Something Awakened

            JR awoke to the sound of bird song. The sun was coming through the blinds hung about the window. He got out of the bed, stretching and yawning before walking out of the room and down the set of stairs that led to the kitchen.

            He looked around, feeling that something was amiss. The house was different than he remembered, and there were people missing. He opened the fridge as he let the felling fade away and took out a packet of bacon. As he started frying it, something drew his attention to the front door. He put down the spatula and walked down the long hallway to the lobby, where he turned towards the large oaken door and placed his hands around the handles.

            He trust the doors open and an overwhelming white light consumed him and he remembered no more.

  “Victor,” said Ian as he remembered something.

  “Yes, Commander?”

  “I need you to do something, but you will not like it,”

  “It is my core functionality to do as you command,”

  “Yes, but it is also in your core functionality not to do what I am about to ask of you,”

  “I will comply as best I can,”

  “There’s a hidden file in your core memory, it contains the IP address of a mainframe and the password to access it. Once you access it with that password, the mainframe will boot up. You know what’s on that PC, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” said Victor and there was a note of worry in his voice.

  “Do it,”

  “As you command,” said Victor.

  Twenty four hours, Ian thought and he headed out of the room.

            JR woke again to the sounds of birds singing. As before he got out of bed, stretched and yawned, made his way down to the kitchen where he got out the same packet of bacon and started frying it. As he did this, something drew his attention to the front door, so he made his way down the long hallway and placed his hands on the handles.

            A sudden vision of a blinding bright light came to his mind and he let go of the handles. A rush of memories flooded his mind; he remembered his friends, a ruined mansion, a green crystal, and a woman. The woman was important, but he had no idea why.

            JR turned back to the hallway and there she was, naked pale skin veined in green crystal. She was beautiful, JR thought, with a face that made her look like a super model. Near perfect in every way.

            JR took a step closer and his whole world shifted and changed for a split second. The walls of the mansion were blackened and broken, the windows shattered and the ceiling destroyed in some places. The woman was unchanged, standing in the middle of the threshold staring at JR with cold eyes, and the bright light consumed him once more.

  “Where the hell are you?” asked Connor as he cleared yet another room in an abandoned apartment building. “I’m going to find you!”

            He was hunting for the imposter wearing JR’s face. Why he was listening to agents younger than him with less experience he had no idea. Sure they had worked for the Agency for three years in total, but Connor had been an agent for all his life after the Marine Core.

  “I know you’re not really JR!” he shouted into the emptiness and was greeted with the patter of feet from floors above him. “Damnit!”

            They didn’t even have anything on him, they knew who he used to be but nothing they could use to blackmail him, yet somehow they were in control. They were giving orders. It was his weakness, though, whenever he was given an order, he would follow it to the letter without question. It had caused him much pain in the past yet he never learned.

  “Oh, for fucks sake,” said Connor frustrated as he cleared another empty room.

            As he turned around to head back to the staircase, a hand grabbed him by the throat and pinned him to the wall.

  “Where is she?” asked the Spectre.

  “Who?” Connor chocked out.

  “Where is she?”

  “I don’t know who you’re talking about,”

            The Spectre turned its head sideways, just staring at Connor who was starting to turn blue. A shot resounded and the Spectre let go of Connor, who slumped against the wall, before sliding down to the ground leaving a bloody streak on the wall. The Spectre dropped Connor’s gun and walked on down the hallway.

            JR woke but this time he did not get out of bed. He remembered what he had seen before, yet as he looked at the mansion now it was whole. Instead of making his way down to the kitchen, JR walked over to the window and opened it. Again, a bright light overwhelmed him.

  “I’ve seen this before,” said De Beer as they reached the room where JR was.

            The crystal cocoon had thickened a little since Ian was last there.

  “Well, what is it?” asked Ian.

  “A virus,”

  “A virus?”

  “Yes, well virus is maybe not the best term, micro-organism is more appropriate. It causes vivid hallucinations, paralysis, comas and death,”

  “What’s with the crystal cocoon?”

