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Speaker 1: Hullo. I'm welcome's stories all the time. Glad you are here.

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Let's get into it. I sit down, pop a piece

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of spearmint gum and watch the woman cross from me.

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She's nervous, her hands are fretting in her lap, and

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her eyes are blood shat long night, I ask. She

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looks up timidly. Her face is a wash in anxiety.

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She doesn't understand what's going on here. She doesn't understand

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what she's doing sitting inside in abandoned warehouse with an

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asshole twice her age. It's fine, I've seen it before, look,

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I say, listening the tie round my neck. It's just

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like I said. I only want to ask you a

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few questions, then you can go. Why here, she says

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in a small voice, This looks like the kind of

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place you take me to. I don't know, murder me.

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I crack a smile. She isn't wrong. You don't like it, it, prive.

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Besides that, it's probably the safest place in the world

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for you. Why do you have snipers on the rafters

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The sarcism in her voice, but her eyes flick to

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the steel walkways lining the walls. She pulls her sweater

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tighter around her, shivering at the draft. Or is this

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some secret government for us? No? And no. I lean

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back in the wooden chair and it gruns under my weight. Damn.

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Not as slim as I used to be. It's much simpler.

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I say this warehouse is the safest place for you,

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because I'm inside of it. It's not a lied, at

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least not entirely. Still, she gives me an incredulous look.

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It's the sword of look Wanrous serves for blow hers

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and narcissus, and I probably deserve it. Time to change gears.

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Tell me about the event. She studies me for several moments,

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and then shakes her head. On second thought, she says,

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picking up her purse, I think I prefer talking to

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the police. She stands up, makes to leave, and I

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don't stop her. Her foot folzico across the empty warehouse,

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the haphazard lighting casting her shadow in every direction. I

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hear her mutter something under her breath, but I can't

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make out the words. I probably don't want to. Then

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she stops. They always do. What's an event? She asks?

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I cook my pen and reach down for my board

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with a groan. The last job did I number on?

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My ribs. An event, I explain, is a paranormal phenomenon

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most commonly characterized by contact with ascension entity. To use

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a more common term of phrase, it means you stumbled

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across an urban legend. She swallows. At this distance, I

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can just barely make out her expression, but I already

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know I have her. I bring my pen to my

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clipboard and clear my throat. You said your name was

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Amanda Haynes. Correct. Yes, I scribbled it down and the

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event occurred two nights ago, just outside city limits in

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the Cascade Mountains. Her sneak is pattered across the concrete floor.

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As she returns to her chair, her expression shifts vaughn

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is the nervous shyness, the small posture, and the darting eyes.

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She's staring at me now, she's deciding whether she is

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in or out. Yes, she says at length, it was

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in the woods we were camping. I checked three more

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boxes on my clipboard. Stupendous so far the location matches

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up with previous sidings of the beast. I sigh, resting

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my clipboard on my lap and place my pen on

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top of it. Why don't we start from the top

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before we do, she says, narrowing her eyes. How do

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I know I can trust you? This feels so bizarre,

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I offer, dramatic, like I'm in an episode of The

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X Files. Fair point. You've seen my badge. Badges can

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be faked. I bring a hand to my face, tracing

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a long, deep scars. How about these? You don't get

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these working for television. She's quiet, skeptical, and her eyes

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drift down to the clip word on my lap. She's

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analyzing it, determining if it's a real government form or not.

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All things I've seen before. She wants to believe, but

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she isn't ready yet. Let me ask you this, I say,

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handing over the clipboard, she begins looking it over. When

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you told the search and rescue team a monster attack

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you did? They believe you? Her eyes meet mine, and

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I see it the surrender. She knows as well as

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I do that I'm her only shot. What she doesn't

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know is that she's my only shot too. I've been

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looking for this legend for close to forty years now,

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one might say it's been my life's work. I see

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your point, she concedes, Let's get this over with. She

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passes the clipboard back to me and I click my pen,

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bringing it to the box label encounter. All right, you

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said that you were camping. Who was with you? Just Rachel?

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She says, Her eyes are filled with something gilt. Maybe

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we'd been friends since elementary school. We hike together pretty often, ah,

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I say, noting her name on my clipboard. Rachel tolly

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correct the victim. Amanda nods. We went up to get

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a break from the doldrums of city life. Rachel just

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got out of a pretty serious relationship, and I didn't

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want her cooped up in that apartment, stuck with all

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those memories. Her voice cracks, emotions bows into her words.

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I suggested we take the weekend and go for a

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hike into the cascades. This an ultrail we spotted the

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last time we were up there, just off the main path.

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I said, we could follow that, see where it leads us.

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She brings a sleeve to her face, waving at forming tears.

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Rachel didn't want to, She said she was too depressed

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to shop for groceries, much less go on such a

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big hike. I convinced her eventually, though I see, I

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say quietly, how long was the hike? I don't know

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it was a really old trail, overgrown in parts. There

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weren't any mile markings. Ball pocket eight miles maybe. We

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left early that morning and it took us seven hours

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to get up there. I whistle, scratching at my gut.

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That's quite a walk. It's not that bad. Honestly, we'd

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both done longer hikes on harder trails. We actually didn't

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go as far as we intended. Why's that We came

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across an old cabin. It was run down with shattered windows,

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and it looked like it hadn't been lived in for decades.

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My breath catches. I swallowed the excitement before it has

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a chance to leak into my voice. A cabin, she nods,

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I've gone looking for that cabin a hundred times. It

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was never there. What sort of cabin? Her eyes leave mine.

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They're gazing off at some distant point on the ground. Transixed,

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she is replaying the memory. We figure it must have

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been an old ranger cabin, which would explain the overgrown

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trail that led us there. She pauses, her mouth hanging open,

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words struggling to break free. Rachel suggests, instead of using

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our tents, we could just stay inside of it. I

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remind her the windows are busted and it's the middle

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of November. Plus it's probably filled with spiders. She says,

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all the better, let's set up our tents inside the cabin,

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double the protection. A man in nows on her bottom lip,

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her voice growing smaller and smaller with each passing sentence.

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There's dark clouds above us. It was supposed to rain,

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but it looks worse than that, now, a lot worse.

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It looks like a storm's coming. So I agree, and

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we head inside to check the place out. What did

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it look like on the inside, It looked like a nest.

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We spend some time walking around it. It isn't very big.

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There's only a handful of rooms, but there's branches and

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leaves all over the floor. Every step we take there's

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a snap of a twig. The entrance leads to a

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small kitchen alcove with a woods stove and dining table.

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Past that, it opens up to a living room with

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some rotting chairs, and at the very end is a

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bedroom filled with splinters from a broken bed frame. The

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place is a mess. The layout sounds familiar. I can

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almost smell the cedar and feel the tusty warmth of

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the wood stove burning during cold December evenings. I check

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out the bedroom first, she says. I spot a couple

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of chattered picture frames. Call it the millennial blogger in me,

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or call it dumb curiosity, but I'm drawn to them.

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One is old, he yellowed and faded. It looks like

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it could be from the thirties. It's a picture of

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a young man and woman dressed to the nines, probably

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their wedding day. She smacks her lips and then looks

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up at me. Do you have anything to drink? I nod,

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of course. I reach down and uncasp my briefcase, opening

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it up to reveal a stack of documents and three

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water bottles, two filled with water, one filled with a

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black grime. I grabbed the two filled with water, crack

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them and pass one to her. We both take a sip. Thanks,

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she says, wiping her lips. All this talking works up athirst. Sure,

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I say, And the other picture, the other picture is

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more recent, I mean still, but not ancient. She laughs.

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But it's a nervous, self conscious laugh. It's a photo

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of an older guy and a young kit with this

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mess of black hair. The two of them are standing

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outside the cabin holding rifles. Interesting. Yeah, I figure it

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probably the ranger that lived though back when the cabin

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was operational. Before I can check out anything else, though,

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I hear a snap. It sounds like wood cracking in half,

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and then a crash. I dropped the picture for him,

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and Rachel starts screaming from the other room, streaming. I

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lean forward, my pen, scratching at the clipboard. It feels

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purely for the cowous man to appear. Certain criteria haven't

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been met yet. Still, if the work of my late

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colleagues has taught me anything, it's that legends can evolve,

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and I keep an open mind to that. Omanton nods here.

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She's screaming, bloody murder. I storm in there my bare

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mason hand, expecting to see a wolf or cougar, a bear,

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But I don't see shit. I don't even see Rachel.

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I call out to her and she calls back, but

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she's whimpering. The sound's coming from the pantry just outside

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the kitchen al cove. I look toward it, but I

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don't see her there. I jog over, wondering what the

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fuck is going on? When I catch sight of the

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floorboards inside of it. They are busted. It splintered and chattered.

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There's a dark hole in the ground, one big enough

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for a man to fit through. I almost have a

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heart attack when her arm reaches out of the blackness.

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A Manda closes her eyes, takes a deep breath. She

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shouts at me to get her out of there. I

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tell her to give me a second, and I take

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off my jacket and put it over the jutting pieces

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of broken fueboards because I don't want her getting impalled

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on the things. And then I've reached down and pull

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her up. She's bawling her eyes out, hyperventilating, and once

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she's firmly out of the pit, she's pointing to her foot.

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I ask her if she's hurt, and she tells me

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she thinks she twisted her ankle. Pieces of a Mana's

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event are beginning to connect in my mind. The twisted ankle,

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the panicked friend. They're all familiar ingredients, and the end

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dish is anything but delicious. She keeps talking. Rachel says

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we need to get help right now, and I'm a

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little fur enough by her panic. I mean, it's a

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twisted ankle, not a death sentence, right still, I pull

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out my phone and check for service. Predictably, there isn't any.

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I ask Rachel for hers, and she can hardly speak.

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She's still pointing, but this time it isn't at her foot.

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It's at a hole in the cabin floor. She keeps

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twimpering about dead things, over and over, dead things, dead things,

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dead things. I'm wondering if I just became a potty

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to my best friend, to having a psychotic break. But

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I give her the benefit of the doubt and check

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out the whole. It's dark enough that I can't see

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the bottom, so I flick on my phone's life. Her

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fingers play at the tips of her hair, tugging at it.

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It takes me a bit for my eyes to adjust,

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but once they do, my blood is cold. There's bones

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lettering the ground, dead bones, rabbit bones. Then there, at

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the edge of my vision, I catch out of a

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human skull. I'm swearing up a storm and my imagination's

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going haywire. Rachel's hysterical and I'm feeding into it. Both

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of us are repeating the words what the fog like?

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It's a personal mandra a. Manda takes a breath, holding

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it for a few moments. Use pumps line her arms.

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Even reciting the account is beginning to work her up.

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Then I remember I'm not living inside of a horror movie.

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I remember what I thought Rachel was screaming about in

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the first place. I tell her to relax. That is

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probably just a mountain lion or grizzlies dumping ground in

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the basement. I ask, sorry, she says hastily. I probably

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should have mentioned it earlier. But the cabins raised off

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the ground on these wooden stilts where I met. It

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helps thins avoid getting trapped beneath snow. There is a

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crawl space beneath it. I figure an animal was probably

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using the crawl space as some sort of shelter. I

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check a box on my form. The story matches up

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so far. At least the cabin's identical to the one

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in my memories. The question is, did she really encounter

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the cow's man or some mabi wolf. A human skull

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is a promising detail, but it's not like predators don't

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occasionally snack on hikers. A logical conclusion to draw, I

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00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:02,720
says it. Calm your friend down, yeah, Amanda says with

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a nod. Rachel starts to breathe a little slower. She

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relaxes a little. Eventually she's ready to try standing, and

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she can, but just barely. She limps over to a

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dusty wooden chair near the fireplace and sits down in it, grimacing,

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She tells me she doesn't think she can make it

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back down the mountain. There's a crack of thunder in

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the distance. I walk over to the windows and see

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the sun turning a blood red setting over the tree line.

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Storm clods are rolling in. Rain starts pitter pattering on

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the cabin roof. Rachel's groaning in pain, and she shows

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me her phone. It doesn't of service ader. You were

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picked up by a search and rescue team, were' you? Yes?

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How's that? If you had no way of contacting them?

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You weren't go longer than anticipated. Amanda sighs. I was

249
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just about to get to that. Actually, there's an undercurrent

250
00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:51,720
of annoyance in her tone. She clearly doesn't care for

251
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interruptions when she gets going. I lean back in my chair.

