Monsters do exist.

Don't go anywhere without a gun. Ever.

Its not safe

[ooc| he's freaked out about the memory he uncovered from a crystal, in case you were wondering xD]

It was dark now, and he was still waiting, sitting in that stupid seat in that stupid, rundown car. Tapping his fingers against the side of the car, he turned his head towards the house, reacting to an unknown sound. Frowning, he opened the door and stepped out into a nightmare.

The door of the trailer flew open, and a woman ran out, screaming a silent scream as flamed enveloped her, searing flesh from her bones. He watched, mortified, as she crumpled into a heap, and suddenly he felt numb. The rest of the events unfolded before him like an old, silent movie, and he couldn't do anything to stop them.

The end of the trailer exploded, and four small, white, balding creatures emerged from it, crawling on all fours, eyes a beady red and small, pointed teeth exposed in an unnaturally wide grin. Their pointed ears twitched as they turned towards him, and their mouths opened and closed in what he supposed was a language... just one that he couldn't understand. They advanced on him, cackling and moving at unnatural speeds. One of them even seemed to tear a hole in the air and emerge right in front of him, clawed fingers digging into his shoulders as it leaned in, putrid breath washing over his face. It said something, a word that he couldn't hear, but one that his mind could place.

"Mine."

The other three launched themselves at him, tearing through his clothes like a knife through butter, claws digging into his skin and staying there, keeping an anchor on him. He knew he was screaming... he just couldn't hear it. Behind him there was a shudder, he turned to see the rest of the trailer go up in flames. One of the creatures ripped another hole, and as they picked him up he started to scramble, clawing at the ground, knowing deep down that he didn't want to go in there, that if he did... horrible things would happen.

But the creatures were too strong, and as he sailed into the void, he looked back at the trailer, his home and saw a pale, terrified face, screaming something at him, a word he couldn't hear and couldn't place.

But it didn't matter, all that mattered now was that he was caught.

The Grendels had finally gotten him.

[ooc| this is the memory crystal that Cal found, its the "sight" one xD I just thought I'd post this here and then get an entry up in his journal in response to it~ Eve-mun, I'll get a response up for you in a bit, kind of busy on this end >.<]

I swear to GOD this place is driving me nuts!

oh, yeah, and

VANILLA! You. Me. Talk. Now.SOON. No flipping out on the half-man, kay Alice? Flipping out is not an option.

SHIT another hole. Ah crap. Towels.

I need to get my hands on some more money.

[ooc| In case you couldn't tell, Mirror's a bit flustered xD Thus, he's not making a lick of sense at the moment.]

Holy shit.

I found this thing Its called a DVD? in a store today, and for some reason it scares the living hell out of me. All of a sudden, I found out that I have a very strong dislike of clowns. And honestly, what self-respecting person doesn't?

I mean... Name one, just one person whose flesh doesn't crawl at the sight of them. Those puffy, bloated hands. The tiny gleaming eyes buried in pits of black paint. That maniacal grin awash in lurid scarlet, red as blood. Whose blood? Could be yours if you didn't waddle away fast enough on chunky toddler legs. I mean, shit... Don't kids have enough to warp them in this world?

Oh wow, sorry, weird sense of deja vous, I think I've said that before...

Anyways, besides the utter horror of the clowns, this place is... well... eerily familiar.

I found myself kind of wandering around the city, walking off my ant bite, and I found that I knew what was around the corner. Like, I couldn't name the place, but I wasn't at all surprised about what was around each bend. Example: You know those yellow cars with the black checkered pattern on the side and the light up thing on top? Stay away from them. Seeing as the cars in this place actually move, just... stay away from them. Can't tell you how I know this stuff, but I do know that they're scary dangerous, and even if you're crossing the street at a perfectly legal time, they will run you over.

On another note, I found myself in a pawn shop earlier. Looted the safe in the back (its not that hard if you have a gun). Then I managed to wander into an ammo shop. Heh. Got myself some bullets and a replaced my crappy gun with some better ones. Like these ones, a Smight and Wesson .45 ACP and a Sig Sauer P226.

Eve, sorry for freaking you out earlier. I swear I'd never shoot anyone who doesn't honestly mean me bodily harm.

[ooc: zomg xDD his clown thing (and thusly the third paragraph) are all from the latest Nightlife book I god xD I read that, and I was all OMG I have to post this]

I managed to climb a tree and get away from the damn ants. They really are scouts right now, they just felt the tree with their feeler things, and then left. I can't smell any right now, which is good.

