Within the silence

Chapter 10

The old metal door groaned loudly as Ivy and Lance pushed their way out of the crumbling building, the folder labelled Dominion clutched tightly in Ivy’s hands. The eerie silence of the site seemed to press in around them, heavy and stifling. Lance’s eyes darted to the shadows cast by the gnarled trees nearby, his hand instinctively brushing against his side where his pocket knife sat tucked away—not much of a weapon, but better than nothing.

“Let’s move,” he said in a low, urgent voice, placing a hand on Ivy’s back to nudge her forward.

She nodded, her grip tightening on the folder as they picked up their pace toward the truck. Every crunch of dirt and fallen leaves underfoot felt deafening, like it was announcing their presence to whoever—or whatever—might still be lurking nearby.

When they reached the truck, Ivy slid into the passenger seat, still holding the folder as if it might disappear if she let go. Lance climbed into the driver’s seat and turned the ignition, the engine rumbling to life and breaking the oppressive silence.

Lance put the truck in reverse and backed down the narrow dirt road, eyes flicking to the rear view mirror every few seconds. “I’ll drive,” he said, his voice steady but edged with tension. “You start going through that folder. Let’s figure out what the hell we just found.”

Ivy didn’t argue. She flipped on the small reading light above her and opened the folder, carefully spreading the papers out on her lap as Lance pulled back onto the main road. The truck bounced slightly over the uneven terrain, but she adjusted, her focus laser-sharp on the contents in front of her.

“Anything good yet?” Lance asked after a few minutes, his tone casual but his grip on the wheel betraying his unease.

“Not sure yet,” Ivy murmured, her eyes scanning the papers. The first few sheets seemed like innocuous records—financial documents, inventory lists, dates—but they were old, yellowed at the edges and typed on thin, flimsy paper. She flipped through quickly, searching for something more substantial.

Then she found it. A single page, handwritten, with the same symbol from the map drawn in the corner.

“I’ve got something,” she said, her voice sharper now, pulling Lance’s attention. “There’s a note here—it’s in some kind of code. Look.” She held up the paper, and even in the dim light, Lance could make out the strange arrangement of letters and numbers, their meaning elusive.

“Great,” he muttered, his jaw tightening. “More cryptic nonsense. Anything that’s not in code?”

“Hold on,” she said, turning her attention back to the folder. Underneath the coded note, she found a faded photograph. It showed a group of people standing in front of a building—three men and two women, their expressions serious, their stances formal. Ivy squinted at the image.

“Who are they?” Lance asked, glancing over briefly before returning his eyes to the road.

“No idea,” Ivy said, studying the photo closely. Her fingers brushed against the edges of the picture, and she noticed a name scrawled faintly on the back in pencil: Edenvale Facility, Phase III Team.

Her breath hitched. “Edenvale. Lance, this is tied to the archive we found yesterday. The people in this photo—they must have worked for Dominion or were involved with them in some way. Phase III must have been some kind of operation or experiment.”

Lance let out a low whistle. “If they were part of it, maybe one of them is still alive. Could be a lead. What else is in there?”

Ivy rifled through the remaining papers, careful not to miss anything. There were a few more coded notes, some diagrams of machines or devices she couldn’t immediately decipher, and what looked like an old blueprint for a building. She held it up, her brow furrowing.

“This looks like... a layout for something underground,” she said. “But I can’t tell where it is. There’s no label, no location. Just this symbol again.”

Lance glanced at her, his expression grim. “Guess that’s why we’ve got the map. Wherever this place is, it’s probably marked there. One piece at a time, right?”

“Yeah,” Ivy said, though her stomach churned at the thought. The deeper they went, the more it felt like Dominion had left these breadcrumbs deliberately—as if they wanted someone to find their trail but only after a certain amount of time had passed.

Lance glanced at the map sitting folded between them. “We’ll head to the next point. Maybe it’ll give us more answers—or at least help us figure out what the hell we’re looking at.”

Ivy nodded, placing the papers carefully back into the folder and securing it shut. “You think anyone saw us back there?” she asked after a beat of silence.

“Don’t know,” Lance admitted, his tone dark. “But I felt it, too. Like we weren’t alone. That’s why I didn’t want to stick around.” He paused, his knuckles whitening on the steering wheel. “Whatever Dominion is—or was—they don’t want to be found. And we’re walking straight into their shadow.”

Ivy leaned back in her seat, clutching the folder to her chest. “Then we’d better be ready for what happens when we turn the lights on.”

The truck sped down the deserted road, the map and its cryptic markings their only guide as the morning sun began to break over the horizon.

The truck hummed steadily along the road, the early afternoon light filtering through the windshield in soft, shifting patterns. Ivy sat in the passenger seat, the folder still balanced on her lap, her fingers brushing absently over the papers inside as she stared out at the passing scenery. Her brow furrowed in thought before she finally broke the silence.

