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Speaker 1: I've been homeless for a while now, long enough to

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know which places are safe and which ones aren't, and

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which ones will get you stabbed in your sleep. I

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move around a lot, keep to myself, and never stay

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anywhere too long. That's how you survive. The city is

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full of tense cities, makeshift little neighborhoods of the forgotten

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and unlucky. Some are worse than others. You don't stay

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in the ones run by the guise with glassy eyes

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and twitchy fingers. You don't set foot in the ones

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that stink of chemicals, urine and death. But every now

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and then, YE hear whispers about a place that's different.

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There's one under the overpass and the outskirts of town.

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I heard about it a few weeks back. No fights,

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no cops, no trouble. Nobody knows why. But people who

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stay there don't leave. They don't come back into the

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city looking for change. They just settle into that little

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tent city and that's it. Supposedly they were all happy there.

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I wasn't planning on going. I don't like places I

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can't walk away from, But that night I didn't have

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a choice. The rain came fast, thick and freezing, soaking

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me to the bone. Within minutes. I've been hanging around downtown,

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near one of the busiest streets, keeping my head down

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and hoping for scraps. When they came out of the bar,

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a group of them, loud, drunk, laughing. Those kinds of

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people don't take kindly to people like me. They started

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with insworts, Hey, get a job, asshole, that kind of thing.

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I kept my head down and kept walking. Don't engage,

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don't make eye contact. It's a rule. But when you're

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the weakest thing on the street, there's always someone looking

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to prove something. One of them shoved me from behind hard.

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I hit the pavement, gravel dug into my hands. I

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could have stayed down, maybe they'd have laughed and walked away,

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but I made the mistake of trying to get up.

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The first kick caught my ribs, the second my shoulder,

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The third I don't even remember. Everything blurred together, a boot,

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the taste of blood, the sound of rain hammering the street,

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drowning out my own ragged breath. Then a voice, enough man,

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let's go, And just like that, it was over. They

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were gone, back to their warm bar and soft beds

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their lives, and I was left in the street, bleeding

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into the gutter, shivering like a dying dog. I pulled

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myself up, one arm wrapped around my ribs. I needed

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to find shelter. The usual spots were taken under the

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bridge near Maine, the alcove behind the abandoned gas station,

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the empty warehouse there still had half a roof left.

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Even the beat up places, the ones with the rat

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bitunia sleep were full. That's when I remembered the tense city.

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I hesitated, rain pouring down on my face. Something about

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it felt wrong, but I was out of options. My

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ribs ached with every step, and by the time I

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made it, I was light headed from the cold and

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the steadied loss of blood. The first thing I noticed

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was how neat it was. Tense cities aren't usually this organized,

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the messy, thrown together from whatever scraps people can find, tarps,

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tied defenses, cardboards stacked into walls. This place wasn't like that.

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The tents were perfectly spaced, set up in even rows,

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all facing the same direction, like soldiers standing at attention,

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no signs of fight or scrawled out warnings on the ground.

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I stood at the edge of the camp. Unsure whether

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to step forward, I felt eyes on me, not unfriendly,

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just watching. Then a woman, thin, middle aged, bundled in

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a ragged coat, stepped toward me, pulling something from a sleeve.

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She pressed the dirty dry cloth into my hand for

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the bleeding, she muttered, then walked away. Before I could

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thank her. A man followed, silent as a shadow. He

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handed me a bottle of water, gave me a single

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slow nod, then turned and disappeared into his tent. No

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one asked me who I was. No one asked what

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happened to me. They just helped. I sat down near

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the entrance of an unclaimed tent, pressing the cloth against

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my split lip. The pain was dull, now, a steady

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throb beneath my bruised ribs. I tipped the water bottle

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against my mouth and drank half of it in one go,

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my body grateful for some than clean rough night. I

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turned my head. A man in his mid forties was

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sitting on the ground a few feet away, watching me.

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He had a half smoked cigarette in one hand, rolling

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it between his fingers. I hesitated before answering. I wasn't

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used to people talking to me. You could say that,

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I muttered. He nodded, took a drag, exhaled slow. Yeah,

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same here read That was his name. I learned it

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a few minutes later, after he scooted a little closer

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and offered me half of the protein bar he'd scavenged earlier.

