by Darien Cox
Cold wind whipped at Tim’s shirt as he stepped off the ladder onto the ground, then did a walk around the station. He noticed small metal devices attached to the support beams that held the cabin high off the ground. He made a wider arc as he did a second pass, noticing more metallic bumps jutting from the pebbled grass. They could have been mistaken for rocks had Tim not specifically been looking for them, so they were pretty well-concealed. He was surprised he hadn’t heard Tyler walking around outside installing them, but then the guy was kind of creepy and stealthy. But since he didn’t hear Tyler...that meant the sounds he had been hearing outside the cabin the past few weeks must have been louder. Or closer. The hissing. The clicking. The infant’s cry.
Tim shivered just thinking about it and glanced around at the dark woods.
“Hey,” Tyler’s voice called out.
Stepping back, he looked up to see Tyler on the deck above, leaning over the railing. “I walked around twice,” Tim said. “Are they working? You need me to go again?”
“No, they’re working fine,” Tyler said. “But now I’m gonna put some cameras in up here. Can you head out into the woods about twenty feet? I want to make sure I can see you on the monitor.”
“Yeah.” Tim rubbed his arms. “Sure.”
“Want me to throw down your coat? You’re not exactly dressed for this.”
“Someone stole it.”
“What?”
“Someone stole it!” Tim shouted.
Even from up above in the dark, he could see Tyler’s scowl. “Someone stole your coat?”
“Yes. I left it here last time. But when I showed up tonight it was gone.”
“Did you ask JT about it?”
“Yes! He says he didn’t take it.”
“What?”
“Can we talk about this later? I’m freezing.”
“Okay. Go back that way, about twenty feet. I’ll call out when I’m done.”
“Fine.”
He’d started toward the woods when Tyler called out again. “Hey, Tim?” Tim looked up, and Tyler was leaning over the rail again. His camouflage jacket tumbled down, landing on the ground. “Put that on,” Tyler said, then disappeared from sight.
Snatching the coat off the ground, Tim shook it out. He slipped it on over his ranger shirt. It was a snug fit but instantly blocked the cold wind. Trudging into the woods, he found himself smiling. It was a small gesture, Tyler giving Tim his jacket to wear, but the kindness warmed him in more ways than one. And Tyler called him Tim just now, not ‘Patterson’.
He warned himself not to get caught up in such things, trying to discern every small nugget of emotion from Tyler. Emotions from Tyler were few and far between, so Tim could drive himself insane if he ventured down that road.
Once he’d trudged out far enough into the woods, he turned around, viewing the lights of the cabin in the distance. The ranger station suddenly seemed very far away, and Tim glanced around warily. Nothing but darkness and silence but for the branches rustling in the mountain wind, still skeletal from winter despite a few spring buds. His eyes focused on the space between the trees, searching for movement, but all was still.
Periodic drilling and hammering sounded from the station. Whatever Tyler was doing, it was taking a while, and Tim eventually began hopping from foot to foot trying to stay warm.
He thought he heard a branch snap behind him and whirled around, staring into the darkness. Nothing there. “Fuck,” he whispered, kicking a stone on the ground.
Being scared of the woods pissed him off. He’d always felt at home in the forest. And he liked to think of himself as brave. Sure, life in the village was pretty mellow most of the time. But he’d encountered his share of dangers over the years, and never shied away from them. Most people assumed that as forest ranger, he did nothing more than count squirrels and plant trees. But he’d dealt with much more than that over the years.
Recovering bodies from small airplane crashes. Coming across a murder victim once then aiding the police in hunting down the suspect. Confronting hostile villagers or drunk tourists on the mountain trails. He’d fought fires, rescued hikers in peril during violent storms, and even held his own against a startled bear that tried to attack him once. He wasn’t a damn wimp. But now, after years of confident bravery, he was literally jumping at shadows.
And it was all the fault of those fucking assholes and their aliens.
