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>! Poll 1: BHG - 001 - Bylaws
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Hi, I'm looking for long term PLATONIC ONLY friend that I can talk to daily and possibly voice chat if you are okay with that, I have discord and reddit, I don't use any other social media.
My hobbies are watching movies and shows, i like sci-fi, mystery, action and comedy, recently I have been watching silo, invasion, Monarch, for all mankind, buffy the vampire slayer, loki, its always sunny in Philadelphia. I also like playing video games and I play on consoles and pc, recently I have been playing Witchfire, Dead Island 2, immortals of aveum, assassins creed mirage, avatar frontiers of pandora, and some games on older consoles, but I have a lot of other games and we can play multiplayer games together. I like nature and animals and often go for walks in parks. I'm also into cars and planes and really anything tech or engineering, cosplays, outfits, anime, retro gaming and modding, as well as lego. I also have cats so will send cat pics.
Please dm me if interested.

Below you'll find information and links to help advocate for Reproductive Freedoms and Abortion care in Canada and emerging policy issues with the Reddit platform. This is a recurring post and will be periodically updated as needed. Feel free to post additional information and discussions in the comments.
Advocating for Abortion Care in Canada:

• There is a serious lack of Abortion Care options in Canada, particularly in the rural areas, and for those living on reserves, they have almost no access to Abortion care. People may have to travel more than 100km and across provincial lines to access abortion. Some have to travel by plane from their rural community to one with an abortion clinic or hospital. This puts an unfair financial and logistical burden on those that need to access abortion care. Provincial Health Insurance Plans do not cover travel costs related to receiving medical care.
• Because many provinces have few facilities that provide Abortion care, this places an unreasonable load on the clinics that do exist, forcing clients to look elsewhere for facilities with capacity to help them. In Alberta, there is one clinic for every 209,077 people who can become pregnant (number of assigned-at-birth females between the ages of 15-29). PEI, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon Territory each only have 1 Abortion care provider. Nunavut only has 2 abortion providers, and of those, only one offers medical abortion covered by the provincial health insurance plan. In fact, 9 (out of a total of 13) Canadian provinces and territories have five or fewer facililities offering abortion care in their entire province. And 10 Canadian provinces and territories have one or fewer (0) rural facililities offering abortion care.
• Some provinces, like PEI, have more restrictive guidelines regarding abortion, limiting access to abortion care to those with a gestational period of less than 12 weeks (meaning, 12 weeks since the first day of your last period, not 12 weeks since you discovered you were pregnant). Many people who menstruate have irregular periods. Some people might only menstruate every 2 or 3 months, and might only discover that they are pregnant near the gestation limit of 12 weeks.
• Insurance coverage also limits access to abortions. Provinces such as Nunavut do not offer coverage for medical abortions unless they are prescribed and performed in a hospital. And being a rural province, there also happens to be only 1 hospital in Nunavut - Qikiqtani General Hospital in Iqualuit. New Brunswick will only cover abortion services in a hospital setting, which means that abortion medical care provided in clinics are not covered by their Provincial Health Insurance Plan.
• Sexual and reproductive health services are among the services that physicians, pharmacists and nurse practitioners are most frequently unwilling to provide on moral or religious grounds. People may be harassed and attacked while visiting an Abortion clinic may experience stigma and/or discrimination from their peers, especially in smaller, rural communities where everyone knows one another. People refused care by health care professionals because of personal beliefs may experience stigma and/or discrimination, forcing them to travel outside of their community to receive the care they need. This can all be particularly daunting for young people or those with limited resources.
• Everyone in Canada is supposed to have equal rights to access health care, regardless of race, age, class, immigration status, gender expression, sexuality and ability. Nevertheless, anyone's right to seek abortion care can be be impacted by discrimination and bigotry, both systemic and as a result of individual prejudice on the part of service providers. Racism, xenophobia, classism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and ageism in Canada are all direct and intersecting barriers to accessing abortion. It is much more difficult for a person who doesn’t speak English to access abortion services, despite the presence of a translator. Transpeople also experience discrimination at higher rates in reproductive health care settings. Providers may also lack the knowledge or training to provide trans-affirming abortion care and abortion services are typically housed within *women’s* health care departments.
• Further compounding the issue of inequitable abortion access are unregulated crisis pregnancy centres (CPCs), which are anti-choice pregnancy centres that advertise in hospitals, doctor's offices, churches, schools and community centre. They deceive people coming to them for options and advice by giving misinformation about abortion or by insisting on options that may delay or interfere with the clients ability to access the care they need. CPCs far outnumber abortion care providers in Canada. In Ontario alone, there are 77 active CPCs but only 38 abortion care providers. Overall, in Canada, there are 165 known CPCs compared to 147 abortion care providers (as of August 2022).

