Six flags in philadelphia
Welcome to Six Flags!
2012.01.24 02:34 Welcome to Six Flags!
2008.12.23 08:18 Viva San Antonio!
For everything you want to see, do, eat, and buy in the Alamo City, and places you can drive to within an hour of SA! Visit us for The Alamo, The Missions world heritage site, Six Flags and Sea World. Interesting posts about nearby places like Boerne, Poteet and New Braunfels are welcome, too. Stay for the tacos, the friendly locals, and Fiesta!
2020.03.11 04:42 Californiacoasters DiscoveryKingdom
A subreddit dedicated to discussing the amusement park, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Not associated with Six Flags in any way.
2023.06.03 17:34 akkshaikh Friends without Benefits
There were guys locked up for diamond trafficking, and others for not having stood to attention during the raising of the flag. Some of the prisoners had been important leaders in the party. They took pride in their friendship with the President.-A General Theory of Oblivion - José Eduardo Agualusa
“Only yesterday the Old Man and I went fishing together,” one of them boasted to Little Chief. “When he finds out what’s happened, he’ll get me out of here and have the morons who did this to me arrested.”
He was shot the following week.
2023.06.03 17:33 vismizviprez Odisha train tragedy: CAG raised concerns over derailments in December. Did we miss the warning?
 | Less than six months before this accident, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) tabled its report on ‘Derailment in Indian Railways (IR)’ in Parliament, which states that almost seven out of 10 railway accidents between 2017-18 and 2020-21 were derailments. Track defects, engineering and maintenance issues, and operating errors were the causes of these derailments, the report said. submitted by vismizviprez to india [link] [comments] The report also said that the overall allotment of funds for track renewal had been on the decline, and even the funds that were allocated were not utilised completely. This is alarming given that the report also states that 26 percent of the total derailments during 2017-21 were linked to track renewals. "IR should strive to achieve a robust safety management system that would enable the creation of a system of checks and balances whereby the existence of proper control in one or more of the barriers would minimise the chances of accidents due to ‘failure of’ or ‘weakness in’ one or more of the remaining barriers," CAG had recommended. |
2023.06.03 17:33 helloyelloxx 7 Virgin Mary
Hi guys! A little story time. As the title said, 7 of us are single since birth and we are now in our mid 20s . We met during our college days. We have never florted nor we have received any confessions from anyone. (I think?) I don’t think we are ugly or have unpleasant personalities. Personally, I think we all have likable traits and share the same humor. It’s not that we have high standards, it’s just that no one even confessed or pursued one of us 🤡Tho we are still at the point of our lives where we focus on ourselves and careers, but still we wonder how the hell we don’t have any experience on relationships.
I have read some threads here that they consider this as their red flag and was wondering why. So any thoughts?
TL;DR - 7 unexperienced women wondering what are your thoughts on this. Is this considered a red flag? Is this a big deal to some men?
Ps. Up to this day, it still amaze me how we are in the same circle of friends 😂
submitted by helloyelloxx to relationships [link] [comments]
I have read some threads here that they consider this as their red flag and was wondering why. So any thoughts?
TL;DR - 7 unexperienced women wondering what are your thoughts on this. Is this considered a red flag? Is this a big deal to some men?
Ps. Up to this day, it still amaze me how we are in the same circle of friends 😂
2023.06.03 17:32 HeadOfSpectre The Soldier
"Think of this as a chance at revenge," Sweeney said.
Revenge.
What a moronically quaint idea.
This jumped up little shit had come into my home, interrupted my retirement and here he was talking to me about revenge, as if he knew the first thing about what I’d seen, what I’d been through, why I’d quit.
Looking into his eyes, I knew he didn’t understand. I knew he couldn’t.
I've been hunting vampires for most of my life. I've killed more of them than I can count. But Clementine Di Cesare was no ordinary vampire. Hell, none of the Di Cesares were ordinary vampires, but even among them Clementine was… unique. She was the one all the others quietly feared. The one who was even spoken of with reverence by the Di Cesares masters, those twin Immortals who could not be killed by any weapon of this world. Seeking revenge against her was like seeking revenge against death itself.
“Revenge?” I repeated, with a dismissive scoff.
“You’re really going to tell me that after what she put you through, you don’t want revenge?” Sweeney asked.
“If you knew what she did to me, you’d know why I don’t want revenge,” I replied.
“Really? Sorry Franklin, but I don’t buy that. Look, I get it if you’re reluctant to jump back into the fight. I do. You of all people know just how dangerous the Di Cesare’s are. Especially ‘La Morte’.”
I looked over at him as he said that name. It rolled off his tongue so irreverently. To him, it was just a name. An alias assigned to some vampire he’s only heard of stories. He didn’t utter it with the respect it deserved, and I almost couldn’t be bothered to correct him. Any words spent on this small minded glory hound were probably wasted.
“Yes, I do know.”
“Which is why I need you,” Sweeney said. He almost sounded as if he were pleading with me. “Think of this as an opportunity to set things right… to put that vampire bitch in the ground where she belongs, and save God only knows how many lives in the process!”
I sighed.
He just didn’t get it.
“Mark my words, Mr. Sweeney, if you chase after Clementine Di Cesare, you’ll end far more lives than you save. She didn’t get a name like ‘La Morte’ for nothing. She earned it. Purchased it with the blood of the tens of thousands she’s sent screaming into the maw of Hell. She is not something you chase, Sweeney.”
“She’s a vampire,” Sweeney said dismissively. “She’s another enemy to destroy.”
“That’s what George Bundy said,” I replied. “Then not too long after, he died.”
“I’m not George Bundy,” Sweeney said.
“No. You sure as hell ain’t,” I agreed, before looking the kid in the eye.
He thought he was an up and comer, climbing the ranks of the Brethren. He probably thought of himself as some sort of badass vampire hunter too, when in reality he could never have so much as dreamed of holding a candle to the likes of Bundy… or hell, any of the men who’d died in Brazil.
“You should watch your tone with me,” Sweeney warned.
“Or you’ll do what?” I asked, “You ain’t going to frighten me with vague threats, boy. I’ve walked through Hell, trying to kill the Devil. What have you done?”
Sweeney bit his lip but didn’t respond.
“There’s nothing you can say or do that will intimidate me,” I said, before lighting myself a cigarette. I stared at the road outside of my porch, old memories flooding back to me before looking over at Sweeney again. He sat in his chair beside me like a sulky child. This was the man who wanted to destroy the Di Cesare family? Pathetic.
“Exactly how much do you know about the Brazil Job?” I asked.
“I know it was a failure. Clementine Di Cesare killed most of the men the Brethren sent out… all except for you. You were the only one good enough to beat her.”
“Good enough…” I repeated with a huff, “Hardly… whatever picture you’ve got in your head of some glorified battle, throw it away. Trust me, the Brazil Job was anything but glorious. It was a two hour long trek through Hell. And I didn’t beat Di Cesare at the end of it. I survived her. They’re two different things entirely.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Sweeney said.
“You wouldn’t, would you?” I sighed and took another drag on my cigarette.
This kid wasn’t going to leave until I made him understand… so I told him my story. I told him everything even though I knew he’d learn nothing from it.
***
I’d joined up with the Brethren Knights of St. Fontaine back in the 1980s to hunt monsters. Back then, it seemed like the best use of my skills. I’d done my tours with the army, but even after I got out, I was still looking for an enemy to fight. So naturally, once I found out that vampires were real, I set my sights on them. It seemed like the most sensible thing to do at the time.
The Brethren Knights fancied themselves the descendants of the Knights Templar, and they insisted that their God given mission was to protect mankind from the things that lurked in the shadows. I didn’t really have much love for God at the time, but if the Bretheren were the ones fighting the monsters, then I was happy to tolerate the Jesus freaks in their ranks.
It was 1988 when we first heard whispers of the Imperium. A supposed cabal of vampires, trying to get them organized. At the time, it’d seemed too crazy to be true. Vampires generally went their own way, in my experience. At most, they might have a partner but other than they they didn’t really socialize with their own kind. But supposedly someone out there had the big fucking balls to keep them in line, and whoever they were, they scared the shit out of the Brethren.
They’d started targeting high profile vampires, trying to find someone who was involved in this ‘Imperium’, hoping that maybe they might get someone to talk. And it wasn’t long until they found someone who did.
From my understanding, the vampire they captured didn’t seem to know much about who was actually running the show. But they knew who their second in command was… and that was when I first head about the Di Cesare family.
The name was familiar to some of the higher ups in the Brethren, and I’d heard some stories. Not sure which were true, but the long and short of it was that the Di Cesare’s and the Brethren shared a bloody history, and didn’t particularly like each other too much.
George Bundy explained it to me like this at one point: ‘The Di Cesare’s are an old family. Most of them used to be witches, up until their Matriarch turned them into vampires. Now they’re a whole new kind of nasty. Far as I know, the only time anyone’s actually managed to kill one was about 200 years ago. Anyone who’s tried since has ended up dead, so most folks don’t even bother anymore.’
I guess it shouldn’t have been surprising they’d be involved in the Imperium, but the mere mention of their name ruffled some feathers higher up on the chain of command, and eventually they put out a kill order on them. Most of the Di Cesare’s were generally pretty hard to track down, but the top brass had a pretty good line on their matriarch, Bianca Di Cesare. Supposedly, she’d been spotted near the family’s private estate in Brazil and rumor had it that most of her daughters were there too.
Normally, the brass wouldn’t have sanctioned any kind of attack on them. The Di Cesare’s were already considered off limits, and attacking them at their private estate was considered damn near impossible. The estate was located in a small mining town outside of Manaus called Refugio de Julia, or just Julia for short. The town was fairly remote, being only accessible from a few backroads and most folks tended to avoid it, claiming they’d had various strange encounters in the area. Their accounts described unsettling pale figures with dark hair and large green eyes working in the mines, although some of the more disturbing stories we heard involved sightings of other creatures in the jungle surrounding the town. Massive spiders with humanoid faces, tending rotting corpses filled with stinging bees, giant howling beasts who tore through the forest, hunting prey, and beautiful women who would appear in the nearby towns, betwitching men into coming away with them only to reveal themselves as monsters who fed on the blood of their victims. Some had even claimed the Di Cesares themselves were such beasts… although those claims weren’t taken quite as seriously.
A skeptic might say the stories that surrounded Julia seemed like little more than just local superstition… but the Brethren had been dealing with the supernatural for long enough to recognize when something was probably real, and when it was probably fake and they knew damn well that most of the stories about Julia were probably true. None of them had ever dared set foot in Julia to find out for sure, since doing so would probably be suicide, but the theory was that the Di Cesares had created Julia as something of a refuge for other creatures. Other vampires, werewolves, arachne, karah and all sorts of other hellspawn. They offered them a home and safety in exchange for their labor in the mines. Hell, the name of the town more or less spelled it out.
Refugio de Julia
Julia’s Haven.
Julia had been the name of the only member of the Di Cesare family that the Brethren had ever killed, so I guess it was only fitting they named the town after her.
I honestly think using other creatures like them as a workforce was a bit inspired… since it made Julia damn near impenetrable. Reaching their estate at the far side of the town would have been impossible without being noticed by every creature of hell living in that town, and odds are they’d tear anyone apart long before they even reached the gates of the Di Cesare estate. And if one had the bright idea to approach the estate from another angle, they’d be trudging through miles and miles of rainforest to do so, only end up face to face with a massive stone wall that kept the rainforest out.
In effect - the Di Cesare estate was a fortress. Getting in would be no easy feat, to say nothing of confronting the vampires within. But with the fear of the Imperium gnawing at the back of their minds, the Brethren had finally set their minds to trying.
George Bundy had been the one in charge of planning the operation out.
I’d known Bundy before I’d joined up with the Brethren. Hell, Bundy was the whole reason I’d joined the Brethren. He’d been my CO a number of years back, and he’d earned his reputation as a hardass just about ten or twenty times over. Bundy was a gruff looking man with a bushy moustache and intense eyes. During the years I knew him, I don’t believe I ever once saw him so much as crack a smile. He only ever seemed to speak when he felt there was something he needed to say. Otherwise, he was usually dead silent.
He was somewhere in his late fifties back in 88. By all rights, he ought to have retired years ago. But he refused.
“I’m a soldier,” He said, when I asked him about it once. “That’s all I am. I don’t know what else to be.”
Bundy’s initial plan had been to hit the Di Cesare estate from the air. Come in fast and loud with a couple of helicopters and see how those vampires stood up to some good old American flak. The idea got shot down pretty quickly, so to speak. Apperantly, most if not all of the Di Cesares had cursed their own bodies, causing whatever wound one inflicted on them to appear on whoever it was who had wounded them. Going in guns blazing would have ended in a bloodbath… and not for them. There were also some concerns about drawing attention from Julia. With no conclusive data on just what they had living in that town, there was no guarantee we’d be safe in the air. A few eyewitnesses had described seeing giant nests in some of the trees in the jungle, supposedly consistent with the nests made by harpies.
Flying in guns blazing was out. So Bundy went back to the drawing board and what he came back with… well, it was ballsy, but it almost seemed like it just might work. During his reconnisance of the Di Cesare’s estate, he’d noticed a large but shallow tributary flowing into the amazon river that led right through the Di Cesare’s estate. Along the tributary was an abandoned water mill, that connected to the Di Cesare estate.
He’d suggested using the water mill to gain entry to the grounds, and from there, move on the Di Cesare’s. That plan had been approved, and Bundy had been allowed to handpick his team for the operation. He’d chosen fifteen men, all of them ex military, most of them having served under him before.
He’d told us we would be dividing into three teams of five men each. We would leave Manaus by boat, and land at three different areas near the tributary before making our way to the mill on foot, where we would regroup, before moving on the Di Cesares. The reason for the division was to ensure that if any of our teams ran into trouble upon making ground, the entire operation wouldn’t be compromised.
Team 1, led by Bundy himself would depart first and land to the west of the tributary. Team 2, led by a man named Ferdinand Hernandez would make land about fifteen minutes later near the mouth of the tributary and Team 3, to be led by me would land fifteen minutes later to the east.
On the day of the operation, I sat in my boat, watching as the other two left. It was twilight when we set out, and I remember that as my team and I carried out our final checks on our equipment, the only thing I felt was a familiar anticipation.
I’d hesitate to call it fear. Fear is what came later. Anticipation is the better word. I knew we could be walking into a tough situation… but I trusted Bundy. I trusted he’d run a smooth op. God knew, he’d done it a thousand times before.
The team assigned to me wasn’t anything particularly special. They were competent enough, but none of them would’ve been my first choices. Jack McMullen, for instance, who was about the same age as I was at the time. We’d both served under Bundy before, although while I respected Bundy, Jack was wholly devoted to him. I swear, if the man had told him to stuff a live grenade up his ass, Jack would’ve done it without a moments hesitation. I dunno if Jack simply saw him as the father he’d never had or what, but he damn near worshipped Bundy.
I can’t quite say the same for the other guys we had with us, though. One of them, some greenhorn by the name of Pearce Wilson struck me as an airheaded pretty boy who’d never actually had his boots on the ground before, while the other one, Scott Barber had left a bad taste in my mouth last time we’d worked together. Barber was capable… but he was violent. This was a kid with a hell of a chip on his shoulder, and it looked a hell of a lot like that Confederate flag patch he wore on his jacket. He wanted an excuse to shoot something, and I don’t think he cared what. Under most circumstances I’m not sure I would’ve fully trusted him with a gun.
The last one though, Joseph Feng… him I trusted. Feng was the one I knew the least about, and he didn’t seem much for conversation. But he handled himself competently enough and seemed to know when to sit down and shut up.
When Team 2’s boat was far enough away, we got the radio signal to follow. Barber was the one steering the boat, so I gave him the order to cast off and we ventured out into the twilight, unaware of just what was waiting for us out there.
***
We landed in our designated area fifteen minutes after Team 2 confirmed they’d touched down at theirs. Our landing was fairly uneventful. Feng, Barber, and I secured the boat before we radio’d Bundy to let him know we were in position. After that, it was just a matter of making it to the tributary.
As we ventured into the jungle, the world around us was quiet. There was wind, the whisper of the river behind us, and the sounds of animals. But little else. The river fell away behind us as we moved in single file toward the tributary, maintaining radio silence as we did.
It was about a half hour before we heard the gunshot.
Just one, echoing through the twilight. But it was enough to give us pause.
“The fuck was that?” I heard Barber ask. Immediately, the kid was on high alert, with his gun raised as if he were expecting every monster in Julia to come charging at us from all angles.
I just listened, waiting to hear if there was anything else. I half expected my radio to come to life, but it didn’t.
“Team 1, status?” I asked.
The radio crackled with static, but there was no response.
I tried it again, but still with no success. The radio was working, that much I was sure of. Something had to be blocking the signal.
“What’s going on?” Feng asked.
“Dunno,” I replied. “Comms are down.”
“Down?” Wilson asked, “So we’re flying blind out here, then?”
“More or less,” I replied.
“What do we do? Do we go back… if the comms are down…”
“Just because something’s jamming our signal doesn’t mean we’re made,” I said. “Relax. We keep moving for now. You keep your eyes wide open, and your head on a swivel. We’ll make it to the tributary and see if we can’t meet up with the other teams.”
I could tell Wilson wasn’t a fan of my answer, but I didn’t much care. We had a job to do, and I aimed to do it.
I pressed on without a further word and the others followed. Up ahead, I could hear the sound of running water and picked up the pace. I figured the tributary had to be close… and I was right.
I emerged from the brush into the stream, only to pause when I saw what was waiting for us in the water.
In the dying sunlight, it was impossible to mistake the bodies sprawled out on the rocks as anything else… and all I needed to do was look at their uniforms to know they were our people.
“Jesus…” I heard Wilson say under his breath. He froze up, lingering by the bank as I cautiously approached one of the bodies.
It belonged to a somewhat heavyset man with a thin mustache who I recognized as Hernandez. His eyes were still open, although lifeless and staring in different directions, and there was a clean hole in his forehead where a bullet had ended his life. The gunshot we’d heard earlier had likely been the sound of his death.
Looking at the bodies around him, I knew they had to be the rest of Team 2… although it was a little harder pinning down their cause of death. Some sort of bladed weapon, perhaps, judging by the state of them. I realized the odds were that they walked into some sort of ambush.
“What about Bundy and Team 1?” Jack asked, “Any sign of them?”
“No,” I said. “These bodies are all from Team 2… Bundy could still be ahead of us.”
“Then we need to keep going!”
Jack turned, heading up the stream and Barber was right behind him. Feng paused for a moment, thinking this over before following. Only Wilson remained.
“How do we know we’re not walking into a trap?” He asked.
“We’ll deal with that when we get to it,” I said before moving to follow the others.
“With all due respect, Sarge… that doesn’t sound like the best course of action!” Wilson argued, finally following me. “It sounds just like a good way to get killed!”
“Yeah?” I asked, “I’m gonna tell you an ugly truth, kid. That’s the job. Make your peace with it, and it’ll go a lot easier.”
Wilson didn’t like that answer either and trailed off behind me, watching as I continued upstream. For a moment, I half expected him to go back to the boat… but no. I dunno if he found his balls or just didn’t want to get left behind, but he started to follow us again.
I kept trying to raise Team 1 on the radio while we walked, although I still had no luck. The light above us slowly faded into darkness as we trudged through the water in silence, guns sitting comfortably in our hands and mosquitos biting at our necks.
It wasn’t until we lost Feng that I heard anybody so much as make a sound, and when we lost Feng… it happened almost instantaneously. One minute, he was at the head of the group, walking just ahead of Jack and I. The next, he was gone, only barely having the time to let out a scream as he fell into the river ahead of us.
The rest of us paused. Jack seemed to freeze and I pushed past him, calling out for Feng as I did. As punishment for my compassion, I almost went down after him. I only barely stopped myself from stepping on the slippery rocks that had helped send him to his demise.
I could see Feng’s body in the water, and I could see the blood pouring out of him. He twitched a few times, but I knew he was dead. The sharpened wooden spikes jutting out of him confirmed as much.
“What the hell…” Jack said under his breath, staring at Feng’s corpse in disbelief. “That’s a fucking spike trap!”
Yeah.
It was indeed a fucking spike trap.
I could see other spikes jutting out of the water ahead of us, just past a small dam of rocks that were just slippery enough to make it difficult to stop yourself from falling. Some of those spikes had other bodies on them… likely members of Team 1. I only counted two, although that still didn’t exactly bode well.
“They put a fucking spike trap in the goddamn stream…” Jack said, “Who the hell does that?”
“Somebody who’s expecting us to use the stream,” I replied.
“So they know we’re coming?” Barber asked.
“Clearly…” I replied. “And they’ve got a good idea on what our route is too.”
“Yeah, no shit!” Barber snapped. “Christ… let’s get the fuck out of here. There’s probably more fucking traps upstream!”
“Bundy’s orders were clear!” Jack argued.
“Bundy’s probably dead by now!” Barber replied, before looking at me. “Sarge, come on. You have to know this is suicide!”
“Suicide was part of the job description, was it not?” I asked.
“The job is to kill those fucking vampires, not to die in the goddamn process! We need to get out of the stream and into the woods!”
“Judging by the fate Team 2 met, I’m not sure the forest is someplace we want to be right now,” I replied.
“Excuse me?” Barber asked, “What the hell are you talking about, Sarge?”
“Five men dead, but only one gunshot. How did the rest die?”
Barber didn’t seem to be able to answer that.
“By now… yes. It’s clear we’ve walked into a trap. And yes, I understand that it makes sense to try and leave that trap… but I don’t know if we’ll be safer in the jungle. Something jumped Team 2. Cut them apart, and then shot Hernandez as a warning. They didn’t have to shoot him. They did it so we’d hear.”
“Your point being?” Barber asked.
“I don’t think this is just a trap, Barber. It’s a game. Stop playing, and you might just end up like our friends downstream.”
“A game?” Wilson asked, “Sarge, you can’t be serious!”
“From where I’m standing, we have a better chance of surviving in the stream,” I said. “Look, we’re at least halfway to the rendezvous point, and there have to be at least two members of Team 1 left. The safest thing to do right now is to follow them.”
“You’re off your fucking rocker, Sarge,” Barber spat, locking his eyes with mine. For a moment, I thought the boy was going to try and fight me. But no. He was wise enough to stand down.
“If you wanna get yourself killed, go right the fuck ahead. Just leave me out of it! Wilson, come on,” Barber said before trudging over to the edge of the stream. Wilson didn’t even hesitate, just looking back at Jack and I quietly before he disappeared into the forest with Barber.
“You’re not gonna stop them?” Jack asked.
“No,” I replied. “God willing, there’s a chance that pigheaded asshole is right… dunno how much of a chance, but a chance.”
“Then how come we’re not following him?” Jack asked.
“There’s also a chance he’s wrong.”
I turned, before making my way around the spike trap.
“Keep a slower pace,” I said. “Watch for traps.”
Jack hesitated for a moment, but he followed me without any further questions and we walked in silence for a little longer.
We heard nothing from the trees. Nothing that told us about the fate of Barber and Wilson. I wasn’t sure if that was good news or not.
In fact, I don’t think we heard a thing until about a half hour later, when we heard the explosion.
It came out of almost nowhere, but ahead of us I could see a flash of light and hear the screams of men. On instinct, I found myself picking up the pace and could hear Jack behind me. In the low light, I saw a shape float past me in the stream. It took me a moment to realize that it was a severed human arm.
In the water ahead of us, I could see a figure clinging to one of the rocks and trying to pick himself up. I recognized him as George Bundy.
Jack was at his side almost immediately, trying to help the old man to his feet.
“Sir! Are you alright?”
Bundy just wheezed, before his legs gave out from under him. I helped Jack drag him to the shore so he could sit and rest for a moment.
“What the hell was that?” I asked, looking back at the stream.
“Grenade trap… I think…” Bundy panted, “Fucking tripwire… Popkov tripped it, I think…”
Popkov… odds are he was one of the two mangled corpses lying in the river a few feet away from us. It seemed they’d taken the brunt of the explosion, although Bundy still had some shrapnel in his arm that Jack was tending to.
“Christ… whole fucking ops gone to shit…” Bundy spat. “Team 2 got taken out just about as soon as they landed. Someone killed them and dumped them in the goddamn river. Lost half my boys to the fucking spike trap and half to this…”
He looked up at us, before spitting onto the ground.
“Guess you two haven’t done much better.”
“Hard to say,” I replied. “Two of ours took off into the woods, trying to avoid the traps.”
“Then they’re dead,” Bundy replied. “I’ve seen her watching us… always just up ahead, always from a distance… she’s seeing how far we’ll go. How much we’ll take…”
“She?” I asked.
“La Morte. Should’ve figured she’d be the one to greet us.”
“La Morte?” I asked.
“It’s Italian. Supposedly, she earned that name around the time the Di Cesares fled Venice. It’s funny, the Brethren like to act like the Di Cesares leaving Venice was some big victory of theirs, since before they did, they finally killed one of them… hard to call it a victory though, considering how many corpses they made before they fled. And most of them came from La Morte…”
Bundy winced in pain as Jack bandaged his arm before he continued talking.
“See… when the Di Cesare’s left Venice, one of them stayed behind. Clementine, the Scorpio sister. Guess she was unwilling to leave the fight unfinished… and according to the stories, the death toll she personally amassed in the years after the Di Cesare’s left Venice make the bodies they claimed during the Venetian Massacre a hundred and fifty years prior look like a pittance. The Brethren still occupying the city started to call her La Morte. Death. Cuz wherever she went, death followed in her wake… and it seems we’ve walked right into her open arms, haven’t we, boys?”
