When Alex's words about Jessica's cousin named Pete were spoken, no one understood why he had mentioned him at exactly that moment and in that context. The first thought that came to everyone's mind was that Alex was simply angry at Pete for buying a forest cabin in such a remote place. Jessica, standing behind Alex next to Samantha and Emily, couldn't understand why he was showing her Pete's file.
At that moment, many questions were swirling on the tip of her tongue that she couldn't voice. But inside her, an unpleasant feeling was growing that she couldn't explain. Samantha looked at her friend with a sympathetic gaze. After all, Alex had just confirmed exactly what she had thought first when he showed Pete's file.
Samantha simply didn't know how to properly say that Pete's actions had been intentional, and that his original goal was for all of them to come here. Emily, standing next to Jessica, leaned closer to read Pete's file and understand the reason behind Alex's actions. But all she saw was that Jessica's cousin worked for the Murkoff Corporation.
"Alex, can you explain what this means? Why are you showing me Pete's file?" Jessica asked, starting to frown the more she looked at her cousin's photo.
"Do you really want to know, Jess?" Alex asked for clarification, looking at Jessica with a calm gaze while lighting a cigarette.
Jessica froze in place after hearing Alex's question, and the unpleasant feeling inside her only grew stronger. Even the guys standing off to the side couldn't resist asking what was happening and why the conversation was heading in this direction. The ones this conversation bypassed were Tucker and Dale, who were sitting aside, trying to recover from all the tension they had faced.
After all, four people had died right before their eyes, and the truth had come out that these dead people belonged to a group of cultists who believed in the Apocalypse. Tucker poured himself a glass of whiskey and downed it in one gulp. After drinking the first glass, he immediately poured a second.
Dale, meanwhile, was busy anxiously watching Hannah, next to whom Ashley was treating the minor wounds on her body, including changing the bandage on her head. Among her friends, Hannah began to feel safe, and therefore stopped worrying. But she was also interested in the conversation taking place among the rest of the group.
"Alex, what did Pete do? Just tell us. The current situation can't be worse than last time," Chris said, standing behind the girls with his arms crossed over his chest and leaning on a chair.
"To put it simply, Jessica's cousin sold all of you out," Alex said calmly, pointing at the tablet screen with his smoldering cigarette.
"What do you mean he sold us out? Like into slavery?" Matt asked, looking around in confusion.
"Something like that. His profession is network security employee… Essentially, that's a veiled title for an observation and monitoring employee for experiments," Alex said, flicking the ash from his cigarette into the ashtray.
"Experiment? What experiment? Are you saying Pete sold us out for some stupid experiment? You must be joking," Emily began asking questions, trying to understand the reasons behind Alex's words.
Alex sighed upon hearing all these questions and turned back to the tablet. Starting to type quickly, he gained access to the cameras. After gaining access to the cameras, Alex realized why he had been haunted by the feeling that they were being watched. But all this time he had simply ignored that feeling, until the fanatics from the "Covenant of the New Ezekiel" cult appeared.
And after that, everything fell into place. After all, there are no such obvious coincidences, like a cousin who buys a remote forest cabin in the middle of nowhere and allows his cousin and her friends to spend a couple of days there on vacation. And there certainly is no such coincidence that, by a twist of fate, a deranged fanatic is in this forest, believing he is carrying out God's will by killing women who, in his opinion, should give birth to the Antichrist.
At that moment, Alex could only blame himself for relaxing too much and not double-checking the area where he and Samantha had gone with their friends. When Alex gained access to the cameras, everyone leaned closer.
Seeing that the cameras were pointed at the forest cabin where they were staying, Chris pulled back the curtain to look out the window and try to spot a camera. But all he saw when looking out the window were many trees covered in foliage. The others saw Chris's face as he looked out the window.
"Now I'm getting scared… We've been watched this whole time. And we became part of some unclear experiment because of Jessica's cousin. And the only one who understands anything isn't telling us anything," Emily said in a nervous tone, crossing her arms over her chest and squeezing her fingers due to the situation they found themselves in.
"And what, are you expecting me to tell you about a secret government experiment that started back during the Cold War? Or reassure you that they'll just let us go?" Alex asked in response, extinguishing his cigarette in the ashtray.
