The Backroads Part 4: Soul Harvest
Read Part One here Read Part Two here Read Part Three here JESSE:[exhausted] Hey again, everyone. You’re all probably wondering if we made it back tothe Paved Streets or what’s going on, so let me just pick up where we left off last time;otherwise I’ll be hopping all over the place and you’ll only end up more confused… I’velearned a bunch of technical stuff that I’m sure some of you have wondered aboutyourselves. First— you may remember that I sent the last update from a library. On the way out, Inoticed a sign that read “occult” and grabbed an armful of books. One title inparticular— Soul Harvest— bore significant relevance to our situation, and I foundmyself reading it after Paula went to sleep. I meant to tell her about it so many timessince, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever find the courage. She already hates me so much, butshe recently began to soften in front of the kids, and I don’t want to lose that progress…[bitter] Just to recap, she and I have both sold our souls. Do you understand what thatmeans? We didn’t… I sold mine weeks— maybe months— before her, but nothingseemed different. I thought I would eventually go to hell, but it didn’t matter; what “hell”could be worse than the Tunnels? [defeated sigh] Look, I’m not sure what I believed before all of this happened, and Idon’t expect you to alter your entire belief system based on the word of a random—possibly deranged— stranger… But I’ve been through too much to just write it off ascoincidence or superstition… According to the book—hell doesn’t even exist… At least not in the traditional sense…There are places like it, but the system doesn’t work like you’d expect. There’s a fewdifferent things that could happen after you die, but reincarnation is the most common. Iwon’t try to explain the other parts, but— when you sell your soul— they don’t take theentire soul right away; they only take a piece of it… Otherwise, you would drop dead onthe spot, and any deal made would be rendered void. This way— when you do die— your soul will automatically seek out its missing piece.Once the buyer has your entire soul, they can do whatever they want; they can fueldarker magics or place your soul into another vessel— one they will then control like apuppet. That vessel could be a dead body, an unborn child, an animal, or even agolem… I don’t know what a golem is, but I know that I don’t want to be one… Ofcourse, the buyer always keeps a small piece of you for themselves— that way, theprocess can be repeated infinitely! If there’s a way to break the cycle, I haven’t learned it yet. The book failed to specify ifwe would remember selling our souls, but I have a sinking feeling the answer is no.Basically, if I don’t find a solution during this lifetime, I’m probably screwed for the rest ofeternity… [paranoid] I’ve been having vivid nightmares of living a perfectly normal life as someoneelse, and then randomly committing an act of terrorism… It makes me wonder about allthese mass murderers and serial killers… How many were truly committed with freewill? How many really saw the demons they were raving about?! Is that my future?!I could go down this rabbit hole forever, and I know Paula would, too… I just don’t see apoint in telling her as long as there’s nothing we can do about it. Maybe there will besome hope for her; Delphi didn’t seem like an evil witch… If nothing else, I don’t thinkshe would use Paula to hurt innocent people… I think I would rather be used as a fuelsource— better to not exist at all… Who knows what that demon has planned for me… [Special Announcement]I was up all night reading that book cover to cover— at least, I think I was… Thebroadcasts are the only way to tell time, and the time varies with each room, so bearwith me… This place is basically hell’s junkyard— just a bunch of strewn about leftoversand remnants from the past… The idea of sneaking back into a Station was terrifying enough, but I had to do it with myfamily… I had to remain calm at the sight of my children interacting with Cleaners… Thethought of them wearing those tiny, white uniforms was too much… We also decided toskip the Hub-run. Failing to enter the Station wasn’t really an option, and Paula wascertain I wouldn’t survive the effort… She was so clinical about it… PAULA:[cold/calculating] If you go to that Hub, you will die; then I’ll have to decide how long wewait before leaving without you. Even if we somehow survived, the kids would alwaysquestion my motives. Besides, we don’t need the supplies; failure isn’t an option. JESSE:… It was hard to argue with her logic, and— if I’m honest with myself— I think she wasmostly right. [bitter/resentful] Except it’s more likely that I would have been injured justbadly enough to hold them back… Sometimes, Paula knows things before