Tim almost wished he’d never been told about the Whites, that he’d never found out. He wished he’d not been the one to stumble across Baz wounded in the forest that day. But was ignorance truly bliss? He supposed not. At the end of the day, it was better to be informed. Even if it meant he’d never feel fully comfortable in the forest again.
“Patterson?” Tyler’s voice came from a distance. “Can you hear me?”
“I hear you!”
“Wave your arms over your head for me.”
Tim waved his arms high. “Is that good?”
“Yeah. You can come on back.”
Another glance around, and Tim started back toward the station, his boots crunching the pebbled earth. For just a split second, he thought something moved in his peripheral vision, but when he stopped and turned a slow circle, he saw nothing. “Shit,” he hissed, then walked faster toward the cabin.
When he climbed the ladder and stepped inside, Tyler was seated at the desk in front of the computer again. Without looking back, he beckoned Tim with his fingers. “Come here.”
Tim approached, leaning over Tyler’s shoulder, catching a whiff of his scent. His familiar scent. A memory flashed of Tyler’s naked body beneath him, and Tim shook it away. He didn’t realize he’d literally shaken his head until Tyler looked up at him. “You all right?”
“Yeah. What did you want to show me?”
“This.” He pointed to the screen. “It’s got four camera angles. Each side of the station covered, so if anything approaches from the woods you’ll see it. You can leave it split screen like this or pull them up one at a time, and you can switch it off night vision if you want, but that’s the default.” He hit a couple keys and a still frame popped up, the woods with an orange glowing figure in the distance. “That’s you from a few minutes ago. If something alive is out there, this is how you’ll see it onscreen.”
“Okay.”
“The motion sensors are active too now. Here’s the sound it makes if something is approaching the station.” A high-pitched beeping sounded for several seconds before Tyler shut it off.
“Cool. So I can monitor the woods without even going outside now.”
“Yeah. If you want. And the cameras have audio. So we’ll pick up any sounds.”
“Good. Now maybe those assholes will believe me if it happens again.”
Tyler looked up at him. “Assholes?”
“You know. JT and Christian and that crew. I know they don’t believe me. Think I’m just seeing things because I’m nervous.”
“Maybe you are.”
“Oh great, not you too. Why are you even here if you think that?”
“Because maybe you aren’t. I’ve been doing this too long to outright dismiss someone who says he’s seeing things. Especially twenty yards from an alien base.”
“Then...you do believe me?”
“It’s not about belief, Patterson. It’s about caution. Quit worrying what people think. The bottom line is I wouldn’t have been sent here if this wasn’t being taken seriously.”
“I’d prefer it if you’d call me Tim.”
Tyler’s brows rose, and he looked surprised. Tim instantly regretted the words. They just slipped out. Because he didn’t like Tyler calling him by his last name. They’d been intimate, for Christ sakes. About as intimate as Tim had ever been in his life.
“Okay,” Tyler said. “Noted.”
“Good.” Tim stepped back and moved to the table across the room. He sat down, fussing with things and avoiding Tyler’s gaze. “Just felt a bit weird, you know? You calling me P
atterson after...” Shut up, Tim, just shut the fuck up. “I mean, it’s not like you don’t know me.”
“I understand.”
Tim glanced over, surprised to see Tyler had spun around in his chair, facing him. He gave Tim a slight, closed-lipped smile. Nothing monumental, but since Tyler’s expressions were typically limited to ‘I’m angry’ or ‘I feel nothing’, the small smile relaxed him. “I just realized something. I don’t even know if Tyler is your first or last name.”
“It’s my first.”
“So what’s your last name?”
“Uh...that’s need to know, really.”
Laughing, Tim shook his head. “You’re kidding.”
“No.”
“I can’t know your last name? Why? Because of...” Using his index fingers, Tim made antennae atop his head.
Tyler chuckled, and mimicked Tim’s finger-antennae on his own head. “What is this?”
“Aliens.”
“That’s a bit of a simplification, but sure. Because of aliens.”
