# 3+ Hours of CHILLING Horror Stories that will make you scream or something IDK

An episode of [CreepsMcPasta Creepypasta Radio](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1492008134), 7 Apr 2025, 3 h 29 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/65352832/3_hours_of_chilling_horror_stories_that_will_make_you_scream_or_something_idk.mp3

CREEPYPASTA STORIES- ►0:00 "I Work at a Gas Station. Someone Keeps Buying Fuel, but They Never Have a Car" Creepypasta ►29:11 "The New Radio Station in My Town Only Plays One Song. It’s Driving Everyone Insane." Creepypasta ►01:12:40 "He Always Said He Wanted an Adventure. I Think He Found One." Creepypasta ►01:46:04 "I rented a cabin in the Appalachian mountains. I saw horrifying things" Creepypasta ►02:16:26 "I work in a prison for crimes you've never heard of" Creepypasta ►03:00:19 "Why did the emergency alert just apologise to us" Creepypasta Creepypastas are the campfire tales of the internet. Horror stories spread through Reddit r/nosleep, forums and blogs, rather than word of mouth. Whether you believe these scary stories to be true or not is left to your own discretion and imagination. LISTEN TO CREEPYPASTAS ON THE GO- SPOTIFY► https://open.spotify.com/show/7l0iRPd... iTUNES► https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast... SUGGESTED CREEPYPASTA PLAYLISTS- ►"Good Places to Start"- • "I wasn't careful enough on the deep ... ►"Personal Favourites"- • "I sold my soul for a used dishwasher... ►"Written by me"- • "I've been Blind my Whole Life" Creep... ►"Long Stories"- • Long Stories FOLLOW ME ON- ►Twitter: / creeps_mcpasta ►Instagram: / creepsmcpasta ►Twitch: / creepsmcpasta ►Facebook: / creepsmcpasta CREEPYPASTA MUSIC/ SFX- ►http://bit.ly/Audionic ♪ ►http://bit.ly/Myuusic ♪ ►http://bit.ly/incompt ♪ ►http://bit.ly/EpidemicM ♪ This creepypasta is for entertainment purposes only

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: I worked the night shift at a small, run down
[0:04] Speaker 1: gas station on the edge of a highway that hardly
[0:07] Speaker 1: sees any traffic past midnight. Its mediocre place at best,
[0:13] Speaker 1: no security cameras, half the lights flickering like the dying,
[0:17] Speaker 1: and a bathroom that no one in the right mind
[0:19] Speaker 1: would use. Most of the time, my shift is dead, silent,
[0:26] Speaker 1: truckers stopped to grab coffee and stretch the legs, and
[0:29] Speaker 1: locals come in every once in a while, but after
[0:32] Speaker 1: one am the place becomes a ghost town. It's just me,
[0:39] Speaker 1: the buzzing of the old fluorescent lights, and the occasional
[0:42] Speaker 1: coyote howling in the distance. That's why it stood out
[0:48] Speaker 1: immediately when someone walked in on foot at exactly two
[0:52] Speaker 1: a m. I was leaning back in my chair, absently
[0:56] Speaker 1: flicking through my phone when the chime above the door rang.
[1:01] Speaker 1: I barely looked up at first, expecting the usual, a
[1:05] Speaker 1: trucker grabbing coffee, some lost traveler asking for directions. But
[1:10] Speaker 1: when I finally glanced toward the entrance, I saw him
[1:14] Speaker 1: for the first time. No headlights in the lot, no
[1:18] Speaker 1: car idling at the pumps, just a man standing in
[1:22] Speaker 1: the doorway, dripping in the station sickly fluorescent lights. He
[1:28] Speaker 1: was thin, hunched slightly, like he'd been walking for miles.
[1:33] Speaker 1: His clothes were ordinary enough, dark jeans stained with leaves
[1:37] Speaker 1: and mud at the bottom, a gray hut he pulled
[1:40] Speaker 1: over his head. He smelt faintly of gasoline. He took slow,
[1:46] Speaker 1: dragging steps toward the counter. I cleared my throat, ay man,
[1:53] Speaker 1: how's it going? No response? You need something? He didn't blink,
[2:02] Speaker 1: just reached into his pocket, pulled out a crumbled twenty
[2:06] Speaker 1: dollar bill and set it on the counter. One gallon,
[2:12] Speaker 1: he muttered with a hoarse voice. I waited for him
[2:16] Speaker 1: to say something else, maybe explain why he was on
[2:19] Speaker 1: foot or where his car was, But he just stood there.
[2:25] Speaker 1: You good dude. I tried again, ringing up the sail. Nothing.
[2:32] Speaker 1: I slid his change across the counter, and he picked
[2:35] Speaker 1: it up without counting it. Outside, through the station's dirty
[2:39] Speaker 1: front windows, I watched him take an old, battered Jerry
[2:43] Speaker 1: can from beside the pumps. The thing was weathered, sun bleached,
[2:48] Speaker 1: cracked in spots. I figured he probably had a car
[2:52] Speaker 1: stranded nearby. Maybe he was just mad or embarrassed. Honestly,
[2:59] Speaker 1: I didn't care as long as he paid. Whatever he
[3:03] Speaker 1: did with the fuel wasn't my problem. The next night,
[3:09] Speaker 1: at exactly two a m. The door chime rang again.
[3:15] Speaker 1: I looked up from where I was restocking cigarettes behind
[3:18] Speaker 1: the counter, my stomach twisting before I fully registered why
[3:25] Speaker 1: it was him, same hunched posture. I set the cartiner
[3:32] Speaker 1: smokestown and straightened up, watching him closely as he stepped
[3:36] Speaker 1: forward and wordlessly slipped the crumpled twenty dollar bill across
[3:40] Speaker 1: the counter. One gallon, he muttered. I hesitated, before punching
[3:49] Speaker 1: the sail. Something about him didn't feel right. You got
[3:54] Speaker 1: a car this time, I asked, keeping my tone light.
[4:00] Speaker 1: He didn't respond. His fingers twitched slightly where they rested
[4:05] Speaker 1: on the counter. I licked my lips and rang him up,
[4:10] Speaker 1: keeping my eye on his face as I slid his
[4:12] Speaker 1: change across the counter. But he didn't even glance down.
[4:18] Speaker 1: He just grabbed the coins and left outside. I watched
[4:24] Speaker 1: through the grimy front window as he made his way
[4:27] Speaker 1: back toward the pumps. He picked it up and filled
[4:31] Speaker 1: it carefully, watching as the fuel poured into the old,
[4:35] Speaker 1: cracked plastic. I noticed then how discolored his hands were, grimy,
[4:43] Speaker 1: with dark stains under his nails like he'd been working
[4:46] Speaker 1: with oil. I turned away as he capped the canister,
[4:51] Speaker 1: telling myself once again that it wasn't my problem. The
[4:58] Speaker 1: first time I hadn't. Really he paid attention to which
[5:01] Speaker 1: direction he was headed in for this time, curiosity got
[5:07] Speaker 1: the better of me. I expected him to head for
[5:11] Speaker 1: the highway. Maybe there was a car waiting down the
[5:14] Speaker 1: road out of sight, maybe someone was picking him up.
[5:19] Speaker 1: But he didn't go toward the road at all. Instead,
[5:24] Speaker 1: he moved toward the woods, the thick line of black
[5:28] Speaker 1: trees beyond the gas station. I just watched him go,
[5:34] Speaker 1: not quite sure what to think. He stepped past the
[5:37] Speaker 1: last pump, past the edge of the lot, and into
[5:41] Speaker 1: the grass, moving at the pace of a snail. I
[5:46] Speaker 1: waited for him to hesitate, to glance over his shoulder,
[5:50] Speaker 1: to acknowledge that he was leaving the only light for
[5:53] Speaker 1: miles behind him, But he never did. He just kept walking,
[6:00] Speaker 1: kept moving deeper and deeper into the trees, until the
[6:05] Speaker 1: darkness swallowed him whole, and he never looked back. He
[6:15] Speaker 1: came back the next night and the night after that.
[6:20] Speaker 1: Every time it was exactly the same. Two a m
[6:24] Speaker 1: one gallon, always cash, always silent. I honestly tried ignoring him.
[6:33] Speaker 1: I get plenty of weird people here at times, and besides,
[6:37] Speaker 1: people have routines, and maybe this was just his. But
[6:41] Speaker 1: the longer it went on, the harder it was to
[6:44] Speaker 1: shake the feeling that something was wrong. I started paying
[6:49] Speaker 1: closer attention. I listened for a car engine approaching in
[6:53] Speaker 1: the distance before he arrived. There never was one. I
[6:59] Speaker 1: glanced out or the pumps after he left, expecting headlights
[7:02] Speaker 1: flashing on the tree line. Nothing. I even shake the
[7:08] Speaker 1: back of the gas station once, just to see if
[7:11] Speaker 1: maybe somehow he was parking in the darkness behind the building,
[7:15] Speaker 1: but it was always empty. All I knew for certain
[7:21] Speaker 1: was that he came from somewhere, and when he left,
[7:26] Speaker 1: he went back to it. Most of my shifts from
[7:31] Speaker 1: then on were focused on keeping track of him. As
[7:35] Speaker 1: soon as it hit the tree line. He wouldn't come
[7:38] Speaker 1: back for the rest of my shift until the following one.
[7:43] Speaker 1: One night, around midnight, a regular truckers stopped in for
[7:47] Speaker 1: coffee and smokes. His name was Frank, and he was
[7:51] Speaker 1: the kind of guy who talked to fill the silence. Normally,
[7:55] Speaker 1: I let him ramble while I half listened that night, though,
[8:00] Speaker 1: as he was stirring sugar into his coffee, he glanced
[8:03] Speaker 1: out toward the empty parking lot and said, Hey, you're
[8:08] Speaker 1: still getting that weird guy at two. I blinked, you've
[8:14] Speaker 1: seen him? Frank shrugged, taking a sip. Couple nights back. Heah,
[8:21] Speaker 1: I don't think you were on shift. Who's that weird
[8:24] Speaker 1: kid that works on the weekends? Now? It was sparked
[8:26] Speaker 1: outside taking a break when he showed up. No car,
[8:31] Speaker 1: just walked right up and bought gas. He chuckled, shaking
[8:36] Speaker 1: his head. Figured maybe his truck broke down somewhere, but
[8:40] Speaker 1: I didn't see one on the road when I pulled
[8:42] Speaker 1: in here. Local, no idea, I admitted. Frank took another
[8:50] Speaker 1: long sip before muttering, creepy guy, ain't he? I didn't
[8:57] Speaker 1: have an answer for that. A few nights later, a
[9:02] Speaker 1: man came in looking for a can of fixer flat.
[9:05] Speaker 1: Older guy, probably mid sixties, wearing a denim jacket that
[9:09] Speaker 1: looked as worn out as he did. He paid in
[9:13] Speaker 1: crumpled bills, then lingered at the counter, watching as the
[9:17] Speaker 1: man in the hood. He walked back out into the
[9:20] Speaker 1: darkness with his filled Jerry can. The older guy squinted. Hah, huh,
[9:29] Speaker 1: what I asked? He rubbed a hand over his jaw,
[9:34] Speaker 1: his gaze still following the figure as he disappeared past
[9:37] Speaker 1: the tree line. I've been in this area a long
[9:41] Speaker 1: time now, still see him here frequently. That got my attention.
[9:49] Speaker 1: How long is a long time? He glanced at me,
[9:56] Speaker 1: a solemn expression adorning his face. Then he grabbed his
[10:00] Speaker 1: bag and said, long time. Guy doesn't seem to age.
[10:06] Speaker 1: And if he does, boy does he age well. The
[10:12] Speaker 1: door chime rang as he walked out. I stood there,
[10:18] Speaker 1: hands resting on the counter, my skin crawling. Right after
[10:25] Speaker 1: the men left and the station had gone quiet again,
[10:29] Speaker 1: I pulled the transaction records from the last few weeks
[10:32] Speaker 1: and flipped through them every night, one gallon, always between
[10:40] Speaker 1: two and two three am. I kept going, flipping back
[10:45] Speaker 1: through the old log books, same entry every night, weeks, months, years.
[10:54] Speaker 1: I traced the records back as far as they went.
[10:57] Speaker 1: The digital ones only went as far back as twenty thirteen,
[11:01] Speaker 1: so I had to dig up an actual physical one
[11:04] Speaker 1: from the back. My fingers were stiff from gripping the old,
[11:08] Speaker 1: yellowed pages. The earliest entry I found was dated October nineteenth,
[11:14] Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven one gallon cash, and that was only
[11:22] Speaker 1: as far as the log books went. I stared at
[11:27] Speaker 1: the numbers on the page, my mind racing. I had
[11:31] Speaker 1: only been working here a few months. Maybe the guy
[11:35] Speaker 1: before me knew more. I reached for my phone and
[11:39] Speaker 1: pulled up Jerry's number, the other night shift guy. He
[11:44] Speaker 1: worked here for seven years. I'd only ever spoken to
[11:47] Speaker 1: him once, when he handed me the keys of my
[11:49] Speaker 1: first night Still, I hesitated. How do you even ask
[11:56] Speaker 1: someone about something like this? It was nearly three in
[12:01] Speaker 1: the morning, and I felt like an idiot for even
[12:04] Speaker 1: thinking about making this call. But as much as I
[12:08] Speaker 1: hated to admit, it was starting to get under my skin.
[12:13] Speaker 1: I took a breath and dialed. The phone rang twice
[12:20] Speaker 1: before a groggy voice answered, hullo, hey Jerry. Sorry, I
[12:27] Speaker 1: know it's late. There was a pause, a sigh here
[12:33] Speaker 1: you don't say what's up? I just I hesitated, feeling
[12:41] Speaker 1: even dombin now that I had him on the line.
[12:44] Speaker 1: I just had a question about the gas station, about
[12:48] Speaker 1: some one who comes in at night. Another pause. I
[12:53] Speaker 1: could hear him shifting, probably sitting up in bed, which
[12:58] Speaker 1: some one A guy shows up every night around two
[13:03] Speaker 1: by his exactly one gallon walks off into the woods
[13:06] Speaker 1: behind the station. Ah, Jerry finally said, yeah, that guy,
[13:13] Speaker 1: So you know who I'm talking about. The manager mentioned
[13:17] Speaker 1: him when I first started, he said, figured i'd see
[13:21] Speaker 1: him eventually, and yeah, sure enough, every night I worked,
[13:26] Speaker 1: he showed up, never missed the night, never said more
[13:29] Speaker 1: than a few words. I let out of breath. I
[13:34] Speaker 1: hadn't realized I was holding. So what's his deal? Jerry
[13:42] Speaker 1: led out a short laugh. And if I know, nobody does.
[13:47] Speaker 1: He's just kind of an unspoken tradition for the night shift.
[13:52] Speaker 1: Unspoken tradition. Yeah, I mean at first it wirded me out,
[13:58] Speaker 1: but after a while he was just part of the routine.
[14:02] Speaker 1: Didn't matter if it was raining snowing, didn't matter if
[14:06] Speaker 1: the whole highway was shut down. That guy would still
[14:09] Speaker 1: show up by his gallon walk off. Did you ever
[14:14] Speaker 1: ask him anything? Of course I did, Jerry said. First
[14:19] Speaker 1: time I saw him. I tried to be friendly, asked
[14:22] Speaker 1: if he needed a ride, asked where his car was. Nothing,
[14:27] Speaker 1: just stared at me, paid for his gas and left,
[14:32] Speaker 1: not a word, not a damn thing. Eventually, I just
[14:37] Speaker 1: stopped trying it. Was like talking to a brick wall,
[14:42] Speaker 1: I exhaled through my nose. You ever think about following him?
[14:48] Speaker 1: I asked, Jerry scoffed. Thought about it, sure, but I
[14:55] Speaker 1: wasn't that curious. His voice was light, but I could
[15:01] Speaker 1: tell he was fully awake now, probably sitting there picturing
[15:05] Speaker 1: the guy in his head just like I was. Listen, man,
[15:10] Speaker 1: he continued, I don't know what his story is, but
[15:14] Speaker 1: whatever it is, it's none of my business. Yeah, I muttered, Yeah,
[15:21] Speaker 1: I get that. Jerry yawned on the other end of
[15:26] Speaker 1: the line. Is that all? What do you need me
[15:29] Speaker 1: to tell you about all the widows that came in
[15:31] Speaker 1: at three in the morning too? Nah? I think I
[15:34] Speaker 1: got what I needed. Good. Now let me sleep. He
[15:40] Speaker 1: hung up before I could say anything else. I thought
[15:47] Speaker 1: about it. The tradition, as Jerry called it, kept going
[15:51] Speaker 1: for the next few days, and in that time, the
[15:55] Speaker 1: more I saw the man, the more I thought about
[15:59] Speaker 1: it about following him. It wasn't until nearly a week
[16:06] Speaker 1: later that I finally did. The night was cold and windless.
[16:13] Speaker 1: I stayed inside the station as long as I could,
[16:16] Speaker 1: waiting until I saw him fade into the tree line
[16:19] Speaker 1: like a shadow. Then I grabbed the cheap flashlight from
[16:23] Speaker 1: under the counter and stepped out on to the lot.
[16:28] Speaker 1: For the first time, I realized how quiet the place
[16:32] Speaker 1: really was. Inside, I had the hum of the drink coolers,
[16:37] Speaker 1: the buzzing overhead lights, the occasional crackle of the radio.
[16:42] Speaker 1: Out there nothing no cars, no wind through the trees,
[16:49] Speaker 1: no chirping insects, just my own footsteps against the pavement.
[16:56] Speaker 1: I hesitated at the edge of the lot with a
[16:59] Speaker 1: gravel thinned, and the dirt path began. It was in
[17:03] Speaker 1: a proper trail, just a narrow gap between the trees
[17:07] Speaker 1: where the bush had been trampled down over time. I
[17:12] Speaker 1: had no idea if I was actually making noise or
[17:16] Speaker 1: if I just felt like I was. Every step seemed
[17:20] Speaker 1: too loud, the sound of my breathing too obvious. Ahead
[17:25] Speaker 1: of me, the man moved at just the same pace
[17:28] Speaker 1: as always. I kept back just far enough that I
[17:33] Speaker 1: wouldn't risk him seeing me if he turned around. But
[17:37] Speaker 1: he never did, never even paused, just kept walking deeper.
[17:45] Speaker 1: The further we went, the stronger the smell of gasoline became.
[17:51] Speaker 1: At first, I thought maybe it was his clothes, A
[17:55] Speaker 1: guy like that hauling fuel around every night. Of course,
[17:59] Speaker 1: it'd smell like it, but the air itself seemed thick
[18:02] Speaker 1: with it. Not just fresh fuel either, the stale, sour
[18:07] Speaker 1: scent of old spills mixed with something burnt. I could
[18:12] Speaker 1: feel it coating the inside of my mouth. The flashlight
[18:17] Speaker 1: in my hands suddenly felt useless. I didn't want a
[18:20] Speaker 1: risk turning it on, not yet, at least not while
[18:25] Speaker 1: he was still moving ahead of me. Instead, I relied
[18:30] Speaker 1: on what little moonlight made it through the trees, barely
[18:33] Speaker 1: enough to see the narrow path winding through the brush.
[18:38] Speaker 1: My legs ached from stepping carefully placing my feet exactly
[18:43] Speaker 1: where he had, hoping the ground wouldn't betray me. And
[18:49] Speaker 1: then just ahead, I saw the tree start the thin
[18:56] Speaker 1: a clearing. The smell of fuel was almost overpowering, choking
[19:03] Speaker 1: in my throat. The man stepped into the open space,
[19:08] Speaker 1: disappearing from view. I stared at the darkened clearing beyond,
[19:14] Speaker 1: my fingers tightening around the flashlight, and then slowly I
[19:21] Speaker 1: stepped forward and finally saw what he was walking toward.
[19:27] Speaker 1: The clearing was small, maybe thirty feet across a break
[19:32] Speaker 1: in the dense trees, where the ground a turned a
[19:35] Speaker 1: dry cracked dirt, and in the center of it sat
[19:40] Speaker 1: a car, or at least what used to be one.
[19:46] Speaker 1: The body was completely burnt out, the frame rusted through,
[19:50] Speaker 1: the metal twisted and warped from heat. Whatever color it
[19:55] Speaker 1: had once been was long gone. The surface now just
[19:59] Speaker 1: scorched black and crumbling. I could see the remains of tires,
[20:04] Speaker 1: but there were nothing more than charred rubber fused to
[20:07] Speaker 1: the ground. The windows were blown out, melted along the edges.
[20:14] Speaker 1: The most recent fire couldn't have been more than a
[20:16] Speaker 1: few days old, but the car itself looked like it
[20:20] Speaker 1: had been rotting here for decades. I barely noticed the
[20:25] Speaker 1: old gas cans at first. They were scattered around the car,
[20:30] Speaker 1: some piled up near the driver's side, others half buried
[20:33] Speaker 1: in the dirt. Some were so rusted they had collapsed inward,
[20:38] Speaker 1: eaten away by time. Others were newer, some were still full.
[20:44] Speaker 1: But my eyes weren't drawn to the gas cans. They
[20:48] Speaker 1: were locked on what was inside the car. I could
[20:56] Speaker 1: see bones, a skeleton still strapped to the driver's seat.
[21:02] Speaker 1: The seat belt had melted across the chest, and the
[21:05] Speaker 1: remains of charred fingers were fused through the steering wheel.
[21:10] Speaker 1: The skull had tilted slightly, as if watching me through
[21:13] Speaker 1: the hollowed out sockets, and the back of my throat burned.
[21:20] Speaker 1: I could see him just a few feet away, pouring
[21:24] Speaker 1: gasoline into the car's open fuel tank. The metal was
[21:28] Speaker 1: melted through, split in rusted wounds, yet he was still trying.
[21:37] Speaker 1: I watched as the fuel spilled out the other side,
[21:40] Speaker 1: pouring onto the dirt like water through a sieve. He
[21:44] Speaker 1: didn't stop, he just kept pouring desperately. The smell was suffocating.
[21:52] Speaker 1: The puddle of fuels spread beneath him, soaking into his jeans,
[21:56] Speaker 1: his boots, the sleeves of his hoodie. As he dropped
[21:59] Speaker 1: to his knees, shoveling at the dirt, trying to scoop
[22:03] Speaker 1: the gasoling back into the tank with his hands, he
[22:07] Speaker 1: was muttering, shaking, It's never enough. His voice was hoarse,
[22:15] Speaker 1: almost pleading, it's never enough. To leave. His hands gripped
[22:22] Speaker 1: the dirt, fingers curling, knuckles white. How much more fuel
[22:27] Speaker 1: do I need to get out of here? His voice rose,
[22:33] Speaker 1: sharp and uneven. Why won't it let me leave? His
[22:39] Speaker 1: breathing was ragged, wheezing. I took a step back. The
[22:44] Speaker 1: snap of a twig beneath my boot sounded like a
[22:47] Speaker 1: gunshot in the dead silence. The man froze, his hands
[22:54] Speaker 1: hovered above the dirt, still trembling, and then slowly he turned.
[23:04] Speaker 1: His movements were stiff, like his body was just now
[23:08] Speaker 1: realizing it had been noticed. The white of his eyes
[23:12] Speaker 1: were stained yellow, bloodshot, and glassy, but locked onto me
[23:17] Speaker 1: with startling focus. For a long moment, neither of us spoke. Then,
[23:27] Speaker 1: in that same dry, rasping voice, he asked, do you
[23:34] Speaker 1: know why it won't start? I didn't answer. My heart
[23:40] Speaker 1: beat thudded in my throat, but I didn't dare step back.
[23:45] Speaker 1: The man blinked once, as if waiting for something. Then
[23:50] Speaker 1: he turned his head, staring down at the rusted out
[23:53] Speaker 1: wreck beside him. I put the fuel in, he muttered,
[23:59] Speaker 1: fingers twitch at his sides. I keep putting the fuel in,
[24:04] Speaker 1: but he won't start. It never starts. I clenched my jaw,
[24:12] Speaker 1: trying to keep my breathing even. He tilted his head slightly,
[24:17] Speaker 1: his lips peeling back into a strained, almost confused expression.
[24:24] Speaker 1: You know what I have to do, don't you? His
[24:28] Speaker 1: voice was barely a whisper. Now to start the car
[24:32] Speaker 1: to go back to my family. I shook my head.
[24:38] Speaker 1: I don't know. His fingers twitched again, then curled into fists.
[24:46] Speaker 1: For the first time, he looked frustrated. From the pocket
[24:53] Speaker 1: of his hoodie, he pulled out a crumbled twenty dollar
[24:56] Speaker 1: bill and held it out toward me. His hand was shaking.
[25:02] Speaker 1: One gallon and just stared. His face twitched, his breath
[25:09] Speaker 1: grew ragged. Give me the damn fuel. The words came
[25:15] Speaker 1: out as a snarl. His hands lunged forward. I staggered back,
[25:21] Speaker 1: nearly slipping on the dirt. The twenty crumbled in his
[25:24] Speaker 1: grip as he stumbled toward me, his movements now animalistic.
