1 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:08,519 Speaker 1: Hello, I'm welcomed stories all the time. Glad you are here. 2 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,039 Let's get into it. The guy who was assigned to 3 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:14,000 be my partner will call him Dave. He was a 4 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:15,839 lot older than I was, but he was the most 5 00:00:15,839 --> 00:00:17,839 patient guy I had ever met, and I'll always be 6 00:00:17,879 --> 00:00:20,559 thankful for that. Anyway, Dave and I was sent to 7 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:22,960 check out a small town a couple hours away for 8 00:00:23,039 --> 00:00:25,079 your safety and leaving out the name, but we were 9 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:28,280 apparently in regular contact with them. They were understaffed, so 10 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:29,920 we lend a hand here and there until they went 11 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,880 dark for over two days. No matter who you contacted 12 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:35,320 in that town, the cops, the doctors, the local garage, 13 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:37,240 you wouldn't get an answer. So we were obliged to 14 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:39,920 find out why. We set off after handling half a 15 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:42,600 shift of DUI and domestic violent calls, and were bound 16 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,079 to get there by nightfall. All the way, Dave's got 17 00:00:45,119 --> 00:00:47,039 a look in his eyes like he'd rather be bowling again, 18 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:50,039 winning that state championship or whatever he said he'd done. 19 00:00:50,439 --> 00:00:52,920 On Dave's requests, we had picked up an embarrassing amount 20 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:54,759 of fast food and stopped to stuff our mouthful of 21 00:00:54,799 --> 00:00:57,799 those mini burgers until the sickness set in road fuel, 22 00:00:57,880 --> 00:00:59,960 Dave called it, and by the time it was dark, 23 00:01:00,039 --> 00:01:01,840 we caught sight of a sign jutting out of a bush, 24 00:01:02,039 --> 00:01:05,239 welcoming us to the next beautiful town one mile. So 25 00:01:05,599 --> 00:01:08,359 I've known you what less than a week now, I ask, 26 00:01:08,599 --> 00:01:10,959 keeping my eyes on the road. Why don't you give 27 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,079 me shit like everybody else? Dave sat in silence for 28 00:01:14,079 --> 00:01:17,319 a moment, cause I remember, he said, tapping himself on 29 00:01:17,359 --> 00:01:19,719 the head. First time I showed up there, I was 30 00:01:19,719 --> 00:01:22,239 shaking in my boots fret out the academy, just like you. 31 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:24,359 I had no fucking clue what I was doing. But 32 00:01:24,439 --> 00:01:26,560 you'll learn on the job, and sooner or later you're good. 33 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:28,560 Just smile more, writing up a bit, even if it's 34 00:01:28,599 --> 00:01:30,799 just for show, and you'll be fine. Oh and suck up, 35 00:01:30,799 --> 00:01:33,239 suck up a lot, he chuckle to himself, pausing a 36 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:35,599 moment before continuing. He may be an asshole, but the 37 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:37,640 chief likes to think he sees something and people me 38 00:01:37,799 --> 00:01:39,879 I personally think it's my charm and good looks. How 39 00:01:39,879 --> 00:01:42,760 about you, I don't know, I said, fighting back a smile. Hey, 40 00:01:43,239 --> 00:01:44,920 you don't have to answer this, but why are you 41 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:47,319 always so quiet? What do you mean, I asked, I 42 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:50,079 mean you look like somebody shot your dog or something like. 43 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:51,920 If it's just the way you are, then that's cool. 44 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:54,760 But if it's something else, it's nothing, I said, hesitating. 45 00:01:54,799 --> 00:01:57,040 I figured he'd find out eventually, one way or another. 46 00:01:57,120 --> 00:01:59,040 I just hit next in a while back, I had 47 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:01,040 a sister. I was walking her home after her dance 48 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:03,159 classes and we got marked. When he found out we 49 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:05,200 had no money. This guy stabbed over with a switch 50 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:07,079 and ran off. She died in the ambulance. I keep 51 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,199 telling myself this nothing I could have done, but I 52 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:11,000 know there was I could have stopped it. I think 53 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,280 there was a saying that covers this, said Dave, Discretion 54 00:02:13,439 --> 00:02:15,960 is the better part of valor. Right. Maybe you could 55 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,039 have tried, and maybe you might have even succeeded, But 56 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:19,680 you also could have taken a knife to the gut 57 00:02:19,719 --> 00:02:21,800 that It'd be honorable, sure, but you'd also be dead. 58 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:23,639 How do you think your sister would feel about that? 59 00:02:23,719 --> 00:02:25,680 I'm sure you did the best you could. Bravery ain't 60 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:27,719 all it's cracked up to be, I thought to myself, 61 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:30,319 watching the shadowy forest speed by only the side of us. 62 00:02:30,319 --> 00:02:33,039 But in any case, I'm sorry it happened. Nobody deserves 63 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:35,000 to go through that. I sped up, eager to get 64 00:02:35,039 --> 00:02:36,639 it over with. Dave nudge me with his elbow and 65 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:38,680 pointed at the road ahead. Slowing down, I saw a 66 00:02:38,719 --> 00:02:40,759 crook in the asphalt, lit by the headlights, splitting into 67 00:02:40,759 --> 00:02:42,639 a deep fissure that trailed off into the darkenss. I 68 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:44,919 heard Dave swear under his breath, and I followed his 69 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,280 gaze to her path of trees not flat against the ground, 70 00:02:47,319 --> 00:02:49,479 splitting through the thick forest at our side. Looking down 71 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:51,879 the broken trail, the lights of the town radiated faintly 72 00:02:51,879 --> 00:02:54,199 in the distance. What the hell happened here, I asked, 73 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:56,199 Looks like a bomb went off. I killed the engine 74 00:02:56,199 --> 00:02:58,479 and stepped out of the car. Dave followed close behind. 75 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:00,439 Might have been clearing it for something, he said. I 76 00:03:00,439 --> 00:03:02,520 could see the doubt on his face. Small tans got 77 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,000 expand the night was still and silent, pitch black beyond 78 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,159 the steady glow of the moonlight light that cast itself 79 00:03:07,199 --> 00:03:09,000 upon the splinters. Dave walked ahead to get a better 80 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:10,759 look at the damage. Looks like we're going on for 81 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:13,759 he said. Car can't go any further. Roads two beat 82 00:03:13,879 --> 00:03:16,800 up stepping forward, my eyes trees across the bed of 83 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,159 splinters that cracked beneath our boots. Those trees were never 84 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:21,199 not done or even cut. There was too much debris. 