Darkness Trilogy (Book 2): Death In Darkness

by Alexander, Lee

A small cabinet was above the microwave in the tiny setup. It held four glasses, four plates, and silverware to accompany. I wasn't sure when that would be useful, since pretty much all food was served out of the mess hall.

  I turned my attention back to the livingroom as a whole. It featured small recessed speakers in the walls and ceiling. A large TV sat centered in the wall. It took up the majority of the blank space, slowly changing across landscapes. The light was dim, providing ambience without being overly bright.

  I watched for a moment as it changed across several landscapes. It had LEDs on the edges that bled the colors at the edges for additional immersion. The little touches in the suite really made it feel welcoming.

  I looked at the couch. It looked warm and inviting. Possibly a type of synthetic leather, soft and pliant. I touched it, feeling the fabric give. It was a rich, dark black. It felt amazing, almost like a mix between silk and leather. I was sure that even on the hottest day, my skin wouldn't stick to the surface of the couch.

  One either side of the couch sat a door. To the right, from the orientation of the entrance hallway, the door sat open. I could see Eddie running around inside. I walked with Lin to the doorway, and we looked in.

  A twin bed sat to one side. A desk opposite the bed on the near wall held a terminal for the computer system. There was an empty bookshelf at the end of the bed. To the right of the door sat a closet for clothing. Eddie was joyous.

  “Wow, this is as big as my bedroom was in the old place...” marveled Linda. I looked at her. My house had been a bit larger than the suite as a whole, and I had lived alone. Well, save for Buster, my dog, and Spike, my cat. The memory of my furry companions hit me like a cannon shot for a moment.

  I reeled, feeling the loss of my last bit of family, for a moment. Linda noticed and grabbed my waist.

  “Babe, you okay?”

  I paused, collecting myself. After a moment, I nodded.

  “Yeah, I just miss Spike and Buster.”

  She nodded, understanding loss. True, it was a different kind, but everybody mourns their family.

  I changed the subject.

  “So, if this is Eddie's room...”

  I turned and looked at the other door.

  “That must be your room, Lin.”

  “Yeah... what?” She paused. “MY room?”

  “Uh... yeah? Your room.”

  “And that leaves you where, MISTER DeWisr?”

  “The couch?”

  She softly slugged my shoulder.

  “My husband will not be sleeping on the couch. Let's look at OUR bedroom.”

  “Gross, Mom,” erupted from behind as we slowly walked across the living room.

  “Get over it, Eddie,” quipped Lin. She smiled like a fox when she did. There might have been a few too many teeth. I loved it. She turned and led me by the hand to the door opposite from Eddie's.

  I let Lin open the door. It swung wide, and we both stood stunned. I remembered how spare the accommodations were when I served in the military. This was not spare, not by military standards at least.

  The room was large enough to comfortably hold a queen size bed, two night stands, and a six drawer dresser. Behind the bed was a large double door closet. A door to our left was closed.

  Linda walked around the bed to slide open the closet door. It revealed a full size space, maybe three feet deep. It was plenty roomy, especially since we had nothing but the clothes on our backs.

  I opened the second door to find a stylish modern bathroom. It was pleasantly simple, with a solid counter top surrounding the two sinks. A large mirror backed the sinks, with medicine cabinets on either side. A toilet sat at the far end of the counter.

  Opposite the mirror was a much larger bath/shower combo. It looked to have just barely enough room to squeeze both Lin and I in, if we didn't mind cold knees.

  “It's so beautiful,” breathed Lin. She had walked up behind me as I was scoping the bathroom out. She put an arm around my waist, and I put an arm across her small shoulders.

  “The bathroom?”

  “All of it. Our apartment wasn't this nice,” sighed Lin. “Thank you, babe.”

  “For what... and you know we're not actually married, right?

  She turned me, and put on a pouty look. “What, you don't want to be married to me?”

  “No! Wait, fuck, yes! Dammit, yes, I want to be married to you.”

  She smiled slightly, joy leaping to her eyes.

  “But we're not,” I continued. “Not yet, at least. I never even proposed to you. I just did it to make sure you and Eddie stayed together.”

  “Just for that? In any case, if you want to be married to me, why wait?”

  “Uh... okay.”

  I took a knee awkwardly. She beamed at me the whole time. I carefully took her hand in mine, met her eyes, and began to speak.

  “Linda Williams-”

  “DeWisr, mister.”

  I paused as she cut me off. Then I laughed, realizing that as far as the people in charge knew, that was her name. She pretended to adopt a stern gaze.

  “Linda Williams DeWisr, will you marry me?” I put extra emphasis on my last name.

  She suddenly yanked me to my feet, surprising me with her strength.

  “YES! Of course I will, you big oaf!”

  A battle cry mixed with the screech of a raptor as a mass tackled me from behind. Lin and I fell in a tangle of limbs.

