Hear No Evil

October 13, 2023

Cole is in the base of the light house. He looks around still wearing his gloves and M50 gas mask, "Time to find out what that third town is."

Cole heads up the staircase. On heading up he is met by clear blue skies. He can see even further than before and can even notice a small pond nearby. There's pine trees mixed in with the red leaves. It's fairly cold already as the fall weather has fully set in. Cole's eyes turn a tinge blue as he vaults the railing and rolls when he hits the ground, heading towards the third town with the map that he saw as a reference

It's a bit longer of a walk than going to Cherrywood. Along the way he only hears the chirping of birds or an occasional squirrel. Not many larger animals wander the area. It feels secluded and isolated the further he goes through the woods. It starts to get concerning how much he's walked without seeing any sign of civilization.

Cole doesn't seem to be too concerned but he's certainly wondering if this town is real. He suddenly almost walks face first into a hanging sign covered by branches. Cole abruptly stops as he tries the clear the branches off the sign, "Where in the fuck did that sign come from?!"

The branches are moved and reveal bold text in black paint, "Trotston Enclave. est. 1983." The wooden boards of the sign look weathered and cracked. The sign itself hangs from iron chains connecting to a wooden post.

"Huh..." Cole notes that the sign is old as fuck and continues walking. He finds a tall wooden wall as old as the boards of the sign that blocks him from continuing. It seems rather cheap and hastily put together. The top of the wall reaches a few feet above Cole.

"Why is there a wall...?" Cole looks for some kind of a gate.

From what he can tell, there is no gate. Brush and trees have grown up against the wall and blocks him from seeing much of it from this side. He starts to notice its still rather quiet. Cole groans and starts climbing his way up one of the trees to try and see over the wall. "Fucking bullshit ass wall."

Leaves are shaken off the tree as he gets up but from here he gets a view from inside the walls. He sees an entire town slightly smaller than Cherrywood. Its dirt roads have bits of weeds trying to grow in it but every tree within the wall has been cut down. The buildings are all one or two stories with older styles and peeling paint. Most windows look dusted over with dirt, cracked, or missing. He still hears no one.

"Strange," Cole climbs down from the tree and tries to pull apart the wall, hoping that it'll just fall apart. It snaps almost instantly. It's all very brittle and dry.

Cole sighs in relief, "Cool." Cole continues pulling the wall apart, so he can get into the town.

He enters the town and starts looking for anything that sticks out or looks interesting. As he walks he notices worn out posters on the walls. A few depict either nonferals in gas masks or modern boats. He starts to feel slightly uneasy.

Cole disregards the feeling, "Probably fine, I mean this is an empty town." Cole continues walking around, looking for anything that sticks out. He starts to notice many buildings having basements accessible from the outside. The feeling of unease grows worse. The birds have stopped chirping. There's only wind.

"...That's not a good sign," Cole puts his head on a swivel as he notes the basements, "...Storm cellars?" Cole walks over to one of the basement doors and inspects it.

One of the doors of the cellar has been torn off and tossed to the grass nearby. An ax lays on the ground by the entrance. Cole looks concerned as he steps into the cellar cautiously. Some plants had started to grow as well as some moss due to the shade. The walls have obvious water damage. The cellar itself has only a few empty metal racks in the corner and a destroyed sofa with a modern tv on the floor in front of it. Red spray paint is covering one wall and depicts a human-like face but more sinister.

Cole searches for any sign of how long they might've been in the cellar. Just as he's about to look around, there's a loud tumbling as the ax from outside falls down the cellar steps.

Cole quickly spins around to face the steps, "WHO'S THERE?"

No one responds. The ax stays laying at the foot of the steps.

"Stupid fuckin ghost shit," Cole slides the axe away from the steps as he resumes checking how long they might have stayed in here. There's next to nothing to go off of except the couch and wire racks. Some moss and water damage surrounds them.

"Whatever, nothing of use here." Cole starts heading out of the cellar.

As he heads out he sees the ax is laying in the grass where it was before.

"Either I'm being fucked with by a god damn gremlin or this place is a timeloop." Cole groans as he looks around for any reason why the cellars might exist. The town seems to go in a straight line as if it were following a path.

"Fuckin old west lookin ass town." Cole sighs as he looks for a town hall. Its town hall looks rather sad but a stone statue of a realistic and familiar human stands in front of it.

"Why would there be a human statue here?" Cole's head tilts as he tries to identify who the statue is of. It's none other than Thomas Jefferson. He looks a bit weathered like the rest of the town but he's been well cared for over the years.

"Thomas FUCKING JEFFERSON???" Cole looks incredibly confused as he quickly walks into the town hall. The town hall is set up similarly to the one in Cherrywood. This one however, looks to have been heavily vandalized. Spray paints layers the walls with curse words and nonsense. Walls look to have been hacked with an ax and no documents are left on the walls. All that's left is the spraypaint across the floor depicting a sinister style human face and words, "Haze to Hell" Beside it is another color of spraypaint saying, "Fucking loons."

"Fucking vandels," Cole grumbles angrily as he looks for any documents that might be left. The only things he finds are a few papers ripped from their frames and encased in spray paint.

"Whatever, I'll just take these incase I can get the paint off." Cole grabs the papers and puts them into his jacket as he strolls outside with a huff.

Once he steps outside he hears it.

A distant scream breaks out in the distance, its sound carried by the wind. It's not a scream of pain or a cry of help. It's more of a manic calling, just tugging at his ear. But just as quickly as he heard it, everything was quiet again. He's filled with a feeling of dread and bad luck.

