I told you that you'd heal quickly now."
"Yeah, well, still," said Jack, "it's the principle of the thing. And nobody likes being bitten in the butt! Couldn't you have gotten my calf or something instead?"
"More meat in the typical human butt," replied Nate. "And less chance you accidentally kick me or move at the last second."
"Yeah, right. So, tell me all of these wonderful secrets that I now qualify to hear," answered Jack.
"Ok," said Nate. "Do you want to ask questions first, or do you want me to just start talking?"
"Just talk," said Jack. "I'll sit here and try to not think about food."
"We could go try to rustle up some food for you first, if you like," answered Nate.
"Hey! You didn't tell me you had food around here, Nate!" Jack jumped up. "What do we have? Am I in walking distance to town? Or can you magically whip up food along with your other powers?" Jack was almost shouting with excitement. His stomach had been growling for hours.
"I was thinking more like I could flush something out of its hole and bite it for you, and you could skin it and eat it. Assuming you have a knife, that is," replied Nate, with the grin that Jack was starting to get used to.
"Ugh," said Jack, sitting back down. "I think I'll pass. I can last a little longer before I get desperate enough to eat desert rat, or whatever else it is you find out here. And there's nothing to burn - I'd have to eat it raw. No thanks. Just talk."
"Ok," replied Nate, still grinning. "But I'd better hurry, before you start looking at me as food.
Nate reared back a little, looked around for a second, and then continued. "You, Jack, are sitting in the middle of the Garden of Eden."
Jack looked around at the sand and dunes and then looked back at Nate sceptically.
"Well, that's the best I can figure it, anyway, Jack," said Nate. "Stand up and look at the symbol on the rock here." Nate gestured around the dark stone they were both sitting on with his nose.
Jack stood up and looked. Carved into the stone in a bas-relief was a representation of a large tree. The angled-pole that Nate was wrapped around was coming out of the trunk of the tree, right below where the main branches left the trunk to reach out across the stone. It was very well done - it looked more like a tree had been reduced to almost two dimensions and embedded in the stone than it did like a carving.
Jack walked around and looked at the details in the fading light of the setting sun. He wished he'd looked at it while the sun was higher in the sky.
Wait! The sun was setting! That meant he was going to have to spend another night out here! Arrrgh!
Jack looked out across the desert for a little bit, and then came back and stood next to Nate. "In all the excitement, I almost forgot, Nate," said Jack. "Which way is it back to town? And how far? I'm eventually going to have to head back - I'm not sure I'll be able to survive by eating raw desert critters for long. And even if I can, I'm not sure I'll want to."
"It's about 30 miles that way." Nate pointed, with the rattle on his tail this time. As far as Jack could tell, it was a direction at right angles to the way he'd been going when he was crawling here. "But that's 30 miles by the way the crow flies. It's about 40 by the way a man walks. You should be able to do it in about half a day with your improved endurance, if you head out early tomorrow, Jack."
Jack looked out the way the snake had pointed for a few seconds more, and then sat back down. It was getting dark. Not much he could do about heading out right now. And besides, Nate was just about to get to the interesting stuff. "Garden of Eden? As best as you can figure it?"
"Well, yeah, as best as I and Samuel could figure it anyway," said Nate. "He figured that the story just got a little mixed up. You know, snake, in a 'tree', offering 'temptations', making bargains. That kind stuff. But he could never quite figure out how the Hebrews found out about this spot from across the ocean. He worried about that for a while."
"Garden of Eden, hunh?" said Jack. "How long have you been here, Nate?"
"No idea, really," replied Nate. "A long time. It never occurred to me to count years, until recently, and by then, of course, it was too late. But I do remember when this whole place was green, so I figure it's been thousands of years, at least."
"So, are you the snake that tempted Eve?" said Jack.
"Beats me," said Nate. "Maybe. I can't remember if the first one of your kind that I talked to was female or not, and I never got a name, but it could have been. And I suppose she could have considered my offer to grant requests a 'temptation', though I've rarely had refusals."
"Well, umm, how did you get here then? And why is that white pole stuck out of the stone there?" asked Jack.
"Dad left me here. Or, I assume it was my dad. It was another snake - much bigger than I was back then. I remember talking to him, but I don't remember if it was in a language, or just kind of understanding what he wanted. But one day, he brought me to this stone, told me about it, and asked me to do something for him. I talked it over with him for a while, then agreed. I've been here ever since.
"What is this place?" said Jack. "And what did he ask you to do?"
"Well, you see this pole here, sticking out of the stone?" Nate loosened his coils around the tilted white pole and showed Jack where it descended into the stone. The pole was tilted at about a 45 degree angle and seemed to enter the stone in an eighteen inch slot cut into the stone. Jack leaned over and looked. The slot was dark and the pole went down into it as far as Jack could see in the dim light. Jack reached out to touch the pole, but Nate was suddenly there in the way.
"You can't touch that yet, Jack," said Nate.
"Why not?" asked Jack.
"I haven't explained it to you yet," replied Nate.
"Well, it kinda looks like a lever or something," said Jack. "You'd push it that way, and it would move in the slot."
"Yep, that's what it is," replied Nate.
"What does it do?" asked Jack. "End the world?"
"Oh, no," said Nate. "Nothing that drastic. It just ends humanity. I call it 'The Lever of Doom'." For the last few words Nate had used a deeper, ringing voice. He tried to look serious for a few seconds, and then gave up and grinned.
Jack was initially startled by Nate's pronouncement, but when Nate grinned Jack laughed. "Ha! You almost had me fooled for a second there. What does it really do?"
"Oh, it really ends humanity, like I said," smirked Nate. "I just thought the voice I used was funny, didn't you?"
Nate continued to grin.
"A lever to end humanity?" asked Jack. "What in the world is that for? Why would anyone need to end humanity?"
"Well," replied Nate, "I get the idea that maybe humanity was an experiment. Or maybe the Big Guy just thought, that if humanity started going really bad, there should be a way to end it. I'm not really sure. All I know are the rules, and the guesses that Samuel and I had about why it's here. I didn't think to ask back when I started here."
"Rules? What rules?" asked Jack.
"The rules are that I can't tell anybody about it or let them touch it unless they agree to be bound to secrecy by a bite. And that only one human can be bound in that way at a time. That's it." explained Nate.
Jack looked somewhat shocked. "You mean that I could pull the lever now? You'd let me end humanity?"
"Yep," replied Nate, "if you want to." Nate looked at Jack carefully. "Do you want to, Jack?"
"Umm, no." said Jack, stepping a little further back from the lever. "Why in the world would anyone want to end humanity? It'd take a psychotic to want that! Or worse, a suicidal psychotic, because it would kill him too, wouldn't it?"
"Yep," replied Nate, "being as he'd be human too."
"Has anyone ever seriously considered it?" asked Jack. "Any of those bound to secrecy, that is?"
"Well, of course, I think they've all seriously considered it at one time or another. Being given that kind of responsibility makes you sit down and think, or so I'm told. Samuel considered it several times. He'd often get disgusted with humanity, come out here, and just hold the lever for a while. But he never pulled it. Or you wouldn't be here." Nate grinned some more.
Jack sat down, well back from the lever. He looked thoughtful and puzzled at the same time. After a bit, he said, "So this makes me the Judge of humanity? I get to decide whether they keep going or just end? Me?"
"That seems to be it," agreed Nate.
"What kind of criteria do I use to decide?" said Jack. "How do I make this decision? Am I supposed to decide if they're good? Or too many of them are bad? Or that they're going the wrong way? Is there a set of rules for that?"
"Nope," replied Nate. "You pretty much just have to decide on your own. It's up to you, however you want to decide it. I guess that you're just supposed to know."
"But what if I get mad at someone? Or some girl dumps me and I feel horrible? Couldn't I make a mistake? How do I know that I won't screw up?" protested Jack.
Nate gave his kind of snake-like shrug again. "You don't. You just have to try your best, Jack."
Jack sat there for a while, staring off into the desert that was rapidly getting dark, chewing on a fingernail.
Suddenly, Jack turned around and looked at the snake. "Nate, was Samuel the one bound to this before me?"
"Yep," replied Nate. "He was a good guy. Talked to me a lot. Taught me to read and brought me books. I think I still have a good pile of them buried in the sand around here somewhere. I still miss him. He died a few months ago."
"Sounds like a good guy," agreed Jack. "How did he handle this, when you first told him. What did he do?"
"Well," said Nate, "he sat down for a while, thought about it for a bit, and then asked me some questions, much like you're doing."
"What did he ask you, if you're allowed to tell me?" asked Jack.
"He asked me about the third request," replied Nate.
"Aha!" It was Jack's turn to grin. "And what did you tell him?"
"I told him the rules for the third request. That to get the third request you have to agree to this whole thing. That if it ever comes to the point that you really think that humanity should be ended, that you'll come here and end it. You won't avoid it, and you won't wimp out." Nate looked serious again. "And you'll be bound to do it too, Jack."
"Hmmm." Jack looked back out into the darkness for a while.
Nate watched him, waiting.
"Nate," continued Jack, quietly, eventually. "What did Samuel ask for with his third request?"
Nate sounded like he was grinning again as he replied, also quietly, "Wisdom, Jack. He asked for wisdom. As much as I could give him."
"Ok," said Jack, suddenly, standing up and facing away from Nate, "give it to me.
Nate looked at Jack's backside. "Give you what, Jack?"
"Give me that wisdom. The same stuff that Samuel asked for. If it helped him, maybe it'll help me too." Jack turned his head to look back over his shoulder at Nate. "It did help him, right?"
"He said it did," replied Nate. "But he seemed a little quieter afterward. Like he had a lot to think about."
"Well, yeah, I can see that," said Jack. "So, give it to me." Jack turned to face away from Nate again, bent over slightly and tensed up.
Nate watched Jack tense up with a little exasperation. If he bit Jack now, Jack would likely jump out of his skin and maybe hurt them both.
"You remember that you'll be bound to destroy humanity if it ever looks like it needs it, right Jack?" asked Nate, shifting position.
"Yeah, yeah, I got that," replied Jack, eyes squeezed tightly shut and body tense, not noticing the change in direction of Nate's voice.
"And," continued Nate, from his new position, "do you remember that you'll turn bright purple, and grow big horns and extra eyes?"
"Yeah, yeah...Hey, wait a minute!" said Jack, opening his eyes, straightening up and turning around. "Purple?!" He didn't see Nate there. With the moonlight Jack could see that the lever extended up from its slot in the rock without the snake wrapped around it.
Jack heard, from behind him, Nate's "Just Kidding!" right before he felt the now familiar piercing pain, this time in the other buttock.
Jack sat on the edge of the dark stone in the rapidly cooling air, his feet extending out into the sand. He stared out into the darkness, listening to the wind stir the sand, occasionally rubbing his butt where he'd been recently bitten.
Nate had left for a little while, had come back with a desert-rodent-shaped bulge somewhere in his middle, and was now wrapped back around the lever, his tongue flicking out into the desert night's air the only sign that he was still awake.
Occasionally Jack, with his toes absentmindedly digging in the sand while he thought, would ask Nate a question without turning around.
"Nate, do accidents count?"
Nate lifted his head a little bit. "What do you mean, Jack?"
Jack tilted his head back like he was looking at the stars. "You know, accidents. If I accidentally fall on the lever, without meaning to, does that still wipe out humanity?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it does, Jack. I'd suggest you be careful about that if you start feeling wobbly," said Nate with some amusement.
A little later - "Does it have to be me that pulls the lever?" asked Jack.
"That's the rule, Jack. Nobody else can pull it," answered Nate.
"No," Jack shook his head, "I meant does it have to be my hand? Could I pull the lever with a rope tied around it? Or push it with a stick? Or throw a rock?"
"Yes, those should work," replied Nate. "Though I'm not sure how complicated you could get. Samuel thought about trying to build some kind of remote control for it once, but gave it up. Everything he'd build would be gone by the next sunrise, if it was touching the stone, or over it. I told him that in the past others that had been bound had tried to bury the lever so they wouldn't be tempted to pull it, but every time the stones or sand or whatever had disappeared."
"Wow," said Jack, "Cool." Jack leaned back until only his elbows kept him off of the stone and looked up into the sky.
"Nate, how long did Samuel live? One of his wishes was for health too, right?" asked Jack.
"Yes," replied Nate, "it was. He lived 167 years, Jack."
"Wow, 167 years. That's almost 140 more years I'll live if I live as long. Do you know what he died of, Nate?"
"He died of getting tired of living, Jack," Nate said, sounding somewhat sad.
Jack turned his head to look at Nate in the starlight.
Nate looked back. "Samuel knew he wasn't going to be able to stay in society. He figured that they'd eventually see him still alive and start questioning it, so he decided that he'd have to disappear after a while. He faked his death once, but changed his mind - he decided it was too early and he could stay for a little longer. He wasn't very fond of mankind, but he liked the attention. Most of the time, anyway.
"His daughter and then his wife dying almost did him in though. He didn't stay in society much longer after that. He eventually came out here to spend time talking to me and thinking about pulling the lever. A few months ago he told me he'd had enough. It was his time."
"And then he just died?" asked Jack.
Nate shook his head a little. "He made his fourth request, Jack. There's only one thing you can ask for the fourth request. The last bite.
After a bit Nate continued, "He told me that he was tired, that it was his time. He reassured me that someone new would show up soon, like they always had.
After another pause, Nate finished, "Samuel's body disappeared off the stone with the sunrise."
Jack lay back down and looked at the sky, leaving Nate alone with his memories. It was a long time until Jack's breathing evened out into sleep.
Jack woke with the sunrise the next morning. He was a little chilled with the morning desert air, but overall was feeling pretty good. Well, except that his stomach was grumbling and he wasn't willing to eat raw desert rat.
So, after getting directions to town from Nate, making sure he knew how to get back, and reassuring Nate that he'd be back soon, Jack started the long walk back to town. With his new health and Nate's good directions, he made it back easily.
Jack caught a bus back to the city, and showed up for work the next day, little worse for the wear and with a story about getting lost in the desert and walking back out. Within a couple of days Jack had talked a friend with a tow truck into going back out into the desert with him to fetch the SUV. They found it after a couple of hours of searching and towed it back without incident. Jack was careful not to even look in the direction of Nate's lever, though their path back didn't come within sight of it.
Before the next weekend, Jack had gone to a couple of stores, including a book store, and had gotten his SUV back from the mechanic, with a warning to avoid any more joyriding in the desert. On Saturday, Jack headed back to see Nate.
Jack parked a little way out of the small town near Nate, loaded up his new backpack with camping gear and the things he was bringing for Nate, and then started walking. He figured that walking would leave the least trail, and he knew that while not many people camped in the desert, it wasn't unheard of, and shouldn't really raise suspicions.
Jack had brought more books for Nate - recent books, magazines, newspapers. Some things that would catch Nate up with what was happening in the world, others that were just good books to read. He spent the weekend with Nate, and then headed out again, telling Nate that he'd be back again soon, but that he had things to do first.
Over four months later Jack was back to see Nate again. This time he brought a laptop with him - a specially modified laptop. It had a solar recharger, special filters and seals to keep out the sand, a satellite link-up, and a special keyboard and joystick that Jack hoped that a fifteen-foot rattlesnake would be able to use. And, it had been hacked to not give out its location to the satellite.
After that Jack could e-mail Nate to keep in touch, but still visited him fairly regularly - at least once or twice a year.
After the first year, Jack quit his job. For some reason, with the wisdom he'd been given, and the knowledge that he could live for over 150 years, working in a nine to five job for someone else didn't seem that worthwhile any more. Jack went back to school.
Eventually, Jack started writing. Perhaps because of the wisdom, or perhaps because of his new perspective, he wrote well. People liked what he wrote, and he became well known for it. After a time, Jack bought an RV and started traveling around the country for book signings and readings.
But, he still remembered to drop by and visit Nate occasionally.
On one of the visits Nate seemed quieter than usual. Not that Nate had been a fountain of joy lately. Jack's best guess was that Nate was still missing Samuel, and though Jack had tried, he still hadn't been able to replace Samuel in Nate's eyes. Nate had been getting quieter each visit. But on this visit Nate didn't even speak when Jack walked up to the lever. He nodded at Jack, and then went back to staring into the desert. Jack, respecting Nate's silence, sat down and waited.
After a few minutes, Nate spoke. "Jack, I have someone to introduce you to."
Jack looked surprised. "Someone to introduce me to?" Jack looked around, and then looked carefully back at Nate. "This something to do with the Big Guy?
"No, no," replied Nate. "This is more personal. I want you to meet my son." Nate looked over at the nearest sand dune. "Sammy!"
Jack watched as a four foot long desert rattlesnake crawled from behind the dune and up to the stone base of the lever.
"Yo, Jack," said the new, much smaller snake.
"Yo, Sammy" replied Jack. Jack looked at Nate. "Named after Samuel, I assume?"
Nate nodded. "Jack, I've got a favor to ask you. Could you show Sammy around for me?" Nate unwrapped himself from the lever and slithered over to the edge of the stone and looked across the sands. "When Samuel first told me about the world, and brought me books and pictures, I wished that I could go see it. I wanted to see the great forests, the canyons, the cities, even the other deserts, to see if they felt and smelled the same. I want my son to have that chance - to see the world. Before he becomes bound here like I have been.
"He's seen it in pictures, over the computer that you brought me. But I hear that it's not the same. That being there is different. I want him to have that. Think you can do that for me, Jack?"
Jack nodded. This was obviously very important to Nate, so Jack didn't even joke about taking a talking rattlesnake out to see the world. "Yeah, I can do that for you, Nate. Is that all you need?" Jack could sense that was something more.
Nate looked at Sammy. Sammy looked back at Nate for a second and then said, "Oh, yeah. Ummm, I've gotta go pack. Back in a little bit Jack. Nice to meet ya!" Sammy slithered back over the dune and out of sight.
Nate watched Sammy disappear and then looked back at Jack. "Jack, this is my first son. My first offspring through all the years. You don't even want to know what it took for me to find a mate." Nate grinned to himself. "But anyway, I had a son for a reason. I'm tired. I'm ready for it to be over. I needed a replacement."
Jack considered this for a minute. "So, you're ready to come see the world, and you wanted him to watch the lever while you were gone?"
Nate shook his head. "No, Jack - you're a better guesser than that. You've already figured out - I'm bound here - there's only one way for me to leave here. And I'm ready. It's my time to die."
Jack looked more closely at Nate. He could tell Nate had thought about this - probably for quite a while. Jack had trouble imagining what it would be like to be as old as Nate, but Jack could already tell that in another hundred or two hundred years, he might be getting tired of life himself. Jack could understand Samuel's decision, and now Nate's. So, all Jack said was, "What do you want me to do?"
Nate nodded. "Thanks, Jack. I only want two things. One - show Sammy around the world - let him get his fill of it, until he's ready to come back here and take over. Two - give me the fourth request.
"I can't just decide to die, not any more than you can. I won't even die of old age like you eventually will, even though it'll be a long time from now. I need to be killed. Once Sammy is back here, ready to take over, I'll be able to die. And I need you to kill me.
"I've even thought about how. Poisons and other drugs won't work on me. And I've seen pictures of snakes that were shot - some of them live for days, so that's out too. So, I want you to bring back a sword.
Nate turned away to look back to the dune that Sammy had gone behind. "I'd say an axe, but that's somewhat undignified - putting my head on the ground or a chopping block like that. No, I like a sword. A time-honored way of going out. A dignified way to die. And, most importantly, it should work, even on me.
"You willing to do that for me, Jack?" Nate turned back to look at Jack.
"Yeah, Nate," replied Jack solemnly, "I think I can handle that."
Nate nodded. "Good!" He turned back toward the dune and shouted, "Sammy! Jack's about ready to leave!" Then quietly, "Thanks, Jack."
Jack didn't have anything to say to that, so he waited for Sammy to make it back to the lever, nodded to him, nodded a final time to Nate, and then headed into the desert with Sammy following.
Over the next several years Sammy and Jack kept in touch with Nate through e-mail as they went about their adventures. They made a goal of visiting every country in the world, and did a respectable job of it. Sammy had a natural gift for languages, as Jack expected he would, and even ended up acting as a translator for Jack in a few of the countries. Jack managed to keep the talking rattlesnake hidden, even so, and by the time they were nearing the end of their tour of countries, Sammy had only been spotted a few times. While there were several people that had seen enough to startle them greatly, nobody had enough evidence to prove anything, and while a few wild rumors and stories followed Jack and Sammy around, nothing ever hit the newspapers or the public in general.
When they finished the tour of countries, Jack suggested that they try some undersea diving. They did. And spelunking. They did that too. Sammy finally drew the line at visiting Antarctica. He'd come to realize that Jack was stalling. After talking to his Dad about it over e-mail, he figured out that Jack probably didn't want to have to kill Nate. Nate told Sammy that humans could be squeamish about killing friends and acquaintances.
So, Sammy eventually put his tail down (as he didn't have a foot) and told Jack that it was time - he was ready to go back and take up his duties from his dad. Jack, delayed it a little more by insisting that they go back to Japan and buy an appropriate sword. He even stretched it a little more by getting lessons in how to use the sword. But, eventually, he'd learned as much as he was likely to without dedicating his life to it, and was definitely competent enough to take the head off of a snake. It was time to head back and see Nate.
When they got back to the US, Jack got the old RV out of storage where he and Sammy had left it after their tour of the fifty states, he loaded up Sammy and the sword, and they headed for the desert.
When they got to the small town that Jack had been trying to find those years ago when he'd met Nate, Jack was in a funk. He didn't really feel like walking all of the way out there. Not only that, but he'd forgotten to figure the travel time correctly, and it was late afternoon. They'd either have to spend the night in town and walk out tomorrow, or walk in the dark.
As Jack was afraid that if he waited one more night he might lose his resolve, he decided that he'd go ahead and drive the RV out there. It was only going to be this once, and Jack would go back and cover the tracks afterward. They ought to be able to make it out there by nightfall if they drove, and then they could get it over tonight.
Jack told Sammy to e-mail Nate that they were coming as he drove out of sight of the town on the road. They then pulled off the road and headed out into the desert.
Everything went well, until they got to the sand dunes. Jack had been nursing the RV along the whole time, over the rocks, through the creek beds, revving the engine the few times they almost got stuck. When they came to the dunes, Jack didn't really think about it, he just downshifted and headed up the first one. By the third dune, Jack started to regret that he'd decided to try driving on the sand. The RV was fishtailling and losing traction. Jack was having to work it up each dune slowly and was trying to keep from losing control each time they came over the top and slid down the other side. Sammy had come up to sit in the passenger seat, coiled up and laughing at Jack's driving.
As they came over the top of the fourth dune, the biggest one yet, Jack saw that this was the final dune - the stone, the lever, and somewhere Nate, waited below. Jack put on the brakes, but he'd gone a little too far. The RV started slipping down the other side.
Jack tried turning the wheel, but he didn't have enough traction. He pumped the brakes - no response. They started sliding down the hill, faster and faster.
Jack felt a shock go through him as he suddenly realized that they were heading for the lever. He looked down - the RV was directly on course for it. If Jack didn't do something, the RV would hit it. He was about to end humanity.
Jack steered more frantically, trying to get traction. It still wasn't working. The dune was too steep, and the sand too loose. In a split second, Jack realized that his only chance would be once he hit the stone around the lever - he should have traction on the stone for just a second before he hit the lever - he wouldn't have time to stop, but he should be able to steer away.
Jack took a better grip on the steering wheel and tried to turn the RV a little bit - every little bit would help. He'd have to time his turn just right.
The RV got to the bottom of the dune, sliding at an amazing speed in the sand. Just before they reached the stone Jack looked across it to check that they were still heading for the lever. They were. But Jack noticed something else that he hadn't seen from the top of the dune. Nate wasn't wrapped around the lever. He was off to the side of the lever, but still on the stone, waiting for them. The problem was, he was waiting on the same side of the lever that Jack had picked to steer towards to avoid the lever. The RV was already starting to drift that way a little in its mad rush across the sand and there was no way that Jack was going to be able to go around the lever to the other side.
Jack had an instant of realization. He was either going to have to hit the lever, or run over Nate. He glanced over at Sammy and saw that Sammy realized the same thing.
Jack took a firmer grip on the steering wheel as the RV ran up on the stone. Shouting to Sammy as he pulled the steering wheel, "Better Nate than lever!", he ran over the snake.
THE END

