Up until recently I’ve had a pretty uneventful retirement. I was a shipyard worker at Bath Iron Works in Maine since I was 16 and now after a lifetime of labor I wanted to enjoy a quiet rest at my small place on the coast. The wife had passed away some years before and my kids all live out of state. I spend most of my days fishing, reading, and at night listening to radio signals. It started when I was kid, when radio actually mattered more, I’d spend all night listening for communications across the airwaves.
About three weeks ago I was struggling to sleep. I made a cup of coffee and sat down at my Ham radio and started cycling through the frequencies. Most were local stations on public airways but my hand went just a hair farther than I wanted and I stumbled on a repeating message. It was a series of sounds and pauses, silence, then the whole cycle would repeat. I recognized quickly that the message was morse code: .. - / .. … / .– .- -.- .. -. –. It read “it is waking.” The channel would then play a series of three distinct tonal sounds. I’ve recorded and attached them if anyone can make heads or tales of what they mean.
That was not what I was expecting. I checked my work and it came out the same every cycle. Well I thought, what is it? The next day I met up with some fishing buddies and told them about what I had heard in the night.
“It’s just someone playing a prank” Frank yelled, casting a line off the pier.
Martin, my other friend, was nearby and nodded heartily. “Plus it’s been years since you’ve actually needed morse code, how do you know you got it right?”
“I know what I heard, I triple checked my work” I frowned back at him.
Frank and Martin just looked at each other and laughed. I looked over at Bill who was sitting silently with his line in the water. “What do you think, am I crazy too?” Bill just stared off into the water ahead with no response.
“Bill?” Frank called out, finally snapping him out of his trance.
“Uh yes, no, I mean, maybe.”
Martin reeled in his line, “oh, you going to encourage this delusion?”
Bill kept on staring out at the water. “Do you guys know about the story of Evertown?”
The three of us walked over to Bill “nope” I called out as Frank and Martin shrugged.
“I heard a story as a kid about a town called Everton that disappeared up the coast.”
Frank snorted “A town disappeared?”
Bill nodded, “my father was in the army during the war and his unit got called back from the European front at the last minute and deployed here in state. He told me stories how the whole operation was hush hush but there was something going on in the town of Evertown. The whole town had to be sealed off, no one was to enter or leave.”
Something about the way he emphasized the phrase leave made my spine crawl. “And just what was it that happened?”
Bill shrugged, “I don’t know, my dad would never be specific except to say it was the right decision. He said it had to be fought but never gave me any details.” Bill sighed as he looked away, “he would say he needed to drink to forget whatever he had seen there, it’s what took him from me.”
There was a collective silence for a few minutes before Martin coughed out “and what does this have to do with the crazy radio signal?”
Bill swallowed hard, “many times when my dad was in a drunken stupor I heard him utter over and over again, it is coming, it is coming for us.”
***
I couldn’t stop thinking about what Bill had said earlier and tried to find out more about Evertown. No internet search came up with anything but I was never much into the digital world in any case. I visited the library and managed to find some old microfiche of papers around the time Bill had mentioned. There was never anything direct to any kind of incident but sure enough there was mention of a town in Maine called Evertown. It was all mundane mentions, local community events, wedding and death announcements, but it was there. I spent the next few days rummaging through old books and files when I found a map that actually had Evertown listed far up the coast near New Brunswick.
I was still on the fence about taking this any further though. Ever since the first night I couldn’t find the mysterious signal again despite search the same bands over and over again. Had I in fact just heard a random noise that night?
A few days later I showed the fishing group the map I had found. “So whadda know, there might be some truth to this tale” Frank nodded looking over the map.
Bill’s eyes were wide looking at the town circled before him, “I, I, assumed it was all just the tale of a drunk. I can’t believe this might be real.”
Martin slapped my back “so, I assume we’re all going there right?”
Before I could speak Bill grabbed Martin by the collar “No, if this is real we can never, ever, go near there.”
“Get your hands off me” Martin grunted, pushing Bill away. “If this is real then we have a duty to go investigate this, plus I’m intrigued.”
Frank nodded in agreement “come on Bill, don’t get all worked up, this is probably some nonsense and hey, wouldn’t it be good for some closure to confirm that?”
Bill’s fists stood clenched for a few long seconds before exhaling “fine, just, promise me we’ll be careful.”
I placed my hand on Bill’s shoulder, “We’re a bunch of paunchy old guys, we’ll be fine, I just want to know if this thing I heard was real.”
***
The next day we piled into my car and headed north along the old map towards Evertown. Martin and Frank took the adventure with all the seriousness required downing several beers while Bill sat silently looking out the window. Eventually we got off the highway towards some of the backroads. We finally reached a blocked off service road that led directly to where the town was situated on the map.
I parked the car and took out some hiking gear and my radio from the trunk. Frank and Martin staggered out beers in hand laughing while Bill exited slowly as if he was unsure of ever leaving the vehicle. “Looks like we continue on foot from here” I called out gesturing to the overgrown path blocked off by a dilapidated gate with a sign reading Government Property, Keep Out.