Reference: Policy Options, via the Institute for Research on Public Policy and Action Canada for Sexual Health & Rights
What can you do to improve access to abortion care in Canada?

1. Listen, research and learn. This is always the first step to understand any problem.
2. Send a letter to your MP and MPP. Tell them that access to abortion care is important and how difficult it can be to access it in your province. Urge them to prevent anti-choice groups and CPCs from receiving charitable status, and to revoke the charitable status from CPCs that already have it. Encourage them to include reasonable reimbursement for travel costs related to receiving medical care when it is not available in your community. And push them to pass Safe Access Zone Legislation to protect patients, practitioners and their staff from anti-choice harassment and intimidation.
3. Give a donation to a pro-choice charitable organization of your choice. Remember, if you give a total of $201 CDN or more to Canadian charitable organizations, you'll get a credit of 29% of your total annual donations on your income taxes (for those that file Canadian Income Taxes, only).
4. Sign up for the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada Newsletter. https://www.arcc-cdac.ca/
5. Participate in local marches and rallys in support of access to abortion care.
6. Spread the Word. Tell your friends and family. Encourage them to research, listen and learn. Encourage them to contact their MPP and MPs.
7. If you work in a Doctor's office or as a family physician, consider incorporating Mifegymiso into your practice to ensure patients have timely access to this essential service. If you are a Doctor, or studying to be one, consider opening an Abortion Care practice when you are licensed and qualified to do so, especially in rural areas where there are a lack of options.
8. If you work in politics, consider proposing legislation that will ensure safe access zones for abortion care providers and their clients and covering reasonable travel costs for constituents when medical care is not available in their community.
9. If you are a journalist or work in media, consider preparing pieces sharing the difficulty Canadians can have accessing medical care such as abortions.
10. If you work in the area of Not For Profit/Advocacy, consider partnering with a Pro-choice organization and helping them spread information and lobby for improving access to abortion care for Canadians.
11. If you know someone who needs abortion care, consider giving them a ride to a clinic, helping them access the advice and care they need, and provide non-judgemental support.
12. Ensure persons of First Nations, Metis and Inuit heritage know about Jordan's Principle, which ensures that First Nations children (which includes people who can become pregnant under the age of 18) can access the products, services and supports they need, when they need them. https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1568396042341/1568396159824

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emerging Policy Issues with Reddit
On July 1, 2023, Reddit raised the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that killed every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader. This policy change meant that mobile users would have a lesser experience browsing Reddit, users with visual difficulties could not browse reddit as screenreaders are not compatible with the official Reddit app, and mods lost tools that they depend on to keep communities on-topic and spam-free. Many subreddits protested this change in June 2023, and the Reddit admins enforced draconian measures such as removing and replacing mods who privatized their subreddits in protest of this policy change.
On September 12, 2023, Reddit will eliminate reddit coins, including removing all accumulated coins, a perk that Reddit Premium users pay for every month. Coins are used to reward comments and posts by showing your appreciation for the effort. Some reddit coins offer the ability to use reddit without ads.
What can you do to protest the policy changes at Reddit?

1. Listen, research and learn. Check /modcoord for updates
2. Cancel your Reddit Premium membership
3. Participate in subreddit led protests
4. Look for other forums to patronize. We have a forum on Discord called Auntie Network Canada. Message the mods here for an invite link to the Discord group.
5. Complain. Message the mods of reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on reddit. Leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app.

Hi, I'm looking for long term PLATONIC ONLY friend that I can talk to daily and possibly voice chat if you are okay with that, I have discord and reddit, I don't use any other social media.
My hobbies are watching movies and shows, i like sci-fi, mystery, action and comedy, recently I have been watching silo, invasion, Monarch, for all mankind, buffy the vampire slayer, loki, its always sunny in Philadelphia. I also like playing video games and I play on consoles and pc, recently I have been playing Witchfire, Dead Island 2, immortals of aveum, assassins creed mirage, avatar frontiers of pandora, and some games on older consoles, but I have a lot of other games and we can play multiplayer games together. I like nature and animals and often go for walks in parks. I'm also into cars and planes and really anything tech or engineering, cosplays, outfits, anime, retro gaming and modding, as well as lego. I also have cats so will send cat pics.
Please dm me if interested.

