“Will you get that camera out of my fucking face!” Kyle said, pushing the camera away.
“Dude, relax!”
“Will you both shut the fuck up!” Scott said while gently peeling back the barbed wire fence creating a little hole for the boys to sneak through.
Mark held up the camera and panned across the military base picking up mostly shrubs and a few guards lazily “on watch.”
“There are a lot more guards than you said. Maybe we should just call it.” Mark said nervously.
Scott looked back with the utmost confidence and said “The second we passed through that gate, we committed a number of felonies which, that alone is enough to give you life.”
“We just broke through a fence.”
“We didn’t just “break a fence”. This is a military base, one under the highest security even from most of the employees.”
“If we get caught we ain’t getting arrested.” Scott said half jokingly. “Best case? They shoot us on the spot, worst ca…are you filming?” Scott pushed the camera away.
“Dude! I need to film the whole thing. You knew that goin in.”
Scott sighed and pushed forward. “Stop!” Scott whispered, pointing left. Down the grassy hill where the grass met concrete a guard with a flashlight in hand and a gun on hip walked his normal path slowly fading into the dark night. Scott checked both ways and said “On the count of three you follow me and don’t stop until I say so. Got it?” Camera in hand both boys nodded.
Scott pointed to a lone door next to two rusted dumpsters. The boys waited for the guard to pass a good distance then they ran for the door. “Watch me.” Scott said as he began to work on the lock. Mark filmed the whole process while Kyle stood on lookout.
Finally the boys heard an audible “click”. “Got it!” Scott said, turning the handle.
Scott looked at the camera “We’re in!” Kyle let out a chuckle which was quickly silenced by a swift smack to the back of the head. “Shut up!” The boys wandered the halls peaking in each room filming as much as they could. They mostly saw file cabinets, papers, messily laid out on desks. Whiteboards with math equations they didn’t understand…as it turned out..classified laboratories are still a government sect and mostly a bureaucratic boring mess. Then the boys saw the door. At the end of the long dimly lit hall a reinforced steel door with the words “Danger DO NOT ENTER. SECURITY LEVEL 5 AND BEYOND”.
Scott pointed at the camera then pointed at the door. Quietly creeping over to the door, Scott held out his hand.
“I don’t know dude”
“Give me the fucking card.” Scott said. “
“My dad’s gunna kill me.” Mark said as he handed over a laminate keycard that read “William. B. Roscher. One swipe of the card and the door magically opened. Inside was another hallway that felt like it went on forever. At the end of the hallway a room with a soft red light glowed in the distance. The boys passed each room filming laboratories with empty beakers, clean steel tables and a whole lot of nothing. That is, until the boys made it to the red room. The door had special instructions “Warning active biohazard! Hazmat level A protection required upon entry.” Using Kyle’s fathers card, Scott swiped the sensor and the door clicked open. The sweet smell of earth filled the air. “Dude, we should turn ba..”
“Shut up!” Scott said, cutting Kyle off. Scott carefully explored the room. Test tubes, vials filled with various white substances and grains filled the shelves. Suddenly, the boys were startled by what sounded like movement. Without missing a beat Scott hurried over to the source of the noise with Mark, camera in hand quickly following. Scott looked at Mark. “It’s a puppy.” Locked in a cage a small French bulldog sat yapping away at the boys.
“Hey buddy.” Kyle said approaching the cage. It was that moment the reinforced steel door slammed behind them. A security guard watched horrified through the window as the boys scurried for the door. Pleading with the security guard Mark said “My dad’s Dr. William Roscher! Please. I’m so sorry! We’ll leave.” The security guard looked more scared than angry. “Fuck!” The guard screamed. “How did you even..oh fuck!” I’m so sorry boys.” The security spoke into his walkie-talkie. “We have a security breach in sector 4 Lazarus. I repeat. Security breach in 4 Lazarus!” The security looked back at the boys with terror in his eyes and said “I’m so sorry.” and quickly pulled the trigger against his temple, splattering his brains all over the wall and the window of the reinforced steel door. The boys panicked but quickly turned as they heard what sounded like bones cracking followed by boots walking through the mud. As they turned around, what they saw could only be described as a static tendril sprouting from the dog’s skull. The boys banged on the reinforced glass but they knew it mattered little. Whatever was in this laboratory is now out and hungry and the boys are on the menu.
I wanted to take a final moment to thank each and every one of you for your continued support. This marks the final story for 31 days of Halloween and it’s been tough at times but knowing I have readers eagerly waiting for the next story was motivation to keep pushing. Some were better than others but the goal was not about quality but just showing up everyday. Moving forward, posts will be less frequent but where they lack in frequency, they will make up for in quality/length. I hope todays story is a good example of what’s to come.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for giving me this platform to share these stories.
Lorne
P.S. Every story posted here has also been recorded into audio. You can listen for free on Youtube
Lorne Bronstein