The Library

When we came out of that portal thing, we were in a massive, dark library. Familiar place. I’d been there before, trying to grab books out of it. But it looked… different this time. Somehow. Like there was something missing from it….

Didn’t get much chance to think, though, before the Red Cap was distracting me with its shouting.

“Wooooo! That was badass! The way we just swooped in like some big damn heroes and rescued you….” It leaned toward me. “Speaking of that rescue, any chance your savior might be rewarded with a kiss?”

I pushed it away from me. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Well, I was trying to get a kiss after saving your life….”

“Not that. Why did you… things save me?”

“I couldn’t simply stand to the side while there was a damsel in distress-”

“No. Seriously. Why? Last I checked, most of you were my enemies.”

“We’re the enemies of Slender Man’s Fears. While you were working with them, you were our enemy. Now that you’re against them, things have changed. Plus with Grendel dead, you’re basically the new Nyarlathotep. Congratulations!”

“I’m not Nyarlathotep.”

“Whatever you say, mistress.”

“And besides, what about the Convocation? They were against you during Grendel’s revolution.”

“What, the birds? Not really sure what’s up with them. Far as I can tell, they’ve just thrown their lot in with you on account of you being the least omnicidal out of everyone fighting for the multiverse.”

I looked at some of the birds that had settled on the shelves around us. Now that they weren’t acting like an enormous storm cloud of death, you could almost see them as a regular flock of birds. An extremely diverse regular flock of birds. An extremely diverse regular flock of birds which intently watched your every motion. Alright, they were still freaky, but at least none of them were shooting lightning.

The Brute and the Bride didn’t seem to be around us at the moment, or at least weren’t manifesting physically near us. I could hear the crackle of fire and smell smoke around the library, but there was no signs of their bodies nearby.

“Now I’m sure you have a lot of questions….” The Red Cap started to say, but I wasn’t in the mood for talking.

“Not really. I was just wondering when you could return me to Earth so I could get back to being killed.”

It lost its friendly grin when I said that. “Why would you want that?”

“Because EAT was right. This is all my fault. If by giving myself up I can reverse it….”

The Red Cap’s lips pulled back into a snarl, and it looked like it was starting to shift back into the wolf like form I’d seen on Earth. A voice came out of the shifting blood, deep and angry. “When did you become such a whiny bitch? I’m not going to let myself be killed because you suddenly forgot to fight! Man the fuck up, or I’ll… I’ll….” The transformation changed partway through, and instead it became a young girl with a red hood. It smiled again, and said, “Alright. Fine. I’ll let you think on things for a while. We’ll talk again when you’re more willing to see reason.” The Red Cap dissolved into a pool of blood, which flowed under the bookshelves. I glanced at the Convocation, but they quickly flew away, leaving me alone in the library.

Fort Worth

Even after meeting back with the rest of our group and meeting more soldiers, I still couldn’t help but feel a little suspicious about the stories that Fort Worth was the safe haven we’d been told about, until we got close enough to see the refugee camps. Even with the visible proof, it was still hard to believe. For whatever reason, Fort Worth seemed to have been mostly untouched by both the Fears and the Quiet. With the rest of the world collapsing, the military stationed in the area had taken it upon themselves to maintain order and ensure the safety of those living there.

The city of Fort Worth was mostly intact, although with significantly fewer people around. Even without the mass destruction seen elsewhere, seems the place still had taken a lot of casualties. I was told that most of the survivors were living in and around the air force base, and as we approached I began to see what looked like hastily constructed defensive housing. Any standing building around the base had been fortified with any scrap or materials that could be carried over, and the walls of broken cars and other debris around the base itself made it seem like some kind of nuclear wasteland fortress.

Another Humvee drove alongside us, and an officer stepped out of it. “Agent Flint of the Eldritch Department?” He said. Flint nodded, a little cautiously, and the officer continued. “I’m Lieutenant Freeman, US Air Force. General Morgan wanted to speak with you and your two companions.”

“How does the general know about the Eldritch Department?” Flint asked.

“We managed to pick up a few survivors from it. They’ve been advising us on the situation. When they heard about your survival, they requested we bring you in to assist. I’ll have some of my men get the rest of your people housing while I take you over.”

Well that seemed nice of them. Only one question on my mind….

“Hey Lieutenant guy, I’m curious.” I said, waving my arm in the air. “Any reason in particular no one’s freaking out about the lady with the black demon arm?”

He chuckled at that. “We had to deal with a little kid made of ice killing people while singing rhymes a few weeks back. I think we’re all used to weird by now. So long as you’re not trying to kill us, I don’t think many people are going to bat an eye.”

Well… I suppose that was fair enough. Followed him onto the base as he explained the current situation further, mostly lack of supplies, occasional skirmishes with the Fears, etc. Miles stayed silent the entire time.

We were led inside one of the base’s buildings, and two guards came up to walk alongside us. Our destination was a pair of double doors. “The General’s in there.” Lieutenant Freeman said.

My hand was almost on the door handle when Miles said, “Wait.” He looked at Freeman, eyes narrowed in thought. “Why does everything look so orderly?”

