How to butcher a pig

A Different Check Scam?
Hello all, I hoped I'd never need the wisdom of this subreddit, but here we are. I need more info on how this is a scam and how I can better protect my mom. I tried looking it up but have had a hard time because it's not the typical bad check scam.
I'll spare all the details, but my mom is absolutely being pig butchered. She's been "seeing" this guy romantically for over a year, and it's obviously fake. He claims he's working on a contract for the Turkish government, he wants to come visit but never can, always a lame excuse. You know the story. Thankfully I don't think she's sent him money, but she hasn't shared as much since she knows my siblings and I suspect him. She could be sending him money now.
Anyway, last weekend she admitted he sent her a check for safekeeping. Immediately my antennae went up, but it wasn't written to her, it was made out to him. He claims it's from the Saudi government and for some work that he did, but apparently he can't cash it in Turkey (!). It's also in American dollars, and is a $28 million check. SOO many red flags, but she's in love with him. She can't see them.
How would that scam benefit him, if it's not written out to her? Normally they make the bad check out to the victim and have the victim cash it, then wire money. But obviously that can't happen here. Is it just more manipulation, or is she at risk holding on to it? My fear at the very least is if it's real, she's inadvertently holding money for criminals. Or he's got a copy of her signature, or confirmed her address.
She put it in her safe deposit box, but I'm really curious how this scam would play out. I want to warn her best I can, but she is in love with him. She won't hear a bad word against him, she gets offended that we think she's a poor judge of character. The worst thing is she stops talking to us and puts herself at more risk.
Help!!

"Provider"
Justine has all the unstable rage of Faith but with neither the charisma nor a valid beef with the main characters.
Angel's channeling S1 Cordy, the constantly talking about money. I guess the cost of living for just himself was pretty low, as he's not living. Pig's blood probably doesn't cost much since the butchers just throw it away otherwise.
Damn, Jeffrey Dean Morgan! I wasn't sure it was him at first, because I'm not used to seeing him clean-shaven. It almost seems wrong for him to play a character that isn't a badass.
Angel talks about Connor going to Notre Dame, class of 2020, but that would be the year he graduates high school. He'd be college class of 2024. ...Fuck. I'm glad the little bastard got aged up, so he'd be like 38 now. He deserves it.
The way Sam talks about his best friend, going to all this trouble for the watch, the first thing he ever bought him, makes me think they were lovers.
This zombie ex-boyfriend subplot isn't working for me.
I swear the way Gunn and Wes are acting around Fred is exactly the way I and two friends acted around a certain girl when we were like 14, plus or minus. ...One of us did date the girl, and it wasn't me.
Aw, so sweet, watching Cordy feed her future baby daddy.
"Doublemeat Palace"
In the cold open, Xander looks like he's reacting to the idea of spending the rest of his life with specifically Anya. As much as I think he doesn't want to be married, I think he wants to be married to Anya even less.
Ah, I remember the old-ass training videos to start working at a restaurant chain. I'm triggered.
I'm suddenly noticing the bright red lipstick Buffy's wearing to work in a fast food joint.
I'm pretty sure that anywhere in the country, they'd be legally required to clock Buffy in before making her watch the training video.
I just don't like mixing red meat with white meat. Bacon on a hamburger, fine, goes really well. But chicken and beef? Pass.
So much of the humor of this episode is in SMG's facial expressions.
Are Spike and Buffy dry-humping or what? That particular activity really should be renamed, BTW.
Halfrek is a classic passive-aggressive frenemy.
That was a jumpscare when the worm thing stuck its head back out of the grinder.
Amy's nasty.
Oh, Buffy. She should have just extorted them for a large amount of money. Bet she could have gotten six figures, maybe seven.
"Waiting in the Wings"
Don't know where anyone gets the idea that Angel and Cordy don't have chemistry. I mean, they're not Buffy and Faith, but got some sparks going. And I'm a fan of deep friendship as a foundation for romantic love.
Summer Glau's acting debut, pretty awesome.
I wish the ballet troupe was free to live their lives in the 21st century. It's thematically appropriate, though, that freeing them from Kurskov means only that they fade away; in Giselle, Giselle manages to break free of the Wilis through the power of her love for Albrecht, then bids him goodbye and returns to her grave to rest in peace.
Fucking Groo.
"Dead Things"
The closer I get to "Seeing Red", the less I want to keep going.
The first time I watched this, when Buffy said, "I think the New Kids on the Block posters are starting to date me," I was unfamiliar with that phrase and thought she meant she was going nuts and starting to imagine they were real.
"Willing sex slave." And none of the Trio sees the contradiction. To them, "consent" is just an obstacle that they've discovered can be overcome by magic.
Huh. Amelinda Smith, the actress who played Katrina used to be married to Ethan Embry, which made me do a double-take because when I looked up the actress who played Allison (zombie ex-boyfriend subplot in "Provider"), I saw that she is married to him now.
Smith had one uncredited role after Buffy, and that's it. I'm surprised by how brief her career was.
Xander and Dawn's dance practice for the wedding = practice for their eventual wedding.
The cerebral dampener lasts, what, an hour? Less? And on one charge. Pretty useless. Fortunately.
Warren has a REALLY hairy chest.
If Warren hadn't panicked he might have realized, what's Katrina gonna do, tell the cops that Warren brainwashed her with a flash of light?
You'd think Buffy and Spike would have realized Katrina's body was cold.
And Buffy somehow gets blindsided next episode by Dawn having abandonment issues. Her insistence on turning herself in isn't heroic. It's self-loathing. It's prioritizing her own feelings over Dawn being left with no family at not even 16.
"Older and Far Away"
Why anyone would think Buffy needs to be set up is beyond me. She's not a wallflower. She could find a boyfriend if she really wanted to.
Spike and Halfrek recognizing each other. Weird moment.
Not Dawnie's best episode.
"Couplet"
Also, the closer I get to "Sleep Tight", the less I want to keep going. They were really determined to ruin just, like, everything this year, huh?
I could do without Gunn and Fred staring sappily at each other. Now I had to look up "sappily" because Firefox says it isn't a word, but it is, so ha!
Angel's jealousy toward Groo reminds me of Buffy's reaction to Joyce and Hank bringing Dawn home from the hospital.
Was there any reason to cut Groo's hair beyond making him look more like Angel? He needed modern clothes, yes, but some men in L.A. have long hair. Maybe Mark Lutz requested it.
"Loyalty"
Wesley's being a dick, but Gunn doesn't have much of a leg to stand on considering he and Fred are just coming off a fuckup where they lost sight of someone they were supposed to be watching because they couldn't stop sucking face.
I know Sahjhan traveled through time to rewrite the prophecy, but how'd he get the talking hamburger to go along with it? It's not a very helpful source if all it does is tell you that whatever ancient prophecy you've read is true and you're an idiot for thinking otherwise, even if it's not true.
Refusing to make a distinction between Angel and Angelus is one way Xander pissed off a lot of viewers, and it's what Holtz is doing, though his irrationality is easier to understand. Also, he doesn't want to fuck someone who's in love with Angel. Still, he does a lot of fucked-up things and calls it justice. Jenny's uncle at least admitted that justice had nothing to do with their tribe's vendetta.
"As You Were"
I hate it when the recap spoils the episode, like making it blindingly obvious Riley's coming back, even though I'm past being spoiled. I mean, I could have been watching with a newbie.
Right before Sam shows up, Buffy and Riley spend a really long time looking at each other like they're about to fuck.
I feel like they're trying to do too much with Sam in one episode, having her quickly endear herself to each of the Scoobies in a way that doesn't feel organic.
Riley's reappearance was a good way to shake things up for Buffy so she'd stop hooking up with Spike.
The helicopter couldn't land to pick Riley and Sam up? Are they just gonna dangle from the line all the way to Nepal?
"Sleep Tight"
Wesley isn't talking to Fred or Gunn about the supposed prophecy because he's butthurt. That's pretty much it.
I think Holtz would have killed Justine if she hadn't mouthed the party line. He doesn't deserve the blind loyalty she gives him. He doesn't care about anyone or anything except his revenge.
I'm really looking forward to when Wesley gets to threaten to take away Justine's bucket.
Threatening to murder a baby...No, Holtz is a monster. And Justine witnesses this and is fine with it. She's a monster too.
You know, I read some of a fic once. I liked the concept, but it was just this awful mess of typos that made it borderline incomprehensible, so I gave up. Anyway, Buffy arrives for some reason during the standoff, and she rather than Holtz ends up falling through the portal with Connor. Connor being a few months old, he can't eat solid food (and he's shown in this episode to still be on formula), and Buffy manages to induce lactation in herself to feed him. WTF did Holtz do here in canon?
"Hell's Bells"
Holy shit. That guy playing Xander's dad, Casey Sander--he played Bernadette's dad on The Big Bang Theory.
Man, the way Willow and Tara are making eyes at each other while helping Anya with her dress, it's a wonder they wait another two episodes before jumping each other's bones.
It's nice how Buffy and Spike can kind of just be, the way they did before they started fucking.
That string quartet is REALLY bad at reading the room.
The lame attempts to entertain the guests are certainly the kind of things Buffy would do.
Xander sucks. This might be the worst thing he ever did. No one held a gun to his head. He proposed, completely unsolicited, and persisted even when Anya thought it wasn't sincere. He had every opportunity to speak up after that. He waited until the worst possible moment.
Stewart's plan never would have worked if it weren't for Xander's insecurities. What was he going to do if the groom wasn't secretly terrified of turning into his drunkard father?
"Normal Again"
I've repeatedly seen assertions that the other Scoobies didn't do anything for Anya in this time, therefore they're bad friends, but she just vanished. They don't know where she's gone. What exactly are they supposed to be doing?
It rings false, the way this "doctor" talks about Buffy like she isn't even there. I'm not a mental health professional, but it seems harmful.
I noticed some time ago that the nerds always call Buffy the Slayer, never by name. Makes it easier if she's less of a person to them. Jonathan might have used her name a couple of times, but not Warren or Andrew. It's all part of their twisted cosplay.
Dawn misunderstands what the hallucination is about. It's not Buffy's ideal world. That would be too suspect, too easy to reject. And what about having been in a mental institution from 15 to 21 is ideal? But it is a world that, in many ways, is easier. There's no one she has to take care of; instead, others are taking care of her. No bills to pay. She doesn't have to fight monsters to the death. Her mom's alive, and her dad actually loves her.
Here's where you see the great writing. In another show, the challenge would be getting the demon and making the antidote. Buffy's hallucination would just be something that happens while she waits, and in a good show, it would provide insight into the character. But in Buffy, she has to overcome the hallucination, because getting the antidote was the relatively easy part; she has to choose real life over something that tempts her away from it.
Spike knows exactly how to make everything worse. People usually jump to the attempted rape, but him giving her that speech and threatening to tell the Scoobies about Buffy fucking him was high-grade toxicity. The assault really was the culmination of it all.
Kill, kill, kill. Kill, Buffy. Kill everybody. You know you want to.
Jokes aside, prescribing murder is an interesting treatment plan, even supposedly fantasy murder. I mean, in that situation, would you want to set the precedent that the way to get rid of the world you've decided isn't real is by killing the people in it?
I had the idea that the speech that lifts Buffy up came from the real Joyce thanks to TPTB, but the part where she talks like Hank's NOT a deadbeat...nah.
Circling back to the great writing, we don't see the part where Buffy takes the antidote. That part is irrelevant; she's already rejected the hallucination.
Joss Whedon on reality versus fantasy: "If [viewers] decide that the entire thing is all playing out in some crazy person's head, well, the joke of the thing to us was it is, and that crazy person is me."
Marti Noxon: "It was a fake out; we were having some fun with the audience. I don't want to denigrate what the whole show has meant. If Buffy's not empowered then what are we saying? If Buffy's crazy, then there is no girl power; it's all fantasy. And really the whole show stands for the opposite of that, which is that it isn't just a fantasy. There should be girls that can kick ass. So I'd be really sad if we made that statement at the end. That's why it's just somewhere in the middle saying 'Wouldn't it be funny if...?' or 'Wouldn't this be sad or tragic if...?' In my feeling, and I believe in Joss' as well that's not the reality of the show. It was just a tease and a trick."