they happen; I used to think the magic wasletting her catch glimpses of the future, but that’s not it at all. It took me longer to getthere, but I understand now… It’s common sense… Good, old-fashioned commonsense. When you do something long enough, you begin to see the patterns. Historyrepeats; embrace it— it’ll do wonders for your life. Anyway, back to it— that day was dedicated to drilling contingency plans into the kids.They’ve both matured so much since coming here, but they’re still so young. Ifsomething happens to Paula and I… Well, we prepared them for the possibility as bestwe can; it would be naive not to. The Sunday midnight announcement was our starting gun. No matter what kind of roomyou’re in, Olivia O’Neal will pop up to ask if you’re ready for another run to the hub—even if a screen has to drop out of the ceiling. Her human appearance used to give thekids a semblance of normalcy, but now they’ve seen her “mean face.” Chloe cried fortwo days— those bottomless, black eyes haunt her nightmares; Milo, however, wasn’tphased in the slightest… Maybe we should have let Chloe play more Resident Evil andless MarioKart… We always thought Olivia was giving generic messages to specific sections of theBackroads; it seemed like a “local news report” type of deal, and most of them soundedlike they were pre-recorded… Then, after— I don’t even know how long— this one wassuddenly different… I knew something was wrong when Evil Olivia showed up, but hermessage chilled us. EVIL OLIVIA:[bubbly infomercial] Tidings Tunnel Traipsers! Does labyrinth living got you down? Doyou miss the relative safety of the Paved Streets? Did some nasty witch tell you therewas a way out? Did you forget under what conditions the Stations leave? Did you letyourself believe there was hope? Well, congratulations, because now…[bubbly/threatening] Sirus is watching you… JESSE:When the broadcast ended, we all stared at the blank screen in shock. Thatannouncement was clearly directed towards us— there was no denying it. Part of meregistered Chloe’s cries— they were just so far away, and I failed to act; so did Paula.Every other broadcast had ended with “Sirus be with you…” I’ve always wondered whohe was, but in a hope-I-never-find-out way… Of course, I didn’t have much time to worry about that. I’m ever playing the fool… Ithought my big problem was being stranded at a Station with no ride, but that wasn’teven an issue. The real hurdle is that the Station won’t leave the hangar until someoneruns out of gas… Then there’s the matter of who we would meet on the other side… Icould see the same gears turning in Paula’s head, too; all the while, Milo tried to comforthis heartbroken sister… The poor kid will probably never trust again— ha, like any of uswill. Our spirits were initially dampened, but the more we thought about it, the better ourodds seemed… We never saw Stations before we got the map because the doors sealafter the Cleaners leave. There’s not even a seam; we’d been walking right by them thewhole time. If we could get inside before the doors sealed, we would theoretically besafe until the Station left or the next Sunday rolled around. As for who would be waiting on the other side— we would see them before they saw us.The driver would have to park, and they would probably use the pump first. That gaveus plenty of time to check them out before showing ourselves. We felt the potentialrewards outweighed the risks. The real trick was getting past the Cleaners. We camped out in a 60’s middle school bandhall; it was the first door past the Cleaner’sroute to the Station, and we hoped to sneak inside right as the last one left. The soundof their boots echoing against the stone floor was nerve-racking; even though I knewwhere they were going, it still felt like they were coming for us… Sirus is watching, afterall— but of course they didn’t… One after the other they filed into the hangar, and theoppressing sound of their footsteps faded into the distance; that’s when the real waitbegan. We didn’t know if they would be there for an hour or half of the day, and we couldn’tmiss our chance. Paula and I took turns standing at the cracked door, listening; it’simpossible to tell how long we were actually there, but we were forced to endure a finalround of Evil Olivia before finally leaving. EVIL OLIVIA:[taunting/bubbly] Tidings Tunnel Traipsers! Have you made your Sunday Hub run?There’s still plenty of time to abandon any ill-conceived notions of escape, but youbetter hurry; the clock is ticking, Palmer family… And don’t forget…[threatening] Sirus is watching you… JESSE:You gotta give credit where it’s due; when the broadcast started, Paula and I shared aknowing look— a silent agreement that said her words couldn’t affect us… But then shesaid our names… Yea, it was already obvious we were getting