Greenhaus Part 1: A Storm Brews by Bryan Reckelhoff

wore a dingy suit, similar to what he wore, except made of cloth and layered with dirt. While he had a new custom suit prepared daily, this one had quite possibly never been washed and was ill fitting. The filth hid her well enough, camouflaging her with the terrain. Jacob made a downward motion with his hands, telling her to keep still.
    Her eyes were wide set, large and round. Jacob watched her eyeballs flitter back and forth nervously. He felt sympathy and wanted badly to help her escape th is predicament, but was powerless to do so. He tried to speak to her with his eyes and passive body language, hoping he could calm the Outsider who had obviously gone astray. But how did she slip past the defenses? Is this what I saw up in the hills earlier?
    Had this been any other day, Jacob would have instantly called in the Rangers to remove the threat, but the bombshell dropped by Jasper changed things. They locked eyes for just a few seconds, but he would have sworn it was much longer. Jacob wiped ano ther trickle of blood with his sleeve, and then broke the enchanted stare, checking behind him briefly before returning his gaze to the hazel eyes on the other side of the glass.
    He wished for a way to silently tell her things would be okay, that he was t here to help her. He moved away from the glass, so as not to draw attention to the area. She was hidden from view by the stack of steel, but if anyone else came close, they would see her.
    He shook the cobwebs from his fall before addressing the Rangers tha t were questioning Jasper.  “Ranger Wells, Ranger Bragg, I saw something,” exclaimed Jacob, yelling loudly over the alarm. “It started out in the flatland, about halfway between here and the hills and was moving east at a pretty good clip. It ranged out of my view, but it definitely headed due east of here,” he continued as he pointed out into the wasteland and showed them the direction the nonexistent entity moved.
    The Rangers contingent, led by Rangers Bragg and Wells, vacated the area, exiting in a singl e line through the tunnel into the barren land. Then, Jacob turned to Jasper and said, “You had better get to decon, I saw what triggered the alarm, and this could take awhile, we might be done for the day. I will finish the tie downs and lock ups and see you there.”
    He didn ’t like lying to Jasper, or the Rangers for that matter, but his guilt was lessened by the fact that Jasper had kept so much from him for so long and caused Jacob’s mind to wonder what else was being hidden from him. Nonetheless, Jasper was a close friend of his father, the last to ever speak to him, a mentor to Jacob himself and deserved the truth, which Jacob planned to tell him once they both entered decon.
    “ You need to get in there too, Jacob,” Jasper yelled. “Look at your face. You’re cut.” Jasper attempted to examine the cut as Jacob pulled away.
    “ It’s nothing,” he assured Jasper. “Just a little slip is all. You go on ahead. I have to explain what I saw, when they get here,” Jacob explained, pointing to the next set of Rangers about to enter Annex 23.
    “ Okay, but hurry up, you need treatment,” responded Jasper, his voice more upbeat than ever. “I have something important to tell you,” he leaned in and whispered, “But I can’t do it in there,” he said pointing at decon. “Might have to wait till we are on the beams tomorrow. It’s safe up there.”
    Jacob fed the second group of Rangers the same story he gave the first. They trotted into the tunnel, headed east to hunt a ghost, while Jacob watched and waited until he could return to the glass . As instructed, the thin framed girl with the strange hair, braided to look like rope, lay motionless, presumably scared out of her mind. He could not see much else about her physical appearance, much of it hidden by her mask and baggy clothes, but the pain in her eyes struck him. He saw the host of demons haunting her. He did his best to ease her mind,