Out Of The Shadows! (UPDATE) Chapter one edited - New Novel idea - Russian / Paranormal thriller / Horror

Ivan and Yvette Chomsky are Ukrainian scientists with unique talents and in their time with the Russian Parapsychology unit in Lipetsk 470 km south of Moscow.

There two boys Dragon and Alexei remember little of their childhood in Odesa but still have grandparents living in the coastal city.

It's not long before they realize that there is sinister goings on within the unit, and Ivan is murdered by Dr Grigory Shikov for trying to sabotage the final connection.

The boys lives are turned upside down in a chase across the country and to Odesa where more death and ruin follow them until they are whisked away by UN secret service where they are transported to the US under a cloud of secrecy never before seen by two young agents Rhet Jackson and Alice Dobbs.

Russian sleeper agents are activated by Shikov in a bid to find the boys and return them to Lipetsk for his malevolent needs, based on lies and minimal information he has from the “shadows”.

Anton Chomsky is one step ahead of Dr Shikov and is doing all he can to make good on a promise to his brother, to keep the boys safe and help them understand who they are.

The result is a fast paced paranormal fight for the boy’s souls and No-one can predict the future! Or can they!

Chapter 1 – Knowing

The moonlit bedroom is only sparsely furnished, but to Russian standards it was more than comfortable. The room warm, and beds inviting with a few luxuries, that others may not be able to get their hands on, like a Spiderman nightlight and a draw full of comics. The air warm, but with the cold winter chill seeping through the frost covered window is had an edge to it that made snuggling under covers an inevitable outcome.

Hand drawn pictures in crayon and color pencil, muted by the night light were displayed around the bed where six year old Alexei slept, and across the room the muffled breathing of his older brother Dragon was his only comfort. Dragon had a myriad of toys both wooden and metal comprising mostly of military cars, tanks and airplanes and an array of metallic arms bent at strange angles. The walls had pictures from magazines sent by his grandfather in Odesa of his favorite super hero Spiderman. Being three years older than his brother Dragon was out of the childish games as he put it, but he was always at his younger sibling’s side ready to defend him at any cost. He did not quiet know why this was but he knew he had to look after him not only now but for as long as they lived, and his quiet demeanor never overshadowed his outgoing and loving nature.

Lipetsk the town they live in is best known for its iron ore but mainly the spiritual and reported healing properties of its sought after mud baths where they have carried out the art of Balneotherapy, or the act of healing through mineral waters since the eighteen hundreds.

The rail link between Moscow and the town bring new people every day to bath in the nutrient rich waters and the Airbase north of the town where their parents work, ensures the locals a high standard of living and bring much needed money into the area. Alexei loves nothing more than to swim in the baths and his brother Dragon, enjoys the serenity of fishing in the nearby Voronezh River.

Life as they know it is a wondrous thing but the amount of time their parents spend at work means they do not see them often enough, and it’s there live in grandparents Olga and Boris who look after and nurture them more than not.

The last train was leaving the station and the distant rumble of the metal wheels on the predestined tracks as it left for its journey to Moscow, told Alexei it was now after eight pm and he should be asleep by now. He looked at his hand drawn pictures on the wall next to him and marveled at the places he had seen in his dreams. Each one a new and exciting place, his favorite a mountain top protruding out of a sea of fluffy white clouds that he imagined would be warm and inviting as well as the chill of the always present snow upon the covered peak, that he imagined he would one day walk upon.

His other favorite picture was a vast yellow beach in the shape of a half moon covered with small dots representing people who were swimming and having fun, families frolicking in the water between two bright red flags and men with hands on heads looking out to sea ensuring the safety of those enjoying the bright sun which was drawn in the top left hand corner with squiggly yellow lines depicting the suns warming rays.

But there was one of Alexei’s drawings that stood apart from all others, and this was a dark, almost sinister composition of muted midnight hues. The swirls of blacks, blues and purples, broken only by the faintest of silhouettes against the inky pencil and crayon smeared background. The shape hiding in the shadows could almost be humanoid in shape but for the glaring pale yellow eyes that seemed to fix onto the viewer from whatever angle it was gazed from. Alexei gasped as he was drawn away from his dark depiction to his sleeping brother, by a muted sigh, which told him he had drifted off to sleep and was dreaming of being his favorite superhero Spiderman, saving the world and swinging through the tall city landscape.

