Dead Air

*Dead Air* is the third major arc in the Pinehaven series, written by Kel Byron. It was uploaded in 2022 in the /nosleep Reddit forum under the username 'Wendingus'.

## Summary

A few years after "We're Always on the Air at 104.6FM", we catch up with Evelyn, Daniel, and Finn to find that things have changed: Finn has a new job, Evelyn has an apartment, and Daniel is Pinehaven Radio's new full-time host. But the forest is more intelligent and deadly than ever, learning new tricks and getting into the heads of Pinahaven's villagers. The trio are forced to each fight their own psychological demons, some better than others. When Daniel becomes the target of a hypnotic, otherworldly power from the forest, things get disastrous very quickly, and the trio have to fight to survive a full-scale invasion that threatens to destroy more than just their sleepy mountain town: it's trying to spread.

## Timeline of Events

* Taking place in December roughly three years after the last story, Evelyn tells us that things have changed. There's a weird purple glow coming from the woods and The Amalgamate is bigger than ever. Dan is a full-timer like her, Finn has joined the Forest Rangers but still fills in from time to time, she bought a pickup truck recently, and she's moving in to her new apartment that day.
* Dan helps her with the move, and she's reminded of when she lived with Jennifer briefly. She goes to the corner store to buy some bottled water, and is haunted by traumatic hallucinations that she's been having ever since Season 2. She realizes she accidentally put alcohol in her bag, and takes it anyway.
* On her way home, Evelyn sees a strange animal at the treeline, vomiting something black and acidic. A child she saw in the store mistakes it for his missing dog, and the creature runs off. When Evelyn gets back to the apartment, Daniel leaves for work and she finds some of her father's old things, including the radio he used to listen to at the fire station.
* The Fog arrives in the middle of the night. Evelyn sees it from the town for the first time, and is horrified when Daniel's broadcast goes down. Pinehaven is officially under an invasion, as anomalies from the woods start to flood the streets and bring down structures and power lines. Evelyn tries to leave to check on Dan, but a multi-legged amalgamate breaks into the apartment building and traps her inside.
* Finn calls Evelyn from his cellar, and they say their goodbyes. Finally, Dan rings The Bell, and he and Evelyn talk on the phone until morning. He explains that something was on the stairs, trying to lure him away, and it almost succeeded. Evelyn begins drinking again.
* (from Daniel's POV) Dan goes home that morning, trading off with Evelyn. He sees the extent of the damage done to Pinehaven and is heartbroken with guilt. He falls into bed and has a dream where he's drifting toward a light coming from the center of the earth, surrounded by a procession of other people. They all fall into the pit one by one, and he's the last one left.
* When Daniel wakes up, he's in the woods. He realizes he must have been sleepwalking, and begins to panic. Before he can get very far, he sees a shape between the trees and recognizes it as a dark, shadowy clone of himself. The doppelganger mimics him, then breaks into a sprint and chases him, all while telepathically repeating Dan's own self-loathing thoughts in an attempt to get him to give up the chase.
* When Dan finally sees the radio tower in the distance, he runs toward it and Evelyn meets him at the fire escape. As he's barricading the doors, Evelyn explains that she didn't see anything chasing him.
* (from Evelyn's POV) Finn arrives at the station and they talk about Dan's sleepwalking problem. He takes over while Evelyn and Dan take a long drive out of town to clear their heads and get dinner. When Evelyn goes home, she has a dream about the day her father left for a controlled burn in the forest and never came back. She sees the mountain lion that took his face, and the vision remains in the corner of her living room after she wakes up. She gets drunk again so that she can sleep.
* When Evelyn and Dan go to work the next day, Finn notices that Evelyn looks feverish and smells like alcohol. He confronts her about it. He tells her that he has 'ranger duty' in the forest that day, and leaves.
* While answering a phone call, Evelyn hears buzzing through the headset and realizes a wasp has gotten into her ear somehow. Daniel helps her get it out, but not before it stings her. When he goes to release it on the fire escape, they notice smoke rising from the forest. For several hours, they watch it cautiously while going about their day, until they see a flare go up just after dark. They realize Finn is late coming back.
* Dan and Evelyn pack up and go into the woods on a rescue mission. They feel earthquakes and notice large holes in the ground where the earth has been sinking down into the mines. They follow the flare until they spot the remains of a burn-pile, full of charred anomalies and creatures. They are horrified when they shine their flashlights upwards and see the bodies of the Pinehaven Forest Rangers hanging from the trees, in various states of dismemberment.
* They try to find Finn among the corpses, but they don't see him. Finally, Evelyn starts to search the perimeter and finds Finn - he fell into one of the sinkholes and is badly burned. She and Dan pull him out and he anxiously explains that they were attacked by a new amalgamate known as "The Hydra", which lives in the mines. Dan and Evelyn feel dread when they realize that's where all the sinkholes are coming from.
