Chapter 23
Scratching and metal on metal sounds caused the researchers to pause, trying in vain to see through the pitch that surrounded them.
“Who’s doing that?”
“I don’t know, it’s not me!”
In the pitch black, no matter what happened it seemed like there was nothing but bickering back and forth amid the fear and occasional bouts of panic, but that wasn’t true of the entire group.
Raymond Firth, his human name at least, had been slowly crawling through the darkness, making his way to the reactor where it was secured.
He finally made it despite the blackness, and felt his way along the smooth metal of the machine before he found the panel cover and flipped it open to gain access to the controls within.
The faint glow of the small display hidden within cast a glow on his face as he leaned in and examined the device.
“Reactor’s fine, the cable has to be disconnected,” He called above the din. “I’m going to backtrack it, someone find that damn kid!”
*****
Seb froze, eyes turning to the faint glow in the distance.
Well, that’s not good.
He was on a clock now, more than before, but he’d found a second pole and stripped the IV from another kid’s arm before dismantling it and scuttling back to the first gurney.
Rigging the poles in place was harder than he’d expected it to be, and noisier, which was becoming more of a problem now that there was some light for people to accustom their gaze to.
In a dark enough area, it didn’t take much for humans to start picking out differences in contrast, that was what the good old eyeball mark one was best at, after all.
Grimacing, Seb made another decision that was unlike him. He grabbed some of the medical tubing he’d pulled from the IV poles and twisted the power cable back on itself and strapped it tight, the live end now pointed back toward the safe side.
If there’s anyone left in there, I’m sorry.
That done, he picked out the coordinates of the poles that were now secured to the gurney and prayed to whomever might be listening that he’d gotten them strapped down tightly enough.
Too much wobble would disrupt the rift gate he’d attached to them, but he was out of time.
He could hear the people moving toward him from the direction of the light, see their shadowy shapes against the pitch and brighter spots…
and hear the movement of the cable as someone followed it along the ground.
Seb crawled back around the gurney and checked now against the dim light his own eyes were getting used to, making sure he was lined up.
He paused for a moment, eyes looking past the victims he could vaguely make out now and another idea came to him.
Go for the gusto.
He shifted his alignment just slightly and then threw his back into it, the gurney started moving slowly across the stone floor, the wheels scraping as much as rolling as he started building momentum.
Just before he was going to hit the next gurney, Seb threw the mental switch and activated the rift gate to his inventory space.
The gate moved with him, swallowing the gurney with its patient, as screams of surprise lit off behind him as the cave was again bathed in brilliant white light, painful even through his closed eyes.
An energetic crackle erupted behind him, and a scream rent the air… not from the direction. Seb wasn’t surprised, anyone touching the end of that lead wouldn’t have a chance to scream. He kept his eyes closed, fought back the urge to vomit, and kept pushing forward.
Another gurney was swallowed by the moving rift, then a third, and a fourth.
The light wasn’t going away this time, so the invaders were able to get accustomed to it, to one degree or another, and he heard yells of surprise and command as they looked and saw him as he kept pushing.
Spots dancing in front of his eyes, Seb pushed harder as he peered out through barely split eyelids.
Two left…
He ignored the calls behind him, kept his down, and shoved that gurney right into the last two, swallowing them up in turn. Then he threw himself to the left and turned the whole thing as best he could, startling someone who was much closer than he’d realized.
The researcher dodged aside, barely evading being gobbled up by the rift while Seb directed the gurney through their equipment racks, swallowing up the entire line before he got slightly off kilter and the wheels dug in, hitting something he hadn’t seen, topping the whole thing with him going right over it with the unconscious boy sprawling ahead of him in what would surely have been painful if it had been felt.
The boy was out of it, though, and Seb was wired on adrenaline as he hit the ground and the lights went out when the rift was disrupted by the poles being bent apart by the impact.
In the dark again, blinking the spots away, Seb could hear people screaming and shouting.
“Get that brat!”
At least one was closer than he liked, that was sure.
Probably the guy I almost ran over.
Seb picked himself up, getting to his knees and started groping around.
Come on, I know you’ve got to be here somewhere…
He was getting desperate, trying to figure out how far the kid had been thrown, as the sound of people getting closer was beginning to blot out even the sound of his own heart as it raced against the inside of his rib cage.
“Got you!”
Seb blinked, the voice was close, just ahead of him in fact. For a second he didn’t know what the hell the voice was blathering about, then it clicked.
He didn’t make a decision, he didn’t freeze either. Seb was in motion before he could even think, going to a full sprint over a space of just scant feet, then throwing himself foot first through the dark that his rational mind gibbered at.
It was insane, it was stupid, but… it worked.
