The Middlewych Experiment Read online

  Sure enough, he's put up a new post today:

  Who else in Middlewych is aware that something MASSIVE happened out at the military base two nights ago? Something so MIND-BLOWING, they've had to send shady-looking AGENTS into town to make sure that the rest of us haven't noticed.

  That's right, everyone. The situation out at the nameless military base must have gotten seriously out of hand, because they seem to have suffered some kind of CATASTROPHE. Various sources have been in touch with me to report strange occurrences, including (but not limited to) lights in the sky, strange noises in backyard areas (especially near the forest), and mysterious encounters with the black-suited creeps who've been all over the streets of our fair little town.

  If you've been reading this site for a while, you'll know that we've been predicting something like this for years. These government and military FOOLS are never able to keep their secrets hidden for long, and TRUTH and JUSTICE always win out. That's what we're all witnessing now, friends. The wall is about to come crashing down and we're all going to see what's really going on.

  So what happened the other night? My best guess: some kind of containment failure, which meant that something got out from the base. Is it on the loose now? Hard to say, but the presence of all those agents raises two possibilities. Either they're looking for something that escaped, or they're looking for witnesses. Or, potentially even more TERRIFYING, both.

  As ever, we'll have all the info you need. Stand by for an EPIC new post this afternoon, in which I'll be disclosing SHOCKING EVIDENCE including photos and videos.

  Wow, he really writes the way he talks, and he comes across as being more than a little unhinged. He's really not helping his own cause with all those random capitalizations. Some of what he says seems to chime with Adam's claims, but of course that doesn't necessarily mean very much at all. For all I know, Adam reads Wally's blog and that's where he got all his crazy ideas from. There's no shortage of lunatics in the world.

  I just wish I could find one solid piece of evidence that proves, beyond all doubt, that nothing truly weird happened to me over the past few nights.

  Hearing the doorbell ring, I pause for a moment until I hear Mom heading to the door. Then I start checking out some more of Wally's site, hoping against hope that I'll find something that makes all the pieces of this puzzle fit into place. What if the basics of the other night really did happen, and then for some reason I had some kind of psychiatric episode that made my brain explode? I'm on medication for allergies, and I figure it's possible that the pills helped push me over the edge.

  Downstairs, Mom's talking to someone.

  Okay, Annie, you can do this. You can figure out what's happening.

  Leaning back in my chair, I take a deep breath. There's no shame in admitting that I might have had a mental wobble over the past few days. I distinctly recall the wolf and the bear, but those must have been hallucinations. Was Adam a hallucination too? Was I out in the forest, babbling away to myself? I don't want to accept that just yet, although after a moment I realize that I have one fairly easy way to check. I need to go and see whether the dumpsters behind Moolio's have been damaged. Assuming that the cameras round there work, I should be able to get hold of the relevant footage. In fact, for all I know, right now Dean's having a heart attack as he watches the tapes.

  Mom's coming upstairs.

  Getting to my feet, I grab my jacket. I'm exhausted but also wired, and I know I won't be able to sleep until I've been back to the restaurant. If nothing else, I need to make sure that I still have a job, because as far as I remember I seem to have simply vanished toward the end of my shift. I can only hope that Fletcher covered for me.

  I open my bedroom door, and then I stop as I see that Mom was about to knock. Two black-suited men are standing right behind her, and I immediately realize that they look like the men who were around town yesterday.

  “Annie,” Mom says cautiously, sounding worried, “these... gentlemen just want to ask you a few questions about... Well, I'm not quite sure what it's about. Something to do with the forest.”

  “I haven't been in the forest,” I stammer quickly.

  “Is that right?” one of the men says, before holding his hand out to reveal my cellphone. “Then how do you explain the fact that we found this out there yesterday?”

  Chapter Twelve

  “We're just here for a friendly chat,” one of the men, who identified himself as Charles, says as we sit downstairs in the living room. “I want to make it clear from the outset that nobody thinks you've done anything wrong, Anne. We just want to know whether you might have seen anything that could help us out. Does that sound good?”

  Not really knowing what to say, I glance over at Mom. She looks petrified, as if she thinks I've been caught hacking into the Pentagon, and I know she's totally going to overreact once these men have left.

  Assuming they don't drag me off with them. For a moment, in my mind's eye, I imagine myself kicking and screaming as I'm hauled into some kind of large, blacked-out vehicle. Then I see myself strapped to a hospital trolley, being pushed along a gloomy corridor. Then I have visions of interrogations and questionings, and of electric drills being slowly moved toward the side of my head. Blinking, I tell myself that I need to stop this, that I'm in danger of ending up like Wally.

  “So let's get the basics out of the way,” Charles continues, as his colleague Edward watches intently. “Two nights ago, there was a small event at one of our minor research facilities near Middlewych. I'm not at liberty to go into the details, but it's possible that an individual – one or more, in fact – left the facility and escaped via the forest. For everyone's sake, it's vitally important that we locate any such people, which is why we're reaching out to people such as yourself, Anne.”

  He smiles, but it's a really fake smile that actually makes me more worried than before.

