Ep.223 – Caroline Quinn: Vampire Hunter - She Doesn't Take Halloween Off...

WEBVTT

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Working a job can really suck.
Your coworkers are incompetent, the hours are

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long, you never really get to
take a vacation, and worst of all,

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everyone you work with is trying to
drink your blood. Okay, maybe

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this isn't everyone's experience, but tonight's
story is all about it. Feel the

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chill in the air, Listen to
the leaves russ ross as they die and

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fall to the ground. It is
Halloween. You will experience tales for our

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ghosts and death. It is not
recommended for the week at heart. Join

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me for a tale foul. This
is Weekly Spooky. Hello, my spookys,

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It's Saturday, but it's October.
It's spooky season, and I'm here

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to bring you even more spooky in
your weekly I'm your host and narrator,

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Enrique Kuto, and so many of
you have chosen to spend your spooky season

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with me, and I can't say
just how happy it's made me. So

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thank you for joining me yet again. We're almost to the end of this

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year's season, but don't worry,
there's plenty more coming. Tomorrow We'll have

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a collection of Edgar Allan Poe's stories
read by yours truly to enjoy, and

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Monday is a very special episode of
Monthly Spooky you won't want to miss.

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And of course Tuesday is our traditional
Halloween episode and it'll mark four years of

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Weekly Spooky. So I hope to
see you there. And if you need

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even more content somehow after all that
we've put out this month, why not

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check out the television series I produced
and directed with many of my collaborators here

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at Weekly Spooky. That's right,
a television series. You can watch it

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at to BTV for completely free.
Head over to to BTV and type in

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found footage the series. I promise
you it won't disappoint. You'll have a

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great time watching it. It's the
perfect thing to watch while you unwind after

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handing out candy to your tricker treaters. That's found footage the series at to

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b TV on your smart television or
Roku box. Check it out today.

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Now, before we get to this
very scary, very fun, very bloody

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story, I just want to say
thank you, thank you for making this

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the most successful month in Weekly Spooky's
nearly four year history. It's really meant

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a lot to me and our authors
to know so many of you are enjoying

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their content. But remember we're not
going anywhere when October ends. We stick

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around every week with a little taste
of Halloween, so make sure you're subscribed.

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But now it's time for the story
after these quick words, Caroline Quinn

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Vampire Hunter by Mike Ashcuey. Halloween
always brings out the weird ones. Can

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you remember a time when it didn't
bring out the weird ones? I can't

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now toss in all sorts of things
people consider fantastic and impossible only fit fifty

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years ago, and now it's only
weirder. It's also a lot more dangerous.

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See fifty years ago, something happened
and no one can explain it.

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People just were born different, different
how well Suddenly people could fly, people

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could turn invisible, and sometimes those
special people had bad days and people ended

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up dead. Now tossing the fact
that some things we considered myth and legend

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were also real, real life monsters, vampires, werewolves, shape shifters,

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and stuff that would make Stephen King
say, what in the actual fuck?

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It's a real shit show, but
it's home and frankly it's a living I

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deal with problems that the usual police
or even gifted individuals can't my name is

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Caroline Quinn, and I'm something a
little different than what you might expect.

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I'm not a super and I'm not
a cop, but something in between those

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things. I don't report to anyone
per se, but I do draw a

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paycheck. I'm what's known as a
troubleshooter. I am contracted by the government

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to deal with quote issues that require
discretion and most importantly, plausible deniability.

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See it's okay to have your local
neighborhood asshole in a cape deal with some

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lunatic who can level a building with
a punch, But sometimes you deal with

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something different. Again. You know
how I mentioned that whole creatures of myth

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and legend, Well, those same
things cause trouble, and your average person

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isn't equipped to deal with the truly
paranormal. People can accept superpowers, but

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you start bringing in the undead and
all that shit, Well, let's say

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they don't deal with it well at
all. Suddenly what goes bump in the

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night is real and makes Freddy Krueger
look tame in comparison. Governments try very

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hard to suppress a lot of the
truly scary shit, but sometimes it gets

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out. Thanks to Instagram, I'm
sure we needed to see one of America's

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top superheroes get torn apart by vampires
or a group of teenagers get pulled under

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the water by an ancient shark god
near New Zealand. You might ask,

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why try to hide it we have
literal superheroes. Well, something happened,

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and those things are becoming more frequent, almost like a natural response to the

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rise of the gifted. It's almost
like undeath finds a way. I'm sure

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there is a philosophical or religious explanation, or maybe even scientific reason behind it.

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But if there is, I don't
know it, and I don't care

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to know it. I get paid
to deal with it. How do I

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deal with it? I'm tough,
supernaturally tough, even by the standards set

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by the gifted community. I'm an
anomaly. There aren't many like me,

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and that is probably a good thing. I've heard more than a few whispered

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conversations worrying about what she and her
kind represent. In short, they think

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I'm a threat. I'm also something
that seems to be somewhere between them and

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the gifted they believe. However,
better to have that threat under control than

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on your side. A fucking cocktail
of supernatural and superpowered? Did I mention

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I get some perks from this gig? I get two weeks of paid vacation

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a year, which can be revoked
at any time should the situation dictate.

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Isn't that just swell? I got
to go to Disney World once till some

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undead goon tried to kill some kid
in a Mickey Mouse costume. I got

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a free pair of mouse ears for
my trouble. So where does that bring

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us now? A few days ago
I got a tip that led to a

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small town in rural upstate New York. Your quiet, little sleepy town that

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has a Denny's, a big box
retailer, and people get excited when Starbucks

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comes to town. The information was
compiled by a computer forensic person I knew

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in the FBI who had an eye
for this sort of thing. Her name

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was Rhianne and she was also my
ex girlfriend. Aren't workplace romance is complicated?

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Still? She and I were good
till we weren't. The information dealt

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with a very strange set of deaths
that had occurred over the last few months

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in the local old age communities.
A lot of dead old timers and not

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passing away from natural causes either.
Normally this would have just slid under the

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radar and been filed away under So
sad, too bad, But I guess

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some in turn did some blood work
up and it got sent to the wrong

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lab and that got Rhyanne's attention.
Certainly makes my job easier than having to

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rely on AI and search algorithms.
I still don't trust computers and probably never

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will. I had to be dragged
out of using a flip phone in the

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last ten years. I stopped for
breakfast before driving into Hope Springs. I

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traveled in a little camper van,
and while it wasn't the most glamorous,

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it wasn't a half bad place to
sleep and even had a mini refrigerator and

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solar panels. It wasn't Howard Johnson, but it was home for most of

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the year. Sitting down and eating
an overpriced plate of bacon and eggs,

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I started to look over the files. Rheianne always did me a solid and

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compiled it into easy to understand pieces, and compartmentalization was her specialty. For

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about four months, twenty or so
unusual deaths were recorded in the city's Corners

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report, and all of them had
an unusual marker in the blood work.

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One of the recently deceased had a
busy body of a son who demanded to

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know what happened to dear old dad
and demanded a full autopsy, and evidently

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had the pull to make it happen
despite a coroner who could not have carried

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less the sun probably wanted some kind
of an insurance payout or something equally as

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heartless. Isn't family great? Sipping
at my disgusting black liquid allegedly called coffee,

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something stood out to me That unusual
marker in the blood work was some

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kind of thing I'd seen before.
Without getting all technical and probably losing your

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interest. It was a foreign element
and it didn't belong in the body of

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an eighty nine year old man.
It was gifted blood and contained trace elements

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of what has been widely identified as
vampiric blood. I stopped eating and kept

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reading the files over and over again. Over the course of four months and

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twenty bodies, this particular blood pattern
occurred over ten times. Someone or something

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was preying on the elderly and was
using them to feed, but not turning

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them into more of them. Normally, a vampire would create a little army

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and we'd have a small problem on
our hands. Some of the more unique

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gifted heroes like Photonic or Ultraviolet would
be asked to help. However, recently

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after almost dying themselves, they were
reluctant or flat out refused to assist.

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Usually superior firepower with silver and UV
grenades would do the job, but you

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could always count on one of the
slippery undead fucks getting away, like some

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kind of Houdini and Dracula combined.
This one was greedy and didn't want to

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share eating with the old folks.
This one also was different and maybe was

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working with a gifted person to incapacitate
the geezers or something else entirely. Maybe

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they were like me and had a
mix of both worlds in their blood.

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Either scenario means I wouldn't be out
of here by Monday, and with Halloween

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happening in a day, it meant
a lot of potential collateral damage with civilians

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nearby. Great, now I have
to hunt down a potentially superpowered vampire or

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a regular vampire with a super sidekick. You know, working at Applebee's certainly

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sounds a lot less dangerous right now. I'd at least make tips and not

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have to worry about half my guts
decorating the walls or having my soul sucked

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out. Remember two weeks paid vacation
plus four oh one K plus blah blah,

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protect your country and save humanity blah
blah. Right right, I can

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practically recite the recruiting speech. Just
have to hold up my end of the

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bargain and make sure super Villains or
Satan doesn't destroy the planet first. Fuck.

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They could have called people like Megaton
or Phase, but no, my

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name comes up first in the rolodex. Do people still use those rolodexes?

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I finish my breakfast and leave a
few bucks on the table, throw a

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rye look at my waitress as if
saying I'm sorry, I'm gonna fuck up

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your town in a few days,
but hey have ten bucks. I exit

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the diner and start heading back to
my camper van. It's cold in late

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October, and my leather jacket isn't
quite as warm as I would like.

