“Les, meet Mark. Mark, Les.” They shook hands, the Marine’s completely engulfing the woman’s. She was tiny. But she was also wearing the dark blue security uniform. “Les here is training for both the day and night positions. Sherman’s compromise to get us both a chance to have a couple days off every week.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Les. I hope you’re not offended when I say this is a really shitty idea. Bouncing back and forth schedules like that every week is going to take a toll.” Mark gave Jeremy a meaningful look, but the old man’s poker face said nothing.

“It’s just a temporary stop gap. Les spent the last four hours of my shift with me, and now she’s with you for the next six. Tomorrow she’ll do a full twelve, starting at six PM.” Mark nodded, looking at the woman. She looked nervous. She should be, though not for the reasons she currently felt, no doubt.

In any case, he had to smooth things over a little bit, or this was going to be a long night. Looking her in the eyes he said, “It’s a rough schedule you’ve signed up for, and one that’ll help us both out, so I appreciate it. I admire that kind of commitment.”

She smiled, and even managed a murmured, “Thanks.” What was she, twenty? Not any more than twenty-five, certainly. Her edges were too soft, her face too baby-like. Mark thought she wouldn’t even last through a week of training. The two old soldiers weren’t getting a day off any time soon.

A week of training. Mark realized with surprise that he hadn't even been at the lab for a full week yet. It felt like a month. He had already come so close to leaving multiple times. Guilt for thinking she wouldn't last a week soured in his stomach. Would he?

“Alright, then, I’m off. Les here has run the rounds with me a couple times now. Mark, why don’t you give her a chance to see if she’s got it down, play follow the leader tonight?” Both of the newest security officers nodded, and he excused himself. As Mark watched Jeremy leave his eyes caught sight of the elevator. He suppressed a shudder.

“So,” Les started, doing her best to not look shy, “when is the first night patrol?” Green. It would have been cute if this were the job it was supposed to be. Just a patrol in a lab, looking out for a pack of nerdy scientists, nothing more. What was Sherman thinking? And then a thought occurred to Mark for the first time. Did Sherman not know? Could that even be possible? How many raving mad security guards had complained to him? How many reports of strange noises and sightings had he heard?

“Right now,” Mark responded, trying not to sound cold or angry. This was going to ruin everything. How could he talk to Shareena with Les around? Certainly the card was gone from the desk. No chance Jeremy would risk this girl ending up on the executive floor. There was the shudder again, and this time Mark couldn’t fight it.

Les clearly noticed. No poker face on this one. “It’s a bit chilly out there tonight,” he said dismissively, then walked past her towards the Security Office. The tap-tapping of her shoes as she followed him made him cringe. He had a shadow. A shadow that would be a liability. A shadow he’d have to look out for. A shadow that would probably scream and jump at every real shadow. A shadow who’s shoes made the wrong noise.

Mark opened his locker and hung his lighter jacket next to the heavy one, closing it again with a loud clank. Les was just standing in the doorway, watching him. He raised an eyebrow. She shrunk. He knew he could be intimidating without even trying, but even so, this girl had signed up to be a security guard, certainly she had at least a little moxie. “Following you now, leader,” he said, adding a smile to try and soften his demeanor.

“Oh, right,” she followed up with a little laugh, then took a few steps, picked up the patrol wand, and headed back out the door. “Les,” he called, and she turned back around. He pointed to the other door that lead to the security hallway. “We use that one.” She blushed, but otherwise didn’t respond as she turned back and went through the other door. Mark followed.

She started asking him questions almost immediately, probably trying to bury her embarrassment. Married? Yes. Kids? Yes. What ages? Twenty two, seventeen, thirteen. Always been a security guard? More or less. How long at the lab? Too long. Favorite color? Black. Really black? Yes. Why? It's useful.

He wasn't trying to be rude, but his short responses made it clear he wasn't in a talkative mood. They were quiet as they got their blue clean suits on. That was when Mark first realized she didn't have a gun.

