It was snowing. Usually, Mark loved the snow. There was something wondrous, even magical, about the way the whole world got quiet when these puffy white flakes were falling from the clouded skies. Even indoors, sounds were somehow muted. When it was snowing, it seemed the only natural sound left in the universe was the soft crunch of the snow beneath your boots. Of course, that was when there was snow on the ground. Tonight, it was still too warm for the snow to actually stick to the ground.
Silence reigned. Usually, Mark loved the silence. It had been critical to his career. Now, it just seemed ominous. He was trying to keep his A-game attitude, but he couldn’t shake a feeling of unease that had been creeping into him. It didn’t help that Les had taken his parking spot tonight. Couldn’t blame the girl for wanting to be close to the building when it was snowing, though. He had pulled the truck into an empty row, behind the furthest parked cars, and was now walking through the deathly silent, not to mention pitch black, parking lot.
On a night like this, every sound was painfully obvious. The sound of Mark’s snow jacket swish swishing as he walked, was loud to his ears, which is why the Marine was surprised when he heard the closing of a car door from somewhere out in the darkness. He paused. Who would be out here at this time? He could see the outline of Jeremy and Les’ vehicles against the dull light that escaped the lobby windows ahead, and the noise had come from behind.
Instinct pulled at him to crouch, but he maintained his calm, eyes scanning the darkness. There hadn’t been a cab light in any cars when he parked, which meant that whoever was out there had been there before he had left his truck, and they hadn’t opened their car door until he had passed the row they were in.
His presence was already known, then, by the mystery person, so hiding was pointless. Should he call out? Even though his eyes had adjusted to the dark already, between the clouds covering all light from the sky, and the falling snow, it was difficult to even make out silhouettes of the parked vehicles. He took the risk.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“No way!” The voice was much closer than Mark expected, and he recognized it immediately. “You are a total ninja, dude! How did you see me?”
“See you? Dan, I can smell you.” The kid laughed, he was closer now, but still hidden in the dark. “What’re you doing out here anyway?”
“Forgot my lunch in my car. I really hope the ice cream I packed didn’t melt.” His voice was only a little over dramatic with concern. Mark could see him now, only a few feet away. He wasn’t even wearing a coat. “I totally thought I’d be able to sneak up and scare you, bro, but you are just too commando for me. Oh, hey, what you go there?”
“Cookies. Good thing you didn’t scare me. If these had spilled no one would have ever found your body.” The kid made a little nervous laugh. “My hands are full, why don’t you open the door for me?”
“Anything for the cookie man!” Dan passed by him, leading the way towards the lobby.
“Hey, Dan, quick question,” The younger man made an agreeable grunt, and Mark made sure to sound as disinterested as possible, “Just curious what’s down that locked hallway in Neuro.”
The kid’s chuckle had way too much amusement in it. “Ah, the secret room,” he said with as much mystery as he could muster. Then, plainly, “Trust me, it’s nothing special. Just where we keep the alien body.” Knowing it was a joke didn’t stop a shiver from going down Mark’s spine. It was a joke, right? He was grateful for the darkness. They were close to the building now, so he played along instead of questioning further.
“Eh, I won’t ask for a tour then. After all, if you’ve seen one alien body, you’ve seen them all.” It was Dan’s turn to wonder what was and wasn’t a joke. Turning halfway as he approached the door, he gave Mark a questioning look. The Marine gave him a half-smile and winked. The boy shook his head with a knowing smile, then beeped his keyfob and opened the door.
It turned out to be very lucky that Dan was there since neither Jeremy or Les were waiting in the lobby. “Where is everyone?”
“No clue,” Dan answered, jogging ahead to open the screeching cafeteria door for him as well.
“Thanks, Dan.” He took the two trays of cookies to the counter, leaving them there. “Don’t tell anyone I brought these, yeah?”
“What’s the occasion?”
“Well, I figured Les could use a chance to get to know everyone a little better, so I brought them on her behalf.”
“Damn, bro, you like some kind of Super Man?”
“What?”