“You’re sure it’s her?” I asked.
“She’s a Di Cesare… and the shit we’ve seen out here… I don’t see any other Di Cesare setting those traps. It’s her. I’m sure of it. She’s watching us. Seeing how far we’ll go. Seeing if we’ll turn tail…”
“Should we?” Jack asked, and Bundy finally seemed to acknowledge him.
“Excuse me?” He asked.
“Should we? Look, sir… I’d follow you into the mouth of Hell, but right now, we’re down from fifteen men to three. Can’t say I’m optimistic about our chances right now. If this woman is half as bad as you’re saying she is, maybe it’s time we took a step back!”
Jack looked at me, hoping I might back him up, but I remained silent.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Bundy asked.
“What I’m hearing here, is that as of right now, the vampire out there could kill us at any time. She hasn’t. Far as I’m concerned, that’s mercy. Maybe we should be taking it while it’s offered.”
Bundy stared at him, before chuckling. I think it was the first time I’d ever seen him laugh.
“Just walk away, then?” He asked.
“Walk away, and come back better prepared!” Jack corrected.
“Walk away,” Bundy said again. “We walk away now, and there won’t be a chance to come back better prepared. We get one shot at this. One. Failure is not an option. We go in there and we kill them or we die. End of discussion.”
“And how exactly are we even supposed to kill them?” Jack asked, “That curse they have… bullets aren’t gonna do shit, sir!”
“Yours won’t, mine will…”
Bundy pulled his pistol from his holster. I noticed some sort of pattern crudely engraved on it.
“I’ve been doing some research… studied the curse they put on themselves… and I think I’ve found a way to break it. Not sure if it’ll work yet… but we get one chance to test it.”
Jack stared at the gun, then back at Bundy.
“Sir… do you hear yourself?” He asked quietly, “You can’t be serious… right now, even with that gun we don’t stand a chance in he-”
The gunshot echoed through the forest and made me jump. Jack’s voice died in his throat as he hit the ground.
Bundy stared at him for a moment, before huffing and holstering his pistol again. He draped his coat over his shoulders, before looking over at me.
“No room for failure, Frank,” He said calmly.
I didn’t know what to say to that. I stared down at Jack’s body, my mouth hanging open slightly. When I looked back at Bundy, he was already back in the stream.
There was a tense silence between Bundy and I as I followed him along the final stretch of the tributary. He trudged on ahead, covered in sweat and straining with every step, but I could sense the quiet determination he had to see this through. Looking at him, you could’ve told me that George Bundy could wipe out the Di Cesare’s all by himself and I would have believed it in a second.
The night around us was full of sound, and each one drew my attention. I watched the forest, expecting to see some sign of La Morte watching us. But I saw nothing, except for what she wanted me to see.
“Mill’s just up ahead,” I heard Bundy say as we pressed on, although I noticed his steps faltering as he seemed to notice something in the trees above us. I stopped behind him, looking up before seeing what he saw, and when I saw it I felt my stomach turn.
I’d seen death before.
But what Di Cesare had left out for us… that was something else.
Pearce Wilson and Scott Barber weren’t dead.
But if they could have spoke, I’ve got no doubt they would have begged us to kill them. Wilsons pretty face was covered in blood and his pouty lips were parted as more trickled out of him. His curly blond hair was matted and I could see crimson there. Tree branches portruded from his ribs, while the loops of his entrails dangled out of his opened stomach. And Barber was in just about the same state, only he seemed to at least have the ability to turn his head to look at us.
I think he might have tried to speak, but the only sound he seemed to be able to make was a pained whimper.
“Jesus Christ…” I said softly.
“He had nothing to do with this,” Bundy replied. He took one last look at the two dying men hanging from the trees, before moving on.
“We should put them out of their misery, sir,” I said.
Bundy paused, before looking back at me.
“Don’t waste the ammo, Frank,” He replied. “They’re already dead.”
“Not yet they’re not!”
“Give them time. They chose to go into the woods. They can live with the consequences… for however long that lasts.”
With that, he left them. If I were a more compassionate man, I would have put them out of their misery. But no. Bundy moved on and so did I.
He approached the water mill, before examining it. It was an old building, made of stone that had long since been overgrown by moss, and sat right on the wall that separated the Di Cesares estate from the amazon. It hardly looked secure, even if the only entrance hadn’t just been an old wooden door secured with a padlock, finding a way in wouldn’t have been difficult. And it didn’t take much for Bundy to break through that door. All he needed was a couple of well placed kicks and it swung right open.
Drawing his gun, Bundy strode inside and I followed him.
“The Di Cesare’s will be in the main house,” He said. “We should find a way in through the back, try and catch them off guard. Main target should be the matriarch, Bianca. Her we should prioritize keeping alive… the rest are expendable.”
“Much as you are, I’m sure.” A voice called from deeper in the mill, and both Bundy and I froze.
I noticed movement on the floor above us, and through the shadows, I saw a tall woman watching us. She was dressed all in black, with blond hair tied back in a ponytail and the intense eyes of a soldier.
This had to be Clementine Di Cesare.
Bundy aimed his pistol at her, although she only barely seemed to notice.
“Only two of you left… I’m not sure the odds are in your favor,” The woman said. Her voice was low, calm and quiet.
“Only one way to find out,” Bundy growled.
“And only one way to walk out of this place alive,” Di Cesare countered. “You can put the gun down, turn and walk away. I won’t stop you. There’s no shame in living.”
“All the bodies you’ve left in your wake… that’s rich,” Bundy said.
“I don’t relish what I’ve done. I simply don’t know how to do anything else,” She replied. “Think about this, Bundy. Over my lifetime, there have been countless thousands who have come to kill me. All of them are dead, but I am not. Even if you could kill me… you could not kill my sisters. Not all of them. Not before they came for you.”
“Just you, would be enough…” Bundy said, before pulling the trigger.
I knew he’d hit her. I knew the bullet pierced her shoulder. But that woman… she didn’t even flinch. She simply dove out of the way before he could shoot again, taking cover and avoiding his next shot.
“Frank, upstairs!” Bundy snapped, “Flush her out!”
I went, trudging up the old wooden steps with my rifle drawn. Only to see Di Cesare vaulting over the railing and back down to the ground floor as soon as I made it up there.
Bundy shot at her again, only to miss for a second time. I saw Di Cesare’s arm move, and heard him cry out in pain. In the low light, I could see a dagger protruding from his shoulder. He stumbled back a step, leaving himself open for only a split second.
That second was all it took for Di Cesare to raise her own gun and fire just one shot.
George Bundy hit the ground without so much as a final scream. There was just a simple hole in his skull where she had shot him.
I felt my heart start to race faster. My eyes settled on Bundy’s gun, and I ran for the railing, vaulting it and dropping to the ground below with a thud. Di Cesare shot at me, and I felt the bullet tear through my leg. I reached out for the fallen gun and grabbed it before turning it on Di Cesare, only to find myself staring down the barrel of her own pistol. My finger rested on the trigger, but I didn’t have the guts to pull it.
"Kill me, and you will not see the sun tomorrow." She said, her voice still cold and calm.
“Killing you is part of the job…” I replied, but my finger still couldn’t squeeze the trigger.
“And is it worth your life?” Di Cesare asked. “You fail your mission either way.”
“And die with some goddamn honor…”
“There’s no such thing as honor. There is alive and there is dead. Choose.”
I knew what I was supposed to choose.
But my hands were shaking, as I stared into the face of death. My finger couldn’t squeeze the trigger.
The gun collapsed to the floor and Di Cesare kicked it away from me, before huffing and lowering her gun.
“Do not return,” She said softly. “Or next time, I will unleash a hell upon you that will make you beg for simple traps.”
She picked Bundy’s gun up off the ground, and then she was gone. After I finally picked myself up off the ground, I was gone too.
As I walked back along the stream… I passed the corpses of the men we’d left behind. Barber and Wilson, Jack, Feng, Hernandez, and his team. The flies were already feasting on them. Animals had already torn at them. And as I looked down at their cold corpses, I knew I had made the right choice.
I filed my report with the Brethren. Told them that Di Cesare had wiped us out, and a few months later I quietly retired. I never looked back.
***
“You walked away from her?” Sweeney asked in disbelief, “You had her dead to rights and you walked away from her?”
“I chose to live,” I replied. “Can’t say I regret the decision either. Because of the choice I made, I met my wife and had my kids. I’ve lived the life I had because I chose not to throw it away on some vampire.”
Sweeney just shook his head.
“You could have gotten the first confirmed kill on a Di Cesare in two centuries, and you threw it away you fucking coward! I could execute you for that!” I noticed his hand hovering over the gun on his hip.
“You could.” I replied, before quietly unholstering the pistol I kept at my side. I aimed it at Sweeney’s head.
He stared at me like a slack jawed idiot.
“Would you like to give it a try?”
“W-what…?”
“Would you like to give it a try, Mr. Sweeney? Or would you like to see the sun tomorrow?”
He stared down the barrel of my gun, and I already knew what his choice would be.
Sweeney took a step back. I saw his hand move away from his holster, and I lowered the gun with a huff.
“Thought so,” I said.
Mr. Sweeney left me without another word.
I knew he would not return.
submitted by HeadOfSpectre to TheCrypticCompendium [link] [comments]
Revenge.
What a moronically quaint idea.
This jumped up little shit had come into my home, interrupted my retirement and here he was talking to me about revenge, as if he knew the first thing about what I’d seen, what I’d been through, why I’d quit.
Looking into his eyes, I knew he didn’t understand. I knew he couldn’t.
I've been hunting vampires for most of my life. I've killed more of them than I can count. But Clementine Di Cesare was no ordinary vampire. Hell, none of the Di Cesares were ordinary vampires, but even among them Clementine was… unique. She was the one all the others quietly feared. The one who was even spoken of with reverence by the Di Cesares masters, those twin Immortals who could not be killed by any weapon of this world. Seeking revenge against her was like seeking revenge against death itself.
“Revenge?” I repeated, with a dismissive scoff.
“You’re really going to tell me that after what she put you through, you don’t want revenge?” Sweeney asked.
“If you knew what she did to me, you’d know why I don’t want revenge,” I replied.
“Really? Sorry Franklin, but I don’t buy that. Look, I get it if you’re reluctant to jump back into the fight. I do. You of all people know just how dangerous the Di Cesare’s are. Especially ‘La Morte’.”
I looked over at him as he said that name. It rolled off his tongue so irreverently. To him, it was just a name. An alias assigned to some vampire he’s only heard of stories. He didn’t utter it with the respect it deserved, and I almost couldn’t be bothered to correct him. Any words spent on this small minded glory hound were probably wasted.
“Yes, I do know.”
“Which is why I need you,” Sweeney said. He almost sounded as if he were pleading with me. “Think of this as an opportunity to set things right… to put that vampire bitch in the ground where she belongs, and save God only knows how many lives in the process!”
I sighed.
He just didn’t get it.
“Mark my words, Mr. Sweeney, if you chase after Clementine Di Cesare, you’ll end far more lives than you save. She didn’t get a name like ‘La Morte’ for nothing. She earned it. Purchased it with the blood of the tens of thousands she’s sent screaming into the maw of Hell. She is not something you chase, Sweeney.”
“She’s a vampire,” Sweeney said dismissively. “She’s another enemy to destroy.”
“That’s what George Bundy said,” I replied. “Then not too long after, he died.”
“I’m not George Bundy,” Sweeney said.
“No. You sure as hell ain’t,” I agreed, before looking the kid in the eye.
He thought he was an up and comer, climbing the ranks of the Brethren. He probably thought of himself as some sort of badass vampire hunter too, when in reality he could never have so much as dreamed of holding a candle to the likes of Bundy… or hell, any of the men who’d died in Brazil.
“You should watch your tone with me,” Sweeney warned.
“Or you’ll do what?” I asked, “You ain’t going to frighten me with vague threats, boy. I’ve walked through Hell, trying to kill the Devil. What have you done?”
Sweeney bit his lip but didn’t respond.
“There’s nothing you can say or do that will intimidate me,” I said, before lighting myself a cigarette. I stared at the road outside of my porch, old memories flooding back to me before looking over at Sweeney again. He sat in his chair beside me like a sulky child. This was the man who wanted to destroy the Di Cesare family? Pathetic.
“Exactly how much do you know about the Brazil Job?” I asked.
“I know it was a failure. Clementine Di Cesare killed most of the men the Brethren sent out… all except for you. You were the only one good enough to beat her.”
“Good enough…” I repeated with a huff, “Hardly… whatever picture you’ve got in your head of some glorified battle, throw it away. Trust me, the Brazil Job was anything but glorious. It was a two hour long trek through Hell. And I didn’t beat Di Cesare at the end of it. I survived her. They’re two different things entirely.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Sweeney said.
“You wouldn’t, would you?” I sighed and took another drag on my cigarette.
This kid wasn’t going to leave until I made him understand… so I told him my story. I told him everything even though I knew he’d learn nothing from it.
***
I’d joined up with the Brethren Knights of St. Fontaine back in the 1980s to hunt monsters. Back then, it seemed like the best use of my skills. I’d done my tours with the army, but even after I got out, I was still looking for an enemy to fight. So naturally, once I found out that vampires were real, I set my sights on them. It seemed like the most sensible thing to do at the time.
The Brethren Knights fancied themselves the descendants of the Knights Templar, and they insisted that their God given mission was to protect mankind from the things that lurked in the shadows. I didn’t really have much love for God at the time, but if the Bretheren were the ones fighting the monsters, then I was happy to tolerate the Jesus freaks in their ranks.
It was 1988 when we first heard whispers of the Imperium. A supposed cabal of vampires, trying to get them organized. At the time, it’d seemed too crazy to be true. Vampires generally went their own way, in my experience. At most, they might have a partner but other than they they didn’t really socialize with their own kind. But supposedly someone out there had the big fucking balls to keep them in line, and whoever they were, they scared the shit out of the Brethren.
They’d started targeting high profile vampires, trying to find someone who was involved in this ‘Imperium’, hoping that maybe they might get someone to talk. And it wasn’t long until they found someone who did.
From my understanding, the vampire they captured didn’t seem to know much about who was actually running the show. But they knew who their second in command was… and that was when I first head about the Di Cesare family.
The name was familiar to some of the higher ups in the Brethren, and I’d heard some stories. Not sure which were true, but the long and short of it was that the Di Cesare’s and the Brethren shared a bloody history, and didn’t particularly like each other too much.
George Bundy explained it to me like this at one point: ‘The Di Cesare’s are an old family. Most of them used to be witches, up until their Matriarch turned them into vampires. Now they’re a whole new kind of nasty. Far as I know, the only time anyone’s actually managed to kill one was about 200 years ago. Anyone who’s tried since has ended up dead, so most folks don’t even bother anymore.’
I guess it shouldn’t have been surprising they’d be involved in the Imperium, but the mere mention of their name ruffled some feathers higher up on the chain of command, and eventually they put out a kill order on them. Most of the Di Cesare’s were generally pretty hard to track down, but the top brass had a pretty good line on their matriarch, Bianca Di Cesare. Supposedly, she’d been spotted near the family’s private estate in Brazil and rumor had it that most of her daughters were there too.
Normally, the brass wouldn’t have sanctioned any kind of attack on them. The Di Cesare’s were already considered off limits, and attacking them at their private estate was considered damn near impossible. The estate was located in a small mining town outside of Manaus called Refugio de Julia, or just Julia for short. The town was fairly remote, being only accessible from a few backroads and most folks tended to avoid it, claiming they’d had various strange encounters in the area. Their accounts described unsettling pale figures with dark hair and large green eyes working in the mines, although some of the more disturbing stories we heard involved sightings of other creatures in the jungle surrounding the town. Massive spiders with humanoid faces, tending rotting corpses filled with stinging bees, giant howling beasts who tore through the forest, hunting prey, and beautiful women who would appear in the nearby towns, betwitching men into coming away with them only to reveal themselves as monsters who fed on the blood of their victims. Some had even claimed the Di Cesares themselves were such beasts… although those claims weren’t taken quite as seriously.
A skeptic might say the stories that surrounded Julia seemed like little more than just local superstition… but the Brethren had been dealing with the supernatural for long enough to recognize when something was probably real, and when it was probably fake and they knew damn well that most of the stories about Julia were probably true. None of them had ever dared set foot in Julia to find out for sure, since doing so would probably be suicide, but the theory was that the Di Cesares had created Julia as something of a refuge for other creatures. Other vampires, werewolves, arachne, karah and all sorts of other hellspawn. They offered them a home and safety in exchange for their labor in the mines. Hell, the name of the town more or less spelled it out.
Refugio de Julia
Julia’s Haven.
Julia had been the name of the only member of the Di Cesare family that the Brethren had ever killed, so I guess it was only fitting they named the town after her.
I honestly think using other creatures like them as a workforce was a bit inspired… since it made Julia damn near impenetrable. Reaching their estate at the far side of the town would have been impossible without being noticed by every creature of hell living in that town, and odds are they’d tear anyone apart long before they even reached the gates of the Di Cesare estate. And if one had the bright idea to approach the estate from another angle, they’d be trudging through miles and miles of rainforest to do so, only end up face to face with a massive stone wall that kept the rainforest out.
In effect - the Di Cesare estate was a fortress. Getting in would be no easy feat, to say nothing of confronting the vampires within. But with the fear of the Imperium gnawing at the back of their minds, the Brethren had finally set their minds to trying.
George Bundy had been the one in charge of planning the operation out.
I’d known Bundy before I’d joined up with the Brethren. Hell, Bundy was the whole reason I’d joined the Brethren. He’d been my CO a number of years back, and he’d earned his reputation as a hardass just about ten or twenty times over. Bundy was a gruff looking man with a bushy moustache and intense eyes. During the years I knew him, I don’t believe I ever once saw him so much as crack a smile. He only ever seemed to speak when he felt there was something he needed to say. Otherwise, he was usually dead silent.
He was somewhere in his late fifties back in 88. By all rights, he ought to have retired years ago. But he refused.
“I’m a soldier,” He said, when I asked him about it once. “That’s all I am. I don’t know what else to be.”
Bundy’s initial plan had been to hit the Di Cesare estate from the air. Come in fast and loud with a couple of helicopters and see how those vampires stood up to some good old American flak. The idea got shot down pretty quickly, so to speak. Apperantly, most if not all of the Di Cesares had cursed their own bodies, causing whatever wound one inflicted on them to appear on whoever it was who had wounded them. Going in guns blazing would have ended in a bloodbath… and not for them. There were also some concerns about drawing attention from Julia. With no conclusive data on just what they had living in that town, there was no guarantee we’d be safe in the air. A few eyewitnesses had described seeing giant nests in some of the trees in the jungle, supposedly consistent with the nests made by harpies.
Flying in guns blazing was out. So Bundy went back to the drawing board and what he came back with… well, it was ballsy, but it almost seemed like it just might work. During his reconnisance of the Di Cesare’s estate, he’d noticed a large but shallow tributary flowing into the amazon river that led right through the Di Cesare’s estate. Along the tributary was an abandoned water mill, that connected to the Di Cesare estate.
He’d suggested using the water mill to gain entry to the grounds, and from there, move on the Di Cesare’s. That plan had been approved, and Bundy had been allowed to handpick his team for the operation. He’d chosen fifteen men, all of them ex military, most of them having served under him before.
He’d told us we would be dividing into three teams of five men each. We would leave Manaus by boat, and land at three different areas near the tributary before making our way to the mill on foot, where we would regroup, before moving on the Di Cesares. The reason for the division was to ensure that if any of our teams ran into trouble upon making ground, the entire operation wouldn’t be compromised.
Team 1, led by Bundy himself would depart first and land to the west of the tributary. Team 2, led by a man named Ferdinand Hernandez would make land about fifteen minutes later near the mouth of the tributary and Team 3, to be led by me would land fifteen minutes later to the east.
On the day of the operation, I sat in my boat, watching as the other two left. It was twilight when we set out, and I remember that as my team and I carried out our final checks on our equipment, the only thing I felt was a familiar anticipation.
I’d hesitate to call it fear. Fear is what came later. Anticipation is the better word. I knew we could be walking into a tough situation… but I trusted Bundy. I trusted he’d run a smooth op. God knew, he’d done it a thousand times before.
The team assigned to me wasn’t anything particularly special. They were competent enough, but none of them would’ve been my first choices. Jack McMullen, for instance, who was about the same age as I was at the time. We’d both served under Bundy before, although while I respected Bundy, Jack was wholly devoted to him. I swear, if the man had told him to stuff a live grenade up his ass, Jack would’ve done it without a moments hesitation. I dunno if Jack simply saw him as the father he’d never had or what, but he damn near worshipped Bundy.
I can’t quite say the same for the other guys we had with us, though. One of them, some greenhorn by the name of Pearce Wilson struck me as an airheaded pretty boy who’d never actually had his boots on the ground before, while the other one, Scott Barber had left a bad taste in my mouth last time we’d worked together. Barber was capable… but he was violent. This was a kid with a hell of a chip on his shoulder, and it looked a hell of a lot like that Confederate flag patch he wore on his jacket. He wanted an excuse to shoot something, and I don’t think he cared what. Under most circumstances I’m not sure I would’ve fully trusted him with a gun.
The last one though, Joseph Feng… him I trusted. Feng was the one I knew the least about, and he didn’t seem much for conversation. But he handled himself competently enough and seemed to know when to sit down and shut up.
When Team 2’s boat was far enough away, we got the radio signal to follow. Barber was the one steering the boat, so I gave him the order to cast off and we ventured out into the twilight, unaware of just what was waiting for us out there.
***
We landed in our designated area fifteen minutes after Team 2 confirmed they’d touched down at theirs. Our landing was fairly uneventful. Feng, Barber, and I secured the boat before we radio’d Bundy to let him know we were in position. After that, it was just a matter of making it to the tributary.
As we ventured into the jungle, the world around us was quiet. There was wind, the whisper of the river behind us, and the sounds of animals. But little else. The river fell away behind us as we moved in single file toward the tributary, maintaining radio silence as we did.
It was about a half hour before we heard the gunshot.
Just one, echoing through the twilight. But it was enough to give us pause.
“The fuck was that?” I heard Barber ask. Immediately, the kid was on high alert, with his gun raised as if he were expecting every monster in Julia to come charging at us from all angles.
I just listened, waiting to hear if there was anything else. I half expected my radio to come to life, but it didn’t.
“Team 1, status?” I asked.
The radio crackled with static, but there was no response.
I tried it again, but still with no success. The radio was working, that much I was sure of. Something had to be blocking the signal.
“What’s going on?” Feng asked.
“Dunno,” I replied. “Comms are down.”
“Down?” Wilson asked, “So we’re flying blind out here, then?”
“More or less,” I replied.
“What do we do? Do we go back… if the comms are down…”
“Just because something’s jamming our signal doesn’t mean we’re made,” I said. “Relax. We keep moving for now. You keep your eyes wide open, and your head on a swivel. We’ll make it to the tributary and see if we can’t meet up with the other teams.”
I could tell Wilson wasn’t a fan of my answer, but I didn’t much care. We had a job to do, and I aimed to do it.
I pressed on without a further word and the others followed. Up ahead, I could hear the sound of running water and picked up the pace. I figured the tributary had to be close… and I was right.
I emerged from the brush into the stream, only to pause when I saw what was waiting for us in the water.
In the dying sunlight, it was impossible to mistake the bodies sprawled out on the rocks as anything else… and all I needed to do was look at their uniforms to know they were our people.
“Jesus…” I heard Wilson say under his breath. He froze up, lingering by the bank as I cautiously approached one of the bodies.
It belonged to a somewhat heavyset man with a thin mustache who I recognized as Hernandez. His eyes were still open, although lifeless and staring in different directions, and there was a clean hole in his forehead where a bullet had ended his life. The gunshot we’d heard earlier had likely been the sound of his death.
Looking at the bodies around him, I knew they had to be the rest of Team 2… although it was a little harder pinning down their cause of death. Some sort of bladed weapon, perhaps, judging by the state of them. I realized the odds were that they walked into some sort of ambush.
“What about Bundy and Team 1?” Jack asked, “Any sign of them?”
“No,” I said. “These bodies are all from Team 2… Bundy could still be ahead of us.”
“Then we need to keep going!”
Jack turned, heading up the stream and Barber was right behind him. Feng paused for a moment, thinking this over before following. Only Wilson remained.
“How do we know we’re not walking into a trap?” He asked.
“We’ll deal with that when we get to it,” I said before moving to follow the others.
“With all due respect, Sarge… that doesn’t sound like the best course of action!” Wilson argued, finally following me. “It sounds just like a good way to get killed!”
“Yeah?” I asked, “I’m gonna tell you an ugly truth, kid. That’s the job. Make your peace with it, and it’ll go a lot easier.”
Wilson didn’t like that answer either and trailed off behind me, watching as I continued upstream. For a moment, I half expected him to go back to the boat… but no. I dunno if he found his balls or just didn’t want to get left behind, but he started to follow us again.
I kept trying to raise Team 1 on the radio while we walked, although I still had no luck. The light above us slowly faded into darkness as we trudged through the water in silence, guns sitting comfortably in our hands and mosquitos biting at our necks.
It wasn’t until we lost Feng that I heard anybody so much as make a sound, and when we lost Feng… it happened almost instantaneously. One minute, he was at the head of the group, walking just ahead of Jack and I. The next, he was gone, only barely having the time to let out a scream as he fell into the river ahead of us.
The rest of us paused. Jack seemed to freeze and I pushed past him, calling out for Feng as I did. As punishment for my compassion, I almost went down after him. I only barely stopped myself from stepping on the slippery rocks that had helped send him to his demise.
