Masked

by RB Stutz

There was still no response.

  As we stood waiting, I noticed the room had gotten a little brighter. As far as I could see no lights had been turned on. It was still dark, but more like the kind of dark you have outside when the moon is full. I could see the facial features of the officer clearly. It was a bit unworldly and I was confused as to what could be causing the room to grow brighter like that.

  As if reading my mind officer Raymond asked with a nervous look “what’s going on?”

  Just then something dropped softly on my shoulder. As a reflex, I quickly brushed whatever it was off. My hand only touched it for a moment, but it was enough to tell the object was firm and cold. I then felt it again on my other shoulder. I looked over and saw a dark hairy spider the size of my fist sitting on my shoulder looking at me with its many black eyes. I screamed like a school girl, no like a chorus of school girls. I’m terrified of spiders.

  In a panic, I flung the large bulbous ball of hair and legs from my shoulder and ran back several feet from where it landed. Officer Raymond started to ask “what the …” but was cut short as she started to scream and jump around frantically, moving her arms as if trying to fling things off of her.

  I felt another soft movement on my right shoulder. When I looked over there were now two of the large spiders resting there. As I again screamed a shrill high pitched scream, three more landed on me, one after another. I was running in a panic trying to bat away the still falling spiders. The officer was also still screaming and trying to protect her head from the spiders falling on her. There must have been hundreds that fell.

  As the spiders continued to fall, I ran over and grabbed the officer by the arm and started to pull her back towards the direction we’d come. She was still covering her head from the falling arachnids, her hair covering her eyes, so I lead the way. After only a few feet, I caught a glimpse of the blonde girl just ahead of us. She was standing with her arms out in front of her, looking directly at me, smiling. Once I had her gaze, she winked and everything went black.

  The shock of the instant darkness instinctively caused my body to react, but when it tried, I couldn’t move. I was still upright, but there was something preventing me from moving my arms and legs as if bound. There was also some sort of barrier surrounding me because when I tried to lean just slightly, I hit its surface with my forehead. It’s only then I recognized officer Raymond was no longer with me.

  “Officer Raymond,” I shouted, the sound loud in the enclosed space I was in.

  There was no answer. In fact, there was no noise at all outside of my own heavy breathing.

  I continued to struggle, the panic building again. Two things I hated the most were spiders and tight spaces where I can’t move and as if on cue with my thoughts, the small space lit up. There again was no discernible light source but a dim brightness that surrounded me. It appeared I was in a pine box, just the right size to perfectly hold my body without any extra space for me to move in.

  How had I been bound and put in a pine box in a matter of seconds? I tried to think past the panic to find a way out.

  Since I was standing, I thought maybe I could move enough to topple the box. Maybe the impact would break it. It would hurt, but what other choice did I have? That idea was short lived. When I tried to move, nothing happened. The box didn’t move an inch. It had to have been fastened to the floor somehow. That assumed of course I was still in the basement. Other nightmares of being buried alive standing upright or in a box encased in concrete began to cross my mind.

  There was a gentle pressure on top of my head and then a scuttling movement. Realizing what it was, an icy chill ran through my body and I started screaming again as one of the large spiders crawled down my face.

  I felt impact after impact as more fell from above me, each landing on my head, some crawling down and others falling. They kept coming and I kept screaming. It was my worst nightmares come true.

  How could it be true? Fear and panic continued to build. I kept screaming and trying to struggle, to no avail. There was no room for rationale thought. There was no way out.

  There was little open space in the box so it didn’t take long for the dropping arachnids to build up on top of each other, growing closer towards my head. They kept building and building until finally they covered my face. With my eyes and mouth closed, I continued to scream as hairy probes tried to break my seals. I don’t know how long I screamed, but it seemed like an eternity. Those large bulbous bodies and hairy legs moving against my face, I thought I was going to pass out. Then, everything then just stopped.