* They discover a huge hole that goes deep into the earth, where the purple glow has been coming from all this time. Daniel becomes entranced by it and tries to thrown himself in, but Evelyn and Finn pull him back. They suspect this is what he's been sleepwalking toward.
* The head toward the tower, but feel and hear something under the ground. They try to sneak past the Hydra, but it finds them and begins the chase. When Finn collapses and Daniel struggles to carry him, Evelyn grabs Finn's flare gun and shoots the Hydra, setting it on fire and distracting it. They barely break the treeline as it catches up, and Evelyn pushes The Bell to drive it back into the deep forest.
* That night, when she's alone, Evelyn notes that alcohol bottles have started to appear at the station. When she pours them down the drain, two more appear in its place, like a hydra.
* (Daniel's POV) Evelyn stays behind while Dan takes Finn to the hospital. While there, Finn apologizes for keeping secrets about what the Rangers were up to, and tells Daniel his first name. When Dan leaves, he almost swerves off the cliff when his doppelganger appears in front of him. That morning, he sleepwalks again, but is woken up by a neighbor. Evelyn isn't answering her phone.
* Daniel rushes to the station to check on things and realizes Evelyn isn't there. Bartholomew is shrieking at the treeline and Daniel follows him, then instinctively runs to the glowing pit in the woods. He finds Evelyn, drunk and hysterical, throwing alcohol bottles into the pit. He calms her down and helps her get rid of the bottles before she passes out.
* Dan's doppelganger appears again, attempting to convince him to leave Evelyn behind. Dan finally faces his shadow and argues with it before it transforms into a monster made of dripping, toxic goo. After a violent stand-off, Daniel manages to push it into the pit and the doppelganger disappears. He suddenly feels as if an emotional weight has left him, and carries Evelyn back to the tower.
* While Evelyn is recovering in the tower, Daniel notices that she's showing signs of some sort of mysterious illness, with black fluid staining her mouth and her skin turning blue and cold. She apologizes for what she did, and Dan comforts her.
* (Evelyn's POV) The next week, Evelyn is staying at Dan's apartment after a hospital stay and bed rest. She spent days vomiting black acid, fighting off hypothermia, and claims that 'something' was removed when she had her stomach pumped at the hospital. The hospital staff didn't tell her what 'it' was.
* Evelyn returns to work just a day before a fog/snowstorm combo is supposed to hit. They spend the day preparing the generator, putting tarps over the vehicles, and getting ready to be snowed in. They find that the shed is full of thousands of wasps, including ones as big as house cats. They exterminate the problem and drag the generator out to the tower.
* All three Operators decide to stay the night and watch the storm. When Dan falls asleep, Evelyn and Finn have a heart-to-heart about the family members they've lost in Pinehaven. She finally tells him about her father being an anomaly.
* The storm begins to rage and the tower starts to lean. Strange things begin happening in the station - lights flickering, phone calls from Finn's dead mother, and black acid coming from the pipes. They call for help, but no one answers.
* Daniel gives Evelyn her Christmas present early. It's a scrapbook of photos he's been taking of the three of them. Evelyn decides that if they die, she wants to leave it behind for the next Operators to find, because memories of their friendship is more important than their horrifying written accounts.
* The roof starts to collapse and the floor splits down the middle. They make a dash for the fire escape. Finn gets to the bottom, but Dan is caught by vines. The Amalgamate comes out of the forest and charges them, bringing down the radio tower first and then the watchtower. Evelyn tries to help Dan, but he throws her over the side and into a snowbank to save her as the tower collapses and crushes him and the Amalgamate.
* Finn and Evelyn dig Daniel out of the wreckage and put him in the truck bed. While the Amalgamate tries to free itself from the wreckage, The Hydra bursts out of the ground and tries to drag Evelyn's truck down with it. She drives away, and the three of them race towards the village.
* Finn tells Evelyn that the original Bell is still in town, now perched on top of the old church. They rush toward it and through the remains of the town, which has been invaded for a second time. Once at the church, Evelyn gives Dan her shotgun and climbs to the top of the tower as both the Amalgamate and the Hydra are trying to bring the church down. She rings the bell, driving the monsters away but leaving Pinehaven in ruins.
* While Evelyn holds down the fort, Finn takes Dan to the hospital. Several days later, all three of them are reunited again, standing at the construction site where the new and improved 104.6 FM is currently being built. Finn remarks that the town government has been dissolved and things are going to change soon.
* They get in Evelyn's truck and leave, deciding to use their vacation time to get as far away as possible. Evelyn says she doesn't know where they're headed, but she doesn't care as long as she's with her friends.