I could see Feng’s body in the water, and I could see the blood pouring out of him. He twitched a few times, but I knew he was dead. The sharpened wooden spikes jutting out of him confirmed as much.
“What the hell…” Jack said under his breath, staring at Feng’s corpse in disbelief. “That’s a fucking spike trap!”
Yeah.
It was indeed a fucking spike trap.
I could see other spikes jutting out of the water ahead of us, just past a small dam of rocks that were just slippery enough to make it difficult to stop yourself from falling. Some of those spikes had other bodies on them… likely members of Team 1. I only counted two, although that still didn’t exactly bode well.
“They put a fucking spike trap in the goddamn stream…” Jack said, “Who the hell does that?”
“Somebody who’s expecting us to use the stream,” I replied.
“So they know we’re coming?” Barber asked.
“Clearly…” I replied. “And they’ve got a good idea on what our route is too.”
“Yeah, no shit!” Barber snapped. “Christ… let’s get the fuck out of here. There’s probably more fucking traps upstream!”
“Bundy’s orders were clear!” Jack argued.
“Bundy’s probably dead by now!” Barber replied, before looking at me. “Sarge, come on. You have to know this is suicide!”
“Suicide was part of the job description, was it not?” I asked.
“The job is to kill those fucking vampires, not to die in the goddamn process! We need to get out of the stream and into the woods!”
“Judging by the fate Team 2 met, I’m not sure the forest is someplace we want to be right now,” I replied.
“Excuse me?” Barber asked, “What the hell are you talking about, Sarge?”
“Five men dead, but only one gunshot. How did the rest die?”
Barber didn’t seem to be able to answer that.
“By now… yes. It’s clear we’ve walked into a trap. And yes, I understand that it makes sense to try and leave that trap… but I don’t know if we’ll be safer in the jungle. Something jumped Team 2. Cut them apart, and then shot Hernandez as a warning. They didn’t have to shoot him. They did it so we’d hear.”
“Your point being?” Barber asked.
“I don’t think this is just a trap, Barber. It’s a game. Stop playing, and you might just end up like our friends downstream.”
“A game?” Wilson asked, “Sarge, you can’t be serious!”
“From where I’m standing, we have a better chance of surviving in the stream,” I said. “Look, we’re at least halfway to the rendezvous point, and there have to be at least two members of Team 1 left. The safest thing to do right now is to follow them.”
“You’re off your fucking rocker, Sarge,” Barber spat, locking his eyes with mine. For a moment, I thought the boy was going to try and fight me. But no. He was wise enough to stand down.
“If you wanna get yourself killed, go right the fuck ahead. Just leave me out of it! Wilson, come on,” Barber said before trudging over to the edge of the stream. Wilson didn’t even hesitate, just looking back at Jack and I quietly before he disappeared into the forest with Barber.
“You’re not gonna stop them?” Jack asked.
“No,” I replied. “God willing, there’s a chance that pigheaded asshole is right… dunno how much of a chance, but a chance.”
“Then how come we’re not following him?” Jack asked.
“There’s also a chance he’s wrong.”
I turned, before making my way around the spike trap.
“Keep a slower pace,” I said. “Watch for traps.”
Jack hesitated for a moment, but he followed me without any further questions and we walked in silence for a little longer.
We heard nothing from the trees. Nothing that told us about the fate of Barber and Wilson. I wasn’t sure if that was good news or not.
In fact, I don’t think we heard a thing until about a half hour later, when we heard the explosion.
It came out of almost nowhere, but ahead of us I could see a flash of light and hear the screams of men. On instinct, I found myself picking up the pace and could hear Jack behind me. In the low light, I saw a shape float past me in the stream. It took me a moment to realize that it was a severed human arm.
In the water ahead of us, I could see a figure clinging to one of the rocks and trying to pick himself up. I recognized him as George Bundy.
Jack was at his side almost immediately, trying to help the old man to his feet.
“Sir! Are you alright?”
Bundy just wheezed, before his legs gave out from under him. I helped Jack drag him to the shore so he could sit and rest for a moment.
“What the hell was that?” I asked, looking back at the stream.
“Grenade trap… I think…” Bundy panted, “Fucking tripwire… Popkov tripped it, I think…”
Popkov… odds are he was one of the two mangled corpses lying in the river a few feet away from us. It seemed they’d taken the brunt of the explosion, although Bundy still had some shrapnel in his arm that Jack was tending to.
“Christ… whole fucking ops gone to shit…” Bundy spat. “Team 2 got taken out just about as soon as they landed. Someone killed them and dumped them in the goddamn river. Lost half my boys to the fucking spike trap and half to this…”
He looked up at us, before spitting onto the ground.
“Guess you two haven’t done much better.”
“Hard to say,” I replied. “Two of ours took off into the woods, trying to avoid the traps.”
“Then they’re dead,” Bundy replied. “I’ve seen her watching us… always just up ahead, always from a distance… she’s seeing how far we’ll go. How much we’ll take…”
“She?” I asked.
“La Morte. Should’ve figured she’d be the one to greet us.”
“La Morte?” I asked.
“It’s Italian. Supposedly, she earned that name around the time the Di Cesares fled Venice. It’s funny, the Brethren like to act like the Di Cesares leaving Venice was some big victory of theirs, since before they did, they finally killed one of them… hard to call it a victory though, considering how many corpses they made before they fled. And most of them came from La Morte…”
Bundy winced in pain as Jack bandaged his arm before he continued talking.
“See… when the Di Cesare’s left Venice, one of them stayed behind. Clementine, the Scorpio sister. Guess she was unwilling to leave the fight unfinished… and according to the stories, the death toll she personally amassed in the years after the Di Cesare’s left Venice make the bodies they claimed during the Venetian Massacre a hundred and fifty years prior look like a pittance. The Brethren still occupying the city started to call her La Morte. Death. Cuz wherever she went, death followed in her wake… and it seems we’ve walked right into her open arms, haven’t we, boys?”
“You’re sure it’s her?” I asked.
“She’s a Di Cesare… and the shit we’ve seen out here… I don’t see any other Di Cesare setting those traps. It’s her. I’m sure of it. She’s watching us. Seeing how far we’ll go. Seeing if we’ll turn tail…”
“Should we?” Jack asked, and Bundy finally seemed to acknowledge him.
“Excuse me?” He asked.
“Should we? Look, sir… I’d follow you into the mouth of Hell, but right now, we’re down from fifteen men to three. Can’t say I’m optimistic about our chances right now. If this woman is half as bad as you’re saying she is, maybe it’s time we took a step back!”
Jack looked at me, hoping I might back him up, but I remained silent.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Bundy asked.
“What I’m hearing here, is that as of right now, the vampire out there could kill us at any time. She hasn’t. Far as I’m concerned, that’s mercy. Maybe we should be taking it while it’s offered.”
Bundy stared at him, before chuckling. I think it was the first time I’d ever seen him laugh.
“Just walk away, then?” He asked.
“Walk away, and come back better prepared!” Jack corrected.
“Walk away,” Bundy said again. “We walk away now, and there won’t be a chance to come back better prepared. We get one shot at this. One. Failure is not an option. We go in there and we kill them or we die. End of discussion.”
“And how exactly are we even supposed to kill them?” Jack asked, “That curse they have… bullets aren’t gonna do shit, sir!”
“Yours won’t, mine will…”
Bundy pulled his pistol from his holster. I noticed some sort of pattern crudely engraved on it.
“I’ve been doing some research… studied the curse they put on themselves… and I think I’ve found a way to break it. Not sure if it’ll work yet… but we get one chance to test it.”
Jack stared at the gun, then back at Bundy.
“Sir… do you hear yourself?” He asked quietly, “You can’t be serious… right now, even with that gun we don’t stand a chance in he-”
The gunshot echoed through the forest and made me jump. Jack’s voice died in his throat as he hit the ground.
Bundy stared at him for a moment, before huffing and holstering his pistol again. He draped his coat over his shoulders, before looking over at me.
“No room for failure, Frank,” He said calmly.
I didn’t know what to say to that. I stared down at Jack’s body, my mouth hanging open slightly. When I looked back at Bundy, he was already back in the stream.
There was a tense silence between Bundy and I as I followed him along the final stretch of the tributary. He trudged on ahead, covered in sweat and straining with every step, but I could sense the quiet determination he had to see this through. Looking at him, you could’ve told me that George Bundy could wipe out the Di Cesare’s all by himself and I would have believed it in a second.
The night around us was full of sound, and each one drew my attention. I watched the forest, expecting to see some sign of La Morte watching us. But I saw nothing, except for what she wanted me to see.
“Mill’s just up ahead,” I heard Bundy say as we pressed on, although I noticed his steps faltering as he seemed to notice something in the trees above us. I stopped behind him, looking up before seeing what he saw, and when I saw it I felt my stomach turn.
I’d seen death before.
But what Di Cesare had left out for us… that was something else.
Pearce Wilson and Scott Barber weren’t dead.
But if they could have spoke, I’ve got no doubt they would have begged us to kill them. Wilsons pretty face was covered in blood and his pouty lips were parted as more trickled out of him. His curly blond hair was matted and I could see crimson there. Tree branches portruded from his ribs, while the loops of his entrails dangled out of his opened stomach. And Barber was in just about the same state, only he seemed to at least have the ability to turn his head to look at us.
I think he might have tried to speak, but the only sound he seemed to be able to make was a pained whimper.
“Jesus Christ…” I said softly.
“He had nothing to do with this,” Bundy replied. He took one last look at the two dying men hanging from the trees, before moving on.
“We should put them out of their misery, sir,” I said.
Bundy paused, before looking back at me.
“Don’t waste the ammo, Frank,” He replied. “They’re already dead.”
“Not yet they’re not!”
“Give them time. They chose to go into the woods. They can live with the consequences… for however long that lasts.”
With that, he left them. If I were a more compassionate man, I would have put them out of their misery. But no. Bundy moved on and so did I.
He approached the water mill, before examining it. It was an old building, made of stone that had long since been overgrown by moss, and sat right on the wall that separated the Di Cesares estate from the amazon. It hardly looked secure, even if the only entrance hadn’t just been an old wooden door secured with a padlock, finding a way in wouldn’t have been difficult. And it didn’t take much for Bundy to break through that door. All he needed was a couple of well placed kicks and it swung right open.
Drawing his gun, Bundy strode inside and I followed him.
“The Di Cesare’s will be in the main house,” He said. “We should find a way in through the back, try and catch them off guard. Main target should be the matriarch, Bianca. Her we should prioritize keeping alive… the rest are expendable.”
“Much as you are, I’m sure.” A voice called from deeper in the mill, and both Bundy and I froze.
I noticed movement on the floor above us, and through the shadows, I saw a tall woman watching us. She was dressed all in black, with blond hair tied back in a ponytail and the intense eyes of a soldier.
This had to be Clementine Di Cesare.
Bundy aimed his pistol at her, although she only barely seemed to notice.
“Only two of you left… I’m not sure the odds are in your favor,” The woman said. Her voice was low, calm and quiet.
“Only one way to find out,” Bundy growled.
“And only one way to walk out of this place alive,” Di Cesare countered. “You can put the gun down, turn and walk away. I won’t stop you. There’s no shame in living.”
“All the bodies you’ve left in your wake… that’s rich,” Bundy said.
“I don’t relish what I’ve done. I simply don’t know how to do anything else,” She replied. “Think about this, Bundy. Over my lifetime, there have been countless thousands who have come to kill me. All of them are dead, but I am not. Even if you could kill me… you could not kill my sisters. Not all of them. Not before they came for you.”
“Just you, would be enough…” Bundy said, before pulling the trigger.
I knew he’d hit her. I knew the bullet pierced her shoulder. But that woman… she didn’t even flinch. She simply dove out of the way before he could shoot again, taking cover and avoiding his next shot.
“Frank, upstairs!” Bundy snapped, “Flush her out!”
I went, trudging up the old wooden steps with my rifle drawn. Only to see Di Cesare vaulting over the railing and back down to the ground floor as soon as I made it up there.
Bundy shot at her again, only to miss for a second time. I saw Di Cesare’s arm move, and heard him cry out in pain. In the low light, I could see a dagger protruding from his shoulder. He stumbled back a step, leaving himself open for only a split second.
That second was all it took for Di Cesare to raise her own gun and fire just one shot.
George Bundy hit the ground without so much as a final scream. There was just a simple hole in his skull where she had shot him.
I felt my heart start to race faster. My eyes settled on Bundy’s gun, and I ran for the railing, vaulting it and dropping to the ground below with a thud. Di Cesare shot at me, and I felt the bullet tear through my leg. I reached out for the fallen gun and grabbed it before turning it on Di Cesare, only to find myself staring down the barrel of her own pistol. My finger rested on the trigger, but I didn’t have the guts to pull it.
"Kill me, and you will not see the sun tomorrow." She said, her voice still cold and calm.
“Killing you is part of the job…” I replied, but my finger still couldn’t squeeze the trigger.
“And is it worth your life?” Di Cesare asked. “You fail your mission either way.”
“And die with some goddamn honor…”
“There’s no such thing as honor. There is alive and there is dead. Choose.”
I knew what I was supposed to choose.
But my hands were shaking, as I stared into the face of death. My finger couldn’t squeeze the trigger.
The gun collapsed to the floor and Di Cesare kicked it away from me, before huffing and lowering her gun.
“Do not return,” She said softly. “Or next time, I will unleash a hell upon you that will make you beg for simple traps.”
She picked Bundy’s gun up off the ground, and then she was gone. After I finally picked myself up off the ground, I was gone too.
As I walked back along the stream… I passed the corpses of the men we’d left behind. Barber and Wilson, Jack, Feng, Hernandez, and his team. The flies were already feasting on them. Animals had already torn at them. And as I looked down at their cold corpses, I knew I had made the right choice.
I filed my report with the Brethren. Told them that Di Cesare had wiped us out, and a few months later I quietly retired. I never looked back.
***
“You walked away from her?” Sweeney asked in disbelief, “You had her dead to rights and you walked away from her?”
“I chose to live,” I replied. “Can’t say I regret the decision either. Because of the choice I made, I met my wife and had my kids. I’ve lived the life I had because I chose not to throw it away on some vampire.”
Sweeney just shook his head.
“You could have gotten the first confirmed kill on a Di Cesare in two centuries, and you threw it away you fucking coward! I could execute you for that!” I noticed his hand hovering over the gun on his hip.
“You could.” I replied, before quietly unholstering the pistol I kept at my side. I aimed it at Sweeney’s head.
He stared at me like a slack jawed idiot.
“Would you like to give it a try?”
“W-what…?”
“Would you like to give it a try, Mr. Sweeney? Or would you like to see the sun tomorrow?”
He stared down the barrel of my gun, and I already knew what his choice would be.
Sweeney took a step back. I saw his hand move away from his holster, and I lowered the gun with a huff.
“Thought so,” I said.
Mr. Sweeney left me without another word.
I knew he would not return.
2023.06.03 17:32 MaybeAnxiety I'm the only gay of 6 siblings and they're all married and getting married.
I'm the fifth of six siblings. The oldest one, girl, is married.
Second one is happily partnered for 5 years. He's a guy with 2 kids.
3rd just got married and just got pregnant.
4th, my asshole brother is even married and also expecting a child.
Our youngest is getting married on August.
I think I'm doomed to be alone forever. I used to be not pressured. I'm only 26 anyway. But my parents are asking when will my boyfriend come? And I'm like---- idk???? No one likes me. And it used to be fine. But right now it's just annoying. I know I shouldn't rush. But idk. I'm dealing with a feeling I don't understand.
Who wants to be a pretend boyfriend for my baby brother's wedding on August here in Philippines?
submitted by MaybeAnxiety to askgaybros [link] [comments]
Second one is happily partnered for 5 years. He's a guy with 2 kids.
3rd just got married and just got pregnant.
4th, my asshole brother is even married and also expecting a child.
Our youngest is getting married on August.
I think I'm doomed to be alone forever. I used to be not pressured. I'm only 26 anyway. But my parents are asking when will my boyfriend come? And I'm like---- idk???? No one likes me. And it used to be fine. But right now it's just annoying. I know I shouldn't rush. But idk. I'm dealing with a feeling I don't understand.
Who wants to be a pretend boyfriend for my baby brother's wedding on August here in Philippines?
2023.06.03 17:32 AutoModerator Iman Gadzhi - Copy Paste Agency (Live Calls)
If you are interested in Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste Agency contact us at +44 759 388 2116 on Telegram/Whatsapp.
I have Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste Agency.
Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste agency is the latest course by Iman Gadzhi.
Copy Paste Agency is designed for established agency owners, who can use these lessons to scale their business.
In Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste Agency, you will learn:
Whatsapp/Telegram: +44 759 388 2116 (Telegram: multistorecourses)
Reddit DM to u/RequestCourseAccess
Email: silverlakestore[@]yandex.com (remove the brackets)
submitted by AutoModerator to ImanGadzhiClass [link] [comments]
I have Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste Agency.
Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste agency is the latest course by Iman Gadzhi.
Copy Paste Agency is designed for established agency owners, who can use these lessons to scale their business.
In Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste Agency, you will learn:
- How to continue to run a multiple-six-figure agency from home with a skeleton staff and minimal expenses
- How to command higher retainers… and retain those clients for longer
- How to automate, delegate, and optimize every area of your agency from lead generation and sales to service delivery and client communication
Whatsapp/Telegram: +44 759 388 2116 (Telegram: multistorecourses)
Reddit DM to u/RequestCourseAccess
Email: silverlakestore[@]yandex.com (remove the brackets)
2023.06.03 17:31 moneyisc00l [xbox] [H] List [W] credits, maybe bodies
Import Bodies:
Animus GP Crimson Merc Purple Sweeper Peregrine TT ms Twinzer Emperor II: scorched Emperor II: Frozen TW Volkswagen Golf GTI TW Volkswagen Golf GTI RLE
Decals:
Crimson/pink/tw/fg - spotdrop Cobalt/saffron/skyblue - sharpstorm Tw/crimson/bs - lunation Pink/black/crimson/cobalt - haphazard Pink/purple/saffron/fg - sandscape Tw/pink/skyblue - streamix
Wheels:
Barbershop Asik Yolky Grey Lobo (golden egg 22 series) Pink/black/purple/cobalt - bloomer Tw/black/pink/cobalt - floret: infinite Tw/purple - green machine Tw/orange/fg/ - piercer: crystallized Crimson/tw/skyblue/lime - school’d
Toppers:
Baby turtle Aquadome buoy Cheeseburger Excavator Kitten cup Hustle brows Manta ray
Goal explosions:
Dueling Dragons Lime/saffron/grey - elemental Saffron rad rock Sweeper saffron floppy fish Saffron light show Pink chequered flag Black/crimson/cobalt/lime - lotus bloom
If interested in any, feel free to comment or chat with offers. Thanks for looking.
submitted by moneyisc00l to RocketLeagueExchange [link] [comments]
Animus GP Crimson Merc Purple Sweeper Peregrine TT ms Twinzer Emperor II: scorched Emperor II: Frozen TW Volkswagen Golf GTI TW Volkswagen Golf GTI RLE
Decals:
Crimson/pink/tw/fg - spotdrop Cobalt/saffron/skyblue - sharpstorm Tw/crimson/bs - lunation Pink/black/crimson/cobalt - haphazard Pink/purple/saffron/fg - sandscape Tw/pink/skyblue - streamix
Wheels:
Barbershop Asik Yolky Grey Lobo (golden egg 22 series) Pink/black/purple/cobalt - bloomer Tw/black/pink/cobalt - floret: infinite Tw/purple - green machine Tw/orange/fg/ - piercer: crystallized Crimson/tw/skyblue/lime - school’d
Toppers:
Baby turtle Aquadome buoy Cheeseburger Excavator Kitten cup Hustle brows Manta ray
Goal explosions:
Dueling Dragons Lime/saffron/grey - elemental Saffron rad rock Sweeper saffron floppy fish Saffron light show Pink chequered flag Black/crimson/cobalt/lime - lotus bloom
If interested in any, feel free to comment or chat with offers. Thanks for looking.
2023.06.03 17:31 Blubber28 Gathering Storm Round 2 - The results!
