Account 1-5 Case # 6392
Subject: Michael Solomon Afton
Location: Hurricane, Utah, USA
1022 hours, June 27th, 1985
He opened his eyes to blinding fluorescent lights and the smell of stale, sterilized air. A white blanket was wrapped around his lower body and his chest was covered in electrodes connecting him to a heart-rate monitor. As he regained his senses, he suddenly became acutely aware of the amount of gunk in his system. He began to cough uncontrollably and was soon attended to by the nurse in his room.
"Mr. Afton, are you ok?" She asked him as his coughing began to die down.
"Yeah, just had to clear my lungs." He replied.
"Ok, I just need to ask you some questions to make sure you're doing alright. Is that ok with you?" The nurse continued.
"Yeah, sounds good."
"Can you give me your name and date of birth please?"
"Michael Solomon Afton, November 13th, 1967."
"How much pain would you say you're in, on a scale of 0 to 10?"
He suddenly became aware of the light throbbing in his head, it wasn't enough to be unbearable, but it was enough to be slightly annoying.
"Maybe, around a 2? 3 at most."
The nurse nodded.
"Where do you hurt the most?"
"My head, around the back."
"Ok, doctors will do their midday rounds at around 11, they'll ask some more questions and conduct some tests to make sure you're alright, ok?"
He nodded his head.
"Yeah, sounds good."
After around two hours of lying there, waiting for the doctor to come in, he finally arrived. He asked similar questions to what the nurse had, checked his pulse and the back of his head, and had him do things like tracking his fingers with his eyes, and standing up and walking around the room. When he was done, he told him he would be back with an evaluation and left the room.
Following his examination, a brief introduction to the nurse call remote, and a hospital catered meal, Mike lay down and tried to process what happened to him over the past 24 hours. Other than the fact he had nearly been kidnapped by his own father and his 'benefactors', several other things that happened that day were just weirdly unnerving. 'Kane' had mentioned he didn't know what he was capable of and that he would be involved in some 'revolution'. Granted it could have just been the ramblings of a madman, but it didn't seem that simple. 'Kane' didn't seem like a crazed lunatic; he seemed dangerously smart. He was able to convince his father of all people to begrudgingly work with him. He was able to see through his attempts at appearing unconscious and something about the way 'Kane' reacted to the screeching sound that allowed him to escape suggested that he knew what had caused it.
He decided to stop focusing on the weirdness of last night for the time being. He was tired. He settled into the bed and slowly drift off to sleep.
He woke up around the evening, looked over at the nurse in his room who was sitting on a chair next to the window.
"Did I miss anything?" He called out to her.
"Oh, you're awake. Also yes, you have visitors." She told him.
He looked towards the door, and sure enough, two people walked into the room. The first person he immediately recognized as his mother, while the second person appeared to be a middle-aged man with brown hair, wearing jeans and a white business shirt with a Freddy Fazbear's Pizza patch on it. When his mother saw him, she held her hands up to her mouth before walking over to him and hugging him.
"Dear god, are you ok?" She wept into his shoulder.
He stared forward and hugged her back as she began to hitch and weep, satisfied she cared enough to come and see him. She absolutely reeked of alcohol, but for once he could forgive her for that, her only remaining son had just nearly died.
"I'm fine." He reassured her.
"Mrs. Afton?"
Mike and his mother looked over to see his doctor standing at the door.
"When you have a minute can you come with us, we'd like to discuss the evaluation of your son."
"Ok, Mikey just stay here for the time being, mommy will be back soon." She said, patting his head and kissing him on the cheek before briskly exiting the room alongside the doctor, leaving him alone with the nurse and the man with the Freddy Fazbear's Pizza business shirt.
"Hello." The man said.
He turned to look at him.
"Guess now would be a good time to introduce myself. My name's Clay Burke, I'm the new owner and manager of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza following the incident last night. After what happened, I felt obligated to check in and tell you that I've made the decision to completely fund your medical expenses."
His eyes widened at this news. He hadn't even expected a representative of the restaurant to come and even see him. Yet, not only did the owner come to see him, but he was also absolving him of any potential medical debt.
"T-thank you." Michael said, flabbergasted.
"I know it seems like an extreme thing to do, but I can't help but feel our restaurant, and by extension myself, are responsible for your injuries and any potential trauma that may have resulted from last night's incident."
He walked over to the chair next to the hospital bed and sat down, pulling out a cigarette and lighter.
"So, other than last night, how's everything been going in your life?"
He had to think about how to answer that. His life had been incredibly shitty of course, but he didn't feel like explaining that to someone other than the police detectives he was bound to meet once he got out of this hospital.
"Pretty boring. Although before I got bashed in the head, I did get to meet an old friend again, so that was nice."
Clay lit his cigarette and took a puff before responding.
"Wait, your friend wouldn't happen to be a girl named Veronica, would it?"
"How the he… How do you know?" he asked, astonished.
"I'm her host father, she mentioned she was going to the park to see an old friend yesterday."
"Shit, is she doing, ok?"
"Yeah, she came back home and told me her friend got spooked and ran off, she sounded pretty worried about it too."
A wave of guilt washed over him.
"If you could tell her I'm ok and that I need some time to myself, that would be nice."
"Sounds good."
After responding to him, Clay looked towards the front of the room.
"Oooo… You got a TV in here!" He said excitedly.
Mike looked up and saw that there was indeed a TV on a shelf in front of his bed that he somehow missed.
"Guess I do."
