Chapter 8
Theodore and Marcus sat together in the clearing of the forest that was now Theodore's home. They were preparing to connect to tablet to the internet so they could see the news and see if there was any mention of their parcel or the story it contained. They both sat on the tree trunk, Marcus' phone supplying the required connection for the tablet to show the news live. They watched a few reports, the standards mentioning fluctuations in businesses, political movements, and the odd mention of criminal activities and missing persons, before a special feature was mentioned. As this was noted on the screen Theodore and Marcus caught each others glance, and looked back at the screen. On the screen, the special feature was beginning with an attractive woman in a white dress suit stood in front of a tall building. She began her narrative and they listened intently.
"We are here this afternoon to attempt to shed some light on the activities of this company, as we have received a collection of information that they have been conducting morally objectionable experiments. These matters have been brought to our attention by an ex-employee, who has managed to access their complete history of research. He forwarded this to us this morning, and we wil now attempt to acquire a statement from the company. On a likely unrelated note, police were called to the building today when a small amount of falling glass was seen on the pavement outside, which appears to have been some kind of accident, and there appears to have been a lot of activity during the earlier afternoon."
As the woman uttered this last sentence, she was walking up the entranceway steps to the main building, and just as she finished her words, she had reached the revolving door that was the main entrance. As she approached, cameraman in tow, there appeared a security guard, who held out a hand to cover the camera lens, and told the reporters to clear the area. After she was pushed back, the reporter began to speak to the camera again, "It would appear the company has refused the opportunity to comment. I would like to take this opportunity to have the studio show the image that accompanied the package this morning. If you are of a sensitive disposition, or have children present, please be aware this image may be disturbing."
The screen changed to a blown up image of the mutated rat, which even though Theodore and Marcus were already familiar with, they still were a little taken aback. Then, after maybe ten seconds on screen, whilst the reporters narrative continued explaining the circumstances of the package's arrival, the screen went back to the reporter outside the building.
"So, it seems our attempt to gain some insight into their activities has been refused, much as we expected. So, with the sincere assurance that our station will continue to pursue this avidly, this is -" just as the reporter had begun to sign off, she stopped dead, a look of confusion on her face.
"There appears to be some kind of vibration, "As she said this she moved towards the wall of the building, and placed her hand on it, "Coming from the building... The walls are shaking!" As she finished speaking, the cameraman panned the camera, showing the building, and passing across it in full. As he panned, the vibrations increased, until they were just visible on the screen, making the building appear ever so slightly blurry.
"I think we should back up a bit, dave," It was quite clear from her tones that the reporter was no longer reporting. The camera turned back towards her, just in time to catch sight of a two foot wide piece of flat concrete that had peeled itself away from the bricks of the building, and fallen to the ground. It hit the ground less than three feet from the reporter, and she immediately screamed and lost control, spinning on her heel and running full speed to a safe distance. The camera followed her escape, then turned back to the building. In the short moment that the building had been off camera, it had shaken off much of its grey skin, appearing as an angry red brick monster, shuddering to free itself from the cloud of grey masonry that surrounded it. The camera man appeared to be made of sterner stuff, as he did not run, but instead began to slowly back away from the building whilst keeping his camera trained on it. As he did so, the view of the building expanded until it encompassed the whole building and some of its neighbours. The microphone that had belonged to the reporter could be seen dragging on the floor at the bottom of the frame, adding clunking percussive noises to the otherwise silent view. As the cameraman retreated, another sound was becoming audible, a loud deep grating sound, something you might achieve by dragging a very large stone across concrete, but amplified, and mixed with an almost electronic whine.
As the new sound became so loud it overcame even the noises the microphone made as it bounced, the building seemed to achieve a slow motion implosion, almost as if every brick had been slowly pulled in on itself by an unseen force. At this point, the view of the camera seemed to droop, hinting that even the strong-hearted unseen cameraman was beginning to lose his nerve. The view of the camera became very choppy, as what appeared to be a huge red head became visible, obscured however by a growing cloud of grey dust. The last shot transmitted appeared to show a ten foot wide hand of bright red skin, with dark claws, come out of the building, above the cameraman, and the camera followed it, then a shot pointing straight up showed the hand to be directly above the camera man, and as a bloodcurdling shriek joined the cacophony, as with a crunching noise the live feed met its end, as both cameraman and camera were swatted like a fly.
The screen had gone dark, and went back to the studio, where the presenters began to utter words that were not heard by Theodore and Marcus, as the ramifications of the sight they had just seen were rattling the very foundations of their minds. They had watched the news program intently, and silently. When it had finished, or more specifically when the live feed was cut, they both turned to look at each other, at a loss for words.
"Oh my god," Said Marcus.
"I dont think god can help us now."
"But i mean, what just happened? I cant believe it? Is it just me it did that look like the devil himself just climbed out of their office building? AND HE LOOKED A HUNDRED FEET TALL!" Marcus was quite clearly panicked. Logically he had accepted all the strangeness of their research into the acquired data, but he had not experienced any fear, as he had not yet encountered the instigators of the theories, and this immediate terror had a very real effect on him. Theodore however, had had much more time to understand things, and whilst the actual events were certainly surprising, they were not quite so rattling for Theodore as they were for Marcus.
"Calm down Marcus, It is not what it seems. I don't think you should believe it."
"What do you mean? We just watched it on a live public news feed, along with the panic back at the station after... Of course it must be real!"
"What we see is not always what we perceive it to be, just because the shape of the devil was there, it does not mean that it really was him. Do you understand?"
As he listened to Theodore, Marcus put a hand to his forehead, the other behind his back in a classic pose of worry. He rubbed his hands against his face, as if to rub the reality back into himself. "I understand. Illusions you mean?"
Theodore simply nodded.
"You know, this changes everything."