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I took it. We sat there chewing in silence for

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a bit, just listening to the rain pattering against the tents.

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We were both new here, both sizing up the place.

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Where are you from? He asked. Eventually I swallowed a bite.

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Why to my mouth know where that matters? Reed, gave

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a dry chuckle. Yeer, that sounds about right. I didn't

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push him for details, but he told me anyway. Medical debt.

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That's what did him in. He had a wife, a daughter.

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Then his wife got sick. The bills piled up. He

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took out loans, maxed out credit cards, tried everything. She

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still died, and the debt didn't die with her. His

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daughter was better off without him, he said, staying with family.

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He hadn't seen her in years. I told him a

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little about myself, but not much, just that I ran

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from a bad situation, no family, no real ties, just

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surviving neither of us felt sorry for the other. That's

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not how it works out here. We just got it.

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Relapsed into silence, watching the people around us move between

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the tents. The people here are weird. Huh, Reid muttered

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and nodded, Yeah, real weird. The rain finally let up

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some time after midnight, leaving the camp eerily quiet. The

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only sounds were the occasional shovel of feet and the

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distant hum of the city. Read and I sat near

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our tents, watching the camp move in its strange, silent rhythm.

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It wasn't just their behavior that unsettled me. It was

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the way they navigated around the center of camp, avoiding

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it without looking like they were avoiding it. I looked

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at the center of the camp. At first glance, it

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looked like any other patch of ground, dark packed earth,

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damp from the rain. But the longer I stared, the

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more I realized something was off. The soil was loose, uneven,

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in a way that suggested it had been recently disturbed.

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No weeds, no scattered trash, nothing settled into it. I

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nuddered with my elbow and nodded toward it. You notice

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that he squinted at the dirt, brow furring like I

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don't know, like something that was put there or taken out.

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A quiet rustling made me glance up. An older woman

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stood a few feet away, just watching us. Well, I

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thought she was watching us, but it turns out she

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was looking at Reed. She didn't say anything, then, as

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if deciding we weren't worth the effort, she turned and

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walked away. Neither of us spoke for a long time,

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but I knew Reed felt it too. Her behavior was

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the clear sign of an unspoken warning. I woke to

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the sound of movement. The camp was in full motion.

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Shapes emerged from tents, figures stepping into the cold. Heads bowed.

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They moved with purpose, but without urgency. Reed stirred beside me,

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sitting up and rubbing his face. His breath was visible

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in the cold air. The hearl is this? He muttered.

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I didn't have an answer. People were gathered around the

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fire pit in the center of camp, the same spot

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we'd been staring at earlier. The flames flickered weakly, barely alive,

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but no one made a move to stoke them. They

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simply knelt, their bodies angled toward the smoldering embers, hands

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resting in their laps. Reed gave me a look. What

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do we do? He whispered, But if we left now,

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they'd notice we were the only ones still sitting near

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the tents. If this was some kind of tradition, we

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should at least try to fit in. I dun'no, man,

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I whispered back, But I'm not about to be the

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only one sitting this out. Reed exhaled through his nose,

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clear frustrated, but after a moment he followed my lead.

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We shoveled closer and knelt with the rest of them,

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lowering our heads, doing our best to blend in. Then

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the muttering started. At first I thought it was the wind,

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a low vibration rolling through the air, But as it grew,

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I realized it wasn't coming from above. It was coming

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from the people. A low, rhythmic humming pulsed from their throats,

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just a single deep note, stretched out for long, breathless

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moments before shifting into another. I didn't understand it, but

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I could feel it. The sound buzzed in my chest,

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unsettling in a way I couldn't explain. Read and I

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exchanged glances. Neither of us spoke, but I could see

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the question in his eyes. I did the only thing

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that made sense to me at the time. I opened

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my mouth and mimicked the sound. The firepit shuddered. I

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thought it was my eyes plain tricks on me, the

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glow of the dying embers warping the ground. But then

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the dirt moved. It sank. A deep, wet grown rolled

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from beneath the soil, like the earth itself was exhaling.