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It's at least pretty out here in
that quaint kind of way. Hope Spring

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is about another twenty miles away,
and I have nothing but my thoughts and

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a playlist of Megadeth another eighties hair
metal. What can I say? It

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sets the mood for killing vampires and
probably looking sexy while doing it. I

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won't look sexy while doing it because
no one is ever going to know I

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did it, and if it ends
up on Reddit with my face, then

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I'll have a lot of explaining to
do and probably no four oh one k

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to look forward to. Maybe I'll
write a book after I retire. I

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could do a podcast. Any asshole
with a microphone has one of those these

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days. Anyway, right hit the
road and it's a long twenty miles with

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only trees, farmhouses and the occasional
cow or horse outside grazing. There is

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boring and then there is boring.
It's an easy drive, though, and

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besides picking up a cherry slurpee on
the way, it's uneventful too. Entering

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the city limits and I immediately feel
like have entered a Charlie Brown Halloween special.

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This place has gone absolutely all out
on the season. There are pumpkins

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and scarecrows and all sorts of window
displays. I'm pretty sure I saw a

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life size Pennywise, the clown welcoming
me into the Jewel of Upstate New York.

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Well, I'm sure this is tax
dollars well spent. Rhianne had arranged

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a visit for me to examine the
latest victim before they were sent off to

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the funeral home. Oh joy,
cadaver fresh, just like Mom used to

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make. You. Know what I
like about dead people. They're easy to

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get along with, they're quiet,
and they always listen. Wait, no,

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I take that back. The most
of the dead people I deal with

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are supernaturally strong, fast, and
probably have lived a few centuries, and

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have razor sharp fangs and claws.
I did, however, kill one Scottish

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vampire with an accent so thick I
couldn't stop laughing when he threatened me.

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It was like killing a blood sucking
version of Shrek. Wasn't so bad once

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I unloaded one of the vampire killing
shotguns into him. Still, you haven't

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lived until you fought vampire Shrek.
I still giggle about that one, even

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though he dislocated my shoulder. That's
the one thing I didn't expect. I

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thought I was invincible, or at
least damned close to it. For some

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strange reason, things like them can
hurt me. Anything unnatural, not human

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I've been put in the hospital a
few times and even had a few close

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calls. I don't like to remember
it's likely the only thing that puts me

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in the ground. I'd still not
want to take one of the phase's energy

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discharges to the face, just to
be sure. I'm too damn pretty to

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die like that. Driving around town
and it's like I was in a weird

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cross between Halloween Town and the wet
dream of a spirit Halloween executive. I

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eventually found the coroner's office, tucked
away near a cute little Dutch bakery and

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a Mennonite furniture store. Pulled up
the van to the building's parking lot and

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grabbed my gear bag and my Federal
ID and my shoulder holster for my side

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arm. I had the absolute worst
hair day when they took that photo,

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too. They didn't seem too thrilled
when I wanted to give finger guns either.

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No one has a sense of humor
these days. Don't go away weekly,

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spooky, We'll be right back anyway. I made my way up to

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the door and hit the buzzer.
A couple of minutes passed before a bored

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looking black gentleman and approached the glass
door. I'm assuming this was the coroner

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for Hope Springs, Percy Downer.
He kind of looked like the guy from

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the John Wick movies and had this
quiet confidence about him. But he didn't

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look too happy to see me when
he saw the ID badge on my breast

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pocket. Mister Downer, I smiled
and said through the glass door, Yes,

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and you are. He didn't return
my warmth. It was gonna be

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one of those days, wasn't it. Special Agent Carolyn Quinn, Federal Bureau

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of Investigation. My field office should
have called ahead. They better have called

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ahead, or this was going to
be a fun time, fast talking mister

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personality over here they did. Seems
like a bit unusual to send an FBI

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agent out here to examine what is
clearly a heart attack. I smiled back

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at him and even tried to straighten
out my breasts and try my womanly wiles

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on him. Please work. I
just want to examine the body, confirm

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my suspicions, and actively begin my
investigation and get back on the road.

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Well, I just go where Washington
tells me to go. I don't imagine

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it'll be anything too involved. I
mean, if you wanted to take off

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and grab lunch. I don't think
I'll be longer than an hour. He

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frowned when I said take off for
lunch. This was the kind of guy

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who liked his workspace and didn't appreciate
outsiders interfering in his little corner. Look,

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Agent Quinn, there isn't anything to
see here. Mister Carey's son has

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already had me do the initial autopsy, and I found nothing out of the

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ordinary. I'm starting to lose my
patience and any potential head start. I'm

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relatively sure that the bloodsucker doesn't know
I'm in town yet. I'm also not

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wearing a giant neon sign that says
vampire killer either, so I probably have

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the element of surprise so far.
Mister Downer, if you want me to

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call the field office and make this
a whole thing, I can do that,

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but I'd really rather not. So
why don't we just let each other

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get out of each other's way and
let me do my job. Let me

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00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:10.720
make it interesting to you. Why
don't you go out to lunch on Uncle

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Sam's tab and invoice the field office
on my authorization. Just don't break the

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bank. Okay. His demeanor changed
when I said charge it to the government.

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I probably won't get into too much
trouble. I mean, how much

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could the guy realistically eat and drink? Why don't you take your lab and

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turn with you. I think your
name is Michelle. Right, go out,

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have a great lunch and a few
drinks and I'll call you when it's

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time to come back and lock up. Fine, I'll get Ms Crawford and

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we'll be down at hitch Steakhouse.
You have my number, I nodded.

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I think you could tell. I
just wanted to get this over with as

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quickly as I could. He opened
the door and led me to the mortuary

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and his lockers all sealed up tight. Downer gestured toward a series of slabs

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near the middle row and said,
I'd find my guest in locker threat.

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I noticed there was a lot of
blood on the examination tables, and some

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looked fairly fresh. The Bureau thanks
you for your assistance and cooperation in this

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matter. Agent Quinn. Please do
not disturb the lower row. Those ladies

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came in this morning, and I
haven't had a chance to properly do anything

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with them. They didn't come in
a very pleasant or complete manner. Gross

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I waited a few minutes while Downer
and his assistant left the morgue and I

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was alone with my new friends.
All right, let's get to work and

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see what we got here. I
slide open the drawer where my first guest

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of honor is supposed to be.
According to what Rhianne sent me, this

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was Phil Carey, age eighty nine. His naked body was stark white,

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as most corpses are, and it
would have been nothing out of the ordinary,

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except if you knew what to look
for. A lot of newer vampires

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took blood from unusual places, and
this one was no different. There was

245
00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:07.200
a small set of puncture wounds behind
his right knee. It was pretty easy

246
00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:11.519
to miss due to the scar tissue
back there, suggesting he'd probably had knee

247
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surgery or some kind of an injury
when he was younger. I kept looking

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over the body with my examination gloves
and gently turning over the old man well

249
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as gently as I could. Old
guy wasn't exactly heavy, but for some

250
00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:30.319
reason I was having a hard time
moving. The body seemed not as stiff

251
00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:34.079
as I was expecting either, almost
like rigor mortis hadn't totally set in.

252
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What in the fuck? I turned
away for a second to grab my phone

253
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and maybe call Rhanne and see what
else was pulled up in that lab report

254
00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:49.200
that I missed. This guy shouldn't
be this uh fresh, This is so

255
00:21:49.400 --> 00:21:56.160
weird. No sooner did I think
that, than something absolutely unearthly split the

256
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room with a ear shattering howl.
The sound vibrated off of every surface and

257
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seemed to rattle my ear drums in
my head, and I couldn't get my

258
00:22:04.200 --> 00:22:07.839
bearings for a second, as it
was like someone set off a flash bang

259
00:22:07.960 --> 00:22:12.200
right next to my face. The
body of Phil Carey sat straight up on

260
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the slab and looked right at me. I froze for a second. I'd

261
00:22:17.559 --> 00:22:22.599
never seen a new vampire animate before. The old man looked confused as the

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scream emitted from his cracked, cold
lips. He looked wildly around the room

263
00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:33.000
and locked onto me in terror,
panic, and something else I can't describe.

264
00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:37.000
Did he want help? What did
you do to me? The man

265
00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:41.319
screamed. I reached into my jacket
and tried unlatching my side arm, a

266
00:22:41.359 --> 00:22:47.359
specialty nine milimeters pistol with silver bullets. Okay, it's game time. The

267
00:22:47.400 --> 00:22:51.680
old man looked down at the y
incision in his chest and he started screaming

268
00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:56.279
again, and this time there was
pain, rage, and sadness. As

269
00:22:56.279 --> 00:22:59.880
he cried out, I held my
ground. His body started to change and

270
00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:04.480
morph into his new un life.
Soon mister carry would have enhanced strength,

271
00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:10.880
armor like skin, and even wings
if he wanted. His fingernails grew into

272
00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:15.200
nasty looking claws, and he started
cutting into his own chest and started pulling

273
00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:18.759
out his own guts through the fresh
incision on his chest. What the fuck

274
00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:22.920
are you doing? I blurted out
as I leveled my weapon at his head.

275
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He kept screaming and started pulling his
chest open, and eventually his entrails

276
00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:33.759
were everywhere, but he still was
alive. I guess blood and viscera and

277
00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:37.480
everything that was inside was now on
the outside. I steeled myself and pulled

278
00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:44.720
the trigger one, two, three. I put three rounds into his head

279
00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:48.200
and he stopped screaming. After his
head exploded like a watermelon filled with firecrackers,

280
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the body fell off the examination table
and into a pile of blood,

281
00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:56.599
gore, and what was left of
his head. I put another two rounds

282
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into his heart, just to be
sure. Always double tap the heart or

283
00:24:02.519 --> 00:24:07.160
completely incinerate the torso usually you take
out the head and the heart and it'll

284
00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:12.880
stop them. Usually, Okay,
never seen that before. That was new

285
00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:18.079
and fucking terrifying. I stopped for
a second and look around the carnage,

286
00:24:18.440 --> 00:24:22.240
and it's one of the worst places
I've ever been to. I was at

287
00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:26.960
the vampire Nest in twenty eighteen in
Boston, and that was messed up and

288
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:33.200
even the soupers won't talk about it. Blood gore and missing limbs, dead

289
00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:37.160
agents. That was the day.
That Nightshade lost her eyes when the vampire

290
00:24:37.240 --> 00:24:42.559
Lord stuck his claws into her face. That's a sound you never forget.

