Trudging through the ankle-deep snow along the long stretch of dark road, Jack felt his heart begin to race. This felt frighteningly like his nightmare. The familiar crunch of snow under his sneakers caused his breath to hitch. Every bellowing whistle of the wind through the trees seemed amplified and, in a way, sounded like a ghosts' exhaling of breath. Hugging his jacket around himself with one hand, he cursed his active imagination and picked up his pace. He forced himself to keep his flashlight aimed on the road ahead, but his eyes won't stop scanning the beams edges for any trace of movement. The cold dampness of the snow was seeping into the cloth of his sneakers. Chilling his toes as if he'd submerged them in dry ice. When combined with the thick snowflakes that blew against his tight blue jeans, he found himself briskly walking a bit faster just to keep his legs warm. Letting out a trembling exhale, he watched his warm breath puff out in the light of the flashlight. Had this been the right idea? Should he have stayed in the car?

Was the cabin really this far away? It seemed closer in daylight that recalled. Pausing briefly, he pulled his jacket hood up over his head to keep the wind off his ears. While he instantly felt better, he hated how it restricted his hearing to the rattling and rubbing of fabric. Leaving all other sounds in the background more distant and a bit muffled. Beginning his walk again, he struggled to tell if the soft deep beat was his own heart beating in his ears or something banging far into the depths of the dark forest. With every beat slow and steady like heavy dropping footsteps, his heartrate sped up. What was that sound? Where was it coming from? Was it all in his head? His ears strained to listen, but he felt a little claustrophobic in his hood as the muffled distant sounds plagued him. As the beats drew closer and louder, he stopped and yanked his hood off to listen better. In an instant, everything fell into eerie silence. The wind no longer whistled through the trees, but the thick snowflakes kept raining down around him.

Using the flashlight, he panned around the woods, but saw nothing. The trees were still and the darkness between them empty. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head and took a single step, when off to his right, branches began to creak and snap like knuckles cracking. Quickly aiming his flashlight in the direction of the sounds, he called out nervously. "Hello? If you're out there show yourself!" He waited for a response. Squinting into the dark for any sign of movement. Nothing. Lowering his flashlight, he mumbled to himself sternly. "Get ahold of yourself, Jack. You're fine..." Pressing on, he added aloud to distract himself. "Just get to the cabin. Get a fire started. Then call the increase company with the landline in the morning. Simple." Heading down the road a bit more, he once again slowed to a stop as his flashlight beam glinted off a large chain link fence that spanned the road. Shining the beam along both sides, he saw it expand far off into the darkness on either side.

Returning the beam to the sliding chain link gate before him, he read another large sign aloud. "No Trespassing without authorization. This is a restricted area. A contamination zone." Scoffing at the sign, he blurted out angrily. "Since when?! My mother didn't say anything about this. You fuckin' liars!" Approaching the gate, he tugged on the wrapped chain with a heavy padlock that prevented him from entering. Refusing to give up though, he backed up to observe the gate as he grumbled out. "Whatever you're doing on family's land assholes. You better have damn good lawyers." Removing his phone, he took a quick picture, then shrugged off his backpack. The fence was wired with three lines of razor wire, and some laid out above the sliding gate. However, there was a narrow gap between the sliding gate and razor wire that he knew he could fit through with his slender frame. Throwing his backpack over the fence easily, he put the flashlight between his teeth and backed up a good distance. Kicking off into a run toward the gate, he jumped just before he reached it. Managing to snatch the top of the icy cold gate, he quickly wedged himself along the bar and slid through the narrow gap.

Cupping his hands before his face, he blew on his cold fingers before snatching up his back. They'd have to try harder than that to keep him out. Removing the flashlight from his teeth, he jogged across the dark snowy toward the cabin. Along the way he scanned the area for any signs of this containment or government equipment, but he saw nothing. The area was just as he remembered it. Thundering up the steps of the cabin, he dropped his bag and excitedly fished out his keys. Eagerly, he unlocked the cabin door. Easing the door open a little, he reached around to the wall and turned the switch for the lights. The switch clicked over but the cabin remained dark. Cursing, he tossed his backpack inside and closed the door. Grumbled out to himself. "Fucking generator..." Hopping off the little porch, he moved around to the side of the house and flashed the light over it. Wiping the snow off the fuel gauge, he flipped a switch as he mumbled under his breath. "Fuel is good. Power is on..." Standing up, he braced a foot on the generator and grabbed the pull tie. Giving it a hard tug, the generator sputtered but didn't turn over.

