That feels good. I zipped my beige trousers back up, making sure that all the piss was out of me before covering my manhood behind my pants. It's been a while since I've taken a leak, probably due to my lack of hydration in the last couple of days. My career has been keeping me quite busy, especially our journalism company who has been nagging us to investigate why Jane Doe disappeared since the initial news went live. I wish Lynn hadn't forced me to come along, but then she would be in the middle of this mess on her own. You know, one of the most useful advantages of being a freelance journalist is that you are in more control of your life and which story you want to dig a hole in. Terrorists setting up a base in an abandoned town? You can call it off if you think it's too dangerous, but most companies don't usually care about their worker's safety. This goes for most companies. If me and Lynn had the chance to cancel this investigation, we sure as hell would, and would avoid experiencing the most mind-twisting night of our lives.
But now, I'm here. In the middle of fucking nowhere, currently heading towards my kidnapped wife who's sanity has been probably traumatized beyond repair already. I can't change what happened in the past, but I still can't help but feel remorseful at what would have happened if things went a little bit different. If we took a day off, or one of us was sick. So many possibilities, but none of them struck into reality.
I have been hiking for a solid 30 minutes now, but still no sign of anything that would let me know that I was getting closer to the mines. All of that precious time that I wasted was spent getting my feet stuck in cactus, or silently mumbling to myself about some random ordeal that I was a witness to in the past. Nothing to help me pass the time. I'm going fucking insane just thinking about what they're doing to my wife, who I love more than anyone. Torture? Rape? Or something worse. Fuck.
Okay, I need something to help me take my mind off of her, at least for now. I turned my trusted camcorder back on, flicking through all the recorded snapshots of the letters and notes I found while traveling around Temple Gate. I still haven't fully read those chapters of Knoth's gospel, which looks like a kid with an immature ego got a hold of the bible and wrote fan fiction based on it. But it's still worth a shot. Just need to watch out for any more cactuses on my path.
Chapter 8
1- And your people have made war in the fields of my son, in Eretz Yisrael.
2- My land laid waste but my seed firmly set, against Babylon and the Assyrian and against Rome, but fallen to the Moslem and failed in the crusades and betrayed in the time of the Publican Pharisees.
3- As it was written by Baruch ben Neriah in the words of the weeping Jeremiah: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by lucre and shame and my people love to have it so.
4- Be thou instructed, O Ezekiel, lest my soul depart from thee, let not thy face be uncircumcised, in thy Jeremiad thou must not weep naught but tears, thou must weepest even blood.
5- And Sullivan Knoth inscribed his name as EZEKIEL upon eternity's banner, with iron blade he scratched the word "I" down the globe of his eye and it was slit and bled and his face was washed with tears and blood.
6- Thus saith the true Lord: now may I show you the truth, for you have cut thine face in covenant to me.
7- And the Lord saith: you have not cut away thine eye, but the scale you took for an eye, and now you may see.
He scratched the word 'I' on his face? So that's why that scar across his eye is there. Another physical proof of his self-serving delusions. And what does he mean by his face being 'uncircumcised?'
Not bad, but still written by the leader of the worst cult in history. Ezekiel was a prophet from what I know. And it seems like Knoth announced himself to be the second one. But why would he? He doesn't gain any clear benefit from having this cult, aside from being literally treated as a god. People have thoughts like this in their heads sometimes, but it just stays as a thought, and nothing more. What caused Knoth to start this whole thing in the first place? I think I need to learn about his background aside from being a cult leader, to learn if he is involved with the existence of that bright light, or learn what he was before he set up Temple Gate. Luckily, I have a few more chapters of his gospel at hand, so I hope the answer is written in one of them.
This one is apparently a 'New Gospel' which is just a small addition to the Gospel of Knoth once Knoth found out that Val betrayed them. I found it at Knoth's church where he kept Lynn until she escaped. I had checked it out a little bit to see what the general gist of it was, but never had the time to read it to the end.
New Gospels
7- Now the breaching of Hell's cunt drew nigh, and the night air sang with the grinding edges of the midwive's blades.
8- And the Enemy, fearful even in his prison, reached out and into the heart of Sullivan's dearest and most trusted disciple, who was called Val and secretly stiff-necked and uncircumsized of heart.
9- Val's mind descended among the damned and hated of God, and communed with the Enemy, and bathed in the seed of the spider-eyed lamb.
10- Val betrayed Temple Gate, and God, and even Sullivan Knoth who had loved true and would guide the chosen to salvation.
11- And God said let Val and all heretics suffer a thousand tortures and seven times seven that in suffering and shame before death and in eternity ever after.
The verse number strangely jumped back to seven, prompting me to raise one of my eyebrows in confusion. What?
7- Now the breaching of Hell's cunt was close, was coming upon them, drew neigh, and the air was filled with the singing of Papa's glorious hymn and the. Fuck, and the night air sang with the sharpening grinding of the midwives' blades.
8- Satan, even though trapped in Hell, penetrated the heart of Val,
9- And Satan Shaitan Ba'al the Enemy, fearful even in his prison, reached in the heart of Sullivan's dearest and most trusted disciple, who was called Val and shod in the clothes of secretly stiff-necked and uncircumsized of heart.
10- Val's mind descend among the damned and hated of God and Ezekiel, and communed with the Enemy, and drank of bathed in the foul sweet hot seed of the spider-eyed lamb.
