Title : SHADOWS

Author : Indie

Rating : PG 13

Disclaimer: All Characters belong to the author except for Ardeth Bey owned by Stephen Sommers and Universal Pictures. No infringement intended. The author doesn’t make money of the story.

"Do you love me?" He asked.

"I…." She avoided his gaze. She hesitated. Suddenly memories came rushing back in her head. Like motion pictures in her mind, frame by frame by frame.…

It was a few weeks ago when she first met him. She was on an assignment with the Naval Medical Research Unit in South East Asia. West of Borneo, to be exact. She arrived with a group of scientists and medical doctors in September, in the beginning of the rainy season. The group, which consisted of 5 people arrived in a compound located just half a mile from the forest.

The compound itself was separated in 3 parts. The biggest building was a laboratory filled with expensive, high tech devices probably the most advanced equipment ever seen in the area. The second one was a two level building where the doctors, scientists and other staff stayed. They call it the Building A. Building B was much smaller than A, for the US and local navy. There was a smaller building beside it, obviously kitchen and service area for the local people.

The whole compound was built on a high open ground. According to the ranger who had welcomed them, the site was once a forest as dense as the surroundings. A catastrophe that happened a couple of years ago wiped out most of the trees. It took months of works and joined forces to put out the fire. Neighboring countries like Japan, Australia, and Malaysia were participated in the joined efforts to stop the fire from wiping out the lung of the world.

Dr. Catherine J. Hetfield was the youngest among the group. She only had her 28^th birthday two weeks before she received her first oversea assignment. Cat, as her mother always called her, graduated from Harvard University with a cum laude. She was sent as one of the assistants to Dr. Jack Richardson, a biologist leading the project. Young as she was, her expertise in the field had proven that she was as capable as others. One of the advantages of being an awfully smart young person was having the opportunities to work with top rank scientists like Dr. Jack Richardson and Dr. Emma Corrigan.

She felt a warm, humid breeze, as they walked across the landing pad towards building A. She felt her skin sticky and her face hot. Her brown hair felt even stickier. It took them an hour flight by chopper from the airport to this remote area. But among other things, she felt thirsty. Her blue eyes swept the whole area, imagining what this place would be like at night. She felt goose bumps along her neck and shook the images out from her mind and quickly followed the others entering the building.

They were greeted by a short guy with round face who came towards them as quickly as his little feet allowed. Behind him another man, Chinese, slightly taller.

"Hello! Welcome to Randara Forest. I’m Johan Malik. And this is my assistant Dr. Danny Soputan"

"Nice to see you in person, Dr. Malik. I’m Jack Richardson and these are my colleagues and trustee assistants."

Names were quickly spoken, and hands shaken. Cat couldn’t wait for all the formality to end. All she wanted was having a cold water and taking a shower, and a little rest before started working. She was so anxious to start working on the research. After all, this was her first assignment out of the US.

She was briefed that the Randara Project was to find out the cause of the mysterious deaths of animals, especially monkeys and orangutans in the Randara Forest. The case was overlooked until it was found out that some people of the primitive tribe living inside the forest were starting to have severe skin irritation and respiration problems that led to slow and painful deaths. So far, only 5 people died of the strange plague. It had killed more monkeys than humans. The Indonesian Government had had scientists sent to investigate but having problems funding the research.

Cat was glad that she got a room on the second floor. Her wild imagination had led her to think that wild animals might jumped into her window at night. It was stupid she knew that. Dr. Malik said that dinner would be served at 8 PM in the service hall just beside the building B. They would start working in the morning. So much for her anticipation. Yet she realized that dusk fell faster in this side of the world, and darkness enveloped the compound even faster than she thought. From her window she could see that lights were limited to the landing pad and parking lot only. Nothing in this world could make her go out of the compound at night, she thought shivering.

Ardeth Bey seated himself at the table on the corner of the room, facing the entrance door. His dark eyes wandered around as more people coming in. His long dark hair was still damp from the shower he just took. He even took time trimming his beard. These American scientists obviously took time coming to this site, he thought. He’d been here for 2 days now with nothing to do except chatting with the local people and the navy. He wished he could just stroll down for a quick walk in the forest with Iwan, the ranger, but the military and navy were strict about people wandering around. He had heard stories of the mysterious deaths in Randara Village. After all, he’s been around Borneo for quite sometimes.

He had been around Indonesia for almost 3 years now, making awesome photographs on the people, culture, animals and environment through out the archipelago. He’d been working with various people, from anthropologists to environmentalists, from journalists to travel bureaus and agencies. Not to mention the individual enterprises and production houses. Life was kind to him in this part of the world. Local people treated him like a King. This country had become his second home now. He blinked and sighed when he remembered his home. He tried denying that his love for Indonesia was driven by his inability to return to his own home, Egypt. But deep down inside, he knew he was only a bird looking for a new nest.

Just as he finished his train of thoughts and began eating, Iwan came over and sat beside him. He was so cheerful and new spirited. As soon as he sat he burst words in Bahasa, the language of Indonesia.

"The scientists had just arrived this afternoon, at 5 PM. I showed them around the compound. They’ll start scouting early tomorrow morning."

