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Speaker 1: We hagged our way through the jungle like we were

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pealing back time itself. Every branch and root we cut

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and stepped over felt like it hadn't been touched in decades,

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maybe longer. The heat pressed down on us, wet and constant,

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and the insects came in waves that never seemed to stop.

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Somewhere overhead, monkeys shrieked and fell silent, just as quickly.

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That silence always made me pause. None of us spoke much.

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The machetes did the talking, slicing rhythmically as we followed

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the barely visible trail. Lewis wore existed. I didn't see it,

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but he moved with a confidence false or not. We

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didn't have better options. Around midday we reached the clearing,

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or more like the jungle gave up for a second,

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and in the middle was a rise of uneven stone,

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half swallowed up by moss and earth. It could have

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passed for a hill if not for the exposed edge

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of something unmistakably artificial, withered concrete, and the rusted corner

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of a metal structure poking out like a broken rib.

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No one said anything right away. Then from behind me,

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her voice muttered low and breathless. There it is. We

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moved closer, rushing back the foliage. The moss came off

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in heavy sheets. Underneath a swastika, barely visible, faint from

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time and grime was stamped into the concrete, half melted

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from what looked like an old fire. None of us

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reached out to touch it. Geez, someone whispered, we'd found it.

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The bunker wasn't a myth. It was real, and it

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was here. Lewis stepped forward and ran his hand along

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the edge of the old hatch embedded in the slope,

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tracing the rusted wheel lock. He bowled gently, and it

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groaned like something waking up. The door was ajar, only slightly,

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but enough that the smell hit us almost immediately, old oil,

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mold metal, and beneath it all something else, sweet and rotting.

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Ventilation shaft might be clogged, I offered with a chuckle.

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A flashlight clicked on beside me. No words, just a

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beam of light piercing down into a dark mouth cut

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into the earth. None of us said it out loud,

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but we knew we were going in. The ladder was

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slick with condensation and rust. I climbed slowly, each wrung,

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groaning under the weight, until my boots hid the concrete

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floor with a dull, wet thud. The air down there

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wasn't just stale, It had an artificial weight to it.

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No power. That much was immediately clear and expected. The

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ceiling fixtures overhead were shattered, wiring frayed and exposed like vines,

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brittle and dead. The corridor stretched out ahead of us

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in both directions. Jonah stepped past me first, hadn't brushing

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the wall as we moved, Concrete still solid, he muttered,

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reinforced and some half baked shelter. We passed a rusted plaque,

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the German text barely legible. Sector one undercomfed quarters. The

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rooms were narrow lined on either side of the hall,

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like cells inside rows of metal bed frames, stripped of sheets.

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What remained of the mattresses had slumped into soft mounds

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of black mushrooms had taken root in one another had

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the impression of a body long gone, just the shape

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still there in the stained foam, like a fossilized absence.

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Someone opened a crate near the far wall. Dust plumed

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out food rations, Jonah said, still sealed. Sasha lifted one

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and turned it over. They labeled everything by name, date, roll,

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caloric requirement. She pointed to the faded ink Jane Nuss Lane,

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three thousand calories, night watch. All so precise, but the

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silence in those quarters told another story. Further in, we

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found a hallway bulletin board. A photo was still tacked up,

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barely hanging on four men, all in uniform German officers,

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at least from what I could tell, standing in a

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cramped hallway right here in the bunker. Their faces were

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long and drawn, eyes sunk deep. One of them was

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holding a small child. That's not wartime Germany, Sasha whispered

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behind me. That's after they arrived here. The hallway ended

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in a ball. Her door, half of its hinges rusted

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and bent inward, like something had forced its way through

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years ago. We ducked inside and found the largest room

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yet storage, maybe though half the shelving had collapsed and

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a fine film of mold coated the floor. Amid the

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wreckage was a scorched binder. Jonas flipped it open gently,

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and half of it crumbled in his hands. Manifest, he said,

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eyes narrowing, look at this tight Names in columns, serial numbers,

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dates of birth occupation nine hundred and seventy eight entries, men, women, children.

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Sasha leaned over his shoulder, lips moving silently as she scanned.

