#Anomaly Hunting | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

spookyspaghettisundae · 1 year ago

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Short-Staffed

The squad split up. Even with all the adrenaline pumping, Grant somehow remembered how splitting up the team always got people killed in shlocky horror movies. She clenched her jaw, figuring she was too new to Future Proof to crack jokes like that, and wondering how many people the company had lost in dealing with dinosaurs.

That’s why she held her tongue.

Everybody else also stayed silent for the next minutes. Grant’s own breathing deafened her, trapped inside the helmet on her head. Snow crunched as she marched through it, teamed up alone with Carter.

Stomping through nightly woods in the Rocky Mountains, with only the flashlights on their EMDs to show the way, they followed a trail of blood.

Thinning.

Luring them downhill.

A leap down from a boulder, bracing against mighty tree trunks to stop them from tumbling down, and circumventing a steep drop, it all conspired to slow their pursuit. Though the trail of blood kept thinning all the while, the huge humanoid footprints dragging the body provided a clear path to pursue.

It took them closer and closer to the sound of rushing water.

“There’s no way that civvy’s still alive,” Carter growled. “No way.”

“You’re a real optimist, huh?” Grant asked him.

“Too much blood,” he grumbled. “Lost too much blood.”

Tinny over the in-helmet radio, Mischchenko interfered in their conversation. Comms were always on, hands-free in operation.

“Drop signal beacons on any bodies you find,” she said. “And keep quiet. The hominids might be watching you. Trails suggest we need to expect at least two of ‘em.”

“Two Bigfoots, copy that,” Carter grumbled again. “Or is that… Bigfeet?”

“You really need to get into doin’ stand-up,” Ruiz said over radio. The sarcasm swinging in his voice was so dry they could have used it as sandpaper.

“Ha-ha, you’re hilarious, fuck off,” Carter snarled into his helmet mic.

Mischchenko chimed in over the radio again and asked, “Boys, what did I just say about keeping it quiet?”

Whether it was her seniority, the calm sense of authority in her tone, or the knowledge that her order for caution was appropriate, Mischchenko’s entire squad obeyed.

The radios stayed silent for the following minutes. Minutes during which the march continued, and Grant’s breathing, trapped inside the helmet, almost felt claustrophobic, suffocating. The only peace of mind she experienced was hearing the others breathing the same way.

And even muffled through that helmet’s layer of protection against the cold, and against prehistoric fangs, the sound of rushing water from a creek grew louder.

Grant and Carter each hopped down from another boulder and the shallow stream of water splashed underneath their combat boots.

The cones of light from their EMDs scanned up and down the creek, where water gushed. They scanned the sharp incline they had just descended from. Their flashlights swept their entire surroundings in search of the trail.

Gone.

Into the water.

They had followed the “Bigfoots” down to the creek, and any trail to follow ended right where they were standing.

“Shit,” Grant hissed, clicking her tongue.

“Sitrep,” Mischchenko responded on the radio.

“Trail’s gone dark at the creek,” Carter reported. “And can’t see shit ‘round here.”

“Keep looking,” Mischchenko said. “Search up and down that creek. The hominids can’t sprout wings, so you’ll either find their trail or the Anomaly.”

“Hard copy,” Grant replied.

More breathing. Trudging through snow, now with extra cautious steps, as to not slip and fall into the creek’s shallow stream of water.

Without communicating, Carter and Grant agreed to take the path of greater resistance first, following the stream uphill.

Minutes later, they discovered blood.

Not just a trail, but a mess of it. No snow to catch the blood there, jagged boulders jutted out over it, shielding it from all but the creek’s gushing waters. Tucked away, a cavernous entrance yawned in front of them, and led into dripping depths, branching off from the creek and the snow-blanketed landscape.

Their flashlights shone down into the natural tunnel, winding in its path, swallowing their light—hinting at hidden depths underground.

The blood wasn’t just a few drops, or a sign of dragging a body. It hinted at carnage. The blood was smeared all over the unworked stone. Something large and heavy had plowed through the place, chipping and eroding all rocky obstruction in its way. Something’s massive body had smeared the blood in intervals wherever it brushed against the walls, leaving a trail that led deeper into the cave.

Something huge.

As if having read Grant’s mind, Carter muttered into his mic, “Even bigger than the ‘Bigfoots’ who dragged the civvy’s body.”

Ruiz asked on the radio, “How big are we talkin’ exactly?”

“Dino-big,” Grant breathed, in awe over what might have been there.

“More specific, please,” Mischchenko snapped.

“Pickup truck-sized,” Carter specified.

The two ex-soldiers-turned-mercs waited at the cave’s entrance. Their flashlight cones barely moved, but every subtle jitter or fidgeting made the shadows of broken stones dance madly.

