23 Untimely Revelations

Rebecca and Lucy had exchanged a few more words before they decided for radio silence as she talked things over with Shaun. Dana had been silent for their entire conversation, not even bothering to arch an eyebrow at what they had said. Didn't she care? Or maybe she was just too deep in her own things to notice what was happening around her. Which could be somewhat of a hazard in itself.

Rebecca shrugged that thought away and rose from her seat on the mattress-sleepingbag-thingamajig to see what her lookalike was doing. As she did, Dana exclaimed a gasp and gawked at the screen.

"Something wrong?" Becca asked as she rounded the table to see what could've been so shocking. Before she could though, Dana half-spun in the foldout chair, blocking her path and view.

"Some kid was just arrested for posting a video on YouTube". Rebecca had a hard time seeing why that would be so troubling. It probably happened all the time, judging by what she'd seen on that site in the past.

"So?" she prodded, arching an eyebrow and subtly leaning to the side in an attempt to see past Dana's head.

"So he's to be executed this morning! For a fucking video!"

"What?!"

"What!"

The two stared at each other for a moment, equally shocked and angered for the poor kid, Dana slowly shaking her head. Then she turned back to the screen and the article, Rebecca taking a step forward and leaning down to peer over her shoulder. The proximity was comforting.

"It says here that the video was reported as 'disturbing' and YouTube's staff took it down once they had taken a look at it. But apparently not before the militia got whiff of it, and they knocked on the kid's door only hours after it was posted".

Rebecca had been reading along in the article while Dana spoke, and nodded slowly before continuing to read aloud by herself. "The parents were told that the young man had been-.. Interfering with military business?? The fuck does that mean?"

Dana turned her head to give her an arched eyebrows look of 'what did I tell you' before turning back to continue their reading. "The thirteen year old boy, named Jonathan Hennerby, has been brought to Fort Lewis for questioning and detainment. No visitors allowed".

"This article isn't public knowledge, is it?" Rebecca asked as the facts was slowly sinking in. Names, details and locations wouldn't be posted in any public newspapers unless it was more minor or any grand event with the president or something. This was about a child getting executed for a damn video. Which was already sick in the first place, but if things were as bad as they sounded, she had to know what he had gotten on tape that had been so 'confidential' that someone had to die for the information to stay secret.

Dana clicked her teeth. "Not exactly".

When she didn't say more, Becca leaned into her space, prompting her to continue. "Where, 'exactly'?".

"I was digging and found some shady looking files. It's the shit usually going on at Gentek, but this goes deeper than any of that". She turned so quickly the chair scraped against the cement floor and their noses almost smacked together if Rebecca hadn't been quick enough to back up a step. "They're executing a kid! Murdering him in cold blood because of something they aren't able to control! What could be so damn dangerous for the world to know?!"

She blinked at the sudden rush of emotions running through her newfound friend. While they didn't know each other that well, she'd already gotten the impression that Dana was not an emotional girl. She had a tight leash on herself and was solid like a rock through almost anything. With a few exceptions.. But maybe something had happened in her past that had shook her to the core, and that's why she reacted so strongly. Sure, Rebecca was taken too, but.. She didn't know him, and there wasn't much they could do about it anyway. But..

She straightened. "Yes, what could?" she said, giving a subtle wink that she was certain Dana had seen. And like she'd hoped, it got the gears turning in the girl's head faster than she could say 'search'. Within seconds, Dana had tabbed down the article for later use and was digging through files and unlocking encryptions with motivation Becca didn't know she had. A few curses rolled past her lips before she exclaimed with pride and clicked on a specified file in the list. But before the video could start, she turned to Rebecca with a tight expression.

"You ready for this?" she asked. It would've been humorous, if not for the gravity of the situation. The boy was about to be executed. The content of this video could potentially scar them both, deeply and permanently. So instead of snickering and flicking her wrist as if it were nonsense, she pressed her lips together and nodded.

"For better or worse".

Maybe it was instinctive, or maybe it was not, but Rebecca felt a hand grabbing hers, and looked down to see the pale skin of Dana's touching hers. She squeezed back gently and leaned forward to give her undivided attention to the screen.

"Okay, it was filmed in.. Manhattan? Why would they take him all the way to Washington from-..".

"Probably says in the article".

"Probably, yeah, let's just watch".

And what they saw next did scar them both. Deeply and permanently. The first few seconds was a black screen, as if something was covering the lense. Audio was just white noise before a faint 'oh shit' could be heard, and the camera was uncovered to reveal a devastated part of upper Manhattan. Something that looked like fleshy red veins was covering the streets and parts of the buildings. As if a giant spider had attempted to get creative with its web and used live flesh instead of whatever sticky goo it would normally use.

'Dude, what the fuck' came a different voice from the audio, and the camera shifted to reveal a business-type building. Except it was covered with the thick red web, and the strings had grown together in places to shape giant blobs that seemed to be pulsating. Like a heart or.. Just like a heart. Something was…living or incubating in there. Something big.