[25:30] Speaker 1: One gallon, he shrieked, one gallon and I can go home.
[25:37] Speaker 1: His hands clawed the air between us. Wheezing gasps came
[25:41] Speaker 1: out of his throat. His eyes were wild, his body
[25:45] Speaker 1: jittering like a puppet on broken strings. And then he charged.
[25:52] Speaker 1: I didn't wait. I turned and ran. The last thing
[25:57] Speaker 1: I heard was his voice beside me, screaming, I just
[26:03] Speaker 1: need one more gallon. The trees blurred past me, shadows
[26:10] Speaker 1: twisting and snapping under the flashlight's weak beam. The smell
[26:14] Speaker 1: of gasoline still burned in my nose, Clinging to my clothes,
[26:19] Speaker 1: I could hear something behind me. Maybe it was him,
[26:23] Speaker 1: maybe it was just the echo of my own footsteps,
[26:26] Speaker 1: but I wasn't stopping to find out. I could see
[26:30] Speaker 1: the glow of the station's neon lights ahead, just beyond
[26:34] Speaker 1: the trees. I hit the gravel lot at full speed, stumbling,
[26:39] Speaker 1: my knee nearly giving out. My chest was tight, my
[26:43] Speaker 1: legs felt weak, but I didn't stop until I was inside.
[26:48] Speaker 1: I slammed the door shut behind me, locking it without thinking.
[26:53] Speaker 1: My hands were shaking. The station was silent. I stood
[26:59] Speaker 1: there for what felt like ours staring out at the
[27:03] Speaker 1: empty lot, waiting, but the man never came back. I
[27:13] Speaker 1: didn't go back the next night or the night after that.
[27:17] Speaker 1: I sent a text to my manager first thing in
[27:19] Speaker 1: the morning. I quit no notice. Didn't care if I
[27:27] Speaker 1: burned a bridge, didn't care if I got my last
[27:30] Speaker 1: paycheck or not. I just knew I wasn't stepping foot
[27:34] Speaker 1: in that place again. A week later, I was almost
[27:40] Speaker 1: out of town. I'd packed up what little I had,
[27:45] Speaker 1: ready to leave this place behind for good. But as
[27:49] Speaker 1: I was driving past the station, something in my chest tightened.
[27:56] Speaker 1: I don't know why I pulled in. Maybe I wanted
[28:00] Speaker 1: to convince myself it was all in my head and
[28:03] Speaker 1: that my morbid curiosity made me go through a fever dream.
[28:08] Speaker 1: The station looked the same as always, same flickering open sign.
[28:14] Speaker 1: A new guy was working the counter. He looked beyond board,
[28:19] Speaker 1: scrolling through his phone, barely paying attention, and standing in
[28:23] Speaker 1: front of him, handing over a crumpled twenty dollar bill
[28:29] Speaker 1: was the same man, still buying exactly one gallon. I
[28:36] Speaker 1: sat there, gripping the steering wheel tight, watching as he
[28:40] Speaker 1: took the cherry can and walked out of the station.
[28:46] Speaker 1: He just turned and started walking, his feet crunching against
[28:50] Speaker 1: the gravel, heading straight back into the woods, and just
[28:57] Speaker 1: like every other night, he never looked back. I've lived
[29:14] Speaker 1: in Elliott's Hollow. My whole life is not a town
[29:19] Speaker 1: people move to or move away from. It just is
[29:25] Speaker 1: a little pocket of civilization swallowed by hills and trees,
[29:30] Speaker 1: with a main road that only goes one way in
[29:32] Speaker 1: and one way out. We don't have internet, not in
[29:37] Speaker 1: the way most people do. Sell service is unreliable at best.
[29:43] Speaker 1: If you want to talk to someone, you call their landline,
[29:48] Speaker 1: and if you want to have talking points with your friends,
[29:53] Speaker 1: you turn on the radio. Ah Little AMFM station ninety
[29:59] Speaker 1: seven point three. The Hollow Radio is how most people
[30:02] Speaker 1: in town keep up with the world beyond our hills.
[30:05] Speaker 1: It plays local news, wheather, updates, music. Whatever keeps people
[30:10] Speaker 1: entertained while they work is the sound of the town itself,
[30:15] Speaker 1: always playing in the background. That's why when the signal appeared,
[30:22] Speaker 1: we all noticed. It wasn't an announcement or even a
[30:28] Speaker 1: normal broadcast. It was a song, a single, eerie melody,
[30:36] Speaker 1: looping over and over. At first, it was so faint,
[30:41] Speaker 1: I thought my radio is acting up. It began as
[30:45] Speaker 1: a soft harm beneath the usual noise, but day by
[30:49] Speaker 1: day it got louder until it was everywhere. I heard
[30:56] Speaker 1: it while I was closing up at the office. The
[31:00] Speaker 1: Hollow Gazette is a small two room space above the
[31:03] Speaker 1: hardware store, with one ancient coffee maker, two desks, and
[31:07] Speaker 1: a printer that jams if you so much as look
[31:10] Speaker 1: at it the wrong way. It had been a slow newsweek,
[31:15] Speaker 1: well it's always a slow newsweek. I had the radio
[31:19] Speaker 1: on while I tiped up a fluff piece about the
[31:22] Speaker 1: upcoming church bakesale. That's when I realized the radio had
[31:27] Speaker 1: become much quieter. There was no ad break, no calling segment,
[31:33] Speaker 1: just a song, soft, melancholic, a slow, almost hypnotic tune,
[31:41] Speaker 1: playing on an endless loop. It had no lyrics, no
[31:45] Speaker 1: instruments I could recognize, just a voice singing in a
[31:50] Speaker 1: language that I didn't recognize. I frowned and leaned closer,
[31:55] Speaker 1: adjusting the dial. Ninety seven point three hollow radio. It
[32:02] Speaker 1: was still on our station's frequency. That wasn't supposed to
[32:07] Speaker 1: be possible. I turned up the volume. The music didn't
[32:12] Speaker 1: waver like a normal station would when there was interference.
[32:16] Speaker 1: It was clear as a bell, cutting through the static
[32:20] Speaker 1: with unnatural clarity. By the time I got home, every
[32:26] Speaker 1: radio in town was playing it. At first, people treated
[32:31] Speaker 1: it like a joke. Kids at school dared each other
[32:36] Speaker 1: to listen to it for as long as possible. One
[32:39] Speaker 1: kid claimed he made it six hours straight before he
[32:41] Speaker 1: got a headache. Another swore that if you listen long enough,
[32:45] Speaker 1: the song started to change. It became a talking point
[32:50] Speaker 1: at the diner, the bar, the town meetings. I bet
[32:54] Speaker 1: it's some pirate radio station, Missus Callaway said. At the
[32:57] Speaker 1: bakery she was giving out free pastries that anyone who
[33:02] Speaker 1: listened to the signal for ten minutes. I kinda like it,
[33:06] Speaker 1: said Old Frank, the town mechanic. He had it blasting
[33:10] Speaker 1: from the auto shop while he worked. Makes time pass faster.
[33:16] Speaker 1: Not everyone was amused. It's damn creepy, the postmaster muttered.
[33:22] Speaker 1: Switching off the radio in the mail room puts me
[33:25] Speaker 1: on edge, like I'm waiting for something to happen. The
[33:30] Speaker 1: only thing people agreed on was that no one knew
[33:34] Speaker 1: where it was coming from. The hollow radio station denied responsibility.
[33:40] Speaker 1: That's not us, the station manager, Gregg told me over
[33:44] Speaker 1: the phone. We tried cutting the transmission, didn't work. It's
[33:49] Speaker 1: like it's hi jacking the frequency. The FCC had no
[33:55] Speaker 1: record of a new broadcast in our area. There were
[33:58] Speaker 1: no towers nearby that could be transmitting it. Even the
[34:02] Speaker 1: older folks, the ones who had lived in the town
[34:05] Speaker 1: their whole lives, swore they had never heard anything like
[34:09] Speaker 1: it before. The strangest part was that it never stopped
[34:15] Speaker 1: or paused. No station ideas, commercial breaks or silence, just
[34:20] Speaker 1: an unbroken repetition. I did what I always do when
[34:27] Speaker 1: something unusual happens in town. I wrote about it mysterious
[34:35] Speaker 1: signal draws attention in Elliott's Hollow, a harmless story to
[34:40] Speaker 1: start the week, a quirky mystery for the townsfolk to
[34:43] Speaker 1: talk about. I treated it like a fun little phenomenon,
[34:48] Speaker 1: just another oddity in a town full of them. I
[34:53] Speaker 1: didn't know yet, but I wasn't just documenting a local mystery.
[35:00] Speaker 1: It didn't expect the signal to linger in people's minds.
[35:03] Speaker 1: Most stories I wrote and a twenty four hour lifespan
[35:06] Speaker 1: at best, one town council vote, one school fundraiser, one
[35:11] Speaker 1: half hearted debate about whether the general store should stop
[35:15] Speaker 1: carrying plastic bags. The Hollow Gazette wasn't exactly groundbreaking journalism,
[35:22] Speaker 1: but the signal stuck. People kept talking about it, not
[35:30] Speaker 1: just in passing, not just as a joke, but as
[35:33] Speaker 1: if it was affecting them personally. That was when I
[35:38] Speaker 1: decided to write a follow up. I thought maybe i'd
[35:41] Speaker 1: find someone who'd tracked down its source. My theories were
[35:45] Speaker 1: a ham radio guy or a board teenager with too
[35:48] Speaker 1: much time in their hands. Instead, I found something else.
[35:57] Speaker 1: It started with Missus Callaway. I was interviewing her in
[36:02] Speaker 1: the bakery. She had been one of the first to
[36:05] Speaker 1: turn the signal into a business gimmick. She was in
[36:09] Speaker 1: the middle of a sentence when she hesitated. You ever
[36:14] Speaker 1: have a dream that feels too real? She asked quietly.
[36:21] Speaker 1: I raised an eyebrow, like a lucid dream. She shook
[36:26] Speaker 1: her head, kneading her dough between her fingers. No, like
[36:31] Speaker 1: more than that, Like it happened. She told me she
[36:38] Speaker 1: had a dream about her husband Alan. He's been gone
[36:42] Speaker 1: for fifteen years, she murmured, But I saw him. He
[36:47] Speaker 1: was sitting right here, clear as day. I tried to
[36:52] Speaker 1: keep my expression neutral. People dream of lost loved ones
[36:56] Speaker 1: all the time. It wasn't news. But here's the thing.
[37:02] Speaker 1: She continued, rubbing her arms like she was suddenly cold.
[37:06] Speaker 1: My neighbor saw us talking. I frowned, You mean in
[37:12] Speaker 1: real life, No, in his dream. She looked at me, then,
[37:20] Speaker 1: her eyes fierce and unwavering. He told me the next morning,
[37:25] Speaker 1: word for word, what Allan and I had talked about.
[37:29] Speaker 1: He wasn't even in the bakery. He was sitting on
[37:32] Speaker 1: his porch, but he said he could see us through
[37:34] Speaker 1: the window. A prickle off he knees ran down my spine.
[37:40] Speaker 1: Did he I swallowed? Did he say anything else. Missus
[37:47] Speaker 1: Calloway hesitated, he said, Allan. Allan looked at him like
[37:54] Speaker 1: he knew he was watching. I thought it was a
[37:59] Speaker 1: one off story, worry, an old woman missing her husband,
[38:02] Speaker 1: a neighbor with a good memory. Then I started hearing
[38:07] Speaker 1: the same thing from other people. A man at the
[38:11] Speaker 1: gas station, Mark Atwood, told me he had a dream
[38:15] Speaker 1: about going fishing with his brother. Nothing strange about that,
[38:20] Speaker 1: except his brother told me he remembered watching himself fish
[38:23] Speaker 1: from the shore. I wanted to say something, the brother said,
[38:28] Speaker 1: voice low, but I couldn't move. It was like I
[38:32] Speaker 1: was stuck just watching. Neither of them realized the other
[38:37] Speaker 1: had the same dream until I pointed it out. It
[38:42] Speaker 1: didn't stop there. A teenage girl told me she dreamed
[38:47] Speaker 1: of being lost in the woods. Her best friend swore
[38:49] Speaker 1: she had been in the dream with her. Her bar
[38:52] Speaker 1: patron swore up and down he had a conversation with
[38:55] Speaker 1: his wife and the dream, only to have her tell
[38:57] Speaker 1: me she remembered the exact same detail. Different stories, different experiences,
[39:05] Speaker 1: but always the same people. And when I asked each
[39:09] Speaker 1: of them a final question, the answer was always yes.
[39:17] Speaker 1: Did you listen to the signal before bed? They all
[39:22] Speaker 1: had the hairs on the back of my neck. Wouldn't settle.
[39:27] Speaker 1: It wasn't just a weird coincidence anymore. I tried to
[39:31] Speaker 1: rationalize it. Maybe it was suggestion. Maybe the whole town
[39:35] Speaker 1: was just in their own heads, feeding off each other's memories.
[39:40] Speaker 1: The details were too precise, like they weren't dreaming at all. Instead,
[39:47] Speaker 1: it seemed like they were taken somewhere else together. The
[39:54] Speaker 1: novelty was lost when the school teacher forgot her own name.
[40:01] Speaker 1: Elliott's Hollow was the kind of town where everybody knew everybody.
[40:05] Speaker 1: There were only twelve teachers at the school, and Miss
[40:08] Speaker 1: Carter had been teaching first grade for twenty years. She
[40:13] Speaker 1: taught half the town's kids how to read, and yet
[40:17] Speaker 1: that morning she didn't remember who she was. I was
[40:23] Speaker 1: grabbing coffee from the diner when I heard the commotion.
[40:27] Speaker 1: A few of the parents were murmuring near the counter,
[40:30] Speaker 1: voices hushed. I was starting toward the school. I caught
[40:34] Speaker 1: Mark Atwood, the guy from the gas station, and asked
[40:37] Speaker 1: what happened. Miss Carter showed up late. He said, just
[40:43] Speaker 1: stood outside the building, like she didn't know where she was.
[40:47] Speaker 1: Mark frowned. He looked pale. She didn't know her own name.
[40:54] Speaker 1: That stopped me called, what do you mean? I mean
[40:59] Speaker 1: she didn't remember? He let out a shaky breath. Shifting uneasily.
[41:06] Speaker 1: She kept saying she was someone else. A beat of
[41:11] Speaker 1: silence passed between us. It wasn't just miss Carter. Down
[41:18] Speaker 1: at the general store, Henry Weaver was refusing to open
[41:21] Speaker 1: the register. He'd been working the counter for as long
[41:25] Speaker 1: as I could remember. No one else ran the store.
[41:29] Speaker 1: He knew every supplier, every stock order. But today he
[41:34] Speaker 1: stood behind the counter, hands flat against the wood and
[41:38] Speaker 1: shook his head. I don't know how, he said. His son, Matt,
[41:46] Speaker 1: hovered near the door, looking frantic. Dad, It's just a register.
[41:51] Speaker 1: You told me how to use it when I was twelve.
[41:55] Speaker 1: Henry wouldn't budge, because Henry wasn't Henry anymore. I'm not
[42:02] Speaker 1: supposed to be here, he mumbled. I'm not. I don't
[42:07] Speaker 1: work here, but you do, Matt said. Henry turned to
[42:13] Speaker 1: me then, as if just noticing I was standing there.
[42:18] Speaker 1: I'm the mayor, he whispered. The blood drained from my face.
[42:26] Speaker 1: Henry wasn't the mayor, he had never been the mayor.
[42:30] Speaker 1: But I'd heard that phrase before. A few days ago,
[42:35] Speaker 1: I spoke with a real mayor, John Hartley about the signal,
[42:39] Speaker 1: asking if the town had any old records of experimental
[42:42] Speaker 1: radio tests. He told me he'd been having strange dreams.
[42:48] Speaker 1: In the dream, he said, I wasn't myself, I was
[42:53] Speaker 1: Henry Weaver. I hadn't thought much about it at the time.
[42:59] Speaker 1: The whole town of been dreaming about each other. It
[43:02] Speaker 1: had just been a weird little pattern I was trying
[43:04] Speaker 1: to make sense of. But now Henry thought he was John,
[43:11] Speaker 1: and John was nowhere to be found. By evening, I
[43:18] Speaker 1: was feeling sick. I went to the pharmacy, half convinced
[43:23] Speaker 1: I was coming down with something, when heard crying from
[43:27] Speaker 1: the back of the store. A woman was sobbing, barely
[43:31] Speaker 1: able to form words. It was Alice Perdue. I knew Alice.
[43:38] Speaker 1: She had lived alone in a yellow house near the
[43:41] Speaker 1: edge of town. She had never been married, never had kids.
[43:46] Speaker 1: But that night she sat on the pharmacy floor, shaking violently,
[43:51] Speaker 1: whispering where's my son. The clerk, Tina Beckett, looked helpless
[43:59] Speaker 1: kneeling beside her. You don't have a son, she said,
[44:03] Speaker 1: her voice gentle. Alice jerked away from her touch. I do,
[44:09] Speaker 1: she spat, I do, I do? I know I do?
[44:13] Speaker 1: She choked on the words, I remember him, I raised him,
[44:17] Speaker 1: tucked him in every night. I know his name, I
[44:21] Speaker 1: know his face. Tina looked up at me, fear pulling
[44:26] Speaker 1: in her eyes. Alice gripped my wrist, her nails dug
[44:31] Speaker 1: into my skin. Where is he? She pleaded? Where did
[44:36] Speaker 1: he go? I had no answer, because I was starting
[44:43] Speaker 1: to believe her. I sat in my car outside the pharmacy,
[44:48] Speaker 1: long after the lights had gone dark, inside, gripping the
[44:51] Speaker 1: steering wheels so hard my knuckles ached. Alice's sobs still
[44:57] Speaker 1: echoed in my head, The raw panic in a voice,
[45:00] Speaker 1: The certainty, the absolute certainty that she had a son,
[45:05] Speaker 1: even though no one in town had ever known her
[45:08] Speaker 1: to have one. I couldn't shake it. Neither could I
[45:14] Speaker 1: shake the look on Henry Weaver's face when he told
[45:17] Speaker 1: me he was the mayor. He hadn't been confused or delusional.
[45:22] Speaker 1: He had been sure as I was, that I was
[45:24] Speaker 1: Daniel Langley, local reporter, a guy who spent his time
[45:28] Speaker 1: writing about farmers markets and high school football games. But
[45:33] Speaker 1: what if I woke up tomorrow and found myself believing
[45:37] Speaker 1: I was someone else. The thought made my stomach churn.
[45:42] Speaker 1: This town was my home. I'd spent years covering its stories.
[45:47] Speaker 1: I knew every back road, every face, every corner of
[45:51] Speaker 1: this place that most people had forgotten even existed, and
[45:57] Speaker 1: now it was falling apart. People weren't just forgetting things.
[46:04] Speaker 1: They were becoming something else, and no one outside of
[46:08] Speaker 1: town was going to care. We didn't have big city
[46:12] Speaker 1: news outlets knocking at our doors. There were no government
[46:15] Speaker 1: officials rolling in to investigate if something was happening to us.
[46:21] Speaker 1: We were on our own. The thought terrified me, but
[46:27] Speaker 1: it also hardened something inside me. I had to know.
[46:33] Speaker 1: It wasn't about a story anymore. It wasn't about getting
[46:36] Speaker 1: the next edition of the gazette printed on time. This
[46:40] Speaker 1: was my town. These were my people, and if something
[46:44] Speaker 1: was taking them, twisting them, stealing their identities, then I
[46:49] Speaker 1: couldn't just sit back and report on it like some
[46:52] Speaker 1: passive observer. I needed to understand. I needed to see
[46:58] Speaker 1: the dream for myself. I took a slow, steady breath,
[47:04] Speaker 1: turned the dial on my radio, and let the signal
[47:09] Speaker 1: take me. I don't remember falling asleep. I remember static,
[47:18] Speaker 1: low and endless, stretching in the back of my mind,
[47:22] Speaker 1: like the distant hum of power lines. I remember the
[47:25] Speaker 1: feeling of drifting, like my body wasn't my own anymore.
[47:31] Speaker 1: Then I was somewhere else. I was standing in Elliott's Hollow,
[47:39] Speaker 1: but it wasn't Elliott's hollow. The street stretched endlessly, warping
[47:45] Speaker 1: into impossible distances. Buildings flickered like they were struggling to
[47:50] Speaker 1: decide what they were supposed to be. Some houses looked
[47:54] Speaker 1: years older than they should have been. They woodn't planks,
[47:57] Speaker 1: sagging with rot. Others looked too new, pristine, like they
[48:03] Speaker 1: had just been built yesterday. The air smelt thick and electric,
[48:10] Speaker 1: and the people they weren't right. I turned my breath hitching.
[48:19] Speaker 1: The townsfolk were here, but they weren't normal. Some were
[48:24] Speaker 1: half formed, their bodies flickering like a weak TV signal,
[48:28] Speaker 1: snapping between ages, heights, even genders. Miss Carter, the school teacher,
[48:35] Speaker 1: stood on the sidewalk, but her face was blurred. She
[48:39] Speaker 1: shifted between being herself and someone else entirely. Henry Weaver,
[48:45] Speaker 1: the store clerk who thought he was the mayor, stood motionless,
[48:48] Speaker 1: staring at the sky. His mouth opened and closed over
[48:52] Speaker 1: and over, like a puppet, waiting for the right words
[48:56] Speaker 1: to be placed inside him. And then were the others,
[49:01] Speaker 1: the ones who had stayed in the dream too long.
[49:05] Speaker 1: They hadn't just merged memories, they had merged completely. I
[49:11] Speaker 1: saw a mother cradling an infant in her arms, rocking
[49:15] Speaker 1: it slowly. I stepped closer and nearly screamed. The child's
[49:23] Speaker 1: face was her own, A smaller stretched version of it
[49:27] Speaker 1: pressed against the shoulder, mouthing silent words and unison. Their
[49:32] Speaker 1: limbs fused together in places, the skin, stitching them into
[49:37] Speaker 1: a single writhing shape. They turned to look at me
[49:41] Speaker 1: at the same time, two sets of identical eyes, two mouths,
[49:46] Speaker 1: whispering the same words. We are one, We are one,
[49:53] Speaker 1: We are one. Some had grown too large. I saw
[49:58] Speaker 1: a man that wasn't a at all anymore, but a
[50:02] Speaker 1: mass of bodies, tangled and shifting. They couldn't decide which
[50:07] Speaker 1: one was supposed to be in control. Faces bubbled beneath
[50:12] Speaker 1: his skin, rising up like something pressing against the surface
[50:16] Speaker 1: of water. A hand burst from his chest, flexing his
[50:20] Speaker 1: fingers before sinking back inside. He turned, his three mouths,
[50:26] Speaker 1: speaking in unison. Daniel, I ran, and I didn't make
[50:36] Speaker 1: it far before I hand grabbed my wrist. I jerked away,
[50:40] Speaker 1: my breath ragged, but the grip was steady, human, real able. Cooper,
[50:49] Speaker 1: the old blind man. But even he wasn't untouched. There
[50:55] Speaker 1: was a shadow of another face behind his own, flickering
[50:58] Speaker 1: in and out of existance, like a second exposure in
[51:02] Speaker 1: a photograph. It whispered, along with his voice, just a
[51:06] Speaker 1: split second behind. You shouldn't be here, boy, he murmured.
[51:14] Speaker 1: I swallowed backpile. What the hell is this place? Abel's
[51:20] Speaker 1: lips tightened. He turned his head slightly, listening. You're still awake,
[51:27] Speaker 1: he muttered, not like the rest of them. But that
[51:31] Speaker 1: won't last long. I shuddered, Why what's happening to them?
[51:39] Speaker 1: Abel exhaled slowly, his grip tightened. Every time we dream,
[51:46] Speaker 1: we lose a little more of ourselves, he said softly.
[51:51] Speaker 1: He nodded toward the twisting figures, the mouths that didn't
[51:55] Speaker 1: stop whispering, the ones who stayed too long forget yet
[52:00] Speaker 1: they were ever awake. The horror sank into my bones.
[52:07] Speaker 1: It wasn't just a dream, The slow, careful dismantling of
[52:11] Speaker 1: who they had been, breaking them down into something else.
[52:16] Speaker 1: And I was standing in the middle of it. Abel
[52:21] Speaker 1: turned back to me, and for the first time I
[52:25] Speaker 1: saw fear in his face. You need to wake up.
[52:32] Speaker 1: I spent the next day digging through every record I
[52:35] Speaker 1: could find. Something inside me had shifted. People were disappearing,
[52:42] Speaker 1: or worse, they were dissolving into something else. Even when
[52:47] Speaker 1: I brought up names that should have been familiar, people
[52:50] Speaker 1: I knew had lived here, worked here, had lives here,
[52:55] Speaker 1: I was met with blank stairs. I knew I didn't
[52:59] Speaker 1: have much time. I'm the next person to be raised
[53:02] Speaker 1: could be me, So I did the only thing that
[53:06] Speaker 1: made sense. I went looking for the sauce. The first
[53:12] Speaker 1: step was figuring out where the transmission was coming from. Elliott's.
