But not in the physical sense. Not yet, anyhow. I suppose I should start with something of a summary of events. Last you all knew we were in Shreveport - now we're in Austin, Texas. We met up with Damien and Arkady (who was somewhat less than pleased at the presence of two children, something about them slowing him down) and we all decided that we may as well merge into one big happy family. It's been an interesting time, the last however many days - Arkady presents himself to be every ounce as pretentious in person as he is in his writing (for instance, he refuses to be called anything other than his pseudonym), but at least he has the intelligence to back it up. Damien is much more pleasant to be around, though I suppose it helps that he and Kal were already good friends.
Anyhow. In an effort to simplify things, we've all decided to merge our blogs. The new one is called Operation Wintergreen. It sounds almost cool at first until you realize it doesn't quite. You can thank Kal for that.
This will be the last you hear from us on this site.
This is Operation Wintergreen.
-Michenab
Previous/Next
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Moments
It was JD’s agonizing screams that dragged me back to reality, the accompanying image of Thomas driven through again and again that cemented my resolve. There was probably some rage in the passenger’s seat as well when I started Henry’s car. I looked all around and saw Henry just standing there, unaware of the scene directly before of him, his face souring at the sound. JD had dropped to his knees unable to do anything but whimper and moan… all life must have left him with the wail he released for his brother’s crumbling form. And Thomas… poor Thomas, I watched him speared twice more before black arms returned to their vile owner and rose up for further strikes. Thomas was dead before turned; I choose not to watch the rest of the monster’s grisly display.
I sprinted to the nearest car. It didn’t matter which, we’d taken to leaving the keys inside in case the occasion came to turn tail and flee once again. Henry’s was closest… something he’s still a mite unhappy about, fond memories I suppose. I don’t remember reaching the car or jumping into the driver’s seat. I can only recall the engine’s roar as I pressed pedal to steel and aimed the two ton bullet towards the lawn. It happened so slow… the shadow turned to look at me, it raised black limbs high… and then a burst of glass as the windshield shattered into my face. The car stopped suddenly, metal creaking as it folded around our target and then blackness descended over the wreckage. Little tails wormed their way in through the doors and the sunroof, crawling out for me…
Monday, June 6, 2011
On the Run Again
The last few days have been nervous. With still no word or sign from Babs, all of us had been a little on edge at the lake house. Don't get me wrong, I still stand by what I've said about the break being a godsend, but we'd all become accustomed to being on the move for so long that sitting in one place for as long as we've been here in Georgia... Well, it was a little unnerving. Then everything just went horribly wrong and now we're on the move again. To add to that, I have no idea where Charlie and Alexis have gone to and Thomas... Fuck, Thomas...
The first sign I had that something was wrong was when I saw Sara twitch. I've been spending most of my time caring for her and keeping her company for whatever that's worth. This was the first time I've seen her move on her own since getting to this place. I still didn't know if my idea about her connection to our Stalker was right but to be safe I went and found Kal and talked about it with him, asking if he thought we should get out of Dodge. He didn't have much of chance to answer before I heard JD shouting from the other side of the house, and that pretty much decided that. I ran to Sara and gathered her and our things (at this point, it all fits easily into two bags), then went back to where Kal had been. He wasn't there anymore, so I gathered Sara into my arms and made my way into the main room of the house. When my eyes fell on the Thief standing there, I felt Sara's head move to face it.
My legs felt almost frozen like they did the first time I saw it, but at the moment it's attention was on JD, who was being dragged through the back door by Thomas against his will. I think JD meant to fight the damn thing and he was cussing up a storm. It wasn't until the Thief's arms began grow and it began to move toward the back door - not walk, mind you, but move in that same stuttering manner I saw that first time - that I felt the paralysis leave my legs but I still couldn't bring myself to actually move. Charlie had just dashed through it and Alexis was close behind him - then Kal's voice came to me from the front door and I snapped my head around to see Kal beckoning me outside. As I jogged to him, I felt the attention of that abomination fall on me and Sara. Even from over ten feet away I could feel something like rage - a cold, calculated feeling. I hurried through the door, behind Kal as he ran around the side of the house to find the others, and the feel of its gaze left me. Looking through a window as I followed Kal, I saw that it had disappeared. And then the rain started.
