Every smiling face that passed by on the other side of that one-way glass deepened Mark’s unease. It was almost as if they were laughing at him. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his ungloved hand. The smiles were a good sign. It meant that things had gone well for Les. Opening his eyes he watched as the door to the lobby closed, the last few scientists making their way to the changing room. His heart skipped a beat as he realized that the last one, Wanda, was staring straight at him.

No, it was just an accident. Her eyes darted, looking at the mirror side of the glass as if trying to see through it. But she couldn’t. She wasn’t smiling. Was she upset? He closed his eyes and shook his head. No time to worry about Wanda right now. The door at the end of the security hallway opened.

Les looked happy. She was about to speak when Mark put a finger to his lips. He wasn’t sure how much sound would make it through that glass. They stood in silence, staring at each other, her face growing concerned as she studied him. After the door to the labs finally closed behind Wanda, Les said, “Well, you look like hell.”

The Marine became very conscious of the fact that he was still breathing hard, his heart still beating wildly. He managed a slow nod. Seconds slipped by as the girl waited patiently for him to calm enough to speak. “Les, I need you to make me two promises, and do me one favor.”

She shifted her weight and cocked her head. “What happened in there?”

Shaking his head, he repeated, “Two promises and a favor. Then I’ll tell you.”

Pausing only a few seconds, Les finally shrugged. “Fine.”

“First, promise that you will never go into those labs alone.” He could see her stiffen. “If you ever enter a room and there’s no one else in it, you get out of there A-sap. No looking around. No lingering. Got it?”

“You’re kind of scaring me.”

“Good.” She jumped a little. It had come out louder than intended, hard, with a dose of the anger that had been boiling inside him as a response to his fear and embarrassment. Closing his eyes, Mark took a deep breath, then continued, softer. “I’m sorry. Just promise me.” He opened his eyes and she was nodding.

“I promise,” she whispered.

He nodded. “Now, promise me that you are not part of some sick joke.” He held up a hand to stop her, “But before you do, understand that I am not a person to be messed with. If you are part of some prank, now is the time to tell me, or this is not going to end well.” He lowered his hand.

“I promise, Mark. Right now I’m completely freaked out.” Even from this distance, he could tell that she was starting to tear up, and it wasn’t just the cracks in her voice. Then that option was closed. Or if it wasn’t, then she was a victim, same as him.

“Last thing. In my locker, on the top shelf, is the pistol that Sherman gave me. Get it, and bring it here.” She turned and moved back into the office, the door closing automatically behind her. He could hear the muted clang of the locker as she shut it. The door opened again and she approached, holding the pistol like a platter in her hands. “Read the serial numbers on it.”

As she began reading, he turned away from her, holding the pistol that had appeared in his hands so that she couldn’t see it. Every number and letter she spoke matched. When she finished, he turned and held out the pistol. “It’s a match.”

“What?” He offered her the gun and she took it, comparing the serials. “That’s not possible, is it?” Shrugging, he moved past her. “Wait, where did you even get this?”

“I’ll show you.”

Beeping his keyfob, Mark opened the door to the Security Office, then moved to the chair, Les close behind him. The cameras showed a crowded changing room, most of the lab rooms still empty, but for a few of the lab techs that had finished changing quickly and were walking around, getting back to work. Focusing on the monitor that included room six in its rotation, he pulled up the controls and started rewinding the footage. The viewing angle wasn’t ideal, but it could see the storage room door, and one of the exits.

A few seconds of rewinding and a speedy, white-suited blur came running backward into the frame from the bottom of the screen. The pair watched as the odd experience played in reverse at high speed. Once the white suit returned from where it came, Mark hit play.

There was something disturbingly surreal about watching the white clean suit walking onto the scene, knowing that it was him inside, and it had all happened only a few minutes ago. Even though he’d just watched the entire thing move backward at high speed, Mark kept expecting the recording to lie. This time, it didn’t.

About thirty seconds after his image entered the closet, the door closing behind him, Mark pointed at the handle. “There. See it?”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know, but I’ve seen something like it before in the labs. I was with Reena at the time, and we both saw it.” Something that looked vaguely web-like had reached out from the blank wall and attached to the door handle. The distance from the camera made it hard to discern, but he felt it was similar, if not the same, as the thing he’d seen once on his reflection’s shoulder. The two guards watched the screen intently, waiting for something to happen.

Les gasped and even jumped a little. The handle and mysterious web had both disappeared. At the same moment, the door flung wide, white-suited figure falling out onto the floor, gun in hand. It was all there. Mark’s muscles relaxed in relief.

“Did you find this gun in that room?”

“No. The handle became the gun.”

