by D Haltinner
It was gut retching.
“What if we call in a bomb threat?” Darren said. “Get them to evacuate campus?”
“Whoever said that whatever was going to happen was going to only happen to the campus?” Audrey said. “For all we know, it could affect a hundred mile radius.”
“It would still be a prudent thing to do.”
Audrey nodded. “On Tuesday. If we can’t stop whatever it is, we’ll do that.”
Her hand floated back to Darren’s head and she began to twirl her fingers in his hair. She sucked in a large breath, pushing her breasts against Darren’s head, letting it out in a slow sigh that blew across his face.
“I wish we knew more about what’s going on,” she said. “I hope that tomorrow we can figure out just what the scope of this thing-”
The phone rang.
Audrey’s hand stopped moving on his head. “Who’d be calling me now?”
“Could it be for your roommate?” Darren asked.
It rang again.
“Her friends all know she’s gone.”
“Better see who it is then.”
It rang again.
Audrey sat up, stretching out the arm that she was laying on, and climbed over Darren’s legs to the edge of the bed. She stood up, her naked body glowing in the artificial light. Her buttocks flexed as she walked to the phone, and as she bent over the desk and let her breasts dangle in the air, Darren began to grow hard again.
“Hello?” she said when she put the phone to her ear. “Hold on.”
She looked at Darren. “It’s Jack, he came back early and wants to know what we found.” Darren groaned and sat up, his erection half formed, but now shrinking. “Tell him I’ll be back to the room soon and I’ll fill him in.”
She repeated the message into the phone and hung up before strolling back to Darren, confident in her nakedness.
Darren reached out for her hands and guided her between his knees. Her breasts were directly in front of his face, but he resisted his sexual urges to place his lips on them and looked up over their curves to her face.
“Are you sure I can’t wait to talk to him in the morning?” Darren asked.
“We need to use all the time we have tomorrow,” she said. “You need to do it tonight.”
Darren nodded.
“I suppose you don’t have to go right away though,” she said.
“I don’t?”
“I’ve seen how quick you can be.”
Darren felt a flush growing on his face, but even despite the embarrassment, he began to harden.
“But I’ll try to make it last a bit longer this time,” Audrey said as she dropped to her knees in front of Darren.
Chapter 41
“What took you so long?” Jack said the moment Darren stepped into the room.
“Audrey and I were talking,” Darren said. He let the door shut and tossed his jacket over the back of his desk chair.
Jack was sitting at his computer like usual, but his entire attention was being given to Darren at the moment. A rarity.
“So? Are you going to tell me what was on all those papers now?” Jack said.
Darren reached into his pocket and took out his printout of the map they found and handed it to Jack. “And that’s just the start of it.”
Darren sat behind his desk and began to recount what the logs he and Audrey discovered had said. Jack asked a couple of questions, but once the frown took over his face, his mouth didn’t open until Darren was done talking.
“Tuesday?” Jack said.
Darren nodded.
“But this guy-”
“Robert.”
“He never actually said what was going to happen?”
“Just that it involved the blackness and it meant a fate worse than death.”
“That’s rather...”
“Generic?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought the same thing.”
Jack looked down at the map he had set on his desk, “I suppose that means it’s up to the three of us to stop whatever’s happening.”
“Yeah.”
“So we need to figure out what’s going on soon.”
“Yeah.”
“Then why are we sitting here?”
Darren frowned. “Because we can’t get to the hatch until the library opens in the morning.”
“We don’t have to wait. I know another way to get to the tunnel.”
Darren’s eyes shot open. “You do? How?”
“Get your jacket on and I’ll show you.”
“Tonight?”
“Yeah, why not? We don’t have to spend all night down there.”
“What about Audrey?”
“Let her sleep, she’s helped enough today already.”
That didn’t sound like the Jack that Darren knew. The Jack he knew wasn’t getting along with his new girlfriend.
“Why can’t it wait until tomorrow?” Darren asked.
“Like you said, we’re running out of time fast,” Jack said. “Every second we waste is a second we could have used to figure out what’s going on. And I think I have an idea of where to start.”
“What do you mean?”
Jack stabbed his finger on the map, pointing to the place where the tunnel ends south of the theatre. “We need to go there.”
“The void?” Darren said. “But we can’t see, we don’t know if it’s a pit back there or what it is.”
“But that’s where the answers are. They have to be.”
“But even the noises, you heard them.”
“If we’re going to stop whatever's happening we need to take a few risks.”
“Yeah, but this seems almost unnecessary.”
“It is necessary. More than either of us realize. The answers are there, I know they are!”
Darren shook his head. “We can’t do that, it’s too risky.”
“Tell you what, I’ll go into the void, and you wait outside of it yelling Marco Polo to me so I can find my way back.”
