Run

When you see the signs don't confuse yourself as being one of the lucky ones. Trust me, you're not. It's actually the complete opposite. If you ever see the signs it means you've been marked just like the rest of us. Now, its  going to follow you, no matter how far you run, no matter where you go. Seeing the signs might be  a warning, but so what? Just because you know its coming, doesn't mean you can ever escape it...

It started off as a subtle thing for me. I remember the bus was driving through the I-305 freeway. I was in a bit of a daze, half heatedly listening to the chatter around me. I wasn't feeling particularly social that day, so I put my earbuds trying to drown out the noise with my tunes. It was then that I noticed my first warning. If you've never been down he 305 freeway, let me explain one thing. That stretch of road is a real piece of shit. No one gives a damn about it especially not the city officials. It's in a complete state of disarray: potholes line the road, guardrails have been run through, lampposts are still outfitted with blown out bulbs and worst of all, graffiti is everywhere.

This might seem irrelevant, but trust me, it's not. When the warnings first came, it came to me in the form of graffiti. I had been staring out the window, eyes fixated on the lazy clouds hanging above. Something from the corner of my eye had caught my attention just then. I snapped my attention towards it, but now, I kind of wish I hadn't... One of splotches of graffiti on the wall had been moving. Crazy right? I couldn't believe what I was seeing either, not the first time at least. Anyway, the letters tagged on the wall began to reshape and rearrange themselves. It was the most surreal thing I had ever seen. If it wasn't for the bumper to bumper traffic, I might have missed the full transformation. To my horror, I saw the scribbles on the wall morph into one single word - Run.

I remember distinctly trying to ask if anyone else on the bus if they saw it. They didn't. People gave me shifty glances because of that, but I blew them off right quick, my attention turning back to the warning. It was still there and I was the only one on the bus who could see it. I tried playing it off, trying my best to shrug it off. Maybe it was just my eyes playing tricks on me, I mean, I was completely zoned out at the time. Things only got worse as the bus drove on. More pieces of graffiti began to alter before my eyes. Run! The word would appear time and again. With each pass, the message only grew larger, the writing more dire. I finally recognized it for what it was, someone or something was trying to warn me. But from what?

I was sure that I was going mad. I had to be, written words were literally changing before my eyes. I remember clenching my fists tight, trying to will away the crazy in my brain. That did nothing. I dug my nails into my skin, deeper and deeper, until I punctured flesh. I shook my head, I held my breath, I even stood up in a moving bus, just to be yelled at so sit back down. It didn't matter what I did, nothing stopped the warnings from coming.

It wasn't until we arrived at our destination that I finally saw it. My brain sort of locked up when I saw it and yours probably will too if it's your first encounter. How could it not? Anyway, the moment I locked eyes with its... glassy orbs, all eight of them, I knew it was looking straight at me. Slowly, like the spread of creeping moss, it began to shamble towards me. Every step it took, the light around it began to bend. I saw a video on YouTube about how light distorts around a black hole, it reminded me of that. Well, I didn't wait around to see what would happen next, I did exactly as I had been warned to and I ran.

All this time, the words had been prepping me to avoid that. Look, I can't even begin to describe what this thing is because I legitimately don't know how. I've tried to, believe me I have, but there's just no rationalizing what that thing is. Even some of the smarter ones in our little group can't figure it out so we just stopped bothering to. What we do know is that if we see certain signs spring up -drops in temperature, stillness in sound, a heaviness in the air- than its time to run.

I'm writing this and posting it on every platform I'm on. I don't give a crap if you're not one of the marked and you think I'm crazy. This message isn't for you. For those who have started seeing the signs I just shared, just know that you're not alone. There's others like you, dozens of us I think and we're all running for our lives. WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LET IT GET YOU!

This is going to sound crazy, all of this sounds crazy, but I saw what happens if it gets you. There was a girl in our group, her name was Petra. She was a smart girl, she figured that whoever was sending the messages was on our side. Why else would they warn us if they weren't? Aside from that, she was just a bright and incredibly sharp girl. Well, one night, we saw the signs starting to creep up. The air began to vibrate, our words became distorted and all the lights in the room flickered constantly. Instinctively, we grabbed our packs and began to book it. Not Petra though. She had had enough, said she just couldn't take it anymore. So she stayed put, standing solid as stone. Clay tried to persuade her, even tried to yank her with us. She refused to budge. In the end, when the final sign showed, dark twisted looking vines creeping up the walls, we knew it was time to go. Everyone ran, except for Petra and myself.

I watched from the edge of the room as the thing  grabbed Petra in one it's six appendages. They looked like an squids tentacle almost, but darker, a darker shade of black. They oozed some sort of mucus, wherever they flailed. Anyway, as soon as it wrapped Petra in it's grasp, I thought it was over for her. That she was as good as dead.

I wish that was what happened.

Little by little, I watched in horror as Petra's skin began to crack. Something black and twisted began to crawl out from her pores. I couldn't understand what was happening. None of it made sense! My body froze, too afraid to move, too stunned to speak. After a minute, the thing finished what it had set to do and then I realized just how bad the situation really was. It didn't kill Petra, it didn't eat her like Rosa originally assumed. It assimilated her. When it all was said and done, Petra was long gone, in her place, a duplicate monster stood. I no longer waited after that. I turned tail and ran as fast as my legs would take me, eventually linking up with my small group of survivors.

So if you're one of the marked and you're near the old armory by Maplebury, send me a DM. I've told you everything I know and now it's your turn to reach out to us. Look you're not alone in this nightmare. I can't give you an answer, I can't fix this problem and I sure as hell cant make it go away. But, at the very least, we have a plan. Whoever is sending us these messages knows what this thing is. We're going to find the out who's been reaching out to us, sending us the signs, because they're the only one who knows whats going on- whoever they are. And if we can't find this mystery person... well, at least we can run from this nightmare together.