patsproposterouspostsss

[patsproposterouspostsss]

1/21/2025

part 4

“So, I don’t see you around with everyone else that often. What are you usually doing around here?“

“Hmm? Oh, I’m usually helping Sherman out with odd jobs and maintenance things that need to be done around here. That kind of stuff.”

“Oh, so you must be pretty good friends with Sherman then, huh?”

“With that bastard? Hell no! ”

“Huh, so why do you do all that stuff then?” Percival took another drink.

“Your name was Elvin, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Do you believe in destiny, Elvin?”

“Oh…I don’t know. The only people I ever heard talking about destiny were crazy people with signs on street corners yelling about vaccines or 5G towers or some shit. Not exactally the crowd I’m down with.”

“Well, I do! I believe in my destiny! And working for Sherman is a part of that destiny that god had determined for me. I knew this was my destiny the day I got accepted into the Corps. I think it was almost sixteen years ago today!”

“You knew it was destiny that you would join the Hunter Corps?”

“Of course I did! Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been training for this! I wanted to be in charge of this whole operation, even from when I was seven. I was groomed to be a good soldier by my father, it was both of our dreams that I were to lead the Corps one day. It’s all a part of God’s plan. At least I hope.”

“So that is your end goal being in the Hunters? Are you planning on taking Sherman’s place?”

Percival took another drink. 

“Hmm? Oh, uh…yeah. Although, I’m not sure exactly how that’s supposed to happen. The line of succession doesn’t come up too often. But I try, I really do. But even after all these years, he doesn’t even seem to appreciate my work. He never listens to any of my ideas either, he’s a real stubborn prick. I have good ideas of what we should be doing with the monsters AND about interior decorating! Why can’t he see that?”

Percival grabbed the bottle of Vodka and started drinking directly from it. Percival’s speech started slurring and he swung the bottle around almost uncontrollably.

“Be careful around that ashhole. He’ll fuck yew six ways from Shunday and he’ll do it with a god-damn smile on his ffffface!”

“Okay, I think that’s enough vodka for you.”

Elvin wrestled the bottle from Percival and put the cap back on.

“Hey c’mon maaaan.”

“No, you’ve had enough.”

“Fuck yoo man! Yew’re just like that prick Sherman! I’m gonna bed!”

Percival stood up and drunkenly stumbled back to the barracks.

“For god’s sake.”

Elvin put the alcohol away and sat down on the couch to watch TV with a passed-out Barry. Elvin eventually grew drowsy, his eyelids grew heavy, and he fell asleep on the couch with Barry. 

[patsproposterouspostsss]

1/21/2025

part 3

However, not even halfway into the episode, Percival came storming into the rec room and sat at one of the cheap plastic tables. Initially, Elvin was scared that Percival had seen him talking with Sherman, but he didn’t seem suspicious of him, instead choosing to sulk at the table. 

“Hey…Everything alright?” Elvin asked. 

“Huh?! Oh uh, it’s nothing.” Percival said. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes, Everything’s fine!”

“Are you sure you couldn’t go for a drink?”

“Well…maybe I could go for one or two.”

Elvin got up and went to the kitchenette, he grabbed a bottle of vodka, a bottle of tequila, and two small glasses for him and Percival to share. Elvin took the bottles and glasses to the table and poured drinks for them. Percival quickly took a swig from his glass. 

“Damn, this is some strong stuff!”

“It is vodka.”

Percival downed the drink and gestured to Elvin with his glass for more alcohol. Elvin poured him some tequila and Percival downed the glass very quickly.

“Ahh, it's been a while since I’ve had some proper liquor,” Percival said. Percival once again gestured for more alcohol and Elvin obliged. 

[patsproposterouspostsss]

1/21/2025

part 2

“Uh Hello? Can anyone tell me where I am?” Elvin loudly asked.

But no one replied to his question. Elvin thought it creepy that no one could hear him, but he couldn’t dwell on the feeling for long. He had to get back to the mess hall to get his bearings. Not knowing where to go, Elvin picked a direction and started walking. The part of the compound he was in didn’t seem to be that different than the parts he was accustomed to, the same pipes, the same drab concrete walls corridors, and the same branching paths.

However, this part seemed more unkempt, dust and gunk littered the floor, the lights occasionally flickered, and some of the pipes seemed to be leaking something that wasn’t water. The whole area gave off more ominous energy than the rest of the compound. Even though it was a top-secret government facility, it felt like Elvin could get jumped by someone at any second. Elvin wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. He made a right turn at the next hall and picked up the pace. But as Elvin paced down the corridor, something caught his eye and he stopped in his tracks. 

It was that large metal door he encountered the day he came to the compound. The very same door that Sherman got very angry at Elvin for suggesting that he have a peak in there. He hadn’t been able to get a very good look at the thing the first time he saw it, but now he could gaze at it in awe. After spending months living in a concrete nightmare, the door was the most magnificent thing Elvin had ever seen. It was so shiny, sleek, and pristine, especially compared to everything else in the cement dungeon that Elvin now called home.

He also noticed that the door had various intricate locks and pins on the outside, along with a wheel in the center that was most likely meant to open the thing. Elvin raised his hand to touch the large vault door, it was so smooth that his hand glided across the surface with ease. A thought reemerged as Elvin brushed his fingers across the door’s slick surface. He wondered what was behind the door, and why such high security was needed to keep people out in an already secure facility. That is when Elvin noticed the keypad on the door. And he started thinking about how he could get in, but how would he even get the code for something like this? 

But just then, he heard voices coming from the direction he had come from, and they were getting louder. Even though Elvin was technically allowed in this part of the compound, he still jumped and ran for cover, not wanting to be chewed out by Sherman for snooping around. Elvin found a corner to hide behind before the people could see him. His heart beat faster than any time he was training. He could hear the voices and footsteps growing louder and louder.

Then, the footsteps came to a halt. However, the voices didn’t come close enough for Elvin to listen to the conversation. Elvin peaked his head out from behind the corner to see who was talking. It was Sherman and Percival. Elvin could tell by their body language that they were speaking very passionately about something. Percival was making various gestures with his hands and raising his voice occasionally, while Sherman was much calmer and collected.

