Sightless

Sightless Aren't the Only Monsters

What little sleep I had, in the remaining hours of night, was fitful and I awoke the next morning as tired as I had been the night before. I felt a little better after breakfast and I woke Evan. I studied him as he ate the food I had prepared. He had dark circles around his eyes, which were slightly sunken and had a haunted look about them. How much he had changed from only a few days ago. I mentally shook my head; I probably looked just as bad as he did.

I attempted small talk with him, but didn't get anywhere. It seemed like he was trying to answer my questions in as few words as possible. Eventually I gave up and let him be. I went over to Kyle's tent and began packing his things up. Disassembling the tent in an orderly manner turned out harder than you would think; but in the end, I had managed to keep everything under control. I placed it beneath a bush; it would provide sufficient cover until I could retrieve it at a later time. I emptied out Kyle's belongings and sorted through them, keeping things such as spare ammo and food for myself.

I came across a folded piece of paper that was stored in one of the inside pouches; I unfolded it and found myself gazing at a photograph of a pretty, dark haired woman. She was standing beside a tree and smiling; her brown eyes sparkling in the sun and her curly hair was gently blowing in the wind. She looked young, and had a nice figure; she couldn't have been a day over twenty. I felt a presence behind me and I glanced back. Evan had snuck over to me and was now looking over my shoulder. "Who is she?" I asked him. He was silent for a few moments before responding, "Autumn; Kyle's only sister. She died a couple months ago in a car accident."

I refolded the photo and carefully placed it back into Kyle's pack. I closed it and put it in the bush, underneath the tent. When I had finished I looked around. Evan had disappeared. I would have left him alone, but I needed to talk to him. It took a few minutes, but at length I found him by a small stream that was running down the mountainside. I sat down beside him. He avoided my gaze, looking down into the water. We sat in silence, listening to the constant burble of the stream. Eventually, Evan spoke, "He was my best friend." I said nothing, silently encouraging him to continue. "I've spent some of my best times with him, and now...he's gone." He put his head in his hands, "I feel like giving up. It's not worth it anymore." I gripped his shoulder, "And make his death in vain? Evan, he died trying to make us safe. If we give up now, his death will have meant nothing; in fact, everyone's death will have been for nothing; Ashton's, Reina's, and even...Norah's." Evan straightened a little. "You're right. We have to keep trying." I smiled, "That's what I like to hear. And you know what?" I looked at me quizzically. "What?"

"I think I have a plan."

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The chirping of crickets filled the damp air. The sky had grown dark about an hour ago, but the stars gave no light, as clouds still covered the sky. Only the moon's faint glow penetrated the gray masses, giving off barely enough light to avoid bumping into trees.

I stood at the forest's edge, nearest the facility's front entrance, shaking slightly; not from cold, but from anticipation. I shifted my weight from foot to foot, waiting for Evan to return. Our plan was risky at best, but would work, provided that we didn't die in the process. It was the only plan that we could come up with. After all, Kyle's death had proven that sneaking over, under, or through the fence was not an option. I carried a small bag on my back, containing only a few necessities; we had stored out extras with Kyle's things.

Anxiously I looked down the path Evan had taken. "He should have been back by now." I muttered. I shook my head; I was worrying too much. He hadn't been gone for that long anyway, fifteen minutes at most. My legs were getting tired, but I dared not sit down; I needed to be ready for anything. The ground was still a bit muddy from the rain of the night before and I worried that the mountain's slope might have become too treacherous for Evan to safely traverse. All of a sudden, Evan's voice came up the mountain side, "What?" I call back. This time, I heard the message loud and clear, "Hide!"

I sprang into action and ran over to the front gate, where there was a shaded corner. It was at such an angle that I was hidden from the view of both the forest and the gate; a valuable find during our hours of scouting. I was careful not to touch the gate, not yet anyway. I waited for Evan with baited breath. At length, I heard the sound of his hurried footsteps. I risked a peek and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of him climbing a tree. We were far from safe, but everything was going according to plan; so far. I held my loaded Glock in one hand, finger upon the trigger, and reached behind me toward the gate. The sound of many footsteps rang from up the mountainside towards the facility. I took a shaky breath and prepared myself for the second part of the plan.

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Over a hundred sightless pouted out of the forest, like ants from a disturbed nest. I placed my hand on the gate and the area flooded with light; the alarms sounded once again. The infuriated sightless milled about, searching for the enemy. The alarm bells were loud, but for the sightless, which had a heightened sense of hearing, they were loud to the point of pain. I held my gun ready as they began to spread out. The gate door, which had remained sealed up until this point, slid open and figures in green suits and visored helmets marched out. They wielded hefty guns and promptly began mowing down the sightless. I quietly slipped through the still open gate and entered a small deserted building a short way off. That was Evan's and my rendezvous point.

He was waiting for me when I arrived. "You okay?" I asked him. He nodded. "I was scared for a while back there. It was slow going up the mountain and those sightless are surprisingly agile." I shuddered. "Let's just get inside." The door was unlocked and we snuck through. It appeared to be a storage building; shelves lined the wall and crates were stacked in the corners. We hurriedly searched over the shelves, but didn't really find much. However, Evan did find a crowbar, which he used to pry open a crate; striking gold.

"Uniforms!" I exclaimed, and pulled them out. We rifled through them and opened several more crates until we found some about our sizes. A bit more searching uncovered a crate with helmets like the ones the guards were wearing. When we were suited up, we began phase three of the plan. We stepped out of the building and went opposite ways. Evan was going to provide us with an escape route, and I was going to find my uncle.

The guards were still shooting at the sightless, but the shots were growing infrequent and I waited in the shadows for their return. Before long, the gunfire stopped altogether and the green guards marched back in through the gate and proceeded into the main building. I fell in step behind the last of them, the door closing just as I stepped through. Only then did I remember that Evan was still outside, "Great." I thought "Nothing I can do about that now." I followed the helmeted gunmen down several flights of stairs; not a word was uttered the entire journey. We reached a doorway which led to a hall with a fork at the end. As they turned the corner, I hung back and waited while their thumping steps died away.

I ambled around, carefully of course, until I found a computer. I needed to access the records of everyone who worked here. The computer was not protected via pass code and from there, it was a simple task of messing around a bit, ever watchful of my surroundings. Eventually, I stumbled across the files that I required. I typed in 'Stephan Rose;' doing a victory dance as his page came up. "Head of the medical lab, located on the third floor..." I read to myself. I then searched for a map of the place and downloaded the information to my Ethernet. It was running low on battery; "Should have charged it yesterday." I muttered.

I turned off the computer and followed the map, which let me to a stairwell. I turned out to be on the eighth floor. Apparently the floor numbers worked backwards; the higher numbers being closer to the surface. I had to be careful; the staircase provided virtually no cover and anyone descending would easily spot me. I groaned inwardly and began the long decent.