A moment of self examination came. How could he have not noticed such a detail? Where was his head? This girl was a wrench, thrown right in the gears of his investigation. These past few days had completely ruined him. He should be handling all of this better. He took a deep breath.

“Les, where's your gun?”

“Oh, uh,” she shrugged. “I didn't want it.”

“Make you uncomfortable?”

She shook her head before putting on the helmet. “I just don't see the point. I don't want to get used to it being there, and then not be able to depend on it.”

The Marine was surprised. Her instincts were in the right place, but she lacked experience. Maybe Sherman did know what he was doing after all. “I get that, but it's a mistake.”

She turned to him, suit ready. He put his helmet on, latched it, and stared back at her. She was trying to read him. She was nervous, but why? He got the feeling now that his first impression had been spoiled by his frustration with having his plans ruined.

She wasn’t nervous because he was intimidating or it was the first day at a new job. It was because she had been in the lab. Seen the things on the trays, in the jars. They had tried to give her a toy gun. She was nervous for the same reasons he had been wary on his first day.

Unfamiliar territory. Unknown entities. Limited defensive options. Was it too soon to trust her? Did Mark have a choice? “Sometimes,” he offered, while removing his holster, “the appearance of a thing is as effective as the real thing.” He held the pistol and holster out to her.

A full count of four went by before she nodded and accepted the weapon, strapping it around her clean suit. She was not unfamiliar, or uncomfortable, with handling the gun.

His second assessment of her was far more accurate, no doubt, but she was still inexperienced. She hadn't noticed the added weight of the bullets. It was probably too soon to really test her, but the feeling of time being a commodity too rare to waste pushed him into it. “I’m going to head straight for Cardio. You know where that is?”

The helmet moved back and forth. “Well, just do your best to follow the route. If you get lost, ask how to get to Cardio. I'll see you there.”

They entered the Nexus together, Mark heading for the second door from the right. He looked back at Les. She was standing there watching him. He stopped at the door and stared back. She seemed to stand a little taller, then moved swiftly to the first door on the right.

“Don't forget the count.” He said as she moved through it. No response. Women.

Turning he entered the small sanitation room and made his own count to twenty. Continuing through he found the room empty. Once before this room had been empty, but on that day he was hurrying to help clean up a mess, and yet to be suspicious. Today it was a golden opportunity. Or so he hoped. After only a few seconds of staring at the computer monitors in the room, he remembered that he was not a biologist, or any other kind of scientist for that matter. It was clear they were not using any operating system or program the he knew of, but other than that, he learned nothing.

He glanced into a few of the microscopes specially designed for use with the helmets, just for good measure, but the strange squirming shapes he saw meant nothing to him. Were they normal? Doing his best to commit them to memory, he decided he’d have to search online later to see if he could find anything that resembled them.

Taking just another minute he discovered that there were no actual computers in the room, only the monitors. Cables ran to them from conduit that disappeared into the ceiling where they likely ended up in the server room. He moved on. As he swerved through the puzzle-piece shaped hallway, Mark heard staticy whispers coming through the comms and paused just a moment at the door which lead to Cardio. Was she talking to herself?

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Opening the door he quickly glanced around. Only one technician, presumably Reena, was in the room, carefully holding a jar that contained one of those things in it. Was she talking to it? The whispers were hard to make out, but they sounded like a mother cooing to her child. He was about to speak, when Mark realized that she might drop the jar if he startled her.

Quietly he approached from behind. When he was close enough that he felt confident he could grab the jar should she drop, he spoke. “Hey, Reena.”

She didn’t jump, she whirled. Though her face was seen through both the hard plastic of his own helmet and hers, it seemed to Mark for just a brief moment, that she was angry. But then she was smiling, and responded in her soft feminine voice,“Oh, hey. Mark, right?”

“Yeah. How are you doing tonight?”