85 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:23,240 It was almost likely exploded. There was a kind of 86 00:03:23,319 --> 00:03:25,199 electricity in the air. The needled at my skin and 87 00:03:25,199 --> 00:03:27,080 set my nerves on edge. The closer we got to 88 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:29,360 the tan, like I was sucking on a live battery. 89 00:03:29,439 --> 00:03:31,240 Every time I looked the head of us, there was 90 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:33,159 always this fear, and I got that I knew something 91 00:03:33,199 --> 00:03:34,800 was wrong, not just your run of the mill, I 92 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:36,919 know something bad's about to happen, kind of thing like 93 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:39,240 you're anticipating something. I mean that feeling you get when 94 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:41,039 you know something's wrong. You feel in a version that 95 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:43,280 you can't quite explain, a sickness, because you know this 96 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:45,960 thing shouldn't be happening, but it is. Reaching the first street, 97 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,280 we stopped, scanning the building's shops and houses, all with 98 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:51,280 their doors wide open in the night, with no soul 99 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:53,280 to be seen. From myles, there was an eerie silence 100 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:55,400 that lingered in the air, breaking only for the tap 101 00:03:55,439 --> 00:03:57,319 of our boots against the concrete. Even the wind had 102 00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,360 left the place. Looking back at my partner. I could 103 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:02,080 see it since Sensovenese creep across his expression. We didn't 104 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:04,280 say a word because nobody had to. I felt my 105 00:04:04,319 --> 00:04:06,479 hand drawing closer to my ulster. The further we went, 106 00:04:06,759 --> 00:04:09,120 my heartbeat thumping in the oppressive silence, as the shadows 107 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:11,080 started to play trucks on my eyes. We figured we 108 00:04:11,199 --> 00:04:13,400 try and find the local station, but in truth I 109 00:04:13,479 --> 00:04:15,759 wasn't counting un much. The streets were darkened and mockoming 110 00:04:15,759 --> 00:04:17,920 in every turn, still barren and devoid of even a 111 00:04:17,959 --> 00:04:20,800 rat or an insect scurian behind an allyway dumpster, no birds, 112 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,000 no crickets, nothing. Those hung open on homes and stores, 113 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:26,560 lawn since abandoned, but nothing had been cleared out. Like 114 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:28,319 every soul and ton just got up and left as 115 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:30,720 quick as they could. Everybody just split. But for the 116 00:04:30,759 --> 00:04:32,759 life of me, I couldn't understand why a turned like 117 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,399 that to be a nice place to live under normal circumstances. 118 00:04:35,439 --> 00:04:38,759 Real small, everybody knows, everybody, a real hometown atmosphere. Turning 119 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:41,360 another anti corner, the station came into view a small 120 00:04:41,399 --> 00:04:43,879 concrete tees story. The light shone DEMI from inside, leech 121 00:04:43,959 --> 00:04:46,439 dry by the hunger and darkness that surrounded us. Walking 122 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:48,879 up the steps, Dave's hand crept toward his holster. The 123 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,240 door creaked open out the slightest push, revealing an end 124 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:53,720 to lobby alo. I called, my voice, echoing throughout the room. 125 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:56,439 Only silence responded. Dave moved the head and slowly pushed 126 00:04:56,439 --> 00:04:59,160 open an office door to my right, Breathing heavy, peering inside, 127 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:01,399 he jumped back, starring at there. The door creaked up 128 00:05:01,399 --> 00:05:03,199 and to reveal a man slumped over in his chair, 129 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:04,600 a bloody hole in the back of his head, and 130 00:05:04,639 --> 00:05:06,800 a revolver and the groan beneath him. Skull fragments and 131 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:08,800 bits of brain matter were still sticking to the wall. 132 00:05:08,879 --> 00:05:10,680 It felt like my heart had seized in my chest. 133 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:12,480 I had seen dead bodies in the Mark, but never 134 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:14,720 anything like that. An old cassette player sat on the 135 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:16,879 desk in front of him, covered with flecks of dried blood. 136 00:05:16,879 --> 00:05:19,240 Stepping into the room, I pushed a man back, revealing 137 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:21,319 a Walter Bennett stamped onto his shirt. Look up water 138 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,680 Bennett in the registry, I said, turning back to Dave. 139 00:05:23,759 --> 00:05:25,839 He left the room. Footsteps traillly en off toward the 140 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:28,319 front desk. Eyem the cassette player. I leaning to rewind 141 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,720 the tape inside and pushed play. A horrible static kissed 142 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:33,040 in the background, working only by the stutter and chicken 143 00:05:33,079 --> 00:05:35,079 voss of a man to inner body, to friend's the tape. 144 00:05:35,079 --> 00:05:37,600 To anybody that's left, Listen very carefully to what I'm 145 00:05:37,639 --> 00:05:39,360 about to say. If everybody in this town is dead, 146 00:05:39,399 --> 00:05:41,639 wherever you come from, you need to leave right now. 147 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:43,720 Get anybody you care about, and I'd pack as much 148 00:05:43,759 --> 00:05:45,360 food and water as you can. Stay out of the 149 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:47,920 city's thy'll eat them first. We're sorry, We're sorry about 150 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:50,000 everything they made a steward. A gunshot sounded, and only 151 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:52,480 the steady shift of the static remained. My fingers clinched 152 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:54,560 as a cold tingle shot up my spine. You okay, 153 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:57,120 Dave asked from behind, startling me. I turned to see 154 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:58,879 him at the door. I found out about the guy. 155 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,240 He said he got to Stow about two days ago. Paranoise, schizphrenia, 156 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:04,079 had a mental breakdown on the job or something. What's 157 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:05,680 with the tip call in? I said, to get some 158 00:06:05,759 --> 00:06:08,160 people over here. Normally I wouldn't have panicked like I did, 159 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:10,240 but the place was something different. I felt like I 160 00:06:10,399 --> 00:06:12,399 was in danger, look him or rowed. Dave took out 161 00:06:12,399 --> 00:06:14,319 his phone and called back, but didn't seem to get 162 00:06:14,319 --> 00:06:16,839 an answer. A minute passed and he began to look concerned, 163 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,399 giving up and punching in another number. Nothing the fox 164 00:06:19,439 --> 00:06:22,000 going on here. Dave stepped inside and leaned against the wall, 165 00:06:22,079 --> 00:06:24,600 looking down at the cassette player. Which it's say, he asked, 166 00:06:24,639 --> 00:06:26,959 the hiss of static still playing, he said, everybody in 167 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,319 this town is dead. I said, well, I can certainly 168 00:06:29,319 --> 00:06:31,399 see how one might come to the conclusion, said Dave, 169 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:33,279 chucking with the knees still. I don't think we're that 170 00:06:33,319 --> 00:06:35,519 far up the creek. This is a pretty small place. Chance, 171 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,079 so they're all off getting drunk somewhere. We'll find them eventually. 