There’s a old Honda parked on a public street that’s nonfunctional (two flats, headlamp ripped out, etcetera) and has sat there for over 2 years. I’ve looked up the process for notifying and claiming a abandoned vehicle in my state/metro but wanted to see if any one has actually gone through the process of claiming and abandoned bike. I’m in Charlotte, NC if that adds anything.

Special thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for allowing fanfiction and giving us Tilfish. The man gave us a canon art of the bugs, and they're rad!
Also, sorry for the wait. Work was murder. As always, if you see something funky or not canon with my work, let me know. I appreciate constructive criticism.
[First] [Prior] [Next]
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Memory Transcription Subject: Marullo, Tilfish agricultural practitioner.
Date: December 2, 2136
.~*~.
We did not talk about Muttart's deviant behavior to anyone else. Tugal had made it absolute that not a buzz would be ushered against him, and Holywood had agreed immediately. So had I. There was something in his eyes that spoke volumes over everything he stated. He was scared of the correctional facilities. I couldn't imagine why, but he feared them more so than the predators that had tainted our refuge. I trusted my brother. He'd endured several Arxur invasions, and if his judgment felt that something was amiss, then I would follow it even if I didn't understand it.
In order to keep Muttart away from Cleo and her friends' questions, Holywood had taken the brunt of the following blame and attention when the rest of our group emerged from the shadows. In between turns scrubbing walls and floors she accepted her berating in stride, and I firmly believed by the end of it that she understood her catastrophic mistake and just how close we'd come to being destroyed.
Despite the close call, there was some admiration among the group towards her. It took a certain level of bravery to resist the predators so openly, and she'd done it in a way that didn't put anybody under the ire of our hunters. Little reminders to the public to stay safe and remain aware against the threat was brilliant.
Remain unconquerable.
And naturally, since she was the only one to really go outside and see what the rest of the world looked like in person, questions were asked. Clusters of them, relentless and probing.
We found it hard to believe that the predators feared us, but Holywood hadn't conceded that point despite how laughable it sounded. Seeing the one that had been trampled was hard to dispute, and once Tugal asked his network similar, hesitant observations came back. How could predators feel fear? Especially of us? Nobody knew. Several scholarly members that had books on predators were just as clueless, despite looking through well respected Federation studies and even less public experiments on the matter. It would suggest that these predators were completely different than the Arxur.
Tugal had called the scholar an idiot openly over the entire network for that conclusion. Honestly, if that guy was who we were going to for advice, then we were going to have to rely on ourselves to figure this one out.
The predators had been saying from day one that they meant no harm, and after every piece of propaganda and video that emerged from the Cradle, the summit, and their world's destruction, it was the only pillar that they stood on. We're different. We want to be friends. We don't want to hurt you.
So many worlds and colonies, wiped out. It was baffling that so much harm could occur in so little time. More so that so many species believed them. While I had looked at the studies the Venlil and later Zurulians had produced, I had believed that it was fabricated or extorted out of them. These humans were protected by the Arxur, for Formi's sake! How could anyone see their rampant destruction and linked claws and see something other than efficient monsters?
But they can feel more than what the academic studies suggested in the past. They feel fear. They're emotional predators. Pack creatures. How much of those studies were true? Is that how they passed the tests? How they got to be space fairing without uplifting?
My antennae twitch in tired irritation. I can't be thinking like that. The predators occupying our planet and colonies were brutally invasive things. Manipulating at every second. Give them an inch, and they take a whole hill.
What if they're afraid of us because they see that we were fixed.
Nausea makes me cover my eyes. Cilany's broadcast had been... dreadful. That one wasn't propaganda, it had come out before the Harchen had surrendered. Before we surrendered. It was real. We were predators, once. Predators. If it was more propaganda, it had worked in isolating us. In days, our entire species was abandoned.
But, it wasn't propaganda. The Kolshians hadn't denied it, and it forced our hand. Predators had no place in this universe, and neither did we. Even if we'd been fixed. Even if we'd been contributing for centuries. We had been tainted all along. Our loyalty didn't matter anymore, and nobody knew what was going to happen to us now that our nature was known to the entire galaxy. We knew the humans were coming before the surrender came. Deep down I understood why. Without the Federation, we couldn't hold them off.
We're stuck under their rule now. Without them, we'd still be alone. An easy target for our trigger happy neighbors or the Arxur. Maybe they won't eat us after all, knowing we were the same once. Or maybe they're afraid the cure is contagious and still in our blood.
What's it matter? While they act better than the Arxur, they're still predators.
Like me?
I groaned and batted at my antennae in frustration. I was going to go insane before the day even began if I didn't get up now. Holywood had broke the news to me that part of the shipping district had gone up in smoke during the initial panic. The very part of the district that used to house several storage facilities worth of perishable goods. Why nobody had contacted me over a looming shortage of that magnitude was beyond me, and I was going to need to figure it out in short order or my people might just be forced to revert back to our monstrous past.
The thought alone gets me up out of bed, and I almost staggered right into Cleo as I leave.
"'Bout time you got up." She chittered slowly, and I realized she must have taken a double watch. Her whole body sags like her legs are barely keeping her up, and even her twitching antennae are muted. She was furious over her lighter being stolen, and had probably wanted to be the one to catch one of the predators sneaking back in after dark. Something we all were worried about, after Sunshine's observations. "Your predator was busy all night. I don't know how it does it."
"At least it kept you company."
The hiss that sounded from Cleo made me want to eat my own words, but she rubbed at her eyes instead of making me pay for it. "I can't wait to torch it. It was roaming the streets all night looking for people, going down underground and everything. It gave me something to look up though. Hey, do you know what a nood is?"
"...no?"
"Nobody in the network does either. Your predator wanted them from you, but took it back pretty fast. Claimed its pad was stolen by a brute. I'm going to look it up later, see if it was something important we're not allowed to know about."
"You're exhausted, Cleo. Please, rest a little first."
"It'll be a small search. Shouldn't take me long at all." Cleo stretched and flexed her mandibles, and they clacked loudly as she staggered by. I watched her go with some concern, hoping she didn't recall my snark when she woke up and that she heeded my advice. Who knows what dastardly thing she could uncover in her sleep deprived state.
I hesitated in front of Muttart's room before cracking it open a sliver, breathing a sigh of relief when I saw him still nested in his bed. I opened it some more and noticed Holywood sleeping in a chair nearby, and felt some warmth in my carapace despite my well founded anger with her. Quietly, I shut the door. I wanted those two to rest off what happened last night.
Swinging around to the kitchen, I grabbed a few peeled Amonine Roots from the fridge, then did a double take.
Right, Holywood didn't get the groceries. I'll have to do it after work- this kitchen wasn't meant to feed this many people.
The possible food shortage looming over my head made my feelers grip the roots a bit harder. I'd need to do more than get some short term groceries. I'd need to think harder on what could feed two dozen of us for a few weeks, and how to get it without any predators or onlookers noticing.
I bit into a root absently and chewed as I made my way back to my new office, preparing myself to bully some farm owners back into shape and get some shipping companies back on schedule. I recalled how my old boss would do that, and shuddered. I was going to have to try and be like that screaming menace. Maybe not as loud, but I would need to get the point across somehow. Money usually worked in spooking those stubborn sand spitters back to work.
I cracked open my door and found Tugal half asleep in my chair, tapping away at my pad. He looked even worse than Cleo did, and I felt my antennae drop as I made my way over to him.
He was the one that realized how much of a threat Sunshine was. Its controlled destruction of my old office- the talk about fire and purging, wasn't even half of it. Let alone that it had adapted to Federation culture and was weaponizing it against us, it had managed to do something even worse. It had revealed itself in such a way that only people like Tugal could pick up on. And it had done so to root out the ones that could pose a true threat to predators. Tugal saw it, and it noticed.
Sunshine walked like an Arxur.
I've never seen a grey in person, but Tugal had many times. I didn't even notice that it stalked differently than the other predators, but it was stooped forward all the time. It took wide, confident steps and put its weight into each pace, making it sway as it wandered around. It loomed wherever it stood, and dragged its claws along anything soft like our walls or decorations. It hissed at me, for Formi's sake. And evidently, it stalking around the room once it finished threatening me was another sign of a restless hunter he had seen many times before. The trembling hands were new. Tugal thought it might be because of the mask that it couldn't be licking its jowls, but Sunshine had a perpetual twitch and tremble whenever its paws were not moving or touching things.
Tugal swore it was watching him during the exchange, and he had set up the night watch for that reason. Sunshine and its fellow predators coming back was easy to believe, but they hadn't shown. Now everybody was tired, and a human with extremely violent capabilities was lurking somewhere in the capitol biding its time.
Humans have tried to distance themselves from the Arxur many times to save their reputation, and then we get one that acts just like them in our own home. We can't prove it yet, but we need to warn the rest of the galaxy that they're no different. Maybe they'll forgive us for our past long enough to honor our sacrifice.
"Tugal? I have some Amonine Root. Do you want to have some and lay down?"
"Hmm? Yeah... yeah, that'll do good. Hey, the human was pretty busy today. It tired out Cleo, Jair, and Zoil already."
"...Zoil? Does that thing ever tire of talking?" I asked incredulously. Looking at the time, it was barely the start of the day for most capitol dwellers. Zoil was the most social soldier I'd ever interacted with, and for him to be tired of talking... it must be because its a flesh eater, and not another herbivore.
Maybe he's tired of being a monster and pretending everything is okay around other predators.
I banished the thought. "And you?"
"...Yeah." Tugal yawned just like Cleo had, flicking his mandibles lightly as he handed over my pad. "Say, he found something at the road leading out of town. The one bordering the Wind-Reed farm. I can't figure it out, can you?"
"He?"
"...I'm going to bed. Be careful with it today. It's... energetic." I nodded and took the pad as Tugal wandered off, flipping it around and peering at the messaging app. I almost drop the pad when a full picture covers the screen. It's of an outstretched human arm- thankfully fully concealed in coverings- taken at an odd angle like the photographer is trying to get a better shot from an awkward position. There's a massive frond that stretches over the length of the limb, and I almost miss the legs holding the leaf to the predator's arm, and the two small eyes on the midrib nearing the apex.
"Hey Marullo, what is this thing? It's awfully friendly."
"I don't know exactly. Where did you find that?"
"It was in a bush in the outskirts. I was clearing a car wreck and it just scurried over to me. Didn't even see it until it climbed up onto the engine block."
"It's not used to predators. Be gentle with it."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence. It's nibbling on me but I think that's because I'm damp from a sprinkler system going off. Wait does this thing bite?"
I stared at the conversation in mute disbelief, then checked how long ago the predator sent that last text. I rapidly began to type out a response.
"It bites a lot. It is a Bark Saw, an ambush predator. It'll split you open if you don't get rid of it right away. It'll drink you." Not a moment passes before I see typing, letting me know that the predator I planned on catching hadn't been eaten alive in the last minute.
"Really?"
I stared down at the pad in my paws in disbelief, then frustration. Bark Saws were not to be trifled with. Their continued existence was because of their uncanny speeds and camouflage. They could crack through a carapace with ease and suck out a victim's fluids while they still writhed and screamed, and somehow they used air pressure differences from propelled flames to avoid even the most trained Exterminators. Attempts to burn them out were only half successful in most recorded incidents, and it seemed the more the Federation tried to burn them out the more they appeared in populated areas. It was an honest nightmare knowing that when one was killed, three more would crop up in a farmer's field within days.
"It will punch through your garments easily. Those edges can slash through most fabrics and cut into wood. Get if off of you, and kill it."
There was a solid period of time with no response, and I found myself forgetting about work and focusing on what could be happening. I couldn't call it in to the exterminators because most of them had gone off and killed themselves, and I doubted what few remained at their post could do anything about it. The humans had left us exposed to everything, and predators were running amok!
A little bubble appeared and let me know that my predator had survived, and I sat down at my desk as it sent a new message.
"Yeah, that thing started giving me the heebie jeebies. It was pretty tame, but I don't feel like being drank today." I found myself chittering in amusement for the briefest moment and stopped myself as the icon popped up again. "Yeah, it got away. They're act chill when they're not threatened, so it just sort of scuttled off once it was done getting its H20 hit. I'm hole free. What wiki page did you read that garbage off of?"
Indignation filled my body. "I studied that in school. There are entire papers on that beast. They threaten farmers all the time."
"And you remember that now, and not when I first took a photo of it and asked if it was safe to pick up? Aren't you one of those farmers?"
Oh crap.
My mind scrambled for something to come up with. Having others talk to it was coming back around to bite me, literally. Soldiers didn't know half the things I did, and Exterminators lacked contextual information most the time.
"I forgot."
Oh that looks bad.
"I work in food distribution. I'm not out in the fields often." I sent immediately after, my feelers wrapped tight around my pad as the predator formulated a scathing response.
"I don't do massive bugs well. I know they leave you alone if you don't threaten them, but that's back home. I really can't tell the friendly ones from the dangerous ones out here, so please don't randomly forget that again. I'd like to keep my blood to myself and not get sucked on."
The edge in that text made me wince, and I had to salvage this somehow.
"I'm sorry."
It didn't respond, and I slowly set my pad on the table. I needed to work, and I couldn't let this thing get into my head before I started. I was grateful for a moment, but I knew better. It had stopped talking the moment I got my pad back. It was angry, and I couldn't lure it over if it was mad at me. I would have to try and win it back, and I probably had to stop pawning off the conversation to others or we'd blow our chance.
I adjusted a book on my desk before opening the work station before me. I hid most of the irreplaceable works Sunshine had tainted in this room so they wouldn't be torched or ruined by botched chemical treatments by Cleo's subordinates. I'd have to find someone more competent for the job, but I pushed the thought from my mind as I scowled at the slew of emails and critical rail disruptions plaguing the screen.
This is worse than construction traffic during Uplift Day celebrations. Idiots. Every single one of them.
.*~*.
I leaned back, my pharynx sore. I vividly understood why my old boss screamed so much at these cretins.
Money money money. We want money. We want extra time to do the same work for even more money. We want to hire other companies to do our work, so we want some deferrals and discounts and extra privileges as well. Oh, there's barely any drivers. Looks like we need more funding to get some extra feelers on deck. We need extra hazard pay because of the predator invasion. We're also updating our insurance policies: here's five hundred pages of ambiguously worded jargon. We need that signed before we can continue. Better hurry up. Oh, finding warehouses and securing our old drivers isn't our problem, that's someone else's job. Here's a number you can call, they should point you in the right direction. Say, are you paying for security for the meeting in a few days? We need extra security. We won't show up otherwise, and it would be outrageous if you think we're going into the city without security. We also need board and monetary compensation, preferably in whatever safe districts are left up there.
Every single one of you can catch fire and pop under the sun's cruel gaze. I'm sorry Formi, but it felt nice threatening to use the predators against them. It was fascinating how quickly their new demands went away.
Way too much screaming later, and I'd done it. Food distribution would be returning to a semi-normal state by tomorrow. I had called several storage companies and secured proper arrangements for the new warehouses under a tirade of threats, and things would be okay.
I rested my chin on the desk and sighed, eyeing the now empty plate and water with satisfaction.
I need to notify the Head of Agriculture about my new job title and hope he's still alive. I'm getting that old advisor's title and pay by tonight after this. I'd like to run for the department head but I don't know if that would put me on a plate or not. Oh who cares? The Predators won't eat the Tilfish keeping the masses fed.
As if on cue, my pad buzzed. I couldn't contain the groan that buzzed out of me as I lazily slapped at the device, reading the new text from the predator's social hunting app:
"I think you're full of shit about these scary leaf creatures."
A photo is attached of several Bark Saws in a single file line, leering at the camera. My brief moment of satisfaction evaporates into horror.
"Shoot them! Don't let them slip away!" I typed out frantically.
"Not happening. They're like really backward, ugly as all hell dogs. They've been following me around without eating anyone. Do you know what they even eat?"
"They eat us! They kill farmers and hatchlings!"
"What about fruit?"
I clench my mandibles tightly. "Are you stupid! They don't eat fruit!"
"How strange. I've been feeding them fruit for an hour now. I can't really see how they're so terrifying."
My claws scratched the screen as I typed out a response: "Then I hope they die. They're killers, and there's never been this many so close to a city! Tilfish are going to die because you predators destroyed our only way to handle them!"
"What type of a farmer doesn't even know their pests?"
"What kind of predator says they're trying to help us and then feeds our killers?"
There was a long pause.
"They're omnivores and you didn't even know it. You're a terrible farmer."
"That's the best you can do? Do you let your people be slaughtered on your filthy planet by other predators without retribution?"
There was an even longer pause.
"I don't. As much as I'd like to tell you off, I'm not allowed to. We have our own pests, and we deal with them respectfully."
"What, are you afraid your pad will be seized? Tell me why you think you're so noble and better than me!"
"Did you think that these messaging apps were unsupervised? That the UN was going to let us talk about whatever we wanted? You're an idiot, Muttart."
I paused, the information making me reconsider our plans. my fury was tempered by the revelation that we could be thwarted at any given time by the predators in charge, watching from the shadows. My predator continued typing.
"Now that you're aware of that, have you considered that we might react poorly to being preyed on as well?
Screw it, I don't care. You're not a nice person. If I'm kicked off of this program I might as well say that most your fruits are terrible. Everything grown on Sillis is bland and boring and tastes like dirt."
Spending two straight work shifts fighting to feed an entire city, only for this thing to insult me and everything relating to my craft made me see red for a moment. "A predator wouldn't know good taste unless it was still screaming in their grasp!"
"How original. I've definitely not heard that one before a dozen times. You remember that we got paired together over farming? What primitives still use wheeled drones for agriculture?"
"It's efficient! Are you really saying your predator methods are better? You're too primitive and bloodthirsty for our technology!"
"Cope harder, Marullo. A bunch of meat eaters can grow plants better than you can. Better, tastier plants! We use hydroponic facilities, which can grow crops without soil in a condensed space. The yields are massive, and for our fields we have repellents and pesticides that only affect harmful creatures, and leave everything else alone. What do you have?"
"The Kolshians have hydroponics, so that doesn't mean anything! We get enough rain storms that we didn't need to implement them, and our yields are great! And you poison your pests? That's barbaric!"
"So is setting them on fire, but you sure like doing that. Our methods don't ruin our fields, at least."
Why did it have to bring that up?
"How did you find that out?"
"For all the time we've been talking, you don't describe your agriculture. You did on day one and never picked it up again. I want to learn how your farming practices work in frequent hurricane conditions. I'd love to see a farm in operation. Study how your plants grow and thrive. Most of them are semi-aquatic and many are fully aquatic. It is cool. Since you backed out I had to do all of that alone. Tell me, how it is acceptable that exterminators were praised for burning down several square miles of farmland to kill one Bark Saw?"
I exhaled deeply, my feelers loosening on my pad. "It wasn't. I had to fight hard to get any form of a penalty against the office for that, and my boss let it get thrown out in court. That fire ruined the surrounding crop yields and is why food prices have been so high in the past year, at least before you all came here and destroyed the value of our credits."
"Check the list of the confirmed deceased. Maybe you'll get lucky and see one of their names up there."
I flinched at that text, and my anger simmered.
Why do I like that idea? They were exterminators, so they could be... is this thing manipulating me into wanting this? Of course it is. It's sick.
"You are a-" I deleted that before I could continue, and something crossed my mind. I'd been sinking down to this thing's level, and I leaned further back as I realized that something was wrong with my predator.
"We're fighting, and you've never acted like this before. What happened?"
The predator responded immediately. "You're supposed to represent your people. and so far you are doing a good job at that."
Were we? We're fighting right now, and I have no clue what insults or things would've been said by anyone else I've handed this off to. I let Cleo talk to a predator, of course it would think I'm hostile.
I rubbed at my face, feeling the plan slipping away.
"I'm sorry for upsetting you. I'll try and be better."
It didn't believe the lie. "You're full of shit. You talk like every other bug on this rock. You know how many bricks have been thrown at me? How many times I've been shot at?"
Oh. It's been working around the city during the demonstrations as well. That's a backhanded compliment. I didn't think it was capable of that, wow. It, uh, it's still typing. Oh dear.
"Your people are not easy to like. I've been trying. I really have. But every time I go down to fix something I need to worry that an access panel is rigged to explode when I walk by it, or an exterminator is waiting in the shadows with a match and a fifth of alcohol. People are destroying your own city for a chance to catch me alone. Two humans the city over got ambushed and torched doing my job, and everybody cheered . They're copying that now. They're wicked, twisted people. You all are. I'm out here in these fields right now because one of your own went into one of our integration tents and got found out. Do you know what your people did to him for being curious? For giving us a chance and listening to basic reason?"
I felt my pharynx tighten.
"They had PD. They don't represent us."
"F.U.C.K. You Marullo. They ripped his limbs off and left him in this field to die. I've found two so far, and we can't find the fucking rest. One of the perpetrators was a schoolteacher. A schoolteacher! He passed your PD screenings! Half of them were model citizens! Your predators are more merciful than your own people!"
I gagged. I couldn't help it.
"Did he live?"
"So far, yes. But nobody gives a shit. You'll just diagnose him with PD when he gets out of the hospital and euthanize him because he can't walk to treatments."
"We're better than that! We help our wounded!"
"I'm still scraping bodies off the concrete because your government workers won't come out here and do it themselves. I'm finding some of them still breathing. It's been days. Where is your people's mercy? Their compassion? Everywhere I look, I see a desert. There's no love here. No care. It's just us."
I swallowed thickly, looking at my work pad. At the recorded logs of countless farm operators taking advantage of our fallen stature to make some extra money. Were the other sectors similar? Or did the farmers out there care about feeding the people over their profits? I didn't know if the predator was lying about this or not.
"I need to go Marullo. Have fun being better than me."
Carefully, I sat my pad down. I needed to go outside. I needed some air in the garden. There was another knock on the front door as I reached for it, and I wanted to scream.

