Work Text:
[CLICK]
THE ARCHIVIST
Statement of Laura Parker, regarding...
LAURA
Getting lost.
THE ARCHIVIST
Right. Statement recorded direct from subject on the 18th of June, 2019, by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute. Statement begins.
LAURA
I love hiking, you see. I do it whenever I have a free weekend. But after this, I'm not sure I'll be going back to the mountains anytime soon. It happened last month. I'd had a stressful week, so I went down a trail I knew well. I got bored, though, so I decided to stray from the path a bit. I'm an experienced hiker, I had a compass and a map. It wasn't even my first time going off track. There was no way I could get lost.
And yet, that's exactly what happened. Or what I think happened, at least. About 20 minutes after stepping off the path, my surroundings completely changed. All of a sudden, there were no trees to be seen, the ground was cracked and dry. It resembled a landfill more than anything, with the random garbage all around. (frantically) But it's absolutely impossible! The hike is through a dense forest, no deserts or landfills nearby. Still, it was like I'd never set foot in a forest at all!
[DEEP BREATH]
(calmer) There was a house. Among all the trash and old furniture and broken items, there was a small cabin. I'd found myself in some laughable imitation of a fairytale, though I was too frightened to find it amusing. I shouldn't have gone towards it, that's so obvious now. I should have turned around, ran the other way... I was functioning solely on instincts then, though. House means people, people mean help.
It was old, made of rotten wood, God knows how it was still standing. When I reached the door, however, I saw it was metal, like a bunker's door. That's when I took a closer look and I realised - the house was a bunker. The wood was simply nailed to it, or glued on, or something. I still knocked. Stupid, I know, but you have to understand, I was scared and desperate for help.
When it opened, the door creaked and groaned and scraped like it was being used for the first time in a while. I was half expecting some monster to jump out at me. It was just a man. A middle-aged, average looking man. But his eyes... I couldn't look away. They were dark, sunken like he hadn't slept in years. I don't know how long I was staring at him. Could've been seconds or hours. Eventually, though, he spoke.
"Good morning." He said. It had been the afternoon when I went off the path. I tried to ask who he was, but the second I opened my mouth it felt like it was full of ash. He only smiled, grabbed my arm, and pulled me inside.
[SILENCE, THE TAPE RECORDER WHIRS]
THE ARCHIVIST
And?
LAURA
That's it. I don't remember anything else. I woke up in my bed and it was the next day.
THE ARCHIVIST
(skeptical) Are you sure it wasn't just a nightmare?
LAURA
It wasn't! Here, look.
[MOVEMENT]
It won't go away.
THE ARCHIVIST
What is it?
LAURA
Ash, from where he grabbed me. It's not a burn and I can't wash it off. It's like it's stuck on my skin! And my mouth is still so dry. It tastes like ash. Some days I can't even eat.
THE ARCHIVIST
I'm sorry. We'll do our best to find out what happened.
[CLICK]
Sasha really wants to dismiss that statement as just a nightmare. But if the rumours about a new fear are true, she needs to be cautious. If it's already powerful enough to have an avatar, then they're too late to stop its birth.
"Guys?" She calls. Tim and Martin pop up in the doorway.
"What's up?" Tim asks.
"How do you feel about going on a hike with me?"
Tim is usually all about the great outdoors, but this is a bit too much even for him. He can only imagine what Martin and Sasha are going through. It probably would have helped to get more information from the witness, but the poor woman's voice had gone almost completely by the end of her statement. She hadn't been kidding about her mouth being dry, that's for sure. As a result, though, they'd had to estimate (aka guess) the location of the bunker. They had ended up going off the beaten path about halfway through the trail. Since that point, they've been walking for about 40 minutes and Tim is really starting to hate this forest.
"I'm starting to think," He huffs. "That this whole thing is bullshit. I mean, we've seen nothing resembling a wasteland at all!"
"Perhaps you should take that as a sign to leave." An unfamiliar voice echoes around them.
"Who's there?" Martin calls.
"We just wanna talk!" Sasha adds and Tim huffs in amusement. For Sasha, that might as well be a threat.
Suddenly, there are footsteps coming their way. As soon as he hears them, Tim feels the world around them start to shift. A gust of wind blows every single leaf from the trees around them. They're left bare, greyer somehow. The fallen leaves turn to dust as soon as they hit the ground. The sun comes down through the now open sky like it's shining right on them. The ground dries right before his eyes. The footsteps are closer now. Tim can see a man coming towards them, walking slowly through the wasteland that now surrounds them. With his peripheral vision he notices Martin look around, but his own eyes are fixed on the newcomer. He's in clear view now and he's exactly like the statement had described him. A completely ordinary man.
"I can't believe it." Sasha whispers. "It's real. The Extinction, it's real."
"I do hope you're afraid of it." The man says. "Because I feel like I haven't really been earning my salary as an avatar, so to speak."
"What?!" Tim cannot believe this guy. He's the first ever avatar of The Extinction and he's acting like it's just his 9-to-5.
"Well, it's a bit of a dilemma, you see. In order for The Extinction to grow, more people have to be afraid of it. But there's only one of me and frankly, I'm not the biggest fan of human interaction."
"From what I've learned, we can't choose what becomes of us." Sasha says and Tim suddenly wants to punch Elias in the face.
"So if we kill you, would that stop The Extinction?" Martin chimes in. The man raises an eyebrow.
"I chose to talk to you, you know. I can leave any time I want. Besides, you can't 'stop' it."
"It's fully formed then?" Sasha asks and the man nods.
"Well that's just lovely, isn't it?!" Tim exclaims. "I mean, it's not like we're being paid enough to prevent it, but still."
"If it's any consolation, I don't think you could have. Humans change and the fears change with them. The circle of life, if you will."
"Isn't the circle of life, like, the exact opposite of your entity?" Martin asks.
"If we started to debate the philosophy of the fears, we'd be here all day." The avatar smiles. "Now, perhaps it's best you left. You can always come back."
"And waste more time wandering these woods, waiting for you to show up again?"
"Tim!"
"Sorry, sorry. I'm just saying." The man chuckles at that.
"We've got what we came for anyway." Sasha says. "Can I just have your name for the file?"
"You're taking the whole 'reseach institute' seriously, huh. It's Jon. No 'h'."
"No last name?"
"I'm not doing your research for you." Jon smirks, and just like that, they're back in the forest with no sign of him, or the place they'd just been. A bird chirps from somewhere nearby. Tim can hear the voices of other hikers on the trail and realises they're at its end.
"Bastard," He comments. "We're gonna have to walk all the way back."
Martin and Sasha groan. At least they've got things to discuss on the way.