This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/jhurl24 on 2025-03-30 00:26:48+00:00.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

About six months after my last appointment with Carrie, I picked up an overtime shift working Swing Shift on one of my off days. When I got into the briefing room, I sat at the open seat next to Schmidt in the back of the room. “Hey, Kid,” he said. “You hear the news?”

“No, what news?” I asked with a grin.

“I’m retiring,” he said. His face wore a wide, excited smile. “Just three months left.”

“Oh,” I said, the grin vanished from my face, replaced by a surprised frown. “Congrats man, that’s great!”

Before either of us could say anything else, Sergeant Wells walked in the room. He was a tall, lengthy native. “Good afternoon everybody,” his voice held the same unemotional tone as his facial expressions. “Day Shift had one fight, both inmates are in Segregation, no special watches in Holding, and we are going to get some Yard done.” He gave everyone their assignments. “Jay, you are going to assist Will with running Yard. He will be here in a couple hours.” Looking around the room he asked, “That is all. If there are no other questions, let’s get to it.” Everyone stood up and walked out. I was the last one out of the room when I heard Sergeant Wells, “Jay, can you bust out the interior and exterior perimeter checks?”

I felt my whole body tense up when he asked, “Yes sir.” I said, a slight tone of reluctance in my voice.

“Thank you.” He said, before walking the opposite way into his office.

“You’ll be alright, Jay.” Schmidt said, holding the door open for me. “It’s day time.” I stopped walking and looked at Schmidt. He gave me a knowing and reassuring nod.

Did he know? I know I haven’t talked to anyone about the ‘incident’ save for Will, Mary, and Carrie. “How–” I began to ask.

Schmidt grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eyes, “It’s okay.” There was this calmness about the look in his eyes, “You’ll be okay.” As he spoke, the anxiety vanished from my mind and I started to believe the words he spoke. “C’mon, let’s get this day started.”

I shook off the feeling of dread and walked with Schmidt, “Yeah, you’re right.”

Schmidt just chuckled to himself, “Of course I am.” He gave me a pat on the back, “Look, I get Will trained you, but that was a long time ago. It’s time for you to pick it up.”

“Hey!” I half-jokingly yelled. “Y’know, I’m glad you’re retiring.” A sly smirk forming on my face.

“Oh yeah?” Schmidt said, a look of intrigue washing over his face. “Why’s that?”

“Because once you’re gone, we can stop taking turns watching you.” I said.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Well, we all have to take turns watching you,” I said. “We have to make sure you don’t forget where you are.” I laughed. When I saw the look of anger and confusion on Schmidt’s face, I laughed harder. “Hey! At least we stopped carrying spare diapers to give–”

“It was one fucking time, Jay!!” Schmidt yelled, the mix of laughter, anger, and embarrassment had us both keeled over struggling to breathe. After a couple seconds, Schmidt shot up, a look of horror painted on his face, “Uh-oh.”

Concern quickly replaced the laughter in my voice, “What?” I asked.

“I’ll see you in a little bit,” Schmidt said before running past the bathroom and into the briefing room.

Sergeant Wells came out of the briefing room door as Schmidt ran in, “Not again.” He said, half concerned and half laughing at the situation. “Jay! I thought it was your turn to bring the diapers.”

I could hear Schmidt’s voice from in the briefing room, “You guys got Wells in on it too?!?”

Sergeant Wells looked at me, a rare smile on his otherwise stoic face, “Jay, once you’re done with the checks, come see me.” He looked down where Schmidt was standing, “First, get that cleaned up.”

“Right away,” I said. He turned and walked back to his office. I looked down and saw a small puddle where Schmidt stood, “Ah Schmidt.” I whispered.

After cleaning up Schmidt’s mess, I made my way outside to begin the first check. “You’ll be okay.” Schmidt’s voice echoed in my head.

“Control, starting exterior perimeter check.” I radioed.

“Copy, 1520.” The voice answered back.