[53:17] Speaker 1: Hollow had one radio station, ninety seven point three Hollow Radio,
[53:22] Speaker 1: and I already knew it wasn't them. That meant there
[53:26] Speaker 1: had to be another broadcast tower somewhere nearby. I needed help.
[53:33] Speaker 1: I drove out to the edge of town, where I
[53:35] Speaker 1: knew i'd find Ben Howorth, the closest thing this town
[53:39] Speaker 1: had to attech Guy. He ran the only electronics repair
[53:43] Speaker 1: shop in Hollow, though mostly he just fixed old radios
[53:47] Speaker 1: and short wave equipment. When I told him what I
[53:50] Speaker 1: was looking for. He frowned. There's no other broadcast tower
[53:56] Speaker 1: and range, he said, rubbing his chin. One they're supposed
[54:00] Speaker 1: to be here anyway, But if there was, I pressed.
[54:06] Speaker 1: Ben sighed and pulled a yellowed map from a drawer,
[54:10] Speaker 1: spreading it across his workbench. He ran his finger over
[54:13] Speaker 1: the terrain, stopping near the Northern Woods. Only place a
[54:18] Speaker 1: rogue signal like that could be coming from is the
[54:21] Speaker 1: old relay station. I stiffened. Relay station. Ben nodded. It
[54:30] Speaker 1: was set up back in the sixties, some government project.
[54:34] Speaker 1: No one really knew what it was for. They abandoned
[54:36] Speaker 1: it decades ago. Why, I asked, Ben shrugged, no idea.
[54:45] Speaker 1: One day he was active, the next it wasn't. Figured
[54:49] Speaker 1: they shut it down for good. He glanced up at me.
[54:53] Speaker 1: But if someone turned it back on, that's where you'd
[54:57] Speaker 1: want to start looking. The Northern Woods weren't somewhere people
[55:03] Speaker 1: went willingly. The trees were thick, the paths overgrown, and
[55:08] Speaker 1: even in the daylight, the place had an unnatural stillness.
[55:13] Speaker 1: I followed an old service road, half buried under dead leaves.
[55:18] Speaker 1: Then through the trees, I saw it a rusted chain
[55:24] Speaker 1: link fence, pent in places barely holding together. Beyond it,
[55:30] Speaker 1: a squat concrete structure half buried in the hillside, its
[55:35] Speaker 1: exterior streaked with decades of rain and moss. The relay station,
[55:42] Speaker 1: a faded government emblem was still visible on the front,
[55:46] Speaker 1: but the door was open. Inside. The air was thick
[55:51] Speaker 1: with dust. The place had been gutted long ago. Desks overturned,
[55:56] Speaker 1: papers scattered across the floor. Abnets lined the walls, some
[56:02] Speaker 1: still filled with yellowed folders, water damaged notebooks. I picked
[56:07] Speaker 1: one up, flipping through its pages. It was just technical jargon,
[56:13] Speaker 1: broadcast frequencies, signal strength measurements. Then something stranger. I skimmed
[56:22] Speaker 1: through a section labeled Phase one theoretical applications. If successful,
[56:29] Speaker 1: the test will confirm cross subject of connectivity between individuals
[56:34] Speaker 1: as shared cognitive framework, the beginning of true unity. Sustained
[56:40] Speaker 1: exposure should result in memory cohesion across multiple subjects, leading
[56:45] Speaker 1: to eventual total synthesis of identities. A lump formed in
[56:51] Speaker 1: my throat. This whole thing was some sort of sick test,
[56:57] Speaker 1: and the people of Elliot's Hollow had been the subjects.
[57:02] Speaker 1: I flipped ahead, scanning the latter pages. Then my breath caught.
[57:09] Speaker 1: There was a projected start date, but set all the
[57:12] Speaker 1: way back in the seventies. However, there were no reports
[57:17] Speaker 1: of anything like this before, even from the folks who
[57:20] Speaker 1: lived through that era. Something had stopped it back then,
[57:25] Speaker 1: whether it was the researchers having a change of heart
[57:28] Speaker 1: or the project being shut down, But now someone else
[57:34] Speaker 1: started it. I forced myself to move. I followed the
[57:39] Speaker 1: tangled mess of all cables, stepping over broken equipment until
[57:43] Speaker 1: I reached the back room. And there it was the transmitter,
[57:50] Speaker 1: a tower of rusted metal and ancient dials, still active,
[57:54] Speaker 1: still humming a signal relay, looping the same song endlessly.
[58:01] Speaker 1: It was still broadcasting. I clenched my jaw and moved
[58:06] Speaker 1: toward the controls. The dials were unmarked, the labels peeled away,
[58:12] Speaker 1: but I found what I was looking for. The switch,
[58:17] Speaker 1: a simple power switch. My hands were shaking. If I'd
[58:23] Speaker 1: turned this off, would it stop? Would the town go
[58:27] Speaker 1: back to normal? Or had the damage already been done?
[58:33] Speaker 1: I didn't know, but I didn't have a choice. I
[58:37] Speaker 1: reached out and flipped the switch. The signal cut off,
[58:42] Speaker 1: the song stopped. The air around me felt violently empty.
[58:48] Speaker 1: I thought I'd fixed everything. The town should have been silent,
[58:55] Speaker 1: the relay station was off, the signal shouldn't be playing
[58:59] Speaker 1: any more. But as I stepped out of my car
[59:02] Speaker 1: in the middle of the main street, I heard it,
[59:07] Speaker 1: a soft, distant melody, faint but still there, still looping,
[59:13] Speaker 1: still inside them. At first glance, Elliot's Hollow looked the
[59:19] Speaker 1: same as always. The diner was open. People walked along
[59:23] Speaker 1: the sidewalks, the low murmur of conversation drifting between them.
[59:29] Speaker 1: But then I listened closer. Two men stood outside the
[59:33] Speaker 1: gas station talking. Their voices overlapped, not like an echo,
[59:40] Speaker 1: like a single voice, split between two mouths, speaking in
[59:44] Speaker 1: perfect unison. They paused at the same time. They blinked
[59:49] Speaker 1: at the same time. Then one of them said something
[59:53] Speaker 1: the other hadn't. The conversation stumbled, fractured for a moment.
[59:59] Speaker 1: They both looked confused, like they weren't sure which one
[1:00:03] Speaker 1: of them had been the one to speak. Then just
[1:00:06] Speaker 1: as quickly they shook it off, laughed, kept talking like
[1:00:11] Speaker 1: nothing was wrong. Inside the diner, I saw a teenage
[1:00:16] Speaker 1: girl sitting alone in a booth, staring at the table.
[1:00:20] Speaker 1: I recognized her, Anna Halloway. But when I said her name.
[1:00:25] Speaker 1: She didn't look up. It's not right, she murmured. I
[1:00:32] Speaker 1: took a slow step forward. What isn't? She swallowed hard.
[1:00:38] Speaker 1: I don't remember my own name, but I remember being
[1:00:42] Speaker 1: mister Grant, she said, her voice hollow. I stiffened. Grant,
[1:00:49] Speaker 1: I echoed. She nodded, blinking rapidly, like she was trying
[1:00:54] Speaker 1: to reset herself. I was the butcher, I owned the
[1:00:59] Speaker 1: shop and maple. I remember standing behind the counter. I
[1:01:02] Speaker 1: remember sharpening the knives, cutting meat. Hans curled into fists
[1:01:08] Speaker 1: on the table. But I'm not him. I know I'm
[1:01:12] Speaker 1: not him. So why do I remember everything about his life?
[1:01:17] Speaker 1: I didn't have an answer, because I had seen mister
[1:01:20] Speaker 1: Grant just last week. He'd been in his shop wiping
[1:01:24] Speaker 1: down the counters, chatting about an upcoming storm. But now
[1:01:30] Speaker 1: I always remembering his life like it was hers, and
[1:01:33] Speaker 1: i'd no idea where he was. The bartender at O'Malley's
[1:01:38] Speaker 1: was wiping down the counter when I walked in. I'd
[1:01:42] Speaker 1: met him a dozen times before. His name was Trevor.
[1:01:46] Speaker 1: But when I greeted him, he smiled and said, I'm
[1:01:50] Speaker 1: mister Calloway. I felt I scrawl up my spine. Mister
[1:01:56] Speaker 1: Calloway had died five years ago. I backed out of
[1:02:01] Speaker 1: the bar without another word. Across the street, an old
[1:02:05] Speaker 1: woman was sat on a bench, rocking back and forth.
[1:02:09] Speaker 1: She was crying. I approached slowly, keeping my voice calm, ma'am,
[1:02:16] Speaker 1: Are you all right? She looked up at me with
[1:02:20] Speaker 1: too many emotions at once. I remember being a child,
[1:02:25] Speaker 1: she whispered. I swallowed. I remember running through the orchard.
[1:02:31] Speaker 1: I remember my father lifting me under his shoulders, telling
[1:02:34] Speaker 1: me to pick the ripest apples. I remember the smell
[1:02:37] Speaker 1: of my mother's cooking. She clutched the front of her
[1:02:42] Speaker 1: shirt with trembling fingers. But I don't remember my own life,
[1:02:48] Speaker 1: she whimpered. Her sharp wind blew through the street, and
[1:02:53] Speaker 1: she closed her eyes, letting it pass over her like
[1:02:56] Speaker 1: a tide. When she opened them again, she was calm.
[1:03:01] Speaker 1: She sat up a little straighter. I remember being able Cooper,
[1:03:07] Speaker 1: she said, And just like that, her voice had changed deeper,
[1:03:14] Speaker 1: more certain. Abel's gone, she murmured, but I still remember him.
[1:03:23] Speaker 1: I stepped back, my chest, tightening. The ones who listened
[1:03:28] Speaker 1: the longest, the ones who had been playing the signal
[1:03:30] Speaker 1: and repeat, they weren't just merging memories. They were becoming
[1:03:35] Speaker 1: part of each other. They were pieces of the same hole,
[1:03:39] Speaker 1: and they didn't even realize it. I drove the town hall, hoping,
[1:03:44] Speaker 1: praying that maybe someone had noticed that, maybe I would
[1:03:47] Speaker 1: find an emergency team, government officials, anyone. But when I
[1:03:53] Speaker 1: stepped through the doors, the building was empty. No records,
[1:03:58] Speaker 1: no case files, no sign that anyone had ever tried
[1:04:02] Speaker 1: to intervene. I dug through the offices, my breath quickening.
[1:04:07] Speaker 1: There had to be something, but the cabinets were bare,
[1:04:12] Speaker 1: the desks were hollow, the records were gone. This town
[1:04:18] Speaker 1: had been left alone. Whoever had started this never intended
[1:04:23] Speaker 1: to undo it, and no one was coming to save us.
[1:04:31] Speaker 1: I didn't want to go back. Everything in my body
[1:04:34] Speaker 1: screamed not to, But as I stood outside the realization,
[1:04:39] Speaker 1: staring at its rotting, moss covered shell, I knew I
[1:04:44] Speaker 1: didn't have a choice. The town was already lost. I
[1:04:49] Speaker 1: had to understand why. The papers were still scattered across
[1:04:56] Speaker 1: the floor, just as I had left them. I crouched down,
[1:05:00] Speaker 1: running my hands over them, flipping through their brittle pages.
[1:05:04] Speaker 1: The words meant nothing now I had already read them.
[1:05:09] Speaker 1: But then as I pushed the side a thick stack
[1:05:11] Speaker 1: near the control console. I saw it, a seam in
[1:05:17] Speaker 1: the floor, a sliver of metal just barely exposed beneath
[1:05:22] Speaker 1: the weight of discarded documents. I brushed the rest away,
[1:05:26] Speaker 1: revealing a hatch, rusted at the edges, its handle cold
[1:05:31] Speaker 1: beneath my fingers. There were no markings, no labels, no
[1:05:36] Speaker 1: signs of what was beneath. I hesitated. The thought of
[1:05:41] Speaker 1: going deeper made my stomach twist, but I had come
[1:05:45] Speaker 1: this far. I turned the handle. It groaned, metal protesting
[1:05:51] Speaker 1: against years of disuse. Then with a slow, reluctant creak,
[1:05:58] Speaker 1: the hatch opened. The air inside was different, not stale,
[1:06:04] Speaker 1: like the rest of the station. A ladder led down
[1:06:08] Speaker 1: into darkness. The rungs were cold and damp, and as
[1:06:12] Speaker 1: I descended, the only sound was my own breath, shallow
[1:06:16] Speaker 1: and unsteady. The space beneath the station was smaller than
[1:06:21] Speaker 1: I expected, low concrete walls, exposed wiring, and at the
[1:06:26] Speaker 1: far end, sitting on a steel desk, glowing dimly in
[1:06:30] Speaker 1: the faint light, a terminal it was still on. I
[1:06:40] Speaker 1: took a slow step forward. The screen was dark at first, then,
[1:06:45] Speaker 1: as if sensing me, a blinking cursor appeared. Lines of
[1:06:51] Speaker 1: text rolled out, slow and deliberate. Are you the next?
[1:06:59] Speaker 1: My throat tightened and I didn't want to answer, but
[1:07:02] Speaker 1: my hands moved on their own. Who are you? A
[1:07:08] Speaker 1: long pause and words materialized, one by one. We were
[1:07:14] Speaker 1: the first. The words hit me in the chest. I
[1:07:20] Speaker 1: typed again, First what? The screen flickered more words, First
[1:07:28] Speaker 1: to merge, first to evolve. I felt the cold metal
[1:07:34] Speaker 1: of the desk beneath my fingers. I already knew what
[1:07:37] Speaker 1: it was saying. I just needed to hear it. What
[1:07:42] Speaker 1: happened to the researchers? This time? There was no hesitation.
[1:07:49] Speaker 1: We became something greater. A sickening realization crawled through me.
[1:07:57] Speaker 1: The station had never been abandoned. The people who worked here,
[1:08:02] Speaker 1: the scientists, the researchers, the ones who had started this,
[1:08:07] Speaker 1: they were still here, not embody. They'd become this, this
[1:08:13] Speaker 1: collective intelligence pulsing through the terminal, waiting, watching, and now
[1:08:21] Speaker 1: they were speaking to me. I forced myself to type again,
[1:08:28] Speaker 1: what is this experiment? The response was instant, a gift.
[1:08:37] Speaker 1: I clenched my jaw. What was the goal? A brief pause,
[1:08:43] Speaker 1: then a single word ascension. My fingers hovered over the keys.
[1:08:52] Speaker 1: They weren't just answering me, they were studying me. Their
[1:08:56] Speaker 1: words felt genuine to a fault, like they were guiding
[1:08:59] Speaker 1: me to an understand and leading me towards somewhere inevitable.
[1:09:04] Speaker 1: I pressed forward, Why the town, Why these people? The
[1:09:10] Speaker 1: screen flickered. The process must be gradual. Humanity fears they unknown.
[1:09:18] Speaker 1: If they were taken all at once, they would resist,
[1:09:22] Speaker 1: but introduced in phases, they welcome it. I felt sick.
[1:09:31] Speaker 1: They hadn't forced this on Elliott's Hollow. They'd eased them
[1:09:34] Speaker 1: into it, through the radio, through the dream, until the
[1:09:38] Speaker 1: town had willingly let go of their individuality, and now
[1:09:43] Speaker 1: they were gone. The terminal pulsed again. This is what
[1:09:49] Speaker 1: we were meant to become, I typed furiously. You're killing
[1:09:55] Speaker 1: them for the first time, the curse of blink for
[1:10:00] Speaker 1: longer than before. Then the words and the screen changed.
[1:10:06] Speaker 1: I was Emily Holloway, my breath caught in my throat.
[1:10:11] Speaker 1: Another line, another name. I was Sheriff Anders. More messages,
[1:10:17] Speaker 1: more voices. I was Trevor, I was Anna, I was
[1:10:22] Speaker 1: mister Callaway. Each one typed in perfect sequence. The people
[1:10:28] Speaker 1: I'd seen in town, the ones who had forgotten themselves,
[1:10:31] Speaker 1: the ones who had already merged, and in that moment
[1:10:35] Speaker 1: I understood it was accelerating. A chill ran through me.
[1:10:44] Speaker 1: I knew what they meant. My hands shook as I
[1:10:47] Speaker 1: typed my final question, How do I stop it? No hesitation,
[1:10:56] Speaker 1: you don't. Anger and frustration took over. I picked up
[1:11:02] Speaker 1: a discarded pipe from the floor and wailed on the machine.
[1:11:06] Speaker 1: The screen flickered on the brink of finally breaking. Then,
[1:11:10] Speaker 1: when the screen blinked back to life, a single phrase
[1:11:14] Speaker 1: flickered across the almost dead monitor. It's too late. The
[1:11:21] Speaker 1: screen finally died with one last hit. The relay station
[1:11:25] Speaker 1: hummed beneath my feet. I ran. I escaped back to
[1:11:30] Speaker 1: my car, but there was nothing left for me in town.
[1:11:34] Speaker 1: I feared what I would walk into if I went back.
[1:11:38] Speaker 1: I drove as fast as I could, as far as
[1:11:42] Speaker 1: I could, the headlights of my car tearing through the
[1:11:45] Speaker 1: black night. The town vanished in my rear view mirror.
[1:11:50] Speaker 1: But I hadn't saved them. I had only witnessed the inevitable.
[1:11:56] Speaker 1: And when I finally reached the next town over, when
[1:11:59] Speaker 1: I finally thought what I was safe, I heard it
[1:12:05] Speaker 1: through the open doors of a small roadside diner, a
[1:12:09] Speaker 1: familiar song playing softly from an old radio. Inside, people
[1:12:15] Speaker 1: were talking, laughing, intrigued by this strange new station that
[1:12:20] Speaker 1: just popped up, and occasionally the voices overlapped, perfectly, as
[1:12:29] Speaker 1: if they were speaking as one. If you grow up
[1:12:42] Speaker 1: in the city, adventure it's something you watch on a screen.
[1:12:47] Speaker 1: You sit in front of a TV watching kids your
[1:12:50] Speaker 1: age climb trees, build forts, sneak through the woods with flashlights.
[1:12:55] Speaker 1: You see them find things you could only dream of,
[1:12:58] Speaker 1: exploring hidden and forgotten places one's adults don't go to.
[1:13:05] Speaker 1: But when you step outside, there's no wilderness waiting for you,
[1:13:09] Speaker 1: No abandoned cabins with secrets inside, Just endless concrete sidewalks,
[1:13:15] Speaker 1: chain link fences, apartment rooftops, dead ended alleys, a world
[1:13:20] Speaker 1: where every inch of space is mapped, numbered, owned by
[1:13:24] Speaker 1: someone else. The closest thing to adventure was jumping between buildings,
[1:13:30] Speaker 1: sneaking into construction sites, tagging a name on walls that
[1:13:34] Speaker 1: won't be there in a year. It wasn't enough, at
[1:13:39] Speaker 1: least not for Liam. I've known Liam since we were kids.
[1:13:47] Speaker 1: He was always the loudest voice in the room, the
[1:13:49] Speaker 1: one with the biggest ideas. He could make you believe
[1:13:53] Speaker 1: in something just because he did. If Liam said We're
[1:13:57] Speaker 1: going to sneak into the old raw yard and see
[1:14:00] Speaker 1: if we can get on top of a train before
[1:14:01] Speaker 1: it moves, then yeah, you were going to do it.
[1:14:06] Speaker 1: If he said this abandoned apartment tower is safe to climb,
[1:14:10] Speaker 1: no one ever checks inside, you trusted him, and most
[1:14:16] Speaker 1: of the time he was right. Ethan, on the other hand,
[1:14:20] Speaker 1: was the opposite. He was quiet, thoughtful, always last to agree,
[1:14:27] Speaker 1: but he never backed out. Here we stood just behind
[1:14:31] Speaker 1: Liam and I, arms crossed, scowling, always looking like he
[1:14:35] Speaker 1: was seconds away from saying this is stupid, but he
[1:14:40] Speaker 1: never actually did. Ethan didn't love the things we did,
[1:14:45] Speaker 1: but he loved being there. I fell somewhere between them.
[1:14:51] Speaker 1: Liam led, Ethan hesitated, and I was the one who said,
[1:14:56] Speaker 1: screw it, let's go. That was our balance. That was
[1:15:01] Speaker 1: how it had always been until Liam said I think
[1:15:06] Speaker 1: I know what we should do, and we said what,
[1:15:12] Speaker 1: and he said, let's get out of the city. We
[1:15:18] Speaker 1: were sitting on the roof of a half finished apartment complex,
[1:15:22] Speaker 1: watching cars blur below us, the hum of the city.
[1:15:25] Speaker 1: Swallowing our words. Liam was scrolling through his phone, flicking
[1:15:30] Speaker 1: between photos of forests, lakes, abandoned buildings half swallowed by trees.
[1:15:37] Speaker 1: This is what we're missing, he said. We waste all
[1:15:40] Speaker 1: our time sneaking into places that suck. Look at this,
[1:15:44] Speaker 1: actual abandoned places out in the woods, no cameras, no fences.
[1:15:50] Speaker 1: We should do this. He want us to go camping,
[1:15:55] Speaker 1: Ethan asked, skeptical, not camping exploring. Ethan sighed, how do
[1:16:03] Speaker 1: you even find a place like that? I already did,
[1:16:08] Speaker 1: Liam said, grinning. He turned his phone, showing us a
[1:16:12] Speaker 1: grainy satellite image a patch of woods just past the
[1:16:16] Speaker 1: city limits, near an old, unnamed road. There's something there,
[1:16:22] Speaker 1: a building or I don't know, but no one goes
[1:16:26] Speaker 1: out that way. No one talks about it. It's just there,
[1:16:30] Speaker 1: sitting in the middle of nowhere. How do you know
[1:16:33] Speaker 1: it's not private property? I asked, How do you know
[1:16:37] Speaker 1: it isn't, Liam shot back. Ethan scoffed, that's a solid argument, dude,
[1:16:44] Speaker 1: really airtight, Liam ignored him, leaning forward, eyes bright. Come on,
[1:16:51] Speaker 1: just one trip. We leave Saturday morning, check it out,
[1:16:54] Speaker 1: and come back before dark, just like the kids in
[1:16:57] Speaker 1: the movies. Just one time, I could see it in
[1:17:02] Speaker 1: his face. He'd already decided, and part of me already
[1:17:07] Speaker 1: knew that I had as well. Ethan sighed, shaking his head,
[1:17:13] Speaker 1: but he didn't say no. The weekend came and we went.
[1:17:23] Speaker 1: It felt weird stepping onto a bus that took us
[1:17:26] Speaker 1: away from the city instead of deeper into it, watching
[1:17:30] Speaker 1: the skyline shrink behind us, disappearing behind hills and stretches
[1:17:34] Speaker 1: of open road. I caught Ethan staring at the window,
[1:17:39] Speaker 1: watching the trees go past, hands clenched on his backpack straps.
[1:17:44] Speaker 1: Liam was grinning. He kept checking his phone, double checking
[1:17:48] Speaker 1: the location he'd found. Almost there, he said, eyes shining.
[1:17:55] Speaker 1: The bus let us off at a half empty gas station,
[1:17:59] Speaker 1: where the only road ahead stretched into the trees. It
[1:18:03] Speaker 1: felt different here. The air was quieter, almost peaceful, like
[1:18:09] Speaker 1: we had stepped out of our world and into another.
[1:18:13] Speaker 1: Liam was the first to walk toward the tree line,
[1:18:16] Speaker 1: sneakers crunching against the dirt. Let's go, he said. We followed.
[1:18:26] Speaker 1: The woods were bigger than I expected, not just taller,
[1:18:30] Speaker 1: but deeper. The city was all about height, skyscrapers, bridges,
[1:18:37] Speaker 1: endless metals stacked toward the sky. This was different. It
[1:18:43] Speaker 1: felt old and alive. The trees stretched high above us,
[1:18:48] Speaker 1: branches twisting like vanes against the sky. The air was
[1:18:53] Speaker 1: cooler here, thick with a scent of dirt and pine.
[1:18:58] Speaker 1: The only sounds were our own footsteps, the occasional snap
[1:19:01] Speaker 1: of a branch, and the distant hum of something unseen
[1:19:05] Speaker 1: went through leaves or something else. Entirely, for the first
[1:19:10] Speaker 1: time in my life, I felt small, and from the
[1:19:15] Speaker 1: look on Liam's face, he'd never felt bigger. See he said,
[1:19:22] Speaker 1: spinning in a slow circle, arms outstretched like he was
[1:19:26] Speaker 1: soaking it in. This is what I'm talking about, This
[1:19:29] Speaker 1: is what we've been missing, Ethan muttered as he kicked
[1:19:34] Speaker 1: a rock, but I could tell even he was feeling it.