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For anyone in town who's looking for events to enjoy this Memorial Day Weekend and/or ceremonies to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, here's 28 local events you can enjoy and participate in.
1. 2023 Wilderness Road Bike Ride Bisset Park, Radford Saturday, May 27, 2023, 7:00 AM - TBD Youth Up To Age of 17: $40.00, Adults (age 18+): $50.00, Family of 3-5: $120.00 FCA Endurance SW Virginia presents the 32nd Annual Wilderness Road Ride titled "A Gran Fondo" starting and ending at Bisset Park's Shelter #2. The Wilderness Road Ride is a scenic and historical adventure through Southwest Virginia’s beautiful New River Valley, the ride follows part of Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road. This is a recreational ride for all cycling levels to enjoy, with something for everyone, five routes to choose from ranging from a 26 mile relaxed journey for novices, to a century challenge for the fittest cyclist. This is a great ride for cyclists of all ages and athletic abilities. The start will be a rolling start open from 7:00-8:00 AM. Riders may also gather in front of Bisset Park Shelter #2 at the starting line at a designated time for an optional group start time. Those who sign up for the century and 80 miler must leave no later than 7:30 AM. All pre-registered riders are guaranteed a technical t-shirt and other goodies. ANSI or Snell Certified helmets are required. Riders under 16 must be accompanied by an adult and riders under 8 years old must have permission from the event director. All proceeds will benefit FCA Endurance ministries and missions projects in Southwest Virginia. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=707984
2. Used Book Sale Park United Methodist Church, Christiansburg Saturday, May 27, 2023, 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Price depends on book(s) purchased. Stop by for some summer reading. Hard cover, paperbacks and children's books will be available for purchase with something for everyone. Proceeds will support Park United Methodist Church's children's missions. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708111
3. Pearisburg Junior Woman's Club Junior Jamboree and Donut Dash Pearisburg Community & Recreation Center, Pearisburg Saturday, May 27, 2023, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM Donut Dash: Children: $5.00, Adults: $15.00, Family Pack (2 Adults & Up to 4 Children): $40.00 Junior Jamboree Vendor & Craft Show Admission: Free The Pearisburg Junior Woman’s Club will be hosting the Junior Jamboree starting with the Donut Dash Day at 9:00 AM and the Junior Jamboree Vendor & Craft Show from 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Participants in the Donut Dash will stroll along the park trail with tasty donut stops along the way. They will make their way to the pavilion where gourmet donuts and coffee await along with a prize for each participant. At 11:00 AM, artists, crafters and food trucks will be set up on the lawn and in the gym of the community center. All proceeds from the event will help fund future community service projects through Pearisburg Junior Woman’s Club. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=697325
4. Music at the Villa with Stella Trudel Villa Appalaccia Winery, Floyd Saturday, May 27, 2023, 1:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free Relax and enjoy some great music along with great wine and food. Stella Trudel is a singer and songwriter who lives in Floyd, Virginia and winters in Canyon Lake, Texas. She is also the lead singer of the band Cocobolo. She loves to sing from the heart and consciously directs her attention and focus to music to see what will unfold. Kids and well-behaved dogs welcome. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=707445
5. Jeff Levy in Concert Chateau Morrisette, Floyd Saturday, May 27, 2023, 1:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free Jeff Levy is a real country, old rock, bluegrass, Americana folk and gospel musician from Radford, VA. Food and non-alcoholic drinks will be available for purchase out of the Hut on Saturday and Sunday. Bringing seating is suggested as the tables fill up fast. Note: Music will cancel if there is inclement weather. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=707485
6. 2023 Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad Open House Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad, Blacksburg Saturday, May 27, 2023, 1:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free The Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad presents their 2023 Open House on Saturday, May 27, 2023. See what we do, be social, have fun and enjoy some free food! Get a tour of Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad's ambulances and see some of the special equipment they carry during their technical rescue demonstrations while enjoying free food, cotton candy and face painting. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708076
7. Dark Blue Paradox and Dan Fox in Concert Buffalo Mountain Brewery, Floyd Saturday, May 27, 2023, 1:00 - 4:00 PM (Dark Blue Paradox) and 6:00 - 9:00 PM (Dan Fox) Admission: Free Buffalo Mountain Brewery presents Dark Blue Paradox in concert from 1:00-4:00 PM and Dan Fox performing from 6:00-9:00 PM. Dark Blue Paradox is an acoustic-electric duo hailing from Richmond, VA. Dan Fox is a singer and songwriter performing primarily acoustic guitar music including many favorites and originals from a wide variety of genres including folk, rock, country and Americana. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=707884
8. Shawsville Ruritans 75th Anniversary Celebration and Ice Cream Social Meadowbrook Center, Shawsville Saturday, May 27, 2023, 2:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free The Shawsville Ruritan Club and Meadowbrook Museum presents the Shawsville Ruritan Club's 75th Anniversary Celebration and Ice Cream Social. In addition to free ice cream (complete with toppings), the celebration will feature a "Shawsville Ruritans Through the Years" exhibit curated by the Meadowbrook Museum and music from 1948 and the surrounding period. The Shawsville Ruritan Club was chartered in 1948, making it one of the oldest clubs in the nation. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708095
9. 2023 Youth Film Festival Lyric Theatre, Blacksburg Saturday, May 27, 2023, 2:00 - 3:30 PM Admission: Free Support young filmmakers, both international and local, as The Lyric showcases their films to the New River Valley. Admission is free with a free complimentary popcorn. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708100
10. Ash Devine in Concert Moon Hollow Brewing, Blacksburg Saturday, May 27, 2023, 4:00 - 6:30 PM Admission: Free Award winning songwriter, folk rock musician, caring clown Ash Devine is based the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville North Carolina. Ash Devine’s folk Fusion style gleans sounds of Appalachian traditional folk, Americana-pop and classic rock. Ash Devine is an accomplished instrumentalist on finger-style and flat pick style guitar and innovative original ukulele picking style. Her breathy and rich vocals are captivating and cathartic, reminiscent of Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young. Ash’s stage presence is dynamic, charismatic and steeped in audience connection and participation. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708091
11. The Salt Pond Pub Summer Kick-Off Party Mountain Lake Lodge, Pembroke Saturday, May 27, 2023, 5:00 - 9:00 PM Admission: Free Celebrate Summer at Mountain Lake Lodge and kick-off Memorial Day Weekend. Enjoy good food, live music from The Untrained Professionals, giveaways, and more. The Untrained Professionals are an acoustic music duo featuring Clinton Scott and Chris Huddle. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=697573
12. High Country Grass in Concert Wildwood Farms General Store, Floyd Saturday, May 27, 2023, 5:00 - 7:00 PM Admission: Free High Country Grass is a bluegrass band that was established in 2014 by founder Charles McMillian. The kitchen will be open until 6:00 PM with a limited menu. The concert will be held inside. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708114
13. Blue Phoenix in Concert Rising Silo Farm Brewery, Blacksburg Saturday, May 27, 2023, 6:00 - 9:00 PM Admission: Free Blue Phoenix is a vibrant band based in Blacksburg, VA that brings together a powerhouse of talented musicians that take you on a musical journey that transcends genres and ignites your soul. From blues to classic rock, americana to jazz, and folk to country, Blue Phoenix masterfully blends these styles to create a unique sound that will keep you grooving all night long. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=707873
14. Old Time Dance with The Crooked Road Ramblers Floyd Country Store, Floyd Saturday, May 27, 2023, 7:00 - 9:00 PM Admission: $12.00 The Crooked Road Ramblers are an old-time band from Southwest Virginia, steeped in the traditional music of the Blue Ridge. They have played at the Carter Family Fold, the Wayne Henderson Festival, HoustonFest, The Floyd Country Store & many other venues across Virginia and North Carolina. They have won 1st place in the old-time band category at the Ashe County, Alleghany County, Laurel Bloomery, Fries & Union Grove Fiddlers Convention in addition to a 2nd place finish at the Galax Fiddlers convention. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708079
15. Ian Vest in Concert The Mason Jar at Claytor Lake, Dublin Saturday, May 27, 2023, 7:30 - 10:30 PM Admission: Free Ian Vest is a Southwestern Virginia native, born and raised in rural Floyd County. Music has been his passion from a very young age: singing, learning to play several instruments, and performing in churches. Ian has a throwback style of country music that is reminiscent of those like George Strait and Randy Travis. His original songs are heavily influenced by the experiences in his life, faith in God, family, and pride of country. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=707515
16. Timewave Zero in Concert Dogtown Roadhouse, Floyd Saturday, May 27, 2023, 8:00 - 11:00 PM Admission: $8.00 This group of all-star musicians hail from the New River Valley, up in the spine of the Appalachians where rock and blues meet to jam, where the mountains meet the sky and raise your spirits high, where psychedelic funk punch is just what’s for breakfast. Timewave Zero music drives crowds straight into the heart of the singularity connect today. With a band name inspired by Terrence Mckenna's i-Ching mathematics and eschatological explorations, TW0 is always at the ready for a live dance music adventure. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=697283
17. A Tribute To The Band's "The Last Waltz" Square 5 Public House, Blacksburg Saturday, May 27, 2023, 8:00 - 11:00 PM Admission: Free Enjoy an evening of music from The Band and their historic 1976 farewell concert "The Last Waltz" featuring an all-star lineup of New River Valley musicians. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708092
18. Lost In Taste Cosmic Comedy Club Lost In Taste, Christiansburg Saturday, May 27, 2023, 9:30 - 11:30 PM Admission: $5.00 Enjoy a night of comedy hosted by Aayush Patodiya with featured comedians Andrew Gustafon, Katherine Rogue and Jordan B. and introducing comedians Garrett Brumfield and Taylor Reschka. For ages 18 and up. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708093
19. Sunday Mountain Music Series Kickoff with Ash Devine Mountain Lake Lodge, Pembroke Sunday, May 28, 2023, 4:00 - 6:00 PM Admission: Free Stop by Salt Pond Pub every Sunday starting Memorial Day weekend through Sunday, August 20th for live music and delicious food and drinks. Perfect for relaxing with the whole family (furry friends too). Award winning songwriter, folk rock musician, caring clown Ash Devine is based the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville North Carolina. Ash Devine’s folk Fusion style gleans sounds of Appalachian traditional folk, Americana-pop and classic rock. Ash Devine is an accomplished instrumentalist on finger-style and flat pick style guitar and innovative original ukulele picking style. Her breathy and rich vocals are captivating and cathartic, reminiscent of Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young. Ash’s stage presence is dynamic, charismatic and steeped in audience connection and participation. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=697572
20. The Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs in Concert Palisades Restaurant, Eggleston Sunday, May 28, 2023, 5:00 - 7:30 PM Admission: Free The Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs are a folk(ish)/Americana group hailing from Winston-Salem, NC. Their influences range from Neil Young to Regina Spektor. Blending their unique musical sensibilities, the band seeks to craft an entertaining experience that has a little something for everyone. Reservations are not required, but recommended for dining area seating. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=707368
21. 2023 The Murph Workout Challenge Blacksburg Fit Body Bootcamp, Blacksburg Monday, May 29, 2023, 8:00 - 9:30 AM Admission: Free Blacksburg Fit Body Boot Camp is an official host location of The Murph. The Murph is a challenging workout that builds confidence, camaraderie, and honor to all those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice serving our country. Participants can participate in one of three options, the Full Murph, the Full Murph (scaled), or the Half Murph. This workout is about challenging yourself. You can modify the movements however you need to and break apart the total reps in several sets. There is no set time to finish, just the goal to finish. The Full Murph usually takes about one hour and the Half Murph about 30 minutes. Donations will be accepted to benefit the Murph foundation. This year, Blacksburg Fit Body Bootcamp will also be hosting a Kids Lil' Murh at 10:00 AM, open to all ages. The Lil Murph will be a 0.1 mile run, 10 push ups, 20 mountain climbers, 40 body weight squats, followed by another 0.1 mile run. Parents are welcome to participate alongside their child. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708113
22. 2023 Jimmyfest Memorial Day Cruise-In & Cook Out Jones Car Company, Shawsville Monday, May 29, 2023, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Admission: Free Jones Car Company presents the 2nd Annual Jimmyfest Memorial Day Cruise-In and Cook Out to celebrate the life of James "Jimmy" Buriak. Classic cruisers, muscle cars, off road SUVs, lifted trucks, euro specialties, and everything in between is welcome. No entry fees or awards, this is just for fun. Jones Car Company will be providing free hot dogs, chips and non-alcoholic beverages. Donations will be gladly accepted for the AWS1 James Buriak Foundation. AWS1 James "Jimmy" Philip Buriak, USN, died 31 August 2021 in a Naval helicopter crash on the coast of San Diego, where he served as a naval aircrewman rescue swimmer (AWS) with HSC-8. The legacy of a hero is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example. This foundation was created in the wake of Jimmy’s death as a way to honor him and his memory, but also keep his purpose alive – to help others. Jimmy was a Salem High School graduate. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708096
23. 2023 Memorial Day Ceremony Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery, Dublin Monday, May 29, 2023, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Admission: Free The public is invited and encouraged to attend this tribute to honor and remember the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to our Nation. The keynote speaker for the ceremony will be former Chief Master Sergeant of the US Air Force, Rodney McKinley (US Air Force, Retired). Members of the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery Volunteers will place American flags on all graves prior to the ceremony. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708098
24. 2023 Radford Memorial Day Program Bisset Park, Radford Monday, May 29, 2023, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Admission: Free Radford VFW Post 776, American Legion Post 30, the NRV Marine Corps League, the Dublin-Radford Ruritan Club, the Radford News Journal, WRAD AM1460, and WPSK 107.1 presents the 2023 Radford Memorial Day Program. The ceremony includes a speech by the Radford Army Ammunition Plant Commander, a 21-gun salute and music. The Master of Ceremonies is Dana Jackson, the past Commander of American Legion Post 30. The program will serve to remember the veterans of all wars who have sacrificed to serve our country and also the families who have lost loved ones because of those sacrifices. The ceremony will be broadcast on radio across the WRAD Talk Network (101.7 103.5 and 1460 am) as well as streaming live. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708103
25. 2023 Memorial Day Cruise In and Car Show Narrows Fire Department, Narrows Monday, May 29, 2023, 12:00 - 3:00 PM Admission: Free The Narrows Memorial Day Committee presents the 2023 Memorial Day Cruise In and Car Show in the fire department parking lot. Vehicles of all types are welcome and will be on display. There will be a 50/50 raffle and food will be available for purchase. All vehicles are welcome and there is no entry fee for your vehicle to be included. Dash Plagues will be provided by Newberry Ford. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708101
26. Dedication Ceremony for the Field of Honor Glencoe Mansion, Museum & Gallery, Radford Monday, May 29, 2023, 2:00 - 3:00 PM Admission: Free The Radford Noon Rotary Club presents the Dedication Ceremony for the Field of Honor on the grounds of Glencoe Mansion, Museum & Gallery. The event will be the official start of the Field of Honor display of American flags sponsored to honor heroes of all types from service members to individuals who have made an impact on someone’s life. The ceremony will include remarks from multiple members of the community. Master of Ceremonies Dr. Richard Harshberger will lead the program, which will include Mayor David Horton, Radford VFW Commander Gary Harris, Grace Episcopal Church Rector William Yagel, and Virginia Delegate Jason Ballard. A 21-gun salute will be provided by the Dublin American Legion Post 58. The Field of Honor is comprised of flags sponsored by members of the community, and the proceeds will benefit 14 organizations. Those groups include the Radford University Scholarships for Students from Radford High School, Vittles for Vets, the Women’s Resource Center, Beans and Rice and the Glencoe Mansion. The Field of Honor display will be on display from Memorial Day through the 4th of July. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708097
27. Music Road Co Trio in Concert Rock House Marina, Pulaski Monday, May 29, 2023, 2:00 - 5:00 PM Admission: Free Rock House Marina concludes their four-day 2023 Claytor Lake Music Festival featuring the Music Road Co. trio. Music Road Company is a Floyd, VA based band that plays a great music featuring elements of rock, funk, reggae and fun for your dancing and listening pleasure designed to groove and move you. Food will be available for purchase. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=707887
28. 2023 Narrows Memorial Day Parade Downtown Narrows, Narrows Monday, May 29, 2023, 3:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free The annual Memorial Day Parade will feature floats, bands, cars, trucks, bikes, military & emergency vehicles and more. Following the parade, there will be a Hero's Dinners for all local doctors, nurses, EMTs, fire, rescue, veterans and active duty personnel / members and their families. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708102
Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