“I mean, you’re like an awesome co-worker, and a commando-ninja, all rolled into one. Like, mild-mannered security guard at night, super crime fighter during the day, or something.”
Mark rolled his eyes and left the room, wincing at the screaming door, and wondering why Jeremy and Les hadn’t appeared yet. His boots, wet from the melted snow, made little squeaks as he crossed the lobby, his coat swish swishing. Both sounds fed into his ever-growing unease. The keyfob beeped, the lock snicked, and he opened the Security Office door.
There was no one in the office. Taking a few steps, he watched the monitors, looking for a sign of the other two guards through the cameras. The feeds rotated. A few seconds later they rotated again. One of the monitors went black. Mark stared at the blank monitor. The feeds switched, but the monitor was still black. A second one went black. Then a third.
Tearing off his jacket, he threw it into the corner, then reached for the door to the security hallway. He grabbed at empty space, the door opening away from him. “Oh, hey, Mark.” He backed up, Jeremy and Les both entering the small office from the hall. With three in here, it felt smaller than ever before.
“What’s going on?” Mark asked, glancing towards the monitors, which were all back to normal. Should he say something about it?
“Just finished cleaning up another mess in seven.” Jeremy’s voice was normal, but his face was, surprisingly, showing some emotion. It looked like concern.
“Is Reena OK?” The older man nodded, and whatever look was on his face passed.
“Well, luckily Les was here this time so, between the three of us, we got it cleaned up pretty quick. Wasn’t as bad as last time, just a couple jars.”
“Last time?” asked Les.
“That’s twice in the last week,” responded Mark.
“Clumsy girl, eh?” Les passed between the two men, who looked each other in the eyes, but neither said anything about Zack. “Ugh, I feel like I need a shower. What is that gross stuff in those jars anyway?” She opened her locker and began going through her bag, looking for something.
“Anything else weird happening tonight?” Mark asked it innocently enough, but made a slight motion towards the monitors, giving Jeremy a meaningful look. He glanced at the monitors, then back at Mark, who gave a slight nod. Les missed the whole thing, still digging through her purse.
“No,” Jeremy responded, “other than the spill, it’s been a quiet evening.” Les had finally produced a bottle of hand sanitizer and was squeezing some out onto her palm. She tossed the bottle back into her bag and rubbed the liquid into her hands, the two men staring at her.
“What?” She noticed them looking at her, then seemed to get embarrassed. “I know it’s silly, we were wearing those suits. But still.” She shrugged.
Les jumped a little, as the awkward silence was interrupted by a knock on the door. Jeremy just raised an eyebrow. “Dan,” Mark said, reaching for the door.
“Hey, it’s my favorite people. Rambo, Frank, and, uh, new girl.”
“Les,” all three security guards said in unison.”
“Yes! Les! I won’t forget again, I promise!” Dan shouted through the shrinking opening as Mark closed the door behind himself. The two walked towards the metal detector. “Hey, Mark, in all seriousness, if you wanted to see what’s hidden away in Neuro, just ask Wanda for that tour. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind showing you the room, but it really isn’t worth your time.” Green light poured down on both of them as they walked through the detector. Despite his tone, Mark found himself unable to believe the kid. Maybe it wasn’t worth the effort to find a way to sneak into the hallway after all, or maybe Dan was trying to put him off the scent.
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Either way, he was a little surprised when Dan stopped and turned. “Wait, shouldn’t that have made a sound or something?”
Mark shrugged. “It does that sometimes. Not the best detector. One more thing for you to keep to yourself.” They reached the door to the lab. “You know, Dan, I keep trusting you with my little secrets. One of these days, you’re going to trust me back.” The boy genius frowned and looked away.
“I need to get back to work.”
The keyfob beeped, the lock snicked, and Mark opened the door to the labs. Dan went through. The Marine let the door shut on its own as he approached the metal detector. Someone else had seen it not behaving the way it should. Maybe it was just a faulty detector after all.
A minute later Jeremy said his goodbyes, leaving Les and Mark alone in the quiet lobby. “I brought cookies.” She turned and looked at him. “For you to give out at the break.”