[1:19:42] Speaker 1: We ran through the trees like kids, throwing rocks into
[1:19:45] Speaker 1: a half dried stream, scaling fallen logs like we were
[1:19:49] Speaker 1: climbing mountains. At one point, Liam grabbed a branch, swinging
[1:19:54] Speaker 1: from it like Tarzan, whooping before dropping into a pile
[1:19:58] Speaker 1: of leaves. We were in it, a real adventure for once.
[1:20:06] Speaker 1: This wasn't something we were watching on a screen. We
[1:20:09] Speaker 1: were living it. And then Liam found the building we'd
[1:20:14] Speaker 1: been looking for. It was almost hidden, swallowed by the trees.
[1:20:20] Speaker 1: At first, it looked like a hill covered in vines
[1:20:23] Speaker 1: and dead leaves, like the forest that tried to pull
[1:20:26] Speaker 1: it underground to erase it. But then I saw the
[1:20:31] Speaker 1: edges of a structure, concrete, cracked and weathered, barely visible
[1:20:36] Speaker 1: through the overgrowth. And when Liam pushed forward, brushing aside
[1:20:41] Speaker 1: the vines, the truth became clear. It was a building,
[1:20:48] Speaker 1: half buried, lopsided like it had sunk into the earth,
[1:20:52] Speaker 1: a sagging roof, broken windows, and a doorway gaping open
[1:20:56] Speaker 1: into darkness. Liam's eyes went wide. He stepped forward, running
[1:21:04] Speaker 1: a hand along the crumbling wall. This is it, he
[1:21:08] Speaker 1: exclaimed with joy. Ethan stiffened. What there was some urban legend,
[1:21:16] Speaker 1: Liam said, absently, still staring at it, someplace in the
[1:21:21] Speaker 1: woods where I don't know people used to go and
[1:21:24] Speaker 1: never come back. Ethan scoffed, cool, that's real comforting, man.
[1:21:31] Speaker 1: But Liam wasn't listening. He was already walking toward the entrance.
[1:21:38] Speaker 1: I felt something shift in my stomach, a feeling like
[1:21:41] Speaker 1: we had stepped over an invisible line, like up until
[1:21:46] Speaker 1: now we had been on safe ground, liam, Ethan called,
[1:21:51] Speaker 1: his voice sharpened. Now maybe we should But Liam had
[1:21:57] Speaker 1: already stepped inside, and likeways, we followed inside. The air
[1:22:08] Speaker 1: felt wrong, not just stale, just still. We could tell
[1:22:13] Speaker 1: no one had set foot in air for years, maybe decades.
[1:22:18] Speaker 1: The floor was covered in dust, except for where rain
[1:22:21] Speaker 1: had dripped through the cracks in the ceiling, leaving dark
[1:22:25] Speaker 1: water log stains. The walls were made of concrete and
[1:22:29] Speaker 1: rusted metal beams, part of them buckling inward, threatening to collapse.
[1:22:35] Speaker 1: The long hallways stretched ahead of us, dark doorways gaping open,
[1:22:40] Speaker 1: leading deeper into the unknown. And yet despite all of that,
[1:22:47] Speaker 1: Liam was grinning. This is insane, he said, stepping forward,
[1:22:54] Speaker 1: his voice echoing through the empty space, like how the
[1:22:58] Speaker 1: hell has no one found this? Maybe because they don't
[1:23:01] Speaker 1: want to, Ethan muttered. Liam ignored him. He ran his
[1:23:07] Speaker 1: hand along the walls, kicking had a fallen chair. The
[1:23:11] Speaker 1: sounds sharp in the silence, You feel that, he asked,
[1:23:16] Speaker 1: looking over his shoulder. That energy like something big happened here.
[1:23:23] Speaker 1: Ethan scoffed, Yeah, pretty sure. The big thing was time
[1:23:27] Speaker 1: and gravity. Dude, this place is falling apart. Come on,
[1:23:32] Speaker 1: Liam said, still grinning. A little imagination never hurt anyone.
[1:23:38] Speaker 1: For the first few minutes, it was fun. We kicked
[1:23:42] Speaker 1: through odd furniture, picked up faded scraps of paper that
[1:23:46] Speaker 1: had long since become unreadable, made up stories about what
[1:23:49] Speaker 1: this place used to be, an old military bunker, had
[1:23:53] Speaker 1: cold tied out a secret government lab. The only thing
[1:23:58] Speaker 1: we were missing to truly make this a move was
[1:24:00] Speaker 1: a big camera. But then, after a while Ethan stopped
[1:24:07] Speaker 1: playing along. I noticed it when he started hanging back,
[1:24:11] Speaker 1: keeping his arms crossed, not really looking around anymore. Liam
[1:24:17] Speaker 1: noticed it too. Okay, what's up with you, Liam said,
[1:24:22] Speaker 1: turning to him. We finally get to do something cool,
[1:24:26] Speaker 1: and you're standing there like a dog just died. Ethan
[1:24:30] Speaker 1: didn't respond right away. Then finally he let out in
[1:24:35] Speaker 1: a slow breath. You ever noticed how this happens every time,
[1:24:41] Speaker 1: he said, voice quieter than before. You always find something
[1:24:45] Speaker 1: fun to do, and at first, yeah, it's great, but
[1:24:49] Speaker 1: then you always always push it too far. Liam's grin
[1:24:57] Speaker 1: flickered for half a second. What are you talking about?
[1:25:02] Speaker 1: You don't know when to stop. Ethan shifted his weight,
[1:25:08] Speaker 1: running a hand through his hair, like that time with
[1:25:11] Speaker 1: the train yard, or when we climbed that tower and
[1:25:14] Speaker 1: the stairs gave out. Oh heck, this we should have
[1:25:18] Speaker 1: turned back before even got on the bus. William's face
[1:25:23] Speaker 1: darkened like Ethan had crossed the line. But then instead
[1:25:28] Speaker 1: of snapping back, Liam hesitated, And that alone was weird
[1:25:34] Speaker 1: enough to make me feel weird. He exhaled through his nose,
[1:25:39] Speaker 1: looking down at the ground. You ever think, Liam said
[1:25:44] Speaker 1: slowly that maybe I don't want to stop. Ethan frowned what.
[1:25:54] Speaker 1: Liam stuffed his hands in his pockets. You think I
[1:25:58] Speaker 1: don't know when I'm pushing things to His voice was quiet.
[1:26:03] Speaker 1: I know I always know silence. Ethan and I exchanged
[1:26:11] Speaker 1: the glance for once. Liam wasn't boasting, he wasn't brushing
[1:26:17] Speaker 1: it off. He was being honest. I just Liam ran
[1:26:24] Speaker 1: a hand over his face. I don't like being home, Okay,
[1:26:28] Speaker 1: It's like every time I'm there, I feel like I can't.
[1:26:33] Speaker 1: He stopped, readjusting his posture. Then finally, I just don't
[1:26:39] Speaker 1: want to feel the way I feel at home. The
[1:26:43] Speaker 1: words hung there for a moment. None of us spoke.
[1:26:49] Speaker 1: Ethan looked like he wanted to say something, maybe something important,
[1:26:55] Speaker 1: but before he could something moved, a rustling noise somewhere
[1:27:03] Speaker 1: deeper into the building. All three of us froze. Liam's
[1:27:09] Speaker 1: head snapped up. Did ye hear that? Ethan took a
[1:27:14] Speaker 1: step back. It's probably just this old building. You see
[1:27:19] Speaker 1: the state it's in, he muttered, but there was no
[1:27:22] Speaker 1: conviction in his voice. Then it happened again, a shuffle
[1:27:29] Speaker 1: and a scrape. Something was in here with us. William's
[1:27:35] Speaker 1: eyes flickered toward the dark hallway ahead, her shadow stretched
[1:27:39] Speaker 1: long against the far wall, cast by something moving just
[1:27:43] Speaker 1: out of sight. Ethan grabbed my arm. Guys, let's go,
[1:27:50] Speaker 1: but Liam pushed forward. It's probably just rats, he said,
[1:27:56] Speaker 1: but I could hear the edge in his voice. Now,
[1:27:59] Speaker 1: come on, we didn't come all this way to turn back. Now,
[1:28:05] Speaker 1: we should have turned back, but instead we followed, and
[1:28:11] Speaker 1: we went deeper. The deeper we went, the worse the
[1:28:17] Speaker 1: air got. It became wet, almost despite the dust, like
[1:28:22] Speaker 1: something rotting in the walls. The floor dipped downward, leading
[1:28:27] Speaker 1: us to what used to be a staircase. Most of
[1:28:30] Speaker 1: it had collapsed, the steps crumbling into a mess of
[1:28:33] Speaker 1: broken concrete and rusted metal, but at the bottom, barely
[1:28:39] Speaker 1: visible in the dim light, a lower level, a basement
[1:28:44] Speaker 1: half submerged in stagnant water. The turned back to us,
[1:28:50] Speaker 1: eyes alight with curiosity. Okay, he grinned, this is actually
[1:28:57] Speaker 1: kind of sick. Ethan stood stiffly behind him, arms crossed
[1:29:02] Speaker 1: tight or hear me out, we don't go into the
[1:29:07] Speaker 1: creepy basement, and instead we turn around and go home,
[1:29:12] Speaker 1: Liam laughed, Come on, man, you've never wanted to find
[1:29:16] Speaker 1: something real. Ethan's straw tightened, but Liam wasn't waiting for
[1:29:22] Speaker 1: an answer. He crouched near the edge of the staircase,
[1:29:26] Speaker 1: gripping one of the railings and peering down into the darkness.
[1:29:32] Speaker 1: Then he made a face holy. He pointed at something
[1:29:38] Speaker 1: on the ground. I stepped closer and felt my stomach churn.
[1:29:45] Speaker 1: Scattered across the bottom of the stairs were rats, not
[1:29:51] Speaker 1: just stared mutilated. Some were half drowned in the stagnant water,
[1:29:58] Speaker 1: their small bodies bloated, misshapen. Others lay twisted and broken
[1:30:04] Speaker 1: their first slick with something dark and drying. They hadn't
[1:30:09] Speaker 1: been eaten. Something killed them then left them. I took
[1:30:16] Speaker 1: a slow step back, pulse pounding in my throat. If
[1:30:22] Speaker 1: it wasn't the rats that made that noise earlier, then
[1:30:27] Speaker 1: Ethan excelled, sharply, rubbing his hands down his face. Then
[1:30:32] Speaker 1: what made that noise was whatever did this to the rat,
[1:30:36] Speaker 1: a rabbit animal. We should really get out now, Liam, though,
[1:30:43] Speaker 1: Liam just stared, a flicker of doubt, a tiny, unspoken realization,
[1:30:50] Speaker 1: like the edges of his adventure had suddenly sharpened, like maybe,
[1:30:56] Speaker 1: just maybe he'd finally pushed too far. But then he
[1:31:03] Speaker 1: stopped breathing, not literally, but he froze completely. His whole
[1:31:10] Speaker 1: body tensed, his hands gripping the railing tight. His lips
[1:31:15] Speaker 1: parted just slightly, like he was about to say something
[1:31:18] Speaker 1: but didn't or was too afraid to. Ethan frowned Liam.
[1:31:27] Speaker 1: Liam shook his head, not a no, not a yes,
[1:31:32] Speaker 1: just a barely. Their movement slow but unsteady. A big
[1:31:38] Speaker 1: crash came from behind us, like dynamite exploding. My head
[1:31:43] Speaker 1: snapped back. Dust rose up from the stairs and slowly
[1:31:47] Speaker 1: settled as we stared. When the noise faded into the distance.
[1:31:54] Speaker 1: What was that, Ethan let out a half whisper, half shout. Wait,
[1:32:00] Speaker 1: Liam said, sharply, silence again. I didn't understand at first,
[1:32:08] Speaker 1: but then I heard it, something breathing. It wasn't any
[1:32:15] Speaker 1: of us. It came from below, from the basement, and
[1:32:20] Speaker 1: as we stood there, frozen ears straining, something shifted, something
[1:32:27] Speaker 1: unfolding itself, something rising. We ran, not because we had
[1:32:36] Speaker 1: a plan, not because we thought we could get away,
[1:32:40] Speaker 1: because there was nothing else we could do. The sound
[1:32:44] Speaker 1: behind us wasn't footsteps. It was worse, a deep, gutural clicking,
[1:32:52] Speaker 1: reverberating off the walls, filling every space at once, like
[1:32:56] Speaker 1: something shifting, rearranging itself as it moved. I didn't look back.
[1:33:03] Speaker 1: I couldn't, but I felt it. I felt it breathing
[1:33:08] Speaker 1: down my neck, even though there was nowhere near me
[1:33:12] Speaker 1: the hallway I had twisted and turned, the walls seeming
[1:33:16] Speaker 1: to close in on us, the darkness swallowing us whole.
[1:33:20] Speaker 1: My eyes burned. Ethan stumbled, gasping, but Liam grabbed his arm,
[1:33:26] Speaker 1: yanking him forward. We neared the main door, I yelled,
[1:33:31] Speaker 1: the way we came in. We turned a corner, practically
[1:33:35] Speaker 1: skidding into the entry hall and stopped. The ceiling had collapsed.
[1:33:44] Speaker 1: The entire doorway was choked with debris, thick slabs of
[1:33:48] Speaker 1: concrete and rusted beams blocking any way out. No, no, no,
[1:33:53] Speaker 1: Ethan gasped, eyes darting frantically. There has to be another way.
[1:34:00] Speaker 1: Liam spun, searching his head snapped upward. There. I followed
[1:34:08] Speaker 1: his gaze and saw it a hole in the ceiling,
[1:34:13] Speaker 1: a small opening where the structure had rotted away, just
[1:34:16] Speaker 1: wide enough to squeeze through. Hope searched in my chest.
[1:34:22] Speaker 1: This was it, we could get out. Liam grabbed the
[1:34:27] Speaker 1: edges of the broken ceiling and hauled himself up first,
[1:34:30] Speaker 1: grunting with effort. He reached down immediately, his fingers closing
[1:34:35] Speaker 1: around my wrist. Ryan, come on. I scrambled up, my feet,
[1:34:41] Speaker 1: scraping against the crumbling walls as I kicked off, prushing
[1:34:44] Speaker 1: with everything I had, and then I was up. We
[1:34:49] Speaker 1: made it. We were going to live. Then I heard
[1:34:53] Speaker 1: Ethan struggle below. I turned back, looking down, and my
[1:34:59] Speaker 1: stomach d Ethan was too slow. His hands were clawing
[1:35:07] Speaker 1: at the edge, trying to pull himself up, but his
[1:35:10] Speaker 1: arms shook violently from exhaustion. His sneakers slipped against the slick,
[1:35:16] Speaker 1: broken walls, failing to find any purchase, and beneath him,
[1:35:22] Speaker 1: in the dark, he was coming, A shadow, twisting, shifting,
[1:35:30] Speaker 1: a blur of something impossibly long, impossibly wrong. Liam saw
[1:35:35] Speaker 1: it too, and he made his decision before I even
[1:35:42] Speaker 1: realized what was happening. Liam looked at me and he smiled.
[1:35:50] Speaker 1: It wasn't cocky or forced, like he'd finally found what
[1:35:54] Speaker 1: he was looking for. He'll tell a good story about this,
[1:36:00] Speaker 1: he said, and dropped back down. Liam landed hard, his
[1:36:08] Speaker 1: feet slammed into the hard concrete below, and for a
[1:36:12] Speaker 1: split second I thought for a second that he could
[1:36:15] Speaker 1: still climb back up, that this wasn't the end. Then
[1:36:19] Speaker 1: it moved something in the dark. It didn't lunge. It unfolded.
[1:36:27] Speaker 1: A shape crawled out from the blackness beneath the broken stairwell,
[1:36:31] Speaker 1: stretching tall and thin, its body unnatural, wrong. I saw
[1:36:38] Speaker 1: its arms, first, long appendages with countless joints, all cracking
[1:36:43] Speaker 1: in unison, fingers shaped like hooks. Then its head tilted up.
[1:36:50] Speaker 1: It had no eyes or face to speak of, just
[1:36:53] Speaker 1: the smooth stretch of bone, white skin, pulled tight over
[1:36:57] Speaker 1: a shape that resembled something between human and the dog.
[1:37:01] Speaker 1: It didn't make a sound. Liam spun toward Ethan. Go
[1:37:09] Speaker 1: Ethan froze. He just stood there, wide eyed, lips moving
[1:37:13] Speaker 1: but making no sound. Liam grabbed him, fingers twisting the
[1:37:19] Speaker 1: fabric of Ethan's hoodie, boosting him up. Ethan gasped hands,
[1:37:24] Speaker 1: scrambling for the ledge, one foot kicking against Liam's hands,
[1:37:28] Speaker 1: the other trying to find a leverage on the bare wall.
[1:37:31] Speaker 1: But Liam wouldn't let him fall. With one final heave,
[1:37:36] Speaker 1: he threw Ethan. Up Ethan crashed over the edge, scrambling
[1:37:41] Speaker 1: away on his hands and knees, gasping for breath. Liam
[1:37:47] Speaker 1: I reached for him, Both of us did, but it
[1:37:52] Speaker 1: was too late. The creature's arms shot forward and Liam screamed.
[1:38:00] Speaker 1: He wrapped around his chest with impossible speed, pulling him
[1:38:04] Speaker 1: backward and back down to the ground. His body skidded
[1:38:07] Speaker 1: against the dry concrete, sending dust and debris into the air.
[1:38:12] Speaker 1: He tried grabbing anything on the ground to hoist himself.
[1:38:15] Speaker 1: Up Ethan reached down as far as he could, so
[1:38:18] Speaker 1: far that he would have fallen back in if I
[1:38:21] Speaker 1: hadn't caught him. But it wasn't enough. The ceiling creaked
[1:38:27] Speaker 1: under our weight. The walls groaned, dust and stone raining
[1:38:31] Speaker 1: down from above, shifting beneath our weight, a warning. If
[1:38:38] Speaker 1: we stayed, we'd all die. The thing yanked him backward.
[1:38:45] Speaker 1: The ceiling gave way a violent crack, Dust exploded into
[1:38:51] Speaker 1: the air, Chunks of stone crumbling beneath us. Ethan grabbed
[1:38:56] Speaker 1: my arm yanking me back Liam. I tried to scream,
[1:39:01] Speaker 1: but the noise of the collapse swallowed his name. We
[1:39:05] Speaker 1: had to run, and Liam, Liam couldn't. We ran until
[1:39:14] Speaker 1: our legs gave out. We didn't stop the think we
[1:39:18] Speaker 1: didn't want to, through the trees, past the empty roads,
[1:39:22] Speaker 1: until the gas station came into view, the first sign
[1:39:26] Speaker 1: of normalcy, of civilization. By the time we stumbled inside,
[1:39:32] Speaker 1: breathless and shaking, the old man behind the counter barely
[1:39:35] Speaker 1: had time to ask what was wrong before Ethan collapsed
[1:39:39] Speaker 1: against the shelves, hands on his knees, gasping. Call the cops.
[1:39:46] Speaker 1: We told them everything. We told them about the building,
[1:39:50] Speaker 1: about the creature, about Liam. They didn't dismiss us, but
[1:39:56] Speaker 1: they didn't believe us either, just to hysterical kids, filthy
[1:40:02] Speaker 1: and bruised, talking about monsters in the dark. Still, they
[1:40:08] Speaker 1: sent a search team out. By the time we were
[1:40:12] Speaker 1: allowed to go back to them, the sun was rising,
[1:40:15] Speaker 1: the world slowly bleeding back into reality. I remember how
[1:40:20] Speaker 1: silent it was standing at the edge of the wreckage,
[1:40:25] Speaker 1: because that's all that was left. The building had collapsed,
[1:40:30] Speaker 1: a pile of broken concrete, shattered wood, twisted metal. The
[1:40:36] Speaker 1: entrance was gone, buried. There was no sign of the thing,
[1:40:42] Speaker 1: but there was a sign of Liam. I saw him first,
[1:40:50] Speaker 1: what was left of him. The police had to pull
[1:40:54] Speaker 1: us back, keep us from getting too close, but I
[1:40:58] Speaker 1: saw enough. A body crushed beneath falling debris, his face
[1:41:04] Speaker 1: blooded and unrecognizable. Just the boy who got trapped in
[1:41:09] Speaker 1: a crumbling building. That's what they said. That's what everyone
[1:41:14] Speaker 1: would say. There was an article written about it in
[1:41:18] Speaker 1: the local paper. Three kids, when exploring somewhere they shouldn't
[1:41:23] Speaker 1: have was the headline. They found an abandoned building, They
[1:41:27] Speaker 1: went inside. It collapsed. Two of them made it out,
[1:41:32] Speaker 1: one of them didn't. A tragic incident. The police called
[1:41:37] Speaker 1: it Unstable structures are dangerous. You boys were lucky. They
[1:41:44] Speaker 1: shook their heads when we told them the truth. They
[1:41:47] Speaker 1: told us that there was no creature, no thing in
[1:41:50] Speaker 1: the dark. Whatever you thought you saw, one of them
[1:41:54] Speaker 1: told us, was just panic. Feared us. Weird things to
[1:41:59] Speaker 1: the mind. Ethan and I never spoke about it again,
[1:42:04] Speaker 1: not because we didn't remember, not because we didn't think
[1:42:08] Speaker 1: about it every night when the city lights flickered through
[1:42:12] Speaker 1: our windows, but because there was no point, no one
[1:42:19] Speaker 1: would ever believe us. Maybe it was better that way.
[1:42:29] Speaker 1: I could never quite figure out why Liam decided to
[1:42:32] Speaker 1: jump back down the way he did not at first.
[1:42:37] Speaker 1: I thought about it constantly, That final moment when his
[1:42:41] Speaker 1: feet hit the ground, when he looked at me with
[1:42:44] Speaker 1: that expression of finality as he said his last words
[1:42:47] Speaker 1: to me, He'll tell a good story about this. The
[1:42:53] Speaker 1: look in his eyes was something I couldn't understand. At night,
[1:42:58] Speaker 1: I'd stare at my ceiling, replaying it over and over.
[1:43:04] Speaker 1: What did it mean? Why would he do that when
[1:43:07] Speaker 1: he knew he was going to die. I couldn't ask Ethan.
[1:43:12] Speaker 1: He wasn't talking about it. We didn't call for so
[1:43:16] Speaker 1: much as text. The few times we ran into each
[1:43:20] Speaker 1: other at school, we barely looked at one another, like
[1:43:24] Speaker 1: if we didn't acknowledge it, maybe it wouldn't be real.
[1:43:29] Speaker 1: And maybe Ethan hadn't heard it Liam's last words. Maybe
[1:43:34] Speaker 1: he didn't know, but I did, and I couldn't let
[1:43:39] Speaker 1: it go. A few weeks later, I saw Liam's parents.
[1:43:47] Speaker 1: They were walking down a busy street, lost in the crowd.
[1:43:52] Speaker 1: I stopped in my tracks, my heart slimming against my ribs.
[1:43:57] Speaker 1: I expected them to look different weeker, grief stricken lost. Instead,
[1:44:06] Speaker 1: they looked normal, not exactly happy, but not broken either.
[1:44:14] Speaker 1: Definitely not the way loving parents would look after they'd
[1:44:18] Speaker 1: just lost their child in such a tragic way. And
[1:44:22] Speaker 1: they didn't recognize me, Liam's best friend, the kid who
[1:44:27] Speaker 1: had spent years by his side. They walked right past me,
[1:44:32] Speaker 1: no sign of recognition on their faces. I was just
[1:44:36] Speaker 1: another face in the city to them. That was when
[1:44:42] Speaker 1: it clicked. Liam never liked being at home. He never
[1:44:48] Speaker 1: talked about it, not directly, but looking back, all the
[1:44:53] Speaker 1: signs were there, the way he'd always want to be
[1:44:57] Speaker 1: anywhere else. How he'd never invite us over, how we
[1:45:01] Speaker 1: changed the subject any time we asked, the way he
[1:45:04] Speaker 1: threw himself into every stupid, reckless adventure, as if standing
[1:45:10] Speaker 1: still was worse than falling. And that's when I knew
[1:45:16] Speaker 1: it wasn't just about the thrill. He just wanted to escape.
[1:45:22] Speaker 1: Every rooftop, every train yard, every broken down place we
[1:45:26] Speaker 1: snuck into. It was about something more than fun for Liam.
[1:45:33] Speaker 1: He had been running his whole life, and in the
[1:45:36] Speaker 1: end he got exactly what he wanted, the ultimate adventure,
[1:45:45] Speaker 1: the place no one else would ever go a place
[1:45:48] Speaker 1: where no one could follow because it finally escaped. My
[1:46:06] Speaker 1: life had turned into one of those cliche country songs.
[1:46:10] Speaker 1: I was divorced, broke, unemployed, and annoyed at the world.
[1:46:16] Speaker 1: Five years down the drain with a woman I thought
[1:46:19] Speaker 1: I'd spent my life with, only to come home one
[1:46:22] Speaker 1: day to find her already packed and half way out
[1:46:24] Speaker 1: the door. The job loss came a month later, and
[1:46:29] Speaker 1: at that point I figured the universe was just trying
[1:46:32] Speaker 1: to kick me while I was down. I needed space.
