1
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:06,320
Speaker 1: I've been surrounded by conspiracy theories my whole life. I

2
00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,240
don't mean that I believe in them. Most of them

3
00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:14,800
are ridiculous, some of them are dangerous. I only ever

4
00:00:14,839 --> 00:00:19,199
got into that stuff because of my uncle. When you

5
00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:21,600
grew up visiting a man who owns more black and

6
00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:25,640
white photocopies of underground based schematics than he does shirts

7
00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,239
and starts to rob off on you. I never cared

8
00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:34,200
much about bigfoot, but more people and pigeon robots. It

9
00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:39,520
was interesting to listen to my uncle. Warren was that relative,

10
00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:43,520
the one everyone keeps at arm's length during the holidays,

11
00:00:44,039 --> 00:00:46,759
the one people warn their kids about before they visit.

12
00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:51,960
He didn't do anything wrong, not ever, but there was

13
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:57,240
always something about him that made others uncomfortable. He had

14
00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:01,679
a disorder. It had walked his joy since birth. His

15
00:01:01,799 --> 00:01:04,519
teeth jotted out at an angle, like a row of

16
00:01:04,599 --> 00:01:08,879
warped fence posts. He had to wear these weird rubber

17
00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:11,840
mouthguards at night just to stop them from cutting into

18
00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:16,400
his cheeks. He also had diabetes, and that was a

19
00:01:16,439 --> 00:01:19,920
constant battle for him. He kept sugar tabs in his

20
00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,680
shirt pocket and always smelled of insulin and peanut butter crackers.

21
00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:27,640
He wore shirts that had been washed until the graphics

22
00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:31,959
faded into pale ghosts, jeans with cracked belt loops, and

23
00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,879
a windbreaker that had probably been navy blue twenty years ago.

24
00:01:37,159 --> 00:01:40,280
His glasses were too large for his face. His hair

25
00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:45,359
had receded before I was even born. Most people didn't

26
00:01:45,359 --> 00:01:49,200
give him a second chance. The ones who did usually

27
00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:56,799
looked away. But to me, he was great. He wasn't

28
00:01:56,959 --> 00:02:02,000
just a family weirdo. He was He knew how to

29
00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:06,439
fix things, build things, explain things. He could talk about

30
00:02:06,439 --> 00:02:09,520
sub sonic weapons and hollow earth theories in the same

31
00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:13,520
breath he walked me through fixing a blown capacitor. He

32
00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:17,719
was patient, He had time for me. I didn't get

33
00:02:17,759 --> 00:02:22,520
that from many people. Growing up. His house felt like

34
00:02:22,599 --> 00:02:27,719
some kind of time capsule. Old war paper, flickering fluorescent lights,

35
00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:31,560
carpet that had gone stiff at the edges. But what

36
00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:35,360
always pulled me in was the back room. He called

37
00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:39,919
it his workshop. No one else ever went back there.

38
00:02:41,199 --> 00:02:43,560
I think my mom saw it once and refused the

39
00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:49,000
step inside again. It was cramped and packed wall to

40
00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:53,400
wall with shells full of scrap parts, tools, plastic tubs,

41
00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:57,960
and print outs that had yellowed into brittle curls. It

42
00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:01,719
had cathode monitors stacked on top of filing cabinets, each

43
00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:06,439
one hooked into something different. One of them looped footage

44
00:03:06,439 --> 00:03:12,039
from a cave in Turkey. Another displayed seismic redoubts. I'd

45
00:03:12,039 --> 00:03:15,319
sit at his work bench while he soldered or rewired something.

46
00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,719
The smell of burned plastic and machine oil always stuck

47
00:03:19,719 --> 00:03:24,199
to my clothes. After I left. He had this Motorola

48
00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,680
flip phone with a thick black antenna. He clipped it

49
00:03:27,719 --> 00:03:30,840
to his belt like it was a badge. I once

50
00:03:30,879 --> 00:03:33,360
asked him why he didn't just get a smartphone, and

51
00:03:33,439 --> 00:03:35,759
he looked at me like I'd asked him to put

52
00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:40,639
a tracking device in his skull. The only thing about

53
00:03:40,719 --> 00:03:44,840
him that I found strange was his obsession with mole people.

54
00:03:46,319 --> 00:03:50,159
He didn't picture them as cartoonish or green or wearing goggles.

55
00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:55,599
He imagined them as pale, sightless things, humanoid but not

56
00:03:55,879 --> 00:04:01,360
entirely human, adapted to a place where light never touched here.

