Timeline: Present
Point of View: Claudia & Ralph
Location: Earth (Charleston, West Virginia)
In the blackness of the hole in the ground, Ralph listened to Claudia descend the stairs. It had been a metal ladder, the edges abrasive to the touch as if rusty. The pit smelt damp and rich with mildew. Back when he was a child, his parents had a basement that smelled like this, with a perpetually damp carpet and concrete walls that seemed to sweat. The memory brought a rush of nostalgia to Ralph, as he stood there in the darkness. Curious things happened to the mind with the lights off. It was easy to forget where you were in the world. Ralph considered that a mind in perpetual darkness could became mad, lost in time and space, and he began to feel frantic with the need for light.
“Claudia are you there?” He asked.
“What is with entrances to places not having light?” Claudia asked, remembering the mounds on the red planet.
“What?”
“Nothing. Feel around the walls for a light switch. Hello?” She raised her voice to say that last part, then thought that it might not be very smart. The door above had been concrete with a sheet of plywood above it, but the echo of her voice within the hole could carry. Either way there was no response other than her echo against hard walls in what must have been an empty room.
Ralph extended his hands and touched the cold, damp wall. He felt as if he were half his height, wandering that dark basement from his childhood with the lights off. He remembered each of the times his older brothers locked him in that basement, and he’d sit down there and cry until one of his parents came in to let him out. He’d imagined many kinds of monsters in the darkness back then, but he never became immune to the fear. He felt that fear growing as he drug his hand against the concrete. His heart raced as he pushed himself to step slowly through the room. He found that the walls were guiding him in a circle.
“The room is round,” he told Claudia.
“Yes, I must be going the way opposite you. Keep your voice down.”
Ralph remembered that wandering popolac outside, the creature that likely had many friends, and felt his mouth go dry. Would it rip open that door at any second now and climb inside to find survivors from the recent raid? He felt empathy for those that had been in Charleston the night before. How scary it must have been, sitting inside their houses, waiting for the creatures to come. His hand felt a metal lip, and then a smooth surface. A door.
“Claudia,” he started to say.
“I know, I’m here, too,” she said. She knocked on the door as loudly as she dared, testing it at first to see if the impact would carry sound. It did, with a hollow thud throughout the room. She knocked quieter. “Anyone inside? It’s Claudia and Ralph,” she said, just above a whisper. For a long while, there was no answer.
“Maybe the popolacs got them, or they moved,” Ralph said.
Claudia said nothing, just shook her head no even though she knew Ralph couldn’t see. Instead she knocked again, then found and pushed Ralph out of the way. She continued feeling the door, looking for a knob, but the door was smooth. “God damnit,” she said, “What’s with the lack of door knobs, too?”
Then, a whisper from the other side. “I told you to stay away at night.” It was a man’s voice, the tone deep and threatening. Ralph gave out a bit of a yelp in surprise, and Claudia found herself a little shocked to finally put a voice to the man online. It was deeper than she'd expected.
“You must be Mitchell,” she whispered back, keeping her face close to the door.
“You’ve put this place at risk,” the man said, not addressing the statement.
Claudia found herself growing annoyed with the man. “Look, are you going to open this door so we can talk, or are you going to keep dicking us around?”
“It’s not safe to open the door at night. The gears creak. You’ll have to wait out there until sun up.”
“We’ve been on the rood for two days, asshole," Claudia said, "We’re tired and hungry. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me here"
The man on the other side didn’t respond for a time, and Claudia was hoping he was considering opening the door. Instead, he said, “Please don’t get angry or raise your voice. You’ll attract the creatures here. Please understand my position. I’m trying to be smart. There are others here besides just us, including a child. Is it so much to ask to wait a few more hours?”
It was perfectly reasonable, Claudia thought, but she was also irritated. It was funny the mental gymnastics a person could do to prove themselves right when frustrated and angry. “Fine,” she said, making sure the irritation in her voice was clear.
“I have to pee,” Ralph said from the darkness. He could almost feel the glare Claudia gave him through the dark. “I mean, not in here. I’ll hold it. I’m just saying. This sucks.”