“Well, that’s stupid. I thought I was on the inside now.”
“There are varying degrees of being on the inside.”
“So what about Christian and Nolan and those guys. Do they know your last name?”
“No.”
“That’s crazy!”
“To be fair, you’re the only one who’s ever asked.”
“Come on, none of them ever asked your last name?”
“Nope.”
“How long have you been working with them?”
“Um...” Posture relaxing, Tyler stretched his legs out, drumming his stomach with his fingers. “It’s been a few years now. I met them after they confirmed the field entrance to the base. Right before they met Baz for the first time.”
“Have you worked with them a lot?”
“We’ve been involved in some pretty major missions together.”
“And none of those assholes ever asked your last name.”
“It’s not a big deal. No one knows Ogden’s last name either. Or even if Ogden is his real name. The guys in the village are not assholes. They’re just used to the protocol and secrecy.”
Tim rolled his eyes. “I know they’re not assholes. I call them that because they get on my nerves.”
“Yeah. They get on mine too.”
Well, look at that. We’ve found common ground. Like the night of the wedding, when they’d commiserated over Tyler having a crush on Elliot, and Tim having a crush on Nolan. Once more, regrettable words just tumbled out of Tim’s mouth. “You still have a thing for Elliot?”
Tyler chuckled. “No.”
“Not even a little?”
Shaking his head, Tyler said, “Our last mission...I worked very closely with him and Nolan. It drove home that I have no place there. I realized they belong together, weird as it seemed to me.”
“Why did it seem weird to you? They’ve been friends for years.”
“I guess I thought I was more Elliot’s type than Nolan is. But I’m over it. It’s a good thing too, since I’m staying with them.”
“You’re staying at Nolan and Elliot’s house?”
He nodded.
“Is that awkward?”
“No. I don’t do awkward.”
Tim wondered if that was directed at him. Tyler’s stony mask was back in place, his soulful gray eyes revealing nothing. “And they’re okay with it?”
“Yeah. They got me set up. I had dinner with them. It was fine.”
Shrugging, Tim began cleaning up and packing things away since his shift was ending.
“You still have a thing for Nolan?” Tyler asked.
Surprised by the question, Tim did a doubletake. “Um...not really.”
“Not really?”
“I still think he’s hot, naturally.”
“Naturally.”
“But I’ve gotten to know him better over the past year. He’s kind of broody all the time.”
“You’re just noticing that now? Nolan’s always been broody.”
“Yeah? Maybe you’re right. I used to only know his bartender persona though, and that Nolan’s more chipper. Plus I think I was blinded by all the muscles.”
Tyler huffed. “You seen any more of those shapes moving outside since you briefed Brett?”
“No. Not since then. I assume you were filled in about it?”
“Yes.”
“You have any ideas about what it could be?”
“No.”
Tim waited, but Tyler said nothing more. He was back to monosyllabic answers. “So what happens now?”
“I’ve patched the feed from here through to a computer in the basement at Nolan and Elliot’s. I’ll monitor it from there when no one’s up here, but it’ll be recording everything regardless. But we’ll have this one for when you come back up for your regular shifts.”
“So I’m to continue doing my shifts up here as usual? What’s the point if we’ve got everything monitored and recorded?”
“It’s important we don’t break routine. In case your presence is relative.”
“Relative? What does that mean?”
“It means you being here could be a factor. If whatever’s sniffing around is drawn by you. The shapes and sounds you reported. We don’t want to remove you from the situation in case you’re part of the reason it’s happening in the first place.”
“So I’m bait.”
“More like a control variable.”
“And also bait.”
“Yeah, okay. Potentially.”
“Great.” Tim stood. “Okay. Well, my shift is about done. I’m due back in a couple days. Do I give you reports or something?”
Tyler stood and stretched his back. “Not necessary. I’ll be with you. In the meantime, I installed an extra lock on the door. But if someone ventures to try breaking in, at least we’ll see who it is on the cameras.”
