“So this is it, huh?” Jess said, pointing over the valley.
“Yeah. That’s it.” I said.
“There has to be something useful in there.” She said.
Between us and the horizon was a stretch of well guarded valley. First was a wall with barbed wire on top, and you couldn’t see the end of it on the left or right. It seemed like the enemy soldiers had encased the entire forest.
Beyond that wall was an expanse of empty field. Effectively a ‘moat’ of sorts they made by deforesting specific areas. Anyone running across that would be seen right away, but there wasn’t enough forest gone to give our planes a clue what was going on.
After that were the still standing parts of the forest. Patrolled above by helicopters with spotlights. Lastly, in the middle of it all was the place in question, the Compound. It was a tall, gray building, camouflaged on top. Very square, very strange looking. It had many windows, but they were all black and barred. It was too far to tell exactly what was going on over there. Odder yet, there were guards around every inch of that place except the Compound itself.
“What do you think is in there? It has to be some kind of weapon against our side.” Alice said.
“It’s gotta be something good.” Jess said.
“Or something bad.” Mike said.
“You’re always such a downer. Come on, have I ever been wrong?” Jess said.
“What about the most recent time we crossed the border?” Alice said. “You’re just lucky daddy is a General and was there to bail us out.”
Jess scowled. The three of us remaining laughed, but it hadn’t been a laughing matter at the time of the crossing.
“That was more a random screw up than a fault in my plan.” Jess said.
“Are you serious? You want to go in there? Haven’t you ever heard of ‘curiosity killed the cat’?” Mike said.
He pointed as a helicopter coasted over the forest. We laid low to avoid it.
“Yeah? So? I’m not a fucking cat.” Jess snapped.
“Meow.” Alice mocked.
“Your other shenanigans got us paid, I’ll admit, but we weren’t likely to be killed there. Here? They might just shoot us on sight whether your dad’s a General or not.” Mike said.
“Guys, look.” I whispered.
I laid down in the grass at the edge of the cliff and stared towards the Compound. Everyone did the same. The helicopter that had flown over us was carrying something. A large container was strapped under it, like one of those big buckets used for fires.
“What’s it doing?” Alice whispered.
“Shut up and watch it if you’re so curious.” Jess said.
“Okay, chill.” Alice said.
The helicopter slowed once it reached the Compound building. It paused for a second, then swung itself so the bucket poured onto the building. I squinted to try and see what it was.
“Sorry, I forgot my binoculars.” Mike said, as if reading my thought.
“Is that water?” Alice said.
“It looks sparkly almost.” I said.
“Yeah, water reflects light.” Jess said plainly.
“No, don’t you see that? It catches the light more than normal.” I said.
“It looks kind of… frothy?” Alice said.
Everyone watched until the helicopter had dumped the whole container, then flew off. It came back towards us and we all dove for the bushes again. We waited for it to be gone.
“This would be the dumbest shit we’ve ever done.” Mike said.
“Or the bravest shit. Maybe the most profitable shit too.” Jess said.
“You know what they say about shit caked in gold. It’s still shit.” Alice said.
“Come on, you’re all just being dramatic,” Jess said. “Even what we see will be valuable to our side, and if we managed to grab something too? Mike, you’d be set to help your mother with her medical. Alice, you’d finally crawl out from Initiate,”
Jess turned to me.
“And you Cam? You’d finally be able to get out of teaching recruits in training camp and get that drone job.”
We were all silent. We knew that she was right. It would be a profitable run. Whatever was in there, it was clear that the enemy didn’t want us to see. We were still young, none of us over twenty-five, but this wouldn’t be the first time we’d run dangerous jobs for our country. If we did this of our own volition and got some valuable intel? We’d be set in our army careers for life. But what if we were captured? The opposite, I guess.
Jess must have seen the look on my face, because she rolled her eyes.
“Guys, come on. We’ve stolen trucks from these losers before. We’ve crossed the border many times and slipped in and out of the warzone unharmed. We’ve got this.” She said.
