I think the first I became aware
of it was when the killings started. Random gruesome murders. People ripped
apart, burned to cinders. The police were baffled, the Corps intrigued and the
people were scared. Hells, even the crooks were running with more weapons than
usual. My comm was ringing non-stop, I had gangsters asking me if it was the
cops, and cops asking me if there was a new gang.
Then the sludge really hit the air-recycling unit.
People started to disappear. One, two, then a dozen at a time. Space habitats
would go dark, and when boarded they would be empty. Nothing missing, nothing
stolen, just no people. The Matrix started to be flooded with odd code. Not
programing, or a recognisable language, just…. Information. For what, no one knew. Crashes were frequent.
Then electrical blackouts.
And then, a year to the day after the eclipse, Stuart Williams, the head of the Everleaf Group was found naked and skinned on the Board Room of Leaf Tower, surrounded by black candles, litters of what was to be identified as goats’ blood, inside a circle with odd runes and geometric patterns. In front of him there was a patch of singed carpet. And in his own blood, he had written: THE STARS ARE RIGHT. THEY COME. DOOM.
Then things got scary. People were committing crimes in broad daylight. They would be caught; they would pull weapons on the cops. They would be shot. Then they’d go down.
Then they would get up and flee,
cackling.
Mental institutions were
overflowing. Some nights, every patient would have the same dream. And even in
the outside world, a lot of people felt them,
whatever they were, whispering,
scratching at their minds. Something was coming. Something big. And a lot of
people on our side were more than happy to help. Ahead of this wave came the pilot fish, the ones that have crossed over in the past, but now found it that much easier. Fairies. Vampires. Deamons. Werewolves.
NH-LOADED was funded. On paper,
we are a special investigation division of the New Hades Police Department. In
fact, we are a mix and match of people with…. Shall we say, appropriate gifts and abilities. There
are people like me, with guns and contacts and steeetwise. But there are
priests. And people that….changed
after the eclipse. And people that went to the other side and didn’t like the
catering. And people that…. Well. I’m probably stretching it by calling them people.
We investigate and if possible destroy these special threats. For you see, someone knew what’s coming soon. Somehow, this obscure American writer saw it, almost 150 years ago.
My name is Orion Grey. We are the New Hades Lovecraftian Anomaly Defence Department.
In every sense of the word,
welcome to Hell.
