0:03
Holden could feel sunburst legs to extend out as it descended into Earth.
He gripped the armrests and closed his eyes.
He never liked the landing.
The ship rattled as it fought against gravity.
To distract himself, Holden thought back to the last time he saw Earth.
0:20
He remembered floating past it on his way to the International Space Station 12 four years ago.
He and his crew were returning from a failed mission where they were supposed to find another planet to inhabit.
Sunburst bucked backward, preparing to land softly on solid ground.
0:39
The legs grabbed hold and the engine wind down.
The ship was old, and it showed.
Holden opened his eyes and saw that the rest of the crew were already out of their seats and grabbing their gear.
He knew they were both nervous and excited about returning to Earth.
0:55
The ISST government briefed them on the prospect of finding Earth habitable once more or encountering more of the infected.
Holden unbuckled his seat belt and stood.
All right, people, we are to locate Station 244, look for calm survivors, and report what we find back to ISST.
1:16
The crew of six nodded.
Captain, are we to take the survivors back on board Sunburst?
Hernandez said, her Hazel eyes fixing on Holden.
No, we're to treat them at the station.
That's a dumb question Hernandez.
1:32
They might be infected and could possibly kill you.
Zaminski said.
Eat shit Sammy.
I thought there might be a chance to help instead of kill them.
Stop that, we need to stay focused because if we don't, some of you might not come back.
Holden said, noticing Hernandez and Zaminski's faces drop.
1:52
I don't think there are enough vaccines to treat all the calm survivors, Jean Baptiste said quietly.
Doc, don't worry about it.
What's important is finding out what happened to them and what information Dad gathered, Holden said, peering at everyone to ensure they were looking at him.
2:09
This is more of a research mission.
If we find evidence that the large radius around Station 244 is clear or light on the infected, the ISST government will send our teams to investigate.
The crew glanced at each other.
Holden and the crew slowed their pace as they reached the Station 244 complex.
2:32
Station 244 was one of 600 stationed across the US.
All of them were repurposed buildings such as schools, hospitals or libraries.
Station 244 was a former prison for the state of Florida, the FSC.
Coleman.
2:48
It sat in a complex that housed separate parts of the prison, low and medium security.
Past survivors would be housed in prison quarters, either in the low or medium prisons.
The admin offices were in the middle of the two, which was where Holden and his crew were headed.
3:06
The crew paused in front of the double doors, staring at the jagged scratch marks.
You think any of the infected got in?
Jean Baptiste axed.
We're about to find out, Holden said and beckoned that a couple of the others, Lazarus and Connolly, get these doors opened.
3:27
A large man with a buzz cut and a woman with the same cut and ruggedness took hold of a soldering tool and aimed at the doors.
Laser streamed out and raced along, creating a square within the frame.
As Lazarus and Connolly holstered their tools, the cut out door fell inwards.
3:46
The booming sound resonated down the shadowy hallway.
The crew snatched up their weapons and waited.
Nothing moved in the shadows.
All right, Holden said, and he stepped in first.
The crew broke out into twos, Holden with Hernandez, Zaminski with Jean Baptiste, and Lazarus with Connolly covering the rear.
4:09
They passed doors that were either closed, half closed, or open, not wasting any time entering any of them.
The crew stealthily made it to the back, closing doors as they went.
The hallway ended in AT.
The comms room is supposed to be down the right hall.
4:27
Hernandez said, pointing with her chin.
They found the door marked as the communications room.
Holden paused, holding on to the door knob.
He nodded at the crew and slowly opened the door.
The comms room was bigger than Holden expected, rows of desks huddled in the center with a few stations rigged with six monitors and most scattered, broken on the floor.
4:52
On the left side was a wide monitor, which Holden assumed was used to screen the communications feeds for everyone to see.
There was a faint stench of decay lingering.
The crew spread out, sweeping the area.
Captain, you better come look at this.
5:10
Hernandez said, her face half covered by her weapon.
Holden sprinted and stood next to Hernandez. 5 bodies lay haphazardly near each other, face down.
Holden swallowed.
Each of them wore the same jumpsuit he and the crew wore.
5:28
Did the ISST send a crew before us?
Zaminski asked.
Not that I'm aware of.
Holden said.
Holden took hold of one of the bodies and flipped it over.
What the fuck?
Zaminski said.
His weapon lowering it looks like you, Hernandez said, watching Zaminski.
5:49
No, that's not possible.
He almost looks like me, Zaminski said.
Zaminski bent down and flipped another.
Now why does she look like me?
Connolly said.
Her weapon down.
Keep your weapon up, Holden said.
6:07
Zaminski began flipping the rest of the bodies.
Each one resembled a face from each crew member.
Three of the bodies were mutilated as though they were attacked by the infected, and two of them bullet holes in their abdomens and chests.
JB, how is this possible?
