WEDNESDAY JULY 27TH, 2011
(Maybes and Mysteries)

12:20 AM
huhwake. donnie wants to switch, she needs sleep.
where are we. manteca. outside a wal-mart.
she's showing me the road map.

12:23 AM
went outside for a minute. pissed on a tree. stretched my legs.
I may not know exactly where to take us, but all we need to find is one camper, and we'll be talking to all of them.

12:24 AM
there's a river not too far from here. water's good, right? stay along the water.
okay. sleep well, donnie.

1:06 AM
Slowing down. The other two are still asleep. Gonna trawl along here a bit. I think this is the Stanislaus River.

1:13 AM
Dead silent around here. I have the window open and there's no sound, no wind, no monster noises, nothing.
Town of Riverbank and it's a ghost town.

1:21 AM
Circled around. Only thing of note, and it is pretty noteworthy, is that big black dog waiting on every corner, watching our car drive by.
I'm taking that as my cue to move on. Nothing for us here.

1:32 AM
Oakdale now. Same as before, following the river, circling around.
Not stopping for that dog.

1:37 AM
I thought it was just as quiet here, but when I slow to a stop, roll down the window, and listen real close, I can just about hear a powerful thump. thump. thump. in the distance.
We heard that on the border when we were just entering California. What is it? Oil pump-things? It's too regular to be anything natural.
…
thump. thump. thump.
Reminds me of the thumpers from Half-Life 2. Highway 17.
.…
thump... thump... thump…
Yeah, I don't know. I'd better keep driving. Not hearing anything else.

1:59 AM
I've circled around Oakdale. I sure hope I'm doing something smart here.

2:25 AM
This town's called Waterford. It's on the Tuolumne.
It's even smaller than Riverbank.

2:27 AM
Is that...?
Something humanoid laying on the road. Slowly raising its head to look at us. Dead eyes.
EAT...?
...it growled at me and its jaw fell off.
Just a zombie.
Thanks for nothing.

2:45 AM
sighhhh.
I've parked on a bridge on Hickman Road. Got out of the car, leaned on the railing, looked out at the river below. There's a park down there, lot of trees.
I got to wondering about birds, birds singing in trees. I still see them on our travels, even through all of this. I always liked birds. Their jittery movement and iterative singing remind me of myself. Always looking, taking things in. Always taking flight.

2:46 AM
...birds.

2:51 AM
I drove around to access the park directly. River Park. Creative name.
There's gotta be birds in here.
..almost got out of the car and went in there by myself. And ordinarily I would.
But I think this time I ought to do things right.

2:52 AM
Donnie?
"hm?"
Donnie, I'm going to go looking for EAT. I want you to come with me.
"…"
So I'm not charging into the Fears by myself.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm waking up..."

2:53 AM
Woke up Tiger too. We want him to stay in the car, he can go back to sleep if he wants, but. We had to tell him we're going off and will be back.
I had to tell him about EAT.
If he has any suspicions, he didn't voice them. We did literally just wake him up.

2:55 AM
Donnie took a moment to change back into her combat suit. It's, uh, quite worn by now, but I'm sure it still offers some protection.
Now we're heading into the park.
"Do you expect to see Camper here or something?"
No, I expect to see birds. And I expect them to see us.

2:59 AM
We're sitting at a park bench.
There's, uh. Yep. There's definitely birds here. In the trees. One or two walking around on the ground, pecking at bugs.
Must be nocturnal.
…
Yep.
..this will be boring, I'm sorry.
…
"..what if these are all just regular birds?"
Then at least we've done some birdwatching?

3:15 AM
Ah!
Fell.. fell asleep for a bit there.
Donnie. Donnie, wake up.
Something's splashing in the river.