"Are you saying it's that bad?" Chris asked, swallowing hard as he closed the curtains more tightly.
"Not exactly bad. But in principle — yes. And what's happening in this forest right now is part of an experiment to observe human behavior in stressful situations and select new candidates. And behind it all is one transnational corporation," Alex said, nodding and rocking back and forth on his chair.
Everyone stared at Alex, then began exchanging glances with each other. It became clear to them that even if they got into the motorhome right now and tried to leave, they simply wouldn't be allowed to, and they would all just be killed. And thinking about whose fault this all was, everyone felt the desire to strangle Jessica's cousin with their own hands.
After all, they had all come to this forest cabin to relax and spend time with friends they hadn't seen for a whole six months. Tucker, sitting nearby and finishing off the half-empty bottle of whiskey, having heard Alex and the others' conversation, became completely confused by everything he had heard. He couldn't understand how their current situation had changed so quickly.
"Kid, what kind of candidate selection are you talking about? Selection for what? What the hell is going on? Since when did the situation with fanatics turn into a global conspiracy?" Tucker intervened after hearing what the conversation was about.
"I'll spend a lot of time if I have to explain everything to you. But to put it in a couple of words. The essence of the experiment: the first stage is to throw people into a stressful situation. Because only in such a moment can a person reveal their full potential. The second stage — the survivors are redirected to another place, and the experiment is repeated, but more extremely. And at the end of the experiment, the recipient is reborn. A new personality, a new life. But the point is that such people become sleeper agents. There are other experiments too. But the essence is the same — mind control," Alex said, getting up from the chair and pacing around the living room.
"So they haven't even started yet? They're listening to us right now. If they find out that we know, won't that lead to us being eliminated right away?" Chris asked, reasoning as he looked at Alex.
"I turned off the sound, don't worry. But yes, they haven't even started yet," Alex said in a lazy tone, shrugging his shoulders.
Hearing Alex's words, everyone felt a brief moment of relief, even if the situation still seemed very dangerous. Alex looked at everyone present and understood how they felt. After all, they had all ended up in one big shitty situation, and behind it all was a transnational corporation with connections all over the world.
But for Alex, this corporation was so insignificant that he practically didn't care. The only thing that angered him was that his vacation had been ruined. Samantha looked at her friends, who had fallen into gloom after learning what was happening, and shifted her gaze to Alex, who, as usual, was behaving lazily. Getting up from the chair, Samantha approached Alex and asked what he was going to do.
Alex leaned toward Samantha and whispered in her ear that he was going to drink coffee. Looking at her husband with a blank gaze, Samantha sighed heavily and nodded. While everyone was thinking about what to do in this situation, Alex calmly brewed himself some coffee. Hearing the sound of a spoon hitting the mug, everyone shifted their gaze to Alex, who was as carefree as possible.
"Are you serious right now? You decided to just drink coffee? While we're in deep shit. We're either going to die or become lab rats for an experiment," Emily said angrily, pointing her finger at Alex.
"Don't point your finger at me, Emily. Before working, I want to drink coffee. Or are you expecting me to start doing something without a mug of hot coffee? Nope," Alex said, waving his finger from side to side.
"Are you saying you have a plan? And what are you planning — to ask for help from your bureau? Doesn't your bureau work for the government too? Do you think they'll help?" Ashley began asking, alternately looking at Alex and Samantha.
"Yes, I have a plan. And yes, my Bureau also works for the government. And not in the way you think. And yes, I will ask for help. But not in the way you think," Alex said, returning to his chair and holding a mug of coffee in his hands.
"Have you already come up with a plan for us to escape?" Mike asked, leaning on the table where Alex was sitting.
Alex looked at Mike as if he had asked the dumbest question in the world. Shaking his head, Alex took another sip of coffee and placed the mug on the table. Turning to the tablet, Alex began typing quickly, gaining access to one of Murkoff's facilities located nearby. Seeing the name of the facility, Alex couldn't help but laugh with a maniacal laugh. Alex's maniacal laughter snapped everyone out of their stupor, and no one could understand why he had started laughing so eerily.
