Lakewood - Megan Giddings Page 0,54

At the library computer she searched for it, muttering an apology under her breath to the old man, who was probably going to get on a government watchlist for this one. The people on the forum believed the organization distributed all their kill commands into a website’s coding via key extraneous words. Pink cupcake meant “poison the target’s food.” Sharp stick meant “make it look like a mugging.” Some people said it was all just part of an augmented reality mini game designed to hype up the third installment in the Killing Is My Business video game series.

Then—her fingers twice mistyping it before it was clear—Lena typed the words US government human experimentation.

A recent news article—with the word “US” crossed out in the search—was about a recently deceased dictator’s palace that housed the cremated remains of at least 25 people beneath the structure. It appeared he and his staff had been putting the ash in kale smoothies. Lena found a long quasi-medical argument about the potential nutrients in the ash. There were claims it increased longevity, reduced joint pain, and helped reduce hair loss in men.

Several nations, including the US, were being investigated for utilizing human augmentation strategies on their soldiers and world-class athletes. A new kind of amphetamine that made people engage in risky behaviors, but made them stronger, faster. New, untraceable steroids. A nanotechnology program designed to curb aging. Limb lengthening.

The US government refuted these claims. They had not engaged in unauthorized human subject experimentation since the late 1960s. And in fact, as a response to all these troubling claims, the National Institutes of Health was doing a necessary audit of all government-based programs and experiments that utilized human test subjects, to make sure they were behaving ethically, following proper procedure, and the United Nations’ human rights code. Many human rights organizations refuted this claim, citing cases happening in different prison systems as examples.

Lena took out her phone. She searched the web browser for How do research studies on people work? Her phone couldn’t connect to any pages. She searched cute dog video, and suddenly her phone worked again. All the world’s cute dog videos were at her fingertips.

On the library computer she typed How do research studies on people work? There were so many hits—about informed consent, the proper ways to collect data, how no data could be compelled or forced. She tried one more time on her phone, checking to see if she had too many browser tabs open, but every time it went to a plain white screen.

Lena cleared the search history on the library computer, then on her phone. She went home. It had been close to two months in Lakewood now and still most of her things were packed in boxes. The only picture on the walls was the framed photograph of Lena, her mother, and her grandmother from her high school graduation. On the refrigerator was a small wall calendar. Her only big indulgence was an armchair in burnt-sugar brown wood and lagoon-blue velvet. Lena rarely sat in it because it was so nice. Everything else big, like the mattress, was theirs. The room that felt the most like hers was the bathroom because of the floral shower curtain and striped bathmat she had chosen. Her lipstick and face products in the medicine cabinet.

“I could be out of here in less than an hour,” she said.

Lena did the math again in her head. If she could last four more months, she could pay off all their debts, have enough money set aside in case her mother got sick again, and have a small buffer while she found another job. If she made it a year, Lena could comfortably go back to school, pay for the last year if she needed to, take care of Deziree, and still have money left in savings. She could buy them both the best health insurance for that year. Lena put the filled-out power of attorney form in an envelope and placed it in the top drawer of her nightstand. She called her mom and asked to hear about her day.

18

Memorize the following words and phrases: pink slip, froideur, sinking. The eyes tell the brain what to devour.” Dr. Lisa cleared her throat. “Seven, wrapping paper, excursion. In the attic, you can smell the seeds. Do whatever you need to remember these phrases. Write them down, recite them. We’re going to ask you to repeat them throughout the day.” The doctor repeated the phrases over and over.

Lena