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Speaker 1: I wouldn't say we were evil, just bored. Eighteen years old,

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first semester of college, two cocky for our own good.

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Me and Derek mostly kept to ourselves. We weren't jocks

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or frat types. We just liked messing with people. And

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Jeremy was easy. He sat in the front row every class,

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always took perfect notes, didn't talk to anyone like literally,

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not once did I hear the guy make small talk,

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even with professors. Just walked in with that same weird

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little leather note book, eyes forward, no phone, no earbuds.

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Who does that? It was like he was LARPing as

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a nineteen fifties honors student. Plus, there was something about

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him that rubbed people the wrong way, not that they

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ever said it out loud, but everyone knew he was off,

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like he didn't understand how other people worked. He never

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got sarcasm, never reacted to jokes. If you bumped into

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him in the hallway and said my bad, he'd just

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stare at you like he was trying to decide what

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species you were. He was rich, too, That didn't help.

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His parents owned heartly by Logics, this huge farmer lab

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that basically funded half the scholarships on campus, dead billboards

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all over town with pictures of babies and smiling doctors,

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clean white font, soft lighting, innovation from molecule to miracle.

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Jeremy didn't act like a rich kid though, no flashy clothes,

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no car. He wore the same beat up brown hoodie

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almost every day. Derek and I started off small, just

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dumb things, swapping out with his pens, hiding his bag

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during lunch, calling him weird and embarrassing nicknames. He never

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said a word back. He didn't even look at us

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half the time, just kept walking, notebook clutched to his

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chest like it was worth more than his spine. That

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annoyed Derek more than anything. The way Jeremy acted like

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we weren't even there. It was Derek's idea to check

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his locker. Said it was a social service, whatever the

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hell that meant. Mostly we were just bored between classes,

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and Jeremy was always gone for lunch, probably hiding somewhere

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with that stupid notebook of his scribbling equations or drawing

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alchemy symbols or whatever weird stuff he was into. The

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lockers weren't even locked. They were those old metal ones

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with a padlock loop. But most people just use the

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built in latch. Jeremy's was witch shut with a pencil

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of razor, like he really thought that would keep anyone out.

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Derek popped it open with a single pull. Inside books

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all stacked perfectly. Note books, a couple of protein bars

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in a zip lock, no decorations, nothing to allude to

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the fact that a human was using this locker. It

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looked more like a filing cabinet. What kind of psycho

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keeps the locker this clean, Derek muttered, flipping through a binder.

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Does he sleep in ear too? I was the one

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who found the paper, folded and tucked behind a text book.

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Looked like a grocery list at first, but then I

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opened it up and realized it was directions and left

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at the red house into the tree line. Walk until

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you see the broken fence, past the creek wooden cap

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in north facing door. Just that and at the bottom

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scribbled several times. Make sure not to forget. Derek leaned

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over my shoulder and squinted. Dude, what the hell I grinned?

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Told you he was up to something. Derek took the

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paper and held it like it was radioactive. You think

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this is like where he goes to play wizard or something.

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Who knows what that kind of kid gets up to

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in his little hideout in the woodsman. Derek snorted, weird

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little freak. We were still laughing about it. Where we

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walked into kem lecture. Jeremy was already there front row,

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has always writing something in that ugly brown notebook. We

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slid into the row behind him. Hey, Jeremy, Derek whispered,

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no response, You forget something. Jeremy didn't turn around, just

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kept writing. I tapped the back of his chair with

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my foot. We found your directions, man, you know red house,

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broken vents, secret helf cabin. What's out there? Your moon crystal?

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He froze pen midstroke. His shoulders locked up, and for

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a second I thought he might actually say something. Derek

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cleaned in voice louder, What do you even have in

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there that's so important? He reached over and snatched the

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notebook out of Jeremy's hands. Jeremy spun around, eyes wide,

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don't he started, But Derek already had opened it. He

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flipped to a random page and squinted. This hummund, hummund, dude,

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what is this? This humunculus has shone from it. Jeremy screamed,

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not yelled, screamed high and sharp, like we just lit

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him on fire. He lunged forward and ripped the note

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bug from Derek's hands so fast and nearly tore in half.

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Derek toppled over, and Jeremy just turned and ran out

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of the room, clutching it to his chest like a

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wounded animal. Everyone in the room went silent. I felt

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the heat in my face. Jeremy had, by all means,

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just embarrassed us. Derek sat there for a second, jaw slack.