  “What crystal cocoon?”

  “Shit, I’m seeing things,” said Ian sheathing his swords.

  “More likely than not. The organism, when not present in the blood stream, comes in crystal form, which is no doubt how JR came in contact with it. And since he’s here, the crystal is no doubt nearby,”

  “Is there a cure?”

  “No, but we can stop it, all we need to do is find the crystal and destroy it,”

  “Sounds like a badly planned quest in a poorly executed RPG,” commented Ian.

  “Be that as it may, it has to be done,”

  “How do we destroy it?”

  “Explosives are usually good,”

  “Good, I’ve got some C4 in the trunk of my car that’s gonna go bad soon,” said Ian jokingly.

            JR woke to the sound of bird song. This was the millionth time, or the hundredth. It was all a blur to him now, he might have been at it for years for all he knew. Time seemed not to have meaning where he was. He got up from the bed and looked for the trunk underneath.

            Inside was a shotgun and some shells, which he loaded and made his way downstairs. He passed through the kitchen and made his way to the basement staircase. The last time he tried this, something had devoured him in the darkness bellow. This time he was prepared.

            JR kicked the door open, weapon at the ready, and wished he had a flashlight. He entered slowly, taking small steps until he was well beyond the door. That was when he noticed a faint green glow off in the distance.

            He started towards it, first slowly, and then with bigger strides. Soon he was running, and he heard something chasing him. He shot over his shoulder as he ran, no care if he hit anything or not.

            The light was looming ever closer, but the thing that was chasing him wrapped a tentacle around his leg and tripped him. As he fell towards the floor, he turned and landed on his back, shotgun ready to fire at the first thing he saw that moved. A yellow bulge appeared in the darkness and he fired at it. A howl of pain and agony filled the room and the tentacle around his leg went limp. He get up and sprinted towards the light, as he came closer he saw that the light was being emitted by a green crystal on a pedestal.

            He was almost close enough when another tentacle grabbed at his legs and forced him to the ground once more. As he fell, he aimed the shotgun at the crystal and fired…

  “Did we get it?” asked Ian coughing.

            The explosives had worked too well. The unstable foundation had given way and the floor above the basement had collapsed in on itself leaving a massive crater. The whole house rattled as if it too was coughing.

  “I think so,” said De Beer.

  “What the hell are you guy’s up to?” asked JR from the floor above.

  “You’re up!” Ian exclaimed.

  “Yeah, and you’d never believe the dream I had,”

  “I’m sure I’d be able to envision it,”

  “Fit as a fiddle,” said Danny after she finished examining JR.

  “I told you,” said JR exasperated.

  “Don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy Danny probing you,” said Ian.

  “Jealous?” Danny asked.

  “No, I know I’m the only man for you,” said Ian and kissed her on the cheek.

  “Your other friend stumbled in here an hour earlier,”

  “Who, Devon?”

  “No, Connor,”

  “Who’s Connor?” asked JR.

  “A friend. What do you mean stumbled?” asked Ian.

  “He was shot, he said someone shot him but I know self-inflicted wounds, and he definitely shot himself,” explained Danny.

  “My fault, I guess,” said JR solemnly.

  “No autopsy, no foul,”

  “Doubt he’d see it that way,”

  “He will, at least he’s close to Abigail now. Both of them should heal faster knowing the other is nearby,”

            That night Ian was back in his own bed with Danny by his side. He had missed her warmth the most while they were in the Cage.

  Ten seconds, he thought, staring at the green light on his router.

            Ten seconds later the light went red. He reached for his phone and saw that he had no network coverage, although they had great coverage in the area. He knew the radio and TV would have lost connection as well, it was to be expected after what he had asked Victor to do.

            A minute later the router light turned green again and he had full signal strength.

  That’s bound to be on the news in the morning, he though and closed his eyes. Sleep was a welcome relief.