WEBVTT

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<v Speaker 1>Now one of your pudding.

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<v Speaker 2>I got a string going on here, something just because

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<v Speaker 2>my dog. Something killed your dog.

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<v Speaker 1>My dog.

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<v Speaker 2>We're flying through the air over the tree.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know.

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<v Speaker 2>How it did it, Okay, Damn, I'm really confused. All

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<v Speaker 2>I saw was my dog coming over the fence and

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<v Speaker 2>he was dead. And once you hit the ground like,

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<v Speaker 2>I didn't see any cars. All I saw was my

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<v Speaker 2>dog coming over the fence.

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<v Speaker 1>Sat, what are you putting?

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<v Speaker 2>We got some wonder or something crawling around out here?

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<v Speaker 2>Did you see what it was? Or was it was?

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<v Speaker 2>Standing enough? I'm out here looking through the window now

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<v Speaker 2>and I don't see anything.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't want to go outside. Jesus Quice, you better.

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<v Speaker 2>Hellohet theboddy out here? What quent on out there? I

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<v Speaker 2>thought of a bet about tex forty nine?

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know easy him out there? Yeah, I'm walking

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<v Speaker 1>right hey.

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<v Speaker 2>September one through tenth, seventeen ninety nine, Henri Beaumont died screaming.

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<v Speaker 2>I write these words knowing they will haunt me until

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<v Speaker 2>my own death and perhaps beyond. I write them because

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<v Speaker 2>they must be recorded, because what happened in that dark

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<v Speaker 2>hollow between the mountains must never be forgotten. Must serve

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<v Speaker 2>as warning to anyone foolish enough to follow in our footsteps.

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<v Speaker 2>The reunion with the Eastern Party came in early September

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<v Speaker 2>at the rendezvous point Henri had designated. They had resupplied, successfully,

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<v Speaker 2>trading with settlements along the Ohio River for fresh provisions,

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<v Speaker 2>replacement equipment, and most importantly, horses. Will Harper's condition had

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<v Speaker 2>not improved. If anything, he seemed worse, his eyes vacant,

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<v Speaker 2>his hands constantly moving, as if sketching invisible images in

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<v Speaker 2>the air. He draws them every night, Thomas told me,

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<v Speaker 2>fills page after page with their faces. Won't sleep, barely eats.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know how much longer he can survive like this.

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<v Speaker 2>Despite Will's deterioration, spirits were high. We were nine men again,

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<v Speaker 2>reunited after months apart, carrying enough supplies to see us

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<v Speaker 2>through whatever lay ahead. The creatures had continued to watch

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<v Speaker 2>us through our separation, and they watched us, still, dozens

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<v Speaker 2>of them visible on the surrounding ridge lines, more than

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<v Speaker 2>we had ever seen before. They're gathering, Sam observed, coming

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<v Speaker 2>from all directions. Something's happening. What I don't know, but

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<v Speaker 2>whatever it is, we're about to be in the middle

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<v Speaker 2>of it. We pressed deeper into the forbidden lands. The

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<v Speaker 2>terrain grew more treacherous with every mile, narrow passes between

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<v Speaker 2>sheer cliffs, river crossings that nearly drown two of our horses,

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<v Speaker 2>Forests so dense that we had to hack through the

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<v Speaker 2>undergrowth with machetes that dulled after hours of use. And

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<v Speaker 2>through it all, the creatures multiplied, fifty visible, now sixty, more,

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<v Speaker 2>arriving every day, converging toward the heart of their territory

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<v Speaker 2>from regions we couldn't imagine. Their behavior changed as well,

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<v Speaker 2>more agitated, more aggressive. The threat displays that had been

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<v Speaker 2>infrequent became constant, screams and charges that stopped just feet

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<v Speaker 2>from our position, chest beating that shook the air, rocks

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<v Speaker 2>thrown close enough to feel the wind of their passage.

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<v Speaker 2>We're too close to something, Henry said on the night

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<v Speaker 2>of September eighth. His charming smile had long since faded.

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<v Speaker 2>The man who faced me now was tired and afraid,

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<v Speaker 2>and trying desperately not to show either. They don't want

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<v Speaker 2>us here, they don't want us anywhere. But they've let

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<v Speaker 2>us come this far. The ones we've been traveling with. Yes,

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<v Speaker 2>but look around you, captain. He gestured at the shapes

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<v Speaker 2>on the ridge lines, the shadows moving between the trees.

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<v Speaker 2>These aren't the same creatures, different groups, different territories, and

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<v Speaker 2>I don't think they've agreed to tolerate us the way

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<v Speaker 2>the others have.

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<v Speaker 1>He was right.

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<v Speaker 2>I could see it now that he'd pointed it out.

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<v Speaker 2>The creatures that had been escorting us, the scarred elder,

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<v Speaker 2>the females with young Zeke's juvenile friend. They stayed back,

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<v Speaker 2>watching but not approaching. The ones surrounding us now were different, larger,

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<v Speaker 2>some of them more aggressive. Their displays carried a different quality,

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<v Speaker 2>a hostility that hadn't been present before. We had crossed

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<v Speaker 2>into hostile territory, and we didn't know it until it

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<v Speaker 2>was too late. The attack came on the night of

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<v Speaker 2>September ninth. We had made camp in a hollow between

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<v Speaker 2>two ridges, choosing a position that seemed defensible, high ground

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<v Speaker 2>on three sides, a stream providing water, clear sight lines

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<v Speaker 2>in the direction we'd come from. We didn't think about

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<v Speaker 2>what might come from the other direction. The warning signs

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<v Speaker 2>began at dusk. The creatures we'd been traveling with withdrew,

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<v Speaker 2>all of them suddenly melting into the forest without a sound.

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<v Speaker 2>The howls and knocks that had become background noise fell silent.

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<v Speaker 2>The forest itself seemed to hold its breath. Something's wrong,

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<v Speaker 2>Sam said, his hand on his rifle, his eyes scanning

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<v Speaker 2>the darkening forest. Something's very wrong. Then the screams began,

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<v Speaker 2>not the screams we'd grown accustomed to, the territorial calls,

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<v Speaker 2>the threat displays. These were different, sharper, more urgent, like alarms,

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<v Speaker 2>I realized, like warnings, but warnings of what They came

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<v Speaker 2>out of the darkness, without warning, creatures we'd never seen before,

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<v Speaker 2>Larger than the others, darker, moving with a speed that

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<v Speaker 2>seemed impossible for their size. They hit our camp like

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<v Speaker 2>a wave, scattering men and horses, overturning equipment, filling the

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<v Speaker 2>night with chaos and terror. I fired my rifle into

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<v Speaker 2>the dark. Heard the ball strike something solid, heard a

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<v Speaker 2>scream of rage that made my blood run cold. Muzzle

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<v Speaker 2>flashes lit the clearing, Jim firing, Sam firing everyone, firing

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<v Speaker 2>at shapes that were there and gone before we could

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<v Speaker 2>aim properly, and then are screamed. God helped me. I

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<v Speaker 2>can still hear it, that scream, that terrible desperate, hopeless scream.

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<v Speaker 2>Something had him, something massive and dark, Its arms wrapped

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<v Speaker 2>around his torso, dragging him backward into the darkness beyond

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<v Speaker 2>the firelight. I could see his face in the flickering light,

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<v Speaker 2>white with terror, mouth, open, eyes showing whites all around.