6:24
Zaminski said, his voice quivering.
I, I don't, I don't know, John Baptiste said.
There must be a time rift or something, Lazarus said.
A what?
Hernandez said.
The ISSF recently discovered what they call a time rift, which is like a bubble where time is either in the past or in the future, and anyone or anything in the present can enter it without knowing it.
6:51
But I thought it was happening on one of the discovered planets.
It was one of the reasons why we couldn't inhabit it, Hernandez said.
Lazarus shrugged.
If Earth has a time rift, then that means John Baptiste didn't finish.
We will find a logical explanation, but first we must set up here and find a coms staff.
7:13
Holden said.
The crew nodded and began the routine of setting up surveillance and supplies.
Holden hesitated as he stared into the corpse that had his face.
With ISST, Comsat and supplies accounted for, Holden and the crew moved the bodies to the farthest side of the room.
7:32
Careful not to look at their faces, Holden decided to check the other rooms before handling the bodies.
He wanted John Baptise to take a blood sample from each of them, even though he feared what he would find out.
Besides clearing the rooms for the infected, they also searched for other bodies. 1 by 1, the rooms were searched.
7:54
They proved to be mostly empty except for a couple of infected that were exterminated.
The crew headed back to the comms room.
I expected to find more bodies, Hernandez said.
Why?
Most survivors keep moving.
8:10
They don't stay anywhere for too long, Lazarus said.
There's nothing around here.
It's a prison complex.
Survivors would have a better chance of living out of a grocery store than here, Zaminski said.
Holden, leading a crew back, stopped in front of the door.
8:26
Didn't we close the door?
Yeah, I was the last one out.
I closed it, Connolly said.
Everyone stared at the door, which was left ajar.
Sir, I did close the door, Connolly said as she raised her weapon and poked it through the gap.
8:45
The door swung slowly, halfway opening.
The crew waited on Holden.
A second passed and Holden pointed at the opening.
Connolly burst through, followed by Lazarus.
They fanned out to let the others in.
They zipped down each aisle of computer stations.
9:02
What the fuck?
Zaminski said.
He was standing at the far side of the room.
The rest of the crew headed towards him, each one stared at the floor.
Holden crept in and his jaw dropped slightly.
Where do the bodies go?
9:18
Connolly axed.
Zaminski paced as the rest of the crew sat on office chairs with their weapons on their laps.
Holden leaned against the wall near the entrance, barricaded by office furniture.
9:34
Food was laid out, but no one was partaking.
They're not dead, Zaminski said.
For a 13th time, Zammy shut up, Hernandez said.
Zaminski approached Hernandez.
Hernandez rose from her seat to face Zaminski.
All right, stop it, you 2, Holden said.
9:53
Zaminski spun back to his pacing and Hernandez SAT.
Captain, I think we need to find the bodies.
Jean Baptiste said, rubbing his hand over his nearly bald head.
I know that Doc.
I'm trying to come up with a plan.
10:09
We can't all go hunting, that wasn't part of the mission.
Holden said, raising his arms and slapped him back down against his thighs.
We would have to leave a couple of us here, but that's risky.
There's not a whole lot of us.
Lazarus said.
10:26
Exactly, Holden said.
We can leave one person here to locate the stats that the comps people found while the rest search.
Connolly said, looking at each of them.
I could stay since I would have been the one either way.
Holden paused and he could feel the eyes of the others on him waiting for him to decide.
10:49
All right, gear up, Connolly will take your suggestion.
Keep your communication open and report if you find anything.
Holden yanked his jacket from one of the desks as he continued.
Barricade yourself after we leave.
Don't let anyone in unless you hear this.
11:06
Holden rapped on a desk, once, twice, rapidly, and once again.
Connolly nodded as she rose from her seat.
The others waited near the barricaded entrance, gradually making their way down one of the hallways.
11:22
Holden sensed that the temperature in a building had changed a few degrees cooler than it was earlier.
Entering one of the rooms, the crew fanned out and threw one of the cracks in a boarded up windows.
Holding could see that it was twilight.
Claire Saminski said as he returned from an extra room.
11:41
They headed out into the hallway again.
They searched every room and cleared each one.
Holden and the others were in the hallway leading to the front entrance when he noticed something strange.
He raised his arm and the others stopped slowly.
11:57
They approached the doors as he peered at the moonlit scene through the door, he could see it rippling as if seeing a disturbed pond.
Do you see this?
Holden axed.
Yes.
Hernandez said.
I think it's to Time Rift.
12:13
Lazarus said.
That's what it's supposed to look like.
Zaminsky asked.
I don't know, maybe, Lazarus says.
Jesus, we're here.
Going by what you say, I thought you knew about this, Zaminski said.
I'm not an expert.
God damn it, Lazarus said.
12:30
This wasn't here when we first entered, was it?
Jean Baptiste asked.
