LOG_NAME: "WEST TENNESSEE INCIDENT"
REPORT-MAKER: [IDENTITY REDACTED].
DATE: PRE-2016 | APPROX <0100
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I’m part of the United States Army Special Forces, the “Green Berets”, have been for several years now. In my tenure I’ve deployed multiple times to Afghanistan, Iraq, a few months in Syria, several African countries, and even along the Russian and North Korean border.
Basically what I’m getting at is, I’ve been to all four corners of the globe, and I’ve seen my fair share of the good, the bad, and the ugly that comes with being part of SOCOM. I’ve got plenty of stories, some more interesting than others, but almost all of them are heavily classified behind red tape that will never be declassified until I’m dead and gone.
However, there was an incident last night that stuck out from all the others. Mostly because one, unlike all of our other operations that took us to a combat zone across the distant hemisphere, this one happened right at home in our own backyard. The enemies weren't a foreign proxy, a group of insurgents…..
...It wasn’t even human.
Not exactly, I think?... Stuff from that night is still weird, and it’s not like command is gonna give us any answers…. It’s the reason I’m bypassing everything I’ve been told, disregarding and putting my ass on the line even if I use false information and withhold names… Plenty of innocent people have died, as you’ll find out, and upper command would sooner bury it than acknowledge their deaths and give their families closure.
I don't have all the answers of what happened in that Western Tennessee national park, but I do have enough to let people know the truth- semi truth. Anyways…
For safety and privacy purposes like I stated previous, I’m withholding a lot of personal information such as names, exact locations, and unit information, referring to smaller shit that I don’t think even the scary three letter groups could really trace. Even if they cared, I hope they don’t….
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Like I said, I’m part of a SOCOM green beret a - team, you all know who the green beret’s are- you should, otherwise it’s probably best to get off this damn site and finish middle school. My A - team is nicknamed “Raider”, a general theme in our company naming things after warrior culture esc terms. Raider, Artemis, Barbarian, Centurion, etc.
My unit’s…. Unique, let’s just put it that way. It’s a 10 man element: The Team Lead, a way too salty georgian captain, with a warrant officer, a Medic, a Comms Sergeant, and 6 Weapon’s Sergeants. Normally, there would be several more classes of personnel, and it would be more balanced out, but due to the nature of our Raider, as well as the organization we were being associated with and running QRF and missions for…. Our captain decided this way was best. Considering we’re all in one piece after our last mission, he was right.
It was a calm, boring weekend at the station we were at for the rotation, put on QRF (Quick Reaction Force) for the weekend. QRF means that if someone, somewhere needs the green eyed boogeymen of the western world- We were ready to kit up and be there at a moment’s notice. It just so happened, right when some of us were getting ready to head to the bar and have our two singular fucking authorized beers of QRF month…. We were called.
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Though, when we raced back to our COP (The place where we come in for work, and all our guns and shit are stored), and got our shit ready, the captain came with some surprising information. We’d be able to probably make it back for those beers, because we were heading to west Tennessee, of all fucking places. This was confusing, we didn’t know what the status was yet, command didn’t give us any information; what the OPFOR was, what weapons they had, what the layout of the area was. Nothing.
….but, being QRF Team, Raider still kitted up and we were at the HLZ in less than twenty. While we waited for our transport, the captain finally got some information.
Apparently, a facility in the middle of uninhabited, restricted woods of a national park, had activated a distress signal. The woods it was situated in was a large national park in, like I said, Western Tennessee, with a long history of disappearances on it’s now frequently closed and blocked off trails and campsites.
This raised a few questions…. What was this facility? Why was it in a fucking national park? What happened to need to roll out the angriest green beret team this side of the east coast to act as it’s back up? Why were we going there when in an hour, someone in Libya or someone across fucking Eurasia might need us to back them up?
The captain acknowledged all of these questions, but assured us, that’s all he knew. He’s been with our team for years now, several deployments to the box and back, and he’s always been straight with us. It’s how we knew he was lying.
Our transport finally arrived, 160th SOAR, “Nightstalkers”, an aviation unit that’s been around for nearly 40 years, having dragged every single kind of SOCOM unit to every single part of the world. We expected the blackhawk they brought, but the armed escort of two birds that came with them was a surprise.
We were in domestic america, we were going to Tennessee…Why were they here?
Even with the nightstalkers flying at top speeds across several states, it still took us a couple of hours to reach our landing point. The inside of that bird going full throttle was deafening, even with the electronic headsets we were sporting, it was ear splitting.
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And yet, while sitting next to the Captain, I could tell he was speaking to someone on a different freq. This was off because normally he’d go to the Comms Sergeant and have to use the radio, but he had a side channel filled in his radio, talking to someone, writing down incoming information. I was able to peak over, and saw some of the things he was writing….