 | Good day to everyone! Here are the results for round 2 of the Gathering Storm competition. submitted by Blubber28 to SprocketTankDesign [link] [comments] First, I want to start off with an apology for taking so long. I wish I had been able to give the results sooner, but unfortunately, May was quite an eventful month for me. Finding the time to make this post has been difficult, as writing it takes up quite some time. But, alas here it is, and I hope you will excuse the long waiting time. I also want to quickly mention that the next round will take place at some point after the internal space rework has rolled out, likely somewhere in July. If you like these competitions, keep an eye on the subreddit by then, and consider participating in a different competition in the meantime :) With that out of the way, I do want to thank everyone who participated. I loved seeing some of you mention that getting the vehicle up to 50 km/h was quite a challenge, as that was exactly what it was meant to be :). Some of you have been in competitions before, while there were also some newcomers. With 8 participants, I feel like I am still able to rank all entries and give them a review. If we do at some point reach over 10, I may start to limit the number of entries discussed in the result posts, but I don't think we'll get there soon XD. I have changed the scoring again, making armour its own category (with less weight due to the nature of this round). It was somewhat clunky for me to properly adjudicate points to it as a subcategory of 'utility,' like it was previously. This system should be much better at rewarding additional protection overall. As always, I will also mention that while certain designs were better than others, I could tell that every single one had effort and thought put into it. In this particular round, you were asked to design an alternate universe Type 97 Chi-Ha, and I believe all (well, most, I'll get to that) designs offered an alternative worthy of consideration. With that out of the way, let's get into the meat of this post: The results! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8th place: The Type 97 "Zako" by u/benkavin. https://preview.redd.it/oevbdra65s3b1.png?width=1446&format=png&auto=webp&s=5ec59a26fbeb9347ae4f6b50be6a08f29e156ce4 This vehicle was certainly an interesting one to test out. I myself was quite surprised it ended up as the lowest ranked entry, as u/benkavin is quite a seasoned competition participant, ending up in the category top 5's of TEABAG several times. So, I will summarize why. As a quick disclaimer though, there is a method to the madness, and what I will say, I mean in a more playful manner rather than an offensive one. Please take that into consideration as you read the So, what is there to like about this tank? Several things, actually. It has a very low and generally small profile, which helps with its stealth. All this space is efficiently used, as all three crewmembers get the full cubic meter of space. Its engine is in the front, acting as an additional layer of protection, while the sprocket and transmission are in the back to spread the weight better. The radio antenna can be pushed out of the way when the turret turns, meaning it will not restrict turret movement. The suspension is simple (coil springs) and should be relatively easy to maintain. I also quite like the shape of this tank - especially the front part. It also clearly advertises that this is a light and nimble vehicle. Now, onto the less good parts. Some of the more observant among you may have noticed some flaws already. To start off with some visual/constructional flaws: The air vent in the direct front forms a weakspot, the exhaust blocks most of the driver's vision, and the protrusion at the back prevents the turret from rotating 360° and doesn't serve a particular purpose as far as I could tell. While the shape of the vehicle is quite nice in my opinion, it did lack any national decals or insignia. The suspension itself ingame is not well designed, and the vehicle bounces around on any bumps it crosses, so much so that I had to steer when driving over the testing bumps to stay on them. The backside protrusion blocks the cannon Needless to say, due to these flaws it scored quite low in the aesthetics and mobility categories. The armour protection was up to standard after a small revision, but not much more than necessary. In utility, it performed better in some aspects; it had 17° gun depression, 100% crew space, albeit for 3 crewmembers. There was one peculiarity where it rose above the competition, as it had a gearbox with only 5 gears in total (4f, 1r) to bring it up to the required 50 km/h. Still, it is sadly not enough to escape the last position. The pitch for this vehicle is quite short, but well made and nicely edited as pictures. While the limited length and the disclaimer at the end limit the salesmanship effectiveness, the rest makes up for it somewhat, meaning the pitch got a decent score overall. So, all this makes it the bottom-scoring entry for this particular round. And yet, with all this taken into account, this is one of my favourite entries. Now, you may wonder, why? Well, as I mentioned, there was a method to this madness. In one of the comments under the pitch Reddit post, our builder mentions the name means "Inferior Fish," and that this vehicle was designed by Chinese sympathizers in occupied Manchuria. This made me chuckle somewhat, as it puts a lot of the flaws into context. This also explains why the entry is at the bottom of the competition; it was made bad intentionally. It is the sprocket entry equivalent of purposefully failing a test, something that many people argue to be just as hard as succeeding on a test. So, with that, I take my hat off to you, u/benkavin, for purposefully creating a severely flawed vehicle and creating a decent pitch to try and sell it off to the invaders. While it did not win you the competition, I suspect that that was never the intent with such an entry. You can be very proud of your bottom score, as your vehicle excelled in what you made it to be. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th place: The Type 6 Ke-Ha by u/Face_Stabbed. https://preview.redd.it/2w34cgnn5s3b1.png?width=1245&format=png&auto=webp&s=fdb7b8a64d85c6e81ded502159d9dd730f005192 A returning participant from round 1, which is nice to see. This vehicle, while its overall score was low, has some interesting qualities. It had a decent score in utility, mostly due to the large amount of fuel it carries: 860l in total, more than any other vehicle in the competition, which would enable the vehicle to perform long-distance operations with ease. It also carried the most ammunition, with 186 37mm rounds in total. It gave its three crewmembers maximum space, and fulfilled the preferred 6-speed gearbox. It also features three machine gun mounts; two at the front and one at the back of the turret. It didn't score great in the aesthetics category. Not because I think this is an ugly vehicle by any means, but rather due to the lack of national characteristics. I like the angular shape of the front, the protrusion at the back of the turret for the radio and machine gun, and the sponson shape at the front and back. It also looks very believable; you can easily imagine three crewmembers sitting quite comfortably within this vehicle. However, it does not exactly look like a Japanese vehicle, neither in shape nor in the details. There are also no national decals of any kind present, meaning that there was a small point reduction there. Its mobility and armour protection scores were adequate overall, though this vehicle suffered somewhat from the steering. It felt quite sluggish, both at low and high speeds. This made driving it difficult at times. My advice is to have a stronger first gear. This generally improves steering, especially at low speeds. The frontal hull armour does offer great protection due to the angling, and will likely bounce most things the Chinese could throw at it. The pitch was well-written; it had a logical structure and laid out the vehicles' characteristics very well. From reading it, you can really tell that it was carefully designed. It also included a stat sheet, and was decent at salesmanship. While this is near the bottom in the ranking, this is by no means a bad vehicle. I recommend keeping in mind the country that you are designing for, and trying to make the best of the space available, as there was a lot of free room left in the vehicle. With that advice, I would not be surprised to see you rise up in future competitions, as this design shows you have a great foundation in your sprocketeer skills! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th place: The Type 96 Te-Ha by u/Legodudelol9a. https://preview.redd.it/kbqq6klq5s3b1.png?width=1098&format=png&auto=webp&s=28c42bc65f983791c536d3bdc84095b8bc631685 Now, I cannot help but feel that this vehicle does look a little bit cursed, with the huge turret on the small hull. However, this is because it is re-using parts from existing designs submitted to other competitions. As refurbishing old tanks or creating designs using older parts wasn't out of the question in real life, I think it is an acceptable reason. Also, while it is not mentioned in the pitch, I do like to think that this is the reason the name is from the year before (Imperial Year 2596, or 1936 in the Roman years). Now, let's start with the review. This vehicle had a stellar score in utility, and scored the second highest in that category. From past experience, this seems to be a bit of a trademark for our moderator, as he's quite good at fitting a lot in a tight space. Or, to word it slightly less like an innuendo, he is quite good at using the available space. This tiny vehicle has 104 37mm rounds, 800l of fuel, nearly 20° of gun depression, maximum space allocated to four crewmembers, and three machine guns. The latter is also one of its flaws, however. Simply put, I think putting two machine guns that close to each other may make them nearly impossible to use, as they are likely in each other's way. The hull does also seem to be too small to realistically fit the driver and all the other hardware listed previously. Other than that, it does have the typical Japanese characteristics in its shape, especially with the asymmetrical turret. Its score in mobility was very mixed. It is the first vehicle reviewed here that managed to surpass the 50 km/h, topping out at around 50.8 km/h. It overcame all required obstacles and its steering was very smooth at all speeds, most likely due to the short length of the hull. However, it was the joint worst scoring entry on the obstacle course, together with the Type 97 "Zako." It suffered from the same issues; only three wheels with a very stiff suspension means that it just bounces around while trying to drive. It definitely lost out on a lot of points in that regard, but it was likely a necessary sacrifice to help cross the trench and climb the step obstacle. The frontal hull and turret armour are thicker than requested, making it quite durable in a hull-down position, which is complemented by the great gun depression. Other than that, the armour fulfills the requirements and not much more. The pitch was well-structured and laid out the details of the vehicle well, but sometimes it felt more like a technical summary rather than a sales pitch. While those details are important, they are not the main reason that makes the pitch stand out to potential buyers. All in all, I am once again surprised at all the utility that fits in such a small machine. A decent entry overall. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5th place: The Type 19 Ha-To by u/bonnibelio. https://preview.redd.it/xi96s76u5s3b1.png?width=1318&format=png&auto=webp&s=2bfd3373a075b11ae4727bcb6a26acf20376421b Now we get to the top five entries. This was the first submitted entry to this particular round, and by a first-time participant no less. This is a solid first entry overall. In fact, it managed to score a category win in the newly made 'armour' category. While this category had a lower weight this round due to the nature of Japanese tank design, it is no mean feat. Its frontal protection went up to 50mm effective armour in places, and this was not just on small spots. The lower and upper glacis, as well as the sponsons and the turret side were well protected. Even then, the actual thickness of the flatter plates was 25mm on the hull and 30mm on the turret. These are significant differences, meaning that even dedicated anti-tank guns of the time will struggle to penetrate the front at a long to medium range. Even on the sides, the plate behind the tracks is 25mm thick, meaning they too are tough to crack. This added armour did somewhat impact the top speed, but it did manage to get to the required 50 km/h. It was also able to climb all required inclines and had a very well set up twin-transmission for both acceleration and steering. However, while I tried my best to overcome the 0.5m step, I wasn't able to do it. I even tried it backwards, but sadly it refused to climb it, no matter the method. So unfortunately I had to deduct some points there. The pitch was well structured and had some great pictures to go along with it, but it was lacking in salesmanship and era-appropriateness. This is likely due to the text itself being quite short. Now I don't require an essay referencing historical documents, of course, but I would say this area has the most room for improvement. Why were the Japanese looking for a tank, and why should it be yours? What is it expected to face, and what does this vehicle bring to the table to meet that threat? Those kinds of questions should be answered in a solid pitch, and they are not. I think if you keep them in mind in the future, that they will be of great use in writing your future pitches. In terms of utility, the Type 19 surpasses some of the requirements. It gets some bonus points for the 700l of fuel, and in addition offers a good 18,0° of gun depression, four crewmembers with decent space, more than one MG mount, and 6 gears per transmission. The aesthetics were also good, though it did also miss out on some points here. So, first of all, this vehicle very much looks the part of a Japanese tank, especially with the turret. However, it does look much more like a late-war design rather than an early-war one. I don't think this is surprising given the great Chi-Nu replica that u/bonnibelio was also working on, but it does mean it loses a point for era-appropriateness. The turret and hull look nice, but the hull does feel a little squished to me. I think crawling in there would have been difficult at the very least. The design does make great use of crewparts and decals to decorate the tank, as you can see here: There are decals that decorate certain parts of the tank, like the cupola, the custom fuel port, the plates on the turret, and the protective bars around the exhaust. I've seen parts and decals been used as decoration many times, but using them in tandem like this is a great skill, and it is executed very well on this design. All in all, this design is a good entry, especially for a first-time participant. u/bonnibelio, you can be proud of your creation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th place: The Type 4 Kin no Suisei (Ki-Su) by u/mei9k. https://preview.redd.it/4ksdtlrw5s3b1.png?width=1354&format=png&auto=webp&s=6844263ad430dcd46c1150896bd73dfe457f09c2 Another great entry from a first-time participant. Some of you may immediately see the resemblance to the old Type 89 I-Go (Chi-Ro) medium tank, the first domestic design by the Japanese. As it played a major role in the conquest of Manchuria in the early 30's, seeing a tank clearly evolved from that design for the later China campaigns is not out of the question. This vehicle had a shared top score in aesthetics. This is likely not a surprise if you take the time to look at the tank. It is a very unique looking machine, yet it makes sense given the history. It received top marks for national identity and a very high score for historical accuracy as well. I was also quite happily surprised to see the return of using placable plates for decoration, something that was much more popular back when rivets were not a thing yet in the game. And it looks great on this machine! The plates are all very neatly worked into the shape of the design. The turret has the typical round-ish shape with a machine gun sticking out the back, with nicely smoothed out plates. The hull, as mentioned, is very reminiscent of the Type 89 medium tank in its shape. In the pitch, it is said to be inspired by the cavalry riding horses, and one could see the resemblance. On top of the great shape, there is also plenty of details to look at, including custom wooden/bamboo boxes for stowage, access hatches for the engine, crew hatches in the turret and the front, and a special protrusion for the driver. I do imagine it may be quite tight for his legs, though, given how far forward the driver's visor is. Other than that, no major drawbacks were found aesthetics-wise. https://preview.redd.it/cd9k1pt66t3b1.png?width=1372&format=png&auto=webp&s=79945ed19a3b97bc684393bdaced6f40b8736554 And, well, they also made a variant with rust and decay, which looks pretty sick tbh: Freshly dug-up out of the mud While the looks were the best part of this machine, it is not its only quality. While the armour fulfilled the minimum and did not exceed it significantly in any place, the mobility score was also quite good. It manages to almost reach 51 km/h, so it was among the faster entries in the competition. It managed to overcome all necessary obstacles, and its steering was very smooth as well. Despite its strong suspension, the ride was relatively smooth over bumps - mostly because of speed and smaller roadwheels. Its utility score was on the lower side, which is not surprising given the small size of this tank. It carried the required fuel, ammunition, has three crewmembers at full space, and offers 17,0° of gun depression, and used the 57mm cannon, but that is all. Another strong point of this entry was the pitch. It is well structured, and takes the historical context of the designed vehicle's task into account. It lays out the details of the vehicle well and has good pictures to accompany it. A solid pitch and entry overall, especially for a first-time participant. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd place: The Nanakyū-shiki keisensha Kehe (Type 97 Ke-He) by u/Nicholpher. https://preview.redd.it/hn3a1co66s3b1.png?width=1311&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b25d85bba29faa48ef37583b21b9dd31e24859c Our bronze medalist is not a first-time competition participant, but is relatively new still. However, this did not stop them from making a killer entry. Just from a first glance, you can already tell that this is a nicely compact design, and from testing it I can confirm that it uses its space to the fullest. The top half of the scores in Utility were all very close, and this design was among them. Within this small machine, there is 800l of fuel, 6 gears, and four crewmembers at maximum space all cramped together. This entry also has the best gun depression out of all entries, sporting an impressive 19,8° on the 57mm anti-infantry cannon. It also has two machine guns; one in the mantlet for the gunner and another in the back for the commander. This makes it a well-rounded machine overall in the intended theater. It managed to get the category win in mobility, even though it was not the fastest entry. But as I was grading it, I found that several machines had some shortcomings of some kind. Some had a bumpy suspension, others had trouble steering, etc. This one just does everything good. It overcame all obstacles, performed a smooth ride on the testing bumps, and had great steering capabilities at all speeds. This was mostly due to a very well-tuned twin transmission. In essence, this vehicle shows that good mobility does not always equal great speed. With the great mobility score, it will not come as a surprise that the armour score was not the highest. Although there was increased protection on the hull rear and turret sides that the crew would appreciate, if only for morale. Aesthetics wise, this entry scored decently as well. There wasn't any particular subcategory where it over or underperformed in this regard. It had a good national identity and era-appropriateness score, and it looks decently realistic in shape as well (i.e. it looks like humans would fit inside). It makes great use of crew parts to add further functionality like the smoke launchers. It also features the two hatches for the two transmissions in the front, a great detail to add. Interestingly, it doesn't feature any national flags, but it does have several markings on it that look like production numbers or slogans. As such, I did reduce the points gained from the decals slightly, but it's still a positive score. Finally, we arrive to the pitch, which also had a good score overall. The presentation format is interesting, with the Japanese on top and English below. This did make reading somewhat harder due to the separation, but the text itself was well-written and well-structured. The various capabilities of the vehicle are laid out and highlighted, explaining some of the decisions made in the design process. The pictures were nicely framed, but I felt that the filter takes away a lot of the detail within, so it scored a little lower in that regard. Still, a solid pitch and entry overall, and a worthy receiver of the bronze medal. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd place: The Type 97 Ke-Ho by u/Cardinal_Reason. https://preview.redd.it/5jkkhxnnct3b1.png?width=1333&format=png&auto=webp&s=b0d5b7b7edc2d4a31f782321bbc34f6344559b92 Our silver medalist is also a relative newcomer, and like the previous entry they too did an excellent job. In fact, I found it quite interesting that they ended up receiving the highest score in two categories - an impressive feat! One of those was the utility category. The vehicle has the desired 800l of fuel covered, offers 19,7° of gun depression, has four crewmembers with maximum space allocated, the preferred 57mm cannon, 6 gears and even a whopping four MG mounts. The thing that pushed them ahead of the competition on top of all this was likely the extra ammunition, carrying 60 rounds of 57mm high-explosive rounds and 15 rounds of armour piercing. While I didn't find any information on this particular cannon firing anything other than high-explosive, the space for those shells still counts towards the total. In essence, this little machine has all the kit required for the operations in the vast space of China. This machine's armour fulfills only the requirements, with exception to the thicker plate of 25mm on the front of the turret, something that will effectively protect the crew in hull-down positions. This did make this vehicle one of the lighter entries, which is reflected in its excellent mobility score, coming in as a second in that category. This particular entry is the fastest in this round, reaching an impressive 52.6 km/h. It performed well in the other subcategories too, with the exception of the bumps, where it was plagued by a too soft suspension. This, in combination with the unevenly spread roadwheels, meant that it kind of bounced around and was hard to control. The steering was adequate, as the twin transmission wasn't perfect, and tended to slow down the tank significantly when steering. However, other than that, this vehicle performed great in terms of mobility. Aesthetics wise, this vehicle had a good score as well, coming in second after the joint category winners. It had a very high score in national identity, both in terms of shape and decals. It also had a good score in era-appropriateness. I don't think that one needs much explanation either. It is not difficult to imagine this vehicle in the Chinese theater next to a Type 95 Ha-Go. It is also nicely decorated with the Imperial flag and the Sakura (cherry blossom) decals. Finally, we touch on the other category win that this vehicle managed to secure: The Pitch. This particular pitch has received top marks in several subcategories, most notable in terms of structure and salesmanship. Seriously, at the end of the pitch all I could think was "Shut up and take my money!" It does a good job at laying out the specifications and details of this vehicle, and presents it in a way that is very persuasive, especially to the Imperial army. Touching on the situation Japan was in, their plans for the future, and how this vehicle was going to fit in those plans was what made me give it the top marks. On top of that, it also has nicely framed and edited pictures. The one thing that I missed was a stat sheet, but it did not cost you your well-deserved category win. It was very convincing and well thought-out, and it got your entry the well-deserved silver medal. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st place: The Type 97 Ke-Ru by u/Drallo. https://preview.redd.it/23r9be5yet3b1.png?width=1300&format=png&auto=webp&s=d4d5c2a4593ea5330b27caafe7b3074c14a0eccd Our golden medalist, once dubbed 'Bargain-bin Lily' by our resident Minister of Military Expenditure himself, is none other than u/Drallo. This entry once again highlights that consistently performing well in several categories is the thing that wins you competitions like this. While he did also bag one category win, this entry did score second or third in most other subcategories. The one exception to this is the mobility, where this entry was fourth. It is still a good score overall, however. It managed to barely get the 50 km/h required, but performed good in all other aspects. It overcame all obstacles, was relatively comfortable over bumps, and had good steering capabilities. While it struggled somewhat with the higher speeds, it did accelerate very well, and got up to a decent speed quickly. While it did not excel in this particular category, it is certainly a mobile and maneuverable vehicle. It is mentioned in the pitch that "Your evaluation crew will find a nimble vehicle that does not fight or complain to its driver - it listens and obeys." After evaluating it I wholeheartedly agree with that statement. The lower mobility score can be easily explained when one looks at the armour of this machine. Coming in at 5.79 tonnes, it is among the heavier entries. This is because the hull and turret front are significantly thicker than requested, with armour effectiveness ranging from 30mm to 50mm in some places. This means that it will be able to shrug off even dedicated (small-calibre) anti-tank weapons at medium ranges, a great feat for a light vehicle. The hull rear and turret sides are also a couple of millimeters thicker. All this meant that this vehicle got the second place in terms of protection. It got its third place in the Utility category, bringing 800l of fuel and 78 rounds of 57mm ammunition into the fight. It also has an impressive 17,5° of gun depression and the desired 6 gears. It does have four crewmembers with limited space, particularly for the driver and gunner. Other than that, it had the preferred cannon and multiple MG mounts scattered around the vehicle, meaning it will be well-armed against the expected infantry. The pitch for this vehicle was also great, getting a close second place in that category. It scored high in salesmanship, details, and received the top marks for the many pictures. Each one is nicely framed and presented. There is even a leather cover of the official report! In addition, it provided a decent acknowledgment of the Japanese plans, helping with the era appropriateness score. Finally, a nicely made stat sheet gave us a good overview of the vehicle's capabilities. It will likely not come as a surprise that this vehicle was the other category winner in terms of Aesthetics. While the national identity score was somewhat lower, mainly due to the turret shape, all the other subcategories made up for it. It very much looks like it was designed in the late 30's, and the large turret actually makes it look like three people could fit in there. Most points came from the details, though. With many custom decals, grates, hatches, smoke launchers, and some well-placed spare parts, this looks like a vehicle ready for combat. https://preview.redd.it/a8lx4x7ilt3b1.png?width=1609&format=png&auto=webp&s=0aaf6090fe53ac9aeb645387dd7e97695d5f1393 There's just so much to look at on this vehicle - so many little details that make it as good as it is. I can only recommend to check out the pitch if you haven't already. The pictures he makes are much better and do this vehicle more justice than I could. All in all, it is a well-crafted entry for a well-deserved win. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And that concludes this particular round of Gathering Storm! Congratulations to the winner, and thanks again everyone for submitting your designs. While it took me much longer than I had hoped, I enjoyed testing and grading them. Keep an eye out in July for the next round, and let me know if you have any questions or comments. See you all hopefully next time! |
2023.06.03 17:30 Sassafras_socks Our struggling hotel just brought on six totally unnecessary kitchen workers
Background: I'm the sous in a pretty small and struggling hotel restaurant in upstate NY. Our staff consists of just myself, the head chef, a banquet cook, 3 breakfast line cooks, 2 dinner line cooks, and a couple of dishwashers. The hotel had an obscene amount of money dumped into it (and went 8 figures over budget) and the owners have been unrealistically pushing for *profit* revenue from day one. Business is very slowing increasing, but most of the money still comes from bar sales and not the restaurant. Anyway..
They were partnered with an agency that provided international J1 students as temp workers, usually on a three month basis, in exchange for housing and some other expenses. This was apparently how they first got the hotel largely staffed when it opened last year. Fine, no problem. At this point, our regular BoH and FoH staff is almost entirely locals (this being a very small tourist town, anyone in food service has worked at every hotel and restaurant on the road through town, often holding two jobs simultaneously, and everyone seems to know everyone else). We had a job fair recently and hired on a good amount of new staff to bolster for the increase in summer business as well as getting a rooftop bar open, planning to get both the interior hotel bar and restaurant going at the same time, etc. But now on top of that, they decided to continue the agency contract and I believe around 30 J1 workers have arrived at the hotel, split between housekeeping, FoH and BoH. To be blunt, we do not need them in BoH. At all. I struggle to find things for our folks to do on a daily basis as it is because food sales are so inconsistent and low. There's very little prep that needs doing regularly and what there is gets done quickly and easily by the AM or PM cooks before service.
I'm just really frustrated by the whole situation, because not only am I having to essentially babysit all these new employees, I have practically nothing for them to do. They're not trained or experienced in kitchen work at all - only one of the six even knew how to hold a knife - so I can't just ask them to do the most basic of prep work or cover a station. It's handy to have an extra dishwasher occasionally, but six people?! I'm really at a loss here. They're also contracted to work 30 hours a week each, so anything I'm delegating to them is taking away work from my "real" staff, and the chef and I agree that we're not cutting any of their hours to account for that since these are people from the area, they have families, rent to pay, and so on. It would be completely fucked up and unfair after they've stuck with us. I don't know what to do here.
submitted by Sassafras_socks to KitchenConfidential [link] [comments]
They were partnered with an agency that provided international J1 students as temp workers, usually on a three month basis, in exchange for housing and some other expenses. This was apparently how they first got the hotel largely staffed when it opened last year. Fine, no problem. At this point, our regular BoH and FoH staff is almost entirely locals (this being a very small tourist town, anyone in food service has worked at every hotel and restaurant on the road through town, often holding two jobs simultaneously, and everyone seems to know everyone else). We had a job fair recently and hired on a good amount of new staff to bolster for the increase in summer business as well as getting a rooftop bar open, planning to get both the interior hotel bar and restaurant going at the same time, etc. But now on top of that, they decided to continue the agency contract and I believe around 30 J1 workers have arrived at the hotel, split between housekeeping, FoH and BoH. To be blunt, we do not need them in BoH. At all. I struggle to find things for our folks to do on a daily basis as it is because food sales are so inconsistent and low. There's very little prep that needs doing regularly and what there is gets done quickly and easily by the AM or PM cooks before service.
I'm just really frustrated by the whole situation, because not only am I having to essentially babysit all these new employees, I have practically nothing for them to do. They're not trained or experienced in kitchen work at all - only one of the six even knew how to hold a knife - so I can't just ask them to do the most basic of prep work or cover a station. It's handy to have an extra dishwasher occasionally, but six people?! I'm really at a loss here. They're also contracted to work 30 hours a week each, so anything I'm delegating to them is taking away work from my "real" staff, and the chef and I agree that we're not cutting any of their hours to account for that since these are people from the area, they have families, rent to pay, and so on. It would be completely fucked up and unfair after they've stuck with us. I don't know what to do here.
2023.06.03 17:30 zsaszlepot Dreams about internet screamers?
I’ve been lucid dreaming almost every night for a few years. I have reoccurring dreams, maybe one every month or two, where an alarm goes off in a large building I’m in and everyone scrambles for safety. I always know what’s going to happen and I cover my face but it doesn’t do anything.
The best way to describe what happens is like if you’ve played VR (I actually think that’s what really triggered my lucid dreaming). My vision is filled with a video or picture and I move my eyes to a “safe zone” of the picture and I hear the piercing scream of the screamer and I know the face is there where I’m not looking. Then there’s a different picture and a new face and scream and a different face zone to look away. This goes on for about five or six pictures.
I wake up extremely disoriented and sweaty and on the verge of a panic attack. Has anyone ever had anything similar? Or have you noticed VR changed the way you dream?
submitted by zsaszlepot to LucidDreaming [link] [comments]
The best way to describe what happens is like if you’ve played VR (I actually think that’s what really triggered my lucid dreaming). My vision is filled with a video or picture and I move my eyes to a “safe zone” of the picture and I hear the piercing scream of the screamer and I know the face is there where I’m not looking. Then there’s a different picture and a new face and scream and a different face zone to look away. This goes on for about five or six pictures.
I wake up extremely disoriented and sweaty and on the verge of a panic attack. Has anyone ever had anything similar? Or have you noticed VR changed the way you dream?
2023.06.03 17:28 casperthegh000st Gwen Stacy is trans
Gwen is definitely trans in this universe. I'm gonna find a screenshot from the scene where she's talking to her father etc because the colors shift to trans colors and also her dad had a trans flag thingy on one of his jackets.
submitted by casperthegh000st to AcrossTheSpider_Verse [link] [comments]
2023.06.03 17:28 PaulPatrick37101224 SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS’ NATURE AND EXTENT OF SACRED DOCTRINE
Whether in Holy Scripture a Word May Have Several Senses?
Scripture itself consists of many senses – the historical or literal sense, the metaphorical sense, the spiritual sense, the analogical sense, the allegorical sense, and of course prophecy. The author of Holy Writ is God, who has poured out his Holy Spirit upon the authors of scripture. Furthermore, Holy Writ can tell of the past, the present, and the future all at the same time, even in the same words or sentences. In addition to this, through the knowledge and infinite wisdom of God, statements and stories of the bible can be applied both to great and small in every generation. To go a step further, the same scriptures also have applicable properties for all people as well throughout all time periods. As the Holy Apostle Peter once said in summary: “No scripture has its origin in the human will.” For He is all in all, and what He says can not only mean one thing but many things all at the same time through the infinite wisdom of His Majesty. The wars of the 20th century play-out like modern day bible stories – for example, the Six-Day war, World War I & II, and the use of mass atomic weapons which mimic events such as Sodom and Gomorrah.
submitted by PaulPatrick37101224 to Summa_Study [link] [comments]
Scripture itself consists of many senses – the historical or literal sense, the metaphorical sense, the spiritual sense, the analogical sense, the allegorical sense, and of course prophecy. The author of Holy Writ is God, who has poured out his Holy Spirit upon the authors of scripture. Furthermore, Holy Writ can tell of the past, the present, and the future all at the same time, even in the same words or sentences. In addition to this, through the knowledge and infinite wisdom of God, statements and stories of the bible can be applied both to great and small in every generation. To go a step further, the same scriptures also have applicable properties for all people as well throughout all time periods. As the Holy Apostle Peter once said in summary: “No scripture has its origin in the human will.” For He is all in all, and what He says can not only mean one thing but many things all at the same time through the infinite wisdom of His Majesty. The wars of the 20th century play-out like modern day bible stories – for example, the Six-Day war, World War I & II, and the use of mass atomic weapons which mimic events such as Sodom and Gomorrah.
2023.06.03 17:28 IndyMod [#DetroitGP] INDY NXT RACE 1 // 2023 CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX
![[#DetroitGP] INDY NXT RACE 1 // 2023 CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX](https://external-preview.redd.it/zSD2gcZab9vz46PTG4I0sRfj229xXeoOYO78hudXCC4.png?width=320&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=1b87d793f256812a6db3c0cd673007e69da1f7b8 "[#DetroitGP] INDY NXT RACE 1 // 2023 CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX") | Round 4: INDY NXT by Firestone Detroit Grand Prix Race 1 submitted by IndyMod to INDYCAR [link] [comments] 👋 Welcome to the INDYCAR INDY NXT race 1 discussion thread for the 2023 Detroit Grand Prix. For additional live chat and conversation, you may also wish to join us in our Discord server. Some notes for our live race discussions:
🏁 RACE INFORMATION
📺 BROADCAST INFORMATION
📝 STARTING GRIDINDY NXT by Firestone Detroit Starting Line Up |
2023.06.03 17:27 Previous_Translator5 1500 euro gaming / work setup
1500 euro gaming / general work use setup
What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games or programs you will be using.**- casual gaming for a couple hours a day, dont need super high performance but decent to pretty good would be preferred. games such as minecraft with shaders, apex legends, rainbow six siege. in terms of general use / work i would be using it for school and music production using fl studio 20.