172 00:06:38,199 --> 00:06:40,600 Don't worry about it, he paused, looking down at the floor. 173 00:06:40,639 --> 00:06:42,319 I knew he was just trying to calm me down, 174 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:44,399 but his face told me the truth. He didn't believe 175 00:06:44,399 --> 00:06:46,480 a word he was saying. Something had been terribly wrong, 176 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:48,639 and we both knew it. The static kiss radiating from 177 00:06:48,639 --> 00:06:50,839 the cassette player suddenly grew a feeling of a knees 178 00:06:50,959 --> 00:06:53,240 washed over me as another sound pushed through in the background, 179 00:06:53,319 --> 00:06:55,800 slowly of riding the kiati, cracking before evolving into an 180 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:58,040 human shriek that set my nerves on fire. In pain, 181 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:00,000 I fell to my knees, struggling to look back at it, 182 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:02,199 seizing madly upon the floor like every sense, yet it 183 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:04,360 was being righted by the horrifying knives, blood trickling down 184 00:07:04,399 --> 00:07:06,399 from my ears as my vision buckled alarmed at the 185 00:07:06,439 --> 00:07:08,639 cassette player and slammed my fist down in the stop button. 186 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:10,759 The world's farm around me as I collapsed, a steady 187 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:12,560 ring and piercing through mys as a taste of blood 188 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:14,720 filled my mouth. The lights overhead flickered and dimmed, and 189 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:17,240 the world drifted into darkness. I remember having a dream then, 190 00:07:17,439 --> 00:07:19,639 or more a nightmare that still can't shake from my mind. 191 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:21,839 The skies were rolling overhead like a storm, but they 192 00:07:21,839 --> 00:07:23,800 were the color of an infected bruce. The air shirked 193 00:07:23,839 --> 00:07:25,839 with a stench of fuel as free crimson suns burned 194 00:07:25,839 --> 00:07:27,759 through the toks of myosma. I sat up, but the 195 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:29,839 only thing I saw was an endless field of bleeding meat. 196 00:07:29,879 --> 00:07:32,160 Trees of mutilated people fused together into the shape of 197 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:34,639 writhing branches as them owned in constant acony. Then there 198 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:36,920 was nothing. I woke up on my back, staring at 199 00:07:36,959 --> 00:07:39,199 it mindedly at the ceiling as a splitting headache throomed 200 00:07:39,199 --> 00:07:41,199 in my skull. Rolling onto my side, I saw a 201 00:07:41,199 --> 00:07:43,480 smear of blood trailing out into the lobby. Dave was gone, 202 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,160 replaced by an impenetrable silence that ponated every inch of 203 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:48,319 the room. Struggling to regain my strength, I called to 204 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:50,279 my feet and stumbled into the lobby. A blurry after 205 00:07:50,319 --> 00:07:52,600 him was trailing behind my vision. As something crunched beneath 206 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,199 my boots, I looked down. It was human teeth, scattered 207 00:07:55,199 --> 00:07:56,839 and soaking in the blood. The trail led across the 208 00:07:56,879 --> 00:07:59,439 lobby before turning out of sight down a dark corridor. 209 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,040 The failing life its fluckered overhead. I followed it, jumping 210 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:03,879 forward in the renants of my delirium. As the last 211 00:08:03,879 --> 00:08:06,040 of my senses returned to me. Looking down the hull, 212 00:08:06,079 --> 00:08:08,800 a trail dispersed into spatter of fresh droplets. As I walked, 213 00:08:08,879 --> 00:08:11,399 the light grew dimmer, giving way to the encroaching shadows. 214 00:08:11,439 --> 00:08:13,720 I removed the flasklight from my belt and held it out, 215 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:16,079 keeping my free hand on my holster. As the darkness 216 00:08:16,079 --> 00:08:18,160 swallowed me. I drew the column of light across the 217 00:08:18,199 --> 00:08:20,560 decaying walls of the building, pouring down the shrouded corridor. 218 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:22,639 The beam of the flosclight was devoured by the shadow, 219 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:24,959 as though the hole went on forever. A feeling of 220 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,000 unease prickled at my skin as my mind struggled to 221 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:28,800 grasp what I was looking at. The hole shouldn't have 222 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,360 been there. This building was acilate small. There's no way 223 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:33,480 it could hold it, I remembered, Oh, I don't know. 224 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:35,600 I only saw the front and the sides, and it 225 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:37,159 was dark out, so I could have missed something. I 226 00:08:37,159 --> 00:08:39,240 figured I must. It was the only way it made 227 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:41,240 any sense. A feeling of vertigo san within me as 228 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:43,840 I stepped out into the void, creeping forward and anticipating 229 00:08:43,879 --> 00:08:45,399 the worse. The further I went in, the more I 230 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:48,000 noticed the ashen markings of astrological symbols that began to 231 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,519 crowd the walls the ceiling, slowly extending out of sight. 232 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:52,720 As the corridor seemed to narrow around me and silling 233 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:54,840 me with the sense of harrow and claustrophobia, my boots 234 00:08:54,879 --> 00:08:56,919 crunched on something again, and I looked down to see 235 00:08:56,919 --> 00:08:59,519 another trail of fresh blood stricken across the concrete. Human 236 00:08:59,559 --> 00:09:02,240 teeth and argments of bone scattered with a sketchmarks swept 237 00:09:02,279 --> 00:09:04,559 through the spatters of cunson and dug deep into the walls, 238 00:09:04,639 --> 00:09:06,879 broken nails jetting out of the sweeping fishes as though 239 00:09:06,879 --> 00:09:09,200 someone had been drugged, into the darkness beyond. A muffled 240 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:11,240 cuff founded in the distance, followed by a patter of 241 00:09:11,279 --> 00:09:13,519 footsteps that steadily drew closer to me. I drew my 242 00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:15,200 weapon and named it down the hall, figere on the 243 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:17,320 slide as my hand shook with terror. I twitched as 244 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:19,519 a shadow passed over the beam of my flasklight, revealing 245 00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:22,120 my partner stumbling haggardly toward me. A sheen of blood 246 00:09:22,159 --> 00:09:24,320 coated his face. A deep chen of blood coated his face. 247 00:09:24,399 --> 00:09:26,840 Panicked and distressed, run he spat, coughing as he moved 248 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:28,919 to get out of here. I ran to catch up 249 00:09:28,919 --> 00:09:30,720 with him. As he passed by me, heading back into 250 00:09:30,759 --> 00:09:33,480 the lobby. It's coming, he gasped again, throwing himself against 251 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:35,519 the doors and blundering out into the night. He collapsed 252 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:37,919 upon the pavement, writhing and screaming in the blinding shade. 