Part 202 - CryoTek
I walked inside the CryoTek building, as a male receptionist turned to me.
"I'm Participant #8." He nods at me as he enters my information into the computer.
"Do you have your ID card on you?"
I nod as I pull it out of my back left pocket. After he examines it he ushers me towards one of the lobby chairs.
I take my seat and look around. I've been here before, and I don't mean last week. All of this is just... too familiar.
As I'm sitting there, a half hour passes, and a man enters the building, as he looks around. He appears well dressed, in a black suit and tie. He turns around and spots me, his face displaying no emotion. In a dozen steps, he's standing right in front of me.
"Excuse me, are you Jason?"
"Uh, yeah. Why do you ask?"
The man whips out an ID badge from his back pocket for a moment, too quick for me to get a good look at it, before he quickly puts it back. "I'm Agent Terrier, I work for the SPF. I need you to come with me."
"SPF? I've never heard of you guys."
"Of course you haven't. We're top secret, the highest level of classification. Come with me quietly, or we'll have to make you come by force."
I step up and nod quietly, as I glance outside and spot a black van with "Larry's Cable Servicing" stenciled on the side in yellow. Real inconspicuous, guys...
I follow the agent out as he beckons towards the van. Against my better judgement, I step inside after the door opens. Three other men are inside, and one of them pats a seat attached to the back door. "Get in, and buckle up."
I pause. "I have an appointment in three hours at CryoTek. Am I being arrested?"
"Son, you wish you were being arrested. Get in the van. Now."
I nod quickly as I climb inside. What the hell is going on?
The van drives and bumps along for more than three hours. I'm about to miss the appointment at the cryopod now. Fuck. That was my only chance to escape this hell. And what do these men even want with me? They've been totally silent the entire time, staring at me blankly. It makes me so uncomfortable.
Finally, after three and a half hours, we pull into a dark alley and they make me get out of the car first. It's still daylight outside, probably 11 AM or so, maybe noon, but this alley is too dark to be believed.
They usher me inside a building, through some bland, dark concrete hallways, and into a door. Inside that door, we arrive in a pure white room, one with an observation window and a flat metal table with some metal chairs.
I'm not going to lie, this looks exactly like an interrogation room. The window is a one-way mirror, meaning I can't see through it, but whoever is on the other side can see me. There's a camera in the corner of the room, it turns and follows me around as I move inside the room. This is.. insane.
...
Half an hour passes, as I either sit on the cold, metal seats, or get up and pace around the room. I don't even have a cell phone with me or I could at least play games... or call for help. Who am I kidding? I have nobody to call. I'm all alone in the world.
Finally, after those agonizing thirty minutes, the door opens, and a woman walks into the room. A beautiful young lady, maybe about four years older than me. She gives me a warm smile. "Jason, thank you for your patience, we were just reading up on your... file."
She beckons to a chair, as she and I both sit down across from each other. "I work for the SPF, or the 'Supernatural Prevention Force', as it were. You may call me Marie."
I nod at her quietly. Supernatural Protection Force? What kind of stupid name is that? "Hello, Marie... what's this all about?"
She pauses as she stares at me quizzically. "Jason, I don't know if you're playing dumb, but we detected the energy signature at your residence."
I stared at her blankly. "Uhhh... energy signature?"
She trains her eye on me carefully. "Yes. The spiritual energy readings were off the charts."
Now it's my turn to give her a stink-eye. "What are you talking about? Supernatural crap? Spiritual energy? Did I get abducted by people from the loony bin?"
She sets her jaw squarely. "Look, Jason. I'm trying to be nice here. Our algorithms show that there was a 95% chance that the energy was centered directly on your mattress. It had to be you, unless you were sleeping with someone else last night?"
I blush slightly. "Ah, no, I was alone."
"Right. Alone." She glances back at the mirror wall and shrugs before looking back. "Do you seriously think we don't know you're hiding something? You're looking at worse than prison time if you don't come clean."
My jaw is about ready to flop down at this point. What the hell is this bimbo talking about?! Why am I even here? Why is everyone acting like I'm some weird monster or alien or something?
I fold my arms back and sit against the back of the chair. "I'm not speaking any more until I see a lawyer."
Marie eyes me for a few moments, before she breaks into a sneer. "Cute. I hate to tell you this, kid, but you don't get a lawyer. You're in one of the many Black Facilities hidden across the USA. Nobody's coming for you, and even if they knew where you were, we wouldn't let them have you. Not until you explain to us what that mysterious energy signature was."
I could almost feel tears starting to well up. Fuck! Why was this happening to me?! Why were they saying all these things?! "I don't know! I have no idea what you're talking about!"
Marie rolled her eyes. "Fine. You want to play this game? We'll play. Guards. Take him to solitary."
Guards came walking through the door, cuffs in hand. I panicked as I saw them coming for me. "No, no wait! Please!"
Just as the guard reached me I screamed at the top of my lungs.
"STOP!"
And, strangely, everything in the room stopped. I stepped back in fear, realizing that somehow, in some way, I had made time itself stop. Then my chest pounded for a second, as time resumed. The guards were on me in an instant, tackling me to the table as they bound my hands behind me.
"No! No please! This isn't fair! I don't want to be locked up! PLEASE!"
Nobody listened to me, as they led me out of the room. Just before I passed the door, I caught a glimpse of Marie's face, as she eyed me with even more suspicion than before.
After the door shut, Marie turned and walked up to the window. "Marshall. Get me the security camera footage. Now."
There's something I saw, but it couldn't have been real.
Posted Oct 13, 2016, 5:26 AM UTC · edited