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All the better for me, like I said, Rachel, and

253
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I go on this sort of high. Pretty off me

254
00:13:00,919 --> 00:13:03,840
more than her, but still it come prepared all, whether

255
00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:06,240
clothing bear MAI's flint and steel. You name it, I

256
00:13:06,279 --> 00:13:08,840
got it. I dunk at corners, so I made sure

257
00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:11,279
to pack my GPS lo kt to beacon. It sends

258
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a one way distress signal. Ah, I say, noting it

259
00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:18,360
in the report a survivalist. The fire in her eyes

260
00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:21,960
falters and she pauses a moment of silent stretches between us,

261
00:13:22,039 --> 00:13:25,440
and when she starts talking again, her voice cracks. Not

262
00:13:25,559 --> 00:13:27,480
as much of a survivalist as I should have been.

263
00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:29,879
Rachel wants me to use it, but I tell her

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now odd hear me out. Amanda's eyes cannect with mine,

265
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and there's a pleading expression on her face, a desperation

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to be understood. Rachel was in any immediate danger, not then.

267
00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:44,279
Neither of us were plas the storm was rolling in

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and it looked like a big one. She takes a

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shuddering breath. I know the look. Memories are cloying at

270
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her mind. My father was a search and rescue technician.

271
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He was killed trying to rescue a couple of teenagers

272
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who got themselves trapped in a cave. All there, it

273
00:13:59,039 --> 00:14:02,440
is the tragic back story. I was wondering when it's

274
00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:05,120
corm its way out of her meth. Somehow, all the

275
00:14:05,159 --> 00:14:07,159
human stupidity in the world can be traced back to

276
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our emotions of varioting. I will to survive. I scratch

277
00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:12,840
her reasoning down on the clip board. I didn't want

278
00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:15,759
anybody risking their lads when we had food, shelter, and

279
00:14:15,799 --> 00:14:20,799
worn in danger. I told her, no, no way. I

280
00:14:20,799 --> 00:14:22,639
I couldn't have that blood on my hands if something

281
00:14:22,679 --> 00:14:27,679
went wrong. And she trails off, and Rachel understood. Amanda

282
00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:30,399
gets quiet. She's stirring at me, and there's that same

283
00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:33,120
look I've seen a thousand times before. I want to

284
00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:35,600
roll my eyes, I want to spit in her face

285
00:14:35,639 --> 00:14:39,759
for being such a naive idealist, but I hold it down. Instead.

286
00:14:39,879 --> 00:14:42,279
I plaster an understanding smile on my lets and nod

287
00:14:42,279 --> 00:14:45,519
my head sagely. You made the right choice. It was

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00:14:45,559 --> 00:14:47,919
the only choice you could have made, knowing what you knew.

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00:14:47,919 --> 00:14:52,600
In that moment, it works, She perks up. Yeah, I suppose.

290
00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:55,360
So the two of you decide to stay inside the cabin,

291
00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:57,519
then they were not worried that the bear or couper

292
00:14:57,679 --> 00:15:00,279
using it as a snack bar might swing by. At

293
00:15:00,279 --> 00:15:03,799
that point, we don't really have any other choice. I'm

294
00:15:03,799 --> 00:15:06,799
the outdoorsy type. I've seen storms, and I know that

295
00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:08,279
the one coming our way is going to be a

296
00:15:08,279 --> 00:15:10,840
big one. We decide the cabins are best bet, but

297
00:15:10,879 --> 00:15:14,000
we take precautions. I keep my bear mace close by,

298
00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:16,759
and we close all the doors. A cougar isn't going

299
00:15:16,799 --> 00:15:18,799
to open a door, and a bearer might break it down,

300
00:15:18,879 --> 00:15:21,279
but only if it feels it needs to. It's far

301
00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:23,440
more likely to wander into the crawl space safely away

302
00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:26,960
from us. Surer makes sense. I decide to put an

303
00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:29,200
extra layer between us in the front door, though, just

304
00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:31,919
in case. I clear out the busted bed frame and

305
00:15:31,919 --> 00:15:34,080
sweep the splinters from the bedroom floor, and then I

306
00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,879
get to work setting up the tent. Her voice dies.

307
00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:41,879
Memories are calling to her again, difficult memories. What happened?

308
00:15:42,639 --> 00:15:45,200
I ask, the hairs on my arms rising, did you

309
00:15:45,279 --> 00:15:50,080
see something? She nods yes. Animals were running through the

310
00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:55,000
clearing outside the window. They were running past the cabin, deers, rabbits.

311
00:15:55,039 --> 00:15:56,799
Then a whole flock of birds burst through the tree

312
00:15:56,919 --> 00:16:00,879
ups and started flying over us. I locked my lips. Yes,

313
00:16:01,039 --> 00:16:03,799
this is very promising. My pen scratches at the clip

314
00:16:03,919 --> 00:16:07,240
ord in excitement. The callous man has a defining characteristic,

315
00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:09,879
one unique to him in the realm of legends. He

316
00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:13,960
always comes from the same direction. Always which way were

317
00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:17,679
the animals running? I ask? Her voice is small, brittle,

318
00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:21,480
I barely hear over the sound of my own pounding heart. Seth,

319
00:16:21,639 --> 00:16:24,799
she says, I write the word and underline it three times.

320
00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:29,480
My fingers are shaking with excitement. My mind's racing. After

321
00:16:29,519 --> 00:16:32,279
so many dead ends and broken threads, so many keld

322
00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:36,000
and missing, it's finally coming together. I've found one a survivor,

323
00:16:36,159 --> 00:16:37,919
and not only that, but one that might still have

324
00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:42,200
the link. How many animals were running? I ask. I

325
00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:44,919
know the answer, but I need to hear her say it.

326
00:16:44,919 --> 00:16:46,799
It takes her a second to get the words out.

327
00:16:47,399 --> 00:16:51,759
They're uncomfortable for her, disturbing all of them. She whispers,

328
00:16:52,399 --> 00:16:54,519
it was Liken. It was like an exodus of life.

329
00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:58,279
My hard hammer's My breath quickens all of it. Each

330
00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:01,240
detail of her story means one thing. The callous man

331
00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:03,519
is coming. I take a breath and stand up from

332
00:17:03,559 --> 00:17:06,640
the chair, stretching my legs. My back feels like it's

333
00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:09,319
been crushed between two boulders, and sitting for any length

334
00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:12,319
of time always turns it into pincsion. Still, I couldn't

335
00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:17,799
be happier. Everything all right, she asks, Peachy. I pick

336
00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:20,839
up the clipboard and clear my throat. What happens after

337
00:17:20,839 --> 00:17:23,720
the animals feed the tree line? She opens her mouth

338
00:17:23,839 --> 00:17:26,599
to speak, but stops. Her eyes glanced down to my

339
00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:29,359
open briefcase, staring at the manilla folders and the crinkled

340
00:17:29,359 --> 00:17:32,480
old water bottle filled with griny black fluid. Why do

341
00:17:32,519 --> 00:17:36,839
you have that, she says, wrinkling her nose. It's label's yellow.

342
00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:40,640
It looks like it's twenty years old. What's that gunk inside?

343
00:17:41,319 --> 00:17:44,759
As cowl kicking? My brief is closed an experiment. It's

344
00:17:44,799 --> 00:17:47,960
nothing to concern yourself with now. Then, if you wouldn't

345
00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:51,079
mind continuing, I'd like to hear what happened following the exodus.

346
00:17:51,559 --> 00:17:54,799
There's a moment of share disdained between us. She feels

347
00:17:54,799 --> 00:17:56,680
like I'm hiding something from her, and I feel like

348
00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:59,720
she's putting her nose in places it doesn't belong. Thankfully,

349
00:17:59,759 --> 00:18:03,000
it doesn't last long, and she continues her account. Rachel

350
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:04,839
calls my name from the main area. Then she limps

351
00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:08,200
into the bedroom, leaning against the doorway. She looks really

352
00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:10,799
shaken up, She asks if I saw all the animals

353
00:18:10,799 --> 00:18:13,319
taking off, and I tell her I did. Her eyes

354
00:18:13,319 --> 00:18:15,519
are getting wide, and I can't tell she's throwing herself

355
00:18:15,519 --> 00:18:18,680
into another panic attack. So I I telled how they're

356
00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:21,400
probably just running from the storm. Do you believe it?

357
00:18:22,079 --> 00:18:26,119
I don't know. Maybe it seemed like the only logical reason,

358
00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:28,359
But at the same time, the whole scene felt so eerie,

359
00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,480
so wrong. She opens her water bottle and takes a drink.

360
00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:34,279
Either way, it's not like I'm going to stop feeding

361
00:18:34,279 --> 00:18:37,519
into Rachel's paranoia. One of us has to be calm, right,

362
00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:41,799
I shrug. Sure. He said the sun was setting when

363
00:18:41,799 --> 00:18:44,559
the animals made a run for it. Is it dark yet?

364
00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:49,400
She nods mostly. I mean the last rays of sunlight

365
00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:52,440
are just barely peeking over the tree tops. The storm's

366
00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:55,119
making it worse. The clouds are blocking a lot of

367
00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:57,720
the light. I get a move on with finishing setting

368
00:18:57,759 --> 00:18:59,720
up the tent, and we set up this led Latin.

369
00:18:59,759 --> 00:19:04,640
Everych'll broad It feels weird in what way? The silence?

370
00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,960
She pauses, shakes her head and then mutters something, Sorry,

371
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,839
that's the wrong word. It isn't silent. The wind's howling

372
00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:15,519
and the rains coming down pretty hard. But but there's

373
00:19:15,599 --> 00:19:19,440
no sounds of life, no crows cowing, no squares chattering.

374
00:19:20,039 --> 00:19:22,200
I don't even see any bugs in the cabin, despite

375
00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:25,160
a whole shitload of spider webs. I brush it off, though,

376
00:19:25,799 --> 00:19:27,839
I keep telling myself. One of us is to be calm,

377
00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:30,000
So we close the bedroom door and settle ourselves into

378
00:19:30,039 --> 00:19:32,640
the tent. Neither of us have much of an appetite,

379
00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:34,559
so we eat a couple of protein bars for supper

380
00:19:34,559 --> 00:19:37,880
and pull out our books. We don't talk. I don't

381
00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:40,559
even know if we actually read. I know, I don't.

382
00:19:41,279 --> 00:19:43,160
I stare at the words, but my mind's a million

383
00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:45,720
miles away, too, wrapped up in the feeling that something

384
00:19:45,759 --> 00:19:48,839
is wrong with this place, something's wrong with the scenario.

385
00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:52,200
She sighs, running a hand through her blond hair. I

386
00:19:52,319 --> 00:19:55,440
chalk it up to the darkness. Things always seem scarier

387
00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,519
in the dark, you know, I nod. The duck has

388
00:19:58,519 --> 00:20:01,359
always had a powerful effect on humans beings. It makes

389
00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:03,400
it more difficult for us to see our enemies, and

390
00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:05,359
in my line of work, easier for them to see you.

391
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:10,359
It's a lose lose environment. Unfortunately, it's often a necessary one.

392
00:20:10,799 --> 00:20:13,400
You don't talk at all, I ask, sitting back down

393
00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:17,240
in my chair. Not a first, Amanda says. After ten,

394
00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:21,279
maybe twenty minutes, Rachel breaks to silence. She asks if

395
00:20:21,279 --> 00:20:23,519
we should use my rescue beacons since it's getting pretty

396
00:20:23,559 --> 00:20:26,319
bad outside. I know that's not why she wants to

397
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:29,119
use it, though not the real reason. I remind her

398
00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:30,559
that we can wet of the storm and hear and

399
00:20:30,599 --> 00:20:32,640
call for help in the morning once the storm clears.

400
00:20:33,319 --> 00:20:35,559
Amanda screws up her face like she's holding back a

401
00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:39,599
wave of emotions. I manipulate her. I remind how my

402
00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:42,039
dad was killed during a botched search and rescue job,

403
00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:44,319
or because some teenagers couldn't exercise a little bit of

404
00:20:44,319 --> 00:20:48,119
common sense. I study her. Perhaps she's more cunning than

405
00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:52,759
I thought. Naive, though still so naive, Rachel lets up.

