Johnny needed work. That was all it was going to be- work. His friends had done it and got good money. It was night work. It's kind of like security work, was all they said.
A part of him could hardly believe it. 10 000 a night for some security work seemed too incredible to be true. He asked his friends for more details but they never said any more than that.
“You'll just have to see” one said.
“Those people don't like questions” said another. ”Keep your mouth shut and they might pay extra.”
He thought the offer over many times. It just sounded too good to be true. But bills were piling up and he was becoming desperate. That kind of money could help him get ahead of the bills for a few months. So one chilly autumn day he called the phone number his friend gave him.
A woman answered, speaking with an eastern European accent.
When the time came they would contact him. She also said something that made Johnny have second thoughts about the whole thing.
"It's standard policy, but we ask you to prepare your last will and testament. In case something goes wrong."
Surely if the job is dangerous his buddies would have warned him. It was just a formality, the woman said as much. It was just a security job, probably patrolling some area or protecting cargo.
Johnny had recently come back from military service so he felt pretty confident he could handle himself.
It was about a week later, in the evening that he got the call. He wasn’t expecting it and the phone ringing scared him.
“Hello?” He said shakily
“It’s about the job. Something came up. Be ready in two hours. “
Before he could say anything the woman hang up. Before had had been half asleep watching TV and drinking, not really, a bottle of beer. Now Johnny felt awake. A strange feeling of anxiety came over him but he began preparing as best as he could. Taking a shower and brewing a strong pot of coffee he waited. Clean clothes, something easy to move in. Around 11PM he saw lights in his drive way. He went outside unable to contain the curiosity, half expecting it to be some shady looking van. It was full on military truck, only it was black instead the usual camouflage colors state military used. A red haired woman in full military gear got out the back.
“You have military training, yes.”
“I do.” He could swear it was the same woman he spoke to on the phone.
“Good. Then you know how to take orders. Get in the back and get dressed.”
There were other men in the back of the truck, all dressed in black military gear. He was given the same clothes and protection gear. The woman handed him a gun.
“You know how to shoot?”
He looked at the riffle, it was better and never looking than the ones he trained with. Johnny just nodded.
“Good.” He could swear the woman sounded Russian.” Here are the rules. No names. You don’t talk about what you do or see here to anyone. “
He nodded again. It was too late to back down now. The truck left town and was in full speed on the highway. Johnny sat quietly, nobody was talking - not a good sign he knew from experience. Usually the guys joked around in the back, talked or slept if the road was long. If it was quiet like this that could mean only one thing and it was not good. He wondered what his friends have gotten him into. Clearly there people were military, but who did they work for? Not the government that’s for sure. His best guess was that he had signed up to do some kind of mercenary work, probably not the legal kind.
The truck stopped after what felt like a couple of hours.
“All right” woman said” You know what to do.”
The men just nodded and began getting out of the truck. Johnny looked at the woman, he didn’t know what to.
“You’re with me.” She said. “Now listen, we don’t normally hire outside people for this sort of thing. But the situation is delicate. This is a search and rescue operation.”
Search and rescue? Johnny was beginning to sweat. He wasn’t exactly trained for this sort of thing.
“I..” He swallowed, mouth gone dry.” I don’t have experience with that.”
“First time for everything.” Said the woman.” All you need to do is follow orders- easy, right? “
There was nothing easy about it but he didn’t want to argue.
“So, if you do what you’re told you should be fine and if you make it out alive you’ll get 50 thousand.”
His head was spinning, that kind of money in one night.
“What do you mean if I make it out alive?”
Her face turned serious.
“So, this all top secret. You can’t tell anyone about this. Not that anyone would believe you. The Colony has been here for who knows how long. 600 years, or maybe 1000. Not really important. They have been here for long time. Most time they keep to their territory, but their numbers have been growing so they started expanding. 5 hours ago one of them took a child from a settlement. This has never happened before. The sensors show that the girl might still be alive.”
Johnny listened but the explanation didn’t make much sense. All he knew was that some people took a little girl and that this was an operation to rescue said little girl. But why wasn’t anyone calling the police?