Would we have noticed it?
Holden said.
Connolly, are you there?
Hernandez said into her calms.
I haven't heard from her for some time, she said to Holden.
12:47
Holden turned to Hernandez.
Dread began to scuttle up his spine.
The situation seemed familiar to him.
He recalled running an exploratory mission on a remote planet some time ago where he was stalked and ambushed by a cunning alien species.
13:04
We need to head back now, Holden said.
What about that?
Jean Baptiste axed as he pointed towards the entrance.
Don't touch it.
We don't know what would happen if we try to go through.
Holden said as he began to jog back to the comms room.
13:24
The comms room door was wide open.
Connolly.
Hernandez said as she rushed in with the others in tow.
Holden took the rear and scanned either side of the hallway before following.
For a brief second he thought he had seen a shadow turning a corner.
13:41
Inside, the crew searched the room, their weapons dropping and lifting.
Lazarus cried out, the others rushed to his side.
Jean Baptiste got to his knees as he pulled off his medi pack.
Connolly was sputtering blood and it landed back onto her face.
13:57
She held what was lapped of her entrails down into her stomach as she kicked out at agony.
Laz, I need you to hold her down.
Jean Baptiste said.
Lazarus got down and pinned Connolly's legs.
Jean Baptiste pressed down on Connolly's hands that held her stomach with one hand and with the other began to spray a medical sealant from one side of her torso to the other.
14:21
Connolly sputtered.
Date.
No, don't knock, she said, and she wheezed out her last breath.
Holden stared at the covered body of Connolly as the crew bowed their heads in silence.
14:39
Tears streamed down their hardened faces.
No tears stained Holden's face.
He had numbed himself from such emotions as a child when the infected killed his family. 30 years later and he was still continuing his fight against them with a crew who had also gone through loss and now with one of their own.
15:00
Holden realized his hands were in tight fists and they shook as he released them.
We need to contact the ISST and tell them what has happened, he said without looking up at his crew.
Dispersing, the crew secured a room entrance with a furniture barricade.
15:18
Hernandez stayed behind.
Captain, besides contacting the ISST, what should we do with the other bodies?
She asked.
They're not bodies anymore, they're infected at this point we seek and destroy, Holden said, glancing at Hernandez.
15:37
Her face was mired in horror and grief.
He knew he was asking her and the rest of them to hunt down themselves.
Even though he didn't know much about the time rift, he felt that it was affecting the environment in Station 244.
They were all here once and something terrible had happened to them.
15:56
This mission is compromised.
Holden said loudly.
The others stopped.
We are to report to the ISST and get permission to return.
Does that mean Zaminsky started?
Earth is not livable?
Holden said.
16:15
Hernandez sat at the central communication station with the rest of the crew standing behind her.
Lazarus leaned on the desk next to her, pointing a weapon at the entrance.
Holden watched as green text scrolled onto the screen.
Hernandez and Connolly are among the few remaining Explorers familiar with the old plane communication system.
16:37
Her slim fingers tapped across the wide keyboard and then paused.
The comps team kept a log, Hernandez said.
Pull it up, Holden said.
Hernandez opened a folder labeled Last Log.
It's strange that they named it the last log.
16:54
The logs are supposed to be numbered.
There should be 11 years worth of logs here.
It probably was intentional, Lazarus said.
They read silently as the lanterns illuminating the space ticked in the background.
Sieminski left the crew's side and groaned.
17:10
They left.
I can't believe it.
Aren't they supposed to get approval from one of the ISS to do that?
Hernandez said.
Holden nodded.
Maybe they were driven out by it.
Infected, Jean Baptiste said.
Or the time drift, Lazarus said.
17:27
This is bullshit, Zaminski said.
Can it Zammy?
This is not the time.
Hernandez said.
Fuck off.
Hernandez jumped up the chair, knocking back.
Holden tried to grab hold of Hernandez as she brushed past him.
She rushed at Zaminski, her face only a few inches from his.
17:46
He shoved her and she bounced back with a hard push.
Still don't know how to cope on Zammy.
You're a pussy, fuck you Hernandez, at least I have my head on straight and wouldn't accidentally kill someone.
Stop.
Jean Baptiste said.
Holden noticed Lazarus watch with this interest as he pointed his gun not at the entrance but at Hernandez and Zaminski.
18:07
Hernandez drew back her shoulder and released a punch, landing on Zaminski's jaw.
Holden and the rest of the crew rushed over.
Hernandez, can you get through to ISST?
Holden axed as he stood between her and Zaminski.
Hernandez nodded and gave a quick glance to Zaminski.
18:25
She headed back to Central Calm station.
Zaminski, go have yourself a meal and a corner somewhere.
Holden said.
Zaminski scowled as he brushed past Jean Baptiste who was trying to stanch the blood from Zaminski's cut lip.