3:16 AM
That's a giant ice-blue tentacle rising out of the water, as wide as a small building, its tip curling like a question mark.
It's a piece of something far bigger underneath, something squeezing its girth short in order to navigate the river.
The skin of the tentacle makes a stretching and pulling sound as it moves in the air. Makes me cringe. o_e
A mass of thinner strings come out of the river too, waving in the air, thin as hair, long as needs be.
The tip of the large tentacle splits into... more hairs. It's made up of tightly-pressed strings.
And a mass, a bulge, comes up inside the tentacle from under the water…
Writhing up, and up, towards the splitting tip…
...it's a human. The head just emerged, between the strings at the tip of the thing, like from the throat of a colossal snake.
..eyes opened. They look like black holes from down here.
It opened its mouth, spewing water and seaweed.
..Sal..ma..cis...? o___o
A wheezing hiss. A hissing wheeze.
Two arms wrench themselves out of the 'throat.'
Followed by three more, one coming out of the stomach.
Coughing, heaving. A voice gives a faint whisper too far away to hear.
Masses of waterdrops splatter on the grassy riverbank.
Donnie's starting to step back.
I look back up, and the tentacle is rearing into the air, preparing to

3:18 AM
..eject the Camper in a vicious slam.
It has so many legs. A whole skirt of legs.
And it's clambering up to face us, standing now on the grass with us.
Its neck is not rigid. The head swings around as a ball on a string.
And the voice that comes out is nothing more than a whisper, voiced only on the inhales.
"Raeeel. Viiictooooriiiaaaa."
I just gulped. Or was that it?
"I ammm aaaa herrrrrrr."
Wh. What?
"It. And herrrrr. Neverrr... sheeeee."
But I. But I didn't say anything.
"You wrooote it iiiin your jourrrnal."
How…
cough. cough. stagger. Wheeze.
"The birds are my eyyyyes. As you fi..ured out."
R..right.. of course.
"Doo not beee so.. mod..est. It is unbecoming. You stand now before a... g... g.... g…"
it vomited teeth. a lung.
"a god. your. god."
Salmacis, you're... you're freaking us the fuck out. Do you.. have any.. other... Camper?? That we can speak to??
"But Raeeel. This one is not a" gulp "Camper. This. is. ....the. Eardrum."
donnie "It's really fascinating, and all, but please! Please, EAT! The voice is getting in my head!"
"You twooo are. priiivileeeged. to see it. I do not liike. to bring it. out. of the waaaterr. out of. my booodyyy."
But your other Camper are still too far?
"Yes…"
........may I sit down? o_e for a moment..
"you may."

3:24 AM
had my.. head in my hands for a moment.
kinda wish I was dreaming right now.
...salmacis can read this.
look, I just. I'm. I don't know what I was expecting, but I wasn't ready.
Donnie's seated next to me, and she's talking to the.. the Eardrum.
"We're sorry that we got you killed. Or, you know what I mean. But we need your help even more now."
"Yes. I am listeningg…"
"The RAF have far more numbers than we thought, including armed soldiers. They plan on destroying the Golden Gate Bridge, and they want us back in the city at noon for that. I fear they have bigger plans."
yeah, and. the bikers bolted after our conversation. after Cody... fucking Cody…
The Eardrum is looking at neither of us. Arms aren't reacting. It is standing perfectly still.
"I am.. listeniiing."
No, I believe you, I'm filling the silence with description!
"Is this. All?"
"Uh. I guess so."
"I was afraaaid. They had. Threatened your.. liives."
... .w.;;
"I was aware of all of this. After Codyyy's ac..tions... I con..siderred.. it.. top prioorityy.. to monitor with my birds. I have seen the truck..ss... and I have heard.. the speech... and I know where.... the bikers are..."
donnie "We have Tiger with us. He's the one whose sister Cody killed. We had to get him out of there, and we had to come up with a plan. We don't want to just let this happen."
"And you want..." head swivels to face her "revenge."
Yes. We want to know when your Camper will get here.
facing me now. "Of courrse."
..the Eardrum skitters and moves around the park. Its Her legs move her frighteningly quickly and turn her on a dime. She It stops in the middle of the grass. Birds fly to it, perch on its arms. Little birds, nothing seemingly wrong with them at all.
"They are not far now."
..a noise in the distance. like a bunch of humans making one big screech. which is probably exactly what it was?
"See. You could.. hearrr them. That is how close they are. I would say.. 24 miles."
That's close! O:
"It will take them... only... another six hours…"
donnie "Couldn't we go and.. pick them up? Drive them?"
"Too many. But some... will be able to.. fly. I am still workinnngg on their DNA. Each body's must be... edi..ted.... from.. scraaaatch."
...Salmacis, I'm almost afraid to just come out and ask this, but.
..looking at me.
.....what are you?
"I am the end.. of all... things. Not the termin..al.... ennnd... but the goal… of all commun...i...caaa...tion... all cooper..ation.... all e..vo...lu...tion.…"
skittering towards us, aaaa
"I am... your... god."
donnie "There's a lot of those going around lately."
"I was... your god... befooorrre.... any of them.… I was above you... you were only an experiment…"
it's wheezing as air struggles to fill her lungs.
"With enough... drug..g... g.... g.....gs... your species caught a glimpse... but then you feared... and you turned.. to tobacco.. and alco..hol... I think your fear.. came from... a re..a..liz..a..tion.... that your bodies... were so dear to you… you would rather.. be... buried... as the body.. that you were.. born... into…"
wheeeeze.... wheeze…
"Regarrrd..less... I have told you e..nough... talking is so slow…"
skittering back to the river
"I leave you. For now. I would advise... waiting in your.. car.... for my Cam..perrr… to arrive…"
Uh. Alright. o_o;
"Be.. seeing... you…"