Another helicopter went to the Compound from the other side of the valley, and dumped more of that strange substance on the building.
“And if we’re caught?” Mike said.
“And if we find intel that turns the war?” Jess returned. Mike sighed.
None of us said anything for a moment.
“And what do you get, Jess? Why do you want to do this so bad?” Mike said.
“I don’t know. Maybe my fucking dad will actually look at me with some pride. Maybe he’ll finally realize that I’m here.” She said.
All of us poked fun at one another, but none of us made fun of Jess for that. It was well known that General Superbia had wanted a boy, and had ‘only’ gotten her. Maybe that alone was what swayed us. Maybe the idea of the sheer glory we’d reap was greater than the fear. Maybe it was just pure curiosity. I just hoped we still had nine lives left.
“Fine,” I said. “How do we do this then?”
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Jess said, and slugged my shoulder. I smiled despite myself.
“So? What about the rest of you?” Jess said.
“Fine.” Alice droned.
“This had better work, or I’m clobbering all your asses.” Mike said.
We scoped out the place for a few more days. Jess paid for a few pieces of information from our other friend. That’s right, I mean you, Jace. We agreed that you would be the sole informant of whatever we found. In return, you wouldn’t say a word, and gave us some useful heads up info.
In watching the place for those days, we saw some interesting things. More of the same really. Two more helicopters came by, dumped that stuff on the building and flew off. Looking at it more, it seemed almost granular instead of liquid. They did it every two days or so. What was the reason?
You told us about a Compound construction project beginning on a certain day. A new gate security system or some such. It would concentrate the guards in that place, so we knew that this would be our only chance. Since the construction took place on the northwest side, we were able to approach the valley from that same cliff. We met there again that night with our equipment ready to go.
“Equipment check.” Jess said, adjusting a buckle on her gear.
“I’ve got my flashlight, comms jammer, stun gun, and a camera.” Mike said.
“Binoculars?” I said.
“Right, those too.” Mike said.
“And I’ve got my camera disruptor.” Alice said.
“Just call it a laser pointer.” I said.
Alice laughed.
“Fine. I’ve got my laser pointer, ration snacks, flashlight, and our walkies too.”
She handed each of us one and an accompanying earbud.
“I’ve got my endless charm, a keypad lockpicker, flashlight, and the heat vision goggles.” Jess said.
“Are those the goggles we used last time? Those suck shit.” Mike said.
“I tinkered with them a bit, they should be fine.” Jess said.
“‘Should be’.” Mike mimicked.
“I have a flashlight, the Geiger and EMF. We don’t want to be walking into a nuclear power plant. I already checked. No readings so far.” I said.
“I don’t really want to experience life as a microwaved chicken sandwich.” Mike said.
“Then don’t be a chicken. Plus if the Geiger readings are high, that’s valuable too. The last thing we need them to have is a power plant.” Jess said.
“Or a bomb.” Alice said warily.
We all took a minute to make sure everything was ready before carefully heading down the hill. It wasn’t too steep, but we had to slide most of the way down to the valley.
I wondered all the while what we would find if we survived. It had to be something for the war. Some kind of dangerous new weapon they were eager to unleash on us. I stared at the gray building as I lost sight behind the wall. Those black windows felt like eyes. Watching. Waiting.
We soon made it to the wall topped by barbed wire. The wall, the plains, the forest. Those were our obstacles. This was our last chance to turn back. We all knew it. We shared a glance as if waiting for anyone to object, say that we should just go home, but no one said anything. These curious cats were in.
“Okay,” Jess whispered. “Jace said there’s supposed to be a damaged opening here on the south, south east side. We just have to find it. Keep your flashlights close to the ground. If you see a helicopter, turn it off.”
We nodded and began our search. It was hard to say how long we looked. The air felt tense here. The night was quiet of all but crickets, and we heard the occasional drive-by on the other side of the wall. There were no helicopters just yet. We took that for a small piece of luck.
“Over here.” Jess said on the walkie.