“Oh, I’m peachy. Just admiring my babies.”

“Babies?” Mark said it with a bit of a chuckle, doing his best to not sound creeped out.

She held the jar up to him, “Isn’t it amazing?”

“Reena,” he paused a moment, not sure if this was a road he wanted to go down just yet. They didn’t really know each other yet, but she was in such a good mood and being so friendly, he took the chance. “What is it?”

“It’s a heart, of course.” She said it so simply, turning and placing the jar of something that was most definitely not a heart, down on the table. Her mood was such a change from the previous night that Mark was starting to wonder if she’d met Dan. Maybe he’d given her a little something to help her calm down?

“It doesn’t look like a heart.” As long as she was so forthcoming, he might as well take the opportunity.

“Not yet, no.” She sighed as she moved past him to sit at the desk. She began typing. Well, whatever was going on, it wasn’t good for Mark. How could he get her to depend on him, to need his strength, if she wasn’t afraid? Once again he felt a tinge of guilt for even thinking like that. It would definitely be better for her, and everyone else, if there was nothing to be worried about, but using drugs to feel better when the world around you is falling apart doesn’t help anyone, and solves nothing in the long run. She was humming now.

“I’m glad to see you’re in a good mood,” he meant it. “I guess that means things have been going better than you thought they would.” She stopped typing, spinning in the chair.

“The lab’s very different at night. Quieter. I’m quite enjoying it.” Her tone had changed. There was a distinct “don’t you have something better to do than chat with me” vibe to it. He found himself hoping that Les would walk through the door so that this awkward moment could be interrupted, but that wasn’t likely to happen for a couple more minutes. He would have to improvise.

If Reena was so intent on pretending everything was fine, then he would play along. “Seen any good movies lately?”

She was startled for a moment, then took the bait with a grateful smile. “With a twelve hour shift and an hour commute?” Mark shrugged. She seemed to be thinking for a moment. “I think the last movie I saw was in July. Some dumb romcom. I don’t even remember what it was called.”

“It was that bad?”

“Yeees! Too cliche for me.”

He chuckled. “It’s a romcom, they’re all cliche. It’s a requirement.” It felt weird to talk about the outside world here in the labs. It was as if this place existed in its own space, separated from the normal, where universal laws could be ignored. It felt weird, but it had a certain magic to it, dispelling the gloom and mysteries of the lab. Maybe Reena was onto something.

“Are you married?”

“Depends, are you asking out of personal interest, or curiosity?” They both laughed, but he quickly continued with a wave of a hand, “I’m kidding. Yes, I’m very happily married. What about you?”

“With a twelve hour shift and an hour commute?” She repeated her earlier response, and they both laughed again.

“Wow, didn’t think you could make a rock laugh.” Mark turned to see Les just coming through the door. Her comment made Reena laugh even more, but Les wasn’t even smiling as she glared at him.

“Les, this is Shareena. Reena, this is Les, our newest recruit.” They waved to each other. “Well, you made it this far on your own, I’ll follow you the rest of the way.”

“Have fun,” Reena waved once more, then turned back to her computer. Mark nodded to Les, and they continued on their way. He reflected on the oddly chipper conversation, which had left him in such a good mood. It was dangerous, he knew, to keep up such a good mood in threatening situations. It could make you do stupid things. It could get you killed. But there wasn’t actually a threat in the lab, was there?

Les only needed a few directions as they continued through the rest of the patrol. Most of the scientists kept to themselves, as usual, but a few waved, or offered a greeting. For a while things seemed almost normal. Reena’s attitude carrying with him, convincing him that this was just a regular job in a boring lab. When they were nearing the end of the route they entered nineteen, or “Neuro”. This room was a perfect triangle, and one of the largest in the lab. They would enter near one point of the long side, walk along that wall, which was devoid of desks or other instruments, to the center. There was a door there and a button for the patrol wand. This door was different than all the other doors in the lab, however, because it had a keypad lock on it.