406
00:20:53,319 --> 00:20:55,799
She agrees we can call in the morning. I can

407
00:20:55,839 --> 00:20:58,559
tell she's scared, and honestly so am I and I

408
00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:00,640
know what we're both thinking. So I blurt out that

409
00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:03,680
there's no such thing as monsters. I tell her where

410
00:21:03,799 --> 00:21:07,519
we're fucking adults, and we'll deal with this. I'm Manda chuckles.

411
00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,160
It's a small sound full of disbelief. And regret. I

412
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:13,519
promise her we'll laugh about it in the morning. The

413
00:21:13,559 --> 00:21:16,599
woman's not bad with the story. I idly wonder how

414
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:19,359
popular her blog is. Unlike the gum in my mouth,

415
00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:22,200
her words have flavor. I dig in my jacket pocket

416
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,680
and pull out my pack, popping a fresh piece free spearmint.

417
00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:28,359
It's not a cigarette, but it's the next best thing.

418
00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:31,160
Then miss last words, I say, with a grim smile,

419
00:21:31,799 --> 00:21:35,240
what's Rachael think of your pep talk? She's she's fine

420
00:21:35,279 --> 00:21:37,799
with it. At first, I think she might even be

421
00:21:37,839 --> 00:21:40,720
on board. She doesn't want to spend the night terrified

422
00:21:40,759 --> 00:21:42,640
any more than I do, so anything that makes the

423
00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:45,599
fear a little smaller is a welcome distraction. A man

424
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,799
to swallows and her expression goes blank. It seems like

425
00:21:48,839 --> 00:21:51,160
everything's going to be just fine, like it's just another

426
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,799
overnight hike, at least until we hear the footsteps outside.

427
00:21:55,319 --> 00:21:58,319
Here we go, there's a creaking sound, like old wood

428
00:21:58,319 --> 00:22:00,920
straining unto some one's weight. It's hard to hear over

429
00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:04,160
the roaring wind, but given our mental states, it's practically amissible.

430
00:22:04,759 --> 00:22:08,839
Something that's I The footsteps are slow, gradual. Whatever's out

431
00:22:08,839 --> 00:22:10,680
there is taking its time, and both of us are

432
00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:14,000
frozen in fear. Rachel grabs the lamp and turns it off,

433
00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:16,440
and I suddenly realize just how dark it really is.

434
00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:20,480
It's pitch. I can barely see Rachel, and she's sitting

435
00:22:20,519 --> 00:22:23,400
close enough that we're touching. It's just us, the storm

436
00:22:23,519 --> 00:22:26,039
and the sound of Fritz steps now. I whisper to

437
00:22:26,039 --> 00:22:28,160
her that it's probably a dear or maybe a mountain lion,

438
00:22:28,279 --> 00:22:30,279
or just some kind of animal looking for shutter from

439
00:22:30,279 --> 00:22:33,519
the storm. Amanda's eyes aglaze, her hands picking at the

440
00:22:33,519 --> 00:22:36,920
fabric of her jeans. She's lost in the memory. I

441
00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:39,880
don't believe it myself. Something inside of me is writing

442
00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:42,519
and telling me that we're not safe. We haven't been

443
00:22:42,519 --> 00:22:44,559
safe since the moment we walked into the cabin, and

444
00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:47,200
we will be safe until we're far away. Still, I

445
00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:50,119
take a breath, I repeat that stupid internal mounted that

446
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:52,359
one of us needs to be an adult, one of

447
00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:55,960
us needs to be rational, so we wait. I whisper

448
00:22:56,039 --> 00:22:58,640
to her that all the doors are closed, no animals

449
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:02,799
are going to get inside. We're safe, We're safe. I

450
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:05,400
keep repeating it, like if I say it enough, I'll

451
00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:08,160
start believing it too. I do my best to reassure

452
00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:11,559
her and stave off another panic attack. Amanda uncats her

453
00:23:11,599 --> 00:23:14,359
water bottle and takes a quick swig. Her hands gripe.

454
00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:19,359
It's squeezing and the plaster crinkles. It works. Maybe I

455
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:22,079
can't see her, but I can't hear her either. She's

456
00:23:22,119 --> 00:23:27,000
not screaming. It's good. She swallows. Then I've realized things

457
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:31,200
are bad, really bad. Why we hear the sharp winding

458
00:23:31,319 --> 00:23:35,119
sound like rusty hinges, and we recognize it. It's the

459
00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:38,799
front door of the cabin. Something opened it. The next second,

460
00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:42,079
the sharp whining is followed by dull thuds like heavy footsteps.

461
00:23:42,759 --> 00:23:46,119
The floor board's grown, and we hear it, whatever it is,

462
00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:48,680
moving through the kitchen and into the main area. I

463
00:23:48,759 --> 00:23:51,599
remind myself to keep writing, but it's hard. This is

464
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:53,559
the moment I've been waiting for, the moment when I

465
00:23:53,559 --> 00:23:55,960
can finally determine whether or not she's actually encountered the

466
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,880
monster I've been chasing my entire life. I'm clutching I

467
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:00,880
can have bear mace to my chest, and Rachel's whimpering

468
00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:02,720
beside me. I'm hissing at her to be quiet, to

469
00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:04,640
shut the fuck up, because I know that if footever

470
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:06,559
is out there, hears us, it's going to come in here.

471
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:10,880
She listens. Neither of us move. We just listen for

472
00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,200
the footsteps, thunders crashing outside, and wet us screaming through

473
00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:16,599
the busted window. But somehow, in spite of it all

474
00:24:16,599 --> 00:24:19,440
those footstuffs are clear as day. I couldn't tune them

475
00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:22,240
out if I tried. Her fingers find the armrest of

476
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:24,799
her chair and she grips them, the scratch against the

477
00:24:24,839 --> 00:24:27,720
tattered wood. I pull the safety tab on my beermece

478
00:24:27,759 --> 00:24:31,039
ready to blast something if that's what it takes. Rachel

479
00:24:31,039 --> 00:24:33,799
grabs my arm and I feel her hand trembling. Her

480
00:24:33,799 --> 00:24:37,200
whole body is something smells like piss, and I realize

481
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:41,640
it's her. She's losing it. The footsteps get closer. They're

482
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:44,000
halfway through the living area now, and they're approaching the

483
00:24:44,039 --> 00:24:46,920
bedroom door. Whatever's ad there is close enough that we

484
00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:50,279
can hear this snickering sound like really fast short breaths.

485
00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:53,079
It doesn't sound human, but it doesn't sound like any

486
00:24:53,079 --> 00:24:56,400
animal I've heard either. It sounds like a nightmare. I

487
00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,319
circle a box on my clipboard, identifying the sound as correct.

488
00:25:00,039 --> 00:25:03,200
According to more recent eyewitness encounters, the callous man snakes

489
00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:06,559
before engaging with his prey, an evolution of his mythology.

490
00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:11,000
In my memories, I recall only the screaming. Amanda keeps talking,

491
00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:14,559
Rachel squeezing my arms so hard that it hurts. Her

492
00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:16,400
nails are digging into me, and I can feel her

493
00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:18,960
warm pists in the bottom of the tent. It's soaking

494
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:22,920
through my jeans that I don't care. I don't do d'antane.

495
00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:25,680
I can't becaus soon as I make a sound or mow,

496
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,240
those footsteps are going to get faster, and something's going

497
00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:30,319
to open the bedroom door, and then I don't know

498
00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:34,160
what happens. She stops talking. Tears are forming in the

499
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:36,640
corners of her eyes, and she grips her sweater sleeve

500
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:40,640
and dabs at them. Rachel, Rachael can't take it any more, though.

501
00:25:41,279 --> 00:25:43,279
She reaches across me, hissing at me to give her

502
00:25:43,279 --> 00:25:46,119
the rescue beacon. She's begging me to activate it, and

503
00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:48,000
I'm trying to get my hand over her mouth and

504
00:25:48,039 --> 00:25:50,359
shut her up, but she's desperate and she's fighting me.

505
00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:54,079
The footsteps pick up their pace. They're walking towards us,

506
00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:57,160
These heavy thumps on the creaking floor, I whisper to Rachel,

507
00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:59,039
if we send the distress call, the beacon's going to

508
00:25:59,039 --> 00:26:02,279
stop beeping. Tears slip down her cheeks, and amendous stairs

509
00:26:02,319 --> 00:26:06,079
transfixed at the concrete floor. There's something swimming in her eyes,

510
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:08,359
and I think it's self loathing, but I can't be sure.

511
00:26:09,079 --> 00:26:12,359
All I know is that it's familiar. Continue, I say.

512
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:15,519
Rachel gets hold of it. She hammers at its buttons

513
00:26:15,559 --> 00:26:19,880
and it works. It starts beeping, the signals scent a

514
00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:23,039
man as voice trembles, her lips quiver with the onset

515
00:26:23,079 --> 00:26:27,519
of her next words, the bedroom door opens. It's this

516
00:26:27,599 --> 00:26:29,440
lawn drawn out screech. Both of us freese. It's just

517
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:31,880
the rusty hinges and the beacon beeping. Eye want to scream.

518
00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:33,759
I want to run. I think we both do, but

519
00:26:33,799 --> 00:26:35,839
we're too afraid. With pawall as she swallows, I get

520
00:26:35,839 --> 00:26:37,559
my finger ready on the trigger of the bear mates.

521
00:26:37,599 --> 00:26:39,799
I don't want to use it inside. It'll probably fuck

522
00:26:39,839 --> 00:26:42,200
us up just as bad as whatever standing in the doorway,

523
00:26:42,759 --> 00:26:45,640
but I'm ready to if I have to. Moments pass,

524
00:26:45,799 --> 00:26:47,680
and all we hear is the beacon beeping and the

525
00:26:47,759 --> 00:26:50,920
rain and thunder outside, And then there's that snickering again,

526
00:26:51,279 --> 00:26:54,640
fast in raspy. It's followed by footsteps, and now that

527
00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:57,119
it's in the room with us, it sounds big. The

528
00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:00,279
tent shakes, the whole room shakes. It's dark enough that

529
00:27:00,279 --> 00:27:01,880
we can't see so much as a shadow through the

530
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:04,799
canvas of the tent, but soon we don't have to.

531
00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:08,240
The footsteps starts circling us, and then a finger presses

532
00:27:08,279 --> 00:27:10,440
to the wall of the tent and begins tracing around it.

533
00:27:11,079 --> 00:27:14,640
Whatever it is, it starts sniffing, softly at first, then

534
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,960
louder and with more intensity. I realize it isn't a man.

535
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:20,920
It's some kind of animal. It sounds beast like, feral,

536
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:24,880
un hungry. A man closes her eyes, putting her head

537
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,400
in her hands. She takes a moment and groans. When

538
00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:31,480
she looks up again, her eyes are hollow. Rachel can't

539
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:35,400
stand it, she screams. She screams to leave us alone.

540
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,319
She screams, we have a gun. She turns on the

541
00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:40,240
lantern and tells it to fuck off, go to hell,

542
00:27:40,319 --> 00:27:42,599
die in a fire, you name it. I'm going to

543
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:46,119
assume that didn't go over well. She rubs her arm anxiously.

544
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,960
I don't know. It didn't seem to hurt things. It

545
00:27:50,039 --> 00:27:52,079
left the room, walked into the living area, but then

546
00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:55,799
it stopped. It didn't leave the cabin. Her voice trembles.

547
00:27:56,359 --> 00:27:58,920
What happened after he after it walked into the living area.

548
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,000
Rachel hiss that made up. We should run, Amanda says.

549
00:28:02,599 --> 00:28:05,759
I remind her that her angle's fucked. She barely limped

550
00:28:05,759 --> 00:28:08,279
into the bedroom. How far does she think she's going

551
00:28:08,319 --> 00:28:09,880
to get? In the woods over an even ground that

552
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,440
slick with rain? She tells me, if we stay here,

553
00:28:12,519 --> 00:28:16,559
we're both going to die. Amanda shivers. I know she's right,

554
00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:19,200
I know it, but I can't bring myself to leave.

