Work Text:
S.H.I.E.L.D. Records, File 44-A.17.2005
Codename: PA-HAY-OKEE
Restriction Notice: The following footage is restricted under the S.H.I.E.L.D. Charter Guidelines, Regulation 223, Paragraph 12, Subsection 87. This file requires Level 11 Alabaster-Class Clearance, or the permission and supervision of an agent with Level 11 Alabaster-Class Clearance to access.
Any agent of Level 10 or below is otherwise RESTRICTED. Severe punishments will be levied for unauthorized access and viewing, as defined in S.H.I.E.L.D. Charter Guidelines Regulation 357, Paragraph 8, Subsection 215.
******
The following footage was recovered from the Everglades at coordinates [REDACTED]. Said footage contains the final record of a team of amateur film makers who journeyed into [REDACTED] in search of proof of a cryptozoological figure identified by the locals as “the Harvestman”.
The crew entered the area of [REDACTED] at an estimated time of 23:56:09 on July 3, 2005.
The footage you are about to see is heavily fragmented, the memory cards recovered from the outlying areas of [REDACTED] were severely damaged due to various environmental factors over an unknown length of time.
The parts of the coherent footage that were salvageable have been arranged by our restoration team in chronological order in an attempt to explain what happened to the film makers.
******
[FRAGMENT 003 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA is mounted inside a vehicle, pointing at the driver's side rear window. The vehicle is passing down a highway, near the shoulder.)
(SOUND: The rhythmic rumble of tires on asphalt. “I'm Just A Kid” by Simple Plan is playing on the radio.)
(TIMESTAMP: 8/30/2005, 15:43:57)
LEO (OS, adjusting the camera focus): Okay, we're good on video check. Audio levels look good. Ben, have we got coordinates?
BEN (OS, from the passenger seat): I mean, the dash has us going at 65 miles per hour, but we're heading to said coordinates by the GPS.
LEO (OS): Okay, that'll do. (clears throat, putting on a deeper voice) We're deep in the heart of the American South. Here is where the paved roads end and legends begin. We've come hunting down one of the last true myths in Americana: the Harv-
MAYA (OS): (laughing, sputtering a bit)
(CAMERA pans over to show two individuals from behind. BEN, the driver, is a Caucasian male of about 24 years of age. The passenger, MAYA, is a Hispanic female of about that same age. MAYA looks back at the CAMERA, addressing LEO.)
MAYA (through laughter): I'm sorry, I'm sorry! You just sound like one of those crappy old B-Movies my Dad watches!
LEO (OS): It's called cultivating an atmosphere, Maya! We have to sell this thing!
BEN (OS): He's got a point, Mai. We drove three days for this.
LEO (OS): Thank you, Ben.
MAYA (turns to Ben): No, we drove three days here because Coppola back there decided to drop five grand of not his own money on a grainy photo of a swamp and a set of coordinates on some internet forum.
BEN (OS): Hey, I never claimed Leo made good decisions.
(MAYA shrugs, grins back at the CAMERA)
LEO (OS): Look, the lore is solid. Somewhere around fifty people have gone missing in that area over the past thirty years. That's not a coincidence.
BEN (OS): That sounds exactly like a coincidence, dude.
(CAMERA pans over, focusing on the driver's seat and BEN)
BEN: I mean, people go missing in swamps all the time. You remember hearing about that Terrance Williams guy last year?
LEO (OS): Yeah, but the Harvestman is different.
MAYA (OS): How so?
(CAMERA pans over to focus on MAYA again.)
MAYA: What makes this story different from the 8,000 other whackjobs out there?
LEO (OS, putting on his narrator voice): That's what we've come to find out!
(MAYA groans and BEN, still off-screen, groans. CAMERA pans back over to the view of the highway through the rear driver side door.)
[FRAGMENT END]
******
[FRAGMENT 004 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA is mounted in a vehicle, now pointing out of a rear passenger-side door. The vehicle passes several road signs before eventually pulling up past a larger one that is too blurry to read at first, but soon comes into focus: “Welcome to the Big Cypress Reserve”.]