personalizedannouncements— it’s just… I don’t know— it’s just different to be called out by name…Our resolve was thoroughly shaken, but not enough to change our minds… Besides,Olivia was trying to set us up. It was only ten minutes before we finally heard theCleaners leave the Station— it was absolutely too late for a Hub-run… We didn’t know how long the hanger doors would stay open, so we had to go right ontheir heels… I poked my head out to see a dozen Cleaners walking away from theStation— all staring straight ahead like good little soldiers. Milo took a position directlybehind me, and Paula carried Chloe in back; if anything went wrong, they were going tomake a run for it while I bought as much time as possible. In the Tunnels, guns are usually a death sentence rather than life saver. The sound of ashot fired will bring any demons in the vicinity straight to your location… Though, if youronly goal is to buy time for others to escape— well— in that case it’s nice to havearound for emergencies. We moved straight into the hangar doors just as they wereclosing; one second later, and I would have been crushed… [Station Staycation]Any fear was instantly negated by the security felt in seeing those heavy, metal doorsseal shut; we’d made it… We were closed off from the rest of the Tunnels; there wereno demons or Cleaners— just us and a Station full of supplies… I was almost afraid toturn and see which kind it was. I would’ve been grateful for a Paved Street Station;that’s the one I really wanted… Sure, I’ve never been more desperate for a drink in mylife— but it wasn’t worth the price. I didn’t want my family anywhere near those dirtroads— or worse… Can you believe that— despite how reasonable I’ve sounded thus far— part of me trulybelieved we were home free? I thought we would turn to see a tiny, rundown station andbe grateful for its water and soup; we would be grateful to stay in one place… Then,we would eventually find ourselves back on the Paved Streets, where I intended to killwhoever walked inside… Spare me your judgments; you know what desperation does to the brain… Imagine themost desperate moment of your life— even if you’ve been to war, I bet your childrenweren’t at your side— I bet your partner wasn’t dragged there against their will, and youalmost certainly weren’t forced to barter with your literal soul, were you? If so, I’d love tochat… But it’s not a contest… Trauma is trauma, and we all react to it differently. If you guys know one thing about me– it’s that I’m always wrong. We had found our wayinto a Grass Trails Station, and I spent each day terrified that we would suddenly findourselves back in that hellish landscape— or that the infamous Sirus would suddenlyappear… But we actually had a great week compared to what we were used to. Ofcourse, we were still forced to endure Olivia’s special announcements… They came on three times a day, every day; that’s how it worked the other time I stayedin a Station, but it was always so random in the Tunnels— because of the time changes.We were terrified the first time we heard one; Olivia strongly indicated that the Hangerdoors wouldn’t protect us against Sirus— but no one ever came. We eventually learnedto ignore the threats all together. You can only be told the boogeyman is coming to getyou so many times before you stop believing it… Doug said the demon who ruled thisplace moved on to another game; I was beginning to think Olivia was just bored andmissed her master… Yea, that wasn’t it… Sorry— anyway— we didn’t actually make it to the Backroads until our fifth try. EverySaturday night, we stripped naked, put our possessions in a pile, and allowed ourselvesto be scanned by the Cleaners before quickly disappearing into the Tunnels… Paulawas able to conceal the map— don’t worry about how— but with it, we fell back into ourold routine until we could try again. The second and third attempts landed us at a DirtRoads Stations— and the fourth attempt was the one to finally land us in a Paved StreetStation; water and soup were never so delicious. In all that time, never once were wetaken up to the Backroads; we were devastated… So devastated that we almost took adeadly risk— we wanted to stay for another week… The Cleaners came in as usual, but the one who approached me did so with both handsout, palms up… It was one of those imposters that Doug told me about. While scanningme with his Geiger counter thing, a small, crumpled piece of paper fell from his hand,and I quickly secured it with my foot— only bending to retrieve it once he turned away.I knew we were safe as long as we played along, but it never gets easier. Neither doesfacing the Tunnels, though, we had initially hoped that would no longer be necessary.Now that we’d found a Paved Streets exit, we didn’t want to lose it, but that notechanged everything… I