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legs. Others had none at all, or had limbs growing where they shouldn't be. In one jar he spotted a Janus-like specimen with two shrunken faces growing out of either side of a single oversized head. As he followed Tojian down the aisle of the fetal monstrosities, a sense of inevitability swelled up in him. By the time Mitch Tojian reached his destination, Calvin knew. |
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At the end of one shelf at eye level was a two-gallon jar. Filling the inside was something with clawlike hands and feet. Its back was twisted and rough with the scaly protrusions of some throwback creature uncertainly poised between reptile and mammal. But what nearly made his heart stop was the face. Though bloated from the formalin, it was smooth and white. Its eyes were large and slitted and to the sides of the head rather than in front. And beneath them was a prognathous jaw that swept forward. Against the side of the glass a milky gray eye stared out at Mitch, as though in accusation. |
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"It was what they took out of Terry last Thanksgiving. You can understand why we never told her," Mitch said. "Or you." |
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Calvin said nothing. He was too transfixed on that eye. All they had said was that the fetus was deformed. |
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"Calvin, I lied to you," Tojian said. "It wasn't a stillbirth. That . . . it was born live." |
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"Why in God's name are you showing me this?" |
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"Because I had a tissue analysis done yesterday. It contains the same substance that's in your water," Tojian said. "It scrambled the genetic codes." |
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Calvin's breath was coming short. "There's no end to the punishment." |
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"That's not my intention," Tojian said. |
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"I want you to know how bad the stuff is." |
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"How bad? It killed my family." |
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"Calvin, I feel terrible, but you have to know. You've been exposed to the stuff for ten years. You might even want to have more children someday. I had to tell you." |
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Before he left, Tojian asked him, "Do you know anything about this BiOmega outfit?" |
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