Samantha sighed and approached Alex, placing her hands on his shoulders to calm him. Looking over his shoulder, she understood the reason for his laughter. Nearby was a facility that Alex personally wanted to visit but had kept putting off due to various problems that kept falling on his head. Samantha sighed and squeezed Alex's face so he would stop laughing.
"Alright, that's enough. I know you're inspired. But stop scaring everyone around you. You can sometimes be way too scary for ordinary people," Samantha said, continuing to squeeze Alex's face and not letting him laugh.
"Sorry. But this is just so funny. This is so wonderful. Tonight is going to be simply beautiful. I can't wait for night to come," Alex said with a wide smile, turning to Samantha while she was still squeezing his face.
"Yes, yes, I understand. But stop scaring my friends. Your other self started coming out way too early," Samantha said with a sigh, massaging Alex's face.
Alex turned his head toward the others and saw them flinch from his gaze. Everyone was staring at the wide smile on Alex's face. And this smile caused them more concern than when they had encountered the Wendigo that wanted to devour them all. In their eyes, Alex's smile was wrong and unnatural, as if a completely different person was standing before them, scaring them with just his presence.
They had already seen Alex being cheerful, lazy, or serious. But they were seeing this side of his personality for the first time. And what surprised everyone was that their friend Samantha was behaving so calmly, as if it wasn't her husband acting like a real madman.
Seeing the frightened looks, Alex raised his hand and touched his face. Realizing he was still smiling, Alex awkwardly cleared his throat and removed the smile from his face. When Alex stopped smiling, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, not even noticing it themselves.
"I don't want to say this, but your smile was really creepy. It gave me goosebumps," Chris said, rubbing his arms and shuddering slightly as he remembered Alex's smile.
"Don't dramatize. I'm just in a very good mood. And yes. Sorry for scaring you a bit," Alex said, clearing his throat into his fist again and putting on an innocent expression.
"A bit scared? Kid, I almost shit my pants from your laugh and smile," Tucker said irritably, pointing his finger at Alex.
"Let's forget what we just saw… Alex, what are you going to do?" Mike said calmly, crossing his arms over his chest and looking up at Alex.
"There's one facility nearby. About an hour's drive in that direction. According to official documents, it's a special charitable institution for treating people with very special diseases," Alex said, turning the tablet screen toward the rest of the group.
"Just say it's a psychiatric hospital where they keep crazies. No need to speak in such a veiled tone," Tucker said, rolling his eyes at Alex's explanation.
"I didn't want to put it so bluntly. But yes, that's what it is. But the point is different: this psychiatric hospital also conducts experiments on people. Only you don't need to know what kind," Alex said, rolling his eyes and showing footage from the external cameras of Mount Massive Asylum.
Everyone shifted their gaze to the tablet screen and saw the view of a rather creepy hospital that definitely didn't look like a charitable sanatorium, but rather a place where people were sent to get rid of them. Alex calmly switched between camera feeds, showing the main hall where office employees worked and guards walked around.
While Alex switched cameras, everything looked relatively normal. On one of the cameras, even Jessica's cousin appeared, working very tensely on something, as if the next moment he would be shot in the back of the head. Seeing her cousin, Jessica burst into a string of curses, and if the real Pete had been standing in front of her at that moment, she would have strangled him herself.
Alex continued switching cameras, and everyone was able to see the condition of the patients at Mount Massive Asylum. The girls immediately turned away upon seeing such horror. The guys looked at it in shock but didn't look away. The mutilated faces of patients that were hard to even call faces, unnatural behavior, as if nothing human remained in the patients.
The wards where the patients were kept looked simply terrible: the walls were smeared with anything, and some patients just sat and stared at the walls. But thanks to the morphogenetic conditioning experiment, all these patients could become extremely aggressive at any moment.
"And why are you showing and telling us all this?" Mike asked, looking away from the tablet screen.
"What will happen if a security system failure occurs and all the doors open?" Alex asked, lighting a cigarette and looking at everyone with a smile on his face.
"You're going to release the crazies from their cells? That's insane! What if they scatter? It's like releasing wild animals onto city streets!" Chris exclaimed, looking at Alex with a panicked gaze.
"Really? Then maybe you want to become one of them, Chris? Do you want your brain washed, forced to undergo terrible experiments? And you won't even remember who you are. Do you want to end up like all these crazies in cells? Or do you have another brilliant plan?" Alex began asking questions, getting up from the chair and poking his finger into Chris's chest.