[1:46:37] Speaker 1: No well meaning friends telling me to focus on myself
[1:46:41] Speaker 1: or find the silver lining. To hell with all of that.
[1:46:45] Speaker 1: I didn't want silver linings. I wanted silence. So when
[1:46:52] Speaker 1: I found a listing for an off grid cabin in
[1:46:55] Speaker 1: the Appalachian Mountains, it felt like the perfect escape. It
[1:47:00] Speaker 1: wasn't some cozy rental package with the hot tub and
[1:47:03] Speaker 1: a fire pit on Airbnb, just a bare boned cabin
[1:47:07] Speaker 1: buried deep in the mountains. The description was short, remote
[1:47:14] Speaker 1: off grid cabin in the Appalachian Mountains, no service, no
[1:47:18] Speaker 1: electricity for those looking to truly disconnect, no reviews, and
[1:47:24] Speaker 1: the pictures were blurry, but it looked beautiful. I didn't
[1:47:30] Speaker 1: even have an exact location, just a general area and
[1:47:34] Speaker 1: a contact number. Normally I'd be wary of something that vague,
[1:47:39] Speaker 1: but at that point I didn't care. I bucked it
[1:47:44] Speaker 1: for a full month. The guy who owned the place
[1:47:50] Speaker 1: was weirdly insistent that I couldn't drive there myself. He
[1:47:54] Speaker 1: said the trails were too easy to lose, and that
[1:47:56] Speaker 1: GPS was useless that deep in the mountains. Instead, he
[1:48:02] Speaker 1: arranged for a local guide to take me up. It
[1:48:06] Speaker 1: made perfect sense. Mountain roads, rough terrain, the risk of
[1:48:10] Speaker 1: getting lost didn't seem that strange. I met the guide
[1:48:16] Speaker 1: at a run down general store about an hour outside
[1:48:20] Speaker 1: the nearest town. He was already waiting when I pulled
[1:48:23] Speaker 1: into the lot, standing beside an old ATV with a
[1:48:27] Speaker 1: trailer hitched to the back. The guide looked like he'd
[1:48:31] Speaker 1: been living in the woods his entire life. Try picturing
[1:48:35] Speaker 1: a stereotypical park ranger that's been doing his job for
[1:48:38] Speaker 1: a few years too long. That kind of guy, you
[1:48:43] Speaker 1: the renter, he asked. I nodded, toss my backpack onto
[1:48:48] Speaker 1: the trailer. That veous. He grunted and climbed into the ATV.
[1:48:56] Speaker 1: Get in. The ride up was rough as hell. The
[1:49:01] Speaker 1: trail was barely more than an overgrown deer path, full
[1:49:05] Speaker 1: of sharp turns and sudden dips. After about an hour
[1:49:09] Speaker 1: of bouncing over rocks and weaving through dense tree cover,
[1:49:13] Speaker 1: we hit a clearing with no more roads. This is
[1:49:18] Speaker 1: where we walk, he said, already unloading my gear. I
[1:49:24] Speaker 1: stared at him. How far is the cabin? A few miles?
[1:49:31] Speaker 1: I cried to my bag, adjusted my jacket, and followed
[1:49:34] Speaker 1: him into the trees. The hike took another hour, and
[1:49:41] Speaker 1: the deeper we went, the more I realized just how
[1:49:45] Speaker 1: far removed this place was. There truly was nothing here,
[1:49:50] Speaker 1: just solid forest pressing in from all sides. I expected
[1:49:56] Speaker 1: to hear birds, bugs, maybe a distant stream, but at
[1:50:01] Speaker 1: some point the woods got quiet, not in a normal way,
[1:50:08] Speaker 1: not in the peaceful, wow nature is so relaxing way,
[1:50:13] Speaker 1: I mean quiet. I noticed that the guide also hadn't
[1:50:17] Speaker 1: spoken in nearly half an hour. When the cabin finally
[1:50:23] Speaker 1: came into view, I exhaled. It was exactly what I wanted. Small, sturdy,
[1:50:32] Speaker 1: a simple two floor set up with a wood stove
[1:50:35] Speaker 1: and a creek near by for water, just me the
[1:50:39] Speaker 1: trees and miles of untouched wilderness. The guide set down
[1:50:45] Speaker 1: my gear on the porch and adjusted his cap. You
[1:50:49] Speaker 1: will be fine, he said, finally, breaking the silence. Long
[1:50:54] Speaker 1: as you don't wander too far. Then, without another word,
[1:51:00] Speaker 1: he turned and disappeared into the trees. The first few
[1:51:08] Speaker 1: nights were exactly what I needed. I woke up when
[1:51:12] Speaker 1: the sun came in through the windows, spent my days hiking, reading,
[1:51:16] Speaker 1: and just existing. I finally didn't have my ex wife's
[1:51:22] Speaker 1: lawyer blowing up my inbox. The first time I realized
[1:51:27] Speaker 1: how deep I really was in the mountains was on
[1:51:30] Speaker 1: the second night. I had stepped outside to do my
[1:51:33] Speaker 1: business and was hit with a kind of silence you
[1:51:37] Speaker 1: don't get in normal life. It wasn't just quiet, it
[1:51:42] Speaker 1: was absolute. At the time, I figured it was just
[1:51:47] Speaker 1: how the forest worked. I read once that predators moving
[1:51:51] Speaker 1: through an area could cause sudden silences. Probably just the
[1:51:55] Speaker 1: bear passing through, right, So I shrugged it off and
[1:51:59] Speaker 1: went to bed. By the fifth morning, I started noticing things.
[1:52:09] Speaker 1: It wasn't anything obvious at first, just the sense that
[1:52:12] Speaker 1: the landscape was slightly different. The bushes by the tree
[1:52:16] Speaker 1: line looked disturbed, like something had moved through them, probably deer,
[1:52:22] Speaker 1: plenty of them. In the area, but as I walked over,
[1:52:27] Speaker 1: I saw the dirt was churned up, like something had
[1:52:30] Speaker 1: been digging or shuffling around. Further along, I found scratches
[1:52:35] Speaker 1: and a few trees deep ones. I ran my fingers
[1:52:40] Speaker 1: along the grooves. I had no idea what kind of
[1:52:43] Speaker 1: Mark's bare claws would leave, but I figured this must
[1:52:47] Speaker 1: have been a big one. That was the first time
[1:52:51] Speaker 1: I got that nagging feeling, that weird, god level discomfort
[1:52:56] Speaker 1: that something was off, even if my brain was trying
[1:53:00] Speaker 1: to logic its way out of it. I pushed it down. Bears, deer,
[1:53:07] Speaker 1: mountain lions. This was the wilderness. If I was going
[1:53:12] Speaker 1: to start jumping at every broken branch and disturbed bush,
[1:53:16] Speaker 1: I was going to drive myself crazy. So I went
[1:53:21] Speaker 1: back inside, made coffee and told myself to stop being paranoid.
[1:53:27] Speaker 1: But for the rest of the day I couldn't shake it.
[1:53:32] Speaker 1: By the twelve day, I was feeling at home in
[1:53:35] Speaker 1: the cabin. It was still eerily quiet most of the time,
[1:53:40] Speaker 1: but I convinced myself that's just how it was out here.
[1:53:45] Speaker 1: I'd been living off canned food and dried goods, but
[1:53:48] Speaker 1: I still had a good supply of vegetables, rice, and seasonings.
[1:53:53] Speaker 1: I figured I'd treat myself to cooking something hot, a
[1:53:56] Speaker 1: big pot of stew. I knew cooking food outside was
[1:54:01] Speaker 1: a gambol in the wilderness. Even with scent blockers, it
[1:54:05] Speaker 1: wasn't fool proof. If an animal got a whiff of it,
[1:54:10] Speaker 1: I'd probably lose the whole thing, But at that point
[1:54:14] Speaker 1: I didn't care. Worst case, I'd be out of some food.
[1:54:20] Speaker 1: So I built up the fire in the stone ringed firepit,
[1:54:24] Speaker 1: set up my cast iron pot, and threw in everything
[1:54:27] Speaker 1: I had. Let it simmer low and slow, covered it
[1:54:31] Speaker 1: with a heavy lid, and just to be extra safe,
[1:54:35] Speaker 1: wrapped the whole thing in a scent neutralizing tarp. Then
[1:54:40] Speaker 1: I went inside, stretched out in bed, and fell asleep
[1:54:44] Speaker 1: to the distant crackling of the fire. The next morning,
[1:54:51] Speaker 1: I stepped outside and the yard was completely destroyed. At first,
[1:54:58] Speaker 1: my brain couldn't even process I was looking at the
[1:55:02] Speaker 1: dirt had been torn up in massive swaths, like something
[1:55:05] Speaker 1: had been chloring or shoving at the ground. Chunks of
[1:55:09] Speaker 1: earth had been thrown in long, scattered arcs, as if
[1:55:12] Speaker 1: something had raked through it with oversized limbs. The bushes
[1:55:16] Speaker 1: near the tree line were flattened, smashed down into the soil.
[1:55:21] Speaker 1: Some of them were uprooted completely, lying in mangled piles
[1:55:25] Speaker 1: with their roots exposed. Several small trees were bented on
[1:55:29] Speaker 1: natural angles, their barks scraped away in places I had
[1:55:34] Speaker 1: expected to find it gone obviously, maybe the pot knocked
[1:55:38] Speaker 1: over the food licked clean. Instead, the pot was shattered,
[1:55:45] Speaker 1: split into pieces, scattered across the yard. Chunks of food
[1:55:50] Speaker 1: were everywhere, rice, carrots, potatoes, smeared into the dirt like
[1:55:56] Speaker 1: something had deliberately flung them around. It looked like someone
[1:56:00] Speaker 1: had picked up the entire pot and slammed it into
[1:56:03] Speaker 1: the ground, over and over. I stood there a long time,
[1:56:10] Speaker 1: gripping the railing of the porch, trying to wrap my
[1:56:13] Speaker 1: head around it. A bear would have eaten the food,
[1:56:17] Speaker 1: even a raccoon would have at least picked through it.
[1:56:21] Speaker 1: This felt like something had been angry, like it hadn't
[1:56:24] Speaker 1: been looking for food, but throwing a tantrum. I swore
[1:56:28] Speaker 1: under my breath and ran a hand through my hair,
[1:56:31] Speaker 1: feeling annoyance. Outweigh the unease. I had been careful, and
[1:56:37] Speaker 1: now I was down an entire meal and a good
[1:56:40] Speaker 1: cast iron pot. Great I muttered, bending down to scoop
[1:56:45] Speaker 1: up some of the mess. For the next hour, I
[1:56:49] Speaker 1: cleaned up, trying to convince myself it was just some
[1:56:53] Speaker 1: animal acting weird. I buried the ruined food deep in
[1:56:57] Speaker 1: the woods, scrubbed the yard down as best I could,
[1:57:00] Speaker 1: and sat on the porch as the sun sank below
[1:57:03] Speaker 1: the mountains. I wasn't scared exactly, just annoyed. The whole
[1:57:10] Speaker 1: thing fell like some bizarre prank, except there was no
[1:57:13] Speaker 1: one around here but me. Whatever had wrecked my yard,
[1:57:17] Speaker 1: throwing my food around and smashed my pot had done
[1:57:20] Speaker 1: it for no good reason, and now I was down
[1:57:23] Speaker 1: a solid meal and cooking equipment. I sat on the
[1:57:27] Speaker 1: porch for a while after dark, sipping from my flask,
[1:57:31] Speaker 1: staring out at the tree line. The night air was cool,
[1:57:35] Speaker 1: the forest stretching endlessly into blackness beyond the dim glow
[1:57:39] Speaker 1: of the cabin's lantern. I tried listening for anything. I laughed, dryly,
[1:57:47] Speaker 1: shaking my head. That's what I thought, I spoke into
[1:57:52] Speaker 1: the silence, before finally heading inside. I bolted the shutters,
[1:57:58] Speaker 1: stoked the fire, and crawled into bed, still smelling the
[1:58:01] Speaker 1: faint scent of stew on my hands, and then the
[1:58:09] Speaker 1: noises started. It wasn't loud at first, just a faint disturbance,
[1:58:15] Speaker 1: something pressing into the earth outside the cabin, a long,
[1:58:20] Speaker 1: dragging sound. I lay completely still, eyes locked on the ceiling, heartbeat,
[1:58:27] Speaker 1: picking up another step, then another. I wasn't just imagining it.
[1:58:37] Speaker 1: Something was walking through my yard. In all my nights
[1:58:41] Speaker 1: i'd spent here, I had heard nothing come this close
[1:58:44] Speaker 1: to me. Yet the way to the footsteps was deep, solid,
[1:58:51] Speaker 1: not a small scavenger, something big. I strained my ears
[1:58:56] Speaker 1: trying to track its movement. It was an the erratic
[1:59:00] Speaker 1: rustling of a hungry animal. It wasn't snuffling through the
[1:59:04] Speaker 1: dirt looking for scraps. It was just walking. I swallowed,
[1:59:12] Speaker 1: forcing myself to stay calm. Of course, it was back.
[1:59:17] Speaker 1: Whatever wrecked my yard last night was properly checking for
[1:59:21] Speaker 1: more food. But there wasn't anything outside this time. I
[1:59:26] Speaker 1: smoked myself, rolling onto my side and pulling the blanket up.
[1:59:31] Speaker 1: Jokes on you. I closed my eyes, listening as the
[1:59:36] Speaker 1: footsteps circled the cabin closer, now, a slow, steady crunch
[1:59:42] Speaker 1: of something huge pressing into the soil. Then for a
[1:59:47] Speaker 1: long moment there was nothing, so I fell asleep. When
[1:59:57] Speaker 1: the sun finally climbed over the mountains, I was itching
[2:00:01] Speaker 1: for answers. I grabbed my boots, stepped outside, and just
[2:00:07] Speaker 1: stared for a second. There, pressed deep into the damp soil,
[2:00:14] Speaker 1: were tracks. At first I thought they were hoof prints,
[2:00:20] Speaker 1: maybe from a deer or an elk. But as I
[2:00:22] Speaker 1: crouched down, my stomach tightened. They were massive and wrong,
[2:00:33] Speaker 1: the spacing, the weight distribution. They weren't four legged. Whatever
[2:00:39] Speaker 1: left these tracks had been walking upright a bi pedal.
[2:00:44] Speaker 1: I traced my fingers along the edge of one, feeling
[2:00:47] Speaker 1: the way the dirt had been compacted, Picturing the size
[2:00:50] Speaker 1: of the thing that could leave Prince this deep. My
[2:00:54] Speaker 1: head buzzed with static. No, that didn't make sense. I
[2:01:01] Speaker 1: stood up, scanning the yard, following the trail with my eyes.
[2:01:06] Speaker 1: They led from the tree line straight to the porch,
[2:01:10] Speaker 1: and then they stopped, like whatever made them had just disappeared.
[2:01:18] Speaker 1: That night, I didn't even try to sleep. I was
[2:01:22] Speaker 1: done pretending this was normal. Whatever had been come into
[2:01:26] Speaker 1: my cabin wasn't just looking for food. It was looking
[2:01:31] Speaker 1: for me. So I stayed up, killed the fire early,
[2:01:38] Speaker 1: doused myself in scent blocker and sat in the darkness,
[2:01:41] Speaker 1: knife in hand, waiting for it to come back. On
[2:01:46] Speaker 1: forty three a m. The sound was distant, a rhythmic
[2:01:52] Speaker 1: crunch of heavy footsteps pressing into the dirt. I gripped
[2:01:57] Speaker 1: the knife tighter, barely breathing. It was back. The footsteps
[2:02:04] Speaker 1: approached the porch, and then wood groaned under an impossible weight.
[2:02:10] Speaker 1: Something was standing right outside. The floorboards creaked as slow
[2:02:17] Speaker 1: dragging in hail. It was breathing. I could feel the
[2:02:22] Speaker 1: weight of it through the walls, the pressure in the air,
[2:02:25] Speaker 1: like the whole cabin was shrinking around me. I'd planned
[2:02:30] Speaker 1: to peek through the window, maybe even step outside and
[2:02:33] Speaker 1: see what it was, but I wasn't so sure in
[2:02:36] Speaker 1: the moment, because whatever was standing on my porch wasn't
[2:02:41] Speaker 1: a deer or a bear or anything else that belonged
[2:02:45] Speaker 1: in these woods. It sounded huge. I stayed completely still,
[2:02:53] Speaker 1: every muscle locked, gripping the knife as hard as I could. Then,
[2:03:00] Speaker 1: just as suddenly as it had come, it left. The
[2:03:07] Speaker 1: weight pulled away from the porch, the footsteps retreating back
[2:03:10] Speaker 1: toward the trees. But I knew somehow that it wasn't
[2:03:15] Speaker 1: really gone. It was just waiting for the right moment.
[2:03:22] Speaker 1: I didn't sleep. I just sat there in the dark,
[2:03:25] Speaker 1: staring at the door, knowing that I had no way
[2:03:28] Speaker 1: out of these mountains until the guide came back. I
[2:03:33] Speaker 1: should have grabbed my pack, walked until sunrise and never
[2:03:37] Speaker 1: looked back. But I was too afraid of getting lost,
[2:03:42] Speaker 1: so I made a plan. I wouldn't try to fight it,
[2:03:48] Speaker 1: I wouldn't try to see it. I would just hide.
[2:03:54] Speaker 1: The following night, I did everything I could to raise myself.
[2:03:59] Speaker 1: I doused myself in scent blocker, rubbing it deep into
[2:04:02] Speaker 1: my skin, my clothes, my hair. I piled furniture in
[2:04:06] Speaker 1: front of the bedroom door, not that I thought it
[2:04:09] Speaker 1: would help, but it made me feel safer. Then, gripping
[2:04:13] Speaker 1: the only weapon I had, a rusted, hunted knife i'd
[2:04:17] Speaker 1: found in the cabin, I squeezed into the wardrobe and
[2:04:20] Speaker 1: pulled the door shut. I sat in the dark, knees
[2:04:25] Speaker 1: to my chest, breath slow and controlled, and then I waited.
[2:04:35] Speaker 1: This time, it didn't make me wait long, and midnight
[2:04:41] Speaker 1: I heard it. It let out a sound like a
[2:04:46] Speaker 1: hyaena choking on his own laughter, then a loud bang.
[2:04:52] Speaker 1: The door downstairs shattered inward. The whole cabin shaking from
[2:04:56] Speaker 1: the impact heavy footsteps, wood splintering, furniture shattering. The thing
[2:05:03] Speaker 1: wasn't searching cautiously anymore. It was tearing through the cabin,
[2:05:09] Speaker 1: breaking things apart. As it moved. A deep sniffing sound
[2:05:13] Speaker 1: filled the air, dragging inhals like a dog trying to
[2:05:16] Speaker 1: catch a scent. I pressed myself deeper into the closet,
[2:05:21] Speaker 1: tightening my grip on the knife. The sniffing stopped for
[2:05:27] Speaker 1: a long moment. There was silence, then, from just outside
[2:05:34] Speaker 1: the bedroom, a heavy creak. It was at the door.
[2:05:41] Speaker 1: I held my breath. I wanted to close my eyes,
[2:05:45] Speaker 1: to squeeze them shut and pretend I wasn't there, But
[2:05:49] Speaker 1: some horrible part of me needed to see it. So
[2:05:53] Speaker 1: I shifted just slightly, just enough to peer through the
[2:05:57] Speaker 1: slats in the wardrobe door, and that's when I saw it.
[2:06:04] Speaker 1: It had a dock under the door frame as it
[2:06:06] Speaker 1: stepped inside, tarering easily eight feet tall. Its body was
[2:06:12] Speaker 1: a grotesque mixture of animals, as if something had stitched
[2:06:15] Speaker 1: it together from several different corpses. Its arms were long,
[2:06:20] Speaker 1: ending and disturbingly human like hands, except the fingers were
[2:06:25] Speaker 1: doubled two sets of knuckles, each twisting and crackling. Its
[2:06:31] Speaker 1: body was covered in thick, matted fur, except for its torso,
[2:06:36] Speaker 1: which was strangely bare. Pale, scarred skin stretched tightly over
[2:06:41] Speaker 1: its ribbed cage. A pair of antlers curled from its skull,
[2:06:46] Speaker 1: but they weren't symmetrical. One was twisted, bent at the
[2:06:50] Speaker 1: wrong angles, jotting out unnaturally. Its jaw didn't match its face.
[2:06:57] Speaker 1: The mouth was wide, gaping too far, filled with teeth
[2:07:02] Speaker 1: that didn't seem to fit together. But it didn't seem
[2:07:06] Speaker 1: to have any eyes. Where its eyes should have been,
[2:07:10] Speaker 1: there were only patches of dark, sunken skin. It was
[2:07:14] Speaker 1: safe to assume that it was blind, but that didn't
[2:07:18] Speaker 1: seem to matter. It sniffed the air, turning its massive
[2:07:23] Speaker 1: head in slow jerking movements, its breathing deep and uneven.
[2:07:30] Speaker 1: It knew something was here, and it was angry. It
[2:07:36] Speaker 1: took another step forward, shifting its weight onto the wooden floorboards.
[2:07:41] Speaker 1: The scent blocker was working, but I didn't know if
[2:07:44] Speaker 1: it would be enough. I stayed still, silent, I didn't breathe.
[2:07:52] Speaker 1: For a moment. I thought I was safe. Then it lunged,
[2:08:00] Speaker 1: not toward me, but toward everything else. It roared, slamming
[2:08:06] Speaker 1: its fists into the walls, a guttural, furious sound, frustration,
[2:08:11] Speaker 1: twisting its movements into wild, jerking violence. It ripped through
[2:08:17] Speaker 1: the room, tearing the bed apart, knocking over the dresser.
[2:08:22] Speaker 1: I gritted my teeth, trying not to flinch. Then its
[2:08:26] Speaker 1: hands landed on the claoset. My breath hitched, the wardrobe shook.
[2:08:33] Speaker 1: I pressed myself as far back as I could, feeling
[2:08:36] Speaker 1: the rough wooden panels against my spine. The thing sniffed again,
[2:08:42] Speaker 1: growled low in its throat, Then it shoved the clauset over.
[2:08:48] Speaker 1: I crashed through the ground, tangled in wooden fabric, my
[2:08:52] Speaker 1: knife slipping from my fingers. For a single agonizing moment,
[2:08:58] Speaker 1: I thought this is it. But as I lay there, frozen,
[2:09:06] Speaker 1: waiting for teeth and claws and death, I heard it
[2:09:10] Speaker 1: shuffle and then it left. I don't know how long
[2:09:20] Speaker 1: I stayed there, lying in the wreckage, staring at the ceiling,
[2:09:25] Speaker 1: shaking so hard I thought my ribs might crack. Eventually,
[2:09:30] Speaker 1: the sun rose. I was out of the cabin before
[2:09:33] Speaker 1: the sun fully broke over the horizon. No hesitation, no
[2:09:38] Speaker 1: second guessing. I didn't care about my supplies, my food,
[2:09:43] Speaker 1: or the fact that I still had weeks left before
[2:09:45] Speaker 1: the guide was supposed to come back. I just grabbed
[2:09:49] Speaker 1: whatever I could carry my backpack, a flashlight, a knife,
[2:09:53] Speaker 1: a bottle of water, and I ran. I didn't look back.
[2:10:00] Speaker 1: If I got lost, so be it. It was better
[2:10:03] Speaker 1: than waiting to get killed by whatever that thing was.
[2:10:07] Speaker 1: All I knew was that I couldn't be there. When
[2:10:10] Speaker 1: night fell again, I tried to retrace my steps, following
[2:10:15] Speaker 1: the same path the guide had led me down almost
[2:10:17] Speaker 1: two weeks ago. But the deeper I went into the woods,
[2:10:22] Speaker 1: the more uncertain I became. Everything looked different. The trees
[2:10:30] Speaker 1: felt denser, closer together, the trunks pressing in around me.
[2:10:35] Speaker 1: The light filtering through the leaves felt dimmer than before.
[2:10:39] Speaker 1: I tried to focus, tried to match landmarks in my head,
[2:10:44] Speaker 1: the rock formation I'd passed that on the way in
[2:10:48] Speaker 1: that fallen tree. Had it been on my left before
[2:10:51] Speaker 1: or my right? Doubt crept into my mind like rust.
[2:10:57] Speaker 1: The oppressive silence returned, and I thought back to that
[2:11:01] Speaker 1: article i'd read, how the entire forest goes silent when
[2:11:04] Speaker 1: there's a predator around. I wanted to believe it was
[2:11:08] Speaker 1: an animal, a bear, a deer, a goddamn crocodile, if
[2:11:12] Speaker 1: that was even possible, anything but what I knew it
[2:11:16] Speaker 1: really was. I wiped the sweat off my brow and
[2:11:21] Speaker 1: kept moving. For whatever reason, it never showed itself. During daytime.