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<v Speaker 2>And then he was gone. I ran after him, so

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<v Speaker 2>did Jim. We crashed through the underbrush, following the sounds

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<v Speaker 2>of struggle, the sounds of screaming. The sounds of the

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<v Speaker 2>sounds changed on re screams became something else, something worse,

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<v Speaker 2>wet sounds, tearing sounds, crack of bone and the rip

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<v Speaker 2>of flesh, and other things I cannot bring myself to describe.

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<v Speaker 2>Then silence. We found what remained of him at dawn.

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<v Speaker 2>I will not describe it in detail. Some horrors are

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<v Speaker 2>too profound for language, too terrible to commit to paper.

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<v Speaker 2>I will say only this. Henri Beaumont, thirty three years old,

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<v Speaker 2>voyageur guide friend Henri Beaumont was scattered across a clearing,

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<v Speaker 2>in pieces so small that burial was impossible. Nothing was

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<v Speaker 2>left to bury, nothing was left at all. We stood

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<v Speaker 2>in that clearing, those of us who had survived the night,

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<v Speaker 2>and looked at what had been our friend, our companion,

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<v Speaker 2>our brother in this impossible journey. Thomas vomited. Will Harper,

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<v Speaker 2>who hadn't spoken coherently in weeks, began to laugh, high,

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<v Speaker 2>hysterical laughter that went on and on until Solomon struck

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<v Speaker 2>him unconscious. Jim loaded his rifle. I'm going to kill them,

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<v Speaker 2>every last one of them. I'm going to no. Sam's

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<v Speaker 2>voice was quiet but absolute. Look around you, Jim. Look

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<v Speaker 2>the creatures were back, the ones we'd been traveling with.

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<v Speaker 2>The scarred elder, the females, the juveniles. They stood at

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<v Speaker 2>the edges of the clearing, watching us with expressions I

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<v Speaker 2>couldn't read. But they hadn't attacked us. The things that

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<v Speaker 2>had killed Unri they were gone, retreated back into whatever

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<v Speaker 2>territory they'd come from. The creatures surrounding us now were different.

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<v Speaker 2>I could see it in their posture, their behavior, the

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<v Speaker 2>way they looked at the scattered remains of Aunri with

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<v Speaker 2>something that might have been regret. Different groups, Sam said,

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<v Speaker 2>echoing what Henry had told us the night before, Different territories.

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<v Speaker 2>The ones we've been with they tolerate us. These others don't.

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<v Speaker 2>Then why did they let us walk into a trap?

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know. Maybe they didn't know. Maybe they couldn't

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<v Speaker 2>stop it. Maybe he stopped, his weathered face twisting with

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<v Speaker 2>grief and confusion. Maybe they have rules we don't understand,

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<v Speaker 2>boundaries they can't cross. I looked at the scarred elder.

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<v Speaker 2>Those ancient eyes met mine, and I saw something in

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<v Speaker 2>them that I couldn't name. Not guilt, I don't think

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<v Speaker 2>they're capable of guilt, but something awareness, perhaps acknowledgment of

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<v Speaker 2>what had happened, and maybe just maybe apology. But Henri

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<v Speaker 2>was still dead and all the understanding in the world

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<v Speaker 2>couldn't bring him back. Marcus set down the journal. His

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<v Speaker 2>hands were trembling so badly he could barely grip the

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<v Speaker 2>leather binding Henri Beaumont, the charming French Canadian with the

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<v Speaker 2>easy smile and the hidden secrets, gone torn apart in

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<v Speaker 2>the darkness by creatures that didn't know or didn't care

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<v Speaker 2>about the fragile piece the expedition had built. He thought

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<v Speaker 2>about his ancestor, standing in that clearing at dawn, looking

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<v Speaker 2>at what remained of his friend, The horror of it,

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<v Speaker 2>the futility, the terrible understanding that all their progress, all

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<v Speaker 2>their exchanges, all their careful diplomacy had meant nothing to

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<v Speaker 2>the creatures that lived in that hostile territory. Different groups,

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<v Speaker 2>different rules, different tolerances. The creatures weren't a unified people.

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<v Speaker 2>They were competing territories, rival families, individual beings with individual temperaments.

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<v Speaker 2>Some tolerated humans, others didn't, and there was no way

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<v Speaker 2>to know which was which until it was too late.

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<v Speaker 2>Marcus looked at the remaining journals. There was more to come.

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<v Speaker 2>He knew that the second death Will Harper according to

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<v Speaker 2>his father's notes, and whatever came after. Part of him

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<v Speaker 2>wanted to stop, to put the journals away, to walk

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<v Speaker 2>out of this cabin and return to his ordinary life

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<v Speaker 2>in Chicago, to pretend he'd never learned any of this.

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<v Speaker 2>But he couldn't. The story had him now, and some

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<v Speaker 2>stories once started, demand to be finished. He picked up

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<v Speaker 2>the journal and kept reading. September tenth through thirtieth, seventeen

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<v Speaker 2>ninety nine. We should have turned back. Every rational thought

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<v Speaker 2>demanded it. Henre was dead. Will Harper had descended into

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<v Speaker 2>a madness from which there might be no return. Our

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<v Speaker 2>supplies were dwindling, our morale was shattered, and the creatures,

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<v Speaker 2>the ones that had killed Nri might attack again at

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<v Speaker 2>any moment, but we didn't turn back. I don't know

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<v Speaker 2>if it was courage or foolishness, or simply an inability

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<v Speaker 2>to accept that everything we'd sacrificed had been for nothing.

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<v Speaker 2>We had come so far, seen so much, lost so much.

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<v Speaker 2>To turn back now felt like a betrayal of Henri's

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<v Speaker 2>memory of everything the expedition had meant. And something else

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<v Speaker 2>drove us forward, something I couldn't name then and struggle

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<v Speaker 2>to name now, a pull, a compulsion, a sense that

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<v Speaker 2>the answers we sought lay just ahead, just beyond the

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<v Speaker 2>next ridge, just through the next valley. The creatures seemed

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<v Speaker 2>to share this urgency. After Henri's death, they began guiding

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<v Speaker 2>us more actively than before, showing us paths we never

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<v Speaker 2>would have found on our own, leading us around the

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<v Speaker 2>territories of hostile groups, leaving food more frequently larger quantities,

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<v Speaker 2>as if trying to strengthen us for whatever lay ahead.

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<v Speaker 2>Were they helping us? I still don't know. Perhaps they were,

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<v Speaker 2>Perhaps they felt something like responsibility for what had happened

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<v Speaker 2>to Henri, an obligation to see us safely through the

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<v Speaker 2>dangers that remained. Or perhaps they simply wanted us to

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<v Speaker 2>reach our destination, wanted us to see what waited in

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<v Speaker 2>the heart of their territory. Either way, we followed. Will

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<v Speaker 2>Harper's condition deteriorated rapidly in the days that followed. He

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<v Speaker 2>no longer spoke at all, not even the fragmented mutterings

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<v Speaker 2>he'd been producing before. His sketch book was constantly in

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<v Speaker 2>his hands, pages filling with images that none of us

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<v Speaker 2>could bear to look at. I looked once, just once.

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<v Speaker 2>The drawing showed creatures that were almost right, but not quite.

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<v Speaker 2>Bodies proportioned correctly, poses captured with remarkable skill, but the

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<v Speaker 2>eyes were wrong, to human, to knowing, and their expressions.

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<v Speaker 2>The creatures I had seen displayed no expression I could interpret.