“MASSCAL”....
“Close Quarters OPFOR”....
”NO BLUFOR on X”.....
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The birds touched down in the middle of an empty parking lot, outside of the local ranger station. We filed out into the open area, the birds took off, the Captain chimed in on our team net.
[“Raider Romero this is Raider Lead- get on the net and have them hold orbit in case we need close air, Break-”]. For reference, “Romero” is our radio guy…. He then broke transmission and talked to us, [“All Raiders hold outside and take up security, I’m gonna get the fuckin’ RaGnaR, prepare for a RAMP Breif I just got more information…”]. "Ragnar" was a deliberate mispronunciation of Ranger, in the service it was used to joke about guys from the 75th Rangers or guys who took their tabs too seriously... Captain was on edge if he was cracking quips like that, that's for sure.
We all took positions behind some of the parked vehicles the rangers would use. Just to clear things up, our team was outfitted with “GPNVG” also known as “Quad Nods”, four barreled night vision optics that provide an almost daytime-like view of our surroundings.
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Couple that with our PEQ’s mounted on our rifles, allowing us to see and shoot anything at night- Well, the US Military has a saying… “We own the night”.
The treeline in front of us was lit up like a goddamn operator rave party as the captain walked back, nods down, as the ranger currently on shift followed him. He key-ed in to our net, and we could hear him through our headsets.
[“All raiders, this is lead- Target facility is 600 meters down the northwestern road, currently at our One O’Clock, Break-…..”]
[“New information states that the facility has suffered a MASSCAL situation, Break-”], “MASSCAL” means, “Mass Casualties”.
[“Enemy OPFOR unidentified, however outgoing net during distress call indicates that OPFOR is extremely dangerous, and engages at close range, Break-….”].
[“There is NO BLUFOR on site, I repeat- Main has stated there is NO BLUFOR on site, and we are to drop and any all pax we see….”].
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A few seconds passed as the captain looked back to the park ranger, “Any additional comments, Ranger Clements?”. The man was maybe in his mid forties, balding, he scratched the back of his neck, clearing his throat before speaking.
“W-whatever took your friends out, it’s tough. I heard a lot of gunfire coming from down there….. And don’t split up, whatever you do, in these woods, Don’t….. Split up”.
Our medic laughed, “Well… that’s just fucking comforting!”.
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The Captain nodded to the man as he headed back in, “Noted, everyone watch your sixes, twelves, and fucking fives- let’s go…”.
We picked up and moved out, everyone had their kind of “final moments” type of readiness drill they did before they stepped onto the path into the woods, same shit we did before stepping off out of the FOBs and compounds back east.
I let out one final breath of hot air in the cold, our medic slapped the side of his helmet hyping himself up. The captain pulled out and kissed a small crucifix necklace from underneath his combat shirt, the kind of stuff you weren’t technically allowed to wear as regs say- but none of us were snitches...
We headed down the pathway following the captain in a staggered column, a zig zag style formation. Our IR lasers scanned the trees, rocks, and foliage around us, looking desperately for any hostiles that lurked in the darkness…. Though to our paranoid readiness, nothing appeared, but, something was definitely following us.
It’s a common topic when we move through forest environments to listen to the animals around you, the crickets, the birds, the movement of animals and what direction they’re heading how fast. Moving down that path, we couldn’t hear a goddamn thing.
It’s common when you’re a group of heavily armed green men moving through a forest at night that some of the squirrels and birds will run the hell away…. But, not the crickets, or the birdsongs in the distance. There’s a certain level of ambience that animals will maintain even if they detect humans around.
There was none of that, nothing. Not a cricket, a bird, a zacada- Nothing. SOCOM and all the SF units attached to it are referred to as “Silent Professionals”, it’s in our name- so when I could hear the motherfucker 10 meters ahead of me breathing as we moved through that dead forest…
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It told me that something else was here in these woods with us. A predator, and that the forest was more afraid of it, than us.
After a long stretch of marching down the trail, the captain held a hand up signalling a halt. As it got down to my part of the column, the middle section, he called over a radio…
[“This is lead…. On me, time now”].
We quickly rushed up to what we saw was a metal chain link fence, four of our weapons sergeants and the medic took up security covering the woodline behind us as I and the other remaining one went up to the gate with the captain.
The park’s trail carried on for a few more meters before stopping dead into some trees, the dirt path broke off and formed a gravel one that led into a sectioned off area behind a chain link fence and gate. A “No Trespassers” sign hung high, and just beyond the gate we could see a small guard shack…
The captain tried to signal whoever might be in there by switching on the surefire tac light on his rifle, shining it and “Lasso” waving it all over the booth.
