Chapter 1: Prologue

Late Summer 1962. On the outskirts of Elksberg, Oregon. 50 miles east of Salem, out towards the Cascades. A peaceful Sunday morning with a few rainclouds hovering above. It’s still warm, with a pleasant breeze. Huge trees stand resolute whilst their branches gently sway. High, up on a ridge, there is a small opening leading into a cavern. It looks dark, abandoned, empty. The rush of the wind through the trees is all that can be heard.

The silence is broken in an instant. Alarms begin to sound. Beacons start flashing – orange lights spinning around, reflecting onto the cold, grey cavernous walls.

“Evacuate – Evacuate – Evacuate” sounds over some unseen speakers in a constant, deadpan tone. Deep within the cavern there’s chaos and panic. People are screaming and running. The fixed ceiling lights begin to flicker before finally turning off. Total darkness, except for the emergency orange beacons illuminating their local area as they rotate slowly around. Distorted shadows are cast with each rotation on the hard, stone walls. The screaming becomes all the more desperate. A terror can be felt emanating from the darkness.

Stumbling out into the light at the cavern entrance, a tall, slim man emerges. He’s quickly followed by another man crawling on his hands and knees – both are dressed similarly in white coats, grey trousers complete with white shirts and ties. They are coughing and clearly panicked. The second man stands up right next to the first man. Their coats are dirty and billow in the strong breeze. Rain begins to fall, gently at first but the dark clouds forming overhead suggest it is going to get worse. Hunched over, coughing they look back toward the entrance. Their faces etched with fear whilst the dread inside them begins to rise. Plumes of dust are carried away by the wind along with the screams from the cavern. Two more men scramble out. Both are dressed in tactical camouflage dress, each carrying an AK assault rifle over their shoulders. They appear more composed and quickly dust themselves off before spinning around to the entrance. Both hold their assault rifles ready, poised, waiting, expecting.

The rain gently drums against the hard ground. All 4 men stand and look back into the cavern, listening to the screams coming from the darkness. An occasional orange glow can be seen from deep within illuminating the dust. An unnatural roar echoes from inside. The scientists both take a step backwards, unnerved by what they hear, but the soldiers stand their ground in defiance, clenching their weapons slightly harder, poised and ready.

“Give me the phone q-q-quickly” stuttered the tall, slim scientist speaking directly to one of the soldiers who was carrying a portable phone pack on his back. He swallowed hard, his mouth dry.

The soldier looked over at the other soldier who was clearly his superior – he nodded in agreement. The soldier carrying the phone pack shuffled towards the scientist and turned around so he could access the back pack. It was a large heavy unit, a dull black in colour.

He picked up the receiver and waited a few seconds for it to connect.

“Sir, its Mackenzie, we have a code red with Project VIRIBUS” he said, holding the phone but not taking his eyes of the entrance. His free had covering his exposed ear to dampen down the wind and rain noise.

Both soldiers still had their rifles trained on the opening. Ready.

“Is the situation recoverable?” said a crackling voice over the phone.

“Er, sir, its not good in there, it went beserk, it got out, I’m not sure h-how...a couple of Technicians barricaded themselves in a store, Steve and Philip, well, there g-g-gone...and I saw at least another 4 seriously injured and Dr Simpson had his arm r-r-rip.....” Mackenzie stuttered before he was cut off.

“Enact emergency destruction phase immediately” the monotone voice crackled over the phone.

“Sir, but sir, people are still in there. Do we have any backup for the rescue???” Mackenzie said urgently with wide eyes, turning to the soldiers as he spoke.

He pulled an old handkerchief from his pocket and mopped his brow before pushing his hair backwards with his free hand, trying to compose himself.

“You’re not listening to me. Enact emergency destruction phase NOW!” said the monotone voice, slightly angrier now.

Mackenzie shook his head in disbelief, squaring his glasses so they sat correctly on his nose. He lowered the phone from his open mouth, looking at the soldiers in desperation, hoping they would help. His hair had fallen forward again as the rain continued.

The lead soldier, seemingly aware of the content of the conversation, moved swiftly across and grabbed the phone in an instant. He took over the call, aiming his rifle at Mackenzie, who began to shake, wide eyed.

“Sir, this is Staff Sergeant Kove. I have control. Yes sir. Immediately Sir”.

Kove dropped the phone and marched to the cavern opening. A hidden control panel located on the right-hand side was exposed by moving a false stone cover. On it were 2 key holes and one button covered by a red safety latch.

“Give me your key” said Kove without emotion, as he turned to face Mackenzie. Kove fished his own key from around a silver chain on his neck. He held it up.

Mackenzie couldn’t speak, his fear rising. All he could do was shake his head, as his body began to tremble.