The four of us walked for a few miles with ever growing brush blocking our path at times. The drive had been long and the sun was setting though the intense tree coverage had already blocked out most of the late day’s light. We all clicked on flashlights as we spotted a clearing in the path ahead of us.
“What the hell is this” Frank called out as we all saw in front of us a massive concrete wall.
I walked forward placing my hand on the wall and looked upwards to see it rise about 20 feet high. The barrier was in disrepair and cracked in several places. I looked to my left to see Martin on his knees peering through a hole.
“Guys, come here” he called out as we rushed over. A break in the wall was a few feet across as we peered in. It was dark but in the waning light of the day enough illumination showed a ghost town.
“Okay, we need to leave here now” Bill stammered out.
Frank waved his hand in dismissal, “too spooky for you? We found the place your dad told you about, aren’t you the least bit curious what’s inside?”
“You think this is some normal irrational fear? A giant wall around an abandoned town should give anyone pause. What if it’s something chemical or radiological inside?”
While they bickered I pulled out my radio and tuned it to the frequency my ham radio had found previously. Sure enough, the same repeating pattern of Morse code then unknown tonal signals repeated. “So the signal did come from here” I mused. I looked to see Frank and Bill arguing but didn’t see Martin. “Hey shut up you two, where’s Martin?”
Bill and Frank stopped and looked around just as confused. “Guys, you’ve got see this!” we heard Martin’s voice call out from the other side of the wall.
“Dammit Martin, get back here” Bill called out.
“Seriously guys, get over here.”
Frank shrugged his shoulders and made his way through as I stared at Bill. His hands trembling, he closed his eyes for a moment then crossed through with me close in tow. Inside the street was overgrown with weeds, cracked and torn with large craters dotting its length. The expected rush of sea air was instead met with a moldy and stagnant odor. We walked for a moment to where Martin was standing and saw what he saw. Hulls of tanks were burned out and rusted along the main town avenue. Buildings had been shelled and great gouges of earth were thrown around.
I walked over to one of the busted tanks, it was of WWII era but it was not destroyed by any kind of explosive round. No, it had been crushed like a tin can, tossed aside and landing in a heap where it rested to this moment. My mouth agape, I heard Frank behind me.
“What the hell happened here? This looks like a damn warzone.”
Martin and Bill were staring down the main avenue looking over the destruction. “How have we never heard about this?” Martin queried.
Bill, silently, walked forward down the road.
“Hey Bill, don’t go run off” I called out.
Bill paused without turning around, “I need to know more, I need to know what happened here.”
***
The four of us spent the next hour walking through the ruined town examining the various remains of destruction and what appeared to be battle. There wasn’t a window that wasn’t shattered and there wasn’t a structure that hadn’t been ruined. A thick fog had rolled in and the night made it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of our flashlights. Whatever frivolity Martin and Frank had shared earlier was gone and Bill seemed to walk with a poise and purpose charging forward though to what I didn’t know.
Our group stopped as we came to another concrete barrier, this time though there was a door that had been broken open, the reinforced metal bent and warped. The radio I had on was now blaring the mysterious signals clearly. “Guys, I think this is where the signal is originating from.”
Martin and Frank looked at the broken door then each other, eyes wide. “Okay, I think I’ve had enough, this is getting to be too much” Frank grunted and Martin nodded in agreement.
Before I could respond Bill dashed passed us charging inside. “Bill wait!” I called to no avail. Cursing, I chased after him into the pitch black hallway. Immediately I was hit with the smell of rotting flesh. I’ve been hunting since I was a child and I know the putrid smell of death well. “Bill, there is something very wrong here, we need to get out now” I called to the dancing flashlight further down the hallway. I went back outside, “dammit, Bill has rushed in there. We need to go get him.”
Martin shook his head “hello no, I am not going one step in there.”
“Fine, I’ll just get him myself, you two wait here.” I braced myself for the smell and went back inside. Bill’s flashlight had disappeared and I walked in the direction I last saw him.
The hallways were a labyrinth of concrete and I had to walk down several flights of stairs at various junctions. I’d built enough ships in my time to recognize government design and this structure was not as old as the town outside. Whatever this place was, it had been constructed after whatever had occurred in the town happened.
I began to lose hope I would find Bill until a glimmer of light was bouncing in the distance. My aged frame huffed as I ran towards the glimmer to see Bill standing in a room standing still. As I got next to him I saw a charnel house before us. Bodies were mangled and thrown against walls, internal organs splattered and laid out across tables and paneling. “This, this, is not very old, the bodies are still wet” I stuttered surveying the blood and gore before me.
I don’t know how long Bill and I stood staring at the scene before my trance was broken by Bill retching his guts out on the floor collapsing. “It’s real, this shit really happened” he stammered out between throwing up. I tried grabbing him but the man had gone near catatonic, just mumbling to himself.
