Short Fiction

The Charity Case

By Christian Mueth

Sunshine showers the wicked and the just, just the same.

Microphones whine. Cameras flash, outdoing the daylight. People congregate in stacks. The arid weather doesn’t deter them. They’re rolled up in tasteless tweed suits, eating at each other’s heels. They chomp at the bit to catch a glimpse of Danner Percy. Though, it’s all in vain. Danner hovers above them all, behind a podium and a throng of bodyguards.

A cutthroat boom shears the raucous in half.

“So, you’ve shown up,” Danner says. “Good.”

Shadows line the corners of Danner’s eyes and lips. A few reporters laugh with the smile that belongs there, but never takes form.

“As you all know, you have no idea what I’m about to announce. That is, other than that my announcement will be something.”

His eyes wander away. Bits of dust kick up, before collapsing back into the chapped earth. A lone cactus stands in the distance.

“Forgive me if this is all a bit… Prickly. But it’s something that I got to get off my chest, alright?”

Murmurs mist over the crowd. A handler scrambles to Danner’s ear, and points to a teleprompter. Danner gives a scoff and readjusts his tie.

“I was always taught to be honest, growing up. Guess I should stick by that teaching. Just going to rip off the bandage: cancer.”

Danner’s eyes squint. They burn, as the sun goes more intense.

Suppressing a choke, Danner continues, “I have cancer. Cancer in the skin, cancer in the liver, cancer in the lungs… Cancer up the ass.”

The crowd going up in a frenzy, Danner’s bodyguards struggle to keep the press back. Cameras click, tasers spark, and Danner takes a step forward. His jaw is firm, and his face sardonic.

“You load of bandwagoners. You get hit with a juicy story, and you go nuts. Only, my cancer isn’t the story I’m here to give. Not by a longshot. I’ve made my life’s work off my oil business, not getting sympathy from tabloids…”

Ravenous hunger still hangs in the air, but Danner has the mob’s attention. He pulls a remote from his pocket and flicks it on. A screen with two logos dancing across it ascends behind him.

“That’s right: I’m on the verge of changing the world. Percy Oil? We’re buying up the non-profit company, ‘Dream Labs’. They’re the current leaders in cancer-treating technologies. I’m pouring three billion into their efforts, as well as into charity for families in need. Also, as of today? Dream Labs is no longer a non-profit. It’s public!”

Applause resounds. The screen flashes through images of waterfalls, canyons, birds, and cheery people. A rapturous score overtakes the imagery, and narration begins.

“Our world is a beautiful, delicate place. It needs our protection. Our intervention. We’re about to make that intervention.”

Danner joins in.

“We have the chance to end cancer. To bring hope to millions.”

…

“Suckers,” Danner said, slamming the door of his limo shut.

He lit a cigarette and shoved it in his mouth. Taking a deep inhale and leaning back, he said, “Bliss. God, I needed this.”

He cocked his head to the left. A man in a lab coat sat there, his head tucked into his chest. He locked his hands into a lopsided pyramid.

“So, fatty,” Danner said, rubbing his hands together. “What did you think?”

“It — it was definitely something sir,” the man said. He gave a feeble gesture to the nametag on his chest. “Also, it’s… It’s not fatty.”

Danner slapped his knees, and his cigarette nearly flew from his mouth. “Yeah, and I’m Madonna reincarnate. You are what you are, not what you aren’t. Get over it.”

“I’m Dr. Malden.”

“Dr. Mandy? Ha! That has to be the gayest name I’ve heard in some time.”

“Malden.”

“Whatever.”

Danner faked a yawn. A twinge of irritation rose in Dr. Malden’s chest. He opened his mouth. He pursed his lips.

“I’m going to rake in so much cash over this,” Danner continued. He made several punches at the air before landing a punch on his tinted window. “I mean, a cancer foundation that actually works for profit? It’s genius. I can’t believe that nobody thought of it sooner.”