  Eddie sat atop us, still yelling.

  “YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!”

  I burst out laughing. Lin was crying and laughing as well.

  “Mom never shuts up about you! I'm glad you're going to marry her, maybe she can find something new to talk about.”

  He giggled as Lin reached over and started tickling him. He screeched and writhed, laughing the whole time. A moment later, Lin let him go, and he got off of us. I stood and helped Lin up, ducking in for a kiss.

  “Gross!”

  “Can it, I get to be happy,” Lin said as she laughed.

  “Everything is going to be fine now,” I said. She smiled and kissed me again.

  Chapter 5

  Darkness +15, 2033

  Greater Seattle Area, Washington, USA

  Location Undisclosed, Base 13, Project Osiris

  -61°F

  0900 Hours

  “Shut that infernal thing off.”

  I groped about for the alarm clock. I blindly pressed buttons until it stopped the squawking. The red LED display said '0900'. I groaned.

  “Babe, time to get up.”

  She muttered something, then slowly rose out of the bed.

  “Run, a zombie!” I muttered just loud enough for her to hear.

  She turned and set a dour eye on me. I chuckled, then got out of bed myself. She told me to start the shower, then went across the suite to wake Eddie.

  I turned on the lights in the bathroom and set about preparing for the day. I was exhausted, but I looked relatively okay. I turned on the shower to let it heat while I shaved. To my surprise, the shower was hot before I was done shaving.

  I stepped into the spray, feeling the high pressure pummel me like I owed it money. I thanked any deity that was listening and enjoyed the massage. A moment later, Linda poked her head into the shower.

  “Hey Sailor,” she said with a saucy grin.

  “Airman. I was in the Air Force, Lin.”

  She mock scowled at me, then stepped in.

  “Move over, we can't be late on our first day!”

  After the shower, we dressed in the new uniforms. They were simple coveralls with patches to denote name and designation. The name patches were missing, since they had only been issued the night before. My job patch showed a stylized DNA strand in the shape of a microscope, for Research and Development. Linda's had a simple caduceus, two snakes wrapped around a staff, to show her assignment in the hospital.

  As we opened the front door of the suite, a soldier in uniform was waiting for us. His hand was raised, and a look of surpr
ise was on his face.

  “I'm here to guide you to your assigned locations today.” He recovered his composure remarkably fast. We nodded and stepped out to follow him.

  First, Eddie was dropped off at the school in the Admin wing of the fourth floor. Then we stopped at the hospital for Linda. Finally, I was escorted down to the fifth floor and through the R&D doors. My escort left me as I crossed the threshold.

  Before me stood a stark white room, with a monolithic slate gray desk. It stood nearly to my chest, which meant that I didn't see anybody behind it until I was at the desk itself.

  “Can I help you?” asked the woman behind the desk in a crisp, professional tone.

  “Yeah... I mean yes. I'm Dante- uh, DeWisr, here for my first day.”

  “Yes, I have you scheduled. Please wait there, your escort will be out shortly.” She turned her attention back to a terminal hidden by the desk. A few key strokes later, she spoke briefly.

  “One, Wiseman⸺”

  “DeWisr, Ma'am.”

  She paused, looking at me. Then she repeated 'DeWisr'. Then she touched her headset and looked back up at me.

  “Wait right there. Your escort is on their way. You're late, by the way.”

  “No, Ma'am. I was told ten-hundred, and it's only o–nine–fifty–eight.”

  Just then, the door to my right opened. A soldier took a half step out, looking at me.

  “DeWise?”

  “DeWisr, that's me,” I said. I couldn't help but correct him. My name wasn't that difficult.

  “Follow me, you're late.”

  I sighed, then lunged to keep up. The soldier had turned around, letting the door go. I barely caught it, swearing as the heavy door tried to close on my fingers. I opened it and cradled my left hand, feeling the throbbing pain as I raced to catch up. The soldier was already more than ten feet away, moving rapidly.

  We wound through a small maze of cubicles, ending at an office door. The soldier knocked, then turned and left without saying a word. I never caught his name. The only noticeable thing about him was his olive skin.

  “Enter,” said a gruff voice from the office.

  I opened the door and stepped into the office. It was spartan, having only a desk and a handful of cabinets. A man sat behind the desk, writing on one set of papers while reading another. He was an average looking man with two silver bars on his lapel. He glanced up at me and motioned for me to sit.

  “DeWisr, you're late.”

  “Sir, it's ten-hundred, exactly when I was told to be here.”

  “So it is. From now on, fifteen minutes early is on time, and on time is late. Understood?”

  I nodded, and he continued before I could say anything else.

  “Good. Down here we are working on any methods we can find to combat the Xeno threat. How is your molecular biology?”