read it the moment we left the hanger; it said, “DANGER” in all caps followed by, “ademon is coming.” At the bottom were directions to a room further down the tunnel andinstructions detailing how to spot and open a door… It also said “friends are waiting.” [New Friends]I remembered Doug essentially vouching for the fake Cleaners, but my trust issueshave multiplied exponentially since my first day in the Tunnels. Even so, I felt that if hewere genuinely trying to help, it was only because he had no way of knowing we weren’tnew to the game. He would have assumed we were fresh from the Roads and probablystill in shock. “A demon is coming,” was a fine way to ensure a fast reaction withminimal questioning— especially for anyone who’s seen the Stranded… I just didn’t see any reason to meet with him when we already had a perfectly fine planin place. We were going to hide around the corner and sneak back in just like any otherSunday, but Paula had one of her “feelings.” She said coming right back in would be tooeasy, and that the Tunnels didn’t do “easy.” She was right again… I should have seen itcoming, too; either way— we dodged a bullet. We agreed to hear the man out, but we were keeping the escape plan to ourselves. Nomatter how well-intentioned he may be— we didn’t know him— we couldn’t risk tyingourselves to a stranger. Proceeding down the Tunnel, we counted six doors on the leftand entered the seventh. A short, round woman with gray hair was startled by ourappearance, but she ushered us inside without hesitation— a look of pity plain on herface as she noticed the kids. New clothes were given to us, and we were allowed to dress before joining the groupfurther in. Five others were spread around a rundown disco club; four men and onewoman— all sharing the same sorrowful stare… A short, hairy man came to stand justbehind the old lady. They could have been siblings for their similarities, but the way theylooked at one another said it was more… We later learned their names were Mike andMarian, but there was no time to chat until we were relocated to their backup meetingplace— the living room of an abandoned crack den by the looks and smell of it… Once there, Mike explained the rules of the Tunnel while we waited for the rest of theirgroup to arrive. I didn’t expect to learn anything new; I was just aggravated aboutwasting time, but there’s more to those Geiger counter wands than we realized. Theyscan for organic material, and – when found – the inorganic materials (such as clothes)are separated. The machines transmit results to the Main Office in real time… Thatmeans any demons that were still roaming around would have been alerted to ourpresence… Paula never missed a beat; no one ever suspected this wasn’t our first time. PAULA:[scared/confused] Demons?! You mean those sickly, starved people we saw in thewoods? They attacked us the first night we were lost, but they fled as soon as we foughtback… What do they want with us?! MIKE:[calm/sympathetic] Those were the Stranded; don’t worry about them— you won’t seeany down here. I mean actual demons, like what you see in horror movies… We don’thave time to give you the full story, but— more likely than not— there’s one looking foryou as we speak. It’s ok; they won’t find you now, and you’ll learn the ropes fast oncewe start moving in earnest. We’ve worked out a foolproof system— haven’t lost a life inover a year! PAULA:[scared/confused] But what do they want? What happens if they do catch us? What doyou mean, system? MIKE:[calm/sympathetic] It’s best not to discuss the nitty gritty in front of the young’uns. I knowthis is a lot to take in, but there are rules to living down here— a system— and if youfollow the rules, you can stay alive. There’s power in numbers; we take turns makingHub-runs and everyone pulls their weight with the chores… There’s other kids in ourgroup, too. You’ll meet them when we get back to base. I’m sure our guys will be hereany minute… If not, we’ll have to leave without them… PAULA:[scared/cautious] That sounds like a fine way of living— and we thank you for theorientation— but we just want to go home. Maybe if—[the muffled screams of several men and their racing footsteps are heard in theTunnels— growing louder as they draw closer; then all noises are abruptly silenced withthe wet sound of a violent collision, tearing flesh, and breaking bones] JESSE:Everyone froze at the horrific sounds coming from the Tunnels, but— the instant all fellsilent— everything happened very fast. Mike’s group began to move towards the rearexit as he scooped Chloe into his arms and rushed to take the lead while the rest closedin around him— effectively blocking us from our daughter. They countered our protestsby insisting we follow along… They showed no hesitation in leaving the rest of theirparty for dead… It