Falling Down

At the end of the day, no matter how complacent you get about the world, it still has the capacity to shock you. Billions of people interacting on a a daily basis, all just trying to get on with their lives, and the worst of us will often drag the others down.

Understanding two concepts gives you a better perspective of this situation.

Firstly, decades ago a scientific theory was proposed for something called Orgone energy. This was, for want of a better word, a "bio-field" that permeated all life on the planet. Positive and negative emotions and actions would have an effect on the creatures around you, for humans often in a subconscious fashion. This would show that happiness breeds more happiness, but contempt also breeds more contempt. It was also established that the more base the emotion was, such as fear, the stronger of an effect it applied.

Secondly is a much more mundane image. It is the principle of the Crab Bucket. This is where  if a large number of crabs are placed into a bucket, the will fight and squirm around, desperately trying to escape. The notable part is that if one crab is able to elevate themselves, they will instantly be dragged back down by the others around them, making escape impossible.

By appreciating these two ideas, you start to gain an understanding of why it is that on some days the world seems too dark to tolerate.

Sartre had it almost right. Hell isn't other people, it's just having to live around them.

The Regiment

Over the centuries a legend has abounded, of a regiment of lost souls.  They pool their numbers from the battlefield, recruiting those who have already fallen once in conflict. In the time after the blood-hot frenzy, when all there is is the moans of the dying , they will walk among the wounded.

Their numbers are far higher than anyone has ever guessed, and the warriors present here come from all walks of life.

The  Crusader clad proudly in Christian regalia, who was ambushed and cut down by bandits. Mere miles from a battle that would shape the world, he was cruelly denied his glory.  Outnumbered, he had fought valiantly but was blindsided when a mere slip of man's blade found the space between his plate mail.

The Centurion who watched as thousands of Huns exploded out of the nearby tree-line to the fort. He was in charge of small security force left to keep the locals placated, but the numbers now streaming towards him were far higher than anything his men could deal with. His fingers tightened on his gladius as he prepared to take as many of the frenzied with him as possible.

The Samurai, killed whilst guarding his master in the midst of peasant revolt. Due to their hatred for any whom would defend the despot they had subjected him to the shame and horror watching his master die before the same fate was dealt to him.

The LAPD officer, gunned down whilst responding to a gang territorial dispute between two men who were barely old enough to be considered men. An innocent had already been killed, with several more injured. He was shifting in cover when suddenly more of one of the youth's friends had pulled up, and the officer found himself in the open and in the line of fire.

All these people, and many more, were visited by the regiment and in their final moments asked the question.

"Are you done fighting?"

Some, tired with the fighting and conflict, resign themselves to the afterlife happy to have earned a final rest. All the problems that plagued the world that seemed so important when alive are revealed to be an illusion of a far grander stage.

But the are others who look the regiment square in the eye and say

"No, I'm not done"

These stubborn few, representing just about every single group of organized forces from throughout the world will occasionally be seen in the midst of battle itself. They are called upon when one gives themselves over to the conflict, Mind, Body and Soul. When an individual is lost to the blood-lust and the fury, and they fight simply because that is all they know within their world.

At this point, the various members of the regiment will take up arms and join the battle, tethered to the real world by the red mist.Nordic Vikings, Russian Spies, Zulu Warriors all fighting shoulder to shoulder.

None know who it is that commands this diverse group, though some stress the more important question is for what reason such a group is being accumulated.

Inherent Knowledge

Out in the Arizona desert, there was a child who has never seen a human face, nor heard a human voice. She resided not on the surface, but beneath it, contained within a bunker. The reason for her situation all came down to a singular issue.

The Existence of God.

One thing that is universally agreed upon by all faiths is that we are all born with an inherent awareness of God. The aim of this project was to demonstrate this by having a young girl, whom had never had any contact of any kind , formulate a concept of God separate from the rest of the world.

The project started innocently enough, with good intentions. Representatives from all the major faiths were present to witness the first potential proof of God. The child was a test-tube baby, screened for all potential genetic defects, and chosen specifically for the the fact it was average in every fashion. For the first years of her life she was brought up in a stark, sterile environment, with all orderlies around her wearing full-face masks to prevent any familiarity.

Her living space was approximately the size of a small one bedroom flat, with white walls throughout. There was no decoration, and minimalistic furniture purely for function. There was a television, however this was used to for her lessons

She was educated throughout the years, hungrily devouring the basics of English and Mathematics. Subjects beyond that were considered unnecessary, as the education was only provided as a means to communicate. Words such as "God", "Heaven" and "Hell" were pointedly excluded.

