1
00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:06,080
My hair is whipped violently back from
my head with a blast of frozen wind

2
00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:11,640
as the helicopter ascends, lifting itself
up and off the Arctic ground before the

3
00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:17,440
door has even fully closed. Ah
grimace with a lurch my stomach, muttering

4
00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:23,640
her quick prayer as we leave the
earth behind. I'm not particularly religious,

5
00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:29,480
but I'll admit it, I'm scared. You find me at the tail end

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00:00:29,519 --> 00:00:35,399
of a confusing and chaotic twenty four
hours yesterday morning, my military routine was

7
00:00:35,439 --> 00:00:41,359
disrupted by my superior superior and I
was deliberately separated from the rest of my

8
00:00:41,439 --> 00:00:46,560
squadron. I was informed I would
be taking a brief hiatus from the NATO

9
00:00:46,759 --> 00:00:52,880
Rapid Reaction Corps here in Norway and
would be temporarily relocated to a coalition based

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00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:58,520
outpost in the Ural Mountains the Ural
Sir, I'd replied, But that's in

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00:00:59,479 --> 00:01:04,280
Russia, isn't it. That's right, he said levely. NATO Russian Coalition.

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00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:12,719
NATO Russian Coalition. I considered the
existence of such a coalition incredibly unlikely,

13
00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:23,480
especially considering certain current geopolitical circumstances,
and yet here I am on board

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00:01:23,519 --> 00:01:27,359
a Royal Norwegian Air Force helicopter departing
from the air base in Bard of Us

15
00:01:27,359 --> 00:01:32,760
and in transit to the base in
Orland, where one of NATO's finest will

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00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:37,920
fly me directly into Russian air space, across the country and towards the Urals,

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00:01:38,719 --> 00:01:45,120
the mountain range that marks the border
between Europe and Asian Russia. I

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00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:48,760
feel sick, and not just because
of the chopping us of the flight.

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00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:53,280
I suffer through it. We arrive
in Ireland, I am bustled from one

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00:01:53,319 --> 00:01:59,879
means of transport to another. Out
from the helicopter and into a plane space

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00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:05,519
nothing inside for plenty, but aside
for myself and the pilot, entirely empty.

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00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,400
Another American, the pilot remarks as
they clamber on board, pointing to

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00:02:10,439 --> 00:02:15,719
the flag emblazoned across the arm of
my uniform. He turns to his copilot

24
00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:21,800
and muttered something in Norwegian. I
picked up a little of the language during

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00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:25,639
my time in the country, I
think, he says something about one bet.

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00:02:28,159 --> 00:02:30,680
Excuse me, I ask, as
I buckled myself into my seat.

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The pilot turns to look at me
over his shoulder. The last four were

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00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,120
the Americans, he says, simply. I have thought they were over ju

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for a European by now Canadian maybe
Adam Smith, Yes, yeah, I

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reply, yeah, that's me good, great, Well here we go,

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00:02:52,199 --> 00:02:55,039
then, Adam fingers crossed. We
don't get shot down by any Moscow missiles.

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00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,240
He chuckles and turns back to the
controls, failing to see the impact

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00:03:02,319 --> 00:03:08,319
that is Joe had and my constitution. I still don't understand, I shout

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00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:13,199
out above the rising roar of the
engine. No one's telling me a damn

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00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:15,479
thing. Why am I going to
Russia? Why do we have people's stationed

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00:03:15,479 --> 00:03:21,280
in the urals and they're not spice
right, they're working with them, So

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00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:27,879
what the hell is going on?
The co pilot shoots me a sympathetic look,

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00:03:29,039 --> 00:03:32,639
secret information, friend classified. We
ferry the people to and fro.

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00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:39,360
But that's all. He shifts and
turns back to the runway ahead. But

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00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:45,120
you're in for a rough couple of
weeks, Smith, maybe longer. Best

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00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:50,919
to look to you. And the
aircraft begins its run between the mountains,

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00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:54,680
clambering up and into the sky,
the snow like little stars in the dark

43
00:03:54,960 --> 00:04:02,360
as we saw up high between them. I watched the little blinking lights on

44
00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:06,560
the sides of the wings. It's
early as hell, and the sun is

45
00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:12,439
still yet to rise. We saw
through the darkness, and I settle into

46
00:04:12,439 --> 00:04:15,680
my seat, doing my best to
try and grab a few hours of sleep.

47
00:04:16,879 --> 00:04:20,000
Not an easy thing to do when
you're expecting to be blown out of

48
00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:26,079
the sky at any given second,
burnt half to a crisp in the initial

49
00:04:26,079 --> 00:04:31,839
explosion court amidst billowing flames and plumes
of smoke, plummeting and free fall towards

50
00:04:31,879 --> 00:04:36,279
the ice and the rocks below,
I scratched the side of my neck,

51
00:04:36,639 --> 00:04:42,879
shifting in my seat. To be
honest, I'm not even sure that I'm

52
00:04:42,879 --> 00:04:46,519
supposed to be here. I happen
to share the exact same name as another

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00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:51,199
soldier on the base. You see
a guy also named Adam Smith. In

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00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:56,439
a further bizarrity, he was even
born in the exact same town, just

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00:04:56,519 --> 00:05:00,439
a few years apart. We've been
mistaken for each other on numerous occasions,

56
00:05:01,199 --> 00:05:05,000
not that we look anything alike,
of course, I doubt that that even

57
00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:12,040
matters. We all look the same
to the higher ups, these misunderstandings have

58
00:05:12,199 --> 00:05:17,279
never been particularly consequential. They've always
been remedied pretty promptly once they were pointed

59
00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:23,480
out, amusing to everyone else,
involved. Nothing quite like this has ever

60
00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:28,240
happened before, ever, and I've
never noticed anyone disappearing from the base.

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00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:34,399
Despite what the pilot said, the
last four were Americans. Why had nobody's

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00:05:34,439 --> 00:05:39,879
spoken about this before? Why is
this the first time I'm hearing about a

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00:05:39,959 --> 00:05:45,399
joint US Russian base? A base
in Russia. Surely not. It makes

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00:05:45,399 --> 00:05:50,800
no strategic sense, It's downright dangerous. But I'm unable to come up with

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00:05:50,879 --> 00:05:57,480
any concrete, logical theories. And
so I spend the next few hours drifting

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00:05:57,639 --> 00:06:03,399
in and out of bleary, unrestful, deep tainted with disturbing dreams. The

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00:06:03,519 --> 00:06:09,040
hours pass, the sun rises,
and any real chance of sleep is lost.

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00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:14,319
I drowsily watched through the window as
the Eurs appear beneath us, below

69
00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:18,240
the layer of cloud. We fly
overhead in a wide arc, and the

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00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:24,800
pilots begin our descent, ears popping
as we draw closer and closer to the

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00:06:24,879 --> 00:06:29,720
sight of a runway nestled amongst the
mountains, attached to what looks like a

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00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:35,360
very modest military installation. The wheels
judder against the asphalt, the plane trundles

73
00:06:35,399 --> 00:06:43,680
to a gradual stop. My heart
hammers well. The pilot says, after

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00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,839
a moment, this is your stop. Y unfastens and steps out of the

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00:06:47,879 --> 00:06:54,000
cockpit, stretching his legs. He
pauses, and there is a poignant moment

76
00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:58,199
between us as he looks to me. Then he holds out his hand.

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00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:05,959
I shake it. Good luck man, he says quietly. All traces of

78
00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:12,680
sleepiness are blasted back with a rush
of wintry wind as the doors clank open.

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00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:16,759
Jeez, I shout out into the
gale, shielding my eyes from the

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00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:20,720
wind and frost. As I made
my careful way down the steps towards the

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00:07:20,759 --> 00:07:27,480
ground, I'm greeted there by two
men, one American and one Russian.

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00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:33,439
I salute and both salute in return, saluted by a Russian and Russian soil.

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00:07:35,279 --> 00:07:39,920
The American muttered something in Russian to
his partner, then steps forward.

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00:07:40,959 --> 00:07:45,199
Smith. He calls out loud above
the winds. Yes, Sir, I

85
00:07:45,279 --> 00:07:49,360
shout back with me, he replies, turning and walking the length of the

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00:07:49,439 --> 00:07:56,480
runway towards a collection of squat,
low gray buildings. I hurry along after

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00:07:56,519 --> 00:08:01,519
them, casting a quick look at
our surroundings. There is nothing but gray

88
00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:07,079
and white bleak, snow, mounds
of rock, mountain mist, and concrete.

89
00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:13,079
We head into one of the nearest
buildings, revealing it to be a

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00:08:13,079 --> 00:08:18,240
part of a corridor connected network.
I draw the door closed with some effort,

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00:08:18,639 --> 00:08:20,680
and with the thud of the door
the roar of the gale he is

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00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:26,680
replaced by the quiet buzz of electric
lights. The two officers do not stop

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00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:31,159
walking, and I move to keep
pace. They'll want you up in the

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00:08:31,159 --> 00:08:35,320
outpost before he gets dark to night, the American says to me, grab

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00:08:35,399 --> 00:08:39,480
some breakfast of the canteen. The
wind is due to die down in an

96
00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,679
hour or so. Officer so Glof
will take you via helicopter to the closest

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00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:46,559
available sight and will then lead you
on foot from there to the outpost.

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00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:52,120
You are to address him as sir
whilst you are here. Is that understood,

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00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:58,240
my falter? I yes, sir, But canteen is that way?

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00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:01,799
The officer points. Helicopter port is
down there. I know you've had a

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00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:05,200
barrel of questions Smith, and do
not have them answered. It's frustrating,

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00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:09,120
but you have been assigned to the
outpost. You will serve a two weeks

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00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:13,799
duty, possibly longer dependent on the
weather. You are doing a duty to

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00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:20,240
your country. He stops. He
points again, canteen smith, it's that

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00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:26,840
way. He claps me on the
shoulders, and the discussion is done.

106
00:09:26,879 --> 00:09:31,759
Away they walk, leaving me fumbling
for words like an idiot in the corner

107
00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:39,360
of where exactly I look around,
gray walls, no boards, and signs,

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00:09:39,799 --> 00:09:45,559
all written in Russian, of course, but I recognize a military installation

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00:09:45,759 --> 00:09:50,320
when I see one. My stomach
growls. I cannot deny my hunger,

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so I anxiously consider my predicament.
As I go to grab some food.

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00:09:58,039 --> 00:10:01,879
I think I might be the only
America in this section of the facility.

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00:10:01,639 --> 00:10:05,919
The canteen is mostly empty, though
there are a smattering of Russians at the

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far tables. Some shoot me glances, most pay me no mind. So

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I mind my own business, in
turn, filling my stomach until it is

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00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:20,840
time for the next rough leg of
my journey. Since the beginning, since

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I first became aware back at part
of us that I was going on something

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00:10:24,399 --> 00:10:31,440
of an excursion, there's been this
building growing, gnawing not of anxiety inside

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00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:37,639
me, slowly spinning and tightening all
the cords that it is attached to.

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Around it goes around and around.
The pressure rises. Another helicopter ride,

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00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:52,159
the American officer bids me a rapid
goodbye, and accompanied by the Russian Sokolov,

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00:10:52,279 --> 00:10:56,000
I believe his name was. We
have flown across the urals, higher

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00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:01,840
and higher. Sokolov gives me two
pills that take on route as it is

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00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:09,399
zolomide, he mutters, then potassium
he points up to the sky for altitude.

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00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:16,559
I take them both, and then
after brief consideration, he hands me

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00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:20,720
a small capsule box stuffed follow them
in case of need, he says,

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00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:26,480
and I thank him. The ice
now broken, I risk a question.

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00:11:28,039 --> 00:11:31,879
I still don't understand, sir,
this outpost hidden away in the mountains.

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00:11:33,519 --> 00:11:37,320
Why are there are Americans here too? What are just Russians? What makes

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00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:43,960
this place in particular so important?
International agreement is the only response? Secret

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00:11:45,279 --> 00:11:50,120
important? And then he leans back
against the helicopter walls with his arms folded,

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00:11:50,519 --> 00:11:56,360
eyes closed. I sigh quietly,
assuming that this means he has deemed

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00:11:56,399 --> 00:12:01,399
the matter closed. But as I
turned to look out the window at the

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00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:09,159
world below, he mutters one more
quick phrase. Monsters at the gate,

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00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:16,159
he says. As the blade of
the helicopter were around and around and around.

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00:12:16,399 --> 00:12:20,759
The helicopter goes as high as it
can into the mountains. There are

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00:12:20,799 --> 00:12:26,759
some decidedly nerve inducing moments, but
it at last brings us down into a

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00:12:26,799 --> 00:12:31,600
crude helipad in the cradle of stone. Upon her departure, we are then

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00:12:31,639 --> 00:12:37,440
forced to walk to climb, almost
for the bulk of the afternoon, then

139
00:12:37,519 --> 00:12:43,399
evening. My head hurts, and
after a point I find myself winting with

140
00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:48,759
almost every step. Not much further
now, Sokolov says, as a sudden,

141
00:12:48,759 --> 00:12:54,879
sharp guss blows snow into our faces. Hour to go ninety minutes,

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00:12:54,919 --> 00:13:00,799
most sweat buds across my forehead,
but I nod and contin knew the climb.

143
00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:07,679
Seventeen minutes later, the outpost itself
at last shimmers interview through the fog.

144
00:13:07,679 --> 00:13:13,159
The mountain goes higher still, but
from here we are given a commanding

145
00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:18,120
view of the rocky plains in outcrops, drops and cliffs all around. At

146
00:13:18,159 --> 00:13:24,480
least we would be if the day
was clear. At present, these shots

147
00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:28,360
of rocks appear as little more than
looming shadows through the mist. Flashes of

148
00:13:28,399 --> 00:13:33,879
colors from my eye, and I
glance up, wearied to see five flags

149
00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:39,279
above the outpost roof flapping in the
wind. The one on the leftmost spire

150
00:13:39,519 --> 00:13:43,840
is the flag of the Russian Federation, bands of white, blue, and

151
00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:48,919
red. It's in pretty good condition, though the same cannot be set for

152
00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:54,039
the other flags, tattered and string
worn past their best days. Beside the

153
00:13:54,080 --> 00:14:00,120
Russian flag is all glory herself the
stars and stripes. To the right of

154
00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,120
this is the Union jack, and
to which right beyond is the flag of

155
00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:09,440
Norway. After that is an empty
spire, and then there's one more flag

156
00:14:09,519 --> 00:14:13,639
at the far end, and this
is the NATO and sign white and Navy.

157
00:14:16,039 --> 00:14:20,000
As I said before, these latter
four flags have seen better days.

158
00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:26,279
These flags are almost the outpost's tallest
point, beaten by a lightning rod,

159
00:14:26,679 --> 00:14:31,120
and what looks like a standalone tower
a little further out across the mountain,

160
00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:37,600
partly shrouded in fog. If I
squint, I think I can just about

161
00:14:37,639 --> 00:14:41,919
make out a lightning rod of the
tower zone. The outpost itself is a

162
00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:48,559
series of closely clustered, roughly rectangular, black gray buildings. There is a

163
00:14:48,600 --> 00:14:52,200
white scratched the tank attached to the
wall of one of these buildings, linked

164
00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:56,720
up with pipes. I cannot see
all the way around the outpost from here,

165
00:14:58,159 --> 00:15:01,320
but it looks like it might be
built right up to the edge of

166
00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:05,879
the cliff on the other side,
and likely hangs over a steep drop.

167
00:15:07,159 --> 00:15:09,519
There are a couple of stand alone
sheds, an aerial dish or two,

168
00:15:09,799 --> 00:15:13,519
and what looks like the wreck of
what might once have been a water tower

169
00:15:13,639 --> 00:15:20,120
off to one side. Sokolov clicks
his tongue and mutters something under his breath

170
00:15:20,159 --> 00:15:24,960
when he sees it. This clap
structure is not the most interesting feature of

171
00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:28,720
the outpost up here in the mountains, however, nor are the curious combination

172
00:15:28,759 --> 00:15:35,679
of flags waving in the wind.
There are three key features that alert my

173
00:15:35,759 --> 00:15:41,679
sense of curiosity the most. The
first is the low, circular wall that

174
00:15:41,799 --> 00:15:46,240
borders the outposts perimeter. It only
comes up to about waist height, and

175
00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:50,639
the officer and I are able to
clamber over it easily enough, but the

176
00:15:50,759 --> 00:15:56,879
surface is completely covered in chalk.
Once we've crossed, I watch with uncertain

177
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:02,960
interest as Soacloth carefully shows that our
hands and footprints have been scrubbed away,

178
00:16:03,519 --> 00:16:07,080
using his fingers to re smooth out
the layer of chalk. The second of

179
00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:12,159
these three features are the symbols and
scrollings drawn all across the body of the

180
00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:18,440
outpost itself. Most of these drawings
are crosses, but amongst them I spy

181
00:16:18,559 --> 00:16:23,240
multiple wheels, watchful eyes, moons
and suns. I see stars of David,

182
00:16:23,519 --> 00:16:27,480
an eagle with widespread wings, and
what appears to be a whole horde

183
00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:33,799
of ancient Slavic or maybe Celtic rooms. But the aspect that gives me the

184
00:16:33,879 --> 00:16:38,399
most cause for alarm is the object
attached to the side of the outpost,

185
00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:45,120
about twelve or so feet from the
ground and clearly connected through to its interior.

186
00:16:45,799 --> 00:16:52,879
It is, to put him bluntly, an enormous gun. It has

187
00:16:52,919 --> 00:16:56,240
the appearance of a massive, white
gray rifle, like something a giant wood

188
00:16:56,279 --> 00:17:03,039
wield, though its exact make one
i'm familiar with. I've never seen such

189
00:17:03,039 --> 00:17:07,839
a design in my life. A
wall too low to keep people out,

190
00:17:07,039 --> 00:17:11,880
religious graffiti, and the world's largest
gun. I do not have long to

191
00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:17,160
dwell on these abnormalities. As we
have now approached the outer gate of the

192
00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:22,079
complex. So Glove presses the side
of his hand against the buzzer, an

193
00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:26,039
action repeats four or five quick times. As we wait for a response.

194
00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:32,200
He turns to me and scratches his
drawer, regarding me, looking me up

195
00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:37,200
and down, as if properly seeing
me for the first real time, assessing

196
00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:42,680
me as an individual. Thank good
thoughts, he says, eventually tapping the

197
00:17:42,759 --> 00:17:49,359
side of his head. It helps. I don't respond, I only nod,

198
00:17:49,799 --> 00:17:55,839
unsure of what to say. The
gate makes a dull, whirring sound,

199
00:17:56,359 --> 00:18:00,680
and then, after a series of
clicks, it grinds and clanks open.

200
00:18:00,759 --> 00:18:07,400
Two disheveled looking individuals greet us,
both with American flags on their uniforms,

201
00:18:07,079 --> 00:18:11,640
a man and a woman. The
man breathes in the cool mountain air

202
00:18:11,799 --> 00:18:17,599
and laughs. He clasps hands with
a woman, smiling at her. She

203
00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:22,680
smiles back. They are the first
smiles I've seen in days. He strides

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00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:27,880
out into the cold and greets Sokolov
with a salute. Great God, it's

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good to see you again, sir. The officer grunts and nods and returns

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the salute, nodding to the woman. In turn. She drops her own

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salute and her eyes go to mine, looking me over with curiosity. I

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squirm beneath her gaze. I look
away, and the American man turns to

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me. Pity flashes across his face. Burst to look to you, man,

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he says, don't let your guard
down in there. He makes a

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00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:03,480
movement as if the place a hand
on my shoulder, then decides against it.

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00:19:03,839 --> 00:19:11,039
Thanks, I reply augurdly, I'll
er keep that in mind, and

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00:19:11,079 --> 00:19:15,599
then I watch, bewildered as he
hoists back back up higher on his shoulders,

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and Sokolov starts to head out back
across the outpost grounds, towards that

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00:19:21,599 --> 00:19:26,680
low little wall, back presumably down
the side of the mountain. As they

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00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:33,359
walk away, Sokolov turns to me
and points, I will return two weeks

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00:19:33,759 --> 00:19:37,960
time when duty is done. Do
not die, he shouts, and that's

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00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:42,960
all the goodbye I'm given away.
He goes, and two men, fading

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00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:49,319
gradually into the fog. I slowly
turned back to look at the woman.

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00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:56,640
She's still regarding me, head cocked
at a slight angle. She's about my

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00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:00,720
age, maybe a little older.
After a beat, she sticks out of

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00:20:00,759 --> 00:20:07,480
hand for me to shake April,
she says, Hi, Yeah, nice

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00:20:07,519 --> 00:20:11,000
to meet you, Adam. She
nods, Come with me, Adam,

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00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:18,119
Welcome to the outpost. She glances
at a watch as she leads us inside,

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shutting the gate up tight behind her. We have about an hour to

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sundown, might be enough. Time, maybe not. She shrugs and sighs.

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00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:33,200
She looks tired Christians in the tower
right now, but the others are

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00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:37,519
all around. I'll introduce you,
right, So am I the only new

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00:20:37,599 --> 00:20:42,599
person? What's the deal with this
place? The deal? She gives me

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00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:48,279
another look. How much do they
bother telling you you into the supernatural?

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00:20:48,319 --> 00:20:53,680
Adam? I laugh, though there
is much humor behind it. The supernatural,

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Nope, can't say I am mm
is all she says. Classic.

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00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:08,640
The outpost has several interlinked corridors and
several defense style turrets jutting out through the

234
00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:14,519
walls, with sections of thick dark
glass or mesh that I hadn't noticed from

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the outside, which would allow one
to peer out over the rocks below.

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00:21:18,559 --> 00:21:22,759
She shows me the various rooms,
the storage facilities, the kitchens, and

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00:21:22,799 --> 00:21:26,519
the comms room. One of the
rooms, it's just stacked full of alcohol,

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vodka mostly so. How many people
are stationed here? I ask?

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00:21:33,519 --> 00:21:41,039
After a while, Russians and Americans
together? What's that like? She shrugs.

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00:21:41,599 --> 00:21:45,279
It is what it is. We're
civil. I suppose they keep to

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00:21:45,319 --> 00:21:51,759
themselves, mostly the Russians. There's
only six of us, six six people

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00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:57,920
for all this space and equipment.
She nods only six. Elena tells me

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00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:03,400
that there used to be more,
but it didn't quite work out. She

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00:22:03,519 --> 00:22:07,519
makes a noise. I don't know
what to make of Eleana. There's something

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00:22:07,599 --> 00:22:14,160
not quite right about her. Eleanor
April nods, yeah, she's one of

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00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:18,480
the Russians. They've been here longer. The Russians, I mean, they

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command makes them stay for two months
at a time, whereas NATO only need

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00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:26,960
to do two weeks. I think
Ellen has been here a little longer than

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00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:32,799
that, though, what makes you
say that? April again does not respond.

250
00:22:33,279 --> 00:22:38,440
She leads us into a wide,
hexagonal room, six walls. My

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00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:42,400
mouth drops open, and I'm forced
to compose myself as I look around.

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00:22:44,559 --> 00:22:48,559
Three of these walls are comprised of
hard glass, framed and reinforced with concrete.

253
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They look out over incredibly sharp steep
drops. It's difficult to tell how

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00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:59,279
far they go down from my current
position in the room, but it looks

255
00:22:59,279 --> 00:23:04,319
pretty damn to me. Pillars of
cracked rock and narrow, unstable looking mountain

256
00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:11,200
arches lead away into the mist.
A person could probably walk across one if

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00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:14,880
they were brave to jump across the
gaps and go foot in front of foot.

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00:23:15,799 --> 00:23:18,759
There are stairs built into the walls
here, leading up to what appears

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00:23:18,759 --> 00:23:22,839
to be a higher level. I
glance up to catch a glimpse of the

260
00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:29,519
edges of further defensive turrets. The
room is lined with weaponry. There are

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00:23:29,559 --> 00:23:33,240
crosses nailed to the walls. I
count multiple maps, one of the surrounding

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00:23:33,279 --> 00:23:38,039
mountains, one of Russia, and
one of the world. This map is

263
00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:45,599
intersected with dozens of gently curving,
glooping lines. There's a collection of framed

264
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:48,400
pictures on the wall, most seem
to have been taken in or around the

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00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:55,240
outpost. And in the room center, on an old wooden table is a

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pile of what appears to be bibles. And as I consider this, I

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00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:07,680
find myself being searched by three pairs
of interested eyes. Two men have looked

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00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:11,920
at me from the game of cards. One has the Russian insignia, the

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00:24:12,039 --> 00:24:18,079
other has British. The Russian man's
expression does not change, but the brit

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00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:22,359
raises a hand in greeting Hello mate. He says pleasure to meet you.

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00:24:23,279 --> 00:24:30,480
Hey, I reply, how's he
going? Trugoy americanete? The Russian mutters,

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00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:34,640
his interest already lost, returned to
his hand. Of cards. This

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00:24:34,839 --> 00:24:38,960
is Charlie, Abril says to me, pointing at the British guy. And

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00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:45,119
that's Yuri. A woman near the
back of the room rises to stand Hello.

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00:24:45,519 --> 00:24:51,920
She says, her accent thick welcome. She does not sound particularly welcoming.

276
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:56,839
Her tone is ice. I take
her in. She's tall, long

277
00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:02,200
bond hair kept mostly in a pony
tell. It goes all the way down

278
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:07,839
her back. I don't know how
old she is, thirties. Maybe she's

279
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:11,279
beautiful, I decide, But for
a curved, brutal scar across her face.

280
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He goes down her right cheek,
through both of her lips, and

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00:25:15,559 --> 00:25:22,160
finishes at the edge of her chin
and her eyes. Her eyes are piercing,

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00:25:22,599 --> 00:25:26,960
full of icy judgment. She mutters
something in Russian, and Yurie chuckles

283
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:33,119
around his cigarette in response. There
won't be an ass Eleanor, Charlie chide,

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00:25:33,519 --> 00:25:37,039
though there is no heart in his
words. And yeah, that's eleanor

285
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:44,160
Able gestures to the woman in question, without looking at her. Eleanor holds

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00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:48,960
her stands arms crossed and staring right
at me. Christians the sixth. But

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00:25:49,319 --> 00:25:53,119
as I said, he's up in
the tower right now. There always needs

288
00:25:53,119 --> 00:26:00,440
to be at least one person in
the tower duty five. So what is

289
00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:04,160
all this? I ask? Unable
to keep my frustrations held back any longer.

290
00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:10,599
I've done nothing but get bustled around
from place to place all damn day.

291
00:26:11,799 --> 00:26:14,720
I'm tired, I'm scared, and
I want to know what the hell

292
00:26:14,759 --> 00:26:18,920
I'll be doing? What are our
duties? Who's in command? There is

293
00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:23,839
no command here. We are the
outpost, Eleanor replies, before Abril can

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00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:30,599
answer. Our orders are constant command
deferred to our judgment duties. There are

295
00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:37,519
five five duties. She lists them
off. Five keep constant presents in the

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00:26:37,599 --> 00:26:42,480
tower. Four do not leave outer
ring of the outpost after sundown. Three,

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00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:47,960
do not use weaponry beyond outer ring. Two, do not engage verbally

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with the enemy. One defend outpost. Do not allow enemy into the outpost.

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00:26:56,119 --> 00:27:02,079
I listen as she goes through them, So who's the enemy? Then?

300
00:27:02,559 --> 00:27:07,440
I ask, looking from face to
face the Chinese or what they seem

301
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,960
to find this amusing? My question
creates a ripple of laughter around the room.

302
00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:19,680
The Chinese Eleanor repeats. Charlie chuckles
and grins wide. Dolbeb ur,

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00:27:19,759 --> 00:27:25,200
he mutters, shaking his head as
he flicks through his cards. There is

304
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:29,160
no point in telling you who the
enemy is, Eleanor says, the grin

305
00:27:29,279 --> 00:27:33,119
quickly fading from her face. You
won't believe, they never believe. You

306
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:38,200
will have to see for yourself.
She holds up her hand and raises her

307
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:42,799
forefinger. First night, you stay
here, o the way, observant watch,

308
00:27:44,039 --> 00:27:48,440
yes, April turns to me.
Probably for the best, Adam.

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00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:52,759
Oh, she announces this to the
group, This is Adam, by the

310
00:27:52,799 --> 00:28:00,160
way. No one responds you hear
me? Yes, Eleanor asks again,

311
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:06,000
watch observe, do not get in
way, so it'll be down soon,

312
00:28:06,079 --> 00:28:11,400
lads. Charlie murmurs, checking his
watch and reluctantly conceding his game to Yuri.

313
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:15,680
Better get to us stations. Come
to my station tonight, Adam,

314
00:28:15,839 --> 00:28:19,920
April says, as the others climb
to their feet, sorting their equipment.

315
00:28:21,799 --> 00:28:26,720
And here, do me a favor
and take this. She draws from her

316
00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:32,640
pocket across on a silver chain,
and she passes it to me. Oh,

317
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:37,599
I'm not really all that religious,
I reply, Eleanor snorts as she

318
00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:44,960
walks past. You will be,
she murmurs, I really don't know what

319
00:28:45,039 --> 00:28:48,839
to make of all this, so
I accept the gift of the cross and

320
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:53,559
prepare my weapon as I'm not sure
what else to do. The minutes tick

321
00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:57,519
by, and before I know it, I find myself perched on a station

322
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:03,160
of the outpost roof, shivering with
cold and blood iced. April sits next

323
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:08,400
to me. I can just about
make out Charlie or perhaps Uri at one

324
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:14,640
of the other stations a little further
out into the darkness, but I cannot

325
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:18,640
see eleanor Below us and out of
the sides are the vast drops of the

326
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:25,279
mountain, like a gaping moor,
looming up from beneath ice and snow and

327
00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:30,039
shadow. The mists have cleared somewhat, and the starlight tipped edges of the

328
00:29:30,079 --> 00:29:37,119
mountain's glimmer warningly far far away into
the distance. As a regard the abyss,

329
00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:42,519
a slow, cold terror begins the
creepest way into my bones, a

330
00:29:42,759 --> 00:29:48,759
terror I find heart to describe.
There'll be coming up now, April whispers

331
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:56,319
in a voice that since goose bumps, shivering up my spine and away in

332
00:29:56,400 --> 00:30:08,599
the darkness, A deep, low
voice begins the sing. As the wind

333
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:15,039
blows the sounds of the song across
the mountains, April lifts across of her

334
00:30:15,079 --> 00:30:19,079
own from her neck and places it
briefly against the lips. Are you wearing

335
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:23,319
yours? She asked me, and
I lifted out from the front of my

336
00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:30,240
uniform to show her. She nods, keep it on. We should be

337
00:30:30,279 --> 00:30:36,160
fine, she whispers, though I
gotta admit it's nerve racking. Having somebody

338
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:42,400
new here changes the dynamic a little, the balance. She moves into position

339
00:30:42,559 --> 00:30:47,200
against the little wall on the edge
of the roof, and with a grunt,

340
00:30:47,599 --> 00:30:52,720
she hoists up a mechanical contraption of
some kind connected to the outpost itself.

341
00:30:52,799 --> 00:30:57,000
The thing clanks into place. It
looks like a mix between a battered

342
00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:03,960
old spotlight and an M four.
What is that music? I murmur,

343
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:10,599
April, come on, what is
happening? How does the song sound to

344
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,799
you? She asks me, staring
down the side of a curious weapon.

345
00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:21,880
Does it sound good? I consider, heart pounding. I can't make out

346
00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:26,519
the words, but the cadence to
them, the language. They sound ancient.

347
00:31:29,839 --> 00:31:36,519
The tones fade in and out,
layered liquid in their fluidity, from

348
00:31:36,599 --> 00:31:44,680
deep low rumbles to higher pitched melody
male to female and back. Yeah it

349
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:52,799
does, I reply, It sounds
good. And although it scares me.

350
00:31:52,359 --> 00:31:57,720
This song. I cannot deny its
beauty. I tried to work out the

351
00:31:57,759 --> 00:32:02,640
source of the music and the mountains. You're trying to work out where it's

352
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:07,640
coming from, aren't you, April
says in the pause, Yeah, I

353
00:32:07,799 --> 00:32:13,799
just that's how it starts. Then
you just want to get a little closer

354
00:32:13,839 --> 00:32:16,599
to hear it better. Next thing, you know, you just have to

355
00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:23,400
go and find the singer yourself,
and then you never come back. April

356
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:29,000
clenches a jaw. Give it a
few days, the song loses its appeal.

357
00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:35,799
Approaching comes a sudden, sharp voice
through the darkness. Charlie, it

358
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:46,799
must be my right, And so
the night begins with an almost impossible speed.

359
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:52,920
April halls her amalgamated weapon around with
a mechanical clank, and it slams

360
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:57,640
into place. She takes quick aim, and I'm treated to the site of

361
00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:04,240
this weapon in use for the first
time. It's quite something. I'm forced

362
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:08,119
that shield my eyes. As an
intense and fiery blast of immediate controlled light

363
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:15,079
it sent rocketing out from the weapon's
barrel. This is no spotlight. This

364
00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:21,480
is an intensity beam the likes of
which I had never seen. It sparks

365
00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:24,960
with dangerous crackling energy as the beam
is sent like a laser, out and

366
00:33:25,119 --> 00:33:30,960
down towards the abyss, pushing aside
the remaining traces of mist, as if

367
00:33:30,039 --> 00:33:36,119
blown with a great breath. Geez, I shout out loud, and the

368
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:40,599
beam is swung round to the left. I cannot help but remember the enormous

369
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:45,519
rifle attached to the outposts roof,
the one I saw when I first arrived,

370
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:51,400
and I wondered if its effect is
the same, and if so,

371
00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:54,920
well, the purpose for such a
monster of a weapon could possibly be.

372
00:33:57,559 --> 00:34:01,279
April pulls down on a lever attached
to the contraption side, and she launches

373
00:34:01,319 --> 00:34:07,320
the beam again. Little crackles of
electricity jump between its gears as another sphere

374
00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:14,119
of light bursts from its bowl and
screams down into the darkness. I blink

375
00:34:14,199 --> 00:34:17,320
as quickly and as rapidly as I
can, do my best to dispel the

376
00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:23,199
streaks of color that now dance across
my field of vision. Through this kaleidoscope

377
00:34:23,199 --> 00:34:29,639
of confusion, I see, to
my horror a shift in the shadows far

378
00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:35,679
beneath, Like living wind, it
snakes and slithers from stone to stone as

379
00:34:35,679 --> 00:34:43,400
it approaches down below. I shouted
an alarm april and a response. The

380
00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:49,480
weapon is swung around and angled down
and again the light is sent tearing into

381
00:34:49,519 --> 00:34:55,880
the abyss below with a high pitched
electric scream. The rippling wind is obliterated

382
00:34:57,039 --> 00:35:00,800
into shards and little dark shapes,
too far down for me to see what

383
00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:06,159
they are, but they rattle on
their way back down the mountainside as they

384
00:35:06,199 --> 00:35:12,360
fall like lightning. The lights burn
and flash all around me. My hair

385
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,719
is whipped away from my head in
the wind, and it feels as if

386
00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:21,159
I'm in the eye of some terrible, twisted storm. The beams from Charlie's

387
00:35:21,199 --> 00:35:24,400
position are clear, and I see
the lights fire out from the tower way

388
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:30,000
over to my left. Further,
brilliant flashes in the night jump up and

389
00:35:30,119 --> 00:35:35,039
illuminate the edges of the mountains all
around, and I can only presume that

390
00:35:35,159 --> 00:35:39,840
these are Eleanor's or URIs. A
new voice rises up through the sound of

391
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:51,119
the song. It comes from nearby, Hey prel It whispers as sinister servantine

392
00:35:51,199 --> 00:35:55,639
voice in the shadows. Damn,
she mutters, pulling temporarily back from the

393
00:35:55,639 --> 00:36:00,880
weapon, Adam, there should be
a pile of bibles behind you, beside

394
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:06,719
the crate you see him bibles,
I turn frantic, scrambling around the nearby

395
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:10,519
crates and the darkness. Yeah,
I got one, open it up and

396
00:36:10,559 --> 00:36:15,480
read one of the highlighted passages.
You want me to what which one?

397
00:36:16,239 --> 00:36:22,920
Anyone? But be quick, please, April, comes their voice again.

398
00:36:24,199 --> 00:36:28,960
I start in terror as it sounds
like it comes from right behind us.

399
00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:36,039
But turning to look reveals that there's
nothing there. I see what lurks in

400
00:36:36,119 --> 00:36:40,480
your heart. You will take this
new one with you, deliver him unto

401
00:36:40,639 --> 00:36:46,880
us, And the voice says us. It is as if two voices are

402
00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:55,559
speaking at once, one says us, and one's saying me. It makes

403
00:36:55,559 --> 00:37:01,239
both sounds together. I feel something
pressing the side of my face. I

404
00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:07,760
turn again in panic, but as
before, there's nothing there. The wind

405
00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:14,719
blows and the night flashes come on
Adam, April says a little more urgently,

406
00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:19,079
as he fires off another beam.
This one, however, seems thinner

407
00:37:19,119 --> 00:37:22,679
than the last, not quite so
bright, a little less full of life

408
00:37:22,719 --> 00:37:30,280
in its energy. Right thumbing through
the book with trembling hands, a cat's

409
00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:36,480
sight of a highlighted passage, and
I read it out loud. The thief

410
00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:42,480
comes only to steal and destroy I
manage my voice weak in the wind.

411
00:37:42,639 --> 00:37:46,960
As the battle rages, shadows drift
and dance in the dark. A collective

412
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:52,400
sense of clamoring, of scuttling,
and of writhing is shivering. It's steady

413
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:57,519
way up the mountainside. Yeah no, try another, April shouts at me,

414
00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:01,159
as she swings the weapon around.
I desperately flicked through the pages,

415
00:38:01,519 --> 00:38:07,519
ducking instinctively to avoid the shadowed hand
reaching out towards me. But when I

416
00:38:07,599 --> 00:38:12,679
look for it, as with before, there is simply nothing there. I

417
00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:20,039
find another passage you when you go
to war in your land against the adversary

418
00:38:20,079 --> 00:38:23,400
who attacks you, then you shall
sound an alarm with trumpets that you may

419
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:29,079
be remembered. Come on, Adam
with heart. April shouts as a circle

420
00:38:29,119 --> 00:38:34,000
of wind rises up between the mountains, swirling and crackling with terrible storm like

421
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:39,760
energy in the night. What the
hell is happening? But I get the

422
00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:45,639
message. As I said before,
I am not a particularly religious guy.

