Secret Government Project: Entryway

Subproject 23, Project Entryway; derivative of the Montauk Project and an absolute horror show. My name is Joshua A. Jameson and I was part of the United States Air Force from 1978 to 1998 . I spent the first third of my service as a Pararescureman and that much I’m proud of. The other 2/3rds is eating me away inside. Now for starters I’m going to let you know that I’m going to avoid flair, filler and bullshit. I will however provide you with what little evidence I’ve retained over the years. Sk

ip over it if you want, the truth remains the same. I’ve noticed that the infamous Montauk Project has gotten a little more notoriety over the past few years and most of us have heard the story by now, military scientists kidnapped children and exposed them to torture all to try and unlock innate abilities, most notably the ability to conjure something up out of nothing. The sister project of Montauk, Project Entryway, has stayed silent even over the growing years. I won’t let that stand any lon

ger. Us at Project Entryway followed a similar direction as Montauk with the only major difference being that we weren’t trying to make something new, we were trying to find something already here. While the geeks over at Montauk tried to conjure up vases and monsters using their minds, we were trying to explore the unexplored. This was our Mission Statement. I can’t tell you how the scientists got involved, mostly just folks from Brookhaven Laboratory I’d guess, but I joined up when I heard abo

ut a long-term Joint Forces mission needing volunteers to form medical and security details. Well as a Pararescueman I had both, so I applied to the Job posting and I submitted my Resume and hoped for the best. I got the Job. Soon enough I was being flown down to New York with three other Security guys and being ushered down to Camp Hero. At this time no one really knew about Montauk. The internet was in its baby phase and the fear from the Cold War left the information, what was available, doub

le encrypted and ciphered. As far as we were aware Camp Hero was just another radio site. After our landing and a bit of a drive we hit Montauk Point New York. We passed through the small friendly looking town and through some forest before reaching a small gated military outpost. The only thing of note was a large radio tower which we all expected from our research. Our driver pulled up to a security check point and all of our gear was confiscated. I’d assume they’d search it and give it back t

o us, but instead they just threw it in some vault and I never saw any of it again. To make up for our stolen gear, they gave us brand new uniforms along with whatever else we needed. Me and the rest of the security boys weren’t used to this kind of treatment, it was just too clinical for the usually sarcastic and snide Security Police members we were used to. Our whole conversation consisted of this: They’d ask a question, we’d answer, they’d ask if we needed anything, we’d say no and then sile

nce. I'm not sure if the boys we interacted with knew what was going on the inside of the facility but they sure as hell didn't try to make friends with us. Given enough time we were geared up and ready to go. The Captain in charge of in-processing told us our debrief would be first thing that following morning and for us to try and get some rest if we could. That’s when a few uniformed men escorted us across the field and into the radio tower. When we entered the facility we walked right by the

Communications Center staffed by only a handful of men and down a tight hallway. We found ourselves facing a large concrete door. A few guards nearby pushed it open exposing a flight of stairs leading straight downwards. Wherever we were going had to be in the bowls of the earth. The stairs seemed to continuously descend. Our walk down took whatever courage we had; there was a certain electricity in the air that was unnatural, it didn't feel like you were being watched, it felt like you were al

one. I think we all took a deep breath of stale air when we hit the bottom of that staircase. What lay in front of us now was a hub of hallways and doorways, people in lab coats were walking around, conversing, and eyeing us. We were guided over to our living quarters, separate from Montauks security members of course, and we were once again instructed to get some rest. Now one thing you should know about military members, no matter what branch, we’re all just kids. We talk, we gossip, we’re ina

ppropriate and when you leave us to ourselves we do the opposite of what you want. We were told to sleep therefore we were told to chat each other up like giddy school children. It was then that I got to know everyone. There was Bobby Wilkerson, former speech champion from Washington State. Then was Georgy Capparelli, All Star college baseball player from Jersey. And of course Tanaka Yoshida, a child of Japanese soldiers during WWII and the biggest American Patriot I knew. Why did I tell you the

ir names? Because, they deserve to be remembered. They were good people who just wanted to do the best they could out in the world. Each had dreams, they all wanted to be something when they left the service. Bobby wanted to be a Congressman, Georgy wanted to work for his father at their lumber mill and Yoshida just wanted to retire as a United States serviceman with full honors. That’s it, that’s all they wanted. After our brief, yet giddy, exchange of words, we managed to get what little sleep

we could. One thing I remember about sleeping down there, once the lights went out that place was darker than dark. We were God knows how many feet underground and there was absolutely zero natural lighting. Once the man made lights were out, all lights were out. After an undetermined amount of time that morning must've hit. We were all woken up by a scraggly looking and frail scientist. He introduced himself as Dr. Grant Hargrove and asked us to follow him to the experiment area. We walked dow

n the maze like corridors passing by all sorts of men from all different backgrounds. Some seemed disheveled while others seemed to stare off into space. Besides from a few whispers between each other this facility was dead quiet around us. After a couple minutes of walking we reached our destination. A big metal door with black paint reading ‘Subproject 23’ in blocky letters. Dr. Hargrove turned towards us and began his speech. “Inside these doors is where you’ll spend most of your time. We don

