Project I.R.I.S.

Chapter Two: Back In My Old Cabin

Pulling his hand back to rub his eyes, he sighed heavily and got up to switch off the lights and lock the door. He was tired and his head hurt from his sore nose. It wasn't broken from what he could tell, but it sure hurt enough that when he touched it, it began to bleed again. Slipping an old napkin up his nose, he forced himself to lay back on his old bed as he listened to the spattering of snowflakes on the window and the crackling fire. The cabin was finally warm enough that he felt cozy and tired from the long trip. He was ready to wind down and deal with the rest in the morning. Closing his eyes, the sounds lulled him off to sleep. The darkness pulling him down deeper into a new dream or a new nightmare. He wasn't sure.

I sit up sleepily in a chair behind my little desk in a cabin that is far smaller than my old cabin. Here, the desk faces a medium sized window, where outside a blizzard rages on. While behind me is a little kitchen counter that is lined along one wall. Across from that is a single bed that I rarely get to use, since I'm supposed to be monitoring communications between the watchtowers of the forest with the CB radio. Upon the desk is the old CB radio that is letting out soft beeps that have awoken me. A little red-light blinks under a small metal toggle, until I flick the toggle up in order to turn the CB transistor radio on. Immediately a flood of radio static fills my small cabin. Resting my arms on the desk, I began to turn the large round dial to tune it to the frequency that it is coming through. I don't understand how or why I know how to do this, but it comes naturally to me. As the thin black needle moves along the neon green arch of numbers, the numbers begin to glow from a soft neon red to a striking yellowish orange. Staying on the yellowish orange frequency, I pull the microphone closer as a voice repeats over the light crackling. "Can you hear me? Please... Give me a sign. Anything."

Pressing the large button down on the mic, I groggily yawn out. "Tower two, this is tower one. I can hear you." Releasing the button, I listen to the static crackle as the voice exhales out in relief. "Oh, thank god!" There is a rush of a bit more static, before another voice casually cuts in. "There he is. We didn't lose him." I check the clock sitting on the kitchen counter beside my coffee mug. The glowing green numbers reading out five-thirty-five am. Turning back to the mic, I rub my tired eyes and groan out to myself. "I wouldn't doze off so much if you'd do something already... Christ, I'm fucking exhausted." I take a sip of my coffee that has gone cold as the first younger sounding male voice states out to the older sounding man. "Ok. What do I do now again?" The older man's voice cuts in and out of the static for me as he answers. "You should have a... on the desk. Use that to... increase activity and avoid any distressing signals. Remember these tests are important. And... try to stay on topic. This channel is being monitored."

Lazily glancing around my own desk, I let my eyes linger on the training manual. I don't feel like playing games over the CB, but it was mandatory in order to test the system and train them on what to listen for. Unable to stop myself, I push the button and joke back snarkily. "Does strip poker over the CB count?" The older man's voice dryly shot back over the coms. "I'm serious. Nothing unapproved or this session is over. Understood?" Both Tower two and I answer simply. "Yes, Sir." Leaning back in my chair, I enjoy the taste of cold coffee on my tongue. While Tower Two crackles over the CB casually. "Ok. Let's go through the basics here on the sheet. I'll say a word from the Radio Alphabet, and then you respond with the Morse Code letter for it. Ok?" Rolling my eyes, I reach out to tap the smaller telegraph key on the mic base beside the audio button. Over the coms, Tower Two clearly states through the soft static. "Are you paying attention? Here's the first one. Alpha. Do you remember it?"

I'm terrible at remembering Morse Code, but we'd been doing this for what felt like a few weeks now. So, I had a good bit of it memorized but I wasn't perfect. Tapping my finger on the telegraph key to code out the letter 'A', I started to think about the next letter. While over the coms, Tower Two praised him excitedly. "Great. You're getting better at this. Next one is... Bravo." Finishing the taps on the telegraph key, the older man's voice crackled in happily. "Excellent. Your recognition scores have been improving since the last session. Keep it up." We continued through the Radio Alphabet before starting over again. I did much better than my previous sessions, but I still missed four of them. Halfway through the Alphabet, my radio dial moved on its own. Sliding off the channel to a new one with squealing tones, before it softened and a distorted and staticky voice relayed in a sing-song voice. "One. Two. Anti's coming for you. Three. Four. Don't bother locking your doors. Five. Six. Your power flashes and flicks. Seven. Eight. Better calm your heart rate. Nine. Ten. You'll never wake again."

My breath catches in my throat, and I quickly reach for the dial to turn it back. Only to tumble back out of my chair with a scream as I notice someone standing in front of the window. The lights of the cabin flicker as I stagger back up to my feet. Standing in the middle of my tiny cabin, I snatch a knife out of the sink. However, as I raise it in front of me to prepare for a fight. I realize that the figure I saw in the window is gone. The radio dial squeals over to a new station on its own. The older man shouting now as he says through loud rushes of static. "Something is wrong. He's...! Try and get him back!" The dial squeals again and this time the younger man yells out through the static. "Jack! Jack! It's me, Chase! Are you still there?! Answer me! Please!" My hand begins to tremble as the power dies to the cabin, plunging me into total darkness, except for the glowing neon green radio dial that squeals over to the distorted voice, who chuckles out maniacally. "It's all just another bad dream, Jack... and YOU'RE NEVER WAKING UP! HAHAHAHA!"

The window smashed in. Sending shards of glass raining down over the small room. Barely covering my face in time, I drop to my knees as something heavy lands on the desk. Shards of glass fall off my clothes as peek up at the dark figure that is now crouched low over the desk. Its bright neon green eyes bore into me as it shoves the CB Radio off the desk violently and distortedly yells out at me. "Your worthless friends can't save you now. CALL FOR HELP! I DARE YOU! Cry into the darkness! SEE WHAT GOOD IT DOES YOU!" Holding the knife up in the hopes of fending the dark figure off, I cry out into the darkness between us with a broken voice. "Please, stop! What do you want?!" I scream and scramble back until my back hits the wall behind me as the dark figure jumps down from the desk. The glass crunching under his feet as he saunters closer to me. I swing the blade at his thigh, but he grabs my wrist and twists it to force the blade in my direction. I try to resist his strength as he slowly pushes the blade toward my own chest, his voice sinister and as glitchy as static when he answers with disgust in his voice. "I want you to DIE ALREADY! Don't you understand! I've won! This world is MINE! These people are MINE! You can't get rid of me! And it's... ALL... YOUR... FAULT!"

With his final words, my strength fails me, and the blade sinks into my chest. My body jerks violently from the firm hit. My eyes shut, but when I open them... I'm back in my cabin. Pushing up from the floor slowly, Jack rubbed his chest with a pained groan. His nightmare had scared him right off the bed and the hard floor had knocked all the air from his lungs. Sitting back onto his heels, he coughed out as he pulled the bloody napkin from his nose. "Well... at least that one was new. Shite..." He tried to hold onto the memories of his new dream, but already they were slipping away from him. Shrugging the nightmare off, he climbed tohis feet and prepared to face the day. Today, he was going to explore and find out what I.R.I.S. was doing on his land. To Be Continued...