Chapter 1
The morning sun has risen on the desert landscape. A gentle breeze blows by as the dust twirls into the air. A man is driving on the road making his way to a nearby gas station to refuel his white f-250 Ford truck. He pulls up to the fuel pump stepping out of the vehicle. The man has a slender athletic build, looking no older than thirty-seven, standing a little over six foot, and bald with a thick brown beard. He wears sunglasses with a long sleeve shirt with gray cargo pants. The gas station looked rustic, old as though it hasn’t seen a fresh coat of paint in years. The man began to pump into his vehicle as he looked at the vastness of the open desert, while feeling the cool morning air on his face until he heard the click letting him know refueling was complete.
The man makes his way into the gas station to get a couple things for the road. When he stepped inside the convenient store the man no longer felt the cool fresh air of the desert. Now, the air is musty like the place hadn’t installed proper air conditioning since the last time the store was painted, which had to be nearly a decade. The floor was dirty and dusty showing zero attempts to be cleaned or mopped. The man approached the counter being greeted by a slender man, balding with grayish brown hair, looked to be in his late fifties wearing a worn buttoned mechanic shirt with a name tag saying the name “Tony”.
“Anything I can help you with today mister”, asked Tony, as he bared his yellowish brown teeth.
“Just a pack of camels for me thanks and this lighter”, said the man, while grabbing a lighter hanging near the dusty counter.
Tony reached for the cigarette pack stored behind him. The man paid for the items and as he was about to step out of the convenience store Tony spoke.
“Tell me what do you do to own a truck like that? I know the maintenance on one of those is quite the financial upkeep”, he asked, in a curious tone.
“What I do isn’t pleasant, but it pays. Why would you work in a place like this and not do something else”, the man asked, also in a curious tone.
“Because some people don’t mind being forgotten. You have a pleasant day mister”, Tony said, giving the man a smile.
The man exited the convenient store stepping into his truck as he lit a cigarette rolling down the window. He pulls out his phone calling a number as someone answers.
“Bill, have you made it to the site yet”, asked the voice on the other line.
“No, not yet Kevin. Had to stop for gas and smokes real quick. I should arrive in about a half hour or so”, said Bill, as he blew a puff of smoke, glad to feel the morning air.
“I thought you said you were giving those up? Does this job make you nervous? You can be honest Bill, no one here would blame you since this isn’t a typical mission”, asked Kevin in a concerned tone.
“Well, since this is a potential black spot site where fifteen people have disappeared in the last month. Knowledge like that alone can make anyone a little nervous. But hey it’s a good thing I’m a Detector right? Not a Neutralizer. And sometimes I need a little buzz to ease the tension Kev”, said Bill, taking another puff of smoke.
“Believe me buddy I get it. What you do is tough, but you’ll pull through like you said you’re just a Detector. You do a good job Bill and this time won’t be any different”, said Kevin, as though trying to keep up Bill’s spirits.
“Too bad this is also a thankless job”, said Bill.
“Thankless yes, but also a crucial necessity to keep the public safe. Now follow-up when you arrive and please fill out a report on your findings without half-assing any details. I don’t need the extra workload”, said Kevin, in a lecturing tone.
“Uh huh talk soon Kev”, said Bill, hanging up the phone throwing the half smoked cigarette to the ground, before getting into his truck. He started up the engine then took off driving away from the gas station.
After a half hour of driving Bill took his truck off road onto a dirt path leading to an abandoned town. Many of the buildings were still standing with faded and chipped paint. The architecture looked to be modern suburbia built around the 80′s. A lot of the buildings had doors missing, windows with sun damage or smashed, with all the paint faded and chipped. Bill parked his vehicle a few feet from the edge of the town being cautious not to get too close to any of the buildings. He got out of the vehicle then started walking towards the back of his truck opening his trunk. Bill pulled out a black case unlocking it revealing a white drone with a camera attached to it. He pulls out the drone, setting it on the dirt of the desert ground, then pulling out his phone calling Kev.
“Bill, you arrive at the site?”, Kev asked, in a curious tone.
“That’s a big ten-four buddy. I have the drone set-up and ready to fly. I’ll be sending over some pictures your way before I begin my investigation on foot”, said Bill, turning on the drone with his remote pad.
“ Okay good. I’ll keep an eye out for those photos. Just watch yourself alright. Take your time and figure out what’s going on. Hopefully, we can prevent more people from going missing”, said Kev, in a nervous tone.
“Roger, I’ll handle it”, said Bill, finishing setting up his remote pad.
“And Bill”, said Kevin.
“What’s up buddy”, asked Bill.
“Don’t play hero if you find any of the victims alive. We lose enough Detectors as is. Just detect and leave understood”, said Kevin, in a serious tone.
