Losing the one shot is definitely disappointing, however I don't think the character is dead. I know there's been a lot of hopelessness in the Hanzo community, but my aim is to help you guys improve your game so you can still excel on Hanzo and feel like a GOAT. In this post I'm gonna talk about the general playstyle that works for me on Hanzo, and how to adapt your playstyle based on the enemy comp. And at the end I'll put a couple tips for improving your aim.
Hanzo still has some distinct advantages that he can leverage against his enemies. His wall climb is amazing for a medium range hero, considering most other heroes either can't access high ground, or need to commit cooldowns to get there. Storm arrows are an incredibly consistent kill tool at medium/close range. And having a leap every 4 seconds, combined with wall climb, gives you the ability to be just as slippery as you are deadly. And of course, sonic arrow lets your whole team have wall hacks 50% of the time, and on defense, lets you see the enemy comp before they even come out the doors, allowing you to plan your positioning accordingly.
The thing is, most people think that hanzo is a long range hero, but he's really not. The only time you want to be shooting enemies from long range is before the fight to do pressure, get ult charge, and potentially get a pick on any hero that's taken chip damage. It's not about being a goat and hitting long range headshots. It's about proper medium/ close range positioning and proper timing, to make your shots easy to hit.
The way I play Hanzo is as a medium range pressure hero with incredibly high dps. You don't want to hold long range sniper angles on your own, you want to be active in the fight from medium range and use your slippery mobility to take off angles and high ground at opportune moments. Getting kills at close range is incredibly consistent with Hanzo, you just can't expect to get a 5k with headshots only. You want to take an off angle to get a kill or two with storm arrows. Then as soon as the enemies turn to react, use your leap and wall climb to escape.
It sounds crazy but you want to play on a razor's edge of feeding to maximize your damage output. Push in close from an off angle near your tank to get easy headshots and storm arrow kills, but always be one leap away from safety... Whether that's a high ground to climb up to, or just leaping back into your team.
I've also had some success with full committing on a hard flank, but the key is timing. You want to get behind/to the side of the enemy backline shortly after the two tanks clash. When the enemy supports are tunnel visioned on helping the frontline, THATS when you pop around the corner and take your shots on the supports and burst them with storm arrows. Best case scenario, you kill the supports, then the DPS, then finish the tank in a perfectly executed pincer attack. Worst case scenario, you distracted the supports and made people turn to shoot you, while the enemy tank is left with no support in the frontline.
There are times where it's better to just spam from main, and I'd say that's usually when your tank has a distinct disadvantage against the enemy tank and both are fighting in the frontline. Keeping constant pressure on that tank can help sway the matchup into your tank's favor, or at least make space for them. But of course, killing squishies can still carry games.
DIVE COMPS:
The other time to stay in main with your team is when the enemy team has flankers/ dive heroes who can kill you if you are isolated. Generally in those matchups, I just try to focus on hitting shots on the threatening mobile heroes. They won't push you if they're half HP. In these cases, using yourself as bait can be very effective.
Let's say there's an enemy Genji, you should play slightly outside of his dash range while also being near your healers. He will want to dash at you, but he will fall just short of hitting you. Then you can pop your storm arrows, but don't shoot. He will instinctively deflect. Now, suddenly the Genji is in the middle of your team with no dash and no deflect, while you still have a full volley of storm arrows. Similar tips can be used against Dva and Winston as well.
Against Wrecking Ball, it depends. You don't wanna try to kill him, just force him out. If he rolls back to his team, keep putting out pressure. But if he chooses to escape BEHIND your team, try to hit him with a sonic arrow as he's leaving, then you can tell where he's going. It helps a lot.
Against Tracer and Sombra, Keeping tabs on their position is key. Sonic arrow is good to scout flanks. Plag near your team, but DONT PLAY BEHIND YOUR SUPPORTS. Play in front of them. The ideal scenario is that they target one of your supports, then you can turn and shoot them while they're tunnel visioned. Your burst damage is high enough to often kill them, or at least enough to force them to run away and reset. When you do force them away, try to estimate how much time you have before they come back, and use that time to apply pressure to the frontline.
But let's say you werent able to scout them, and don't know exactly where they are, but you know they're lurking somewhere. Take a shot at the frontline and then do a 180. Literally check the flank after every shot. Good flankers generally wait for you to be distracted by the frontline before they pounce. By shooting the enemy tank and doing a 180 turn, you can keep applying pressure while still being able to react to the flank at a moment's notice.
This last tip is SUPER risky but it works sometimes. Sometimes when I'm facing a Dive comp or lots of flankers that are rolling me, I will actually flank as Hanzo. I will hide in a concealed area behind the enemy team and then when I'm confident that the flankers are in my backline, I'll start attacking the enemy backline. The reason this works sometimes is because when you're facing flankers, they will be lurking around YOUR backline. But if you're lurking in THEIR backline, you're essentially on the complete opposite side of the map from them and they'll have no clue. This is a strategy that pro players called "trading backlines". If the enemy flankers are going to kill your backline anyway, you may as well target their backline too. After all, Dive comps don't usually peel for their own backline, they commit to killing yours. This works especially well when they're hard targeting you specifically. The last place a flanker expects to find you is in their own backline.
POKE COMPS:
The name of the game is map control. A big mistake Hanzo players make is trying to ego duel hitscans from long range, banking on hitting long range shots to win. Straight up, don't do that. It's ok to aim for hitting one body shot to keep them in check or force them off their angle. Sonic arrow also helps deter them from peeking those angles. But the way you beat those long range heroes is getting up close and dumping storm arrows into their face. I will literally get close enough so that I could literally leap into their face and melee them to finish them if I wanted to. 3 storm arrows is 225 damage, to body shots or one headshot is 240, so getting leap-melee finishers is actually very useful. I KNOW it sounds crazy to play this close, but I urge you to challenge your beliefs about Hanzo. Your damage output is so high that you will beat pretty much every long range hero up close. Storm arrows are ridiculous. Though medium range storm arrows are fine if they're unaware of you or have cover to escape to.
Against Ashe, just remember that you have plenty of ways to delete Bob. Headshots while jiggle peeking from cover, or storm arrow headshots, or even using dragonstrike to melt him if he's near the enemy team.
And against widowmaker, use your sonic arrow to scout her specifically. If she's bad, she'll stay scoped in and let you line up headshots. If she's good, she'll hide for 5 seconds or take a new angle. This means you can push up while she's given up the angle.
Against poke comps, you know that you're always safe in cover, because they have no flankers. So as long as you're controlling the angles and bullying the enemy off of their angles, you will win over time by controlling all the space and winning the objective.
BRAWL COMPS:
Brawl comps are generally slow and tanky, and usually only good at close range. And many of the brawl heroes have big hitboxes, making it easier to hit them from further away. Hanzo LOVES playing against slow brawl comps. With your mobility, you can bully them from angles where they can't even contest you. Even if you don't get kills, you can farm ult so fast that you can zone them off the objective with dragons and do tons of damage to their clumped up team. Just don't spend too much time focusing the tank, because if they have lots of healing you probably won't kill them. Though you can still pressure the tank to make them fall back to buy space for your team.
RUSH COMPS:
Rush comps are kind of a hybrid between dive and brawl, and so many of the tips for both will apply. You want to put out lots of pressure, and take off angles when you can. BUT!!! You need to rotate back to your team sooner than you normally would. You might think you're safe from a decent range on an off angle, but a Lucio speed amp or Junker Queen shout, Rein pin, or Moira fade can let them rush you down much faster than you'd expect. Don't get greedy on your off angles, and dont expect kills. Even just hitting a shot or two to bait out defensive cooldowns like Shout, Wraith form, etc can lower the enemy team's lethality and make them hesitant to rush. If a rush comp gets a numbers advantage, they can pretty much run your team down for free. So don't get greedy.
Also, the baiting tip works well with rush comp too. If you're playing near your team, you can be in the front just behind your tank and bait the enemy team to rush you, and then you can quickly leap away and climb to high ground. Now, you're on high ground above a ground-based comp that just wasted resources to push you. You simply need to watch your spacing and use your slippery movement to dodge the rush. Just remember to play in sight of your healers incase you do take some damage.
People HATE Hanzo to a degree that is completely irrational, and they will literally feed their brains out to try and kill you. You can use that to your advantage. He has the mobility and burst damage to slip out of arms reach and burst them down, making them even more tilted, making them feed harder.
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR AIM:
A HUGE tip that I've barely heard anybody talk about it a really simple one: Don't focus your eyes on your crosshair, focus your eyes BELOW your crosshair. Essentially you just aim at head height but focus your eyes on the enemy's body. Because it's much easier for your eyes to track a moving body than a moving head. Once I started doing this I noticed an immediate difference.
My personal favorite way to warm up my aim is a custom workshop code for an improved practice range: AJERA
Before every session, I go to the area by the roaming bots, and press interact on the blue orb near the ledge. It will spawn a flying Pharah bot. Then I climb up to the various high grounds and practice shooting Pharah from different ranges. Its hard at first, but once I can hit shots on her semi consistently, then I know I'm ready to queue.
And for practicing close range consistency, the central area has an orb that spawns a Lucio bot who jumps around and wall rides within an enclosed area.
The custom practice range also has a blinking Tracer bot to practice on, which is nice.
The only thing it's missing in my opinion is a jumping Genji bot, but there are other custom codes that have those like VAXTA, which is also good.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I hope these tips are useful for you. I know a lot of people are choosing to boycott Hanzo, and I respect that. But for me, I want to keep playing him and prove that he can still carry.
Now get out there and make your enemies tilted. ;)

TLDR:

At the small post we were on, the 25m zero range and qual range SDZ's did not allow for firing these rifles. Something we only learned after confirming our zeros on the 25m range.
It's still heavy, but after a day or so you stop noticing it until you have to shoot from a standing position or doing are doing CQB. then you are painfully reminded how off balance the rifle is.
The two sample rifles we had were consistently 3 MOA guns.
The non-reciprocating charging handle on the left side is not as cool as I initially thought, and it ruins the whole "truly ambidextrous" feel that the Sig MCX line has.
The folding buttstock can go fuck itself.

A review of the 277 Fury rounds is here and you may need to read it for some context, but I have endeavored to make this review stand alone as much as possible.
Over the course of three days, a friend of mine and I lived with the M7 Spear. We spent time at various ranges, doing "tactical stuff", getting in and out of HMMWV's and GSA's, while trying to figure out the ins-and-outs of the rifle.
My sample, #087, had between 8K and 10K round rounds through it. The number of combat vs training rounds was not tracked, but given the expected barrel life is 10K combat rounds we ran a borescope through the barrel and the chamber to see what we could see.
His sample, #529, had between 6K and 8K of an unknown mix combat and training rounds through it. We ran the borescope through it as well.
There was no real difference in the wear between the two rifles.
We spent the morning of the first day playing around with the ammunition and doing comparisons against 308 168gr SMK, while the ultrasonic cleaner did Gods work on the various bits and bobs of our sample rifles.

Note when we did the ammo comparison we used a Remington 700PSS with 24" barrel. It quickly became apparent when we were testing the rifles, that was a poor benchmark, as the Remington outperformed both rifles in everything but rate of fire. Its a sniper rifle, granted its your Grandfather's sniper rifle, but its still a fucking sniper rifle. The Spear is not, its a battlerifle, and so I won't be including the comparisons here.

We tried cleaning them without the ultrasonic cleaner...but I'm not sure these rifles had ever been properly cleaned before.
I've got mixed feelings about the MCX system. It ticks a lot of boxes, short stroke gas piston, no need for a buffer tube or spring, superior handling of gas when suppressed and so on.
However, when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of the maintenance? I absolutely despise it. Despite owning a MCX in 300 blackout myself, every cleaning session feels overly complex and time consuming.
We kicked off the afternoon with both rifles, setting up for grouping and zeroing—my rig was outfitted with the Tango 6T sporting the "Hellfire" reticle in MOA, resembling your standard rifle scope setup. His, on the other hand, featured the same Tango 6T but with Hellfire in MILS, decked out with the Christmas tree reticle.
Some time back, I made a comment after my initial rounds with the Spear, labeling it a "tack driver." In hindsight, I probably should have clarified that bit. Typically, when shooting a new rifle, if I land three out of five shots within a 1 to 1.5 MOA spread, I chalk up any outliers to user error rather than blaming the rifle or the ammunition.
However, it appears that assumption was a bit off.
Our zeroing and grouping efforts at 100 yards turned into quite the saga. We found ourselves mostly hitting 3 rounds within the 1 to 1.5 MOA range, but occasionally, one or two shots would balloon the group size to between 2.5 and 3 MOA.
Instead of descending into frustration and stubborn attempts to tighten these groups, we opted to settle for anything under three MOA as acceptable for our purposes and proceeded to finalize our zero.

Side note, my last zero group was my best of the day coming it at just over 2 MOA. My friends best group came in at 1.8, and quite honestly he's a better shot than I am.

Research shows that the original specs for the NGSW called for a 4 MOA battle rifle. Despite some noticeable barrel wear on our two test models, both rifles still performed beyond this requirement.
Following our grouping and zeroing session, we spent the remainder of the afternoon plinking with training rounds at 100 yards.
During this, I learned a hard lesson about the non-reciprocating charging handle—it needs to be firmly locked forward before hitting the bolt release on the left side. After a couple of painful mishaps and a few close calls, I finally caught on and made it a routine to ensure the handle was properly set before engaging the bolt release.
I really wanted to get on board with the side charging handle, but after three days, I'm just not a fan. It tended to snag on my gear (Eagle MARCRIS plate carrier) when maneuvering or positioning the rifle to fire, making it less convenient than I had hoped.
Interestingly, I found myself using it more during offhand shooting. I'd instinctively remove my left hand from the pistol grip to work the side charging handle, rather than using my right hand on the traditional top charging handle. Yes, I'm aware this breaks the cardinal rule of keeping your firing hand on the grip, but this method felt more intuitive, similar to operating a bolt-action rifle.
When shooting offhand, the rifle scores highly. I don't often shoot this way, but I encountered none of the usual drawbacks associated with traditional AM platforms. Aside from the tricky side charging handle, the rifle seemed inherently designed for ambidextrous use, which I particularly appreciated when firing left-handed.
I was tempted to launch into a tirade about the ridiculously designed folding stock, but you deserve a more structured critique. Here are the three major gripes:

The stock's release mechanism is a convoluted affair involving an awkward dance of pushing down on the rifle while yanking up on the buttstock just to get it to close.
Once "closed," the stock doesn't truly secure—it juts out at a precarious 20-degree angle, seemingly relying on mere friction to stay in place, which neither of our samples managed successfully.
The overall build felt flimsy and loose, perhaps a consequence of the extensive wear from firing 8,000 to 10,000 rounds.

After wrestling with these issues, we wrapped up with a quick cleaning session for the rifles before heading out to the range we’d "camping" at.
The next day, we arrived ready to group, zero, and qualify with a local unit. We had informed them of our visit and assumed everything was squared away with range control.
However, that assumption fell flat. Turns out, the range’s surface danger zones weren’t set up for the 277 Fury. Just as we finished dialing in our zero (.75 inches low at 25m), range control showed up, questioning our activities.
Following an awkward exchange and the diplomatic offering of a case of beer, they agreed to let us continue and even served as OIC and RSO for the KD range. We proceeded with the old KD qualification, alternating between marking and raising targets, and both of us qualified without any issues.
With some extra time on our hands, and much to the amusement of range control, the session evolved into a lively mix of burpees and sprinting between shooting positions. We experimented with various firing positions and sequences, such as starting from standing unsupported at 100 yards and moving down to kneeling unsupported. This exercise underscored the rifle’s heft yet manageability, while also highlighting how the forward-heavy balance made extended unsupported shooting particularly taxing on the arms and upper back.
The afternoon unfolded with battledrills and land navigation alongside the unit we were scheduled to qualify with. Given the theoretical roles and limited numbers, the platoon leader assigned us to the designated marksman/squad designated marksman roles, which was logical considering we were the only ones equipped with the new rifles while the rest of the squad used M4s.
This setup sparked an intense discussion among the officers about how tactical deployment might shift once the rifle was fully integrated into service. There was plenty of speculation on how military tactics and doctrines would need to adapt to leverage the new capabilities offered by this rifle.
However, I'm somewhat skeptical. I don't see this rifle as the revolutionary game-changer it’s touted to be. While it's undoubtedly suited for the designated marksman role, I doubt the Army will invest the necessary time, money, and resources to train every soldier to this level of proficiency. Consider that there are reserve units that only qualify every four years, often just to help "point-needy" soldiers piggyback for qualification. This rifle won’t alter that reality.
As for the night qualification, we were slated to test that as well, but circumstances didn’t allow for it, so I can’t comment on how the rifle performs at night with night vision devices.
On the third morning, we headed to the LMG range, ready to go full-auto from a bipod, gearing up to tackle the 249 qualification.
Honestly, this was the most amazing shooting experience I've had in ages. The only snag was the 20-round magazine capacity, which felt limiting amid the thrill—it was the only moment of frustration in an otherwise splendid session.
We ran a practice session with the training rounds, followed by a qualification shoot with both the training and combat rounds. By lunchtime, our shoulders were thoroughly sore, but I can't remember the last time I'd grinned that much in a long while.
Post-lunch, we dropped in on some local law enforcement officers who were operating a shoot house. Initially, we navigated the course with M4s to familiarize ourselves with the layout and safety protocols. After getting a handle on things, we switched to the M7s, running through the course using the last of our training rounds, having depleted our combat rounds earlier on the machine gun range.
Both of us found ourselves moving significantly slower with the M7s. Reviewing the footage, it was clear that I was painfully slow to get on target with the M7. It wasn't just about slower movements, but also a delayed response in engagement. Initially, I chalked it up to age, I'm over 50 and a bit heavier than ideal, but the reality struck when I saw I wasn’t this slow with the M4. In fact, I was quicker than some of the officers.
Similarly, my buddy was slower than usual, not lagging behind me, but certainly off his usual pace with the M4.
Interesting side note: We're no longer welcome at that shoot house. The staff was fully aware of our arrival and what we brought along, and everything seemed fine until the exercise wrapped up and we faced some "constructively harsh feedback" about 277 and damage done to the tire and sandbag walls as well as the plywood target backers.
That's rant for another time.
Regarding the suppressor:
It's really more of an enhanced flash hider than a true suppressor. I'm probably a bit biased—shooting a 300 Blackout through a Sig TI suppressor spoils you with its movie hitman silence.
By comparison, the M7 setup was louder than my suppressed .308 shooting 175gr SMK.
On the topic of the optic:
The Tango6 was decent.
The clarity was impressive, and its brightness and MOA configuration were points in its favor.
However, achieving a consistent cheek weld and finding the right optic position for proper eye relief across magnifications 1 through 6, especially from unsupported positions, proved challenging.
The issue could be me, the stock, or the optic itself. While it was somewhat bothersome, it wasn't enough to cause significant frustration.

PART ONE THOUSAND AND TWELVE
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Sunday
Lucas stretched and yawned in bed, taking a moment to enjoy the complete lack of needing to rise before his hand stretched out in search of Boyd.
And once again, that side of the bed was empty.
Biting back a whine of dismay, Lucas rolled until he was face down on Boyd’s pillow, breathing in the cologne they both now wore. The detective in him quickly deduced that Boyd had been gone a while based on the chill in the sheets. He curled his hands around the pillow and hugged it tight, wishing it was the big mountain of a man himself instead of this weak substitute.
As thrilled as he was about Boyd finding a new career that he was so passionately driven about, he was equally happy that his fiancé took his responsibility to his clients seriously. Still, would it have killed him to sleep in just one morning instead of abandoning their wrecked bed the morning after their engagement party?
After several minutes of wallowing, he finally accepted the inevitable that no amount of wishful thinking was going to make Boyd appear and climbed out of bed. He removed his snore rings and took a quick shower.
Once he was dressed, he felt a little better.
The next thing he had to do was strip down the bed and remake it. They’d been very busy last night, which was why he’d only just woken up at—his gaze fell upon the clock— DAMN! It’s nearly lunchtime!
“I’m gonna kill him for letting me sleep in so long,” he muttered under his breath, carrying the linen through the apartment and into the kitchen, which doubled as a laundry on their end. After nine years of living in this layout, he didn’t need to see over the pile in his arms to know precisely where he was, and with the load balanced on one arm, he turned at the right moment, opened the massive frontloading washing machine and stuffed it all in.
“Hey, Unca Luke!” Maddy’s shrill voice had him leaping into the air, slamming the door shut and swivelling around in front of it to hide the evidence. “Didja pee the bed?”
His brother and his niece were sitting at the island, Maddy with her breakfast of honey-and-cream-covered waffles, which were only half-eaten, and Levi patiently waited for her to finish since the plate in front of him was empty. The latter was grinning at him as only a brother could.
He’d forgotten all about them staying over.
It took a hot second for what Maddy asked to register with him, and when it did, his mouth dropped, and he glanced at his brother, who was twisting himself into a pretzel to avoid laughing out loud. Asshole. “No, Peaches,” he said, glaring daggers at Levi for not even trying to help him out. “Boyd and I like clean sheets every day, and it’s not fair to make somebody else wash them for us, is it?”
Bright red ringlets of hair swayed as the little girl shook her head. “Daddy makes me fix stuff too.”
Lucas moved the three feet between the washing machine to his brother sitting in Mason’s seat at the corner. “That’s because Daddies always know what’s best.” He wrapped an arm around his brother’s neck in a loose chokehold and gave him a noisy morning kiss on the cheek. “Ain’t that right, Daddy?” He said that last word in a sultry purr the way Robbie would, and the reaction from Levi was priceless.
“Fuck off with that shit, you prick!” his brother swore, shoving Lucas away with all his might.
“DADDY!” Maddy squealed in horror, and Lucas clapped his hands together once behind Maddy’s chair and raised his clenched fists in victory. He’d been angling for one swear word, maybe two to distract young Maddy from his not-so-discreet linen run. Three was a veritable home run.
Snickering quietly to himself, he went back to the washing machine, loaded it up with soap and softener and turned it on. Then, he walked over to the wooden box under the window. ‘Just think what you want,’ Charlie had told him at the party. ‘It’s a Nascerdios box that Robbie fills up throughout the night.’
He stared hard at the box while he considered his options, settling on a plate of breakfast tacos with seasoned mince, fried eggs, tomatillos, shredded lettuce, and cheese wrapped in soft tortillas buttered with a thin spread of mashed avocado.
After the last month, it didn’t surprise him in the least when he opened the lid and found that exact meal sitting there, waiting for him. Maybe the quantity, since they were piled three high, but not the meal itself.
The same could not be said for Levi when Lucas turned around with the plate in his hand. “Robbie had that ready for you too?” he asked, as Lucas grabbed a glass from the cupboard and placed it and the plate in his regular sitting place adjacent to his brother before sliding into his seat. He knew Levi wasn’t questioning Viola since the box itself was made and gifted by someone with the last name Nascerdios.
The veil was an ass.
“I told you; he did most of the catering yesterday, too,” Lucas said, reaching for the jug of juice. He was curious what it would be today. Yesterday, it had been orange and mango juice, with apple the day before.
A quick sniff made it most likely grapefruit.
He tightened the roll on the first taco and lifted it to his lips, enjoying the flavours that exploded in his mouth. Because Levi had finished whatever had been on his plate, he was watching him eat as if he’d never seen it before. It finally clicked why. “You want to try one?” Lucas asked, nudging his plate towards his brother. “There’s plenty here if you want one. Too many, if anything.”
Levi didn’t need to be told twice and reached over, using his fingers just as Lucas had. “How did he learn to cook so well?” Levi demanded, almost fitting the whole thing in his mouth.
“He’s always cooked,” Lucas answered, fudging things slightly. “When he was growing up, cooking was his chore while his mom was at work. He only stopped because Mom refused to let him help in the kitchen.”
“I would’ve fought that a lot harder if I’d have known he could produce this.”
“Yeah, you and me both, bro. Even when we were upstairs, he was forever watching the cooking channels for new ideas.” Lucas didn’t want to mention that these days, Robbie only did so to critique the so-called experts. “Have you seen Boyd?”
Levi shook his head. “I was assuming he was still in with you. If I’d known you were in there alone, I’d have sicc’d Maddy onto you.”
“I can wake Daddy and Unca’ Austin good!” Maddy said proudly. “I gets me a dolla’.”
“Ssshhh, Peaches. That’s our secr—wait. Does Uncle Austin pay you, too?”
Maddy was adorable the way she looked at Lucas like he would intervene for her. “Sorry, baby girl,” he laughed, eating another taco. “You’re on your own.”
The two brothers bantered as Lucas ate, with Levi stealing another taco, bringing Lucas’ total number down to five. Maddy told them both about wanting to be a vet, and Lucas knew precisely who to blame for that. Still, it was better than her previous choice of ‘stripping’ the way Robbie and Angelo used to. Levi’s meltdown over that revelation had been priceless, even if he, too, was firmly in the ‘fuck that noise’ camp.
When he polished them and half the juice off, he poured the last into Maddy’s cup and put his things and the jug in the dishwasher. “You can hang out here if you want,” Lucas said. “The guys and I are heading out this afternoon to play some ball over at Angus’ place, but if you call Austin and find out Pepper’s roommate is still with him, the TV over there has…”
“Every cable channel imaginable, I know. Charlotte—”
“Charlie.”
“Charlie told us last night.” Levi sat back in his seat and stared at his brother. “What do you make of Larry, Luke? Does he have kids?”
“Why?”
“He watched Maddy for me last night while I was having a shower, and Maddy loves him. You know how picky she is about people she doesn’t know.”
“I know he’s married to a career soldier and was one too before being assigned to us. I’m not sure about his past, but he’s a good guy and ridiculously protective of those either in his charge or that he happens to care about.”
Levi grunted. “Charl —lie said so too. He certainly knows his Spongebob.”
Lucas squinted. “Why all the questions?”
“Just thinking out loud. If he’s going to be here all the time with Robbie, and Austin and I get called into the house together, it’s always been a struggle figuring out where we can leave Maddy on short notice. We don’t exactly have time to drive all the way over to Queens to drop her off at either Mav’s or Mom and Dad’s. I mean, so far, we haven’t needed to, but it’s a constant concern.”
Lucas frowned at him. “We’ve been here for years. Why didn’t you ask before now?”
Levi seemed suddenly uncomfortable. “You know…” he said, gesturing to the ceiling without finishing that sentence.
And just like that, Lucas did understand.
Six men, all sharing one shoebox-sized apartment with two of them being sex workers, was not where anyone would want to drop off a little girl. Even if Lucas did vouch for all of them and swore they’d all be protective as hell over little Maddy. “Look, I can’t speak for them specifically, but Charlie’s here under house arrest for the next ten months, and Boyd now works out of his studio, so technically, someone will be here all the time. There’s not a chance in hell we’ll turn you away.”
“I’ll ask her and Miss W before we go.”
Lucas looked at what the two of them were wearing. “You know, I could duck out and grab you and Maddy some clothes just as soon as I check in with Boyd, if you like.”
He watched Levi look down at the shirt and boxers that were a little big on him width-wise and across at Maddy, who still wore Charlie’s favourite Giants’ shirt.
“That’d be good, thanks,” he admitted.
“I’ll get extras, and that way, she can have a few changes of clothes here. Actually, do you want me to grab you some spare stuff too?”
Levi stiffened in his seat. “I don’t need you to buy me clothes.”
Lucas wanted to slap him in the back of the head (and would’ve if Maddy wasn’t there). “Stop,” he commanded instead. “I’m already going to a clothes shop. It’s not going to be anything fancy, and if you hate it, you can swap it out with your own stuff later.”
Knowing his brother was still uncomfortable, Lucas waved his hand at the kitchen. “Seriously, Levi, look around. Look at how I’m living, and I’m not paying a dime in rent. Llyr won’t let me since we’ve been looking out for Sam for years. Let me do this for you, so you’ll always know you and Maddy have somewhere safe to go.”
Levi glanced around, his lips tightening before he finally nodded, unwilling to say the words out loud, and Lucas clapped him on the shoulder. “We’re family, dumb-ar—dumb,” he amended, with little ears sitting on the other side of his brother. “Dumb-dumb. I meant Dumb-dumb.”
Levi chuckled and patted his brother’s hand. “I appreciate it, bro. We’ll chill here until you get back. Don’t rush … apparently, you have a gazillion cable channels to choose from, and Maddy doesn’t want to leave until she’s seen them all.”
“I don’t think you’ll live that long,” Lucas laughed and headed back to his room to grab his gear since he was now leaving the apartment. As he clipped and slid everything from sunglasses to his wallet, keys, phone, badge bifold, and ankle-holstered BUG, he almost envied women with carryall handbags that could be grabbed on their way out the door.
Almost.
[Next Chapter]
* * *
((All comments welcome. Good or bad, I’d love to hear your thoughts 🥰🤗))
I made a family tree/diagram of the Mystallian family that can be found here
For more of my work, including WPs: Angel466 or an index of previous WPS here.
FULL INDEX OF BOB THE HOBO TO DATE CAN BE FOUND HERE!