423
00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:51,239
I don't know if I believe in
God or any of that, and I

424
00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:54,079
don't really know why I am leaving
through a battered old Bible and the side

425
00:38:54,079 --> 00:39:00,079
of a Russian mountain in the middle
of the night, but we do our

426
00:39:00,159 --> 00:39:07,599
duty. So I roll back my
shoulders and take a deep breath. I

427
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:13,800
hear that whispering begin again, but
I don't allow myself to listen. I

428
00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:17,880
project, and I bellow out into
the storm, the beams flashing like lightning,

429
00:39:19,039 --> 00:39:23,039
as the mountains come alive with shadow
and fire. When you go to

430
00:39:23,159 --> 00:39:29,599
war in your land against the adversary
who attacks you, my voice carries loud

431
00:39:29,639 --> 00:39:32,719
and clear through the frost tipped air. April cannot help, but shoot me

432
00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:37,519
a quick glance, with eyebrows raised
before returning to the weapon. She brings

433
00:39:37,519 --> 00:39:42,320
it quickly round with a clank,
and an arc of light is sent rippling

434
00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:45,440
through the night. Then you shall
sound and alarm with the trumpets, that

435
00:39:45,559 --> 00:39:52,239
you may be remembered at the word
of trumpets. Where before I conjured in

436
00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:55,480
my mind something meek and modest,
like a school marching band, one that

437
00:39:55,559 --> 00:40:00,400
I might well have taken part in
as a child, I now see an

438
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:05,800
army of golden horns aimed up to
the heavens, amidst swirling dust, lasted,

439
00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:09,760
loud and charged in their energy.
The light of the beams glitters bright

440
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:15,519
in the edges of my silver cross
flailing and waving in the wind, and

441
00:40:15,639 --> 00:40:22,679
a terrible clambering shadow is resolutely obliterated
into clattering, rattling fragments and lost to

442
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:28,440
the rock of the mountain side below. And so it goes for the longest

443
00:40:28,559 --> 00:40:34,000
night of my life. The hours
crawl by, the shadows come, and

444
00:40:34,079 --> 00:40:38,599
the lights flash, and it's not
until the first slither of light appears welcomingly

445
00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:44,159
on the far horizon, to be
crashed back against the crates and the walls

446
00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:50,039
up here on the outpost roof April
and I. She looks over to me,

447
00:40:50,679 --> 00:40:54,760
eyes bloodshot, and hair streaked with
sweat, sweat that quickly freeze across

448
00:40:54,760 --> 00:41:00,519
her face if not wiped away.
Well there you go, Adam, she

449
00:41:00,639 --> 00:41:12,039
says, Welcome aboard. I don't
respond warily with grunts and grimaces. She

450
00:41:12,159 --> 00:41:15,800
clambers to her feet to the sound
of clicking bones. She stretches her arms

451
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:20,480
and turns to the left and to
the right, cooling down the muscles.

452
00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:24,159
She raises her hand to someone,
though I do not have the energy to

453
00:41:24,199 --> 00:41:30,559
turn and see who she's waving to. Charlie. Probably come on, she

454
00:41:30,639 --> 00:41:36,360
says, lowing her hand and offering
it to me. I take it and

455
00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:38,960
allow it to help me up,
and we head through the doors and back

456
00:41:39,039 --> 00:41:45,000
down the stairs. She shows me
through a corridor towards the sleeping quarters,

457
00:41:45,599 --> 00:41:50,559
and we pass by Yurie coming the
opposite way. One of his hands shakes

458
00:41:50,679 --> 00:41:54,440
and the motion draws my eye.
His knuckles and fingers are all scratched,

459
00:41:54,840 --> 00:42:00,320
scuffled, and scabbed. He stares
right through us as he walked spy.

460
00:42:01,119 --> 00:42:06,639
For a moment, I think that
April isn't going to say anything. Then

461
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:14,079
at the last second, she says
good job. Ury Uri grunts in reply,

462
00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:22,840
not slowing or stopping or even turning
our way. I have a thousand

463
00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:28,719
questions, but they can wait for
now. Despite the rising of the sun,

464
00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:32,480
I'm fit to crash, and so
once April has shown me to my

465
00:42:32,559 --> 00:42:37,039
room and she shut the door behind
her, I haul off my uniform and

466
00:42:37,159 --> 00:42:43,840
collapse into bed. A modest little
thing, but right now it feels like

467
00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:50,000
the most comfortable place in the world. I fall into immediate sleep. My

468
00:42:50,119 --> 00:42:57,679
questions are intertwined with my dreams,
and they are realistic and unsettling. My

469
00:42:57,800 --> 00:43:05,480
sleep is deep and long. I
awake much later in the day, unsure

470
00:43:05,519 --> 00:43:09,000
of where I am. I tried
to push away the nightmares of the demons

471
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:14,039
in the dark, only to realize
that they were not nightmares at all.

472
00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:20,039
The wind blows beyond the windows.
I groggily roll over to check the time,

473
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:25,679
three forty five pm. I've slept
about ten or so hours straight.

474
00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:32,519
Impressive. I guess I really needed
it. I rubbed my face and groan.

475
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:40,000
So this is actually real, this
is all happening. I clamber out

476
00:43:40,039 --> 00:43:45,280
of bed and head to the sink, preparing for the new day, if

477
00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:49,280
you can call it a day,
A handful of daylight hours left to go,

478
00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:55,199
and then and then what that same
hell all over again? What is

479
00:43:55,239 --> 00:44:02,440
this place? I arrived short in
that wide hexagonal room, the room I've

480
00:44:02,519 --> 00:44:07,519
taken to be the main one.
Yuri has headed right towards me, jaws

481
00:44:07,559 --> 00:44:13,679
set and cigarette between his lips.
Hey, I say to him, good

482
00:44:13,679 --> 00:44:20,440
work with the attack last night.
He does not slow his pace, and

483
00:44:20,519 --> 00:44:24,960
he strides past, but he squints
and shoots me a sneer. I dive

484
00:44:25,039 --> 00:44:30,519
ben, he mutters as he shoulders
past me. All right, then,

485
00:44:30,239 --> 00:44:34,280
I say to no one in particular, as he heads down one of the

486
00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:40,119
adjacent corridors. The others are in
here. April reading a book, Charlie

487
00:44:40,159 --> 00:44:45,599
tiding up a box of cards,
and Elena stood watching the sky and the

488
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:50,800
mountains through one of the windows.
No one is jumping up to explain this

489
00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:55,280
place to me, so I say
it's straight up, loudly and clearly,

490
00:44:57,719 --> 00:45:04,079
this place is messed up. Charlie
in April glance up to me. Eleanor

491
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:08,280
does not turn around. I feel
like I've been pretty accommodating, I reply,

492
00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:14,920
but come on, for real,
I would really genuinely love a brief

493
00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:20,480
explanation or or something. I mean, the Bibles, the shadows, light

494
00:45:20,519 --> 00:45:23,480
guns or whatever. Help me out
here, people, what's going on?

495
00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:30,599
Tell me straight, it's just the
prank, mate, Charlie replies after a

496
00:45:30,639 --> 00:45:36,519
beat, and I stare at him. He laughs. Elena at last breaks

497
00:45:36,559 --> 00:45:39,880
from a position at the window and
walks down the edge of the room.

498
00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:46,960
Adam, come see here. Tentatively, I head over. She regards me

499
00:45:47,039 --> 00:45:52,119
with those icy eyes, then points
me to the world map, the one

500
00:45:52,239 --> 00:45:57,800
intersected with a series of gently waving, looping lines. One of the lines

501
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:02,199
arcs up to the United States,
and she points to it where you were

502
00:46:02,199 --> 00:46:07,400
born, Adam, somewhere along this
line. Yes, I look at the

503
00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:15,679
map, well, yeah, actually, just here. How did we were

504
00:46:15,679 --> 00:46:19,480
all born on one of these lines? She points to a place in Russia.

505
00:46:19,840 --> 00:46:24,039
Not many born here, harder for
our government to find Russians Americans invited

506
00:46:24,119 --> 00:46:30,559
as part of international agreement. They're
lay lines, April chimes in, looking

507
00:46:30,639 --> 00:46:35,800
up from over a book. You
heard them, madam, people born on

508
00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:42,559
the lay lines have greater resistance to
the supernatural, greater resistance to the supernatural.

509
00:46:43,079 --> 00:46:50,679
I repeat, but but the supernatural
isn't real? Right? There is

510
00:46:50,679 --> 00:46:54,599
a pause, as I said,
fellow, just a big prank, Charlie

511
00:46:54,639 --> 00:47:00,960
says to himself, and he leans
back in his chair. But but we're

512
00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:07,039
defending an outpost from from what demons? I laughed nervously, But no one

513
00:47:07,079 --> 00:47:13,840
else joins in demons? Really?
So does that confirm the existence of hell

514
00:47:14,280 --> 00:47:20,599
or what heaven is? God real? Is it all real? The gravity

515
00:47:20,599 --> 00:47:24,760
of our situation begins properly, settling
in for the first real time despite everything,

516
00:47:25,599 --> 00:47:30,800
My breathing shallows. As the panic
starts to rise. April rises from

517
00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:36,480
her seat and comes over to me, placing her hand on mine. Hey,

518
00:47:36,559 --> 00:47:43,360
Adam, it's okay. Helena shakes
her head with frustration. She grimaces,

519
00:47:43,760 --> 00:47:45,920
and the grisly scar that cuts through
the side of her lips is pulled

520
00:47:45,960 --> 00:47:51,679
tight. See this is the problem
with NATO soldiers who only do two weeks

521
00:47:51,679 --> 00:47:55,440
shift. We have to explain this
over and over and over. Hey,

522
00:47:55,920 --> 00:48:00,480
Charlie calls out, I've been here
for a month, Elena, you forget

523
00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:05,119
it, yes, beyond a typical
Charlie. Eleanor replies, in a thick

524
00:48:05,159 --> 00:48:12,360
accent, you are crazy, man. I gather myself. I'm a soldier,

525
00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:16,840
goddamnit, pull yourself together, Adam. So the Russians stay for two

526
00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:23,239
months? Why is that, April
replies, before Eleanor has a chance to

527
00:48:23,239 --> 00:48:28,639
respond, Because the Russian command don't
value the lies of their soldiers. Of

528
00:48:28,679 --> 00:48:34,920
course, Eleanor fumes and makes a
noise of frustration. She closes a fist

529
00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:39,000
and marches towards us. She only
takes about two steps, but it's Hella

530
00:48:39,079 --> 00:48:45,719
intimidating. The woman is taller than
myself. Russians stay for two months,

531
00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:50,480
she says, pointing her finger,
because our command of faith in us to

532
00:48:50,559 --> 00:48:55,480
do job well, because we are
reliable. Russian's chosen Americans had names picked

533
00:48:55,480 --> 00:49:00,960
from a hat. Hey, guys, comes in new voice from behind the

534
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:07,400
accent is when I recognize immediately from
my time in bad off Us as Norwegian.

535
00:49:07,719 --> 00:49:13,920
I turned to look at the voice's
source. A man about Eleanor's age

536
00:49:14,079 --> 00:49:19,559
comes walking into the room. He's
bundled up in fur coats, the outermost

537
00:49:19,559 --> 00:49:23,440
of which bears the Norwegian flag.
Curls of red hair poke out from beneath

538
00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:30,199
his winter hat, and he approaches
me at once smiling. Hello, friend,

539
00:49:30,719 --> 00:49:34,800
he says, shaking my hand.
My name is Christian. Pleasure to

540
00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:38,159
meet you. He jokes, a
thumb back in the direction he just came

541
00:49:38,199 --> 00:49:43,559
from. I've just come from the
tower. Uri says he did well last

542
00:49:43,639 --> 00:49:51,800
night. I'm surprised by this,
did he As a pause, Christian scratches

543
00:49:51,840 --> 00:49:55,599
his beard. Well, no,
but he didn't say anything bad about you,

544
00:49:57,199 --> 00:50:02,280
so you must have done pretty okay, right. Christian walks through the

545
00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:07,599
nearest of the walls and straightens one
of the picture frames, taking a moment

546
00:50:07,639 --> 00:50:13,039
to admire the photograph within. What
happened to this tradition? He says,

547
00:50:13,079 --> 00:50:16,880
after a moment, Eleanor, what
do you think maybe we should get ourselves

548
00:50:16,880 --> 00:50:22,960
a group pick. Eleanor snorts and
folds her arms. No, it's the

549
00:50:23,039 --> 00:50:29,599
quick response. He murmurs and scratches
his beard as if in deep thought,

550
00:50:30,079 --> 00:50:37,079
turning back to the photograph. So
I continue, Yeah, it's nice to

551
00:50:37,119 --> 00:50:39,679
meet you, Christian. I'm kind
of still getting brought up to speed here

552
00:50:40,360 --> 00:50:45,239
this outpost. What's its purpose?
Like? Why did the demons want it

553
00:50:45,280 --> 00:50:51,960
so much? Why is it so
important to defend? I think about my

554
00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:57,800
own question. And they are demons. Aren't they the shadows of the night?

555
00:50:58,599 --> 00:51:04,079
Or are they The tone shifts and
Christian turns to me, his eyes

556
00:51:04,119 --> 00:51:08,440
sparkling. You may call them whatever
you like, my friend, he says,

557
00:51:08,480 --> 00:51:13,559
But they are the enemy, and
what they seek this spot exactly we

558
00:51:13,679 --> 00:51:17,400
do not know. We can make
guesses, though. He walks across the

559
00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:22,400
room to the maps, pointing first
at the map of Russia, then at

560
00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:25,679
the map of the lay lines.
You see where we are, he asks,

561
00:51:25,760 --> 00:51:31,559
pointing a nod. The outpost intersects
three lay lines. He says,

562
00:51:32,119 --> 00:51:37,800
it's an important place. This the
outpost was built upon it. We have

563
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:43,039
it for one primary reason, so
that the enemy may not There are other

564
00:51:43,079 --> 00:51:46,800
such places, I should think.
He points to a couple other places across

565
00:51:46,840 --> 00:51:52,280
the map where multiple lay lines meet. Wait, you mean there are more

566
00:51:52,280 --> 00:51:58,039
outposts? I asked, bewildered.
More places like this, I should think

567
00:51:58,079 --> 00:52:02,760
so, Yes, replies there is
one in Australia, this I know,

568
00:52:04,400 --> 00:52:09,400
perhaps one in India. He points
the three intersecting lines. Maybe others.

569
00:52:12,159 --> 00:52:15,800
I put my hands to my head. This is insane. This doesn't make

570
00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:22,719
sense. It makes perfect sense,
Elena says. Then she says americanet,

571
00:52:23,280 --> 00:52:28,360
she mutters, locking her eyes from
me to April, before turning away.

572
00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:32,960
Hey now, Christian says, good
naturedly, we are all friends here.

573
00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:38,119
Comrades and coalition are the spirit of
this outpost. He pats me on the

574
00:52:38,159 --> 00:52:43,760
shoulder. You're very welcome here,
friend. Come, I will teach you

575
00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:49,440
how to use the weaponry this afternoon. How the hell is this guy so

576
00:52:49,559 --> 00:52:52,599
cheerful? Is all I can think
as he leads me from the room and

577
00:52:52,760 --> 00:52:58,480
out into the cool afternoon air,
up to one of the garrison posts stationed

578
00:52:58,480 --> 00:53:02,639
around the outpost. Roof this one, like Aprils, looks out over the

579
00:53:02,639 --> 00:53:07,280
expanse of mist and rock and a
steep, deep drop down the mountain side.

580
00:53:08,880 --> 00:53:14,800
So Christine begins with a pleasant smile. The corners of his eyes crinkle

581
00:53:14,920 --> 00:53:20,440
as he does so. The weapon
works as follows, crank here turn here

582
00:53:20,480 --> 00:53:23,719
to move aim with the sights.
You saw how it works, yes,

583
00:53:24,599 --> 00:53:30,079
I nod, yes, yes,
he continues. They are modeled after the

584
00:53:30,239 --> 00:53:35,320
M four, so you should be
okay. The light is powerful, but

585
00:53:35,480 --> 00:53:39,400
not all powerful. Do not hold
its concentration for too long or the demons

586
00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:45,159
might adjust to the light. So
that's what they are. Then they are

587
00:53:45,280 --> 00:53:51,360
demons. I shake my head.
I just don't understand the implications of all

588
00:53:51,360 --> 00:53:54,679
this. Best not to think too
much about it, he chuckles. Think

589
00:53:54,719 --> 00:54:01,280
good thoughts. It really does help
out the side of his head. Before

590
00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:06,400
my time, this next little story. But according to Eleanor, there was

591
00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:10,639
a seat guy stationed here. Once
he looks out over the edge, lacrosse

592
00:54:10,760 --> 00:54:16,000
did not work for him, nor
the Bibles. He had a rough few

593
00:54:16,079 --> 00:54:23,840
days. How rough exactly, I
risk asking Christian size, I do not

594
00:54:23,960 --> 00:54:29,480
know. According to Eleanor, he
lost this sight and then the next night

595
00:54:29,920 --> 00:54:36,519
was the waiting rescue. He simply
disappeared. He lost this sight, went

596
00:54:36,599 --> 00:54:43,679
blind, you mean, then vanished. Yes, sadly, I dwell on

597
00:54:43,760 --> 00:54:47,800
this as August. The breeze sends
a shiver down my back. I followed

598
00:54:47,840 --> 00:54:52,880
Christian's gaze. The view really is
beautiful and a clear day like this,

599
00:54:54,039 --> 00:55:01,280
beautiful and terrifying in its isolation.
Chris and goes on. But whilst they

600
00:55:01,400 --> 00:55:07,519
was here, Ellenor tells me that
the demons were different. The things they

601
00:55:07,559 --> 00:55:15,599
said, the things they tried,
they were unusual. How so, he

602
00:55:15,679 --> 00:55:21,559
shakes his head. I cannot say, I do not know. You would

603
00:55:21,599 --> 00:55:25,559
have to bring the topic up with
her. How long has Ella been here

604
00:55:25,679 --> 00:55:30,679
exactly? I ponder. I know
that April doesn't really trust her that much,

605
00:55:30,760 --> 00:55:36,400
is plain. She has her suspicions
about the woman. And as I

606
00:55:36,480 --> 00:55:42,239
said, the Bibles didn't work for
him either. Christian says they are supposed

607
00:55:42,280 --> 00:55:46,320
the work relatively well for the Abrahamic
religions, at least. We talk on

608
00:55:46,440 --> 00:55:52,079
for another hour, the first hour
to actually go by quickly since I set

609
00:55:52,159 --> 00:55:57,119
off from part of us. He
tells me about the others, about himself,

610
00:55:57,719 --> 00:56:01,960
He asks questions about me and wearing
rom He really is a nice guy.

611
00:56:04,159 --> 00:56:07,920
He tells me that Eleanor is friendly
once you get to Noah, which

612
00:56:07,960 --> 00:56:10,760
I find hard to believe. That
April was worse than me on our first

613
00:56:10,840 --> 00:56:15,199
day here, and that Yurie believes
that there is only one demon and what

614
00:56:15,320 --> 00:56:21,840
we see are but puppets or appendages
of a greater hole. We talk a

615
00:56:21,840 --> 00:56:25,519
little longer, and we eat together
as a group, a large evening meal.

616
00:56:27,400 --> 00:56:32,119
Though our day it is really only
just getting started. I and to

617
00:56:32,199 --> 00:56:37,960
be manning the turret and the outpost
to night. This very idea sends a

618
00:56:37,079 --> 00:56:43,719
pall of anxiety in my stomach back
into its rapid cycle of tightening tenting.

619
00:56:44,760 --> 00:56:50,360
It's a painful physical ache that comes
in quick, awful cold washes. Washes.

620
00:56:50,519 --> 00:56:53,679
They become more frequent as the hours
pass and the sun creeps lower.

621
00:56:55,039 --> 00:57:00,639
But one cannot stop the ticking of
the clock. The shadows or in the

622
00:57:00,679 --> 00:57:07,800
wind rises, and I find myself
at my station squinting out into the wind.

623
00:57:09,719 --> 00:57:15,679
You remember the duties Christian had asked
me, Yes, I had replied,

624
00:57:15,280 --> 00:57:20,800
and I listed them off. Five
keep a constant presence in the tower.

625
00:57:21,519 --> 00:57:23,760
Four. Do not leave the outer
ring of the outpost after sundown.

626
00:57:24,360 --> 00:57:30,000
Three do not use weaponry beyond the
outer ring. Two. Do not engage

627
00:57:30,079 --> 00:57:35,599
verbally with the enemy. One defend
the outpost. Do not allow the enemy

628
00:57:35,719 --> 00:57:43,159
into the outpost. Christian had nodded. Duty one is the key, Adam.

629
00:57:43,320 --> 00:57:46,880
We defend the outpost. We do
not allow the enemy into the outpost,

630
00:57:49,599 --> 00:57:52,519
I say to myself. Now,
at the edge of the mountain,

631
00:57:52,679 --> 00:57:55,840
in the midst of the wilderness,
the waste, the vastness, and the

632
00:57:55,880 --> 00:58:00,559
ice and the cold. There are
still so many mysteries left to solve.

633
00:58:01,719 --> 00:58:06,559
What are the hearts of the outpost? Why do the enemy want it so

634
00:58:06,639 --> 00:58:10,760
bad? Is it really all just
about supposed lay lines? And why would

635
00:58:10,760 --> 00:58:15,960
so few soldiers be stationed in so
large an outpost as this. I wonder

636
00:58:16,280 --> 00:58:21,599
if there are still things I'm not
being told, and if I can truly

637
00:58:21,639 --> 00:58:28,840
trust my teammates. But these questions
have to wait. Do not allow the

638
00:58:29,039 --> 00:58:34,119
enemy into the outpost, I murmur
out loud, my fingers trembling against the

639
00:58:34,159 --> 00:58:46,719
sights of the weapon. As the
sun sinks slowly below the horizon, nightfalls

640
00:58:46,760 --> 00:58:52,079
and the wind bellows, the first
melodic notes of that sinister song are carried

641
00:58:52,119 --> 00:58:57,840
across the mountains towards me, and
a wave of cold fear shivers through my

642
00:58:57,920 --> 00:59:02,880
veins. I have a couple of
Bible passages memorized, and it's still all

643
00:59:02,960 --> 00:59:07,880
seems so bizarre to me. What
I mean, Hey, if it works,

644
00:59:08,159 --> 00:59:15,119
it works, I mutter them to
myself over and over as I watch

645
00:59:15,159 --> 00:59:22,920
for any signs of an approaching and
approaching What exactly what am I fighting here?

646
00:59:24,039 --> 00:59:30,400
Demons, I suppose, or demon
if your's theory is correct? But

647
00:59:30,559 --> 00:59:35,440
are they Are they really demons in
the way that I'm supposed they assume they

648
00:59:35,440 --> 00:59:40,039
are. That's same singing from the
previous night, ebbs and flows with the

649
00:59:40,119 --> 00:59:45,840
tides of the wind, a deep, low line of voice that rumbles the

650
00:59:45,840 --> 00:59:53,480
bones, interspersed with harmonious, beautiful
chords. It's different tonight, though it's

651
00:59:53,519 --> 00:59:59,639
ever so slightly sharper. It sounds
just a little less like a song I'm

652
00:59:59,679 --> 01:00:02,639
simple hearing, as opposed to a
song that is being sung to me.

653
01:00:05,280 --> 01:00:09,960
But for the first two hours of
the night, nothing further happens. A

654
01:00:10,079 --> 01:00:15,159
modest tumble of stone across the gorge
sends my heart rate into temporary overdrive,

655
01:00:16,559 --> 01:00:27,760
but nothing approaches. Not yet.
The tension builds almost unbearably. It isn't

656
01:00:27,840 --> 01:00:31,840
until well into the third hour did
I hear Eleanor's voice carry across the wind.

657
01:00:34,400 --> 01:00:38,480
Sighted she shouts, and across the
outpost. A blast of dazzling light

658
01:00:38,599 --> 01:00:45,519
tears suddenly into the sky. Here
we go, I wentz knuckles white on

659
01:00:45,559 --> 01:00:50,920
the weapon, A part of me
is almost relieved to have that brutal building

660
01:00:50,960 --> 01:00:57,360
tension finally crack. It's a far
clearer night tonight, and I can see

661
01:00:57,360 --> 01:01:01,920
further down the cliffside into the abyss. A ripple of dark wind crashes like

662
01:01:02,039 --> 01:01:07,440
water into the mountain down below,
and this wind carries with it a shadow,

663
01:01:08,320 --> 01:01:15,119
clambering with speed and determination up the
rock towards the outpost. Damn,

664
01:01:15,440 --> 01:01:19,440
I shout out loud as I angle
the weapon down with a clank, hauling

665
01:01:19,480 --> 01:01:23,960
up the lever to the side and
taking quick aim. Despite the cold I'm

666
01:01:24,000 --> 01:01:29,559
sweating, and the forearms on my
jacket I currently rolled up to the elbows.

667
01:01:30,440 --> 01:01:35,400
The hairs across my forearms all react
to the crackle in sudden electricity as

668
01:01:35,440 --> 01:01:39,719
I fire. The hairs across my
forearms all react to the crackle in sudden

669
01:01:39,760 --> 01:01:45,639
electricity As I fire, and the
spotlight gun sends a blast of concentrated sunlike

670
01:01:45,679 --> 01:01:52,079
styled energy down towards the approaching assailant. I miss, and the creature draws

671
01:01:52,079 --> 01:01:59,559
closer. I catch glimpses of disturbingly
human like arms and hands bursting from the

672
01:01:59,639 --> 01:02:05,159
side to the demon's form as it
tears up the mountain side I bring the

673
01:02:05,199 --> 01:02:08,679
weapon round with another mechanical clank,
and the beam passes right through it,

674
01:02:09,199 --> 01:02:16,039
bursting the creature into shadowy flakes and
smoke pieces clatter from the obliterated demon and

675
01:02:16,239 --> 01:02:21,639
rattle back down the rock. And
the night is clear enough and the monster

676
01:02:21,800 --> 01:02:24,880
close enough for me to actually see
the cause of the rattling. This time

677
01:02:25,880 --> 01:02:32,519
they are bones. As the demon
is destroyed, burnt bones I sent clattering

678
01:02:32,519 --> 01:02:38,320
out from its ruin, ribs and
pieces of spine, and and others too.

679
01:02:39,679 --> 01:02:45,559
They vanish back down into the shadow
pretty promptly. But they were bones,

680
01:02:45,599 --> 01:02:51,360
all right, I'm sure of it, And so it goes. I

681
01:02:51,440 --> 01:02:54,800
do my best to keep the demons
in the darker bay. This is my

682
01:02:54,880 --> 01:03:00,360
task, this is my duty,
and these are my orders. I cannot

683
01:03:00,360 --> 01:03:06,079
help but recall particular words of Christians
as I blast these monsters. The Kingdom

684
01:03:06,119 --> 01:03:10,280
come. There was a seg station
deer once he lost his sight, and

685
01:03:10,360 --> 01:03:20,480
then the next night he simply disappeared, disappeared? How and why? What

686
01:03:20,639 --> 01:03:25,239
exactly happened to him? Here on
the mountain side. One of the enemy

687
01:03:25,280 --> 01:03:30,440
below screams with the wind as the
night tears into a thousand pieces, and

688
01:03:30,559 --> 01:03:35,880
as the night progresses as we enter
into those hours, the furthest from the

689
01:03:35,960 --> 01:03:40,159
lights of dusk and dawn. I
watch as something clambers steadily up the mountain

690
01:03:40,239 --> 01:03:46,599
side opposite, not the drop directly
beneath me. I mutter a phrase from

691
01:03:46,639 --> 01:03:52,000
Corinthians and aimed the weapon up high
with a series of mechanical clicks and clanks.

692
01:03:53,199 --> 01:03:58,880
Electricity shutters through my veins as the
light is since soaring out towards it

693
01:03:59,679 --> 01:04:05,119
with esteem and acts differently to the
others. It is difficult, almost impossible

694
01:04:05,159 --> 01:04:11,639
to focus on these creatures, such
as the fluidity of their forms. But

695
01:04:11,760 --> 01:04:16,000
this one is more difficult still.
It spreads out wide into the shape of

696
01:04:16,039 --> 01:04:21,440
a circle, and the beam passes
harmlessly through its center. I direct the

697
01:04:21,440 --> 01:04:26,960
weapon this way and that, but
each time the entity on the opposite mountain

698
01:04:27,119 --> 01:04:32,480
distorts and shimmers through various dreamlike shapes
to avoid it, and by doing so,

699
01:04:33,119 --> 01:04:40,679
my faith in the weapon's ability faulters. Sweat leaks and little rivulets down

700
01:04:40,719 --> 01:04:46,400
my back, and a voice I
recognize whispers into my ear. The voice

701
01:04:47,639 --> 01:04:53,920
is my brothers, made all the
more alarming by the fact that my brother

702
01:04:54,000 --> 01:04:59,480
has been dead for ten long years. I miss you, Adam, he

703
01:04:59,559 --> 01:05:05,719
says, no, it's not him, it's them. My heart pounds in

704
01:05:05,840 --> 01:05:11,960
pain and longing, fear and anger. I give anything to call back to

705
01:05:12,039 --> 01:05:16,400
him, to talk to him one
last time, but I cannot, of

706
01:05:16,400 --> 01:05:24,800
course I cannot. Two. Do
not engage verbally or physically with the enemy.

707
01:05:26,519 --> 01:05:29,880
I shout out the passage from the
previous night, the one with the

708
01:05:29,920 --> 01:05:34,360
trumpets, a passage of defiance.
Adam, lay down your weapon and come

709
01:05:34,400 --> 01:05:39,000
to the edge. The dwellers in
the outpost are lying to you. You

710
01:05:39,079 --> 01:05:44,400
seek the truth, and I can
provide it, as with before. When

711
01:05:44,400 --> 01:05:48,800
my brother's voice says I, it
comes as two words, sounding as if

712
01:05:48,840 --> 01:05:56,360
he's saying we with the exact same
breath. I griped my teeth, eyes

713
01:05:56,440 --> 01:06:00,440
wide and knuckles cracked as I mutter
the passage again and again, over and

714
01:06:00,559 --> 01:06:06,400
over, my breath clouding in the
blasts of the beam. My brother's voice

715
01:06:06,400 --> 01:06:11,840
whispers further. I know you are
scared, and I'm sorry for the fears

716
01:06:11,880 --> 01:06:15,400
I've caused you. But ask yourself, with a true enemy lies. I

717
01:06:15,480 --> 01:06:21,840
seek nothing but safety, sanctuary,
and peace. But I do not listen.

718
01:06:23,840 --> 01:06:28,559
I push aside these intrusive words and
battle on through the night. Keeping

719
01:06:28,559 --> 01:06:33,039
at bay every creeping threat to the
outpost. The beam from another turret comes

720
01:06:33,079 --> 01:06:38,559
to my aid. I do not
know who it is, Christians perhaps,

721
01:06:39,119 --> 01:06:44,599
but it strikes through the shadowy shape
shifting entity directly across the great gorge,

722
01:06:45,159 --> 01:06:48,679
and together with the ray of my
own light, the demon is obliterated into

723
01:06:48,719 --> 01:06:56,480
the night with a shower of smoke
and dark clattering bones. So the demons

724
01:06:56,480 --> 01:07:01,000
can see inside our heads, then
they can access our memories. The prospect

725
01:07:01,280 --> 01:07:09,000
is a terrifying one. I am
now decidedly unnerved and panicked hearing my brother's

726
01:07:09,079 --> 01:07:13,840
voice again, coming from something other
than a recording on an electronic device.

727
01:07:14,840 --> 01:07:18,000
It has set me on a new
and precarious edge. I thought I had

728
01:07:18,000 --> 01:07:24,440
a basic grasp of these creatures,
but I'm realizing all over again that I

729
01:07:24,519 --> 01:07:29,320
don't have a clue where they're capable
of. Anything could happen. Now,

730
01:07:30,199 --> 01:07:34,480
lights flash in the dark. I
hear a voice carried from the roof of

731
01:07:34,559 --> 01:07:43,119
the outpost by a sudden gust of
wind. Female Russian eleanor no doubt,

732
01:07:43,800 --> 01:07:46,920
And I feel as stab of bit
of frustration as I swing the mechanical weapon

733
01:07:46,960 --> 01:07:53,239
around with the clank. She's been
here for a long time. That much

734
01:07:53,360 --> 01:07:59,440
is clear. How long exactly,
I'm not sure, but it could be

735
01:07:59,559 --> 01:08:04,199
anything up to two months, potentially
longer. Charlie's been here for four weeks,

736
01:08:04,719 --> 01:08:10,239
that's what he said, and he's
NATO, so so surely he should

737
01:08:10,239 --> 01:08:15,320
only be doing too in April seems
to be under the impression that Eleanor has

738
01:08:15,320 --> 01:08:19,479
some secrets to hide and shake my
head and mutter a curse under my breath.

739
01:08:20,359 --> 01:08:25,680
The system here seems to be in
all sorts of shambles. Perhaps our

740
01:08:25,720 --> 01:08:30,359
respective commands don't really give a damn
all things considered, provided that the outpost

741
01:08:30,399 --> 01:08:36,920
fulfills its most basic quota of six
warm bodies the Defender. But I digress

742
01:08:39,000 --> 01:08:45,640
Eleanor has been here a long time, Yuri likely as well. Why didn't

743
01:08:45,640 --> 01:08:48,880
they warn me about all this?
They've barely helped at all. What have

744
01:08:48,960 --> 01:08:54,199
they done for me exactly a soldier
putting his life on the line in the

745
01:08:54,239 --> 01:08:59,600
face of such unearthly terror. I've
been given a brief lecture and lay lines

746
01:08:59,640 --> 01:09:03,399
from Lena, and scarcely a handful
of words from Yuri. Maybe they're just

747
01:09:03,399 --> 01:09:09,319
blinded by anti American propaganda. But
surely up here on the mountain side.

748
01:09:09,600 --> 01:09:13,840
They tried to put that to one
side. Right surely, in the face

749
01:09:13,880 --> 01:09:18,239
of such greater evil, my forearms
ache as I tensed them up and swing

750
01:09:18,279 --> 01:09:25,479
the weapon down with another mechanical creak
and clank, electricity sparkling as a fire,

751
01:09:25,479 --> 01:09:30,000
a beam into the darkness below.
Destroy all those who curse my soul,

752
01:09:30,600 --> 01:09:35,239
I recite, with jaw clenched in
service. I am yours. Blessed

753
01:09:35,359 --> 01:09:41,760
be the Lord, my rock,
who trains my hands for war. Mechanical

754
01:09:41,840 --> 01:09:45,479
booms of thunder I sent rippling through
the valley and the mountains, as the

755
01:09:45,600 --> 01:09:51,520
lightning light flashes alight their rocky edges
in the darkness. The Lord, of

756
01:09:51,520 --> 01:09:56,640
course, was not quite the one
who trained my hands for war. However,

757
01:09:57,520 --> 01:10:00,640
I have the Army of the United
States of America thank for that,

758
01:10:00,520 --> 01:10:06,680
and not to benevolent Lord, if
there ever was one less Jehovah more mars.

759
01:10:08,880 --> 01:10:13,439
But I try not to think about
this. Such thoughts I have found

760
01:10:13,800 --> 01:10:17,439
weakened the effect of the weapon.
I tried to follow the advice given to

761
01:10:17,520 --> 01:10:25,199
me by Christian think good thoughts.
It helps. The same advice given to

762
01:10:25,239 --> 01:10:30,680
me by the Russian officer who dropped
me off on my first night. That

763
01:10:30,800 --> 01:10:34,239
first night was two days ago.
Adam, you've scarcely been here for two

764
01:10:34,600 --> 01:10:42,680
days. She feels like a damn
lifetime. But the night goes on and

765
01:10:42,720 --> 01:10:48,680
the battle rages, and as before, as always, thankfully, the darkness

766
01:10:48,760 --> 01:10:55,720
recedes. The first glorious shimmer of
sunlight rises above the jagged horizon, and

767
01:10:55,840 --> 01:11:00,800
the edges of the mountains are washed
in faded gold. I collapse away from

768
01:11:00,840 --> 01:11:06,079
the weapon, my back up against
the metal railing behind me. I looked

769
01:11:06,119 --> 01:11:12,720
down at my hands. They're covered
in grime, shaking and several other fingers

770
01:11:12,760 --> 01:11:17,000
are locked into their positions. To
move them causes me pain and I WinCE

771
01:11:17,159 --> 01:11:21,399
as I try to wear the blood
float back into them. And after a

772
01:11:21,399 --> 01:11:27,039
concerted burst of effort, I clambered
to my feet and head across the roof

773
01:11:27,079 --> 01:11:30,439
of this section to the outpost,
make my way down the metal ladder and

774
01:11:30,600 --> 01:11:38,479
returning into the building in a dreary
daze, I passed by both Charlie and

775
01:11:38,560 --> 01:11:43,600
Christian, and my way back to
my dorm, I nodded both of them.

776
01:11:43,840 --> 01:11:47,319
Charlie nods back, Christian even gives
me a smile and a clap on

777
01:11:47,359 --> 01:11:54,439
the shoulder, as I do before
I shed my uniform and my coat,

778
01:11:55,039 --> 01:11:59,399
and I collapse into my bed.
I do not even bother to draw the

779
01:11:59,399 --> 01:12:05,520
curtains, though it doesn't particularly matter. The daylight streaming weakly through the window

780
01:12:06,039 --> 01:12:13,199
is not sufficient to wake me from
my slumber, and my sleep is deep,

781
01:12:14,840 --> 01:12:21,520
deep, And as with the previous
night unsettling, I awaken with a

782
01:12:21,600 --> 01:12:29,159
groan at two pm, earlier than
yesterday. There's no blissful ignorance as a

783
01:12:29,279 --> 01:12:33,640
return to the land of living this
morning afternoon, I suppose, and I'm

784
01:12:33,680 --> 01:12:41,760
instead instantly aware of where I am
and what my purpose is here and what

785
01:12:41,800 --> 01:12:46,319
I'll need to do again tonight.
I groan a little louder, rubbing my

786
01:12:46,359 --> 01:12:50,680
hands across my eyes, smelling the
grease and grime across them as I do.

787
01:12:50,760 --> 01:12:57,399
So. I need to start washing
a little better before bed. This

788
01:12:57,600 --> 01:13:02,960
can't be healthy. I clean up
and dress for the day, leaving my

789
01:13:03,039 --> 01:13:09,279
dorm and heading through the kitchen canteen
to grab some breakfast. A generator hums

790
01:13:09,319 --> 01:13:13,600
quietly in one corner as I cook
some eggs and beans and bring them through

791
01:13:13,680 --> 01:13:19,720
to the main room to the hexagon. Eleanor is in here eating something out

792
01:13:19,720 --> 01:13:24,119
of a bowl at the side of
the room. She glances up from a

793
01:13:24,199 --> 01:13:28,279
cross word at my approach, but
does not make any kind of greeting.

794
01:13:29,560 --> 01:13:34,039
April is in here, also,
at the room's opposite end. She's fiddling

795
01:13:34,079 --> 01:13:39,079
with a small radio, the pieces
of which lay scattered across one of the

796
01:13:39,159 --> 01:13:45,800
tables. Hey, Adam, she
says to me. Good sleep. No,

797
01:13:45,840 --> 01:13:50,199
I reply, not really, but
it served its purpose. That's the

798
01:13:50,279 --> 01:13:56,560
spirit, she replies, as she
tinkers say you aren't an engineer, are

799
01:13:56,600 --> 01:14:01,439
you? No? Sorry, now
worries thought. Who's worth asking? Ur?

