Maine's Dream Shoukan 1977

Ep. 6.1 | Welcome to Philades

00:20
Outpost Ernie, Saco Platoon, Philades

Staff Sergeant Donn trudged up the hill carrying loads of antennas and cables. As he installs them, he suddenly feels a sense of eerie creeping from one direction. In response, he looked for its sources and spotted something in the faint distance. Because of the darkness of the night, he was unable to verify them by just the illumination from the moonlight alone. He quickly grabbed his binoculars and immediately addressed his growing intrigue.

Through the scope. A supposed wild creature could be spotted approaching fast toward the hill via the reflection of its glowing eyes. To further confirm its sight, he went to a spotlight post and directed it toward its location.

There then dimly revealed a 6'5" tall monster on two legs with a face of a rotten deer skull. Its organs and muscle fibers are left hanging from the joint ends. Donn's face turned pale out of dread. He dropped everything and rushed to his gun, stumbled down onto the trench ground.

"Monroe, wake up! You gotta see this!" Monroe, as the only marksman in the platoon, is waken up by troubled Donn's shaking of his shoulder. In drowsiness, Monroe and 1stLT Winston, who was in the recent guard shift returned to the scene. By this time, the creature was now being much closer than previously seen. The Able could see it standing out without any tree covers among the grassy plain.

"This is some spooky shits, is this a fucking monster in the (American) Indian legends?" Monroe muttered. At 400 yards, he delicately aimed his brand new M40A1 sniper rifle, an improved version with a fiberglass stock. With the starlight night vision scope, he could see its disgusting appearance. It resembled Wendigo from the First Nations folklore.

(Shit is getting real here) He thought. What worried him was not the creepy looks emitting from the creature itself, but the fact that something cryptic like it existed here in Philades continent.

Carefully aligning his shot, he utilized specialized equipment designed to assist him. Weather indicators report a temperature of 29°F with 7mph gusts as he steadies himself, he holds his breath. Gently squeezes the trigger, the 7.62x51mm NATO round speeds to its mark, piercing the deer's heart. The impact caused the creature to collapse, convulsing in its final moments. To ensure a guaranteed kill, another round is fired. This time it hit the deer's forehead to its skull, concreted the success of his kill.

With the help of the SIONICS suppressor, clean quiet shots were placed accordingly. The three men found themselves trapped by their anxiety in a faring standoff with a lifeless monster. It was a pause of all action that they completely stood still to continue observing it to an extent.

Helmson as he rose from the blanket, lightly tabbed the cassette player that was playing to an end. Suspected of their actions, the Captain brought himself joining the scene.

"Why the gun?" He asked in the discovery of their strange behavior.

"We got a freak creeping on our back... We're not sure if it is completely dead yet." Winston replied. The LT switched on his big-as-brick night vision camera, scanning around the horizon to find any remaining movement in the dark.

He heaved a sigh of relief after a while as they were reassured by the safety of the situation. With little hesitation, a group of three men, consisting of Helmson, Donn, and TSgt Rizaldi, descended the hill to inspect the fallen corpse, while the rest of the platoon remained on post, alarmingly watching the group move away. Upon reaching the location, they quickly surrounded it. Numerous questions arose in their minds; the first impression of this unexplored land was much worse than what they had expected.

"Is this just the only one here?" Helmson asked staring back into Rizaldi's soul out of uneasiness from the recent situation. Winston brought up his camera photographed it, and attached it as evidence in his record.

Rizaldi gazed back with his eyes, he spent some time silently with himself before answering. "Possibly, Captain. But for it to be coming out from the forest and run across the valley's floor toward this hill... specifically, is unnerving. I can not image any non-cognitive animals capable of detecting us."

The implication from Rizaldi does hold its validity to many degrees. Helmson is troubled greatly since environmental abnormalities could potentially affect his mission to be altered indistinguishable from recently planned. Furthermore, uncertainty is what he disliked the most.

—-

Helmson inserted the key for KY-57 secure voice into the manpack radio which its cables could be traced connected to the antenna pointing up on the top of the hill next to the LZ. Tuning to the right setup of cipher and frequency as instructed, he began to speak after checking the connection status.

"Saco-P to Bronze, we got incident here... Uhm, Type Black, urgent... Can I dial in with the Director?"

His impetuous mind stretched from seconds to feel like minutes. After a long pause, the Operation Management replied in slightly distorted noises. "Type Black, urgent. You are confirmed?"

"Positive."

"Understood, Captain. We're getting him on."

The radio crackled to life, "Captain Helmson, what's the matter?" said the Director.

Helmson began to recount his memoirs of the unsettling events, describing the creature, and the implications it posed for their mission in Philades. The Director listened intently, occasionally interjecting with probing questions. To him, the news of beyond normal existence of magical elements is not unfamiliar, as the US has been dealing with them throughout various incidents that occurred after the transition.

"I could foresee it, but I didn't think it would be this... bad." The Director commented in a concerned tone.

"This is beyond just my jurisdiction alone. I will consult with the higher-ups. Until then, restrict your action to only observation duty."

"Copy clear," Helmson replied before putting down the headset.