Mark if you're alright contact Cenobia immediately.

-Quinn

Going.

Erik is gone, yes. He's gone back. I think he wants to understand as bad as I do... but I can't muster up strength to care too much.

If anyone's reading this and wondering why we haven't posted in a long time, there's simply no one with access to this who has the heart to keep posting. We are our own wardens. I used to think that Matt and Quinn knew something and all the time they spent holed up in a room together talking was some kind of planning. Then I listened in. It's all a bunch of bullshit guesses, one after another, theories, stories. They talk about videos, text that talk about It. They talk about every little detail, every word said, every breath  drawn by those that It harasses.

They know absolutely nothing.

No one knows anything about It.

As a result, there's nothing to talk about. We are shells masquerading as people because we do nothing when we pretend to be doing something. We're not hiding to learn how to fight this thing, we're hiding only to save our own skins.

We have electricity and internet again and it was kinda starting to feel comfortable without it. We aren't supposed to leave. Quinn says that we should make no mistake: we are in hiding. Even so I don't know if I want to be in hiding. That's why I went out yesterday and missed the power and internet coming back on. I spent a normal day out there. Even Matt was pissed at me but I don't care. I think we've been relatively comfortable. I mean, despite going nearly stir crazy. Matt and Alex got into a kind of ugly fist fight but it wore itself down. I think both of them wanted to be hitting someone else.

I haven't learned anything more about Erik than last time I posted. Whoever was sneaking around our old place hasn't been seen since, well, Kirk.

I found a few things while I was out, someone was moving into a place a few blocks away but the apartment was so small they couldn't bring everything. It's not much, some towels, some blankets and an old saxophone that neither Alex or I know how to play... but it looks pretty. I was surprised they'd give it away you would think it wouldn't take up much room in a closet, after all. There were a couple old books in it that I think I'm going to read.

I think I want to play music again though. None of us have done it since before we left Jersey.  

Christ. I don't know how that asshole did it but our internet is running again. He even got the electricity back up. I wonder if he threatens people, sometimes, the way he gets what he wants done. Expect Cen to post a little something tomorrow telling what's been going on. She's had particularly long day today, after all its been a long time since any of us have been out and about and where we are... well let's just say it's really crowded out there.

Alex

Quinn came back last night. Don't know where he was until that. I watched Mark's new video, the one Quinn was in. He acts just like that all the time. I hate how calm he is. Does he have feelings? Was he always like that?

Looks like Mark is sort of having a bad time of it. So am I though so I guess I understand.

I'm not the only one. Alex is getting frustrated too and we've found that Erik is a really nice person except that he doesn't want to talk about that last video he uploaded to his channel over at project croatan. He'll talk about anything else though almost.

Thing is we're all getting restless.

Quinn left last night. No clue why. He left a note saying he'd be back.

Cen's still... a bit out of it.
-Alex 

I had a dream about it again last night… and I was kneeling in blood over what looked just  like a warm hunk of meat. I was trying not to gag because the damage seemed inhuman. The throat had been cleanly cut… and I knew somehow that whoever had done that had not done the rest. The flesh of his stomach was not cleanly cut, it was torn down the middle up to the neck . I’ve never seen the insides of a human body before. I never ever ever want to again. The skin along the stomach was weird… it looked burnt almost. The wound on the neck looked nothing like that. Whoever killed him didn’t do the rest of it.

And now the mental image is even in my dreams.

Kirk is gone but whoever or whatever did this to him… I’m not stupid enough to think they are too.  Quinn took a look at the body and ran into the bathroom and threw up, I could hear it hitting the toilet bowl and the bathroom floor as he stumbled over himself to get inside. I could barely keep it down before, with that added on I ended up having to make myself stop breathing for a few seconds.

Quinn and I only talked for more than a few seconds that very night. He didn’t get close to the body but he showed me things. Parts of Kirk are gone. His lungs and part of his large intestines… it was almost like a surgical procedure except that there is nothing medical or helpful about it.