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<v Speaker 2>But Will's drawing showed something else, something that looked almost

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<v Speaker 2>like hunger, or anticipation or desire. He's drawing what they

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<v Speaker 2>show him, Thomas said quietly. The physician had lost all

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<v Speaker 2>pretense of scientific detachment. What remained was simply a frightened

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<v Speaker 2>man trying to make sense of something that defied understanding

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<v Speaker 2>or what he thinks they show him. His mind has

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<v Speaker 2>created a dialogue where none exists. Is he dangerous to himself?

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<v Speaker 2>Certainly to us. Thomas shook his head. I don't know.

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<v Speaker 2>He barely seems aware of our existence. He's somewhere else,

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<v Speaker 2>entirely somewhere we can't follow. I assigned someone to watch

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<v Speaker 2>Will at all times. We couldn't spare the man power.

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<v Speaker 2>But we also couldn't risk him wandering off in the

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<v Speaker 2>middle of the night, not here, not after what had

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<v Speaker 2>happened to Henri. The terrain grew worse as we traveled,

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<v Speaker 2>deeper mountains that seemed designed to kill, sheer cliffs with

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<v Speaker 2>no paths, rivers that ran too fast to forward for us,

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<v Speaker 2>so dense that even the creatures struggled to find ways through.

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<v Speaker 2>We lost a horse to a fall, then another to

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<v Speaker 2>a river crossing gone wrong. Our supplies dwindled despite the

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<v Speaker 2>creature's gifts, but they kept guiding us, kept leading us forward,

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<v Speaker 2>kept drawing us towards something none of us could see,

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<v Speaker 2>but all of us could feel. And then, on the

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<v Speaker 2>last day of September, we found it. The canyon appeared

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<v Speaker 2>out of nowhere, a crack in the mountain so well

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<v Speaker 2>hidden that we would never have discovered it without the

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<v Speaker 2>creature's guidance. The entrance was narrow, barely wide enough for

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<v Speaker 2>a horse to pass, with walls that rose sheer on

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<v Speaker 2>either side for hundreds of feet, and stay tuned for

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<v Speaker 2>more sasquatch out to see.

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<v Speaker 1>We'll be right back.

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<v Speaker 2>After these messages, the creatures were waiting at the entrance,

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<v Speaker 2>dozens of them, more than we'd ever seen in one place.

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<v Speaker 2>The scarred elder stood at the front of the group.

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<v Speaker 2>His ancient eyes met mine, and something passed between us,

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<v Speaker 2>not communication, not understanding, but acknowledgment, a recognition that we

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<v Speaker 2>had come to the end of our journey, or perhaps

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<v Speaker 2>the beginning. He turned and walked into the canyon. We followed.

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<v Speaker 2>The passage took hours, the walls pressed close on either side,

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<v Speaker 2>the sky reduced to a narrow strip of blue far above.

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<v Speaker 2>The horses balked at first, their instinct screaming danger, but

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<v Speaker 2>we coaxed them through. The creatures walked ahead and behind,

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<v Speaker 2>their presence both comforting and terrified. And then the canyon

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00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:04.799
<v Speaker 2>opened up. What I saw on the other side stopped

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<v Speaker 2>me in my tracks, stopped all of us, eight men

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<v Speaker 2>and seven horses, frozen at the edge of something impossible,

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00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:17.000
<v Speaker 2>A valley, vast and green, stretching for miles between mountain

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<v Speaker 2>walls that rose like the sides of a bowl. A

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00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:24.039
<v Speaker 2>river ran through the center, glinting silver in the afternoon light.

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<v Speaker 2>Forest covered the lower slopes, ancient forest, older than anything

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<v Speaker 2>we'd seen before, giving way to meadows and clearings that

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00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:38.200
<v Speaker 2>dotted the valley floor. And everywhere, everywhere there were creatures,

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<v Speaker 2>hundreds of them, maybe thousands, moving through the forest, gathered

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<v Speaker 2>by the river, visible on the slopes above. More than

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<v Speaker 2>I had ever imagined could exist, more than I had

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<v Speaker 2>thought possible, A hidden population, a secret stronghold, a place

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<v Speaker 2>where these beings had lived and bred and survived for millennia,

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<v Speaker 2>known to the human world. My God, Thomas whispered beside me.

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<v Speaker 2>God has nothing to do with this place, I said,

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<v Speaker 2>and led my men into the valley. Marcus read the

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<v Speaker 2>words again, trying to picture what his ancestor had seen.

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00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:20.200
<v Speaker 2>A valley full of creatures, hundreds of them, thousands, a

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<v Speaker 2>hidden population that had survived in complete isolation from human

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<v Speaker 2>contact for longer than recorded history. It should have been impossible,

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<v Speaker 2>but the journals were authentic. Marcus's historians training confirmed that,

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<v Speaker 2>beyond doubt, whatever Elijah Stone had seen in that valley,

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<v Speaker 2>he had seen something real something that still existed two

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<v Speaker 2>hundred years later, something that his father had spent his

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<v Speaker 2>life watching for. Marcus looked out the window of the cabin.

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<v Speaker 2>The Blue Ridge Mountains rose in the darkness, their shapes

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00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:56.519
<v Speaker 2>barely visible against the night sky. Somewhere out there, not

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<v Speaker 2>as far away as the valley Elijah had found, but

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00:17:59.640 --> 00:18:03.359
<v Speaker 2>perhaps closer than Marcus had ever imagined. The creatures were

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00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:08.359
<v Speaker 2>still living, still watching, still waiting. He turned back to

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<v Speaker 2>the journal. October one through fifteenth, seventeen ninety nine. We

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<v Speaker 2>spent two weeks in the valley. Two weeks surrounded by

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<v Speaker 2>creatures whose existence challenged everything we thought we knew about

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00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:24.319
<v Speaker 2>the natural world. Two weeks observing behaviors that revealed both

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00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:28.440
<v Speaker 2>the remarkable intelligence and the fundamental alienness of these beings.

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<v Speaker 2>Two weeks that would haunt me, haunt all of us

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<v Speaker 2>for the rest of our lives. The valley was larger

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00:18:35.640 --> 00:18:39.079
<v Speaker 2>than it first appeared, perhaps twenty miles from end to end,

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00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:42.000
<v Speaker 2>with the mountains forming a natural barrier that kept it

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00:18:42.119 --> 00:18:45.880
<v Speaker 2>hidden from the outside world. A river ran through the center,

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00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:49.160
<v Speaker 2>fed by streams that tumbled down from the surrounding heights.

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00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:53.599
<v Speaker 2>The forest was ancient, beyond measure, trees so old that

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00:18:53.720 --> 00:18:57.240
<v Speaker 2>their bark had hardened into something like stone, their branches

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00:18:57.319 --> 00:19:00.640
<v Speaker 2>interweaving into a canopy that blocked out the sky and

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00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:05.119
<v Speaker 2>everywhere the creatures. I attempted a census during our first

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<v Speaker 2>days in the valley, but quickly abandoned the effort. There

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00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:11.920
<v Speaker 2>were too many of them, hundreds at minimum, perhaps over

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00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:18.440
<v Speaker 2>a thousand, family groups, solitary individuals, juveniles, elders, a complete

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<v Speaker 2>population living in complex social arrangements that defied easy categorization.