“Oh. So are you...will you be up here with me again?”
“Until we get this figured out, yeah.” Tyler grabbed the gun. “I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”
Tim forced a laugh. “Stuck with you, huh?”
“Yep. Just you and me and things that go bump in the night.”
For several seconds, their gazes locked. Tim said nothing, because his throat had gone dry. Only when Tyler turned away did he remember to breathe.
Stuck with him. It wasn’t exactly a hardship for Tim. He wondered how Tyler felt about it. If he found spending time with Tim to be an annoyance. There was really no way to tell. Conversing with Tyler involved a lot of guesswork. “Oh, your jacket.” Tim shrugged out of it and handed it over. “Thank you.”
“No problem. Okay, I’m gonna head back to town. Hit the deadbolt when you lock up. The key you already have will fit it.”
“Wait,” Tim said as Tyler started for the door. “How did you get up here?”
“I hiked.”
“From the bottom of the mountain?”
“Yeah. Nolan dropped me off before work.”
“Then you need a ride back.”
“Nah, I’ll walk down to the pub, he’ll bring me home when his bartending shift’s done.”
“Why didn’t he drive you up on the new road? It starts just a half-mile down. That’s why your goons put it in, right? So it would be easier to get up and down the mountain?”
“I wanted a chance to survey the woods on the hike up. It was quiet. Didn’t see anything unusual. But might as well take another look on the way down.”
“You hiked all the way up from the bottom with that huge, heavy duffle bag.”
“Yep.”
“And now you want to hike all the way back down again. In the dark.”
“Yep.”
“Well, that’s crazy. My truck’s parked down where the road starts.”
Tyler just stared at him, blank-faced.
“I’m saying you can come with me and I’ll give you a ride back to Nolan and Elliot’s house. You won’t have to wait for
Nolan to get done at the pub.”
“I don’t mind hiking back down.”
“It’s pitch black out there. And that trail is full of boulders.”
He shrugged.
“Do you even have a flashlight?”
Tyler hitched the gun up to his shoulder. “There’s a high-powered light on the stunner.”
“Stunner?”
“The gun. Don’t worry, it’s fine. I can see great in the dark. Done hours of training in rough terrain. It’s not a problem.”
“Tyler come on. You could trip and fall on the rocks.”
“I just told you, I’m trained for this. I can handle myself.”
“I can handle myself,” Tim mimicked. “Do you know how many times I’ve heard that over the years, from people who later had to call for help after falling and breaking bones?”
“I’m not people. I’m me.”
Tim rolled his eyes. “Okay, tough guy. Have it your way.”
Tyler left the cabin and Tim stared at the closed door, shaking his head. Stubborn little bastard. He hoped Tyler wasn’t feeding him a line about wanting to check the woods again. Because it felt a little like he wanted to get away from Tim. Was Tyler worried Tim was gonna try to pounce on him again?
Shit. Tim had legitimately been concerned for Tyler’s safety when offering him a ride, but maybe Tyler thought he was trying to pick up where they left off months ago. He had been mooning over Tyler tonight. Maybe he’d been too obvious. Maybe his eyes roamed over Tyler’s body a few too many times, and Tyler noticed. Stupid, traitorous eyes. Humiliation slammed down on him like a tsunami as he cleaned up and closed down the ranger station. With the element of surprise on his side, Tyler had effectively ambushed him. And Tim responded by practically giggling and fanning himself. His one chance at playing it cool was forever shot down in flames.
But fuck it. He liked Tyler, so what? The guy was weird and mysterious and he gave Tim a boner. Tim hadn’t even begun to scratch the surface of who Tyler was, but now he thought maybe he’d like to. He wouldn’t mind peeling all those top-secret layers away and biting into whatever he found inside, even if it tasted bitter. And he was allowed to feel that way, whether Tyler brushed him off or not. It was a relief really, getting that encounter over with. He didn’t have to dread it anymore. Things were back to normal. But still...