Dr. Malden shrank in his seat. He swept away the thin hair from his forehead and dabbed himself with a handkerchief. Had the limo gotten hotter? It felt so.

His throat spasmed as he was slapped in the back.

“Come on, you’re in a limo with the biggest billionaire in Texas! This is supposed to be a hoot. Isn’t this supposed to be a hoot, Jeeves?”

Danner tossed his cigarette, gave a whistle, and unrolled the driver’s dividing screen. “You’ve been to my casino, right Jeeves? It’s killer, right?”

The driver gave a knowing nod and rolled the window back up. Turning back to Dr. Malden, Danner had a hearty laugh. Dr. Malden’s pulse skipped a beat. The car seemed to gyrate.

“We’re going to a casino?”

“We are now. It’s my casino, so it’s great. The dumbest people alive blow all sorts of cash there. At poker, you can beat just about any of them.”

He would’ve continued but was hit by a coughing fit. His pupils went small, if for but a moment, before he pulled himself back.

With a wheeze, Danner mustered a, “Sorry… Sorry.”

The tension in Dr. Malden’s chest released a bit. A smile grew in the corner of the mouth. His hand wiped it away. What was he thinking? Smiling was bad. Wrong. The man was in pain.

Though, the man was a pain…

Dr. Malden stared at the ceiling. He needed to get control over himself and the situation, that was all. Putting out his arm, he gave Danner a pat on the back.

“I want to know why you really brought me here,” Dr. Malden said. “Be — because, I don’t think you just want to take me to a casino.”

Danner smirked. A flash of fury erupted in his eyes. Danner smacked Dr. Malden’s hand away.

“No crap. You really think I give a damn about you?”

Danner fell back in his seat. His gaze was lost to the air. Dr. Malden clutched his briefcase, his muscles tensing. There wasn’t any restraint to this man. Just pure, animalistic impulse. Pitiful, truly.

“I’m sorry if I’ve invoked anger,” Dr. Malden said, measuring his words. One wrong word, and he could lose his job. “I’m just trying to get to the root of this interaction, is all. If you could just—.”

Danner scoffed and gave a loose twirl of his hand. “You can cut it out, kay? I’ve been sober for an hour, so I’m not in the mood to play verbal chess… I know why you’re here. You know too.”

“I do?”

“What? Are you suddenly a… A bigger idiot than I thought, or something? I told you to bring the cure thingy for a reason.”

A rock fell through Dr. Malden’s chest. Of course, this meeting was about the cure. He should’ve known. There was no hope at a promotion. There were no business secrets to be exchanged. Just pure talk. At least Danner had been blunt.

The briefcase leapt to Dr. Malden’s lap. He unclipped it, and it snapped open. A faint glow lapped at Dr. Malden’s face.

“How wonderful,” said Danner, his words slurring into one. “You have a light show set up for it, and everything.”

“It’s UV radiation, in order to preserve the —.”

“Yeah, whatever. Hand it over. You’re getting paid to know the science stuff, not to explain it to me, alright?”

Danner snatched the briefcase before Dr. Malden could even lift it. A glint skimmed Danner’s eye as his hands grubbed through the case. A black lump of metal lifted out and crawled along Danner’s hand.

“Stop that,” Dr. Malden said. “It’s dangerous. You need to keep it on the regulators, or it could go rogue — you could get us both killed.”

Danner sneered. “How does this thing work, eh doc?”

Dr. Malden’s mind was pure blank space. Restraining a quiver, he said, “It — it’s nanotechnology. It’s designed to read the cell receptors of every cell and identify the ones that are cancerous. At least, that’s the idea. We’re still in very early stages though. If you let that thing crawl around you, it might consume all your cells. And mine. It — it’s not tested enough, yet.”

Danner chuckled as the metal crawled over his skin. “Sorry, but this stuff is too fun for me to give two damns about that.”

“It’s killed all of our lab rats during every test we’ve performed with it.”

“Yeah, and cancer kills too. Your point?”

“This kills faster. Much faster.”