’t have much funding so the four of you will have to do for security. You can work the details of that on your own as long as we have two armed members inside of this room at any given time while our experiment is running. You are to take the title of Squadron 08-23." At these words we glanced at each other, four members certainly didn't make a squadron. At our glances we heard Hargrove make a grunt before continuing. "Yes I’m well aware there are only 4 of you. It’s just to provide leeway in ca

se members need to be exchanged or replaced in a timely manner. If you have any questions you may only ask them to me or one of the other scientists involved in Subproject 23. You won't speak a word about what we’re doing to anyone including the other workers down here. Understood?” His tone was matter of fact and rehearsed. Who knows how many times he’s told this briefing and who knows what happened to the others that were working down there before us. I had always hoped we were the first but s

omething tells me we weren't. We choked down our questions and in unison answered “Understood.” He turned his back to us and typed in some numbers into a small keypad next to the door. We heard several clicks as the locks disengaged. Hargrove opened up the door for us and we stepped inside. The room was a massive concrete rectangle. The ceilings had to have been as tall as a small auditorium. The only structures inside this facility were right next to us, a set of steps leading up to an observat

ion post. A door similar to the one we entered from stood strong at the top of the step. The steps themselves seemed to be nothing more than a glorified rolling step ladder. There were indents in the concrete floor allowing the stairs to be pushed away from the observation door. ‘Strange’ I remember thinking to myself. We're dozens of feet underground in a highly fortified facility. What good could these extra safety measures be in place for? I heard Dr. Hargrove cough to himself to gather our a

ttention. “Each of these doors are installed with 7 magnetic locks, 4 divided on the top and bottom and three on the side. They can withstand about 1,500 lbs of force each and can only be disabled with the code of the day. The codes will change daily so make sure you check the logs in the observation room up those stairs.” He lifted his frail looking arms towards the observation deck. “Sir, what will be our daily duties?” I heard Bobby’s soft voice ask.The Doctor tried to give a warm smile towar

ds Bobby but it seemed pained and forced. “Hopefully all you’ll have to do is sit down in front of some machinery and let us scientists do our work. If something should happen to us you may have to provide security or search and rescue operations.” We all looked at each other then back to the nearly empty warehouse. The only thing standing out in the barren room was some metallic pillars and beams aligned at the opposite side of the room from the observation deck. Wires ran from the pillars stra

ight into the concrete of the nearby walls. “Uh, search and rescue? As in here? In this room?" Georgy’s loud Italian voice echoed in the concrete shell we found ourselves in. Dr. Hargrove’s gaze turned behind us, his eyes defocusing and forming into thought. “In a way.” He muttered quietly more to himself than to us. Before he could clarify, the door to the observation room clicked open, giving a loud moan as the metal fought against the arms of whoever was pushing. “Jesus, I get these doors, bu

t really.” A voice rattled off from behind the door as it opened. Eventually revealing a man of good stature. He looked like one of us, a serviceman, rather than a scientist though his lab coat expressed something different. “Hey everyone, sorry for interrupting, my names Dr. Carter and I’m the exploratory scientist of this Project." He gave a charming smile before nodding towards Hargrove. "I overheard Dr. Hargrove mentioning saving one of us, that will most likely mean me. In case something ha

ppens I just want to say I’m appreciative of you guys. I know you’re in the dark right now but we’re going to be doing some exciting things down here.” Dr. Carter flashed another smile, exposing his pearly white teeth. Dr. Carter was clearly more of a people person then Dr. Hargrove. Just behind him stood half a dozen other scientists writing things on clipboards, pulling levers and activating switches. It was such a large room yet the only space that seemed to be in use was the observation room

. I could feel my hair stand up as a feeling of apprehension came over me. Something was off here. I was just a normal kid for the time we were in, I never much watched science fiction movies or shows, I never believed in the boogeyman and I believed wireless phones were the work of the Devil. What I was seeing made me double think all of that. Well except maybe the Devil part. “So, Dr. Hargrove, If you wouldn’t mind stepping up here and taking control, I’m going to introduce these guys to Proje

ct Entryway.” Dr. Carter eagerly headed down the metal stairs skipping a few steps here and there. “Oh you guys are going to love this.” He waved his arms at us beckoning for us to follow. Dr. Carter took us nearly all the way to the other side of the facility before stopping and turning around. I saw his eyes meet with Hargroves in the operations center. Carter lifted his hand and gave a thumbs up to Hargrove. “You guys might want to close your eyes and open them when I tell you too. Most peopl

e faint after seeing this their first time. Brains can’t process it much, but exposure helps.” I saw Georgy cover his eyes with his hands and turn around, heeding the Doctor's advice. “Oh forget this,” Georgy muttered under his breath while shaking his head. Bobby, Yoshi and myself all decided to keep our eyes on the empty concrete wall in front of us. Within just a few moments we heard the whirling mechanical sounds of machinery coming to life from the metallic pillars jutting out of the floor.