‘…break your spine.’
Does anyone else know that rhyme? There are multiple versions: some have a couple of additional lines, and others refer to the mother and father being the victims. The one I was taught goes: 'Step on a crack, break your back. Step on a line, break your spine.' I get stepping on a crack could lead to someone falling over and hurting their back, but why would stepping on a line break a person’s spine?
Just so you know, this isn’t some story about a cursed version of the rhyme that kills you after reading it out loud three times in a row. I only mention it because when I think about what happened... I’ll tell you my story, and you’ll know what I mean. And don’t worry, supernatural stuff does happen. Just not how you would expect.
I’ll start by telling you about the guy who disappeared from my class, Ernie. He was the nicest guy I knew. He was fair and friendly to me and everyone else in my class. It also meant a lot to me that he was: I’m not one of the popular kids in my school. I’m more the kind who likes to read Creepypasta and watch anime.
Ernie was one of many disappearances in my town for as long as I can remember. Some people say they left of their own accord, but my town isn’t that place. Besides, the police don’t think that. The police have no idea what happened to them, but they know they didn’t run away. All the missing person cases would go cold eventually.
I was hoping I could dig up something the police couldn’t. I felt I owed it to Ernie. I knew I might not find anything more than the police, but I had to try. I wanted to be a journalist when I left school, so I had that journalistic intuition.
I don’t think I’d say the same now after… everything.
I looked into the online news reports of the missing people. The police were surprisingly honest. They even asked whether anyone could lend their assistance in finding the missing people.
All the cases are very similar. The person was alone at the time of their disappearance, usually when walking somewhere in the dark. They were all very different, making the disappearances look randomly picked, so it didn’t look like the work of a serial killer. The more obscure cases were when there didn’t seem to be anywhere for them to go or for someone to take them.
This included Ernie’s case. He was walking home from his friend’s house late in the evening on a route he knew and commonly took before he vanished.
I won’t go over the other cases, but as I said before, the police don’t have any leads, so each case eventually goes cold.
If I wanted to find anything new, I needed to investigate further. I knew where the people vanished, so I mapped out some of the locations and went looking after school.
My parents expected me home before sunset, so I had a few hours to use per day. During the week of my search, I found the scenes of the disappearances, and I spoke to a few of the witnesses who were close by at the time. The locations were isolated, as the news reports said, and the witnesses were never there when the person disappeared, also as the reports said. So, my time was mainly spent confirming what the police said was true and, doing so, left me in the same position: with no leads to go on. I was going to give up.
But that Friday, I found something.
I was looking into one of the cases that happened twenty or so years prior, and one of the witnesses said they heard a rumour that someone claimed to know what happened to the people that disappeared. This rumoured person talked nonsense about demons and people being taken to hell. The police were kind enough not to include his statement in the investigations, and he remained out of the public eye.
I prodded the witness some more and ended up with his name and address. ‘What harm could it bring?’ I thought as I found the address on my phone.
All of you know where this is going. I won’t try and sugarcoat it: everything from that moment forward was a horrible mistake. And I will regret it for the rest of my life.
The man lives in a flat by himself, a dingy place downtown. His name is Ronald Tristan. When he answered the door, he looked like the mad religious type. He looked older than I expected: supporting his grey hair with a combover. He also looked pale and under-malnourished, which told me he hadn’t been out and about for a while. I’m not exactly Sherlock Holmes. This is just what I noticed.
“Hi.” was all the old man could give to greet me. His voice was gruff yet well-mannered.
“Hello, I’m here to ask about the disappearances. Are you Ronald Tristan? I’ve heard you know something about them?” I didn’t want to beat around the bush and wanted to get straight to the point.
He said nothing initially, looking like he was searching my face. When he finished, he simply said, “Come in.” I didn’t know why he was trying to choose his words so wisely, but I’d find out soon enough.
The inside of his flat was strange, not what you would expect a conspirator’s home to look like, weirdly devoided of anything other than the bare necessities.
All of the rooms were carpeted. I only mention this because I realise how important it is later.
The two things I found really odd at the time were the wooden cross above the round table against the wall in the living area and how every room seemed lined with duct tape. The cross wasn’t the traditional crucifix: it was wavey like a flag in the wind. It was the opposite of what you'd expect Catholics to have, almost like a groovy parody. The duct tape looked obvious to see. Every edge of each room, from corner to corner, was covered by it. Not only that, its sides were cut into strange curvy lines. It truly gave the place the crazed conspirator’s home vibe I did expect.
“Please, sit down,” Ronald gestured to the only other chair at his table than the one he sat on. I did so, dropping my rucksack next to me under the table. The old git put his elbows on the table, “What have you heard exactly? You look very young to be looking into this.”
“Well,” I said as I leaned towards him, “I was asking about the disappearances, and someone mentioned you knew something about them.” I didn’t want to mention that I heard he was crazy.
Fortunately, I didn’t need to. Then the old man asked, “Have you heard that people also think I have lost my marbles?” He was looking at me with the same face that looked like he was trying to read me from before.
I decided to be blunt with him, “I was talking to one of the witnesses of the missing person cases. They mentioned you spoke to the police about what you thought happened to the victims.”
“I know what happened to them…” he muttered. He had his thumbs to his lips while clasping his hands together, almost like he was praying, “You wouldn’t understand. I think… what do you know about the disappearances?”
“The same as the police, nothing more than they seemed to vanish without a trace.”
“I think you should leave your little investigation at that. It won’t help: knowing.” His expression looked stressed.
“Why?” I asked.
His eyes glanced up at the cross above the table, “Lord have mercy,” he whispered to himself, “Please, you're too young. I don’t want to put you in any danger.”
I perked up at this, “What?!” I gasped. He gave me a silent stare like he was hoping I would leave it at that, “Wait, why don’t the police want to know about this then?” Even as I said it, I knew the answer: he tried telling them, and they didn’t believe him. The old git’s paranoia must have been creeping into my mind: I was beginning to feel on edge.
“Listen,” he said sternly, “you and the police wouldn’t believe me. It would…” he paused as he tried to look for his words.
When he was unsuccessful, I told him, “I need to know. I have a friend who went missing. I don’t care whether I believe you or not. Tell me what you know, and I will leave you alone.”
The look I gave him must have been determined enough. He looked sorry and stated, “If I tell you, you will be in danger. You are not the only person to come asking. And the other people who came asking me also ‘disappeared’. I don’t want to be responsible if I put you in danger.”
My expression turned to worry, “Were they, like, killed by someone?”
“Something!” he snapped. He then scrunched up his mouth as though to try and silence it.
I knew he might be mad and making all this up, but I thought that maybe he knew something. Something much bigger and more complex than him. I had made it that far, and he was my only lead. “I’m not leaving until I know what you know. Tell me!” I said with more determination than I had.
His eyes sized me up once more, “Ok. Just be careful.” he darted his gaze around the room, covering every corner, before he continued, “For twenty-five years, I have been hunted by a demon.”
I leaned back and sighed to replace the chuckle that would have come out. I don’t need to say why I didn’t believe in supernatural mumbo-jumbo. Even when my pastime was reading horror stories about the supernatural. It was only nonsense in the end.
Now after everything, let’s just say I will be more open-minded.
He saw my sigh and said, “I told you, you don’t believe me.”
“Look,” I replied, “even you must admit that sounds crazy. What… why should I believe you?”
Ronald stared blankly at me for a second. Then thrust out his right leg and planked it onto the wooden table, so I could see it in front of me. He pulled up the sleeve of his genes to show me his plastic prosthetic leg. “It would have taken me if I wasn’t so lucky!” he said confidently.
I can’t deny this shook me. It told me that this guy was being serious. Either that or he was mad enough to lob off his leg, which I doubted. I felt I needed to apologise, “I’m sorry, please tell me about this…” I almost couldn’t say it, “‘demon’.”
He covered up his prosthetic and continued, “I call it a demon, but I don’t know what it is exactly. Do you believe in God?” He gestured to his cross. I shook my head. “I didn’t think so. I have to believe. It makes it easier to cope. Though, no exorcism will get rid of this… beast. How do I put it?” he paused, “It… lives in the lines.”
“It lives in the lines?”
“I’m not sure how else to put it. It lives within the lines of… anything. It is how it hunts,” he paused again, collecting his words, “This thing takes people, people it can touch through the lines.”
“It hunts?” I was losing track of what he was saying.
“Yes, it hunts people. I think it kills them, I don’t know. It doesn’t like attention. It doesn’t want to be found out. You can’t see it: it is invisible. It can only come out of the lines by so much.” after another pause, he continued more furiously, “It tried taking me once and failed. But I know it is coming after me. It-it took…” his words were becoming erratic, “It will come after you, now you know. It…”
I just stared at him, dumbfounded. Honestly, I was more scared of him.
After he recovered from his minor-panic attack, I ventured to ask, “This is what you couldn’t tell the police, what they wouldn’t believe?”
He nodded, “Yes. I panicked not long after that thing had found me. Someone else went missing. I told them a demon had taken her, and they threw me in the loonie bin.” he stared at his cross again, “I shouldn’t have told you. It will go after you next. Please, Lord, forgive me, I…” he broke down into sobs and prayer.
I didn’t know what to believe. The way he told me, he wasn’t lying. My rational mind couldn’t… no, wouldn’t let me believe him. I had to believe he was mad. I did what I wouldn’t think I would ever do in that situation: I tried to flee. “It’s getting dark. I need to go home,” I said slowly and carefully.
Before I could fully stand up, the old geezer grabbed my arm, “Wait, please! I know it is difficult to believe, but I’m telling the truth,” he spat out.
“DUDE, FUCK OFF!” I yelled, pulling away, yet he didn’t let go, “You're mad! You need serious help! LET GO!”
“Wait, wait, please. If you go, he’ll come after you!” I stopped pulling when he said this. “Please, before you go, I know how this demon works. Please, listen to me.”
I looked him dead in the eye: his eyes were screaming with fear. I yanked my arm away after his grip had loosened. I got up to leave, pulling my bag over my shoulders. “I’ve got to go,” I said, turning away from him.
“Wait!” he said as I walked away, “The demon doesn’t like too much attention. I’ll walk you home!” Yet, saying this only sped me up. I would never let him come near my house. He was a nutter. He followed behind me, “Just don’t touch any straight lines. It can only get you through straight lines! Listen, this is important! You can wear it out: it doesn’t have a lot of energy! Please wait!”
As I tried pulling open the front door, he lunged his open hand out, slamming it shut again. I looked at the old fool: his face was a few inches from mine. It was now filled with the screaming fear he held in his eyes. “Just come over again,” he said, “I’ll tell you what happened to me. Properly. Don’t step on any lines on the way home. Humour me if that’s what it takes!”
I looked deeply into his eyes. I could see he had no ill intent in them. He was just scared. I gave him a quick, confirming nod. He let me open the door. Before I left him, he spoke up one last time, “And don’t forget. It likes to hunt.”
With that, I was on my way home.
I was given a lot of information at once. I didn’t know whether I could believe him. It sounded insane, but this was my only lead. ‘What was that old guy talking about? What was he saying?’ I knew he wasn’t a liar and that he was hesitant to tell me what he knew. His instructions were very odd. ‘Is he delusional?’ I thought this was more likely, but it doesn’t sound like some typical old wives' tale. In reality, I still needed to hear his whole story before judging him. ‘Is it true?’ This scared me then, even when I was sceptical of it. It explained why the police found so little and why the people disappeared in such unusual circumstances. ‘Am I in danger?’
I looked at my surroundings. I was halfway home. It was dark. And I was alone.
‘It… lives in the lines.’ I remembered Ronald saying. I looked at the pavement slabs. They were old, and the cement between each slab had sunken down and made canyons.
This was when I remembered the rhyme: ‘Step on a crack, break your…’ etc. As a kid, I avoided cracks and gaps in the pavement because of it. I remembered stepping on a road line as a dare, thinking I could feel my spine creaking and breaking. It never did, of course.
I needed closure. I lightly pressed my toes onto the line. Nothing happened. I took my foot off and placed it down again, as though I was shocked nothing happened the first time. My fear dispersed, and in its place, disappointment filled me. ‘Of course, nothing happened,’ I thought, ‘Demons don’t exist. I guess this means I’m back to square one.’
Approximately five steps homeward, I stepped on another gap in the pavement. This time, my right foot just… fell. Like when you don’t realise that there’s a step in front of you, and you just start falling. Eventually, you would feel your foot hit the ground harder than you expected, almost tripping you. Except, my foot didn’t hit the ground.
My reflexes acted before I could process what happened: I lunged my arm onto the side of the curb, balancing my weight and holding myself up.
I looked down, and my leg… sunk? It looked more like my leg was squeezing between the pavement slabs. It looked like Mr Fantastic when he reached underneath a door, his arm squishing like rubber. It still felt the same: it just looked off or warped somehow. This wasn’t what made me panic. I panicked because I could feel my leg dangling into an abyss I couldn’t see.
That all lasted a second before I hastily pulled myself back up onto the pavement. As my leg left the line, I could have sworn I felt something brush the back of it.
Now I think about it, I was lucky then.
I sat on a pavement slab like I was washed up on an island, separated from everyone else. I had to think for a second and comprehend what happened. All my thoughts rushed around in my head in a chaotic tornado. One stood out to me, what Ronald said: ‘It… lives in the lines.’ At that moment, that was all that made sense to me.
I got up and carried on home, now avoiding the gaps in the pavement.
On the way, I thought about how to lose whatever was chasing me. I thought about how that old man avoided it, ‘Do I need to get rid of every line within reach like in his place? No, that’s not an option! It is chasing me now! How do I get rid of it now?! What did Ronald say?!’ Then what he said came back to me: ‘The demon doesn’t like too much attention.’ I had to find someone, anyone. So long as someone else was with me, it won’t try and take me. That’s why Ronald wanted to come with me. I banked on my parents being home: there was nowhere else I could think to go.
This thing, this Line Demon (from now on, I will refer to it as the Line Demon: I have no idea what else to call it, please feel free to come up with a new name for it), will come after me until it has me.
I thought, ‘What else did that old man say: ‘Just don’t touch any straight lines. It can only get you through straight lines!’ What can’t I touch? Gaps in the pavement, yes, but what else? Door frames, wooden flooring, bannisters…’ I thought about how many things could have lines I might accidentally touch. More specifically: lines I could accidentally touch in my house. All I knew was that the lines had to be straight, as Ronald said. How straight? I did not know. So, I tried avoiding any and all lines I could see. ‘How hard could it be?’
I got home at about ten, which was very late for me. I opened the front door, and my eyes scanned the area for all possible lines the Line Demon could grab me from. I strategically stepped onto the doormat as I saw the minefield I expected: wooden flooring in every room (except one: I’ll come back to that). Each floorboard had a gap between them: many more gaps than in the pavement outside. I had to tread really carefully.
I placed my trainer down onto one of the planks lengthways, and it only just fitted on without touching any of the gaps. I considered taking my shoes off to have more space to step on, but I needed the grip of my shoes to be sure my feet didn’t slide.
I awkwardly crab-walked through to the living room and called out. No one was home. I had forgotten where Mum and Dad were, but it mattered little. Yet, I knew I couldn’t wait for them to come home. I had to get them there ASAP.
I decided to phone one of them and make up an excuse like being sick or something. Hopefully, Mum’s sympathy would bring at least one of them home.
I was never able to make the call.
I wanted to sit down to make the call rather than balance awkwardly on the floorboards in case I fell over. So I sat at our dining room table. As I unlocked my phone, I placed my left hand on the side of the square table.
I hadn’t accounted for the edges of objects as lines in my strategy.
My hand was yanked by the unseen foe. My hand vanished into the line, and I dropped the phone from my right hand to use it to push away from the table. It was pulling me in this time.
The Line Demon’s hand was rough with long but thin fingers, and its grip was tight and unrelenting. Yet, its pull was only that of an average adult male. This prevented me from being pulled in: my body weight was on my chair rather than the table.
I had to shift my body weight away from the table, as the deeper into the line my arm went, the stronger the Line Demon’s pull was. Trying to be careful not to step onto any of the lines on the wooden floor, I stood up, leaning away from the table, using my body weight to pull away from it.
It was working: my arm started to leave the line. I saw my hand. But I also saw the invisible press of the Line Demon’s hand on it.
‘It can only come out of the lines by so much.’ Even though my hand was entirely free from its dimension, it wouldn’t let go. My hand remained bound to the edge of the table. I tried hitting it with my free right hand, but I only made my left hand sore from hitting where it gripped me. ‘I CAN’T HIT IT!’ my mind screamed. I knew that it could only come into our world by so much. If so: why didn’t it let go?
I had to remember what Ronald had said, ‘You can wear it out: it doesn’t have a lot of energy!’ I considered what this meant, ‘Does it need the stamina to come into our world? Yes, that would explain why it tried to make me fall into its dimension rather than grabbing me before. It would conserve its energy that way! But that doesn’t tell me why it won’t let go?!’
I thought about this later, and I can only assume it used the stamina I spent pulling away from it to maintain its presence in our world. So, rather than it pulling me into its dimension, I was pulling it into ours, or at least by as much as I could pull it into our dimension.
I was at a stalemate. I couldn’t pull it further into our world, and it couldn’t me into its world. It was beginning to feel like I was exercising the plank in PE. My body was straining from holding my ground, and I had a feeling that the Line Demon’s grip might hold out longer than my pull.
Then, at the fifteen-second mark, it let go.
I couldn’t figure out why. Until I felt it on my left foot.
I looked down to see my left foot had slid slightly, just over one of the gaps in the wooden floorboards. I could also see the side of my trainer being folded down by my friend’s invisible grasp.
I couldn’t do much more to resist than try and keep my body weight on the floorboard, but the Line Demon could now use all of its body weight to pull me down. I could feel my shoe slipping into the gap. I was running out of ideas, but there was one theory I had to test then and there. I looked around the table and saw a piece of scrap paper. I grabbed it and stuffed it under my shoe.
I’ll have to explain my logic for this part. From everything I knew about this thing: how it lives in the lines, how it can only come out from its realm by so much and how I couldn’t hurt it: I came to one conclusion. It is one-dimensional. To hunt, it can become a two-dimensional being to pull things into its dimension. It cannot go three-dimensional (I’m no quantum physicist, so I can’t say how much sense this makes. It is only how the Line Demon works).
This is why I couldn’t hit it: it travels in and along the surfaces of what is within reach to pull people in: it is two-dimensional and not three-dimensional like we are. This is also why I couldn’t pull it entirely into our dimension: it uses energy to become two-dimensional and reach out into our universe. Neither I nor the demon has the strength to get it further into our world.
So, putting a piece of paper between my shoe and the gap in the floorboards would increase its energy consumption while decreasing its range, forcing it to let go of me. If that makes sense?
It worked. My foot was released, and the Line Demon pulled in the paper instead.
After I regained my balance, I hastily looked around for my phone. I knew I wasn’t out of the woods yet. I saw it a few feet away on the ground and awkwardly went over. Just as I reached to grab it, it slipped down into the gap between the floorboards. It was as though the Line Demon waited for me to come over just to open up its dimension below my phone and let it fall, showing me how little control over the situation I had.
“NO! FUCK!” I swore, “FUCK IT! FUCK IT! YOU PIECE OF SHIT!”
I remember thinking, ‘Why didn’t I go somewhere else?! I could have gone to the pub or somewhere with people! I’m a sitting duck here!’ I knew beating myself up wouldn’t help anyone, so I had to hastily recover, ‘Stay calm, think: what do I need to do? Where do I go?’ It had occurred to me that moving somewhere only risked giving the Line Demon another chance at getting me, so I decided to stay put.
Luckily, there was one room in the house I would be safe: my parents had an old office upstairs that they used as a storage area for old documents and the old computer. It was the only room in the house that hadn’t been refurbished and still had carpeted flooring (it was also then I realised why Ronald had carpeted flooring in his flat, there are no lines to step on).
I made my way up upstairs, avoiding the nosing of each step. After a few more tricky steps along the short corridor to the room, I made it.
It felt so good to freely walk around a room without worrying about being taken by the Line Demon, even if it was only five metres by five metres. I sighed and even began to laugh, I knew I hadn’t defeated it, but I felt I had won that night. I was starting to believe avoiding the Line Demon might be possible. As long as I didn’t step on any lines: it would struggle to pull me into its mysterious dimension. I could fight back.
Then I heard a sound, someone gasping like they just came to the surface of a deep lake.
I turned my head to the open door and saw in the corridor, half-submerged in the floorboards, was Ernie. He looked stuck: his arms pointing upwards squeezed in the gap like he had a laso tight around him. He was pale as a ghost, his eyes looked dead and bloodshot, yet he was breathing heavily.
Ernie looked at me, moving only his eyes. I imagined his eyeballs making a sloshing noise as he did so. He groaned, “Helllp meeee…”
I stood there, fear rattling my body and leaving me unable to do anything. Ernie called out again, more commanding this time, “Help Me! Help Me!”
Again, I stood there inanimately. My mind processed a thousand thoughts at a time, ‘Ernie! Is he alive?! Why does he look so pale?! Is this a trap?!’
“Please, help me! PLEASE!” his arms started shaking violently as he screeched inhumanly, “HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP!”
Though his screeching freaked me out, it helped me refocus my mind, ‘There is no way the Line Demon would let him go. It’s trying to bait me.’ I had gaged the distance from me to Ernie and knew he was too far away to reach from the safety of the office. I didn’t know whether it was controlling Ernie like a puppet or if Ernie was having some sort of seizure. It mattered little either way: I wasn’t going out to whatever it was.
It shrieked, “HELP! HELP! HEL-”
“SHUT UP!” I roared, interrupting it, “I CAN’T HELP YOU, ERNIE! I CAN’T! YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD! IT FUCKING KILLED YOU! GO AWAY!”
It stopped. For a few brief seconds, silence filled the air.
Then the blood came. It leaked from Ernie’s eyes, mouth and every other orifice on his body. It started to sink back into the ground, spitting out its final words with blobs of blood, “Youuu… let me… diiiie…”
The sight was awful to behold. If my face looked like what I felt, it would be a face drenched every inch in terror. And guilt. All I could do was croak, “I’m… sorry.”
My apology was made inconsequential by the loud snapping of what I presumed were Ernie’s bones, yet it sounded more like snapping branches. Its eyes, which used to belong to my friend, never lost sight of me as the head resubmerged into the floor, leaving a small pool of red ichor. I could see the fluid trickling down into the gap in the floorboards as though they were chasms rather than a portal to whatever the fuck the Line Demon’s dimension was.
I remember my vision lowering, likely because I fell flat on my ass from my legs giving in to fear. I sat on the carpeted flooring, all sense of my previous victory gone from me. If it was a victory. I remembered the last thing Ronald said, ‘It likes to hunt.’ The Line Demon knew how to press all of my buttons. How to simultaneously leave me horrified and angry. I won’t lie: I lost a bit of my focus then.
Maybe, luck allowed me to live the rest of that night out, not my composure.
I looked around the small room to see any possible entryways the Line Demon might have. There was a shelf with old documents, a desk with our old computer on it and an air vent in the bottom corner of the room.
My focus was primarily on the vent: it had a built-in, horizontal grille. I also kind of feared it. I know it sounds stupid, but I have since I was young. I used to play hide and seek with my parents and friends, and one of the most common places I would hide was under that desk. I would stare out to see if anyone came into the room looking for me. The vent was visible from that spot. Unlike most air vents in my house, this was the only one that could be seen. I remember staring at that vent, almost like something would come out from it and get me.
The vent was the primary place I suspected it would try and get me from. Even though I wouldn’t fit into the vent: the lines weren’t long enough. I also decided that the shelf’s edges might be another possible entry point. The desk was the least threatening to me because the edges of any table surface were now known to me as an entry point. As long as I didn’t touch the rim of the desk: I would be fine. And, of course, I would try and stay centralised in the room. The corners and edges of the square room were the main threat and the most likely portal it would use to grab me.
So, I just stood there for half an hour, scared that the Line Demon would have some other new trick I hadn’t seen yet. I felt I only had to be patient until my parents got home. I paced the room and began questioning my choices, ‘Why did I come in here?’ I thought, ‘Why did I corner myself like this? Are Mum and Dad coming home? They could have been mugged or something. Maybe they went drinking with their friends, had too much to drink and stayed at their place?’ (Please note that the irony that I was worried that they would stay out too late was not lost on me), ‘If they aren’t coming home, who am I waiting for? Should I have gone to a neighbour’s house? Could I have risked it with that thing coming after me?’ My mind kept whirling these questions around inside my head.
Then suddenly, I heard a crunch.
It came from below me. I looked down at my feet and saw that, while I paced in a small circle in the middle of the room, I stepped on… a paper aeroplane. It was made from the scrap paper the Line Demon had taken before. ‘How did a paper aeroplane get to the centre of the room?’ I looked at the plane’s angle. It looked like it came from the vent behind me.
Though this mattered little to me, I was more concerned that my left foot was standing on the edge of the paper.
Once more, my leg dipped into the line. It was time for the third and final round against this thing.
This time, my entire foot was consumed. My first reaction was to lunge my arm out and balance myself like I did the first time, but then the paper slid along the ground. This made me realise that, unlike the last time, I could move the line I was on. So, my next move was to lift my leg above myself. That way, the Line Demon won’t be able to use its body weight to pull me into its dimension.
Yet, it was different this time. The Line Demon wasn’t pulling me in. It thrashed my leg back and forth.
“YOU’VE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!” I wailed, still thinking about the cheap trick it used to extend its range: it used a paper aeroplane to get me from the centre of the room.
I started instinctively shuffling back. I didn’t know what its plan was, but I knew I had to make it let go. There wasn’t anything nearby to disconnect the paper from my leg like last time. So I thrust my right arm out to it and grabbed it, thinking, ‘I just have to get it off my foot: it doesn’t have the strength to pull me in, so it’ll have to let go eventually!’
I kept pulling at the paper, holding onto it as the Line Demon thrust my leg about. I kept backing up until I had my back against the wall.
It let go.
The crumpled paper aeroplane fluttered to the ground, and my mind furiously tried to grasp what the Line Demon was planning. Then, in the brief second sitting against the wall, I realised: it couldn’t drag me into its dimension through the paper. There was no way it could fit my whole body into the length of the line. It wasn’t trying to pull me. It was backing me up against the wall. Against the vent!
The pain hit me all too fast. It was a sharp pain, like a dagger going into my back. I screamed in agony: it was the worst pain. But the pain wasn’t the worst part of the experience. It was my legs going numb. Then I realised I couldn’t move them.
The doctors would later explain the medical term was ‘Paraplegia’. It is an injury to the vertebrae column in my spine, severed by the Line Demon, which causes complete paralysis to my lower body. The Line Demon knew what it was aiming for and how to leave me hopelessly stranded in a heap on the floor.
My response was to bend over my legs and away from the vent as though ready to belch. I had no time to freak out, however. I desperately crawled with my hands back towards the centre of the room. My mind had lost all focus: all I could think about was getting away from that corner of the room. I was conscious enough to grab my legs and pull them along with me, sure they didn’t brush the bottom corner of the room.
It didn’t matter.
My hands lost their grip on the carpet floor for a second as my body was yanked away from its destination. ‘That’s impossible!’ my mind raced, ‘I didn’t touch the edge of the room! How is it pulling me?!’
It only took a glance to find out why. From the edge of the room, an arm grabbed my right leg. I could tell whose arm it was by the sleeve of the jumper the arm wore. ‘THAT’S ERNIES ARM!’ I mentally screamed. And I had a strong inkling that it wasn’t attached to its body anymore.
I screamed as I was pulled slowly to my demise, unable to resist except by hopelessly clawing away along the ground. “NO! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” I wept, “NO! FUCK! NOT LIKE THIS! PLEASE, GOD!” I even found myself praying.
It’s ironic, looking back. That morning, I was a proud atheist, but then at that moment, I felt like God was the only being who could save me. That must have been what Ronald felt when he became religious, and I ridiculed him for it.
I begged for something to rescue me. As tears leaked from my clenched closed eyes, I prepared for the worst.
God must have smiled upon me. I heard the front door open downstairs and my parents drunkenly moaning about their shit jobs.
“MUUUUUUM! DAAAD!” I screamed, sounding like the hurt child I was. I instantly heard them rush up the stairs, but I had no idea how close I was to being consumed.
Yet, hearing Mum and Dad rushing to my aid gave me newfound strength. My hands clutched into the carpet as hard as I could make them. ‘I’m going to make it! As soon as they come in, it’ll give up!’ Every second that passed was torturously slow and drawn out.
Mum swung the door open with all her might… only to scream.
It stopped pulling.
I was ecstatic to see both of my parents, but they looked horrified.
I looked at my right leg to see why: my foot was gone.
Blood spewed out from where I once had a limb. I think I screamed. My parents did everything they could to ensure I would live, and they saved me. All I remember after that was my dad pushing down on my now stump of a leg and gently fading away, terrified of whether I would make it.
When I woke up in a hospital bed, my parents told me the police wanted to find out what I knew. However, I didn’t have it in me to tell them the truth: they would institutionalise me like with Ronald. I also didn’t want to curse them with the Line Demon’s presents.
I told them I was stabbed in the back and passed out without seeing the culprit’s face. When I came to, I started screaming when I saw my missing leg, and that’s when Mum and Dad came in. They had no reason not to believe me and chalked it up to that: a burglary gone horribly wrong. They disregarded the pool of blood they found outside the office.
My dad was less convinced. He knew when something wasn’t being said.
And so, a week later, I am still bedridden and now writing this. I will never be able to move my legs again. I don’t expect pity. I am lucky to be alive, after all. But it means I won’t be able to avoid the Line Demon. It hasn’t got me yet, but it is probably only a matter of time.
I’ve been trying to contact Ronald. I haven’t seen him since I met him. If he told me what happened to him, maybe there is a way of fighting back against this thing. Otherwise, I may have to avoid it for the rest of my life, which looks very short.
It helps that I am constantly surrounded by nurses. The Line Demon won’t come after me while they are with me. Perhaps I could still lead an ordinary life? I know there isn’t any confirming that.
That’s why I am writing this: I want to fight back against this thing, and I need your help. If you have encountered the Line Demon as I have described or anything like this and have any ideas on how to beat it, comment on this post and tell me how I can defeat… no, kill this thing. Please.
And I must warn you. Once you’ve read this, it may come after you. Your curiosity has gotten the better of you as it did me, and I’m sorry. It is intelligent, and I didn’t realise it until it was too late. Pretend this was written as fiction: it can see and hear you through the lines! So, act natural! I don’t know if it can read. And whatever you do…
DON’T STEP ON ANY LINES!