800
01:14:01,520 --> 01:14:09,239
He is, but you know he
is miserable. Eleana looks up again

801
01:14:09,359 --> 01:14:13,800
and swallows her mouthful of food.
She japs the hand with a spoon in

802
01:14:13,880 --> 01:14:17,119
it over to where April is sitting. Ur, he'll fix your radio.

803
01:14:17,479 --> 01:14:23,640
Get off your high horse and ask
him. He'll do this. April snorts

804
01:14:23,640 --> 01:14:27,479
and shakes her head. Now he
won't. He'll swear at me in Russian

805
01:14:27,560 --> 01:14:32,239
and leave me to suffer. He
isn't a good person. Eleanor seems to

806
01:14:32,239 --> 01:14:36,880
take offense to this. Uri does
what is best for the outpost. You

807
01:14:38,000 --> 01:14:42,159
need him to fix the radio.
He will fix radio. This is Russian

808
01:14:42,159 --> 01:14:46,319
good person. American good person means
fake smiles and hollow laughter all twenty four

809
01:14:46,359 --> 01:14:54,279
hours, A very cliche and water
a Russian with an anti Americanism complex.

810
01:14:55,680 --> 01:14:59,840
Eleanor's cold, pale eyes flicker over
to mine, and I get the une

811
01:15:00,039 --> 01:15:03,439
easy sense that a great weight was
just dropped on top of me. She

812
01:15:03,560 --> 01:15:09,359
puts down a bowl and gets to
her feet, a slow motion one that

813
01:15:09,439 --> 01:15:14,399
serves to draw out the tension.
But this woman does not scare me,

814
01:15:15,039 --> 01:15:18,439
not after the horrors of the night. You are not typical recruit. We

815
01:15:18,520 --> 01:15:24,319
get sent here Adam, she says. I note that this could be the

816
01:15:24,359 --> 01:15:29,680
first time she's addressed me by my
actual name. No, I ask,

817
01:15:30,560 --> 01:15:34,000
No, she replies, You are
timid. You have angst, the aura

818
01:15:34,159 --> 01:15:43,520
unsettled childlike you're putting the Outpost coalition
in danger with your presence. My stare

819
01:15:43,560 --> 01:15:47,960
at her, irritated, but doing
my best not to seem phased. I

820
01:15:48,039 --> 01:15:53,119
forced out some laughter and fold my
arms. You've got me all wrong.

821
01:15:53,720 --> 01:15:57,800
How am I putting the outpost in
danger? Exactly? I just helped successfully

822
01:15:57,800 --> 01:16:02,520
defend it. You know how many
demons stroyed last night? Eleanor doesn't respond.

823
01:16:03,239 --> 01:16:09,560
She only watches me, searching me
with those arctic eyes. I shift

824
01:16:09,640 --> 01:16:15,439
uncomfortably. April chimes in, oh, leave him alone, Eleanor, You

825
01:16:15,600 --> 01:16:24,560
bully is doing his best. This
seems to maker particularly angry the bully comment.

826
01:16:25,640 --> 01:16:29,920
A flash of genuine fury crosses her
face, and I watch your body

827
01:16:29,960 --> 01:16:34,239
twitch, her fists clench. Just
for a moment, my throat dries,

828
01:16:34,479 --> 01:16:41,800
and I get a quick, modest
burst of adrenaline, but nothing happens.

829
01:16:43,000 --> 01:16:46,439
Eleanor crosses her eyes and takes her
breath, and then she simply strides from

830
01:16:46,479 --> 01:16:51,720
the room down one of the corridors
and towards another section of the outpost.

831
01:16:54,399 --> 01:16:58,800
I untense my muscles and bring myself
down to a sit near April with a

832
01:16:58,880 --> 01:17:03,880
grunt to actually go ahead and eat
my breakfast. We sit there for a

833
01:17:03,880 --> 01:17:10,560
while in comfortable silence, me eating
and April working away at a radio.

834
01:17:11,800 --> 01:17:17,359
She presses a button and it cracks
and fizzles. She sighs. These things

835
01:17:17,359 --> 01:17:23,199
are temperamental at best, she says, shaking it in a hand. They

836
01:17:23,199 --> 01:17:28,520
don't work like they're supposed to appear
in this environment, and minds died completely.

837
01:17:30,079 --> 01:17:34,479
I look at her, April,
tell me how long have you been

838
01:17:34,520 --> 01:17:40,800
here? Exactly? At the outpost, just over a week. She replies,

839
01:17:41,720 --> 01:17:45,479
just over a week, and Charlie's
been here for four? Is that

840
01:17:45,600 --> 01:17:51,039
right? She nods? But I
thought NATO personnel were only required to do

841
01:17:51,159 --> 01:17:59,439
two yeah, she says uneasily.
But you know how it is. They

842
01:17:59,479 --> 01:18:01,560
tell you why thing, and then
they change it. And to be fair,

843
01:18:01,960 --> 01:18:06,159
I think Charlie actually volunteered to stay
longer. I think he wants to

844
01:18:06,199 --> 01:18:14,239
do two months like the Russians.
What why would he want that? April

845
01:18:14,279 --> 01:18:19,920
shrugs again. I think he just
likes the thrill, the thrill, I

846
01:18:20,039 --> 01:18:26,159
shake my head. And what about
Christian? Then? So Christian's been here

847
01:18:26,199 --> 01:18:30,560
before, He's only only second week
right now, but he keeps coming back.

848
01:18:30,319 --> 01:18:33,880
I think he's been more or less
alternating groups of weeks for about a

849
01:18:33,960 --> 01:18:42,359
year. A year, yeah,
maybe more even a yeah? Why would

850
01:18:42,359 --> 01:18:45,319
he do that? Why would he
keep coming back? Is this of his

851
01:18:45,359 --> 01:18:51,319
own choosing or his superiors forcing him
back all the time? Our superiors,

852
01:18:51,319 --> 01:18:58,439
I guess. So what about eleanor
you sure ask a lot of questions,

853
01:18:58,479 --> 01:19:02,960
Adam. Well, maybe that's because
no one tells me anything. Okay,

854
01:19:02,960 --> 01:19:08,279
okay, she's I don't know how
long Ellen has been here. She won't

855
01:19:08,279 --> 01:19:12,439
tell me. I don't really know
anything about her, but she hates me.

856
01:19:13,079 --> 01:19:15,640
That much is pretty obvious. The
thing is, though, Adam,

857
01:19:16,399 --> 01:19:21,159
I think she's been here for a
long long time, like really long.

858
01:19:23,159 --> 01:19:26,560
You can tell in the way she
speaks to Christian that the two go way

859
01:19:26,600 --> 01:19:30,119
back. But I think she's been
here longer than he has. And I'm

860
01:19:30,199 --> 01:19:35,000
not convinced she's taking any time off
either. There's something that scares me about

861
01:19:35,079 --> 01:19:41,560
that one. And I'm not just
talking about that nasty scar. So Christian

862
01:19:41,640 --> 01:19:45,680
won't tell you anything either. Why
not? I don't know. I think

863
01:19:45,680 --> 01:19:50,960
he and the Russians are keeping secrets
from us, from the Americans. I

864
01:19:51,039 --> 01:19:55,840
don't get it. Why would they
do that? And Christian is a nice

865
01:19:55,840 --> 01:20:00,439
guy, is a NATO soldier for
God's sake. April just puts out a

866
01:20:00,520 --> 01:20:04,840
hand. Listen, come take a
look at this, all right. She

867
01:20:04,960 --> 01:20:10,680
stands up and checks down the corridor
that Eleanor left through before beckoning me over

868
01:20:10,720 --> 01:20:14,000
to the side of the room,
to the section of wall with a little

869
01:20:14,039 --> 01:20:19,039
framed photographs across them. You want
to see something really weird. I don't

870
01:20:19,039 --> 01:20:23,439
know what could be possibly weirder than
what I've seen already, but sure,

871
01:20:23,960 --> 01:20:29,239
go for it. She leads me
through a door in the wall to a

872
01:20:29,319 --> 01:20:34,479
small back room. It's basically a
storage unit with lots of shelves, and

873
01:20:34,560 --> 01:20:41,399
it's full of dusty photographs, many
of which have been framed. Some I

874
01:20:41,479 --> 01:20:46,960
kept in stacked piles, others hang
on the limited wall space. She points

875
01:20:47,079 --> 01:20:54,000
to one such photo. Take a
look at this one. You recognize anybody?

876
01:20:55,439 --> 01:21:00,279
I squinted it. It's a picture
of a squad of six people out

877
01:21:00,319 --> 01:21:03,840
the front of the outpost. The
enormous weapon and the outposts roof can be

878
01:21:03,880 --> 01:21:10,960
seen in the background. In the
foreground stand three people with three others crouch

879
01:21:11,079 --> 01:21:16,399
down at the front. Five men, one woman. They're all grinning in

880
01:21:16,399 --> 01:21:23,760
this picture, which makes the woman
initially quite hard to identify. The quality

881
01:21:23,920 --> 01:21:30,720
is unusual, also quite grainy looking, but the scar wants you think to

882
01:21:30,760 --> 01:21:36,159
look for it is obvious. It's
Eleanor, all right. Her hair's different

883
01:21:36,479 --> 01:21:42,119
and she seems a bit younger,
but she still looks pretty much the same.

884
01:21:43,399 --> 01:21:46,119
Oh, it's a picture of Eleanor
and the rest of the team.

885
01:21:46,199 --> 01:21:53,039
They're all different people. Yeah,
but that's not the weird part. Check

886
01:21:53,119 --> 01:21:59,439
this. April again glances around,
peering back out through the door. Before

887
01:21:59,560 --> 01:22:03,199
moving to unhook the picture frame from
the wall. She turns it over and

888
01:22:03,239 --> 01:22:09,920
adjust the clips until she's able to
fully slide the photograph out from the frame.

889
01:22:11,119 --> 01:22:15,680
She flips it, revealing a scrawed
line in pen near the bottom.

890
01:22:15,920 --> 01:22:21,880
Read this, she says, Look
at the date I take it from her.

891
01:22:24,119 --> 01:22:29,479
The handwriting is poor, but in
thin black ink, or a series

892
01:22:29,479 --> 01:22:42,000
of initials and a date sgh nineteen
eighty seven, s nineteen eighty seven.

893
01:22:42,640 --> 01:22:48,439
I frow my brow atter nineteen eighty
seven. Think about it, I would

894
01:22:48,479 --> 01:22:53,520
make this picture thirty five years old. What the hell are we supposed to

895
01:22:53,520 --> 01:22:57,239
take from that? Then? Ellen
has been here for thirty five years at

896
01:22:57,359 --> 01:23:00,880
least, And I mean, just
look at her. You have to be

897
01:23:00,000 --> 01:23:03,680
eighteen to join the army, right, So let's assume that in this picture

898
01:23:03,720 --> 01:23:09,720
she is at the absolute lowest eighteen. Does the Eleanor, you know,

899
01:23:09,920 --> 01:23:15,960
look like a fifty three year old
woman? Well no, I reply uneasily.

900
01:23:15,800 --> 01:23:21,119
Obviously Eleanor isn't fifty three years old. Then what the hell is she

901
01:23:21,239 --> 01:23:29,319
doing in a picture from nineteen eighty
seven? I consider this, flipping it

902
01:23:29,399 --> 01:23:33,560
over, looking from the picture to
the writing and back. No way,

903
01:23:34,000 --> 01:23:39,760
I murmur, this can't be right. There are loads of good explanations for

904
01:23:39,800 --> 01:23:44,920
this. Maybe it's not eleanor maybe
sgh R the nineteen eighty seven on the

905
01:23:44,960 --> 01:23:47,640
back for a joke. There's no
way this picture is from so long ago.

906
01:23:48,840 --> 01:23:54,640
Why would anybody do that? Abril
asks me intently, where's the joke?

907
01:23:55,800 --> 01:24:00,079
Well, I don't know. Maybe
it's a Russian reference. Did any

908
01:24:00,079 --> 01:24:04,439
think of significance happened in nineteen eighty
seven? I shake my head. It's

909
01:24:04,520 --> 01:24:09,520
just pen and paper, April.
You can write any old numbers on photographs,

910
01:24:10,000 --> 01:24:15,960
doesn't mean they're actually from that date. April Grimaces. There's something they're

911
01:24:15,960 --> 01:24:20,079
not telling us, Adam. They're
keeping something from us, And if I

912
01:24:20,119 --> 01:24:24,720
was a betting woman, I'd say
it had to do with the outpost.

913
01:24:26,079 --> 01:24:30,760
I consider this as we returned back
to the main room, as April and

914
01:24:30,800 --> 01:24:35,600
I continued talking about our lives back
home. She's from a little further south

915
01:24:35,600 --> 01:24:40,600
than I. She comes from a
little town just outside of Saint Louis.

916
01:24:41,800 --> 01:24:45,439
I don't think she particularly likes it
there very much, based on the way

917
01:24:45,479 --> 01:24:50,359
she talks about it. Maybe that's
why she joined the army. Eventually,

918
01:24:50,560 --> 01:24:55,920
she heads off to relieve Yuri from
his tower duty, and I decide to

919
01:24:56,000 --> 01:25:00,840
wonder the complex. I head from
room to room, spending most of this

920
01:25:00,880 --> 01:25:05,439
period in an old equipment storage facility. It's full of musty, dusty,

921
01:25:05,520 --> 01:25:12,800
old climbing gear, harnesses, carabineers
and ropes, all that stuff. I

922
01:25:12,920 --> 01:25:16,479
recognize one such set, a standard
US Army issue, and it says,

923
01:25:16,479 --> 01:25:23,399
I'm investigating these items that Charlie's head
appears suddenly from around the doorway. I

924
01:25:23,520 --> 01:25:29,079
jump in alarm. Afternoon, mate, he says with a grin. Then

925
01:25:29,319 --> 01:25:32,840
a bottle of vodka appears in his
hand. He shakes the bottle and the

926
01:25:32,960 --> 01:25:42,439
liquid slashes about in the glass.
Fancy a drink? I hesitate, I

927
01:25:42,479 --> 01:25:45,079
don't know, man, I tell
him, is that really such a good

928
01:25:45,119 --> 01:25:50,399
idea? Come on? He says, just a little, just to wet

929
01:25:50,439 --> 01:25:58,199
the whistle one or two. He
gives the bottle another tempting shake. I

930
01:25:58,439 --> 01:26:05,119
hesitate, sure, I reply,
after a beat, why not? A

931
01:26:05,119 --> 01:26:12,439
few hours pass? These hours comprised
myself, Charlie and Christian sharing one or

932
01:26:12,479 --> 01:26:17,439
two modest drinks in the hexagon.
Yury partakes two, though he keeps himself

933
01:26:17,760 --> 01:26:21,840
and sits by one of the room's
windows, nursing thirstily from a bottle.

934
01:26:24,640 --> 01:26:28,640
He mutters something in Russian as he
finishes it off, dropping the bottle to

935
01:26:28,720 --> 01:26:31,760
the floor with a glassy clank and
staggering up and out of his seat,

936
01:26:32,319 --> 01:26:38,279
stumbling towards the low little table at
Christian, Charlie and I have sat around

937
01:26:38,560 --> 01:26:43,680
to grab another to take away.
But that's just the thing, lads,

938
01:26:44,239 --> 01:26:49,159
Listen, I'm serious. Listen,
Charlie slurs as they knock over her kind

939
01:26:49,159 --> 01:26:55,199
of questionable Russian beer with the back
of my hand. Christian interrupts with his

940
01:26:55,359 --> 01:27:00,680
best impression of Charlie's accent. For
real, lads, I'm not kidding.

941
01:27:00,920 --> 01:27:04,920
It's a bloody mess, all right. Alcohol splurts from my lips as I

942
01:27:04,960 --> 01:27:10,000
struggled to hold back laughter, and
Charlie slams a fist down on to the

943
01:27:10,039 --> 01:27:15,279
table with rich amusement, sending the
hordes of glasses and cans rattling and knocking

944
01:27:15,359 --> 01:27:18,239
into each other. One or two
of the empty cans fall on their sight

945
01:27:18,439 --> 01:27:23,560
and roll to the floor. If
you aren't such a nice bloke, I

946
01:27:23,760 --> 01:27:27,680
knock you out, Christian, he
says, just a little too loudly.

947
01:27:29,239 --> 01:27:33,079
Christian shakes his head and wipes some
froth from his beard, then waggles his

948
01:27:33,119 --> 01:27:38,159
finger in Charlie's face. No,
no, you wouldn't, my friend.

949
01:27:38,680 --> 01:27:43,840
Such violence is not for the good
vibes. Yes, he creaks himself.

950
01:27:44,479 --> 01:27:50,359
Such violence is not good for good
vibes. Disturbs the demons or demon singular.

951
01:27:50,720 --> 01:27:55,920
Right, Yurie, I say,
leaning back and calling over to the

952
01:27:56,000 --> 01:28:00,600
Russian in the corner. He spits
on the ground and a hand and mutters

953
01:28:00,600 --> 01:28:06,079
something in Russian. Again, my
mood sours. I throw out a hand.

954
01:28:08,039 --> 01:28:11,239
What's your problem? Man? Why
don't you like me? Give me

955
01:28:11,279 --> 01:28:15,319
a chance for goodness sake? I'm
doing my best here. Hey, chill

956
01:28:15,359 --> 01:28:18,840
out, mate, Charlie says,
putting out a hand, a drunken blink

957
01:28:18,960 --> 01:28:24,359
rolling across his face from one eye
to the other. Don't be so American,

958
01:28:24,479 --> 01:28:28,279
you know the hell's that meant to
mean? I asked him, as

959
01:28:28,439 --> 01:28:32,960
Urie staggers to his feet. Hey, nothing personal, like, Charlie says,

960
01:28:33,359 --> 01:28:39,319
his eyebrows shooting up as he reaches
for another sip of vodka. I

961
01:28:39,439 --> 01:28:42,439
just mean, like, you know, needing to be liked in that.

962
01:28:43,159 --> 01:28:46,560
Don't stress it. He'll warm up
to you in time. I'm not sure

963
01:28:46,560 --> 01:28:50,960
he will, I sigh, but
whatever, just trying to create a sense

964
01:28:51,000 --> 01:28:59,319
of coalition, looking out for my
fellow man, unity, etc. Eurie

965
01:28:59,319 --> 01:29:02,520
snorts on his way out of the
room. I reach for another bottle and

966
01:29:02,560 --> 01:29:09,079
take a swig. Charlie chuckles.
Russians think they're hot because they've been here

967
01:29:09,119 --> 01:29:13,439
so long. Well we'll see.
I'm going to break your his record,

968
01:29:13,880 --> 01:29:18,560
I promise you now, lads,
what about Eleanor's I asked him. The

969
01:29:18,640 --> 01:29:24,199
man shakes his head vigorously. No
chance, pal, She's been here for

970
01:29:24,319 --> 01:29:30,439
years, so it's true. Years. Charlie shrugs and leans back in his

971
01:29:30,560 --> 01:29:34,680
chair, burping. I don't know, mate, I could be exaggerating.

972
01:29:35,199 --> 01:29:41,600
Christian knows it better than I do. I turned to him, Christian,

973
01:29:42,000 --> 01:29:48,479
what do you think? What's Eleanor's
story? Christian scratches his beard. She's

974
01:29:48,479 --> 01:29:54,319
been here a long time, Yes, since nineteen eighty seven, I whisper,

975
01:29:54,479 --> 01:30:01,800
anxiously. Nineteen eighty seven? What? I stare at him. He

976
01:30:01,960 --> 01:30:09,079
stairs back, then laughs, taking
another big swig of beer. You're joking,

977
01:30:09,159 --> 01:30:14,079
right, that she's been since nineteen
eighty seven. Not possible, really,

978
01:30:14,279 --> 01:30:20,439
actually, so how long has she
been here? Then? He sighs.

979
01:30:20,479 --> 01:30:26,560
She prefers me not to tell you. She's a private person, mysterious,

980
01:30:26,560 --> 01:30:30,039
she has lots of history. I
think she finds peace up here,

981
01:30:30,359 --> 01:30:36,079
away from the world. Peace up
here and Demon Mountain, Demon Mountain,

982
01:30:36,520 --> 01:30:41,800
Charlie snorts. I like that one
sounds like a ride of bloody Disneyland.

983
01:30:43,199 --> 01:30:47,840
And think about it, demons.
We're fighting demons up here, I shout,

984
01:30:48,079 --> 01:30:51,159
throwing out my arms and knocking a
bottle to the floor with a clatter.

985
01:30:53,079 --> 01:30:58,560
Why haven't we all acknowledged how crazy
that is we have made We've just

986
01:30:58,600 --> 01:31:04,439
been through what you're through. Damn
going through already, Charlie says, pointing

987
01:31:04,479 --> 01:31:09,479
his bottle at me and clapping me
on the shoulder. You're doing good,

988
01:31:09,520 --> 01:31:13,479
mate. Just keep the demons out, don't let them into the outpost,

989
01:31:14,000 --> 01:31:18,720
don't use weaponry outside the boundary,
etc. The demon spoke to me my

990
01:31:18,760 --> 01:31:24,840
brother's voice last night, and Marta
quietly and the guys share a quick glance.

991
01:31:26,119 --> 01:31:30,640
What did he say, Christian asks. He told me that it only

992
01:31:30,680 --> 01:31:36,840
wanted peace, that I should ask
myself who the true enemy are. You

993
01:31:36,920 --> 01:31:41,359
didn't respond, did you make?
Charlie asks, in a sudden panic.

994
01:31:42,279 --> 01:31:45,079
Of course he didn't. Christian interjects, you think we would be sitting is

995
01:31:45,159 --> 01:31:50,319
so casually right now? If he
did so, what happens if we do

996
01:31:50,479 --> 01:31:56,439
respond, I asked nervously in a
low voice. If they do get into

997
01:31:56,479 --> 01:32:02,640
the outpost, I leaned forwards.
The two others too. Likewise, they

998
01:32:02,680 --> 01:32:06,119
look at each other as the wind
blows beyond the walls of the complex.

999
01:32:08,159 --> 01:32:13,319
It's snowing. This evening might be
a cold one. Tonight A demon got

1000
01:32:13,319 --> 01:32:16,319
into the complex once before, with
you, didn't it, Chris. Charlie

1001
01:32:16,319 --> 01:32:21,920
asked the Norwegian, and the man
nods. That was a terrible night,

1002
01:32:23,000 --> 01:32:28,119
Adam, one of the worst nights
of my life. He sighs and says,

1003
01:32:28,159 --> 01:32:31,279
his bottle back onto the table.
And believe me, I've had some

1004
01:32:31,399 --> 01:32:38,600
low quality nights. Eleanor was there
also? It was like taking away the

1005
01:32:38,680 --> 01:32:45,560
mosquito net by the banks of a
tropical river. Charlie nods sombrely and takes

1006
01:32:45,600 --> 01:32:53,520
another sip, staring off into space. Poetic mate, I press him,

1007
01:32:53,560 --> 01:32:57,439
and how long ago was this worst
night of your life? When was this

1008
01:32:57,560 --> 01:33:04,560
exactly? Christian rubs his fingers over
his eyes. I'm not sure. Two

1009
01:33:04,680 --> 01:33:11,199
years, maybe two years, so
you've been here that long? I asked

1010
01:33:11,279 --> 01:33:16,760
him. No, he replies,
I come and go. I consider this

1011
01:33:18,680 --> 01:33:25,159
so that confirms some of what April
was saying earlier. Christian comes and goes.

1012
01:33:25,840 --> 01:33:29,960
Eleanor has been here for at least
two years, quite lightly longer.

1013
01:33:30,079 --> 01:33:38,199
I need more. I need more
information, and Eleanor I begin whispering now.

1014
01:33:38,640 --> 01:33:42,640
Though Charlie seems amused by this,
It's all right, mate, he

1015
01:33:42,720 --> 01:33:46,239
slays. She ain't gonna hear you
speak your mind. He winks at Christian,

1016
01:33:46,920 --> 01:33:50,680
I certainly know what's on my mind. Lads. He puts his hand

1017
01:33:50,680 --> 01:33:56,199
out in front of his chest,
making the international gesture for massive boobs.

1018
01:33:57,880 --> 01:34:01,239
This says Christian, roaring with laughter, and I cannot help but join in.

1019
01:34:02,760 --> 01:34:06,920
Charlie. Christian laughs, you're a
bad man. You shouldn't speak like

1020
01:34:08,000 --> 01:34:13,399
that of our comrade. What Charlie
says, defensively, giving us his best

1021
01:34:13,479 --> 01:34:16,760
innocent face. I'm just saying,
I'd love to have a go on em.

1022
01:34:16,880 --> 01:34:21,960
He helps me. Eh, wouldn't
you, Adam? I laughed drunkenly

1023
01:34:23,079 --> 01:34:26,960
and shrug. I'm not sure,
man, she kind of scares me,

1024
01:34:28,840 --> 01:34:32,960
this said to the guys, laughing
even harder. Hello, I suppose I

1025
01:34:33,039 --> 01:34:38,239
put on my best British accent.
She does have a lovely pair of knockers.

1026
01:34:39,199 --> 01:34:42,680
What the hell is going on in
here? Says Elena from just behind

1027
01:34:42,680 --> 01:34:45,079
me, and the three of us
shout out an alarm and stagger up to

1028
01:34:45,079 --> 01:34:49,520
our feet in an instant, Bottles
and glasses clinking and knocking and tipping,

1029
01:34:50,079 --> 01:34:56,319
rolling noisily across the little table and
clattering to the floor. She stares with

1030
01:34:56,399 --> 01:35:00,239
fury at the enormous collection of bottles
and emptied cans across the able chairs and

1031
01:35:00,359 --> 01:35:06,560
floor. She looks between us a
gaze sharp and terrifying. You stupid,

1032
01:35:06,680 --> 01:35:11,720
stupid assous, she shouts, in
a thick accent, What the hell have

1033
01:35:11,800 --> 01:35:17,319
you done? Looks she gives the
Charlie an I convey basically a disgust,

1034
01:35:18,079 --> 01:35:24,199
but the glance she gives the Christian
is full of disappointment, a cringe from

1035
01:35:24,239 --> 01:35:31,119
the second hand disapproval. Christian chuckles
awkwardly. Look eleanor maybe this's got a

1036
01:35:31,199 --> 01:35:34,319
little out of hand to any of
your idiots? Know what time it is,

1037
01:35:34,760 --> 01:35:39,239
she asks, throwing a hand out
towards the window. We have one

1038
01:35:39,239 --> 01:35:45,640
hour until sunset. One hour.
Tension ripples around the room. No,

1039
01:35:46,359 --> 01:35:51,840
Charlie mutters squinting and blinking at his
watch. He is the only one wearing

1040
01:35:51,840 --> 01:35:57,359
one. Oh we've got ages,
haven't we? I made it at least

1041
01:35:57,399 --> 01:36:02,880
three or four. He trawls off. Eleanor does not say anything. She

1042
01:36:03,000 --> 01:36:08,319
puts her hand to her head.
Where is Yuri, she asks quietly,

1043
01:36:08,600 --> 01:36:12,720
with her eyes closed. Tell me
it did not have access to this alcohol.

1044
01:36:14,359 --> 01:36:18,720
No one replies. Damn, she
shouts, Well all of you need

1045
01:36:18,760 --> 01:36:24,960
to sober up quickly too. She
claps her hands in her face. Move

1046
01:36:26,720 --> 01:36:30,279
and move, we do, stumbling
and tripping, trying to keep out the

1047
01:36:30,359 --> 01:36:36,239
sudden panic attacking the back of our
minds. Damn is all I can think

1048
01:36:36,520 --> 01:36:41,760
as I feel the alcohol sweat start
a bud across my body. Damn,

1049
01:36:41,960 --> 01:36:54,000
damn, damn. What the hell
was I thinking? I asked myself as

1050
01:36:54,000 --> 01:37:00,640
I splashed cold water into my face? Am I really so irresponsible? Charlie?

1051
01:37:00,960 --> 01:37:03,760
That man can drink like a fish? How could I have allowed myself

1052
01:37:03,760 --> 01:37:09,439
to get so swept up? I
rub my hands through my hair, run

1053
01:37:09,560 --> 01:37:14,960
my thumbs over my eyes. No, no use placing blame. This is

1054
01:37:15,000 --> 01:37:18,760
just as much as my fault as
it is his. An ice called shower

1055
01:37:18,840 --> 01:37:25,720
follows the water like needles across my
body. A crate of some weird Russian

1056
01:37:25,760 --> 01:37:30,800
soft drink is discovered in the back
as I drive myself off a curious green

1057
01:37:30,920 --> 01:37:34,920
gatorade like juice with a Russian label. I pop the cap and rug one

1058
01:37:34,960 --> 01:37:41,640
down, as do the others.
Taste okay, I guess, though I

1059
01:37:41,680 --> 01:37:45,399
don't know how long it's been here, the electrolytes, if indeed it has

1060
01:37:45,439 --> 01:37:50,680
any should do me good. I
can hear Eleanor arguing with Christian in another

1061
01:37:50,760 --> 01:37:58,039
room, though I cannot make out
the words ah. I take a look

1062
01:37:58,039 --> 01:38:00,880
at myself in the mirror, and
my blood shot eyes the guilt in my

1063
01:38:00,960 --> 01:38:06,319
expression. I gave myself a light
slap across the face and head towards my

1064
01:38:06,399 --> 01:38:12,720
station with a few parting words to
Charlie. He raises his eyebrow at me

1065
01:38:12,840 --> 01:38:20,159
and grimaces, but says nothing.
Time's up. Our revitalization hour has passed.

1066
01:38:20,960 --> 01:38:27,560
The night cometh. I clamber up
my ladder and WinCE as my head

1067
01:38:27,560 --> 01:38:31,199
breeches the gap in the ceiling,
the wind blowing cold and fierce into my

1068
01:38:31,279 --> 01:38:36,680
face. Eleanor shouts up at me
from below. I turned down to her,

1069
01:38:38,079 --> 01:38:44,279
pausing on the final wrong. What
Yuri, She shouts again, angrily.

1070
01:38:44,880 --> 01:38:51,359
Where is Yuri? Crap I didn't
I don't know, I haven't seen

1071
01:38:51,399 --> 01:38:58,520
since earlier. He's not a distation. No, Eleanor replies, he isn't,

1072
01:38:58,560 --> 01:39:00,640
and the sun will be down in
a middle it or so. She

1073
01:39:00,760 --> 01:39:05,239
draws a radio from a belt and
up to her mouth. April, April

1074
01:39:05,279 --> 01:39:11,239
coming. Please have you seen Yuri? Oh? Elena? I called down.

1075
01:39:11,720 --> 01:39:14,640
April's radio is still broken. She
won't be able to hear you,

1076
01:39:15,359 --> 01:39:18,680
Elena swears loudly in Russian, slamming
the radio back into its clip on a

1077
01:39:18,800 --> 01:39:25,039
belt. What is wrong with you
people, she exclaims, swiveling on the

1078
01:39:25,079 --> 01:39:30,600
spot and marching off through the complex, shivering. I returned to the ladder

1079
01:39:30,720 --> 01:39:33,680
and ascend up and on to the
roof, heading over to my position by

1080
01:39:33,680 --> 01:39:38,960
the gun and dropping down to a
crouch, looking through the sights at the

1081
01:39:39,000 --> 01:39:46,279
mountainside all around another clear night to
night. I blink rapidly, trying to

1082
01:39:46,319 --> 01:39:51,560
force away the dizziness. The bitter
cold of the air helps somewhat. I

1083
01:39:51,600 --> 01:39:57,760
am aware of the gravity of my
mess up, but still I do actually

1084
01:39:57,800 --> 01:40:04,760
feel a little braver tonight, brave, No, you're just stupid. Idiot,

1085
01:40:04,960 --> 01:40:11,520
you're still drunk. The sun sinks
behind the mountains, A wipe machine

1086
01:40:11,560 --> 01:40:15,560
of alcohol sweats from my forehead,
glancing away and up to the sky.

1087
01:40:15,720 --> 01:40:21,239
Clouds swell softly overhead, and little
flakes of snow begin to fall, one

1088
01:40:21,239 --> 01:40:26,960
by one. I wonder how long
it'll take for the demons to show up

1089
01:40:27,000 --> 01:40:31,720
this time? Last night gave us
three hours of steadily building tension. Could

1090
01:40:31,720 --> 01:40:40,479
it be a similar story to Night
More? Maybe my question is swiftly and

1091
01:40:40,640 --> 01:40:45,960
brutally answered. Even before I had
time to allocate significant brain power to such

1092
01:40:46,000 --> 01:40:54,119
a line of thought, they appeared, to my utter dismay, the demons

1093
01:40:54,199 --> 01:40:59,600
arrive at the very instant the night
begins, The tip of the sun sinks

1094
01:40:59,600 --> 01:41:02,279
beneath the horizon, and the song
begins. The shiver its way through the

1095
01:41:02,399 --> 01:41:09,359
night, from peak to peak,
discordant to night, jarring sharp notes where

1096
01:41:09,359 --> 01:41:14,720
one does not expect them, like
nails on a chalkboard. I gripped my

1097
01:41:14,760 --> 01:41:19,600
teeth. Dark void like air crashes
in the form of waves into the cliff

1098
01:41:19,640 --> 01:41:26,159
far below right, where the rocky
slopes are lost the darkness, and up

1099
01:41:26,199 --> 01:41:32,800
they clamber to begin with shadowy near
formless shapes. There was long, shimmering

1100
01:41:32,920 --> 01:41:38,680
arms reach out, grabbing hold of
the rock and hauling themselves up towards me.

1101
01:41:39,840 --> 01:41:44,119
The arms vanished back into the air
as more are thrown out, an

1102
01:41:44,239 --> 01:41:49,760
endless cycle of grabbing hands and clawing
feverish limbs. I suck some mountain cold

1103
01:41:49,800 --> 01:41:56,159
air in through my teeth and angle
down the weapon, the great contraption clanking

1104
01:41:56,239 --> 01:42:01,760
and creaking as I fire. The
first chaotic streme of screaming light down tears

1105
01:42:01,760 --> 01:42:06,159
the beam with an electric shudder,
an arrow of gold in the gloom as

1106
01:42:06,199 --> 01:42:12,319
it burns right past the demons directly
below. I curse and try again,

1107
01:42:13,239 --> 01:42:18,600
this blast, two going wide.
Come on, Come on, third time,

1108
01:42:18,680 --> 01:42:24,199
lucky. I feel the juddering in
my forearms as a light is sent

1109
01:42:24,359 --> 01:42:29,920
searing down and the demons are both
caught together. They burst into wisps of

1110
01:42:29,960 --> 01:42:34,039
smoke and shards of clattering bone,
and I bring the weapon around, firing

1111
01:42:34,079 --> 01:42:40,800
again as the next of the abominations
appears over to my left. This is

1112
01:42:40,840 --> 01:42:43,760
not good, This is not good
at all. What the hell is Juri

1113
01:42:44,319 --> 01:42:46,800
is eleanor even at a station,
yet she's trying so hard to make sure

1114
01:42:46,840 --> 01:42:50,520
that the rest of us are already
Why did the demons have to arrive so

1115
01:42:50,560 --> 01:42:57,720
early tonight. Damn. One of
the creatures gets frighteningly close. Adrenaline surges

1116
01:42:57,920 --> 01:43:01,760
as the shadow ripples up the mountainside
towards me, reaching up and out with

1117
01:43:01,840 --> 01:43:06,279
a desperate hand. And at this
range, I swear I can see the

1118
01:43:06,399 --> 01:43:14,279
rough outline of something in its shadow
ahead, and a pair of shoulders,

1119
01:43:14,319 --> 01:43:18,399
perhaps a jaw that stretches from one
side to the other, opening wide.

1120
01:43:18,600 --> 01:43:25,119
As the darkness spills out, I
cry out in horror and slam down the

1121
01:43:25,119 --> 01:43:30,840
weapon, releasing a beam directly beneath, temporarily blinded as the blast thunders out

1122
01:43:30,079 --> 01:43:34,399
and tears down the rocky wall below, destroying the demon with a screech and

1123
01:43:34,479 --> 01:43:40,479
a clatter of bones. One of
these bones, a piece of rib by

1124
01:43:40,479 --> 01:43:44,560
the looks of it, flies up
and over my head. I ducked to

1125
01:43:44,600 --> 01:43:47,479
the side as it flies behind me
and strikes the wall, tumbling down to

1126
01:43:47,560 --> 01:43:53,199
the ground below. Too close,
too close, Come on, Adam,

1127
01:43:53,319 --> 01:43:58,399
come on, don't let the enemy
into the outpost. I blink some more

1128
01:43:58,640 --> 01:44:02,079
as the colorful streaks of retin a
burned light flash across my vision. I

1129
01:44:02,279 --> 01:44:08,560
groan and my stomach lurches. I
find a way to somehow make my experience

1130
01:44:08,560 --> 01:44:13,399
on this outpost even worse. Your
comrades lives are at stake. Wake up,

1131
01:44:13,439 --> 01:44:17,880
soldier, Wake up, Adam whispers
the voice of a demon into my

1132
01:44:17,960 --> 01:44:24,800
ear. I jump in fright and
swat the air instinctively, but there is

1133
01:44:25,119 --> 01:44:31,479
as always nothing there. Wake up
and see the truth. I require entry

1134
01:44:31,520 --> 01:44:35,840
to the tomb. I do not
want to hurt you, but I will

1135
01:44:35,880 --> 01:44:41,520
do what I must. I have
been waiting for a long long time.

1136
01:44:44,760 --> 01:44:48,800
I gripped my teeth and swing the
weapon around, firing off concentrated bursts at

1137
01:44:48,800 --> 01:44:55,319
the approaching targets. What the hell
are these things? I muttered to myself,

1138
01:44:55,800 --> 01:45:00,920
blasting the weapon again and again.
The alcohol as divided me with some

1139
01:45:00,960 --> 01:45:05,119
temporary resistance to the cold, it
would seem the wind, despite the shock

1140
01:45:05,159 --> 01:45:11,880
of the initial cold, does not
seem quite so brutal. But the trade

1141
01:45:11,920 --> 01:45:16,399
off in terms of accuracy and sense
of impending doom really not worth it,

1142
01:45:17,279 --> 01:45:23,600
Not worth it in the slightest.
Many of my shots go wide. The

1143
01:45:23,720 --> 01:45:29,640
demon clambers ever closer to my position, streaming constantly up the walls, and

1144
01:45:29,760 --> 01:45:32,840
every time that they reach a certain
distance away, my terror flares up.