Freeman seemed confused. “What do you mean?”

“The uniforms, the equipment, everything. It looks like it’s brand new, not equipment that’s gone through the apocalypse.”

“General Morgan believes in maintaining proper military appearance….”

“You told us about the supply situation. Everything’s on ration. If that’s the case, why would you waste resources and time on appearance?”

The Lieutenant and the guards suddenly stiffened, and in an instant I recognized the dead expression that came over their faces. The guards pushed us through the doors, into the conference room with three more men in it. One was dressed in a general’s uniform, and the other two might once have been members of the Eldritch Department. But now, all of them were possessed by EAT.

“What’s going o-” I started, only to be cut off by gunfire. Bits of brain and blood flew across my face as Flint and Miles fell to the ground. The possessed guards then turned their guns on me, but didn’t fire.

“What….” I said again, still reeling from what I’d just seen.

“This is it, Nyarlathotep.” All EAT’s bodies said in a cold tone. “Accept your end.”

The walls and roof of the building were lifted into the air, and scattered like twigs, leaving us in the open. I could see the rest of Fort Worth, its buildings crumbling away as the ground opened up beneath it. An immense black tree was coming from the ground, ripping apart anything that blocked its growth. It was the same tree as I’d seen in the Empty City, but somehow even larger than before. Its roots alone dwarfed the city’s towers, and the canopy had soon risen above the clouds.

Before the thought of fleeing could pass through my mind, strings wrapped around me arms and legs, lifting me slightly into the air. All the refugees in the city, including the ones from the caravan I’d traveled with, mechanically marched in front of me, the Wooden Girl at their lead. As they passed by, the Plague Doctor appeared above them. It spread out its cloak, and people started to collapse, vomiting and choking on blood until they were still. Those that didn’t die from the sickness were killed when the Wooden Girl’s strings started tearing them apart limb by limb.

My first reaction was rage. I roared at EAT, “Stop this!”

It stared back without blinking, and said, “No.”

I struggled against the strings, screaming to be let free. All pointless. My rage began to turn into confusion. “Why are you doing this?”

EAT’s reply was quick. “To illustrate the consequences of your actions. It is because of you that they die.”

“You’re the ones killing them!”

“We are the ones who kept them alive until now. The Quiet would have consumed them weeks ago, but we wanted you to see their deaths firsthand. See them where you couldn’t run away from the reality. Change the destruction of the multiverse from an abstract statistic into a hard reality. Your inability to control your impulses has led to countless deaths. This is just a fraction of what you have done to the world.”

When he was done speaking, everyone was dead. Their blood soaked the ground, with rivulets running underneath my feet. One of the Tree’s massive roots grew towards us, stopping above the bloodshed. The root shifted shape, crafting itself into a wooden throne, atop which sat the Slender Man. The Wooden Girl and the Plague Doctor moved to stand at its sides, and were joined by more Fears. The Black Dog. The Archangel. The Rake. The Cold Boy. And in the sky, the Eye appeared.

The Slender Man’s pale head looked toward me, and from that eyeless gaze I could feel such intense focus. All the power I’ve gained, all my strength, all my confidence… it felt like nothing against that gaze. I could feel the Slender Man’s presence like a hammer on my mind: this terrible creature, older than time, who had created the stars themselves…. And it was looking right at me, all that power focused just on me….

I looked down, unable to hold its stare. “Stop. I’m done.” I said.

Too quiet for anyone to hear, apparently. “What did you say?” EAT said.

“I’m done. I… I give up. Just… stop. Please.”

The Slender Man stood up, and took a step form its throne. The ground under its feet cracked, and it felt as if the whole world shook with every step it took. It walked toward me, its arms outstretched as if in preparation for an embrace.

A wall of fire burst forth in front of the Slender Man, and it halted its slow walk. More fire wrapped around EAT’s bodies, consuming them, and I felt the strings holding me disappear. The blood on the ground began to flow together. It rose from the ground, taking form: at first, it was something animalistic, almost wolf-life. Then it became more humanoid, as details and more colors began to emerge. It looked like a young girl with auburn hair, wearing a red cloak. Then the girl started to grow older, until it could no longer be called a girl. It began to shift form again, changing between dozens of different humans’ appearances. Finally, it settled on one: a man in an open red suit, with dark red hair. More blood came together in its hand to create a hat, which it flipped onto its head.

The Red Cap pointed at the Slender Man, and then moved its finger over the rest of the Fears. “The first of you who tries to even lay a finger on her dies.”

Out of the wall of fire stepped the Burning Bride, and from the smoke came the Brute. A roar of thunder came from above as the Convocation filled the sky. Lightning fell from their wings, and the Slender Man’s Fears scattered to avoid being hit. The Slender Man itself didn’t move, and only continued to stare at me through the wall of flame.

The Red Cap flowed over to me, changing appearances between more humans as it did. Before I knew what was happening, it took me by the hand. “Shall we make our exit, Mistress?” And then we were running, although to where I couldn’t tell. All around us were the roots of the Tree, and ruins of Fort Worth. But then, the space in front of us seemed to twist and distort, like a spiral collapsing in on itself. We ran through it, and suddenly we were falling, out of space, out of time, out of the universe itself.