What is your maximum budget before rebates/shipping/taxes?**
- willing to spend up to 1500 max , also need all parts to be compatible without any issues
When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.**
- i plan on buying in a month , building as soon as everything arrives.
What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ToweOS/monitokeyboard/mouse/etc)**
- everything, keyboard, monitor, tower, os, the whole setup, except for mouse.
Which country (and state/province) will you be purchasing the parts in? If you're in US, do you have access to a Microcenter location?**
- helsinki, finland.
If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? Brands and models are appreciated.**
- utech smart venus mmo gaming mouse, any other suggestions for a mouse could be useful.
Will you be overclocking? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line? CPU and/or GPU?**
- no
Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)**
- no, just anything for a pretty good performance build that can run most games at good graphics.
Do you have any specific case preferences (Size like ITX/microATX/mid-towefull-tower, styles, colors, window or not, LED lighting, etc), or a particular color theme preference for the components?**
- no case preferences, just something clean / simple and looks decent. preferably not over the top rgb, just one color.
Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? If you do need one included, do you have a preference?**
- yes, newest version.
2023.06.03 17:27 Proletlariet Gex
If this weren't a video game, I'd be on my way to prison!
Gex
After the successive deaths of Gex's father and uncle, which happened to leave him a large inheritance, Gex entered a deep depression, unable to leave the house. He used his cash to buy himself a big TV and cable, and spent his days as a couch potato in front of the screen, a hopeless addict. One day, when he swallowed a special bug sent by the villainous Rez, he was pulled inside the world of TV. Now, with only his natural gecko abilities to help him, Gex goes on an adventure to defeat Rez and escape from TVland, all the while spouting off extremely dated pop-culture references.As a playable character in the game Mad Dash Racing, Gex is capable of performing any feat another character in his racer class (Dasher) can do, as well as any feat performable by the other two racer classes (Glider and Basher) as long as he’s carrying 10 green meteor chunks. Overview of racer classes from the manual. Feats that Dashers can perform will be marked with “MDR” for Mad Dash Racing while feats Gex would need ten meteor chunks to perform will be marked with “Tri” for “Tribrid.”
Gecko Abilities
Tongue- Snatches a bug out of the air with his tongue
- Picks up powerups with his tongue
- Pulls his entire body onto a platform with his tongue
- Pulls himself up onto a tree branch to avoid automatic fire.
- Pulls himself up to a tree branch twenty feet above his head to escape cannibals and a tiger.
- Pulls himself up to a conduit fifty feet above the ground to avoid an attack from Rez.
- Catches his fall and reels himself back up to a platform after Rez knocks him off it.
- In the first game, Gex can climb along any surface, including walls and ceilings
- From the second game onwards, Gex can only climb on specially marked areas
- Uses the suction-cups on his feet to cling to a tree against the blast of four tank shells.
- Invincibility
- Super speed that makes Gex leave afterimages
- Super jump that lets Gex jump high into the air
- Fire breath that incinerates foes
- Flaming aura that lets him light a fuse (Gameboy version)
- Ice breath that freezes foes In the novel, it pierces Rez’s chest and knocks him back into a pit of static.
- Multidirectional lightning breath that incinerates foes
- Spitting attack Uses it to knock Rez off a wire, make a car skid, and immobilize three gangsters.
- Temporary Herculean strength
- Temporary superhero strength which can shatter stone
- Bunny costume
- Space suit
- Caveman outfit
- Indiana Jones costume
- Police costume
- Winter clothes
- Firefighter costume
- Pharaoh outfit
- Army uniform
- Cowboy costume
- Akuji the Heartless costume
- Toga
- Pirate costume complete with peg leg
- Wrestling costume
- Tin Man costume
- Scuba gear
- Gangster outfit
- Lifeguard outfit
- Superhero costume
- Vampire costume that lets him glide through the air
- Red riding hood that lets him glide
- Robot suit that lets him glide In the novel, it makes him a transformer who can shapeshift into a bucket, a forklift, a jet plane or a helicopter with a rotor strong enough to chop up a heavily armoured giant robot.
- Sherlock Holmes costume that lets him analyze his surroundings and... shrink?
- Psycho Chicken: a chicken-shaped guided missile that homes in on foes and explodes.MDR
- Blob Bombs:, which are green glowing blobs that can be set down which explode on contact like mines.
- Bouncy Fruit: bouncing explosive projectiles shaped like fruit.
- Ribbon of Pain: A tron-like trail of energy that trails behind him, stunning anybody who touches it.
- Disco Ball: A shield that gives Gex temporary invincibility plus a speed boost.
- Freeze All: Freezes all other racers on the track, forcing them to struggle to escape with a button prompt.
Vehicles
Strength
General Strength- Diverts the path of a slow-moving rocket
- Holds onto a large firework as it flies into the air (Gameboy version)
- Holds onto a rocket as it flies through space
- Uses a mounted machine gun without experiencing recoil
- Hits a golfball so hard that it leaves a trail of fire when it lands.
- His tail whip attack is described as being able to dismember enemies and even disintegrate them
- Bashes through a large cluster of blocks with one hit from his tail
- Breaks metal containers
- Destroys a satellite dish
- Destroys a radio tower
- Breaks flying TVs
- Breaks giant dominos
- Breaks giant, evil pool balls
- Breaks a giant metal locker door
- Breaks a sarcophagus-themed wall covering
- Breaks the Ark of the Covenant (Gameboy version)
- Breaks the arms off a statue
- Breaks metal grates
- Breaks a brick house apart with repeated strikes
- Tail-whips a skull offscreen
- Tail-whips barrels
- Tail-whips and breaks strings that are holding up anvils
- Tail-whips a large mushroom (Gameboy version)
- Tail-whips a cooler of blood (Gameboy version)
- Tail-whips a sentient piece of machinery (Gameboy version)
- Tail-whips an Asian vase (Gameboy version)
- Tail-whips a set of double doors
- Tail-whips a bookshelf cover
- Tail-whips some giant bones
- Tail-whips a crystal power cell
- Tail-whips a sandcastle
- Tail-whips wooden boards
- Tail-whips tents
- Tail whips a car-sized boulder back at the cyclops who threw it, knocking them back into a mountain.
- Tail whips a desk into splinters.
- Sends Rez flying with a tail whip. Rez is very large and made of metal.
- Defeats a troop of alien warriors with his tail-whip.
- Defeats six ninjas at once with a roundhouse tail-whip.
- Sends Moo Shu Pork, a mutant cow/pig hybrid, flying with a kick, and is then implied to eat him. Moo Shu Pork is considerably larger than Gex.
- Knocks over a mech walker
- Deflects a thrown present out of the air hard enough to stun Evil Santa (Gameboy version)
- Dismembers a Frankenstein's monster
- Can defeat a dinosaur (Gameboy version)
- Activates a cannon by striking it (Gameboy version)
- Spins a gear to raise a large platform
- Spins a crank to pull out a bridge
- Rings the bell on a test-your-strength machine
- Tail slams so hard he shakes a mountain, causing part of it to collapse onto a cyclops.
- While giant, breaks apart a skyscraper with repeated strikes
- Shakes a giant tower inside a space station with a tail slam.
- Sends shockwaves through the ground with a tail slam, defeating two sumo wrestlers.
- Casually knocks aside robotic drones.
- Sends a roman soldier flying out of a chariot with a tail swipe.
- Knocks down a twelve foot tall cyclops.
- Knocks down a very large man with a tail swipe.
Mad Dash Racing
- Can defeat a Tremmel (a spikey headed monster) with one hit.MDR
- Can stun other racers and knock them into the air with a tackle.MDR
- Can smash through thick sections of foliage.Tri
- Can smash through rows of crates.Tri
- Can smash through a larger pile of crates.Tri
- Can destroy large underground roots.Tri
- Can destroy large stone tiki heads.Tri
- Can bash through cracked stone blocks.Tri
- Can smash apart a metal barricade.Tri
- Can smash apart a barricade made from large metal barrels.Tri
- Can smash through a large door.Tri
- Can smash through a cracked stone wall.Tri
- Can destroy a large rock spire.Tri
- Can destroy large stone boulders.Tri
- Can bash apart huge sections of rock.Tri
- Can beat Hex in a boss fight. Hex is strong enough to smash through huge stone walls and shrugs off a massive explosion in a cutscene and says he’s feeling “okay” afterwards. Although any playable character can play through Mad Dash Racing’s story mode and fight Hex, the cutscene for winning does change to reflect who you pickedMDR and there’s not really any canon for this game
Mobility
Agility- Can bounce using his tail
- Can jump surprisingly far
- Jumps from his chariot to another while in a race.
- Jumps from satellite to satellite in space, using his suction cups and sticky tongue to help him.
- Can clear long gaps with a karate kick
- Can do a one-handed handstand
- Can run, climb, and swimMDR very quickly.
- Can also climb arm over arm hanging from a net ceiling very fast.MDR
- Can perform a “Powerslide” while turning in order to charge up a burst of speed. In action.MDR
- Can grind quickly across thin surfaces like guard rails, vines, and ropes.MDR
- Can glide through the air a good distance by flapping his arms.Tri
- Counters an attack from a cow-pig hybrid with a pair of nunchuks, then disarms him.
- Dodges swings from Rez. Does it again.
- Runs while avoiding spear thrusts from cannibals chasing him.
- Jumps over a crowd of zombies, then dodges a knife-swing from a slasher villain.
- Can jump over a ninja's shuriken while fighting him (Gameboy version)
- Leaps out of a tank to avoid four enemy shells.
- Dodges gunfire from three gangsters.
- Runs away from a POW camp while avoiding gunfire from the guards.
- Ducks behind a car to avoid a driveby shooting.
- Can aimdodge automatic fire from a gangster’s tommygun.
- Can jump over a hunter's cartoon bullets while fighting him (Gameboy version)
- Can run around hunters with homing bullets (Gameboy version)
- Can move around slow-moving energy blasts
- Can dodge rocket blasts from Rez
- Avoids a bunch of homing missiles from Rez.
- Jumps onto a missile after it’s fired and steers it through a TV and into Rez’s chest.
- Deflects a thrown present out of the air hard enough to stun Evil Santa
- Can run extremely quickly after a golf ball he’s launched; in this case, covers about 180yds in a few seconds.
Durability
- Unhurt by jumping through glass
- Unhurt when the rocket he's riding blows to bits
- Unhurt by an impact that destroys the wooden crate he's in
- Deflects blue fireballs
- Gets slapped into the side of a building by Rez. Rez is strong enough to shake a huge tower inside a space station with one hand.
- Gets hit by Rez again, knocking him off a platform.
- Gets slammed in the skull by an FBI agent with a crowbar, although it knocks him out
- Gets pistol whipped in the back of the head by a mobster.
- Gets blasted into a wall by a robot’s beam attack.
- Gets shot by a giant robot and crashes into the ground hard enough to damage his jet-boots.
- Has an exploding bouquet of flowers go off in his face, blasting his head the wrong-way around.
- Gets thrown high up a mountain by a cyclops.
- Can crash through a large neon sign without slowing down.MDR
- Can be hurled a long distance from a catapult and hit the ground running.MDR
- As a mandatory section of a race course, falls from high up and hits the ground running.MDR
- Can be hit by a giant rolling boulder and is only stunned for a second.MDR
- Can take a hit by the Tremmel King in a story mode cutscene. As a Basher type racer, the Tremmel King is strong enough to smash apart large obstacles.MDR
- Can take hits from Hex during his boss fight. Hex is strong enough to smash through huge stone walls during scripted sections of the fight.MDR
- Can get speared by a floor spike trap and walk it off.MDR
- Can be hit by a swinging bladed pendulum and walk it off.MDR
- Can be blown up by a land mine and walk it off.MDR
- Can be burned by a spray of hot steam from a pipe and shake it off.MDR
- Can be burned by a jet of flame from a giant tiki and shake it off.MDR
Other
- In the first game, can spend an indefinite amount of time underwater
- Can spend an indefinite amount of time in space with no suit or air supply Same in the novel.
- Gets charged up with an energy that lets him activate jump pads
- Fucking murders people with a tommy gun
- Can kill ghosts
- His tail seems to be somewhat prehensile, picking up, unfolding, and putting on a pair of sunglasses.
- Carves an ice sculpture with tail whips (Gameboy version)
- Is pretty good at golf.
Hey, cool. I wonder what's on HBO...
2023.06.03 17:27 joeltheprocess76 It’s the one and only Gene Cousineau!
 | Fan Expo in Philadelphia submitted by joeltheprocess76 to Barry [link] [comments] |
2023.06.03 17:27 AutoModerator Copy Paste Agency by Iman Gadzhi (Here)
If you are interested in Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste Agency contact us at +44 759 388 2116 on Telegram/Whatsapp.
I have Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste Agency.
Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste agency is the latest course by Iman Gadzhi.
Copy Paste Agency is designed for established agency owners, who can use these lessons to scale their business.
In Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste Agency, you will learn:
Whatsapp/Telegram: +44 759 388 2116 (Telegram: multistorecourses)
Reddit DM to u/RequestCourseAccess
Email: silverlakestore[@]yandex.com (remove the brackets)
submitted by AutoModerator to ThisIsIman [link] [comments]
I have Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste Agency.
Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste agency is the latest course by Iman Gadzhi.
Copy Paste Agency is designed for established agency owners, who can use these lessons to scale their business.
In Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste Agency, you will learn:
- How to continue to run a multiple-six-figure agency from home with a skeleton staff and minimal expenses
- How to command higher retainers… and retain those clients for longer
- How to automate, delegate, and optimize every area of your agency from lead generation and sales to service delivery and client communication
Whatsapp/Telegram: +44 759 388 2116 (Telegram: multistorecourses)
Reddit DM to u/RequestCourseAccess
Email: silverlakestore[@]yandex.com (remove the brackets)
2023.06.03 17:26 HatedMirrors MAOI options
I have been consistently enjoying magic mushrooms and LSD for about six months now. I feel I benefit mentally very much from the experiences. I'd say I'm more in touch with my inner thoughts and feelings. As a result, even my marriage has improved dramatically. As an example, it's easier for me to see (well, "feel", really) things from someone else's perspective. I guess you could say my trips are meditative in nature.
Enter DMT. I recently got a hold of some. I don't know which kind of is, but it looks like crystals about the same colour as my skin (I'm Caucasian with a slight tan at the moment). I tried hot-knifing it at first, and it was AMAZING! Looked like my wife had gorgeous red Medusa hair that moved. The visuals were frigging beautiful! But it only lasted for less than five minutes. Sigh!
I'm seeking a longer experience. I feel like ingesting would help. Apparently an MAO Inhibitor is a must when ingesting DMT. But where do I get it from?
I have access to turmeric, and mullein grows here "like a weed". Has anybody had success with either? Something else that's easy to obtain? I'm in Canada.
Thanks very much in advance!
submitted by HatedMirrors to DMT [link] [comments]
Enter DMT. I recently got a hold of some. I don't know which kind of is, but it looks like crystals about the same colour as my skin (I'm Caucasian with a slight tan at the moment). I tried hot-knifing it at first, and it was AMAZING! Looked like my wife had gorgeous red Medusa hair that moved. The visuals were frigging beautiful! But it only lasted for less than five minutes. Sigh!
I'm seeking a longer experience. I feel like ingesting would help. Apparently an MAO Inhibitor is a must when ingesting DMT. But where do I get it from?
I have access to turmeric, and mullein grows here "like a weed". Has anybody had success with either? Something else that's easy to obtain? I'm in Canada.
Thanks very much in advance!
2023.06.03 17:26 disciplesglobal THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH
The inhabitants of the earth represent the men and women who are omitted from the Book of Life because they submit to the Beast. This group is unrelenting in its hostility to the “Lamb” and those who follow him “wherever he goes,” even rejoicing in the violent deaths of his “Two Witnesses.” Unlike the “nations” and the “kings of the earth,” they are beyond redemption, and their names are excluded from the “Book of Life.”
The term rendered “inhabitants” translates the Greek verb katoikeô, meaning, “to dwell, inhabit.” In Revelation, it occurs only with negative connotations, and almost exclusively is used for “INHABITANTS of the earth,” a group that is always hostile to Jesus.
In Pergamos, “dwell” is applied to Satan and to the church, and the latter certainly did not reside in the governor’s residence or the emperor’s temple. Likewise, ‘Antipas,’ would not have been executed in either location. Most likely, he died outside the city walls. And members of the congregation dwelled in the city. Yet Jesus assured them he was certainly aware that they lived where “Satan dwells.”
Jesus promised the church in Philadelphia that he would keep them “from the hour of trial, which is going to come upon the WHOLE HABITABLE EARTH, to try the INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH.”
The terms “whole habitable earth” and “inhabitants of the earth” are applied to the same situation. Implicit is the wider geographical area that will be affected by this coming “hour of trial.” It will involve populations beyond the confines of Philadelphia and Pergamos– (Revelation 3:10).
The first four trumpets unleashed “plagues” against the economy of the empire – its seaborne commerce, fresh water sources, and the like. The last three harmed the “inhabitants of the earth” themselves. “By these three plagues was the third part of men killed.” Nevertheless, they “repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”
In Chapter 12, after the “son” was “snatched” to the “throne,” Satan was expelled from heaven and “cast down to the earth.” While heaven “rejoiced,” the “great voice in heaven” declared an ominous warning to the “inhabitants of the earth”:
Precisely why the downfall of the “Dragon” meant “woe” to the “inhabitants of the earth” is not stated in the immediate passage. More relevant is the reaction of the “Dragon” to the knowledge that he has a “short time.” He vents his wrath, but NOT against the “inhabitants of the earth,” but instead, against “those who have the testimony of Jesus.”
And the last clause links the latter group to the martyrs who were seen “under the altar” in the “fifth seal,” the ones who were slain on account of “their testimony.”
The rhetorical question concerning the “Beast from the Sea,” - “Who is like him, and who can make war with him” - is reminiscent of Nebuchadnezzar’s declaration - “He does according to his will in the host of heaven, and among the INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH, and none can stay his hand or say to him, What are you doing?”As is now clear, the literary source of the two contrasting groups, those who “tabernacle in heaven [HOST OF HEAVEN]” and the “inhabitants of the earth,” is the same passage in the book of Daniel - (Daniel 4:34-35).
In Chapter 13, the “slander” of the “mouth that was given to the Beast” is directed against “those who tabernacle in heaven.” The reference is NOT spatial. These two terms differentiate between two groups based on their allegiance either to the “Lamb” or to the “Beast.” The followers of the “Lamb” have not taken up permanent residence in the present age, on the earth, or in the sky, therefore, they are described as “tabernacling.”
The term “slander” refers to accusations brought against the saints by the “accuser of the brethren,” presumably, in the earthly courts of the Empire. A parallel is found in the letter to the church at Smyrna where the congregation is “slandered” before local authorities by Jews from the “synagogue of Satan.”
What identifies a person as a member of the “inhabitants of the earth” is not his physical location, but whether his name is excluded from “the Lamb’s Book of Life.” In other words, all those who render homage to the “Beast.”
Just as the “Sea” and the “Abyss” are sources of evil, so, also, is the “earth.” This explains why the expulsion of Satan from heaven means “woe” to those “inhabiting the earth and the sea.” It will mean disaster to the unrepentant since his unleashing to persecute the church will culminate in the final judgment on all whose names are not “written in the Book of Life.”
This “False Prophet” has two horns “like a lamb,” and performs the same “signs” done previously by the “Two Witnesses.” Thus, he imitates the “Lamb” and his “witnesses.” Similarly, the “first Beast” received the “stroke of death” but lived, a parody of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The angel summons his target audience to “fear God and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come.” Rather than to the “Beast,” they must “render homage to him that made the heaven and the earth and the Sea and the fountains of waters.” Two more angels follow and pronounce judgment on “Babylon.” This means God has provided the “inhabitants of the earth” ample opportunities to repent - (Revelation 14:6-13).
“Babylon, the Great Harlot” is described in detail in Chapter 17. She is the one with whom the “kings of the earth” and the “inhabitants of the earth” commit “fornication.”
As with the “nations,” so the “kings of the earth” are distinguished from the “inhabitants of the earth,” though both groups are corrupted by “Babylon,” she who is drunk with the “blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”
This “Great Harlot” is carried by the “Beast” that has “seven heads and ten horns.” It “was and is not; and is going to ascend from the Abyss,” references to the previous slaying and revivification of the “Beast from the Sea,” and to the ascent of the “Beast from the Abyss” that destroyed the “Two Witnesses.”
Their history of unrelenting hostility to the “Lamb” explains why the “inhabitants of the earth” are nowhere found in the “city of New Jerusalem” in chapters 21 and 22. In Revelation, at times, the “nations” and the “kings of the earth” resist the “Lamb.” Nevertheless, both groups are found at the end of the book in the holy city, therefore, they are not without hope:
Rather than follow the “Lamb,” the “inhabitants of the earth… render homage to the Beast” and welcome its “mark.” They prefer the counterfeit faith offered by Satan’s earthly agents.
In short, their names are excluded from the “Book of Life” due to their own decisions. God’s condemnation of the unrepentant to the “Lake of Fire” is fully justified.
[Pubished on the Revelation Answers blog site at the link below]
https://www.revelationanswers.org/2023/06/inhabitants-of-earth.html
submitted by disciplesglobal to revelation_answers [link] [comments]
The term rendered “inhabitants” translates the Greek verb katoikeô, meaning, “to dwell, inhabit.” In Revelation, it occurs only with negative connotations, and almost exclusively is used for “INHABITANTS of the earth,” a group that is always hostile to Jesus.
IN PERGAMOS
The first use of the term is in the “letter” to the “messenger” of the church in Pergamos. In many interpretations, the phrase “where Satan dwells” is applied either to the seat of the Roman provincial government that was based in Pergamos or to its temple dedicated to the veneration of the emperor. Either view may be correct. However, there is something larger in view. (Revelation 2:12-13).In Pergamos, “dwell” is applied to Satan and to the church, and the latter certainly did not reside in the governor’s residence or the emperor’s temple. Likewise, ‘Antipas,’ would not have been executed in either location. Most likely, he died outside the city walls. And members of the congregation dwelled in the city. Yet Jesus assured them he was certainly aware that they lived where “Satan dwells.”
Jesus promised the church in Philadelphia that he would keep them “from the hour of trial, which is going to come upon the WHOLE HABITABLE EARTH, to try the INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH.”
The terms “whole habitable earth” and “inhabitants of the earth” are applied to the same situation. Implicit is the wider geographical area that will be affected by this coming “hour of trial.” It will involve populations beyond the confines of Philadelphia and Pergamos– (Revelation 3:10).
IN DANIEL
The term, “inhabitants of the earth,” is derived from a passage in Daniel. After his downfall and restoration to the throne, Nebuchadnezzar declared to the residents of his kingdom:- (Daniel 4:34-35) – “And I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation; and all the INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the HOST OF HEAVEN, and among the INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH; and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What are you doing?”
And that is the picture behind the vision of the martyred “souls” found at the base of the “altar,” where they plead for vindication against the “inhabitants of the earth” – (Revelation 6:9-11).Similarly, after the first four trumpets sounded, John saw an “eagle” pronouncing a warning - “Woe, woe, woe, for the INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH, because of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels who are yet to sound!” – (Revelation 8:13).
The first four trumpets unleashed “plagues” against the economy of the empire – its seaborne commerce, fresh water sources, and the like. The last three harmed the “inhabitants of the earth” themselves. “By these three plagues was the third part of men killed.” Nevertheless, they “repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”
THE BEAST
When the “Beast from the Abyss” killed the “Two Witnesses,” the “INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH rejoiced over them and made merry… for these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth.” While it was the “Beast from the Abyss” that carried out these violent acts, the “inhabitants of the earth” certainly took pleasure in the deaths of the “Two Witnesses.”In Chapter 12, after the “son” was “snatched” to the “throne,” Satan was expelled from heaven and “cast down to the earth.” While heaven “rejoiced,” the “great voice in heaven” declared an ominous warning to the “inhabitants of the earth”:
- “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you that tabernacle in them. Woe for the INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH and the sea because the Devil is gone down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time.” – (Revelation 12:12).
Unless the passage is a warning to sea creatures, the references are not geographical. Elsewhere in the book, the “sea” is associated with the Abyss, and is a source of great evil that must be pacified.As for the men who were “tabernacling in heaven,” the expulsion of the Devil meant rejoicing. For the “inhabitants of the earth,” it signified something far more ominous. The identity of the ones who were “tabernacling in heaven” is provided by the context - the “brethren” who “overcame the Dragon by the blood of the Lamb.”
Precisely why the downfall of the “Dragon” meant “woe” to the “inhabitants of the earth” is not stated in the immediate passage. More relevant is the reaction of the “Dragon” to the knowledge that he has a “short time.” He vents his wrath, but NOT against the “inhabitants of the earth,” but instead, against “those who have the testimony of Jesus.”
And the last clause links the latter group to the martyrs who were seen “under the altar” in the “fifth seal,” the ones who were slain on account of “their testimony.”