“You brought me cookies, to give to other people?”
“That’s right.”
She stared at him a minute, then said, “I didn’t tell Jeremy about the gun if that’s what you’re worried about.” The gun? He glanced at her hip. She had the pistol he had given her the night before. She must have found out it was the real deal, and loaded. He couldn’t help but chuckle.
“No, it’s not like that. You’re welcome to tell Jeremy about the pistol, it was his idea.” She looked confused. “I brought the cookies, for you to give out, because I wish I had done it myself earlier. The geeks here are nice people, just a bit introverted. You tell them you brought some cookies as a greeting gift, they’ll open right up. You’ll make some friends.”
“Whatever. Thanks, I guess. Sorry, it’s nice of you, and all, it’s just…” she went silent.
“Weird?”
“Kind of, yeah.”
Mark nodded. “I know, it’s weird.” She was starting to look worried. He had to salvage this. There was not enough trust going around in this place, and he didn’t want to be the source of any mistrust. “I’m going to be honest with you, Les. There are other reasons I brought the cookies.” She looked at him. “It wouldn’t be doing you any favors to pretend that what’s going on here is normal.”
“Normal?” she interrupted. “This place gives me the creeps!” She was whisper shouting. He had definitely hit a nerve, so he waited for her to keep going. “I-I almost didn’t even come back tonight. I can’t even tell you why. I just don’t like it. There’s something wrong with this place.” Mark nodded, but kept silent for another few seconds, to make sure she was done. She wasn’t. “Jeremy sure seems to think everything's normal, but he creeps me out as much as anything else in this place.” After a few more seconds and some visible deep breaths, she asked, “And what the hell was in those jars?”
It was probably a rhetorical question, but Mark took the opportunity to answer. “I don’t know. That’s why I brought the cookies.” Again she looked confused. “Having another guard here tonight gives us a unique opportunity. If you can keep everyone occupied in the cafeteria during the break, it will give me a chance to check out the labs, alone.” She was listening but still looked like she needed some convincing.
“I get that you probably just want to walk out that door and never look back. Believe me, I’ve been there. I almost did that a few times my first few nights here. But now, I want to find out what’s going on. So if you can stick it out, just one more night, I’d really appreciate it.”
She was silent. Thinking. He decided to give her a break, “Think about it. For now, I’ll go do the rounds and you can take a break in the office.”
“Oh, no you don’t. I’d rather go back into the lab then be alone in here.” Mark thought of the monitors going black, imagined how she would handle that, and decided it was probably not the best idea. “Hey, I’m not a wimp.”
The Marine smiled at the girl. “Les, if you were a wimp, we would have never met. And I wouldn’t have given you a gun. Let’s do the rounds.”
Now that they had been open with each other he was certain all she needed was to see his confidence in her. She would stay. She may even rethink quitting altogether. So Mark followed Les, giving her the baton. When they reached the hallway to Cardio, however, he asked her to wait there for just two minutes, so he could have a chance to ask Shareena about the accident. Les agreed, though reluctantly.
Mark entered Cardio. How long since the other two had left her? Fifteen minutes? Not much more than that. The floor still had shiny streaks where the liquid had been mopped up. A broken jar sat on one of the trays, filled with broken shards of another completely shattered jar.
“Hey, Reena.” She didn’t move from her chair. “Heard about the accident.” Just sitting there, hands sandwiched between her thighs. “Thought I’d check in on you.” She probably didn’t realize she was getting her thighs red from the liquid on her gloves. “Les isn’t far behind me, but I thought maybe you’d want to talk privately.” He took a few steps, slowly.
“It wasn’t an accident,” she whispered. Even with the comms, it was hard to hear. He got closer. “I didn’t drop them.”
“You know, about a week ago, something happened in here.” He was almost to her, he could see her face now. “Zack. He said the same thing.” He heard Zack’s voice in his memory, yelling, “I didn’t trip!” Shareena’s face was streaked from tears. It was dry now. “What I’m saying, is that I believe you.” She was just staring at the jars. Not the broken ones. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
“I thought,” she started, then paused. Mark crouched down next to her. Should he touch her? She seemed like she could use a reassuring gesture, but Mark wasn’t really the one to know what that might be. Maybe Les should be in here after all.