Danner eyed Dr. Malden. His face went gaunt. It wasn’t until Dr. Malden blinked that Danner turned away, and Dr. Malden could breathe again. Danner must have been testing him. That, or Danner was insane.

In any case, Danner removed the glob of metal from his wrist, and shoved it back in the case.

“That came off easier than I thought,” Danner said with a grin.

“Like I was trying to say before, the case emits a UV radiation signature that renders the nanobots inert.”

Danner nodded, but ran his fingers along the edges of his watch.

“You’re the leader of this project. How long do you think you dweebs would need to get this thing operational?” Danner asked. “Mind you, I’m about to pour three billion bucks into the company. That can all go toward your project, if need be. I’m even willing to make the number bigger. Money is no object.”

“Thank you for the gesture. Though, this nanotech project is a side-venture to Dream Corp… Just a fairy tale, really. There are countless kinks we need to refine, before we could even consider calling it a success. Honestly? Dream Corp has considered scrapping this whole thing.”

“Tell me the time.”

“Huh?”

Danner’s eyes lasered in.

Dr. Malden swallowed. “It depends on what you mean. That’s a very packed question. If you want —.”

“Tell. Me. The time!”

“Give us two years, and we might have a prototype that’s ready for human testing.”

Danner put his head in his hands. “Holy hell…”

Dr. Malden’s chest was crushed under an anvil. He gave himself a makeshift massage on the shoulder.

“Of course, two years is assuming we get the proper funding, the proper staff, and that everything goes according to plan… I’m really sorry but — but...”

“Sorry but what?”

The words came out as ice. The limo halted. The red glow of a traffic light cast across Danner’s face. Danner’s fist pounded into the window. He went to Dr. Malden’s throat. His hand was sandpaper against Dr. Malden’s skin.

Danner bared his teeth, the gold ones giving a glare. “Sorry… but I already spoke to Dream Corps’ executives. Sorry, but I was told you guys can get closer than two years. Sorry, but you need to have this cure ready in six months. Sorry, but that’s all the time I have. Sorry, but if you don’t do this, you’re screwed.”

Danner loosened his grip and leaned back in his seat. Purple drained from Dr. Malden’s face, air rushing back to him. The limo’s engine kicked back into a thrum.

Danner lit another cigarette and gave a wry grin. “So, how much do you feel like gambling, tonight? Me? I’m going all in.”

…

The storm lashed at Dr. Malden. Clothes drenched to the skin, Dr. Malden grimaced. He kicked at a puddle of mud. A chill overcame his muscles, leaving them quaking. They stiffened. His eyes went to his watch, then to the sign behind him. “San Antonio Texas Airport.”

“It’s going to be easy, this time” Danner had said. “I won’t need to fly you out to Dallas. You just need to head to San Antonio Texas Airport. It should only be about twenty minutes from where you’re at. They have an airstrip, for private planes. Show them your I.D. and they’ll let you in. My flight will be there by 12:00, sharp.”

So much for that. By “12:00”, had Danner meant midnight? At this point, anything was possible.

“There you are, chunk-o!”

Dr. Malden squinted. Danner was up ahead, if far off. He’d finally arrived — albeit, surrounded by an entourage that carried a canopy over him. Though, the more Dr. Malden thought, the more that Danner’s arrival didn’t add up. Not a single plane had landed in the entirety of the past two hours. Had Danner just materialized, out of thin air?

Tightening his grip on his briefcase, Dr. Malden sprinted toward Danner. He only made it a quarter of the way, before gasping for air. His gym membership was getting paid, but clearly wasn’t paying off.

After a few minutes of wheezing, several sloshes drew up to him. The downpour ceased. There was a light tap on his shoulder.

“Sorry about the wait,” Danner said. “I realize we’re both busy men. But I had pertinent matters to attend to. Here — take a seat.”