3:30 AM
The large tentacle stretched once more, opening up and consuming the Eardrum in one brisk motion. It's.. more accustomed to grabbing than to letting go…
And back into the water it went, and onwards down the river.

3:31 AM
Donnie and I are just. Here.
Looking at the river.
Looking at the car.
Looking at each other.
…
I, uh. I still.. feel like it's kinda friendly? Relatively speaking.
"It's.. definitely still working with us?"
It's not mad that we got a Camper killed.
"I think it is, actually. Just not mad at us."
Could you imagine being EAT's enemy? As just a human?
..quick shaking of the head. "I don't.. want to.. think about that."
Yeah. Yeah.
…
"I'm not going to be able to sleep for a while."
God, no. Am real tired, though.
"Do you want to just. Lie on this park bench... together?"
Do you want EAT to watch? The birds?
"I kinda don't care about that right now. It might help me feel more control over myself."
...well, sure! :D

9:54 AM
Woke up still in Donnie's arms. Her on my chest... .w.
Then I remembered where we were, gently placed her on the bench, and surveyed the area. Sun's out, there's a bit more noise coming from Waterford, barks and yowls, but it all sounds like small animals. There's nothing around us. Only the trees, and the birds.
..the car's empty.
Don't know where Tiger went.
I'll have a look for him. Will leave my trilby here with Donnie, so she can at least figure that I'll be back.

10:01 AM
Found him coming out of an old shop.
He was just stretching his legs, checking out the area.
Yeah, I figured it was something like that.
"Listen, we should really be heading back by now. It's gonna take us a while to hit San Francisco."
Yeah... we will, I promise. But we're still waiting on that backup.
"The Fear thing?"
It's a Fear we trust. Is that okay? 'Cause if it's not, you don't have to be a part of it, and I have no interest in threatening you. No judgement.
"Right now, I just want to fuck up his plans. I don't care. He's so uptight about those Fears; it'd be great to give him reason to be."
Good to hear. :)
So, did you find anything in these shops?
"Peanuts. Juice you gotta add water to. Some rice cakes, ate those."

10:03 AM
On the way back to the car, we heard a heavy flapping in the air.
There, on the horizon!
"Is that a flying man? ..is that an angel?"
It's the first sign of our backup. :D

10:05 AM
Donnie's up, and wearing my hat. She's gazing at the sky, the Camper fast approaching.
flap. flap. flap. flap.
it's a black man, shirtless, in jeans, with the hideous wings of flesh.
it's slowing down. gonna land.

10:08 AM
"Rael. Victoria. ..Tiger."
Kinda giving up with the prog theming?
"There are songs with tigers in them."
donnie "Are the rest of the Camper still on the way?"
"They will not make it to San Francisco in time for the burning of the bridge, but they will be here in time for the Archangel's undead masses."
tiger "Zombies? Masses of them?"
"You have never seen them in such dense quantities. I told you, Rael, that they were coming?"
You did.
"They will be here later today. And so will my Camper. For now, would you like me to ride with you?"
Uh.
Will those wings... fit? It's not a massive car...
"I can ride on top. It will give me a chance to practice physical coordination."
Uh! I mean, yeah, look, you can do whatever you want, Salmacis. But we've gotta get moving.