  In an instant, I was standing by myself down in the basement level of the building again. There was no pine box, no spiders and no officer Raymond.

  My body was trembling so hard. I lost my balance and fell to the floor. Visions of spiders on the floor immediately caused me to jump right back up. Everything was dark again. I was alone. I couldn’t see the officer anywhere.

  “Officer Raymond,” I said in a weak trembling voice. There was no answer.

  “Officer Raymond,” I said again. This time my voice was more steady and loud.

  It was silent for a few seconds and then I heard “she can’t hear you,” in a calm pleasant feminine voice.

  I jumped and turned to find no one behind me. I heard a high pitched laugh echo through the room. I looked in all directions trying to determine where the voice was coming from.

  “Who are you?” I yelled trying to get a response.

  “Now if I told you that, I might have to kill you,” the voice said still echoing. “Well, I’ll probably kill you anyway, but not yet. I’m intrigued. How did you know to follow me? I heard you talking with the poor sweet officer. How did you know what was going to happen to my new friend?”

  I stayed silent.

  “So you don’t want to talk to me? Are you still a little frightened? I could bring the spiders back.” There was a pause. “No, something different, let’s see. Oh, I know.”

  Suddenly bright orange flames erupted around me. They seemed to just sprout from the floor and formed a ring around me.

  The flames weren’t very tall and I thought I could just leap over them before they grew more intense. When I approached the flames, they suddenly exploded up towards the ceiling. They were probably six feet high. The intense heat emitted was heating the air getting too hot to bear. It was hard to look at them.

  I started to panic again. What the hell was going on? I scrambled to figure out how to get free from the fire ring.

  Feeling like an idiot, I realized I was wearing the PTD and could just jump out of the fire ring. I activated the wrist control to jump twenty feet from the fire and nothing happened. I tried again and again, but there was nothing. After muttering several four letter profanities, I saw the wall of fire move. Unfortunately for me, it was moving in.

  The intense panic was back. It seemed the only option was to jump through the flame. It was going to hurt, a lot, but I’d recover. The flames kept getting closer, closer. I jumped.

  The heat was intense when I passed through the wall of fire and everything seemed to move in slow motion, as to prolong the effect. I was surprised to not feel any pain from the burns. There was just intense heat and then intense cold.

  The flames disappeared and I was surrounded by dark icy cold water. The shock of moving from the heat of the fire to the icy water sent my body into intense spasms. I couldn’t control my body and when I tried to gasp for air, my lungs filled. Frightened and helpless, I drowned in the basement underneath the Cross.

  At least I thought I had. With a start, I woke lying on the cold floor. It was still dark and I had no idea how long I was there. In a confused state I assessed my surroundings. I was still in the basement, my clothes were completely dry and I saw no signs of fire, water or large spiders. I also saw no sign of officer Raymond.

  Maybe I should have stayed to look for her or the blonde girl and Wally, but I didn’t. Whatever had happened to me was too much to handle just then,
too much to comprehend or overcome. I didn’t know what had happened. I had no clue where they all went or how to move forward. My fear got the better of me and I needed to get out of there. So I did.

  CHAPTER 16

  “What the hell is going on?” I shouted as the doors closed behind the small vehicle transporting Sara’s motionless body away from the training area. I knew once the doors closed the locks had engaged. There was no way to follow without the access code. Even if I had made it through before closing, the two armed men would have tried to stop me.

  I jetted towards the center of the large training hall where Rachael, Emily, Caldwell and Dr. Roberts all stood. Alex, James and Brian followed.

  “What happened? Where are you taking her?” I demanded as I stopped at the group, before anyone else could get in any words.

  “Calm down son,” Caldwell said as he reached out to rest his hand on my shoulder.

  I shrugged it off. “I’ll calm down once someone explains what’s going on.”

  I looked from Caldwell to Emily and Rachael to Dr. Roberts. At my gaze, Dr. Roberts made eye contact with Caldwell and then cleared her throat to speak.