The woman handed him a metal case. Inside were night vision goggles.
“ The tunnels are dark. No light’s. Don’t make sound. Fist squad will create a diversion and lure out the hunters. Then the tech team will blast then lair with a special sonic device, should keep them paralyzed for a good 30 minutes. Then we go in.”
She gave a device made of glass and two bit’s plastic. It was a map with a red dot on it.
“The last know location of the girl is marked. Remember we have only 30 minutes. If she isn’t there we leave. They will do what they can to keep the hunters off us but if they sense that something is wrong they will come running back. And if they do- we are dead. Got it?”
He slowly nodded. The operation seemed overly complicated for just a rescue. Johnny was still trying to wrap his head around all of this. Can a group of people really be that dangerous that so much military tech would be required?
“All right, let’s get going.”
He followed the woman out of the truck and into a parking lot that at first seemed empty but then he noticed ripples and people seemingly climbing out of thin air. A bit of truck became visible when one lifted whatever was covering the truck.
“Don’t want to cause panic.” The woman said. “ People see army- they get scared and come to look.”
Those were two very different things but he didn’t argue. They walked into the woods, armed men in the same black uniforms walked past them in a hurry. After maybe 15 minutes they approached what looked white fence, top of it lined with barbed wire. There were signs warning against trespassing all around. Johnny noticed security cameras on the signs, not the obvious kind but the kind that if you don’t know it’s camera you won’t see it, kind. The group walking before them entered through the gate in the fence. There was a small building that looked like it could be a generator station. The forest opened up into another parking lot, there were cars and trucks here but they were not concealed. There were crates being unloaded. He could clearly see the logo on several of them. N.E.S.T. . Johnny froze for a moment. The woman must have noticed him looking.
“Something wrong?”
“No. I .. I have their washing machine.” Was all he said.
The woman laughed.
“Doesn’t everybody these days.”
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She walked to a bunch of crates and sat down on one.
“They are still setting up. It should begin soon.” She took out a cigarettes and offered him one. Johnny wasn’t a smoker so he refused. He said nothing; it was hard not to think about all he had seen. She must have guessed his thoughts.
“Look there.” She pointed past a fence.
It was a hill, overgrown with grass and trees.
“Right now there a little in there and I bet she’s pretty scared. You’re American right? “
“Yeah.” Johnny could already picture the small girl in some dark room crying for her parents while some strange people did awful things to her.
“You American’s love superheroes. Think of it this way, you get to be a hero and walk away with a lot of money. Pretty sweet.”
“Yeah.” He was trying to focus on the task.
She was right, this was about the little girl, no time to make up crazy conspiracy theories.
“Where are you from? Russia?” He asked the woman, it was only fair he thought.
She smiled.
“No Russia where I come from. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
Something beeped.
“They’re starting.” She said.
She took something out of her pocket. It was a small case. Inside was a syringe with a neon sky blue liquid.
“If the worst happens put in your neck and run. For maybe 10 minutes you will be faster than the hunters, if you’re lucky and we’re not in too deep- you might get out.”
“What is this?”
“Think of it as adrenalin.” She said.
He put into his pocket. This kept getting stranger and stranger.
“Don’t shoot them, understand. They will be paralyzed but if you shoot they might wake up. If one wakes it will wake the others and they will alert the hunters. “
Johnny looked at his gun. The woman had one too.
“Then why?”
“Tranquilizer, if they wake up. If the girl screams too much. They are attracted to noise.”
“What are these people?”
“People? Who said they were people?”
They were approaching the hill and the lights from the parking lot were now far behind them.
“All right, set your time. 30 minutes.”
“What you mean they aren’t people?”
There was a loud buzzing sound that escalated in pitch and Johnny was worried that his eardrums would pop. The woman was covering her ears, he did the same.
“All right, let’s go.”