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<v Speaker 2>They weren't a society exactly, not in any sense that

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<v Speaker 2>humans would recognize. They had no visible government, no obvious

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<v Speaker 2>leaders beyond the oldest and most dominant individuals. They had

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00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:39.960
<v Speaker 2>no permanent structures, no evidence of agriculture or animal husbandry

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00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:43.680
<v Speaker 2>or any of the other hallmarks of civilization. But they

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00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:46.960
<v Speaker 2>weren't simply animals either. We observed them from a small

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00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:49.880
<v Speaker 2>clearing at the edge of the valley, never venturing far,

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00:19:50.599 --> 00:19:54.039
<v Speaker 2>always aware that we were guests or perhaps prisoners, in

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00:19:54.119 --> 00:19:57.880
<v Speaker 2>this place. The creatures tolerated our presence but made no

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00:19:58.039 --> 00:20:02.119
<v Speaker 2>effort to welcome us. They watched us constantly, hundreds of

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00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:05.599
<v Speaker 2>eyes tracking our every movement, but they didn't approach except

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00:20:05.640 --> 00:20:10.200
<v Speaker 2>on their own terms. Thomas documented everything with feverish intensity,

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00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:15.359
<v Speaker 2>filling notebook after notebook with observations. They communicate somehow, he

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00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:19.599
<v Speaker 2>told me on the third day. Not language, nothing like language.

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<v Speaker 2>But watch how they move together, how they coordinate without

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00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:27.519
<v Speaker 2>apparent signals. There's information passing between them. I just can't

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00:20:27.559 --> 00:20:31.079
<v Speaker 2>figure out how I had observed the same thing. The

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00:20:31.160 --> 00:20:34.480
<v Speaker 2>creatures seemed to operate as a collective consciousness at times,

317
00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:39.799
<v Speaker 2>dozens of individuals shifting positions simultaneously, responding to threats or

318
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:43.799
<v Speaker 2>opportunities before any human could have perceived them. But at

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00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:48.559
<v Speaker 2>other times they were clearly individuals with distinct personalities and behaviors.

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<v Speaker 2>Some were curious, approaching our camp with what seemed like

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00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:56.720
<v Speaker 2>genuine interest. Others were aggressive, displaying at us when we

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00:20:56.839 --> 00:21:00.599
<v Speaker 2>moved in directions they didn't approve of. Still others avoided

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00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:04.640
<v Speaker 2>us entirely, treating us as if we didn't exist. The

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<v Speaker 2>caves were perhaps the most remarkable discovery. Dozens of them

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00:21:08.759 --> 00:21:12.759
<v Speaker 2>opened into the surrounding cliffs, Their entrances scattered across the

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00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:16.960
<v Speaker 2>valley walls like holes in a massive face. The creatures

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00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:20.440
<v Speaker 2>used them for shelter. We saw individuals and groups entering

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00:21:20.519 --> 00:21:23.319
<v Speaker 2>and leaving at all hours, but they seemed to serve

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00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:27.480
<v Speaker 2>other purposes as well. Thomas spent a full day documenting

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00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:31.400
<v Speaker 2>the entrance to one particularly large cave, sketching the rock

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00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:35.000
<v Speaker 2>formations and the strange markings that covered the surrounding stone.

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00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:39.799
<v Speaker 2>These aren't natural, he said, showing me as drawings. They're

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00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:44.759
<v Speaker 2>carved deliberately. Look at the patterns. They repeat too consistently

334
00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:48.559
<v Speaker 2>to be random erosion. What do they mean? I have

335
00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:52.200
<v Speaker 2>no idea, but they've been here a long time, centuries

336
00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:56.880
<v Speaker 2>at least maybe longer. The creatures let us observe, They

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00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:01.559
<v Speaker 2>let us document. They even let us collect specimens, scat samples,

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00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:05.680
<v Speaker 2>hair caught on branches, stone tools they seemed to have discarded.

339
00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:09.880
<v Speaker 2>But there were boundaries we couldn't cross, territories within the

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00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.079
<v Speaker 2>valley that were forbidden to us. When we approached certain areas,

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00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:18.400
<v Speaker 2>the creatures would appear suddenly, silently and make it clear

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00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:21.599
<v Speaker 2>through posture and vocalization that we should go no further.

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<v Speaker 2>What were they protecting? We never found out. At night,

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<v Speaker 2>the creatures gathered, that's the only word for it. As

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00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:33.440
<v Speaker 2>darkness fell, they would congregate in clearings throughout the valley, dozens,

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00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:37.720
<v Speaker 2>sometimes hundreds of individuals in a single location. They would

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00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:43.640
<v Speaker 2>make sounds together, not speech, not song, something else. Low

348
00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:47.039
<v Speaker 2>rumbles that seemed to come from the earth itself, high

349
00:22:47.079 --> 00:22:50.759
<v Speaker 2>pitched cries that echoed off the valley walls, Rhythms that

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00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:54.559
<v Speaker 2>repeated and varied and repeated again, building into something that

351
00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:59.880
<v Speaker 2>was almost music, but wasn't quite. Bonding behaviors, Thomas speculated,

352
00:23:00.599 --> 00:23:04.960
<v Speaker 2>like howler monkeys or humpback whales, they're reinforcing group identity,

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00:23:05.559 --> 00:23:11.079
<v Speaker 2>establishing hierarchies, communicating membership in the population. Maybe he was right,

354
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<v Speaker 2>But watching those gatherings, feeling the sound waves vibrating in

355
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<v Speaker 2>my chest, hearing the harmonics that shouldn't be possible from

356
00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:22.400
<v Speaker 2>living throats, I couldn't help thinking that something more was happening,

357
00:23:23.079 --> 00:23:26.079
<v Speaker 2>something we couldn't understand because we lacked the senses to

358
00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:30.599
<v Speaker 2>perceive it. Will Harper watched the gatherings with particular intensity.

359
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<v Speaker 2>His madness seemed to quiet when the creature sang, if

360
00:23:34.599 --> 00:23:38.319
<v Speaker 2>singing was the right word. He would sit motionless for hours,

361
00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:41.960
<v Speaker 2>his sketch book forgotten, his eyes fixed on the dark

362
00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:45.680
<v Speaker 2>shapes moving in the firelight. They're praying, he said. Once

363
00:23:46.519 --> 00:23:49.200
<v Speaker 2>it was the first coherent sentence he'd spoken in weeks,

364
00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:53.519
<v Speaker 2>Praying to what, to everything, to the forest and the

365
00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:57.480
<v Speaker 2>mountains in the sky, to themselves, to the world that

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00:23:57.799 --> 00:24:01.039
<v Speaker 2>was and the world that will be. He turned to

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00:24:01.079 --> 00:24:03.839
<v Speaker 2>look at me, and for just a moment, his eyes

368
00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:08.039
<v Speaker 2>were clear. They remember things we've forgotten, Captain, things we

369
00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:11.759
<v Speaker 2>never knew. They'd been praying since before humans learned to speak.

370
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<v Speaker 2>Then the clarity faded, and he was gone again, back

371
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<v Speaker 2>into whatever private world his broken mind had created. But

372
00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:23.519
<v Speaker 2>I couldn't forget what he'd said, couldn't shake the feeling

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<v Speaker 2>that he'd seen something true in his madness, something the

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00:24:27.079 --> 00:24:30.480
<v Speaker 2>rest of us were too sane to perceive. The creatures

375
00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:34.160
<v Speaker 2>were old, older than we could imagine, and whatever they

376
00:24:34.200 --> 00:24:37.319
<v Speaker 2>were doing in those nighttime gatherings, it was something they'd

377
00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:42.480
<v Speaker 2>been doing since before human civilization began, something sacred, something

378
00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:45.720
<v Speaker 2>we weren't meant to witness, but we witnessed it anyway.

379
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<v Speaker 2>Marcus closed his eyes. The narrative was building towards something.