Hi, I'm looking for long term PLATONIC ONLY friend that I can talk to daily and possibly voice chat if you are okay with that, I have discord and reddit, I don't use any other social media.
My hobbies are watching movies and shows, i like sci-fi, mystery, action and comedy, recently I have been watching silo, invasion, Monarch, for all mankind, buffy the vampire slayer, loki, its always sunny in Philadelphia. I also like playing video games and I play on consoles and pc, recently I have been playing Witchfire, Dead Island 2, immortals of aveum, assassins creed mirage, avatar frontiers of pandora, and some games on older consoles, but I have a lot of other games and we can play multiplayer games together. I like nature and animals and often go for walks in parks. I'm also into cars and planes and really anything tech or engineering, cosplays, outfits, anime, retro gaming and modding, as well as lego. I also have cats so will send cat pics.
Please dm me if interested.

Hi, I'm looking for long term PLATONIC ONLY friend that I can talk to daily and possibly voice chat if you are okay with that, I have discord and reddit, I don't use any other social media.
My hobbies are watching movies and shows, i like sci-fi, mystery, action and comedy, recently I have been watching silo, invasion, Monarch, for all mankind, buffy the vampire slayer, loki, its always sunny in Philadelphia. I also like playing video games and I play on consoles and pc, recently I have been playing Witchfire, Dead Island 2, immortals of aveum, assassins creed mirage, avatar frontiers of pandora, and some games on older consoles, but I have a lot of other games and we can play multiplayer games together. I like nature and animals and often go for walks in parks. I'm also into cars and planes and really anything tech or engineering, cosplays, outfits, anime, retro gaming and modding, as well as lego. I also have cats so will send cat pics.
Please dm me if interested.

Hi, I'm looking for long term PLATONIC ONLY friend that I can talk to daily and possibly voice chat if you are okay with that, I have discord and reddit, I don't use any other social media.
My hobbies are watching movies and shows, i like sci-fi, mystery, action and comedy, recently I have been watching silo, invasion, Monarch, for all mankind, buffy the vampire slayer, loki, its always sunny in Philadelphia. I also like playing video games and I play on consoles and pc, recently I have been playing Witchfire, Dead Island 2, immortals of aveum, assassins creed mirage, avatar frontiers of pandora, and some games on older consoles, but I have a lot of other games and we can play multiplayer games together. I like nature and animals and often go for walks in parks. I'm also into cars and planes and really anything tech or engineering, cosplays, outfits, anime, retro gaming and modding, as well as lego. I also have cats so will send cat pics.
Please dm me if interested.

Hello, Im relativley new to star rail, only my (e2) yanqing is level 80, and the only 2 harmony units I own are (e5 >:) asta, and sparkle. But by far my most impactful support is Pela. Its my understanding that defense lowering is just a situational damage boost against affected enemies, and if my google searches were correct, increases break damage. Apparently you firefly mains dont share my opinion however. Ive seen probably 5 discussion posts about replacements to ruan mei for firefly teams, and no one has mentioned my favorite nihility girl once. :( Is she bad? Do you not like characters without thigh bands? am I just playing super modded genshin impact by accident?

Hi, I'm looking for long term PLATONIC ONLY friend that I can talk to daily and possibly voice chat if you are okay with that, I have discord and reddit, I don't use any other social media.
My hobbies are watching movies and shows, i like sci-fi, mystery, action and comedy, recently I have been watching silo, invasion, Monarch, for all mankind, buffy the vampire slayer, loki, its always sunny in Philadelphia. I also like playing video games and I play on consoles and pc, recently I have been playing Witchfire, Dead Island 2, immortals of aveum, assassins creed mirage, avatar frontiers of pandora, and some games on older consoles, but I have a lot of other games and we can play multiplayer games together. I like nature and animals and often go for walks in parks. I'm also into cars and planes and really anything tech or engineering, cosplays, outfits, anime, retro gaming and modding, as well as lego. I also have cats so will send cat pics.
Please dm me if interested.

