Back To You

Chapter 1

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, a young man was on a journey that, unbeknownst to him, was about to send his quiet, boring life into a tumbling freefall.

The narrow road stretched ahead with no other vehicle in sight as Aidan Summers rode leisurely on his motorcycle. Technically, it still belonged to his brother, but Aidan often wondered if he would ever have a chance at returning the bike to its rightful owner.

The road continued for miles, a straight line touching the horizon in the faraway distance. Dense forest hugged it on either side, the overhanging branches of some loftier trees casting heavy shadows as Aidan passed through.

Aidan was already beginning to regret his decision to accept this new job, far from the comforts of city living. It certainly seemed like an excellent idea at the time to work for the government as a medical science researcher in a top-notch facility equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories.

What spurred him on was the lucrative pay, better than anything he'd dreamed of as a young scientist with loads of student loans hanging over his head like a constant waterlogged cloud. Even then, it had taken his indecisive self, an attribute his old colleagues had jokingly and somewhat sarcastically labelled a beautiful flip flop mind, three whole months to accept the position.

Now though, he wasn't so sure if it was worth it. Aidan pulled over by the roadside to study the navigation app on his phone. He'd keyed in the GPS coordinates given by his new employer, but it seemed like there was nothing on the map but dense forest. The nearest town had been a good hour and a half away, and he still had another hour's drive, at the least.

Frowning in mild concern over the lack of civilization in such a vast area, Aidan decided there wasn't much choice but to carry on and placed his phone back on the hands-free bike holder before resuming his journey. He was definitely not going to have much of a social life here. Aidan smiled ruefully under the helmet's visor, realising he didn't really have much of a social life before this either.

It was late in the day, and it would not be long before he would lose light. Already, the sun was beginning its lazy approach westwards.

The setting sun cast long, streaky shadows from the dangling overhead branches, which, coupled with the eerie silence on the empty road, made the hairs on Aidan's arms stand up under his protective riding jacket. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw movement deep in the shadows of the foliage to his left. But, glancing sharply into the darkness, he could see nothing but gently swaying branches.

Aidan let out a shaky breath. It was a long day, and he was tired. So tired that his mind was finally beginning to play nasty tricks on him. He began to relax as he focused entirely on the road ahead, but then his muscles bunched together tightly seconds later.

'Wait, wait a sec. There's no breeze in the air.' All around him, the air was still, with no tell-tale rustle of leaves accompanying the wind. If that was the case, then what had caused those branches to sway?! Panicked, he whipped his head back to the left. No movement, not even in the undergrowth.

Aidan's fingers tightened their grip on the handlebars as he increased acceleration, not taking any chances on the possibility that a large herd animal might come running out of the woods.

The last thing he wanted was to die by being skewered on a pair of antlers. The headlines would probably read 'Death by Impalement: Scientist Killed en route to Work' or 'Killer Moose Ends Man's Life'. Not the best way to be remembered!

After speeding along for the rest of the journey, he finally reached a fork in the road and followed the navigation app to keep left. As he travelled further, the woods began to thin out gradually until they ended altogether, at the edge of a large lake.

Aidan was left staring in a stupor at the sight before him. The road had ended, but in its place was a long bridge leading all the way to the centre of the vast lake where an island protruded from calm waters. There, sitting dab smack on the isle, arose a building several stories high and built almost right to the edge of the available land surface.

'First impressions? Not good, not good at all,' Aidan thought uneasily. The place looked like a prison. Or maybe a bomb shelter. It was a solid, rectangular structure coloured a drab grey, with minimal windows. The few available ones were tiny, definitely too small to climb through.

'What, already thinking of escaping through a window, are we?' Aidan winced at the awkward direction of his thoughts. Even so, he made a mental reminder to memorise the emergency escape routes in the off chance of a fire.

A massive garage-style metal roller door located at the point of the building nearest to the bridge seemed to be the main front entrance, but at that moment, it was sealed shut.

Although he was quite a distance away from the structure, Aidan could make out the high chain-link fencing topped with barbed wire that encircled the perimeter of the building. This was not at all what he'd imagined a laboratory would look like.

His previous workplace was at a prestigious university, where modern-day architecture was interspersed with older, classical design buildings. The science building he'd spent most of his waking hours at was modern steel and glass, shiny and dazzling, the total opposite to the building now facing him.

After staring at the grey monstrosity a while longer, Aidan slowly made his way across the concrete bridge, regret and self-doubt increasingly growing. Hopefully, what the place lacked in creative architecture, it would make up for in other ways.

Aidan hadn't noticed it at first but at the other end of the bridge and tucked away to the side was a guard post. As he neared, a muscular security personnel dressed in all-black exited from the door and addressed him as he came to a stop. "Sir, this is a restricted area. I'm going to have to ask you to head back the way you came."

Aidan had half a mind to do so. Instead, he pulled off his helmet before smiling politely at the expressionless man. "I'm a new employee. Professor Wallace is expecting me."

Just then, the large metal shutters started squeaking to life as they slowly rolled open to reveal a familiar face, making Aidan exhale in genuine relief. "Professor Wallace!"

The man headed towards him with long strides, "Please, just call me Robert. It's good to see you, Aidan."

Robert Wallace was the man responsible for sweet-talking Aidan into joining his research team. He was handsome in a masculine, rugged way, with a strong jawline and tall physique. Only the flecks of white in his otherwise dark, wavy hair was any indication that he was in his late forties or early fifties. His green eyes, speckled with hints of brown, held a sharpness to them as if nothing could escape his notice.

Right now, he was looking at Aidan with a rueful expression. "My apologies, Aidan. I planned to be here before you arrived, but I wasn't expecting you to get here before sundown."

Aidan chuckled before replying, "I made good time." He decided not to mention why he'd ridden like a speed demon to reach so early in the first place.

Turning to the security, the professor stated, "This is Aidan Summers, our new researcher. He'll be working directly under me."

The guard gave a small nod of acknowledgement. "Noted, sir," the man said before addressing Aidan once more, "Welcome to the Unified Research Centre, Mr Summers."