253 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,320 He was hysterical, looking like something I had ripped his mind 254 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:42,159 into and cast him out into the dark. I held 255 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:43,919 him down and he looked up at me, his eyes 256 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:46,399 filled with fear and adrenaline. It's here, he said, his 257 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:48,960 voice trembling as he repeated the phrase over and over again. 258 00:09:49,039 --> 00:09:51,840 It's here, it's here, It's here, It's here. I felt 259 00:09:51,879 --> 00:09:53,840 a prickling sensation on the back of my neck as 260 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:57,399 a sodden paranoia invaded my mind. Something was watching me, 261 00:09:58,159 --> 00:10:02,600 something in the sky, but saw only blackness above. The 262 00:10:02,639 --> 00:10:05,279 moon was full, but the stars were gone. I felt 263 00:10:05,279 --> 00:10:07,639 a sensation of absolute dread, like I was less than 264 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:09,480 a pimperke of dust up was about to be wiped 265 00:10:09,519 --> 00:10:12,559 off the face of the universe. My hand shaking with fear. 266 00:10:13,159 --> 00:10:15,399 I looked back at Dave, but as seizing had stopped 267 00:10:15,399 --> 00:10:18,000 and he fell still. He laid face up on the ground, 268 00:10:18,039 --> 00:10:20,519 thick arches of blood trickling down from his nose and ears, 269 00:10:20,519 --> 00:10:23,360 and tracing patterns on the concrete beneath him. I backed 270 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:25,960 away from his body, still struggling to comprehend what had 271 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:28,960 just happened. I pressed my fingers down upon his neck, 272 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:31,559 feeling for a pulse, then held my hand above his mouth, 273 00:10:31,759 --> 00:10:35,519 waiting for the faintest breath of air. Nothing. The realization 274 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,039 crept in, slow, playing at my senses as it swallowed 275 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:40,840 my disbelief. He was dead and he had seen or 276 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:44,480 felt something in this place, something dangerous. My mind jumped 277 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:46,519 back to the decaying memory of the noise flowing out 278 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:49,559 of the tape recorder like a symphony of nightmares. Already 279 00:10:49,559 --> 00:10:51,639 my brain picked and prodded at the thought, struggling to 280 00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:54,679 shut it out and forget it ever happened. Something was 281 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:56,960 just wrong about it. It was almost like it was 282 00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:58,960 to sound at all, more, just a force pouring into 283 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:01,480 my head. As my body thought to rejected, A deadly 284 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:04,120 silence filled my ears. As the present came rushing back, 285 00:11:04,799 --> 00:11:07,240 I was alone, surrounded by darkness that drowned every nook 286 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:09,639 and crovice in its shadow. The lights of the police 287 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:12,320 station flickered up behind me, leaving only the hollow, miness 288 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:14,679 skeleton of the structure its presence for fouling the air 289 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:17,080 with an aur of seething dread. The memory of the 290 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:19,799 whole way lingered in the background, fattening my curiosity and 291 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:22,200 aching on some deluded sense of vengeance that brewed within 292 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:26,240 my mind. I could go back, it was always a possibility, 293 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:30,080 But what would I look for? What could I really do? Nothing? 294 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:32,720 There was no sense in risking my life for nothing, 295 00:11:32,799 --> 00:11:35,320 I figured, And if that makes me a coward, then 296 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:38,720 I am a coward, and I didn't even care. Discretion 297 00:11:38,879 --> 00:11:41,919 is the better part of valor, right at least that's 298 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:44,600 what I wanted to believe. I could hear Day's voice 299 00:11:44,639 --> 00:11:46,559 screaming in my head, belittling me as I called to 300 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:50,159 my feet. That's when I felt the presence return. Something 301 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:52,519 in the sky I looked up in how to sound 302 00:11:52,559 --> 00:11:55,039 that I still can't rightly explain. It was like a 303 00:11:55,039 --> 00:11:58,120 cross between a yowling hyena and an elephant. And though 304 00:11:58,159 --> 00:12:00,399 I couldn't see anything but darkness up there, I knew 305 00:12:00,399 --> 00:12:03,879 that something was moving. A hot putre wind panted against me, 306 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:07,039 like something immense was breathing on me. It was watching me, 307 00:12:07,159 --> 00:12:09,799 but at didn't strike It just let me stand there, 308 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:12,960 trembling and shaking, with any thoughts of vengeance perged from 309 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:15,000 my mind by absolute fear. I turned away from the 310 00:12:15,039 --> 00:12:17,960 station and started to make my way back. I glanced 311 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:19,720 at the fun on my hip wanting to give it 312 00:12:19,759 --> 00:12:21,559 another shot, if only to hear the voice of another 313 00:12:21,639 --> 00:12:24,360 human being. But something in my instincts called for silence. 314 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:27,840 Everywhere I went, I still felt like I was being watched, 315 00:12:27,919 --> 00:12:30,120 as though a thousand eyes were following my every movement. 316 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:32,559 Yet every time I shot a glance over my shoulder 317 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:34,559 at the streets would be empty and the skies would 318 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:37,399 be dark. I spun around once more, facing the barren 319 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:40,240 vastness of the night. Even then, a tinkle ran up 320 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:42,240 my spine as I felt the eyes tracing my features, 321 00:12:42,279 --> 00:12:45,759 devouring every drop of paranol air. I constantly catched shadows 322 00:12:45,799 --> 00:12:48,159 moving along the edges of my version, but whenever I looked, 323 00:12:48,279 --> 00:12:51,159 they'd be gone. Eventually I reached the tree line. The 324 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:53,399 broken passage of topple timber still bathed in the moonlight, 325 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:56,679 inviting me onward. I tried to peer into the distance, 326 00:12:56,720 --> 00:12:58,720 but couldn't see far enough to catch a glimpse of 327 00:12:58,759 --> 00:13:02,799 my cruiser cruiser. I stepped forward, listening to the twigs 328 00:13:02,799 --> 00:13:05,679 and fallen branch just snapped beneath my feet. A feeling 329 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:07,559 of uneasiness came over me as I glanced at my 330 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:09,879 side and stared into the unfelt depths of the forest. 