The Copy: Project 863

My new job

As I drove to work in my not-my -car, I realized what I was getting into. If the server was just destroyed, then the writing would come next. The writing gave me an anxiety attack just watching the videos, but seeing it in person? I'm not ready for this. Thoughts of, "why me?' And things like that entered my mind. What's so special about me? What is Deb thinking? The world may never know the answer to that last one.

I parked my car and stepped out, seeing Tanner. He seemed to be the only one here except for myself and Sam who I knew would be inside.

Once I was inside my heart stopped, my breath caught. I was right. It was worse in person, way worse. I forced a laugh, pretending as if I thought this was all a prank. But I really couldn't convince myself of that. Tanner was talking to Sam, while I was left staring at the writing.  "Can u keep a secret?" 

"Hey, Olivia" Sam touched my arm, making me jump.

"Huh?" I responded, still dumbfounded by what I saw.

"This isn't all I found"

"Stop! No!" Tanner exclaimed, still laughing as if this was some kind of sick joke. 

We walked up the stairs being led my Sam, who turned around the corner once she got to the top. Tanner stopped in his tracks once he saw what was there. I did so as well once I saw it, the same panic attack as before. Tanner was in disbelief. 

"What!?" He laughed.

"I haven't even gone into my office yet!" Sam complained. I couldn't blame her, it was right here, in front of her office.

"UR not listening. Why is it "UR" what is this like a zoomer or something?" I laughed at Tanner's joke. He was trying to make the mood light, and I'll admit, it did help. "That is haunting." Bringing the mood back down.

"Can you go into the headquarters?" Sam asked, clearly not wanting to go in herself.

Tanner and I walked towards the door, Sam staying noticeably behind. Tanner opened the door, and to my relief, there was nothing.

"Sam?" It was Matt's voice. It wasn't Matt though. I wanted to tell them so much, but Deb told me not to tell them anything of what's to come. Although, the more I'm here, the more I'm starting to forget what happens.

"Did you guys do this?"No, you did. I wanted to shake him, get his memory back.

They continued talking about thinking it was a prank, turning it on Sam, nervous laughing, the norm. When Sam told Matt that there was more, Matt wouldn't believe it. Though, how could you? I hardly believed any of this was happening. Maybe I was in some lucid feeling dream. But some part of me knew that none of this was fake.

The disbelief, the faked surprise. Every time Matt said something, it made me sick. Knowing that we were all getting tricked, yet not saying anything. 

"This is upsetting, and I thought we were done with this, I-" And the classic "IDK" Matt face. 

"We can deal with this later," Sam started, "Yeah, let's save the blood writing on the wall for later!" Tanner finished, jokingly.

They continued talking. I was closer to the wall then the rest of them. Sam made some sarcastic joke, causing Matt to laugh.

"Do we even know what this is?" I asked, the first time I've spoken in a while. I reached forward and touched the wall, but Tanner pulled my hand away. 

"Careful dude! We don't know what that is! It could be like, radioactive."

"Right, thanks."  I pulled my hand back but continued to look at the writing. It was, in all honesty, fascinating.

They all decided that after Matt's meeting, we would check out the other bases.

———————

I was working in my office on the newest video when I felt a touch on my shoulder. I jumped and turned around, only to find it was Woods.

"You scared me!" I laughed.

"Sorry. We're going to check out the other bases, I assume you know about the writings?"

"Yeah." I sighed. Why am I doing this?

Bailey and Woods had showed up. Apparently they had been theorizing about the writings while I had been working. Sam filled me in. Maybe Deb did it, there is a possibility that there are writings next to everyone working on 863. We were in Red Base, so we checked there first.  Woods and I hadn't payed any attention to the walls. 

We walked in, the lights were off. We turned around the corner when Sam turned on the lights. There was writing.

"See?!" Sam said in a excited tone, happy her theory was gaining some evidence. 

Help Me.

This was the most bone chilling of all. At this point, it wasn't aggressive, it was a cry. A plea for help. They continued theorizing, usually I could spend forever coming up with explanations for the confusing circumstances I was in. But too much had happened. We kept checking Red, we found nothing. We decided to look at cameras.