11- Val betrayed Temple Gate, and God, and even Sullivan Knoth who would guide the chosen to salvation.
12- And God said let Val and all unbelievers heretics die suffer a thousand injuries and seven times seven that in suffering before death and in eternity ever after.
What the...? The last few verses repeated themselves, exactly word by word, just a few words changed to one of their synonyms. The person who made this issue of the gospel must've made a mistake. That guy who didn't want papers to be wasted is gonna get angry once he finds out.
So Knoth and Val are fighting against each other, but over what? What thing isn't their mutual opinion? Could be a lot of things actually, but that still doesn't explain why Val was motivated enough to rebel against a group that actively slaughters kids and hosts corpses along with needless body gore all over their entire town. Knoth wanted to learn Lynn's location back in the chapel, and mentioned that they had only a few hours to find and murder the child that Lynn apparently is pregnant with. But the people who have Lynn are Val and the Heretics, and they sure as hell aren't trying to murder her, so the only possibility that remains is that they are protecting her and the child.
That means they want the child to be born, while Knoth and his followers want it dead. That's what they are fighting over. Knoth said that the baby is supposedly the 'Antichrist' and is gonna bring destruction to the whole world. If my memory serves me right, Antichrist means 'Son of Devil' or something resembling that, so the Heretics are the one technically worshipping the devil, unlike Knoth who is trying to kill it so total annihilation doesn't happen.
Looking at it from their perspective, Knoth's side is clearly the moral one in this conflict. The problem is that all of their religious words and beliefs are absolute horseshit. They're all mad, and not a single thing they mention exists in the real world. I just want to take my wife and go.
I turned my head upright to check if I had gotten closer after noticing that I was purely engaged with my camera for a while now. The mine building was still a good fair bit of distance away, so I had no choice but to keep reading Knoth's gospels.
Chapter 5
1- And I looked, and a gyre unwound form the night, a fire turned inward, burning from all directions towards the center, and drew the light from the walls of my room so that I hung in a void that shone in rainbows like oil upon a black mirror.
2- And I looked despite the pain and behold, out of the midst of the inward fire came the likeness of a creature, a figure as like to a man as a circle is to a sphere.
3- As a cross-section of a sphere would make a circle, so the cross-section of this creature would make a man,
4- And this was their appearance, they had the appearance of Jesus Christ's agony upon the cross, and in chest and sex had the appearance of a man.
5- And their faces were innumerable and joined to one another, a thousand eyes and everything a mouth, with wings and jaws inseparable even in sight, and the purpose of the eyes and the purpose of the jaws was both for a more perfect consumption.
6- Thus were their faces, and in the next moment, they were the bones of the Four Horses of the Apocalypse and the bones of the Horsemen, too.
7- And in the moment that followed their faces were the sex organs of angels, and in the moment that followed a bonfire of flame with voices singing in beauty to rend the mind, and in the moment that followed a reflection in silvered glass.
8- For their faces were all of these things at once, and their wings were joined one to another and as they flapped wove to arrest time and I could not take air into my body.
A thousand eyes and everything a mouth. Wings and jaws inseparable even in sight... The cultists. Their repeating of religious phrases isn't random. They are repeating the words in Knoth's gospel, like a song that'd get stuck in your head. This is all more evidence that the cultists are getting brainwashed by something caused by Knoth, and that he is more than he seems.
Chapter 6
1- Now as I beheld the living creature, God's Lamentations fresh in my mind, I asked, are you the Four Strange Creatures revealed to Ezekiel?
2- And the voice came from the firmament that as over their heads said unto me, Son of Man, this angel appears to Ezekiel, and to though, too, for your burdens are the same.
3- And, sayeth the Lord, you shall be Ezekiel to these wretched times, and Muhammad to its chosen people, and Noah to the flood of blood inflamed that will destroy the Heathens and Gentiles and Pharisees.
4- And like the four strange creatures of Ezekiel, and of John, and of Isaiah, and of Daniel, behold a wheel there upon the earth by the living creatures.
5- The appearance of the wheels and their work was as like to the corona of an eclipse; and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
6- The rings of the wheels were dreadful, and full of eyes round about them four, thousand of eyes and none of them human, but black and intelligent and shining like the eyes of beasts ready for slaughter.
7- And where the unfaced creatures looked, the eyes of the rings focused, for the spirit of the creatures was in the wheels, and the spirit of the wheels was in the creature.
What I've gathered so far is that Knoth is a schizophrenic and an egomaniac, coupled with a religious personality. The ultimate trio. Seriously though, he seems like he has mental problems, no shit actually, and thinks they're real. And where the fuck does Muhammad and Noah come from? Does he think he deserves to be like them? Seems like it, but I reckon I still have a lot more to learn about him.
Chapter 10
1- Then God showed me the work that was to be forged upon the anvil of Temple Gate; a blade honed even to cut the throat of the spider-eyed lamb.
2- And I gathered my disciples, from the land of Al-Barquq, and the town of Holy Faith, and from among the impotent apocalyptans in Los Alamos.
3- All the time pursued by Publicans and their tax collectors, hounded and harried, moving as we grew, a tribe born wandering in no man's desert.
4- The Lord gave to Ezekiel more wives than brothers, though I turned away none; neither thief, whore, rapist, addict, murderer, pedophile, cripple.