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The pit caved inward, not suddenly, but slowly, collapsing in

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on itself like something deep below was pulling it down.

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Read stiffened beside me, his breath going shallow. I didn't

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dare move. Then something broke the surface bloated, wet and shuddering,

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the thing pushed itself free from the sinking dirt. Its

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surface was slick and glistening, with patches of dark, wiry

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hair or fur clung to it in irregular clusters, sprouting

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like weeds from raw, ruptured skin. Beneath it, veins bulged

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and throbbed, pulsing in a low, sick way. As it

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expanded and pulsed, the smell radiating from it made its

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way to us. It was overwhelming, a putrid wave that

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clawed its way up my throat. I gagged. Reed's body

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jergged beside me. He covered his mouth, his eyes wide

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and horrified. The thing quivered, then split, like meat being

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pulled apart by invisible hands, and inside something moved. The

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shape within was rising, twisting against the tight, fleshy walls,

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trying to push free. A slick tendril slithered out, glistening

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in the firelight, dripping with some thick amber colored fluid,

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Then another, then another. My breath caught in my throat.

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My body locked up, every muscle screaming at me to move,

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to run, to tear my way out of this nightmare.

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The thing in the pit continued to unfold itself, slick

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tendrils sliding out, curling in the air like they were

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testing it. The stench was unbearable, heavy and rotten. My

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vision blurred as nausea hit, bile rising in my throat.

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I stumbled back, hands digging into the dirt. My legs

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felt like lead, but I pushed myself up, heart hammering.

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A hand climbed around my fist. I turned and there

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she was, the old woman, the one who had been

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watching read earlier. Her eyes were cloudy, but there was

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no blindness in them. Stay, she murmured, Her fingers tightened

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round my wrist. It only takes one. A shiver shot

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through me, my stomach twisting into knots. Every one was

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looking at Reed. I lost my breath. I turned my

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head just enough to see him, still kneeling. He saw

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it too, all those eyes locked onto him. His lips

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parted slightly. Wait, confusion flickered across his face. Then fear

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Reid scrambled back on his hands. His eyes darted between

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the people kneeling around their pit, their faces unreadable, not participating.

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The thing in the ground pulsed again, its mass shifting

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and stretching. Wait, wait, what the hell is this? I

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just got here, read stammered voice, cracking under the weight

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of sheer panic. His hands were raised, shaking as if

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to show them he wasn't a threat, as if that mattered.

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His gaze locked onto mine, desperation in his wide, bloodshot eyes,

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silently begging me to do something, say something, stop this.

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I couldn't. The moment stretched silent except for the soft,

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wet noises coming from the pit. Then, with terrifying speed,

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the tendrils lashed forward. Two large burly men stood up

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and made their presence known. Reid tried running, but they

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caught him. I watched as they dragged him toward the

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creature and pinned him down right next to it. The

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tendril punched through his shoulder, sinking deep with a sound

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that was both a rip and a squelch, like wet

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fabric being torn apart. Reid screamed, body jerking violently as

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the muscle around the wound convulsed, trying to force the

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thing out, but it was already borrowing deeper. His legs

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kicked against the dirt, twisting his free hand clawing at

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the tendril embedded in him, trying to pry it loose.

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The second one wrapped around his throat the moment it tightened,

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his scream cut off, replaced by a grotesque, bubbling wheeze.

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His hands clawed at the slick, pulsing coil strangling him,

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his nails dragging across its surface, but finding no grip,

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nothing to hold on to. The thing lifted him slightly

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off the ground, his feet scraping against the dirt, his

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body shuddering like his brain was firing off every last

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desperate command to escape, but the tendrils just kept pulling.

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He dragged him forward into itself, his clothes stuck to

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its wet, pulsing mass the second he made contact, as

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00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:06,640
if something beneath the surface had latched onto him. He

234
00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:10,000
tried to kick off, tried to push away, but the

235
00:20:10,039 --> 00:20:14,400
creature's flesh was sticky, sucking him in, pressing against him

236
00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:17,680
with a crushing force that made his ribs groan under

237
00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:22,400
the pressure. His lips peeled back, baring his teeth in

238
00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:29,359
an agonized grimace as he felt it starting to take him.