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They listed them all nurses, engineers, even barbers. No ranks,

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I asked, She shook her head, only functions. They were

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building a self contained population. In the far corner we

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found the radio room, or what was left of it.

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Shattered glass and twisted knobs lay scattered across the floor

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like shrapnel. An old broadcasting mike hung from its wire,

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swinging slightly in the humid draft. Banks of analog equipment

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were ripped open, fuses missing, wires yanked out in clumps.

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Doctor Kettley crouched down next to one unit and muttered,

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this was military grade, state of the art for the time. Sabotage.

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I asked. He didn't answer, but the way he stood

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up told me everything. We lingered in the radio room

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longer than we should have. No one said it, but

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something about the broken equipment unsettled us in a different way,

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not just because it was destroyed, but because it had

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been intentional, as if someone had wanted to make sure

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no word ever left this place again. We moved on.

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Sasha suggested we start marking rooms as we went, chalk lines,

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basic numbering, smart idea. It helped gave the illusion of control.

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Past the supply wing, we found a heavy door, partially ajar,

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with a tarnish brass plate above the frame. Officer untercomfed

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officers quarters. The air inside was different. Still, dust floated

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in the beams of my headlamp, like falling snow, untouched

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for decades. Jonas moved toward the desk, opened a drawer empty,

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another paper scraps, a yellowed photograph of someone blurred and smiling.

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Nothing useful. Sasha knelt beside the trunk. Help me with this.

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I unclasped the rusted latch and helped to lift the

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lid inside her wall. Officer's coat folded beneath it, something

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wrapped tightly in a stiff brown cloth tied with a

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leather strap that cracked as she unwrapped it. A journal.

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The leather was dark, almost black with age, but still intact.

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A rusted iron clasp held it shut. Sasha took a breath.

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This might be useful. She worked the class blose. It

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took effort, it hadn't been opened in years. A sharp

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metallic snap then a shudder as the leather flexed. She

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peeled it open carefully, revealing thick, yellowed pages, covered in tight,

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immaculate writing, and on the inside cover scrawled in deliberate

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blocky script, I am Eric Mahler, Engineer. If these pages

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are found, know that we are not all willing. We

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exchanged glances for a long second. No one said anything.

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Then Sasha turned the page and we began to read.

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May twelfth, nineteen forty five. I have arrived in South

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America at last. The journey was as surreal as it

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was harrowing. After months of uncertain passage by submarine and

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stolen air craft, we landed on foreign soil with the

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promise of salvation. The promise was whispered with fervor by

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those who orchestrated our passage, a promise of a new beginning,

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away from the ruins of a lost war. Dozens more

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arrived in the weeks that followed, Scientists with eyes bright

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from hope and despair, soldiers whose uniforms were astained with honor,

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as with regret. Families clinging to the belief that they

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too might start over. We were all emigrants of circumstance,

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united by the lie of salvation. In time, we began

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the construction of something vast, an underground complex that stretched

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out beneath the unforgiving jungle. We labored, our hands and backs,

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broken by ceaseless work. Slave labor, both forced and self imposed,

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carried bricks and mixed mortar in the dim light of torches.

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The complex was designed to be our haven. One day

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we would shelter as many as a thousand souls. Already

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the numbers grow, and each new arrival reinforces our resolve,

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though and gnawing doubt stirs at the edge of my mind.

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June third, nineteen forty five The days of growing colder,

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though the jungle remains unyielding in its humored embrace. Communications

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with Germany have all but ceased. At first, the higher

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ups maintained that the war raged on had justification to

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seal us inside this very bunker. But now with every

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passing day, I find my certainty waver. The radios have

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fallen silent, and the orders we once received from Afar

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and nothing but echoes of a past that no longer exists.

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Inside these walls, the leadership insists we remain sealed in.

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They assure us that outside the chaos reigns that our

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isolation is the only means to preserve the future. Yet

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I wonder, if the war has truly ended, why must

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we be locked away in the dim corridors. I hear

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the soft laughter of children, the sound both haunting and tender.

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New life has been born here in the dark recesses

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of this underground world. They grow up, knowing nothing of sunlight.

