“The past is but the beginning of a beginning,
 and all that is and has been is the twilight of
   the dawn.”
  --H.G. Wells

--October 29th, 1997
 Finally!  The chain breaks.
 Slowly removing it, the dark man opens the door and looks around.  Finding a light switch, he flips it.
 Ah, this place will do nicely.  He’s amazed at how much equipment was still left.  As long as some of it still worked. . .
 He set down his few possessions: A suitcase containing pajamas, a toothbrush, some socks and underwear, a change of clothes, and a family picture--Him, his wife Elizabeth, and his son Robert, or Robbie for short.  In the other hand he carried a small plastic reptile cage, which contained his son’s pet lizard.  A green anole, he identified.  Too perfect.  Not the same species, but close enough.
 He put both on a table near the door and looked around again.  This small lab shut down not too long after the fire.  How long ago was that?  A few weeks?  Months. . ?  Time didn’t seem to matter, especially after Liz left. . . with Robbie. . .
 The lab was not as well equipped as his old one, but it would do.  It would do just fine.
 For the first time in weeks, Zachary smiled.