Do you know what was the weirdest? As we were covering him and getting ready to run to our bags, I thought I heard his voice.

But it’s impossible. He couldn’t have been breathing.

Kirk is gone and I never  got to know him.

I thought I saw a shadow running away from the scene but Quinn says it would have taken any person some time to do and there was no blood leading away. Maybe that suited bastard did it.

It’s weird… Quinn’s angry at the world, Matt is ignoring everything that happened, Alex is tired, I’m tired but Erik is in a good mood. I was worried and a bit scared  at first until I saw that he’d finally uploaded his video. That makes more sense… it’s relief.

I’m still going to ask him about the shadow… tomorrow.

Tonight… I don’t want to talk to anyone.

Vaya con dios,  Kirk. 

From five to four.

Cen's got his blood on her hands and clothes still. She hasn't said a thing since we woke Erik up (he was actually sleeping this time not passing in the computer room) and hurried him off to my car. I punched Quinn in the face tonight. His nose is bleeding but I don't know if it's broken or not. It took Matt to get him off me.

In the end, Quinn won.

We're leaving what's left of Kirk behind.

There's not much.

I don't want to describe it.

We don't know how it happened. Cen said something about spotting the shadow of someone leaving the house before she found him.

That was before she went quiet.

We're leaving Jersey and heading somewhere. This time Quinn doesn't want me to post it and I'm going to do what he says. This time.

Erik's lucky. He's the only one who didn't see what we saw. I hate that we're all in this together right now and I still know nothing about him... hell I didn't know anything about Kirk, either.

We're parked at a McDonalds right now but Matt says we're about to go. He's sending Erik out with the food. I didn't want to leave Cen.

Unrelated but...

As none of us has ever actually watched any videos that showed his face we got curious about this Mark fellow over on Markbabbling.Blogspot.Com and poked around.

https://www.facebook.com/OfTheThunder

Then we looked at the blog and found a youtube video.

That's the guy.

The seizing may have been a bit more wild this time but he's finally stopped and calmed down. This was a long three hours. Por dios! What are we going to do if this kid just up and dies on us one day?  Alex doesn't want to do it, so I guess I'm going to have to ask Erik some questions now. Surely he's got family... friends... people who care. Maybe it's not related to all of this, maybe he's sick and we're just imagining the other stuff. One thing's for sure.. I'm finally getting scared.

Alex and I left home a long time ago to find Matt. When we finally did it, Matt told us it wasn't safe to go home. We lived as vagrants for a long time. For a time we lived with the Occupiers, but the park kept getting cleared and it got dangerous to be there during those clearings so we moved off and found other places to squat and stay... all the while knowing we were so close to home.

So then finally we left again and let Matt take us to find this guy neither of us liked. We know how that turned out. Only thing that changed was a closer look at that Thing. I guess nicer places to stay, electricity, showers, sometimes internet in the houses. Now we've picked up this kid, Erik and I'm worried he's sick or dying or something. Something's got to give.
-Cen

We told him what happened last time but he tried it AGAIN! This time, I was in the room with him. Quinn was too. I want to give Quinn a swift one between the legs for the way he reacted it was almost cold. Matt says it's just his own worries but I don't care, Matt didn't see what I saw. I HEARD the thud of a body falling out of a chair. I saw and chased down the shadow that was cast over it, but the hallway and the rest of the house was empty of everyone but Matt, Kirk and Cen and I know none of them would hurt him. What's really weird is it was the same thing. He was trying to upload that same damn video and it froze at the same damn spot. It's stupid to think that it might be cursed but at this point what in the hell is real if this thing that's stalking us is.

Long night.

Alex here. Right now we're hanging out in a safe house outside of a large city in Jersey. That's about all I can tell you. Cenobia is a bit freaked out, keeps trying to convince the others to call an ambulance even hours later. I agree with them that we shouldn't though. Last night I was sleeping on the floor of what might have been a living room once when I heard a screa... you know what it's probably better if I just try to get her to tell the story. Okay. I'm handing this over to her.