380
00:24:51.680 --> 00:24:55.359
<v Speaker 2>He could feel it. The deaths on Rhe's violent end

381
00:24:55.880 --> 00:24:59.359
<v Speaker 2>and will Harper's still to come, the discoveries in the valley,

382
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:02.640
<v Speaker 2>the weight of knowledge that was changing the expedition members,

383
00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:07.000
<v Speaker 2>breaking them in ways they didn't yet understand. His ancestor

384
00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:09.960
<v Speaker 2>had seen things no human was meant to see, had

385
00:25:10.039 --> 00:25:13.039
<v Speaker 2>learned things that challenged everything he'd believed about the world,

386
00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:16.400
<v Speaker 2>and he'd spent the rest of his life guarding that knowledge,

387
00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:20.079
<v Speaker 2>protecting it, waiting for a day when humanity might be

388
00:25:20.200 --> 00:25:23.119
<v Speaker 2>ready to hear the truth. That day had never come,

389
00:25:23.960 --> 00:25:26.960
<v Speaker 2>or had it. Marcus opened his eyes and looked at

390
00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:30.359
<v Speaker 2>the pendant hanging around his neck, the stone pendant his

391
00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:34.000
<v Speaker 2>ancestor had worn, the one gray Owl had given him

392
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<v Speaker 2>more than two centuries ago. They have marked you now,

393
00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:41.359
<v Speaker 2>for good or ill you are marked? Was he marked?

394
00:25:42.039 --> 00:25:45.240
<v Speaker 2>Had the creatures watched his father all those years? Were

395
00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:48.279
<v Speaker 2>they watching him now? He walked to the window and

396
00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:51.440
<v Speaker 2>looked out at the darkness. The mountains were black shapes

397
00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:55.559
<v Speaker 2>against a black sky. Nothing moved, nothing made a sound,

398
00:25:56.400 --> 00:25:59.440
<v Speaker 2>but the feeling of being watched, that feeling he'd noticed

399
00:25:59.440 --> 00:26:03.240
<v Speaker 2>since arriving at the cabin, was stronger than ever. He

400
00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:05.240
<v Speaker 2>went back to the chair and picked up the journal.

401
00:26:05.960 --> 00:26:08.960
<v Speaker 2>Will Harper was about to die, and Marcus needed to

402
00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:13.519
<v Speaker 2>know how. October fifteenth through twenty fifth, seventeen ninety nine,

403
00:26:14.200 --> 00:26:16.559
<v Speaker 2>the caves held secrets we were never meant to find.

404
00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:19.839
<v Speaker 2>Thomas discovered the first evidence on our tenth day in

405
00:26:19.880 --> 00:26:23.240
<v Speaker 2>the valley. He had been examining one of the smaller caves.

406
00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:27.680
<v Speaker 2>The creatures tolerated this, watching from a distance, but not interfering.

407
00:26:28.279 --> 00:26:30.720
<v Speaker 2>When he emerged with a face the color of bone.

408
00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:34.680
<v Speaker 2>You need to see this, he said. His voice was steady,

409
00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:36.200
<v Speaker 2>but his hands were shaking.

410
00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:37.400
<v Speaker 1>All of you.

411
00:26:38.680 --> 00:26:41.519
<v Speaker 2>We followed him into the cave. The entrance was narrow,

412
00:26:41.960 --> 00:26:45.039
<v Speaker 2>requiring us to duck and turn sideways, but it opened

413
00:26:45.079 --> 00:26:48.920
<v Speaker 2>into a larger chamber, perhaps fifty feet deep. Light filtered

414
00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:52.480
<v Speaker 2>in from cracks in the rock above, illuminating walls covered

415
00:26:52.519 --> 00:26:55.880
<v Speaker 2>in the strange carvings we'd seen before. But that wasn't

416
00:26:55.920 --> 00:26:58.559
<v Speaker 2>what Thomas wanted to show us. At the back of

417
00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:01.519
<v Speaker 2>the chamber, in a depression in the stone floor, lay

418
00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:07.880
<v Speaker 2>a pile of bones, scattered broken old human bones. I

419
00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:11.559
<v Speaker 2>recognized them immediately, the shape of the skull, the curve

420
00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:15.319
<v Speaker 2>of the femur, the delicate bones of the hands. These

421
00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:18.240
<v Speaker 2>had been people once, men are women, who had lived

422
00:27:18.279 --> 00:27:21.759
<v Speaker 2>and breathed and loved. Now they were nothing but fragments

423
00:27:21.799 --> 00:27:25.839
<v Speaker 2>in a cave. There's more, Thomas said. He pointed to

424
00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:28.839
<v Speaker 2>the walls where something had been scratched into the stone,

425
00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:32.359
<v Speaker 2>lines and curves that might have been symbols, might have

426
00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:36.640
<v Speaker 2>been decoration, or might have been something else entirely. What

427
00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:41.119
<v Speaker 2>is this, Jim asked, His voice was rough, dangerous. Since

428
00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:44.680
<v Speaker 2>Henri's death, something dark had been growing in him, something

429
00:27:44.759 --> 00:27:49.200
<v Speaker 2>that made me watch him carefully. A burial sight, Solomon suggested,

430
00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:53.400
<v Speaker 2>some kind of grave. Thomas shook his head. Look at

431
00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:57.359
<v Speaker 2>the bones, really look at them. I did, and I

432
00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:02.000
<v Speaker 2>saw what Thomas had already seen. Teeth on the larger bones,

433
00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:06.599
<v Speaker 2>near the joints, evidence of gnawing, evidence of breaking form marrow.

434
00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:11.119
<v Speaker 2>These people hadn't been buried here, they'd been eaten. The

435
00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:15.440
<v Speaker 2>cave felt smaller suddenly, the walls pressing in the weight

436
00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:18.720
<v Speaker 2>of the mountain above, crushing down. I thought about the

437
00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:24.240
<v Speaker 2>Shawnee stories, the Wyandot warnings, the generations of conflict, the

438
00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:27.440
<v Speaker 2>warriors who went into the mountains and never returned. This

439
00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:30.240
<v Speaker 2>was where they had ended up. This was where their

440
00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:34.559
<v Speaker 2>lives had ended. The native stories weren't exaggeration, I said,

441
00:28:35.160 --> 00:28:38.839
<v Speaker 2>my voice sounding strange in the enclosed space. They were truth.

442
00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:42.599
<v Speaker 2>The creatures had been eating humans for for how long?

443
00:28:43.720 --> 00:28:48.240
<v Speaker 2>Thomas was already examining the bones, his scientific instincts overriding

444
00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:52.519
<v Speaker 2>his horror. These are old, very old. The ones at

445
00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:55.799
<v Speaker 2>the bottom of the pile are fossilized that takes centuries,

446
00:28:56.319 --> 00:29:01.279
<v Speaker 2>perhaps millennia, But the ones on top caused lifting a

447
00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:05.079
<v Speaker 2>fragment that still bore traces of dried tissue. These could

448
00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:09.960
<v Speaker 2>be recent, within the last decade. The warriors, Sam said quietly,

449
00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:15.079
<v Speaker 2>the ones the Wyandot lost, the children stolen in the night. Yes,

450
00:29:16.039 --> 00:29:19.880
<v Speaker 2>we found more bones in other caves, different ages, different

451
00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:25.200
<v Speaker 2>states of preservation, evidence of conflict and consumption spanning centuries.

