I rallied myself and prepared for Jack to come home. I knew I could rely on him for perspective. I had dinner ready by the time he arrived, but instead I fell into his arms, my calm façade now cracked. His voice was soothing as I brokenly relayed everything that had happened during my day. We sat down on the couch, and I was able to compose myself enough to go into greater detail about my fears. He agreed it would be best if I went about business as usual and didn’t cause too much of a fuss.
“There’s a lot we don’t know about how things are run in this city, kid. In any city around the world for that matter. But I can tell you nothing too out of the ordinary has been happening at my clinic. Maybe this will all blow over and we’ll be laughing about how worked up you became.”
I nodded. Above all, I was a scientist. I rested my head against Jack’s shoulder and felt a great weariness overtake me. We decided to eat on the couch while watching the news, paying close attention to any reported anomalies occurring in the city. Sure enough, toward the end of the broadcast, the perfectly symmetrical face of the reporter took on a somber cast.
“Reports of missing people here in Origin have escalated in recent days, prompting investigation by Obedience Officers. These reports are nearing all-time highs. Further reports from Continents Two and Three are coming in.” And then the perfect mask of her face cracked at what she revealed next, “There are also reports of blood covering the streets in some areas, but no bodies have been found. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.” And, with that last bit of nerve-jangling information, she signed off. I turned to Jack, my panic having returned full force.
“Blood? Do you think Marilyn is truly missing? Maybe she didn’t leave suddenly, maybe she’s just … gone …”
Jack had begun massaging my back, and I allowed myself a brief moment of enjoyment at the soothing sensation. “What is going on?” I asked. “What is the connection between what we saw in the jungle and the missing people? I know there has to be one. But I don’t want to imagine what it might be.”
“You can’t let your imagination run wild, kid. Correlation and causation is never a reliable method of analysis. You know this.”
But my brain was already going through various scenarios, none of them presenting happy endings. It wasn’t long before we got ready for bed, my somber mood making Jack unusually quiet. I found it difficult to fall asleep, the fear of not knowing what would happen the next day weighing heavily on my mind.
In the early morning humidity, I slogged my way toward the train yet again after tearing myself away from Jack’s warm embrace. At the station I looked for my team, and saw Nick and Elizabeth, but no Luke. I was about to ask them where he was when Nick offered the explanation, his face drawn and haggard with worry.
“Luke contacted me last night and said he was taking off. He didn’t say where he was going; he said ‘they’ were listening. He logged off before I could ask him anything else.”
I turned to Elizabeth, who seemed a bit more composed. “Do you have any idea where he might go? And why?” I asked, and she mutely shook her head. But I sensed she was keeping information from me. I continued, “We should get to the station and try to stay occupied. My contact at the Facility got fired yesterday. And we don’t know where Marilyn is. But we need to try and maintain a normal schedule.” They both looked away from me at that, but I could tell they weren’t going to disagree.
We were on the train by now and stayed huddled together in conversation until we arrived at our stop. We had agreed to spend the day going through past audio and visual files and organizing them more carefully. With all that had occurred, we didn’t want to chance going out into the forest again. Cayman greeted us at the car, but his normally cheerful visage was replaced with one of deep worry. We asked him what was wrong, but he refused to tell us, a departure from his usual gregariousness. I thought perhaps he had seen the news or heard of Marilyn’s and Luke’s disappearances.
We climbed quietly into the car, and I thought back to my first day on the job and my team’s ebullience at the prospect of my driving the vehicle. It seemed like ages ago, but was only days. We silently rode through the forest, Cayman seeming to pay much closer attention to the passing trees than usual but driving with an erratic speed I knew wasn’t his normal professionalism. He pulled into the station at an irregular angle, and shut off the engine without a word. I placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder as we climbed out of the car, but he flinched at the contact.
The three of us hurried into the building, not stopping to look or listen to the surrounding forest. Once inside we hunkered down at the console and intently worked on our old files. For a little while I lost myself in the task, and enjoyed watching footage of the wildlife and plant life my team had collected over their brief time here. We didn’t speak about Marilyn or Luke, although I knew we all had many unanswered questions. Were they OK? Were they coming back? Was our work here in danger? Were we?
We were breaking for lunch, discussing what project we should tackle next, when we heard the sound again—the sound that signaled the unknown creature was near. It was a sound that put the fear of death into my soul. We all fell silent and stared at each other, our bodies completely still. The call came again, closer this time. It was high and violent, ripping through the moist air like a scythe. And again the scream came, almost human but not.
We had all stood up and gone to the windows, but I held my arms out indicating we shouldn’t get too close. We saw nothing. The forest had gone silent. The normal sounds of birds, insects, and frogs abruptly stopped. In the silence we listened again, our collective breathing loud and ragged. Nick turned on the outside cameras, and we scanned the forest, our eyes glued to the monitors. Nothing. The sea of green was almost peaceful in its stillness, but I sensed all living things were now hiding away from the threat of that call. Elizabeth whispered to move one of the cameras to a different quadrant, and Nick complied. We squinted our eyes, leaning in close to the screen. Something wet and red coated the foliage. Blood.