Kalvin Butters was sleeping in the communal quarters of the Hainault Township with his family one night. After a long day of harvesting valuable potatoes and consuming a treat of an ounce of Remwave slices, Kalvin was comfortably deep asleep. His wife, Sharon, and daughter, Natalie, were asleep next to him. A family in slumber. Sleep being one of life’s few comforts.
Kalvin was awoken, however, by a rough banging nearby that sent vibrations through his body. Awoken with a start, he opened his eyes and instinctually scanned his surroundings for threats. Kalvin immediately saw a figure in silhouette several steps away.
He realised immediately that the figure was not a citizen of Hainault Township. He knew immediately that figure was not even human. Despite possessing a humanoid form with two arms and legs, the head gave it away. Kalvin could clearly see the outline of the large cylindrical snout protruding from its face.
The snout was pointed down at the ground. Kalvin followed the direction of the snout and saw the outline of a human being convulsing violently on the ground. Contorted in very unhuman like spasms and jitters.
It was Damon Harnahoff, Kalvin’s fellow potato harvester. They had just been working together in the field a mere eight hours prior. Now Kalvin was witnessing Damon’s horrifying death throes at the hands of the Gas Mask Men.
Kalvin admitted that he was so entranced and horrified by the spectacle that he forgot that Gas Mask Men hunted in packs. He only remembered in time to see that a gas mask man was standing over him. Kalvin momentarily looked into the large black wet eyes of the creature that was looking down on him. He managed to shut his eyes before the seizures took hold and rolled onto his front, as per standard procedures. Kalvin saved himself.
Kalvin’s wife and daughter, however, were not so lucky. He opened one eye to see, to his horror, that his wife had awoken and was lying flat on her back, having just been asleep. He tried to whisper instructions to Sharon to close her eyes.
However, it was too late. Sharon’s body seemed to stiffen in rigor mortis and her mouth opened wide as if in a silent scream. The initial signs of a seizure induced by a Gas Mask Man. He could see that Sharon’s eyes were locked into the large circular eyes of the Gas Mask Man looking down at her.
Kalvin knew he should have done something. Perhaps cover Sharon’s eyes and cover her body. Maybe even charge at the Gas Mask Man to break the lethal connection. However, he was gripped and paralysed with fear. Deep down, he also knew that it was too late to save his wife.
Things only got worse. As Sharon begun to convulse and spasm, her arm knocked violently against Natalie, who was asleep next to her mother. At this point, Kalvin screamed. However, this did not prevent Natalie from opening her eyes and looking at the Gas Mask Man for long enough to fall into her own seizures.
The Gas Mask Man extended its arms with it’s fingers pointing towards Sharon and Natalie. The fingers quickly extended in length and grew piercing points at the ends. With smooth and terrifying speed, the Gas Mask Man pounced and sunk it’s sharp fingers deep into Sharon and Natalie’s torso’s.
Sharon and Natalie screamed.
Kalvin screamed some more, which woke up a the rest of the sleeping citizens of the township. His screams were drowned out by the communal screams of his former fellow citizens, who began to realise that there were a half dozen Gas Mask Men amongst them.
Kalvin could not remember much of what happened next. He only knew that some deep primal instinct drove him to run. Keeping his eye locked straight ahead, he ran through one of the emergency exits of the building. He continued running out into the night as far as his body would take him. All the while, he could hear the screams of his former home ringing through the night. His body kept him running until the screams were no longer audible.
Kalvin was eventually found a Fallback Committee outpost, within which he sought refuge. However, this was neither salvation nor a fresh start for him. Despite extensive aftercare efforts from committee members, Kalvin was found hanged from a tree two days after arriving.