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Then he blinked and said, did he seriously just do

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that to us? I shrugged. Guess we had a nerve.

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He looked at me, then at the door Jeremy had

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vanished through. Dude. I said, let's go to his little hideout.

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Derek frowned. What, Yeah, let's see what he was so

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adamant to hide from us, I said, confidently. The walk

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started off easy. Once we spotted the Red House, a

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little squat place with peeling paint and a rusted mailbox.

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We turned left like the direction said, and stepped into

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the tree line. Branches curled overhead, thin and brittle. Everything

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underfoot was damp, patches of old leaves and broken twigs,

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all softened by rot. It wasn't raining, but the air

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had waked to it, heavy with moisture, cold too, an

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early autumn kind of cold. We followed the directions carefully,

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as carefully as we could from my memory and Derek's groans.

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The path got clearer the deeper we went. At first

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I thought we were just making good time, but then

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I realized the ground had been worn down. Something or

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someone had been walking this way a lot. The grass

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was crushed flat, no fresh prints, but the path was obvious.

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Fifteen minutes in we spotted it through the trees. The cabin.

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It sat, hunched at the edge of a shallow clearing,

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small weathered croked just enough to make your head tilt

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as seel. Square window at the front, clouded with grime.

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Derek slowed down behind me. This the place I didn't hesitate.

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You see any other cabins nearby. The door wasn't locked.

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I pushed on it, and the hinges gave a low,

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drawn out creak. Inside it was dark, no windows on

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the sides, or if there were any, they were blocked off.

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We clicked on our flashlights and stepped in Jeremy. Derek

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called you home, no response. The air was stale, and

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the cabin was one room, mostly empty. There was a

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wooden shelf against the left wall, lined with a few

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closed boxes, a workbench beneath the window, scratched and stained

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but white clean, an old sink in the corner, the

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kind with a hand pump. Well, nothing in air looks fun,

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Derek muttered, shining his light across the floorboards. I was

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about to respond when my beam landed on something at

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the back of the room. A square cut into the floor,

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barely visible from the way the boards lined up, and

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a heavy iron runged trapdoor set within the hinges, and

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a recessed handbill. I stepped closer. There were scuff marks

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around the edge, some smudges of dirt, and other details

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that made it easy to assume that this hatch was

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used frequently. Derek stepped up beside me and whistled, low,

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Guess this is where the real free show starts. I

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reached down and pulled the handle and listened as the

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door opened, cold air drifted up from below. The hatch

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opened with more effort than I expected. My arm shook

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by the time it finally gave The air that came

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up wasn't foul, but it was cold and dry, with

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a faint hint of chemicals I couldn't name. We stared

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down into the narrow stairwell, wood at first, then concrete,

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no railing. The flashlight beams stretched just far enough to

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catch the bottom steps. Derek hesitated behind me. Are we

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even sure this is his cabin? He asked? You really

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going to act scared? Now? Who else would it belong to?

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I said, as I stepped down each step and flexed

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under my weight. Once we hid the concrete section, the

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sound changed, less groaning wood, more hollow echo. At the bottom,

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the passage flattened out. We stopped in front of a

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steel door, tall and wide enough to belong in a

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fall out shelter. It had no markings, just a bolt

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lock across the center and a long horizontal handle beneath it.

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I slid the bolt free, the metal resisted. It squeaked

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half way, then gave I raised my voice, Jeremy, come

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out freak. It echoed down the hall behind us and

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disappeared no reply. I looked at Derek and the best

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words he could muster rop were a shrug and a

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dumb expression. I gripped the handle and pulled. The space

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beyond wasn't big, but it was dense, maybe twenty feet across,

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maybe more. The flashlight beams skated over cold surfaces, steel counters,

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scuffed tile, tall metal shelving units packed tight with containers

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and glassware. Beakers and clips adorned the area. None of

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it looked abandoned. The dust was minimal, the floor was clean.

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This place had been used recently, maybe even today. There

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were two doors at the far end of the room

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plane no labels. My eye caught a set of glass

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cylinders built into the side wall, some empty, others too

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murky to see inside. One of them held something pale

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or maybe just sediment. Step beside me, Does this not

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look like a lab he said, and nodded slowly. I

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guess it kind of does. We walked further in boots,

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soft on the tile, flashlights cutting through the dim and

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still no sign of Jeremy anywhere. We approached the two

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doors on the other side and chose the door on

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the right. It wasn't locked, just the push plate and handle.