“Yeah, Claudia said. She found a spot on the floor to lie down. It felt as though they were on hard dirt. As she laid there she said nothing to Ralph, didn’t even know where he was. She only stared up into the darkness, remembering her time in the prison on the red planet. It wasn’t so different, now. Then she’d been lying there trapped with Lisa. Now, she’d spend the night here with Ralph. Life was cyclical in that way.
Ralph, his bladder burning, similarly found a place to lie down. He didn’t try speaking to Claudia. She’d speak to him if she wanted to, and there was nothing to speak about. They’d come all this way, eager to meet others like them, and now they were still where they’d started: in the dark. He tried to fall asleep, hoping not to piss himself. That would be a terrible way to meet a new group of people. “Hi, I’m Ralph. I can move things with my mind. I also wet the bed.” Ralph sighed and tried to fall asleep. Instead his mind ran rampant with thoughts of childhood monsters in the dark.
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Ralph woke to the sound of a fist pounding on the door. He just about screamed out in pain, his bladder on fire. It would surely rupture if they didn’t find a toilet soon.
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“It’s day, open this fucking door,” Claudia screamed.
Ralph couldn’t see any daylight, but he trusted Claudia’s due diligence. He approached the door and began to wallop on the steel surface, harder than Claudia had.
“God dammit, I’m going to piss myself. Open this fucking door!”
There was a crack, a shifting of mechanisms inside the door, and then creaking as it moved against its hinges. A sliver of light spilled into the room, and Ralph had to cover his eyes as the light grew to envelop the entrance to the storm room. When the creaking stopped, Ralph gingerly opened his eyes, and it took several seconds for his pupils to adjust to the brightness.
Before them stood a boringly average looking man. He was shorter than both of them, his hair short and messy brown. He had dark brown eyes, and he was smiling at them. There were minor creases in his skin behind his short stubble, indicating to Ralph that the man might be in his late thirties or early forties. He wore a mechanics uniform, buttoned in the front and stained with old grease. His jeans were similarly stained. He had no unique features about him at all, nothing that would really tell him apart from any other man in town. A boringly average man. Ralph felt that if he were to look at someone else for any length of time, he might forget entirely that this man even existed.
“Hello there,” the man said cheerily, “Name’s Mitchell. Mitchell Bohlman.” He stuck out his hand, first to Ralph.
Ralph shook it, the mans grip firm and swift with the shake. “Ralph,” he said, “Ralph Hughett.”
“Awesome, glad to meet you." He shifted to Claudia. "And you?”
“Claudia Lafleur,” she replied, ignoring the outstretched hand.
The man, Mitchell, didn’t seem to mind the slight, and retracted his hand quickly once it was clear she wouldn’t be shaking it. “Well, come in. Come in,” he said, stepping away from the door and waving them to step inside. “I’m so sorry for last night, but you must understand that we have to be careful. Dark times, as they say.”
Claudia stepped in ahead of Ralph, and Ralph followed behind. The door swung closed behind them with a soft, metal shudder. The room was larger than Ralph had expected. There was a kitchen area with a small sink, fridge, stove and microwave. There was a small table with six chairs as well. On the other side was a living space with a television that was showing the daily news, and a large three-seated couch. There were three doors on the back wall. The smell of coffee filled the area.
“Please, have a seat,” Mitchell offered, indicating the kitchen table. Ralph grabbed a chair, the leg scratching across the concrete floor, but Claudia remained standing.
Mitchell stepped into the kitchen area and began filling a coffee mug. “Either of you like coffee?” He asked.
“No thank you,” Claudia said.
“Sure, and you, sir?”
“No,” Ralph said, “Maybe just a water.”
“Interesting. Not coffee drinkers? How do you survive mornings.”
He grabbed a mug and turned on the sink, filling the cup with tap water. The running water hitting the sink reminded Ralph of his straining bladder, forgotten during the excitement, and he quickly stood from his chair. “Do you have a bathroom?” He asked.
“Yes, of course. Middle door there. It’s quite small, so don’t say you weren’t warned. This place wasn’t exactly built for long-term stays.”
Ralph opened the door and disappeared inside.
Claudia stared and the other two doors, wondering what was behind them. The other people? “Are these other rooms bedrooms?” She asked.
“Yes, you nailed it!” Mitchell said, bringing over the cups of water and coffee. He set them on the table and sat down. He gestured to a seat, but Claudia remained standing. She wanted to get to work, wanted to get to the point. “The bedrooms are a little bigger, thankfully.”