11:48 AM
It was an eventful car ride. When Salmacis wasn't balancing on the roof of a moving car, it was clinging to the driver's side door, arm hooked through the open window, so it could talk to me.
It would often give me better directions on how to save time on our route, but also EAT filled me in on the bikers' activities (they're not.. really very good at finding rabbit holes. they just keep stopping to get drunk).
And, as we started to see the city in the distance, EAT latched onto the door again to, finally, talk about a plan.
EAT talked us out of the flanking idea, as we're only going to raise hostility that way. So we'll rejoin the group back at the house.
We think there's not much we can do traditionally, but we could use the RAF's paranoia against themselves... if we can expose Heaven as not being who she seems.
It's her plan. And if the RAF realizes they've been doing the Archangel's dirty work, they should abandon the plan.
...and, if EAT can get some people away from the group, we could have more Camper to work with…
Donnie was pretty alarmed at that idea, so I got EAT to promise it would only try that if it really had to. Then Tiger added that it could take the armed guards. They're going to have to lug equipment to the bridge somehow, so they'll probably have a guard take a truckful each. There's gonna be a time when they're working alone and vulnerable.
Nobody had anything to say about that. It's.. just plain a good idea.
And Salmacis left our car as we entered the urban areas. Flew off to her own designs.

12:03 PM
We arrived at the RAF house, or, well, we parked a few blocks away and got through the crowds, to find Heaven glad to see us.

12:09 PM
"Okay, everyone! Today's the day! I hope you're good with walking, because it should take us at least three hours to get to the bridge! If you think you're particularly strong and able-bodied, come and talk to Cody about hauling equipment, whether onto trucks, or carrying it all the way yourself! If you're really unable to walk, also see Cody, and he'll see what accommodations we have, but otherwise, we're leaving now!"
okay.
okay I think that bodes well.

12:25 PM
Massive march of people. Not.. marching, just all following each other. That's how marches usually are in practice, isn't it? It's only on the final approach that even armies really switch into lockstep. And I don't even know about, like. Protests.
Tiger's got his friends. Even with all the regulars for the Party House, we're dwarfed by sheer numbers.
I don't know if he's telling them anything.
Donnie's with me, but as we're around the front, she's keeping an eye on Cody.

12:49 PM
There's a sign up ahead for a Twin Peaks. o_o
I don't think that's got anything to do with this. Just, cool.

1:11 PM
We're not passing anyone at all. All the shops are shut. There aren't even any loose zombies.
The sky is a perfect blue without any flickering whatsoever.

1:33 PM
Heaven? Are we gonna stop for food, or breaks, or anything?
"No breaks. We get one chance at this. We work for the cause."
Don't we have people who might not be able to keep up a walk for that long?
"We work for the cause. We just need numbers. Even if 70% makes it up to the bridge, that's more than enough."
..cody's eyeing her.
"..what?"
"This isn't like you."
"I'm sorry you feel that way. But we're doing something important here. I have a chance to make a difference, and I guess that's just my priority here."
"It's a bridge. It'll still be here after a break. The kid's got a point, Hev."
"Cody, we need to be a team on this."
…
…
"..alright."

1:34 PM
Cody's asked a message to spread back through the crowds: If you have food with you, you'd may as well eat while walking. And consider sharing if anyone else really needs it.

1:37 PM
...fuck it.
We got any slim jims left?

2:27 PM
I'm finally seeing some form of life up ahead.
But it's the black dog.
..nobody's saying a thing about it.
Hey, uh. Cody?
"What."
You do know that dog there's a Fear, right?
"...no, I did not know that. Heaven, that—"
"I see it. It's not doing anything. If it attacks anyone, then we can deal with it."
"But it's a damn Fear."
"Says who? The 'kid?' Didn't you think he was a Fear once?"
"Alright, what are you fucking doing? Don't try to piss me off."
"All I'm saying is, it's a dog. And maybe it's just a dog."
argghh

2:30 PM
found the old journal.
The Black Dog, the Omen. It was June 14th, it was literally another branch of the RAF that told me.
Cody, we should at least do something. You and me.
"Eh.. it is just staring at us as we pass by. What is it gonna do? It's a dog."
Cody, c'mon, man. We're Rise Against Fear. It's in the name.
"I.. I know."
If we don't know what it can do, that's more reason to be wary.
"Yeah…"
C'mon, man. What are your instincts saying? You saved us from that Sally thing.
"I'm feeling similar now. I'm clocking it, and I don't like it."
heaven "I am not going to stop this march."
"For fuck's sake, Heaven, I wasn't asking you to." grabbing his gun "I can deal with this myself. Jordan, I want you with me."

