| abstract | - Disclaimer: I know that my following recollection of events may seem far-fetched. All I to show for it is this tiny box which I have yet to open. I am still having trouble swallowing the whole ordeal, but damn was it wild. It must have been a dream or something, but the box is right here. I think I saw someone slip something in my drink the night before it all happened, or was that just a guy spitting in my beer after I tried hitting on his girl? Anyway, the stuff I witnessed will, most likely, scar me for life and I still am curious as to what was on the other side of that door. Let me explain it to you. I would appreciate it and listen to my memories. If you have any more information regarding ANYTHING that I have witnessed, PLEASE, by all means, email me at bobert85@hotmail.com. Let me introduce myself. My name is Robert Jackson but I am know as Bobert. Yeah, it is stupid but it is a nickname that has stuck with me since my 3 year old niece was confused as to call me Bob or Robert. I am 27 years old and graduated from UCLA with a degree in Graphic Design. I moved to Chicago a year ago and started my own design business. It's great because I get to work at home and choose my own hours. Another plus is that most of my customers are wealthy businessmen or casuals who don't realize I am charging them $800 to make a logo that a monkey could make. Occasionally, I get the art geek who knows his stuff and calls me out on my "corrupt" business practices, but it never escalates to anything that buying a few drinks won't solve. So the night was Saturday, March 31, 2012. The Blackhawks were playing the Predators in the play-offs. This was a pretty important game so what better way to spend it than at a bar with people who have the same interest. The bar was packed way over the limit. You couldn't take 2 steps without rubbing up against someone's ass (man or woman) by accident. I pushed my way to the bar and ordered a beer. "Hey hey, Bobert! I thought you would show up, so I been saving this drink just for you." said Smithy, the bartender. I hate this guy. I seriously do. Giving him my name was one of the worst mistakes I have ever made in my life. This guy even had the idea of calling me "Bobert" as well. He called it "A witty name from a witty man". Yeah, my niece thought the same thing only she was 3 at the time. I should have ditched that bar after my first visit but the amount of fine women that walked in there every night... "Thanks, Smithy. Don't work too hard now." I laughed dryly. "Good one, Bobert. Hey, you know the Blackhawks really seem to be bringing…" I walked away as he was talking. It only felt right. The hockey game was pretty exciting. People cheered and through their joy, they bought drinks for everyone (another reason I like to go on game-days). Halftime was approaching and I decided it was time to begin, what I call, "The Hunt". If it wasn't obvious, yeah, "The Hunt" is where I go around and try to pick-up women. Now I have been single for at least 2 years. I have all this money built up from my company and no one to share it with (Don't ever use that as pick-up line). Half-time was rapidly passing by and I was having no luck. There was one lady who seemed pretty into me but I am pretty sure I saw her with a man earlier. Why did she tease me so much? Was it to distract me from... THAT ASSHOLE. He did spit in my drink during my moment of weakness… Well that doesn't matter now because I have a woman that would make him jealous. With 3 minutes left before the game resumed, I saw her, the most beautiful women in the bar. Her short-hair was as dark as ebony and her eyes shined so bright. It was as if someone hand-carved them from diamonds. She was the most gorgeous person I had ever seen. And, yeah, she was pretty freaking hot but I am trying to be modest here. The "Hunter" was ready to strike. "So, ugh, Blackhawks are doing pretty good…" I stuttered. I already failed. What a miserable excuse of a hunter I am. "Oh yeah! Blackhawks have a really good chance at winning the Stanley Cup this year. I think if they can just keep their defense strong, the game will be in the bag. Oh, I am Ali by the way. Nice to meetcha" She excitedly said. She has fallen into my trap. The trap set by a true hunter. We talked for awhile and I learned more about Ali. She was a musician and liked photography as well. The two of us were in such a deep conversation that we completely forgot about the game until the bar was in an uproar due to a bogus hit. It turns out the game was tied in fourth quarter. I thought to myself, a sudden-death game and a pretty girl. If Blackhawks win, we will be so happy and cheer and hug and do everything that leads to marriage and so on. How cliche, but when something like this is happening, you don't care if it is cliche or not. HE SHOOTS…HE SCORES! The bar cheered with excitement as we jumped up and down. I was so excited that I didn't