My bf got a text from some company called Elwood Staffing (Requirements) I believe and he has to put money into this account to start work ($30) he "earned" $70 on a training account but needed to add 30 to make it to the minimum balance to start of $100 and then he basically helps market peoples brands by submitting them and he gets commissions. He made back like double what he put in yesterday and they paid through crypto which he then cashed out to his bank. He put more in today bc based on what's in you account, they pretty much match the price of what you have to the price of items you're marketing.... he was able to cash out yesterday which made him trust it and he put more in today and is waiting for that to hit his bank account. The work just seems too easy for the pay and I can't find anything about this company online. They didn't have an interview or ask for his name or banking information which is so sus to me.. but also they dont have his info so how could it be a scam like what would they use to scam him if he didnt give any info??? The payment for yesterday seemed to go through to the crypto app and is on the way to his bank so the pat seems legit as of rn but does anyone have advice. They pay him through coinbase I think
I have posted on remotejobs and RBI and was told to also post here. I have had dozens of "yes its a scam" but can someone explain how so in basic detail so I can pass it on to my bf. I've also heard that he's getting paid in stolen crypto or he's getting paid for now until he deposits even more and then he'll be locked out at a limit they have set.
EDIT: Thank you all for your info! I knew it was a scam but since he did get a payment, I thought maybe there's a .01% chance it's not a scam, but I needed some advice to help me stand my ground on this. I have never heard of the term butchering the pig, and I didn't even think about money laundry, so thank you to everyone who shared info! I gave him a talking to, and he said he's not going to put any more money in and just take what he has out.

My bf got a text from some company called Elwood Staffing (Requirements) // CF agency in St. Petersburg FL i believe and he has to put money into this account to start work ($30) and then he basically helps market peoples brands by submitting them and he gets commissions. He made back like double what he put in yesterday and they paid through crypto which he then cashed out to his bank. He put more in today bc based on what's in you account, they pretty much match the price of what you have to the price of items you're marketing.... he was able to cash out yesterday which made him trust it and he put more in today and is waiting for that to hit his bank account. The work just seems too easy for the pay and I can't find anything about this company online. They didn't have an interview or ask for his name or banking information which is so sus to me.. but also they dont have his info so how could it be a scam like what would they use to scam him if he didnt give any info??? The payment for yesterday seemed to go through to the crypto app and is on the way to his bank so the pat seems legit as of rn but does anyone have advice. They pay him through coinbase wallet, which he's said the crypto is now being transferred to his real bank account. He's said he's made more money than he's put in and it's going to his bank account. Please help me break this down on how this is or isn't a scam and also he said since the money is paid to his coinbase wallet and he then transferred that tp his bank account there's no money in coinbase for them to take back so it's not possible to be a scam
I already posted to remotejobs and was told to also post here. No we don't share bank accounts and yes I tried to explain that it's suspicious
EDIT: Thank you all for your info! I knew it was a scam but since he did get a payment, I thought maybe there's a .01% chance it's not a scam, but I needed some advice to help me stand my ground on this. I have never heard of the term butchering the pig, and I didn't even think about money laundry, so thank you to everyone who shared info! I gave him a talking to, and he said he's not going to put any more money in and just take what he has out.

My bf got a text from some company called Elwood Staffing (Requirements) I believe and he has to put money into this account to start work ($30) and then he basically helps market peoples brands by submitting them and he gets commissions. He made back like double what he put in yesterday and they paid through crypto which he then cashed out to his bank. He put more in today bc based on what's in you account, they pretty much match the price of what you have to the price of items you're marketing.... he was able to cash out yesterday which made him trust it and he put more in today and is waiting for that to hit his bank account. The work just seems too easy for the pay and I can't find anything about this company online. They didn't have an interview or ask for his name or banking information which is so sus to me.. but also they dont have his info so how could it be a scam like what would they use to scam him if he didnt give any info??? The payment for yesterday seemed to go through to the crypto app and is on the way to his bank so the pat seems legit as of rn but does anyone have advice. They pay him through coinbase I think
EDIT: Thank you all for your info! I knew it was a scam but since he did get a payment, I thought maybe there's a .01% chance it's not a scam, but I needed some advice to help me stand my ground on this. I have never heard of the term butchering the pig, and I didn't even think about money laundry, so thank you to everyone who shared info! I gave him a talking to, and he said he's not going to put any more money in and just take what he has out.

From what I remember watching:
1) they set up some bait contraption to catch an animal for some customer and it took them way longer than they would've liked
2) they were going over how they pick puppies to be their main hunting dog, and we're demonstrating a bunch of tests on their newest litter
3) they butchered a pig and did a ritual where they put it's blood on their faces to show appreciation, and they had their kid there

My buddy and I split buying a pig this weekend at the local fair.
Besides the traditional cuts, any suggestions on how to have it butchered.
I plan to cure the cheeks and belly meat myself, but am looking for any other suggestions.
TIA

How It Ended
by Ethan O’Driscoll
A thrilling Post apocalypse story
Intro
HRV-1
22 July 2024
Dr Olivia Warren Head of Biotech NARU
This is my latest report on the HRV-1 Virus we were instructed to design by the Russian Government.
The HRV-1 is an incredibly viral and infectious Retrovirus similar to HIV. Changes have been make on a genetic level to provide the request modes of transmission and symptoms.
Those symptoms are:

• Profuse bleeding from the mouth, eyes, lips, gums and pores of the skin
• Confusion
• Coma
• Total organ failure leading to death
• Reanimation after death and post-mortem hypo-aggression

This all included in a highly infectious package
The infection vectors are:

• bodily fluids
• contaminated area
• ANYTHING that has come in contact with infected bodily fluids
• airborne droplets

This is by far the most dangerous diseases we’ve ever designed. I pray to god the Russians only want it as a means of deterrent because if they use it I have no doubt it will end the world. The first sample should be ready to ship next week.
Chapter 1
The Outbreak
1 January 2025
Dr Olivia Warren Head of Biotech NARU
I can’t believe the bastards used it. The first cases came in from Kiev in December from there it spread like a wild fire through Europe the death toll now sits at 65 millions. The hordes rampage through city after city by the millions. There is no way to stop this. What have I done.
NATO forces have established a quarantine of Europe but I can’t help but feel like its too little too late. My estimate is that all infected nations in Europe will be consumed within the next month or two. The Corporation has started the construction of a company safe haven for us higher ups. All we can do is hope the construction is complete before this thing breaks quarantine.
15 February 2025
Dr Olivia Warren
The world is ending. Europe is gone. The quarantine is broken. We’ve got cases in Asia, South America, Here at home in the US, Australia and Africa nowhere is safe. I did this.
Infection number right now:

• Africa 100 Million
• Europe 890 Million
• Asia 250 Million
• North America 250 Thousand
• South America 120 Million
• Australia 24 Million

