Nathaniel

A Chapter by Slade

From his position at the bow of the ship, Nathaniel gazed at the ever-distant horizon. Here he was, he thought dryly, on the move again. He had always traveled. Not that he liked it, he was just inclined to do it. He did, however, like the ocean. It seemed so rhythmic to him, the waves. Up, down. Back and forth. Always in motion yet, somehow, always the same. Constant. Predictable. He liked that. He began to feel the damp chill seeping through his jeans and t-shirt. His uniform, some people claimed, teasingly. Nathaniel always wore a plain white tee and jeans. He ran his fingers through his hair uncombed hair. Black as a raven’s wing, but constantly messed, because he could never be bothered to fix it.

He heard Sam approaching. Nathaniel liked Sam. He was nice, and easy to work with too. They had been coworkers for at least… what was it? Two years now? Sam always saw things in the best light possible. He had to, with three kids and a wife to look out for. Nathaniel always told him this job might be too dangerous to continue with a family, but he always replied with the same nonchalant response, “Oh come on, what would you do without me?”

“Are you ready?” Sam asked, “It’s almost time to disembark.”

Nathaniel turned and nodded. To Nathaniel, talking was a waste of time. Instead of talking, he focused on the task at hand. He preferred to think. Their destination was an island facility, long since abandoned by some research company. They were a part of a special team dealing with cleanup of old science labs. Sam’s and his job was to check the facility for anything dangerous. Radioactive waste or, in less extreme cases, mold and fungus. They were basically the scouting party. For the moment it was just Sam and him, but the rest of the team were still prepping and would take the larger boat around to try and find the old docking station.

The shoreline was too rough for the larger ship to approach any closer. With no dock or river channels available, they would be leaving the ship here and continuing on a smaller boat. Nathaniel donned his hazmat suit and headed towards the speedboat. The Spear, they called it. Made specially for easy docking on difficult or dangerous beaches. If you called that easy docking, he thought. He smiled at the wry thought. It was accomplished by launching a harpoon into the soon-to-be makeshift harbor with a rope attached to winch the speedboat to the shore. Not quite something you would call easy.

Nathaniel climbed aboard the Spear, and methodically began to prepare it for the trip ahead. As Sam climbed aboard, Nathaniel started to absorb everything around him. He could see and hear the waves splashing on the Spear, the steady rock of the larger boat as Sam stepped off. He could see both of their hazmat suits wrinkling in the salty sea breeze. Sam’s chocolatey brown hair through the plastic suit, his enthusiastic grin, and his smiling eyes. His entire expression always seeming as though ready to meet the day.

Nathaniel was just as enthusiastic about this morning. Sam and he were to get a promotion if they performed well today. He stared across the ocean as the Spear flew toward the island about half a mile off. The beaches were covered in rocks, like a horribly disfigured monster, creeping across what was probably once stunning sandy shores. It seemed as though they would have to use the harpoon again.

Sam and Nathaniel decided to make a quick circle of the island in hope of finding an easier way to beach. They circumnavigated the island, scouring the entire shoreline for any sign of an easy landing. No such luck. Sam halfway expected this and had readied the harpoon. The harpoon was connected to the side of the boat with a small attachment to help steady aim. It was very unwieldy to aim and launch the harpoon. After a minute or two of steadying the rocking boat, they launched the harpoon. It arced over the water and struck the rocky shore with a resounding metallic clank.

The harpoon lodged into the beach as Nathaniel and Sam watched. Sam started the Spear reeling the line back in. Nathaniel waited patiently for Sam to get it started and prepare the last of the gear. Nathaniel grabbed some of the equipment they would need, like a Geiger Counter. He put all of the gear into the two backpacks that they were taking with them.

As Nathaniel had predicted, they would have to endure the long process of the Spear reeling itself to its destination. As they were slowly drawn toward the churning shoreline, Nathaniel experienced an inexplicable moment of panic, a strange notion that they were being drawn into something alive. Something so dark that it would consume them entirely and leave no trace behind.

Nathaniel stepped onto the beach, happy to be on shore. The job was practically over. All he had to do was take a few pictures, a few readings, and they were done. He gave one backpack to Sam as they climbed the steep path to what looked like the facility.

Nathaniel instantly noticed the local fauna, or lack thereof. The only things in the form of life was plants. The trees, reaching for the sky, as they were choked of the life they fought for by the ivy climbing up the sides of them. The differently shaped ferns, reaching for the sky with green feathers. The rainbow of colorful flowers, all twirling in the salty breeze. Even the patches of moss, wet with the morning dew. But there wasn’t the slightest hint of an animal anywhere on the island, as far as Nathaniel had seen.

They finally emerged from the entanglement of overgrowth in front of the facility. Sam pointed out the entrance on one side of the building. As they walked over to the entrance, Nathaniel found that the door appeared rusted. It must have been made of iron. It seemed the door was stuck together from all the rust. Sam had to tug at the door several times before it finally opened with a loud boom. He made a note of how difficult it was to open the door.