555
00:28:19,759 --> 00:28:21,440
It feels like the tents the only thing keeping that

556
00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:24,039
thing away from us, Like as long as the counvas

557
00:28:24,079 --> 00:28:26,000
is between us, it can't see us, and we can't

558
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:29,519
see it, it doesn't exist. It takes everything I have

559
00:28:29,559 --> 00:28:32,240
not to roll my eyes. Still, I flip a page

560
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:35,160
on the clipboard and keep a neutral expression. Her perspective

561
00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,200
is not unlike a child's deep off, an approached terror

562
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,920
with irrational and sometimes nonsensical method of survival. Of course,

563
00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:45,000
there's nothing magical about her tent. There's nothing about it

564
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,920
that will save their lives. Continue I order. It starts

565
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:51,880
with a creak of a floorboard. We hear it walking again,

566
00:28:52,039 --> 00:28:55,000
but it's not coming toward us. It's pacing back and

567
00:28:55,039 --> 00:28:57,119
forth out there in the living area, and it's snickering

568
00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:01,480
faster than before. Soon the snickering gets heavy, violent. It

569
00:29:01,559 --> 00:29:04,799
starts grunting and growling. She takes a breath and chokes back.

570
00:29:04,799 --> 00:29:07,680
A sob tears race down her cheeks, and her eyes

571
00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:11,039
are light with terror. Then it goes silent, no movement,

572
00:29:11,119 --> 00:29:14,880
no grunting, no weird fucking snickering, just the thunder outside,

573
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:17,599
the howling wind, the rain on the roof. I'm sitting

574
00:29:17,599 --> 00:29:20,160
there clutching the bear maze and Rachel's crying, and both

575
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:22,720
of us are praying it's gone. We're praying it's just

576
00:29:22,759 --> 00:29:25,119
given up. Decided to move on, and Anne and what

577
00:29:25,279 --> 00:29:27,720
I press? She meets my gaze with her own, and

578
00:29:27,759 --> 00:29:30,519
a hopeless horse whims in her eyes, and then the

579
00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:33,839
entire cabin shakes, fist its pound on the floor, and

580
00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:37,559
there's this hateful, agonizing sound, like like a hundred human

581
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,079
screams mixed together and poured out of a single voice.

582
00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:44,240
Rachel and I lose it. We're shouting, crawling over each other,

583
00:29:44,359 --> 00:29:45,960
trying toonsit the door of the tent and get the

584
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:48,319
hell out of there. And then our whole world turns

585
00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:51,839
upside down. It's like we've been thrown in a washing machine.

586
00:29:52,319 --> 00:29:54,480
My head cracks off her knee, and we're rolling around,

587
00:29:54,599 --> 00:29:57,720
bouncing in this cacophony of sound and fabric. And then

588
00:29:57,759 --> 00:30:00,839
I realize the tents being lifted off the ground above me.

589
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:03,160
In the light of the eledy lantern, I see two crooked,

590
00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,839
broken antlers piercing through the canvas. That monster's throwing us around,

591
00:30:07,839 --> 00:30:11,079
bucking like a dander. Soon the tent canvas tears and

592
00:30:11,119 --> 00:30:13,279
we fall free, crumpling to the ground in a painful heap.

593
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,640
Rachel scrambling over me, holding the lantern in her hand,

594
00:30:17,279 --> 00:30:18,880
and in the madness of it all, I see her

595
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:21,519
make a break for it towards the window. As she does,

596
00:30:21,559 --> 00:30:25,519
the light passes over that that fucking monster. Amanda chokes back,

597
00:30:25,559 --> 00:30:29,160
tears and sniffles. I am sorry, she says, I just

598
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:33,240
need one second. Of course, I reach into my jacket

599
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:36,160
pocket and retrieve a set of tissues. I pass them

600
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:40,960
to her. Here, blow your nose, She does. When she's finished,

601
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,480
both of us sit in silence for a moment. Her

602
00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:46,400
bottom lip quivers. It must have been eight feet tall.

603
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,839
It was crouched over humanoid, except its chest was covered

604
00:30:49,839 --> 00:30:52,559
and throwing. Its legs were scaly like a bird's. It

605
00:30:52,599 --> 00:30:54,640
had a long tangle of black hairn and its antlose

606
00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:57,559
jutted out from its eye sockets. I mock the details

607
00:30:57,599 --> 00:31:01,480
down in excitement. Yes, good, it's a near perfect description.

608
00:31:02,039 --> 00:31:05,319
It's missing only a few key things. The antlers oppress.

609
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:08,920
Can you describe them? They were crooked, she says slowly.

610
00:31:09,559 --> 00:31:12,400
They came out at odd angles, both different, and around

611
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:16,200
them was a halo of eyes, tiny black ones. She

612
00:31:16,279 --> 00:31:18,960
closes her own eyes and takes a stuttering breath. I

613
00:31:19,039 --> 00:31:21,240
almost missed them, except they all blinked in unison, and

614
00:31:21,279 --> 00:31:23,359
I remember thinking it was the most terrifying thing I'd

615
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:25,839
ever seen, the fact that all of them blinked, I

616
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,599
ask now, the fact that all of them were looking

617
00:31:28,599 --> 00:31:31,599
at me. Did it attack you? I have to know

618
00:31:32,279 --> 00:31:34,799
the defining characteristic of the cowous man is his method

619
00:31:34,839 --> 00:31:37,839
of attack. If she nails it, then I've got her,

620
00:31:38,519 --> 00:31:41,920
I've got my link, and I've got him. She shakes

621
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,640
her head. No, I thought he might. But then Rachel

622
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:47,000
makes a racket. She's throwing herself up on to the

623
00:31:47,039 --> 00:31:49,160
window ledge, and then she falls over the other side.

624
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:52,880
The creature turns toward her, snickers, and launches herself at

625
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:55,200
the window. It seems like it should be too big

626
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,519
to fit whatever it is, but it isn't. It's like

627
00:31:58,519 --> 00:32:00,319
a snake the way its body can talk to fit

628
00:32:00,359 --> 00:32:03,279
itself into the window frame. It perches there, and I

629
00:32:03,319 --> 00:32:04,839
see at the bottom of its scale the feet of

630
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:07,000
these thick claws, and the hands it uses to grip

631
00:32:07,039 --> 00:32:10,400
the window half thin, impossibly long fingers. It drums them

632
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:13,160
on the wall before it launches itself after Rachel. I

633
00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:15,119
sit there for a second, in too much shop to move,

634
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:17,200
and then I realize my friends out there being chased

635
00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:19,880
by some some fucking monster. I get to my feet

636
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:21,880
and turn my phones light on, and in the distance,

637
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:24,039
through the rain and swaying trees, I can see Rachels

638
00:32:24,079 --> 00:32:26,519
light bobbing in the darkness. I call out to her.

639
00:32:26,519 --> 00:32:28,400
I shout her name, but she either doesn't hear me

640
00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:31,279
or she doesn't care. I scan the area of the monster,

641
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:33,839
but I don't see a thing. I lean out the window,

642
00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:36,519
looking around the cabin, using my phone's light to eliminate

643
00:32:36,519 --> 00:32:39,000
as much as I can, but it's not there. The

644
00:32:39,079 --> 00:32:42,599
monster's vanish. I'm surprised you didn't take your opportunity to

645
00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:46,000
runt essay. The creature was clearly more interested in Rachel

646
00:32:46,559 --> 00:32:49,240
a man de glares at me. There's a stubborn defiance

647
00:32:49,279 --> 00:32:51,400
in her eyes, and I have to remind myself that

648
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,880
most humans have a perverse obsession with self sacrifice. Maybe

649
00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:57,240
it's the holly with brainwashing. Maybe it's the fact that

650
00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,319
they just haven't suffered enough, but they can't get enough.

651
00:32:59,319 --> 00:33:01,799
Before she even speaks, I see it in her too.

652
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:05,319
I couldn't leave her a man to snaps. I was

653
00:33:05,359 --> 00:33:07,200
the one who dragged her out there on that hike.

654
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:10,160
I was the one who suggested we follow that stupor

655
00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:12,960
overgrown trail. I was the one who refused to use

656
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:15,599
my locator beacon before it was too late. All of

657
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:18,079
this was my fault. If I walked away from her,

658
00:33:18,079 --> 00:33:21,960
then I could never forgive myself. Her voice breaks, I

659
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,599
still can't time to get a move on. You went

660
00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:27,160
after her, then, yeah, I clambered through the window and

661
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:28,880
took off following her light as best I could. I

662
00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:30,519
had the bear mason one hand and my phone in

663
00:33:30,599 --> 00:33:32,359
the other. The light for my fun wasn't much, but

664
00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:34,079
it was enough to keep me from tripping on roots

665
00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:36,279
or running into trees. I kept calling Rachel's name, kept

666
00:33:36,279 --> 00:33:38,160
telling her I was coming. She can't have gotten far

667
00:33:38,319 --> 00:33:40,799
with a twisted uncle, they say, Then again, adrenaline can

668
00:33:40,799 --> 00:33:44,839
do incredible things. Amanda shakes her head. She was moving

669
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,319
that fast, at least compared to me. I was gaining

670
00:33:47,319 --> 00:33:49,920
on her. I could just barely see her soiluete ahead

671
00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:51,640
of me in the led land and bobbing up and

672
00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:55,039
down as she limped away. Then the light drops, rachel

673
00:33:55,119 --> 00:33:58,200
sil wet vanishes, and I hear her scream. I double over,

674
00:33:58,279 --> 00:34:01,160
running with everything I have. My lungs are burning and

675
00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,079
my feet are slipping on the mut but I don't care.

676
00:34:03,759 --> 00:34:06,920
I'm not thinking any more. I'm acting on pure instinct,

677
00:34:07,559 --> 00:34:09,400
and my instincts are telling me that if I don't

678
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:11,760
get to Rachel soon, that creature is going to kill her.

679
00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:15,880
The words stop. A man's body trembles and she breaks down.

680
00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,039
She can't hold it in any more. The torrent falls

681
00:34:19,039 --> 00:34:21,039
out of her, and her face gets ugly as she

682
00:34:21,079 --> 00:34:24,039
solbs into her hands. It doesn't take long before her

683
00:34:24,039 --> 00:34:26,960
palms are glistening with wetness. But to the girl's credit,

684
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:30,920
she foils herself to keep going. She doesn't quit. Rachel

685
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:34,960
screams stop. I can't see anything, really. The lantern's on

686
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:37,000
its side, far ahead of me, and I can just

687
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:40,440
barely make out a shape in the darkness. It's the sound,

688
00:34:40,679 --> 00:34:43,800
the sound that still haunts me the I think it always, well,

689
00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:48,199
what sound? This wet, tearing sound like skin being ripped

690
00:34:48,199 --> 00:34:51,239
and blood splattering the ground is followed by dull crunch,

691
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:56,039
and then I I hear slurping, swallowing. I charge forward

692
00:34:56,039 --> 00:34:58,840
and I'm basically just adrenaline at this point. I hold

693
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:00,880
my phone up as I close the distance, and I see.

694
00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:04,719
I see it. She takes a sobbing breath. I see

695
00:35:04,719 --> 00:35:08,119
the man with crooked antlers. He's crouched over Rachel's corpse,

696
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:10,239
and one of her arms has been torn in half,

697
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:13,400
dangling by a thin strip of flesh. It's missing her hand.

698
00:35:14,039 --> 00:35:16,159
Blood is everywhere, and it's still spurting out of her

699
00:35:16,199 --> 00:35:18,920
torn limb. I'm too stunned to move, too shocked to

700
00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:20,639
see my friend dead on the ground in front of me,

701
00:35:20,679 --> 00:35:23,519
being eaten by this thing. Her voice trembles and she

702
00:35:23,639 --> 00:35:26,760
launches into another fit of tears. She brings the tissue

703
00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:28,599
to her nose and blows a thick wad of mucus

704
00:35:28,599 --> 00:35:31,400
into it, before throwing it ceremoniously on to the warehouse floor.

705
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:33,760
She wipes her face with the back of her sleeve.

706
00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:36,679
Then the thing rears back its head and it tears

707
00:35:36,679 --> 00:35:40,079
off what's left of Rachel's arm. It starts to chew it.

708
00:35:40,079 --> 00:35:42,760
It's more gruesome than anything I've ever seen. I don't

709
00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:44,440
think we're wired to deal with seeing that shit as

710
00:35:44,519 --> 00:35:47,480
human beings, you know, like nothing in my programming knew

711
00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:50,159
how to deal with that. Once it finishes chewing, its

712
00:35:50,199 --> 00:35:53,039
wallows the arm, and it opens its mouth again. Its

713
00:35:53,079 --> 00:35:55,119
bottom draw falls all the way to the forest floor.

714
00:35:55,199 --> 00:35:56,920
It gave him all large enough for a grown man

715
00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:59,320
to walk stradent. It sits there in front of her

716
00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:02,039
corpse for a second, and then that uproar screaming starts again.

