本帖最后由 sammy 于 2011-1-20 10:32 编辑
BH gogogogogogo~~~~~~
Her name was Erin Moirai.
A student at the Miskatonic University, she spent her days in silence and her nights alone, a harmless ghost in an empty hall.
I first caught up to her as I scouted the university grounds, and at once I noticed her lack of any real bond with the other students. This isolation made her an easy target. Shy, timid, and afraid of rejection, she did everything she could to blend in and avoid notice, which was perfect: no one would notice if she were to disappear.
From what I gathered, it was her research that had raised the hackles of O'Bannion's contact, and they wanted me to bring her in for interrogation. I didn't really follow up on the whys - when working for the O'Bannions, there is wisdom in not asking too many questions.
I spent the next couple weeks observing her: obtaining a general feel for the target, recording her habits, her tendencies, and her patterns, and evaluating the most favorable capture scenarios.
Some girls, given the right haircut and a little style, might be OK. Not Erin Moirai. Even at her best, she'd still be lost. Tall and awkward, with angular arms and legs that were too long for her body, she had straight and unimpressive light brown hair and small, mousy features that hid behind the large pair of spectacles that dominated her face. It's little wonder that she was the zealot of the biology annex. She was driven, precise, and never satisfied. She tested, and tested, and tested again. As it turned out, the long nights spent in the lab combined with her natural but neglected desire for human social contact made her an easy victim.
Kidnapping 101: violence should only be used as a last resort. I was prepared for a struggle, perhaps a chase and a tackle and wrestling her into restraints. But it didn't come to that. The night I finally spoke to her at the fountain outside the science building, it took but a smile, a few kind words, and an offer to walk together, and we were friends. A week later, she was climbing into my van, where I made my pitch, just as Danny and I had rehearsed.
"Tell me, Erin. You ever been to the Cave on the Hill?"
"No. What is it?"
"Local landmark. Some say a meteorite crashed years ago. The locals will tell you the sky above it still flashes with strange, sickly colored lightning if the night air is just right."
"Really? How often does that happen?" She looked fascinated.
"Lately, the flashes have been going off more and more frequently. Not quite every night, but close."
"Is it far?" This was too easy.
We kept talking, and I drove to the Cave on the Hill. The pale green lightning was flickering above us, that was no bull. We got out of the truck and climbed the hill to get a better look. At some point, I noticed her hand in my own. Funny how these things happen. And then we were going to the cave.
At once, the menacing things emerged from the shadows around us. Erin screamed and tried to turn and hide behind me. Instinctively, I'd have protected her, but I'm a professional and I knew what I had to do. I pinned her arms to her sides and slipped the restraints onto her wrists as the inhuman nightmares came at us. I didn't know what they were, but I wasn't about to find out. They pulled her away, a look of shock and rage and betrayal on her face.
And then they came at me.
Taken off guard, I had no time to draw my pistol. I met the nearest monstrosity, a charging fungal blur of wings and antennae and appendages, with my fist. The thing dented, and crumpled to the cavern floor. A moment's hope flashed across my mind as another nightmare came at me, but before I could react, I was enveloped in a terrible, freezing mist. All else reeled away, and there was nothing but cold.
