June 8th, 2013

Sequel to June 8th, 1944.

April 12, 2014
''Introductory speech by Gen. Adams and Gen. Jensen, delivered at an intelligence meeting. Transcription by Secretary Frost.''

[Begin transcription.]

11:24

Greetings,

As you all are aware, it has been a year, nine months, and twenty-eight days since I issued the briefing now known as Document FAF-1147. You may not, however, be aware of the expedition into the forests of Germany launched by an amateur group of "monster-hunters," students who had just graduated and who were looking for something to do abroad.

This group headed to the Hangbrücher bei Morbach nature preserve in Morbach, Germany, where they hoped to find evidence of the "Morbach Monster." Supposedly, a werewolf was killed in Morbach several centuries ago, and today a candle still burns in Morbach as a warning of sorts. In 1988, this candle went out, and a wolf-like figure was apparently spotted by personnel stationed at a nearby United States air base. The students believed that if they extinguished the flame on said candle, the monster would appear to them in the forest that night.

[At this point, Colonel Harrier asks who would be dumb enough to go into a forest looking for a monster that would kill any humans it encountered. General Adams acts as if he does not hear him.]

The locals did not permit them to go near the candle, but the students headed out into the forest that night anyway. They did not return, but their campsite was located by rangers some weeks later. [Gen. Adams pauses and turns to Gen. Jensen.] General Jensen?

[At this point Gen. Jensen takes over.]

I will spare you the formalities of introducing myself, as I daresay you know who I am already. Without further ado, then, I have here - this. [General Jensen places a briefcase upon the table and opens it. It is full of manila folders.] Each one of you will receive a copy of this briefing today, but before you do, I would like to go over what exactly these folders contain - the artifacts that are the only keys we have to completing our goal.

[End of introductory speech.]

The Files
A travel diary, scorched, with all of the pages torn out.

The travel diary was found lying in the middle of a long-dead fire pit, its pages scattered about it. The outer cover, which was of leather, contained only three readable letters scratched on the inside: the letters A, J, and N. As we were unable to retrieve any information other than vague local reports of the travelers, we can only assume that AJN is - or, rather, was - the owner of this diary.

A set of exactly 212 pages measuring 9 inches high by 6 inches wide, and a bundle of 212 small sticks, all 8 inches in length and one-third of an inch in diameter and all from a type of larch tree not found in that area of the Hangbrücher bei Morbach.

Contrary to the term "scattered" used earlier, a more accurate term for the arrangement of the pages would be just that - an arrangement. The pages, each one positioned exactly 33.740848 feet from the diary cover, formed a perfect circle precisely 106 feet in circumference, arranged so that the bottom corners of each page were touching the bottom corners of the page to either side of it. What was more, each one was blank, pinned to the ground with a small stick, and lying faceup with the bottom of the page facing the fire pit. The top edge of every single page appeared to have been smeared with something green or yellow, and furthermore, each one was stiff and slightly grainy. (A chemical analysis revealed that they had been soaked in salt water.)

Upon closer inspection, each stick, sporting the same greenish-yellow smear on the outward-facing surface, was noted to have been hand-carved into its current shape.

The larch trees from which these branches came are located on private property in Brandenburg, a northeastern German state. Under the guise of members of an unspecified environmental agency, several CIA agents were sent to the location to request permission from the land owners to inspect the trees. The trees themselves, it must be said, are the remainder of the infamous "Forest Swastika," a patch of larch trees carefully arranged so that in the spring and fall, when their leaves change color, a large arboreal swastika would be visible from the sky, yellow against the dark green of the pines around it.

[Note: ''I know I said these pages were blank, but after typing up this document, I received a memo from the boys in the lab stating that they had found the same set of numbers handwritten at the top of every single page, like a title: 102114581944. The purpose of this is unclear.'' - Gen. Jensen]

A video camera, perfectly intact, with a full roll of unused film stock inside.

Nobody seems to have any idea why they changed the film and then didn't use it. See next file.

