The Black: Arrival

by Paul E. Cooley

  Instead, it was boring. The CDC doctors spoke in technical jargon and in slightly disinterested voices. They were professionals, sure, but Darren expected at least some excitement among them. Maybe it was fatigue. Maybe it was because they already knew their patient was dying and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

  When the beeping sound’s gentle rhythm skipped into dubstep, he peeked through the paper curtains. Two doctors were already dragging a crash cart to Marie’s bed. Although a sheet covered her legs and torso, it was easy to see something bad was going on beneath it. The sheet’s normal white was crusted in places with dark red and yellow stains. Darren would have retched if he had anything in his stomach.

  The dubstep beat disappeared into a flat line of sound. The doctors looked at one another. Three other doctors stepped into view. They pulled away the sheet. Darren wanted to scream.

  The flesh on her legs looked like spoiled cream cheese. Large swaths peeled off as they lifted the sheet. Blood wept from the wounds, but it was too dark. Too black. Her face was little more than a pale bruise. Her breasts, not large to begin with, had shrunk into themselves. Darren wanted to look away, but couldn’t.

  A doctor lifted the paddles and placed them on her chest. “250 joules,” a muffled voice said. The defibrillator whined as it charged.

  “Ready,” one of the docs said.

  “Clear!” the one holding the paddles yelled. The doctor pressed down. The sound of electricity arcing from the machine and into Marie’s still form echoed in the room. The machine maintained its steady flatline buzz.

  “Charging,” another voice said. “Ready.”

  “Clear!” The doctor placed the paddles on the chest and pressed down. A loud ripping sound vibrated Marie’s body. “What the—” the doctor had time to say before the paddles, along with his hands, sank through the woman’s chest.

  The room filled with the sound of sizzling fat on a hot-plate. The doctor screamed in agony and lifted his arms away from the bed. His hands were gone at the wrist. A primal scream started in Darren’s mind. The doctor wobbled on his feet and started to fall backward.

  A tentacle, blacker than deepest space, flew out of the chest cavity and wrapped around the doctor’s neck. His scream died as he was pulled into Marie’s chest. The sizzling sound was deafening. The doctor’s body disappeared into the table’s void.

  Doctors yelled in surprise. Marie’s body melted away as a black pool of viscous liquid flowed over the sides of the table and onto the floor. The metal beneath gleamed as if polished. The pool moved across the floor toward the doctors still frozen in terror.

  Darren finally found his voice and the scream locked in his throat pierced the air. He stumbled toward the room’s exit. A uniformed security guard pelted toward him through the plastic tunnel. He held up a hand and yelled for Darren to stop.

  A chorus of shrieks made Darren turn back toward the room. The black pool spread across the floor and covered the doctors’ feet. One of the suited figures fell forward into the black pool. The body immediately dissolved.

  Another doctor fell backwards onto the floor, legs raising into the air. His feet were missing below the ankle. The last in the trio screamed and screamed as tendrils of black fluid rose up his suit; he dissolved feet first into the floor.

  “What the fuck is that!” the guard screamed.

  Darren didn’t want to know. He sprinted past the man and reached the tunnel’s edge. Behind him, he heard more screams and cries of pain. When he found himself in the parking lot, he kept running. He barely noticed the cold sheets of rain drenching his skin or the freshening wind.

  *****

  Visitors. That’s what Mike said. Only that’s not all he said. The visitors? The goddamned CDC.

  Jakob stared at the display on his left. The screen was split in four, giving him two views of the parking area, and a view at each of the emergency exits. The images showed swirling rain and not much else. It was incredibly difficult to make out shapes, let alone details.

  Jakob sighed. What a shitty night. He’d had to let EMTs into the building, watch them take Marie away, and calm down Maeve. And now? The freakin’ CDC?

  He glanced at the other monitor. The split screen cycled between the lab hallway as well as the second and third floors. With the exception of Maeve and Darren coming down with Marie, there hadn’t been much to see.

  Maeve was back in her mother’s office. Mike hadn’t left his. And now that Darren was gone, he couldn’t even look forward to the man coming down for a chat.