What's on your mind, Charlotte?
Visit our Discord channel: /Charlotte Discord
Charlotte on the Cheap: Daily Events
Local subreddits: /ConcordNC /Cornelius /FortMill /Gastonia /GSO /HIckoryNC /Huntersville /LKN /Monroe_NC /NorthCarolina /Rockhill /SteeleCreek_Whitehall /UNCCharlotte

I'm shy, nerdy, and I have a big dumb gay heart. I started HRT last August, I'm not quite where I want to be yet but I feel like I'm getting there. I pass pretty well nowadays, though I sing like Tom Jones 😅 I'm trying to make some more friends, if more comes from that great, if not that's ok too. I have a bunch of hobbies (cars, 3d printing, making things, building models, anime, sci-fi, etc) and I love picking up new ones. I live near Charlotte, and ideally I'd like to find someone local-ish or at least a reasonable driving distance from here, roughly NC/SC/VA/GA area.
Important caveats, I'm strictly monogamous and gray-asexual: I don't hate sex but I don't really like it much either. I don't want to put all my business out in public but I can explain if we start talking. Basically I'm not interested hookups or something casual. Anyways, here's a recent picture of me so you know what I look like
https://i.imgur.com/drKkvbL.jpg

I'm shy, nerdy, and I have a big dumb gay heart. I started HRT last August, I'm not quite where I want to be yet but I feel like I'm getting there. I pass pretty well nowadays, though I sing like Tom Jones 😅 I'm trying to make some more friends, if more comes from that great, if not that's ok too. I have a bunch of hobbies (cars, 3d printing, making things, building models, anime, sci-fi, etc) and I love picking up new ones. I live near Charlotte, and ideally I'd like to find someone local-ish or at least a reasonable driving distance from here, roughly NC/SC/VA/GA area.
Important caveats, I'm strictly monogamous and gray-asexual: I don't hate sex but I don't really like it much either. I don't want to put all my business out in public but I can explain if we start talking. Basically I'm not interested hookups or something casual. Anyways, here's a recent picture of me so you know what I look like
https://i.imgur.com/drKkvbL.jpg

Mapping out a potential DG road trip with my son for this summer. The route I have gives us the following: 7 days 6 states 19 courses (scheduled) 12 on the 2021 top 100 4 PDGA tour stops 36 hours drive time
I may be insane.
UPDATE: Here’s the list of courses:
Moccasin Creek Disc Golf -St Augustine, FL New World Sports Complex -Jacksonville, FL JW Jackson Memorial (Steady Ed Headrock Memorial/PDGA DGC) -Appling, GA Fort Gordon DGC -Augusta, GA Langley Pond Disc Golf Course -Warren, SC Winthrop University Disc Golf Course -Rock Hill, SC Nevin Park -Charlotte, NC Cedarock Park -Burlington, NC Diavolo at New Hope Disc Golf -Cary, NC Rolling Pines Disc Golf Course -Wilkesboro, NC Ashe County Park -Jefferson, NC Sugar Hollow -Bristol, VA Harmon Hills -Limestone, TN The Claytons -Maryville, TN Westside Disc Golf Course -Rocky Face, GA Hobbs Farm DGC -Carrollton, GA Clavstone Park -Lizella, GA Central Pines -Warner Robins, GA Tom Brown Disc Golf Course -Tallahassee, FL

What's on your mind, Charlotte?
Visit our Discord channel: /Charlotte Discord
Charlotte on the Cheap: Daily Events
Local subreddits: /ConcordNC /Cornelius /FortMill /Gastonia /GSO /HIckoryNC /Huntersville /LKN /Monroe_NC /NorthCarolina /Rockhill /SteeleCreek_Whitehall /UNCCharlotte

Hi everyone - looking to see if anyone in a similar position has found success with school for their child.
My 6 yo son in Kindergarten was recently diagnosed with high functioning level 1 ASD and ADHD. I’m in the US so PDA isn’t officially recognized here but the psychologist can see some PDA in him as well. He is also very smart, scoring 94th percentile on an IQ test without participating in some portions of test and he’s reading and doing math at a 2nd/3rd grade level.
In school, he marches to his own beat. He’s perfectly capable of participating in lessons and play, but sometimes he chooses not to and refuses. He’ll walk around the classroom, lie down, or refuse to join the class in lessons or schedules events. He doesn’t really have meltdowns or cause major disruptions but just doesn’t really participate. We’re currently working with the school to put together an IEP, but unfortunately we don’t think the public school he attend will be able to meet both his behavior and academic needs.
The psychologist recommended trying to find schools that have a small class size and an accelerated curriculum. She recommended against home school and schools specifically for autistic kids.
Where are the best schools for someone like my son? Where can we find small class sizes with more challenging academics? We are open to public or private anywhere in the US. We are located in Charlotte NC and are looking at a few schools locally but there’s also nothing keeping us here so we want also consider outside of Charlotte as well. We would prefer to stay on the east coast, though. Thanks.