1145
01:45:33,479 --> 01:45:39,760
The fear of the unknown. I
still don't know exactly what would happen if

1146
01:45:39,760 --> 01:45:44,159
such a creature were to breach and
make their way onto or into the outpost.

1147
01:45:45,119 --> 01:45:49,239
A shout way after my right draws
my attention. I shoot a quick

1148
01:45:49,239 --> 01:45:54,039
glance over to the roof and catch
a blur of movement at the wall's edge.

1149
01:45:54,880 --> 01:45:59,399
Lightning like flashes in the darkness all
around illuminate the edges of the cliffs

1150
01:45:59,600 --> 01:46:10,680
and walls, and my comrade,
Yuri. My blood freezes. The man

1151
01:46:10,960 --> 01:46:15,520
is a mess stationed on a section
of roof across the gap over to my

1152
01:46:15,640 --> 01:46:21,399
right. He is shouting belligerently down
and into the shadows below by watching horror

1153
01:46:21,479 --> 01:46:26,800
as a pair of hands grabbed the
wall by Euri's side. It's difficult to

1154
01:46:26,840 --> 01:46:30,680
see from this distance, but there
is nothing else they could be. Yuri

1155
01:46:30,800 --> 01:46:35,600
bellows in Russian and staggers back to
his weapon, grabbing it, taking careless

1156
01:46:35,640 --> 01:46:41,079
aim, and then swinging around the
thing around in a chaotic ark. A

1157
01:46:41,079 --> 01:46:45,399
blast of light tearing towards me,
right past me in fact, as I

1158
01:46:45,439 --> 01:46:49,359
shield my face from the rush of
heat, slipping and stumbling backwards and striking

1159
01:46:49,359 --> 01:46:55,159
the section of war behind me with
a thud. Jeez. I shout,

1160
01:46:55,319 --> 01:47:02,079
Yuri, what the hell? But
he cannot hear me. Either that or

1161
01:47:02,119 --> 01:47:08,640
he is simply failing to listen.
The light goes wide again and again as

1162
01:47:08,640 --> 01:47:13,359
the man struggles with the machinery.
He wipes his eyes with a sleeve and

1163
01:47:13,479 --> 01:47:17,760
slurs a long string of words as
he sways from side to side. I

1164
01:47:17,840 --> 01:47:23,760
reach from my radio and bellow into
it, eleanor are you there? Urie's

1165
01:47:23,840 --> 01:47:27,399
up on the post right beside me. But it is a mess. Something's

1166
01:47:27,399 --> 01:47:33,279
going to happen, something bad.
And as I speak, I watch as

1167
01:47:33,279 --> 01:47:40,279
a dark shape grabs a hold of
URI's arm. Uri swears and draws a

1168
01:47:40,359 --> 01:47:45,560
knife from his belt, hacking and
slashing at the smoke. It seems to

1169
01:47:45,680 --> 01:47:49,960
do little, however, and more
of the substance envelops him. A moment

1170
01:47:50,000 --> 01:47:59,159
more and he's falling. The shadows
drag him over the edge. I watch

1171
01:47:59,279 --> 01:48:03,159
with eyes wi as everything in the
moment begins to play out in slow motion.

1172
01:48:05,039 --> 01:48:10,279
Uri slips from the wall and tumbles
down the cliff side into the darkness

1173
01:48:10,399 --> 01:48:15,359
below. Lights flash at the edges
of my vision and the snow flakes fall

1174
01:48:15,439 --> 01:48:24,439
thicker all around Uri. I shout, but the man has vannished. I

1175
01:48:24,600 --> 01:48:30,000
draw my radio up to my mouth
and try and report this handshaking He's Urie's

1176
01:48:30,000 --> 01:48:35,720
gone over. I shout, It's
gone over the edge, but my radio

1177
01:48:35,800 --> 01:48:42,279
only crackles with static. I looked
down over the edge, peering into the

1178
01:48:42,359 --> 01:48:46,520
darkness. Hastily. I returned to
my weapon, launching a beam in a

1179
01:48:46,560 --> 01:48:53,680
wide, acts like arc directly below, obliterating a group of demons and illuminating

1180
01:48:54,239 --> 01:48:59,880
for a moment, Uri trapped on
a rocky outcrop below, his back against

1181
01:48:59,880 --> 01:49:06,359
the cliff, darkness swirling around him. Damn Urie. Other man does not

1182
01:49:06,479 --> 01:49:13,319
respond. I'm sure what to do. I spend a further few moments blasting

1183
01:49:13,399 --> 01:49:16,279
demons away from the rock below,
shooting a few wide to try and keep

1184
01:49:16,439 --> 01:49:24,319
URI's immediate area free from them,
and in a moment of brief respite,

1185
01:49:24,960 --> 01:49:33,039
with the cliff side below entirely empty, I make a decision. I abandoned

1186
01:49:33,119 --> 01:49:39,960
my post, aware of the critical
importance of the first rule, but still

1187
01:49:40,479 --> 01:49:45,560
there is a man in danger.
I scrambled down the ladder in haste and

1188
01:49:45,680 --> 01:49:49,760
sprint through the complex corridors towards the
equipment room, the room that Charlie found

1189
01:49:49,800 --> 01:49:55,439
me in as it happened, I
burst in and looked wildly all around.

1190
01:49:56,760 --> 01:50:00,399
Where is it? Where is it? And yes, in a rack stashed

1191
01:50:00,399 --> 01:50:05,760
in a corner is just what I
found earlier, standard US Army issued,

1192
01:50:06,279 --> 01:50:13,520
covered in dust, a set of
old climbing gear. I run over and

1193
01:50:13,600 --> 01:50:16,279
grab it up into my arms,
running as quickly as I can back through

1194
01:50:16,279 --> 01:50:20,479
the halls over to the room and
ladder that would take me up to Eury's

1195
01:50:20,479 --> 01:50:29,079
post, and I climb up.
I go back into the wintry world above,

1196
01:50:30,079 --> 01:50:32,600
and dumping the equipment unto the ground
in the snow, I jumped to

1197
01:50:32,640 --> 01:50:39,239
Eura's weapon, angling it around and
feeling the electric crackle across my skin as

1198
01:50:39,239 --> 01:50:44,159
I send a beam out, daggling
down the side of the cliff. Demons

1199
01:50:44,319 --> 01:50:47,960
burst and steam with shattering bones,
and I swivel on the spot, grabbing

1200
01:50:47,960 --> 01:50:53,720
the equipment and getting myself into it
as quickly as possible, binding an anchor

1201
01:50:53,720 --> 01:50:59,119
to attach it to all while simultaneously
trying to protect both my own and Eurie's

1202
01:50:59,159 --> 01:51:04,199
section of wall. I swear to
myself over and over, sweating and shaking

1203
01:51:04,199 --> 01:51:09,680
in the snow, my hands alternating
between the straps of my gear and the

1204
01:51:09,720 --> 01:51:14,319
mechanisms of the weapon attached to the
wall. I try the radio gain for

1205
01:51:14,399 --> 01:51:17,399
a second time. I try simply
shouting as loud as I possibly can.

1206
01:51:19,319 --> 01:51:23,359
God, I should have called to
someone when I was in the complex.

1207
01:51:23,840 --> 01:51:29,960
Why didn't I think of that?
But it's too late now, Yury.

1208
01:51:30,399 --> 01:51:33,479
I called down, and the man
looks back up at me, his face

1209
01:51:33,520 --> 01:51:40,199
illuminated briefly and faintly in a distant
flash. The demon slithers up on the

1210
01:51:40,319 --> 01:51:44,680
rock by his feet, and he
kicks at it in alarm. I jumped

1211
01:51:44,680 --> 01:51:48,640
to the weapon duck, I shout, firing a prolonged beam down into the

1212
01:51:48,640 --> 01:51:55,359
shadows. Yury shields his face as
the demons about his feet are obliterated,

1213
01:51:55,960 --> 01:52:00,399
and I bring the beam across the
chasm below. I jumped for a Bible,

1214
01:52:00,840 --> 01:52:04,039
of which there are several piled up
against the wall, and I flip

1215
01:52:04,119 --> 01:52:10,000
one open, rivaling through the pages
for a good passage. But it's pointless.

1216
01:52:10,960 --> 01:52:14,439
It's all in Russian. I can't
read a single word of this.

1217
01:52:15,000 --> 01:52:18,600
Oh God, I shout. Then
I lean over the edge and throw the

1218
01:52:18,640 --> 01:52:23,920
bible down to Yuri. He reaches
up to catch it, but misses and

1219
01:52:24,000 --> 01:52:29,319
it lands unceremoniously at his feet on
the ledge beside him. I'm coming for

1220
01:52:29,359 --> 01:52:33,159
your man, I mutter, finally
finishing and fixing the climbing gear to myself

1221
01:52:33,279 --> 01:52:40,199
and the outpost, and with a
breath, clambering over the side and stepping

1222
01:52:40,279 --> 01:52:47,760
clumsily down into the dark. The
sensation is hugely, hugely uncomfortable. It's

1223
01:52:47,800 --> 01:52:54,199
like the air is thick down here, wetter almost. It becomes harder than

1224
01:52:54,239 --> 01:52:59,520
taking breaths. But down I go, step by step down the rock,

1225
01:53:00,239 --> 01:53:03,640
praying that the demons will stay in
the darkness beneath just for a little longer,

1226
01:53:04,479 --> 01:53:08,960
long enough for me to grab ury
and haul him back up and over

1227
01:53:09,000 --> 01:53:14,199
the wall. I reached the man
and put out a hand. He stares

1228
01:53:14,239 --> 01:53:18,359
at me, eyes blood shot,
forearms all scratched up and bleeding. He

1229
01:53:18,479 --> 01:53:24,319
says something to me in Russian,
staring in utter disbelief. Come on,

1230
01:53:24,840 --> 01:53:30,279
I shout to him, No man
left behind, God damn it Uri swears

1231
01:53:30,279 --> 01:53:33,079
in Russian and grabs a hold of
my shoulder straps. We're going up.

1232
01:53:33,319 --> 01:53:36,880
Come on, help me here,
you have to climb, I tell him,

1233
01:53:36,920 --> 01:53:41,800
grabbing ahold of his jacket and making
to haul us both back and up

1234
01:53:41,840 --> 01:53:45,600
the side of the cliff. Back
up we go, blood pounding in my

1235
01:53:45,720 --> 01:53:50,920
veins, and I can only watch
and dismay. Despite my bitter hopes,

1236
01:53:51,680 --> 01:53:58,159
a demon slithers its way right past
us. I get the closest view of

1237
01:53:58,199 --> 01:54:02,479
one of these creatures so far from
this angle. It looks vaguely, ever

1238
01:54:02,560 --> 01:54:11,000
so slightly human, one comprised of
rippling smoke and mist. Its arms move

1239
01:54:11,079 --> 01:54:14,760
with such speed that it's impossible to
tell how many it might have been.

1240
01:54:15,840 --> 01:54:18,920
An arm stretches up, grabs hold
of the rock to drag the demon up,

1241
01:54:19,640 --> 01:54:24,079
and in the very same second another
arm comes up to replace it,

1242
01:54:24,439 --> 01:54:29,239
and another, then another. No. I shout out into the night,

1243
01:54:29,640 --> 01:54:32,760
as the demon rushes right past,
grabbing hold of the lip of the outpost

1244
01:54:32,800 --> 01:54:39,039
wall up above, and clambering over
the side and onto the roof out of

1245
01:54:39,079 --> 01:54:44,720
sight. No yurie, come on, I shout to the man, and

1246
01:54:44,840 --> 01:54:48,039
together we climbed back up the rope
faster than I would have thought possible,

1247
01:54:49,119 --> 01:54:53,920
but we reached the summit, and
fling ourselves back over the edge and onto

1248
01:54:53,960 --> 01:54:58,680
the outpost, I take a deep
but shaky breath, throwing myself at the

1249
01:54:58,720 --> 01:55:03,239
weapon and bringing it a sound like
releasing into the darkness. I grabbed the

1250
01:55:03,239 --> 01:55:06,760
man by the front of the uniform. Are you okay, Urie, I

1251
01:55:06,840 --> 01:55:14,640
shout, can you man this thing? He nods, bewildered. He shoves

1252
01:55:14,680 --> 01:55:17,880
me away and returns to his station, reaching for a Bible and flipping through

1253
01:55:17,920 --> 01:55:24,279
the pages. And I make to
unfasten myself from the climbing harness. I

1254
01:55:24,399 --> 01:55:28,720
grabbed my radio again, bringing it
up to my mouth. Attention, I

1255
01:55:28,800 --> 01:55:31,279
say, into it, a demon, there's a demon in the outpost.

1256
01:55:32,800 --> 01:55:38,239
I tear the equipment off and clamber
unsteadily down the ladder, darting through the

1257
01:55:38,279 --> 01:55:43,560
complex, looking this way and that
for any sign of the intruder. I

1258
01:55:43,600 --> 01:55:46,840
don't know what I'll do if I
actually find it. However, everything is

1259
01:55:46,840 --> 01:55:53,399
a blur. I just know that
this is partly my fault, my responsibility,

1260
01:55:54,399 --> 01:55:59,760
and so I have to be the
one to deal with it. Shadows

1261
01:56:00,239 --> 01:56:03,800
and creep in the corners of the
complex. Light flashes through the thick glass

1262
01:56:03,800 --> 01:56:09,800
of the windows as I race between
the walls. Hey, I shut down

1263
01:56:09,800 --> 01:56:16,760
the halls, Hey show yourself.
A voice crackles through my radio. Eleanor's

1264
01:56:17,399 --> 01:56:27,960
two words where she says, then
when I grabbed the thing and bring it

1265
01:56:28,039 --> 01:56:32,399
up to my face five minutes ago
or so my side of the outpost with

1266
01:56:32,640 --> 01:56:39,159
Urie by Eurie station. The radio
crackles, And where are you now,

1267
01:56:39,600 --> 01:56:44,000
she replies, inside the complex near
the kitchens, trying to find it.

1268
01:56:44,680 --> 01:56:47,680
No, return to your station,
Do not engage. I will deal with

1269
01:56:47,760 --> 01:56:55,279
this. The ice in a voice
makes it difficult to disobey. I falter,

1270
01:56:56,199 --> 01:56:59,960
but then just do as she says, running back through the complay,

1271
01:57:00,560 --> 01:57:04,239
expecting to get jumped at any second. Returning to my post and ascending the

1272
01:57:04,279 --> 01:57:10,199
ladder, A part of me is
waiting for a demonic hand to reach out

1273
01:57:10,199 --> 01:57:14,520
below me, to grab me round
the ankle and drag me down and away

1274
01:57:14,640 --> 01:57:20,680
into the shadows. But no,
nothing happens. I climb back up and

1275
01:57:20,840 --> 01:57:26,279
out into the snow, shielding my
eyes as a beam lights up the area

1276
01:57:26,399 --> 01:57:31,840
immediately before me. One of your's
bones rattle and clatter down the mountainside,

1277
01:57:32,319 --> 01:57:36,720
and I return to my weapon,
carrying on with my duty. The fear

1278
01:57:36,960 --> 01:57:45,119
like a fire within me. Eleanor's
voice comes to the radio again. Barricade

1279
01:57:45,199 --> 01:57:48,319
entrances that outpost immediately, all draw
up the ladder as if possible, do

1280
01:57:48,439 --> 01:57:53,479
not return into the complex for any
reason, we must wait and hope for

1281
01:57:53,520 --> 01:58:00,159
the rising sun. And so I
do. I reach for a near by

1282
01:58:00,159 --> 01:58:03,560
crate and heave it across the roof
in order to block the little passage back

1283
01:58:03,600 --> 01:58:09,039
into the outpost. I dropped the
ladder with a clatter and block up the

1284
01:58:09,119 --> 01:58:14,880
entrance as best I can. Is
this really our plan? I can't help

1285
01:58:14,880 --> 01:58:18,479
but wonder. Leave the demon inside
to its own devices. What happens at

1286
01:58:18,560 --> 01:58:25,399
daybreak? Will it simply die?
That's what I'm hoping. But it's too

1287
01:58:25,479 --> 01:58:30,399
chaotic right now to formulate any kind
of serious alternative. I just do my

1288
01:58:30,479 --> 01:58:34,359
best to keep any further demons from
breaching the walls. Roll number one,

1289
01:58:35,239 --> 01:58:43,039
do not let the enemy into the
outpost. Damn. Oh hell, And

1290
01:58:43,079 --> 01:58:46,079
I was doing so well too.
What's going to happen now? What's going

1291
01:58:46,119 --> 01:58:51,760
to happen to the outpost? To
us? I remember Christian's words from earlier

1292
01:58:53,479 --> 01:58:59,359
about the last time the demons got
into the complex. It was like like

1293
01:58:59,520 --> 01:59:04,159
taking a way the mosquito net by
the banks of a tropical river. My

1294
01:59:04,279 --> 01:59:10,359
grimace. And the night deepens,
the demons become more and more numerous,

1295
01:59:11,640 --> 01:59:15,399
whereas in the previous nights and in
the past few hours. It was the

1296
01:59:15,399 --> 01:59:19,680
occasional assailant clambering up the cliff side
in ones or two's. They now appear

1297
01:59:19,800 --> 01:59:26,399
thick and fast, in hoards,
constant, an endless stream of monsters in

1298
01:59:26,399 --> 01:59:31,119
the dark. Sweat paws from my
body. I can feel it freezing across

1299
01:59:31,159 --> 01:59:35,680
my skin. My hands ache and
burn with exertion. The muscles in my

1300
01:59:35,720 --> 01:59:40,960
shoulders and upper back scream in time
to the blasts of the burning, blinding

1301
01:59:41,039 --> 01:59:45,479
light. The song from the mountains
is almost entirely lost beneath the endless shiver

1302
01:59:45,720 --> 01:59:50,359
and rattle of ribs and spines and
bones. As demons smoke billows in all

1303
01:59:50,359 --> 01:59:56,800
directions. My silver cross is gripped
tied to my left hand. My voice

1304
01:59:56,800 --> 02:00:02,000
repeats a nonsentical tale of ceaseless disjoint
did vaguely appropriate Bible verses, until it's

1305
02:00:02,079 --> 02:00:11,039
horse and still. I shout out
into the shadows. The whispering becomes worse,

1306
02:00:12,239 --> 02:00:16,760
and the things they say, Adam, you are no first man.

1307
02:00:17,479 --> 02:00:23,960
Stand aside. You cannot stop the
tide. You're a good man, Adam,

1308
02:00:24,119 --> 02:00:28,520
you do not belong here. End
this. Just let me pass.

1309
02:00:29,399 --> 02:00:32,760
I won't hurt you or your friends, I promise. Let me end before

1310
02:00:32,800 --> 02:00:39,520
it's too late. I can save
them if you let me. Your brother

1311
02:00:39,560 --> 02:00:47,199
would understand. Just stand aside tricks, all of it tricks. I have

1312
02:00:47,279 --> 02:00:55,680
to believe this because any alternative is
too dangerous to even consider. So I

1313
02:00:55,800 --> 02:01:00,600
do my duty. The outpost and
surrounding mountains are lashed with light and fire

1314
02:01:00,680 --> 02:01:06,479
and smoke all the long way through
to the sparks of the morning. I

1315
02:01:06,560 --> 02:01:11,760
do not collapse with instant relief.
As the first flicker of sunlight appears on

1316
02:01:11,800 --> 02:01:15,680
the horizon, I do not even
notice it. My eyes are shot with

1317
02:01:15,760 --> 02:01:21,239
retina burnt streaks of color. Every
blink is like a firework show. My

1318
02:01:21,359 --> 02:01:27,760
hands are white and frozen, yet
still they tremble violently, Gripped tight to

1319
02:01:27,800 --> 02:01:30,760
the sides of the weapon. I
angle it this way and that, then

1320
02:01:30,800 --> 02:01:36,119
back again, searching for demons,
still repeating the verses over and over,

1321
02:01:38,520 --> 02:01:44,079
But after several minutes of no further
approaching creatures, I finally risk a quick

1322
02:01:44,119 --> 02:01:48,920
glance up to the sky. I
see the light, the natural light of

1323
02:01:49,039 --> 02:01:54,680
the day, not whatever terrifying light
it is that we create here with these

1324
02:01:54,720 --> 02:02:00,880
accursed weapons. I gasp and stagger
backwards, unclenching the fingers of my left

1325
02:02:00,920 --> 02:02:05,600
fist, slowly listening to them crack, and I carefully bry the silver cross

1326
02:02:05,680 --> 02:02:11,119
from my grip. A deep imprint
has been left in my flesh, the

1327
02:02:11,159 --> 02:02:15,199
outline obvious, and I returned the
little cross to my chest, eyes still

1328
02:02:15,239 --> 02:02:21,760
wide, shivering and a dream like
days. I pushed aside the crate and

1329
02:02:21,800 --> 02:02:27,920
the other items I used to barricade
the entrance to the rooftop lookout. I

1330
02:02:28,039 --> 02:02:31,199
send the ladder back down with a
metallic rattle, the noise like the bones

1331
02:02:31,199 --> 02:02:36,439
of the demons against the rocks.
I turn and step by shaking step,

1332
02:02:36,720 --> 02:02:42,720
I descend, my muscles failing me
and the final few wrongs and I crashed

1333
02:02:42,720 --> 02:02:45,760
down into a heap at its base, groaning as I tried to climb back

1334
02:02:45,880 --> 02:02:55,319
up. Sleep. I need to
sleep. It's weird, my mind tells

1335
02:02:55,359 --> 02:02:58,880
me. I need to rest,
but my body remains and high alert,

1336
02:02:59,560 --> 02:03:04,960
heart pumping since his primed, despite
my wariness. It's very difficult to describe,

1337
02:03:05,960 --> 02:03:11,199
and I know I'm going to get
shouted up by Elena too. Something

1338
02:03:11,479 --> 02:03:18,880
I'm really not looking forward to.
Elena, Damn and the demon. There's

1339
02:03:18,880 --> 02:03:25,239
still a demon between these walls.
Christian appears at the end of the corridor,

1340
02:03:25,479 --> 02:03:30,359
rubbing his forehead, Christian, I
croak out, raising a hand and

1341
02:03:30,399 --> 02:03:33,720
walking towards him. The light from
the sun as yet to do more than

1342
02:03:33,760 --> 02:03:38,880
allow the briefest trickle of light through
the glass, and the walls are still

1343
02:03:38,920 --> 02:03:44,960
thick with shadow. Christian, Hey, is it safe? Do the demons

1344
02:03:45,000 --> 02:03:47,640
all disappear when the sun rises?
Is there anything we need to do?

1345
02:03:49,920 --> 02:03:55,239
Christian size? As I approach,
he brings up a second hand to rub

1346
02:03:55,239 --> 02:04:00,439
his eyes. Christian, I say, in a voice barely above a horse

1347
02:04:00,479 --> 02:04:05,319
whisper. You heard the radio right, the demon, the one that got

1348
02:04:05,359 --> 02:04:10,479
in? Is it gone? What
do we do? Is it safe?

1349
02:04:12,479 --> 02:04:17,000
The man removes his hands from his
eyes, A dark human sized silhouette at

1350
02:04:17,000 --> 02:04:24,039
the corridor's end, a warm body
between these cold, sterile walls, and

1351
02:04:24,159 --> 02:04:30,439
he turns to me slowly. His
body remains perfectly still, however, as

1352
02:04:30,479 --> 02:04:35,840
to his shoulders, and only his
head makes the turn, turning slightly,

1353
02:04:36,560 --> 02:04:45,720
ever so slightly further then it should. I stare at him, and hears

1354
02:04:45,760 --> 02:04:49,119
eye. He steps from the shadows, and I am able to see his

1355
02:04:49,199 --> 02:04:55,840
eyes in the dim glimmer of light. The color in them has completely vanished.

1356
02:04:56,680 --> 02:05:00,680
There is only white, with the
tiniest pinprick of a pure people at

1357
02:05:00,720 --> 02:05:10,479
the center of each I take a
slow, horrified step back Christian. The

1358
02:05:10,560 --> 02:05:15,720
black of the man's pupils dilate,
they expand, and then they expand further

1359
02:05:15,800 --> 02:05:20,600
still, until the entirety of his
eyes are washed over in black. His

1360
02:05:20,720 --> 02:05:26,760
body cracks as he moves it around
to line up with his head, and

1361
02:05:26,960 --> 02:05:32,880
step by step he begins to make
his way towards me, shambling through the

1362
02:05:32,920 --> 02:05:45,279
shadows. For a long, grim
moment, I'm stuck fast with shock.

1363
02:05:45,479 --> 02:05:50,359
As Christian shambles his way through the
corridor towards me, several of his shadows

1364
02:05:50,359 --> 02:05:56,479
are cast out in impossible directions.
They flicker and jot with his movements,

1365
02:05:57,520 --> 02:06:01,359
and he opens his mouth to speak. The spell is broken as they take

1366
02:06:01,359 --> 02:06:10,079
a hasty retreating step, Christian,
like a sudden sword in the darkness.

1367
02:06:10,399 --> 02:06:15,920
From seemingly out of nowhere, appears
Eleanor. She throws out her hand and

1368
02:06:16,039 --> 02:06:21,279
stands in front of me. Tall
and defiant idiot, she mutters to me,

1369
02:06:21,680 --> 02:06:27,640
shooting me a quick cold glance.
Do not engage verbally with the enemy.

1370
02:06:28,920 --> 02:06:32,640
The enemy, I whisper in reply. As Eleanor raises a rifle.

1371
02:06:33,600 --> 02:06:38,960
The silvery light of the morning catches
in her hair and reflects in the dark

1372
02:06:39,119 --> 02:06:45,640
void like pools of Christian's eyes.
Christian's jaw falls open, and a myriad

1373
02:06:45,720 --> 02:06:50,520
of conflicting voices pour out, slithering
through the air. The sounds serpentine.

1374
02:06:51,920 --> 02:06:57,239
Adam, don't let her hurt me. We aren't so different, you and

1375
02:06:57,319 --> 02:07:02,600
I. They lie below. Let
us return to them, Adam, don't

1376
02:07:02,680 --> 02:07:10,119
stand in my way. A loud, sharp shot rings, loud and painful

1377
02:07:10,279 --> 02:07:15,720
down the corridor. I catch a
flicker of recoil. Alana's weapon jumps up

1378
02:07:15,760 --> 02:07:19,319
ever so slightly, and with a
flash, Christian drops like a stone to

1379
02:07:19,359 --> 02:07:25,199
the ground. What the hell,
I hear Charlie shout above the ringing in

1380
02:07:25,239 --> 02:07:29,880
my ears, and then he appears
beside me from an offshooting corridor, watching

1381
02:07:29,960 --> 02:07:33,960
an alarm. As Christian strikes the
floor, the man lands into line with

1382
02:07:34,000 --> 02:07:39,000
the window. The first rays of
the day's sun fall across the skin.

1383
02:07:41,760 --> 02:07:45,000
He mutters, writhing on the floor, blood leaking and pulling beneath him.

1384
02:07:45,840 --> 02:07:55,439
I can't see, And a second
later the man starts the steam. The

1385
02:07:55,560 --> 02:08:03,079
process takes literally seconds. One minute
he's there hole and the next his mass

1386
02:08:03,119 --> 02:08:07,800
begins to drift away in the form
of thick, dark smoke. It sticks

1387
02:08:07,840 --> 02:08:11,239
to the walls like tar and condenses
on the ceiling. And all that remains

1388
02:08:11,239 --> 02:08:18,319
behind is a blackened, charred skeleton, ash blood, and a thick,

1389
02:08:18,680 --> 02:08:26,720
viscous semi solid, connecting it all
with unsightly strands of inhuman gristle. We

1390
02:08:26,840 --> 02:08:33,079
stand there in horrified silence, Charlie
and I, and beside us Eleanor like

1391
02:08:33,159 --> 02:08:39,880
a statue. The ringing echoes in
my ears, and I turned to her,

1392
02:08:39,640 --> 02:08:45,479
to this mystery that shut down the
demon, and I notice that she

1393
02:08:45,520 --> 02:08:54,920
has started trembling, ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly, but she shivers nonetheless.

1394
02:08:54,960 --> 02:08:58,840
She swivels on the spot and marches
away, shovering me to the side

1395
02:08:58,840 --> 02:09:03,880
as she does so, and I
catch the briefest glimpse of tears streaming down

1396
02:09:03,920 --> 02:09:09,399
the sides of her cheeks. She
disappears round a corner, leaving the Englishman

1397
02:09:09,439 --> 02:09:20,079
and I in the corridor alone with
Christians remains. Charlie wretches, then he

1398
02:09:20,119 --> 02:09:26,399
turns away. I'm sorry, mate, he murmurs unto his breath. Then

1399
02:09:26,520 --> 02:09:31,239
he passes me by. We'll deal
with this later, Adam. He says

1400
02:09:31,279 --> 02:09:37,359
bitterly. Just go to bed,
get some sleep. Get some sleep,

1401
02:09:37,399 --> 02:09:43,960
he says, as I try and
fail to comprehend this horror. Christian is

1402
02:09:45,000 --> 02:09:50,880
that all? Is he dead?
Just like that? Unless Charlie, I

1403
02:09:50,960 --> 02:09:56,079
shout out, turning to look the
way he went. That was a copy,

1404
02:09:56,279 --> 02:10:01,159
right, a demon clone or whatever? Tell me that was Christian's copy?

1405
02:10:01,600 --> 02:10:07,439
That wasn't Christian, right. But
Charlie does not respond, and I

1406
02:10:07,520 --> 02:10:11,359
do not go after him. I
look for one final time that morning at

1407
02:10:11,359 --> 02:10:18,119
the smoldering remains in the corridor center, and then with a grunt of frustrated

1408
02:10:18,159 --> 02:10:24,880
anguish, I pass it by,
carefully sidestepping and walking to my room.

1409
02:10:24,560 --> 02:10:28,119
Don't think about it, don't think
about it. Just do as Charlie said,

1410
02:10:28,600 --> 02:10:35,600
get some rest, recuperate sleep,
Adam, And somehow I do.

1411
02:10:37,760 --> 02:10:41,960
I crash into bed, and the
dreams and nightmares blurst sickeningly with my reality.

1412
02:10:43,159 --> 02:10:48,359
They're disjointed and chaotic, and in
my head I hear them speak to

1413
02:10:48,399 --> 02:10:54,520
me, the demons, begging and
pleading with me to allow them entry to

1414
02:10:54,600 --> 02:11:03,920
the outpost. Amongst their voices,
it's Christians. I awakened to the sound

1415
02:11:03,920 --> 02:11:09,159
of shouting. I groan and turned
to my side. The light from my

1416
02:11:09,199 --> 02:11:15,760
windows suddenly intent across my eyes.
Christian, I mutter, still half asleep,

1417
02:11:15,800 --> 02:11:20,720
as the shouting becomes clearer. I
can't understand what's being said. It's

1418
02:11:20,720 --> 02:11:26,439
all in Russian, Eleanor and Urie. By the sounds of it, I

1419
02:11:26,600 --> 02:11:31,560
sigh and draw myself up and out
of bed. It's work to be done.

1420
02:11:33,159 --> 02:11:37,920
I follow my routine, regimental,
and the shouting only goes on and

1421
02:11:37,079 --> 02:11:41,960
on as I do so. It
does not falter until I enter the hexagon

1422
02:11:43,039 --> 02:11:48,520
room, eyes still bleary, head
still pounding. Eleanor is right up in

1423
02:11:48,560 --> 02:11:52,600
Eurie space, though she leaves them
be, and marches right up to me.

1424
02:11:52,720 --> 02:11:58,159
Upon my arrival. Urie sighs and
slumps down into the seat, fumbling

1425
02:11:58,199 --> 02:12:03,880
for a cigarette. But Eleanor jabs
a finger into my face, her right

1426
02:12:03,960 --> 02:12:07,600
to guys bore into mine, her
scar pulled grotesquely as she snarls at me.

1427
02:12:09,720 --> 02:12:15,800
Understand the impact of your actions.
Your idiocy has cost Christian his life.

1428
02:12:16,199 --> 02:12:18,079
He was a good man. He
was an idiot like you, but

1429
02:12:18,199 --> 02:12:24,640
he was a good man. He
deserved better, so much better. And

1430
02:12:24,800 --> 02:12:30,720
focus flickers from my left to my
right and back. It is deeply unnerving.

1431
02:12:31,840 --> 02:12:35,840
I don't even know what to say. So that confirms it for sure.

1432
02:12:35,880 --> 02:12:45,199
Then Christian, he's dead? What
I begin quietly? What do we

1433
02:12:45,279 --> 02:12:50,239
do now? Now? We wait? Charlie has dealt with Christian burns.

1434
02:12:50,960 --> 02:12:54,239
We have gotten radio through to command. Urgent back up requested, but who

1435
02:12:54,279 --> 02:12:58,680
knows when they'll arrive. Two days, three days more. We will face

1436
02:12:58,760 --> 02:13:03,840
very hard conditions to night and next
night. The outpost needs six five is

1437
02:13:03,880 --> 02:13:09,960
suboptimal. We will struggle to defend. And it is your fault. Her

1438
02:13:09,960 --> 02:13:13,199
lips pull back from her teeth in
a dark sneer, and she turns points

1439
02:13:13,199 --> 02:13:18,680
the Uri as well, your fault
also. She then shouts out a string

1440
02:13:18,720 --> 02:13:24,000
of obscenities in Russian. Uri doesn't
even look over. He just lights up

1441
02:13:24,000 --> 02:13:30,800
his sig and takes a drag.
Eleanor raises a hand and I flinch,

1442
02:13:31,520 --> 02:13:35,760
but she only points behind me,
back down the corridor. Go relieve April

1443
02:13:35,800 --> 02:13:39,640
from the tower. That is where
you'll be stationed today. April will fill

1444
02:13:39,640 --> 02:13:43,560
you in a what to do small
tip. Don't get drunk and mess it

1445
02:13:43,680 --> 02:13:50,760
up. She shakes her head and
medicanets, and then she simply strides away,

1446
02:13:52,279 --> 02:13:56,880
leaving me to wallow in my guilt. I run a hand through my

1447
02:13:56,960 --> 02:14:03,720
hair as gentle snowflakes fall beyond the
glass, flittering down the rocky gorge beyond.

1448
02:14:05,359 --> 02:14:09,039
You good Yurie, I asked the
man. He stares out the window.

1449
02:14:09,880 --> 02:14:15,039
He makes no noise or gesture in
response, and I let out a

1450
02:14:15,119 --> 02:14:18,920
sigh. I guess i'd better go
take over from April. Then she's short

1451
02:14:18,960 --> 02:14:24,279
missed quite the night. I head
through the complex and passed the sight of

1452
02:14:24,359 --> 02:14:31,359
Christian's demise. I paused there for
a moment. The floor is stained,

1453
02:14:33,000 --> 02:14:37,600
and there are residual marks and splatters
of an inky like substance in the window

1454
02:14:37,600 --> 02:14:41,600
frames and in the ceiling's corners.
But it looks like Charlie cleaned the bulk

1455
02:14:41,640 --> 02:14:48,439
of the mess up himself. My
swallow. I'm sorry, man, I

1456
02:14:48,640 --> 02:14:56,159
murmur into the dreadful silence. I'm
so so sorry. Then I turn away

1457
02:14:56,520 --> 02:15:03,479
and continued down the corridor. The
exit that will lead me to the courtyard

1458
02:15:03,680 --> 02:15:07,560
and the tower beyond is just a
head. But as I approached the complex

1459
02:15:07,560 --> 02:15:15,439
it's rough center. A voice calls
out to me. Charlie's hey, he

1460
02:15:15,560 --> 02:15:22,000
says, and I stop, turning
to the voice's source. Yeah, he

1461
02:15:22,159 --> 02:15:26,840
peers at me from a round a
doorway. There is no mischievous grin this

1462
02:15:26,920 --> 02:15:31,800
time, no foolish shaking of a
vodka bottle, just exhausted, bloodshot eyes

1463
02:15:33,680 --> 02:15:37,000
a grim face. He gestures for
me to come over, and I do

1464
02:15:37,079 --> 02:15:43,560
so, following him into the room. He nods down to the ground by

1465
02:15:43,560 --> 02:15:48,600
our feet. I don't know what
this room is used for. Wooden flooring,

1466
02:15:48,840 --> 02:15:52,399
a low stage. There are some
chairs stacked up by the walls.

1467
02:15:54,319 --> 02:15:58,439
Could be a meeting hall of some
kind. But all that's irrelevant really,

1468
02:15:58,119 --> 02:16:03,319
as the object of interest is quite
obvious in the middle of the room.

1469
02:16:03,760 --> 02:16:09,479
It's an ugly, roughly human sized
hole in the ground. The boards and

1470
02:16:09,560 --> 02:16:13,760
planks have been torn up and ripped. The floor around it is covered in

1471
02:16:13,840 --> 02:16:18,960
scratches, and the rock and concrete
have been cracked and chipped. Below.

1472
02:16:18,920 --> 02:16:24,680
Some granules of the stuff have been
scattered about the floor. The hell is

1473
02:16:24,720 --> 02:16:31,359
happening here, I asked, murmuring. Charlie gestures to the hole. Some

1474
02:16:31,479 --> 02:16:35,600
massole's been in here trying to get
down. He crouches and runs a hand

1475
02:16:35,639 --> 02:16:41,559
over the splintered wood. The claw
marks by the look of them. He

1476
02:16:41,680 --> 02:16:46,239
turns to me. The demon was
in air, and it decided that this

1477
02:16:46,360 --> 02:16:50,799
was a good place to start digging. It doesn't look like he got very

1478
02:16:50,840 --> 02:16:54,520
far. The hole is noticeable,
but it hasn't gotten that deep, to

1479
02:16:54,600 --> 02:17:01,360
be honest, maybe about four feet
or so. Sigh and rub my forehead.

1480
02:17:01,600 --> 02:17:05,120
Charlie. Tell him to me straight
man. What else do I need

1481
02:17:05,159 --> 02:17:11,079
to know about this place? No
secrets, no hiding stuff. Just tell

1482
02:17:11,120 --> 02:17:16,840
me. He stands up and brushes
the dust from his knees. The outpost

1483
02:17:16,920 --> 02:17:22,600
has always been staffed. Always.
Russians do two months, Outsiders do less.

1484
02:17:24,399 --> 02:17:26,879
I don't like that. I wanted
to stay. But Eurie's record.

1485
02:17:28,120 --> 02:17:33,200
He rubs his nose. I don't
know. She never talks. Eurie might

1486
02:17:33,239 --> 02:17:37,399
know, but I swear she's been
here for years. I don't know why.

1487
02:17:39,000 --> 02:17:41,000
I can't imagine why someone want to
live in a hell hole like this.