Before we knew it something appeared in front of us. Or rather stopped appearing. The back wall completely disappeared into a thick and syrupy black shadow. It seemed to give out a pulse that made our bodies react in the worst way. It felt like whatever this thing, this shadow was, had the power to radiate the symptoms of vertigo. Each pulse sent a wave through our brains that told us to look away. I saw Yoshi and Bobby both fall to their knees beside me. Bobby had buried his head into his lap

and covered up his ears trying to stop the pulsing from getting into his mind. Based on how he was acting, I don't think it helped. “This wall is now a door, gentlemen. A Gateway to another plane of existence. If you haven’t already viewed it, then please look.” Georgy uncovered his face and turned around. Immediately his face turned a pale and sickly color. “We’ve ran test after test to get this right. We brought you in because we’re finally ready to send a person through. That’d be me.” Dr. Ca

rter stood in front of us with a wide grin on his childish face. His back was towards the pulsating black void behind him. I couldn't help it anymore, I threw up. We all exited our meeting that day without a word between us. We received our Mission Statements and were told the testing will begin next afternoon after a morning of calibrations. We had off until then. It wasn’t until we entered the Chow Hall that one of us spoke up.cc “What the fuck did we sign up for?” Georgy mumbled angrily to hi

s food. “I don’t know Man, but just stay positive. Maybe it’s not as strange as we think it is.” Bobby replied, trying to reassure our little group. “Not as strange? A fucking wall disappeared, fucking gone. And what took its place? A Goddamned-“ Yoshi cut him off as his voice was starting to rise in anger. “Remember what they said, no talking about it unless we’re in that room.” Georgy listened to Yoshi and quieted himself down, shaking his head in disbelief. I had nothing to add to the topic.

I still felt sick and my head wouldn’t stop pounding. I dreaded the morning. Sadly, as much as you dread something it doesn’t stop it from coming. We were woken up a little later than usual as the science crew did their calculating. It didn’t help much, I think we were all still shaken up about what we saw the day prior. In light of that we all agreed that each of us would sit in to see what was going to happen that morning. We grabbed our weapons from the armory and headed to the Project room.

Once inside we saw nearly three times the previous staff walking back and forth. They must have had the whole project's science division prepared for what was about to happen. We took some seats near the observation room's staircase and watched the men work from afar. Amidst all the Lab coats running back and forth we saw a man who looked like he came straight from the moon. He had heavily padded and sealed off clothing with a wide visor, there’s no other way to describe him, he looked like an a

stronaut. The rest of the crew did function tests on his gear, checking the pressure levels and making sure he could see properly through the visor. A few Lab techs dragged out a large piece of machinery with a large bundle of wires and tubes attached. They hooked up a large tube to the man using a fist sized opening at the small of his back. At this point I could safely assume that the individual inside the suit was Dr. Carter. I didn't envy him for what he was about to do. I did however notice

the 4 other suits similar to his stacked up on some crates near the far side of the wall. I knew those would be ours if something happened to the Doctor. All the prep work took upwards of an hour, they were trying to make everything as suitable as possible for what they were about to do. Soon enough the Scientists backed away from Dr. Carter and joined us on the opposite side of the room. Their expressions ranged from giddy to frightened. I don’t know what tests they ran before this but no one

seemed to know what to expect. I heard an exchange between the scientists while we were waiting for the next step, “It’s a 10 minute trial right? No exploration today, just making sure the device works?” I saw the other gentleman nod his head. The room fell silent as Dr. Carter turned around and faced the operations room. He gave the thumbs up signal and turned to face the far wall. Everyone watched intensely as the machines whirled to life, casting away the matter that made up the wall and expo

sing the void underneath. Over the intercoms in the room we heard Dr. Carter's voice. “Testing, testing, can you hear me?” “That’s affirm Dr. Carter, we are good to go with the test run.” Dr. Hargroves emotionless voice rang out over the loudspeakers. He walked towards the void until his face was inches from it. “Should- Should I say something important or memorable?” Carter's voice jokingly said over the speakers. You could hear the fear he was trying so hard to cover up. “It’ll be okay Carter,

we have security standing by.” Hargrove’s voice responded. I felt my body tense up realizing that he was referring to us. “Well how about our mission motto then? Damnant Quod Non Intellegunt. Hopefully that saying is true and we have nothing to fear.” He gave a slight chuckle to himself before quickly stepping into the void. The instant he disappeared from our view the loud speakers exploded with sound. High pitched screeching poured over us sending some Lab technicians to the ground covering t

heir ears. My team and I stood up in reflex aiming our rifles down to the portal. Just then the sound abruptly stopped and a figure emerged from the inky blackness. The thing was big with a single large eye reflecting the room like a predator in the night. I could feel the tip of my finger tighten around the trigger before I realized what it was. It was Dr. Carter. Less than one second after stepping through the portal he emerged back. “Hold, hold, hold, one friendly stepping out” I called out t

o my team, each lowering their rifles at my words. “Oh thank God, I thought something happened to all of you.” Carter called out over the intercoms, “I talked for 10 minutes straight and got no response.” The technicians all ran to help the Doctor take off his suit and take vitals. There was an odd red powder over his uniform. They tossed each article of gear he had into hefty plastic bags and tossed them aside. His brow was drenched in sweat and he was breathing heavily. “Whew, we need lighter

suits.” He said while gasping for air. I looked up to the Observation deck and saw Dr. Hargrove and his team quickly going over notes and handling some machinery. Soon after Hargrove reached for his microphone. “Carter, all your transmissions came back within a second, all 10 minutes of it. Were you really on the other side for the full time?” Dr. Carter reached for a microphone off one of the techs and spoke “Sure as hell was, it’s, it’s different over there. I counted my time and came back whe

n I hit ten minutes in. I guess we didn’t factor in possible time discrepancies. It’s going to make things harder for communications.” Hargrove and his team upstairs talked for a few minutes before returning to the microphone. “Communications are going to have to be one way then, we’ll be able to slow down your voice but you can’t speed ours up before it gets to you. Next test we’ll try the one way system. But give us a report on what you saw.” Carter arched his back, trying to crack his fatigue

