Authors: David Berardelli
“Were they armed?”
“They all wore those belts I’ve seen soldiers wear. Yes, they had guns, but
they didn’t use them. They were covered with those leather flap things and were
snapped shut. The flaps and holsters were black leather, and matched their outfits.
I didn’t even notice their guns until I saw them at a distance.”
“What else?”
“Their eyes ... they were ... Asian-looking.”
My heart skipped a beat. “So these guys ... were tall Asians?”
“They didn’t look Asian. Just their eyes. And they all looked ... alike.”
“You mean…?”
“Like twins. Or triplets.”
My God. This can’t be happening.
My head felt hot. “Anything else?”
“They all had these weird little black dots in the center of their foreheads.
That’s why I wanted to see your forehead. To make sure you weren’t ... you
know. You don’t look like them, but I was scared and had to make sure.”
Dots. Asian eyes
.
Looked alike
.
Memories from my military days, shoved away in the darkness for so long,
rushed back into the light. Chills ran down my arms. I wanted to leap into the van
and floor it, and keep it floored until we were a thousand miles from here. But I
had to keep this inside me—at least, until we were a safe distance away.
Gas
.
In the excitement, I’d almost forgotten. The pumps were working.
I’d
fill up
here and do it as calmly as I could. I didn’t want to panic Reed or the girl. I could
relieve myself at one of the motels down the road—I thought I could make it that
far. Filling up the tank would only take a minute or so. I’d be just a few feet from
the driver’s seat and could jump in and make tracks in seconds if I had to.
“I’ve got to fill up the tank,” I said, standing up. “Would you like to come
with us?”
“Moss?” Reed gawked at me. “What’s wrong?” His friend had obviously
picked up on my anxiety. This was not the time to tell them my suspicions.
“Nothing’s wrong. I just don’t want to meet up with ... well, whoever this
lady’s talking about.”
“But don’t you ... I mean, you said you have to use the…”
“I’ll wait. This place is creeping me out.”
Cold numbness consumed me as I filled the tank. My entire being focused on the
deserted highway as well as the strange sounds of the night. The pump, amplified
by my fears, clickety-clacked loudly behind me. The shrill breeze sounded like
the desperate wailing of lost souls. A Styrofoam cup hopped frantically across the
lot, making me jump.
It seemed like forever to fill the tank. I knew it was only minutes, but every
pulsating second slammed into me with the force of a sledgehammer. My hands
shook so much that it took me three tries to replace the hose nozzle and another
three to screw the gas cap back on. I managed to climb into the van without
tripping or whacking my knee. Using only the parking lights, I pulled back onto
the highway and raced through the main intersection. We passed no one, and I
spotted nothing in my side or rearview mirrors.
About three miles later, heading west on U.S. Route 30, I pulled into a
deserted motel. Before stepping out of the van, I grabbed a flashlight and Luke’s .
357. I also left the engine running. If necessary, the girl could climb over the
console, get behind the wheel, and drive away in a hurry. I wasn’t afraid she’d
leave me there. Reed wouldn’t let her do it unless it was an emergency.
“I’ll be five minutes,” I told them. “If you see anyone, do what you have to
do. Reed, you know where the guns are. I won’t hold it against you if you decide
to split.”
“We won’t leave you,” Reed replied, a glint of anger flashing in his small
blue eyes. “No matter what.”
His sincerity touched me, but there was no time to waste. I sprinted across the
pavement, where a motel room behind the abandoned office awaited me.
A quick scan of the room with my flashlight revealed a large shape lying on
the bed. I slid the hazy orange beam over his features, stopping at his broad,
heavily jowled face. He appeared to be around fifty, and his bloated belly was
partially covered with a towel. Judging by the faint smell in the room, he hadn’t
been dead very long. Forgetting myself, I tried the light switch. The lamp and
overhead light flickered then brightened.
Idiot! This light can be seen for miles!
I flicked it right off with a swipe of my hand and hurried into the bathroom.