Chris stepped back when Alex poked him in the chest. Chris opened and closed his mouth, not knowing how to answer each of Alex's questions. Everything he saw on the camera footage made him realize that the situation was truly terrible. Chris looked around at his friends and even Tucker and Dale, who were standing aside and also watching. And no one could answer any of Alex's questions.
No one wanted to end up like the patients in this creepy hospital, and they certainly didn't want to die undergoing unknown horrific experiments. Chris wanted to say that maybe there was another plan to escape. But he realized that even if they escaped, targets would be put on their backs and they would be forced to stay silent, or something even worse.
He definitely didn't want to return home, go to sleep, and wake up the next time somewhere unknown, becoming part of an experiment. Samantha stood behind Alex and fully supported his decision to release the test subjects to cause a massacre. After all, she knew that Alex would not allow everything to go beyond Mount Massive Asylum. And she also knew that if her friends weren't around, Alex would have already gone and done everything himself instead of doing something like this.
"So, smartasses. Does anyone have any suggestions?… No. Alright then," Alex said, pushing Chris aside and returning to his seat.
"Fine, do as you wish. But what about those fanatics who want to kill Hannah? They'll still come for her," Jessica said, accepting the fact that her cousin would soon die a horrible death.
"I'll deal with them myself. When the sun sets, they'll come here," Alex said, lighting a cigarette and turning the tablet screen back toward himself.
"They'll come for me?" Hannah asked, squeezing the sleeve of her t-shirt.
"Don't worry about that. By dawn, there won't be anyone left," Alex said in a lazy tone, turning his head toward Hannah.
"Kid, you're going to take on the entire cult of fanatics…" Tucker asked, running his thumb across his throat.
"And why should I feel sorry for bastards who are controlled by a rapist and child killer? On the orders of their leader, they killed their own children, even the ones not yet born. And the one behind all this is an even bigger scumbag than his followers," Alex asked, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Tucker.
"Wait, kid. I didn't say that. And I didn't know these bastards were that insane. I thought they were just a group of suicidal people who believe in the apocalypse. If it's that bad, then do as you wish. I wash my hands of this, don't drag me into it. I just want to wait until all this is over and return to our country cabin with Dale," Tucker said, raising his hands and showing that he definitely wasn't going to interfere with Alex.
"Well, alright then. Nice to deal with smart people. Maybe you all have your own moral compass. But don't show it to me. Our family's work is quite specific. And if anyone still has doubts, I can let you read the files on what the members of the 'Covenant of the New Ezekiel' did to dispel your doubts," Alex said with a gentle smile on his face, clapping his hands.
Everyone looked at Alex and just shook their heads, except for Chris, who wanted to know. Alex saw no reason to refuse Chris, thinking that after seeing something like that, he would finally give up on his idea of being a clumsy ghost hunter and start a normal life. Alex sent the documents to Chris's phone with a clear hint that this was something others shouldn't know.
Chris, seeing Alex's look, quickly nodded without arguing. Seeing Chris's nod, Alex turned his head to the tablet screen and rested his hand under his chin, staring intently at the camera footage. He only needed to press one button to cause a sabotage and release all the test subjects.
And at that same moment, a bloody massacre would begin at Mount Massive. Alex switched to the cameras in Rudolph Wernicke's private office. Rudolph Wernicke was the one who headed the project called "Walrider." Its essence was transferring a person's consciousness into a swarm of nanites.
Seeing that Alex no longer intended to continue the conversation, everyone decided to just sit in silence. Seeing that Alex was busy, Samantha decided to brew him coffee and stepped aside. While brewing the coffee, Samantha turned her head and looked at Jessica and Emily, who had approached her.
"Sammy, are you going to say anything about this? Weren't you a pacifist who couldn't stand conflicts at all? And now your fiancé literally wants to cause a massacre," Emily asked, looking at Samantha, who hadn't stopped Alex once.
"And what am I supposed to say? I've already seen enough. My pacifism won't bring murdered children back to life. And it won't cancel all those terrible experiments. And pacifism definitely won't save you from death," Samantha said calmly while brewing coffee for Alex.