57
00:04:01,479 --> 00:04:05,000
Theories about how their society worked, what tools they used,

58
00:04:05,479 --> 00:04:08,240
how they might hear our movement from beneath the crust

59
00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:13,439
and respond with coded vibrations. He rarely even wanted to

60
00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:16,879
use light outside of his home, and that really shined

61
00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:20,519
through the time I went camping with him. I tried

62
00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:24,040
to set up a fire. I had gathered kindling, stacked

63
00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:27,439
it carefully, even brought a fire starter cube because I

64
00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:32,079
was proud of thinking ahead. He stopped me the moment

65
00:04:32,199 --> 00:04:36,360
I could light it. He didn't yell, he just stared

66
00:04:36,399 --> 00:04:39,040
at the pile for a long moment, then told me

67
00:04:39,399 --> 00:04:44,720
gently to leave it alone. He said fire draws attention.

68
00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:49,720
He said some things can't handle sudden brightness, that it

69
00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:54,279
confuses them, hurts them. That when you're near their domain,

70
00:04:54,879 --> 00:05:00,120
you should respect their rules. I didn't understand at all,

71
00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:05,600
but I just let it go. Months passed after that.

72
00:05:06,519 --> 00:05:10,120
We fell out of touch for a while. I got busy.

73
00:05:10,759 --> 00:05:14,759
Life crept in as it does slowly at first, then

74
00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:20,000
all at once when you start working full time. Checking

75
00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,439
in on your eccentric uncle doesn't always top the list,

76
00:05:24,759 --> 00:05:28,079
but I still thought about him, especially when I saw

77
00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:31,879
something odd on TV or read a weird headline on line.

78
00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,560
I always think Warren would have something to say about that.

79
00:05:38,759 --> 00:05:43,279
Then one day I heard from my mom that he

80
00:05:43,399 --> 00:05:47,800
was gone. She said it off hand, like it wasn't

81
00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:51,839
worth more than a sentence. Oh, by the way, your

82
00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:54,720
uncle hasn't been home in weeks. Your cousin Todd went

83
00:05:54,759 --> 00:06:00,800
to check he wasn't there. That was it. No missing

84
00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:04,800
person fliers or searches, just the call to the authorities

85
00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,399
and a casual shrug passed around the family group chat.

86
00:06:09,439 --> 00:06:14,079
Everyone had an explanation ready. He'd probably gone off chasing

87
00:06:14,079 --> 00:06:17,800
one of these rabbit holes. He did that once years ago,

88
00:06:18,079 --> 00:06:20,759
spent three weeks in New Mexico because he thought the

89
00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:25,199
government was digging under old reservations. Turned out he just

90
00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:29,959
wanted to try desert photography. But even then, he'd told

91
00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:35,160
me before he went. Todd had apparently driven over, walked

92
00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:38,759
around the house once, tried the door, peered through the blinds,

93
00:06:38,879 --> 00:06:46,399
then left, said everything looked fine. That was enough for them,

94
00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:51,199
But something about it sat wrong with me. I couldn't

95
00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:54,399
explain it. I hadn't seen him in months, and I

96
00:06:54,439 --> 00:06:58,360
had no reason to assume the worst. But I knew him.

97
00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:02,079
He wouldn't van for weeks without at least leaving a

98
00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:04,959
note taped to the door or a voicemail filled with

99
00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:12,560
static and obscure hints he was weird, not careless, so

100
00:07:12,639 --> 00:07:16,879
I went. I didn't tell anyone. I got in my

101
00:07:16,959 --> 00:07:20,040
car early one morning and drove out to his place.

102
00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:27,560
The further I got, the heavier it felt. When I

103
00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:30,560
pulled up to the house, it looked the same as always.

104
00:07:31,639 --> 00:07:34,360
I went up to the mailbox to retrieve the spare key.

