We went straight from Innsmouth to the address we’d found. It was in the far northern part of Maine, near the Canadian border. Extremely isolated; don’t think there was another living person for miles around it. Just a lot of trees.

330 did some scouting beforehand, and
no I can’t, I can’t write this now, I just….



Alright, I’m back. Let’s try this again. 330 did some scouting beforehand. The place didn’t look like much from the outside. Barbed wire fence around a handful of small buildings that didn’t rise above the tree line. Not even very many guards around.

“So how are we going to get inside?”

“Simple. You’re going to infiltrate the place.”

“What? Me? Why me, I’m not the one who can teleport!”

No. Still can’t do this.




Alright. Alright. I can I can do this. I just just just need to focus. Third time’s a charm, right. I’ll pick up where I left off in the conversation.

330 was adamant in her decision. “I stand out too much. And as you’ve pointed out, I’m not terribly good at covert action. You get in, find Lupine, and then I’ll warp to you.”

“How am I supposed to get in?”

“I got you a guard’s uniform and a key card to get you access to most rooms.”

“If I ask how, are you just going to say time travel?”

“Yup.”

“What if they see through the disguise?”

“Just act like you’re supposed to be there, and they’ll ignore you. Always works for me.”

Surprisingly enough, when the time came, that advice actually did work. The people at the gate only glanced at the papers I showed them, and then waved me inside. Once in, 330 started giving me directions through an earpiece I was wearing.

“You’ll want to go into the white domed building in the northeast corner. Your keycards should give you access.”

No one challenged me as I went to the dome. Surprisingly few people on the grounds; a handful of guards, but apart from them, it was all empty. Really unnerving, because it looked like there should have been more people there. There were lots of military style trucks around, more than people it seemed, and the barracks I passed was large enough to house a decent sized force. But I only ran across eight, maybe nine, guards outside.
Inside the dome was designed like the research facilities I’d gone through before (except not underground, and for once there wasn’t death everywhere.) 330 gave me directions through the hallways, until I reached the elevator. Saw two people; another guard and a man in a lab coat. Both glanced at me, saw my uniform, and kept walking. Once at the elevator, I swiped the keycard again, and went to the top floor.

Elevator doors opened, and I was at the edge of a large semi-circle room. In the center, a strange star like (or was it a branch? I get a headache trying to remember…) symbol drawn onto the ground, with a glowing orb in the center and evil looking statues at five points around it. Standing over the symbol was a man in a lab coat with an ancient looking book, stumbling over the pronunciation of the words he was reading from it, his scientific outfit looking very out of place juxtaposed with the evil magical symbols of doom at his feet. Observing this was Lupine, flanked on either side by serious looking men in serious looking uniforms with lots of stripes, bars, and medals on them. Several more men in lab coats were at control panels along the wall, paying very careful attention to screens displaying rows of data on the walls.

Lupine saw me when I entered. “What the hell?” He said. “I gave the order that no one was to enter!”

330 appeared at my side. “Hi Lupine! Been a while, hasn’t it?”

I’ve never seen an expression like the one he had when he saw her. Two parts disbelief and one part “Oooooooh shit.” He reached for a pistol at his side, but by the time his hand got there, the pistol was gone and 330 was holding it.

“I think it’s about time we put an end to your crazy plan, Lupine.”

Lupine shouted at the men by the control panels, “Hit the switch! NOW!”

One of them listened to him, and suddenly the room was filled with light. It lasted only a second, and when it was gone, the orb which had been at the center of the sigil was broken in two. Above it, floating in the air, was a crack. A crack like the one under Research Facility 03, a crack that glowed both white and black at the same time. A crack made of nothingness….

It was small, barely the size of a fist, but Lupine seemed awful proud of it. He started laughing as soon as he saw it.

“That’s it?” 330 said. “You think a tiny crack in reality like that’s going to do anything?”

“This? On its own, no.” He said. “This was supposed to just be a test run. Making sure the principle was sound. But more importantly…. When we discovered the tear underneath Research Facility 03, I learned something very interesting. The Fears take a particular interest in rips appearing in the universe. Which means, if we wait for a little bit…. Switch to security footage!”