Kal and I met up with the other four behind the house, where our cars were and where the dock began. The van was on and open and Alexis was speaking rapidly to Charlie and Thomas, who was still restraining JD to an extent, and looked as if she were about to say something to Kal when the back door suddenly exploded outward. The door itself remained intact and caught Thomas full in the back, sending both he and JD to the ground. About a foot out from the door in each direction, the wood and other materials were just... gone. No splinters, just gone. But the Thief was there in full rage. From his back came four or maybe six fluid-seeming appendages (I hesitate to say tentacles) and the cold anger I had felt just moments ago was back in full force. As Kal struggled to get the solid wood door away from Thomas and JD, Charlie grabbed Alexis by the arm and led her down to dock to where a fishing boat was parked. Unwilling to let Sara out of my grasp and have her stolen from me too, I used my feet to help Kal move the door and then motioned toward dock. I could hear Alexis shouting for us to hurry up. Thomas was limping, but he was still concious and JD seemed angry more than anything else. As we turned toward the dock, the Thief appeared in front of us, blocking our way. Charlie said something that could have been "fuck" but the boat roared to lifeanyway as he shook his head at Alexis. I heard her shouting about the rest of us and pointing in our direction. I could just make out Charlie's lips moving and that stopped her in her tracks. She turned and gave us one last, mournful look, mouthing "Sorry" before Charlie steered the boat away into the darkness of the night and the storm.
I felt as though I were targetted, though I have no doubt Sara's presence in my arms had much to do with that, so I backed up toward the house. I felt Kal tug at my arm to get me moving faster when I saw one of the tentacles lash out in my direction. Flinching, I closed my eyes, waiting for the blackness to come, dreading the blank nothing that I had watched fall over Ronnie's face and that I had witnessed in Sara's face everyday... But nothing happened. I opened my eyes when I heard JD screaming. Not in rage, as I was used to when the Thief was involved, but pure loss. Thomas had jumped or moved in front of me and now there was a black tentacle through where one of his kidney's would be. After a moment of stillness, though I could hear Kal moving behind me, more holes were punched in Thomas. One where a lung should be, now through his thigh, now through an arm... And then blackness swallowed him completely - there was a sickening crunch and then the blackness fell away, leaving only the blood that had dripped down Thomas's body as he was stabbed by the Thief. But his body was gone. Just one more object stolen. JD had fallen to his knees, but now I could see him begin to rise. Behind me I heard a car door open and slam shut - then the familiar sound of my car's engine came to me and I turned to see Kal behind the steering wheel, a wild look on his face. Urged on by Kal, the engine roared as the car charged forward toward the Thief. The son of a bitch was going to hit the thing with my car. That got me moving as I could only see that tactic ending in disaster. I ran to the van as quick as I could and left Sara with the bags in the front seat. As I turned to get JD, I watched as my car slammed into the Thief at maybe 25 mph. I watched as the front of the car crumpled even through the engine block. I watched as our Stalker didn't so much as flinch, watched as Kal was jostled around inside the pancaking car but that thing... The wreck didn't even phaze it. It snaked its tentacles around the car as the driver door opened and Kal flopped out. He had blood streaming from his forehead and was trying to crawl toward me. I called to JD to help me and, given a purpose after having seen such a spectacle, he seemed to forget his grief and responded immediately. As my car was crushed in the embrace of the Thief, I saw JD and Kal safely into the back of the van. I got into the driver's seat and put it into gear. As the lake house faded out of sight down its long driveway, I heard a thundering boom - the same as when the door had exploded, but much, much louder.
That was two nights ago. We're now in Shreveport, Louisianna, just outside of Texas. I wasn't sure where else to head for that night, so I set my phone to take me to Austin, Texas. Kal's cut was nothing serious, but it looks like it might scar. JD hasn't said much. None of us have said much. And always in the rear view is our Stalker, taking everything away from us.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Where is Babs?
Bab's still hasn't shown up. She said she'd be here on Tuesday (or May 24th) but we've still yet to see any sign of her. Or here from her. I've tried calling, Kal tried calling, but all calls just rang and rang and rang... No voicemail, no ending. I left my phone on speaker for half an hour the last time I called just listening to that ring, haunting and repetitive. Kal's conversation with Damien about it didn't last long. I think Damien hung up on him.
Damien, if she doesn't show up.. I'm sorry, man. At the very least, we're perfectly set to wait here longer for her to show up. The rest is a godsend, but I think the best part of it all here is the showers. That out of everything has helped the most to lift the fugue off of our group here. Some of it at any rate.
I still can't help but feel that everything is falling apart. There's a deep, hollow ache inside me, patiently waiting to devour everything I know.
It's Ronnie. Or rather, her absence. I haven't had time to really get through all that happened on the day she was taken from me. But now, with all this time, with nowhere to go, with no abomination in sight, she is always in my thoughts. And with Babs being gone now too...
Our Stalker is a cruel thing. Loveless and cruel.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Breathing Room
We made it to Georgia. You may have seen in Arkady's most recent post (as of now at any rate) that Setoth's Babs was headed there. After all the things that have been going on in Roanoke, especially our Stalker becoming a growing presence, Kal and I were able to persuade the others into coming with us. Even Charlie begrudgingly agreed to leave without too much coercion - and given the expression on his face as we packed up our things to set off, it seemed he was going to miss Virginia.