5- And I asked the Lord for guidance of the temptations of many wives and a voice of strong wine spoke: know ye not Abraham, Jacob, David, and Solomon.
6- It is simply commanded that you take no woman as rival to her sister, do not uncover one's nakedness while the other is alive.
7- Nor take your daughters as rivals to their mothers before their blood or while the elder is alive.
8- And of your wives and daughters you will have your greatest warriors, in wimples with weapons that censer.
9- And it shall be yours to multiply, to make children upon a legion of women, and children upon those children, and upon those children, until your line is a nation.
10- For from your nation the Enemy shall emerge.
Los Alamos? If I'm recalling it right, that's in New Mexico. And gathering his disciples? Is he talking about the followers he has now? So okay, he's been in Mexico, presumably somewhere from the middle east, and a town named Holy Faith. But tax collectors? Why would they be pursuing him? My bet is on him being a hunted criminal, seeing as he allowed all kinds of fucked up people to come along with him. This is starting to get interesting.
Chapter 2
1- Wherefore gird up the loins of you that would listen, ready your mind, be open and sober in patience for revelation, obedient as children to parents, as parents to the Prophets, as the Prophets to God and His angels.
2- For as much as ye know that ye were not made incorruptible by incorruptible gold, so are the lies of tradition received from your fathers;
3- Received not by immaculate blood, the line of Adam corrupted beyond salvation by the line of Cain, circumcised but stiff-necked, uncircumsized of heart, and ill-grown of your father's lust;
4- Who verily defiled the revelations of Abraham, and of Jesus of Nazareth, and of Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim, thou hellbound Jews, thou hellbound Christians, thou hellbound Moslems, who sow damnation in wait of reaping;
5- But receive not the vain conversation of your fathers, and pass the time of your sojourning in fear, not fashioning yourselves in ignorant lust.
6- And when called to account by the Father, defend His Heaven by the spilling of the heart's blood of the spider-eyed lamb, the Enemy, the unborn prince of lies.
7- For trust unto him whom it was revealed: be ye holy, for I am holy.
This one didn't make much sense, aside from the part where he mentioned gold. What does gold have to do with this?
Chapter 1
1- The words of Sullivan, who would be the new Ezekiel, who would be the Prophet to lead the scattered usurping strangers of a fallen Christ in the stolen Zion of the Pueblos, the Jicanilla, the Mescalero, and the Navajo.
2- Elected according to the blood wept in revelation, the foreknowledge of the Enemy even at the Gate and the crumbling ramparts, and obedience to the blood of God and Jesus Christ: Grace unto you but never peace.
3- To him blinded to a corrupted inheritance of defiled faith, the liars of Babel and whores of Babylon, they befot of the Devil who is a liar and father of lies.
4- O Zion, Zion, thou that stonest the prophets sent unto you so that your house is desolate and the blood of your ill-got children is sprinkled upon the earth to feed the wheat that fattens your brood for slaughter.
5- For all flesh is grass to fatten the sacrificial ox or the sacrilegious calf, O Ba'al, O El, O Gugalana, O Moloch, but grass left to wither and fertilized with blood will to seed and spread.
6- For the seed of the Prophet shall root the Enemy, that the Prophet may strike down with furious vengeance the bastard of lies begot in his own sin cleansed by his own blood spilled of his own issue.
I recognized some of the terms, but the chapter still didn't say anything that would let me know more about Knoth's background. I flickered through the photo gallery with eyes fixed on the screen, fearing the worst...
Yep, no more chapters. I really want to read the rest of it, but I can't just go back to the town and kindly ask for the rest of the chapters, and promptly take an axe to the face. I opened the photo gallery back on, flickering through the first few pages to find some notes or letters that I have snapped a picture of but never read. Come on, there has to be something.
Aha! There are three more notes I haven't read so far. They aren't long, and won't keep me nearly distracted enough on the way to the mines, but it's still something.
Midwife's Lament
The babe is coming,
ready the knife.
The babe is coming,
Night's midwife.
Mother to the Enemy stained within,
God's creation saved with sin.
(chorus)
Hallelujah, stay the storm,
No longer must we wait.
For come the dawn the Enemy born.
To die in Temple Gate.
The babe is growing
Her belly swells
The babe is growing
Sent from Hell
Ezekiel waits a-sharpening his blade
Gather at the gate we kneel and pray
(chorus)
I remember this. I found this back at that temple where the burned kids were at, the time where I was still partially unexposed to all the violence and lies they spewed off all around them. It makes me sick. I'm not going to be normal after this, am I? If we get out of this alive, and I mean both of us, how are we gonna go back to our normal lives like nothing ever happened? There is always the option to go a therapist to get things off my chest, but I doubt that it's going to be solved that simply.
Why did it have to be us?
My dear Judith,
I never ben much at puttin feelins into words, as you as my yokemate all these yeres well nown so I hope I can rite down whats so hard for a man to say. But I ben feelin your anger an sufferin the lak of relations sinse we killt little Sarai. It was Papa's will an God's will an you cant stay mad at me or Ill be forst to be firm with you.
With love an duty, your husban Marcus.
Oh god. 'I will be forced to be firm with you' did he kill his own wife? I'm shocked, even when I shouldn't be. After all the shit I have been through, I had to have been desensitized to it all, my brain should filtering all of it out. But it's not. After reading all of these fucked up letters, my moral compass is still rigidly strapped to me.
