Chapter 0: "Missing, Presumed Dead"...Run.

This is a prequel for Slendermorph, and it sets the stage for the Slenderman, before he gets transformed.
==Description==
A hunter walks into the police station and notices something odd: a large number of people, mainly children and teenagers, have gone missing from a large forest nearby. As he sees a few photos and names that he recognizes, one being of his only son, he turns and walks away from the station. He heads home and grabs his guns, a lot of ammunition, survival gear, and writes a letter saying goodbye. He leaves the note on his coffee table near his television and exits his house. He then gets in his truck and drives to go confront who ever, or whatever, took his his.
==Story==
===Preparation for a Vengence===
As he walked into the police station, the door's buzzer went off and alerted the desk attendant, who glanced up then went back to filing papers. The man walked over to the bulletin boards at the far side of the room and looked at the various pictures, "Have You Seen ...?" posters, and newspaper clippings that were posted on them. There were so many of them, the first one dating back to almost ten years ago. The people featured varied not only by age, but by gender and race. The man looked back and forth between the various articles on the two bulletin boards and clenched his fists by his side and swore. Not only did he see pictures of his friends and co-workers, but of a few family members.
He left not even a week ago for a small business trip, leaving his only son in the care of his slightly younger brother. His brother, a heavyweight boxing champion, could easily handle anything that came at him and would be able to protect his son. However, when he had returned home he had found small blood stains here and there throughout the house but no one was inside. There were signs of a struggle, and there was a loaded gun on the floor missing a few bullets, and there were matching bullet holes in the wall to prove someone had broken in. This someone, whoever it was, must've been a real threat if his brother had to pull a gun he thought at the time. The problem was, the police hadn't received a call, no one had seen anything, and all the doors were locked. One person did report seeing his brother chasing a tall, slender figure go into the woods, however he did not return.
He saw the newspaper article telling the tale of how his brother and only son had mysteriously disappeared into the woods, never to be seen again. The tall, slender figure mentioned to be seen by the one witness appeared in many of these articles relating to missing people and the woods nearby. His brother's and son's pictures were posted on one of the bulletin boards and the man stared at them for a while. He did not believe this was some coincidence, someone was doing this and he was going to put a stop to it. He was an ex-marine and could easily kill some twisted motherfucker who enjoyed kidnapping and most likely killing people for no reason. He turned and left the station, where he got in his truck and drove to the gas station nearest his house.
He filled up his truck with gas and filled a few containers full and put these in the bed before walking inside. As he entered he walked around and bought some first aid supplies, a few boxes of bottled water, a hunting knife, and some ammunition for his shotgun. He paid for these supplies and the gas then loaded it into his truck and went home. He unlocked his front door and walked into his weapons room. He grabbed his shotgun, his two handguns, his sniper, and his machete. He then put these in the living room, returned to the weapons room, grabbed ammunition and then put this in the living room. He walked into his garage and grabbed his kerosene lamp, some oil, a flashlight, some batteries, some matches, and a sleeping bag. He put these in the living room where he gathered non-perishable, uncanned food and then put this into the living room. 
He sighed, it was getting dark but he had slept on the way to town, he didn't have time to waste either. What should he do? Sleeping now would waste time, but he'd be able to see more in the daytime. On the other hand, if he went now it'd be harder to see, but he'd have a better chance of catching up to whoever stole his family. He sat on his couch, his head cradled in his hands, thinking about what he should do. Finally, he stood up and walked into a small closet and a grabbed a pencil and some paper. He went back into the living and started writing a note.