Is anyone still out here that needs help? I keep getting the whif of other non-ants, but I can't tell if its old or new scents.

Its weird, I can't exactly smell the ants, but I can smell the earth they came out of... and something almost bitter. It reminds me of hatred for some reason. Kinda gives me chills

And for the record, I'm not staying to fight them. I'm not that much of an idiot. As long as I can avoid them, I'm not running away. For some reason the very idea of running away makes me tired. Don't really know why.

Besides, my books are in my room. The elf one can be torn apart for all I care, but I haven't finished the cracktastic Alice in Wonderland one yet

[ooc: handwriting is messy and rushed]

Found a gun in the scrapyard. Dunno why, it feels... right somehow. Like it was made for my hand. It wasn't working right, but I hit it against the side of the elevator a couple of times, and kinda sorta shot a hole in it... heh... it still works, I swear.

Heard there were ants. Can smell them too, they... huh... its weird, they smell like earth and... something else. Almost bitter.

Can smell the fear too, doesn't help that the pages are constantly filling up with random shit about people being caught by these things.

Is it a bad thing that I kinda want to find an ant and ride it? I mean, what really happens when we die here?

These sounds are kinda weird, huh? Its almost like something's trying to get in... but in where? And what is it?

Crap, those comments from that one colorful dude are really starting to creep me out. Is this place dangerous after all?

I heard that the wilderness turned into some sort of... city? Anyone want to go and check it out with me? I'm feeling irresistibly drawn to the idea.

[ooc/strike is heavily crossed out, but if you stare at it and reeeeeeaaaaally try you could probably read some of it. Also, Cal's from Manhattan ^^ its where he was living when I pulled him out of his 'verse, so he's gonna find everything eerily similar]

Holy crap I love this place!

While I, unfortunately, don't have one of these amazing laser things attached to me, some old lady who's in charge of cleaning up the newborns' rooms she's amazing by the way, and has a really good left hook has one that I manage to commandeer whenever she happens to pass by my door, and its freakin' amazing!

I "borrowed" another guy's laser in town today to shoot down one of those amazingly annoying bottle things and got a book. A goddamned book. Oh, scratch that, two goddamn books. One's a little fairy tale collection about elves, and the other's called... Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?

Its weird, I apparently called that creepy prune dude in my dream Alice... maybe I should read the magical book from the sky?

And the book with the elves creeps me out for some reason. Dunno why, they're just happy little dudes with pointed faces who chase the wood nymphs' skirts all the time... they really shouldn't make me break out into a cold sweat and want to burn the book.

There it was behind him, a scratch, a slow cackle, the sound of raindrops hitting the windowpane. He could hear gunshots in the distance, but he couldn’t take his eyes off that mirror in front of him. It was large, long, and utterly captivating. No matter what happened behind him, no matter who called his name, no matter what was scratching at his window, all that mattered was the mirror in front of him and the silver-eyed reflection staring at him.

Suddenly, he heard something splinter from behind him, and a strangled, wordless shout echoed through the room, yet he still couldn’t look away. Something had changed in his reflection… something that told him it wasn’t a reflection at all.

It had smirked at him.

He stepped back in surprise, eyes widening slightly and his heart jumping, yet he could clearly hear a voice, his voice, greeting whatever was in the mirror.

“You really are a butt-ugly son of a bitch, Alice,” he said calmly, evenly, and the thing staring at him smirked and reached out his hand. As soon as the image lifted from the planes of the mirror the flesh changed from pale peach to dark black, the skin shriveling up on a bony arm. And as the fingers changed to claws, he shivered for one of those dark, deadly claws reached out to run almost lovingly down the side of his face, caressing his cheek.

“Mine,” it hissed, the voice coming from his mouth so alien to his ears. It was a series of vowels and screeches that gave him a headache, but for some reason he could understand the strange tongue as well as his own. “My body, mine. We will be one again.”

And then, the image rippled, and a small, bony, almost charred looking body leaped out of the glass and at his face. The mirror cracked as the thing left it, and he could see his own reflection and the room beyond it. The door suddenly exploded in the background, and he could see someone else rushing in through the reflection in the mirror, short blond hair filled with splinters of wood and blood running down the side of his face, a face that was conveniently blurred out by a crack in the mirror.

“Niko,” he muttered in dim recognition, even as he felt the monster’s hand touch his skin, and then continue onward, caressing his mind and settling in as if it were a vacant apartment. Niko’s brow contorted in fear and anguish as he reached forward.

As he closed his eyes, he could hear Niko scream out again in his fury, even as the monster fully bonded with his mind.

“NO, Ca-!”