"Want to turn it on?" he asked him, a warm smile forming on his face.
"Just to let you know that TV only has 6 channels, a couple of news channels, documentaries, and the weather channel." the nurse clarified.
Clay looked towards him expectantly.
"Eh, turn it on. It'll be good background noise if anything else."
Clay smiled and got up out of his chair to get the remote. He took another puff of his cigarette before hitting the power button. The two of them watched as the TV tuned into the tail end of the Larry King Live show on CNN. The titular Larry King was interviewing a middle-aged man in a black suit and tie with brown buzzcut hair, the name Henry Stein Jr. appeared over his portrait as he began to speak again.
He squinted when he saw that name. It seemed familiar, yet he didn't know where he'd heard it before.
"Oh my god." Clay said chuckling.
"What?" he asked.
"That man was one of my superior officers in Vietnam."
"Really."
"Yeah, Army Corps of engineers guys, we called him "Helpy" because he was the person who always had a solution to any mechanical problems we had, or issues with our radios."
"His name sounds familiar, has he ever lived around here?"
"Oh yeah, he was one of the founders and owners of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, then his wife and daughter died. Then he used his military portfolio to get a job in the CIA and he, his sister, and his son moved to Virginia to be closer to his job. And from the looks of things, he's climbed the ranks really quickly."
That's where he'd heard that name before. His had occasionally overheard his father talking about the man with his mother. He remembered his father always said his name with a level of scorn. Guess he wasn't happy with the fact he out and left the company. He turned his attention back to the TV as the interview was wrapping up.
"What was your title again? Director of Anti-Nod activities in the Middle East and Central Asia?" Larry asked Henry.
"Indeed, it is."
"Tell me, is that job just as big and tedious as the name implies?"
"Honestly, it really is." Henry responded as the two of them devolved into laughter.
"Well, I hope you carry that title modestly Henry."
"Larry, if I didn't carry this title modestly, I wouldn't be here today."
"Alright, so we have about a minute left. What would you like to say about rising Nod activity throughout the world, and what actions do you think the government will take to combat this threat?"
"Ok, the first thing I'd like to say is although Brotherhood activity has been increasing in regions presently under turmoil, Afghanistan and Lebanon being two big examples. The good news is that as of now, Nod uprisings are still manageable. Its my belief that if the United States commits itself to encouraging regional and international unity against this rising threat, we might have a chance to squash it before it has a chance of becoming a global concern. So, to all of the fine people who called me today who were concerned about the Brotherhood. I would encourage you to call your congressmen so that we can put an end to this new enemy." Henry responded.
"Ok then, thank you very much for coming on the show today, Henry."
"Thank you for having me Larry it was a great experience."
'The Brotherhood of Nod', yet another name that sounded oddly familiar. Mike remembered briefly hearing about them occasionally on the news, yet he never really paid attention. Yet from that interview, it seemed like they are a growing threat. It wouldn't take long for him to get more information on this mysterious group.
After the Larry King Live interview ended, a brief run of commercials ensued before a trumpet tune played and a globe with a grid and TV screens on it with the label Headline News appeared on screen. The scene then cut to a studio with a woman sitting at a desk.
"Headline News, I'm Jane Akre. The Reagan Administration has just announced a comprehensive plan to deal with the recent rise in activity from the terrorist organization calling itself, the Brotherhood of Nod…"
As Ms. Akre said the organization's name, the symbol of the organization was displayed. A black scorpion's tail in the middle of a red chamfered triangle with a black outline. The exact same symbol as the one on the pins 'Kane' had been wearing. Mike's eyes widened and his heart began to race at the implications of this. He was right, the people who tried to kidnap him weren't just random lunatics, those men and his father were working for an international terrorist organization.
"…Nod has stated that it seeks to liberate downtrodden and oppressed peoples of the world and to topple the West and the communist Eastern Bloc, which they feel are being overly exploitative of the world's peoples. The organization is believed to have existed since at least the early 1950's, has considerable ties to organized crime, the black market, and various militant organizations, and is led by an unknown charismatic prophet, known only as 'Kane'."
As the name Kane was spoken, a picture of the man was displayed on the screen, and he nearly jumped out of the bed. Staring back at him was the same man who had ordered he be taken away that night. The same black button-up shirt, the same bald head and goatee, and the same piercing green eyes. Not only was he nearly kidnapped by a powerful cult/political movement/terrorist organization, he was almost kidnapped at the behest of the LEADER of said organization.
He began to hyperventilate even more as the weight of what happened to him began to sink in. The nurse and Clay looked over to him as his heart monitor began to beep.
"Mr. Afton, is something wrong?" the nurse asked him.
He took a minute to calm down before looking at the Nurse and Clay and giving them a response.
"Yeah, its just… the reality of last night kinda set in and I got a bit spooked."
Clay's panicked look shifted to one of sympathy.
"Yeah, that sounds like a lot to take in. Would you like me to change the channel to something a little more calming?" he said in a comforting voice.
"Yeah, sounds good."
Clay picked up the remote and changed the channel to a nature documentary before the nurse went out to get the dinner menu. Mike stared blankly at the TV, more focused on his own thoughts then the content on-screen. He thought over what happened yesterday. From what he could gather, his father was working for Kane on some kind of 'project' that involved whatever they thought he was 'capable of'. He didn't know what that meant, but he did know one thing for certain. Kane was right, he would see him and his father again, and if he wanted to have any chance at preventing them from capturing him, he would need to figure out what they wanted from him.