1488
02:17:43,079 --> 02:17:46,959
Maybe she's been ordered to stay punishment
for something, maybe for whatever,

1489
02:17:48,040 --> 02:17:52,600
God of the scar I don't know. He shrugs. He kicks some of

1490
02:17:52,600 --> 02:17:58,719
the dust across the floor. Demons, we fight demons. I'm not going

1491
02:17:58,760 --> 02:18:01,920
to be that's what they are,
to tell the truth. But since religious

1492
02:18:01,959 --> 02:18:07,040
stuff seems to work against them,
it's a good I guess as any,

1493
02:18:07,120 --> 02:18:11,200
but not all religious stuff, right, Christian? I pause as I mentioned

1494
02:18:11,200 --> 02:18:16,760
his name involuntarily. Christine told me
about a guy here before us seek.

1495
02:18:16,840 --> 02:18:20,879
I think I didn't believe in any
of it. He said that the demons

1496
02:18:20,879 --> 02:18:26,159
were different. Yeah, that's right. I was in here for it obviously,

1497
02:18:26,319 --> 02:18:30,680
but I've heard of the incident.
I don't know what happened to the

1498
02:18:30,719 --> 02:18:35,360
guy in the end, he just
vanished. But the demons. Christian said

1499
02:18:35,360 --> 02:18:39,000
that when the sequel was on duty, the demons often took the form of

1500
02:18:39,079 --> 02:18:46,200
shapes, shapes, ay, spears, cubes, cones, weird stuff like

1501
02:18:46,280 --> 02:18:50,799
that. He said they all shared
a vision of an endless reign of coins

1502
02:18:50,840 --> 02:18:56,920
across the mountains. The outpost was
smothered in it, drowned in it,

1503
02:18:56,360 --> 02:19:01,000
drowning metal, and then the next
thing they knew, the vision passed.

1504
02:19:03,520 --> 02:19:09,440
Who was this? Christian was there
with Eleanor and four others. No clue

1505
02:19:09,440 --> 02:19:11,760
who they might have been, similar
group to ourselves, I should think,

1506
02:19:13,920 --> 02:19:18,559
I shake my head. I still
don't get it. Why only six?

1507
02:19:18,959 --> 02:19:24,000
Why six people? It's like the
basis of a ritual or something. A

1508
02:19:24,200 --> 02:19:30,639
ritual I don't know, mate,
just a guess. I sigh. I

1509
02:19:30,639 --> 02:19:33,159
don't think it's anything like that.
I think that it's more to do with

1510
02:19:33,200 --> 02:19:37,760
the fact that we don't want to
broadcast the location. Too many warm bodies

1511
02:19:37,760 --> 02:19:43,040
in the water. I don't want
to broadcast the location, I laughed dryly.

1512
02:19:43,760 --> 02:19:48,479
The outpost has a tower. Have
you seen the gun on the roof

1513
02:19:48,520 --> 02:19:52,639
of the building. Charlie shakes his
head. I don't mean like that.

1514
02:19:54,159 --> 02:19:58,200
The demons don't care about any of
that stuff. It's just us like that

1515
02:19:58,280 --> 02:20:03,600
interests them. Humans, with our
human fears and thoughts. They think they

1516
02:20:03,600 --> 02:20:09,840
can use us. They can use
us to get inside the outpost. To

1517
02:20:09,920 --> 02:20:13,479
get inside the outpost a echo,
and why in God's name would they want

1518
02:20:13,479 --> 02:20:20,920
to get in here? Charlie shrugs
again. Well that's the question, ain't

1519
02:20:20,920 --> 02:20:26,879
it. He glances to his watch. You're until duty, right, I

1520
02:20:26,079 --> 02:20:31,040
nod. He nods in return.
You better get off there then, before

1521
02:20:31,079 --> 02:20:35,799
Eleanor gives you a rolligan. But
first, take a look at this a

1522
02:20:35,799 --> 02:20:43,079
little clue for our burning question.
He gestures to the whole Take a look

1523
02:20:43,120 --> 02:20:50,319
down there. I glanced down into
it. There's nothing there, Charlie,

1524
02:20:50,120 --> 02:20:56,000
it's not even that deep. He
shakes his head, interrupts me no,

1525
02:20:56,559 --> 02:21:00,959
get right down there and press your
face against the concrete. There's a tiny,

1526
02:21:01,440 --> 02:21:05,000
tiny, little keyhole size crack in
the rock beneath it. Really look

1527
02:21:07,639 --> 02:21:11,680
cautiously, I do, so.
I cannot see the hole which he refers

1528
02:21:11,680 --> 02:21:16,159
to at first, and I grunt
and WinCE as the dust blows about my

1529
02:21:16,200 --> 02:21:22,319
face. I feel like an idiot
with my head and shoulders down this hole

1530
02:21:22,520 --> 02:21:26,719
in the middle of the floor.
But at last I see what Charlie's referring

1531
02:21:26,760 --> 02:21:33,479
to. This here, yeah,
he replies, and he passes me a

1532
02:21:33,559 --> 02:21:37,040
small flashlight. There's another chip in
the rock to your left, a little

1533
02:21:37,120 --> 02:21:43,280
narrower you see that. Press the
flashlight against it and look down the hole

1534
02:21:43,319 --> 02:21:48,360
below and tell me what you see. I take the light from him and

1535
02:21:48,479 --> 02:21:52,959
do as he says, closing one
eye and pressing the other up close to

1536
02:21:52,000 --> 02:21:56,719
the little crack. The glow is
feeble, and it takes my vision a

1537
02:21:56,840 --> 02:22:03,959
moment to adjust. But but yes, I think I can actually see something,

1538
02:22:05,479 --> 02:22:09,680
or the edges or something some things. I should say, what the

1539
02:22:09,719 --> 02:22:15,280
hell are those? I murmur,
beats me. I heard Charlie reply,

1540
02:22:16,200 --> 02:22:20,200
But there's something down there, all
right, and I'm guessing that's what the

1541
02:22:20,239 --> 02:22:24,879
demon wanted, or they all want. Perhaps I squint a little harder.

1542
02:22:26,079 --> 02:22:33,000
It's difficult to explain what I can
see, but I'll try. Way way

1543
02:22:33,079 --> 02:22:37,920
down there in the darkness below me, the faint shimmer from the flashlight through

1544
02:22:37,959 --> 02:22:45,440
the hole illuminates the very edges of
a series of repeated, uniform shapes.

1545
02:22:46,479 --> 02:22:50,360
It's difficult to gauge their sizes,
as I don't know how far down they

1546
02:22:50,360 --> 02:22:54,799
are, but at a guess,
I'd say they were no smaller than myself.

1547
02:22:56,159 --> 02:22:58,920
The things appeared to be stacked in
rows. I can only see the

1548
02:23:00,239 --> 02:23:03,680
very edges are the tops of these
things, but they descend down into the

1549
02:23:03,799 --> 02:23:09,520
murky darkness beneath. What are they? Goddamn it, what are they?

1550
02:23:11,840 --> 02:23:18,920
I can't see well enough. I
draw back, coughing with a sudden inhalation

1551
02:23:18,040 --> 02:23:26,479
of dust. Any theories, Charlie
shakes his head. Not a clue.

1552
02:23:26,280 --> 02:23:31,879
We'll ask Eleanor when she's cooled down
a little. When she's cooled down,

1553
02:23:33,120 --> 02:23:37,159
Charlie, I don't know the intricacies
of their relationship all that well, but

1554
02:23:37,239 --> 02:23:39,920
it seems to me like Helena just
lost a pretty close friend last night.

1555
02:23:41,600 --> 02:23:46,040
And let's face it, it's largely
our fault. Your is too sure,

1556
02:23:46,079 --> 02:23:50,639
but all of our faults. Nonetheless, if you're waiting for it to cool

1557
02:23:50,719 --> 02:23:56,840
down, you might be waiting a
long downtime. Charlie considers my words.

1558
02:23:58,479 --> 02:24:03,040
He clenches his teeth and stares off
into space, but says nothing further.

1559
02:24:03,319 --> 02:24:09,760
He looks away and strides off down
the corridor, his head down. I

1560
02:24:09,879 --> 02:24:13,520
think about calling after him, but
there's no use. Really, I just

1561
02:24:13,559 --> 02:24:22,000
stand back up and continue my little
journey. April's waiting for me. Tower

1562
02:24:22,079 --> 02:24:28,440
duty time, I suppose across the
courtyard, as flakes of snow drift lazily

1563
02:24:28,520 --> 02:24:31,959
down to the gravel, a crunch
beneath my feet. I pass by the

1564
02:24:33,000 --> 02:24:37,799
ruins of the water tower and head
for the towers still standing, the one

1565
02:24:37,000 --> 02:24:41,040
at the very edge of the cliff, looking out far across the mountains.

1566
02:24:43,479 --> 02:24:48,239
I'm still yet to actually step foot
inside it. I clamber up the concrete

1567
02:24:48,239 --> 02:24:54,159
steps and slide my way through the
tower's door. Rule five. I hear

1568
02:24:54,239 --> 02:25:01,959
in Christian's voice, we must keep
a constant presence in the tower. I

1569
02:25:01,079 --> 02:25:05,200
see in my mind the crinkles of
his eyes as he smiles, and a

1570
02:25:05,319 --> 02:25:13,399
grimace blurring the image away. The
interior is dark and gloomy. I'd have

1571
02:25:13,479 --> 02:25:20,559
expected nothing less, but my eyes
are instantly drawn to the great framed painting

1572
02:25:20,760 --> 02:25:26,040
hung on the opposite wall. It
has been painted in shades of brown,

1573
02:25:26,399 --> 02:25:30,840
of gray, of white, and
of gold. It depicts a woman in

1574
02:25:30,879 --> 02:25:35,600
the midst of a windstorm. Her
robes blow about her shoulders, and she

1575
02:25:35,719 --> 02:25:41,840
stares fiercely out at something unseen just
above the painter's point of view. She

1576
02:25:41,959 --> 02:25:46,000
has in her hand as shining silver
cross, and she stands defiant as the

1577
02:25:46,120 --> 02:25:52,600
snow is whipped about her being.
I glanced down to the little plaque nailed

1578
02:25:52,600 --> 02:25:56,479
to the varnished wood at the painting's
base. There is a small line of

1579
02:25:56,479 --> 02:26:03,319
texts and Sybilic, but her name
is given us Olga of the russ Olga

1580
02:26:03,520 --> 02:26:07,920
of Kiev. Beside it, on
the wall is a small passage scrawled with

1581
02:26:09,040 --> 02:26:15,479
chalk in French, and then another
passage below scrawled in English. I'm no

1582
02:26:15,639 --> 02:26:20,600
linguist, but I would guess they
probably say the same thing. The English

1583
02:26:20,600 --> 02:26:28,239
passage as a number of words crossed
out Olga's tower, for her sacrifice,

1584
02:26:28,639 --> 02:26:35,040
for the anchoring, crossed out anchor, crossed out tethering, and the walls

1585
02:26:35,920 --> 02:26:46,399
eight nine to nine. I consider
this with one last parting look up to

1586
02:26:46,479 --> 02:26:52,719
Olga's eyes, her expression fixed yet
alive with passion, and I continue on

1587
02:26:52,920 --> 02:26:58,360
along my way up the ascending stairs
that line the inner walls of the tower.

1588
02:27:00,520 --> 02:27:05,399
They carry me up about half way, and plastered across these walls are

1589
02:27:05,399 --> 02:27:09,920
a number of things of vague interest, a crude chalked doodle, some infographs

1590
02:27:09,959 --> 02:27:16,559
in Russian. There are schematics of
the tower itself, and of that enormous

1591
02:27:16,600 --> 02:27:22,159
gun and the outpost's roof, and
one very realistic, very disturbing sketch of

1592
02:27:22,239 --> 02:27:28,680
a demon clambering up the tower wall. Right beside me, the stairs come

1593
02:27:28,760 --> 02:27:33,200
to a stop on the floor with
a modest, crappy bathroom, one lined

1594
02:27:33,200 --> 02:27:39,000
with leaking pipes. And beside the
door to this bathroom is a steel ladder,

1595
02:27:39,920 --> 02:27:43,639
one which will presumably carry me up
to the very top. With a

1596
02:27:43,719 --> 02:27:48,799
sigh, I continue my climb,
my boots rattling and echoing against the rungs.

1597
02:27:50,120 --> 02:27:56,120
The ladder leads me up to a
little platform that encircles the inner walls,

1598
02:27:56,159 --> 02:28:01,559
and I cross over to another another
ladder, I mean this one that

1599
02:28:01,799 --> 02:28:07,559
finally carries me up to the top. The highest room with advantage all beneath

1600
02:28:07,600 --> 02:28:13,120
it. Grunting, my head breaches
the floor level of the uppermost room,

1601
02:28:13,120 --> 02:28:20,120
and at last I find April huddled
up against the wall. She stares at

1602
02:28:20,120 --> 02:28:26,840
me with shadowed eyes, and we
regard each other. Her against the wall,

1603
02:28:26,600 --> 02:28:31,639
and I paused at the top of
the ladder. Is it true,

1604
02:28:31,680 --> 02:28:39,840
Adam? She asks quietly, Is
Christian dead? I glanced to a write

1605
02:28:41,760 --> 02:28:46,040
there sits a radio. A little
light on the side flickers in and out

1606
02:28:46,040 --> 02:28:50,159
of focus. I guess she got
it working to a degree, or someone

1607
02:28:50,200 --> 02:28:56,440
else has been up here to visit
her. A visitor with such a climb,

1608
02:28:56,399 --> 02:29:03,520
Not damn likely. Yeah, and
mutter guildily, Yeah, Christina is

1609
02:29:03,559 --> 02:29:11,559
dead. A demon got him.
April says nothing. She just brings her

1610
02:29:11,559 --> 02:29:16,840
hand up to her eyes and allows
herself some silent sobs. He shoulders shaking

1611
02:29:16,959 --> 02:29:22,159
as she turns away. I find
myself struck with a rush of sudden,

1612
02:29:22,479 --> 02:29:28,559
unprocessed and motion of my own,
and I complete my climb, slumping down

1613
02:29:28,600 --> 02:29:33,520
against the wall opposite and looking into
my hands, slowly opening and closing my

1614
02:29:33,600 --> 02:29:41,360
scratched, scarred fingers as the wind
blows beyond the walls. How did it

1615
02:29:41,399 --> 02:29:46,559
happen, April asks me. After
a while, I sigh and rub my

1616
02:29:46,600 --> 02:29:52,440
hands across my face, inadvertently smearing
myself with grind from the ladder as I

1617
02:29:52,479 --> 02:29:58,200
do so. I don't know really
he was possessed. I saw him.

1618
02:29:58,360 --> 02:30:03,239
I called out to him. I
think he heard me as he started walking

1619
02:30:03,239 --> 02:30:09,799
towards me or the demon did,
I guess? And then a pause,

1620
02:30:11,440 --> 02:30:16,760
Elena shot him. He fell into
the light and and that was it.

1621
02:30:16,200 --> 02:30:28,040
He was gone. Eleana, I
can't see. I swallow. I don't

1622
02:30:28,079 --> 02:30:33,559
share his final words with April.
God damn it, she says, shaking

1623
02:30:33,600 --> 02:30:39,040
her head. Damn. She stands
up and clenches her fist, then heads

1624
02:30:39,079 --> 02:30:43,840
to the ladder and begins to climb
a way down. Hey, I say,

1625
02:30:43,319 --> 02:30:46,959
wait, what am I supposed to
do up here? Just check the

1626
02:30:48,000 --> 02:30:50,520
line of sight to the weapons in
era the same as the others. With

1627
02:30:50,680 --> 02:30:54,440
a large one has more of a
kick, so be careful. I gotta

1628
02:30:54,520 --> 02:31:00,840
go enjoy. There's Russian boxes in
that corner. Someone will really tomorrow.

1629
02:31:01,319 --> 02:31:05,959
Does your radio work? Do you
have it on you? Yeah? I

1630
02:31:05,079 --> 02:31:09,719
have it good, she says,
just before her head disappears from sight below

1631
02:31:09,760 --> 02:31:16,200
the floor. See your and away, She goes the ladder, shaking as

1632
02:31:16,200 --> 02:31:20,520
she clambers down. The wrongs.
I formed both for words for a second

1633
02:31:22,239 --> 02:31:26,920
and then just let them go with
a sigh. Fine, use the weapons,

1634
02:31:28,239 --> 02:31:33,680
follow the lines of sight. Seems
simple enough, I guess, I

1635
02:31:33,840 --> 02:31:37,079
grunt as I get to my feet
and I walk the length of the room.

1636
02:31:37,159 --> 02:31:41,040
There are several vantage points, and
the wind blows through them and into

1637
02:31:41,079 --> 02:31:48,799
the room. It is cold,
and it is miserable. The three weapons

1638
02:31:48,799 --> 02:31:52,520
are all ecodistant, and they provide
lines of sight way down to the courtyard

1639
02:31:52,520 --> 02:31:58,399
below, to the outer wall of
the complex and the snow and the mountains

1640
02:31:58,479 --> 02:32:03,719
and the rock scape beyond. I
study these weapons. Two of them are

1641
02:32:03,799 --> 02:32:09,760
essentially exact copies are the weapons I've
in using so far, stationed around the

1642
02:32:09,799 --> 02:32:16,440
outpost's roof, with a third looks
more like a modified javelin. I peer

1643
02:32:16,440 --> 02:32:20,280
around it. The barrel splits into
four at the end, and I give

1644
02:32:20,319 --> 02:32:26,479
the weapon a shake, the mechanisms
clanking as it jutters from side to side.

1645
02:32:26,719 --> 02:32:31,239
I peer through the sight and flick
between two fields of view, a

1646
02:32:31,360 --> 02:32:37,520
wide range of the landscape below and
a closer, narrower field a little more

1647
02:32:37,639 --> 02:32:43,399
zoomed in. Well, doesn't this
look fun, I murmur, glancing at

1648
02:32:43,479 --> 02:32:50,440
my watch. Still got a few
hours to kill before nightfall. My anxiety

1649
02:32:50,520 --> 02:33:00,600
spikes nightfall, the living nightmare,
and we're a man down. Memories of

1650
02:33:00,639 --> 02:33:05,360
the previous night flashed through my head. Considered in the cold light of day,

1651
02:33:05,559 --> 02:33:11,760
I see myself lips cracked and bleeding, eyes wide and burnt with streaks

1652
02:33:11,760 --> 02:33:16,479
of weapon flash. As the demon
scramble up the walls. I see Yurie

1653
02:33:16,559 --> 02:33:20,079
tumbling over the edge. I feel
a second hand strain across my upper body,

1654
02:33:20,760 --> 02:33:26,920
and I see Christian crashing down to
the floor and bursting into billowing smoke.

1655
02:33:28,719 --> 02:33:33,799
I closed my eyes and just take
a moment to recover. Calm down.

1656
02:33:33,360 --> 02:33:39,879
No more deaths, no more,
just focus, focus, Adam.

1657
02:33:39,920 --> 02:33:48,760
I take a deep breath of cold
mountain air. All right. I killed

1658
02:33:48,760 --> 02:33:52,600
time by doing stretches, by sorting
through the ration boxes, and make myself

1659
02:33:52,600 --> 02:33:58,840
a cold, grim meal. Make
sure my water bottles are full and stationed

1660
02:33:58,840 --> 02:34:01,959
in places for quick says if needs
be, and I read the Bible that

1661
02:34:03,040 --> 02:34:07,840
has been stashed up here. I
flick through the pages and find a passage

1662
02:34:07,840 --> 02:34:13,360
in Psalms that has been circled several
times in pencil. I read aloud to

1663
02:34:13,399 --> 02:34:16,440
myself in a quiet voice. As
the breeze blows beyond the walls of the

1664
02:34:16,520 --> 02:34:22,479
tower, He who dwells in the
shelter of the most High will abide in

1665
02:34:22,520 --> 02:34:26,920
the shadow of the Almighty. I
will say to the Lord, my refuge

1666
02:34:26,920 --> 02:34:31,719
and my fortress, my God in
whom I trust, For he will deliver

1667
02:34:31,799 --> 02:34:37,799
you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence. He will

1668
02:34:37,840 --> 02:34:41,959
cover you in his opinions, and
under his wings you will find refuge.

1669
02:34:41,879 --> 02:34:46,319
His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of

1670
02:34:46,319 --> 02:34:52,559
the night, nor the arrow that
flies by day. I do not know

1671
02:34:52,639 --> 02:34:58,680
what pinions are, but a little
annotation made beside the word reads the feathers

1672
02:34:58,879 --> 02:35:03,559
of God's wings they called chill ripples
up my spine, and I turn the

1673
02:35:03,600 --> 02:35:09,879
page. I wonder briefly who made
the annotation April a few hours ago,

1674
02:35:11,040 --> 02:35:16,879
or someone else, perhaps someone stationed
in this tower fifty years ago maybe,

1675
02:35:18,000 --> 02:35:24,440
or more sixty seventy one hundred.
The shadows deepen as the sun sinks low.

1676
02:35:26,879 --> 02:35:31,440
It won't be long now. My
radio crackles, the unexpected noise,

1677
02:35:31,520 --> 02:35:37,520
breaking my train of thought and making
me jump. Nightfall soon leads comes Charlie's

1678
02:35:37,559 --> 02:35:43,760
voice. He sounds worn stations.
I think he says something else too,

1679
02:35:45,239 --> 02:35:50,120
but the radio becomes fuzzy with static, and I miss it. I cracked

1680
02:35:50,159 --> 02:35:54,079
my knuckles and head to the weapon
that looks out and away from the outpost.

1681
02:35:54,360 --> 02:36:00,200
The view from here really is staggering. The tips of the mountains disappear

1682
02:36:00,280 --> 02:36:03,520
way off towards the horizon, and
the white of the snow caps glint with

1683
02:36:03,559 --> 02:36:09,200
amber and orange. As the sun
drops lower and lower, A bead of

1684
02:36:09,239 --> 02:36:16,440
sweat buds on my forehead. Another
follows, and then another. I wipe

1685
02:36:16,479 --> 02:36:22,399
them away with my sleeve. This
is the worst part, I've decided,

1686
02:36:24,280 --> 02:36:30,959
This anticipation, this waiting, the
gnawing, grinding anxiety, the trembling in

1687
02:36:31,000 --> 02:36:35,399
my hands, cracked and calloused,
yet to be warned by exhaustion and adrenaline.

1688
02:36:35,760 --> 02:36:41,079
My sweat is slick and grim and
icy. I wipe my palms and

1689
02:36:41,159 --> 02:36:45,200
the side of my uniform, and
then minutes later feel the need to do

1690
02:36:45,280 --> 02:36:50,159
so again. The sun disappears behind
the mountains, and the last of the

1691
02:36:50,239 --> 02:36:58,319
day's light begins to steadily trickle away. The clouds darken overhead, and the

1692
02:36:58,399 --> 02:37:05,200
shadows begin to merge across the ground. An hour goes by, a long,

1693
02:37:05,600 --> 02:37:11,399
cold hour. Eleanor comes through on
the radio twice to ensure that we

1694
02:37:11,440 --> 02:37:16,920
are all focused and in position.
And at last, the tension spikes before

1695
02:37:16,920 --> 02:37:22,079
its break as a song begins to
jump between the distant icy peaks towards us.

1696
02:37:24,639 --> 02:37:28,280
The song is as discordant as it
was the previous night. Worse,

1697
02:37:28,360 --> 02:37:35,799
even the melody is almost entirely gone. A whale, a broken chorus.

1698
02:37:37,120 --> 02:37:41,600
I swallow, my throat already dry, and I reach out for the nearest

1699
02:37:41,639 --> 02:37:46,520
bottle of water. Taking a quick, clumsy swig, I drop it in

1700
02:37:46,559 --> 02:37:50,000
fright as a voice whispers, clear
and cold, right into my ear from

1701
02:37:50,000 --> 02:37:58,760
behind, Adam, you are fewer, No more need to be taken,

1702
02:37:58,079 --> 02:38:05,479
allow us entry. I spin around
to face the voice's source. The tower

1703
02:38:05,559 --> 02:38:09,399
room remains empty. The Bible is
open where I left it, and a

1704
02:38:09,479 --> 02:38:15,719
breeze sent a few of the thin
pages flickering from cover to cover. The

1705
02:38:15,840 --> 02:38:20,280
song grows sharper, the voices clambering
against and on top of each other,

1706
02:38:20,200 --> 02:38:26,520
and the demons begin to appear in
the distance, dozens of them, dark

1707
02:38:26,680 --> 02:38:33,000
shadowy shapes, rippling and scrambling through
the cracks and crevices in the mountains towards

1708
02:38:33,000 --> 02:38:37,120
the outpost, their arms moving at
such speed as they give them the appearance

1709
02:38:37,120 --> 02:38:43,319
of spiders scuttling over the dark,
snow lined rocks. I grabbed the radio

1710
02:38:43,399 --> 02:38:50,000
and shout into it northwest. Demons
approaching, dozens of them, be ready.

1711
02:38:50,479 --> 02:38:54,680
I reach for the weapon. The
metal is cold against my hands as

1712
02:38:54,719 --> 02:39:01,000
I clank it up and interposition,
and deliberately, conscious of the silver cross

1713
02:39:01,120 --> 02:39:05,840
resting against my chest, I fire
the first beam, flickering it out into

1714
02:39:05,879 --> 02:39:11,520
an arc and feeling a warm burst
of recoil as a light thunders down,

1715
02:39:11,639 --> 02:39:16,399
like curve lightning into the darkness.
It tears through three and cents a fourth

1716
02:39:16,520 --> 02:39:22,600
into a shower of dust. There's
so many. How are you supposed to

1717
02:39:22,600 --> 02:39:28,040
fight against such a tide? Why
are you doing this? Adam, asks

1718
02:39:28,120 --> 02:39:31,639
the voice of a demon him.
I left ear a female voice, though

1719
02:39:31,760 --> 02:39:37,280
not one that I recognize. You
don't want to hurt you or the others.

1720
02:39:37,920 --> 02:39:43,319
Please, will you just stand down? No, I muttered through clenched

1721
02:39:43,319 --> 02:39:48,920
teeth, my voice grim in its
defiance, and in that very same instant,

1722
02:39:50,600 --> 02:39:58,760
the demons in the mountains below me
promptly changed direction, all of them.

1723
02:39:58,879 --> 02:40:01,399
Where once there was a the stream
right past towards the outpost proper,

1724
02:40:03,200 --> 02:40:09,440
they have now diverted their roots to
me instead, to the tower to my

1725
02:40:09,600 --> 02:40:11,920
left. And in the corner of
my eye, I think for a second

1726
02:40:13,000 --> 02:40:16,920
that I see the source of the
voice, a woman of ever spilling cascading

1727
02:40:18,040 --> 02:40:22,879
water like shadow, a rise,
two pinpricks of glowing embers. A shout

1728
02:40:22,920 --> 02:40:28,360
out loud in terror, and scramble
away from my weapon, turning to Faca.

1729
02:40:28,639 --> 02:40:37,159
But she's gone. I am alone. The Bible thickers through another page,

1730
02:40:37,840 --> 02:40:41,719
and I hear Christian's words in my
head, in his thick Norwegian accent,

1731
02:40:43,680 --> 02:40:48,920
rule two. Do not engage verbally
with the enemy. I hear that

1732
02:40:50,079 --> 02:40:54,680
same phrase again, this time in
Eleanor's voice, idiot, do not engage

1733
02:40:54,799 --> 02:41:01,840
verbally with the enemy. My blood
freezes in my veins. I jumped to

1734
02:41:01,840 --> 02:41:05,719
the weapon and peered through the site
as the demons scuttle their way towards a

1735
02:41:05,799 --> 02:41:11,559
too's position from all directions. Damn
it, Adam, What have you done

1736
02:41:11,600 --> 02:41:16,600
now, you idiot? And why
not? Adam? Comes the voice of

1737
02:41:16,600 --> 02:41:22,319
the demon. She sounds a little
more solid now less ethereal I can almost

1738
02:41:22,360 --> 02:41:26,680
see her, or some sick opperation
of her in the edges of my vision,

1739
02:41:28,719 --> 02:41:33,319
but every time I turned to look, she vanishes. Are you afraid

1740
02:41:33,360 --> 02:41:37,440
of ending up like Christian? I'm
sorry for that, truly, I am

1741
02:41:37,520 --> 02:41:46,559
so so sorry. But we were
getting desperate. We needed him why,

1742
02:41:46,920 --> 02:41:50,000
I wanted to ask, but I
bite my damned tongue and turn away,

1743
02:41:50,600 --> 02:41:56,799
returning to the weapon and firing bright
beam like blasts out into the icy darkness

1744
02:41:56,879 --> 02:42:01,879
below. The courtyard and the outposts
self are illuminated with firework like flames.

1745
02:42:03,200 --> 02:42:07,280
As my comrades face their own battles, I stretch and reach out a hand

1746
02:42:07,360 --> 02:42:11,639
for my radio, shouting into it
again, ignoring the whispering in my ear

1747
02:42:13,920 --> 02:42:18,639
more firepower on the tower side of
the outpost. Urgent, I shout as

1748
02:42:18,639 --> 02:42:22,680
the erratic device crackles and fizzles.
I'm not cut out for this. Clearly,

1749
02:42:24,559 --> 02:42:28,719
maybe Eleanor was right. I just
can't seem to stop messing up at

1750
02:42:28,719 --> 02:42:33,840
every opportunity. I clenched my jaw
and murmured the Bible verse as I send

1751
02:42:33,840 --> 02:42:39,719
out the screaming blasts of the weaponized
light. My hands tighten the machinery,

1752
02:42:41,200 --> 02:42:46,360
my refuge and my fortress. I
see myself in the top of the tower,

1753
02:42:46,120 --> 02:42:50,760
a beacon in the darkness, as
the froth and surge of the demons

1754
02:42:50,760 --> 02:42:56,040
below goes stronger and stronger, my
God in whom I trust. Please,

1755
02:42:56,120 --> 02:43:01,200
God, whatever wherever you are,
just save us, Save us from the

1756
02:43:01,280 --> 02:43:07,719
darkness. My eyes widen, and
my eyebrows furrow with a burst of brutal,

1757
02:43:09,000 --> 02:43:13,799
fiery determination, a sudden surge through
my shoulders and down my spine.

1758
02:43:13,840 --> 02:43:18,920
For He will deliver me from the
snare of the fowler and the deadly pestilence.

1759
02:43:18,399 --> 02:43:22,479
I will not fear the terror of
the night, nor the arrow that

1760
02:43:22,600 --> 02:43:26,879
flies by day. I cast away
the demon that slithers around the tower,

1761
02:43:26,360 --> 02:43:31,319
and my hair is blown back from
my face. As the light spirals down

1762
02:43:31,479 --> 02:43:35,239
and around the courtyard and the rocky
drops of the mountains, The demons are

1763
02:43:35,239 --> 02:43:41,079
burst into clattering, smoking bones as
their cries of anguish become one with a

1764
02:43:41,200 --> 02:43:48,319
taunting in harmonous song across the range. The battle goes on on and on

1765
02:43:48,399 --> 02:43:54,200
it goes, as the night stretches
out and away, and the demons just

1766
02:43:54,360 --> 02:44:00,760
keep coming. The endless shadowy spiders
far below, the lights flash in a

1767
02:44:00,799 --> 02:44:05,319
man made storm, the snow falls. I take to the third weapon,

1768
02:44:05,920 --> 02:44:09,200
the larger piece, with a split
barrel, and with a judder through my

1769
02:44:09,280 --> 02:44:15,120
bones and a rumble through the walls, I watch as four glass like spheres

1770
02:44:15,120 --> 02:44:20,280
of intensely glowing light are released from
the end. They tumble and drop like

1771
02:44:20,399 --> 02:44:24,719
stones over the side of the tower, falling for a second, for two,

1772
02:44:26,319 --> 02:44:31,079
and then they are light like fire, screaming out in the direction they

1773
02:44:31,120 --> 02:44:35,959
were aimed, spreading and splitting further
apart, then further, a rain of

1774
02:44:37,079 --> 02:44:41,639
light across the gorge, and all
the while a darkness grows in the mountains

1775
02:44:41,639 --> 02:44:50,280
opposite, steadily increasing as the hours
pass, a massing writhing. It reminds

1776
02:44:50,319 --> 02:44:56,159
me of that curious twisted circle from
the other night. But this is no

1777
02:44:56,360 --> 02:45:01,479
abstract shape. You have to focus
really see it. But the shadows are

1778
02:45:01,520 --> 02:45:09,440
formed in the shape of a man
hunched over and huddled against the mountain.

1779
02:45:11,120 --> 02:45:15,959
Whenever my focus is elsewhere, I
could swear that I see two mist like

1780
02:45:16,159 --> 02:45:22,399
eyes watching me from afar, But
as is typical with these things, whenever

1781
02:45:22,440 --> 02:45:26,239
I turn to look directly at it, the image is lost. It becomes

1782
02:45:26,280 --> 02:45:33,680
just another rough shadow between the peaks. A voice comes screaming through the radio

1783
02:45:33,520 --> 02:45:39,280
aprils. By the sound of it, Adam Tower. I grab the device

1784
02:45:39,319 --> 02:45:45,559
and shout back down it, what
did you say? What is it?

1785
02:45:45,600 --> 02:45:52,040
But nothing further comes through. The
device cuts out. I run from weapon

1786
02:45:52,079 --> 02:45:56,159
to weapon, checking all the sights, looking in all directions. But I

1787
02:45:56,239 --> 02:46:01,639
do not know why April called me. The tide of the demons continue.

1788
02:46:01,680 --> 02:46:09,239
But but then I see it out
there in the mountains, the gathering man

1789
02:46:09,280 --> 02:46:16,079
shaped shadow, the colossus in the
night. It is slowly, unsteadily rising

1790
02:46:16,120 --> 02:46:22,719
to stand. One formless, smokelike
hand rests on the mountain. It looks

1791
02:46:22,760 --> 02:46:30,319
at me, right at me,
and I see it, I see its

1792
02:46:30,360 --> 02:46:35,200
eyes, and again the tide converges. My hands freeze on the weapon.

1793
02:46:37,200 --> 02:46:41,600
I cannot move, I cannot fire. My heart pounds, and like a

1794
02:46:41,639 --> 02:46:46,680
sling shot from the void, a
long, dark shaped rockets towards my position.

1795
02:46:48,079 --> 02:46:52,959
It strikes the side of the tower, and dust rains down from the

1796
02:46:52,040 --> 02:46:58,120
roof. I watch as the demons
flow towards me, and I hear the

1797
02:46:58,159 --> 02:47:13,600
sound of able almighty crack like thunder
in the darkness. I regain control of

1798
02:47:13,680 --> 02:47:18,040
my senses and grab a hold of
the modified javelin, aiming the heavy weapon

1799
02:47:18,079 --> 02:47:22,600
out and into the night. The
great shadow we shape of the man between

1800
02:47:22,639 --> 02:47:28,520
the mountains is way too far away
to hit from here, but I flicker

1801
02:47:28,559 --> 02:47:31,360
the weapons sites and do my best
to aim towards the source of that thing

1802
02:47:31,520 --> 02:47:37,760
that struck the tower. As I
look, however, a second of the

1803
02:47:37,920 --> 02:47:43,600
shadowy arrows tears through the air towards
my position. My flinch, and quick

1804
02:47:43,639 --> 02:47:46,280
as a flash, it strikes the
tower in more or less the same place,

1805
02:47:48,159 --> 02:47:52,559
just up and over to my left, brick and mortar is sent raining

1806
02:47:52,600 --> 02:47:58,200
down with clouds of dust and smoke, blasting out into the snow. Returning

1807
02:47:58,239 --> 02:48:03,719
to the weapon with a grimace,
I take quick aim and fire those four

1808
02:48:03,159 --> 02:48:09,319
burning glass like balls bursting out from
the barrel, tumbling down for a second,

1809
02:48:09,879 --> 02:48:15,120
for two, and then shooting up
and out towards the target, splitting

1810
02:48:15,159 --> 02:48:20,280
into further projectiles as they rain that
dazzling light out into the gorge. But

1811
02:48:20,399 --> 02:48:26,440
this rain is too little and too
late. There is a second thunderlike boom,

1812
02:48:26,600 --> 02:48:31,280
and the floor shakes. I release
the weapon in alarm and push myself

1813
02:48:31,280 --> 02:48:37,079
across the floor to the towers opposite
side. As an enormous section of wall

1814
02:48:37,079 --> 02:48:41,879
and roof simply breaks away. It
collapses with a juttering thud, and then

1815
02:48:41,920 --> 02:48:48,319
fall slowly to the courtyard below with
an almighty crash and rumble. The wind

1816
02:48:48,360 --> 02:48:52,559
billows with renewed power into the room, and it chills me to the bone.

1817
02:48:52,559 --> 02:48:58,079
Snow too, is blown in great
swaths. As I consider abandoning my

1818
02:48:58,159 --> 02:49:07,360
post. Rule five, keep a
constant presence in the tower. Damn.