This made Bill pause for a moment. The whole reason he took this job was to help people and protect them from the unexplained anomalies that occur in the world. He knew if anyone was alive he may morally not be able to help himself and an argument was not worth it with Kevin.
“I got it. It’ll be fine. I’ll send over my findings and hopefully put this little mystery to bed, Talk later”, said Bill, hanging up on Kevin.
Bill, using his remote pad, started to fly the drone over the crumpling rooftops over the town. The drone began taking pictures of different sections of the town as Bill searched for anything that may stand out to him. After twenty minutes went by Bill came across something. There were several vehicles parked in the same area a few blocks away from his position. He made the drone hover down close to the cars to take pictures and film video inside the vehicles as well as getting images of the license plates. All photos and videos he’s received from the drone were sent off to Kevin. Once he was done looking over the vehicles, Bill continued his investigation. Within a few minutes another clue had caught his eye. The drone hovered over a building that looked to be an old fashion retail store. The building was over two stories tall and the thing that caught Bill’s attention was a black faded trail leading from the store’s entrance steps, along the dusty ground to a sewage tunnel entrance a few hundred feet away from the building. Bill was unable to get any clear photos of inside the building due to no openings of any kind where the drone could safely enter. The windows were covered in dust and grime, which made it near impossible to see inside with the drones view, but what could be made out were outlines of what looked to be like numerous people. All the outlines were standing upright and very still. Bill flew the drone back to his location making it land at his feet and then he packed it away. Bill started grabbing his equipment for his on foot investigation. He grabbed a tool belt wrapping it around his waist, along with a hatchet Bill added to the belt. Bill then grabbed a small black box that was locked with a combination lock. When he opened the box it contained four grenades. The grenades were all different colored, two blue, one green, and one red. The blue were flash grenades, the green was a frag grenade, and the red was an incendiary. Bill grabbed one flash grenade and the incendiary hooking them to his belt, before locking up the black box. He then reached in his trunk grabbing a large gun case unlocking it with a key on his key ring revealing a black tactical twelve gauge shotgun. Bill grabbed one of his shotgun shell slings over his shoulder strapping it across his chest, before loading shells into the weapon in case of any possible threat. Bill, now armed and equipped, started making his way into the town towards where he observed the abandoned vehicles. The moment Bills foot stepped over the towns entry line he paused. He immediately felt eyes watching him as though catching the attention of something big. Goosebumps covered his entire body as the flight or fight filled his being, while his heart raced expecting to be pounced on by a predator any second. A call came in from Kevin making Bill jump a bit as he answered.
“What’s up Kev?”, asked Bill.
“Hey Bill, I’ll make this quick. So those license plates you sent me do belong to some of the most recent missing people, but some of those vehicles belong to people who’ve been deemed missing for a decade or more”, said Kevin.
“Sounds like we’re on the right track to what we’re looking for here.Did you get a chance to look through the other pictures I sent you? The one with dried up blood trail”, asked Bill, nervously lighting up a cigarette trying to hide the shakiness in his voice.
“I did. More than likely some answers we’re seeking lie in there. Are you alright? You sound nervous”, asked Kevin, noticing the shakiness in Bill’s voice.
“I’m being watched Kev. Not sure what the deal is, but I think we have an honest to God black spot site. I’ll confirm here shortly”, said Bill, taking a couple puffs of smoke, before taking a deep breath of the desert air.
“If that’s true I’ll start prepping everyone on my end. Once confirmed on your end we will mark this location off the map. Stay safe buddy you got this”, said Kevin, before hanging up.
“Thanks Kev”, Bill said, putting his phone away.