291
00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:48.119
One of the worst days we ever
suffered as a task force, but we

292
00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:52.319
won. I guess thirty of us, including a few soupers, went in.

293
00:24:52.920 --> 00:24:57.119
Only seven of us came back out
alive or close enough to not be

294
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considered a casualty. I start to
catch my breath and I can hear banging

295
00:25:02.440 --> 00:25:07.759
and muffled screams coming from inside the
freezers. You've gotta be fucking shitting me.

296
00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:11.599
There's more of these things. I'm
in a goddamn nest with no backup

297
00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:15.319
and not nearly enough AMMO on me
to do the job. All my specialty

298
00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:18.839
stuff is in the van and locked
up. I'm tough, but I'm not

299
00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:23.680
invincible, and I'm certainly not equipped
to deal with this by myself. Time

300
00:25:23.720 --> 00:25:30.759
to go Downer had said the new
bodies didn't come in intact. I can

301
00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:33.680
use that to my advantage. If
they reanimate without all their limbs, then

302
00:25:33.720 --> 00:25:38.079
maybe I wouldn't be dealing with the
Golden Ghules at full power. Okay,

303
00:25:38.119 --> 00:25:42.759
grannies, I have an idea.
Hold that thought. I'll be right back.

304
00:25:44.680 --> 00:25:48.599
I ran into the morgue and then
right outside into the now pouring rain,

305
00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:52.079
and straight into my van, tossing
open the doors and into the secured

306
00:25:52.119 --> 00:25:56.799
compartment by my tiny fridge. They
say that happiness is a warm gun,

307
00:25:57.279 --> 00:26:03.039
and in this particular instance, happiness
and security was delivered by a top of

308
00:26:03.079 --> 00:26:08.799
the line paranormal defense contractor and an
alleged coven of witches from Salem. All

309
00:26:08.920 --> 00:26:15.119
right, motherfuckers, I grab Sweet
Baby Jane, my custom automatic twelve gage

310
00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:19.559
shotgun with a carbon fiber finish with
pink highlights and a laser sight, buckshot

311
00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:23.640
with silver and some other stuff that
I don't totally understand, but all I

312
00:26:23.720 --> 00:26:29.359
know it turns the undead into Swiss
cheese. All I know right now is

313
00:26:29.400 --> 00:26:33.680
that baby Jane is hungry. The
big surprise, though, doesn't so much

314
00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:37.319
go boom as it goes pop.
The real piece of hardware I came for

315
00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:45.960
ultraviolet grenades. Those same DoD eggheads
developed a way to deliver a concentrated blast

316
00:26:45.079 --> 00:26:49.680
of ultraviolet energy in a small package, no bigger than a pack of smokes.

317
00:26:51.240 --> 00:26:55.119
These things could really fuck up a
bloodsucker's day if you could get them

318
00:26:55.160 --> 00:26:59.319
in an enclosed area and you didn't
mind risking the chance of going blind and

319
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.079
by contracting cancer. Walk back inside
the mortuary and I can hear the banging

320
00:27:04.119 --> 00:27:10.759
of the undead against the steel coolers
and the occasional confused yelp. I slide

321
00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:15.359
around into the shotgun's chamber and make
my way back into the examination room.

322
00:27:15.880 --> 00:27:21.200
Move forward slowly, cautiously, and
be ready to unload hell into whatever face

323
00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:26.160
decides to come up and say hello. Good news is that they don't know

324
00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:30.079
how to break the seal on the
lockers, and for now I have the

325
00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:33.640
element of surprise. Creeping up the
first locker, I can hear whatever is

326
00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:40.119
inside just absolutely freaking out as much
as a part of me is afraid on

327
00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:42.799
some level for getting my throat ripped
out by b Arthur. Here there is

328
00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:48.319
a bit of a sadistic joy crawling
through my body. I sling the shotgun

329
00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:52.480
at my side and grip one of
the small black UV grenades and inch my

330
00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:56.440
way towards the cooler trick or treat, I say, as I open the

331
00:27:56.480 --> 00:28:02.200
door and quickly pull the pin and
throw the mall device inside and seal the

332
00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:07.640
door once again. An audible voice
exclaims what A second later, a brilliant

333
00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:14.200
flash and the satisfying thump of a
contained detonation within a confined space are music

334
00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:18.920
to my ears. That's two dead
vampires and it's not even lunchtime yet.

335
00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:22.759
You could call this a kill streak, couldn't you? Not bad? But

336
00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:27.119
no time to get sloppy. The
screeching sound of steel being torn from its

337
00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:30.759
moorings fills the room as the second
undead Grandma makes her way out of her

338
00:28:30.759 --> 00:28:34.960
makeshift toomb. The steel door flies
off across the room and embeds itself in

339
00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:38.640
the wall by the entrance. Downer
isn't going to be happy with what I

340
00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:45.039
did to his workspace. In my
defense, they started it the blood at

341
00:28:45.079 --> 00:28:48.960
least adds some color, so there's
that. The creature started clawing its way

342
00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:53.480
out of the locker, and its
twisted aged face emerged with a furious rage,

343
00:28:53.640 --> 00:28:59.160
and it locked eyes with me.
Normally, this would be absolutely terrifying

344
00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:03.319
to come face to face with an
undead vampiric horror, but when it's an

345
00:29:03.400 --> 00:29:07.480
undead vampiric horror of a bingo lady
in her late seventies, it loses a

346
00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:11.240
little bit of the fear factor.
She was still a threat to me due

347
00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:15.960
to her newly unleashed strength and speed
and toughness, but if I'm lucky,

348
00:29:17.319 --> 00:29:21.160
she'd be like a baby elephant learning
how to walk for the first time and

349
00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:25.559
be clumsy. Fortunately she hadn't been
undressed yet, so I didn't have to

350
00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:29.720
witness something that could have seared my
eyes out. The creature fell out of

351
00:29:29.720 --> 00:29:33.720
the locker and onto the cold floor
and started to transform into her new unlife

352
00:29:33.799 --> 00:29:38.559
before my very eyes, bones snapped
into new places, a pair of thin,

353
00:29:38.680 --> 00:29:42.920
bony wings started to form and unfurl
from her back and tear from her

354
00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:48.079
little blue nightgown, and finally,
her skin started to take on an ashen

355
00:29:48.200 --> 00:29:53.880
gray shade as it solidified into an
armor like hide. I've never seen a

356
00:29:53.920 --> 00:30:00.279
new vampire gain so many of its
new abilities so quickly after reanimating. This

357
00:30:00.519 --> 00:30:04.279
was something new, and this was
definitely something I wasn't quite expecting so early

358
00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:08.480
on a Friday morning. The grenades
wouldn't do a lot since the space was

359
00:30:08.519 --> 00:30:12.640
too open unless I landed it right
on her shoulder, so that was out

360
00:30:12.680 --> 00:30:18.119
for the time being. Immediately,
without really thinking about it, I had

361
00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:22.400
Baby Jane back in my arms and
ready to unleash Hell upon this fiend.

362
00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:26.359
The old lady unfurled her new wings
and stretched them out and knocked over several

363
00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:32.440
tables of supplies. She looked amazed
at her new body and didn't seem too

364
00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:37.480
phazed that she was now among the
planet's paranormal population. I aimed the shotgun

365
00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:41.640
at her, and immediately its green
laser engaged and painted a picture on the

366
00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:45.599
center of her mass. She didn't
seem to take notice of the six foot

367
00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:51.680
blonde federal agent aiming a fully automatic
shotgun at her. She extended her arms

368
00:30:51.720 --> 00:30:56.079
forward and started looking at her new
hands, which had now formed into wicked,

369
00:30:56.200 --> 00:31:00.440
long sickle like claws. I racked
the slide and made sure that it

370
00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:03.839
was ready to sing that twelve gage
buckshot show tune. As soon as the

371
00:31:03.880 --> 00:31:11.160
slide clicked, the creature's eyes immediately
narrowed and focused on me. We both

372
00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:15.319
held tents at the standoff here in
the Hope Springs Morgue, and not one

373
00:31:15.400 --> 00:31:18.480
made a move or sound. The
only sound we could both hear was an

374
00:31:18.559 --> 00:31:23.160
ancient wall clock that was suspended above
the lockers, and it was clicking up

375
00:31:23.240 --> 00:31:30.359
towards noon eleven fifty nine. The
second hand was swinging around towards the bottom,

376
00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:36.079
and the last thirty seconds of the
morning was counting down. The old

377
00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:40.039
lady opened her mouth with her new
fangs and drooled as she smiled at me.

378
00:31:40.680 --> 00:31:42.920
I smiled back at her, part
of it to relieve the tension I

379
00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:47.359
was feeling in my own body,
and part of it was hoping it would

380
00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:51.759
unnerve her a touch as to why
I was being so confident. She didn't

381
00:31:51.799 --> 00:31:56.920
seem phazed by my bravado or the
shotgun. Twenty seconds left. She took

382
00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:01.279
a step towards me and tore off
what remained of her blue nightgown and growled

383
00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:06.920
at me. I stood my ground. Are you prepared to die? Young?