  “My daughter would never do anything wrong,” Mom says, her voice filled with panic. “Annie's a good girl, she's never been in any trouble before. Have you, Annie? Of course not. She's never do anything wrong, so I don't know why you're showing up here.”

  “I'm sure of that, Mrs. Mackenzie,” Charles replies, while keeping his gaze fixed on me.

  “You wouldn't, Annie, would you?” Mom continues. “Please, tell me you didn't do anything wrong.”

  “I didn't do anything wrong!” I say firmly, turning to her. “Mom, do you have to stand there listening? Can't you go and sit with Stevie? I can handle this!”

  I wait, but she doesn't say anything. She's simply staring at me with a very disapproving expression, so I turn back to Charles. Right now, I feel as if the whole world is watching me.

  “We've identified a zone of possible activity,” he explains, “and we've conducted a search of that zone. It was during that search that your cellphone was located. It appeared to have been dropped, or discarded. Anne, do you know how your cellphone ended up out there in the forest?”

  “Not... really,” I say cautiously.

  “Not really?”

  “I mean...”

  My voice trails off.

  To lie, or not to lie? That's the question.

  “I went for a walk,” I say finally. “I mean, I was at a party, and I left, and I walked back and I must have dropped my phone.”

  “In the forest?”

  “I guess.”

  “You walked home through the forest?”

  “I took a shortcut.”

  “Alone, late at night?”

  I nod.

  “That seems rather... risky behavior for a young woman such as yourself.”

  “I was chased in there by a vampire,” I conspicuously do not tell him.

  “What can I say?” I reply, trying in vain to muster a smile. “Kids these days, huh?”

  “What were you doing in the forest?” Mom asks, sounding more flustered than ever. “Annie, really, whatever could have possessed you?”

  “Were you alone?” Charles asks.r />
  “Yes, I was alone,” I tell him.

  “And you dropped your cellphone.”

  I nod.

  “When did you realize it was gone?”

  “In the morning.”

  “Did you go back to look for it?”

  “No, I just figured it was gone, so I went into town to get a new one.”

  “You didn't tell me this,” Mom says.

  “And when you were in the forest,” Charles continues, “did you see or hear anything out of the ordinary? Was there anything out there that you think you'd like to tell me about?”

  “Like what?” I ask.

  “Just anything our of the ordinary.”

  “There were trees,” I tell him, before swallowing hard. “Lots of trees.”

  “I don't doubt it. Anything else?”

  “No.”

  “And you're sure about that?”

  Suddenly I realize that he might have seen footage from the Moolio's cameras, in which case my lies are truly sunk. Then again, that was only a few hours ago, so I figure it's highly unlikely that things have advanced that far. Yet.

  “Listen,” I say, trying to act casual, “I just walked home through the forest and dropped my phone. I'm from the generation that disposes of things all the time, right? I couldn't go and search the entire forest, so I wrote it off as gone. Call me shallow. Say that I don't appreciate the value of things. All of that and more. It's not so weird, is it?”

  “Did you see any unusual lights out in the forest?”

  “Lights?”

  “Searchlights, perhaps.”

  I shake my head.

  “None at all?”

  “None at all.”

  “That's interesting.” He pauses. “We had some agents out there that night, searching for... classified things. I guess I'm just a little surprised that you didn't at least see them.”

  “What can I say? I guess I'm not very observant.”

  “You appear to be injured.”

  “I do?” Suddenly remembering my grazed arm, which is the only injury this guy should be aware of, I force another smile. “See? Really not observant. I guess I must have done it when I fell over.”

  “When did you fall over?” Mom asks.

  “The other day. It's no big deal.”

  “But -”

  “I didn't see anything in the forest,” I tell Charles, “and I didn't hear anything. I just walked home, and I went to bed, and the next day I headed off to work.”

  “At Moolio's?”

  I nod, but alarm bells are starting to ring. If this guy knows where I work, that means he must have at least done some basic research. Which, in turn, suggests that this visit isn't as casual as I'd hoped. Still, there's no point panicking now.

  “You seem like a very calm, unflappable young lady,” Charles says.

  “I guess I just get on with things,” I tell him. “There's no point making a fuss all the time, right?”

  I wait, hoping that he'll agree with me. As the seconds tick past, however, I realize that he's really staring at me. It's almost as if he's trying to read my mind.

  “Well,” he says finally, getting to his feet. The sofa creaks loudly as his weight unloads. “I think that's all we came for. I'm sorry to have bothered you guys, but sometimes we have to make these routine visits. We take our responsibilities very seriously. I hope you all have a real nice day.”

  “I'll show you out,” Mom says, leading him and his buddy through to the hallway, while casting a we're-gonna-talk-about-this-later glance at me.

  “Oh,” Charles mutters, stopping and then turning to me, “just one more thing, Anne. I know it's gonna sound stupid, but humor me.” He pauses. “You haven't seen any bears around town over the past few days, have you?”

  “Bears?” I ask, feeling a rush of panic in my chest.

  “Yeah, you know.” He holds his hands out, indicating something huge. “Bears. Big, furry things with teeth and claws. Carnivoran mammals, pretty widespread, kinda dangerous. I was just wondering, and I know this might seem to be coming out of nowhere, but I was just asking whether perhaps you've seen one during your jaunts around town.”

