Stepping up to the front doors Jack stopped a few feet away. Where had been clear glass yesterday was now dark windows. It wasn't that there weren't lights on the other side, the view was obstructed. Covering their surfaces was a thick layer of white dust.
The sight alone gave him a headache from the potential sneezing. Jack's hands went to his pockets but found them empty. Groaning, he realized he had left Henry's spray mask back at the station.
That left the old tried and true method. Reaching in to his back pocket, he pulled out the white hanky. The pink monogram reminded him of who it had been intended for. Well, at least someone was going to get some use out of it. Dividing it at the corners, he put it over his nose and mouth, then tied it behind his head.
With his mask in place, he reached in to his shirt pocket and pulled out his GD security badge. It had worked back at the gate, it would probably work here too. Just because there was no one around didn't mean the computers shut down.
Not in this town.
Closing his eyes, he sent a silent prayer to the gods of baseball that this would work. Then he slid the card through the electronic reader. When he heard the electronic buzz followed by the snick of the locks opening he thanked Jackie Robinson.
After bracing himself for whatever he might find, he pushed the door open. Whatever he had been expecting to jump out at him when he walked in was quickly banished from his mind by what he actually found.
Inside the building was nothing but darkness. There wasn't a single source of artificial illumination. Even the emergency lights were out. He could see a little thanks to the sunlight streaming through the windows, but the thick coating of dust on them made it mirky at best.
To Jack, it seemed as if no one had been here in years. That clashed with his own memory of just yesterday. "What the hell is going on here?"
There was nothing but silence to answer him. Silence and crickets.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Flashlight out, Jack swept it over the hall. Much like every other one this was dark. His footsteps echoed loudly in the still. The dust he had kicked up as he walked hung in the air like feathers blocking the light. The building felt dead to him.
In keeping with the tomb like atmosphere, he tried to take slow breaths to limit the noise. Every passing moment left him a little colder inside. He no longer felt like talking just for the sense that he wasn't alone. That was something that had been established and accepted by him already.
What drove him onwards now was the hope for answers. To get those, he needed to be in the Director's Office. It was the only place his limited access would get him even a cursory explanation.
Hopefully there would be a clue as to where everyone had gone.
Rounding another corner, he took it slowly out of habit and training. One never knew what security measure or rogue experiment would have been left behind. It was always best to keep on your toes he knew.
To that end, he swept the light over the walls, the floor, and the ceiling. Down the end of the corridor he knew that lead to a secure wing, he checked for the invisible line. Sure enough, all the way around was a thin line that separated the dust in to two sides.
The invisible barrier was still in place. That meant the main computers were still working in the Director's Office too. This little bit of knowledge heartened him slightly.
Jack made to only give it a second cursory glance before moving on. He was still a couple corridors from the central room. The thought of some note being left behind there urged him to move faster. He dragged the beam over the floor up to the walls.
Something moved.
Frowning, he slowly lowered the beam back towards the floor. Nothing caught in the light or reflected it. "Hmm." Quirking an eyebrow, he twisted his lips in amusement.
The atmosphere was getting to him more than he thought. He needed to take his mind off the case. It was that to him and nothing else. Right now that thought alone was keeping him from running through the streets panicking. Well, that and his dignity. There were still functioning cameras and someone would be back to check on them eventually.
They had to. He would make sure of it.
Whistling, he started down the next corridor. This place was a maze even when it was fully lit. It was a wonder he even remembered how to find a bathroom. Feeling the quiet coming back, his whistling grew even louder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time he made it to the main hall, Jack was feeling more than a little jumpy. The shadows were playing tricks with his eyes and the silence was creepy. Now he would have given anything even for those annoying insects.
It had been slow going getting here. Every few feet he had stopped to sweep the hall in both directions for threats. That had netted him nothing but more dust motes.
Now that he was here, though, he was feeling mighty foolish about the whole situation. Despite the seriousness to this situation he smiled with some humor. It had been a long time since he had let the dark get to him like this. Not nearly as long as it should have been in his opinion.
That soured his humor quickly. Funny the things that these whack jobs could make him question. His own sanity was certainly not much further on the list.
Exhaling with annoyance, he began a sweep of the chamber with his flashlight. The dust covered a great deal here too. Finding nothing else on the stairs he turned the beam on the Director's Office. Even through the thick glass he could see there were no lights on in there.
That decided it in his opinion. The entire building was empty. Whatever had happened left no one around to answer questions. With a little luck and good old fashioned paranoia on the part of the Director, he might still have his answer.
Then again, the most recent person in charge wasn't exactly known for her Eureka honed survival skills. He sighed. Part of him was willing to forgive Tess for her naivety, but the part that wasn't covered in foreskin wanted to just smack himself in the head and go find a nice porno. Dating inconceivably smart women was way, way overrated, especially hot ones.
Well, there was only one way to find out for certain. Bracing himself, he left the safety of the hallway and started out across the dust covered plaza. He was halfway to the first set of stairs when the hair on the back of his neck stood up.