105
00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:37,800
Uncle had told me about where he kept it in

106
00:07:37,839 --> 00:07:40,040
case I need to grab something from his workshop when

107
00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:44,759
he's sleeping or away. His car was parked in the driveway,

108
00:07:45,439 --> 00:07:49,040
right where it always sat, but the porch light bulb

109
00:07:49,079 --> 00:07:52,959
had burned out. I noticed that as I climbed the steps,

110
00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:58,639
a tiny bulb, dead and cold in its fixture. I

111
00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:02,600
unlocked the door and stepped inside. I moved through the

112
00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:06,240
living room slowly. My shoes made no sound on the

113
00:08:06,279 --> 00:08:10,120
old carpet. Something in me didn't want to break whatever

114
00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:14,680
spell was holding the place in suspension. I stepped into

115
00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:20,600
the kitchen. That's when I saw his medication. It sat

116
00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,879
in its organizer on the counter, color coded labeled by

117
00:08:24,959 --> 00:08:32,279
day Sunday through Saturday, each compartment still full. His blood

118
00:08:32,279 --> 00:08:35,879
sugar monitor was next to it, turned off. The testing

119
00:08:35,879 --> 00:08:40,120
strips were still sealed. I stared at it for a

120
00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:44,559
while my uncle had never missed the dose in his life.

121
00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:49,720
He treated his condition with an almost ritualistic precision. It

122
00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:54,440
had been drilled into him. Skipping insulin wasn't just irresponsible,

123
00:08:55,919 --> 00:09:01,200
It could kill him. I followed the faint electric buzz

124
00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:04,399
toward the back of the house. A sound I knew well.

125
00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:09,440
It was always there when I visited. The workshop ran

126
00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:14,600
in its own circuit, something he wired himself. Even when

127
00:09:14,639 --> 00:09:18,919
he wasn't home, He left certain things running. The world

128
00:09:18,919 --> 00:09:22,159
doesn't pause just because I step out, he used to say.

129
00:09:23,639 --> 00:09:29,519
Across the threshold and stepped inside. The air inside was

130
00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:33,279
heavy with solder and paper. The whir of a low

131
00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:37,039
powered fan came from the corner. Dust hung in shafts

132
00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:41,840
of afternoon light filtering through the narrow window. My eyes

133
00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:47,159
moved across the space, automatically, picking up old landmarks, the

134
00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:51,159
metal rack of spools and wires, the blinking VHS converter

135
00:09:51,279 --> 00:09:55,000
on the shelf above the filing cabinet, the digital thermometer

136
00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:59,799
weige between two brakes and the floor. But something was

137
00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:07,399
different this time, a sound, a beeping. I moved toward it,

138
00:10:07,879 --> 00:10:11,399
but I didn't reach for it yet. My eyes caught

139
00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:17,559
something else first, The chalkboard covered almost the entire wall.

140
00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:21,759
He had bolted it directly into the studs years ago.

141
00:10:22,399 --> 00:10:25,519
I remember watching him do it, sweating through his shirt,

142
00:10:25,879 --> 00:10:29,279
mumbling about how dry wall was the enemy of permanence.

143
00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:35,960
Now it was covered in layers of overlapping diagrams, notes, sketches,

144
00:10:36,159 --> 00:10:41,440
and pin photographs. The usual chaos was there, but this

145
00:10:41,639 --> 00:10:47,919
time it was all focused. Everything pointed to one subject,

146
00:10:49,559 --> 00:10:55,799
more people. There were diagrams of hand structures, claw curvature,

147
00:10:56,159 --> 00:11:01,039
and comparative models against known borrowing mammals. There were skeletal

148
00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:04,279
projections showing how a human spine would have to evolve

149
00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:09,399
to function primarily in a crouched lateral motion. Heat mapping

150
00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:13,799
charts had been overlaid with seismographic readings with annotations in

151
00:11:13,879 --> 00:11:19,159
red ink. He'd written detailed estimates on hearing ranges, potential

152
00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:24,720
hive networks, and low frequency signal behavior. Pinned to the

153
00:11:24,759 --> 00:11:29,559
center of the board was a photo black and white

154
00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:35,639
grainy taken from above a depression in the earth. The

155
00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:41,720
soil looked compressed inward with unnatural symmetry. Below it, he'd

156
00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:47,840
written a date, a coordinate set, a single phrase too

157
00:11:47,919 --> 00:11:53,279
consistent to be weather. I scanned the rest of the wall.

158
00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:57,480
A long time line stretched across the upper edge. All

159
00:11:57,519 --> 00:12:03,720
of it converged. He had found something. I realized he

160
00:12:03,799 --> 00:12:11,240
had gone to find proof. The beeping grew louder as

161
00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:14,559
I moved toward the bench. It was coming from a

162
00:12:14,639 --> 00:12:19,200
hand held GPS receiver. The screen was small and monochrome.

