The marker squeaked across the square, striking a red X through another day. There were puppies in rabbit costumes on the calendar. Well, it is April, Tommy supposed. In April, you have bunny rabbits on your calendar. If that calendar is puppy dog themed, you just make do and have them dress up like bunny rabbits.
He turned his head as he heard a click, just in time to see a door creaking open. A man stepped through, wearing jeans and a button-up black shirt. His hair was combed and his face clean-shaven. By God, he’s ironed.
“Going somewhere?” Tommy asked, looking down at his own flannel pyjamas.
“Oh, you know” Dylan said, straightening a sleeve. “Thought I’d go for a night on the town, get some sushi or fried chicken. Take in a movie, maybe hit a night club”.
Tommy grinned. “Well, tough. Your options are to rot here, day drink and eat chilli MREs or…” he trailed off, patting rapidly on his thigh to imitate a drum roll “… rot here, day drink and eat pea soup MREs!”.
Dylan snapped his fingers in mock disappointment. “I guess I’ll go with the soup.”
# # #
Breakfast wasn’t as depressing as Tommy had made it out to be. The last supply drop had only been a week ago, so they still had eggs and toastable bread.
“Have you been through the good stuff yet?” Dylan said between bites. “Y’know, the entertainment crate?”
“Skimmed the top. A Stephen King collection, some Ray Bradbury. Nothing too interesting in the way of movies. we’ll unpack ‘em later.” Tommy nodded his head backward, gesturing to the shelves at the back of the cabin, stacked haphazardly with books and DVDs. The shelves took up most of the wall, a computer desk on one side of them and a gun cabinet on the other.
“I don’t get it. Why didn’t we just do it at the same time as the food?”
Tommy put down his fork, leaning back in his chair. The younger man had finished his meal, but he’d barely put a dent in his.
“Why bother having a birthday and Christmas, when you could just have one combined ‘present day’? You need to slow down if you want to keep your brain in its casing” He pierced an egg yolk with his knife, spilling yellow ooze onto his plate. “Don’t expect…” he gestured with his eyes, indicating to a window in the cabin’s front side. “…to keep you entertained.”
Dylan turned around in his chair, squinting his eyes. He could almost see it from here. “You’d think they could just give us an internet connection. Point a satellite at us or something.”
“Nah, too risky. One bored hacker and the public discovers their whole lives have been a lie. You're off the edge of the map, mate. Here there be monsters”.
Dylan frowned, looking down as he rapped his fingernails on the table. “I know that line. Crap, I know that.” He scanned the shelves, then looked up at his companion’s face for a clue.
Tommy’s smirk told him nothing. “Captain Ahab — Wait, no! Captain Nemo?” His eyebrow cocked and his tone pitched upwards with the last word.
“Buh-boww” Came the response, imitating a game show buzzer. “It’s Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean One, you dilettante”
Dylan rolled his eyes, fighting a smile. “Hurry up, let’s get today’s check-up over with.”
# # #
The two men stood a meter back from the precipice, looking down. The grass was lush below their feet, all the way to the ledge and then… nothing. No grass, no dirt, no rock, no metal, no concrete, no light. Dylan slowly let out a breath as he looked into the void. Stars twinkled from the shining abyss, calm and peaceful. The ledge continued around as far as the eye could see, a sheer drop off the face of the planet.
“You check the infrared sensors, I’ll calibrate the cameras” Tommy finished his beer, tossing the empty can into the darkness. It shrank from view, becoming a speck, then a point, then nothing.
# # #
Tommy squinted his eyes against the red alarm light that was blinking in time with the buzzer that had woken him. He pushed the pile of empty cans on his nightstand, wincing as one clattered to the ground. The 8-segment numbers on his alarm clock read 2:34 AM.
“Should I check it?” Dylan’s groggy call came from the room next door.
“Just hit the button already” Tommy groaned, wrapping his pillow around his ears tight.