[Note: ''Another error on my part; I need to wait for a full lab analysis before writing these things up in the future. One single frame of the film stock was used. One. I have since added the new file to the collection. The frame itself is confidential and the viewing of it is, for the moment, limited to myself, Colonel Harrier, and General Adams.'' - Gen. Jensen]

A canister of undeveloped film.

Only about a third of the film stock was used. It has since been developed and contains 20 minutes of audio and video footage of an unknown group of young men, perhaps aged anywhere from 22 to 26. Twelve minutes of this footage simply consists of them setting up camp and exchanging various factoids about local legends, but toward the end, one holds the camera up to film himself and explains that they are the "[NAME REDACTED], [there] to obtain never-before-seen footage of the Morbach monster." The film cuts off here and resumes several seconds later with the same man filming himself speaking while walking. A town can be seen in the background; judging from what is said in the film, the name of the town is Wittlich, the town from which came the legend that brought the group there in the first place.

The camera shifts around to face a shrine upon which rests a single, lit candle. As the group approaches the shrine, several locals passing by stop them and ask something in German (since translated into "what business have you here"). Nobody responds; evidently they did not bother learning even rudimentary German before coming to the country. They are shooed away, and the film cuts off abruptly as the camera operator turns to walk away. Nothing out-of-the-ordinary appears in the footage.

A tape recorder, found with three close-set gouge marks across the face, all of which contained what appears to be some sort of dried green gelatinous material.

The tape within was undamaged. When played, a voice - the voice of the man who had introduced himself in the video footage - was heard:

"June seventh, two-thousand-and-thirteen. It's around eleven-fifty-six PM here in Morbach, and we're hanging around camp waiting for midnight, because that's when everything comes out, isn't it? [Laughs. The laugh is short and nervous.] Anyway, I'll start again when midnight hits. [The tape cuts out for the next three minutes and eighteen seconds.] Okay, it's just struck midnight, and - what was that? [Name redacted], did you hear that? [An indistinct voice responds, and the speaker laughs again.] Right. I'm gonna get the camera out, but I'll leave this on - holy shit! Holy shit! What the fuck is that thing!? [An unearthly scream is heard, accompanied by the sound of people shouting. A human scream punctuates the tape, and the speaker yells in alarm as a splattering noise is heard.] What the hell!? What the hell is that!? [More screaming, then, suddenly, silence, except for the sound of breathing. This sound continues for the next two and a half minutes before a voice is heard again.] Okay...I dunno what the fuck that thing was, but I never want to see anything like that ever again. It killed almost everyone - [Name redacted], you okay, buddy? [A voice replies faintly, and the speaker sighs.] Okay. That's good. You'll be fine. We'll just...we'll just...[A loud thump is heard and the speaker's voice grows indistinct; it sounds as if he has dropped the recorder. The tape is silent for the rest of the tape's duration, except for voices and leaves rustling.]"

A small camera with no film inside, with cracks on the back as if it had been stepped on but sunk into the leaf litter and pine needles below it.

There is nothing significant about this camera other than the fact that it seems to have been modified to use film stock, which would explain why there is a roll of film stock with only one used frame inside of the camera.

[Note: I dunno much about photography and film, but if I were to have a say in this, I'd say that this camera was designed to produce stop-motion films by taking a large volume of photographs in quick succession, like a video camera, but with a long enough delay between photographs so as to produce that "stop-motion" effect. - Col. Harrier]

Several casts of long, clawed footprints.

These were recovered from the campsite. Apparently, they were made by the group as evidence of the Morbach monster that they were searching for, but it is more likely that they are the casts of the footprints of something much more real.

''An ancient fragment of rope, knotted around a tree branch, with the end cut off and frayed. It is coated in dried green slime.''

Is this even related to the case? It might have simply been there and been in the way of whatever created this slime. We aren't sure, but we're not ruling it out.

Ashes from a number of scorch marks around the campsite.

All of the marks were approximately the same size. The ashes are, according to the testing results, simply scorched earth.