(SOUND: The rhythmic rumble of tires on asphalt, before transitioning to a more jarring rattle, the transition from pavement to dirt.)
(TIMESTAMP: 8/30/2005, 17:54:08.)
(The vehicle passes the sign, CAMERA pans to the front, showing BEN and MAYA still in the front seat as the car approaches a small cabin.)
BEN: Thank God, we're finally here!
[FRAGMENT END]
******
[FRAGMENT 008 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA is now showing the inside of a room with wooden walls, looking very rustic. The inside of the cabin, facing a wall with a taxidermied duck hanging from a plaque on it as the main point of focus.)
(SOUND: We can hear the humming of the air conditioning unit mixed in with the repetitive hum of the camera, as well as someone moving about the room off-screen.)
(TIMESTAMP: 8/30/2005, 20:45:56.)
LEO (OS): Alright, that should do it.
(We get our first look at LEO, an African American male of about 24. He addresses the camera directly.)
LEO: Hello, I'm… uh. I'm Leo. Leo Robinson, I'm the director of… uh… umm…
BEN (OS): You didn't think of a name, did you?
LEO: What? Of course I did! Don't be ridiculous!
BEN (OS): I am all ears, Mr. Kubrick.
LEO: Dude, look, I'm just trying to lay down the necessary background. It's good story telling.
BEN (OS): If you say so.
LEO: Look, I-
(A shrieking scream sounds from somewhere off-screen.)
LEO (visibly pale): That sounded like Maya!
(LEO reaches for the CAMERA, the perspective changing to show his feet moving along the hallway as he follows BEN, our view showing the swampy area outside the cabin.)
BEN (OS): Maya! Maya, where are you?!
MAYA (OS): Over here!
(BEN rushes over, the camera following, stopping as BEN stops right at the back of their van.)
BEN: Oh, my God!
MAYA (OS): Don't just stand there! Help me!
(The camera follows BEN as he moves over to where MAYA has fallen, a very prominent tree root visible that she seems to have tripped over.)
LEO (OS): Oh, geez Mai… What the heck?
(The camera stops over one of their light fixtures, fallen into the mud.)
LEO (OS): Did you drop this?
(The camera pans over to MAYA, who is being supported back toward the cabin by BEN. Her arm is over his shoulder and she is deliberately not applying any pressure to her left foot)
MAYA: No, it fell when I tripped. Sorry I couldn't catch it when my ankle was dislocating!
LEO (OS): Are you kidding me? Each of those lights is like… two grand out of my pocket if they get broken!
BEN: Leo, I really wouldn't-
MAYA: Turn around. I'm gonna put my fist through his face!
BEN: Not worth it, Mai.
LEO (OS): Hey!
[FRAGMENT END]
******
[FRAGMENT 009 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA is set once more on the taxidermied duck. However, LEO is in the shot and holding an ice pack to his left eye.)
(SOUND: The hum of the air conditioning unit and the hum of the camera intermingling.)
(TIMESTAMP: 8/30/2005, 22:17:03.)
LEO: So, uh… the light was fine. I got it out of the mud and cleaned it up, not so much as a smudge on it.
MAYA (OS, yells): Unlike your butt once my foot heals, you jerk!
LEO: (deep sigh) Maya did not actually dislocate her foot, she just twisted it. A few days and she'll be alright. So, yeah… today was a bit of a wash. We got here late despite leaving a day earlier than we'd planned and we don't even have half the van unpacked. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.
(LEO reaches beyond the camera view.)
[FRAGMENT END]
******
[FRAGMENT 013 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA cuts in right in the middle of footage, in mid-sentence as LEO talks from off-screen to BEN. The view is presently on a swampy trail the two are walking.)
(TIMESTAMP: 8/31/2005, 09:23:48..)
(SOUND: After the static-y distortion, we hear the ambient noises of the swamp, feet moving across hard, muddied ground.)
(Footage video and audio distorts and comes in static -y and warbling, but comes into focus.)
LEO (OS): -which is why I think the cabin would have had to have been deeper into the swamps.
BEN: No, way, man!
LEO (OS): One hundred percent.
BEN: Dude, how are you even serious?
LEO (OS): You have a better explanation for how he made fifty people disappear without a trace?