A wide canopy yawned over Dr. Malden. To each side of him were leather chairs, juxtaposed against the airstrip’s harsh concrete. Climbing from his knees, Dr. Malden walked toward one. Rainwater rolled down his face, and into his eyes. His sopping pants rubbed against his thighs.

He was going to be left with a terrible rash, thanks to this. The baby lotion in his apartment probably wouldn’t cut it. Dr. Malden suppressed a moan.

“Actually, that’s the good one,” Danner said, as Dr. Malden was sitting down. “Sit in the other one.”

Gingerly, Dr. Malden complied. He could already feel fresh beads of sweat mixing with the rainwater on his face.

After Dr. Malden had adjusted himself in the new seat, and then readjusted, Danner plopped himself in the good seat.

“So,” Danner said, with a grin, “is the weather normally this abysmal, or is today just an exception?”

“Hard to say. But, normally, you definitely don’t need to sit out in the rain for hours.”

Danner pulled his foot over his knee and clicked his tongue. “I wasn’t really out in the rain for hours, thankfully. The plane shielded me from it. Actually, sitting in that plane wasn’t too bad. I had the craziest round of snorts betting — sorry, sports betting — craziest round of that, of ever. Did you know that making bets is a thousand times better when you’re doing cocaine?”

Dr. Malden scrunched his eyes. “I’ve been out here for three hours, and I never saw or heard your plane land.”

Danner held his hand out. A bodyguard handed him a cigarette, which he shoved in his mouth. As he lit it, he gave a shrug.

“You shouldn’t have. My plane landed at 11:00. About an hour earlier than I expected. I hate being early — it means you put in all that extra effort, to get somewhere before you’re supposed to — so that sucked… But, hey, sports betting.”

“You left me out here, waiting for you for three hours, to gamble?”

“Officially, I was managing my new charity’s funds.” Danner chuckled. Dr. Malden didn’t chuckle along. “What? You upset that you were left out? I thought you hated fun. We can do something later, if you really want.”

A knot formed between Dr. Malden’s eyes. “Yeah. I’d love that.”

Danner’s face went smug, and he rubbed his hands together. “So, time to get down to business. I’ve given you and your team a month. Two hundred million dollars have been spent. I need to see what you’ve done with all of that time.”

Dr. Malden nodded his head. He’d imagined that he’d be able to maintain composure during Danner’s questionings.

Dr. Malden gave a gulp.

“Yes, well… We’ve nearly tripled the size of the research team so far. I would have expanded farther, but it’s becoming a bit too much to manage. We need to adjust. It’ll probably —.”

Danner clapped his hands, then rubbed them together again. This time, he wasn’t smiling.

“Good. Great. Now, shut up about that, and tell me the thing I want you to tell me: how is the cure coming along?”

“But, I was telling you that.”

“Funny, because that’s not what I’m hearing. You like your job, Dr. Malden?”

The temptation to give a cold “no” ate at Dr. Malden. Instead, he said, “Apologies. The experiments… They’ve… Well, I suppose you’d prefer to see for yourself, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes. Straight to the point. It’s about time.”

Dr. Malden unclipped his suitcase and handed it to Danner. The glow shone from the briefcase as bright as ever. It was harsher on Dr. Malden’s eyes than last time. Perhaps it was due to one too many sleepless nights, or perhaps it was due to the tweaks he’d made in radiation levels. Either way, he had to look away.

“Looks good,” Danner said, bobbing his head. “I… Suppose that it can be shot into my blood-stream now correct?”

Danner’s voice withered away before he’d finished. He was cautious to even look at the nanobots. He already knew the answer to his question. The suitcase was shoved back into Dr. Malden’s lap, and a smoldering cigarette fell to the ground to be crushed by Danner’s heel.

“The tests have still been abysmal, so far…” Dr. Malden said. “There have been improvements, no doubt. The nanobots seem to have become more efficient at locating and killing cancer cells. Though, the mortality rates of lab rats remain at 100%. We’re still trying to figure out why but, after the nanobots reproduce three generations, they go after any type of cell.”