Five minutes later, I jumped back into the van. Staying on Route 30 until
Bedford, I rushed up the ramp to the Turnpike, accelerating to seventy and
keeping it there. With only the parking lights on, my visibility was limited, and I
had to be extremely careful. My skin had grown cold, and my gut churned
heavily. I kept glancing at my rearview and side mirrors, alert for any flashes or
sign of movement behind us.
The girl watched her side mirror as well. Once we were safely on our way,
she placed her gun on the floor between her feet.
“Have you ever fired that thing?” I asked.
“No.”
“Have you ever fired a gun, period?”
“A few times. My uncle taught me when I was young. He was a hunter.”
“Do you know anything about that gun?”
“It’s a revolver, and it’s really heavy.”
“It’s a .45. With a four-inch barrel. The kick alone would probably sprain
your wrist. If you’re not used to it…”
“Is this a male thing? I told you, I’ve…”
“This has nothing to do with that. Going by your size and frame, I’d say you
need a smaller gun. You’ve really got to be familiar and comfortable with largecaliber guns before you try and use one for protection.”
“What do you suggest?”
Keeping my gaze on the darkness ahead, I reached beneath my seat and found
one of the smaller autos Reed and I had picked up.
“This is an automatic. Just take it off safety like this.” I flicked the catch with
my thumb then flicked it back on and handed it to her, butt-first. “The kick isn’t
bad at all, and the gun’s pretty accurate up to about twenty-five yards. Just
remember to pull the hammer before you start shooting. Once you shoot the first
round, you don’t have to cock it again. Just keep pulling the trigger until the
clip’s empty. You don’t have to pull it very hard, either. There should be eight
rounds in that clip. You can empty it a lot faster than a revolver.”
“Thank you.” She handed me the .45, which I put beneath my seat.
“How many of those do you have down there?”
“Several.”
“That’s what your friend said. Where’d you get them?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“He didn’t want to talk about it. He was ... kind of distant.”
“I’ll tell you about it later.”
She went back to watching her mirror.
Although the blackness pressing against our windows reassured me, I knew
better than to let down my guard. If my suspicions rang true, what this girl had
stumbled upon was something none of us would be able to deal with. They could
be out there right now, and they wouldn’t have to see our headlights or tail lights
to know where we were. They could function extremely well in total darkness.
The mere thought of what might happen urged me to gain as much distance as
possible. If they found us, we’d have no chance at all.
But something about her story made no sense. It also made me somewhat
suspicious, and I had to find out about it quickly. After all, I’d just given her a
loaded gun.
“Let me get this straight. They didn’t care that you got away from them? They
just ... let you leave?”
“They seemed more concerned about that car driving by. It was really weird
—a kind of predator/prey thing. Like how an animal reacts when you try running
away.”
“What did they do when they’d finished assaulting the passengers?”
“I didn’t wait to find out. I got away as fast as I could.”
“I can’t say I blame you,” Reed said.
“I was so terrified I didn’t know what else to do. I really wanted to help those
poor people. If only I’d found that gun earlier...”
“They would’ve just taken it from you before you could use it.”
She stared at me. Even in the darkness of the cab I felt the intensity behind
those green orbs. “You ... know about them, don’t you?”
“I’m ... not sure.”
“Back at the station ... when I told you about them, you seemed ... tense.”
“Like I said, I’m not sure.”
“But you’ve got some idea.”
“Moss?” Reed shifted forward and rested his forearms on the console. “I
could tell something was wrong. Is she right? Do you ... know anything about
this?”
“Like I said, I’m not sure. I’m only guessing. I could be wrong.”
“What if you’re right?”
I didn’t want to tell them my suspicions.
When I was in the service, a program the military and a government research
agency were working on at the time hadn’t progressed beyond its initial stages. I
never thought I’d ever see it in my lifetime. At least, I hoped I never would. I’d
seen how slowly the military and the government operated, and I assumed it
would be at least fifty years before something of that magnitude would ever come
to fruition.
But now? And at a time like this?
“Let’s hope I’m not,” I said. “Let’s just make some distance so we don’t have
to worry about them anymore.”
