The Mission

Part 5

I didn't expect the silence on the other side. It was unnerving. This was the center of the facility, but it was so eerily quiet. I resisted a shiver and retrieved my other camera. I set it atop my ear and bent it so it would have as much of an unobstructed view as possible. It would record everything.

First, I had to patch into the other camera network. Then I could look for secrets. I noted the overhead color-coded lines ranged from yellow to black. Some of them branched off at corridors up ahead.

I was on my own at this point. Satellite imaging of the base told us the general extent of the underground complex but nothing more. The bright lights did little to calm me. There were few places to hide.

I had to move. I followed the yellow band on the ceiling down the first corridor branch. The hallways looked more like the ones in hospitals. I came to a hallway crossing. Cameras guarded the intersecting hallway, obvious ones. But they were the kind which slowly panned across the area. Rather antiquated for this type of facility.

I held back and tried one of the doors I passed a few paces before. No match for my lockpick. Inside were storage units, boxes, and a lot of random equipment. But there was also a computer console. I turned it on and plugged in a thumb drive with plenty of hostile programs. I let them go to work and, before long, I had a system password.

The computer itself wasn't connected to anything vital but it did keep records and a map layout. I made copies of anything which looked important to the storage section of the drive. Blue sector contained the data systems along with camera video storage and backups. Black sector appeared to be my objective with what was referred to as 'special projects' (but I'd need to tap into the data systems to be certain). I overlaid the map image to my video device.

The map omitted camera setups, but I already knew the central route would cross right by the cameras I'd already spotted.

The doorknob suddenly rattled. I yanked the drive, powered off the computer, and readied my tranquillizer. The rattling continued. My lock picking may have jammed the mechanism. I took that moment to look around. To one corner were several very big cardboard boxes. The door was still locked. I could hear a soft voice murmuring on the other side.

I bent myself, slid into one of the boxes, and sealed closed the opening. It was half-full, with barely enough room for me. I tried my best not to breathe, especially with the foul scent of disturbed dust and old cardboard.

In an extra breath, the door finally clicked open. It creaked slowly. Someone carrying something. Confirmed when I heard the weighty thump of a box on the floor. A few more thumps followed by panting. With a puff of air, the girl slid the boxes a bit. It sounded like she was on the other side of the room.

Boxes shifted for several minutes while the air grew ever more oppressive and stagnant inside the box. I wanted to take a puff from my supply, but I knew the sounds of compressed air would be too loud. I settled into the most comfortable position inside the box, tensed my nose to avoid sniffling from the dust, and slowed my breathing. I had no idea how long she might linger.

When I thought she might be done with her work, she trod with heavy bootsteps back to the door and dragged new boxes in. Her stacking was slow, and it seemed like she was moving closer to my area of the room. Aside from the regular anxiety, I was curious about what she was dropping off. It could be recent paperwork. Perhaps something I could at least photograph when she was gone. I made sure to note which areas of the room sounded like drop-off points.

It didn't seem like she'd be done soon. My knees were getting twitchy from the position. I tried to settle and get into a pose which might last longer, but my body brushed against the box with a resounding "scuff". I froze in place and listened.

I tensed when I could hear her pausing. She pivoted on her foot. Probably scanning the room. I hoped she hadn't seen the box shift at all and had only heard the sound. She stepped lightly back into the room. Her footsteps could hardly be heard. I couldn't shake the sense I was being hunted.

Wouldn't be the first time. But it got my heart pounding in my head. I fought against anxiety and fear. I had to calm my presence. All the while, I listened to her movements. She wasn't like the others. She just searched.

I resisted tension when she came over to my side. She fussed around the computer, moving a few of the stacks and lingering at the shelf. I kept my calm even when she reached around two sections of the room at once, stretching her hands for a stack near me and for a box to another side. My thought that she had tossed something was confirmed when I heard a bounce and shift not far from me.

I couldn't tell what she was throwing but they were smaller than marbles, though just as hard. I noticed that she waited after each throw, likely listening. I wished silently I had some kind of pellet gun to create a distraction of my own. Still, I suspected she would track the sound back to the point of origin before she followed any distraction. This one was savvy and tenacious.

I had to wonder why she hadn't called for backup. If she suspected someone was hiding then I figured she would call immediately and have tons of sisters tearing up the entire room looking for me. But no, it was just her. Perhaps…this was something else?

It took me a moment before I realized what it was. This was a game. Maybe I was an intruder or maybe I was just a bored sister but this sister seemed to suspect that someone was hiding and she was going to find them…while making a game out of it. I clenched down on my lip. I had to come up with a plan.

I could just burst out firing a dart, but I couldn't be sure I would get the ideal shot I wanted and, after what happened in the IT room, I couldn't rely on the darts to get me out of a jam. So I waited, patiently, and listened with a careful ear.

The game of tossing little objects into the piles went on for a few more rounds until it abruptly stopped. I kept my leg from twitching and strained to tease more out of the sudden quiet.

"I know you're there…"

Her first words. She sounded older than the girls I'd run into so far. I hoped desperately that meant she wasn't a Durga. But she was quite clever. Maybe not a Durga but possibly a real Valkyrie. Still, I doubted a Valkyrie would be given common work putting boxes away.