There is no hope
The safe zone is complete at least we are planning on moving all operations and personal within the week. I don’t know how I’m going to live with myself. Dixie is my only saving grace and at least she’ll be safe. I pray for the soul of all those my creation has killed.
20 March 2025
Dr Olivia Warren
Dixie is at the Safe zone.
I can’t live with myself any more. 4 billion people dead
Chapter 2
A New World
My name is Dixie Warren. Daughter of Dr Olivia Warren. Not that I’ve seen her in 15 years. I remember like it was yesterday. She told me to get on that NARU helicopter that she’d meet me at the safe zone. Those were the last words she ever said to me. I was 8 when the world ended.
Its been 15 years since the Outbreak. There isn’t really anything left of the old world. NARU still exists and turns out they created the virus and my mom was the head of the department that did it. They sold it to the Russians hoping they wouldn’t use it but they did.
It was specifically designed to spread and destroy as fast as possible and it did. I left the safe zone 2 years ago after I learned this information. Now I just spend my time wandering from town to town. My training on the NARU security team helps. At least I know all the best places to shoot a Freaker. That's what we call the infected and for good reason. Most of the time you’ll find them wondering around in groups of 5 to 10 if the group gets too big they turn on each other and form a pile of bodies devouring each other. They moan and scream to communicate and once they see you they will hunt you till you kill every last on of them or you get far enough away. They can run and are abnormally strong if there bodies aren’t damaged they’re a bitch to kill but I’m pretty good at it.
Right now I’m outside Richmond I’ve been stuck here for a week waiting for a large horde to move through. I’m hoping to hunt some of the stragglers and re-up on some supplies. A big horde like this usually leave a few hundred behind. My new AR has been waiting for some fun, I’ve got a new red dot and laser so I should be able to pop headshot after headshot but for now I should go find something to eat.
I’ve made it to a small department store outside the town. It looks like the horde is almost gone. Tons of freaks roaming around though. I can hear a few in the store. I’m going to try getting in through the back and take them out.
Made it back home and wow that store was a gold mine. I got food, water, bullets and even some whiskey. I’m going to enjoy the night then its time to hunt some stragglers. Then I’m thinking of going further south maybe New Orleans heard there might be a small settlement out there from another traveller, might be able to get another courier job or at least I’ll be able to stock up on supplies properly after all these years there isn’t much left in the cities to scavenge.
I better get some rest got a long day of freak killing and walking tomorrow.
Chapter 3
The Road to Home
I left Richmond yesterday. It’s a long road to New Orleans I wished I lived in the days when cars worked. NARU are the only people with working vehicles left and they aren’t exactly the sharing type. Its so lonely out here its been weeks since I last saw another living person the only things you see out here in the ruins are freaks by the hundreds. Its hard to believe the whole world was reduced to nothing by something my mom created. I remember her being the kindest most caring person in the world to think that she could create something so destructive is unbelievable. I’ve still got a long way to go the first city I should have to go through is Raleigh.
I’ve been walking for about a day and I can see the ruins from here. Its always so surreal to see the cities now, so desolate so empty. I remember growing up in Seattle, the city lights, the noise it was always so alive and busy. Now they’re all empty husks or mostly empty at least can’t forget about the freaks. Must’ve killed a thousand of them on my way here almost got bitten when one jumped me under an overpass about 10 miles back. Luckily my machete seems to be as good as ever at cutting up freaks. I should make it to Raleigh within the day.
Made it to Raleigh and its a mess, thousands of freaks I could hear the moaning and screaming from a mile away. I’m going to try finding my way around the city no point in trying to fight my way through a wall of freaks.
Heard crying coming from a house I walked past I decided to check it out and I found a young boy name Richie hiding in a bathroom with what looked like his infected parents trying to break the door down. I took both of them down with a clean headshot. The look on his face when he saw them dead breaks my heart. He says they’ve been hiding out in this house for a month or two after there homestead was overrun by freaks. Its a sad story but it gives me hope that people are at least trying to survive and rebuilt. He’s only 16 yet he’s seen so much and has nowhere else to go so I asked him if he wanted to stick with me and he was elated so I guess I’ve got a sidekick now. I’m not complaining should make the long lonely road more interesting. He’s got no combat experience but he can shoot a pistol so I gave him one of my backups at least I always carry extra. We’ve decided to hunker down for the night and do some scavenging before we leave for Charlotte tomorrow. I’ll be nice to have company for once I’ve been alone for so long.
I woke up to a gunshot and Richie screaming in the other room. When I got there I found Richie pale as snow and a little girl that was clearly infected shot lying on the floor. When I asked Richie who it was he replied in a cold distant voice “My little sister”. It was a heart breaking moment in less than 24 hours Richie had lost everyone. That was a feeling I knew too well my mom was all I had my dad died when I was really young and all I knew after the Outbreak before I left the safe haven was NARU but that wasn’t the best place to build personal connections just a bunch of science types that destroyed the world. Not exactly the most social lot and the security forces were just a bunch of military types that didn’t like the fact that as a teenager I was doing better than them in every metric except raw physical strength but even in that I was better than a lot of them. It’s almost time for us to get going I should pack up and make sure Richie’s okay.
We decided to stop by the old gun store on our way out of Raleigh. Richie mentioned seeing it when him and his dad went out to scavenge one time. He says it looked all locked up meaning there’s a good chance that there might still be something left to take. When we arrived there Richie was right it was locked tight it looked like there might be a way in from the roof so we decided to climb up when I got up there I was jumped by a freak that was just waiting but this one was different smarter in a way it heard me climbing up but instead of screaming and jumping off to get me it decided to hide and wait. In my years of freak killing I’ve never seen one that waits and ambushes. I hope this isn’t a sign that the infected are getting smarter. Anyway Richie popped it in the head and we got in to the gun store and what a find it was. I managed to get a brand new Glock 9 with a torch attachment and extended mag to replace the pistol I gave Richie. Speaking of Richie he decided on a 12 gauge pump with a tube extension and a AR-15 with a suppressor, extended mag and front grip. We also found enough ammo to keep us stocked even if we have to shoot our way to Charlotte now that we’re locked and loaded its time to leave this shit hole and start walking to the next shit hole at least for once I won’t be alone.
Chapter 4
The Road to Charlotte
We’d been walking for 60 miles before we were jumped by a gang of thugs. I caught a round to the leg before I knew what was happening Richie was more awake than me and managed to put a round through the bastards chest before his friends jumped out from behind two cars in front of us we managed to take cover behind a ruined car and we returned fire. I could see the thugs had no skill they just fired randomly in our direction while we were in cover I waited till they had to reload and tossed a molotov at one of them burning the bastard to a crisp. Richie rushed the other and unloaded some buckshot into his head. My leg hurts like a bitch. Richie bandaged it up for me he’s really starting to get used to life on the road. Looking at our map it looks like there is a gas station about 10 miles away so I guess I’ll limp my way there so we can hunker down while me leg heals. I still can’t believe I let the bastard catch me lacking but it won’t happen again
We made it too the gas station. The place looks almost perfectly preserved except the group of freaks that were shuffling around outside nothing that we couldn’t deal with. There is a lot of food and water here and we should be safe here while my leg heals. I hope we don’t run into any more problems till then. I trust Richie but he’s still learning and I’m not sure he’d be able to deal with any major problem on his own.
Its been 4 weeks since I took that shot to my leg and I’m feeling a lot better. Richie managed to find some painkiller so he was able to get the round out and everything healed nicely. He really is an amazing guy young and naive but he really is a good person. I don’t know how I did it without him for so long. It nice not being alone any more. I think I’m ready to get moving again we have about another 100 miles left to go before we get to Charlotte so we better get moving.
We’re about 20 miles from Charlotte, the roads been peaceful we ran into a group of survivors living on a pretty well fortified farm about 25 miles back. They were having issues with some freaks hanging around their water pumping station so we dealt with them for them in exchange for some antibiotics to help with an infection Richie got in his leg where he cut himself jumping a fence while a freak chased him before I could dome it. Only god knows how I didn’t get an infection in my leg after getting shot but he did from cutting himself on a rusty fence guess I’m just lucky. After helping them back we continued on our way. Nothing else interesting happened and Richie is looking a lot better and his cut is basically healed. We should get to Charlotte within the day but I want to stop on a hill on the Outskirts to set up base and get a look at the situation in the city because the farmers mentioned that a horde had passed through recently and they usually get held up in cities they should have moved on by now but better safe than sorry
Chapter 5
Charlotte
We made it to the hill outside Charlotte and the place is infested millions of freaks. I’ve never seen so many of them in one place and I think I know why. In the middle of the city is an old NARU emergency treatment centre. A place where all of the cities first infected were sent. A good plan till there were to many of them and quarantine was broken then all it was was a collection of infected right in the middle of the city which lead to the whole thing being infected much faster. I’m guessing this caused most of the freaks to pile and the smell was attracting more. Oh I forgot to mention the smell imagine a pile of thousands of rotting corpses that’s the smell I’m talking about. There’s no chance we’ll be able to get through the city but I need to get to that NARU site. There might be some old documents or something about my mom I need to find out what happened to her. I’ve spoken to Richie and we both agree that we should try and divert the horde away so we can have time to get to the NARU centre.
Richie has volunteered to draw the hordes attention away while I get to the NARU building. The plan is he triggers an explosion at an old gas station on the other side of town while I get to the building and look for information about the virus and what happened to my mom. All I know is that my mom created the virus while working for NARU. I need to find out what happened to her. I hate putting Richie at risk but it needs to be done.
I just heard the explosion and it works thousands of freaks started moving like a tidal wave of flesh towards the sound I hope Richie is on his way to the meeting place at the abandoned NARU checkpoint on the south side of town but I don’t have time to think about it now I’m almost at the NARU centre I need to be as fast as possible
I made it to the NARU centre and it’s covered in bodies there’s no way I can get in it looks more like a pile of living human corpses than a building I’m guessing the freaks all turned on and consumed each other till they were all stuck and fused together. I’m making my way to the NARU checkpoint I hope Richie is already there and safe.
I made it to the NARU checkpoint and reunited with Richie. He was covered in blood and gore. He had to kill hundreds of freaks to make it here. He says he was almost bitten a few times. I can’t believe I risked his life for nothing. I’ll never do it again. While exploring the place I found this.
20 March 2025
Dr Olivia Warren
Dixie is at the Safe zone.
I can’t live with myself any more. 4 billion people dead
The final communication between my mom and NARU it turns out she couldn’t live with the guilt and decided to kill herself. I can’t blame her I would probably do the same if I was the reason the world ended and killed billions of people but it still breaks my heart. I am happy to know she’s dead and not infected lumbering around somewhere.
Richie is exhausted and so am I were going to take a brake here and continue on to Atlanta tomorrow.
Everything is packed up and we’re ready to go. Last night was rough I kept watch while Richie slept I hate to admit it but I think I’m falling in love with him. I never really had a first love I live for 13 years at NARU but I was the oldest kid there by far by the time any of the boys were close to my age I was already jaded and thinking about leaving so I didn’t pay any attention to them but Richie is different when I found him he was so helpless and lost now he’s strong, confident and he’s so loyal to me. I don’t want to speak to soon by I think he might feel the same way I guess time will tell we still have a long road to walk together. Speaking of walking Atlanta here we come.
Chapter 6
Road to Atlanta
We ran into a group of survivors hiding in a shed on the outskirts of Charlotte on our way home two parents and a little girl they were all bitten and waiting to turn they begged us to put them down before they turned so I did but I think it took a toll on Richie. He’s been almost silent since it must’ve reminded him of his parents and little sister I hope the day never comes that one of us get bitten and the other one has to decide whether or not to do it but if it does I hope Richie has what it takes to put me down if not I hope I get to do it myself before I turn but I shouldn’t be thinking about things like that. Thinking about your own death is a pretty sure-fire way to make it happen.
We ran into a pretty large group of infected must’ve been about 20 of them but all of them behaved the same as the one that jumped me on the roof of the gun store back in Raleigh. I guess that confirms that it wasn’t a once off thing but I still wonder what causes it maybe I’ll find out one day. We took them all down and continued on I hate to admit it but I really enjoy killing freaks call it therapy I guess. Richie is running low on ammo for his 12 gauge. There should be a gun store in about 30 miles so we should be able to restock there. My ammo supplies are also running a bit low only got about a hundred rounds per gun left. I know that sounds like a lot but with all the freaks on the roads it barely enough after Raleigh I had about a 500 per gun. Lets hope we don’t run into any large hordes till we get to the gun store.
We made it to the gun store just to find it controlled by 2 less than friendly guys. They opened fire as soon as they same us. We returned fire and we’re about to enter the store. Richie kicked the door down and I rushed in I let of two shots taking down the one guy the other was a second away from filling me with bullets from his Uzi but luckily Richie put a round through his chest and another through his right eye before he could. Thank god. I don’t know what I would do without him. We’ve decided to rest tonight and continue tomorrow morning.
Dixie: “Hey Richie”
Richie: “Hey Dixie”
Dixie: ”How you feeling buddy”
Richie: ”Oh you know always OK”
Dixie: ”That’s good buddy”
Richie: “Hey Dixie thank you for everything you really are the best thing that ever happened to me”
Dixie: ”Don’t mention it buddy I love you”
We’re almost 20 miles away from Atlanta and I’m not hopeful judging by smell. I’m guessing its going to be a lot worse than Charlotte but we’ll have to wait and see.
We’ve made it to the outskirts of Atlanta and its as bad as I thought there are hundreds of body piles almost the size of buildings. The living freaks move around the city streets like blood through the veins of the body. Some of them are engaged in massive fights with other groups ripping each other apart.
We’re going in tomorrow but for now Richie’s hunting while I scope out the area. I hope he brings some venison anything but rabbit. I’m sick of rabbit meat. When he comes back I want to try and cuddle up to him and see what happens
Richie and I have eaten and we’re getting ready to sleep. I asked Richie if I could sleep in his sleeping bag with him. He looked at me like I was crazy but once I insisted I was serious I could see the joy on his face so we cuddled up for the night and went to sleep
Wow it felt so amazing sleeping in Richie’s arms and today everything feels different but in a good way everything just feels more intimate we had an amazing conversation about life this morning and it feels like our bond is on a whole new level. Its time to go explore Atlanta there should be an old NARU field hospital on the North-side of town but we’ve got a whole city to get through before that.
Chapter 7
Atlanta
Atlanta is a nightmare right now we’re stuck in a pharmacy bunch of freaks trying to get to us. I’m busy wiring up a pipe bomb while Richie holds the door then when I’m done BOOM
Richie Move....
BOOM....
Well that’s one way to deal with freaks. Always hate being covered in gore though. We’re near the city centre now and its as bad as we thought the place is infested with freaks every building, street and alley we’ve been fighting for every mile we’ve been moving basically carving our way through the city leaving streets flooded in blood but its worth it I can see the NARU hospital and it looks like I might be able to get in this time.
We’re Exploring the NARU hospital and its a goldmine I found a bunch of old documentation on the virus and even some reports of small towns keeping quarantine for years after the Fall. There’s also apparently an old supply and weapons depot nearby so were going there next.
Richie has been opening up a lot his little sister was out playing when a freak got her. Her parents couldn’t put her down so she turned and bit them he hid in the bathroom for 2 days before I got there and put then out of the misery. I wish I could understand how he feels because I never had anyone except my mom and I lost her so young so it never really affected me. I love him so much. This would be so difficult without him.
We made it to the NARU supply depot and it basically empty I mean it make sense Atlanta was one of the first city to fall due to vast number of infected that moved in from the nearby NARU detention camp. That was a bright idea locking up a bunch infected in one place and expecting the place to last. So the city fell to chaos pretty quickly and NARU withdrew most likely taking everything with them that or it was looted after the city fell doesn’t matter now its almost night and we should get some rest we’re going to camp on a nearby rooftop.
Sitting on the roof with Richie and a fire I can’t help but feel like life isn’t that bad yeah its not what it used to be but I mean I have food and freedom and someone I love what more could someone want from life. Looking out at the desolate streets full of freaks well except the streets we pushed through I see the death of the old world and the birth of a new one.
I should get to sleep we got a long road to Birmingham tomorrow. Its so warm and cosy pressed up against Richie.
Chapter 8
The Road To Birmingham
On our way out of Atlanta we ran into a huge freak and I mean a huge motherfucker must’ve been at least 10 feet tall and covered in muscle it looked like it was made of at least 5 other freaks. He tossed Richie against a car and knocked him out I managed to chop one of its arms off before it threw me 10 feat in the air and I crashed down on my back and passed out when I woke up Richie was putting round after round in the things chest and it still wouldn’t go down to I ran jumped on its back and used my machete to chop the freaks head off and burnt the body with a molotov just to be sure the thing was dead
Richie was pretty beat up and I’m not going to lie so was I my back hurts like a bitch but we keep on going no matter what because we still have each other. Still I wonder how those freaks got combined into that thing. Maybe that’s why they pile the way they do so they can combine into something bigger I remember something in one of the NARU document mentioning the virus being able to cause “cellular recombination” so I wonder if that’s not maybe what happened and if it is it means things are about to get a lot worse and a lot more dangerous.
We’re about 50 miles always from Birmingham now. The road has been pretty quite only the occasional group of freaks and the group of raiders we ran into outside a gas station awhile back but this time we got the drop on them and not the other way round gave all three of them a new hole in the head Richie was worried that they might be survivors till we found Sandra tied up in the gas station bathroom turns out the bastards grabbed her from her family farm during the night a few days ago and have been taking turns on her over and over since then. We agreed to take her home its the least we could do after everything that happened to her. When we got her home we found the place burnt down and her family butchered outside. I’m guessing after they grabbed her the bastards came back to finish the job. She’s decided to stick with us she’s a lot older than me and Richie. She used to be a nurse before the Outbreak she dealt with some of the first infected until NARU took over the hospitals. When things really started to go bad she moved back to Alabama to her old family farm to live with her parents they managed to set everything up before the Fall and have been living there since well till recently. She’s pretty shook about the whole situation but she should be okay in a day or two. We’ve all lost something in this new world.
We’ve made it to the outskirts of Birmingham and the place is a fortress looks like remnants of the US military and NARU have fortified the place they have watch towers, auto-turrents and armed patrols. Also looks like they have a lot of military hardware. I know better than to approach the main gate NARU has a shoot on site order for all there quarantine zones no reason to assume this place would be any different. Still I have to get a look inside. Tonight while Richie and Sandra set up camp I’m going to look around and see if I can find a way in. I have to know what’s going on here.
I’ve taken a look around and I’ve found a way in through an old sewer pipe running into an old factory from there I should be able to sneak into the city and have a look around maybe they have some new information on the virus or at least I should be able to find some weapons for Sandra
Chapter 9
Birmingham
Richie and Sandra are waiting for me back at camp while I go explore the city. I left most of my kit behind except my Glock and combat knife. I’m not planning on getting into any fights and if I do I want the finished as quickly as possible. I’ve made it to the sewer pipe it should lead me to the sewer grate I saw on the other side of the fence from there I should have free reign over the city as long as I avoid the NARU patrols and don’t draw to much attention to myself.
I’ve made it into the city and it looks like something out of a George Orwell novel. Security cameras on every street, I’ve seen security forces beat a man to death and another group drag a young women kicking and screaming into an abandoned building. I hate to say it but I think life is better outside with the freaks than in here. Can’t say I’m surprised there’s a reason I left the NARU security forces and the safe zone. Lets just say civilian life and happiness has never been on their priority list. I can see a NARU supply depot I should be able to get a uniform and standard load out last I remember NARU doesn’t have a way of removing employees from the database so my security id number should still work.
I was right NARU never changes I just used my id to get a brand new NARU-P-2a NARU's home grown assault rifle basically its everything the AR-15 is but better its literally a gun made for killing freaks and you can feel it. I always wished I stole one when I left but I guess better late than never I also scanned through a few of the latest security reports and it seems like big guys like we fought back in Atlanta are becoming more common as well as a new faster infected with razor sharp claws that hunt and ambush their victims. We haven’t ran into one of those yet and I hope we don’t any time soon. I hope Richie and Sandra are okay, they should be we have no shortage of fire-power but I still worry. I’m going to keep taking a look around and maybe find out how they’ve maintained quarantine for so long
Well I got my answer and its not a good one. The NARU higher ups here basically outlawed being sick. Anyone with any symptoms that might be HRV-1 are immediately executed and burnt without exception I guess that’s one way to maintain quarantine but I can’t help but wonder how many thousands of innocent people have died to maintain it.
I think its about time I get out of here and back to Richie and Sandra.
I made it back to camp. I’m so happy to be back with Richie. He went out hunting and brought back a nice fat wild pig for dinner. Sandra is looking a lot better as well she still has that distant look in her eye but that should go away soon
Next stop Montgomery Alabama.
Chapter 10
The Road to Montgomery
I still can’t get it out of my head. The freaks are changing getting more dangerous, if I understand correctly the longer they are infected the more unstable the virus gets leading to mutations. I hope this doesn’t mean that the longer we survive the harder its going to get but there’s no point in worrying about whether or not the freaks are going to be stronger in the future as long as we make sure we get stronger too it should work out just fine. Richie and I are doing really well our love kinda makes everything a lot easier. Gives us a reason if that makes sense Sandra on the other hand is kinda dead weight if I’m being honest but its not her fault. She’s been through a lot Richie and I do our best to look out for her and take care of her. I just wish she’d start to adjust to life out here she still winches every time we take out a group of freaks or thugs and she’s a bleeding heart. Yesterday as we were going past a little abandoned convenience store we heard a little girl crying when we asked what was wrong she said they were trapped and needed help. It was obviously a trap we could see the store was fortified and the little girl looked too happy for a kid whose parents were stuck and dying but Sandra insisted we go in and help and what do you know the kids parents are perfectly healthy and holding us at gun point luckily I’m pretty quick on the draw and managed to put two rounds through the fathers chest and Richie tackled the mom. I walked up to the big dude and put one through the head to make sure the mom learns her lesson. We agreed to let her and her daughter live as long as the promised to stop robbing travellers. Sandra couldn’t handle the fact that I finished the dad off even though I think that was better than leaving his family to watch him bleed out because there was no way he would have survive I shot him through both of his lungs they would have filled up with blood and he would have chocked to death I did him a favour by putting him down but she didn’t see it that way even threatened to go it on her own until Richie and I told her to go ahead if she really thought it was the best thing for her. She then decided to stick with us
We’re nearly at the outskirts of Montgomery, we just passed the old civil rights monument. The roads been a bit too still I have a bad feeling about what we’re going to find when we get there