Dallas

The moment Dallas came into view, everyone knew something was wrong. It’s one of the biggest cities in the U.S., but unlike every other major city we’d seen, there was no Tower growing in it, stripping it apart for material. Apart from the skeletons, abandoned cars, and black clouds blocking the sky, it looked the same as it had before the apocalypse happened. That sounds like it would be a good thing, since that’d be one less thing trying to kill us, but paranoia is our best survival strategy. If something looks weird, then stay the fuck away from it.

By unanimous decision, we chose to take as circuitous a route as we could in order to reach Fort Worth. That, at least, was the plan. When we tried enacting that plan, we found most of the roads we wanted to take were blocked by debris. At first we assumed it was from the general state of destruction the world was in, but after it kept happening, it started to feel like we were being herded toward downtown Dallas. By the time we were being forced through the Dallas urban sprawl, that feeling became strong enough to warrant action.

When we found the road again blocked by a collapsed skyscraper, Flint said, “When you tried to escape our facility, you nearly punched through several feet of solid steel? Think you could do that to a building as well?”

“Maybe. Never tried. Let’s find out.” How hard could it be, right?

Walked up and examined the debris for a while. How to go about this…. Should I just try to punch a hole through it? Maybe cut a hole in it? What if I caused too much damage, and it collapsed as we went through?

As I stood pondering, I wasn’t paying much mind to my surroundings. Which is why I wasn’t able to react very fast when a pale figure with huge claws pounced from the top of the debris onto me.

I did, however, react fast enough to prevent the Rake from tearing my throat out, so here’s to small miracles. With its opening attack a failure, the Rake sprung off me, landing on someone else in the group. They weren’t as lucky as me, and its claws tore right through their neck.

Everyone with a gun drew their weapon, but the Rake pounced into another building before anyone could fire. I suspect we would have all stood around gawking if Lucas hadn’t started yelling at people to get back into their cars and get the hell out of there.

If we’d been given a chance to calm down after the mad rush back to the cars, things might have remained more rational. But as the engines started up, the Rake pounced out from the debris again, landing on the hood of another car. Its claws tore through the window, shredding the occupants in the front seats. And again, before anyone could react, it had jumped away.

Like that, the escape quickly started devolving into a panic. The Rake continued to pounce out and pick off individuals as we tried driving away as fast as we could. Which really didn’t seem to accomplish much beyond getting people killed. So I decided to fix that problem by doing something crazy reckless: rolled down my window, got halfway out the car, and then when the Rake next jumped out, shot my arm forward in a tentacle at it.
Hit that monster right in the chest, knocking it away from the car. Gave a short cheer, which was cut off when the car hit a bump and I was promptly knocked out onto the street. Flint started to stop the car, but I waved for him to keep going. I’d gotten the Rake’s attention, and if I could keep that attention focused, it would help the others get away.

So, a cracked street in a ruined city with the Rake and I squaring off. It didn’t react as the cars drove away, instead just staring at me with its black eyes while clicking its claws together. Well, if it wanted to just stand there, then it was up to me to get this thing started. I drew my sword, and charged.

Right before I could swing, the Rake vanished. I stumbled a bit as my attack passed through air, but caught myself before falling. Heard a sound behind me, and just barely managed to turn and raise my arm to block the Rake’s attack. Its claws tore through my left arm, ripping it clean off. I didn’t feel any pain, and the shadows started to heal immediately, but while I was still down to one arm the Rake kept attacking. Managed to block a few slashes with the sword, but one got through enough to scrape across my collarbone, barely missing my neck.

Alright. This wasn’t working. Time to start running.

Bolted in the opposite direction of where the cars had gone. I quickly glanced over my shoulder to see if the Rake was following, but I didn’t see any sign of it. A few seconds later, I learned that was because it was above me. Jumped aside as it brought its claws down on where my head had been, and swung my sword at its face. The cut went straight through, but the moment the sword lefts its body, it healed. Back to running, then.

 The Rake continued to pursue me, and I barely kept ahead of its claws. So you might say things were getting a little tense there. Tripped over some debris, but quickly rolled over so I’d be able to face the Rake. It pounced at me, and I raised my sword to defend….

An explosion hit the Rake in the face, knocking it back to the ground. Heavy gunfire started up, tearing through the Rake. It was still healing too fast for those bullets to really do anything, but the sudden resistance seemed to make it reconsider fighting. The Rake vanished, and I looked over to see who had just saved me.

A military Humvee drove up to me, and several men in Army uniforms unloaded. One went over to check on me while the others kept looking around for the Rake.

“Are you I-330?” The one who’d gone to me said.

“Yeah….”

“We met your caravan near downtown. They told us you’d gone in this direction. We’re here to help escort you to Fort Worth.”

And that’s what they’re doing right now. We’ll be coming up to the place in a few minutes. From what these soldiers are saying, the radio broadcast was true: it is a safe zone. Somehow. Now to find out how that even happened....