home

search

Chapter 3

  I opened my laptop on the newly organized desk. I had tried to sort out all my notes and newspaper clippings, making piles on my desk and putting things away in file folders.

  I had come to so many dead ends, when all I needed were answers; just a confirmation that I wasn't losing my damned mind and that these things were real. They had to be.

  I decided I was going to try and look for help. Doing this on my own wasn't turning up the outcomes I wanted, and it was clear I wasn't going to be able to ask Nadia or anyone on the force to help. Which led me back to where I had started; online communities of conspiracy theorist.

  It took a few hours of sifting through UFO sightings, Occult ritualist and something about Mothman performing sex acts on a man outside of a Denny's. Whatever the fuck that was about...

  Finally I found what I was looking for.

  The Truth is Out There

  All the Legends are True

  Monsters Exist Among Us

  I clicked the link, which took me to another web browser. But this one opened up like it was from an old version of Windows 97 or something.

  The webpage was like Wikipedia. It was a database filled with information on many different kinds of monsters, their various types and sub-species and where in the real world they were from. It was called, simply, The Bestiary.

  I spent more time than I would like to admit, scrolling through and looking up different fictional creatures. I was baffled by the detailed accounts of interactions with these creatures, even if I was taking it with a grain of salt; there were whole communities on the internet that played into shared make-belief.

  I tried searching for the thing that had been stalking me; The Guilt. It didn't come up by name, so I started searching its characteristics. It brought forth a bunch of things like tentacle faced people from roleplaying games, to giant lamprey eels. One search led to The Slender Man. First, it listed a forum post about the monster's creation. Then video games and othet media that portrayed the thing. It kind of looked like what I was seeing, but not anywhere near as menacing.

  The section that allowed other people on the site to add their own experiences, had many widely varying tales about the supposedly fictional creature. Even an odd one, that stood out:

  "I can't speak for the victims of these creatures, but in my experience, they are quite gentlemanly. They make excellent butlers." - TheFirstWoman

  I couldn't begin to wrap my head around how something so horrifying could be described as 'gentlemanly'. I resigned to the fact that I likely wouldn't find anything on The Guilt.

  The shaman who had found me on Partridge Island had called it Netaga?sit, which means 'ashamed' in Mi'kmaq. The First Nations people had been very welcoming and helpful after the failed mission in Saint John, Newbrunswick. The shaman, a man named George Augustine, had pulled me from the shoreline of Partridge Island when he saw my body.

  Technically, it's illegal to enter the island or the waters around it, but George had been nearby on his boat and collected me, bringing me back to town. If it hadn't been for him, I'd likely be dead. In confidence, I told him what I had seen, and what was truly underneath Partridge Island. His solemn nods seemed to confirm that he already knew what I was talking about. He said The Guilt was likely something manifested from my own psyche and pain.

  I had been convinced it was a product of the hidden laboratory underneath the island, where my squad had discovered horrific displays of human experimentation. But when it had followed me home and killed my family, I was more inclined to believe George. He had given me the bone dagger, telling me it would help in warding off evil. But it had not stopped The Guilt.

  When my search proved fruitless, I turned my attention to looking for the creator of the website. Whoever this person was, who had brought a collective of Truthseekers together to share information that others laughed at, they probably had more information than they let on. I began scouring the page for any sign of who they might be. There was no name attached to the site, but looking through some of the original posts, there was one user who kept popping up on all earlier entries: Ch0z3n1

  I signed up for an account, verified my email and tried to directly message Ch0z3n1.

  "Hey, I'm really interested about your work on this site. Could I ask you a few questions?" - JC1979

  I didn't expect anyone to get back to me right away, so I stood, stretched out my aching leg and hobbled to the kitchen for a beer. When I came back and sat down again, I noticed I had a message waiting.

