All rights reserved to red barrels, I do not gain anything but enjoyment from writing this
Those towers. The source of the madness in this place, an unfeeling titan unaware of the suffering it wrought upon this shithole. I wasn't sure how smart of an idea it was to get closer to the structure inducing insanity, but absolutely nothing could keep me separate from my wife. Legs chopped off? I would crawl on the stumps. Go batshit insane? Fight off the lunatics with my intestines skewered and my skin flayed. The imagery was certainly disturbing, I didn't have much hope of resembling a man at the end of this. So much for mountain air.
My ribs crinkled each time I put weight on the paddle and pushed, the water curled and rippled outwards and I kept on the work. God, how long has it been since I've been to a doctor? Months? More like a year, but it felt good to lie to myself about my health. The wounds on my right palm had reopened amidst the physical exertion and trauma, bleeding down into my sleeve in rivers carved from red. I had lost the feeling from the shoulder with Laird's arrow mark, the nerves scorched no doubt, but honestly fuck it. I was done with pain. My teeth ground together as I ripped the gauze from both my hands; might as well use the time I spared to its fullest. The amount of bandage I could produce from my pockets was not impressive to say the least, but it'd be enough to stop the bleeding until I could treat it properly on stable ground. The raft was NOT an ideal place for this.
Shapes under the water. Common sense told me it was just fish. I couldn't tell if they were dead or alive, the radio waves might've fried their brains, but I wasn't about to dive down and check. It felt like something more... sinister was lurking beneath. I saw him step into the lake didn't I? I swung the paddle over and directed the raft away from there, a hard knot formed in my throat and my stomach churned at the thought of what lie ahead. It was getting increasingly difficult to be glad about my progress when weighed against what I had to lose. I survived Temple Gate, the Scalled, and found a way across the lake but then what? One slip up, my struggle and anguish would be undone in an instant. Brain matter scattered on the floor, maybe they would have the decency to kill me before the flaying began...
Maybe you should go home Blake.
No. I'm pushing on. The mist had started eating up what little I could see of the hills ahead, enveloping them behind its dull gray tone. I turned my body around to check how far I was from the shore I set off from, but unfortunately the fog had blocked view of that too. I drew in a sharp breath as I did the only thing I could, hope that my sense of direction would not fail me. I hadn't strayed far from the axis I began from, at least from what I could perceive, using that word very lightly. With the moon blotted out the lantern managed to keep me somewhat spacially aware, I needed to be heading northeast from the shore to hit the mines, which shouldn't be a worry with how calm the lake was.
How deep did it go? I wasn't the best swimmer to begin with, and the fact that I was fully clothed for autumn weather meant I'd sink like an anchor if I didn't exert myself greatly. I knew there wasn't anything dangerous down there, I knew that, but a small part of me, perhaps not even me, insisted he was down there. Stalking. Biding for time, for the right opportunity. I was just a kid, I couldn't have known he was...
My skin tingled, and for a moment it felt like insects walking on my back. I threw the sensation back and focused on the paddling, the destination. On what was real. I tried to recall the reason we had come here, we had a normal life before this right? Jane Doe was found on a highway, barefoot, pregnant and alone. Those last lines rang in my head several times, Lynn's last words in the helicopter before everything went to shit. Good, I still remember. We had investigated the place Jane Doe was hospitalized, some medical center in the middle of nowhere, not far from here. The doctors wouldn't let us see her, so we had to 'interview' a couple of Murkoff brass who had probably coerced access with methods I didn't want to speculate on. I wasn't too familiar with the company and what other business it dealt with on the legal front besides the fact they were the largest operating biometric security provider in the country. That was the public face they wore, but I was aware that they had a bit more going on behind the scenes than they let on.
About a month ago, a whistleblower report file was submitted to VIRALeaks from a former Murkoff employee titled Project Walrider, a document detailing an outbreak that occurred at a mental asylum in Colorado called Mount Massive, previously owned by the government before it was closed in 1971 and bought by Murkoff in 2009, at least that's what the file stated. I do remember researching it to see what would come up, which was mostly third party complaints regarding patients and joint weapons research with Germany at the time nearly 70 years ago.
The document let on much more than that, mainly the 'Morphogenic Engine' which the whistleblower personally stated was 'an extremely gross violation of human rights' due to patients being falsely admitted into the asylum with the promise of rehabilitation and money, but in reality manipulated and experimented on to fulfill the end goals of the project, which was allegedly headed by a german Dr. Rudolf Wernicke, though all legal information I could find on the person stated he died in 2009. This bit led me to initially believe the report had the possibility of being a hoax from simply a disgruntled employee, along with Murkoff's "testimony" a week later after it was submitted exposing the whistleblower's identity as Waylon Park, who had apparently worked for them as a software consultant for only 2 weeks and was a crazed follower of conspiracy theories and propaganda, then had to be forcefully admitted as a patient when he started assaulting other employees.
That was the sole reason our news station chose not to spread it to the public. They didn't want Murkoff's attention, which was hardly a bad decision when looked at from a survivalist mindset. I've seen many others go quiet when they did the mistake of slandering Murkoff's name, and they weren't the type to back down from a profitable scoop. Even the whistleblower I'd imagine is in hiding after attempting such a bold move against Murkoff.
There was a video file attached to the bottom of the document, which were bits of camcorder recordings stitched together into an hour and a half of hard evidence, starting from when the whistleblower was submitted to forced confinement and when the outbreak apparently began. The film did not seem staged at the time I analyzed it, but I hadn't the time to put much thought into it until this place came into my life and expanded what I previously deemed within the realm of possibility. The full contents of the video I abstained from recalling, thinking about a complete shithole while I'm in another one might just drive me clinically insane, especially now that I suspect the Murkoff employees we interacted with at the hospital knew about this place and didn't simply not warn us, they were the ones who fucking tipped us off about it. Were they banking on us crashing? On us being tormented over an investigation case and dying a more horrible death than most in all of fucking existence just so their supervisors can get richer than they already are. What absolute animal would allow someth─
I recoiled backwards with arms flailing as water splashed just in front of the raft, and something burst through up to the surface and submerged back down in the same instant. The paddle slipped out of my grip and I had a tense moment juggling it between my hands as trumpets roared deep throughout the air, following a blinding ray of pure white penetrating the fog like knife into kevlar. A yowl escaped my throat as I felt my eardrums damn near burst, my fingers locked tight into the paddle and I brought it down hard with a pained grunt.