Dr. Malden considered continuing but stopped at the flare of Danner’s lighter.

“I just want to know,” Danner said, “what do you do in your spare time?”

The muscles of Danner’s neck were tense, and his eyebrows arched. He made a leer. One the canopy’s arms buckled in an upsweep of wind. Two of the bodyguards scrambled to keep it up, while the rain flung sideways, backwards, and upside down.

“I’m spending seventy hours a week, working on this project,” Dr. Malden said. He heard his voice crack. He forged ahead. “Ten hours a day. Every day.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Danner tossed his second cigarette to the side, only for the wind to whip it at Dr. Malden’s face. Dr. Malden gave a narrow duck.

“I — I like taking long walks. Tv shows are fun, too. 70s sitcoms, mainly. Everything else on Tv is a bit too… Cynical. I like to oil paint when I can, as well. Fun, but a pretty expensive hobby.”

“Definitely pretty expensive…”

Danner brushed his hand through his hair and stood from his chair, taking a stance of repose.

He lunged at Dr. Malden, with the face of a honey badger. Dr. Malden raised his hands, cowering. He was saved by a bodyguard, who held Danner firmly by the shoulders. Danner tried a few thrusts against the bodyguard, before slumping his shoulders and taking a step back.

Danner flashed a smile.

“Sorry. I get a little…” His arms turned to iron, and his back arched. “I just don’t get how you can only spend seventy hours! Do you realize how much I’m paying you?! Do you realize that you still have another forty-two hours in the week that you aren’t giving me!? That’s time you’re burning through, that I don’t have! What in the hell do you think you’re doing!?”

Dr. Malden trembled, terrified. Danner made a grunt.

Wait — had there been a quiver in Danner’s lip? There must have been. A bit of Dr. Malden’s fear receded to the back of his mind. He stood from his chair and glowered down at Danner.

“I think I’m trying to save your life,” Dr. Malden said. “I’m giving this project all that I know. I’m trying everything. You want to make me do more? Try it: I’m gone. There are plenty of other places that will take me. What do you do with your time? Waste the money of your investors and donors? Some way to spend the last days of your miserable life!”

Danner’s mouth twitched. He grinned. “Get the out of here then.”

“What?”

“Get out. Go back to your cruddy apartment, and spend the day watching Tv for all I care.”

Dr. Malden shrugged his shoulders and stepped into the rain.

“Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Dr. Malden looked back. Danner was holding the suitcase over his head. “You’re not leaving here without this. You still have a job to do.”

…

The computer screen had gone incoherent. Dr. Malden closed his eyes and reopened them, hoping the screen might change. However, the data displayed on it remained an enigma to him.

He could have used some sleep. Though, the project could have also used a few extra hours. There had to be a way to explain the outliers in the data. It couldn’t have just been a fluke.

There was a knock at the door.

“I’m busy,” Dr. Malden said. “If you need somebody to recheck the samples with, go to Mark.”

Another knock resounded.

Dr. Malden raised his eyebrows and scooted his chair further into his desk. “Listen: I can’t talk right now.”

“Not even to me, bud?”

The door swung open and rattled into the wall. Danner stepped in, a grin on his face.

“Nice to have you pop in,” Dr. Malden said, eyes still fixed to his computer. “Where are the bodyguards? Hiding in the ventilation shafts, this time around?”

Danner gently closed the door. It gave a click as it locked. Danner shoved his hands in the pockets of his trench coat.

“No bodyguards this time.”

Danner pulled his lighter out, flipped it in the air, then caught it. “So… I heard some interesting whispers about the project.”

Dr. Malden huffed. “Glad you heard that. Me? Guess my hearing is shot… Nothing is adding up, and I just can’t get rid of this buzzing inside my head. I’m exhausted”

Dr. Malden’s mouth tightened after he’d said this. He didn’t need to tell Danner anything. Danner would exploit any sign of weakness.

“Stop playing coy,” Danner said, patting Dr. Malden on the shoulder. “I have a clear idea of what’s going on in this place, at all times. Don’t ever forget that.”