CONTRASTING GROUPS
The same two groups are found again in Chapter 13, those who “tabernacle in heaven” and the “inhabitants of the earth” - (Revelation 13:4-10).The rhetorical question concerning the “Beast from the Sea,” - “Who is like him, and who can make war with him” - is reminiscent of Nebuchadnezzar’s declaration - “He does according to his will in the host of heaven, and among the INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH, and none can stay his hand or say to him, What are you doing?”As is now clear, the literary source of the two contrasting groups, those who “tabernacle in heaven [HOST OF HEAVEN]” and the “inhabitants of the earth,” is the same passage in the book of Daniel - (Daniel 4:34-35).
In Chapter 13, the “slander” of the “mouth that was given to the Beast” is directed against “those who tabernacle in heaven.” The reference is NOT spatial. These two terms differentiate between two groups based on their allegiance either to the “Lamb” or to the “Beast.” The followers of the “Lamb” have not taken up permanent residence in the present age, on the earth, or in the sky, therefore, they are described as “tabernacling.”
The term “slander” refers to accusations brought against the saints by the “accuser of the brethren,” presumably, in the earthly courts of the Empire. A parallel is found in the letter to the church at Smyrna where the congregation is “slandered” before local authorities by Jews from the “synagogue of Satan.”
What identifies a person as a member of the “inhabitants of the earth” is not his physical location, but whether his name is excluded from “the Lamb’s Book of Life.” In other words, all those who render homage to the “Beast.”
THE FALSE PROPHET
The second “Beast from the earth,” the “False Prophet,” is seen ascending from the “earth” to deceive the “earth and its inhabitants.” This demonstrates that “earth” means something beyond the physical planet.Just as the “Sea” and the “Abyss” are sources of evil, so, also, is the “earth.” This explains why the expulsion of Satan from heaven means “woe” to those “inhabiting the earth and the sea.” It will mean disaster to the unrepentant since his unleashing to persecute the church will culminate in the final judgment on all whose names are not “written in the Book of Life.”
This “False Prophet” has two horns “like a lamb,” and performs the same “signs” done previously by the “Two Witnesses.” Thus, he imitates the “Lamb” and his “witnesses.” Similarly, the “first Beast” received the “stroke of death” but lived, a parody of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
This suggests that the deceptions propagated by Satan’s earthly agents mimic and counterfeit the true faith. In response to the “signs” performed by the “False Prophet,” the “inhabitants of the earth” take the “mark of the Beast,” sealing their ominous fate.In Chapter 14, an angel “flying in mid-heaven” proclaims the everlasting gospel to the “inhabitants of the earth,” AND to “every nation and tribe and tongue and people.” This means the “nations” and the “inhabitants of the earth” are not necessarily identical.
The angel summons his target audience to “fear God and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come.” Rather than to the “Beast,” they must “render homage to him that made the heaven and the earth and the Sea and the fountains of waters.” Two more angels follow and pronounce judgment on “Babylon.” This means God has provided the “inhabitants of the earth” ample opportunities to repent - (Revelation 14:6-13).
“Babylon, the Great Harlot” is described in detail in Chapter 17. She is the one with whom the “kings of the earth” and the “inhabitants of the earth” commit “fornication.”
As with the “nations,” so the “kings of the earth” are distinguished from the “inhabitants of the earth,” though both groups are corrupted by “Babylon,” she who is drunk with the “blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”
This “Great Harlot” is carried by the “Beast” that has “seven heads and ten horns.” It “was and is not; and is going to ascend from the Abyss,” references to the previous slaying and revivification of the “Beast from the Sea,” and to the ascent of the “Beast from the Abyss” that destroyed the “Two Witnesses.”
SUMMING UP
The book of Revelation pulls together themes from the preceding visions. The constant factor in the several visions is the hostility of the “inhabitants of the earth” to the “Lamb” and his servants, and their choice of the “Beast from the Sea,” his “name,” and his “mark”:- “And the inhabitants of the earth shall wonder, whose name has not been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world when they behold the Beast, how that he was, and is not, and shall come” – (Revelation 17:1-8).
Their history of unrelenting hostility to the “Lamb” explains why the “inhabitants of the earth” are nowhere found in the “city of New Jerusalem” in chapters 21 and 22. In Revelation, at times, the “nations” and the “kings of the earth” resist the “Lamb.” Nevertheless, both groups are found at the end of the book in the holy city, therefore, they are not without hope:
- “And the city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb. And the NATIONS shall walk amidst the light thereof: and the KINGS OF THE EARTH bring their glory into it” - (Revelation 21:23-24).
Rather than follow the “Lamb,” the “inhabitants of the earth… render homage to the Beast” and welcome its “mark.” They prefer the counterfeit faith offered by Satan’s earthly agents.
In short, their names are excluded from the “Book of Life” due to their own decisions. God’s condemnation of the unrepentant to the “Lake of Fire” is fully justified.
[Pubished on the Revelation Answers blog site at the link below]
https://www.revelationanswers.org/2023/06/inhabitants-of-earth.html
2023.06.03 17:26 HeadOfSpectre The Soldier
"Think of this as a chance at revenge," Sweeney said.
Revenge.
What a moronically quaint idea.
This jumped up little shit had come into my home, interrupted my retirement and here he was talking to me about revenge, as if he knew the first thing about what I’d seen, what I’d been through, why I’d quit.
Looking into his eyes, I knew he didn’t understand. I knew he couldn’t.
I've been hunting vampires for most of my life. I've killed more of them than I can count. But Clementine Di Cesare was no ordinary vampire. Hell, none of the Di Cesares were ordinary vampires, but even among them Clementine was… unique. She was the one all the others quietly feared. The one who was even spoken of with reverence by the Di Cesares masters, those twin Immortals who could not be killed by any weapon of this world. Seeking revenge against her was like seeking revenge against death itself.
“Revenge?” I repeated, with a dismissive scoff.
“You’re really going to tell me that after what she put you through, you don’t want revenge?” Sweeney asked.
“If you knew what she did to me, you’d know why I don’t want revenge,” I replied.
“Really? Sorry Franklin, but I don’t buy that. Look, I get it if you’re reluctant to jump back into the fight. I do. You of all people know just how dangerous the Di Cesare’s are. Especially ‘La Morte’.”
I looked over at him as he said that name. It rolled off his tongue so irreverently. To him, it was just a name. An alias assigned to some vampire he’s only heard of stories. He didn’t utter it with the respect it deserved, and I almost couldn’t be bothered to correct him. Any words spent on this small minded glory hound were probably wasted.
“Yes, I do know.”
“Which is why I need you,” Sweeney said. He almost sounded as if he were pleading with me. “Think of this as an opportunity to set things right… to put that vampire bitch in the ground where she belongs, and save God only knows how many lives in the process!”
I sighed.
He just didn’t get it.
“Mark my words, Mr. Sweeney, if you chase after Clementine Di Cesare, you’ll end far more lives than you save. She didn’t get a name like ‘La Morte’ for nothing. She earned it. Purchased it with the blood of the tens of thousands she’s sent screaming into the maw of Hell. She is not something you chase, Sweeney.”
“She’s a vampire,” Sweeney said dismissively. “She’s another enemy to destroy.”
“That’s what George Bundy said,” I replied. “Then not too long after, he died.”
“I’m not George Bundy,” Sweeney said.
“No. You sure as hell ain’t,” I agreed, before looking the kid in the eye.
He thought he was an up and comer, climbing the ranks of the Brethren. He probably thought of himself as some sort of badass vampire hunter too, when in reality he could never have so much as dreamed of holding a candle to the likes of Bundy… or hell, any of the men who’d died in Brazil.
“You should watch your tone with me,” Sweeney warned.
“Or you’ll do what?” I asked, “You ain’t going to frighten me with vague threats, boy. I’ve walked through Hell, trying to kill the Devil. What have you done?”
Sweeney bit his lip but didn’t respond.
“There’s nothing you can say or do that will intimidate me,” I said, before lighting myself a cigarette. I stared at the road outside of my porch, old memories flooding back to me before looking over at Sweeney again. He sat in his chair beside me like a sulky child. This was the man who wanted to destroy the Di Cesare family? Pathetic.
“Exactly how much do you know about the Brazil Job?” I asked.
“I know it was a failure. Clementine Di Cesare killed most of the men the Brethren sent out… all except for you. You were the only one good enough to beat her.”
“Good enough…” I repeated with a huff, “Hardly… whatever picture you’ve got in your head of some glorified battle, throw it away. Trust me, the Brazil Job was anything but glorious. It was a two hour long trek through Hell. And I didn’t beat Di Cesare at the end of it. I survived her. They’re two different things entirely.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Sweeney said.
“You wouldn’t, would you?” I sighed and took another drag on my cigarette.
This kid wasn’t going to leave until I made him understand… so I told him my story. I told him everything even though I knew he’d learn nothing from it.
***
I’d joined up with the Brethren Knights of St. Fontaine back in the 1980s to hunt monsters. Back then, it seemed like the best use of my skills. I’d done my tours with the army, but even after I got out, I was still looking for an enemy to fight. So naturally, once I found out that vampires were real, I set my sights on them. It seemed like the most sensible thing to do at the time.
The Brethren Knights fancied themselves the descendants of the Knights Templar, and they insisted that their God given mission was to protect mankind from the things that lurked in the shadows. I didn’t really have much love for God at the time, but if the Bretheren were the ones fighting the monsters, then I was happy to tolerate the Jesus freaks in their ranks.
It was 1988 when we first heard whispers of the Imperium. A supposed cabal of vampires, trying to get them organized. At the time, it’d seemed too crazy to be true. Vampires generally went their own way, in my experience. At most, they might have a partner but other than they they didn’t really socialize with their own kind. But supposedly someone out there had the big fucking balls to keep them in line, and whoever they were, they scared the shit out of the Brethren.
They’d started targeting high profile vampires, trying to find someone who was involved in this ‘Imperium’, hoping that maybe they might get someone to talk. And it wasn’t long until they found someone who did.
From my understanding, the vampire they captured didn’t seem to know much about who was actually running the show. But they knew who their second in command was… and that was when I first head about the Di Cesare family.
The name was familiar to some of the higher ups in the Brethren, and I’d heard some stories. Not sure which were true, but the long and short of it was that the Di Cesare’s and the Brethren shared a bloody history, and didn’t particularly like each other too much.
George Bundy explained it to me like this at one point: ‘The Di Cesare’s are an old family. Most of them used to be witches, up until their Matriarch turned them into vampires. Now they’re a whole new kind of nasty. Far as I know, the only time anyone’s actually managed to kill one was about 200 years ago. Anyone who’s tried since has ended up dead, so most folks don’t even bother anymore.’
I guess it shouldn’t have been surprising they’d be involved in the Imperium, but the mere mention of their name ruffled some feathers higher up on the chain of command, and eventually they put out a kill order on them. Most of the Di Cesare’s were generally pretty hard to track down, but the top brass had a pretty good line on their matriarch, Bianca Di Cesare. Supposedly, she’d been spotted near the family’s private estate in Brazil and rumor had it that most of her daughters were there too.
Normally, the brass wouldn’t have sanctioned any kind of attack on them. The Di Cesare’s were already considered off limits, and attacking them at their private estate was considered damn near impossible. The estate was located in a small mining town outside of Manaus called Refugio de Julia, or just Julia for short. The town was fairly remote, being only accessible from a few backroads and most folks tended to avoid it, claiming they’d had various strange encounters in the area. Their accounts described unsettling pale figures with dark hair and large green eyes working in the mines, although some of the more disturbing stories we heard involved sightings of other creatures in the jungle surrounding the town. Massive spiders with humanoid faces, tending rotting corpses filled with stinging bees, giant howling beasts who tore through the forest, hunting prey, and beautiful women who would appear in the nearby towns, betwitching men into coming away with them only to reveal themselves as monsters who fed on the blood of their victims. Some had even claimed the Di Cesares themselves were such beasts… although those claims weren’t taken quite as seriously.
A skeptic might say the stories that surrounded Julia seemed like little more than just local superstition… but the Brethren had been dealing with the supernatural for long enough to recognize when something was probably real, and when it was probably fake and they knew damn well that most of the stories about Julia were probably true. None of them had ever dared set foot in Julia to find out for sure, since doing so would probably be suicide, but the theory was that the Di Cesares had created Julia as something of a refuge for other creatures. Other vampires, werewolves, arachne, karah and all sorts of other hellspawn. They offered them a home and safety in exchange for their labor in the mines. Hell, the name of the town more or less spelled it out.
Refugio de Julia
Julia’s Haven.
Julia had been the name of the only member of the Di Cesare family that the Brethren had ever killed, so I guess it was only fitting they named the town after her.
I honestly think using other creatures like them as a workforce was a bit inspired… since it made Julia damn near impenetrable. Reaching their estate at the far side of the town would have been impossible without being noticed by every creature of hell living in that town, and odds are they’d tear anyone apart long before they even reached the gates of the Di Cesare estate. And if one had the bright idea to approach the estate from another angle, they’d be trudging through miles and miles of rainforest to do so, only end up face to face with a massive stone wall that kept the rainforest out.
In effect - the Di Cesare estate was a fortress. Getting in would be no easy feat, to say nothing of confronting the vampires within. But with the fear of the Imperium gnawing at the back of their minds, the Brethren had finally set their minds to trying.
George Bundy had been the one in charge of planning the operation out.
I’d known Bundy before I’d joined up with the Brethren. Hell, Bundy was the whole reason I’d joined the Brethren. He’d been my CO a number of years back, and he’d earned his reputation as a hardass just about ten or twenty times over. Bundy was a gruff looking man with a bushy moustache and intense eyes. During the years I knew him, I don’t believe I ever once saw him so much as crack a smile. He only ever seemed to speak when he felt there was something he needed to say. Otherwise, he was usually dead silent.
He was somewhere in his late fifties back in 88. By all rights, he ought to have retired years ago. But he refused.
“I’m a soldier,” He said, when I asked him about it once. “That’s all I am. I don’t know what else to be.”
Bundy’s initial plan had been to hit the Di Cesare estate from the air. Come in fast and loud with a couple of helicopters and see how those vampires stood up to some good old American flak. The idea got shot down pretty quickly, so to speak. Apperantly, most if not all of the Di Cesares had cursed their own bodies, causing whatever wound one inflicted on them to appear on whoever it was who had wounded them. Going in guns blazing would have ended in a bloodbath… and not for them. There were also some concerns about drawing attention from Julia. With no conclusive data on just what they had living in that town, there was no guarantee we’d be safe in the air. A few eyewitnesses had described seeing giant nests in some of the trees in the jungle, supposedly consistent with the nests made by harpies.
Flying in guns blazing was out. So Bundy went back to the drawing board and what he came back with… well, it was ballsy, but it almost seemed like it just might work. During his reconnisance of the Di Cesare’s estate, he’d noticed a large but shallow tributary flowing into the amazon river that led right through the Di Cesare’s estate. Along the tributary was an abandoned water mill, that connected to the Di Cesare estate.
He’d suggested using the water mill to gain entry to the grounds, and from there, move on the Di Cesare’s. That plan had been approved, and Bundy had been allowed to handpick his team for the operation. He’d chosen fifteen men, all of them ex military, most of them having served under him before.
He’d told us we would be dividing into three teams of five men each. We would leave Manaus by boat, and land at three different areas near the tributary before making our way to the mill on foot, where we would regroup, before moving on the Di Cesares. The reason for the division was to ensure that if any of our teams ran into trouble upon making ground, the entire operation wouldn’t be compromised.
Team 1, led by Bundy himself would depart first and land to the west of the tributary. Team 2, led by a man named Ferdinand Hernandez would make land about fifteen minutes later near the mouth of the tributary and Team 3, to be led by me would land fifteen minutes later to the east.
On the day of the operation, I sat in my boat, watching as the other two left. It was twilight when we set out, and I remember that as my team and I carried out our final checks on our equipment, the only thing I felt was a familiar anticipation.
I’d hesitate to call it fear. Fear is what came later. Anticipation is the better word. I knew we could be walking into a tough situation… but I trusted Bundy. I trusted he’d run a smooth op. God knew, he’d done it a thousand times before.
The team assigned to me wasn’t anything particularly special. They were competent enough, but none of them would’ve been my first choices. Jack McMullen, for instance, who was about the same age as I was at the time. We’d both served under Bundy before, although while I respected Bundy, Jack was wholly devoted to him. I swear, if the man had told him to stuff a live grenade up his ass, Jack would’ve done it without a moments hesitation. I dunno if Jack simply saw him as the father he’d never had or what, but he damn near worshipped Bundy.
I can’t quite say the same for the other guys we had with us, though. One of them, some greenhorn by the name of Pearce Wilson struck me as an airheaded pretty boy who’d never actually had his boots on the ground before, while the other one, Scott Barber had left a bad taste in my mouth last time we’d worked together. Barber was capable… but he was violent. This was a kid with a hell of a chip on his shoulder, and it looked a hell of a lot like that Confederate flag patch he wore on his jacket. He wanted an excuse to shoot something, and I don’t think he cared what. Under most circumstances I’m not sure I would’ve fully trusted him with a gun.
The last one though, Joseph Feng… him I trusted. Feng was the one I knew the least about, and he didn’t seem much for conversation. But he handled himself competently enough and seemed to know when to sit down and shut up.
When Team 2’s boat was far enough away, we got the radio signal to follow. Barber was the one steering the boat, so I gave him the order to cast off and we ventured out into the twilight, unaware of just what was waiting for us out there.
***
We landed in our designated area fifteen minutes after Team 2 confirmed they’d touched down at theirs. Our landing was fairly uneventful. Feng, Barber, and I secured the boat before we radio’d Bundy to let him know we were in position. After that, it was just a matter of making it to the tributary.
As we ventured into the jungle, the world around us was quiet. There was wind, the whisper of the river behind us, and the sounds of animals. But little else. The river fell away behind us as we moved in single file toward the tributary, maintaining radio silence as we did.
It was about a half hour before we heard the gunshot.
Just one, echoing through the twilight. But it was enough to give us pause.
“The fuck was that?” I heard Barber ask. Immediately, the kid was on high alert, with his gun raised as if he were expecting every monster in Julia to come charging at us from all angles.
I just listened, waiting to hear if there was anything else. I half expected my radio to come to life, but it didn’t.
“Team 1, status?” I asked.
The radio crackled with static, but there was no response.
I tried it again, but still with no success. The radio was working, that much I was sure of. Something had to be blocking the signal.
“What’s going on?” Feng asked.
“Dunno,” I replied. “Comms are down.”
“Down?” Wilson asked, “So we’re flying blind out here, then?”
“More or less,” I replied.
“What do we do? Do we go back… if the comms are down…”
“Just because something’s jamming our signal doesn’t mean we’re made,” I said. “Relax. We keep moving for now. You keep your eyes wide open, and your head on a swivel. We’ll make it to the tributary and see if we can’t meet up with the other teams.”
I could tell Wilson wasn’t a fan of my answer, but I didn’t much care. We had a job to do, and I aimed to do it.
I pressed on without a further word and the others followed. Up ahead, I could hear the sound of running water and picked up the pace. I figured the tributary had to be close… and I was right.
I emerged from the brush into the stream, only to pause when I saw what was waiting for us in the water.
In the dying sunlight, it was impossible to mistake the bodies sprawled out on the rocks as anything else… and all I needed to do was look at their uniforms to know they were our people.
“Jesus…” I heard Wilson say under his breath. He froze up, lingering by the bank as I cautiously approached one of the bodies.
It belonged to a somewhat heavyset man with a thin mustache who I recognized as Hernandez. His eyes were still open, although lifeless and staring in different directions, and there was a clean hole in his forehead where a bullet had ended his life. The gunshot we’d heard earlier had likely been the sound of his death.
Looking at the bodies around him, I knew they had to be the rest of Team 2… although it was a little harder pinning down their cause of death. Some sort of bladed weapon, perhaps, judging by the state of them. I realized the odds were that they walked into some sort of ambush.
“What about Bundy and Team 1?” Jack asked, “Any sign of them?”
“No,” I said. “These bodies are all from Team 2… Bundy could still be ahead of us.”
“Then we need to keep going!”
Jack turned, heading up the stream and Barber was right behind him. Feng paused for a moment, thinking this over before following. Only Wilson remained.
“How do we know we’re not walking into a trap?” He asked.
“We’ll deal with that when we get to it,” I said before moving to follow the others.
“With all due respect, Sarge… that doesn’t sound like the best course of action!” Wilson argued, finally following me. “It sounds just like a good way to get killed!”
“Yeah?” I asked, “I’m gonna tell you an ugly truth, kid. That’s the job. Make your peace with it, and it’ll go a lot easier.”
Wilson didn’t like that answer either and trailed off behind me, watching as I continued upstream. For a moment, I half expected him to go back to the boat… but no. I dunno if he found his balls or just didn’t want to get left behind, but he started to follow us again.
I kept trying to raise Team 1 on the radio while we walked, although I still had no luck. The light above us slowly faded into darkness as we trudged through the water in silence, guns sitting comfortably in our hands and mosquitos biting at our necks.
It wasn’t until we lost Feng that I heard anybody so much as make a sound, and when we lost Feng… it happened almost instantaneously. One minute, he was at the head of the group, walking just ahead of Jack and I. The next, he was gone, only barely having the time to let out a scream as he fell into the river ahead of us.
The rest of us paused. Jack seemed to freeze and I pushed past him, calling out for Feng as I did. As punishment for my compassion, I almost went down after him. I only barely stopped myself from stepping on the slippery rocks that had helped send him to his demise.
I could see Feng’s body in the water, and I could see the blood pouring out of him. He twitched a few times, but I knew he was dead. The sharpened wooden spikes jutting out of him confirmed as much.
“What the hell…” Jack said under his breath, staring at Feng’s corpse in disbelief. “That’s a fucking spike trap!”
Yeah.
It was indeed a fucking spike trap.
I could see other spikes jutting out of the water ahead of us, just past a small dam of rocks that were just slippery enough to make it difficult to stop yourself from falling. Some of those spikes had other bodies on them… likely members of Team 1. I only counted two, although that still didn’t exactly bode well.
“They put a fucking spike trap in the goddamn stream…” Jack said, “Who the hell does that?”
“Somebody who’s expecting us to use the stream,” I replied.
“So they know we’re coming?” Barber asked.
“Clearly…” I replied. “And they’ve got a good idea on what our route is too.”
“Yeah, no shit!” Barber snapped. “Christ… let’s get the fuck out of here. There’s probably more fucking traps upstream!”
“Bundy’s orders were clear!” Jack argued.
“Bundy’s probably dead by now!” Barber replied, before looking at me. “Sarge, come on. You have to know this is suicide!”
“Suicide was part of the job description, was it not?” I asked.
“The job is to kill those fucking vampires, not to die in the goddamn process! We need to get out of the stream and into the woods!”
“Judging by the fate Team 2 met, I’m not sure the forest is someplace we want to be right now,” I replied.
“Excuse me?” Barber asked, “What the hell are you talking about, Sarge?”
“Five men dead, but only one gunshot. How did the rest die?”
Barber didn’t seem to be able to answer that.
“By now… yes. It’s clear we’ve walked into a trap. And yes, I understand that it makes sense to try and leave that trap… but I don’t know if we’ll be safer in the jungle. Something jumped Team 2. Cut them apart, and then shot Hernandez as a warning. They didn’t have to shoot him. They did it so we’d hear.”
“Your point being?” Barber asked.
“I don’t think this is just a trap, Barber. It’s a game. Stop playing, and you might just end up like our friends downstream.”
“A game?” Wilson asked, “Sarge, you can’t be serious!”
“From where I’m standing, we have a better chance of surviving in the stream,” I said. “Look, we’re at least halfway to the rendezvous point, and there have to be at least two members of Team 1 left. The safest thing to do right now is to follow them.”
“You’re off your fucking rocker, Sarge,” Barber spat, locking his eyes with mine. For a moment, I thought the boy was going to try and fight me. But no. He was wise enough to stand down.
“If you wanna get yourself killed, go right the fuck ahead. Just leave me out of it! Wilson, come on,” Barber said before trudging over to the edge of the stream. Wilson didn’t even hesitate, just looking back at Jack and I quietly before he disappeared into the forest with Barber.
“You’re not gonna stop them?” Jack asked.
“No,” I replied. “God willing, there’s a chance that pigheaded asshole is right… dunno how much of a chance, but a chance.”
“Then how come we’re not following him?” Jack asked.
“There’s also a chance he’s wrong.”
I turned, before making my way around the spike trap.
“Keep a slower pace,” I said. “Watch for traps.”
Jack hesitated for a moment, but he followed me without any further questions and we walked in silence for a little longer.
We heard nothing from the trees. Nothing that told us about the fate of Barber and Wilson. I wasn’t sure if that was good news or not.
In fact, I don’t think we heard a thing until about a half hour later, when we heard the explosion.
It came out of almost nowhere, but ahead of us I could see a flash of light and hear the screams of men. On instinct, I found myself picking up the pace and could hear Jack behind me. In the low light, I saw a shape float past me in the stream. It took me a moment to realize that it was a severed human arm.
In the water ahead of us, I could see a figure clinging to one of the rocks and trying to pick himself up. I recognized him as George Bundy.
Jack was at his side almost immediately, trying to help the old man to his feet.
“Sir! Are you alright?”
Bundy just wheezed, before his legs gave out from under him. I helped Jack drag him to the shore so he could sit and rest for a moment.
“What the hell was that?” I asked, looking back at the stream.