Christine-
Before you go looking all over for it or yellin' at me for losin' it, I had borrowed all the grape aid over to chapel for a celebration Paul said Papa had in mind.
I know we ain't got a thing better to cover the taste in the water, but folks will just have to put up with it, I expect. Don't give them none of the Sacrament as its needful for service. I guess we can do without our Grape Aid until there's another run.
Macon
Wait, what? 'Cover the taste in the water' what taste? Why would the water taste weird? Such a beautiful desert in Arizona shouldn't have polluted water, especially not in a town with working electricity and water mills. Fuck, I don't know. I shouldn't have taken a sip from that stream earlier.
That's all the notes I found so far. I put away the camcorder after watching it slowly shut down, setting my tired gaze to the sight of the mines once again, a fair bit closer this time. I'm getting closer to her by the second. Just hoping that she's able to resist them until I arrive.
Crosses leading up the stairs, a paper stationed on a bible stand, and my only path to the mines. Some sort of... church entrance. I can't make out much from down here, need to get closer once I read this paper.
Dearest Marta-
My best beloved, most trusted, my intimate companion since your childhood. I know your faith is imperfect. I know that old worm doubt gnaws at your heart and tears wash your cheeks.
You think you sin in murder. But hear me, as I have told you every way I know how: you would only sin if you stayed your hand. If you do not chain a rabid dog, are you not responsible for the children the bitch attacks? If you do not crush the spider in your infant's crib, are you not responsible for its venomous bite? If you leave a fire unchecked, are you not responsible for every innocent burnt?
In every case, Sloth would make you a murderer. You would not need lift a finger and still be a terrible killer in the mind of God.
Just as every life you do not take that could even maybe defeat The Enemy, who would murder and rape the whole wide world, is killing by sloth. For the Enemy is surely rabid, and venomous, and a hungry inferno.
Hold fast. Push the knife. You need no forgiveness because you do not sin. Know that Temple Gate needs you. Know that I love you. That God loves you.
Knoth
Childhood friends? So Marta and Knoth know each other since they were little kids, but Knoth still thinks it's okay to blackmail Marta just so she does what he wants. He's basically saying "If you don't kill the people I want, you will go to hell and rot there forever." Knoth is sure one loathsome fucker.
Okay, can't get too distracted. I need to go through this strange building and carry on. Strolling up the stairs, the strange smell of bleach caught my nose, prompting me to do a double check to see if it was coming from me. What the fuck? Where is...
It's coming from inside the building. Up the opening above the ebony wooden door. The faint signs of fluorescent lights seeped through, even though the only light source I could see from here was just a lamp. Okay, I wonder what's inside. I rattled the loose doorknob of the timeworn door, accidentally popping it off and leaving a small hole in its place.
Definitely not entering through the door now.
Nothing was visible past the hole, except for total darkness. What the fuck?! I swung my head upwards towards the opening to do a double check, raising a bewildered eyebrow in response to the lamp still shining brightly as ever. But it's dark when...
I took a frightened step back, glancing back and forth at the hole and the opening. Am I fucking losing it? How is this possible? I need to take a look inside. Hurling up to the ledge and thrusting my body through, I was too focused on the lamp to notice the styrofoam panels before they gave out under my weight, getting a shocked yelp out of me as I crashed through and plunged on the solid concrete beneath.
Please Blake
Huh? I managed to muster up enough willpower to move my head upwards, snapping right back out of my daze in response to the horrifying and unexpected sight. Jessica. The wall in front of me was adorned with her name scrawled everywhere, a finished hangman situated around it all. I'm back at the school, shit!
Wait. Wait. I remember this. This is before I found her hanging.
My whole body shook, I began to review the entire room, taking in every little detail. Two doors were on either side, both probably locked. The ceiling I crashed through was apparently out of order, cardboard panels covered right on the spot where I climbed through.
Wake up. Wake up! I'm still here. My body is still in the real world, but I'm not. Every step I take, could be a step towards a cliff in the real world. Is my brain aware enough to prevent me from doing that?
Fuck my life. Seriously, just fuck it.
Recorded
"I'm weak but you are strong for me. How generous. You gave me life, you gave me talent." The reversed voice in the audio was more clear this time, sounding a bit like a normal person this time. But still not enough for me to identify the voice.
Now, how the fuck do I get out of here? I need to go back to the real world again. I tried the duo doors on the left first, being pleasantly surprised when the doors clicked open without resisting and let me push them open. Okay, this area is dark. I plucked the last battery out of my pocket, making sure it had dried enough before installing it in my camcorder.
There we go. I flipped open the visor and turned on the night vision, the features of the pitch black hall appearing into view. The clock implanted on the ceiling told the 'time' to be about 12:25 AM, a small bit past midnight. I distinctly remember the time in the previous hallucinations to be around 10 PM, a few hours earlier than in this hallucination. I don't know why, maybe just my brain being its typical self.
I briefly waved the camera to the left, waving it back after catching the glimpse of a door. Another classroom could be seen past the window slit, the chairs turned over on the desks. I always hated that the doors had windows on them, it made misbehaving in class nigh impossible with all the priests constantly roaming around the hallways.