After a long and awkward lull of silence between them, Mischchenko said, “Shit. Investigate, but be very, very careful.”

“Setting Type-4 to 75 output,” Carter growled.

He punctuated his statement by adjusting his weapon’s power switch. The futuristic rifle’s battery emitted a short whine, and tiny red bars on its backlit HUD joined the green bars.

“Copy,” Mischchenko hissed.

Grant checked her own Type-5 EMD, still irritated over how light it was compared to regular firearms. She somehow dreaded the thought of missing her first shots with it and making a fool of herself. Then the dread over the creature in the cave eclipsed it.

She had already set her weapon to the output level Carter now used, though his platform was sized bigger than her Type-5.

They both hesitated to enter.

“Ladies first?” Carter asked.

“No, you take point,” Grant said. “Tight space, that big-ass beast squeezed its way through here. I’ll cover the rear. I’d only get in the way of your big fuck-off gun if we walk into it down there.”

Carter’s shrugged his padded shoulders. He raised his EMD and descended into the winding corridor of the cave, and Grant followed. Their flashlights no longer needed to sweep their surroundings, though they fell into silence, breathing heavily into their helmet mics as they cautiously advanced, observing the single path forward.

Broken stalagmites crunched underneath their steps. It was impossible to sneak. Every sound they made echoed through the cave, and the serene sound of water from the creek outside was too weak to drown it out.

“Wait,” Carter whispered. “Lights off.”

“What?”

“Lights off.”

Grant flicked the switch on her EMD, so did Carter.

Light remained. Another light.

A glow, emanating from the depths, reached them from their destination at the end of the tunnel, reflecting off the wet walls of the cave.

It scintillated. Flickered. Flared up, died down. Glimmering. Like a TV set emitting light. Or—

Like the Anomaly.

Almost exactly like the Anomaly Grant had seen—that wondrous phenomena sequestered in the bottom levels of Future Proof’s headquarters in Austin.

“Mischchenko, we found the Anomaly, and I think I know why the detectors have been spotty about pickin’ it up,” Carter said.

“Unstable?” Ruiz asked instead of Mischchenko.

“Yuuup,” Carter drawled out, the final consonant popping like a balloon.

He waved to Grant. She implicitly understood the gesture. They advanced together, both flicking their lights back on.

Nothing.

No prehistoric creature encounter, only recurring signs of its presence, where the big specimen had smeared blood on its path through the winding cave.

And a mess of blood in front of—

The Anomaly…

It robbed Grant of her breath upon seeing it. Distracted her from where someone or something had exploded in a mess of blood, with nothing else left behind.

The Anomaly.

As beautiful and amazing as the first one she had witnessed, it looked like a floating sphere of broken glass, all shimmering, and constantly in spiraling, rotating flux.

Like a planet, frozen in the moment of exploding, with its imminent destruction slowed down to a crawl; the very sight of it paralyzed Chloe Grant.

With the little she now knew, she knew she was staring at a hole in the fabric of space and time. Its warm glow flickered and fizzled, like a dying light bulb.

Unstable.

The AR display inside her helmet told Grant the temperature in the cave was far higher than the wintry air outside. Warmth emanated from the Anomaly, though the numbers on screen kept dropping and spiking every time its glowing sphere flickered.

As interesting as that and other technical details may have been, the very sight of the Anomaly captured Grant’s entire attention. Just as with the one in Future Proof, this Anomaly fascinated her.

Cautious steps took her closer and closer to the floating orb of fractured light. As if it had hypnotized her.

Her heart pounded with excitement, and wonder provoked the same reaction from her as the first time.

Reaching out, extending a hand, hoping to touch that floating orb, and—

Neither Singh nor Solomon were there to stop her. Carter simply stood by.

“Yup, Anomaly confirmed,” Carter informed the rest of the squad. “No sign of any specimens or vics. Looks like we split the wrong way, y’all need to get your asses over here to set up the ALM.”

Grant took another step towards the Anomaly.

What if specimens or victims were on the other side?

Survivors?

What was on the other side of the Anomaly?

She took another step.

“Grant, what the hell are you doing? Get away from that thing,” Carter growled at her. “You gone loco? You know what happens when—"

Another step, and the light flared up. Engulfed her. Bright, blinding, one world melted into another. One time into another.

Just like that, she stood atop a cliff. Broad daylight washed over her. Warmth engulfed her.

The AR display flashed with all sorts of warning signals; warning her of signals lost, and numerous errors in form of red, blinking numbers on screen.

A bright blue sky, where strange birds screeched in the distance as they crossed their beautiful horizon. Oxygen numbers erratically cycled while Grant sank into the breathtaking vision. Other warning flags flared up on the HUD, colors contrasting with the astounding vista. Lush green beneath the cliff swayed, an ocean of enormous trees awaited in the valley upon which Grant gazed.