His boots connected with the researcher who’d grabbed the unconscious boy by mistake, and Seb heard something break. He ignored the pain he felt as well as the scream of pain from whoever he hit, falling with a heavy thud that was softened only by the other boy beneath him.
He hoped he hadn’t hurt the kid, but didn’t have time to check.
His, long since out of date, first aid classes came in clutch then as he grabbed the boy's arms and rolled, pulling the boy over his shoulder and staggering to his feet in the process.
With yells of commotion behind him, Seb surged forward as the rift gate opened in front of him and he fell more than ran through.
Behind him, darkness returned in an instant, and left only chaos in his wake.
*****
RCMP Constable Michelle Dublais paused in her search, frowning as she half turned.
“What is it, Mick?”
“I thought I heard something,” She told her partner, looking into the trees. “That way, I think.”
Ben Curtland looked over where she was looking and shrugged, “Good a direction as any we’ve got, let’s have a look.”
She nodded and they shifted their angle of hike, heading for a copse of trees that was hugging the edge of a hill.
They’d been out all night with the search teams, none of them having anything to show for it, but they weren’t planning on stopping anytime soon. There would be some sort of sign to find, no matter what had happened to the kids and their chaperones.
They’d find it.
She had to tell herself that, because it had been a long night and the doubts were starting to creep in.
They got to the trees and were sweeping their powerful mag-lights around, but nothing seemed out of place, so she was about to suggest getting back on track with the search grid they’d been on when a flash of light from the trees caught them both off guard.
“Let’s go,” Ben said, stepping in and shouldering through the low hanging branches, kicking some to splinters as he physically opened up a path through the trees.
Michelle followed him closely, the light held high in her left hand while her right dropped instinctively to the holstered Smith and Wesson Model 10 on her hip. They’d only been at it for a short while before they broke through to a clearing and stopped dead in their place.
“What in the…” Ben breathed out, confused.
Michelle swept her light across the scene, but had nothing to add as she took in the sight of all the missing kids, plus two chaperones, unconscious on the ground… laid out in a row, neat as you could please.
“Call it in,” She said, “I’ll check their vitals. Best get a chopper out here.”
“Yeah,” Ben nodded, pulling his radio from his belt and thumbing it over to the search channel. “Coordinator, Curtland. We’ve got them, get us an evac chopper to…”
Michelle tuned him out as Ben started rattling off coordinates, focusing on looking over the kids first.
Most of them were a little worse for wear, best she could tell, but not looking too bad until her eyes were drawn to the bloody smears across the crook of their arm, and she frowned.
“I think they’ve been drugged… adults too,” She called back, pausing at one of the kids with a wince.
Most of them were in decent shape, but this one had a crap load of scrapes and bruises forming as best she could see. The same bloody patch on his arm though, which left her wondering how he’d taken the damage.
Doubt he fought back after they stuck him. Before maybe? Hopefully we’ll find out when they wake up.
“Teams are converging on our position, helo is warming up at the hospital, but it’ll be twenty minutes to get here.” Ben said, clipping his radio back on his belt. “Got anything?”
“Nasty bruising on this one,” She said, consulting the photos she had. “Uh… looks like the Carson boy. The rest… not seeing anything aside from what looks like injection points in their arms.”
“The hell… this isn’t some campers getting lost,” Ben snarled. “We’ve got a freak out here.”
“Serial?” She asked helplessly.
“None working the area we know of, and I don’t think any of the actives across the country have this pattern.
I suppose we should call down to the States, see if the FBI has any that fit, but I’d say that if it is, he’s been under the RADAR until now.
” Ben growled, hand on his pistol as he turned and swept the area with his light. “Think we should look for tracks?”
“We stay with them until others get here,” Michelle said firmly. “Then we search.”
“He might get away.”
“He’s already gone.”
*****
Seb watched from further up the hill, looking down into the clearing where the two officers were standing with the kids.
Good enough.
He turned and started up over the hill.
He’d rift out once he was out of sight.
*****
“Local authorities reported earlier that the missing children and their chaperones were found a short while ago, no serious injuries were found but the entire group has been admitted to the hospital…”
Seb grimaced as he heard the radio playing the local news, because he knew it meant only one thing.
“Sebastian Ethan Parker, where the hell have you been?”
Seb winced as he heard his full name, his mother glaring at him from the chair in the corner as she reached up to turn off the radio.
“Sorry mom?” He offered up weakly. “Uh… got a little turned around in the woods?”
“You are so grounded.” She growled, taking deep breaths. “Go to bed. We’ll deal with this in the morning, when I’m more confident that I’m not going to kill you for scaring me half to death.”
Seb fled to his room.
That could have gone better.
*****