Match Thirty-One: Night Shift:
Im Yong has plenty of stories to share about his night shift patrol job. There are always going to be weird shit to be seen on these types of jobs. But something seems a bit… off. He was supposed to log everything that he sees. The following is everything he has seen in the last month.
This is part one of three.
1.
A girl was walking along the dirt path. Long black hair, long white dress, and no shoes. She didn't look dressed for the weather. He did she even get out here alone?
"Hey!" Ryu shouted at her. "Hey! You aren't supposed to be here!" The girl didn't respond. She didn't turn around. Ryu and I were with two more soldiers. We tried to get her attention.
"What's with her?" one of them asked. We didn't have an answer.
"Oi!" Ryu shouted again. The girl kept walking. Our other companion ran up to her and touched her arm. He started to talk to her, but then he turned and ran.
"Run!" he shouted.
"What's the matter?" Ryu asked.
"Just go!" our comrade shouted. "Run!" I only caught a glance. The girl had what looked like a pig mask on. I was dragged away.
2.
There is a reason why we don't go into the woods. There's the house of mannequins. However, there are other things too. Like the creepy-looking deer. Oh yes they are real. I have heard the stories. I got to see one tonight.
Another night on patrol. Things have gotten busy lately. Something isn't right. They won't let us patrol alone. We have to go in a pair or a group. I was with Kyu again tonight. It started out as a slow night. (That's how they all started out.) I happened to look up when something was wrong around in the bushes.
"Hey, what was that?" I asked.
"Hm?" Kyu asked.
"I thought I saw something out there," I said. I turned my flashlight in the bushes.
"You didn't hear that?" I asked.
"No," he said. I frowned.
"Heh," I said. We kept walking again. Something caught my ear. I looked up again.
"What is it?" Kyu asked.
"Shhh!" I whispered. I waved the flashlight around. I narrowed my eyes as I tried to look around. I froze.
"There!" I shouted. I ran forward.
"Im Yong!" Kyu yelled after me. I ran off the dirt path again. Something jumped out of the way as I got closer. I stopped in front of the brush and looked around. Damn it, it's gone.
"I told you not to run off the path!" Ryu yelled behind me. I turned to see him running up to.
"I thought I saw something out there," I said. He patted me on the shoulder.
"Stay on the path," he said.
"But…" I said. He dragged me back to the path. I didn't see that deer again.
3.
The military doesn't talk about the woods. There is good reason too. Lately, it's gotten worse. In the early hours of the morning, I saw another strange creature.
I was just coming off my shift then. I just wanted to go to sleep. All that was left was to check out and got back to the barracks.
I made it back to the main office.
"Hello?" I asked as I knocked on the door. "I'm here to do my check-in." I poked my head inside. There was no one in sight. Hm… Did they leave already? That can't be right. I would've heard it over the radio. Maybe they just went to the bathroom. I slipped inside and sat down in front of the desk. I guessed I would just wait there for a while.
I don't know how long I had been waiting. But I thought I heard a crunching noise. I whipped my head around.
"Hello?" I asked. My eyes shifted back and forth. There's not many people that's supposed to be here. I moved my hand to my gun. Maybe I was being pranked. I leaped to my feet.
"Who's there?" I asked. I heard a low groaning noise. I turned towards the door. A muscled creature with dark blue skin stood in the doorway. This creature… The eyes were so white and empty. Only a crown of thorns was that article of clothing it had on. Was it… crying blood? I tilted my head.
"Who are you?" I asked. Blood dribbled from the creature's mouth as it opened. I covered my mouth at what I saw. A giant brown eye stared back at me in this creature's mouth. I turned and ran back further in the office.
I don't remember what happened from there. They said they found me babbling to myself in the corner while biting on my thumb. By sunrise, I woke up in my bed.
4.
Last night, we got a distress call from the woods. Ryu and I had to go out to investigate.
"Probably just a prank," he said. Though, I doubted that even he believed that. I was prepared to attack anything or anyone.
"Let's just get this over with," I said. This time, I was determined to stay on the path. Ryu and I search the woods with flashlights.
"Hello?" he asked. I stayed close behind. We came to an opening near the woods. So we were really going to do this? I crossed myself in my head.
"Ready to do this?" he asked. I nodded once. We started our walk into the woods. Everything was going fine at first. I kept my ears and eyes open. It should just be a quick search really quick.
It started with a doll.
"Look at this," Ryu said, nudging me on the arm. I looked up at where he was pointing. A small plastic baby doll was nailed down to the tree. Not placed up there, someone nailed a giant nail through the chest. I did not like this. Ryu already started looking along the trees for more.