331 00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:13,519 I stood still, eyes blinking an impenetrable darkness that shrouded 332 00:13:13,519 --> 00:13:15,919 my sight. I could feel a part of my mind 333 00:13:15,919 --> 00:13:18,320 trying to convince me that things were moving through the shadows, 334 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:20,639 obscuring the dim rays of moonlight for only a second 335 00:13:20,639 --> 00:13:23,720 before carrying onward through the trees. I tried to convince 336 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:25,639 myself that it was just a wild animal, but I 337 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:29,000 knew better than that. My eyes panned across the darkness again. 338 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:31,559 A feeling of dread washed over me as I fixed 339 00:13:31,639 --> 00:13:33,440 it on the particular spot within the nivels, but I 340 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:37,159 couldn't say why. I traced over the area again, terrified 341 00:13:37,159 --> 00:13:39,639 and confused, until a sliver of moonlight illuminated a trail 342 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:42,279 of visaer stricken across the ground. What looked like a 343 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:44,879 ragged spinal column hung loosely from a hole in a tree. 344 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:47,559 I stepped toward the blood stained evergreen and removed the 345 00:13:47,559 --> 00:13:50,399 flashlight from my belt, switching it on and shining it 346 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:52,480 within the hole. A light revealed a cash of mangled 347 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:54,919 flesh winding upward into the tree, like it had been 348 00:13:54,919 --> 00:13:57,480 hollowed out and filled with the afamath of an industrial accident. 349 00:13:58,120 --> 00:13:59,799 I stepped back, as if fat it smell wafted it 350 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:02,159 up from the hole, forcing me to gag. I let 351 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:04,159 out a love cough, struggling to muffle it at the 352 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,960 last moment, but failing entirely. The feeling of being watched intensified, 353 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:10,879 as though I had offended some mo line presence. Turning 354 00:14:10,879 --> 00:14:12,879 away from the forest, I began walking at a brisk 355 00:14:12,919 --> 00:14:15,720 pace toward my car, burrowing cautious glances over my shoulder 356 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:19,279 as the unnerving feeling persisted. Picking up speed, I scampered 357 00:14:19,279 --> 00:14:21,120 and vaulted over the rows of fel trees that brought 358 00:14:21,159 --> 00:14:23,679 my path, hoping that by some miracle, I wouldn't lose 359 00:14:23,679 --> 00:14:26,759 my footing. The shifting cracks of snapping branches approached just 360 00:14:26,799 --> 00:14:29,240 out of my sight, my mind struggling to differentiate between 361 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:31,039 my own blunderings and those of the enzene horror that 362 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:33,080 storked me. But I could have sworn that I heard 363 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:36,159 something following me. As I leaped over another lock, the 364 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,399 cruiser slipped into my view. My limbs burning with exhaustion, 365 00:14:39,639 --> 00:14:42,279 I threw another glance over my shoulder, dashing quickly toward 366 00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:45,919 the vehicle. Nothing I stopped as I reached my destination, 367 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:48,360 turning once more to the shattered woodland. As I struggled 368 00:14:48,399 --> 00:14:51,360 to catch my breath. Scanning the shadows, all was still, 369 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:53,639 the dying lights of the town radiating through the blackness. 370 00:14:54,279 --> 00:14:57,000 I entered the car and started the engine, hand shaking 371 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,120 aimlessly on the wheel, I turned the vehicle around and 372 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:01,639 drove off into the night, falling into a familiar days. 373 00:15:02,279 --> 00:15:04,440 Everything felt like a dream, but I was helpless to 374 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:08,080 awake from it. Somebody or something killed my partner, maybe 375 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:10,720 the presence that followed me or whatever made that awful noise. 376 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:14,200 The same thing happened right both made him seize him 377 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:16,679 bleed out when he came running out of the dark 378 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:18,720 in the hallway. I don't think I ever saw anybody 379 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:21,240 that scared before, and I just left him there, dead 380 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:24,679 on the ground. There was nothing I could do. Looking ahead, 381 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:27,039 the road began to bleed into the night, the reach 382 00:15:27,039 --> 00:15:28,799 of the head light with a further and further, until 383 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:30,559 all I could see was a thick wall of darkness. 384 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:33,720 A lingering fear grew within me as the blindness set in. 385 00:15:34,399 --> 00:15:37,000 Then images of my crosswarving off the road flickered through 386 00:15:37,039 --> 00:15:39,720 my mind until the yellow divider crept into existence once more. 387 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:43,200 The wall shadow slowly dispersed, and I found myself speeding 388 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:46,320 straight down the road. A feeling of relief swept over me, 389 00:15:46,679 --> 00:15:48,480 only to be snatched away as I shot a glance 390 00:15:48,519 --> 00:15:51,519 to the side, slowing the car. A sinking feeling weight 391 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:53,039 on my mind as a dip in the tree line 392 00:15:53,039 --> 00:15:56,279 slipped into my view. Mystified, I stared down the shattered 393 00:15:56,279 --> 00:15:58,720 path of trees, the lights of the town gleaming deliriously 394 00:15:58,759 --> 00:16:00,960 in the distance, mocking the dyeing sliver of hope that 395 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:03,960 I still clung to. My mind struggled to comprehend what 396 00:16:04,039 --> 00:16:06,360 had happened. It was like I had never left, or 397 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:08,159 had gone in a circle without knowing it. But that 398 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:11,440 wouldn't work either. I looked at the map. It's just 399 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:14,639 one road straight down the line of it made any sense. 400 00:16:15,399 --> 00:16:17,279 I turned the car around and went back the way 401 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:19,159 I came. But it wasn't long before the dark is 402 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,360 flooded in and I was driving blind through the shadow. 