239
00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:36,000
He was being absorbed. His skin started to pull, to stretch,

240
00:20:36,559 --> 00:20:40,119
to sink into the folds of the thing's body. It

241
00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:43,119
didn't eat him, didn't consume him the way an animal

242
00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:47,559
would devour prey. Instead, the flesh of the thing in

243
00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:51,680
the fire pit parted and pulled around him, pressing in

244
00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:56,119
on all sides, smothering him in a thick, pulsing mass.

245
00:20:57,599 --> 00:21:01,559
His body began to fold the way a person collapses,

246
00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:05,200
But like those animations people made of what it would

247
00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:09,000
look like being pulled into a black hole, his back

248
00:21:09,319 --> 00:21:14,359
arching unnaturally, his ribs cracking apart, his joints popping one

249
00:21:14,519 --> 00:21:19,519
after the other as his limbs twisted at horrific angles.

250
00:21:20,599 --> 00:21:23,960
His eyes were still moving, his mouth was still open.

251
00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:29,799
His body was breaking apart, but he was still there.

252
00:21:32,599 --> 00:21:36,480
The smell changed, The acred stench of rock grew thicker,

253
00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:41,599
but there was something else underneath it, now something worse.

254
00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:47,880
It was the unmistakable, gut wrenching stench of meat cooking

255
00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:52,680
from the inside out. Something inside the thing was heating him,

256
00:21:53,079 --> 00:21:58,799
poiling him alive. Beneath its bloated surface, Reid started making

257
00:21:58,799 --> 00:22:03,759
a noise, a bubbling sound, thick and wet, rising from

258
00:22:03,839 --> 00:22:07,799
deep inside his chest, like his lungs were filling with liquid.

259
00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:11,839
His head jerked forward as if he was trying to cough,

260
00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:16,640
but instead of air, a thick stream of amber colored

261
00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:21,799
fluid dribbled past his lips. His lips moved, but no

262
00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:26,480
words came out, just more of that wet, bubbling sound,

263
00:22:28,279 --> 00:22:33,039
and then, with a final sickening crack, his head tilted

264
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:37,359
all the way back. His face disappeared beneath the thing's

265
00:22:37,519 --> 00:22:47,880
pulsing flesh, and read was gone. The thing retreated back

266
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:51,400
into the ground, and people started making their way back

267
00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:56,599
to their tents. The woman from earlier approached me. This

268
00:22:56,759 --> 00:23:03,200
time she showed proper emotion. She apologized, but said that

269
00:23:03,319 --> 00:23:08,759
now I had no choice and I could never leave again,

270
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:23,440
but the camp would take care of me. The next morning,

271
00:23:24,079 --> 00:23:28,480
the camp was unchanged. The sun rose over the overpass,

272
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:34,079
washing everything in dull gray light. People moved about their routines,

273
00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:38,839
stretching stiff limbs, adjusting their tents, heating scraps of food

274
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:44,240
over makeshift stoves. A few murmured quietly, but their voices

275
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:51,160
were flat, absent of emotion. No one spoke of Reed.

276
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:57,119
His tent was gone, his belongings were missing. His spot

277
00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,839
by the fire pit where we had talked was just

278
00:24:00,039 --> 00:24:04,599
bare ground. There was no sign he had ever existed.

279
00:24:06,599 --> 00:24:10,519
The vire Bit itself sat cold and undisturbed. The ashes

280
00:24:10,559 --> 00:24:14,599
from the night before were still there, untouched. The earth

281
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:19,440
with a monster had surfaced. Where Reed had been pulled in, crushed,

282
00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:25,559
folded into something unrecognizable, It was now smooth, packed tight.