  Staring at him, I realize that he knows. Doesn't he? He must know.

  “No,” I say, even though my throat feels dry and I feel certain that I'm really bad at lying right now.

  “Anything else?” He looks over at Mom, who seems pretty confused, and then he shrugs.

  “Okay, never mind,” he adds, turning to leave. “Just a stray thought. See you around. Sorry to have bothered you, folks.”

  As Mom shows him to the door, I stand completely still in the front room and try to figure out what just happened. There's no way Charles simply happened to ask about bears, so obviously something's not right here, and I can't help thinking that his final question was perhaps his way of 'subtly' letting me know that he's onto me. Maybe it was more than that, maybe it was a threat, a hint that I should cooperate now rather than continuing to deny everything. I feel frozen in place, too terrified to make a decision, and then a moment later the front door swings shut and Mom comes back through.

  Stopping in the doorway, she puts her hands on her hips.

  “Well?” she says, with a slightly accusatory tone. “Would you care to tell me what's going on here?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Okay, stay calm,” I whisper to myself as I open my desk drawer and start searching for one of my old memory sticks. “He didn't suspect anything. There's nothing to suspect. And even if there was, he didn't suspect it. You're fine.”

  I'm not saying that I allayed all of Mom's fears, but I think I did a pretty good job of convincing her not to worry about me. I told her that obviously something was up in town, and that people like Charles were going around asking questions everywhere; I told her that while obviously there's some weirdness in the air, it's to do with the town in general rather than being about me specifically. I think she still has some questions, but for now at least I've managed to get her off my back.

  “Where are you?” I mutter, still rummaging through the mess in the drawer. I swear, when this is all over, I'm going to be a tidier person. “I know you're here somewhere.”

  As I finally find the memory stick and hold it up, however, I notice that once again my hands are shaking. It's getting harder and harder to convince myself that nothing's wrong, that this is all just some kind of dream, and I'm starting to realize that there are only really two possible explanations for everything that's happened so far. Either I'm going insane, or it's the world all around me that's turning nuts. Both those possibilities seem pretty sucky.

  I do, however, have a plan.

  Step one, go to Moolio's.

  Step two, check the footage.

  Step three, copy the footage onto this memory stick.

  Step four, something something something.

  Step five, everything will be okay.

  Easy, right?

  Glancing at myself in the mirror, I'm shocked to see the fear in my eyes. I look absolutely terrified, which marks a big change from my usual casual slacker ennui. I try to smile, to make myself look calm and relaxed and natural, but if anything I only make myself look weirder. I try again, but the fear's still right there in my eyes, and finally I realize that I can't fake this. I just need to get the footage, prove to myself that everything's fine, and then I'll start to look like my old self again. When things seem bad, cling to reality.

  Deep breath.

  Okay, I've got this.

  I turn and head to the door, and then I let out a scream as I see a figure standing right in front of me.

  “You're different,” Stevie says, as he furrows his brow. “You smell different.”

  “What?” I stammer.

  “You've changed,” he continues. “What happened to you?”

  “Nothing,” I reply. “Get out of my way.”

  “It happened yesterday,” he says, still fixing me with a really creepy stare. “You go
t up, you came into the kitchen, and you were different.”

  Above, the light-bulb starts flickering slightly.

  “See?” Stevie adds. “Electrical stuff goes weird when you're around.”

  “No,” I say, shaking my head, “it doesn't.”

  “Yes,” he replies, “it does.”

  “You're a kid,” I mutter, gently pushing him out of the way before stepping out into the corridor. “You don't know anything, and I don't have time to listen to your bullshit.”

  “Why did you lie to those men?”

  Stopping at the end of the corridor, I turn and look back at him.

  “I didn't lie to them,” I tell him, before shrugging in an attempt to look natural. “Watch who you call a liar, punk.”

  “What happened to you the other night?”

  “Nothing happened to me the other night!” I snap, letting more anger show more than I intended. “Okay? Whatever dumb idea you've got in your sugar-addled brain, now's the time to let go of it. And whatever you do, don't go mouthing off to Mom, because she's already got enough fantasies to keep her going. I don't need any more hassle right now.”

  “It's happening again,” he replies.

  “What is?”

  Before he can answer, however, I look up as I realize that another light-bulb has started flickering. I swear, that has to just be a coincidence, but I can't deny that the effect is pretty spooky. I wait for the bulb to sort itself out, but if anything the flickering is getting worse, and finally I turn and hurry down the stairs. I just want to make it to the restaurant, prove to myself that there was no bear attack, and get on with the rest of my life.

  Once I get downstairs, I hurry to the front door. Mom's watching the news, so hopefully I can slip out of the house without having to talk to her again. As soon as I open the door and step onto the porch, however, I gasp as the bright sunlight bursts into my eyes. Feeling disorientated for a moment, I force myself to get a grip, and then I pull the door shut. The sun seems particularly strong today, to the point that I feel a little itchy, but I tell myself that now isn't the time to let my allergies get on top of me.