Eventually, their conversation ended with Sherman saying something that sounded like: “And that’s final.” 

Then, Sherman walked back down the hall from where he came. Percival looked like he had just been defeated, and hung his head low. After Sherman was out of sight, Percival angrily kicked the wall repeatedly and said what sounded like swear words under his breath. Afterward, he walked in Elvin’s direction, Elvin ducked back behind the corner to avoid contact with the wrathful man.

Percival didn’t notice Elvin and he continued walking straight down the hall. With a sigh of relief, Elvin followed after Percival from a distance, hoping that he would lead him back to the familiar part of the compound. Sure enough, Percival walked straight down the corridor, leading right back to the mess hall, which he stomped right into. Elvin on the other hand walked in the other direction of the mess, not wanting to cause further grief to Percival.

Instead, he walked to the rec room and sat in front of the TV, where Barry was passed out on the couch. Old Simpsons reruns were playing on the channel Barry had been watching. 

[patsproposterouspostsss]

1/21/2025

part 1

Elvin exited the mess hall after a long day of training. Every day he poured his blood sweat and tears into his training, and it was paying off. He could feel himself getting faster and stronger every day. The inferno he felt in his muscles was now a welcomed constant.

The more one of his limbs burned on one day, the stronger it would be the next. And the stronger he was, the easier he could fend off any demon that planned on making him its lunch. But all that training necessitated eating as much food as possible. He had to shovel whatever food was available down his gullet for his muscles to keep strengthening, even the gross stuff. 

As Elvin exited the mess hall, he felt a grumbling in his stomach. The blue and brown pastes he had eaten weren’t getting along in his stomach and he was starting to feel sick. Then he felt something try to force its way back up his throat. He hastily sprinted down the maze-like corridors of the underground in desperate search of a bathroom.

Elvin started sweating and feeling nauseous on his journey. The long and samey corridors made Elvin’s search feel like a lost cause. But just as Elvin felt like he was about to throw up on the floor, he finally found a bathroom. He quickly flung the door open and spewed his dinner into the toilet bowl. The back of his mouth burned as the stomach acid traveled through his esophagus. 

After a few agonizing seconds, he had finally gotten it all out. He dry heaved to make sure that he had nothing else to give up.  Elvin turned on the sink and drank up a few handfuls of water which quenched the burning in the back of his throat. He wiped the sweat from his brow with some of the toilet paper.

“Never eating that shit again!” Elvin said as he flushed the toilet and exited the cramped bathroom. 

When Elvin left the bathroom, he realized that he was in a part of the compound that he wasn’t very familiar with. None of the regular landmarks were there, like the door for the barracks or rec room. It was just a dimly lit corridor with a few branching pathways. 

[patsproposterouspostsss]

10/15/2024

Part 8

“Let me tell you a story. When I was a little kid, I was pretty chubby. Some things never change I guess. But the other kids at school always gave me shit for being fat. Bullies would always make fun of me and it would make me so angry, so I hit them. It felt so good to hit them, but it also landed me in a lot of trouble with the principal. I got suspended a lot and was even at risk of being expelled. But one day, mi mama sat me down and told me that whenever the bullies made me feel bad, I should write it down in a journal. At first, I thought that was stupid, how would writing my thoughts make me feel any better? But one day after school, I came home crying after those bullies took my beloved Transformers lunch box. I tried to fight them, but they ran much faster than me and I lost them. I couldn’t stop crying, that lunchbox was one of my prized possessions! I couldn’t fathom living without it. But then, I saw a piece of paper and a pencil on the table in my room, and I remembered what mama had said. So I picked up the pencil and started writing about what had happened. Then, I started to write about what I wanted to do to the bullies, how I wanted to get revenge on them for stealing my precious lunch box, and what I wanted to do to them. I think I filled that whole page. After I finished writing, I noticed that I felt a little better. Mama’s advice had worked.”

“Did you ever get the lunch box back?”

“Oh yeah, Mama and I went over to the kid’s house and the parents forced him to give it back. That kid’s parents were so pissed off, it was satisfying to see. You could hear his mama dish out the ass whooping from down the block! But I also learned about journaling and how good it felt to get shit out on paper. For every event in my life that made me feel excited or upset, I would journal it. My high school graduation, My acceptance into the Marines, Mama’s passing, I journaled it all. I even kept it up after I joined the Hunter Corps. Every questionable thing, every time I questioned what I was doing, and all the regrets I had, I put in the journal. It was my way of coping. That was until Sherman found out. Turns out he doesn’t like anyone else documenting what goes on in the Corps. He confiscated the notebook and all my pencils. He still doesn’t trust me with pen and paper to this day.”

“Wow, Seriously?”

“Yep, I’m barred from having anything that can write while unsupervised.”

“So now you just drink?”

“Yep. Makes me forget for a little bit.”

“That doesn’t sound healthy.”

“Yeah, but what is around here? Have you seen the food?”

“You got me there.”

“What about you hijo? How do you cope?”

“Well, those pills I got from the infirmary seem to be doing the trick. I haven’t had any more night terrors, but I still see things occasionally.”

“See things? You mean like El Llorona?”

“Who?”

“You know, El Llorona. That ghost of a soldier who haunts this place.”

“Oh, you gave him a name?”

“Ay, why not? I call him El Llorona because it’s funny.”

“What do you think his deal is? Like why does he keep haunting this place?”

“I think he’s trying to tell me that I made the wrong career choice. OOOOH! You should have gone to trade school! OOOOOH!”

Elvin let out a hardy chuckle at Julio’s comment. But when he did, he let the spaceship in the game get smashed by an asteroid and got a game over. 

“What?! Oh, come on! That’s not fair!”

“You snooze you lose, hahaha!”

“Hey, I only died because you distracted me!”

“Oh yeah, well let's see if you can beat this!”

Julio picked up the controller and started playing the game. The two went back and forth playing the game for hours. 

[patsproposterouspostsss]

10/15/2024

Part 7

When Elvin and the others arrived back at the underground, all he wanted to do was just go to bed, but before he could split off from the group, Sherman caught him.

“Hey, where are you goin’ champ? We still got that scotch to drink!”