"I'm going to get you…"

The words were aimed right at me. Could've just been coincidence, happenstance as she was turning around the room to speak in every direction. Nevertheless, it unnerved me. I had to resist an awkward motion in the box which might give off a tell-tale scratching noise.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Part of me wanted to rush out and assault her, get the upper hand quickly. Despite leaping blind from the box and the time it would take my eyes to adjust, it would give me some element of surprise. I could restrain her and fire a dart. My only other reasonable option was to offer my voice and come up with a credible story for a failed game of hide and seek. But there were even more problems with that. Fortunately, I felt like she wasn't completely certain someone was hiding. She could still think she'd made a mistake (or so I hoped). It could be she was just fishing for a reaction. My last option was to wait it out until I had to absolutely make a choice.

Really, my only good option was that last one. I waited. The air inside the box was stagnant and my lungs wanted to take a deep, purging breath. They also wanted to be somewhere else with more and better air. I kept from using my air supply and just endured it.

A small box in front of me tipped over. With the positioning of the boxes she would have to move a lot to get at the one I was in.

But her hands felt close. She was shifting the boxes around me. She tipped some of the taller ones my box rested against. Those boxes were better hiding places. Possible distractions. I didn't hear her climbing over the boxes to get at the big ones. I didn't know for certain she was facing me. But the sense she was eying my box was indisputable.

"Why don't you come out? End this game."

They were strong words, like they were spoken right next to my ear. Her voice was all-consuming. She was close. I didn't have a plan, but I had an idea. I had my own voice and the muffling quality of the cardboard. It might be enough.

Her hands felt like they were about to surround me when I spoke through the box, "Please. Leave your sister in peace…" I added a genuine sniffle from the dust.

I'd committed. To salvation or doom. What met my words was silence for too many thundering heartbeats. I knew she could easily rip open the box I was in. I'd only done small measures to brace and seal it. She could have me if she really wanted to.

"Who are you? Why are you hiding?"

Both questions which demanded good answers. I filled the next moment with little sniffles till I could offer, "Marianne Kole. I needed time to myself. Please don't tell anyone. I don't want my sisters to be mad I…umm…like hiding alone, but I don't want to be found."

It was a lousy answer. I had to be prepared she might pull open the box. I had my tranquillizer aimed so I would get some kind of jump on her. At least she was primed to expect a sister and not an intruder. That had to give me a minor advantage.

I didn't hear her moving towards me. Might be a good sign or a sign she was being extra careful with her steps so I didn't hear them through the box. I made some slight shifts. I tried to think of what motions a sad sister might make. Pensive rubbing against the box material seemed best.

Eventually, the voice spoke again. She wasn't any closer. So, she hadn't moved…

"Hi, Mari. My name is Rita. I can understand alone time. I love my other sisters. I love the games, but I also like to be with myself. That's why I take room stocking duty. Working alone."

I had to wonder if she said that genuinely or she was trying to tease me out by saying there was no one else. I suspected she was being sincere, but I had no idea if other sisters were waiting by the door or not.

I weighed answering her in various tones, trying to assure her that I was fine and I just needed time alone. Rita responded first, saying, "I'll be here if you need me, Mari. I really should finish my work though."

A quick answer of, "Thank you" was all I added. I worried for a moment she was just trying to tease me out again, make me let my guard down. But Rita's footsteps weren't the faint ones from before. She walked normally back to the doorway. She picked up and dropped a number of boxes and took some time to adjust them. She certainly wasn't in a hurry, but it seemed as though she was ignoring me.

Meanwhile, the box wasn't getting any more pleasant. However, I could breathe more readily. I even disguised a faint puff from my air supply with some fussing inside the box. It helped, but I would've given anything to just burst out. My fear was that when Rita was done, she would wait for me to get out because of some reason, like wanting to talk or wishing to accompany me back to "my area". It was a likely outcome. My only hope was to exit the box and then immediately use my resources to get out of the situation, no matter what it took.  

It sounded like Rita's work was winding down. She brushed her hands and stretched with a faint crack of her joints. I tensed up and heard her say, "Be well, Mari. Hope your desire for loneliness passes soon and you joyfully return to the embrace of your Sisters."

Her steps receded out the door and I heard the squeak of what sounded like a hand cart before the door sealed and the room was silent.

I didn't trust the silence. I trained my ears on every slight sound, discovering the hum of the air through the above vent. I wished that the air vents could be a usable means of travel through the facility but, even at my weight, I would make a noisy, messy commotion.

Enough time passed that I was willing to take a chance and undid my seal. The blissful feeling of fresh air came with my gun raised and my senses alert. My eyes took a moment to adjust to the overhead lights. Rita had left them on for me.

I checked the entire room and finally allowed myself a long, unguarded breath of air. I brushed back my hair and stretched my soft, slender wrists. A moment for myself and then I would need to make my way to the blue sector and get my mission back on track. Investigating the boxes would have to come later, if I had any time left. I made a GPS note.

Checking the door was a careful process. I used the optic and twisted it left and right to peer down the hallway. Clear for the moment.

After checking the map on my video device, I knew the route to blue sector. It wasn't ideal. I could do a more roundabout one, but I didn't want to run into any more sisters who might delay me or worse. So far as cameras, there was sure to be plenty of coverage.

I'd have to take the risk. Big steps at intersections and watched areas and keep my face away from panning lines of sight. My illusion would shimmer but just for a handful of frames. If I moved quickly, I could get into the systems and delete myself before anyone of importance noticed a Valkyrie with a strange look to her clothes.