It started with a hole in the wall.
Specifically, a hole in two walls. The fox looked at the luminosity of the screen, expecting the tragic white shape of the forlorn ghost, and was instead greeted with a dark cavern. It was the corner that had been eaten away. Debris, like crumbs, lay around the jagged mouth. You could almost hear the ruin. The room was empty.
His first reaction was a flatline. That is, none at all. It didn’t register. There was no way he could be gone. The fox’s mind reversed, counting backwards. How long had it been since he’d last checked on him? One month? Two? Had it been three? Panic set in as he realized he didn’t remember. A cold shiver ran over his spine. Not terror, more the feeling of something lost. Of misplaced keys. He snarled in frustration.
Quickly, his eyes darted to the other monitors as he began to curse. Blank, blank, blank. He wasn’t in any of them. It couldn’t be that hard to find him, could it? Distantly, he began to remember how the specters appeared out of nowhere. They could travel unseen. Invisible. His cursing grew louder.
With one final expletive and a hammer drop of his hoof on the console, the call button glowed and rang. “Louis! Get your ass in here!”
Louis was in in a moment. “What is it, sir?” he asked.
He was nervous. Seneca wasted no time.
“Lock down the facility,” he said, “The Batter’s gone.”