283
00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:32,799
I sat by my tent, staring at it. I barely slept,

284
00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:38,039
maybe an hour, maybe less. Every time I closed my

285
00:24:38,079 --> 00:24:43,319
eyes I saw it Reed's body twisting, his mouth open,

286
00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:47,519
bubbling sounds rising from deep inside his chest, The way

287
00:24:47,519 --> 00:24:51,160
his bones had cracked, how his body had been swallowed whole.

288
00:24:52,799 --> 00:24:56,279
I pressed my knuckles to my mouth, swallowing back nausea.

289
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:00,759
The stench of burned flesh and wet decay still clung

290
00:25:00,799 --> 00:25:05,400
to my senses. I could smell it, taste it, like

291
00:25:05,519 --> 00:25:12,319
it had embedded itself inside me. That night, I lay awake,

292
00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:17,799
staring at the fire pit. Memories looked over and over

293
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:23,559
in my mind. Reid's face, his voice, his screams. My

294
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:29,119
hands clenched, nails dug into my palms. I needed to

295
00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:33,799
do something, but if I tried now, they'd stop me.

296
00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:41,279
I stayed, not because I believed in it, but I

297
00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:44,240
needed to stay long enough to figure out how to

298
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,799
escape this place, long enough to understand what I was

299
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,319
up against, to learn their patterns, to see if they

300
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:58,759
were vulnerable. So I watched, I listened. I learned their rituals,

301
00:25:59,079 --> 00:26:03,400
the quiet way of moving, their unspoken rules. When they

302
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:07,519
knelted the fire pit, I knelt too. When they hummed

303
00:26:07,559 --> 00:26:12,240
their strange rhythmic tones, I mimicked them, forcing my voice

304
00:26:12,279 --> 00:26:18,519
into the same lifeless melody. At first, my presence was tolerated,

305
00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:23,599
a stray dog, lingering where it didn't belong. But the

306
00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:28,240
longer I stayed, the more. They accepted me, and soon

307
00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:35,599
I found myself inside the inner circle. They gave me tasks,

308
00:26:36,039 --> 00:26:40,920
starting small. I was assigned to collect supplies rational water,

309
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:45,559
mend the fragile structure of the camp. They watched how

310
00:26:45,559 --> 00:26:50,000
I followed orders without question. I never hesitated when something

311
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:53,319
was asked of me. I let them believe I was

312
00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:57,119
sinking into it, that I was dissolving into the same

313
00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:03,920
mindless devotion they all carried, so to them, I was

314
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:10,680
no longer a risk. The older ones began to notice.

315
00:27:10,799 --> 00:27:14,680
I caught them watching, murmuring in approval when I followed

316
00:27:14,799 --> 00:27:19,000
orders without question. A few of them even started speaking

317
00:27:19,039 --> 00:27:25,400
to me, not much, but enough. I started speaking with

318
00:27:25,519 --> 00:27:28,720
the elders, the ones who had been here the longest.

319
00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:32,079
They spoke of time, as though it had no meaning,

320
00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:36,000
as if this place had always been here. One of

321
00:27:36,039 --> 00:27:39,559
them told me that the city above was young, that

322
00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,400
the steel and concrete were just a thin layer of

323
00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:47,039
something much older. The land beneath had existed long before

324
00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,640
men had carved roads into it, long before they built

325
00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:54,640
towers of glass and metal and pretended they were in control.

326
00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:59,720
The thing beneath the dirt was older than all of it.

327
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,759
They didn't call it a guard. They didn't even have

328
00:28:04,839 --> 00:28:07,400
a name for it. The part we saw in the

329
00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:11,519
pit was only a fragment, a piece of something buried deep,

330
00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:16,319
something stretched out beneath the land. Its body sprawled like

331
00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:20,160
a great root system. What we fed it was enough

332
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:23,720
to keep it satisfied here, But there were other places

333
00:28:23,799 --> 00:28:27,160
like this across the world, doing the same things we did.

334
00:28:30,559 --> 00:28:35,240
I was given roles in the ceremonies, first as an observer,

335
00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:38,599
standing at the edge of the fire pit as they

336
00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:43,200
conducted their nightly rituals. Then I was made an assistant.