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Their only lullaby the hum of machinery and the distant

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groans of the bunker. I cannot shake the feeling that

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we are no longer the architects of our fate, but

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rather subjects in a grand experiment. The silence from the

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outside grows ever more oppressive, and with each passing day,

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the control exerted by those of the helm titens like

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a noose. I fear what might come next, and I

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write these words in the hope that they may serve

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as a warning should anyone ever find them. September fourteenth,

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nineteen forty six. I have not written in some time.

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The work has consumed us all. But it is not

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construction that keeps our hands busy now in his research.

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Though I am an engineer by trade, I am often

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called to assist with logistics and infrastructure in section three,

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the medical wing. It is there that the whispers began.

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They called it Project Morgan Mint, the Man of Tomorrow.

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Project a rebirth, they say, a better human, a stronger

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on one who will be ready when the Reich rises again,

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if not in this lifetime than the next. I've seen

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the files. The injections are not just vitimin serums or

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nutritional supplements, as they claim in official meetings. There are compounds.

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I do not recognize, radiation laced fluids, growth accelerants, even

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samples rumor to be derived from fungi found deep within

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the jungle. Some subjects are brought in at night, barely conscious.

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Others are volunteers selected with honors, but none of them

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returned to the dormitories. A man named Dieta, a chemical

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assistant from Sector two, questioned the project openly last week.

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He was gone by morning. We were told he had

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requested a reassignment to an external outpost. I don't believe

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that outposts exist. Three nights ago, while checking airflow systems,

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I paused near the ventilation shafts above the lower levels.

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I heard something, a scream, not of pain, but of

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pure confusion. It was drawn out in hollow, like someone

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was trying to scream, all underwater. Then came the thud,

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something slamming against the docted work. Once twice. They sounded

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like heavy slaps. I have stopped asking questions, but I

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haven't stopped writing them down. February seventh, nineteen forty seven.

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We were lied to. There is no Reich, there is

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no war, there is no Germany waiting to be reborn.

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One of the young technicians and communications Rudolph barely twenty,

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smuggled in a radio from the surface during a supply rotation,

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a homemade receiver tuned to civilian frequencies. He played a

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broadcast for US clear as a bell a station out

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of Santiago, Chile, a full broadcast in Spanish, music, advertisements,

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and politics. We lost long ago. The higher ups knew.

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They have known this entire time, all of it. The isolation,

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the lockdowns, the rationing, the indoctrination was to keep us here,

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to maintain a closed system, a laboratory, not a refuge.

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When the truth spread, there was panic, yelling in corridors,

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officers pulling side arms. Rudolph was taken, so were the

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three others who heard the broadcast directly. They said it

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was a security breach, that outside voices are contaminated. A

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few of us discuss mutiny quietly in passing. It lasted

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two days before some one betrayed us. I was beaten,

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not enough to kill, just enough to remind. One man

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was dragged to Sector three. No one has seen him since.

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I believe now that we are no longer survivors, rather

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we are subjects. October twenty third, nineteen forty seven. It

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is happening too fast now. I can hardly keep track

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of the day's Sickness is everywhere, not just fatigue or malnutrition,

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but something deeper. Flesh turns soft, almost sponge like, eyes

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glaze over. Some have developed a sort of fever that

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doesn't burn the skin but warps the mind. Men forget

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how to walk, Women scream at nothing, and children are crying.

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The experiments have escaped containment. No one says it out loud,

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but everyone knows. It began with a breach in Sector three.

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A door left open, a containment cell damaged. The lights

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went out for less than two minutes, but it was enough.

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They don't resemble people anymore. One moved through the upper

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maintenance corridor. Last night, I didn't see it fully. It

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moved in a sluggish pace. I heard gasps, then nothing.

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When I returned with two others, there was no blood,

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just clothing. Three men gone with no sign of struggle,

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only the scent of salt and bile in the air.

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Today I opened a sealed supply crate in the communal hall.

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Inside were plastic wrapped packages. I read the labels coded

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sterile clinical protein units processed, but it was warm. I

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took a knife and cut one open. They were feeding

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us the failures. Some knew, some didn't, but we ate anyway.