“Give me the key NOW! I will not ask again” added Kove sternly.

Again, Mackenzie refused, continuing to shake his head, his eyes bulging.

“But...the p-p-people, our people...listen, they are alive, they need out h-help” he stuttered, pointing inside the darkness as a scream echoed. He began backing away, raising his arms to show he wasn’t a threat.

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Kove nodded to the solder who turned his gun and immediately fired a single round.

Mackenzie dropped to his knees as the bullet struck him in the chest. For a moment, he stayed upright. A crimson patch spread on his white jacket as he looked down in disbelief, his hands instinctively covering the patch, trying to hold the blood in. He looked at his hands in terror to find them dripping with blood. His eyes were like saucers, struggling to comprehend what was happening. He looked at his hands, his chest and then directly at Kove. He then fell forward, motionless, dead. Kove walked over, bent down and ripped the key chain from around the now dead man’s body. Mackenzie’s glasses were twisted on his face, sitting unevenly, hanging half off from the impact of his face hitting the floor. His eyes still wide open.

Kove stood up and looked at the other scientist who had begun to back away, terrified at what he’d just witnessed. Kove nodded again and another shot was fired. The second scientist dropped to his knees, falling backwards, and began writhing in agony until he too was motionless on the floor. His right leg bent in an unnatural position.

“Collateral damage”, Kove grunted as he looked at the two dead bodies, the red patches spreading as the rain soaked their clothes.

Kove returned to the control panel and inserted both the keys. They clicked into position.

“3-2-1” he counted out before he turned them both simultaneously. The lamp lit up red and an ominous alarm began to warble. The panel had been activated. Casually, Kove flicked the red safety catch off with his finger.

“You might want to stand back” said Kove turning to the soldier, his left eye brow slightly raised.

The rain began to fall heavier now, and the clouds looked dark and ominous above. Thunder rumbled far away in the distance through the thick, grey clouds.

Kove looked at the two dead scientists one more time without any hint of emotion. His gaze returned to the panel and he pressed the button. A series of huge explosions echoed from within the cavern, one after the other. Dust and debris drifted out from the entrance, being pulled by the strong breeze. For a minute, Kove was hidden within it all. He took a few strides forward to the soldier in the clearing, emerging from the dust and picked up the phone receiver.

“Sir. It’s done. Yes, no survivors but we need a clean up crew ASAP” Kove said coldly.

“The crew has already been dispatched and will be with you very shortly”, the voice crackled over the phone. “No trace left”...

“Yes sir, we will make sure of it” replied Kove, and he quickly hung up the phone. “Board it up” snapped Kove as he pointed to the opening.

“Do we need to check in there?” asked the soldier.

Kove shot the soldier a look that sent shivers down his spine. He knew he shouldn’t have questioned his superior and told himself he wouldn’t repeat that mistake again.

“No, nothing could have survived that. Board up the front, NOW”, said Kove sternly.

Silence fell from within the mine and the dust began to settle as the wind howled. Only that and the driving rain beating down could be heard as it battered the ground.

With that, the soldier removed his phone pack, dropped his rifle, and began boarding up the opening from a pile of timber sat near the entrance.

Kove turned away and walked towards the cliff edge. He pulled out a fat cigar from his pocket, bit the end off and spit it on the ground. He offered it up to his lips and lit it under the protection of his cap. Stood there, looking outward, a helicopter appeared from below and hovered 30 ft in front of him. The wind and rain were swirling in the rotors, the noise deafening. The pilot nodded through the windshield, his dark helmet and sunglasses clearly visible. Kove nodded back as he blew out a thick line of smoke from his cigar...

“There’s a storm coming” he said to himself, as the gentle rumble of thunder drifted across the sky.

A couple of miles below, down in the valley near Lake Gilford, three young boys, each holding a fishing rod, stood by the water line and stared, looking in awe at a hazy plume of smoke far up above. One had a knife tucked in its sheaf, stuffed at the back of his jeans. All the boys looked to be a similar age. The lake had been perfectly still, mirror like with a perfect reflection of the trees and sky only an hour or so ago but since then, the wind had begun to pick up, and the drops of rain shattered the illusion in a never ending attack on the lakes surface. Grey rocks laid around the lake began to turn darker as they were soaked in the rainfall. Tufts of grass were sticking up and swaying in the breeze. A few dead, overturned trees lined the lake edge. Their surface was smooth from the years they had been laid out in the elements.

The huge explosions that had erupted seconds ago had faded away only to be replaced with the whir of a helicopter. As the young boys looked up, they saw a black helicopter arc around before disappearing in the distance behind the tops of the trees. The whir faded away to silence except for the beating rain and growling thunder in the distance.

Intrigued, the boys looked at each other...

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