384
00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:12.519
Lady. I grinned and tightened my
grip and slowly prepared to squeeze the

385
00:32:12.559 --> 00:32:17.880
trigger on my weapon. Not today. Fifteen seconds she took another step towards

386
00:32:17.880 --> 00:32:22.039
me, and now less than ten
feet separated us, and I swear she

387
00:32:22.119 --> 00:32:27.759
grew another two feet in height as
she took that single stride. Ten seconds

388
00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:31.559
Wait for it, I thought,
she leaped at me with a supernatural speed

389
00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:36.880
and swiftness, and threw her entire
body forward and her claws reaching for me.

390
00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:43.160
Showtime as the clock struck noon.
Part of my abilities, besides being

391
00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:46.200
tough, is that I'm also as
quick as most of the night creatures themselves,

392
00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:52.079
if I can judge things right.
This time, my luck paid off

393
00:32:52.359 --> 00:32:55.400
as I suspected it would. I
twisted my body at the last second and

394
00:32:55.440 --> 00:33:00.160
let her fly right past me and
crash into the workstation behind. As the

395
00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:05.880
old woman flew past and crashed into
the equipment as well, I fired off

396
00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:09.880
a few rounds from the shotgun.
Two quick succession blasts erupted from the weapon

397
00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:16.000
and shredded her new wings into confetti. These particular shotgun rounds were particularly nasty

398
00:33:16.039 --> 00:33:22.039
too, As those said defense contractors
decided to pack something a little extra besides

399
00:33:22.119 --> 00:33:29.759
the magic adjacent mojo into them magnesium
pellets and silver and enchanted pellet shards,

400
00:33:30.519 --> 00:33:35.039
dragon's breath shotgun shells with a little
bit extra. The rounds lit her up

401
00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:38.880
and she was doused and flamed as
well. The monster yelped in pain and

402
00:33:38.960 --> 00:33:44.759
surprise as her armored hide didn't have
an answer to that little one. It

403
00:33:44.799 --> 00:33:47.000
didn't seem to slow her down much, as she quickly got to her feet

404
00:33:47.039 --> 00:33:51.440
for yet another attack. This time, I wasn't so quick, and I

405
00:33:51.480 --> 00:33:55.480
got the full force of this creature
barreling into me with tremendous and unexpected force.

406
00:33:57.000 --> 00:33:59.680
The blow knocked the wind out of
me and sent my weapon from my

407
00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:04.160
hand across the room and under an
examination table. I was knocked against a

408
00:34:04.200 --> 00:34:07.920
steel table and left gasping for air. The old woman delivered another sucker punch

409
00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:12.800
into my gut and I doubled over
in pain and was left gasping for air.

410
00:34:13.679 --> 00:34:20.559
I'm in trouble here, guys.
More scares to come weekly Spooky,

411
00:34:20.599 --> 00:34:30.440
We'll be right back. The monster
grabbed a hold of my head and started

412
00:34:30.519 --> 00:34:36.039
raising it up to her face directly. Her grip was powerful and would not

413
00:34:36.199 --> 00:34:42.079
be easily broken. I said,
are you prepared to die? She hissed

414
00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:45.039
at me through her fangs. She
started squeezing my head, and I could

415
00:34:45.079 --> 00:34:50.239
feel things start to go black and
my consciousness start to fade. She was

416
00:34:50.320 --> 00:34:54.360
gonna knock me out before she likely
tore me apart limb from limb. This

417
00:34:54.480 --> 00:34:59.920
old bitch isn't exactly playing fair.
Well. I don't have to play fair

418
00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:04.079
either. I thrust my arms up
between hers and tried to force them apart

419
00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:07.360
from squeezing me further. I just
got enough force together to loosen her grip

420
00:35:07.400 --> 00:35:12.880
and knock her hands free from my
head. I started raining blows upon her

421
00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:15.480
face and just let fly every bit
of anger, rage, and even a

422
00:35:15.480 --> 00:35:20.840
bit of fear that I'd built up
over the course of our confrontation. My

423
00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:24.679
fist kept connecting against her skull and
blood kept flying out, and while she

424
00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:30.000
kept trying to dodge and hold back
my assault, she didn't stand a chance.

425
00:35:30.079 --> 00:35:35.079
I felt my fists crushed the bones
in her face as her skull began

426
00:35:35.119 --> 00:35:38.239
to disintegrate under me. I had
her pinned against a table, and she

427
00:35:38.280 --> 00:35:44.239
had nowhere to run and couldn't fly. This thing was at my mercy and

428
00:35:44.320 --> 00:35:49.039
Today was not a day to expect
mercy from someone you just tried to murder.

429
00:35:49.840 --> 00:35:52.079
I hit her until there was nothing
left of her head and left the

430
00:35:52.119 --> 00:35:57.239
body to hit the floor in a
bloody pile. After what seemed like forever,

431
00:35:58.199 --> 00:36:01.199
I left the body in a disgust
heap of meat in a corner and

432
00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:07.199
retrieved my weapons. Wait, gotta
make sure, and it's probably overkill.

433
00:36:07.920 --> 00:36:12.519
I grabbed one of the UV grenades
I had left and put it inside what

434
00:36:12.679 --> 00:36:17.639
remained of her torso and pulled the
pin and quickly left the room. Boom.

435
00:36:19.679 --> 00:36:22.440
Cool kids, don't look back at
explosions. Now I can add that

436
00:36:22.519 --> 00:36:28.119
to my list of cool action movie
things I've done and I will never tell

437
00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:34.880
anyone about because they'll never believe me. Nope, keep walking. Emerging outside

438
00:36:34.920 --> 00:36:37.719
in the cold October rain was refreshing, as it not only washed off the

439
00:36:37.719 --> 00:36:44.280
blood and gore of the last encounter, but was oddly refreshing too. I

440
00:36:44.360 --> 00:36:47.360
stood outside in the rain and just
let the adrenaline of the melee wash over

441
00:36:47.440 --> 00:36:52.800
me. I needed to relax,
but too bad, I don't smoke anymore.

442
00:36:53.480 --> 00:36:58.280
Finally, the combat rush was over
and my breathing returned to normal.

443
00:36:59.280 --> 00:37:02.840
This was gonna be a problem,
and probably one that a single troubleshooter won't

444
00:37:02.840 --> 00:37:07.199
be able to handle on her own. I'm gonna need help, and there's

445
00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:10.440
probably no way around this. You
call for help in a situation like this,

446
00:37:10.599 --> 00:37:15.679
and it's going one of two ways. You're either overreacting and it's fine,

447
00:37:15.960 --> 00:37:21.000
or end up with a situation like
Boston and it's one step away from

448
00:37:21.079 --> 00:37:24.840
calling in the proverbial air strike and
a room of old white dudes looking for

449
00:37:24.880 --> 00:37:30.360
a reason to enact the Cradle of
Liberty protocol. Cradle of Liberty was basically

450
00:37:30.400 --> 00:37:36.480
the nuclear option for all threats super
and paranormal, and had only ever been

451
00:37:36.559 --> 00:37:40.639
deployed once since the seventies. You
used it when you had absolutely zero choice,

452
00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:45.760
and collateral damage wasn't a primary concern. Survival was, and the cost

453
00:37:45.760 --> 00:37:50.400
would be paid, and it didn't
matter how it was accomplished. No one

454
00:37:50.440 --> 00:37:53.800
alive today would talk about what it
would entail, but we all knew that

455
00:37:53.880 --> 00:37:58.559
it was the last possible option,
and no one wanted to be the one

456
00:37:58.599 --> 00:38:01.320
to sanction its use. I thought
I had it figured out, and this

457
00:38:01.519 --> 00:38:07.800
was not a vampire nest, but
instead some new undead douche being greedy.

458
00:38:07.840 --> 00:38:13.880
It seems that I may be wrong
if the last encounter was any indication of

459
00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:17.639
what's going on. Super vampires are
on the loose and this town is ground

460
00:38:17.719 --> 00:38:22.239
zero, or something much much worse
is on the horizon. I don't like

461
00:38:22.320 --> 00:38:27.079
what I'm seeing here, and something
is definitely not adding up like it should.

462
00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:30.559
I'm pretty fucking terrible at math,
but I sure as shit know that

463
00:38:30.679 --> 00:38:37.239
two plus two ain't ten. I
don't like this. Remember why you're doing

464
00:38:37.280 --> 00:38:43.920
this, Quinn? Two weeks paid
vacation. Oh yeah, and saving the

465
00:38:43.920 --> 00:38:49.000
world or some shit. I made
a call first to Rheanne and let her

466
00:38:49.079 --> 00:38:52.360
know that I was probably in over
my pretty little head. I wasn't too

467
00:38:52.360 --> 00:38:55.599
thrilled to call the FEDS, but
they'd have a solution, and at least

468
00:38:57.039 --> 00:39:00.559
Rheanne was a calming influence. He
always knew what to say to talk me

469
00:39:00.639 --> 00:39:04.760
down off the ledge, and it
didn't hurt that she sounded cute when she

470
00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.400
was concerned about me. I miss
her. The second call was a little

471
00:39:09.440 --> 00:39:15.960
harder to make. I called the
Department, which is code for the Department

472
00:39:15.039 --> 00:39:21.920
of Paranormal Resources, a subset of
the Department of Defense and Homeland security layers

473
00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:27.480
upon layers upon layers of bureaucracy,
but also they had resources and people that

474
00:39:27.599 --> 00:39:32.679
your average gifted or troubleshooter didn't have
access to. I was told to sit

475
00:39:32.800 --> 00:39:39.199
tight and hold my position while they
assessed the situation and confer with partners within

476
00:39:39.360 --> 00:39:45.440
paranormal research and defense. Great,
I get to cool my jets in the

