would he? It was only going to save Ellery from making a very, very distressing phone call to his benefactor, why should Dr. Holland care? He certainly hadn’t cared the last few times he had requested that Alec share some of the more intimate details of the formula.
He dialed the number on his phone.
“Hello?” a voice answered on the other end, a voice with a thick Cajun accent, with just a touch of classlessness. Meaning that the man on the other end must have been Dufresne, one of Arcane’s “helpers”.
“This is Ellery, he asked me to call and update him on my progress,” Nathan replied, the beginnings of a migraine starting to throb through his head.
“Naw. Mister Arcane ain’t gonna come to the phone,” Dufresne drawled. Ellery could almost see the sneer plastered across his face.
“Why not?” Ellery replied. Nathan, who was slightly annoyed at the whole affair already, and now was seemingly at the mercy of a high school dropout with a rap sheet, was not amused.
“You’ll see,” Dufresne added with a laugh.
Ellery shuddered at the thought. Arcane wasn’t going to be happy about this new development as it was, but the fact that Mr. Arcane hadn’t been happy with his progress in adapting Holland’s formula was only going to make things worse.
By the time Ellery had arrived at the hotel he’d been staying at, it was late and he just wanted to sleep.
But sleep wasn’t coming to Nathan Ellery, and as he opened the door he found himself face to face with Dufresne, a tall Cajun man, built like a brick house with an animal sort of intelligence, and his partner Skein. Skein was smaller, thinner, and what he lacked in size he made up for in sheer wickedness. Both men snickered like schoolboys as Ellery entered.
“What the hell are you two doing here?”
It wasn’t often they were both in one place. Dufresne was more inclined to be out and about, Skein tended to stay close to…
And there, from the darkness of his hotel room, emerged Anton Arcane.
It was hard to look at him. It wasn’t that he was old - Ellery had found out that he was only in his early forties - but he sure seemed like it, as he coasted forward in his automatic wheelchair. Various tubes and devices monitored his vital signs, pumping air into dead lungs. His glassy eyes stared right through Nathan Ellery. His hair was long and unkempt, with streaks of gray breaking up the waves of raven blackness that swept all over his head. He looked so frail, so helpless. Arcane’s lips trembled, and there was a hoarse rushing of air as he breathed. His voice was ancient sounding, like dust on old books.
“Your… failure… is… apparent…” he choked. Ellery found himself unable to move, stuck in the gaze of Arcane. “It’s … painted… on… your… face…” Arcane sputtered. “You… must… obtain… Holland’s… for…for…” he reached for a nozzle to pump more oxygen into his lungs, “formula…”
Ellery just kept looking into those glassy, dead man’s eyes. As if under the effects of hypnosis, he felt himself agreeing.
“By… any… means… Dr. Ellery…” he gasped. “My… health… and… your… welfare… depend… on … it…”
“Yes, Mr. Arcane…” Ellery found himself agreeing. “Any means.”
Skein and Dufresne stepped forward, and as usual Skein elected himself to speak on both their behalfs.
“Mr. Arcane has requested that we provide you with whatever means you may require to secure Dr. Holland’s research,” Skein said, his voice not much more than a low hiss. “The real question being… how you think we should proceed.”
Arcane feebly motioned for the two men to follow him, and he drove his motorized wheelchair out of the room.
Ellery thought about his own research. He thought about how much more important it would be to save lives directly rather than indirectly. He thought about Alec Holland and his lovely wife in their perfect house with their perfect lab overlooking that god-awful swamp.
It was in that moment that Ellery figured the world could do without Alec Holland.
*****
“Don’t peek!”
Alec Holland sighed as his wife held her hands over his eyes. He should have figured that she’d do something like this on tonight of all nights, for they had developed a sort of ritual over the past few years, beginning with their first wedding anniversary.
