I’m
going to try my best to describe what I felt when I crossed out of campus
property. My description probably won’t come anywhere near the truth, but I’ll
give it a shot.
To
use a metaphor, imagine that the timelines inside Miskatonic were like, say, a
Picasso painting. Looking at the whole you can see a picture, but it’s a
chaotic mess of shapes, angles, and distorted figures. And then when I stepped
off campus, without a single moment of transition, it was as though the
timelines were a Van Gogh painting. The painting’s still pretty abstract when
compared to reality, with its distorted angles and colors, but when put
alongside the Picasso painting? It looks downright orderly.
My
first reaction when I felt that change was an overwhelming urge to turn around
and sprint back onto campus. Didn’t get the chance to; I had just turned around
when a figure rose out from the ground. It wore a black cloak which covered its
body, its hand held a black cane, and covering its face was a white, beaked
mask. The Plague Doctor.
Oh,
Running The Hell Away From Things. It’s been so long. Did you miss me? I didn’t
miss you. Grabbed Sarah by the hand and took off down the street. I think I
know how Future Me felt having to drag Lisa around everywhere. Yeah, you could just teleport yourself to safety,
but you’ve got this normal person you need to keep safe, and suddenly you find
yourself limited to traditional means of escape.
Thankfully,
Sarah wasn’t as horribly out of shape as I used to be. And she’d read enough to
realize that we were facing the embodiment of disease and therefore should be
running as fast as possible.
We
raced down the streets of Arkham, weaving between the people on the sidewalks. Looked
back to see if it was following. Yeah, there it was, drifting along the ground
after us, keeping pace no matter how fast we ran. No one but Sarah and I seemed
able to see it, but as it passed by the pedestrians, they all began to cough
violently, some throwing up, a few collapsing. Had to get away from people. Turned
into the first alley was came to, and of course it was a dead end, with a chain
fence blocking our path. I could make it over easy, but I doubt that Sarah
would be fast enough. Cornered by the Plague Doctor. Not the best spot for us
to be in.
Quick
look around to see if there were any other ways out. There was a fire escape on
one building, but it was too high to reach. Maybe if I teleported away, I could
grab some explosives and then teleport back to the moment I’d left and with
then I could… do something that’s right bombs don’t usually work on Fears okay
next idea. It was continuing its slow drift toward us, so at that point I just
decided, fuck common sense, and pulled out a pistol to try shooting it.
No
effect at all. It suddenly lunged forward toward us, swinging its cane at me. Raised
my hands to defend myself, but it wasn’t interested in me or Sarah. The cane
hit the Necronomicon, knocking it out of my hands. I’d almost forgotten I was
carrying it. The book hung in the air for a moment before landing behind the
Plague Doctor. It began to reach for the book, but then there was a loud bang
came from above. Looked up, and saw several men in black military uniforms
along the roofs. More men were coming in to block the alley’s exit, carrying
heavy weaponry aimed at the Doctor. It paused to examine the soldiers, which I
used that as a chance to dive for the book.
Except
another hand grabbed it before me. An inhumanly pale hand, and a black sleeve
along its arm. My eyes followed that arm up… and up… and up… until I was
looking at the Slender Man’s blank face.
Caught
between the Plague Doctor and the Slender Man. Likely the only reason I’m still
here to write this is because both seemed much more interested in the book than
me. The Slender Man raised the Necronomicon into the air, and then the book
burst into flames. And that’s all I remember, because the moment the flames
started to consume the book I felt pain rip through my entire body, and I
blacked out.
Woke
up lying down in the same alley, with two of those black uniformed soldiers
looking over me. As soon as they saw me open my eyes, both jumped to attention.
“Rick
Coulson, senior Scoobies field agent, ma’am.” One said. “We apologize for
interfering in your activities; had we known you were in the area, we would
have awaited your orders before moving in.”
Um…
okay. “Who… What’s going on?”
“Both
paranormal entities disappeared shortly after you collapsed, ma’am. Not long
after, a major fire broke out in the university. Based on its size and the
speed of its spread, we expect that one of the entities to be involved. We’re
providing resource assistance to the local fire brigades, but half the
university’s already been destroyed. In addition, we’re quarantining and
providing treatment to those infected by the Plague Doctor. Do you have any
further orders?”
Asking
me for orders? Seriously, what the
hell was going on? “No, just keep doing… that stuff you’re doing.” I said. The
soldiers nodded, and both prepared to leave, before I stopped them. “Wait!
There was another girl with me! Is she alright?”
“Yes
ma’am. She was extremely lucky; most wouldn’t survive being that close to the
Doctor. We’re providing her treatment along with the rest of the victims.
She’ll probably lose one of her legs due to infection, but all the diseases
we’ve found in her are treatable, given enough time.”
Thank
god. Don’t know how well I’d have taken her getting killed because of me
getting her involved.
Just
moment after I asked that, another
soldier came forward and saluted me. He offered a binder toward me. “HQ sent
this to us as soon as they heard you were here. Mr. Marchetti said to give this
to you.”
I
took the binder, and opened it. The first page was a handwritten letter
addressed to me.
“Good
to hear you’re still out there kicking ass, I-330. There’s been a lot of
activity since your last visit. That Grendel guy you’ve had us following? Seems
like he’s lost his edge at subtlety. We’ve managed to uncover a shit ton of
information from his cultists we’ve captured in the recent raids. The crazies
are practically lining up to brag about their plans to us. Everything we’ve
gotten out of them is included in this binder.
Good
luck. And give that Grendel asshole a good kick to the groin for me.
Jacob
Marchetti”
Jacob
Marchetti? Wasn’t he the blind guy I met when I was Lisa? The one who said he
used to be head of a paranormal CIA branch called the Scoobies?
Okay,
two things on my to-do list. Number one, read through this binder and get all
this info it claims to have on Grendel. Number two, find out why the hell I’ve
got CIA paramilitary people treating me like I’m their ranking superior.
I-330
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