“How could I?”

Danner crossed his arms. “Look… I heard that there was finally a successful lab rat. Is that true?”

“It might be.”

“Malden… Talk to me.”

Danner spun Dr. Malden. A twinge of fear went through Dr. Malden, before morphing to concern. Danner was gaunt now. His skin was gruffer, seeming to have aged several years. Moreover, the confidence that had once oozed from him had drained dry.

“I’m not… I’m not doing that,” Dr. Malden said, trying to assert a sense of composure. “Look… We did have a successful lab rat. But that’s all it was. It’s only been a month since the tumors left the rat’s system, and the rat has shown no signs of issues yet. Though, it’s possible that this rat carries a unique mutation. Or, maybe the strand of nanobots we inserted was different somehow… Besides, maybe the tumors will reemerge. There are just too many unknowns.”

A solemn look fell on Danner’s face. Though, more crushing was that his eyes didn’t lose their starry tinge.

“Still, it was a successful test subject,” Danner said. “The cure might be on the road to working.”

Dr. Malden looked back to the rows of charts and formulas on his computer screen. “Yes. But, it’ll be a few more months of testing before we know what’s going on for sure. Then, another year of tests. And then, a few years of careful human testing, if all goes well. Time will tell.”

Danner put his hand on Dr. Malden. It was practically bone when contrasted against Dr. Malden’s flesh.

“Those last two steps won’t matter in my case though, right?” Danner’s eyes went misty. “If those tests start to come back positive… You’ll start testing on me. Right?”

Dr. Malden gave a terse nod. It was all he could bring himself to do.

“I know it’s rough. We’re doing all we can.”

“You don’t know the half of it… I’ve been trying the homeopathic route. Shirking the stupid big pharma. But it doesn’t seem to be making a difference… Every day, I drop another pound. My head is fuzzy. My body is getting weaker. This needs to stop, as soon as it can. Promise me, that it’ll all end soon.”

“If I can end it for you, I will. That’s a promise.”

Danner bit his lip. Water flooded the brims of his eyes. He leaned into the wall and slumped to the ground.

“It’s fine,” he said. “With all my funding, you’ll find it eventually. Maybe you can cure other people. At any rate, I’ll be cryogenically reserved. Somebody will cure me. That is, once the science behind defrosting me is finally figured out…”

He gave a weak laugh and clutched his chest. When he pulled his hand back, he was holding a slip of paper. He waved it for a moment, as though it were a flag of surrender.

“Once again, I’m very sorry,” Dr. Malden said. His fingers slipped on the keyboard.

“No need to apologize. You’re good. This is for you, by the way.”

Dr. Malden looked over. “What?”

Danner unfolded the paper and held it in front of himself. A blurry image of a painting was printed along it. “When I go for surprises, I make sure I go big.”

Dr. Malden’s hands went clammy. “That’s a picture of…”

“It’s one of Picasso’s last works, yes. I bought it. Had it sent to your apartment. Figured you could use it in your collection — doubt you have much else in there that’s even better than what you can find in a garbage bin.”

“I don’t — that’s amazing. Thank you.”

While Dr. Malden’s mind swam, and he wondered where to put the painting, then wondered if he should even keep it at all, Danner headed for the door.

“I’m going to host a charity event in a month,” Danner said. “A party, at my place. Thirty million dollars will be going to various charities. Hopefully more, if I can convince some of my friends to chip in… Be there.”

The paper slipped out of Danner’s hand and glided to Dr. Malden’s feet.

“I will.”

…

The ground trembled. Wind mourned, as the moon abandoned the sky. A hot flash of anxiety traveled through Dr. Malden’s head, before searing his chest.

Elbows jabbed Dr. Malden. He struggled to keep his balance and head about him. Craning his neck over somebody’s shoulder, he saw a house standing in the distance, its windows flickering. Taunting.