Happened last night. I woke up late to go to the bathroom and I heard something coming from the 'technology room' as Dear Old Quinn calls it. I figured he or Matt were just up doing whatever it is they do together. The door was open so I peeked in. The new kid, Erik, he was just laying half draped over the desk and only partially in his chair, shaking. It was almost like he was having a nightmare. What worried me was that he was almost dark. The room was brightly lit but something was blocking the light and I realized there was a big shadow across him.

I didn't want to go in there but I didn't want to leave the kid. (I say kid like he's THAT much younger than me? Yeah right.) I went in, thinking that someone must be behind him, but when I looked there was nothing. It wasn't as if the shadow and whatever it was coming from moved but the second I could look for it it was gone. The shaking wasn't though, I yelled out for help because I thought it was a seizure. When I tried to sit him back in the chair (I didn't know you shouldn't move people when they seize, but I do now...) I knocked that damn brown journal he was keeping so close to him off the table and almost took his computer with it.

I turned back to the door because I thought I heard someone whispering but no one was there yet, so I just yelled again for help. After he calmed down I went back and looked over the room with Matt. No one was in there. I passed up the temptation to look at his journal which had fallen open face down but I got curious as to what he was doing online that late. All it showed was a youtube upload screen frozen at 22%. He was uploading it straight from a camera that had almost been hidden behind the computer.

Alex again, one last note: The seizing stopped, the video would not upload so we just left things as they were. It's about twelve hours since this happened and he's still asleep on the damn couch. Normally I'd have gone back to sleep on the floor but he's talking nonsense in his sleep so I haven't gotten back to sleep myself yet.

Quinn apparently slept through all of that so it was down to Matt, Kirk and I to help when we heard Cen calling. Matt's right though, it's dangerous to move someone when they're seizing. I heard it could lead to them biting their tongue.

Unrelated: Kirk hasn't changed a bit. I'd be pissed at how he's treating us except that it's not that much different from how we're treating Quinn and I'll be damned if that changes without him explaining what in the hell is going on. 

Cen here!

I figured I'd do this one. I'll start by saying that apparently Quinn's friend with the blog is paying attention to this one, so I guess, hello? I guess he's figured out something bad happened to us over that voicemail he got.

Alex isn't happy right now. We got woke up real early last night/this morning and got into Matt's car. We followed Quinn (Kirk rode with him since he still seems like he doesn't care to get to know Alex or me) back toward town, gassed up and then took off to a town about five hours from there. The house pulled up in front of was actually pretty nice. I thought it might be one of Quinn's safe houses. He seems to have access to a lot of places that are otherwise unoccupied but look like they're ready for people.

That wasn't the case. There was a boy out front of it, kinda pale I think. Might be a year or two younger than me which means he's the youngest of us. He and Quinn talked for about a minute and Quinn told us we were heading north from there and the boy was coming with us. I haven't had a chance to talk of him as of when I typed this but by the time we pull over somewhere with the internet we can get into maybe that will have changed.


Edit: I was right. His name is Erik. He runs a youtube channel. www.youtube.com/projectcroatan I've loaded up a couple of videos. That monster's there. It's not a person. At all. Alex actually seems to like the guy, which is great since Alex has been in a foul mood since waking up to come. Erik might even ride with us.

Less interesting than Cabin Fever

The new guy won't say his name. I think Quinn and Matt both know it though. We've been quietly sitting at this place for so long we've run it out of food. Quinn's tried to call someone multiple times but never left another voicemail. Matt is getting frustrated that we're staying here so long. I'm getting angry that no one wants to tell us what this thing is that we keep running into.

Or do they really know nothing more than Cen and I do?

Alex

No Title

My ear hurts. That’s right my ear. It’s been entirely too long since we last posted. Yesterday we woke up from a nap. That is to say, a several days long nap, apparently. We were in the woods around Quinn’s hiding place.