I can't believe it's come to this, but there's a bit of context required I think.
So I never used to really care about being paticularly feminine, it has always been kind of jarring when someone mistakes me for a man (I'm 5'2 and have huge boobs and long hair) but I thought I was pretty comfortable in myself. I haven't ever been really interested in makeup, hairstyles or dresses but have always thought women who are good at that stuff look nice and appreciated the amount of effort they make - I never had any hate toward them for doing that.
Last year I caught my partner of 16 years on dating apps have online relationships with multiple women - it had been going on for about 6 months and had started with those AI girlfriends and ended with him being the victim of a pig butchering scam (karma?), there were some actual women mixed in too. All the women he was chatting to online were all well put together and beautiful in their photos. In his defense when I found out he stopped, let me go through his phone and have access when I needed to reassure myself etc. We hadn't been nurturing our relationship as we should have been, life had got in the way and he has bee pretty good since. It took time but I'm not suspicious of him anymore. I know what he did is his fault and so does he. We have worked hard together over the last year to be better together.
The part that lingers is how I'm feeling about myself and women who do being a woman better than I ever will. I feel ugly, like I don't compare, like even when I try to look more feminine I'm failing at it, like I look wrong and out of place. But what's worse is how I have started thinking about other women and I didn't even really clock it straight away. It was only because I was getting to know another woman at work a bit better and my perception of her shifted, I realised I had basically been hating on her because her body is better than mine, her makeup is on point, her hair is lovely, she dresses well, she's a little younger than me and ngl this woman is legit beautiful. Instead of thinking all that I had been imagining her as a vacuous bitch who is a threat to me (how? She's lovely and married with kids).
Other than making an effort to get to know more women like this wtf do I do?
I don't want any suggestions about leaving my partner, that is still something we're working through it could happen regardless but I don't think that will solve this particular problem anyway.

I know there are already a lot of posts asksing for glove recommendations, but I haven't found one yet that matches exactly what I'm looking for. First and foremost, I'm a very clumsy person. I've been cutting myself a lot when sharpening my knives and practicing knife skills at home, mostly on my thumb and fingertip areas. Lets just say my first aid kit has become one of the most familiar items in my bag. I'm definitely trying to learn how to do things the "right" way for my own safety, but accidents still happen (and they seem to happen to me more frequently than most). With that in mind, I'm nervous about trying any of this stuff while I'm out camping several miles away from my car just in case I cut myself so bad that I need more help than what the first aid kit can give me. I figure wearing some gloves would be a smart option, but there are so many options to choose from.
Cut-proof work gloves with the ANSI ratings look good, but the ones I've seen look like they're more focused on the palm, which is not one of my danger areas. I'd also be concerned about how they'd hold up if they got wet or muddy, and if I'd be able to grab the handle of a hot pan cooking over a fire with them.
Leather gloves seem to be highly recommended here due to abrasion resistance, heat resistance and ability to still perform when wet, but abrasion resistance doesn't exactly mean cut proof does it? How much protection would a pair of leather gloves actually provide if my hand slips and the point of my knife goes into my thumb? Also, there are so many different kinds of leather I've seen in work gloves (deer, goat, cow, pig, etc), which one would be the best for my needs? Is suede a better choice for me than "regular" leather?
Last but not least, I thought about buying an extra large butcher's chain mail glove to slip over a work glove on my non-dominant hand (the one that most often gets cut), is that brilliant idea or a totally stupid one? Or maybe I should just accept that I shouldn't be trusted with sharp objects?

My Uncle Paul was a pig farmer for many years. He supplied a lot of the restaurants in the area around his farm with pork products, including different types of homemade sausages. He loved telling jokes while visiting his customers, so everyone called him Ham. As a kid, I went with him on a lot of deliveries, and when I was old enough he hired me as a part-time driver.
One of the restaurants was frequented by actor Mike Epps. He had a mentorship program attended by some of the at-risk high school kids in town, and he would treat them to a meal there every Wednesday night. Over the years, Mike built a decent relationship with the chef, who could often predict what the kids would order.
Uncle Ham was also well-known for his Christmas light display, which grew more elaborate every year. When he started out, people could easily walk the entire length, but it got so large that people had to drive through in order to be able to see it all.
He bought a shell of an old covered wagon, and I helped him restore it so he could hook up a small tractor and use it as a hayride. It was pretty popular with young couples with small children who wanted to make sure the whole family could see as much of the display as possible.
His pride and joy was a life-size North Pole scene. It looks like something out of a high-end department store, with Santa on a throne and a beautiful female elf as his assistant. It was a great photo opportunity for those same young couples. Some of the kids would still tell Santa what they wanted, even if they were old enough to know this one wasn't capable of responding.
A few years ago, Uncle Ham put up surveillance cameras along certain parts of the route. He had received complaints about people smoking and littering, and he wanted to protect the display and the people who came to enjoy it.
As it turned out, his timing was fortunate. Barely a week after he opened the display to the public, he got an alert. As he reviewed the footage, he recognized three boys in Mike's program who had vandalized the Santa display. They ripped his suit to shreds and pulled off his beard. They broke pieces off the throne and covered the rest with graffiti. And, worst of all, they pulled the beautiful elf down and were performing sexual acts with it.
Uncle Paul was so disturbed by their actions that he shut down the display for the season. He knew he needed to focus on cleaning everything up and repairing the damage the trio had done. He did have help around the farm, but he had to put the food processing and delivery on hold.
I did my best to try to help out, but I have no idea how to properly butcher a pig. The only thing I could do was follow his recipes for the different types of sausage, and try to prioritize his customers so I could fairly deliver what was available.
A couple weeks went by and I was making a delivery to the restaurant where Mike would treat the kids in the program. I apologized to the chef as I brought in an order a fraction of the size he was used to seeing. He asked me what happened and I said, "Chef, three Epps teens did Uncle Ham's elf."

I recently got a call center job working support for a company and it's ripping my heart out. Most of the calls are fine, but then I get those typical 'gift card has been redeemed' calls and I can't assist with a refund. I wish I could help but I can't. Those scammers use bots to auto redeem :'(
Today, I got two active scam calls.
The first one was about a "fiancée" he met online. Claimed to be arrested and in jail and freaking out. Somehow 'she' managed to text him from the jail cell. He was almost crying on the phone asking how I could fix it. I told him I noted everything down and advised him to contact the police station to send them the information they needed to release her...
The other caller was going on about a pig-butchering scam and he himself said it sounded like a scam but he wanted to try anyway. Turn $100 into $6k. We were on the call for over an hour and I told him it sounded like a scam, tried to reframe it multiple times, but he wasn't having it. The stories this person is selling, he's buying.
I wish I could help but there's literally nothing I can do if they're so set on it.

I am looking to set up a skull shelf in the house and am wondering where to get cheap/free skulls. I am not willing to kill any animals solely for decoration, and I am not much of a hunter anyway.
1st of all, is collecting roadkill legal in Texas and Bexar County?
Any butcher shops? I know some sell pig skulls with the meat still on for cooking. Does anyone know what that would cost?
How about game-processing businesses? I assume people processing game just want the meat and the business simply discards the bones. Do any hunters here have experience with that?
Would taxidermists be an option? The hide gets remounted on a wooden/metal frame AFAIK so the bones would be something they would scrap.
I have friends and family who hunt. Would it be reasonable to ask them to keep a skull for me or is that a bigger ask than I think it would be?
and finally: is there just a shop I could walk into and buy something? What price range would I be looking at?