2:31 PM
I followed him as he pulled back from the front, as we'd passed it up here, but it was still watching everyone pass by.
Cody told me to watch his back, and crouched low and approached it. Tried to treat it like a regular dog at first.
Then it bit his hand. Jumped at him, bit at his shoulder, took out a.. not insignificant chunk.
I whacked it with Tiger Stripes and shouted for the group nearby to hang back, go around us, give us space.
Cody got a good look into its eyes, and his face turned pale, but then he got a big surge of adrenaline and grabbed the dog with both arms and ripped it off of him, chucked it to the ground. And shot it clean in the eye.
And it growled at him, growled at us, and stormed off. As soon as it passed behind some of the crowd, I lost sight of it completely. Like it vanished.
Cody got a towel off of a stranger, wet it with someone's water bottle, and covered his shoulder.
And he thanked me and got back to the front. Staring daggers at Heaven, who didn't even seem to notice.

2:33 PM
Donnie thinks that wasn't the greatest plan, but it did something.
...what the fuck is the point of that dog.

3:05 PM
Heaven's sending another message back through the crowd.
We'll be there soon. And around about now, the trucks will drive up to meet us.
Good. Not the biggest fan of walking.
And won't we have to walk all the way back after?

3:31 PM
At last. Golden Gate Bridge.
Hoo, man.
Now that we're actually standing on the thing, staring ahead at a perfectly straight road, I'm seeing just how big it is.
It'd probably take us a full half-hour to walk to the other side.
It's strange. I can hear that thumping again.
thump. thump.
It is not in the distance. It's just on the other side of the bridge.

3:32 PM
Here come the trucks, through a parting crowd.
Behind them is a flatbed truck carrying a full-on wrecking ball.
Donnie and I are looking carefully at the drivers, trying to see if we can tell that any are EAT.
But they're all wearing wraparound sunglasses, so the eyes won't help us.

3:34 PM
Heaven's turned to face the crowd.
"Okay, we're here! We'll have the trucks set up the explosives on the far end of the bridge. We'll have a wrecking ball to the supports, the 'gates' themselves. And all I need you good people to do is pack yourselves in on this side. The rich are going to come running out, just you watch, they're going to want to save the bridge and stop us, and we just want you to be our shield."
Yeah.
Yeah, that plan makes no sense.
And the sky's still solid. The ants are working overtime to be unnoticed. The Fears are waiting for us to do this, alright.

3:37 PM
Things are still being set up. But one guard has gotten out of his truck. He's gone to Heaven, says there's a problem.
"What? What's wrong?"
"It's a problem with the equipment." taking off his sunglasses to rub his eyes.
"Yes? Which one, exactly?"
now he's looking into her eyes.
"..what are you"
"I know what you are now."
"...uh. Cody, get over here..."
"Shut up. And don't you come any closer." pointing gun at Cody without even turning his head. "This woman is an Indisen."
"...and you're Salmacis…"
cody "What the FUCK is GOING ON?"
heaven's shouting to the sky "DO IT! DO IT NOW!"

3:38 PM
thunderous quakes.
the far end of the bridge bends and crumbles.
except that wasn't an explosion.
that's pairs of thick black legs. stepping on each truck, crushing it and the driver inside. marching in true lockstep.
the sky turns red as a storm of buzzing black dots swirls and scatters.
people start to turn and run, but behind us is a mass of people we don't recognize. they're not zombies. and I don't think they're Camper. I think they're Indisen.
they're pushing against the crowd, pushing us up onto the bridge.
up towards the walking legs.
stretching up, infinitely, into the sky. lifting up off the ground, stepping forward, and thudding down.
thump. thump.
crush. glass smash. choking screams.
a fire spreads on the far end of the bridge, behind the walking legs.
and a man in a gas mask is suddenly with us now, floating slightly above the ground.

