Fun fact: DD only writes after 1am in the morning, this explains a lot.

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A long time ago...


"Hey c'mon! What are you? Rabbits or shellians?" Adrian heard the yell and fumed under his hard hat. "Fine for you ya blowhard; you're not the one risking life and limb!" Technically that wasn't true Adrian knew, but still this was risky and boring work. He stared at the pile of rubble in front of him, then at the hillside it was half buried in. Judging by the shape of the former building it had been some sort of barracks; so it probably didn't have anything worth salvaging in it, but you never knew, once he'd happened upon a stash of jewels in an abandoned kitchen, and there were stories of guys striking it lucky in this business. He set the explosive charge and stepped back. That was all of them. He scrabbled over the already evacuated rubble to the safety zone, called out the warning signal and detonated the charges.

There was the usual loud boom and the building partially collapsed. The machines moved in to salvage any metallic fragments found. Amidst the noise and commotion Adrian moved in, now was the perfect time to scavenge anything valuable. Technically of course he was supposed to report any finds, but why should other people benefit from his hard work? Some of the things you found were valuable too; there was the inevitable gold and jewels, and plenty of spent ammunition, not surprising considering they were digging up an old war zone, but some of the most valuable stuff were the antiques; ornaments, jewelry even odd things like old jam jars; after a hundred and fifty years in the ground they were suddenly worth a lot to the right people.

(-); the building had been filled with debris; all the floors had collapsed; probably due to a bomb hit; there would be little of value inside and excavation would take up most of the metal inside. He removed his earmuffs and trudged back toward the explosives shack. It would take several hours of course; there were bound to be the remains of rabbits inside which would need to be collected and sent off for proper reburial. Then rather suddenly, a large piece of wall tilted and tipped over, nearly crushing several evacuators. "Hey c'mon people! Let's be careful huh? This is a salvage site not a playground!"

Utterly terrible! People didn't know their butt from their elbow around here! Adrian stalked off to the explosive and equipment shed, there was a technically illegal bottle of whiskey there and he needed to destroy the evidence. He didn't make it halfway across the quarry before the yelling started. It was quiet and confused at first, but rapidly grew in intensity. Several people rushed past Adrian, then a few seconds later ran off in the other direction. Someone started shooting and Adrian got worried, guns weren't allowed, but lots of guys carried them 'just in case' After several more shots were fired there was a final strangled scream, then silence.

Adrian realized he'd been crouched behind a pile of scrap metal; he'd nicked his leg somehow too, and it was bleeding profusely. The right thing to do would be to back off, call for backup, then approach the scene with caution; raids were rare on salvage parties, but that didn't mean they could be any less deadly. However Adrian was incurably curious so he cautiously approached the attack site. At first there was little to see aside from discarded equipment, he kept hidden, crouching behind machinery or rubble until a rather warm, wet sensation underfoot made him look down. He quickly wished he hadn't when he saw what, or rather, who he was standing in. He staggered backwards in shock, staring at the soft red mess that had once been his supervisor. There wasn't much left. He shouldn't have done that either, now he had an undisturbed view of the site and what had happened to the people there. About a dozen rabbits hadn't made it, though it was hard to tell from the scattered remains. Adrian slipped on somebody's arm and was almost sick. He turned to run and was knocked to the ground.

Adrian stared up in sheer wordless horror at what was now on top of him. What it was was hard to tell; its features shifted and twisted into horrible shapes, but it was vaguely shellian shaped. It snarled, splattering Adrian with unidentifiable gore, then giggled. It was a horrible sound, half choked and eerie, something from a broken mind. It stared at him for a few seconds as if trying to figure out what he was, then spoke. It was a strangled, weak voice and sounded as if it hadn't been used in a long time.

"The... date... what date?"

Adrian panicked "Monday! It's Monday!" He tried to get up but the creature was pushing him down with a force that seemed greater than its weight would allow. It snarled again. "Day! Month! Year!" Adrian told it, and it sat still for a long time. As it did it got less and less repulsive until it finally dawned on Adrian that it really was a shellian sitting on him; its appearance however did not do anything to sate his fears. While it was distracted Adrian took the chance to wiggle out from under it and hide behind a pile of rubble. It was still sitting there, staring blankly into space when he dared look, several minutes later. It was obviously some sort of zombie, silver garlic would stop it right? (-), no, hang on...

It was giggling to itself; rocking backwards and forwards slightly, and gigglingand muttering to itself! Despite his terror, or maybe because of it, Adrian leant closer to try and hear what it was saying. The words were very indistinct and slurred, as if from a drunk, or someone half awake. "Hah hah! One hundred and fifty four years! Hee hee hee!" The words were repeated over and over, shot out like bullets from a machine gun so fast as to almost be unintelligible, finally the creature stood stock still and let out a hideous yell before dashing of into the distance way too fast for something dead to be moving.

There were shouts behind him, someone had sounded the alarm. Adrian turned around and walked stiffly toward the rapidly approaching figures. Right now he wanted to drink and to forget; when the asked what had happened he told them it was a raid by bandits.