d bones while Doctors took his blood. “We definitely found a new place, I didn’t explore very far but I did note that I saw what looked like a city skyline not too far ahead. Maybe an hour's walk or two. The gear had the same weight as well, so no distribution of gravity.” As Carter was recalling what he experienced, Dr. Hargrove rapidly took notes. “Also I heard, I don’t know how else to phrase it, moans? Off near the Cityscape. Hundreds of beings maybe? I couldn’t tell if they were in pain or

not, but it definitely was some sort of moaning or screaming.” He took a pause and added “I can’t be sure but I think I might have also seen some things walking around.” “Explain.” Dr. Hargrove called out over the intercom. “Well, they were far at first, human shaped, maybe a little taller than a person? They seemed to see me but I couldn’t make out any features on them. They were far away across the sands and all I could see was blackness. They looked like they were made of the same material as

the gateway." Carter stopped to catch his breath before returning to his story. "They were getting closer the longer I was there, had to have been a few at the start but by the time I came back through it was closer to a dozen and a half. They didn’t seem to walk, just kind of… I don’t know, got closer? Glided, maybe.” “Did you feel threatened by them?” “No, at first it seemed like they were just observing. I’m not sure if they wanted to make contact with me or what but they didn’t feel right.

They aren’t like you or me, they just are." His voice faltered for a split second. "Like I said I couldn’t see them that well so maybe I’m over thinking it but they seemed like standing shadows that had some sort of mass to them.” Carter's voice finally trailed off, even from our distance I could see he was shivering. “Understood, debrief with me in private. We’re shutting the gate down for today, everyone: Dismissed.” My team headed back to our room. We were all a little uneasy by what the Doct

or described. Given enough time, our unease became the norm. The next few tests were more trial runs. Much of the same happened, dark figures in the distance, moans from the city and audio issues. Eventually they worked that last part out though. They slowed down the recordings in real time so we can hear everything that Dr. Carter says, though it’s odd to say the least to watch him step back through the gate with his voice still echoing over the loudspeakers like he was still out there. With th

e audio fixed, phase two started. Exploration. We were woken up that morning with the knowledge that something new was going to happen. What that entailed none of us knew. That day was starting a little earlier than most. My team and I were told to be ready by mid-afternoon, up until then we could sleep in or get some chow. We spent that free time choking down some food and pondering in silence. Today was the big day, exploration day. The test was scheduled to be the longest by far, totaling an

astounding 36 seconds on our side and 6 hours on Carters. That allowed him to travel 2 hours to the city, 2 hours to account for the exploration and possible fatigue he might have, and the final 2 hours to make it back home safely. It definitely was going to be a rough day for Dr. Carter regardless of the outcome; luckily it looked like he was more than ready. When we entered the facility that afternoon we were greeted by a now familiar sight. Lab coats of Doctors and technicians blowing about a

s the people wearing them rushed from place to place. Having nothing to offer at this point, we took our seats near the observation deck and listened to the conversations of the eggheads in front of us. That’s when I overheard something that still haunts me. Up until now I thought of the Gateway as being a portal to another world; somewhere far away. I had imagined that the things Dr. Carter had encountered were billions of light years away. I guess I was wrong. “Is there any way something from

over there could get to us here?” A Lab Tech asked one of the Scientists jotting down notes. “I don’t think so, but I could be wrong. That whole place inhabits the same space we do, it’s just blocked off from us. Theoretically if we can interact with them that means they could interact with us, or perhaps were on a higher plane of existence, in which case we can affect them but they can’t affect us.” “And what if neither of us are natives of that place? You said yourself that this dimension of s

pace was the easiest to program into. What if something else programmed into it as well?” The Scientist put down his pencil and gave a halfhearted chuckle. “Well then the odds that we’re from the higher plane of existence drastically falls apart.” I thought about what that meant; I still do. Everything Dr. Carter saw while on the other side was somehow around us, occupying the same space. When he stepped through that portal he was still technically here, just also not. Something about that, abou

t the fact it was right there, right next to us, scared the shit out of me. “Dr. Carter, are you ready?” Hargrove’s voice echoed out around us. The mass of lab coats filling the center of the room dispersed leaving only Carter and his suit visible. “Hey, you know me Hargrove.” Dr. Carter's voice replied, sounding chipper than usual. “Can I get that in a yes or no statement please?” Hargrove gave a hint of a smirk as he stood in the observation room, clipboard in hand. “For you, anything.” A few

of the scientists gave a slight chuckle at Carter's difficult nature. The Doctor then patted down his suit looking for any flaws. “Everything seems good on my end, pressure is still golden and audio seems to be operational. Want to get the timer down here?” I looked up to Hargrove as he said something to one of his assistants. The young Tech then ran out of the door carrying a rather large tripod with a thick television sized screen on top of it. The assistant brought the device midway between t

he observation deck and the metallic pillars. He grabbed a cord and plugged the machine into one of the nearby walls, as soon as it had power it showed the numbers ‘-00:00:36’ 36 seconds. For 36 seconds Carter would be gone. In those seconds he’d make a 6 hour journey into a City we couldn’t see and make it all the way back home safely. “Well, are we good to go?” Carter asked while looking up at the observation deck. Hargrove nodded in response and began to flip some nearby switches. The familia

r buzz coming out of the pillars resonated inside the concrete box. We watched as the wall fell away into the familiar void once more. “Wish me luck boys,” He turned around to face the gateway before glancing back at us. “Please get me back if something happens. I’m counting on you guys.” We nodded in response, our faces didn’t show it but I can vouch for all of us when I say our hearts were pounding against our chests. “36 seconds.” He muttered and gulped down as he stepped through the portal.