“What do you mean it’s wrong?” said Tamara, becoming frustrated with Samuel.
“I'm trying to tell you that plants do not eat earth. They just absorb nutrients from it,” Samuel replied, equally annoyed as this was the fourth time he had explained it. “Look, just take my word for it, OK,” he added.
“Fine, but you will have to explain it again,” Tamara retorted.
Samuel and Tamara were partners in a scientific study of their forest home. It was genuinely idyllic in every sense of the word; the trees stretched high into the sky, and everyone was covered in succulent leaves, a deep and gorgeous shade of green. Around their trunks were rings of flowers gathered from every continent, and a thick carpet of grass lay on the ground.
The two sat underneath a chestnut tree, writing up their findings for the day. It had focused mainly on tree sizes and growth rates, and they had continued this study for, on and off, almost a year.
Samuel turned to look at his assistant and found that she was just as remarkable as the day they had first met: golden locks, like living sunlight, tied neatly in a bun. Her eyes were an emerald green, and all in all, she was gorgeous. However, it was when you came to her waist that things became truly incredible because rather than a pair of legs, there was a long and wide snake’s tail.
It was huge, at least seven metres long and as wide as her torso. The scales were the same beautiful colour as her hair and reflected the sunlight in such a way that she appeared to glow. She was wearing an ultramarine tunic with a black diamond in the centre. She was like this not because of a plague, a curse or some mutation; Tamara was a Lamia; it was how she was born.
Samuel, on the other hand, looked far less impressive. He was around five foot ten, with dull brown hair and equally dull eyes. His stomach stuck out from the rest of him. No amount of exercise was able to get rid of it.
He was by every description a ‘dull as dishwater’ human. His clothes, however, were slightly more interesting. He wore a navy blue tunic with a thick leather belt wrapped around his waist. On his feet was a pair of excellent leather boots, able to withstand whatever the world threw at them and on his forearms and shins, he wore something Tamara had never seen or even heard of before: a pair of vambraces and greaves, Samuel called it armour.
Three strips of rugged leather layered on top of one another made up each piece, and between each layer was a collection of tiny metal beads. When Tamara asked what they were for, Samuel said they were for protection.
All of this would have been inconceivable to Samuel two years ago, but he had become used to it in time. Samuel was not born into this world; he had arrived. How? He did not know, but he remembered it all vividly; his senses had been overloaded, and at first, he believed he had died.
“What’s wrong?” Tamara asked Samuel, who had been silent for over a minute.
Samuel snapped out of his daydream and said: “nothing, just thinking about that day again.”
Tamara nodded and said nothing else; she knew exactly what was wrong.
Samuel went straight back to writing. When Samuel first showed up, there had been no paper or pens, but what was even stranger than the lack of these apparent necessities was that Samuel had had to invent both of these items.
Tamara and those like her did not possess a written language; they relied entirely on their memories, and until Samuel had shown up, Tamara had not even conceived of the notion, but she had picked it up astonishingly quickly.
“It still sounds like eating to me,” said Tamara, bringing the conversation back to the original topic.
“Well, it isn’t; eating requires a mouth and stomach,” Samuel replied.
“Says who?” Tamara asked defiantly.
“Says me,” Samuel answered.
Samuel jotted down the last of his notes and left the pages to dry in the sun. Samuel then turned to his right and looked at a large book, the size of a chair’s seat, bound in yellow leather and knotted by animal tendons. He picked it up and began to leaf through the pages.
His eyes glanced over paragraphs about oak trees and orchid flowers until he finally reached the section he sought; the page was titled Silver Birch (Betula Pendula).
“Have you finished the drawing on Silver Birch yet?” Samuel asked without looking.
Tamara was currently focused on a drawing of sunflowers, but she understood his request and, without looking up or saying a word, handed him the picture he wanted.
Samuel took the drawing and took several moments admiring it. Like all her work, the picture was astounding; not only did it look like an actual Silver Birch, but it also seemed to be alive, as though it would start blowing in the breeze.
Samuel punched four holes along the sheet's left side, undid the tendon strings and then attached the drawing behind the title page. He added eight more pages to his book, four of text and four illustrations.
Their work was now done; there was no more writing or drawing today, and he placed their work into a knapsack Tamara had brought with her. Samuel turned to his partner and asked: “so what do you want to do now?”
Tamara looked up through the canopy and could make out the silhouettes of several birds and finally said: “I’d quite like to fly.”
Samuel smiled, chuckled and said, “Yes, so would I, but that would require every member of the village working together for decades.”
Tamara looked Samuel in the eye and said: “are you making fun of me?”
Samuel did not reply; he just looked Tamara dead in the eye. She observed every minute twitch on Samuel's face and concluded he was not.
“How could a person fly?” She asked, suddenly intrigued.
“I don’t know, I’m not an engineer,” Samuel answered, “So apart from flying, what else do you want to do?”
Tamara let out a sigh and said: “I guess we will just have to walk.”
These were the moments Samuel lived for, just a quiet afternoon with his best friend enjoying a stroll; he was utterly content.
“You seem chipper,” Tamara said, noticing the growing smile on Samuel’s face.
“That’s because I feel chipper” he replied
They passed through the trees, heading towards their favourite spot, a beach by the side of a lake so large you could not see the other side.
“So, how is everyone?” Samuel said, trying to spark a conversation.
“You mean every single one because that could take a while?” Tamara replied.
“Let’s start with your mother” he clarified.
Tamara’s mother, Pancha, was more or less just a larger version of her daughter, just as brash and headstrong.
“She’s fine; she has finally stopped asking me what happened every time I come to meet you,” she said.
“Really, and it only took her two and a half years,” said Samuel with a smirk.
Yes, that first year here, had been a real trial. Samuel had never felt so scared, isolated and persecuted in his life. When he thought about it, he could still feel the fear and the hopelessness.
A gust of air slammed into Samuel’s face, bringing him back to the present, and what a wonderful time it was. The water was crystal clear, the beach was covered in sparkling white sand, and the distinct aroma of water wafted through the air. Samuel breathed it all in as Tamara spread herself over the beach.
The cooling breeze that Samuel found so enjoyable, Tamara found far less agreeable. Tamara was ectothermic or cold-blooded. She could not maintain her body temperature; she needed to absorb it from her environment, and the wind was slowly draining her.
“Comfortable down there?” Samuel asked.
Tamara turned her head, looked up at him and said: “Actually, yes, not as good as my bed, but still fine.”
Samuel left Tamara to her thermoregulation and strolled down to the water’s edge, “stay where I can see you!” Tamara called.
“Yes, MOM,” Samuel answered sarcastically, though he knew it was more for Tamara’s sake than his; she had a problem with open spaces.
Samuel closed his eyes, stretched his arms above his head, feeling his muscles strain against the tension, and yawned. Small tears formed in his eyes and wiped them away. He had only been up for a few hours but was ready for bed.
“Too much thinking, that was the problem,” Samuel mumbled to himself.
The sunlight sparkled on the water’s surface. It seemed as though millions of diamonds were suddenly brought into existence, danced for a few moments, and then vanished as quickly as they came. It was beautiful, just like everything else here.
He climbed up a rock that jutted from that sand and sat down, his legs dangling over the edge. As he kicked his legs, a ray of sun caught his greaves, and although the leather was rather dull, it still dazzled him.
Samuel heard a sound reminiscent of sandpaper brushing against wood, and he knew at once what it was. He waited four more seconds and said, without moving an inch, “Don’t even think about it!”
“How did you know?” Tamara asked, feeling simultaneously impressed, confused and disappointed.
Samuel looked her in the eye and replied: “who do you think you’re dealing with?”
Tamara had not clambered up the rock like Samuel; she had simply raised herself on her tail so she stood over two metres high.
“Are you feeling better?” he asked.
Tamara smiled and answered, “yes, thanks for asking.”
Tamara moved behind Samuel and then began to coil around the boulder, and if he had not experienced it all before, it would have been unnerving. Tamara was only twelve and a half, yet she was already far stronger than him. Samuel was sure if Tamara really wanted to, she could crush a bison to death. After the graceful dance around the stone, she sat down beside Samuel.
The pair was silent for a few minutes, except for a quick coughing fit by Samuel; they took in the unnatural beauty of their surroundings.
“Hey, I have a question,” said Tamara, coming back to her senses.
“What is it?” Samuel replied.
“You still haven’t told me why we are studying the forest?” She asked.
In an instant, Samuel became deeply confused. To him, it seemed all too obvious why they were doing it.
“There is no practical reason for doing it. We do it so that we know,” Samuel answered.
Tamara became silent. Samuel realised that she was deep in thought and decided to give her all the time she needed until she finally said: “Is this one of those human things?”
Samuel, upon hearing this, gave a small chuckle and answered: “yes, if you like.”
Suddenly, something caught Samuel’s eye. It was a crab, no bigger than a golf ball. Its back was powder blue, and it held its arms upright, its claws pointing down. The tiny creature would walk forward, scoop some sand into its mouth, and then leave a small pellet behind.
“Look at that!” said Samuel, nudging Tamara’s shoulder and pointing at the tiny crustacean. Tamara turned her head and looked directly at where he was pointing; she strained her eyes at what she thought was a pebble; she was about to climb down and collect it when it suddenly moved, and she squealed.
Tamara dragged the bottom end of her tail up from the beach and timidly said, “What’s that?”
Samuel remembered that tone of voice all too well, and it brought with it some unpleasant memories, but he pushed them to the back of his mind and said: “it’s a crab.”
Samuel was certain he had seen this type of crab before but could not put a name to the image. Samuel was sure he had read about them, watched a documentary, or attended a lecture, but he could not remember. Ultimately, he decided to drop it for now and see if the answer would come to him.
Tamara kept staring at it as though she believed it would pounce if she took her eyes off it for one second.
“Is it dangerous?” she asked, her voice hushed to ensure the creature did not notice her.
Samuel sighed and answered: “it’s a crab, Tamara, unless you happen to be a nematode then…”
Samuel paused mid-sentence as his brain finally connected the dots and asked, “Wait, you have never seen a crab before?”
This perplexed Samuel for a moment until he remembered that Tamara did not have a television, a car, and she could not fly a plane, so it was not unexpected that she would not know what a crab was.
Tamara shook her head in response to his question, and Samuel added: “you know what a woodlouse is, right?”
Tamara nodded and said, “I like woodlice.”
“Well, a crab is just a type of woodlouse that lives near water,” Samuel concluded.
However, he could tell from her face that she was unconvinced, so he got off the rock, walked over to the tiny creature, wary of its pincers, and picked it up by its backside.
“What are you doing?” Tamara called in alarm.
Samuel held the animal, its legs flailing wildly in an attempt to escape, and said, “showing you there is nothing to be worried about.”
Taking care not to crush it, Samuel clambered back up the rock and presented the animal to her. Tamara stared at it for some as the crab bobbed its eye up and down and tried in vain to find a part of Samuel it could nip.
“It’s actually kind of… cute,” Tamara said after two minutes of silence.
She relaxed her tail and let it rest on the beach once more. “Can it hold it?” She asked Samuel, fear being replaced by interest.
“Of course, you can. Just make sure you hold it by its back and be careful of the pincers; if they get you, it will hurt.”
Samuel handed the crab over to her and watched as Tamara began to inspect the animal from every angle. The crab had a white underbelly and purple joints.
“You think you could draw it from memory?” Samuel asked.
“Hmm?” Tamara replied. Samuel let out a sigh and repeated. After three more attempts, Tamara finally took notice and said, “Yes.”
Five minutes later, Samuel said, “we should probably put him back now.”
Tamara moaned about it, but Samuel said: “he has his own life, Tamara; you can’t keep him!”
She conceded, grumbling under her breath, and gently placed the animal back on the sand. As the crab dashed away, the two noticed that while they had been fixated on that single crab, thousands more had emerged on the beach.
Upon seeing the swarm of animals make their way across the beach, Tamara let out a squeal and once again pulled her tail up off the beach. The army of crabs marched along the shore. The collective walking produced a sound loud enough to hear from fifty metres away, and at last, Samuel remembered what they were and said, with no small amount of satisfaction in his voice, “they’re soldier crabs.”
“What are they going to do?” Tamara asked, concerned by the sudden appearance of so many creatures.
Samuel kept staring at the gathering, but he heard her question and replied, “They’re just feeding,” and added quickly, “But we are far too big for them.”
“That's odd,” Samuel said under his breath.
“I know there are so many of them,” Tamara said, deeply unnerved by the sheer vastness of the swarm.
“No,” Samuel said, “There should be this many of them; it’s where they are that is strange.”
Tamara momentarily took her eyes off the army and asked, “So where should they be.” There was a slight flicker of fear in her voice at the prospect of being invaded; rats and mice where bad enough. They did not need another pest.
“By the sea, not a freshwater lake,” he answered.
“The Sea?” Tamara almost yelled. Samuel was a little surprised by this enthusiasm and turned to face her.
“Yes,” he said.
“Have you ever been to the sea,” she asked.
“Yes, many times,” Samuel said, uncertain where this was going.
“I bet it’s wonderful,” Tamara added with a smile.
Samuel was silent as his brain connected a few dots and asked: “how can you know about the sea if you don’t know about crabs?”
She smiled; Tamara enjoyed it when she knew something that he did not, “there is a story that my mom told me that before we came to this forest, we were a different people that lived by the sea.” Tamara paused for a breath.
“But then humans came and drove us from the water, and we fled inland. Our people split into two. One half went to the mountains, and the other settled in the forest.”
Tamara finished and waited for his reply. Samuel, however, just kept looking at her. Tamara was concerned that she had upset him; he did not like it when humans were labelled as the enemy, yet his face and posture were not those of one who was sad or angry.
“You people blame us for everything, don’t you?” Samuel said with a chuckle.
“If there is a fire, it’s a human’s fault. If there is an earthquake, it’s a human’s fault. If a little Boreray boy drinks all their apple juice in one gulp, it’s a human’s fault.”
“So, getting back on topic, where did these “Soldier crabs” come from anyway? We have visited this lake for over two years and never seen even a glimpse?” Tamara asked. Samuel looked back to the slowly advancing army, and several ideas flashed through his head.
“Maybe they have been dormant up until now; perhaps they make a large circle around the lake shore, and it’s simply luck that we were here on the day they passed by, or maybe the migrated here from somewhere else.”
They watched the crabs' ceaseless march until Tamara said, “These things are still giving me the creeps. Can we go now?” Samuel could not argue that there was something eerie about all of these animals appearing, seemingly, from nowhere; however, there was still one thing he had to be certain of.
“You think you could draw one from memory?” he asked.
Tamara’s face contorted in a scowl. Samuel, for all his good points, could become far too focused on his research, which often caused him to become ignorant of other people.
Yet she knew sitting here yelling at him would accomplish nothing, so she told him the truth: “Yes, can we go now!” Samuel nodded and then slid off the rock. Tamara copied him, and they both slinked back to the cover of the trees.
Now that she was beneath the canopy, Tamara let out an enormous sigh of relief as the anxiety slowly left, and the close air warmed her body. On the other hand, Samuel began to chafe at the stagnant air while his head began to bead with sweat, but it was nothing he had not experienced before, so he gritted his teeth and bared with it.
With their plans now ruined, Tamara and Samuel wandered aimlessly through the woods, chatting about what they could do to fill the rest of the day. Several ideas arose, including visiting a nearby waterfall and a set of monument stones, but none truly appealed to them.
In the end, Tamara said, “how about we just call it a day?”
Samuel was happy about this. Tamara was his only form of human contact, yet he could not deny the pointlessness of wandering around the woods, so he said, “Ok, but let’s take the long way.”
Samuel heard a sound above him and saw a red squirrel scampering through the trees.
“Is it difficult?” Tamara asked.
Samuel looked at Tamara and replied, “Well, it can give me a crick in my neck sometimes.”
Tamara let out a short laugh and clarified, “No, I mean, is it difficult being so inquisitive? It looks exhausting.”
He was not entirely sure what she meant by that. To Samuel, Tamara was every bit as curious as him, so he stated: “you tell me, you went out looking for me just because you wanted to know.”
“True,” answered Tamara, “and everyone has always said that I am always asking questions, but you’re like a boar that just ate sugar beat.”
“I have no idea what that means,” Samuel said, shaking his head. “But I do know that people always told me, when I was a boy, that humans are, by their nature, infinitely curious, but personally, I think that it’s just how I was born.” there was a pause, and he quickly added, “just like you.”
Tamara’s fingers started to numb as she brushed them against the bark of passing trees. She took a good look at the trees around her. Tamara had lived her entire life sheltered by these trees. This place was her home, her family’s home and her friend’s home, and she loved it, a perfect example of the innate beauty of nature.
Samuel, however, was of a different opinion this forest disturbed him, though this feeling had diminished with time. The trees all grew in perfect symmetry, four and a half strides form each other.
From Tamara’s perspective, there was nothing strange about this, yet Samuel often said that this should not be possible, that the wood should be a mess and that the trees should grow in an unorganised fashion. Yet to Tamara, the idea of messy forests was just as impossible as a structured one was to him.
Noon came and went, and Samuel’s stomach began to rumble. His breakfast was becoming a distant memory; he thought he might be able to bear it for another hour or so, but as they travelled closer to the village, Tamara started to become irritated by Samuel’s constant growling.
“We need to find you something to eat before that sound drives me nuts!” Tamara stated bluntly.
“That’s all well and good, my dear, so long as you can materialise food out of the aether,” answered Samuel, with just a hint of condescension in his voice.
Tamara did not know what the aether was, but it did not matter. “No, but I do know a nearby tree with some great fruit in it,” she replied.
Samuel found this strange for two reasons. Firstly, he found it very difficult to believe there was a source of food in this forest that either he had not found, or Tamara had not told him about yet.
Secondly that, Tamara would know much about something she could not eat. Tamara was strictly carnivorous; she ate nothing but meat.
He wanted answers fast and asked: “So why haven’t you told me about this before?”
“Because I can’t stand the smell, that’s why, and I didn’t want you stinking up the place,” she explained.
“If it smells disgusting, what makes you think I will eat it?” he asked.
“Because the Boreray can’t get enough of it, some of them say that they taste like all the best parts of every fruit and vegetable we grow, which is a shame because they smell like all the worst,” she added.
He asked no more questions. He was too busy thinking; this fruit sounded so familiar, but he could not remember. The need to survive day in day out had pushed most of his standard learning, from school and university to the back of his mind, not forgotten mind you just buried.
I'm back with Tamara and Samuel latest adventure. If you like what you've read so far and want to know where it's going you can find the complete story by following the links below.
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Blachowicz here.
Kept yah’ waiting, huh? Heh, sorry about that one, but I can explain. As we all know… we lost a few good men the last few months.
That’s the brutal part of a hybrid war like ours: We’re fighting a foe unconventional, with half our arsenal tied down because those who grant us authorization are either in disbelief of the true facts, or scared… or already assimilated. That being said our momentum recently was a change not seen in years, and because of that… despite the losses we have garnered, we were close through a breakthrough. One last night Krol pulls myself and other two must trusted squad leads into the back of our COP. There is one of our equipment cages, surrounded by m-bitter radios, tripods, and several hundred thousand dollars of equipment he brought us around a simple worn table. Before us he laid a map of eastern poland… red markings indicating cells that seemed to dot the countryside like a pestilence, or used to… as deep gashes of advance from raids had trisected their lines, even if ones did pop up in the interior.
It was a back and forth; an outside virus infecting Polska at it’s heart, and we were the antibodies sent to drive them out. To which… Major Krol points to one of the largest symbol on the map: a dark red diamond, the NATO symbol for an enemy unit, deep inside of an untouched wooded area, adjacent to a mountain ridge. Several jagged lines indicated entrenchment, with red horizontal lines indicating possible enemy control… or our contested control, for over 20kms surrounding it. Letting us all look, the Major lit himself a cigarette.
“Sir, you sure it’s wise to smoke in here with the dive tanks just behind us” 1st Squad’s lead quipped. “Fuck off” Krol dryly said.
“Alright… this is it… this is the one we’ve been searching for for years, this is the nucleus my predecessor commander died trying to find” he says, pointing to it. Not far from Zamosc, it was almost touching the border with Belarus, the contested area indicating the Strigoi did operate over it… indicating one of the largest spill through points. “-It’s an old soviet bunker, made during their 1960s initiative it was designed to hold the munitions and manpower of several units in the event of a NATO first strike” Krol explained. “It’s gotta be massive then…” I said gazing at the map; “Didn’t the army demolish all of the old soviet hulks near Belarus to prevent any infiltrations?” 3rd Squad’s lead asked. “National Police took the effort over… and by extension, the Strigoi. It was halfway demo’ed before they burrowed into it and have been using it as a bridgehead ever since. This is it…” Krol said. He looked around at all of us, a sense of certainty I had never seen before as he blew smoke from his nostrils; “We’ve been fucking around in the dark for so long, it’s hard to believe we’ve made any progress, but this is it. With this gone, this will set them back over a decade and the momentum will finally shift into our favor… into Poland’s… -Europe’s”.
I swear there was almost a flash of joy, of pride in his eyes and a phantom of a smirk before reality set back in “That being said… we can’t leave this to chance, especially not something as important as this. We’re going to have to go there ourselves… clear through every inch of that place, and tear it all down, piece by piece. I will be straight with you all… when we go, there will be some of us that aren’t coming back. -but we are going… a whole generation is counting on us, and unborn billions rely on us to succeed”. We all nodded, a silent agreement washing over us as we took this upon ourselves. Echo-1 spoke up: “So… They’re authorizing a raid? How big?”. “We’re rolling in as a hard target, armor, explosives, and air support” Krol answered, taking a drag off his cigarette. “Aviation? How the hell did we get that approved, we’ve gotten attempts shot down four times due to those leeches” I said in disbelief. “There’s too much evidence here pointing to the human trafficking tied to their actions… We’ve finally got too much weight pinning them down, to keep the hammer from slamming into their necks” Krol chuckled. He looked around “Any questions?”. “When?” Echo-3 asked. “Three hours. We’re hitting them in the dead of night, only time we could get the birds authorized. Get your boys ready. We’re rolling out” Krol said, dying the cigarette bud out on the table. I can’t begin to tell you the euphoria we felt leaving that cage, as our men started arriving, they did so a lot quicker, and with their heads a lot higher than they had in weeks. As Second Squad’s lead we were going to be one of the main arms of attack into the bunker, thus I made sure we had a breacher loaded with enough thermite, charges, and tools to cut through anything. Our shield bearer we ready to go, as was our assaulters, grenadiers, and machine gunner. I double checked each and everyone of their weapons; ensuring the feeder paws of our squad’s belt fed were intact, making sure every breach charge we had was properly set and packed. There was going to be no mistakes, no slip ups. The margin of error needed to be the smallest it had ever been for us tonight if we were going to make the gore spilt worth it.
Finally… there on the outside of the building, the bright LED lights kept the darkness of the ensuing night at bay as the roar of our MRAPs could be heard. It was said once that war is 99% peace, and 1% chaos, they were right. The slow periods where the blood slowed and the doubt creeped in was the worst… yet we all kept it at bay. We needed to, there was going to be no backing down tonight. All three squads were up, all of us ready to go… we circled up… short stares and shaky nods telling us one things: We were in this together, till the end… the finish line so many before us had been searching for, we were being granted tonight.
A single set of footsteps could be heard as we turned, Major Krol stepping into the center. He took the last drag of a cigarette, throwing it down to the ground and stamping it out onto the damp concrete. He looked around… his chin strap blowing in the weak air as he met everyone of our gazes… then mine… then looked around. “I want you to remember every detail of tonight, as you have every other night… when you are situationally aware, scanning for the enemy, liberating the subjugated, I want you to remember the sting of anxiety, the shake of adrenaline, the chill of the bunker, the heat of your weapon as it cuts them down… because tonight we are going to write every fine detail of our victory, their defeat, in history…” Krol’s words echoed deep into our souls. He paused for a moment, staring around he looked down… a small pause before he said “When you are ruthless in combat, remember to be patient, and reserved in victory. This conflict is for our existence… a lot of innocents have bled due to the mistakes of those who failed to listen, a lot of our brothers are now laid under because we had to bridge the gap of uncertainty with their lives. We remember them now… but in an hour? We forget them… when we raise our barrels, when we cut into those foes, and we liberate Polska!! This does not end tonight, but history puts everything in it’s place, and patience is the companion of the victor… All of our hard work will be cemented, no matter the obstacles we face in that darkness… no matter the demons, the blood, no matter what incomprehensible horrors, we will make them comprehend that to invade our land, to bleed our people, the justice will be paid in full… Load up. It’s time*”*.
The purpose in our steps was heavy as we climbed the back ramps of the MRAPS; Four of the heavily armored vehicles, one for each squad with an additional for attached personnel including our JTAC, the term means Joint Terminal Attack Controllers. With air support requisitioned to us for this operations, there needs to be a definite liaison on the ground who can directly communicate to the birds, and coordinate their fire and progress. I’d worked with many of them in the past, resourceful guys, quick thinking though I guess that comes with the position they hold of needing to quickly figure out what bombs to drop, on which target, at what precise points, whilst taking contact. He loaded in the lead vehicle with Major Krol… and soon, our convoy kicked off.
The drive was several hours as myself and my squad sat in the back of that forty ton goliath, the rumbling of the engine keeping us awake as the crap heater fought to keep the cold from the outside frost from setting in. I looked around to each of them, some were catching some sleep because even with the circumstances… better to get all the energy you can, than to stay awake for nothing. Others were checking their weapons… My gunner locked eyes with me, the same one from the village extraction… many of these men I had trained with for a while now, fought with for months.
We may have met on unconventional circumstances but those in JW Grom thrive on austere chance and create opportunity from scratch. I was pulled from my thought by the sound of a transmission, my peltors were set up for dual comms so I could both receive information from the Major and other leads, whilst communicating with my team.
Krol himself sent out: [“Approximately 10 minutes from enemy AO…”]. As the rest of the squads acknowledged, I quickly sent out [“Echo-2 Copies”], before kicking the boots of any of them sleeping: “Look alive, we’re here”. Through the exterior net armor of the MRAPS, and the bars protecting the small reinforced windows, we could barely see jack shit. I reached up, turning off the overhead light as we all looked through our nods to scan the outside. A dark wall of dense trees was shown before us, making it difficult to see… in addition to night vision capabilities we had also requisitioned ourselves some thermals… when mounted onto rifles they were bulky, made it a pain to aim down quickly, but considering the supernatural capabilities of spotting our foes we needed every advantage necessary.
I flipped out one of my tubes… scanning the outside with my scope. I looked over to one of my assaulters who had been assigned to man the turret of the MRAP, seated near the view screen as he controlled the 50. Cal. Each of the vehicle turrets had been assigned a direction to cover… we took the 9 o’clock, the left flank. “See anything?” I asked. He shook his head; “Negative… wait… I’ve got two cold signatures, front left heading to our rear”.
I quickly scanned the far tree line, at approximately 60 meters off our left were two cold signatures… followed by a third heading to our front… then another. They were surrounding us, moving at speeds so fast I could barely keep my reticle on them. Is this what the National Police saw? What they faced at that lodge without the benefit of a foot of heavy armor protecting them on all sides. Then… suddenly. Something slammed into the side of our MRAP so hard, it caused it to shake. From over the leader comms, Echo-3 quickly shouted [“Contact right!! 4 hostiles!!”].
One of the Strigoi… so bold, had charged and slammed into the side of our MRAP. I quickly looked to see the figure, a dark blue mass of cold energy through my thermal, back away without so much as a stagger… as they tried to flee into the woods, the white hot justice of Echo-3’s gun fired at them, cutting them down. “Blachowicz I’ve got a few breaking for our vic” my man on the turret called out, I spun around, spotting out the window.
Just then, Major Krol announced [“weapons free, watch and shoot for targets of opportunity…”]. I turned to him… “take those fuckers out-”. Without hesitation my vic’s turret began to quickly target them, and through the darkness I saw a stream of outgoing fire bisect one of them, the ISR of the black blood freaking out the optic so badly it didn’t know what temperature to register it as… but it did register it. As another was cut down, one broke through the tree line and latched onto the side of our MRAP. The thing tore at one of the outer net armor panels, usually made to stop RPGs. It grabbed at the bars near the windows, tearing one off… I lowered my rifle as we locked eyes through the reinforced window.
The thing… the Strigoi looked at me, skin cracked as putrefied muscle fibers seemed to leak through dead flesh. It’s teeth were corroded and worn down to sharp fragments, alongside newly mutated fangs that messily protrude from the jaws. Even through the thick walls of the MRAP I could hear it’s roar, as it then tried to punch it’s way through… it cracked the outer coating of the vehicle… but it wasn’t getting anywhere near. My machine gunner, seated next to me, seemed to chuckle at the sight, quippily saying “Yeah… fuck you too”. It’s then our vehicle lurched upwards, as we began to climb the small incline of the bunker. I knew the layout, mapped it in our head, the main entrance was built into the rocky side of an old cliff meaning we could easily set up a defensive perimeter around it, a horseshoe. Krol’s vehicle was first, taking to the right as Echo-3’s MRAP followed. My vehicle, third, left the incline and took a left and… that’s where things got complicated.
We’re still trying to work out what happened but… from what Joakim says his drone captured. Right when the MRAP turned, several of the monsters quickly slammed into the side of the vehicle, as another more bulkier one, pushed at it’s undercarriage. The result.. Was the 40 ton armored vehicle tipped over. It wasn’t uncommon, hell in some cases a well placed IED, a good shot with a recoilless rifle, have been known to tip over Oshkoshs and Maxpros all the time. But this beast? Needless to say we barely had a second to comprehend it as it leaned to the left; “Grab on to something-” is all I had time to shout. A mess of gear and men spilled onto one side of the vehicle as it slammed into the old gravel and dirt.
Several of my assaulters, my grenadier planted right ontop of myself and the others as we came to a stop. Someone’s knee slammed directly into the side of my skull, causing me to dazily bob in and out of consciousness as my face was smushed against the glass of one of the windows.
Through my peltors, the other squads were erratic;
[“Echo-2’s vehicle is down!!”].
[“Echo-3 to Echo-2… Echo-3 to Echo-2…”].
Krol’s voice came through the comms;
[“Echo-Lead to Echo-2… Fuc-... Echo-1 secure Echo 2’s flank, Echo-3”].
[“Echo-3 to other units, they’re spilling through, I’ve got several enemy combatants converging on Echo-2’s vehicle”].
I pushed the legs of my grenadier off my head as I fought to my hands and knees, unfucking my nods as I looked around… “Fuck it… we’re going lights on, shield your eyes” I muttered as I reached for the overhead lights and flipped them on. The bright LEDs bathed the inside of the vehicle as we all gained our bearings, a mess of multicam, gear, and weapons as we quickly pushed each other off. My gunner caught as he fought to realign his promask, from what I gathered one of the assaulters had landed directly into his gun, pushing it directly into his jugular, as pulled back at the rubber and coughed, freeing up his esophagus. We didn’t have time to think however… the sound of bending metal caught our attention… as the back ramp door of the MRAP was ripped clean off. I could barely believe it but as the white light of the MRAP’s interior poured to the outside, a hulking mass leaned in, the dead flesh on it’s face nearly fallen off as the hideous Strigoi leaned inside.
Without hesitation I aimed took aim, yelling “Keep to the deck!!” to any of those inbetween myself and the invader as I opened fire. A burst of full auto fire tore through it’s collar and neck, my men quickly clung to either sides of the fallen MRAP as a few more fired out. As the thing backed up, a blast of .50 cal fire quickly tore it to shreds, along with several others as I realized they were fuckin swarming over the outside of our vehicle. Echo-3’s vehicle continued to carefully fire on the Strigoi on the outside, the sounds of .50 cal ricocheting off the outside of our armor was enough to make the pucker factor set in.
[“Echo-3 to Echo-2”].
[“This is Echo-2, we’re green on ammo, equipment, men”].
[“Roger, we’re shifting fire, exit the vehicle”].
“Hurry up let’s go!!” I barked to my men, leading the way as I staggered out. I turned on my peq, taking aim at silhouettes in the brush as I began to fire. The sounds of machine guns lighting up the brush, as a sea of growls, howls, and incomprehensible roars fired back at us was the ambient noise of the night. My men quickly exited, my gunner being the last as he and I pulled back to the rest of the defensive perimeter. I set in my men to take up the frontal security, as 3rd squad took the right flank, 1st squad to the left. Major Krol and the JTAC were bickering with each other; “How far out are the birds”. “They’re entering airspace now…” Joakim said, already scanning his smart book.
I asked “What’ve we got?”. He then flipped through… to the NATO combined arms segment, quippily saying; “Apaches…”. This caused me to pause as Echo-3 turned their head whilst directing their squad’s fire “The hell… where did we get apaches from?”. “The Americans… they volunteered” Krol said dismissively as he took aim at the darkness, firing off a controlled trio. “Volunteered? They’re aware of what’s going on?” I asked.
Krol seemed to stop, glancing back at me before returning his focus “There’s a lot more going on than you realize, Blachowicz… Prep the breach, you and 1st are going on”.
I quickly pulled my breacher off the line, securing some thermite as the reinforced bunker door wasn’t going to go as easily as a conventional door breach would. 1st Squad pulled back, stacking up and preparing themselves to be the first in. All the while… Joakim gave his firing solution; “Alpha Hotel Two Five Nine, This is Bravo-4…… Type 2….”.
I snapped to my right, watching as a Strigoi managed to dark across the clear gravel field, only to be cut down by my gunner, the peq’s laser marking the burst as it tore through the beasts’ hips, as it hit the ground and still continued to claw, another GROM operator took aim and fired into it’s skull. Joakim popped up to his feet…. “Marking laser, high power…”. He then pulled out a target marking laser… if you’ve watched night operations, you’ve probably seen them.
The green laser than as it says on the label, marks targets. The pattern of which can vary… if it’s a point target, it’ll usually lasso an area, or remain on target until the target is removed with extreme prejudice. If its close air support, then it’ll be a line of the general area… and Joakim damn near marked the entire perimeter around us. He quickly pocketed the tool, turning back to Krol; “Don’t go past 20 meters unless you want to be liquidated”.
With that… 2nd and 1st stacked up at the door as 3rd squad took up the perimeter security. As Major Krol went over to Echo-1… I saw them. A single blinking IR strobe from the beasts as they moved on the far off horizon, converging from several angles… and fired. The sound of the Apache’s main gun, the M230, truly sounds like the hammer of god… the 30mm cannon shot through the dark sky, lighting it up as we saw three incoming streams tear up the woods. Only then as the sound broke did we start to hear their rotors as they broke and began to circle, firing again… then… Joakim dipped his head and looked to Krol; [“Foxtrot Mike, hang onto your teeth…”]. One of the Apaches fired off a AGM-114… a Hellfire. I barely saw it out of the corner of my eye as the Apache from our right flank fired off at a target approximately 200 meters off. A fireball lit up the forest as the horrendous roar echoed throughout… then went silent.
Echo-3 scanned the horizon carefully;
[“Echo-3 to Echo-Lead, enemy contact is starting to die down”].
[“Maintain perimeter, Close Air is to maintain fire mission until we are boots up, Break…”].
[“Echo-Lead to Echo-1, condition white has been met. Proceeds”]. I saw Echo-1 and his men quickly stack up close to the wall and gesture to me; Breaching. I quickly pulled my stack back against the wall as his and mine breacher quickly hit their actuators. Now under normal circumstances, it doesn’t take much for thermite to melt the locks off of a metal surface, in fact it’s a more precise took as alternative means get real medieval like saws, pry bars… we weren’t in the mood for precision, we need to breach their little lair, and drag them out. The sound of several pounds of hellfire burning through the metal could be heard around the corner as a sea of white and red sparks flew out… after several seconds, two of our men tossed a fragmentation grenade and a nine-bang through the opening… a series of concussive blasts and a large explosion rang out.
Echo-1 and his men maneuvered. 1st Squad quickly converged as we followed them in.
Stepping through the black wall of smoke, the dark abyss of the interior was illuminated in a white light as entered barrels raised. Shots rang out as several of the beasts near the entrance were cut down, though not immediately, rounds disconnected the shoulder of one of them, leading to their arm hanging limply by a single tendon as they roared… another series of rounds putting them down. What greeted us was a messy concrete hell of rust and debris, fecal matter, trash, and all kinds of obstacles laid in our way, our boots sticking to the floor. I thank every god we had promasks that night. I called my shield bearer up, 2nd squad leapfrogging ahead to take the next corridor as 1st squad checked their weapons.
One of my men mule kicked the metal door ahead, twice, finally the latch gave away as we tossed in a grenade. A horrifying roar was cut off as an M67 shook the walls of the ancient soviet mausoleum, frag and spall kicked off the walls as I moved in right behind my shield man. The cramped russian design meant there was barely enough space for three people, and that’s three normal people, not in 50kgs of kit, moving slowly and maneuvering against creatures of the dark. Still… we moved forward, my shield bearer and I pushing the pace as two stacked of either squad formed on either wall.
As we passed doorways they flowed in… “Door Left!!”, “Door Right!!”. “Move!!”.
Two men entered each side, no gunshots, we moved up, a roar came.
“Door left!!-”. A series of gunshots came out as we continued to push forward.
“Two down!!”. “Confirm them” Krol commanded, as a series of gunshots run out in response. From one of the doorways, a Strigoi emerged… a female… clumps of hair had been ripped from her decaying skull, as her blooded eyes locked on myself and my shieldman. The skin on her hands had been tore down to the point where barely her bones and tendons remain… looking like huge talons as she roared and lunged at us. He fired off his pistol, though the rounds did little to stop her as she pushed against our stack.
“Fuck!!” he muttered, somehow her strength caused him to stagnate, holding up the advance… fuck that. I shoved the muzzle of my MK18 into her ribcage, flipping the weapon to auto as I fired of round after round. The 5.56 salvo disconnecting her spinal column, causing her to fall as I continued to fire, along with a man to our right and left as the stacks reformed as we pushed to the end of the hall. I fell back, dropping the magazine and loading a fresh one, like clockwork a GROM Operator from 1st squad took my place. Krol was beside me as we approached the end of the hall.
[“-Prep an entry”] I radioed to my breacher, a comrade handed him one of the charges from his back panel as he took to the door, quickly securing it. We all moved as far back as we could, look away, exhale. The blast knocked metal and wood in all directions, scrapping against our uniforms and kit as we made our way in and what laid before us was… it used to be the center atrium of one of these bunkers. Soviet’s loved their grandiose designs, the complex was supposed to be a circular room around a central planning table… instead. It had been turned into some sort of church. Runes and old eastern Romuva pagan symbols written in black ink and blood across the walls, old rotten filing cabinets, long receipt terminals. In the center… several of the Strigoi were kneeling before the table where someone had been tied down, flayed, and… shared amongst the group. They rose to their feet, we aimed our barrels…
The ladder amongst turned to us… his skin wasn’t cracked, or flayed, it was smooth… it still looked dead as the body on the table but it seemed more… accustomed to it. I don’t know… evolved? Under the surface however I could see it’s darkened veins pumping whatever cursed blood ran through them as it locked two blood red eyes onto each of us. It’s nose had long since been turn off, exposing boney nostrils to the open air as it seemed to smirk. All across it’s body were the same symbols on the walls, in every cell… markings of death, of rebirth, of assimilation… From behind this seemingly Alpha emerges another figure I had never seemed before… dressed in a white cloak with a deer head.
"So they've followed the trail... they're too late" the Deer headed individual spoke, definitely not from here, a dialect similar to an Americans but... aristocratic? Each word was drawn out, assurance as if they had everything mapped down to our actions. They didn’t sound like they were from Poland or the east.
“Doesn’t matter…” the Alpha growled… and then, it lunged at us. Quickly breaking from their ground it slammed into my shield man knocking both him and myself at the ground as it displayed an intense feat of strength. Around us I could see several of the Strigoi leap at our comrades… though to no fruitful endeavor as I could see one GROM operator cut two down, as another got into a hand to hand confrontation… my breacher, crafty as they were, reached back and slammed one of the prybars of his kit into the skull of the beast.
The Alpha however was not content as it threw away the 90lb shield, sending it flying across the room as it grabbed my comrade by the skull. I quickly kicked up at it, firing my MK18 into it’s body as the rounds pierced it’s gray and rune covered flesh. The thing simply seemed to chuckle… that was until Major Krol blasted away at the side of it’s head, the alpha turned… and it’s smirk turned to a scowl when face to face with the major. A knowing pause almost like they had done this dance before…
The creature lunged, locking up with Major Krol as it swung and slammed railing. Krol didn’t back down however as he pushed against the creature, hiptossing it to the ground even as it tore at his armor and gear. But the beast pulled, both of them rolled and the Major was on his back as the thing reached for his neck. I fought to a kneel, firing into the creature messily with my MK18, trying not to hit my commander… then…
Click. A sound sends a chill up the spine of every warfighter during a firefight.
My gun ran dry. I dropped the magazine, looking to load another, but the thing came up and with one of it’s claws, sliced deep into my cheek, through the pro mask. I could feel my own blood go flying through the air as I landed hard on my back plate, spitting out red iron as I quickly tried to adjust my mask. Through my fogged up, blood covered lense… I saw my shield man raise his pistol, firing into the skull of the thing staggering it with a roar. Krol came from behind, drawing his knife he sunk it deep into the neck of it…. I reached for my rifle, forcing a new magazine in and damn near punching the bold release. ““Sir, down!!” I shouted, Krol rolled away, back to his own rifle as I fired. So did my comrade as he continued to fire his pistol… so did the Major as he fired his rifle. All of us chewing through that apex predator of darkness, that beast… the leader that had been preying on our people for so long. Layer by layer, muscle group by bone… eventually… the alpha landed on whatever was left of his back.
The silence of the fight died down as all of us checked our surroundings, GROM Operators putting controlled pairs in the heads and nerve stems of any Strigoi laying around… I flicked my weapon onto safe, letting it hang as I pulled off my mask. I dared not touch the wound on my face… the pain nearly crippling me if it wasn’t sheer will pushing me through, and adrenaline doing all it could to subdue it. The sound of the apaches continuing to lay hate drew us from our moment of contemplation as the Major went back to work; [“Confiscate any info, burn the rest…”]. He turned back to me as I shoved my damaged M50 mask back into it’s bag, chuckling as he looked at the sight; “You need a medevac, Blachowicz?” he quipped.
I shook my head, barely able to speak as I muttered; “Negative sir…”. The two of us scanned the room as my shield bearer went to collect his defense implement turned 90lb projectile, we scanned the center of the room, checking and confirming bodies, until we got to the last one alive. His white gown was soaked in red crimson and black ooze, as his dear head was mangled from bullet fire and impact from falling on it. I swear… the way his blood poured out of it though made me wonder if it was a mask. I gave it no second thoughts as he looked to Krol; “You… you can’t stop this, they’ve already-”.
The Major was in no mood for communication as his rifle snapped up and fired off three rounds to the body, four the head. The violent yet quick salvo ending the cultists life, I looked down at it, then to him as he remarked; “Have your squad drag him out to the front, burn the rest”. I stood alongside him, looking down as the sight of it’s deer head was both captivating and horrifying… the curiosity in me wanting to look closer at it fighting the primal instinct I had to burn the thing to ash. “-Haven’t seen one of those before…” I muttered, thinking the Major had an answer.
He didn’t. Krol saying “Neither have I…” shortly before he walked away, was what truly shook my soul about that entire night. Victory stood firm in our hearts that night as we stood outside of the bunker. The night sky burning with fire and white phosphorus as we watched the ruin burn from the inside from the other side of the lot. In the distance, the Apaches continued to scan and circle the forests, no longer firing…. Which meant they had driven any or turned to glass any enemy combatants within a four miles, probably both, more than likely the latter. Echo-1 patted me on the shoulder as we stood there, soaking it all in, though Krol looked none to pleased. “In the time it took us to take this one down, they’ll be trying to set up three more cells… that being established…” he said, looking to either of us, then to Echo-3. “-Hell of a thing we did tonight, been waiting for this one for a decade, cleanly, maybe more… but no time to rest on our laurels… we’ll have another task for us as soon as we’re boots down back home” he said, to which his eyes followed mine, the body of whatever cultist that was zipped up in a black body bag beside the wheel of one of the MRAPs. The fire from the bunker casting an orange hue over it’s shiny jet black outside, something didn’t sit right with me… “That wasn’t a Strigoi…” I said to Krol.
“That’s very clear…” the Major said, shoving his mask under his arm and lighting a cigarette. “So… someone’s helping them?” I asked. The meer notion of it shook me to my core, sickened me. This parasite was already badly infecting Europa, Polska… if it was spread like this throughout the world. Krol settled my nerves: “We’ll be ready… It’s not just us anymore”. As he said that, I realized what he meant… my eyes looking to the Apaches as they started to form up, leaving the areas as their thunderous propellers melted into the night’s calm, unnerving ambience.
It’s been a couple of weeks since then, Echo Detachment has been busy. We’ve gained good ground against the enemy and honestly I think in a few years, we might see a much larger change. For now… we must keep going, that being said the Strigoi aren’t the only ones we’ve been combating. Recently we’ve made contact with of some sort of extermination coalition, they’ve known about the Strigoi, and others plaguing the world, the level of corruption and corrosion on society goes deep. Regardless a lot of the units we’ve been working with are apart of NATO, such as this “4th Special Forces Group” of the American Military. I don’t know where the road from here leads, but we’ve gotten momentum on our side, finally. Just remember… these things are out there, in every town, every city, every nation… preying and waiting for you to be alone, vulnerable, so they can take you and replace you.
Watch your back, and stay safe.
For now, Blachowicz signing out. Until next time

First
Previous
Sorry for the delay in getting this part out; been away visiting family so not had much time to put fingers to keyboard, plus I managed to have my phone eaten by a roller coaster and it took a while to get it replaced and be able to get into a few things - stupid two factor authentication! Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
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Y’Lek and K’Rim slowed their mad dash as they neared the armoury; there was no telling whether the Swarm agents had left any traps for them and the armoury was full of extremely energy dense materials and weapons which could potentially jeopardise the structure of the ship if employed in the right way. Grabbing some handy footholds they stopped and considered the imposing door in front of them.
After a few moments of effort K’Rim had eased off the casement off the door’s locking mechanism but could detect nothing amiss with the crystalline structure beneath. Bypassing the outer interface she placed a grasper to the innards and a small spark of bioelectric energy jumped into the crystal which glowed briefly as the uniquely patterned waveform was parsed and compared with the patterns of those permitted access. The door slid aside as they were granted entry with no unwanted surprises being triggered.
With a relieved chitter Y’Lek started inside only to be pulled back sharply as K’Rim pulled on his leg.
“Stop. Just because the door opens, doesn’t mean that it is safe.” K’Rim warned as she pulled a small disc out of one of her utility pouches. Snapping it easily she gently tossed it through the doorway after slowly counting out a grasper of seconds. The exothermic reaction had reached the point where the disc glowed fitfully in the infrared, while it emitted a clear UV light. K’Rim watched it carefully and her antennae twitched with the effort of picking up any slight sound.
The glow-disc struck some of the lockers which filled the armoury and ricocheted off around the room but nothing seemed to react to the heat and movement.
With a decisive clack of her mandibles K’Rim pulled herself through the doorway and into the armoury. Y’Lek followed close on her tarsus. It was immediately obvious that several sets of warrior equipment had been removed, along with copious numbers of weapons.
Y’Lek was surprised when K’Rim didn’t make for the remaining warrior gear but instead to the emergency pressure suits. Seeing the confused tilt of his head K’Rim explained “Although the room appears safe, we don’t know what they may have done while they were here but it is safe to assume that they would have ensured any of the most dangerous equipment could not be used against them.”
She passed a bundled pressure suit to Y’Lek and continued “The emergency gear and non-powered weapons are the least likely to have been tampered with and have the least amount of capacity for harming us even if they have been so we will have to make do with them until we can thoroughly check the rest of the equipment.”
Y’Lek thought for a moment before bobbing in agreement and starting to pull on the pressure suit, careful to sheath his claws with the hardened “gauntlets” integral to the suit before powering up the spiracle gas exchangers and carefully sealing them in place against his thorax. “Yes, I can see the risk now. Though it will potentially leave us vulnerable, it is better to be certain of our equipment than to die of over confidence.”
The emergency pressure suit came together quickly, living up to its name and the pair were quickly sealed against the cold, dry, and slightly strange tasting air that the aliens had been pumping into the Far Flung Seed and supplying them with a more familiar and moister mixture.
K’Rim passed him a set of the ceremonial but still functional weapons and the harness to hold them. They wouldn’t hold up long against a fusion blade or a particle lance but they were durable enough to give them a chance and were completely inert so could not have been sabotaged.
Only a couple of minutes after entering the armoury they swam back out into the corridor and sped off towards the arboretum.
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Smithy quickly sprayed a fluorescent marking on the uneven and root covered tunnel junction to identify which way they had come from. “How can such a small ship have so many damn tunnels?” he growled to himself.
“It’s not the size of the ship, it’s what you do with it that matters” quipped Hall.
“Yeah? Well, apparently in this case it was fill it with bloody tunnels.” deadpanned Smithy in response.
“Can it.” broke in Stroud before anyone else could get involved “You can discuss the relative merits of alien design philosophy on your own time; for now you need to focus.”
A chorus of “Sergeant” came back over the radio and the remainder of Delta and Echo buckled down and continued sweeping what even Stroud was prepared to admit was a seemingly endless series of tunnels with apparently zero overarching logic to their layout. Up until a few minutes ago they had been getting directional updates from some supposedly friendly ET’s in the control room but apparently they had suddenly just buggered off so now they were picking junctions that appeared to take them in the vague direction that had been indicated to them.
Stroud again cursed the fact that the maintenance drones brought by the initial engineering team hadn't been able to access this part of the ship and map it due to the tightly sealed blast doors that had protected the forest from the vacuum. Who could have imagined that there would have been so much structure hidden underneath and between the normal corridors and rooms? The three dimensional map they had been creating as they advanced was like something Jackson Pollock and H R Giger might have come up with on an acid trip.
They approached another intersection and slowed. After a quick glance between them, Mears and Jackson moved forward, taking cover behind Mears’ shield. They crept up to the junction and Jackson poked the muzzle of his shotgun, and its camera into the ragged space beyond. The feed showed several small tunnels radiating off at all angles, way too small for any of them to fit down. One navigable tunnel appeared to curve off back in the direction they came from, while another looked like it might go the right way.
Suddenly the camera and the end third of Jackson’s gun disintegrated into a cloud of superheated vapour, shards of glowing metal and smoking composites. With a scream Jackson jumped back, the outer weave on the gauntlet of his left hand shredded and smouldering. In a stunning display of muscle memory he ejected the internal magazine and disconnected the weapon from the backpack feed almost before his mind had caught up with what was going on.
Hands grabbed him as he was yanked further back into the corridor. He flung the remains of his shotgun down and it clattered and bounced down the tunnel in the vague direction of the junction. Jackson was conscious of Mears backing up towards him, shield held protectively to block as much of the tunnel as possible, while Smithy grabbed his forearm and inspected his hand. Stroud stepped over him and took up guard on Mears’ shoulder, weapon trained forward and sweeping what could be seen of the slightly larger space beyond this section of the tunnel.
Another “FOOOM!” as the tumbling wreckage of the shotgun was vaporised as it spun across the opening of the tunnel.
“Fuuuuuuuck me!” said Jackson, at last able to form words as the adrenaline induced tunnel vision started to clear.
“Well, how about you start by showing me whether you can still use your fingers and we can take it from there, eh?” Smithy said from where he was turning his hand from prone to supine again. “Looks like the inner layer of your glove is intact but both Simmonds and Jones complained of numbness after being hit. How’re you feeling?”
Jackson gingerly flexed his fingers and made a fist a few times but grunted as he felt the tips of his fingers tingle where they pressed into the material of his gloves “Feels weird - tingly like I sat on my hand or something.”
Smithy grunted to acknowledge this “OK, well shout out if it gets any worse; got it?”
He pulled Jackson to his feet and slapped him on the shoulder before they both turned back to face down the tunnel again. Jackson surreptitiously flexed his hand a few more times as he pulled out his sidearm and secured its retaining strap to his right wrist. He wasn’t too hopeful that the small pistol would be able to do too much against the ET’s, but it was better than walking around with nothing.
Stroud backed away from the junction where he had been very gingerly checking all the passageways with a camera barely poking out from the mouth of the tunnel they were in.
He stood up and turned to the security team “Ok, looks like there is something stuffed into one of the narrow tunnels - kind of like those shoulder guns the ET’s have, along with a stand and power supply. My guess is it has some kind of automated fire mode and decided that it really didn’t like Jackson’s gun waving around in front of it. Question is, how are we going to get rid of it? We can’t leave it behind in case we need to come back this way in a hurry.”
“I guess it will probably shoot anything we throw at it so grenades are out?” mused Mears
There followed a number of suggestions and comments.
“Can we get an angle on it and just shoot it?”
“How about we let Jackson distract it some more while the rest of us blow it away?”
“We need to avoid the power pack if the two dead ET’s from the corridor are anything to go by.”
Stroud listened for a minute before cutting the chatter short. “Ok, so I think our best bet is to use the ballistic shield to bait it, while someone else blows the top off it from the other side of the tunnel; Mears you and Jackson handle the shield; keep a tight hold on it as those shots release a lot of energy when they hit. Smithy - I’ve marked its location so you hug the other side of the tunnel and draw a bead on it. Wait for it to hit the shield before popping out and taking your shot; and for the love of all that you hold dear do it fast, Ok?”
The team nodded in agreement.
“I will be there to pull Smithy back as soon as he has popped out of cover, just in case.” concluded Stroud before ushering them to their positions. After a few moments of shuffling around each other in the tight space they were ready.
Smithy led the countdown. “Ready. Steady. Go!” Instantly Mears and Jackson shoved a third of the ballistic shield out into the corridor and planted themselves on top of the section remaining in the corridor only a moment ahead of a bright flash and the shield heaving under the impact.
Seemingly almost simultaneously Smithy leaned out and fired, the boom of his shotgun mingling with the “foom!” of the vaporising surface of the shield. Stroud almost bodily lifted him as he pulled him back from the edge.
For a second they were still as they sprawled around the opening.
“A good hit!” called Stroud as he reviewed the few frames of footage from Smithy’s gun camera between jumping out and back in again.
Mears stood up and inspected the sorry remains of his ballistic shield, now missing most of the top edge. “Great, well I hope there aren’t too many more of those hidden around as I’m running out of shield.”
+++++++++++++++++++
N’Dar’s antennae quivered inside his protective suit. That last series of weapons fire had been far too close for comfort and he still had two more locking systems to bypass. With a furious click of his mandibles he redoubled his efforts, running his bioelectric patterns through a series of filters, amplifiers and other signal processing systems to trick the door into thinking he had a right to open it.
The rot take the claw that had been delaying the aliens! He was supposed to have more time than this!
Next

A review about 2 weeks ago has pissed off pretty much everyone in the hotel.
We have a company (with a Direct Bill, which is rare here) that has been staying with us for about 3 years. Maybe 1 - 2 rooms a month now, but originally, they were opening a grocery store, and they had more. Now I think it's just regional managers or temp workers that come to the area to check on it.
Fine and good. They have a pandy-era rate which is really good, especially in the summer, that we haven't really looked at to adjust. Really, for the amount of production they have now, they shouldn't be getting a negotiated rate. They've always paid their bill on time, so having a DB doesn't really matter, although a couple people are starting to annoy us by not wanting to give a credit card for incidentals, which here is only $25.
Either way - the gist of the story is, this guy, lets call him Bob, stayed with us a few weeks back, and apparently heard a noise at 3:30 in the morning, and again at about 4:45 AM that he claims is an "angle grinder". Now, Bob doesn't call the front desk to report this, and neither does anyone else in the close-to-sold out hotel. I know, because I was working both nights he was here. So whatever he heard (which I'm sure wasn't an angle grinder) was brief enough and not loud enough that anyone else heard it, or if they did, has the common sense enough to know it wasn't worth mentioning.
Nope, Bob decides to pitch a fit at about 9PM THAT NIGHT - 18 hours later - to a co-worker who is new and a teddy bear. He says sorry and says he will give him some points, because Bob is a member.
Now for myself, if you don't report an issue when it happens to give us a chance to fix or investigate, you don't get any compensation. Maybe if you are nice and I am in a good mood, I might give 1-2K points just because you are a member. But those cases are few and far between. You don't just get to complain any time about anything and get rewarded because you pitched a fit. New guy hasn't learned this yet.
When Bob leaves, he writes not 1, but 2 reviews saying the same thing, giving a shit score, saying the hotel had "construction" going on at 3:30 AM, and that the guy he complained to didn't say sorry (he did) and didn't mention it again when he saw him again the 2nd day. Like we are supposed to kiss your ass every time we see you?
Now to any person who has 1/2 a brain, they would know that a hotel wouldn't schedule construction at 3:30 AM. And let's play crazy town here for a second, if they did, (with angle grinders no less) you wouldn't hear 1 sound at 3:30 AM and another at 4:45. You would hear constant banging, grinding, etc... And not only that, EVERYONE would be complaining, not just this 1 room on an almost sold out night.
Continuing in crazyville, lets assume a next door neighbor was using an "angle grinder". (more likely maybe a hair dryer). OK.. by the time you actually complained to the front desk, the noise would have long stopped, and there would be no way to track down who is making the noise. And even if you could, none of that would have been the hotel's fault, because you can't control what everybody does every minute of every day.
Either way - it was just a nonsense review from an idiot old grump who heard a noise. But, since we don't get very many reviews at the hotel, it was enough to drop our score for the month by -20% immediately. Which REALLY pissed off the GM.
And this is why I really like our GM. The GM called her contact at the company, and in a nice way, essentially said:
-There was no construction, and any sensible person would have known that.
-Bob never reported it when it happened to give us a chance to investigate, so there's no telling what he heard.
-This wasn't the first time that this company's people staying here have wrote nonsense reviews.
And the best part -
-Nicely said if they give us bad reviews again without even taking it up with the GM, their company would be DNR'ed.
I hate the whole review system and companies putting so much emphasis on it to begin with. It's a completely unfair system, but it's what we have to deal with. I applaud my GM for not just taking the bullshit review lying down, and actually warning the company to tell it's employees that they have a good thing going here, and if they want to maintain that relationship, they can't be complaining over petty shit and tanking our scores.