“Oh yeah, sorry. I’ve had a lot on my mind recently.”

“Don’t worry about it, let's just have some fun tonight!”

Sherman guided Elvin to the rec room, where everyone, including Percival, was. Julio and Johnny were sat on the couch, they were all still a little uncomfortable after the events of the mission. Elvin watched as Sherman dug around in the cupboards for glasses. 

“Now where did I put it? Ah, here it is!” Sherman said as he grabbed a laminated wooden box from one of the cupboards. The box said “Macallan 1988” on it.  “I’ve been saving this for a special occasion. I was hoping to use this after your first mission, Chambers. But I wasn’t exactly in a celebratory mood at that time, as you know,” Sherman said. 

He unlocked the box with a small key and took out the bottle. “You see this, boys? It’s been aged to perfection for thirty-six years! ” Sherman popped the cork and poured each man a small amount into each glass. “Come, come! Take a glass, everyone!” All the men came up and took one of the glasses.  “A toast, to the Hunter Corps, to all of us! Even you, Metaxas!”

“Very funny.” 

They all clinked their glasses and drank up. Elvin found the drink to be incredibly strong. It reminded him of the times when he accidentally swallowed bug spray. The other soldiers must have thought the same as him, judging by the scrunching of their faces as they downed their drinks.

“You know, Gary, you could have gotten the same effect with some regular malt liquor from a dingy corner store. Or hell, you could have saved some money and just pissed in my mouth directly!”

“Ah, Metaxas. Regular liquor wouldn’t be as fun, or as prestigious!”

“Ooooh, so sorry your majesty!  You must have to forgive my peasant brain for not comprehending the appeal of this fine piss water they dare call a drink! Fuck this, I’m going to bed.”

“Haha, you do that son! Anybody else got any exciting plans to stay up all night?”

“Nah man, I’ll probably just hit the sack too. Nice to have some alcohol as a sleep aid,” Barry said.

“Same here,” Percival said. 

“I can’t believe this! I’m living with a bunch of old ladies here! What about you Chambers?”

“Me? I was uh…”

“Going to settle a little score in the virtual world?” Julio asked.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that!“

“What does that mean?” Sherman asked.

“Elvin and the other guys got the old Atari to work! And apparently, Elvin whooped Johnny’s ass at it too.”

“No shit, huh?”

“I don’t like to brag, but I did play a lot as a little kid.”

“Shoot, this could be interesting! I guess I’ll watch you play!”

Elvin booted up the old system and started blasting asteroids with the little pixilated ship. Elvin tried his best but with the Sergeant looking over his shoulder, he died many times before finally getting the hang of the game. Meanwhile, Sherman felt himself growing tired and losing interest in watching Elvin’s gameplay.

“Aw man, I guess watching isn’t as fun as playing. Oh well, I’m gonna hit the sack, don’t stay up too late you two, we still have PT in the morning.”

Sherman exited the room. As soon as he did, Elvin felt comfortable enough to speak to Julio. 

“Hey Julio, you remember the mission right?”

“Of course, it was just a few hours ago.”

“And you remember the creature right?”

“Si.”

“The thing is…I’m not sure what we did was…right. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going soft suddenly. But something about how the thing was acting rubs me the wrong way. It wasn’t aggressive like the last one. It was fearful and cowering, like a scared dog. Not to mention how Sherman just executed it like it was nothing. I keep wondering if we did the right thing by catching it. Don’t you?”

There was a long pause, the only sounds coming from the old game on the TV. But then, Julio let out a sigh and spoke up.

“Listen mi hijo, I’ve had to do some questionable things in this line of work. I’ve seen things that have made me question my morality and my sanity.  But you have to remember, this is the military. People don’t get to disobey orders, even if it's immoral, even if it’s illegal. Do you remember that old quote from General Washington that went along the lines of every soldier having the duty to disobey illegal orders from their commanders?  that was before the age of surveillance, and before selfish, vindictive clowns took over the armed forces.”

“Well, we should disobey Sherman if he’s forcing us to do something illegal right? We’d have to report it.”

“How would we report it? And to who? We’re stuck down here.”

“Oh, right.”

“Besides, Sherman always gets his way, no matter what. The only thing we can do is try to cope.”

“How have you coped with shit?”

“Mostly drinking. But, there was one other way I coped…”

Julio looked up like he was remembering something. Then he snapped his fingers. 

[patsproposterouspostsss]

10/15/2024

Part 6

“Well, that was a hard-fought victory, huh gang? And Chambers, I must say you did much better than last time sport.” Sherman gave Elvin an endearing fake punch to the shoulder. Elvin and the other soldiers were shocked after what they just seen Sherman do, but they didn’t dare challenge his authority. “I could certainly go for a good scotch after that, how about you all?”

“Uh yeah…sounds great ese…” Julio replied.

“Excellent, we can just let the clean-up crew deal with that mess over there. Alright men, let's move out!”

Everyone followed Sherman out of the factory, but Elvin stayed behind just a little bit longer, looking over the beast one last time. The expression it had on its face when it died was one of terror, the kind of terror you have when you know you’re about to die.

Elvin didn’t know what to think about its death. On one hand, it was another demon, an abomination that had to be killed for the good of the country and the world at large. But it didn’t seem aggressive or murderous like the last demon he had to fight. This one was just scared like it was just trying to survive in its habitat, and he had to come along and snuff it out.

Did it really deserve to die? Elvin’s mind was flooded with conflicting thoughts as he followed the rest of the soldiers back to the chopper. It would be another long ride back home. 

[patsproposterouspostsss]

10/15/2024

Part 5

The beast reached the end of the wall and there was a pop from Sherman’s pistol. The monster fell to the ground, shrieking and whining. It made a loud thud as it fell. However, despite the nasty fall and a bullet wound, it was still able to pick itself back up, but it stumbled and struggled to move its back legs. Thinking quickly, Elvin took aim with his net gun and fired, it was a direct hit, and the beast had been caught at long last.

“Nice work everyone!” Sherman said. 

“Yeah, especially Elvin, he finally bagged that thing!” Julio said. 

“So he did.”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after finally catching the beast. But then they noticed what Sherman was doing. Sherman had walked up to the creature with his arms crossed. 

