THE FOUNDED part 1

The Rise of Fear

THE RISE OF FEAR
PART 1
    Rick began feeling a small amount of sick in his stomach. "Hey Paw" Winkle started sarcastically. "When we heading out, huh?" His voice trailed across the crowded room, passing numerous climbers. "I’m not that old dummy" Rick began but caught himself before the thoughts became spoken aloud. He had just started viewing the map for the first time, hoping to find what was making him nervous. "For Christ sake" He grunted, gripping the map in one hand and playing with his coffee in the other. It was an automatic movement for him to circulate his coffee in the mug every morning, he-himself didn’t even know the reason for it. To his surprise, there were a lot more underground tunnels than had been explained before he signed the two week contract with Drill- line Underground Search Team or DUST. This Canada dig sight was very famous for its disappearances for almost a year now. Though never proven. Families have been making missing person reports out here for years, but the documents were never filed for some unclear reasons. Rick had already been on search teams before so this was just another job to him. But the tiny bumps underneath his overcoat were letting him know of his feelings being different from his thoughts. This was weird to him. He had been stranded in below temperatures for weeks until rescued and was never mentally nor physically scarred by it, not permanently anyway. While taking a look at the map Rick had only suspicious thoughts of why a company so world wide would set out to gather so many diggers and climbers for a problem that could through his eyes be easily solved. His thoughts were often interrupted by Winkle and his over excited attitude. And this time was no different from any other. Winkle had his timing better than good when he interrupted Rick, leaving him questioning Winkle’s inability to read minds. Shaking off yet another intrusion, Rick still stared downward at the seemingly perfectly drawn-out out map. " Rick don’t you think we should at least see our rooms..." Noticing the glare in Ricks eyes Winkle paused slightly before finishing with an unsure tone "before morning". Just for a second, they both shared the same chills. The two have worked on at least a hundred cases before they established a business name for themselves. They had to be amongst the best, and if there was anyone better, it would have to be Sky. Sky’s real name is Renaldo Cheeks. He changed most everything about himself after disappearing on his parents at the young age of thirteen. He was amongst the few to be taught at the Mountains Circle. A school that made billions of dollars a year. Which was very normal. The school had a city of its own at the top of Earth’s Shadow, a famous mountain that could freeze a helicopter quicker than a dead planet with no sunlight. Mountains Circle was where Rick and Sky had met almost ten years back, about five years before he and Winkle hooked up. Winkle forced his entry to view the straight but wrinkle edged map. Eyes focused, the two had soon forgotten each others presence. Rick’s eye’s though noticing the map was concentrated on one square amongst the many. He could almost swear something had been taken from that one piece of the map. ‘What could it be" he whispered conscious to the fact that he hadn’t asked but rather stated his thought aloud. "Your right" Winkle managed to let out with his eyes focused and neck forward as though studying a part of the map he planned to stare at till his curiosity was answered. Rick slowly motioned the map toward his eyes after shaking it slightly. "You see anything?" pausing to finish he said "indifferent here". Winkle raised his left hand because his right was laid against Rick for weight leverage. Unsurely, he directed Ricks attention to the same box he’d been attentive to so far. "You see that" he said hesitantly, though very sure of his decision to speak of it so far. "That square seemed to have been." "Fixed" Rick interrupted quickly. "Yes fixed, exactly." Winkle replied proudly. The two gazed into the three inch wide square on the map awkwardly in a way hypnotized.
  
    "This is very confidential don’t you think?" Sky said trying his best not to seem too struck by the information. "Yes, it is, but needed none the less" Jeff replied sharply but somehow quickly wishing he was just a little sharper. "I can certainly understand you’ll have questions but Im going to ask now to save them. We simply don’t have the time for them right now" .Sky could hear in his voice that this wasn’t going to be easy to explain to Rick, but it was also needed none the less. Thinking about sound so far under their feet and what it couldn’t be not only brought the most shivers through Jeff’s body, but clear tears to his eyes as well. His skin at most times could be categorized as highly tanned but not now, not after hearing what he was so sure of hearing. Jeff’s life revolved around scientific explanations, and if it weren’t scientifically explained it simply wasn’t so. Sky met his eye’s. Though on edge also kept his proud composure and decided this was no time to panic. He had to be the assuring company in this conversation or noone would get anywhere. His large boots stood still against the hard carpet, covering the old ragged floor. Sky knew he was heavily coated but wondered why he hadn’t seemed a bit warm since entering the room. He had been an ice burg upon entry "focus" he thought to himself. "No time to drift off into wonderland especially now." He stopped, figuring while assuring himself, that is exactly what he was doing. "Tell me again just to make sure you weren’t too high strung Jeff. I know this is hard, but you know I can't leave with an ounce of doubt in my mind of your story." Jeff’s eyes wondered around his sealed off office, trying to focus, but letting his miserable side show. Sky, now noticing Jeff shaking at his legs. Thought for a second but decided against his normal insult. He figured this was just too important. "OK" Jeff began while holding his dark green coat covering his right arm in nervousness. "I was sitting at my desk listening into the earphones not two hours ago. It was all clear. No noise, I was about to call it a day." Jeff could always end his day whenever he pleased mainly because his family co owned the "DUST" Foundation. They all thought they’d given him the easiest job. Which, up until a couple hours ago, was nothing less than that. "But then a sound rattled the frequency" he continued. "I’ve never heard anything like it Sky, it was" Jeff paused taking notice how attentive Sky was for the first time. He felt himself shiver and couldn’t help the uneasy shake of his body after words. His posture had somehow become sloppy while talking. Hoping it would ease the tension atleast just a notch, he stood to his feet pacing circularly around Sky. Sky noticing this said "go on Jeff, what did you hear?" Figuring he’d obviously failed at lowering the stress levels in the less than medium room Sky decided to remain silent. Jeff once again continued, "The sound was clearly not of this." he paused to think of a word to fit his assumption. "World" he said slowly as though mistakenly. "It was like a scream of some sort. But not of fear" he said quickly before Sky could jump to any kind of conclusion. "It was threatening, but I could get over that. It's just that. I mean it’s not like I could understand it or anything, but. Well." he paused again, showing uneasiness. While motivating himself unbelievably well to continue, Jeff couldn’t help the connection between Sky and himself through their eyes. Sky became motionless besides the often flicker his eyes made. He was completely drawn in to Jeff’s world and was impatient of yet another slight pause. Sky knew not to speak aloud about certain things, but this time he felt Jeff had an obligation to continue. "It sounded as though the threat was directed toward me."