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We had no choice. I vomited until nothing came out

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00:20:40,759 --> 00:20:49,920
but bile. I have not eaten since November ninth, nineteen

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00:20:50,039 --> 00:20:55,400
forty seven. This will be my final entry. There is

236
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no more order here, only rituals, grotesque imitation of structure.

237
00:21:02,279 --> 00:21:05,680
Men still wear uniforms. They marched the halls as if

238
00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:08,880
the Reich still listens, as if this place is anything

239
00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:12,559
but a grave. I was part of a small group

240
00:21:12,559 --> 00:21:16,119
who tried to escape. There was an auxiliary hatch built

241
00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:20,240
during the early days before the lockdowns. We found it

242
00:21:20,279 --> 00:21:24,200
behind the water reserves, hidden under rebar and rotten crates.

243
00:21:25,519 --> 00:21:29,720
Six of us planned to leave. We never made it

244
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:35,599
out together. Something followed us, a failed subject, if you

245
00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:39,279
can even call them that. I saw its face for

246
00:21:39,319 --> 00:21:43,839
the first time, a man on once new fissure. I

247
00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:48,160
think his skin had melted like wax and re formed

248
00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:53,000
in sagging layers. His jaw was unhinged, his ribs pulsed

249
00:21:53,039 --> 00:21:57,920
like gills. He moved without urgency, like a predator that

250
00:21:58,079 --> 00:22:02,839
knows nothing can escape. He crossed the jurgun against the

251
00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:06,200
wall with one arm. I saw bones snap through his

252
00:22:06,279 --> 00:22:10,400
thigh like dry kindling, and I screamed until her voice

253
00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:13,160
gave out. Then tried to run and slipped on the

254
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:17,559
floor and what remained of someone else. We sealed the

255
00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:22,079
hatch behind us, but I was injured. My leg is broken,

256
00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:29,079
I can't walk. I volunteer to stay. The others are gone, now,

257
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,519
up that ladder and back into a world that might

258
00:22:32,559 --> 00:22:36,559
not even be waiting for them. Maybe they'll make it back,

259
00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:43,839
maybe not. I no longer care. This journal will remain

260
00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:48,720
with me. If you are reading this, you must understand

261
00:22:50,279 --> 00:22:55,119
we were not all complicit, We were not all monsters.

262
00:23:00,079 --> 00:23:04,319
We didn't speak right away after the journal ended Sasha

263
00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:08,400
closed it with both hands, slowly, like it might shatter.

264
00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:13,119
She sat back on her heels, mouth slightly open, in

265
00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:17,519
a stun silence. Jonas had been pacing in a tight

266
00:23:17,599 --> 00:23:21,440
loop near the bed. Doctor Kettley hadn't moved at all.

267
00:23:22,519 --> 00:23:26,079
He stood by the desk, arms folded, staring at the

268
00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:30,599
floor like it owed him an answer. I couldn't think,

269
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:35,279
couldn't find a thread to hold on to. The words

270
00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:43,000
were still echoing. Then Kettley spoke, we can't stop here.

271
00:23:44,599 --> 00:23:48,960
I looked at him. What are you talking about? He

272
00:23:49,039 --> 00:23:55,279
turned toward us, slow and heavy. This journal is It's

273
00:23:55,319 --> 00:23:58,559
only a part of the picture. If half of what

274
00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:02,359
he described actually and down there, we owe it to

275
00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:06,279
history to see the rest. There could be evidence, proof,

276
00:24:06,599 --> 00:24:13,200
biological remnants. You want to find them, Sasha asked, her voiceless, hoarse,

277
00:24:13,839 --> 00:24:17,240
the things he described, I want to know if they're

278
00:24:17,279 --> 00:24:24,160
even real, he said. Jonas nodded, arms crossed tightly over

279
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:29,200
his chest. He's right, we're already in. We can't just

280
00:24:29,279 --> 00:24:34,920
run now, Jonas, We should run, Sasha said, rising to

281
00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:38,279
her feet. This isn't a science project. This is a

282
00:24:38,319 --> 00:24:41,839
mass grave, building a lie. There's a reason they sealed

283
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:47,720
it up. She looked at me, eyes raw, Tell me

284
00:24:47,839 --> 00:24:53,440
you don't want to keep going. I didn't answer. The

285
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:59,960
air was changing heavier close to sour. I hadn't noticed

286
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:04,319
until then, but it was there. Clinging to my clothes.