BEN: No, but the whole cabin thing doesn't make sense to me at all.
LEO (OS): How so?
BEN: You're telling me that this guy just wandered off into the woods, way away from everyone other than God himself, and built a shack out here on land that hadn't been touched since before the Seminoles showed up?
LEO (OS): Yeah, man.
BEN: Look, man, I get it: rednecks are crazy. But like… Why would he even do that? So far off from any villages or settlements or whatever?
LEO (OS): I mean, Citrusville is like… ten miles or so north.
BEN: (scoffs) Oh, ten whole miles! Be still, my heart!
LEO (OS): Oh, c'mon, man! Take this seriously!
BEN: Dude, I just can't! (Laughs) A bunch of drunken yahoos wander into a swamp over three decades and go missing, that's not exactly giving me the vibes of a serial killer.
LEO (OS): What is it giving you?
BEN: Nothingburger.
LEO (OS): Oh, c'mon!
BEN: Dude, I'm just being straight with you. It's not like we're just going to happen upon a serial killer’s lost cabin in the woods and-
(BEN stops, his eyes bug out.)
LEO (OS): Yo, Ben. You alright?
BEN (to gazing to something to the right, off-screen): Son of a gun…
(The CAMERA pans over, following BEN’s gaze and we focus on what we quickly realize is a dilapidated wreck of a wooden cabinet, covered in overgrown vegetation.)
LEO (OS): Well, if that's not a sign, I don't know what is! Leo one, Ben zero!
BEN (OS): Smartass.
[FRAGMENT ENDS]
******
[FRAGMENT 014 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA shows the interior of a dilapidated cabin, the same one previously seen from the outside, the beam of a flashlight is shone around.)
(TIMESTAMP: 8/31/2005, 09:46:54)
(SOUND: Feet creaking against old floorboards, muted noises from the swamp outside)
BEN (OS): Dude, how many of those memory cards are you going to go through?!
LEO (OS): As many as I need!
(BEN is heard scoffing in irritation. The camera twists around to show LEO is holding it, now pointing it at himself.)
LEO: And it's here, only a few minutes’ walk away from our cabin, that we have found what we believe to be the cabin of the Harvestman.
BEN (OS): You believe.
LEO: Dude, shut up, I'm going to have to edit so much in post!
BEN (OS): Whatever, man. I'm about eighty percent sure this is just some hobo's cabin.
(LEO audibly sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose with his other hand.)
BEN (OS): I'm just sayin’, bro.
LEO: Well, just say your way over into the other room so I can cut this narration, please?!
BEN (OS): Alright, alright. Keep your shirt on!
(SOUND: Feet creaking against floorboards as BEN clearly walks off)
LEO (faces the CAMERA again): So, where was I? Anyway, the Harvestman is said by locals to have been behind at least fifty disappearances in the last thirty years. Stories abound about dark rituals deep in the swamp, partaken at the base of a jagged tower made of midnight black stone, that is said to serve as an altar to some sort of ancient, forgotten God.
BEN (OS, yelling): Hey! Leo! Leo!
LEO (huffs): What?!
BEN (OS, yelling): I think you're gonna wanna see this.
(LEO gets behind the CAMERA, the viewpoint his own as he makes his way into the other room and sees BEN shining his light down on something on the floor by a partially collapsed wall.)
LEO (OS): What is it?
(BEN gestures for him to come up and look, and he does so. The camera pans down to reveal the body of an alligator, its scaly eleven-foot body covered in dozens of deep cuts.)
LEO (OS): Oh, what the hell?! (he gags, gives dry heaves)
BEN (OS): Dude, Lake Placid over here got messed up.
(The camera pans back around, facing away from the body of the gator and showing a nauseated LEO.)
LEO: Oh, dude… What the hell even is that?!
BEN (OS): An alligator, or what's left of one, anyway. Come look at it over here.
LEO: What? No way, man! I'm not making a snuff film!
BEN (OS): Fine, hand me the camera.
LEO (OS): What? No!
(The two briefly struggle and the camera view distorts.)
(CAMERA view returns, and it's clear to us that BEN is now working the camera, the focus once more on the alligator.)
