Project X

First Meetings (Part 2)

We drove.

As the hours rolled by, so did the buildings. They grew smaller and sparser, and then sparser still until eventually they just stopped, giving in to seemingly endless miles of desert and shrubs. It was as though civilisation could only reach so far.

The back of my skull bumped rhythmically against the headrest with the vibrations and tremors of the vehicle, but somehow, those three or so hours that it took to get from my office to our destination were strangely, almost ominously soothing. Aside from the rumbling hum of the engine, there was complete silence in the car, and a person can only seethe in silence for so long before they run out of steam, and their mind begins to glaze over.

Next to me, Isbell was completely silent, and for that I was grateful. He lit a few cigarettes during the journey, the grey smoke trailing from his mouth and out through the open window. I could still smell the warm, bitter scent of tobacco, my nostrils twitching with want. Perhaps he sensed the way my breathing deepened, because he held out the pack to me, his eyes on the road. When I refused, he left it on the seat between us, and sure enough, I found myself reaching for one no less than twelve minutes later. He glanced over and smirked in that maddening way of his, but he said nothing.

The first dark grey building slid smoothly into view just as I was finishing that cigarette, trying to preserve the sharp tang of mint on my tongue for as long as I could. I blinked, my eyes blurry after staring at nothing but brown dirt for miles on end, and sat up.

The complex was large, with several individual units, but flat; I guessed each building had four floors at most, if that. It was surrounded by neatly but plainly trimmed bushes, healthy and green despite the dryness of the surrounding land. They had to be artificial, somehow I could not fathom the image of a CIA agent donning a pair of gardening gloves and heaving a hose around their place of employment. There was no gate or any kind of wall around the perimeter; it was simply a square of four or five buildings packed closely together, probably with some kind of interconnecting path inside.

Isbell parked the car so there were two empty spots on either side, and got out without a word. I did the same, hastily, and followed him towards the front of the complex, where a tunnel started out wide but got narrower as it extended; I couldn't see the end of it, just a shadowy blackness. Isbell stalked briskly forward, several steps ahead of me. I stopped myself from running the few paces it would take to reach him, and walked at my own pace.

"The boss should be down to the lab soon," Isbell said, and I saw him move his arm to look at his watch. "You can meet Axl in the meantime, l'll take you to the lab."

"Axl?" I repeated, frowning at the strangeness of the name. "Who - "

I stumbled a little as a sudden thought struck me. Isbell didn't notice. I lurched forward and grabbed his arm, and he stopped abruptly, scowling at me till I let go.

"Is that....is he the one I'm going to be...you know, experimenting on?" I said hoarsely. I could feel bile tickling the back of my throat as my gut churned with anxiety. I wasn't ready to meet any volunteers just yet. I had no idea what to say, or how to behave. I don't even know if I wanted to meet them at all; a small, foolish part of me still wanted to leave, still wanted nothing to do with this whole thing.

"No, Saul. He's not," Isbell sighed, with an air of long-suffering indulgence. "He's....a fellow man of science."

That, I wasn't expecting. "So what, is he a part of this...well, this?"