However, upon stopping and centering on a doorway….. We saw a large amount of blood splashed on the back wall and pooled over the floor…. An arm laying halfway out the door frame…
The captain looked to the other weapons sergeant with us, “Get your kit..”. He nodded, slinging his rifle as he dropped his assault pack, digging out a small pair of bolt cutters.
Each of the Weapons Sergeants carried a different loadout depending on what we needed. One always carried a M46, the lighter, less garbage version of the SAW, another always brought a 320 with plenty of 40mm….. Can’t name him, but “Breach man”, as I guess I’ll call him, always carried a breach kit, just in case.
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Breacher walked over to the lock- but just as he got the blades of the cutter around the lock. We heard it.
It sounded like it came from everywhere, and yet, far away at the same time. Maybe it was the echo of the forest, or maybe, something attributed to it’s abilities….
It sounded like a woman, yelling in pain, in agony, and yet, the voice was half gargled. Like, it was morphed with that of a dying animal, as it had an underlying, low tone pitch beneath it. It got under the skin of everyone, those pulling security immediately jumped their shit, scanning left, right, up and down…
Hell even the medic, big stocky dude, grew up in Brooklyn, played football before he joined meaning he as yoked as all hell when he got to our unit… the guy who once stuck his fucking fingers into a man’s neck to plug his blood, looked around nervously. “The hell was that?!”.
Our weapons sergeant with the M46 shook his head as he scanned the far off terrain muttering in a low voice….. “Some horror movie bullshit right now-…”. I remember holding my rifle’s grip tight. Everyone was equally unnerved….
Everyone, except the captain.
He just told us to press on… “Fucksakes, tighten your jockstrap ladies, let’s go….”.
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He snapped the lock off, immediately the captain and I moved in and cleared the small booth, as two more Weapon Sergeants and our medic took up covering down the gravel road.
It was a guard, no name tape or company logo, decked out in a black plate carrier.... The carrier jacket of which, had been torn into, as a large hole covered the entire area of his solar plexus, which was now fragmented and broken inside of his mulched upper body.
No bullet wounds, no bullet holes…. Just a large fucking stab wound that looks like he got ran through by a fucking lamp post.
Even under all the ethos and grit, my breath still got caught in my throat as I grunted to clear it. The captain stepped out of the small booth, spitting hard into the grass shaking his head. The medic prodded him, “What was it like?”, he grunted walking to the front of our formation “Doesn’t matter doc…”, “Fine- fine…. Leave me in the dark….”.
We formed up and moved down the gravel road in a wedge column, The captain and three weapon’s sergeants in the front wedge, with the medic, me and the other two WS’ in the back one, the comms sergeant in the middle.
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We entered the facility lot, immediately the comms sergeant linked up with the captain, and I could hear him alerting main-
[“This is Raider - Lead, we’ve reached the building….”], though it makes me wonder, if he used the comm sergeant’s radio to reach our HQ, who was he talking to on that other channel?
The lot was clear, and we got a good look at the facility. It was a grey concrete rectangle, maybe the size of a small gas station. Floodlights mounted on the bottom illuminated the gravel lot up to the dense, shadowy woodline that laid just beyond the chain link fence….
The woodline, that was still quiet.
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The masscal carnage we were told about was present outside of the building. Several guards, all in various states of mutilation, similar to the gate guard, were strewn about the gravel lot.
However unlike the gate guard, strangely, they were in heavier body armor, with rifles capable of going automatic, and spent brass everywhere…. Me and some of the other guys got on line and cleared out the back, exasperated breaths and muttering came from all of us.
“Shit’s 5.56…. Fuck we gonna do against it?” one weapons sergeant muttered. The medic kicked one guy over, surveying the large chest wound punching through his kit. “Yeah that’s-... Lissen’ guys uh…. Don’t get hit”.
But the question remained: What the fuck hit these guys?
The captain chimed in, [“Raiders on me, time now”].
We hauled ass back to him, as we stacked up at the door.
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Flowing in, we were greeted to a lobby, torn up, furniture thrown everywhere. Impact marks from rounds hitting the concrete lined the walls and ceiling, one dead guard slumped against a red stained part of the wall, the other in a crumpled heap….
A woman at the desk, not a guard, just a fucking staff member, sat back in her chair, her entire torso area torn apart. As we passed by her and headed through the double doors behind her, her empty dead eyes met mine….
The comms sergeant eyed her as we all moved for the door. “Sir…. she was unarmed”, “I can see that… Keep chatter to a minimum”.
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We cleared through the double doors to be greeted by a porcelain hallway leading into a set of stairs heading to a sublevel. The entire surface, ceiling, walls, floor, was lined with ceramic white tiles. Ceramic white tiles, that were like the rest of the scene so far…. Stained with the blood, guts, and even brain matter of the unlucky guards laid out all the way down the stairs.
I counted 8.
17 so far.