“What if you fall into a pit or something?”
“I think I can be careful enough not to do that.”
“But what if that... thing, gets you?”
“We out ran it last time, I’m sure I can do it again.”
Darren shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“It’s just going to be you and me. There’s no point in bringing Audrey along and risking her safety, just let her sleep and not worry her.”
He just didn’t want Audrey trying to stop him.
“I will take all the risk. All you have to do is wait and guide me back if I need it.”
Darren let out a heavy sigh. “Jeez, Jack.”
“There’s something in there waiting to be found, I know there is.”
Darren ran his hand though his hair. He didn’t know why he was even considering this, but Jack was probably right. The answers were most likely to be found in that void, because whatever it was hiding inside of it was the key to everything. Darren didn’t want Audrey to risk herself if she didn’t have to, and this was one time that she didn’t have to be endangered. Jack was taking all the risk himself, so why not let him? As long as Audrey was safe, that was all that mattered. If Jack finds anything, they can explain the whole thing to her in the morning. She’ll be mad that she wasn’t included, but it will be worth a little anger to know that she stays safe asleep in her dorm.
“Alright, fine,” Darren said. “I’ll go with you.”
“I know we’ll find something,” Jack said.
“This better be worth it.”
“I know it will be.” He stood and hit the power button on his computer monitor. “So let’s get going before it gets too late.”
Darren stood and put his jacket back on. “Where is this other entrance you know about?”
“I'll show you, don’t worry, it’s easy to get to.”
“I hope so. We’ll be the only ones wandering around campus at this time.”
Jack
hefted his backpack still filled with tools onto his back. “There’s bound to be some people who want to watch the campus movies.”
“I suppose,” Darren said. “Didn’t you have to return those tools?”
“They give you forty eight hours to bring them back,” Jack said. “I had to pay a deposit, but they’ll give me all but two day’s rent back.”
“What if you keep them longer than that?”
“Then they keep the deposit.”
“Well, I suppose that’s logical.”
“Yeah, especially since the deposit is more than a brand new one.”
“And a money maker.”
“I’d say. Now come on, let’s go.”
Jack stepped out into the hallway first, with Darren following behind. He left the lights on in their dorm room, but double checked that the door was closed behind him. The hallways were bare on their way outside, they only passed a few people straggling in the bathroom or up the stairs.
Darren had to zip his jacket when they stepped outside, and flip the collar up to protect his neck from the crisp breeze that was blowing across campus from the north. The walkway seemed dimmer than usual, but when the moon came out from behind the clouds, it’s pale blue glow gave a few minutes of brightness before disappearing again and leaving Jack and Darren in the dim orange glow of the street lights.
“Where are we going?” Darren asked as the passed Audrey’s dorm and continued south toward the dining hall.
“You’ll see,” Jack said, pushing his own hands deeper into his pockets.
“Can't you just tell me?”
“It's not far.”
A shiver shot through Darren’s spine. It was colder than it should have been this time of year, but the clouds that have been passing over the moon told Darren that it was going to be getting even colder tomorrow. He didn’t bring his winter jacket to school yet, he had planned on bringing it back after thanksgiving break, but now he was wishing he had brought it sooner.
Jack led Darren past the dining hall and veered them away from the library. Darren hoped it wasn’t too much further, he was freezing, but where could Jack have found another hatch? Traveling south from the library brought them to Rosch Hall, and the one in the theatre, but both of those buildings would be locked for the weekend. Darren couldn’t remember seeing any other hatch, and he was sure he would have noticed if they passed below one on at least one of the trips they made so far.
“Where are we going?” Darren said as the path veered toward the side of Rosch Hall. “I don’t remember seeing any other hatches this way.”
“We’re almost there, hold your horses,” Jack said.
Darren bunched his shoulders and followed Jack around the side of Rosch Hall, and stopped when Jack did beside the side entrance.
“What are we doing?” Darren said.
“Wait here, I’ll come around and let you in,” Jack said, starting to walk away toward the back of the building.
“Wait!”
Jack looked back.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to break into the building, because I don’t want to have anything to do with that.” He looked out toward the road-they were within eyesight of people driving by, but the road was empty.
“I’m not breaking in,” Jack said. “I know a way into the building, yes, but I won’t be breaking in.”
“That’s still against the law.”
“So what? Cover your face with your jacket if you are really that scared, I’ll open the door for you in a second.”
“Wait!”
But Jack walked away around the corner of the building without responding.
“Shit,” Darren said to himself.
He looked back behind him down the path they had taken, then followed the side walk and the road with his eyes.
No sign of anyone. If anyone did see them sneaking into the building, they were going to be in big trouble. Forget about saving the world, they’ll be in a jail cell waiting for someone to post bail.