337
00:28:44,599 --> 00:28:48,680
I played my role well. I helped choose the sacrifices,

338
00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:52,519
walking the camp in the days before a ritual, feeling

339
00:28:52,559 --> 00:28:55,440
the weight of their silent gazes as I picked the

340
00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:57,799
ones who would not wake up in their beds the

341
00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:03,200
next morning. Sometimes they knew. Sometimes I could see it

342
00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:06,200
in the way they carried themselves, the way their hands

343
00:29:06,319 --> 00:29:09,440
trembled when they reached for their food, the way their

344
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:14,599
shoulders hunched inward like they were trying to disappear. It

345
00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:19,559
didn't matter, no one ran. They all went to the

346
00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:25,000
pit the same way. I tried my best not to

347
00:29:25,039 --> 00:29:27,079
be the one that would drag the victims out to

348
00:29:27,119 --> 00:29:31,240
the pit, but sometimes that duty was handed to me.

349
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:39,279
I gathered what I needed in pieces spread out over months.

350
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:44,319
A sturdy can, old and thick, something that would shatter,

351
00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:49,119
and sharp pieces scraps of metal jagged and sharp meant

352
00:29:49,119 --> 00:29:56,319
to tear through flesh. Scavenged chemicals, and makeshift grenade. Crude

353
00:29:56,440 --> 00:30:01,480
but functional. It wasn't perfect, but it would do the job.

354
00:30:05,279 --> 00:30:09,720
That night, a woman had been chosen. I'd seen it

355
00:30:09,799 --> 00:30:13,119
in her before they even told me. The small shift

356
00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,599
in her breathing, the way her hands barely touched her food,

357
00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:23,039
the vacant focus in her eyes. She knew she was

358
00:30:23,119 --> 00:30:28,039
lucky that way she reminded me of Reed. Not in

359
00:30:28,119 --> 00:30:31,799
the way she looked. Reed had been hard edged, years

360
00:30:31,839 --> 00:30:36,480
of suffering chiseled into his face, while she was younger, softer,

361
00:30:37,119 --> 00:30:40,799
like she had once belonged somewhere else. But it was

362
00:30:40,839 --> 00:30:44,839
in her eyes, the way she stared through me, past me.

363
00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:51,440
She didn't fight. No one ever fought. When I volunteered

364
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:53,119
to be the one to take her to the pit.

365
00:30:54,279 --> 00:30:58,519
No one questioned it. I'd been here too long for

366
00:30:58,559 --> 00:31:01,400
them to doubt me. Now I had done my part,

367
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:06,119
played my role, led enough people into the pit without hesitation.

368
00:31:07,319 --> 00:31:10,200
I stood beside them in the dark, humming their song,

369
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:20,200
feeding the thing beneath us. They trusted me completely. She breathed,

370
00:31:20,799 --> 00:31:24,160
shallow and steady as I took her arm in my hand.

371
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:30,119
Her skin was warm, pulse light, and steady beneath my fingers.

372
00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,759
She didn't pull away. She walked where I led her,

373
00:31:34,279 --> 00:31:39,519
quiet and obedient, just like the others before her. The

374
00:31:39,599 --> 00:31:43,400
camp gathered around us. We walked through them, through the

375
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:46,359
ones I'd knelt beside, the ones who had stood with

376
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:49,880
me as the fire burned low, the ones who had

377
00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:54,680
whispered the old stories into my ears. My breath felt

378
00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:57,359
thick in my chest. The way to the grenade in

379
00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:02,000
my pocket was heavy, burning against my skins. My heartbeat

380
00:32:02,079 --> 00:32:07,880
thudded in my skull. This was it. There was no

381
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:14,039
backing out now, my fingers wrapped around the fuse. Up close,

382
00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:16,519
the thing in the pit was worse than I'd ever

383
00:32:16,599 --> 00:32:20,880
let myself see. There were mouths, or things that almost

384
00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:26,519
resembled them, gaping slashed open gorges lined with pulsing ridges

385
00:32:26,519 --> 00:32:30,920
of flesh, but no teeth, just folds of wet, sucking

386
00:32:31,039 --> 00:32:36,240
muscle layed over one another, like the gills of rotting fish.