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A flickering light could be seen through the wire glass windows of the double doors at the bottom. The captain ordered us to flow in through both sides, we did. Pushing in we could see we entered into a T style hallway. It gets a bit complicated here.
Either end of the T dead ended while the middle one shot forward far down into a hall leading to two reinforced blast doors at the very end. Two immediate labs on either side were reinforced with more wire glass, and despite several cracks, impact marks, bullet holes, and even holes made in the glass… They held.
“The hell kind of glass is this shit made of?” one of the weapons sergeants said, scanning the lab through the glass. “Ballistic glass” the comms sergeant said, much to the rifleman’s dismay. “Well yeah, no shit…. But, how many fuckin’ rounds is that?”.
“Why didn’t they just take cover in here?” the medic said. The captain sighed, “Seems to be pointing to a surprise attack from the inside… emphasis on ’surprise’, jackass….”. The medic fired back, “Well sure, but it’s just a door-”.
While the hallways outside were a mess of blood, gore, guards thrown around as they were ripped apart, creating a mess of bodies, weapons, and more spent brass, the lab techs had their white coats stained with their own blood.
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My blood, and I think everyone else’s started to run cold as the pieces came together… Whatever killed them, did so indiscriminately.
We formed a rolling T heading into down the hall, braving the dim flickering lights. The weapons sergeant with the M46, our gunner, stuck to the middle, I was on his right, another rifle on his left, with the captain just behind controlling each of us. The rest of the group flowed in behind, scanning the side labs with us and covering our rear.
The windowed labs ended halfway, with two solid white doors near the double doors at the end on either side leading to closed off labs. The Captain had us pull guard on both of the side doors as the gunner aimed back down the hallway, everyone else took up security wherever it was needed.
The captain eyed the door, feelin the cracks and lines of the blast doors, looking for gaps that didn’t exist. Blood had slowly leaked out of the bottom, causing him to pick up his boot and eye it, and yet, no openings existed.
An electronic pad was positioned on the right side of the doors, the captain eyed it. It was a hand scanner- I didn’t even think those actually existed.
He jumped on his net, that private freq I keep mentioning.
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[“I’m at the doors….. Yeah at the far end, there’s a hand scanner….”]. He waited a few seconds, of deafening silence, he made an internal chuckle as he walked over to the dead body of a guard, kicking it’s arm.
[“Got one right here….. I’m sorry, repeat last-...... Alive?”], he rubbed his face, cursing under his breath.
“Fuck-” he shook his head, turning on the white light on his rifle and scanning the corpses, [“This place is a god damn slaughterhouse, how am I gon’- ”].
A crash emanated from the white lab door to the right of the blast doors, the one I was covering. Everyone paused for a second, as a second weapon’s sergeant aimed his laser at it. The captain turned, aiming his laser at the door as he approached.
[“Might have one, or might have OPFOR-Actual….. Wait one, over”].
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The Captain formed up as first man in the stack, an unusual practice but everyone else fell behind. I was the second man, two more made third and fourth. A weapon’s sergeant felt the edges of the door, then tried the handle. Locked.
Him trying the handle must have alerted whatever was inside, because a voice bellowed out.
“I-I’m in here!!! Please, I’ll let you in, just don’t shoot!!!”.
The door man looked to the captain, who nodded, “ ‘might have BLUFOR inside, stay sharp, wait on me to fire”.
There wasn’t supposed to be any BLUFOR on site.
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The door’s electronic lock opened with a metallic CLANK, the doorman grabbed the handle and pulled it open, as the four of us entered the room.
We pushed through, The captain hooked left, I pushed forward, the other two followed one of us respectively, our lasers centered on the room- and a pair of hands emerging from behind a lab table.
“P-Please!!” the voice weakly shouted, The Captain stormed over, "Hands! Now! I'll shoot you I swear to god if you don't put your goddamn hands up!". As the person stood up, we saw the hands were connected to a scientist, possibly late thirties, stringy hair connected to a rat-like face, with circular glasses….
-Glasses that flew off when the captain closed the distance, shoving him against a metal cabinet, spittle flying from the bearded mouth beneath the NVGs as he barked at him.
“ID, where is it?! Show it!!”. The Captain began roughly searching the lab tech as he pulled out his ID, he grabbed it, shoving him to the weapons sergeant on his side of the room. The lab tech was kicked down to his knee, immediately the weapons sergeant aimed his rifle at the back of his head.
The captain jumped back on that freq, [“I’m back, possible BLUFOR, prepare for ID code…-”]. He read it off in phonetics before he got the response. He looked to the weapons sergeant guarding the lab tech, “Get his ass up…”.
The lab tech was roughly pulled to his feet, I felt a bit bad, seeing as he gave off the impression of an innocent harvard intern that just wanted to learn bioscience, that got wrapped up in something and then abused by a group of operators.
