Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End
"Aubrey, I'm telling you that this isn't some Travel Channel type of excursion to a haunted- hold on a sec, HEY FUCKER USE YOUR TURN SIGNAL!" Sam slammed her hand on her horn, holding it there for a good five seconds.
"Sam, I swear you are the most aggressive driver I've ever met. Your road rage is gonna give you wrinkles. Also, my voice better be coming out of your Bluetooth, ma'am."
"Yeah, yeah, I got you on Bluetooth. Completely hands free!" Sam chirped back sarcastically.
"Good. As I was saying…I don't think this is healthy, girl. You should write an article over like…Barcelona or something. Or Sevilla! Everyone goes abroad to Spain in college!"
Sam sighed. "I've been to Spain before. Three times actually. And anyways, Spain isn't exactly known for its hauntings."
"HA! I thought you said this WASN'T a ghost story type thing!" Aubrey declared triumphantly.
"It's not, because ghosts aren't real. This is an academic excursion for a report on modern hauntings and urban folklore. For sociology. Not for Ghost Adventures or whatever. And this isn't the only place I'm going. Just…the first one. Of many. Because it's. Purely. Academic." Sam cringed, hoping Aubrey didn't notice how defensive those last couple words sounded.
"That sounded awfully defensive."
Sam groaned.
"I hate you. Why are we roommates again?"
"Because I'm awesome and my crazy compliments your crazy! Sagittarius and Aquarius make awesome partners in crime…"
"Not this again…" Sam murmured absently, as Aubrey began another astrology rant.
Sam had met Aubrey freshman year when they were both living on campus. Sam- majoring in sociology and minoring in journalism- had decided to join the school paper. As a freshman, she was given the lame grunt work like weekly polls, double checking sources, and the dreaded reviews of school theatre productions. It wasn't that any of those tasks were excruciating per se…just that Sam wanted to be reporting on important stuff. Not the favorite type of pizza among sophomores or the local production of Rent.
But it was through the reviews that she met Aubrey, who was a theatre major. And the two of them couldn't have been more different. Sam was admittedly, a bit of homebody while Aubrey was the biggest social butterfly she had ever met. Where Sam abhorred most girly things (as they gave her horrible flashbacks to her mother's…eccentricities) Aubrey was all hot pink nails and strawberry blonde hair. She was cute too, tall and tan with a smattering of adorable freckles and a penchant for florals. Boys openly gawked at her wherever she floated by, and Aubrey had a huge circle of friends. And she always got lead roles. All in all, she was bubbly and popular and totally comfortable with herself.
Meanwhile Sam was a short, pale, antisocial grouch who scared most people off with her dark clothes and perpetual scowl long before she even had a chance to open her mouth. Her…background didn't help either. When people realized who she was, they seemed eager to bolt.
She was also perhaps a bit too serious (or, a "fuddy duddy" as Aubrey would say) compared to her peers, who all seemed to love the partying and sporting side of college. Sam was really just focused on getting her degree, and then going to grad school, and then getting out into the world and making a difference. She felt a sense of urgency that she was alienated by, as her fellow classmates seemed to bask in their youth and newfound freedom at college. It's not that Sam was annoyed by them either, just maybe a bit resentful that she couldn't let herself enjoy it all. She tried to go to parties, but she'd stay stone-cold sober in a corner the whole time while wishing she had the ability to let loose a bit. She'd go to games, but she'd be irritable and bored and couldn't get into it like everyone else. And she'd get a wicked sunburn for her troubles.
But Aubrey, who Sam was supposed to interview, had immediately attacked her with a round of extremely personal questions, and Sam -flustered- didn't even have the time to get offended before Aubrey had grabbed her hand and insisted on getting a coffee together, because Sam's energy "was intriguingly morbid". Who says stuff like that? Sam didn't even remember agreeing but the next day, the two of them were conversing over coffee and when Aubrey declared Sweeney Todd to be her favorite musical and the reason she became vegan, Sam found herself smiling. She had been taken in by her charisma, and for some reason this girl wanted to be friends with her, despite everyone else avoiding her like the plague. The next year they moved off-campus as roommates and the rest was history.
"Ground control to Major Sam? Hello?"
Sam scoffed. "That wasn't even clever."
"Maybe not, but it got your attention. Sam…just tell me that you're gonna be okay?"
"Of course, this has nothing to do with-"
"Cut the shit, Sam." Aubrey snapped. "I know you're like…a tank when it comes to emotions, but you and I know both know that this is extremely personal for you. I just want to know that you're gonna be alright going back to Amity." Her tone was uncharacteristically serious, so Sam knew she meant business. She hated when Aubrey got like this.
