(What an exciting day!)
A gun shot! The lights go out! The doors lock...
Black ugly falls off Didier's shoulder; I give the smoking gun to Didier (Kathy'd be proud); we head to the stairwell. Didier picks the lock; the door swings shut behind us. We go down the stairs to the basement. Lights flicker ominously.
Meanwhile, Ray and Adam meet a sad girl. After talking with her briefly, they shout for Alan. A British man approaches them and says Alan is in '23'. In '23' they encounter Alan, a surprisingly tall dude. (Alan hides something...) A man claiming to be a POW tries to persuade Adam and Ray to follow him. Nothing doing. Much to his dismay, Adam notices that a nearby girl has tentacles. Time to leave!
Ray leads Alastair (the British dude), Alan, and Adam towards the stairs where they are reunited with Hazel (that's me - I'm a secret agent in training you know) and Didier.
Didier, looking suspiciously at Alan, asks if he knows Mr. Holland (?). Alan turns and attacks Didier! Adam seeing the chaos attempts to help Didier by swinging his crutch at Alan who dodges. I try to whack him too, but I have some difficulty and fall over in the process (I must work on using my crutch more efficiently). Alan runs away.
Suddenly, before there is time to think, the door to the upper floor blows open and in leaps a giant rat! It attacks Ray! Didier screams and runs away! The battle is nasty. It is all a bit foggy now dearest Diary. Ray gets bitten (several times). Adam tries to beat back the rat and gets clawed. I try to... well... let's just say it involved its more intimate end... nothing seems to slow it down! I feel it breathing down my neck as it hovers over my body. Suddenly, Didier appears with Alastair and a gun! He shoots at the rat!
There is a blur, a moment of panic and a gasp of air. I clutch for my crutch.
We race down the passageway towards the POW's secret tunnel. As we stagger down the hallway, Didier stops at an open door - the 'real' Alan's room. The 'real' Alan, stabbed multiple times, is beyond our help. Didier notices graphic crayon drawings on the wall. He grabs the pictures and races to catch up with us.
'She's coming!' someone screams. Following the POW, we break the lock to an old rusty door. We hurry down a dark dank passage. It takes us to a forest - the institution's grounds! It is storming outside. Wet and exhausted, Alistair and Didier kindly offer to go get the car.
Once together, we breathe a quick sigh of relief. We head towards Manchester. Adam talks to the POW and learns that his name is Matt. He is from Louisiana. We also look at the pictures (or was that at the hotel room (?) - no matter). The first shows Didier standing over a very dead Alan. (Hmmm curious I think). The second is of a woman with wings hovering over a forest. The third shows a man with a red sports car near the ocean. The fourth, and final picture is of a priest standing in front of a crumbled altar. They are all signed 'Samuel'. (A coincidence (?) - I think not)
Needing medical attention, Ray, Didier and I go to the hospital while Adam, Alistair and Matt find us a hotel room.
Adam later told me that he interrogated Matt and Alastair. Matt believes that he was in an internment camp (the mental hospital that is) for ~ 2 1/2 years. He says he was subjected to 'unpleasant' experiments. His scars seem to confirm his story. Alistair, on the other hand, is a librarian at a small public library in Nottingham. He specializes in the occult. (I must not let him see my research if possible). He is working on a book cataloguing demons/magic/etc. He wanted to interview a woman named 'Judy' at the Gibbs' Mental hospital, but when he arrived he was put into a cell! (Talk about terrible hospitality!) A small woman interviewed him with short blond hair in a lab coat.
It appears Diary that we have learned all we can here. We will take Matt to an army hospital in the morning. Alastair has promised to show us his personal library. He seems determined to accompany us on this adventure. I will have to see what I can learn from him about symbology, on the sly of course.
Next stop, Atlanta, Ekloffs and Samuel...
Adieu dear Diary and good night Kathy, wherever you may be. Never fear, I will continue honing my secret agent skills...
Till the morrow...
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