“My Mask up Tutorial” Samuel D. Hunter
Every day at 5:30 am, I put on my makeup. I lay down the perfect foundation that covers my pores, put on my eyeliner to make my outer corners soar. And once the setting spray sets in, I’ve got my mask up. I’m shackled into this morning routine. My very hands are tied to the clasps of my makeup case. With each buckle undone, I feel security’s embrace.The case hides my inner self, never to be seen. My foundation was laid on unstable land. Each crack in my skin widens with obscurity. Every zit threatens to burst out the pus of insecurity. Once the foundation breaks down, it may abolish my brand. I make sure my blush is crimson red to hide the scars of my traumatized past. Then, the blush clogs the scar tissue, so the bloodshot color lasts, and it never covers the scars in my head. I use the contour to lift my face to a happy smile. It rewrites the shadows of my low sunken cheekbones, and lifts them up to make my false confidence shown. For a brief moment, it makes my ego un-fragile. My pointy, thick eyeliner sharpens my drooping eyes. Behind my eyelids are islands of cryin’, and styes that lie high while my vision’s fryin’. To sharpen my eyes would allow them to dry. The mask of makeup has worn down my face. Hiding my soul has dragged it to a lower place. I want nothing more than a soul clean and true, so I’ll take a few wipes, and try something new.I’ll remove the foundation, plow down the cracks to show nature’s creation. Reveal the strawberry freckles I once tried to hide. And, clean out the pores that were clogged so wide. I’ll remove the crimson blush, unsilence the scars I tried to hush. Although trauma’s gnash will feel agonizing at first, I’ll let the scars heal until they’re visible as dust.I’ll remove the contour, un-lift the face that made my fake smile sore. Maybe even realize sometimes it's okay to not be okay. Morphing my face’s shadows only causes delay. I’ll remove my eyeliner, stare at my soul ‘till I see the love behind her. Uncover the truth that my eyes were always sharper when they weren’t hidden behind a steep black sliver. My makeup tutorial became a mask-up tutorial. Morphing my truth to be happy is purely paradoxical. I once longed for the face of another, and now I just miss the face from my mother.
“Psychotherapy” Samuel D. Hunter I will start a revolution in the world of psychotherapy for those who can’t afford it. For little Jimmy that lost his father For little Sally whose mom is too drugged up to care for her. For teenage Sam with no friends at school. And even for Charlotte who spent her adult years in prison. America treats its mental health with bandaids doused in alcohol and loaded with guns. And, it keeps the real solutions locked behind a safe with a passcode that reads “90 dollars per session.” Therapy helped me learn my most important lessons, so I’ll start a non-profit for those who need it, but lack the needed insurance. I’ll keep our community in reassurance that someone will always be here to listen. The study of psychology’s opened my every pore to an empathetic door. And, gifted me the words to heal mental sores. “The Car is Your World” Ilissa Ocko Ted Talk excerpt
In a smoldering black parking lot, there exists your car. The car is your planet. The car’s vents pump carbon into the air, entrapping the noxious heat in the cramped cabin. Yet, you let it happen. You let it melt your car into a pool of plastic and metal. You let it melt your food into a sticky glove-box coating. Your laziness pins you to your leather seat And once it starts to melt, it sticks you down. Within your car, there exists a steering wheel. The wheel’s magnesium rim turns to liquid, rehoming your hands. Your palms could once rest on the firm rubber grip, but now, they must fend in the sea of metals. There was once a time when you tried to escape your car. You tried to build rockets to fly through the windshield, instead of trying to fix what you already had. Yet, you failed to realize that the new car you were looking for was uninhabitable. Its tank was empty, there was no food in the glove box, and the air vents sucked out every last drop of O2. What’s more? Even if you wanted to leave- you couldn’t. The same gas you used to power your car has run dry. You cannot build a rocket with no fuel. Finally, within your car exists you. The carbon from your vents overpowers the oxygen and suffocates you, asphyxiating your lungs and choking you from the inside out. The boiling black leather seats pelt your skin. Much like the carbon, your gasoline greed has grounded you. The locks have melted to an unfamiliar mold, and sealed you shut. If the car is your world, then, the world is our car.Politicians ignore the heat trapped from our star.
“The Butcher” Samuel D. Hunter
Being with you was sweet at first. We went to cafes and fairs and all those other charming places. You fed me the sweetest corn feed. I thought I was the type of pig you would treat as a pet, rather than food. Yet, I ignored your long, blood-stained white apron, and the square razor-sharp knife dangling from your waistband. The corn you fed me soon turned stale and bitter. It swelled my throat and boiled my stomach as I tried to digest it all. It was laced with expired benadryl to make me docile You then threw your sticks and stones. They broke my bones, because you knew your words could hurt me.They held me hostage, waiting in the slaughterhouse. With each friendshipI severed for you, and each skirt I wore that was a little too short, you drew your blade. You beat my legs with its end so I couldn’t run. I scurried and scurried, but when I got to the door, you threatened your life, and I scurried back. The worst part was that the same rules and expectations laid out for me had no application to you. You could compare me to whoever you pleased. You could flirt with who you pleased. And, you could walk out that door when you pleased, because you had the blade, and I had the shattered bones. So, when my legs just barely healed and I stood up, you chopped off my head and walked through the door. You walked out and told the world of how you were the pig, and I was the narcissistic butcher. But my vocal cords were shredded in the beheading, so I couldn’t speak.
I’m not that beheaded pig I once was. My head grew anew, and I evolved to walk and stand as a human.My squeals became words, and my words became boulders crafted from the same blade you once broke me with.

I'm absolutely distraught over this however I'm starting to accept that there is nothing I can do about it.
It starts with my (34 m) brother (39 m). He's being tricked, though he refuses to see it. While I was researching what's happening with my brother I found out it's something called 'pig butchering'. For anyone like me who never heard of it: Someone sends a wrong number text message (It was nice meeting you yesterday Anne, or I'll see you for lunch tomorrow Michael). When you reply that it is a wrong number the scammer tries to parlay it into a conversation and then a 'friendship'. It sounds far fetched however people do fall for it. Once they have befriended you they start talking about things like cryptocurrency and investments. They convince you that you can make money like they do. It's a trick because there is no 'investment'. The returns they show you are fake and your money is not growing. The 'friend' has already stolen your money and is just stringing you along. If you want to withdraw your money they stall you and say you have to pay some kind of fee or tax. This is just another way for them to get money from you. This goes on until you run out of money or you realize until you have been tricked. Your 'friend' disappears and there is nothing you can do to get your money back because you don't know their identity and they are likely not in the same country.
Last year my brother says he met a woman who accidentally texted him instead of her friend. She said she splits her time between Singapore and America and she knew a way for my brother to make big money like she does. There were all these promises about getting rich and never having to work again. My brother has already "invested" all his savings and thinks £11,000 has turned into over £200,000, which is absolutely ludicrous that anyone could believe it. My mum and dad (59 f and 59 m) are involved too. They heard about my brother's 'investment' and want in. They have re-mortgaged their home even though they were close to having it fully paid off. They gave my brother all that money and all their savings as well to 'invest'.
Ive tried telling them that there is no investment and they will lose that money. They cannot afford their mortgage payments lobg term. My parents believe they are in for a big payday. My mum is a dental hygienist. My dad and my brother are engineers. All three of them are university educated so I don't understand how they believe this.
I've had to tell them that I cannot and will not help them, financially or otherwise when they realise they have lost everything. I've tried showing them examples of this happening to others. I've tried having a solicitor or an accountant speak to them but they refuse to listen. I can afford to look after myself but I can't afford to look after them as well. They are trying to convince me to 'invest' and are upset that I'm 'missing out'. I've warned them and set a clear boundary however they still believe they will get rich. I'm mostly just here to vent because I'm too embarrassed to tell anyone I know.
NO ONE WILL LISTEN WHEN I TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING TRICKED. I HATE THAT THEY WON'T LISTEN AND WILL LOSE THEIR RETIREMENTS AND EVERYTHING. I'm done and have washed my hands of it.

I swear Friday night (or Saturday morning, I guess) had serious The Hills Have Eyes vibes and I need to dump this somewhere. I need help, I don't know how to make them leave me alone.
I live in Illinois, about 30 miles outside Chicago in the suburban area. On a clear day, you can stand on top of the hill in the forest preserve and see the city skyline. You can imagine it's pretty bright here at night with all the light pollution, you can barely see any stars. For this reason, my parents and I decided to drive about an hour and a half west to see the Northern Lights. If you've been on social media this weekend, you probably heard about the Rare Solar Geomagnetic Storm that is happening, and how you can see the aurora borealis as far south as southern IL. I've never seen the Northern Lights, and I'm an aspiring astronomer, so I wanted to see them.
Now, I have anxiety. I wanted to say this before I tell you everything that happened on this trip. This subreddit has a "go with your gut" mentality, and I don't ever trust my gut. I'm diagnosed with anxiety and sometimes I just get nervous for no reason. I'm saying this because when we arrived on a gravel road at 2 am surrounded by farmland with only one house in sight, my stomach sank. I know this about myself, so I ignored my fear while I was sitting in the backseat, eyes trained outside the front windshield, my thoughts going through endless cycles of "We could ask the people in that house for help" "We might get hurt out here" "I hope we make it home safely" "Someone is watching us."
My mom pulled to the side of the road and we sat in the dark car for about 20 minutes, straining to look up at the sky through the closed windows until we got impatient and stepped out into the desolate night, the smell of cows in the air. My dad stayed in the car as my mom and I stood out in the empty road, my mom filming a time lapse of the sky on her phone and me pointing out constellations overhead. We could see Virgo and Ursa MajoThe Big Dipper (both actually the same constellation, or at least one lies within the other).
Eventually my dad left the car to join us outside. I saw a shooting star and we watched the International Space Station zoom across the sky, which was really cool. We never actually saw the northern lights. We never got the chance, as we left about 15 minutes later.
My dad and I were leaning against the hood of the car and my mom was standing in the middle of the road filming the sky when a light flashed all around us. My dad and I both started looking around us. My first thought was that it could be a camera flash. I was unsure about this though, I dabble in photography and a camera flash is pretty recognizable. It's usually a series of a couple flashes, one being longer and one being short. This was just one quick flash of light, and dimmer than a typical camera flash would be. Of course, it wasn't coming from in front of us so maybe that is why it was dimmer than that of a regular camera. All I know is it wasn't a camera meant for casual photography. More like a security or hunting type of camera.
I immediately got back in the car. As I mentioned before, I have diagnosed anxiety and sometimes it manifests as paranoia and my dad joked about a sniper watching us earlier in the night, and that idea was in my head ever since then. The weird flash only solidified it more. My parents stayed out of the car still looking for any sign of celestial lights. A couple minutes after we saw the flash of light, a truck drove down the road coming from behind us. It turned around at the intersection ahead and it drove toward us slowly. Very slowly, like it was a predator stalking closer. All I could see was its bright headlights. Before the truck started driving toward us, my dad opened the passenger door and grabbed his handgun. I asked him if he found out what the flash of light was, I don't know if he actually registered what I said, but he just gave me an "mhm" confirmation.
We were bathed in the light of the truck ahead of us, and I became extremely aware of eyes. Eyes in the fields, eyes in the rear view mirror, eyes outside the passenger side window. The eyes obviously had accompanying human figures, but just reflecting eyes showed on the silhouettes. They surrounded us, looking like the stars from above fell and stood in the fields.
My parents stood facing the truck, leaning against the hood of my mom's rusty minivan. They didn't seem to notice the surrounding group of people, or at least they didn't show it besides my dad grabbing his firearm a minute earlier. But I was having an anxiety attack, I'll be honest. I didn't have the mind to yell from the car that we should leave.
I don't know what caused the driver of the truck to put it in reverse and drive back up the road. All I know is that the eyes surrounding us converged on the road ahead, following the truck. They completely ignored my parents for whatever reason, and the headlights and eyes disappeared. We were alone again.
We thought that was the end of it. We left immediately when the headlights were out of view. We made a U-turn and drove home. We didn't speak of what just happened, and we got home at around 4:30 am. I took two Benadryl hoping to pass out and forget the eyes
At 10 am, my mom was going to go grocery shopping and she found an envelope on the front porch. Inside the envelope was a photo of my dad and I leaning on the van, taken from the field beside us. My mom was blocked from view by the car, but you could somewhat see her through one of the windows. The quality was horrible, it was definitly taken on a trail camera of sorts. It wasn't really a photograph, more like a postcard. It had a logo that I reverse-image-searched, but I couldn't find anything. I remembered seeing a building with the logo on it as we were leaving, it had a name like "Long Pig Butcher Inc," but I couldn't remember it exactly. The logo looked like a dark circle with two white dots, like headlights at night.
My dad burned the postcard. The photo didn't save to my phone when I reverse-image-searched it, I accidentally chose to delete it and it didn't show up in my camera roll trash folder. As a family, we chose to ignore everything that happened. We thought we probably angered a farmer by trespassing and we didn't want to get in trouble by reporting it. We hoped everything would die down, but it didn't.
Saturday night, I had to go outside to close the chicken coop. I saw the eyes in the tree-line. It had to be 6 pairs of glowing white dots staring directly at me. I realized then that the logo wasn't depicting headlights.
I ran inside to hide. The eyes moved from the tree-line to my back yard. They didn't move any further, they just stared. I could make out their silhouette bodies, but no distinguishable features. On the back window was another postcard with the same logo on it, stuck there with the wind. It blew away shortly after I saw it.
This morning my parents were gone. I was alone in the house, and I kept seeing glowing eyes out of the corner of my vision.
I want the eyes to go away. I want them to leave me alone. I didn't post the name of the town, I don't want them to take their staring to the next level. I see their eyes glowing through the blinds on all the windows. I hear the sound of a truck outside, and my parents haven't answered their phones.
I should've trusted my gut when we pulled onto that gravel road. I should've convinced my parents to drive home. The eyes won't leave me alone. They're watching me, always.