Groaning, he reset the pull tie and grumbled out. "Come on. Come on." Yanking the pull tie once again, it sputtered and died. Throwing his head back, he snapped out in frustration. "Oh, come on! You piece of shite! Turnover, or I'll kick your arse over!" Giving the pull tie another failed tug, he shouted out angrily. "YOU'RE TESTING MY PATIENCE!" Resetting the pull tie, he took a deep breath and yanked on it so hard that he lost his balance. Releasing the pull tie before he ripped it from the generator as he fell back into the snow, the generator rumbled to life. Sitting up in the cold snow, he let out a victories cheer. Shivering as he got back up to his feet, he kicked a puff of snow at the generator, snapping back at it with leftover frustration. "There! Was that so hard, you fecker!" Exhaling heavily, he jogged back up onto the porch. The lights flickering as they came on inside the cabin. Grinning, he slipped inside where it was only slightly warmer. Stomping the snow off his sneakers, he quickly rushed over to the fireplace and dropped to his knees onto the small rough carpet set before it.

Pulling a newspaper from the kindling rack, he crumbled the pages up separately and tossed a few in with three of the dry logs from the firewood rack. Striking the matches took him one or two tries, but eventually he got it going. Taking a moment to sit back on his heels, he listened to the crackling of the warm fire and inhaled the strong smell of pine. The familiar smell filled him with raw emotions and memories that he hadn't thought about in years. Thoughts of his dad sitting in the lazy boy, cleaning away at his rifle as he told him about how early they were getting up to go hunting. Mixed with memories of him living alone out here as he struggled with college life and where he fit into the world. Glancing over his shoulder at the small living room, he sniffled a little. His past felt like a completely different world. He didn't remember getting so old so fast. Rising to his feet, he pried off his shoes and damp socks. Setting them close to the fire to dry, he walked barefoot across the room to the little room that sat right beside the small kitchen.

Licking his dry lips, he leaned his shoulder against the wall and peered in at the bed. The memory of his sixteen your old him fumbling his way through losing his virginity and thinking she was the one he'd spend the rest of his life with. It brought a smile to his lips to recall how his parents had been right that she wouldn't be. It was such a small part of his life. Before he'd really experienced anything. Inching a bit more into the room, he ran his fingers over his old empty desk where his old computer setup had once been. Recalling how he wanted to bang his head against the wall for having such slow and spotty internet here. As his hand moved off the desk, he absently looked to the window beside his bed. His smile fading as he remembered sitting with his knees to his chest and his lonely eyes cast out the window. Forcing him to remember that with every good memory there was painful one just below the surface. Easing down on the bed, he reached out to try and touch the shoulder of his younger self. He wanted to tell him how life would get better. Only to have his fingers curl through the boy's shoulder as the memory faded away.

Pulling his hand back to rub his eyes, he sighed heavily and got up to switch off the lights and lock the door. He was tired and his head hurt from his sore nose. It wasn't broken from what he could tell, but it sure hurt enough that when he touched it, it began to bleed again. Slipping an old napkin up his nose, he forced himself to lay back on his old bed as he listened to the spattering of snowflakes on the window and the crackling fire. The cabin was finally warm enough that he felt cozy and tired from the long trip. He was ready to wind down and deal with the rest in the morning. Closing his eyes, the sounds lulled him off to sleep. The darkness pulling him down deeper into a new dream or a new nightmare. He wasn't sure.

I sit up sleepily in a chair behind my little desk in a cabin that is far smaller than my old cabin. Here, the desk faces a medium sized window, where outside a blizzard rages on. While behind me is a little kitchen counter that is lined along one wall. Across from that is a single bed that I rarely get to use, since I'm supposed to be monitoring communications between the watchtowers of the forest with the CB radio. Upon the desk is the old CB radio that is letting out soft beeps that have awoken me. A little red-light blinks under a small metal toggle, until I flick the toggle up in order to turn the CB transistor radio on. Immediately a flood of radio static fills my small cabin. Resting my arms on the desk, I began to turn the large round dial to tune it to the frequency that it is coming through. I don't understand how or why I know how to do this, but it comes naturally to me. As the thin black needle moves along the neon green arch of numbers, the numbers begin to glow from a soft neon red to a striking yellowish orange. Staying on the yellowish orange frequency, I pull the microphone closer as a voice repeats over the light crackling. "Can you hear me? Please... Give me a sign. Anything."

Pressing the large button down on the mic, I groggily yawn out. "Tower two, this is tower one. I can hear you." Releasing the button, I listen to the static crackle as the voice exhales out in relief. "Oh, thank god!" There is a rush of a bit more static, before another voice casually cuts in. "There he is. We didn't lose him." I check the clock sitting on the kitchen counter beside my coffee mug. The glowing green numbers reading out five-thirty-five am. Turning back to the mic, I rub my tired eyes and groan out to myself. "I wouldn't doze off so much if you'd do something already... Christ, I'm fucking exhausted." I take a sip of my coffee that has gone cold as the first younger sounding male voice states out to the older sounding man. "Ok. What do I do now again?" The older man's voice cuts in and out of the static for me as he answers. "You should have a... on the desk. Use that to... increase activity and avoid any distressing signals. Remember these tests are important. And... try to stay on topic. This channel is being monitored."