The inside was a maze of mold, moss, and ivy. the dim lighting only added to the abandoned feel of the room. It felt like the room had been overtaken by nature. The large room was lit from the outside by the rising sun. Nathaniel and Sam looked around what seemed to be a lobby. Nathaniel expected as much, since they did come in through the front entrance. There appeared to be two main diverging paths leading out of the lobby.

Nathaniel and Sam both started documenting the different things they saw. They wrote down the biota they found, then marked them for future reference. They took pictures of all the life they found. They regrouped in front of the the two passageways and looked at each other. The light in the hallway was basically non-existent on both sides. The duo turned on their flashlights, which they hadn’t required earlier.

“Should we split up?” Sam asked. Nathaniel looked at him, and agreed with a nod. Sam went down the left path, while Nathaniel went down the other.

Nathaniel walked down the path with his usual gait. He wouldn’t call himself clumsy, but… well… he bumped into a lot of things. He didn’t like being separated from Sam, but he was fine being alone. He only agreed to split up because he wanted to get the job done. Walking down the path, he felt a similarity between the cold cement walls. The slight chill emanating from them if you got too close. The burning scratch when you dragged your hand across the wall. He remembered he used to run down sidewalks, holding a pencil to the ground, then lift it up to see that the friction rubbed the pencil's side off. Even the cracks on the wall he could compare to, the small signs that the pressure was getting to it. It stood strong for so many years, but age can do that to you, can't it? Still marking the mold and other things he saw along the way, he finally made it to the end of the hallway. It was just a T-intersection. He could go right, which would lead him deeper into the facility, but he would be farther from Sam. Or, he could go left. That way he would be more likely to meet up with Sam, and then they could explore more together. It was like all his choices, Nathaniel thought dryly. But this time he needs to make the right choice. He thought about it for a few minutes, and then in the end decided to go left.

Nathaniel had been walking the path for a good twenty, thirty minutes when he arrived at a door. The iron door was as cold as the walls around it, with just as much rust as the first door. He gave the door a light tug, to no avail. He pulled with more force, and the door gave out a loud boom and screech as it opened. The new area was at least warmer than the last few places he’s been. There were drearily dark stairs, heading down into thick, inky black.

Nathaniel was intrigued. He didn’t think that this place was so big. He thought about calling for some company over his 2-way radio, but decided against it. He walked down the stairs into presumably the basement. His flashlight barely cut through the thick darkness. The black seemed to want to swallow him whole. It’s the same feeling he got on his way to the island on the Spear. The stairs were as you’d imagine: cold, wet, and slimy. His light, more often than not, was focused on were his feet were about to land. Running one hand against the moldy wall, he slowly edged his way down the stairs.

The floor, when he arrived, was wet. The basement seemed to have accumulated a bit of water over the years. He was glad then that he had left his sneakers in his pack. The water was easily above his ankles. Every footstep was a splash. Nathaniel heard the echo of his footsteps, but something was a little off with them. He kept thinking that he heard his name being called from the far side of the basement, and random whispers in his ear.

Eventually, he made it to the other side of the basement, and another set of stairs. These ones had trails of water heading down. This must be where the basement got flooded, Nathaniel thought. He climbed the stairs, being very careful not to slip. The stairs already had little channels where the water dug its way through the stair. As he was walking up the stairs he saw the door at the top of the climb, and climbed a little bit faster to make it up the stairs faster. He made it, and open the door. This door was easier to open than the other two, definitely.

This area was filled with parts for machines of some sort. There was an old computer in the corner. There were large cables leading to and from the computer. The cables lead into the wall. Nathaniel walked over to the computer. It was powered. Nathaniel wondered how this computer was still powered if the lights weren’t. Maybe this computer held valuable information? He didn’t like to pry, but maybe he could find out why this place closed down. It shouldn’t take that long. Nathaniel got onto the computer, and, to his surprise, it was already logged on to someone’s account. Seems he was finally getting some good luck today. He looked at some of the files.

Some of the files were things that you would expect in an office. Nathaniel decided to look at payroll. He could see who all worked here. As he looked through, he saw two names he recognized. Before he could look any further, the computer suddenly shut off. When he went to turn it on again, it wouldn’t come back on. he check to make sure it was plugged in and all of that type of stuff, but he figured the power must’ve shut off. He decided to look around at some of the machinery parts. In the parts, there wasn’t anything mandatory for a machine to run. It seemed like it was only repair parts.

As Nathaniel was pondering over the pieces, his radio crackled to life.

“Nate. Are you there? Got something strange over here.” Nathaniel replied with a yes. Sam then told Nathaniel to head to the northern part of the facility. Nathaniel started walking.