An action packed sci-fi suspence thriller, which takes you on a mind bending journey deep into the realm of dreams, hallusinations, and experimentation. Four People, from four different parts of the country, find themselves Isolated from society in one way or another, and find themselves the unknowing victimes of a synister experimant, run by a very secretive, and non-exitant agency. Four groups, each driven by greed, find themselve's betrayed, and fighting for their lives. And for what? They don't even know.
Isolated
By Richard CadyAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2009 Richard Cady
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4389-9159-7Chapter One
WILLIAM
Wednesday, June 12, 2002. It's late at night, and William Tuffet, is sitting in his chair by his fire place, with his authentic bear rug laid out in front of him, when the dogs begin barking. "Knock it off!" He yells, as he lifts his beer towards his mouth. The dogs don't stop though; they see something that seems to have them spooked. "Oh jeez." William says, as he slowly stands up, with a grunt and a groan.
William's an older man of his mid fifty's. He lives by himself in Petersville Alaska, about 10 miles north of Anchorage. He moved to Petersville in the spring of 1997, after a very nasty divorce. He was married to a nurse, who worked at the Hospital in Anchorage, for 12 wonderful years. Until one day he found her and his best friend in bed together. He left her, fought it out with his so called friend, and found himself being blamed for everything. He never did understand how everyone could look at it that he was at fault for everything that went wrong in their marriage, but somehow, that was the way that it worked out. Having lost everything, and not having any family in Alaska to turn to, he used what little money that he had and bought a small place in Petersville. He wanted to be off away from everyone. He really did need the time alone. He liked being away from, what he called, The Rat Race, but a lot of the time he just felt like he unintentionally isolated himself.
"What are you barkin at?" He yells, as he opens up the front door, and flicks on the flashlight in his hand. With the dogs still barking as he walks out, he decides that he had better go and get his shot gun, just in case there's a bear or some wolves out there. Whenever they start barking like this they usually stop as soon as they hear the door open, so something's definitely not right here.
He has 3 dogs, all Huskies. The oldest, Sosha, is staring off to the north of the house, and barking away, with the hair on the back of her neck standing up. The other two, Terrance and Sniffer, are pacing nervously, back and forth in the pen, each looking in the same direction that Sosha's looking. William turns, with the flashlight in his hand, and points it off into the trees on the north side of the house. He scans back and forth through the trees, and sees nothing. He looks back at Sosha and sees that she's still staring off in the same direction, with her hair still standing on end.
William slowly walks towards the trees, with his shot gun and the flashlight up. He nervously scans for anything that might be there, but sees nothing. He listens closely, and hears nothing but the wind and the dogs barking. He slowly walks closer, with his shot gun cocked and ready to fire, and the dogs still barking, he stops. I should maybe get the dogs into the house, he thinks. He slowly walks backwards, not wanting to take his eyes off of the trees, and trips. Right when he hits the ground, he hears movement off in the trees. But when he fell, his flashlight pointed up into the air, so he didn't see what ever it was that moved. He lies there, still as can be, and points the light into the trees again, still nothing. He slowly gets up, not taking his eyes off of the trees, and continues over to the pen.
He, cautiously, opens up the pen gate, expecting the dogs to try and run out, but they don't. "What the heck." He says to himself, as he grabs a hold of Sniffer's collar, and literally has to drag her out of the pen. "Come on girl. Sniffer! Let's go!" He says, as he drags her out. Sniffer whines, and crouches down, with her tail between her legs, as William walks her over to the front door.
"What in the heck has got you dogs so spooked?" He says to himself. "Come on Terrance, let's go." He says, as he grabs a hold of Terrance's collar. Terrance doesn't cower like Sniffer did, and right as William pulls him out of the gate; Terrance pulls loose and takes off into the trees. "Terrance, get back here!" William yells. He doesn't go after Terrance, he walks right over to Sosha, who has stopped barking, but still has her hair still standing on end. "Come on girl." He says, as he grabs a hold of her collar. Sosha doesn't cower either, she looks over at the trees, still with her hair standing up, and walks towards the house, never moving her gaze from the tree line.
Right as he gets Sosha into the house he looks back over into the trees, and yells. "Terrance! Come on boy! Terrance get over here boy!" He lifts up his flashlight and slowly, and cautiously, walks towards the trees, carefully scanning for a glimpse of Terrance, but he doesn't see the dog, at all. He listens real close, and hears the dogs in the house start barking again. He looks back over at the house, and as his heads turned, he hears something running through the woods. "Terrance!" He yells again, and shines the light back and forth, but sees nothing. Wow, this is strange, he thinks. If something had them spooked like that, why would he take off? `Terrance!" He yells again, still with no response. He slowly backs away from the trees, and walks back towards the door.