452
00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:28.599
<v Speaker 2>The wars the natives had described were written here in

453
00:29:28.680 --> 00:29:32.079
<v Speaker 2>fragments of bone and the scratches on cave walls. But

454
00:29:32.200 --> 00:29:36.519
<v Speaker 2>we also found something else, tools, Not the crude stone

455
00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:41.359
<v Speaker 2>implements we'd seen. The creatures use, something finer, more sophisticated

456
00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:45.079
<v Speaker 2>knives with edges as sharp as anything a European smithy

457
00:29:45.119 --> 00:29:49.039
<v Speaker 2>could produce. Scrapers and awls and things we couldn't identify,

458
00:29:49.799 --> 00:29:52.400
<v Speaker 2>all made from stone, but made with a skill that

459
00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:55.279
<v Speaker 2>seemed impossible for beings who showed no other signs of

460
00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:59.799
<v Speaker 2>material culture, and stay tuned for more sasquatch Otty se

461
00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:06.720
<v Speaker 2>to be right back after these messages. They're not making

462
00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:11.759
<v Speaker 2>these now, Thomas observed, examining a particularly fine blade. I

463
00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:14.319
<v Speaker 2>haven't seen any evidence of tool making in the valley.

464
00:30:14.920 --> 00:30:19.920
<v Speaker 2>These must be artifacts from an earlier period, an earlier

465
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:23.160
<v Speaker 2>period of what. I don't know. Maybe they were more

466
00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:26.799
<v Speaker 2>advanced once, maybe they had a culture. Maybe they lost

467
00:30:26.839 --> 00:30:29.640
<v Speaker 2>it somehow. He set down the blade and looked at

468
00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:33.319
<v Speaker 2>me with haunted eyes. Or maybe they're saving it, hiding

469
00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:36.759
<v Speaker 2>their capabilities, showing us only what they want us to see.

470
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:41.680
<v Speaker 2>That thought stayed with me. The creatures we'd observed seemed intelligent,

471
00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:47.160
<v Speaker 2>but primitive. No language, no fire, no art or ceremony.

472
00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:52.119
<v Speaker 2>But the tools suggested something else, something more. What if

473
00:30:52.160 --> 00:30:55.720
<v Speaker 2>they were smarter than they appeared. What if everything we'd seen,

474
00:30:56.319 --> 00:31:00.400
<v Speaker 2>the behaviors, the patterns, the apparent simplicity was a perform mormans,

475
00:31:01.160 --> 00:31:04.680
<v Speaker 2>a mask worn to hide their true nature. What if

476
00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:08.559
<v Speaker 2>they knew exactly what they were doing with us? Solomon

477
00:31:08.599 --> 00:31:11.440
<v Speaker 2>provided perspective that evening, as we sat around our small

478
00:31:11.559 --> 00:31:15.720
<v Speaker 2>fire processing what we'd learned. My grandmother used to tell

479
00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:19.160
<v Speaker 2>me about the forest people. He said quietly. His hands

480
00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:21.839
<v Speaker 2>were busy with a new carving, a figure that looked

481
00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:25.559
<v Speaker 2>almost human, but not quite. She said, they were kind,

482
00:31:25.720 --> 00:31:31.119
<v Speaker 2>sometimes cruel, sometimes just like people, just like anything that lives.

483
00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:35.480
<v Speaker 2>They eat human Solomon. They've been eating humans for centuries,

484
00:31:36.319 --> 00:31:39.240
<v Speaker 2>and we eat animals. We kill each other in wars.

485
00:31:39.880 --> 00:31:42.759
<v Speaker 2>We take what we want and destroy what we can't use.

486
00:31:43.640 --> 00:31:46.599
<v Speaker 2>He looked up from his carving, his dark eyes steady.

487
00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:50.839
<v Speaker 2>You can't expect mercy from nature, Captain. Nature doesn't know

488
00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:54.599
<v Speaker 2>what mercy means. Then what are we doing here? What's

489
00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:58.359
<v Speaker 2>the point of any of this? Understanding that's all anyone

490
00:31:58.440 --> 00:32:03.000
<v Speaker 2>can do. Understand it's real, even when it's terrible, especially

491
00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:06.640
<v Speaker 2>when it's terrible. He held up his carving, a creature

492
00:32:06.680 --> 00:32:10.079
<v Speaker 2>standing upright, arms raised, as if in greeting or threat.

493
00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:14.119
<v Speaker 2>My grandmother understood. That's why she told me the stories,

494
00:32:14.680 --> 00:32:18.440
<v Speaker 2>not to frighten me, to prepare me. Prepare you for what?

495
00:32:19.440 --> 00:32:23.200
<v Speaker 2>For this? He gestured at the valley around us, at

496
00:32:23.240 --> 00:32:26.240
<v Speaker 2>the creature's visible on the ridge lines, at the caves

497
00:32:26.279 --> 00:32:29.839
<v Speaker 2>that held their terrible secrets, For knowing that the world

498
00:32:29.960 --> 00:32:32.720
<v Speaker 2>is bigger and stranger and more dangerous than we want

499
00:32:32.759 --> 00:32:37.000
<v Speaker 2>to believe, and for surviving that knowledge. I looked at

500
00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:40.119
<v Speaker 2>the carving in his hands. The creature he'd rendered looked

501
00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:44.640
<v Speaker 2>almost peaceful, almost gentle. But there was something in the posture,

502
00:32:45.160 --> 00:32:50.720
<v Speaker 2>something in the proportions, that suggested power, violence, the capacity

503
00:32:50.799 --> 00:32:55.160
<v Speaker 2>for terrible things, just like the real creatures, just like us.

504
00:32:56.680 --> 00:33:00.359
<v Speaker 2>Marcus stared at the page. The creatures ate humans, not

505
00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:04.359
<v Speaker 2>just killed them, not just defended their territory, ate them

506
00:33:04.920 --> 00:33:09.519
<v Speaker 2>for centuries, for millennia. He thought about his ancestors standing

507
00:33:09.559 --> 00:33:13.240
<v Speaker 2>in that cave, looking at the scattered bones, understanding for

508
00:33:13.319 --> 00:33:16.000
<v Speaker 2>the first time the true nature of what he'd been pursuing.

509
00:33:16.920 --> 00:33:20.559
<v Speaker 2>The creatures weren't noble savages or misunderstood animals or anything

510
00:33:20.599 --> 00:33:24.079
<v Speaker 2>else the romantic imagination might want them to be. They

511
00:33:24.119 --> 00:33:27.480
<v Speaker 2>were apex predators. They had been preying on humans since

512
00:33:27.559 --> 00:33:31.880
<v Speaker 2>before recorded history, and they were still out there, still watching,

513
00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:36.359
<v Speaker 2>still hungry. Marcus looked at the window, at the darkness

514
00:33:36.440 --> 00:33:40.920
<v Speaker 2>beyond the mountains rose in the distance, black shapes against

515
00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:44.440
<v Speaker 2>a black sky. How many creatures lived in those peaks?

516
00:33:45.200 --> 00:33:48.359
<v Speaker 2>How many humans had disappeared into those forests over the years,

517
00:33:48.960 --> 00:33:52.119
<v Speaker 2>written off as accidents or getting lost or simple bad luck.

518
00:33:52.960 --> 00:33:55.720
<v Speaker 2>He didn't want to know, but he kept reading anyway.

519
00:33:56.839 --> 00:34:01.279
<v Speaker 2>October twenty fifth through November one, seventeen ninety one, Will

520
00:34:01.319 --> 00:34:04.200
<v Speaker 2>Harper died on the night of October twenty ninth. I

521
00:34:04.279 --> 00:34:07.880
<v Speaker 2>will record the circumstances as accurately as I can, though

522
00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:11.920
<v Speaker 2>even now, years later, I am uncertain what truly happened.