Hargrove’s assistant hit the button on the counter and the half a minute wait started. “I hope you guys can hear me, by this time it’s probably been a fraction of a second for you but I’ve begun my walk towards the city.” 27 seconds. “The shadow men are still here, still far away, but they’re facing me.” 19 seconds. “I can already tell we need to work on these suits, Jesus is this going to be a long walk.” 12 seconds. “Should be pretty close to the time I get back huh? Lucky future me.” 4 second

s. At this point you could see the sweat pouring down from our foreheads. 4 seconds meant 40 minutes for Carter, plenty of time for him to make it back. But seeing the single digit countdown of the timer brought a sense of paranoia with it. A loud resonating beep came over the loudspeakers as the clock hit zero. As a precaution this meant we were to gear up immediately in case of emergency. My team quickly got up out of our seats and rushed over to the supply area, Lab Techs were already standin

g by with our suits ready to go. As soon as we made it to the gear a slight sucking noise came from the portal. All of us turned our heads and faced the Gateway. Standing dead center in the void was all the gear that made up Carter. He slowly crept forward, his feet dragging slightly under the weight of his suit. He looked like he was in pain. “Go quickly, take his gear off and give him some air.” I called out to the Techs standing near our equipment. They looked shocked at me; they weren’t used

to being bossed around by the Security. Luckily they noted the urgency in my tone and ran over to help. Carter fell hard down on the concrete floor; a loud muffled slam came from underneath him. Both the Doctors and their assistants quickly rushed over. Me and the rest of the guys traded glances. I had some medical experience but nothing like the other Doctors around us. My experience just wasn’t as good as theirs. I heard them undoing the straps around his face mask before ripping it off. From

my position all I could see was several men falling over backwards with horrified looks on their faces. I quickly ran over to see what was happening only to discover an empty face plate. As they took off more and more of Carter's gear they discovered less and less. Carter wasn’t inside, nothing was. “Gear up.” I called out to my crew. Dr. Carter was missing and it was our job to find him. Our supply guys rushed back and began to help us put on our gear, it took us around 10 minutes to get compl

etely outfitted. That meant Dr. Carter was already missing on his end for close to 4 days. His voice however was still ringing out over the intercoms, talking about nothing more than his walk towards the city. I felt like a ghost was talking to us. Hargrove’s voice came over the loudspeakers with a venomous tone. “Your primary objective at this point is to find Dr. Carter's visual recordings; secondary priority is to find his person. Do you understand? As soon as you find his recordings you brin

g it back.” “Visual recordings?” I remember mumbling to myself, and then it hit me. After every debrief Carter would have a private meeting with Hargrove; these meetings must have been a showcase of the visual recordings Carter obtained. They had us in our uniforms instead of prepped and ready in the suits. The longer it took us to gear up left a larger chance that whatever got Carter had moved on, leaving the evidence behind. Dr. Carter had to have known our main priority wouldn’t be to save hi

m, that’s why he asked us personally to search for him and bring him back. Hargrove only cared about his pet project, not about anyone involved. It was at this point I could feel my hands clench up into fists. If I wasn’t already working against the clock I might have said or done something stupid. I looked over at my team and nodded at them, watching each of their reflective helmets do the same. It was time to begin our true mission. We each approached the gateway, it looked different up close,

and it was hard to focus your eyes on it. Every millimeter of the dark matter seemed to explode outward than contract back in. The void was in a constant and eternal motion. When we approached the Gate the tar it was made off seemed to reach out just a little bit further as if trying to reach us to pull us inside of it. I bit back my urge to turn and run from this God forsaken mission and so did my team. Without another word we stepped inside. Dr. Carter never revealed the feeling you get when

you step into the gateway. My body felt like it was transforming, like a horrible growth pain. I felt my skin being pulled and tugged while simultaneously being pushed away from my body. The feeling only lasted for a few seconds before we all appeared on the other side of the Gateway, in front of us stood the reddened flatland that we all had imagined during the last few weeks. It was exactly like we pictured, flat land covered in a red sand that the wind would kick up every few seconds. I glanc

ed around and saw the massive portal behind us, it looked the same on this end that it did on the other, a pulsating incomprehensible mess. “Hey do you hear that?” Georgy called out to us. I listened closely and heard what he was talking about; moans and bellows coming from a very long ways away. “That must be the sound Dr. Carter was talking about. It doesn’t sound right.” Bobby chimed in. He was right, it didn’t sound like someone with a broken bone or fracture, nor did it sound like a melanch

oly drawl, it sounded very much alive and visceral. “Guess we should head towards it, huh? I think I can see the skyline coming from that direction.” I peered through the sand gusts and looked closely. Very vaguely I could see what looked like massive towers jutting out of the ground, spiraling up towards the reddening sky. They looked unfinished; the shadows of scaffolding could clearly be seen looming over the tops of their unfinished roofs. I looked around once more and saw nothing else. I di

