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The lights turned on and I gasped with fear. Suddenly, I heard yelling. Lots and lots of yelling coming from far down the hall, from where I’d come from.
I turned to hide, but by the time I scrambled under the desk, it was already too late. Someone grabbed me by the hair, hands curling around my ponytail and forcing me backwards. I yelped at the sudden pain and felt a gun pressed to the side of my head.
“Who the fuck are you?” a male voice sounded angrily. His tone was gruff, used to being obeyed, and I felt my stomach drop to my toes.
“I’m no one,” I answered shakily as my arms were wrenched behind my back. Something that felt like rope tied around my wrist, modern-day handcuffs that didn’t have a key or a way to escape. I knew how they worked, and I tried to breathe calmly. A single continuous strand, no ends. No way to get free unless my captor wanted to free me. I began to feel more terrified than ever.
I’d gotten into plenty of hairy situations before as a reporter, but never quite like this. The barrel of a gun had never been pressed to the side of my head. I’d never broken into a secret government compound before either, so there was that. I tried to think positively. I’d get out of this. I had to.
I stared into the face of a bearded man, outfitted in black combat gear. I realized then that I was surrounded. Another ten men stood with their guns pointed in my direction. Fuck.
They needed this kind of military power for a simple break-in? Insanity. I couldn’t even load my laser gun with enough power cartridges to kill them all, never mind the thick body armor they were wearing. It seemed they were overly prepared for the likes of me and I wondered if this was normal. Someone grabbed the gun from my holster though, shoving it aside so that I couldn’t even get to it. I heard the metal click and skid away and I felt my hope go with it.
Would they kill me? Ship me off to some top-secret prison, never to be seen again?
“You’re going to regret ever coming here, sugar,” the man said with a shake of his head. “Better off dead, I tell ya. You couldn’t have picked a worse possible time to go alien hunting than right now.”
I shivered.
What the hell did he mean?
Radios squawked around us.
“Second perimeter clear. No sign of Subject #574 or Subject #725. Consider armed and dangerous.”
“Subjects #696, #694, and #074 found dead.”
I tried to make sense of it, but I couldn’t. What did the numbers mean?
All around me a flurry of activity was taking place. I’d definitely walked in during the middle of something big, that much I could tell. Every single man’s expression consisted of collected calm, yet I saw fear behind their eyes. Everything about it screamed of some sort of danger. What was going on?
How was I going to get out of this? Would I even make it out alive?
The bearded soldier ripped the folder out of my hands and shook his head in annoyance.
“Wait! Give me that back,” I begged, but he ignored me with a shake of his head.
“Fucking Dr. Kapoeta, the old coot, always needing to print out his work. Only doctor we’ve ever had that insisted on owning one of those old-school printers. Should have burned everything after he died three weeks ago. Deputy Gordon. Plant an incinerator bomb in the office and take care of this mess. Make sure there?
?s nothing left,” the man in charge barked. One of the military operatives nodded and stayed behind as one of them pushed me forward toward the door.
My mind was whirling with questions as the soldiers led me out of the lab, up the stairs, and back out into the woods. They didn’t speak to me and I was too nervous to ask any more questions. They moved fast and silently, keeping formation the entire time. They loaded me up onto a flying hovercraft that quickly rose up high above the treetops and shot forward. In minutes, we arrived at the center of Echelon 67, where a much larger dome was waiting for us all. Behind us, a ball of flame exploded and rose up into the sky, the heat radiating out toward us. I shivered, feeling the warmth, and then I turned to look at the small dome I had explored. There wasn’t much to see in the night air other than fire, but I had a little time to focus on the loss of my evidence. All of my proof gone up in flames. Dammit. Now what would I do if I ever made it out of here?
When we landed outside the larger dome, I was roughly forced off the hovercraft and toward the building. I fought every step of the way, but I quickly realized I was fighting a losing battle.
As they led me inside, I saw something flash in the bushes. A pair of red eyes, like a blazing inferno, stared at me and I shivered with anxiety. For a long moment, I forgot to even breathe.
What was really going on here in Echelon 67?
I had very little time to think as they shoved me inside. White hallways opened up to large central rooms, including additional portals that shimmered with black and purple light. I chewed my lip and tried to shift my shoulders, already sore from being tied up with the rope. Every time I moved, the ropes grew tighter, like a Chinese finger trap. When I stopped struggling, the ropes relaxed, and I sighed in frustration.
I didn’t see any way out of this. I was screwed.
Crudely, the soldiers pushed me forward into a nearby doorway and I nearly fell into a chair at the center of the room. More soldiers shuffled in. More guns pointed in my direction and I started to feel more nervous by the second. I would be lucky to make it out of here alive. I sat there, trying to do my best to curl up into the smallest ball possible.
I’d figure my way out of this, sooner or later. Right?
“Unknown heat signature heading toward Dome Three,” one of the radios squawked. I looked around, noticing that everyone grew more tense with that pronouncement. Something cracked outside, and all the guns moved from me to the entryway of the room.