  Well, at least he had a book to read in between checking the monitors. Probably best to do that after the CDC showed up though. Wouldn’t want to get caught—

  One of the screens twitched. He cocked an eyebrow, blinked, and then stared at it. It was in the parking lot. The camera image distorted, flickered, and then went dead. It wasn’t conscious, but his hand drifted down to the butt of his pistol.

  Jakob stood from his station and peered into the darkness beyond the heavily tinted glass doors. Something moved in his peripheral vision. He swung his eyes back to the monitor. The other view of the parking lot displayed nothing but black. Just like its twin.

  He unsnapped the holster and tapped a finger against the pistol butt. Jakob quickly scanned the other screens. The scientists were still doing their thing in the lab. Nothing moved on either of the upper floors. So whatever was going on—

  Then he heard it. A roaring sound followed by the shriek of sirens. Something moved outside the glass doors. He walked to them. They should have auto-locked after the EMTs left with Marie. No one should be able to get in here without a key card. Behind the bulletproof glass, he was completely safe. So why were his nerves sizzling with trepidation?

  The sirens were closer.

  That’s the CDC. And the cops. And—

  Something banged outside the doors. He walked closer to them, pistol halfway out of its holster. The dim glow of the streetlight lamps had disappeared. Everything was black through the glass.

  What the hell is going on?

  He walked closer, the pistol almost fully out of the holster. He put his nose to the glass and held his free hand over his eyes to block the glare from the overheads.

  The entrance to the building was covered. Blocked. Something yellow or orange flapped in the wind. Jakob gritted his teeth.

  What the hell is—

  A gloved hand smacked into the glass. Jakob jumped back, heart pounding in his chest. A figure pressed itself to the entry doors.

  “CDC!” a muffled voice said. “Let us in! Now!”

  Jakob released the pistol and it fell back into the holster. He didn’t bother snapping it. Until he knew for sure who this clown was, he wasn’t taking any chances.

  He reached next to the door and hit the red “Open” button. The door locks clicked. The figure remained where it was. Rolling his eyes, Jakob pushed open the door.

  Beneath the sounds of wind and rain, he heard the growl of engines and the clanking of metal on metal. Distant excited voices yelled at one another, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying.

  The figure walked inside along with two others. Jakob stood aside to give them room, hand back on his holster. He blinked at the invaders.

  Dressed in green moon suits, they looked like strange aliens dropped into his universe. The trio looked at one another and then one walked back to him.

  Through the faceplate, he saw the face of a less than homely woman. Her eyes shined with excitement. She held out her federal ID.

  “My name is Dr. Melanie Hoyt. I’m with the CDC.”

  He blinked at her.

  She tapped her foot. “What’s your name?”

  “Oh, I’m Jakob.”

  “You the only guard?” one of the more stout figures behind Hoyt asked.

  Jakob nodded and took the badge from Hoyt. He stared at it. CDC. Yeah. Her picture? Yeah. She looked much better without that moon suit. He looked up at her, smiled, and handed it back.


  “Have you been exposed to the agent?”

  Jakob blinked again. This was just too goddamned surreal. “What agent?”

  The woman rolled her eyes. “The contagion. Were you exposed to the barrel, the oil, the labs, or Ms. Krieger?”

  “No.” The woman continued staring at him. “I mean, I opened the doors for the EMTs to get her and take her to the hospital, but I didn’t like get breathed on or anything.”

  “And you haven’t had contact with the oil?”

  He shook his head. “No, Dr. Hoyt. I’m just the schlep who guards the door.”

  She nodded and then looked around the foyer.

  He cleared his throat. “And who are they?”

  “Dr. Glaze and Dr. Dugger,” she said. “Is this foyer the biggest public area?”

  He snickered. “It’s the only public area. Everything else is locked off.”

  She nodded again and looked at her companions. “This will do for a quarantine area. Will make it easy for us to get supplies too.”

  “Quarantine?” Jakob rubbed his hands together. “Mike said something about that, but I didn’t think he was serious.”

  Hoyt turned and looked at him. “Mr. Beaudry told you we were coming. He told you there would be a quarantine. And you didn’t believe it?”