163
00:12:19,879 --> 00:12:24,679
A single blinking dot pulsed on the display. Next to

164
00:12:24,759 --> 00:12:28,720
it was a folded piece of paper, torn at the edge,

165
00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:34,559
written in sharp block letters. I recognized this handwriting immediately.

166
00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:39,600
I'll assume you'll be the one to find this, nephew.

167
00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:44,399
I knew it'd be you. I finally found something, and

168
00:12:44,519 --> 00:12:48,240
I want you to see it. Follow the signal. I'll

169
00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:55,279
finally prove myself right to you. I picked up the GPS.

170
00:12:56,120 --> 00:13:01,799
The signal was holding steady, still transmitting. I took a breath.

171
00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:06,039
My throat felt dry. I took the medicine into my bag,

172
00:13:06,519 --> 00:13:10,120
pocketed the GPS unit, and walked out the front door.

173
00:13:11,519 --> 00:13:14,960
The GPS coordinates pointed somewhere deep in the northern Range,

174
00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:19,360
far beyond cell towers or road markings. I had to

175
00:13:19,399 --> 00:13:22,600
stop twice to recheck the route, and once to talk

176
00:13:22,679 --> 00:13:30,120
myself into continuing I backed carefully, water, flashlight, the insulin,

177
00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:36,000
extra batteries, snacks. I stared at the receiver for ten

178
00:13:36,039 --> 00:13:41,080
minutes before I even turned the ignition. There was no deadline,

179
00:13:41,919 --> 00:13:46,519
but it felt like I was already running behind. I

180
00:13:46,519 --> 00:13:50,320
couldn't tell if it was guilt or something heavier. Maybe

181
00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:53,799
I'd waited too long, Maybe I had already missed him.

182
00:13:54,919 --> 00:13:57,919
But if he was alive, if he was just stranded

183
00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,200
or hurt, or waiting for someone to show, then I

184
00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:07,200
couldn't waste any more time. The last stretch of road

185
00:14:07,279 --> 00:14:12,399
turned to gravel, then gravel gave out entirely. I parked

186
00:14:12,399 --> 00:14:16,360
beneath a canopy of thin, brittle trees, the leaves scorched

187
00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:20,200
from a summer that had lasted too long. The signal

188
00:14:20,279 --> 00:14:24,279
still blinked on the hand held. I walked for over

189
00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:28,440
an hour, boots crunching through rock and shale, the sky

190
00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:34,279
dimming above me. When I finally reached the destination, I

191
00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:37,879
thought at first I had gone the wrong way. There

192
00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,759
was nothing there, just a low ridge of broken stone

193
00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:44,840
and a slope that dropped off into a dry gulch.

194
00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:49,799
The quarry was just beyond it, old and half reclaimed

195
00:14:49,799 --> 00:14:53,840
by mass and brush. I almost turned back to double

196
00:14:53,919 --> 00:14:58,519
check the coordinates, but something caught my eye a seam

197
00:14:58,639 --> 00:15:02,240
in the cliff side. It was in a cave mouth.

198
00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:05,759
It was more of a split between two walls of stone,

199
00:15:06,399 --> 00:15:10,279
vertical and narrow. Some one could walk past it and

200
00:15:10,399 --> 00:15:16,159
never notice. I stepped closer, shining the light into the space.

201
00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:24,639
The beam hit nothing just there. That meant depth. The

202
00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:28,759
crack was just wide enough to squeeze through. I jested

203
00:15:28,799 --> 00:15:32,799
the strap of my bag and stepped forward. The walls

204
00:15:32,799 --> 00:15:37,120
pressed close around my shoulders, rough and uneven. Bits of

205
00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,919
stone scraped at my sleeves. I kept one hand on

206
00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:44,600
the rock and the other around the flashlight, angling it

207
00:15:44,679 --> 00:15:49,240
downward to avoid blinding myself. I could get through without

208
00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:52,559
too much issue, but a small laugh bottled out of

209
00:15:52,639 --> 00:15:57,039
me as I thought about Uncle squeezing through here. My

210
00:15:57,159 --> 00:16:01,720
chest tightened as the gap narrowed further, But then after

211
00:16:01,799 --> 00:16:09,440
about twenty paces, it opened, not completely, but enough to

212
00:16:09,519 --> 00:16:15,559
stand comfortably. The space beyond the crack was colder still.