Sweat dewed Dr. Malden’s skin. He needed more room but, even as he nudged a few people along, they only seemed to sandwich closer. Rows of potted plants narrowed on each side of him, only exacerbating the claustrophobia.

As the line filtered through a bodyguard, Dr. Malden fumbled his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out his I.D. Before he handed it over, he gave it a second glance. The man in the image hadn’t been seen for years. He looked slightly slimmer than Dr. Malden. His eyes held a gleam to them. He had yet to adopt deep bags and age lines.

“Name, please.”

The bodyguard’s tight sleeves rippled and the veins on his forearms popped. Shakily, Dr. Malden held out his ID.

“Dr. Malden,” he said. “I’m a friend of Danner.”

The bodyguard made a bemused face and thumbed through his clipboard. His other hand hovered over the taser hanging from his pocket.

“Oh, yes,” the bodyguard. “I see now — Danner has a restraining order on you. You aren’t supposed to be within a thirty-yard radius of where Danner is.”

The taser sparked, its teeth edging toward Dr. Malden’s face.

“There — there must be some sort of mistake,” Dr. Malden said, his voice melting. “Please— I’m Danner’s friend. If you just let me see him, I promise…”

“Rargh!”

There was a flare of light. Dr. Malden jumped, and the glasses flew off his face. A wheezing laughter broke out, with a hand resting on Dr. Malden’s shoulder.

“You — oh my God, you should’ve seen your face!”

Danner was standing there, a knocked over plant left in his wake.

Dr. Malden’s heart still feeling as though it might tear in half, Dr. Malden said, “I — I don’t understand.”

“That prank is going to go down in the history books, am I right boys?”

Danner was met with a chorus of cheers. A crowd of men with beers in hand were on Danner’s lawn. Danner lifted his own beer, only to turn away and drop it by his side.

“Just a stupid joke,” Danner said, giving Dr. Malden a slap on the back.

Dr. Malden tried to smile but was already being rushed from the line and to the entrance of Danner’s property.

“Hey Danner, you’re looking good!” a woman called after Danner.

“Thanks, I’ve been trying,” Danner managed, pulling Dr. Malden along.

A man yanked at Danner’s sleeve, only for Danner to swat him away.

“Danner, do you want to go to my place after this? I have a new jacuzzi and business pitch, calling your name!”

Danner dovetailed into an empty hallway, only to trip over a couple of people sprawled on the ground, huffing copious amounts of smoke.

“I feel so alive,” one of them murmured.

“Greg Hare?” Danner asked, shocked. He then shook his head and sped away.

“I’m feeling great, man,” they continued. “Here, you want to try some? You’ll be on top of the world.”

Dr. Malden was already on top of the world. Danner’s mansion was engineered for gratification, each turn more stimulating than the last. Every step synchronized with a shift in sound, lighting, or atmosphere.

Danner stopped at a wall, near a couple of restrooms. His hands felt along it, before finally landing on a slab of rock. The wall fell inward, and then slid out to reveal an entrance.

“Hmm… Good. This should give us some privacy.”

Danner snapped his head around and gave Dr. Malden a wink. Dr. Malden followed him into the darkness. The concrete slab shut behind him, and an array of lights went aglow.

The room was adorned with various television screens, gaming tables, and a mini bar. However, Danner sat at a coffee table in the center, his eyes transfixed by a moose head hanging from the wall.

“Take a seat,” Danner said.

Sheepishly, Dr. Malden dragged a chair to the table. All the while, he felt the moose’s gaze following him.

“I know you don’t really like parties, or living large,” Danner said. “But, I wanted to give you a taste of fun… Figured that you and me could play a game in here. Anything you’d like.”

Dr. Malden took a glance around the room. It’d been ages since he’d played a game of ice hockey. The Tv might have something good on. Yet, the more his eyes jumped, the more their focus waned. Everything promised sensation, but nothing promised substance.

A chuckle left Dr. Malden’s throat, followed by a, “I’ll let you choose. I have no idea what’s good.”