387
00:32:36,759 --> 00:32:42,799
They twitched, flaring open, and its eyes, if they were eyes,

388
00:32:43,039 --> 00:32:47,839
were scattered unevenly across its surface, shifting slightly as they swayed,

389
00:32:48,559 --> 00:32:55,960
never focusing, but always aware. With one violent shove, I

390
00:32:56,039 --> 00:33:01,759
threw the woman aside. Gasps pulled through the crowd, a

391
00:33:01,839 --> 00:33:04,720
sharpened hail that cut through the heavy quiet of the night.

392
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:09,319
She hit the ground hard, rolling to the side. Her

393
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:13,279
face twisted in confusion. But I was already reaching into

394
00:33:13,319 --> 00:33:17,799
my pocket, yanking out the grenade, my fingers tightening around

395
00:33:17,799 --> 00:33:23,519
my lighter. The pit reacted instantly. The ground pulled apart,

396
00:33:23,559 --> 00:33:27,599
like splitting skin. A thick, wet noise rolled from the

397
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:32,319
darkness beneath as the creature reared up, sensing something was wrong.

398
00:33:33,599 --> 00:33:37,759
The thing in the pit wasn't mindless. The tensils last

399
00:33:37,839 --> 00:33:42,839
forward fast. There's striking vipers. I lit the fuse, my

400
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:49,119
breath ragged sweat rolling down my back. I was too slow.

401
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:53,160
I knew it in the same moment I saw them

402
00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:56,839
come in for me. There was only one way to

403
00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:02,559
make sure this worked. I lunged forward and thrust my arm,

404
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:06,519
my entire arm, into the largest of its gaping mouths,

405
00:34:07,079 --> 00:34:11,960
grenades still clenched my fist. The second I made contact,

406
00:34:12,199 --> 00:34:15,599
it latched onto me. The flesh around the mouth sucked

407
00:34:15,599 --> 00:34:20,239
inward as suffocating, muscle bound vice wrapping around my arm,

408
00:34:20,679 --> 00:34:26,880
locking it in place. It burned, not like fire, but

409
00:34:27,079 --> 00:34:32,079
like something alive was crawling into my skin, burrowing, spreading.

410
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:37,519
I felt it move inside me. Veins surged outward from

411
00:34:37,519 --> 00:34:41,159
where it held me, black tendrils creeping beneath my skin,

412
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:45,280
forcing the way up my forearm, boring into the spaces

413
00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:50,480
between muscle and bone. I screamed as it pulled harder,

414
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:54,480
yanking me toward its body, trying to make me whole.

415
00:34:56,519 --> 00:35:00,519
My fingers locked around the grenade. My bones started to bend,

416
00:35:01,679 --> 00:35:06,320
joints popped, My elbow snapped backward. My wrist buckled under

417
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:11,480
the impossible pressure. The pain was all consuming, a raw,

418
00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:16,559
electric agony that tore through every nerve. I lost the

419
00:35:16,599 --> 00:35:20,519
part of my vision. My body convulsed, My legs nearly

420
00:35:20,559 --> 00:35:23,920
gave out. Beneath me. It was trying to crush me

421
00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:32,079
into something small enough to fit inside. Then the grenade exploded.

422
00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:37,239
A shock wave ripped through my body, sending blinding heat

423
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:41,360
up my arm or what was left of it, tearing

424
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:45,760
through flesh and muscle, shattering bone. In an instant, the

425
00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:50,079
force tore me away, sent me hurtling backward, crashing into

426
00:35:50,119 --> 00:35:56,079
the dirt, my body skidding across the ground. The creature shrieked,

427
00:35:56,960 --> 00:35:59,840
not in sound, not in anything I could hear with

428
00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:05,320
my ears, but inside my skull, a raw whil that

429
00:36:05,519 --> 00:36:10,519
shattered my thoughts, a wordless, agonized scream that was neither human,

430
00:36:10,639 --> 00:36:14,480
nor animal, nor anything that should have existed in this world.