403 00:16:21,919 --> 00:16:24,440 The divided materialized in the void, and the moonlight split 404 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:26,600 through the blackness, for revealing the forest at my side. 405 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:30,399 Once more, The past to the town rip is under defeated. 406 00:16:30,559 --> 00:16:32,320 I cut the engine and opened the car door, a 407 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:34,240 cool gust of wind chilling my skin as I stepped 408 00:16:34,279 --> 00:16:37,200 out into the night. Fighting back the creeping malice, I 409 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:39,159 shut the door and turned to face the fading lights. 410 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:41,960 As I walked, the lonely ambience that had struck me 411 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,360 before had all but faded to an awe of crippling malevolence. 412 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:47,080 Run this to the air and everything it touched, I 413 00:16:47,159 --> 00:16:49,639 knew that I was alone. The streets were as dark 414 00:16:49,679 --> 00:16:52,080 and barren as ever, not even the howl of the 415 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:54,519 window to infringe upon the black radiance of the town. 416 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:57,120 A part of me hoped for some sort of confrontation, 417 00:16:57,559 --> 00:16:59,399 some winding horror that would pull itself free from the 418 00:16:59,399 --> 00:17:02,320 alleyways to swallow me hole. But nothing came. All that 419 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:04,400 faced me was the sound of my own footsteps, until 420 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:06,799 a sense of an airying distance flooded over me. A 421 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:09,160 short ways ahead, stod the police station, dark and empty 422 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:11,960 beneath the sinister moonlight, I picked up the pace, still 423 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:15,039 scanning the building for whatever seemed to disturb me. Then 424 00:17:15,079 --> 00:17:18,240 I saw it. My eyes draced across the concrete, discovering 425 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:19,839 a thick streak of blood that sneaked down into an 426 00:17:19,839 --> 00:17:22,559 open man hole. Dave's body was nowhere to be found. 427 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:27,319 I panicked. He couldn't have been alive. I checked, he 428 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:30,680 had stopped breathing. He didn't even have a pulse. There 429 00:17:30,759 --> 00:17:33,279 was just no way. I walked toward the man hall 430 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:35,880 and looked into the darkness. A faint buzzing came from below. 431 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:38,559 The pale moonlight that shone upon the concrete began to 432 00:17:38,599 --> 00:17:41,039 slowly fade to a deep crimson, and as I looked up, 433 00:17:41,119 --> 00:17:43,119 I saw streaks of blood begin to drip down across 434 00:17:43,119 --> 00:17:45,799 the full moon, obscuring the pristine lunar surface until only 435 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,160 a glowing ray remained. Feeling like I was slowly losing 436 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:51,119 my mind, I looked down at the open man hole. 437 00:17:51,759 --> 00:17:53,680 I didn't want to go down there, but I didn't 438 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:56,200 have much of a choice at that point. I unclipped 439 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:58,519 my flat light and turned it on, shining it down 440 00:17:58,519 --> 00:18:00,920 into the depths of the sewer. Only the walls of 441 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:03,119 the grand Court chaff were iliminated by the light, the 442 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:06,480 bottom nowhere in sight. Hesitating for a moment, I lowered 443 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:08,480 myself down into the manhole, grip in the ladder tight 444 00:18:08,519 --> 00:18:11,880 as I descended, the shaft was cramped in claustrophobic, and 445 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:13,799 the crimson moonlight that once shone above at all but 446 00:18:13,839 --> 00:18:16,680 slept into a dark obscurity. Soon the bottom came into 447 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:20,200 sight the flasklight, revealing a dirty concrete floor. I dropped 448 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:22,000 down from the shaft, landing with a soft that that 449 00:18:22,039 --> 00:18:25,039 felt like a gun. Shut in the overwhelming silence. No, 450 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:29,119 it wasn't entirely silent. That buzzing was still there. I 451 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:31,799 swatted at a fly that landed on my cheek. I 452 00:18:31,839 --> 00:18:34,319 shined a flasklight down the dark corridor, illuminating a long, 453 00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:36,960 tennother fork in the distance, swarms of flies buzzing through 454 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:39,640 the light. As I walked forward, I noticed the thin 455 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:42,519 film that covered the ground rising in random locations to 456 00:18:42,519 --> 00:18:45,599 form small super pastols that crowed magus and flies like 457 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,359 the foe was the hide of some disease beast. I 458 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:50,319 approached the fork in the tunnel and began to hear 459 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:53,559 the sound of breathing in the distance. I stopped shining 460 00:18:53,559 --> 00:18:56,279 the flashlight down the corridor. To my left. The pitch 461 00:18:56,319 --> 00:18:58,680 darkness seemed to swarm around the column of light, revealing 462 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:02,319 nothing but a distant expanse with flies swatting the insects 463 00:19:02,319 --> 00:19:04,759 away from my face. I turned toward the other corridor, 464 00:19:04,839 --> 00:19:07,119 trailing the small spot of light slowly across the ground 465 00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:10,319 before revealing a small spatter of blood. Terror prickled at 466 00:19:10,319 --> 00:19:11,839 the back of my neck as I shifted the light 467 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:14,680 to the side, revealing a grotesque mound of gorslumped against 468 00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:17,119 the wall. The decaying remains looked as though they had 469 00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:18,880 been run through a meat grinder, to the point that 470 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:20,880 it was difficult to tell whether the corpse belonged to 471 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:23,279 a human or an animal. My eyes caught sight of 472 00:19:23,319 --> 00:19:25,759 a shredded hand, answering my question, if not for the 473 00:19:25,759 --> 00:19:28,640 single dealated I embedded in its open palm. I turned 474 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:30,799 away from the disturbing sight and began to walk down 475 00:19:30,799 --> 00:19:33,400 the other corridor, struggling to fight back the overwhelming sense 476 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:35,799 of nausea and the lingering fear for my life. The 477 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:38,160 sound of labor breathing grew around me, as though it 478 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:40,920 were coming from the walls of the tunnel themselves. I 479 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:43,680 shined my light across the festering brick, revealing strands of 480 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:46,359 disease and a cock meat that went beneath the crumbling surface, 481 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:48,359 