BEN (OS): The cuts on its body, they look like… letters or glyphs or something.
LEO (OS): So what?
BEN (OS): So it might prove your theory, you numbskull! Didn't you say all the lore said the Harvestman does his killing like a ritual?
LEO (OS): Well, yeah… but this thing still has parts. The eyes, the scales, the Harvestman is supposed to use everything.
BEN (OS): Maybe he couldn't. Maybe something stopped him before he could finish the job… that or there's another psychopathic killer out here somewhere.
LEO (OS): We should probably start back. We probably shouldn't have left Maya alone…
[FRAGMENT END]
*******
[FRAGMENT 017 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA shows footage of the exterior of the cabinet at night, set up on a tripod looking out through a large window in the cabin.)
(SOUNDS: Ambient swamp noises, the hum of the camera and the air conditioner.)
(TIMESTAMP: 8/31/2005, 21:56:11.)
(There is no visual on one of the individuals we have been following, but upon their van sitting parked several feet away from the cabin.)
(A dark shape drifts into the right side of the screen, but the camera view distorts before we get a look at it. When the static and the audio distortions clear, the shape is gone and two of the van’s tires have suddenly gone flat.)
[FRAGMENT END]
000000-000000
[FRAGMENT 021 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA view is of the room in the cabin with the taxidermy duck. It quickly becomes clear that someone accidentally left the camera on.)
(TIMESTAMP: 9/1/2005, 06:43:58.)
(SOUNDS: Ambient sounds of the cabin as previously described)
BEN (OS): Look, all I know is that our wheels don't have wheels. The van isn't going anywhere, capice?
MAYA (OS): There's gotta be something you can do, Ben!
BEN (OS): Try to get a signal and call a tow truck, yeah. If one will even come out this far.
LEO (OS): Well, I mean, it's a Persevere, isn't it? There's got to be like… park rangers or something? Doesn't there?
BEN (OS): Umm… about that…
MAYA (OS, groans): Oh, no!
LEO (OS): Ben… What are you saying?
BEN (OS): We, uh… we may not exactly have the permits to be doing this. On paper, anyway.
LEO (OS): What?!
BEN (OS): Look, I know, I know, okay?! I got to the permit office Friday morning and they said they'd have them at the beginning of next week, but you didn't want to wait that long!
LEO (OS): Dude, you never even told me about it! Of course I would have waited!
BEN (OS): Dude, you've dedicated every moment of your life lately when you weren't doing something else to this. You were up in your bunk muttering “Harvestman” in your sleep like he was a damn creepypasta or something!
LEO (OS): That doesn't mean I would have just thrown caution to the wind willy-nilly, Ben!
MAYA (OS): You guys realize you're arguing about a dead alligator, right? Something that happens in a swamp literally all the time?
LEO (OS): You didn't see it, Mai. It was… horrifying.
BEN (OS): Whether or not the Harvestman legend is true, somebody out there thinks that it is and they were starting to act it out on that gator, and if I were betting man, I'd say they were trying to do the same with our van.
MAYA (OS): I’m still not convinced that it wasn't an animal.
BEN (OS): That punctured two tires with a single blow each?! You saw the footage from last night, just like we did.
LEO (OS): Here, let me get the camera-
(LEO begins to pick up the camera, the viewpoint lifting up and-)
[FRAGMENT ENDS]
******
[FRAGMENT 024 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA is dark and heavily distorted, though we're able to pick up the view of the tops of some trees under a night sky.)
(SOUNDS: The sounds of the swamp at night. Buzzing flies, chirping crickets, the occasional bullfrog’s croak, and heavy breathing as someone has clearly been running.)
BEN (OS): Is this thing on? Rad. Okay, I had to wait until Leo and Maya were asleep, but I had to check that cabin again. There's something else going on, and it doesn't have anything to do with some swamp Boogeyman.
(The visuals kick in better, showing a flashlight from off-screen shining on what appears to be the wreck of the cabin from before. BEN starts moving toward it, keeping his voice low.)
