By Benji Clark - Truth Unveiled
Sorry for the long delay in posting. This is the first chance I've had to (safely) get to a computer and get my story out there. As you will see, it was the best first-hand encounter I've had with all of the things I've researched and tried to bring to light over the years. While I couldn't be happier for the vindication, I'd much prefer not being on the run from faceless government agents.
In my preceding post, you will note that I was vague about where I had noticed the "calm." A few readers had contacted me in the wake of that post, asking if I was talking about at the local mall. I most definitely was, for I had feared that soon the brass at Fort Ashcroft would test the agent produced through Project Revenant, and unfortunately I was correct.
 |
| Don't believe everything you read in the papers! |
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
The impetuous African-American was "Reckless" Reggie Townsend and the nice Latina was Kelly Vasquez. Kelly was a paramedic and Reckless was between gigs as an Uber driver. I guess you can't be too careful when you pick strangers up in your car, hence armed to the teeth. But I digress. I set to work documenting everything with my camera.
Help Has Arrived!
Shortly after Reckless and a mall cop (that I later found out was named Darren Phelps) took out Santa, the police arrived. At the time, I thought Darren was just naive but later discovered that he had taken bribes and knew that the authorities were in bed with the officials from Fort Ashcroft. I suppose he had no way of knowing this had a Fort Ashcroft connection at the time, so he can be forgiven. After all, he was "disgraced" off of the police force because he no longer wanted to participate in the cover-ups for the base.
But I digress. Two patrolmen, Rich and Amy, arrived. Rich tried to arrest Reckless. Amy smashed my phone, so I have no pictures to show for my time at the mall. Darren knew them and was able to parley a kind of truce. Or so we thought.
They attacked Kelly as soon as she turned her back, but Darren and Reckless were able to subdue them. Their rank indicators on their uniforms were ordinary patrol officers, but I see the paper identified them as a lieutenant and a sergeant. Must have been for their exemplary participation in the cover-up that follows.
Some shoppers appeared to have all the earmarks of something similar to Compound V42: heightened aggression, lowered cognitive ability. Project Revenant, therefore, must be an outgrowth or continuation of Project Nightshade. Other shoppers appeared completely unaffected. This must be a test of the delivery system, I would think.
Rich and Amy reluctantly agreed to help us but we kept a close eye on them. We explored Fielding's, which appeared to have some undead and some survivors. Reckless went back to the sporting goods place to get ammo and was attacked by a couple of the things.
I don't want to call them... you know what. The Z-word. It was an unspoken pact among us that we would call them anything but that word. I can't even bring myself to type it now.
We then worked our way upstairs, clearing store-by-store. Making sure that as many survivors as could get to safety did. And taking out any of the undead as we found them. I felt pretty useless in most of these situations. I'll have to make a mental note to train with some kind of weapon. Either a sword or a gun. Or both.
Out to Lunch
The largest concentration of creatures was in the food court on the third floor. Some of the employees had taken shelter in the hallways behind the restaurants, and we were able to get them to safety once everyone (except me) had dispatched the collection of creatures that had taken this whole floor over. Really I need some firearms training.
We found a note pinned to one of the bulletin boards in the back area, someone named "Dustin" living up to his name by finding a hidden tunnel. Beneath the mall? That would complete the Stranger Things reference. So down we went in the service elevator. Shout out to Darren for having the key. Not all mall cops are as useless as the joke goes, I guess.
In the basement, another group of walking corpses prevented us from getting to the secret tunnel, but we figured out it was there. Or rather, I did.
Basement Escape
Since I had been pretty useless up to this point, I offered to open the secret door which lay just across the loading ramp from our present location. To the right was a partially opened garage-style door made of lightweight steel. To the left, up the incline, was the bay where the trucks offloaded their products. The entire bay was enclosed in shadows and reeked of fuel. We were confident that we were the only ones here.
That confidence was entirely misplaced.
I jumped carefree onto the concrete, and that's when I heard the Harley revving its engine. I turned to face an oncoming motorcycle, driven by a--uh, desiccated corpse that still somehow moved. It was possibly the most horrifying thing that I had ever seen. Once I recovered and made peace with the fact that this thing was heading toward me at an alarming rate of speed, I sidestepped it.
Yep. Sidestepped. The creature piloting it had slow enough reaction time that it didn't deviate course to hit me. It just sped on up the loading ramp and crashed into the wall. That's when I heard noises of a different sort.
My eyes landed on the dock I had just left. Rich and Amy were never our friends, so I wasn't surprised to find that Amy had Reckless in a submission hold while Rich wrestled with Darren for control of Darren's semi-automatic. Kelly lay unconscious on the ground; likely Rich or Amy dispatched her before turning their attention to the armed targets.
Rich won the battle, subduing Darren. I saw the angry eye of the pistol looking at me even as Rich stared down the barrel.
"Police, freeze!" Rich commanded.
That's when I came to senses and realized that the only chance for this story to get out was me. I ran for the secret tunnel. I was accustomed to the overly loud pop sound that these guns made by now, but I still felt icicles though my body. Up till now, none of these bullets ever were intended for me.
A bullet hit the ground just behind my foot, then to my left. A third ricocheted off the wall in front of me, stopping me dead in my tracks.
"Don't move, kid," Rich called out. "We have your friends, and we're going to come and get you."
"Don't even think about trying to run," Amy chimed in. "You're an easy target."
I had to make a split-second decision. I knew they were far enough behind me that I could get to the half-closed door. But what if their guns found me? I can outrun two officers, but no way I can outrun a bullet. And if I'm dead, who will bring the truth to my readers?
I had to survive. I had to get this story out. In that moment, I made the heroic choice. As fast as my legs could carry me, I headed for the door. My heart pounded, my palms sweat, my breath came in gasps. I could hear the commotion behind me: "He went for it"; "Go, kid!"; "He's fast!"
I ignored the report behind me and tried to focus on the door. The bullets slammed into the ground near my feet and a few hit the metal door. Miraculously, none hit me and I slid like a runner into home, letting my momentum carry me outside. The air bit into my face as hard as the dusty concrete tore at my elbows, and I felt triumphant like a gamer who rolled a 1 on his escape check.
A 20? I don't know. I guess it depends on the tabletop system you're using.
Either way, I was back on my feet in no time, padding away and putting distance between the contaminated mall and me.
Final Thoughts
I have friends and friends of friends who can help me out of sticky situations. I can't get into the details here. Unfortunately, as the above newspaper clipping reveals, I am a wanted man. The CPD isn't going to stop until I am behind bars and discredited. Potentially, I'll even disappear. Following in the footsteps other journalistic luminaries like Jack Murrow.
As I type this, I hope that Darren, Kelly, and Reckless are still alive and that we don't read about their "suicides" in the coming weeks.
I may have to stop investigating Fort Ashcroft for a while. At least until I'm no longer a hot commodity. I plan to focus my investigations elsewhere for the time being, since the truth never sleeps and I can't afford to.
Stay vigilant!
No comments:
Post a Comment