When he gets to the porch he hears Terrance barking. "Terrance!" He yells again. "Get back over here! Let that critter alone and get back over here!" He yells. But the dog doesn't come, he just keeps on barking. William walks back over towards the trees again. But this time he has his shot gun up, and ready to fire. He scans through the trees with the flashlight again, but doesn't see anything but trees. As he gets right up next to the tree line it becomes obvious to him that Terrance is a good ways out there, and won't be easy to get back. Terrance is quite the good hunter. And ever since he got him, once he got a good scent of something, it was hard to pull him off of it. William remembers the last time that Terrance got on to a bear; he almost got himself killed that time. I sure hope that he didn't get onto another bear, he thinks.
He slowly backs away from the trees again, and as soon as he makes it to the porch, Terrance stops barking, so he stands still and listens. In the back of his mind he can't help but think that he's going to hear the dog yelping, or wining, or even screaming, but he doesn't hear anything. Just then he realizes that the dogs in the house have stopped barking. Right then he notices a very strange feel in the air. Very eerie. For some reason he feels like he's being watched. "Terrance!" He yells again, but just like before, nothing.
He walks up on the porch, and just as he gets to the door, he smells something really bad. It's a musty smell. Like a wet dog, but much stronger. He sniffs around by the door; just to see if the smell is coming from inside, but it's not coming from there. He turns his head and smells it very strong again. It's on the wind, coming from the woods. Ok! What's out there? He turns and points the flashlight back over to the trees again. But still doesn't see anything. He can't get over the feeling of being watched. Something's out there, he thinks to himself.
After scanning through the trees, and seeing nothing, he decides to scan through the tree tops. He shines the light up into the branches, which this time of year still have a lot of leaves, and is startled by a set of glowing eyes. A shock runs through his system, and he freezes. He can feel his heart beating hard in his chest, as the thoughts run through his mind, of what it might be. Right then the eyes blink, and move. They come right out of the tree tops, showing him that it's just an owl. "Oh my Lord." He says to himself, and relaxes. He wipes his hand across his forehead as he looks back up into the tree tops again. I'm just getting myself all worked up. Well, I'll just have to wait till either he comes back on his own, or, I'll have to go and look for him in the morning, he thinks, and heads back up towards the house.
As he gets back onto the porch, he looks back. Without even shining the flashlight, he sees more eyes looking at him. But these eyes aren't yellow, like the eyes that he saw just a minute ago. These eyes are red. He freezes again, right in his tracks. A light winds blows past him, with that musty smell along with it. The dogs in the house start to bark again. A very frantic bark, not just the ordinary beware kind of bark. This bark is a vicious; I'll kill you, type of bark. He feels that feeling of being watched again, and along with the smell, and the dogs barking, he finds himself being literally scared stiff.
As he stands there, unable to move, he sees not just one set of eyes, but at least 4 sets of eyes. No wonder I have that feeling, he thinks. I am being watched. He breaks himself free, from the paralyzed state, of seeing the eyes in the first place gave him, and yells. "Terrance! Get back here boy!"
Right then he sees the eyes moving all around through the trees, but still they all seem to be looking right at him. "Terrance!" He yells again as he reaches toward the front door. The feeling that he has right then, is to just get back into the house. He's not quite sure why he feels that way, but for some reason, the red colored eyes do nothing but scare the bahegees out of him. As he opens the door, the musty smell gets even stronger than what it was before. The dogs are still barking that vicious bark, so he figures that they're going to come running out as soon as he opens the door far enough, but for some reason, right then, he doesn't care. He just wants to get back into the house.
As he opens the door, far enough to walk through it, the dogs stand back, like they're just letting him in, but they keep barking. They don't seem to have any interest at all in going back out there. What ever it is that's out there, the dogs want no part of either.
William closes the door behind him, and says to himself. "Good Lord Terrance, what did you go after out there?"
Chapter Two
THE HOLE
William goes back over to his chair, by the fire place, and reaches for his beer. He looks down at Sasha, and sees that her hair is still standing on end. "What's out there girl?" He asks the dog. Of course, she doesn't answer, but he has no one else to ask. He takes a slug of his beer and takes a deep breath. He didn't quite realize it at the time, but he really broke out in a sweat while he was out there. His mind goes into a series of images of what could be going on outside. He wonders if Terrance got himself killed, or if he just ran off. What did those eyes belong to? They were up to high to be dogs, or bears. But not spaced right to be a moose. And definitely too high up to be deer. I just don't know. But why did it give me that weird feeling? Maybe being out here by myself for as long as I have is just getting to me.