(TIMESTAMP: When the static clears, we can again properly see - 9/2/2005, 03:16:43)
BEN (OS): I don't think there's anything to that part of the story, but there might be some clue…
(The camera pans in, heading into the other room where BEN and LEO found the alligator before.)
BEN (OS): What… where… where is it?!
(NOISE: A soft chanting is heard from outside, just loud enough to drown out the ambient swamp noises.)
BEN (OS): What the fuck?
(The camera pans around, turning to face a hideous visage that looks to be some sort of face mask formed from the still-blood covered head of the alligator from earlier. BEN screams and the camera view and the audio distort heavily.)
[FRAGMENT ENDS]
******
[FRAGMENT 025 / RAW FOOTAGE/ PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA focuses on a large bonfire, several CULTISTS dance around it, each garbed in what appear to be rags and masks that are seemingly crafted from the bodies of various swamp animals.)
(TIMESTAMP: 9/2/2005, 03:46:55)
(SOUNDS: The ritualistic chanting from File 24 is still heard.)
[FRAGMENT ENDS]
******
[FRAGMENT 026 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA focuses on the scene from before, however it has dramatically changed. The CULTISTS are running for their lives and the bonfire has spread all over. A bestial ROAR is heard from off-screen.)
(SOUNDS: Complete and utter chaos, screams, people running through water and mud, the crackling of fires, and the occasional roar of the yet-unseen leviathan. At last, a bit of familiar heavy breathing comes into focus.)
(VISUAL: Timestamp reads 9/2/2005 at 04:28:55)
BEN (OS, panting): Almost… there!
(The camera, at last, moves as it is lifted by shaky hands)
BEN (OS): I gotta get back to Mai and Leo. This place is a nightmare!
(He grunts, struggling, and the camera pans with his movements. Heading out into the darkness, he stumbles on a rock and falls over, the camera landing in mud.)
BEN (OS): Shit!
(The camera is pulled up and we see Ben's hand wiping the mud from the lens. As the image clears, we see a towering beast that looks to be made of both floral and fauna. Great green hands rising up and a sudden roar coming from its elongated trunk and a glare from its beady, black eyes.)
BEN: Oh, fuck!
(He rolls out of the way, the camera clattering to the muddy ground once more. As mud splatters across the lens, we see the large feet of MAN-THING clop right past the camera as though he doesn't even notice it.
As he heads off, we hear BEN’s heavy breathing and the camera is picked up again.
BEN takes off running into the dark, the camera wobbling with his movements.)
[FRAGMENT END]
******
[FRAGMENT 027 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA is on its side on what appears to be the kitchen table in the cabin. We can see BEN, MAYA, and LEO all in the same shot. The lens of the camera is still splattered with mud.
BEN sits while LEO tends to what look like rope burns on his wrists as well as several other cuts and bruises he received from the cult and in running away through the swamps.)
(TIMESTAMP: 9/2/2005, 05:57:57)
BEN: I'm telling you, guys! There is something out there! Some kind of monster!
LEO: Just relax, Ben. Just relax.
BEN: No, damn it! Listen to me! There's a cult of maniacs out there and the Harvestman just tore through them like tissue paper! Like they were a damn joke!
MAYA: Okay, but what was it?
BEN: I have no fucking idea! All I know is that it grabbed one of them when it burst up out of the mud and it burned them alive!
LEO and MAYA: …what?!
BEN: You heard me! I didn’t stutter!
LEO: Dude, you aren’t making sense.
BEN: NONE OF THIS BULLSHIT MAKES SENSE, LEO! WAKE THE HELL UP!
(BEN picks up the First Aid kit from the table and chucks it at LEO, who manages to dodge it as it flies off-screen)
LEO: Dude! What the hell?!
MAYA (glancing OS): Uh… guys?
BEN: This is seriously messed up, man! It’s time for you to get with the picture!
LEO: I am with the picture, I am totally pictured up, Ben!
BEN: Like Hell you are!
MAYA (yelling): GUYS!
BEN and LEO: What?!
MAYA (points OS): You guys need to see this.
(BEN and LEO turn and look off-screen.)
LEO: …huh.