287
00:25:06,319 --> 00:25:11,200
Footsteps behind us. We turned to see Louis duck into

288
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,799
the room. His face was pale, a thin sheen of

289
00:25:14,839 --> 00:25:18,640
sweat catching the light from his head lamp. He looked

290
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,279
at each of us, then down at the journal in

291
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:26,839
Sasha's hands. I read a few more pages, he said.

292
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:32,079
I didn't want to, but I did. He swallowed hard.

293
00:25:32,599 --> 00:25:35,799
There's something wrong down here, and I don't want to

294
00:25:35,799 --> 00:25:40,720
be a part of it. We're going down, Jonah said.

295
00:25:41,559 --> 00:25:45,240
Louis stared at him, then turned to me. Don't go

296
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:56,400
with them. I didn't answer. A minute later he was gone.

297
00:25:57,039 --> 00:26:00,720
The air felt colder once he left. The stairs to

298
00:26:00,799 --> 00:26:05,400
the lower level had nearly rusted through, but the structure held.

299
00:26:06,279 --> 00:26:10,160
We descended one at a time, our boots clanging softly

300
00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:14,880
against the metal, echoing of the shaft. My head lamp

301
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:20,920
flickered once and stabilized. The damage was obvious from the start.

302
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,720
The walls were warped and bulging in place, like something

303
00:26:25,759 --> 00:26:29,920
had pressed from the other side with slow pressure. Entire

304
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:34,240
panels were cracked open, revealing tangled veins of rusted piping

305
00:26:34,519 --> 00:26:39,279
and torn cables. One segment of the ceiling had collapsed inward.

306
00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:44,240
We dugged beneath it, crawling through to reach the next corridor.

307
00:26:45,759 --> 00:26:49,079
As we moved farther down the corridor, the signs of

308
00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:52,720
collapse became less like age and more like a struggle.

309
00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:58,519
The walls were scarred with impact marks, some shallow, some

310
00:26:58,599 --> 00:27:03,039
punched in deep. Sasha brushed her hand across the jagged

311
00:27:03,079 --> 00:27:06,920
hole near a doorway. Her fingers came away, flaked with

312
00:27:07,079 --> 00:27:13,720
rust and something darker beneath it. Bullet holes, Doctor Kettley

313
00:27:13,759 --> 00:27:21,359
said quietly. Close range. We looked around and they were everywhere,

314
00:27:22,599 --> 00:27:27,119
pock marked across the hallway, clustered around corners near doorways.

315
00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:31,200
Sum heard fragments of brass casings still embedded in the

316
00:27:31,279 --> 00:27:35,480
cracks between the floor tiles. Others were surrounded by long,

317
00:27:35,559 --> 00:27:42,599
dried splashes of what could only be blood someone, maybe many,

318
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:47,559
had tried to fight whatever got out. The rooms on

319
00:27:47,599 --> 00:27:52,319
this level had no beds, just rusted restraints, shelves of

320
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:58,359
ruined medical equipment. Doctor Kettley stepped ahead, his lamp, tracing

321
00:27:58,519 --> 00:28:05,000
an open door. He froze. I turned to ask what

322
00:28:05,079 --> 00:28:14,000
he saw, but before I could speak, I heard it breathing, wet,

323
00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:20,839
strained like air, pushed through mucus and ruined lungs. Then

324
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,359
something shifted in the dark. As shape moved at the

325
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:30,519
edge of our light. Gurgling followed, long and low. I

326
00:28:30,559 --> 00:28:34,000
felt the breath leave my body as something inside me

327
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:41,279
screamed to run. It was hunched in the corner, facing

328
00:28:41,319 --> 00:28:45,400
away from us, a towering shape with limbs bent at

329
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:49,279
wrong angles and skin stretched too far to hold what

330
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:54,000
was inside. It was the shape of a man barely

331
00:28:55,319 --> 00:28:59,160
Its skin was wet and sagging, shiny with dark sweat

332
00:28:59,359 --> 00:29:03,440
or fluid, parts of it clinging to the bone, other

333
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:10,720
parts slowing off in folds where its joints met elbows, knees, shoulders.