Hi, I'm looking for long term PLATONIC ONLY friend that I can talk to daily and possibly voice chat if you are okay with that, I have discord and reddit, I don't use any other social media.
My hobbies are watching movies and shows, i like sci-fi, mystery, action and comedy, recently I have been watching silo, invasion, Monarch, for all mankind, buffy the vampire slayer, loki, its always sunny in Philadelphia. I also like playing video games and I play on consoles and pc, recently I have been playing Witchfire, Dead Island 2, immortals of aveum, assassins creed mirage, avatar frontiers of pandora, and some games on older consoles, but I have a lot of other games and we can play multiplayer games together. I like nature and animals and often go for walks in parks. I'm also into cars and planes and really anything tech or engineering, cosplays, outfits, anime, retro gaming and modding, as well as lego. I also have cats so will send cat pics.
Please dm me if interested.

Hi I had been playing nomifactory for quite a while and got to the point of petrochemistry but for some reason my save got corrupted and all my progress was lost. Now I was thinking if there's a mod out there that maybe works like Povertycraft where I could get my machine blocks I need, without using creative mode, but in exchange for some task (that doesn't require me 2 weeks of free time and grinding my a$& away)

Got a new PC that actually runs solid games and not just CS or Battlebit lol. Normally play on PS5, but expanding a bit now. Don’t really have anyidea what to get.
Was looking at DS3 and Sekiro, but just for the mods. Played both over 200h on PS. V Rising looks fun, not good at survival games though. How much is it actually survival? I read you can hold on to your gear if you die? Manor Lords looks interesting? Shoot me some recommendations! Microsoft (or just PC) exclusives too! Would like something with controller support. I like playing non FPS gamss with controller.
Will get Senua’s Saga Hellblade 2 when it launch.

TL DR: Cut some slack for devs, let them cook, they shipped a ton of content at this point, but they need time for them to "catch up", as mister Twinbeard said. They need a lil time to regroup, tie loose ends, and clean up the game, all the mess after Sony situation, community interactions and etc. Let's show them a lil bit of love. Maybe we can start "operation high spirits"?
Ok, if you want to read all of this - i want to start a conversation about how we support devs, and how they support us. This may be pointless, but maybe this will start a chain, where more intelegent people will make more concrete points.
"Context" first: I know how much we all love Arrowhead and Helldivers, and hope we all here understand how hard is mantaining and improving video-games of this scope. Nonetheless, i am sure vast majority of active community thought at least once about how slow Arrowhead pushes bug fixes, or how they lack in communication, or how they unfairly nerfing guns, and so on, and so forth...
Arrowhead have 100+ employees (lets think every single one of them works on Helldivers 2), it ain't low count, but still ain't massive. And as mister Twinbeard said, they still catching up in terms of development. Sometimes it looks like they move forward on borrowed time.
Some community engagments were and still rough, some rants are evil (some reasonable, some not), some patches are not so popular, some problems are enraging. And we all have diffrent opinions. But, we all love this game. As do the devs, as do the CEO, as do the community managers.
And now to the point: Let's show more love to devs, they are in pretty deep right now and they have not too much manpower to fix evrything in one second, and mosе definitely in low spirits. Let's give em time. Let's give them some chiering. let's just talk here a little what we love in this game, in this community, in devs themself. Let's make some community event ourselfs, for exaple "chain" posting our beloved things in Helldivers 2, or something in this vein. Every bit counts, small or large. If even 100 helldivers just message in discord server some cheering for devs, they may see it and get some morale boost. Trust me, even smallest sights of love can make huge diffrence. We may call this "operation high spirits", i don't know.
And, dear reader, if you made it here - please please please spread love. We dive together or don't dive at all, and this extands to people who created our beloved game.

Hey.
Why is overwatch 2 mid-season patch, Diablo 4 season 4 and MoP rewamp on the same day?
I know these might not share much playerbase, But for those that do play several, why make them choose?
Space out the updates a bit between each other?