In Conclusion
[General Jensen clears his throat.]

Judging from the fact that the same green substance present on some of the artifacts recovered from the abandoned laboratory and described in FAF-1147 was also present on the tape recorder, sticks, and torn-out pages littering the campsite...Subject C is still alive and well in the forests of the Hangbrücher bei Morbach. Last year, as you are all well aware, we located the living descendant of the researcher who commissioned the experiments at the abandoned laboratory, and he has agreed to supply us with his grandfather's files. Last year, as you may not be so aware, we also began working on creating our own version of Subject B. I see disapproval on your faces, but...it has to be done, for the sake of this world. In approximately a month's time, he shall be ready to accompany us.

General Adams?

[General Adams takes over.]

Thank you, General Jensen. Now, to examine some of the other evidence here:

The travel diary was positioned so that its top and bottom were aligned with the southwest/northeast axis. This could be a coincidence, but judging from the footprints we found - the ones that have been cast - whatever made them headed northeast after leaving the campsite. Was the diary aligned so as a hint? A clue? We can only guess.

As for the pages...I may have to let Colonel Harrier explain this one. [General Adams steps back, and Colonel Harrier, slightly surprised, stands up and walks to the head of the table.]

Oh, okay. Well, I guess I should explain this one, then...alright...so, um.... As silly as it might sound, people believe that scattering a ring of salt - an unbroken ring of salt - around an area would protect it from demons. Considering that these pages were soaked in salt water, the sticks may have been there to prevent the pages from blowing away and breaking the ring, and considering that only the outer edges of the pages were smeared with this green slime gelatin stuff, it might have actually worked. [Generals Adams and Jensen both give Colonel Harrier a stern look. This was not part of their speech. Colonel Harrier appears nervous.] Well, it's true. If Subject C had gotten past the pages...well, wouldn't it have gotten this stuff on the inside of the pages too? Anyway, yeah. That's what I think was going on.

As for the sticks...well, I can think of an explanation as to why they might have used sticks from the Forest Swastika...see, Subject C was a prisoner of war, and despite his - its - new form, it might have remembered that the Nazi scientists held the key to its existence and possibly the key to its undoing. Of course, it would be a stretch to say that Subject C recognized where the sticks had come from, so perhaps the choice was simply made by a deluded, traumatized mind. As for how they got ahold of them...I cannot even begin to offer an explanation. The fact that they were all hand-carved like they are suggests to me the workings of a mind frantically trying to restore the world to a plane it understands and soothe itself by completing repetitive actions that it feels will fix something. General Adams?

[General Adams steps forward, looking interested.] Thank you, Colonel. You may be seated. [Colonel Harrier returns to his seat.]

Colonel Harrier brought up a point that I admit I - nor, I think, General Jensen - did not consider. The mystery of the sticks is still, however, how they ended up at that campsite.

Moving on: the single frame of film. As General Jensen wrote, the viewing of this frame is currently limited to the three in charge of this project. However, it will be said that it contained a single, blurry shot of a large and dark figure standing with its arms held out at its sides, facing the photographer across a strip of something light-colored, most likely the ring of pages. As obvious as it may sound, we believe this to be the only known photograph of Subject C.

Finally, the tape recorder. Subject C still seems to have no idea how durable some of these products are. [An uneasy laugh goes around the table, and General Adams smiles grimly.] Perhaps it tried to destroy any record of its own vocalizations. Speaking of which... General Jensen?

[General Jensen removes a briefcase from under the table, places it upon the table, and opens it, holding up a small and very battered tape. General Adams gives another grim smile.]

The boys in the lab developed a more sophisticated sound analysis algorithm, and after analyzing the older tape of Subject B's shouting, we believe that what Subject B was shouting was "its cry." I will not take this for a sure fact, but in a little under two months' time, when we launch our expedition, we shall supply our own version of Subject B with this tape in case we are correct. If not...well, let's just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

You are all dismissed.

[End transcription.]