"Yes. Honestly. I…I think I need to do this. I've never been back, but the quarantine has been dropped for over a year now and I need to make peace with it. That was my home for fourteen years, you know? And I lost a lot of people there." She added quietly.
"Okay. That's fine, just don't pretend that it doesn't mean anything, Sammy." She was the only one who could get away with calling her that. Sam sighed again, what did she do to deserve such an amazing friend?
"Yeah, yeah. Okay. But I really gotta go, I'm almost there. I promise I'll call you when I get back to my hotel tonight."
"Alright…you better write a kickass report, after putting yourself through all this."
Sam grinned again. "I will. Talk to you later." She ended the call with a click.
Kickass paper indeed…Sam got the feeling that this project was gonna be absolutely life-changing.
Sam slowly pulled up to the fence ahead of her, gravel crunching beneath her tires. A large sign declared "Site of the Amity Park Disaster: Absolutely No Trespassing. Violators will be prosecuted". Someone had scribbled a sloppy "BEWARE!" in red sharpie underneath. Hilarious.
Sam parked, then bent down and dug around in her backpack before pulling out a slip of paper. "Special Permission from City Council: Access Granted" an official stamp accompanied the print. Sam stared at the yellow paper, thinking that she had probably only been granted access because of her personal connection to the place. Hard to deny access to one of the only surviving former residents. It probably helped that her family name was respected.
Sam was just glad that the neighboring metropolis (which now controlled who came in and out, as Amity was technically a part of the area before it's destruction) hadn't allowed the place to become a ghost hunting hub or tourist trap. That would have been deeply disrespectful to the victims. The state of Illinois actually owned the land now, and if they decided to demolish or rebuild then no one could stop them really. Sam supposed they would eventually, once they had the funds. Her parents had vowed to donate once, but there were no official plans yet. It had been eight years, though the quarantine had only been officially dropped recently. It was inevitable though. For now, it remained and was mostly visited by trespassers and the occasional amateur ghost hunter, eager to grab some (illegally obtained) footage.
Sam placed the paper on her dash, so it was clearly visible through her windshield, and grabbed her bag. She retrieved her camera and hung it around her neck. A quick double check of her battery, her flashlight, her phone, and she was ready to go. She stared at the imposing fence, topped with barbed wire. Right on cue, the sound of scraping metal rang out as the gates slowly opened. She glanced to her left where she noticed a control booth, with an employee inside. She had been so caught up in the moment that his presence had slipped her attention. He stuck his head out the booth's window.
"Hey, once you're in I'm going to head out. Leave by sunset. Hit that red button on the control panel on the other side of gate, and it'll open back up for you, so you can leave. It'll lock behind you. You have a full minute to walk the 20 feet between the button and the gate before it closes, so I better not get any calls that you're stuck inside. Same thing tomorrow when you come back. Understand, ma'am?"
"Yes sir." She called back.
"Repeat what I said."
"Go in, finish by sunset, hit the button and leave. Gate will lock behind me. Come back the next day and repeat."
"Great. We have security cameras throughout the property, so don't do anything stupid. You're pretty lucky to get to roam by yourself, so don't waste that privilege."
"Yes sir. Thank you." She said. He gestured forward to the open gate, and with a deep breath she walked in.
Grass and weeds sprouted through cracks in the pavement, spreading it wider with each passing year. Abandoned buildings decorated the street, overgrown with plants and covered in graffiti. Most of the windows were broken and the ones that remained were dirty and cloudy with grime. Street signs and light posts sat crooked, sadly leaning in a manner that seemed to defy gravity. All in all, the area was a dump. Sam's heart was heavy, she had seen photos and known what would await. But this was not the Amity Park she grew up in. She could recognize it sure, there was Birch Street to her left where the kindly widow Mrs. Greenburg had lived. There was the home that belonged to the town's mailman; it had once had the most beautiful lawn on the whole block. Now it was all a tangle of unkept grass and shrubs. It was like looking at her memories through a funhouse mirror…familiar enough but uncomfortably different. It set her on edge. With a shiver, she snapped a few photographs and moved on.
She was glad that she was granted two days to explore as driving her car through the town had been forbidden. She understood now, seeing that the roads were heavily damaged and covered in debris. It would have been nice to drive around though, walking would take forever and put her on a rushed schedule. Luckily, the heart of Amity was really what she was interested in. The outer area had been lifted from quarantine status earlier than the rest, but it was mostly fields and roads that connected the small town to the larger metropolis, and she had already driven through it on her way here. The area that contained the neighborhoods, shopping district, and schools had been hit the hardest by the explosion eight years ago. No one had survived there. She snapped some more photos, her heart breaking at the sight of an abandoned shell of a school bus in the middle of the street.
