Chapter Fifteen - Carnivore Conspiracies
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Mack’s residence, East Dallas Mack was anxious to begin his investigation into the Birthday Incident, as he had promised Amanda he would. He had already attempted to track down Jake’s in-car video and body-worn camera video from that date to see if any of the events had been captured. These video files had already been opened and deleted, as had the ten-second video clips recorded each time Jake’s taser was fired.
Mack had one last source to check for any possible evidence.
On the day of the Birthday Incident, after receiving the call from Jake and responding to Holly’s house, Mack went inside and was quickly halted and told to leave by the FBI. Mack turned around and quickly grabbed a small Panasonic digital video camera that was sitting on a living room bookshelf. The red recording light appeared to be on, and Mack abruptly snatched the device with his left hand, hiding it within his palm as he walked straight outside to his vehicle and drove away.
Mack had not mentioned to anyone that he possessed this object. He had not reviewed any of the recorded footage earlier out of fear that he would see something he did not wish to see. He previously thought he could not bear to watch Jake slaying Holly, Mack’s innocent, lovely, girlfriend.
But now he was ready to watch and learn what really happened that day. The anxious young lawman turned on the Panasonic camcorder and set it to play mode. He backed the recording up to the beginning of the most recent recording, which was time stamped February 8th. It was the date of the Birthday Incident.
That recording started at 11:01 a.m., and the shot was pointed directly at baby Carson sitting in his highchair. The camera angle never changed, the picture never zoomed or panned out, and it was apparent that someone had just set the camera on the bookshelf, pushed record, and left it there.
The toddler was fussy and cranky. Perhaps he was not enjoying the way his pointed cardboard Spiderman birthday hat with the tight rubber band felt strapped around his chin. A small paper plate with a rectangular wedge of chocolate birthday cake lie on the tray in front of Carson. But he seemed much too distracted by something outside of the camera shot to be sampling the confection.
Suddenly at 11:10:07 a.m., disturbing sounds emerged from the near background. Mack listened closely and heard what could best be described as loud growling and moans. These sounds were followed by what he recognized as Holly’s voice yelling, “Rich!! Stop it!!!”
Holly entered the picture briefly and stood beside Carson, as if trying to shield him from harm. She wore a white jogging bra beneath blue coveralls, her shoulder length dirty blonde hair worn up in a bun and held together with a baby blue scrunchie.
A greenish colored pair of arms and hands, possibly belonging to Rich, were seen reaching for Holly. She jumped backward to avoid being grasped, and her upper torso bumped into the highchair, knocking it onto its side.
Carson screamed bloody murder as he remained strapped into the seat but was now hanging by the restraints. Holly stood up, screaming for her life, and was jerked backward when the same grotesque set of hands snatched her up by her hair and pulled her out of the video shot.
Over the next few minutes, more stumbling around and groaning was audible. Holly’s voice again yelled out from another room, begging “Rich – STOP!!” Chewing, munching, and slurping sounds followed. Then there were long moments of silence. Only Carson hanging sideways in his chair, squirming and crying, was present on the recording until 12:35 p.m. At that time, the voice of Jake Hathaway was heard coming from the direction of the front entryway.
“Hello? It’s me, Jake where is everyone?” Mack continued to watch the video as Jake appeared on screen, in uniform and without Roscoe. Carson cried harder and louder as Jake noticed the tipped over highchair and began to unstrap his nephew. Growling and snarling noises became apparent, and Sgt. Hathaway looked to his right, then stood up. An overwhelming look of fear and surprise was displayed on his face.
Jake stumbled backward and tripped over the seat legs, falling back onto the tiled floor. A possibly female creature wearing tattered blue coveralls over a bloody and black substance covered jogging bra, grabbed Jake’s arm.
Mack focused his eyes intently on the small screen. Is that - was that - Holly? OH, MY GODDD!! The shecreature’s jaws were opening and closing, intent on biting Jake. Jake was able to avoid being chomped on the face but was unable to elude the strong beast biting him deeply on his right shoulder. Blood gushed out of the severed limb.
The injured sergeant stumbled out of the picture. This was followed by the obvious sounds of a physical struggle and combat. Off camera the combined animal-like grunts and sounds of warfare continued until a loud THUKKKK!! sound was followed by a THUMPPPP!!
Jake’s heavy breathing and gasping for air followed. Then once again the images of Carson squirming in his rolled over seat continued for about eight more minutes. Jake reemerged on the screen, appearing exhausted, shaken, and in a great deal of pain. Jake set Carson free and cradled him in his arms as he walked out of the frame.
Within fifteen minutes, FBI agent Camacho appeared on the recording. Mack recognized him from his testimony in Jake’s criminal trial. Other agents arrived and began moving items around and covering stuff up. Soon afterwards, Mack showed up on scene and swiped the camera from the bookshelf as he was escorted back out.
McElroy sat shocked at what his eyes and ears had just been exposed to. Jake was not a murderer, and that was not Holly that was trying to eat him. Maybe at one time that creature was Holly, but not by the time Jake arrived. So, if Holly was no longer herself, there’s a good chance that Rich wasn’t himself either.