I began walking the perimeter and all was well, it was a nice, sunny day. The sounds of birds chirping and squirrels running in the trees brought an unfamiliar sense of peace to the otherwise ominous forest. Until then, I had only ever seen the evil that called the forest home. After a while, I let my guard down, taking in the sight of nature reclaiming the forest in the daylight. Once I reached the half-way point on the backside, near where Val and I thought we saw someone, when the atmosphere changed. I looked up and saw a small, dark cloud blocking the Sun. The more I looked, the more unsettled I became. Looking around, I noticed, there weren't any other clouds in the sky. “What the fuck.” I said.

“Jay.” A whisper echoed from the trees.

Immediately I snapped my head to the forest. I could barely see into the thick foliage. After a few moments of not seeing anything, I continued my check. The cloud covering the Sun began to dissipate, slowly giving more light around me. I looked ahead and could see the parking lot. I heard a branch snap and turned around. “Get it together,” I whispered to myself. When I looked back around, I saw a shadow on the ground in the field that separated me from the parking lot. Even though it was, maybe, fifty feet in front of me and in broad daylight, I couldn’t see anyone there, just a shadow.

“Jay.” The whisper from the trees echoed again, this time a little louder than before.

My gaze was fixed on the shadow, it had started moving. The shadow seemed to be rising up out of the ground. I snapped out of my daze, “Rule 3. Just walk away.” I said to myself. Not wanting to find out what happens when you don’t follow that rule, I turned around.

I started walking the way I came. Just before I crossed back over the half-way point, I heard a deep male voice coming from somewhere in the forest, “Jay. Will. Feed.”

I didn’t even pause to look, I just started running. When I got back to the staff entrance, I radioed back to Control, “Perimeter check complete.”

I walked inside and went straight to Sergeant Wells’ office. “Everything okay?” he asked.

Still catching my breath, I sat in the chair across from his desk. I nodded and we sat in silence for a moment while I caught my breath. Sergeant Wells looked at me with concern. “Okay, I’m good.” I said. “Sorry sir.”

“It’s okay,” he said. He leaned forward and looked at me for a moment. “What did you see?” he asked.

I looked at him feigning confusion, “What do you mean?” I asked.

“Jay, my family has lived here since before this country even existed. I know the look of someone who has seen something,” he paused, “unnatural.”

I dropped the act and asked him, “Do you know what actually happened to me and Will that night?”

Sergeant Wells leaned back and sighed, “Yes.”

“What is the story you got?” I asked.

He reached down and grabbed a packet from a drawer, “Instead of telling you, why don’t you read it.” He handed me the stack of papers, “Tell me what’s missing, I know it’s not the full story.”

I read through the pages, they detailed all the events of the night of the ‘incident’ but it stopped at us returning from the clearing. No mention of Corporal D in the reports at all. “Rule 3.” I said looking back to Sergeant Wells.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“I ran into an instance that falls under Rule 3. That’s what happened before I came in here.” I explained.

Sergeant Wells watched me for a moment before asking “Anything else? I know someone who’s been through as much as you have isn’t running from a shadow.”

“Uh, yeah,” I stammered, “I heard a voice I haven’t heard before.”

“What do you mean, ‘haven’t heard before’?” he asked.

“Well, I’ve heard the voice of the ‘Woman’ in the trees, even seen her at this point,” I said, “But this was different. It was this deep male voice. With the woman’s voice, I could always pin point the direction it came from. With this one, though,” I paused. “Sir, it almost seemed like it was the forest itself speaking to me.”

“What did it say?” he asked.

“Jay. Will. Feed.” I said, looking down at my hands.

When I looked back at Sergeant Wells, I expected to see his face as it always was, expressionless. Only, when I looked back at the man across from me, I saw a look of shock across his face. “No,” he whispered. “Are you sure?” he asked. By the tone in his voice, I could tell he was more pleading for me to change my answer rather than asking a question.

His response shook me. I had never seen him show any emotions aside from the rare smile or joke. Seeing him like this, I knew something was coming, “I am.” I said.

Sergeant Wells picked up the phone and called someone, “Hey, it’s me,” he said. “It’s time.” I couldn’t hear the response given, but based off Sergeant Wells body language, I could tell this wasn’t a pleasant call, “Yes I’m sure. I’ll make the arrangements.” He hung up the phone and looked back at me, “Jay, what do you know of the old gods?”

“Not muc...

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