dn’t like that one bit. Every single time Carter went through he’d describe the shadow men watching him, yet we were all out here alone. “Let’s move.” Yoshi instructed and I nodded in agreement. “The sooner we head towards the City the sooner we can get back home.” So our walk began. I’d like to say we saw things out there, other buildings, people, creatures, but the fact is we saw nothing other than the ever growing city in front of us. The towers we once squinted to see grew clearer as did the

buildings below them. The sounds of the hundreds if not thousands of things grew louder, making communication more difficult between us. We were about 10 minutes outside the city before our feet hit pavement. There was a long road hiding underneath the red dust of the land that reached straight into the City. When a strong gust of wind took hold the dust would shift exposing vehicle light reflectors and white lines. I felt a chill run up my spine as I thought back to what the Scientist said; we

were still on earth, we just weren’t in our usual spot. I pushed those feelings aside and pressed forward. As we neared the first building on our walk I noticed the material it was made of. Glass, stone, brick, everything we’d use back home yet I saw nothing on our whole walk that could constitute where they got these materials from. I reached out to feel the building under my gloved hand but a voice startled me back to reality. “Holy shit,” Georgy called out, our heads followed his gaze. Ahead

of us, a few dozen meters down the road, was one of the shadow men Carter had mentioned. Whatever this thing was, it didn't seem to belong here. The beings body had begun to pulsate and shake furiously, it seemed like it was made from a less stable version of our Gateway. Eventually it stretched itself out thin, quickly becoming more translucent before vanishing before our eyes. “Man, what was that? I don’t like this.” Bobby whispered softly, his voice creaking under his anxiety. “Where do we e

ven begin to look?” Yoshi asked directly to me, obviously trying to maintain mission focus. “Well, if I was stuck outside that portal all day and could only see the skyline of this place, I’d try to go to the biggest tower I saw.” The others glanced forward, a few miles ahead was the largest skyscraper in the City. “Let’s head out then.” Bobby said as he gripped the rifle in his hands tighter. We walked down the barren streets surrounded by nothing but screaming. It was clear they were coming fr

om inside each building but curiosity or not, I would never willingly lead my men into unnecessary danger just to explore. “One cut is all it takes,” a voice whispered. “Did you guys say something?” I asked out. I knew I heard something underneath all the howling voices around us. My team all shook their heads and pressed on. “Can you see us?” “Hey stop walking, I know I heard something.” I barked out as I began to look around. “Are you dreaming yet?” That time I heard it straight in my ear, no

not on the outside of my suit, but in there, with me. I could almost feel their breath wrap around my face. I pulled my rifle up and aimed it towards the voice. I saw my team raise their weapons up with me, I don’t know if they heard what I did but they stood by me. “Jameson, by your feet,” Bobby said as he quickly dropped to a knee and began surveying the area. I looked down and froze. On the red sands below me lay footprints, long talon like claws. They had been following us since we entered t

he City and none of us had noticed. What made things worse is they were facing towards me, circling my body every step of the way. I felt my body begin to grow weak. Boom. I heard a shot ring out from Georgy. I looked over and saw the barrel of his rifle aiming towards a glass window nearby. “There’s something in there, I saw it, I don’t know what it is but it’s in there.” The fear in his voice spiked, I could see by the way his feet kept shifting he was fighting back the urge to run. My mind st

arted buzzing at this point; I started losing touch with reality. My mind fluttered in and out. I saw things, things I shouldn’t have seen; children playing in the middle of the street, their faces peeling away by some unseen force, people jumping off buildings only to crawl back inside them with their broken bodies and large piles of squirming bodies viciously ripping into each other's flesh. What set me off most though were their faces, they had a look of ecstasy to them, bedroom eyes with gap

ing mouths moaning in delight. The more pain they received the more they were pleasured. My eyes finally gave in and let the blackness take over. I awoke under bright artificial lights. There was a bubble of plastic around me and my body felt broken. I glanced around and saw people dressed up in hazmat suits. They were eyeing me with clipboards in their hands. “Joshua A. Jameson, regained consciousness at 17:04, on the 27th of August 1984. Muscle spasms have lessened with the introduction of mor

phine. His eyes show movement and dilation to light. Brain function seems to have returned.” I wanted to speak out but found a lump in my throat I couldn’t swallow. I let my eyes travel to the blockage and saw a large tube going through my esophagus. Even with the medications they were giving me I couldn’t let my mind escape from this place. I felt the adrenaline rush through my veins keeping me awake, even so my body remained still. At this point I began to wonder if I was paralyzed. “Joshua,”

I heard a familiar voice call out. “This is Dr. Hargrove. You and your team were gone for 1 minute and 58 seconds on our end. We managed to reel you in using your life support tubing. Do you remember anything?” Hargrove put on his best sympathetic voice whilst hiding behind his hazmat mask. I began to feel my vision start to vibrate once more. I could see Hargrove look down at me with disgust before signaling to a Nurse to give me more medication. Before I knew it I was out once more. The next t

ime I woke up my body responded to my commands. I still felt pain but it was manageable. This time I was strapped down to a chair in Dr. Hargrove’s office. “Glad to see you awake again Jameson, sorry about our previous meeting, I was just a little over zealous for answers. We’re confident your condition has improved since then. So tell me, do you remember what happened?” I struggled to talk but felt a stabbing pain in my neck. The hole they cut into my throat was still healing. “No, no please do

