11: THE DARK

THEY ENTERED A dark hallway. There was an unpleasant musk floating in the air. The sound of dripping water echoed off the concrete walls. A dark, shadowy aura engulfed the path in front of them. At the far end of the hall, peeking through the black fog, was another red spotlight illuminating another door.

Claire touched her hand to the wall. “It’s cold. This whole place is freezing.”

Hanna pointed past the floating black cloud. “It looks like there’s only one way to go. We follow the red light.”

She stepped into the darkness, letting the shadow consume her. A gust of wind hit her face, blowing her hair, and sending shivers through her body.

“Are you okay?” she asked Claire, without looking back.

“Yeah, I’m fine. But let’s get out of this hallway. It’s creeping me out.”

Hanna moved faster, the shroud growing darker with each step. Phantom voices emerged from nowhere, whispering gibberish into her ears.

“Do you hear that?” Claire asked.

“I do. Ignore them.”

The darkness continued to invade. Only a speck of the red light was visible. Everything else was pitch black. The looming voices intensified. They were no longer soft whispers, but now guttural groans of pain.

“What’s happening?” Claire asked.

Hanna sensed uneasiness in her voice. “Just keep walking. We’re almost there.”

But they were not almost there. There was a strange sensation that they had not even moved at all. The red spotlight looked just as far as it did when they entered. The painful groans had transformed into horrifying screams, and the gust of wind was now a jet stream. Hanna felt odd pins poking at the skin on her arms.

“What the hell was that?” Claire asked. “Something touched my leg.”

Hanna swiped at whatever poked her arm. “I don’t know. Something’s wrong. We can’t stay here. We have to get to that door. Run!”

They both burst into a sprint, dashing forward as fast as they could. The steady wind pushed against them and the red spotlight was now gone, consumed by pitch black. The screams transformed again, this time into frightening growls, as if there were grotesque creatures lurking in the darkness. The poking pins suddenly felt like teeth nibbling at her arm.

“I can’t see a damn thing!” Claire yelled. “Ouch! What was that?”

Hanna felt it too. The nibble had turned into a bite. “I can’t see either, but it doesn’t matter. It’s a straight hallway. Just keep running. Don’t stop!”

The growls became roars and hisses. Monstrous things were gathering around them. She couldn’t see them, but she knew they were there. The monsters were watching. Tasting. Teasing. Another bite sunk into her hand. She pulled it away, in toward her chest, now running even faster. Something brushed against her leg. Something else bumped into her shoulder.

And then there was a cry of excruciating pain. It was Claire. Hanna stopped and turned around, unable to find her through the dark fog. “Claire! Are you okay?”

“It’s got me! Whatever the hell this thing is, it’s got me!” She let out another scream of pain.

“Extraction!” Hanna yelled. “Remember your extraction sequence.” She recited the sequence out loud. “Imagine a ship sailing in the ocean.” But before she could finish, a burning pain pierced her stomach. The creature had bit through her abdomen, keeping its jaw clenched. Hanna let out her own shriek of pain. Fighting the urge to pass out, she gasped for air and called out again. “Do you hear me?”

There was no answer.

“Claire, finish your extraction!”

Still no answer.

Claire was no longer there. She either successfully extracted and was back in the lab chatting with Russell, or the creature had killed her, and she was lying braindead in her chair. She prayed for the former.

But that was out of her control. She needed to focus and extract herself. She tried to ignore the pain in her stomach and ran through the sequence in her head. The ship. The waterfall. The clouds.

 

*****

 

Hanna shot up from her seat with sweat pouring down her face. Her eyes darted over to Claire’s chair, where she saw Claire leaning forward with her head in her hands.

Knowing that Claire was safe, Hanna patted down her body, checking for wounds. First, she checked her stomach, where the creature had chomped down. She knew the monster was not real, but the pain had been so intense she almost expected to find a tennis ball sized hole going right through her gut.

She swiped her hand past her belly. There was no wound. Next, she inspected her arms, looking for scratch marks or pin-sized pricks, but her arms were untouched as well.

She fell back into her seat, releasing a sigh of relief.

“Christ,” Russell said, rushing over to help them. “You two look awful. What happened in there?”

Claire removed her headband. “A goddamn monster attacked us.”

Russell took the headband from her and hung it on the back of the chair. “Monster? What kind of monster? Is Eileen’s mind really that bad?”

Hanna hung her own headband and swiveled around to sit up. “We tried to access her dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. I must have done it wrong.”

“You went there without her?”

“We tried. But I think I tapped into her amygdala instead. It seems Eileen has a fear of the dark.”

“Is that what that was?” Claire asked, standing up and wiping the sweat from her face. “That thing attacked us because she’s afraid of the dark?”

“I’ve never seen such a severe case of it, but yes. That hallway exhibited telltale signs of nyctophobia.”

“We barely got out alive.”

“But we got out, and that’s what matters. You remembered your extraction sequence and now we’re safe.”

Claire glanced at Eileen, who was still unconscious. “She didn’t wake up. Is she okay? Did the monster get her?”

“No. She wasn’t in the hallway with us. She wouldn’t have been affected. It’s just the sedative. It will take a while for her to wake up.”

“Did you find anything?” Russell asked. “If you were trying to access her dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, I assume her memories weren’t very fruitful.”

“We learned a few things about Eileen’s past, but nothing to help the case. We’ll have to go in again to find more.”

“Oh, God,” Claire said. “I don’t know if I can handle going back in right now.”

Hanna nodded. “I agree. Not right now. First, I would like to speak with Eileen again. There are some questions I want to ask.”

Russell returned to the control panel. “She’ll be out for another hour or so. Passiflora is pretty strong.”

“So, we’ll wait. And while we wait, we can go through the case files one more time. We may have missed something.”

“I would like to take another look as well,” Claire said.

Hanna clapped her hands together. “Okay. Claire will come with me. Russell, keep an eye on Eileen and give us a holler when she wakes up.”

Russell chuckled. “She’s going to be pissed. I guess we should strap her down. I’m the one who injected her with the sedative. She might try to strangle me.”

“Charles and Howard can help you with that,” Claire said.

“That’s right,” Charles said. “Finn can give you access to the files. We’ll stay here and deal with Eileen. Howard, fetch some of those extra restraints we have in the car.”

Howard nodded and left the room.

“Find me when she wakes up,” Hanna said. “I want to speak with her as soon as I can. We’ll be in the conference room.”