Hello everybody! It's been a long while since I've posted anything on this site. Long story short, life has finally caught up with me and forced me to become an adult in most adult matters. It's a pretty drastic change from what I'm used to, especially since I'm now certified as a teacher and have to now create lesson plans for my students. I'm honestly not a leader person, and teachers are supposed to be leaders. In other words, I'm stressed beyond belief!
That said, I still try to find time to write stories and post them on here. That time is now severely limited because of my new adult responsibilities combined with the amazingly high levels of stress I'm dealing with at the moment. Never felt that much stress before; it's enough to make one feel like shutting down momentarily. Let's just hope I can find a way to work with it instead of having it work against me.
But enough about me. For those of you who might recognize the title, this is not a mistake. I have decided to remake one of my stories in response to the recent release of a remade horror game. After all, this story was originally inspired by that game; and I felt bad about having unintentionally abandoning it. I also didn't like how some of the portions were written, so this is my chance to redo some things over.
To put it simply, I'm remaking this story and changing things around. It's still the same structure I originally had planned; some things will just be different from what you remember. I hope you'll enjoy reading it all the same! I also will keep the original posted so you guys can compare what is different and how I have improved slightly during the hiatus moment for this particular story. Happy reading!
Prologue
"Don't you already have all the evidence you need? You said I didn't have to go through an interrogation!" a young man exclaimed angrily.
"I said you might not be interrogated," the other calmly clarified as he straightened out the lapels of his black suit. He left his partly undone tie alone; it gave the sense he had been on the job for a while. "Understand that recent events proven to be disadvantageous to our efforts. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about; not even the numerous tools at our disposal are of much help now."
The young man let out a heavy sigh as he sank further into his chair. Being kept in an interrogation room was the last thing he wanted after the hell he endured a couple nights ago. Granted he understood why he was being kept; he still was not happy at having to relive the horrors of the night.
"Believe me when I say I also rather not be here. As things stand, though, you're one of the few people who can help shed light on what happened that day. With everything mostly destroyed, your testimony is probably all we have left."
The young man scoffed. "So the USB you got from us doesn't count as evidence?"
The suited man let out an exasperated sigh. "Mr. Stilinski…"
"It's Stiles! I'm young enough to be your son, you know?"
"Okay. Stiles," the man tried again, "that USB mainly held medical records on certain people. At best, a judge would see it as having been taken from a hospital. It also doesn't help that it's listed as being for research purposes. It's near worthless as it is."
"Are you kidding me?" Stiles slammed his fists on the metal table. The noise echoed within the small barren room. The one-way mirror shuddered slightly from the force. The other man was unfazed by this show of frustration. "I risked my life not doing what I was supposed to, which was escape, so I could save my friend's life. It just so happened I found that information you're now not so appreciative of by pure chance! How can the FBI be so ungrateful about it? It's one of the few things to make it out of there intact!"
"I understand that."
"And now you're telling me it's worth less than a rat's carcass found in the middle of a desert?" Stiles continued with abandon. "Any food found while lost in a desert is treated as gold! This small USB filled with information from a now dead city is precious evidence! How can you not see it as important?"
"I didn't say it wasn't important!" the man loudly explained in an attempt to cut off the other. It amazingly worked. "I only said it was worthless as it is. It's because of that I need to hear about what happened from your point of view. I need to see if you know anything of note that can back up what you gave us."
"You want my view on things? MY view?" Stiles repeated incredulously. "How did you manage to miss hearing the accounts of then dubbed crazy people? I'm sure you heard of them on the news."
"Did you take them seriously at first?" The younger kept quiet at the other's counter. "My point exactly. This was when we were trying to figure out why communications with the town was cut. We sent a group in to see what was going on. Almost immediately, we lost all contact. I'm sure you can imagine what happened.
"Because of that, we decided to station men around the town's perimeter and speak with whoever crossed us. We didn't want to lose more good agents to whatever was going on inside. Unfortunately, there were hardly any civilians to speak with. You and your friend were the only ones I ran into. Including you two, we only intercepted eight people trying to leave."
Stiles recoiled at the facts. "Only eight people? How long were you guys there before the town went six feet under?"
"Two days from the time we got things officially set up." Stiles' mouth dropped. "My thoughts exactly. I expected to be there for a while longer, to be able to do more than just stand guard at the exits. I was also hoping to see more than just eight exhausted people. Whatever happened in there must've took everyone by surprise. And because that's our official count, the chance of survival was set at less than a percent. You eight should honestly consider yourselves lucky to be alive!"
This was definitely some shocking information. Stiles ran a hand through his brown hair as he thought of something to say against what he heard. Maybe the FBI did not keep track of all the survivors they saw, or they did not cover all the ways in and out of the town. Maybe some managed to escape through the sewers or flew out in a plane. There could be anything the agents failed to completely cover.