The screens on the walls stopped showing data, and changed to an image of the front gate. The guards there had collapsed, covered in huge sores which oozed black liquid. Above them stood a man in a black robe, with a white beaked mask. The image changed to inside the barracks, where a man was having his skin peeled off by a group of shadows which were swarming over him. Changed again, this time to a hallway. Two people ran by the camera, followed closely by the Rake. They were ought of the shot before we saw what happened to them.

“You see?” Lupine said. “You stand no chance to-”

He stopped when he realized that 330 was laughing. “Is that all?” She said. “You still don’t know who the hell you’re dealing with, do you? I’m going to kill you, and then I’m going to walk out there and take care of all your new friends.”

Lupine looked around for support, but everyone else seemed just as terrified by this mad woman who could laugh at such a situation. He stumbled backwards, nearly falling over one of the statues on the floor. “The hell are you talking about? You can’t… ‘take care’ of them!’ They’re… they’re the Fears! You’re mad!”

In reply, 330 smiled and aimed Lupine’s own pistol at him. The two uniformed men who had been at his side reached for firearms, only to find that they too were missing.

Every screen was suddenly covered with static, and white noise blared from every monitor, causing everyone in the room save 330 to clutch their ears in pain. The Slender Man had appeared in before us. It was taller than the last time I’d seen it, maybe 10, 12 feet high. It was looking down at the symbol which had created the crack; but without a face, there was no way to know what it thought of it. Then its eyeless gaze swept the room, passing over everyone without any interest, until it locked on 330.

Lupine looked at the tall being at first with surprise, and then with a mad glee. “You see?” Lupine screamed at us. “He won’t let you interfere with my plans!” Lupine looked towards the Slender Man, as if waiting for a reaction, or maybe acknowledgement. None came: the Slender Man remained focused exclusively on 330. When this became apparent, Lupine ran for the stairs, followed by the other personnel. I thought 330 was going to stop him, but she was staring at the Slender Man. Both of them were looking right at each other, neither moving, neither paying any attention to anyone else in the room.

“Lisa….”

“Yeah?”

“Run. Run out of here as fast as you can.”

“But-”

“NOW!”

Didn’t question her. Surely she knew what she was doing, I thought. I ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time. No matter how fast I went down, I didn’t feel like I was getting any closer to the bottom. The stairwell seemed to stretch, longer and longer. Eyes grew on the walls, from which black ichor oozed, and I could hear the sound of screaming all around me…. I covered my ears and ran faster. Finally reached the bottom. One of the guards I’d passed earlier was down there, shouting in pain as something writhed under his skin, and beetles crawled out of his mouth. Ignored him, ran to the door outside.

Black clouds had covered the sky. It would have been darker were it not for the flames consuming the barracks. I ran for the gate, trying to ignore everything that was happening around me: trying to ignore the disemboweled corpses, the ice covered statues of guards frozen in an attempt to run away, the cacophony of screaming and voices which didn’t seem to come from any point of origin….

Then, amidst all the darkness and violence, I saw rose petals, floating down from the sky. It was such a strange sight that I nearly stopped running so I could make sure it was real. The rose petals were followed by chrysanthemum petals, then lilies, then flower petals of every kind and color, drifting down. One, bright orange, came close to me, and I held out my hand to it. My finger touched it, and I felt a sharp pain. Pulled my hand back, and the finger was bleeding. Another petal fell near, touching my arm. A cut opened where it landed, running down the arm. Then another petal cut my back. Every petal that touched me opened a new cut wherever it landed. Panicked once more, I tried to outrun them, but they only fell faster. I looked behind me and saw a cascade of petals pouring down, coming closer to me, faster than I could outrun. Still tried. Wasn’t enough. Had to shield my face and neck with my arms. Looked back again, and saw a man standing amongst the petals. I can’t remember anything about how he looked, except his smile, which was too wide for his face….

A petal cut deep into my leg and I fell. Couldn’t get back up fast enough, and soon the petals were raining down on me. Don’t know how many times I was cut, trapped beneath that colorful death.

Then, it stopped. The raining petals all began to turn black and crumble. A man was standing between me and the wall of petals; a man in a black hoodie, wearing a gas mask. Every petal which came near him withered and died.