as though the sewer had been built within a living 482 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:52,400 breathing organism. Continuing down the passage, the flashlight illuminated an 483 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:54,240 old wooden door set at the end, a bloody ham 484 00:19:54,279 --> 00:19:56,279 prince stained upon the yellow coat of paint that slowly 485 00:19:56,319 --> 00:19:59,599 peeled away from its surface. I approached it, listening closely 486 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:02,559 for any sound on the other side. I gripped the handle, 487 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:04,920 feeling the warm, dampness of its surface as I fought 488 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:07,799 back the fear that surged through my veins. Every fast 489 00:20:07,799 --> 00:20:10,240 sat of mining screened at me, begging me to turn away. 490 00:20:10,799 --> 00:20:13,000 A fleeting image of my partner flashed through my mind, 491 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:14,960 but faded just as quickly, giving way to the truth 492 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:16,720 that had been worming its way through my thoughts ever 493 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:19,519 since my escape attempt. I could have kept trying to 494 00:20:19,559 --> 00:20:22,119 drive away, but I didn't. I could have tried to 495 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:24,640 call someone, whether it would have worked or not, I 496 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:27,799 gave up. I barely even made an effort. I knew 497 00:20:27,839 --> 00:20:29,559 then that some part of me wanted to be there. 498 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:32,799 I felt like I deserved it. Why should I leave right? 499 00:20:33,319 --> 00:20:36,400 What did I really have to live for? Anticipating death, 500 00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:38,119 I opened the door and shined my light into the 501 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:40,519 darkness before me. It swarms of flies buzzing through the air, 502 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:43,480 I stepped forward and swept the beam across the expanse. 503 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,680 I stood within a vast chamber of dimensions unknown, with 504 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,200 any attempt of revelation and vilain only the dark radiance 505 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,880 of the beyond. I advanced, feeling an overwhelming sense of smallness, 506 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:55,680 into the trembling void, spitting as flies began to crawl 507 00:20:55,759 --> 00:20:58,440 upon my lips and ripe beneath my clothing. The further 508 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:00,559 I walked, the pestilence that had come assumed the grand 509 00:21:00,599 --> 00:21:02,880 slowly faded to a creeping, blantt of raw flesh that 510 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:06,160 reminded me of my nightmare, tendrils of meat sneaking between 511 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:08,400 panting raised or teeth masks that jutted up from the 512 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:11,240 crawling hellscape. I felt like I was walking through the 513 00:21:11,319 --> 00:21:13,799 organs of some eldrich horror, the stench of death choking 514 00:21:13,839 --> 00:21:15,960 the air, as the swarms of flies only grew in number. 515 00:21:16,559 --> 00:21:19,279 There was something else, though, beneath the nauseating miasma of decay, 516 00:21:19,319 --> 00:21:21,799 something that made my head throb with pain. It smelled 517 00:21:21,799 --> 00:21:26,440 almost like fuel. Then the light illuminated something entirely different. Hundreds, 518 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:29,119 if not thousands, of mutilated bodies towered high into the air, 519 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,039 upon the dark terrain of bleeding meat. Wired together by 520 00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:35,079 knotted entrails and bizarre fusions of flesh, they were arranged 521 00:21:35,079 --> 00:21:37,599 in a colossal, looming wing that encircled a vertical ocean 522 00:21:37,599 --> 00:21:40,759 of blood. Defying all natural laws of the universe. It 523 00:21:40,839 --> 00:21:43,079 warped and corroded the air that surrounded it, as if 524 00:21:43,079 --> 00:21:47,279 the ring contained some immense gravitational force. Ignoring all reason, 525 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:49,680 I crept toward the towering vod, climbing over the sea 526 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:51,720 of bodies until I could see the chuning of the liquid. 527 00:21:52,319 --> 00:21:54,640 I stopped before the pool, standing only a foot away 528 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:57,839 from its influence. Staring into its depths, I felt as 529 00:21:57,839 --> 00:22:00,480 though I were shifting through infinity. TI tame around me 530 00:22:00,559 --> 00:22:02,680 began to slower to a crawl, my thoughts devoired by 531 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,279 the harrying of us, A feeling of wrongs began to 532 00:22:05,279 --> 00:22:07,599 flood over me, and irving every sense I knew existed. 533 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,000 Whencing in pain, I reached toward the pool, as though hypnotized. 534 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:13,759 As I stood there, it began to dawn upon me 535 00:22:13,759 --> 00:22:15,880 that the churning depths were not what truly disturbed me. 536 00:22:16,559 --> 00:22:19,319 It was whatever lurked beyond them. I was stirring into 537 00:22:19,319 --> 00:22:22,319 a portal to another place, another dimension. I don't know. 538 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:24,319 I don't know how to make sense of what I 539 00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:27,599 saw in that moment. Possibilities flushed through my mind, though 540 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,559 none of them I could rightly describe that gateway. That 541 00:22:30,599 --> 00:22:33,319 aberration was beyond me. But whatever it was, whatever I 542 00:22:33,319 --> 00:22:36,279 would see, would it really answer my questions? My hands 543 00:22:36,279 --> 00:22:38,640 still lingered in the air, what by the lensing effect 544 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:42,000 of the pool? A feeling of morbid curiosity egged me onward, 545 00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:44,799 but the fear began to swallow me whole. I withdrew 546 00:22:44,839 --> 00:22:48,400 my hand, unwilling to continue. Utterly numb to my surroundings, 547 00:22:48,519 --> 00:22:50,440 I climbed down from the hill of mangle bod as 548 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,799 infell to the ground. Overwhelmed and defeated by my own insignificance. 549 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:56,319 I did not understand what had happened to the town, 550 00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:58,960 and least of all, what was happening to me. Grasping 551 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,079 at straws, I studied every possibility, but drew only blanks. 552 00:23:02,799 --> 00:23:05,720 I couldn't do it. I distant rumbling sounded from within 553 00:23:05,759 --> 00:23:08,559 the ring, setting me on edge. The flesh beneath me 554 00:23:08,599 --> 00:23:10,680 hummed and vibrated as though it will liquid, threatening to 555 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:12,920 pull me in. I crawled to my feet and backed 556 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,160 away from the portal, confused and terrified by the loath 557 00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:17,640 firm of power that now radiated from within, infecting the 558 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,559 air with an awe of row depravity. Something was coming 559 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:23,920 hannekover taking me. I sprinted blindly into the darkness, But 560 00:23:24,039 --> 00:23:26,000 no matter how far I ran, I couldn't find the 561 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:28,039 door that I had entered from. It was like the 562 00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:31,000 chamber went on forever, the festering meat sinking beneath my boots, 563 00:23:31,039 --> 00:23:33,519 as the flies crawled and coalesced upon my skin. The 564 00:23:33,559 --> 00:23:35,920 sound from the gate, now far from sight, rose like 565 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:38,759 an oncomon train, splitting my ear ROMs with its deafening vibrancy. 