Research Facility 03

We are really, really far from home.

Past few days have been spent driving westward. Apparently we had a holiday somewhere in that time, because the day after we left 330 pulled into a Barnes and Nobles parking lot as we were passing through Louisiana, bought a book called Foundation, said Merry Christmas, and handed it to me. I guess I really need to start paying more attention to the dates. Just wish I could have bought something for her as well, but right now, she’s the only one who actually has any money….

Anyways, driving west for the past few days. 330’s been doing most of it; I’m a bit rusty behind the wheel. Haven’t driven a car since high school. Never could afford one, and my parents weren’t exactly too keen on letting me learn how to drive…. Still, I couldn’t let her do all the work, so I took over for some of the easier roads.

First road trip I’ve ever gone on. It was… interesting. We went southwest until we hit the southern coastal states, then westward. Took us a few days to get through Texas. Lord that place is big. Finally reached New Mexico, which was the location of… wherever 330 was taking us.

And that brings us to the part that I think most will be interested in. We had to stop to rent a humvee before doing anything else. And, after acquiring a vehicle with four wheel drive, we went into the desert, following a small dirt path which branched off from the main road. A desert which was freezing cold and which had a snowstorm blowing through it, proving definitively that my imagination has been lying to me concerning what a desert is supposed to be like. Didn’t see a single tumbleweed or cow skull out there. Just a lot of snow and sand, with stubby shrubs scattered across the landscape. Also cactuses. I have painful memories of cactuses camouflaged by snow drifts that I will likely never forget.

We drove through that desert for hours, snow whipping around us. I couldn’t see anything, so I had to trust that 330 knew where she was going. Apparently she did; after the third hour, we reached a concrete building jutting out from a stone cliff face. I wouldn’t have seen it if 330 hadn’t pointed it out; it had been almost entirely covered in sand, with a fresh layer of snow further hiding it. Not an elaborate building, either: just a squat, square concrete thing with a single metal door. Both of us ran from the car to the door, hoping to get inside before we froze to death in the storm. Luckily the door was unlocked, so we weren’t stuck outside. The interior was pitch black, and freezing cold, but at least it was sheltered from the wind. 330 flicked a switch somewhere, causing a single light on the ceiling to flicker on. A really dim light, which barely illuminated the air around it; we had to resort to using flashlights to really get a look at the room.

Place appeared to be some kind of reception room, with another metal door at the opposite end. Unlike the first, this one looked ridiculously sturdy, as if it could withstand a bomb blast. Dust was floating in the air, reflecting the light from our flashlight beams. There was a computer behind the reception desk; 330 turned it on, but the screen flashed distorted text and shut down after a few seconds.

“330, what is this place?”

“Used to be a research facility for the Scoobies, back when Jacob was in charge. When I was reading through the info Jacob had at his home, I saw that, about six years after Lupine took over, they’d been forced to abandon the entire place in a hurry. Which means….” As she spoke, she tried unsuccessfully pulling on the door, “there’s a chance they left behind classified material in their rush.” She pulled again, harder, and I could hear rusted metal straining. Another pull, and the door creaked open. Causing a skeleton to fall out from behind it.

I screamed. Very loudly and in a very girly tone. 330 just kneeled next to it so she could examine it better.
“Interesting…. Picked completely clean…. Shouldn’t be any animals inside that could do that….”

“THAT’S A SKELETON!”

“Yes Lisa, yes it is. And there’s no damage to the bones, either….”

“IT’S A FUCKING SKELETON! A HUMAN SKELETON!”

“”Yes. One from a person who died over a decade ago. The thing that killed it is probably long gone.” 330 stood up, and looked thoughtfully through the opened door into the further blackness. “Probably, anyways.”

Oh, 330.You always know just the right thing to say in order to completely fail to encourage me.

I was rather adamant about not going in after seeing that. A dark, abandoned CIA research facility in the middle of the desert with skeletons inside? I could tell that there was no way that it was going to end well. Then 330 took my hand, and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll be right here with you. And I promise, as long as I’m with you, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Maybe it was the way she said it, or the way she was smiling while she said it, or even just the fact that she’d proven in the past that she did kinda know what she was doing, but that actually made me feel better. Though that didn’t mean I let go of her hand.

The next room was much smaller than the first: all that was in it was a very rickety service elevator. Since that was the only thing there, we got on, and 330 pulled a lever. And we went down.

And down.

And down.

And down.

Wish I’d had a watch to keep track of how long we were on that elevator. Felt like over an hour, but 330 said it was only forty minutes. I think I’ll listen to her opinion on matters of concerning time.

When the elevator reached the bottom of the shaft, lights automatically came on. Still dim, but at least flashlights weren’t absolutely necessary to see. Did help to have them, though. Three more skeletons were at the bottom, just a few feet from where the elevator stopped. Gripped 330’s hand tighter as we walked by them.