"Yes."
Theodore and Marcus both had little strength for conversation left, their minds were weary with trying to make sense of a such a clearly unbelievable occurrence. They continued to potter around the clearing for a little while, before Marcus chose to go home, and bid Theodore goodnight. Theodore then started to look for some certain things in the data, and he lost all awareness as he buried his fear in his research.
"We are here this afternoon to attempt to shed some light on the activities of this company, as we have received a collection of information that they have been conducting morally objectionable experiments. These matters have been brought to our attention by an ex-employee, who has managed to access their complete history of research. He forwarded this to us this morning, and we wil now attempt to acquire a statement from the company. On a likely unrelated note, police were called to the building today when a small amount of falling glass was seen on the pavement outside, which appears to have been some kind of accident, and there appears to have been a lot of activity during the earlier afternoon."
As the woman uttered this last sentence, she was walking up the entranceway steps to the main building, and just as she finished her words, she had reached the revolving door that was the main entrance. As she approached, cameraman in tow, there appeared a security guard, who held out a hand to cover the camera lens, and told the reporters to clear the area. After she was pushed back, the reporter began to speak to the camera again, "It would appear the company has refused the opportunity to comment. I would like to take this opportunity to have the studio show the image that accompanied the package this morning. If you are of a sensitive disposition, or have children present, please be aware this image may be disturbing."
The screen changed to a blown up image of the mutated rat, which even though Theodore and Marcus were already familiar with, they still were a little taken aback. Then, after maybe ten seconds on screen, whilst the reporters narrative continued explaining the circumstances of the package's arrival, the screen went back to the reporter outside the building.
"So, it seems our attempt to gain some insight into their activities has been refused, much as we expected. So, with the sincere assurance that our station will continue to pursue this avidly, this is -" just as the reporter had begun to sign off, she stopped dead, a look of confusion on her face.
"There appears to be some kind of vibration, "As she said this she moved towards the wall of the building, and placed her hand on it, "Coming from the building... The walls are shaking!" As she finished speaking, the cameraman panned the camera, showing the building, and passing across it in full. As he panned, the vibrations increased, until they were just visible on the screen, making the building appear ever so slightly blurry.
"I think we should back up a bit, dave," It was quite clear from her tones that the reporter was no longer reporting. The camera turned back towards her, just in time to catch sight of a two foot wide piece of flat concrete that had peeled itself away from the bricks of the building, and fallen to the ground. It hit the ground less than three feet from the reporter, and she immediately screamed and lost control, spinning on her heel and running full speed to a safe distance. The camera followed her escape, then turned back to the building. In the short moment that the building had been off camera, it had shaken off much of its grey skin, appearing as an angry red brick monster, shuddering to free itself from the cloud of grey masonry that surrounded it. The camera man appeared to be made of sterner stuff, as he did not run, but instead began to slowly back away from the building whilst keeping his camera trained on it. As he did so, the view of the building expanded until it encompassed the whole building and some of its neighbours. The microphone that had belonged to the reporter could be seen dragging on the floor at the bottom of the frame, adding clunking percussive noises to the otherwise silent view. As the cameraman retreated, another sound was becoming audible, a loud deep grating sound, something you might achieve by dragging a very large stone across concrete, but amplified, and mixed with an almost electronic whine.
As the new sound became so loud it overcame even the noises the microphone made as it bounced, the building seemed to achieve a slow motion implosion, almost as if every brick had been slowly pulled in on itself by an unseen force. At this point, the view of the camera seemed to droop, hinting that even the strong-hearted unseen cameraman was beginning to lose his nerve. The view of the camera became very choppy, as what appeared to be a huge red head became visible, obscured however by a growing cloud of grey dust. The last shot transmitted appeared to show a ten foot wide hand of bright red skin, with dark claws, come out of the building, above the cameraman, and the camera followed it, then a shot pointing straight up showed the hand to be directly above the camera man, and as a bloodcurdling shriek joined the cacophony, as with a crunching noise the live feed met its end, as both cameraman and camera were swatted like a fly.
The screen had gone dark, and went back to the studio, where the presenters began to utter words that were not heard by Theodore and Marcus, as the ramifications of the sight they had just seen were rattling the very foundations of their minds. They had watched the news program intently, and silently. When it had finished, or more specifically when the live feed was cut, they both turned to look at each other, at a loss for words.
"Oh my god," Said Marcus.
"I dont think god can help us now."
"But i mean, what just happened? I cant believe it? Is it just me it did that look like the devil himself just climbed out of their office building? AND HE LOOKED A HUNDRED FEET TALL!" Marcus was quite clearly panicked. Logically he had accepted all the strangeness of their research into the acquired data, but he had not experienced any fear, as he had not yet encountered the instigators of the theories, and this immediate terror had a very real effect on him. Theodore however, had had much more time to understand things, and whilst the actual events were certainly surprising, they were not quite so rattling for Theodore as they were for Marcus.
"Calm down Marcus, It is not what it seems. I don't think you should believe it."
"What do you mean? We just watched it on a live public news feed, along with the panic back at the station after... Of course it must be real!"
"What we see is not always what we perceive it to be, just because the shape of the devil was there, it does not mean that it really was him. Do you understand?"
As he listened to Theodore, Marcus put a hand to his forehead, the other behind his back in a classic pose of worry. He rubbed his hands against his face, as if to rub the reality back into himself. "I understand. Illusions you mean?"
Theodore simply nodded.
"You know, this changes everything."
"Yes."
Theodore and Marcus both had little strength for conversation left, their minds were weary with trying to make sense of a such a clearly unbelievable occurrence. They continued to potter around the clearing for a little while, before Marcus chose to go home, and bid Theodore goodnight. Theodore then started to look for some certain things in the data, and he lost all awareness as he buried his fear in his research.