It was supposed to just be an ordinary training operation – you know, push an MTF out the side of a helo in some godforsaken clearing in a Foundation-owned reserve in The Middle Of Nowhere, Canada, with instructions to “locate and secure” some unknown anomalous something or other the eggheads back at Site-19 had cooked up. Of course, things didn't exactly go according to plan…
Audio account of training mission by Corporal Burke. Length = 20 minutes, 19 seconds.

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I place this transcript here as a courtesy; I am generally of the opinion that audio dramas should be experienced by being heard, rather than being read. What follows is simply a reformatted version of the script used to create the work. -Hornby

<Start of Transcript>
BURKE (NARRATION):
It was supposed to just be an ordinary training operation – you know, push an Em Tee Eff out the side of a helo in some godforsaken clearing in a Foundation-owned reserve in The Middle Of Nowhere, Canada, with instructions to “locate and secure” some unknown anomalous something or other the eggheads back at Site-19 had cooked up. These UAs – “unknown anomalies” – were supposed to stand in for some creepy crawly or thing-going-bump-in-the-night that we might encounter on a “real” mission. They were also supposed to be “mostly harmless.” In other words, challenging enough that if we screwed up, we'd end up in the infirmary – but not the morgue. Some of the older field operatives tell ghost stories of some really crazy shit going down when they first started doing these, but I've not met anyone in an Em Tee Eff that lost a teammate during a training session. At least, not that I know of; hard to tell what O5 might have covered up if things went REALLY badly. Something all of us tried not to think about – the potential to just end up a “name redacted” in some “data expunged” incident in a file gathering cobwebs in the Foundation archives.
Anyway, this wasn't my first time out on one of these little hunting expeditions, but it was my first time as a fireteam leader. My half of Second Squad had the wizards: Doc Brooks, Specialist Salazar, and Specialist Rigby. Corporal Fletcher had the heavy weapons and the shooters. And Staff Sergeant Myers. Myers had taken me aside after the briefing, told me that I'd be fine, everyone would be coming back in one piece, and if I screwed up, he'd shoot me. He was joking. Probably. No pep talk like a military pep talk.
It was also my – our – first time at Training Area Five – we were only the third training op since they opened the place last year, having certified it as “anomaly free” after building a nice, thick, tall, wall with spotlights, barbed wire, and heavy machine guns around the perimeter. Must have cost a pretty penny, since TA5 is something like 200 square miles.
Last in the list of “firsts” for this trip was our working with EVAN. The name apparently stands for Enhanced Virtual Adaptive Network. It, he, whatever, is an AI one of the researchers built to help the Em Tee Effs in the field. Apparently has all sorts of safeguards built in to keep it from deciding to take over the world or release 682 or do whatever robots do when they go insane. Salazar and Rigby didn't trust EVAN; the Colonel did, though, and Hornby's been around the block enough that I was willing take his word for it.
According to the briefing, the UA had been encountered by some (fictional) campers on a fishing trip. Three of them had been killed by this thing; the only survivor had been out in one of the canoes. He described it as being about the size of a bear, with limbs like a wolf, and a face like something out of a horror movie. It was big, fast, and mean, he said. That's about all we knew. Just an ordinary training mission….
(sound of music playing over helicopter)
BURKE:
Everybody out! Go! Go! Go!
(sound of helicopter flying off)
EVAN:
Corporal Burke, the campsite is two kilometers west of your current position. Be advised that Team One will be approaching the objective from the other side. Third and Fourth Squads are standing ready to assist in the takedown if necessary.
BURKE:
Understood. Burke out.
SALAZAR:
Beautiful night for a stroll, eh Rigby?
RIGBY:
Oh, yeah, Salazar. Dark forest, creepy owls, full moon, no wind, killer mutant monster wolfbear thing on the loose.
SALAZAR:
What could possibly go wrong?
RIGBY:
That should be our nickname: “Xi-13. What could possibly go wrong?”
SALAZAR:
I'll suggest that to the Colonel when we get back.
BURKE:
Enough, you two.
BROOKS:
Can't you guys ever go for five minutes without cracking jokes?
SALAZAR:
Oh, sure, Doc. All the time.
RIGBY:
We don't talk in our sleep.
BROOKS:
Oy.
SALAZAR:
Besides, cracking jokes is definitely better than getting cracked in the head.
RIGBY:
Dr. Glass says it's a “coping mechanism.”
BURKE:
Cut the chatter.
SALAZAR:
Come on, Corporal, lighten up. You know we're good when the shit hits the fan.