  “Sir, why don’t you explain what happened. I really should catch up with the patient. I want to be there to run the tests myself.” She looked really eager to leave.

  Patient? Tests? What was happening? What had happened to Sara? I had just seen her a few hours ago. She was fine then.

  “I’m going with you,” I said firmly.

  I had to see if she was okay. I had to help her. No one there understood her the way I did. No one else loved her the way I did.

  She didn’t say anything, but looked to Caldwell.

  “Sorry Michael, we can’t allow that. You’re not authorized to leave this section of the HUB yet. I understand you’re worried about your friend, but we need to stick with protocol here. That hasn’t changed. She’s in good hands. Once we know what happened, we’ll inform all of you of her status,” Caldwell said in his calm tone.

  “Piss on protocol. I’m going.”

  “Please Michael, be reasonable. This is a highly classified military operation. That hasn’t changed. We don’t want to force you to stay here, but we will.” Caldwell glanced towards the two armed men.

  They raised their weapons to show his threat was real.

  “Come on man, back down. You can’t help her this way,” Alex said calmly as he grabbed my shoulder. “Let’s just hear what happened first. They’re not going to let you out.” He then leaned in and more quietly. “Let’s just hear what they have to say. We’ll help her. I’ve got your back.”

  Alex’s words brought me back to a state of somewhat rational thought and I turned to Rachael and Emily. “What happened?” I asked, my tone now at less of a shout.

  “I woke to use the latrine and found Sara lying on the shower floor. I hadn’t even noticed she wasn’t in her bed when I got up. I rushed to her and saw she was still breathing and tried to wake her but didn’t get any response. I don’t know how long she had been lying there,” Emily explained as tears filled her eyes.

  They had already been red, a sign of earlier tears.

  “Once I realized there was nothing I could do to get a response from her, I ran to the communications terminal, called in for medical help and woke Rachael.”

  “There was nothing we could do Michael,” Rachael said in a soft voice looking at me. I’d never heard that tone of voice from her before. Her eyes were also red, filling with more tears.

  “Did anything happen tonight?” Caldwell asked.

  I looked up and was met with a knowing accusatory stare.

  Reading my reaction to what I thought he must know, Caldwell said “I know you two were together earlier tonight.”

  I started to respond, but he interrupted.

  “Never mind that for now. Was she acting strange at all? Anything out of the ordinary? What time did you two come back to your barracks?”

  I guess I should have known Emily or Rachael would have said something. I was the last one to see her. Our time together that night came rushing back through my head.

  Of course there was something very much out of the ordinary that happened. Was her new ability the cause? What did the strain of her new ability do to her? Was what happened to her going to happen to me as well? How was I going to help her if it did?

  I’m not exactly sure why I didn’t say anything about it then, for all I knew at the time, it could have helped her. I didn’t really have the time to process all that was going on. It was a feeling I had, that I shouldn’t say anything about the discoveries we made about ourselves. I guess it was the distrust that was there from the beginning finally breaking free of the bonds of rationalization I’d put on it. I guess I realized in my heart of hearts, I didn’t trust them and what we had been told.

  “No. Nothing. She was fine when we came back to the barracks. We got back at around midnight.”

  “Could this be a reaction to the virus reactivated in her system,” James asked. I’d forgotten Brian and James were even there. I could hear genuine concern in his voice.

  “I don’t think so. The viral infection that was in each of you is gone. It shouldn’t be able to come back to cause any harm. Nothing like this has happened to any of the others, but we will know for sure once we run the tests. We’ll do all we can to try and find the cause of what ever happened just in case it’s not an isolated occurrence. We want to make sure the rest of you are not susceptible. Of course, we’ll do all we can for Sara. Again, I promise we’ll keep you informed of her status once we know more,” Caldwell assured us.