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He kicked open the door to the hub with Harrow following—somewhat meekly—behind. She had apparently shown up after the caravan had been redirected elsewhere nearby in the settlement, so she didn’t have the privilege of witnessing what had set him off. All she seemed to know was that he had put a hole in the desk in his office, and that he was about one word from causing bloodshed.
It was a more aggressive display than he probably should have allowed, but the thought of people threatening Atmo no larger than his own adoptive daughter to force the adults to listen had driven away most of his self-control. His only solace at the moment was that Pan gave off an air of a loaded gun aimed at the traders. She had the exact mindset as him for the moment.
One move towards Violet, and there would be war—treaty be damned.
Minus them making an attempt at the young Queen or other Atmo of his pack, he had to admit that inciting conflict wasn’t the best idea. Jax was right, it was smarter to wait. The last thing they needed was to have Trill and other assholes stomping up to the gate with whatever alien weapons they had stashed away for this kind of thing. How else do you unilaterally uphold a non-aggression agreement? You give your spooks the most terrifying power and let paranoia do the rest. They had to have kept their guns—he didn’t fathom Trill not hoarding the best toys—so they were likely given to his best Blades and those that were sent out to deal with breaches in the treaty, as well as maybe keeping a few at home to deal with things that would be troublesome otherwise.
“What’s wrong, Joe?” Harrow asked quietly, every aspect of her body language communicating how oppressive his anger was, while also still showing that she wanted to do something about it. He didn’t bother to look over his shoulder as he pushed open the facilities wing door.
“Trying not to sic Tel on some people,” he growled, catching himself still speaking Lilhun. As stupid as it was—and how thoroughly he had tossed aside any subtleties of the matter—he still wanted the first thing Tel heard in her native tongue from him to be something other than his incessant bitching.
He needed to trust in his pack to do what he needed them to. It was a weird sensation, everyone responding to his desires with the same stoic absolution that one felt when a quiet friend warned the group of something. It never happened, so you better listen when it does.
It was a power over them that felt right to use. He hadn’t forced them to do something, nor wantonly commanded anyone. He had given them the permission to act against another power without fear of punishment, all wrapped under the guise of an order. As foreign as the sensation was, knowing that so many of the people he worked around wanted to gut the fuckers as much as him—but held onto reason because he hadn’t snapped his finger to make it so—gave him a sense of responsibility and ease. It wasn’t suffocating like before.
These people didn’t just need him to provide for them, they were his way to influence the world when his fingers couldn’t reach. They wanted to do what he asked, purely because they trusted that—when the time came—his words would be what was best for them, regardless of what they were.
It was a pressure of a loaded gun on his belt, the weight firmly reminding him of what he had become by now. It was something to be careful of, to maintain, and to only use when all else wouldn’t cut it. A careful application of it would protect what they had, and so they were more than happy to heed his wishes.
It made him sick on some level, yet confident on others.
He paused before crossing the entrance to the kitchen, attempting to calm himself through deep breaths before he tried pass where Tel was. He didn’t want to disturb her if he could help it. He doubted it would come to conflict outside, and she enjoyed cooking. It wouldn’t be fair to her for him to cut her hobby short just to have her sit on her paws.
His seething was halted by Harrow walking in front of him and wrapping her arms around his chest, her tail bracing the small of his back as she nuzzled under his chin. It was surprisingly intimate for what it was, cooling a large portion of his confined rage.
They were both pretty tactile people, so it wasn’t as if something like a hug was uncommon for them, it was that they rarely embraced each other with such a gentle completeness that caught him off guard. Her ears were still flattened from her wariness—her body fidgeting and restless—yet the contact was caring, a fair bit beyond the confines of what she normally expressed.
As unexpected as it was, he felt himself calming down a fair bit, wrapping one arm around her back and crooking the other to scratch at her ears, pulling her in tighter. The tension eased from both of them, his separation followed by her own after a moment of reluctance.
“Thanks,” he muttered, somewhat ashamed of how heated he had gotten. It was for a good reason, and he stood by what he told Jax, but it had obviously rattled quite a few of the sensitive members of his pack when he was too worked up to care.
She refused to look at him, her ears fluttering as her tail licked the ground by her feet. “Better?”
He took a deep breath. “Yeah, kinda.”
Harrow smiled, relaxation working through her tension while she gestured for them to continue to see what was sent to them on the terminal. He acquiesced, taking care to empty his mind a bit more lest Tel notice the scent off him through the gaps in the doorway.
The kitchen door was closed, but he could hear her teaching the small collection of students with the worker that had been put under her care, the group oblivious to the goings on outside. Her voice carried a stern edge, but there was a passion to it she only displayed when something involved food or her occupation. The sound of her being so involved in a benign activity made him smile despite himself.
Harrow pushed open the terminal door, the message request accompanied by a red flash to mark it as a priority message, though he was surprised to see it. I had only happened once before, and that was the first time Rob messaged him on the cruise to make sure the feature worked.
He dropped in the seat, somewhat exhausted from the emotional roller-coaster. Harrow took up a spot behind him, her tail wrapping around his waist from behind like a furry seat belt, her arms crossed on the backrest. Accepting the communication, he was treated to a ‘downloading’ message, then a prompt to open the file.
Raising a brow, he did.
Cross-species interaction initiative
His brow furrowed as he read what seemed to be an abridged version of a longer report, several jumps and cuts made to lower the size of the file—likely to facilitate the transfer to him.
It was similar to the Atmo video, as far as what he figured happened behind the scenes. Species were brought to a specially developed facility on a nearby boarder world and housed with the ‘subjects’ in groups or individually to test their interactions, though it seemed that this time around was a more controlled affair than with the insects.
Gensei, Quotol, and every other member of the Union sent representatives to live with or near the new species—all being met with apparently successful results—the groups never being more than apathetic cohabitants.
A change in procedure was proposed when Humans were introduced, however. An extension of the testing parameters requisitioned and approved. It didn’t take much guessing to parse what the species was—the words ‘empathic bond’ were bold, underlined, and tossed in its own ‘important’ looking font. Sil had sent the information he had asked for.
He swallowed heavily, his eyes scanning the text.
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Subject: 0035L-M
Procedure: Isolate subject with 0234H-M for 35 repetitions.
Results: No bond established, amicable relationship.
Notation: Same-sex pairings to continue in conjunction with mixed-sex. Sensory empathic traits present, but purely superficial
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Subject: 0056L-F
Procedure: Isolate subject with 0455H-F for 35 repetitions.
Results: Bond established, platonic relationship.
Notation: Same-sex bonds confirmed. Empathic traits dominate. Request submitted to broaden scope.
GUOS—Approved.
-
Joseph furrowed his brow, a series of similarly mundane reports extending well past what he would have thought prudent. Though he couldn’t say how long a ‘repetition’ was, it quickly didn’t matter, the number rising into the hundreds for some tests. The rate of bonded Lilhun versus not seemed to slightly skew towards the former, though not by much. It was only when Harrow spoke that he noticed the confusion in her voice.
“Sixty percent?”
He glanced up at her. “Maybe, why?”
“Joe,” she answered slowly, a questioning tone on her tongue, “Lilhun bonding is six percent. Less, if you consider actual bonds made. That’s just the number for theoretically possible bonds for any one person, not the number of active ones out of those.”
Joseph glanced back to the text, scrolling up and down over the dozens of condensed tests. “So you guys bond with us easily?”
“’Easily’ is an understatement, Joe,” she responded firmly. “I thought it was weird for both Pan and Sahari to bond with you—but you’re an alien, weird is kinda the default.”
“Hey.”
She ignored his protest, though he agreed with her assessment. “If this is right; we would have a lot of people who spend their entire lives without a bond suddenly finding it with your people.”
He thought for a moment, the next report catching his eye.
-
Subject: 0674L-M
Procedure: Isolation of bond 0032H-F for 12 repetitions.
Results: Subject experiences lethargy, decrease in motivation, anxiety. Unrest and searching behaviour noted. Effects abate when 0032H-F is returned.
Notation: Request for extended separation submitted for future tests.
GUOS—Approved.
-
“No...”
Joseph looked to Harrow, the female shaking her head and pointing to the screen.
-
Subject: 0232L-F
Procedure: Isolation from bond 0022H-M for 100 repetitions. Withhold explanation from subject.
Results: Subject self-terminated after 80 repetitions.
Notation: Submitted request to expand parameters.
GUOS—Approved.
-
“They forced them to kill themselves...”
He flinched at the sorrow in her voice, a roll in his stomach almost making its way up his throat. “I thought that only happened when your bond died?”
She shook her head. “It’s a war-crime now, but being held away from their bonded was a well-abused method of torture. But even then...” Her voice grew weak. “It wasn’t like this.”
“What do they do if they capture a bonded Lilhun?” he asked hesitantly, not sure if he should be trying to sate this particular curiosity. She paused, but eventually spoke.
“Usually, they would trade them with the other military for monetary gain. Perhaps resources.” She looked away from him, as if the topic was painful to speak about. Given that she was bonded to Jax, it likely was. “That’s assuming the soldier hadn’t served with their bond in the field. If the bond passed... Well...”
“Then they would follow behind as soon as they could or die fighting,” he surmised, Harrow nodding in turn. He grimaced at the thought of Pan or Sahari doing the same, his eyes traitorously slipping back to the document, his curiosity churning sickeningly.
-
Subject: 0667L-M
Procedure: Inform subject of bond 0059H-F expiring. Hold 0059H-F off-site for duration of 100 repetitions or until expiry of 0667L-M.
Results: Subject became distraught, self-terminating on repetition 6.
Notation: Subject mentioned ‘Defect’ during ramblings. Further inquiry unveiling genetic mutation within population. Submitted report to expand parameters to include anomalous subjects.
GUOS—Approved. Separate facility to be constructed for testing.
-
The tests ran for a bit longer, some sections being hastily removed—probably by Sil as she tried to cut down the amount of information. He didn’t suspect she had removed anything important, but based on the remaining reports, she had taken out a lot of variations of the same principle. They would take the bonded Lilhuns, pull their bond away, then see what happened.
-
Subject: 0444L-M
Procedure: Report separation of bond 0844H-M for 50 repetitions. Provide reasoning for distance. Hold 0844H-M for 100 repetitions without explanation.
Results: Subject experienced much slower degradation of faculties, self-terminating when 90 repetitions passed.
Notation: Subjects repeatedly display greater resistance to effects when given knowledge of the separation, degradation surged when harm was suspected. Submitted request to expand parameters to witnessing harm of the bond.
GUOS—Approved.
-
Subject: 0003L-F
Procedure: Inflict injury on bond 0523H-M. 0003L-F is to be restrained and witness.
Results: Termination of 0523H-M due to excessive trauma. 0003L-F expired after succumbing to injury sustained during attempts to escape restraints. Excessive damage to vocal chords observed during attempts to plea for 0523H-M’s safety. Subject became non-responsive until expiry as 0523H-M’s vitals ceased function.
Notation: Protective instincts of bond seem to supersede self-preservation. Request submitted to expand parameters.
GUOS—Approved.
-
Subject: 0988L-F
Procedure: Mock kidnapping of bond 0034H-F. Lethal force approved to impede acquisition of 0034H-F by 0988L-F.
Results: 4 staff terminated. Subject expired due to blood-loss.
Notation: Self-preservation is indeed suppressed in favour of protecting their bond. Request submitted to test effects of bond removal on restrained subject.
GUOS—Approved.
-
Subject: 0633L-M
Procedure: Terminate bond 0999H-M while 0633L-M is restrained. Muscle relaxant to be administered and sedative permitted to prolong experiment.
Results: 0999H-M terminated. Subject fell despondent. Nutrient IV provided with mild paralytic. Subject expired after 20 repetitions at request of GUOS.
Notation: The subject’s body degraded quickly. Suspected cause due to failure to resist restraints and mental distress. Request submitted to expand scope to allow resistance.
GUOS—Approved.
-
Subject: 1201L-F
Procedure: Bond 0346H-M to be terminated by contracted parties. 1201L-F to be observed without interference.
Results: Subject terminated the contracted parties, followed shortly by themselves.
Notation: Perhaps ‘revenge’ may extend their operative time frame?
GUOS—Order to expand scope submitted.
-
Subject: 1103L-M
Procedure: Third parties to be contracted and terminate bond 0944H-F. Assist third parties in escape without informing subject of involvement.
Results: Subject terminated 34 third parties, destroying four facilities involved before expiring to terminal wounds after 200 repetitions.
Notation: Subjects will carry out vendetta with little concern for self-preservation. Request submitted to expand scope.
GUOS—Denied. Testing deemed inadvisable due to casualties.
-
“That’s what happened with Sahari,” Joseph muttered, bile fighting its way up his oesophagus. Harrow coughed wetly, her disgust seemingly higher than his own, but with Jax in the picture, it wasn’t hard to guess why.
“All this for a test?” she managed through shuddered breaths, swallowing heavily.
“I hate to admit it, but I’m not surprised,” he spat in his irritation, letting both Harrow and himself gather their thoughts before proceeding. He scrolled past a variety of experiments, he didn’t have the stomach to read them all at the moment. Luckily, the next few tests that settled on his screen strayed away from slaughtering people just to torture the bonded Lilhuns.
-
Subject: 0324L-F, 0325L-M
Procedure: Isolate bonded pair with 0098H-M for 35 repetitions.
Results: Successful bond with both subjects. Romantic relationship established.
Notation: Bonded subjects appear be to compatible with similar compositions. Request submitted to expand parameters.
GUOS—Approved
-
Subject: 0333L-F, 0845L-M, 0724L-F
Procedure: Isolate unbonded subjects with 0664H-F for 35 repetitions.
Results: 0333L-F and 0724L-F bonded to each other as well as 0664H-F. Romantic relationship. 0845L-M accepted as platonic member without bond.
Notation: Confirmation of shared bonding criteria. Repeated mention of duration of exposure during conversations pertaining to the bond. Submitting request for increased exposure for previously unbonded pairings.
GUOS—Approved.
-
They looked at each other with raised brows.
“Thinking what I’m thinking?” Harrow asked weakly, her energy tempered by the framing of the information. He nodded, hesitant to continue.
“I figured as much when I learned about Nalah’s bond, but I didn’t want to say anything. I’m not exactly an expert.”
The orange-furred female thinned her lips across her muzzle. “How do we check?”
He shrugged, his own reluctance clear on his face. “Do we bother? Either Nalah is bonded to me or she isn’t. I doubt she’s purposely hiding it.”
She frowned, but nodded anyway. “I’ll bring it up with her. If nothing else, it’s nice to know why things can get so conflicting at times.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he relented, deferring to her own experiences with the bond. It had apparently been chaotic and stressful for her when Jax’s emotions muddied her own to a degree, so he figured it would be unjustly cruel of him to force Nalah through the same thing. There was a question to how disorienting it would be, however, since the blond-furred female was usually with Sahari whenever they talked. It would make sense for her to simply attribute any shifts to the black-furred female since her bond had become open knowledge.
Sahari had been surprised, but they’ve become even closer for it, so he guessed it worked out in the end. Considering that bonding twice in one lifetime seemed to be nearly unheard of, it wouldn’t be a stretch to hear that multiple bonds at once was likewise rare.
“Wait,” he interrupted, disturbing Harrow’s mental preparation to continue. “Wouldn’t that mean Sahari can—or is—bonded to Nalah too? Doesn’t that go both ways?”
Harrow’s muzzle closed, her thoughts screeching to a halt in her mind. “It... should,” she voiced hesitantly. “Never stopped to consider it.”
Joseph exhaled through his nose as he scrolled down the document to see what the more ‘exposure’ oriented testing revealed, though he would rather not.
-
Subject: 0035L-M
Procedure: Isolate subject with 0234H-M for 200 repetitions.
Results: Bond established successfully. Platonic relationship.
Notation: Irregularity documented. Subject reacting strongly to particular emotional stimulus from bond. Further research requested.
GUOS—Approved.
Amendment: 0035L-M reacting abnormally to joy. Further study of interactions suggests stimulus aligns with the strongest emotion the subject was exposed to from their bond during bonding process. Suggesting expansion of scope.
GUOS—Approved.
-
Joseph’s furry belt tightened around his waist, his eyes meeting Harrow’s suspecting gaze. She shook her head when he asked about it, prompting him to read further.
-
Subject: 0044L-F
Procedure: Isolate with 0044H-M for 200 repetitions. Elicit extreme fear in 0044H-M before bond establishes.
Results: Subject and 0044H-M experienced mental break when 0044H-M was provoked by trauma, subject unwilling to release 0044H-M. Both terminated on request of GUOS.
Notation: Approximate transfer of empathetic stimulus suspected to be 40% for normal bonding. Extended process seems to increase such to 90%, as 0044L-F retained some semblance of cognizance until termination. Subject seemed to have fell into protective instinct, only expiring after subjecting themselves to multiple mortal wounds intended for 0044H-M. Request submitted to expand parameters.
GUOS—Approved.
-
Subject: 1433L-M
Procedure: Isolation with 0004H-F for 200 repetitions. Provoke extreme anger before bonding completes.
Results: 1433L-M injured 4 staff when 0004H-F was subjected to trauma, a strong bias towards protecting the bond observed.
Notation: Bonded subjects proposed to react to traumatic stimulus by removing said trauma or shielding their bond from it to cease influence. Suspected that the temperament of 0004H-F diminished the expected effect. Request submitted for aggressive bond for experiment.
GUOS—Denied due to possible casualties.
-
Subject: 1222L-F, 1223L-F
Procedure: Isolation with 1003H-M for 200 repetitions. Elicit despair before bonding completes.
Results: 1222L-F reacted aggressively, 1223L-F shielded 1003H-M during despondent episode.
Notation: Multiple bonded observed to react upon predetermined facets of emotions. Proposed mental break of 0044L-F being due to over-stimulation. Empathic reactions likely shared among the bonded to be acted upon.
GUOS—Dividing further testing to specialized facility.
Amendment: Further testing confirms long-formation bonded distributing facets of emotional responses. It has been observed that the more potent the initial exposure of emotion, the more complete the empathic response. Subjects exposed to overwhelming stimulus before bonding completes will single-mindedly seek to act in accordance to their role within the bond structure. All long-formation subjects to be terminated effective immediately.
-
Harrow retched, stepping away for a moment to collect herself. Joseph struggled to keep from putting his fist through another desk, if only because the metal surface in front of him would likely break his hand first.
He got out of his chair to check on the orange-furred female, rubbing her back soothingly as he tried to swallow down his own disgust. She launched herself into him, a quiet weeping into his chest tainted with directionless rage.
“How many did they kill, Joe?” she growled into his chest, her two paws pressing into his abdomen pricking his skin with her claws. “How many of the Hunt Mother’s gifts did they bastardize? How many of those people cried with joy to receive their first bond, only to watch their bond be tortured for someone’s sick curiosity?”
She choked back a sob as he failed to find an answer for her.
“How many killed themselves to be with a bond who was just held captive a building or two away, Joe?”
“I don’t know, Harrow,” he whispered, tenderly embracing his distraught friend in his arms. Her tail wrapped around him, as if seeking something of great importance and crushing it when it was found so as to never lose it.
“What happens if they find out about us? Will they take Jax from me to see how long it takes until it becomes too painful to live? Will they take you?”
His face hardened at the pain in her voice, his grip tightening. “I won’t let them touch us.”
“Please,” she pleaded weakly, “Please don’t let them do that to us.”
“I wont, Harrow.”
They stayed like that for a minute, the orange-furred female eventually patting him for her release. With a weak nod, she gestured back to the terminal, ready to continue. He offered her to leave, but she shook her head, wrapping her tail around his leg and refusing to let it go as he sat down again. He took a breath to prepare himself while ignoring the small comfort Harrow seemed to need so desperately.
-
Subject: 1190L-F
Procedure: Present wounded bond 1005H-F. Observe results.
Results: Subject called for medical aid through their distress, eventually exposing laceration during search for injury. Subject applied saliva over the surface of the wound until bleeding ceased, seeming surprised with the effect. Medical aid supplied when bleeding had been stymied.
Notation: Subject’s saliva contains several clotting factors that are produced when blood is introduced to the oral cavity. Suspected utility in primitive society and diet. Interview reveals such is known, but largely treated as insufficient for more than superficial injuries. Request submitted for expanded scope regarding clotting properties of subject’s saliva.
GUOS—Approved.
Amendment: Injection of fluid resulted in expiration of 1005H-M. 1190L-F terminated. Coagulants within saliva are noted to be potent medical aids to the introduced species, but lethal when exposed within the cardiovascular system directly. Subject’s tongue appears to spread a thin layer over exposed tissues that seals wounds quickly. The effect is not noted within their own species. Suspected resistance to such coagulants. Recommend blacklist classification due to bonding, protectiveness, and medical application of species.
GUOS—Denied.
-
Subject: 0001LD-F
Procedure: Isolation with 1443H-M for 25 repetitions.
Results: Bond established successfully. Platonic relationship.
Notation: Subject appears to have bonded in greater capacity than even the long-formation subjects. Highly recommend expansion of parameters.
GUOS—Accepted.
-
“’D’ for defect?” Harrow asked, her tone wary.
“I’d say,” he confirmed with about as much enthusiasm. “Looks like they built that facility.”
“Says that Pan should have a greater reaction than someone like Sahari.”
“It felt like that,” he admitted with a concerned frown. “Pan feels like she’s in my head most all of the time. Sahari felt like she could only pick out the bigger stuff.”
Harrow nodded. “It was weird that Sahari didn’t pick up on as much as Pan could, but I wasn’t sure what to think of it. She fits what we expect from a bond, so no one thought to really question it.”
“What about the ‘long-formation’ thing? You perked up at that.”
The orange-furred female chewed her cheek. “Is it okay if I don’t say until I’m sure?”
He was about to protest, but the expression she wore gave him pause. “Is it you?”
Her eyes widened. “No, no. Not me.” She fell quiet, words in her native tongue slipping out almost silently. He couldn’t hear it well enough to pick them out, but a forlorn tone prevented him from prodding about it.
“Someone in the pack?”
“Joe,” she insisted lightly, her gaze asking him to drop it for now.
He stared at her with dissatisfaction, but closed his eyes to sigh. It could wait.
A further reading eventually showed each pairing to bond successfully, an apparent lack of ‘subjects’ preventing any group testings of the defects. Harrow leaned over the chair as if being closer to the text would reveal more information.
“All of them?”
He shrugged, as curious as she was. “Says here that they ‘suspect olfactory mutation lends itself to high compatibility with introduced species.’ Think that’s why it doesn’t work with you guys?”
She returned the gesture, her expression suspicious. “It would make sense, at least. Your pheromones exist, even if you don’t do anything with them. We can scent them. It’s the only way I can figure Pan would bond is if the defect skewed to be more reactive to it.”
“But none of the other species?” he asked with a raised brow. Harrow looked at a loss.
“I really can’t say, Joe. As much as I hate them, they look to have been pretty thorough with this.”
A scowl crossed his face as he admitted she was right.
-
Subject: 0013LD-M
Procedure: Mock kidnapping of 1233H-F via third parties. Observe results.
Results: Bond retrieved before 0013LD-M expired due to injuries.
Notation: ‘Defects’ noted to be particularly ruthless when safety of their bond is brought into question. Suggest expansion of parameters to include the non-mutated bonded for comparison.
GUOS—Accepted.
-
Subject 0015LD-F
Procedure: Introduce subject to bonded pair 1133L-M and 0060H-M.
Results: Subject bonded to 0060H-M successfully. Romantic relationship. Subject exhibits preference for 1133L-M’s companionship despite no prior contact. 1133L-M reciprocated amiable status to a lesser extent.
Notation: ‘Defective’ subjects observed to replicate fondness of their bond to those they interact with. It is suspected that the bond accelerates relationships based on preconceived opinions.
Amendment: Extended testing displays correlation between bonded subjects and their preference for company based on their bond’s relationships with said parties. ‘Defective’ subjects appear to mirror the relationship as perceived by their bond as soon as introductions are made, whereas non-mutated subjects acclimate at a lesser pace. Suggest blacklist status proposal to be amended with this information, as it would imply a steadfast cooperation between subjects and introduced species.
GUOS—Amendment made. Blacklist status denied due to control factors present.
-
“Control factors?”
He shrugged, though the glower he directed towards the screen gave away that he had an idea of what they planned on doing to ‘control’ the Lilhuns.
-
Subject: 0039LD-F
Procedure: Isolate bond 1440H-M for 100 repetitions. Provide reason.
Results: Subject followed expected behaviour, though displayed greater anxiety. Effects abated when 1440H-M was returned.
Notation: The ‘defectives’ seem to be less inclined to self-termination in absence of their bond, yet exhibit increased activity in comparison to their non-mutated kin. Request submitted to expand on parameters.
GUOS—Approved.
-
Subject: 0041LD-F
Procedure: Isolate 1343H-F for 100 repetitions. Withhold reason.
Results: Subject grew despondent with mutterings of rejection. Subject self-terminated after 90 repetitions.
Notation: Suggested to repeat experiment with a romantically involved pairing for clarity.
GUOS—Approved.
-
Subject: 0045LD-M
Procedure: Isolate bond 1345H-F for 100 repetitions. Withhold reason.
Results: Subject grew lethargic, often holding objects associated with their bond or staring at the door for long periods of time. 2 staff injured when reintroduction was held due to unintentional obstruction.
Notation: Defective subjects confirmed to resist separation better than their normal counterparts, and feverishly pursue contact as soon as connection to their olfactory is made. Request submitted for expansion of parameters.
GUOS—Approved.
-
Subject: 0050LD-F
Procedure: Modification of olfactory and pheromone secretion to align with non-mutated members of the species.
Results: Olfactory was unable to be modified. Pheromone secretion modification successful.
Notation: Non-mutated members no longer able to distinguish ‘defective’ subject, though report pheromones for anger being the only ones present. Suspected limitation of the modification. Requesting additional procedures.
GUOS—Denied due to scarcity of subjects. Submitting order for subject to be utilized for future tests beyond the scope of current test.
-
Subject: 0050LD-F
Procedure: Isolate bond 1400H-M for 100 repetitions. Report expiration to subject.
Results: Subject became unresponsive, experiencing mental breakdown immediately. Previously observed behaviour with other ‘defective’ subjects under the assumption of an unexplained absence replicated.
Amendment: Staff member failed to adhere to sterilization protocol after delivering sustenance to 1400H-M. 0050LD-F scented their bond and immediately became violent, maiming and breaking several appendages of the staff member until location of their bond was revealed. Upon receiving information—and confirming validity through means unknown—the subject proceeded to terminate 45 security members. Subject terminated due to sustained injuries and disposed.
Amendment II: Subject breached containment facility after feigning termination, eliminating an additional 130 security and equipping their weaponry and armour where such was possible. After using explosives to free 1400H-M from isolation, subject escorted their bond to the hanger. 1400H-M sustained critical injury during the attempt and expired. Subject fled facility and is awaiting capture for further study.
Amendment III: Subject suspected to have hacked into databases and transferred several petabytes of information onto portable storage. Several improvised explosives have caused casualties in the number of {REDACTED} and multiple facilities to collapse. Subject considered Kill-On-Sight.
Amendment IV: Subject released multiple bonded subjects and their bonds, arming those involved and entering combat with security and staff. After the termination of most of their forces, the subject escorted the survivors to the hanger. Defence turrets succeeded in eliminating the craft before it escaped orbit.
Amendment V: Subject escaped via shuttle. Analysis shows stolen information pertains to the home-system of introduced species, as well as several locations of Union anti-planet armament, technologies, and records of the ‘Blacklist’ program. Elimination of subject is priority one.
GUOS—Species blacklisted. System will be eliminated effective immediately.
Amendment VI: Subject contacted and convinced military of impending action. Successfully repelled Union forces. Quarantine using modified ‘warp-spike’ technologies stolen from the subject species and begin lock-down of introduced species to limit contact vectors. Propaganda against introduced species to be distributed through public channels under the guise of regular citizens.
GUOS—Approved. Quarantine active, space contained under guise of preservation of natural planets. Propaganda in effect, introduced species is now heavily limited. No suspicion noted.
Amendment VII: Contact between blacklisted species. Codename ‘Blade’ and Codename ‘Claw’ confirmed to have hailed and interacted between seed-ships. Union freighter reacted and eliminated both from range.
GUOS—Extended search for Codename ‘Blade’ authorized. Updating status from ‘black’ to ‘grey’ to reflect resurgence.
-
“Jesus fucking Christ,” he muttered with a horrified expression. The sound of Harrow vomiting had him almost join her.
Someone escaped the hell that the Union had crafted for them, and instantly warned the military of what was going on. He didn’t know what to think of them taking so much information, but he supposed that would help convince the brass that shit was going sideways under their noses.
The part that made his heart sink was the—admittedly, likely Atmo—ship being taken out along with whatever craft the Lilhuns had to meet them. That brought his best estimates for the surviving Atmo ships down to six, and even that single number in difference made his stomach drop. Worse, they had thought the Atmo were gone, and he didn’t know if he was upset that the Union were tipped off by the Lilhuns, or felt pity for the animal-like species actually trusting another set of aliens enough to hail them instead of opening fire on the first thing they saw, only to be taken out while they were busy making friends.
Based on how the Lilhuns here tended to treat the Atmo at first, it never made it past that initial interaction between the two species, because no one had heard of them. There was no escape pod bringing back news for the rest to propagate.
Then there was an apparent shunning of Humans pushed by the Union, probably because—as Sil suggested—they were too wide-spread and well-liked to openly ‘blacklist.’ It explained the lack of Joseph’s kind pretty much anywhere that they weren’t already occupying, as well as the cold demeanour he faced when interacting with species aboard the cruise. Who knew what the Union was saying about them while pretending to be average people?
His only respite was that Rob likely had the information now. He trusted the Earth-born martian to handle people better than he did. Sure, Joseph could suss out what people were good at and keep a finger to the pulse of a group, but Rob dealt with more legalese and back-doors than the younger of the two cared to think about.
Joseph had his hands full dealing with the steady trickle of his pack. Robert owned entire companies.
Sahari might be bonded to Nalah—or should be, considering how it seemed to work. Nalah might be bonded to him and just wasn’t aware. Harrow implied that someone else might be bonded to him, but he couldn’t say who it was. Tel was the obvious choice—everyone else either bonded or the damaged olfactory that was Jax—but it could be someone who had spent considerable time around him. Mi’low or the girls fit the description.
Pan somehow was more bonded than the rest of them, and whoever the late bloomer was would be near enough in intensity, apparently.
It was a lot to take in when there was a more localized issue sitting near the Hall. Hopefully, Pan was getting the Atmo treatment and Raine was getting the traders on the move.
There was the chance of a full-blown conflict brewing too, but that was somehow less important to him than finding out just how torturous the testing methodology was before he stopped reading for now.
Even if he didn’t know how long a repetition was, it had to have taken literal years for them to do some of the experiments. That wasn’t even considering how many people from both species were subjected to them.
A morbid eye scanned some of the benign text near the beginning of the document that detailed the more mundane confines of the experiment, plenty of jargon involving non-disclosure agreements and choosing people based on factors like how few people would notice their absence for the duration.
Participants volunteered under guise of employment.
People signed up for work by the thousand just to be tied to a chair and watch their loved one be tortured to death while their throats bled from the screaming to make it stop. They were told their partners died, just to see how long it would take for some chemical cocktail in their brain to make death preferable to breathing without their other around.
Harrow left the room in a hurry. She looked terrible, her eyes growing puffy from tears and her pupils matching the fear her ears displayed. She was probably off to bury herself in Jax to make herself feel better, not that he blamed her. He wanted to cuddle up with Tel and Pan while Violet scurried about bothering the more friendly wildlife again.
He just wanted to feel like things were okay, instead of boiling over in slow motion.
Harrow was asking the right questions. How many people died for this? How many families never got their loved ones back? How many people got a bond they thought they’d never have, just to have it ripped away?
How many Lilhuns the same as Pan wept like children to be bonded at all after a lifetime of discrimination for never being able?
There were too many questions that he was too disgusted to dig through the reports for. Right now, he needed to ensure the Atmo were cared for.
He climbed out of his chair, fighting back the bile. A lingering glance to the open document steeled his resolve.
He would protect his pack. No matter what.
Next