“We might need to find Nathan sooner than we planned,” she said, her tone thoughtful but edged with urgency.

Lance glanced over briefly, his hands steady on the wheel. “You think so? We’ve barely got a handle on where we’re going right now. Adding Nathan into the mix could complicate things.”

“I know,” Ivy admitted, flipping through the folder again. Her eyes lingered on the coded note they’d found earlier, with its string of indecipherable symbols and numbers. “But this... Lance, I’m telling you, this coding could be huge. If we c***k it, who knows what it could lead to? And Nathan—he’s the only person I know who could even attempt to decode something like this.”

Lance frowned, his jaw tightening as he considered her words. “Nathan’s smart, sure. But we haven’t talked to him in years. Last I heard, he dropped off the radar after that fallout with his research group. Are you even sure we can find him?”

Ivy turned to face him fully, her expression firm. “I don’t know where he is right now, but I can try. I still have some old contacts from when we worked together—someone’s bound to know where he went. And if this code really is as important as I think it is, we don’t have a choice.”

Lance exhaled slowly, his eyes narrowing as he weighed her words. “Alright. You try to reach out to him. But until we know where he stands, we stick to the plan. No bringing him in until we’re sure we can trust him with this.”

“Agreed,” Ivy said, leaning back in her seat and folding the folder closed. “But we have to move quickly. If Dominion is keeping tabs on people like us... who’s to say they wouldn’t be watching him, too?”

The weight of her words hung in the air as the truck rumbled on.

After a while, Lance slowed the vehicle, turning onto a narrow road lined with overgrown hedges. The GPS signal had cut out miles ago, and they were relying entirely on the map now, its markings guiding them deeper into unfamiliar territory. The next location was close, but as they approached, both of them leaned forward, their expressions twisting in confusion.

“Is that a school?” Lance asked, breaking the silence as they pulled up to a chain-link fence. Beyond it, an old brick building loomed, its tall windows streaked with grime and ivy creeping up its walls. A faded sign near the entrance read Maplewood Academy.

“It looks like it,” Ivy said, her voice tinged with disbelief. She unfolded the map again, double-checking the coordinates. “But... why would the map lead us to a school? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Lance parked the truck along the side of the road, cutting the engine. He stared at the building for a moment, his expression hardening. “Maybe it’s not really a school anymore. It looks abandoned—could be another front, like the Edenvale archive.”

“Maybe,” Ivy said, though her voice was uncertain. She stared at the building, her fingers tracing the edge of the folder. “But if it is, we need to be careful. This feels... off.”

Lance nodded, already reaching into the glove compartment for his flashlight and pocket knife. “Let’s check it out. If it’s a dead end, we move on. But if there’s something here tied to Dominion, we need to find it before anyone else does.”

Together, they climbed out of the truck and approached the chain-link fence. A rusty gate hung ajar, creaking softly as Lance pushed it open. The school’s courtyard was eerily silent, the air thick with the smell of damp earth and decay.

“Stay close,” Lance said, his voice low as they moved toward the front doors.

Ivy followed, her heart pounding in her chest as she scanned their surroundings. The sense of being watched had returned, stronger than before, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone—or something—was just out of sight, waiting.

When they reached the doors, Lance tested the handle. It turned easily, the door swinging open with a groan that echoed through the empty halls beyond.

“Doesn’t look like anyone’s been here in a while,” Lance murmured, stepping inside and shining his flashlight ahead. Dust motes danced in the beam, and the faint smell of mildew filled the air.

“Or maybe they wanted it to look that way,” Ivy said, her voice hushed.

They moved cautiously through the halls, their footsteps muffled on the cracked linoleum floor. Most of the rooms they passed were empty, the desks and chairs long since removed. But as they reached the end of the main corridor, Ivy spotted something that made her stop in her tracks.

“Lance,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

He turned, following her gaze. On the far wall, partially hidden behind peeling wallpaper, was a faint but unmistakable symbol—the same one from the map and the folder.

“Looks like we’re in the right place,” Lance said grimly.

“But why here?” Ivy asked, stepping closer to inspect the symbol. “What could Dominion have to do with an old school?”

Lance didn’t answer right away. Instead, he crouched down, running his hand along the base of the wall where the symbol was etched. His fingers brushed against something cool and metallic.

“I think I’ve got something,” he said, pressing against the metal.

With a soft click, a hidden panel slid open, revealing a small compartment. Inside was a stack of papers, a key, and a small, unmarked cassette tape.

“Guess this is why,” Lance said, pulling the items out and handing them to Ivy.

She stared at them, her mind racing. “What the hell is this?”

“Only one way to find out,” Lance said, his voice steady but tense. “Let’s get back to the truck and figure out what we’ve got.”

Ivy nodded, clutching the items tightly as they turned and made their way back down the hall. The answers they were looking for were getting closer—but so was the danger.