The inquisitive investigator in Mr. McElroy then decided to review chronologically all previous recordings on the camcorder. He was hoping to find some further evidence in the sequence of events leading up to the birthday.
The earliest recording on the camera was of a rock concert at the Providence Civic Center in January from two years earlier.
Rich must have snuck his camera into the event somehow and recorded portions of the performances by the bands White Lion, Dokken, and Aerosmith. The next recording on the camcorder was dated March 11th, the year before the Birthday Incident.
Mack pushed play and watched intently as a disheveled Richard Hathaway appeared in the video.
His eyes were bloodshot, his hair was matted down flat. In places, hair from his head appeared stuck to his face either with dried vomit or some other similar substance.
Rich was alone in the recording, and he appeared to be outdoors. The specific filming location was unclear. Rich was barely dressed, wearing only a pair of underwear boxer shorts that were dirty and soiled.
He began to speak slowly, with a voice that was weak and wobbling.
“HHHollyyyy… ahem… “(clearing his throat) …
“Holly. I want …. you to know …. how sorry I am about … my behavior … lately. You
… didn’t sign up ... for this, and you have no idea …. what you have gotten yourself into by ... being with me. It’s all my fault though …for never telling you… how were you supposed to … know?”
The barely audible recording continued as Jake’s younger brother took a pack of Camel cigarettes he clutched in his left hand and lightly tamped the box onto the ground. He continued tapping to pack the smokes tightly. Then he removed one cigarette from the pack. Rich lit the Camel and began smoking away as he continued his recording. He then began to discuss his vacation in Daytona Beach, Florida, during a spring break from college.
“It was about four in the morning…I was still drunk from the kegga we had that night… I left the beach house to go for a walk … and burn a couple Camels. It was beautiful outside … probably about 70 degrees, slight ...breeze blowing through the palm trees. So, I’m walkin’… down the street, and a white van pulls up. These two…. titanic friggin’ dudes all in black, with their faces covered with ski masks, jump out of the back. They jumped me, be
at …my ass, then threw me …in the backof the van.”
Rich took a couple drags before resuming his tale and recounting what he observed upon awakening.
“I musta…lost consciousness in the vehicle, ‘cause I don’t remember anything… until I woke up …who knows how much later. My eyes opened… and Iwas lying on my back… on a gurney or hospital bed of some sort. I noticed about twenty… other people around me … also lying on the same beds. Some men, some… women, of all different races and ethnicity.
“They all appeared to be sleeping or dead. Then I noticed …. they were all hooked up to some… kind of intravenous lines, connected to a bag filled with a dark red liquid. I also discovered I had the same … tubes hooked up to my right arm, a similar red …liquid being pumped into me.
“I tried to sit up straight, but my mobility was restricted. It was… then that I realized - I was shackled to the bed with leather cuff restraints around my wrists and ankles.” Mack sat still- fascinated, watching the recording of a ruffled Rich.
Rich then finished his cigarette and rubbed it out on the dirt ground beside him before continuing his tale.
“I was very groggy... from the drugs, and I had no idea where I was… but I knew that this was not a normal …hospital or health care facility. I pulled the tube out of my vein, causing the… red fluid from the tube to spill all over me and onto the white tiled floor.
“A fifty-something year old … Middle Eastern man in scrubs then came in at the far end of the room and I … acted as if I were comatose or dead, whatever state the others were in.
“Luckily the guy didn’t stay long … then as soon as he left the room, I was able to shift my weight to the edge of my gurney, making it jump, inching … closer to a nearby supply cart. Even with my wrist secured, I was … able to reach over with my left hand and grab a disposable plastic handled green … scalpel.
“I stuck the blade from the scalpel into the keyhole … on my left wrist shackle, utilizing it like a key to unlock the clasp and free my left arm, then … the right arm and ankle shackles.”
The video clip continued, with Rich seeming more delirious as it progressed. He began to talk about escaping out of the “bright, white room” and into an office cubicle type section of the building. He said he then went out into the parking lot and into the night. He described feeling weak and dizzy, barely able to walk. He was hiding in a nearby wooded area as security guards with flashlights shining and guns drawn began to flood the immediate vicinity.
Before long, military looking vehicles in their drab olive-green paint jobs began arriving and searching as well.
The hunted one could hear the blaring portable radios of those searching for him, with an unknown person on the other end who was shouting.
“Has the patient been located yet? Someone tellme if we have him yet!!” Another voice replied, “No, sir. Not yet.”
The leader’s voice returned, sounding displeased with the predicament. He instructed all of the staff: “shut the place down now! Terminate all of the patients and burn the facility down!!”
Rich paused, his story interrupted by a low-flying police helicopter with searchlight, passing above.
“Shhhh!! Don’t let them hear you!” Rich said into the camera as if talking to an actual person by his side.
After the copter was out of earshot, Rich resumed his video confession. He described hiding in a tree while seeing the entire facility go up in flames. Rich noticed all the security and military people were out of the proximity now. They were probably still looking for him, but thinking he was further away.