My head! I put one hand on my brow and exhaled a breath that stung, static droned loud along my skull and my ears rang much the same. Just what the fuck are those towers broadcasting? I could feel more of my mind erode each time the lights swung back into me, the white noise in my teeth. I focused on reclaiming my senses, the stench of heavy rot hit me full force as I inhaled through my nose. I managed to get an eye open despite the pounding headache. Goddamn, it hurt to think.
Dead fish. A whole lot of them. I pulled myself away from the water as deceased biomass rapidly surfaced up from the depths, coating the air with the foul reek of poison and chemicals. Just like the birds. Was it the signals that killed them? The note at the shore indicated the towers drove people insane with enough exposure to them, seemed pretty logical to assume the primitive brains of small critters couldn't handle such a powerful radiowave discharge.
"I wasn't surprised they were dead. I was impressed they'd ever even lived in all that poison."
The lake had returned to its eerie calm atmosphere soon after the trumpets settled, and the fish surfaced. I could hear the sound of approaching water somewhere distant, almost like a giant tide, but I doubted it was anything more than my fractured psyche imagining things. The solitude must be getting to me.
Dying of the wildlife signified one of the horsemen of the apocalypse in the bible; namely famine, war, pestilence and death. War could be alluded as the conflict between the heretics and Knoth's cult, pestilence is what the scalled were afflicted with, though this was just a loose connection my tired mind seeking distraction conjured up. I knew the facts, the cause. They wouldn't believe it even if they saw it with their own eyes, we just needed to be far from here.
I couldn't decide if this was just a collective mass hallucination, dream, or someone pulling the strings from outside, and we were their test subjects. Wouldn't surprise me if Murkoff was behind this mess, their agents had lured us here after all. Seeing as their business model was already morally bankrupt, it wouldn't be past their morals to also tinker with the minds of countryside villagers. What a fucking joke. I wasn't sure how much distance I had left to go before─
Hold on... that sound. I hadn't registered it was what I heard just a moment ago, rushing water fast approaching. It only dawned on me when the colossal wave burst through the fog with terrifying velocity, I dropped flat against the raft latching onto the sides in an attempt to stay on, but the tide heaved the piece of wood over sideways effortlessly and swallowed it whole along with myself.
I couldn't process much of what was happening, only that I was far from the surface and drowning. A force flipped me over and I saw my arms outstretched towards the raft and its paddle rapidly ascending. It was blurry, my mind hazy and filled with too much shock for its own good. I tried to swim in the direction of what I thought was up, my legs flailed and my arms paddled for the moonlight, but the terror amplified when I collided with something solid and water gushed from my nose in the place of a scream, I was eye to eye with a corpse covered in red blemishes and scars.
Shit shit shit! I regained some of my mental faculties upon realizing I was almost out of air, any hesitation now would spell my end. Another deceased awaited higher up the waters, I barely managed to avoid crashing into him and took a forceful gulp of poison down my throat, my limbs scorched fire but I kept on the ascent. I was almost certain my spleen had ruptured but that could just as well be from the physical trauma.
The sounds I made were inhuman when I surfaced, my arms searched for a hold, a net of safety from the dangers below. My clothes weighed me down significantly, I could hardly keep myself afloat, but I could feel my camera in its pouch and that was all I needed for the momentary relief.
The lakewater I ingested gurgled out of me in a mess of bile and spit as I swam for the raft, thankfully intact just a short ways from where I was. I had doubts I could survive another wave if it came, but I could see the fog had dissipated somewhat out of my peripheral and trees came into view. My throat was practically on fire, I was surprised I hadn't coughed up blood yet, although I chose to focus on the raft and the sanctuary it would bring to fuel my resolve.
"Let me help you.
I had almost reached it when a solid force yanked me by the foot and I sank fast beneath my ripples, I let out a yelp but only froth poured out of the orifice. What the fuck? I looked down to see a blurry crimson shape that had me by the leg, entangled in its 'hand' and trying to reach for my jacket. You... you're not supposed to exist here!
I smashed my heel blindly against the demon and it received a blow to what I think was its face, it recoiled and vanished somewhere below but I had already capsized and was charging for the surface, the pressure shifted as I plowed through the thick medium and felt my eardrums pop. Deal with that later, I needed out now!
I took in a deep gasp when I burst up from the depths, my lungs ached bad and I had absorbed tons of liquid into my stomach. My teeth grit, I clutched the paddle before I strained for the raft, my arm wavered frantically in the air and I lurched forward with a grunt, placing both arms below me and heaved myself up onto the raft, still ignoring the building pain in my spleen.
Fuck. My boots felt soggy and heavy, my pants and jacket had soaked beyond recognition, I was dripping water from head to toe. I leaned over the side and promptly belched whatever I had ingested in my struggle against the natural forces, which was mostly clear liquid instead of the vomit you'd expect. I had no clue what just occurred, aside from the two options that I was seriously losing my wits, or the towers were the cause of that wave. I coughed up a bit more of my innards as I let myself calm down, the mist had dissolved mostly and I could see a river leading directly to the mines.
I did a quick check of my belongings and found the camera and its batteries not too worse for wear, just more water I had to drain out of my pouch. The machete had stayed attached to my hip throughout all of that, which I certainly did not take for granted. My lantern had unfortunately been washed overboard when the massive tide hit, something I was irritated to lose but wasn't that vital for my survival. I'd manage...
If I don't die from the hypothermia that is. I retreated further into whatever was left of my turtleneck sweater, I had no intentions of taking an exotic swim like that ever again, if all went according to plan from now on. I thought I had solved the mystery of why this place was so fucked up, but all it did was raise more questions. What exactly pulled me down underwater back there? It was only just an hallucination, and the demon obviously hadn't crossed into our reality, so what the hell was that? I checked back with my camera to see if anything came up from the audio, but only white noise caused by the radio towers and slight ripples were of any note. I returned to work on the paddling, I needed to get a move on already.
It was difficult to see without the aid of my camera or the lantern, but thankfully the myriad of boulders set along the river were quite hard to miss. I tightened my grip on the paddle as the rushing current took a gradual hold of the raft, a simple course correction was enough to dodge the first set of rocks but I sensed the stream would get faster soon. The raft jerked sideways as I attempt to avoid the next pair, I could briefly slow myself down but it required more force than I could exert consistently. I pushed the raft away from the rightmost boulder with the paddle and it only just put me clear of its stoppage.