1819
02:49:07,559 --> 02:49:11,879
I scrambled through the dust and debris
of the weapon on the far side,

1820
02:49:11,520 --> 02:49:16,760
only to realize that it has been
lost. Where the weapon was once fixed

1821
02:49:18,200 --> 02:49:22,360
is now only bare crack stone.
I grabbed the ledge and look down over

1822
02:49:22,399 --> 02:49:26,920
the edge, and I catch glimpse
of the mechanisms smashed the parts and pieces

1823
02:49:26,959 --> 02:49:31,920
on the snow swept ground far below. I left my gaze and watch in

1824
02:49:33,000 --> 02:49:39,200
horror as the demons begin clambering their
way over the outpost surrounding wall. Some

1825
02:49:39,280 --> 02:49:43,200
of them seem to struggle with this, despite the fact that the wall is

1826
02:49:43,200 --> 02:49:48,079
only waist high. Some of the
demons visibly diminish in size and form as

1827
02:49:48,120 --> 02:49:52,959
they pass over. But as more
and more of these creatures breached the wall,

1828
02:49:52,559 --> 02:49:58,479
the easier it becomes for their fellows
to follow. They follow the paths

1829
02:49:58,479 --> 02:50:03,799
made by the trailblazers, opting to
cross the wall in narrow streams before spreading

1830
02:50:03,799 --> 02:50:07,840
out again. Once they're inside the
courtyard, I catch sight of movement on

1831
02:50:07,879 --> 02:50:13,360
the outpost roof in the shadows.
Either eleanor or April has relocated, and

1832
02:50:13,559 --> 02:50:18,559
new beams of light are sent blasting
down to the ground. The light tears

1833
02:50:18,600 --> 02:50:24,159
through the stream of the demons,
but there are simply too many. There

1834
02:50:24,200 --> 02:50:28,959
are just too many. I griped
my teeth and grab a hold of the

1835
02:50:30,040 --> 02:50:33,879
javelin, bringing it around with a
mechanical crunch and firing a new burst of

1836
02:50:33,920 --> 02:50:41,079
four projectiles directly down into the courtyard. The arrow lights with fire, and

1837
02:50:41,159 --> 02:50:46,319
the sparkle like rain pours down across
the shadow we spread beneath to a chorus

1838
02:50:46,399 --> 02:50:52,520
of charred and rattling bones. A
third of those dark arrow like shadows streaked

1839
02:50:52,520 --> 02:50:56,959
through the darkness and hammers into the
side of the tower. And this one,

1840
02:50:58,520 --> 02:51:03,440
it's the surest. The entire structure
seems to waver as a section of

1841
02:51:03,559 --> 02:51:09,000
rock and brick is blown the helter
pieces and another corner of wall simply drops

1842
02:51:09,040 --> 02:51:15,399
down and away, exposing the upper
floor almost entirely to the natural force of

1843
02:51:15,440 --> 02:51:20,760
the elements. The wind whips back
my hair and makes my eyes water as

1844
02:51:20,799 --> 02:51:24,879
I grab a hold of the smaller
of the weapons, firing off furious further

1845
02:51:24,959 --> 02:51:30,600
blasts to the source of these new
attacks. Demons clamber up the mountain sides,

1846
02:51:31,040 --> 02:51:35,959
the spill over the walls. I
watch with desperate anguish as to begin

1847
02:51:35,040 --> 02:51:41,479
to throw themselves against the outpost.
Rows of them are evaporated in the beams

1848
02:51:41,479 --> 02:51:48,200
of the weapons, but there are
always more, always the endless, ceaseless

1849
02:51:48,239 --> 02:51:54,600
horde. There is another rumble,
and to my utter dismay, the section

1850
02:51:54,639 --> 02:52:03,280
of floor I am standing on simply
collapses. My stomach lurches as I am

1851
02:52:03,360 --> 02:52:07,559
dropped. Stones clatter all around me, and the weapon tumbles forward and over

1852
02:52:07,639 --> 02:52:13,719
the edge. I swivel on the
spot as I slip and stumble, reaching

1853
02:52:13,719 --> 02:52:18,920
out for something, for anything to
grab, but my hands catch nothing but

1854
02:52:20,120 --> 02:52:26,280
air, and down I go over
the edge. I shout out loud in

1855
02:52:26,360 --> 02:52:31,719
panic, throwing out my hands in
one last desperate attempt. My fingers scratched

1856
02:52:31,760 --> 02:52:37,440
down the flooring and I'm unable to
get a grip. However, it slows

1857
02:52:37,479 --> 02:52:41,680
my descent just enough for me to
bring up my other hand and I manage

1858
02:52:41,680 --> 02:52:45,639
to the grab instead a ruined section
of wall a little ways farther down the

1859
02:52:45,719 --> 02:52:50,879
tower. I fall maybe seven or
so feet from my position, muscles painfully

1860
02:52:50,879 --> 02:52:56,479
pulled tout as the brick and stone
and the weapon continue the downwards trajectory,

1861
02:52:58,120 --> 02:53:03,520
smashing to pieces and the cold,
hard ground far below my feet, kicking

1862
02:53:03,559 --> 02:53:07,360
the air for a moment as I
hang there precariously. Then they find a

1863
02:53:07,399 --> 02:53:13,239
section of broken stone and I'm able
to perch. I carefully release my grip

1864
02:53:13,280 --> 02:53:20,879
to assess my current situation. I
stand on a section of ruined tower.

1865
02:53:20,760 --> 02:53:24,520
There is just enough space for my
feet, There is not enough space for

1866
02:53:24,559 --> 02:53:31,079
me to sit down. However,
I look around. There is a hole

1867
02:53:31,159 --> 02:53:33,360
in the tower's wall, just big
enough for me to put a hand in,

1868
02:53:35,360 --> 02:53:39,639
as a kind of hole to help
me support myself. But there is

1869
02:53:39,680 --> 02:53:45,479
nothing else. There is nothing for
me to grab onto, and nowhere for

1870
02:53:45,559 --> 02:53:50,559
me to climb. No way back
into the tower, no way back up,

1871
02:53:50,239 --> 02:53:56,120
and no way down. I am
is stuck here, weaponless and alone.

1872
02:53:58,600 --> 02:54:03,639
The way roars past my position and
I leaned back against the brick,

1873
02:54:03,200 --> 02:54:07,840
jaw clenched as I feel as smattering
of loose rubble get brushed past my feet

1874
02:54:07,920 --> 02:54:13,000
and sent tumbling over the edge.
Damn it, damn it, damn it.

1875
02:54:13,719 --> 02:54:18,479
All I can do is watch as
the demons rushed through the courtyard,

1876
02:54:18,879 --> 02:54:22,680
as the beams of light tear between
them as clattering bones I sent bursting out

1877
02:54:22,799 --> 02:54:28,000
in clouds of smoke. And as
the creatures continue, they're relentless assault of

1878
02:54:28,040 --> 02:54:33,399
the outpost, slamming against the doors, against the windows, against the concrete.

1879
02:54:35,200 --> 02:54:39,280
I can only catch a glimpse in
the erratic flashing light, but I

1880
02:54:39,319 --> 02:54:45,840
swear I can see modest cracks beginning
to form, and the demons see this

1881
02:54:46,000 --> 02:54:50,719
too. As soon as the first
faint crack appears in the concrete, this

1882
02:54:50,920 --> 02:54:56,280
becomes their new target. The tide
of demons grow larger and larger, swelling

1883
02:54:56,360 --> 02:55:03,000
and rolling like waves. My head
to the side, squinting into the screaming

1884
02:55:03,000 --> 02:55:07,799
wind, watching as the enormous man
made of shadow in the mountains closes his

1885
02:55:09,000 --> 02:55:15,120
mistlike silvery eyes. He crouches down
and is lost to the shadows, his

1886
02:55:15,280 --> 02:55:18,600
form, returning to the darkness between
the peaks and the billowing snow clouds.

1887
02:55:20,959 --> 02:55:26,760
What are you? I whisper into
the night, and in my ear comes

1888
02:55:26,760 --> 02:55:35,760
a response, Aye, and the
spirit of my people. Ask yourself why

1889
02:55:35,840 --> 02:55:39,239
you are forbidden to converse with us. They are afraid you will come to

1890
02:55:39,360 --> 02:55:46,760
understand. To lay down your arms, Adam, we must be allowed entry

1891
02:55:46,920 --> 02:55:52,000
into the outpost. We are close
now, we have been close before,

1892
02:55:52,840 --> 02:55:56,840
and unless this is the final attempt, the cycle of blood will continue.

1893
02:55:58,799 --> 02:56:03,840
I seek only what is mine,
had em for a moment, a long,

1894
02:56:05,239 --> 02:56:09,239
cold moment, the song in the
air is lifted from its chaos into

1895
02:56:09,280 --> 02:56:16,200
a beautiful yet haunting melody. I
do not recognize the language, but I

1896
02:56:16,239 --> 02:56:20,680
can feel the emotional weight of the
words. Nonetheless, it is an anthem

1897
02:56:20,719 --> 02:56:28,520
I'm hearing. I decide, an
anthem from long, long ago. I

1898
02:56:28,600 --> 02:56:35,479
close my eyes for reasons unknown to
me, I feel an icy tear slip

1899
02:56:35,520 --> 02:56:43,159
its way down my cheek, and
I see her, a vision in my

1900
02:56:43,200 --> 02:56:50,879
mind's eye, the woman from the
painting come alive in swirling, smoke like

1901
02:56:52,120 --> 02:56:56,239
mists of gold and silver and black
and white. I cannot see her face

1902
02:56:56,639 --> 02:57:01,680
as it is obscured by snow and
far an ash, but she is surrounded

1903
02:57:03,520 --> 02:57:09,040
by fire. Her cross is held
high, glinting with amber and yellow in

1904
02:57:09,079 --> 02:57:15,360
the firelight, as sparks drift across
my field of vision. She stands on

1905
02:57:15,399 --> 02:57:20,600
a rocky hill above a clambering,
horizonless crowd. I hear screams. I

1906
02:57:20,680 --> 02:57:26,440
see hands reaching out for a scrambling
and scratching at the stone. As the

1907
02:57:26,520 --> 02:57:31,920
smoke thickens darkly in the air,
I hear the sound of thunder, the

1908
02:57:31,040 --> 02:57:37,280
flashing of lightning, and the cracking
and crumbling of rock. And as Olga

1909
02:57:37,399 --> 02:57:46,000
of the rust turns to face me, the vision it's lost. I find

1910
02:57:46,040 --> 02:57:50,680
myself stumbling. The air rushes past
my face. As I begin to fall,

1911
02:57:50,760 --> 02:57:56,319
the dark swell of the demons beneath
me draws closer. The rope knocks

1912
02:57:56,360 --> 02:58:03,840
past my shoulder. Rope my swivel
as I fall, twisting around and grabbing

1913
02:58:03,920 --> 02:58:09,360
desperate hold of this rope from the
heavens, my entire body weight held in

1914
02:58:09,399 --> 02:58:13,239
his proverbial arms as it tightens,
and I shout out loud in pain as

1915
02:58:13,280 --> 02:58:18,280
I'm carried back to the tower,
striking my side against the brick work hard,

1916
02:58:20,040 --> 02:58:26,680
but I am alive. Stones tumbled
down below, and I reorient myself,

1917
02:58:28,159 --> 02:58:33,120
hands burning on the rope, feet
squared against the tower's brick, I

1918
02:58:33,280 --> 02:58:39,200
craning my neck to look up to
the rope's source way overhead, and there

1919
02:58:39,239 --> 02:58:45,559
in the storm at the top of
the tower, his Yuri. He stares

1920
02:58:45,639 --> 02:58:50,879
down at me, his eyes wide
and wild. He shouts down at me

1921
02:58:50,920 --> 02:58:56,680
in Russian, and then in a
thick, almost indecipherable accent, he says

1922
02:58:56,680 --> 02:59:01,079
something else on more phrase, just
about quart above the rush of the wind,

1923
02:59:03,319 --> 02:59:07,680
no idiot man left behind, And
with this he starts to pull in

1924
02:59:07,719 --> 02:59:13,239
the rope, hauling it up one
hand over the other. Shocked back into

1925
02:59:13,319 --> 02:59:18,479
life at the sound of clattering bones
way below, I try my best to

1926
02:59:18,559 --> 02:59:22,319
help to ascend back to the perch, then to clamber back up, using

1927
02:59:22,319 --> 02:59:28,040
the rope to hauld my weight as
I do so. After several long,

1928
02:59:28,319 --> 02:59:31,680
exhausting minutes, Urie is able to
reach out and grab the back of my

1929
02:59:31,760 --> 02:59:39,159
jacket and he halds me onto the
uppermost level of the tower. We collapse

1930
02:59:39,280 --> 02:59:43,399
onto the remains of the snow street
row, a ridden floor, catching our

1931
02:59:43,440 --> 02:59:50,120
breaths as a light flash and the
demon's wail. How the hell? He

1932
02:59:50,280 --> 02:59:54,280
snorts and spits, getting back up
to his feet and looking down over the

1933
02:59:54,399 --> 03:00:01,479
edge, examining the nightmare way below, Tara exploded, I see abandoned post

1934
03:00:01,559 --> 03:00:07,920
to save video. He sighs and
shakes his head ruin rue one. We

1935
03:00:09,120 --> 03:00:18,040
fail, we fail. I look
around desperately. There are no weapons up

1936
03:00:18,079 --> 03:00:22,159
here anymore. Most of the Bible's
tumbled off and the explosions, though a

1937
03:00:22,280 --> 03:00:28,799
couple still remain. A quick glance
over the edge shows us that the courtyard

1938
03:00:28,840 --> 03:00:33,520
has essentially vanished, disappeared beneath the
black and shadowy. Tired, there is

1939
03:00:33,600 --> 03:00:39,040
no way back to the outpost for
us. Now we are an island in

1940
03:00:39,079 --> 03:00:48,239
a dark, swirling sea, trapped. The attention of the demons has diverted

1941
03:00:48,319 --> 03:00:54,600
from the tower, however, the
focus has bent wholeheartedly on breaching the building.

1942
03:00:56,040 --> 03:00:58,639
What the hell are we going to
do, Yurie, I asked him.

1943
03:01:00,120 --> 03:01:05,159
Man does not reply, so with
a grunt, I stand up alongside

1944
03:01:05,239 --> 03:01:09,520
him, and we watch as the
demons battle the beams and the clouds drift

1945
03:01:09,639 --> 03:01:16,280
and crackle overhead, the shadows and
the lights clash with fluries of sparks and

1946
03:01:16,440 --> 03:01:20,200
guisers of smoke and steam. The
silhouette of a woman and the outpost of

1947
03:01:20,319 --> 03:01:28,200
glimmers in and out of focus.
Eleanor it must be with the night plows

1948
03:01:28,239 --> 03:01:33,520
on the outpost. To my utter
amazement, holds for the bulk of it.

1949
03:01:33,120 --> 03:01:39,879
It holds against this furious tide.
But twenty or seven minutes before the

1950
03:01:39,959 --> 03:01:48,000
sunrise, the walls finally break.
A section of concrete surrounding the thick door

1951
03:01:48,040 --> 03:01:54,639
frame breaks through, and as the
dust pours in the demons pouring, scrabbling

1952
03:01:54,760 --> 03:01:58,920
and heaving over each other. As
they flow through the gap in the wall,

1953
03:01:58,159 --> 03:02:03,680
dozens a bunds, all dragging themselves
inside, arms and legs blurred into

1954
03:02:03,680 --> 03:02:11,840
the dark. The others continued the
fight eleanor Charlie in April. The weaponized

1955
03:02:11,920 --> 03:02:16,120
light is temporarily paused as they presumably
moved the barricade up the roots into the

1956
03:02:16,200 --> 03:02:22,440
roof, and then they resume energy, renewed sorts of gold in the wintry

1957
03:02:22,479 --> 03:02:30,120
gloom, whistling burning beams, and
the growing mass of charred, blackened bones

1958
03:02:31,719 --> 03:02:35,360
hanging their guys. I will to
them, quenching my fist hanging there.

1959
03:02:37,799 --> 03:02:41,760
They hold the line as best as
they can, all light now focused on

1960
03:02:41,840 --> 03:02:46,079
the gap in the wall, the
battle rages. Then at long last,

1961
03:02:46,680 --> 03:02:52,520
the shadows start to peel back,
and the sun rises, The snow and

1962
03:02:52,600 --> 03:02:58,319
the wind ease off, and the
natural light of the day is gradually returned

1963
03:02:58,319 --> 03:03:01,879
to the world. Song quickly tapers
off to be lost on the breeze,

1964
03:03:03,479 --> 03:03:07,959
and the last of the demons tear
across the ruined courtyard to the gap in

1965
03:03:07,000 --> 03:03:13,799
the wall, smoking and steaming as
they do so. Some of them are

1966
03:03:13,840 --> 03:03:20,040
slowed as if struck and entrapped,
and they melt away into oblivion, that

1967
03:03:20,239 --> 03:03:26,120
thick tarry smoke, drifting up and
away into the air. Others are successful

1968
03:03:26,520 --> 03:03:31,600
and make it to the gap,
But all these stragglers are caught in the

1969
03:03:31,639 --> 03:03:39,040
beams and evaporated. Urin I exchanged
the look some god in, though some

1970
03:03:39,200 --> 03:03:46,680
definitely got in. How many it's
hard to tell, but surely, surely

1971
03:03:46,719 --> 03:03:56,479
no less than fifty more. Perhaps
there are no words exchanged. It's time

1972
03:03:56,520 --> 03:04:03,120
to go and clear out the remainders, and to say the damage remainders,

1973
03:04:03,479 --> 03:04:07,719
I think to myself as we descend
the ladder single file. We're not talking

1974
03:04:07,760 --> 03:04:13,479
remainders here, We're talking a sizeable, dangerous force. Will the sun clear

1975
03:04:13,520 --> 03:04:18,639
them out? Or are they still
in there? What the hell could fifty

1976
03:04:18,680 --> 03:04:24,799
demons achieve altogether? What have they
done? My anxiety spikes with every step

1977
03:04:24,799 --> 03:04:28,920
of the journey. As we reached
the floor of the tower with that crappy

1978
03:04:30,120 --> 03:04:35,239
pipe leaking bathroom as we ascend the
second ladder, as we make our way

1979
03:04:35,280 --> 03:04:39,319
back down the stairs, around and
around, as we pass by the painting

1980
03:04:39,360 --> 03:04:48,040
of Olga, Olga of Kiev,
Olga of the russ We pushed through the

1981
03:04:48,079 --> 03:04:52,600
tower's door to the world beyond,
to wreckage and ruin, broken rock,

1982
03:04:52,959 --> 03:04:58,680
smashed up stone, and thousands upon
thousands of bones, some more blackened than

1983
03:04:58,719 --> 03:05:03,559
other, but all charge to a
degree. They come up to almost our

1984
03:05:03,639 --> 03:05:07,840
knees, these bones, and they
rattle and clatter as we try to kick

1985
03:05:07,879 --> 03:05:13,280
and shove them aside. Her returns
and heaves some ribs away with a loud

1986
03:05:13,360 --> 03:05:18,959
rattling, swearing as he does so, searching beneath them for the remains of

1987
03:05:18,959 --> 03:05:24,680
the weapons, the ones that tumbled
from the tower's peak. I reached down

1988
03:05:24,719 --> 03:05:28,559
myself and pick up one of the
bones for a closer look. It's a

1989
03:05:28,680 --> 03:05:35,120
rib piece, almost entirely whole.
I look past it to the sea of

1990
03:05:35,159 --> 03:05:43,079
bones beyond, and really pay attention
to each of the individual parts, ribs,

1991
03:05:43,520 --> 03:05:48,959
sections of spine. But I can
see them more clearly now. My

1992
03:05:48,000 --> 03:05:52,520
previous experiences with the bones involved me
only seen them for a split second,

1993
03:05:54,079 --> 03:05:58,079
clattering down the mountain side, out
of sight in the dark, but now

1994
03:06:00,000 --> 03:06:05,040
are laying right at my feet,
illuminated in the light of the rising sun.

1995
03:06:05,799 --> 03:06:09,840
They are stuck to each other with
a thick, viscous, black tar

1996
03:06:09,959 --> 03:06:20,399
like substance, but they were quite
obviously human. I realize human shaped and

1997
03:06:20,559 --> 03:06:26,479
sized. At least. There are
broken hip bones, pieces of arm and

1998
03:06:26,600 --> 03:06:31,559
leg, an almost complete arm in
a hand still loosely connected with that disgusting

1999
03:06:31,719 --> 03:06:39,040
tar rests, and a charred,
cracked and decidedly human skull right by my

2000
03:06:39,120 --> 03:06:45,319
foot. I swallow, my mouth, dry, my lips peeling from the

2001
03:06:45,520 --> 03:06:50,239
icy wind. I look over to
Yuri, and the man stands back up

2002
03:06:50,399 --> 03:06:54,840
with armfuls of broken machinery, the
bulk of one of the weapons from the

2003
03:06:54,879 --> 03:06:58,719
top of the tower, or,
to be more accurate, it remains.

2004
03:07:01,360 --> 03:07:05,559
He nods and grunts at me as
we continue heading across the courtyard, my

2005
03:07:05,639 --> 03:07:09,920
hands going for my gun as he
draw closer and closer to the gap in

2006
03:07:09,959 --> 03:07:16,200
the concrete. I scarcely had to
use the thing so far, but images

2007
03:07:16,200 --> 03:07:24,719
of Eleanor shooting down Christian's possessed body
return to the forefront off my mind.

2008
03:07:28,440 --> 03:07:31,639
The sound of gunfire from within the
complex sends a hammer through my heart,

2009
03:07:33,159 --> 03:07:39,200
and we break into a run onwards
in aid of our comrades. The morning

2010
03:07:39,280 --> 03:07:43,879
light is clear, now bright and
sparkling through the thick, heavy glass of

2011
03:07:43,920 --> 03:07:48,239
the outposts windows. Urie dumps the
equipment he's carrying at the crossroads in the

2012
03:07:48,280 --> 03:07:54,479
corridor and begins tearing through it,
rebuilding and reorganizing the mechanisms with his bare

2013
03:07:54,520 --> 03:08:00,440
hands at lightning speed. He shout
something at me, but it's a Russian

2014
03:08:00,760 --> 03:08:07,200
and I don't understand. I get
the idea, though, I think.

2015
03:08:07,319 --> 03:08:11,479
I raised my weapon and moved from
water wall, checking the lines of sight

2016
03:08:11,559 --> 03:08:18,440
down the corridors. The place is
full of bones, of broken concrete,

2017
03:08:18,799 --> 03:08:24,200
of thick, sludgy tar, splattered
way up to the ceiling. I hear

2018
03:08:24,239 --> 03:08:28,680
a crash and another series of gunshots
coming from down the hall to my right.

2019
03:08:31,040 --> 03:08:35,879
I know what's down there. It's
the room that Charlie showed me with

2020
03:08:35,040 --> 03:08:41,520
a little holes scratched and torn away
through the floorboards, the meeting hall or

2021
03:08:41,559 --> 03:08:46,639
whatever it was. Urie, I
know where they are. He snorts and

2022
03:08:46,760 --> 03:08:52,000
spits and makes a gesture with his
hand. Go on. Then, it

2023
03:08:52,040 --> 03:08:56,520
seems to say, and so I
do. I head down the corridor with

2024
03:08:56,680 --> 03:09:01,719
careful focus, looking this way and
that for any signs of a struggle,

2025
03:09:01,079 --> 03:09:05,479
before rounding the corner and glancing through
the open doorway to the meeting room.

2026
03:09:07,520 --> 03:09:13,040
There's a demon inside. That much
is clear. Eleanor in April are in

2027
03:09:13,079 --> 03:09:18,799
there also. I look back at
Yuri and make a gesture with my hand.

2028
03:09:18,879 --> 03:09:22,799
He swears under his breath, nods, and grabs up the remains of

2029
03:09:22,840 --> 03:09:30,120
the weapon. The few final adjustments. We breached the room loudly and clearly.

2030
03:09:31,719 --> 03:09:35,120
Eleanor and April take hasty steps towards
a pile of stacked up chairs in

2031
03:09:35,159 --> 03:09:39,559
the corner, and the demon crashes
from wall to wall like a trapped bird,

2032
03:09:41,200 --> 03:09:46,239
sticking itself to the ceiling and slithering
rapidly across the concrete. It moves

2033
03:09:46,239 --> 03:09:52,600
like water, with a consistency of
smoke. Every now and then the rough

2034
03:09:52,639 --> 03:09:58,319
glimpse of a humanoid shape becomes clear
in its form. There's a lot to

2035
03:09:58,399 --> 03:10:05,079
take in at once. The room
is a wreck for starters. Where once

2036
03:10:05,159 --> 03:10:09,559
there was a small hole barely even
waist height, it is now enormous,

2037
03:10:09,920 --> 03:10:15,639
cavernous, a huge, gaping,
dark void in the center of the floor,

2038
03:10:16,600 --> 03:10:20,520
concrete and wood has been thrown and
torn up with reckless abandon and hurled

2039
03:10:20,520 --> 03:10:26,120
to the sides of the room,
and to my utter and total horror,

2040
03:10:26,239 --> 03:10:35,280
there is movement down below, movement
in the dark death time, mutters Zurie

2041
03:10:35,319 --> 03:10:39,719
from behind me, and he pulls
back the trigger of the weapon in his

2042
03:10:39,799 --> 03:10:46,040
hands. It starts to burn brighter
and brighter, and using her makeshift catched

2043
03:10:46,120 --> 03:10:50,399
that he is evidently constructed in the
last few minutes, he locks the trigger

2044
03:10:50,479 --> 03:10:56,239
in place and throws the weapon down
into the hole. The beams blast out

2045
03:10:56,280 --> 03:11:01,559
in a furious circle, whizzing and
sparkling and screaming with a brilliant white flame.

2046
03:11:03,120 --> 03:11:07,440
My oar in the power of the
light only seems to intensify it further,

2047
03:11:07,159 --> 03:11:11,920
and I find myself being dragged from
the room, along with Eleanor and

2048
03:11:11,040 --> 03:11:16,760
April, as the fire burns and
splatters the walls with shattering bones and great

2049
03:11:16,920 --> 03:11:24,239
explosive bursts of that thick black tar. We come to a stop around another

2050
03:11:24,319 --> 03:11:28,079
of the corners, sweating from the
heat. But even here the light as

2051
03:11:28,079 --> 03:11:33,680
of an intensity I have not yet
seen. It is dazzling, blinding,

2052
03:11:33,719 --> 03:11:39,000
almost I have to shield my eyes, though before I do so, I

2053
03:11:39,120 --> 03:11:43,120
catch a glimpse of Yuri with his
eyes already closed, clutching his cross,

2054
03:11:43,680 --> 03:11:50,159
muttering to himself under his breath,
over and over and over. The screaming

2055
03:11:50,200 --> 03:11:54,799
of the demons grows louder and louder, the smashing clattering of bones like a

2056
03:11:54,879 --> 03:12:05,680
constant heavy rain. But after a
while these sounds all start to die down.

2057
03:12:07,719 --> 03:12:11,799
The light fades, the screeching of
the demons grows weaker and weaker,

2058
03:12:11,520 --> 03:12:20,000
until at last it falls completely silent, just four of us breathing heavily in

2059
03:12:20,079 --> 03:12:26,520
this battered, bruised corridor of the
complex. Christ April murmurs after a beat,

2060
03:12:28,040 --> 03:12:33,399
her chest rising and falling as she
looks between us. Eleanor swallows,

2061
03:12:33,840 --> 03:12:37,360
sweat budding on a forehead, and
she leads the way, returning to the

2062
03:12:37,440 --> 03:12:43,479
room with a back straight and weapon
raised. But the room is empty.

2063
03:12:43,520 --> 03:12:48,920
Now there is no sign of life
at all, or whatever imitation of life

2064
03:12:48,959 --> 03:12:54,680
it is that the demons boast.
The hall is covered in that disgusting tar,

2065
03:12:56,360 --> 03:13:01,000
and bones litter the floor. The
great deep hole in the rooms center

2066
03:13:01,120 --> 03:13:09,600
is dark with his splattered remains,
but there is no movement. Footsteps behind

2067
03:13:09,760 --> 03:13:13,920
us, bid us. The swivel
at once, though it's only Charlie.

2068
03:13:15,079 --> 03:13:18,559
I'm relieved to see that he appears
himself. His eyes are as they should

2069
03:13:18,639 --> 03:13:24,520
be, and he nodded us grimly
as he approaches. We didn't do so

2070
03:13:24,639 --> 03:13:30,959
well last night, did we,
he asks rhetorically. He clapped me on

2071
03:13:31,000 --> 03:13:33,879
the shoulder. Good to see your
right there, mate. I was worried

2072
03:13:33,879 --> 03:13:39,000
about you seeing that tower come down, yeah, I reply, uneasily,

2073
03:13:39,399 --> 03:13:45,959
still shaken, yeah, Uriah,
well, I fell off after one of

2074
03:13:45,959 --> 03:13:52,319
the explosions. He was able to
haul me back up. Helena's eyes flick

2075
03:13:52,360 --> 03:13:56,000
her over to him, and she
asks him something in Russian. Yuri shakes

2076
03:13:56,040 --> 03:14:01,639
his head in response and says nothing. Further time to check out where these

2077
03:14:01,680 --> 03:14:05,959
things were after then, eh,
Charlie mutters, reaching to his belt with

2078
03:14:05,000 --> 03:14:11,200
his scarred, calloused hands, drawing
out his flashlight and flicking on the switch.

2079
03:14:11,680 --> 03:14:16,879
Eleanor clenches a jaw as Charlie angles
the light down into the massive hole

2080
03:14:18,079 --> 03:14:22,760
that the demons have carved into the
rock beneath the outpost. Geez, did

2081
03:14:22,760 --> 03:14:28,680
you look at that? He mutters, what the April says with wide eyes.

2082
03:14:31,040 --> 03:14:35,680
Yuri raises his eyebrows and reaches for
his own flashlight, adding his beam

2083
03:14:35,719 --> 03:14:43,840
to Charlie's, and we all peered
down into the dark. The hole is

2084
03:14:43,920 --> 03:14:48,959
much deeper now, of course.
I crouched down at his edge and squint

2085
03:14:48,040 --> 03:14:52,719
into the gloom. I can see
a little better what I failed to see

2086
03:14:52,760 --> 03:14:58,840
the other night. The hole opens
up into a wide cavern, and an

2087
03:15:00,000 --> 03:15:05,360
almost hollow cavern right here beneath the
outpost, a cavern filled with rows and

2088
03:15:05,479 --> 03:15:13,040
rows of still and silent statues.
They are all arranged in rows like some

2089
03:15:13,200 --> 03:15:20,559
terra cotta army. There are women
and children amongst the men. These rows

2090
03:15:20,600 --> 03:15:26,000
of people made of stone extend away
in the darkness on all sides. It's

2091
03:15:26,040 --> 03:15:31,520
impossible to tell how many there might
be. Uri casts his beam of the

2092
03:15:31,600 --> 03:15:37,000
only visible wall in the cavern.
Down below. The light illuminates a series

2093
03:15:37,000 --> 03:15:43,479
of runs carved into the rock.
I squint beneath the lines of large text

2094
03:15:43,760 --> 03:15:50,840
and what appears to be an early
form of Sevilk like Russian, but not

2095
03:15:50,000 --> 03:15:58,760
quite. There's something inherently primitive about
it. Uri mutters under his breath and

2096
03:15:58,920 --> 03:16:05,319
stares at Eleanor wide eyed. What
the hell are those statues? April asks

2097
03:16:05,440 --> 03:16:11,440
quietly, this is what the demons
are trying to reach. Movement in the

2098
03:16:11,520 --> 03:16:18,319
cavern below sends a tremor of fear
through the group, like electricity. It

2099
03:16:18,440 --> 03:16:24,639
all happened so quickly. A man, a human man, rises suddenly out

2100
03:16:24,799 --> 03:16:31,200
from the shadows, his hand on
the shoulder of a nearby statue. He

2101
03:16:31,280 --> 03:16:37,159
stares up at us and screams,
spittle flying from a mouth of broken teeth.

2102
03:16:39,239 --> 03:16:43,000
His clothes are ragged and robelike,
ancient looking, really, and he

2103
03:16:43,040 --> 03:16:48,399
wears a helmet of dull metal carved
with two ram like horns on either side.

2104
03:16:50,680 --> 03:16:54,760
He raises a hand in a quick
blurred motion, pointing towards us.

2105
03:16:56,440 --> 03:17:03,959
No, not us at Eleanor and
I have just enough time to cover my

2106
03:17:05,040 --> 03:17:09,840
closest ear as Eleanor promptly raises a
weapon. Wait, Charlie shouts out,

2107
03:17:11,440 --> 03:17:16,600
but she does not. A shot
rings out loud and clear, and the

2108
03:17:16,719 --> 03:17:22,520
mysterious man in the cavern below goes
down like a rock. Dark blood is

2109
03:17:22,520 --> 03:17:26,079
sprayed across the wall from the back
of his head, and the light is

2110
03:17:26,159 --> 03:17:31,760
lost. As the attention of the
flashlight bearers turn to Eleanor, she stares

2111
03:17:31,879 --> 03:17:35,479
down into the dark, her eyes
wide, her lips culled back into a

2112
03:17:35,559 --> 03:17:41,879
sneer, tightening that ghastly scar.
Then she turns away and begins to walk

2113
03:17:41,959 --> 03:17:48,520
from the room. Charlie stumbles over
his words. He calls after her,

2114
03:17:48,799 --> 03:17:54,120
Eleana, what the hell is going
on here? You know something, don't

2115
03:17:54,159 --> 03:18:00,680
you. April's eyebrows furrow in anger, and she shouts to the ring as

2116
03:18:00,680 --> 03:18:05,120
she reaches the doorway, what is
happening, Eleana. You need to tell

2117
03:18:05,200 --> 03:18:09,840
us what's going on? Enough is
enough? Even Yuri watches the woman in

2118
03:18:09,879 --> 03:18:16,639
confusion. He cocks his head,
he clenches and unclenches his jaw, mutters

2119
03:18:16,680 --> 03:18:22,159
something in Russian. Elena pauses at
the door, and she turns back to

2120
03:18:22,239 --> 03:18:28,399
us, such that only the good
half of her face is visible. Concrete

2121
03:18:28,440 --> 03:18:31,280
mixes in the shed on the south
side. Concrete chunks and rock can be

2122
03:18:31,280 --> 03:18:35,639
moved to block gaps. Skeleton's cleared. We work now for one hour,

2123
03:18:35,920 --> 03:18:41,479
We sleep for five, then we
work again. Wall sealed. Before nightfall,

2124
03:18:41,079 --> 03:18:46,799
they will come again. You really
are hiding something, aren't you,

2125
03:18:46,920 --> 03:18:50,639
Eleanor. Charlie mutters, his eyes
narrowing as he wipes some dust from his

2126
03:18:50,760 --> 03:18:56,959
nose. Eleanor says nothing more.
She simply takes a leave, and we

2127
03:18:58,120 --> 03:19:03,040
listen to the sound of her footsteps
as they gradually disappear down the corridor.

2128
03:19:03,760 --> 03:19:11,479
After a long cold pause, I
turned to Yuri. Yuri, I begin

2129
03:19:11,760 --> 03:19:16,600
carefully, Please, man, is
there anything you can tell us about Eleanor

2130
03:19:16,680 --> 03:19:20,040
that she's hiding? I don't know
what it is, but let's face it.

2131
03:19:20,760 --> 03:19:24,920
Did she seem all that surprised by
the discovery down below? I mean

2132
03:19:26,360 --> 03:19:30,559
statues of people in the dark beneath
the outpost. I thought this was all

2133
03:19:30,600 --> 03:19:35,879
about lay lines or whatever. Yuri
is she hiding something from us. The

2134
03:19:35,959 --> 03:19:43,280
man's cheek twitches, His dark shadowed
eyes look between us as we regard him.

2135
03:19:43,440 --> 03:19:48,200
Then he sighs and spits onto the
ground. He mutters in Russian and

2136
03:19:48,399 --> 03:19:56,639
say he's in English. Work to
do fix wall? And away he goes.

2137
03:19:58,360 --> 03:20:05,360
And that's as badly as the questions
are now burning, the walls take

2138
03:20:05,399 --> 03:20:11,799
priority. We spend the next hour
in relative contemplative silence. Charlie and I

2139
03:20:13,000 --> 03:20:18,440
mix rapid setting concrete. April clears
the bones in the blood. I catch

2140
03:20:18,520 --> 03:20:22,600
sight of Eleanor in the courtyard,
carefully redrawing the various symbols across the walls

2141
03:20:22,639 --> 03:20:28,520
in white chalk with the demons scrub
them away. I noticed that she seems

2142
03:20:28,520 --> 03:20:33,559
to be focusing on the Christian ones
the most. We get those five hours

2143
03:20:33,600 --> 03:20:39,840
of sleep, and goddamn are they
badly needed. They pass by far too

2144
03:20:39,879 --> 03:20:46,200
quickly, however, and like a
zombie I rise to return to work.

2145
03:20:48,920 --> 03:20:52,879
The gap in the wall is hastily
fixed back up with the chunks of broken

2146
03:20:52,920 --> 03:20:58,399
concrete and the sloppy mix of the
new batch. The work is not esthetic,

2147
03:20:58,479 --> 03:21:03,559
but it might just do. Urie
searches through the bones for the remains

2148
03:21:03,559 --> 03:21:07,719
of the weapons and disappears after some
workshop to try and fix them up.

2149
03:21:07,600 --> 03:21:11,639
We are enabled to entirely fix the
enormous hole in the meeting hall floor.

2150
03:21:13,520 --> 03:21:18,000
We do manage to narrow down somewhat, and the area above it is heavily

2151
03:21:18,120 --> 03:21:22,079
nailed over with ugly planks of wood, and with materials we're able to locate

2152
03:21:22,159 --> 03:21:28,440
in storerooms. What gets me is
how poorly prepared the outpost is to fix

2153
03:21:28,520 --> 03:21:33,280
up this damage. I mean,
yeah, the concrete mix is available,

2154
03:21:33,799 --> 03:21:39,159
but the variety of materials at our
disposal is incredibly limited. And I can't

2155
03:21:39,200 --> 03:21:46,959
help but wonder hell to command even
know what lies beneath this place? My

2156
03:21:48,000 --> 03:21:54,360
mind whirls as I work, as
supplies we're able are restopped. Status beneath

2157
03:21:54,360 --> 03:21:58,879
the outpost, a man killed in
cold blood who wasn't possessed? Was he?

2158
03:22:00,600 --> 03:22:03,680
He didn't move like Christian did.
He didn't send out a dozen voices

2159
03:22:03,719 --> 03:22:11,799
at once the way Christian did either. He seemed just human. I rubbed

2160
03:22:11,799 --> 03:22:16,520
my hands across my eyes. The
demons are trying to get beneath the outpost.

2161
03:22:16,879 --> 03:22:20,319
They're trying to reach the cavern.
They're trying to reach the statues.

2162
03:22:20,479 --> 03:22:26,120
Right, is that it? But
why? What did the demons want with

2163
03:22:26,200 --> 03:22:31,719
a load of carved rock? I
feel like the answer is right in front

2164
03:22:31,719 --> 03:22:39,799
of me. I'm just missing one
or two pieces of the puzzle, Eleana.

2165
03:22:39,000 --> 03:22:45,120
What do you know, eleanor I
start to grow angry like April was

2166
03:22:45,159 --> 03:22:50,399
earlier. How dare she keeps secrets
from us? We're putting her lives at

2167
03:22:50,479 --> 03:22:54,799
risk? Careful for what? Why
are we defending this god forsaken outpost in

2168
03:22:54,840 --> 03:23:01,239
the middle of the mountains. April
is just beside me and I slammed down

2169
03:23:01,239 --> 03:23:03,799
a chunk of concrete with a cloud
of dust, and I turned to her.

2170
03:23:05,760 --> 03:23:09,680
She looks over and reads my expression, grimacing. What are we going

2171
03:23:09,680 --> 03:23:15,200
to do about her? I asked, it's obvious who I'm talking about.

2172
03:23:16,559 --> 03:23:20,520
I don't know, she replies with
a sigh. Do we just confront her?

2173
03:23:22,280 --> 03:23:24,239
She scares me, Adam, the
way she shot that guy in the

2174
03:23:24,319 --> 03:23:31,159
cavern. I mean, who was
he? Eleanor knows? Except what if

2175
03:23:31,200 --> 03:23:35,680
she doesn't? Would she do that? Kill someone in cold blood without any

2176
03:23:35,680 --> 03:23:41,159
information at all? What does she
know? I think we should go find

2177
03:23:41,239 --> 03:23:46,840
Yuri. Yuri, he's not going
to help us, No, I think

2178
03:23:46,840 --> 03:23:50,520
he might. He's changed these past
couple of days April, since he was

2179
03:23:50,600 --> 03:23:54,840
dragged over the edge. He's been
unsettled for a while, and I don't

2180
03:23:54,879 --> 03:23:58,159
think he and Eleanor are quite on
the same page that we thought they were.

