314 Book 3 (Widowsfield Trilogy) (29 page)

Oliver looked at the wall with newfound fear. “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” said Vess. “But I think I dream about it. Ever since the first experiment, I’ve had dreams about black wires reaching out from the walls to grab at me. I’ve been haunted by those dreams, just as I’ve been endlessly pulled back to this experiment, and this ship. It won’t leave me alone. I think that’s the only reason I’m still alive. Because this creature that’s watching us from these walls doesn’t want me to die. I’m tied to it somehow.”

“And you think we let it out?” asked Oliver.

Vess nodded and then stood from his seat. He walked back to the window that looked out over the bow of the ship. Oliver followed behind, and they both gazed out at the shore. “That’s why we were supposed to be floating, unanchored, out in the reservoir. The water acts as a barrier to keep the energy in. But you and The Accord let it out.”

“Let it out where?
Onto the shore?”

Vess
stared solemnly out at the tugboats floating in the distance. “I don’t know what we’re going to find out there, but it’s going to be bad. There’s no telling how far the creature managed to get before the CORD shut itself down.”

“What should we do?” asked Oliver.

“Call The Accord, and then the army.”

Oliver thought the old man was joking, but then realized he was serious.
“The army?”

Vess
nodded. “Yes. We’re going to need help containing this. The Accord won’t be happy about this, but we’re going to have to tell the military about our experiment. It’s our only chance of stopping this from getting any worse. But first, we need to discuss what we will and what we will not be telling them.”

Widowsfield

March 15
th
, 1996

Oliver had never expected the CORD experiment to have such an impact on the area around the reservoir. Vess and Oliver had used a lifeboat on the Eldridge to get back to shore, and the devastation they encountered was vast. All of the Cada E.I.B. employees that had escorted Vess to the town were unconscious, lying in the same catatonic state that Lyle was suffering, staring blankly at the sky.

Other people, all throughout the town, were in a similar state. One odd occurrence that they discovered was that cars and trucks had stopped on the road or pulled over, and the passengers were lying on the ground outside of the vehicle. Oliver and
Vess had debated the possible reasons for this, and it was Vess that theorized the motorists had initially been protected from the CORD’s effect by the rubber tires of their vehicles. But the moment they stepped out, and made contact with the ground, they were connected to the creature that had swarmed the town.

The Accord handled discussion with the military about the event in
Widowsfield, and Oliver wasn’t privy to what was decided. However, the National Guard arrived within an hour, but they didn’t venture into the town. Instead, the National Guard investigated the extent of the damage, and it was discovered that whatever had happened in the area had been isolated to the town of Widowsfield. There were rural homes on the border of the town that hadn’t been affected, and the residents were swept off after being given vague information about an event occurring within the town that might be dangerous. The National Guard then set up blockades around the town, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.

All traffic coming into town was stopped, and the occupants interviewed. Anyone that owned land within the town, or had family or friends there
, were taken into custody. It was important that all public information about the event be marginalized.

Oliver and
Vess were interviewed at length, but both refused to cooperate until representatives from The Accord arrived. Eventually, both Oliver and Vess were brought into an office inside of Cada E.I.B.’s facility and a conference call was set up. They were joined by several high ranking members of the military. Members of The Accord were also on the call, and once everyone was settled, they began the meeting.

The Accord recounted details about the experiment to the members of the military, but they didn’t reveal
Vess’s theory about the entity that had escaped into the town. The Accord’s explanation about the experiment was centered on the CORD’s use as a cloaking device for ships, as well as potentially for large aircraft.

What had started as a contentious debate turned more civil as The Accord offered to hand over all data about the
CORD to the military in exchange for their help dealing with what had happened in Widowsfield. Unbeknownst to Oliver, The Accord and the military were already working together on other projects. Cada E.I.B.’s work as a broker between the military and other countries had gave them a lot of clout. Everyone understood that if word got out about Cada E.I.B.’s involvement with what happened in Widowsfield, then their ties to the military would be revealed as well. That wouldn’t be good for any of them.

That’s how the process of covering up the
Widowsfield incident began.

The catatonic victims of
Widowsfield were collected, and several bodies were discovered fused to the walls of homes, or to the pavement, as if their legs had sunk into the concrete, leaving them twisting and screaming until they suffered a fate similar to the guard on the ship. Oliver and Vess had been left at Cada E.I.B’s facility to collect their notes on the experiment, but they were retrieved by an Army general who explained they needed to see something.

They were brought to a house on the north side of
Widowsfield. Along the way, Oliver marveled at how dead the town felt. The only activity he witnessed was at the high school, where several jeeps were parked and soldiers were pulling bodies out. The clean-up of Widowsfield had been limited to a small group of men to help avoid information leaking out about the event.

The general parked, and then turned to look back at his two passengers. He motioned at the plain looking house with his thumb and said, “Go on in.”

“You’re not coming?” asked Oliver.

“Nope.
You two go see for yourselves. I’ve seen enough of the nightmares in this damn town to last a lifetime.”

“Is it a body stuck in something?” asked Oliver. “We saw people stuck to the…”

“Nope,” said the general. “I’ve seen those too. This one’s different. Just go in and see for yourself.”

Oliver got out first and then helped
Vess. The elderly man seemed weaker than before, and wasn’t exhibiting the same self-reliance he had been days earlier. As they walked up the path that led to the house, Oliver asked, “What do you suppose we’re going to find in here?”