I looked up to see her gesturing at a corner of the wall. We all caught up to her position.
“Tight fit.” Alice whispered, pointing to the damaged hole in the stone.
“We can ease our packs in backwards. After you, Alice.” Jess said.
“Why do I have to go first?” Alice said.
“Just stop being a baby and go, come on.” Jess said.
Alice sighed and crawled in backwards. She grabbed her pack by the top loop and pulled it in after her. It eased through like a mole pulling a bounty into its burrow. We waited.
“Alice?” I whispered.
That was when we heard her scream over the walkie.
“Alice?” Mike stammered.
“M–M–Monster!” Alice wailed. After a moment, she began to laugh, and Jess growled.
“Not funny.” Mike said, but was chuckling.
“Well come on then, the coast is clear.” Alice said.
“You shouldn’t scream like that. Do you want to get us caught?” Jess said.
“Relax, I just put my mic close. It only sounded loud to you. Loosen up.” Alice said.
“Military espionage is not the time to loosen up.” Jess snapped.
She shook her head and crawled into the hole. We followed one by one until we were all on the other side. If the air was tense before, it was frozen now. It didn’t help that it was chilly tonight.
Our next obstacle was to cross the large field. If a helicopter or patrolman was anywhere on the horizon, they’d see us and gun us down like fish in a barrel. The only cover was right against the wall where they hadn’t bothered to level some of the vegetation. Maybe some of the tree stumps on the way could act as cover, but I wouldn’t want to count on that. I shivered.
“We need to be careful here.” I whispered. Everyone nodded.
We waited in our cover. Our camo was printed in U.S. Woodland, which was perfect for this stretch of country.
We huddled together in silence as a patrol car drove slowly along the field from our left. It had a gunner in the back with some serious artillery. There’s an important rule when hiding within enemy sight. You shouldn’t watch the enemy as they pass, even if you’re well hidden. Sometimes you just felt as though eyes were on you, and watching them invited that sixth sense.
So we stared at the ground as the car passed. We waited until it rounded the circle of the valley. Another truck would have been right behind it, but with construction, one was likely camped out by the site. That meant we had a small window before the next one. We waited another moment, and the absence of the truck proved our info right.
We didn’t have to speak. We knew it was time to run. Each of us darted across the plain, having to jump over those occasional tree stumps or ruts where the ground sloped. That was one nice aspect of being a trainer. I was always in athletic shape–
I tripped on a stump and fell hard to the ground. I bumped my elbow just right against a rock and had to stop myself from yelping out loud. That’s when I heard the low vrrrr of a car engine to my left.
All of my friends had made it to the edge of the forest, and were smiling at one another until they saw where I was. If I got up now, the truck would run me down for sure.
“Cam?” Jess said over the walkie. I turned it off so the soldiers wouldn’t have the chance to hear it, earphone or not. I tried to still my panicking mind.
“What do you think is in there?” I heard one of the soldiers say.
“Again? How many times do I have to tell you we aren’t supposed to talk about it. Don’t look at it, don’t think about it, just do your job.” Another soldier said.
“But what if there’s something bad in there?”
“‘Bad’? What are you, five years old?” The soldier laughed.
I looked over the ground frantically. My camo alone wouldn’t be enough. They would see me in close proximity. The truck was getting closer.
“No, man. I heard it was something bad. Like, really bad. That they trapped something inside.”
“Is it something to use against the enemy?”
“Probably.”
“Then who gives a fuck?”
I crawled desperately across the ground with wide eyes, then I saw a deeper rut where the plains went into a small hill. I crawled past the tree stump and rolled down it. My canteen. It must have fallen off and hit a stump, because there was the sound of metal ringing.
The truck was right above me now. I came to a stop at the bottom of the rut and hugged to its curve. Was it enough to hide me? I pressed against a longer tree stump and held my breath. My friends were all hidden now.
“Wait, did you hear that?” The soldier said.
“No, what?”