213
00:16:15,879 --> 00:16:19,559
The sound of my boots echoed softly, bouncing from surface

214
00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:23,799
to surface, dust coat to the floor in a thin layer,

215
00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:28,399
disturbed only where my footprints had cut through. I saw

216
00:16:28,399 --> 00:16:32,240
the first one just ahead of me, a boot print,

217
00:16:32,879 --> 00:16:40,360
then another, the heel worn unevenly. The flashlight being trembled

218
00:16:40,399 --> 00:16:46,200
in my hand. I steadied my breath, tried to listen. Nothing,

219
00:16:47,639 --> 00:16:51,639
just the hum of air deep underground. I pressed on,

220
00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:57,799
following the princes. They curved inward, deeper into the passage.

221
00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:01,000
The air grew heavier. The light from the entrance had

222
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:05,920
disappeared entirely. My flashlight was now the only thing keeping

223
00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:11,839
the dark from swallowing me. The tunnel widened slightly, then

224
00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:16,000
narrowed again. The ceiling dropped just enough to make the duck.

225
00:17:17,319 --> 00:17:22,319
I moved slowly, scanning every inch with the light. Something

226
00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:29,079
crunched beneath my boot. I crouched, brushing away dust. A

227
00:17:29,079 --> 00:17:34,799
plastic wrapper, torn open, corners folded inward, dust clinging to

228
00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:39,720
the sugar residue. I picked it up, one of those

229
00:17:39,759 --> 00:17:45,079
glucose shoes. He always carried strawberry flavor. He used to

230
00:17:45,079 --> 00:17:48,559
say they tasted worse than cardboard, but they worked fast.

231
00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:55,200
A few steps later I saw the glove, fingers stiff

232
00:17:55,319 --> 00:18:00,640
with dirt. The wrist strap was still cinched it over.

233
00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:04,519
A tear had opened across the palm. The kind that

234
00:18:04,599 --> 00:18:08,599
comes from bracing a fall. The ground here was uneven

235
00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:13,200
and covered in loose stones. His phone was much further

236
00:18:13,279 --> 00:18:16,599
from there. It sat balanced on a ledge of rock,

237
00:18:17,039 --> 00:18:21,799
screen glowing faintly in the dark. The plastic casing was scuffed,

238
00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:25,440
and the rubber and tenor leaned slightly to one side.

239
00:18:25,759 --> 00:18:29,799
The signal bar pulse gently, battery at twenty three percent.

240
00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:34,359
I reached for it and stared at the home screen.

241
00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,599
I held the phone for a moment longer before slipping

242
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:42,839
it into my pocket. Now I know for sure he

243
00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:47,920
was here. I stood still and called his name once,

244
00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:55,240
then again, louder I saw it just past the bend

245
00:18:55,279 --> 00:18:58,200
in the tunnel, tugged against a stone wall where the

246
00:18:58,279 --> 00:19:03,519
cave curved. The sleeping bag looked old, almost sunken into

247
00:19:03,559 --> 00:19:09,559
the ground, but I recognized it immediately, faded green canvas

248
00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:13,000
with a broken zipper. He had owned it for decades.

249
00:19:14,119 --> 00:19:16,359
I remember him using it in the woods when I

250
00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:19,759
was still too young to carry my own pack. He

251
00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:22,599
used to say that newer ones trapped too much moisture.

252
00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:29,480
I moved fast, boots scraping against loose grit, my chest

253
00:19:29,519 --> 00:19:33,799
tightened with something close to hope. My voice came before

254
00:19:33,839 --> 00:19:38,480
I even reached him, Uncle Warren, I heard myself say,

255
00:19:39,079 --> 00:19:41,599
it's me. I brought your meds. What the hell are

256
00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:46,680
you doing down here? The beam of the flashlight wavered

257
00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:51,799
slightly as I knelt beside him. He hadn't moved. The

258
00:19:51,839 --> 00:19:54,480
top half of the bag was pulled up to his shoulders,

259
00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:59,000
his arms resting across his chest, hands tucked beneath the flap.

260
00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,200
His head leaned against the cave wall at a slight angle.

261
00:20:03,839 --> 00:20:07,279
His glasses were still perched on his forehead, pushed up

262
00:20:07,319 --> 00:20:10,000
the way he always wore them when working on something

263
00:20:10,079 --> 00:20:16,119
close range. I reached out and touched his shoulder. The

264
00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:23,039
fabric was damp, My throat closed. Before I could call

265
00:20:23,079 --> 00:20:27,279
his name again, I shifted the light downward, trying to

266
00:20:27,279 --> 00:20:31,240
get a better look. That was when I saw the

267
00:20:31,279 --> 00:20:36,240
color of the fabric change from green to black, stained

268
00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:40,880
through the canvas. Wasn't folded in at his stomach. It

269
00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:45,519
had collapsed. I gripped the zipper and pulled it back.