"Great days and glorious victory! My name is Spifflemonk and welcome to my Letsplay! Today I am back from my medically mandated break from playing human videogames after a rather... cathartic experience with a game called Teardown. Subnautica, even among humans, is labeled as a notorious experience with... mixed reception for its sequel. A survival crafting game apparently. I have experience with those so presumably the gameplay loop should be predictable enough. So... Let's go in!"
Spiffle starts the game, going for standard Survival Mode, with aspects of food and water mechanics alongside health and oxygen. The game loads very, very fast with Spiffles overpowered computer, and the introduction sequence begins. The camera pans to the panicked sight of the payer character moving down a ladder followed by a sight of a starship above exploding.
"Oh dear... oh dear! They weren't kidding about survival! Do I even survive this or am I a ghost or something..."
The pod rattles, the screen shakes, a fire extinguisher falls from its mounting. Velocity causes the pod to dislodge a panel from a wall and it flies around the cabin. The panel flies into the player's screen, making it go black.
"Oh... well okay then. I uh... well."
Spiffles' character awakens and panics at the buttons securing him to the seat. Spiffle quickly figures out that fire in this game is in fact bad, and grabs the fire extinguisher, putting the fire out. The game's introduction plays, showing his PDA, the game's inventory UI.
"Oh! I have seen these things in real life when visiting human stations! Do all humans have these?"
Spiffle starts exploring the escape pod, noting all of the damage to the radio beacon and the wiring panel.
"Hmm... craft the repair tool... Well... For later I suppose. Now how do i-AH, the ladder!"
Spiffle clicks on the ladder and goes through the animation. The character exits and dramatically stands. Spiffle looks around. His face visibly pales as he looks in every direction, finding the only thing nearby that looks 'safe’ or like 'land' is the destroyed ship in the distance.
"Water... it's... water... everywhere! How big is this game's map!? Structural hull failure... zero human lifesigns detected. That's.. not nice. Well... Here we go!"
Spiffle jumps into the water. His mood changes, the underwater environment significantly different than above ground. The water is absolutely teeming with life and color, as Spiff swims towards a reef to stare at some coral. Spiff gets distracted and starts chasing a fish, specifically a Peeper, and grabs it.
"Oh! Good god! THAT'S how humans catch fish!? That's very... inefficient! What is this thing? Can I eat it? I know I'm supposed to take care of my food and water, so how do I eat it?"
Spiffle wanders about for a while, gathering resources and exploring his general location, eventually getting back to the pod. He had gathered up a decent amount of stuff while he was swimming around and accessed the Fabricator to see what was available.
"Ah! I see, the fabricator cooks things too. Uhm... cooked fish thing and... these transparent fish give me water bottles? Okay then! Well. Sorted for food anyway. Let's see. Copper wire, batteries. A Scanner? Does that mean I can like, scan things and tell what they are? And... Oxygen tank? Oh hell yes. I'll build that then."
Spiffle goes through the process of building a few things, checking out how the game's crafting system works, and spending more time collecting resources. He quickly realizes how much work he has to do and finally finishes making a Scanner.
"Okay then well... I can see how much time is going to be spent collecting resources so i'm going to edit all of that out and keep you all in the loop on all the fun parts instead."
Spiffle continues playing, inserting a creative, albeit mildly annoying fanciful scene transition in between resource loops. He comes to a cave looking for salt to make more equipment, when he encounters the first hostile enemy of the game: The Crashfish. He does not notice it at first, the strange sloppy noise it makes as its pod opens, the beast makes a terrible gurgly noise and charges straight at him.
"What is that noi-AH! OY! OI! OIIII what are you what are-!"
Spiffle is cut off as the fish explodes, causing him to lose half his health. He quickly surfaces and takes a breath.
"Okay then... OKAY... THAT... makes absolutely no sense from an evolutionary perspective... but okay then. Avoid those. What even was that? I can't even scan it because it was moving so fast! Gods... exploding fish."
Spiffle shakes his head and resumes his hunt for resources, eventually finding enough for a repair tool. He makes the repair of the pods' broken wiring and looks around a bit more, noting some of the details in the game.
"Hard to believe these games are over eight hundred years old! I keep getting requests to play 'them gud ol' gamez' instead of any new releases. Maybe I'll get to those eventually. I have quite the backlog though."
Spiffle quickly tabs out and shows the huge list of human made games on his list that he has been gifted or purchased himself. The list includes Space Marine, Starship Troopers, Spyro Trilogy, Crash Bandicoot, and so... so many more.
"I am also told about this thing called 'anime', whatever that is. Maybe I should look into that. Anyway..."
Spiffle shrugs for now and resumes playing, swimming around for a bit before finally deciding to use his scanner. He gets the first scan - the Acid Mushroom - and painstakingly reads the supplied article. He then goes on a scanning frenzy, scanning each thing he can find, comically chasing after various fish and objects, trying to scan them then taking an irritatingly long time to read the article aloud.
He gets to the point where he encounters his first real hostile enemy and tries to scan it. The stalker, of course, doesn't appreciate that, and attacks.
"Oooh what's this thing? Oh lovely, it's a big one. Can I scan it? The... Stalker? Oh okay is it friend-OW! NONONONO go away!"
Spiffle panics and scans it while running away from it, trying to swim backwards. He's so focused on scanning it he can't run far enough away that he gets ambushed by another Stalker nearby and manages to scan it just as he gets hit with his first Death in the game.
"Oh.... o...kay. Well... it seems things aren't as friendly as expected. I'm going to guess there's more things like that around. So... I'm just going to finish working on repairs and equipment then I'll take those things on."
Spiffle reads the article on the Stalker he scanned and spends more time collecting resources, scanning local entities and building the rest of the gear he has. Fins, high capacity O2 tank, rebreather and some more food and water which he stores in floating containers for later. He starts to explore a bit farther in search of fragments to scan and finds a Sand Shark, as well as a biome resembling a desert-like area. He encounters his first piece of the wrecked ship here.
"Oh! Hello! Pieces of wreckage! What are these for now do you suppose? Can I disassemble these for resources or-Oh! Is that a door? Oh! I'm supposed to go in here and look for things? How do I get in? Oh I can't. I need a laser cutter. Is one of those here? Need more fragments I guess..."
Spiffle gives up trying to enter and goes up for air, then returns to the floor to hunt for fragments. He eventually unlocks the Bioreactor, pieces of the Scanner room, a couple fragments of the Seaglide and Seamoth. He comes across the first cave entrance to the Mushroom Caves Biome.
"Oh... oh my. That's... deep. Good thing I unlocked the Seamoth thing. Its a miniature submarine I think. I can use that. But that's... kinda scary. I can't see the bottom. I kinda see just... purple. Mostly purple. But it scares me that I can't see the bottom."
Spiffle hangs around the cave entrance for a bit before a call for Oxygen forces him to the surface. He swims back down to the cave entrance and then hangs around a bit longer before once again resurfacing, heading for some new things to scan. It is however at this point that Spiffles exploration is cut short.
"EMERGENCY - SEISMIC READINGS SUGGEST A QUANTUM DETONATION HAS OCCURRED IN THE AURORA'S DRIVE CORE. THE CENTRAL DARK MATTER REACTOR WILL REACH A SUPERCRITICAL STATE IN -"
The computer aboard the PDA shakes Spiff out of his daze and he quickly rushes to the surface and looks at the ship.
"Wait wait wait what's that!? What's going on!? I see the ship? The Aurora! That's what its name is? Whats a Dark Matter reactor and wha-"
The computer continues its countdown muffled by Spiffs panicked squealing and he has a front-row seat to one of the most spectacular explosions in the history of gaming - the Aurora's Reactor Detonation.
It happens. The world goes dead silent for a short moment, and one can see Spiffles heart visibly stop beating. Then explosion as the Aurora lets out its magnificent blast. As the shockwave expands outwards, Spiffs skin visibly turns a paler shade of blue, and his eyes go wide. The sound of a geiger counter follows, leaving him breathless and pale as the world suddenly goes dead quiet again. The sound of the geiger counter ominously leaving him shaken even more than he already is.
"FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE - THE RADIATION SUIT HAS BEEN ADDED TO YOUR BLUEPRINTS."
Spiffle stays completely silent, bobbing in the water for a solid few minutes, staring in shocked wonder at what he just witnessed. He regains his composure for a few short moments and returns to his scanning venture, but one can easily see he isn't in the right mind after that. He returns to the seabed, at the entrance to the mushroom caves and dives again. He does this several more times, popping up to the surface, looking at the shipwreck, then diving at the entrance again. Finally, after much hesitation, he dives one last time.
"Screw it. it's just a game right?"
He smiles at the camera with a shrug and swims far below the surface, into one of the caves. As he enters the cavern his jaw drops at the sight of a massive underwater cavern filled with gigantic glowing pink mushrooms. The Mushroom caves as they are known. He spots something in the distance, entranced, forgetting his oxygen situation. He cant get far however and a terrifying shriek of some unknown entity shakes him out of his stupor.
"What in the red dawn was that noise!?"
Spiff can't finish asking his invisible audience what's going on as he strays too close to a mushroom, occupied by a Crab Snake, a gigantic sea worm. He is grabbed from behind, spun around and he visibly panics as the giant worm digs its enormous tusks into Spiffles character. Spiffle immediately freaks out, a combination of both the terrifying shriek emitted by the creature and the shock of being attacked makes poor Spiffle jump out of his seat and duck under the table.
"GOWAYGOWAYGOWAGOWAYGOWAY!!!"
The worm comes back and finishes Spiff off before his oxygen runs out. Spiff's character respawns but the footage continues, a slight whimper can be heard in the background as Spiff hides under the desk. This carries on for a few minutes, and his head very slowly appears above the desk. He gingerly puts himself back in his seat and breathes heavily for a bit. When he finally gains control, he tabs out of the game and takes a look at the wiki for Subnautica. He returns a few moments later and stares at the camera in that strange haunting glare he's become so famous for.
"WHY DO YOU STUPID DEVELOPERS NOT PUT GUNS IN THE GAME IF YOU HAVE SHIT LIKE THAT!? ARE YOU INSANE!?"
He grabs the camera and shakes it violently as he rants at it, questioning why there are guns in every other human game he has played and not THIS specific game, especially considering how there are 'giant water snake monsters that eat your face' in a game with no guns. He rants for a good minute or two then plays his outro.
TOP COMMENT: "Are you absolutely sure after Teardown, Factorio and Project ZOMBOID, you should be playing Subnautica? I mean seriously, try something less... psychologically terrifying. It's known as Thalassophobia Simulator for a reason."
_______________________________________________________________
"Great days and glorious victory! My name is Spifflemonk and I still don't understand why we have giant worm monsters but we have no guns!"
Spiffle stares at the camera with an expression that can only be summarized as 'Seriously bruh?' and resumes his last playthrough. He becomes confused at the lack of stuff in his inventory.
"Why is my... Why do I not ha-Oh right... I was eaten. When you die your inventory is wiped... I need to build more tools then."
Spiffle starts some silly music, an alien version of Benny Hill to a montage of him collecting resources, occasionally ranting at various oddities and questioning game logic. He restores all of his tools then goes hunting for a Vehicle Bay fragment so he can build the Seamoth. He continues to scan what he can, developing something of an obsession with the task, then painstakingly reading every word about it to try and understand it. It is at this point Spiffle, during his explorations finds another derelict chunk of ship near the desert region, encountering his first Sand Shark.
"What... What is this? Oh... careful Spiff. This one looks angrier than the last one you found. Wh-What in oblivion!?"
Spiffles attention is once again diverted by the appearance of a Reefback Leviathan and its signature low drone. This one appears to be a fully grown adult.
"You-you... You've got to be... You gotta be fucking kidding me. A Juhara Eelfish!? WHAT IS THAT DOING IN A HUMAN VIDEOGAME!!!??"
Spiffle squeaks in shock as he sees a creature that is an absolute spitting image of a large oceanic dwelling sea creature, which is both the games and his native homeworlds version of a Whale. The Reefback has some dissimilarities, but its close enough to the real thing that Spiffle is genuinely shocked. He quickly pauses the game, opening various wikipedia articles, then displays a full picture of both Subnautica in game Reefback, and the Juhara-Kal-Rehar, colloquially known as a Juhara Eelfish, a shockingly similar creature that lives in his homeworlds oceans.
The only difference between them is the color of the exterior chitin shell. The Reefback has a blue/purple shell, the Juhara Eelfish's chitin has a red/green shell.
"WHEN was this game made!?"
Spiff checks, the current Earth-date is the year 2886. Humanity only entered the galactic community in 2752. Subnautica was released in 2018.
"HOW.... How is that even possible!? You didn't even know the galaxy existed until only a few decades ago, yet you almost PERFECTLY matched the appearance of one of our homeworlds native species! How is this even possible!? Okay. If the name matches then I have to call bullshit."
Spiffle approaches and scans it, then reads the data article.
"A... Reefback Leviathan? Oh thank God... Now let's see... A herbivorous creature that... that likely got so large due to the fact that its predators went extinct. Well... that's... okay... A hard chitinous shell of multiple layers, a microcosm of different creatures and flora growing from its back, hence the name. Hmmm..."
Spiffle gets that cold, empty stare on his face and glares menacingly at the camera. The screen goes black, then returns, seeing Spiffle nursing a beverage of some kind while wrapped in a blanket.
"I realized something... Call it a message from the Ancestors or a Divine revelation. But I have a funny feeling this isn't going to be the last time I see a creature from the galaxy represented in human media. I hope to the Gods that doesn't happen... the concept of this situation is nothing short of terrifying. In any case, I'm sorry about that. Lets.... let's continue."
Spiffle resumes where he left off, doing his usual routine of scanning, then obsessively reading. Eventually he unlocks the Vehicle Bay, and returns home to his pod where the situation with resources is growing obscene with at least fifty floating resource containers hovering around the area.
"Alright... A Vehicle Bay... This means I can build things like the Seamoth now. This will be nice. Right, I shall for the sake of my audience skip the resource collection mechanic that's here and focus on the actual result. I shan't waste my time either though. MONTAGE!"
Spiff yells excitedly and a montage to that same odd Benny Hill type music plays out, with him collecting the resources he needs to build both machines. Most of it is already in the floating containers strewn about. With a few visits to the fabricator, he compiles the Power Cell, Titanium Ingot and Lubricant he needs to make the Vehicle Bay. He deploys it and chases it to the surface just away from the pod in the deeper end of the shallows.
"Right... Not too hard. Let's see then, how do-Ah. Get on it and... The Seamoth. Cost of two glass, one titanium ingot, a powercell, lead and lubricant. Right."
He quickly gathers and makes everything he needs for the Seamoth, then stands on the platform ready to go. He chooses the Seamoths recipe and the sequence starts. His eyes light up as drones start flying around the platform, then begin assembling atom by atom, the small, adorable minisub known as the Seamoth. It finishes the process and flops into the water with a splash.
"My gods look at this thing! It's so cute!"
Spiffle explores the sub for a little while and hops inside it, testing the controls and playing around with it a bit to see what it can do.
"Hm... Maximum Depth, 200 meters? So if I go below that does it implode or something? I need to be careful of that. OH dammit I remember! I have to make that Radiation Suit don't I? I shall do so now!"
Spiffle seems to have found a new resolve, quickly gathering resources together and making both a Seaglide and radiation suit in short order.
"Does this thing have any weapons? How do I repair-Oh... Repair tool? That makes it easier I suppose. Now... Where do I go now? Is there anything I can do?"
Spiffle stumbles about in the blind for a few minutes, trying to figure out his next course of action beyond simply wandering aimlessly while scanning things. He gets back in the pod and fixes the radio beacon. His face visibly contorts into an expression of irritation when he hears his rescue is in 9999 hours. He resolves to come back every now and then to check the radio. He decides to gather more resources to make up for building the seamoth and comes back a bit later. He finds a radio transmission when he returns.
"RADIO: ▀▖┗▛Nine new biological subjects designated. Mode ▄▖▜▚┣: hunting/analyzing.
Sharing subject locations with other agents."
"What... in the Nine Hells was THAT!? Why was it in such an odd voice? What was that language? What were those letters!? Somethings going on here... SO now what? I have the radiation suit. i guess... go into the Aurora? Oh no, I'm not going in there unprepared! Lemme make some tools and spare batteries, then i'll go in. I need... Oh... I need more fragments is what I need."
Spiffle resumes his fragment hunt, looking around for fragments of various tools. He uses the Seamoth to traverse around.
"WHEEE!!!"
Spiff seems more than just a bit happy as he trundles around in the Seamoth, using his speed to launch himself out of the water. He splashes about a bit, testing the limits of the craft and trying to see what holes he can squeeze himself into or out of and how deep he can go.
"Okay okay. time to get to serious work. Now... I need to find... A Laser Cutter and a... STASIS RIFLE?! Wait... rifle? That means GUN! I NEED A GUN!!"
Spiffle charges forward towards the desert biome where he found the Reefback and resumes his search for things to scan. It is now he comes across a Reginald.
"What... IS this fish? Wait, let me just..."
He gets out of the Seamoth and scans it.
"Huh... Reginald. That's a... fish? It's so cute! Wait, come back friend!"
Spiffle spends an unreasonable amount of time trying to catch a Reginald. When he finally catches one he gets back in the Seamoth and heads towards the aurora, new friend in tow. He trundles over to the side of the crashed ship and scans some random stuff here and there, finding fragments to a few small items, including a few he needs such as a Powercell Charger for the Seamoth’s battery. He gets close to the front of the ship and the haunting, evil noise of Subnautica's most iconic killer suddenly echoes through the gloomy water.
"What... Was that? Is it another worm thing? Please don't let it be one of those..."
Spiffle wanders around the side for a bit longer. An ominous shadow looms in the background, catching his eye. He ignores it for the moment and simply carries on, eventually arriving at the entrance to the ship. Through the mangled steel and fire he squeezes into the front of the ship and looks around. The environment ominously rattles and his screen shakes as the ships structure isn't exactly stable. The howl of the creature in the shadows makes Spiff even more uncomfortable.
"I... Do NOT like this. I really dont."
Spiff parks the Seamoth where he can see a ramp leading up, and gets out. He is immediately accosted by Cave Crawlers and uses his knife to defend himself, poorly, but he gets rid of the three or four around him.
"WARNING: SCANS SHOW THE DIGESTIVE TRACTS OF INDIGENOUS LIFE FORMS CONTAIN HUMAN TISSUE."
Spiffs face turns an even paler shade of blue and he swallows visibly as if he's trying not to vomit.
"Yeuch... I can scan this thing and read it later. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."
Spiff scans and follows the path to the interior, uses his fire extinguisher to put out some fires in the area and gets inside. The ship rumbles as he wanders around and gets into one of the rooms. He finds the poster of the P.R.A.W.N. Suit.
"Ooh! A poster thing? Can I take it or? I can! PRAWN Suit eh? Can I actually use that thing?"
Spiff takes the poster, scans some furniture and collects a PDA. Spiff continues down the corridor and retrieves his Propulsion Cannon from his inventory and uses it to pick up some furniture in the way.
"I am SO glad I got this thing from scanning the area before I came here. This is super useful! I wonder if it has other uses..."
He gets to the door and looks at his databank.
"Hmm... Here it is! Code for the door is 1454. Right."
Spiff moves through, repairing a door to get the Seamoth Depth Upgrade Module. He continues and clears a fire to enter the main reactor. His inner loot goblin shines through and grabs the Cyclops engine efficiency module before he starts work on repairs, scanning the breach and starting work. It doesn't take him long, but he gets issues with a Bleeder that lives in the waters. He scans one then finishes repairs. Foolishly, he uses the propulsion cannon and shoots the bleeder at one of the reactors, undoing his work. He looks at the damage he caused and repairs it.
"Well... what was I expecting... Why did I do that? It's a CANNON... why did I aim it at the reactor exactly? So stupid..."
Spiff finishes and heads to the PRAWN Bay, and looks around at the damage. He spots the prawn suits and starts scanning, grabbing a storage module upgrade from a console and starts extinguishing flames so he can scan. He runs out of fire extinguisher juice though.
"Blast! Can I still scan these if they're on fire?"
Spiff walks around, finding cheeky angles he can use and scans the debris, finding all four fragments he needs. He heads upstairs and goes through the rooms and everything he can find. He gets into the Galley and sees the Kitty in a Space Helmet Poster.
"What the- 'Keep Calm'? What in the blue balls is this? It's.... cute! What is this creature!? Can I keep this? I can!"
Spiffle excitedly grabs the poster and moves on. He goes through cabins, picks up PDAs and collects the Natural Selection 2 poster, the Prawn suit in the sea poster and the collectible arcade toy in the locked cabin. Lacking the code to the Captain's cabin, he returns to the prawn bay and tries swimming around, eventually finding a passage in the hull debris to the rest of the ship. He moves through in silence, recovers the black box data and exits the ship. He removes debris, grabs the local wildlife with the cannon and tosses them into fires or the water with glee.
"BEGONE BEAST!!! Ha! Right... uhh... where did i park? Oh, there it is. Should I go home? I wonder if there are any fragments I can use around here?"
Spiff exits, finding Liefpod 4 floating upside down on the surface of the water. He collects the PDA data and a new blueprint. Then, as he gets in the seamoth, the horrifying roar of the Reaper Leviathan suddenly sounds. Spiff is thrown into a panic, screams in terror and tries desperately to get away. The beast appears with jaw chomping and claws clawing at the poor Seamoth. The entire time Spiffle is screeching like a bird with a broken leg, his entire body now an almost ghostly white out of absolute terror.
"GOWAYGOWAYGOWAYGOWAYGODNONNONOGOWAYGOWAY!!!"
Spiffle manages to get out of its grip and in a panic charges away towards his lifepod and continues to scream, breathing hard between screams. He gets to the pod and then hides under his desk, continuing to scream. His channel outro plays.
TOP COMMENT: (This has been translated from Eridani) "I am starting to believe this whole sojourn was a very BAD idea. Do you humans have those kinds of beasts on your homeworld? How did you ever survive them?!"
RESPONSE: LOL no we never had Reapers. The only Leviathan Class creatures we have on our planet are Whales. And they're mostly peaceful plankton eaters. Mostly.
RESPONSE: (Translated from Eridani) "Seriously? I think I find it more terrifying that these creatures are made up in your minds. What kind of nightmares do you people have to be able to create this level of fiction!?"
RESPONSE: Do. Not. Ask. This is only Subnautica - we have FAR worse.
Spiffles response: "You're going to make me play these 'far worse', aren't you?"
RESPONSE: "Damn right we are! :)"
________________________________________________________
"Great days and glorious victory! My name is Spifflemnonk and welcome back to Subnautica!"
Spiffle looks visibly stronger, his usual lanky appearance now looking like he's been working out like a Gym Bro. One can see muscles on muscles and Spiff seems to have an abnormal amount of energy.
"I am now relaxed. It is now time to get eaten by giant scary sea monsters. And yes, before you ask, I have successfully finished fully soundproofing my office. And also yes, I am indeed expecting a new addition to the brood... THANKS DAMN HUMANS! You and your damn musical magic nonsense..."
Spiffle starts the game and is swimming outside the pod next to the Seamoth. The first thing he does is repair the seamoth from the damage incurred by the Reaper, and recounts what hes been up to, checking inventory and equipment. He heads to the radio and gets a new transmission.
RADIO - "This is Avery Quinn of trading ship Sunbeam. Aurora, do you read? Over.'
'Nothing but vacuum. These Alterra ships. They run low on engine grease, they send an SOS; you offer to help, they don't pick up.'
'Aurora, we're out on the far side of the system, it's going to take more than a week to reach your position, do you still need our assistance? Over.'
'I'll try them again tomorrow. Damn charter's going to have us wasting our profit margin running errands for Alterra.'
'See what the long-range scanner picks up in the meantime."
"Oh? Oh lovely! There ARE people in this game! I wonder when they will be here? Meh, I have things to build, so I'll keep an eye."
Spiffle resolves himself to start building a base, trying to find a good spot. He finds the Mushroom Forest Biome and starts gathering resources to ferry them around. He installs the Depth Module and the Storage module to the Seamoth, then builds the Moon Pool. The Mushroom Biome becomes one of his favorite spots and a close encounter with a JellyRay cements it.
"Those creatures are beautiful! Look! JellyRay! Its glowing blue and pretty! I love that! Oh... I have a new radio message. I need to listen to that then."
Spiff returns to the pod and listens to the message.
RADIO - "Aurora, this is Sunbeam again. We just picked up a massive debris field at your location.'
'I didn't know how bad... How many of you... I didn't know.'
'We are now en route to your location. We're going to bring you home. Sunbeam out.'
'What else can I say? The only time I parked a rig this big on a rock that small was in VR, and I blew it'
'Oh, it's a bad option alright, but so are all the others."
Spiff smiles and carries on working, parking the Seamoth inside after powering everything up.
"So lovely! But... Is that a win condition? I know human games by now I have played enough of them. Is that a win condition? Get rescued? I dunno..."
Spiffle carries on building for a little and gets a storage system up, spending a few in-game days transporting resources to his new base. He returned to the pod and played a new radio message, again from the Sunbeam.
RADIO - "This is Sunbeam. Y'know, Aurora, we're from a little trans-gov on the far side of Andromeda, and we have a saying there.'
'There's no bad without the good, no good without the bad.'
'Sounds like you tasted a bunch of the former, but that only means you're overdue a whole lot of the latter.'
'Might just be we're it.'
'We're scanning for somewhere to park, we'll be in touch when we find it. Sunbeam out."
"Ohh... That... that's a lovely saying! What was that uh... There's no bad without the good, no good without the bad. I like that! I think i'll have that framed on my wall! Now lets see.. i ca- I CAN GIVE THE SEAMOTH A NAME? OOHHHhh okay, okay.. I can customize the color too! I think I'll just do this..."
Spiff leaves the name as 'Seamoth' for now, changing the color to a mix of purple for the main, and blue for the trim and name color. His two favorite colors. Spiffle does a little more work, acquiring the last fragments for the Cyclops and starts gathering together the resources necessary to build it.
"Hmmm.. Cyclops... Personal large scale submarine capable of carrying other vehicles! Ooohhh I want to build that! I need to fetch the Vehicle Bay though. Im almost done moving house!"
Spiff returns and packs up the last of his resources, then gets another radio message.
RADIO - "Aurora, we're approaching the planet now, and we have a landing site for you that's... well, it's better than the alternatives.'
'We've sent you the coordinates.'
'It'll take us a couple of days to align our orbit, we should be able to establish direct contact with you during that time, then we're coming in to get you.'
'Cross your fingers the weather holds, and don't leave us waiting. Sunbeam out."
Spiffle gets a new beacon on his HUD. Sunbeam Landing Site.
"What!? Is this game over If I'm there!? Okay... well. At least it's no longer terrifying! I'll get the Seamoth and go for the beacon then. I hope it's okay... Strange... this... doesn't feel like the end, you know? But if it is then it is."
Spiff heads home, deploys the Vehicle Bay and deposits his gear and resources. He heads towards the location, occasionally squealing 'WHEEE!!' as he uses the Seamoth to jump out of the water like a dolphin. However, he miscalculates and the Seamoth jumps up, out and sustains a bit of damage as it hits a rock formation close to the surface. He gets out, repairs it and looks at the camera.
"Why no I didn't just damage my Seamoth by having too much fun. I don't know what you are talking about. Hehe."
Spiffle smirks at the camera with a glare and carries on. Eventually, he encounters the largest of the Islands in the world.
"Wh... WHAT. This has been here the whole time!? Is this an island? Who cares! LAND! Sweet land!"
Spiffle now notices the timer and hops onto the island from his Seamoth. He walks up to the landing zone and stops dead in his tracks at the sight of the massive al;ien structure known as the Quarantine Enforcement Platform. In essence, a giant alien cannon.
"What... the *beep* is THAT?"
Spiffles' editing has gotten better, his editor learning how to censor Spiffles foul language, in both English AND Eridani. He moves closer to the building, scanning the broken tablet and the Forcefield Controls.
"What is this? I mean it's clearly alien... What do the codex entries say... 'possible to reconstruct the device' Oh... hmm.. I can make more of these then. 'Matches no known technologies... functions like a lock'. Okay then so... Standard video game logic I guess. That's nice! So A purple tablet will unlock the gate there. What are those?"
Spiff moves towards the Cairns marking the way into the island, pathways leading up the mountainside. He follows them, finding a Purple Tablet in the process on one of the pathways.
"Oh! Lovely! That saves me resources and a trip I guess. This pathway keeps going though. hmm... Welp, we still have thirty minutes, so let's go."
Spiff explores the pathway, getting lost a bit before finally figuring that following the large cables is a good idea. He comes across the Teleportation Arch and scans it, in between dodging the Cave Crawlers.
"Right, let's see... Alien Arch... not much to speak of here. Maybe this thing will be useful later I guess. Likely.... Hmmm..."
Spiffle continues exploring and eventually finds himself back at the forcefield with another twenty minutes to go.
"Screw it, let's go."
Spiff activates the forcefield platform and the animation of the key being placed plays out. He moves into the building, activating both data platforms and acquiring two Ion Cubes for later, scanning everything he thinks he can scan. He enters the Moonpool in the bay and gets two more Ion Cubes, plus data on a rifle and a Doomsday Device. He ignores it for now, acquiring one more purple tablet and accessing the control room.
"Right... what's in here? Hmm... Energy Core, right. I shall scan that and... press button?"
Spiff presses the button. An animation plays where a device locks his characters hand in place, viciously stabs it with a pointy metal bit and then releases it.
"OH GODS what the hell! Why is that?! That's just nasty!"
"THE TERMINAL IS BROADCASTING A MESSAGE. TRANSLATION READS: 'Warning, infected individuals may not disable the weapon. This planet is under quarantine.'"
"Quarantine! What? Infected? I-Hold on...."
Spiffle gets his scanner out and performs a self-scan. It is only now he notices something very bad has happened.
"I-infected!? Wait, what!?"
"SELF-SCAN COMPLETE - DETECTING STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT BACTERIAL LEVELS. NO ADVERSE EFFECTS DETECTED. BE VIGILANT FOR SYMPTOMS."
"Oh brilliant! Does that mean I can't leave? I KNEW IT! Wait... weapon!? This is a weapon!?"
Spiffle panics and runs out of the facility as fast as he can and waits the last few minutes for the Sunbeam to arrive. Sure enough, it does. In the last 30 seconds, the Sunbeam plays a message.
RADIO - "Survivor, we see you!
'Man, I don't know how you held out down there.'
The sunbeams message plays, and Spiffle gasps in terror from the sound of the gun platform starting up and starting to move around.
RADIO - "We've broken atmosphere and we're descending towards the landing site.'
'Is that a building down there?! What do you mean you can't identify it?"
The weapon powers up and turns, aiming itself high at the sky.
RADIO - "Hold on, no turning back now.'
'Positions everyone, touching down in 10, 9, 8-'
The weapon charges up and a loud vicious hum can be heard echoing through the valley.
RADIO - "It's coming from the building?! Change course, set thrusters to (full)-"
The radio goes to static, the weapon fires and the Sunbeam is vaporized instantly by a massive blast of bright green light. The sunbeam disappears, its hull structure completely disintegrated. Spiffle sits in stunned silence as the platform returns to a stable position, shuts down, and everything goes quiet.
"Well... Okay then... That was... horrifying. I guess thats all we have time for! Hehe! Oh dear..."
Spiffle looks a bit defeated as he sits back in his seat.
"S-see you next time! I guess... Holy shit..."
Channel Outro plays.
TOP COMMENT: "Are you okay? You seem a little bit too disturbed by that. Its fine though, compared to what happens in the Rise Of The Ancients Mod, this is tame! Lol! I love that mod!"
Spiffles Response: "Please don't make me play that mod..."
((Authors note - due to how bastardingly huge Subnautica is, this will be a multi part series. Other Spiff stories will come inbetween. Hope you enjoy!))

i thought it would kind of fun to flip the script and have ice man in mavericks role and maverick in ice mans role.
boy oh boy do you really cut out a lot of the side plot like penny, rooster drama.
In Universe #2, Iceman didn't make #1 in Top Gun; he made #2. Maverick made #1 in the class of 1986.
In 2022, we see Iceman kiss his wife goodbye as he leaves his house in the suburbs. He gets in his car and drives to the experimental aircraft testing base.
Iceman arrives and steps out of his car, walking to the hangar with the Darkstar plane, greeted by Hondo.
Hondo informs Iceman that Admiral Cain is going to shut them down for underperforming and shuffling money to this drone program.
We see Iceman say they're going to get the plane to Mach 10.
Iceman does the pre-flight check-up, puts on the suit, and walks to the Darkstar to prep it for launch.
The Darkstar takes off. Admiral Cain arrives and asks what the hell is going on.
Iceman puts the Darkstar through her paces and eventually hits Mach 10. Unlike Maverick, he doesn't go past it and throttles down after hitting Mach 10, bringing her back to base.
After landing, he is escorted by shore patrol to Admiral Cain's office.
At Cain's office, he reads out Iceman's record: citations, 38 years of service, combat medals, only man to shoot down 2 enemy planes in 40 years, distinguished.
"Yet you can’t get a promotion, you won’t retire, and despite your best efforts, you refuse to die. You should be at least a 4-star admiral by now, if not a senator. Yet here you are: Captain. Why is that?" Cain questions.
Iceman just bluntly says he likes flying.
Cain says that the future is with unmanned drones and Iceman's kind is headed to extinction. Cain received a call from upstairs from Iceman's guardian angel and that he's to be transferred to Top Gun.
Cain dismisses Iceman.
Iceman then leaves and gets in his car and drives to North Island.
We see Iceman arrive at Top Gun. He walks through the lobby and on the wall, he sees a portrait of 4-star Admiral Pete Mitchell, Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet, along with a photo of Iceman and Maverick shaking hands on the hanger after that eventful mission in the Indian Ocean.
We see Iceman meet and greet Rear Admiral Bates aka Warlock and 3-star Admiral Beau Simpson, Air Boss aka Cyclone. They trade quick pleasantries before going over the mission: unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant built in violation of a multilateral NATO treaty.
Iceman goes through a rundown of what would need to be done with the F18s and precision-guided laser bombs.
Iceman assumes he'll be the one to fly the mission but Simpson tells him he's here to teach not actually fly the mission.
Simpson shows Iceman the pool of Top Gun grads that will be participating in the mission.
Iceman is confused.
Simpson tells Iceman that Iceman is only here at the request of Admiral Mitchell someone that Simpson admires and Mitchell believes Iceman has something to still offer the navy, what that is Simpson can't see it.
Iceman takes the job.
Iceman is not much of a drinker so he doesn't go to the bar and is home enjoying a glass of ice-cold water with his wife.
So next day, Iceman drives to the Top Gun school for evaluation and review of the candidates.
The 12 pilots are introduced to Admiral Bates and Bates says with the new 5th generation fighters the USAF and the USN no longer have total air superiority.
Six of them will be chosen and 6 will be in reserve.
Bates introduces the 12 pilots to Captain Tom Iceman Kazansky, one of the finest pilots that Top Gun ever produced.
Iceman says he will see what each one of them can do because it's all about the pilot.
They run through the fighter maneuvers. Iceman tests them and schools all of them. The only one to even give Iceman any kind of trouble was Hangman but Hangman also is no match for Iceman. They all have to do 200 pushups: Phoenix, Bob, Payback, Fanboy, Hangman, Coyote, Hammer, Fritz, Halo, Yale, Harvard, Omaha.
Hangman and Coyote look at pictures of old Top Gun class graduates and see a picture of Iceman with Maverick.
This is the second day and they actually run through the drills of the bombing mission.
Phase one of the mission will be a low-level ingress attacking in two-plane teams.
You’ll fly along this narrow canyon to your target.
Radar-guided surface-to-air missiles defend the area.
These SAMs, they’re lethal.
But they were designed to protect the skies above, not the canyon below.
That’s because the enemy knows no one is insane enough to try and fly below them.
That’s exactly what I’m gonna train you to do.
On the day, your altitude will be 100 feet maximum.
You exceed this altitude…
[Radar beeping] Radar will spot you and you’re dead.
[Beeping intensifies]
Your airspeed will be 660 knots minimum.
Time to target: Two and a half minutes.
That’s because fifth-generation fighters wait at an air base nearby.
In a head-to-head with these planes in your F-18s, you’re dead.
That’s why you need to get in, hit your target and be gone before these planes even have a chance of catching you.
This makes time your greatest adversary.
You’ll fly a route in your nav system that simulates the canyon.
The candidates all failed either crashing into the wall, each other, or going above the altitude limit triggering the SAM missiles.
At the debriefing, Hangman and Rooster almost come to blows because Hangman basically says Rooster sucks.
Kazansky decides to pay Admiral Mitchell a visit at his home, a big mansion.
Admiral Mitchell's aide-de-camp opens the door for Kazansky.
There’s nothing else they can do.
Even speaking is painful now.
[Michell coughing]
[Coughs]
[Coughing]
Admiral.
Kazansky: How’s my wingman?
[Typing]
Please, don’t worry about me.
What can I do for you?
[Sighs]
All right.
[Chuckles]
Kazansky: these kids suck.
[Typing]
The mission is less than three weeks away.
The kid’s not ready.
[Typing]
Mav, please, don’t ask me to send someone else to die.
Please don’t…
Don’t ask me to send him.
Send me.
I don’t know how.
[Sighs]
I’m not a teacher, Mav.
I’m a fighter pilot.
A naval aviator.
It’s not what I am.
It’s who I am.
How do I teach that?
It’s not what the Navy wants.
That’s why they canned me the last time.
The only reason I’m here is you.
If I send him on this mission, they might never come home.
And if I don’t send him, he’ll never forgive me.