“Grenade trap… I think…” Bundy panted, “Fucking tripwire… Popkov tripped it, I think…”
Popkov… odds are he was one of the two mangled corpses lying in the river a few feet away from us. It seemed they’d taken the brunt of the explosion, although Bundy still had some shrapnel in his arm that Jack was tending to.
“Christ… whole fucking ops gone to shit…” Bundy spat. “Team 2 got taken out just about as soon as they landed. Someone killed them and dumped them in the goddamn river. Lost half my boys to the fucking spike trap and half to this…”
He looked up at us, before spitting onto the ground.
“Guess you two haven’t done much better.”
“Hard to say,” I replied. “Two of ours took off into the woods, trying to avoid the traps.”
“Then they’re dead,” Bundy replied. “I’ve seen her watching us… always just up ahead, always from a distance… she’s seeing how far we’ll go. How much we’ll take…”
“She?” I asked.
“La Morte. Should’ve figured she’d be the one to greet us.”
“La Morte?” I asked.
“It’s Italian. Supposedly, she earned that name around the time the Di Cesares fled Venice. It’s funny, the Brethren like to act like the Di Cesares leaving Venice was some big victory of theirs, since before they did, they finally killed one of them… hard to call it a victory though, considering how many corpses they made before they fled. And most of them came from La Morte…”
Bundy winced in pain as Jack bandaged his arm before he continued talking.
“See… when the Di Cesare’s left Venice, one of them stayed behind. Clementine, the Scorpio sister. Guess she was unwilling to leave the fight unfinished… and according to the stories, the death toll she personally amassed in the years after the Di Cesare’s left Venice make the bodies they claimed during the Venetian Massacre a hundred and fifty years prior look like a pittance. The Brethren still occupying the city started to call her La Morte. Death. Cuz wherever she went, death followed in her wake… and it seems we’ve walked right into her open arms, haven’t we, boys?”
“You’re sure it’s her?” I asked.
“She’s a Di Cesare… and the shit we’ve seen out here… I don’t see any other Di Cesare setting those traps. It’s her. I’m sure of it. She’s watching us. Seeing how far we’ll go. Seeing if we’ll turn tail…”
“Should we?” Jack asked, and Bundy finally seemed to acknowledge him.
“Excuse me?” He asked.
“Should we? Look, sir… I’d follow you into the mouth of Hell, but right now, we’re down from fifteen men to three. Can’t say I’m optimistic about our chances right now. If this woman is half as bad as you’re saying she is, maybe it’s time we took a step back!”
Jack looked at me, hoping I might back him up, but I remained silent.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Bundy asked.
“What I’m hearing here, is that as of right now, the vampire out there could kill us at any time. She hasn’t. Far as I’m concerned, that’s mercy. Maybe we should be taking it while it’s offered.”
Bundy stared at him, before chuckling. I think it was the first time I’d ever seen him laugh.
“Just walk away, then?” He asked.
“Walk away, and come back better prepared!” Jack corrected.
“Walk away,” Bundy said again. “We walk away now, and there won’t be a chance to come back better prepared. We get one shot at this. One. Failure is not an option. We go in there and we kill them or we die. End of discussion.”
“And how exactly are we even supposed to kill them?” Jack asked, “That curse they have… bullets aren’t gonna do shit, sir!”
“Yours won’t, mine will…”
Bundy pulled his pistol from his holster. I noticed some sort of pattern crudely engraved on it.
“I’ve been doing some research… studied the curse they put on themselves… and I think I’ve found a way to break it. Not sure if it’ll work yet… but we get one chance to test it.”
Jack stared at the gun, then back at Bundy.
“Sir… do you hear yourself?” He asked quietly, “You can’t be serious… right now, even with that gun we don’t stand a chance in he-”
The gunshot echoed through the forest and made me jump. Jack’s voice died in his throat as he hit the ground.
Bundy stared at him for a moment, before huffing and holstering his pistol again. He draped his coat over his shoulders, before looking over at me.
“No room for failure, Frank,” He said calmly.
I didn’t know what to say to that. I stared down at Jack’s body, my mouth hanging open slightly. When I looked back at Bundy, he was already back in the stream.
There was a tense silence between Bundy and I as I followed him along the final stretch of the tributary. He trudged on ahead, covered in sweat and straining with every step, but I could sense the quiet determination he had to see this through. Looking at him, you could’ve told me that George Bundy could wipe out the Di Cesare’s all by himself and I would have believed it in a second.
The night around us was full of sound, and each one drew my attention. I watched the forest, expecting to see some sign of La Morte watching us. But I saw nothing, except for what she wanted me to see.
“Mill’s just up ahead,” I heard Bundy say as we pressed on, although I noticed his steps faltering as he seemed to notice something in the trees above us. I stopped behind him, looking up before seeing what he saw, and when I saw it I felt my stomach turn.
I’d seen death before.
But what Di Cesare had left out for us… that was something else.
Pearce Wilson and Scott Barber weren’t dead.
But if they could have spoke, I’ve got no doubt they would have begged us to kill them. Wilsons pretty face was covered in blood and his pouty lips were parted as more trickled out of him. His curly blond hair was matted and I could see crimson there. Tree branches portruded from his ribs, while the loops of his entrails dangled out of his opened stomach. And Barber was in just about the same state, only he seemed to at least have the ability to turn his head to look at us.
I think he might have tried to speak, but the only sound he seemed to be able to make was a pained whimper.
“Jesus Christ…” I said softly.
“He had nothing to do with this,” Bundy replied. He took one last look at the two dying men hanging from the trees, before moving on.
“We should put them out of their misery, sir,” I said.
Bundy paused, before looking back at me.
“Don’t waste the ammo, Frank,” He replied. “They’re already dead.”
“Not yet they’re not!”
“Give them time. They chose to go into the woods. They can live with the consequences… for however long that lasts.”
With that, he left them. If I were a more compassionate man, I would have put them out of their misery. But no. Bundy moved on and so did I.
He approached the water mill, before examining it. It was an old building, made of stone that had long since been overgrown by moss, and sat right on the wall that separated the Di Cesares estate from the amazon. It hardly looked secure, even if the only entrance hadn’t just been an old wooden door secured with a padlock, finding a way in wouldn’t have been difficult. And it didn’t take much for Bundy to break through that door. All he needed was a couple of well placed kicks and it swung right open.
Drawing his gun, Bundy strode inside and I followed him.
“The Di Cesare’s will be in the main house,” He said. “We should find a way in through the back, try and catch them off guard. Main target should be the matriarch, Bianca. Her we should prioritize keeping alive… the rest are expendable.”
“Much as you are, I’m sure.” A voice called from deeper in the mill, and both Bundy and I froze.
I noticed movement on the floor above us, and through the shadows, I saw a tall woman watching us. She was dressed all in black, with blond hair tied back in a ponytail and the intense eyes of a soldier.
This had to be Clementine Di Cesare.
Bundy aimed his pistol at her, although she only barely seemed to notice.
“Only two of you left… I’m not sure the odds are in your favor,” The woman said. Her voice was low, calm and quiet.
“Only one way to find out,” Bundy growled.
“And only one way to walk out of this place alive,” Di Cesare countered. “You can put the gun down, turn and walk away. I won’t stop you. There’s no shame in living.”
“All the bodies you’ve left in your wake… that’s rich,” Bundy said.
“I don’t relish what I’ve done. I simply don’t know how to do anything else,” She replied. “Think about this, Bundy. Over my lifetime, there have been countless thousands who have come to kill me. All of them are dead, but I am not. Even if you could kill me… you could not kill my sisters. Not all of them. Not before they came for you.”
“Just you, would be enough…” Bundy said, before pulling the trigger.
I knew he’d hit her. I knew the bullet pierced her shoulder. But that woman… she didn’t even flinch. She simply dove out of the way before he could shoot again, taking cover and avoiding his next shot.
“Frank, upstairs!” Bundy snapped, “Flush her out!”
I went, trudging up the old wooden steps with my rifle drawn. Only to see Di Cesare vaulting over the railing and back down to the ground floor as soon as I made it up there.
Bundy shot at her again, only to miss for a second time. I saw Di Cesare’s arm move, and heard him cry out in pain. In the low light, I could see a dagger protruding from his shoulder. He stumbled back a step, leaving himself open for only a split second.
That second was all it took for Di Cesare to raise her own gun and fire just one shot.
George Bundy hit the ground without so much as a final scream. There was just a simple hole in his skull where she had shot him.
I felt my heart start to race faster. My eyes settled on Bundy’s gun, and I ran for the railing, vaulting it and dropping to the ground below with a thud. Di Cesare shot at me, and I felt the bullet tear through my leg. I reached out for the fallen gun and grabbed it before turning it on Di Cesare, only to find myself staring down the barrel of her own pistol. My finger rested on the trigger, but I didn’t have the guts to pull it.
"Kill me, and you will not see the sun tomorrow." She said, her voice still cold and calm.
“Killing you is part of the job…” I replied, but my finger still couldn’t squeeze the trigger.
“And is it worth your life?” Di Cesare asked. “You fail your mission either way.”
“And die with some goddamn honor…”
“There’s no such thing as honor. There is alive and there is dead. Choose.”
I knew what I was supposed to choose.
But my hands were shaking, as I stared into the face of death. My finger couldn’t squeeze the trigger.
The gun collapsed to the floor and Di Cesare kicked it away from me, before huffing and lowering her gun.
“Do not return,” She said softly. “Or next time, I will unleash a hell upon you that will make you beg for simple traps.”
She picked Bundy’s gun up off the ground, and then she was gone. After I finally picked myself up off the ground, I was gone too.
As I walked back along the stream… I passed the corpses of the men we’d left behind. Barber and Wilson, Jack, Feng, Hernandez, and his team. The flies were already feasting on them. Animals had already torn at them. And as I looked down at their cold corpses, I knew I had made the right choice.
I filed my report with the Brethren. Told them that Di Cesare had wiped us out, and a few months later I quietly retired. I never looked back.
***
“You walked away from her?” Sweeney asked in disbelief, “You had her dead to rights and you walked away from her?”
“I chose to live,” I replied. “Can’t say I regret the decision either. Because of the choice I made, I met my wife and had my kids. I’ve lived the life I had because I chose not to throw it away on some vampire.”
Sweeney just shook his head.
“You could have gotten the first confirmed kill on a Di Cesare in two centuries, and you threw it away you fucking coward! I could execute you for that!” I noticed his hand hovering over the gun on his hip.
“You could.” I replied, before quietly unholstering the pistol I kept at my side. I aimed it at Sweeney’s head.
He stared at me like a slack jawed idiot.
“Would you like to give it a try?”
“W-what…?”
“Would you like to give it a try, Mr. Sweeney? Or would you like to see the sun tomorrow?”
He stared down the barrel of my gun, and I already knew what his choice would be.
Sweeney took a step back. I saw his hand move away from his holster, and I lowered the gun with a huff.
“Thought so,” I said.
Mr. Sweeney left me without another word.
I knew he would not return.
submitted by HeadOfSpectre to HeadOfSpectre [link] [comments]
Revenge.
What a moronically quaint idea.
This jumped up little shit had come into my home, interrupted my retirement and here he was talking to me about revenge, as if he knew the first thing about what I’d seen, what I’d been through, why I’d quit.
Looking into his eyes, I knew he didn’t understand. I knew he couldn’t.
I've been hunting vampires for most of my life. I've killed more of them than I can count. But Clementine Di Cesare was no ordinary vampire. Hell, none of the Di Cesares were ordinary vampires, but even among them Clementine was… unique. She was the one all the others quietly feared. The one who was even spoken of with reverence by the Di Cesares masters, those twin Immortals who could not be killed by any weapon of this world. Seeking revenge against her was like seeking revenge against death itself.
“Revenge?” I repeated, with a dismissive scoff.
“You’re really going to tell me that after what she put you through, you don’t want revenge?” Sweeney asked.
“If you knew what she did to me, you’d know why I don’t want revenge,” I replied.
“Really? Sorry Franklin, but I don’t buy that. Look, I get it if you’re reluctant to jump back into the fight. I do. You of all people know just how dangerous the Di Cesare’s are. Especially ‘La Morte’.”
I looked over at him as he said that name. It rolled off his tongue so irreverently. To him, it was just a name. An alias assigned to some vampire he’s only heard of stories. He didn’t utter it with the respect it deserved, and I almost couldn’t be bothered to correct him. Any words spent on this small minded glory hound were probably wasted.
“Yes, I do know.”
“Which is why I need you,” Sweeney said. He almost sounded as if he were pleading with me. “Think of this as an opportunity to set things right… to put that vampire bitch in the ground where she belongs, and save God only knows how many lives in the process!”
I sighed.
He just didn’t get it.
“Mark my words, Mr. Sweeney, if you chase after Clementine Di Cesare, you’ll end far more lives than you save. She didn’t get a name like ‘La Morte’ for nothing. She earned it. Purchased it with the blood of the tens of thousands she’s sent screaming into the maw of Hell. She is not something you chase, Sweeney.”
“She’s a vampire,” Sweeney said dismissively. “She’s another enemy to destroy.”
“That’s what George Bundy said,” I replied. “Then not too long after, he died.”
“I’m not George Bundy,” Sweeney said.
“No. You sure as hell ain’t,” I agreed, before looking the kid in the eye.
He thought he was an up and comer, climbing the ranks of the Brethren. He probably thought of himself as some sort of badass vampire hunter too, when in reality he could never have so much as dreamed of holding a candle to the likes of Bundy… or hell, any of the men who’d died in Brazil.
“You should watch your tone with me,” Sweeney warned.
“Or you’ll do what?” I asked, “You ain’t going to frighten me with vague threats, boy. I’ve walked through Hell, trying to kill the Devil. What have you done?”
Sweeney bit his lip but didn’t respond.
“There’s nothing you can say or do that will intimidate me,” I said, before lighting myself a cigarette. I stared at the road outside of my porch, old memories flooding back to me before looking over at Sweeney again. He sat in his chair beside me like a sulky child. This was the man who wanted to destroy the Di Cesare family? Pathetic.
“Exactly how much do you know about the Brazil Job?” I asked.
“I know it was a failure. Clementine Di Cesare killed most of the men the Brethren sent out… all except for you. You were the only one good enough to beat her.”
“Good enough…” I repeated with a huff, “Hardly… whatever picture you’ve got in your head of some glorified battle, throw it away. Trust me, the Brazil Job was anything but glorious. It was a two hour long trek through Hell. And I didn’t beat Di Cesare at the end of it. I survived her. They’re two different things entirely.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Sweeney said.
“You wouldn’t, would you?” I sighed and took another drag on my cigarette.
This kid wasn’t going to leave until I made him understand… so I told him my story. I told him everything even though I knew he’d learn nothing from it.
***
I’d joined up with the Brethren Knights of St. Fontaine back in the 1980s to hunt monsters. Back then, it seemed like the best use of my skills. I’d done my tours with the army, but even after I got out, I was still looking for an enemy to fight. So naturally, once I found out that vampires were real, I set my sights on them. It seemed like the most sensible thing to do at the time.
The Brethren Knights fancied themselves the descendants of the Knights Templar, and they insisted that their God given mission was to protect mankind from the things that lurked in the shadows. I didn’t really have much love for God at the time, but if the Bretheren were the ones fighting the monsters, then I was happy to tolerate the Jesus freaks in their ranks.
It was 1988 when we first heard whispers of the Imperium. A supposed cabal of vampires, trying to get them organized. At the time, it’d seemed too crazy to be true. Vampires generally went their own way, in my experience. At most, they might have a partner but other than they they didn’t really socialize with their own kind. But supposedly someone out there had the big fucking balls to keep them in line, and whoever they were, they scared the shit out of the Brethren.
They’d started targeting high profile vampires, trying to find someone who was involved in this ‘Imperium’, hoping that maybe they might get someone to talk. And it wasn’t long until they found someone who did.
From my understanding, the vampire they captured didn’t seem to know much about who was actually running the show. But they knew who their second in command was… and that was when I first head about the Di Cesare family.
The name was familiar to some of the higher ups in the Brethren, and I’d heard some stories. Not sure which were true, but the long and short of it was that the Di Cesare’s and the Brethren shared a bloody history, and didn’t particularly like each other too much.
George Bundy explained it to me like this at one point: ‘The Di Cesare’s are an old family. Most of them used to be witches, up until their Matriarch turned them into vampires. Now they’re a whole new kind of nasty. Far as I know, the only time anyone’s actually managed to kill one was about 200 years ago. Anyone who’s tried since has ended up dead, so most folks don’t even bother anymore.’
I guess it shouldn’t have been surprising they’d be involved in the Imperium, but the mere mention of their name ruffled some feathers higher up on the chain of command, and eventually they put out a kill order on them. Most of the Di Cesare’s were generally pretty hard to track down, but the top brass had a pretty good line on their matriarch, Bianca Di Cesare. Supposedly, she’d been spotted near the family’s private estate in Brazil and rumor had it that most of her daughters were there too.
Normally, the brass wouldn’t have sanctioned any kind of attack on them. The Di Cesare’s were already considered off limits, and attacking them at their private estate was considered damn near impossible. The estate was located in a small mining town outside of Manaus called Refugio de Julia, or just Julia for short. The town was fairly remote, being only accessible from a few backroads and most folks tended to avoid it, claiming they’d had various strange encounters in the area. Their accounts described unsettling pale figures with dark hair and large green eyes working in the mines, although some of the more disturbing stories we heard involved sightings of other creatures in the jungle surrounding the town. Massive spiders with humanoid faces, tending rotting corpses filled with stinging bees, giant howling beasts who tore through the forest, hunting prey, and beautiful women who would appear in the nearby towns, betwitching men into coming away with them only to reveal themselves as monsters who fed on the blood of their victims. Some had even claimed the Di Cesares themselves were such beasts… although those claims weren’t taken quite as seriously.
A skeptic might say the stories that surrounded Julia seemed like little more than just local superstition… but the Brethren had been dealing with the supernatural for long enough to recognize when something was probably real, and when it was probably fake and they knew damn well that most of the stories about Julia were probably true. None of them had ever dared set foot in Julia to find out for sure, since doing so would probably be suicide, but the theory was that the Di Cesares had created Julia as something of a refuge for other creatures. Other vampires, werewolves, arachne, karah and all sorts of other hellspawn. They offered them a home and safety in exchange for their labor in the mines. Hell, the name of the town more or less spelled it out.
Refugio de Julia
Julia’s Haven.
Julia had been the name of the only member of the Di Cesare family that the Brethren had ever killed, so I guess it was only fitting they named the town after her.
I honestly think using other creatures like them as a workforce was a bit inspired… since it made Julia damn near impenetrable. Reaching their estate at the far side of the town would have been impossible without being noticed by every creature of hell living in that town, and odds are they’d tear anyone apart long before they even reached the gates of the Di Cesare estate. And if one had the bright idea to approach the estate from another angle, they’d be trudging through miles and miles of rainforest to do so, only end up face to face with a massive stone wall that kept the rainforest out.
In effect - the Di Cesare estate was a fortress. Getting in would be no easy feat, to say nothing of confronting the vampires within. But with the fear of the Imperium gnawing at the back of their minds, the Brethren had finally set their minds to trying.
George Bundy had been the one in charge of planning the operation out.
I’d known Bundy before I’d joined up with the Brethren. Hell, Bundy was the whole reason I’d joined the Brethren. He’d been my CO a number of years back, and he’d earned his reputation as a hardass just about ten or twenty times over. Bundy was a gruff looking man with a bushy moustache and intense eyes. During the years I knew him, I don’t believe I ever once saw him so much as crack a smile. He only ever seemed to speak when he felt there was something he needed to say. Otherwise, he was usually dead silent.
He was somewhere in his late fifties back in 88. By all rights, he ought to have retired years ago. But he refused.
“I’m a soldier,” He said, when I asked him about it once. “That’s all I am. I don’t know what else to be.”
Bundy’s initial plan had been to hit the Di Cesare estate from the air. Come in fast and loud with a couple of helicopters and see how those vampires stood up to some good old American flak. The idea got shot down pretty quickly, so to speak. Apperantly, most if not all of the Di Cesares had cursed their own bodies, causing whatever wound one inflicted on them to appear on whoever it was who had wounded them. Going in guns blazing would have ended in a bloodbath… and not for them. There were also some concerns about drawing attention from Julia. With no conclusive data on just what they had living in that town, there was no guarantee we’d be safe in the air. A few eyewitnesses had described seeing giant nests in some of the trees in the jungle, supposedly consistent with the nests made by harpies.
Flying in guns blazing was out. So Bundy went back to the drawing board and what he came back with… well, it was ballsy, but it almost seemed like it just might work. During his reconnisance of the Di Cesare’s estate, he’d noticed a large but shallow tributary flowing into the amazon river that led right through the Di Cesare’s estate. Along the tributary was an abandoned water mill, that connected to the Di Cesare estate.
He’d suggested using the water mill to gain entry to the grounds, and from there, move on the Di Cesare’s. That plan had been approved, and Bundy had been allowed to handpick his team for the operation. He’d chosen fifteen men, all of them ex military, most of them having served under him before.
He’d told us we would be dividing into three teams of five men each. We would leave Manaus by boat, and land at three different areas near the tributary before making our way to the mill on foot, where we would regroup, before moving on the Di Cesares. The reason for the division was to ensure that if any of our teams ran into trouble upon making ground, the entire operation wouldn’t be compromised.
Team 1, led by Bundy himself would depart first and land to the west of the tributary. Team 2, led by a man named Ferdinand Hernandez would make land about fifteen minutes later near the mouth of the tributary and Team 3, to be led by me would land fifteen minutes later to the east.
On the day of the operation, I sat in my boat, watching as the other two left. It was twilight when we set out, and I remember that as my team and I carried out our final checks on our equipment, the only thing I felt was a familiar anticipation.
I’d hesitate to call it fear. Fear is what came later. Anticipation is the better word. I knew we could be walking into a tough situation… but I trusted Bundy. I trusted he’d run a smooth op. God knew, he’d done it a thousand times before.
The team assigned to me wasn’t anything particularly special. They were competent enough, but none of them would’ve been my first choices. Jack McMullen, for instance, who was about the same age as I was at the time. We’d both served under Bundy before, although while I respected Bundy, Jack was wholly devoted to him. I swear, if the man had told him to stuff a live grenade up his ass, Jack would’ve done it without a moments hesitation. I dunno if Jack simply saw him as the father he’d never had or what, but he damn near worshipped Bundy.
I can’t quite say the same for the other guys we had with us, though. One of them, some greenhorn by the name of Pearce Wilson struck me as an airheaded pretty boy who’d never actually had his boots on the ground before, while the other one, Scott Barber had left a bad taste in my mouth last time we’d worked together. Barber was capable… but he was violent. This was a kid with a hell of a chip on his shoulder, and it looked a hell of a lot like that Confederate flag patch he wore on his jacket. He wanted an excuse to shoot something, and I don’t think he cared what. Under most circumstances I’m not sure I would’ve fully trusted him with a gun.
The last one though, Joseph Feng… him I trusted. Feng was the one I knew the least about, and he didn’t seem much for conversation. But he handled himself competently enough and seemed to know when to sit down and shut up.
When Team 2’s boat was far enough away, we got the radio signal to follow. Barber was the one steering the boat, so I gave him the order to cast off and we ventured out into the twilight, unaware of just what was waiting for us out there.
***
We landed in our designated area fifteen minutes after Team 2 confirmed they’d touched down at theirs. Our landing was fairly uneventful. Feng, Barber, and I secured the boat before we radio’d Bundy to let him know we were in position. After that, it was just a matter of making it to the tributary.
As we ventured into the jungle, the world around us was quiet. There was wind, the whisper of the river behind us, and the sounds of animals. But little else. The river fell away behind us as we moved in single file toward the tributary, maintaining radio silence as we did.
It was about a half hour before we heard the gunshot.
Just one, echoing through the twilight. But it was enough to give us pause.
“The fuck was that?” I heard Barber ask. Immediately, the kid was on high alert, with his gun raised as if he were expecting every monster in Julia to come charging at us from all angles.
I just listened, waiting to hear if there was anything else. I half expected my radio to come to life, but it didn’t.
“Team 1, status?” I asked.
The radio crackled with static, but there was no response.
I tried it again, but still with no success. The radio was working, that much I was sure of. Something had to be blocking the signal.
“What’s going on?” Feng asked.
“Dunno,” I replied. “Comms are down.”
“Down?” Wilson asked, “So we’re flying blind out here, then?”
“More or less,” I replied.
“What do we do? Do we go back… if the comms are down…”
“Just because something’s jamming our signal doesn’t mean we’re made,” I said. “Relax. We keep moving for now. You keep your eyes wide open, and your head on a swivel. We’ll make it to the tributary and see if we can’t meet up with the other teams.”
I could tell Wilson wasn’t a fan of my answer, but I didn’t much care. We had a job to do, and I aimed to do it.
I pressed on without a further word and the others followed. Up ahead, I could hear the sound of running water and picked up the pace. I figured the tributary had to be close… and I was right.
I emerged from the brush into the stream, only to pause when I saw what was waiting for us in the water.
In the dying sunlight, it was impossible to mistake the bodies sprawled out on the rocks as anything else… and all I needed to do was look at their uniforms to know they were our people.
“Jesus…” I heard Wilson say under his breath. He froze up, lingering by the bank as I cautiously approached one of the bodies.
It belonged to a somewhat heavyset man with a thin mustache who I recognized as Hernandez. His eyes were still open, although lifeless and staring in different directions, and there was a clean hole in his forehead where a bullet had ended his life. The gunshot we’d heard earlier had likely been the sound of his death.