  “Surreal,” he mumbled.

  “Where are the labs?” she asked.

  He pointed to the security doors. “Back there. The only way into the labs is through those doors.”

  She nodded to herself and clicked something on her belt. “Control? Hoyt. Bring the supplies to the front. We’ll bring them in. Over.”

  Jakob heard a staticky reply, but it was too low for him to understand. “Supplies?”

  She held up a finger to shush him, and then tapped the radio again. “Yes, Jakob. Supplies. We need to get into the lab. Now.”

  Jakob nodded. Mike had told him to get them whatever they needed. He walked to the security doors and then stopped. He turned and looked at Hoyt. “Did you take out my security cameras?”

  A sneer appeared on her face. “Yes.”

  He nodded dreamily. “Good. Because I thought I was having a stroke.” He turned back to the door. Through the heavy steel, he heard a crash and someone yelling. Jakob slid his badge across the sensor. He jerked open the door and peered in.

  *****

  The NMR was still running. Neither Jay nor Kate was interested in seeing the results now. They had bigger problems. The first was simple: figuring out what to do.

  Jay suggested they move to the front of the lab. Kate thought that was a great idea. Backs against the glass wall, just inches away from the hallway, the pair watched the shadows. The hunger she’d felt before the fluoroscopy had dissolved into heartburn. And, dammit, she needed to pee.

  “I’m, um, still waiting to hear an idea,” Jay said.

  Idea. Yeah. Right. CDC coming in, quarantine, they were trapped with something and Jay wanted ideas. Great. Like some magic light bulb was going to pop into existence over her—

  “Jay?”

  “What?” he asked without turning around.

  She grinned. “We have lots of powerful lights in here.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  She opened her mouth to say something sarcastic and then stopped. Jay’s hands were shaking. He was terrified. She hissed through her teeth instead. “What happened when we bathed it in full spectrum light?”

  “Shit. Sorry. I guess my genius took the night off.” He looked around the lab. “The halogens.”

  “Yes, the halogens,” Kate said. “If we turn all the table lights on, we might be able to keep it cornered.”

  “Yeah, that could work.”

  “You don’t sound convinced.”

  Jay turned to her. His face was pale and he looked exhausted. In other words, he looked exactly like she felt. “We can point some of the lights toward it. But, just where the hell do we try and drive it?”

  She bit her lip. He had a point. Kate scanned the lab, much as Jay had done. Her eyes focused on the waste drain in the far corner of the room. “Jay, we are idiots.”

  “What?”

  She lifted a finger and pointed to the far corner. The shadows were extremely thick in that area. If M2 was afraid of the light, It would be the perfect place to make it feel safe. “The waste drain. We could drive it down into the waste tank. We just have to open the seal and drive it down.”

  “And it’ll be trapped,” Jay said to himself. He clucked his tongue. “Great horny toads!” Yosemite Sam said. “I think we got us a plan!”

  She was scared to death, sure, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t chuckling. She punched him in the arm. “Try and be serious. That wascally wabbit,” she said pointing to the shadows, “isn’t a damned cartoon.”

  “Sorry. You’re right. So how do you want to do this?”

  “First, we need to point all the halogens at the floor. Create some kind of barrier.”

  “Yeah. And I think we need to turn up the overheads.” He pointed to the rectangular lights in the ceiling. “The fluorescents may not hurt it, but at least we’ll be able to see it.”

  “Good idea,” she said. “Keep watch.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Kate tapped his arm. Through the suit’s protection, she barely even felt the impact. She walked sideways toward the door. Finally, she turned away from the lab itself and stared at the stainless steel control panel. Two dimmer switches along with a keyed power cut-off stared back at her. She placed her fingers on the first dimmer switch and turned toward the lab interior. She spun the knob.

  Half the lab’s fluorescent lights quickly brightened. The deep shadows by the tables disappeared. The table with the fluoroscope remained clothed in dim light. “Let’s see what you think of this,” she said and spun the second knob.