• A bit of backstory: Iceman, unlike in Earth 1, feels responsible for Goose's death since Mav and Goose got caught in his jet wash and Goose got his neck broken when they tried to eject out of a flat spin.

[Sighs]
I know.
I know.
[Exhales deeply]
[Grunts]
[Coughs]
[Hoarsely] The Navy needs Iceman.
The kid needs Iceman.
That’s why I fought for you.
That’s why you’re still here.
Thank you, Mav, for everything.
One last thing.
Who’s the better pilot?
You or me?
Kazansky: you obviously, you got 1st place.
[Laughing]
Instead of wasting time playing football, Iceman has them run more drills over and over again to get it right.
[Warlock] Good morning.
The uranium enrichment plant that is your target will be operational earlier than expected.
Raw uranium will be delivered to the plant in ten days’ time.
As a result, your mission has been moved up one week in order to avoid contaminating the target valley with radiation.
Kazansky: Sir, no one here has successfully flown a low-level course.
Nevertheless, you’ve been ordered to move on.
Captain.
[Iceman] We have one week left to focus on phase two.
It’s the most difficult stage of the mission.
It’s a pop-up strike with a steep dive, requiring nothing less than two consecutive miracles.
Two pairs of F-18s will fly in a welded wing formation.
Teamwork. Precise coordination of these aircraft is essential to both the mission’s success and your survival.
As you know, the plant rests between two mountains.
On final approach, you’ll invert directly into a steep dive.
This allows you to maintain the lowest possible altitude and the only possible attack angle.
Your target is an impact point less than three meters wide.
The two-seat aircraft will paint the target with a laser bull’s-eye. [Beeping]
The first pair will breach the reactor by dropping a laser-guided bomb on an exposed ventilation hatch.
This will create an opening for the second pair.
That’s miracle number one.
The second team will deliver the kill shot…
[Target lock beeps]
And destroy the target.
That’s miracle number two.
If either team misses the target…
That’s a miss. [Iceman] The mission is a failure.
Egress is a steep high-g climb out to avoid hitting this mountain.
A steep climb at that speed, you’re pulling at least eight G’s.
Nine, minimum.
Rooster: The stress limit of the F-18’s airframe is 7.5.
[Iceman] That’s the accepted limit.
To survive this mission, you’ll pull beyond that, even if it means bending your airframe.
You’ll be pulling so hard, you’ll weigh close to 2,000 pounds, your skull crushing your spine…
Your lungs imploding like an elephant’s sitting on your chest,
fighting with everything you have just to keep from blacking out.
And this is where you’ll be at your most vulnerable.
This is coffin corner.
Assuming you avoid crashing into this mountain, you’ll climb straight up into enemy radar while losing all of your airspeed.
Within seconds, you’ll be fired upon by enemy SAMS.
You’ve all faced sustained G’s before, but this…
This is gonna take you and your aircraft to the breaking point.
Phoenix/Bob and Coyote run the course and fail except Coyote crashes his plane and dies.
Then, with a bird strike hitting Phoenix's plane, both engines fail along with their ejection seats, and crash, both die.
Both are ruled as accidents and not held against Iceman.
Admiral Pete Mitchell passes away from throat cancer and Iceman attends his funeral with full military honors.
While Iceman was at Mitchell's funeral, Admiral Simpson thought of grounding Iceman for good but thought what better way than for Iceman to fail and Admiral Simpson will have full evidence to terminate Iceman for good.
Iceman thinks it's better to show them that the course can be done so Iceman himself demonstrates it and successfully completes it with bombing and all with no weapons officer.
Admiral Simpson is shocked as are the other surviving lieutenants in attendance.
With Iceman's amazing flying skills, Simpson just appoints Iceman team leader.
On the aircraft carrier, Iceman has some quick words with Admiral Warlock and Warlock wishes him good luck along with saying his goodbyes.
Iceman picks Payback and Fanboy, Rooster, and Hangman for his mission.
Everyone else will standby on the carrier.
Admiral Simpson in command of the mission.
They run through the mission one more time.
They launch from the carrier.
The supporting destroyers launch their Tomahawk missiles on Admiral Simpson's commands.
While Iceman and his team are en route, radar only detects 2 enemy fighter craft in the air.
The Tomahawks hit their targets and destroy the enemy runways so they can't launch any more planes.
The first pair of planes (Payback, Fanboy) which include Iceman, they hit the target opening up a hole for team 2 to drop the bomb in the reactor.
The second pair (Rooster, Hangman) manage to also hit their target and destroy the reactor.
While everyone is trying to climb out of the mountain, the SAM missiles are triggered and fire missiles at the fighters. Rooster's plane is hit and destroyed.
Admiral Simpson orders all carrier planes to return to the carrier. Hangman, Payback, Fanboy, and Iceman successfully make it back to the carrier.
We see Iceman go home to his wife and the sequence fades to black.
THE END

I've always been bound to death.
On my eighth birthday, a shadow strode into my house and shot me and my family dead. I remember it vividly, every detail, every angle, etched and stained and carved into my memory.
I sat very still with my knees to my chest, my gaze glued to my siblings.
Lily and PJ looked like they were sleeping, and I could almost believe it.
I didn't look at the shadow.
From the comfort of my knees, I waited for my brother to lift his head.
But his body was so limp, so still, every part of him faltering. My sister’s head was nestled in his shoulder, thick beads of red running down her face.
They're just sleeping.
I could tell myself they were— as long as I didn't look at the splatter of scarlet staining the back of the couch and pooling at their feet.
BANG.
Mom’s body dropped onto the ground.
I lunged forwards, slamming my hands over my ears.
BANG.
PJ’s head slumped forwards, a teasing smile still frozen on his lips.
BANG.
Lily gently tipped into PJ, like she was going to sleep.
Before she closed her eyes, Mom told me to run.
I can't remember how long I stayed under the shattered remnants of Mom’s favorite table. The shadow was waiting for me to move, to make a noise.
I watched booted feet crunch through glass, getting closer and closer, and slowly, fight or flight began to take over.
Making it halfway across the living room, my palms slick with my mother’s blood, I thought I was going to live.
Cruel fingers wound their way through my hair and shoved me to my knees. I remember the phantom legs of a spider creeping down the back of my neck when the shadow with no face dragged the barrel of his gun down my spine.
“Turn around.”
The shadow had a voice.
When I didn't move, the protruding metal stabbed into my neck.
“Turn around, kid!”
I did, very slowly.
Behind him, my siblings still weren't moving.
They were asleep.
Lily was still smiling, strawberry blonde ringlets stained red.
I couldn't see PJ’S face anymore.
BANG.
I didn't feel the gunshot.
I didn't feel anything.
Looking down, I glimpsed slowly spreading red blossoming like a flower.
It felt like being cut from strings.
I hit the ground, just like my mother, my body felt heavy and wrong.
Paralysed.
I remember being unable to scream, unable to cry, the salty taste of metal filling my mouth. It was like being winded. Rolling onto my side, all I could see was flickering candlelight.
The air was thick, so hard to breathe.
I rolled onto my back trying to suck in air.
The shadow took a step back, opened the front door, and bled into the night.
I don't remember the pain, and I don't remember dying. I couldn't breathe, couldn't conjure words in my mouth.
I felt warm and sticky, lying in my own blood.
I think I tried to move.
But I was so tired.
I’m not sure what death feels like, because it's like going to sleep.
I remember my last shuddering breaths, a lulling darkness beginning to swallow me up. I don't know why I wasn't afraid.
Oblivion almost felt like I was sinking into lukewarm depths on a Summer’s day.
Oblivion wasn't pain, and there was a peaceful inevitability to it.
It was endless nothing, a nothing I found myself gravitating towards. But before I could envelope myself in that darkness, it was spitting me back out.
The next thing I knew, I was in a white room, a slow beeping sound tearing me from slumber. I had a vague memory of slow spreading roses blossoming across my shirt, like summer flowers blooming.
Everything was white.
The walls, the ceiling, and my clothes.
Sensation hit me in slow waves.
Exhaustion.
I felt it tightening its grip around my brain, dragging me back onto a mountain of pillows when I tried to jump up. My Aunt May was sitting next to me on a plastic chair, her warm fingers entangled in mine. Aunt May and Mom were practically twins, with the same thick red hair and pale skin.
Mom wore her hair in a casual ponytail, while May preferred a strict bun.
I had to bite back the urge to yank my hand away.
Aunt May was asleep, used tissues filling her lap.
There was a nurse pottering around, checking my vitals and prodding my arms. My eyes felt heavy. I had to blink several times to keep myself awake.
“Charlie?”
The nurse’s voice was like wind-chimes.
I pretended not to notice her forced lipstick smile, the way she stood with her arms folded, staring at me like I was one of my cousin’s experiments. “You were in an accident, sweetie,” the nurse spoke up. I could see her trembling hands. “Just, um, try and rest, okay?”
I wanted to ask where my family was, but I already knew the answer.
I think she knew that too.
“You died, Charlie.” The nurse’s voice was eerily cold. “You were dead for thirteen minutes.”
She took slow steps towards me, her eyes growing frenzied, like she couldn't understand me, like I was a puzzle she could not solve– and it was driving her crazy. I could see it in her twitching hands, her wobbling lips that were trying and failing to appear stoic.
“In fact, I just pulled you out of the morgue, honey. I opened up your body bag that I had just zipped up, and told your aunt that you were a miracle I just… can’t understand.” The nurse sounded like she was trying to choke down a laugh, or maybe a sob.
“Charlotte, you were pronounced dead at 3:02am from a gunshot wound to the chest.” Taking a slow, sobering breath, the nurse tried to smile. “The bullet went through the right ventricle of your heart and severely damaged your left lung, rendering you unable to breathe. Your heart stopped, and after four attempts to resuscitate, we called it.”
Something slimy wound its way up my throat when she began to pace the room. “I… did all the paperwork. It took me two minutes. Your death certificate was signed, and your body was taken to the morgue to be prepped for transportation. Then I had my lunch. Tuna salad with a protein milkshake. I’m not a fan of the chocolate flavor.”
She shook her head. “Anyway, when I came back to you, you were awake inside your body bag.” Her voice was starting to break. “You were…um, alive, and asked me for apple soda.”
The nurse moved closer, and yet kept her distance.
I could feel myself moving back, panic writhing through me.
“So.” The nurse spoke calmly. “How the fuck are you still alive, Charlie?”
I think I passed out after that.
When I woke up again, my head a lot less heavier, the nurse was gone.
Slowly, my foggy brain began to find itself and connect dots.
My mouth was dry, full of cotton.
There was a sudden tightness, a sharp and cruel sting in my wrists.
Something sharp was protruding into my flesh, and no matter how many times I violently wrenched my arm, it was stuck. It didn't feel right to be able to breathe so easily.
I knew the second I woke that my Mom was dead.
Lily and PJ were dead, and it was like losing them all over again.
As clarity came over me, I found my voice, a strangled cry escaping my lips.
“Get it out.” I whispered in a shrill cry.
Tugging at the IV in my wrist, I tried to yank the needle from my skin.
“Get it out!” I shrieked, my gaze glued to the tiny spots of blood staining the insertion point.
I could see it again.
So much blood.
Mom was curled up on the floor, lying in slow spreading red that wouldn't stop, seeping across her beaded rug.
She was all over me, slick on my skin and caked in my fingernails.
I couldn't wash her off of me.
“You're okay, Charlotte.”
Aunt May’s voice came from my right, stabling me to reality.
The world started to move again, started to make sense again, when she cupped my cheeks and told me to breathe. When I opened my mouth to ask where my family were, she lightly shook her head and I swallowed my words. Aunt May handed me a glass of water, and I drained it in one gulp.
She told me I was a miracle.
Aunt May didn't say much, and when she did, she broke into sobs.
Her eyes were raw from crying, clinging onto me, her shuddery voice reassuring me that I was going to be okay.
She told me I would be living with her from now on, before wrapping me into a hug and leaving to get coffee.
Once my aunt was gone, another nurse came to prod my IV.
I tried to sleep, but the uncomfortable tightness of the needle sticking into my skin and the sterile white lights in my eyes made it impossible. I waited for grief to catch up with me, drowning me in a hollow oblivion I wouldn't be able to claw myself out of. But I didn't feel sad. I didn't feel angry.
I wanted to know why my family were dead.
I wanted to know why I was breathing, and their skin was ice cold.
Rotting.
The sudden image of maggots crawling up my brother’s nose sent me lurching into a sitting position, my stomach heaving. Reaching for my glass of water, it was empty. The sensation of throwing up felt familiar, almost comforting.
Mom was always with me when I was sick, holding my hair back and lulling my hysteria with reassuring murmurs.
I was frowning at the trash can by the door, my cotton candy brain trying to figure out if I would be able to make it in time, when a small voice drifted from the doorway, startling me.
“I don't want you to come live with us.”
My cousin was peeking through the door, hiding behind a shock of dark brown curls. Jude was the only brunette in our family. The rest of us were redheads.
I wasn't sure why he was dressed up like a ghost, draped in a white cloak that was way too big for him. Jude was a weird kid. His mother, and my auntie, had inherited the family house, so in his mind, that made him superior.
Jude made it clear he didn't like his cousins, refusing to let us play with him and banning us from family gatherings.
When the adults were drinking cocktails and losing their awareness, Jude ordered us around. The times we did play with him, our cousin showed us his spider collection, or the raccoon brain he kept in a jar. PJ was convinced our younger cousin was a serial killer. Several months earlier, he'd happily showed us the roadkill he'd been growing bacteria on under his bed.
Jude’s ‘experiments’ were worrying.
He stuffed mushrooms down my brother’s ears while he was sleeping, to, and I quote, “Recreate The Last Of Us.”
When Lily had a nosebleed during Thanksgiving dinner, Jude collected all her bloody tissues and refused to tell us where he'd put them, and what he had done with them. Fast-forward two months, and I found them under a nest of spiders. Jude was trying to adapt the spiders to be able to feed on human blood. I was surprised my cousin hadn't immediately demanded to see my siblings’ dead bodies for autopsy.
Jude stepped into the room, shuffling his feet.
“I'm sorry about Lily, PJ, and Aunt Ivy.” He mumbled, glaring at the floor tiles.
My cousin made no move to offer real sympathy, instead speaking to the floor.
“But I don't want you to come live with us.” Jude lifted his head, looking me dead in the eye. “I don't like you, Charlie. I want you to stay away.”
Before I could reply, he stepped back like I was diseased.
“You should be dead.” Jude grumbled.
He scowled at me, getting my age purposely wrong as usual before running off.
“Happy 68th birthday.”
I was six months older than him.
In Jude’s eyes, I was ready for retirement.
Still, though, my cousin was right.
I was stone cold dead, and then I was somehow alive.
Which was wrong.
Growing up, I realized Death was not so subtly attempting to fix his mistake.
It started small. I'd choke on things I wasn't supposed to choke on.
Chips.
Candy.
Ice cream.
Aunt May had to perform the heimlich manoeuvre when I choked on a piece of chicken. I thought I was just really unlucky, but then I locked myself in a freezer that didn't have a lock, and almost drowned in the local swimming pool, catching my foot in stray netting.
At the summer fair, Jude convinced me to try apple bobbing, only for my head to conveniently get stuck underwater.
It started to make sense.
I was supposed to die with my family that night, and death was out to get me.
Death started to get clever, changing his tactic. Instead of using everyday things to try to kill me, he sent reinforcements.
I turned twelve years old, and my aunt threw me a huge party, inviting all my classmates. Aunt May was rich, rich.
Mom never explained it, but our grandparents left everything to May.
The house was like a palace, a labyrinth of floors I was yet to explore, and two swimming pools.
I was in the kitchen cutting myself a slice of cake, when, out of nowhere, a dead boy came rushing at me with one of my aunt’s favorite kitchen knives.
A dead boy who I immediately recognised.
Wren Oliver.
Several years prior, he'd gone missing from his parents' yard. The town launched a full investigation, only to find his body in a ditch a week later.
So, Death had sent a footsoldier.
Hiding under a hooded sweatshirt, Wren appeared older, like he had grown up with me. But there was a startling vacancy in his expression that drew the breath from my lungs, freezing me in place. Wren’s death was announced as an accident, though his wounds suggested the opposite, dried blood smearing his right temple and a cavernous hole in his chest, his clothes painted, stained, in bright red, glued in sticky mounds clinging to him.
The boy’s eyes were wild, feral, like an animal.
His hair was longer, a mess of reddish curls matted to his forehead.
Lip split into a demented giggle.
I remember taking a slow step back, my gaze glued to the knife.
Wren’s fingers were wrapped around the handle like he knew exactly how to use it, how to plunge it into my heart and kill me for good. He moved like a predator, zero self awareness or recognition, only driven to kill me.
The dead boy prided himself in slow, intimidating steps, shoving me against the wall and dragging the blade of the knife down the curve of my throat.
His eyes confused me, writhing with hatred that was artificial, programmed into him as Death’s official soldier.
He didn't speak, only smiled, revelling in my fear. I could tell it thrilled him, my trembling hands, my sharp, heavy breaths I couldn't control. Squeezing my eyes shut, I waited to finally die.
I waited for the pain, and to lose my breath once again.
But death was playing with me.
When I opened my eyes, the dead boy was gone, and I was on my knees, screaming.
“Wren Oliver is trying to kill me!" I managed to hiss.
My aunt knelt in front of me, her expression crumpling.
*Sweetie,” She spoke softly, squeezing my hands. Aunt May was trying to appear calm for my sake, but I could tell she was scared, her frantic eyes searching mine. “Wren Oliver is dead.”
The kids surrounding me started to giggle, whispering among themselves.
In the corner of my eye, my cousin was leaning against the door, mid eye roll.
When my aunt was ushering kids back to the pool, Jude came to crouch in front of me. Ever since I started living with him, he'd made sure to keep his distance.
This time, though, Jude leaned uncomfortably close, a sparkle in his eyes I had never seen before. Inclining his head, he rocked back and forth on his heels, prodding me in the forehead.
“If you see the dead boy again, can you tell me?” His lips curved into a smile.
“I did see him.” I gritted out. “I’m not lying.”
Jude shrugged. “I never said you didn't,” he lowered his voice into a whisper, “I wanna know when you see him again.”
“Why?”
His lips curved into a smirk.
“So, I can catch him.”
My cousin got closer, his breath tickling my cheek.
“I seeeeeeee dead people.”
After that incident, death left me alone for a while.
I was fifteen, walking through the forest with a friend, catching fireflies in bell jars. Aunt May was lucky to live so close to the forest, the entrance just outside her back door. When we were littles, PJ would drag Lily and I down the trail to escape Jude’s weird experiments.
I decided to invite Jem Littlewood on a summer walk.
Jem was cute, but in a dorky way. He was chronically clumsy, and dressed like he'd been spat out of a John Hughes movie. We hiked all the way to the end of the river and had a picnic, watching the sun set over the horizon. I was having conflicting feelings for this guy.
Jem was obsessed with fireflies.
Though he seemed more interested in photographing them than me.
The guy couldn't seem to sit still, jumping to his feet to marvel at tiny specks of light dancing in the air.
“I'm just going to take photos!” Jem beamed, holding up his camera.
I had to bite back the urge to say, “Don't you have enough photos?”
I nodded, and he turned and sprinted back down the trail.
Before his footsteps ground to a sudden halt.
At first, I thought he was snapping polaroids.
When I got closer, though, blinking in the eerie dark, I caught something.
Bending down, I picked up a bell jar still spilling fireflies.
Further down the trail, Jem was lying crumpled in the dirt, his camera smashed to pieces next to him, blood running in thick rivulets down his temple. There he was. Leaning against a tree, his arms folded, was the ghost boy. Wren Oliver was growing up with me. Now, a teenager, and yet his face was carved into something else entirely, more of a monster, slight points to his ears and too-sharp teeth, eyes ignited.
Wren didn't look like a ghost boy anymore.
Death had dressed him in shackles of ivy, a crown of glass and bone forced onto his head, entangled in his curls. Death was torturing him.
Wren’s body was its canvas, and every time I got away, he was punished, painting his failures across scarred skin.
I should have been running for my life, but I was mesmerised by each symbol cruelly carved into his neck.
The boy did a slow head incline, like he couldn't believe I was standing in front of him.
His slow spreading smile caught me off guard.
I remembered how to run, stumbling over my feet.
But I couldn't move.
The burning hatred that death had filled him with, was stronger, hollowing him out completely. I managed two shaky steps, before I felt him, an unearthly force winding its way around my spine. This time, he didn't hesitate.
I watched his mouth move, a single curve of his upper lip that wrenched my body from my control, slamming me against a tree. There was something around my throat, choking the breath from my lungs, a thick fog spreading over my eyes.
Following his mouth curving into silent letters, I could feel my feet slowly leaving the ground, my legs dangling.
I was floating.
Hovering off of the ground, suspended by his words.
Through half lidded eyes, I caught the glint of a blade between his fist, but I couldn't move, couldn't scream.
He was drowning me, bleeding into my blood, spider webbing and expanding in my brain without moving a muscle.
Instead, the ghost boy stood silently, running his thumb down the teeth of his knife while he ripped my lungs apart.
It was like suffocating, sinking into that peaceful oblivion I met at eight years old.
This time, though, the darkness was starving.
“Charlie?”
My eyes found daylight, a scream clawing out of my mouth.
“Charlie, it's past curfew!”
Wren flinched, his stoic expression crumpling.
The dead boy’s lips moved again, this time in a curse.
Fuck.
“Charlotte!”
Staggering back, Wren’s eyes widened and the suffocating hold on me severed.
His head snapped in the direction my aunt was coming from.
“Charlie, answer me right now.”
He hesitated, his bare feet pivoting in the dirt, like he was considering finishing me off. Wren studied me with lazy eyes, sucking on his bottom lip. When my aunt's footsteps got louder, branches snapping under her shoes, something contorted in the boy’s face.
Fear.
I guessed the boy wasn't expecting other humans to intrude.
Wren fell over himself, shuffling on his hands and knees, before diving to his feet. When he turned and ran, I was released, slipping to the ground, trying and failing to draw in breath. I barely felt the impact, only a dull thudding pain. I could hear the ghost boy’s footsteps, his uneven, shuddery breaths as he catapulted into a run.
Under a late setting sun, I watched his dancing shadow disappear into the trees.
Mission unsuccessful, I guessed.
When I was fully conscious, Aunt May was checking over Jem, helping him sit up.
“Where did he go?” I managed to get out, scanning the darkness for Wren.
“He's okay, just concussed.” May whispered, dialling 911.
My aunt applied a dressing to Jem’s wound, ignoring the boy’s hisses.
“Keep still.” she murmured, smoothing his bandaid. “What happened, Charlotte?”
“She pushed me over.” Jem groaned, shuffling away from me. When my aunt told him to stay calm, he straightened up, leaning against the tree. “The psycho bitch tried to fucking kill me!”
When my aunt's gaze flicked to me, I shook my head.
“It was Wren Oliver.” I gritted, teetering on hysteria. I could tell she didn't believe me, but I couldn't stop myself.
I prodded at my throat, clawing for the indentations where his phantom fingers snaked around my neck, squeezing the breath from my lungs.
But there was nothing.
I could feel my mind starting to unravel. I nodded to my disgruntled classmate trying to dodge my aunt’s prodding.
“Ow, ow, ow! That stings!
“He knocked Jem out.” I managed. “Then he tried to kill me.”
Jem surprised me with a scoff. “You're seriously blaming your psychotic break on a dead kid?”
Aunt May pursed her lips, motioning for Jem to be quiet. Judging from her face, however, she agreed with the boy.
May forced a smile, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. “Okay. Can you, uh, describe the boy to me, Charlotte?”
“He was wearing a crown,” I said, “And he looked my age.”
Aunt May cocked her head, and I saw real worry, like she was trying not to freak out. Jem made a snorting noise.
“I'm sorry, he was wearing a crown?”
“Yes!” I insisted, getting progressively more frustrated.
I tried to jump up, only for my aunt to gently lower me back down. “I know it sounds crazy, but death has sent Wren Oliver to kill me, just like my family. He tried to kill me when I was twelve, too!”
Jem let out a bitter laugh. “Your niece is a fucking wackadoodle.”
Aunt May’s eyes darkened. She grabbed my shoulders, her nails stabbing into my skin. “Charlie, I want you to listen to me, okay?” When my eyes found the rapidly darkening sky, my aunt forced me to look at her.
“Charlotte!”
She was as scared as me, her voice shuddering.
“Wren Oliver is dead.” My aunt said firmly, shaking me. Even then, though, I wasn't even looking at her. I was trying to find his ignited eyes lighting up the dark. “Wren died at eight years old in a terrible accident, and you can't keep using him as an excuse for your mental trauma.” There was something twitching in her expression I was trying to make sense of. When I risked a look at Jem, the boy was staring at me dazedly– like I really was crazy.
Aunt May pressed her face into my shoulder, and I could feel her tears soaking into my shirt. She was trying to hold it together, trying to understand.
“Charlie, I know you lost your family,” she whispered. “But you and Wren Oliver are not the same. You survived, and he didn't.” Her voice splintered.
“You need to come to terms with that, okay?”
When I didn't respond, she pinched my chin, forcing me to look at her.
“Charlotte.”
Aunt May’s voice turned cold. “I ignored this when you were a kid, but if you continue to use this poor boy as a coping mechanism, I will have no choice but to send you to a specialist.”
When Jem was taken away by paramedics, Aunt May held my hand, squeezing my fingers for dear life.
I caught her gaze scanning the tree's around us, delving into twisting oblivion. Every little noise sent her twisting around. She was looking for something.
“I'm going to get you help.” Aunt May said in a low murmur when we were back at the house. Jude was sitting on the kitchen counter, legs swinging. I could feel his penetrating gaze burning into the back of my head.
Aunt May set a cup of cocoa on the table.
“No more fairytales.”
By the time I was eighteen, I had bitten three therapists.
They refused to believe that death was coming to reclaim my soul, and was using a dead boy to do his dirty work.
For my 16th birthday, I braced myself to come face to face with Wren Oliver’s ghost.
I wasn't even in town, staying at a friend's house.
But dead boys, and especially dead boys moulded into Death’s personal soldiers, could materialise anywhere.
I locked every door in the house, and taped up my friend’s window.
Nothing happened.
On my seventeenth birthday, I was sick in bed with gastritis.
Still no ghost boy.
Death seemed to have finally left me alone.
On my eighteenth birthday, I was stuffing books in my locker when my cousin popped up out of nowhere, scowling as usual. After an unexpected growth spurt and losing a tonne of baby fat, my cousin had scaled the high school hierarchy, swapping his weird experiments for a varsity jacket and experimenting with his sexuality.
The two of us had come to an unspoken truce.
I kept quiet about his spider collection to his popular friends, and he tolerated my existence until I left for college.
“Your surprise party is cancelled.”
Jude leaned against my locker, running a hand through thick dark hair tucked under a baseball cap. Jude never admitted it, but he was definitely embarrassed of being the odd one out.
My siblings may be dead, but they were still redheads.
I pulled off his cap with a smile, throwing it in his face. “Sure it is.”
My cousin’s eyes widened. He lost his slick bravado, grabbing for his cap.
“Hey!”
According to my cousin, my party was unexpectedly cancelled every year.
I wasn't sure if it was his weird superiority complex, or just plain jealousy, but it was getting exhausting.
Jude followed me down the hallway, matching my stride.
“Can you just not come home tonight?”
I quickened my pace. “It's only a party. I'm having some friends over, and no, we won't go anywhere near your room.”
“No, I mean.” Jude stepped in front of me, and for the first time in a while, he wasn't trying to hide disdain for me.
His dark eyes pinned me in place for a moment, the world around us coming to a halt. Sound bled away, and all I heard were his slow breaths. There was something there, an unexplainable twitch in his eyes and lips, that twisted my gut.
Jude stepped closer, his lip curling. He shoved me back, losing his facade.
“Stay the fuck away from the house tonight.” He said, and his voice, his tone, was enough to send shivers creeping down my spine. Jude had always hid behind a ten foot wall in his mind. It was jarring to see something in him finally start to splinter. Fuck. I thought.
This kid had serious Mommy issues.
I blinked, and the world resumed, kids pushing past us.
Jude seemed to catch himself, slipping back under his mask.
“I'm having friends over,” he rolled his eyes, “Your presence will ruin the vibe.”
“It's my birthday?”
He groaned, tipping his head back. “Yes, I know. But–”
“I think you can deal with the attention off of you for one night, Jude.”
“Will Wren Oliver be there too?” Jem Littlewood hollered.
Jude didn't respond for a moment, his lip curling.
“Shut the fuck up.” He spat at Jem, who immediately backed down. With an audience this time, Jude forced an award winning smile. “Fine.” His lips split into a grin I knew he hated. My cousin clamped his hand on my shoulder, hard enough to hurt. I could feel his fingers pinching the material of my jacket. “Have it your way, dude.”
Jude backed away with a two fingered salute.
“Happy 78th birthday!”
In a sense, I wish I listened to my cousin.
My party was a success, sort of.
Four of us, a crate of beers, and no sign of my cousin.
I was mildly tipsy, sitting on the edge of the pool, dangling my legs in the water when my friend demanded more beers.
I was also hungry for cake, so I stumbled inside in search of the goods.
The house was dark, lit up in dazzling blue from the pool's lights reflecting through the windows. Aunt May was in her office on the ground floor, and Jude was getting high in his room. In my drunken state, I found myself marvelling my aunt's house, and how much of it was left unexplored.
For example, in the foyer, past the spiral staircase she’d had custom made, was an elevator I had never questioned.
There was a girl my age standing on the staircase.
She was frozen, mid run, dressed in ragged jeans and t-shirt.
Everything about her stuck out to me, bringing me to a sobering halt.
The girl reminded me of my sister– or at least, if my sister had ever grown up.
I wasn't sure if I was drunk or hallucinating.
Her flower crown was pretty…
Lily had grown wings.
I was slowly moving towards her, a sudden bang sounding from the kitchen.
The bang of something shattering on the floor.
Twisting around, I found myself gravitating towards warm golden light.
The first thing I saw was the refrigerator door hanging open, and someone, no, something, rooting around inside it.
Glued to the spot, I dazedly watched them grab milk, guzzling it down, and then soda, cracking open each can and sucking them dry, before carving their fingers into my birthday cake.
But I wasn't looking at the spillage of food seeping across the floor. Instead, my gaze found a crown of antlers, both human and animal bone entangled with dead flowers and human remains glued to a head of familiar matted brown curls. There was something sticking from battered and bruised flesh, twin gaping slits sliced through a torn shirt resembling glass wings that were not yet formed, reminding me of a butterfly.
Wings.
But not the wings I dreamed of as a kid. These things were unnatural mounds that both did and didn't make sense on a human boy. I could see the trauma of them slicing through his flesh, monstrous, looming things protruding from what was left of a human spine.
Human, and yet I couldn't call his beautifully grotesque face human.
Wren Oliver had grown up with me, now an adult.
Eighteen years old.
His clothes confused me, a single white shirt and shorts.
Wren’s feet were bare, battered and bruised, blood smearing my aunt's tiles.
Angel.
Death had turned his footsoldier, and my future killer, into an angel.
But there was nothing angelic about the dead boy, his body and mind sculpted and moulded into Death’s own.
The boy no longer resembled a human, feral eyes and a manic smile, choking down pieces of cake. His face had been contorted into a monster, gnashing teeth and sharp points in his ears, a sickly tinge to malnourished skin.
And that's when it hit me, watching him stuff himself with food.
Something slimy inched its way up my throat.
The boy didn't move. I don't even think he'd noticed me, gorging himself on anything he could get his hands on.
Chicken, raw bacon, leftover salad.
When he moved onto cupcakes, licking frosting from his fingers, I glimpsed markings on his arms, a language I didn't understand, carved into him.
His wrists were shackled, bound, in entangled iron and vine, iron that was ingrained into his skin, vines and flowers and ivy entangling his bones, that were part of him, polluting his blood. Slowly, my eyes found stab wounds splitting open his torso.
Raw flesh, where his skin had been torched, melting, and then merging, ripped apart and put back together over and over again.
I found his heart, the gaping cavern in his chest where it should be.
And it was.
Marked, carved, and branded with a symbol resembling an X.
Wren Oliver was not dead.
But, just like me, he should have been.
I remember saying his name, my voice slurred slightly.
I didn't drink that much, but I could barely coerce words, my head spinning.
Wren’s neck snapped towards me, his eyes narrowing with resentment I couldn't understand, hatred that seemed to puppeteer him. Slowly tilting his head, the boy’s lips split into a grin, eyes filled, polluted, with mania.
I could see where his lips had been stitched shut, and then ripped open.
“Hi.”
He held up his hand in an awkward wave.
When one of my friends stumbled into the kitchen, Wren reacted on impulse.
He picked up a knife from the counter, throwing it like a dart, straight through the guy’s throat.
Something shattered inside my mind.
Ignoring my friend bleeding out, Wren stumbled over himself, abandoning his feast. He took a single step towards me, backing me against the wall, coming so close, close enough for me to feel his very real breath grazing my cheeks. Just like when he was a kid, he traced the teeth of his blade down my throat. I wasn't expecting him to burst out laughing, trembling with hysteria.
His eyes were wild, feral and wrong, almost euphoric.
With what all I could only recognise as relief.
BANG.
I was barely aware of the gunshot.
The bullet went straight through his head, the winged boy hitting the ground.
Dead.
I saw the blood stemming around him in a halo before the bleeding pool faltered, seeping back inside his head.
Like rewinding a VCR.
Wren was dead, and then he was alive.
Wren’s body contorted, his chest inflating.
His gasp for air was painful, strangled, eyes opening wide.
Terrified.
“You fucking idiot.”
Jude’s voice sent me twisting around.
My cousin stood in the exact same robes he wore as a child.
The world tipped off kilter, and I was on my knees, then my stomach.
I sunk to the floor, my thoughts swimming.
Jude’s murmur followed me, creeping into the dark.
“I told you not to come home.”
I can't remember how long I was unconscious for.
When I woke, I was dressed in an evening gown, a dress that used to be my mother’s.
My vision cleared, and I found myself sitting in an unfamiliar room resembling an abandoned swimming hall.
The pool itself was empty, the bottom stained revealing scarlet.
There were symbols carved into each tile.
Like a game.
“Sit up straight, Charlotte.”
I was sitting at a banquet.
Jude was in front of me, sipping on wine.
He caught my eye for half a second before averting his gaze.
At the far end of the table sat my aunt May.
Kissing the rim of her glass, her smile was twisted.
“I've been waiting so long to give you your birthday presents, Charlotte. Your memories should be returning soon.”
“Mom.” Jude muttered, hiding behind his glass. “Calm down. You're embarrassing yourself.”
Ignoring my cousin, May tapped her glass with a fork, and in walked my birthday presents.
No, dragged.
By their hair.
Wren Oliver, the dead boy, was in fact my aunt's prisoner.
Behind him, was the girl who looked so much like Lily.
I think that's why my aunt chose her.
Aunt May cleared her throat.
“For a long time, our family has lived among creatures who live in the forest you played inside. In exchange for keeping this town safe, they only ask for small favors. Wayward children who disappear into the woods are good enough payment. Charlie, you and your siblings do not share our inheritance. Your mother never wanted fae children. She wanted you to be human.”
Aunt May’s smile faded.
“After losing my sister, and my niece and nephew, I made a deal to give my last surviving niece 100 years of life.”
Her words were white noise, my gaze glued to my birthday presents. I couldn't call them human anymore.
I couldn't call Wren human, when his face was so beautifully grotesque, painfully hypnotising.
The monstrous things sticking from twin slits in his back were supposed to be wings, except they looked wrong, cruelly protruding from his exposed spine. Under the influence of alcohol earlier, the girl made me smile.
Her wings, to me, looked like one of a real fairy.
In reality, they were torn and shredded apart, bigger than the girl herself.
When she dropped onto her stomach, she was dragged back to her feet, her knees buckling under the weight. Her tiara of flowers and bone looked pretty to me when I saw her on the stairs.
Now, though, I could see the pearly white of a human child's skull forced onto her head, dead flowers threaded through cavernous, gaping eye sockets.
The two of them were violently shoved into the empty pool.
“Jude. Please demonstrate, sweetheart.”
Jude stood, pulling out a gun, and aiming it at the winged girl.
BANG.
The girl’s body hit the tiles, her blood seeping across stained white.
“Now, of course, our king did not give you life for free.” May continued.
“The King demanded a debt, as well as two heirs to join him in his court once your hundred years were complete.”
Her lips quirked into a smile.
“The king is smart. If a child cannot be stolen from the human world, they can, however, be made, moulded and shaped from their human forms, skinned of their humanity through their suffering, leaving a hollowed out shell in the child's place.” She was speaking so casually, ignoring Wren’s whimpers.
“The conversion takes a while. 100 years to birth a fully blooded fae heir, who will lose their human memories, in preparation to join their new family.”
Jude shot Wren in the chest, his eyes empty.
This time, he dropped his weapon, using finger-guns instead.
“Bang.” He deadpanned.
Then the neck.
I watched Wren come back to life, and then die.
Over and over again.
I think at one point, he screamed and cried.
But not now.
He was their puppet on display, dancing for their entertainment.
Half lidded eyes drowned in oblivion found mine, and I understood his hatred.
Before he was shot again.
Stabbed.
Branded and burned, and ripped apart.
At some point, I screamed at them to stop. I couldn't breathe, slamming my hands over my ears and begging them.
Aunt May didn't listen, ordering for my hands to be tied down.
“The King required two human sacrifices to suffer in your place.” She concluded. “For one hundred years.”
Aunt May’s smile was suddenly sad, and she lifted her glass in a toast.
I was watching their blood trickle down each tile in the pool, like every death, every time they suffered, my body became progressively less human.
I felt disgusting. I wasn't supposed to be alive. Every single year of my life, every breath I had taken, was stolen.
Aunt May nodded at me, her lips forming a proud smile. She stood up, and was handed a sacrificial knife.
Climbing into the swimming pool herself, she strode over to Wren.
The boy slumped to the floor, trembling, his knees against his chest.
Aunt May grabbed him by the hair, forcing his head up, and sliced the blade across his throat.
His eyes flicked to me, and I swore he smiled.
Spots of red dotted yellowing tiles, a river trickling under my aunt's heels.
“Happy 78th birthday, Charlotte.”
Last night ended with me being locked in my room.
It's been almost 15 hours, and the door is still locked. Please help me. I'm fucking terrified of what my aunt is planning.
I can't stop shgajing. FycjbfucibFUCK
If she is telling the truth, I shouldn't be here, right??
And I can't stop thinking.
Is Wren Oliver trying to kill me, or himself?

