Free The Dark Rift: Redemption by R. Brewer

life-threatening conditions and no hope in sight of a cure for their unknown afflictions. Teeth drilled, bones extracted, copious amounts of blood taken from the same person over weeks at a time, failed impregnations, failed amputations. The list went on and on, each file revealing a kind of horror worse than the one before. Entire families had been killed, maimed, and changed forever, in the name of what? He was most disturbed by the little ones. The fetuses, suspended in frozen stasis. Products of alien DNA infusion. Unnatural creatures.
    The file said that Gypsum housed them in the Nevada facility, waiting for reanimation. The thought of what Gypsum was doing and had done to thousands of people, people like him, and maybe even Jodie by now, made him deeply heartsick. Chuck looked at his reflection in the shiny steel cabinet, wondering what he'd been exposed to. What kind of organism could have transformed his body into this, a skinless metal giant, still in the shape of a man? And, why was he still himself? Why hadn't he retreated into madness like all the others he'd seen?
    He was repulsed by what he'd become, even though it was strong. Stronger than a human could ever hope to be and faster than he could comprehend. But he wanted to be Chuck again. The Chuck who helped cats out of trees. The Chuck who sat with Debi at the diner and talked about days gone by. The Chuck who gave his life to helping others. If it was the last thing he did, he would find a cure for these people and, just maybe, one for himself, too.
    He picked up another file. As he read, Chuck thought of Leah. Kind Leah, who lost her best friend to this madness, who lived her life searching for answers and found none. He remembered the strange afflictions she had. Bone loss in her legs, like so many others he read about. Evidence of prolonged periods of weightlessness was what the files said. Chuck realized Leah had been taken into space and experimented on. And that woman Jodie hit with her car. She had holes drilled in her teeth and was mutilated in a way he'd never seen before.
    He remembered Bob, his friend, a man of honor, who'd saved him. His body lay unmoving on a cold floor, alone, not yet mourned by his family. In their names, and in the names of all of the others like them, Chuck made a vow to expose the truth. He wanted Jodie to help him, but he was starting to realize the likelihood of ever seeing her again was very low, if not non-existent, given that he didn't really even know where he was. Weighing his options, he thought he could retrace his steps and find the tunnel where he'd come in, but that might take too long. Maybe more time than he had left. And, something told him Jodie was in danger. He could feel it as if she were standing right in front of him. His metal frame hummed with a kind of fear for her. He knew he needed to get out of the tunnel now right now and find her.
    Chuck tossed the files aside, sat up, and was about to stand when he heard footsteps coming in his direction. Not the footsteps of the things he'd seen earlier, but those of men. It sounded like a group of maybe a dozen or so. He lay back down, so still that he could be mistaken for dead. Sliding his arm over his face to shield his lidless eyes from view, he peeked out through the space between the bones of his forearm.
    The door swung open and a combat uniform clad man entered, his weapon raised as he swung it in a wide arc, pointing into the room. Chuck saw that the man was wearing a gas mask. The man made a motion to someone in the hallway and the room was suddenly filled as Gypsum guards entered.
    "Looks like this one here's been playing in the file cabinet," a guard said as he kicked Chuck in the leg.
    Chuck remained still. He could hear muffled laughter coming through the mask.
    "Thinks he's part of the Wild West, too. Lookie here," the guard said, pointing to Chuck's gun holster. The guard bent over and fingered the badge pinned to Chuck's collarbone.
    Several