Ardeth looked up to him and said nothing at first, then sighed, "Great."

"Why? You don’t look so anxious, Habib." He regarded Ardeth with the local custom to salute men from the Middle East.

Ardeth smiled, "My friend, judging from the time of their arrival, I bet they would call eleven o’clock early morning. We call it jet lag. They’ll have problem sleeping tonight."

Iwan laughed at that comment and they continued eating. They were joined by 2 navy officers shortly and four of them shared stories and good laughs, yet they noticed when the new comers entered the dining hall.

Cat was having conversation with Dr. Danny Soputan. He was a nice man, and a very good listener. Not to mention his handsome classical Chinese face. Cat who was a bit talkative really enjoyed the dinner. It was nice to have someone who could loosen up a bit. Her colleagues were mostly too serious to have light conversations. She looked around as Danny explained about the people in the compound.

"You see that big tall man talking to Dr. Richardson? That’s Lt. Jeff Leonard. And the man beside him is Lt. Eddy Subagio from Indonesian Navy."

"Are they going with us tomorrow?" Cat asked.

"No, they’ll send some ensigns with us, I guess. Dr. Malik is not going either. I’m going, though. How about you."

Cat didn’t answer him right away, her mouth was full and she looked like enjoying her meal so much. When finally she swallowed the last of her food she said, "Yep. I’m definitely going. Dr. Mark Hollis and Dr. Kevin Ryan too."

She looked at her empty plate, then at Danny, "This is really good. What do you call this beef stew? And the rice is soft, unlike the rice I ate in the US."

Danny smiled and answered, "It’s called Beef Pindang Masrani. Be careful, Cat. Although it was cooked to suite international taste, it’s still quite spicy. I don’t want you to wake up in the morning with a stomachache." He smiled charmingly.

"Don’t worry about me, Danny. I love spicy food." She smiled back at him, "I guess I better go back to my room now, Danny. We’ll have a big day tomorrow."

"I’d stay for a while. Good night, Cat. See you in the morning".

"Good night, Danny, and thanks for your company". With that she rose from her seat and walked out of the hall.

OOOOOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOOOO

She tossed and turned in bed. Damn, she thought. She’d been trying to sleep for 2 hours, but it seemed like the Sandman took his time visiting her. She knew she had jet lag, but she preferred blaming it on the heat. She sat down and then stood up in front of her window. She saw some navy officers on guard. It wasn’t that bad out there, she thought. Not as bad as her imagination, anyway. So she put on her clothes and walked out of her bedroom. The corridor seemed longer at night, she noticed, but she knew it was only the effect of the dim lighting.

OOOOOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOOOO

Covering her face with one hand, she ran through the corridor as fast as her feet could take her. When she finally reached the door, she hurriedly took the handle. But it was hot and she screamed when it burned her palm. She pushed the door with her shoulder. Once, twice, three times, and more and more but it wouldn’t open. She kicked it over and over again, trying to crack it open. But she was beginning to lose strength. Her lung was full of smoke and her eyes burned from the heat. She coughed and her throat felt like burning. Still she kicked and banged, screaming one name "David!!" over and over again, until the strength left her body and darkness enveloped her vision. She fell down to the floor, unconscious. He could only watched from a distance, unable to neither move nor speak. Suddenly the door burst open with a deafening sound. Fire stormed out of the room in the form of hands… hundreds of them.. no…. thousands of them, all reaching out to him, holding him, covering him. He was choked to death. The hands wouldn’t let him breath…. He let out a scream… and opened his eyes wide.

He was sweating and out of breath. He covered his face with both hands and started sobbing quietly. Slowly his breathing came back to normal and he pulled himself up, brought his knees to his chest and buried his face down. His long hair fell down covering his buried head and knees. "Forgive me….." He whispered. Ardeth stayed that way for a while. When he finally looked up, his tears were dried and his face looked empty. He let out a long sigh and lied down. He stared at the ceiling. Just staring, with nothing on his mind. Sleep came back to him, but not before a long time.

OOOOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOOOO

Cat continued walking and went down the stairs to the ground floor. She thought she heard a scream, not loud, but it came from the first room on the ground floor just by the stairs. She listened carefully, but there was nothing. All she could hear was the sound of the night creatures of the forest. She shook her head and smiled and went outside the building towards the nearest US navy on guard. He looked at her and stood up. They talked for a while and she sat down beside him. A moment later she seemed to have conversations with him, although it looked like she did all the talking. The sky was strangely dark, but she could see clouds. She didn’t see one star. She asked Ensign Hawk.

"It’s just a usual cloudy night, Doctor. It will rain soon, usually two or three hours before dawn. It will get colder then. Now, it’s just as hot as hell." He explained.

"Yes, you are right Ensign. I can’t even feel any breeze. I guess that is why it’s so hot and humid out here."

Ensign Hawk smiled and said, "Welcome to the rain forest, Doctor."

They continued having conversations for one hour, when Ensign Hawk finally excused himself to go for a round. Cat wanted to go around with him, but she suddenly felt tired. She went back to her bedroom and tried to sleep. She was half asleep when it started to rain. She slept well through the night, curled up in her bed in a dreamless sleep.