However, he knew how the FBI worked; he studied up on their tactics when he was in college. They did not plant themselves at town entrances for the heck of it. That and they always had a good reason to commit to mass gatherings. If they really kept close watch for those two days, then they must have made sure nothing would be able to pass by them. Still, he felt the need to ask.
"What about people who might've taken a plane or ran into the sewers? Did you count them?"
The agent nodded. "We didn't see any planes flying in or out during the time we were at the town exits. If one did, then it had to have been at a time when we couldn't keep track. The only time for that is the few seconds after the town was destroyed. It caused our instruments to go off-line for a bit. Still, the chances of a last-second flying escape is beyond slim.
"And while the sewer lines are extensive; the only service entrance deemed safe is a few miles outside the town line. We're still keeping watch over that and other safe manholes just in case. It doesn't seem promising, though.
"As of now, eight survivors is the official count. We don't expect it to get higher any time soon. Unfortunately, that means we don't have a lot of witnesses to question about what happened.
"What they all had in common, though," he quickly added as he cut Stiles off and stood up, "was the stories of having seen monstrous creatures. You also said it yourself, some kind of animalistic beings that attacked whoever they saw. Technically, those are still unsubstantiated claims. Something like that is pretty hard to believe.
"Still, we can't just pass it off as coincidence. While only two have been interviewed so far; their stories match up. We doubt it'll be consistent with the others, though. That's because it's hard for large groups of people to maintain a singular account of things. That's especially so when being asked extremely tough questions from us."
Stiles scoffed. "So now you're calling us liars."
The man leaned against the wall beside the one-way mirror, a half-smile gracing his lips. "I'm just telling you what my team believes. Can you really blame them? It's too fantastical no matter how you look at it.
"It doesn't mean I share their sentiments, though. I find some truth to what everyone's saying. Why do you think I'm here interrogating you instead of another agent?"
"I thought it was because of the wonderful history we have." Stiles could not help giving a cute smile with his sarcastic tone.
The other chuckled in response. "I suppose you could say that. It's more that I can better handle your sarcasm than the others. I also know you're not one to lie about something as big as this. You may call me biased, but I'm more inclined to believe whatever you have to say about the incident."
"Well, don't I feel special."
"Special enough to survive whatever took place in that town. Considering we're going to classify what happened as an act of terrorism; that's saying something.
"But that's why I'm here to interrogate you. I need to see if what you say connects with what we've already heard from the others. Being that you were found alongside your friend, we also need to see if you two's stories match up."
"Of course; yet another reason to make me talk. Not like I have much choice anyway," Stiles muttered as he released a heavy sigh. "But if I'm to talk with you, then how about you humor me for a bit?
"I've been with him since I first came back home, so our accounts are pretty much the same from that point. He can tell you more about what happened before if you're interested in that. If you want me to talk, then I want him here with me."
"Done."
"Wh-what? That was quick!"
The agent chuckled again. "That's because your request is more than reasonable. Since you two were allegedly together for a while, why not kill two birds with one stone? You'll both be here during the interrogation.
"However," he added while going back to his seat, "you'll have to start without him for a bit. He's still being processed. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes, but I'd like to start without him. Best to get a head-start so I can better understand what to ask and expect when he arrives."
"Ha, figures you'd put some kind of catch to it! Could've been worse, so who am I to complain?"
"Alright," Stiles agreed with a nod. "He better be here soon, though. If not, then I'm clamming up! So where do you want me to start?"
"How about your name for starters? We need to start this off officially, after all." The man then reached into his suit and pulled out a black portable recorder. He pressed a button on it before setting it on the table, a red light flashing to indicate it was on.
Stiles looked at the machine with a raised eyebrow. "I thought the guys standing behind the mirror took care of the recordings."
"Things happened pretty fast; we don't have a lot of men on interrogation duty right now. Most are trying to investigate the town ruins, but it hasn't been easy. We make do with what we have, though. Now if you don't mind stating your name for the record?" the man asked while pointing to the recorder.
"Alright; I'll go for it. My name's Stiles Stilinski. And no, that's not actually my first name. Don't ask what it is; you'll never be able to spell or pronounce it. Just look at my file if you really want to know.
"Anyway, this started for me a few nights ago. I'd just left the police academy back in Sacramento after graduating from the program. I thought it'd be cool to surprise my dad and friends by showing up unannounced with my diploma in hand. I had no idea I was walking into one of the craziest nights of my life!"
And that's it! This first chapter hardly has anything different except that this portion is now a prologue as opposed to being mixed in with the actual start of the story. I changed some things around and put more emphasis on the conversation rather than the room they were in and what was inside. We already know it's an interrogation room, so there's no need to go into so much detail.
That's all I really have to say about this for now. Hope you enjoyed reading this redux chapter and will continue to stick with me as I remake the next thirteen or so chapters. Later guys!