Bill started walking through the town passing by the rundown buildings keeping his shotgun handy as the further he went into the town the stronger the presence he felt around him was surrounding him. He made it over to where all the vehicles were parked and started checking out the exterior and interiors seeing if any clues to what happened would help him piece together what happened to the owners. He went from car to car searching for any sign of struggle. There was no sign of damage nor any sign of violence. It is though the people who came here simply parked their vehicles and walked pleasantly into oblivion. After Bill inspected the cars he started making his way to where the Old Fashioned retail store was located and where that blood trail can be followed. The closer he got to the store and the hairs on the back of his neck raised as an overwhelming pressure felt like it would crush him. Bill repeatedly took deep long breaths to help keep his composure as sweat formed on his brow. He found himself standing in front of the store looking down at the blood trail following it with his eyes. Bill then brought his attention back to the store seeing something very wrong as he started approaching the double glass doors. He cautiously opened the doors, readying his shotgun for anything that might attack him. A horrible rotten odor hit his nostrils immediately making his stomach tighten as he backed away from the door puking on the steps. Bill regained his composure despite being unable to stop his hand from shaking. He went back to the front door to look inside seeing something that made his skin crawl. There were over thirty mannequins of different genders, age ranges, and amounts of deterioration. The mannequins were all grouped together with backs towards Bill all on their knees as though worshiping something. Bill began making his way into the store aiming his weapon, readying himself for anything that may move, taking the shotgun off safety. The air was still and quiet, so quiet it was deafening as each step Bill took echoed in the store. He maneuvered around the mannequins noticing they all had their hands clasped together in front of them, while leaning their heads down with red painted runes throughout their bodies. He slowly made his way to the front of where all the mannequins were praising, noticing an altar covered in red cloth and paint. The floor around the altar was also covered in red painted runes. Bill inspected the bizarre scene by getting out his phone taking pictures for Kevin. He knew he had to locate where the smell of rot and decay was coming from, which seemed to be the second floor. Bill looked around, noticing a flight of stairs. He made his way over to the stairs noticing dried up blood covered the floor leading to the steps. The smell only became more pungent as he started moving up the steps noticing the dried up blood getting thicker and thicker. When he reached the top of the stairs he froze. His eyes widened in terror, no longer able to keep his weapon steady due to his hands shaking erratically. He gazed upon bodies stacked on top of each other, others sitting upright against the wall, all of which had their heads missing and skin removed. Mounds of flesh rotting on top of bone. Bill simply couldn’t stomach taking a picture of the nightmare before him. Suddenly, for a brief second his terror subsided due to a noise of movement sounding like plaster grinding against plaster on the first floor. He made his way back down the steps aiming his shotgun doing his damndest keeping the weapon steady. When he made it to the bottom he saw all the mannequins were now all standing. Bill made a swift dash for the exit only focusing on his safety as he burst his way through the front glass doors. Bill removed the incendiary grenade from his work belt pulling the pin and tossing it into the building setting it ablaze. Bill took a few deep breaths trying to calm himself down, but almost immediately terror again filled his body. He heard quick moving footsteps coming from the burning fashion store as several mannequins burst their way out of the front doors. The mannequins had embers flickering from scorched parts of their bodies, as they moved like characters from a stop-motion picture. The movement was uncanny and bizarre, as Bill aimed his weapon at the mannequins open firing on them. The gun shots didn’t slow the mannequins down as the quickly charged Bill. He managed to fire off a few shells blasting off limbs from the mannequins bodies before retreating and sprinting back towards his truck away from the burning horrors. Bill was filled with adrenaline and fear making it back to his truck outrunning his pursuers jumping into the open cargo area. He hunkered down reloading his weapon before taking aim at whatever gets within range of his truck. He noticed smoke trails in the air coming from the mannequins that were pursuing Bill suddenly stopped as he waited. He continued to wait, noticing the smoke trails were no longer moving, remaining in one place. After waiting a few more moments to be safe, Bill figured if the mannequins were still in pursuit they would’ve already been within firing range. He gave himself time to clear his head of all the fear he just experienced doing everything he can to focus and gather his thoughts. He realized he allowed himself to lose control and make a drastic decision burning hard evidence to prove the location was a black spot site along with the bodies of the missing people. So, many cases that could’ve been put to rest are now all up in flames. He knows there will be consequences for this action, but for now he needs to finish his investigation.
Bill climbed off the back of the truck and started heading to the smoke trails. He made his way over to where the smoke trails were seen. When he got close enough he saw the mannequins on the ground burning with most of the runes on their bodies burnt. He approached the closest mannequin with his shotgun at the ready in case any of them moved. Bill used the butt of his gun to knock off the head before grabbing it. Once he grabbed the mannequin’s head he took it around the corner of a building to get out of the desert sun. He crouched down in the shade to inspect the lifeless head of the faceless mannequin noticing a line going across the cranium. Bill was able to remove the head cap revealing there was a human skull cap underneath the plastic cap. The rest of the human skull was still inside the mannequin’s head. In utter disbelief Bill looked at the skull cap noticing a red insignia painted in the middle of the interior of the skull cap. He pulled out his phone and sent some pictures of the mannequin, the insignia, and the skull to Kev. Bill now knew there was only one more piece to the puzzle to figure out what was happening in this desolate place. Bill got back to his feet as his phone rang due to an incoming call from Kevin. Bill answered the phone, but here nothing was getting through.
“Kev? You there man? Did you get the pictures I sent you? Kev”,Bill asked, but received no response.