Skin prickling, he quickly swept the flashlight over the room. Jack felt a little foolish when his search revealed only more dust. Shaking his head, he continued on. The sooner he got in there to search for the information, the quicker he could get out of dodge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time Jack was stepping in to the Director's Office, Jack was about ready to crawl out of his own skin. It had taken far longer than it ever should have. The reason: he kept stopping to look over his shoulder.
Frowning, he wondered if may be it wasn't time to start seeing a shrink. There were limits of good to paranoia. He might have reached his. Jack stopped his mental process. Time for a correction. It was definitely a necessity to see a shrink; a nice, normal one who wasn't from Crazyville.
That left out everyone who was even remotely connected to Eureka. This put a grimace on his face. The ones here tended to require heavy sedation and jail time.
He shown the light over the sole desk in the room. There was nothing on it.
Shifting the light, he dragged it over the rest of the furniture in the room. What he found made his heart beat a little faster. The computers that normally lined every surface were missing. It looked as if everything of value had been cleared out.
He supposed it made sense in a cold hearted logic. Something big had obviously happened and they had taken everything of value, including the people. That left just one problem.
"I've been left behind." Thoughts of that stupid series of books made him roll his eyes. Obviously it wasn't because of that. God had no use in computers, if he existed that was. Personally, Jack was more in favor of the belief in the Dodgers.
Still, there was the disturbing fact that he had been left out of whatever was going on. It also looked like there were no answers here. "They must have forgot that when they were clearing everything out." No matter, he had a Jeep and a functioning brain, he could get out of Eureka on his own.
And when he found out whoever was responsible, he would kill them slowly.
Since the information wasn't here, there was one final location he could try. Reaching in to his pocket, he pulled out his phone. He hit the autodial four on the phone and turned on the speaker since he didn't feel like having that voice in his ear. Much to his relief the line was picked up before the first ring was even complete.
"Hello, Sheriff Carter. What can I do for you today?"
"SARAH, thank god." He sighed with relief. Turning his back to the empty office, Jack raised his head to the ceiling and closed his eyes. "You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice."
"And yours. I have been very worried about you." The house's voice inflection changed to emote this.
"Yeah, thanks about that." Jack ran a hand over his eyes to wipe away the dust and sweat. "Look, I got a couple questions that seriously need answering and I am wondering if you can help."
"I will do my best. Shoot, Sheriff." The boundless enthusiasm was back in full force.
The words, however, made Jack shudder. "Okay, let's not get in to how wrong those last two words were together right now. First off, can you tell me if Zoey has contacted you today?"
"Zoey is just fine. Her class fieldtrip is going well."
"Excellent!" Snapping his fingers, Jack pumped a fist in the air. That lasted all of two seconds. Then he was back to frowning. "SARAH, why can't I get a hold of her?"
"She is most likely screening her calls. According to her message, the last time you allowed her to go any where with Lucas..." SARAH didn't get to finish as Jack scoffed.
"Great. Just freaking great." A huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Now that that was settled, he remembered the other problem. "Has anyone else called?"
"No, they have not. Should I be waiting for anyone in particular?"
Jack shook his head. Then he realized that the house couldn't see it while he wasn't inside the house. "No. It's just...there's no one else here. The town, GD, every where, there isn't a single living person."
"That's not true." The house sounded like it was a scolding him. "My connection to Global Dynamics security has given me access to the building's security system. Motion detector scans indicate there are lots of people directly in front of you."
"What?" Switching the phone to his other hand, Jack raised the flashlight. A sweep of the office revealed nothing. "SARAH, there's no one else in here with me."
"Look again, I am detecting them closing in on your position."
The words made Jack freeze. Swallowing, he turned the flashlight slowly to shine out the office window. His light soon found someone.
Pale, waxen skin stood out against white covered eyes. Mouth open, the man's jaw seemed to be hanging there.
"Uh, SARAH." Jack quickly swept the light away to the next person. It shown on several shambling figures that were indeed coming closer. "Is there something weird about these people you want to tell me?" He began to back away from the glass slowly.
The light reflected off a piece of metal as it moved. It was attached to a woman in a white labcoat, or what was left of her. Shifting back and forth, it eventually fell off from her slowly dragging the top half of her body up the stairs. There was no lower half.
SARAH chose this moment to respond. "Now that you mention it, there is indeed something most unusual about them. I am detecting no body heat signatures in my thermal sweep of the main hall. There must be a malfunction in the scanner."
Jack stopped once his legs hit the desk. "Oh, no, I think it's pretty accurate."
"That is not possible, Sheriff Carter." The house was back to scolding him. "There are no such things as Zombies."
"Not in the real world." Sliding along the desk, Jack switched the phone to the hand with the flashlight. Hand now free, he frantically ran it along the surface of the desk looking for the office controls. "But this isn't the real world. This is freaking Eureka!"
"Good point!" SARAH's exuberance was back in full force. "I will make note of this in my databanks for future reference. Would you care to hear practical solutions on dealing with Zombies? I have accumulated quite a library on the subject."
"Not really. Thanks. But remind me to kill Fargo next time I see him." Then, as if by some miracle, he found the control panel. "Yes!" Running his fingers over the buttons, he tried to activate the security protocols. Tried being the operative word.
"Oh, crap."