It was by her 12th birthday that results started to accumulate. It had been noted in previous weeks that she was starting to show some signs of mental imbalance, stemming from an English lesson that had enlightened her to the word "Name". She had never been given a name, merely referred to in darkened boardrooms as The Project. This seemed to distress her, as the labelling of words was a fixture in her mind, and with no point to fix herself upon she became confused and angry.

This escalated over the weeks, as she started to become more detached from reality, and on more than one occasion was heard to be engaging in conversations with herself. Whilst her living quarter were under full surveillance, complete with microphones in every room, the nature of this conversations eluded the scientists. She would mutter under her breath, often glaring at the myriad of cameras throughout.

Often it would become necessary to enter the space, to keep the area clean and to perform general maintenance.As a result, she would be rendered unconscious with gas, though the scientists would wait until she was lying in bed half asleep so as not to injure her. On this occasion, two masked technicians entered the room whilst she softly snored away, and set about repairing some minor damage to a table that was in her bedroom.Once finished they started to leave, when one hesitated for a second, stepping closer to the child. A father himself, it pained him to see such a detached individual. He went to touch her, just for a moment, when his partner roughly grabbed his shoulder.

"What are you playing at?"

He opened his mouth to reply, when the young girl exploded up from the bed in spasm, grabbed his hand and dragged herself up close to his face. The technician realised her eyes were rolled backed and her eyelids twitched as if in REM sleep.

"He has finally given me name. Would you like one?"

The technicians partner tried to dragged him away, as the child quickly whispered into his ear. Later, the partner would try to recall the words, but could not place as it seemed at one point two people were speaking. The technician had started to spasm and scrabbled at his ears in pain.

Guards hurriedly pull on their masks, then rushed into the room to drag the man out. As this occurred, the child sat on the bed cackling and crowing at the chaos she had inspired, and she continued to do so for hours  after they had left. The man was taken for treatment, but found to be hopelessly insane. Before they could restrain him, he succeeded in tearing off one of his own ears and biting off his own tongue.Conjecture later suggested it was in a bid to prevent himself from ever hearing or repeating the terrible words he heard that day.

The man was dead within a week, though the cause was not clear. One thing of note was that his moment of death, the girl, whom was secluded away in the bunker and miles from his location, started to giggle. She stared up at one of the cameras and smiled.

"the tithe has now been satisfied."

When pressed on this statement in her lessons, she smirked, but refused to enlighten.

The previous events were gleaned from various documents and personal accounts. At this point these all stop. What is known is that that night there was a catastrophic event at the installation. Every person on duty was brutally massacred. The confusing aspect of this was that the perpetrator is not clear. As each of the technicians, scientists and guards on duty died, the child sat in the centre of her room reciting the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic.

Backwards.

Camera footage showed 117 men and women convulse and violently vomit blood until they collapsed from supposed blood loss. As the last victim died, the child rose to her feet and walked to the door of her entire universe since she was born. Wood charred and metal melted as a hole burned it's way through and she took her first steps into the wide world.

As she walked she seemed to caress the very air with her hands, and was clearly happy despite being surrounded by such visceral gore. As she made her way out of the bunker , nothing was an obstacle. Even the blood and bodies of the formerly so curious were swept aside, a veritable red sea parting before her. As she reached the exterior, she turned and faced one of the final cameras. She stared at it for a moment then spoke.

"You never told me what I was looking for. Who knows what I was going to find. My name is Eve, and i represent the eve of you all."

At this moment, the image from the camera flickered, and revealed a fully grown man with eyes as black as pitch, not wearing a scrap of clothing, with one hand on the girls shoulder. Despite looking malicious, it could not be denied that he stared at the girl with some aspect of paternal pride. Another flicker and he was gone.

The girl was last seen striding off into the desert as if with a clear goal in mind.

Her location is unknown.
Her abilities are unknown.
Her intentions are unknown.

The Rules

1. They will come for you in your sleep.

2. You covers will only protect you as long as you believe they do.

3. Exposing an arm or leg is an invitation.

4. Exposing your face is unthinkable.

5. You never hear them breathe because they do not need to.

6. You never hear them walk because they do not need to.

7. You are never too old to be taken.

8. Try to remember what you see in the seconds after you wake up. It is the only time you see clearly.

9. Never scream. it will only attract more.

10. Those who seek them will be punished.

11. Those who run from them will be punished.

12. They are not the intruders. We are.

13. Pray for sunrise.