n’t explain. I’d just like simple replies, as in yes or no. Raise your fingers on your right hand if yes and your left if no. Understood?” I struggled to raise the fingers on my right hand. I felt them crackle and pop under my skin. They felt unused and weak. “Alright Joshua, so back to my first question, do you-“ I cut him off and raised the fingers on my left hand. “Okay, I’ll keep note of that. Do you know what happened to your team?” I raised my fingers on my left side again. “Thank you Josh

ua. I want to see if it’s possible to kick your memory back into action. We have the video recording of what happened out there. I’m going to show it to you and if by the end of it you remember anything just let me know.” Hargrove gave a thin lipped smile before walking over to a television set. He produced a rather large DVD and put it into a video player. I know to most of you that doesn’t seem like a big deal, but this was the 80’s, DVD’s didn’t officially exist at this point. “While you were

asleep we went ahead and cut out most of the footage that we deemed not necessary. So let’s begin when you entered the City and where you lost consciousness.” The Doctor hit the play button and the video started. Immediately I heard my own voice. “Did you guys say something?” My voice called out to my squad. As I watched the recording I noted my movements were more rapid then I remembered, I’d jump from one thing to the next in a fraction of a second. Eventually I looked back to my partners and

they shook their heads in response. I began to walk a few more feet before stopping again and crying out to my group. “Hey stop walking, I know I heard something.” I saw the camera jump as I lurched myself forward, raising my weapon close to eye level. The video quickly shifts back and forth, between me looking at the rooftops and the nearby buildings. I mouthed the next few words spoken by Bobby, “Jameson, by your feet,” The video aimed towards the red sand by my feet, the talon marks still sh

owed up on video which brought a faint feeling of relief to me as I continued watching. A loud bang knocked that relief away as Georgy fired off his round. I looked at him as he pointed with his rifle towards the glass windows nearby. I looked closely at the footage and swear the shadow inside that building was moving and by shadow I mean every damned inch of it. A hulking mass of void blocked out any of the light from reaching inside. At this point the camera begins to wobble back and forth as

my feet begin to lose any sense of sturdiness beneath them. I collapsed down to one knee and started to breathe in and out heavily. “Jameson, are you alright?” Yoshi asked, rushing over to me. I looked up at him and nodded. From here on out I don’t remember a thing. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s keep going.” The voice was definitely me but I most certainly had no recollection of saying it. From there the footage sped up, the only sounds coming through being my loud labored breath. Every once in a while

my vision would aim towards the sand, exposing more strange footprints, some just seemed to appear around me. Eventually my team and I found ourselves standing near the entrance to the skyscraper. “You ready to head in, guys?” Bobby asked as he tilted his head upwards at the top of the high rise. “Let’s just get in and get out. If he’s not in here I say we call it quits for the day.” Georgy replied. In the footage I began laughing before shaking my head. I felt a growing tension rising in my bo

dy. I might not remember much but I knew something was about to happen. “What about these?” I said as I pointed down to our life support cables. “Dr. Hargrove said we have about an hour without them in which we can move around and explore.” I looked at Yoshi and saw the reflection of my face on his visor, I was grinning. “Alright we’ll take them off and head up.” Georgy said as he loosened his tube. The others followed suit. The camera panned down and showed me undoing the cables on my back, but

there was something wrong, right near the small of my back was a tear in the fabric. I had been completely compromised. After we undid our tethers we entered the building. It seemed simple enough; it was just a dark lobby with a place for a secretary and a large lounge area. We moved past the desk before reaching stairs leading upwards. “There’s no way we can walk up to the top with all of our gear on. Not under an hour at least.” I said to the group. “Maybe there’s another way.” We walked back

near the entrance before spotting two small elevators. “There’s no way in Hell those are going to work.” Georgy said as we walked towards them. I heard a snicker come from my mouth before my hand reached out to the call elevator button. With a ding the doors opened revealing two small elevator cabins. “I don’t believe this.” Bobby mumbled under his breath, I motioned for the group to get together. “We’ll start at the top and make our way down. If the Doctor isn’t up there we might be able to se

e him through the top windows. It also looks like we're going to have to split off for a bit. Bobby and Georgy you take the elevator on the right, me and Yoshi on the left. We’ll meet on the top floor.” The crew nodded, their faces showing nothing but trust in my leadership. “Please stop this Hargrove.” I squeaked out, pain filling my throat. “No more, please.” Hargrove looked over at me with false pity on his face. “Are you remembering Joshua?” He asked, I wanted to say no but things were start

ing to come back. Meanwhile the footage kept rolling. Bobby and Georgy squeezed into the elevator next to ours while Yoshi squeezed in with me. I heard the elevator next to us click shut before my gaze turned over to Yoshi. “Are we going Jameson?” He asked me, there was confusion in his eyes. Once again I saw my face in his visor. I had an animalistic grin taking over my features. I reached for my rifle as Yoshi pressed himself against the elevator walls. With one swing I stroked the butt of my

rifle to his face, breaking the pressurized glass shielding and impaling shards through his skull. He crumpled down at my feet, clearly unconscious but not dead. I stared down at his collapsed form and swung my rifle around. I prayed that I’d just shoot him and that would be it. But I knew better. I took my rifle and began jamming the barrel repeatedly through Yoshi’s face, each thrust causing me to grunt and yell as if this was somehow Yoshi’s fault. Once I was confident in my handiwork I lifte

