When an Alaskan research team pulls the body of a mysterious girl from the bottom of a frozen lake, young research scientist Lisa Harding gets more than she bargains for when she decides to take matters into her own hands. As she and her best fri...
Lisa Harding trudged through the thick layer of snow that was the Alaskan tundra, dragging her sleigh full of heavy equipment behind her. Snowflakes billowed around her, and the cold wind tore at her face like the claws of a vicious beast.
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It was rather late, she thought, for a research scientist like herself to be out roaming the dark, barren snowscape. But knew exactly what she needed to do, and whether or not she liked the idea of it, she was going to have to accomplish her goal before she could return to camp. Suddenly, her small handheld device buzzed to life. She jumped.
"Hello? Lisa? Are you there?"
"Jesus, you scared me. What is it, Marcus?"
Marcus Halbert, age 24, was a bit of a jokester, and was always ready to crack a joke, even in the tensest of moments. He was the goof-off of the small research team situated miles away from Anchorage, his home city.
"Sorry, about that, Lisa. Just wanted to give you a small update concerning your location."
"All right, then, get on with it."
"You're really close to your destination, and you'll be there in about ten minutes. However, there is a considerably high concentration of harmful chemicals in the lake, probably left over from that research facility that shut down about half a year ago."
Lisa rolled her eyes. "Is that all? I have my chemical resistant mask with me, you know."
"Okay, just wanted to make sure. Keep us updated, alright?"
"Will do, Stitch."
Stitch was one of Marcus's many nicknames, given to him because of his fascination with the Lilo and Stitch Disney film. Lisa pocketed her handheld device and trudged on.
...
Ten minutes later, the young research scientist arrived at her destination. As she gazed out over the frozen pond, she felt a sense of foreboding. Shake it off, Lisa, she thought. You're probably just nervous because you have to go scuba diving, and the lake is negative fifty degrees. She began to remove her coat and snow boots. Underneath the many layers lay her pressurized diving suit. She reached into her sleigh, and started setting up her oxygen tanks and chemical filters.
Once everything had been set up, she produced a drill and proceeded to make a diving hole in the thick layer of ice that covered the pond. Once that was finished, she crouched down, took a deep breath, and lowered herself into the frigid water.
Once she had adjusted to the low temperature, Lisa turned on her flashlight. Though the beam of light was strong, it did little to illuminate the inky depths. Damn it, she cursed in her head. I completely forgot to check in with Marcus before diving. Oh well. He's probably freaking out because I'm not picking up. I guess he'll have to wait. Lisa turned in her echo finder. So far, it was detecting nothing. Guess I'll have to go deeper. Further, further, and still further into the menacing depths she swam, until finally, with a soft crunch, her feet hit the bottom of the watery abyss. As she walked along the lake floor, a knot formed in her stomach, and this time, she knew the cold was not to blame. Beep! Beep! She looked down at her echo finder. The words medium size unidentified object had flashed across the screen, along with a grid showing distance. Reluctantly, she made her way towards the object, trying her best to force down the butterflies that stirred in her stomach.
She swept her flashlight beam along the lake floor, and suddenly, she caught sight of... something. As Lisa leaned in, she broke out in a cold sweat. It was a hand. A human hand. The hand was connected to an arm, which in turn was connected to a body. She moved the flashlight beam up the arm, and the body of the thing that it belonged to. It was... a girl. She had long, auburn hair, honey colored eyes, and she wore a grey, black, and blue jumpsuit with elbow-length sleeves. Lisa also noticed that her hands were wrapped with bandages. She lay on her back, her palms facing up, her golden eyes open and glazed over. Lisa cocked her head. The girl's warm-toned eyes had no pupils.
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The girl looked so...alive, and yet she lay completely still. Lisa knelt down and felt the girl's wrist, and could detect no pulse. This wasn't right. Something...wasn't right. The realization suddenly hit her. She was at the bottom of a lake with a frozen-over surface, in the dead of an Alaskan winter. Reaching the bottom of the watery abyss would have been nearly impossible, due to the thick layer of ice covering the water. On top of that, if this was a dead human girl, then why hadn't her body decomposed?