431
00:36:16,119 --> 00:36:21,239
I couldn't breathe, but I felt it dying. The pit convulsed,

432
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:27,119
buckling inward, flesh rupturing, splitting open, sprang thick black fluid

433
00:36:27,199 --> 00:36:32,199
in every direction. The mouths gaped wide, sucking, had the

434
00:36:32,239 --> 00:36:36,840
air trying to cling to life, trying to pull something, anything,

435
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:42,239
into itself, to stop what was happening. It was collapsing.

436
00:36:43,519 --> 00:36:47,440
The earth cracked beneath it, the pit caving in, the

437
00:36:47,519 --> 00:36:52,840
body deteriorating, turning to something wet and broken and undone.

438
00:36:54,519 --> 00:36:59,599
I tried to move, but I couldn't. Everything went black.

439
00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:08,679
The world came back in pieces, a steady rhythmic beep,

440
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:12,880
the distant murmur of voices, white light pressing against the

441
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:17,079
backs of my eyelids. The sterile weight of blankets tucked

442
00:37:17,079 --> 00:37:20,599
around my body, pinning me down, holding me in place.

443
00:37:21,559 --> 00:37:30,360
The unmistakable smell of antiseptic. I was alive. I tried

444
00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:34,280
to move, but my body refused. My limbs felt heavy,

445
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:38,719
A deep, dull ache pulsed through my side, my chest,

446
00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:44,280
my skull radiating outward. My throat was raw, my ribs

447
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:49,119
tight like they had been wrapped in iron. I turned

448
00:37:49,119 --> 00:37:55,360
my head, and that's when I felt it, or rather didn't.

449
00:37:56,440 --> 00:38:02,119
My right arm was gone. I couldn't see it, couldn't

450
00:38:02,119 --> 00:38:06,159
feel it, but the pain was still there. A deep,

451
00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:09,719
phantom weight like something was still holding on to it,

452
00:38:10,199 --> 00:38:13,920
still digging into my bones, still trying to pull me

453
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:20,559
back down. The sensation crawled at my shoulder, a hollow, twisting, emptiness,

454
00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:25,320
nerves firing into nothing, reaching for a limb that no

455
00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:32,400
longer existed. My left eye wasn't there either. I lifted

456
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:36,679
my remaining hand, fingers trembling, and felt the rough edges

457
00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:42,000
of a thick bandage covering half my face. Underneath. My

458
00:38:42,119 --> 00:38:51,920
skin pulsed, tender, stitched, swollen. The socket was empty. The

459
00:38:52,039 --> 00:38:55,719
room was silent except for the beeping of machines, the

460
00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:59,119
sound of fabric rustling. As I tried to shift my weight.

461
00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:04,000
I could hear footsteps outside the door, voices too low

462
00:39:04,079 --> 00:39:11,000
to make out. Somewhere in the distance, someone laughed, normal life,

463
00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:17,920
the world continuing. I should have felt relieved, I should

464
00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:26,039
have felt something. Instead, I just felt tired. I let

465
00:39:26,079 --> 00:39:30,719
my head sink back into the pillow. Nurses passed by

466
00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:34,280
the door, their voices drifting through the half open gap.

467
00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:38,559
I forced myself to listen, let the words seep in.

468
00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:43,360
They said it was an accident, a fire, some kind

469
00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:49,519
of explosion out by the overpass. Yeah, no one found anybodies,

470
00:39:50,079 --> 00:39:54,559
no traces of anyone living there. Just a a pause,

471
00:39:56,159 --> 00:40:02,920
just a whole. My finger curled into the sheets. The

472
00:40:03,079 --> 00:40:08,639
ten city was gone, The people, the elders, the silent, faithful,

473
00:40:09,199 --> 00:40:15,119
vanished without a trace. A slow exhale left my lungs

474
00:40:15,559 --> 00:40:20,599
long and steady. I let my eye drift shut, exhaustion

475
00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:27,119
pressing me deeper into the mattress, pulling me under. For now,

476
00:40:28,079 --> 00:40:32,280
it was over in our part of the world. But

477
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:38,360
if it wasn't someone else, we'll have to stop it.