“You said there were others?” She asked. “Others with you that had been to the red planet?”
He took a sip of the coffee, then set it back down on the table. “Oh, that’s hot,” he said, “I don’t like it so hot. It needs to cool down a bit. But then I forget about it, and it gets cold. Isn’t that the silliest thing about coffee? That window of time where it’s the perfect temperature is so slim.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Claudia said, “Never been much of a coffee drinker.”
From the middle room, the sound of Ralph’s never-ending stream bridged the awkward silence that followed. Being able to hear Ralph unnerved Claudia. Why couldn’t she hear the others in the other rooms? Was this man alone? She decided to test the theory. “You’re alone here, aren’t you?” She asked.
The man pursed his lips, fingers beginning to tap on the table. Four taps then silence, over and over. He seemed deep in thought. Was he preparing his lie? “I’m afraid so,” he finally said, “You’re the only ones that responded to my Reddit message. I guess those of us that have been there are a rare breed.” After he said this, he stared into Claudia’s eyes, perhaps waiting to see what her response would be.
Claudia didn’t have a response. There was a flood of disappointment that sapped away her ability to speak. A feeling akin to mourning passed over her. She'd left the red planet with the goal of finding others, then came here as fast as she could after Ralph stumbled upon this man’s post. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. They were supposed to be building an army. She was supposed to find someone with the ability she was yet missing. Instead, there was only this man. She wasn't here to grow an army. It was a damn rescue mission. Mitchell was a coward, lying to people so someone would come save him. Claudia suddenly hated this man. She wanted to leave. She wanted to leave and find a place where she was alone, a place where she could come up with a new plan to find others with abilities.
Yet, then it hit her. She couldn’t see this man’s information, couldn’t see his abilities, how many pylons he’d found, how much essence he had. Maybe she hadn’t tried hard enough. She focused on the man’s essence, could see it glowing around him, but still nothing.
He’s hiding it from us.
How is he doing that?
I don’t know. Each human aura leaks information that others can read if they know how. It’s almost as if this man has encrypted his information, and your mind, our mind, can’t read it.
Claudia was suddenly leery of Mitchell. Why would he need to hide information from them? What kind of man would encourage people to drive cross country on a lie? Ralph was still in the bathroom, and Claudia considered that they should leave as soon as he was done. It was day now. They could travel without issue, get far away from this man.
Mitchell laughed. “Only kidding. They’re still asleep. There’s not many, only a few of us. I’m afraid I’m the only one that’s an early riser. Not much reason to get out of bed anymore these days, huh?”
In the bathroom, Ralph groaned with the pleasure of a freshly emptied bladder and the toilet flushed. Claudia pointed at the doors. "Left or right?" She asked.
“Right. Left one is mine only. Perks of owning the place.” Mitchell said, then took a sip of his coffee. “Do you want to wake them? Go ahead. I usually just let them sleep. We were waiting for you, so they might want to know you're finally here."
Claudia kept an eye on the man as she stepped toward the door. The sink turned on in the bathroom as Ralph began washing himself. She could hear him splashing his face. The door on the right was different than the other two. It was sturdy with no gaps for air to pass around the edges. The other doors seemed to be made of cheap, particle board doors. Why was this one different? She gripped the cold metal handle and turned. There was a rush of air, horrid smelling air, the smell of rotting death, escaping once the air seal from the door was broken. Claudia knew she should flee, but she had to know, had to understand what was happening here. The light was off. She found the switch on the wall to the left. She flipped it, basking the room in a yellow hue. A gasp caught in her throat.
There were several dead bodies lying on the floor, stacked. They were cut open, ribs split apart hastily in a mock rendition of the fluid separation done by the popolac creatures. These bodies were not portals, but she could tell by the essence that remained that these had once been humans with abilities. There was a rattle of steel, and she looked up to find three people chained to the back wall, mouths stuffed with cloth held inside with duct tape. One was a small girl, perhaps no older than eight or nine.
“What the fuck…” Claudia started to say.
As Ralph opened the bathroom door, Claudia felt cold, heavy metal against her wrists, wrapping tightly and harshly, could smell the man’s coffee breath behind her ear.