She looked at him blankly, then back at the screen, the figure running towards and beneath the camera, leaving the room. “What do you mean?” It was a lot to take in. He understood her confusion.

“I know it sounds crazy, but just before the door opened, I had been trying to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. Then I heard a voice in that little closet with me. But I was alone. Then I wished I had brought the pistol with me. Even if it didn’t work, it could still be used as a threat or even a club. That’s when the handle turned into the pistol.”

He could tell that she was trying to process everything she had just seen and heard, and it wasn’t processing well. “I don’t want to scare you, Les. I know that all of this is strange. Maybe it’s even frightening you a little bit. But you don’t need to be afraid.”

Did she? “I’ve had some bizarre experiences this past week, and everyone here seems to be keeping a secret or two, but as far as I know, no one has ever been hurt here. Jeremy has been here for years. Most of the lab technicians have been here for years. The place may be creepy, and have lots of questions to answer,” he refused to let memories of the top floor surface, barely able to suppress the shudder that was creeping up his spine, “but it’s safe here. You understand?”

Did he understand? Wasn’t he terrified just minutes ago? Eventually, she nodded. He thought about looking at the other monitors, seeing what they showed of the doors opening on their own as he fled the lab, or viewing his experience in Neuro. But he had seen enough for now, and Les certainly didn’t need to see any more. She was barely keeping it together as it was, even trying to hide her growing anxiety by folding her arms to calm her shaking hands.

“Let’s go do the perimeter check. Get some fresh air.” He stood, took the pistols from her, and opened his locker. He placed the pistols on the top shelf then pulled out the heavy coat and started putting it on. Les moved to her locker and began putting her own coat on as well. “If it’ll make you feel any better, I’ll bring this.” Removing the shotgun, he slung it around his shoulder. Her eyes went wide, but she was nodding and the hint of a smile finally showed.

“Yeah, yeah that probably would make me feel a little better.”

“Come on then.” They left the office together, Les’ shoes tap-tapping as they crossed the lobby. “You should get some quieter shoes.”

It was still snowing when they exited the lobby into the dark night, a thin layer of the flakes coating the sidewalk. “You want to lead or should I?”

“You, please.”

Mark kept the shotgun tight against his chest with his right hand, his left holding the flashlight as they moved down the walkway towards the gravel pathway that ran alongside the chainlink fencing. Turning left onto the path, they would first walk up one side of the parking lot, cross the back, checking the gate on the way, then down the other side, following the fencing all the way around the building back to where they started. It was a significant distance, taking around thirty minutes if he walked fast. Tonight, he took his time.

It felt good to be out of the laboratory. Even though it was dark and cold outside, he felt distinctly removed from the nightmares inside. Nightmares he still wasn’t sure how to handle. Whenever he wasn’t in the labs, his experiences there felt surreal, like part of some dream. He wasn’t sure if he really believed them. Once back inside, though, he wouldn’t be able to ignore their reality. For now, he was enjoying the magical silence of the falling snow.

They turned onto the path. The sound of gravel crunching beneath boots had been there on previous nights, but with the unusual quiet of the current weather, it seemed so much louder. Crunch-unch, crunch-unch, crunch-unch, crunch-unch. The rhythm of his steps mixed with Les’ to create a strangely hypnotic beat. The soldier in him wanted to switch his gait to match hers, but he resisted the urge.

A beam of light swept the parking lot to his left. Les was checking it out. He kept his own flashlight focused on the path ahead as the light behind him moved from the parking lot to the fence and the area which had been cleared around it. About thirty feet of dirt and rocks, with the occasional tuft of weeds, all now covered with a fine white powder, rest between the fence and the forest. A fence with barbed wire was no good if someone could just climb a tree and jump over it, so a dead zone had been created.

“It’s warmer than I expected.”

“Hrm?”

“I mean, it’s still cold, obviously, but, this is my first time in snow. Just moved here a month ago. I expected it to be colder.”

“Ah,” Mark felt himself starting to relax, and some part of him resisted. You don’t relax in combat situations. He pushed that part aside. This wasn’t a combat situation, and his nerves could use a break. “Well, the air gets warmer while it’s snowing. More the other way around really. It’s snowing because the air near the ground is warmer. That pushes the water in the air upwards, where it’s colder. It freezes then falls back down.”

“It’s kind of magical.”

Mark smiled. “I think that every time. Never gets old.”

Crunch-unch, crunch-unch, crunch-unch.

A few minutes later they reached the gate, both lights flashing off the metal outline as they crossed the road it blocked. Everything looked normal. Mark stepped back onto the gravel path. Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. He glanced behind, unsure if he and Les were now in step, or if she wasn’t following him. As he turned, she called out, “Mark.” She was still by the gate, only a few feet away, light shining on the ground. The gravel crunched as he turned, but he didn’t take a step.