"You've changed a lot in these six months, Sammy. A lot. Before, you wouldn't have even thought for a moment about allowing something like this," Jessica said with interest, looking at Samantha.
"I haven't changed. I just reconsidered my view of the world. There are things where kindness won't help. And I've personally become convinced of that," Samantha said with a gentle smile on her face.
"You sound really creepy, Sammy. Especially when you say it with such a gentle smile," Jessica said, stepping away from Samantha.
"That's offensive, you know, Jess. Although I won't argue, maybe I've picked up a couple of bad habits from Alex and our friends," Samantha said, rolling her eyes and chuckling slightly at Jessica.
"Yeah, a couple. Our kindhearted Sammy has become callous and cynical. Marriage changes women. But this much?" Emily said with interest, looking at Samantha in a new way.
"Oh, don't start. Live for half a year with such a strange family, and all this will seem ordinary to you," Samantha said, holding a cup of coffee to take to Alex.
"Yeah, yeah. Your new family is very strange. Go to your husband already. Otherwise he gets really mean without coffee," Jessica said, pushing Samantha in the back.
Samantha just laughed as Jessica pushed her in the back. But Samantha herself didn't deny that she had changed. After all, the kind of life she lived would force anyone to change, especially considering who she lived under the same roof with. Approaching Alex, Samantha pulled up a chair and sat down next to him, placing the mug of coffee in front of him.
She didn't ask why Alex was staring at a half-dead old man sitting in a wheelchair, connected to life-support machines. It was enough for her that Alex was showing interest in this old man. Continuing to look at Rudolph Wernicke, Alex checked the time and looked out the window. Realizing that the time had come, Alex smiled and quickly called Dean.
"Hey, Alex. What do you want? Did you call to brag about how well you're spending time in the forest with a group of students?" Dean's cheerful voice came from the phone speaker.
"No, I'm calling to say I got into shit. And therefore I'm going to ruin your evening," Alex said in a cheerful tone.
Hearing Alex's words, Dean, who was at that moment in the Bunker in his relaxation room which he called the Dean Cave, choked on his beer. Coughing, Dean looked at his phone screen, then at his burger consisting of five patties, bacon, and pancake syrup, and realized he wouldn't be able to finish his burger.
Sighing irritably, Dean got up from his favorite folding chair and left the relaxation room. Holding the phone in his hands, Dean slowly walked toward Sam's room. Stopping at the door, Dean knocked on Sam's door. At that moment, Dean looked like his entire calm evening had finally been ruined.
Sam opened the door and looked at his brother, wondering what he needed. Dean just showed the screen of his phone, where Alex was listed as "Not Death." Sam just nodded and followed Dean, understanding that they would have something to do that evening. Entering the library, Dean and Sam looked at Lucina and Wednesday, who were sitting at the table in the library. Sitting down on a chair, Dean placed the phone on the table and turned on speakerphone so everyone could hear Alex.
"Just so you know, everyone can hear you. So spill it. What kind of shit did you get into during your vacation," Dean said, leaning over the phone.
"I won't go into details. But the situation is a bit… Ugh. And that's why I need your help. Because of what I'm going to do," Alex's cheerful voice came from the phone speaker.
"What have you already decided to do? Just don't tell me it's another one of your crazy plans," Sam asked, knowing perfectly well that all of Alex's plans were crazier than the previous one.
"You guessed right, Sam. I'll send all the information to your phones. As for my plan. I'm going to start a riot in a psychiatric hospital where one corporation is conducting experiments. And I need you to clean everything up there. Everything in general," Alex's voice sounded, followed by the sound of incoming messages on each phone in the library.
"As I understand it, the patients in this hospital aren't the most peaceful. They're real insane lunatics. And you're going to cause a massacre. And you want us to clean everything up," Dean said, understanding what Alex wanted.
"Yeap. And it's better to burn everything there. And when you go there, take Wednesday with you," Alex said, confirming Dean's words.
"And why me? If I want to look at crazies, I can visit Uncle Fester in his new boarding house," Wednesday responded in a cold tone, staring at the phone lying on the table.