Patch notes are live. Check discord for more info. Only patch notes are out and changes currently have not been implemented in game, I think. https://wowsblitz.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/18761465183250-Update-7-2-Patch-Notes

I ended up buying a house at the edge of this town.... before i knew all the bullshit that was goin' on around here. Got bored and went down to the local sheriff Jack and asked about an opening, Didn't even fill out an application, got the job on the spot. For the first few months it was the usual, speeding tickets, drunk and disorderly, normal shit right? Well... let the fuckery commence....
I had been a deputy for 7 months when one of the local farmers called in and reported he had some animals killed last night and wanted someone to come out to his house. John Nixon was a 60 year old farmer who lived by himself. His wife passed away years ago, but he never remarried and they never had kids. We met one day at the local tackle shop. Me being new in town, he took me to some of the good fishin' spots. The man was a huge military history buff and would always ask about my time in. I thought I knew him personally, so i took the call.
As I rolled up to the gate on his property, I saw John standing at the gate with a shotgun. " Hey john, can I ask why you are standing there with that cannon in your hands?" No response, he just stared at me. "John! put that damn shotgun down!!" I yelled. Its like he snapped to out of a trance. "Mason, i need you to come round the back side of the house to the barn, now!" he snapped.
"OK, OK, let me get outta the car and grab some gear." I said opening the car door. While i was grabbing my gear, John was standing there with his eyes scanning the tree line. "Come on mason! you need to see this!" He said heading towards the back. I closed the trunk and started walking over in his direction.
"So what the hell is going on that's got you walking around here with that damn bazooka?" No response, he just keeps walking and scanning the tree line. We finally got to the back of his house where the barn is. It looked like a horror movie in that pen.
"What the fuck happened here!?!" I said covering my mouth. There were pieces of chickens and goats everywhere, a few pigs looked like they had been filleted. "Its back mason, after all these years" John mumbled. "John what the hell are you talking about? what did this?" I asked.
John took his eyes off the tree line and looked me dead in the face. "Your not from here so you dont know." "Know what man? what are you saying?" I asked getting annoyed now. "Years ago this same thing happened to a few guys I know. All of their livestock had been killed. Not killed and eatin', just killed. It got people 'round here up in arms. Well, a few of us got together and decieded we were gonna look for whatever did it" he said. "What the hell are you telling me john?" I interrupted. "There were four of us. We were young, thought we were bullet proof. We went out into the woods one morning, determined to find the damn thing that had been killing our animals.
Tommy was the first to say something. "Hey, did you guys hear that?". The rest of us didnt hear a thing, so we kept moving. We got about three miles deep into the old pine forest at the edge of town. Will was the next to say something, "WHAT THE FUCK?!" he yelled out while looking down at the mud. We ran over to where he was standing to find him wide eyed. "I dont know what the actual fuck did this, but we..we need to go and I mean right fucking now!!!" he said pointing. This track was huge, at least 14 inches long with huge claws. Gerald spoke up "Let's fuckin' go guys!!".
We started back tracking out of the area, when we were stopped cold in our tracks, we all heard it this time. It was coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same damn time. A sickening, shrieking laugh was coming from all around us. We panicked and starting runnin'. As soon as we did that, whatever was making that noise centered as if right behind us, and it was coming fast, ungodly fast" John said eyeing the remains of a chicken that was torn apart.
"We were about a mile from the trucks when I heard a thud and a scream, when i looked back Gerald wasn't there. Will and tommy were right behind me, terror all over their faces. Tommy pulled his pistol and started shooting backwards. Only one shot rang out before something tackled him and Will. I stopped, raising my rifle, but they had already been torn apart. It was seconds, and they were in shreds" John said.
"Mason, what i saw standing over their shredded bodies has haunted me since then. The fucking thing was nine feet tall, shaped like a man, but not. Its skin, or or scales was a mixture of black and grey and it looked slimy. It looked like a damn bodybuilder with hugh claw like hands. Its head was massive, with what looked like horns coming from the jaw to around the chin. Its eyes, glowed bright green in the middle of the fucking day, and it had a mouth full of fucked up jagged teeth." He said lowering his head.
"I jus.. just stood there, waitng for my turn. This thing paced back and fourth, staring at me, with this creepy damn smile. It looked down at Will and Tommy, then it looked back up at me. My heart almost stopped when it pointed and shook its head at me. It started making that shrieking laugh as it grabbed what was left of my friends in each giant claw and walked off into the woods, still fucking laughing. I fell to my knees as it vanished into the trees."