In the months following what came to be known as the Amity Park Disaster, details had been revealed. Fentonworks, the home and lab of the Fenton family had mysteriously blown up one day, unleashing a wave of a never-before-seen radiation. The nature of the energy released had prevented first responders from arriving, and those who had survived the actual blast had been left to die from the radiation. It was absolutely horrible and controversial, but the government had assured everyone that there was nothing to be done. They had even claimed that the abandoned victims hadn't suffered for long, likely succumbing to the radiation in a matter of days. Official statements declared how fortunate it was that this new "ecto-radiation" did not seem to travel as far as other kinds of radiation and hadn't affected a larger region. Bastards.
Sam had had known the Fentons as a kind, if slightly kooky family. Their home had been a second home for her, perhaps even more welcome than her own. Maddie and Jack might have been eccentric ghost hunters, but they had always been so warm to her. Jazz had been a bit of a know-it-all, but she was actually very funny and always a great listener. And Danny…Danny had been the best of them all. Her closest friend, and the first person she had ever had a crush on. Their loss had been devastating. But their reputation was forever soiled in death.
The shock, grief, and outrage at this family for keeping such dangerous equipment underneath their house had ignited the entire country. If they had been mocked before, they were despised now. Their profession had only fueled unfortunate rumors of ghosts in the area too. To this day, people speculated on what they had been building in that lab that could have caused such devastation. Sam was pretty sure she knew, but she had never uttered a word of it to anyone. The secret festered in her heart, along with her confusing feelings about the whole thing. She had loved the Fentons, but she didn't know if even she could forgive them for this.
Sam realized she had started silently crying, and she furiously wiped at the tears. 'Stupid' She thought. 'There's no one around to see you'. She hated crying. She hurried along, almost tripping on a lead pipe buried under the thick grass. It was amazing how little time it took for nature to reclaim land. If this hadn't once been her home, she might have even seen the beauty in that. She steadied herself and kept walking. She had a lot of ground to cover still, there simply wasn't time for her to keep getting choked up. She was here for a purpose, damnit.
She had paused to take some photos of a street sign with graffiti of ghosts on it when she heard a snap behind her. She whirled around, expecting to see some asshole trespasser. No one was behind her. She frowned, an animal perhaps then. She pulled out her journal and jotted a couple notes down with her observations thus far. As she was finishing up, a glass bottle suddenly hurtled past her face, shattering against a brick wall. She yelped and dropped her journal and pencil. "Fuck!" She hissed. This time she spun, searching for any place where someone could have been hiding.
"Hey asshole, where the hell are you?!" Sam yelled. No answer. "This isn't funny, you piece of shit!" The bottle had narrowly avoided her cheek when it sailed past her. Who does something like that? She was seething, but the eerie silence around her slowly cooled her anger into something more resembling dread. Was someone trying to hurt her? A squatter maybe? There had been no noise of approaching or retreating footsteps besides the small snap. She stared at the ground surrounding her- it was covered in glass and gravel and any number of debris that should have alerted her to someone's presence. Her own footsteps had been loudly echoing throughout the abandoned town while she had been walking. Her heart pounded, and she slowly reached for the pocket knife she kept in her boot.
"I have a knife!" She announced. Silence was her only answer. Had she imagined it? She snuck a glance to where the bottle had landed. Yeah, the shards of glass were plainly visible. She decided it was time to move on to a different area. She kept the knife in her hand and quickly made sure her phone was on and still charged in case she needed to make a call fast.
Sam practically jogged away, straying from her original planned path and rounding a couple of corners. There- she was less visible now that she was off the main road. She resumed her leisurely pace, but still remained on edge. She decided to skip past the houses for now, having recorded quite a few. She relaxed as more distance was put between her and where that bottle had been thrown. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary, so Sam chalked it up to a weird freak accident, wind or maybe it had been resting on a roof near her before falling. 'Objects don't fall like that' said a little voice in her head. 'Shut up' she told it.
As she walked further into the center of Amity, the hazy mist that clung low to the ground thickened. She hoped it didn't get too much worse, or the flashlight might be necessary even though it was still a few hours until sunset. The thought of not being able to see clearly made her hair stand on end. With such a tight schedule she needed to decide which areas to prioritize. She glanced around her to get her bearings, and then smiled. She knew exactly where to go next.
AN: Aaaand that's the first chapter. I do not know anything about radiation but considering how little the show cares for actual science, I too will follow in those footsteps.