The only sound was the idling truck. My lungs filled with the smell of the burning diesel. I tried not to cough. A flashlight crested down the hill, then over the surrounding area. I carefully pulled my boot closer before the light went over it. I was lucky it was so dark.
After a last tense second, the first soldier spoke again.
“Look, idiot. You just dropped your canteen.”
“Huh? That’s not mine.” The soldier said.
“Just pick it up. Come on already. I wanna go home.” The second soldier said.
The truck revved and rode off once the soldier picked up my canteen. I had to wait for the truck to get far enough away before I darted to the forest. My friends greeted me right away.
“That was too fucking close.” Mike said.
“‘We need to be careful’, huh?” Jess said. “Come on. Let’s keep moving.”
I turned my walkie back on.
Creeping through the forest was easier. It was the only thing that stood between us and the Compound now. I expected to see foot soldiers stationed throughout the wooded area, but there didn’t seem to be any at all. Still, we moved as if there were.
“Spotlight.” Alice whispered, and pointed up.
We all took cover as a bright light went over the trees like a UFO, scanning every inch for invaders. The white rays scattered through the leaves like sunlight shining into water, scattering bright, searching pinpoints across the earth. Even the crickets quieted at its passing. I kept to the shadow as the light moved.
Soon it was past us.
“That was easier than expected.” Jess whispered over the radio.
“Aaaand now we’re jinxed.” Alice said.
“We still have to come back this way. Just be careful.” Mike said.
We crept through the rest of the forest, but didn’t run into any soldiers or more spotlights. We stopped at the edge of the trees for reconnaissance.
Mike pulled out his binoculars and looked through. While we waited for his assessment, I looked out over the area. There was another, if smaller, clearing where the trees had been removed. The Compound building towered over the forest valley like a threatening volcano. Something in my gut pulled at me like a string. It wanted me to go back. Those windows felt too much like eyes now.
“Gate straight ahead. Three guards. Two cameras on top corners, old ones. Keypad on the right side wall by the gate. Barbed wire.” Mike said.
“Any way in besides the gate?” Jess said.
“Looking.” Mike said.
I pulled out my Geiger counter and hooked it to my earphone. I switched it on, and waited. The needle bounced around 0 Sv/hr like it did before. In other words, no more than ambient radiation if anything.
“Any readings?” Jess whispered.
“No. I’ll check again if we get up to the building itself.” I said.
I pulled out the EMF reader next. If this place was a power plant of some sort, there’d likely be a noticeable level higher than the 0.2 mG average. I plugged my earphone into the reader and flicked it on.
“Maybe it’ll be a power pla–”
I was cut off by the EMF reader wailing into my earphone. I ripped it out as the lights blared to 1.0, 2.0, 5.0+ mG. 5.0 was the reader’s max. I felt those black windows watching me.
Everyone was looking over as the sound got worse.
“Shut it off!” Alice hissed.
Before I could do anything, the little bulbs indicating the measurements popped one by one with a crackling sound. I dropped the tool to the ground when a piece of the glass stuck into my hand. I pulled it out to see a small cut.
The four of us froze.
The sound wasn’t exactly loud, but it carried, and anyone hearing breaking glass in a forest should be suspicious. Indeed, the gate guards were.
We all scattered as the enemy soldiers moved. They shone weapon-mounted flashlights up, and started moving towards our previous position. I waited for Jess to sound a plan over the walkie. I cursed as I realized. I had dropped my earphone on the ground with the broken EMF reader. I turned off my walkie.
I couldn’t see where my friends had gone. I guess that was a good thing. It meant that the soldiers might not have such an easy time either.
The two enemies crept up to where we had been. By then, I had managed to get about four meters away from there, and used the trees for cover. All I could do was watch.
The soldiers flicked their lights over the foliage. One of the two picked up my broken EMF reader and inspected it. The thing had fried, but they could likely tell what it was. I saw one of them put a hand to their ear. They had an earpiece similar to the one I had dropped.
“This is SE Gate Control. We found an odd object on the ground after a strange commotion. Acknowledge?”