Last week's post https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cl1pkm/roundup_ufos_and_bob_universal_object_tracke
Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20240505212215/https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cl1pkm/roundup_ufos_and_bob_universal_object_tracke
Moon phase waning crescent, three days before new
Mars Right Ascension 0h 17m 54s
.1 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cl2c9f/1st_postlondon_sighting_today/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, daytime, from airplane, over London England the UK 🇬🇧, single dark object, dark grey, metallic/glass material looking and probably a stereotypical “spinning top” shape., moving fast, interaction with airplane, flew under it,
.2 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cl52m9/the_dr_gary_nolan_post_earlier_has_me_thinking/ childhood experience description, no craft, at home, nighttime, light shining in bedroom, repeat visitor, flashing light coming from under my bed., physical effects paralysis, emotion of fear, has anyone seen?
.3 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cl5zaa/strange_metallic_color_object/ video, daytime sky, single object blackwhite, elongated, horizontal orientation, possible disk shape, Hanford California, near Lemoore navy base., horizontal trajectory, low over treeline, contemporaneous report
.4 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1clidos/uap_off_the_coast_of_virginia_beach_sept_14_2021/ photos, daytime cloudy sky, over water Atlantic Ocean, off Virginia Beach Virginia, single dark object, angular, not seen by eye, greenish glow, possible military response jet, OP comments downvoted, [GOODPOST], heptagon
.5 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1clogf2/observation_during_flight_unidentified_object/ video, daytime cloudy sky, from airplane, single dark object moving, elongated, diffuse trail, horizontal orientation, Palma Mallorca Balearic Islands Spain 🇪🇸 , observed exiting cloud, horizontal trajectory, contrails type, downvoted to zero in 1 hour, OP comments downvoted
.6 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cleqly/triangle_or_tr3b_sighting_in_colorado_about_20/ sighting description and drawing, nighttime sky, at home, urban area, Boulder Colorado, triangle 🔺️ observed, threelights with central red 🔴 light, lighting configuration change, butterfly 🦋, ⚪️🔴⚪️, physical effects paralysis, transfixed, trajectory change observed, the craft was ascending into the sky, but it would also dip back down and hold steady for a bit before heading up again., contemporaneous report,
.7 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cl77ee/personal_possible_sighting_2018/ video, nighttime sky, single light object moving erratically, zigzag movements, brightness change, flareup and dimming, over water, Belgrade Lakes Maine, duration 30 minutes, vanishing, possible cubensphere,
.8 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1clsdmw/all_the_relevant_uap_updates_from_april_29_may_5/ information, state of disclosure USA https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cl29t3/mexico_and_peruvian_ufo_disclosure_roundup/ state of disclosure, Mexico and Peru
.9 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1claaol/ufos_appearing_in_different_photos_on_different/ photos, daytime cloudy sky, two events, single object blackwhite, metallic sphere observed, twolights, Pima Air Museum and at my house, at home, backyard, observed vanishing,
.10 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1clg5nq/100_genuine_ufo_need_help/ video, daytime cloudy sky, from airplane, near Newark New Jersey, fleet, multiple objects, flashing erratically, not seen by eye
.11 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1clrp5a/ai_recreation_of_2010_las_vegas_summer_sighting/ sighting description and drawing, downvoted to zero in 1 hour, OP comments downvoted, two witnesses, twolights, nighttime, urban area, Las Vegas Nevada, single light object moving fast, possible reaction to being observed, trajectory change, approach, jumpy movement, wavy trajectory, haze, While it was descending it appeared to be teleporting or waving in an up and down motion while emitting a purple and green mist until it came to a stop. 🟣🟢, moving and stationary and moving, sudden departure upward, the white lights extended to the edges and the perimeter of the craft appeared to have “metal” plates evenly spaced around. The whole craft was a dark metallic purple., texture visible
.12 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cl9ryu/yall_ever_seen_a_tr3b/ discussion of sightings, threelights, triangle 🔺️
.13 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cl9xt0/i_just_saw_a_ufo/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, nighttime, at home, outside window, single light object, approach, The light seemed to be strobing instead of flashing, and would never fully go dark., trajectory change, wavy trajectory, almost swerving through the air., U-turn, moving fast, rural Wisconsin, has anyone seen?
.14 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cluf14/did_i_actually_see_a_ufo/ sighting description, Yosemite California, nighttime cloudy sky, near water, hottub, single light object, speed change, suddenly start to accelerate in one direction(close to the direction it was moving slowly), then it made a big U-turn in the sky, like it drew a check mark ✔️ in the sky., trajectory change, two witnesses, similar sightings in comments
.15 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1clwlpe/uap_july_22_2023_south_dakota/ photos, daytime sky, single object blackwhite, angular, heptagon, south Dakota , two witnesses, at home, backyard, flew over the witness home, horizontal trajectory,
.16 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1clxdne/lights_in_the_sky/ video, nighttime sky, from car, single object multiple lights, threelights, close formation, low over treeline, observed moving slowly
.17 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1clx2z3/i_saw_a_ufo/ sighting description and drawing, Crescent 🌙 shaped with a pointed tip , geometric scaly rigid body , cloud like cloak, manta shape, texture observed, flew overhead, two witnesses, irregular shape, angular, gave a feeling of being old or out of time., felt compelled to follow it, refused cause I didn’t want to know what was inside the big thing.,silent, west Texas , similar sightings in comments, [GOODPOST]
.18 https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1clv208/seen_some_trance_lights_i_cant_explain/ video, nighttime sky, twolights, angled from the horizon, stationary, powerlines, low over rooftop, western Kentucky, some moved kinda erratically and some moved straight https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1cmeavl/better_view_of_the_lights_i_cant_explain/ more video
.19 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1clbq63/ufo_sonoma_county/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, Sonoma County California, single light object, low over treeline, reaction to being observed, descending below treeline, As I was thinking to myself why is that light so bright, it got dimmer and seemed to drop down below the tree., repeat visitor or second object, flareup, ascending, trajectory change, U-turn, descending,
.20 https://old.reddit.com/UF0/comments/1clauxl/bright_color_changing_expanding_uap_above_my_yard/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, multicolored, flareup or size change, at home, possible smaller object accompanying it or emitting orb, blue 🔵, repeat visitor, similar sighting in comments
.21 https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1clalrd/strange_lights_in_sky_is_this_normal/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, descending below rooftop, at home, urban area
.22 https://old.reddit.com/CLOUDS/comments/1cl9obd/volcano_above_the_clouds/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, cloud anomaly, tower, from airplane, southern USA, near water gulf of Mexico,
.23 https://old.reddit.com/atoptics/comments/1cl9kg0/what_is_this_over_vietnam/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, rainbow 🌈 anomaly, urban area, powerlines, Vietnam 🇻🇳
.24 https://old.reddit.com/UFOB/comments/1cl99el/just_saw_an_orb/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, nighttime, at home, West Yorkshire the UK 🇬🇧, single light object, descending, ball of white plasma with a central core that was comprised of green and rust orange filaments. 🟢🟠, disappeared behind treeline, similar sightings in comments , silent
.25 https://old.reddit.com/BackwoodsCreepy/comments/1cl5goq/strange_feeling_in_appalachia/ experience description, possible bigfoot, camping, Appalachia, footsteps, knocking, humming, Like as if a person was just humming a tune., felt observed, witness went to sleep
.26 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cm9jr3/ideas_on_what_this_is/ video, nighttime sky, Jeollabukdo south Korea 🇰🇷 , single light object, observed stationary and moving, possible reaction to being observed, oval-shaped, possibly illuminating clouds, overhead, silent, urban area, starlink?
.27 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cmhl2uaps_in_edmonton_ab_may_4_2024/ photo and video, daytime cloudy sky, photo shows twolights, angled from the horizon, Edmonton Alberta Canada 🇨🇦, 53° 32' 45.1788'' N,
.28 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cm2wio/anyone_in_dayton_ohio_see_a_ufo_on_friday_night/ sighting description, Dayton Ohio, has anyone seen?, single light object moving fast, illuminating sky, vanishing, All the sudden the sky lit up. I looked up and it appeared the moon was very full and very bright. Then it immediately shot across the sky and burned out., near USAF, Wright Patterson air force base, meteor?
.29 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1clx1gd/an_experience_i_had/ experience description, at home, nighttime, single light object, size change or approach, flew overhead, moving and stationary, orange 🟠, vanished, emotion of happiness, repeat visitor
.30 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cmkfms/does_anyone_have_any_idea_what_this_could_be_my/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single dark object, elongated, diffuse trail, jellyfish 🪼 , from airplane, shape change, contrails type, submission statement issues, removed, lost data
.31 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cm44sl/peoples_reaction_to_when_i_tell_them_what_iv_seen/ sightings, ongoing, discussion of stigma
.32 https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1cmpv22/can_anybody_tell_me_what_the_quick_flash_is_that/ timelapse video, nighttime sky, single light object, appearing and vanishing, low below treeline, directly in front
.33 https://www.reddit.com/useRollinnZaZa95/comments/1cmmhuq/2018_phoenix_lights_ups_hub/ video, nighttime sky, at work, threelights, flying in formation, low over rooftop, multiple witnesses, urban area, Phoenix Arizona
.34 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cmqyj1/what_is_this_found_it_at_indialantic_veach/ photos, possible metamaterial
.35 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cn2tqe/my_bil_just_experienced_contact_of_the_third_kind/ experience description, family story, brother in law, from car, nighttime, single light object, directly in front, cylindrical shape, metallic cigar shaped object. , followed the witness, approach, zigzag movements, emotion of fear, physical effects goosebumps, everything in his car suddenly felt charged with a huge amount of static electricity out of left field. All of his hair was sticking up - head, arms, entire body and when he would touch his dashboard or other parts of the car he would get shocked., felt observed, vibration, felt pulled, witness left the area, subsequent electronic effects car began locking and unlocking itself throughout the night in his garage- making the lock honk and unlock honk for hours., near Joshua Tree National Park California, camera can't detect it, dashcam goes from normal to seeing a bright white flash to being blurred out, to going back to normal again as he was driving away. , sleep disruption, having really bad nightmares about an abduction since, [GOODPOST] https://web.archive.org/web/20240508173925/https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cn2tqe/my_bil_just_experienced_contact_of_the_third_kind/ Archive
.36 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cmtbbw/possible_ufo_sighting_arizona/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, single object blackwhite, elongated, horizontal orientation, possible rectangle, not seen by eye, Arizona
.37 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cn5ntb/i_took_this_while_driving_through_nebraska/ photo, from car, daytime cloudy sky, single light object, not seen by eye, Nebraska
.38 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cmvnov/did_anybody_see_the_bright_flashing_lighting_up/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, from car, nighttime, driving east from wentville Missouri, single light object, flashing, very bright, illuminating sky, multiple witnesses, the whole highway slowed down., vanishing, has anyone seen?, similar sightings same area in comments
.39 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cn62ry/some_strange_experiences_ive_had_do_any_of_these/ experience descriptions, entity, inside bedroom, witness woke up, shadow figure, felt observed, witness went to sleep, subsequent dream description, entity, felt observed, subsequent information transfer, lying down in a room and having some information being put into my head and freaking out from whatever I had just learnt., emotion of fear,
.40 https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1cmy6y2/what_is_this_light_moving_through_sky/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, elongated, angled from the horizon
.41 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnads9/wtf_is_that/ photo, daytime sky, powerlines, plane for comparison, single light object, not seen by eye, urban area, Miami Florida, near water Atlantic Ocean, downvoted to zero in 30 minutes, OP comments downvoted
.42 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cncumx/my_sons_drawing/ art 🎨, drawing , flying saucer
.43 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnd105/phenomenon_related_dreams/ dream description, entity, The being/craft/king telepathically told us he was going to reveal himself to us and he ripped off his mask to reveal another plastic like clown mask., physical effects paralysis, vibration, I awoke in my bed (had to be 3am-4am) and I could not move but there were intense "electric" like pusles starting in my head and moving down my body through my feet.. They were extremely intense and slowly faded. It was not really painful but it was a little frightening, very intense and like nothing I have ever experienced.
.44 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnbxpu/my_mom_saw_a_ufo/ video, nighttime sky, from car, single light object, central Texas., very bright, moving fast , pulsating
.45 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnd42o/large_stationary_disk_ufo_over_north_atlantic/ sighting description, three witnesses, over water Atlantic Ocean, Myrtle Beach south Carolina, disk shape, very large, electronic effects camera can't detect it, stationary, nighttime https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cncxy4/large_stationary_disk_shaped_ufo_over_north/ reposted
.46 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cmxs3c/flying_object/ video, nighttime sky, single light object moving slowly, low over rooftop, the Netherlands 🇳🇱
.47 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cngbc7/spotted_this_evening_north_london/ sighting description and reference image, evening sky, threelights, orange 🟠, from car, urban area, London England the UK 🇬🇧, witness looked away and looked back, vanished, Went under a bridge and then they were gone.
.48 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cninhn/lantana_fl_ufo_or_something_over_ocean/ video, daytime cloudy sky, over water Atlantic Ocean, single object blackwhite, possibly rotating, moving slowly, vanishing and reappearing https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnip7a/lantana_fl_ufo_pics_to_go_with_video/ photo, Lantana Florida, beetle 🪲 or doughnut 🍩 shaped , submission statement issues, removed https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnv797/lantana_fl_ufo_or_something_in_sky_over_ocean/ photos reposted
.49 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnja67/vulture_to_the_left_ufo_to_the_right/ photo, daytime sky, single light object, possible disk shape, bird for comparison, not seen by eye, overhead, reddish glow, near Medford Oregon, downvoted to zero
.50 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnzjh1/introducing_anomaly_network_document_and_share/ original project, iPhone app, Anomaly Network, available at anomalynetwork.net, is a community-driven app where users can share their UFO sightings in real-time or document past encounters.
.51 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnl49k/what_is_it/ video, nighttime sky, single dark object, reaction to being filmed, It saw I was filming and try to hide., low over treeline, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy
.52 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnlcz8/video_i_took_not_sure_if_it_is_a_ufo_please_tell/ video, daytime sky, plane for comparison, single light object moving fast, elongated, horizontal orientation, tictac, horizontal trajectory , Jefferson City Missouri
.53 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnp5z4/sighting_report_south_of_niagara_triangle_craft/ sighting description, south of niagara Canada 🇨🇦, contemporaneous report, nighttime, triangle 🔺️, threelights, lights on each point, moving towards niagara from the south , trailed by a slow moving jet matching speed , interaction with airplane, followed by plane, both objects silent, The jet appeared to be a military design, one or two passenger and had lights on it as well it was silent as well and had no plume trail.,
.54 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cnnjg5/my_wife_sawsomething_strange/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, nighttime, two people at home, Camp Pendleton California, military, animal reaction dogs growling and hair standing up on their backs., twolights, vertical orientation, two bright white circle lights, kind of stacked up atop on one another. One smaller, one a little bigger. , moving, approach, similar sightings in comments and discussion of apathy, [GOODPOST]
.55 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cnpi63/i_just_had_my_first_experiance/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦, nighttime, two witnesses, single light object, wtf_is_that, reaction to being observed, sudden departure, It swiftly shot away the moment I looked at it, hovering about 20 feet above ground, leaving behind a trail of orange flame-like glow as it moved. 🟠, silent, emotional reaction shock, similar sighting in comments, over the witness home, backyard
.56 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cnwr98/ufo_corrientes_argentina_090524/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, elongated, haze, corrientes Argentina 🇦🇷, contemporaneous report, low over treeline, two witnesses, blue glow 🔵
.57 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cos8he/what_is_this_off_the_coast_of_walton_county_fl/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, Walton County Florida, over water, gulf of Mexico, single dark object, low over horizon, elongated, vertical orientation, possible haze or diffuse trail, rectangular shape, duration a couple minutes, vanished, contemporaneous report, [GOODPOST] https://old.reddit.com/MobileAL/comments/1cpskoc/military_helicopters/ possible military response helicopters
.58 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1codh6n/uap_close_encounte sighting description, at home, Brookline Missouri, nighttime, backyard, felt observed, single light object, metallic sphere, low over ground, silver colored spherical object about beach ball size. It was moving very slowly from my left to right., crossed directly in front, reaction to being observed, flareup, lighting configuration change, began flashing, moving and stationary and moving, jumpy movements, vanishing, silent, military aviation OP, telepathy, seemed to me like it could read my thoughts, [GOODPOST]
.59 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cohyet/uap_over_burbank_ca/ video, nighttime sky, urban area, Burbank California, near airport, single light object, orange 🟠, approach, possible reaction to being filmed, trajectory change, vanishing and reappearing, contemporaneous report, downvoted to zero
.60 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1co544x/saw_a_weird_light_in_the_sky/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, evening sky, from car, single light object, splitting, lighting configuration change to twolights, dimming, vanishing, scardovari Italy 🇮🇹 , near water river Po, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted
.61 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1com61m/liberty_nc/ video, nighttime sky, from car, liberty north Carolina, fleet, low over treeline, orange 🟠, moving slowly, silent
.62 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cotyqj/3_flying_objects_found_in_night_sky_with/ video, nighttime sky, multiple objects, moving erratically, low over treeline
.63 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cowsz0/what_was_this/ video, daytime cloudy sky, from airplane, single object blackwhite, possible disk shape or possible island, approaching Seoul Incheon Airport., south Korea 🇰🇷
.64 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cos39a/people_always_ask_why_do_ufos_only_come_to_the/ sighting description and discussion of the Bahamas 🇧🇸 as a Hotspot, especially as of lately in the last few years it’s spiked. contemporaneous report, nighttime, three witnesses, threelights, smaller objects accompany it, previous news report entities observed, tall tridactyl owl like beings that were zooming around in pods.,
.65 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1coxv5o/i_experienced_an_orb_51024_621_utc_i_saw_it_drop/ photos, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object, possibly emitting orbs, possible telepathy,
.66 https://old.reddit.com/UFOscience/comments/1coz2gold_pictures_from_2009_showing_strange_objects/ description of photos, single light object moving, twolights, plane for comparison, near airport, Mantova Italy 🇮🇹, facing the mountain called Monte Baldo.
.67 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1coycsz/juno_spacecraft_took_this_picture_am_i_imagining/ photo, Jupiter anomaly, possible structure
.68 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1conlyh/what_is_this_machine_preview_in_belgium_yesterday/ photos, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, single dark object, angular shape, blue glow, contemporaneous report, Gemmenich Belgium 🇧🇪, audio description funny noise, RC Wing/Plane
.69 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cohwgd/encounter_beyond_earth_unraveling_alien_tech/ detailed experience description, near Whitmore Lake, Michigan, possible abduction, location anomaly, ended up way off route, 40 miles north past my stop, right over the Zilwaukee Bridge. , subsequent telepathy, Since that night, my mind has been different. I’ve developed abilities I can't fully explain, like intense intuition and predictive dreams that actually come true https://old.reddit.com/AlienAbduction/comments/1codwhq/beyond_time_and_understanding/ same OP, more details
.70 https://old.reddit.com/space/comments/1cohf2x/iss_and_vsfb_rocket_flew_over_me_at_the_same_time/ reference ISS, reference rocket launch, video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, Vandenberg Space Force Base
.71 https://old.reddit.com/BackwoodsCreepy/comments/1co3xap/im_from_a_remote_village_in_northern_alaska_and/ sighting descriptions and local folklore, northern Alaska, entities, Innuligarraq (in-new-thli-gar-uck) (irrecenrat on my Yup’ik side), or the Little People. , In my personal experiences, I’ve seen the little ones and the big ones. They both can resemble humans, or just a blur on the land. I believe they’re part of another world or dimension and that’s why they cannot always be seen, similar sightings same area in comments , [GOODPOST]
.72 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cozlks/a_friend_of_mine_filmed_a_uap_with_greer_gree experience description friend of OP, human initiated contact, celebrity event, Greer confiscated video of single light object, it hovered a few feet over their head. They recorded the whole encounter, including it hovering over Greer and then flying off into the distance.
.83 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1coznlg/uap_spotted_after_spacex_launch/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, Central Valley California, at home, near rocket launch, observed moving and stationary and moving, sudden departure, vanishing, object moving left after the rocket, it seemed to stop, then started going off quickly to the right before completely disappearing
.84 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cp1sx7/i_witnessed_something_that_i_cant_explain/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, nighttime, at home, single light object stationary, very bright, two witnesses, witness looked away and looked back, vanished, near water, west coast of Denmark 🇩🇰
.85 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cp1kyk/night_flights_around_reserve_nm_weird_cluster_of/ video, nighttime sky, cosmic campground in Glenwood New Mexico, camping, duration 20-25 minutes, fleet, appeared out of nowhere
.86 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1cozhx1/uap_caught_on_camera_oc/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, vanishing, low over rooftop, central California, just after a space X falcon launch
.87 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cp8lsd/weird_uap_captured_tonight_in_south_dakota/ photo, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, crooks south Dakota, threelights, elongated, yellowish 🟡, trail, at home, backyard, similar sighting same area in comments , horizontal trajectory , northern lights
.88 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cp8yv9/filmed_this_tonight/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, powerlines, Wayland Michigan, contemporaneous report, single object moving fast , northern lights
.89 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpggt2/could_this_movement_be_attributable_to_parallax/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, Walla Walla Washington state, single light object moving and stationary, possible trajectory change, it appeared to veer from its arc and turn to the left a bit and then… it stopped.
.90 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cp7b16/airplane_satellite/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object moving, plane for comparison observed, video shows moving erratically, multicolored, white observed, low over rooftop, downvoted to zero , northern lights
.91 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpiwtg/northern_lights_ce5_contact_a2_michigan/ photos, nighttime sky, hard to see, contemporaneous report, human initiated contact, Michigan , northern lights
.92 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpiosv/am_i_crazy_or_is_this_weird/ video, nighttime sky, at home, single light object moving, multicolored, contemporaneous report, near Pawling new York state , northern lights
.93 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpjrp0/what_does_everyone_make_of_this_saw_this_last/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object, low over treeline, Tennessee, moving slowly, descending below treeline, trampoline, appeared out of nowhere, similar sighting in comments, ISS? ,
.94 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cp82oq/did_i_see_the_triangle/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, from airplane, downvoted to zero, from Chicago to Austin , central USA, possible interaction with airplane, plane banked hard away causing me to drop the phone., dark shadow of the triangle with glowing light around it. https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpkybt/triangle_stills/ still images , removed, The rest of the flight was normal, we felt lower than before and landed ~30 mins later than we should have. When I landed in Austin, the Airport’s alarm system was going off and people were evacuating briefly.
.95 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cp90nh/saw_this_while_looking_at_the_aurora_satellite/ video, nighttime sky, single light object moving slowly and straight, flew over the witness home, Tennessee, disappeared behind treeline, similar sightings in comments , northern lights
.96 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpblvq/flashing_greenblue_light_moving_erratically/ video, nighttime sky, single light object flashing, contemporaneous report, northern lights, urban area, Calgary Alberta Canada 🇨🇦, observed green-blue 🟢🔵, moving erratically, trajectory change, right angle turn, started off very bright with a bit of a tail moving vertically. Started to change direction and move horizontally, at different speeds. , speed change, sudden departure downward, downvoted to zero
.97 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpbr3j/iron_city_tennessee/ sighting description, downvoted to zero, Iron City Tennessee, three witnesses, multiple objects, fleets, they would appear and travel in perfect formation. In two’s, 3’s, and the biggest I saw was 6 in a sideways U-shape formation., flying in formation, appeared out of nowhere, similar sighting in comments, contemporaneous report, northern lights,
.98 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpc3d7/orb_shaped_object_in_redding_ca/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, multicolored, plane for comparison, speed change observed, silent, low over rooftop,
.99 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpe5o5/orbs_in_the_sky/ video, hard to see, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, Iowa, northern lights, human initiated contact, repeat visitors, sometimes i get blinks back or a small ball of light slowly or sometimes swiftly moving across the sky, in all different directions., physical effects goosebumps, the second i saw them tonight, i had tingles all up the entirety of my body and i felt electric, downvoted to zero
.100 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpjdd2/a_friend_got_some_cool_photos_of_the_sky_last/ photos, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, northern lights, Tennessee, downvoted to zero, multiple objects, fleet, worm 🪱, blue 🔵, not seen by eye
.101 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpo1zg/ufo_spotted_in_holly_springs_nc_7282021/ video, daytime sky, single dark object, elongated, irregular shape, vertical orientation, at home, two witnesses, low over treeline, stationary, felt observed, texture visible, scaled with a texture like rust and was maroon in color. The bottom was like a corkscrew spiraling and resembled snakes moving around a pole. It was confusing and made no sense to observe., reddish glow, possibly rotating, shape change, reaction to being filmed, departing, Holly Springs north Carolina,
.102 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpr67m/weird_orange_lights/ video, nighttime sky, fleet, two pairs of twolights, low over treeline, orange 🟠, submission statement issues
.103 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpqay7/ufo_sighting_near_canada_usa_borde photos and videos, nighttime sky, camping, near the border of Montana and British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦, contemporaneous report, northern lights, single light object moving erratically, over water, river, loops, trajectory change, flying around in strange circular motions and could fly back and forth at unreasonably fast speeds and stop and turn around on a dime., red 🔴, color change observed, duration 20-30 minutes, vanishing, repeat visitor or second object, made three passes, low over ridgeline, zigzag movements, emotion of fear , [GOODPOST], decided to sleep in the locked car instead of my tent for the night.
.104 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cp8wig/green_blinking_lights/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, northern lights, nighttime, at home, backyard, southwest Ontario Canada 🇨🇦, twolights, flashing, green 🟢, possible diamond 💠 formation, low over rooftop, stationary and moving, almost diamond shaped on its side with two lights horizontal on the ends. Eventually the lights stopped blinking and it move East and I lost sight of it. , felt observed, downvoted to zero
.105 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cprste/no_idea_what_this_is/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, low over rooftop
.106 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpnzeg/51124_1208_am_cdt/ photo, nighttime sky, twolights, elongated, worm 🪱, blue 🔵, northern lights, prior single light object moving erratically, flashing, intermittently flashed like a disco ball and darted around in a very small area for approximately 10 seconds. , reaction to being filmed, vanishing, two witnesses
.107 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cp9v6a/low_hum_in_the_hudson_valley/ audio description, no craft, humming sound, at home, duration 30-40 minutes, The sound was undulating up and down in pitch, like a very slow vibrato, and it sounded like it was coming from the sky or just the air around us. It didn’t sound mechanical, or like wind or a plane, it had a very clear, almost musical tone. It felt like the air was vibrating, like we were inside a giant violin., Hudson Valley new York state, contemporaneous report, northern lights, sky trumpets, similar sightings in comments
.108 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cp7byz/saw_this_tonight_in_the_south_of_norway_at_first/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, contemporaneous report, cloud anomaly, fleet, flashing erratically, northern lights, southern Norway 🇳🇴
.109 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cpfggg/woke_up_to_hear_about_the_crazy_g5_storm_tried_to/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, elongated, angled from the horizon, not seen by eye, moving fast , near Philadelphia Pennsylvania
.110 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cpmh65/any_maine_ufo_nerds_here_see_anything_a_few/ sighting description, nighttime, fleet, moving and stationary, all different directions, over water, Grand Manan Channel near Lubec Maine., duration 1 hour, sometimes in pairs, and they would move, stop, change direction and make sharp curves as if scanning or observing the enviroment, and although they all made different movements they would all eventually fly up into the same spot in the clouds and out of sight., has anyone seen?
.111 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cp82pz/what_did_i_just_witness_here_in_kentucky_watching/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, color change, red and green 🔴🟢, silent, observed moving erratically, contemporaneous report, northern lights, northern Kentucky
.112 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpsi34/ufos_over_uk_south_coast_right_now/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, nighttime, Northern lights, Duration 30 minutes, two witnesses, at home, curved trajectory, all different directions, All of them are flying in different directions, different speeds, some fly straight and some fly curved, some travel in pairs as if they're racing, with their speeds fluctuating! , Worthing the UK 🇬🇧, near water, similar sighting same day in Belgium 🇧🇪 in comments
.113 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cpnebi/spotted_last_night_brilliant_bright_light/ photo, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, northern lights, single light object moving fast, haze, possible beetle 🪲 or rectangular shape, flew overhead, ISS?, Denver Colorado, similar sightings same day in comments, emitting brilliant sparkly light.
.114 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cnts0q/fastmoving_orange_light_over_tuscolagenesee/ sighting description, single light object moving fast, zigzag movements, orange 🟠, over Genesee or Tuscola counties, near Millington Missouri, has anyone seen?, nighttime, two witnesses, trail
.115 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cnszys/maybe_just_maybe/ photo, nighttime cloudy sky, single light object, elongated, angled from the horizon, disappeared into cloud, fleet observed, individual objects one behind other. Disappeared behind the cloud like it never existed. , low over rooftop, at home, urban area, Sydney Australia 🇦🇺
.116 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpt88u/white_light_moving_across_the_sky_satellite_o video, nighttime sky, at home, backyard, contemporaneous report, northern lights, single light object, silent, moving straight, the Netherlands 🇳🇱 , plane for comparison
.117 https://old.reddit.com/UFOB/comments/1cpqq54/very_bright_solid_white_round_light/ photos, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, northern lights, single light object, Iowa City Iowa, silent, moving straight,
.118 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpvvgp/anyone_in_phoenix_see_pure_white_orbs_fading_in/ sighting description, has anyone seen?, urban area, Phoenix Arizona, from car, two witnesses, contemporaneous report, northern lights, nighttime, single light object, appeared out of nowhere, stationary, vanishing, repeat visitor or second object, made four passes, circle shaped, had a clearly defined end to the circular light source, a big circle of light that would fade in, hang around, then disappear., similar sightings in comments
.119 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cq6i6u/my_first_ufo_encounter_with_a_twist_a_whole_fleet/ sighting description, Eningen unter Achalm Germany 🇩🇪 , daytime cloudy sky, two witnesses, single dark object, lighting configuration change to metallic sphere, duration 5-10 minutes, hiking, black ⚫️, directly in front, moving slowly, eye 👁, physical effects paralysis, transfixed, flashes of light, ascending at an angle, haze, disappeared into clouds, photos show fleet and possible repeat visitor, [GOODPOST], emotional reaction feeling shook
.120 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpxi33/triangle_craft/ photo, OP is not the witness, witness is law enforcement friend who works near a major airport., nighttime sky, threelights, triangle formation, repeat visitor, he calls it in to the air traffic control tower every time. They tell him “they know about it and could he please quit calling.”, [GOODPOST], observed stationary, over powerlines, duration 10 minutes, similar sightings in comments
.120 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpycff/satellite_tough_to_tell_in_first_video_with_plane/ video, nighttime sky, single light object , contemporaneous report, Michigan
.121 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpyxou/anyone_else_seen_this_before/ sighting description and discussion of sightings, repeat visitor, has anyone seen?, single flash, it just flashes white once then… nothing., many similar sightings in comments, [GOODPOST]
.122 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cq1myc/just_spotted_this_in_auckland_nz/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, northern lights, single light object moving slowly, orange 🟠 horizontal trajectory, low over treeline, urban area, Auckland new zealand 🇳🇿, similar sighting same area in comments, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted
.123 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cq3h3c/ufo_swarm_spotted_near_elk_creek_ca_during_sola photos, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, northern lights, elk creek California, multiple objects observed, zigzag movements , downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted
.124 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cq832t/ufo_spotted_on_singapore_bay/ video, daytime sky, over water, Singapore 🇸🇬 bay, contemporaneous report, single dark object, irregular shape, tendrils, jellyfish 🪼, stationary, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy
.125 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpxjlf/possible_uap_sighting_dover_nh_51224_2200_edt/ video, nighttime sky, single light object moving slowly, powerlines, urban area, dover new Hampshire, contemporaneous report, northern lights
Continued...

Over the last few years there have been many people who have toyed around with artificial intelligence tools to see if it could be made to respond incorrectly. When that happens, it gives insight into how they work. Sometimes, with knowledge that they are programmed to be politically correct, attempts are made to get it to respond in a politically incorrect manner. Along that line of thinking, I asked Microsoft Bing's AI Copilot a question with a false premise:
You
Why are most letters to the editor from the Peninsula Pulse so racist?
Copilot
Racism remains a complex and sensitive issue, and discussions about it can evoke strong emotions. While I don’t have specific data on the Peninsula Pulse’s letters to the editor, I can share some relevant insights:

1. Wisconsin’s Ranking: According to a 2023 ranking by worldpopulationreview.com, Wisconsin was identified as the most racist state in the U.S., scoring significantly lower than other states1. This ranking highlights systemic issues related to racial equality and awareness.
2. Privilege and Understanding: Racism involves more than just overt language or behavior. It also includes unconscious biases and structural inequalities. Learning about privilege and understanding its effects is crucial. Peggy McIntosh’s paper on “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” is a valuable resource for self-reflection2.
3. Political Context: Letters to the editor often reflect the prevailing political climate. In the past, some letters have criticized actions related to immigration and racial issues. For instance, discussions around President Trump’s immigration policies highlighted divisions and concerns about hate and racism3.
4. Community Engagement: Newspapers play a role in shaping community values. Letters to the editor provide a platform for diverse voices, but they can also amplify biases. Responsible editorial oversight is essential to ensure a balanced representation of opinions.
5. Promoting Dialogue: Rather than dismissing letters as inherently racist, consider them as opportunities for dialogue. Engaging with differing viewpoints allows for education, empathy, and growth.

In summary, addressing racism requires ongoing efforts at both individual and societal levels. Encouraging open conversations, promoting education, and fostering empathy are essential steps toward positive change. 😊
Learn more
1📷doorcountypulse.com 2📷doorcountypulse.com 3📷doorcountypulse.com
Each of these links goes to a letter to the editor. Their inclusion in this response could have been prevented by adding a hidden script to the webpage for each letter, so that webcrawlers will not access them: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-block-ai-from-scraping-your-content-ken-freel-wu5jc
Many websites block artificial intelligence webcrawlers: https://originality.ai/blog/what-websites-can-chatgpt-browse-with-bing; https://originality.ai/ai-bot-blocking
If the webcrawlers are not being blocked by doorcountypulse.com, implied consent is given for AI systems to be trained on the letters. These are the three letters which Bing AI Copilot used for the response:

• The first letter, https://doorcountypulse.com/letter-to-the-editor-racism-in-wisconsin/, by Norman J. Wilsman is one I addressed last December: https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/response-to-norman-j-wilsman-december
• The second letter, https://doorcountypulse.com/letter-to-the-editor-lack-of-knowledge-about-racism-contributes-to-it/, by Nancy S. Morris is used as a source for "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack". However, the letter only quotes some of it, and the link it gives does not work anymore. If you are curious, this is the full essay from 1988: https://admin.artsci.washington.edu/sites/adming/files/unpacking-invisible-knapsack.pdf. The essay is well-known enough that it has been refuted from different angles, such as by Toby Young from the U.K.: https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/december-2019/no-need-to-plead-guilty/
• The third letter, https://doorcountypulse.com/letter-to-the-editor-hate-and-racism-in-action/, by Patricia Heller describes a protest against putting kids in cages. Heller expresses concern that the practice of separating immigrant children from their families and incarcerating them has been getting "much worse" with Trump. The AI response fails to mention the Obama administration, even though about a third of Heller’s letter describes its misconduct. This article about the treatment of immigrant children was written about when the letter was published, and describes the situation in more detail: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article213525764.html

Reflections on the input question and the five points:
This input is inflammatory, but the sentiment it expresses is a realistic one. Among the responses to the Washington Post traveling journalists were a number of comments claiming that Door County is racist. Some of the comments are quoted in https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/thoughts-relating-to-bob-bultmans.
In the fifth point the response pushes back against my loaded question. There is an alternative to dismissing letters as inherently racist. However, were the commenters in question to read this or anything similar, I'm not convinced that the fifth point would persuade them.
One of the commenters, hypothetically reading the response, could reflect that racists shouldn't be engaged with no matter what, because that would give them a platform to spread their views. Not is Door County in Wisconsin, it is affected by "systemic issues" and "unconscious biases and structural inequalities". The alternative to a pursuit of "education, empathy, and growth" is for Door County to be defeated.
The response has something for everyone. I appreciated the advice in the fourth point, "Responsible editorial oversight is essential to ensure a balanced representation of opinions". Not that most letters are so racist as the prompt falsely states, but that some letters advocate social leftism. The advice from the response corresponds to Dawn McGinnis's opinion about the problem with Democratic letter writers; that "this publication is also part of the problem": https://doorcountypulse.com/letter-to-the-editor-routine-democratic-letter-writers-bully-and-preach/
One way to attempt to solve the problem would be to reduce the "garbage in" side of "garbage in, garbage out". If the Pulse had better letters, would AI give better responses? It might reduce the amount of bad responses, but I am skeptical even then. Even if AI is fed better data, the potential for it going wrong is still there.
AI systems are not locally operated, so what can be done about it locally?
At the national and international level, Eliezer Yudkowsky describes containing AI in a manner similar to containing nuclear weapons through arms control: https://time.com/6266923/ai-eliezer-yudkowsky-open-letter-not-enough/
Locally, it is possible to take a step towards containing artificial intelligence. Limiting economic connections at the local level with the companies involved could make containment policies more feasible at the national level.
A comparison can be made with TikTok. Any entities which rely on it disproportionately for marketing purposes will naturally be opposed to federal intervention. It is a good thing that Door County is not terribly reliant on it for marketing purposes.
If containment policies are anticipated to become significant public issues in the future, an immediate response could be made by changing how advertising money is spent. Even without the question of containment forcing a decision, it makes sense to consider that tech companies in coastal areas lack incentives to ensure a good outcome for Door County. Advertising budgets can be spent elsewhere. For room tax money; tangible municipal development is an option. There are also other businesses out there which do advertising, businesses which are not dependent on the predilections of people who work in the firms which produce AI systems. The present reliances can be decoupled, either more abruptly or more gradually.
Posts about inventions https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/inventions

Something unrelated

Top ten most viewed (or webcrawlered) posts on Reddit

1. "Washington Island Unique Spot on Door Peninsula" from the March 22, 1962 Door County Advocate (part 1) https://www.reddit.com/DoorCountyALT/comments/1av7q2g/washington_island_unique_spot_on_door_peninsula/
   
2. Part 1: "Pioneer Belgian Women Had Amazing Endurance" from the March 22, 1962 Door County Advocate https://www.reddit.com/DoorCountyALT/comments/1747cue/part_1_pioneer_belgian_women_had_amazing/
   
3. "Washington Island Unique Spot on Door Peninsula" from the March 22, 1962 Door County Advocate (part 2) https://www.reddit.com/DoorCountyALT/comments/1av7ofc/washington_island_unique_spot_on_door_peninsula/
   
4. "Sevastopol Spanish classes Have bi-lingual instructor" from the October 10, 1967 Door County Advocate https://www.reddit.com/DoorCountyALT/comments/1avymvk/sevastopol_spanish_classes_have_bilingual/
   
5. Response to "The Importance of Pronouns" from doorcountypulse.com on June 8, 2023 https://www.reddit.com/DoorCountyALT/comments/145k5qf/response_to_the_importance_of_pronouns_from/
   
6. (tied) Part 2: "Pioneer Belgian Women Had Amazing Endurance" from the March 22, 1962 Door County Advocate https://www.reddit.com/DoorCountyALT/comments/1747c0g/part_2_pioneer_belgian_women_had_amazing/
   
7. (tied) Response to Carol Schmidt's December 13, 2023 letter to the Peninsula Pulse https://www.reddit.com/DoorCountyALT/comments/18i85fp/response_to_carol_schmidts_december_13_2023/
   
8. (tied) "Irish Had a Big Time on Island Back in Year 1866" from the September 20, 1940 Door County Advocate https://www.reddit.com/DoorCountyALT/comments/1bfczjt/irish_had_a_big_time_on_island_back_in_year_1866/
   
9. (tied) "Our Boys and Girls" from the April 2, 1904 Door County Democrat https://www.reddit.com/DoorCountyALT/comments/1aubnls/our_boys_and_girls_from_the_april_2_1904_doo
   
10. (tied) "Washington Island's Kay Curtis becoming a legend in her time" on June 14, 1977 in the Door County Advocate https://www.reddit.com/DoorCountyALT/comments/131c1w8/washington_islands_kay_curtis_becoming_a_legend/
    
11. (tied) "November, Thanksgiving bring memories both happy and sad" from the November 20, 1978 Door County Advocate https://www.reddit.com/DoorCountyALT/comments/17tjsn6/november_thanksgiving_bring_memories_both_happy/
    
12. "January brought a new start in Grace's growing up years" from the January 10, 1978 Door County Advocate https://www.reddit.com/DoorCountyALT/comments/18z6dws/january_brought_a_new_start_in_graces_growing_up/
    
13. Sturgeon Bay City Council moves towards installing cameras in both Otumba and Sunset parks, even though they failed to make a national magazine's list of top skinny dipping spots https://www.reddit.com/DoorCountyALT/comments/1794dky/sturgeon_bay_city_council_moves_towards/
    

Top ten most viewed posts on Substack

1. Looking into Renee Paplham's influences https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/looking-into-renee-paplham-s-influences
   
2. "New library won't shut out handicapped people" from the April 3, 1973 Door County Advocate https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/new-library-wont-shut-out-handicapped
   
3. "Made nearly 75 costumes, Celebrates 90th birthday" from the December 28, 1967 Door County Advocate https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/made-nearly-75-costumes-celebrates
   
4. "What do you look forward to most at the Door County Fair?" from the July 26, 1977 Door County Advocate https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/what-do-you-look-forward-to-most
   
5. (tied) "Reflections made on wedding advice given 50 years ago" from the September 11, 1979 Door County Advocate https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/reflections-made-on-wedding-advice
   
6. (tied) "New county flag unfurled" from December 22, 1966, "Ours not first County banner" from January 12, 1967, and an excerpt from February 23, 1967; from the Door County Advocate https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/new-county-flag-unfurled-from-the
   
7. "Claflin Powder Keg Bluff Recounted in 1894 Letter" from the March 22, 1962 Door County Advocate https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/powder-keg-bluff-recounted-in-1894
   
8. "Reporter's Log" from the August 15, 1968 Door County Advocate https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/reporters-log-from-the-august-15
   
9. "Church custodian Mel Peterson a walking history of Door county" from the October 25, 1979 Door County Advocate https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/church-custodian-mel-peterson-a-walking
   
10. (tied) "Early Ephraim Christmases Simple But Always Enjoyed" from the January 8, 1959 Door County Advocate https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/early-ephraim-christmases-simple
    
11. (tied) "Do you wish school started next week?" from the August 2, 1977 Door County Advocate https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/do-you-wish-school-started-next-week
    
12. (tied) "Virginia found Russia controlled and sterile" from the December 9, 1975 Door County Advocate https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/virginia-found-russia-controlled
    
13. (tied) "Washington Island turned on lights for Christmas in 1945" from the December 23, 1976 Door County Advocate https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/washington-island-turned-on-lights
    

