Eric Quiet Place: Day One Novels & Stories

Lola pov The thing Lola noticed first was how calm her body felt around Noah. Not numb. Not detached. Just… unguarded. They were sitting on her couch, shoes off, takeout containers open on the coffee table. Elara was asleep in her crib, the apartment wrapped in the soft hush that came after bedtime. Rain tapped gently against the windows, Seattle doing what it did best. Noah leaned back, stretching his arms. “You always this quiet at night?” “Only when the world stops asking for things,” Lola replied.

Jason I choose my moment the way some people choose their words with restraint, with foresight, and with an instinctive understanding of consequence. The building must empty to a certain degree, noise thinning until footsteps become rare and voices fall away. He listens for the quiet corridor, the kind that hums faintly with fluorescent lights and distant ventilation, the kind that offers no witnesses and no interruptions. I position myself just outside the closed office door, not directly in front of it but slightly to the side, where I won’t be seen through the narrow pane of glass.

Turning to one of the spies, she inquired, "How much longer until we arrive at the special location?" Jerrica, one of the spies, answered her phone as it rang, and Mara's attention shifted to the conversation. She could only catch bits and pieces, but the mention of her name caught her ear. Jerrica's voice reassured the person on the other end that Mara was indeed with them. Once the call ended, Jerrica looked at another one of the spies, a silent understanding passing between them. Mara noticed the exchange and felt a mixture of anticipation and uncertainty. What was happening? What were they planning?

And outside, at the edge of the cliffs, a shadow moved. A man dressed in black crouched near the stone wall, camera lens glinting faintly under moonlight. He adjusted his headset. “Target in sight. Both secure.” A voice crackled through the earpiece. > “Good. Phase two begins tomorrow. The couple returns to New York in forty-eight hours. Make sure the footage is ready for release.” The man nodded once, lowering his camera. Through the lens, he zoomed in—and the image sharpened: Maya’s sleeping face resting peacefully against Ethan’s chest.

On one side is a life full of expectation, and on the other was a life built alone. Demitri took a look at the peaceful, void-like scenery. He didn't understand it at first, then he saw the look in Becca's eye as she took it in for the millionth time. He recognized immediately, this is where she feels safe; this is her library. "Sorry if this is a boring reward." Becca said to fill the silence. "It's not boring." Demitri half lied. There was another long stretch of silence before Becca sat on ground and patted the ground next to her. Demitri took the spot she patted and sat as well.

At exactly the same moment. Then every screen displayed the same message. SUBJECT ZERO SYNCHRONIZATION: 100% COMPLETE Silence. Complete silence. Then one final camera feed appeared. A live feed. Not from a hallway. Not from Sector Zero. But somewhere very close. The camera showed an old rusty steel door. Right in front of their tunnel. Nobody moved. Then the door handle slowly turned. CLICK. A familiar voice spoke from the other side. Calm. Patient. Terrifying. "Amara."

Jack ordered. They roped fast. The sand took them with a dull hush and a tick of settling pebbles. One by one the silhouettes detached, coiling rope and moving to cover like ink bleeding into paper. The Black Hawk lifted, banked, and vanished into the horizon, nothing but a fading tremor in the bones. Silence reclaimed the desert. Real silence. Not the city kind—this was the planetary kind, the predator’s kind, old and patient. Jack took a knee, swept the ridge with his NVGs. Heat rippled, dunes breathing in long glacial rhythms. “Raptor One in position,” he murmured. “Moving to breach.”

"Maya is the squad's little princess. Anything happens to her on our watch, we are not letting it slide. The next rig is coming up the road right now. Let Maya go in this one. We'll get Mrs. Sterling out." Mason heard them and his face composed itself again. "All right, Lara. Stop it. I'll send Maya now and come back for you." He carried her into the rig. The lead medic tried to argue. Two of Mason's men shoved the medic into the rig with her. The doors slammed. The siren came up. The rig was gone. Mason did not look back at me. The pain in my belly came in waves now. Something was peeling off the inside of me.