477
00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:50.159
middle of vampire City. I got
lucky and a cleanup crew was at the

478
00:39:50.199 --> 00:39:54.199
Hope Springs Corner office within an hour, and Percy Downer was offered a generous

479
00:39:54.239 --> 00:40:00.519
payout for his silence and a two
week vacation. It must be nice,

480
00:40:00.719 --> 00:40:07.159
though odds are he'll be sent to
Langley for an extensive debrief and probably psychic

481
00:40:07.239 --> 00:40:10.480
mind probe to see if he knows
more than what he's letting on. Guy

482
00:40:10.599 --> 00:40:15.159
like that is probably next level boring. Then again, I didn't expect to

483
00:40:15.199 --> 00:40:21.760
fight a retirement home in a morgue, so who knows enjoy Virginia. I

484
00:40:21.880 --> 00:40:24.840
drove away from the coroner's office and
pulled up in a nearby hotel and booked

485
00:40:24.840 --> 00:40:29.679
a room. It had only been
a few hours since the confrontation. In

486
00:40:29.760 --> 00:40:34.079
my mind wasn't ready to let go
of what happened. The thing that bothered

487
00:40:34.079 --> 00:40:38.239
me the most is how quickly those
things moved and how quickly they reanimated into

488
00:40:38.280 --> 00:40:44.119
their new un life. The real
question that bothered me is why didn't this

489
00:40:44.320 --> 00:40:50.519
happen before with the other victims.
Why was this happening now? There has

490
00:40:50.559 --> 00:40:53.400
to be a reason for it.
Was there a new vampire lord attempting to

491
00:40:53.440 --> 00:40:59.400
make a nest in this town?
How does the superpowered angle figure into it?

492
00:40:59.519 --> 00:41:04.639
Was someone or worse something creating a
vampire super hybrid? What in the

493
00:41:04.679 --> 00:41:08.880
hell was happening in Hope Springs,
New York. I laid down in the

494
00:41:08.880 --> 00:41:14.719
hotel's uncomfortable bed and put my head
down on the pillow and felt every bump

495
00:41:14.760 --> 00:41:19.519
and bruise from today's encounter. My
wounds would heal by morning, but still,

496
00:41:20.280 --> 00:41:22.559
that old lady tossed me around pretty
good. And if I hadn't gotten

497
00:41:22.559 --> 00:41:27.679
a lucky break, I'm sure she'd
be picking me out of her fangs right

498
00:41:27.719 --> 00:41:32.920
now. I could have died today. I got lucky, or I got

499
00:41:32.960 --> 00:41:38.400
sloppy. Drifting off to a strange
and unusual sleep, I passed out and

500
00:41:38.480 --> 00:41:45.159
had nightmares all night. The following
morning, I was awakened by my phone

501
00:41:45.239 --> 00:41:49.519
ringing off the hook and about thirty
missed calls. I tried to get my

502
00:41:49.599 --> 00:41:52.800
eyes to focus on the tiny screen
and see who had called. It was

503
00:41:52.880 --> 00:41:58.599
Rheanne. I called her back,
and immediately I knew something was wrong from

504
00:41:58.599 --> 00:42:01.119
the second she answered the other line. Where the hell have you been?

505
00:42:01.800 --> 00:42:05.360
I've been trying to call you all
night? Are you okay? Are you

506
00:42:05.440 --> 00:42:08.840
all right? What the hell happened
to you? I tried to sound cool

507
00:42:08.920 --> 00:42:13.320
and brave, but I get the
feelings she wasn't in the mood for my

508
00:42:13.519 --> 00:42:17.920
particular brand of humor. Well,
I went to the morgue to see a

509
00:42:17.960 --> 00:42:22.960
corpse and got jumped by three of
them instead. She exhaled loudly. I

510
00:42:23.000 --> 00:42:28.360
could tell it was a mix between
frustration and relief. Are you okay,

511
00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:31.599
Quinn? Talk to me? Rhanne's
voice had this thing in it that made

512
00:42:31.639 --> 00:42:36.719
you want to confess what you were
really feeling, especially when you didn't want

513
00:42:36.760 --> 00:42:42.840
to. Honestly, No, I'm
not. Something is pretty fucked up here

514
00:42:42.840 --> 00:42:45.880
in upstate New York. One of
those things almost got the best of me.

515
00:42:46.480 --> 00:42:52.559
I've never fought anything like them before. Something is very, very wrong

516
00:42:52.599 --> 00:42:55.719
here, Caroline if I'd known,
I would have never sent you there in

517
00:42:55.719 --> 00:43:00.679
the first place. She was sorry
beyond words, and part of me could

518
00:43:00.679 --> 00:43:04.480
hear that she was on the verge
of crying, almost like I could feel

519
00:43:04.480 --> 00:43:07.639
her lip tremble on the phone.
I know you had no clue. I'm

520
00:43:07.679 --> 00:43:12.400
waiting on the call from the department
on what we're going to do next.

521
00:43:13.119 --> 00:43:16.480
I don't have a good feeling about
this. I'm legitimately worried what this could

522
00:43:16.519 --> 00:43:21.880
all mean. On one hand,
I had always quietly suspected that the paranormal

523
00:43:21.960 --> 00:43:25.920
war was escalating on some level.
I was living proof that hybrids of some

524
00:43:27.159 --> 00:43:31.280
type were possible, even if we
don't know exactly what I was. There

525
00:43:31.280 --> 00:43:37.000
were other troubleshooters who were a mix
of paranormal and superpowered, but were remarkably

526
00:43:37.079 --> 00:43:43.679
few in numbers, like less than
fifty identified across the entirety of North America.

527
00:43:45.039 --> 00:43:49.239
I should let you rest, but
Caroline, you be careful out there.

528
00:43:49.679 --> 00:43:52.920
I know you think you're invincible and
like nothing can hurt you. But

529
00:43:52.159 --> 00:43:55.719
you're human, like the rest of
us, know when to run. Okay,

530
00:43:58.000 --> 00:44:00.760
she said, I was human.
There are days I wish I was.

531
00:44:01.679 --> 00:44:07.559
I'm not human. I don't know
what I am honestly, I will

532
00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:10.119
look when I get back to the
city. Why don't we get together and

533
00:44:10.159 --> 00:44:15.480
maybe get dinner in a movie like
old times? I'd like that. I'll

534
00:44:15.480 --> 00:44:19.960
talk to you soon, Quinn.
She paused for a second, and I

535
00:44:19.960 --> 00:44:23.800
could tell she stopped herself from saying
something more before she hung up the phone.

536
00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:30.159
I love you too. I sat
in the hotel room and stared at

537
00:44:30.199 --> 00:44:35.239
the peeling wallpaper and was just alone
with my thoughts. What am I going

538
00:44:35.280 --> 00:44:38.519
to do? How am I going
to do it? I finally asked myself

539
00:44:38.519 --> 00:44:44.000
the hard question of the day.
How many people are going to die?

540
00:44:45.239 --> 00:44:49.760
The phone rang again. I wanted
it to be Rheanne and for her to

541
00:44:49.800 --> 00:44:52.159
talk me out of this assignment and
to come back to New York, and

542
00:44:52.159 --> 00:44:57.559
for her to convince me to leave
this world behind and run. It wasn't

543
00:44:57.639 --> 00:45:01.119
Rhianne. It was the Department,
and it was the secured line that you

544
00:45:01.320 --> 00:45:07.400
never wanted to call you directly,
Director James Carlson, Department of Paranormal Resources,

545
00:45:07.880 --> 00:45:12.519
the guy whose desk issues the orders, and the guy who could sign

546
00:45:12.599 --> 00:45:16.639
your death warrant should the need arise. This was about to turn my Halloween

547
00:45:16.760 --> 00:45:22.599
into a fucking horror show. Agent
Quinn, the situation has changed. We're

548
00:45:22.639 --> 00:45:27.320
preparing to activate the Cradle of Liberty
protocol in the city of Hope Springs.

549
00:45:27.760 --> 00:45:30.679
Assets will be on the scene within
the next hour. My orders, sir,

550
00:45:31.519 --> 00:45:36.360
Megaton and Phase will be on scene
and the Hammer and Carpenter teams will

551
00:45:36.360 --> 00:45:39.440
support them. You coordinate with the
other gifted on scene. I want that

552
00:45:39.519 --> 00:45:44.119
nest burned to the ground. Burn
the city to the ground if you have

553
00:45:44.199 --> 00:45:50.480
to, sir, what about the
civilians? Like I said, the situation

554
00:45:50.599 --> 00:45:55.400
has changed, consider all civilians as
hostile. What in the fuck did he

555
00:45:55.559 --> 00:46:00.159
just say? Were they really going
to activate the Cradle of Liberty protocol?

556
00:46:00.639 --> 00:46:05.639
What the hell did they even mean? The line went dead and a text

557
00:46:05.719 --> 00:46:10.440
message appeared with a set of coordinates
and a timestamp of one hour. Oh

558
00:46:10.599 --> 00:46:15.840
fuck, this was it, wasn't
it. The paranormal war just escalated.

559
00:46:16.480 --> 00:46:20.800
An hour later, I was at
the arranged meeting place and the air was

560
00:46:20.880 --> 00:46:24.880
grim. It was a small farmhouse
that had been requisitioned for use as a

561
00:46:24.920 --> 00:46:31.440
staging area. Soldiers, heavy equipment, and helicopters and the Supers showed up.