I stood there, thinking he lost his damn mind. John had stopped talking, he had this way off look in his eyes. "John..., john.., JOHN!!" his eyes snapped back to mine. "So what are you telling me? A nine foot creature with claws killed your friends and animals?!" I half mocked. "Yea.... thats what i'm telling you. Its back for me, i know it." "What makes you think it was this thing you say killed your friends? It could have been coyotes" I asked " I know mason, i heard that same horrible shrieking laugh in the woods behind the barn last night."
Now I’ve heard some real bullshit in my time, especially during my time in the contracting field... But this was the most out there shit I had ever heard.
"Alright, alright... let's just take a big ass step backwards. I need to wrap my head around all of this." I said takin a deep breath. John laid the shotgun down to his side. "I'm telling you the truth mason. i'm too old and tired to lie about shit" he said shrugging. I looked deep into this man’s eyes. When I did, I saw something that told me this was the absolute truth as he knew it. " You haven’t given me any reason to doubt you... but fuck man... this is hard to swallow. I need proof John, that's the way this works." A look of frustration washed over his weathered face.
"Proof?! you want proof huh? follow me" John groaned.
He started walking towards the tress behind the barn. As we got closer to the trees, I started to smell rusty copper. Blood I thought out loud. John raised his shotgun as we walked closer. That damn gun had to be illegal, but this wasn’t the time for that. Him raising that gun made me a lil' uneasy, so I pulled my Glock 9mm out and flipped the safety off.
John owned about 90 acres, most of it unkept. A lot of the land was behind the barn which butted up to a state forest. We took about 12 steps into the wood line when the smell of death hit me like a brick. "I'm taking you to where I heard the noise coming from last night... your PROOF is out there Mason" He said with a slight edge to it.
We walked almost a hundred yards into the woods when john stopped in front of a tree. It looked twisted and warped all the way to its top. I stepped around John and saw huge claw marks cut deep all the way around the base of the tree, it's hard to even call it that. "What the hell is this?" I said looking up. "This is a marker, it's territory starts here" John replied. I looked at john like he was crazy, which at this point I thought he was. "This thing travels throughout these woods. I've found five more of these trees in our town" he said putting a hand on the tree.
"This isn’t telling me anything John, just that you've got a weird ass tree on your property" I said back to him. "Do you hear that?" So we could move this mess forward, I stopped talking and just listened. I hadn't noticed that during our walk into the woods it had got quiet, and I mean not one sound. " What the hell? where did all the animals go?" I asked looking around. "They're scared mason... you should be too. Let's get back to the house."
We turned and started making our way out of the woods. We were damn near the tree line when I heard a snap. I turned around, gun raised to see a black streak dart back deeper into the woods. "What the fuck was that?!" All John said was "we need to leave, now!" We turned and started sprinting the rest of the way out of the woods. I was surprised at how fast john was for an old man. We got all the way back to my patrol car. "I don't know what that was, but I don't think you should stay here tonight John. Pack some stuff and come to my place" I said pointing my gun at the trees. John just let out a sigh as if frustrated and defeated.
"You weren't listenin'. The pine forest, these trees, it’s all connected. I’m talkin’ bout before this area was even inhabited by native peoples. This fucking thing has been around for a very long time. I have been looking into this since that day, I had to find out what it was and if it can be killed" he tried to explain. The whole time john was talking I had my eyes and weapon pointed at the trees. " You can put that down mason, it just wanted you to know it's here" He said.
"John, I to need process this shit. I've never seen or heard anything like this and to be straight with you, I’m at a loss right now" I said opening the trunk. "I get it, I get it. The sheriff jack was a deputy back then. When you see him... tell him I said the dark is here..." And with that, he just turned his back and walked back into his house not saying another word.
I got back in the car and sat there. Looking at the treeline. After a few minutes I went back to the station. I must've walked in with that universal what the fuck look on my face, because Cathy the clerk asked what was wrong with me. I told her I was fine and asked if she had seen the sheriff? "Yeah, he is in the gun cage. Are you sure you’re ok Mason?" She asked again.
"Yeah, I'm good, just need to talk to Jack." I started walking towards the back of the building, when Jack came around the corner. "Hey mason, what's up?" he says walking up to me. "I just got back from John's house." The look on his face completely changed. "He had a bunch of animals killed last night. It looked like a slaughterhouse. He told me to tell you the dark was back?" I told him noticing his reaction.
Jack stiffened up and not saying a word gestured for me to follow him towards the back security door. We headed towards the back and out the door. Jack had stopped to make sure the door was secure then pointed at his truck and said "get in."
After getting in he looked over "I need some coffee" then started the truck up and headed west out of the parking lot towards the coffee shop. He ordered a large black coffee with extra sugar then asked if I wanted one. "I'll take a small black, no sugar." We pulled out and headed east back past the station. We ended up driving towards the edge of the county. "What's going on and why are we heading way the hell out here?" I looked at jack and said.