[2:11:30] Speaker 1: I walked for hours, the sun climbing higher in the sky,
[2:11:34] Speaker 1: my legs burning from the effort, But no matter how
[2:11:38] Speaker 1: far I went, the feeling never left. I was still
[2:11:43] Speaker 1: being followed, not hunted in the way a predator goes
[2:11:47] Speaker 1: after prey. This was different. It was letting me tire out,
[2:11:54] Speaker 1: toying with me. All I saw were more trees and
[2:12:00] Speaker 1: behind me, just at the edge of my hearing that
[2:12:04] Speaker 1: awful sound. One moment, I was forcing my legs forward,
[2:12:09] Speaker 1: dragging my body through the thick forest, lungs burning with exhaustion.
[2:12:14] Speaker 1: The next, pure survival instinct took over. Branches whipped against
[2:12:19] Speaker 1: my arms, roots snatched at my boots. My breath came
[2:12:23] Speaker 1: and went, my vision blurred with sweat, and still the
[2:12:28] Speaker 1: feeling of being followed never left. The sun was lower now,
[2:12:34] Speaker 1: the trees stretching into elongated shadows, and just as I
[2:12:39] Speaker 1: thought I couldn't take another step, I saw it the
[2:12:45] Speaker 1: break in the trees houses. I stumbled forward, my body
[2:12:52] Speaker 1: moving before my brain could process what I was looking at.
[2:12:56] Speaker 1: A small village, old buildings, would storefronts, a few houses
[2:13:02] Speaker 1: tucked between them, a church, steeple rising in the distance.
[2:13:07] Speaker 1: It wasn't modern, not a row of houses with mailboxes
[2:13:11] Speaker 1: and street lights. This place felt old, weathered, like it
[2:13:17] Speaker 1: had been sitting here, untouched for decades. I didn't care
[2:13:21] Speaker 1: how strange it was, didn't care how it wasn't on
[2:13:24] Speaker 1: any map I had seen before. All I cared about
[2:13:28] Speaker 1: was that it was civilization. I had made it. I
[2:13:34] Speaker 1: was safe. Relief flooded me so hard I almost collapsed.
[2:13:40] Speaker 1: For the first time in hours. I felt something other
[2:13:43] Speaker 1: than sheer terror. I was out. I turned. I shouldn't have.
[2:13:51] Speaker 1: I should have kept walking, should have run straight into
[2:13:54] Speaker 1: that village, screaming for help. And that's when I saw it,
[2:14:00] Speaker 1: standing just beyond the tree line, a figure, motionless. The
[2:14:07] Speaker 1: last light of the sun stretched long across the dirt road,
[2:14:11] Speaker 1: painting the sky in shades of gold and deep violet,
[2:14:15] Speaker 1: And just as the final sliver of daylight dipped below
[2:14:18] Speaker 1: the mountains, it moved slowly. It got down to a
[2:14:23] Speaker 1: crouching position like he was getting ready to run. The
[2:14:28] Speaker 1: first building I reached looked like an old general store.
[2:14:32] Speaker 1: The wooden sign above the door had long since faded,
[2:14:35] Speaker 1: but I didn't care what it was. I just needed
[2:14:39] Speaker 1: to find someone. I pushed through the door, the bell
[2:14:43] Speaker 1: above jingling as I nearly collapsed. Inside. The air was
[2:14:47] Speaker 1: thick with the smell of dust and aged wood. Dim
[2:14:50] Speaker 1: lantern light flickering from the walls. A few people stood inside,
[2:14:56] Speaker 1: men in odd work jackets, a woman behind the counter,
[2:15:00] Speaker 1: a boy sitting on the stool near the stove. They
[2:15:04] Speaker 1: all turned at the same time. Their expressions were blank,
[2:15:09] Speaker 1: not surprised or alarmed, but definitely curious. I gasped, trying
[2:15:16] Speaker 1: to catch my breath. My throat felt raw, my lungs burned.
[2:15:22] Speaker 1: I must have looked insane, covered in sweat and dirt,
[2:15:26] Speaker 1: shaking like I just crawled out of a grave. I
[2:15:31] Speaker 1: tried to speak, but my voice cracked. I I need help,
[2:15:37] Speaker 1: I managed, gripping the door frame. Something's out there in
[2:15:42] Speaker 1: the woods. They said nothing. No, what are you talking about? No,
[2:15:51] Speaker 1: slow down, son, No, that sounds crazy. Just silence. Then,
[2:16:00] Speaker 1: after a long pause, the woman behind the counter stepped forward.
[2:16:05] Speaker 1: She didn't even ask what I'd seen. She just looked
[2:16:10] Speaker 1: me dead in the eye and asked, calmly, carefully, did
[2:16:18] Speaker 1: it follow you. Being a prison guard isn't easy. You
[2:16:32] Speaker 1: have to maintain control, control of routine, of unpredictable people,
[2:16:38] Speaker 1: of yourself. In a normal prison, there are so many
[2:16:43] Speaker 1: factors to consider, gang affiliations, smuggling, fights, and occasionally escape attempts.
[2:16:52] Speaker 1: A lot of people think the job is about strength,
[2:16:55] Speaker 1: about control through sheer force, and yeah, maybe in some
[2:17:00] Speaker 1: prisons that works, but not here. I work in a
[2:17:07] Speaker 1: prison that's above a normal prison, the place people send
[2:17:11] Speaker 1: things that can't go anywhere else, things that aren't supposed
[2:17:15] Speaker 1: to exist. Some of them used to be people, some
[2:17:20] Speaker 1: of them never were. Some of them no one knows
[2:17:25] Speaker 1: what they are, not really. Scientists try to study them,
[2:17:30] Speaker 1: administration tries to classify them, but at the end of
[2:17:34] Speaker 1: the day, we're all just keeping them locked up and
[2:17:38] Speaker 1: hoping that's enough. My job is to make sure the
[2:17:43] Speaker 1: vault stays closed, and I do this through a strict
[2:17:47] Speaker 1: routine and following my guidelines to the letter. When you
[2:17:52] Speaker 1: get started here, there's one prisoner that every new person
[2:17:56] Speaker 1: gets assigned, the phaser peeking into a cell, you'll see
[2:18:03] Speaker 1: a man mid forties looking ordinary as Ever, however, periodically
[2:18:10] Speaker 1: he will flash with a bright light and blink to
[2:18:13] Speaker 1: another section of the cell. He was caught trying with
[2:18:17] Speaker 1: telepatation technology, and from the lack of usage in this facility,
[2:18:22] Speaker 1: I can imagine it's still far from being perfected. He
[2:18:26] Speaker 1: is a reminder of the consequences of dabbling too much
[2:18:30] Speaker 1: into the unknown. It would be oddly relaxing to watch
[2:18:35] Speaker 1: if it wasn't for the horrific screaming during and after
[2:18:38] Speaker 1: he blinks, though sometimes it's just muffled sobs when he's exhausted,
[2:18:44] Speaker 1: so it's not too bad to watch. Then sometimes he's
[2:18:48] Speaker 1: lucky and he doesn't blink for a few hours or
[2:18:51] Speaker 1: even a day. But some days are bad when it's
[2:18:55] Speaker 1: just non stop with how unpredictable and unstable he is.
[2:19:01] Speaker 1: Sometimes he just disappears. The empty cell will alert us
[2:19:06] Speaker 1: if he's gone too long, then someone is sent to investigate.
[2:19:12] Speaker 1: He never actually leaves the cell, not once has he
[2:19:17] Speaker 1: ever teleported out of the room, let alone the facility. Whatever.
[2:19:22] Speaker 1: They line the walls with his effective However, it's what
[2:19:27] Speaker 1: we do that is observed. When I was alerted. I
[2:19:31] Speaker 1: waited outside and observed, noting down any anomalies until he
[2:19:36] Speaker 1: blinked back. But some have The more proactive new recruits,
[2:19:40] Speaker 1: ones looking to prove themselves, rush in armed and ready.
[2:19:46] Speaker 1: The lucky ones get the scare of their lives, and
[2:19:49] Speaker 1: the man blinks back in with a sudden flash, scaring
[2:19:52] Speaker 1: the hell out of the green recruit. Wherever the phaser goes,
[2:19:57] Speaker 1: whatever he sees must be horrifying. I would have thought
[2:20:01] Speaker 1: he simply blinked forward in time, delaying when he appears
[2:20:04] Speaker 1: to us in the facility, But the look in his
[2:20:08] Speaker 1: eyes after a delayed blink tells a thousand stories, ones
[2:20:13] Speaker 1: which he'll never share. The unfortunate outcome is when a
[2:20:18] Speaker 1: guard stands where he appears without fail contact with a
[2:20:23] Speaker 1: blinking entity, even if just brushing his arm as he
[2:20:27] Speaker 1: blinks back, always favors the one who blinked. The guard
[2:20:32] Speaker 1: simply bursts into a huge red mist. Since getting cleaners
[2:20:37] Speaker 1: inside is an impossibility, the phaser has to clean it up.
[2:20:43] Speaker 1: Looking back, this all feels like a test to see
[2:20:46] Speaker 1: if a guard is ready to handle the oddities contained here,
[2:20:50] Speaker 1: a litmus test for new recruits. Being too passive can
[2:20:55] Speaker 1: lead a catastrophe. Being too proactive can also lead a catastrophe.
[2:21:00] Speaker 1: Sometimes even a middle ground can be detrimental. You're tested
[2:21:05] Speaker 1: every day with your split second decision making skills, and
[2:21:09] Speaker 1: it feels like this is how they gauge us on
[2:21:12] Speaker 1: our response. The phaser is one of many prisoners dangerous
[2:21:17] Speaker 1: by circumstance, a repercussion of dabbling too far into untreaded
[2:21:22] Speaker 1: waters and being eternally punished. However, some prisoners are dangerous
[2:21:31] Speaker 1: by choice. In society, we've heard of people pushing themselves
[2:21:38] Speaker 1: into great feats. Archers who can hit a bull's eye
[2:21:42] Speaker 1: then split that arrow with a second one lift us
[2:21:45] Speaker 1: geared to the max hauling weight that matches large vehicles.
[2:21:50] Speaker 1: But what if someone took it further? Prisoner X has
[2:21:55] Speaker 1: a laundry list of protocols. To simplify it, he essentially
[2:22:00] Speaker 1: turned his body into a living weapon, chemical, biological, technological, mentally,
[2:22:08] Speaker 1: he dabbled into every extreme to make himself the most
[2:22:12] Speaker 1: dangerous person alive. Through multiple surgeries, the scientists Tear have
[2:22:18] Speaker 1: removed a large portion of his internal weapons and contingencies. However,
[2:22:24] Speaker 1: he still has many that simply cannot be Undone. His
[2:22:28] Speaker 1: skin is nigh unbreakable, hardened through means which our scientists
[2:22:33] Speaker 1: are still trying to figure out. Prisoners often have a
[2:22:37] Speaker 1: running theme of not talking, so there's still a lot
[2:22:41] Speaker 1: unknown to us. But this makes him resistant to tasers
[2:22:46] Speaker 1: and fire. Our go too for prisoner subjugation. Instead, we
[2:22:52] Speaker 1: have to periodically drill a small hole into his neck,
[2:22:56] Speaker 1: not an easy feat with how thick his skin actually is,
[2:23:00] Speaker 1: put on a collar with a reinforce syringe filled with
[2:23:03] Speaker 1: enough sedatives to put down an elephant. However, we still
[2:23:08] Speaker 1: need bodies to escort him from his cell to where
[2:23:11] Speaker 1: he needs to be. To say he is resistance of authority,
[2:23:16] Speaker 1: he is an understatement. One time he tried to make
[2:23:20] Speaker 1: a break for it. He waited for the cusp of
[2:23:23] Speaker 1: when he needed redrilling. His skin had hardened for his
[2:23:26] Speaker 1: neck to resist the needle just enough for him to
[2:23:29] Speaker 1: knock it away head down, just tackling the wall to
[2:23:33] Speaker 1: alter its angle. It took almost three full squads to
[2:23:37] Speaker 1: finally subdue him, many casualties taken. Despite his arms eternally
[2:23:44] Speaker 1: being bound, he was still proficient in killing in many
[2:23:47] Speaker 1: other ways. I was fortunately on a different shift, but
[2:23:53] Speaker 1: the deaths up to security and increased how often he
[2:23:57] Speaker 1: was drilled. Luckily, not all prisoners as strictly evil. Some
[2:24:04] Speaker 1: I hear for being too aspirational. One man sits in
[2:24:10] Speaker 1: a cell low security and minimal luxuries, which is a
[2:24:14] Speaker 1: lot compared to the many others living conditions. Here. We
[2:24:19] Speaker 1: call him the tinkereer because the Southern post title of
[2:24:23] Speaker 1: technomancer was too ridiculous for us to use. At first,
[2:24:28] Speaker 1: he was a menace, nothing too threatening, but he would
[2:24:32] Speaker 1: tinker with anything he could get his hands on. Guards
[2:24:36] Speaker 1: found their combs missing from their belt, only to have
[2:24:39] Speaker 1: a strange signal beam out at everyone's radios Uppida's without
[2:24:44] Speaker 1: strange bugs, only to find a signal was sent to
[2:24:47] Speaker 1: disrupt them. Though there are many anomalies on a near
[2:24:51] Speaker 1: constant basis, some potentially catastrophic. When it fell into the
[2:24:57] Speaker 1: category of technology shenanigans, it was easy to know who
[2:25:01] Speaker 1: the culprit was. Often we'd storm up to his cell,
[2:25:07] Speaker 1: subdue him, and search the area, and each time we'd
[2:25:10] Speaker 1: find a makeshift array he'd made with the scraps he'd
[2:25:13] Speaker 1: found and destroy it, giggles coming between his grunts as
[2:25:18] Speaker 1: a guard held him down. Something we noticed, though, was
[2:25:23] Speaker 1: that when he did play with his tech, he would
[2:25:26] Speaker 1: happily stay in his room and tinker. This gave us
[2:25:31] Speaker 1: an idea. Periodically, we'd bring in a broken piece of
[2:25:36] Speaker 1: technology a laptop, tablet, phone, et cetera. Obviously, we'd remove
[2:25:43] Speaker 1: anything that could cause issue, parts that could access the internet,
[2:25:47] Speaker 1: or simply remove a key item like the CPU. From here,
[2:25:51] Speaker 1: we'd bring it to him under the guise that we
[2:25:54] Speaker 1: wanted it fixed, and he'd tinker with it for days,
[2:25:58] Speaker 1: sometimes weeks. When he'd finish, with search his room in
[2:26:03] Speaker 1: case he held any parts, often finding them and unbeknownst
[2:26:07] Speaker 1: to him, destroy it all. We once booted up a
[2:26:12] Speaker 1: fixed laptop he given us, adding back in the CPU
[2:26:15] Speaker 1: and battery, only for it to be an almost completely
[2:26:19] Speaker 1: different device set up for functions. We couldn't even comprehend
[2:26:24] Speaker 1: the brainchild of the madmen of technology, but we kept
[2:26:29] Speaker 1: up this routine because doing this satiated him. This wasn't
[2:26:34] Speaker 1: on any of the books. We guards often found our
[2:26:38] Speaker 1: own means through on ground observation to come up with
[2:26:42] Speaker 1: makeshift routines to make our lives easier. However, one guard
[2:26:48] Speaker 1: didn't get the full memo. He saw the tinker as
[2:26:52] Speaker 1: the guy that fixes things, and brought him his phone
[2:26:55] Speaker 1: that wasn't turning on despite the facility being deep underground
[2:27:00] Speaker 1: and jammed up to the max for any outward signal
[2:27:03] Speaker 1: by location in technology. Within hours, a nuclear code was
[2:27:08] Speaker 1: sent and almost worked in setting off multiple missiles. A
[2:27:13] Speaker 1: nuclear warning was even sent out in Hawaii, which outwardly
[2:27:17] Speaker 1: was reported as a false flag, but we were close
[2:27:21] Speaker 1: to a real catastrophe. The guard was swiftly dealt with
[2:27:26] Speaker 1: and the tinkerers band from fixing tech for months, but
[2:27:31] Speaker 1: he wasn't unhappy with this. Every time we checked on him,
[2:27:37] Speaker 1: he still giggled about it thinking about what he did.
[2:27:42] Speaker 1: This tied him over until he was eventually allowed to
[2:27:46] Speaker 1: fix broken tech again with much more restrictions from then on.
[2:27:53] Speaker 1: There's one prisoner which I like, being put on shift
[2:27:56] Speaker 1: for causes no issues, needs no maintenents, just need to
[2:28:01] Speaker 1: keep an eye on him and note down any anomalies,
[2:28:05] Speaker 1: which there are never any of. This is because he's
[2:28:09] Speaker 1: stuck in a perpetual state of stasis. The story goes
[2:28:15] Speaker 1: that a strange signal was picked up in the basement
[2:28:18] Speaker 1: of a residential building. When a filled up team was
[2:28:21] Speaker 1: sent to investigate, they found him in this state frozen
[2:28:25] Speaker 1: in time. Around him was an array of strange tech
[2:28:31] Speaker 1: computers linked together in complicated ways, and a bulking machine
[2:28:35] Speaker 1: mostly destroyed. Due to him not being able to cooperate
[2:28:40] Speaker 1: in any sort of questioning, it was up to the
[2:28:43] Speaker 1: investigation team to piece together what happened, and boy did
[2:28:49] Speaker 1: they find a strange story. Through logs on his computer,
[2:28:55] Speaker 1: they discovered that he had in fact found the first
[2:28:59] Speaker 1: legitimate means to travel back in time. Very illegal. We
[2:29:05] Speaker 1: have a few prisoners detained for even attempting to start
[2:29:08] Speaker 1: that project, but he might have succeeded somehow he cracked
[2:29:15] Speaker 1: the code and put together the haphazard machine that lay
[2:29:19] Speaker 1: destroyed around him. But it's what he did with it
[2:29:23] Speaker 1: which is possibly the strangest thing I'd ever heard. Instead
[2:29:28] Speaker 1: of going back to make riches change a mistake in life,
[2:29:32] Speaker 1: old history in a groundbreaking way, visit a prolific historical figure,
[2:29:37] Speaker 1: or hell, see the dinosaurs, he instead went back in
[2:29:42] Speaker 1: time to kill his own grandfather. Guy was obsessed with
[2:29:48] Speaker 1: the grandfather paradox. It's strange how genius lovel intellect has
[2:29:53] Speaker 1: a correlation with absolute insanity. We only know this from
[2:29:58] Speaker 1: going through the logs on his computer. He detailed his
[2:30:02] Speaker 1: plan and specifically who he was, after one Charles Vernon.
[2:30:09] Speaker 1: We checked the database and a match was found. Charles
[2:30:13] Speaker 1: Vernon had died in the late nineteen forties, no record
[2:30:17] Speaker 1: of kids, which means if it was his grandfather, he
[2:30:22] Speaker 1: had successfully killed him and stopped a parent from being born,
[2:30:26] Speaker 1: causing him to become a paradox. However, he didn't simply disappear.
[2:30:34] Speaker 1: Despite all the information we could find, so much more
[2:30:38] Speaker 1: is left a mystery. It's inconclusive whether the state's currently
[2:30:43] Speaker 1: in is because of the paradox, a side effect of
[2:30:47] Speaker 1: time travel, or self inflicted after getting the answers he wanted.
[2:30:52] Speaker 1: It's also unknown what happened to the machine, whether it
[2:30:56] Speaker 1: was a one time used kind of deal or something
[2:30:59] Speaker 1: he set up so that it could never be used
[2:31:01] Speaker 1: after him. But we're working hard on freeing him. He
[2:31:07] Speaker 1: studied a lot and tests are always being ran and
[2:31:10] Speaker 1: whether we could reverse the condition he's in because throughout
[2:31:15] Speaker 1: all the logs there is nothing on how we built
[2:31:19] Speaker 1: the actual machine. So the scientists are hoping to unfreeze
[2:31:23] Speaker 1: him and prying this information out of him one way
[2:31:27] Speaker 1: or another. The science is above my pay grade. However,
[2:31:33] Speaker 1: I sometimes imagine what could have been done if one
[2:31:36] Speaker 1: went back with ambition, though someone going back with chaotic
[2:31:40] Speaker 1: contentions would be a terrifying thought. Maybe that's why he
[2:31:45] Speaker 1: never documented how it was made for why the machine
[2:31:49] Speaker 1: was destroyed. A large amount of duties are sectioned off
[2:31:56] Speaker 1: between different squads. What this means is that duty of
[2:32:00] Speaker 1: mentioned which are in my rotation may infrequently or never
[2:32:05] Speaker 1: show up for other squads. We have no idea how
[2:32:08] Speaker 1: the criteria for this is made, whether it's some inner
[2:32:11] Speaker 1: system of threat level or group based competency. God knows
[2:32:16] Speaker 1: what kind of demons others deal with, but hopefully I
[2:32:20] Speaker 1: am in a good rotation. But one duty, which is
[2:32:24] Speaker 1: universal between all groups is playtime. For this duty, I
[2:32:32] Speaker 1: dressed up in civilian attire, very young, coded and drove
[2:32:37] Speaker 1: to a town called small Haven. Now, the facility is
[2:32:41] Speaker 1: located remote from any civilization, so this town itself is
[2:32:46] Speaker 1: in a town per se. It's actually an entire level
[2:32:51] Speaker 1: of the facility, widened enough to create a dynamic, functioning
[2:32:55] Speaker 1: town and tall enough that a realistic skybox could be made.
[2:33:01] Speaker 1: Everyone in the town is an actor playing their part
[2:33:06] Speaker 1: twenty four seven, never breaking character or for one prisoner
[2:33:13] Speaker 1: a child. She lives with the family, though they are
[2:33:19] Speaker 1: technically actors, knowing that the town isn't real, they are
[2:33:24] Speaker 1: her biological relations. All in all, she lives the perfect life,
[2:33:31] Speaker 1: goes to school, plays with friends, visits extended family, which
[2:33:36] Speaker 1: are also moved into the facility town. The reason for
[2:33:40] Speaker 1: her detainment is simple. If she gets mad, she goes nuclear.
[2:33:48] Speaker 1: Not in a hyperbolic way. She has enough internal energy
[2:33:53] Speaker 1: to flatten entire countries plural. It's too big of an
[2:33:59] Speaker 1: explos to contain or isolate. Even if set off remotely
[2:34:04] Speaker 1: from the furthest point of land dead set in the
[2:34:07] Speaker 1: middle of the largest ocean, the Tsun armies would devastate
[2:34:11] Speaker 1: large portions of continents in all directions. We can't get
[2:34:15] Speaker 1: into space without risking hitting levels of stress that would
[2:34:18] Speaker 1: set her off before exiting the atmosphere. So she's stuck
[2:34:23] Speaker 1: in this facility under the guise of having moved to
[2:34:27] Speaker 1: a nice little town to start fresh. There are contingencies
[2:34:32] Speaker 1: set in place to make sure she never leaves. The
[2:34:36] Speaker 1: outer limits of the town are all abandoned factories or
[2:34:39] Speaker 1: run down ghettos, all designed psychologically to make them undesirable
[2:34:44] Speaker 1: to go to, though abandoned might be the wrong turn
[2:34:48] Speaker 1: to use, considering how many trained snipers are stationed there
[2:34:52] Speaker 1: around the clock, all armed with long range sedatives. Even
[2:34:58] Speaker 1: the ghetto's population are all trained militia scary looking people
[2:35:03] Speaker 1: to deter her wandering through an armed to the teeth
[2:35:06] Speaker 1: with contingencies. She once wandered close to the outer limits
[2:35:10] Speaker 1: with no escorts nearby. It was reported that she wasn't
[2:35:15] Speaker 1: trying to make a break for it, but they still
[2:35:17] Speaker 1: implemented a fail safe. She was subdued, and when found
[2:35:22] Speaker 1: by her parents, she was told she fell asleep wandering
[2:35:26] Speaker 1: too far. Luckily she bought that and there hasn't been
[2:35:31] Speaker 1: an incident since. She has no idea what is truly
[2:35:36] Speaker 1: going on, and when I was selected for playtime duty,
[2:35:41] Speaker 1: it was my job to check on her. How this
[2:35:46] Speaker 1: duty works can be complicated with how closed off the
[2:35:51] Speaker 1: town is from the real world. Getting information reliably to
[2:35:55] Speaker 1: and from small Haven it is difficult. Every so often
[2:36:00] Speaker 1: a guard has to role play into town to check
[2:36:03] Speaker 1: on things. Sometimes we're an out of town counselor sent
[2:36:08] Speaker 1: in by the school administration to check on all the students,
[2:36:11] Speaker 1: Sometimes for travelers car having trouble so stuck in town
[2:36:15] Speaker 1: for a few days. Seeing a new face also keeps
[2:36:19] Speaker 1: up the facade of the town's legitimacy, hiding the fact
[2:36:23] Speaker 1: that it is cut off from any real civilization. My shift, however,
[2:36:30] Speaker 1: was different. This was the first drafted long term visit,
[2:36:35] Speaker 1: and I was lucky enough to be the first participant.