3:40 PM
"Salmacis, what are you doing?"
the camper is strangling heaven. or trying to, with the other hand pointing a gun rather pointlessly at a Cody who is too busy freaking out at the massive stampede of stimuli to pay attention.
"Really, I thought you were smarter than this. You're trying to strangle an Indisen?"
"I'll strangle you next, Death."
"They were your bodies once. Did a lack of air stop them then?"
he got his hands on Heaven and pulled her away from the Camper.
EAT "Goddammit, Archangel, what elaborate lengths did you go through to set all this up?!"
archie "Nothing I wasn't working on already. A little bit of populism, gaming the humans' animal brains, their communal justice. Easy as piss. And the Indisen were gathering here for some reason anyway. They were ready to give the city away. I merely.. agreed to it."
"The Ants of the Sky, are they yours too?"
"What, these?"
...faster than a bullet, stopping on a dime, landing on the bridge are two robots, bigger than some helicopters, grey and sharp all over, with edges and wires bending their joints. on the front is a big beady camera-eye, surrounded by dozens of tinier cameras. the arms terminate in beehive-like holes, gun barrels. there are no legs. it's a round body with two gun arms.
"Not to brag, but they're quite genius little death machines, aren't they? Stylish, modern, military-grade. I paid those corporations more money than they'd ever seen before to build to my specifications, but when I turned them on, I got my money back and then some."
..heaven's silent, in archie's arms, eyes darting between the camper and cody. and me.
EAT "Certainly, the design is interesting. Its capabilities surprise me. But this doesn't change the fact that your plans are always so... unsophisticated."
"Excuse me?" with a chuckle
"A populist march in a time of uncertainty and struggle? It's so trite even the humans were doing it. Machines that target financial transactions... okay, that is certainly creative, for you, but then you just.. what, introduce your own currency? Z's yours too, isn't it? You replace a system with the exact same system? What, were you competing with the dollar? You thought of humanity as equal to you, your competition? Where's your imagination? Where's that intelligence you boast about?"
"..oh, I see now. You're getting wit and thorn from the humans. You're protecting them... or is it just him? He is your protégé? Has he seen the extent of your horrors yet? That won't even matter, will it? You're not going to let him go. He's gone from one puppetmistress to another."
"The difference between you and I, Archangel, is that I can perceive of many possibilities, while you are limited to your own."
"Whatever. People are dying, and I grow ever stronger. That's all I'm hearing right"BANG
…
Cody shot Heaven in the head. She's limp. Archie tosses her to the ground.
Okay, good, you're back in the moment now.
cody "Fucking traitorous Fear freaks."
Archie allows his own feet to touch the ground, no longer vaguely levitating, floating in the conversation.
Walks up to Cody.
"You. You work for me. Did I tell you to do that?"
cody "I don't work for you, you jackass."
"Really? You've been doing my work. You've been killing my enemies. You even recruited for my church. Thanks for that, by the way."
"I—"
bang.
Cody falls to the ground, a hole in his stomach. all it took was a single shot, from several feet away, by one of the ants of the sky.
"You work for me now."
..and cody gets back up from the dead. cody is a zombie.
donnie screamed with grief.
donnie, don't.. point that thing. I think you're better off using it on the Indisen that are currently tearing through innocent people.
I think we're better off running now.

3:44 PM
Tiger! C'mon, we're fighting our way out of this!
"What happened to Cody?"
He's dead!
"And the EAT thing?"
Still back there, talking to the Fear that caused all this!
Don't worry, it knows what it's doing!
Just, we gotta GO! Before the legs make it across the bridge!

3:47 PM
indisen are a lot tougher than zombies. they fight back, they grab at your weapons, they flat-out don't want to die.
we're having trouble here.
tiger has a knife, which he's at least able to use, but.
donnie lost her rifle.

3:48 PM
Oh! That's why we're not dead yet!
The winged Camper is here fighting the crowd!
Tearing sharp mutated claws into throat and limb, wafting gusts of wind with heavy wings to keep Indisen clear.
Our guardian angel…
Tiger! Donnie! Stick with our Camper!!!

3:51 PM
"Rael!" shouting over the sound of the crowd
Yeah, EAT?
"He's killed the Camper on the bridge!"
Well, were you able to get any more information out of him first?
"No, we mostly just insulted each other!"
So, am I understanding correctly that he pretty much just did this to get more zombies?
"And crush morale, yes! But I believe he also desired to work with the Indisen in order to better learn about them!"

