I hate these patrols around the shoreline, the Red Lake, Blood Lake, whatever the nicknames are,

I still get edgy walking patrols around it. I don't feel the protection that the surrounding

20-foot wall of concrete is supposed to provide. I've been here two and a half years and seen

things smashed through the wall like Legos, things that are honestly so difficult and alien to describe, they can

hardly be comprehended at all. The newer guys on the security detail don't know any better.

They won't know until they have their first breach. I'm leaving soon enough, but the person

who will replace me will have to learn just as fast as I did. There will be entities crawling

out of the bloody lake that will

be fairly easy to deal with, small to medium-sized creatures that are susceptible to gunfire,

or things that like to climb out and fuck with your mind. Then there will be up close and personal

encounters that leave scar tissue on your memories. Give you a reason to be scared of crossing

over the catwalks above the lake. I've had at

least three of those since my assignment here. The first one was literally on my second day on the

job. I was shadowing one of the older security team sergeants. He was going on and on about the

tours he did, the medals he received, and how this current work is really beneath him considering

his past military record.

We all start from the bottom when we joined the foundation. He was in the middle of his rant

about how he has more experience than his CEO when something crawled out of the lake.

It was a pale woman with jet black hair. Her face, though, it haunts me whenever I think

about it still. I can see it so clearly when I close my eyes, no eyes or nose, just a huge mouth from her

hairline to her chin, a mouth with rows of thin teeth like ivory pencils.

The legs were unnaturally long and ended in silvery metallic spikes.

...