Holden paused in front of Lazarus.
18:43
Why were you pointing your weapon at them?
Lazarus took hold of Holden's eyes with his and said because the time rift might be changing people.
After being on hold for about 15 minutes, the ISST military commander in The COM staff have left Station 244, the commander said.
19:18
Yes commander, according to the last log entry here, they had left a few months ago, Holden said.
That would explain why we haven't gotten communications from them from that period.
There was a pause and the commander continued.
With the possibility of the infected still prevalent and emerging time rift, this mission is compromised.
19:38
I know this comes as a blow known as you all have lost a crew member.
Does this mean we have permission to return to the ISST, Holden Axe?
A long silence.
Hernandez glanced at Holden.
Connolly's body has to stay.
19:54
A sharp cry from Lazarus interrupted a commander.
As for the rest of you, if any of you have been bitten by, infected, or touched a time rift, you can't come back.
None of us have been bitten, and we haven't touched a time rift, Holden said.
What happens if we touch the time rift?
20:10
Hernandez said.
That's classified, the commander said.
Probably get scrambled or die.
Zaminsky mumbled.
I suggest you hurry.
Once I mentioned this to the president, there won't be much time left for you all to leave.
The commander said.
20:26
The line went dead.
Holden gripped the door handle to the comms room tightly.
He peered at his crew.
They faced the door where the weapons pointed.
They had gathered everything they needed and had covered Connolly's body with a medic blanket.
20:44
He was about to turn a knob when he heard a rustling sound.
The others spun towards the area the sound came from.
Connolly's body rose from between two desks, the blanket gradually slipping from its face, snarling a dash towards them.
Holden turned a knob and burst through the door, the rest following closely behind.
21:04
Going down a corridor.
He noticed the office doors are wide open again and unease settled in his stomach as he swung his weapon left and right.
Turning a corner, they headed down the main hallway.
Holding could see the entrance to the building, but he couldn't see if the rippling was there.
21:22
Assuming that the time rift didn't cover the whole area, they would attempt to go through the wide windows next to the entrance.
Passing one of the office doors, Holding heard screeching.
It burst through the threshold and grabbed hold of Zaminski.
Zaminski twisted and tried ramming the butt of his weapon onto its skull.
21:42
The others fanned out, trying to find a shot.
Holden realized that infected was one of the bodies they had found.
It was Sieminski.
I don't know who to shoot, Lazarus said.
More screams erupted from where they had come from.
Holden peered down the hall and saw the rest of the crew racing towards them.
22:00
Gun shots rang out and one of them struck Sieminski.
Hernandez staggered back as the infected Sieminski reared back and lunged at her.
The other, Sieminski, lay dying.
Move out, Holden said, back pedaling as they continued to gun down the infected.
22:17
The crew reached the opening.
I don't see the rippling.
Let's go, Holden said.
One by one, they dashed through the double doors, racing across the open space and in between the buildings.
Holden peered back to see a couple of the infected tailing them, switching on their flashlights on their gun scope.
22:35
The crew followed the bouncing light.
Sampers is ahead about 300 feet, Hernandez said Jean Baptiste heard it first.
Do you hear that?
He had slowed down.
A dark form tackled him down and he screamed.
The crew beamed their flashlights where Jean Baptiste was last seen.
22:53
On top of him were a pair of wild dogs.
They took turns taking bites out of his torso as blood cascaded upwards.
Another appeared from the darkness and growled at them.
We need to keep going.
Hernandez said as she yanked at Holden.
Holden could see Sunburst's back hatch opening as they continued racing, stumbling in.
23:13
Hernandez got to the cockpit first and started the engines.
The craft lifted into the air like an elevator.
Holden sat next to Hernandez and strapped himself in as Lazarus sat behind them.
Sunburst gradually pierced a thin layer of space as it got into orbit.
23:31
Holden felt himself breathe and he closed his eyes.
Something tickled in the back of his mind, making him feel different, as if he didn't feel like himself.
Holden thought back to the escape and wondered if he had noticed that the time rift was gone where the double doors had stood.
23:47
Confusion clouded his mind.
He opened his eyes and saw Hernandez was staring blankly at him.
Holden turned in his seat to look at Lazarus and was stunned to see the whole crew strapped in.
24:13
Thank you for listening to the Chillingly Bizarre podcast.
For bonus content, check out chillinglybizarre.com.
This was Season 2 episode 13 titled Station 244, and it was written by JDW.
24:29
The episode was narrated by JDW.
All characters were voiced by JDW.
Credits go to freesound.org and its following contributors.
Johnny Farmer, Joseph Pujol at Harka Wasabi Wielder, Indigo Ray, Simon Foe One Hayhar Shots, Point Park Cinema, Timay 515 Mr. Hahn, Dos Santos Barbosa, Zigbari Tonsil 5.
25:04
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