Anomaly 683 Theta

Red. Blue. Yellow. Green.

Repeat sequence 1.32.

Red. Blue. Yellow. Green.

Repeat sequence 1.32.

One by one the lights flash, illuminating the test room in bright, blinding colour. Even through the tinted glass the lights are painful to look at.

Red. Blue. Yellow. Green.

“You won’t get anything.”

Lifting his head off the desk, Jacob looks at Sylvie. She stands in the doorway, coffee cup in hand.

“You don’t know that,” he sighs.

“I don’t even think she’s an anomaly, J.” Sylvie stands beside Jacob and peers through the glass into the test room. “Lots of people don’t think she is. You’re wasting your time.”

“No. No, there’s something off about her. I can feel it.”

“You said that about subject 48 Epsilon and look what happened with that.”

“I was wrong about that, sure, that was a mistake. This one is different.” Jacob picks up his pen, jots down a few notes, then types the command into the computer again.

Repeat sequence 1.32.

Red. Blue. Yellow. Green.

“Sequence 1.32?” Sylvie leans over, peers at the computer screen. “You think she’s a category six?”

“Yeah, well, I mean…” He doesn’t know what he thinks. He’s been at this for three hours, running through the sequences one by one, and so far he’s got no conclusive results. The pulsing cycle of lights is making his head hurt. He runs a hand down his face, stifles a yawn, glances at the flapjack he’d bought two hours ago that he is still yet to eat. He refuses to give up.

Chucking his pen down onto the file, Jacob leans back in his chair and sighs. “Look at her and tell me there isn’t something off about her.”

Setting her coffee cup down, Sylvie stares through the glass into the test room.

The woman strapped to the chair in the centre of the room has her head bowed, long blonde hair obscuring her face from view. She breaths steadily, fingers flexing and unflexing in a steady rhythm.

Shaking her head, Sylvie steps back. “What evidence have we got?”

Pushing the chair back from the desk, Jacob glides over to the filing cabinet behind him and pulls open a drawer. He fishes out the folder marked 683 Theta then returns to the desk. “On the fourteenth of April, at 02:13 AM, rank eight levels of radiation were detected in the village of Leeside. At 04:38 AM the police received a call from a Mr Handely reporting a strange female-looking individual walking naked through his fields.

“At 06:19 AM, a Mrs Lincoln phoned the police to report a female-looking individual stood on her driveway staring at her dog. When the police arrived, however, no such woman was found. There wasn’t another sighting until the twenty-first of April when on eleven separate security cameras across the town of Kendal, the same female-looking individual appeared at exactly 11:52 PM. In every single piece of surveillance footage, she is stood in the middle of the road, staring at the camera.

“On the twenty-fifth of April, rank ten levels of radiation were detected proceeded by a minor earthquake which only affected the village of Grayrigg. When our investigators arrived they discovered that all surrounding livestock were dead, their eyes and tongues removed.

“Then, finally, on the third of May, a Mr and Mrs Curnell reported the same female-looking individual wandering naked through Grizedale forest. Three hours after this phone call the police received another call from Misses Fisher and King, who reported finding the dead bodies of Mr and Mrs Curnell. They had also had their eyes and tongues removed.”

Closing the file, Jacob looks back to Sylvie. “If that’s not an anomaly I don’t know what is.”

“All that just sounds like category four stuff to me. What makes you think she’s a six?”

“Look.” He types the command in again.

Repeat sequence 1.32.

Blue. Red. Yellow. Green.

“There. Did you see it?” Finger pressed against the glass, Jacob looks to Sylvie with pleading eyes.

“Do it again.”

Repeat sequence 1.32.

Red. Blue. Yellow. Green.

“Oh.”

“It’s small, but it’s there. That flinch on the green light?”

“Yeah, I saw.”

“If she were just a category four, she wouldn’t do that.”

Sylvie frowns. “Is that the only response you’ve gotten to this sequence?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm. Try sequence 1.36 maybe?”

He types in the command and hits enter.

Commencing sequence 1.36.

Red. Blue. Green. Green.

The woman in the chair lifts her head in one, sharp, jolting motion before quickly dropping it again.

“Oh wow.”

“That was big.”

“Do it again.”

Repeat sequence 1.36.

Red. Blue. Green. Green.

The woman looks sharply up then back down.

“Definitely more than a category four then.” Taking a sip of her coffee, Sylvie folds her arms. “You do realise though, that if she is a category six, you’ll have to hand her over to Sigma team, right?”

He’d forgotten about that. Running a hand through his hair, Jacob shrugs. “She might not be.”

“Don’t you dare think about keeping this from them.” Sylvie’s voice is stern now. She’s not his friend anymore, she’s his superior officer now. She’s pulling rank. “If you report her wrong, or don’t report her at all, you could put everyone in danger. I won’t have that, Jacob.”

“I’m going to tell them about her, jeez,” Jacob sighs. “I just don’t know if she is actually a category six. She could just be a category five.”

“A very powerful category five based off that sequence reaction.” Pulling a chair over, Sylvie joins Jacob at the desk.

Repeat sequence 1.36.

Red.

The woman lifts her head.

Blue.

She opens her pale, blank eyes.

Green.

She opens her mouth, the skin around her jaw stretching and cracking.

Green.

The test room is plunged into darkness.

Silence

“What was that?” Sylvie asks.

“The power’s out. Hang on, let me get the emergency lights on.” Fingers typing rapidly on the keyboard, Jacob watches as the dim crimson glow slowly illuminates the test room.

The chair is empty.

“Where’d she go? Jacob, where did she go!?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“That’s it. I’m calling Sigma in.” Pulling her phone out, Sylvie flicks through her contacts. “What the –?“

Together they watch as her phone screen glitches, green squares flickering all over before the phone goes dark.

“It’s dead,” Sylvie exclaims, desperately pressing the power button.

The emergency lighting pulses in the test room.

Jacob stares at the empty chair. At the leather restrains torn free from the arm rests.

Repeat sequence 1.36.

Red.

“Wait, what? Did you tell it to do that?”

Blue.

“No. How could I? The lights are out.”

Green.

“Oh my God.”

Green.

They watch as a figure slowly descends from the ceiling, the bones of their limbs cracking as they twist and contort.

Green lines race across the computer screen.

Commencing sequence 1.43.

“Oh dear God, what is it?!”

Red.

The figure descends further.

Green.

Thick, cloudy mucus drips from its mouth onto the chair.

Green.

It lands, broken limbs hanging by its side as it stares at the control room.

Green.

The two-way mirror shatters as the anomaly throws itself forward.

Sylvie screams, scrambles back.

Jacob shields his face, slipping off the chair onto the floor.

The anomaly grabs Sylvie, drags her onto the broken glass and plunges a sharp, beak-like appendage into her eyes.

Sylvie screams.

Jacob lunges for the door. “Help!” He screams, fists pounding on the metal. “For the love of God, help me!”

The anomaly pulls away from Sylvie, latches onto the ceiling, hangs above Jacob.

Repeat sequence 1.43.

Red.

The light is blinding. It fills the control room, crowds around Jacob.

Green.

He can’t see. He can’t do anything.

Green.

He covers his eyes, reaches for the door handle and grabs flesh. He opens his eyes.

Green.

The blank, empty eye sockets of anomaly 683 Theta stare back at him.

The green light burns as he opens his mouth to scream.

Pain explodes across his brain as something sharp pierces his eyes.

Repeat sequence 1.43.

Red. Green. Green. Green.

Repeat sequence 1.43.

Red. Green. Green. Green.