717
00:36:02,199 --> 00:36:05,239
Like a hundred anguish voices stitch together. A flurry of

718
00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:08,000
human arms reach out of its mouth, clowing towards Rachel's

719
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:10,719
limp body. They clutch at what's left of her torn limb,

720
00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:13,559
her hair, her jacket. They clutch at anything they can reach,

721
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:16,719
and then they start dragging her into the monster's mouth.

722
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:20,679
There it is, it's just as I remember. A man

723
00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:24,199
loudly blows into the tissue again. Then I hear Rachel whimper,

724
00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:27,360
and my fucking blood goes cold. I've realized the entire

725
00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:29,440
time I've been standing there watching this thing eat if

726
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:32,199
she's been alive, I was watching her get eaten alive.

727
00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:35,800
My mind goes blank. I point the bear Mason, let

728
00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:38,360
LIZI blast toward the monster, shouting at it to get

729
00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:41,000
the fuck away from her. It recoils, howling in that

730
00:36:41,039 --> 00:36:44,039
symphony of screams, and shuffing back into the bushes. I

731
00:36:44,159 --> 00:36:46,360
take my chance and press the lantern into Rachel's hand.

732
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:48,679
I tell her she needs to hold that for us.

733
00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:51,199
As she gnawed weakly. Her face has lost all of

734
00:36:51,199 --> 00:36:53,239
its color, and I know she's not long for this world.

735
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:56,199
I get her good arm, her only arm, over my shoulder,

736
00:36:56,239 --> 00:36:58,400
and keeping a grip on the bear maze, begin putting

737
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,519
some distance between us. In that months her she's groaning,

738
00:37:02,039 --> 00:37:04,599
she keeps saying my name, Mandy, over and over again,

739
00:37:05,199 --> 00:37:07,559
but I tell her to be quiet. She needs to

740
00:37:07,599 --> 00:37:09,679
save her energy, and I need to hear that thing.

741
00:37:10,199 --> 00:37:12,559
We don't get far before I hear its thunderous footfuls

742
00:37:12,559 --> 00:37:14,519
panned against the forest floor. It's running at us. I

743
00:37:14,599 --> 00:37:17,039
wheel around them. Rachel's lant and illuminates the monster for

744
00:37:17,119 --> 00:37:19,079
or only a split second before I let loose another

745
00:37:19,119 --> 00:37:20,880
round of the mace. It's nickers in pain and brings

746
00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:22,760
this long fingered hands to its eyes. I don't wait

747
00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:24,639
around for it to recover. I keep going and I

748
00:37:24,679 --> 00:37:26,320
don't know where. All I know is I need to

749
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:28,239
get away from this thing, because it isn't going to

750
00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:31,639
stop until I finishes what it started. Again, I hear

751
00:37:31,679 --> 00:37:33,760
its footsteps pound in the dirt, and again I wheel

752
00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:36,320
around and bust the fucker. It shrieks in pain and

753
00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:39,159
shies away, but only a few moments later it charges again.

754
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:43,079
Amanda kills over and starts bawling. She greets her hair,

755
00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:45,320
then starts pulling on it so hard I half expect

756
00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:48,119
her to tear a chunk from her scalp. I realize

757
00:37:48,199 --> 00:37:51,280
she says, choking out the words between sobs. I realize

758
00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:54,840
Rachel's too heavy. I can't guary her. I can't get

759
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:56,440
away from this thing because I can feel the kind

760
00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:58,519
of mace is almost empty, and every time I hit

761
00:37:58,559 --> 00:38:01,280
it with the mace, it affits it less. She shakes

762
00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:04,400
her head. Her eyes are blood shut, her cheeks tears stained.

763
00:38:05,039 --> 00:38:07,719
She sniffles and wiped mucus on to her sleeve. I

764
00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:11,119
have to leave, Rachel. I have to. If I don't,

765
00:38:11,199 --> 00:38:14,119
it's going to kill both of us. You understand, right,

766
00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:17,039
for the first time, in her desperate recollection of the event,

767
00:38:17,199 --> 00:38:21,000
I do understand. Yes, I say, life isn't easy. There

768
00:38:21,039 --> 00:38:23,519
aren't any real heroes, just people who pretend to be.

769
00:38:24,079 --> 00:38:27,079
You made a difficult choice, but a necessary one. A

770
00:38:27,159 --> 00:38:29,079
Manda stares at me, and she stares at me for

771
00:38:29,119 --> 00:38:32,519
a long while, like she's searching my expression for something. Finally,

772
00:38:32,559 --> 00:38:36,079
she nods slowly, yeah, she says, wiping more snot onto

773
00:38:36,119 --> 00:38:38,960
her sleeve. Her voice evens up, the tears no longer

774
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:41,639
coming in Torrents. I did what I had to do.

775
00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:45,880
I put her down, apologizing. I apologized over and over again.

776
00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:48,360
And I heard that thing coming, and I took off

777
00:38:49,039 --> 00:38:51,199
a run, full tilt into the woods behind me. I

778
00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:55,480
heard that screaming all of that awful, horrible screaming. She

779
00:38:55,559 --> 00:38:58,960
swallows and her voice stutters. I listened to that familiar

780
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,239
sound of tearing flesh and then a dull crunch of

781
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:04,320
snapping bone. I listened to the creature she on Rachel.

782
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:08,599
I try not to. I try to just focus on running,

783
00:39:08,719 --> 00:39:10,639
or the sound of the rain, or the thunder or

784
00:39:10,679 --> 00:39:13,119
the wind. But I couldn't. All I could hear was

785
00:39:13,119 --> 00:39:17,280
my friend being eaten alive. Silence stretches between us. I

786
00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:21,079
clear my throat. Is that it? You got away, ran

787
00:39:21,159 --> 00:39:23,920
into the essay, our team on your way down the mountain? No,

788
00:39:24,159 --> 00:39:27,079
she says, closing her eyes. There's a look of resigned

789
00:39:27,079 --> 00:39:30,760
regret in her features. I hear another sound. I hear

790
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:33,599
a helicopter. A moment later, I catch sight of his

791
00:39:33,639 --> 00:39:36,480
searchlight beaming over the forest. I know this might be

792
00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:38,719
my only chance, so OR stop waving around my phone's light,

793
00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:40,400
trying to make as much of a scene as I can.

794
00:39:41,039 --> 00:39:44,039
It works. The helicopter swings over, and it lowers a

795
00:39:44,119 --> 00:39:46,719
ladder with a rescue technician. He straps me to a

796
00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:49,960
line and asks me if I'm alone. I'm hysterical, shouting

797
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,480
a mile a minute. I shriek that a monster attack

798
00:39:52,559 --> 00:39:55,519
my friend, and I point towards Rachel's lantern, faintly visible

799
00:39:55,559 --> 00:39:58,559
in the distance. I tell him I killed her. A

800
00:39:58,679 --> 00:40:02,039
man a gulps why at her eyes. He radios in

801
00:40:02,119 --> 00:40:03,800
to have me brought up and says he'll go look

802
00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:06,880
for Rachel. I tell him not to. I know if

803
00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:09,719
he does, he'll die too. It'll kill him just like

804
00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:12,599
it killed her. But over the wind and rain, he

805
00:40:12,639 --> 00:40:15,400
either doesn't hear me or doesn't care. I'm pulled into

806
00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:17,760
the helicopter and a few minutes later I hear the

807
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:21,000
man's voice over the radio. It's desperate, full of grief.

808
00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:24,559
He says he needs a stretcher down there. He says

809
00:40:24,599 --> 00:40:27,880
he found the other woman and that she's still alive. Jesus,

810
00:40:28,599 --> 00:40:32,199
have you spoken to Rachel since, I ask quietly. A

811
00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:35,599
mana shakes her head. No, she um she's in a coma.

812
00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:38,880
Both of her arms are missing, the wounds are infected,

813
00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:42,199
and she's developed serious pneumonia. Doctors aren't sure if she's

814
00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:44,519
going to make it. She brings a hand to her

815
00:40:44,519 --> 00:40:47,280
mouth and chokes back a sob. Her eyes are wide

816
00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:51,320
and her body quakes. Ah. I left her there to die.

817
00:40:51,880 --> 00:40:54,039
If I had just stayed with her a couple minutes longer,

818
00:40:54,079 --> 00:40:57,000
then the rescue chopper would have found us. It would

819
00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:59,400
have scared that fucking thing away, and Rachel would still

820
00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:04,079
be gravely in I finish. You can't blame yourself. You

821
00:41:04,159 --> 00:41:06,800
didn't know the chopper was around the corner. All that

822
00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:09,159
you knew was something wanted to kill you, and it

823
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:12,000
was winning the battle for your life. Her shoulders rack

824
00:41:12,079 --> 00:41:15,440
with silent sobs. I could have stayed with her. She

825
00:41:15,559 --> 00:41:17,840
breaks down all over again, and this time I give

826
00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:21,039
her all the time. She neats. I've scarcely seen somebody

827
00:41:21,079 --> 00:41:22,920
so grief stricken in all my years of doing this,

828
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:25,480
and it's almost as bizarre to me as the anomalies.

829
00:41:25,519 --> 00:41:28,199
As spent my life hunting. To hate yourself for something

830
00:41:28,199 --> 00:41:31,880
as simple as wanting to live, it's inhuman. I'm sorry,

831
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,639
she says, Finally, that's that's everything. Can I go now?

832
00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:39,039
I lean back in my chair, frowning. It's not that

833
00:41:39,119 --> 00:41:41,760
I don't empathize with her, but such messy reactions only

834
00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:43,800
serve to get in the way of actually fixing problems,

835
00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:47,480
in her case, getting revenge for Rachel. She stands up, sniffling,

836
00:41:47,599 --> 00:41:51,320
then answers her own question. I'm good to head home. Wait,

837
00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:55,679
I say, She stops in her tracks. What can you

838
00:41:55,719 --> 00:41:58,719
take me there? She stares at me with red puffy eyes.

839
00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:03,960
Her face is mask of confusion disbelief. Excuse me the cabin?

840
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:07,199
I mean? I lean forward in my chair. Can you

841
00:42:07,239 --> 00:42:09,599
take me to the callous man? I've never been a

842
00:42:09,639 --> 00:42:12,519
fan of the woods. Call it a bad childhood experience,

843
00:42:12,559 --> 00:42:14,239
call it being an out of shape basshole. But I'm

844
00:42:14,239 --> 00:42:16,119
even less of a fan when I'm stuck hiking through

845
00:42:16,119 --> 00:42:17,960
them for work. And yet it seems like work is

846
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:19,840
a sixth sense of humor, because I find myself in

847
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:22,519
these fortresses of shit and sticks more often than I'd like, which,

848
00:42:22,599 --> 00:42:24,679
for the record, is never well except for to day.

849
00:42:24,679 --> 00:42:26,559
It's a long time before we reach the cabin. The

850
00:42:26,559 --> 00:42:28,159
girl said it took Carer and her friend eight. I

851
00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:30,920
as well, it takes us twelve. My best days are

852
00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:33,239
behind me, unfortunately, but luckily I don't need to be

853
00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:35,800
very fitful what I'm about to do. I still don't

854
00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:38,639
understand why you couldn't have just followed the map, Amanda says,

855
00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:41,639
I told you exactly how to get to Because I say,

856
00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:44,920
still breathas from the hike. This cabin doesn't exist on

857
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:47,119
a map. You can point it out to me all

858
00:42:47,159 --> 00:42:49,559
you want on your iPhone, but unless you're right beside me,

859
00:42:49,719 --> 00:42:52,239
I'll never see it. It's just the way the callous

860
00:42:52,239 --> 00:42:55,840
Man works. She narrows her eyes at me. You keep

861
00:42:55,880 --> 00:42:58,599
saying that name. Why do you call him the callous man.