To whom it may concern,
My name is Jack Portias, I am about to embark on a quest into the woods, of which I will most likely not return. I am going to try to find whoever has been kidnapping, and most likely killing, people from this town and its surrounding area. Recently, this person stole my only son and disappeared into the woods with him. My son was under the care of my younger brother, who was a heavyweight boxing champion. My brother tried to use a gun on the person, as it was lying on the floor and there was blood and bullet holes nearby. Obviously the situation was dire, as my brother has never had to use a gun before, being as strong and experienced as he was. Rumors reported a tall, slender figure with my son, and I will assume this is who my brother was chasing after when he went into the woods. Neither one of them have returned, they have been gone for a few days, I must assume they are dead. I am going to find this person and kill them, they do not deserve to live. They must pay for what they have done, and I will be the person to bring justice to them. I am prepared to face the consequenecs of my actions, regardless of what they may be. My son was my everything, and the police have shown they cannot catch this man, so I must do so myself. All the rest of my family is dead, so this could be it. If I do not return within 72 hours time and have not made contact with anyone, send a search party for me, an armed one. If I am found dead, please leave the town. Evacuate the entire town and destroy it, this person must pay. I do not feel like this place is safe anymore. I pray I succeed in killing whoever is doing this, and I have faith in myself. I am an ex-marine, so if I cannot kill this person, no one else should try it. 
Not being able to think of what else to write, he made a few copies of the note and scattered them throughout the house, also putting one on his front door and in his mailbox. He loaded the remainder of his stuff into his truck, stuck the key in he ignition, started it, and headed for the woods. It was time to hunt this person down, and he was going to give it everything he had.
===The Hunt===
As his truck screamed down the road, he started thinking of ways to use his GPS to make sure he didn't get lost. By the time he had figured it out, he was already in the woods. He carefully took the GPS out of his truck, attached some of the wires to a battery pack, and marked his current location. He then calibrated his GPS and marked it again to make sure it was accurate, and it was. With that he headed deeper into the woods and set up camp. After he set up his tent and sleeping bag, he set up the rest of his stuff and then marked this location in his GPS. He grabbed his guns, some food, his lantern, and some ammunition and headed off, he would return later to restock his supplies and move the camp further along. After about an hour of walking and seeing almost nothing, he headed back to camp. Daylight was slowing starting to show itself in the trees and he was getting exhausted. He would be no good if he couldn't think straight or make his body do what he wanted, as fast as he wanted, and when he wanted to do it, and he knew that. So, putting his stuff away, he crawled inside his sleeping bag and passed out.
When he awoke the sun was almost in the middle of the sky, so he assumed it was around noon, which would've given him around six hours of sleep, which was more than enough for him. He packed his stuff up and headed out again, this time in a slightly different direction. Around 1400 local time he stopped and set up camp again, when he was finished he marked that spot on his GPS, he would keep repeating this till he had little supplies left, in which case he would go back to his truck, go home, resupply, then come back and continue his search. He made a small voice recording and played it over a few frequencies on loop.
My name is Jack, I have recently went in search of the person who is kidnapping everyone. It is currently 1400 local time on the sixth of November, and I have had no luck yet. I will continue my search for this person. If I do not update thiss message by 1800 on the seventh of November, it is safe to assume I am dead or out of batteries. This message has been set on loop for a few frequencies so people know I'm still alive.... My name is Jack, I have recently....
He grabbed the same supplies as before and headed out again, hoping to have some luck today. However, he was not ready for what he was about to see. After about an hour of walking, he found a stream and decided to take a bath. Halfway through it, he noticed a red liquid flowing from a distance and he decided to follow it. When he finally reached the source, there was nothing but a puddle below a tree. The blood was still dripping and it all seemed fairly fresh, no older than thirty minutes. When he looked up, what he saw scarred him for life, and made him puke. For above him, impaled on a tree limb, was his brother, bloodied almost beyond recognition. He gave out a yelp, and hoped his brother was still alive to tell him something, and to his luck, he was. His brother coughed up some blood, and told him he didn't have much time left. After breathing deeply and coughing up more blood, he told him to run, that the thing they were chasing wasn't human, and it was too powerful and intellegent to be dealt with right now. He tried to ask his brother what this thing looked like, but all he could manage were the words slender man. Then he slowly slipped into death, leaving his older brother alone in the woods with this thing. 