Several months ago, I lost $86k to a pig butcher scammer who I first met on Tinder. I was devastated when I found out I got scammed. I been having high blood pressure since. At one pt, I thought I will have heart attack from chest pain, and ended up in Urgent Care and did a EKG. Turned out I just overstressed from the scam, but still need to change lifestyle drastically since to lower blood pressure. Losing so much money to this scam was the most painful experience in my life. It took me almost two years of working very hard and long hours in my job, including every weekends, to earn this. To see all my hardwork went to some scumbag was painful. It still hurts each time I think about this loss.
Soon after I found out I got scammed, I blocked that scammer in telegram, but she hasn't remove her profile yet as of today, but she recently added a male pic to her telegram profile and changed her username to something in Chinese. Oddly, she still kept her female pic as her second pic, which is the same pic she used when we chat in telegram before I blocked her. Shall I try to confront that scammer on telegram, and guilt trip him or her to return some funds back to me? Has anyone ever tried that and did that work for you? I read up all about pig butcher scam. I reported my case to iC3, Ftc, local police. I talked to my banks to try to recover the funds, but no success. I set fraud alert on my three credit bureaus and reviewed credit reports regularly. I tried pretty much everything, but from reading many articles about this type of scam, I don't think there is much of a chance of recovering any funds. I don't think she is a trafficked guy in a Southeast Asia factory. I live in West Coast US, and during the time when I was under her spell, she logs in to telegram daily from 9 am to 11 pm west coast time. Also, her English was too polish, even better than me, although I am born here and live here for 30 plus years. We also had three audio chats before, so I know a woman was involved in this scam.
But, shall I still try to guiltrip her to return some funds to me? I believe she will try to guiltrip me too but I wouldn't fall for her stuff any more. Is there anything else you recommend me to do to try to recover some funds? I hope to move on soon from this bad experience. Thanks for the feedback.
I will block you if you DM me to ask about any of the following:

• tell me you are a hacker, crypto agent, crypto recovery specialist, or any ‘title’ related to crypto
• tell me to go to someone’s IG or Twitter and they can help me recover. Not only will I block you, I will go to that social media account you told me, report them as scam and block them
• mention anything about hacking or recover funds for me for free or discount.
• ask me if I recover my funds or crypto. If you read my post here, you know the answer. If you ask me that question, I consider you a scammer right away. I will block and report.
• ask me for the deposit address scammer told me to send Bitcoin to
• ask for my full name, email address and/or phone number
• mention anything that sounds too good to be true
• mention anything that gives me the slightest bit of thinking you are trying to scam me

I read all about recovery scams, latest scams and red flags of scammers. If you try to scam me, don’t waste your time and effort. They will all fail. I blocked and reported at least 9 recovery scammers since I made this post already. If I block a stranger right away after they text me ‘Hi’ or ‘How are you’ with a scammy phone number, what makes you think you can scam me. If I keep getting scammy DMs, I will make a post out of them to warn people and include your screen names, so your scammy accts get taken down by Reddit.
If you truly want to help me, commenting on my post is good enough. No need to DM me. I read every comment.

Several months ago, I lost $86k to a pig butcher scammer who I first met on Tinder. I was devastated when I found out I got scammed. I been having high blood pressure since. At one pt, I thought I will have heart attack from chest pain, and ended up in Urgent Care and did a EKG. Turned out I just overstressed from the scam, but still need to change lifestyle since to lower blood pressure. Losing so much money to this scam was the most painful experience in my life. It took me almost two years of working very hard and long hours in my job, including every weekends, to earn this. To see all my hardwork went to some scumbag was painful. It still hurts each time I think about this loss.
Soon after I found out I got scammed, I blocked that scammer in telegram, but she hasn't remove her profile yet as of today, but she recently added a male pic to her telegram profile and changed her username to something in Chinese. Oddly, she still kept her female pic as her second pic, which is the same pic she used when we chat in telegram before I blocked her. Shall I try to confront that scammer on telegram, and guilt trip him or her to return some funds back to me? Has anyone ever tried that and did that work for you? I read up all about pig butcher scam. I reported my case to iC3, Ftc, local police. I talked to my banks to try to recover the funds, but no success. I set fraud alert on my three credit bureaus and reviewed credit reports regularly. I tried pretty much everything, but from reading many articles about this type of scam, I don't think there is much of a chance of recovering any funds. I don't think she is a trafficked guy in a Southeast Asia factory. I live in West Coast US, and during the time when I was under her spell, she logs in to telegram daily from 9 am to 11 pm west coast time. Also, her English was too polish, even better than me, although I am born here and live here for 30 plus years. We also had three audio chats before, so I know a woman was involved in this scam.
But, shall I still try to guiltrip her to return some funds to me? I believe she will try to guiltrip me too but I wouldn't fall for her stuff any more. Is there anything else you recommend me to do to try to recover some funds? I hope to move on soon from this bad experience. Thanks for the feedback.
I will block you if you DM me to ask about any of the following: - tell me you are a hacker, crypto agent, crypto recovery specialist, or any ‘title’ related to crypto - tell me to go to someone’s IG or Twitter and they can help me recover. Not only will I block you, I will go to that social media account you told me, report them as scam and block them - mention anything about hacking or recover funds for me for free or discount. - ask me if I recover my funds or crypto. If you read my post here, you know the answer. If you ask me that question, I consider you a scammer right away. I will block and report. - ask me for the deposit address scammer told me to send Bitcoin to - ask for my full name, email address and/or phone number - mention anything that sounds too good to be true - mention anything that gives me the slightest bit of thinking you are trying to scam me
I read all about recovery scams, latest scams and red flags of scammers. If you try to scam me, don’t waste your time and effort. They will all fail. I blocked and reported at least 9 recovery scammers since I made this post already. If I block a stranger right away after they text me ‘Hi’ or ‘How are you’ with a scammy phone number, what makes you think you can scam me. If I keep getting scammy DMs, I will make a post out of them to warn people and include your screen names, so your scammy accts get taken down by Reddit.
If you truly want to help me, commenting on my post is good enough. No need to DM me. I read every comment.

I'm absolutely distraught over this however I'm starting to accept that there is nothing I can do about it.
It starts with my (34 m) brother (39 m). He's being tricked, though he refuses to see it. While I was researching what's happening with my brother I found out it's something called 'pig butchering'. For anyone like me who never heard of it: Someone sends a wrong number text message (It was nice meeting you yesterday Anne, or I'll see you for lunch tomorrow Michael). When you reply that it is a wrong number the scammer tries to parlay it into a conversation and then a 'friendship'. It sounds far fetched however people do fall for it. Once they have befriended you they start talking about things like cryptocurrency and investments. They convince you that you can make money like they do. It's a trick because there is no 'investment'. The returns they show you are fake and your money is not growing. The 'friend' has already stolen your money and is just stringing you along. If you want to withdraw your money they stall you and say you have to pay some kind of fee or tax. This is just another way for them to get money from you. This goes on until you run out of money or you realize until you have been tricked. Your 'friend' disappears and there is nothing you can do to get your money back because you don't know their identity and they are likely not in the same country.
Last year my brother says he met a woman who accidentally texted him instead of her friend. She said she splits her time between Singapore and America and she knew a way for my brother to make big money like she does. There were all these promises about getting rich and never having to work again. My brother has already "invested" all his savings and thinks £11,000 has turned into over £200,000, which is absolutely ludicrous that anyone could believe it. My mum and dad (59 f and 59 m) are involved too. They heard about my brother's 'investment' and want in. They have re-mortgaged their home even though they were close to having it fully paid off. They gave my brother all that money and all their savings as well to 'invest'.
Ive tried telling them that there is no investment and they will lose that money. They cannot afford their mortgage payments lobg term. My parents believe they are in for a big payday. My mum is a dental hygienist. My dad and my brother are engineers. All three of them are university educated so I don't understand how they believe this.
I've had to tell them that I cannot and will not help them, financially or otherwise when they realise they have lost everything. I've tried showing them examples of this happening to others. I've tried having a solicitor or an accountant speak to them but they refuse to listen. I can afford to look after myself but I can't afford to look after them as well. They are trying to convince me to 'invest' and are upset that I'm 'missing out'. I've warned them and set a clear boundary however they still believe they will get rich. I'm mostly just here to vent because I'm too embarrassed to tell anyone I know.
NO ONE WILL LISTEN WHEN I TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING TRICKED. I HATE THAT THEY WON'T LISTEN AND WILL LOSE THEIR RETIREMENTS AND EVERYTHING. I'm done and have washed my hands of it.

