BEGIN REPORT
FILE 018: THE WELL
I wasn't sure how long we'd been in the car. An hour? Possibly two? Roper and myself didn't speak much. Not on that initial journey. I'd pressed him, but he'd asked me to let him concentrate on driving. By the time we'd arrived at our destination it was dark.
I watched the headlights shining from his car as we snaked through country lanes flagged by high, over-arching leafless trees. I glanced up at them ominously, almost expecting them to reach down and grab the car for daring to attempt to disturb their slumber.
Finally we reached out destination - a clearing that narrowed towards a trail through the woods. Roper parked up the car as close to the tree line as possible, gave me a concerned look and then, with torch in hand, guided me away from the clearing and down a pathway. We walked for a good forty-five minutes to an hour. Roper explained to me that Horizon have facilities everywhere across the United Kingdom and beyond, and that some facilities are chosen with very clear intentions. The office blocks and the tall buildings and the urban locations are there as the face of the company, but there are other locations - more hidden locations - like Viking Wood and this place - that are chosen for other reasons.
More supernatural reasons.
Finally we came across something and Roper indicated for me to stay hidden. Crouching behind a particularly thorny bush, we glanced over the top of it. Another clearing - this time much smaller. It was surrounded by burning torches, illuminating the structure that sat in the middle of the clearing. It was a strange, wooden hut that looked like it had been built on top of a large, cut flat tree-trunk. It's rough was made with thatch or straw or something and set in the front of it was an old, metal door. Sat on a small tree stump not far from the front of the structure was a man dressed in a dark combat suit complete with domed helmet and night-vision goggles. He looked like he was almost asleep, but still clutched his rifle tightly to his side. Perched on the ground next to him was a flask.
Roper turned to me and whispered, "Welcome to the Well."
I was about the ask him if the well was inside the building or if the building was actually the Well itself, when he suddenly rose from behind the bus, cleared his throat and shouted a greeting to the armed guard.
And in that moment I wondered if I'd been deceived. Wondered if everything I had learned - this journey I had been on in the search for my daughter - had all been for nothing...
END REPORT
Copyright © 2022 by Jim Allenby
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