Slender man, what did that mean? Yes he knew people said the man was tall and skinny but, and then it hit him. Not slender man but, Slenderman. He then realized how grave his situation was, his brother was dead and most likely his son as well, and he was probably next. However, despite the danger he was in he did not move. He sat there, in debate with himself. He had come here to find his son, and he had not done so yet. He had also come to kill the thing that was taking everyone, and he had not done that yet either. But, his son was most likely done and the thing he was trying to kill wasn't human and far more powerful than expected, and much more intellegent than just some looney guy having fun. He honestly didn't know what to do, he was fighting and enemy who would be near impossible to overcome, but this enemy needed to be taken out. Did the Slenderman know he was there already, would he even be able to escape alive if he fled? He did not know the answer to this question and did not want to live the rest of his life in fear. That was it, he had a mission to complete and he was going to be damned if he was quitting after coming this far. He went back downstream and gathered his things and headed back to camp. He ate a big meal, drank a lot of water, and organized some stuff for the morning then headed to sleep. When he woke up, he recorded his next, and probably last, message and put it on loop. He turned his radio on and listened for his message.
...is not what you think it is, we are being hunted by something that isn't human. The Slenderman is after us, we are no longer safe. If this message gets out and I do not put out another one in twelve hours, contact the government and have them bomb this place to oblivion... My name is Jack, I have been looking for the person who has been kidnapping and killing people for decades around our town. My brother, who is currently *static* and I am continuing my search. This situation is not what you think it is, we are being...
He listened to the message a few times, and sure enough at that one part there was always static. His eyes opened wide and sweat formed on his brow. He quickly ran to his weapons and prepared his assault rifle and magnum and scanned the area around him. He knew why there was static, the Slenderman was close to him when he was recording, but had left for a little bit. He didn't know where it went to, but he was going to find him, it, and kill it. He gathered the rest of his weapons, his radio, a small portion of food and water, his walkie talkie, and a few spare batteries then headed out. He traveled swiftly, keeping an eye out in all directions to make sure he wouldn't be caught by a surprise attack. Then he got an idea, he turned on his radio to a random station that came through and started to lsiten for static. After a few minutes he heard some and quickly did a 720 looking for the Slenderman. His eyes darted from side-to-side and that's when it happened, he saw it. It was standing in the distance, just sitting there. It was horrifying to look at, very tall and slim, he appeared to be wearing a very expensive suit, and it had no face. 
He started firing at the Slenderman with his assault rifle and every few seconds he shot with his magnum. His radio was nothing but static now, he had missed every shot most likely. He knew it could teleport, but he had to end this here. He quickly checked his surroundings again and again, every time he would find it again. And every time he would shoot at it, missing every shot. He repeated this process again and again, but with no luck. He shot with his assault rifle, his shotgun, his magnum, his rifle, he even threw a few different types of grenades. But nothing had any effect on it, he wasn't even sure if he had managed to damage it at all. But he kept trying, he wasn't going to give up here. Because he knew if he did not only would he die, but many others would continue to die. He was in the middle of reloading his sniper rifle when the Slenderman teleported in front of him. He fired the one shell he managed to get into the clip then pulled out his pistol and final magnum. When he looked up he noticed something strange, there was some sort of liquid on the ground. He did it, he had actually hit the Slenderman. The Slenderman was still standing there, probably in shock, and was bleeding. However, this wasn't the blood like humans have, it was gray in color and it fizzled. He didn't wait any longer, he began shooting at the Slenderman with his remaining weapons. He fired until he didn't have any ammunitions left in the clips and then he stood there. He was breathing heavily and was sweating profoundly, and he just stared and the Slenderman. The Slenderman stood there as well, neither one moving, it was a staring contest.