A/N: Yeah, I locked tf in and revised my main work when I was posting those side stories. I went through every chapter with a fine-tooth comb and revised them to bring them up to current Cap standards. Maybe I'll do this again at some point, too.
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“Holy shit! Kryll!” Those were Ivan Kaydanovsky’s first words as he stepped off his shuttle and onto the deck of the Republic’s Claw. An honor guard of two Republic marines flanked him, clad in polished black and carrying beautiful but deadly ceremonial rifles. On another shuttle, escorted by a black-clad RDF:Intelligence officer and a much larger honor guard, Kryll Naxol stood with the powerful bearing of a Republic Auxiliary.
“Ivan!” Kryll called back, committing a minor breach of protocol to rush out and greet his old friend. They wrapped in a bear hug, nearly crushing each other with their cybernetic strength before logic and neural inhibitors prevailed. “You were assigned to the Claw?”
“Probably old man Jedik trying to keep a watch on us,” Ivan chuckled. “But all’s well that ends well, right?”
Kryll blinked a bit and cocked his head before finally agreeing. “Suppose so. You’re with the standards, right?” The standard Auxiliaries. The ones without a Vanguard to guide their training. Many former apprentices had joined them over the course of the war. Some died with their masters instead.
“Yeah, yeah, the little babies sucking on bottles. That’s me,” smiled Ivan. “You’re motherfucking special forces. Give it a few years, you’ll be taking me as an apprentice.”
“Give it a few years, and the war will be won.” Kryll spoke with pride, and something between confidence and arrogance to back it up. “I… haven’t given too much thought as to what I’ll do after that.”
“See your people?” asked Ivan. “You have to have some.” Now that he thought about it, he didn’t know much of anything about Kryll’s past. He had never asked, and his friend had never told.
“You’re my people.” Kryll looked deep in thought for a moment. “Family, too, I suppose. Everyone else is dead.” Ivan suddenly felt very foolish. “Try not to die, too, okay?” Kryll made an attempt to cut the tension. “I kind of like you.” It had evidently failed.
Ivan remembered his old platoon on Atreides. Russian conscripts, hardly the cream of the crop, but sturdy and true fighters to the last. He missed them dearly, more than he would like to admit. He knew Kryll felt the same. “We’ll have to live for them, then. Keep their memory alive.”
“They lived as heroes,” Kryll replied. “Died like heroes, too. If we do have to go, I wouldn’t mind going out like them.” Ivan felt it was better not to go out at all.
“We had better pack it,” he said. “Don’t want to be late.” And, with that, he and Kryll had separated. Ivan wondered when they would see each other again.
The Auxiliaries Ivan was to meet stood in a large and gleaming cargo bay in clean and orderly ranks, like Ivan’s last platoon had done on Iera Prime. They were all dead now. He felt grimly thankful he had never gotten to know any of them. Then he wondered if Kryll had ever felt the same.
Forty men, Ivan counted. Or women, he added, as you could never really tell in combat armor. Forty Auxiliaries, standing at attention with automatics at port arms. Ivan realized that he was the forty-first. He had yet to don his armor, a suit which he assumed was custom-made for him. Even without the wings, Ierad physiology was alien enough for the Claw’s engineers to have to specialize a design. Ivan had learned as much when his martial arts instructors had to learn Muay Thai at the SpecOps academy.
A grim-faced officer directed him toward the armory. Two imposing marines flanked it, each standing at six feet tall and built like a gorilla in their powered combat suits. Ivan could have taken them apart like tin cans if he wished.
The door hissed open. Even on a Republic ship, all bright colors and sleek curves, there were some places where beauty was a foreign thing. This, a dull gray hallway with sixty berths for powered armor, was one of them. A requisitions officer stepped out of nowhere to challenge Ivan, surprising even his enhanced reflexes, and a brief exchange of words convinced him to show Ivan to his suit.
“Echelon-class standard-issue powered combat armor,” the officer explained, referring to the hulking black thing Ivan was to wear. “Modified for your… unique… physical characteristics. The wing weapons are absent, replaced with shoulder mounts for an arsenal of your choosing.” Ivan took all this in as he was told it. “Each forearm contains a mount for another weapon, usually an autocannon combined with a blade or cutting laser.”
Ivan had seen blades in use before. Horsemen, two of them, had boarded a battleship over the planet Segmentus. Why they hadn’t drawn guns, Ivan could not say, but he remembered vividly the ease with which they had cut down the ship’s marines.
“I’ll be using this?”
“You are Republic Auxiliary Ivan Kaydanovsky, identity number 87987, assigned to Standard Cohort Twelve, are you not?” Ivan nodded. “Then you will be using this.” The requisitions man jabbed a wing at the suit’s chest, where Ivan’s identity number was emblazoned in white Terran numerals.
Ivan stepped closer to the powered armor, admiring its massive bulk. No weapons were strapped to its arms, no artillery was stowed on its back, but this inert suit of armor seemed as formidable as a Greek god in front of lowly mortal Ivan. “You do know how to put it on, yes?” Ivan was really starting to dislike this requisitions officer.
He donned the suit and ran through his diagnostic checks. He had never used a powered suit of this caliber before, but it all came naturally to him. The implants were doing their work well.
After he had gotten the feel of things, some minutes later, Ivan Kaydanovsky took his first step in Auxiliary-grade powered armor. “It’s not unusual for operators of powered combat armor of this grade to experience a rush of euphoria, usually combined with a feeling of invincibility or limitless power,” droned the requisitions man. “Are you?”
Ivan knew all of that. Ivan had the specifics of this armor drilled into him so many times that he could have given that briefing from memory even without his computer augments. “Yes,” he said, taking a thunderous step forward and testing the suit’s systems with a few practiced movements. Then, he threw a lightning-fast blow that could have put a dent in the steel wall in front of him. He stepped back in shock. “I think I am.”
“Well, that’s natural.” The requisitions officer walked toward the door, beckoning Ivan with a wing to follow. “We should have someone here in a bit to remind you that you’re fallible.” Ivan needed no reminder. He had seen the casualty statistics. In a war like this, even gods were mortal.
The door hissed open. “Is that him?” Ivan looked to see a Republic colonel with striking blue plumage standing in the massive doorway.
“Auxiliary… Kaydanovsky, identity number 78987, come with me,” the officer commanded. There was no further communication.
A short ride in a transit pod later, Ivan followed the officer through a corridor and up to a door that was flanked by marines. That was hardly unusual, guarding doors was most of what marines did, but Ivan could not help but notice this door’s security was a bit overkill. The marines eyed him uneasily, and his armor reported that it was being scanned by a battery of concealed sensors. The door in front of him looked flimsy, coated in some alien wood and decorated with gold filigree, but his scanners detected six inches of blast proof metal behind it. “Admiral Jedik’s quarters,” Ivan guessed.
The marines looked among each other. “He’s cleared. Colonel, right this way.” The door slid open, triggered by an unseen operator. The colonel ushered Ivan in.
“Holy shit, Kryll!” That was the second, and not the last, time Ivan would say such a phrase. The Russian trooper spied his friend as he walked into a small but beautiful living room, surrounded by well-placed decorations and copies of artwork from across the galaxy. Most were from Earth, and there was even a Bible on some alien furniture near the door.
“Holy-” Kryll Naxol, clad in his own set of powered armor, shut his beak just before he uttered three alien syllables that would have been improper in the present company. There was, after all, a Republic fleet admiral standing by the hologram projector. “I apologize for my friend’s vulgarity, sir.”
“Apology accepted.” Yegel Jedik, the father of the microchip that now clung tightly to Kryll’s prefrontal cortex, snapped to attention and saluted Ivan. He saluted back. “Colonel Talta, you’re dismissed. Report to the fleet bridge and continue your work on the battle plan.” Jedik was dressed for a formal occasion, a rarity in the Republic fleet, and he was holding a glass of alcohol in his left claw. That was not a rarity.
The colonel, whose name tag Ivan had never actually bothered to read, saluted and left. “Sir, if I may,” said Ivan, “Why am I here?”
“You do remember, of course, that your friend owes his position to the computer chip my surgeons installed in his brain?” Jedik asked. Ivan nodded, a gesture which the admiral had learned by now. “Good. I must confess, I’ve not been entirely truthful with you.”
“With all due respect, sir, I suspected as much,” said Ivan. “I saw your spies when I was training.”
“And you?” Jedik turned to Kryll.
“I don’t think the microchip operates the way you explained it to me. A randomized tactical generator wouldn’t have had the effect it did.”
“I’m not going to discuss military secrets with you,” Jedik snapped, ending that line of discussion. “That is need-to-know only, and neither of you need to know it. Now, listen well.” They were listening. “You, Lieutenant Naxol, are an experiment. A test subject, functionally identical to every other soldier who agreed to have that microchip installed except for one factor; you are an Auxiliary. There is one other in the galaxy like you, lieutenant, and you both are assigned to the same unit.” He pointed a wing at Ivan. “You are their control group. The three of you will be fighting together, under my personal supervision, and your performance will be instrumental in demonstrating the effectiveness of this microchip technology. Are we clear?”
They were test subjects. Guinea pigs on the front lines of a war. Ivan really hoped that Admiral Jedik knew what he was doing.
“Sir, yes, sir!” Kryll and Ivan barked in unison, responding reflexively to their superior’s request. “Perfectly clear, sir!” After that, they were dismissed. They passed ranks of armored marines, who stood like suits of armor in some ancient castle, and thought of their new task.
“Kryll,” Ivan said, to break the silence. “Things make sense, now. The spies, the gold cadre, most of it. The one thing I don’t get is why a Vanguard chose you if Jedik had already laid a claim.”
“He probably didn’t,” Kryll figured. “Or Jedik was late to claim my services. Hell, this microchip is a wonder. I could never think of things like this before.” He paused, thinking of things like this. “Do you think Jedik even knows what it does?”
“Shit, I fucking hope so!” Ivan laughed. “It’d be real shitty if you started seeing the shadow people halfway through a firefight!” Then he had to think, too. “I’d wager he has some idea, but he can’t know everything. No need for an experimental unit if he did,” he explained.
“Agreed. He probably has thousands of units like ours. Tens of thousands of test subjects.”
“It’s kind of fucked, doing that to people,” said Ivan. “I mean, he doesn’t even know what the chips really do, and he’s testing them on intelligent beings.” Kryll didn’t feel the same way. “Why not use it on mice, or monkeys, or those six-legged things that can solve a Rubik’s cube?” ‘Those six-legged things’ referred to a species of mammal on Iera Prime whose average specimen was about as intelligent as an eight-year-old child. Most of them could not solve Rubik’s cubes.
“The Alliance killed two hundred billion people,” Kryll countered. “No provocation, no prior aggression on our end, just senseless murder. If putting computers in my head helps them finally get what’s coming to them, then hook me the fuck up.” There was a harsh finality to his words that ended all discussion on that matter. Ivan did not want to press him any further.
“Who’s the third Auxiliary?” Ivan changed the subject.
“How would I know? I got told the same thing you did.”
“Yeah, I figure that’s fair.” Ivan shrugged. “We should meet him soon enough.”
They did meet him soon enough. Both of them had made their own mental preconceptions of what their new teammate would be, and both of their preconceptions were totally dashed when they finally saw it. Not he, or she, but it. It sat on a huge crate in the cargo bay they had been assembled to, covered from head to toe in a thick brown exoskeleton and holding a massive assault weapon in two of its six limbs. Two others were obviously for movement, being furthest from its ant-like head and shaped much like animal legs on Earth, and the two middle ones were clearly manipulators. They were shorter and scrawnier, but still formidably strong as appendages went. They grasped the assault rifle, the same model of weapon Ivan had seen in the armored gauntlets of Republic marines just minutes prior.
The top two appendages, positioned similarly to Ivan’s arms, were neither for grasping nor moving. They were bruisers, thick as tree trunks and covered at the ends with sharp spikes of strong chitin. They could hold something, with three digits on each limb, but any fine motor tasks were impossible.
The insect was totally naked, not even wearing armor, but no reproductive or even waste-disposal organs were visible. Ivan, being a devout Christian, was thankful for that.
It stood up as it saw him, rising to the height of fully eight feet tall and making Ivan recall all the times he had crushed insects underfoot when he was younger. The burly Russian was clad in full powered armor, seven feet tall and one thousand pounds heavy, and this monster still made him feel small. Any previous thoughts of invincibility in his armor were quickly dispelled.
“Soldier caste,” said Kryll. “It’s a Krulvuk, born and bred for war.”
“I’ve heard of them,” Ivan breathed. “Good Christ, you look different in person.”
“Why?” asked the Krulvuk. “Holographic distortion?”
“No, no, it’s just an expression,” Ivan sighed. “Never mind.”
“My apologies,” the insect chittered. “I am unfamiliar with expressions.” It crouched lower a little, bringing Ivan’s helmeted head level with its own. Two bulbous eyes, like those of a Terran housefly, stared at his metal visage. A pair of massive mandibles clicked absentmindedly. “Command castes are meant for such a purpose. I am a soldier caste.”
Ivan recalled seeing a command caste on a news broadcast, defending her actions from a crowd of incensed reporters. She, or at least the broadcast said it was a she, was the magistrate of a Krulvuk colony on the outskirts of Regime space. When a famine struck, she ordered the killing of twenty thousand of the lower castes to conserve food for the rest of the colony.
Ivan did not like the Krulvuk command caste.
“Tell me more about them,” he said, gauging whether this soldier’s feelings aligned with his own. “How do they treat you?”
“The command caste are thinkers, scholars, leaders. They are exceedingly rare. Soldiers and workers serve them.” Then it paused, mandibles clicking and claws fidgeting. “My command caste sold me to Admiral Jedik for sixty thousand units. He had no need for me.”
There was no emotion whatsoever in that insect’s modulated voice. No hint of sorrow at its betrayal or sale, like a slave on old Earth. “Like a slave?” Ivan gasped. “You’re a slave?”
“It’s a hive insect,” Kryll explained to him, not to defend the insect but to explain its alien nature. “Hardwired to serve its colony, without any regard for its own life or safety. It would kill itself if it meant the colony stayed alive.”
Ivan looked at the insect. “Would you?”
“Without question.”
“Why?” he gasped. “What the fuck do you owe them?”