Alexei shifted his eyes to the picture on his side table of his parents, Ivan and Zoya, and as he focused a warm feeling inside made him smile, because it was one from last Christmas at his Uncle Antons house in Odesa.

His father was working late tonight at the air force compound, which he had only seen once when he was taken by his father to pick up his mother, but he disliked the grey place of concrete and steel almost instantly.

It was a grey and dark place that was surrounded on all sides by high electrified fences that had guard towers and searchlights that cut through the darkness with the precision of an owl hunting prey by the light of the moon. The buildings were mainly concrete and reinforced with something he had forgotten that his father did tell him once to shield out any radiation or something like that, and the place that he and his mother worked was deep underground in a sealed bunker where no radio signals could get in or out.

Shadows darted in and around the buildings as the searchlights moved and as he remembered, an ice cold shiver travelled the base of his spine to the nape of his neck, and Alexei let out an involuntary moan along with a breath that gathered into a mist, as it left the warmth his mouth. Alexei rolled over, closed his eyes, and started thinking of the long yellow sands in his drawing, the warmth of the sun on his skin instantly made him feel comforted as he and his family were there playing and enjoying a day at the beach, building sand castles and splashing Dragon as they swam.

Ivan was sitting in the cold familiarity of the break room, sipping on half cold bitter coffee, thinking that he should be at home in the arms of his lovely Zoya, but a slap on the back brought him back to the artificially lit and he thought vacant room.

“Ivan, how is the residual energy magnifier work coming along, excellent I trust?” a dark and thick accented voice known to Ivan said as the owner dragged the chair next to him with an angry growl and sat, legs crossed and arms placed behind his head. The name tag that hung from the coat did nothing to hide the surly disposition of Dr. Grigory Shikov. It’s common knowledge that Comrade Shikov, is ex KGB and his records and dealings before coming to Lipetsk are a highly guarded and dubious matter. The Dr. is a shady character with links to the old school and reports of black market organized crime syndicates also. The dark brooding brow and thick set jaw match the large solid frame of the fifty eight year old and the strength of his mind is carried through to the rest of his body. Eyes that almost see through you are what Ivan hates the most, it’s almost like he can sense when you’re lying!

“It’s coming along doctor; we will be trialing it along with the voice amplifier tomorrow in the lower basement as requested”. Ivan replied sipping his terse caffeine, and letting the tepid fluid coat his throat as he swallowed nervously.

Dr. Shikov shifted in his chair taking in the fact that there was no-one else around them, he drew close to Ivan, so close Ivan could smell the sour vodka on his breath that was attempting to be concealed poorly by the stench of the cigar he had just lit and blown the first feted breath in the general direction of Ivan. The blue smoke, making a cloud of distrust around Ivan and stalled his words as he started to answer, but was cut short by Shikov as he leaned in close.

“For your sake Ivan, I hope we get some results this time. I am sick of reporting back to the general that we are still oh so close!” he whispered with a thickness that you could cut with a knife and Ivan knew it was indeed a threat.

Ivan shifted uncomfortably in his chair and held his position but made no eye contact.

“Dr it is not a precise science we are attempting here you do know that don’t you? This is ground breaking and so far as I am aware never before done anywhere, by anyone.”

Keeping his cool Shikov stood and made his way staunchly to the door, but instead of exiting, he shut the heavy metal device confining them both in the drab cold room of concrete, led and steel.

“You underestimate the ability you have Ivan, you and your wife always have, you were just a couple of so called investigators at that shitty university in Odesa when I found you, do you remember?”

Ivan nodded his head knowing what was coming.

“It was I, that brought you here and gave you a purpose in your dead end life; I allowed you both to use your ideas and hone your thoughts on the paranormal, the dead to reach past your meager potential and use the facilities that I alone have at my disposal.” Shikov slowly moved toward Ivan once more dragging hard on his cigar letting the blue smoke roll from his mouth and exit his half eaten away lungs.

“I remember Doctor, and I remember also you said we would have some input into what we were going to help you achieve both personally and for Russia.” Ivan said as he stood to meet the doctors’ advance.

Ivan was no slouch at five feet ten inches tall and eighty kilos in his stocking feet, but Shikov was not just an ordinary Doctor he was a party doctor and at a touch over six three and a hundred kilos he was a man with presence, both physically and mentally.