He heard muffled footsteps moving from Dylan’s room to the living room. With a faint click, the light and buzzer halted, returning peace to the room. Tommy relaxed, his eyelids slowly closing as he sank back into his bed, trying his best to ignore the ache in his head.
“Hey Tommy, get in here” Dylan’s voice was stern from the other room.
“If it’s that deer you’ve been feeding, I’m going to punch you.” Tommy rolled onto his side, one ear pressed into his pillow.
“It’s not a deer. Something’s triggered the IR sensors on the ledge.”
The words were an ice bucket thrown over Tommy. His feet thumped on the floor. Moments later, he was in the dark living room, peering over Dylan’s shoulder at the computer monitor.
The screen was tinted green with night vision, showing a cluster of trees against the black night. The word playback was next to a timeline bar Dylan was scrubbing through.
“What is—?" Tommy fell silent as Dylan raised a hand.
He paused the video and pointed to a tree. Tommy looked closer. A shape was in front of it. An impossibly dark shadow, hiding most of the trunk.
“Can you crank up the brightness?” Tommy asked.
“It’s cranked.”
“Have you tried thermal view?”
“Not yet, I—” Dylan was cut off by the screech of the buzzer as the room flooded with red light.
Tommy slammed a button on the computer’s console. The alarms stopped and the feed changed. The word Playback was replaced with Live, and the camera feed was—
“That’s outside” Dylan said, eyes wide.
The screen now showed the cabin’s face, the wood panelling, doors and windows all a murky green. Tommy’s fingers dug into the back of Dylan’s chair as he stared at the glowing square in one of the windows, two shadowed heads carved from its shape.
“Do you have eyes on it?” Tommy asked, looking all over the footage.
The man in the chair didn’t answer, the cursor shaking on screen as he trembled. Tommy pried the mouse from his hand. With a click, the screen flicked into thermal mode, colours darkening into a pale blue, save for the two orange figures hunched over the computer.
Tommy bit his lip, brow furrowed. “I still don’t see it.”
Dylan pointed to the cabin door on the screen. A pitch-black figure stood black in front of it, freezing cold against the tepid night. Its shape was almost human. It had two arms. It had two legs. It had no head. Two massive bulbous shoulders supported thick limbs that narrowed to points at the wrist.
Throats tight, the men watched the screen. The only was sound their breathing until the impossibly loud clunk of a doorknob turning came.
“Shotgun!” Tommy wrenched on the seat and bolted to the door.
The chair rolled across the room. It still had its stunned passenger. The door opened a crack before Tommy slammed into it. Dylan came to a stop in front of the gun cabinet.
“Shotgun!” Tommy repeated, pushing against the door. It didn’t close. A dark spike was wedged in the gap, trying to pry it open. Impossibly black, it sucked in light like the void outside. Up close, Tommy he could see dozens of tiny barbs jutting from it.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Each thump on the door shook his body. He lost ground with every blow. A wheezing growl came from the other side. He pressed his back against the wood so he could push with his legs. His muscles burned. He knew they would give out.
“Let it in” Dylan said, suddenly a meter from the door. He had the gun. He shook slightly, bleary eyes betraying a stone face as he shouldered it.
Tommy nodded. He inhaled. He leapt.
Landing on his side, he scooted back, staring at the door. It slowly squeaked open to reveal… nothing. The night air blew cool on their faces, and all was quiet except for the rustling of leaves and faint thudding headed away from the cabin. Cold sweat dripped from Tommy brow into his eye as he stood.
A torch attached to Dylan’s gun barrel was illuminating the porch. Light reflected off a single shining object on the ground: A crumpled yellow beer can.
Tommy slammed the door, bolting it and walking to the computer.
“What do you think that was?” Dylan followed behind him.
Tommy brought up a 3D model, showing a coin-shaped earth, floating in a void darkness. A small red dot was on one of the far edges, on the very precipice. It was labelled ‘World Border Watch Station #13,416.
“I don’t know, but if things can live in the void...” Tommy said, trailing off.
“We could be surrounded.” Dylan finished.
Story by DREMatt.