“Clipboard!” Sherman said.

Percival grabbed the satchel and took out a clipboard, which he walked over to Sherman. 

“Thank you.”

Elvin and the others were curious about what Sherman was doing. So Elvin showed his weapon’s flashlight over in that direction. They were finally able to get a good look at the beast. It looked very dog-like, but its features were very much not that of a dog. It was about the size of a full-grown lion or tiger. It didn’t have any fur, instead, it had skin that looked more suited for an amphibian.

Its appendages looked almost like an octopus’ tentacles but without the suction cups. Its feet, however, did have suction cups on its paws, as well as razor-sharp claws. The beast’s back had a long fin running along it as if it were taken straight off a fish. The creature didn’t have a tail, at least, not as far as Elvin could see. The beast’s head was perhaps the most perplexing part. It resembled a mix between a crocodile and a husky. It had razor-sharp teeth like a crocodile as well. But despite the creature’s intimidating appearance, it seemed to be cowering in fear. 

When Sherman stepped towards it, the beast tried to step back from Sherman and took a submissive stance.  It continued to whine as well. It had very wide eyes, almost as if it were trying to plead with Sherman. Sherman for his part, looked at the creature with pure wrath, like it had done something to upset him on a personal level. He was about to start taking notes when he noticed the light being shown on him.

“Turn that thing off! This is none of your business,” Sherman shouted.

Elvin quickly turned the flashlight off. 

“Jeez, why do you think he looked so pissed?” Johnny asked.

“Who knows with him,” Barry said. Elvin didn’t say anything, but he could hear Sherman writing something down, and he could hear the rage in his pencil strokes. 

“Take this back,” Sherman said.

Percival walked over and took the clipboard from Sherman’s hands. Then Johnny showed his flashlight in Sherman’s direction just in time to see him take out his sidearm.  Sherman aimed right between the cowering beast’s eyes. 

“Woah, what the fuck are you doing Gary!? We have to take this thing back alive remember!?” 

“That only applied under certain conditions, and those conditions have not been met.”

“Wait a minute, what exactly are-”

But before Elvin could finish his question, there was a deafening bang from Sherman’s pistol. The creature’s body fell to the ground, limp and lifeless. Sherman put his sidearm away and walked back towards the group. 

[patsproposterouspostsss]

10/15/2024

Part 4

Barry had to take a shot in the dark, but it missed, the net crashing through one of the few intact windows. Then the creature lunged right at Elvin and Barry.

The two swiftly dove and the creature slammed on the ground, failing to land on its feet, taking a hard landing on its back. But even after that nasty fall, the monster quickly picked itself up and continued its panicked sprinting, leaping all about in the abandoned factory.

“How the fuck are we supposed to catch this thing? It's like the goddamn Tasmanian Devil!” Elvin shouted.

“I guess we gotta get a lucky shot!” Barry shouted back.  Everyone else had just exited the maze to see the chaos unfolding.

“Where is that fucking thing?” Johnny asked with urgency.

“It’s jumping around all over the damn place, it’s near impossible to catch!” Barry said.

“Fire at will! At anything you see!” Sherman Shouted.

Everyone started taking shots in the dark. Even with flashlights, they could barely make anything out, it was chaos. It didn’t help that the net guns took an incredibly long time to reload. Every missed shot was a frustrating and time-consuming mistake. After countless missed shots, it seemed like it would be impossible to catch the monster, that was when Sherman pulled out his sidearm.

“Hold your fire! I have an idea!”

“I thought you said we had to take this thing alive!” Johnny shouted.

“We are! I’m just losing the handicap! Now use your lights to get a visual on the damn thing! ” Sherman shouted back.

As the creature darted around, Sherman took potshots whenever it would come into view of one of the flashlights. This technique held similar results to using net guns. But then Sherman got an idea, instead of being reactive with his shooting. He would try to predict where the creature would go next.

Through the lights, he saw that the creature ran around the room high up on the walls. It would run on the wall behind the men, then jump to the wall adjacent to them, then to the wall in front of them, and finally, it would jump back to the wall behind them. It didn’t seem to be deviating from the pattern.

“Focus your lights on the wall! Right up there!” Sherman commanded as he pointed to a high-up section of the wall.

The soldiers complied and they lined their lights up along the part of the wall that Sherman had pointed to. Sherman bided his time, and eventually, the creature jumped into the lights, it ran right to where Sherman was pointing his gun. 

[patsproposterouspostsss]

10/15/2024

Part 3

Elvin heard a sound and looked up, he could have sworn that something moved on top of the conveyor belt. 

“Hey Barry, you hear that?” Elvin whispered. 

“Yeah, you think that was the monster?”

“Yeah, It came from up on the conveyor belt.”

“We better follow it then.”

The two navigated the winding maze of decomposing machines and old wooden crates. They managed to keep their eyes and flashlights on the conveyor belt. They heard sounds coming from the belt, but they only saw dust floating down after each noise.

The sounds grew more distant the further they navigated through the maze. Eventually, the broken machines cleared up and they walked into a relatively empty part of the factory, where the conveyor belt drew closer to the ground. The conveyor belt led into a dark hole, leading to a different part of the factory. Elvin let out a tense sigh.

“You think it’s in there?”

Elvin showed the gun’s flashlight to the hole that the conveyor belt led to. It looked like something could easily hide in there.

“That’s gotta be it.” 

The two inched closer to the hole and raised their guns. They were both careful to watch their steps, they didn’t want a repeat of what happened last mission. Elvin’s mouth was dry, sweat ran down his forehead, and he white-knuckled the grips on his net gun as they crept cautiously toward the hole.

At last, the two reached the end of the conveyor belt, they could hear something breathing heavily in that dark spot. Barry gave a nod to Elvin, to say that he should be the one to pull the trigger. Elvin raised his gun and aimed, but the light from his weapon startled the creature and it jumped out from the hole. 

It began frantically running and jumping throughout the factory. They couldn’t get a good look at it, but could tell it was quadrupedal. The creature knocked over boxes and broken pieces of scrap metal, in its panic the thing created a great commotion that alerted everyone else.