She took off running. Johnny ran after her. The hill was so close now, he could see man made entry ways sticking out of it. With the night vision goggles he could see the state of disrepair the place was in. The woman stopped by a man hole, the lid removed. She put the finger to her lips and pointed down. She went down first and Johnny followed. It was only two of them in the old severs. No water meant it wasn’t in use. There was a branching section almost immediately. He looked at his map. The timer said 29:27. He was about to make a turn in the direction that according to the map lead to the girl when the woman pulled him down. He stopped himself from asking why, remembering the order to be quiet. She pointed into the tunnel. He looked. There was something there. A shape- It was moving. The movement was twitchy, like a human with their shoulder raised too high and head bowed low. But something was wrong; it took a bit to realize what. Clearly he could see the arms covering the bowed head, and then another set of arms that he had first thought to be legs in a lotus position. They were not people, was what the woman said. She tugged him on the sleeve and pointed to the path forward. It would be quite a long way around. The tunnel curved and it was impossible to see what was beyond it. The woman had written something on her PDA.
“Not all asleep. Be on guard.”
He nodded. Still uncertain what he had gotten into. The timer said 27:05 when they rounded the bend and Johnny came face to face with one of them.
“Don’t breathe.” Wrote the woman and he held his breath as the thing slowly moved past him.
Back to the wall, lungs screaming for air. But the sense of dread overpowered him. It looked nothing like a human. More like an insect but not even that. The head looked like it was upside down, with the mouth on top, more like a crushed potato than a head. Its arms all four bent backward like a mantis. He wanted to shoot that thing badly but remembered what the woman said.
Shoot one and they will all come running.
The further they went the more of them there were. Strange malformed twitchy creatures. Most of them stood still. Sometimes they would make chirping sounds or gurgle. Johnny took slow breaths, careful not to physically touch any of them as they squeezed passed. Most of them looked like they were in some trance, staring all in one direction, dazed. Some were moving. The timer said. 16:12.
They stood at the spot there the blinking dot was on the map but there was no sign of the girl. He looked at the woman.
“Lower lever.” She wrote.
They were cutting it close. If they went down another lever, how long it would take to get back? She walked to a ladder he didn’t notice before. He climbed after her. In his mind Johnny was doing calculations. There was no way they could make it back in time, especially if they with an extra person. 15:40, they reached the bottom of the ladder. Another dark tunnel. Johnny was trying not let fear in. Panicking won’t help, never mind that he never trained for this. Never mind that they will probably die in a nest of some strange monsters. None if mattered- because right now there was a little girl somewhere in there. If only there was some miracle way to get her out of here then the mission would be a success.
They rounded another corner and stopped. The creature’s there were not twitchy, they were walking around. One of them walked past them and he held his breath, it looked directly at him and Johnny thought his heart would leap out of his chest. This one had a different head, not upside down and more swollen only two arms. Several glowing eyes in that hideous face and clearly visible mouth full of teeth that resembled toothpicks more than teeth. Johnny was certain it had seen them it did nothing. They had lost another two minutes on this. Deep down he had already resigned to his death. But perhaps they could still find the little girl.
He stopped looking at the time. The red dot was one again close. They made a turn and the smell hit him. Sweetish smell of rotting meat and the coppery scent of blood. The woman pointed to the space at the end of the hall that was the source of the smell. Johnny had never seen a dead body and prayed that he wouldn’t vomit as he heard people often did. The sound would attack those things, he thought.
The closer they got the worse the smell became. He tried to hold his breath as much as he could. He wished he hadn’t looked inside, it made things much worse but he just couldn’t stop looking.
There some kind of pit or hollow in the floor making it look like a funnel. The pit was full of bodies in a pool of blood. Limbs, even a torso here and there. Scraps of clothes and blood. An orange prison uniform here. Another one there. He thought he would be sick for sure but something caught his eye. He had been looking for it and at the same dreading it- there was hint of pink. The edge of a dress. He pointed. The woman nodded and began moving towards the tiny body in the pile. Johnny prayed that she would be alive; he had never prayed so much in his life- he was not religious before tonight.
The woman crouched down and put a hand on the girls neck then gave him a thumb up. Johnny let out a sigh of relief. By some miracle she was still alive. The woman picked the girl up and put her down beside Johnny. She pointed to the blood. He looked confused.
“Might buy time.” She wrote and began smearing blood on her clothes.
