Sam's Reality: Cape Canaveral, Florida - Kennedy Space Center

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

Leeroy wasn't too sure how the night guard at the Kennedy Space Center had acquired Sam's name. He assumed it was the Internet - everything's the Internet's fault these days - but he couldn't be too sure, as the guy looked to be about sixty and the type who wouldn't touch a computer to save his life.

"They're freakin' out the dogs," he said in a Southern accent. "And we ain't been able to photograph 'em, either." He pointed to the large behemoth of metal that could be seen a few miles in the distance. "They're always there."

It was, Leeroy recognized, launch pad 39-B. Jeimu had launched from there not even a year ago.

Why freaks were hanging out around launchpads, Leeroy wasn't certain. He turned to Sam and asked quietly, "What d'you make of all this, eh?"

Comments

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"We seen two different places gettin' weirded out the same time," the man said. "One dog fall over an' die, the other went postal and went fer his handler."

Leeroy pursed his lips. "Could be an overall effect o' one, but I doubt that."

[i_salted_dean]

"Any marks on the dead one? Have you ever seen any other signs?" She glanced at Rob as he bounced impatiently on the balls of his feet.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"We didn't see none right away, but after awhile it was like someone cut 'im up." The guard shrugged. "We left to go get gloves and a bag t' get rid of the body properly and sent to a vet... and then..." He shrugged again. "It was weird. Nobody else coulda been there."

[i_salted_dean]

"Any marks on walls? Any creepy feelings? Any unexplained howls in the night?"

"Ho@#$%&%$#...." Rob clued into what she was talking about.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"Some weird stuff on th' launch pad..."

The guard looked like he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

[i_salted_dean]

"Anything we can see?" she asked, a little impatiently.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"It's like someone took scrap metal and made somethin' with it. Then attached it to the launch pad." He opened up the file folder he'd been carrying and produced a grainy black and white photo.

Reinforcement bars, like the kind used when building concrete structures, were arranged haphazardly in a weird sigil-like pattern.

"There's no construction projects within ten miles of here," the guard said. "An' ain't nobody been around. We had to scrub the last launch to take one just like it down. Then after the launch it came back."

[i_salted_dean]

"Oh @#$%&%$!" she growled, then looked up. "We need to get over there. And we'll need freedom to walk around the whole complex."

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"We can't-" The guard gasped as Leeroy stepped forward, a dangerous glint in his eyes and a gun in his hand.

"You will," he said, slipping back into a soldier's persona. Just like Sal, his accent disappeared when he meant business. "Get us all the documents we need, or this isn't going to stop."

"I - uh - yes," the guard said, reaching into his file folder again. "You'll need to come with me to the processing office, but it shouldn't take long."

[i_salted_dean]

Sam put a hand on her husband's, though her dark eyes were also boring into the guard. "What did you call us for if you didn't expect to let us in?"

Rob was watching something fly overhead and chortling silently to himself over what his parental figures were doing.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

The guard looked sheepish. "I - oh never mind. Come on, and I will get you maximum clearance. Just uh, say you're from the CIA or something."

[i_salted_dean]

"We're a special extermination squad." She reached over and took Leeroy's hand as she followed the guard, then cowkicked backward and silenced Rob's snickering.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"That won't do," Leeroy said with a grin. "It makes us sound like we're only around to kill bugs. Not menacin' 'tall."