The soldiers waited. The one that had picked up my EMF reader had wandered slightly into the forest. He seemed to be following something. Maybe some of our tracks.
That’s when I saw the shadow of Alice grab the soldier around the throat and pin him. The soldier hadn’t been expecting it, and Alice was strong, so he disappeared into the brush. He would have a nice nap from Mike’s stun gun.
“Hello? HQ? Can you acknowledge my last statement? Over.”
That’s right, Mike had a comms jammer too. It was then that the soldier turned. At the absence of their companion, they immediately raised their weapon.
“Harry?” The soldier said.
It was time for bait and switch.
I stood from the brush with a commotion, ready to dive behind my tree at gunfire. The soldier aimed their gun at me.
“Hands up! On the ground now–”
Alice cut them off and pinned them down face first. Mike came up and zapped them in the neck with the stun gun, and the soldier was out. I settled my racing heart as we gathered back up.
“What the hell was that? Why’d it break?” Jess said.
“It must have gained a reading past 5.0mG.” Mike said.
I nodded.
“To shatter the bulbs though?” Alice said.
“It must be a strong reading,” I said. “Too strong, or maybe it was something else? I don’t know. We don’t want to be here too long if it’s a strong EMF. High mG readings can act like radiation.”
“We need to go then.” Mike said.
“Don’t be a microwaved chicken. The gates are unguarded now. We can’t throw away this chance. Jace said they don’t have many guards around the Compound building itself.” Jess said.
“Maybe that’s because it’s heavily radioactive.” Mike said.
“Well they’re keeping guards at the gates so it must be safe, right?” Alice said.
“You’re assuming they care that far.” Mike said.
“Look, we have to do something soon. These men will wake up in an hour or so, right Mike?” Jess said.
He nodded.
“Great, then I’m going. Who’s coming with?” Jess said.
Mike sighed.
“A good look, a few pictures, and we’re out.” He said.
“Fine by me. Alice, cameras?” Jess said.
Alice pulled out her industrial laser pointer and aimed carefully at the lenses. Nowadays, this doesn’t work to overload most cameras, but we knew for a fact that the enemy hadn’t updated these particular areas yet, hence the construction. Sure enough, there was a little pop in each camera as she hit the right pieces with the laser.
“We’ve maybe got ten minutes before they send a patrol to check the cameras. Then they’ll see the guards are gone.” Alice said.
“Go.” Jess said.
We dashed across the clearing and made it to the gate. Jess pulled out her lockpicker and mounted it to the keypad.
“If this shit doesn’t work, I’m going to smack Jace.” She said.
The few minutes it took to work on the lock were tense, but soon it beeped with confirmation, and the gates buzzed open. We pushed inside the Compound area. Mike got his camera out and began taking pictures.
The gray building was massive this close. It was covered by those black windows, and I could see from here that they were indeed heavily barred. Each of them was inscribed with strange text. There was one set of red double doors that led into the building itself. They were also decorated by the same strange text and intricate designs.
“What the hell is this place?” Alice muttered.
Our attention was drawn to the ground first, mainly because I slipped the instant we stepped past the gate. Alice caught me with ease and set me upright.
“What is this stuff?” Jess said, leaning down to touch some of it.
The ground was covered in little white crystals. So many, it was like sand. Jess touched one to her tongue.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Mike stammered.
“Don’t you smell it? It’s salt. Like, table salt.” Jess said.
“Smell it? Salt doesn’t have a smell.” Mike said.
Jess shrugged. We all took a closer look at it though. It really was salt.
“Was this what they were dumping on this place?” I said.
“The building and ground is covered in it, so I’m guessing that’s a yes.” Mike said, taking more pictures.
We all puzzled over it for a minute before we felt a pulse. That’s the best word for it really, like the shockwave of a bomb or a strong wind, but there was no explosion. It was definitely coming from the building.
“Did you feel that?” Alice said, holding her stomach.
It happened again. It almost made me vomit.
“Maybe if we go up to those windows, I can see a signature with the heat goggles.” Jess said, not looking sick at all. In fact, there was a strange look in her eyes.