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The flat is located in a prime area of Kozhikode, with easy access to all the major landmarks and amenities. The building is just a few minutes' walk from the main road, so you can easily catch a bus or a taxi. There are also plenty of shops, restaurants, and cafes in the area, so you can enjoy a vibrant social life.

Value for Money

The best thing about 2 BHK Flat For Sale in Kozhikode is that it offers great value for money. The flat is priced competitively, and you get a lot of amenities and a great location for your money. Plus, since the flat is ready to move in, you don't have to worry about any additional expenses or delays.
Overall, this 2 BHK Flat For Sale in Kozhikode is a great choice for those who want a comfortable and convenient living space in a prime location. Don't miss out on this opportunity to own your dream home.

4 BHK Flats For Sale in Calicut

Looking for a spacious and luxurious ready to occupy flat in Calicut? Look no further than 4 BHK Flats For Sale in Calicut. These apartments offer ample space for families or those who love to entertain guests.

Features

The 4 BHK flats come with a variety of features to make your life comfortable and convenient. Some of these features include:

• Spacious bedrooms with attached bathrooms
• Large living and dining areas
• Modern kitchens with top-of-the-line appliances
• Balconies with stunning views
• Ample storage space
• 24/7 security and CCTV surveillance

Location

The ready to occupy 4 BHK flats are located in some of the most sought-after areas of Calicut. These areas are well-connected to the city's major landmarks and offer easy access to schools, hospitals, shopping centers, and more.

Quality Construction

We pride ourselves on using only the highest quality materials in the construction of our flats. Our 4 BHK flats are built to withstand the test of time, ensuring that you and your family can enjoy your new home for years to come.

Affordable Pricing

Despite the luxurious features and prime location, The 4 BHK flats are priced affordably. We believe that everyone should be able to enjoy the comfort and convenience of a well-designed home.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to own one of the ready to occupy 4 BHK flats in Calicut. Contact us today to schedule a visit and experience the luxury for yourself.

Buy Ready to Occupy Flats in Calicut with Pentium Constructions

If you're looking for a hassle-free move-in experience, consider buying a ready to occupy flat in Calicut with Pentium Constructions. With a variety of options to choose from, you are sure to find the perfect flat that meets all your needs.
Here are some reasons why you should consider buying a ready to occupy flat with Pentium Constructions:

No Waiting Period

One of the biggest advantages of buying a ready to occupy flat is that you can move in immediately. There is no waiting period, and you don't have to worry about construction delays. This is especially beneficial if you are relocating to Calicut for work or other reasons and need a place to live right away.

Fully Furnished

Another benefit of buying a ready to occupy flat is that it is fully furnished. This means that you don't have to worry about buying furniture or appliances separately. Everything is already in place, so all you have to do is move in. This can save you a lot of time and money.

Quality Construction

Pentium Constructions is known for its quality construction. All their ready to occupy flats are built to the highest standards, using the best materials and latest construction techniques. This means that you can be sure that your flat is not only beautiful but also safe and secure.

Great Locations

Pentium Constructions has ready to occupy flats in some of the best locations in Calicut. Whether you want to be close to the city center or prefer a quieter, more residential area, there is a flat for you. Plus, all their flats are well connected to public transportation, making it easy to get around.
Overall, buying a ready to occupy flat with Pentium Constructions is a great choice if you want a stress-free move-in experience. With quality construction, great locations, and fully furnished flats, you can start enjoying your new home right away.

Conclusion

In conclusion, finding the perfect ready-to-occupy flat in Calicut can be a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be. With the right research and guidance, you can easily find the ideal home for you and your family. Whether you're looking for a spacious apartment or a cozy studio, there are plenty of options available in Calicut.
By choosing a ready-to-occupy flat, you can move in immediately and start enjoying your new space without the hassle of construction delays or unfinished work. Plus, with many flats offering modern amenities and facilities, you can live in comfort and convenience.
So, if you're ready to start your search for the best ready-to-occupy flats in Calicut, take the first step today and explore your options. With a little bit of effort, you can find your dream home and start living the life you deserve.

What's on your mind, Charlotte?
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Charlotte on the Cheap: Daily Events
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Good afternoon. Brief listing of CAREER JOBS pulled from usps.com/careers/ for your convenience. Tell HR User_3971 sent you, let's see if they pay more than .25¢ per head. NOTE: Maintenance jobs are drying up - the In Service Register may finally be seeing results for our already career people.
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Some jobs may be part-time regular however all listed jobs should qualify for federal benefits from day one. To save text I have only listed the location and date of posting for each. Use the posting number for your search term. LC and MM are entry-level Maintenance. Here is a Maint overview and here is Exam 955 info. You can DO it!
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NOTE: USPS NEVER charges a fee for entrance exams. If payment is requested during the application process, walk the fuck away, go to usps.com/careers/ and APPLY THERE. We even has a video walkthrough prepared.
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Laborer Custodial:
MOUNT IDA AR NC11361986 05/20/2023
MADISON WI NC11362475 05/20/2023
JERSEY CITY NJ NC11359640 05/20/2023
ENGLAND AR NC11361592 05/20/2023
FALMOUTH KY NC11362115 05/20/2023
KEARNY NJ NC11362389 05/20/2023
HYANNIS MA NC11362820 05/20/2023
NORTH ADAMS MA NC11363342 05/20/2023
SAINT PETERS MO NC11363346 05/20/2023
CATHEDRAL CITY CA NC11356186 05/13/2023
CHESTERFIELD MO NC11362819 05/20/2023
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Maintenance Mechanic:
SCARBOROUGH ME NC11356424 05/20/2023
PONTIAC MI NC11358962 05/18/2023
EAGAN MN NC11357944 05/17/2023
CAROL STREAM IL NC11361583 05/20/2023
SHREWSBURY MA NC11362170 05/20/2023
MEMPHIS TN NC11353368 05/12/2023
MELVILLE NY NC11362824 05/20/2023
SEATTLE WA NC11361100 05/20/2023
MILWAUKEE WI NC11344743 05/16/2023
CHICAGO IL NC11362119 05/20/2023
SAN JOSE CA NC11361494 05/20/2023
PENSACOLA FL NC11358988 05/20/2023
MEMPHIS TN NC11353630 05/12/2023
KEARNY NJ NC11362476 05/20/2023
JERSEY CITY NJ NC11363340 05/20/2023
HARRISBURG PA NC11361154 05/20/2023
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Special! Interesting Maintenance Jobs: (may be skills required)
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Maintenance Mechanic MPE:
WAITE PARK MN NC11358051 05/17/2023
JACKSONVILLE FL NC11362822 05/20/2023
NORTH READING MA NC11358713 05/20/2023
KEARNY NJ NC11362199 05/20/2023
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Building Equipment Mechanic:
NORTH READING MA NC11358960 05/20/2023
SHREWSBURY MA NC11362197 05/20/2023
BEAUMONT TX NC11357661 05/20/2023
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General Clerk VMF:
INDIANAPOLIS IN NC11353401 05/12/2023
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Garage Assistant:
STERLING VA NC11356189 05/13/2023
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Electronic Technician:
DETROIT MI NC11358998 05/19/2023
FOREST PARK IL NC11363345 05/20/2023
GRAND RAPIDS MI NC11358996 05/20/2023
MILWAUKEE WI NC11344856 05/16/2023
SAINT LOUIS MO NC11362196 05/20/2023
KINGSFORD MI NC11359632 05/20/2023
PENSACOLA FL NC11358718 05/20/2023
BETHPAGE NY NC11358714 Pricing 05/20/2023
MANKATO MN NC11361950 05/20/2023
BEAUMONT TX NC11357928 05/20/2023
CHICAGO IL NC11362167 05/20/2023
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NON-Maintenance jerbs:
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SALES,SVCS/DISTRIBUTION ASSOC:
PINE VALLEY CA NC11359493 05/18/2023
LINDEN TN NC11359072 05/18/2023
PENNSBORO WV NC11363443 05/22/2023
LANAI CITY HI NC11363428 05/20/2023
GROVE CITY PA NC11360798 05/19/2023
QUITMAN TX NC11362823 05/20/2023
MISSION SD NC11362165 05/20/2023
MEEKER CO NC11363439 05/20/2023
GLENROCK WY NC11363438 05/20/2023
DAYTON TX NC11362387 05/22/2023
SANDY HOOK KY NC11363444 05/22/2023
ROSS CA NC11358708 05/18/2023
LISBON IA NC11360897 05/19/2023
EAGLE CO NC11363436 05/20/2023
DE LEON TX NC11362821 05/20/2023
CHENOA IL NC11361153 05/19/2023
CANAAN NH NC11360479 05/19/2023
BUNA TX NC11362381 05/22/2023
PRESIDIO TX NC11360896 05/19/2023
PALACIOS TX NC11362377 05/22/2023
OROVILLE WA NC11359994 05/19/2023
HOLBROOK AZ NC11363316 05/21/2023
ROCKSPRINGS TX NC11361161 05/19/2023
BERRYVILLE AR NC11360673 05/19/2023
MARSHALL AR NC11360674 05/19/2023
EUREKA SD NC11363853 05/21/2023
BUFFALO SD NC11362198 05/20/2023
BANDON OR NC11355089 05/13/2023
WHITE OAK TX NC11360468 05/19/2023
WEBBERVILLE MI NC11360764 05/19/2023
SANBORN IA NC11362116 05/20/2023
OMAHA TX NC11358964 05/18/2023
GIRARD PA NC11359215 05/18/2023
GEORGETOWN IN NC11362326 05/20/2023
FULTON MD NC11359637 05/22/2023
ELIZABETHTOWN IN NC11362112 05/20/2023
BATH MI NC11360766 05/19/2023
SANDY LAKE PA NC11359221 05/18/2023
AVON CO NC11361589 05/20/2023
PERRY FL NC11359209 05/19/2023
HAVANA FL NC11359205 05/19/2023
CORONA DEL MAR CA NC11363425 05/20/2023
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City Carrier:
BELMONT CA NC11357266 05/18/2023
BRIGHTON CO NC11361488 05/19/2023
CHESWICK PA NC11361815 05/20/2023
DAMASCUS MD NC11361983 05/21/2023
DELMAR NY NC11362482 05/20/2023
DOVER NH NC11359601 05/18/2023
DULUTH MN NC11362478 05/20/2023
GLENSHAW PA NC11361824 05/20/2023
LYNNWOOD WA NC11357263 05/23/2023
MANCHESTER NH NC11359602 05/18/2023
MILL VALLEY CA NC11358979 05/18/2023
MILLBRAE CA NC11358187 05/18/2023
PACIFICA CA NC11358190 05/18/2023
PITTSBURGH PA NC11358995 05/23/2023
READING PA NC11358987 05/18/2023
SAN BRUNO CA NC11358196 05/18/2023
SAN CARLOS CA NC11358123 05/18/2023
SAN JOSE CA NC11358999 05/23/2023
SAN RAFAEL CA NC11358978 05/18/2023
SANTA CLARA CA NC11358983 05/19/2023
SCARBOROUGH ME NC11357659 05/17/2023
SUNNYVALE CA NC11358982 05/19/2023
WEST CHESTER PA NC11357658 05/18/2023
WHEAT RIDGE CO NC11358977 05/17/2023
REDWOOD CITY CA NC11358063 05/18/2023
RICHMOND CA NC11357935 05/17/2023
SAN LEANDRO CA NC11348687 05/18/2023
VALLEJO CA NC11348691 05/18/2023
WALTHAM MA NC11358974 05/23/2023
EAST PALO ALTO CA NC11358956 05/19/2023
INDIANAPOLIS IN NC11358972 05/23/2023
MALVERN PA NC11358961 05/18/2023
COHOES NY NC11359123 05/23/2023
ELLSWORTH ME NC11362174 05/20/2023
HANOVER PARK IL NC11363440 05/22/2023
JAMAICA PLAIN MA NC11359052 05/23/2023
LAKE FOREST IL NC11348603 05/14/2023
LITTLETON CO NC11359490 05/23/2023
MANCHESTER MA NC11363448 05/22/2023
MILPITAS CA NC11358711 05/19/2023
MONROE NY NC11362814 05/20/2023
NASHUA NH NC11359579 05/18/2023
NORTHGLENN CO NC11359480 05/23/2023
SAINT PAUL MN NC11359054 05/23/2023
SAN ANSELMO CA NC11358707 05/18/2023
ALLENTOWN PA NC11358846 05/18/2023
ARVADA CO NC11358950 05/22/2023
BELVEDERE TIBURON CA NC11358952 05/18/2023
BURLINGAME CA NC11357413 05/18/2023
CHELSEA MA NC11358973 05/23/2023
CORTE MADERA CA NC11358953 05/18/2023
HALF MOON BAY CA NC11358054 05/18/2023
HARRISBURG PA NC11361584 05/20/2023
LAKEWOOD CO NC11359456 05/23/2023
LOS GATOS CA NC11358712 05/19/2023
LOWELL MA NC11363449 05/22/2023
MALDEN MA NC11358970 05/23/2023
MENLO PARK CA NC11358061 05/18/2023
MOUNTAIN VIEW CA NC11358958 05/19/2023
NEWTOWN CT NC11362124 05/20/2023
RICHMOND CA NC11348685 05/18/2023
SAN FRANCISCO CA NC11359069 05/23/2023
SAN MATEO CA NC11358847 05/18/2023
SANTA CRUZ CA NC11358959 05/19/2023
SARATOGA CA NC11358957 05/19/2023
SARATOGA SPRINGS NY NC11361579 05/20/2023
SAUSALITO CA NC11358954 05/18/2023
WALNUT CREEK CA NC11348693 05/18/2023
WATERLOO IA NC11351878 05/19/2023
SOUTH SEATTLE WA NC11359497 05/23/2023
CENTRAL SEATTLE WA NC11359420 05/23/2023
NORTH SEATTLE WA NC11359423 05/23/2023
KANSAS CITY MO NC11359206 05/23/2023
PORTLAND ME NC11357785 05/17/2023
ZELIENOPLE PA NC11361581 05/20/2023
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Rural Carrier:
LEHI UT NC11361155 05/19/2023
CHANHASSEN MN NC11364665 05/21/2023
CARBONDALE CO NC11365067 05/22/2023
LEBANON PA NC11363445 05/21/2023
STARBUCK MN NC11364738 05/22/2023
SNOHOMISH WA NC11358121 05/23/2023
ROSEAU MN NC11364741 05/22/2023
ROCHESTER MN NC11364740 05/22/2023
MAPLE VALLEY WA NC11359402 05/22/2023
BATTLE LAKE MN NC11364743 05/22/2023
WAITSFIELD VT NC11363116 05/20/2023
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Motor Vehicle Operator:
PORTLAND OR P&DC NC11363113 05/20/2023
SEATTLE WA P&DC NC11363112 05/20/2023
MORGAN NY P&DC NC11363109 05/20/2023
OAKLAND CA P&DC NC11363114 05/20/2023
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Tractor Trailer Operator:
DETROIT MI P&DC NC11363110 05/20/2023
INDUSTRY CA P&DC NC11367575 05/23/2023
SOUTHERN CT P&DC NC11365540 05/22/2023
SEATTLE WA P&DC NC11363403 05/20/2023
INDIANAPOLIS IN P&DC NC11363414 05/20/2023
SAN FRANCISCO CA P&DC NC11363402 05/20/2023
CENTRAL MA P&DC NC11363406 05/20/2023
DENVER CO P&DC NC11363405 05/20/2023
DVD BLDG NJ P&DC NC11363411 05/20/2023
MORGAN NY P&DC NC11363412 05/20/2023
OAKLAND CA P&DC NC11363348 05/20/2023
PORTLAND OR P&DC NC11363400 05/20/2023
SAN FRANCISCO NDC NC11363401 05/20/2023
SOUTHERN ME P&DC NC11363408 05/20/2023
SPRINGFIELD NDC NC11363409 05/20/2023
SYRACUSE NY P&DC NC11363410 05/20/2023
TACOMA WA P&DC NC11363404 05/20/2023
EVANSVILLE IN P&DC NC11363413 05/20/2023
NORTH READING P&DC NC11363407 05/20/2023
CHARLESTON SC P&DC NC11365607 05/22/2023
SAINT PAUL MN P&DC NC11363115 05/20/2023
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No experience necessary for the laborer custodial or maintenance mechanic positions. It helps on the interview but you can surely think of maintenance related experience to relay for an interview. Based on fixing things around your house, the car etc. Always mention working safely.
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Pro tip: You can apply for any job that has an exam opening and the test is administered local to yourself. Make sure you're serious and score decently; you can turn down the job offer. Keep a physical copy of your exam score, I believe they are good for two years.
The reason is: These job postings can be posted externally at capacity for testing, meaning they will not allow you to take the exam if they have enough qualified applicants. However, if you have a test score on the books, you are a qualified applicant.
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Explanation of MVO/TTO to save time:
MVO= CDL B Can only drive box trucks on public roads, can drive anything for moves on postal property.
TTO= CDL A Can drive anything.
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USPS provides the training. (Maintenance jobs at least. TTO and management...GOOD LUCK)
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You don't have to be crazy to work here. We'll train you. Everything but proper email usage.