even notice that I was still holding my tankard of beer. Just my luck…all my precious, golden alcohol splashed out and on to an old man sitting next to me. It was an accident but really, who remains seated while the Blackhawks take the lead? The old man started at me and I stared back. "S-Sorry, sir." I said as I quickly turned back to Ali to rejoice in this moment. Before I was looking back into Ali's shining eyes, the old geezer grabbed me with his bony, sharp hands. It felt as if 5 knives dug into my skin when he grabbed me. I was going to scream in pain but I didn't want to ruin this perfect moment for Ali. "Now, now, son. Accidents happen." said the old man. "Sorry again, let me buy you a drink. Smithy! I need 2 more beers." I yelled. I didn't even look at the old man. Instead, I turned straight to Ali but she looked like she was getting ready to leave. "Yo, good game but I need to leave now. I got a backlog of guitars that need to be repaired and re-stringed. It is gonna suck but whatever. Glad I got to meet you. Here's my number, call me?." Ali said as she walked out of the bar. Damn. Now what? She is gone but at least I can call her. I thought I should go home and get some rest. That is until I heard an unholy voice… "Here ya go, Bobert! 2 beers. Try to keep 'em in the tankard this time." Smithy laughed. Go to Hell, Smithy. The old man was pulling his tankard forward and looked at me. "Sit down, let's chat." he said and then he smiled. His smile made me incredibly uneasy. His teeth were crusty and all over the place but that wasn't the strange part. What made me feel uncomfortable was that I am pretty damn sure that I saw an extra row of teeth behind the normal one. It was as if he had twice as many teeth as a human should have. I wanted to laugh and comment on how it was Shark Week but I decided not to considering I just dumped a bunch of beer all over him. "Tell me what you do for a living, son." he mumbled. "Well, I am an artist, kind of. I make logos and prints for people and companies." "Hmm…you know, we could use a company logo. We are trying to spread our name across the city and hopefully larger areas." the old man said with deep thought. "That's nice. Who is "We" exactly and what kind of business do you run?" I was becoming a little interested. I hadn't had a client for a while. "'We' is our company workers and we work hard to give people better, healthier lives." the old man said smiling but in a way where I couldn't see his teeth. "I will keep it in mind. Thanks." "Oh, here. Keep this if you are interested." The old man handed me not a business card, but a USB drive. Who the hell did this guy think he was? There is no way that I am gonna stick that virus-filled rod into my innocent laptop. Feigning interest, I took the USB drive and said "We'll keep in touch.". Not really. I got home and fell onto my bed. I had drank way too much. I can't remember if I did anything for the rest of that night. Morning came and my head was pounding. Damn that old man for making me drink one-too-many. Oh right, I remembered the old man and his suspicious USB drive. But I remembered something even more important; I had Ali's number. I decided to give her a call later that day. "Hey, Ali. Do you remember me? From last night? The Blackhawks won." I said over the phone. "Haha yeah. What a cool game. Sorry I had to leave last night. I didn't expect you to order 2 more beers though." Ali laughed. "Well I did it as an apology for the man I split my drink on." "What man? I didn't see anyone." "He was hunched over and sitting down." "Oh. Now that you mention it, I did see someone sitting at a bar stool. Must have been a Predators fan. Poor guy……hey, do you want to get lunch together today? I mean, if you are not busy with any design work." I made plans with Ali and decided to get ready. In the shower, I noticed something weird. There were 5 deep cuts running up my arm. It must have been from when that old man grabbed me. How the hell did he cut through me? I looked at my shirt afterwards and sure enough, there were blood stains. It wasn't bleeding anymore nor did it hurt so I was not about to ditch Ali to go to the hospital. Luckily that decision didn't come back to bite me but I still wish I went to the hospital instead. What the hell was I thinking? I met up with Ali at a cafe and we sat outside and ate. I told her about last night and the old man and his proposal. Ali looked a little worried. "That's weird. Something similar happened to me. An old woman heard me playing guitar on the street and asked if I would be interested in writing a jingle for their company. I asked what kind of company they ran so I could get a better idea for this jingle. She smiled and said 'Better lives for a better tomorrow.' She gave me a USB drive and left. Something seemed a bit wrong with her. She was wearing a hood that covered the back of her head but, I swear, I saw something moving in