Barry aimed at the monster, but it moved around so fast that it was almost impossible to line up a shot. The creature was also leaping up above the ground floor on the walls, making aiming even more difficult. The thing was also making horrible shrieking and whining sounds as if it were a wounded dog. 

[patsproposterouspostsss]

10/15/2024

Part 2

A few hours after lift-off, the chopper finally landed at its destination, in the dead of night. Elvin was relieved that he didn’t have to sit next to Percival anymore.

He debarked the chopper to take stock of his surroundings. They appeared to have landed in a field, surrounded by waves of long grass and what looked like wheat. In the distance, he could see large grain silos and a factory that looked long abandoned. Johnny and Barry stepped out of the chopper and saw the factory in the distance. 

“Where do you guys think we are?” Elvin asked.

“Some abandoned shit hole, probably somewhere in the Midwest,” Johnny said.

“Do you think we’re supposed to go to that factory?”

“In my experience, if it’s creepy and dark, we’re definitely going in there,” Barry said. Sherman stepped in front of the squad once everyone had de boarded.

“Welp, what are you waiting for ladies? We got us a monster to catch!” he said as he began walking toward the abandoned factory. Everyone followed after Sherman. As they all crept forward in the dark, the abandoned factory and its grain silos began to loom large. Elvin was able to get a better look with his gun’s flashlight.

The decrepit monolith filled Elvin with dread and unease the closer he got to it. He could see that most of the windows had been smashed out and rust blanketed the face of the structure. The building looked like it could collapse if the wind blew too strongly against it.

Elvin could faintly see his light being reflected by something deep in the factory, through the dark holes once covered with glass. He hated to think about what horror would be waiting for him inside of it. Before he knew it, the squad had reached the entrance. The doors were sealed with a padlock and chain, both of which looked much newer than the decaying structure. 

“Alright, give me a minute,” Sherman said as he took out the key to the padlock. Sherman turned the key, the lock came off, and the chains fell. He pushed the door open with the butt of his net gun. The old door creaked and groaned as it struggled to open, likely not having done so in decades. As the door fully opened, Elvin could have sworn that the heard something scamper off, but just for a split second.  

“When we walk in, split up to cover more ground. And be extra careful, you never know where that thing might lurk,” Sherman whispered. 

He then flipped his weapon’s flashlight on and walked into the black abyss of the abandoned factory. Elvin soon followed, creeping forward cautiously into the decrepit building. The factory floor was littered with glass shards from the shattered windows. Elvin thanked god he was wearing thick boots. Large pieces of heavy machinery were strewn about the factory floor.

Each piece of machinery looked just as rusted and ancient as the factory itself. Each machine had so many intricate parts, that it made them look alien in the darkness. They were all strewn about in a way that made traversing the factory a struggle, it was like trying to navigate a maze. Suspended above them was an old conveyor belt that would have transported grain. 

[patsproposterouspostsss]

10/15/2024

Part 1

Elvin sat with Johnny, Julio, and Barry at the table in the mess hall. It was the first time they had all shared a meal. 

“Hey Julio, do you have any recollection of what happened last night?” Elvin asked.

“After I drank all those shots, everything just became a blissful blur, I can’t remember much after that!” Julio said.

“Well, you performed one of your famous drunken bear hugs on our dear Johnny,” Barry said. Johnny rolled his eyes.

“Christ, every time you get blackout drunk, you feel the need to flop onto someone, what's the deal?” Johnny asked.

“What can I say? I’m spreading the love!”

“If by ‘spreading the love’ you mean drooling all over my shoulder, then you’d be accurate.” Everyone let out a chuckle at Johnny’s statement.

“Not just that, but we got the old Atari set up and played like how we did years ago. You remember playing on that thing, Julio?” Barry said.

“Do I remember? I still have the high score on Asteroids! I’d play that game for hours after every mission we went on for years!”

“I’ve been here for almost eight years and I’ve never seen you play that thing!” Johnny said.

“I played way before you came Johnny. You know, it would be fun to play again, hell I might even be able to beat my high score!”

“Fat chance! The games historian over there might be gunning for it.”

“Game historian?”

“Oh yeah, Elvin over here knew all about the games and he set the whole thing up with Barry’s and my help.”

“I’d hardly call kicking the thing helping.”

“Ah, whatever.”

“Man, you should have seen it Julio! Elvin was completely smoking Johnny at that old game combat. I mean the damn fool could barely move before Elvin would shoot him!”

“Hey, I got a couple of good kills in!”

“Yeah, but you lost two hundred fifty-five to seventeen.”

“Ay! Sounds like he’s just as bad at Atari as he is at poker!”

Everyone but Johnny laughed. Johnny just rolled his eyes again. Then there was an announcement over the PA system.

“All soldiers report the armory for briefing.”

“Damn! Time for another mission already?” Barry said. Everyone threw out their trash and walked toward the armory. Elvin and Julio talked on the way there. 

“Ay mi hijo, are you really as good at the games as those two are saying?”

“Well, I don’t want to brag, but I did get a lot of practice as a kid. The place I grew up had an old system just like that.”

“You think you could beat my score in asteroids? It’s 32126!”

“That is a pretty tough score to beat, but I probably could after a few hours.”

“Oh, looks like the reigning champ is gonna have to defend his title after the mission, ay?”

“It seems so!”

The soldiers reached the Barracks to find Sherman, waiting to greet them. 

“Evening gentlemen! Time to get suited up! Tonight, we go hunting once again!” Sherman said. 

This time Elvin got to be the first one in line to receive his weapon. He received a standard M17 sidearm and a rather peculiar-looking gun. It looked like an ordinary hunting rifle, except the barrel had been cut off and replaced with a stubbier, thicker one.

“Uh, Sergeant…what kind of gun is this? I’ve never seen anything like it before!”

“Don’t be silly son! That’s a net gun!”

“A net gun? What for exactly?”

“This mission comes under unusual circumstances. We need to catch this one alive!”

“I assume that’s going to be difficult isn’t it?”

“Of course son! If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing!”

Sherman pat Elvin on the shoulder. They waited for everyone else to get their weapons. Once everybody was ready, Sherman led the squad to the chopper. Elvin was one of the last to board, and he found himself sitting next to the one soldier he hadn’t yet been acquainted with. The man was carrying a satchel with him.

