💾 Archived View for clemat.is › saccophore › library › shorts › defcon › 23 › DEFCON-23-Short-Story-… captured on 2022-07-16 at 15:45:42.
⬅️ Previous capture (2021-12-03)
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Untitled by Anonymous Location: Desert City, U.S.A Time: Approx. 07:00 PDT A cool desert breeze makes its way through a small suburb granting a blanket before the Sun fully rises and resumes its routine of baking the Earth. Inside the home of 256 N. Lizard Lane, just around the corner from the local market lives a man named Jared Pendleton. On the outside Jared is a normal thin man in his mid 40’s who has managed to keep all of his hair. He works a normal job as a Market Analyst for one DSSK Corporation a company of mild responsibility and okay standing within the community. On the inside though, he is tortured with nightmares that continue to haunt him throughout the day. His current dream is all too familiar and he knew. As he dozed off to sleep the fear began would begin to grip his body. The dark mass started in his stomach and worked its way throughout his entire body, as he faded into the darkness the fear paralyzed him from fingertips to his toes as if he were being tied down for some terrible experiment. Unable to move his body all he could do is gasp and scream as something began to press its weight down on him. As the horror began to take full grip of him reds and yellows started slithering around bringing Jared’s vision into focus. Before him, a thin shadowy figure caressed his exposed chest with its razor like fingers. With one last shred of determination Jared managed to choke out a cry for help that seemed to have shocked the creature. The figure realizing that its prey had woken up began to perform its nightly feed. Starting with his chest it wasted no time bursting its hands through his rib cage. It felt as if liquid had filled Jared’s throat as his brain began to fire off every node and his heart began to pump rapidly. He struggled to move as the creatures face grew even more fierce with a sick smile. Before Jared could begin to scream more the monster had moved onto ripping some organ that he could not make out as he became dizzy and incoherent the creature let out one final SHRIEE…….. [BBbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzttttttttttttt] Time: 07:00 Jared’s eyes opened at the speed of eternity, as he lay in his bed feeling the blood pump through his body he wondered if he should call in sick. He thought for a few minutes and decided against it since it was the office raffle the day before the crew shoved off to Defcon’s yearly conference in Las Vegas. With that in mind Jared sluggishly rose out of bed and gathered himself for the day. Location: DSSK Corporate Office Time: 09:00 Arriving at work fifteen minutes as usual, Jared went straight to his desk to perform his daily ritual of scanning the aggregated news throughout the night. One article struck him as a little curious, the headline read “Brony Site Hacked, Home Page Reads ‘Did you eat your Oats?’” An eerie feeling swept through his veins as he recalled a discussion about the importance having fiber in one’s diet. The feeling was interrupted by Ash Prince, DSSKs Patron Saint bursting into the office and hollering something incoherent about Vegas and that DSSKcon will be the most spectacular in 2015. The day drove on as normal, Jared had spotted a few trends that had caught his eye and try to find more leads on. As the end of everyone’s day began to draw to an end Cam Holden strutted into the room and said to forget about the raffle, everyone had won and the prize was night long binder before getting on the DSSK jets for Vegas. Location: Vol De Nuit, Fancy Club Time: 23:45 The DSSK Team arrived in fashionable lateness as usual. Jared walked with the Team to bar and got their drinks. He was still feeling a little off about the dream so he decided to go with a Tequila shot and a Rum with Coke. He soon found himself gravitating towards the speakers, the bass was rolling out and he could feel the vibrations move through his body. He felt at ease and decided to go to the bar for another drink. As he stood in line a well dressed female walked up behind him and showed the same impatience for the line as he did. Jared rocked in place a little bit and heard the female behind mutter something and it sounded almost like it included the word oats. Lightly buzzed Jared chuckled to himself and turned to her and asked if he could buy her a drink. She looked at him and they both agreed the order would go faster that way. As soon as they got their drinks they walked to a quieter place in the club and began to chat. Soon time began to fly by and last call was being issued. Jared was feeling more at ease as the female asked him if he wanted to go with her to her apartment to eat. Jared thought of how much of a rare opportunity this was so he agreed. The two left the club together and drove in her stylish and what appeared to be new vehicle. Jared sat in the passenger seat letting the cold desert air hit his face as he stuck his hand out to let some of the air hit his fingertips. They arrived in a part of the city that Jared spent a little bit of his time in but not long enough to really know anything about it. She escorted him into a building entrance and he was instantly overwhelmed by a rank smell. She instantly apologised and said something about renovation being done. They walked further down the dank hallway and stopped at a door, “Here I am.” Jared smiled and just hoped he did not have to take off his shoes. They entered her apartment and the relief came over Jared’s senses, a giggle was heard, “I know, it looks better than out there, right?” She served Jared a drink and they ate some grilled cheese. Soon after Jared felt himself getting tired and a little dizzy. The female looked at him with a consoling look on her face and began to pick him up by the arms and carry him. Jared felt himself nodding off and being carried, his dizziness was becoming more overwhelming and turning to darkness. He heard some muttering and distant chanting. The foul smell was beginning to fill his nose once more. He felt himself be placed on something that was wet, sticky and almost bowl like. The chanting became increasingly louder and more understandable. The female was joined by a male voice, they both spoke to him. They reminded him the importance of an oat enriched diet. They began tearing open and pouring bags of one hundred percent organic oats onto his body. Soon large vats of water were poured into the mix with bags more of oats stirred in. Jareds feeling of terror and panic soon snapped from insanity to what felt like a pure moment of bliss. He felt himself slipping into the dark.