Rebecca swallowed as the blob squirmed and writhed. Waves pulsed through it before it cracked open with a gruesomely disgusting noise and a giant, malformed beast burst out to land on unsteady feet on the ground below. Both voices in the audio used and simultaneously said 'duuuude' and 'that is sick' respectively. The beast tested its ugly feet and cracked its bulbous neck before turning a face that sent shivers down Becca's spine toward the camera. It looked absolutely hideous. And the roar it gave off made the blood curl in her veins. No wonder the video got taken down. This was some fucked up shit. And it was going on right here, in Manhattan.

Rebecca was reaching for the keyboard to pause or exit, but Dana quickly snagged her wrist. "Wh—"

"Look".

And she did. "Is that..?"

"I'd recognize that damn jacket anywhere"

"What is he—"

But before she could finish the question, the camera moved so quickly, Becca figured the guy holding it must've been hit by something, or maybe pulled. 'Oh shit man!' said the first voice again as the camera fell to the ground. The edge of a building and a smoky red sky was all that could be seen for a moment, then a distressed boy's face came into view. 'Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!' he kept saying, bordering on falsetto as he picked up the camera. Things were shaking and rumbling, and panting could be heard in the audio. Roars and clashing filled the background.

The camera soon turned to show part of the guy's face. He was dirty and sweating, and his eyes were red and puffy. 'Ronny is dead man' he whispered hoarsely. Rebecca moved a hand over her mouth. 'That thing got him and he's fucking dead'.

"My god.." Dana whispered softly. Becca instinctively moved a hand to her shoulder and felt cold fingers over hers. "That poor kid".

But the video was far from over. Ronny's friend turned the camera away from him to reveal a dark hallway. At the end was a light and the guy slowly moved toward it, scraping sounds filling the audio, as if he was crawling on his hands and knees. 'He's out there man, he's out there' the guy was saying, voice filling with panic. 'He's out there and those things are fucking eating him! They're eating my friend! Those things— those ain't human, they ain't human man'. The camera moved around a corner to peer out on the streets. Like the guy was saying, a body was lying on the ground, and two malformed humanoid creatures was tearing their clawed fingers into the flesh before ripping pieces out and shoving into their greedy mouths.

Rebecca was feeling nauseous. This couldn't be real, could it? But if it wasn't, why would the militia get their hands so deep in it? That boy died, and the other was about to be executed.

'Stop that!! Stop eating on Ronny!! Go away!!' the boy in the video cried. The two scavengers didn't seem to care about his wailing, but something moved in the corner. Ronny's friend screamed in pure and utter fear before taking his camera with him as he darted out of his hiding place. A roar from one of those big things echoed through the audio and the video feed shook before getting dark. Only a second passed before things shifted back into view. The guy was panting and wailing. He was certain that he was doomed.

He was on the ground now, and he was filming what was going on a few meters away. The big thing had chased away the scavengers and swallowed Ronny whole. His friend screamed in vein from behind the camera and the creature turned toward him. It roared, everything got silent. Just as they thought it was done with him, something dark and heavy smacked into the asphalt barely a meter to the left of the creature. A cloud of dust and debris obscured the view, but it cleared quickly when the big thing roared. The boy behind the camera hyperventilated.

Rebecca's insides dropped through the floor when she saw what the kid had seen. That black thing was definitely Alex. His jacket was impossible to mistake for another. But the two white bands on his left arm disintegrated as it squirmed and shifted and—

"Oh my god" Becca breathed before turning away and bending over the trashcan so conveniently placed beside the desk. Her insides turned inside out and she gagged and sputtered, emptying the contents of her stomach. She didn't want to watch more, didn't have to, but something compelled her. She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and turned back toward the computer screen in time to see her friend's brother — she couldn't think of him as 'Alex' right now — whack the creature over the head with some metallic-looking expendable whip thing protruding from his shoulder, where his arm should've been. The creature flung out with one of its front limbs with a snarl, giant claws missing not-Alex with a bare inch. The whip disappeared, replaced with a normal-looking arm, and he backed up a step to avoid another fling of a clawed limb.

The guy holding the camera whispered something unintelligible, the video feed shook and blackened for a moment, then picked back up in time to show not-Alex thrusting his palms toward the giant creature. An abnormal gust of wind seemed to fling it backwards multiple meters. Where it might've come from was impossible to tell. It was out of nowhere. Unless..

But that couldn't be possible! It shouldn't and it wouldn't on this plane of existence. No, never. Rebecca refused to believe. And yet, there was no other logical explanation. There was no logic. This entire thing spreading over Manhattan wasn't logical. It was as if taken from a horror movie, and it all had been slapped into their faces. Unreal, fucking terror.

The thing fell on its back, squirmed for a minute and roared. But before it could have any change of getting back up on its feet, not-Alex flicked his right wrist and — oh fucking hell — his fingers turned into two-inch blades in the blink of an eye. He pounced on the beast, pressing his hand against what might've been its forehead and jammed those blades into its brain. It stilled, becoming limp. He killed it. No-Alex had killed that giant beast. With his…fingers that wasn't fingers. Fucking terror.

'Oh fucking damn' said the guy in the video over audio, and the camera feed shifted as he stood up. Not-Alex barely had to move an inch before the guy screamed and the camera turned to his feet as he ran as fast as he could away from the scene.