“Oh, uh, hey. Your name was…Pattson! Correct?” The man gave Elvin a glance with his eye, not bothering to turn his head.

“That is correct, my first name is Percival,” Percival said.

“Cool, cool. Hey, is it normal to have to capture one of these monsters alive?”

“It’s very rare, but on occasion it can happen.”

“Good to know,” Elvin said. There was an awkward pause after that.

“So…what made you want to join the armed forces?” Percival didn’t respond.

“Uh, you watch anything on TV?” Again, no response.

“Can you even hear me?”

“Forgive me, but I don’t much care for making small conversation. Especially with newbies.”

“...Alright then.” Elvin gave up on making conversation with Percival and just stayed quiet. It was going to be a long ride. 

[patsproposterouspostsss]

10/04/2024

part 6

“That should work.” Johnny tossed the penny over to Barry.

“Alright, now you just gotta hold the little forks in place as I screw these in.”

Elvin held one of the forks in place as Barry tightened the screw on the TV with the penny. When Barry was done, the fork was held in place by the screw. They repeated the process with the other screw and fork. 

“You think that does it?” Elvin asked.

“Thats how we set it up last time! Now let's see if it works.” Elvin flipped the ‘on’ switch on the Atari, but the normal programming played on the TV.

“Aren’cha supposed to change the channel on the TV or something?” Johnny asked.

“Oh of course! you gotta change it to channel three!” Elvin said. Elvin flipped through the channels with the dial on the side of the TV set. At last, he reached channel three, but there was no game to be seen. 

“Huh, did we do something wrong?”

“Well, the connection with those dumb forks was always pretty spotty.”

“Aw come on! Work ya piece of shit!”

Johnny lightly kicked the Atari with his foot, and just as he did that, the console seemingly came to life as it displayed the title screen for the E.T. game. They all cheered in excitement as the fruits of their labor paid off.  

“Alright, let's see the game that killed the industry!” Johnny said.

Elvin picked up the controller and pressed the button to start. He controlled the pixelated E.T., falling into holes, attempting to find telephone parts, and avoiding pixelated people. 

“This is it? Man, if this was the only video game I could play, I’d destroy the video game industry too. Who the hell are those guys that chase you anyways?”

“I think they’re supposed to be FBI agents, like from the movie,” Barry said.

“They’re so pixelated you can’t even tell. And why the hell does he keep falling down holes?”

“Because you need to collect the telephone parts to phone home, and you search for the parts by falling down the holes,” Elvin said.

“I didn’t think he meant using an actual goddamn telephone when he said that in the movie!”

“What do you expect, they only had a couple of weeks to make the game, they had to come up with something!” Elvin said.

“They couldn’t come up with something better than this?”

“I’d like to see you try to make a video game in a few weeks, Metaxas.”

“You know, I think even I could make something better than this in a couple of weeks, and I don’t even know the first goddamn thing about makin’ a game!” Elvin played the game for a few more minutes before Johnny got extremely bored. 

“God this shit is boring to watch. Are there any two-player games we can play?” Elvin stopped playing and searched through the stack of games.

“Oh, Combat! That’s a quintessential two-player game!”

“Well pop that fucker in! I wanna have a go at this too!” Elvin turned off the console and replaced the E.T. cartridge with Combat. The game loaded up and two pixelated tanks appeared on the screen with lots of cover to hide behind. 

“Hang on, how do you control this shit?”

Johnny struggled to understand the complicated layout of a single button and a joystick on the controller. By the time he had learned the controls, Elvin had moved his tank within point black range and shot his tank.

“Hey, what the fuck!? I wasn’t ready!”

The second time, Johnny struggled to move the tank in the right direction. Elvin once again, easily shot Johnny’s tank.

“Cut me some slack! It’s my first time playing this game. Not to mention, I’m playing against the fucking game historian over here!”

They played the game for hours. Johnny continued to lose over and over to Elvin, scoring an occasional point here and there. And Barry continued to give Johnny grief for losing. As they played for hours on end, Elvin felt something. It was a feeling he hadn’t felt in quite a long time. One he hadn’t felt since he came to the Hunter Corps. For the first time in months, Elvin felt happiness, even if it was just for a few hours, he was happy. 

[patsproposterouspostsss]

10/04/2024

part 5

“Shit the races are back on! Hey Elvin, you want in on this action?” Johnny asked.

“I’m not much of a gambler.”

“You probably wouldn’t do any worse than Johnny already is.”

“Shut up! Now place your damn bet already! I’m going with Butternutsquash!”

“Okay, I’m betting on Sir Winston Canberra. God, why are all of these horse names so stupid?”

“Because horse people are fucked in the head, my friend!” 

Elvin couldn’t care less about the horse races, so naturally, his mind and eyes wandered. He then spotted the old Atari console next to the TV set. It looked like it hadn’t been used in ages. He brought the console and the stack of games over to the couch. The console had a thin layer of dust, which Elvin swiftly swept away. Aside from the dust, the old console was in relatively good condition, minus the minor cracks in the wood paneling. Elvin then looked through the stack of games for the console. There were some old classics like ‘Asteroids’, ‘Combat’, ‘Breakout’, and ‘Pitfall’. At the bottom of the stack, he found a game called ‘E.T. The Extra-Terestrial.’

“Oh, no way!” Elvin Exclaimed.

“What's up?” Johnny asked.

“It's a copy of E.T. for Atari!”

“Yeah, so what?” Barry asked.

“This is the most legendarily bad game of all time! It's said that it killed the North American video game market for years afterward. They even had to bury hundreds of thousands of unsold copies in a New Mexico landfill because no one wanted to buy them.”

“Shit, when did you become a video game historian?” Johnny asked.

“I’ve been interested in this kind of stuff since I was a little kid.”

“Did you wanna play it?” Barry asked.

“Why not?”

Elvin found the power cable and plugged it into the same outlet the TV was plugged into. Elvin then went to plug the Atari’s output cable into the TV, but there was no input for it on the TV. He looked all over the television set, but there was nothing to plug the cable into. 

“Hang on, I think there’s like a box you have to plug that cable into,” Barry said. 