566 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:41,400 I collapsed to my knees, shaking in terror and cupping 567 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:43,359 my hands over my ears. But it didn't help. In 568 00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:46,240 the slightest It was like the sound wasnt entering through 569 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:48,680 my ears, but through my mind. Unhinging every sense I 570 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,440 heard as a pain within me steadily grew. A familiar 571 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:53,920 wine began to rise from the crescendo utterly, a mean 572 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,839 to any feeble attempts to shout it out. It sounded 573 00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:58,880 like every noise that I had ever feared, bound together 574 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:03,480 into an incoherent scream, yet still somehow separate. It burned 575 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:05,359 my senses to dust as I called up on the ground, 576 00:24:05,599 --> 00:24:08,839 helpless to resist it. As the mad symphony reached its peak, 577 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:10,880 my skin began to shift upon my bones, as though 578 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,319 a thousand insects ride beneath the surface. I sensed another. 579 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,799 All at once, my mind began to ache. The wailing 580 00:24:17,839 --> 00:24:20,079 presence of whatever now looked in the chamber sent me 581 00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:22,960 into a reeling delirium. My skin began to melt away 582 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,200 before my eyes, rocking me with blinding pain. As the 583 00:24:25,279 --> 00:24:27,640 viscous soup threatened to slough off my bones, shifting from 584 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,440 solid to liquid to solid again. My bones began to 585 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:33,039 snap and re align themselves, pushing me over the edge. 586 00:24:33,039 --> 00:24:36,160 As I screamed helplessly in the darkness, the world around 587 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:38,440 me began to spind as a whirl and shadow overcame it, 588 00:24:38,599 --> 00:24:41,160 and I knew that I was dying. The last hinges 589 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:43,319 of pain surged through my body, until finally I let 590 00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:46,200 go and felt myself slip away. I don't know how 591 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:48,319 I survived, but I woke on my back, my eyes 592 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:50,519 blinded by the glare of daylight, but something was wrong. 593 00:24:51,039 --> 00:24:53,720 The sky was a toxic miasma of rolling violet clouds, 594 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:56,960 the sun burning crimson through the other worldly chaos. An 595 00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,079 immense pain began to surge through my body, and I 596 00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:02,039 screamed in agony, violently riding upon the concrete beneath me, 597 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:04,839 groting my teeth, I calmed myself for a moment to 598 00:25:04,839 --> 00:25:07,319 look at my surroundings. I was in the middle of 599 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:09,759 an empty street, still in the town, though I could 600 00:25:09,759 --> 00:25:11,240 see the break in the tree line that led out 601 00:25:11,279 --> 00:25:14,319 onto the highway. Looking down at my body, I onced 602 00:25:14,319 --> 00:25:17,200 in disgust, assaulted by a chaotic flurry of fear, nausea, 603 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:21,079 and depression. My skin had been repeatedly liquefied and reconstituted, 604 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,480 scarred and malformed as it barely adhered to my body. 605 00:25:24,039 --> 00:25:26,359 My bones felt rigid and splintered with pain, like half 606 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:29,160 of my doints had been fused together. Struggling to call 607 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:31,519 to my feet, I looked down at my hands, the 608 00:25:31,599 --> 00:25:34,799 runnants of my fingers gnarled and elongated, if not missing entirely. 609 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:37,119 The red sun beat down on me from above. As 610 00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:39,319 I worked to support myself, trying not to scream as 611 00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:41,279 I slowly made my way down the splindid path and 612 00:25:41,319 --> 00:25:44,359 toward the highway, my vision blockening as the delivium slowly returned. 613 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:46,920 The smell of fuel lingered in the air, the toxic 614 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:49,960 skies rolling above me. Whatever happened in that town, it 615 00:25:50,039 --> 00:25:52,759 was spreading. I remember reaching my car, but it was 616 00:25:52,759 --> 00:25:55,519 a blur after that. I apparently managed to drive a 617 00:25:55,519 --> 00:25:58,200 good distance before crashing, and somebody wound up finding me. 618 00:25:58,240 --> 00:25:59,839 I woke up in a hospital, patched up as much 619 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:01,960 as as they could be, but the surgeons couldn't do much. 620 00:26:02,599 --> 00:26:04,960 There was no rational explanation for what had happened to me, 621 00:26:05,039 --> 00:26:07,839 but I remembered it clear as day. I ran away 622 00:26:07,839 --> 00:26:10,039 as soon as folks from the government started showing up, 623 00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:12,680 and joined with some others. Since then, the sky's are 624 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:14,680 normal out here, but I think it's only a matter 625 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:18,119 of time before it's breadths. Something was released into the world, 626 00:26:18,759 --> 00:26:21,960 something awful that nobody can explain. The others have been 627 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:24,640 telling me stores of small towns covered in meat and bone, 628 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,000 like something unnatural was assimilating the earth. They ought to 629 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:30,079 be dropping bombs in the whole area, but I don't 630 00:26:30,079 --> 00:26:32,559 know if even that would do the trick in any case, 631 00:26:32,599 --> 00:26:35,559 don't rely on the news. The government's probably keeping the 632 00:26:35,599 --> 00:26:39,400 story under wraps, so nobody panics. I'm sure it'll come 633 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:41,400 up eventually, but by then it may be too late. 634 00:26:42,039 --> 00:26:44,279 The sounds are getting louder again, and the stars have 635 00:26:44,319 --> 00:26:47,720 started to disappear. The others are packing up. I don't 636 00:26:47,759 --> 00:26:49,440 know if you'll hear from me again, but I hope 637 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,319 to God this all works out. Stay safe out there, 638 00:26:54,079 --> 00:26:56,559 and that is the end. Thank you for listening, and 639 00:26:56,599 --> 00:27:10,279 I will see you in the next one.