The 4th Subject

Chapter 22: The Documents

The beginning of February came quickly. We had checked the Apple II again, learning so much and yet so little. The only piece of information that stuck with me was that March 5th was an absolute date. None of us were sure what that meant, but the closer it got, the more nervous I got. The other thing that kept repeating in my head was the answer "you were chosen specifically for them".

Chosen. That word was prominent in nightmares and strange thoughts. And the fact that it was coming to light was terrifying.

We had found an old geiger counter in one of the drawers of the desk. And when I say old, I mean it was dated 1987. Woods and I mistook it for a scream canister from Monsters Inc., which was a hilarious mistake. The geiger counter still worked despite its age and it led us to the stairs in Blue Base. We used the thermal camera only to discover a heat signature. A substantial heat signature.

Woods cut open a hole in the way to reveal a small brown case. A wave of anxiety washed over me as I realized what this could be. Matt—with gloved hands—opened the case to reveal six blue glass vials full of a clear liquid. We all knew exactly what it was. Matthew shut the case and took it up to the vault. Once he came back down, we went back to Red Base to continue going through the desk.

We found a wide array of items, ranging from thermoses and pens to vials and petri dishes with mysterious substances. Matt found a box full of floppies and tried a few out. The only one that worked was the title disk for a video game called Deathlord.

A couple drawers full of more vials and random office supplies later, we found one filled with documents. Matt gently pulled them out. The smell of aged paper was strong, but they were still pretty well in tact. He started going through the files.

The first couple were about tests and experiments run, all of which went horribly in one way or another. Most ended in deaths, if not, amputation or another horrible end goal.

"The tone has drastically shifted," Sam muttered, her eyes following the papers in Matt's hands.

"Yeah," I added, "we were just looking at video games and talking about Matt's big brain move, and now we're... going through this stuff."

We continued to weed through the files, becoming more grossed out and disheartened the deeper we dove into to them. After the thick stack had been reduced to a few, Matt picked the next one up and red from it.

"Claremont McKenna College."

"I applied there, actually," Woods said lowly from behind the camera.

"Did you get in?" I asked, avoiding head butting the camera as I turned to him.

"No."

As Matt read, it became apparent that this was also a rejection letter to Claremont.

"That's exactly what I got," Woods piped up again, chuckling as he zoomed in.

"Really?" Matt asked.

"Doesn't this feel a little too... fortuitous?"

As much as Woods tried to downplay the similarities, I was getting that weird feeling again. Matt went on to the next file, a letter. Some store was downsizing, and the letter was informing the manager of which employees to let go.

"Do we know anyone named Jim?" Sam asked, reading the manager's name from the paper.

"I've known Jim's," Matt muttered, still staring at the paper.

"A store owner named Jim?"

"Yes, that was my previous boss."

My heart dropped. No way this was a coincidence. The rejection letter was one thing, but this felt more obvious.