fire watch - episode 003 - The Delilah fire mystery

part 27 Paranoia

When it was day 112.
Tom and Delilah were in the tower, both of them were on high alert every sound scared them like the wind and the birds. Delilah was laying on Tom's bed writing on her laptop, she kept constantly looking out the window which was next to her, thinking at some point someone was going to be outside, she had no idea what she would do if there was someone out there so really wanted to stop however she couldn't help it constantly looking outside made her feel a little bit better. She had accepted at that point that the 'fun' had been taken out their little adventure to the forest but couldn't do anything about it. Tom was looking out to Oswin's tower with worry in his eyes. Tom turned around to Delilah asking "so, what are you writing about? Is it one of your stories?" she looked up "yeah, kind of, it's like a diary, in the future I can publish it as an amazing story, this will make a good story. It's kind of strange I used to write mysteries and now... I'm leaving it" Tom smiled "that's a cool idea, you could make a lot of money out of that" "yeah, I think so, if we ever actually get out of here and haven't been turned into scientists meat puppets" "I don't like how that sounds"
Suddenly they heard something.
It came from below them and immediately made both of them stop looking at each other with fear. Delilah frowned then whispered "what was that?" "I don't know" Tom whispered back "are we both paranoid and what we actually heard was a bird" Tom paused for a second then nodded "probably?" however that theory was torn apart when they heard slow footsteps coming from the trees, Delilah closed her laptop listening extremely closely for anything "well... maybe it's a camper who has decided to, you know... take some pictures or something like that, you know tourists" Tom frowned "maybe, but with everything that has been going on... I just don't know" they could still loud footsteps coming closer and closer to the tower from where they could hear them they wouldn't be able to look over the edge of the tower because they were too close. Delilah stood up "I have seen too much horror movies to just sit here" Delilah rushed over to Tom getting behind him for protection out of pure instinct "I'm such a pussy about this, but this is real life not films there are no heroes in real life, everyone is just scared. So, now I have hidden, what do we do now?" "I don't know, the only way off this tower is to go down the stairs which is where they are, we do have the high-ground though" Delilah looked at him "this isn't bloody Star Wars, high ground doesn't matter. Maybe they will take some photos and then leave" however to the horror of both of them they heard creeks beneath them. Delilah and Tom looked at each other as she whispered "oh fuck... yeah... err... that's, yeah that's footsteps, coming up the stairs. What do we do? What are we meant to do?" Tom turned to her "stay here please, and stay calm and quiet" Tom went to the kitchen area immediately looking at the knife holder removing the sharpest blade "anything is better than nothing at all" he opened the door trying to stay as quiet as possible. Delilah sat down on the bed looking terrified "please be careful" "I will, stay here no matter what happens" he went through the door then closed it, and started slowly going down the stairs. When he was halfway down he yelled like an army sergeant "who the fuck is climbing my tower! Come up with your hands up and no funny stuff! I hate comedians normally, especially one's trying to skin me for a pair of gloves and putting my head on the wall like a trophy!"
He went further down.
He held the knife behind him ready for anything, he really didn't want to have to stab someone but if it was to protect his daughter he was willing to do anything. When he was a little further down the stairs he felt his heart beating in his throat as he saw the last set of stairs went round the side of the tower, so he couldn't see who would be on the other side. He took a breath then rounded the corner to find Oswin, having only gone up 5 steps looking a little scared with her hands up in surrender "err, hey, sorry, I just thought I'd drop by and say hi, I figured I wouldn't use the radio could have been dangerous" Tom lowered the knife sighing with relief "you nearly gave me a heart attack then, you could have given us some warning, next time! Now we know someone is listening to us!" she nodded "yeah this does seem on me, but that's why I thought I shouldn't radio my arrival because then they'd know I'm here, the last they know about us the better in my mind, we need to talk" Tom nodded in agreement "yeah that's pretty smart the less they know the better I feel, now we better get back up there, I don't like being down here" "yeah nor me"
They went upstairs together.
As they went, Tom said "well that is assuming they aren't watching us right now, it seems perfectly possible, if they could hack our radios they can definitely watch us. Sorry about the knife by the way" Oswin shook her head "don't worry about it, your tower is really high up, so you probably couldn't see it was me" "exactly" "you can never be too careful these days with everything going on" Tom asked "how have you been holding up?" "Badly, I just feel so paranoid, I've never felt like this place was actively unsafe before. I was going to call the forest service to ask them what was going on, but they are probably in on this, and they would know we know about them and then what, they would make it even worse" "yeah they are definitely in on this, with the fence being there" "I did ask them about that before we found this out, but apparently they have nothing to do with this" "well they would say that wouldn't they" Oswin considered what he said "yeah that's actually fair enough, and they can't know we know, the moment they do" Tom cut her off "they'll come after us and that takes away my ability to protect Delilah" Oswin nodded "exactly, it's all about protection now"
When they got to the top.
Delilah looked up "oh, thank God, it's you" Oswin nodded "yeah don't panic it's me" Tom then remembered that when Delilah was stressed she liked to do something that many find strange, but he didn't, she likes to ask questions about things that don't make sense to her that sound funny in her head, and it was funny, that was exactly what she did “hey guys, do you ever wonder about the fact that light is the fastest thing known to man so how did the dark get there first?” Oswin laughed “no, I've never thought of that” “well, how about the fact that this paper is white because it reflects all light right?” she nodded “yeah” “and a mirror reflects all light right?” “Obviously” “then why don't they look the same?” “Well, that's because... I don't know actually, that's a good one” she always does this when she's stressed because it makes her laugh and makes everyone around her laugh it was a little odd however she had been doing it since she was a little girl and just never grew out of it.
After a few hours of talking.
Oswin declared “oh, by the way I have a job for you, well for us because I want to come with you. The girls at the lake a few weeks ago have completely gone missing. They left the area then came back in. Every ranger is looking for them to arrest them. Delilah you were probably the last person to have seen them. I know you hate them and so do I, however we need to go and find them, well their camps, I don't think we can find them if we do we won't be fighting them again” Delilah nodded "yeah, that was a one time thing and isn't like me at all" so they got ready and left walking towards where the camera last saw them, because then they can look around the area constantly looking around as they walked because although they were trying to distract themselves trying to do a job, it didn't mean they could forget about what had been going on. About an hour later, they got to the last place they were seen, and found their camp... well what was left of it. Oswin said “oh my God! What the fuck happened here!?” the camp was completely destroyed, their tent was ripped up, their alcohol was everywhere, their fire was still slightly lit, Tom went over to the tent “this is completely destroyed, and the girls are nowhere to be seen” they then saw a tape on the tent. They picked it up playing it in Delilah's tape player “hello there, Tom, Delilah and Oswin, how do you do? Don't worry the girls who have disappeared will turn up soon... Probably. It's been fun playing with you and I will continue playing with you because this is my game. I won't stop. My name is unimportant right now. I have made a few mistakes, but they actually made me who I am. By the way, I just think you should know I'm not the one testing you, I am listening to you, but so are others they'll find you one day like they did me... we'll be seeing each other soon” the tape ended, Delilah asked “who could this be?” Oswin shook her head “it could be literally anyone, but they are insane and listening to us through our radios and other people are to but not for much longer! This guy must be one of the test subjects, maybe he managed to get away from whoever did it, but that's what they wanted, I really don't know any more”