It was there. I don’t want to tell the story. Someone else will.

Alex is frustrated and I don’t blame him. He and I let Matt talk us into going to get Quinn when neither of us really liked him to begin with. Quinn knows this, we’ve told him about twice since waking up that if it was up to us he’d be on his own. Quinn’s short, thin, strangely colored stripe of hair like he’s trying to be an anime character or something. Don’t know what else to say to describe him. Muy pequeno.

Matt lead us to a large woods in a rural area of Michigan. I was worried we would have to go on foot but we followed some dirt and gravel roads and turned into a driveway. Matt seemed to know exactly how to get there. The end of the driveway just had a pile of black, burnt timber and stone. It was completely rubble and Alex and I were thinking Matt was about to find Quinn’s body. Matt didn’t seem to mind what he saw, he just got out, left the car running and walked toward what looked like it might have been a house once. Alex and I followed and as we got close a bit of the rubble shook and then sort of rose into the air in a weird way.

It was being pushed up by what looked like a pair of metal cellar doors. The first thing we saw was a handgun pointing up from the cellar, and from our angle it was aimed really off and wouldn’t have been able to hit anyone. Matt said something we weren’t close enough to hear and the gun withdrew. A head of brown and white hair stuck itself out and that was the first time we saw Quinn. He didn’t speak to us, maybe because he could see the stink eye Alex was giving him but asked Matt to hold on for a second while he got something.

That was when it came. It was quiet at first, just a snapping twig or a rustling leaf. I was freezing so I thought maybe it was just my teeth chattering. They WERE chattering but I realized I was hearing something before the others. Alex was next to hear it and then Matt. We kept looking toward the car worried it was a thief or something about to steal it. But the noise would change where it was coming from pretty quickly. Something black moved in the distance, dark as la noche final.

Then it was there. Alex and I had never seen it THIS close before.  Alex froze up and it took me pushing and pulling to get him moving. I bet Quinn pissed himself when we all came running down into his precious little hide away and shut the doors. It’s tiny as hell, cluttered and you can walk the length of it in almost no time at all.

Even I have more respect than to talk too much about what happened next

Something or someone started banging on those doors while Matt tried to explain what was happening and after a second Quinn froze. He looked like some kind of monster in that dark little place for a second and then he pulled his phone out and started to dial. Matt started to move things in front of the door, Alex started yelling at Quinn and this time I was the one who didn’t know what to do. I just listened as Quinn got someone’s voice mail and started to talk to it. I can’t remember exactly what he said but I sure heard this:

“I’m sorry, Mark, I’m sorry. Pick up, why won’t you pick up?” Alex screamed over him, saying my name and looking at a corner of the little room. It didn’t need to use the door. It was already in there. Its suit sort of exploded outward but it wasn’t cloth. It was like… slimy skin. They were tentacles.

We woke up in that exact same place last night.  We left it fast and hid out in town for a while. Quinn wants to go somewhere and try to get hold of someone. I guess this Mark again? 

New York to California- And somewhere in the middle.

It's Alex.

When you intend to disappear it's best to disappear. When you can't do that, look as small and insignificant as possible for as long as possible. We've done that for a long time and I thought it was working. It hasn't worked. Matt's upset but we're all okay. It's just that we saw that thing again, as Cen calls it, 'El hombre alto.' Except he's no 'hombre.' No es una persona.

He's not a person.

Not at all.

Matt made a phone call after we saw it. We got into the car and on the road again.

We're stopping here at a McDonalds short of our destination because in order to get where we're going we've got to go into a rather... thickly wooded and lightly populated area. We're in Michigan and we're going to meet Quinn.

I don't want to meet Quinn but Matt says he's the best at avoiding this thing, not because of skill but because of luck. I'm going to trust Matt. I still remember what kind of asshole Quinn was when he commented on this blog. I'm still not sure how he found it.