“We need to go right after you get a look. This is dangerous.” Mike said. We hurried up to the building. I got no radiation readings at least.
Jess put on the goggles and stared into the window. She was quiet for a long time.
“Well?” Mike said after a moment.
She didn’t reply, and instead suddenly elbowed one of the windows in between the bars. She hit hard enough to break it.
“Jess? The fuck?” Alice said as we stepped back.
“Relax. They’ll know someone was here anyway.” Her voice was calm and empty. A husk of her former self. We all exchanged a glance as Jess removed the goggles and stared into the building.
“Jess?” Alice said warily and shook her shoulder. Jess was as still as a statue.
“Guys? We should–” Mike was interrupted.
Jess fell over onto her back. She arched and twitched, bones cracking like popcorn. Her eyes had changed color. A black as deep as the ocean floor. We all stared in confusion and horror, unsure what to do.
Jess blinked several times, then took a deep breath as she stood up. Her back was to us. Her head tilted to one side.
“Jess? Are you good?” Mike said.
“There’s something in there,” Jess mumbled. “The salt. It hurts. I have to let it out. It’s trapped.”
“Jess?” I said.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Mike said.
He started off towards the gate that we had entered through. Alice and I watched Mike go. Jess surprised us as she marched towards the red double doors.
“Jess!” Alice called.
We should have left with Mike.
The red doors were padlocked, but Jess was going insane trying to bash them open. She used the goggles, then her hands when those broke. Her hands began to bleed as she battered the metal with her arms. It was then that I heard the armored trucks. Three of them were driving to the gate from afar, guns aimed in our direction. Mike had made it to the forest.
If it wasn’t for the thickness of the fence, the soldiers might have started shooting right away. Or maybe there was another reason.
Alice and I were frozen. What were we supposed to do?
We heard a simultaneous snap. The sound of Jess’ hands and the locks breaking together. She fumbled with the doors like a wild animal in a rage, and ripped them open. An odd, dark fog leaked out from inside.
“Free.” Jess mumbled.
Alice and I ran.
Jess was shoveling the salt with inhuman strength as we went. That’s when the armored trucks parked. Alice and I hid against the gate.
“What do we do?” Alice said. I didn’t have a reply.
“Come out with your hands up.” An enemy soldier called.
Jess was moving quick, and she reached the gate soon. A soldier shot her down, but it was too late. The line of salt was broken. There was a still moment.
The double doors of the Compound flew into the air and over our heads. The front of the building burst apart. Alice and I stared into the building’s darkness. Jess had gotten up and was staring too.
Two red dots glowed inside. There was a crackling sound. A popping, like several joints clicking in tandem. A bright smile beamed right under the eyes. A big smile, too big for a normal humanoid.
“Free.” A dark voice exhaled.
The enemy soldiers immediately started firing into the darkness of the building. The ricochets gave only a brief look at strange fleshy wings, protruding bones, and many limbs. We might have seen more, but Alice and I looked away at once. I felt that strange nausea, and the need to look back up. Whatever this thing was, it wanted us to look.
Alice and I were able to run past the soldiers at the gate. There was a fear and sharp attention in some eyes, but the rest were only staring up at that thing like Jess had been. A dead, empty stare, eyes turning black like the building’s glass. They dropped their guns and walked towards the Compound.
I don’t know what happened to Jess.
I heard something in my head.
“Come back, Cam. Come back, Alice. Come and save Jess.” It was that same dark voice.
Something whipped out like lightning from the building and smashed the enemy trucks. That was the last thing I saw before we ran away into the forest.
Away, far away.
We were able to meet Mike where we had breached the wall. He didn’t have to ask any questions. He had seen it too. I wish we hadn’t gone in there at all. Maybe Jess would still be alive.
What do we do, Jace?
We looked briefly back at the Compound as we ran to camp. I saw a mass of claws, sky bound tentacles, and a bright and shining smile. It’s coming. It’s free.