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The hinges groaned as it opened, and the lights fell

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into the room beyond. It was colder in there. In

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the center of the room stood a surgical table, stainless steel,

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tilted slightly, fitted with shoulder restraint and a dark draying

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Beneath it. A folded towel sat at the edge, stiff

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with something dry and reddish brown. To my left was

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a tray of instruments scalpels, clamps, scissors, neatly arranged, all

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clean IV bags hung from an aluminium stand in the corner.

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Two of them were full. Another lay collapse on the floor.

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Above the table was a surgical lamp with three segmented

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arms frozen mid adjustment, aimed down as if expecting someone.

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At this point, we both knew we were in a

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place we had no business being in there, but we

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had gone too far to turn back. Neither of us

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wanted to wuss out. Derek moved closer to the stack

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of boxes. His parents really let him play scientists in

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the woods. I looked around the room and said, it

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does look like some extreme kind of role play to me.

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Derek went quiet for a second. Then dude, I can't

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wait to tell everybody about this, especially now that I said.

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As I moved closer to the stack of boxes. Derek

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was standing next to. They were cardboard and stamped in blue,

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hardly by logics. Derek saw them too. His flashlight hovered

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over the logo for a second. We know we have

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the right person. Derek gave out a half hearted chuckle

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and turned back to the hallway. Let's check the other room.

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Maybe that's where he is. The second door was heavier

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than the first. I had to lean my shoulder into

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it to get it moving. The hinges protested the hallway

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we stepped in. Last thing I noticed was the glow,

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a soft green light humming from the far wall. It

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cast everything in a low aquatic haze, flickering faintly with movement.

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Rows of tall, cylindrical pods lined the walls, maybe eight

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feet in height two feet across. Each one was filled

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with a thick liquid, not water, something heavier, slightly viscous,

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almost gelatinous. The way it moved, shapes floated inside them,

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some small, some large, all of them indistinct, bloated silhouettes.

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I couldn't tell if they were alive or just suspended there.

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Some were curled in on themselves, others just hung. A

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few pots were empty. One was cracked instead, watching the

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surface of the liquid as it rippled faintly beneath the

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green light. Derek stood behind me, silent. I muttered, more

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to myself than anything. Now this doesn't look like role play.

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Maybe this actually belongs to his parents, Derek quipped. We

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didn't hear it right away. The room hummed with low power,

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not machinery exactly, just the background noise of his system

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still alive. Shuffling from the far end, just beyond the

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last row of pods, slow at first, like something dragging

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across the floor, A wet movement, almost muffled. We stopped, Jeremy,

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Derek called out, his voice echoed against metal and glass.

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We know you're there. No response. The shuffling continued, like

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it knew where it was going, accompanied by a low, rustling,

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almost moist sound, something between breathing and licking. We began

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walking toward it, running on nothing but pure unadulgerted confidence.

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A flashlight shook a little in our hands. Derek's beam flickered, stuttered,

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then steadied again. The sound grew clearer. Now it was

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easy to identify the sounds of scratching, licking, and breathing.

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I stopped walking. My throat was dry. I could sense

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something was wrong, Jeremy, I whispered, Still nothing, but the

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noise didn't stop. It was coming closer, Still no footsteps.

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I raised my flashlight a little, focusing toward the back

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row of pods, where the green glow was weakest. Then

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something moved. It came from around the far side of

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one of the large cylinders. I thought it was a

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person crouched low to the ground, crawling, but then it rose.

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My flashlight caught the shape full on. I froze and

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it did as well. It stood upright, but barely. Its

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spine bowed forward, forcing the thing into a permanent hunch.

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The legs were too long Ditgiti, grayed like a dog's,

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with tendons visible under paper thin skin. Feet splayed wide,

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four toes, clawed, human in shape but not in function.

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The arms hung low, longer than they should have been,

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fingers ending in nails. They looked more like cracked hoofs

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than claws. Its skin was uneven, mottled gray and pale brown,

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dry in some spots and slick in others, like parts

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of it had dried out while the rest kept growing.

