Free The Spook House (The Spook Series Book 1) by Paul Emil Page B

spooks.
    Now it all made sense – the heart monitors, the cameras, and everything. Well, not quite everything. There was still something wrong here. What about all of the security? I mean, with that surrounding wall, this looked like some secret super-max prison or something. And the location. Could it be any more remote? This was like someplace they used to test atomic bombs. It was far from everything so civilians wouldn’t get hurt, or even know about it. But that was like, during World War II. The government didn’t do tests like that anymore, did they?
    Could all this security just be a part of the “atmosphere of fear,” or something to help create the illusion? No, that didn’t feel right. The security felt real. There were real secrets here that the government wanted to keep hidden. You could feel the fear. I know. Stress is like that. I used to feel it at school, right around finals, or even at my dad’s work sometimes. It was like an invisible vibe in the air. You couldn’t see it, but everybody could feel it.
    So there we were. We had a mission to complete. There were a lot of unknowns. The situation was unfamiliar, which made it scary and dangerous. But it was only a simulation after all, right?
    Just when I thought I was finally mentally ready, Chandler dropped another bomb. He said, “Abrams! You’re in charge.”
    I wanted to say, “What? Why me?”, but I just stood there and said nothing. This was a “leadership test,” wasn’t it? Shirking that responsibility would be grounds for automatic failure. This was my chance to prove myself once and for all. It was time to step up.
    “Abrams! You got a problem with that?”
    “Sir! No, Sir!”
    “Good! Then get to it!”
    I took a deep breath, and exhaled quickly. I hoped that puffing out my chest and assuming good posture would make me look larger and give me an air of authority. I summoned my deepest, most commanding voice and said, “Alright! Everyone ready?”
    We lit the lights mounted on our helmets and under our guns. We spoke into our mikes and listened to everyone’s voices in our earbuds. Comm lines were working.
    “I said, ‘EVERYONE READY?’”
    “Affirmative!”
    “Good! Fall in behind me! Let’s do it!”
    “Alright,” the handler said, satisfied. “The house is waiting. Get in there and do your job. The clock starts now.”

13
     
    The gate of the inner fence slowly slid open. I looked at Chandler. He was smiling that weird smile again. He casually glanced at his watch, subtly reminding me that the test had started.
    This was my chance to lead by example. I had to show the men I was not afraid. I moved forward.
    As soon as we were all in the pen, the gate slammed shut and locked. It seemed to close behind us a lot faster than it had opened to let us in. I resisted the urge to turn my head and look back at the men on the other side of the fence.
    I led my troops across the tiny wasteland between the fence and the house. Apparently, nothing grew here. “It’s too dark,” I told myself. “Not enough sun.”
    It was true. It was 16:17 hours – 4:17PM civilian time. Yes, it was late afternoon, but here in the hollow of the volcano, the sun had set. This place probably only got a few hours of sunlight a day around noon, when the sun was directly overhead.
    The house loomed in the mountain shadows. Daylight seeped away and the moon would rise soon. There was a big full one last night. It would provide light and no warmth. It was cold here in the center of the Rock. It was getting worse as the sun went down. I shivered.
    The house seemed bigger now. In fact, it looked huge. It was if it had grown while were weren’t looking. My eyes swept the ground at eye-level to avoid looking up at it. I noticed an entrance to a storm cellar off to the side of the house. One of the doors was missing. This house must have a huge basement. For a moment, imagined all sorts of nasty things crawling, scurrying, or slithering their way down