3:55 PM
CRASH
..lightning just struck the ground ahead of us
and now there's a lot more fighting going on over there.
EAT, can you see what's going on?
"It's someone in a mask. They came out of the lightning, with their... is that a Jesus Christ mask?"
Cockroach Jesus? o__o
"What? No, this is a human."
Oh.
Oh, the Masked Massacrer!
What the fuck is he doing here. Or, one of... them…
donnie "Maybe he really wanted to kill some Indisen?"

3:56 PM
THE MASKED MASSACRER IS RUNNING ON THE CROWDS' HEADS
like in a damn action movie

4:19 PM
the crowd is thinning out
we're getting out of it

4:22 PM
the camper is staying here to fight the indisen and let us make our escape.
thank you, salmacis.

7:37 PM
The long walk back was set to the sound of distant slaughter and crashes. At some point, there was a tremendous creaking, turning into screeching, and a large noise. That was the Golden Gate Bridge finally collapsing.
There's a glow on the horizon as coastal fires rage.
We've arrived at our car.

7:38 PM
We've been looking at each other, exhausted.
We need to get in the car and drive until we can't see San Francisco any longer.
We know this.
But the long walk.. the long day.. the long week…
It's weighing on all of us.

7:42 PM
We returned to the RAF House.
It's completely empty here. Everything's happening three hours away.
We think we can afford to sleep.

8:08 PM
We shared a dinner. Heaven still had food stocked in the cupboards and a working oven.
We made some simple pasta and sauce.
Tiger's sleeping in the living room, on the couch. Donnie and I will sleep in our cots.

8:10 PM
She's sitting on the cot, taking off her shoes. Body still throbbing with adrenaline. Brain still abuzz with what ifs.
"What if we'd gone to Los Angeles instead?"
Then we wouldn't have met Tiger.
"You feel a responsibility for him."
I do. Because I took so long to tell him.
"It's a good thing to feel. I still feel responsibility for trusting Cody so much."
He.. wasn't all bad. He was a lying, manipulative, paranoid man, but he had a principle and he stuck to it.
"You don't have to defend him, baby." getting into bed "He's.. dead... and I'll miss him, parts of him.. I'll miss the memories. But we're back to how we were again. Just you and me, against the world."
And Tiger, now.
"Yeah. He's like our son."
Pfft. He's gotta only be, like, a year younger than me.
"And two years younger than me."
Do you think he'll be receptive to our trips through the rabbit holes?
"He'll probably think it's a kick. An adventure."
Kinda like I do, yeah.
"They are kinda like little adventures, each world, aren't they? They have such a weird design to them."
Like a video game. A whole little story, a whole lot of little stories.
"That outlook of yours, I might be coming around to it. If we have to go searching for those bikers in the rabbit holes, even if we have to go all the way to the Cipher ourselves just to stop them from dealing the finishing blow, I.. I think I'm up for it."
But we probably won't have to. EAT's got an eye on those bikers with her birds. EAT may even try to trick them and lead them away from any Doors.
"Maybe. But then we can always go down some rabbit holes anyway, just for the sake of it."
Yeah. I'd like to see something other than this city again.
"This world… this crazy, neverending power struggle of a world…"

11:11 PM
We fell asleep not long after that.
I find I've woken up by myself again.
Like. She's still here, still asleep. But just me has woken up.

11:12 PM
I took a look around the house.
Figured I'd let Tiger sleep. He's a really quiet sleeper.

11:13 PM
The glow outside is spreading. I can see it from the kitchen window.
Trying not to think about how many people must have died.
...all of them?

11:14 PM
..hang on.
Tiger's not asleep. He's not on the couch.
I didn't see him at all in the house.
Is he outside?

11:15 PM
....oh. ._.
A window on the top floor is open that wasn't before.
And here, on the street outside…
Oh…
Goddammit.

11:16 PM
What choice did he have? Traveling with two kids, barely older than him, who are working with another monster.
And he might have had other choices if we hadn't come here. 'Cause I can't help but wonder if I was what pushed Cody over the edge. Bringing Donnie here to reopen old…
But, like, that doesn't.. make sense, does it?
This was just a kid taking control of himself in the middle of Hell.
Taking control back...

11:20 PM
Goddammit.
All the Maybes in my head.
All the shit going wrong.