Bill suddenly heard agonizing screams of people blasting his ear drum as he threw his phone away after being startled comforting his ear. Freaked out by what just happened he walked over to his phone seeing it was longer on the call. Bill picked up his phone putting it in his pocket as he walked back to his truck hoping to get a signal to get in touch with Kev. He tried calling again but the call didn’t go through. After several attempts he got in his truck and sat in the driver’s seat reflecting on everything that transpired mustering up the courage for the final part of his investigation. He knew he had to check the sewage tunnel and find out why the blood trail led there. Bill wanted so desperately to leave, but he knew there was no choice if he wanted to succeed in getting enough evidence to prove this location was a black spot site. It needed to be cut off from the world, so no else befalls the same fate of all those who died here. If he fails someone else is going to have to do this job and their lives would be at risk. He couldn’t allow his fears, and his inadequacies to be the reason this nightmare continues. It’s time to see this case through to the end as his decision was clear the moment he opened his truck door. He stepped out moving towards the trunk grabbing his tool box pulling out a couple flares as well as a flashlight adding it all to his tool belt. Bill then made his way through the town to where the sewage tunnel resided as he passed over the scorched mannequins he shot at earlier. He made his way past the burning building he set ablaze as the fire was starting to spread rapidly. He followed the blackened trail to what looked like a large pipe sticking out of the ground with a valve lock to seal the top of the pipe. Bill noticed the old dried blood covering the pipe. He stepped onto the small metal ladder that was attached to the pipe. He started to turn the valve on the top of the pipe, unsealing it, and opening the pipe that led into the darkness of a tunnel. Bill took one last look at the blue sky feeling the heat of the sun as a small comfort before confronting whatever nightmare lay waiting in the dark red glowing tunnel below. He climbed over the top of the pipe after strapping his shotgun to his back, while he started making his way down into the dark. The sooner he reached the tunnel floor the more uneasy he felt with each step making the fear in the pit of his stomach grow. When Bill reached the concrete floor he was trembling before letting go of the metal ladder. He unstrapped his shotgun, attaching the flashlight, giving him a bit more light. He started to walk forward into the claustrophobic void of the concrete tunnel. Besides his flashlight the only other source of light Bill had was from the red glowing lights that were attached along the concrete wall of the tunnel that turned on and off every few seconds. Tunnel would glow red then go completely black over and over again. Bill began sweating as his knees trembled with anxiety though he kept pressing forward. He suddenly noticed with each step he took a distorted humming could be heard in his ears. The sound was otherworldly, something a creature of the deep ocean would use to contact others of its kind. With every step the humming got louder and more distorted as though the mind of man was never meant to be capable of comprehending and yet Bill hears it ringing through his mind. Bill was now uncontrollably shaking throughout his whole body sweating profusely out of pure terror. He still went deeper into the tunnel refusing to give up despite noticing the walls were no longer concrete. They were a completely different texture as he used his flashlight to get a closer look. He gasped noticing a tattoo on the skin that was hanging on the walls. The walls were covered in the skin of the missing people. Animal furs were also hanging alongside the human skin. Bill could no longer contain himself as he started having a panic attack taking a knee, while he struggled to breathe. He did his best to regain his composure, but the constant humming was getting louder making him feel confused and distorted. He kept trying to calm himself down as he looked ahead, noticing an end to the tunnel, which distracted him enough to get back on his feet and control his breathing. He aimed his shotgun straight ahead hoping to kill whatever may be waiting for him as the humming grew louder deafening Bill’s ears. When he finally made it to the end of the tunnel and it stopped. The humming finally stopped. All Bill could hear now was ringing. Constant everlasting ringing. He looked upon the massive room covered completely in bones and darkness. It was an endless void with mountains of bones of humans and animals alike. At this moment Bill reached his breaking point, dropping his gun. Suddenly, one of the mountains of bones began to move, there was something underneath. Something that wore the bones covering its form completely. Something Bill couldn’t mentally comprehend with tears streaming down his face in a panic as he turned around and ran for his life. He knew the thing was after him feeling the vibrations of something incredibly large coming for him chasing him down the tunnel. Bill was able to make it to the ladder climbing as quickly as he could. He felt a sharp cold numbness on his leg, he was able to make it to the top and closed the hatch sealing the hole turning the valve. He fell back collapsing hard on the desert ground as he noticed half his leg was missing with blood pouring from the wound. Before going into shock he tore a piece of his shirt and he tied it tightly around his leg like a tourniquet. He then grabbed a flare lighting it and burned the wound to cauterize it, making him scream in agony, but he couldn’t hear himself scream. He couldn’t hear anything anymore. Bill felt dread fill his body as tears continued to stream down his face, while he started to crawl his way back to his truck. It was a slow process. Bill crawled and crawled along the hot dirt feeling that he would pass out at any moment from the pain. Despite losing his hearing and half his leg he persevered, refusing to stop no matter how much suffering he had to put himself through until he reached his truck. He continued to crawl, making it to the truck struggling to climb into the passenger’s seat since it was closest. Though he was exhausted, bled out, and coming to terms with becoming deaf, he reached into his pocket pulling out his phone and messaged Kevin about his situation sending an SOS, so help can be sent to come get him. Bill sat there on the verge of passing out still shaking in horror. What felt like hours he waited for a reply. He checked his phone as he started to doze off seeing there was no reply. He kept waiting, praying that the message was received. The final moment before passing out he thought he felt a vibration coming from his phone.
The End