BURKE (NARRATION):
Specialists Salazar and Rigby are quite the double act, always tiptoeing the line of acceptability and then gleefully jumping right over it. But Salazar was right, they were excellent operatives when things started happening, and their ridiculous jokes did make the night less spooky, even if it did sound like a bad comedy routine. I was glad Doc Brooks was with me – she's levelheaded with the best of them and definitely a stabilizing influence.
Anyway, about a kilometer from the El Zee, we came across something weird – something definitely not included in the briefing.
RIGBY:
(quietly and professionally) Corporal, structure, eleven o'clock.
SALAZAR:
(with equal quiet and professionalism) No signs of movement.
BURKE (NARRATOR):
It was an old, one-story structure. Concrete construction, probably reinforced. The walls extended off into the forest for farther than I could easily see, either with night vision or with my rifle's flashlight. There was a single visible entrance: a rusted old door barely attached at the hinges. There were no windows in the walls. The dirt around the edge of the building was by no means fresh – it might have been years since something had disturbed it – but there were no weeds or vines growing at the base of the structure.
Perhaps the strangest thing was the quiet. The woods aren't anywhere as noisy as movies make them out to be, but there is always at least a little noise. Crickets or frogs, the occasional owl. Here, there was nothing.
I decided to call it in.
BURKE:
EVAN, this is Burke. We've located an unknown structure not on our maps.
EVAN:
I have accessed current satellite reconnaissance imagery of your current position. The structure covers approximately four zero thousand square meters. I have run an exhaustive search of the Foundation files relating to Training Area Zero Five and have found no data relating to such a structure or indicating its existence.
BURKE:
Are you sure?
EVAN:
Either I do not have access to the necessary files, or the Foundation has no electronic record of the structure. It is possible that there is a block in the system preventing me from accessing the relevant information, however this eventuality is unlikely as such a block would register in my search. Additionally, archival satellite imagery fails to show the structure, indicating it is new. I conclude there is an approximately seventy-nine percent chance the Foundation is unaware of the structure.
BROOKS:
(quietly) Certainly doesn't look new.
BURKE:
EVAN, how old is the archival satellite imagery?
EVAN:
It is listed as having been taken as part of the training area certification process, which would indicate the imagery is no more than fifteen months old.
BURKE:
Hmmm. You recording this, EVAN?
EVAN:
That is correct, Corporal. I am recording all data from all members of Xi-13 as per my standard operating procedure.
BURKE:
Okay. Get me Colonel Hornby and Staff Sergeant Myers.
HORNBY:
Hornby speaking.
MYERS:
Myers here.
BURKE:
This is Burke. Team 2 has discovered a structure approximately one kilometer west from the El Zee. EVAN reports that it wasn't here when the Foundation established TA5, but it looks like it's been here for years. Requesting instructions, sirs.
HORNBY:
Myers, can you secure the primary objective without support from Team 2?
MYERS:
We'd be stretched pretty thin, sir.
HORNBY:
Corporal Burke, you're the one on the ground. Is this structure anomalous enough to warrant diverting from your primary mission objective?
BURKE (NARRATOR):
Great. My first command decision and I had absolutely no idea what to do. Did I go with the mission, leaving the structure? Or did I let Team One handle the wolf-bear-thing and investigate? Why didn't the Foundation issue us coins? I took a deep breath, and made my choice.
BURKE:
Sirs, we'll check out the structure. Something's not right about it.
HORNBY:
Very well, Corporal. You have to trust your gut. Myers, I'll send you Squad Three to assist.
MYERS:
Roger. Out.
HORNBY:
Good luck, Corporal. Hornby out.
BURKE (NARRATOR):
And so, alone in the dark Canadian night, my team crept forward, and entered the structure, with no idea what might await us inside.
The inside of the structure was bleak. The walls were bare cinderblock; bits of it crumbled away in places. The floor was just the concrete slab. Oddly, there were no cobwebs or hornets' nests like you usually see in old abandoned buildings. The floor, while dusty, showed no evidence of animal presence – no droppings, footprints, or leaves that had been stuck to some creature's paws. The room was maybe three meters wide and five meters long. Besides the entrance door behind us, there were two empty door frames leading deeper into the building. The four of us stood there for an eternity. Watching. Listening. Waiting.
