October 1986. Contact with Exxon Pumping Station #31 in British Columbia has been lost and a rescue team has been assembled.
The environmental activist group, North Wind, had threatened to bring operations to a halt. Could they be behind this sudden communication failure, or is something else going on?
Randy staggered to his feet, wiping his eyes with the backs of his hands. Occasionally, he had to steady himself against a tree-trunk with one hand, apparently getting faint. Twice he had to bend forward, groaning, until the dots cleared from his vision. "Ugh... Umm, are Earth First and North Wind allied?"
Randy forced himself to at least look at the nightmare from where he stood, and attempted to rationally assess the carnage as a medic.
1d%d40%
Success.
Can Randy assess:
Is the flesh and blood frozen solid, and if so, how long would that take?
How many bodies have been torn apart, approximately?
You’ve probably heard of Earth First, as they’re an environmental protest organisation, similar to Greenpeace. They rely on lobbying and peaceful protest. If you’ve worked for Exxon before, they will have been mentioned at some point.
North Wind is most likely new to you. The first time you probably heard about them was from the briefing at the beginning of the mission (link). They’re known to be more radical, and will resort to violence to try to achieve their aims.
The two organisations share similar aims. It’s not known whether they are linked.
Studying the carnage, Randy concluded that the attack had taken place a week or so previously. The depth of the snow and the colour of the blood suggested it wasn’t more recent than that. Looking around he estimated that as many as half a dozen people may have died here.
There’s nothing obviously missing. No harvesting of heads, for example.
What’s everyone else doing while Randy goes corpse fishing?
" This was definitely not the handy work of any beasts i know of. They dont play with their food...:Gavin says as he gestures to the head. "We should see if they have any supplies
we could use."
Focusing on practicalities helped Randy as usual. He even straightened up a bit. For the moment, he was ignoring the 'form a perimeter' thing.
The team's got it.
"OK, this happened a week or so ago. See the depth of the snow, the colour of the blood. So, long before we got knocked out of the air. There's no reason to think whatever or whoever did this is still real close, a week later."
"We're looking at the remains of maybe half dozen bodies. Nothing seems, ah, obviously missing from the collection. Ugh."
"Apart from anything, that makes this a very big and very important crime scene. Like, national news important. We should try not to disturb it too much. And if we ever, ever get to a radio or phone, RCMP or BC police or likely both will need to get out here ASAP."
Randy lent forward, hands on knees, and carefully scanned the area, much by inch. He was reluctant to step into, let alone touch anything in what he considered the crime scene.
Given the extent of the carnage, it’s hard to imagine a wild animal doing this. If it had been one victim, you could see how a pack of animals might have torn them apart, but for so many victims, that seems unlikely. The number of animals that it would have taken to kill half a dozen people would have left a significant trail through the forest, and there’s no sign of that.
"This wasn't the work of wild animals," says Benjamin. "A pack of animals might have torn one person apart, but I don't think they could have massacred this many. If there had been that big a pack, they'd have left a trail through the woods, and there's no trace of one. Yeti aside, the only thing I know of that could have done this is man."
Despite his revulsion at the scene, Harold started walking around, looking for supplies. Especially shovels. Harold doesn’t know much about wilderness survival, but apparently shovels can save lives.
Your pre-mission briefing said contact had been lost on 18 October. It’s now 29 October.
Virtually everything in the camp had been destroyed, torn apart in the carnage of the attack. It seemed that they would find nothing worth rescuing when Harold cleared the bloodied snow from a pile of shredded tent canvas to reveal a black canvas camera bag buried beneath.
If you open the bag, you’ll find a video camera, a map, and a journal.