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Tufts of coarse hair clung to the back of its

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neck and spine. Patchy and unclean. One shoulder looked almost

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normal human muscle, familiar shape, but the other was swollen,

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bunched with asymmetrical tissue, a mass that pulled slightly when

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it moved. Its face was pointed, stretched forward into a

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narrow snout, but not quite long enough to be animal.

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The skin there was tight, almost translucented pulled too hard

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across a skull that didn't match. Its eyes were white

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set and cloudy, rimmed in red. There were no eyelids.

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And then the jaw opened, not down but out. The

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skin around its mouth split in four directions, revealing a

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dark gullet and rows of teeth that spiraled inward rather

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than back. It sniffed the air once, quick and shallow.

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Then it came at us. Derek screamed as it collided

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with him, knocking him backward into the side of the table.

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He hit the floor hard, flashlights scattering across the tiles.

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The thing dropped on top of him, hands slapping the

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ground for balance. Mouth opened wide enough to split the

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skin at the corners. I didn't think. I just grabbed

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the nearest thing I could find, a metal rod leaned

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against the wall, and swung it at the creature's side.

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The hit landed and it shrieked, not high, pitched deep.

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It rolled off Derek and stumbled sideways, knocking into one

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of the pods as if flailed. The glass cracked then

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gave way. Green liquid spilled across the floor, thick and slow.

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Something inside the pod hid the ground with a heavy slap,

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curled pale, twitching. It looked like a combination of an

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anteater and a human. It twitched again, then moved arms,

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dragging its body forward like it didn't understand how joints

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were supposed to work. Derek scrambled to his feet. His

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shirt was torn, shoulder bleeding. We turned toward the hallway,

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but another pod cracked, then another hairline fractures spied a

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webbed across the glass, and one of the smaller ones

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burst outright, releasing something lean and fast that landed in

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a crouch and snapped his head toward us. Then it sprinted.

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We ran. The first one grabbed at Derek's ankles, nearly

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dragging him down. I turned and swung the rod again,

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catching its arm with a solid thud. It didn't scream

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that time, almost like it was getting used to the sensation.

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Derek kicked himself free, and we bolted across the room,

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knocking over trays, kicking carts, anything to slow them down.

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Behind us, another pod exploded, more liquid, more movement. Derek

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tripped as we hit the edge of the room. His

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foot caught on a cable or a pipe, I couldn't tell,

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and he went down hard, arms out to catch himself.

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I spun around, grabbed his jacket and started yanking him up.

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But one of the things was already there. It came

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from the side, fast and low, hands slapping the tile.

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Its skin had a stretched, waxy look to it, thin

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hair spouting from its scalp in random clumps. It didn't

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look at me, just grabbed Eric's leg and started pulling

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backward with sharp jerking motions, like a dog trying to

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tear off a limb. Derek howled. I dropped the flashlight,

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gripped the rod in both hands, and slammed it down

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across the thing's arm. It didn't let go. It just hissed,

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turned its head to me with that split, chored grin.

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We were right next to the door. I dropped the

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rod and grabbed Derek with both arms, dug my heels

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in and pulled, removed maybe a foot, but that was

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all we needed. I let go of Derek, then grabbed

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the door and shoved it open. The creature's grip didn't loosen,

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so I did the only thing I could. I grabbed

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the edge of the door and slammed it into its

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arm once twice. On the third hit, I felt something

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give a crunch of bone and cartilage. It let out

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a gurgling wheeze and retracted fast, skittering back into the

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shadows and all fours. Derek crawled through. I followed, grabbed

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the handle and pulled the door shut behind us. The

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bolt barely slid in before something slammed into the other side.

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Ran up the stairs, boots slapping against concrete, lungs burning

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behind us. The pounding started again, dull thuds against the steel.

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By the time we stumbled back onto the road, the

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sun was nearly gone. The light was turning that strange

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color it gets right before dusk. Everything was washed in gray,

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the trees casting long shadows across the pavement. I couldn't

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feel my legs anymore. Derec was limping holding his side,

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and both of us were covered in dirt, blood, and

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something that smelled sour and metallic. We didn't say anything.

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There was nothing to say. I didn't even know which

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road we were on, just that it wasn't the one

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we came in on. A hundred yards later, a small

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one story house sat tugged behind a split rail fence.

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There was a man out front, pushing a rusted mower

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across the patch of grass. He stopped when he saw us.