2181
03:24:01,280 --> 03:24:07,639
April hesitates, Come on, I
say, let's go find him.

2182
03:24:07,760 --> 03:24:11,159
He isn't in any of the places
we check. However, he isn't in

2183
03:24:11,200 --> 03:24:16,399
the workshop, he isn't in comes
or anywhere near the tower. We start

2184
03:24:16,440 --> 03:24:22,120
to become frustrated, then worried.
I don't want to call for him over

2185
03:24:22,159 --> 03:24:28,799
the radio because I'm a little cautious
of Eleanor overhearing. But at long last

2186
03:24:28,079 --> 03:24:33,639
we locate him huddled up in the
corner of an archives room dust, the

2187
03:24:33,680 --> 03:24:39,680
old folders and files laid out before
him, illuminated in the glow of an

2188
03:24:39,719 --> 03:24:45,840
ancient lamp. Yurie and mutter,
and the guy glances up at me.

2189
03:24:46,319 --> 03:24:52,159
What are you doing here? Man? The Russian regards me. His eyes

2190
03:24:52,200 --> 03:24:58,879
flicker from my face to April's.
After a measured pause, he gestures to

2191
03:24:58,959 --> 03:25:03,680
one of the folders and the ground, kicking it with his foot. I

2192
03:25:03,799 --> 03:25:07,040
share a glance with April and reached
down to pick it up, thumbing open

2193
03:25:07,079 --> 03:25:16,639
the cover to reveal a series of
photocopies and articles, historical records an Alga

2194
03:25:16,799 --> 03:25:24,159
of Kiev. The woman in the
painting. April murmured something and carefully takes

2195
03:25:24,159 --> 03:25:28,079
the folder from my hands, flicking
through. Most of the content is in

2196
03:25:28,159 --> 03:25:35,239
Russian, but some appears to be
in English. Yuri, I begin cautiously.

2197
03:25:37,639 --> 03:25:41,280
You don't know, do you?
You don't know what Eleanor is hiding

2198
03:25:41,280 --> 03:25:48,760
from us. The man considers me, then shakes his head. A pipe

2199
03:25:48,799 --> 03:25:52,920
his is softly overhead, and the
lights flicker. There was writing on the

2200
03:25:52,959 --> 03:26:00,000
wall in the cavern in Russian.
There was some in another language too,

2201
03:26:00,000 --> 03:26:03,719
a little like rooms. But the
Russian were you able to read it.

2202
03:26:05,479 --> 03:26:09,840
Ury shrugs and grunts. He drops
the file in his hands onto the desk

2203
03:26:09,920 --> 03:26:18,479
with a thud. Old he says, simply, very very big old long

2204
03:26:18,559 --> 03:26:28,079
time sealed away, they said,
locked away. And what He runs his

2205
03:26:28,159 --> 03:26:37,479
tongue over his teeth. Drevilliondrevillion.
Eury nods, I don't understand. What

2206
03:26:37,559 --> 03:26:43,399
does that mean? In English?
Devil demon? He shakes his head.

2207
03:26:45,280 --> 03:26:54,799
Means nothing is same in English as
Russian. Drevillion is word Trevillion. I

2208
03:26:54,959 --> 03:27:01,159
run the word through my head,
but it means nothing to me. April

2209
03:27:01,239 --> 03:27:07,079
suddenly reaches out a hand and she
grabs me by the arm. I joled

2210
03:27:07,120 --> 03:27:11,760
in surprise and turned to look at
her, but the woman is staring intently

2211
03:27:11,840 --> 03:27:18,719
down at the page, her eyes
wide. Adam, She mutters, you've

2212
03:27:18,760 --> 03:27:24,399
got to read this. There's something
in here that's that's She's interrupted by a

2213
03:27:24,479 --> 03:27:31,680
crackling on the radio. Lads comes
to Charlie's voice, grainy and far away.

2214
03:27:31,600 --> 03:27:33,680
I think you might want to make
your way to the front door.

2215
03:27:35,840 --> 03:27:41,520
We have a guest, A guest
too. Damn much is happening at once.

2216
03:27:43,319 --> 03:27:46,440
The three of us don't need much
convincing. We were up at once

2217
03:27:46,520 --> 03:27:52,280
and marching down the corridors quickly between
the scarred walls of the complex to the

2218
03:27:52,360 --> 03:27:56,760
gate of the outposts, farside the
one I passed through on my very first

2219
03:27:56,879 --> 03:28:03,600
day here. Yurie mutters to himself
from Russian a guest, I say out

2220
03:28:03,600 --> 03:28:09,280
loud, it's someone here. Elena
only called for backup yesterday morning. There's

2221
03:28:09,280 --> 03:28:13,159
no way Christian's replacement could be here
already, right, she said it would

2222
03:28:13,159 --> 03:28:18,520
take way longer. Adam abrils is, I really really do need to talk

2223
03:28:18,559 --> 03:28:24,319
to you. But we reached the
gate. Charlie is there, as is

2224
03:28:24,399 --> 03:28:30,280
Eleanor, and they part way to
allow us a view out into the courtyard

2225
03:28:30,319 --> 03:28:37,520
beyond into the grim, gray haze
of the evening, And there, to

2226
03:28:37,600 --> 03:28:43,159
my utter shock, stands a man. I recognize, a man from my

2227
03:28:43,200 --> 03:28:50,719
base, and a man I am
well well familiar with. He stares at

2228
03:28:50,719 --> 03:28:56,319
me and I at him. Hi, guys, the man says, with

2229
03:28:56,399 --> 03:29:01,200
an awkward wave, his accent the
same as line, It's good to meet

2230
03:29:01,239 --> 03:29:09,319
you, I think. He glances
down to the pile of charred bones in

2231
03:29:09,440 --> 03:29:20,479
which he stands. The name is
Adam Adam Smith, reporting for duty.

2232
03:29:22,159 --> 03:29:26,600
The others look from him to me
and back I fumble for words as the

2233
03:29:26,680 --> 03:29:33,319
cold gust of wind blows into the
outpost. You're the replacement for Christian,

2234
03:29:33,040 --> 03:29:39,200
I manage and the other. Adam
raises an eyebrow. Christian, he replies,

2235
03:29:41,319 --> 03:29:46,520
Christian repeats another voice. A grizzled
man pokes his head inside from around

2236
03:29:46,520 --> 03:29:54,200
the corner. It's Sokolov, offers
us. Sokolov, the same Russian officer

2237
03:29:54,280 --> 03:30:03,719
that led me here when exactly a
week ago maybe feels like months. Everyone

2238
03:30:03,760 --> 03:30:07,639
inside salutes, including myself, and
the man returns it, bidding us the

2239
03:30:07,760 --> 03:30:13,920
ease with a grunt and a wave. Eleanor steps forward and asks something of

2240
03:30:13,959 --> 03:30:18,760
the man in Russian. He replies
and gestures from Adam to me. I

2241
03:30:18,920 --> 03:30:24,719
hear him mention Christian's name, and
Eleanor sadly shakes her head with a response.

2242
03:30:26,040 --> 03:30:31,520
Sokolov sighs and looks to the ground. Shame, he says in English,

2243
03:30:31,440 --> 03:30:35,639
I will miss that one, A
big loss. Wait, sir,

2244
03:30:37,120 --> 03:30:41,280
I cut in, stepping forwards down
the corridor myself. You didn't know he

2245
03:30:41,440 --> 03:30:46,559
was dead? Then? What's Adam
doing here? Well? I'm here to

2246
03:30:46,559 --> 03:30:52,040
replace you, man, Adam says. Turns out you are never supposed to

2247
03:30:52,079 --> 03:30:54,520
be up here in the first place. I'm the one they wanted to send.

2248
03:30:56,079 --> 03:31:01,879
Jeez, I reply, sucking some
aeron through my teeth. I knew

2249
03:31:01,879 --> 03:31:05,159
nothing of christian till now. Sokolov
says, I do not deal with this.

2250
03:31:05,600 --> 03:31:09,280
If replacement requested, then he will
be here I do not know where

2251
03:31:09,360 --> 03:31:15,200
from. One of the others will
be bringing them up when available. He

2252
03:31:15,319 --> 03:31:20,120
points at me, you smith,
duty over, congratulations. Time to go,

2253
03:31:22,680 --> 03:31:26,200
and he half turns, expecting me
to follow. The others turned to

2254
03:31:26,239 --> 03:31:35,840
look at me, Charlie, April, Yuri and Eleanor all waiting. I

2255
03:31:35,920 --> 03:31:39,840
consider it, you know, I
consider going with Soklov. I mean,

2256
03:31:41,200 --> 03:31:46,000
why shouldn't I. I done my
time, I did my duty. I

2257
03:31:46,159 --> 03:31:48,559
entered the call when the call should
never have gone to me in the first

2258
03:31:48,559 --> 03:31:54,959
place. It was all a mess
up, a classic logistical blunder. I

2259
03:31:54,959 --> 03:32:00,399
mean, I had my suspicions,
but I really thought that with thing like

2260
03:32:00,479 --> 03:32:05,760
this, the aboves would have been
more careful. I guess I was wrong,

2261
03:32:07,040 --> 03:32:13,840
but still I can't just go.
Not now. If I stay,

2262
03:32:13,879 --> 03:32:18,079
sir, then we have six the
six required for the optimal running of the

2263
03:32:18,120 --> 03:32:24,360
outpost. I turned to Eleanor.
That's right, isn't it, Despite all

2264
03:32:24,360 --> 03:32:28,479
this space, all these empty rooms, six is the magic number. That's

2265
03:32:28,479 --> 03:32:35,479
what you said, six defenders.
Elena opens her mouth, hesitates, then

2266
03:32:35,520 --> 03:32:43,399
cautiously agrees. She turns the circle
of this is true, sir, she

2267
03:32:43,479 --> 03:32:48,319
says, then goes to the say
some more in Russian and circle of regard

2268
03:32:48,360 --> 03:32:54,680
to then me, And then he
just shrugs. You want to stay,

2269
03:32:56,040 --> 03:33:03,280
stay? You were offered away home. Remember this. He takes a step

2270
03:33:03,319 --> 03:33:07,920
back, his coat rustling in the
wind. And I said, if you

2271
03:33:07,040 --> 03:33:11,719
requested replacement for Christian, then they
will be here within day, maybe two,

2272
03:33:13,200 --> 03:33:20,040
maybe three, whether depends. Goodbye. We stand to attention and salute,

2273
03:33:20,920 --> 03:33:24,360
and he nods one back. Then
away he goes, turning on his

2274
03:33:24,440 --> 03:33:30,120
heels and clattering back through the bones, scarcely giving them a second glance.

2275
03:33:31,520 --> 03:33:35,680
He does call back over his shoulder, though, one more time before he

2276
03:33:35,719 --> 03:33:41,200
disappears into the haze. Shame about
tower will inform command, hopefully fixed by

2277
03:33:41,319 --> 03:33:48,520
end of this quarter. And that's
that. I can just about make out

2278
03:33:48,520 --> 03:33:54,079
his silhouette clumbering over the little wall
that surrounds the outpost, and then he

2279
03:33:54,159 --> 03:34:00,000
vanishes, leaving the six of us
in the open gate. Of the outpost,

2280
03:33:58,719 --> 03:34:03,159
and Smith looks between us, perhaps
catching a glimpse of the exhaustion,

2281
03:34:03,920 --> 03:34:09,840
the ever flickering, quietly burning fear
that now shimmers in all our eyes.

2282
03:34:11,239 --> 03:34:18,920
He looks down again to the bones. He swallows. So would anyone care

2283
03:34:18,959 --> 03:34:24,520
to explain this situation to a newbie
like myself? He asks, with a

2284
03:34:24,559 --> 03:34:31,760
weak, dry laugh. No one
laughs with him, and the man is

2285
03:34:31,840 --> 03:34:39,319
led grimly through the outpost and into
the hexagon. We sit. We sit

2286
03:34:39,399 --> 03:34:43,399
in silence for a while, as
Adam eats from a can of Russian meat.

2287
03:34:43,440 --> 03:34:48,040
Mush of some kind is chewing,
and the occasional hiss of a pipe

2288
03:34:48,040 --> 03:34:52,239
in the walls are the only sounds. Snow falls slowly and silently beyond the

2289
03:34:52,239 --> 03:34:58,479
glass. Adam keeps his mouth open
as if to speak, then deciding against

2290
03:34:58,479 --> 03:35:05,280
it, choosing instead to simply shovel
in more meat mush on shore if he

2291
03:35:05,319 --> 03:35:09,799
actually wants any answers, or if
he'd prefer to live for a little longer

2292
03:35:09,120 --> 03:35:15,959
in blissful ignorance. At last,
he can stand it no longer, and

2293
03:35:16,079 --> 03:35:20,760
he turns in his seat to face
me. Adam, What's going on,

2294
03:35:20,799 --> 03:35:26,959
man? What the hell happens here? Russians and Americans together. What's the

2295
03:35:26,040 --> 03:35:31,680
deal with that? Yeah, that
too was my first concern when I arrived

2296
03:35:31,719 --> 03:35:37,799
here. I scarcely even considered this
international anomaly at all. Now, compared

2297
03:35:37,840 --> 03:35:43,200
to the surreal, nightmarish nonsense that
is thrown at us here on the regular,

2298
03:35:43,840 --> 03:35:46,920
the fact that we're working with the
Army of the Russian Federation barely even

2299
03:35:46,959 --> 03:35:52,840
registers as a flicker in my thought
process. I'm gonna level with you,

2300
03:35:52,920 --> 03:35:58,319
man, I tell him, breaking
the unofficial seal my comrades and I have

2301
03:35:58,440 --> 03:36:05,959
been keeping this place is dangerous.
We fight demons here. Adam laughs,

2302
03:36:07,600 --> 03:36:13,559
and as before, no one joins
him. I stare at him blank faced.

2303
03:36:15,360 --> 03:36:18,920
You're kidding, right, he asks, demons? Come on, man,

2304
03:36:20,680 --> 03:36:24,440
are you religious? Adam? I
asked him. I don't think I've

2305
03:36:24,440 --> 03:36:30,040
ever asked you before. Well no, he says in response, No,

2306
03:36:30,120 --> 03:36:37,680
not really. You will be April
Charlie and I murmur in unison, demons,

2307
03:36:37,440 --> 03:36:41,760
is this a joke? Adam stands
up angrily. Stop messing around?

2308
03:36:43,040 --> 03:36:45,479
Do you have any idea what I
had to go through to get here?

2309
03:36:46,120 --> 03:36:52,200
Helicopter nearly crashed in a damned storm. Eleanor herself rises to her feet.

2310
03:36:52,040 --> 03:36:56,440
The other Adam is a little taller
than myself, but she stands higher than

2311
03:36:56,520 --> 03:37:01,000
even he, and I can feel
the set can hand frost of Arctic glare

2312
03:37:01,479 --> 03:37:09,879
boring into this newcomer americanets, she
mutters, glancing over to Yuri. Yuri,

2313
03:37:11,040 --> 03:37:16,520
however, says nothing to my great
interest. He simply looks down to

2314
03:37:16,600 --> 03:37:22,159
the floor. I catch a fleeting
scowl on Eleanor's face, maybe even a

2315
03:37:22,159 --> 03:37:28,559
touch of concern perhaps, but she
lets it go. Adam takes a step

2316
03:37:28,600 --> 03:37:33,920
back awkwardly, then strides over to
me. He gets right up in my

2317
03:37:35,000 --> 03:37:41,000
face, though I don't flinch.
Adam, he says, desperately, Come

2318
03:37:41,000 --> 03:37:45,879
on, what the hell is this? Demons? We're not fighting demons as

2319
03:37:45,920 --> 03:37:52,360
a joke. What are we doing
here? I pause? You know what,

2320
03:37:52,399 --> 03:37:56,079
Maybe you're right, Adam, maybe
we aren't fighting demons at all.

2321
03:37:56,799 --> 03:38:03,440
Perhaps you should be addressing your questions
to Ellen here instead. I look over

2322
03:38:03,479 --> 03:38:07,000
to her. My gaze heavy,
and I know that chicken feel its weight.

2323
03:38:09,639 --> 03:38:13,920
The snow falls, and the tension
in the room tightened somewhat. April

2324
03:38:15,000 --> 03:38:18,559
stares at me. I can see
her in the corner of my eye.

2325
03:38:18,680 --> 03:38:24,719
Her lips remain sealed, but the
meaning behind a paranoid expression is clear.

2326
03:38:26,440 --> 03:38:30,760
Adam, It says, are you
sure about this? If we confront her

2327
03:38:30,760 --> 03:38:35,399
directly, there might be no going
back. We don't know what she's capable

2328
03:38:35,440 --> 03:38:41,319
of. The blood in my body
begins the chill considerably as Eleanor's eyes bore

2329
03:38:41,399 --> 03:38:48,559
back into mine. Her mouth twitches
and it pulls that scar grotesquely across her

2330
03:38:48,600 --> 03:38:54,399
cheek. I stand up, Eleanor, It's time to share with us what

2331
03:38:54,559 --> 03:38:58,559
you've been hiding. We simply don't
know what we're fighting anymore. I'm realizing

2332
03:38:58,600 --> 03:39:03,360
that I never did. Please just
tell us the truth. What are we

2333
03:39:03,440 --> 03:39:09,760
fighting? Why have you dedicated to
yourself so wholeheartedly to this outpost? Why

2334
03:39:09,799 --> 03:39:15,280
six people only? And who are
you? Abel asks, in a quiet,

2335
03:39:15,680 --> 03:39:20,559
almost imperceptible voice. I do not
know what you're talking about, Eleanor

2336
03:39:20,680 --> 03:39:24,760
replies, leavely, all eyes fixed
on the woman. As the wind blows

2337
03:39:24,760 --> 03:39:30,440
with a sudden, renewed force beyond
the walls, the snow is whipped into

2338
03:39:30,440 --> 03:39:35,159
a frenzy. We don't have long
till nightfall now, Chaps. Charlie mutters.

2339
03:39:37,159 --> 03:39:41,159
You remain seated at the back of
the room, but as with us,

2340
03:39:41,159 --> 03:39:46,879
all all eyes are on Eleanor.
Eleanor, come on, you know

2341
03:39:46,040 --> 03:39:50,159
something, it's obvious. Just share
with the group and we can all move

2342
03:39:50,200 --> 03:39:54,959
on. I do not have time
for this, Eleanor mutters, and she

2343
03:39:56,079 --> 03:40:03,239
turns to take a leave. She
finds herself blocked. However, Yuri,

2344
03:40:03,440 --> 03:40:07,639
having risen from his seat, has
stepped in away, blocking her path from

2345
03:40:07,639 --> 03:40:13,000
the room. This is ridiculous,
she says, then points at Uri and

2346
03:40:13,120 --> 03:40:18,360
barks something in Russian. Yuri shakes
his head, his hands by his side.

2347
03:40:18,600 --> 03:40:24,399
Elena scoffs and tries to go for
another exit, and this time she's

2348
03:40:24,440 --> 03:40:30,280
blocked by Charlie, likewise rising up
from his seat there standing away. If

2349
03:40:30,280 --> 03:40:35,239
people are crazy, we defend outpost. That is our job. With a

2350
03:40:35,239 --> 03:40:41,760
sudden and surprising sob of anguish,
Eleanor reaches down to a belt to a

2351
03:40:41,840 --> 03:40:46,000
gun. Perhaps maybe not, but
every single person in the room catches the

2352
03:40:46,040 --> 03:40:52,479
motion. Before Eleanor's hand reaches a
waist, four weapons are drawn, cocked,

2353
03:40:52,719 --> 03:40:58,319
and aimed directly at her. Wow, jeez, what the Adam begins,

2354
03:40:58,920 --> 03:41:03,799
but his surprise is loss. Beneath
the shouting, Eleanor's face crackles with

2355
03:41:03,840 --> 03:41:09,799
fury. It's an almost palpable electricity, a current running between the six of

2356
03:41:09,920 --> 03:41:16,680
us Yuri. She shouts into the
man's face, her forehead thudding against the

2357
03:41:16,680 --> 03:41:20,600
butt of the rifle. Let me
pass. How could you do this to

2358
03:41:20,719 --> 03:41:28,520
rone? Comrade? Her words blow
into Russian rife with expletives. Sweat buds

2359
03:41:28,520 --> 03:41:33,120
to my forehead and leaks in little
trickles down my neck. Eleanor swivels to

2360
03:41:33,159 --> 03:41:39,280
face me, and the sweat freezes
against my skin. Eleanor, stand down,

2361
03:41:39,760 --> 03:41:43,280
I mutter, I'm sorry. I
don't want to shoot you, obviously.

2362
03:41:45,520 --> 03:41:48,280
Eleanor strides towards me, and I
raise the gun higher, stumbling in

2363
03:41:48,360 --> 03:41:54,440
retreat, shouting now, Eleanor,
stop stop now, or I'll shoot.

2364
03:41:56,200 --> 03:42:01,280
She hesitates, bears her teeth at
me. I do not know the answers.

2365
03:42:01,600 --> 03:42:07,159
I know nothing. I guard out
post like you all. Urie tuts

2366
03:42:07,239 --> 03:42:13,600
and shakes his head. He grunts
something in Russian. Eleanor responds to this

2367
03:42:13,639 --> 03:42:18,040
with a sharp one eighty, pulling
back a fist and smashing it into Eurie's

2368
03:42:18,040 --> 03:42:22,680
nose. Blood splatters against the wall, and Urie scrambles backwards, shaking his

2369
03:42:22,799 --> 03:42:28,559
rival in Elena's face and shouting at
her and loud, very angry Russian.

2370
03:42:28,719 --> 03:42:33,760
We're all shouting again now, but
Elena pays it no mind. You will

2371
03:42:33,799 --> 03:42:37,879
not shoot me, all too soft
need me to stay alive, regardless,

2372
03:42:39,399 --> 03:42:43,040
kill me and all die? Why, I asked her, pleading in my

2373
03:42:43,120 --> 03:42:48,479
voice, Why Elena, why do
we need you to stay alive? What

2374
03:42:48,639 --> 03:42:54,040
are you to this place? I
lower my weapon with a sigh and slump

2375
03:42:54,120 --> 03:42:58,200
back into my chair, running a
hand through my hair. Attention trickling away.

2376
03:43:01,120 --> 03:43:07,000
It's pointless. Eleanor's right. We're
not going to shoot her, and

2377
03:43:07,120 --> 03:43:11,360
we all know it. We're putting
our lives on the line. We came

2378
03:43:11,440 --> 03:43:15,040
close to a total loss last night. The demon has almost got what they

2379
03:43:15,079 --> 03:43:20,520
wanted, perhaps some of them did. I turned to her. But we

2380
03:43:20,600 --> 03:43:24,200
don't know what they want. How
can we effectively defend when we don't even

2381
03:43:24,239 --> 03:43:30,120
know this simple fact? It might
be easier tonight with Adam here? But

2382
03:43:30,120 --> 03:43:35,920
but why? Why is six better
than five? Is it better than seven?

2383
03:43:35,920 --> 03:43:41,920
Eleanor clenches the jaw regards me.
Come on, Eleanor, please,

2384
03:43:45,200 --> 03:43:50,159
the gears turning Eleanor's head as she
rubs the bruise forming across the knuckles.

2385
03:43:50,079 --> 03:43:54,079
Then she too, simply slumps down
into a chair. With a sigh.

2386
03:43:54,559 --> 03:44:01,719
One directly opposite me, Charlie in
April ociously lower their weapons, though Yuri

2387
03:44:01,879 --> 03:44:09,399
does not. Eleanor glances over to
him and shouts. Uri mutters something to

2388
03:44:09,479 --> 03:44:16,000
himself and reluctantly does as she says, lowering his weapon. He keeps it

2389
03:44:16,079 --> 03:44:18,600
in his hands, however, and
chooses to take a seat at a far

2390
03:44:18,719 --> 03:44:26,840
distance. There are six needed the
guide outpost. Eleanor begins warily, her

2391
03:44:26,920 --> 03:44:33,559
voice passionless. She sounds tired,
so tired, No more than six.

2392
03:44:35,120 --> 03:44:39,879
Too many people here is like pouring
blood into the sea. All those heartbeats,

2393
03:44:39,079 --> 03:44:43,680
all those thoughts, feelings, fears. The enemy comes like sharks.

2394
03:44:45,959 --> 03:44:50,120
They came like sharks last night,
Charlie says, from his position, and

2395
03:44:50,200 --> 03:44:54,799
there are only five of us.
So what happened? What changed? Make

2396
03:44:54,799 --> 03:44:58,799
God themselves a taste of what it
is? There after? Driven to blood?

2397
03:45:00,200 --> 03:45:03,559
I guess they share a consciousness.
You all saw it previous night,

2398
03:45:05,239 --> 03:45:13,040
the shadowing mountains, the giant,
the spirit of the enemy. Elenor wavers,

2399
03:45:13,159 --> 03:45:18,639
then continues, we suffered so greatly
last night because we were without Christian.

2400
03:45:20,639 --> 03:45:26,559
Christian specifically, I don't understand,
I murmur, why him specifically?

2401
03:45:28,399 --> 03:45:31,879
We'll be okay tonight. Right,
we have the six. We have the

2402
03:45:31,879 --> 03:45:37,479
new Adam Adam Smith, Elena says, looking up at last to our newest

2403
03:45:37,520 --> 03:45:46,639
member. How is your childhood,
he regards her. I'm sorry your childhood

2404
03:45:46,040 --> 03:45:52,200
good or bad? Simple question?
Well good, I guess pretty damn good.

2405
03:45:52,680 --> 03:45:58,280
My parents were, yeah, she
says with a dismissive wave. Didn't

2406
03:45:58,280 --> 03:46:03,760
ask for your life story. She
sighs. Tonight will be hard. Christian

2407
03:46:03,920 --> 03:46:07,079
was good, defend her because he
understood the truth of suffering. He and

2408
03:46:07,120 --> 03:46:13,760
I were, We were good friends. I like to hope. Something shimmers

2409
03:46:13,760 --> 03:46:18,440
in Eleanor's eyes, and she wipes
them back with a bruised hand, half

2410
03:46:18,520 --> 03:46:26,719
turning away. My childhood was not
good. It was bad, very very

2411
03:46:26,799 --> 03:46:31,639
bad. I understand what it means
to suffer when suffering was not deserved,

2412
03:46:31,319 --> 03:46:37,079
more than most. Christian understood this
too. We were shield he and I

2413
03:46:37,120 --> 03:46:43,479
shields against the enemy. The greater
understanding of suffering, the greater the strength

2414
03:46:43,520 --> 03:46:48,559
of the outpost, the greater the
resistance to the demons. She looks around

2415
03:46:48,559 --> 03:46:54,920
the room. Yurie, I know
childhood was not great, but was fine.

2416
03:46:54,399 --> 03:47:01,000
And you Westerners. She looks from
Charlie to April, to Adam and

2417
03:47:01,120 --> 03:47:05,399
to myself. You do not know
suffering in its purest form. Your use

2418
03:47:05,440 --> 03:47:13,479
here is limited. I tried to
process this, but I thought we had

2419
03:47:13,559 --> 03:47:18,959
spiritual resistance or whatever. The la
lines are real, the supernatural resistance real.

2420
03:47:18,520 --> 03:47:22,799
That is why you're here. But
even despite this, your use is

2421
03:47:22,879 --> 03:47:30,200
limited? So why don't command just
send soldiers with terrible childhoods? Then Abel

2422
03:47:30,239 --> 03:47:35,920
asks, why don't not government just
send people with awful upbringing? Because Eleanor

2423
03:47:35,040 --> 03:47:41,280
cuts in angrily. They do not
know. No one knows except I know.

2424
03:47:41,920 --> 03:47:46,360
Christian knew, and now all of
you know too. You must keep

2425
03:47:46,360 --> 03:47:50,680
it a secret. You must.
If I believe you intend to share this

2426
03:47:50,799 --> 03:47:56,600
secret with anyone, I will kill
you. I'm not joking. She looks

2427
03:47:56,639 --> 03:48:01,200
between us one by one. Why, I ask, why is this secret

2428
03:48:01,360 --> 03:48:09,440
so important to keep to Pizza Eleanor's
eyes shaking her head. Think about it.

2429
03:48:09,040 --> 03:48:13,200
Governments want to defend outposts. What
do you think governments do if they

2430
03:48:13,200 --> 03:48:20,319
can defend outpost more securely with soldiers
who have suffered as children. I opened

2431
03:48:20,360 --> 03:48:26,840
my mouth, but say nothing,
Eleanor continues. Government will create these soldiers.

2432
03:48:28,520 --> 03:48:31,200
They already sent soldiers from the lay
lines. If they know they would

2433
03:48:31,200 --> 03:48:35,319
be better soldiers for having suffered,
They would take them. They will make

2434
03:48:35,319 --> 03:48:41,520
them suffer, and I will not
allow this. Never, No one will

2435
03:48:41,559 --> 03:48:43,559
suffer like I did. No one
will go through what I had to go

2436
03:48:43,680 --> 03:48:50,280
through. They wouldn't, April murmurs, No government would do such a thing.

2437
03:48:50,760 --> 03:48:54,840
I mean, the Russians might,
but but the American government, No,

2438
03:48:54,239 --> 03:48:58,479
they never do anything so cruel.
Her words hang in the air,

2439
03:49:00,840 --> 03:49:07,239
wouldn't they. Eleanor mutters quietly,
and we darkly consider this, all right,

2440
03:49:09,040 --> 03:49:13,399
I say, slowly, so so
that I suppose I can understand.

2441
03:49:13,440 --> 03:49:18,200
But the enemy they're not demons,
are they. They can't be. There's

2442
03:49:18,200 --> 03:49:22,040
just no way, the more I
think about it. We're not battling the

2443
03:49:22,079 --> 03:49:26,159
forces of hell here, are we. But they respond to the religious stuff,

2444
03:49:26,399 --> 03:49:35,639
to the Christianity. Why why is
that? Drevelyn Urie grunts, scratching

2445
03:49:35,639 --> 03:49:41,680
the stubble across his chin. We
fight Drevelyn. The word on the wall

2446
03:49:41,719 --> 03:49:48,559
of the cavern. This is what
Uri was researching in the archives. What's

2447
03:49:48,600 --> 03:49:54,959
he talking about? It's an accusation. He waits for Eleanor to confirm his

2448
03:49:54,040 --> 03:50:00,639
words, and at last she does. She turns to look out of the

2449
03:50:00,680 --> 03:50:05,920
window, and she nods, yes, the Drevilyan. That's what we're fighting,

2450
03:50:07,799 --> 03:50:11,760
Not demons, but people, a
race of people called the Drevilyan.

2451
03:50:11,760 --> 03:50:16,920
They were all destroyed a thousand years
ago, a name lost in time.

2452
03:50:16,920 --> 03:50:24,040
They became slowly the Drevils, the
devils, and then simply demons. The

2453
03:50:24,200 --> 03:50:30,920
Drevilyan. Charlie repeats, never heard
of them, How might they be and

2454
03:50:31,040 --> 03:50:35,239
why do they want access to this
building so bloody badly? Eleanor closes her

2455
03:50:35,239 --> 03:50:41,159
eyes. She takes a slow,
deep breath. She tells us the story

2456
03:50:41,319 --> 03:50:48,280
of the Drevilyan and of Volga of
Kiev, the woman in the painting.

2457
03:50:50,479 --> 03:50:56,360
The Drevilyan were so, she says, an ancient race of people who lived

2458
03:50:56,680 --> 03:51:01,840
in what is now Eastern Europe over
a thousand years, vaguely Slavic in ethnicity,

2459
03:51:03,360 --> 03:51:09,079
with their own customs, stories,
aspirations, and anthems. Alana believes

2460
03:51:09,079 --> 03:51:11,520
the song we hear across the mountains
at night might be the song of the

2461
03:51:11,600 --> 03:51:18,680
Drevelyan people. A man named Oleg
of the Rus that the dominant nation in

2462
03:51:18,719 --> 03:51:22,879
the region at the time, and
the Drevelyans, amongst the other tribes and

2463
03:51:22,959 --> 03:51:26,959
peoples of eastern Europe. They were
expected to pay tribute and swear to him

2464
03:51:28,000 --> 03:51:35,159
their loyalty a note of service in
exchange for Oleg's defenses. Upon Oleg's death,

2465
03:51:35,159 --> 03:51:39,719
however, the Drevelyan lords changed their
minds, and a midnight council in

2466
03:51:39,760 --> 03:51:45,319
the midst of a snowstorm, it
was decided that they would abandon the other

2467
03:51:45,399 --> 03:51:52,920
peoples and choose to immediately halt their
tribute an all promise of fealty. Oleg's

2468
03:51:52,959 --> 03:51:58,440
successor was a man named Igor,
Igor of Kiev, a man who made

2469
03:51:58,479 --> 03:52:03,239
many mistakes, man misguided, but
a good man all the same, a

2470
03:52:03,319 --> 03:52:09,000
man who did his best by his
people. Igor, unsure how to approach

2471
03:52:09,040 --> 03:52:13,639
the Trevilyans, initially sent an armed
force to their capital to demand what he

2472
03:52:13,680 --> 03:52:20,319
was owed, and was met with
indignation and verbal hostility, and he returned

2473
03:52:20,360 --> 03:52:24,280
with a meager tribute, far less
than what he was promised than what he

2474
03:52:24,360 --> 03:52:31,239
was owed. Not wanting to escalate
matters any further, Igor, for his

2475
03:52:31,360 --> 03:52:35,159
second attempt, traveled to the wintry
home of the Trevillians himself to speak with

2476
03:52:35,200 --> 03:52:41,159
their leaders personally and to fix what
he hoped was little more than afraid thread

2477
03:52:41,239 --> 03:52:46,600
of diplomacy, Eleanor pauses for a
moment. As she reaches this part,

2478
03:52:48,559 --> 03:52:54,440
she swallows and rubs the throat,
and she tells us that the Trevillians saw

2479
03:52:54,440 --> 03:53:01,040
the situation a little differently. They
murdered Ego of key V by tying his

2480
03:53:01,159 --> 03:53:05,719
legs the two birds trees, the
trunks bent and trembling, and held him

2481
03:53:05,760 --> 03:53:09,600
place with ropes and net. Once
the igor had been secured and the dreveling

2482
03:53:09,719 --> 03:53:15,159
lords had boasted the breaking of their
oath, the nets and the ropes were

2483
03:53:15,159 --> 03:53:18,159
released. The trees, in all
their might and powers, sprang back to

2484
03:53:18,200 --> 03:53:28,440
their original opposite positions. An igor
was promptly torn into two. There are

2485
03:53:28,639 --> 03:53:33,360
apparently accounts from those present that say
that they saw his bones burst right out

2486
03:53:33,399 --> 03:53:39,159
from his body, though of course
there is no way to verify now if

2487
03:53:39,200 --> 03:53:46,399
such was true. Ego's death was
felt across the region, but no one

2488
03:53:46,440 --> 03:53:52,479
greater than his loving wife, Olga, Olga of Kiev, Olga of the

2489
03:53:52,600 --> 03:54:00,879
Rus, the woman depicted in the
Towers painting. Whilst the dreveling and celebrated

2490
03:54:00,879 --> 03:54:05,600
their freedom, Augur's soul was twisted
and burned into a driving force for vengeance

2491
03:54:07,799 --> 03:54:13,879
for revenge for justice. The Drevilyans, emboldened by their newfound freedom, gloated

2492
03:54:13,879 --> 03:54:20,000
to Olga, and as the first
female ruler of the russ she was perceived

2493
03:54:20,040 --> 03:54:26,680
as little more than a pliable weakling. The Drevilyans were wrong. They did

2494
03:54:26,719 --> 03:54:31,319
not see. They did not see
the arctic fire that burned behind her eyes.

2495
03:54:33,040 --> 03:54:35,799
They did not see the frost that
formed with her every waking breath.

2496
03:54:37,680 --> 03:54:41,200
They did not see when the first
train of her boastful ambassadors were buried alive,

2497
03:54:41,959 --> 03:54:48,959
scrabbling and scratching and screaming in the
perpetual darkness. They did not see

2498
03:54:48,000 --> 03:54:52,920
when the second were tricked and trapped
in a locked and burning building, reduced

2499
03:54:52,920 --> 03:54:58,159
a little more than charred and blackened
bones. They did not see when Olga,

2500
03:54:58,600 --> 03:55:03,799
act the meek and weakened woman,
requested and overdue funeral for her husband

2501
03:55:03,920 --> 03:55:09,879
Igor at the sight of his death. Her request was granted, and as

2502
03:55:09,879 --> 03:55:16,079
she wept for what was lost in
the treviling capital, the Drevilyans drank drunkenly.

2503
03:55:16,399 --> 03:55:20,399
They plotted their plans for the future. They wagered and who would be

2504
03:55:20,399 --> 03:55:26,040
the one to marry Olga of Kiev, And as the night progressed, they

2505
03:55:26,079 --> 03:55:33,520
were slaughtered in their thousands. Olga's
rus killed each and every noble garden soldier

2506
03:55:33,600 --> 03:55:41,040
present, and the city was set
ablaze. It was only then that the

2507
03:55:41,159 --> 03:55:46,879
Drevilyans began to see Ruce's reinforcements circled
around and pushed their enemy. Easy,

2508
03:55:48,440 --> 03:55:52,799
and one by one the cities of
the Drevilyan were raised. Every plea,

2509
03:55:54,360 --> 03:55:58,559
every desperate request for peace and for
surrender were met with little more than wind.

2510
03:56:01,000 --> 03:56:05,399
Olga never ceased, she never stopped. Onwards, she marched with the

2511
03:56:05,479 --> 03:56:11,520
soldiers, driving the dreveling ever back. On one late day of this slaughter,

2512
03:56:13,319 --> 03:56:18,479
Olga halted and commanded her forces to
wait. A message was sent out.

2513
03:56:20,200 --> 03:56:24,399
The hearts of the embattled people leapt
when, at last, at long,

2514
03:56:24,719 --> 03:56:30,319
long last, it seemed that Olgar
of Kiev would finally show them mercy.

2515
03:56:30,479 --> 03:56:33,959
After all, their lords and nobles
were all now dead, buried or

2516
03:56:35,040 --> 03:56:39,159
burned or slashed. The pieces and
the last of the Dreveling people were besieged

2517
03:56:39,440 --> 03:56:46,799
in the final city, still standing
their lone bastion, Olga, promising peace,

2518
03:56:48,360 --> 03:56:58,079
demanded one final tribute, six birds, just six six birds, from

2519
03:56:58,120 --> 03:57:03,280
each household, as a promise of
freedom and the war's end. The Drevilyans

2520
03:57:03,399 --> 03:57:09,040
were relieved, and they gladly accepted, and the tribute of the great flock

2521
03:57:09,200 --> 03:57:16,120
was swiftly made and delivered to Olga
herself. Olga had no intention of forgiving

2522
03:57:16,120 --> 03:57:20,319
the Drevilyan. However, as she
stood amongst this host of birds, she

2523
03:57:20,440 --> 03:57:26,159
commanded a soldiers to attach to each
and everyone a string of sulfur and rags

2524
03:57:26,159 --> 03:57:31,159
of cloth. Then, when the
sun set that day, the sulfur was

2525
03:57:31,200 --> 03:57:37,360
set alight and the birds were released. The orange of the glow was said

2526
03:57:37,360 --> 03:57:41,239
to shine in Augur's eyes as the
sky began to sparkle with a hundred thousand

2527
03:57:41,280 --> 03:57:48,040
embers. The birds did as Olga
knew they would. They returned to their

2528
03:57:48,079 --> 03:57:52,360
homes, to their nests in the
rafters and roofs of their houses and buildings

2529
03:57:52,360 --> 03:57:58,520
of the Drevillans, and all at
once the wood began to burst into flame.