[FRAGMENT END]
******
[FRAGMENT 028 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA is focused on a bookshelf next to the fireplace in the cabin, MAYA at it, pulling the bookshelf away to reveal a secret door behind it)
(SOUND: Ambient cabin noises, the hum of the camera and the hum of the air conditioning unit. The creaking of the bookshelf as it’s pulled back to reveal a doorway)
(TIMESTAMP: 9/2/2005, 06:03:26)
MAYA: Are you seriously filming this?
LEO (OS): What am I gonna do? Not film it?
MAYA: I mean, life or death scenario.
BEN (OS): What the hell is it?
LEO (OS): No idea, but let’s check it out. You go first, Maya.
MAYA (OS): Yeah, thanks, asshole.
(MAYA opens the metal door behind the bookshelf, swings into the next room and reveals a staircase leading down. The camera moves to follow MAYA as she leads the way down.)
BEN (OS): I didn’t even know this place had a basement.
MAYA: I’m pretty sure that was the point of the bookshelf.
(The camera pans down, following MAYA into a basement filled with several objects covered by tarps that look covered in thick layers of dust. BEN walks into view.)
BEN: Eww… who has a dustbuster?
MAYA: Shut up and help me with this tarp.
(BEN comes to MAYA’s side and together they pull off one of the tarps, revealing a workstation with several beakers and test tubes, many of which have been shattered.)
BEN: (sneezes) Oh, god!
MAYA: Is this lab equipment?
LEO (OS): Looks like it hasn’t been touched in ages.
(MAYA picks up a book amidst the equipment, blowing the dust off of it.)
BEN: What is it?
(The camera tightens in on MAYA, who has opened the book.)
MAYA: It’s a diary. (she begins to read) “My name is Theodore Sallis, and this is my personal record of the experiments that I have undertaken.”
LEO (OS): Theodore Sallis? I know that guy! He’s one of the first people that went missing… I think he was supposed to be one of Harvestman’s first victims.
BEN (OS): He was some kind of scientist?
LEO (OS): Yeah, clearly, right?
MAYA: (continuing to read) “Project: Gladiator is proceeding apace, the work of trying to recreate Doctor Erskine’s Project: Rebirth formula has been grueling and, unfortunately, fruitless at the present, but I remain hopeful.”
BEN (OS): Erskine? I know that name… isn’t he, uh…?
LEO (OS): World War II, he was a scientist. I think he was the guy who made Captain America.
MAYA: A comic book artist made Captain America.
LEO (OS): Oh, bull! We took that trip to New York in Eighth Grade and we all saw the statue of Captain America and his sidekick Bucky! They’re real.
MAYA: Have you ever met a real person named ‘Bucky’?
BEN (OS): Can we please focus on the problem at hand?
MAYA: Right, right, sorry. (she flips through a few more pages) These pages are dated as far back as 1973… but that’s in the beginning. It goes on until about… yep, 1975. (she looks at the camera) Isn’t that when the first disappearances that got attributed to the Harvestman started to happen?
LEO (OS): Yeah, I think so.
MAYA: C’mon, let’s go upstairs where I can get some more light.
[FRAGMENT END]
******
[FRAGMENT 029 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA is focused on MAYA, held by LEO. MAYA is flipping through the diary of Theodore Sallis that was discovered in the basement, now seated at the kitchen table.)
(SOUNDS: The hum of the AC is gone, replaced by only the warm hum of the camera and the muffled sounds of the swamp.)
(TIMESTAMP: 9/2/2005, 06:17:32)
MAYA (reading from the book): “I’ve found the tower out in the swamps. The Cult that has been hounding my research station has only become more blatant these last few nights. They keep chanting the name - ‘Yagzan!’, ‘Yagzan!’, ‘Yagzan!’, they cry!
(The camera suddenly distorts for a second as the dim lights in the cabin flicker. MAYA and LEO both react with panic. After a few seconds, audio and visual is restored and the lights are on once again.)
LEO (OS): Don’t… don’t read that part again.
MAYA: Y-Yeah, good idea. (she resumes reading) “I have seen him out in the swamp, some nights, or what I believe is him out there. Watching me, a dark shape moving against the mud and muck outside my cabin.”