334
00:29:11,599 --> 00:29:15,359
Black fluid oozed freely and pulled on the floor in thick,

335
00:29:15,759 --> 00:29:23,000
tar like globs. It was wearing something, or what remained

336
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:30,079
of something. A uniform, torn threadbare, stretched unto the fabric,

337
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:34,960
had embedded itself into flesh. The buttons were still there,

338
00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:41,160
the collar fused to its body. One barefoot dragged behind

339
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:45,720
it grotesquely swollen and raw. The heel split open like

340
00:29:45,799 --> 00:29:50,400
old fruit. The other foot thudded when it moved, heavy

341
00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:57,359
and wet, and its face, no, it wasn't a face,

342
00:29:58,519 --> 00:30:02,920
a mound of pale pull sagging and twitching, with holes

343
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:07,960
where features should have been. No eyes, just dark impressions,

344
00:30:08,319 --> 00:30:13,359
like the sockets had collapsed inward long ago. Then it

345
00:30:13,519 --> 00:30:19,319
sniffed a wet, rattling inhale that sounded like fluid bubbling

346
00:30:19,319 --> 00:30:24,640
in a train pipe, and it turned toward us. Its

347
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:29,640
mouth opened wide. He released the groan, slow and shuddering

348
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:34,160
like a child. The sound echoed off the walls, wet

349
00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:37,519
and heavy, and it slapped the wall with one massive hand,

350
00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:42,799
leaving a smear of black. Doctor Kettley whispered something I

351
00:30:42,799 --> 00:30:48,400
couldn't hear. His light dropped slightly, his hands trembled. The

352
00:30:48,519 --> 00:30:56,559
thing stepped forward. We ran The hallway behind us felt

353
00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:59,880
longer than before. Our boots hid the floor with a front,

354
00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:05,720
lights bouncing wildly off the walls. Behind us. Came the

355
00:31:05,759 --> 00:31:09,960
sound of meat hitting concrete, a sound that wasn't quite footsteps,

356
00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:15,119
but not quite crawling either. Doctor Kettley tripped near a

357
00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:21,519
broken section of piping, I turned too late. The thing

358
00:31:21,799 --> 00:31:25,680
reached him in a blink. One bloated hand wrapped around

359
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:30,279
his waist and lifted him like a doll. Kettley's scream

360
00:31:30,519 --> 00:31:38,440
tore through the hallway, then a crack. We kept running.

361
00:31:40,359 --> 00:31:43,400
Jonas was ahead of me, nearly at the bulkhead we'd

362
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:47,759
come through when it happened. Jonas reached the doorway. He

363
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:51,480
turned to seal it. Tried to pull the reinforced door shut.

364
00:31:52,359 --> 00:31:55,480
The creature's arm whipped around the corner like it was liquid.

365
00:31:56,680 --> 00:32:02,599
A tendril slid into Jonas's mouth fast. His body arked violently,

366
00:32:03,039 --> 00:32:06,680
feet lifting off the ground. As he convulsed. His eyes

367
00:32:06,759 --> 00:32:13,720
went wide, then rolled back. His limbs flailed once twice,

368
00:32:14,599 --> 00:32:20,440
then stopped. He collapsed, twitching once before going completely still.

369
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:26,759
The thing retracted its arms slowly. I backed away and

370
00:32:26,839 --> 00:32:32,400
realized I was the only one left. I kept to

371
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:36,400
the left wall, then the right, mentally tracing every turn

372
00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:40,000
we took. On the way down. My chest burned, my

373
00:32:40,119 --> 00:32:45,119
legs wanted to give, but something beneath it all instinct

374
00:32:45,319 --> 00:32:49,519
kept me upright. And then I saw the hatch we

375
00:32:49,599 --> 00:32:54,039
came from. Relief hit like a punch to the gut

376
00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:58,039
so sharp it made me stagger. I climbed up the

377
00:32:58,119 --> 00:33:05,359
ladder and grabbed the iron wheel. Turned it nothing. It

378
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:11,000
didn't budge. I tried again, planted my feet, pulled harder.

