Chapter 5

I woke up with a start, and looked to my left. Leaning on me was 2662, his massive napping body was halfway leaned on my shoulder. I squirmed out from under him and fell off the couch and onto the floor. "Ow," I said quietly. It seemed 2662 had fallen asleep on the couch and so had I. I looked up at the clock on the wall, it was almost ten o' clock. I yawned and headed to my room. Lying in the middle of my bed was 999. I just crawled under the covers and it slithered up next to me, and I fell into a deep sleep.

I woke up the next day to the smell of bacon. As I yawned and crawled out of bed, 999 slithered down onto the floor and made a gargling yipping noise. I walked into the kitchen and was surprised to see Bright making bacon and pancakes. He spoke up when he noticed me, "thought I'd make myself useful and make breakfast." I sat down at the kitchen table next to 2662 and 811, who was sitting in a folding metal chair instead of a wooden one. 999 slithered over to Bright and gargled at him. Bright nodded, "of course." Then, he reached over to the cabinet and pulled out a bag of gummy bears, opened it, and gave them to 999, who eagerly ate them and made squeaking noises at Bright. I then remembered Blaze and Komus, I went to my room and got them out of the terrarium and by the time I got back to the table the pancake and bacon were set out and Cactusman was now sitting at the table. "Hey Cactusman," I said. "Is there another name I can call you?"

"I'll let you in on a little secret kid, my actual name is Daniel."

I nodded, "Daniel's a cool name."

"For a cool superhero."

I picked up a pancake with my fork and set it on my plate, then I grabbed some bacon. The others- besides 999 of course— did the same and began to eat pancakes and bacon drenched in syrup. They ate like a pack of wild animals, except for Aé who just touched the bacon and absorbed it. It was a nice breakfast, we talked some, I learned a bit more about the illusion SCP Foundation from Bright, and 999 got ahold of the syrup bottle and drank it all, "geez." I said. "He really likes sweets." Bright nodded, "it's all he eats."

Galen kicked open the door to the rotting building and raised his rifle, the other members of his team did the same as they entered the building, he made quick hand motions and the rest of the team spread out while he took point. Redford and Gray moved upstairs, while Xavier and Alonzo moved towards the basement, Galen and Turner explored the first floor. They searched for a while, but found nothing until Redford called out, "we got something!" Galen moved upstairs with Turner and into the room with Redford and Gray. In the center of the room was a chair that had been knocked over and some old rope, "What's this?" Galen asked crouching beside it. "Looks cut recently." He ran his finger across the floor, "no dust."he said. Galen stood and turned to Gray, "they were here." Gray nodded and began to examine the rest of the room. Galen looked down at his hand, and the student ID card bearing the name "Ben."

The team left the building and immediately noticed that their Hummer was gone. Strangely though, their were no tracks from the Hummer driving up and they hadn't heard anyone take it. They searched, but found no evidence of the missing Hummer. Gray cursed and kicked a tree, "where's the Hummer!"

"Calm down Gray," Galen said.

Gray stopped kicking the tree and just threw his arms up, "Well what now!" Galen stepped up to him, "now we move on. With or without the Hummer." Gray still frustrated, followed behind Galen as they began to walk their way towards the edge of the forest, and towards the town. The agents entered the town wearing black suits and sunglasses. Galen and Redford went off towards the northern part of town. Redford entered a hardware store while Galen went across the street to a woodworkers store. A bell rang as he opened the door. Galen walked up to the counter, "hello sir." The person behind the counter was a shortish middle aged half balding man wearing an oil stained red plaid shirt. "Well, hello there. Something I can help you with?" The man spoke with a heavy southern accent and when he said something it sounded more like "sumtin"

"Yes sir, I have a question for you."

"Well then, whatcha need?"

"I was wondering if you'd seen anything strange around here?"

The man screwed up his face, "lemme think. Like how high the gas prices have gotten?" The man smiled and said, "iffen yer lookin' fer something strange just ask ol' man Westley."

"Westley?"

"Yeah, crazy ol' mans always talking conspiracies and what not."

"Where can I find this Mr. Westley?"

"Well on the edge of the town near the ol' sugar mill iffen ye take a left off Merlin street and drive for about ten minutes ye should be able to get to the house. It's this big ol' pale blue house."

"Thank you sir."

"No problem mister, say ye need any woodworkin' done?"

"No, but if I need anything done I'll come to you."

The man handed Galen a business card that said, "Ed Mylo, woodworker." Galen pocketed the card and walked out of the shop, the bell again ringing as he walked out. Ed watched the man go and said to himself, "wonder what that was about?" Ed just shrugged and began to polish the counter.