He sits back down in his chair, with his beer in his hand and his shot gun right next to him, he makes himself comfortable. He looks over and sees Sniffer sitting right next to his chair, still cowering. Her ears are down and her tail is tucked down low. She looks up at him, with a look that tells him that she's really scared.
Back when William got Sniffer, she was the runt. When she looked up at him with her big puppy dog eyes, he felt a connection right then, he knew that she was the one that he would take. He got her from a Native American man on the side of the road. He had a box full of Husky pups, and was giving them away for free. William tried to give the man something for her, but the man wouldn't accept anything. "Take one." The man said. "They'll protect you." Well, it really doesn't look like she has any intentions on protecting anyone tonight, he thinks, as he looks into her scared, cowering eyes. He reaches down and pets Sniffer on the top of the head. As soon as his hand touches the top of her head, he feels her shaking. "It'll be ok there girl." He says. She looks up at him, with her ears still down, and fear still in her eyes, and then she turns her eyes over to the front door. "Yeah, everything'll be just fine girl, you don't have to worry. Terrance'll be back after a while. Don't worry." He says, trying to calm her, and himself, down. But his words don't seem to calm her down at all, she just keeps on shaking.
He tips back his bottle and takes another slug, then turns his head to Sasha. Sasha's eyes are trained in on the front door. The hair, on the back of her neck, is still standing on end. William doesn't like this at all. She hasn't calmed down since they got in the house. Neither one of them has. "Sasha. Come'er girl." He says. She slowly walks closer to the chair, but doesn't take her eyes off of the front door. Not once.
William sets down his beer, and starts to stand up, but, considering the way that the dogs are acting, and the way that he felt right before he got back in the door, he finds himself just wanting to stay sitting down. Why was I so freaked out? He thinks to himself. Why did those eyes freak me out like this? And why are the dogs so freaked out?
There aren't any lights on the outside of the house, in fact; there aren't any lights at the house at all. Since the house is so far out, away from any other developed areas, there isn't any electricity coming to the house at all. He doesn't have a furnace, or even city water. He uses a hand pump for water. He fills up a tank up above the toilet, with a bucket, so that he can flush. He does have a septic tank, so at least he has some sort of way to ride himself of waste. As far as heat goes, he has a fire place, and a wood burning stove. The town is working out a deal that would bring electricity to what few people live in the area, but it hasn't happened yet. Since he's moved out here, it's almost felt like he's been on a long extended camping trip. Being without electricity, he doesn't have a television, so he really doesn't know what's going on out in the rest of the world. He does go into town every week, to get supplies, and hears some things that are going on, but with out a doubt, being out here with no television, no phone, no internet, he really is pretty isolated. He has a battery powered radio, but he hardly ever turns it on. He has an old fashioned ice box, to keep things cool in, but, it's no where near as good as a refrigerator. But it serves its purpose, and it is just him out here.
As he's standing up, he finds himself wishing that he had some lights on the outside of the house. At least that would give him a little more security, but its still going to be a while before the power company brings the lines out this far. He slowly walks over to the window and looks out into the darkness, hoping to see Terrance out there, but he doesn't see anything but black.
He sits and drinks a couple more beers, and relaxes. The dogs calm down, and he finds himself getting up the nerve to go back out to look for Terrance. "Come on girls." He says, as he picks up the flashlight, and the shot gun. "Let's go and see if we can find Terrance."
He walks out the door, with the dogs right in front of him, looks around, and takes a big whiff of the air. He doesn't smell that nasty musty smell that he did earlier, and seeing that the dogs have calmed down, puts him at ease. "Terrance!" He yells, but doesn't see or hear anything. "Terrance!" He yells again, but still nothing. "Come on girls, let's go and see if we can track him down."
The dogs are very calm now, and it almost seems like everything that happened earlier never happened, except for Terrance running off. "Go on Sasha, Sniffer, go and get Terrance." He says, as he motions for them to go on ahead of him. Both the dogs look up at him, with their ears up and tails wagging, and take off towards the woods ahead of him. William flicks the switch on the flash light and points it off into the woods. They walk up to the small foot path, and step into the dark woods. Just as he gets into the shadowy shroud of the trees, he feels the feeling of being watched again. The hair on the back of his neck stands up, and goose bumps raise all over his body, as he scans the area. The dogs show no signs of anything out of the ordinary though. With their tails still wagging, and their noses to the ground, they walk along at a good pace. I must be imagining all of this, he thinks, as he watches the dogs, which are obviously on the trail of something. Terrance, he hopes.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Isolatedby Richard Cady Copyright © 2009 by Richard Cady. Excerpted by permission.
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