  "If you have questions, you've come to the right place my friend. I'll need you to download a VPN first and then click this link..." Ch0z3n1

  The link he sent me was strange. It wasn't a typical worldwideweb address and it just looked like a jumble of numbers and letters. I suddenly got the feeling like I was being scammed. If I clicked on this link, I could end up having everything wiped, or worse, give someone access to all my information. I sat for a long while, hesitant, but my desire for knowledge trumped my common sense. I was already on a VPN, so I clicked the link.

  My screen went black and I sighed heavily.

  Suddenly, white text began popping up on my screen. My mouse didn't work, so I moved my hands to my keyboard, trying to remember how to use keyboard commands.

  -Welcome Seeker of Truth. My name is Ch0z3n1. In this space we can talk without being monitored. There are eyes and ears everywhere, trying to make sure that the full truth doesn't get out.

  -How can I be of service?

  I stared at the screen, dumbfounded. This was some Matrix level shit that I had not been prepared for. Part of me was still concerned this was all a hoax, and I was worried that some or all of my information had been leaked to this entity. My fingers hovered nervously over my keyboard.

  -Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. Your work on the Bestiary is quite impressive. May I ask how you came across all this information? I asked.

  -Some of it is experience. Some of it is collected knowledge. There is a whole world outside of what we see everyday. Things we see in media entertainment and we take it for fiction. They make that stuff available so we think about it as some story, but it is all actually out there.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  I felt like this guy was saying a lot without actually telling me anything. He probably was only scratching the surface to test me. To see if I was those eyes and ears he said were watching him.

  -I've been doing a lot of my own research. I was looking for collaborative minds. I feel like I know things I shouldn't and everyone thinks I'm crazy. I told him. I sat staring at the screen, waiting for a reply. The cursor flashed, waiting for someone to start typing again.

  -You're not crazy.

  There was another long pause and I took a deep swig of my beer, hunched over my laptop.

  -So what is a Detective doing on this side of the internet? You see something you weren't supposed to and now it's all being covered up around you?

  There it was. I had been expecting some kind of invasion of my privacy. This guy already knew who I was. But it seemed like he believed me.

  -I've seen all kinds of shit you wouldn't believe. I just need help making sense of it. I need answers. I told him.

  -Ask your questions, Detective Callum. I'll do my best to make sense of it for you.

  -We can assume that I'm over the whole "monsters are real" thing. The problem I'm stuck on is how? And is there a shadow organization who is in charge of hunting them? I asked.

  -You're already asking the right questions Detective. Very good. The answer to how is simple: they have always existed. There have always been tales of ancient creatures, gods and demi-gods. There have always been things in the depths of the ocean and the void of space. Some things have always existed. Some things are created.

  -To answer your second question: yes, there is a shadow organization. They call themselves the Order of Vigilance. Think of them like the Men in Black. They don't technically exist, they hide among us, and they control things far beyond the normal understanding of the sheeple. The real question, is who controls them? Do the governments know?

  -Everything they do is covered up, and when it is not, they make it all look like a conspiracy hoax. And the funny part is, they've only had to hide themselves for the last few centuries. In ancient times, they would have been the heroes from folklore and myth that we read about: Heracles, Robin Hood, King Arthur, Ragnar, Siegfried, etc.

  I stared at the screen. There was no way any of this was real. The monsters exisiting had been a stretch already. There was a whole shadow operation being run by folklore heroes.

  -Okay, say I believe any of this. Where would these heroes hold their base of operations? Where would I find them if I was looking? I asked. I needed to know if the man in the grey suit and the abandoned Cathedral here in Toronto was some kind of sanctum for these people. Could those people from the alleyway been part of this Order of Vigilance?

  -They could be anywhere. Everywhere. They hide among us, agents and influencers inside power structures that already exist. They have bases all over the globe. I can't pinpoint exactly where, because I've been struggling to crack their encrypted network, but they are closer than you'd expect.

  Again, my suspicions had been correct. I knew that someone had been pulling the strings in the background, trying to steer me away from this. Someone had told the Captain to keep me away.