562
00:46:32.159 --> 00:46:37.199
Before the world changed fifty years ago, superheroes wore colorful costumes and capes

563
00:46:37.519 --> 00:46:43.119
and were larger than life and existed
purely as fiction. Now, in the

564
00:46:43.159 --> 00:46:46.920
time of Kevlar, synthetic fabrics and
utility ruled the day, and it was

565
00:46:47.039 --> 00:46:52.920
less tights and spandex and more tactical
gear with a few colorful adornments. A

566
00:46:52.920 --> 00:46:58.599
few of the more outlandish supers wore
stuff that people only wore at Halloween,

567
00:46:59.119 --> 00:47:04.800
but most were about their abilities.
It should be noted that very few people

568
00:47:04.840 --> 00:47:08.639
can successfully pull off wearing a cape
and actually have it look cool. A

569
00:47:08.679 --> 00:47:13.039
group of about twelve of us stood
by the barn and watched as a man

570
00:47:13.159 --> 00:47:19.480
descended from the sky with a purple
cape billowing behind him very dramatically. Megaton

571
00:47:19.599 --> 00:47:22.760
always knew he had to make an
entrance and always made sure that you knew

572
00:47:22.880 --> 00:47:28.360
he was on the scene, and
that he was the best and brightest of

573
00:47:28.400 --> 00:47:31.920
all the gifted world. I didn't
care for him, but I couldn't deny

574
00:47:32.039 --> 00:47:37.719
how powerful he was. Strong,
tougher than me, and a unique ability

575
00:47:37.760 --> 00:47:44.159
to repel the force used against him. Oh and he could also fly a

576
00:47:44.199 --> 00:47:49.039
shimmering red light beside him. As
Megaton landed and from a glowing red portal

577
00:47:49.119 --> 00:47:54.440
stepped Phase, the woman known as
Phase, whose gifts allowed her limited teleportation

578
00:47:54.960 --> 00:48:01.119
and energy manipulation. She was a
real showstopper, but young and often reckless

579
00:48:01.480 --> 00:48:07.840
when she was in combat against paranormal
threats. The Supers were fine fighting against

580
00:48:07.840 --> 00:48:13.760
other gifted and villains like Hurricane and
Dread, but paranormal entities were a different

581
00:48:13.800 --> 00:48:17.599
breed. The last super to arrive
pulled up on a tricked out motorcycle.

582
00:48:19.280 --> 00:48:23.519
He was a combat expert known as
Mnemonic. His ability was to learn in

583
00:48:23.559 --> 00:48:29.559
a new, instantaneous manner, and
he used his abilities to learn all sorts

584
00:48:29.599 --> 00:48:32.519
of martial arts and weaponry. He
was a show off, but let me

585
00:48:32.559 --> 00:48:39.000
tell you he was the best shot
likely on the entire planet Earth. While

586
00:48:39.039 --> 00:48:43.519
all of us were here now and
it was time to get to work,

587
00:48:44.119 --> 00:48:50.199
the team leader for Hammer and Carpenter
Squad stepped forward, typical military bravado and

588
00:48:50.320 --> 00:48:55.719
swagger that depended on superior firepower and
overwhelming numbers. Trust me, I've seen

589
00:48:55.760 --> 00:49:00.199
this movie before and it never ends
well for the guys with the goun But

590
00:49:00.400 --> 00:49:06.880
this is the hand we've been dealt. Captain Tony King and Lieutenant Tanya Dante

591
00:49:07.639 --> 00:49:12.719
they nicknamed these two TNT and for
good reason, a lot of shit tended

592
00:49:12.760 --> 00:49:16.159
to blow up in their presence.
Okay, we have a good, actionable

593
00:49:16.199 --> 00:49:22.039
intelligence and we're going to act on
it immediately. Hope Spring's retirement community is

594
00:49:22.079 --> 00:49:25.079
a vampire nest and is about to
be as infested as a place can get.

595
00:49:25.760 --> 00:49:30.639
Think of a goddamn cockroach infestation,
and you've got a pretty good idea

596
00:49:30.679 --> 00:49:34.480
of what we're up against. We
do have an advantage. The vamps are

597
00:49:34.519 --> 00:49:37.719
new, inexperienced, and still not
used to their powers. This means the

598
00:49:37.760 --> 00:49:43.199
new staff from the Pentagon should make
short work of them. Our significant threat

599
00:49:43.280 --> 00:49:47.039
has been identified as a new hybrid
type vampire lord. We believe it to

600
00:49:47.039 --> 00:49:52.039
be an individual named Terry Fisher.
We know how strong they can be,

601
00:49:52.519 --> 00:49:55.280
but this new lord seems to only
be recruiting from the weak and feeble,

602
00:49:55.800 --> 00:50:00.440
so not exactly fighting the Russians or
the North Koreans. Here, Dante said

603
00:50:00.519 --> 00:50:04.719
matter of factly, as she laid
out the information for all of us.

604
00:50:05.559 --> 00:50:09.519
Captain King stepped forward and pointed to
the group of about twelve soldiers behind him

605
00:50:09.880 --> 00:50:15.280
and gestured toward their weapons. We
have state of the art fire power and

606
00:50:15.400 --> 00:50:19.639
enough ammunition to shoot at anything that
moves. We have enhanced fire support in

607
00:50:19.719 --> 00:50:23.480
terms of a troubleshooter and their superpowered
allies. There is no reason we can't

608
00:50:23.480 --> 00:50:27.920
wrap this up by morning and be
home for breakfast. I'd like to go

609
00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:32.199
get a grand Slam at Denny's afterwards. So who's with me? I sighed?

610
00:50:32.800 --> 00:50:37.599
I was surrounded by overconfidence and itchy
trigger fingers and show offs with superpowers.

611
00:50:38.440 --> 00:50:42.559
Is it too late to go work
at Applebee's. I looked at the

612
00:50:42.599 --> 00:50:47.000
assembled superpowered individuals and approached them and
tried to be as friendly as I could.

613
00:50:47.679 --> 00:50:52.360
I worked with Megaton and Fays before
in Boston, but I'd never worked

614
00:50:52.360 --> 00:50:55.559
with Mnemonic. I don't like going
into a combat situation with people I don't

615
00:50:55.599 --> 00:51:00.239
trust, and especially people who had
declined to help when their country needed them.

616
00:51:00.519 --> 00:51:04.960
I told them what happened this morning
at the Morgue, and they laughed

617
00:51:04.960 --> 00:51:08.880
at me. They wanted to know
how the great Agent Caroline Quinn could get

618
00:51:08.880 --> 00:51:13.880
her ass kicked by an old man
and a few ladies from Bingo. I

619
00:51:13.960 --> 00:51:19.280
told them to take this seriously.
This wasn't your usual bloodsucker. They didn't

620
00:51:19.280 --> 00:51:22.440
want to hear it. They laughed
it off and said it would be easy.

621
00:51:22.599 --> 00:51:28.440
I remember how Boston happened, and
Megaton and Phase should have too.

622
00:51:28.719 --> 00:51:31.800
King and Dante barked orders across the
staging area for everyone to get ready.

623
00:51:32.079 --> 00:51:37.360
As we were wheels up in five
minutes and got on board of the choppers.

624
00:51:37.719 --> 00:51:40.960
I went and got my gear loaded
up and enhanced protective vest, my

625
00:51:42.039 --> 00:51:45.679
trustee baby Jane, and a few
of the UV grenades. I guess we

626
00:51:45.679 --> 00:51:50.320
were as ready as we were gonna
be. This was gonna be bad,

627
00:51:51.039 --> 00:51:57.559
wasn't it? More scares to come? Weekly spooky? We'll be right back.

628
00:52:04.920 --> 00:52:08.559
As the helicopters flew over Hope Springs, it was kind of pretty in

629
00:52:08.639 --> 00:52:14.119
a sense. It was Halloween night
and trick or treaters could be seen walking

630
00:52:14.199 --> 00:52:19.159
down the streets with their parents or
friends. This town had no idea what

631
00:52:19.320 --> 00:52:22.360
was happening in it. You could
almost feel the sense of fun and joy

632
00:52:22.400 --> 00:52:27.239
that people were having. I wish
I didn't have to bring hell to this

633
00:52:27.320 --> 00:52:31.679
little place, but it can't be
helped. The two aircraft cut through the

634
00:52:31.760 --> 00:52:37.639
night sky and headed towards the retirement
home and presumably where this was going to

635
00:52:37.800 --> 00:52:42.599
end. I glanced out the side
door and saw Megaton keeping pace with us.

636
00:52:43.239 --> 00:52:49.079
Megaton still had that stupid, overconfident
smile on his face. One of

637
00:52:49.079 --> 00:52:52.800
the things I learned very early on
in my career was never underestimate your enemy,

638
00:52:53.440 --> 00:52:59.119
no matter how weak they appear.
An enemy is most dangerous when they

639
00:52:59.119 --> 00:53:04.079
are cornered, and especially when they're
on their own turf. We started to

640
00:53:04.119 --> 00:53:07.000
begin our descent onto the lawn of
the retirement home, which was a two

641
00:53:07.079 --> 00:53:13.360
story structure that looked like it was
built fairly recently. It looked super modern

642
00:53:13.400 --> 00:53:15.760
and almost out of place for a
town that looks like it was taken out

643
00:53:15.760 --> 00:53:22.039
of a postcard advertising for rural charm. Captain King slid the side door open

644
00:53:22.079 --> 00:53:27.400
of the helicopter and looked back at
all of us in his command and patted

645
00:53:27.400 --> 00:53:32.039
his weapon. Okay, kids,
it's time to visit Grandpa, he cheered,

646
00:53:32.079 --> 00:53:37.519
as he pulled down his night vision
goggles above his eyes. No sooner

647
00:53:37.559 --> 00:53:43.679
did the words leave his mouth,
things began to go immediately wrong. King

648
00:53:43.840 --> 00:53:46.760
was yanked out of the door and
thrown screaming towards the ground by an unseen