Nothing of interest, besides from a slide projector sitting silently in the corner. Huh, weird to see one of these things again. I can't remember the last time I saw one, especially after I got expelled from school after Jessica's death. Lynn and Jess always used to play hangman with this thing; They would draw a hangman and some random letters on a transparent paper, and hide it somewhere in the school until the other one found it and tried to guess what the remaining letters were. Nobody but them used this thing, and rightly so. It needed at least a whole ten minutes to start up and to use it, and it consumed enough electricity to cause a power outage to an entire skyscraper.
That last part might be a slight exaggeration, but the point is that Jess and Lynn loved this thing even though it was basically trash.
I paced around the classroom several times, trying to find something interesting that would let me get free from this hallucination. Nope, absolutely nothing. Walking out of the classroom, I began to head deeper into the hallway, stopping to check when another door emerged into view. Another classroom, and still nothing but more desks. Might be worth to at least go inside. The door clicked open without causing much of a ruckus, letting me inside as I began to tread between the desks, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Who knows where I am in the real world by now.
Thank you, Blake
That's not Jessica. That's... Loutermilch.
Very, very generous of you
His tone resembled that of a deranged sociopath, reeking with sexual lust and filth. I reflected back to the reversed audio, playing it back in my mind. 'How generous.' Could that garbled voice be him?
The bloody handprints imprinted on a transparent paper immediately caught my attention, shoving that train of thought aside like a bug as I picked the paper up and began to examine it. The hangman game. Like Lynn and Jess used to play. Looks like whoever was in charge of guessing the letters lost, seeing as the stickman on the rope had his eyes X'ed out.
UNF_RGI_AB_
I would normally be able to guess this right away, but this one was a tad bit harder than the usual ones the girls came up with. The other half of this must be somewhere else. Jessica usually left it not too far away from the slide projector. That one wasn't in working condition anyway, so I had to find another one if I wanted to solve this thing.
I twisted the handle of the door behind the student desks, revealing another hallway still coated in complete darkness. Is this the same hallway or not? On my left was a pair of duo doors lacking a handle, and therefore, a dead end. To my right was a corner that once turned, looped back to the original hall. Well, damn. The other paper isn't in this area. The only place I haven't been in is the hallway past the other duo doors. I can try that.
The mechanisms loosened in rapid succession as the doors gave a loud click, separating from each other before I pushed them open and stepped through. My first act was to try the door to the right leading into a brightly lit classroom, and mutter a curse under my breath in response to the damn thing being jammed. Why does the only lit classroom in the entire school have to be locked?
Okay, fine. I turned a blind eye to the jammed door before continuing onwards, the echoing of my footsteps the only change in the area. I wonder where I am in the real world right now, if I'm heading towards certain doom without even realizing it. Funny thing huh? Manage to survive murderous cultists for several hours, make it through their town by sheer luck, and manage to escape. But no, the hallucinations your own brain causes forces you to go through some kind of a mind trip and promptly fall to your death without even knowing what- SHITSHIT.
The lockers on the intersecting hall to my right fiercely began to open and shut back and forth without any order or warning beforehand, scaring me stiff as I just stood there the whole time, watching them open and shut before they stopped their odd demeanor and turned back to normal lockers again.
Okay, control your breathing. It's nothing, just my brain fucking with me. There's nothing behind this whole ride but my brain.
"Jess?" Nothing.
"I was trying to help. I could've done something, but I was too young. Please, forgive me. I know you're not here, and I know I'm just talking to empty space, but please, if you're in heaven or in some other place where you can hear me, I just want you to know that I'm sorry."
The area was quiet as a sensory deprivation tank could ever be. All of this was suffering and pain, even years later, was brought on by that fucker Loutermilch. One of my mottos in life is to reduce him to a meaty pulp if I ever see him again, and force him to lay on a gurney hooked up to life support. He deserves every single surge of pain I'll bring.
Ugh, let's just keep moving. Further down into the hallway was a door left ajar, the projector inside the only light source available. Okay, found a working one. Let's hope she placed the other one here. She usually put it on the screen of the projector, and you had to put the one you had on it and move the slide projector a bit to line up the two papers together.
I nudged the door open before closing it behind me, making sure that no one- HUH?! Shit. Fuck. What was that? I caught the short-lived appearance of a melanoid creature staring at me from behind, disappearing into thin air like a ghost once I set eyes on it. The whole room began to glitch out like a computer a second afterward, the writing board popping in and out of existence erratically.
What the fuck?! Several grunts of distress came out of me without command, just a few more things keeping me from bursting into tears. Where am I? What is happening? Please, I just want to go home.
Hangman. On the writing board stood the image the projector was giving off, hosting a half-dead stickman and the remaining letters underneath. Okay, just like I anticipated. I just have to put the transparent paper on the slide projector.
"Okay, Jess. I'll play the last round of hangman with you, but you have to get me out of here right after. Deal?" No response. As it should be. Or no, as it shouldn't... Ah, just screw it.
I moved over to the projector with caution, making sure to watch my back in case that thing returned again. I don't really like the prospect of getting hunted even in my waking dreams, I got more than enough of that shit back in the real world.
Okay. I carefully inserted the paper on top of the other one, making sure that they were perfectly aligned. Just have to move this a little bit to the left and the game is over. I wonder what the word is. It wasn't too hard to exert it a few feet to the left, especially with my adult strength. One of the things I always hated while playing hangman with Lynn and Jess was that they always forced me to push the slide projector every time, and they knew I wasn't such a strong kid too. Jessica could hold me down on the ground no problem. They just liked seeing me struggling, I'll never understand why to this day.