523
00:34:12.800 --> 00:34:17.039
<v Speaker 2>What I know is fragmentary, incomplete, filtered through the lens

524
00:34:17.119 --> 00:34:20.880
<v Speaker 2>of a grief I still haven't fully processed. Will's mental

525
00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:23.960
<v Speaker 2>state had continued to deteriorate in the days following our

526
00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:28.039
<v Speaker 2>discovery of the bones. He barely ate, He barely slept.

527
00:34:28.920 --> 00:34:31.639
<v Speaker 2>His sketch book was never out of his hands, pages

528
00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:34.400
<v Speaker 2>filling with images that none of us could bear to examine.

529
00:34:35.159 --> 00:34:38.519
<v Speaker 2>When he spoke at all, it was in fragments, broken

530
00:34:38.599 --> 00:34:43.079
<v Speaker 2>sentences about seeing, about understanding, about the creatures, showing him

531
00:34:43.159 --> 00:34:47.400
<v Speaker 2>truths we couldn't perceive. He's lost, Thomas told me privately

532
00:34:47.480 --> 00:34:50.079
<v Speaker 2>on the morning of the twenty ninth. His mind has

533
00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:53.239
<v Speaker 2>retreated somewhere we can't follow. Even if we got him

534
00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:56.519
<v Speaker 2>home tomorrow, I don't think he'd ever recover. Is he

535
00:34:56.679 --> 00:35:02.639
<v Speaker 2>dangerous to himself, certainly to us? Thomas hesitated. I don't

536
00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:05.280
<v Speaker 2>think so, but I can't be sure of anything anymore.

537
00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:09.400
<v Speaker 2>I made a decision that I've regretted ever since. We

538
00:35:09.519 --> 00:35:13.840
<v Speaker 2>were shorthanded, exhausted, stretched thin by the demands of survival

539
00:35:13.920 --> 00:35:18.159
<v Speaker 2>in this hostile place. I assigned Will tonight watch the

540
00:35:18.239 --> 00:35:21.840
<v Speaker 2>easiest duty, the one that required the least active involvement.

541
00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:25.400
<v Speaker 2>Just sit by the fire and wake someone if anything happened.

542
00:35:26.079 --> 00:35:28.760
<v Speaker 2>I should have known better, I should have seen the signs,

543
00:35:29.440 --> 00:35:31.679
<v Speaker 2>but I was tired and worried and focused on one

544
00:35:31.719 --> 00:35:35.039
<v Speaker 2>hundred other things. I let Will Harper take the watch,

545
00:35:35.599 --> 00:35:37.840
<v Speaker 2>and sometime during the night, while the rest of us

546
00:35:37.880 --> 00:35:41.199
<v Speaker 2>slept the deep sleep of exhaustion, Will Harper walked into

547
00:35:41.280 --> 00:35:45.159
<v Speaker 2>the darkness and never came back. We discovered his absence

548
00:35:45.199 --> 00:35:48.440
<v Speaker 2>at dawn. His sketch book lay open on his bedroll,

549
00:35:48.960 --> 00:35:52.480
<v Speaker 2>the pages covered with a single word, repeated over and over,

550
00:35:53.360 --> 00:35:58.280
<v Speaker 2>see filling every available space, written so hard that the

551
00:35:58.320 --> 00:36:02.199
<v Speaker 2>pencil had torn through the paper. And find him, I ordered.

552
00:36:02.840 --> 00:36:03.000
<v Speaker 1>Now.

553
00:36:04.159 --> 00:36:07.599
<v Speaker 2>We spread out, searching in every direction, calling his name

554
00:36:07.679 --> 00:36:10.480
<v Speaker 2>into a morning fog that muffled sound and turned the

555
00:36:10.519 --> 00:36:14.559
<v Speaker 2>forest into a maze of gray shapes. The creatures watched us.

556
00:36:15.079 --> 00:36:19.039
<v Speaker 2>They were always watching but they didn't interfere, didn't help,

557
00:36:19.760 --> 00:36:22.719
<v Speaker 2>didn't try to stop what we would find. And then

558
00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:27.559
<v Speaker 2>Zeke found him. My nephew's scream, the second terrible scream

559
00:36:27.599 --> 00:36:30.199
<v Speaker 2>I'd heard in these mountains, brought us running to a

560
00:36:30.239 --> 00:36:33.559
<v Speaker 2>clearing in the densest part of the valley forest, a

561
00:36:33.639 --> 00:36:36.320
<v Speaker 2>place where the trees grew so close together that the

562
00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:39.639
<v Speaker 2>canopy formed a nearly solid ceiling, where the light was

563
00:36:39.719 --> 00:36:43.320
<v Speaker 2>dim even at midday. Will Harper lay on his back

564
00:36:43.360 --> 00:36:46.519
<v Speaker 2>in the center of the clearing. He was surrounded by creatures,

565
00:36:47.079 --> 00:36:50.159
<v Speaker 2>a circle of them, perhaps a dozen, standing at the

566
00:36:50.280 --> 00:36:52.639
<v Speaker 2>edge of the open space and looking down at his body.

567
00:36:53.400 --> 00:37:00.400
<v Speaker 2>Not aggressive, not curious, just present, bearing witness. I pushed

568
00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:03.519
<v Speaker 2>through them. They parted to let me pass, and knelt

569
00:37:03.559 --> 00:37:06.360
<v Speaker 2>beside the man I had led to his death. He

570
00:37:06.480 --> 00:37:10.000
<v Speaker 2>was clearly dead. His eyes were open, staring at the

571
00:37:10.079 --> 00:37:14.239
<v Speaker 2>canopy above, seeing nothing. His face was frozen in an

572
00:37:14.280 --> 00:37:18.840
<v Speaker 2>expression I couldn't interpret, not terror exactly, though terror was

573
00:37:18.920 --> 00:37:24.760
<v Speaker 2>part of it. Something else, wonder perhaps, or revelation, the

574
00:37:24.840 --> 00:37:26.800
<v Speaker 2>look of a man who had finally seen what he'd

575
00:37:26.840 --> 00:37:31.119
<v Speaker 2>been seeking. There were no visible wounds, no signs of violence.

576
00:37:31.800 --> 00:37:37.599
<v Speaker 2>His body was intact, his clothes undamaged. What happened, Jim demanded.

577
00:37:38.280 --> 00:37:40.719
<v Speaker 2>He had his rifle raised, though there was nothing to

578
00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:44.199
<v Speaker 2>shoot at. What did they do to him? I don't

579
00:37:44.239 --> 00:37:47.960
<v Speaker 2>think they did anything, Thomas said quietly. He had joined

580
00:37:47.960 --> 00:37:52.280
<v Speaker 2>me beside Will's body, his physician's hands automatically checking for pulse,

581
00:37:52.760 --> 00:37:58.039
<v Speaker 2>for breath, for any sign of life. His heart simply stopped,

582
00:37:58.760 --> 00:38:01.599
<v Speaker 2>as if something overwhelmed it, or as if he chose

583
00:38:01.639 --> 00:38:05.639
<v Speaker 2>to let go chose. I don't know how else to

584
00:38:05.760 --> 00:38:09.480
<v Speaker 2>explain it. Thomas sat back on his heels, his face

585
00:38:09.599 --> 00:38:13.840
<v Speaker 2>gray with exhaustion and grief. Look at his expression. That's

586
00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:16.320
<v Speaker 2>not the face of a man who was murdered. That's

587
00:38:16.360 --> 00:38:20.440
<v Speaker 2>the face of someone who saw something, something profound, something

588
00:38:20.519 --> 00:38:23.679
<v Speaker 2>that broke whatever connection his mind still had to his body.

