Those “Other Guys”

Hey,

It’s been a bit hasn’t it?

I’ve been learning a bit from Maricel and Ethan during our trek through this parking garage. As well as reinforcing things I already knew.

So, there is no “outside”. Windows are death traps. My new friends don’t know what’s out there. And like me, they don’t want to find out. According to Maricel, you don’t want to listen to the…screams that come from the darkness too long. She didn’t elaborate, only said “Bad things happen.”

Doors are like portals. We’ve been exploring the garage, using it as a kind of hub, and every door we’ve opened has led to a new building interior. We’ve been marking doors with spray paint to remember what was behind them.

Speaking of. We’ve explored one of these places. A grocery store. There was a lot of those things in there though. Most just wandering aimlessly, grabbing things off the shelves before putting them back and moving again. They spoke gibberish to each other. Some of them were off their rocker though. We saw one guy dressed as an associate walking around without any—you know what? Best I don’t talk about that.

We all decided that it was worth the effort clearing this place out. Or at the very least, we could launch a quick raid and take some stuff back to my house to replicate. The question was: how do we get rid of them?

I mean, we were heavily armed. But the numbers were in their favor. It wasn’t like we could sneak around and just take them out “quietly” either. Based on my own experience and apparently from my companions first hand as well, these things are anything but quiet when things get close and personal.

So we thought about it for a while. That’s when Ethan mentioned to Maricel that they could do “that” again. When I asked what “that” was, Maricel sighed and said that it might have consequences like last time too.

Ethan explained they used an old school alarm clock they found to get the attention of a large group once. Then Ethan used a pipe bomb he had made to blast them before they moved in to finish off the rest.

Before I could ask Ethan just how in the world he knew how to make a pipe bomb, Maricel interrupted and reminded Ethan that the explosion had attracted those “other guys”.

I started losing my patience and asked them to slow down and explain.

Maricel told me that shortly after the explosion these “other guys”  showed up. Seemingly appearing out of thin air. Maricel described them as marble statues without any faces. They seemed attracted to the massacre that had occurred and it was by pure luck that Ethan and Maricel were already some distance away when they showed up. Ethan had noticed them first, looking over his shoulder as they walked away.

They hid and watched as these statues started to absorb the bodies. Maricel said it looked like they simply just picked up the corpses and shoved them into their torso and the body just disappeared. Some would place their hands over the blood and sop it up. Slowly, the more they absorbed, the more red they got. Eventually, once everything was cleared they disappeared. Ethan said it was like disappeared into a strange heatwave and then they were gone.

Maricel told me they weren’t sure if they were hostile. That it was probably safer not to find out either.

Our debate about what to do soon came to a grinding halt when we heard this humming sound that started to get louder and louder, like it was getting close.

It sounded like it was coming from the grocery store, so we opened the door to take a peek and all of the…mimics I guess you can call them…well they were going absolutely ballistic. It looked like they were in pain, bleeding from the ears.

I admit the noise was loud but it wasn’t that loud. Then I saw the source of the noise.

A ghost, or something like it. I mean it really looked like the run of the mill Halloween ghost. Was floating through the store and it was vibrating violently.

As it passed by those mimics their heads well… Look, let’s just say it was quite a mess by the time that thing disappeared.

We were shocked. We waited a while until the humming was completely gone and then we went inside. Every one of those things was dead as a doornail. So with the coast clear we decided to start gathering up all that we could safely carry. Ethan came up with the idea of just taking the shopping carts and using them to transport all our loot back to my house.

Well, I was gathering up some canned goods. When I heard Maricel scream the next aisle over. I ran over to check on her but it was like a bad case of scooby-doo and we kept just barely missing each other amidst the aisles. Ethan and I eventually found each other and we stared to look for Maricel together when I rounded the corner and came face to face with one of those “other guys”.

Maricel’s description was pretty spot on. Although this one had a feminine form. She also wasn’t of marble-like material. I know this because she touched me as I stood there frozen like an idiot.

I’m damn lucky. When she touched my face it felt like I was being caressed by a paper towel. It was only for a few seconds and then she stopped. Cocked her head as if trying to figure me out then immediately ignored me and moved on to one of the corpses of those mimic things.

I watched as the body disappeared into her finely shaped form. Almost as there was some kind of strange portal in her belly button. She then soaked up the blood and moved on.

I tried talking to her, but she just ignored me.

Ethan rounded the corner behind me and grabbed my shoulder, ushering me away. Maricel was with him. I never felt so relieved to see her ok.

We watched the “other guys” do their thing and eventually the whole store was spotless. Free of all the gore that had been there before.

When I told Ethan and Maricel about my encounter, Maricel explained she experienced the same thing when one of them basically snuck up on her.

We’ve determined then that these things aren’t hostile. They seem to be attracted to carrion and large accumulations of it. They’re buzzards or crows I guess.

Anyway, we carted the things we had gathered back to my house. That’s where we are now.

But I’m kind of worried.

When we came back to the house, it looked like someone else had been in here. We also saw some markings on the ground outside leading away.

Almost as if someone is marking a path…

…we might have company soon.