Heard gunfire pick up, and felt someone pull me up. “Don’t worry, we got you!” Recognized the voice. Looked at the person who was helping me: Roy Makhno. And with him, his gang of Timberwolves. “Come on, ya sons of bitches!” He shouted. “You wanna look bad in front of the Boss? Show ‘em what we’re made of!”

Didn’t get to see what was going on with the fight. Makhno carried me to the gate, where another Timberwolf was waiting with bandages. The rest of the gang soon joined us, followed by the man in the gas mask. He looked at me, and I felt a chill run through my whole body. I couldn’t see any of his features beneath that mask, but felt… something, when I looked at him. Something terrible. He turned to the domed building, and I looked to see what had caught his interest. Just in time to see the building explode.

Rubble from the explosion flew towards us, but the gas mask guy held up a hand, and the rubble seemed to hit an invisible wall before it could strike me or any of the Timberwolves. A massive gust of wind followed the explosion, blowing the smoke away. At the center of the blast, silhouetted by the burning barracks, stood the Slender Man, dozens of tentacles coming out of its back. Opposite it was 330. Her whole left sleeve had been torn off, and her uncovered shadow arm writhed and twisted so that it only resembled an arm in its basic shape. Her eye glowed red, bright enough for me to see from the gate. And in her right hand, she held a sword made of fire. I felt like I should run to her, but… I was scared. That smile she had as she faced down the Slender Man…. She looked terrifying.

330 vanished, appeared right in front of Slender Man. Swung her sword at its chest, it blocked with a tentacle; another 330 appeared behind it and punched with her left arm, but that was deflected by yet another tentacle. Both 330s disappeared, two more appeared on either side. Tentacles shot out of Slender Man’s hands at them, but they were already gone, and now she was above him, swinging the sword down. This time Slender Man vanished, reappearing several feet away. She was waiting for it; fire and tentacle clashed again. Black hands shot out of the ground towards her, but she was in the air, three of her, four, back on the ground before any attacks could hit her. Another tentacles went towards her; she caught it with her left hand, swung the sword down at it, chopping it off. The tentacle regrew in an instant, but now she was behind the monster again, swinging, punching, tearing more tentacles apart as she fought towards the Slender Man.

She lunged towards its pale face; it had to take a step back to avoid the attack. Then another step back, and another, keeping away from the flurry of strikes. There were never fewer than two 330s at a time, attacking from every open angle. For a moment, she broke past the tentacles, coming inches away from the Slender Man. Arm was pulled back, ready for a punch to the face. Seconds before it hit, dozens more black hands ripped out of the ground, coming at her from every direction. Couldn’t tell whether her punch or the hands would connect first.

The hands were faster. 330 vanished just before they hit. The fight descended into a moment of calm; when 330 reappeared, there was only one of her. Slender Man withdrew its tentacles, once more assuming the look of calm and collection, and the two squared off. 330 was breathing heavily; Slender Man… looked the same as always.

For the first time in the fight, 330 looked away from the Slender Man. She seemed surprised when she saw me by the gate watching her. The red glow in her eye faded, back to her eye’s natural blue. She looked at me for the longest time…. I tried reading her face, but couldn’t. There was no emotion I could see on it, until the last moment before she turned away from me, when she smiled sadly….

Then… she let go of her sword. Held both her arms out, palms open and empty. The Slender Man pointed an arm at her. A single tentacle shot out of that arm, and went straight through her forehead.

For a moment, there was only a blinding white light. Then I saw 330 falling. Tried running to her, but Makhno kept holding onto me, even as I struggled. Slender Man’s tentacles caught 330 before she hit the ground, and slowly lowered her down. Another tentacle closed her eye, while another placed her right arm over her chest. Her left arm had vanished, along with the sword of fire. The Slender Man looked towards our group. It and the gas mask guy stared at each other for a long time. Then both vanished.

Makhno finally let me go. I didn’t care about my injuries. Didn’t care about the blood running down my legs. Didn’t care about the pain. I ran to 330 as fast as I could. Grabbed her, shook, her shouted at her, hoping for some kind of reply, hoping that the hole in her head would go away, that she’d open her eye, beating on her chest wanting to make her breath again….

None of it worked. Nothing could work. I-330… she’s dead.