UNFORGIVABLE
Sounds about right. I felt the weight of my guilt sink down against me with every inch of my soul, reflecting back to Jessica and her cries of help while he chased her around the school. I was able to carry her back home, but I couldn't help her after...
No. Lynn. I still have my wife alive, and she's my only chance to redeem myself in the eyes of Jessica. To prove her that I did everything I could. It's the only way I can let the memory of her go.
"I played your game, Jess. You gonna let me go?" It doesn't matter if she wants it or not, I'm leaving. I returned back to the door I came in from after checking the door behind the projector, not bothering to rattle it a second time after the door refused to budge.
"I need to go back to my wife, Jess. You need to drop me off this ride, once and for all." The sudden appearance of the black creature past the closed door struck me with pure terror on the spot, my mouth agape and eyes widened as I watched the creature stare into my soul past the small window and walk away, emerging out of my view.
I feel like I'm on thin ice. Is this what it felt like to be her in her final happy moments? Constantly watched by some sex freak, his eyes filled with a sick sense of lust. Oh god. I need to keep moving, no telling how much time has passed already in the real world. I clicked the door open without too much hesitation, giving a once-over to either side before continuing on.
The camera began to flick on and off without warning, prompting me to yank it away from my eyes at full force. That gave me a real fright, I thought the camera had run out of battery. Don't you go dying on me now, I need you. I put the NV back on, making sure to put it on STBY before beginning to use it. The last thing I need to show to the public is static with a creepy voice in the background, and get my recordings called a hoax and dismissed out of sight. No way.
Fuck. Dead end. The inevitable sight of the duo doors greeted me like an old friend, fully exposing the lack of their handles like they were proud of it. No way through here, maybe my brain unlocked one of those doors back there or something. It doesn't hurt to check again. I began to jog back to the main room where I climbed through, glancing behind a couple of times to see if that thing was following me.
What do you want? What will it take for me to get out? I tried the door leading into the lit classroom, groaning with a displeased tone as the damn door still wasn't keen on clicking open. I could've been missing something back there. Somewhere. I can't be stuck.
Always barred shut. Only two other duo doors remained. If none of them worked, I was stuck here for the foreseeable future. The first one was both locked, and blocked with a small metal ladder leading up to the ceiling. The other duo door was made of iron, and had to be pushed open with its metal handle if someone wanted to get it unlocked. I half-heartedly pushed the metal bar against the door it was on, being pleasantly taken aback when the mechanisms did their thing and the doors unlocked, paving the way for me and Lynn.
Pitch black as always. For all of its purposes, my camcorder has been doing a pretty good job of keeping me alive and sane so far. I probably wouldn't be the exact same if I wasn't certain someone was going to learn my journey through this place and awe at the hardships I had to go through.
Down into the hallway were more blue lockers lined up against the cement walls. Great, could be useful if I decided to ask someone out. Shifting my attention away from the lockers, my eyes inexplicably wandered to the red light at the end of the hallway without command, one of my eyebrows raised in confusion. Something is there... Exit. Yes! My ticket out of here. I took off towards the blue metal door without delaying anything, excited at the idea of finally leaving this place that's the stuff out of nightmares.
Huh?! What the... I stopped to take a quick look around me before pushing the door open, panic-stricken by the abrupt clanking of the lockers. Who's doing that?! Fuck, the door is locked anyway. No way out through- SHFUCK!
The black creature skimmed past my field of view for a brief moment before disappearing back into thin air again. It's messing with me, toying with my ability to experience fear. Just like Loutermilch. Maybe it's God or Jessica after all, punishing me for not being smart enough to notice her depression and help her out, in some way.
Oh fuck. The lockers began to open and shut hysterically anew, the creature whizzing past my vision again. Oh fuck, oh fuck! I quickly put my backside against the wall, preventing the creature from attacking behind me if it didn't have the ability to phase through walls.
No more, please- FUCK! The creature came straight at me this time, dissolving into thin air right before coming within grabbing distance. Shit, the lockers are getting more violent. I can't take much more of this.
"Stop it!"
The lockers ceased all at once with my command, but only for a brief moment as they continued their wild demeanor without a care in the world. Maybe showing dominance over them will work?
"I said fucking stop!" I marched towards them without flinching a single muscle, hoping this plan would work. They're just lockers.
"Good now?" Hopefully. The lockers stopped again, once and for all. Fuck, okay. That's another thorn out of my ass. How the hell am I going to find a way out of here though? The exit is locked. Maybe I can try to bash down one of those doors in the main halls?
Agh, my head. It feels like my brain is scattering all over the place. What's happening to me? I stumbled forward towards the lockers, both perplexed and dizzy towards the sudden change of brain activity? My feet felt like they were turning into jello, and I wouldn't get caught by surprise if I passed out right here. Fuck! Hold yourself together, I can do this.
Using one of the locker's handles as support, I managed to muster up enough energy to turn my head to the left, down into the dark hallway. The ruckus that was approaching sounded like footsteps, almost human-like footsteps.
Wait, is that...? My reflexes kicked in a second late as the creature, now in full form, cleared it towards me with olympian strength, tackling me with full thrust as my feet left the ground and I flew like a football across the entire hallway, slamming into the duo doors before tumbling on the ground.
