A.C.O.R.N.N.

Operation Hushpuppy, Day 17?-I've lost track of the days outside of Edens base 2A, but by my memory's count we started the siege on McClendon Tower more than two weeks ago. I'm holed up in one of the abandoned Keohane tunnels we dug from the Edens territory years ago. I'm just about out of rations and I'm down to five socks, but enough ammonia to keep them at bay. They've eaten straight through the tunnel light wiring, but there are a few holes through the surface shining gray light down. The sky is always gray.

We lost control of this position during the Traffic Circle Surge disaster of the Keohane Expansion in the winter months. It was a risky call to come straight down the road-too exposed in the open-that cost us some good troops, and Gen. Keohane his job. A poor decision to give him command over the Keohane Dorm Expansion. From the Duke records our spies recovered, legacy appointments made the most sense. Obviously those days are long past. No one questions that we need the best for the job now. Gen. Keohane was immediately demoted and transferred to the spy corps.

There's movement in the west tunnel-way. From the sound of it, they may have one of our guys down here. I'm going to investigate.

Signing off. Cpl. Hard Townes, 2126 A.D.

I made it out. I may be outside of one of the medical center buildings. I'm not sure what I saw, and in case they find me I am e-mailing this voice recording to everyone I can from my iPhone.

I volunteered for the LSRC trip to see if we could find something to kill these guys with. Anything. I ended up in the B section. Some big chemical lab over Blue Express. The last door I checked had the letters A.C.O.R.N.N. written over the top. I had to push hard to get it to open. The room had tons of cages, all empty and unlatched, two large cabinets on either side of the room, some electronic monitors and a cold white table at the room's center. As I walked in, I noticed dozens of syringes on the floor, some still half-full. There was a huge book by the open window. The window pane had been shattered, a few shards remaining with bloody tips. The book was covered in small brown footprints. I opened it and began flipping through pages of diagrams and animal illustrations. There were pictures with squirrels and their brains exposed, drawings of squirrels hooked up to machines, and a few pictures toward the end of squirrels organized in packs. I flipped to the front of the book, to see when the book had been written. It was pretty old, 1993 I think. A few pages later, the intro began, "A.C.O.R.N.N., or Animal C..."

Then something rustled to my right. I looked around. A small squirrel was hanging off the edge of one of the cages, his nose pointed and eyes fixed on me. He didn't flinch when I turned. They have no fear. I tried to reach for him, but he leapt off the cage and scurried to the door, running down the corridor to the left as I tried to cut him off. I looked down the hallway to see the squirrel stop at a brown, thick mess at the end of the hall. He squeaked and then turned back to look and point at me. The brown mass lifted in unison. It began racing toward me. It was an entire army of squirrels, all coming right for me! I ran back in the room and slammed the door shut, locking it as I backed away. The door shook as they slammed into it, some squirrels trying to fit underneath the door. I had to get out, and the window was the only way. I turned to the window, punched out the rest of the glass, and jumped on the sill. There was cement below, and I was pretty high up. Then I remembered the book and thought it might be useful. I turned around, squatted down and put my hand on the page I was just reading. That's when I noticed the squirrels had stopped banging on the door. There was squeaking on the other side, but the squeaks seemed to be mixed in with something shaking, something metal. The shaking moved from the floor up the door. And then it inserted into the keyhole. It turned and the door unlocked. The knob was turning. I ripped the page out of the book and jumped down from the window. My knees bent and buckled as I hit the ground and I fell on my back. I flipped up straight quick and ran out of there as fast as I could. I'm dizzy and I don't know where I am. I think I'm somewhere in the medical center. My ankle is panging and I'm all scraped up, but I think I've lost them.

I read the page I ripped. I think I know what's going on. These squirrels aren't natural. The page says that A.C.O.R.N.N. stands for Animal Control Operation to Rewire the Neural Network... oh God.