Stealing Silence

by E. A. Darl

  Suddenly she heard movement in the shaft behind her. Someone had crawled into the shaft and was following down the long dark length. She came to another screen and pulled it off, and once past the join, put the screen back in place. She scrambled forward. She heard a crash and one of the screens for the termination vents fell past her view to the floor below. With an angry buzz, the hive came alive and rushed the opening, seeking the intruder into their home. Screams filled the air and vibrated along the vent behind her as the bees swarmed her pursuer. Shrieking, the man fell out of the vent to the floor below, dead before he hit the ground, his body covered in bees. Avalon moved faster, panic threatening to break her concentration. Bees crashed against the screen behind her, buzzing angrily. She shuddered, and scrambled as fast as she could move in the confined space, scraping her arms and hands on the sharp sheet metal. She left the hive behind and took a series of twists and turns that she thought would take her to the south end of the building.

  After several moments, she paused, realizing that she was running straight toward those who sought her, as they knew where she was. She needed to leave the ductwork. She crawled to the next vent cover and peering down, saw a toilet and sink below her. Pulling her knife out again, she dropped three sides of the screen, and then dropped the backpack onto the toilet before sliding out of the vent herself, dropping the few feet to the floor. Slinging the backpack on her back, she pulled Peet’s map from her pocket and opened it up. She spied her bathroom on the map. She was in the southeast office section of the warehouse. Cracking the door an inch, she checked for movement on the other side of the door. People bustled back and forth just beyond the door, oblivious to the frantic search going on in the secure area behind them. Avalon closed the door and saw a discarded lab coat hanging from a peg by a set of showers. An idea came to mind and she stripped out of the jumpsuit and goggles, stashing them in the end shower unit, and then put on the lab coat. The sleeves were slightly too long so she rolled them up and buttoned the front. A box of paper sat on a shelf beside the showers and she emptied the box of its towels then stuffed her back pack inside, securing the top to hide the contents. She restrung the camera and the mic under her lab coat and then plugged it in again.

  “Mitch, can you hear me?” she whispered softly.

  “Avalon! Girl you scared us half to death!” She could hear Alexa in the background, demanding to know what was going on.

  “Sorry, I was out of touch for a few minutes. Listen I need help getting out of here, I am in a bathroom on the south east corner. I have ditched the jump suit and have borrowed a lab coat. What is my best path? There are people right outside the door.” Murmuring reached her ear, and then Peet’s voice came through.

  “Avalon, the warehouse shift change is about to happen. If you can join the group leaving, they will be exiting by the south gate. Just walk out and join the workers.

  “Won’t someone recognize me? Or want to know what I am doing here?”

  “No, they will assume you are a summer student. Join the group exiting. There will be guards at the exit, but keep to the right and just before the guardhouse, you will see the garage for the government vehicles. Walk over there, slowly, as if you have every right to do so. Go inside. It is a small auto body shop. Jump down into the pit for oil changes. There is an underground passage there that will take you beyond the gates to where the oil is stored, about one hundred feet past the gate. Go now, the shift change has started.”

  “OK, see you in five minutes.” Avalon unplugged the mic and tucked it away but left the ear buds in place. She was just another bored summer student, with music in place. She grabbed the box and taking a deep breath, opened the door and merged with the people streaming toward the exit doors. Guards were crossing the compound, stopping employees and checking passes. Word must be out to look for an intruder in their midst, but not having a description of the person they sought, they were reduced to checking everyone. Avalon moved to the right side of the crowd and walked alongside the thickest portion, putting as many people between her and the advancing security as she could manage. An angry vibration inside the box set her teeth on edge. She no longer felt smart about taking the bees, knowing how aggressive they were. She slouched a bit and fought the urge to run towards the garages that she’d spied on the right side. As though suddenly remembering something she stopped walking, then turned towards the garage, away from the exiting staff. As she was not trying to leave, the guards ignored her, and concentrated their search on those who were streaming toward the gate.

  Reaching the shadow of the garage bay door, she ducked inside. Thankfully, it was deserted. She heard laughter from the next room over. Wasting no time, she jumped down into the bay and found the low tunnel. As soon as she entered it, she started to run. Running was something she was good at and she ran for her life. All her pent up fear gave her feet wings and she sped along the corridor anxious to get out of the facility. When there were no signs of pursuit, she slowed down, uncertain what she would find on the far end. A short flight of steps appeared and she walked up them to be greeted by two pair of boots lying on the ground in front of her. The mechanics had been knocked out cold, and standing over them were Mitch and Peet, and a nervous Alexa who squealed and ran forward to hug her. Avalon smiled at them, handing the box to Mitch.

  At the angry buzzing of the box, he opened his mouth to ask what was in it. Peet spoke first, though. “We need to put distance between us and the night security. Whatever you did in there, Avalon, you have them stirred up like a hornet’s nest. Let’s get away from here.”

  As Avalon followed them, Alexa holding her hand, she thought you have no idea how right you are.

