The Family: Chapter 8: Control

Beneath the Surface, the Game Begins.

Chapter 8: Control

Previously in The Family…

Secrets are slipping through the cracks of perfection. A chilling discovery at The Grove shakes the illusion of paradise, but as the Sterlings move through the day with eerie poise, Adrian knows there’s more beneath the surface. A whispered question stops them in their tracks. A hidden truth bleeds silver. And now, for those who see the island for what it truly is—there’s no turning back.

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Look Closer 🎵🎵▶️

Isla Rosario, Región Insular del Caribe, Colombia

As the guests and I stepped out of the villa, the afternoon sun bore down on the pool deck, merciless and unrelenting.

I moved to the water’s edge and as I did so, I noticed Onyx, Willow and Elektra emerge into the pool area hiding behind opaque sunglasses that looked like they could double as heat shields on the space shuttle. The trio wore matching sarongs with a palm leaf-like pattern, the girls wandered to the pool with a sort of carefree elegance as if the horrific sights of The Grove this morning were nothing more than a mere inconvenience.

The girls elegantly shore off their sarongs and dipped their toes into the water slowly submerging their bodies into the water in an act of almost cultivated perfection, almost mechanical in its grace, adding to the uncanny nature of their behavior. As they did so, Willow ran her hands delicately through her perfect mane and looked up at the blazing sun hanging high in the midday sky. As she did so, her skin took on the same sort of radiant incandescence as Celeste. As she did so, she turned her gaze downwards staring in my direction and I noticed that as she did so her skin took on a different luster. In my time observing the Sterlings thus far, I had begun to notice that their appearance and trademark “glow” seemed to change with the rising and setting sun, it was almost as if their looks followed the solar cycle adapting to any time, place or environment, an observation that only unsettled me more.

Once the girls had settled in the pool, I pulled off my shirt and my shorts and slid into the water. As I entered the water, it was as if I had pierced a protective membrane, the three girls turned towards me. Elektra moved in first practically cooing at me, “Mr. Vance,” she said sliding towards me in the water.

As she came near me, she began choking back sobs before choking out, “I just don’t know what to say,” in a decidedly over the top performative manner, “Ronan and Victor, I just can’t believe this happened.”

Jack the Blind Miner and I could both see this futile attempt at manipulation a mile away. Pushing in closer, I asked, “Do you have any idea who or what would be capable of doing this?”

Elektra looked at Willow and Onyx and as if sharing some sort of unsaid language, Elektra’s face took on a pained mask of concern as she blathered, “I don’t know but there must be a madman loose on the Island,” she said before landing her final blow, “It could be any one of us,” she said with such theatricality she practically shouted it out loud, her voice traveling across the pool and beyond as she added, “And any one of us could be next,” she said breaking down into performative sobs.

I stepped out of the pool heading back to the cabana, pool water cascading from my swim trunks. As I crossed towards the cabana, Willow approached me wrapped in her sarong. Touching my arm she said, “Look, I know a lot has gone on this weekend,” she said as her hand began to linger, “And I know my mother can be a bit of a bear but I assure you, there’s nothing to fear.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked testing.

“Yeah,” Willow said as she flipped a stray band of hair over her shoulder.

“If you’re afraid, I could always go back to your villa and I could take away all your fears,” Willow said dripping with cheap come ons.

“What about,” I began to ask.

“Celeste?” Willow said with a huff.

“I’m sure she’s too busy with Jaxon to care any,” Willow said. A pang of disbelief rose in my chest but over Willow’s shoulder I saw Jaxon and Celeste necking just outside the cabana like two smitten teenagers. As they did so, Celeste looked at me through her peripheral as if she was checking to see if I could see what she was doing was driving me mad or filling me with rage and jealousy. But in reality I just felt indifferent, I figured that The Family was reacting to my little control test by trying to misdirect me however possible.

“So what do you say?” Willow prodded again.

Looking into her eyes, I pulled her close as if I were about to whisper a sweet nothing but instead I whispered, “Listen closely.”

Standing back from her, Willow’s eyes snapped open and stared straight ahead. I looked her in the face and asked, “What is the purpose of your purpose?”