And something in the trees shifted. Something snarled in the distance. A howl here, more screeching there.

A gloved hand pawed at her, slapped down on her shoulder pad, then yanked. Tugging her back. Through the blinding light, through another flash, she stumbled backwards, then sideways, back into that dreary cave.

Disoriented, she shook her head.

“The hell are you thinking?” Carter yelled at her. “What are you, fresh out of a fuckin’ boot camp?”

It dawned on her that she and Carter had not seen each other’s naked faces outside of the helmets yet. He had no idea that she might have just been his senior in age.

She shook her head again while her mind flashed back to that impossible vista, to that world beyond the world, separated only by the glowing orb in the cave.

Her head was spinning.

“Hey! Are you listening to me? Are you stupid?”

“Calm your tits, Carter,” Ruiz intervened on the microphone.

“Do not cross into the Anomaly,” Mischchenko ordered. Every syllable cut through Grant’s confusion, sharp in every intonation. “I repeat, do not enter the Anomaly. Stay put, keep your eyes peeled, and wait till we rendezvous and secure it with the ALM. Do you understand?”

She repeated her question when nobody replied.

Grant breathed into her mic, “Copy that.”

Even through the black helmet visors obscured their faces entirely, she sensed Carter’s burning gaze upon her. His rigid posture radiated with unbridled fury.

He growled again, “Now stand the fuck back, away from that Anomaly, just in case some truck-sized motherfucker decides to pop back in for another snack.”

Carter pointed to the mouth of the cave with a professional gesture, though his hand chopped the air like it could have just as well served to slap his colleague.

They retreated and hunkered down, EMDs at the ready, pointed each way. Grant covered the cave’s winding corridor, while Carter aimed at the Anomaly.

Silence draped itself over them. This tore open the space in Grant’s mind, and the image of that long-dead world washed back over her.

Only there, beyond the shimmering orb of light… it was not dead. Far from it. The past was bright and teeming with life. Vibrant in its colors, rich in oxygen, brilliant and dazzling and fascinating—

“Sorry I yelled at you, Grant,” Carter said. He sounded like a different person. Flat. Almost deflated. “First Anomaly I saw, I almost did the same thing as you. You know, I get it. I really do.”

Grant didn’t know what to say. The mental image of the distant past blurred. Reality of the present mixed with it, overwrote it.

A dark and cold cave. That’s where they were.

Securing civilians, securing specimens, securing the Anomaly.

Trying to preserve the timeline.

Mischchenko responded first with a blunt and snappy, “Good man. We’re on our way.”

Ruiz added, “Not backtracking, these trails, reckon, are loopin’ around to your position.”

“Copy.”

Grant wasn’t sure if she or Carter had said that. Spiraling thoughts still occupied her mind.

What might the future look like? Singh had told her that some Anomalies reached into the future, not the past. What wonders had others already seen through these portals in time?

Her mind reeled at that thought. Her head was still spinning, she almost felt sick with the excitement of every thinkable possibility.

Another bout of silence followed.

“It’s just, you know, you can’t just go into those fuckin’ things without warning, without purpose,” Carter said. “This fuckin’ Anomaly right here, it’s unstable, could close anytime. It closes while you’re on the other side, and you’re trapped over there.”

“Then,” Grant breathed. “Trapped then.”

“Well, yeah. Whatever.”

“You lose anybody like that? Future Proof lose any operators in closed Anomalies?”

Carter shook his helmeted head.

“Not our company. But heard stories, from Solomon. He says the Canadians lost some people like that. Years back.”

As if on cue, the Anomaly flickered. It flared up, brighter than ever, blinding Grant and Carter in the dark cave. Just when their eyes and built-in flash compensators adjusted, the mysterious glow… was gone.

The Anomaly’s shimmering, hovering sphere had vanished completely. Only the light from their EMDs remained, casting two cones into the dark bowels of the earth.

“Shiiieeet,” Carter drawled out, clicking his tongue.

“What’s up? Sitrep,” Mischchenko radioed.

Carter clicked his tongue before responding. “Welp, good news is, ALM can wait. Bad news is, whatever crossed over through the Anomaly? Stuck here, for now, with us.”

Mischchenko spoke again, this time addressing the airlift. “Pruitt, message Containment, we’ll need specimen extractions ASAP. Two large hominids and one, uh, truck-sized, unidentified specimen.”

Pruitt’s voice crackled on the radio reply. “Copy that.”

No other radio chatter.