God, my ribs. Focusing on my injuries only made them worse, but I wasn't sure how much more adrenaline my body could supply me before I collapsed. My crucifixion wounds had already reopened, and I wasn't in the position to change them out again. I carefully manuevered between another pair of stones, slipping between them quite smoothly as the current carried me further into the rapids. It was plain luck I thought to secure the camera beforehand, or else it would've already fallen off with how dangerous this was.
The river took a hard right and a sizable mass of rock appeared imminent in my path, the boat shifted sideways as I paddled leftside but I was moving too fast to avoid the impact completely. I quickly recovered and shoved the raft aside, delivering myself back into the rushing stream that was... definitely speeding up! Bits of wood came off the raft as I grazed the next rock set over the waters, I wasn't confident this thing could take much punishment before it lost its only function. My arms pulsed as I kept the boat firmly along the shoreside, almost like a clot had formed in my muscles.
I was lucky the current hadn't smashed me against a rock yet, it had gotten faster and it simply wouldn't give me enough time to evaluate where I needed to go next. I tried to steer the raft over to an opening between an assortment of trees and rocks away from the stream, but the tide swept me forward before I could generate enough force to reach it.
You little shit. The raft spun around facing forward, heading straight towards a boulder with no means of escape. I braced the paddle against my chest instead of placing it in jeopardy and promptly lurched down with the solid collision. My ribs pounded and I tasted copper in my throat, my vision flashed red as I got an arm under me, pushing up to my knees and looked around to see where exactly I had been taken by the river. Fucking miserable excuse for a boat, just had to crash here didn't you?
I was pinned hard against a rock of decent size, situated at the riverside and overlooking a woodland area. The current had ended just a short ways behind me, which thankfully meant it couldn't get me more stuck than I already was. The river also branched right from here, so I didn't have to ditch the raft if I could just push it free. I rotated the paddle around and forced the blunt end into the jagged boulder; the raft budged right but only slightly. Okay, I see how it is. This was going to be bothersome.
I thrust it against the rock once more, the raft shifted but this time not the direction I wanted it to. I had to find a smarter way to dislodge myself, but how? I continued assaulting the boulder using the paddle, steady and powerful strikes would eventually get the job done. My upper arms had gotten sore from hours of exertion and the physical hits they endured, my right arm specifically felt cumbersome in its movement and I figured it was the arrow injury that was the culpri─
A human shape emerged into view from behind the trees just ahead, somewhat obscured by the mist but its features still distinguishable. It looked scrawny and short, its gait resembled that of a madman, or perhaps a feral beast. I took note of the twigs protruding out of its head, which seemed to be a crude mask sculpted from clay. Was that one of the heretics, the ones who took Lynn outside Knoth's compound? The hell was it doing out here? I must be getting close.
I had hoped it was just passing by, but it didn't look like that was the case at all. Its gaze was affixed dead on me, a club in its hand and wading towards me. The only signs I needed to hurry the fuck up. This piece of shit refused to be unstuck, I looked up to check on its progress while I bashed against the rock frantically, it had picked up speed and would be on me in about five seconds. Just... budge!
Fuck fuck fuck! Screw this. I brought up the paddle as the figure snarled at me and lunged, I propelled it into its torso and it flew back growling, stumbling backwards on all fours. I took the chance to launch up from my seat and braced my feet against the boulder, and forced the raft off while barefoot steps approached from behind me. A sharp whoosh sounded just under my legs as I leapt forward, crashing onto the raft as it dipped and groaned, but held its buoyancy.
I fought not to slip as I got my legs under me, the paddle hadn't fallen off which I deemed very fortunate. I looked back as the heretic bellowed out after me, perched on the boulder and its arms flailing in the air. Fuck you. I spit out the blood I had gobbled up in my throat, wiping my mouth with my shirt sleeve and let it dry on its own instead of washing it. It looked very gross and unhygienic, but this was not the place to give a shit about either of those.
I had gotten back on the current, though it was slower on this side thankfully. Moonlight shone down through thick foliage and I could only imagine what hid among those trees. The river narrowed along this direction, a single boulder lay in the path and I only just fit through a small space between it and the shoreside. My breaths came shallow as I pulled down through the water, my hands ached but I wouldn't rest.
That heretic. Why did it want to kill me, and what was it doing this far out from the mines? They believed the antichrist was their god, the 'baby' in Lynn's stomach, so I was the father of their god. The logic perplexed me, but perhaps they somehow knew my intentions of stealing Lynn despite their clearly unstable mental states. I hadn't formulated much of a plan of actually rescuing her, but it practically boiled down to what I'd been doing the rest of this night. Run, hide, fight them off when necessary. It hadn't failed me yet, no reason to drop it now. The problem was what the heretics would do when they found out there's no baby, their delusions shattered and nothing to show for it. I could only imagine what...
The stream took a right and my attention shifted to a lit torch wavering up on the cliffside across from me. The rushing tide discontinued from this section, which meant I could let the raft drift forward while I zoomed in with my camera. It appeared to be a person in struggle against more of those heretics, I couldn't tell by his look if he had defected or was one of Knoth's men, but his lack of clothing led me to assume the former held true. They were trying to push him off the edge, I considered listening in with the microphones but quickly decided against it when I thought of how many people I've seen and heard die today.
I moved in a bit closer but kept my gaze fixed up on the scene, my surroundings were none of the pleasant kind and I wasn't using that term lightly given the context. Emaciated corpses driven through pikes at my right, all of them in fetal positions varying only slightly in posture. To my front was a literal sea of charred bodies floating on the surface, their stench hit me full swing as I gagged hard on my collar, it felt like hot needles were being jabbed into my nostrils. Damn! This might be near the top of the list for the most grotesque sight I've come across in this place.
I directed my focus back on the heretics and their captive, who I now deemed an ezekiel member upon closer inspection. The one wielding the torch set him ablaze while the the ones restraining him tossed him straight over the ledge, he plummeted screaming, arms flailing. I winced as the river promptly absorbed him and the flames sizzled out like you'd just opened a soda can.