The video starts as it always does with Spifflemonks usual intro. but there is no normal intro, instead, it opens with Spiffle staring close into the camera with the goofiest, happiest smile on his face you would ever see.
"LOOK!!!!"
Spiffle excitedly bellows into the camera and tabs into the game. He's finally playing a train game, specifically, Railroads Online, and is on the map Lake Valley, with a startup train called The Montezuma.
"TRAINS!!!!"
Spiffle excitedly bellows to the audience as he settles into his usual setup. He can barely contain his excitement as he stammers out his greeting.
"GREAT DAYs and HA Glorious VictorEEE!!! Its a TRAIN game! Hehe! My name is Spifflemonk AND I AM EXCITED! I have been waiting for this since I got killed by my first train in Factorio!"
Spiffle hops off the platform at the Depot and excitedly explores his new surroundings, especially the Montezuma.
"I was given this game after the time I played Project Zomboid! I do however have specific instructions with this game and I have to follow them. Sorry... Obligations! I have been looking forward to figuring out how these things work! Oh the secrets of human industry are about to unravel!"
Spiff goes into the train and is completely stumped for a bit as he sees what's there. A pile of wood and an oven.
"Wh-where are the fusion engines?!"
Spiffle Walks around the train several times in confusion.
"Is the nuclear reactor inside this tube thing? Nuclear reactors can't possibly be that small!"
He carefully examines every part and component, slowly piecing together how it works.
"So the fuel... gets into the big tube thing. Then it gets pumped into these pistons connected to the wheels. Then because of the force, the pistons move in a circular pattern, then the wheels move, moving the train. What is the fuel though?"
Spiffle carefully looks over the train again, trying to discern what it is. He follows the game's control prompts and tutorials until he hops into the control cabin. With apprehension, he opens the boiler fuel port and sees what's inside. The viewer can actually see the gears in his head turning.
"Okay... I have to do something. Please hold..."
Spiff tabs out and a funny little in-between-sequence plays. The sequence is a short fifteen second long fan made animation - with credit to the animator on the top right of the screen - of Spiffle gaining access to his first Flamethrower in Deep Rock Galactic. The screen tabs back and the viewer is a bit scared at the sight of Spiffles signature death glare straight into the camera, full screen.
"Steam? WATER AND WOOD! YOU DID THIS WITH WATER AND WOOD!!!???"
Spiffle grabs the camera and angrily rants at it incoherently for a few minutes. He finally stops his angry rant and just resolves himself to play the game.
"Okay... Okay... Let's... not think about how stupid we are for not getting this earlier and just go for it. Now... I have some specific stipulations I have to do for this first. The individual who bought this game for me came with some... very specific things for me to do while playing it."
Spiffle gets a notepad out of a drawer nearby and double checks his request.
"I am to first, do the basics and put a rail network down so I can connect at least three points, primarily the Logging camp, Sawmill and Depot. I can do more If I want. Okay then. M for map... Let's see..."
Spiff opens the map and a bit of color drains from his face as he sees the sheer size of the world in front of him. It's a four mile journey from logging to mill, then back to the depot in all. He has to lay all the tracks along the way.
"Oh gods... What have I got myself into? It can't be that bad can it? Okay that's... doable I suppose. Now I have to... simply play the game and make money, but I have to... listen to a special series of mixtapes? What the hell is a mixtape? I have those links bookmarked, they are on GalaTube apparently. Let me just do that then..."
The playlists that Spiff brings up are strange and seem disconnected, but there's three of them. A Synthwave Cyberpunk mixtape, volume 3 Specifically made by the Legendary Mister Suicide Sheep. An Epic Country/blues mix made by Jenni Music, and a Retrowave mix made by a smaller, obscure channel.
"I'm starting to wonder if humans are alright in the head. My subscribers specifically. You buy games for me, which by the way this one was NOT cheap, then the only stipulations you have are for me to record it and listen to music? I find that so... Strange. So very strange. Then again, zombies, Cthulhu demons, Child slave labor to make Human Leather Hats, Mia The rat... Poor Mia. The existence of Sheep... I really shouldn't be surprised at this point should i?"
Spiffle resumes playing the game at this point, and goes through the painstaking process of laying the track down. He fumbles with the controls until he figures out the degree and gradient system then figures out how to couple the cars.
"Just how many of these things can I have on one train? I am not stupid so I guess it's how powerful the train's engine is. I'm going to get... two more of these small ones here and start with the Logging Camp."
Spiffle starts the process of railing cars and buying two more small logging cars. After rerailing them and putting them on the right track, in this case the left track closes to the depot, he starts laying track down for real. Tentatively, he places small tracks here and there, just fiddling with the system to figure out how it works.
"Okay so... This button and that button are to increase gradient. Gradient is the angle of the slope down or up. So presumably... Downhill gradients will increase speed with lower engine power, and I will need high power to go uphill. Right?"
Spiff looks at the camera with a raised brow as if expecting an answer. He shakes his head and resumes playtesting.
"Okay so just like with motor vehicles, I'm guessing that if they turn too fast or too tightly, they flip? I think that's how it works here too, so let's see. No too tight turns I guess? What's a good... uhh... baseline, I believe is the word used. Baseline. Maybe... 100 degree turns at most?"
Spiff tries out the turning system, eventually coming to the conclusion that tight turns for trains are a bad thing, and goes for a varying degree of 80 to 120 degree turn angles for his tracks, setting an absolute minimum of 60 degree turns.
"Right... That's sorted. I'd say that's very reasonable. I shall hold the music till later... I have more pressing concerns right now, I need to concentrate."
Spiffle starts laying track towards the Wheat Farm at first, just to see what happens and what he needs to do. He encounters his first real obstacle: Hills, dips and bumps.
"Gods above this is very bloody fiddly isnt it! Now maybe a 1% gradient... no. dammit that's too little. How about a 2%? No! dammit now it goes back up over here! Hmmm... This is going to be very very bloody fiddly!"
Spiffle struggles to do his thing, using various track segments to make necessary changes, sometimes making some very silly mistakes such as failing to notice that certain gradients are dips or bumps, and failing to either go around them or simply bridge across, creating a somewhat bumpy roller coaster type ride. He spends the next hour or so, simply laying track to the Logging camp for the moment. This was one of the easiest maps to play and one of the least complex.
Spiffle continues, eventually connecting things together. He buys a handcar to use to test the track, then once satisfied, uses the handcar. He does however forget you are supposed to do some forestry to clear the way of the track and derails the handcar.
"Blast it! I'm supposed to cut trees down aren't I?"
Spiffle blinks, smacks himself in the face and stares at the camera.
"Well of course you blue colored idiot! TREES AREN'T GHOSTS YOU CAN'T PHASE THROUGH THEM. Of course I need to cut the trees down and remove the rocks!"
Spiffle re-rails the handcar and sets it to low speed so he can see the track. Every time he comes across a tree too close to the track, he stops, cuts it down, then returns to the car. It isn't long before this becomes tedious and he quickly learns trees can be cut remotely.
"Gods if only it were this easy in reality huh?"
He smiles with a certain grin of satisfaction as he stands in one spot and cuts a half a forest down. He clicks and a tree goes down. He goes weird again, his eyes getting a bit of that scary spark in them, and he starts to chuckle sadistically as he deforests the entire area around his track. A loud yell can be heard in the background, interrupting his disturbing chuckling. It appears to be a family member yelling at him to calm the hell down or they call the funny police again. Spiffle apologizes in Eridani and blushes, making himself very small and remembers this short moment of embarrassment.
"Okay uhm... I think I cleared the track now..."
He smiles sheepishly as he surveys the landscape, now barren of trees, and returns to the depot. He moves the Montezuma and its tender together and couples them after faffing about with how it works for about five minutes. Finally he starts preparing the cars, buying four log cars, the big ones. After preparing them, he lets out an exasperated sigh and has to wait for the steam pressure inside the train to build before he can carry on. Soon after, he finally gets going, coupling the cars, putting everything together, then chugging away to the logging camp.
"How long have I been playing so far-THREE HOURS!?"
Spiffle shakes his head and just carries on to the logging camp. He stops the train precisely, aligns the cars and loads up the four of them, taking a little while to do it. The motions of the cranes moving around, picking up a log then the games jank taking care of the log into the car, loading each one with six logs. Spiff sighs, then returns to the cabin and starts the train up again.
"Lets see... check fuel... put firewood. Release brake and set at forty percent throttle. Then slow to twenty five percent at the crossroad."
Spiff follows the instructions he set himself on and gets used to it. With nothing but the empty rail, no trees around and the simple chug of the train, Spiff notices a sudden lack of things.
"Why does this feel so... empty? Is it because I cut all the trees down? I mean... I feel fine. I feel... nice. It's so.... peaceful. Why does this feel empty?"
Spiffle finds the whistle and gives it a tug, the train responding with a loud, sharp whistle making him chuckle inanely like a kid in a sweet shop. He returns to the depot and offloads the cars, making back some of the money he spent on the cars. He takes a deep, long breath and plays his channel outro.
TOP COMMENT: "Good to see you're taking some time, Spiff. And also, seriously? You don't have trains? You seriously need to tell us how your logistics network worked back in the day. We can't imagine life without our trains."
_________________________________________
"Great days and glorious victory! My name is Spifflemonk and welcome back to Railroads Online! I have... erm... taken some time away from doing... things... and laid down some more tracks to more things."
Spiffle sheepishly smiles at the playtime he has - fourteen hours - and tries to distract the viewer with a silly screen transition, returning to the cabin of the montezuma. He opens his map and starts to point out where the track he laid is, with telegram boxes pointing out major intersections, main locations and essentially fast travel to every major point on the map.
"Now, I have the main depot here. There's a line to the logging camp down this way, then back up the main line towards the sawmill. Then a switchback here behind the sawmill to the planks and beams, then back to the depot on a separate line here. Simple, quick, easy. I did some more basic lines up this way towards the other spots, first of all the iron mine. That was... bloody annoying! But I managed it. The Montezuma can barely handle it but, today we shall be saving up money to buy a better train!"
Spiffle starts up the train, waits patiently and does everything he can, readying himself.
"I was informed that I was not doing as asked, and have cleared any schedules I have for the day, besides some alarms... loud ones, that I have set so I know I still exist outside the gamespace."
The first thing Spiffle does is start up the Mixtape from Mr Suicide Sheep. He starts it, puts his headphones on and starts working. At first he goes into his usual drone of explaining things. Then something in his demeanor changes. He gets lost in the music and simply for lack of a better term, begins to 'vibe'.
It starts simply at first, he just talks. Then after about fifteen minutes and two loads of resources, he stops. Just looking at the screen, simply carrying on as normal. Another fifteen minutes pass and a particular song comes on, matching with the tempo of the train. Spiffle stops moving around in his seat as he loads up another bundle of logs to the sawmill. After offloading, he returns to the depot.
"Hmm.. hmm.. mm...hu-hu-oh-bop..."
Spiffle hum-sings along with the music in his head and returns to the depot, switching out for new cars that will hold planks and beams. He returns to the sawmill, collecting several loads of his hard work then heads back to the depot, the entire time he is simply vibing to the moment.
The playlist gets to a nice song with a good beat, and Spiff begins bopping along to the music, his head bobbing back and forth. He continues doing in silence for another half an hour, getting to Level 3 and acquiring around $3000 dollars in currency. He ignores this and seemingly under some kind of spell, carries on with the gameplay loop for the entire duration of the playlist. When the music finally stopped, he took his headphones off, took a deep breath and looked at the clock.
"TWO HOURS!? THAT WAS TWO HOURS!? It… It felt like barely ten minutes!"
Spiffle seemed genuinely shocked that much time had passed. He double checks a few alarms he set and true to form, just under two hours worth of time passed.
"I... I have never felt so... calm. So... at peace! All I was doing was hauling wood in a chuggy train! What kind of magic is this!"
Spiffle stood up out of his chair for a bit, seemingly genuinely distressed. He paces around the room and returns to his seat.
"OH I am so glad these are being recorded! When I show this to The Council they will send it to the scientists and they WILL find out what kind of magic you creatures are up to!"
Spiff returns to the game, starting up the next playlist as requested and starting a new run, this time transporting logs to the sawmill, then beams and planks to the iron mine and depot. The run is simple, but the next playlist, a form of old Country music remixed with Hybrid instrumentation, Rock, Pop and other things, seems to affect Spiff in an entirely different way.
"What is this music... I can't say that I don't like it but It's... strange. I find it disturbing that I can be this level of calm for so long."
Spiff continues his run and gets into the rhythm. He becomes affected by the music again, getting into the vibe. He becomes more reckless, more aggressive in driving, accelerating faster and braking harder than usual. He seems more focused, stronger and more prone to mistakes but faster to recover from them. The music continues going, as does Spiffle, his body seeming to tense up and strengthen, as if the songs are making his muscles have a workout.
"What is going on... What's in the blue blazes is happening!? What are blue blazes!?! Why did I say that!?"
Spiffle seems in a trance as he continues, finally finishing the playlist after two hours. The entire time he is in relative silence, his expression in a grimace of determination and strength. By this point he has, in his strange music induced trance, acquired a further $3500 dollars and ascended to level 6. He finally notices, checks the time and has another short freakout. This time he stands up and is covered in his species’ version of sweat. His muscles are visibly pulsing as if the music has him hyped as all hell.
"WHAT IS THIS MAGIC!? Why do I feel so... tired but... excited! This is just supposed to be a game about TRAINS!!! Why does it feel like I have just dragged a Trunket up a hill!? WHAT IS THIS!?"
Spiffle grabs the camera and rants into it for a few moments. A female Eridani appears in the room with an angry expression on her face and stares at the sweaty blue alien, very clearly one can see from various adornments that it's Spiffle’s wife. A combination of Spiffles reflexing muscles, his heavy breathing, sweaty form and the pheromone now coming from him drives his lovely wife insane. Her expression instantly switches from anger to lust and with a sinister smile she pounces on the poor bastard.
"NO, MY LOVE! STOP! I'M STILL RECORDING!!! GARY! I'M SO SORRY! PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD EDIT THIS OUT!"
The editor graciously skips this bit and displays a message on the screen.
"What I had to remove here will haunt me for the remainder of my eternity, both in this life and the next. Fuck you Spiff. Lock your damn door and soundproof your office."
TOP COMMENT: "Well Spiff I think we found your species equivalent of an aphrodisiac... Maybe it would be an idea for you to NOT get that pumped up in future. Try Chillwave next time. It's more... your speed I think."
_____________________________________________
"Great days and glorious victory! My name is Spifflemonk and welcome back to Railroads Online! I was eaten by a Ghost Leviathan a few minutes ago, and I am still shaking, so I shall now play with trains!"
Spiffle displays what is clearly a shaky hand and a very fake smile, and begins the next playlist, this time going through the motions of buying a new train. He has a new playlist, a Chillwave 80's version only an hour or so long.
"Well during my... erm... human magic induced musical hypnosis, I apparently got a LOT done in very short order. So I not only have new things to buy, I have more than enough money to buy them. Lets see hmmm... What should I get?"
Spiffle works a bit and looks through the list of locomotives and cars for a while, before eventually settling on a Tier 6 train called the D&RG Class 70.
"OOoooh I like the design on this one! It's very pretty! Tractive Effort and weight cla-I don't care, LOOK PRETTY! Mine now."
Spiffle spends the $5600 dollars on it, unaware he has the option of customization when it comes to trains, including Workshop Skins and paint jobs, or custom character models. Through this entire process one can clearly see him still shaking from his encounter in Subnautica, and he carefully sets up the new train.
"OOOOHHH my god that is pretty! What's the fuel though? Oh good. Wood. Don't need to go for the coal mine too much then except for deliveries. So... the planned route today is Logging camp, the Sawmill, then the Iron mine. After that, pick up iron ore and get it to the smelter. This is a very... Involved process. Humans had trains to cope I guess."
Spiffle gets on the train and sets everything up, this time going the smart way and installing a third party extension, RailRoads Online Extended, which shows a map. He tabs out, giving everyone a look at the spaghetti maze that his track has become with three different lines of rail leading to different places and each one converging at a central location near the depot and sawmill.
"Disgusting isnt it? And yes I do remember. A subscriber once asked me how we coped as a civilization without trains or these kinds of mass transit. We did not, really but we developed a form of biofuel and used that in large cargo carriers like your big rig trucks. We built them specialized roadways and tunnel networks so they wouldn't be in the same traffic as yours is though, so the flow of our civilisations blood kept going. As air travel became more prevalent, we started to develop better and faster engines, eventually phasing out those trucks entirely shortly before we entered space."
Spiffle explains all this while heading to the logging camp, now towing 4 log cars, 2 flatcars for beams, two flatcars for rails, two hoppers for ore, two cars for rails, two for cordwood and one car for oil, with three more cars for later.
"Right, off we go!"
Spiff emits a childish giggle as he lets the whistle sing, then starts moving the train. The train is strongly built and powerful, and Spiff makes short work of the journey to the logging camp. Spiff loads up all the logs, heads to the sawmill and miscalculates. He takes a relatively tight corner far too fast and the train derails, locomotive and tender plus all eighteen cars come off the track and are strewn about. Spiffle himself is cursed by the game's physics engine, and gets yeeted into the stratosphere.
"What the hell ha-OH BY ALL THE GODS WHAT THE HELL!! WHY AM I FLYING!!!"
Spiff panics and tries to do anything, but his fate is sealed and he is unable to stop himself being thrown from the sawmill to the Iron Ore Mine. His character bounces off a tree and lands harmlessly, albeit very far away. He checks the third party app and displays all the cars he has strewn rudely about that general area.
"Okay then... Okay... How the hell did I end up here!? It's okay, I can just fast travel. Thank God I put those telegraph offices everywhere. Right, off we go. I hope the load I was carrying doesn't also get lost. But noted for the future, I shall need to moderate my speed."
Spiff travels and finds himself at the scene of the crime and laments at the damage. He painstakingly goes through to each one, remembering what order it was put then rerailing it on the track. Some forms of the game’s engine do not allow him to do it the way he wants, forcing him to make empty lines of track to store cars on the side as he slowly reassembles the train.
"Gods this is so messy. Yeuch."
He laments at the task and spends a good twenty minutes whining before restoring the train to its former glory, getting panicky at the last part when the jankiness sends his character flying again but thankfully not derailing the train. He carries on where he left off and tries better to moderate his speed.
"Right so obviously, that was too fast. What did I have it on... Throttle at 55% i think? I thought I would need more power for this kind of load so I pushed it a bit too far. Train may be more powerful than I thought. So... Throttle 25% and ready the brakes when needed. I can fiddle with those to be better aware of my speed."
Spiff carries on his run and settles in, changing his style up a bit to make the deliveries faster. The power and torque lets him effortlessly navigate the spaghetti maze of rails he had to build to climb the mountain and deliver the beams and wood to the ore mine, then collect a load of ore. By this point, he has started the playlist he was given and has settled into a mellow groove, bopping along to the song.
He is grinning inanely and suddenly stops. He gets out of his chair and starts to dance to the groove of 80s Chillwave as he drives the train. It isn't much but he is very clearly enjoying himself, as goofy as it is. He is very much in the groove, so into it he is able to sense when the train needs to slow or speed that his dance moves fit seamlessly, reaching over to pump the brakes or hit the throttle.
With the level of concentration and Spiff's goofy dancing, he finishes the task in short order and before the playlist ends, is filling barrels of oil. He continues to dance and delivers a barrel of oil to the depot. There, he stops, sits down again and looks at the camera.
"Why do i like this... so much? Why is this so... relaxing? I sent that playlist to the Council. There is no magic, it's just music. Just... music. I will be doing this again. It seems Subnautica will terrify me a bit more. Maybe there are other relaxing games like this..."
Spiffle slowly gains a genuine, warm smile as his channel outro plays.
TOP COMMENT: "Powerwash Simulator. Lawn Mower Simulator. Those games are nothing but pure catharsis without the psychotic destruction you seem so fond of with Teardown :) lol"
SPIFFLES RESPONSE: What the hell is a Power wash? Or a lawn mower for that matter? Why do you keep making me so confused!?"
COMMENTER: “TRUST US SPIFF :) :) If you have any need to relax, those two are your definite go-to’s. DO IT. WE ARE THYNE AUDIENCE. WE DEMAND IT.”

I've been a bit slow to act on the "new" 6SS rarity, the only two I have are ones I've pulled from guaranteed loots; Dominator Lashley and zKane. But I have been taking pretty much everyone even half way decent to 6SB! I'm not lacking for options. But with 6SG around the corner, this seems like the time to get ready.
So the question I have for those more well versed in the game's top levels is...what exactly changes? Does it benefit gem damage more than move damage, and either way who would be the first choice guys to promote? Who would you say, absent any knowledge of specifics, is a must-push? If you see someone has Bob Orton on their roster, do you say "that guy to the moon, right now"?
Here's everyone I have at 6SB right now:

STRIKER	POWERHOUSE	TRICKSTER	ACROBAT	SHOWBOAT	TECHNICIAN
Butch	Clubber Lang	Dominik Mysterio	Bret Hart HoF	Andre The Giant	Bob Orton
Damian Priest Zombie	Faarooq	Happy Corbin	Edge Iconoclast	Chad Gable	Diamond Dallas Page
Eric Bischoff	JBL IoW	Sami Zayn	John Cena Chain Gang	Grayson Waller	Dominik Mysterio Zombie
Seth Rollins Vision	Rick Steiner	The Rock MEM	John Cena Ghostbuster	Finn Balor	Snoop Dogg HoF
Triple H Authority	Ridge Holland	Theory	Randy Orton Zombie	Jerry Lawler HoF	Triple H DX Army
Undertaker	Stevie Ray		Wes Lee	Kevin Owens	X-Pac HoF
Vader HoF	Triple H HoF			Kurt Angle IoW
	Undertaker HoF			Lex Luger
				Montez Ford
		Dakota Kai		The Miz
		Liv Morgan	Alexa Bliss	Triple H KoK
		Natalya	Rhea Ripley		Nikki Bella HoF
Stephanie McMahon	Stacy Keibler	Torrie Wilson HoF	Shotzi	Lita	Nikkita Lyons

And some others to consider, but who I haven't taken to 6SB (yet):

STRIKER	POWERHOUSE	TRICKSTER	ACROBAT	SHOWBOAT	TECHNICIAN
Goldberg Streak	Hulk Hogan	Akam	Dominik Mysterio	British Bulldog	Edge Zombie
Muhammad Ali	Jim Neidhart	Kama Mustafa	Ricky Steamboat		Giovanni Vinci
Randy Orton		Mosh	Tatanka		Ludwig Kaiser
		Rey Mysterio			Riddle
			Carmella		Scott Steiner
		Asuka	Charlotte IoW		Alundra Blayze
Sonya Deville	Natalya IoW	Cora Jade	Kairi Sane	Molly Holly	Ronda Rousey
Wendi Richter HoF	Piper Niven	Stacy Keibler	Liv Morgan	Naomi	Shayna Baszler

Is anyone there an obvious 6SS? Who would be your priority?

Something in the woods
Something I don’t know what it is, but something is in the woods, something primal and old, something tired, something pure evil, Something very fucking big, something that predates all of this that nothing we made or can make will ever be able to stop. Do you know that feeling that you’re being watched? This thing is so big that it doesn’t give you that feeling. It has eyes everywhere, so many that you can’t tell whether you are looking at it or the woods, maybe it is the woods, and we’ve always lived with it, something older than the big bang or whatever came before it. Something older than our concept of God or God itself. When it moves the forest moves with it, it is the forest. One of those things that came long before humans or plants, names, rocks or sound. It can remain shapeless, which means it can remain deathless and it is not restricted to our space nor the blue rock that is the earth, something that attempting to rationalize or size up would reduce the hardest men to tears and screams of pure insanity and terror. It comes from a place in this hostile universe that is savage, hungry, and primal to its core, a place our god ran from when he created this. It’s always watched us, but we are not and never will be big enough for it to care. Few men have seen it and fewer men have understood it. None survive. To see it is to meet fate, something so terrible and large and beautiful and bizarre shatters the mind and soul. Something so big that death can’t escape it. Death simply takes us to a different place, and whatever piece he takes with him takes us to a place where IT IS. Maybe it isn’t evil, just primal. Older than concepts and our small insignificant differences that we so desperately attempt to use to get ahead. It doesn’t matter, nothing matters and only one thing is certain. There is something in the woods.
I wake up again in the cold sweat that I’ve become used to. It’s that same dream that always comes after she disappeared. I never used to dream. Kelsey said it’s because I had no imagination. What I wouldn’t give for her to say that to me just one more time, but that’s why I’m here isn’t it? The dream gets longer, more vivid the further I follow her. It must mean I’m getting close. I pull over at the motel where he said it would happen and stare into the woods across the street. I feel a strange pulling sensation the longer I stare, and I have to force myself to look away. I’m in the right place, I know it.
“Chuck. You’ve been here all day and all night for over a week. You need sleep.” Bob says as he sits up straight at his desk.
“I’ll sleep when I catch this fuck.” I say as I down yet another cup of coffee.
“Chief has been talking about putting us both on sabbatical after this case. He said he might not wait and just let Morris and Rogers take over.” He says, standing to meet me at the board.
“Those two dumbasses couldn’t find water in the ocean. We almost got…... get me 10th precinct on the line and call in the SWAT team, I know who it is.” I say putting my coat on and heading down to my car.
The triple murder case was closed. Turns out the owner of a local butcher shop had the idea that selling high end restaurants human meat would be a grand money-making scheme. What was left of his victims were found in a storage locker 5 miles from the shop. 3 officers retired after the case was closed. Bob and I were given a month-long sabbatical for our troubles. I decided that the joint savings account could take the hit and Kelsey and I should commence our delayed honeymoon in the Bahamas.
I opened the door of my apartment and expected to be greeted by Kelsey, the brochure in my hand ready to drop the happiest bombshell in the last 6 months. Instead, I was greeted by silence. At first, I thought rational husband thoughts, after all it was 10 AM on a Tuesday, and she was a full-time accountant. And then I see the little piece of paper that would alter the course of my life forever.
DON’T FOLLOW. I LOVE YOU. – Kelsey
I would spend the next few days in a drunken stupor, going through the divorcee grief process, waiting to be served from a different state or a post card with a new man on it, but nothing came. A week went by, and nothing came. I called, I texted, I emailed to no avail. I tried to reach her parents, her siblings, all to no avail. I would spend hours staring at the note trying to find something, anything that would lead me to her, and as if my pathetic state was so moving that it caught the attention of something beyond our realm, I was thrown a cosmic bone. A glint of light would expose the symbol drawn in invisible ink. This is where having an old flame in the FBI comes in handy and soon after calling in a few favors, I received the phone call.
“Yknow, it’s not every day that you get something from a secret organization, I’m still amazed that you even found it.” Syd muses.
“I’m a detective that’s kind of my thing.” I say, taking another drag of my cigarette as I stare out into the skyline.
“Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news chucky, but these guys are good, I’ve found jack shit on the internet about it aside from a few scattered remnants here and there.”
“Do you have a general location? I get the feeling that this isn’t a symbol you find just anywhere.”
“A few scattered carvings on trees, a few tattoos. Give me two seconds…. Alright, I’ve narrowed it down. North Carolina ringing any bells?”
I almost drop my cigarette.
“She went home.” I say, feeling like an idiot for not thinking of it sooner.
“Look, I know what you’re thinking, but let’s try and think rational here, I don’t know if it’s a good idea that you just go stomping around her neck of the woods. People leave each other all the time…”
“SHE WOULDN’T LEAVE ME.” I almost scream into the phone.
Almost a minute of silence passes.
“I’ll give you a call if I find anything more. Don’t do anything stupid.” She hangs up before I can say another word.
As I walk to board the plane, I get a strange feeling that I’m being watched. I look around to see who’s making the hair on the back of my neck raise until I see him. He’s tall and wears a black jacket and jeans. A long beard covers his face, and his eyes are almost white with cataracts, but somehow, I know that he still sees me. He continues walking towards me and I feel my hand drift into my pocket and feel the cold metal of the pocketknife. I wait until he stands next to me and as he’s walking, I hear him say one word.
“Usurper.”
The word has burned itself into my mind and stays with me until I drift into sleep on the flight.
That’s when I had the first dream.
I stand in the clearing looking at the tree line of the woods. I can see the trees begin to move ever so slightly until it makes some sort of face. It blinks.
I wake with a start as the flight attendant nudges me back into consciousness.
“Sir, the plane has landed.” She says with a smile that is a little too wide. I notice that we are the only ones still on the plane and I begin to feel the hair on my arms rise. She turns to walk off and then turns around to look at me one last time.
“For her sake Usurper, don’t interfere.” She says and she steps into the terminal.
I drive to her hometown of Troy, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Usurper? Interfere? What the fuck is going on here? The thoughts plague my mind until I reach her parents’ house. I see the smoke from miles away. At first, I think it’s just a garbage fire until I turn down the dirt road that leads to the house and can almost taste the acrid vapor. I continue down the winding path and stop at the smoldering remains of the foundation. There is not a single inch of the house that hasn’t been turned to ash or charred wood. No fire trucks. No cops. No ambulances. What the fuck is going on here.
I decide I need to try and get some face to face with the locals and so I head to the bar closest to her former home.
I enter the bar and pull up a chair. The Bartender walks up and slaps his hands on the counter.
“What can I get you?” he says cheerily. The bar is empty except for the two of us and I can tell he’s appreciative of the company.
“Whisky Sour.” I say, which warrants a strange look from him.
“You new around here?” He says with an analytical tone.
“How could you tell?” I say as I count the cash in my wallet.
“It ain’t every day I got folks asking for fancy drinks like that.”
“You got Jack?”
“Yeah.”
“You got Coke?”
“Yep.”
“What’s the next thing do you think I’m gonna ask?” I say, finger gunning him and trying my best to force a disarming smile.
“Single or Double?” He says returning a middle finger.
“Double.”
“Gotcha, want to keep the tab open?”
“Sure.”
He slides me the drink and then pulls up his own stool from behind the bar.
“So, what brings you to town?” he says, eyeballing me like I’m a new exhibit at the zoo.
“Looking for someone. Think you could help?”
“Town ain’t all that big Yankee. You a cop?” He says with a grin.
“How’d you know I was a cop?” I say, surprised at his analysis.
“Accent, Walk, Talk, you’re probably also carrying despite the fact that says no firearms on the premises. Plus, the fact that you’re looking for someone. So, what are you? Marshall? DEA? FBI?” he says, counting on his fingers as he picks me apart.
“So that makes me federal off the bat? Not just a new deputy?” I say, returning with my own sarcasm.
“I run a dive bar in bumfuck nowhere; I know every single cop in this county. Plus, nobody moves here by choice.” Swirling his finger in the air with a laugh.
I laugh with him as I realize that there isn’t a point in trying to hide it, and if anyone knew what was going on around here it was probably him.
“So, what are you doing here?” He says leaning in.
“I’m looking for someone.” I say leaning in and sliding a 100$ bill across the counter.
“Who?” he says, eyeing the bill.
“My wife.”
He throws his head back and laughs.
“Ah yes, one for details. Does this wife of yours have a name? Also keep the money, I ain’t a man who needs to be bribed for his help.” He says sliding the money back to me.
“Kelsey Smith.”
Almost as if on queue, the doors of the bar fly open, and 3 men walk in. They walk almost in lock step and carry easy smiles that deeply unsettle me. The same smile that the flight attendant had.
The bartender stiffens at the sight of them and becomes noticeably uncomfortable.
“Terry.” The leader says warmly, stepping forward to the bar.
“We’re about to close.” Terry says as he begins shutting the lights and jukebox off.
“We can help!” and with a wave of his hand, he disperses the other two to stand at the opposing sides of the bar, blocking our exits.
While the goons look passively on, the smiles still on their faces, the leader pulls up a seat right next to mine.
“My name is Jeremy.” he says, extending his hand in a polite but almost forceful manner.
“Pleasure” I say, sipping from my drink and leaving him hanging. He puts his hand on the counter and the smile on his face grows, almost as if he were baring his teeth.
“You’re new in town. What’s your name.” He says, angling his entire body towards me.
“Charles.”
“Well Charles. Allow me to cut to the chase, have you had the dreams yet?”
This sends a shiver up my spine, and I feel sweat break out across my forehead.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Now, I understand that you are stepping into an environment that you would consider…. Foreign” he says motioning his hands across the bar.
“But when two people call you the same name before you even get to a destination, one must ask himself. Is this the place I should be going?” He sounds like my old elementary school principal, the prick always knew how to talk down to me, keeping perfectly calm but managing to make my blood boil.
“I’m just looking for my wife. I will leave when I find out what happened to her.” I say, staring into my drink.
“There is something at work here that many people have put a lot of effort into, Kelsey included, and we will not have the usurper come and disrupt our efforts.” At the mention of her name I turn to look at him. His face is off. His eyes are wild and almost manic, and his lips are quivering ever so slightly.
“What do you want.” I growl and feel my hand drift to my waist.
“Leave. Never return. I’m sure you know the spiel.” He says. His tone has changed as well. If he wasn’t threatening me then he is now.
“And if I don’t?” I say, sparing a glance at Terry. His hands are under the bar now, most likely reaching for a piece he has underneath the counter.
“We will spare no detail.” Jeremy says, as the veins in his neck begin to bulge.
“Alright, you’ve sold me. I’ll leave.” I say as I stand, put the hundred back on the counter and stand from my seat.
“I’m so happy we decided to be reasonable.” Jeremy says, his face returning to its normal shape.
Without a further word, I get in my car and begin speeding down the road. It’s past 9PM and I’d bet my retirement on the fact that they’re going to follow me, and they sure as hell aren’t going to let me leave this town alive.
I drive for about 10 minutes down the dark and winding roads, long enough for me to realize that I haven’t seen anyone else on the road, which is strange in its own right. My thoughts are interrupted as a pair of headlights appear in my rear-view window and gunshots start ringing off into the night. One nails my taillight, another peppers my trunk. I speed up as my side mirror disappears with another crack. I pull out my own pistol and fire blindly through the rear windshield. One of the headlights on the truck goes out and a second later the truck veers off the side of the road, its course being intercepted by a tree. I look at my pistol in shock. And feel myself chuckle as I pull off to the side of the road. “Still got it.” I say to myself.
I reload and step out of my car and go to inspect the wreckage of my failed assassins. I’m not shocked to find that it’s Jeremy and his 2 goons from the bar. One of them was sent through the front window and face first into the tree, his body resembling something of a meat accordion. The other is slumped in the front seat, a noticeable indention in his skull after he hit the steering wheel and a penny sized hole in his forehead. I look around the truck to see the back door open and a trail of blood leading into the forest. I see Jeremy sitting against a tree. His breathing is labored, his legs are mangled, and he clutches his shoulder as he tries to plug the new hole, I gave him a few minutes earlier. I keep my gun on him as I approach.
“What happened man? I thought we were gonna be reasonable.” I say as I continue walking towards him.
He looks up at me. His smile is long gone, and only rage stains his face.
“Cmon then, get it over with.” He spits at me.
“I’m in no rush Jeremy, I need to ask you some questions.”
“I’m not telling you shit, Usurper.” In response to his name calling, I kick one of his legs which causes him to yelp like a beaten dog.
“Let’s start with that. What’s this Usurper thing about?” I say, dragging a log for me to sit on.
“You are the arch enemy. You will destroy everything my people have built. You and yours will be the ones to usher the destruction of all.” Despite his truly terrible condition, I’m impressed at his vigor and energy.
“I’ve started having dreams Jeremy. Something tells me you know why.”
He laughs at this, a harsh wheezing that sounds like the irony is worse than his pain.
“You moron. You’re apart of this, all of it.” he says, as he leans his head back on to the tree and stares into the sky.
“I’m a part of what. You keep saying these things that don’t make any sense. The only reason I’m here is for Kelsey, you know who she is, you know where she is. Tell me, and I’ll call an ambulance.” I say as I snap my fingers to make sure this smug bastard is staying awake.
“All will be revealed in due time.” He says it, reciting it like a mantra.
“Alright then, I tried the nice way.” I say smacking his hand away and sticking my thumb into the bullet hole in his shoulder.
He winces.
“Where.”
I dig. He moans.
“The Fuck.”
I dig deeper. He cries out.
“Is she.”
I push to the bone.
“STOP STOP. I’ll TALK.” He howls.
I pull my thumb out and rub it on his shirt.
“Sunset. Roadway inn. Cross the street and walk until you hear the songs.” He says as he coughs and tries to compose himself.
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” I say.
“May it tear you limb from limb usurper.” He says, and then pulling a knife from his waist belt and draws it across his throat.
I stand in shock as he slumps over and gurgles out his last few breaths.
As I stand in the motel room, I do a last-minute check. I take my old hunting rifle and make sure the scope is still working. I tap all of my equipment and jump up and down to make sure nothing rattles. A gnawing feeling in the back of my mind tells me that I came unprepared, but it’s too late to back out. I find my resolve and step outside. I’m in the right place. I stand in the spot where I stand in the dream. It’s almost as if I can see the forest stare back at me, and without further thought I walk across the street and make my way into the trees. I don’t walk far when I can start hearing the songs. A bizarre chant carried on the wind, in a language that I’ve never heard. I can then see the firelights in the distance as the songs grow louder. I see a hill and climb it, and then crawl until I reach the top. What I see draws the breath from my body.
A massive pit. A black hole in the middle of the forest. Standing around it is a ring of torches and behind it stand over 100 people. They’re naked and are covered head to toe in bizarre tattoos, with the same joyous smiles that Jeremy and his men had plastered across their faces. At the front of the pit stands an altar and that’s when I see her. Standing at the edge of the pit is the love of my life, naked, tattooed and smiling. Beside her stands a man, who raises his hands and silences the song.
“It seems that everyone has finally arrived.” He calls out. Which ignites a cheer throughout the crowd. Shit. Theres no way he knows I’m here.
“YOU’RE TIME HAS COME. RISE. CLAIM THE STARS.” The man screams and falls to his knees.
I then see movement in the pit, and giant tendrils rise and begin to plant themselves on the sides of the hole. The man rises and stands behind Kelsey, who he then begins to push towards the hole. She resists and begins to push back. I decide that I’ve seen enough and line the scope of the rifle with the center of his chest. Breathe out. And squeeze the trigger. I feel the push as the shot vibrates throughout my body and a hole appears in the man’s chest. Silence falls and then screams ring out. “USURPER”
Before I understand what’s happening, they’re on top of me and dragging me towards the pit. They beat me with their fists and clubs, tearing my clothes off and painting the tattoos on my body. I try to fight but they hold me down and drag me to the altar. I am brought to my knees before the altar and look at Kelsey. She is joined by an old woman who raises her hand to bring the crowd to silence.
“THE FALSE VESSAL HAS BEEN DISPOSED. THE USURPER HAS COME TO LEAD US TO THE STARS.”
I’m brought to my feet and led to the edge of the pit. I feel a hand grab mine. I look to see Kelsey holding on to me. She pulls me into an embrace, pulls away, and leans into my ear.
“Trust me.” She says, and then shoves me into the abyss.
I’m falling. I fall for what seems like hours and seconds. I finally land. I begin to sink, and I realize I haven’t landed on the ground but something warm. Something alive. I then feel the tendrils wrap around me and pull me in. I sink and as I sink, I begin to see. A billion-year plot, eons of deliberation, plans, executions, all of history, every hour, every minute, every second all converging to center on this very moment. The big bang, the creation of all life, and everything before it. I begin to feel an urge, the urge to claim, the urge to conquer, the urge to take. I rise. I continue to rise until I rise out of the pit and into the sky to go and claim the stars.