862
00:42:59,199 --> 00:43:01,360
I pull open the door of the cabin and instantly

863
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:05,239
it smells like shit and dead animals. Bright I call

864
00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:08,639
him the callous man, I say, strolling across the creaky floorboards,

865
00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:11,960
because that's his name. It's the name the first person

866
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:14,199
that ever encountered him, coined him with, and so it's

867
00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:17,840
the name of which I refer to him the first person. Yet,

868
00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:21,440
I say, stepping into the bedroom, nay, the floor is

869
00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:24,199
a mess, covered in what's left of Amanda's tent. A

870
00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:26,320
small device lays a few feet away, and I figure

871
00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:29,679
it's probably her locator beacon. Hang on, she says, appearing

872
00:43:29,679 --> 00:43:32,159
in the doorway behind me. You're the first person that

873
00:43:32,199 --> 00:43:35,320
saw the cree the callous Man, and nod, bending down

874
00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:37,159
and picking up one of the shattered foot or frame

875
00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:40,119
she'd mentioned, dusting it off. I hold it up to her.

876
00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:42,960
This is my grandpa and I showing off our rifles

877
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:46,920
before going deer hunting. She looked shocked, stunned. Her eyes

878
00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:50,159
gaze at the picture, then back at me on second glance.

879
00:43:50,239 --> 00:43:52,960
You two really do surer resemblance. You and he looks

880
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:56,480
so much alike. Yea, I suppose we do. I tossed

881
00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:59,840
the frame on to the ground. You lived here, visited

882
00:44:00,559 --> 00:44:05,000
my grandpa lived here. You're kidding, She shakes her head, incredulous.

883
00:44:05,719 --> 00:44:07,360
This whole thing is so bizarre it has to be

884
00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:10,480
a nightmare. He can't be real. I flip the water

885
00:44:10,519 --> 00:44:12,719
bottleful of black grum in my hands, catching it with

886
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:16,239
a smile. You preaching to the choir lady. If I

887
00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:18,280
had to guess, I'd probably hope I wake up from

888
00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:20,840
this even more than you do. Unlike you, she says,

889
00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:23,000
with the clare, I don't have any secret agent training

890
00:44:23,119 --> 00:44:26,400
or whatever. Unlike me. You've got my gun. The only

891
00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:28,559
training you need is to point and shoot and not

892
00:44:28,639 --> 00:44:31,840
hit me with the bullets. She taps my revolver strapped

893
00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:34,440
to her thigh. It was how sole condition for joining

894
00:44:34,519 --> 00:44:37,440
me on this little woodland excussion. She gets to carry

895
00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:41,519
the gun. I told her. That's fine with one stipulation. Remember,

896
00:44:41,639 --> 00:44:44,000
I say, don't fucking touch that thing unless the cowous

897
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:46,719
man's already pulling you into his big mouth. I don't

898
00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:49,400
need you shooting me before I finish my business. What

899
00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:53,280
if he's attacking you, she asks, I'll deal with it.

900
00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:56,000
He'll deal with an eight foot tall monster with nothing

901
00:44:56,039 --> 00:44:58,239
but your bare hands. The water bottle crinkles in my grip.

902
00:44:58,400 --> 00:45:01,840
Just trust me on this, I'm a professional. I place

903
00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:03,440
my hand in the window sill and look out over

904
00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:06,239
the clearing out past the tree line. The sun's turn

905
00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:11,119
golden red. Soon it'll be night. Nervous, what do you think,

906
00:45:11,199 --> 00:45:12,880
she says, I hope you're as good as you say

907
00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:15,519
you are. The way she moves, the way she speaks,

908
00:45:15,679 --> 00:45:17,639
and the way she keeps touching the revolver on her

909
00:45:17,679 --> 00:45:21,760
thigh tell me everything I need to know. She's terrified. Relax,

910
00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:25,119
I say, save the anxiety for when our friend shows up.

911
00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:27,360
A man to pulls one of the chairs from the

912
00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:30,079
living area into the bedroom with me. She sits down

913
00:45:30,119 --> 00:45:33,000
on it, rigid and straight. I'm almost proud of her.

914
00:45:33,679 --> 00:45:35,599
Sure she was only willing to accompany me with a

915
00:45:35,639 --> 00:45:37,760
revolver strap to her thigh. But she still chose to

916
00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:40,039
do it. She chose to get revenge for what that

917
00:45:40,119 --> 00:45:43,559
thing did to her, what it did to Rachel. Almost there,

918
00:45:43,639 --> 00:45:46,320
I mutter. My eyes follow the sun as it slips

919
00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:49,559
behind the tree line. Shadows stretch out, engulfing the cabin

920
00:45:49,599 --> 00:45:53,679
in thin strips of darkness. He'll be here soon. Seconds pass,

921
00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:56,679
ten minutes, and then things begin to change. It starts

922
00:45:56,679 --> 00:45:59,039
with a crow taking flight, and I already know he's coming.

923
00:45:59,559 --> 00:46:02,800
I can feel him. A family of rabbits follows, bounding

924
00:46:02,800 --> 00:46:06,159
through the clearing. Soon the entire forest is fleeing past us,

925
00:46:06,239 --> 00:46:08,880
far away from the callous man and the death he represents.

926
00:46:09,559 --> 00:46:11,679
I pop a piece of spearman, Come and start chewing.

927
00:46:12,239 --> 00:46:15,920
It helps me focus. You ready, why, she says, shooting

928
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:18,920
up from the chair. Is he here? Does it make

929
00:46:18,920 --> 00:46:22,840
a difference. You're either ready or you're not. She scowls

930
00:46:22,840 --> 00:46:26,320
at me, but her body relaxes. I'm ready. Are you

931
00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:29,000
sure you can kill him? A mad mixture of impatience

932
00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:31,719
and nervousness flutters in my stomach. I toy with the

933
00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:35,039
idea of lying it would put her at ease. Then

934
00:46:35,079 --> 00:46:37,679
I decide it doesn't matter any more. Both of us

935
00:46:37,719 --> 00:46:43,239
are in too deep. No, no, she repeats, hysterical. She

936
00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:46,400
rises from her chair, rounding on me. You said you

937
00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:49,599
were professional. Ah, you've told me you've dealt with a

938
00:46:49,679 --> 00:46:53,639
hundred different monsters. I have. Her mouth opens, but no

939
00:46:53,719 --> 00:46:56,599
words come out. She stares at me with something between

940
00:46:56,599 --> 00:46:59,840
stunned disbelief and absolute loathing. She thinks I've signed or

941
00:46:59,880 --> 00:47:02,400
Day warrens. I'm not going to light to you. I

942
00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:05,320
say I've dealt with a lot of creatures, some bad,

943
00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:08,360
some worse. I know this job inside and out, and

944
00:47:08,480 --> 00:47:11,039
I don't plan on dying to day. But the Callous

945
00:47:11,079 --> 00:47:16,159
Man is different. How keet I catch myself. We're in

946
00:47:16,239 --> 00:47:19,119
the precipice and there's no going back, but there are

947
00:47:19,159 --> 00:47:22,760
still words that can upset the operation. I exercise some tact.

948
00:47:23,519 --> 00:47:27,079
He's powerful. He can distort this world to manipulate dimensions.

949
00:47:27,719 --> 00:47:30,280
It's why I needed you here, It's why I needed

950
00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:33,679
your link. He chose you. The Callous Man gave ye

951
00:47:33,679 --> 00:47:36,039
the key to his world and only. But he never

952
00:47:36,079 --> 00:47:39,880
said ye couldn't bring visitors. She shakes her head. She's

953
00:47:39,880 --> 00:47:42,719
trying to kisse it together. Bless her heart, She's trying

954
00:47:42,719 --> 00:47:44,800
her best but there aren't enough pieces to make sense

955
00:47:44,840 --> 00:47:48,960
of it. And that's intentional. It's by design. I need

956
00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:52,559
her obedient, not unruly. Everything hinges on her co operation.

957
00:47:53,159 --> 00:47:56,639
I don't understand why did he choose me? The sun

958
00:47:56,639 --> 00:47:59,400
finishes its descent, its red orange rays fading to darkness.

959
00:48:00,079 --> 00:48:02,239
I flick my flashlight on, holding it up to the

960
00:48:02,239 --> 00:48:05,119
window and watching the clearing with bitty breath. The callous

961
00:48:05,199 --> 00:48:07,679
man is coming. He chows you because of the life

962
00:48:07,679 --> 00:48:10,719
you live. I explain the values you represent it it

963
00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:14,880
means something to him? Values are represent what like honesty

964
00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:18,559
and integrity? She snorts? What do values mean to a

965
00:48:18,559 --> 00:48:23,119
monster like that? I smirk. They mean you taste good.

966
00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:26,599
The night is still silent, just as she earlier described.

967
00:48:26,639 --> 00:48:29,159
There is no sound of life, except this time there's

968
00:48:29,199 --> 00:48:32,079
no storm either. It's a cloudless sky without so much

969
00:48:32,079 --> 00:48:34,000
as a breeze, and I can almost hear a manda

970
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:36,519
his heart beating out of her chest. Aw harsh, she

971
00:48:36,519 --> 00:48:39,719
says sarcastically. She's close enough behind me now that I

972
00:48:39,719 --> 00:48:42,800
can feel her breath on my neck. She really is terrified.

973
00:48:43,480 --> 00:48:46,280
What do those values actually mean to it? To him?

974
00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:49,639
I correct, believe it or not? That monster really is

975
00:48:49,679 --> 00:48:52,280
a man. When you become as powerful as he is, though,

976
00:48:52,360 --> 00:48:54,280
food stops meaning what it means to you and I.

977
00:48:54,480 --> 00:48:57,639
It's less about calories and more about filling a void.

978
00:48:57,880 --> 00:49:00,400
It's trying to supplement its diet with concepts ideas that

979
00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:05,280
it's missing. Why to become better? The cure itself. The

980
00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:07,840
movement in the clearing, and my breath catches as I

981
00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:11,280
see it a set of crooked antlers. They rise from

982
00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:14,039
the brambles, soon revealing a face covered by matted black hair,

983
00:49:14,239 --> 00:49:16,119
one with a tiny snout and a halo of dark,

984
00:49:16,239 --> 00:49:18,679
beady eyes. The dots glimmer in the beam of my

985
00:49:18,719 --> 00:49:21,760
Flashley it wants to stop being a monster, she asks,

986
00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:25,119
her voice thick with disbelief. It's eating people to save itself,

987
00:49:25,880 --> 00:49:28,480
say ch h I hes. My eyes are wide, and

988
00:49:28,519 --> 00:49:30,400
my mauth is split into the largest grin of worn

989
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:33,960
in years. He's here. I sense her tents up behind me,

990
00:49:34,039 --> 00:49:36,280
but to her credit, she doesn't unholster the revolver on

991
00:49:36,320 --> 00:49:39,599
her thigh. She keeps her cool. I grip the water

992
00:49:39,639 --> 00:49:43,480
bottled tighter, reaching a hand to its cap. Now I

993
00:49:43,519 --> 00:49:45,559
pull my hand away, reminding myself that I need to

994
00:49:45,599 --> 00:49:49,039
keep my cool too. It's still too soon. The callous

995
00:49:49,039 --> 00:49:51,760
man can still make his escape, fade away. I need

996
00:49:51,840 --> 00:49:54,239
him committed. At the edge of the clearing, the man

997
00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:57,039
rises to his full height. I can see clearly now

998
00:49:57,079 --> 00:49:59,480
his dark fur chest and his long, thin fingers resting

999
00:49:59,480 --> 00:50:02,079
on the ground. His bird like legs begin a slow

1000
00:50:02,119 --> 00:50:05,320
march forward, their claws digging at the loomy earth. He's coming.

1001
00:50:05,360 --> 00:50:09,199
I sat taking a step back, stay behind me, directly

1002
00:50:09,239 --> 00:50:12,239
behind me. She doesn't speak, but I know she's nodding.

1003
00:50:12,800 --> 00:50:15,000
I hear her feet creak on the floorboards and concert

1004
00:50:15,039 --> 00:50:17,239
with my own. My fingers play at the cap of

1005
00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:21,159
the water bottle. Everything comes down to this. Forty years

1006
00:50:21,159 --> 00:50:23,239
of horror and misery have led me to this moment.

1007
00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:27,440
A snickering sound pierces the air. The man's moving faster now,

1008
00:50:27,480 --> 00:50:29,519
each footstep coming at the pace of a light jog.

1009
00:50:30,199 --> 00:50:33,440
There's hardly any time left, but still our way. He's coming.