Neither spoke, but I knew the subject would come up again.
“Where are you guys coming from?” the girl asked a few minutes later.
“Florida. How about you?”
“Walter Reed.”
“You’re a doctor?”
“Nurse.”
“I suppose that place is in shambles,” Reed said.
“Right out of a horror flick. Bodies were everywhere, and the stench was
horrifying. We ran out of beds two months ago. People would come in by the
dozens and stagger around, looking for treatment. An hour later, half of them
would be lying dead in the corridors. Two hours later, the rest would be dead. We
didn’t have enough people to handle them all because our own people were
dropping like flies. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I had to get out.”
“That’s understandable,” Reed said.
“Both of you are from Florida?”
“The three of us,” Reed said.
She turned sharply in her seat. “Three of you?”
“You can’t see my friend. He’s invisible.”
She twisted around to the front and felt for the door handle. “You can just
leave me off right here, if you don’t mind.”
“I can’t drop you off in the middle of nowhere.”
“It’s all right. I’ll just…”
“Listen. I know how crazy this sounds, but it’s true. Reed’s friend is invisible,
but if it weren’t for him, I’d be dead. So would Reed.”
She turned and stared at Reed then at me. She was probably trying to decide
what was going on with us. “You’re okay? I mean, you’re not…”
Reed sighed. “Crazy? On meds? In spite of the circumstances, I’m perfectly
okay.”
She didn’t reply.
“Want some proof?”
“Proof?”
“My friend says you can use that antiseptic packet you’ve got in your back
pocket to tend to your swollen lip. Or, if you’d like, we have a first-aid kit.”
The girl blinked. Her mouth fell open. Once she accepted the reality of the
situation, she closed her mouth, swallowed, and cleared her throat. “H … how did
he…? H … how did…?”
I grinned. “You needed proof, right?”
She kept staring--first at me, then at Reed. Then she pushed her hair out of
her eyes and reached into her back pocket.
As she applied the antiseptic to her lip with help from the visor light, Reed
handed her a small baggie of ice from the cooler. She gently applied it to the
swelling.
“I’m Moss and he’s Reed,” I said, figuring an introduction might break the
ice.
“What about ... his friend?”
“What about your friend, Reed?”
“He hasn’t told me his name.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“It never came up.”
“You’re not curious?” she asked.
“Not really.”
“Strange. Anyway, what’s the story with you guys?”
“I met Reed in Florida. He’d just been beaten up by a gang of punks. He said
he started hearing a strange voice when he came to.”
She nodded.
“It’s not what you think,” Reed said.
“What do I think?”
“Head trauma. Hearing voices. Imagining things. Going bonkers.”
“Since he said you came to, I assume you were unconscious. A head trauma
would cause all that—especially if you suffered a concussion. But since I’m not a
doctor, I have no idea what’s going on up there.”
“He’s real,” Reed said.
“I’m sure he is.”
“Why do I think you’re humoring me?”
“I wouldn’t know. Anyway, I just told you I’m not a doctor. Just a nurse.”
“A nurse with no name,” I said.
She sighed. “My name is Brooke Fields.”
“What do we call you? Fields? Brooke? Nurse Fields? Nursie?”
“Whatever you like. Except Nursie.”
I kept driving and watching out for movement in front of us as well as any
lights in my mirror. The thick, impenetrable darkness reassured me somewhat,
but I remained uneasy.
“So now that we’re acquainted,” she said, “maybe you can tell us why you
acted so weird back there. Just before we left Breezewood, when I told you about
those ... those guys.”
I didn’t reply. I was reluctant to say anything. Telling them my suspicions
would certainly frighten them.
“Why are you stalling?”
“I’m ... not quite sure who they were. Or even if you could call them guys.”
She lowered her ice pack again. “What would you call them?”
“I didn’t see them.”
“Moss?” Reed was fidgeting. “Is there something you’re not telling us?”
“I’m ... not sure.”
“What
are
you sure about?”
“They’re dangerous.”
“I got that, too. I was there. I saw what they can do.”
I said nothing.