LEO (OS): That would explain what happened to the van…
MAYA: (flipping to the last page) Here’s the last entry. (reading) “I’ve lost contact with anyone at S.H.I.E.L.D., the cult has cut off all my means of communication. They cannot have the formula, I won’t allow it. If Yagzan wants this, he’ll have to pry it out of my bloodstream to get it.” (she looks up at the camera) Wait, so if he did that…
LEO (OS): I mean, I don’t see a second Captain America running around here in the Everglades, do you?
MAYA: Well, no, but… (she stops, looks around) Hey, where’s Ben?
(A blood curdling scream is the answer, the shriek cutting through the air and causing both MAYA and LEO to jump in surprise, the latter’s grip on the camera becoming amazingly shaky.)
LEO (OS): That was outside! BEN!
MAYA: Leo, wait! You can’t go out there!
(LEO ignores her, the camera view changing as he makes for the front door and forces it open. The light of the morning sun is blinding, but it soon clears up. We see several individual CULTISTS, all in robes and with helmets made from the bodies of various swamp creatures. Several of them are wrestling BEN to the ground, wrapping ropes around his wrists.)
BEN: LEO! RUN! RUN!
(The CULTISTS gag him, one in a deer-esque helmet points at the CAMERA.)
DEER CULTIST: Seize him!
LEO (OS): Oh, fuck!
(LEO starts to run, the camera incredibly shaky as he flees back toward the camera, we can hear the movements of the cultists behind him.)
[FRAGMENT END]
******
[FRAGMENT 033 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA focuses on what looks like a room in a dilapidated house, heavily environmentally damaged. The camera is just being dropped onto the floor and soon a severely-wounded LEO is dropped into view, his face in front of the camera. After a pained groan, his eyes crack open.)
(TIMESTAMP: 9/2/2005 07:45:37)
(SOUNDS: Ambient swamp noises, the occasional muffled words from outside.)
LEO: I messed up… I messed up so bad…(looks into the camera) Is this thing on? I don’t even know anymore. I guess it doesn’t really matter. (sighs) My name is Leo Robinson. I came to the Everglades to research a local legend… and I got all of my friends killed. If anyone ever finds this, know that Ben Phillips and Maya Alamilla were my friends and what happened wasn’t their fault, but mine. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips, Mr. and Mrs. Alamilla, I’m sorry… I’m sorry for everything… (breaking down sobbing) There’s something terrible down here. The Harvestman, it isn’t what everyone thinks… it’s… it’s bad…so bad…
MAYA (OS): You gonna sit there feeling sorry for yourself?
LEO: (eyes wide) MAYA?!
MAYA (OS): Shhhh!
LEO (whispers): Where are you?
MAYA (OS, whispers): I got out of the cell they put me in. I’m trying to pick the lock on your door. Hang on…
[FRAGMENT END]
******
[FRAGMENT 037 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA is shaky as it’s clearly in LEO’s hands once again, following MAYA as they make their way down a corridor, leaving behind an unconscious cultist on the floor. They walk up to a doorway, MAYA putting an ear to it and listening.)
(SOUNDS: We hear the ominous cultist chanting.)
(TIMESTAMP: 9/2/2005, 11:32:58)
MAYA: There’s a lot of them out there…
LEO (OS): We have to get to Ben before they do… whatever it is that they’re going to do…
MAYA: Yeah, we do. (she glances off-screen, back toward the unconscious cultist) I have an idea…
[FRAGMENT END]
[FRAGMENT 039 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA focuses on the ground, the occasional movement of the feet of the person holding the camera lifting the robes they’re wearing.)
(SOUNDS: The cult is chanting, and the swamp is swamping.)
(TIMESTAMP: 11:48:21)
LEO (OS): I can’t see a thing in this helmet…
MAYA (OS): And yet you still brought the camera…
LEO (OS): Oh, shut up…
(The camera pans up, showing MAYA slipping on a helmet made to resemble a heron.)
MAYA: Okay, we blend in, we try to figure out some way to get to Ben. Got it?
LEO (OS): Got it. Let me put the camera away.
(Shaky view as LEO clearly slips the camera beneath his robes.)
MAYA (OS): Did you at least shut it off?