1010
00:50:34,119 --> 00:50:38,280
Amanda hisses from behind me. She's panicking. Her hand clutches

1011
00:50:38,280 --> 00:50:41,159
at my shoulder, and I grunt, shaking her off. Don't

1012
00:50:41,239 --> 00:50:45,719
I tell her relax, We're almost done here. My heart races,

1013
00:50:46,400 --> 00:50:48,800
seeing the monster again, after all these years, is dredging

1014
00:50:48,840 --> 00:50:51,400
up all memories, and the little boy threatens to take

1015
00:50:51,440 --> 00:50:54,079
cold inside of me. My palms are thick with sweat.

1016
00:50:54,639 --> 00:50:57,800
It doubles over, sprinting on all fours. It's somewhat of

1017
00:50:57,840 --> 00:51:00,280
vasconnetch with my urn while it's crooked Outlow's way and

1018
00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:03,360
concert with its powerful body. Clouds of earth burst out

1019
00:51:03,360 --> 00:51:05,599
from behind it, its long fingers tearing at the ground

1020
00:51:05,599 --> 00:51:10,440
with each dride yea, yea yea. Its nick goes yea yea.

1021
00:51:11,159 --> 00:51:13,880
It leaps at the window. For a moment, time seems

1022
00:51:13,920 --> 00:51:16,840
to stop. I stare transfixed by the creature I used

1023
00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:19,960
to know so well. It's horrifying and human face gazes

1024
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:21,599
back at me, and inside of it, I see an

1025
00:51:21,599 --> 00:51:24,960
insatiable hunger I need to feed. My body freezes, my

1026
00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:28,639
blood goes cold. Terror grips me as its fingers reach outward,

1027
00:51:28,679 --> 00:51:31,639
passing through the window, while its focal cords chitter in anticipation.

1028
00:51:32,320 --> 00:51:35,199
It wants me. I lunge to the side. It collides

1029
00:51:35,199 --> 00:51:37,760
with Amanda, its antlows, piercing her stomach and showering the

1030
00:51:37,800 --> 00:51:40,760
bedroom in blood. Her body crashes against the wall with

1031
00:51:40,760 --> 00:51:43,199
a sickening crunch, and she lays there in a broken,

1032
00:51:43,280 --> 00:51:46,639
whimpering heap. I stay as quiet as I can. The

1033
00:51:46,679 --> 00:51:49,280
cowous man shakes his tangle of black hair and looks around,

1034
00:51:49,360 --> 00:51:53,199
reorienting himself first to me, then to her, then back

1035
00:51:53,239 --> 00:51:56,679
to me. Thuck. My fingers begin n twisting the cap

1036
00:51:56,679 --> 00:52:00,599
of a water bottle. It's too soon. I need him distracted.

1037
00:52:01,159 --> 00:52:03,559
I need him feeding and committed. But I don't think

1038
00:52:03,599 --> 00:52:06,239
I have an option any more. It steps toward me.

1039
00:52:06,920 --> 00:52:11,039
The floor groans, My mouth feels dry, my lins twitchy.

1040
00:52:11,639 --> 00:52:13,760
Fear takes root in my chest, and the little boy

1041
00:52:13,760 --> 00:52:16,840
inside threatens to take hold. No, I have to hang on.

1042
00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:19,960
I open the water bottle and my mouth begins stuttering

1043
00:52:19,960 --> 00:52:23,400
the words thorough val nuller. The cow's men lowers himself,

1044
00:52:23,880 --> 00:52:26,719
his back arches, and his tiny set begins to open,

1045
00:52:26,840 --> 00:52:30,119
growing larger and larger. Screams of a hundred souls echo

1046
00:52:30,159 --> 00:52:32,519
from the voidant side of him, their arms reaching toward me,

1047
00:52:32,760 --> 00:52:36,639
desperate to draw another into their nightmare. Alan Schultze. I

1048
00:52:36,679 --> 00:52:39,800
continue the words, but there's no time. They are so close.

1049
00:52:40,559 --> 00:52:43,559
He's so close. I press myself as far against the

1050
00:52:43,559 --> 00:52:45,639
corner as I can, but still I feel their cold

1051
00:52:45,639 --> 00:52:50,119
grip on my leg. They pull, They're strong. My balance

1052
00:52:50,159 --> 00:52:52,000
goes up from under me and I fall on mass

1053
00:52:52,679 --> 00:52:56,320
just falcola. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. She

1054
00:52:56,400 --> 00:52:59,360
held the values he needed her, not me. I keep

1055
00:52:59,360 --> 00:53:02,440
speaking the ink, I keep moving my lips, but now

1056
00:53:02,440 --> 00:53:06,000
my body's acting on instinct, on learned behavior. I can't

1057
00:53:06,039 --> 00:53:08,000
so much as think as I slip further and further

1058
00:53:08,039 --> 00:53:11,119
into the abystal darkness of the cowous man's jaws. I

1059
00:53:11,199 --> 00:53:13,400
keep speaking the words, but my voice is drowned by

1060
00:53:13,400 --> 00:53:17,280
the pleas of the dead. Screaming, howling, begging. The incantation

1061
00:53:17,480 --> 00:53:20,800
is all I have left. It's not enough, it's taking

1062
00:53:20,840 --> 00:53:24,079
too long. A deafening bang rings out, interrupting a course

1063
00:53:24,079 --> 00:53:27,519
of screaming souls. The callous man recoils, its jaw sliding

1064
00:53:27,519 --> 00:53:30,199
across the floor and its body writhing in agony. It

1065
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:33,119
stumbles to the side, and then two more gunshots pierson I.

1066
00:53:33,840 --> 00:53:36,800
It falls to its knees. I can see behind him now,

1067
00:53:37,480 --> 00:53:40,239
I can see a man's bloody, mangled heap. One of

1068
00:53:40,239 --> 00:53:42,559
her legs is snap back rows, and her white shirts

1069
00:53:42,599 --> 00:53:44,719
torn at her stomach, with pieces of her falling out

1070
00:53:44,719 --> 00:53:47,480
of the hole. Blood spills from her mouth like a fountain,

1071
00:53:47,559 --> 00:53:50,800
and in her trembling hands she holds the revolver. Thank you,

1072
00:53:51,519 --> 00:53:55,480
I breathe, rising to my feet on shaky legs. Thank you, Amanda.

1073
00:53:56,079 --> 00:53:58,159
Another blast of the hand gone, and this time my

1074
00:53:58,239 --> 00:54:01,400
years are ringing like church bells. I stumbled to the side,

1075
00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:03,079
and in the dim light of my lantern, I see

1076
00:54:03,079 --> 00:54:05,000
a bullet hole in the wall beside me. I barely

1077
00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:06,840
have time to look back at her before agony rips

1078
00:54:06,840 --> 00:54:10,199
through my thigh and I collapse onto the bedroom floor. Focking, bitch.

1079
00:54:10,960 --> 00:54:13,800
My hands clutched the wound instinctively. I don't need to

1080
00:54:13,840 --> 00:54:15,400
look at it to feel the warm witness of blood

1081
00:54:15,440 --> 00:54:17,920
seeping through my fingers. I gaze up at her, and

1082
00:54:17,960 --> 00:54:19,880
she stared as the gun at me. I was so close,

1083
00:54:20,599 --> 00:54:23,519
So God, I'm close forty years of this shit, and

1084
00:54:23,559 --> 00:54:27,000
I'm undone by a blogger. Do it? I growl. Death

1085
00:54:27,079 --> 00:54:28,840
by a bullet isn't a bad way to go, all

1086
00:54:28,840 --> 00:54:32,239
things considered. Do it before he takes us both. She

1087
00:54:32,360 --> 00:54:35,400
lowers the revolver and tears fall from her eyes. She's

1088
00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:37,239
choking on a word, but all that's coming out is

1089
00:54:37,280 --> 00:54:40,360
a torrent of blood. It's fine. I know what she

1090
00:54:40,400 --> 00:54:42,599
wants to say. I did it because it was the

1091
00:54:42,679 --> 00:54:45,599
only way, I explained for gritted teeth. One of us

1092
00:54:45,639 --> 00:54:47,440
always had to die, but if it was me, then

1093
00:54:47,480 --> 00:54:50,280
it meant we both did. Her body is twitching in shock.

1094
00:54:51,039 --> 00:54:53,320
She's still moving her mouth, but it's just blood now,

1095
00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:58,440
no words, only blood. Her face is pale and glassy eyed,

1096
00:54:58,519 --> 00:55:00,320
but I only see it for another moment before the

1097
00:55:00,320 --> 00:55:04,199
cow'st man begins to rise. He's snickering, but it's violent, angry.

1098
00:55:04,800 --> 00:55:07,599
His eyes gaze at me. The antlers are casting twisted

1099
00:55:07,639 --> 00:55:09,599
chatterers in the light of my lantern, and it's making

1100
00:55:09,639 --> 00:55:12,679
him seem even more unnatural, more inhuman. He turns away

1101
00:55:12,719 --> 00:55:17,280
from me. He turns to Amanda Fellgazria. I whisper more

1102
00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:20,760
of than gression, his footsteps grown on the rotten cabin floorboards.

1103
00:55:21,480 --> 00:55:23,800
I don't see Amanda, but I hear the gurgle of blood.

1104
00:55:24,400 --> 00:55:27,400
I hear the desperate shuffle of her body pushing itself

1105
00:55:27,400 --> 00:55:30,440
against the wall. I hear a gunshot ring out, then another.

1106
00:55:31,000 --> 00:55:34,119
The footsteps march forward, and so does my incantation. The

1107
00:55:34,159 --> 00:55:36,519
water bottle shaking in my grip. Now the grimy floats

1108
00:55:36,519 --> 00:55:42,079
whirling in a murky maelstrong pray Julia, another shot, del reader,

1109
00:55:42,639 --> 00:55:47,039
a cacophony of screams, set kilowner a Manda lets loosen

1110
00:55:47,079 --> 00:55:49,639
the handgun twice more, and then the firearm clicks impotently.

1111
00:55:50,280 --> 00:55:53,599
She's burned through every round that it has. It wasn't enough,

1112
00:55:54,280 --> 00:55:57,119
It never could be. My lips keep moving even as

1113
00:55:57,159 --> 00:55:59,679
I hear her body being dragged across the floor. The

1114
00:55:59,760 --> 00:56:01,880
anch language flows out of me and undeft to the

1115
00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:04,639
sounds of her flesh being ripped and torn, our lembs

1116
00:56:04,639 --> 00:56:07,559
being devied inch by inch. She needs to hang on

1117
00:56:08,199 --> 00:56:10,639
her role in this is an over Yet I speak

1118
00:56:10,679 --> 00:56:14,800
the final words set Rinders. The water bottle jolts from

1119
00:56:14,800 --> 00:56:17,360
my grip, the macky fluid inside, exploding into a dark cloud,

1120
00:56:17,360 --> 00:56:19,519
twisting a round the room like a tornado of smoke.

1121
00:56:20,199 --> 00:56:23,239
I hear the screaming Falter. Then I hear the callous

1122
00:56:23,320 --> 00:56:26,360
man lurch around, snickering in confusion. I hear him on

1123
00:56:26,400 --> 00:56:30,559
the groan She's a fighter beard. It takes the cloud

1124
00:56:30,599 --> 00:56:32,760
only a handful of seconds to coalesce into the greatest

1125
00:56:32,800 --> 00:56:35,360
monster I have ever seen, But in that moment, it

1126
00:56:35,400 --> 00:56:38,239
feels like a lifetime. Its form snaps and cracks with

1127
00:56:38,320 --> 00:56:41,880
bolts of electricity. Its twelve eyes glow an impossible blue

1128
00:56:42,400 --> 00:56:44,760
upon it. Six muscled arms are heavy chains linking to

1129
00:56:44,800 --> 00:56:46,960
a choker on its neck, and it roars in fury.

1130
00:56:47,480 --> 00:56:49,760
This time, I'll have your soul, little man, I'll enjoy

1131
00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:51,920
it over a glass of your misery. I let a

1132
00:56:51,920 --> 00:56:54,880
grin slip across my lips. For the first time since

1133
00:56:54,880 --> 00:56:57,519
the callous Man appear, I feel my sense of humor returning.

1134
00:56:58,079 --> 00:57:00,480
Sorry to disappoint drag Her, but I simmon by means

1135
00:57:00,480 --> 00:57:03,239
of an offering. The genies brows furrow and his mouth

1136
00:57:03,239 --> 00:57:06,159
opens to reveal a row of jagga teeth. I see

1137
00:57:06,199 --> 00:57:09,719
no living humans here, save for one. He's smiling. He

1138
00:57:09,800 --> 00:57:11,760
reaches an arm out to grab me, but as soon

1139
00:57:11,800 --> 00:57:13,960
as his fingers brush my throat, they hiss in steam.