  Chapter 12

  The Thumb Drive

  I COULD GET USED TO eating every day thought Avalon as she ran her slice of bread through the thick gravy coating the bottom of her bowl. Peet had warmed up a pot of stew and they had set to eating silently, while the box on the side table buzzed noisily. Everyone ignored it, until the meal was finished. Priorities said they needed to eat and relax a touch and let the anxiety and excitement wane, before tackling the next steps. Throughout the meal, Avalon told them what all she had found and seen after they lost communication. Alexa gasped at the bee attack and ‘ooh’d’ at the description of the dinosaur bones, and overall made Avalon feel like a hero, except she really didn’t feel like much of a hero.

  Pushing the empty bowl away with a sigh of satisfaction, Mitch smiled at Avalon. Peet filled the bowl of his curving pipe with tobacco and lit it with a match puffing contently. “Go fetch the box, Avalon. You should open it. You are the one who retrieved it all.”

  Avalon brought the buzzing box back to the table and gingerly put it on the table, opening it up. She hesitated, then reached inside and lifted out her backpack. She carefully pulled out all the items she had collected.

  Once all the items were arrayed on the table, she sat back down. Alexa picked up the photo and stared at their mother and father. Her lips trembled and she put the photo down.

  “I feel stupid. I went to all that trouble and I never even found the fertilizer,” said Avalon.

  “That’s not true,” said Peet, pulling the pipe away from his mouth and gesturing at the items. “You found the fertilizer all right, only it’s a living, biological fertilizer rather than a chemical one. Not only did you retrieve the fertilizer, but also their food source. You brought back the basis of their research, samples that we can analyze. You did a great deal, for a young one.” The pipe clamped between his teeth once again and he grinned around the stem.

  “But what good will it do, if the bees kill everything they come in contact with?”

  “We don’t know that is the case. It might have just been a defensive instinct that was triggered by the person who came into their space, and was seen as an intruder. More testing is needed around that.”

  Mitch leaned forward and flipped open one of the hinged plates, observing the colony. Those that were hatched buzzed a
ngrily against the glass. “We can’t leave them in there forever, they will die. But we don’t dare release them to the outside, not knowing what has been done to them or what effect this,” he pushed at the bags of bone and paste, “has on them. They look like ordinary honey bees to me.”

  Avalon eyed the bees. They did look like ordinary bees, but the bees had all disappeared around the time of her parent’s kidnapping. Somehow, they were tied to the bees and the bees to them. “We need to find some scientists who can tell us about these things. Someone who can help us get to the bottom of everything, quickly. We need our parents found.”

  Mitch and Peet stared at her. Mitch met her eyes and nodded. “We need to find your parents. We have their research, and the samples, which surely is based on their research. I do not believe the government would have killed them. They needed them too badly.”

  Avalon and Alexa grabbed hands under the table and squeezed. “Then we vote to go after my parents.”

  Peet studied the faces around the table then coughed. “I believe I know who to contact to help find them. Have you ever heard of the SOS gangs? Mostly they are associated with the hoodlums that spray paint bee graffiti on buildings, but the SOS stands for ‘Seeds of Survival’ and they are an underground environmental group that is all about forcing the government to share their research about why the land is dying. I bet they could tell us where your parents are being held.”

  “Could you find a contact for them, Peet?” asked Mitch. “When I have tried to locate them in the past, they melted away like snow in the desert. Of course I was in uniform then.”

  Peet pulled the pipe from his mouth and grinned, displaying yellowed teeth. “Sure, I can put you in touch with them. You are sitting across the table from one. Why do you think I keep a shotgun behind the door?” He chuckled. “Scared away more than one government nosy party. Until now, I only suspected what was behind those security doors. Now thanks to this young one, we know for sure. It is time to find the Gainsboroughs and recruit them into the SOS.”

  Avalon yawned. Dawn was just breaking and her eyelids drooped shut as the effect of falling adrenaline and a full stomach took their toll.

  “Come, it’s time we got some sleep. We will tackle the plan for how to find your parents after a good rest.” Avalon was only too happy to fall into bed, her sister curled under the blankets beside her. They were going to find her parents! The thought was as comforting as the food, and as she slid into sleep, her last thoughts were of her father’s jacket and the bee symbol stitched on it. She wondered for the first time, where he had gotten it. Another mystery to be solved. Smiling to herself at the thought of asking him herself, she drifted off to sleep.

  *** THE END ***

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  THE SILENT LANDS CHRONICLES

  By E.A. Darl

  STEALING SILENCE

  SEEKING SILENCE

  STINGING SILENCE

  SHADOWED SILENCE

  By Judith Docken

  GHOSTED

  By Sylva Fae

  RAINBOW MONSTERS

  MINDFUL MONSTERS

  CHILDREN’S CHRISTMAS COLLECTION

  By Susan Faw

  THE SPIRIT SHIELD SAGA

  SOUL SURVIVOR

  SEER OF SOULS

  SOUL SANCTUARY

  SOUL SACRIFICE

  THE HEART OF THE CITADEL

  HEART OF DESTINY

  HEART OF TYR

  HEART OF SHADRA

  HEART OF BASTION (COMING SOON)

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