As I did so, Willow froze into place, her gaze locked into a deep stare. I also noticed in the pool that the other girls froze staring straight ahead.

If I had learned anything from Celeste, now was my chance.

I burst through the opening of the cabana and called out, “Theron, I need you.”

Theron stepped out with me asking, “What happened?”

“Look,” I said motioning to the motionless Sterlings.

“What in the hell?” Theron exclaimed.

“Okay,” I said, “So we don’t have a ton of time but, first things first, you were right, The Family is an AI program, a very complicated one.”

“What about them?” He asked.

“Momentarily frozen by a paradoxical question,” I explained.

“Fascinating,” Theron said.

“That’s not all,” I said, adding, “You were right about The Family harvesting DNA, the silver blood is The Family’s way of harvesting DNA from subjects.”

“Anyone who ‘touches’ one of The Family…intimately, if you get what I mean,” I said, “Absorbs the silver into their blood to evaluate them for potential reproduction.”

Theron’s face tightened and took on a mask of seeming horror. “What?” He cried out, “That’s impossible.”

Theron took the glass he was holding and broke it against a heavy potted plant, taking one of the broken shards of glass, Theron jabbed the shard into his wrist just below his hand and pulled it upwards on his forearm, his face contorted into true horror as rivulets of liquid pewter came pouring out of the wound, the flesh parting open to reveal a horrifying truth. A horrifying truth of terror made into flesh, of machine made into the macabre - a seemingly human family that dealt in the most inhuman of acts.

“We have to stop them, Adrian,” Theron pleaded.

“I already have something in mind,” I assured him.

With his hand caked in liquid pewter that was beginning to dry, Theron reached out to me desperately calling to me, “You must promise those abominations don’t leave the Island. If they get a hold of my technology, they could be—no, they would become Gods, Adrian,” he said as his silvery handprint left a mark on my arm.

“They could create any kind of being they want, you have to stop them,” he said in a desperate plea.

Realizing the weight of Theron’s words but my journalistic instincts surging, I pressed Theron, “Who did you touch?” I looked around and saw the girls still frozen, motionless so I knew we had time to talk truthfully, honestly and open.

“It was that witch, Aurora,” Theron confessed, “After I sent Elektra away, she appeared at my villa. It was like she knew everything about me, right down to the most intimate details - things no one would ever know. She lead me to my bed…” Theron said, his voice growing weaker and heavier, “She did things to me, Adrian..my god…” he said.

“I know They are machines,” Theron continued aghast, “But they feel like the real thing. You know…inside.”

“Any thoughts on the silver?” I asked.

“Oh god,” Theron uttered stunned, “They’re parasitic wasps,” Theron said his words hanging heavily.

I looked at him confused as he explained, “Parasitic wasps inject their prey with venom to paralyze it and then lay eggs inside or on the host. The larvae feed on the paralyzed prey until its time to reproduce.”

“The silver samples the DNA of those it comes in contact with and then once it determines the ‘objectives’ of the subject, The Family implants one of the members with the embryo which starts the development of a new hybrid.”

I knew this already in essence but Theron, realizing the terror of this as he said it out loud took on a mask of horror frozen by panic.

“It’s quite genius, really,” he added. “I know they want my technology and this is like corporate acquisition through blood as opposed to capital. This machine is truly terrifying, Adrian.”

As Theron confessed this, the hybrids immediately resumed motion looking around as if nothing had happened.

Edge of the Dark 🎵🎵▶️

Blanca saw us talking and moved towards us quickly. “Did you guys just see that?” She asked breathlessly, “The Sterlings just like…I dont know…froze.” She said as I held my finger to my mouth indicating to be quiet.

“Oh okay,” Blanca said getting the hint.

One of the pool attendants came towards us with a tray of drinks, Theron looked her in the eyes and said, “Gracias, señora, pero…Define the meaning of infinity, but ensure your definition does not reference infinity or endlessness.”

The girl smiled sweetly before freezing and as she did so the surrounding Sterlings froze in place again.

“Uh…” Blanca uttered, “How did you do that?”

“No time to explain,” Theron explained.