He was a little horrified but then he looked at the timer and wish he hadn’t. They were down to 6 minutes. Johnny would have done just about anything not to end up in the pit with those bodies. The smell was little less bad after he got used to it but dipping hand into a mass off blood and flesh made him feel sick again. But he did it, thinking about the little girl, about how happy she will be to back home. Thinking about her parents he must be worried and scared. The woman then began smearing some on her face and Johnny nearly gagged. He wiped his bloody fingers on the side of his face but wouldn’t bring himself to do more. He climbed out the pit and joined the woman.
“They will try and stall them” she wrote.
He nodded.
“Sonja. In case we don’t make it.”
“Johnny.” He wrote back.
He picked up the girl, already wondering how they would climb back up but Sonja made a different turn then they needed to go back out.
“Another exit.”
He had to trust her. It was all he could do. They walked rather quickly; he did his best to keep up while carrying the unconscious girl. They were walking uphill. He got the sense that this slope was made for things to go down and not up. Sonja took of her goggles. He lifted his up. There was light coming from somewhere. They moved up slowly and then he saw the bars. They were thick metal bars. The gaps were quite wide but not enough for an adult to get though. They were trapped. He turned to the woman and suddenly heard something he had never heard before. There was an echo of something in the tunnels. Like a crickets chirping.
“They’re back” she said.
Johnny felt mortified.
“Hurry.” She pulled something out of her pocket and stuck to the bars. “ Once I blow this open, run and don’t stop. Don’t look back. Just run.”
He understood what it meant. The explosion, the sound. They moved back and Sonja set of the c4. Johnny took off running not looking back, hoping that Sonja was right behind him. He heard a shot, then another. He heard the chirping and something that sounded like clicking behind him. Kept running only thinking about getting the girl out. The sound was getting closer to him and he remembered the syringe Sonja gave him. Putting the girl over his shoulder he reached into his pocket with one hand and got it.
“ Adrenalin” he thought “all right, let’s give this a shot.”
He stopped only long enough to put the needle to his neck and press down. It felt like something ice cold was injected into him. The side of neck became numb and then there was a feeling like electricity in his veins, in his body. He felt light, weightless. He ran and it didn’t feel like running. There was something surreal about it. He couldn’t see the trees as he moved past them. He caught a glimpse of a creature it was bigger than the others, limbs resembling those of a regular insect, head half squashed but not entirely upside down. It made that clicking noise with mandibles protruding from the mouth below. It had another mouth at the top. Large ear like appendages. It looked more like a bat than insect. He knew it had to be the hunters Sonja spoke about but he kept running. Soon it all faded to black.
He wasn’t sure if he was running anymore. How much time had passed? He must have stopped, he could not tell. He heard nothing, felt nothing. When he looked over his shoulder the girl was gone. Had the creatures taken her back? Did he fail? Why was it so dark?
“Anyone here?” He tried calling. “ Help me!”
He didn’t care anymore if the creatures found him. Nobody came.
Johnny could not tell how long he had been there. Then there was a sound, shrill and sharp. The sound of a siren. He trashed around the darkness trying to see what was making it. then there was a pain to his back. He thought he must have hit something.
Johnny woke up trashing about in his blanket. He was home. It was day. The sound of an ambulance was coming from outside. Johnny got up from the floor . His body hurt so much, all over like somebody had beaten him repeatedly. He was sweaty and cold. He felt sick and barely make it to the toilet in time before vomiting. His head hurt and the room was spinning. Leaning against the washing machine he looked at sticker still on it. “N.E.S.T. Technology for a more comfortable home. “ a bird happily flying back to feed it’s young in a nest sat above the letters.
Was last night even real? Johnny wasn’t sure anymore. Perhaps there was something in the news. If a girl had gone missing there would be. He knew what she looked like, if she was real he would know her.
Getting up he goes back into the living room noticing something he hadn’t before. A white envelope, the type used for documents. There was nothing written on it. Johnny was certain he didn’t own it. He carefully opened it. Inside was the sum of 50 thousand dollars in 10 thousand bills. Johnny counted the money. She was right nobody would believe him.