Then he reached down into his pocket, and pulled out a bullet. This was no ordinary bullet, it was the highest caliber his magnum could handle without breaking the chamber. Not only that but it was an explosive bullet, packed with small amounts of C4. He loaded the bullet into the clip and cocked the gun, then aimed it at the Slenderman's head. The Slenderman did not stand there this time, it grabbed him with his tentacles. He wasn't going to die like this however, he tried time and time again to line the sight up with it's head. And he eventually suceeded, but was about to lose consciousness due to being chocked by the Slenderman's tentacles. He fired the shot and hit the bull's eye, it hit the Slenderman in the head and exploded milliseconds later. Its blood went everywhere and its tentacles retracted back to its body. He gained his breath and drank some of the water he had and ate a small amount of his food. He reloaded his sniper rifle and took it with him, but first he shot the Slenderman's body, which had slumped to the ground, in the chest. He left the rest of his weapons there and quickly took off in search of his son.
===Family Reunion===
As he went through the forest he constantly yelled his son's name hoping this would make it easier to find him. He looked at his watch, it had been three hours and sixteen minutes since he had made his last recording. But he wasn't out of the woods yet, literally and figuratively. He would make another recording when he had his son and they got out of the woods. That is, if he made it that far. He wasn't sure if he had actually killed the Slenderman, he wasn't sure if it could regenerate or if there was more than one of it. Those thoughts made him shiver, he just wanted this terrible nightmarish reality to end and for life to get back to normal, or at least as normal as things could be now. He still had his radio on just in case, but ever since he left the Slenderman's body he hadn't heard any static. He stopped for a moment to relieve himself on a nearby tree, catch his breath, drink some more of his water and eat some food. He only had two water bottles left which was just enough so him and his son could have one. He also had enough food to give his son a big meal and have a small one himself.
When he resumed his search he was able to travel at a much quicker speed than that of which he had orignally started his journey. He was making very good progress, probably two miles every ten or so minutes. He continually called out his son's name. It was now about five and a half hours since he had made his last recording. He was starting to grow restless when he heard a voice in the distance. He stopped in his tracks and yelled his son's name again and was met with a reply which sounded like the word dad. He quickly took off in the direction of the noise. When he reached the source he was estatic to see his son still alive; he was bleeding a little and looked a little thin but he was alive. He wrapped his son in his arms and started crying. When he regained his composure he handed his son the food and a bottle of water and observed their surroundings. There were bodies everywhere, the trees were litered with them. They were impaled on various tree limbs just like his brother was. He looked down and sighed, why did this have to happen?
He looked over at his son who had crumbs all over his face. He looked so peaceful right now, but at the same time silly. He looked as if he hadn't eaten in days and the sad thing was he probably hadn't. After this they would need to go see a psychiatrist, but he was mainly concerned about his son. Having to deal with all this stress, all this death, all these nightmarish events at such a young age would scar him for life. But that's only if they managed to escape alive. He still wasn't totally sure if the Slenderman was dead, but his son was almost done eating so they could head out soon. He shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts so he could focus. There was no way anything could've survived that he was sure of it; and even if it had survived they had a good lead. There was no point in focusing on the negatives as that would only bring his performance down. As his son burped he looked over, all he had left was the water. He told his son it was time to go then lifted him onto his back. He then told him to take a big drink of water and try to stay calm and listen for any static, if he hears any static he was to tell him. Of course he would listen for the static as well, he couldn't completely rely on his son for that. Not that he didn't trust his son, but this was life or death.
They headed off in what he believed to be the direction back towards his last camp. The GPS said it was the right direction but the Slenderman may have distorted it or fried some of its internal circuitry. It had now been approximately six hours and twenty-three minutes since his last recording, he may actually be able to get out of here alive. After what seemed like hours of running, sliding, jogging, hopping, and climbing he finally slowed down to a walk. He was glad he was still in great physical condition otherwise this would've been impossible. As he continued on trying to regain his stamina something popped into his head. Why hadn't the Slenderman killed his son? He was glad that it didn't, but he was confused as to why his son was the only one alive. He pondered this for a while when he saw something in the distance. As he sprinted over to it he noticed that it was in fact his last camp. He was slightly confused as he didn't recall passing through or over the river, but he doesn't remember very much from the past however long he had been traveling. He put his son down and drank the rest of his water bottle while his son finished his. They then took a bathroom break as he prepared to make their dinner. While they were eating he continually listened for static and monitored their surroundings. After eating he put his son to bed and gathered their stuff for the morning. He was going to take some food, water, batteries, a flashlight, the radio, and a first-aid kit. This trip was going to be a little more awkward as he had found another pistol and some ammunition for it. So not only was he going to be carrying his son, radio, flashlight and sniper rifle like before, but also a pistol and a backpack. However the backpack would be useful for putting the spare batteries in as well as the first-aid kit, food, and water. Before he went to bed he set up a few simple traps around their camp and put new batteries in the flaslight and radio. He then loaded up the backpack, listened for static for a minute, turned off the radio and then went to sleep.