Alec had, on a whim, tossed a few things into his jeep and swung over to see Linda, at the time a newlywed attempting to finish her doctorate, at school. He waited for her to emerge from the Science department building, leaning casually against the hood of his van with a bouquet of lilies and a reservation at a restaurant far beyond his price range. After receiving them, Linda joked that that she’d have to out-surprise him in order to make up for it.
And thusly, the couple found themselves making a habit of trying to surprise each other with gifts and spontaneous date nights. Tonight, it seemed, was Alec’s turn to be surprised.
She led him outside of the lab, laughing as he stumbled along the path through the swamp.
“Linda…” Alec groaned, full of mock annoyance, “I really have to get back to the lab.” He reached out and tried to grasp his wife in his arms, but she wriggled loose from his grip, removing her hands from his eyes.
There she was, standing in front of him with her hands behind her back.
She smiled warmly, causing Alec to grin back at her. She looked beautiful. She was always so beautiful. He walked the few steps separating them and tilted his head quizzically.
“What’s this about then?”
“Well, it is our anniversary, doofus,” she joked. Then she laughed and produced a small package from behind her back. Alec took it in his hands, admiring the wrapping on the gift.
He tentatively unwrapped the gift, revealing a modest black box. He slowly lifted the lid, revealing an old-looking pocket watch, embossed with a willow tree on its front cover. Alec flicked it open, revealing that the watch was already running, and wound it to the correct time.
“I thought you’d like it. I figured this way I wouldn’t have to worry about you being late to dinner anymore,” she said. Alec had been spending a lot of time with his work as of late, something he was well aware of. He pursed his lips playfully, giving her a sideways look. She tried to meet his gaze, only to start laughing again.
“So I should spend less time with my work and more time with my wife, then?” he asked, swinging the watch on its golden chain as he walked towards her.
“Only if you want to…” she said coyly.
And with that Alec swept her up in his arms and kissed her. It had been a fantastic three years, a wonderful three years that had gone by far too quickly for his liking. The two of them allowed themselves to fall to the ground. She playfully rolled on top of him, running her fingers through his long blond hair.
“If you’re going to win the Nobel Prize, you should probably get a haircut.”
He darted his eyes upwards to his hair and sighed. “I’m gonna look so old if I cut my hair.”
“You’ll look like the guy who not only ended world hunger, but also has the most stylish hair in his field,” Linda answered, giving him a quick kiss on his nose.
“Or an old guy.” Alec pouted, jutting his lip out like a child would. She laughed and flicked it with her index finger.
“You’d look like my old guy,” Linda replied. “My wonderful old guy.”
“I’m still wonderful? After all this time?” Alec mused, resting his hands on the small of her back. She seemed content to just lay there with him, a look of placid happiness colored her face and she traced invisible patterns on his chest with her fingers.
“Especially after all this time.”
Then she pulled him in for another kiss. And then another. And then another.
When they parted, he flashed a mischievous smile.
“What do you say I go lock up the lab for the night?” he said.
She thought it was the best idea he’d had all day.
Meanwhile, Ellery returned to the lab. He had brought along Skein and Dufresne, due in part to Arcane’s insistence that they “help” him. Ellery knew why they were really there. Arcane’s men had come along to make sure that Ellery would be able to obtain the formula, no matter what.
By any means, that was what Arcane had said. Ellery knew exactly what he was getting at. Cleaning up after a theft of this magnitude… things could get messy.
He’d have to make peace with that.
“You two break into his office. I’ll see what I can dig up in the lab.”
The two goons slithered off, Skein taking special note to bump his elbow into a row of glass beakers. Ellery stalked away in the other direction, towards the laboratory.
When he had first started working with the Hollands, his mission had been perfectly clear. He was to take Holland’s restorative formula, adapt it, and present it to Arcane. Arcane, an incredibly wealthy man with family money dating back to the Dark Ages had approached him in his own meager lab with an offer of riches beyond his simple means.
