Ghost Mode

What would you do with eternity?

Think about it.

No, really.

What would you do if you could go anywhere, do anything? Never aging, never hurtin'?

There is, of course, a catch.

You'd have to die first.

Now, my dear, death has many flavors. The nature of your life, how you die, all add a certain je ne sais quoi to the big ol' stew of your after life experience. You like that? Je. Ne. Sais. Quoi. It's en Francais.

I've been practicin'!

...

Bah, lighten up, flesh suit. Not everything has to be so serious.

What was I sayin'.

Right. Was explaining death flavors.

So, those stuck in life, get stuck in death. Unable to move past a threshold, a barrier. They're bound spirits. Sometimes to a home. Sometimes a person. Could be most anything. You can tell they're bound though, hard to mistake those miserable eyes, the slow gait.

Now, others don't stick around at all. Not really sure where they float off too. Space? Some other after life? Couldn't tell ya.

Me? I died way back. Headin' west, towards a land of gold and new beginnings.

That was our dream. Me and Mary...

Eh... Didn't pan out, obviously.

No. No details. Let's just say y'all have it luckier than you know with your big water cleaning contraptions. What are they called? Right, treatment plants. Kinda expected actual plants, but y'all keep naming things weird.

I toured one last month. I think it was a month. Feels like a month. That's where I got the idea for this latest venture.

Overheard some twenty somethings--it's amazin' how long y'all get to live these days, too many of y'all be taking that for granted, it's sad to see. Anyways, sorry, not here to preach. So, I overheard these two men talkin' about raiding Area 51.

You know Area 51, I'm sure: Nevada desert, military base, secret aliens--that one.

Well, curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to head on down meself and check out the hype.

So there I am, right? Trekked all the way from Washington down through California, and way far out into the desert. Like I said, took a month.

Wasn't pleasant either. Had to avoid some nasty spirits on the way through. Almost got chomped at least twice.

Oh yeah, might have been exaggerating a bit with the eternity thing. Spirits, err, no real pleasant way to say this. We eat other spirits to stay strong, keep our wits about us. Go too long without eating, and you fade out, and that's it. But eat the wrong things, and you go a bit mad. I try to stick to fresh bugs, fresh animals, but only the dumb ones.

Never other humans, never pigs or dogs.

Oh, cats?

Yeah, no way I could eat a cat, even if I wanted to. Pretty sure a cat is what almost got me, near abouts Palm Springs.

But you don't care 'bout none of that, let's get back to the story, yeah?

So there I was, right at the fence line. Pass through the fence, no problem.

I float up to the facility, brutal concrete thing, big double hangar door. It was cut into a hill, with an airfield on top of the hill. Some kinda underground entrance. Now, as a rule, I try to stay above ground whenever possible.

No real reason, just feel deep down like it would be easy to get trapped.

Guess I was right.

Anyways, I swallow my fear and go through the doors. I'm not one inch through, and suddenly I hear alarms blaring. "Code 62! Code 62! Beep beep! Uh oh! There's a ghost!"

Just loud as all get out.

Y'all really threw me a welcome, let me tell ya.

So here I am, freaking out a bit, obviously. I turn around, and I can't get out. Don't know what y'all did, but I couldn't go through the doors, couldn't go through the ceiling, just like I can't go through these walls.

You know the rest.

I flew about the facility looking for a way out before some guys in fatigues shot me with this weird laser, my brain scrambles, and next thing I know I'm stuck in this room, and you're askin' me what I'm doing here.

Hmmm?

You're saying I saw somethin'?

Lady, I'm tellin' ya. I was far too concerned with escaping. Travelin' and learnin' and seein' the world is way too important to risk on catchin' a quick peek at some aliens.

So there are aliens!

Okay, well, you shouldn't have done told me that. Tell ya what. You just let me go and we'll call it all even. Won't tell your bosses. Won't tell anyone.

What do you mean? Of course that's how that works. You let me out. You never hear from me again. Got no one to talk to, this is the most I've talked since me and Mary were...

...

No. Not talking about that.

...

Fine.

I'll tell you what I saw.

I saw you. Not you, you, but what you're going to be. You think you're gonna be done here when ya die?

Nah, y'all take this secrecy nonsense way too serious. This base is filled up with bound spirits. Plenty to keep me plump for a long, long while.

My rule about eatin' humans? Well. We all make exceptions when we gotta.

So the way I see it, I've got forever, but this place don't.

One way or another, I'm leaving here. Just a question of how many of your colleagues I'll need to eat in the interim.

Guess I'll see ya soon.