  The big question now was how deep did this run? Did they control the government? Did they know about the monsters? Before I could start typing out my other questions, I received another message.

  -I don't have anymore time. Be careful Detective. Now that you know, it is likely that they will know that you know.

  The window closed on its own, and I was brought back to the Bestiary webpage. I rubbed my eyes and sat back in my chair.

  The implications about everything Ch0z3n1 had said ran deep into everything. If what he said was true, I had already felt those implications of the Order's influence at the presinct. I instinctually reached down and grasped at my knee, which throbbed constantly.

  They couldn't keep me on medical leave forever, and eventually I would go back to work. But for now, I was going to use this time to work on my own investigation. I stood from my desk, and moved toward the door, slowly moving across the room with my cane. I grabbed my trenchcoat and keys and headed for the parking garage.

  ~*~

  I staked out across the street from the abandoned church. I leaned back in the seat of my old Crown Victoria with all the lights off. The retired police vehicle wasn't as inconspicuous as I would have liked it to be, but it would have to do.

  The old Cathedral had been in disrepair for as long as I could remember. Once it shut its doors for regular service, it was years before some corp bought it up for development. But then it sat there again, for years, unchanged. Contractors came and went, I assumed to repair the insides after squatters and vagrants tore up the place.

  And now the guy in the grey suit was running a group for homeless youths here. Which made for a likely cover story if Ch0z3n1's words were to be believed.

  I pulled out my old hunting binoculars and waited for something, anything, to happen. The old stain glass was starting to get crusted over. The doors had been sealed, all except the back door behind the chainlink fence. The rusted bell sat silent in the old tower. The night was completely still, with threat of snow hanging fresh in the air.

  Around ten o'clock, that stillness was broken. I saw a kid in a black hoodie leave from the back door and head around front to the street. He appeared to be in his late teens, or early twenties. He appeared to have a small build but it was hard to tell with the baggy sweater and pants. Chains and belts hung around his pants, assumedly for style. I watched as he began walking down the street, so I started my car and made my way into traffic, following behind him.

  He made his way into a 241 Pizza, so I pulled into a parking spot and got out of the car. I slowly hobbled to the light, crossed the street and slipped inside.

  "No Orion tonight?" The worker behind the counter said, as he took money from the guy in the hoodie.

  "Naw, I drew the short straw to come pick it up. He feels bad getting delivery when you guys are so close." He told the worker. Suddenly, the guy behind the counter was looking at me.

  "Hey man, what can I get ya?" He asked, with all the casualness of today's youth.

  "Just a slice please. Pepperoni." I mumbled out, startled by the attention. The guy in the hoodie turned to look at me over his shoulder and then turned back.

  "Right away." The worker said, grabbing the slice and moving to the oven to heat it up. I moved up to the register.

  "You come here a lot? You seem real familiar with the staff." I said absently to the hoodie guy. He looked at me with disgust.

  "Umm, stranger danger?" He said, his tone condescending.

  "It was just a question." I said, shrugging.

  The worker came back with a few boxes and handed them to the hoodie guy and then handed me the slice.

  "$5.50" He said. I paid quickly and watched as the guy in the hoodie put large headphones over his ears and headed out the door, pulling his hood over his poorly dyed black hair.

  I took my slice, and went out the door, following behind the hoodie guy at a distance. More of a distance than I wanted though, as my cane slowed me down. As we got closer to the abandoned church, I pushed my leg as hard as I could to get closer to him.

  He didn't even bother to look behind him. Hell, he didn't even bother to look when crossing the street. It was like he was unfased by his own mortality. It wasn't hard to stay out of his peripherals because of the hood. His headphones were so loud, I could hear his music from behind him.

  We walked across the lawn of the church, and I followed him into the chainlink fence gate. When he got to the back door, I saw him open a passcode pad and input a series of numbers. That was when he noticed me.

  "Ummm, what the fuck?" He exclaimed, as the door beeped that it was unlocked, and I shoved him inside.

Recommended Popular Novels