“Don’t play me Ivan I spent thirty years playing with the best and I know how to achieve what I want, so if you and that beautiful wife of yours want to continue working here, and living in the manner you are now accustomed, then I suggest you make some headway, SOON!” the last word trailed off as he made his way out the break room and back into the grey catacombs of the underground bunker.

Ivan sat back down and finished his now ice cold coffee, he lingered and thought of his family, the family he now loved more than life itself before making his way slowly but with purpose, back to the work room and his loyal partner Uri.

Shikov made his way down the droll corridors and watched at each turn as the shadows met and left his vision. A sense of trepidation was clawing at his unconscious mind, as he walked, the sensation of being watched all but a prerequisite in the Russian military, especially at his rank and position within the party. His work here was considered the next giant step in the evolution of information gathering, but as he knew there were easier ways to get information, just messier and harder to make people understand the ways he was born with. So his lot in life now is to generate the knowledge the best way possible without others realizing his true hidden agenda, one which he was not one hundred percent sure of himself, and he knew none would understand the gift he had, so for now he would continue to use it only as a last resort to further his station in life.

Ivan walked back into the work room where Uri was singing the latest American rap music from his walkman knock off. As far as he was concerned he was the real Slim Shady.

“Yo Ivan, my man your back at last, I have much to show you” he said as he removed his headphones and pushed the stop button as he returned the device back to its special place on top of his work bench.

“Yes Uri I’m back and I can’t wait to see what you have done with the emitter my friend”. I replied courtesy

The device Uri and I are working on is a partner piece to that which Zoya and I had almost perfected back in Odesa. The branch of the military we all worked for was a secret part of the Russian intelligence agency, lesser known in the science arena except in the highest possible ranks.

Ivan is a groundbreaking electrical engineer and parapsychologist in his own right had met a young Zoya at University where they were drawn to each other like a moth to a flame. Zoya a talented medium was making ends meet by doing readings in around Odesa for widows and old women wanting to feel assured that death would not be an experience to fear but one of peace and love, as well as finding out where their husbands kept money hidden.

Her talents are not just in talking with the dead in your fake and sensationalized television way, but by way of a sixth sense where she can pick up emotions and feelings from the deceased either recent or long past, through active energy reading as well as what some call residual transference.

The latter is said to be actions, emotions and feelings left in the fixed surroundings, like the stones of the dungeon chambers where hundreds were tortured or killed for various reasons. Churches are an uplifting experience for Zoya as she can feel the light within the very ruins of a building but in the case of residual negative energy, it almost always overshadows the light with the darkness that flows through the objects. She has often said that the darkness flows like a welcomed, malicious force within objects.

Uri dropped the implement he was holding onto the metal work table and awoke Ivan from his inner thoughts.

“Ok we are ready to test my friend, can you attach the batteries here and here please Ivan” Uri said as he pointed to the two electrode couplings at the side of the unit, no bigger than a small radio.

I attached the battery to the new device that was an electromagnetic field regulator with a light source and built in alarm. The theory behind the device was one which Zoya had thought of around the reasons why she felt the way she did when in contact with spirits or spirit energy.

Testing the unit is difficult because we know that when a normal person gets within range which is only a few centimeters it sets it off by the magnetic energy we radiate as living souls and as yet we have not had any luck generating an alert that was not generated by one of us.

We stood back and Uri flicked the switch, a low hum emitted from the unit which was eerie enough for me as it was.

“What now Ivan” Uri said as we stood and watched the unit with blank stares.

“I guess we test to see if one of us sets the unit off as before.” And with that I moved forward and placed my hand next to an old radio antenna that was affixed to the unit, and as expected the alarm buzzed and the light went off to tell me I had registered within the field.

“Ok it works” Uri said with delight and a sly smile on his face as we high fived each other and laughed about what was next.

I turned to pick up my papers from the desk nearby and without warning the light burst into life and the alarm sounded.

I looked at Uri with an air of shock and surprise as the device blurted and stopped then started again moments later.

Uri stunned into silence mouthed words I could not hear but understood as being a statement for someone to perform a sexual act upon his person.

The light flickered and died then lit up again. I fumbled  for my Dictaphone placed in a new tape and made a short entry into the battery operated recording device only to have the battery go dead within a mere ten seconds, another tell tale sign of spirit action. It is common knowledge that spirits will drain power sources in an attempt to manifest or communicate. I grabbed another from the draw and placed it in the unit only to have it bled dry once more.

“Uri you ok my friend” I asked him as he stared blankly at the light as it flicked in and out of existence as if someone was playing with it.