Looking back at the room I searched for something, anything, that could explain what was going on. My eyes shifted over a small blinking red light on a panel on the far side of the room. A near skinless skeletal frame was hunched over the console that I recognized as radio equipment. I saw the broadcast frequency was set to the channel I had discovered so many nights before. “Holy mother of god, this was a distress signal” I blurted out. But I noticed something was wrong, the frequency was not tuned correctly and I guessed they had not made the correct position in their last moments. Whatever they were trying to communicate had not reached the correct party. I made the last adjustment and looked back at Bill, “Bill, let’s go, now, we need to get out of here.”
Still muttering to himself on the floor, I bent down and smacked Bill across the face trying to get him to move. A temporary moment of lucidity returned to him and I pulled him upright and staggered to his feet. “I, I never imagined…”
“No time for this, we need to get out of here, Martin and Frank are in danger.” I don’t think he truly processed my words but I got a small nod and we made our way back towards the entrance. Each pace seemingly eternally long, each breath labored.
When we approached the door I began to call out preemptively to Frank and Martin “we need to go” but I was stopped in my tracks. Outside the door Frank was nowhere to be seen and Martin, only half of Martin remained. A bloody trail from his bifurcated body led away towards the dark. “Oh god, oh god no” I cried.
Bill was still nearly catatonic as I pulled him forward. “Bill, we need to find Frank and get out of here” I said to no response. In the dark fog we heard a growl, if it could even be described as such, inhumane and impossibly guttural. The sound made my body freeze in terror as I dropped Bill. The gravity of everything I was experiencing became too much for me and I couldn’t move. A loud crash and snapping of ground echoed nearby as I willed my body to move with no avail. Bill was curled up fetally near the remaining half of Martin’s body when a hand the size of a car reached out from the dark and grabbed him. For something so large to move so quickly seemed like a violation of physics. In the briefest of moments Bill was just gone.
Whatever ancient survival part of my brain that still functioned kicked in and I ran. I ran with everything my body could give me. In the darkness I ran without thought or consciousness, only instinct to get away from the threat I couldn’t see. The sound of crashing rubble reverberated in my ears and I dashed forward as another otherworldly roar echoed in the night. It was behind me but how close or far I could not know. I ran until I saw the concrete wall we had come from and the hole we had squeezed through.
My vision became a pinhole, focused only on making for the exit. My body ached from its age as it was suddenly flung to the ground as a titanic force crashed into the ground nearby. Unable to see the attacker I smelled its vile moldy odor, I heard what must have been the lungs breathing of a creature unknown to humanity, I heard the wind snap as something grabbed for me.
By whatever luck or providence the thing missed and I staggered to my feet making one last dive towards the hole. As my body exited the other side a cloud of dust filled the air as debris expanded from an impact behind me. I ran into the woods hearing only the howl of a creature in the abandoned town.
***
After passing out briefly from exhaustion I made my way to my car. There waiting for me were armed men demanding to know who I was and taking me into their custody. After throwing me into a truck with a bag over my head I eventually found myself in a sterile room sitting in a chair with a small metal table in front of me. My shackled hands rattled as I tried to move but they were tied down. A man in a severe black suit sat across from me, his face obscured in the dim light of where I was being held.
With no time or ability to process what I had witnessed I just stared at the man in the suit with a blank expression until he spoke. “What were you doing in there?”
I explained in detail about the signals I found and our trip there to investigate it. I told him how we found the abandoned town and the underground facility. I told him of the bodies and how I adjusted the radio broadcast. I poured through what had happened after, of the horrors I witnessed.
The man in the suit finally sat forward, his face no longer obscured. “I’m afraid you are mistaken, your ill thought out attempt to enter restricted government led you and your friends who were drinking to become disoriented and experience hallucinations causing you friends to wander off.”
My shock and fatigue melted to anger, “Hallucinations? There’s a creature in an abandoned town that killed three of my friends and almost me, don’t you dare try to tell me what I experienced didn’t happen.”
The man sat back into the dim light again, “I’m certain if you realize that is what happened you’ll also realize that is the only way you can be allowed to leave.”
I sat stewing in white hot rage, “fuck you and this government cover-up.”
“Are you really angry at that, or are you angry at yourself for leading your friends there? I don’t recall anyone telling you to go there, in fact it seems from your story you could have turned around at many points but did not.”
My rage turned to sadness as there was truth in what he said. The half corpse of Martin and the hand swiping Bill into the darkness replayed over and over again. I cried, I’m unashamed to say I broke down in tears.
The man in the suit got up and headed towards the door and I called out to him to stop. “Will you be able to stop that thing?”
There was a long pause before the man in the suit responded, “I don’t know, but thanks to your help in fixing the radio we might have gotten here with enough time.” With that he exited the room leaving me alone and broken.
The next thing I remember I was home in my bed. Whether I passed out or was drugged I couldn’t say. News reports of Frank, Martin, and Bill had them missing on a fishing trip at sea. A lie and one I had no energy left to fight.
I leave this record of what I experienced to you dear reader. Perhaps they’ve contained the thing at Evertown, perhaps it’s loose I couldn’t say. You now know what you shouldn’t and with that knowledge I leave this world hopeful no one else has to experience it.