His palms were moist, he breathed deeply, in through the mouth out through the nose, was the mantra he repeated to himself. Jess, was coming, coming t... see him, he felt venerable in his own environment, a vision of her flashed through his mind, he sat down again and afforded himself a little smile, he was calm again.A normal journey felt anything but, sitting next to the window she had plenty of time to take in the scenery and while away the time, but all eyes were on her. Every glance she took. She looked at David's face, which lost its fear and became hardened, watchful. She could almost see how hard he was listening for for sounds and knew well how he felt. Neither of them could afford to get caught messing around at work. Thankfully, the heels kept walking past the door, but it brought home how vulnerable they were in this closet. Suddenly, David said "I have the key to the VPs office. I forgot she gave it to me before going on her business trip. She said I could use it for private. So what if it wasn’t the most romantic proposal in the world. He had followed through with the ring.The door opened and a smallish woman with a limp walked into the reception area. Claudia glanced up at the woman thinking about all of the unusual characters who passed through the office in search of solutions to their problems. It was only when the woman stopped at the desk that Claudia noticed the jagged red scar that ran across the woman’s face. The woman asked, “Is Magus available?”“Sure,”. The usually crowded walkways were deserted now, there wasn’t a soul in sight, they had all retreated to safety.“Emergency power state,” Vasiliev explained, noticing our expressions. “Energy is being diverted to critical systems. Now come on, stop gawking and get moving, recruits.”The Staff Sergeants fanned out, escorting our column as we set off at a jog. My heart raced, and not because of the exertion. The odd lighting created dark shadows, my mind playing tricks on me, warning me of horrors.