He was far from the only one who had been subjected to this fate. These corpses, were they what became of the search team Knoth sent out? Fucking monsters. Killed every last one of them, in exactly the same fashion didn't you? I shuddered to think they'd do the same to Lynn when dawn came, and I wasn't successful. I honestly didn't know what I'd do, and that frightened me more than anything else.
"Bodies so thick I could have walked across the water on their backs. It's almost funny... That's how you walk on water."
The river branched right, and the only way to proceed was through them. Fuck. They're just deceased, they're not alive. You can do this. The ragged texture of their seared flesh made my skin crawl, akin to a goosebump but not quite there. I edged the raft forward, my nose contorted, and gently pushed one off my path with the paddle. Froth surfaced as he drifted and bumped into another corpse, their stench seemed to amplify when they collided and I coughed into my arm before quickly moving away. I hit several more bloated ezekiels as red foamed out of their mouths, that minute smell of copper wasn't much but it still reminded me of my own internal bleeding when I shifted my tongue and tasted the same.
Ugh. The current had lightly started again, a bit of mist gathered in the air and the reek of charred biomass I could smell from somewhere ahead. I rowed onward as I looked among the trees coated in pitch black, no doubt stuffed with rotting carcasses both human and animal. More heretics trekked swiftly along a precipice ahead, their torches gave away their position quite effectively. They must be returning to the mines, perhaps they were out here to check on me from the orders of Val. I lost sight of them when they entered some sort of cave, my theories left on an unanswered note.
The stream took a left under where I saw the heretics walking, an imposing tree obstructed most of the path but a small opening it fortunately hadn't closed off. I could wedge the raft through, albeit with some effort, and ducked under a log poised above the water. There were no sign of the heretics up on any of the cliffsides, I hadn't decided if this meant good or bad for navigation purposes, but I deemed it beneficial for my continued survival. Goddamn, how much further until the mines? I hated that I didn't know.
An assortment of rocks awaited some distance ahead, it would've been easy to manuever between them if the current hadn't sped up significantly. I narrowly dodged two of the boulders and glanced off the last one, causing the raft to veer sideways and scrape the wood clean. I paddled leftside to straighten it out but the river had too much power behind it, the raft wrenched around to the opposite direction and knocked me off balance. My weight sunk portside and the boat responded by twirling backwards and stopped just short of a complete 360 degrees turn.
Shit! My head whirled dizzy, and I simply couldn't gain enough leverage to pitch the raft forward. I caught sight of a boulder approaching fast in my peripheral while I got an elbow under me, moments before the raft smashed right into it and I flew out screaming, hurtling through the air like a pinball. The static engulfed my conscious as I plunged hard below the rapids, my insides convulsed and I tried to produce some sort of sound, a cry for help.
The current reeled my body upwards and I felt my stomach twist, my lungs grasped for oxygen as I burst out and heaved liquid out of my windpipe. Where the fuck is the raft? It was nowhere to be seen, although I hadn't taken a good look before the tide swept me forward and I sank gurgling, my throat set ablaze and the air snatched out of me.
My vision dimmed and I thought I heard insects buzzing inside my blood, I plowed back up the surface and spotted a riverbank directly on my left, my only chance for harbor before the stream traversed into dense fog. The current had forced me to submerge but I practically drilled through the water, froth burbled in my mouth while I lunged to my feet, charging and gasping for the shoreside with half of my guts damn near expelled.
Thick droplets formed on my jacket as I stumbled forward, my knees buckled and I splashed down under the weight of my soaked clothing. A sharp pain dug itself into my thigh and I wheezed back an excruciating breath through my teeth. I had ingested even more water, no doubt about that, but I could feel my body wasn't up to the task of expelling its contents. My palms were bleeding again, all this grabbing and harsh movement was everything a doctor would tell me not to do. I'd fix them up later.
The raft. Nausea set in while I got my good arm under me, the world shifted as I stood, knees wobbled but they held. The rock it crashed against was in my view, but it seemed to be no longer there. I feared the worst when I considered it might've been carried downstream, but I found that unlikely as I hadn't seen it pass by or it hadn't bonked me in the head while I scrambled for the shore, knowing my luck. I had gotten particularly familiar with it on this night.
I needed a better angle to survey the area, preferably from high ground. Any guesses I made down here were useless. A small hill towered on my left, a good place to start as any. The pouch felt tight in my slick hands, I scowled when the lock sliced my index finger and I yanked the camera out muttering profanity. The rule of paper cuts reigned even in this place. Might as well just surrender myself to the fish.
I hadn't operated the night vision in some time, my eyes strained as the green hue draped the visor and brought the surroundings into clarity. A tree had collapsed onto the path, most likely from the electrical storm mentioned by the researcher. The pieces were gradually forming a picture, but I wasn't sure if that picture would drive me fully to insanity or steer me away from it. The only thing that mattered was Lynn, something must be amiss if I had to remind myself that. The thought stirred in my head as I crouched under the log, heavy and ragged breathing echoed in my skull, a soft rumble vibrated through my ear canal. I dithered still when I realized that wasn't my voice.
Quiet from the microphones. Did I really hear that? I gave the vicinity a look over as I climbed the trail, no indication of a presence within audible distance, no silhouettes on the rocks. The heretics seemed a lot more vocal than this, I'm sure they wouldn't shy away from caving my face in. I was simply on edge, and that was perfectly normal given the situation. It felt weird to say that. Nothing was right about this place. The path looped around once before reaching the apex, dead flora and stray wildlife were all that remained of what this river must've been in the past, preceding Knoth's arrival and whoever constructed that radio tower. It resembled a steaming pot of madness, those bright signals were the mixer, and I was a grain of salt among the main ingredients. Insignificant and blended into the soup.
When did I become this introspective and open to analogies?
Amber light and movement caught my immediate attention as I neared the overlook, accompanied by a deep screech grating against my skin. Below the cliff across from me was a figure perched directly over the raft, casting torchlight and the paddle in its other hand. Heretics. I flicked the night vision off and zoomed in as it leaned towards the raft. I feared it was about to sabotage it, but only became perplexed when it set the paddle down and promptly spun away, departing from my line of sight. Huh?
I wasn't sure what to make of that. Maybe they were expecting my arrival? If so, it didn't make sense that they'd try to kill me. They were crazy, but perhaps they weren't stupid. Not all of them at least. Whatever the reason, I'd take any help I could get.