Jack just took a long sip of his coffee then placed it back in the holder.
After a long breath "You want some answers about what happened at Johns' house... I’m sure he told you about a few other things about this town... well we're gonna go get you some answers" He said looking at a black sedan passing in the opposite direction. "Aight so, like you mason, I’m not from here either. I was a trooper in New York for a few years before I came down here. I resigned after a call to an old couple’s house" He said reaching for his cup. "My partner Jake and I responded to what was thought to be an animal attack. We were the first on the scene, having been a couple miles away lookin' for speeders.
When we rolled up an older woman came running over to the cruiser. She had a panicked look on her face and just kept repeating "they're dead, they're dead!!" We hopped out and sat her in the back of the car then asked what happened. "I...I... came over to talk to gloria and... and I saw the door open. I walked in yelling her and Alan’s name, but they didn't answer... I found them upstairs... it's horrible!!" She said sobbing. Jake and I drew our weapons and started making the move inside. Like the witness said the front door was open, so we moved in. It smelled like sulfur and blood when we entered. We started clearing rooms. The first floor was clear, so we made our way up the steps.
The smell was overpowering now. We cleared the bathroom, and the two smaller rooms were clear also. The door to the master bedroom was slightly opened. I motioned to Jake and we hit the door.... it looked like some movie shit!! I kid you not. Jake turned and went back into the hallway and threw up. I stepped into the room and... listen I had never seen anything like this before" Jack stammered out.
"These two people were in shreds on the bed, they're insides had been yanked out and thrown around the fucking room. After looking at the bodies I noticed these huge claw marks in the wall, I’m talking if Andre the giant had had a Krueger glove. I stepped back out of the room and radioed to dispatch that we needed more units. I walked back to the front door where Jake was standing hunched over looking out of it.
Parked outside were 3 black SUVs and a black sedan. I counted 11 men dressed in black tactical military gear, some with a type of rifle I had never seen before, but you could tell it was large caliber. The rest with SMG weapons. When i looked over towards the patrol car, one of the men had the door opened and was talking to the witness. He saw us and started our way. He was dressed in all black too and carried what looked like a desert eagle in a chest holster.
When he got closer I got a better look at him. He looked to be in his late 40's with salt and pepper colored hair and a big ass scar that ran down the right side of his face. He got about ten feet from the steps "We appreciate the assistance, but you are no longer needed" He said in deep voice. As he is saying this, one of the other guys escorts the witness out of our car and into the back of that sedan.
The guy started walking away from us "Who are you? and what the fuck is going on?" I yelled at him. He turned with a look on his face that you only see in movies then took a few steps towards us. "Your command has been informed and you are to leave now!" He said raising his hand up towards that holstered pistol. Jake looked at me and shook his head "fuck it, let's go, let them deal with that mess upstairs" he said still coughing then started heading towards the car. I followed him down the steps... looking this guy up and down, checking out the vehicles... for anything that might tell me who we were dealing with.
The only thing I saw was on the assholes uniform... there was a patch on his shoulder. It was an all-black diamond with a weird looking black M in the middle on it. The guy stared us down until we were in the car driving away. He had that pistol in his hand and the other men starting moving into the house. Jake and I didn’t say a word until the radio squawked and we were told to head back to the barracks.
When we got there, we were told to report to the troop commander’s office. Commander Thompson was sitting in his office along with a man in a nice 2-piece suit. The man in the suit stood there quietly while Thompson told us that we never responded to any call out to that farmhouse, and that this was the first and only time he would say it. With that, he dismissed us and and we walked out. The shit didn’t sit well with me, and I ended up resigning a few months later.
I came down here and then that shit in the woods happened. I was on the scene, I saw the claw marks. They looked just like the ones in New York, and the same damn trucks showed up with different personnel. I knew just to shut up and walk away, and after making that choice I have had a pretty good career here." he finished grabbing his cup out of the holder.
My brain was in overdrive. I was just about to completely question bomb jack when he said, "We're here." He pulled off onto this overgrown driveway and drove for about a quarter mile. We pulled up to an old two-story house that looked like it was in ruins... but the lights were on. "Where the hell are we?" I asked As the last word of that question left my mouth, the front door of the house opened... standing in the doorway was a old man, dressed in weathered black clothing. Jack leaned over to me "You wanted answers... well.... there they are."