Sunlight was hitting the windshield of our car right at the top. It felt like a furnace inside. Sadly the driver was used to it as he didn't even let me turn on the air conditioning. The warm wind coming from the forest through the windows was all we had. If I could only get out and walk towards a river to fresh me up, instead we were stuck on this road following a trace which was probably dead for miles by now. It only had two lanes, one for each way, covered by dried leaves it continued indefinately meandering over the hills rich with vegetation. I imagined how it would've been for them searching for a town which apparently disappeared over night. That bad feeling of walking straight into a trap kept my eyes wide open. From that day this forest became cursed, I found it hard to believe that there were people still living here. We passed along some cabins built at the side of the road as well as trails that led to god knows where.    

⸺Pretty sure that's the third time I saw that sign, just give me the order to go back ⸺said Keller.

⸺Nah, let's keep going. We could find something missing from the map ⸺I said almost pulling Harper's words right from his mouth, he was our supervisor. 

Rachael and her agents in the intelligence didn't find it difficult tracking down the plate of the vehicle. They certainly knew it travelled from DC to the Susquehannock State Forest in the north of Pennsylvania the same day of the kidnapping. One night George Stallion, the FBI Director, got into the backseat of the vehicle in question without any resistance and he hadn't been seen since. The incident would've gone completely over our heads if it wasn't given a second look, that's why no one sounded the alarms until a few days have passed. Street cameras caught it stopping in front of his property in Arlington, but the driver was concealing his face under a hood. After a few minutes Stallion walked along a cobblestone path that led from his front door to the street. They didn't exchange any words. He somehow knew that they were coming for him and that's probably why he gave no warning to anyone. Adding salt to injury, our Branch director was also missing, he has been absent for two days and nobody knew where he was. Right now the government was doing everything in their power leading the search effort while also setting their eyes upon us. Our heads would be the first to roll if we didn't solve the case inmediately. 

As soon as the trees cleared we stumbled upon a farm. It's wooden fence lacked any type of wiring and the front gate had a single rusty lock. The field was almost completely covered by weeds where the owner had his grazing sheeps. The stables were located next to them which it has surely seen better days as well as the two-story house whose wooden structure needed a little bit of love. The vehicle parked there made us stop by the gate, it was the same model but didn't have a plate. Later, the owner approached us after sighting us from afar, he was carrying a hunting rifle over his shoulder. Naturally and maybe because of a lack of field experience, Keller wanted to ask some questions to which I reluctantly agreed. We couldn't trust anyone and I always disliked showing every single person my badge. However, he would still be able to learn something from it. 

⸺Good afternoon, sir. FBI Special Agent from the Superhuman branch, John Keller. We wanted to know if have seen this vehicle? ⸺It was a Honda Civic from this year with the plate displaying BA-2379 "TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION"

⸺Sir, If it wasn't because I saw it going down the road days ago, I wouldn't have bothered to say hello. ¡I want you out freaks! ⸺After apologizing Keller pressed the accelerator. Four years ago every last person living in the town of Susquehannock disappeared without a trace reportedly within a couple of hours. Since then no one had set foot in that place again so it was left abandoned for nature to take it over. Theories of all kinds were abundant, but seeminlgy the most popular was that superhumans with unknown abilities were responsible. 

Keller stopped a few feet before the road ended. From there we could see a cabin almost covered by trees with a car parked right next to it, the most wanted black sedan in the country. After putting my feet on the ground with gun in hand I walked towards the front door. Meanwhile, my partner stayed back in the car although it looked like that there wasn't anyone around the keeping watch for outsiders. I went up cautiously the steps to the entrance and put a hand on the knob, no one was answering my calls nor I felt any kind of presence inside. The door wasn't locked so I lifted up my weapon almost instintively while opening it.  The windows were boarded up leaving the living room almost completely in the dark. However, the few rays of sunlight going through them were enough for me to witness the horror. At the back I saw Stallion's body tied up to a chair with a bullet hole in his head, blood splattered on a gigantic canvas hung up on the wall behind him, "EXUS" was written on it. I knew there was no escape, the killer was already right behind me holding his gun against my head. The way I was unable to feel him coming or even hear his silence made me inmediately realize who he really was.         

⸺¿So It was you? ¿¡Why!? Don' tell me you work for those terrorists ⸺I said with my radio turned on⸺. ¡Lower your weapon!       

I went for the arm to break his wrist in an attempt to make him drop the gun, but in the middle of that my shoulder was shot. Then I was able to finally see his face, it was Burton, our Branch Director. After opening fire his chest and his head were wounded. As he fell to the floor I went out to the woods to rendezvous with Keller. Quickly I found myself unable to heal my injury, it was bleeding badly and the pain didn't let me move the arm. Unfortunately, my partner never left the car. His dead body was resting over the steering wheel in a pool of his own blood. The engine was turned off and the keys were missing, nowhere to be found. 

⸺¡Stop right there and raise your hands! ⸺Burton then emerged from the cabin without any harm. Some kind of steam sprouted from where his wounds used to be. There was no other option, I had to stop that monster. 

⸺It's useless, Flynn. ¿Why aren't you at HQ?