“How can you eat it without smelling it?” he countered.
This was the playful banter Theo and Margo had with each other. If Meg were in the room, she would be blushing with happiness at how sweet the lovebirds were with one another.
“I like parmesan cheese, too,” Creed chimed in.
Everyone stopped and looked over at the previously silent guest at the table.
“Ha! See! This boy has taste!” Margo grinned and winked at Creed.
“I suppose you like sauerkraut and sardines, too?” Theo smiled at Creed.
“Sauerkraut is kind of a staple back in Germany,” Creed said shrugging sheepishly. “Sardines, not so much.”
Using that as a gentle segue, Margo asked, “Tell us about life in Germany.”
Creed swallowed a huge bite of turkey sandwich and washed it down with a gulp of apple juice before he spoke. “It’s nothing like life in the States, at least, not where I lived.”
“Do you have family back there?” Margo asked.
Creed’s blue eyes immediately clouded over with sadness. “I did. An older brother. He was a meta too. We both lived at the Facility.”
“What happened to him?” Alik spoke up. Before now, he had still been trying to wrap his head around this whole surreal conversation over sandwiches with his enemy.
“I don’t know, exactly,” Creed hesitated, but then sighed deeply and went into the entire story of the Retribution Match against his brother, Gavil. He tried to explain how life was at the Facility. The chain of command respected only physical and mental training for combat purposes. A soldier who followed orders with precision was held up as an example for the others. Anything less than perfection was deemed a liability in combat and therefore expendable. Friendships and alliances between metas were highly discouraged.
Alik spoke up, “Did you say your brother’s name is Gavil?”
“Yes.”
“That was the name of the meta who fought Meg at the Institute. The one who hurt her with the letter opener,” Alik said with certainty.
“I can’t say I’m surprised. Williams took Gavil with him when he traveled as a sort of bodyguard.”
“Meg described him to me as a ‘militant, testosterone-encased, Neanderthal,’ among other descriptive words,” Alik said, remembering how colorful his sister was as she told him the story of that encounter.
“Yeah, well, that sure sounds like him.”
“But, none of you were at the Facility by choice, right?” Margo asked, trying to redirect the conversation.
“No, ma’am. We were all acquired by the Director somehow, but we were all too young to have chosen that life.” Creed felt exhausted and relieved at the same time to be able to talk about his experiences.
“The Director—Is that Dr. Williams?” Evan asked.
“Yes,” Creed answered.
“And who was Commander Oldham? You mentioned him before,” Theo asked between bites of pizza.
“His name is Rudolph Oldham, but he insists on being called ‘Commander.’ He’s one mean son of a gun,” he added.
“They all sound mean. How did you survive all those years?” Margo asked, sounding more and more like a mother.
“I kept my head down, tried not to make myself stand out at all besides my combat abilities. For the most part, I was left alone, except for my brother. Nothing I did ever made Gavil like me,” Creed sounded like a little kid for a brief moment. Realizing it himself, he cleared his throat and said, “Well, I need to tell you what I know about Williams. Then you can decide what you want to do about Meg,” he began.
“Williams has amassed this army of metas, but rumor has it he wasn’t gathering us for himself. There were outside parties interested in buying us,” Creed explained.
“I always assumed he wanted to make metas for himself; that he was bent on world domination or something and needed the metas to do his bidding so he could make it happen,” Alik confessed.
“Yeah, well, that’s what a lot of people thought. But it turns out, Williams has a whole other motive behind his methods,” Creed’s voice dropped before he continued as though worried someone would overhear.
“Rumor is he was married once, long ago and had a child with that woman; a daughter. The girl was born with a disability of some kind. Williams’ research had everything to do with trying to cure his child.” The room hung on Creed’s every word.
“Well, what happened to the child?” Margo asked.
“Like I said, this is all rumors. But the word was that the girl had a bad reaction to a treatment serum Williams tried on her. I mean really bad. They say she was kinda normal before he tampered with her, but afterward…,” Creed let his voice trail off. “Well, supposedly she turned into a vegetable.”