David Silva: The Disappeared

“You’re choking me, Mom.”

“Sorry,” she said, pulling away. She smiled and tried to keep the smile from turning to tears. “I guess it’s time, isn’t it?”

“I guess,” he said.

Teri pulled a chair next to the bed, took Gabe’s hand in her own, and nodded to Childs. A few short minutes later, Gabe closed his eyes and fell into a restful sleep. Minutes after that, he received a dose of AA103 and slipped effortlessly through his dreams and into a coma.

The last thing he said was, “See you in a blink.”

Teri held his hand and cried and refused to leave his side until late the next morning.

How had it come to this?

Hovering over his bed every morning.

Spending nights at the University Library, scouring through medical texts, looking for the last piece of the puzzle.

Trading shifts with Michael, pleased that some of Gabe’s weight had returned, wondering how much longer until they would get to wake him up.

Turning him, moving him, stretching his muscles, reading him stories.

Not much longer.

Still, how had it come to this?

She didn’t want to think about it. There wasn’t time to think about it.

And that was precisely the point, wasn’t it?

December 4th, 1981, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense, under Executive Order 12333 were required to comply with H.H.S. (Health and Human Services) regulations regarding the protection of human subjects. Both agencies had in the past and continue through the present to conduct and support biomedical and behavioral research.

Among other things, these regulations stated:

“Except as provided elsewhere in this or other subparts, no investigator may involve a human being as a subject in research covered by these regulations unless the investigator has obtained the legally effective informed consent of the subject or the subject’s legally authorized representative. An investigator shall seek such consent only under circumstances that provide the prospective subject or the representative sufficient opportunity to consider whether or not to participate and that minimize the possibility of coercion or undue influence. The information that is given to the subject or the representative shall be in language understandable to the subject or representative. No informal consent, whether oral or written, may include any exculpatory language through which the subject or representative is made to waive or appear to waive any of the subject’s legal rights, or releases or appears to release the investigator, the sponsor, or the institution or its agents from liability for negligence.”

David B. Silva’s short fiction has appeared in The Year’s Best Horror, The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror , and The Best American Mystery Stories . In 1991, he won a Bram Stoker Award for his short story, “The Calling.” His first collection, Through Shattered Glass , was published by Gaunlet Press in 2001. In 2009, Dark Regions published his collection of eleven new stories and one reprint, In The Shadows of Kingston Mills .

In addition, he’s written eight novels, including The Disappeared .

He lives a subdued life in the surreal city of Las Vegas, where there are many stories still to be told…

Bentley Little says: “Combining the deft characterization of vintage Stephen King with the literary subtlety of the best of Ramsey Campbell, David B. Silva has for years been turning out stunning fiction that has never gotten the audience it deserves. In my opinion, he is one of the best damn authors working today.”

Dark Regions Press has been publishing since 1985 and is an award winning press. We specialize in Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction. However our favorite niche is Horror. We have published such renowned writers as Bentley Little, Kevin J. Anderson, Michael Arnzen, Elizabeth Massie, Jeffrey Thomas and many others. Dark Regions Press has had many Bram Stoker Award nominations and four award-winning short story and poetry collections.

Visit our websitefor more exciting books.

This eBook edition published 2011 by Dark Thriller.

http://www.darkregions.com

©David B. Silva 2010

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Editor and Publisher, Joe Morey

Cover and interior art © 2010 by Wayne Miller

eBook Created by Stephen James Price

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