Roger Paladino

Notes on: “THE HABIT”

July 25^th 2004- I’ve found it. 5 years of work and I fucking found it.  A survivor of one of this thing’s attacks.  The cops chalked it up to her husband being on PCP, they always do, but I know better, and so did Monica.  Monica Shwarts is the victim, says she heard him say something about a warehouse on a back road near 54^th and Holloway while he was hurting her.  Says she never told the cops, she had just remembered that detail the day we spoke, just came to her she said.  So I check it out and bingo, the place has all the evidence I need: countless newspaper clippings of murders and terrorist attacks that date back even farther than I thought, not to mention the fucking Nazi propaganda for fucks sake.  There were also a good amount of human remains, might still use it as it’s killing quarters, all the better to catch it in the act.  I just have to be careful, this fucker is nasty.

July 28^th 2004- I thought I might as well have my notes in one place get my shit together and make sure that I’m as prepared as I can be. So here’s the list.

-          I assume it can possess one or multiple persons.

-          Has little to no regard for the people that it inhabits. ( in some cases mutilating its host for intimidation or just some kind of sick pleasure)

-          It has the ability to push the human body to its farthest limitations (speed, strength etc.)

-          It will find a new shell if its current shell is fatally wounded. (Traumatic head wounds, spinal cord damage etc.)

-          No way to forcibly remove the Habit from its shell

So that’s all I know about it so far.  No doubt this is a dangerous one but I’ve dealt with nasty beings before.  I’m bringing my nine millimeter berretta and some extra ammo, and a little surprise just in case I get into trouble.

July 30^th 2004 [Final Entry] - I underestimated this thing.  It was a fucking set-up from the beginning.  I’ll spare the details but let’s just say I ended up in a bear trap lookin at the business end of a fucking fire axe.  But even then I thought to myself “It’s ok I still have my ace in the hole.”  I had my buddy from the PD, Ed Charleston, bring in a swat team after I told him what I found, thought he was going after a terrorist, and they arrived just in time.

  I laid on the ground and that thing just looked at me and said, “Was it worth it, Roger?”  And when light filled the windows behind it and they all blew out, I just smiled and said “Yup.”  Problem was it didn’t get scared; it just smiled back and turned toward the light.  I think that’s when the music started, I forget the guy who sings it but that song Superbeast just started playing from the speakers in the warehouse, fucking weird.

 Anyway, this is what happened: it was so fast but I remember smoke filling the room as they came in, and I remember them yelling, demanding the weapons be put down.  Then the inevitable, I heard some of the men chuckling to themselves real nervously.  The Habit just started walking toward them, that’s when the shooting started.

I got the bear trap open just as bullets started flying, they hit everywhere but I stayed low, made for the door.  Bullets don’t scare me, I’ve been shot at before, but what did scare me was the distinct sound of a fire axe slamming through helmets and the screams of confused men who were probably wondering why their teammates were shooting them.  Poor fucks never had a chance.

I made my way outside and was taken to Ed; I was just about to tell him what he was up against when the front doors flew open.  It walked out with about 3 officers escorting it.  The Habit was pretending to be under arrest hands behind its back and that grin on its face.  Ed wouldn’t listen, no one would, it didn’t take long for this thing to have everyone in the whole goddamn place killing each other.  Some of them were just laughing like the swat team, others were begging to be stopped, and some were just tearing out their own eyes and throats.  The music was so loud it almost muffled the screams, almost.  I puked, and when I looked up the chopper was falling from the sky, but I saw something in the explosion.  I saw it just for a second, but it looked like a person, easily twelve feet tall and thin, with arms as long as its body.  I swear I saw it again wile typing this but it doesn’t matter.  The Habit knocked me out and I woke up here, and here I’ll die.

So that’s basically what happened to me, I made sure that I left in “the cool parts” like it asked, not like I had a fucking choice.  Funny thing is I really thought that this one was gonna put me on the map, oh well I always knew I was gonna die on one of these jobs but before I go I should mention to anyone else who might read this.  The Habit is trying to make something, some kind of perfect shell to live in.  The shell I saw it in died shortly after the fight but survived much more abuse than it should have.  Just know, that if wounding its head or heart past a normal human beings limits doesn’t kill it, you should run the fuck away.  Well it’s here now; guess this is it, whoever you are, good luck, and good bye.

-Roger Paladino