Fred. He must have been the "town lunatic" Mark mentioned.
Sam. A boy who loves to dig.
THE APARTMENTS
Mark and the other boy reunite, catching up with each other while you explain to the two men that you remember nothing at all. The older man tells you his name is Fred, and he was once known as the town lunatic, while the man with the gun is Mike “The Hawk” Murphy, a gun-for-hire who had become an evangelist when he learned about The Thing Beneath the Earth (TBTE) and its worshippers. The other little boy is named Sam, he had a hobby of digging holes and because of this he found a strange metal object in the ground. This turned out to be connected to the TBTE.
Fred and Sam, from their connection to the TBTE, had gained a strange sixth sense. It was because of this sense that they knew they needed to stay in town. They were now sure that the TBTE was only a small piece of a greater truth. Murphy had agreed to protect them.
Murphy tells you you have to give up Avianism if you want to stay with them, but Fred reminds him that you don’t even know what that is. Then, Fred explains that it doesn’t matter what they worship anymore, because all that matters now is the Machines.
Fred tells you that the TBTE knew how to think with the Machines, and it had given him and Sam the ability to hear Machine thoughts. Then, he points out the low rumbling sound you had tuned out hours ago. You realize it’s much louder now. When you ask if that’s a Machine, he just smiles and nods.
Fred tells you it is long gone. It belonged to the TBTE and it took it back. That was why the war started, because the TBTE had shown itself. Fred assures you, it was more than humans were meant to comprehend. He thinks it must have been a type of lesser Machine.
You pull the key out of your pocket. Fred and Sam suddenly cover their ears in pain. The low rumbling noise becomes louder and louder as the key begins to glow. The ground begins to shake. You brace yourself, not sure if this is an earthquake. The sound becomes louder and louder until you hear a crashing sound on the floor above you.