“I think so Bro” he said in his best American accent from all his rap music he listened to.

“It works! The damn thing works Ivan” he said softly

The lights in the workroom dimmed altogether and then reinstated themselves almost creating a strobe effect and I was sure I saw a faint outline of something standing near the newly crafted device as the lights flicked on and off. Then as suddenly as it started it stopped.

“You gotta be shitting me Ivan, did you see that?” he said now slack jawed.

“See what Uri”

“I…I was sure I saw something standing by the antenna playing with it. As if toying with us” he said now slumped in his chair reaching for a cigarette knowing that he was not allowed to smoke in here, but not thinking at all clearly.

“Uri, the cigarette” I said and he placed it back in the pack.

“Yes I think I saw something, but I am damn sure I don’t know what it was, if it indeed was anything at all” I replied at last to his question.

Again he said to himself the same expletive he had mouthed just moments before.

“Uri stop asking there is no way I’m going to do that.” I said lightening the mood a little.

We looked at each other and I intimated he turn it off which he did with haste.

“So we know it works now, so let’s call it quits for tonight and get some sleep ok Uri?”

“Ok Ivan, but you can tell the Doctor! I’m not he gives me the creeps.” He said as he held out a fresh battery from the special led lined box he kept for his walkman batteries.

Taking the small double AA battery, I replaced it and kept the spent one in a special led lined box for Zoya to inspect in the morning.

I rewound the tape to the beginning and heard myself talking amongst the sound of the alarm, just a standard test sentence, the noise stopped from the alarm and within the static silence, just before the battery died I heard a second voice that chilled me to the bone.

“Ivan what the hell was that? I am sure that’s not me saying anything I don’t think I could have talked.”

I rewound the tape a second time and pressed play, my hands shaking as I awaited the faint voice at the end.

“Can you make out what it is saying Ivan?” Uri said now visibly shaken from the entire proceedings.

I turned up the volume to full and placed the machine between us, almost touching ears as we closed in on the tiny speaker. Again there was my standard sentence followed by a short hiss of static then four distinct words.

“I can see you!” followed by silence as the battery failed.

“Shit Uri all these years I have wanted to find concrete evidence of the other side, for others to understand what I already know, but That!!! is not what I expected”

Ivan and Uri placed the device in the lined container with the battery disconnected and tidied up in silence. Uri looked troubled as he removed his work coat and placed it neatly on the rack and patted himself down feeling for car keys and cigarettes before he gestured goodbye to me and made the trip past the check points to the elevator that would lead him upstairs and away from this place for the night.

Ivan placed the Dictaphone with tape still inside in his pocket and hung the work coat up next to Uri’s. He walked out of the workroom before coding the door shut behind him and making his way slowly and in stunned silence down the lonely grey painted corridor, that had a green look to it but he surmised it was neither grey or green but a dull mixture of both military colors. He passed many doors all with key coded magnetic locks with state of the art inscription to ensure whatever secrets lay within the cold steel and bullet proof frosted glass stayed that way.

A feeling of foreboding hit him like a surge of electrical power and then left him as he turned a corner passing two other tech’s and an armed soldier doing his rounds, or change of shift duties only meters from his destination; the dreaded break room.

Standing alone waiting for the stale coffee to reheat he slid four heaped teaspoonfuls of sugar into his ceramic mug that read ‘Best dad in the world’ and he smiled, closing his eyes for a few seconds letting his thoughts drift, and he saw Alexei, sleeping peacefully in his bed snuggled down under his covers.

“Ivan, the doctor wants you in his office now!” the voice boomed at him and dragged his thoughts back to the cold and uninviting room away from the lingering thought of his innocent son as he slept, warm in the knowledge that tomorrow will be yet another day.

“Did you not hear me Ivan? NOW!” the Muscovite drawl evident in his speech was almost a physical thing of its own.

“Ok Dirk tell him I will be there shortly”

“Make sure it is because if I have to come back it won’t be pleasant” Dirk the lap dog said as he let the door slam shut behind him.

Ivan tipped the coffee sludge into his mug swirled the acrid liquid with his pen, sucked it clean and placed it back in his pocket and made his way slowly to Dr. Grigory Shikov.

Alexei shifted slightly in his sleep as a vision of his father smiling holding his best dad mug flashed into his mind. A quiet calm descended into his being as if he understood how much his father loved him and his brother. His face tired but still full of energy, then a burst of anger hit him like a tidal wave as his father’s face dissipated, he knew it wasn’t anger towards him but anger projected from his father.