He should have stopped Jack. He should have told him that this was pure stupidity. If he wants to risk himself, that’s one thing, but now Darren was dragged in as an accomplice. Darren was already talked into going into the hatch, and look how that turned out: he was now trying to prevent a fate worse than death for an unknown number of people. His entire world was turned upside down in two days.
At least Audrey happened.
And thank God she was safe in bed instead of being dragged into this mess.
Maybe Jack was right, maybe this had to be done. What is breaking and entering when they’re trying to save lives?
The door behind Darren opened. Jack’s head poked out.
“Come on,” Jack said.
Darren’s heartbeat rose and his armpits began to grow wet despite the cold air. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Why not?”
“What if we get caught?”
“We won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“We’re going into the tunnel. If anyone comes looking, we won’t be here.”
“I guess.”
“Now come on, hurry it up.”
Darren took one last look back down the path, then along the road and toward the theatre. His mouth fell open.
“What? Do you see someone?” Jack said.
Darren shook his head. He wasn’t even sure if what he saw was what he thought it was.
“What is it?”
“I think it’s the void,” Darren said. “I think it’s reached above ground.”
Chapter 42
“What?” Jack said. “What are you talking about?”
Darren raised his hand and pointed toward the theatre where a large black dome was covering half of the building. The black dome spread out to the edge of the road, growing to its highest point just south of the theatre. It was pure black, darker than the night around it.
It was impossible though. It did seem that the void was in the shape of a sphere the way it burst through the wall below the street, but they had seen no sign of it above the ground at all.
Until now.
The streetlamps near the void lit the area around the dome, but no light had penetrated the blackness. It looked almost solid against the cloud covered sky and tree line backdrop, until a pack of leaves blew toward it, disappearing as if they had only drifted behind a building.
“I can’t see it,” Jack said, trying to hold the door and lean out to see.
“Just block the door and come here,” Darren said.
Jack took off his backpack and set it in the door’s path to keep it open and stepped along side of Darren. “Where is it?”
Darren raised his arm, pointing to the theater. “There, by the-”
It was gone. The moonlight coming from between the cloud lit the building in a pale blue glow, light reflected off the windows cast by the streetlights, and the tree line south of the theatre was easy to see. There was no sign of the half-sphere coming out of the ground only a second ago.
“Where?” Jack said.
Darren stared in confusion at the library. “It was there a second ago.”
“The void?”
Darren nodded. “The top of the sphere was coming out of the ground, it covered that whole area.”
“I don’t see anything now.”
“I don’t understand. It was right there.”
“Sorry Darren,” Jack said. “I don’t even know how it would be possible for it to spread above ground, even if it was a sphere in shape.”
“I swear it was right there!” Darren said. “It was the void, and it looked just like a big dome cutting the building in half.”
“Well, there’s nothing there n-”
The ground dimmed as the moon was covered by a passing cloud and the void came back into view. A black dome spread across the ground, cutting into the side of the theatre as if it was nothing but butter.
“It's there now,” Darren said.
“What the hell?”
“So, you were saying how I couldn’t have been right?”
“I guess I was wrong. But how can it pass through the ground like that?”
Darren shook his head. “How can it absorb light like that?”
“It looks solid from here.”
“It does.”
“But if you’re right, what we need to figure out is what is in the middle of that thing.”
“How do you think you’re going to do that?”
“I’m going into that thing, whether I can see or not. I’ll feel my way to the middle of it if I need to, but I’m going in there.”
“If that’s wha-”
The void vanished from front to back as if a wave had washed over it’s surface, dissolving it within seconds. The blackness of the void was replaced by the dim glow of the moon as it found a space between the clouds.
“What the hell is going on?” Jack asked.
“I’m not exactly sure.” Darren said. He looked up at the clouds around the moon. “But it looks to me like the moon is making it disappear and reappear.”
“The moon? Like the moonlight?”
“I would assume so.”
The dome of blackness reappeared as a cloud passed over the moon, and vanished a moment later when the moonlight broke through the cloud again.
“How does it do that?” Jack asked. “I mean, it’s only light, and we already know that our flashlights don’t work.”
“I don’t know,” Darren said, watching the black dome morph and shimmer as a broken up and thinning cloud passed over the moon. “I’m not so sure I even have a guess.”
“It’s got to be the sun.”
“The sun? Last time I checked, that was called the moon.”
“It’s the sun’s light reflecting off the moon’s surface, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“That would also explain why no one has seen it during the day time. The sunlight keeps it from appearing.”
“I suppose it makes sense.”
“I wish there was a way to test that though.”
“Why? I don’t see how it could help us.”
Jack shrugged. “We could set up a series of mirrors to reflect sunlight into one of the hatches and down the tunnel.”