Drone

We dove into the forest with our guns low and ready. We had to be ready to shoot at any given second. Once we entered its range, there was no going back. It had a firm grasp on territory, and it could sense almost any movement inside it.

We didn’t go in all stealthy like. There was no sense in doing that. Why try to hide from something that could track down your location easily? We were careful. Just in a rough way. And we were confident that the plan we had prepared would work….

There was evidence of its influence as soon as we stepped into the grove. Web-substance strung throughout the treetops, and little bits of bee hive sticking up from some places in the ground. This was not created for shelter for the actual Fear, but it was more of a creation via its manifestation and subsequent influence on our world.

This particular Fear is grouped into a “hivemind.” At least, that’s a working theory for it in the organization. It hasn’t been confirmed, but it is commonly referred to as truth because of substantial evidence in its favor. A hivemind is a group of organisms that share the same overall thought process. At least, that’s what I think the definition is. I don’t know, John was always the one good with words and shit. The hivemind preys upon humans. They infest an area, or intrude a home or shelter, and begin to take dominion over it. They are not calculating creatures, they aren’t doing this because of some grand scheme they play in. They do this because we are like food to them.

They intrude our bodies, and they either a) eat you from the inside out or b) they turn you into a servant of theirs. They are similar to the Convocation, but in contrast, The Convocation are much smarter, and have a bigger influence on the world. I could see, in the future, The Convocation and The Intrusion developing a type of rivalry.

The servants are called “drones.” They lose their humanity and become infested with The Intrusion. They become their own tiny ecosystem, filled with The Intrusion. Like the areas that The Intrusion take hold of, they transform. They develop insect-like attributes. I’ve seen about two or three other drones in my life, and they’ve always looked a bit different.

The first drone I saw was on my second mission as an agent. I won’t go into details surrounding that mission, but it involved investigating a whole trailer park overrun with the Intrusion. Fortunately, almost all of the residents escaped the park unscathed, except for one ignorant jackass named Billy Joe. We fucking warned him about his impending fate, but he stayed back anyways. Trailer trashed shithead.

Or maybe he had already been taken over by Them. I’m not sure. Anyways, the third time my… my partner visited him, he had already been transformed. He was noticeably different this time. His teeth were sharpening, his eyes were shrinking and almost bulging out of his head, and his hair was falling out.

Transformations tend to differ from human to human.

The other encounter was not very notable. I barely remember it. Hell, actually, I think the only thing I remember from it was the fact that it involved the Intrusion.

I don’t remember much from those days…

It was like a jungle. Vines dangled from the treetops, which resembled canopies now. The hive combs stuck to the sides of the trees like barnacles to a ship’s mast. There were no insects in sight.

It was just us and the drone. No other distractions. That was good.

About five minutes passed until we heard it. It was the scream of the drone. It let out a shrill squeal, somewhere hidden in the trees. It was unlike anything I had heard before; it was different from the other sounds I had heard from drones in prior missions. And all the while, under that squeal, was something far more terrible. A “buzz” noise under it. Almost like a hornet. Hornets.

It was about when we passed the fallen, rotting tree. We stopped to rest for a minute. It had been almost ten minutes since we heard the squeal.

It was silent. I would say it was “too silent”, but that simply isn’t true. If you think you’ve experienced true silence… trust me, you have not. I have. It’s not… fun. When I say it’s “too” silent, I meant… it was obvious that something was watching us.

It just wasn’t obvious where.

“How are you guys doing?” I ask Chris and Brandon.

I turn around and make sure they’re still behind me. They still were. Calm, cool, collected.

“Too fucking humid, man. I hate Florida. Goddamn heat.” Brandon says.

“This ain’t even the full extent of the heat, dumbass.” Chris says.

“Shut the fuck up with the whining you two.” I say, before turning back around.

“Let’s just keep moving.”

We don’t run this time, we walk.

Chris and Brandon keep arguing. In a friendly way.

“Alaskan motherfucker can’t handle the heat.”

“Man fuck you this isn’t normal weather. Shitty global warming.”

“What? This is Spring! It’s barely eighty degrees!”

“This is like the jungle!”

“Yeah, welcome to Florida, asshole.”