Key word, felt.
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“P-Please I don’t know what’s going on, I was just running some chemical tests, we’ve gotta get out of here before-” The Captain got in the man’s face.
“Shuddup…-” he did. “You know what you’ve been fuckin’ doin’, I know what you sonsuvbitches’ been doing out here, open them doors right now…”.
The man looked shocked, “OPEN THE GOD-DAMN DOORS!!”.
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With a point from the captain the weapons sergeant shoved the man forward, into the doorframe. The man crumbled a little bit as the captain laughed, he gestured me to get him up with a single index finger. “Take your sweet time, Doctah’, let’s go!!”.
I picked him up by his shirt collar and dragged him over to the blast doors, the captain pushed him out of my grip, shoving him face first into the doors.
“Hand, on the scanner- NOW!!!”.
As the Captain grabbed the man by his wrist, the lab tech struggled to get free. “Please!!! I don’t have that access, I hurt my hand trying to hide- let me go!!”.
The medic winced at the sight a bit, uncharacteristically of a green beret, especially for a jaded as all hell medic, he spoke up. “Cap’, come on…”. The captain just turned, staring daggers into the man as he wrestled for the man’s wrist, his intense stare broke a bit with a laugh as he looked down at the lab tech.
“Just wait til’ ya’ll see, I’m tellin’ yah….”.
As the man struggled against the captain, the weapons sergeant came up from behind, shoving the man into the blast door, allowing the captain to easily place it on the scanner. The scanner lit up in a bright blue, as several lines traced and looked over his handprint.
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It then flashes green, as the electronic locks of the blast doors begin to open up. The captain dropped the man, “Well goodness gracious’!!… what do yah’ know!!”.
The doors slowly pulled open…. The room was dark, red flashing emergency lights flashed all around, as the sound of broken glass scrapped against the door. A stream of murky blue liquid, mixed in with the blood of several guards bodies that were revealed at the doorway, leaked out into the hall.
The captain grabbed the lab tech by the collar, dragging him to his feet…. “Ya’ll know these men doctah’? Friends?”.
The captain shoved him through the doorway, the lab tech slipping on the fluids and glass, cutting his right hand with a wince. We flowed in and…. What laid inside.
I said this at the start. I’ve been deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. I’ve seen mass graves that terrorist cells have used in far off countries filled with entire villages worth of people… I’ve seen kill dens inside tunnel systems…...
This…. surpassed all of that. Every horror. Every war crime. Multiple times over.
A series of gigantic glass tubes lined the walls, walls made out of monitors, hard drives, and computer systems. The path of carnage led through the pile of guards at the doorway… that makes 24 armed personnel that were taken out by something….
What really bothered, me, was what was in those murky, blue and green fuckin glass tubes. As big as a refrigerator, connected to a port on the bottom and top….. Tubes and wires inside connecting to-....
The captain shoved the lab tech into a glass tube, the pop of the man's nose echoed off the empty area as he grabbed his nose. “Well Doc?! Which one was it?! Which god dam’ tube?!”.
Tube? What was he talking about? How did he know? What was he told? Who was on the freq?
The lab tech spit out blood leaking into his mouth as the captain, standing at 6’5, a giant even among his team full of brawny SOF operators, picked him up by the collar of his blue undershirt. “I don’t-”.
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Two weapons sergeants ducked out of the way as the captain got in his face, shoving him against the left side wall, causing the monitors and computer systems to beep and light up.
“Oh!! You don’t know?! And yet your little hand opens the room you didn’t have access to?!” He roared, abandoning all silence and discretion now as the man began to sputter and sob.
“P-Please…. Please I”. The captain gritted his teeth, he quickly flipped up his nods and stared daggers into the man’s soul.
“How many people you snatched off that trail?! How many?! What kindsa’ butcherin' you do to those kids before you stuck em in there?! Which one escaped?!”.
Kids…. Butchering….
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Something in my mind stopped, and I switched on my rifle’s taclight. A heavy pit in my stomach formed as I flashed it on the tubes. There were…. People, in those tubes. They were people. Wire and tubes now poked into see-through and murky flesh, as the bodies of the kidnapped floated, mutated, dissected, and changed.
One person’s skin ran reptilian like up their left arm, before merging with a strange gaping hole in their chest, their skull protruding out of the skin in their head. By breathing stuttered a bit as I backed up a few steps, glass crunching under my boots. Curses murdered by the others in the room as we all began to look...
Another one’s mouth was sealed at the front, two more jagged, messed up sets of teeth poked out either side, their eyes were sealed, skin covering defined sockets on their head.
