Tales from the P.A.D.

RnB

One of life's defining traits is that it ends. We here at the P.A.D. have yet to encounter true immortality. We doubt it exists, but that is merely a tangential point. What many do not know is how often this fact of life is brought about by anomalies. We like to keep it that way. Much like with the atomic bomb, we prefer as few people as possible to have knowledge of anomalies that have potential equal to or greater than our nuclear doomsday devices. This is where the Repopulation Branch, colloquially referred to as RnB, comes into play.

Our information on the state of anomalies before our founding in 1940 is severely limited. However, I can proudly say that we have a solid track record of monitoring and containing them since then. As of yet, no major city has ever befallen a mass tragedy. We tend to nip those in the bud. Whether it be cults of rich idiots who don't know what they're messing with, accidental creations by well-meaning scientists, or just random chance, the Paranormal Anomaly Department is generally ready to act before things get out of hand.

This does not mean we are perfect. We are limited in manpower, and our computer algorithms are not perfect. Sometimes things slip through the cracks. This generally occurs in middle-of-nowhere towns. We just don't have the resources to watch those places, and the men and women at the top of the ladder decided long ago that it was better to lose a small population center than a major one. When that happens, and it does happen more often than I'm comfortable admitting, RnB steps in to get those towns up and running before anyone notices. When I first joined up, I was assigned to their branch, and while I harbor no ill will toward them and what they do, I do not plan on rejoining them for the foreseeable future.

I was young, and while I was not a hopeless idealist, I was naive. We love to read stories and watch films about secret societies right under the nose of normal people, and now I was part of one. Since I was new, I was assigned to work on what RnB considered a standard, simple operation. Some idiotic cult of hardcore Republicans thought it would be a good idea to summon a lust demon. It did hold up its end of the bargain, but in typical fashion, the cultists did not get quite what they wanted. Clinton was found not guilty and finished out his term. The cultists paid with their souls as well as those of everyone else in Springfield, Oregon. This caught the attention of the P.A.D. They stepped in and banished the demon, paving the way for us to do our part.

While the loss of so many lives is always tragic, the good thing about a demon eating their souls was that there was zero damage to infrastructure. All we had to do was get the town up and running again without anyone noticing something was off. Through a combination of data gathering, computer programs, and agent reports, the RnB maintained a large list of individuals without strong societal connections. They could be lonely workaholics, small families with close ties only to each other, homeless crazies, or any number of other people types. All that mattered was that they wouldn't be missed if they suddenly moved to, say, Springfield, Oregon in the middle of winter.

How we convinced people to move varied from person to person. Some found out that their company needed them to move, others won a free house in some competition, and others still came to experience a new culture in hopes of finally being part of an advertised community. All that matters is that they came. That's where I and my coworkers came in. It wouldn't do to have people arrive at an empty town. I was there to pretend I was a citizen and had been living there for some time. To be specific, I played the role of the city hall janitor. It was not glamorous, but I had hopes that if I performed well, I could get a better fake job for the next mission.

I was minding my own business mopping the tile floor one day when a scraggly homeless woman ran down the hallway and slipped on the freshly cleaned floor. She had a frantic look about her as she stumbled back to her feet and came at me. Before I could do anything, she grabbed me by the shirt and shook me.