the back of it. Moving as if there was another…forget it. It's silly and not appropriate for this nice conversation. Hey, have you checked your USB drive yet…GRRR" At this moment Ali began rubbing her eyes vigorously. "Hey are you okay? Do you need some eye-drops or something?" I said concerned. "It's nothing. My allergies just leave my eyes completely dry and itchy. It sucks. Don't worry about me. See, I am fine now. I think we should check out those USB drives. I mean, if a company is handing out USB drives instead of business cards, they have to be pretty rich.' Ali was right. This company, the company for "better lives", must have quite a wealthy background. I imagined all the royalties I would be paid with my logos and designs for them. I imagined how much money Ali and I would make. We could buy a house together and live such a joyful life. I went home to take a look at the USB drive. Back home, I took the USB drive and plugged it right into my laptop. Before anything, I virus scanned the crap out of it. It was clean to my surprise. It was time to take a look. Upon opening it, there was one file. A video file. It gave me the same uneasy feel as the old man's smile. The thumbnail was a little blurry but it looked kind of like a human head with surgery being done on it. It reminded me of a medical show I used to watch. The video was called "ETERNITY.wmv". "Eternity"? Is that their company name? It wouldn't be too hard to make designs for that. Despite the strange feeling this file was giving off, I opened it. Not out of curiosity but out of greed and the thoughts of all the money. The video opened up to the first frame. It was a title card saying "Only the strong survive." Then the video crashed. Oh right… I own a Macbook. This file is for a Window's OS. That sucks. I was actually interested in this opportunity. I remembered that Ali had received a similar USB drive so maybe I could watch the video with her at her house. Plus I would get to be alone with her…. I called her up again and was going to ask if I could come over but to my surprise, she invited me over before I could even ask. However, she sounded a little sad but I thought nothing of it as I drove over to her apartment. The Hunter succeeds again. "Hey, Ali. I couldn't get this USB drive to play the "Eternity" video on my Mac. Do you mind if I watch it here?" I asked. "Please…please don't. You don't want to see it…" Ali looked like she was on the verge of tears. "Why? I know the thumbnail looked a little strange but c'mon, I use the internet. There is nothing that can disturb me now." I said proudly (is that something to be proud of?). "J-Just don't. There are things in that video that… that. Don't watch it. I'm begging you." Ali whispered. Her voice started to choke up now. She should be crying but not a single tear was dropping. Maybe she had already cried until her eyes dried up. "Ali, this is important. This could be our shot at riches and a big house and huge family and…" I said a little too much at that point. Luckily Ali was too focused on the video. "For the love of God! Do not watch it!" she yelled. She was screaming now and I was actually getting a bit scared. In one quick swipe, she pulled the power cord out of the wall and her desktop computer shut off. Ali was frightened and pale. She embraced me and just stayed there. What do I do now? Do I just sit here or help her? But how? Her body was pressed against mine. It was a bad day to wear tight jeans. "It will be okay, Ali. I won't watch this video. We will just go back to normal and forget this entire thing even happened." "Thank you. Robert, please, I want you to do something. Can you stay the night here?" Score. "But just to make sure nothing happens or comes in during the dark hours?" Damn. Whatever, I guess she trusts me. When she fell asleep, I would watch that video. What the hell was I thinking? Ali was asleep and I decided to do some late-night video viewing. I walked into her studio room where the computer was located. I plugged the computer back in. While doing this, I noticed something under her desk. It was the USB drive she received only it was smashed to pieces. This girl has got some problems but whatever. I put my USB drive in and found the video. "ETERNITY.wmv" was sitting right there. The video started and with it came a deafening buzz. Ali had left the speakers up on the highest volume so she would know if I watched the video. Clever girl. I heard her yell in shock as she jumped out of bed. I slammed her studio door closed and locked it. "What the hell are you doing!?" she screamed as she pounded on the door. I wondered, would she be more pissed if she found out I was watching "Eternity" or adult videos? Probably "Eternity" so I acted the opposite. "Sorry. Just give me, like, 5 minutes…" The video played. "Only the strong survive…". I stared at that familiar screen and then a new title card appeared. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Actual video footage was now being played. There was a title card called "SPEED". They seemed be documented videos of…..human tests. It showed something that looked like an indoor track field. A few guys in lab coats were standing around with clipboards. A man came in with something on a leash. It looked like a human but it had a sack over its face. The same man who brought it in took out a whip and whipped the masked man. The masked man let out a distorted yell and took off running around the track field. This man ran faster than any human I had ever seen in reality and on television. Ali had stopped pounding at the door and it appeared that she had left her apartment. The masked man ran around the track a total of 4 times, the equivalent of a mile. The camera was brought in closer to the scientists and masked man. His leash was reattached and he was led out of the room. But something was different about the way he walked. His legs finally came into view and they were not what a human leg should look like. Instead, they were bent backwards and distorted until they resembled the legs of a horse or dog. It was disturbing. Was I really going to be making designs and logos for a company like this?! Maybe I could just do it as a commission and never be associated with them. An address appeared at the bottom of the screen. It was advertising their company and even had the saying "Better lives for a better tomorrow". I copied the address down and then the next footage began playing. This one was called "STRENGTH". It began in something that resembled a parking lot only closed off by high walls and barbed wire. 4 military vehicles were placed in different areas. Similar to the last video, scientists were standing and talking. A man walked in carrying a leash. Following him was huge man that looked like a football player. This big man was masked as well and it looked as if he had another set of arms. The video stopped. The computer died as well as with the rest of the power. Ali must have cut the power in the entire complex. I waited there, thinking about what I just saw and debating the reality of it. I unlocked the door and found Ali sitting on a couch in darkness. She looked at me and I could see her big eyes even in the dark abyss. She said, "Well? Are you satisfied now?" "Uh…yeah but it was kind of hard to clean up in the dark. Sorry if it…..wasn't thorough enough." I said uneasily. "Get out." I left the dark apartment complex after falling down a few stairs. The only thing on my mind was to visit that address. But why? Did I want to learn more about them? Was I just desperate for work? Did I want to try and stop this abomination? I should have taken it to the authorities but who knows? They might already know about this. It might be a government operation and I know too much. I decided to visit that address later on my own. It has been 2 days since I copied down address. I still have not decided to visit their company. Ali has not returned any of my calls. I have thought to myself, if I were to be killed by one of their masked brutes, how much would I lose. At least I would die with this mystery solved. I packed up my backpack with a camera, first-aid kit, and the USB drive. I left at 12 pm during the day (everything is less scary when the sun is shining). The drive over was about 45 minutes. The facility was in the middle of a corn field like everything is in Illinois. It looked like an old, abandoned warehouse. How cliché. Why would a big, multimillion laboratory be in such a crappy facility? Whatever, I could ask questions later. The interior of the warehouse is what you would expect. It was an old warehouse with nothing inside. Sunlight shined through the ceiling holes and illuminated the place nicely. It was a peaceful area. A flight of stairs was located in the corner leading down to a lower basement. Knowing that the scientists could be downstairs, I walked down them. The basement level was dark and only a little bit of light shined through the whole of the previous floor. At the end of the room there was another flight of stairs. I knew that there was nothing on this floor so I went down further. This flight of stairs was longer than the first. It seemed to go down deeper and deeper. The temperature was slowly dropping too. I knew that it was a nice warm day out so the sudden change in temperature must have been through the facility. Finally, the stairs hit a bottom floor where it was pitch black. I was so confident with the sun that I forgot to pack a flashlight. Only one source of light could be seen. I walked toward it, using my cellphone to see close by objects, and finally saw what it was. It was a giant metal door with the words "Eternity Room" on it. A bright, white light was coming from underneath it. This must have been where those masked men were being created/mutated. Sounds were coming from the other side of that