The medic flashed his on one where their spin stuck out through their back, the vertebrae was larger than a normal person’s, the bone sticking out inches longer in some areas… their legs bending backwards like a dog’s…
“Jesus man, this shit’s…..” he gagged a bit, coughing as he looked away. I had to pry my eyes, my mind was frying just looking at..-
“They better be dead…Oh I swear to the lord himself if they ain’t!!” The captain said sternly, as the man sobbed and nodded. “Yeees….”, the captain raised an eyebrow,
“You sure?!”,
“YES!!! They died during surgery-”,
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“If you’re lying to me I swear to christ, I will give you my secondary and make you euthanize every single fuckin one!!”. The captain shoved the lab tech forward, into the center of the isle, I looked down, shaking my head as the images of those…. Things, those former humans, now… I don’t know… -the images burned into the film of my brain.
“Where’ she gone, Doctah’ ?” The captain said, sternly, squaring up to the man, who sobbed, as he shrugged. “I-I-”. “Where!!! IS!!! IT?!?!”, the man continued to cry…
“It escaped!!!! It killed everyone, it cut through the guards…. It cut through everyone…. It killed all of my friends”.
This caused the captain to nearly bust a fuckin’ blood vessel from the look he gave him, balling up his fist, and driving the armored knuckle of his oakley gloves into the gut of the lab tech. This caused the smaller, weaker, spineless lab tech to buckle over, dropping to his hand and knees, now favoring an injured hand and a probably burst spleen.
“Your friends?!?! YOUR FRIENDS?!?!- You mean the friends that kidnapped a twenty two year old girl!! A mother of three!! A fourteen year old son, and turned them into fuckin’ monsters?!?! What about them?!?!”.
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This earned only more sobs from the lab tech, as the captain turned, hands on his hips as scoffed. He looked at the medic, who only stared back through his NODS…. The captain turned to look at him.
“You got to the count of ten, and if you don’t give me a single whereabouts of this thing, I will start grabbing tools and cuttin’ your little weasel ass up like ya’ll did to these kids!!”. The captain loomed over the man, grabbing him by his hair.
“S-Sir please!!!” the lab tech pleaded.
“Oooooone…. Twooooooo….. Threeeeeee-” The captain counted, some of us looked away, others shook their heads. Not out of shame of our leader… There wasn’t a man in the room who wouldn’t do what he did right now after seeing….. Them.
“It’s- It’s in the woods!!! You heard it, it did its…. Freaky fuckin yell just- like- ten minutes ago!!!”. The captain laughed, letting go of the man’s hair as he whipped his head forward. “Ya’ll hear that?! It’s in the fuckin’ woods!!!”.
He pulled out his M17, his 9mm sidearm, pulling the slide back a bit to make sure it was chambered “Foooour….. Fiiiiiiiive….. Siiiiiiix…..”. The man stood up, and at this point, I kicked out his extended leg, dropping him back to his knees. The man looked at me, then at the captain.
“You can’t do this!!! This is illegal!!”.
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Before the captain could finish his could….. we heard it.
It echoed all the way down the facility halls, reverberating off the glass tubes in the room. That half feminine, half monstrous cry…. Except this time it didn’t come from the far off mountains, or trees…. It came, from up the fucking stairs.
Then, the lights went out.
I don’t know if it was prior damage to the facility, the electric works, or something else. But they zapped out. The lights in the halls, the lights on the stairs, the lights in the room, the electronics, the lights in the tanks. All of it….
It cried out again, and this time…. I think I heard it say.
Help me.
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Anyone who had their nods up, flicked them down, as all of us trained our lasers down the dark hall beyond the doors. The slight shakiness of all the green lasers told the same stories, all of the death, all of the shit in the tanks- it had everyone spooked.
The captain came up alongside me and the medic, he looked back to the lab tech. “You run….. You die….-”, the man swallowed and smothered his misery, “I-I know…-”, The captain corrected him in a low tone “No you reeeeeeally’ don’t….”.
The creature cried out again.
“Heeeeeeeelp….. Meeeeeeeeeee”.
The sounds of something hard impacting the tile floors sounded out, as it approached us through the dark abyss. More footsteps, then another cry.
“Heeeeeeeelp…… meeeeeeeeee”.
The gunner lets out a shaky breath as he cracks his neck, more footsteps, then another cry.
“Heeeeeeeeelp…… meeeeeeeee”.
It’s maybe 5 meters from the door now…..
“Lord almighty….” the captain muttered….
I couldn’t see much in that darkness then, but I saw what everyone else saw, I saw enough. It’s body was easily 6ft tall. Two gigantic, boney, mantis like legs that were dark from blood stepped into the doorway.
It’s head was smooth, it’s large teeth shining in the darkness…. And it’s eyes glowed like an animal….
It’s eyes glowed.
It could see us.
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We all froze, we had rifles trained on it, a fucking machine gun trained on it, a room full of green berets, the best of the best, and everyone froze.