Err. Well, mostly a friendly way…

They stop after a few minutes. Nothing notable happens for about five minutes. I keep my eyes focused on searching the ground and canopies for any sign of the drone. No signs of it.

The plan was still on track, but the environment was getting to us. And the air felt like it was getting stiffer and stickier. We had to rest for a moment. I sat on a rotting log, and Chris and Brandon leaned against a tree.

I was sitting with my body facing away from the two. I looked back, and asked for the time.

“About a quarter after, James.” Brandon said.

I sighed. “Good, we’re on schedule. We can kill a few minutes here. “

I didn’t hear any of it. That still amazes me. I looked away for about twenty seconds and in that window of time…

When I looked back, Chris and Brandon had been knocked to the ground. Both were apparently either unconscious or dead. Just two motionless bodies.

Our target stood over their bodies, facing away from me. He wore torn, dirty clothes, and a thick stench hovered over him. His hair seemed to be falling out, leaving patches of skin visible. These patches were red and scarred. The skin on his body was unnaturally gray and seemed loose.

He turns around, and looks at me. He makes something like a mix between a growl and a buzz.

I chuckle. This is when the fun begins.

His now inhuman eyes set themselves on me, and he crouched down to the ground. He screams. The entire air of the forest changes. It was more humid than ever. We were in a jungle.

It screams, and begins to run towards me. It tries to tackle me, but I roll to the side at the last second. I land on the ground a few feet away and aim my gun at it. I shoot it once in the abdomen before it ducks low to the ground and then jumps over towards me.

I get up, jump back, and aim again. I’m laughing.

When I’m in the heat of battle, it just seems like I’m almost… blood thirsty.

He doesn’t bleed. He doesn’t even react to the wounds. He begins his assault again. I shoot once more, hitting him in the upper arm. That doesn’t seem to affect him either.

“Come on, big boy, let’s go for a walk!”

The plan was working out perfectly. That monster chased me through the woods. It was extraordinarily fast, but it just wasn’t fast enough. If the Rivers family is known for one physical attribute, it would be our legs, and how fast they move. We run fast.

I saw it. The outskirts of the forest. I was almost sad… already over, eh?

I run past the last few trees into a small field. I can see the road on the other side of it. Vans line up and down it. I turn around, and notice that the drone had stopped chasing me.

“…Oh? What’s up, little buddy? You a little shy?”

It stands there, watching me from the trees with an emotionless face. It knew I had trapped it.

“Come on out now. It’s over, admit it to yourself. There’s nowhere to run now.”

It refuses to come out. It just stands there.

I keep switching in between “it” and “he.” I can’t decide which is the proper term to use.

“Well, I didn’t want to have to do this, but-“

I aim my gun, and shoot his right leg three times. He falls to the ground, and screams. It sounded like a live hornets’ nest was stuck in his throat. I walk back into the forest, grab him by the hair, and drag him out into the field.

I toss him down once we’re about 15 feet away from the forest. His screams were annoying the fuck out of me, so I take my gun, and shoot at his jaw. It silences him.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

The rest of the team emerges from the van. About twenty agents head towards the forest area, while five stay with me. It was time to get rid of the drone’s body.

One of the agents hands me a suitcase, and I open it. Inside of it was the familiar device I use almost on every mission. See, it’s hard to get rid of Fears. With ordinary weapons, it’s almost impossible.

But we’ve found a way around this: the device in the suitcase is able to completely eradicate an object’s, or person’s existence. Don’t ask how.

We’ve been doing this for decades. This is why you can sleep at night. We completely erase anything we can of these creatures, to stop them and their influence reaching you; the common human.

The ritual took twenty minutes. Chris and Brandon were taken to a hospital nearby. I’m worried about them, but they’ll pull through.

I don’t think the Drone was after them. I think it was after me, for some reason.

I found something in the forest. After going back in to help with Chris and Brandon, I stepped on a tiny doll. Just a tiny cotton doll. It… perplexed me.

I don’t know why I’m mentioning it. It’s just a doll.

Alright. I guess I’m going to stay down here a few days. At least until Chris and Brandon are stable.


I want to follow up on the case too. I want to be the one to tell that little kid he’s safe now.