The room squirmed, muffled music penetrating its walls. Danner inched his hand toward a remote, before letting it drop. He swung his head to the back of his chair and stared at the ceiling. Dr. Malden’s eyes followed, hoping there was something there.

There wasn’t.

“Yeah, I don’t know what we should do either,” Danner said. He rubbed his forehead. “I don’t even know what I’m doing here… Why did I bring you here?”

Dr. Malden offered a laugh.

Danner gave a glare. “I’m serious. Why did I bring you here? I want an answer.”

“That — well, I really am in no position to say, now am I?”

Danner’s face reddened. His eyes flared. Danner had never struck Dr. Malden as too bright. Though, that didn’t dampen the impact of Danner’s demeanor. He looked as though he’d finally gone crazy. That, or hysterical. It must have been something between the two.

“I’m sorry.” Danner’s hand shielded his eyes. “I’ve been trying so hard to do it all. The partying, the philanthropy, the meetings with stockholders, the meetings with lawyers… I need to leave my stamp on the world, before I go out.”

“You’re not happy with the stamp you’ve left?”

“No, no, not at all!” Danner switched on a smile. “Not that at all. I’m definitely happy. The suits or whatever showed me some charts. Millions of dollars are being spent, but millions of lives are being helped. It’s great.”

Danner’s hand jerked back to the remote and flipped on the Tv. He let the noises blare for a few moments.

“The doctors are telling me I only have a few months left. Even if I try switching to chemo, it’s not going to make a difference. I’m happy. I just wasn’t expecting the legend to end this way, you know?”

“That’s… That’s a great point. Rough… You’re in a really rough place.”

Dr. Malden’s mouth was a desert. Parched, he searched for the right words to say. All he found were tumbleweeds.

Danner nodded at Dr. Malden. “Thanks. It’s nice to know that there’s at least one doctor out there who can talk straight. I didn’t want to tell you this until after I was… Well, I might as well tell you now: nine billion is going to go into your research department, after I’m gone. Half my wealth. A few years back, I’d planned on having all my wealth in my will spent on my funeral… But, hey: a nine-billion-dollar funeral is still an insane funeral, right?”

Smirking, Danner flipped through the channels on the Tv. The screen spinning and flipping left Dr. Malden woozy. His stomach curdled.

“I can’t thank you enough.”

“Don’t mention it.”

The Tv finally stopped on a news broadcast, covering one of Danner’s latest charity drives. Danner’s eyes went wide, sucking in the entire image.

Dr. Malden cleared his throat. “Suppose things had gone differently… Suppose you were miraculously cured, and all of this ended. How much more do you think you would’ve been able to accomplish, with all those extra years?”

“I would’ve broken the record for the most amount of shots taken in one sitting, for starters. But seriously, if I had that cure? I’d patent it and sell it everywhere. Everything would change. I’d be three times richer, ten times healthier, and living life large again. Having a blast doing it. I wouldn’t be caught up in all of this pedantic crap, that’s for sure…”

“Well, thank you again for the funding. You have no idea how much it will change things.”

“Oh, I do.”

A weak laugh passed between them, followed by firm handshake. Dr. Malden left for the concrete door.

“By the way,” Danner said, “where did you end up putting that painting I bought you?”

Dr. Malden shrugged.

“I ended up donating it to a museum. I figured it was safer with them than it could ever be with me...”

…

The lab’s lights flicker off. Only a small light remains, at the center. The incinerator ebbs the heat of ash and embers.

A hand hovers over the incinerator, casting a shadow along the linoleum. Its grip is tight, its knuckles white. There’s the gleam of glass as the hand edges closer to the incinerator’s flame. The hand is holding a vial.

Then, it’s not. The vial falls into the flame. A cruel shatter resounds and is met by rising smoke.

“I’m sorry Danner… But, you weren’t ready to know.”

There’s the rattle of a cage. A chorus of squeaks.

One by one, rats fall into the flames.

“Nobody can know.”

End