I waited in the shadows as two ARC members ran through the hub and disappeared into the darkness once again. I wasn’t sure but I thought it might have been Clyde and Janelle. The hub was a bit of a resting spot for anyone who’s traversed through the voids. It seemed like everyone had come through here before. I don’t know when people began leaving lights and notes but I found them comforting, even when I was in high alert mode in the shadows. I left my own years ago just to feel like I had done my due diligence.
I pulled out my sack that contained the tapes as well as my few other items I brought along. I recounted the tapes. I did so regularly just to ease my own mind. Fuck. I was somehow missing one. I wasn’t sure where it had gotten lost, but I was definitely one tape shorter than I should have been. I closed the sack once more and tried to remember where all I had been recently, and how I would find it without running into any ARC members.
As I lingered at the bottom of the waterfall considering how I would avoid the ARC members I had just spotted, I saw her. Molly emerged from the direction of the Record Room only to quickly scale some stumps back up to what I could only assume was an entry point. She looked like she’d been recently wet and was still drying off. I stayed away from any light source so I could remain blended in with the darkness and refrain from being spotted.
She was accompanied by the Keeper so I could only assume they were the one to lead her in the direction of the Record Room. I realized that was also the same direction the ARC members had come from and was immediately struck with concern. She hadn’t let them in had she? But the members were running, maybe away from something? I came to the conclusion that the Keeper likely scared them off. I’d seen them contort into unrecognizable shapes before and the first time I saw it I wanted to run too.
The bigger question on my mind was why and how Molly ended up here in the first place. The giant void that popped up in the city was barricaded off and patrolled regularly. The only other voids I knew of currently resided in the ARC offices and in my own home. That means it’s spreading. I pushed the thought from my mind. Of course it was spreading, that’s what the Blight did. It spread until it had a firm enough grasp on a world and then it ripped it apart. Then whatever’s not used by the Blight as more sustenance gets sprinkled into the voids. That was the process. The one I had begged The ARC to stop willingly feeding into. I shook my head and sighed as I scratched at my skin. There wasn’t anything to do but keep running, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to outrun it much longer.
Long after Molly disappeared back through the void I finally moved into the light. I inspected the Blight that grew from my fingernails now. As I did so, I nicked a chunk of the fungus, which forced it to release a small amount of spores into the air. I watched silently as they floated to the ground beneath me. Fantastic. I thought. I’ve spread it to this place now too. I knew it mattered little in the long run, but it still stung to be the first one to track in the mess.
I stood there and stared at the ground that now harbored Blight spores for a while before I was startled back to the present situation by two ARC members calling my name. Both looked to be out of breath. I assumed they were the ones I had seen running away from something earlier, though I hadn’t even gotten the chance to ask before they bombarded me with questions. One after another I was hit with “Kadi where have you been?” And “Did you know Johnson’s looking for you?” Among other questions that boiled down to the same things. I could barely get a word in until I raised my voice and gave my best authoritative “Stop!” That’s when the questions finally came to a grinding halt.
I looked the two up and down, finally having processed who I was speaking to. It had been Clyde and Janelle. Clyde looked more out of breath than Janelle had, but both had clearly been shaken by something. Clyde had been the one firing off question after question while Janelle stood next to him and just stared at me. She had noticed the fungus that grew from my nails and seemed enthralled by it. I quickly moved my hands behind my back and fixed my posture.
“What are you two doing here?” I hoped to dodge their questions by posing one of my own. It backfired immediately as Clyde chimed in.
“We’re here looking for Molly, or well, you too I guess.” Janelle spoke up next.
“It’s the keys we’re looking to get back. You have more of them don’t you?”
I contemplated their words for a moment. Lie. Lie to them. I needed to lie to keep them off my back but if they believed me they would then solely focus on bothering Molly. Was that worth it? It was. I opened my mouth to lie but the truth came out instead.
“I do have more.” What was that? I felt a killer migraine come on and raised my hand to the side of my head for a brief moment until it subsided just as Janelle spoke again.
“Good. Johnson wants to meet with you. He’s been trying to reach you.” Clyde interjected. “But you’ve been MIA! Johnson even tried to give some of your duties to Molly, but she bailed.”
I cocked my head at that last statement. “He did?”
Clyde continued. “Yeah but, she no showed to their second meeting. So he sent us to find her.” He laughed shyly. “You know how he is about people keeping their end of the deal.”
I nodded. “So if Molly handed over the keys why do you need me?”
“She didn’t hand over shit.” Janelle said. “Said she didn’t have it. Clearly she was lying but Johnson was banking on gettin’ her involved.”
“But reachin’ an agreement with you would be easier. So…” Clyde trailed off. I looked down to my feet where a patch of Blight had already begun to sprout from the ground that the spores landed on. I could already hear its faint shrill whispers. They echoed through my body as the Blight within me attempted to respond in kind.
“Fine.” Was all I said before I involuntarily reached into my sack, grabbed a tape, and handed it over to Clyde. “Here.” I said. “So you know my word is good.” Then I turned on my heels and walked away. I would meet with Johnson for nothing else but to tell him to fuck off and let nature take its course.