Do the job. Come home. Daniel Erickson had lived by those words for the past 23 years, from the moment his wife had first said them to him. Not once had he ever strayed. He had been true to her from the moment he met her, and in return he had kept a strong marriage …
Her hand ran over his providing the reassurance he needed. Jimmy looked up at her, expecting her to disappear as all good things in his life did, but here she was still. Her breathtaking smile, just as he remembered. He had agreed to Patricia’s suggestion and taken it upon himself to reach out to the …
The door pushed open and startled Jimmy, bringing him up from his knees. Patricia stood there, a curious expression that quickly turned to relief. Jimmy smiled back and took a short step toward her. She threw her arm out and reeled him in for an embrace. She was no longer in her suit which gave …
Just like on a roller coaster, the anticipation and worry over the worst had been for nothing. Jimmy had felt the pulsing of his heart in his fingertips as he had watched the water rise, the large circular door sliding open. He had expected the bony limbs of the creature to slip through the jams …
He didn’t know how long it went on for. Hours, minutes, maybe seconds. He heard nothing, saw nothing, felt nothing. The burning pain at his back, legs, and feet. The occasional cry that arose from the woman on his back. It seemed to be engulfed by the wallowing misery in his mind. It wasn’t until …
“…Dr. Lagos,” said Aida as Jimmy and Patricia stood in front of the mounds of furniture, piping, faux plants, anything that could be used to barricade the doors that kept them from the living quarters. “We’re familiar,” Jimmy said back. “Please tell me he’s close to the entrance.” “He’s not far from it,” she said …
He placed the last suit over the mechanism they were using to fill them up with oxygen. “Ready,” he told Patricia as he felt the suit finally stay up on its own. Patricia tapped the panel close by and the sound of escaping gas resonated around them. “Fond memories of this place,” said Patricia with …
“Malto,” said Patricia as they walked side-by-side down the dark corridors, each with a bag that contained two pairs of suits they had been instructed to carry with them. It hadn’t taken long to take apart the internal drive for the work station. It had seemed too simple, but he had to admit that he …
“I’m sorry,” came a voice that echoed all around him. Everything was completely black. He could hear someone sobbing in no particular location, as if it were happening everywhere, yet nowhere. “I’m sorry,” he heard again. “I shouldn’t have done that. You deserve better.” Jimmy began to feel something again but was unable to pinpoint …
Throughout Jimmy’s life he had never been able to sleep with others in the same room and if he could somehow manage to doze off enough, any shift or noise, no matter how faint, had woken him in a panic. Here and now, however, it seemed his body cared more about his recovery than entertaining …