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING

The video replay of this meeting was removed or not uploaded to YouTube. Council reviewed the City Charter.

REGULAR MEETING

INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

The invocation was lead by Fr. Frank Brown from St. Brendan's Catholic Church. The pledge of allegiance was lead by Vice President Vermillion.

COMMISSION AND BOARD REPORTS

• Board of Zoning Appeals (Hale): Hearing from Resolute Lacrosse this meeting
• Destination Hilliard (Vermillion): No report
• Environmental Sustainability (Marsh): No report
• MORPC (City Manager Crandall): No report
• Planning and Zoning (Hale): 3637 Lacon Road property will be discussed tonight
• Public Arts (Tarazi): No report
• Recreation and Parks (Carrier): No report
• Shade Tree Commission (Teater): Councilman Teater absent
• Aging in Place Committee (Cottone): Focus groups met last week

PROCLAMATION

Pride Month

• Vermillion read a proclamation recognizing LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June. Accepting the proclamation was Rev. Jon Osmundson (5061 Mengel Lane), associate pastor at Hilliard United Methodist Church. Vermillion noted that Hilliard will be celebrating its 3rd annual Pride event on June 10th at Hilliard Station Park.

CONSENT AGENDA

Vermillion moved to adopt the following consent agenda items by voice vote without additional discussion. Seconded by Councilman Carrier. The ayes prevailed.
TRFO Liquor License

• Summary: This would permit the sale of beer, wine, and mixed beverages at 4144 Main Street.
• Background: This is a transfer of ownership of the gas station / convenience store at 4144 Main Street from JSK Food Mart LLC to DNJ Petro & Food.
• Status: Passed by voice vote.

Resolution 23-R-35: APPROVING RE-APPOINTMENTS TO THE CITY'S AGE-IN-PLACE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

• Summary: This Resolution approves re-appointments of Paula Santry and Brian Meginnisto the City's Age-in-Place Advisory Committee (APAC). Additionally, this would appoint Jan Dickerson to the vacant spot on the APAC for a new two-year term.
• Background: Council created the APAC in April 2022, which consists of 9 resident members serving two-year terms, however, to ensure overlapping terms, initial appointments included three year appointments, two-year appointments, and one-year appointments. All terms after the initial appointments are for two years.
• Status: Passed by voice vote.

Resolution 23-R-36: REAPPOINTING MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE HICKORY CHASE NEW COMMUNITY AUTHORITY

• Summary: This Resolution would reappoint 3 citizen members (Brian Wilson, Aristotle Hutras, and Catherine Cunningham) and 1 local government representative (David Meadows) to the Board of Trustees for the Hickory Chase Community Authority ("Hickory Chase NCA").
• Background: Due to changes in Ohio law, the Hickory Chase developers submitted a petition to the City to amend the Hickory Chase NCA to provide that Hilliard City Council would become the organizational board of commissioners and would be tasked with appointing certain members to the Hickory Chase NCA. City Council passed a resolution in 2015 approving a method for selecting its appointees to the board of trustees of the Hickory Chase NCA.
• Status: Passed by voice vote.

Resolution 23-R-37: ACCEPTING UTILITY EASEMENTS AND SANITARY SEWER PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE UPPER VIEW FLATS APARTMENTS

• Summary: This resolution is for the granting and acceptance of a utility easement for a public sanitary sewer serving the Upper Vue Flats apartments, and for the acceptance of the public sanitary sewer improvements constructed with this development. The construction cost of these completed public improvements is approximately $237,600.
• Background: Edward Rose Properties is constructing Upper Vue Flats, an apartment development of a maximum of 470 units. They have constructed approximately 3,622 feet of sanitary sewer to serve its development, and the owner has submitted a legal description for a 25 feet wide easement over the sanitary sewer.
• Status: Passed by voice vote.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

• Trish Barker (address not given): Thanked council for the Pride month proclamation and noted that today was Harvey Milk Day. Offered stickers to the city to put on buildings.
  
• Rev. Jon Osmundson (5061 Mengel Lane): Thanked council on behalf of his family for passing non-discrimination legislation in 2021 for LGBTQ+ people.
  
• Deborah Mitchell (5785 Heritage Lakes Drive): She is one of three members of a sub-committee of Heritage Lakes HOA. She mentioned that she and her neighbors are excited about the new Recreation and Wellness Center being constructed, and encouraged the planned construction of mixed-use paths through Heritage Lakes to connect to the Wellness Campus. She expressed concerns about potential street parking along Heritage Lakes Drive when the path and campus are built.
  

ORDINANCES

Ordinance 23-07: AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO A DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT WITH ADVANCED DRAINAGE SYSTEMS, INC; AUTHORIZING THE FINANCE DIRECTOR TO TRANSFER FUNDS; AND AUTHORIZING THE APPROPRIATION AND EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS

• Summary: This will allow the city manager to enter into an agreement with Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc for reimbursement of costs for the construction of a new roadway between Britton Parkway and Lyman Drive. It authorizes the City to appropriate funds not to exceed $2,236,623.29. This project is part of an expansion of Advanced Drainage in the City that will retain 322 employees and create 170 new jobs representing $108.7 million in annual payroll.
• Background: Advanced Drainage purchased over 17 acres at this site to construct an Engineering and Technology Center. The City determined that they could complete the construction of the public roadway more expeditiously than advancing it as part of the capital improvement project process. By Resolution No. 22-R-73, adopted on September 12, 2022, the City Manager was authorized to apply for and subsequently was awarded $400,000 in grant assistance from the Ohio Department of Development and $200,000 from the Ohio Department of Transportation.
• Votes: Six in favor (Tarazi, Vermillion, Marsh, Hale, Cottone, Carrier), none against, one absent (Teater).
• Status: Passed 6-0

Ordinance 23-08: AUTHORIZING THE FINANCE DIRECTOR TO TRANSFER FUNDS; AND THE APPROPRIATION AND EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS

• Summary: Approval of this legislation will allow the Division of Police to purchase a vehicle to replace an unmarked vehicle that was totaled in a crash. Cash will be transferred from the General Fund to the Capital Fund.
• Background: One of the Division's unmarked vehicles was involved in a crash and was determined to be a total loss by the City's insurance provider. As a result, the City received insurance proceeds ($44,278.25) for the loss of the vehicle. The purchased vehicle will be used by detectives to aid with investigations.
• Votes: Motion to adopt by Vermillion, seconded by Cottone.
• Status: This was a first reading. A second reading and voting will occur during the city council meeting on June 12th.

Ordinance 23-09: AMENDING THE AUTHORIZATION OF THE EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS FOR THE CLOVER GROFF RUN STREAM RESTORATION, PHASE 2, CIP ST-38

• Summary: This legislation would appropriate an additional $443,500.00 for the Clover Groff Run Stream Restoration, Phase 2 Project (CIP ST-38) that will restore a portion of the Clover Groff Run on the City’s Roger A. Reynolds and Wellness Campus properties south of Scioto Darby Road. The additional $443,500, and possibly more, will be reimbursed to the City through a Clean Ohio Green Space Conservation Program grant (“Clean Ohio Grant”) administered by the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC).
• Background: In April 2023, Council approved Resolution 23-R-26 authorizing an amount not to exceed $1,454,500 for the construction of this project. The City’s intent was to pay its portion of each contractor invoice with the funds budgeted in the Capital Improvement Budget, with OPWC reimbursing the remainder of each contractor invoice directly with the Clean Ohio Grant funds. However, the State Auditors require the entire amount of the project to be appropriated with local funds, with the Clean Ohio Grant reimbursing the City for the grant’s portion of the project funds.
• Votes: Motion to adopt by Vermillion, seconded by someone.
• Status: This was a first reading. A second reading and voting will occur during the city council meeting on June 12th.

RESOLUTIONS

Resolution 23-R-38: APPOINTING A MEMBER TO THE CITY'S PERSONNEL REVIEW BOARD

• Summary: This would appoint Angela Harris to the vacant seat on the Hilliard Personnel Review Board.
• Background: There is one vacancy on the Board and it was posted and interested candidates applied. All interested candidates were contacted. Angela has over ten years of experience in public sector Human Resources. She also has a Professional In Human Resources Certification.
• Votes: Motion to adopt by Hale, seconded by Cottone. Six in favor (Hale, Cottone, Vermillion, Carrier, Tarazi, Marsh), none against, one absent (Teater).
• Status: Passed 6-0

Resolution 23-R-39: AUTHORIZING THE ACCEPTANCE AND SUBSEQUENT RECONVEYANCE OF A PARCEL OWNED BY TRUEMAN BOULEVARD LLC AND A PARCEL OWNED BY RRIHQ LLC BY QUIT CLAIM DEED

• Summary: Approval of this legislation allows the City to accept the deed for the TruePointe property and subsequent reconveyance of the property back to Equity. Ohio law requires that the City be named in the chain of title to accommodate the planned Tax Increment Financing at the site of the new development. This would convey the properties to the city (for about one day), and the re-convey them back to Equity, LLC.
• Background: Equity, LLC (the Developer) has proposed the construction of TruePointe, a mixed-use development that will include approximately 115,000 square feet of class A office space, 135,000 square feet of medical office, 40,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, a 100-bed hotel, and 360 dwelling units with an investment exceeding $250 million. The City and the Developer expect to enter into a Development Agreement for the Project. The redevelopment of the Property by the construction of TruePointe requires approximately $55 million in total public infrastructure and structured parking costs. In order to reimburse the Developer for the Improvements, the City desires to declare that the Improvements are a public purpose under Ohio law, which permits the City to use Tax Increment Financing ("TIF") as a vehicle from which to collect service payments in lieu of taxes on the Property.
• Votes: Motion to adopt by Vermillion, seconded by Cottone. Six in favor (Vermillion, Cottone, Carrier, Marsh, Tarazi, Hale), none against, one absent (Teater).
• Status: Passed 6-0

Resolution 23-R-40: AUTHORIZING THE CONDITIONAL USE FOR ATHLETIC FIELDS AT 6287 COSGRAY ROAD WITHIN THE HILLIARD RECREATION & WELLNESS CENTER PUD

• Summary: The proposal is for the approval of a Conditional Use request for the Hilliard Recreation & Wellness Campus at 6872 Cosgray Road to allow athletic fields on the 79-acre public project.
• Background: The Planning and Zoning Commission voted to approve (5-0) the conditional request to allow athletic fields on the 79-acre site.
• Votes: Motion to adopt by Carrier, seconded by Hale. Six in favor (Carrier, Hale, Marsh, Cottone, Vermillion, Tarazi), none against, one absent (Teater).
• Status: Passed 6-0

Resolution 23-R-41: AUTHORIZING THE CONDITIONAL USE FOR BUILDING MATERIAL AND LUMBER SUPPLY AND OUTDOOR STORAGE ACCESSORY TO A PERMITTED USE EXCEEDING TEN PERCENT OF THE TOTAL AREA OF THE LOT OR PARCEL AT 3637 LACON ROAD WITHIN THE M-1, RESTRICTED INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT

• Summary: The proposal is for the approval of a Conditional Use request for 3637 Lacon Road to allow “Building Material and Lumber Supply” and “Outdoor Storage Accessory to a Permitted Use Exceeding 10% of the Total Area of the Lot or Parcel” for the construction of a construction supply company within the M-1 Restricted Industrial District.
• Background: The Planning and Zoning Commission voted to approve (5-0) the conditional request to allow a construction supply company with outdoor storage. The proposed improvements would address property maintenance issues, demolish the building at 4510 Edgewyn Avenue and associated building connectors, enclose the service yard with screened fencing and implement significant landscape buffers along adjacent residential properties on Edgewyn Avenue. Public input included concern for traffic levels and child safety at Beacon Elementary. The proposed use is expected to have traffic levels commensurate with or lower than previous uses at the industrial-zoned property.
• Votes: Motion to adopt by Hale, seconded by Vermillion. Six in favor (Hale, Vermillion, Tarazi, Carrier, Marsh, Cottone), none against, one absent (Teater).
• Status: Passed 6-0

Resolution 23-R-42: AUTHORIZING THE CONDITIONAL USE FOR INDOOR COMMERCIAL RECREATION AT 4000 PARKWAY LANE WITHIN THE B-4, I-270 CORRIDOR DISTRICT

• Summary: The proposal is for the approval of a Conditional Use request for 4000 Parkway Lane to allow “Indoor Commercial Recreation” to permit specialized/personalized athletic training in the warehouse space of the former Sports Imports building.
• Background: The Planning and Zoning Commission voted to approve (5-0) the conditional request to allow approximately 8,319 square feet of the former warehouse for use as a small-group personalized training area for sports participants, focusing on lacrosse and soccer. No sporting events/matches are permitted in the facility as part of the conditional use. The remainder of the building will be used for administrative office space, retail and storage associated with the sports league, which holds leagues and matches at its Easton location. The applicant has indicated that session sizes will include a maximum of 15 students for weight/speed training and 15 students within the training field area. The sessions will include an expected maximum of 7 staff/trainers.
• Votes: Motion to adopt by Hale, seconded by Vermillion. Six in favor (Hale, Vermillion, Marsh, Cottone, Tarazi, Carrier), none against, one absent (Teater).
• Status: Passed 6-0

PRESIDENT'S COMMUNICATION

• City offices will be closed May 29th in observance of Memorial Day.

ITEMS FOR COUNCIL DISCUSSION

• Vermillion noticed that the intersection at Cosgray and Woodsview will be closed starting June 5th for the consruction of the roundabout. She asked about traffic diverting to Hoffman Farms Drive and whether anything would be done to reduce speeds along this road. City Manager Crandall said she would look into it.
  
• Councilman Carrier moved to place the City Charter language produced by Tarazi and reviewed during the Committee of the Whole meeting up for a first reading during the next regular meeting on June 12th. The new City Charter language would change the City Law Director position from an appointed job serving at the pleasure of City Council to one that is elected by the residents. Seconded by Tarazi. Charter rules do not require a vote to have a vote, so the change will be drafted by staff and presented to council next meeting.
  
• President Tarazi raised a point of information to ask who the official parliamentarian of the body is - Law Director Hartman or Clerk Werbrich? Hartman answered that in his experience, it's usually a team effort and that Robert's Rules of Order become a little cumbersome in a seven-member body so those rules aren't always followed strictly. The question was raised because Clerk Werbrich is interested in becoming a certified parliamentarian, and Tarazi wanted council to offer support for that endeavour.
  

OTHER NOTES AND COMMENTS

Carrier moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Cottone. Motion passed by voice vote.
The next regular City Council meeting will take place on June 12th.
Last but not least, check out this eye roll from Councilman Marsh as Carrier says something to him as he leaves.