So as the title states, I used to be a tour guide for tourists and adventurers and globetrotters who are willing to trek the hills of the Himalayas. As someone who is of Asian descent, studied in England, and returned to Nepal, I have come into contact with a variety of languages which makes my job easier as a tour guide. The job is fairly simple, trek the nearby lowlands for the tourists, and guide the experienced ones a bit further. And for those who want to go deep into the mountains? We give some advice, a prayer, and watch the brave go on their merry way.
But this was not the case last November. By the end of October, fewer and fewer tourists and hikers came to our camp. Once November had started, none came at all. This wasn’t particularly weird, many climbers often come heavily during Spring or Early Summer, but the odd part was we hadn’t received any information at all. No emails, no contacts from the average person wanting to know about the mountains, nothing at all, as if our little camp had been shut off from the rest of the world technologically.
We weren’t concerned until even the locals refused to go anywhere near the camp. As the days passed, there was an odd …. feeling about the mountains. I have trekked across the Himalayas several times and honestly consider myself to be a bit of an adrenaline junkie and fairly fearless person, but not this time… I began to experience a feeling of dread from the mountains. At night, my fellow guides and I could hear a low, barely audible vibrating noise echoing from the hills. Several people quit work due to constant headaches at night.
Then, the military came. Not the Nepalese military. Not the Indian or the Chinese. But all of them. They arrived quickly in the night and filled up the nearly empty camp. Americans, British, Nepalese, Chinese, Russian, French, Germans, and a fuck ton of other small platoons from different nations. Many I recognized by language, some I did not. At the end there were about 350 or so of some of the toughest veteran looking motherfuckers I have ever seen, setting up a base near the smallest foothills. They wouldn’t even acknowledge us and some even threatened my coworkers not to come near.
And on November 12th, they set off. Packed up all their stuff and started trekking into the mountains. It was as if it was all a dream that they had been there at all. There was the usual gossip and theories among us. Perhaps they struck oil or found some nuclear power source or maybe there’s some international battle royale in the middle of the Himalayas where the nations sent their toughest to duke it out( this was my guess.) Oh how I wish this was the truth.
The vibrating noise disappeared for a while but came back after Thanksgiving with a force so strong that it broke our windows and shut down all of our equipment, it then went back to a dull hum. After a couple days in the dark and no connection, they arrived.
They came back on December 2nd. Or what was left of them that is. 350-400 men went into those mountains. Four made it back. Two Germans, an American, and a Chinese soldier. I woke up from screaming by my co-worker who spotted them descending from the hills. The American and the Chinese soldier was carrying one of the Germans down, while the other followed closely behind.
When they got back to our camp for help, Jesus Christ. The dying German wasn’t just wounded. He was fucking mutilated. He was missing practically the entire left side of his body and the only reason he wasn’t bleeding everywhere was because of all his organ had frozen together. We couldn’t save him, there was no way to call for medical help given the state of the phones and computers from the huge shock near Thanksgiving. We buried the dead German, and attempted to comfort and ask the soldiers what had happened. None of them said a word or moved, but just sat there with a blank expression.
By the time we checked up on them the next day, all three was gone. I can only assume they went down to the village in attempt to head home. As I went to clean up their sleeping areas, I discovered the American’s journal. Here’s what I managed to copy down.
November 13
I don’t get paid enough for this shit. We’re freezing our asses off. We barely understand the mission and we can’t even comprehend each other because there’s only two fucking translators. There is NOTHING out here but snow and rocks.
November 15
Everyone’s fucking exhausted. The vibrating is giving everyone headaches. If I make it back to Jess and my kids, I quit. I didn’t spend my time in shithole Afghanistan to babysit an imaginary hole that nobody can fucking find.
November 18
We found it. Jesus H. Christ, we found it. It’s like a fucking void. After passing that last mountain, it’s like a huge dip into a valley. There’s just this massive hole in the center. I can’t even see the other side or the bottom. Damn thing must be at least 15 miles in diameter. My god…it’s so surreal. I guess Spear wasn’t a total failure after all.
November 19
Shit a couple Frenchies fucked around and fell in.
November 20
We couldn’t hear their screams anymore. Everyone’s getting sick. Real sick. People are vomiting blood and I swear I can hear something rumbling from the void.
November 24
Headache ears hurt. Not much to report.
November 26
The other countries decided we have to descend into the hole. Some suicide rescue mission and also find It. Bunch of idiots are gonna kill themselves.
November 28
We shouldn’t have searched for it. He was guarding it. Bullets won’t work. Knives won’t work. Missiles won’t work. I’m so sorry Jess.
November 28
I made it out. Barely anyone did. It does not matter anymore. The horse has woken. Best case scenario, everyone is slaughtered by January.
The journal ended there. A few days after this, the technology worked again. I quit the guide job and booked the first plane out and decided to return to London. I don’t know what to make of this.
–
Credits to: ahimalayanguide
Comments