379
00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:17,319
The bolts groan faintly, but it didn't give. I felt

380
00:33:17,319 --> 00:33:21,400
along the edges. There were no brakes, no external damage,

381
00:33:21,559 --> 00:33:27,599
no collapse. The mechanism hadn't failed. It had been sealed

382
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:34,039
from the other side. Lewis who must have heard something

383
00:33:34,039 --> 00:33:37,680
from the outside, or panicked, or maybe closed it wrong

384
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:43,559
on accident. My fists hid the hatch again and again, pained,

385
00:33:43,559 --> 00:33:49,599
booming across my knuckles. I yelled, screamed his name, no

386
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:59,319
response behind me. Moisture, the faintest vibration underfoot, followed by

387
00:33:59,359 --> 00:34:04,119
the moan. I shut off my light, backed into the dark.

388
00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,320
The crawl space I'd found was barely wide enough to

389
00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:12,719
fit through an old maintenance shaft, lined with torn conduit

390
00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:16,760
and brittle cables. I didn't think about what might be

391
00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:20,480
in it. I just dropped on my knees and slid inside,

392
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:24,960
scraping my ribs against the stone, arms, shaking as I

393
00:34:25,039 --> 00:34:31,559
pulled myself deeper. I stopped maybe fifteen feet in, tucked

394
00:34:31,599 --> 00:34:36,840
between two collapsed pipe junctions, Curled as tightly as I could,

395
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:40,840
My chest rose and fell so fast I was afraid

396
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:44,199
the sound of my breathing would give me away. I

397
00:34:44,199 --> 00:34:50,840
clamped my hand over my mouth and waited. The thing

398
00:34:51,199 --> 00:34:56,239
came into view, slowly, just light at first, bouncing dimly

399
00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,000
from a lamp still lying in the hallway behind me.

400
00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:05,760
Then the sound. There was a strip of fabric barely

401
00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:09,239
holding to the remains of a coat or uniform, A

402
00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:12,519
piece of cloth fused into the rotten flesh of the

403
00:35:12,559 --> 00:35:20,840
Great's chest, barely hanging on a name tag Marla. The

404
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:27,760
lettering was faded, but clear enough, Eric Marler. It paused

405
00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:31,920
near the hatch. I couldn't see it clearly anymore, but

406
00:35:32,039 --> 00:35:37,280
I could hear it. It slapped the walls, sniffed the air, loud,

407
00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,639
gurgling in hails, like a drowning animal struggling to taste

408
00:35:41,639 --> 00:35:49,079
something lost. Then he began to speak, not full words,

409
00:35:49,679 --> 00:36:02,039
but it tried anyway, Hugh, Hey, mine calm. I squeezed

410
00:36:02,039 --> 00:36:10,639
my eyes shut and held my breath. I don't know

411
00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:13,880
how long I stayed in that cruel space. My joints

412
00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:18,199
had gone stiff, my mouth dry as bone, My flashlight

413
00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:21,719
had long since died, and even the fear was beginning

414
00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:26,840
to thin, giving way to something worse, the quiet belief

415
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:30,159
that this was it, that I would die down here.

416
00:36:31,679 --> 00:36:36,280
I'd stopped listening for it, the thing, I thought maybe

417
00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:38,760
it had a lost interest, or maybe it didn't need

418
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:46,679
to hunt any more. Then light flooding in from the corridor,

419
00:36:47,199 --> 00:36:51,760
warm and golden, not the sterile white of her head lamps,

420
00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:57,320
but sunlight, pure and alive, crashing through the darkness, like

421
00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:04,840
a resurrection. In a voice, familiar, human, cracking with panic

422
00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:11,000
and gilt. I came back a pause. I'm sorry I left.

423
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:20,599
Are you there, Lewis? My body reacted before my mind could,

424
00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:24,119
but I wasn't the only one who heard him. I

425
00:37:24,159 --> 00:37:28,239
scrambled out of the crawl space, half crawling, half tumbling.