d the barrel of my gun to my face and gave a labored and hefty laugh as his flesh dripped down the metal of the rifle. Soon after I dragged his body out into the lobby, pulling a chunk of reinforced glass out of the hamburger meat that made up his head. I then walked out to the life support tethers and began to cut each one apart. How I managed that feat leaves my mind boggled, they had hundreds of pounds worth of strength applied to them, even a gorilla wouldn’t be able to cut them into shreds

like I had been able to. After a few brief minutes that deed was done and I stood up gasping for breath and laughing. The only cable left untouched was mine. I turned back towards the lobby and entered the bloody elevator. I pressed the button to the second to last floor. As soon as I arrived I launched my rifle through the elevator controls and began walking towards the staircase. Very faintly I could hear Georgy calling out for Yoshi and me. “Hey, you guys alright? We saw the Elevator stopped

a floor too early.” “Yeah, I don’t like this.” I yelled back up to him. “We could use an extra weapon down here, have Bobby provide cover at the top of the stairs and come down here and meet with us.” “Roger that.” Georgy said, I felt my stomach lurch. I begged Hargrove to stop the video but he refused. I heard Georgy’s footsteps quickly descend the staircase. I positioned myself behind the entryway so as to not be seen. Georgy walked right by me and never had a chance to defend himself. The sha

rd of glass I used to cut the tethers found itself in the back of Georgy’s spine. He collapsed hard against the floor and struggled to breath. I took the glass from his back before gripping his rifle. I positioned the top of the barrel against the small wound affixed to his spine and pressed down. I could hear the sound of Georgy’s spine being crushed under the metal. His body began to spasm with the more force I applied. Eventually the rifle hit a spot with no resistance and pressed straight do

wn through his sternum and into the floor. He stopped moving. “One more” I kept moaning to myself in the recording. I felt disgusted; it sounded as though pure ecstasy was washing over me. I walked towards the staircase and began sprinting up them. Bobby turned to face me and saw the blood on my suit. He immediately raised his weapon and took a shot. Had this been during normal operations he would have just killed his comrade, but something told me that Bobby knew something was wrong. I landed f

lat on my back and began laughing with lustful energy. I lifted my head up and began to fondle the bullet hole in my chest. “Come on Bobby; at least make sure you kill me.” I slid up to my knees and heard the popping noises of rounds going off. My white suit now drenched in my own blood after round after round pierced through my body. I craned my neck and looked at my friend. He had emptied his clip on me and was trying to reload. “ Do you see them Bobby?” “They’re all around us, cutting, stabbi

ng, hurting and loving. Pure emotions, pure raw emotions.” I began to get to my feet, blood pouring out of my wounds. “I’ll make you see them Bobby, I’ll make you see paradise.” I reached over to a desk and flung it with inhuman strength towards him, knocking Bobby to the floor. “Breath Bobby, breath.” I slurred out as I stumbled towards him. While he writhed on the ground I lifted up my boot and smashed his visor along with his nose. “10 minutes Bobby, that’s all I ask, 10 minutes, breathe in a

nd out.” Bobby lay nearly comatose near my feet but I could see his suit rise and fall with his breath. Once more the film speeds up, it shows me staring at Bobby and swaying back and forth. After about 10 minutes Bobby’s eyes open with a certain feral fear to them. “Shh, shh, shh just look, Bobby.” I grabbed his suit and dragged him towards the window breaking it down with my fists. Glass fell against my suit, ripping it open along with me. “Do you see them? A City full of people getting the mo

st pleasure any of us could ever imagine. Forget God, forget the Devil, this is true paradise.” My hands reached out and lifted Bobby up towards the window. His eyes widened as he saw things we couldn’t see on camera. “Come on Bobby, it’s time.” I struggled out a laugh as my arms shoved Bobby out of the window and let go. A few seconds passed before a loud thud echoed over the empty city. “My turn now. Then your turn, Hargrove.” I choked out another laugh before launching off the skyrise and hit

ting the ground. That’s where the footage stops. I stared at the black screen for a while with tears running down my face. I killed Bobby, Georgy and Yoshi. I killed them for no reason and I couldn’t even remember doing it to them. They deserve to be remembered. Hargrove asked me a series of questions, all fairly standard and most I didn’t have a reply too. I knew exactly what happened but couldn’t conjure up the how or why. The biggest question Hargrove had was how did I not only survive that f

all but also tether myself back up to the life support line. I wish I had an answer for him but I don’t. He asked if it could have been Dr. Carter, once again all I could reply with was ‘I don’t know’. At this point most stories would end with the big bad Government killing me to keep things quiet. But they didn’t. They gave me a cushy job dealing with paperwork. They listed my injuries as standard wartime trauma. I was paralyzed from the waist down from the fall, every time I look down at my wh

eelchair it reminds me them The only reason they keep me alive is so I can be observed daily for any side effects of my trip. I heard Camp Hero was eventually shut down; some people say some kid conjured up a monster back in time or something. Maybe, I don’t know, it wasn’t my job to know. I do believe, however, our experiment put the nail in the coffin for that place though I have no idea what happened after I left. I’d imagine Dr. Hargrove gave his speech at the doorway labeled Subproject 23 t

o a group of new guards that never heard about my team and I and once Hargrove opens that door for them they’re greeted by a new Dr. Carter who’s bright eyed, bushy tailed and ready to explore. Fuck them for messing with things they shouldn’t have and fuck me for wanting to be part of it.