didn’t inspire much faith in their “perfect system…” We followed them through half-a-dozen Tunnels and rooms before Paula turned toshoot me a look that demanded action. She was thinking the same as myself— that ifthey got us back to their “base” there was no telling how long it would take to escape…If we even lived long enough to try… My own humanity is further gone than I thought… Ididn’t hesitate; now that the shock of hearing those men die had started to fade, I wasfree to feel the full fury of what these people were trying to do… [clearly upset] They knew we didn’t want to go with them… But they couldn’t acceptthat, so they snatched our kid… Well, everything that happened from that point on wastheir fault— not mine! You see that I didn’t have a choice, right?! I’m sorry… I know youunderstand. You’ve been with me from the beginning… You’re the only ones I can reallycount on now. It’s just… Well, you spend enough time thinking about anything, and it’sliable to get under your skin, right? [disassociating/disbelief] The younger female was trailing the end of the pack, and—before I knew it— I had a fistful of that poor girl’s hair, dragging her backwards. Herscream echoed through the corridor, drowning Paula’s surprised gasp as I positionedmyself to break the woman’s neck with one easy twist if they didn’t release Chloe… Thedesperation in Mike’s voice… I’ve heard it in my own… I wonder how young she actuallywas… MIKE:[desperately struggling to speak calmly] Wait! You don’t understand what’s happening; Iswear, we’re only trying to help. You can’t possibly understand the danger we’re in. Wehaven’t gone far enough… All that screaming— it knows exactly where we are now![smells something awful/lowers voice] Oh, no… Do you smell that? It’s almost here. Youwant to kill your family? Fine! [Mike drops Chloe, and she runs to her mother; at the same instant, a door between thetwo parties bursts open] JESSE:[disassociating/disbelief] The relief I felt at the sight of Chloe running safely back intoPaula’s arms was cut short before I could release my hostage. A door directly betweenus and Mike’s group opened to reveal my worst nightmare stepping into the dim tunnellight. My actions were completely automatic; it was as if someone else were controlling mybody, and I was simply viewing the events as a third party… So many things happenedat once… I was semi-aware of the screaming taking place behind the demon— with allthat commotion, you’d think it would have focused its attention in their direction, but itseemed to only have eyes for us… It was able to imitate humans better than the deranged, feral ones you usually see inthe Tunnels— like the one who bought my soul— only… I don’t know… I don’t want tosay I could feel his aura— more like this demon was so evil, that it seeped out of hisbody in the form of heat waves; you could physically see it. The dim lighting masked parts of his face in shadow but what I could see appeared tohave no skin. He was completely red and charred as if all the skin had been burnedaway. There was no hair, his eyes were just glowing, red-hot coals, and his peeled-backlips revealed thin, needle-point fangs… From the shoulders down, he was covered witha brown, tattered robe… Just glancing into those eyes made me feel as if I would spontaneously erupt intoflames; I was soaked in sweat as instinct took full merciless and unapologetic control ofmy body… And I shoved that poor girl straight into the monster before turning to followmy already fleeing family through the closest door… The symphony of screams thatechoed behind us reached new, unimaginable heights… I didn’t dare look back, but thesound that haunts me seemed very much like that of a skull being crushed… When I dream, I see that thing’s hands on either side of the girl’s head— I don’t evenknow her name— just the sound of her screams being abruptly silenced as those gianthands begin to squeeze, followed by that god awful crunch. Then came the sounds ofher family… Screams of terror— of anguish— the gunshots… Paula led us away; she wasn’t using the map— we lost any chance of getting into aStation that day… We just wanted to gain as much distance as possible, so we didn’tstop until several hours later… It was another Planet Fitness… Have I told you howmany of those we find? It’s insane— Anyway, that was probably the hardest week we ever had in the Tunnels. We had noHub supplies— just the clothes on our backs and whatever resources we came across.I risked more than one Honeytrap to keep us going; they usually had some kind ofsnacks and water… But it was all worth it, because— at the end of that week— wefound our way inside the fifth and final Starion hangar! [Paved Street Paradise]We spent four nights in the hangar before being suddenly blinded by sunlight pouring inthrough the windows. We were topside; we