589
00:38:24.719 --> 00:38:28.159
<v Speaker 2>I looked at Will's face. Thomas was right. There was

590
00:38:28.239 --> 00:38:33.760
<v Speaker 2>no terror in that frozen expression, no pain, just transcendence,

591
00:38:34.559 --> 00:38:36.400
<v Speaker 2>the look of a man who had finally found what

592
00:38:36.480 --> 00:38:39.199
<v Speaker 2>he was looking for, even if what he found had

593
00:38:39.280 --> 00:38:43.280
<v Speaker 2>killed him. The creatures dispersed slowly as we examined the body.

594
00:38:44.039 --> 00:38:46.679
<v Speaker 2>One by one, they turned and walked back into the forest,

595
00:38:47.320 --> 00:38:50.280
<v Speaker 2>their great shapes disappearing into the fog. Until only the

596
00:38:50.360 --> 00:38:54.000
<v Speaker 2>scarred elder remained. He stood at the edge of the clearing,

597
00:38:54.400 --> 00:38:56.599
<v Speaker 2>watching us with those ancient patient eyes.

598
00:38:57.639 --> 00:38:58.199
<v Speaker 1>Did you do this?

599
00:38:58.400 --> 00:39:01.320
<v Speaker 2>I asked him. I knew he couldn't understand my words,

600
00:39:01.760 --> 00:39:04.519
<v Speaker 2>but I needed to say them anyway. Did you kill

601
00:39:04.599 --> 00:39:07.719
<v Speaker 2>him or did you just let him die? The creature

602
00:39:07.800 --> 00:39:12.480
<v Speaker 2>was silent, of course they were always silent, But something

603
00:39:12.519 --> 00:39:16.039
<v Speaker 2>in its posture shifted, something that might have been acknowledgment

604
00:39:16.639 --> 00:39:20.000
<v Speaker 2>or regret, or simply acceptance of an outcome it had

605
00:39:20.039 --> 00:39:23.960
<v Speaker 2>known was coming. This is what happened sometimes, This is

606
00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:27.079
<v Speaker 2>how it ends for some. Then it turned and walked

607
00:39:27.079 --> 00:39:29.920
<v Speaker 2>into the forest, and we were alone with our dead.

608
00:39:30.840 --> 00:39:33.079
<v Speaker 2>We buried will Harper in the clearing where he died.

609
00:39:33.960 --> 00:39:37.400
<v Speaker 2>It was the first proper burial we'd performed on Ree

610
00:39:37.480 --> 00:39:40.000
<v Speaker 2>had left us nothing to bury, and we took our

611
00:39:40.079 --> 00:39:43.840
<v Speaker 2>time with it. Dug a deep grave, wrapped his body

612
00:39:43.920 --> 00:39:47.159
<v Speaker 2>in blankets, said words that felt inadequate, but where all

613
00:39:47.280 --> 00:39:50.400
<v Speaker 2>we had his sketchbook went into the grave with him.

614
00:39:51.039 --> 00:39:53.039
<v Speaker 2>None of us wanted to carry those images back to

615
00:39:53.159 --> 00:39:56.920
<v Speaker 2>the civilized world. Let them stay here in this place

616
00:39:57.000 --> 00:40:00.800
<v Speaker 2>that had consumed him, Let them be forgotten. He saw

617
00:40:00.920 --> 00:40:03.480
<v Speaker 2>too much Thomas said, as we filled in the grave.

618
00:40:04.239 --> 00:40:07.159
<v Speaker 2>Some things aren't meant to be seen. Then what are

619
00:40:07.199 --> 00:40:10.559
<v Speaker 2>we doing here? We've seen the same things. Why hasn't

620
00:40:10.599 --> 00:40:15.440
<v Speaker 2>it killed us? Maybe it will eventually. Thomas's voice was

621
00:40:15.519 --> 00:40:18.679
<v Speaker 2>barely audible. Maybe that's what we carry home with us,

622
00:40:19.360 --> 00:40:23.920
<v Speaker 2>the thing that kills us, just slower, one piece at

623
00:40:23.960 --> 00:40:27.599
<v Speaker 2>a time. I wanted to argue, wanted to tell him

624
00:40:27.599 --> 00:40:30.960
<v Speaker 2>he was wrong, that we would survive this, that the

625
00:40:31.039 --> 00:40:34.559
<v Speaker 2>knowledge we carried would be worth all the sacrifice. But

626
00:40:34.719 --> 00:40:38.000
<v Speaker 2>standing over will Harper's grave, I couldn't find the words.

627
00:40:38.760 --> 00:40:42.159
<v Speaker 2>Two men dead. Eight remained when we entered this valley.

628
00:40:42.840 --> 00:40:45.559
<v Speaker 2>Seven would leave it? How many would make it home?

629
00:40:47.679 --> 00:40:49.960
<v Speaker 2>Marcus closed the journal and let his head fall back

630
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.280
<v Speaker 2>against the chair. Will Harper, the artist, the one who

631
00:40:54.360 --> 00:40:58.320
<v Speaker 2>saw things others couldn't see, dead in a clearing, surrounded

632
00:40:58.320 --> 00:41:05.079
<v Speaker 2>by creatures, his heart simply stopped. Overwhelmed by understanding, killed

633
00:41:05.159 --> 00:41:09.639
<v Speaker 2>by revelation. Marcus thought about his father, the long walks

634
00:41:09.679 --> 00:41:14.239
<v Speaker 2>in the mountains, the strange silences, the expression he sometimes

635
00:41:14.320 --> 00:41:17.480
<v Speaker 2>wore when he stared at the forest, the expression Marcus

636
00:41:17.559 --> 00:41:21.039
<v Speaker 2>had never been able to name. Had his father seen something,

637
00:41:21.719 --> 00:41:24.239
<v Speaker 2>had the creatures shown him what they'd shown Will Harper

638
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:28.199
<v Speaker 2>had it been killing him slowly, one piece at a time.

639
00:41:29.119 --> 00:41:32.239
<v Speaker 2>Marcus looked at the remaining journals. There was more to come,

640
00:41:32.840 --> 00:41:37.599
<v Speaker 2>the expedition's return, the oath of secrecy, Elijah's final years

641
00:41:37.679 --> 00:41:40.199
<v Speaker 2>guarding the knowledge that had cost so much to obtain,

642
00:41:41.159 --> 00:41:44.800
<v Speaker 2>Marcus's own role in this story that stretched across two centuries.

643
00:41:45.519 --> 00:41:47.199
<v Speaker 2>He picked up the journal and kept reading.

644
00:41:48.719 --> 00:41:52.519
<v Speaker 1>They say you don't have to go home, but you

645
00:41:52.800 --> 00:42:27.519
<v Speaker 1>can stay. Oh world happens steps chart, this child, that chart.

646
00:42:27.800 --> 00:42:33.199
<v Speaker 1>Everything came. Riding back, ride back, joy for me and

647
00:42:33.440 --> 00:42:38.800
<v Speaker 1>the enjoy. Stay right there, you come in right away.

648
00:42:46.880 --> 00:43:42.400
<v Speaker 1>Still sat still, don't don't don't abouts still stills, us

649
00:43:43.639 --> 00:43:50.000
<v Speaker 1>states things steam Uss