Sure enough, we found several of them nailed to the trees.
"What the hell is this?" Ryu asked. I was about to answer when I heard someone…
"Shhh. Do you hear that?" I asked. Ryu took a listen.
"I don't hear—," he was about to say. He paused when heard the screaming. Ryu and I looked at each other before we radioed for help. Of course, they didn't find anything.
5.
I got called down to the basement to do a maintenance check on the radios on the base. From everything I've seen, it would be a nice break from the weird shit. It only I would be so lucky.
I just had to make sure that the radios worked in case of emergency. I would have to do this seventeen times. I only made it to radio number fourteen. So far, there was nothing special. Just static and different frequencies. I would take down the notes. If they worked, they would stay. If not, they would either need to be repair or destroyed. The first thirteen were going well.
I sat down in front of the fourteenth radio and slid on my headphones. At first, all I got was static. I toned the knobs and took a listen. Suddenly, I caught the sound of a loud sirens. It reminded me of the air siren raids from Nagasaki during World War II. At first, it started out soft. I was confused. There wasn't supposed to be any recordings on them. Where did this even come from?
Now, I swear that I didn't touch anything. The volume just got louder on its own. I tried to turn down the volume and turn off the radio, but it didn't work. I had to yank off my headphones and run out of the room. The sirens didn't stop until I made it outside of the building.
6.
Tonight, Ryu, Kim, and I were on patrol tonight. This time, we were looking at the buildings on base. I flashed my light into one of the windows of what was supposed to be an abandoned building.
"Who is that up there?" I asked. My comrades flashed their light into the building. A tall black shadow stood looking down at us.
"They aren't supposed to be up there," Ryu said. The three of us ran into that building. By the time we made it up the stairs, there was no one there. That was going to be another call to the higher-ups over the radio.
7.
It was my day-off. Not much happened. But I still had questions. I reached over and picked up my phone. Called up Mi-Soon. Couldn't reach her. I decided to try again later. Did nothing for the rest of the day.
However, I can't help but get the feeling that I am being watched.
8.
I had to work late today. I was going to be in the computer lab by myself. I'm used to it by now. I bid my mentor good night. I still had questions. No one has been giving me any straight answers. I don't think it's because they are hiding anything from me. More like they don't know themselves.
This would be chance look up something.
Once I was sure that I was alone, I opened up hidden database. There was only one thing that I had to go on. I typed in "Woman in Red". I was just going on instinct here. When I clicked send, a chill ran down my spine. I quickly turned my head.
"Hello?" I asked. The silence made it worse. I shouldn't be do this, but I just had to know. I pushed the unsettling feeling down as I kept looking.
I didn't find much on that first search.
9.
Sometimes, we have to chase out people who wander the woods for kicks. There is a reason why. Three tourists had wandered into the woods in the middle of night near the base. Time to round them up and kick them off. So annoying.
Ryu, Kim, another comrade, and I were on the job. Two guys and a girl this time. Should be simple, right? It never was.
We headed back into the woods. I just hoped that they we could reach them in time.
"Hello?" Kim asked. "Is anyone out here?" We strained to listen. I swallowed down my worry.
"Shhh! Do you hear that?" Kim asked. We all stopped to listen. One… Two… Three pairs of footsteps. I pointed out to the woods. We all nodded to each other and started walking. Our lights guided the way.
"Hello?" Ryu asked. "No one is supposed to be out here! We're coming to help guide you out!" I hated when the night was quiet. It's too quiet. I had my hand to my gun. I turned my head when I heard a low whistle.
"Did you hear that?" I asked. My comrades listened in the darkness. It didn't take long for us to know that we weren't all. It was Kim to notice the sounds of footsteps behind us.
"Stop!" he shouted. We spun around to see three cloaked figures standing a few inches away. Their white eyes glowed in the dark. They had antlers on their heads. One of them started to float up towards the sky. One recognized the creature. Or at least I thought I did.
I didn't get to look or interact with these creatures for long. Someone grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me along.
"Let's get out of here!" Ryu shouted.
"But what about the-?" our comrade asked.
"Forget it!" our mentor shouted. "We'll just report them as missing!" We made it back to the base just a little after midnight. Once again, we radioed the higher-ups. I couldn't imagine what the paperwork was going to look like again.
10.
It's starting to make sense to me. This government is keeping secrets because they won't believe everything that we are seeing. I learned this while I was doing more information about the Woman in Red. There is so much more surrounding her. I… I don't even know where to begin. The more I look, the more I feel like I keep dropping down an endless rabbit hole. I don't want to this, but I have to know.
I was about to go to bed when the phone rang. Mi-Soon finally returned my calls.