Vox Mentis

Do you have any way to film video? Audio, even? If so get that running, use the command words, and when that doesn't stop him make sure you know how to aim a gun straight enough to kill him clean.

Knocking him out would obviously be preferable but yeah, if there's no other way do what needs to be done with documentation if possible.

How long did it take him to go 200 yards to 50 yards? I dunno if we have time to record him even if we have the equipment.
Cell phone cameras do take a pretty short time to turn on though. Hopefully your organization has been kind enough to make sure your phones don't automatically upload your photos to an internet database (or if they do, to your organizations private one, I guess)

Anyways, you should probably shoot him in the neck and the heart well before he gets anywhere close to you. Is it okay to damage his brain? Maybe you want to keep that intact for science research.

Unfortunately, the bulky satellite phones they've given you don't come equipped with any recording equipment. You don't have time, anyway - Campbell is closing fast.

You squeeze the trigger twice more. The kid falls to his knees. He tries to rise, grunts again, and falls face forward onto the road.

You sink to your haunches. The sun has almost set. The world is awash in orange. You rise and begin to load the kid's body into the car.

~

You drive through the night. When the city lights rise, you can't stand it anymore, and pull over onto the shoulder and climb out. You lean on the car and dial, inhaling night air. Cars whiz by. "Yes?"

"It's Eliot."

"Ah." You hear a tinkling: ice in glass. "How are things proceeding?"

"Campbell's dead."

You hear Thoreau sip at his drink. "Do you mean he failed to return?"

"I mean I shot him in the chest." You close your eyes, but that's no better, so you open them again. "I mean he came out of there carrying an ax and I shot him."

"You sound unsettled."

You drop the phone from your ear. When you can, you raise it. "I'm fine."

"You're saying Campbell came back insane. Is that correct?"

"Yes. Insane. Compromised. Something."

"Do you know how it happened?"

"He made it to the Emergency Room. We were talking. Then he just stopped."

"How did he sound up to that point?"

"He was cool under pressure."

There's silence. "It's so intriguing," Thoreau says. "What I would give to know what she did in there."

You wait.

"Come home, Eliot. It's been long enough."

"I haven't found Woolf."

"Woolf is dead."

"I don't believe that."

"Stop believing what you want to believe. It's unbecoming. You've found no trace. Your assignment is terminated. Come home."

You lay your head against the cold metal of the car and close your eyes. "Yes, sir."

~

A dot appears in the snowscape. A car? Yes. You check your coat, make sure the gun is out of sight.

Behind you, Nick's footsteps clatter down the airplane steps. That was quick, you think. He must have thought of something.

"I want it to be worth it!" Nick shouts. "Those people who died back there, I need to make myself worth it!"

You don't respond.

"Is that a car?"

Nick's shoes crunch toward you. He stops beside you, hugging himself. You glance at him. "Don't leave me, you motherfucker," Nick says.