I had to find a way across, quickly before it was too late. Jumping or swimming over wasn't an option, I'd sooner shatter my bones and be swept up by the current rather than try something that stupid. Think practical, not so straightforward. On my right was artificial light, another part of the hill that had been visited before. If the heretics went there, a way across wasn't unreasonable. It was better than standing here nonetheless. I braced my heels against the cliffside as I shuffled steadily along the ledge, just wide enough for me to stay upright barring any disturbances to my balance. A massive mountain towered forth at my 2 o'clock, it puzzled me how I never noticed it back at the lakeside. I chalked it up to either the angle I was viewing it at, or the fog keeping it hidden until I got close enough to get past it.
My boot slipped as I rounded the corner and I threw myself forward on instinct, launching far but momentum out of control. My shoulder thrust to block as I crashed into some sort of polearm skewered with fish, it fell over silently compared to the vicious thud produced from my impact with the ground. Soil kicked up above my bruised figure as I rolled onto my side, throbs swung back into my hip and I set blurry eyes on a campfire radiating warm heat and ember through my clothes, seeping inside my skin, tending to my wounds. Another close call. I felt like I'd need to raise my standards of what constituted a close call soon enough.
I let my heartbeat subside before I heaved myself up to stable footing, my knees ached and a dull rot worked its way into my nose. Shit, my glasses fell off. The campfire would've absorbed them if I had launched just a bit more forcefully. I snapped them up from under a piece of plywood, the tips felt hot to touch but they had cooled by the time I brought them to my eyes. The foul stench amplified tenfold when the hazy red outlines in my peripheral transformed into mangled corpses, hoisted up with pikes and flies buzzing about their innards. At my front was a long tendon line, woven from intestines and knotted together by hand, the midmost section bursting from the bowels of a person with his torso ripped open, head removed and arms tied behind his back. God, he looked like a fucking watermelon.
Surrounding the tree he was bolted into were more pikes, decapitated heads of Ezekiel members skewered like a meatstand showcase, fresh blood gushed down their open necks and flies feasted on their eyeballs. Bronze skeletons lined the outward perimeter, reeking death and stained with mold, supported by their own bones. Femurs and shins lay in bundle below their congregation, joined by various other skeletal remains I lacked the knowledge to name. For a moment their skulls peered at me with expressions of shock, terror, and disgust. Contempt for the outsider they had set deep in their minds was the enemy. Blind followers, led by a man blind to what his beliefs really were. The result was this. Butchered, maimed, forgotten in a dark corner of the world. Would my end be similar to them? I didn't want to dwell on those chances, didn't want to think about my... her in that state. Shut my eyes, they were insane, and that was enough. I didn't have to share their demise, I knew better than to put trust in someone using their power for ends only they saw as worthy. I knew that better than anyone.
"Killed as a warning, or a welcome. We're all welcomed eventually."
The camera ate up the entire scene. Its hunger for madness sated, albeit temporarily. I stood still near the campfire, soaking in the mutilation and gore with some sort of sickened curiosity, maybe even desire. It was hard to explain, resembled the times where you peered down a high drop and your mind urged you to jump, the void itself called to you. Was it another byproduct of the radio signals? It tempted men to kill their own, flay them down to muscle and bone. Their way of appeasing the god up in the sky, leave nothing but a pile of bodies and broken families. Would it help me stay sane if I indulged with them? I had the means, but the drive I wasn't so sure.
I had a mission. I would keep going for as long as my body supplied me energy, and in one piece. It brought me relief to see the raft where I last viewed it, ashore and waiting for me to fulfill its purpose. Jumping the gap seemed more feasible each second I spent up here, I had to devise some way across. Make a bridge out of skeletons and intestines, I wouldn't be surprised if the logic this place operated by deemed it within the laws of physics. It would be difficult to balance on, but when has that ever dissuaded me?
No, no. Stupid idea. Get it together. I'm not an idiot, least of all delusional. There was a plan that would work, but I just wasn't seeing it. The pikes, could I pole vault across? Build a bridge out of them? The heretics navigated along the river somehow, following me, stalking my progress. Think like one of them, a clay masked maniac with body laid bare. Look like one of them, they might be fooled and offer me passage. But they would know. They were crazy, but not stupid. Crazy, but not stupid.
A tree sat near the edge of the platform, its foliage shed and bark peeled, revealing a section that was chopped more than halfway through. It was angled at a slight degree, directly towards the cliffside I needed to reach. My scrambled thoughts ground together like a locker would slam shut, the gears in my mind churned, and a logical idea surfaced from the parts of a nonsensical one. Build a way across. Make a bridge out of death and madness, a pathway born from insanity. Crazy, but not stupid. That's how they navigated. Carve doors from dead ends, a way forward, a step backwards. They were one step ahead, and I was lagging five steps behind.
A bridge across. The static droned heavy throughout my bones as I placed both arms onto the trunk, and shoved with my heels dug hard into the soil. The dark red splotches on my hands had dried, but a residue of pain remained. Applying force to anything with them would be a really bad idea. I had my doubts this plan would work, but it was the only one that seemed plausible, and I had nothing to lose, except if it wasn't tall enough to hit the other side and create a blockade on the river. No, think positive. Outcomes and situations, when did they not go my way?
A deep groan forced itself out my throat as the tree shook violently along its core, the wood crackled as sharp needles jabbed at my ribs and sweat trickled down my pores. My brow felt like an oven, and my brain had dialed the settings to max. The trunk gave a strong whine as I increased force, it shifted forward and yawned still, but I could feel it on the verge of collapse. I reared back as the last of its material snapped loose, and the tree plunged rapidly before it smashed down hard on the platform across.
Bridge out of skeletons and intestines. It made sense now.
I put my hands on my legs as I panted, in and out against the harsh cold enveloping the cliffside. My boots had sunk beneath the ground while I was pushing, a pair of heel marks on the soil etched my presence for anything else that came through here. Was there anyone friendly left besides Ethan? His memory seemed so long ago, a warm one amongst a series of traumatic events. I still felt like I let him down, but surviving this far after he protected me from Marta seemed like the best I could do to make it up to him.