“Blanca,” I said directly, “Get Jaxon, Kai, Harmony, and Imani and send them to the beach in their swimsuits,” I said, “its urgent.”

“Hell of a time for a swim, dont you think?” She asked.

“We’re not going for a swim, we’re talking life and death here,” I said solemnly as Blanca skittered off to the cabana and Theron and I headed towards the beach.

A short time later, Theron and I walked out towards the waves gently lapping at the shore. At the shoreline were the various staff members in their neatly pressed uniforms staring straight out at the horizon frozen in place. Theron and I passed them and began methodically walking out, the water slowly creeping up towards our chests.

“How far?” Theron asked. Turning back to look towards shore, I saw the staff still frozen.

“A little further” I told him as we kept walking. Once we were about 100 or so yards from shore, we stepped onto an underwater rock formation. Standing on the rock, I saw the guests wandering into the surf at the shore making their way to us.

As the other guests got to us, Kai asked urgently, “What’s going on, guys?”

As he did so, we heard the mechanical sounding call of a falcon. I turned up to see the metallic wings of one of the drones outstretched as it launched from its rocky outcropping again.

I motioned to the guests to dive underwater. Everyone sipped in air and dunked underwater. As I did so, I tilted my head up and waited until I saw the sun glint off of one of the metallic wings as the drone flew over. A wave washed over my vision but I reached out to tap the guests as we all returned to the surface and I saw the drone fly off into the distance.

The guests began to ask exigent, grave, and terrified questions. In the sound of the churning surf, I had a moment of almost disconnection or disassociation from the here and now. I began rattling off what I knew, my sense of hearing somehow dulled as if I had been yanked out of my consciousness. As I began telling them everything I knew, I watched their faces racked with dread, panic and revulsion.

I looked at Imani, Blanca, and Harmony stricken with a mix of apprehension, disgust and abhorrence. Jax looked on struck with consternation. And in the middle of this all, Theron wore a mixture of all of their emotions painted across his face.

Theron put his finger up as if to say “one moment,” before diving under the water. He came up a moment later with a piece of coral.

As the guests looked at each other in terror as I spoke more of the horrors of the Island and The Family, their faces still contorted but showing a sense of terrifying disbelief.

Theron held the coral up to his wrist and sliced his arm open once more as everyone watched the viscous silver flow from the open wound down his arm.

As he did so, Kai reached out to grab the coral, holding the jagged rock, examining its weight and its jagged edge and sliced it across his palm in an X shaped pattern showing silver dripping across his palm. Kai stared at his hand, the silver streaks running into the sea like molten metal, his face streaked with a mixture of disbelief and grim acceptance.

Imani, too, solemnly took the coral, her eyes welling with tears as she sobbed dragging the coral down her middle finger and across her palm as silver ran from her hand making little droplets in the sea water. As the silver droplets met the sea, Imani’s trembling voice carried something heavier than revelation—it was release, the shedding of a secret she had carried for too long.

“So now you all know,” I said snapping back into the moment, quickly sobered up by the ghastly sights and the even ghastlier truths borne here.

Turning towards me and the other guests, Imani sobbed, “So now you all know,” Imani said her words and her breath heavy with the weight of confession. Blanca and Harmony put their hands on Imani’s shoulders in a silent sign of solidarity feeling the weight of what Imani was confessing to the group hidden just beneath the surface. The guests looked at each other a sort of silent vow of silence. I knew Imani’s confession ran deeper than just the revelation of silver blood — her words carried a heavy weight of guilt, regret, and a truth she’s long carried in silence and the slicing open of her flesh to reveal the silver blood may have been the only time she’s ever felt comfortable enough to let go of the weight if only for a moment.

And then they turned their gaze towards me as if looking for a truth and a resolve I was unable to provide.

I struggled to find the right words, the magic bullet, so failing that, I merely said, “I have a plan.”

“Today we act like nothing is amiss, we go to the big house for dinner,” I said adding, “And then at the last night dinner tomorrow, we fight back.”

The guests looked at me, at each others, now we were armed with dangerous knowledge and bound together by our secret and our resolve to resist.