JUNE – and The Aeternae - S01 E02

Story 3 years ago

JUNE – and The Aeternae - S01 E02

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 2

THE HOLE

**********

FLASHBACK

Grenville, Tennessee – 4th July, 1990.

The cops surrounded a crash site as they began to search the nearby woods hoping to find clues to what dug the massive hole filled with flames.

“No survivors found sir. Nothing is out there.” A cop said to his superior.

“Ever seen anything like it?” the cop chief asked

“No sir” Another cop responded.

“It’s like a plane nose dived here or something..” the cop chief said again pacing around curiously.

“Sir we found something” a cop said from afar to the chief’s hearing, they all rushed to his direction immediately.

**********

Sinclair Pharmaceutical HQ

“Mr Patrick Sinclair, thank you for arranging this meeting on a very short notice.” A man said as he shook hands with Patrick.

“You’re welcome sir, please have a seat” Patrick responded gesturing his hands to a seat.

“Without wasting much time, we’ll get down to business. We were finally granted permission to the crash site, some say it’s a meteor crash, some say it was an explosion. Whichever it is, we found something that might interest you” The man said as he placed a briefcase on the table and opened it up.

“This is a rare type of organism, we don’t know what it is, which is why we’re bringing it to your attention” he said as he brought out what looks like a worm moving in random manner enclosed in a glass jar.

“Rare indeed” he said and nodded. He took the jar from the man and observed it closely.

“What makes this creature strange is the fact that it came out of the burning hole dug by the meteor or explosive whatever. It seems like its got thick skin for flames” the man said while Patrick took a closer inspection of the organism in the glass jar.

“Thank you for bringing this to our notice Mr Andrews. We’ll see what we can find on it and get back to you” Patrick said and shook hands once again as they both stood up.

“Be careful Mr Sinclair, we don’t know what that is.” Mr Andrews said and took his leave.

Patrick dropped the jar on the table, drew his landline closer and punched in some digits.

“Hello Vivian, I need Thomas and Dylan in my office right away” he said and dropped the call.

Few minutes later, Dr Thomas and Dylan walked in.

“Take a look at this, it was discovered at the crash site.” he said handing over the jar to Thomas.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before” Dr. Thomas said handing over the jar to Dylan who also took a closer look at the moving worm-like creature in the jar.

“no idea boss” Dylan said handing the jar back to Patrick.

“You know what makes this ugly buddy here special??”

“It’s got a thick skin for fire. That means fire can’t kill it or melt it” Patrick said as Thomas and Dylan both look confused.

“This could be the answer! With this we can change humanity forever! Make history and reshape how the world works.” Patrick said raising his fist in the air.

“I still don’t get it” Thomas said looking at Dylan who shrugged in confusion.

“Gentlemen, we’ll run some tests on this creature, find out whatever it is that makes it so immune to flames and by that, we could make humanity immune to fire”

“Not only that, this might be our jackpot to producing the world’s first ever immortality serum”

“with this gentlemen, we hold the key to life” Patrick said raising the jar in the air and smiled as Dylan and Thomas finally understood what it was all about.

**********

PRESENT DAY

Grenville Central High School

“We gather together on this day to mourn the loss of a beloved student, a brother, a son and a friend”

“His death was an unfortunate one and we will do everything within our reach to make sure he gets the justice he deserves for such cruelty he faced.” The school principal said standing on a podium with a microphone facing him in a large hall filled with students and parents who all came to pay their respect to Jeremy Cooper, the murdered student.

“Jeremy Cooper was a brilliant student, one cherished and love by all, we hope almighty God grant his family the fortitude to bear such tragic loss”

“May his soul rest in peace” The Principal concluded.

June and Rose both walked down the hallway after exiting the hall.

“We’ll be waiting in the car honey” Doris said and held hands with Patrick as they both walk away ahead of June and rose.

“I don’t like that Dominic guy” June said in a straight face

“Oh i see you’re tryna hide your crush on him huh” Rose said rubbing shoulders with June playfully

“No.. Its not that.” June responded.

“Then what is it?” Rose questioned

“Dom shows up in town for the first time, came to school for the first time, tried to separate a fight and got beaten instead” June said

“And?” Rose asked

“And he enquired about Jeremy’s name and boom Jeremy dies on that very day. A horrible death!” June said.