We're at a lake house that belongs to Babs's family, waiting for her to show up. When we talked on the phone yesterday, she said she'd be here sometime tomorrow and clued us in about where to find the spare key. It's nice here, if secluded. Thankfully whoever tends to the place keeps it well stocked. I guess people must drop by here out of the blue often enough for the family to pay for that kind of maintenance, but either way I'm certainly not going to question what little cause for celebration we may have thrown our way now and again.
Right now everyone is kind of just relaxing - though with what's hunting us everyone is still a little on edge. Even Charlie and Alexis seemed to share a moment of real intimacy for what must be the first time in months. I think we're all just glad to be out of our damned cars. We finally have room to stretch and lay down and just close our eyes. For now anyway. JD is looking better, which has let Thomas relax and open up more; he and Kal seem to be getting on well.
But not everything is good news. I mentioned in an earlier post that I saw Sara move on her own. I don't feel so great about it now as I did then. With the frequent encounters of the Slender kind, I began to notice a trend. I don't know how long this has been going on or when it started (or if it was always there and I just didn't notice), but I think Sara reacts physically to the Thief's presence. As if his energy or what-have-you holds some kind of sway over and, despite being completely blanked mentally, she still has some instinct regarding him. It makes me nervous, but perhaps it can be used to some kind of advantage... Possibly as a way to forewarn ourselves. I don't want to rely too much on this theory though. I fear that just like everything else I've come to rely on over the course of being hunted, it too will disappear and break beneath me. I don't think I can take many more falls.
I do have one last piece of nervous news. Like I said, we're secluded out here. And if what little research I've begun to do and what the rest of our little group of survivor's has said is true, all these fucking trees are bad news.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
I had a dream. I was beneath the waves, rolling gently, dark and blue. Above me, a storm was brewing, the clouds growing black and angry, aggressively striving against the last rays of a setting sun. The wind was picking up and howling, foreshadowing the terror the waves would become. But deep below, in my santcuary, in this water, I was serene. I was calm. I was smiling. Nothing could touch me.
When I woke up, it was there. Not close, but there. Watching. Waiting to steal again. But it didn't matter. The weight of the dream still sat on my shoulders and nothing mattered. A flutter of movement jerked my gaze away from the Thief, and I saw Sara's arm settling back into place. I went to look back at our stalker but then... Holy shit, Sara moved. She moved on her own. She's always needed someone to guide her: into walking, eating, drinking, changing... everything. I've never seen her twitch. I looked into her eyes, hoping to see something there. But her face was still blank, empty of everything, her eyes dull and lifeless. I turned back to where I'd seen the Thief but nothing was there any longer.
JD is lucky. Charlie was able to get in touch with a friend of his - a doctor or a nurse or something - who was able to patch JD up well enough to keep him alive without us actually getting to a hospital. Beyond that though, Charlie has been showing even less warmth toward the group than usual. Ever since the attack, our follower has been with us, sometimes far off, sometimes close enough to throw a rock at. We've been on the move constantly. We're driving as I write this, Alexis and her crew leading the way simply because they've been in the area longer, but none of us really know where we're going. Kal is lost in his head, Thomas is worrying over JD who is growing angrier by the day and I've already talked about Charlie.
But Sara moved. I don't why, but maybe it's a sign that we're doing something right.
God damn it Henry how did you get me typing this up? I don’t want to fucking talk about this, it’s the very reason I haven’t been. I don’t care if you think I need to get it off my chest, I don’t care if you think the world wants to hear it. News flash Henry, nobody gives a damn about us. Nobody in the world cares about what happens to you and me and all the others except us. I can guarantee that nobody out there wants to hear me mope and whine about ending a man’s life. I sure as hell don’t want to anymore.
They don’t want to hear me lament the loss of my innocence or cry about how I went from pacifist to killer in a matter of seconds. They don’t want to hear me go into gory detail about the way I felt the crack of his skull reverberate up that stick of wood or describe the way the tiny bit of life he still possessed drained from his eyes as looked up at me. Nobody out there wants to hear my fucking sob story. Nobody except you. I know you’re trying to help but just let it go, I didn’t pester you to deal with your loss over the internet’s open forum. Please just let go. I’m so fucking tired of all of this.
I’ll be fine. I don’t regret it; I did what was necessary to keep JD alive. I just wish that fucker hadn’t died, that he possessed the same ungodly endurance that our dear Arkady goes on and on and on about. But you know? Despite everything, the sick feeling I wake up to every morning and this warm sting of panic that keeps invading my chest, despite it all I don’t regret it. If it was needed I’d kill him all over.
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