“I heard someone,” she continued. He held still and just listened. “Someone was calling for help.” Ice crept down Mark’s arms as he remembered his dream of someone in the labs calling for help. “It sounded like it was coming from…” she trailed off, but lifted a hand and pointed to her left, towards the door that led to eight, never taking her eyes from the jars ahead of her. “So I ran. When I got there, everyone was working. They didn’t see me, so I just left.” She started blinking. Her eyes were getting moist again. “When I came back in, I heard it again, but, this time…” Now she moved her hand, pointing to her right, towards the door that led to the puzzle-piece hallway, connecting to both five and six. “I was so confused but so worried, so I ran towards the door, but then…”
She choked up, tears starting to fall again. Suddenly she jerked, and Mark turned to see what had surprised her. Les was coming through the door. Was that all that had surprised her? “It’s OK, Reena, you can keep going.” He gave Les a gesture to hold still, and she stopped.
“Well, I...I don’t know what happened. Before I got to the door, I heard the crash. I turned, and the jars were on the floor. The tray hadn’t even-” she broke down into quiet sobs. Mark motioned for Les to approach.
“It’s OK, Reena. Let’s not worry about it, OK? I guess those hearts are just a bit jumpy, yeah?” He stood up. “Why don’t you and Les go take a little break. Get a drink. A clean, uh, clean suit.” He looked to his companion. She seemed less than excited, but nodded, handing over the patrol wand. She took Reena’s hand and helped her up.
After they left, Mark took a closer look at the jars. A few minutes alone here now would mean a few more minutes for the rest of the lab later. The objects floating in the viscous pink juice weren’t moving. A voice calling for help. Jars leaping from tables on their own. If he hadn’t seen a door that he himself had destroyed back in one piece after just minutes, only a few days ago, he’d never believe Shareena’s tale.
Should he touch it? Ice poured through his veins and a shudder shook him. Just the thought of touching something so alien--Dan’s words from the parking lot jumped into his mind. Alien. No, that had been a joke. Then another memory, Zack again, after the previous accident, “We can’t just grow these.”
No, there was another explanation. They couldn’t be grown here, is what he must have meant. They came from another lab, but were studied here. Before leaving he checked the computer, but learned nothing new. It was all nonsense to him.
After finishing the patrol he found the two women in the cafeteria. The door had given away his entrance, so he didn’t know if they had been talking before he entered, but now Reena stood and said, “Thanks, I should really get back to work now.”
“Take care,” Les offered.
Mark took her to the lab entrance, the metal detector made the deep booping sound this time. “Let us know if you need anything,” Mark said as she went through the door. Once she was gone he returned to the cafeteria. “How’d it go?”
The young woman shrugged. “We talked about books. I thought it best to get her mind off of the lab for a bit.”
“Thanks, that was smart. I know this is all still new to you, but Shareena has seen things, and so far she’s the only lab tech that’s been willing to talk about them. Everyone else treats everything like some big secret.”
“Like the door.”
“Exactly.”
She stared at him in silence for another moment before asking, “You don’t believe those jars actually just fell off the table on their own, right?” Mark turned, unsure of how to answer.
“Come here, I want to show you something.”
In the lobby, he pointed to the metal detector. “Sometimes, that doesn’t go off when you walk through it, even with a gun on your hip.”
“Wait, seriously?”
“There’s more,” he said, continuing to the office. Once they were both inside he pointed to the monitors, “Sometimes these will go black. They’re still recording, just the feed goes black.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Just wanted you to be aware of these things so they don’t freak you out when it happens. If you see anything else weird, let me know. We’ll try and figure this all out together.” He looked at her, she stared back. “So, cookies at midnight?”
She was nodding and had a new look on her face: determination. She was part of the team now. All that was left for Mark to do was figure out where to focus his attention during the limited time he would have in the lab.