Sure enough, there was a weird switch box with metal forks on wires sticking out of it on the ground where the Atari once sat. Elvin plugged the cable into the box, but after that, he was confused about what to do with it.

“Do I have to fiddle around with these fork things on the TV?”

“I think those screw in somewhere.”

Barry got up from the couch to search for the screws on the TV. After searching up and down the old set, he finally found it.

“Okay, here’s where they go!” Elvin walked over on his knees with the switch box to the other side of the TV, where Barry was.

“What do we do with those screws?”

“You gotta hold the little forks in place as you screw them into the TV.”

“Shit, I don’t have a screwdriver.”

“Me neither, Johnny! Can you check if there’s a screwdriver in the kitchenette?”

“Alright, don’t shit ya britches!” Johnny said as he walked over to the kitchenette and began fiddling around with the drawers. 

“There’s no screwdrivers in here, but I did find an old penny.”

[patsproposterouspostsss]

10/04/2024

part 4

“Pfft. That’ll be the day.” The TV cut from the horse races to air commercials. The first commercial appeared to be for a political candidate. 

“Senator Goodwright is fighting for you!” said the ad. 

“Not this piece of fuckin' shit again,” Johnny said with contempt.

The advertisement listed many of the senator’s accomplishments while showing footage of him interacting with his constituents. It was very kitschy. The only people watching the ad were Johnny, staring down the TV like he was in a Mexican standoff with it, and Elvin, who was more interested in Johnny’s hatred of the ad. At the end of the commercial, the Senator spoke directly to the viewer. 

“I’m Senator Goodwright, and I’m fighting for my country, my community, and you. God bless America, and God bless our troops.”

“EAT SHIT AND DIE you FUCKING COCKROACH! WE DON’T RETURN THE FEELING!” Johnny screamed at the Television. 

“Woah, take it easy child,” Barry said.

“Why the fuck should I? That piece of shit claims to love veterans and service members and then he shoots down any fucking bill that would benefit us!”

“Is he really that bad?” Elvin asked.

“Oh, you don’t know the half of it, kid! Not only is he a piece of rat shit, he’s also a smug elitist prick as well! If it don’t benefit him or his rich asshole buddies, he ain’t gonna vote for it! Barry, you remember that campaign even of his that Gary made us go to a couple of years ago?”

“Yeah.”

“You remember how fucking smug that guy was to us? He didn’t even bother shaking our goddamn hands! What a fucking shithead! Wouldn’t surprise me if him and Gary were family or somethin’. I swear to god!”

“Ugh, that does sound bad,” Elvin said.

“The worst part is that Washington is full of assholes like him, on both sides of the aisle might I add. Oh well, at least they can be bipartisan about pretending to give a damn!”

“C’mon man, you know there’s people on Capital Hill who do care,” Barry retorted. 

“And those people are outnumbered like twenty to one by the assholes, you might as well not even try.”

While Johnny ranted and complained, Julio had done more tequila shots. He had become very inebriated, very quickly. 

Julio stumbled over to where Johnny was sitting while babbling in drunken Spanish. Julio then slumped over onto Johnny just as he had finished his rant.

“Ayy, mi hijo, llévame a casa mi hijo!”

Johnny was startled by Julio’s weight collapsing onto him all at once and he struggled to get free. 

“I ain’t ya fucking hijo! Now get off me you fat fuck!”

Johnny managed to squirm his way out from under Julio’s weighty torso. Julio’s upper body collapsed and hung upside down on the couch’s back while his waist and legs dangled in the air. Elvin and Barry laughed at the whole situation. 

“Yeah yeah, yuck it up.”

“Always gotta be careful around Julio when he’s drunk Johnny.”

“I know, he just caught me by surprise is all.” Elvin helped the inebriated Julio up and walked him over to the couch, where he crashed and quickly fell asleep. 

“Does he usually get handsy when he’s drunk?” Elvin asked.

“Only when he wants to spread the love around, which when he’s drunk, is pretty often,” Barry said with a smirk.

[patsproposterouspostsss]

10/04/2024

part 3

“Ay, mi hijo!  you wanna do some tequila shots?”

“A little later Julio, I just woke up.”

“Thas never stopped me!” Julio then drank from one of the shot glasses.

“Did  you have another nightmare?” Johnny asked.

“God damn it! you were able to hear that from all the way over here?”

“You do scream pretty loud,” Barry said.

“Shit. I really need something to curb those goddamn night terrors.”

“You should go to the infirmary!” Barry said.

“We have an infirmary?”

“Yeah yeah, go down past the armory and then make a left and you’re there,” Johnny said.

“That’s not how you get to the infirmary!” Barry said.

“Well, it’s fuckin’ around here somewhere!”

“It’s the same way we go to get to the obstacle course, just keep going down the hall all the way to the end.”

Elvin, deciding it was a good idea, exited the room and walked to the obstacle course. Once he reached the course, he kept walking, and at the end of the hall, he turned left. Sure enough, walking down that hall, he came to an area with a sign that said “infirmary”.

Under the sign was a window and counter, similar to ones found in a pharmacy. Behind the window was a blank wall with no one standing in front of it, at least not that Elvin could see. On the counter, Elvin saw a little bell, much like the ones at hotel desks. Elvin looked down at the curious little bell and rang it with his index finger. 

“Can I help you?” said a voice. Elvin jumped. Suddenly, a rather gruff-looking man in a pharmacist’s lab coat appeared. He glared at Elvin through the window. 

“Uh yeah, I’ve been having nightmares, pretty bad ones.”

“Hmm, can you explain?”

“Well, a while ago, we had to terminate this…uh…I can’t really describe it, but the battle was pretty traumatic for me. And after the fight, I had a pretty bad nightmare about it. ” Elvin paused for a second to think. “I’ve also been seeing things.”

“Like what?”

“Ghosts, strange apparitions, hallucinations of tentacles…You know things like that.”

“Hmm. Hang on a sec.” The man walked behind the wall. It sounded like he was digging for something. Elvin looked at the big sign above the counter. He saw that the ‘f’ was out of place and was about to fall off. 

“Here you go.” 