"AUGH!" Several coughs of pain gave out from my throat, small quantities of blood leaving along with saliva. Shit! What was that?! UNGHH! I limped towards the open doorway to the right, slamming it shut behind me.
Shit! That hurts like an absolute motherfucker. I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of my ribs weren't broken. Oh, hell... Okay, what's in here? Several desks, chairs in front of them with books piled on top of each other, a single metal shelf with a book underneath, and a single styrofoam panel on the ground. An open space on top of it tipped me off that the panel fell from there, clear as the light of day.
My ribs ached once more, like they were rupturing my lungs. That wasn't real. That couldn't have been real. Then how did I get hurt? How was that thing who's just the figment of my mind attack me? I feel like that question is out of my boundaries, but I need an explanation here. None of this makes sense. How does my imagination cause me injuries? Did I get hit by a boulder in the real world and imagined it as that thing?
Not a damn clue. I need to get out of here, I think I've overstayed my welcome. The open space above that used to be the panels led into the vents. Maybe they'll collapse again and knock me back into the real world, somehow.
How am I gonna reach it though? The metal shelf maybe? I gripped it by its slightly corroded edge, exerting it towards the alignment point with the empty panel space. Goodbye, you disfigured demon thing.
I pressed the shelf against the metal wardrobe, aping up and trying to keep my balance. The clunks the metal shelf was giving out started to get me worried, so I didn't waste much time before hopping up to the ledge and pushing the rest of my body up.
Okay, the vents. I don't really have much of a plan right now, so my only option is to just keep moving. I crawled towards the left, coming up to a ventilation shaft blowing artificial wind on my face. Same as before. The screws keeping the vents intact were already losing their grip and loosening up, it wouldn't be long before I crashed down into a classroom again. Let's just keep going. The winds started to become more pronounced the more I crawled closer, but the smell was starting to change. It smelled fresher than something dry, not like the air a ventilation shaft would create. Almost like...
Mountain air.
Something wet began to rub against my ankles, prompting me to swing my head around and spot the elongated tongue rubbing itself off on my injured ankles. What the fuck?! Get off! Get off!
The tongue wrapped itself around my ankle, and I took the opportunity to smash my leg around the vents, reducing to grotesque tongue to a bloody pulp before flinging it away. But it still wasn't giving up. I turned right around and began to crawl away, the ventilation shaft now replaced with rocks and leaves, and the cawing of crows migrating towards warmer areas.
Where am I? I felt around the cramped crawlspace, no longer made of metal but cold hard rocks. The real world. I'm back. How the fuck did I manage to get in here?! My ankles were feeling wet, but my pants didn't look like they touched water since they were conceived. Must be my brain still believing the hallucination was real.
Okay, I need to get out of here. I began to tramp my arms forward towards the exit of this small space, the cobblestone and dirt getting crunched up under me. The faint stench of a misty campfire gained on my nose, seemingly nearby when no smoke was visible up in the air. I'm not too concerned about where it is right now, I need to know if I strayed from the path towards the mines when I was in sleep walk mode. I quickly picked myself up after reaching the end, watching the building in the distance standing among the fog. It seemed to be attached to the mountain, and hosted cable cars riding up on the sturdy cable connecting the mine building to something else.
The mines. Up the mountain. Val has her in the mines.
The words rang in my head. That's the mine building, so there has to be way into the actual mine where the miners dug. I was actually closer than I thought. I eased down the dirt path gravitating downwards, trying to get a closer look to the whole scheme. Shit, I also need a way past the humongous abyss standing between me and Lynn. Fuck, I didn't think of this.
What am I doing? This needs to be recorded.
Recording
"The mines. That's the building. That's where the others took my wife. But I need a way past." I scouted the area with my camera without stopping the recording, looking for a way past. Come on, there has to be a way forward without jumping into the forest below. How did the miners travel there? Not with cars, that's for sure. Or we wouldn't have to rent a helicopter to get here. No air travel either, I doubt the miners had that sort of luxury in their time period. So that just leaves...
Trains.
The traces of a railroad bridge towered over the huge pines, directly connecting the hill where I stood and the mountain where the mine building was. Riding a brief slope down to the level of the railroad bridge, I zoomed in with my camera to see if it was traversable by foot. Unless a random train was stationed around here somewhere, and I managed to get it working, I was stuck with just my legs to use as a vehicle.
It's very timeworn, and I heavily doubt a normal train would be able to cross through even a single yard above it without losing balance due to the lack of tracks and plummet down into the pine forest below. But it seems like there are no apparent gaps in between I couldn't jump, so it's my way forward. Okay, good. I propped the camera against my eyes, leaning into the tight ledge and beginning to shimmy across to the bridge. Okay, fuck. Don't lose balance now. The ledge is shorter than I thought. Ohhh shit.
Under the fog and the trees was smoke rising up to the atmosphere, originating from somewhere below. Wait, the smell seems familiar. It's the misty campfire smell I got a whiff of earlier. It's coming from down there! That means there are people down there. Or at least, there used to be people down there. Are they friendly, or another ally of Knoth?
A campfire doesn't last that long, especially not in Havasupai reservations where it often rains. There's gotta be some sort of activity down there. Switching on my microphones, I focused the camera towards the area where the smoke was rising from, hoping to pick up some sort of breathing or footsteps. It's a long way down, but not that long. If the pines are able to almost reach the railroad bridge, my full HD camcorder microphones will have no problem reaching down there. Stopping any movement or noise I was making, I diverted all attention to the camera, an eerie aura overshadowing me.