The captain was the first to fire, slamming his trigger as he shot .223 death into that crime against existence.
The gunner opened up as well, and then the medic, two more weapons sergeants also shot it- it yelled at us, cried out, like an agonized woman pleading for help.
Then, it lunged.
Running and slamming through a test tube, glass flew everywhere causing several of us to shield our faces, as the water flooded the floor, and the deformed body that was inside flopped down near our feet. A horrendous, rotted smell filled the air.
“Fuckin- Jesus!!!” the medic sputtered out, gagging a bit as he kicked it away
The creature now screamed, as a rifleman that it jumped near backed up, it leaped on top of him, shoving that boney mandible into his left shoulder, pinning him to the ground as he screamed, thrashing his elbow into the thing as he kicked it’s stomach.
But it didn’t attack him, it just eyed the scientist.
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He attempted to run for his life, but the thing jumped on top of him, pinning him face first into the murky wet floor…. That’s when I noticed the six smaller human-like arms on it’s torso.
Tt’s main mandile pinned him to the ground, the arms, some normal, some with boney spikes for fingers, others just lined with fucking sharp teeth began to rip into the man’s back. The lab tech screamed, his lab coat was torn open as it began to dig down into his back.
Some still fired shots, but the didn’t didn’t even react, it didn’t even move.
Just continued to tear into that vile- but, poor son of a bitch.
The captain’s voice lit up the comms, as he and the medic rushed to pick the man up, and heave him on the captain’s shoulders.
[“We can’t engage him here- outside, NOW!!!”].
He was right, it thrived on close quarters, it ran guys through before they could pick it apart.
We all ran, nerves shot, weapons hot from firing into a thing that didn’t react, just acted off of animalistic intent. The power off so we couldn’t close those blast doors, all we could do was run.
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I nearly slipped on the glass as we booked it out of there, firing some desperate pot shots into the lab with the gunner.
The lab tech’s screams echoed throughout the hallway as we booked it up the stairs.
It was gonna be done with him soon.
The gunner and I covered the captain as we broke out into the open air, the smell of rot and death replaced by the open piney air of the forest. Several men broke out road flares, tossing them everywhere giving us much needed light in the form of greens, blues, reds and purples….
The captain dropped the man behind a beaten up and wrecked sedan, as the medic began to patch him up. The gunner deployed his bipod and aimed at the doors of the facility from the car’s hood.
The captain positioned different men to where they all could fire on the door, far enough away from the thing’s grasp. [“Romero, get on that fuckin’ met and call in that air!!”]. The comms sergeant began to go to work behind the sedan, which was now a makeshift command point.
I took aim behind a large SUV with several other weapons sergeants, we all aimed at the door.
The screaming had stopped.
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The silence was broken by it’s boney mandibles as it rushed out into the open air, and with all the flares and chemlights and even the captain’s taclight, we finally got a good look.
It’s skin was a mix between pink from it’s exposed muscles, to a see through clear layer covering other parts.
Boney calcium like armor had formed over a lot of its body, and it’s back to legs formed smaller mandible-like features at the back….
And it’s head…. An exposed skull- all to human eyes peering out at is in rage, as it’s larger, unhinged jaw opened, and it roared out it’s deafening cry at us.
The gunner was the first to open up, the blast of 5.56 tore through the armour on it’s boney legs and torso. The thing recoiled at first, and then hissed, as it charged forward. The captain rolled from his place in front of the sedan’s side, the thing stuck it’s two large legs into the roof, badly denting it.
The medic quickly covered the wounded weapons sergeant, shielding him as the thing peered down at the two. The captain quickly got it’s attention, aiming fire at the back of it’s head, it roared with a vengeance as it charged at the captain, he fell back to the sedan running out of our line of fire as the thing barreled towards us.
The thing stuck a spiked limb inside the hood, impaling it, and then another, just to my left. I circled around and behind it as I fired. It cried out, blood now pouring from it’s wounds as it’s calcium plating was cracking and falling off enmasse.
The thing turned to me, and as I flicked my M4 to auto and laid into it, it just barreled at me, shoving me to the ground. It’s smaller, demonic hands reached for me as I licked them away, it’s jaws snapped, as I held my rifle in the way, shielding my face as it gnawed on the metal.
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The gunner then blasted a chunk of it’s exposed skull away, staggering it as it turned- the captain whipped his stock into the thing’s head, then backpedaled as he fired off another burst of rounds.
The thing turned at him, roaring viciously as the captain dropped his empty mag, he slapped in a fresh one as the thing lunged at him, both mandibles raised.
The glass exploded out of the SUV’s windows, as the captain dropped levels, firing into its stomach as he circled out back into the open.