It took several minutes for me to regain composure, my forearms throbbed and my jaw clenched tight, directing air inside and letting the excess out. My heart pounded fast against my chest, pumping white noise throughout my body and coursing into my veins, swathed by the ants marching alongside my blood. It'd take a lifetime for one to get used to this feeling. It wore off somewhat as I sprang up the fallen tree, my boots firmly secured onto the jagged trunk before I sucked in my gut and pulled up the camera. I was risking my balance, but I needed to see where I was going unless I fancied another swim.
Forget the static, focus on your footing. This wasn't the time nor place to be distracted. I gulped as my steps came heavy onto the log, the water below struck the river walls in unorganized rhythm, forming white spumes in shapes of almond and crescent. Branches snapped off as I put weight on their roots, tumbling down into the rapids and doomed to wash ashore wherever the stream concluded. The trunk thinned a miniscule amount as I approached the platform, my brain felt like it would ooze out my ears if something tripped me up and threw me off balance. I doubt looking down helped the fear.
My gut retracted even further when I entered the range of amber torchlight, I could jump the distance that remained but it'd be too much of a risk for meager reward. Deep breaths. You made it across, only three more steps to go. I imagined the tree would shift after that line, and the current would absorb me into a dark abyss of pure empty void. A cautionary tale for others, a death born solely from misfortune. Just how long did I have until my clock ran out? The mines surely were to be my reckoning.
I slung the camera back and into my pouch as soon as I dropped down from the tree, having it out like that didn't sit well with my fear of losing it. The burnt odor of charcoal and thick copper hung heavy in the air, my nose contorted and the urge to dry heave trickled up my spine, but I had long grown numb to the death around me. On my right shone a pair of torches placed symmetrically between some words drawn onto the wall, a piece of writing signifying nothing. It took me longer than it should to realize it was painted with blood. Dense copper. The stench, it made sense now. I must've read over it about ten times before I digested it properly.
Love set us free
Still, I understood nothing of it. I ran a hand through my scalp as a dead body appeared in my peripheral, a rope tied to his neck and hung to a tree. He swayed gently with the wind, barefooted and exposed chest but wearing trousers that looked to be drenched deep in mud. A sharp chill enveloped me when I directed the night vision at his corpse. One of his eyes were clamped shut, while the other lacked its eyelid. His skin had been peeled completely, the decaying muscle unveiled like a spoiled onion. His lips curled back and teeth grit together, almost as if a snapshot back in time of his expression while he was maimed.
God. I said I was numb, but the word evil described this perfectly. Not a single doubt remained in my mind that Knoth's search party had all been slaughtered. I knew it was a clear indicator of how high my chances of survival were, but I did not care. I was either leaving this place with Lynn, or not leaving at all. If luck favored me I'd be too insane to care about death by the time I reunited with her. We had no hope of a normal life after this, too broken and seen too much. No therapy in the world could undo this much mental unstability and trauma.
Ditch that train of thought for now. I need focus. My gaze shifted to a booklet lightly grasped in the flayed hand of the cultist, I held in my breath as I pried it from his grip and shot back from the decomposing stench he radiated. It was another Gospel of Knoth chapter. I didn't need to read these, but something about them intrigued me. I thought it worth the sparse time as I skimmed over the text.
Chapter 3
1. Now it was in the thirty-fourth year of Sullivan Knoth, who would be Ezekiel, in the four-hundred and seventy-ninth year of Zion, in the one-thousand-nine-hundred and seventy-first year of Christ, in the eleventh month, on the dawn of the twenty-sixth day.
2. I was a prisoner of the usuries, a cobbler in the land of Al-Barquq, the mountain of the apricot tree called Albuquerque;
3. And I was weighed by false debts to the Pharisees of Zion, condemned to beat a mark of shame by those clothed in shame;
4. In the country of an usurping King called Lynch in his birth, who faced war and fought not, who set in stone the corruptions of he that came before, and condemned Zion to a sickness even unto death
5. And the word of the Lord came unto me unbidden, as a thief in the night, cloaked in lies but shining with truth, a voice electric cast by a sinner and caught by metal rod;
6. And it spoke the words of Lamentation, saying "For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim."
7. Saying "Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it."
8. Saying "Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation."
9. Saying "Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?"
10. Saying "Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old."
11. Saying "But thou hast utterly reject us; thou art very wroth against us."
12. And I knew that he that spoke was the fox upon the mountain, called Mai-Dotlí̆shĭ and Mai-Iltsói by the defeated Navajo, the fox upon the mountain was the Prince of Chaos who speaks truth in lies.
13. And I silenced the voice and looked, and beheld unseen a great fire enfolding itself in the brightness of the rising sun, and out of the midst thereof a color out of space;
14. And my frenzied eyes cast back in unworthy gulfs of darkness, away from knowledge unbearable to man, and noise of the fury of the Lord came upon me;
15. And my ears bled as the member of a child at circumcision, and the Lord made known by this our covenant is made which ye shall keep.
16. He that hears where words cannot be spoke shall abide until time is no more, and the Enemy born of thine own issue shall be thy change for my vengeance.
My brain had flatlined halfway through the verses. So he was a cobbler before he formed his ezekiel cult. I mentally shrugged at this as I tossed the booklet aside and turned to face the path leading down. Knoth only needed to burn in hell, and I'd be glad to be the one who puts him there.
Wheat stalks and cacti guarded the descending incline, the distant memories of cornfields overtook my conscious for a brief moment, hunted like a rabid dog and orders for my death barked out a loudspeaker. Only hours ago, but I felt like I was losing myself the deeper I went into those thoughts. The man in the helicopter and the man right now were the same person, but how long would that clause hold true? When I found my wife, would I mistake her with my own demons and let her die? I had to protect her, get her away from wherever they hid her, and never look back. I had to be Blake when the time came, keep myself together the best I could. This was important.
The raft awaited directly to my left, beached and vulnerable. My pace quickened but almost instantly halted when dark shapes flittered up the ledge ahead, nearly airborne and approaching my elevation. The camera fumbled awkwardly in my hands as I scrambled behind shrubbery, the microphones crackled active and the sounds of rustling bushes and feral growling transmitted across. Fuck. They had knelt down just the same, well hidden but the zoom picked out their outlines among the mist. Their eyes weren't visible, but I was certain they had seen me like I had seen them.