333
00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:13,640
At first, he didn't move, just stared. Then he turned

334
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:17,680
the mower off and came towards us. You boys, all right,

335
00:28:18,279 --> 00:28:22,000
he asked. Then he took a better look at us.

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Come on. He brought us inside, sat us down at

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his kitchen table, clean place, smell like burnt coffee and

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old wood. He handed us a towel, then her phone.

339
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When the despatcher answered, I didn't tell them about the creatures.

340
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I didn't mention green fluid or split jaws. I just

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gave the address, told them we'd been attacked, told them

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some one needed to come fast. They said help was

343
00:28:54,279 --> 00:28:58,640
on the way. I hung up and finally looked at Derec.

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He hadn't stopped shaking. They came in under an hour,

345
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two cruisers at first, then her full team once the

346
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:13,039
officers got a good look at the place. We didn't

347
00:29:13,039 --> 00:29:16,400
go back to them. They told us to stay put

348
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:21,839
im ts checked us over while more cars arrived, unmarked ones.

349
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This time. Later I saw the footage on the news.

350
00:29:29,039 --> 00:29:31,960
They showed the cabin from the outside, lit up in

351
00:29:32,039 --> 00:29:36,640
blue and red, officers moving in and out. The anchor

352
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:41,519
called it a disturbing discovery, said authorities were looking into

353
00:29:41,559 --> 00:29:48,880
a suspected unauthorized research facility connected to Hardly biologics. What

354
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:54,960
they didn't show was the basement. I heard about it

355
00:29:55,039 --> 00:29:59,720
later during questioning. The steel door had been forced open.

356
00:30:00,839 --> 00:30:06,440
Inside they found the lab just like we described, operating table,

357
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:14,039
surgical equipment, dozens of shattered pods, but no creatures. They

358
00:30:14,119 --> 00:30:19,759
questioned us for hours, separately, then together, and back and forth.

359
00:30:20,839 --> 00:30:26,480
Eventually someone confirmed what we already knew. Jeremy had been

360
00:30:26,519 --> 00:30:32,119
picked up that night, found at home, calm cooperative. Said

361
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:36,920
he didn't know anything about a cabin. He was arrested,

362
00:30:37,799 --> 00:30:41,880
but no charges stuck, and everybody in the town knew why.

363
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:49,599
His family was already spinning the story before sunrise. I

364
00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:52,440
was in a hospital briefly, but they let me out

365
00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:57,519
the next morning. No broken bones, just bruises, a gash

366
00:30:57,559 --> 00:31:02,079
across my arm, and a mild concussion. I walked out

367
00:31:02,279 --> 00:31:06,640
under my own power, but I didn't feel right. Couldn't

368
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:11,200
tell if it was shock or something else. I didn't

369
00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:15,599
hear from Derek for days. He was still in the hospital,

370
00:31:16,559 --> 00:31:20,640
puncture wounds, fractured wrist, some nerve damage, and a messed

371
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:25,480
up ankle. He couldn't stand without help. They said it

372
00:31:25,559 --> 00:31:28,880
might take months for him to walk properly again, might

373
00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:34,160
not ever be the same. I visited him once. He

374
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:37,599
wouldn't look at me, just stared out the window and

375
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:40,920
kept clicking the morphine button, even when I knew the

376
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:46,920
dose had already maxed out. After that, I didn't go back.

377
00:31:50,079 --> 00:31:52,559
A Few days later, I got a call from the

378
00:31:52,599 --> 00:31:56,880
detective who'd interviewed me the night of the raid. His

379
00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:02,880
tone was clipped, professional, was tired. He told me the

380
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:07,480
charges against Jeremy weren't moving forward. Said the family had

381
00:32:07,519 --> 00:32:12,480
lawyers already working over time. Claimed we broke into private property,

382
00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:16,079
roffed of their son, trast a remote site used for

383
00:32:16,359 --> 00:32:21,519
authorized research. Jeremy's statement said he'd been targeted, that we

384
00:32:21,519 --> 00:32:27,480
were jealous, that we fabricated everything. The official report mentioned

385
00:32:27,559 --> 00:32:33,039
structural damage and chemical residue, but no mention of anything

386
00:32:33,079 --> 00:32:37,720
that breathed. Nothing about the pods, nothing about the bodies,

387
00:32:38,519 --> 00:32:44,039
not even a word about the metal door. They buried

388
00:32:44,079 --> 00:32:44,559
it all