  The doors at the end of the room opened again. Batton and Matthew walked briskly through. I thought seriously of making a run for it, to try and get through before they closed again, but never moved past the thought. I would have never made it with the two armed guards, Batton and Matthew all in my path to the door. Until that moment, I hadn’t felt like a prisoner. Sure, I hadn’t always been thrilled about the lack of freedom to leave, but all of us felt that way. Now, it seemed pretty apparent what our place was.

  As the doors closed, Batton and Matthew started towards our huddled group. Caldwell left us and met them halfway. They huddled together in some discussion far enough away as to not be overheard. They knew more than they were telling as about what had happened. I made a decision right then to act, to take the opportunity to see what they weren’t telling us.

  Forcing myself to break past all the despair, worry and concern I had for Sara, I redirected the focus of my thoughts to Caldwell as he stood in discussion with Batton and Matthew. Caldwell was the only one in the room who mattered, the only one who existed. I had to not just see his mind, but be a part of it. I stood motionless, my gaze fixed directly at him. I’m not sure what the others thought I was doing, but I couldn’t worry about that, so I didn’t. I focused on Caldwell.

  I’m not sure how much time passed while I adjusted my focus, trying to hear something. Suddenly, there was his voice and with it the sharp jabbing sensation in my temples. I stumbled in my focus for a second but recovered, trying to push back the pain. The words were broken at first but once I had it, I found I was able to adjust, like tuning a radio receiver. I found the clear channel.

  “Is there any indication he knows?” I heard Batton’s voice ask as received by Caldwell’s brain. I could tell it was Batton, but it sounded a little different from the way I knew his voice.

  “I cannot be sure. Their bond to each other seems strong, stronger than we thought, more than pure physical attraction it would seem. This is not something we anticipated. I think we have to assume he does know,” Caldwell said.

  “I said it was a bad idea to let them carry on like that. We should have stopped it when Arisha reported the first incident. It was too risky. We are running out of time,” Batton said.

  “He will have to be dealt with. It is too bad he could not complete his training. He had the potential to be very useful,” Matthew said
coldly.

  “He will be useful enough. He knows the basics to be able to function for us,” Batton added abruptly.

  “Deal with it today. Same story,” Caldwell ordered. “I think Arisha and Taalon can handle damage control with the others. There does not appear to be any complications like this apparent with the others.”

  Caldwell ended the conversation and continued to the doors to exit with the armed guards. I released my focus and as I did I felt the dagger slide from my temples. It took all I had left, which wasn’t much, to hold in the small cry of pain. The effort completely drained me.

  Batton and Matthew approached our group. Most of the conversation I heard hadn’t made any sense. None of it told me anything about what happened with Sara, only that they knew more than Caldwell had let on. It seemed they were actually the cause of what happened.

  A storm of venomous emotions ran through me at this realization, intense anger trumping the worry. I had the overwhelming urge to rip their heads off. I didn’t though. Again, I suppressed the torrent and tried to gather my thoughts to steer them in a more constructive direction. I went over again what I’d heard.

  They mentioned two names, Arisha and Taalon was it? I didn’t recognize either, but it sounded like they’d been relaying information about us. The only people ever in the training area were Batton, Matthew and Masters on a regular basis. Since they were the ones discussing the two spies, I had to assume Arisha and Taalon were a part of our group. It made me sick to think two of the people I’d grown close to over the last several weeks, people I called friends, would betray us. Betray Sara.

  I didn’t want to contemplate who it could be. I didn’t have the time. One thing was clear from that little bit of dialog, my day was numbered and it seemed it could be stated in a fraction. Something was going to happen to me and I had maybe hours left to try and help Sara before it did.

  No one else had said a word in a while. Probably, no one knew what to say. Batton and Matthew approached our little huddle and told us we had until 7:30 to do what we needed before training would resume. No more protest was heard from me. There was no point to it. I decided I was going to play nice and look like I accepted their terms. I had to play along if I was to get out of the prison I was apparently in. I was going to find her and now I just needed a plan and I needed it by 7:30.