1140
00:57:14,400 --> 00:57:18,159
He recoils, snarling. She's your offering, I say, pointing past

1141
00:57:18,239 --> 00:57:21,119
the cow's man to a manda's mandled body. Now obey

1142
00:57:21,159 --> 00:57:25,159
my command. A legion of screams interrupt us. The callous

1143
00:57:25,159 --> 00:57:27,519
Man's jaws have opened, and once more a hundred arms

1144
00:57:27,559 --> 00:57:30,360
reach from the maw, this time toward the newcomer. They

1145
00:57:30,400 --> 00:57:34,000
grasp at the genie, phasing through the gaysessimage. Drager scowls,

1146
00:57:34,039 --> 00:57:36,519
his voice dropping to a low grel. Very well the

1147
00:57:36,559 --> 00:57:39,840
words are spoken, A soul for us all. His body

1148
00:57:39,880 --> 00:57:42,800
splits into circumventing the callous Man and reforming in front

1149
00:57:42,800 --> 00:57:47,199
of Amanda. She's nearly dead. She is confused. She doesn't

1150
00:57:47,239 --> 00:57:51,199
understand what's happening. I've given her a mercy dragon will

1151
00:57:51,199 --> 00:57:53,320
treat her aul better than the Calf's Man ever would.

1152
00:57:53,840 --> 00:57:56,039
The Genie's hand reaches up to touch her, and in

1153
00:57:56,079 --> 00:57:59,199
the next instant, her body is gone. Only the blood

1154
00:57:59,199 --> 00:58:02,000
stains remain. The callous man looks back to me. Is

1155
00:58:02,079 --> 00:58:05,159
j just scraping along the floor. It recognizes there's nothing

1156
00:58:05,159 --> 00:58:08,400
in the genie to consume. It wants what's inside of me, though,

1157
00:58:08,960 --> 00:58:13,039
it wants the memories of its humanity revenge. It takes

1158
00:58:13,079 --> 00:58:16,239
a heavy step toward me, then another. The screams are deafening,

1159
00:58:16,280 --> 00:58:18,000
but I know I don't need my voice to be heard.

1160
00:58:18,559 --> 00:58:21,639
A command is a command for her soul. I want his.

1161
00:58:22,480 --> 00:58:25,000
The pale hands reach out from the abyssele maws grasp

1162
00:58:25,000 --> 00:58:27,559
in my legs, and I let them My body falls

1163
00:58:27,599 --> 00:58:30,440
to the floor. It inches toward the jaws of the beast,

1164
00:58:30,519 --> 00:58:33,719
toward damnation. Then light fails the room, and the cabin

1165
00:58:33,719 --> 00:58:36,760
shakes with the low base of raternity itself. The screaming

1166
00:58:36,760 --> 00:58:39,960
fades to a whimper. Then after a loud Pope's gone.

1167
00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:44,440
Everything's gone, the callous man the cabin. I'm alone, lying

1168
00:58:44,480 --> 00:58:46,960
in a dark field, my lantern eliminating, a clearing of

1169
00:58:46,960 --> 00:58:49,840
grass with tall trees surrounding it. My thaia aches, My

1170
00:58:49,880 --> 00:58:52,559
mouth is parched, and my conscience is in tatters. But

1171
00:58:52,719 --> 00:58:56,440
I'm alive. I am always alive. Soon Ye'll have fulfilled

1172
00:58:56,440 --> 00:58:59,360
our contract, says a hissing voice, scraping along my inarier.

1173
00:59:00,039 --> 00:59:03,639
It's everywhere and nowhere. I've taken ninety three souls for you,

1174
00:59:03,719 --> 00:59:06,519
only seven more to go. He e, yeah, I've heard

1175
00:59:06,519 --> 00:59:09,079
it before, I say, with a groan. Now, hand over

1176
00:59:09,199 --> 00:59:11,599
my soul. There's a swirl of smoke in the frowning

1177
00:59:11,679 --> 00:59:14,679
Genie appears before me. He snaps a finger on one

1178
00:59:14,679 --> 00:59:16,800
of his six arms and produces a vial filled with

1179
00:59:16,880 --> 00:59:20,119
mlky purple fluid. The man never deserved this, he says,

1180
00:59:20,639 --> 00:59:23,400
He was your own blood. Don't lecture me, I say,

1181
00:59:23,440 --> 00:59:25,639
it reaching for the vial. You and I both know

1182
00:59:25,719 --> 00:59:28,559
he was never supposed to turn into that. The genie

1183
00:59:28,599 --> 00:59:31,400
pulls back, gazing at the vial. What is meant to

1184
00:59:31,400 --> 00:59:33,320
be and what comes to pass? With two different things?

1185
00:59:33,880 --> 00:59:37,119
You shield yourself in the delusion of intention. He encircles

1186
00:59:37,159 --> 00:59:39,559
me in a snaking ribbon of smoke, his face materializing

1187
00:59:39,599 --> 00:59:42,159
near my ear. You force that destiny on the man.

1188
00:59:42,679 --> 00:59:46,239
He had no desire to participate in your war. YEA, well,

1189
00:59:46,440 --> 00:59:48,480
none of us do you, And yet it's coming anyway.

1190
00:59:49,159 --> 00:59:53,239
Something takes a seat in my get regret, maybe remorse.

1191
00:59:53,960 --> 00:59:56,320
It's an ugly feeling. Whatever it is, I blame it

1192
00:59:56,400 --> 00:59:59,280
on the woman. Why didn't you just kill me? No,

1193
00:59:59,519 --> 01:00:02,960
I think to myself, Shake it off. I've got more

1194
01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:06,400
important things to worry about. Vile a girl holding my

1195
01:00:06,480 --> 01:00:09,800
hand out. I think I may have miscalculated. Drag of mutters,

1196
01:00:09,920 --> 01:00:13,280
stirring at the vial with curiosity, A soul for a soul.

1197
01:00:13,400 --> 01:00:17,000
Such are the terms of our contract. And yet I

1198
01:00:17,079 --> 01:00:20,280
swallow and it feels like sandpaper. Whence the last time

1199
01:00:20,320 --> 01:00:23,480
I had something to drink? You got your soul, Now

1200
01:00:23,519 --> 01:00:28,159
give me mine. My voice cracks, buck, my voice cracks

1201
01:00:28,760 --> 01:00:31,360
the genies twelve eyes swivel their gaze to me. A

1202
01:00:31,440 --> 01:00:34,679
smile slips across his lips. When he speaks, his voice

1203
01:00:34,679 --> 01:00:37,480
is quiet and settling. I count over a hundred souls

1204
01:00:37,519 --> 01:00:40,480
in this vial. My heart slams against my rib cage.

1205
01:00:41,079 --> 01:00:44,000
Damn it, that's not fair. I shall trying to rise

1206
01:00:44,000 --> 01:00:45,599
to my feet, but my th ice creams and pen

1207
01:00:45,679 --> 01:00:47,880
and I fall back to earth. I only ask for

1208
01:00:47,920 --> 01:00:50,679
his soul. I never asked for the souls he deviired,

1209
01:00:51,360 --> 01:00:53,960
and yet they are still part of him. Please, I

1210
01:00:54,039 --> 01:00:59,119
can't end here. Be reasonable. Reasonable. The genie roars and

1211
01:00:59,159 --> 01:01:02,960
his form becomes Lightning sparks around him, and the wind

1212
01:01:02,960 --> 01:01:05,400
whips into a gale, threatening to unseat me from the ground.

1213
01:01:06,079 --> 01:01:07,880
You chain me to this earth for decades, turn me

1214
01:01:07,920 --> 01:01:09,960
into a common reaper for your own ends, and you

1215
01:01:10,000 --> 01:01:12,280
can find me to a plastic bottle. You speak of

1216
01:01:12,320 --> 01:01:14,760
reason to me. I did what I had to Ibella.

1217
01:01:15,320 --> 01:01:18,039
A war is coming, and we need these souls. We

1218
01:01:18,159 --> 01:01:20,880
need an army. Your petty war means nothing to me.

1219
01:01:21,559 --> 01:01:23,639
Drag your points a long finger toward me, and the

1220
01:01:23,679 --> 01:01:27,000
red or swirls around it, sparks crackle at its tip.

1221
01:01:27,599 --> 01:01:30,280
Then slowly, reluctantly, he curls it back into a fist.

1222
01:01:30,960 --> 01:01:34,039
I am, however, a reasonable being. My breath hitches in

1223
01:01:34,119 --> 01:01:36,000
my chest as I hang on the monsters every word.

1224
01:01:36,639 --> 01:01:38,559
You have broken the tones of our contract. But I

1225
01:01:38,559 --> 01:01:41,679
have also willingly fulfilled your wish. For that, I will

1226
01:01:41,719 --> 01:01:46,639
give you a compromised, little human compromise that's good, better

1227
01:01:46,679 --> 01:01:51,880
than nothing, at least. Dragger's eyes glint. One month, one month,

1228
01:01:52,639 --> 01:01:56,880
settle your affairs, prepare for your war. One month from now,

1229
01:01:56,920 --> 01:01:59,559
I'll take the soul I've dreamed of for decades. I'll

1230
01:01:59,559 --> 01:02:01,679
spend then next sentry picking you out of my teeth.

1231
01:02:02,280 --> 01:02:05,360
I sigh, falling back onto the grass. It's better than

1232
01:02:05,400 --> 01:02:08,599
I could expect, all things considered, I'm surprised the cosmic

1233
01:02:08,639 --> 01:02:10,599
Castle didn't just scoop me up right then and there

1234
01:02:11,199 --> 01:02:14,880
fucking fine print. Okay, I say, can you get me

1235
01:02:14,920 --> 01:02:17,760
out of here? He smirks, turning into form the smoke

1236
01:02:18,440 --> 01:02:22,239
a soul fur saul, no more, no less. He begins

1237
01:02:22,239 --> 01:02:25,039
swirling like a mad tornado shadow, howling and roaring, and

1238
01:02:25,119 --> 01:02:28,000
a moment later he's gone vacuum back into the water bottle.

1239
01:02:28,639 --> 01:02:32,519
Assel looks like I'm finding my own way down. Once more,

1240
01:02:32,559 --> 01:02:34,440
I tried to rise to my feet, and once more

1241
01:02:34,480 --> 01:02:37,000
I WinCE in pain and fall back down. Damn, the

1242
01:02:37,039 --> 01:02:40,159
revolver did good work on my thigh. No, she did.

1243
01:02:40,320 --> 01:02:42,559
The woman tugs at my thoughts, her resolve, her strength,

1244
01:02:42,639 --> 01:02:46,480
her blob. She could tell a story, Amanda Haines. She's

1245
01:02:46,480 --> 01:02:48,519
gone now, but there's still a story that needs to

1246
01:02:48,559 --> 01:02:50,440
be told, and I'm running out of time to tell it.

1247
01:02:51,039 --> 01:02:52,559
I spot a mess in the corner of my eye,

1248
01:02:52,559 --> 01:02:54,840
a pile of canvas, torn and bloody, with tent poles

1249
01:02:54,840 --> 01:02:58,280
poking at that should do. I crawled toward it, and

1250
01:02:58,320 --> 01:03:00,880
a moment later I find what I'm looking for, a

1251
01:03:00,960 --> 01:03:03,159
black device laying a few feet away, just like it

1252
01:03:03,159 --> 01:03:06,199
had been in the cabin, the beacon. I reach out

1253
01:03:06,199 --> 01:03:09,480
and grab it and click the button. It beeps, Good,

1254
01:03:10,239 --> 01:03:12,760
it beeps. You don't need me to tell you that

1255
01:03:12,800 --> 01:03:14,800
the search team located me, and you don't need me

1256
01:03:14,840 --> 01:03:16,400
to tell you that they had a lot of questions,

1257
01:03:16,480 --> 01:03:18,239
but the facility stepped in and took care of it.

1258
01:03:18,880 --> 01:03:20,440
You also don't need me to tell you that I'll

1259
01:03:20,440 --> 01:03:22,519
be walking on crutches for the rest of my short life,

1260
01:03:23,800 --> 01:03:26,280
and that is the end. Thank you for listening and

1261
01:03:26,320 --> 01:03:35,559
I will see you in the next one.