  The lights in the ceiling blazed down. The stained tile floor reflected the light back at her eyes and she had to squint. Jay lifted a hand to his faceplate to block the glare. After blinking several times, she was finally able to see. But she wished she had a pair of sunglasses.

  The shadows were gone. Except for the furthest recesses of the tables and equipment, there was only the gleam of metal and light bouncing off every surface. And there it was. Right where they’d last seen it.

  Stains led up to the side of the fluoroscope, but where M2 had touched the floor, the tile surface was immaculate and shining. With the lights blazing down, the pool of M2 was obvious. The shadows where it had hidden were no longer dark and foreboding, but just a dimness of the light. Against the bright white of the surrounding tile, it looked blacker than anything she’d ever seen.

  Jay cleared his throat. “Well, there it is.”

  “Yeah.” Kate stepped to the nearest table. “You grab the other one.”

  “Point it where?”

  “Let’s make a path,” she said. “Make sure it can’t come after us.”

  “This is nuts.” He walked to one of the tables, pointed the gooseneck lamp to the floor ahead of him, and flicked the switch.

  A bright rectangle of light appeared on the floor. It was slightly diffused, but more than enough to cast a broad spectrum. She hoped. Kate did the same with the table lamp nearest her.

  They made their way down the row. Each time they turned on a new light, they made sure to point it at the floor and targeted so it continued the barrier. When they were only a few meters away from the fluoroscope, Kate stopped. The M2 hadn’t moved since they started their experiment. Could it see them? Could it hear them?

  “Jay?”

  He turned to her, his hand on the next lamp. “Yeah?”

  “What do we do if it moves past the lights?”

  His face paled. “I guess we run.”

  She shivered. Maeve was on the floor above them. Hopefully asleep. And hopefully unaware any of this shit was going on. They had to make sure the M2 stayed in the lab. The idea of that stuff getting out of here and loose in the building was terrifying.
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  The last two tables. They were down to the last two tables. Kate switched on a lamp, and followed the routine of aiming it. Jay was still a meter away from the last table on his side. Why? Because it was the fluoroscopy table.

  The suit made it difficult, but Jay squatted, his eyes focused on the pool of deep black. “All we have in this lab are LED flashlights.”

  Kate giggled, but it came out more as a shuddering wheeze. “We have everything aimed.” She tapped her foot. “What we need is a long extension cord.”

  Jay groaned into the mic and stood up. “Keep your eyes on that thing.”

  “I will. What are you going to do?”

  “You’ll see,” Jay said.

  She heard his gentle footfalls as he headed back to the front of the lab. Kate swallowed hard and then focused her tired eyes on the pool of M2. It was an amorphous shape. Instead of a circle or oval, the pool had the occasional runner jutting out from its center. It reminded her of something she’d seen in biology class. Something bacterial. Or viral.

  Her life consisted of carbon rings, methane units, and chemical bonds. Crude oil, atmospheric samples, waste water from manufacturing plants, sewage runoffs… Nothing biological. This was a whole new ball game.

  So what was it? Her mind raced over their experiments. Low gravity. Hydro-carbon characteristics. Anaerobic. Broad spectrum light sensitivity. Hell, she didn’t even know its actual flashpoint. It bubbled and boiled when it came in contact with any source of illumination that approximated sunlight, but could it actually burn? And if it did, what would it release?

  In the fluoroscope’s vacuum, there was no oxygen to make flame. Would it have caught fire if it had been in an aerobic environment? She didn’t know. And what was it going to do when they hit it with the halogens?

  Jay’s tongue clucking brought her back to the world. In what little peripheral vision the faceplate provided, she could see something in his hands.

  “You found an extension cord?” she asked.

  “Yes, ma’am. Just don’t tell anyone I pilfered it from my boombox.”

  “Boombox?” She snickered. “What the hell did you have a boombox down here for?”

  “Hey, not all of us went out and replaced our tape collections with CDs and mp3s.” Jay flipped a plate on the floor and connected an end of the extension cord. She saw his hand out of the corner of her eye. He disconnected the lamp from the table near the fluoroscope machine and plugged it into the extension cord. He flicked the switch and a cone of light appeared. “We’re in business.”