all cried silent tears of joy, but it was tooearly to celebrate. Knowing what had to come next, Paula took the kids behind thecounter while I crept toward the entrance… One look outside, and I knew all of our planswere worthless. Parked at the pump was an old, blue van with handicap tags; its back doors were wideopen as a middle-aged woman in purple scrubs assisted an elderly man in a wheelchair.I could hear Olivia’s voice playing through the speakers, but neither of the newcomersseemed to be paying attention. I called Paula over as the van’s lift lowered the man onto the ground, and she saw theproblem immediately… We couldn’t very well just kill them and take their van, could we?Was it really so different than if it would have been another family— or another Rob?!Well? I’m genuinely asking… I can’t tell right from wrong anymore. Considering I don’thave a soul, I don’t think it matters, anyway. What’s the point if I’m just some demon’sproperty? At least Paula knows who she belongs to… [exhausted] I’ve got to stop obsessing over that… In the end we decided to make nice with the newcomers. Mr. Sanders was 83, barelylucid, and had all of 6 months to live, while his nurse, Jenny, was a single mother withthree kids. It took some doing to convince her what this place was. She wastransporting Mr. Sanders to an end-of-life care facility when they got, “a little turnedaround,” as she put it. She hadn’t been on the road long enough to suspect anythingwas wrong— and she definitely thought we were crazy— but when she couldn’t call thepolice, her office, or her kids, she became a little more receptive to our story. Not by much— in the end, we still had to take the old man hostage to keep her in oneplace… It reminded me of how Mike took off with Chloe… The kids helped put Jenny atease, but— believe it or not— it was Olivia’s announcement that finally convinced hershe wasn’t in Kansas anymore. There were no wires running to those old speakers—they shouldn’t have worked, and Olivia shouldn’t have known our names… NICE OLIVIA:[impressed/bubbly] Well hello again Station Squatters! We would like to give a specialshout-out to the Palmer family— the first ones to ever return from the MaintenanceTunnels! Of course, no one has ever been willing to make the sacrifices they have,either. Just think, Mike and his little crusaders had been stealing our Cleaner Recruitsfor nearly a decade, but not anymore! You threw the leader’s daughter into our Master’sarms, and, now, a civil war has broken out amongst the rest!Sirus can’t wait to see you again… JESSE:We all stared at the speakers in shocked silence, absorbing those words. We’ll never besure if Mike and Marian were truly good people, or if Olivia’s message was simply moremind games, but a feeling in the pit of my stomach tells me she didn’t have to fake thatone… It’s the way he dropped Chloe so quickly— as if it truly had been for no one’sbenefit but our own. The second it put his own people in danger, he didn’t care what wedid… That’s the problem with life in the Tunnels… You don’t have the luxury of askingquestions first… Those have to come later… I hope our fear of repeating that mistake hasn’t caused us to make an even bigger oneby allowing the old man and his nurse to live, but— if worse comes to worst— theywon’t exactly be hard to handle… Especially if we take care of the woman first. That’sjust how we have to think now… Well, I guess this is enough for one update… Now that Jenny believes us, she was kindenough to lend me her phone; I have to believe this message will reach you as theothers have… I wish I was leaving off with something a little more hopeful in the way ofgetting home, but the most important thing is— we’re out of those god damn Tunnels!No matter what, we’re never going back there again! I’d rather die than suffer throughone more Hub-run. Besides, there’s always the chance of help from the outside…Right? Hey, I don’t want any of you to even think about trying to come here— but if you happento have police or military connections… Now they might be able to rig something up, yaknow? Maybe they could bring a few tanks and drones down here— a few missilelaunchers for those monsters in the Grass Trails… You never know what’ll happen if youcan survive long enough, and surviving on the Paved Streets is a walk in the park onceyou’ve endured the Maintenance Tunnels. I’ll try not to keep you guys waiting so long for the next one. Until then, wish us luck! Credit: Page Turner Official Site Please Note the Author of this Creepypasta does NOT give permission for it to be used for any podcasts or narrations Copyright Statement: Unless explicitly stated, all stories published on Creepypasta.com are the property of (and under copyright to) their respective authors, and may not be narrated or performed under any circumstance.