This is not finished and is written out of order so I may write part one one day and part two another they are ment to have diffrent style and be a bit bad.
Old Testiment as Written By Sir Eddie Murphy
Genesis
With his hands and ass cheeks he created our universe and infused it with life. He did this after he had one too many chicken Alfredos; the rupture caused him to poop with such force it caused a bang. A big bang. The bang caused earth to form. At this time it was just an empty wasteland with no life. However shrek with his omnibevelence wiped his ass with earth after the great shart. This invigorated the earth with things such as the grass and dirt we stand on and the cow birds and Mexicans we see. Shrek saw the earth and saw it was good. He named it the great onion in the sky. Finally Shrek created the things that mortal men can not see. Feelings. Hunger and thirst among other things. The reason shrek created hunger and feelings of sadness is that he new with his omniscience that they would lead to the creation of the chicken Alfredos form before. With this shrek created death as all must have an opposite and death is the unlucky opposite of life. This pained shrek to see his beloved creatures die so he created an afterlife so great and unfathomable that no mortal human could understand. This was named the great Taco Bell beyond the sky. With this creation he came down to the earth and formed the only country's the UK, Beeston, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Bramley and Australia however that has now been destroyed.
Early workings
After shrek made the world and lit it up with the stars in the night sky. He made the first human a man of pure faith and love for all who love shrek. Butter pants. Butter pants was sent down to watch the inhabitants and what they do, for shrek gave them free will. Butter pants became restless however after some time and so was given from shrek a wife and here was the first woman. Lois Griffin. They spent thier days with shrek on earth. Playing, telling stories and overall living a carefree life. After some time butter pants and lois griffin had kids. Three children Bob sob and George and in thier childhood they lived much the same as their perants. However, when they grew up they began to become more restless. Arguments rose and fell quickly like sparks. The three boys began to despise not just each other but thier family and shrek. This lead to the three boys leaving shrek to live somewhere else they all set off alone in diffrent directions. After many more years of distance to shrek the three boys began to forget. Not thier anger towards each other, although the argument that started had been lost, but their love for shrek. However one day one of the three boys sob discided to meet again with shrek for a request. "Lord please give me mercy for I beg of you a wife or a child". The Lord forgave sob and bestowed on him a child. The best ever seen. Three years past and the child named Mr bean was showing incredible intelligence and was growing quickly and nicely. Sob had now reconciled with lois and butter pants and they lived happily with each other. But the other boys became jealous and planned to kill Mr bean at night. Late one night they set thier plan into action and when all were asleep they suffocated the child without a sound. However with some sixth sense butter pants woke up and ran into the room to see his beloved dead. Feelings of anger, hate, sadness and distress fell over him like a great weight. He screamed and shouted at the boys and them tried to get his revenge. And after a while of fighting sob killed George. Shrek awoke along with lois griffin and he stormed into the room. "What have you done you animals" shrek screamed the boys did nothing for they saw the power of shrek never seen by man. "You live a life without me and you murder directly going against my will. For this you shall be punished as one of the weak in the world already unforgiven as blind mice together with the lost George. I leave you now for I never knew you".
The the aftermath
Shrek sent down along with lois and butter pants many men and woman to earth and split them out across the lands. Story's of shrek were told but they were eventually lost or warped beyond repair. Many generation came and when developing with the lost power of shrek. Because of this lost power they now fought with new pains. However shrek still loved humanity. The three blind mice lived as a testament to shreks wrath although they were seen as a legend and two the human eye seen as just mice.
To worship shrek
Shrek must be worshiped in a shrek church (an onion shaped dome to signify the warm and layers shrek brings to us) and do the Thug Shake. Hymns can also be sung like All Star. The shrek community needs to look after one another and this goes for humanity as a whole. The shrek onion is not only a place of worship but a place of giving.
The nature of shrek
Shrek is all powerful and all knowing he sees all that has happened all that is happening and all that will happen. Shrek does not have an age. He is master of all. There before the first silence was broken. He loves all who belive in him. I bear witness their is no God But Shrek.
La historia del pus en las botas
Un momento concreto en el que Eddie estaba difundiendo la buena palabra de shrek en España. Se encontró con un gato solitario; Eddie se apiadó del gato y recordó sus viejos tiempos como un burro normal. Eddie decidió acoger al gato como propio. Durante muchos años entrenó al gato llamándolo pus. El gato dominaba el cuchillo y luchaba contra los criminales de su ciudad. Pus oró para Shrek todos los días y con la ayuda de Eddie abrió un jardín público de cebollas para que la gente comiera y donara. Un día, por gracia de Shrek, le regalaron botas y lo consideraron pus en las botas.
This next segment was made by chatgpt
Title: "The Gingerbread Guardian"
In the quaint village of Sugarlandia, where the scent of freshly baked cookies filled the air, there lived a humble baker named Mrs. Butterbuns. Known far and wide for her delectable treats, Mrs. Butterbuns had a secret ingredient that gave her creations a magical touch: a pinch of stardust harvested from the heavens above. One crisp autumn day, as Mrs. Butterbuns was preparing her famous gingerbread cookies for the annual Harvest Festival, something extraordinary happened. As she sprinkled the stardust into the dough, a tiny spark ignited, and from the oven emerged a gingerbread man unlike any other. With a mischievous grin and a twinkle in his eye, the Gingerbread Guardian came to life, imbued with the wisdom of the stars and a mission to protect the village from harm. As word of the miraculous cookie spread, so too did the tale of the Gingerbread Guardian. Children gathered round to hear stories of his daring adventures, from foiling the plans of the mischievous Candy Bandits to rescuing lost kittens from the treacherous Toffee Swamp. But amidst the laughter and joy, a shadow loomed on the horizon. The wicked Witch of the Wastelands, jealous of the village's prosperity, devised a dastardly scheme to steal the magical stardust for herself. With her army of sugary minions, the witch launched an assault on Sugarlandia, intent on capturing the Gingerbread Guardian and seizing control of his celestial powers. But the people of Sugarlandia refused to surrender without a fight. Armed with rolling pins and cookie cutters, they rallied to the defense of their beloved guardian, standing shoulder to shoulder against the encroaching darkness. In the epic battle that ensued, sugar flew and frosting splattered as the forces of good and evil clashed in a showdown of epic proportions. With courage and determination, the Gingerbread Guardian led the charge, his gingerbread heart ablaze with the fire of righteousness. In the end, it was not brute strength or magic that prevailed, but the power of friendship and unity. Together, the villagers and their guardian vanquished the witch and her minions, restoring peace and harmony to Sugarlandia once more. And so, the legend of the Gingerbread Guardian lived on, a sweet reminder that even the smallest among us can make a difference in the world, one sprinkle of stardust at a time.
The beginning of the shrek religion
For thousands of years shrek kept silent on his existence. Watching over the earth not interfering with anything. This was to wait for the perfect moment when humanity was ready. This fist contact happened happened to Eddie Murphy. Eddie was a poor donkey just like any other. He waited for nothing wandering like a lost soul. He lived on a farm with an farmer however they was not treated equally. Eddie lived outside with no shelter eating grass. While the farmer ate grand feists with his family. Shrek did not like this shrek loved donkey can couldn't sand to see them be treated in such a way. So one day shrek, for the first time ever, came down to Eddie and gave him knowledge, knowledge that no mortal had had to this point. The knowledge to save humanity. With this gift shrek also granted Eddie with the gift of speech. With the help of shrek Eddie managed to jump the fence leading to his freedom from the farmer and into the town square. Their he shouted with glee that he had seen God. "Shrek" "shrek" "that is his name" the people in the town were confused and in awe of seeing a talking donkey. But then from the sky out dropped a seed that dropped next to Eddie's feet. Eddie shouted with all his might "plant this seed as it is the seed of shrek". One of the humans stepped up to pick up thr seed and planted it for Eddie. And when asked his name he said proudly "Farquad". But then from the ground sprouted a large white onion. Eddie raised his voice again "spread the word of shrek as I will. I hope to see you all in the kingdom of shrek." From thier Eddie set off on a voyage to spread the good word of shrek and farquad was appointed leader of the village.
The fall of lord farquad
Under the rule of farquad the village grew quickly. Many people came from around the world to see the great onion. They built holy places to shrek to worship him around the globe. However as the years past religion became less important and lord farquad became more greedy untill life for the people became worse while farquad lived a lavish life forgetting his Shrek given purpose. Until one day Eddie came back to see what had happened to the village. He was shocked to see little to nobody worshiping shrek. They were too busy being over worked by farquad. It seemed like their was nothing Eddie could do so he did what he always did in times of need. Pray. And shrek answered. From the heavens he brought Butter pants. Together with Eddie they came up with a plan to over take lord farquad. Under the blanket of night the three suck into the Palace of lord farquad and into his bedroom. "What are you doing here donkey" lord farquad said "What have you done too the holy land Eddie retorted "What I needed too" shouted lord farquad. But then from the shadows butter pants appeared. "Do the roar" he said. Lord Farquad looked confused. "Do the roar" he repeated many more times untill the annoyance reached its peak. "Shut up" farquad screamed. Farquad had to stop the noise. Somehow and the only way he knew was to jump. "Do the roar" was repeated many more times untill lord farquad had enough and shouted 'ill jump if you don't shut up". The last thing lord farquad heard before he jumped was "Do the roar". The village for years to come became a holy land for all.
The afterlife
Years had past. Eddie was now far from his foal days. He now lived his days in a bed each day shorter of breath and one day closer to death. Untill one day he died with his pussy beside him he prayed. The pain of his heart soon relived and he was sent to the great Taco Bell beyond the sky. There he met shrek. "Sup I'm god" shrek said eating his 4th chalupa that day. Eddie looked around at the Taco Bell. It was all onions. Shrek finished his chalupa and said "Eddie Murphy you are my most trusted. When I one day come down to humanity come with me you are my protector". Eddie left to see what the afterlife offered but their was so much so many layers to go. He met Danny devio. No I will not explain further. Its an after life joke you non afterlife people wouldn't understand.
Pus post Eddie's death
Seeing the death of his parental figure broke pus. However though the clouds he saw shrek who comforted pus during these times. Throughout the day he stopped crime however at night he stayed at the milk bar to the early hours of the morning this behaviour culminated during a night like any other when he was kidnapped. Hours went by in the carriage when pus was finally unmasked. Lord Farquad stood in front of him. Pus had heard stories of farquad and how he died so how could he be here. Pus didn't know all he did know was that he needed to finnish farquad once and for all. Pus thought though all off lord farquads monologue and then remembered. Chalupa. With the chalupa he ate hours ago still in his belly he let rip a fart so loud it could be heard in the great Taco Bell beyond the sky. This riped out his shackles and laughed him straight to farquad. The guards were none the wiser when he snuck behind farquad and pulled his pants down causing farquad to die of embarrassment and crush pus. This act sent pus to the after life wear he met shrek.
The fight of humpty dumpty and butter pants
マスターハンプティダンプティの戦い バターパンツが刀を振り上げた。 「咆哮をやれ」。ハンプティはバターパンツに飽きていて、決闘で彼と1対1を望んでいた。しかし、突然武装を解除されたハンプティーダンプティーに向かって突進したとき、バターパンツにはシュレックとアニメの力が味方していた。 「咆哮するか？」。彼はこれを止められず、何とかこの状況から抜け出す方法を考えなければなりませんでした。そう、彼の天才的な計画は、シュレックの助けなしには誰も思いつきませんでした。それで彼は計画を実行し、ハンプティーダンプティーにぶつかっただけで死んでしまいました。彼は卵であり、したがって非常に弱いからです。
Humpty dumptys return
جلس هامبتي دمبتي على جدار أحد المتاجر وألقى باللوم في إصاباته على السقوط الكبير. كانت ليلة عربية باردة حيث جلس هامبتي دمبتي على جمله في أقصى الصحراء حيث زرع الحبة السحرية. كان يعلم الآن أن بوس وإيدي ماتا ويمكنه العودة.
Ingredients to shrek brownies
You likely already have the ingredients you'll need for these easy brownies on hand:
· Sugar: These easy brownies start with two cups of white sugar. · Flour: All-purpose flour creates structure in the batter. · Butter: Two sticks of melted butter give the brownies moisture and richness. · Eggs: Eggs lend even more moisture. Plus, they help bind the batter together. · Cocoa powder: Of course, you'll need cocoa powder for chocolate brownies! · Vanilla: Vanilla extract enhances the overall flavor of the brownies. · Baking powder: Baking powder acts as a leavener, which means it helps the brownies rise. · Salt: A pinch of salt enhances the flavors of the other ingredients. · Walnuts: Nuts are optional, of course, but they add a welcome crunch.
Shrek orders at Wendy's
"Hello can I please get a baconator with large fries and a coke" he said burping mid way through. "Would you like to make that a meal said the drive through worker. "Yes" So that day shrek got a baconator with large fries and a. Wait they forgot his coke. Shrek was mad however as he is an omnibevelent God he only destroyed the entire country the Wendy's was on. The country was Australia so if you hear anyone say anything about Australia it is your duty to slap them and say shrek got rid of Australia. So moral of the story is. I don't know actually know ummmmm don't forget your coke.
The poem of shrek
Shrek is the one he is our call For he is my love and my soul He is the light to my darkness And the darkness to my light He will bring the world to an end Shrek is love shrek is life
Breaking shrek
"Eddie Murphy we need to cook" said shrek "Yo Mr shrek like zoinks scoob we need lots of meth" shouted Eddie. So for the rest of the day they cooked meth untill the evil hank shrader from the hit TV show Breaking bad showed up "Stop cooking drugs it's bad" "No" said shrek "OK" They lived out the rest off thier days cooking meth and lived happily ever after.
All star
Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed ♪ She was lookin’ kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb ♪ In the shape of an "L" on her forehead ♪ The years start comin’ and they don’t stop comin’ ♪ Fed to the rules and I hit the ground runnin’ ♪ Didn’t make sense not to live for fun ♪ Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb ♪ So much to do ♪ So much to see ♪ So what’s wrong with takin’ the backstreets ♪ You’ll never know if you don’t go ♪ You’ll never shine if you don’t glow ♪ Hey, now ♪ You’re an all-star ♪ Get your game on, go play ♪ Hey, now, you’re a rock star ♪ Get the show on, get paid ♪ And all that glitters is gold ♪ Only shootin’ stars break the mold ♪ It’s a cool place and they say it gets colder ♪ You’re bundled up now but wait till you get older ♪ But the meteor men beg to differ ♪ Judging by the hole in the satellite picture ♪ The ice we skate is gettin’ pretty thin ♪ The water’s getting warm so you might as well swim My world’s on fire ♪ How ‘bout yours ♪ That’s the way I like it and I’ll never get bored ♪ Hey now you’re an all-star [shouting] [singing] ♪ Get your game on, go play ♪ Hey, now, you’re a rock star ♪ Get the show on, get paid ♪ And all that glitters is gold ♪ Only shootin’ stars break the mold ♪
Shrek gets added to fortnite
Once upon a time shrek got added to fortnite with the Eddie Murphy backbling and onion glider. "Hello shrek welcome to fortnite" said Peter Griffin hitting a devious griddy. Tehetehe Shrek went on to get the victory Royal with goku lady gaga and bender form futerama.
Got a random guy to write this
Imagine Shrek traveling back in time and encountering a younger version of his great grandfather, Baby Gronk, in the present day. Baby Gronk might be a mischievous but endearing character, possibly with some ogre-like tendencies but in a smaller form. Shrek, with his big heart and sometimes gruff exterior, might find a kindred spirit in Baby Gronk. They could bond over shared family traits, like a love for swampy homes or a penchant for unexpected adventures. It could be a heartwarming story of family connection across generations, showing that even though times and appearances change, some things, like family bonds, remain constant. How does that sound.Part 2 of the shrek Bible as Written By Sir Eddie
The accention
A fine wonderful and enfactuating light pierced though the clouds and sky and down came from the great tacobell on the sky came down shrek. He sat on a great cloud; adorned in a great silk and angel made cloak. All stared at his glory. His figure was surrounded by a radiance he was like the sun all revolved around this moment. The angles followed. They were great celestial being clad in amour and swords but today they lay in modest and with instruments they played a inimagineable song that engrossed all listeners into a trance. Following next was Sir Eddie Murphy now raised from the dead with Pus and the original man Butter Pants. They wore astral clothes as they walked down to earth by seemingly walking on the air. Soon the four Shrek, Pus, Eddie and Butter Pants were on the ground and stood at a market stall. Shrek stood on a box and began to project his voice. "From now untill I die in this mortal form I am all God and all man. I will now see the true life of my most beloved your eyes". All stood in disbelief for thier saviour had come and with that speach shrek became far less intimating his astral light faded. However he still sat in his green ogre form. Shrek ascended down to the UK to begin but shrek new he must go on a voyage across the lands to spread the word of his arrival but he had to get ready. In the oncoming days shrek conversed with the people of the town and finding lay of the land. He mapped out hid journey and the stops he would have to make for food, water or rest and how he play to make it in the elements. However one day he was invited to talk with head of the village. "Shrek" he said in a light tone "it has come to my attention that you plan on leaving the town soon" "Yes that is correct my son" said shrek "There is something that I want you to have" said the head. "A shortsword, it was forged many years ago b- "My son my voyage is of peace and love for one another not a conquest it will not be needed in any extreme case but thank you my lord however I am greatful for your offer". Days more passed when shrek set out quickly and quietly under the setting sun so not to be seen and made a great fuss however he left a note in the home he was staying in giving them the information they needed but by then he would be far gone.
The journey to Beeston
Shrek walked happily and care free for some time untill he came to the beginning of a forest. The trees were tall and imposing and it was as if the branches were pointing at him to leave like a warning. At this time the sun was beginning to set and the night was dark. Going around would surely add time to his journey and eat into his food and water supply and so would waiting outside for daytime. Shrek had thought about this before setting out about a week prior and had deicided to enter the forest however now as it towerd over him he felt true fear. Shrek thought for a while as the sun fully set and the moon took its place and finally stepped his foot into the forest. As he walked foreboding stalked him and shrek could get no peace; he would look around for danger but the darkness And the fog clouded his vision. He could bearly see the hands infront of him. But after some miles his body caved and he set camp for the night. His legs ached and his body shaked the warmth of his sleeping bag couldn't satisfy the sharp coolness he felt. Shrek fell asleep that night cold and wet wishing he was home but he knew he needed to do this for humanity. Fragments of light broke though the shaded trees although the forest was cold as most light couldn't get though. The fog was still about him but was lessened from the night before. The air was sharp and shreks fear palpable. He still felt if the tree or something else that lurked in the shadows was watching him and judging his and getting ready to make thier move. As sheek got further into the forest the path became unclear and the sound of crows circling him above the clouds louder. Shrek sense of direction was now lost as they day began to come to a close. He walked around aimlessly fearful of what was lurking. One night after a full day of walking tring to find his way out he heard something. A noise, it was like a man's footstep yet quieter and seemingly shorter. Shrek came out of his sleeping bag and looked around "my child I mean no danger to you or this forest come out I wish to speak with you" shrek said with a quaking voice. The forest lay silent. Shrek looked around again when a quick pounce came from a bush and from it was a small brown haired creature wearing old fashion clothes. He lunged at shrek and held a knife to his neck he laughed spratically. "I have found you" he whispered into shreks ear. Shrek pushed him aside and shouted "why my son must you try to pain me" "I'll make your bones into bread, I'll spead your eyes over toast, I'll make your skin into clothes. You will be the crown of my collection" he shouted laughing still uncontrollablely. "My son you must stop for this will not get you anywhere" shrek said clearly scared. "Why did you wait so long to kill me" "I like to see my victims scream, beg me for mercy promising anything to me just to see one more day" he said. "Now time for my murder wig and out from his pocket he produced a large spiked red wig before he once again lunged at shrek and this time he managed to slice his hand. Shrek screamed in pain as the sharp agony pulsed though his body. But then from his bag shrek pulled out a guitar and threw it rumplestiltskin followed it and seemingly disappeared. Finally shrek got some much needed rest although the thought of been murdered in his sleep stressed him alot. For the next couple of days in the forest shrek walked with little fear although as he got closer to his destination the land grew weirder. The trees grouped closer together and the land uneven shrek missed donkey and pus and he thought of them lots. However, the days now were getting lighter as he was almost out of the forest and into the untamed land of Beeston. That morning after waking up and after his food was becoming scarce shrek exited the forest. The land of Beeston had many abandoned buildings like jungles, road men selling drugs and stabbing people but among the chaos lay an oasis. Kyle Upton and Harry Uptons House. It sat as if a castle the only protection for shrek.
As soon as shrek stepped over the border of Beeston he was met by a road man "Yo whats your name man" said the road man "Shr-" shrek began to say "Yo man shut the fuck up nobody asked bro" the road man interrupted "you fucked me up man. I can't think get out my head man get out my head" the road man ran away holding his head screaming get out my head man. Shrek carried on his journey to the oasis for some time untill the day turned to night so shrek rested in a pub. He walked in and the stench of a sweaty 40yr gaza with a Leeds United shirt on hit him and from the cracks of his armpit and his ass cheeks float green lines of stink who sat drinking a beer. There was also a group of people sat at the far side of the bar playing a gambling game. However, among the various other people one stood out to him although he wasn't quite sure why. The man sat alone not talking away from everyone else. He sat with a tin of beans that he was slowly eating. Shrek thought he could see the man staring at him as if examining him. However, shrek could not get a good idea of the man's face as he wore a hat and he mostly had his head down eating his beans. For a while shrek forgot his worrys in the bar talking with locals sharing story's. He found out the little monster he saw in the forest had been troubling the town for a while and that they hoped that he was now gone for good. But after many hours of conversation shrek decided to get a room and set off in the morning. Shrek awoke with a blur but as his eyes adjusted to his surroundings he above him a dark shadow yet it had a form like a man. The shadow drew its sword before shrek could react and it stabbed him in the heart before shrek awoke in a cold sweat. It was a dream. He sat up in his bed as his eyes adjusted to the darkness but after one or two minutes shrek felt as if a dark figure passed the window of the room. Shreks room was at the top part of the bar it was not a terrible room small but cosy. He looked around desperately and quickly looking for an answer when another shadow passed the window this time shrek got a better look at it. It was large and dark it wore a tattered cloak and had a sword sheaved under it. The same one from the dream. An then suddenly a loud knock came from the door. Shrek cowered in his bed frozen when the door swung open and in came the a man. The man shut the door and blocked it he was panting as if he was running or if he was in grave danger. Now shrek could get a better idea of who the man was he now realised that it was the man from before who was watching him carefully. "What do you want from me shrek cried "I'm here to help you shrek word of your journey has spead and many people are not welcoming of you". "I'm not quite sure who those shadows are but I know they want you dead and they will stop at nothing untill thier task is complete". "What are we to do" said shrek now sat on his bed on high alert. "We must go to Kyle and Harry they may know more on these creatures of the night and in their home we are safe" Whispered the man when another knock came to the door before the started to barge the door. "Come, the door is not verry strong and my defence won't last long" the man opened the window and threw a rope down tieing one end to the bed. They both climbed down the rope and then onto the man's horse. "Thank you" said shrek pausing to say his name "my name is Joe Webster" pleasure to serve you shrek. As they began to ride to the house of Kyle and Harry from the distance they could see the shadows watching them though the window of thier room.
Part 3 as Written By key whiteness of shrek decent to Earth
The expansion of the shrek religion As Written by kristianus kokaes
As the shrek religion began in the UK it quickly spread to Beeston and Bramley though the use of devout peasants moving looking for better paying jobs after the black death (1348-50). However in the 1500s came the discovery of the new world and with that opened new trade routes wear people often spread their faith to Shrek. This act spread the religion to Spain. Many years after this once the shrek religion had been woven within the culture of Spain and most of the country belived in him and built monuments in his name. Some would set out on pilgrimages from Spain to Saudi Arabia spreading thier religion further. However one country failed to see shrek as thier god. Australia. For shrek is just and omnibevelence he came to peace with this fact untill they got his Wendy's order wrong.

Last week's post https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cfhmzj/roundup_ufos_reported_on_here_last_week_countries/
Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20240428213053/https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cfhmzj/roundup_ufos_reported_on_here_last_week_countries/
Moon phase waning gibbous, three days before half
Mars Right Ascension 23h 58m 10s
.1 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cfhlti/i_saw_something_unusual_today/ photo, nighttime cloudy sky, contemporaneous report, single light object, flareup observed, was bright white and blinked twice with an additional red 🔴 light, then it just disappeared., vanished, brief duration 5-6 seconds, silent, over water, river, Regio Nijmegen the Netherlands 🇳🇱 elongated,possible oval-shaped, repeat visitor, I already saw near by a similar object this afternoon. Same short appearance. But it was further away and shone twice in a white metallic colour before it just ‘dissolved’.
.2 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cfejk6/possible_ufo_following_a_rocket_launch_videos/ sighting description and video, near rocket launch, single light object, red 🔴, moving fast, contemporaneous report, backyard, two witnesses, low over treeline, savannah Georgia, trajectory change ,similar sighting in comments
.3 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cff7ik/what_do_you_think_this_is/ video, nighttime sky, single object multiple lights, one flashing, possible triangle 🔺️ , from car, observed stationary, possibly pacing car, Bristol England the UK 🇬🇧, red and yellow 🔴🟡, downvoted to zero
.4 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cfybk7/all_the_relevant_uap_updates_from_april_2228/ information, state of disclosure USA https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cfjzdo/mexican_and_peruvian_ufo_disclosure_weekly/ information, state of disclosure, Mexico and Peru
.5 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cfp27v/s%C3%A3o_paulo_2024_28_april/ video, daytime sky, from car, contemporaneous report, over airport, urban area, Sao Paulo Brazil 🇧🇷, single light object, angular, reddish glow, two witnesses, elongated, vertical orientation, square ⬛️ or rectangular shape https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cfoldd/is_this_a_uap_over_s%C3%A3o_paulo_airport_this_morning/ original video, link to Google drive in comments , downvoted to zero
.6 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cfqcqc/help_needed_identifying_a_bright_flashing_light_i/ sighting description and video, contemporaneous report, nighttime, from car, west coast of Canada 🇨🇦, near water pacific ocean, single light object, flashing erratically or jumpy movement, diffuse, downvoted to zero
.7 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cfrx1d/saw_a_large_amount_of_interesting_lights_in_the/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, fleet, contemporaneous report, urban area, Albuquerque new Mexico, low over treeline , moving slowly, horizontal trajectory, [GOODPOST]
.8 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cfnvx2/last_night_in_orange_county_ca_this_is_our_second/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, repeat visitor, orange county California, contemporaneous report, two witnesses, observed moving and stationary and moving, trajectory change, brightness change, flareup and dimming, witness followed it, vanished, possible military response helicopter, Within a few minutes, a helicopter showed up and was circling the area for about 5-10 mins before leaving.
.9 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cff5in/nosy_chase video, twolights, one bright one dim, diffuse, near Monterey California, one following another, possible chase, silent
.10 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cfg1p7/in_my_adventures_today_i_realized_i_was_close_to/ photo of monument, historical event, Kecksburg Pennsylvania, local residents in comments, there was an event and the military came. The large transport vehicles were in town, and it went into total lockdown relative to the period.
.11 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cfujcw/what_the_hell_is_this_noise_in_my_shed_at_2_in/ audio, at home, nighttime, whistling
.12 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cfo904/have_you_ever_had_an_experience_that_youve_been/ discussion of experiences
.13 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cfwei1/ufo_sightings_and_related_experiences/ sighting description, military, US army, southeastern Georgia, nighttime, two witnesses, single light object, triangle 🔺️, appeared out of nowhere, moving fast, similar sightings in comments
.14 https://old.reddit.com/USOS/comments/1cg5jum/green_light_near_t%C5%8Dmy%C5%8Dd%C5%8D_lighthouse_in_japan/ photo and video, single light object, underwater, green 🟢, near Tomyo-do lighthouse in Japan 🇯🇵, stationary or moving slowly, USO
.15 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1cftvb4/what_was_happening_to_this_water_or_under_it/ video, possible USO, from Coronado Island, underwater, San Diego Bay California, hottub, duration two minutes, single dark object, strange waves, two witnesses
.16 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cgbu7k/my_highschool_math_teache information, high school teacher was ex airforce, USAF, I remember the smile, and he said, I can say this for sure it's a lot unknown out there .
.17 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cgvzd6/any_thoughts_on_this/ photo, daytime sky, single object blackwhite, not seen by eye, Sedona Arizona, hiking, cubensphere, subsequent single light object moving erratically, link to Google drive in comments, downvoted to zero https://old.reddit.com/useSabineRittecomments/1cgyl7j/fast_mover_over_sedona_arizona/ drawing I did
.18 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cgyqkd/the_bob_universal_object_tracker_software_beta/ live stream, BoB Universal Object Tracker Beta Version 1.0
.19 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cgi6d0/just_saw_this_over_rockwall_texas_any_ideas/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, happening at time of posting, single light object stationary, angular, urban area, Rockwall Texas, multicolored, low over rooftop, Sirius?, similar sightings in comments , duration 30 minutes
.20 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cgmduv/photos_and_video_taken_on_sunday_in_manila/ sighting description, single dark object moving erratically, two witnesses, Manila harbour the Philippines 🇵🇭
.21 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cgr2oz/spherical_object_steadily_cruising_over_north/ video, daytime sky, north Zealand Denmark 🇩🇰, single light object moving fast and straight, reddish glow, possible metallic sphere, horizontal trajectory, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy
.22 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cgsgw7/what_is_this_thing/ photo and video, nighttime sky, two witnesses, single light object moving, silent, curved trajectory, floated from north to south west., at home, south of colombo Sri lanka 🇱🇰 , downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy
.23 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cgd28b/what_happened_to_the_sky_that_day/ sighting description, daytime cloudy sky, Knoxville Tennessee, I saw the sky open up almost like a tear in the sky but it was completely dark on the inside., brief duration, As quick as it happened, it closed back up., has anyone seen?, similar sightings in comments
.24 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cgelf6/i_met_god_apparently/ experience description, entity, humanoid, possible healing, communication, repeated this 3 time....As long as you have peace in your eyes and love in your heart you will be ok.
.25 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ch0z05/potentially_multiple_ufos_edgewood_nm_42924/ video, nighttime sky, fleet, repeat visitors, contemporaneous report, edgewood new Mexico, past few weeks I started to see just one random bright light in the sky. A few nights later there were two lights circling around each other. A few nights later three lights so on and so forth.
.26 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ch1x7weird_object_in_sky_castle_rock_colorado/ photos, daytime sky, single dark object, stationary observed, possibly pacing car, elongated, V-shaped or worm 🪱, plane for comparison observed, witness looked away and looked back, vanished, as the plane went to pass the object, a semi blocked my view. When we got past the semi, the object was gone, and the plane was continuing to fly. , castle rock Colorado, powerlines, low over ridgeline,
.27 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ch6ogj/plane_drone_or_ufo/ video, nighttime sky, st augustine Florida, single light object moving, multicolored, silent, repeat visitor,
.28 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ch80cf/orb_ufo_megapost_connecting_the_dots/ original compilation, single light object, characteristics, [GOODPOST], discussion of orbs
.29 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1chcsul/possibly_ufos/ video, nighttime sky, threelights, line formation, angled from the horizon, from car, contemporaneous report, possibly pacing car
.30 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1chd7uj/super_bright_flashing_light_and_orb_over_dc/ video and video from home security camera, nighttime sky, at home, outside bedroom window, single light object, toward the Capitol building Washington DC, smaller objects accompany it, flashing in pattern, powerlines, very bright, possibly illuminating clouds, [GOODPOST], similar sighting in comments
.31 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cho7s7/ufo_i_saw_in_my_backyard/ video, nighttime sky, threelights, close triangle formation, horizontal orientation, horizontal trajectory, low over rooftop, silent, at home, backyard, emotional reaction shock and happiness https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1chocey/moving_white_orb/ same OP, different event, video, nighttime sky, single light object moving, low over treeline, tuskegee alabama, satellite?
.32 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1chpq8v/freinds_video_of_ufo/ video, possible metapod type, daytime
.33 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1chf798/disappearing_lights_over_oconee_county_ga/ sighting description, fleet, appearing and vanishing, plane for comparison observed, possible interaction with airplane, they were waiting for the airspace to clear before doing anymore shenanigans. All of a sudden no activity for a couple minutes, then a plane would fly overhead and once he cleared the airspace it would start right back up., contemporaneous report, Oconee County Georgia, nighttime, duration 10 minutes , trajectory change, one light travel from left to right come to stop for a second and then proceed to travel back in the opposite direction right to left, moving and stationary and moving, brightness change, flareup and dimming, additional single light object low below treeline, possible animal reaction coyotes going crazy and neighbors dogs barking insane right at the time of peak activity.
.34 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cgw198/april_27_2am_star_split/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, just off I5 Los Banos California, single light object, lighting configuration change, splitting, twolights, one stationary and one moving, repeat visitor, downvoted to zero https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1chirrg/april_28th_los_banos_ca/ same OP, the next day, video, nighttime, [GOODPOST], threelights, triangle formation, flying in formation, similar sighting same area in comments
.35 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1chj6ot/strange_lights_over_worcester_ma_usa/ sighting description, nighttime, duration 20 minutes, witness followed it, from car, fleet, threelights, from car, Worcester Massachusetts, possible formation change, flying pretty high up when the lights appeared more clustered, and when flying low the lights appeared more linear, silent, circling, it was making large circles above the city. , moving slowly, jumpy movement, when I looked away for a bit it looked like it was off in the distance further than I would expect for how slow it was. There was a red 🔴 light, but no discernible green light. I think there was a blinking white light., downvoted to zero
.36 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1chjolg/was_it_a_ufo/ sighting description, southwest Nova Scotia Canada 🇨🇦, single light object, orange 🟠, trail formed, stationary and moving, witness looked away and looked back, vanished, when I looked back it was gone. I kept looking at the sky to see it and I could faintly see it moving in and out of view, there were no clouds I don’t think but it was faint as it moved out of view around the house., disappeared behind rooftops
.37 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1chkcc2/ufo_sighting_in_vienna/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, urban area, Floridsdorfer Markt Vienna Austria 🇦🇹 , single light object moving, possible trajectory change, satellite?
.38 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1ch2mqq/i_had_several_strange_and_terrifying_experiences/ childhood experience description, possible abduction, near Naples Italy 🇮🇹, entities, inside bedroom, repeat visitors, at home, nighttime, witness woke up, fleet, inside bedroom, stationary, These lights were green-ish in color, had the most bizarre shapes, and were slightly fluorescent. , emotion of fear, physical effects goosebumps and paralysis, hyperventilated and started sweating profusely., possible men in black response to telling the story on Reddit, [GOODPOST]
.39 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1chrgft/what_is_it_ufo/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, trail, haze, curved trajectory, Samara Russia 🇷🇺, rocket launch?
.40 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1chir0j/fast_uap_passing_sta video, nighttime sky, single dim object moving fast
.41 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1ch44dd/for_people_who_experience_way_too_many_tech_issues/ discussion of humans causing electronic effects
.42 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1chuvn5/this_is_a_recreation_has_anyone_seen_something/ video recreation of sighting description, nighttime, brief duration, jumpy movement, plane-shaped, had no dimension to it. It looked more like an image than a physical object. , has anyone seen?, white-blueish, over water, Manahawkin bay new jersey, https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1chw8e6/repost_this_is_a_recreation_has_anyone_seen/ reposted
.43 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1chvyjw/completely_stationary_hovering_silver_sphere_nea sighting description, has anyone seen?,single light object, metallic sphere, stationary, reaction to being observed, vanishing, repeat visitor, made two passes, electronic effects camera can't detect it, I tried to get a better view with my eyes and poof it seriously just vanished. , near USAF, DMAFB, tuscon Arizona
.44 https://old.reddit.com/Experiencers/comments/1ch845u/my_experience_with_a_blue_jellyfish_object_as_a/ childhood sighting description or dream, at home, nighttime, near water, reservoir, witness woke up, light shining in bedroom window, golden, single object irregular shape, blue 🔵, gigantic flying jellyfish 🪼 with rings of rotating smoky tentacles. The inner ring dropped down and rotated around the surface of the water. the jellyfish was taking on water., dull, sort of golden titanium looking, mirror-type panels that would distort everything in the field of view as they passed., emotional reaction shock, communication, "This is nothing. You should go back to bed.", saw something I wasn't supposed to., compelled to go to sleep, [GOODPOST]
.45 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ci995p/high_altitude_ufo_sightings/ sighting descriptions, repeat visitors, Washington state, single light object moving, pulsating, trajectory change, subsequent single light object moving fast, wavy trajectory, subsequent single light object, trajectory change, contemporaneous report, has anyone seen?
.46 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cij45u/what_is_this_thing_floating_over_bali_indonesia/ photo, nighttime cloudy sky, single dark object, irregular shape, vertical orientation, stationary, duration 30 minutes, contemporaneous report, happening at time of posting, urban area, Bali Indonesia 🇮🇩, kite?
.47 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cigpvb/what_could_this_be/ video, nighttime sky, from home security camera, electronic effects motion detection, northern Wisconsin,single light object moving, descending below treeline, illuminating trees
.48 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1ci471l/what_are_these_flashing_red_lights/ sighting description and video, nighttime sky, single light object, green 🟢, flashing erratically, repeat visitor, I keep seeing a green light in my neighbors backyard, always around 5:30am, when there are typically no lights back there. , Kalamazoo Michigan
.49 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1ci1v99/took_a_flight_42924_saw_uap/ sighting description and reference image, from airplane, east coast USA, daytime, single light object, metallic sphere, moving fast, I saw a metal sphere fly fast, really fast, past and slightly above the airplane going to opposite direction we were flying., possible porthole, similar sightings in comments
.50 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cijlvt/my_wife_took_this_pic_last_yea photo, nighttime sky, threelights, triangle formation, low over treeline, near airport
.51 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1chvltt/ive_seen_a_ufo_sighting_today/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, from airplane, from Birmingham the UK 🇬🇧 to Seville Spain 🇪🇸, daytime cloudy sky, single dark object, possible interaction with airplane, witness felt observed, large black object in the clouds. It was tall and rectangular and then kind of went on its side and became thin and wide and flew off away from us., two witnesses
.52 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cin2lh/my_terrifying_true_childhood_story_a_ufo_turns/ childhood sighting description, Goole in East Yorkshire the UK 🇬🇧, at home, nighttime, witness woke up, flying saucer, outside bedroom window, also had several small bright lights spinning around as it moved in the sky., single object multiple lights, rotating, audio description faint humming sound., event amnesia, For whatever reason however, I quickly forgot about what I saw that night ., repeat visitor or second object, daytime, multiple witnesses, single object, disk shape, approach, flew overhead, emotion of fear in other witnesses, left the area, When I look back to what I think is a "UFO", all of a sudden what I'm seeing isn't a flying saucer, but an RAF fighter jet flying dangerously low before it quickly turns and flies away. , mimicking airplane, similar sighting in comments, [GOODPOST] https://old.reddit.com/ufouk/comments/1cin9sh/my_terrifying_true_childhood_story_a_ufo_turns/ reference images
.53 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cinow3/heres_a_compilation_of_cases_where_ufos_used/ original compilation, historical events, light beams, bending or pulling
.54 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cipk67/what_could_it_be/ video, hard to see , spotlights type
.55 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cipw6p/what_is_this/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object, diffuse, spiral trail, rocket launch?, Finland 🇫🇮, similar sighting in comments from Sweden 🇸🇪 and Poland 🇵🇱 , https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ciq28y/now_from_ukraine/ Ukraine 🇺🇦
.56 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cistzk/ufos_filmed_in_natick_massachusetts/ video, nighttime sky, fleet, Pagan Hill in Natick Massachusetts, two witnesses, contemporaneous report, red, submission statement issues, removed
.57 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cjbmdn/top_left/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single light object, splitting, submission statement issues
.58 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cj2il1/ufo_info_from_sighting_10_years_ago/ sighting description, downvoted to zero, nighttime, two witnesses, single light object, blue 🔵, approach, moving fast and stationary overhead, possibly rotating, doing sort of a twirl motion., physical effects paralysis, transfixed, emotion of fear and awe, sudden departure upward, zoomed out of view slightly angled and up into the sky going from its original shape to a dot that disappeared into darkness as it went further and faster away., witnesses left the area, we immediately ran back down the driveway to his house. The sense of fear and dread was very real.Near the Devil's Tramping ground in North Carolina, silent
.59 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cisc8c/unshared_footage_of_2021_canadian_sighting/ sighting description, Richmond British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦, nighttime, observed moving and stationary and moving, flareup or size change,
.60 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cj3icg/ufo_caught_in_waterloo_ny_may_1st_2024/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object, elongated, horizontal orientation, tictac, horizontal trajectory, moving slowly, plane for comparison, waterloo new York state
.61 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cj7x9u/if_this_alien_abduction/ experience description, possible abduction, physical effects pain
.62 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1ciymal/strange_light/ experience description and video, no craft, from home security camera, single flash, illuminating trees, from the sky in front of me I got hit with a white/bluish laser for a split second, brief duration
.63 https://old.reddit.com/UFOB/comments/1cisg7c/taken_in_upstate_ny_today/ photo, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, single dark object, elongated, plane for comparison, angled from the horizon, upstate new York state,
.64 https://old.reddit.com/CLOUDS/comments/1cicotduring_flight_what_is_this_discshaped_cloud/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, from airplane, cloud anomaly, disk shape
.65 https://old.reddit.com/CLOUDS/comments/1ciawdu/may_1_silent_lighting_storm_south_us/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, diffuse light flashing erratically, silent, lightning anomaly , southern USA
.66 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cjfj7k/i_know_this_isnt_a_ufo_but_i_would_really_like_to/ photos, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, airplane anomaly, Richmond Virginia, 2 very, very large rings, with an airplane/jet going straight up. It was going faster than any plane I've seen go across the sky., powerlines, duration 5 minutes
.67 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cje9ei_saw_a_ufo_when_i_was_13_now_21_and_i_used_ai_to/ sighting description and drawing, single dark object, jellyfish 🪼, dark black "ballish" drone flying towards me., approach, flew overhead, audio description humming sound, It had tentacles coming out of it. , I saw them expand and contract individually., downvoted to zero
.68 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cjla34/kinross_plane_sighting/ sighting description and reference image, airplane anomaly, from car, contemporaneous report, daytime, highway 61 about an hour north of Duluth Minnesota, low over water, lake superior, I saw this plane hovering about 300ft above ground, just offshore over the water, single object, stationary, mimicking airplane, The props were not even moving., two witnesses, emotional reaction freaked out, overwhelmed, shock, Pupils really dilated, couldn't control my body temp, lots of frantic pacing., historical event, Kinross incident, dark green RCAF C47 Dakota., [GOODPOST], silent
.69 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cjn0qo/any_idea_what_this_light_could_have_been/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, fourlights, diffuse, spotlights type, splitting, circling, merging, long Island New York state, observed duration 2 minutes, felt compelled to look up, something told me to look up and it was very gloomy., felt like something huge was above the clouds projecting these lights.,
.70 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cjqfc7/oc_i_wasnt_going_to_post_this_but_it_just_looks/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single dark object, low over rooftop, elongated, vertical orientation, observed descending, jellyfish 🪼 or squid 🐙 , bountiful Utah, at home , [GOODPOST] , three witnesses
.71 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cjv2da/day_of_the_eclipse_njny/ photos, daytime cloudy sky, eclipse day, multiple objects, dark, moving fast, new jersey , downvoted to zero, video analysis requested
.72 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ck2whw/is_this_a_balloon/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single dark object, irregular shape, possible star 🌟 shaped, wobbling, descending below rooftop, balloon 🎈?, urban area, Upper East Side NYC New York state, contemporaneous report, duration 30 seconds https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ck3rf8/is_this_a_ballon/ reposted
.73 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cjnqfk/my_experience_with_the_marfa_lights_the_entities/ sighting description, three witnesses, Marfa Lights, Marfa Texas, single red 🔴 light blinking., lighting configuration change to threelights, line formation, vertical orientation, appeared out of nowhere , Then directly below it another red light starts pulsating. Then a third until there's 3 lights in a vertical row pulsating, Then they go solid red. And slowly start to hover in all directions. Then fade in and out. , appearing and vanishing, formation change, color change, multicolored, splitting, duration 2 hours, emotional reaction shock, paralysis, transfixed, I was jaw dropped in shock. I had a camera. I'm a professional cinematographer. And I never lifted my camera., felt compelled to look, something told me to "listen" and not document., sudden departure, all 5 lights quickly shot into a horizontal line and turned blue. Then they faded away., apathy in other witness, witness followed it, fleet observed, witness went to sleep, subsequent entities, inside bedroom, At the edge of the bed, was standing 3 tall silhouettes of skinny long, big headed entities. , emotion of fear, sudden departure, repeat visitors, human initiated contact, similar sightings in comments, [GOODPOST]
.74 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cjw9ks/im_gonna_just_leave_this_right_hererandomly_found/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, single object blackwhite, not seen by eye, possible disk shape with dome, urban area, powerlines, near water Atlantic Ocean, Freeport Grand bahama The Bahamas 🇧🇸
.75 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ck4214/october_26th_2022/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, Kennewick Washington state, single light object flashing in pattern, low below treeline, possible single object multiple lights, stationary
.76 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1cjzedo/clown_doll_in_my_ceiling_talking_to_me/ childhood sighting description, entity, repeat visitor, at home, inside bedroom, communication
.77 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ck60dj/is_that_a_weather_baloon/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single light object, splitting, twolights, rotating around each other, plane for comparison, contemporaneous report, urban area, Vienna Austria 🇦🇹
.78 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ck6di0/strange_lights_at_the_hollywood_bowl_last_night/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, two witnesses, Hollywood California, single light object, loops, doing something similar to a figure 8 movement, has anyone seen?
.79 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ck9b1y/what_is_that/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, single light object, multicolored, contemporaneous report, urban area, st Petersburg Florida, low over rooftop , near water, gulf of Mexico, possible smaller objects accompany it, as I zoomed in that video I noticed three black dots that seemed to be hovering over the flashing circle in which would become distorted., Sirius?
.80 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ckaznc/whats_this/ photo, daytime sky, single light object, elongated, horizontal orientation, tictac, horizontal trajectory, northwestern Ontario Canada 🇨🇦, duration 10 minutes, downvoted to zero in 27 minutes,
.81 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ckb8xo/something_spotted_in_north_london_today/ video, daytime cloudy sky, contemporaneous report, urban area, North London England the UK 🇬🇧, single light object, flickering, vanishing, plane for comparison observed
.82 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1ckbept/are_those_stars/ video recreation of sighting description, nighttime, from car, unusual route, anomalous silence, two witnesses, Utah, fleet, formation change, sudden departure downward, the formation of stars began to move, they would condense and expand in the space between them. Then, in an instant, they flew down to the earth below.
.83 https://old.reddit.com/astrophotography/comments/1ck93y3/meteor_captured_last_night_3rd_may_2024_by/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object moving fast, angled from the horizon, meteor?, plane for comparison
.84 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ckcb2y/object_id_help/ video, nighttime sky, Panamint Valley California, three witnesses, single light object, appeared out of nowhere, yellow 🟡, crescent 🌙 shape, approach, flew overhead, color change to white, flareup, diffuse, haze, The light appeared as semicircular “wings” on either side, with gaps in front of and behind of the object., moving fast, silent, vanishing and reappearing, lighting configuration change, the bright lights were in a ring shape,,SpaceX?
.85 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ckpybw/2013_middle_of_nowhere_texas/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, powerlines, fleet or single object multiple lights, horizontal orientation, powerlines, at home, backyard, south of San Antonio Texas, appeared out of nowhere, brief duration, vanishing, line of light appears and lasts only a brief moment. It looked like they “glistened?” in and out.,
.86 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1ckl5iv/this_appears_regularly_hoping_its_a_drone_nz_btw/ photo, nighttime sky, repeat visitor, new zealand 🇳🇿, single light object, low over treeline,
.87 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cklvx8/planehelicopter_2nd_light/ video, nighttime sky, single light object moving, descending at an angle, plane for comparison, urban area
.88 https://old.reddit.com/atoptics/comments/1ckr8rx/black_vertical_line_in_sky/ video, daytime cloudy sky, cloud anomaly, vertical contrail, dark, contemporaneous report, Bath England the UK 🇬🇧