Concrete walls, low ceiling, and dust so thick I felt like I was choking on it. Wonderful. And the skeletons scattered around only added to the tomb like feeling. Always full skeletons; never individual bones. That was a bit odd.

330 led the way, ignoring the bones. Occasionally we’d pass by a hallway or a door, and she would shine her flashlight at it. But after a brief look, we’d continue moving on.

The place she was looking for was marked “Archives.” Another poorly lit room, with a desk at front and rows of filing cabinets behind. A skeleton was sitting at a chair, skull slumped down onto the desk. It was the cabinets which interested 330, and she quickly started to search through them, while I stood by the entrance with the skeleton as company. Can’t say it was the best conversationalist.

Started looking at some of the nearby cabinets. Pretty generically marked: “Aa-Ab,” and so on. Heard something crunch beneath my feet as I was walking by, and my first thought was that I had stepped on a bone; but when I looked down, turned out I had stepped on the largest centipede I’d ever seen in my life. Half of it was crushed, and the other half was still wriggling under my foot…. Almost shouted (again,) but was cut off when I heard 330 loudly sneeze. She’d opened up one of the cabinets, releasing a massive cloud of dust which completely obscured her face for a moment.

“Found something,” she said while sniffling, “not much, but something. Let’s keep moving.”

We left the archives, 330 holding several files under her arm, and continued to walk deeper into the bunker. More long corridors, more flickering lights, more dead bodies. Wish I could say that after a while I started to grow used to it, but that would be a lie. Few minutes later, we came across the most impressive door I had seen thus far, and given the place’s tendency towards monstrously secure doors, that was saying a lot. Huge, thick slabs of steel blocked our path, barring any attempt to pass through.

Until 330 just pushed it open.

“Not locked. Weird.”

The room beyond the door was very different than the rest of the facility. No more concrete hallways, no more low hanging ceilings. No bodies, either; can’t say I missed that. This was a large, round room, which looked like it had been carved out of the stone around it. In the very center, there was a hole in the ground. 330 shined her flashlight down it, but I couldn’t see the bottom. Another service elevator was at the edge of the hole, so we took it down.

Another long trip down. Asked 330 after how long it was, but she said she didn’t know, which was a bit disconcerting. Even darker down there; our flashlights could only illuminate a few feet ahead of us.

The ground was rocky, more like a cave than an artificial construction. And in the very center of the circle was…. This is going to take some work to describe.

It looked like a tear, or a rip, in… the air? This was floating, without any support. And… I couldn’t call it a crack. Cracks are smaller. Then… um… it was white… and black. Not alternating colors, or anything like that. When I looked at it, the tear looked as if it was glowing white, but also black. At the same time. And from whatever angle I stood from it, the same side faced me….

“Oh, those fucking idiots,” was 330’s response to seeing it.

Had the first syllables of a question for her out of my mouth when I felt something buzz by my face. Turned my flashlight in that direction, and saw a fly going by. Then a wasp flew after it. Felt something crawling on my feet; looked down, and saw a huge spider. Kicked it off my foot, only to see two more crawling out of the shadows.

“330….” I called to her, but she was focused on the tear. “330!” Finally got her attention. She turned her flashlight around, showing insects all over the floor, with more coming each second.

Took her only a moment to respond, stomping down on a group of cockroaches which were coming near her. “Back to the elevator!”

Ran back, jumping over groups of insects. Got onto the elevator, and 330 pulled the switch. For a second, it moved up, only to stutter to a halt. 330 and I aimed our flashlights upward, just in time to see a horde of scorpions crawling down the cable. A few fell off, landing at our feet. I swear, those things were much larger than they should have been. One looked as long as my forearm….

We ran off the elevator, but the insects were still swarming on the ground there. Didn’t look like we had any way out.

330 pulled out a gun, and aimed it upwards. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m preparing to break several laws of physics.” She fired, and a hook with a rope attached shot out, into the darkness above us. “Specifically those concerning length and carrying strength of rope. Now hold on!”

She grabbed onto me, and pulled the trigger, causing the grappling gun to pull us up. The journey up somehow felt much shorter than the one down… or maybe that was just the adrenaline. Got out of the hole, back into the circular room…. And saw the floor completely covered in a writhing mass of insects. I couldn’t hope to name all of them; didn’t even recognize what a lot were. They surged towards us, crawling across the floor faster than such small creatures should have. In the air, more flew at us, and a few stung my face as I tried desperately to swat them away. I could hear 330 shouting to keep moving, and I tried, jumping across the floor after her, hearing crunches with every landing, trying to kick off the things crawling up my legs, flailing my arms around the air, trying to ignore the growing number of stings and bites I was feeling all over my legs and arms. Things cleared up some when we got out of the room into the hallway, but when I looked back, I could see the swarm following behind us. Kept running after 330, retracing the route we’d used to get in, trying to keep ahead of the mass of creatures pursuing us.