"...I have to get the fuck out of here-" Cole starts running for the wall he took apart. All he can hear is his own heart racing in his ears and the sound of his feet hitting the dirt. He reaches the wall. Cole keeps running, putting his head on a swivel. "I swear to GOD this my second time on this fucking world and something is already trying to kill me."

After a while it looks like nothing is chasing him but the feeling still stays.

Cole huffs. "Fuck this, and FUCK you!" Cole screams into the forest before disappearing.

Moments later Cole appears in his living room, huffing and puffing. He looks like he was just scared shitless, "Haauuugghhhh, fuck me man."

Hinata, a human who sits on the couch, looks over at Cole. Her voice is rather calming and soft, "Cole? What's wrong?"

Cole starts pacing back and forth, "I was searching through the fuckin non-feral world, went to some abandoned town and heard a manic fucking scream. I fucking ran and then disappeared"

Hinata tilts her head, "A manic fucking scream... you wouldn't have been doing this near Wicket Woods would you?" She checks her phone to see the messages from Datrs.

Cole looks over at Hinata as he stops pacing, "...Maybe? I mean the town I was heading to was near those woods, why?"

Hinata perks up a bit on saying the name, "Well did you read the thing on Datrs yesterday? Someone else had something similar happen to them. They then died of 19 knife wounds. Something about a God of Swords and Gold, kind of a fucking radical name if you ask me."

"..." Cole now looks slightly more scared, "The god of swords and gold?"

Hinata shrugs. "That's what it's called apparently. Terminal is investigating the rumors or something? I barely understand nonferal stuff honestly."

"...Let's hope Terminal doesn't drug the rumors..." Cole half chuckles as he sighs.

"Considering that he drugged Chester like twice now and is currently keeping him in a Faraday cage over having Loons, that's us, contact him via radiowaves?" She trails off, chuckling nervously.

"Oh well....you don't think contacting Icarus and asking him some questions would be too much?" Cole sighs as he leans against the wall next to the hallway.

She shrugs, "That's up to you Cole. I personally have nothing to ask, but I'll watch from the sidelines."

Cole's voice gets quieter as he speaks, "Sweet, I'll... do that now... for no reason at all..."

"Cole, I don't blame you one little bit. And I'm not judging you, the same way I'm not gonna Spider for wanting to talk to Terminal. We all lost friends a couple weeks ago, and you two especially had a rough time." Her voice is sweet, understanding. "I miss Lock myself. She was always so cool to talk to." Hinata looks down.

Cole starts pretending to type on a keyboard, "I'm sure we'll have the whole cast back soon."

Cole - -Begin frequency Icarus Faro

Datr - [Begin Frequency]

Datr - [Icarus is sitting in the sand with his eyes closed as he listens to the area around him. ]

Cole - Boo, it's a so called loon in your brain and i have questions for yaaaa

Elar - I really wish we had a different name for ourselves. But it's whatever

Datr - [ Icarus jolts as his eyes snap open. He glances at the view of the ocean at night as he pauses and growls on realizing who it is. "Not this again." ]

Cole - Look, i just have a few questions then you can resume moon bathing or whatever your doing

Elar - Moonbathing? Isn't tonight a new moon? At least I can't see the moon from my window.

Datr - [ Icarus sounds annoyed mixed with a hint of pain, "Fine, what do you want?" ]

Cole - So do you know anything about hearing a scream in the woods?

Elar - Eh?

Datr - [ "You mean that whole scream in Wicket Woods rumor? Yeah, why?" ]

Cole - I'm curious what you think about it

Elar - Oh that. I don't get it, why no claw marks? Oddly specific

Datr - [ He puts an arm on his leg as he talks, "I mean it's probably true. Not like you can check a body for a soul after they're long gone. And for the claw marks they would be shitty detectives to not include that when most people have claws." ]

Elar - Souls??? That's... what?

Cole - Right, right, and no one knows what or who could do it?

Datr - [ "Could be some cryptid. Who knows. I think it could be legit... why do you need to know this from me?" ]

Cole - i'm just curious what you think or know about it, random question though uh do you know how long people live after hearing the scream?

Datr - [ He grits his teeth some as his hand tightens. He sounds a hint more pained, "I know there's some weirdos who think it's based on the moon. The brighter it is at night the more often it seems to happen." ]

Elar - So on full moons, basically. That's a scary rumor.

Cole - Are you okay?

Datr - [ He takes a controlled breath, "I'm fine." He is not fine ]

Elar - You don't sound fine dude.

Cole - You sound in pain, are you positive?

Datr - [ Icarus grabs the fabric that wraps his leg and pulls it tighter. He doesn't respond. ]

Elar - Oof, still haven't found a doctor. If I was close to you, I'd get you some first aid myself, but uh I have doubts we're on the same world.

Cole - Right, uh can you answer one more question?

Datr - [ He speaks quickly as he shuts his eyes, "...what." ]

Elar - Cole?

Cole - If someone could provide you with care and anything you needed to heal yourself, would you take it?

Datr - [ Icarus growls, "I don't NEED anyone's help-" he grips his leg a bit tighter, "...but I wouldn't turn it down..." ]

Cole - Good to know, thank you Icarus have a good rest of your night

Elar - Take care Icarus! Stay safe out there

Datr - [ Icarus growls, "Fuck off." ]

Cole - Love you too man -End frequency

Datr - [End Frequency]

Elar - Heh? I wish I could help him. He deserves a quick bit of first aid and a good dinner. Maybe a house cleaning too.