Rich said he began thinking about all the other people he saw strapped down to their beds. Some were unable to flee the smoke and flames within, so Rich ran back inside. He hid behind the bushes beside the building as scores of fleeing staff members cloaked in scrubs headed for their cars.
They obviously were eager to get the hell out of there before the place blew up or before the police arrived. Or both. Awestruck, Mack eagerly continued to view the recording as Rich concluded his story: “I went inside … expecting to find all of the other bedridden ones murdered like … the voice had instructed, but they were all still alive. I guess the staff decided … the patients were going to burn to death anyways … since they were all restrained to their beds, so they didn’t kill them first like instructed. They just smashed chemical bottles all over and … lit the place on fire.
“I was able … to free some of the other people, not sure exactly how many … some were unconscious, and I had to carry them out fireman style over my shoulder. Others who were in better shape, I … told them to help me free others. Some of them helped, others just hauled ass.
“Anyways, Holly… It turns out I was in that hellhole for about eight days. I’m not sure what … they did to me back there, but at least whoever… they don’t know who I am, because I left my ID back in the … beach house and I had nothing in my possession to identify me. I never told any of my … buddies what happened to me either – when they questioned where I went that week, I told them I met some girl and … spent the week with her.
“I tried to resume my … normal life when I returned to Rhode Island, but I could not study or work. I kept seeing … my buddies from the trip. It brought back those horrible memories. So, I moved down here to Texas to get a clean start...”
Rich continued to duck down in the shadows and to look all around him as he wrapped up his message for Holly.
“So, babe, I need to cut to the chase because they are getting closer. I can’t go back to my job at DQ, because ‘they’ know … I work there now. You are probably wondering who ‘they’ are… so am I. ‘They’ could be military people or CIA or something, but whoever… those people are, they’re somehow connected to the lab in Florida.
“And somehow, they found me, and have … been following me home from work the last few nights. There are several of them, and they have a few different cars…. I know it’s just a matter of time … until they get me and kill me.
“It’s been three years since Daytona, and I know … I had a hard time with what happened to me at first … but I thought maybe it was all a mental thing. I really thought a change of scenery; coming to Texas … would fix me.
“But it didn’t. I have changed, Holly – I swear I wasn’t always like this. I’m sorry I got violent with you at times, lost my temper so often. At times I … feel kind of inhuman, more like an animal. Lately I have been conflicted, thoughts of … killing and murder run through my mind. An overwhelming desire to eat human flesh ...
“You can see it’s essential for me to leave. I can’t risk anything happening to you or … the kids, so it’s for the best that I … leave you alone. You must understand -I don’t want to be apart from you. I love you so much!”
The recording concluded and was followed by blackness and static. Mack wondered how the camera and the recording made their way back to Holly’s house if Rich really had left with them that night.
If Mack had not seen the birthday video, he would have had to question the validity of just about everything he had just seen on Rich’s last video diary. But knowing what Mack knew now, anything at all was possible.
There were no further recordings on the digital camera. Having reviewed the clips and knowing now what he knew, Mack began to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Rich and Holly had changed into something like … zombies. As crazy as that seemed, Mack could not better define what he saw with his own eyes. The video of the birthday incident lined up perfectly with what Mack knew of the incident from Jake’s cell phone call as Jake left that day. The video also corroborated what Mack saw with his own eyes when he arrived at Holly’s house. Anyone else watching this birthday clip might have assumed they were watching a scene from a low budget horror film.
This meant that Jake was innocent of murder. This should have been obvious to the feds who had access to Rich and Holly’s bodies, as well as all of the evidence which supported the
fact that this was not a premeditated murder.
Mack could not comprehend why the FBI was not treating this case as an obvious example of self-defense. Perhaps some military or government types had been stalking Rich in his final days leading up to the birthday incident.
It’s possible they were planning on abducting and/or killing him so he could not talk about what had happened to him at that Florida lab just three years earlier.
But Rich changed to a zombie before they got to him.
That would explain why the FBI was able to respond to the birthday incident within minutes. They were possibly already in the area trying to hunt Rich down. Then when Holly ended up dead as well, they had no choice but to frame the first person who showed up, Jake, for the incident. They made it appear as though this was a domestic type murder scene. All so that they could cover up the fact that two people had turned into zombies as a result of some crazy government laboratory experiments.
What Mack struggled with and made no sense to him was the whole laboratory and experiments scenario. Why would the government be abducting and then conducting experiments on innocent people? What could they possibly hope to accomplish by turning healthy humans into hungry, human-eating cannibals?
Previously Mack had been guilt ridden about not revealing to the court the fact that it was he who had been in a relationship with Holly, not Jake. For the prosecutor had alleged that when Holly broke it off with Jake, Jake sought revenge. He went to her house to slay Holly and killed Rich when he showed up to rescue her.
But now, considering this new information obtained through his investigation, Mack wondered what would have happened if he had spoken out about this relationship. As crazy as things have been, this information may have just encouraged the prosecutor to name Mack as an accomplice to the murders. After all, Mack was the second person on scene, not counting the feds.
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