Nathan Ellery didn’t need to think it over. He packed up for Louisiana and began to move the pieces together. His entire life had been a series of failed attempts and false starts, and he wasn’t going to let yet another opportunity slip through his fingers.
Then there was Alec Holland, with his beautiful wife and his brilliant theories. Alec Holland, the man who had everything, when Ellery had only a hotel room and a Faustian pact to his name. The cruelty of it all made him violently angry.
So as he stood in Alec’s lab, holding the vial of restorative serum, Nathan Ellery felt no remorse. Holland deserved a little darkness. Maybe even more than a little.
“What are you doing here?”
Ellery whirled around, finding himself face to face with Alec and Linda Holland. He faltered for only a moment, and composed himself.
“I’m seizing your research,” he stated flatly, his hand finding the 9mm in his jacket pocket, drawing strength from the power that the weapon gave him. “Please don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
“Like hell you are!” Linda replied, pulling out her cellphone. “I’m going to call the police!” Alec looked to the back of the lab, noticing two figures skulking around his office. He moved away from Linda for only a moment.
It was in that moment that Ellery decided what any means necessary would require. He pulled the pistol out of his pocket, and fired a round into Linda Holland.
“No!” Alec screamed as the gun went off; there was a sickening sound as the bullet entered Linda’s skull, and exited out the back of her head.
Ellery rolled his eyes as Linda fell to the ground; her body simply collapsing like a ragdoll to the floor. Horrified, Alec let out a distressed scream and fell beside her, cradling her in his arms. This couldn’t be happening. They were laughing together only minutes ago. This couldn’t be…
“Look, Holland, I hated doing that. I really did,” he said, pulling back the action on the pistol, putting another round into the chamber. “But I’ve tried to explain to you, and you’ve never ever listened.”
He aimed the gun at Alec now, his eyes never wavering off the recently-widowed scientist.
“Your formula,” he snarled. “Now!”
Holland didn’t move from the body of his wife. He simply scooped her up in his arms and cradled her.
“Holland,” Ellery said, “snap out of it, or I’ll put a bullet in you too.”
But then something in Alec did snap. He rose to his feet, and with a bloodcurdling roar he threw himself at Ellery, arms outstretched, seeking the enforcer’s throat.
Ellery reflexively fired, striking Alec in the shoulder, sending Alec stumbling into him. The two men collided into a table, sending the first and only vial of Alec’s restorative formula into the air. The glass vial plummeted back to the ground, breaking over Alec’s head. The chemical seeped into fresh cuts, causing Alec to shriek in horrible pain.
“Ellery!” Skein shouted from Alec’s office. “I got his book!” The thug proudly waved Alec’s notebook over his head. Dufresne was not far behind him, holding Alec’s computer under his massive arm.
“Looks like I don’t need you to share after all, Holland,” Ellery sneered, pulling himself up from the floor. “I think it’d be best if we severed our working relationship…”
He leaned closer to the pitiful shape of Alec Holland, his skin sizzling from the chemical exposure. He inhaled the aroma and grinned.
“Smells flammable. Don’t you think?”
Dufresne pulled a lighter from the recesses of his jacket, and ignited it. He smiled devilishly as he lobbed the device onto Alec’s skin. Alec lit up almost immediately, screaming in absolute terror. He took off running, crashing through the large glass window and out into the swamp.
“Torch the lab,” Ellery said. “Let’s not leave any traces that could go back to Mr. Arcane.”
They went along with their wicked works, then, after distributing a liberal amount of gasoline, they burned the lab to the ground.
*****
Alec hurtled through the swamp, protecting his skin from the burning of the chemicals for only a short while before his flesh began to sizzle and pop. He screamed in agony, plowing his way through the grasses and ferns, until he reached a small lake, its surface teeming with lilies.
It was there, in the place were Alec and Linda first fell in love, that the screaming, burning man finally fell, sinking deep into the swamp’s waters among the lilies and bulrushes.
To Be Continued...
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