After what had seemed like an hour (I later learned it had been a mere five minutes), I moved forward towards the nearer doorframe. The only sound were our footfalls, echoing quietly on the concrete. Gazing into the next room, I could see it was as featureless as the one we were in. Slightly differently shaped, with different dimensions, but equally bare. The other doorway revealed more of the same. I decided we should take the first room. I cracked a glowstick, which I placed on the threshold. No sense in getting lost in this maze. We entered the second room, illuminated by the pale green glow of the glowstick and the bright white lights of our rifles. Everything was silent.
EVAN:
Corporal Burke.
BURKE:
Jesus Christ, EVAN! Are you trying to scare us out of our skins?
EVAN:
I apologize if I startled you, Corporal. There appears to be some interference in your data-uplink. I am only receiving your team's locator beacons and your audio channels. All other monitoring devices are nonresponsive.
RIGBY:
Could be the structure is shielded.
EVAN:
That is a distinct possibility, Specialist Rigby.
SALAZAR:
We might be able to strengthen our transmission if we use one of the comm devices as a signal booster.
BROOKS:
Let's wait on that until we see if this gets worse. I'd rather have functioning comms and no data uplink than having neither.
EVAN:
That is a logical decision, Specialist Brooks.
BURKE:
I agree, Doc. EVAN, we're marking our route with glowsticks. Can you track us and start building a virtual map? It's a maze in here, and I'd rather we didn't get lost.
EVAN:
I have already started on such a map. I will periodically transmit what I have developed to your mobile GPS devices, so that in the event your locator beacons or communications signals reach dangerously low levels, you will not get lost.
BURKE:
Alright, thank you, EVAN. We're going to continue. Burke out.
SALAZAR:
This place gives me the willies.
RIGBY:
Me too.
BURKE (NARRATOR):
And onward we went, winding deeper into the structure. Every room was the same: empty, bare, and gloomy. And yet, every one of them was different. No two rooms seemed to have the same dimensions or have the empty door frames in the same place. Some rooms had many doors, others, just a single one leading to a dead end. Some were large, easily ten meters on each side, while we went through at least one which was barely wide enough for us to squeeze through with our gear. The doors, or I should say the places where doors should have been, varied as much as the rooms. Some were large enough you could have easily driven a car through them. Others seemed small enough that you'd have to worm through on your belly, twisting your shoulders just so in order to fit.
At first the only sounds were the echoes of our footfalls bouncing through the lonely rooms and the tense beating of our hearts. But then, I swear, the walls started whispering at us. I'd open my mouth to mention it to the team, but then the sound would vanish, as though it were all in my head. I later learned I was not the only one who had heard these whispers, but my team had also failed to mention them at the time. We kept moving and pretending we were alone, unsure which would be worse: that we were hearing things that weren't there, or that someone or something was there, watching us, just out of sight, just in the next dark room. Always in the next room or a room to one side or another, for every chamber we entered was deserted, bare, and empty.
After fifteen minutes, I'd lost count of the rooms. I was also running low on glowsticks, so I stopped us to contact EVAN.
BURKE:
EVAN, this is Burke, come in.
EVAN:
Your signal strength is weak, Corporal Burke, but I am receiving you.
BURKE:
EVAN, I'm almost out of glowsticks. How's the map coming?
EVAN:
By my estimate, Corporal, you have explored merely three zero percent of the structure. I am having difficulty uploading it to your GPS, however. Please confirm your device is powered on and receiving.
BURKE:
That's funny, its dead. You'll have to guide us out manually.
EVAN:
Understood, Corporal.
BROOKS:
What the hell? My light just went out. Salazar, will you shine your flashlight over here while I get the spares out of my pack?
SALAZAR:
Sure thing, Doc.
BURKE:
Shit. My light just died too. Rigby, I thought you swapped out all the batteries in everything before we went out.
RIGBY:
I did. Fresh batts in everything – SOP.
SALAZAR:
Yeah, and I double checked. These things should be good for another few days of continuous use.
BURKE:
Alright. Break out the spares, everyone, and get them where you can reach them without having to dig.
BROOKS:
(with quiet urgency) What the—movement southeast!
(dead silence for several seconds)
BURKE:
(quietly) What did you see, Doc?
BROOKS:
I don't know. But something moved in that room.
BURKE:
Safeties off, weapons free. Stay alert. Rigby, point.
RIGBY:
On it.
BURKE (NARRATOR):
This was the first movement – the first, well, anything – we'd run into in the structure. We crept forward, rifles leveled, alert for any sign of danger. We entered the room to discover—
RIGBY:
Clear.
SALAZAR:
Clear. Dead end.