  I paused, thinking of an answer. The non-sequiter had caught me off guard.

  “Not great. I uh... haven't really done any biology since college. I specialize in languages and intelligence interpretation.”

  “Doesn't matter. We'll give you a crash course, have you up to speed by the afternoon.” He paused as he shuffled papers around. Then he grabbed one out of the mess and looked it over. He glanced back at me.

  “You said languages and intel?”

  “Yes, sir. I⸺”

  “That could be useful. Any managerial experience?”

  I kept my answer short, because he clearly didn't care much what I had to say.

  “No sir.”

  “That's fine. We can work with what you've brought as is. For now, report to One-Delta. Dismissed.”

  “Yes, sir. Where do I find One-Delta?”

  He waved at the door, already immersed in his paperwork again.

  “Follow the signs.”

  I stood and walked out, still confused. I checked the door as it closed, but there was no placard. The Captain was in an office without any indication of who he was. There hadn't been a placard on his desk. I couldn't even remember if he had a name patch on his uniform.

  I shrugged inwardly, and began my search for One-Delta. Signs were everywhere, but I didn't see one on the walls or hanging from the ceiling for the office I was meant for. I began to wander through the cubicle maze, trying to find any indication of where I was supposed to go.

  “DeWisr, what are you doing?”

  I turned to find where the voice was coming from, and recognized the soldier from earlier. He was solidly built, right about my height. I finally caught his nameplate. It read 'BAZUA'.

  “Bazua, finally, a friendly face.”

  He just stared back at me.

  “Right, uh, I was assigned to One-Delta. I don't know where it is.”

  He nodded. “That's pretty easy, we use the mathematical symbol instead of the word. See that triangle? You're going to follow those signs. It should be down that hallway and to the left.”

  “Oh, uh, thanks.”

  He nodded and turned away. I looked at the signs on the wall again, and finally noticed the one I was supposed to follow. It was marked '1-Δ', about halfway through the myriad of other signs. It had an arrow pointing down the same hallway Bazua had indicated.

  I made my way along the hallway, gawking at the sights. The right hand wall was mostly glass, showing a lab with what appeared to be weapons. Some were in pieces, but even the ones that appeared complete were barely recognizable. They looked like assault rifles, but had strange pieces coming off of the barrel or stock. I couldn't make out any details, but a few even appeared to glow faintly.

  The weaponry lab was large, but I had to split off soon after down a hallway. I continued following the signs until I came across a door with a large sign on it. The sign only read '1-Δ'. I memorized the route I had taken, realizing that it should have only taken a minute or so to find. I shook my head, then opened the door and stepped into the lab beyond.

  Chapter 6

  Darkness +15, 2033

  Greater Seattle Area, Washington, USA

  Location Undisclosed, Base 13, Project Osiris

  -61°F

  1010 Hours

  Several people were clustered together, talking animatedly.

  “What about a genetic recombinant virus?” said the younger man in the group.

  “You mean like AIDS?” responded the only woman.

  “What? How does that help this situation?” replied the young man.

  “AIDS, you know the one. It was created by the government in the '70s as a biological weapon, but PETA raided the lab and released it. Like that old movie, '28 Days Later', except instead of zombies it was an immunocompromising virus that restructured itself constantly. I don't think that's what's happening here.”

  “Hold on, you two,” said the older man. He turned and smiled at me. “It appears we have a visitor.”

  The three of them stood in a small huddle at a computer monitor in the middle of the room. Scientific equipment of all kinds stood on every available surface, from microscopes to sample refrigerators and more than a dozen computers. Everything was beeping or humming quietly, causing an ambiance of busy work.

  The older man and the young woman were of similar stature, maybe five-eight. He had a shock of pure white hair extending from his head in all directions. I guessed him to be in his early 60s. He wore a long white lab coat over a sweater vest and slacks. The young woman looked to be in her mid twenties, with dark brown hair drawn into a severe bun. She was similarly dressed in slacks and a dark vest under her lab coat.

  The final member of their trio was in his late twenties, sandy-brown hair approaching blond, and thinning badly. He had a receding hairline that was clearly a sore point, since his hair was long enough to almost cover the encroaching forehead. He stood nearly my height, maybe five-ten. The younger pair turned and stared, instead of greeting me.

  I realized as I looked over the three of them that the older gentleman was the scientist who had sedated Geno the night before.

  “Hi.
I'm Dante, I've been assigned to One-Delta,” I said as I waved.

  The older man clapped his hands together, clearly pleased.

  “Excellent! So wonderful to have another set of hands. Ah, yes. I am Allan Doore, uh Doctor Allan if you're about formality. Just Allan otherwise.” He smiled again, then waved to the young woman. “This is my primary assistant, Doctor Karen Vale. And he is the lab rat⸺” Doctor Doore said as he broke into uproarious laughter.