Now, Grant shook her head. She rose from the position she had been squatting in, to get circulation in her legs flowing again. Wiggling her fingers and letting the EMD hang from its sling over her shoulders, she now focused on the cave’s corridor, as they no longer had any Anomaly to watch.

She stared into the inky-black darkness beyond the cone of light, somehow expecting a horrific creature to leap out at them. Some part of her was grateful that the closed helmet shielded her from any smells in the cave, especially at the sight of all the blood on its walls. Another part regretted that shield, as it potentially robbed her of a sense to notice a huge monster lunging at them from the dark.

That image soon eclipsed any wondrous things she had glimpsed beyond the hole in time. She thought of the T-Rex in Jurassic Park, of its huge and powerful body, and its deadly maw that could cut a man in half with one bite.

Luckily, that kind of creature couldn’t have fit through the cave’s corridor. Huge, yes, but not that huge.

A weak comfort to think about.

Whatever had killed and eaten and traveled through here… it was very big. Still the deadly kind of big. The kind of big you had to put down fast before it got to you.

“Shit,” Ruiz hissed over the radio.

Hectic breathing. The breathing from both Ruiz and Mischchenko accelerated. Gasping for air. Without words, their sudden burst in speed bridged all physical distance. Their heavy breathing reached Grant and Carter across the airwaves, and both of the former soldiers froze in alarm.

“The fuck is goin’ on over there?” Carter asked.

The other squaddies offered no response. Only more breathing.

Grant’s heart began to pound again. She gripped the EMD and readied it, aiming down the cave’s corridor, though a sense of dread and powerlessness overcame her, as you couldn’t shoot something that wasn’t there.

You couldn’t shoot to save someone who was miles away, out of sight.

Not the first time she had heard fellow soldiers stuck in a bad situation, with nothing she could do about it. Thus, she steeled herself. Thought back to her tours abroad.

Thought of the blood on the ground, and what she needed to do to prevent more of it flowing.

Following orders. Shutting down all thoughts.

Still, neither Mischchenko nor Ruiz spoke. They breathed.

No words.

Carter and Grant exchanged a glance, even through the black visors of their helmets.

“Shit, Pruitt, you catching any of this?” Carter asked. “You got eyes on anything in the air, hombre?”

The answer was not only tinny, but distorted, crackling with static. Pruitt and Sears, in the airlift, were farther away.

“Hard copy. You know the drill,” Pruitt replied.

Then the hectic breathing went silent. It either cut out, or the other squad mates stopped breathing altogether.

Chunks of broken rock crunched underneath Grant’s boots as she shuffled and fidgeted. Her heart beat faster, harder. Deep inside, she prepared for the worst. Though she refused to think it, to give it words, or shape, she braced herself for bad news.

Grant studied Carter until he caved under her burning, invisible stare.

“Shiiieeet, Pruitt,” he drawled out again. “Fuck the orders, the Anomaly’s shut tight. We’re gonna find Mischchenko and Ruiz, ‘kay?”

“Negatory, man. Follow Mischchenko’s orders. She’s been on this job the longest out of all of us,” Pruitt fired back. The static swallowed half the syllables, but he uttered them with such great force and sharp clarity that he conveyed their meaning beyond any mistake. “Trust the process.”

“Man, fuck the process,” Carter snarled.

Chloe Grant closed her eyes. The light of the Anomaly in her mind’s eye flared up, just like the imagery of the distant past. It felt like a flash of inspiration.

She cut in, asking, “Pruitt, it only needs one of you to operate the chopper, right? Can’t you or Sears group up with us?”

Carter stopped pacing back and forth in the cave like a hungry tiger. He craned his neck back. Through the darkness of his visor, he stared at Grant.

“Huh? Who?” he asked.

Response from the airlift pilots followed with great delay.

“We’re short-staffed, ‘tis the season. You, uh, okay? It’s only me flying the bird, newbie,” Pruitt finally replied.

Still, only breathing came from Ruiz and Mischchenko.

Something strange gripped Chloe Grant by her stomach. Like an iron vice, it clutched at her insides and started twisting them. The nausea of excitement from earlier bubbled back up from that, but it had taken on a new, bitter flavor.

That flavor was fear.

“Sears? Who the fuck is Sears?” Carter asked.

The realization hit Grant like a truck. She understood implicitly before her mind put the puzzle pieces together. She saw the vague image before any parts clicked into place.

“God damn it,” Pruitt spat into the microphone. He also understood before Carter did. “Timeline. Timeline’s damaged again.”

Carter yelled, “Why the fuck does only she—"

His enflamed speech died mid-sentence as the realization sank in.

Sears—whoever that had been—had stopped existing.

Something had happened.

Whatever that something was, it had erased Sears from time.

And only Chloe Grant, a complete stranger to the team, remembered him.

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