door. It was 2 voices, both of which I could not make out. One voice was shrill and sounded like a laugh every time it spoke. The other voice was a deeper one that was unable to form words. It sounded as if someone was trying to speak but had their tongue removed. The tongue-less voice was getting closer and walking towards the door. I froze just standing in front and waited. That was the stupidest thing I could think of doing. Soon the thing's shadow could be seen in the light. My consciousness resumed and I dove into a corner of the dark basement. The door made strange noises that sounded like a vault opening. Bright light shone through as a person walked out carrying a bag. This man was warped as well. Seeing it in person was too disturbing for words. I realized why he could not talk. He still had his tongue, teeth, and jaws, but his lower jaw had somehow dropped to an impossible level. The man's lower jaw swung through the air as if every muscle and bone had been removed from it. When he stopped moving to dispose of the bag, the jaw sat motionless on the man's chest. I was too paralyzed to even make a noise. The other voice emerged halfway through the door. The light was so bright that I could only make out a silhouette. But from what I saw, it looked like a normal human except the neck was twice as long. The strange head also had multiple "things" sticking out of it. At the time, I was so scared that I quickly passed it off as a strange hair style but now that I think about it, they were probably something else. The voice let out some screeching noises and the low-jaw man came running back with his jaw swinging with each step. What did I just witness? The bag! The bag must contain something worth of importance. I ran over to the bag. It had writing on it but it was too dark to read so I had no choice but to carry it back up the stairs. I could have used my cellphone to read it but I wasn't about to with those "things" still near me. The bag smelled of death and pulling it up the stairs was quite a task. At last, I was back upstairs and with the bag this time. The sun was still up and only 50 minutes had passed. I dragged the bag over to my car and finally sat down to read it. On the bag was the word "WILLPOWER". This must have been another "test subject". I opened the bag and found exactly what I pictured, a decaying corpse. This was my first time being around a…..dead person so I was feeling a bit queazy. I ended up accidentally vomiting into the bag with the body still in it. So much for respecting the dead. Great. Now I have to examine this corpse covered in my puke. It sucked but I did it anyway. The corpse itself was covered with deep scars, cuts, burns, and more. From my observation, they were trying to make this man "stronger" through means of experimentation and torture. No wonder his title was "Willpower". Something was different though, unlike the "Speed" and "Strength" Subjects there were no physical alterations. They must have been on the inside. I took out my pocket knife and began the most informal autopsy ever done. Yeah, there was something altered with this man too. Cutting through his skin was hell; it was as tough as leather and incredibly thick. It took awhile but I finally pulled opened his chest cavity. Inside his ribcage were 2 hearts. One was his natural heart and the other was someone else's that had been wired through his body through artificial means. Now what do I do? Do I take the body as evidence? I decided to leave the body back downstairs. If it were missing, the "company" may notice and seeing how Ali and I are some of the only outsiders who knew of this "company" we may be in danger. I did get some good pictures though. Dragging the body back down the stairs was easier. When I finally reached the bottom, the "Eternity Room" was opened and a new figure was standing there. It was an old woman (was this the one Ali was talking about)? She wasn't wearing a hood and her head was completely exposed. At first I thought she was staring at me but it was the complete opposite. She wasn't even looking in my direction, well, at least her main face wasn't. What the hell… this women had 2 faces. The distorted rear-face looked as if it was trying to talk. It knew I was there and it was trying to alarm the old women. The way it moved sent chills down my spine. I dropped the bag and snuck up the stairs as quietly as possible. On my way up, I thought to myself, I must see the inside of that room. These people must be stopped. It was only an old, brittle hag. I could have broken her hip with one punch. I reached the warehouse ground level and ran to my car where I was stopped by a familiar voice. It was the old man. "Slow down, son. I remember you. You were the one who gave me a golden shower." he laughed. I hoped he was referring to the beer I spilt on him. He continued, "How do you feel about the offer? You obviously watched the video seeing