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Those traveling to the tiny Alaskan town of Chignuk will notice, along its coast, human-like statues that watch over the roiling Pacific like sentinels.
These are no mere guardians, however, and those passing offshore of Chignuk would be wise to not stop…unless, of course, it’s too late.
This story begins with Jamie Harrison, a CDC employee tasked with figuring out the strange, lurking evil haunting Chignuk and its townspeople.
Of all of the CDC’s 15,000 employees, Jamie Harrison was somehow chosen for this job. On the morning he was set to leave, he woke up early in his home in Washington state, shivering against the crisp October air that had somehow come through his shut windows.
The alarm on his desk read 4:00 A.M.
Jamie brushed his teeth and hair, splashed water on his face to wake himself up, and drove himself to the airport. $50 in parking fees and a short security line later, he was at his gate.
Jamie Harrison had worked for the CDC for two years, which meant that he was still a low enough man on the totem pole that he could be shuffled off to Alaska at a moment’s notice, right at the brink of snow season, to investigate a case of toxic mold.
That said, he wouldn’t go it alone, as he’d be meeting two others, a doctor and a researcher when he landed.
As he sat at his gate, dreading the four-hour flight ahead of him, he looked over his notes.
The notes didn’t say much, and the job, Jamie felt, was akin to grunt work. Apparently, some strange-looking mold had been reported on the Southern Alaskan coast near a town called Chignuk. The greenish-gray mold had found its way into peoples’ homes, where it was reportedly making them sick.
There wasn’t much else to note, but it was enough to cause concern.
Especially since the species of mold had yet to be identified.
The green-gray mold was resistant to just about everything, from bleach to heavier-hitting mold removers. Jamie Harrison was to show up in Chignuk and drive his rented car around, getting samples of the mold to bring it back to a pop-up lab in the center of town.
He’d try to do his own investigative work, but Jamie had a feeling he’d be sending all of his samples to the CDC.
After all, if no one else had figured it out, how could he?
Martina Lewis and Jordan Richards—those were the two scientists he’d be working with. They’d already conducted preliminary interviews with the residents of the remote region. Martina, a doctor, had also run some medical tests on willing participants.
Richards was stumped. The Alaskan native sounded ready to throw in the towel when Jamie had called him, saying he didn’t know what the mold was.
“It might not even be mold.” Jamie had scribbled down that quote from Jordan in the margins of one of his papers.
Meanwhile, for her part, Martina had said it was “definitely toxic mold.” The residents had all the symptoms, including weight loss, pain, numbness and tingling, brain fog, and a metallic taste in the mouth. It was a case right out of the CDC’s guidelines, she’d said.
Jamie snapped his notes shut, looking around the brightly lit airport. A dull headache was thudding behind his eyes.
He was intrigued by the case, but, right now, all he wanted was a hot coffee.
One hot coffee from the airport Starbucks later, Jamie was ready to board the plane. He handed the person at the gate his ticket and headed onto the airplane.
He didn’t notice the man standing a few people behind him in line. The tall, dark-haired stranger watched him like a hawk, his eyes ironlike. He never moved his gaze from Jamie, as though ensuring the scientist got on the plane the way he was supposed to.
When the man boarded, he sat a few rows behind Jamie, just close enough to keep an eye on him during the flight.
The flight went relatively smoothly, save for a few instances of turbulence. Jamie was slightly nauseous by the time he disembarked from the plane, and he was relieved to see Jordan waiting for him on the tarmac. The iron-eyed man who had watched Jamie got off the plane quickly, walking away before anyone could spot him.
“Jamie!” Jordan called, waving him over. “You’re right on time.”
“Hi, Jordan,” Jamie said, hearing the tiredness in his voice. “Thanks for picking me up.”
“Not a problem,” Jordan said. Jamie reached into his suitcase and took some ibuprofen, hoping that that would nip his headache in the bud. The two got in Jordan’s car, and they drove to Chignuk. The country inn where Jamie was staying was nice if a bit dated.
Jordan left Jamie to settle in, offering to bring him his car a little later.
Jamie thanked Jordan again, flopped on the bed, and closed his eyes.
Jamie’s room was rustic, a relic from the seventies, but very clean. Though he didn’t want to be paranoid, he searched his bathroom from top to bottom to see if there were any grayish-green splotches.
He found none, though he did find a small spider in the sink drain. Slightly grossed out, he ran the water quickly.
The black spider quickly went down the sink, offering no resistance to what must have seemed, to him, like a tidal wave.
Martina and Jordan came by later, Martina driving the car that the CDC had rented for Jamie. It was a beat-up Corolla, but it would do. The three of them met down at the country inn’s restaurant to talk about the case.
Jamie was somewhat relieved to find that his job would be pretty straightforward. Martina had a list of residents around the area for him to interview, along with their addresses.
He’d do the interviews, collect his samples, and head to the lab tomorrow.
“It’s the funniest thing,” Martina said, “The mold is causing different symptoms in everyone, but I still think it isn’t anything too new. Jordan, I know you’re not convinced.”
Jordan cleared his throat, putting down his fork. The three had treated themselves to a hearty meal of steaks for Jamie’s first night.
“It’s not that I’m not sure,” he said, “It’s that it’s rare to find a species of mold that hasn’t been identified before.”
“Humans have been at this naming game for centuries,” Jordan continued, “And it’s weird that we wouldn’t have seen this before. It doesn’t even look that different, but the way it acts…I don’t know..”
Jamie had yet to see the mold, but he nodded. “Well, you never know. I’ll reserve judgment for now, but I’m open to anything.”
“The old government neutrality,” Martina joked. “Nice.” The three of them laughed, and, after a few hours, Jamie retired to his room.
Sleep came quickly for Jamie that night, the darkness of Alaska blanketing him almost as soon as he shut his eyes. But, he was plagued by vivid, strange dreams throughout the night.
He remembered nothing of them when he woke, save for an image of a line of dark figures guarding the dark waters off the Alaska coast. Though inanimate, Jamie remembered feeling an intense fear of them in his dream
He looked out the window. Behind the inn was a dark evergreen forest, one that seemed untouched by sunlight.