“I’m not in the mood for games,” she said flatly. “I was almost killed back
there. If you have any idea what’s going on, the least you can do is…”
“They’re guys,” I finally said. “Sort of.”
“
Sort
of?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Start telling it.”
“It involves the military.”
“Moss,” Reed said, “are you saying the three men who attacked her are
military personnel?”
The facts more or less confirmed it. They were strong enough to pick up an
adult woman with one arm and run down a moving car. However, the small black
dot in the center of their foreheads told me the most important—and scariest—
part of the story.
“Possibly,” I said.
“Now that I’m thinking about this,” she said, “something about those three
struck me as very odd.”
“Go on.”
“They didn’t talk to one another.”
“You mentioned that before. How is that odd?”
“It just didn’t make any sense. They didn’t speak or even laugh. Guys always,
you know, joke around with one another, even when they’re out to hurt or rob
people. But these three didn’t even talk when they surrounded me. Or even when
they ran down that passing car. It was like a sci-fi flick, where the alien touches
down and has its first look at our civilization but doesn’t talk because it doesn’t
communicate as we do. Know what I mean?”
I’d seen enough training films to know where this was going. During my tour,
several of us were given special treatment in exchange for giving them written
permission to put us through a series of stress tests. At the time, we’d welcomed a
few weekends of R&R and light duty. We weren’t concerned what the military
was doing, or that some secret program would result. At twenty, one doesn’t think
too much of the future.
But now that future had finally arrived, and it was vitally important to learn
all the facts.
“You mentioned getting away from them while they were distracted,” I said.
“I didn’t want them to see me running, so I found a good hiding place at the
end of the block. I crawled underneath an SUV. I was afraid they’d guess which
direction I’d come and would hunt me down when they were finished with the
other two people.”
“What happened?”
“They didn’t seem to care about me or where I’d gone.”
“Not at all?”
“I watched them turn around and march down the street, and when they were
out of sight, I got out of there.”
Walking around. Not talking. Hunting down the enemy. Attacking then
marching away. This sounded like a program the military had initiated while I
was stationed at Brighton Beach. The government commissioned the military to
devise a sophisticated method of monitoring the movements of undercover cops
and informants. The program involved microchipping, but only voluntary
subjects were to be considered. Top-level military people headed the program,
and little was heard about its progress. What Fields had seen could be evidence
that the program had succeeded or was later abandoned in favor of something
more effective.
“Any idea why they all looked alike?” Fields asked. “Why Asian eyes?”
Asian scientists were handling the program at the time. They were concerned
about mass production and uniformity, but I wasn’t totally sure of their motives.
“No idea.”
“What else don’t you know?” Reed asked.
“I’m not hiding anything. I do suspect a few things, though.”
“If it’s something we need to know,” Fields said, “don’t you think you should
tell us?”
“During my three-year hitch, I learned that the Army had gotten together with
two other branches of the government for a special project adapted from a topsecret experiment Black Ops had been working on.”
“Black Ops?” Reed asked.
“This is getting more and more frightening,” Fields said.
“You’re sure about this?” Reed asked.
“I only know what I heard.”
“What did you hear?”
“Our government was working with the military to improve survivability
under combat conditions.”
Fields swallowed audibly. “Are you saying those guys I stumbled across are
Black Ops?”
“No.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“The government has been experimenting with all phases of combat
conditions and warfare for the last hundred and fifty years. Their studies and tests
have varied, of course, but it’s always been to the same end. They’re obsessed
with creating the newest and most efficient methods of winning wars. They want
to create the best soldiers, the best weapons, the best technology money can buy.
During a national crisis, they take over and pull out all the stops. Take September
11, 2001, for example. After it happened, we put ourselves on red alert and kept it
there for years. When Homeland Security started up, the government went crazy
with every conceivable method of high-tech intel regarding terrorism surveillance
and warfare. But this wasn’t exactly a new pattern of behavior. Nearly a hundred
years ago, when we considered communism our biggest threat, the military
experimented with chemical and biological weapons, including the Ebola virus.”