Looking at the bodies around him, I knew they had to be the rest of Team 2… although it was a little harder pinning down their cause of death. Some sort of bladed weapon, perhaps, judging by the state of them. I realized the odds were that they walked into some sort of ambush.
“What about Bundy and Team 1?” Jack asked, “Any sign of them?”
“No,” I said. “These bodies are all from Team 2… Bundy could still be ahead of us.”
“Then we need to keep going!”
Jack turned, heading up the stream and Barber was right behind him. Feng paused for a moment, thinking this over before following. Only Wilson remained.
“How do we know we’re not walking into a trap?” He asked.
“We’ll deal with that when we get to it,” I said before moving to follow the others.
“With all due respect, Sarge… that doesn’t sound like the best course of action!” Wilson argued, finally following me. “It sounds just like a good way to get killed!”
“Yeah?” I asked, “I’m gonna tell you an ugly truth, kid. That’s the job. Make your peace with it, and it’ll go a lot easier.”
Wilson didn’t like that answer either and trailed off behind me, watching as I continued upstream. For a moment, I half expected him to go back to the boat… but no. I dunno if he found his balls or just didn’t want to get left behind, but he started to follow us again.
I kept trying to raise Team 1 on the radio while we walked, although I still had no luck. The light above us slowly faded into darkness as we trudged through the water in silence, guns sitting comfortably in our hands and mosquitos biting at our necks.
It wasn’t until we lost Feng that I heard anybody so much as make a sound, and when we lost Feng… it happened almost instantaneously. One minute, he was at the head of the group, walking just ahead of Jack and I. The next, he was gone, only barely having the time to let out a scream as he fell into the river ahead of us.
The rest of us paused. Jack seemed to freeze and I pushed past him, calling out for Feng as I did. As punishment for my compassion, I almost went down after him. I only barely stopped myself from stepping on the slippery rocks that had helped send him to his demise.
I could see Feng’s body in the water, and I could see the blood pouring out of him. He twitched a few times, but I knew he was dead. The sharpened wooden spikes jutting out of him confirmed as much.
“What the hell…” Jack said under his breath, staring at Feng’s corpse in disbelief. “That’s a fucking spike trap!”
Yeah.
It was indeed a fucking spike trap.
I could see other spikes jutting out of the water ahead of us, just past a small dam of rocks that were just slippery enough to make it difficult to stop yourself from falling. Some of those spikes had other bodies on them… likely members of Team 1. I only counted two, although that still didn’t exactly bode well.
“They put a fucking spike trap in the goddamn stream…” Jack said, “Who the hell does that?”
“Somebody who’s expecting us to use the stream,” I replied.
“So they know we’re coming?” Barber asked.
“Clearly…” I replied. “And they’ve got a good idea on what our route is too.”
“Yeah, no shit!” Barber snapped. “Christ… let’s get the fuck out of here. There’s probably more fucking traps upstream!”
“Bundy’s orders were clear!” Jack argued.
“Bundy’s probably dead by now!” Barber replied, before looking at me. “Sarge, come on. You have to know this is suicide!”
“Suicide was part of the job description, was it not?” I asked.
“The job is to kill those fucking vampires, not to die in the goddamn process! We need to get out of the stream and into the woods!”
“Judging by the fate Team 2 met, I’m not sure the forest is someplace we want to be right now,” I replied.
“Excuse me?” Barber asked, “What the hell are you talking about, Sarge?”
“Five men dead, but only one gunshot. How did the rest die?”
Barber didn’t seem to be able to answer that.
“By now… yes. It’s clear we’ve walked into a trap. And yes, I understand that it makes sense to try and leave that trap… but I don’t know if we’ll be safer in the jungle. Something jumped Team 2. Cut them apart, and then shot Hernandez as a warning. They didn’t have to shoot him. They did it so we’d hear.”
“Your point being?” Barber asked.
“I don’t think this is just a trap, Barber. It’s a game. Stop playing, and you might just end up like our friends downstream.”
“A game?” Wilson asked, “Sarge, you can’t be serious!”
“From where I’m standing, we have a better chance of surviving in the stream,” I said. “Look, we’re at least halfway to the rendezvous point, and there have to be at least two members of Team 1 left. The safest thing to do right now is to follow them.”
“You’re off your fucking rocker, Sarge,” Barber spat, locking his eyes with mine. For a moment, I thought the boy was going to try and fight me. But no. He was wise enough to stand down.
“If you wanna get yourself killed, go right the fuck ahead. Just leave me out of it! Wilson, come on,” Barber said before trudging over to the edge of the stream. Wilson didn’t even hesitate, just looking back at Jack and I quietly before he disappeared into the forest with Barber.
“You’re not gonna stop them?” Jack asked.
“No,” I replied. “God willing, there’s a chance that pigheaded asshole is right… dunno how much of a chance, but a chance.”
“Then how come we’re not following him?” Jack asked.
“There’s also a chance he’s wrong.”
I turned, before making my way around the spike trap.
“Keep a slower pace,” I said. “Watch for traps.”
Jack hesitated for a moment, but he followed me without any further questions and we walked in silence for a little longer.
We heard nothing from the trees. Nothing that told us about the fate of Barber and Wilson. I wasn’t sure if that was good news or not.
In fact, I don’t think we heard a thing until about a half hour later, when we heard the explosion.
It came out of almost nowhere, but ahead of us I could see a flash of light and hear the screams of men. On instinct, I found myself picking up the pace and could hear Jack behind me. In the low light, I saw a shape float past me in the stream. It took me a moment to realize that it was a severed human arm.
In the water ahead of us, I could see a figure clinging to one of the rocks and trying to pick himself up. I recognized him as George Bundy.
Jack was at his side almost immediately, trying to help the old man to his feet.
“Sir! Are you alright?”
Bundy just wheezed, before his legs gave out from under him. I helped Jack drag him to the shore so he could sit and rest for a moment.
“What the hell was that?” I asked, looking back at the stream.
“Grenade trap… I think…” Bundy panted, “Fucking tripwire… Popkov tripped it, I think…”
Popkov… odds are he was one of the two mangled corpses lying in the river a few feet away from us. It seemed they’d taken the brunt of the explosion, although Bundy still had some shrapnel in his arm that Jack was tending to.
“Christ… whole fucking ops gone to shit…” Bundy spat. “Team 2 got taken out just about as soon as they landed. Someone killed them and dumped them in the goddamn river. Lost half my boys to the fucking spike trap and half to this…”
He looked up at us, before spitting onto the ground.
“Guess you two haven’t done much better.”
“Hard to say,” I replied. “Two of ours took off into the woods, trying to avoid the traps.”
“Then they’re dead,” Bundy replied. “I’ve seen her watching us… always just up ahead, always from a distance… she’s seeing how far we’ll go. How much we’ll take…”
“She?” I asked.
“La Morte. Should’ve figured she’d be the one to greet us.”
“La Morte?” I asked.
“It’s Italian. Supposedly, she earned that name around the time the Di Cesares fled Venice. It’s funny, the Brethren like to act like the Di Cesares leaving Venice was some big victory of theirs, since before they did, they finally killed one of them… hard to call it a victory though, considering how many corpses they made before they fled. And most of them came from La Morte…”
Bundy winced in pain as Jack bandaged his arm before he continued talking.
“See… when the Di Cesare’s left Venice, one of them stayed behind. Clementine, the Scorpio sister. Guess she was unwilling to leave the fight unfinished… and according to the stories, the death toll she personally amassed in the years after the Di Cesare’s left Venice make the bodies they claimed during the Venetian Massacre a hundred and fifty years prior look like a pittance. The Brethren still occupying the city started to call her La Morte. Death. Cuz wherever she went, death followed in her wake… and it seems we’ve walked right into her open arms, haven’t we, boys?”
“You’re sure it’s her?” I asked.
“She’s a Di Cesare… and the shit we’ve seen out here… I don’t see any other Di Cesare setting those traps. It’s her. I’m sure of it. She’s watching us. Seeing how far we’ll go. Seeing if we’ll turn tail…”
“Should we?” Jack asked, and Bundy finally seemed to acknowledge him.
“Excuse me?” He asked.
“Should we? Look, sir… I’d follow you into the mouth of Hell, but right now, we’re down from fifteen men to three. Can’t say I’m optimistic about our chances right now. If this woman is half as bad as you’re saying she is, maybe it’s time we took a step back!”
Jack looked at me, hoping I might back him up, but I remained silent.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Bundy asked.
“What I’m hearing here, is that as of right now, the vampire out there could kill us at any time. She hasn’t. Far as I’m concerned, that’s mercy. Maybe we should be taking it while it’s offered.”
Bundy stared at him, before chuckling. I think it was the first time I’d ever seen him laugh.
“Just walk away, then?” He asked.
“Walk away, and come back better prepared!” Jack corrected.
“Walk away,” Bundy said again. “We walk away now, and there won’t be a chance to come back better prepared. We get one shot at this. One. Failure is not an option. We go in there and we kill them or we die. End of discussion.”
“And how exactly are we even supposed to kill them?” Jack asked, “That curse they have… bullets aren’t gonna do shit, sir!”
“Yours won’t, mine will…”
Bundy pulled his pistol from his holster. I noticed some sort of pattern crudely engraved on it.
“I’ve been doing some research… studied the curse they put on themselves… and I think I’ve found a way to break it. Not sure if it’ll work yet… but we get one chance to test it.”
Jack stared at the gun, then back at Bundy.
“Sir… do you hear yourself?” He asked quietly, “You can’t be serious… right now, even with that gun we don’t stand a chance in he-”
The gunshot echoed through the forest and made me jump. Jack’s voice died in his throat as he hit the ground.
Bundy stared at him for a moment, before huffing and holstering his pistol again. He draped his coat over his shoulders, before looking over at me.
“No room for failure, Frank,” He said calmly.
I didn’t know what to say to that. I stared down at Jack’s body, my mouth hanging open slightly. When I looked back at Bundy, he was already back in the stream.
There was a tense silence between Bundy and I as I followed him along the final stretch of the tributary. He trudged on ahead, covered in sweat and straining with every step, but I could sense the quiet determination he had to see this through. Looking at him, you could’ve told me that George Bundy could wipe out the Di Cesare’s all by himself and I would have believed it in a second.
The night around us was full of sound, and each one drew my attention. I watched the forest, expecting to see some sign of La Morte watching us. But I saw nothing, except for what she wanted me to see.
“Mill’s just up ahead,” I heard Bundy say as we pressed on, although I noticed his steps faltering as he seemed to notice something in the trees above us. I stopped behind him, looking up before seeing what he saw, and when I saw it I felt my stomach turn.
I’d seen death before.
But what Di Cesare had left out for us… that was something else.
Pearce Wilson and Scott Barber weren’t dead.
But if they could have spoke, I’ve got no doubt they would have begged us to kill them. Wilsons pretty face was covered in blood and his pouty lips were parted as more trickled out of him. His curly blond hair was matted and I could see crimson there. Tree branches portruded from his ribs, while the loops of his entrails dangled out of his opened stomach. And Barber was in just about the same state, only he seemed to at least have the ability to turn his head to look at us.
I think he might have tried to speak, but the only sound he seemed to be able to make was a pained whimper.
“Jesus Christ…” I said softly.
“He had nothing to do with this,” Bundy replied. He took one last look at the two dying men hanging from the trees, before moving on.
“We should put them out of their misery, sir,” I said.
Bundy paused, before looking back at me.
“Don’t waste the ammo, Frank,” He replied. “They’re already dead.”
“Not yet they’re not!”
“Give them time. They chose to go into the woods. They can live with the consequences… for however long that lasts.”
With that, he left them. If I were a more compassionate man, I would have put them out of their misery. But no. Bundy moved on and so did I.
He approached the water mill, before examining it. It was an old building, made of stone that had long since been overgrown by moss, and sat right on the wall that separated the Di Cesares estate from the amazon. It hardly looked secure, even if the only entrance hadn’t just been an old wooden door secured with a padlock, finding a way in wouldn’t have been difficult. And it didn’t take much for Bundy to break through that door. All he needed was a couple of well placed kicks and it swung right open.
Drawing his gun, Bundy strode inside and I followed him.
“The Di Cesare’s will be in the main house,” He said. “We should find a way in through the back, try and catch them off guard. Main target should be the matriarch, Bianca. Her we should prioritize keeping alive… the rest are expendable.”
“Much as you are, I’m sure.” A voice called from deeper in the mill, and both Bundy and I froze.
I noticed movement on the floor above us, and through the shadows, I saw a tall woman watching us. She was dressed all in black, with blond hair tied back in a ponytail and the intense eyes of a soldier.
This had to be Clementine Di Cesare.
Bundy aimed his pistol at her, although she only barely seemed to notice.
“Only two of you left… I’m not sure the odds are in your favor,” The woman said. Her voice was low, calm and quiet.
“Only one way to find out,” Bundy growled.
“And only one way to walk out of this place alive,” Di Cesare countered. “You can put the gun down, turn and walk away. I won’t stop you. There’s no shame in living.”
“All the bodies you’ve left in your wake… that’s rich,” Bundy said.
“I don’t relish what I’ve done. I simply don’t know how to do anything else,” She replied. “Think about this, Bundy. Over my lifetime, there have been countless thousands who have come to kill me. All of them are dead, but I am not. Even if you could kill me… you could not kill my sisters. Not all of them. Not before they came for you.”
“Just you, would be enough…” Bundy said, before pulling the trigger.
I knew he’d hit her. I knew the bullet pierced her shoulder. But that woman… she didn’t even flinch. She simply dove out of the way before he could shoot again, taking cover and avoiding his next shot.
“Frank, upstairs!” Bundy snapped, “Flush her out!”
I went, trudging up the old wooden steps with my rifle drawn. Only to see Di Cesare vaulting over the railing and back down to the ground floor as soon as I made it up there.
Bundy shot at her again, only to miss for a second time. I saw Di Cesare’s arm move, and heard him cry out in pain. In the low light, I could see a dagger protruding from his shoulder. He stumbled back a step, leaving himself open for only a split second.
That second was all it took for Di Cesare to raise her own gun and fire just one shot.
George Bundy hit the ground without so much as a final scream. There was just a simple hole in his skull where she had shot him.
I felt my heart start to race faster. My eyes settled on Bundy’s gun, and I ran for the railing, vaulting it and dropping to the ground below with a thud. Di Cesare shot at me, and I felt the bullet tear through my leg. I reached out for the fallen gun and grabbed it before turning it on Di Cesare, only to find myself staring down the barrel of her own pistol. My finger rested on the trigger, but I didn’t have the guts to pull it.
"Kill me, and you will not see the sun tomorrow." She said, her voice still cold and calm.
“Killing you is part of the job…” I replied, but my finger still couldn’t squeeze the trigger.
“And is it worth your life?” Di Cesare asked. “You fail your mission either way.”
“And die with some goddamn honor…”
“There’s no such thing as honor. There is alive and there is dead. Choose.”
I knew what I was supposed to choose.
But my hands were shaking, as I stared into the face of death. My finger couldn’t squeeze the trigger.
The gun collapsed to the floor and Di Cesare kicked it away from me, before huffing and lowering her gun.
“Do not return,” She said softly. “Or next time, I will unleash a hell upon you that will make you beg for simple traps.”
She picked Bundy’s gun up off the ground, and then she was gone. After I finally picked myself up off the ground, I was gone too.
As I walked back along the stream… I passed the corpses of the men we’d left behind. Barber and Wilson, Jack, Feng, Hernandez, and his team. The flies were already feasting on them. Animals had already torn at them. And as I looked down at their cold corpses, I knew I had made the right choice.
I filed my report with the Brethren. Told them that Di Cesare had wiped us out, and a few months later I quietly retired. I never looked back.
***
“You walked away from her?” Sweeney asked in disbelief, “You had her dead to rights and you walked away from her?”
“I chose to live,” I replied. “Can’t say I regret the decision either. Because of the choice I made, I met my wife and had my kids. I’ve lived the life I had because I chose not to throw it away on some vampire.”
Sweeney just shook his head.
“You could have gotten the first confirmed kill on a Di Cesare in two centuries, and you threw it away you fucking coward! I could execute you for that!” I noticed his hand hovering over the gun on his hip.
“You could.” I replied, before quietly unholstering the pistol I kept at my side. I aimed it at Sweeney’s head.
He stared at me like a slack jawed idiot.
“Would you like to give it a try?”
“W-what…?”
“Would you like to give it a try, Mr. Sweeney? Or would you like to see the sun tomorrow?”
He stared down the barrel of my gun, and I already knew what his choice would be.
Sweeney took a step back. I saw his hand move away from his holster, and I lowered the gun with a huff.
“Thought so,” I said.
Mr. Sweeney left me without another word.
I knew he would not return.
2023.06.03 17:26 snapsigma Alpilean Reviews: Discovering the Truth About Alpine Weight Loss and Its Effects
Are you struggling with unwanted weight gain due to an unhealthy lifestyle? The increasing rate of obesity worldwide is a clear indication that many people are facing this challenge. While some resort to prescription medication or gym memberships to shed those extra pounds, they often lose motivation when they don't see immediate results. Others follow specialized diets but still struggle to lose even a single pound. After extensive research, scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine have uncovered a common factor among overweight individuals: low inner body temperature.
When your body's temperature is low, your metabolism slows down, accumulating fat. It also affects your digestive health, causing bloating and discomfort. On the other hand, maintaining an average inner body temperature ensures effortless calorie burning. Studies have shown that every temperature decrease can slow your metabolism by 13% or more.
While numerous weight loss supplements claim to help you shed those pounds, only a few specifically target inner body temperature. Alpilean supplements utilize natural Alpine weight loss ingredients to regulate and maintain average inner body temperature.
In this comprehensive Alpilean review, we will delve into the reasons behind its popularity, the benefits it offers, pricing details, and other crucial aspects. Let's explore what Alpilean is all about.
Regular consumption of Alpilean leads to increased energy levels, improved digestive health, and reduced Appetite. Some of its ingredients work to curb cravings, creating a calorie deficit in the body. Consequently, your body burns stored fat to meet energy requirements, facilitating weight loss. Moreover, Alpilean's effective ingredients combat oxidative stress by neutralizing harmful free radicals in the body, enhancing overall health.
Additionally, Alpilean incorporates ingredients rich in antioxidants, promoting stress reduction, improved joint health, and enhanced brain function.
Alpilean's potent ingredients help maintain average inner body temperature, boosting your metabolic rate. As a result, your body starts burning stubborn belly fat, allowing you to achieve faster weight loss. The supplement also boosts energy, bidding farewell to tiredness and weakness. Alpilean revitalizes your body, helping you achieve optimal health and vitality.
1. Supporting a Healthy Heart and Skin
Alpilean's antioxidant-rich ingredients combat free radicals and enhance blood flow, promoting heart health. The supplement also reduces inflammation and helps in the elimination of harmful toxins, resulting in healthier, more supple skin. Additionally, it reduces muscle inflammation and facilitates the development of lean muscle mass.
2. Boosting Metabolism
Alpilean focuses on maintaining normal inner body temperature to boost metabolic rate. With an increased metabolic rate, your body becomes more efficient at burning fat cells. Ginger and turmeric, natural ingredients found in Alpilean, also contribute to improved immune health.
3. Increasing Energy Levels
Alpilean defies the notion that energy levels decrease with age. By increasing Metabolism, this dietary supplement accelerates the conversion of food into energy. Packed with essential vitamins and minerals, Alpilean reduces oxidative stress and provides a much-needed energy boost. Regular consumption of Alpilean restores youthful vigor and vitality.
4. Enhancing Immunity
A strong immune system is vital for overall well-being. Alpilean's clinically proven ingredients work at the cellular level to improve immune health. The supplement supercharges your calorie-burning engine by maintaining normal inner body temperature, bolstering your Immunity.
5. Improving Digestive Health
Alpilean not only aids in weight loss but also improves digestive health. Its ingredients reduce stomach inflammation and promote the growth of beneficial bacteria, optimizing digestion.
6. Suppressing Appetite
Controlling sudden hunger pangs can be a significant challenge when losing weight. Alpilean acts as an effective appetite suppressant, helping you feel full earlier. With its unique combination of six alpine herbs and plants, Alpilean has transformed the lives of over 90,000 individuals worldwide.
In conclusion, Alpilean offers a holistic approach to weight loss, harnessing the power of natural ingredients and targeting low inner body temperature. Its numerous health benefits make it a reliable choice for those seeking effective and sustainable weight loss. With Alpilean, you can embark on a journey toward a healthier, happier life.
Read More For Complete Information
submitted by snapsigma to ismartfy [link] [comments]
When your body's temperature is low, your metabolism slows down, accumulating fat. It also affects your digestive health, causing bloating and discomfort. On the other hand, maintaining an average inner body temperature ensures effortless calorie burning. Studies have shown that every temperature decrease can slow your metabolism by 13% or more.
While numerous weight loss supplements claim to help you shed those pounds, only a few specifically target inner body temperature. Alpilean supplements utilize natural Alpine weight loss ingredients to regulate and maintain average inner body temperature.
In this comprehensive Alpilean review, we will delve into the reasons behind its popularity, the benefits it offers, pricing details, and other crucial aspects. Let's explore what Alpilean is all about.
Alpilean - Revolutionizing Weight Loss with Alpine Nutrients
Alpilean is a dietary supplement that enhances overall health using natural ingredients. This unique supplement focuses on regulating inner body temperature. Alpilean improves your immune system and transforms your body into a highly efficient fat-burning machine by harnessing the power of nutrient-rich alpine ingredients.Regular consumption of Alpilean leads to increased energy levels, improved digestive health, and reduced Appetite. Some of its ingredients work to curb cravings, creating a calorie deficit in the body. Consequently, your body burns stored fat to meet energy requirements, facilitating weight loss. Moreover, Alpilean's effective ingredients combat oxidative stress by neutralizing harmful free radicals in the body, enhancing overall health.
Additionally, Alpilean incorporates ingredients rich in antioxidants, promoting stress reduction, improved joint health, and enhanced brain function.
Unlocking Weight Loss Potential with Alpilean
Alpilean is a research-backed dietary supplement that addresses low inner body temperature and facilitates weight loss. This exceptional supplement combines natural herbs, vitamins, and minerals to boost your immune health. With its unique blend of six alpine nutrients and plants, Alpilean effectively targets low inner body temperature. Each drop in temperature can result in a more than 13% reduction in metabolic rate.Alpilean's potent ingredients help maintain average inner body temperature, boosting your metabolic rate. As a result, your body starts burning stubborn belly fat, allowing you to achieve faster weight loss. The supplement also boosts energy, bidding farewell to tiredness and weakness. Alpilean revitalizes your body, helping you achieve optimal health and vitality.
The Multifaceted Benefits of Alpilean
Despite being relatively new to the weight loss market, Alpilean has already been significantly impacted. This exceptional dietary supplement offers many benefits, making it stand out among its competitors.1. Supporting a Healthy Heart and Skin
Alpilean's antioxidant-rich ingredients combat free radicals and enhance blood flow, promoting heart health. The supplement also reduces inflammation and helps in the elimination of harmful toxins, resulting in healthier, more supple skin. Additionally, it reduces muscle inflammation and facilitates the development of lean muscle mass.
2. Boosting Metabolism
Alpilean focuses on maintaining normal inner body temperature to boost metabolic rate. With an increased metabolic rate, your body becomes more efficient at burning fat cells. Ginger and turmeric, natural ingredients found in Alpilean, also contribute to improved immune health.
3. Increasing Energy Levels
Alpilean defies the notion that energy levels decrease with age. By increasing Metabolism, this dietary supplement accelerates the conversion of food into energy. Packed with essential vitamins and minerals, Alpilean reduces oxidative stress and provides a much-needed energy boost. Regular consumption of Alpilean restores youthful vigor and vitality.
4. Enhancing Immunity
A strong immune system is vital for overall well-being. Alpilean's clinically proven ingredients work at the cellular level to improve immune health. The supplement supercharges your calorie-burning engine by maintaining normal inner body temperature, bolstering your Immunity.
5. Improving Digestive Health
Alpilean not only aids in weight loss but also improves digestive health. Its ingredients reduce stomach inflammation and promote the growth of beneficial bacteria, optimizing digestion.
6. Suppressing Appetite
Controlling sudden hunger pangs can be a significant challenge when losing weight. Alpilean acts as an effective appetite suppressant, helping you feel full earlier. With its unique combination of six alpine herbs and plants, Alpilean has transformed the lives of over 90,000 individuals worldwide.
In conclusion, Alpilean offers a holistic approach to weight loss, harnessing the power of natural ingredients and targeting low inner body temperature. Its numerous health benefits make it a reliable choice for those seeking effective and sustainable weight loss. With Alpilean, you can embark on a journey toward a healthier, happier life.
Read More For Complete Information
2023.06.03 17:25 Big_Hefty79 Gaijin & ARB BOTS
We've been told that some of the changes that have come to the economy is to thwart BOTS from farming. I have compiled a list of 80 bots that I have found in the past month. It's almost impossible to report them all, because Gaijin has a limit on how many can be reported in six hours. Sometimes there's one in a match, and sometimes there are four. Tracing some of these bots back to their squadron has revealed that there are practically whole squads of these bot players.
Hopefully Gaijin will start to look a little further into this. It's not hard to spot them, just look at the K/D ratio.
https://imgur.com/a/sRnK3cF
submitted by Big_Hefty79 to Warthunder [link] [comments]
Hopefully Gaijin will start to look a little further into this. It's not hard to spot them, just look at the K/D ratio.
https://imgur.com/a/sRnK3cF