Elvin looked back at the window and saw that the gruff man had returned. Through the small hole in the window, he slid a small paper cup through. Elvin picked up the cup and beheld its contents. Inside the cup was an assortment of pills.

“Take those, you should feel better.”

“So…you’re sure that these will work? I won’t have any more night terrors or see any  more weird shit?”

“I guess.”

“Well, do you have any water for me to-” 

The man had disappeared before Elvin could finish his question. Elvin again looked down at the pills in the small cup. He let out a sigh before emptying the cup in his mouth. It was a struggle to get the pills down without the aid of water.

Some of them began to dissolve in his mouth as he attempted to swallow them and the taste was awful. However, Elvin managed to swallow the pills one at a time, eventually gulping the last one down and letting out a sigh of relief once it was over. Elvin walked back to the rec room. Barry saw him come in.

“How’d it go?” asked Barry.

“The guy gave me some pills in a cup but no water. So I had to swallow them dry. They tasted like shit.”

“Damn, you raw dogged it? Rookie mistake,” Johnny said.

“Should have waited ‘till you had a shot of tequila to wash them down!”  Julio said as he held a shot glass full of tequila up to Elvin. He looked at the glass for a second before taking it. 

“Ah fuck it. Here’s to day drinking!” Elvin said as he and Julio downed a shot of tequila together. 

“GOD FUCKING DAMN IT! How did peanut brittle not win that one!? This shit’s gotta be rigged!” Johnny shouted.

Barry let out a hearty laugh after Johnny’s outburst.

“I swear to god Metaxas, you have to be the worst gambler of all time! Three races in a row and all of your picks have come dead last.”

“That’s only because the mafia rigs this shit! I’ve been down to these tracks, I’ve seen ‘em do this shit! C’mon, let's go another round!”

“Are you sure you don’t wanna quit when you’re already this deep in the hole?”

“I can win the money back, just you wait and see!”

“You said the same thing last time we played poker and you only won once out of fifteen games.”

“Hey, when we played poker before that I lost every single hand! I’m getting better over time, you’ll see. I already won a poker hand, and now, my pick will win one of these races…eventually.”

[patsproposterouspostsss]

10/04/2024

part 2

Elvin woke up in complete shock. His heart was still pounding from the nightmare he had just experienced. But as he took stock of his surroundings, he realized none of it was real. The demon was still dead and he was safe in the compound, deep underground. It was all in his head…except for one thing.

The feeling Elvin felt on his legs from the sludge in the dream hadn’t disappeared. Elvin was gravely concerned by this. He threw his blanket off, only to find that both of his legs were wrapped in the black tentacles halfway up to his knees. Elvin screamed and slammed his legs against the mattress in an attempt to destroy the tentacles, falling out of bed and landing hard on his back in the process. 

After he had fallen out of bed, the tentacles vanished. They left a weird slime residue on his pajama pants and his sheets. As Elvin discovered the residue, he also noticed that no one was in the barracks to react to his freak-out. It seemed he had overslept, but he didn’t hear an alarm.

Elvin didn’t want to get yelled at by the Sergeant, so he got up quickly. He hobbled over to the shower, brushed his teeth, and dressed himself. Then he rushed over to the mess hall, his back still sore from his rock-hard mattress. He was just about to pick a tray up and get his breakfast when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Elvin jumped in surprise and turned to see Sergeant Sherman standing behind him. He quickly raised his right hand to his forehead to salute him.

“Sir, Sorry for sleeping in, Sir! I didn’t hear the alarm go off, Sir!” 

“At ease, soldier! No need to get all bent out of shape, you’ve got the day off. The boys downstairs thought we’ve been doing such a bang up job lately that they decided to give us a much-needed break!”

“Oh…well that was nice of them. Couldn’t have killed them to tell us beforehand.”

“Sometimes people forget things, even the boys downstairs do on occasion. Happens to me from time to time as well. After all, my mind isn’t quite as sharp as it was when I was a spry young man, like yourself. But at least it's sharp enough to lead  you boys into battle, ay?”

“Yeah. Good thing.”

“Any Plans for the day son?” “Uh…getting a good night of sleep would be nice.”

“I’ve been there! I was going to watch the game, crack open a few cold ones!”

“Sounds fun sir.” Sherman pat Elvin on the shoulder as a sign of endearment. 

“Welp, I’ll see  you around son!”

Sherman then made a hasty exit from the mess hall. Elvin, still recovering from the nightmare, got a tray, picked out some food substitutes, and sat down at one of the tables. He hunched over the tray, grabbed a spoon, and shoveled some red paste down his throat. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it was the first thirty times. He grew to almost not despise the taste over the weeks. But as he ate, a sudden chill permeated the room.

Elvin looked up from his “meal” and saw the ghostly soldier, it was standing in the right-hand corner from where he was sitting. As usual, the ghost just stood there and stared at him. In a way, its presence was kind of comforting to Elvin, especially after having to face the mecha-demon. The ghost was familiar and predictable in a way Elvin grew to appreciate. But as he ate breakfast, the ghost began to look at Elvin funny. It was like the ghost had caught Elvin doing something embarrassing. 

The apparition tilted its head slightly and squinted its eyes. Elvin in turn, started to look at the ghost weirdly as well. The two stared at each other like that for a few seconds. 

“What? Why are  you looking at me like that?” Elvin asked. The ghost, as usual, didn’t respond to him. “You like my hair due or something?” But then, the ghost stopped looking at him weirdly. Then, Elvin thought he saw a tear roll down the ghost’s face. Elvin decided he didn’t want to stick around the mess hall much longer. He finished up his breakfast and dumped what remained in the trash. 

As he walked out the door, he took one last glance at the ghost.

“Well, see ya,” Elvin said before leaving. Having nothing better to do, Elvin decided to walk down to the rec room, hoping that was where everyone else was. He strolled down the dank hallway, eventually finding the rec room. Sure enough, most of the other soldiers were there. Johnny and Barry sat on the old stained couch, watching TV.

They were watching what looked like horse races. They had dragged one of the tables over and had placed money on it. Johnny was smoking one of his patented cigarettes, and Barry shoved a weird-looking pill into his mouth. Julio was also in the room, he was pouring shots of tequila in the kitchenette.