“You’re overthinking June. Oh come on, Dom is a chap you obviously fancy and you’re just doing all this to distract yourself from that” Rose said smiling

“Rose, no! I think Dom did this. Jeremy beats him up, Dom asked who he was and Jeremy ended up dead. Coincidence?” June said

“Yes June. But.. We’ll need to be careful with Dom. We’ll watch him closely. he’s weird indeed” Rose said as Dominic waved both of them from afar grinning

“He makes me sick!” June said with a face like she’s about to puke

“June Sinclair!” Rose said and laughed as they both held hands and laughed away.

**********

June sat alongside her parents in the dining room for dinner, The thought of Dom ran through her mind. She’s always open with her parents and felt like informing them about her suspicions of Dominic but decided it was too early to make assumptions on someone who she barely knew.

“June, are you okay?” Patrick asked noticing June hasn’t touched her food.

“I’m fine dad. Just stressed up with school stuff” she said smiling as she dipped her spoon into the bowl of clam chowder.

Just then, Her Motorola MicroTAC cellphone rang. She stretched out the antenna and pushed the answer button.

“Hello” She said softly

“June!” Rose’s deafening voice blared out

‘Hi Rose, What’s up?” she said.

“You won’t believe what i just saw”

“What?” June asked

“I am currently at the supermarket to get some stuff and guess who i saw? Dominic!” Rose said over the phone.

“Okay…..” June responded

‘He’s dressed up in a hoodie looking like someone who’s up to no good. I made sure he didn’t see me, but my guts tells me he’s up to no good. Remember this was exactly the same time Jeremy got murdered?” Rose said finally catching June’s interest.

“Yeah that true! You know what? Just wait right there. I’ll be there in a minute.” June said.

“Okay” Rose said as June hung up and push back the antenna in.

“Going somewhere?” Her mom enquired.

“Uhm… Yes, it’s Rose she needs help with her school project. The deadline is tomorrow. She’s just telling me about this.” June said looking down as she doesn’t lie to her parents. She couldn’t look them in the eye and lie.

“Fine. I’ll drop you off” Her dad said standing up.

“No dad. It’s totally fine, I can go myself. I’ll be okay i promise” she said

“See y’all later.” She said as she tied her shoelace and got up to leave.

June rushed outside, took her bicycle and sped off. She got to Walmart in less than 5 minutes as she met Rose waiting at the car park.

“He has been standing there for some minutes, he appears to be talking on phone” Rose said pointing at Dominic standing across the street with his cellphone in his ears.

“He’s going.. Come on” June said as she took her bicycle again and trailed Dominic behind closely. Dominic rode his bicycle slowly as Rose followed June behind on her bicycle too.

They got far and suddenly lost track of Dominic.

“Where the f--k did he go?” Rose whispered to June as they drove their bicycle side by side.

“I have no idea…” June responded in a low tone.

“June.. We should turn back now!” Rose said as they approached a gigantic hole gushing out thick fumes.

“I think Dom is there.. Let’s have a closer look at what’s in it. Relax” June said as they got closer to the hole and dropped their bike.

“What the hell happened here??” Rose asked surprised looking at June as June began to stagger.

“June?? Are you okay?” Rose asked shaking June as June’s legs began to fail.

“Oh my goodness, the fumes are causing the attack. Did you bring your inhalers? We need to administer it as soon as possible” Rose asked ransacking June’s jacket pockets.. June shake her head slowly indicating no as she finally collapsed and convulsed.

“June! June! Somebody help!!” Rose screamed as she heard footsteps from the woods.

“Stay back! Or I’ll shoot” Rose said hoping it would scare whoever or whatever it is that was approaching.

“June stay with me! I’ll get you home” Rose said as she held June closely while the steps got closer. Suddenly more steps began to surround her as if hundreds were coming out of the woods in all direction. The smoke from the hole got thicker as rose began to cough, getting choked by the smoke.

“Stay back! I’ll kill you” she screamed with tears in her eyes as the steps got more closer. June lay helplessly as rose rested her head on her laps.

“Stay ba….” rose screamed as her words were cut short as something dragged herself and June forcefully into the woods. Rose and June lied side by side unconscious.