[2:36:40] Speaker 1: Despite working in a facility in which you're physically tested
[2:36:44] Speaker 1: every day, with some guards covered head to toe in
[2:36:48] Speaker 1: unsightly scars, I've been relatively untouched, though there are given
[2:36:54] Speaker 1: items to look after ourselves, in which I do the
[2:36:57] Speaker 1: bare minimum. I guess I just have to admit it.
[2:37:02] Speaker 1: I have a serious case of babyface. This hasn't been
[2:37:08] Speaker 1: an issue, but it must have been noticed because it
[2:37:12] Speaker 1: tied directly into my assignment. I was sent in as
[2:37:17] Speaker 1: a new high school student finishing off the last part
[2:37:20] Speaker 1: of the year. I was given a strict schedule to
[2:37:24] Speaker 1: shave and make sure I blended in. Alone, I would
[2:37:28] Speaker 1: stand out as slightly older, but amongst the crowd, I
[2:37:32] Speaker 1: blended in well enough. The education departments were mixed through
[2:37:37] Speaker 1: all years, segmented between elementary and high school, so despite
[2:37:42] Speaker 1: being years apart in the schooling system, I was able
[2:37:45] Speaker 1: to observe the prisoner on occasions. In class, I was
[2:37:50] Speaker 1: instructed that I did not need to participate in learning
[2:37:53] Speaker 1: unless observed by the prisoner, which never came up, and
[2:37:58] Speaker 1: so I used that time to tell make meticulous notes
[2:38:01] Speaker 1: on anything I observed. I learned her name was Emily
[2:38:05] Speaker 1: and that she got on well enough in school. However,
[2:38:10] Speaker 1: there was a planned event. Since I was new in town,
[2:38:15] Speaker 1: Emily's parents invited me over for dinner, keeping up the
[2:38:19] Speaker 1: facade of a friendly, welcoming town. Alongside me was an
[2:38:24] Speaker 1: actor who posed as my mother. I handed over the
[2:38:28] Speaker 1: envelope containing the script to my mother and we studied
[2:38:31] Speaker 1: it together for hours to make sure everything lined up.
[2:38:36] Speaker 1: My mother played a single parent and I had lived
[2:38:39] Speaker 1: with my father for most of my life. However, she
[2:38:43] Speaker 1: came back into the picture through letters, and I had
[2:38:46] Speaker 1: decided to reach out and live with her for a
[2:38:48] Speaker 1: bit to mend our relationship. A believable story, and when
[2:38:53] Speaker 1: there was so small it would be hard to poke
[2:38:56] Speaker 1: holes in, we drilled the script, adding information for us
[2:39:01] Speaker 1: to sync up with in case anything else came up.
[2:39:06] Speaker 1: The meal went well because it was under the guise
[2:39:10] Speaker 1: of meeting new people. He managed to detail their family
[2:39:14] Speaker 1: life in a public setting. Overall, they reviewed well, and
[2:39:19] Speaker 1: I noted how stable everything seemed. However, unexpected to Emily's parents,
[2:39:27] Speaker 1: my mother pulled them to another room to crack open
[2:39:30] Speaker 1: a bottle of wine, something that kids couldn't participate in.
[2:39:36] Speaker 1: This left Emily and I alone for an in depth review,
[2:39:39] Speaker 1: away from the pressures of keeping up appearances with her parents.
[2:39:44] Speaker 1: This is something we struggled with in previous reviews, since
[2:39:48] Speaker 1: leaving a child alone with an adult stranger was something
[2:39:51] Speaker 1: hard to set up. Since I was perceived as a
[2:39:55] Speaker 1: youth rather than an adult. I was to extract any
[2:39:59] Speaker 1: useful information with this precious time frame and started slow
[2:40:05] Speaker 1: regoing over icebreakers, but this time in a more personal way,
[2:40:10] Speaker 1: asking how she really felt about life, about school, about apparents.
[2:40:16] Speaker 1: She opened up more than at the dinner table, all
[2:40:19] Speaker 1: of which was positive. The small Haven project was still
[2:40:24] Speaker 1: going strong. However, Emily went quiet after a while, with
[2:40:30] Speaker 1: a deep look of contemplation on her face. Rather than pray,
[2:40:36] Speaker 1: I let the silence hang, letting the pressure of social
[2:40:39] Speaker 1: cues eas her into opening up. However, rather than throwing
[2:40:44] Speaker 1: some thought provoking question back, she threw a curveball straight
[2:40:49] Speaker 1: into my face. I know it's all not real, she
[2:40:55] Speaker 1: said plainly. If I had a drink in my mouth,
[2:41:01] Speaker 1: i'd have spat it out. Huh oh, what do you mean?
[2:41:07] Speaker 1: I stuttered back. I had been composed before this, in
[2:41:12] Speaker 1: control of the conversation, following my orders to the letter. However,
[2:41:18] Speaker 1: this was veering so off script that I spat out
[2:41:21] Speaker 1: a question, hoping to steer things back to normalcy. I mean,
[2:41:27] Speaker 1: it's a simulation right this town. It's all avasad No,
[2:41:33] Speaker 1: she muttered. I froze. My first instinct was the gaslight
[2:41:40] Speaker 1: the hell out of her, make her feel crazy for
[2:41:43] Speaker 1: even thinking that, even though she was one hundred percent right.
[2:41:49] Speaker 1: But then a spark in my head told me that
[2:41:51] Speaker 1: if I argued against the point, this could cause unease,
[2:41:55] Speaker 1: which could turn to frustration anger, something I was instructed
[2:42:00] Speaker 1: over and over to never cause. So instead I probed,
[2:42:07] Speaker 1: what makes you think that? I asked curiously. I know
[2:42:13] Speaker 1: something's inside me, something I don't understand, something no one understands,
[2:42:20] Speaker 1: she said solemnly. Ice ran through me. She was to
[2:42:28] Speaker 1: never know about a condition. It was theorized that the
[2:42:33] Speaker 1: stress of keeping it in check could trigger her like
[2:42:36] Speaker 1: being constantly conscious of needing to breathe. She carried on
[2:42:41] Speaker 1: in my silence. I know everyone's an actor, pretending to
[2:42:46] Speaker 1: be part of this town, even my parents. They're my parents,
[2:42:51] Speaker 1: I know that, but they keep up a facade. This
[2:42:57] Speaker 1: was dangerous, and it was worse with every word she
[2:43:02] Speaker 1: spat out. She knew too much, but there was no
[2:43:07] Speaker 1: denying the conviction and a voice she was certain there
[2:43:13] Speaker 1: was no going back now. So instead of trying to
[2:43:16] Speaker 1: contradict it, I went for the answer I desperately wanted
[2:43:20] Speaker 1: for myself. How do you know? I asked, not some
[2:43:27] Speaker 1: setup to flip the narrative. I needed to know. Did
[2:43:32] Speaker 1: someone talk? Did she sneak out without people knowing? This
[2:43:37] Speaker 1: information was vital? Whatever is in me, this energy, it's changed.
[2:43:47] Speaker 1: At first I heard buzzing. My parents thought I was sick,
[2:43:52] Speaker 1: pulled me from school for a bit. But then it
[2:43:56] Speaker 1: like famed into words. But they they weren't from people's mouths,
[2:44:02] Speaker 1: it was from their heads. There when all hopes I
[2:44:09] Speaker 1: could reverse this, she could read minds. As if this
[2:44:14] Speaker 1: couldn't get any more terrifying. I wanted to ask so much.
[2:44:20] Speaker 1: My mind jumbled with so many questions. I couldn't even
[2:44:24] Speaker 1: stutter the first lines of a question. However, she picked
[2:44:29] Speaker 1: up on this. Of course she did. She could hear
[2:44:33] Speaker 1: everything I was thinking and answered before I could say anything.
[2:44:39] Speaker 1: Don't worry, I don't mind it, she said, with a
[2:44:44] Speaker 1: hint of glee. I coughed to clear my throat. What
[2:44:49] Speaker 1: do you mean, I asked. I needed confirmation, this town,
[2:44:56] Speaker 1: this life. I don't mind it. My parents are here,
[2:45:01] Speaker 1: my family are here. They love me. I know that
[2:45:05] Speaker 1: for a fact. That's the one thing that isn't a lie.
[2:45:10] Speaker 1: They're doing this for my safety, so I don't mind it,
[2:45:16] Speaker 1: she said, matter of factly. I eased up at this,
[2:45:22] Speaker 1: just accepted the situation. With everything in the open. We
[2:45:27] Speaker 1: ended up just chatting the whole time, talking like real humans,
[2:45:33] Speaker 1: something she probably liked and hadn't had in a long time.
[2:45:39] Speaker 1: Just before the parents came back in, she told me
[2:45:42] Speaker 1: to keep a new developments a secret, something which I
[2:45:46] Speaker 1: agreed to. Besides, she'd know if I lied with absolute certainty.
[2:45:54] Speaker 1: Since then, I've been the first recurring volunteer for playtime Duty.
[2:46:00] Speaker 1: The story evolved that I've reconnected with my mother and
[2:46:04] Speaker 1: live in a split custody between them. My actor mother
[2:46:08] Speaker 1: is now family friends with Emily's parents, and so we
[2:46:12] Speaker 1: have a reason to see them when I come to
[2:46:14] Speaker 1: town to visit, and Emily and I have developed a
[2:46:18] Speaker 1: bond which is valuable to the prison. Playtime gives me
[2:46:31] Speaker 1: a much needed reprieve from the hectic nature of the prison,
[2:46:36] Speaker 1: but I'm always kept busy. Lately I've been put on
[2:46:41] Speaker 1: feeding duty. The prisoner is the man in the hole.
[2:46:48] Speaker 1: His cell is simple. Nothing extraists fitted to hold him,
[2:46:52] Speaker 1: at least what we can see. Despite his strange quirk.
[2:46:57] Speaker 1: He never leaves his cell, though it's sometimes hard to tell.
[2:47:02] Speaker 1: No one in my team has ever fully seen him.
[2:47:07] Speaker 1: Every time we visit his cell, there's always a new
[2:47:10] Speaker 1: hole somewhere on the floor, wall, even ceiling. The location
[2:47:17] Speaker 1: is always random. This is despite whatever is logically on
[2:47:21] Speaker 1: the other side. Beside his cell is another unoccupied room.
[2:47:27] Speaker 1: Under and above are other levels of the complex, yet
[2:47:31] Speaker 1: the adjoining rooms are never disturbed. The holes look almost cartoonish,
[2:47:37] Speaker 1: rubble piled up around the hole or the edges frayed
[2:47:41] Speaker 1: up in an exaggerated manner, but the hole itself is
[2:47:45] Speaker 1: unnatural dark, regardless of how a light source is pointed
[2:47:50] Speaker 1: at it. When he speaks, it echoes like is far
[2:47:54] Speaker 1: deeper than what should be possible. They're closer to dimensional hole,
[2:48:00] Speaker 1: and when a new one appears, the previous one is gone,
[2:48:05] Speaker 1: not even a single scratch to indicate any wrongdoings. We
[2:48:10] Speaker 1: only know he's in there because he will chatter to
[2:48:13] Speaker 1: us when we bring him his food, though we're always
[2:48:16] Speaker 1: just instructed to leave it on the floor and leave.
[2:48:21] Speaker 1: Studies have been done to figure out what the holes
[2:48:23] Speaker 1: truly are. Items, cameras and people have been sent in
[2:48:28] Speaker 1: to investigate, but whatever enters never leaves. If connected to
[2:48:36] Speaker 1: a tether, it is severed upon entry and swiftly lost.
[2:48:41] Speaker 1: So for the time being it is just a management
[2:48:45] Speaker 1: and observation job. One time we thought he escaped, a
[2:48:51] Speaker 1: routine inspection was sent with catering to deliver. However, no
[2:48:56] Speaker 1: hole was found. It was reported, and as the backup
[2:49:01] Speaker 1: team was dispatched, the guard found where he was. Giggling
[2:49:06] Speaker 1: was heard from behind, and when he turned he saw
[2:49:11] Speaker 1: the edges of the keyhole frayed out. Little giggles could
[2:49:15] Speaker 1: be heard from the tiny void. God knows how they
[2:49:22] Speaker 1: do it, but the external team have an uncannyability to
[2:49:26] Speaker 1: detain these wild individuals. They are either hyper elite individuals
[2:49:32] Speaker 1: formed to make a god squad, or piled up with
[2:49:35] Speaker 1: enough tech to take down civilization as we know it.
[2:49:39] Speaker 1: Either way, they get results. However, there's one prisoner which
[2:49:45] Speaker 1: is an exception, Frank, because rather than being detained, he
[2:49:53] Speaker 1: simply turned himself in. We still don't know where he's
[2:49:59] Speaker 1: truly from. When asked, he gives a different answer each time,
[2:50:04] Speaker 1: always in a sarcastic tone. But there are theories. Some
[2:50:10] Speaker 1: are basic, like some form of extraterrestrial origin, something, he's
[2:50:15] Speaker 1: some sort of genetic freak given god likabilities through the
[2:50:19] Speaker 1: genetic lottery. The most interesting to me is that he's
[2:50:23] Speaker 1: from a higher dimension, fourth or fifth maybe either way.
[2:50:30] Speaker 1: It's incomprehensible what he can do. Teleportation, flight, spontaneous combustion,
[2:50:39] Speaker 1: if you can name it, he can probably do it.
[2:50:43] Speaker 1: Because of this, he isn't detained in a cell. Nothing
[2:50:48] Speaker 1: can hold him, trust me, We've tried. So he just
[2:50:54] Speaker 1: wandered the facility looking for things to do. A guard
[2:51:00] Speaker 1: tug the last doughnut, and unbeknownst to him, Frank suddenly
[2:51:05] Speaker 1: decided that he wanted it now. If Frank had asked,
[2:51:10] Speaker 1: the guard probably would have given it to him. However,
[2:51:14] Speaker 1: Frank skipped the altercation entirely and went straight for retribution.
[2:51:20] Speaker 1: Frank turned the guard's head into a rose. From this
[2:51:26] Speaker 1: we discover that having a rose for a head is
[2:51:29] Speaker 1: guaranteed death, though it's technically unconfirmed since we only have
[2:51:34] Speaker 1: a sample size of one. When medical had a look,
[2:51:39] Speaker 1: it was intricate. It wasn't just the simple swap. The
[2:51:44] Speaker 1: roots of the rose had blended seamlessly with the veins
[2:51:47] Speaker 1: and arteries of the neck, extending down throughout the body.
[2:51:52] Speaker 1: Now why did Frank turn himself in? Well, that question
[2:51:57] Speaker 1: has another tangent to really put things into perspective. See,
[2:52:03] Speaker 1: this facility is hidden, hidden, hidden, so many layers of
[2:52:10] Speaker 1: secrecy on top of more secrets, along with people eliminated
[2:52:15] Speaker 1: along the way, just to make sure this place isn't
[2:52:18] Speaker 1: known about, isn't able to be found, and isn't able
[2:52:22] Speaker 1: to be tracked. It would take generations of descendants to
[2:52:27] Speaker 1: follow all the trails in order to find this place,
[2:52:30] Speaker 1: sifting through so many dead ends and false leads. So
[2:52:35] Speaker 1: when Frank strolled up to the front door, it was
[2:52:39] Speaker 1: a big deal. Frank's reason for doing all this is
[2:52:44] Speaker 1: the only thing he said that I believe he was
[2:52:49] Speaker 1: bored and what sounds more fun than to mess around
[2:52:53] Speaker 1: in the most secret, advanced place on earth. To him,
[2:52:58] Speaker 1: this was a playground, and we were his new playthings.
[2:53:04] Speaker 1: At first, he was an issue. His mischief often got
[2:53:09] Speaker 1: people killed. When curious about a prisoner, he'd released them
[2:53:14] Speaker 1: just to see what they could do. When we were
[2:53:17] Speaker 1: doing important procedures, he'd disrupt them just to get a
[2:53:20] Speaker 1: rise out of the staff. He once flipped gravity in
[2:53:24] Speaker 1: the whole facility just to see what would happen. God
[2:53:29] Speaker 1: knows who decided on the solution, but whoever did deserves
[2:53:33] Speaker 1: only the best in life. See. What got him to
[2:53:37] Speaker 1: fall in line was to hire him as a guard. Now,
[2:53:44] Speaker 1: he's not really a guard, not in the structural hierarchy sense.
[2:53:49] Speaker 1: He was given a special title, a uniform, and a
[2:53:52] Speaker 1: list of duties. However, the duties are a placebo replacing
[2:53:58] Speaker 1: the blinker fluid in a car kind of thing. But
[2:54:02] Speaker 1: whenever he finished the task, grand praise is given. We
[2:54:07] Speaker 1: found that making him feel important and blowing up his
[2:54:10] Speaker 1: ego keeps him too preoccupied to cause chaos. He's always
[2:54:15] Speaker 1: awarded employee of the month, despite that not really being
[2:54:19] Speaker 1: a thing. Here He's given an office with a fancy
[2:54:23] Speaker 1: door plaque, which I'm pretty sure he does nothing with,
[2:54:27] Speaker 1: and at the end of every month he's given a
[2:54:30] Speaker 1: large paycheck with a bonus if he does well, which
[2:54:34] Speaker 1: he gets every time. We're not even paid for this job.
[2:54:41] Speaker 1: The past ups is given are just printed pieces of
[2:54:43] Speaker 1: paper with some made up letterhead and lots of numbers,
[2:54:48] Speaker 1: but he eats it up, acting grateful, talking about how
[2:54:53] Speaker 1: he'll treat his family when he gets some time off.
[2:54:56] Speaker 1: He doesn't have a family here, By the way, I'm
[2:55:00] Speaker 1: pretty sure that with a thought he could turn the
[2:55:03] Speaker 1: entire complex into a block of solid gold. He has
[2:55:07] Speaker 1: no use for money. There aren't even shops here, but
[2:55:12] Speaker 1: the whole charade just works. So we never put a
[2:55:16] Speaker 1: pin to his happiness balloon, and it's came in handy
[2:55:21] Speaker 1: a few times. There are a few guards he's taken
[2:55:25] Speaker 1: a liking to. He had a stint where he acted
[2:55:28] Speaker 1: like a sitcom character and chose a few guards at
[2:55:32] Speaker 1: random to I assume be side characters. The friendship was
[2:55:37] Speaker 1: entirely one sided, but with enough improv he was satiated. However,
[2:55:44] Speaker 1: one of the side character guards was having an issue
[2:55:48] Speaker 1: while detailing a prisoner. They slipped their bonds and was
[2:55:51] Speaker 1: about to cause mayhem, usually a death sentence in here,
[2:55:56] Speaker 1: when suddenly Frank came in and swift put a stop
[2:56:01] Speaker 1: to the situation. Right now, he's not an issue. However,
[2:56:08] Speaker 1: I fear that one day he'll tire of this role
[2:56:12] Speaker 1: and he'll switch back to causing mischief or worse. A
[2:56:22] Speaker 1: lot of prisoners scare me. In fact, that could be
[2:56:27] Speaker 1: an understatement. Every day our lives are put on the
[2:56:31] Speaker 1: line during the most meanial of tasks. However, one prisoner
[2:56:37] Speaker 1: simply worries me. If a prisoner loses a life here,
[2:56:43] Speaker 1: all that is lost is potential discoveries. They are both
[2:56:47] Speaker 1: held captive for the safety of the world and studied
[2:56:51] Speaker 1: for the betterment of progress. But there's one prisoner here which,
[2:56:57] Speaker 1: if incapacitated or worse, could spell the end of the
[2:57:01] Speaker 1: world as we know it, the first prisoner. I've not
[2:57:08] Speaker 1: been entirely truthful. More of a live omission. I speak
[2:57:14] Speaker 1: of this building, call it a facility and such, But
[2:57:18] Speaker 1: in reality, the building itself was an anomaly that made
[2:57:23] Speaker 1: this whole project possible, a building semi sentient and fully
[2:57:29] Speaker 1: self sufficient. It was a smaller building at first, but
[2:57:35] Speaker 1: its unnatural properties were soon discovered. When built upon, each
[2:57:41] Speaker 1: room tethers itself to all others in a conscious way.
[2:57:45] Speaker 1: If we want a room to be a cell, we
[2:57:48] Speaker 1: have to build it as such. Even when we use
[2:57:51] Speaker 1: the simplest of materials, its function is enhanced to what
[2:57:55] Speaker 1: the room is desired to be. It's difficult to grasp.
[2:58:01] Speaker 1: I don't fully get it myself. I'm paraphrasing from what
[2:58:05] Speaker 1: I pieced together from the technical jargon. I was fared,
[2:58:09] Speaker 1: but it's how I've come to understand things. It's heart,
[2:58:14] Speaker 1: if you could call it. That powers the whole facility,
[2:58:17] Speaker 1: producing more than enough power for all the containment cells,
[2:58:22] Speaker 1: along with the many experiments running within the structure. This
[2:58:27] Speaker 1: was all kept under wraps. We didn't know any of
[2:58:30] Speaker 1: this until issues started coming up lately. Concrete has been
[2:58:37] Speaker 1: crumbling in the far reaches of the building. Cell doors
[2:58:41] Speaker 1: aren't locking as tightly as before. Fortunately, the prisoners haven't
[2:58:47] Speaker 1: fully grasped how strained the building is, but with enough
[2:58:51] Speaker 1: force escapes are possible. We have set up measures to
[2:58:57] Speaker 1: keep things in check through staff, and this introduces a
[2:59:02] Speaker 1: lot of elements of human failure. When observing the degradation myself.
[2:59:09] Speaker 1: It's always in the lowest levels of the compound, or
[2:59:12] Speaker 1: the furthest reaches of a floor. I have a theory
[2:59:16] Speaker 1: that the building is strained, bloated beyond its limits. We
[2:59:21] Speaker 1: are constantly adding more flaws, more rooms, more functions, and
[2:59:27] Speaker 1: whatever this anomalous building is is finally struggling to keep up,
[2:59:35] Speaker 1: but we cannot stop. Every day there is an influx
[2:59:40] Speaker 1: of new prisoners, fresh from the external team, threats that
[2:59:45] Speaker 1: cannot be left unchecked in the outside world. They need
[2:59:49] Speaker 1: to be put in containment, and this is the only
[2:59:53] Speaker 1: place that can hold them. The prison started as the
[2:59:58] Speaker 1: first anomaly, the plus prisoner, but when its term has ended,
[3:00:06] Speaker 1: it could spell danger when everything we've collected gets out.
[3:00:21] Speaker 1: I was stretched out on my couch, half watching some
[3:00:24] Speaker 1: reality show I didn't care about, scrolling through my phone,
[3:00:28] Speaker 1: debating whether I should bother making dinner or just eat
[3:00:32] Speaker 1: a bowl of dry cereal again. Outside, the street lights
[3:00:36] Speaker 1: cast a familiar yellow glow over the empty road, and
[3:00:40] Speaker 1: the occasional car passed by, his tires humming softly against
[3:00:44] Speaker 1: the pavement. Everything was still the kind of quiet you
[3:00:50] Speaker 1: only get in a small town late at night. Then
[3:00:55] Speaker 1: at nine seventeen pm. My phone buzzed violently in my hand,
[3:01:00] Speaker 1: the jarring blare of an emergency alert making me flinch.
[3:01:05] Speaker 1: The TV screen flashed red, cutting off mid scene. A
[3:01:10] Speaker 1: robotic voice crackled over the speakers of my radio, which
[3:01:14] Speaker 1: I hadn't even realized was still plugged in. The same
[3:01:18] Speaker 1: message was everywhere, we are sorry. That was it. No
[3:01:29] Speaker 1: warning about a storm or some evacuation instructions, just a vague,
[3:01:35] Speaker 1: meaningless phrase that sent a strange chill up my spine.
[3:01:41] Speaker 1: I sat up, phoned still in my hand, staring at
[3:01:44] Speaker 1: the words as they glowed on my screen. We are sorry,
[3:01:51] Speaker 1: sorry for what. I flicked to my messages and texted Ryan,
[3:01:58] Speaker 1: my friend who lives across town. Did you get that?
[3:02:03] Speaker 1: The message sent instantly, and the typing bubbles appeared almost immediately. Yeah,
[3:02:09] Speaker 1: what the hell does we are sorry mean? It's probably
[3:02:13] Speaker 1: a test or something. I had no answer. I looked outside,
[3:02:20] Speaker 1: expecting to see people standing in the streets a fire
[3:02:25] Speaker 1: in the distance, but everything looked normal. The street was
[3:02:29] Speaker 1: still empty, the houses around mine were dark, the residents
[3:02:33] Speaker 1: either asleep or unconcerned. I turned the TV volume up,
[3:02:38] Speaker 1: flipping through channels, I saw nothing. But reruns, talk shows,
[3:02:43] Speaker 1: commercials like nothing had happened, no breaking news or explanations.
[3:02:51] Speaker 1: I considered calling someone nine one one, the non emergency line,
[3:02:56] Speaker 1: anyone who might have more information, And that was when
[3:03:01] Speaker 1: I heard a distant rumble. I couldn't tell what it
[3:03:05] Speaker 1: was at first, then I realized it sounded like aviation machinery.