as how you found our address." "I appreciate your consideration but I am afraid I am going to pass." I said as I backed toward my car. "Do not leave so soon. Please reconsider. We have such a large list of clients and I can assure you that they would appreciate your work as well. Think of all the profit. I can even pay you in advance if you desire." "Clients? Who are they and how many are there?" I realized when he said clients, he was referring to his "experiments". "Oh there are many, many clients. Strong ones, fast ones, angry ones, fat ones, and happy ones. You watched our video, you should know..." I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I tried to keep eye contact with the old man but my gaze was broken for a split second. In that short time span I saw something crawl underneath my car. The old man saw that I noticed this "thing" and decided to end the conversation. "-but I do not want to force you into our company. Take this. Consider it as a welcoming gift." He handed me a tiny box (the box I still have yet to open) and then left. He offered to shake my hand but the last time we made contact, I ended up with 5 scars. I didn't look under the car, not out of fear but because I didn't want the old man to know I noticed anything unusual. After 15 minutes of driving, I pulled over onto a dirt path. I sat and stared at my car, from a reasonable distance, and waited for whatever it was that crawled underneath it, to crawl back out. I waited an entire hour without any signs of this beast. Enough was enough; I was hungry and there was a drive-in diner 20 minutes away. My knees were shaking but I was too hungry to care. I reached underneath my car and felt warm, leathery flesh. This monstrosity quickly climbed from underneath my car onto the roof. I got a good long look at this creature. I presumed that it was a human being once but not anymore. Across its chest was a tattooed word that read "GRIEF". It did not have a face but instead, a blank flesh palette with two large, loose orbs that resembled eyes. At last, it made its move to attack by a forward lunge. I swung my fist blindly and luckily it connected. Its eyeballs broke off and it was a blind, scrambling mess. I took this moment to flee. Yeah, I drove straight into the thing and gave it a few more "runs" for good measure. Authorities will see it as roadkill. On my drive back I thought about what the old man said. "Strong ones, fast ones, angry ones, fat ones, happy ones"? I could still go back and watch the video except I left that USB drive in Ali's computer. I decided to go over there. Hopefully she has calmed down by now and not destroyed the USB device. Ali was not home but that didn't matter. My foot worked better than any key could (what a crappy apartment complex). Her place looked exactly like it had when I left. In fact, my USB drive was still in her computer. I booted it up and got ready to watch the whole thing. Here I am now in the present. Yeah, this stuff is tough to believe. Of all the people in Chicago, why me? If you have any information, that can help me, please tell me. I guess I will explain the video and upload it when I get the chance. Ali's place doesn't have wifi. Strange. Anyway... The video was undoubtedly gruesome. The operations they put people through were horrific. I saw many of their "clients" such as "HATRED", "AGILITY", "FEAR", "STRENGTH", and "PEACE". All of them equally suffered through these procedures. Body parts, limbs, and organs were removed, replaced and added. What scared me the most was the eye surgery. I have never heard a person scream so much in my entire life. All of their eyes were cut out and replace with liquid-filled orbs but for what? The way their new eyes glistened under the lights was so unsettling and so…..familiar…..that bitch….dxvzdfxvdxdvxaxdsswTHAT BITCH WAS ONE OF THEM THIS THE WHOLE TIME!! DAMN IT ALI!! JKJN,JN,JN NJB,BJ,NBJ,NB,JB,J,JN M, g,v okay enough pounding the keyboard. I am going to settle things now. These monsters need to stop this horrible work. How has something like this been a secret so long? I see now. They didn't want me to make any logos. They want to make me one of those things. I was blinded by greed to see what was so obvious. The video was right in front of me the whole time with this evidence yet all I cared about was a paycheck. What the hell is wrong with me. Enough. I can still make things right. If they want me, I will come to them but I am choosing my name. I choose "JUSTICE". Once I am through with these guys I will tell you what happened and who they are. If you have questions or want to offer strategies, support, help, email me at bobert85@hotmail.com The old man's box. I should probably open it. He wants to play a game? Well I graciously accept. Let's see what is in here... A tiny bag labelled "BEAUTY" ….and on the inside... shit. It's Ali's eyes.
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