The creature roared as it went to move for him again- but it couldn’t, it’s large front limbs were stuck all the way inside of the vehicle.
The captain let his rifle hang slung on his front as he reached for something on his kit, it was small, 16oz of steel, with a metal spoon, and pin. 292Please respect copyright.PENANACfhr7ZTNpo
An M67 Fragmentation Grenade.
He turned towards us, “GET BACK!!!!!”.
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Everyone who was in the open ducked for cover, the gunner and several weapons sergeants retreated behind a series of concrete jersey barriers. I ran and slid behind the sedan, helping the medic to shield our wounded battle buddy.
I heard the distinct sound of the spoon flying and the whistling of the grenade….
The captain vaulted himself over the car hood with the comms sergeant, covering his radio operator’s head as they both went prone….
The explosion was thunderous, the shockwave of the grenade shook everyone and even rattled me a bit from beind so god damn close.
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Shrapnel and fragments flew everywhere, impacting the concrete barriers, the building, any windows on the sedan that already weren’t broken, were shattered….
A few seconds passed as we all hesitantly started to life our heads- then dropped them as the SUV’s gas tank seemingly erupted and detonated, engulfing the wreck in a fireball to large I felt like the flames were touching my fucking face….
The captain popped up, aiming on top of the hood of the car, then I and several others joined him, peeking from behind our points of cover as we looked to see if that had done it….
The SUV was a burning skeleton, an inferno from all of the ignited gasoline covered the frame, the ground around it….. And the beast….. As it definitely pulled it’s last remaining mandible, it’s front left one…. The only appendage it had left, and stumbled out from the flames….
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It’s skin popped, it’s muscles boiled, and with all of the see through skin and bone plating torn and burnt off, it gazed around, it’s eyes ruptured and melted….
“Heeeeeeeeelp….. Meeee-”.
The gravel crunched as it’s charred and still burning body slumped forward. The captain emerged from behind the vic as only a few of us dared to approach the thing.
He lifted his nods, this time pulling his M17 back up and aiming it at the thing’s head.
One-..Two- ...Three shots into the thing’s head, the damaged and charred skull caving in….
A circle of light illuminated us as the rotary blades of the blackhawk sounded out overhead. I shielded my face and lifted my nods to avoid the spotlight blinding me….
[“OPFOR-Actual down, building’s secure…”].
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The ensuing hour was one that was just shrouded in…. I don’t know, mystery I guess. The captain went against prior missions of telling us to go prone and pull security, putting the gunner at the sedan by the gate, and telling the rest of us to watch the woodline.
When the vans showed up, that's when he told us to “Chill out”.
They weren’t really vans, they were more like armored trucks.
Now for the sake of being classified and remaining anonymous, I can’t divulge a lot about them…..
I’m definitely not saying the black shirts were wearing black multicam combat uniforms, with kits, weapons, and gear available that would definitely make them a private sector group. I’m not saying their uniforms were sterilized with all patches, logos, and markers stripped.
I’m also not saying that the hazmat suits looked way beyond anything our MOPPE system has, with built in air coolers and multiple layers for protection. I’m not saying they brought several metal case in from their armored vics, and I’m not saying they brought an advanced survelliance drone with them.
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I will say they weren’t really hostile- fuck, one even offered us a cigarette.
The bird landed at the opposite side of the building, the open lot where they eventually told us to head. We prepared our guy for CASEVAC on a litter with the blackhawk and loaded up as the captain finished talking to some guy in a suit.
He was much shorter, maybe 5’8. He bore the look of a younger, but still weathered man. His hair was slicked back and had a hard part, and the protruding spot on his left side beneath his coat told me he was armed, with something that wasn’t meant for concealment.
The captain eventually joined us, as soon as the aviation crew shut the door, he popped his helmet off- much to their anger, and slumped back in his seat. When we touched base and got back to the COP, our sister team, “Artemis”, was put on QRF, and we were let off for the weekend.
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I’ve been thinking about that shit for days now…. About what those people did to them in that lab…. What the captain said. They kidnapped them, cut them up, changed them…. All for, what? Some sick fantasy? Who the fuck even owned that lab?
There were no US markings, and the guards weren’t armed with anything the military had... it was all private sector?
Like I said before…. There’s still a lot I don’t know, but what I do know, is that those fuckers got exactly what they deserved. That thing, crying out for help, pleading for us to make it’s suffering end, took it to that fucker in the lab, for kidnapping all of those people, for mutilating them, and turning them into stillborn corpses to-...
The more I think about it, the more it makes me sick. I don’t know who the fuck those guys were that relieved us, they didn’t have any markings, some of them were speaking fucking german if my memory serves…. But whoever they are, I hope they learn from their mistakes.
And never tamper with that evil shit again…..
[Log://-Ended]292Please respect copyright.PENANAOPpbAIao3T