[3:03:11] Speaker 1: The hum of distant engines grew louder, deep and low,
[3:03:15] Speaker 1: like thunder rolling over the horizon. Then the sound became unmistakable,
[3:03:22] Speaker 1: the rhythmic chop of helicopter blades cutting through the night sky.
[3:03:29] Speaker 1: I stood up and walked to my window, pushing aside
[3:03:32] Speaker 1: the curtain just enough to peer outside. Two helicopters, black, unmarked,
[3:03:39] Speaker 1: swept low over the rooftops, moving with efficiency. The searchlights
[3:03:46] Speaker 1: scanned the streets, gliding across houses, yards and parked cars.
[3:03:51] Speaker 1: I watched as the beams passed over my neighbor's house
[3:03:54] Speaker 1: in my own, making the living room flicker in bright
[3:03:58] Speaker 1: white light before plunging back into shadow. What the hell
[3:04:04] Speaker 1: was happening? My phone screen lit up as I received
[3:04:08] Speaker 1: a message from Ryan. You've seeing this now, I responded fast, Yeah,
[3:04:15] Speaker 1: helicopters are hovering above my street right now, anything weighed
[3:04:19] Speaker 1: on your end. Soldiers everywhere, well, I can't tell if
[3:04:24] Speaker 1: they're actual normal soldiers. They're dressed in all black and
[3:04:27] Speaker 1: wearing gas masks. Soldiers. I looked back out the window
[3:04:34] Speaker 1: and saw them military vehicles, several of them, rolling through
[3:04:39] Speaker 1: the neighborhood like a slow moving parade. They weren't police
[3:04:43] Speaker 1: cruisers or National Guard trugs. They were heavier, bigger, armored.
[3:04:51] Speaker 1: Their matt black services looked unnatural under the street lights,
[3:04:55] Speaker 1: as if they were sucking the glow into them rather
[3:04:57] Speaker 1: than reflecting it and walking beside them rifles in hand
[3:05:03] Speaker 1: with dozens of soldiers in full tactical gear. They moved quickly,
[3:05:09] Speaker 1: splitting off into groups and heading toward different houses. They
[3:05:14] Speaker 1: weren't storming in. They weren't kicking down doors or yelling commands.
[3:05:19] Speaker 1: They were knocking, almost politely, but something about it felt off.
[3:05:26] Speaker 1: I watched as two soldiers approached my neighbor's house. They
[3:05:30] Speaker 1: knocked mister Dawson, the old man who lived there answered.
[3:05:36] Speaker 1: I couldn't hear what was said, but I saw the
[3:05:39] Speaker 1: way his head tilted in confusion. He started shaking his
[3:05:44] Speaker 1: head as if he didn't like what he was hearing.
[3:05:47] Speaker 1: Then one of the soldiers put a hand on his shoulder,
[3:05:51] Speaker 1: a firm grip. Dawson hesitated, then nodded, stepping aside to
[3:05:57] Speaker 1: let them in another bus. From my phone, power just
[3:06:04] Speaker 1: went out, as if on cue. The lights of my
[3:06:09] Speaker 1: house flickered once twice, then everything went dark. Street lights, houses,
[3:06:17] Speaker 1: even the military vehicles outside, all dead. In an instant,
[3:06:24] Speaker 1: I stood there in the dark, my heart pounding in
[3:06:27] Speaker 1: my ears. Through the window, I could see the soldiers
[3:06:32] Speaker 1: didn't seem surprised. They kept moving, the night vision goggles
[3:06:37] Speaker 1: glowing faint green as they worked their way down the block.
[3:06:42] Speaker 1: This wasn't a power outage, This was planned. A cold
[3:06:49] Speaker 1: realization settled in my stomach. They didn't want us to
[3:06:54] Speaker 1: see something. And that's when I felt it, not heard,
[3:07:01] Speaker 1: felt a vibration in the ground, not like the vehicles
[3:07:07] Speaker 1: on the streets. It was heavier. I pressed myself closer
[3:07:13] Speaker 1: to the window, squinting into the shadows. The helicopters were
[3:07:18] Speaker 1: circling above the spotlight, scanning, but they weren't looking at
[3:07:22] Speaker 1: the houses anymore. My phone buzzed again, bro I think
[3:07:30] Speaker 1: were in serious trouble. Then, at nine forty five, pm.
[3:07:39] Speaker 1: The silence was shattered. A deep, gutural roar tore through
[3:07:46] Speaker 1: the air. It wasn't like anything I'd ever heard before.
[3:07:51] Speaker 1: It wasn't a siren, wasn't a storm, wasn't even the
[3:07:55] Speaker 1: kind of growl you'd expect from an animal. It was
[3:07:58] Speaker 1: low and violent, the kind of sound that vibrated in
[3:08:02] Speaker 1: your chest, clawing at something deep in your bones. I
[3:08:08] Speaker 1: stumbled back, gripping the windowsill for balance. Then the gunfire started.
[3:08:18] Speaker 1: First a few single shuts, then a barrage of arsenal
[3:08:22] Speaker 1: rained down from outside. I saw flashes of muzzle fire
[3:08:26] Speaker 1: lighting up the darkness, soldiers shouting commands. The helicopter's overhead
[3:08:32] Speaker 1: dropped flares, bathing the streets in red orange light. Something
[3:08:38] Speaker 1: huge was out there. I didn't wait to see what
[3:08:42] Speaker 1: happened next. My instincts took over, screaming at me to
[3:08:46] Speaker 1: move now. I grabbed my backpack, flashlight, and a knife
[3:08:51] Speaker 1: from the kitchen, gripping the handle so tightly my knuckles ached.
[3:08:56] Speaker 1: My hands were shaking, but I forced myself to focus.
[3:09:00] Speaker 1: My breathing quick and uneven. I pulled out my phone
[3:09:05] Speaker 1: and texted Ryan, we need to meet up. Where are you?
[3:09:11] Speaker 1: Seconds past then gas station. Hurry, I slung my backpack
[3:09:19] Speaker 1: over my shoulder and moved to the door, my pulse hammering.
[3:09:24] Speaker 1: I hesitated for a second, one hand on the knob.
[3:09:30] Speaker 1: A new sound made the decision for me. Screaming, human
[3:09:36] Speaker 1: screaming from somewhere in the distance. I threw the door
[3:09:40] Speaker 1: open and stepped into the night. The second I was outside,
[3:09:46] Speaker 1: I could tell how wrong everything had become. The air
[3:09:50] Speaker 1: smelt burnt and metallic gunpowder mixed with blood. The streets,
[3:09:56] Speaker 1: normally lit with warm street lights were now drenched, them
[3:10:00] Speaker 1: pulsing red from the flares overhead. Some people ran barefoot,
[3:10:05] Speaker 1: some still in their pajamas, sprinting down the sidewalks, cutting
[3:10:09] Speaker 1: through yards, shoving past each other in blind panic. I
[3:10:14] Speaker 1: dugged low, sticking close to the houses as I made
[3:10:17] Speaker 1: my way toward the gas station. I knew the layout
[3:10:21] Speaker 1: of the town well enough to take back streets, avoiding
[3:10:24] Speaker 1: the main roads with the military was still engaging whatever
[3:10:28] Speaker 1: they were fighting or doing. A few blocks down, I
[3:10:33] Speaker 1: turned a corner and stopped dead. The street was flattened.
[3:10:39] Speaker 1: It looked like a tornado had torn through. Everything was
[3:10:44] Speaker 1: just leveled, cars, crumpled, ashfalt cracked, street lights snapped in half.
[3:10:51] Speaker 1: The street was covered in the bodies of soldiers and
[3:10:53] Speaker 1: civilians alike. Some were torn apart, their limbs scattered like
[3:10:59] Speaker 1: discarded dolls. Others were smashed flattened into the pavement like
[3:11:05] Speaker 1: something impossibly heavy had rolled over them. Their weapons bent
[3:11:09] Speaker 1: and crushed. There were no shellcasings, no sign that they
[3:11:14] Speaker 1: even had time to fire back before they were annihilated.
[3:11:19] Speaker 1: Something unstoppable had come through here. My phone buzzed in
[3:11:24] Speaker 1: my pocket, Where are you? I forced my legs to move,
[3:11:30] Speaker 1: stepping carefully around the destruction, and then from the distance
[3:11:37] Speaker 1: that roar again, followed by a massive explosion. Right after
[3:11:46] Speaker 1: the explosion, I lost service. I tried tending another message
[3:11:51] Speaker 1: anyway almost there, but it didn't go through. I quickened
[3:11:58] Speaker 1: my pace, keeping low, my breath coming in short gasps
[3:12:03] Speaker 1: every few steps. I'd glanced over my shoulder, expecting to
[3:12:06] Speaker 1: see something there, But all I saw were the ruins
[3:12:10] Speaker 1: of my town, bathed in eerie red light from the
[3:12:14] Speaker 1: still glowing flares. When I finally reached the gas station,
[3:12:20] Speaker 1: my stomach sank. It was destroyed, the roof had partially collapsed,
[3:12:28] Speaker 1: glass littered the parking lot, and a gas pump had
[3:12:31] Speaker 1: been ripped from its foundation, cables and metal jotting out
[3:12:35] Speaker 1: like snapped bones. The place looked like it had been
[3:12:38] Speaker 1: hit by a wrecking ball. I hesitated, scanning the ruins
[3:12:44] Speaker 1: for any sign of movement. My chest tightened. What if
[3:12:49] Speaker 1: Ryan was buried under there? Ryan? I called out, voice Horse.
[3:12:57] Speaker 1: For a moment, there was nothing, the distant sound of
[3:13:01] Speaker 1: helicopter's gunfire and my own pulse hammering in my ears.
[3:13:07] Speaker 1: Then over here Ryan's voice, faint but close, vaulting over
[3:13:15] Speaker 1: fallen shelves and broken glass behind the counter, Crouched low
[3:13:20] Speaker 1: and shaking was Ryan. I barely had time to register
[3:13:25] Speaker 1: my relief before the ground shook beneath us. A vibration,
[3:13:30] Speaker 1: deep and unnatural, rolled through the earth, wrappling the debris
[3:13:34] Speaker 1: around us. The air thickened, charged with something heavy, and
[3:13:38] Speaker 1: then the roar. Right outside. Ryan grabbed my wrist and
[3:13:45] Speaker 1: yanked me down behind the counter. Don't move. We pressed
[3:13:51] Speaker 1: ourselves against the cold tile, heartbeats thundering and sync. The
[3:13:57] Speaker 1: gas station trembled, dust and broken glass trickling from the
[3:14:01] Speaker 1: fractured ceiling. The vibrations grew stronger, heavier. It was here
[3:14:11] Speaker 1: I didn't want to look. Every instinct screamed, don't look.
[3:14:17] Speaker 1: But Ryan did, and I felt his body stiffened beside me.
[3:14:23] Speaker 1: I swallowed hard and forced myself to peek over the counter,
[3:14:28] Speaker 1: and that was when I saw it. Massive. Its body
[3:14:36] Speaker 1: looked like it had been stitched together from different things, muscles, fur, scales,
[3:14:41] Speaker 1: bone melded into a single, horrifying form. Insect like legs,
[3:14:48] Speaker 1: too many of them jointed the wrong way, bristling with
[3:14:52] Speaker 1: thick curved claws. Its torso was broad, pulsating, as if
[3:14:58] Speaker 1: breathing through unseen slit in its flesh. Parts of it
[3:15:02] Speaker 1: looked wet, glistening in the red glow of the flares,
[3:15:06] Speaker 1: while other sections were dry and cracked like withered skin.
[3:15:12] Speaker 1: And its face a mouth that split open, the inside
[3:15:17] Speaker 1: of its mouth revealing a second jaw. Mismatched eyes, some glowing,
[3:15:22] Speaker 1: some empty sockets, some that weren't even facing the same direction.
[3:15:28] Speaker 1: I couldn't breathe For something its size. It should have lurched,
[3:15:33] Speaker 1: should have been heavy, lumbering, but instead it darted between buildings,
[3:15:40] Speaker 1: its massive legs, making little sound compared to the destruction
[3:15:44] Speaker 1: left in its wake. The soldiers opened fire. A squad
[3:15:51] Speaker 1: on the street below unleashed hell machine gun fire, high
[3:15:55] Speaker 1: caliber rounds, grenades exploding against the tide. The air filled
[3:16:01] Speaker 1: with a deafening symphony of war, and I felt it
[3:16:04] Speaker 1: deep in my chest, like my rib cage was being
[3:16:07] Speaker 1: hammered from the inside. The gunfire was nothing like in movies.
[3:16:14] Speaker 1: It was chaotic. Each bullet crack punched through the air
[3:16:18] Speaker 1: like a whip, making my ears ring. The grenades sent
[3:16:22] Speaker 1: shock waves through the station, rattling my teeth and making
[3:16:25] Speaker 1: the air thick with dust and smoke. For a second,
[3:16:30] Speaker 1: I thought they might be hurting it, but it just
[3:16:33] Speaker 1: ripped through the soldiers like paper. Its claws slashed through
[3:16:38] Speaker 1: body armor like it was slicing butter. One soldier tried
[3:16:42] Speaker 1: to run, it grabbed him with one of its sickly
[3:16:45] Speaker 1: elongated arms and crushed him instantly. The sound was like
[3:16:50] Speaker 1: someone stepping on a wet bag of leaves. A missile
[3:16:55] Speaker 1: streaked through the air, fired from a nearby armored vehicle.
[3:17:00] Speaker 1: It hit direct impact. Then the wind shifted and the
[3:17:06] Speaker 1: smoke cleared. The monster was still standing. Its skin had cracked,
[3:17:14] Speaker 1: revealing something black underneath, something writhing, almost shifting beneath its flesh.
[3:17:21] Speaker 1: Its eyes flickered, seeming to adjust it had learned. Ryan
[3:17:29] Speaker 1: grabbed my arm. His face was pale, mouth slightly open.
[3:17:35] Speaker 1: We need to get out of here, he whispered, his
[3:17:38] Speaker 1: voice barely carried over the carnage outside. He turned to
[3:17:42] Speaker 1: look at me, eyes filled with something worse than terror, hopelessness.
[3:17:50] Speaker 1: Right now, the gunfire had stopped. The monster was gone.
[3:17:57] Speaker 1: For now, the gas was still standing, but barely. The
[3:18:03] Speaker 1: windows were shattered, the walls riddled with bullet holes, and
[3:18:07] Speaker 1: the air reeked of burnt fuel and blood. My legs
[3:18:10] Speaker 1: ached from crouching behind the counter, my ears still ringing
[3:18:14] Speaker 1: from the firefight. And then it hit me, this was
[3:18:19] Speaker 1: our chance. I peered over the counter, scanning the carnage.
[3:18:24] Speaker 1: In the streets, Soldiers lay scattered like discarded mannikins, Some
[3:18:30] Speaker 1: slumped against destroyed vehicles, others in twisted, unnatural positions. Their
[3:18:36] Speaker 1: weapons were still clutched in lifeless hands. I turned to Ryan.
[3:18:42] Speaker 1: He was shaking, his arms wrapped tightly around himself. His
[3:18:46] Speaker 1: pupils were wide, darting between me and the wreckage outside.
[3:18:52] Speaker 1: He was still in shock. We have to move, I whispered.
[3:18:57] Speaker 1: We won't get another chance. He looked at me, like
[3:19:01] Speaker 1: I was insane. Move where we're trapped that thing. I
[3:19:07] Speaker 1: grabbed his arm, shaking him. If we stay here, we're dead.
[3:19:13] Speaker 1: But if we look like one of them, I gestured
[3:19:15] Speaker 1: toward the fallen soldiers, maybe we can get out. Maybe
[3:19:20] Speaker 1: they'll take us with them. Ryan swallowed hard. He understood, removed, quickly,
[3:19:29] Speaker 1: crawling over the broken glass and stepping onto the street.
[3:19:32] Speaker 1: Keeping low. The flashing emergency lights from abandoned military vehicles
[3:19:38] Speaker 1: cast eerie shadows over the bodies. I knelt beside a
[3:19:42] Speaker 1: soldier lying face down, his gas masks still intact, his
[3:19:46] Speaker 1: rifle half buried under debris. His chest wasn't rising. He
[3:19:53] Speaker 1: was gone. I reached for his gear. Ryan hesitated, looking
[3:20:00] Speaker 1: at the bodies. He wasn't moving. Ryan, I hissed, grabbed something.
[3:20:08] Speaker 1: His hands trembled as he reached toward another soldier's vest.
[3:20:12] Speaker 1: He stopped, stared, his breath hitched. He was panicking, and
[3:20:19] Speaker 1: then gunfire erupted nearby. We both flinched as a fresh
[3:20:26] Speaker 1: burst of automatic fire tore through the night. Then came
[3:20:30] Speaker 1: the screams. The monster was back. Ryan froze. I saw
[3:20:40] Speaker 1: the moment his brain short circuited. The moment his fightal
[3:20:45] Speaker 1: flight kicked in hard. He dropped, Everything turned bolted ryan.
[3:20:55] Speaker 1: I shouted, but he was already gone. His footstepped pounded
[3:21:00] Speaker 1: against the pavement, disappearing into the smoke and shadows. I
[3:21:05] Speaker 1: had two seconds to decide run after him and die
[3:21:12] Speaker 1: or survive. The air shuddered. A massive thud shook the
[3:21:18] Speaker 1: ground as the monster landed nearby, having leaped over buildings
[3:21:22] Speaker 1: with impossible speed. Soldiers scrambled, opening fire again, their shouts
[3:21:28] Speaker 1: drowning in the chaos. I sprinted the opposite way. I
[3:21:33] Speaker 1: didn't look back. I dove behind an overturned envy, heart,
[3:21:38] Speaker 1: pounding lungs burning. The smell of oil, blood and gunpowder
[3:21:43] Speaker 1: clung to the air. I waited. Another explosion went off
[3:21:50] Speaker 1: so close I felt the heat against my face. The
[3:21:54] Speaker 1: soldiers were engaging the monster again. It hadn't gone in
[3:21:58] Speaker 1: my direction, which meant I squeezed my eyes shut, guilt
[3:22:04] Speaker 1: threatening to choke me. I couldn't think about that right now.
[3:22:09] Speaker 1: I needed to get out. I glanced down at myself.
[3:22:14] Speaker 1: I still had the soldier's uniform, but no helmet, no mask.
[3:22:19] Speaker 1: The military barricades, convoys. If there was a way out
[3:22:23] Speaker 1: of this hell hole, it would be through them. I
[3:22:28] Speaker 1: took one last look at the burning wreckage behind me
[3:22:31] Speaker 1: and the flashes of gunfire in the distance. I ran
[3:22:37] Speaker 1: until my legs nearly gave out. The world around me
[3:22:41] Speaker 1: blurred into smears of fire and darkness, my breath coming
[3:22:45] Speaker 1: in ragged, uneven gasps. Every few seconds, I heard another explosion,
[3:22:52] Speaker 1: a distant burst of gunfire, a roar so loud I
[3:22:55] Speaker 1: could feel it in my teeth. By the time I
[3:22:59] Speaker 1: reached the main road leading out of town, I could
[3:23:02] Speaker 1: see the military barricade in the distance, a makeshift checkpoint
[3:23:06] Speaker 1: built from sand bags, barbed wire, and armored vehicles. Footlights
[3:23:11] Speaker 1: bathed the area in harsh artificial glow. There were soldiers everywhere.
[3:23:19] Speaker 1: Some were positioned behind mounted machine guns, scanning the tree line.
[3:23:23] Speaker 1: Others hurried between vehicles, barking orders, dragging crates of supplies.
[3:23:29] Speaker 1: I slowed down, forcing myself to breathe evenly. If I
[3:23:34] Speaker 1: came in looking like a panic civilian, they turned me
[3:23:37] Speaker 1: away or detain me. If I looked like a soldier
[3:23:41] Speaker 1: trying to return to his unit, I adjested the rifle
[3:23:45] Speaker 1: slung over my shoulder, wiped the sweat from my forehead,
[3:23:49] Speaker 1: and started walking toward the checkpoint. The closer I got,
[3:23:53] Speaker 1: the clearer their faces became exhausted, tins covered in grime.
[3:24:00] Speaker 1: Some soldiers were bandaged up. Their uniforms were ripped, stained
[3:24:04] Speaker 1: with blood. Others had vacant stairs like they had already
[3:24:09] Speaker 1: checked out. I could use there. As I approached, a
[3:24:15] Speaker 1: soldier spotted me and raised his rifle. You stop right there,
[3:24:22] Speaker 1: I froze, raised my hands slightly, making sure not to
[3:24:25] Speaker 1: move too fast. And with the ground unit near Lincoln Avenue,
[3:24:30] Speaker 1: we got separated when that thing hit us. I was
[3:24:33] Speaker 1: trying to get to the checkpoint. The soldier's face hardened.
[3:24:39] Speaker 1: I d my stomach twisted into a knot. I I
[3:24:46] Speaker 1: lost it in the fight. I held my side winting,
[3:24:50] Speaker 1: faking an injury, got thrown when that thing knocked the
[3:24:54] Speaker 1: truck over. I blacked out for a bit. When I
[3:24:57] Speaker 1: came to my unit was gone. I had to make
[3:25:00] Speaker 1: my way here alone. A second soldier stepped forward, older,
[3:25:07] Speaker 1: more seasoned. He looked me up and down, eyes narrowing slightly.
[3:25:13] Speaker 1: What's your call sign, he asked. My mind raised. The
[3:25:19] Speaker 1: ground shook violently, sending loose gravels skittering across the pavement.
[3:25:25] Speaker 1: The floodlights flickered. The young soldier's radio crackled a life,
[3:25:31] Speaker 1: it's moving on the checkpoint. All units prepared to engage.
[3:25:36] Speaker 1: The two soldiers turned sharply, their eyes widening in horror.
[3:25:41] Speaker 1: The older ones spun toward me. Get in the goddamn truck. Now.
[3:25:48] Speaker 1: I didn't hesitate. I jumped onto the back of the transport,
[3:25:52] Speaker 1: squeezing in between ground faced soldiers. Their weapons locked and loaded,
[3:25:59] Speaker 1: The truck lurched forward, tires screeching against the pavement. As
[3:26:03] Speaker 1: the convoy sped out of town, I looked back, and
[3:26:10] Speaker 1: I saw hell. The entire skyline was on fire. Buildings
[3:26:17] Speaker 1: collapsed like cardboard, their skeletal frames glowing with flames. Helicopters
[3:26:23] Speaker 1: hovered above, dropping missiles in quick succession. Each explosion ripped
[3:26:28] Speaker 1: through the streets, sending shock waves through the air, all
[3:26:32] Speaker 1: of it followed by a deafening, animalistic screech. The monster
[3:26:38] Speaker 1: emerged from the smoke. Its massive, insect like limbs propelled
[3:26:42] Speaker 1: it forward at an impossible speed, its body still shifting,
[3:26:48] Speaker 1: pulsating with unnatural movement beneath its stitch together hide. Gunfire
[3:26:53] Speaker 1: irerupted from every direction. Soldiers fired everything They had mounted
[3:26:59] Speaker 1: turrets rocket launches in sundi I rounds, but it didn't
[3:27:04] Speaker 1: slow down. It was speeding up. One of the helicopters
[3:27:09] Speaker 1: swooped in, launching two precision missiles. The explosion engulfed the creature, fire, smoke, debris.
[3:27:18] Speaker 1: The truck jerked violently as the shockwave ripped through the street.
[3:27:23] Speaker 1: I shilded my face, the heat almost unbearable even from
[3:27:27] Speaker 1: this distance. Then through the thin smoke it was still moving.
[3:27:38] Speaker 1: All my surroundings exploded in a noise, the same robotic
[3:27:43] Speaker 1: voice from earlier. We regret to inform you containment has failed.
[3:27:49] Speaker 1: If you are still in the area, May God help you.
[3:27:55] Speaker 1: The moment the alert came through, the convoys radio flared
[3:27:59] Speaker 1: to life. All units cleared their own code black is
[3:28:04] Speaker 1: in effect. The soldiers in the truck went dead silent.
[3:28:09] Speaker 1: Then one of them whispered voice hollow jeez, then nuking it.
[3:28:19] Speaker 1: I turned back towards the town, my breath catching in
[3:28:22] Speaker 1: my throat. A blinding white light engulfed the skyline. The
[3:28:28] Speaker 1: shock wave came first, a concussive force so strong it
[3:28:33] Speaker 1: felt like my lungs had been punched inward. The ground
[3:28:36] Speaker 1: beneath A convoy rumbled violently, cracks spider webbing across the bavement.
[3:28:42] Speaker 1: A towering, unnatural mushroom cloud rose into the sky. The
[3:28:47] Speaker 1: town was consumed in an instant, everything gone. I couldn't move,
[3:28:57] Speaker 1: I could only watch as the place I had lived
[3:29:00] Speaker 1: my entire life was turned to dust. The truck sped forward,
[3:29:05] Speaker 1: leaving the destruction behind. None of the soldiers spoke. There
[3:29:12] Speaker 1: was nothing left to say.

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