426
00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:32,880
My legs screamed, blood rushing back into numb muscles. As

427
00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:37,239
I ran full tilt toward the hatch. The air stank

428
00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:42,000
of heat and rot. The moon behind me grew louder closer,

429
00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:47,360
the floor shook beneath its weight. Louise's face appeared in

430
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:52,719
the open hatch above, eyes, wide, flashlight in one hand. Hey,

431
00:37:53,119 --> 00:37:58,159
what's going on? He yelled? I threw myself at the ladder,

432
00:37:58,639 --> 00:38:03,039
missed the first rung slam. My shin climbed anyway. My

433
00:38:03,119 --> 00:38:07,079
fingers fumbled for grip the metal slick with sweat and grime.

434
00:38:08,119 --> 00:38:13,920
Louis reached down, grabbed my arm. He pulled. As my

435
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:17,719
head crested the hatch. I felt the pressure shift behind me,

436
00:38:18,559 --> 00:38:22,239
a blast of heat, and a wet sound. The thing

437
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:27,480
was at the base of the ladder, I screamed. Louis

438
00:38:27,519 --> 00:38:30,599
pulled harder, and I cleared the opening just as a

439
00:38:30,639 --> 00:38:34,880
wet mass slammed against the underside of the hatch. He

440
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:40,039
slammed it shot. The thud echoed like a gunshot, metal

441
00:38:40,119 --> 00:38:45,360
shaking under the impact. We stood there in the clearing,

442
00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:50,360
both of us heaving for breath. I bent over with

443
00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:53,480
my hands on my knees, trying to slow my heart.

444
00:38:54,679 --> 00:38:59,119
Louis paced in wide, frantic circles, wiping sweat from his face,

445
00:38:59,639 --> 00:39:02,639
mouth working like he wanted to say a dozen things

446
00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:07,800
but couldn't pick one. Then he turned to me, eyes

447
00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:17,400
wide hollow. Where's Sasha, he asked? I didn't answer. What

448
00:39:17,519 --> 00:39:22,880
about Jonas and the professor? What happened down there? What

449
00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:29,800
was that thing? My lips parted, but nothing came out.

450
00:39:31,199 --> 00:39:34,880
I opened my mouth again, tried to form words, but

451
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:38,320
it was like they were stuck behind everything I had

452
00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:46,639
just seen felt. Lewis stepped closer. Tell me what happened.

453
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:59,039
They're gone, I finally said, I just they're gone. He

454
00:39:59,079 --> 00:40:01,760
stared at me for a long time, like he was

455
00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:06,199
trying to read something I couldn't put into words. Then

456
00:40:06,639 --> 00:40:13,000
slowly he pulled out his phone. I'm calling someone, he muttered.

457
00:40:14,679 --> 00:40:18,119
He stepped a few feet away, murmuring into the speaker,

458
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:25,639
giving what details he could location, injuries, urgency. I just

459
00:40:25,679 --> 00:40:29,920
stood there, numb, watching the hatch like he might start

460
00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:37,880
rattling again, but it didn't. We left before they arrived.

461
00:40:38,599 --> 00:40:40,880
Neither of us wanted to be there when they opened

462
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:45,480
it again, if they opened it again, but we knew

463
00:40:45,559 --> 00:40:51,519
we had to stay, and so we did. A few

464
00:40:51,599 --> 00:40:58,079
days passed. The authorities came, local police first, then federal agents,

465
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:03,159
and finally some one in clean uniforms with no names

466
00:41:03,199 --> 00:41:07,159
on their jackets. They wouldn't say who they worked for,

467
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:11,639
only that the Sight was under investigation and we were

468
00:41:11,679 --> 00:41:19,719
advised not to speak to the press. Weeks later, I

469
00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:25,519
got a call. Lewis was on the other end, voice low.

470
00:41:27,559 --> 00:41:33,440
They found it. He said everything, the bonker, the journal,

471
00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:43,760
all of it. And I asked. He went quiet. No bodies,

472
00:41:44,519 --> 00:41:54,280
he said, finally, No people, no creatures. I didn't respond.

473
00:41:56,039 --> 00:42:01,280
This could have only meant one thing. They got out