None of us made a move for what felt like minutes. They were perched up there perfectly still, biding their time, waiting for me to make a mistake. They had to be watching me for some time, or they wouldn't have come near. I tried to reason with myself to run for it, they already see you, the raft is right there. My ankles sored and throat dried, the camera beeped with its oblivious tone, signaling the battery trickled to a quarter of its power. Images of men flayed, hung by their necks, organs fashioned into playthings. I had no idea what they would do with me if they caught me, but I had to be decisive now if I didn't want to find out.
Torches flared bright the moment I dashed up to my feet; two of them on the ledge I spied, and one more closer to the river I had failed to notice. The rightmost heretic swooped down as I cut the sharp corner, he wasn't armed but chances were he could still beat my brains out. A loud thunk came from down my boots as I stepped over a glinting object, looked like a barrel lid and flew into a bush when I used it to propel myself towards the shore. The heretics cackled ravingly at my back, I couldn't tell if it was an intimidation tactic or their minds had eroded to that point.
The paddle floated gently beside the raft, seemed operable and thankfully not snapped in two. I gripped the underside corners and hoisted the raft up to slant, glancing over my shoulder to spot my pursuers advancing on my position, torches raised and waving like they were scaring off a dog. The nose grated against the soil as I forced the piece of wood fully over the water, snatched the paddle before it could drift away and flopped onto the raft which shifted down with my weight.
The current had swept me to a safe distance well before the heretics arrived at the shoreside. Incoherent babbling erupted in my wake as I did a quick check of my items, the camera specifically I had thrown into the pouch unsecured so it was a relief to see it hadn't fallen out. The battery was close to depleted, but I decided against replacing it now where I wouldn't need it under the moonlight. I almost expected a fleet of heretics to chase after me when I looked back, their distant torchlight was all that met my sight but it was still a terrifying concept.
Alright, the mines shouldn't be far off now. I didn't want to test my luck excessively on the rapids, most likely I wouldn't get another chance if I was knocked overboard again. I gave the outcrops on my path a wide girth, hugging along the wall until the river branched left and I wedged through a set of rocks waiting just around the corner. The stream had opened into some sort of canyon, trees and shrubs lined the high cliffsides on both sides, no heretic presence yet but I couldn't not feel paranoid after that encounter. A low hum worked its way down my spine, fresh ozone and a type of sensation I could only describe as thick blood. I paddled left as the stream narrowed, threatening to crash me into the walls.
An amber illumination shone on the nearby waters from a ledge up ahead, a single torch surrounded by pitch darkness and seemed to be marking a cave entrance. A fallen tree connected the opposite cliffsides similar to how I used one to get across, it momentarily blocked the torchlight as I proceeded along the area. Tall pines watched over the landscape, overseeing my progress with riveting eyes and disapproving how far I'd stooped mentally. My upper torso felt disheveled, shoulders and arms solidified from exertion, my hands bleeding sweat and swollen. God, I didn't realize I was gripping the paddle that hard.
Bleached froth collected at a location of tight influx, the river extended rightside and the raft groaned as I passed through the dense flow. I let the current carry me for a bit while I massaged the knot around my shoulder blade, the paddle secured between my chest and my arm. The pain somewhat subsided, the ache still present but at least I had gotten rid of the constrained knot.
I twirled the paddle around and returned to proper stance, my lungs urged to dry heave but I just ignored it. The fog cleared up as I pressed forward, two boulders dotted the path but well away from course. Brief silhouettes of what looked like heretics somersaulting, leapt across the fissure above me with ease. I counted two that were now up on my left, I steered the raft towards the right wall but not far enough to collide with the rock obstruction. I felt a tendon snap in my bad shoulder, the muscles underwent an involuntary spasm, but calmed back down a second later. I couldn't tell if it was from the diseases I contracted, or the sheer adrenaline my body had produced.
The water flow fought one another at odd angles as the river narrowed. Clear white spumes coalesced from beneath the canyon and clashed with the opposing side, resulting in a tie without fail each time. The raft gave a croak while it passed along the crossfires, some of its momentum stripped away when it received hard blows to its structure but I pushed it clear of the skirmish before it lost buoyancy.
A path ahead had caved in completely. Only through the smallest gaps could the water seep, the boulders disallowed anything bigger. I followed the current as it veered left, into a spacious yet brief tunnel below the hill. I swear someone had taught me how something like this naturally formed, but I was probably just reminiscing those geography classes from years back. I would consider testing the echo of my voice if my circumstances were less dire, like I used to do on those school trips before the incident. Relatively fond memories, but I could feel them slipping away the more I remained exposed to those towers. I had trouble recalling how our dog looked like.
A lone torch blazed along the pathway up on my left as I emerged out of the tunnel, one of them hurrying somewhere I didn't wish to stumble upon, but the stream led me towards the same direction regardless. The waters branched left into a narrow section of river, but more rocks obstructed what would already be a tight squeeze. The current sped up and I continued on forward, I think I had finally knocked down a rhythm on this paddle. Another heretic moved along the cliffside up ahead, soon disappearing beneath the canyon walls and its aura of illumination lost to me as quickly as it came. They had to be heading to the mines like I was, with how close dawn should be. That fucking syphilitic giant just had to break my watch didn't he?
The river took a sharp left and I barely avoided the solid wall before the current swept me on course. The canyon protruded at irregular patterns, the water coagulated along the edges, the stream rushed faster than I could reasonably paddle. I did my best to keep the raft─
I flew back in my seat when a round object splashed down in front of me, only just missing the raft by an inch or two. I buckled as I shot a look up, several figures had clear sight of me from the cliffside above. I watched one raise a rock over its head and hurl it down, I put my hands above my head instinctively and barely caught myself from ditching the boat. The second rock had missed its target, sounding to another splash at my back.
Oh shit! The current kept me moving fast, but I glimpsed a third rock headed my way. A sharp snap at my right caused the raft to nearly capsize and would've launched me off if I hadn't held on. For a moment the entire raft sunk as I smashed down against the momentum, my chin struck a jagged angle and I reeled back quick while barely processing the pain. It took me another moment to realize my right leg was submerged under the surface pounded relentlessly by the current, and that a piece of the raft had broken free as the reason.