We were about halfway back when 330 suddenly stopped, keeping her flashlight leveled ahead. There was nothing but blackness there, which at first I thought was only the dark. But… then I realized that it was another swarm, so densely packed it looked like an oncoming wall of blackness. Looked back, and the original swarm was there, still pursuing. The sound of all those insects…. Millions of feet scittering across the floor, and millions of wings buzzing in the air…. It drowned out near everything, creating a noise which drilled through my head. 330 sprinted down a side passage, and I followed, having absolutely no idea where we were now heading. Kept running through the concrete halls, struggling to keep up with 330. So focused on keeping running that I hurdled over a skeleton without a moment of hesitation.


We ran into a room; didn’t pause to read what was written on the door. 330 slammed the metal door shut, and set every lock she could find on it. Just a second later, the swarm hit the door, and that solid metal door shook from the weight of numbers slamming into it. But it held.

Had to steady myself against a wall. Felt dizzy. And all those stings were burning viciously….

Looked around, and saw guns. Quite a lot of guns. More guns than I have ever seen in one place before in my entire life. It… looks like we found the armory, I guess. There was another skeleton here as well, with a hole going through its skull and a pistol in its lap. First one I’d seen with a clear sign of death on it.

While 330 was looking over the assembly of weapons, I started asking her questions.
“What was that? I’ve never seen so many bugs!”

“It’s the Intrusion. One of the Fears. The whole swarm is one entity, singular in mind. I’m guessing it’s what wiped out this facility.”

“Then… did it come through that tear… thing… or something?”

“More likely it was attracted here by it. Then stuck around in order to guard it from stupid people like us who got too inquisitive.”

“What was that tear, anyways?”

“Nothing.”

“No, I know it was something. Don’t tell me something that weird is just nothing.”

“No. Really. It’s Nothing. A part of the universe torn apart, leaving a gash of pure nothingness behind. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Ooh, bingo!”

That last part had nothing to do with the question; apparently, she found what she was looking for. 330 lifted up a gas tank with a hose like thing attached to it. She strapped the tank on her back, pointed the hose at a blank wall, and pulled a trigger. Fire shot out, scorching the wall.

“And still in working order! They really don’t build ‘em like they used to!”

“Is… is that a flamethrower?” My incredulity knew no bounds.

“Indeed. There’s one for you in there as well. Oh, don’t look at me like that. That swarm is blocking the only way out of this place, so unless you want to be stuck here forever, we need a way to get out. And even I would probably run out of things to do locked in a room with another girl and a skeleton by the fifth day, so I vote we get the hell out of here.”

Didn’t argue with her. Feeling a bit ridiculous, I put on the flamethrower (which, I’ll add, are incredibly heavy,) and nervously stood wait by the door as she slowly unlocked it. Last lock removed, and the door was thrown open by the Intrusion, which swarmed inside. It was met by two jets of flames.

With only the small door to enter through, the two of us were enough to roast anything that tried to enter. Could hear a shrieking sound filling the air as we burned them, unlike anything an insect should have made. Didn’t last long; when we stopped, only a few bugs were still flying, and the ground was covered in their charred remains. Path was clear, and we ran, fast as we could with those cumbersome tanks on our backs, towards the exit.

Only a few minutes had passed before I heard the buzzing behind us again. Turned around and saw another swarm coming at us. Shot some fire at it, then kept running. Breathing was getting harder, and my vision started blurring. 330 was firing at a swarm coming down another hall when she saw me falling behind. She shouted… something at me. Couldn’t hear anything but the buzzing. Gets blurrier the further I go…. Felt someone, I’m assuming 330, pull the tank off my back, and put my arm around her shoulder. Then I remember being back on the elevator out of the place, watching 330 trying to beat away more flying bugs with her hands. Don’t know what happened to her flamethrower. Everything else is too blurry.

Woke up on a bed in a hotel room. 330 was sitting on a chair next to me; nearly tackle hugged me when she saw I was waking up.

“You’re okay!” Huge smile on her face. “You should be grateful I’m a time traveler. No one else would have been able to get all the anti-toxins you needed in time, you know. Just try not to get almost killed so often, please?”

“Yeah, sure…. I’ll do that…. Just as soon as you stop taking me to dangerous places….”

She laughed, a bit too grimly for my liking. “No promises on that, sorry. Just rest up for now; we’ll hold off leaving until you feel better.” Then she kissed me on the cheek and left the room.


Well, that was definitely the most dangerous holiday season I have ever gone through. Even worse than spending time with my family as a kid. By a little.

-Lisa