270
00:20:46,359 --> 00:20:49,079
His chest had caved in where the sleeping bag had dipped.

271
00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:54,160
Flesh and bone had been torn apart. His torso was

272
00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:58,720
still whole above his ribs. Skin pale and drawn, but

273
00:20:58,839 --> 00:21:02,680
everything below that had been opened, not by a blade.

274
00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:08,400
There was no clean line. The wounds looked jagged, pulled apart.

275
00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:12,799
His abdomen had been torn open in wide, uneven ridges.

276
00:21:13,759 --> 00:21:17,279
Muscles and viscera were exposed beneath the shredded fabric of

277
00:21:17,319 --> 00:21:20,960
his shirt. The blood had soaked into the bag long

278
00:21:21,079 --> 00:21:25,599
enough to turn it thick at the seams. The skin

279
00:21:25,799 --> 00:21:29,640
along his side had deep indentations when something had clamped

280
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:34,279
down or hooked in. I saw striations in the torn flesh,

281
00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:38,160
shallow grooves shaped in arcs, too round to be teeth.

282
00:21:39,319 --> 00:21:42,279
His hands were still crossed at his chest, but the

283
00:21:42,319 --> 00:21:45,799
one to his left was missing its pinky. The stump

284
00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:51,039
had gone gray. The air around me changed. Then the

285
00:21:51,079 --> 00:21:57,319
smell reached me, rot, first sharp and acidic, then iron,

286
00:21:57,759 --> 00:22:04,400
thick enough. The taste behind it something else, a damp sweetness,

287
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:07,599
the scent of compost that had been turned too late

288
00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:11,359
in the season. I climbed a hand over, My mouth

289
00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:17,000
turned and doubled over. My stomach clenched, and bile forced

290
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:20,279
its way up. Before I could stop it. It hit

291
00:22:20,319 --> 00:22:25,359
the rock floor in a splash. I stayed bent over, gasping.

292
00:22:25,839 --> 00:22:30,519
A flashlight shaking in my hand. I couldn't look back

293
00:22:30,559 --> 00:22:36,119
at him, not yet. I closed my eyes and tried

294
00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:39,079
to breathe through my nose. I tried to hold onto

295
00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:43,599
something else, anything else, but all of it was drowning

296
00:22:43,799 --> 00:22:46,599
under the smell and the sound of my own pulse

297
00:22:46,759 --> 00:22:51,279
pounding in my ears. And forced myself to step back

298
00:22:51,279 --> 00:22:54,960
from the body. My legs moved, but my eyes didn't

299
00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,960
want to leave him. I had to blink a few

300
00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:01,359
times to break whatever spell I had fallen under. The

301
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:04,640
flashlight trembled in my hand. I wiped the back of

302
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:07,480
my wrist against my mouth and breathed through my teeth.

303
00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:14,240
Then I heard it, a faint scrape something against the rock.

304
00:23:15,759 --> 00:23:20,039
The sound came again, then another higher, pitched from a

305
00:23:20,079 --> 00:23:25,440
different direction. I froze my grip on the flashlight tightened.

306
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:33,000
I turned slowly, shining the beam toward the sound. Nothing.

307
00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:39,960
I took one step back. The beam shifted. I was

308
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:43,640
when something darted across the far wall, just outside the

309
00:23:43,759 --> 00:23:48,920
edge of the light. I blur gray and low. I

310
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:53,759
turned the light quickly, but it was already gone. Another

311
00:23:53,839 --> 00:23:58,400
shape followed, cutting across the dust ahead of me. My

312
00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:03,440
eyes couldn't track it fast there was more than one.

313
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:09,279
I kept my feet planted, trying to count the echoes

314
00:24:09,319 --> 00:24:15,480
of movement, three maybe four. None of them made a

315
00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:19,440
sound I could identify, just the soft scrape of nails

316
00:24:19,759 --> 00:24:23,920
and the drag of their limbs brushing loose gravel. With

317
00:24:24,079 --> 00:24:27,559
these the things that had done this to Uncle, I

318
00:24:27,559 --> 00:24:32,000
couldn't know for sure. I crouched slightly and angled the

319
00:24:32,079 --> 00:24:36,400
light across the walls. They weren't climbing, but they were

320
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:40,759
getting closer, hugging the edges of the chamber, staying just

321
00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:47,039
outside the illumination. Wherever they were, they didn't want to

322
00:24:47,039 --> 00:24:51,799
be seen. I thought of something Warren once told me.