LEO (OS): Yeah…
[FRAGMENT END]
******
[FRAGMENT 040 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA shows in the inside of LEO’s robes, all other visuals are gone and audio is severely muffled.)
(SOUNDS: Muffled chanting, muffled swamp noises.)
MAYA (OS): Here, let’s get over this way… the altar is here…
LEO (OS): Is that a tower?!
MAYA (OS): Dude, focus!
(Sounds of movement, mud and rocky ground.)
LEO (OS, whispering): Oh, my god! Ben!
BEN (OS, singing horribly off-key): The Harvestman is coming! For you and for me! The Harvestman is coming! I can see him through the trees!
MAYA (OS): Good God, Ben! What have they done to you?!
LEO (OS): Ben, c’mon! Do you recognize us?
BEN (OS, still singing off-key): Oh, the Harvestman is coming! Entropy is his goal! Oh, the Harvestman is coming! And he’s gonna take your soul! (maniacal laughter)
LEO (OS): Oh, god…
MAYA (OS): Come on, we’ve got to get out of here…
(shuffling, grunting as MAYA attempts to manipulate something.)
LEO (OS): C’mon, Maya! C’mon!
MAYA (OS): They’re too tight! I can’t get his wrists free!
CULTIST (OS): That’s the point of it!
(The camera is suddenly pulled back, clattering to the ground and giving us a view of a large stone altar at the base of what looks like a large tower made of midnight black stone that rises up high above the swamp.)
(SOUNDS: Struggling, swearing, grunting, as MAYA and BEN are subdued.)
(The DEER CULTIST comes into view, lifting the camera up and looking at it.)
DEER CULTIST: Now what is this?
[FRAGMENT END]
******
[FRAGMENT 041 / RAW FOOTAGE / PA-HAY-OKEE]
(CAMERA we see the altar, the DEER CULTIST surrounded by other cultists. LEO and NAYA have been forced onto their knees. BEN is tied to the altar and still shrieking out the song from Fragment 040.)
DEER CULTIST (raising a ritual knife into the air): Now the time has come, my brothers! The time has come to stare into that void!
CULTISTS (in unison): As we stare into that void, so too does it stare into us!
DEER CULTIST: With the sacrifice of the trespasser’s heart, the Entropic Man shall rise again from these waters and not even the Guardian can stop him!
CULTISTS (in unison): RISE! RISE! RISE! RISE! RISE!
MAYA: NO!
(The DEER CULTIST turns, preparing to plunge the dagger into BEN’s chest. There comes a powerful roar from off-screen.)
CULTIST: What is that?!
CULTIST: The Guardian comes!
DEER CULTIST: SILENCE! WE SHALL NOT BE-
(MAN-THING reaches out from off-camera, grabbing the DEER CULTIST. He begins to scream, his evil burning at the creature’s touch. The CULTISTS all start to flee, two of them grabbing MAYA and LEO along the way.)
MAYA (struggles): LET GO OF ME, YOU PSYCHOPATHS!
LEO (struggles): LET US GO! BEN! BEN!
(The cultists drag them off beyond the view of the camera. For the first time, MAN-THING comes fully into view, its beady eyes regarding the camera for a moment before it backs up and slams his foot into the screen, finally shattering it.)
[FRAGMENT ENDS]
The fate of Leo Robinson, Maya Alamilla, and Benjamin Phillips remains unknown to this day. Despite multiple scouting missions through the zone in question, the obsidian tower shown in Fragment 040 has never been located by any means of detection.
The identities of the Cultists has also never been confirmed, though they are believed to originate from the nearby city of Citrusville.
The creature seen in the footage - “Man-Thing” has likewise never been located, though there have been unconfirmed reports of its appearance in various locations in and around the area of the swamp.
Due to the events recorded here and due to the extremely volatile nature of [REDACTED], the S.H.I.E.L.D. Security Council has declared it a restricted zone under Alabaster-Class Clearance only. No agent is to come within 1500 yards of it without the express permission of both the Director and the Security Council.
Violators will be prosecuted.
******
THE END
******
Leo Robinson, Maya Alamilla, and Benjamin Phillips Will Not Return