Les connected the wand to the button, and the little green light lit up. Then she did something Mark had never done. “What’s through here?” she asked.

There were currently six lab technicians in the room all busy at various tasks, ignoring the two security guards until Les spoke. Before Mark could answer that he had no clue, instinctual alarm bells went off inside of him. It took immense amounts of self control to not react, his body desiring to dive and get out of the line of fire. All six of the white-suited techs suddenly, quickly, turned to them, and said, simultaneously, “Nothing.” There was something forceful in their tone. It was over the top. It was too much. A line from Shakespeare popped into his mind.

Les visibly shuddered in the ensuing silence, and it was a full count of three before the techs started looking at each other, as if surprised by their reactions, then went back to their tasks with a new intensity and focus. The two security guards locked wide eyes. She mouthed “Whaaaat?” and Mark made an almost imperceptible shrug. He nodded towards the exit, and she turned, he following.

Just as Mark was passing the door, it slid open. “Whoa! Am I seeing double?” He caught a glimpse of a long, empty hallway that ended in another door as he moved aside to let Dan exit, the door closing automatically behind him. “Nah,” Dan continued, “one of the doubles is too short.” The boy laughed then.

“Dan, this is Les,”

“We’ve met,” she said, her voice a little off. She was still shaken up, and Mark didn’t blame her.

“Right! New girl. Totally forgot, sorry dude. Dudette,” he corrected himself. The young man looked around the room, finally noticing the odd tension in the air. The other techs were very intentionally focused, ignoring the trio completely. Dan gave Mark a questioning look.

“Well, see you at the break,” was all the Marine said, then turned. The two guards left the room quietly. Not a word was spoken until they were both back in the Security Office.

“What was that?” Les asked, incredulous.

“No clue. They’re an odd bunch, but that was especially odd.”

“It was creepy.” She shuddered involuntarily. “Ugh.”

It had never occured to Mark to ask what was behind that door. He always assumed they kept expensive chemicals or controlled substances in there. Now he didn’t know what to think. Les was just standing there staring at him. “Well,” he started slowly, “you’ve probably already realized this, but most of the job is pretty boring. We don’t do anything until midnight, when they go on break. Then we wait for them to go back into the lab. You’re welcome to have a meal at that point too. After that we need to do a perimeter check. That’s kind of whenever you want to do it, just get it done before two, because then there’s another lab patrol.”

She was nodding, eyes unfocused.

The rest of the night Les was quiet, reserved. Nothing else unusual happened, not even a single monitor went black. With her present and the keycard absent Mark wasn’t able to do any more investigating. It was, well, boring. During the outside perimeter patrol she stayed right on his heels, even tripping him up once, then twice. She mumbled apologies, and the Marine did his best to not get upset on the third time. Despite the relatively uneventful evening, the girl was still spooked. When she left at four in the morning, he wondered if he would ever see her again.

“They hired a new guard. Trained her a little last night. Assuming it wasn’t too rough for her, she’ll be training again tonight, and then I can expect a day off sometime this week.”

“Well that’s good news.” Jessica was sorting through the mail. “All junk. As usual. Oh, and you need to remember to turn off your phone when you leave. It was buzzing until almost midnight, when I finally turned it off.”

“That’s weird.” He went to the bedroom and turned on his phone. Mark found several unread texts, part of a group chat. Apparently several of his old Raiders wanted to pay him a visit this week. The Marine found himself wishing he could bring them into the lab with him. Impossible, of course, but difficult not to imagine what he could accomplish if he still had his Dirty Baker’s Dozen.

Shaking his head clear of the thought, he shot off a text. He wasn’t sure when he’d be available, but he’d let them know as soon as he had a day off. If that didn’t happen this week, they’d have to meet up in the early evening.

All in all, it was a relatively normal night, and Mark fell asleep easily, hoping the normality would last.