The heretics. I retreated into whatever was left of the raft before spying the cliffside above, my leg barely fit the space but it'd have to do. I seemed to have evaded them for now, they weren't anywhere to be seen. Not sure if because they couldn't keep the chase, or they let me off intentionally. Just what the fuck was that? My head thankfully hadn't been cracked open like a ripe watermelon, I think that was the closest I came to dying in this place. I wish I could say the same for the raft, but honestly it looked just short of half its original size. The rightmost log piece had snapped free, and on the adjacent log a deep round dent had formed. I would undoubtedly be dead if the rock had hit me instead. Goddamn. The front brace had peeled off a quarter of the way, the screw formerly located rightside seemed to be obliterated. Despite those it could still stay afloat, and that's the only thing that mattered. I had to be very close now.
The raft croaked as I pulled along the water and exited the ravine current, at last. Visibility was low, I wagered the moonlight was seeping down from the cliffside to my right, which wouldn't have been a problem if I passed through here earlier in the night. Regardless, I was alive and able bodied. Despite everything, my will to live exceeded their will to kill me. I was not giving up now. That feeling of determination coursed through my veins once again, causing my hairs to stand on end from the intense emotion.
The clouds overhead seemed to emit a dark blue hue, as if preparing for the early stages of daylight. I could pick out a structure a near distance behind the river path, some sort of skybridge that looked to be remnant from the 20th century. Could it be? My anticipation doubled tenfold as I paddled through the waters, the ambient noise of TV static sounded at the back of my skull, but I paid it no mind as I kept along the shoreside and rounded the corner, laying my eyes on the full bare structure gleaming with an otherworldly aura.
"There's the mine." I had barely registered I said that out loud. After all the tribulations and hardships... Lynn. What are they doing to her? They think she's somebody's mother. Called me the father. The implications of this I still refused to let it dawn on me fully, I needed to keep my resolve high if I was going to do this.
The building had a dreary atmosphere to it, to say the very least. I couldn't see anyone around to greet me with a friendly welcome, how very unfortunately for me. The chimneys at the back puffed black smoke, while another section of the mine stood tall behind the main entrance. I slowed the raft down while I got a good look at the building, and let myself process this. I had made it. The journey was finally over. I wanted to say the hard part was over, but I would only be lying to myself. What lie ahead for me, I had a decent guess. But...
More of the mine building became available to me as my eyes further adjusted to the scenery, a boardwalk extending towards a ladder, leading up to a type of lookout area. The skybridge contained a large cart that had stopped midway through transit, and seemed to have been there for a while. I spotted no light sources of any kind, which was definitely weird considering this is where the heretics resided, supposedly. A wave of fear washed over me, but the winds that glided along the ground caressed and urged me to move forward. I couldn't help but cringe at the lump formed in my throat.
I kept the raft nearly still as I scouted for a place to dock, or just somewhere to ditch it safely with no swimming involved. I doubt I would need it from this point on with the sorry state it was in. The fact that no heretics were around set me at unease, there were a bunch of them back at the ravine, and they seemed to be retreating back here. I scanned the nearby foliage for anything that rustled or moved of its own accord, and the silence didn't dissuade me from keeping up the high alert until I arrived at the boardwalk.
I drew in a sharp-
A force struck the raft from directly below, hard, and I flew forward instantly. The cackling of familiar voices flooded my eardrums before I plunged headfirst into the river, gulping down the water blasted down my mouth from the impact with involuntary reflex. I tried to feel the paddle in my grip as I scrambled to get a bearing on what my body was doing, but the damn thing must've flown out of my hands when I was in the air.
The muffled screeching of the heretics were right at my back while I must've spun clockwise underneath the surface, ingesting another surplus of water upon smashing my head against the river floor. What the fu-
I heaved my legs back underwater as I struggled to get my head up to the surface, the heretics fast approaching and myself dipping in and out of a half-unconscious state. I forced myself upwards once my boots firmly connected with solid ground and burst up from the water spewing a mighty cough and barely aware of where the fuck I was. The river was fortunately shallow enough for me to stand and move relatively easily, but that wasn't what I needed to be concerned about.
Oh shit. Fuck fuck fuck!
There were easily around a dozen of them in the water, all surrounding me as per some sort of tribal ambush technique, and I think there were even more of them on the rightside shore. The manical laughter and the broken words they chanted bore into my head like a fuze missile made to instill terror. It was dark enough that I couldn't make out their features, their silhouettes and cackles were all I needed. Some of them were busy dismantling the raft they threw me off of mere seconds ago, while the others had me as their sole focus of attention. A chattering sound filled the air amongst the growling of my pursuers, and I realized too soon it was the sound of my teeth banging together.
My whole body tensed up as I noticed a figure nearly on me. Move!
The club must've missed by half an inch as I dove under the water to dodge, and splashed out a moment after, charging straight for the boardwalk. I could feel my veins bulging from my neck as I spotted more of them flanking me from the left and rightsides, while the main group snarled for blood at my back.
Water rippled in my wake as I powered through the medium unfaltered, the images of mutilated corpses boomed large in my mind and struck additional urgency into my sprint. Several audible splashes came from somewhere behind me, but I had no half a mind to glance back and face the horror I was fleeing from. I grit my teeth and continued, the static deep in my head reverberating by the odd angles of my skull.
I had to reach that boardwalk before they gained on me. I risked a glance back at last to check their progress on me, just before a sharp object flew by my head and splashed down into the river outside my field of vision. I was too preoccupied and exerted to register the moment, I had severely misjudged how fast they had covered the distance between us. I spun around as one of them at the back of the group lobbed its club at me, but I was confident it'd miss.
The alkaline taste in my mouth grew stronger as I swallowed back the terror, taking wide strides forward as their gnarling resound at my back. The boardwalk stood at a mild elevation, but I'd be able to jump up to it once I reached it. My breathing ca-
A solid force snared me tight around the neck before I could bark out a yell, putting my advance to a halt as I struggled to loosen its grip. It felt wet and slimy in my hands, and a look down swiftly confirmed what I inferred from touch, although I was too panicked to properly register the threat. The tongue cemented its grasp on my throat and I felt the oxygen cut off from my brain, my vision quickly blurring and my limbs stripped of power.
Fuck! My fingers stiffened hard against the pain as my throat audibly crackled under the pressure, the cackling of my pursuers grew distant as my consciousness started to fade.
Ngh.
A blow to the back of the head would be more merciful than this.
The tongue retracted.
And it brought me down to the depths once again. The dark corners of my mind.