He woke up suddenly due to one of the traps he set up going off. He grabbed his pistol and bolted out of the tent and then aimed it in the direction of the noise. He gave a sigh of relief when he saw that it was a racoon that had triggered the trap and got caught in it. He released the animal then double checked everything so they would be ready to leave. He cooked breakfast and then woke up his son. After eating and going to the bathroom again they loaded up and headed out. He had the backpack on his back, the radio clipped on his left arm, his son in his left arm, the sniper rifle dangled some what loosely from his waist, and his right hand he carried his pistol. He had strapped the GPS to his right forearm so he could monitor their position. He then realized that it had probably been more than 12 hours since his last recording. He quickly took his walkie-talkie off his belt and made a recording then turned on the radio to listen to it.
My name is Jack, I have recently encountered and fought the Slenderman. I think it is dead but I am not sure, so it may not be safe here I would recommend not coming here. I have found my son and we are trying to escape, but my brother is dead, killed by the Slenderman. In the area that I found my son there were many dead bodies impaled on the trees nearby, exactly the way my brother was when I found him. This must be some sort of pratice that the Slenderman practices when torturing or killing hsi victims. Stay away from this place. If I have not returned to town in the next eight hours, as it should only take me six, then please destroy this place. My name is Jack...
He was satisfied with the recording and looped it on many frequencies. He took off at a quick jog so he hopefully wouldn't need to stop and rest. They were making good time, it had been about five hours when he heard his son say something. He couldn't understand what his son said but as he tried to listened he figured out what it was. Static. That's all he could hear from his radio. He cursed and sped up, telling his son to keep an eye out for "the tall man." His son wasn't seeing him and neither was he but the radio was still all static. Then, out of nowhere, the Slenderman appeared in front of him. He didn't have time to stop, didn't have time to turn. So he plowed through the Slenderman. He put his son down, pointed, and told him to run in that direction. He then pulled his sniper rifle up and unloaded the clip on it. He pulled out his pistol and fired at its legs, badly damaging both of them. As he was putting in his second clip he looked up and noticed the Slenderman staring at him. He had already fully regenerated. He realized that the Slenderman must've been toying with them the whole time, they never had a chance of escaping. He just had to buy some time for his son to escape. He fired his final clip at the Slenderman then pulled out his knife and charged it. It easily teleported out of reach but he kept going, pushing it back further and further away from his son. But then it teleported behind him and he had no time to react. Its tentacles wrapped around his neck and snapped it, but he wasn't dead just paralyzed. He sat there helpless as the Slenderman impaled him on a tree, knowing that his son was next. As he sat there he made one final recording.
My name is Jack, the Slenderman is not dead. It has amazing regenerative powers and cannot be easily stopped. My son is most likely dead by now and I am almost there. Destroy this place and get far away from it. I have fought bravely but have defeated, do not forget me...
He then looped the recording and slipped slowly into death...
==Trivia==
*This is Squattop's first prequel chapter, and it does not have much relevence to the main story. It is mainly here to set up the stage for the Slenderman.
*This takes place about fifty years before the events of Chapter 1: Always Pack Your Flashlight.
Category:Dead Space: Break-Fast: Slendermorph
Category:Dead Space: Break-Fast: Slendermorph Chapters
Category:Squattop
Category:Squattop's Chapters