Chapter One
Alright, so... this was originally written as a reader insert for Lunaescence, so if anything seems a little off, tell me and I can fix it.
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It was days before anyone thought of checking the comm signals.
The static they found scared then out of trying again. A week passed like this, and tensions began to run high.
"Oh, man, what if they've been blocked off for us? What if they need help? What if they've—they've lost?" was what a familiar voice asked on one of these days, panic infused in every word.
She was quick to reassure her fellow researcher and longtime friend Michael Daniels, "come on, I thought you were supposed to be the scientist, cool, calm and collected? They're probably just ordering radio silence. You can't fight a war in a day, and what would calling back to us weakling do? Give away their position to someone in the shadows and get them killed? Naah, they know we can handle it. And, you know, the bad guys always lose. Haven't you watched any action movie? They'll be back."
"Is that right, Dr. Adams?" He asks, still with some trepidation but visibly better.
"Yes, Dr. Daniels," she teased right back.
It almost made her forgot they were hiding like animals.
But it still seemed… wrong to be walking, chattering as normal. So the base was nearly silent, the faint thud of footfalls and chink and beeping of buttons the only constant sounds. She spoke in murmurs, walked with slower, lighter steps. It was like the whole place had energy running through it, a current ready to break loose and send electricity whizzing through the air. It put her on edge, made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
The others, they could feel…something, knew there was something wrong, but she…
She felt a countdown.
And two and a half weeks later, when footsteps echoed on creaking metal outside the base, she knew…
The countdown was nearing its end.