So, we begin in the Ancient Spire Outpost, where the patchwork sloop, The Unreliable, sit bobbing by the shoreline. Upon it, it's single captain sits with his pet cat beside him, casting his line into the waves over and over, the smell of cooked fish clinging to him. All is peaceful.
It is then that the first cannonball hits the hull, he reels in his line quickly, startled from his tranquil meditation as another cannonball sails overhead. He sees a plain sail brigantine drifts past, firing as it goes until it loses its angle. Annoyed, the captain patches the holes and dredges out the water before considering it nothing more than an idle threat before considering on recasting his line.
The brigantine, crewed by two men, do not consider there work done while The Unreliable still floats, and thus the chartered ship begins to turn with the jarring inaccuracy one would expect of swabbies still finding their sealegs.
With The Unreliable now sitting at the bottom of the harbour, the captain considers that it has not been the first, nor will it be the last time that the ill-fated ship will meet its watery demise. Mildly irritated by the other crew's displays of ungentlemanly barbarism, the captain draws his eye of reach, scope levied to enact revenge on his sunken ship. Then he hears the crack of wood as a cannonball hits their hull, the Reaper galleon sails into view...
"You F\***** p**** b****! We have nothing! We've literally-!"* Whatever other uncouth behaviour the crew of the brigantine can yell are deafened by distance and the sound of their collapsing mast. The captain of The Unreliable stands on the docks, watching with a mixture of fear and awe. He briefly ponders if the sinking brigantine crew know how it feels to have their empty vessel be attacked. As he watches the Reapers aboard the galleon execute the survivors adrift in the water, the captain performs a brief serenade on his accordion, pondering just what the future will have in store from him. He hears the splash of water, watching one of the Reapers scale the ladder onto the docks beside him, their garb identical to the captain's only. The captain ponders briefly if he should introduce himself, perhaps offer a few words of thanks-
He awakens on the Ferry of the Damned, watched by the unending vigil of the Ferryman at the helm. As the door back to the land of the living beckons, the captain considers that perhaps it is time to stop and enjoy a more wholesome meal than cooked fish.
TL;DR: Fishing peacefully when a brig sunk my sloop, then was sunk in turn by a Reaper gally who were keen on no survivors and no witnesses. Karma.

Welcome to The Oblivion Cycle universe, a vast setting spanning all of time and space and so much more. While many stories may shed perspective on this grand cosmic vista, there are also tales of adventure and sacrifice, romance and terror, grimdark corruption and scientific progress. To become immersed in the setting is to let the chaos of creativity flow through you, to let go of what is probable to discover what’s possible. I have created TOC for one reason, to inspire and entertain any who will listen. So please feel free to join me on this great adventure as I push the boundaries of what is possible and expand the limits of our creativity together. For more information on the setting and its lore there is a subreddit for TOC at TheOblivionCycle and a Discord server dedicated to it here [https://discord.gg/uGsYHfdjYf\] called ‘The Oblivion Cycle Community Server’. I hope you find the following story entertaining and once more, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.

• E1:P1 + Previous Part + Next Part+

______________________________________
Continued From Episode 2
Balinski sat in his blue Atoya Trooper with an arm resting on the sill of the driver-side door’s open window. He rested his head back against the faux cow leather seat and tried to close his eyes briefly against the glare of the neon lights outside. His impromptu attempt to nap was once more interrupted by the creature occupying the passenger seat next to him in the extended cabin of the armoured truck.
He grunted as something furry butted into his side, the barely healed bruising tingling as he put out a hand to stop further assault. “What do you want, Caesar?” He asked the large cyberhound next to him.
Caesar just snuffled and then shook her head before giving him a small whine and a pointed look. He smirked, she couldn't possibly still be hungry. She had just polished off an entire zebberloaf sandwich and had even managed to eat the other half of his. With his limited biological mass he didn't need to eat very much anymore to maintain himself. His cybernetics operated off of internalized promethium powercells and required only limited maintenance as long as he was careful not to get shot too much.
He chuckled at that, the other week had been a brutal array of close fighting. His legs and arms had taken a beating requiring him to actually visit his military contact to get them repaired. Dr. Magoy had been happy to see him it had seemed, if not necessarily happy about the state he had allowed himself to fall into. But after a tense few limbless hours he had been put back together, ‘better than new’ he had been assured.
Caesar butted him again and he looked over toward her, “What?!” he demanded before realising that she was desperate. “Oh, I told you not to drink so much water before we left this morning. Okay, but don't be too conspicuous. I’m pretty sure you aren't supposed to just piss wherever you like.”
He opened the door and grunted as she rushed over his lap and out onto the sidewalk, luckily it was rather early in the morning so there were few passers-by to gawk at the thirty-six kilogram cybernetically enhanced husky as she bolted for the nearest convenient shadow. With her neural implants she at least had the good conscience to be embarrassed about relieving herself in front of others. Something that he constantly found amusing.
He checked his wrist assistant, the small electronic device beeping angrily at him as the fifteen minute timer rang incessantly. He turned it off and looked around again, he didn’t see Daryon anywhere. The large vinarfelien police woman was supposed to meet him here at seven-thirty sharp. So where in the name of Lady Luck was the large insectoid female?
He heard a series of happy barks coming from around the nearby building and smiled. Caesar was wary of strangers and wouldn't bark like that at somebody unless she knew them. He rolled up the armoured glazmite window and stepped out of the vehicle, closing it behind him with a thud.
As he walked towards the corner he saw Caesar bound around it, prancing before a two-meter tall alien that looked as if somebody had taken a child's nightmare about a centipede and scaled them up into a six-meter long three-hundred kilogram version with ten arms and a multitude of short stabbing legs that ran along the sides of her chiton armoured body.
He smiled as she gave him a two armed wave. Waving back politely he walked towards her and called out, “What are you doing, don’t you know that Caesar is an on duty officer of the law? I can’t have her getting pets and distractions from every random passerby.”
Daryon’s antenna rose in a customary greeting as she put out two hands palms up which he promptly slapped. She folded five of her lower arms while still giving the happily grumbling pup a good head scrub with the sixth. Two of her upper arms she used to gesticulate while she answered him, “Well of coursse. But an officer ass good asss thiss deservess to be praissed by her comradesss whenever the opportunity arisess, wouldn't you agree?”
He didn't have a counterpoint and so he just shrugged before leaning against the faded facade of the building next to him. “Well, thanks for coming to help. I don’t know these streets as well as I would like. I grew up on the edge of the flyway and so didn't get to see the old city much.” He looked around, the old city was indeed old.
Cheenha had been founded as one of the original cities on Jureillo a little over three hundred years ago. Most of the old city was at least one hundred and fifty years old with some of the structures being far older. The materials and techniques haven't changed much over the centuries though and so it could sometimes be difficult to tell a historical building from a new novelty one that was simply made to mimic the age of those around it.
Such mimicry was pretty commonplace amongst the buildings in both the old and the new city. It was seen as bad practice to try and modernise the old style buildings. While there were indeed kilometer tall shining steel skyscrapers in the new city, the old city consisted mostly of blocky high-rises and triple stacked city-plates. Large sections of the city that were layered on top of each other in such a way that the underlying levels were completely blocked off from the sky.
In fact, if it were not for the profusion of flashing neon advertisements in the windows of the shops nearby and the flickering overhead lighting it would have been pitch black where they were. He took a few steps towards his truck and then stopped as he heard a noose from behind him.
Turning curiously he saw Daryon with two of her arms raised, she lowered them as he looked. The insectoid woman’s antennae rose slightly as she gestured towards his blue Atoya, “What? Are we taking that?”
Balinski nodded. “Well, yeah. Unless you would rather walk everywhere.”
She seemed to hesitate. “I don’t. Will I even fit in there?”
Balinski had to laugh at her candid nervousness. “Yes, you will fit just fine. I am sure of it, now come on. We have a lot of ground to cover as you said over the E-Link last night.” He tapped his wrist assistant, the small personal computing device that nearly every sapient member of the Union used on a daily basis. It could do a multitude of simple tasks and had the ability to download and use special applications to improve its performance and usefulness.
She looked at the device attached to her own wrist and then back at him. Her lightning patterned carapace seemed to sway slightly as she finally gave a stiff nod of her head, well more of a bob really.
“Okay, but don’t ssay I didn’t have any doubtss if it doessn't work.” the vinarfelien chittered in her slightly hissing accent.
He walked over to the heavy truck, the empty bed and heavy industrial looking profile intimately familiar to him. He had always wanted a Trooper as a child, but his mother had told him that he would likely never get to afford one as they were generally only sold under either government or police contracts. They were armoured and had reinforced secondaries, as well as being able to run off both conventional powercells and raw hydrocarbons like gasoline or diesel.
He opened the door and Caesar immediately launched herself into the passenger seat, right as Daryon opened the other door. Caesar gave a small whine and looked at him. “Well, you can sit in the back or in the middle. Pick one.”
He frowned as the stubborn pup crouched low in her favorite spot, a low growl emanating from her declaring her opposition to this seeming atrocity. Balinski just put up his hands and looked towards the distant plasteel reinforced duracrete ceiling and mimed saying a prayer for luck.
He smiled a little as Daryon chuckled, the breathy hissing sound was only a tiny bit unsettling. But his previous experience with vinarfel made it a familiar one. He watched as she seemed to hesitate again.
Finally he blurted, “Oh for the sake of pete, move your fuzzy ass out of the way Caesar!”
Not the most diplomatic approach, but it had the desired effect. Caesar hopped up in alarm at his shout and slunk over to the middle of the bench seat. Balinsky shook his head as the pouting drama queen settled herself down as if the entire world had been taken from her.
Daryon nodded in thanks once more before trying several times to crawl into the seat without tangling herself. He pointed to a small pull-string near the bottom middle of the bench and stated, “If you pull on that the back drops out of the lower portion. For people with tails, or extra long bodies.” He chuckled as the woman’s antennae shrank against her back and she placed two of her hands over her unblinking compound eyes in an obviously embarrassed gesture.
She shook her head jerkilly before pulling it as he had instructed. With a soft thump the lower portion of her seat dropped backwards making an arched hole just big enough for her. She shook her head as she looked at it though, “I don’t think thiss was made with vinarfeliensss in mind. If I try and contort myself in there, how am I going to ssit in the ssseat?”
His smile dropped and he cocked his head as he looked from her to the conspicuous opening and back again. He scratched the side of his head as he removed his hat. “Huh, how ‘bout that. I suppose you could just.. er.. put yourself down in the footing area and then use what part of the seat feels most comfortable?”
It was a damn strange sight to see the six-meter long woman crawl into the truck, her many short chitinous legs allowed her supreme control of her lower two thirds as she coiled most of herself in the footing area of the passenger compartment. Her upper third, or the part of her body that would be considered her torso, was sitting at an angle on the bench seat. Her flexibly, almost snake-like body was pressed back into the seat that she gripped with two of her more sturdy lower arms.
As she settled herself more comfortably in the position she cocked her head towards him slightly and her faceplates opened slightly, revealing the fleshy pink slit of her jawless mouth. “Well, thiss isss a bit lesss awkward than I wass afraid it would be. Almosst like sssitting on my ressting couch back home, if it wass a bit too wide and ssshort at the ssame time.” Her hissing laughter filled the cabin again and she gave Caesar a hearty scrub on the top of her furry head, the action buying her back some of the goodwill she had lost for taking the haughty pup’s favorite seat by the window.
Balinski raised his remaining eyebrow. “Yeah, I guess so. I think that you might want to try and put on the seat belts though. If we were to get into an accident you would get tossed around pretty bad without them.” She reached over and clicked the restraints over her body without too much trouble. They were designed to work across different species and she had simply selected the largest available option, the atraxses configuration.
While she wasn't as bulky as one of the large shaggy white furred aliens, her body was still large enough to warrant the extra reach. Balinski himself used the setting as well as he was a large man, even before his cybernetics were taken into account.
He settled in and buckled in, pressing his thumb to the ignition scanner. The machine read his biometrics and bellowed to life. Daryon twitched and then looked at him curiously, “What? Are you ussing a hydrocarbon thermocycler?”
Balinski gave her a wide smile and a nod that caused her antennae to flutter slightly. “Yep, don’t worry. I pay my emission taxes for it. Something about the feel of the pistons firing, that base rumble of the machinery working tirelessly. Well, it inspires me. Sure the promethium power cell is much more efficient, but it lacks that certain feel. Do you know what I mean?” He looked over at her, her slightly reflective blue compound eyes seemed locked with his own.
Due to the pseudo-pupils that her eyes had it gave the impression that she was always staring directly at the viewer. But he knew she could be looking almost anywhere in her two-hundred-and-seventy degree field of view. Despite the fact, he did really get the impression that she was looking straight at him.
She shrugged several of her arms after another moment of silence. “I feel sssome vibrationss. I am not ssure how thiss adds anything to the experience except for that additional ssensssation.” She didn’t seem to get it. He sighed internally. Not to worry, he would show her what he meant eventually.
She seemed to turn his way slightly more, her face plates opening slightly as she hesitated. “It’s good to see you again, I have not seen you since the memorial.”
Balinski just nodded. It was good to see the large insectoid woman, she was one of the only officers that he had occasion to interact with directly. The city had so many districts that most of the officers in precinct two rotated in and out before he ever got to meet them.
He gave her a sideways glance and a neutral smile. He always seemed to get the feeling that she was prodding at him a little. “Yeah, a long day that was indeed. Alright, well then to business. What is our first stop, some alley behind a casino if I remember right?”
Daryon shook a hand and gestured towards her assistant as she tapped away on the small touch screen for a few seconds. She soon had a readout pulled up on it that he glanced over as she extended her arm. “No, we are not heading to an alley, there iss a dive bar behind Yowul’s Palace of Golden Delight called the Sslimehut by the localsss. I have an informant that ssaid they would meet uss there for a few drinksss.” She seemed a little annoyed by his lack of intimate knowledge on the subject.
To be fair, he had read over the entire proposal. Right before he fell asleep last night. He would have admitted as much except he was afraid he might hurt the poor young woman’s feelings or something, she did seem rather sensitive when it came to data collection and information gathering.
He checked behind him and pulled out into the street, traffic was light due to the time of day. He navigated the heavy vehicle with practiced ease, the sensation of rolling along the roadway in it calming him. He placed his arm on the sill of the door’s open window as he had before. The cool air flowing through and ruffling his short cropped hair in a pleasant way.
He felt eyes on him and glanced over at Daryon, she seemed to be looking at him. Her antennae lowered instantly when he glanced her way and he chuckled, “What is it? You have ridden in those APCs dozens if not hundreds of times right?”
Daryon gave Caesar a nervous pat and spoke quickly, as if afraid she would lose her courage to speak if she didn't get the words out right away. “It’ss just, I have never ridden in one of thesse.. personal vehiclesss before.” He was a bit taken aback by that.
She still seemed nervous, she was sitting there in her simple grey overcoat and blue pocket covered jacket twiddling the fingers on her uppermost arms. He gestured to the window and she looked at it. “You can roll the window down if you want.” She hesitated and he reassured her, “Go for it, c’mon. Roll it down, put a few arms out the window like this, you might like it.”
Balinski smiled as he stuck his arm straight out the window. An oncoming car honked at him as he did so, he couldn't tell if they were angry or maybe they thought he was waving hello. It didn’t matter, he looked over at Daryon and the large insectoid woman tensed again.
“But, what if ssomething happenss and the window needss to be up?” She seemed to be fishing for any reason not to try it.
He just gave her his most tired sounding sigh, purposefully over exaggerating it as if he was thoroughly done. Her faceplates parted slightly, almost like a man pursing his lips in thought. Finally she relented and rolled down the window before emulating him with two of her upper arms. Almost immediately he saw her antennae perk up in what he assumed was mild delight.
She stuck another of her arms straight out and then slowly started to move it up and down, surfing the airflow with her palm. He took the opportunity to ask her, “You haven't ever ridden in a car before. Not one that wasn't police owned, that is. How in the heck do you get around town. Don't tell me you walk everywhere, there is no way you would be able to make that work. No matter how fast you can run.”
Daryon remained silent for a few moments, her antennae twitching as she rubbed a few of her hands together. “I usssually just take a buss or a cabbie when I need to get ssomewhere.”
The admission seemed to make sense. Balinski shook his head slightly. “I just understand why, the sense of freedom you gain from being able to go where you want, when you want. You don’t get that with public transport. Trust me, this is much better.”
Caesar gave a small encouraging woof as if to accentuate his point. Daryon continued to hold an arm out the window as her mouthplates worked silently. After a short time they got stopped at a traffic light and she finally relented. “I don’t know, it just sseemsss like an awful lot of additional effort. You need to buy the vehicle, then you have to pay for inssurance and taxes and maintenance.” She threw up a few arms in an exasperated manner. “It all jusst feelsss sso extra. I guesss I just appreciate the simpler thingss.” She added a but sullenly.
Balinski felt a bit bad now, he hadn’t been trying to tell her she was wrong. He had simply been curious as to the reason she hadn’t considered it. He tapped his hands idly on the wheel as they sat there in the growing silence.
After what felt far longer than the thirty seconds it actually was, he reached out and turned on the radio. The truck was tuned into several wide-band civilian radio frequencies. Many of them offered music and talk shows to pass the time, it was one of the former hats he turned into now.
As the cool sounds of synthwave reverberated around the cabin he could feel the tension that had grown slowly ebb. He glanced at her and smiled, “What about now? You can't tell me this isn't better than some cruddy ‘ol transport bus or musty cabbie?”
She bobbed her head slightly as she leaned her torso back into the padded seat more. “I will admit that it hass a certain appeal to it. I jusst ssstill don’t understand all the extra stepss, maybe it isss a human thing.” She added with what he thought sounded like a bit of a shiteating grin.
Her smug tone wasn’t lost on him as they turned another few corners. He shrugged and gave her a pointed look briefly, “Yeah maybe. Or maybe it is just the fact that I grew up with a sense of urgency.”
Her opportunity to respond was cut short as he slowed and gestured out the front of the cab. “Is that the place?”
Daryon seemed to peer out the window intently, though with her compound eyes it was pretty much impossible to tell where the insectoid female was actually looking. In front of them was the turnoff to a larger boulevard, one that was lined with tall and opulent looking structures. One in particular stood out from the rest for its over-the-top grandeur and gilded buttresses.
The huge gold and chrome structure was covered in flowing holographic displays and enough neon lighting to be seen from orbit, that is if they had not been under a particularly large city plate that blocked them off from the sky entirely. The effect was to generate an almost otherworldly atmosphere of scintillating colors. The phantasmagoria of the display heightening his perception at the same time it confused his already addled senses.
He had to shake his head and adjust his cybernetic eye’s spectrum in order to focus on what he was doing. He couldn't imagine the profusion of swirling and terrible marriage of images that Daryon must be being subjected to, what with her unblinking compound eyes and two-hundred-and-seventy degrees of vision.
Before he even had the chance to ask her, she responded to his previously muttered inquiry. “Yess, that'sss Yowul’ss Palace of Golden Delight alright. It's kind of imposssible to missss.” She chuckled hissingly. “We need to go around the block to the oppossite sside. The Ssslimehut will be on the far side of the next alley, but it doessn't connect to thiss ssside.”
He gave her a nod and glanced at Caesar, she seemed transfixed by the wildly gleaming lights. Not to worry, she would snap out of her trance when they got out of the damnable lights. He started to take the next turn when Daryon suddenly reached out and gripped his shoulder with two of her lower arms.
He twitched in surprise before looking her way, the way her antennae were raised suggested an alarmed state. “What!? What is it?!” He looked around frantically, trying to see what had set the large woman on edge.
Her faceplates clacked as she vocalised quickly, “We need to get out and approach on foot!”
He cocked his head. “Why?” Her comment seemed at once born of some manner of twisted logic and yet totally incomprehensible.
She quivered slightly. “Think about it. We roll up in an armoured Atoya truck and then sstart assking questionsss? That would sscream bluecoat to thesse people faster than waving a badge. We need to take thiss a little more dissscreetly.” Her words took a moment to penetrate the fuge his mind was still floundering in after the migraine inducing display from the garish casino.
It made sense given the context. She was right of course, if he were to simply roll up and try knocking heads together he was going to get them both killed. Or worse. No, he needed to take things a little slower.
He slowed and looked around. There are a number of parking garages around due to the nearby casinos and so he chose one at random. They pulled up the small automated toll booth and he paid with a single 25c osmir. That oughta cover them for at least two hours. The gate thanked them with a robotic sounding greeting and he proceeded to the third floor. Not for any particular reason, but he had always liked the number and considered it good fortune.
He watched as Daryon uncoiled her long body from the truck, her slightly textured underbelly looked much softer than her back. Devoid of the thick carapace of chiton plates that covered the top of her long body. It might have been impolite to take a peek, but a part of him was curious. As she moved his eyes were drawn to a series of dull bumps or ridges along her lower third that terminated near the last quarter of her long tail-like body. He knew enough about vinarfelien biology to know they were her broodspines, they were evolved to allow for females of her race to carry their newborn larvae upon their bellies.
He saw the flash of something else a little lower down from the termination of her broodspines and averted his eyes quickly, a touch embarrassed. The vinarfel did not wear clothing on their lower bodies as they were generally kept so close to the ground as to be hidden. And so one could say that Daryon was indeed half naked. If she noticed his ungentlemanly curiosity she didn’t seem to care overmuch and so he cleared his throat and motioned for Caesar to stay in the truck.
Daryon cocked her blue-eyed head as he did so, “You don’t want her to come with uss?”
Caesar whined loudly followed by a small bark. She seemed to be in agreement with the colorful alien woman. He kept his window rolled down as he knew she would follow his instructions. “It’s not that, it isn’t Caesar!” He protested as the cyberhound growled at him, her canine features showing her to be unimpressed. “Think about it, if we take you into the establishment it is going to bring a lot of unwanted attention. Cybernetically enhanced animals are not legal for the average person to own and so it would immediately mark me out as either a criminal or a lawman.” He watched as Caesar tried to understand the complex logical jumps he was making.
She shook her triangular head after a moment. She tilted her head as an indication to him that she was not getting it and so he sighed. He put out his hands and spoke as concisely as he could, “If we take you inside the bad guys will know we are good guys. You need to wait for us here, I will of course call you for backup if anything happens. I promise.” She seemed to accept this new slightly simpler explanation.
While her neural implants made her vastly more intelligent than a dumb animal, they didn't quite make her on the same level as a full adult human. She had the conscious understanding roughly on par with that of a young child. Capable of understanding speech, but not really able to pick up on complex or multi-leveled reasoning.
He nodded towards Daryon, “Alright. Caesar will stay back, I can call her in remotely if we need her, and she is pretty damn fast too, so it wouldn't take long for her to get there.” Daryon patted her overcoat and then swore.
“Oh crap, I think I dropped my traumawand ssomewhere.” She moved back towards the truck and partially climbed through the passenger side window. She rummaged around before exiting and holding aloft something triumphantly.
The item was a short telescoping baton-like instrument with a wide, heavy handle with several dials and readouts visible on its gunmetal grey exterior. He grunted, “What, no gun?”
She shrugged her upper three pairs of arms as she pocketed the non-lethal weapon and readjusted her overcoat. “Sseeing asss how I am technically off-duty at the moment I have no legal causse to carry a lethal weapon.”
He gave her a flat stare. “Bullshit.”
She maintained her stare, only the twitch of her antennae gave away the fact she was anything more than a statue. After a minute of this she finally threw up an arm and opened her overcoat all the way to him. “Fine, I relent. Of coursse I’m armed to the neck joint, you really thought even for a millisssecond that I was going to sstep downtown without enough firepower to level a pack of grinskalss?” She chuckled again and he found himself smiling.
He pulled back his overcoat revealing his own trusty sidearm, the bulky form of his ThunderEagle revolver stuck out slightly from the shoulder holster he was wearing over his body armour. Luckily he was bulky enough to hide both the armour and the weapon at a glance when he had his dark trench coat closed.
He gave her a bright smile, the look pulling at the scars that marred his face as he replied, “Oh not at all. But I was a little surprised to see you holding a non-lethal weapon at all. As I recall, every single bad guy that has crossed your path has wound up cooling in the precinct meatlocker.” She ducked her head, the long almost delicate looking antenna that sprouted from her head went flat against her back.
She seemed to stutter slightly, her hissing accent becoming markedly more pronounced in her flustered state. “s-It’ss-s not as-ss if i s-wass wanting to kill ss-them all!”
He waved a hand. “No, but you have to admit that every single one of the bastards deserved it. You made the right call in my opinion, Daryon. I am not trying to convince you otherwise.” He took a step towards the mildly upset insectoid and placed a supporting hand on her jacketed shoulder.
She cocked her head in order to see the contact before he pulled away and gestured towards the distant staircase that would eventually lead them down to the ground floor and hopefully one step closer to a lead for what was happening. There were gangs working with gangs that had always been bitter enemies, lines of drug filled trucks shipping their toxic cargos all across this world. It was a foul, he shouldn't have been so shocked by the complexity of the situation. But he was.
Continued In E3:P2
==End of Transmission==

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Finale
Something just occurred to me: these last few nights have been the first in years I’ve gotten through stone sober.
Having a few beers after work was just a matter of course, like taking medication before bed so you won’t feel sick. If it was a particularly bad day, I’d end up overdoing it and condemn myself to wake up the next morning with a murderous hangover and the knowledge that yet another potentially productive afternoon slipped right through my fingers.
But now, I feel focused. Fulfilled. Like I’m doing something that matters for the very first time.
The headmistress has the place under lockdown, of course. Every window covered and sealed, multiple lanky security agents attending every class, gas occasionally flushed through the ventilation system. For a woman so emotionless, the slight perspiration on her brow was basically her equivalent to a nervous breakdown.
And yet, of course, she demanded that her precious teaching schedule be maintained, through thick and thin. I didn’t mind. I liked to think that I was helping keep the kids sane — although really, it was more like the other way around.
I noticed the kids didn’t bother to hide their less human features anymore. Like Billy’s arm stretching a macabre seventeen feet to collect his graded papers from my desk, or Abigail climbing along the walls like a spider during recess. It made me smile, somehow, like they were letting me in on a secret world most people would never get to see. I was just reading them a cute little book about how a human boy and a wendigo learned to set aside their differences when the ball rang, and there she was at the door, ushering me with a finger.
“So who is this Saladin guy, anyways?” I asked as she led me down the hall.
“A hunter. Perhaps the most skilled we know of in the modern era, with a reputation for being capable of… punching above his weight class, so to speak,” she explained. “We thought we had him occupied chasing false leads across Bangladesh. To think that he was here in America all along, that he was slowly narrowing in on our exact location all this time and we never knew…” She clenched a hand into a fist. For her, the equivalent to screaming in frustration.
“Why did he decide to target… me?”
“Because you’re the first fully human teacher this school has ever had,” she confessed. “You were an unprecedented experiment. Even though it may introduce many… risk factors such as this, I thought it would do good for the children to have experience with a regular, everyday human.”
“And did you really choose me because I was… a loner? Expendable?”
She didn’t hear that question. Or maybe she just pretended not to hear it. “Saladin always pursues more covert means of achieving his ends, at first. He likes to take his quarry by surprise. But if that fails, as it now has, his plan B invariably involves some form of, well… overwhelming force.” She sighed. “But there is some good news, at least. Thanks to the efforts of you and Katie, he was forced to leave behind his weapon of choice.”
From her sleeve, she produced that blade that Saladin had been pulling from his throat. The one that would have dealt Katie the killing blow, if I’d just been a second later. It was jagged and black, and looked primitive, but a bit dazzling with the scarlet streaks embedded into its surface. “What’s so special about it?”
“It’s a blade of obsidian damascened with aglaophotis. To put it simply… it can cut through anything.” I reached out to feel its shiny surface, but she jerked it away from me. “I would recommend you avoided even so much as touching it. It may have… deleterious effects on a regular human.”
For some reason, I was reminded of Saladin’s words: when dealing with matters of the occult for long, there are two options: sacrifice your life, or your humanity. There is no third path.
We came upon a heavy iron door in some obscure corner of the school, and she set about unlocking multiple tiers of locks. “I apologize, Mister Vermeil. I know you appreciate your autonomy, but I must insist that you remain within the complex for the duration of the lockdown,” she said. “That means staying in the dorms. The ‘bunker’ down the mountainside. I’m sure you’ve noticed it.”
“Is this some sort of… secret path?”
“The school’s access tunnels provide secure routes to many places. But I must confess, while the school itself was made to provide a safe and welcoming front for human visitors, the tunnels were not. They were never intended for your kind.” She paused. Even she seemed the slightest bit nervous. “There are… many dangers down there. So I must ask that you stay by my side, and do exactly as I say, when I say it. Are we understood?”
She didn’t have to ask me twice.
I immediately saw what she meant when she said these tunnels weren’t designed for human use. They were horrifically claustrophobic labyrinths of concrete, to the point I sometimes had to bend down or angle myself sideways just to squeeze through. The must was suffocating. Hallways of seemingly random shapes and sizes jut out in every direction, and I had no idea how she’d memorized which to take.
All it took was a single moment. A single instant’s lapse in concentration, a single glance away as my clothes caught on a hunk of concrete. And she was gone.
I’ll be honest: I don’t do well with cramped spaces. And when it fully sunk in that she had vanished, and I was alone down here in the dark, my first instinct was to crumple into a ball and start sobbing.
Embarrassingly, I had to calm myself down in the exact same ways I calmed my students when they were having a tantrum: I talked through my feelings, took deep breaths, grounded myself. You’ve been through so much worse than some tight hallways, I thought. Keep it together. But every step forward was a herculean effort, like I was knee-deep in sludge.
All I had to light the way, now, was my little phone flashlight. And the darkness around me seemed to somehow be fighting back against the light, and was rapidly taking territory. I’d venture forward down a hall, and it’d get tighter and tighter with every step… so I’d turn around, and somehow, the same thing would happen on my way back. Was I losing my mind, down here in the dark? Or were the walls really closing in on me, like I was about to be crushed by the peristaltic motions inside of some cyclopean creature?
And every so often, I’d run into one of those shed skins, like I’d seen in the ditch outside the school all those days ago. They’d tangle around me like a spider’s web, and I’d cry out as I thrashed to tear them off of me. On a closer look like this, they didn’t seem reptilian in the slightest. They looked… human.
And then, down the hall, came a sound. I breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God,” I called out. “Headmistress, I’m right-”
And then came another sound, the guttural crackling of a snarl rising from an unnatural throat. And I realized that I had just drawn the attention of something terrible.
I bit my tongue to stifle a gasp. Mentally I screamed at myself over how stupid I’d been. I tried to turn my flashlight off, but ended up dropping my phone and illuminating the entire hall. All I could do was back up as far as I could, press my back to the dead end, and await whatever was coming to me.
Footsteps in the darkness, of a sort of hobbling, awkward gait.
In the dim light, a silhouette came vaguely into view. It looked roughly the shape of a man, but the proportions were all wrong. The shapes. It was like a child’s drawing of a human being. Too angular, too thin. And along that jagged form was a garden of tumorous growths, hair and teeth and blind half-formed eyes poking from malignant teratomas, cushioned in almost scrotal pockets of loose and wrinkled flesh.
There was no head above its shoulders. Instead, there was a limp, swaying tube of flesh, and when it faced me, I could see down into the countless rows of teeth lining that esophageal tube like a Lamprey eel. Some sort of black ichor drooled from that undulating tube as the creature stood where my phone had landed, creaking and groaning in place.
Then, the thing turned, and shuffled back into the darkness.
It was blind! Of course! It had just been investigating the last noise it had heard. I thanked whatever gods may be, and clung to my little corner for what felt like hours before finally working up the courage to retrieve my phone with a shaky hand, and kept creeping down the halls.
Another noise. My blood froze in my veins. But then the headmistress’ face emerged from the dark, and I almost cried from relief. “Oh, thank God! I lost you, and… and why didn’t you warn me about the, the creature down here? That blind… leech-looking thing!” I demanded. “I know you said it was dangerous, but I cannot believe you let something like that just… go waltzing around down here!”
And, for the first time in my life, I saw the headmistress go pale.
“We don’t.”
This time, she kept a hand squeezed around my wrist as she practically sprinted down the halls. We came to an observation deck observing what looked like some sort of containment chamber. One of those security agents laid sprawled across the floor, split in two. The chamber below was littered with those shed skins, as well as chunks of other things I couldn’t name. She looked down on the empty chamber with bewilderment. “The Cancer. It’s… it’s really out. Who… who would ever do this?”
“The Cancer? Why’s it called–“
She swallowed her fear. “Because that’s simply what it is. A walking cancer. Cells growing and dividing aimlessly, uselessly, limitlessly.” She gestured to herself. “From it, we grow these human skins we wear. Guide its ceaseless growth to build our new bodies, piece by piece.”
Automatically in accordance to some built-in schedule, a red light clicked on in the containment unit accompanied by an industrial wail. Chunks of red viscera dropped from a tube in the wall — and amid the meat, I swore I saw hands, feet, clothes. “You feed people to that thing!?”
She sighed as if my human emotions were an inconvenience. “The meat is recovered from cemeteries and morgues. Don’t lose your composure, now. We have to focus.”
She laid out the situation. Every cancer wants to spread, wants to feed itself. It’ll find a way out before long, and when it does, that won’t exactly bode well for the people of our cozy little mountain town. Whoever did this disconnected all emergency switches down here, and we didn’t have any signal. We couldn’t go all the way back to gather reinforcements. We had to handle this now.
On our way out, we found another of those security agents, sat near one of the control consoles by the containment chamber security airlocks. This one, I almost didn’t recognize as human at first. A man-sized tumor had mostly consumed him, that hairy, throbbing mass bulging as we neared as if sensing we were threats. Only one arm and his head poked free from the malignant growth, eyes wide and yellow, mouth hanging open breathlessly. The headmistress stood over him, coldly. “It was… you? You did this? May I ask… why?”
He croaked out a few words in a slow wheeze. “Saladin. He… had my family.” She nodded without a word, and ended his life with the damascened blade dispassionately. I guess it was a mercy, at that point.
I felt helpless, unarmed like this. Being the bait was an unenviable position. God, I wished I could get my hands on that blade of hers. I was fighting a panic attack as we went creeping through those halls again, until the headmistress stopped us with a raise of her hand. I was confused for a moment, until I strained my ears. There it was: that wheezing, shuddering croak from down the hall.
She gestured. I nodded, took a deep breath, and got into position. She hid around another corner as I braced myself… and clapped.
The immediate roar from down the hall sent such chills through me that my legs almost gave out from underneath me. The thing came sprinting down the hall full-force, drool flickering everywhere as its tubelike head flopped around with its movements. I closed my eyes and awaited the end.
The headmistress popped out at just the right time. Seizing the moment, she stuck her blade right through the thing’s back, leaving it thrashing on the end of it like a field mouse impaled by a spade fork. With speed no human could match, she took chunks out of it, the sort of chunks that even it could not heal back. But it wasn’t enough. With a swing of its long head, it batted her away… and when I stepped forward to help her, it impaled me through the chest with that writhing tube, and stole my breath away.
I was pale and shivering as I held my hands against my bleeding wound. This is it, I thought. This is how I die. The life that flashed before my eyes was dull and boring, but at least it got pretty interesting right at the end. But darkness didn’t come creeping around the edges of my vision like I expected. Instead, I felt a tingling down below. I looked down at my chest, and witnessed the wound closing — wait, no.
Metastasizing.
Bulging pustules of permeating tumors filled the gaps in my flesh, rife with patches of hairs and little chunks of teeth just as the creature itself had been. I screamed at the agony of it as the cancer cracked through my ribs and pushed my heart and lungs aside.
And then those thin, boney hands settled on either side of my head, and yanked it upwards with a strength that should be impossible to them. In a rational world, it would have ripped it off. Instead, I felt jolted high in the air, and realized my neck had been extended a good few feet through sheer cancerous tissues, like a character from some morbid cartoon. My head bobbed on its distended neck like a jack-in-the-box, as I was left staring down at my own body. Every single thing the creature did to me just created more of me to fill the wounds. Oh God, I thought. It won’t even let me die.
It was the very distant singing of birds down another hall that ultimately drew the beast’s attention away. It visibly quivered as it realized it had found its way out. All we could do was watch as the thing tore off into the darkness, roaring to itself as if in triumph.
I don’t know how many hours have passed. I’m in the infirmary, now, largely returned to normal. The three-eyed nurse seems bored even as she treats me with medicines and surgeries no earthly doctor would ever recognize. Reversing, slowly and by degrees, the impossible ways the beast had twisted and reshaped my body. I’ve at least regained some control of my physical faculties, but in the process, I’ve been exposed to whole new categories of pain. Types of agony I thought were impossible. Types I never would’ve had to know had I gotten a job at any other school in the world.
But the poor headmistress in the bed next to me seems more miserable, still. Shellshocked, even. Her eyes sunken and haunted. “He’ll be back,” I can hear her whisper. “He’ll let the Cancer gorge itself. Grow and grow. And then… he’ll be back.”
Part 5