"One old man named Rudolph Wernicke runs things there. And the second is Peter Nelson. I'll send you their photos. I need you to have a nice chat with them, my dear Wednesday. So bring your tools," Alex's enthusiastic voice came from the phone speaker.
Wednesday just raised an eyebrow and thought for a moment. Nodding her head, Wednesday put her book aside and stood up from the table, going to get her tools. Dean and Sam looked at the departing Wednesday and decided to get more details from Alex.
A sigh from Alex came from the phone speaker, after which he told them what was happening and what he would be busy with. Hearing what was happening, Dean and Sam finally understood the current situation and decided to do as Alex asked. Lucina, who was listening to the conversation, remembered Mount Massive Asylum, which Alex had mentioned in the past.
Shifting her gaze to her laptop screen, Lucina quickly entered the system using the access Alex had left and saw what was happening there. Raising an eyebrow, Lucina turned the laptop toward Dean and Sam so they could see for themselves what was happening there. After looking at the camera footage for a bit, Dean and Sam frowned.
"Alright, Alex. We'll take care of this. You don't mind if I take a couple of your toys, right?" Dean said with a heavy sigh.
"Yeah, take them. You have about an hour or two to prepare. As soon as we finish talking, I'll cause a blackout and disable the security system. Oh yeah. Be careful. They're conducting an experiment on transferring the mind into nanites," Alex said thoughtfully, looking at the tablet screen from his side.
"Nanites? Blackout? What is that? Something from the nerd section?" Dean asked, not understanding what Alex was talking about at all.
"Nanites are tiny robots that can penetrate anywhere. And blackout is a complete power outage," Sam replied, not surprised that his brother didn't know.
"I'm telling you, from the nerd section. Alright, Alex. We're going to prepare, you can start the riot," Dean said, picking up the phone.
"Good hunting, Dean, Sam," Alex said calmly.
"Good hunting to you too," Dean said, ending the call.
After finishing the conversation with Alex, Dean and Sam exchanged glances, and at that same moment Wednesday returned with a small black case, inside which torture tools jingled. Dean and Sam didn't even want to know how the two people Wednesday would eventually torture had offended her.
But what they were sure of was that for those two, it would not be the most enjoyable time. Even Dean, who had tortured souls in Hell, couldn't help but note Wednesday's rather sophisticated tortures. Looking at the time, Dean and Sam realized they had two hours to prepare, and that was enough for them.
Grabbing his phone, Dean got up from the table and headed to his room to change and grab weapons. Sam did the same, following his brother to his room. Lucina calmly leaned on her palm, looking at her laptop screen. She was curious how the riot in the psychiatric hospital would unfold.
"Wednesday, I thought you would refuse to do something like this," Lucina said, glancing sideways at Wednesday, who was checking her torture tools.
"Someone ruined my husband's day. And therefore I will ruin the rest of these people's lives. I don't care who they are or what their reasons were. All that matters is revenge," Wednesday said, examining a scalpel polished to a shine in her hand.
"It's hard to argue with that argument," Lucina said with a smile, looking at Wednesday.
"It's not an argument, it's the Addams family motto. They say revenge is a dish best served cold. But I prefer this dish to be hot, like blood," Wednesday said, pointing the scalpel toward Lucina.
"That's true. And stop pointing that thing at me," Lucina laughed, pushing the scalpel away from her face with her finger.
Wednesday looked at Lucina with her black eyes and carelessly shrugged, putting the scalpel back in her bag. Lucina looked at Wednesday for another moment and then pulled the tablet toward herself to look at all the information Alex had sent.
Opening a mountain of documents, Lucina slightly raised an eyebrow and then smiled. She immediately understood what Alex was planning. And it didn't bother her at all — rather, it amused her. After finishing checking her tools, Wednesday opened her book and continued reading, waiting for Dean and Sam to gather their things.
To be continued...
(So, in this chapter, I actually wanted to get to the moment when Alex goes to the fanatical community. But, as usual, things didn't go according to plan. And the reason was that I didn't know how much lore I'd have to give away. So, should I give away all the lore, or should I only give away the part about the cult and why it appeared? Or should I just mention a few important details. Like I did in this chapter, giving only brief answers through conversations. Basically, I don't know. And if I don't want to think, it's time to eat. Peace, love, and no one will believe you saw a unicorn anyway.)
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