649
00:53:46.800 --> 00:53:52.199
assailant. Everyone couldn't comprehend what just
happened to the hammer squad commander, and

650
00:53:52.320 --> 00:53:59.960
everyone's jaw was just hanging open.
Panic was not unlike fire. When panic

651
00:54:00.119 --> 00:54:05.440
spreads uncontrolled, it spreads fast,
just like a forest blaze. Suddenly,

652
00:54:05.480 --> 00:54:08.880
without warning, the helicopter lurched forward
and pitched itself towards the ground in an

653
00:54:08.880 --> 00:54:14.159
out of control spiral. Soldiers fell
out of the open hatch door and tumbled

654
00:54:14.159 --> 00:54:17.159
to their deaths. You are not
surviving that kind of a fall, with

655
00:54:17.280 --> 00:54:22.159
that kind of force. I held
onto my seat as best I could and

656
00:54:22.239 --> 00:54:28.039
tried to unlatch my safety harness.
I kneaded out fast. We smashed into

657
00:54:28.039 --> 00:54:31.840
the ground hard and glass and metal
flew everywhere as the helicopters split apart from

658
00:54:31.880 --> 00:54:37.719
the impact, Fire and small explosions
happened all around us as we skidded across

659
00:54:37.760 --> 00:54:42.679
the lawn and finally came to a
stop when we hit the entranceway of the

660
00:54:42.679 --> 00:54:49.159
structure. My safety harness and enhanced
our ability probably kept me alive. Probably

661
00:54:50.199 --> 00:54:52.880
everyone else was not so lucky.
The other soldiers who were still in their

662
00:54:52.880 --> 00:54:58.239
seats did not survive the crash.
One of them seemed to have caught shrapnel

663
00:54:58.280 --> 00:55:00.599
to the face and neck, the
the other had her neck snapped by the

664
00:55:00.599 --> 00:55:06.039
force of the crash, and another
soldier whose face I couldn't see, had

665
00:55:06.079 --> 00:55:09.800
been messily disemboweled by a piece of
debris. I could hear the other craft

666
00:55:09.880 --> 00:55:15.400
land safely, and then I heard
the sounds of gunfire outside and people screaming

667
00:55:16.559 --> 00:55:21.559
time to go. I escaped my
harness and the wreckage of the crash,

668
00:55:21.760 --> 00:55:25.320
and pushed my way out of the
shattered helicopter. The others had landed safely,

669
00:55:25.360 --> 00:55:30.320
but it didn't matter, as they
were completely surrounded by flying creatures,

670
00:55:30.599 --> 00:55:35.880
and they weren't shooting with any precision. They were shooting wildly and without thinking,

671
00:55:36.000 --> 00:55:39.440
except to empty their magazines at anything
that moved. If you can believe

672
00:55:39.480 --> 00:55:45.639
it, this is where things went
from bad to worse. Tanya Dante stood

673
00:55:45.760 --> 00:55:51.599
back to back with Mnemonic in an
attempt to keep some sense of combat awareness.

674
00:55:52.199 --> 00:55:54.559
The pair at least were shooting with
purpose and even hitting a few of

675
00:55:54.599 --> 00:56:00.000
the creatures in the air and potentially
even killing a few, but I could

676
00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.159
couldn't be sure from all the muzzle
flashes. Fall back, fall back,

677
00:56:04.199 --> 00:56:08.440
goddamn it, Dante yelled at anyone
who would listen. No sooner did she

678
00:56:08.559 --> 00:56:13.920
yell that something swooped out of the
sky and picked her up by her shoulders

679
00:56:13.960 --> 00:56:17.840
and carried her into the air.
The lieutenant wasn't going down without a fight,

680
00:56:17.880 --> 00:56:22.239
though, as she kept firing her
weapon. As she ascended into the

681
00:56:22.239 --> 00:56:27.880
sky with her captor, the monster
used its tremendous strength to throw her against

682
00:56:27.880 --> 00:56:35.719
a second story building wall with enough
force to shatter concrete. Mnemonic looked at

683
00:56:35.719 --> 00:56:39.239
me in utter terror and started to
run away from the fight. He didn't

684
00:56:39.280 --> 00:56:44.639
make it fifty feet before he was
swarmed. The creatures tore the poor hero

685
00:56:44.800 --> 00:56:49.320
to pieces within seconds, and fountains
of blood spewed from what remained of his

686
00:56:49.440 --> 00:56:55.199
body. That's enough, A powerful
voice echoed across the battlefield, and for

687
00:56:55.239 --> 00:57:01.559
a second, everyone stopped fighting and
shooting, and all eyes focused in that

688
00:57:01.679 --> 00:57:07.480
direction. A person in medical scrubs
emerged from behind the crashed helicopter near the

689
00:57:07.679 --> 00:57:13.679
entrance and started walking towards the center
of all of us. The shimmering light

690
00:57:13.760 --> 00:57:19.079
distortion appeared beside this new stranger,
and FaZe stepped out and started to engage

691
00:57:19.119 --> 00:57:23.719
in hand to hand combat with his
new enemy. She started kicking and punching

692
00:57:24.079 --> 00:57:30.920
with her attacks enhanced with her bioelectric
energy, and while spectacular looking, it

693
00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:35.559
didn't seem to hurt this person at
all. They just kept walking towards the

694
00:57:35.599 --> 00:57:42.719
middle of the battleground. They kept
walking towards me. Stand still, fucker.

695
00:57:43.679 --> 00:57:46.119
Fase yelled as she kept up,
but none of her attacks seemed to

696
00:57:46.159 --> 00:57:51.480
affect them. Finally, enough light
was present that I could get a good

697
00:57:51.519 --> 00:57:54.679
look at this person in the scrubs. It was a man in his early

698
00:57:54.800 --> 00:58:00.599
twenties or maybe mid twenties at most. He walked with a stride and purpose

699
00:58:00.679 --> 00:58:07.280
that someone who knows their untouchable does. Fase stood in front of him and

700
00:58:07.320 --> 00:58:13.079
cupped her hands together and thrust them
forward and hurled a huge bolt of blue,

701
00:58:13.159 --> 00:58:16.800
crackling lightning. The discharge filled the
air with so much power that I

702
00:58:16.840 --> 00:58:22.880
could feel my hair pick up on
a static charge. The man kept walking

703
00:58:22.920 --> 00:58:29.320
past Phase and towards me. I
said stop. Fase teleported right in front

704
00:58:29.320 --> 00:58:34.159
of him and attempted to stand in
his way, and just as she rematerialized,

705
00:58:34.559 --> 00:58:38.599
the man grabbed her by the throat. No, the man snapped her

706
00:58:38.639 --> 00:58:45.159
neck and tossed her lifeless body to
the ground with a wet smack. Megaton

707
00:58:45.360 --> 00:58:50.559
chose his moment to dive bomb the
man from somewhere high above and create a

708
00:58:50.719 --> 00:58:55.280
huge impact crater. The two struggled
in exchanged blows while entangled in each other's

709
00:58:55.320 --> 00:59:00.239
limbs. Okay, maybe this will
make a difference. Maybe this is the

710
00:59:00.360 --> 00:59:05.880
edge we need. Megaton grabbed hold
of the man and flew straight up into

711
00:59:05.880 --> 00:59:09.400
the sky, out of sight,
and for a moment, everyone stopped again,

712
00:59:10.320 --> 00:59:17.119
absolutely transfixed by what happened. Vampire
and soldier alike just stood there and

713
00:59:17.199 --> 00:59:22.559
waited. You could hear a thunderous
clash of blows above us, high in

714
00:59:22.599 --> 00:59:28.559
the clouds, and it echoed so
loudly that the remaining glass near us vibrated

715
00:59:28.800 --> 00:59:34.760
and threatened to shatter. Megaton had
this guy on the ropes America. Fuck

716
00:59:34.880 --> 00:59:44.039
yeah, take that Dracula. Then
silence, thud. A body hit the

717
00:59:44.079 --> 00:59:49.639
ground with such impact that it exploded
and coated everything nearby in a shower of

718
00:59:49.679 --> 00:59:54.360
blood and gore. The gentle flapping
of leather wings carried upon the night wind.

719
00:59:55.199 --> 01:00:00.000
The man and the scrubs had transformed
into his monstrous and vicious vampire lord

720
01:00:00.079 --> 01:00:06.320
form. In his left hand,
he held what was left of Megaton's head.

721
01:00:07.199 --> 01:00:09.920
He smiled as he held it and
looked at me as he took a

722
01:00:09.960 --> 01:00:17.159
bite out of Megaton's face and chewed
on his flesh. Finish the others off.

723
01:00:19.039 --> 01:00:23.480
Leave this one to me, he
quietly whispered, and no sooner did

724
01:00:23.559 --> 01:00:30.239
those words leave his ashen gray lips
than the other soldiers fell silent as they

725
01:00:30.280 --> 01:00:36.000
too joined their friends as killed in
action. This is it, Caroline Quinn.

726
01:00:36.800 --> 01:00:40.480
This is where you die, Rhianne. I'm sorry I wasn't better to

727
01:00:40.519 --> 01:00:45.679
you. The menacing vampire lord flew
right down in front of me and stood

728
01:00:45.760 --> 01:00:52.119
up to his full hulking height and
towered above me. Jesus, this guy

729
01:00:52.320 --> 01:00:57.159
was huge. We share the same
blood, you and I. We're the

730
01:00:57.199 --> 01:01:02.360
next step in ascending what humanity can
be. We are better than the cattle

731
01:01:02.400 --> 01:01:07.039
around us. Great. Not only
am I gonna die here, but I

732
01:01:07.079 --> 01:01:13.480
have to listen to this dickhead monologue
before he kills me or something worse.