“It is my biological imperative to obey and serve,” chittered the insect, “No matter the cost.” Its mandibles clicked once, a gesture that Ivan’s suit translated into realization. “Oh, my apologies. I am Vigel, formerly known as Sekvit 1,829.” The 1,829th Krulvuk to hatch from one of Sekvit’s eggs. The command caste were the only ones who could lay them. “I was named by Admiral Jedik, who I am now legally and ethically required to serve.”
“You earned a name,” Kryll congratulated Vigel. “Good job, big man.”
“Thank you,” Vigel chittered. “Low castes are genderless, for your information, but I feel no offense at the mishap. I have been informed that my species can be found quite unnerving, and I truly appreciate your support.”
Ivan certainly found its species unnerving. They were alien, truly alien, and in a very bad way. There was a reason the Alliance had taken pains to exterminate them over the course of their invasion. Regardless of how he thought of the Krulvuks, Ivan was still glad they had failed.
“Well, uh, you seem agreeable enough,” he ventured. “It’s just the command caste that I mind. The way they run things doesn’t sit right with me.” Krulvuks were a cold and utilitarian species, having earned many enemies before they stood against the hated Alliance. Before the war, the threat of a Krell Imperial or international police action kept their species in line with Coalition morality. Now, with their army sorely needed to defend frontline worlds, there were no such restrictions. The Galactic Coalition could not afford a conflict at home.
Their lower castes were instinctively conditioned to obey and defend the command caste to the death, and the latter treated their servants almost universally like expendable machines. To them, lives were a resource like any other. Soldier caste, worker caste, even fellow command castes had a value, and they all could be left to die unflinchingly if another resource was deemed more precious.
Vigel did not mind this way of life. Most others did. The Krulvuk Regime had a very short list of allies.
“Why?” asked the massive insect. “They are logical. Efficient. Calculating. Are these not admirable traits in a leader?”
“A leader should have compassion,” Kryll countered. “They should care for their people, not just see them as tools.” Vigel understood this concept, even if it did not grasp the sentiment of it. Admiral Jedik had explained it to him.
“Like the admiral,” it clicked understandingly. “Compassion is unnecessary,” it countered. “Logic dictates that, when the colony prospers, the command caste will also prosper. Thus, logically, the command caste has an incentive to make their colony prosper. No compassion is involved in that.”
No compassion was involved on Tlelaxis III, either, when a battalion of Regime troops gunned down an entire worker caste habitation sector to cull the spread of a lethal epidemic. Ivan was really growing to dislike Vigel. Kryll had already drawn that conclusion, though he was better at hiding it. “And what if I’m wounded on the battlefield, and logic dictates you leave me to die?” snapped Ivan.
“Ivan,” Kryll warned. “Let’s try to be cooperative here.”
“His concern is valid,” Vigel countered. “I assure you, I will always act in the best interests of the Republic. I would never abandon my unit unless the situation demanded it.” Ivan felt that was a fair answer, all things considered. He knew he’d shed few tears over leaving Vigel on the front. “Still,” warned the insect, “I may not refuse an order that is given to me. I am compelled to obey.”
“Any order?” asked Ivan, concern mixed with contempt in his voice. “Tell me honestly, are you a machine? Or are you a man?”
“I am neither,” said Vigel. “I am simply a killer. Born and bred.” A butcher was closer to Ivan’s description of it. “That is why I am here.”
“Damn straight!” Ivan exclaimed. “You’re a soulless, emotionless, murder machine, just like the rest of your shitty race.”
“Ivan!” snapped Kryll. “As your superior officer, I command you to be silent!” Ivan stepped back sheepishly. “You will not insult your fellow soldiers again.”
“I am not insulted,” Vigel defended him. “I find his assessment to be somewhat accurate, if in a demeaning way.”
“Which means you should be insulted,” Ivan snapped, jabbing a finger at Vigel. Kryll glared at him through his helmet. “Any normal person would.”
“Sergeant Kaydanovsky, do I need to tie your mouth shut with rope?” Ivan grew silent. After all he’d been through alongside Kryll, he had almost forgotten the bird was still his superior officer. “You will refrain from speaking in that manner about anyone in this unit, or I will have you running sixties until your legs collapse,” Kryll snapped. He could be quite intimidating if the situation called for it. “Am I clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Ivan growled, snapping to attention and saluting. “Perfectly clear, sir.”
“Good. Now, you’re dismissed.” Ivan turned and stalked out of the room. Kryll considered following him, thinking more as his friend than his commanding officer, but there was little he could do. Kryll Naxol could field-strip an automatic rifle in ten seconds flat, he could make an improvised explosive out of engine coolant and empty canteens, but he was far out of his element here.
Ivan walked out of the cargo bay in a fury, disgusted at the callousness with which Vigel treated life and the readiness with which he defended his despotic command caste. Kryll knew he was right, he felt the same way himself, but he was hopeless at convincing Ivan to hold his tongue around Vigel. Unity was what won wars, and Kryll's unit was disunified. If Ivan refused to fight alongside Vigel, or he did not place his trust in it, the unit would be destroyed. People would die.
The fleet would be at Neldia within a day. He and his men would be fighting on the ground, behind enemy lines and with only each other to rely on, within three. And, like it or not, the bond between them was fast unraveling.
Kryll knew he had to act fast, but he didn’t know what to do. The doctrine that had held true all his life had just failed right in front of him and, unless he was able to make Ivan fight down his feelings, the entire unit would be in danger.
Kryll Naxol did not know how to succeed, but he very much knew he was failing. Part of him believed that he already had.
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When I went to sleep in the hospital it was for an upgrade to my bionic spine. The first one I had installed after the accident was not working well enough any longer to let me do my job. I went in for upgrade and replacement, fortunately funded mostly by my employer, but I ended up getting a whole hell of a lot more than I bargained for.
I woke up on a planet with mostly purple vegetation, at least, where I woke up it was all purple. There's blue plants here too, which I found later and tend to grow in the shade more. When I woke up I was being licked by what I assume are regular Earth dogs. There's twelve of them. All bigger breeds. I apparently have had some eye implants installed, or something... I have a HUD that seems to be overlaid over my vision with the dogs names. They have been named 'Spot I' 'Spot II' and so on. It would be a few days before I mastered the HUD implant, as I decided to call it, and changed their names in it.
Oh, I woke up nude, which... was fucking great. At least it's nice out, air-temperature-wise on this planet, pretty much all the time. Only about twenty degree swings into the night.
When I first looked around after the pack woke me up, I realized there was a wind-up laser hunting rifle next to me. This relic was common in the first space war several hundred years ago. When I picked it up, my HUD interfaced with it, and showed me it could hold a charge of five shots in it's capacitor, and it was currently discharged. I sighed and grabbed the rifle. It wasn't my trusty L-237 blaster from my military days, but I supposed it would have to do. When I had played with one of these things at the military museum as a kid it took me almost three minutes to crank the thing enough for a single shot.
I whistled for the dogs to follow me, first order of business was figuring out some sort of shelter. I started to crank the Rifle to charge it, and swiftly realized I had more than just a bionic spine upgrade installed. My arm was apparently far advanced than anything I'd ever heard of. I cranked the ever loving fuck out of that rifle's charger. I watched in awe at my own body's movements. 2 shots charged in only about 10 seconds. I filled the capacitor.
My curiosity about my arms must have triggered something in the HUD implant. A holographic schematic view of my arms projected into my virtual HUD. Archtech Arm R, along with a whole bunch of stuff about lifting power and tensile strengths that I don't really understand, but 'programmable multi-tool fingers' stands out. and I think about having a screwdriver and my middle finger on my right hand becomes a screw driver.
I decided I'd check out everything I could learn about my new body later, when I'd found some shelter. I walked with the pack of dogs following me for a while before I found a nice, empty looking cave. Whoever did this to me upgrade my eyes while they were at it. When I walked deeper into the cave the night vision automatically clicked on. I had the rifle at the ready, fully charged by now. The dogs were still following me, I think the soft glow of my rifle is enough for them get by.
The cave was empty, but smelled musky, like something large an hairy normally lived here. The owner came back as I was about to settle down and scan as much of me as I could with this HUD implant. The owner, my first meal on the planet, was a massive warthog looking thing. Eight legs.
It took four shots from the rifle. I learned my lesson and started charging immediately after shooting the next time I went hunting. Lets be honest, the next time I was hunted. These crazy arms I have can aim precisely while charging, ain't no meat body could do that.
Speaking of meat and bodies. I was pretty much fully remade of Archtech parts now. My left arm turns into more 'Gross use' tools like axes and picks and large drill bits for mining. My right is all the finer tools. Both work amazingly as hands. The speed and dexterity with which I can work is unreal. My legs are both the same model of Archtech leg, it's got an ambifoot. I can run faster than a cheetah with them. Which is dangerous and thrilling. One small trip at that speed and you'd think it'd be over.
Well not with my brand new skin! Which my HUD labeled as Archtech Membrane. Not sure I like the phrasing of my whole skin as 'membrane' but what am I gonna do, sue someone over it?
I do still have to eat, it seems. The brain parts still require food, though I'm pretty sure that most of my body is now run on some kind of crazy micro nuclear reactors or something. The dogs ripped into the big pig thing when I killed it, they seemed to be pretty hungry too. Other than tagging them with their name, this HUD seems to be telling me they're just regular dogs. It shows the health tracker chip in them if I ask it to... but that just doubly confirms that these are just dogs, no fancy tech inside them, just what any ol human owned dog would have. They're good dogs it seems, since they all seem to like me.
That first night, I just chopped some nearby trees down with my axe hand arm and started a fire with some of the branches that I wouldn't be able to make good lumber from. I chopped a few hunks of meat off the great pig and cooked them up. The HUD told me when it was cooked enough to kill any parasites.
Myself and the pack of dogs all slept uneasy that first night by the fire. Other than the pig whose home we had invaded and colonized, none of the native residents bothered me.
By the end of the second day I had built a large wooden door to close the entrance of the cave off from the outside. I also searched around the forest I had found myself in for some form of fruit tree, or edible vegetation. I wasn't too keen on being on a pure meat diet. Hell before this I had technically been a vegan, but like, not for any moral reason it was just that there was no real meat or animal product foods available. So called 'real food' was for people FAR wealthier than me. Speaking of, these implants and upgrades probably were too.
I fell into wondering how the hell I got here. After an hour or more of wallowing in self-pity, one of the dogs roused me. With what looked like a ball in his mouth. It was what initially thought to call an Apple... but it was not an apple. The dog dropped the fruit into my hand, and my HUD labeled it "Safe To Eat Fruit" until I thought to call it an Apple, then the HUD switch it to say "Apple." I wiped the fruit clean of dog slobber by rubbing it on my bare chest... I didn't have anything else to wipe it off on, and took a bite. It was like a crisp unripe plum, with a touch of fart. I had the dog show me where he found it. A small grove not far away.
Nothing in the grove was ripe, yet but I was glad it was here. It was here I learned to rename things in the HUD, gave all the dogs more unique names. Rover, Groucho, Daniel the spaniel... but I'm not really sure what a spaniel is, I just liked the name. I kept Spot I as just plain ol 'Spot' with no numeral after.
By the third night, it was apparent that the pig was going start to rot soon, and we wouldn't be able to eat it anymore. Suddenly, the HUD displayed, "Objective: Learn to make jerky."
I used my super tooled up arms to properly butcher what remained of the pig, the dogs had done a good bit of work eating him, but there was still some usable bits of pelt, "Objective: Learn to Tan Leather."
Great. How long until my vision ends up cluttered with objectives. And just like that... they disappeared from view. I sat there a moment with that... the HUD implant reacted to both my conscious and unconscious minds.
"Full HUD." I said, unsure what would happen. An OVERWHELMING amount of information appeared before my eyes. I closed my eyes in an attempt to escape the barrage of data, but I realized that only covered the real world. Slightly less to take in that way at least. I took a breath to center myself, and looked over what was there, dismissing unimportant things as I went. Also important things that were good to know but didn't need to still be there. like the 12 alerts in bright yellow that said, , , and so on.
Well shit, I guess I should have cooked their meals too. "Objective: Cure the Dogs."
I dismissed that objective from view, and all the alerts about dog worms.
I completed the "Learn to make jerky" objective with only my own wits. I made some drying/smoking racks by carefully chiseling a large flat stone and setting it over the long low smoldering fire I had made. When I went to lay down in the pile of dogs in my cave with me, I complained that I wished I had a bed, and "Objective: Build Bed" appeared.
"HOW!? How do I just build a fucking bed, huh?" I shouted at the universe, not expecting my HUD implant to answer.
"Objective: Build Bed
Step 1: Chop Wood 2/20."
The HUD started giving me step by step instructions, I had a small amount of good lumber left over from making the door, I guess that's two units then. I put off sleep for a few hours to build myself a bed. When I got 20 units of wood chopped, it showed me the next step.
The HUD did the same next day when I thought to expand the cave. It showed me how to mine, and properly support the cave as I tunneled, which required more wood. Then I made a table, and a chair. And finally, I ate a meal on this planet at a table. I almost felt human again... well despite the pretty much fully replaced body.
The HUD popped up a fresh alert. "Not enough food in storage." I looked at the remaining amount of pig meat, and the twelve dogs. Yea... about a day of pigmeat left.
The dogs and I went hunting. Those pigs are on the smaller end of fauna here it turns out. The tigers that hunt them... terrifying. Also, the HUD walked me through medical procedures too. After we killed that tiger I had to patch up Duke, the great dane, saved his life.
I was only a week in when I had already decided, this is home.