2530
03:58:00,120 --> 03:58:03,040
City was a burning wreck within the
hour, and there was nothing the

2531
03:58:03,120 --> 03:58:09,600
inhabitants could do but run the flea
yet further still. They were chased by

2532
03:58:09,639 --> 03:58:16,639
olga soldiers for hundreds and hundreds of
miles east way across the waists, and

2533
03:58:16,719 --> 03:58:20,879
there at the base of the ural
mountains, and they could go no further.

2534
03:58:22,479 --> 03:58:28,840
They banded together, the Drevelyans,
for one desperate final stand. They

2535
03:58:28,879 --> 03:58:31,879
were the men still standing. They
were the women, They were the children,

2536
03:58:33,399 --> 03:58:37,079
They were the elderly. They were
not warriors or fighters, but they

2537
03:58:37,120 --> 03:58:43,879
still numbered in over one hundred thousand, and in those final hours, they

2538
03:58:43,920 --> 03:58:48,200
all felt the end, and they
all prepared to fight. There's only one

2539
03:58:48,319 --> 03:58:54,559
backed into a corner, truly,
can They still had their hope. Olga,

2540
03:58:54,719 --> 03:59:01,280
however, did not plan to fight. She would not accept a single

2541
03:59:01,280 --> 03:59:05,319
further drop of Ruce's blood being spilled
for these demons. And so as the

2542
03:59:05,399 --> 03:59:11,959
Drevelans were steadily encircled, it came
to pass that she burst from the shadows

2543
03:59:11,000 --> 03:59:16,920
behind them, atop a rocky hill, her cross in her hand and shining

2544
03:59:16,040 --> 03:59:22,399
in the reflection of the fire.
Her souldiers blazed in the dark, her

2545
03:59:22,520 --> 03:59:26,719
robes whipped around her body in the
growing windstorm, and she stood defiant as

2546
03:59:26,719 --> 03:59:31,959
she began to chant. As she
raised a cross a pie and in the

2547
03:59:33,079 --> 03:59:37,559
name of a god, she swore
to tear the Dreveling souls right out from

2548
03:59:37,559 --> 03:59:41,639
their bodies, to tear them to
pieces, as they had torn a part

2549
03:59:41,680 --> 03:59:46,319
of beloved. She roared with a
power the Drevelans had not yet seen.

2550
03:59:46,520 --> 03:59:52,559
Christianity was unknown to these people.
They did not know the Cross. They

2551
03:59:52,600 --> 03:59:56,959
were afraid of the strength of her
conviction in this foreign, Abrahemic mysticism,

2552
03:59:58,000 --> 04:00:01,040
and that in turn gave it a
power unique to that moment of madness.

2553
04:00:03,479 --> 04:00:07,719
Whether God himself was involved is not
certain, nor the certainty of his existence,

2554
04:00:09,799 --> 04:00:15,360
But on the Drevilyan's final day,
it was Olga's power channel through a

2555
04:00:15,440 --> 04:00:20,600
cross had led to the end of
their story once and for all. Their

2556
04:00:20,600 --> 04:00:24,120
souls were ripped from their bodies and
cast out into the waists as shadows.

2557
04:00:26,200 --> 04:00:31,040
There would be no more peace for
the Drevillans, no eternal rest or slumber,

2558
04:00:31,760 --> 04:00:41,559
only suffering, endless, maddening suffering. The only material substance that was

2559
04:00:41,639 --> 04:00:46,079
left of the Dreveling people were soulless
bodies of a rock like chalky crust,

2560
04:00:48,000 --> 04:00:52,239
and these husks were carried one by
one way up through the cracks of the

2561
04:00:52,280 --> 04:00:58,000
mountain, where they were sealed away
in a dark, deep, near unreachable

2562
04:00:58,079 --> 04:01:03,040
cavern. Olga made sure to carve
into the cavern's walls. The nature of

2563
04:01:03,079 --> 04:01:09,440
their crimes, with a warning that
they would remain here for eternity, with

2564
04:01:09,520 --> 04:01:20,959
no rest and no respite. And
there the story ends as scattered, twisted

2565
04:01:22,000 --> 04:01:26,319
souls of the Dravidian eventually found their
cavern, but the descendants of the russ

2566
04:01:26,559 --> 04:01:33,520
manned an eternal guard. The reason
as to why gradually lost through the centuries,

2567
04:01:33,760 --> 04:01:41,040
an eternal guard that had largely held
off the attacks on the outpost until

2568
04:01:41,120 --> 04:01:46,840
now, That is, until me, with a mistake as idiotic as a

2569
04:01:46,959 --> 04:01:54,280
mix up with names, Eleanor trails
off and we you'll stare off into space,

2570
04:01:54,000 --> 04:02:01,760
taking in the gravity of this outrageous
knowledge. But but what about the

2571
04:02:01,840 --> 04:02:07,479
other outposts? I murmur. Christian
said there was one in Australia, India.

2572
04:02:07,639 --> 04:02:13,200
He said, I know what he
said. Eleanor interrupts. He said

2573
04:02:13,239 --> 04:02:18,319
those things, because that's what I
told him. I lied. There are

2574
04:02:18,360 --> 04:02:24,200
no other outposts. There is this
and only this. There are no other

2575
04:02:24,239 --> 04:02:31,360
outposts. So it's just this one
then, just us six alone in the

2576
04:02:31,440 --> 04:02:35,760
mountains. Adam and I were born
in the same place, I say out

2577
04:02:35,799 --> 04:02:41,760
loud, giving voice to another thought
that's been nagging at me. We were

2578
04:02:41,799 --> 04:02:45,760
both born on the same lay line. Our supernatural resistance should be the same.

2579
04:02:45,879 --> 04:02:50,920
No, so why has everything gone
to hell only recently? Eleanor snorts.

2580
04:02:52,840 --> 04:02:56,079
I told you this at the beginning. You are not like the others.

2581
04:02:56,520 --> 04:03:01,639
You are childish and immature. You
simply have a dangerous personality. You

2582
04:03:01,680 --> 04:03:05,319
are typed to bring chaos and calamity
wherever you go. You have not suffered

2583
04:03:05,319 --> 04:03:13,719
Adam and are still too soft for
this outpost Urie muttered something in Russian under

2584
04:03:13,719 --> 04:03:20,159
his breath. Eleanor shoots him a
luck. I think in that moment about

2585
04:03:20,200 --> 04:03:24,879
my brother, about his death ten
years ago, I pushed aside the false

2586
04:03:24,959 --> 04:03:31,239
voice that the demon that Drevelyan eased
into my head, and I remember my

2587
04:03:31,319 --> 04:03:37,040
brother's true voice, his presence,
his warmth. I've done my share of

2588
04:03:37,040 --> 04:03:46,159
suffering, Eleanor, I say,
quietly, but thanks. Still, maybe

2589
04:03:46,159 --> 04:03:50,040
things would have been different if the
correct Adam had been sent in my place.

2590
04:03:50,920 --> 04:03:54,239
Maybe Christian would still be alive,
Maybe the tower would be undamaged,

2591
04:03:54,719 --> 04:04:01,079
Maybe the cavern beneath us would still
be sealed away. I guess we'll never

2592
04:04:01,159 --> 04:04:07,079
know now, So why the hell
are we doing this? April asks,

2593
04:04:07,120 --> 04:04:11,040
pressing her palms against her eyes for
a moment where stopping the traveling souls from

2594
04:04:11,200 --> 04:04:16,280
reaching their bodies. I get that, but I still don't understand. Why

2595
04:04:18,079 --> 04:04:20,440
why don't we just let them return, that this whole thing end, be

2596
04:04:20,559 --> 04:04:24,639
done with it once and for all. Then no one will need to stay

2597
04:04:24,639 --> 04:04:31,200
in the outpost. It can be
decommissioned for one simple reason. Eleanor replies.

2598
04:04:31,920 --> 04:04:35,479
If a dreaveling soul returns to the
body from which they were separated,

2599
04:04:35,079 --> 04:04:39,440
they are flooded in an instant with
a thousand years of hatred, of bitter,

2600
04:04:39,559 --> 04:04:43,840
rage, anguish. A being is
not meant to exist for so long.

2601
04:04:45,639 --> 04:04:50,600
Returned to material, they would find
themselves displaced out of sink. They

2602
04:04:50,600 --> 04:04:56,399
are dangerous and violent and brimming with
latent spiritual power. If treveling and successfully

2603
04:04:56,559 --> 04:05:01,319
enter the outpost, reach cavern and
find bodies, that is over one hundred

2604
04:05:01,360 --> 04:05:07,200
thousand angry, mind broken monsters released
into the world, bloodshed will return,

2605
04:05:07,760 --> 04:05:13,959
cycle of hatred will continue. She
rises to a stand, and I get

2606
04:05:13,959 --> 04:05:20,559
the sense her speech is drawing to
a close. It's getting darker anyway,

2607
04:05:20,479 --> 04:05:26,319
not much time left now. Night
will be falling soon, and the new

2608
04:05:26,399 --> 04:05:31,879
Adam still doesn't really have a clue
what's going to happen. I stay here

2609
04:05:31,920 --> 04:05:35,239
in this outpost because my presence here
is great a shield outpost could ever ask

2610
04:05:35,280 --> 04:05:41,760
for. And second, to write
the sins of the past August fury back

2611
04:05:41,760 --> 04:05:46,360
then cause terrible pain and trauma to
this part of the world. The story

2612
04:05:46,360 --> 04:05:50,399
of the Drevelings is brutal, sad, complex. But if those souls return

2613
04:05:50,440 --> 04:05:56,680
to the bodies, the terror unleashed
on further innocence will be horrible, iron

2614
04:05:56,799 --> 04:06:03,360
in its brutality. But but that's
not right, Eleanor replies, standing up

2615
04:06:03,360 --> 04:06:09,360
herself. These people, the Drevilyans, these are innocence that were they were

2616
04:06:09,440 --> 04:06:13,200
torn from their bodies. That's what
you said, soul has left suffering for

2617
04:06:13,239 --> 04:06:16,159
a thousand years. It's not right. Who are we to stand in the

2618
04:06:16,159 --> 04:06:20,959
way of allowing them to return to
their bodies for a final chance of peace.

2619
04:06:22,399 --> 04:06:26,319
And there, Eleanor says, raising
her hand in a half point,

2620
04:06:26,000 --> 04:06:31,639
is why I keep secret. Easier
to battle demon than drevelyan less moral compass

2621
04:06:31,680 --> 04:06:39,000
dilemma. Bloody hell, Charlie says
with a sigh, this is some heavy

2622
04:06:39,079 --> 04:06:46,079
stuff. Jeez, something inside Abril's
snaps. She strides forward and shouts directly

2623
04:06:46,159 --> 04:06:52,399
into Eleanor's face. You are her, Eleanor, She says, you are

2624
04:06:52,559 --> 04:06:58,040
Hulger of Kiev. My first instinct
is the snort with surprise. The question

2625
04:06:58,319 --> 04:07:05,159
is ridiculous. But as the question
settles into my mind, I take another

2626
04:07:05,200 --> 04:07:09,200
look at Eleanor. I can drop
an image of the painting, and I

2627
04:07:09,280 --> 04:07:16,399
tried to place them side by side. No, surely not. You know

2628
04:07:16,559 --> 04:07:22,799
everything about her, April says,
And I notice that she's trembling. You

2629
04:07:22,879 --> 04:07:26,040
look like the woman in the painting, though she doesn't have that scar.

2630
04:07:26,840 --> 04:07:30,239
And you've been here for a long
time, haven't you, Eleanor, A

2631
04:07:30,360 --> 04:07:35,959
long long time, decades at the
least. You're older, and you're trapped

2632
04:07:35,000 --> 04:07:39,200
in now, trapped in this outpost, in a web of your own making.

2633
04:07:39,959 --> 04:07:48,959
Eleanor stares at April, and then
she laughs. The sound is bright

2634
04:07:50,040 --> 04:07:54,959
and clear, and we watch and
shock and cautious amusement as she laughs and

2635
04:07:54,159 --> 04:08:01,600
laughs and laughs, doubling over as
she does so. Kidding, she says,

2636
04:08:01,000 --> 04:08:05,360
her face displaying a grin. I've
never seen her wear before. Joke.

2637
04:08:07,000 --> 04:08:11,319
You think I am a woman who
died thousand years ago. April folders

2638
04:08:11,360 --> 04:08:18,440
and takes a step back. She
flushes. But well, I thought Americans

2639
04:08:18,440 --> 04:08:22,479
are so funny. This is crazy. Eleanor snorts and wipes the corner of

2640
04:08:22,479 --> 04:08:30,920
her eye. I am not Olga
April. April clenches her fists. She

2641
04:08:31,040 --> 04:08:35,440
strides from the hexagon and into the
little side room she showed me several days

2642
04:08:35,440 --> 04:08:39,000
ago. I hear her rummaging and
a clatter of something being knocked from the

2643
04:08:39,040 --> 04:08:43,639
wall, and she returns a moment
later with a framed photograph in her hand.

2644
04:08:46,000 --> 04:08:52,399
I recognize it as the one with
SGH nineteen eighty seven written on the

2645
04:08:52,479 --> 04:08:58,159
back. I'd almost forgotten about it. She flips it, unders the clips

2646
04:08:58,319 --> 04:09:03,479
and slides to the picture out from
the frame. She holds it up to

2647
04:09:03,520 --> 04:09:07,600
Eleanor's face. Explain this, then
you see what's been written on the back

2648
04:09:07,639 --> 04:09:15,479
of this picture, SGH nineteen eighty
seven. Who is SGH? And how

2649
04:09:15,639 --> 04:09:18,120
is there a picture of you at
this outpost from nineteen eighty seven? You

2650
04:09:18,239 --> 04:09:26,360
scarcely look any different at all?
How is that possible? Eleanor's grin fades

2651
04:09:26,399 --> 04:09:31,000
from her face and she shakes her
head with a sigh, her eyebrows furrowed.

2652
04:09:31,399 --> 04:09:37,520
This is sad, April. You
are smarter than this. She takes

2653
04:09:37,520 --> 04:09:41,600
the photograph and points to the letters
and numbers written there. What does this

2654
04:09:41,719 --> 04:09:50,719
say, April? S April replies
nineteen eighty seven. Eleanor shakes her head.

2655
04:09:52,399 --> 04:09:58,920
No wrong, it says sgh I
nine eighty seven. This photo,

2656
04:09:58,040 --> 04:10:05,159
Who's not from DECA to Go?
It was taken in twenty fifteen. April's

2657
04:10:05,200 --> 04:10:13,120
confidence trickles away. But what you
know, Sampson Galaxy April Samson Galaxy tablets.

2658
04:10:15,200 --> 04:10:20,280
I yeah, I guess, Eleanor
thrust the picture back into April's hands.

2659
04:10:22,040 --> 04:10:28,760
This photo was taken with Samson Galaxy, Samson Galaxy seven. This is

2660
04:10:28,840 --> 04:10:33,719
brand of device, not data or
initials. April's face burns bright red,

2661
04:10:35,120 --> 04:10:39,799
and she choose a lip in thought, I too consider this development. The

2662
04:10:39,879 --> 04:10:43,920
brand of the phone that took the
picture? Is that all it was?

2663
04:10:43,920 --> 04:10:52,319
It seems almost almost too stupid to
be true. But then again, what

2664
04:10:52,360 --> 04:10:58,239
the hell do I know? Nothing? Apparently not a damned thing. And

2665
04:10:58,440 --> 04:11:03,559
regardless, thinking time is up,
it would seem the shadows deepen and before

2666
04:11:03,680 --> 04:11:11,239
long the sun will set. It's
time to get to our stations. What

2667
04:11:11,280 --> 04:11:15,040
are we going to do about the
tower? I ask? It's weaponless and

2668
04:11:15,159 --> 04:11:18,479
we've broken the rule. No one's
been in the thing for hours. We

2669
04:11:18,559 --> 04:11:22,760
have no choice but to abandon it. April replies, we will have to

2670
04:11:22,799 --> 04:11:28,600
survive the night without it. Everyone
to your stations. Adam Smith, you

2671
04:11:28,680 --> 04:11:33,440
go with old Adam Smith. Defend
the outpost rule number one, do not

2672
04:11:33,600 --> 04:11:39,559
allow enemy into outpost. And away
she goes. No one tries the block

2673
04:11:39,600 --> 04:11:45,600
at this time, still reeling from
the info drops heavy with the weight of

2674
04:11:45,639 --> 04:11:52,719
our newfound knowledge. One by one
we depart for our stations. April drops

2675
04:11:52,719 --> 04:11:58,680
a small, shining silver cross into
Adam's hands before she goes. Charlie gives

2676
04:11:58,680 --> 04:12:03,000
the man a nod and wishes him
well. Yuri says nothing to anyone,

2677
04:12:03,479 --> 04:12:07,639
vanishing silently down a corridor, bringing
a cigarette up to his mouth before he

2678
04:12:07,680 --> 04:12:13,520
disappears completely round a corner. Come
on, man, I say to Adam,

2679
04:12:13,559 --> 04:12:20,280
and I guess you're with me tonight. And so away we go up

2680
04:12:20,319 --> 04:12:26,479
and into the snow to our station, doing our duty, manning the amalgamated

2681
04:12:26,479 --> 04:12:33,079
weapons to keep away the intruders,
the fire in the darkness, keeping the

2682
04:12:33,159 --> 04:12:39,079
dreadlands trapped in their eternal cycle of
darkness, despair and destruction, armed with

2683
04:12:39,200 --> 04:12:45,000
bibles, using these holy books as
weapons, as Olga of Kiev did,

2684
04:12:45,040 --> 04:12:50,000
herself one thousand years ago, defending
the outpost, as we are all tasked

2685
04:12:50,040 --> 04:12:58,159
with doing, as Americans, as
Russians, as soldiers. The sun sets,

2686
04:12:58,959 --> 04:13:03,959
the Anthem of the Trevillians begins to
play quietly at first, floating note

2687
04:13:03,959 --> 04:13:11,399
by note across the mountains, as
thoughts within thoughts swirl as a maelstrom across

2688
04:13:11,440 --> 04:13:22,399
the turmoil of my mind. Time
passes, the song rises, This anthem

2689
04:13:22,440 --> 04:13:28,799
of the long forgotten people plays,
and the demons no the Trevillians begin clambering

2690
04:13:28,920 --> 04:13:37,239
up and out of the darkness.
Adam Smith watches in abject horror as the

2691
04:13:37,319 --> 04:13:43,280
hordes are sent crawling up the mountain
side and towards the outpost. I call

2692
04:13:43,360 --> 04:13:48,159
out the arrival of the enemy to
my comrades, and the first beam is

2693
04:13:48,200 --> 04:13:54,840
fired, As with every night previous, the battle begins to rage. Bones

2694
04:13:54,879 --> 04:13:58,120
are sent bursting with clouds of smoke
and fire. As the beams are cast

2695
04:13:58,159 --> 04:14:05,079
in all directions, tearing through the
shadows like blades through skin. Snow falls,

2696
04:14:05,760 --> 04:14:09,760
the mists gather. My muscles ripple
and burn with a strain, as

2697
04:14:09,799 --> 04:14:15,920
electricity crackles with a frost in the
icy air. I d ask Adam with

2698
04:14:16,040 --> 04:14:20,559
reading aloud from the Bible, as
with myself. He falters initially, but

2699
04:14:20,639 --> 04:14:26,000
he gets the hang of it pretty
damn quick. He bellows like a preacher,

2700
04:14:26,040 --> 04:14:28,920
out and into the wind, and
his voices carried out into the night

2701
04:14:31,319 --> 04:14:35,600
to the dreadlans. His words must
come as a painful, torturous echo of

2702
04:14:35,680 --> 04:14:41,520
the night they were lost. My
heart goes out to them, It really

2703
04:14:41,559 --> 04:14:46,559
does. But if Eleanor tells the
truth, if these people became monsters the

2704
04:14:46,639 --> 04:14:50,559
minute they return to their bodies,
and it's what I'm doing right now the

2705
04:14:50,639 --> 04:14:54,920
greater good? Or am I just
trying to justify this madness to myself?

2706
04:14:56,399 --> 04:15:03,120
I'm no longer certain that what I'm
doing is I hammer the weapon down with

2707
04:15:03,159 --> 04:15:07,639
a mechanical thud, and I send
a screaming beam down directly below, tearing

2708
04:15:07,639 --> 04:15:13,559
through a Drevelyn with his hands outstretched
towards me. Its charred and black,

2709
04:15:13,600 --> 04:15:18,280
and bones are sent flying in all
directions. Movement in the night to my

2710
04:15:18,399 --> 04:15:22,719
left bids me turn my head and
emits the mist and fog of the night,

2711
04:15:24,319 --> 04:15:28,360
I see him again, that enormous
man made of shadow between the peaks,

2712
04:15:30,200 --> 04:15:35,680
the spirit of the Drevilyan personified,
and with his arrival, the hordes

2713
04:15:35,680 --> 04:15:39,799
of the enemy are renewed, thick
and fast. They approach, hungry for

2714
04:15:39,840 --> 04:15:46,399
their prize. Down in the cavern
beneath the outpost, I stare at the

2715
04:15:46,479 --> 04:15:50,239
great shadowy spirit, willing him to
turn and face me, And with a

2716
04:15:50,360 --> 04:15:58,159
slow measure turn of his head he
does so. His eyes of silver lock

2717
04:15:58,239 --> 04:16:03,959
with mine, and hear his voice
in my head. You know, don't

2718
04:16:04,000 --> 04:16:08,600
you, Adam, I see it
now in your head. You have learned

2719
04:16:08,600 --> 04:16:17,079
the truth, you know our story, and still you fight. Why do

2720
04:16:17,200 --> 04:16:21,840
you think we don't feel pain when
you burn our people to wash upon the

2721
04:16:21,920 --> 04:16:29,280
mountain side? Rule too, I
remember, do not engage verbally with the

2722
04:16:29,440 --> 04:16:36,040
enemy, And as planned, I
ignore this rule. I respond, and

2723
04:16:36,159 --> 04:16:41,319
I asked my question. It's true, isn't it? I whisper, and

2724
04:16:41,440 --> 04:16:47,440
at once a great search of demons
adjust their course and clamber directly towards me.

2725
04:16:48,040 --> 04:16:52,319
It doesn't matter. I drop a
device that you're constructed for me,

2726
04:16:53,239 --> 04:16:57,879
a bomb of sorts. The sense
sparks of light spiraling in all directions as

2727
04:16:57,879 --> 04:17:03,680
it disappears into the darkness below.
You are what's left of the Trevelyan.

2728
04:17:04,200 --> 04:17:08,120
And if you've reach what you're so
desperate for then you'll only bring havoc and

2729
04:17:08,239 --> 04:17:14,440
chaos and further pain into the world. I grip my teeth and bring the

2730
04:17:14,479 --> 04:17:18,079
beam round in an arc. Adam
Smith is forced to shield his eyes as

2731
04:17:18,120 --> 04:17:23,280
the rock below is burned temporarily white
with the glare. I'm sorry, I

2732
04:17:23,479 --> 04:17:29,479
really really am, but I've had
no time to think. I don't know

2733
04:17:29,520 --> 04:17:32,879
what the best course of action is
in the long term. But for now,

2734
04:17:33,280 --> 04:17:37,399
I can't stand back and allow you
entry into this outpost. I cannot

2735
04:17:37,440 --> 04:17:45,079
allow you to return. Please forgive
me. The guilt comes in ebbs and

2736
04:17:45,120 --> 04:17:48,440
flows. It is cold, but
not as cold as the bitterness of the

2737
04:17:48,600 --> 04:17:53,440
night. I clench my jaw and
resume my battle, shouting out a verse

2738
04:17:53,440 --> 04:18:00,079
of my own as the weaponized light
intensifize. These are the people. They

2739
04:18:00,200 --> 04:18:03,959
used my brother's voice against me,
the voice and my long dead brother.

2740
04:18:03,719 --> 04:18:08,799
These are the people that possess Christian
and brought about his death. You're just

2741
04:18:08,959 --> 04:18:15,399
like her, whispers the spirit.
I thought you were different. Perhaps we

2742
04:18:15,399 --> 04:18:21,319
were wrong. We want an end
to this. Just let us be free.

2743
04:18:22,760 --> 04:18:26,120
Your bodies remain below this outpost.
I'm onter back. They must be

2744
04:18:26,159 --> 04:18:30,879
there for a reason. There must
be a reason that they haven't been destroyed.

2745
04:18:30,840 --> 04:18:34,200
Maybe that knowledge has been lost,
or maybe it's just something that Eleanor

2746
04:18:34,239 --> 04:18:37,760
refuses to tell us. But there
is nothing I can do now but my

2747
04:18:37,840 --> 04:18:45,399
duty. I am a soldier,
and these my orders. I'm sorry,

2748
04:18:45,479 --> 04:18:51,079
Drevelyan. We will not forgive you
for this, Adam, and we will

2749
04:18:51,200 --> 04:18:56,040
not forget if all you want is
peace? I ask, then, why

2750
04:18:56,159 --> 04:19:00,159
hide the truth from me? From
all of us? PSSs Christian and make

2751
04:19:00,239 --> 04:19:07,479
him a threat. We cannot reveal
the truth until someone asks for it,

2752
04:19:07,520 --> 04:19:12,120
replies the voice. Christian asked,
I do not know why. But in

2753
04:19:12,239 --> 04:19:17,920
reply, I showed him the vision
of Ogre of Kiev. Unlike you,

2754
04:19:18,760 --> 04:19:22,639
he saw her face, he saw
the hatred there, the hatred for my

2755
04:19:22,760 --> 04:19:30,159
people, and Christian's heart was filled
with nothing but sorrow and compassion. In

2756
04:19:30,239 --> 04:19:34,280
this moment, he was weak,
and I possessed him. I took no

2757
04:19:34,440 --> 04:19:38,399
pleasure in this, but I did
what I had to form my people.

2758
04:19:40,760 --> 04:19:45,040
Why I shout out into the night. Adam Smith turns to me in shock,

2759
04:19:45,600 --> 04:19:51,040
but he keeps reading aloud from his
book. He cannot hear the voice.

2760
04:19:52,079 --> 04:19:56,200
Why would you do that? I
turned from the dreadling hoard below,

2761
04:19:56,559 --> 04:20:03,200
and look again at the great shadow
with its silvery eyes. It slowly looks

2762
04:20:03,200 --> 04:20:07,399
down at one of its hands,
with a sound like the distant rumbling of

2763
04:20:07,479 --> 04:20:15,159
thunder, because his hands dig faster
than ours, comes the reply, and

2764
04:20:15,280 --> 04:20:19,959
I see in my mind's eye the
whole that the Drevilyan's dug with the shadowy

2765
04:20:21,000 --> 04:20:26,159
fingers in the meeting room floor.
You cannot be the spirit of your people,

2766
04:20:26,680 --> 04:20:30,920
I mutter through clenched teeth. I
refuse to believe it. I refuse

2767
04:20:30,040 --> 04:20:34,319
to believe that the spirit of an
entire race could be so callously cruel to

2768
04:20:34,440 --> 04:20:38,600
trick a man into empathy, then
using him and disposing him like a tool.

2769
04:20:40,479 --> 04:20:42,120
I do not know what you are, but I will not grant you

2770
04:20:42,200 --> 04:20:49,520
access to this outpost, not tonight. I left my head and shout out

2771
04:20:49,520 --> 04:20:55,680
loud into the night, my voice
caring above the storm. Now eleanor now

2772
04:20:56,040 --> 04:21:00,879
fire the weapon. The so called
spirit of the Drevelan, with his attention

2773
04:21:00,959 --> 04:21:07,040
fixed wholeheartedly on myself, rumbles without
ethereal thunder, and shifts its gaze over

2774
04:21:07,120 --> 04:21:11,799
the roof of the outpost, its
silvery eyes shining in the darkness. Its

2775
04:21:11,840 --> 04:21:18,879
movement. However, as all its
movements are its sluggish, slow, far

2776
04:21:19,520 --> 04:21:26,840
far too slow, and from the
darkness, eleanor wrapped in robes of black

2777
04:21:26,879 --> 04:21:32,840
to conceal her position, pulls back
hard, and two simultaneous handles, handles

2778
04:21:32,959 --> 04:21:37,959
attached to the colossal gun and the
outpost's roof. An enormous mechanical crunch echoes

2779
04:21:38,000 --> 04:21:41,719
out from the gears, and my
teeth are set on edge with a sudden

2780
04:21:41,799 --> 04:21:47,520
ringing. For a second or two, it seems as if the very wind

2781
04:21:47,559 --> 04:21:52,440
itself is sent out in the opposite
direction, and the scrambling of each and

2782
04:21:52,520 --> 04:21:59,559
every dreadline is halted. As the
monstrous weapon finally fires, a blast of

2783
04:21:59,600 --> 04:22:03,399
heat is sent out in an intense
circle of energy. I feel it against

2784
04:22:03,399 --> 04:22:07,520
my skin and my hair is whipped
back from my head as a ringing of

2785
04:22:07,600 --> 04:22:12,520
light appears at the weapon's barrel,
and a beam unlike anything I've ever seen

2786
04:22:12,600 --> 04:22:18,319
so far explodes out like lightning,
crackling and tearing to the night, towards

2787
04:22:18,319 --> 04:22:23,399
the mountains and the mist, and
directly through the heart of the great Shadow.

2788
04:22:26,159 --> 04:22:30,639
A twisted, crackling nervous system is
briefly illuminated in white across the Shadow's

2789
04:22:30,639 --> 04:22:36,079
form, and it starts to leak
out into the air. As ink leaks

2790
04:22:36,120 --> 04:22:41,040
out into the water, a terrible
scream is sent roaring through the mountains,

2791
04:22:41,799 --> 04:22:45,719
and the entire horde of demons below
burst at once into clouds of shadow and

2792
04:22:45,799 --> 04:22:52,159
bone. As the enormous spirit collapses
down and into itself, wounded and distabilized,

2793
04:22:53,399 --> 04:22:59,559
dust and steam is sent blasting out
in all directions. Snow is disturbed,

2794
04:23:00,120 --> 04:23:03,840
sent tumbling down the peaks, but
we do not leave our stations.

2795
04:23:06,079 --> 04:23:11,040
The dreveling horde is displaced, and
the giant's spirit stays hidden away. But

2796
04:23:11,799 --> 04:23:22,079
after a few hours of interlude,
the attackers do return. They do not

2797
04:23:22,200 --> 04:23:26,959
come as tide, though they do
not flow like water. They come alone

2798
04:23:26,239 --> 04:23:32,360
or in small groups. Their fight
and their power has been taken away for

2799
04:23:32,440 --> 04:23:36,760
this night at the least, and
they are easy to deal with, far

2800
04:23:37,200 --> 04:23:41,000
far easier, And we continue our
battle until the rising of the sun.

2801
04:23:42,000 --> 04:23:49,680
The outpost successfully defended and kept from
even a single breach. I turned to

2802
04:23:49,719 --> 04:23:56,000
Adam as the sun rises. He's
white with shock, eyes wide, his

2803
04:23:56,159 --> 04:24:00,719
hands trembling, and clap him on
the shoulder. The veins in my forearms

2804
04:24:00,799 --> 04:24:06,840
all popped from the exhaustion. Good
work to night man. Good work.

2805
04:24:07,920 --> 04:24:11,879
Now, come on, let's go. It's time to get some sleep,

2806
04:24:14,760 --> 04:24:25,280
and away we go. My story
is drawing to a close. Now just

2807
04:24:25,520 --> 04:24:30,440
a little more to wrap up.
I remained at the outpost for another couple

2808
04:24:30,479 --> 04:24:33,760
of days. I did my duty, and I defended the place as best

2809
04:24:33,799 --> 04:24:38,520
as I could. The Drevelans did
not return in any kind of number to

2810
04:24:38,639 --> 04:24:44,000
equal the night that the tower fell, and I would wager that that could

2811
04:24:44,040 --> 04:24:48,600
be thanks to our successful surprise attack
and the Spirit itself, if indeed the

2812
04:24:48,760 --> 04:24:56,000
spirit he actually is, it will
be more cautious in future. I remained

2813
04:24:56,040 --> 04:25:03,600
at the outpost until Christian's replacement arrived, a woman from Missouri, and since

2814
04:25:03,639 --> 04:25:07,120
my departure sinked up with aprils as
scheduled, the two of us headed out

2815
04:25:07,159 --> 04:25:14,000
together. After saying our goodbyes.
I hug from Charlie, a handshake from

2816
04:25:14,040 --> 04:25:19,000
Adam Smith, and muttering nod from
Yuri, and even a flicker of what

2817
04:25:19,200 --> 04:25:25,440
might have been a half smile from
eleanor a sad smile, but a smile.

2818
04:25:25,559 --> 04:25:30,600
Nonetheless, I still struggle with the
morality of my role in the Outpost,

2819
04:25:32,159 --> 04:25:36,239
of what I did between those mountains, whether I was in the right

2820
04:25:36,319 --> 04:25:40,840
by fighting back against the traveling souls, or whether I should have just stood

2821
04:25:40,840 --> 04:25:45,680
down and allowed them to return to
what they craved so desperately. I still

2822
04:25:45,719 --> 04:25:51,479
think about them, you know,
of those cursed, forgotten people, trapped

2823
04:25:51,520 --> 04:25:56,520
in their endless cycle of desperation,
and the Outpost guardians likewise, trapped in

2824
04:25:56,559 --> 04:26:03,920
their own cycle of grim and gruesome
vents, constant ceaseless stress, night after

2825
04:26:04,040 --> 04:26:10,520
night, battle after battle on the
mountain side. I wonder how far the

2826
04:26:10,559 --> 04:26:14,799
spirit of the Dreveling would go to
achieve this skull. I wonder how far

2827
04:26:14,879 --> 04:26:19,319
Eleanor would go to maintain hers hell. Do the Horde of Dreveling Souls even

2828
04:26:19,399 --> 04:26:23,559
know what they're fighting for? Anymore? Due to Night's roster of the outpost

2829
04:26:23,559 --> 04:26:30,639
soldiers. For that matter, it's
been months since April and I departed together.

2830
04:26:32,680 --> 04:26:37,399
Charlie will have left by now,
Yurie two, most likely not Eleanor.

2831
04:26:38,479 --> 04:26:45,479
I suppose she's still there doing her
duty. I looked back one final

2832
04:26:45,559 --> 04:26:49,600
time as we departed the outpost,
April and I clambering over the waist eye

2833
04:26:49,639 --> 04:26:56,719
wall at the edge of the courtyard, and to my surprise, the first

2834
04:26:56,719 --> 04:27:03,239
thing I noticed was the flags upon
my arrival, only the Russian flag flew

2835
04:27:03,319 --> 04:27:08,440
proudly. The others the American,
the British, the Norwegian, and the

2836
04:27:08,520 --> 04:27:15,559
NATO. They were old and worn, ragged and weather damaged. But I

2837
04:27:15,680 --> 04:27:19,879
realized then, at the moment of
my exit, that someone had replaced them.

2838
04:27:21,959 --> 04:27:25,799
I don't know who, I don't
know when exactly, but one of

2839
04:27:25,799 --> 04:27:29,959
my comrades must have taken the time
to replace them, or even to fix

2840
04:27:30,000 --> 04:27:36,159
them up. Perhaps The flags waved
proudly in the breeze, bright shades of

2841
04:27:36,159 --> 04:27:41,079
red, of white, and of
blue, side by side together. I

2842
04:27:41,200 --> 04:27:45,520
mentioned this to April and the helicopter
ride back to the eurro's base, and

2843
04:27:45,680 --> 04:27:52,879
she nodded. Yeah, I noticed
that too, she said. But there

2844
04:27:52,959 --> 04:27:57,479
was still something on her mind.
I could tell, and I asked her

2845
04:27:57,520 --> 04:28:03,719
to share it with me. Olga
of Kiev, she said thoughtfully after a

2846
04:28:03,799 --> 04:28:08,479
moment. I never got around to
sharing this with you, but I read

2847
04:28:08,479 --> 04:28:12,920
something interesting about her in that file, the one Uri showed us. Do

2848
04:28:14,000 --> 04:28:21,239
you remember the night we confronted Eleanor
I found something something very interesting. Indeed,

2849
04:28:22,559 --> 04:28:26,559
Oh yeah, I replied, what
was it? Then she changed the

2850
04:28:26,680 --> 04:28:30,680
name. You know, Olga.
I mean, as she grew older,

2851
04:28:30,280 --> 04:28:37,840
so the records say yes that,
So, I asked her courtiously, and

2852
04:28:37,959 --> 04:28:42,920
what did she change it to.
April looked up at me as the helicopter

2853
04:28:44,040 --> 04:28:53,280
passed over the peaks to Eleanor.
I considered this in silence, silence,

2854
04:28:53,520 --> 04:28:59,639
but for the monotonous buzz of the
blades wearing round and around as the helicopter

2855
04:29:00,040 --> 04:29:04,360
rowed us away through the night.
It's a common enough Russian name, I

2856
04:29:04,440 --> 04:29:11,840
replied uneasily. Yeah, Abel said
back, shifting in a seat. A

2857
04:29:11,000 --> 04:29:19,280
common name. Still, I murmured, Still, she repeated, and we

2858
04:29:19,319 --> 04:29:25,959
said nothing further for the rest of
the flight. I saw her that night

2859
04:29:26,520 --> 04:29:33,120
in my dreams, Eleanor. She
stood atop the outpost, commanding an enormous

2860
04:29:33,200 --> 04:29:38,639
rooftop weapon and pulling back on the
handles, a powerful circle of light at

2861
04:29:38,680 --> 04:29:44,680
the barrel, giving way to the
dazzling blast of the beam to write the

2862
04:29:44,719 --> 04:29:48,319
sins of the past. Came a
voice as a whisper in the wind,

2863
04:29:48,200 --> 04:29:52,239
and her robes were blown about her
as the snow was whipped up into a

2864
04:29:52,319 --> 04:30:00,319
torrent. She looked to me,
her eyes alive with glittering ice, and

2865
04:30:00,479 --> 04:30:11,520
in that moment they were the same
Olga of Kiev and Eleanor of the Outpost,