(Attached: “I am wrought with Maybes and mysteries. Recall the anecdote I shared much further back, where a Camper pointed me down a Door and my next memory was waking up in a bus stop in the rain. That memory goes somewhere.
I sat in the bus stop for ten minutes, thinking thoughts that weren’t mine. When’s it gonna arrive? I guess I could read more Discworld while I wait, but it’s such a hassle to have to keep looking up from my book, and then when the bus does come I’ll have to take myself out of the immersion and I hate that.
I looked around, not in curiosity of my new environment but in the bored glance of a familiar place I’ve grown so tired of seeing. I remember a stone wall opposite me, across a single-lane road. I never looked at the sky, instead at the wall with the line ’FISH AND CHIPS 1.10p SPECIAL’ written on a hanging chalkboard.
I saw someone walking up the road from the right, heading towards the bus stop. A new thought entered my head: Oh good, he’s here. The person’s face flickered for a second, and then their entire shape flickered before settling on a form I’d recognize: The Sempiternity, my blindfolded friend, the Fear of forever, who knew more of me than I of them.
They raised a hand in greeting, and I nodded my head in return. We had a conversation about the weather. Apparently, we were due for rain in the coming week, followed by months of snow. Not a single decipherable word was exchanged, only droning voices from both our mouths. But still the information conveyed.
More thoughts came to me. Perhaps if I kill him now, the world will never know? I’ll leave. No one will see. No one will know. No one will remember. I pictured two cats in a microwave, clawing at the door and struggling for footing on the spinning plate. I’ll remember.
Droning came out of my mouth, followed by more from Sempi. We had just exchanged secrets. I felt some information leave my mind, information I still cannot remember but that I swear must have meant something. I felt some information enter in return: Sheet music for a piece in D# minor, still permanently frozen in my mind to this day. Playing the piano part recently felt like rediscovering an old love that never existed.
The Sempiternity droned something I did not understand. I looked at their face and saw, for a second, seven eyes through their blindfold.
This is it, isn’t it? This is the moment I die, the moment I finally atone for what I’ve done. Coestts has come for me, come to take my thoughts away, come to leave my body wandering emptily through life with no meaning behind my eyes.
That’s when the bus arrived. I paid my ticket, and sat down near the front.
We rode mostly in silence. Other people sat behind us, filling the bus. A window was open. It was cold.
I looked out the window for most of the ride. I saw nothing, nothing I can remember anyway. My thoughts were absent. It was boring.
At one point, Sempi spoke. The information entering my head this time pertained to some ancient civilization, now extinct. Their religion outlasted their culture, with practitioners executing innocents in hopes of one day being forgiven. I asked a question, something about rumors. The slender man answered. One remained from the ancient civilization: an immortal sage who led his murderous people throughout more than just history.
Sempi ended the droning, leaving one thought floating in my head.
We’re going to see his tomb.
The bus stopped, and the door opened.
The events which transpired afterwards proceeded, in succession, less lucidly than even those before. In recollection, I cannot hope to transcribe their accuracy, let alone nuance of meaning, any more than I might hope to interpret a dream.
TOMB OF TURIN
The Sempiternity and I walked, through a gift shop, down a narrow stone staircase into the dark depths of deteriorated dominion. The stairs crumbled and rumbled, promising unsafe travels and refusing to ascertain our return.
TURN AROUND NOW
We surfaced at a chamber with faded red carpet and unlit candles. Sealed treasure chests of varying size littered the area, with locks unable to be opened for so long that they’d corroded. A throne of glass loomed over the room. However, the central features, despite all this majesty, were the paintings above the throne.
MOVING PICTURES
One king, elected despot, contradicted logic. He ate children across the sands, one family at a time. His name was Neferkaapep.
Neferkaweneg appealed to Thoth, gun in hand. Neferkaapophis conquered sky in his father’s name.
Ma’at at feet of Neferkaapepi. Weneg breaking the door open, ascended.
Horus and Osiris dreading darkness, and Nyarlathotep carrying black paint.
WINDOWS
Ra’s boat, rebuilt, seeing great lands again.
Mama Qucha doing Ch’aska Quyllur’s job.
Hermes and his hairless heart.
Trees with no leaves.
NAMES
Neferkaapep
Neferkaapepi
Neferkaapophis
Turin
Onnekas kameelperd
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
In the next room, there stood the sarcophagus itself.
It was empty.
The coffin's interior swallowed us, sending us careening into an abysmal expanse. I could no longer see the Sempiternity; instead I saw what the blind see.
More on this later.“)