323
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:56,759
Most animals don't want to fight. If you scare them,

324
00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:02,759
they wait, but if you run, they chase. It had

325
00:25:02,799 --> 00:25:05,359
been drawing a story about a coyote that followed him

326
00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:10,920
for two miles. I remembered the way he had spoken, then, calm,

327
00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:13,480
like it was more important to think than to react.

328
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:19,559
I could hear scuttling again, louder now, so I stayed

329
00:25:19,599 --> 00:25:25,359
calm and tested my theory. I flicked the flashlight off.

330
00:25:27,279 --> 00:25:33,000
The darkness was instant, complete, just pressure and sound. The

331
00:25:33,039 --> 00:25:38,720
scratching grew sharper closer. I could feel them now, small

332
00:25:38,799 --> 00:25:43,440
displacements in the air, loose pebbles shifting near my boots.

333
00:25:44,079 --> 00:25:49,119
Clenched my jaw, counted silently to four, and snapped the

334
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:54,000
beam back on. The light cut through the dark like

335
00:25:54,000 --> 00:26:00,599
a blade. One of them froze mid movement. For a second.

336
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:06,640
I saw it. It had crept within six feet of me,

337
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:11,720
crouched low, body compressed in a tense arch. It skittered

338
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:14,319
off when the light hit it. Its limbs locked in

339
00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:18,359
place for a fraction of a second. Muscles coiled but frozen.

340
00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:22,960
The skin on his back was patchy and raw, hairless,

341
00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:27,799
pink and gray. The skin across the skull had been stretched.

342
00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:31,759
It looked almost human from the silhouette, but it had

343
00:26:31,759 --> 00:26:36,599
no eyebrows or cheek bones. The flesh sat low, sagging

344
00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:40,400
slightly under its weight. It reminded me of moles we

345
00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:43,799
used to see in the garden, but wrong in proportions.

346
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:48,319
The head was too large, the jaw too wide. The

347
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:54,839
eyes were small, swollen and dark with sclarer, had watery gleam.

348
00:26:55,200 --> 00:27:00,559
They didn't reflect the light. They resisted it. I watched

349
00:27:00,559 --> 00:27:06,759
as the pupils constricted into pinholes. It shrieked not loud,

350
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:11,359
but high and shaking. Then it turned and vanished into

351
00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:14,440
the rock behind it, slipping through a narrow gap I

352
00:27:14,519 --> 00:27:19,799
hadn't seen before. A moment later, another shape followed it,

353
00:27:20,319 --> 00:27:25,400
then another. My hands were soaked in sweat, even through

354
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:29,160
the fabric of my sleeves. My heart hammered so loud

355
00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:35,079
I almost missed the next sound. I turned and ran.

356
00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:40,839
All those quiet lessons about staying calm and holding your

357
00:27:40,839 --> 00:27:47,240
ground evaporated. Every animal documentary, an educational video i'd ever watched,

358
00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:52,680
crumbled under the sound of claws skittering against stone. I

359
00:27:52,759 --> 00:27:56,759
ran hard, light, swinging in frantic arcs across the tunnel walls.

360
00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:00,640
The beam flickered against rock and dust and things I

361
00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:04,279
could not name. My bag clipped the side of the cave.

362
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:10,039
I stumbled, caught myself, and kept moving. I heard them

363
00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:14,400
hiss behind me. A sharp click followed close to my left,

364
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:19,880
then another above. One of them was moving across the ceiling.

365
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,319
I heard the scrape of its limbs, and the dull

366
00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:29,119
thought of his body repositioning overhead. I couldn't look. I

367
00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:33,759
didn't want to see how close it was. My lungs burned,

368
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,160
my throat felt raw. The air was heavy and damp

369
00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:41,519
and thick, with the scent of something. I could see

370
00:28:41,519 --> 00:28:44,240
the narrow path ahead, the one I had come through

371
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:48,880
the tunnel. I never felt so long. The beam of

372
00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:54,720
my flashlight hit the rock just ahead. That was when

373
00:28:54,759 --> 00:28:58,480
one lunged. It came from the dark on my right,

374
00:28:59,079 --> 00:29:03,000
a blur of pale limbs and teeth. I turned just

375
00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:06,599
enough to avoid it. Its claws raked the cave wall

376
00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:10,680
and sent a cascade of dust across my shoulder. I

377
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,640
threw my weight forward, pushed off the ground, and ran harder.