Lazily glancing around my own desk, I let my eyes linger on the training manual. I don't feel like playing games over the CB, but it was mandatory in order to test the system and train them on what to listen for. Unable to stop myself, I push the button and joke back snarkily. "Does strip poker over the CB count?" The older man's voice dryly shot back over the coms. "I'm serious. Nothing unapproved or this session is over. Understood?" Both Tower two and I answer simply. "Yes, Sir." Leaning back in my chair, I enjoy the taste of cold coffee on my tongue. While Tower Two crackles over the CB casually. "Ok. Let's go through the basics here on the sheet. I'll say a word from the Radio Alphabet, and then you respond with the Morse Code letter for it. Ok?" Rolling my eyes, I reach out to tap the smaller telegraph key on the mic base beside the audio button. Over the coms, Tower Two clearly states through the soft static. "Are you paying attention? Here's the first one. Alpha. Do you remember it?"

I'm terrible at remembering Morse Code, but we'd been doing this for what felt like a few weeks now. So, I had a good bit of it memorized but I wasn't perfect. Tapping my finger on the telegraph key to code out the letter 'A', I started to think about the next letter. While over the coms, Tower Two praised him excitedly. "Great. You're getting better at this. Next one is... Bravo." Finishing the taps on the telegraph key, the older man's voice crackled in happily. "Excellent. Your recognition scores have been improving since the last session. Keep it up." We continued through the Radio Alphabet before starting over again. I did much better than my previous sessions, but I still missed four of them. Halfway through the Alphabet, my radio dial moved on its own. Sliding off the channel to a new one with squealing tones, before it softened and a distorted and staticky voice relayed in a sing-song voice. "One. Two. Anti's coming for you. Three. Four. Don't bother locking your doors. Five. Six. Your power flashes and flicks. Seven. Eight. Better calm your heart rate. Nine. Ten. You'll never wake again."

My breath catches in my throat, and I quickly reach for the dial to turn it back. Only to tumble back out of my chair with a scream as I notice someone standing in front of the window. The lights of the cabin flicker as I stagger back up to my feet. Standing in the middle of my tiny cabin, I snatch a knife out of the sink. However, as I raise it in front of me to prepare for a fight. I realize that the figure I saw in the window is gone. The radio dial squeals over to a new station on its own. The older man shouting now as he says through loud rushes of static. "Something is wrong. He's...! Try and get him back!" The dial squeals again and this time the younger man yells out through the static. "Jack! Jack! It's me, Chase! Are you still there?! Answer me! Please!" My hand begins to tremble as the power dies to the cabin, plunging me into total darkness, except for the glowing neon green radio dial that squeals over to the distorted voice, who chuckles out maniacally. "It's all just another bad dream, Jack... and YOU'RE NEVER WAKING UP! HAHAHAHA!"

The window smashed in. Sending shards of glass raining down over the small room. Barely covering my face in time, I drop to my knees as something heavy lands on the desk. Shards of glass fall off my clothes as peek up at the dark figure that is now crouched low over the desk. Its bright neon green eyes bore into me as it shoves the CB Radio off the desk violently and distortedly yells out at me. "Your worthless friends can't save you now. CALL FOR HELP! I DARE YOU! Cry into the darkness! SEE WHAT GOOD IT DOES YOU!" Holding the knife up in the hopes of fending the dark figure off, I cry out into the darkness between us with a broken voice. "Please, stop! What do you want?!" I scream and scramble back until my back hits the wall behind me as the dark figure jumps down from the desk. The glass crunching under his feet as he saunters closer to me. I swing the blade at his thigh, but he grabs my wrist and twists it to force the blade in my direction. I try to resist his strength as he slowly pushes the blade toward my own chest, his voice sinister and as glitchy as static when he answers with disgust in his voice. "I want you to DIE ALREADY! Don't you understand! I've won! This world is MINE! These people are MINE! You can't get rid of me! And it's... ALL... YOUR... FAULT!"

With his final words, my strength fails me, and the blade sinks into my chest. My body jerks violently from the firm hit. My eyes shut, but when I open them... I'm back in my cabin. Pushing up from the floor slowly, Jack rubbed his chest with a pained groan. His nightmare had scared him right off the bed and the hard floor had knocked all the air from his lungs. Sitting back onto his heels, he coughed out as he pulled the bloody napkin from his nose. "Well... at least that one was new. Shite..." He tried to hold onto the memories of his new dream, but already they were slipping away from him. Shrugging the nightmare off, he climbed tohis feet and prepared to face the day. Today, he was going to explore and find out what I.R.I.S. was doing on his land. To Be Continued...