Alexei drifted closer to his conscience state where he knew he was neither fully asleep nor awake but a blissful place in-between, where he floated above himself and as his mind’s eye looked at the beach scene, he was drawn to the place in his minds eye, and as if in an instant he was floating across space and time through clouds of marshmallow wisps, neither cold nor hot just moving at a speed that would create a sonic boom if he thought what was happening was real, and he was indeed a MIG 21 like the model Dragon had on his shelf.

The air slowed and became thick with substance but he was still just a visitor to his place in his mind where people swam and enjoyed the sunshine and blue ocean waters. He imagined himself walking on the sand and felt the instant heat from the sun baked grains of silica and coral that was washed up on the beautiful coastline. He then thought about the water and how cool it looked as his small toes entered the lapping waves at his incorporeal feet, making him shiver with anticipation and the sudden rush of cold from the foaming waters. He could almost taste the salt spray on his face, and as he turned to look further along the beach in his dreams something most unusual happened. A dog ran past him and a young man passed right through him, the sensation was not painful as it was uncomfortable, the man stopped and looked at the hairs on his arms as they stood to attention on such a hot day in the sun, and the tall blonde man wearing a swirl pattern of red, blue yellow and green on his bathing trunks shivered and gave an audible sigh, a look of unknowing came over his face and he almost had the urge to ask if there was anyone there, but he shook it off and chased after his dog down the sandy stretch calling the name “Buster” as he ran.

Alexei looked across the expanse at a rocky outcrop that had men with fishing rods standing in precarious places hoping to land a prize worth almost certain death if they were drawn into the swirling deadly waters around the sharp rocks that beckoned them to dare try and test them.

Movement in a deep hollow caught his attention and it was in this dark overhang that he saw what his young mind thought were evil ghosts, the apparitions followed the shadow areas and he could make out chatter as if they were communicating waiting for someone to come to harm or worse cause harm to those around them. He had heard tales of the dark ones that hang around the living in hope that death will take them and allow them to feed off the dead soul and drag it into the void of never. His Grandmother in Odesa had a lot to account for at this precise moment and Alexei felt scared for the first time in his dreams.

It was at this precise moment that it happened, almost as if it was meant to be so he could witness the coming acts as a warning or learning!

An older man, walking with his fishing rod and gear over balanced and quickly disappeared as he fell into the frothy well of jagged despair. The water around the place he fell was red with blood within what seemed like mere seconds of him falling into the powerful hydro torrent.

Alexei saw the older man, well his body anyway and tried to turn away but the underlying tragedy of the accident had his mind transfixed to the floating now lifeless body as it was smashed against the rocks again and again.

A halo of green formed around the man and left his body as it turned a strange hue of yellow chartreuse. Alexei wanted to go to the light but instinct kept him back as the almost human yellow light moved closer to the evil shadows.

The eyes of the dark ones glowed with delight as the man’s aura moved toward them and the shadows. The predators reached out screaming in pain as the light passed through them but the sheer weight of them forced the light into the shadows where it was subdued and a slice in this nether realm opened and his essence was dragged with them into the void with one shadow staying behind. Alexei screamed a silent scream but the shadow thing turned as if it heard him, its deep-set burning yellow eyes fixed upon him and Alexei heard in his incorporeal mind a voice that slithered like a thousand snakes over sharp blades.

“Who are you child? ………And how can you see me?”

Alexei froze closed the minds eye he had open, and didn’t think or say anything. He shivered as he forced a vision of his bedroom and his body  asleep in his bed, and like a laser light he burst back into his own almost awake body physically shaking and the horrible snake voice still grinding around his head.

“Alexei”

“Alexei wake up your dreaming” Dragon said as he held his younger brothers shoulders.

Alexei awoke fully and embraced his brother, physical salted tears starting to track like silver trails from the corners of his eyes threatening to run down the flushed cheeks and invade his mouth giving him the taste of his own frailty that he hated so very much. He gathered himself and wiped the tears from his face and took the tissue from his brother as he blew his nose allowing him to speak without a snuffle and blockage wrought upon him by his physical body. Alexei looked up at Dragon and swallowed back the fear in his throat.

“Dragon, they lied to us! Monsters are real” he said as he slipped back down and relaxed into a deep sleep.