Is that moaning? Pained moaning. Yeah, that sounds like... Oh fuck! The camera feed was overblown with several pained voices, crying out in the trees and calling for help. They sounded meek and omnipresent, but definitely something grounded in reality instead of my imagination. One of Knoth's men would surely think the trees were making pained groans or something, but I know better than that. There are people in need of help down there.
But I can't do anything about it.
I quietly shut off my microphones, continuing along the ledge until I stepped my boots into solid ground. Damn, are those people okay? Who are they? Maybe they are just outsiders like me, and abused by the Heretics or Knoth's flock. It'll sure be a delight to come across a sane man again. But I can't go down there, Lynn needs me. And besides, I'll die if I just jump down a several hundred feet drop. Maybe when we report this to the authorities and they check it out.
Okay, can't let myself get too distracted. I still have a wife to save. The railroad bridge was directly on my path now, leading me right to the mines like an answered prayer from god. It's a straight shot, so if I fall down, I'll either be dead or severely injured, and I'll fail my mission. It's all or nothing. That's a bit too much pressure to put on one guy, but there's nobody that knows we went here, except the news company we work for. I wonder if they ever sent a rescue team after us. But concerning the bright light that fries all electronics once it booms all around the desert, I have to think they crash landed too.
These tracks have been unusable for a long time. Behind the bridge was a large boulder completely blocking the way, shutting off any train transport to here. It's been like this for a while, and nobody has come to check up on it. It's almost weird, all normal human civilization activity is either from the 1900s or absent. The religious fanatics have taken over everything. How? How the fuck does nobody know about this place? It's literally impossible. Some government or corporation must be keeping them hidden, there's no other way. These guys aren't smart or coordinated enough to wipe their entire face off the face of earth like this. But corporations wouldn't be interested in this kind of stuff, so that's out of the dilemma.
Okay. Focus on the task at hand. Cross the bridge. Tight wooden beams were the only thing keeping the tracks together, and one would need to balance themselves getting through them if they wanted to cross this structure. Fuck, why can't I just do something normally for once? Always want me to struggle, for me to grit my teeth in pain.
No. I can get through this. The damn bridge has stood for years, it's not gonna collapse now. I gently stepped my dirty boots onto the frangible planks, getting ready for the first wooden beam across to another stable segment of the bridge. It's not that far, easily doable. Okay. I extended my arms to either side, helping me balance as I carefully made my way across.
Shit! The wooden beam let out an agony filled whine, one caused by mistreatment of wood. My heart beat almost dropped to zero as another whine rushed in my ears, almost throwing me off balance before I stumbled to the other side on my knees. Okay, made it. A few more to go before the gaps disappear and I'm able to safely stroll. The wooden beam didn't flinch as I set my entire weight on it, crossing to the other side without much ruckus this time. Okay, two more to go before...
What the hell? The buzzing of a thousand moths emerged past the fog as their innumerable figures darted into view, making their way across the bridge to the opposite to where I was heading. Oh god! Don't cause me to lose balance! I jumped the rest of the way without balancing through, splinting apart the wooden beam behind my path as it plummeted down into the depths of the forest.
It took a few them diving into my mouth and getting spitted out to figure out that they weren't moths, but locusts. The itching, the buzzing, all of which seemed to summon a familiar sound in my head, one which was comprised of machinery. Something beating against metal, and making crinkling sounds. Something oily descending behind my eyelids, but fading off a second after. What the fuck?
It's gone. Okay, last beam. But unfortunately, it's the longest one. The fog was obscuring any end I could see, making it even more distrustful and terrifying. How the fuck am I gonna balance myself with all these locusts crashing into me? I'm gonna have to do it. I began to take timid steps towards the dark wood beam, scaring away any locusts that got too near. Buzz off! Shit. Little further, the mine is just up there. The end of the wooden beam finally emerged into view, rising behind the fog like the answers to all my prayers in the last few hours. Lynn, I'm coming! Just what are they doing to you? I'm gonna find out, and take down every one of those fuckers until we are both free.
The locusts were sparse in numbers and weight, so they didn't distract me from getting through the wooden beam too much, but that quickly changed as another multitude of locusts emerged from behind the gloomy fog, joining their friends and increasing their mass. Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck! They're too much, I can't fight against them! It's like they are pushing me back with their current, like a river.
Some of the locusts began to stray away from their path, clamping all of their appendages on my skin and trying to lift me up. Oh god. Fuck! No, get off! GET OFF! I watched in shock as the tiny insects effortlessly upheaved me away from the ground, holding me up to some kind of humanoid figure made of individual locusts. It had a head, and everything a human body contained, but it was just a shape the locusts were making. Not a separate entity.
Agh, my head! The buzzing of the machinery returned again, casting some sort of shape in my vision before the locusts making up the entity went away, leaving me with the locusts carrying me up in the air.
Oh god, what the fuck is happening?! My head feels like jello. The last of the locusts finally began to fly away one by one, leaving me to my own devices as I began to plummet down from the railroad bridge headfirst into a pine tree, no longer getting carried by the locusts. NO! PLEASE NO! NO! I WAS SO CLOSE, LYNN! NO, SHE CA-
Recorded