733
01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:20.760
Think Okay, okay, maybe that'll
work. A piece of the shredded helicopter

734
01:01:21.280 --> 01:01:24.679
about as long as a baseball bat
and sharp as hell. I can probably

735
01:01:24.760 --> 01:01:31.000
reach it if I can keep this
idiot talking and inching me backwards. How

736
01:01:31.000 --> 01:01:37.480
are we alike? Exactly? I'm
not exactly feeling the whole undead vibe or

737
01:01:37.920 --> 01:01:43.719
looking like something from a horror movie. Keep him talking. I've known about

738
01:01:43.760 --> 01:01:47.440
others like you for a long time. You aren't as special as you think.

739
01:01:49.000 --> 01:01:52.880
You're what was created long ago by
those who helped us escape the confinements

740
01:01:53.320 --> 01:01:59.599
of the void. Okay, I
have no fucking clue what this guy is

741
01:01:59.639 --> 01:02:04.800
talking about. I know who I
am and more or less where I came

742
01:02:04.840 --> 01:02:09.199
from. Right, I slowly back
up and keep my eye on a piece

743
01:02:09.199 --> 01:02:15.079
of shrapnel I'm hoping to turn into
a weapon. Void. Huh sounds like

744
01:02:15.119 --> 01:02:21.960
a nightclub. Your attempts at delaying
your fate are amusing, but it stops

745
01:02:22.000 --> 01:02:27.079
here. Join others like yourself and
take your place at the unholy throne at

746
01:02:27.079 --> 01:02:31.480
the head of humanity. Turn this
diseased world into a paradise for those wronged

747
01:02:31.559 --> 01:02:37.760
by that from above. I am
not getting into a religious debate with this

748
01:02:37.920 --> 01:02:43.440
goddamn monster. I stop and I
can feel my hand touch the hot steel

749
01:02:43.519 --> 01:02:47.960
of the shrapnel. You know what, I'm good. I grab the piece

750
01:02:49.000 --> 01:02:52.760
of metal like a sword and absolutely
throw all of my momentum into a forward

751
01:02:52.840 --> 01:02:59.079
swing at this thing's head. It
blocks the strike with its clawed hand.

752
01:03:00.119 --> 01:03:04.960
Oh shit, it gets a solid
grip on my left arm and breaks it

753
01:03:05.000 --> 01:03:08.679
at the wrist and throws me aside
roughly. I tumble toward the helicopter near

754
01:03:08.719 --> 01:03:15.360
the entranceway and skid right into the
doorframe. The vampire Lord continues advancing towards

755
01:03:15.400 --> 01:03:22.360
me. Okay, that didn't work. I quickly assessed my situation and I

756
01:03:22.400 --> 01:03:27.920
got one last hail Mary as it
were. Just inside the wreckage is one

757
01:03:27.920 --> 01:03:34.280
of the helicopter mounted weapons, and
it looks relatively intact despite its crash.

758
01:03:34.440 --> 01:03:38.480
The barrel appears to be fine,
and it seems spolled up to the magazine.

759
01:03:38.719 --> 01:03:43.840
I start crawling my way inside the
crash and try my best not to

760
01:03:43.880 --> 01:03:49.840
get burned by the dying fires.
You chose to hide like a coward rather

761
01:03:49.920 --> 01:03:54.880
than live as a god among mortals. Okay, it's time to shut the

762
01:03:54.920 --> 01:04:00.480
fuck up. I pull myself forward
and aim the mounted minigun out there ruined

763
01:04:00.480 --> 01:04:03.760
door and squeeze the triggers on both
sides of the weapon. It hums to

764
01:04:03.800 --> 01:04:09.480
life with an electric whirl as it
begins to spin its rotating barrels. This

765
01:04:09.639 --> 01:04:15.320
mini gun fires more of the enhanced
AMMO except its seven point six y two,

766
01:04:15.360 --> 01:04:19.159
which means that our vampire Lord friend
pretty much liquefies when I hit him

767
01:04:19.199 --> 01:04:25.440
with hundreds of rounds, if not
thousands of rounds per minute. He doesn't

768
01:04:25.480 --> 01:04:30.119
even have a chance to look surprised
before I completely turn him into paste.

769
01:04:30.239 --> 01:04:34.960
There isn't much left of him besides
a pair of shoes, and I'm totally

770
01:04:35.000 --> 01:04:40.800
okay with that. Silence fills the
air once again as soon as I stop

771
01:04:40.880 --> 01:04:46.039
firing and the barrels wind down as
the electric motor disengages, I one.

772
01:04:47.280 --> 01:04:51.880
I take myself outside of the ruined
chopper and back outside into the night once

773
01:04:51.920 --> 01:04:58.719
again. I stand up and cradle
my broken wrist and notice a distinct lack

774
01:04:58.840 --> 01:05:03.119
of undead in my immediate area.
I fiddle inside my vest and look for

775
01:05:03.239 --> 01:05:09.599
my phone and call in to Director
Carlson, Agent Quinn. Here, operation

776
01:05:09.719 --> 01:05:15.079
to success. Vampire Lord eliminated,
the other vampires escaped, My team is

777
01:05:15.119 --> 01:05:21.400
gone. Everyone is gone, Megaton
phase mnemonic, everyone except me. This

778
01:05:21.599 --> 01:05:28.639
wasn't a success, not by a
long shot. Understood beginning Cradle of Liberty

779
01:05:28.679 --> 01:05:31.880
protocol, your country, thanks you
for your service, Agent Quinn. Wait

780
01:05:31.960 --> 01:05:38.519
what total elimination of the target zone
in fifteen minutes, goodbye, Agent Quinn.

781
01:05:39.679 --> 01:05:43.079
The line went dead, and so
did every light in the city,

782
01:05:43.719 --> 01:05:47.800
and it was darkness and the sound
of something sinister in the evening air.

783
01:05:49.480 --> 01:05:55.960
This was not my idea of a
Halloween prank. This is definitely not a

784
01:05:56.000 --> 01:06:02.079
treat. This had to be a
trick, right, This was not worth

785
01:06:02.119 --> 01:06:13.719
two weeks of vacation. Will Caroline
Quinn survive and what would be left of

786
01:06:13.800 --> 01:06:17.440
her? Well you might find out
if you stick around here at Weekly Spooky,

787
01:06:17.519 --> 01:06:21.840
So make sure you click subscribe.
You don't want to miss what's coming

788
01:06:23.159 --> 01:06:27.239
in the near future. And we
have a whole lot of interesting stuff planned

789
01:06:27.800 --> 01:06:33.119
for November and especially December. Cryptmas
is all about holiday fear, and we'll

790
01:06:33.159 --> 01:06:39.199
make sure to bring it in spades
if you stick around with us. It's

791
01:06:39.239 --> 01:06:43.119
been very special to have so many
people tune into Weekly Spooky. I know

792
01:06:43.199 --> 01:06:47.039
I keep mentioning be subscribed, but
it's the truth because so many of you

793
01:06:47.079 --> 01:06:50.320
have joined us for the first time, and we hope you'll stick around and

794
01:06:50.480 --> 01:06:55.719
enjoy what we cook up All year
long. We've done over two hundred episodes

795
01:06:55.760 --> 01:07:00.400
and I really have no intention of
stopping. So as long as you're out

796
01:07:00.440 --> 01:07:04.480
there listening, well, then I
can't stop and I won't stop. And

797
01:07:04.519 --> 01:07:09.360
if you want to support us in
a very direct way because you just can't

798
01:07:09.400 --> 01:07:14.320
get enough of the spooky, why
not head to Weeklyspooky dot com and click

799
01:07:14.360 --> 01:07:17.360
on Patreon. For as little as
one dollar a month, you can guarantee

800
01:07:17.719 --> 01:07:21.559
that the Spooky is always coming on
the weekly. And speaking of which,

801
01:07:21.599 --> 01:07:26.320
I want to say an extra special
thank you to our Patreon podcast boosters,

802
01:07:26.440 --> 01:07:29.440
folks who pay just a little bit
more to hear their names at the end

803
01:07:29.480 --> 01:07:32.880
of the show. And they are
Johnny Nicks, bobotopia dot com, Megan

804
01:07:33.000 --> 01:07:38.239
Hua, Julia Kirsh, Brent mccallaugh, Steve King, Karen Wee, met

805
01:07:38.360 --> 01:07:41.119
Jack Kerr, and Craig co And
thank you all so much. And if

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01:07:41.159 --> 01:07:44.840
you want to join that list,
head over to Weeklyspooky dot com, click

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01:07:44.880 --> 01:07:48.960
on Patreon and select any tier at
fifteen dollars a month or higher. It

808
01:07:49.039 --> 01:07:55.760
really does help a lot. Podcasting
is a tough gig sometimes and having an

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01:07:55.760 --> 01:08:01.159
audience behind you is literally everything.
Well, that and having a literal army

810
01:08:01.800 --> 01:08:05.599
of incredibly talented authors. And if
you want to submit a story, send

811
01:08:05.599 --> 01:08:09.920
it to Weeklyspooky at gmail dot com. You never know, we might just

812
01:08:10.000 --> 01:08:12.199
air it. But now I've got
to get out of here and get ready

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01:08:12.239 --> 01:08:15.360
for the next show. So for
myself, for my producer Dan Wilder,

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01:08:15.400 --> 01:08:18.560
for my executive producers Joshua Butler and
Rob Fields, and my composer Ray Mattis,

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01:08:18.880 --> 01:08:25.199
I'll talk at you tomorrow. Thank
you for listening. Make sure to

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01:08:25.279 --> 01:08:30.840
find your way back next week week. But for now you are safe,

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01:08:31.319 --> 01:08:32.359
trust me.