378
00:29:16,319 --> 00:29:22,839
Then another dropped from above. I screamed. It missed barely.

379
00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:27,519
It hit the floor behind me and skidded, claws dragging.

380
00:29:28,559 --> 00:29:32,720
I didn't stop. I knew they were closing in. I

381
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,759
felt the weight of them behind me, pressing the air forward,

382
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:43,319
shrinking the distance between us. Then claws wrapped around my leg.

383
00:29:44,799 --> 00:29:48,359
My body slammed into the ground. The impact drove the

384
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,480
air from my lungs. The flashlight bounced out to my

385
00:29:51,519 --> 00:29:55,440
grip and rolled across the stone. The beams swung wildly,

386
00:29:55,920 --> 00:30:02,039
strobing through the cave in broken fragments. My heel caught something.

387
00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:06,799
The grip on my leg tightened pulling. I clawed at

388
00:30:06,799 --> 00:30:10,640
the ground. My fingers found nothing but dust and sharp gravel.

389
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:15,839
Another shape moved in from the left, crawling, low eyes leaking,

390
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:20,440
its jaw clicked open, saliva dripping from the mouth of

391
00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:26,200
a mall. A distorted melody warped by decades of overuse,

392
00:30:26,799 --> 00:30:32,000
blasted through the cave. Mechanical static layered over digital tones.

393
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:38,279
The motor roller it had slid from my jacket pocket

394
00:30:38,319 --> 00:30:41,799
when I hit the floor. The antenna stuck at an angle.

395
00:30:42,279 --> 00:30:46,799
The screen glowed. We were close enough to the surface.

396
00:30:46,839 --> 00:30:55,279
Now it had found a signal. Everything it had missed, calls, voicemails,

397
00:30:55,400 --> 00:31:01,640
alerts had come through at once, dozens, maybe hundreds. The

398
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:06,559
speaker vibrated against the stone. Every sound echoed through the tunnel,

399
00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:12,720
magnified tenfold. I'd always marked the ring tone, a broken

400
00:31:12,759 --> 00:31:17,680
remix of old midiphiles, layered with sirens and overlapping voice prompts.

401
00:31:18,599 --> 00:31:23,359
It sounded awful. The thing on my legs shrieked and

402
00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:26,680
let go. Its arms snapped up to shield its head.

403
00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:31,119
The one crawling towards me recoiled, clawing at its skull.

404
00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:35,319
Both of them backed away from the phone, their bodies

405
00:31:35,359 --> 00:31:40,640
twisting against the walls, trying to escape the sound. One

406
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:44,480
slammed into the rock so hard dust exploded from the ceiling.

407
00:31:45,279 --> 00:31:49,160
Another scraped at its own ears, tearing shallow furrows into

408
00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:53,279
the sides of its head. The ring tone kept playing.

409
00:31:54,079 --> 00:31:58,680
The cave vibrated with it. Loops of distorted melody collided

410
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:04,319
with incoming alert and static griding voicemails. I pushed myself

411
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:07,400
up and grabbed the flashlight. The beam caught one of

412
00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:11,960
the creature's mid turn. It screamed and scrambled back into

413
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:16,640
the dark. The crack of the cliff side was ahead.

414
00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:20,720
I threw myself through it, shoulders, slamming into the stone

415
00:32:20,799 --> 00:32:24,839
on either side. The cold air outside hit my face

416
00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:28,559
and chest like a tide. I dropped to my knees

417
00:32:28,599 --> 00:32:33,559
on the gravel slope just beyond the entrance, but above

418
00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:43,000
me sunlight. I looked up and saw the sky. I

419
00:32:43,079 --> 00:32:46,200
never found the courage to go back. I wish I

420
00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:49,519
could say I went back in there retrieved my uncle's body,

421
00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:54,519
but I was scared. I gave an anonymous tip to

422
00:32:54,559 --> 00:32:59,119
the police. They found the body, and later the cave

423
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:03,680
was sealed off because it was deemed too dangerous. The

424
00:33:03,759 --> 00:33:07,720
official story was a lonely hermit losing his life in

425
00:33:07,759 --> 00:33:11,839
a cave. But I knew better.