It was important to me that we were together when we talked because I wanted to observe his body language and demeanor. My hope was that it would help me judge the credibility of whatever he was going to tell me. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him, but whatever was going on…well, I didn’t trust anything I couldn’t verify, and the only external proof I had of what I’d experienced had been conveniently wiped away. I don’t know that I’d believe anyone who came up and told me my story of the prior night—not without some proof to back it up, at least.

My hope was that Oscar would have that proof.

****

“The same thing happened to my video. I watched it at the main office, so it’s not just this computer here. And I even had one of the tech guys try to pull something up from the card, but he said it’s like it was refiled…?”

“Reformatted.”

Oscar nodded. “Yeah, that’s it. Fucking computers. Anyway, I thought it was suspicious at the time—it just so happens to get fucked up right after I watch it? What are the odds? And after hearing the same thing happened with yours…” He sat back in his chair, and maybe it was the gloomy fluorescent lights in there, but he looked older then than I had ever seen him. Not just old, but fragile in a way that broke my heart a little. I had just got through telling him what had happened the night before, and while he looked somewhat surprised and worried about it, his overall lack of reaction was disconcerting. There was no confusion or disbelief—I was apparently just catching up to where he was already. And while I saw fear in his eyes, I couldn’t say for sure how much was due to what I had encountered versus what it made him recall from his own past few days at Whispering Oaks.

Seeming to make a decision, Oscar scrubbed a hand through his grey beard and leaned forward to catch my gaze. “Okay. Enough stalling. Time to tell you what I’ve seen.”

****

When you got sick, the first day of work you missed was a Friday night. I was scheduled to work too, and I just covered that shift and Saturday night by myself. My alternative was soldier boy, and I wasn’t in the mood for his bullshit. For the first part of Friday’s shift everything was quiet. Then, about three in the morning, I was doing my second patrol of Zone Five when I saw something. It looked like a light coming from inside of the Red House. Not like a flashlight or something, though. More orangey and wavering. Like a flame.