“I have no idea,” said
Vess, but his tone revealed concern.

Oliver opened the door, frightened of what he might see.

The home’s front door was set between the living room on the left and a kitchen on the right. The television was facing towards him, set on a table on the far wall, and it was still turned on, displaying static. The volume was up, and the sound of the static crackling provided an eerie soundtrack to the scene.

Directly across from the front door, behind the kitchen, was a stairwell that led to the second floor. There were bloody handprints on the wall.

“Look,” said Vess when he entered. He was pointing down to a dog cage on the floor. Oliver knelt and peered inside where he saw a mangy, unconscious dog laying on a urine-soaked towel. The smell was pungent, and he cringed as he stood back up again.

“There’s blood on the wall there,” said Oliver as he walked towards the stairs.

Vess followed, but he was growing weary as he went. Oliver waited at the bottom of the stairs for him, but Vess waved him on and said, “Go without me. I’ll make my way up there in a minute.”

Vess
looked exhausted, and Oliver was stunned by the change in the formerly vivacious old man. It was as if he were suddenly feeling his age.

Oliver went upstairs as
Vess took each stair slow and cautiously. There was blood everywhere. The wood floor was splattered with dry blood, and there were streaks on the wall that looked like someone’s bloody fingertips had traced along it. The trail of blood led to a closed door at the end of the hall, and Oliver moved slowly towards it. He turned the knob and then paused before opening the door, steadying himself for what might be inside.

The blood in the hallway was a precursor to a far worse scene. Lying on the floor in the master bedroom of the home was a young woman that had been slaughtered. She was nude, and her skin was mottled pink and purple, with large blisters on her cheeks. Her mouth was open wide and flies were buzzing around her swollen lips. The smell was horrendous, and Oliver quickly covered his nose in the crook of his arm.

While the woman’s blistered skin was bad enough, the worst sight was what had been done to her stomach. Someone had cut her open in an awful display of violence. She hadn’t simply been stabbed. Whoever had murdered her had plunged the knife in so many times that her gut was split wide, causing her entrails to spill out around her. The kitchen knife that was used to murder her was standing straight up from her midsection, the tip stuck in the wood floor beneath. Flies buzzed and swirled around the scene, and Oliver turned away in disgust as he swatted at the insects.

Vess
was standing behind him, staring down at the murdered girl.

“The Watcher got what he wanted,” said
Vess.

“What do you mean?” asked Oliver.

“He got his sacrifice.”

Oliver looked away, but caught sight of something else that shocked him. There was a child sleeping in the bed, his head set on the pillow and the sheets pulled up over him as if he were just asleep. His face was horribly disfigured, and his teeth were chattering as he stared up at the ceiling.

Chicago

March 15
th
, 2012

Alex knocked on the door of the apartment and waited for someone to answer. It had been a long trip, and he was looking forward to finishing his task.

When he’d met Rosemary, he had no idea how she would change his life. He’d been sent along with a couple other guards to investigate what Helen from
Cada E.I.B. had seen when driving in to work. Helen warned the security team that a woman was camping out by the reservoir, so Alex and his group had been sent to look into it. That’s when they discovered Rosemary.

The mysterious woman had been drawing in her sketchpad, and Alex never expected that she would be any danger at all. But when she reached into her bag, she didn’t pull out a paintbrush. Instead, her bag was loaded with weapons. None of the security team
were carrying real weapons, and they were forced to do as the stranger asked.

Alex had been lucky, because Rosemary had chosen him to be the bearer of her bracelet, which she explained was a rare gift. He wore it with pride.

Rosemary took his van, saying that she needed it and that he could use the car that she’d driven there. Unfortunately, she didn’t leave any money for gas, and Alex wasn’t supposed to use his credit cards to keep anyone from being able to track him.

The other guards that he’d been working with had some cash on them, and he stole it after murdering them. When Rosemary left, the men Alex worked with assumed they were safe, but Alex knew they had to die. They never suspected he would hurt them. They didn’t know how important Rosemary was to him.

After that, he dumped the bodies off the edge of the scenic overview at the Jackson Reservoir, content to let the catfish gnaw at them until their bodies were dragged over the dam.

The cash that Alex had been able to scrounge up got him enough gas to get to Joliet, while still saving enough to purchase what he needed in Chicago, but that left him with nearly 150 miles to cover. He managed to get a ride from a truck driver that was on his way to Chicago, and he would’ve murdered the driver too, but he was already low on bullets. Alex had to make sure he kept enough to complete his job.

The jerry can he’d filled with gasoline was set down beside the door, and he pushed it to the side to make sure no one saw it when they opened the door.

Alex knocked again and heard a woman answer from inside, “Coming, coming.”

The door finally opened, and Alex saw a short, chubby girl with glasses. She kept the chain on the door latched, and only opened it as wide as the chain would allow.

“Hello?”

“Hi,” said Alex. “Are you Mindy?” He laughed, and then corrected himself, “Sorry, not Mindy. I meant Terra. Are you Terra?”

“Who’s asking?” asked the woman inside.

“I’m a friend of Rosemary’s.” Alex showed the woman the bracelet on his wrist that Rosemary had given him. Terra looked at it in befuddlement, uncertain why that should be proof of anything.

“Okay,” said the woman, uncertain of the guest. “I’ll ask again, who are you?”

“My name’s Alex. Rosemary sent me to bring something to you.”

“I haven’t talked to her in years. I heard she was living in Europe or something.”