Les’ flashlight shone off the snow and a slick, pink, web-like, thing. She was starting to kneel and he yelled, “Don’t touch it!” The girl started and stood back up, her eyes still locked on the entity.

“What is it?” The Marine attached his flashlight to the clip under the shotgun’s barrel and pointed it towards the spot.

“Step back, Les.” She looked up at him, saw the gun pointed at the ground, and quickly moved to the side, then around until she was next to him.

“What is it?” she repeated.

“I don’t know, but it’s the same thing from the camera.”

The girl moved closer to him. “Are you sure?”

It was a fair question, and although he was sure, he didn’t know why. It had been hard to really discern from the recording what was on the door, but this was definitely the same thing he’d once seen on his own shoulder, reflected in the glass of the lobby windows, and he felt that’s what they had seen on the door. The same thing he and Reena had seen in the lab, attached to the camera.

He took a step. It wasn’t moving, just laying there in the snow, across one of his bootprints. Another step. Mark switched off the safety on the shotgun. To his right, he saw Les stiffen. She had noticed. Feeling the tube switch on the shotgun he flipped it from the left to the right tube. Using a finger he snapped down the action bar lock and slid back the rail quickly. The action made a satisfying chack-chack as an orange shell ejected, clattering on the gravel, and a new shell was chambered. “Les, grab that, please.”

She didn’t even hesitate, quickly kneeling, grabbing the shell, and pocketing it. Taking a few more steps, he stared down at the pinkish thing. Snow was starting to gather on it. He wanted to shoot it. Or smash it under his heel. The nightmare was following him out of the lab. It was invading his world. “We should probably get one of the techies.” In response, Les’ light swept across the parking lot, towards the building.

“You want me to go?” He nodded. “Alone?”

Tearing his eyes from the meshy-pinkness, he looked at her. It was too dark to make out her hooded face. “Would you rather stay here with that?” he motioned with the shotgun. The beam of light from her flashlight wobbled as she shuddered. “Get Dan. Or if he’s busy, then Reena.”

“OK. I’ll be back quick.” She started to run, and Mark returned his focus to the thing.

“Wait!” he shouted. What was it doing? He heard her footsteps approaching quickly, her light focused once again on the entity.

“What is it?” She sounded more worried than curious.

“It’s… dissolving?” The pink hue had quickly turned white, the glistening strands drying, thinning, and now breaking. The pair of guards shivered, though not from the cold, as they watched the mysterious object disintegrate into the snow over a few seconds.

Silence. Falling snow. Two beams of light focused on a bootprint. The moment continued a long time. Was it too cold? Had the thing been riding on his back again, but fallen off because of the cold? It was the only answer Mark could think up. The bootprint was too perfect, so he hadn’t stepped on it, and there were no marks in the snow, so it hadn’t gotten there on its own. It must have fallen to the ground.

A sniffle. Was she crying? No, it was probably just the cold. “Les, would you check my back, make sure there’s no more of those things on me?” She walked around him, flashing the light up and down.

“I don’t see anything. You really think that thing was on you? That’s creepy. Anything on me?” He did the same for her but found nothing.

“Well, let’s keep moving.” Switching back on the safety, he turned back to the gravel path. Les followed. Crunch-unch, crunch-unch.

What if that entity had been the cause of everything? If it could turn a door handle into a pistol, complete with serial numbers, then could it fix a busted door? Could it write a message on a mirror and make it disappear minutes later? Was it capable of interrupting or altering the digital communications between camera and monitor? Could it speak? Or, could it make you think you had heard someone speak? If it could do that, could it completely take over a person’s actions, make them say things, or do things?

Crunch-unch, crunch-unch, crunch-unch, crunch-unch, crunch-unch, crunch-unch, crunch-unch, crunch-unch, crunch-unch, crunch-unch, crunch-unch, crunch-unch.

It was dead. It was as if his skin had been coated with iron, which had suddenly melted away. Was it all over? Could he let himself believe that? Hope. It was a powerful emotion. He found that he was smiling. Perhaps it was premature, but until he had reason to doubt, he would cling to that hope.

“So, Les, where are you from?” he asked cheerfully.

“Well, aren’t you in a good mood. Guess your cookie party went well?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, it had a rough start, but ended up pretty good.”

She put her arms around him. “And the new girl? When is she working your shift?”

“I should find out tomorrow. Hopefully sometime this week. I’d really like a chance to meet up with the guys while they’re in town.”

Pulling him closer she said in a teasing tone, “And what makes you think I’m going to let go of you for one minute on your first day off?” Then she kissed him.