RIGBY:
You sure you saw something, Doc?
BROOKS:
Oh, yeah. There was definitely something here. At least the size of a dog. Couldn't tell what it was, other than dark and fast. But it was there.
BURKE:
I believe you, Doc.
SALAZAR:
Well, I don't know where it could have gone. These walls are solid, and we just came through the only way into this room.
RIGBY:
(a distant shriek is heard) What the hell was that sound!?
SALAZAR:
Sounded like a banshee or something. (the shriek repeats) There it is again!
BROOKS:
I don't think we're alone in here.
BURKE:
Whatever it was, it came from that direction. Let's move out.
BURKE (NARRATOR):
Doc Brooks was right – we were most certainly not alone in the structure. Something was in there. And that sound – that shriek, that ungodly shriek – it made my blood run cold. Rigby hit the nail on the head: Hell was that sound. And we were going to find it. We ran through the halls of the concrete labyrinth, chasing whatever phantom was screaming in the night. We'd abandoned all caution, no longer slowly creeping, carefully and methodically observing the rooms around us. As the shriek kept repeating, we ran after it. Left turn, right turn, left turn, right turn, we kept zigzagging to chase whatever it was. Closer and closer, it was moving away but it was always closer – we had to be gaining on it. And then, at last, we rounded a final doorway and there it was. A great dark beast, taller at the shoulder than any of us, seemingly half wolf, half bear, and all shadow. Shaggy and mangy, though broader around the middle than a horse you could count every single rib. Saliva dripped from monstrous jaws. It snarled menacingly. Its eyes seemed to glow under the failing illumination of our rifle-mounted lights. It seemed to be sizing us up, as if deciding which of us might be a nice midnight snack. For a long moment, we stared at it, and it stared at us, and none of us moved.
In an instant, it leapt forward. We all opened up, blasting away with our weapons. It shuddered and fell back, but tried to hobble towards us. We kept firing and firing, despite everything our training had taught us, nearly emptying our weapons into the beast until long after it had ceased to move.
MYERS:
Xi-13 Friendlies! On your six!
BURKE (NARRATOR):
Staff Sergeant Myers, Team 1, and Squad Three had all appeared in the room behind us. With their arrival, we were snapped out of our battle trance.
MYERS:
Stand down, Team 2.
BURKE:
Good timing, Staff Sergeant.
MYERS:
What the hell were you shooting at, Corporal Burke?
BURKE:
The Unknown Anomaly, Staff Sergeant. We found it in here and cornered it, but it attacked us. We were defending ourselves.
MYERS:
Corporal, we bagged the Unknown Anomaly outside, half an hour ago.
SALAZAR:
What?
RIGBY:
That can't be right.
BROOKS:
Staff Sergeant?
MYERS:
We tried to radio you, but we couldn't get through. EVAN gave us the coordinates and led us through the structure.
BURKE:
What?
MYERS:
You do speak English, Corporal.
BURKE:
Yes, Staff Sergeant.
BROOKS:
But if you captured the Unknown Anomaly, then what's that?
MYERS:
What's what?
BURKE:
That, over there—wait, where did it go?
MYERS:
Corporal, there's nothing in this room except a lot of bullet holes and shell casings.
BURKE (NARRATOR):
Sure enough, Staff Sergeant Myers was right. The room was empty – there was no sign of the beast. No blood, no fur, no saliva, nothing. Nothing could have left the room, either, since it was a dead end.
SALAZAR:
I don't understand.
RIGBY:
It was right here.
MYERS:
We'd better get you back to base and have the doctors check you out.
BURKE:
Yes, Staff Sergeant.
BURKE (NARRATOR):
As it turned out, all four members of Xi-13, Second Squad, Team 2 were given a clean bill of both mental and physical health. During the post-exercise assessment, Colonel Hornby informed us that we, and I, had passed with acceptable marks, as had EVAN, who would be joining our field operations from then on. We also learned that a full sweep and clear had been conducted of the structure, and no evidence of our mystery creature had been found. Interestingly though, only about half of the bullets we fired were recovered from the back wall of that lonely room deep in the structure.
Sometime later, I passed Colonel Hornby in the hallway at Site-19. I asked him about the structure and the beast, and if either had been classified as a Skip. His beard hid a small smile, and I could see a twinkle in his eye when he said that he couldn't talk about it. I've been back to Training Area Five several times since, but I've never made it back to that structure. Maybe someday I'll have the clearance and need to know. In the meantime, if I am out in the woods late at night, I remember back and wonder….
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