The black, unmarked FBI Tahoe slowly cruises down the dirt road. The driver, Agent James Merrick, is tightly clutching the steering wheel. Just a few hours ago, he was ordered to investigate a sighting of an anomalous area in the middle of the Ohio countryside. These areas of interest are referred to by the Unusual Incidents Unit as a "Can." Of course this is three hours out from HQ, Merrick thought to himself.
"Hey M, you there?" a voice spoke through Merrick's radio connected to his belt. "Yea Bill, I'm here. I'm almost to the spot." The agent responded, just as he was turning a sharp corner of the dirt road. Merrick knew everyone working at the small UIU section of the FBI building in Cincinnati. "You didn't really tell me why I'm having to drive three hours to the middle of damn nowhere in the middle of the night." "Well, some kids were checking out the local urban exploring spot in that area, and they claim they saw some 'spooky stuff.' Apparently they were exploring this abandoned bunker, and there was a mutilated corpse in there. The local PD searched the place and found nothing." Bill spoke through the radio in a gruff voice. "We are just sending in an agent to do a more thorough check. The place has always had multiple anomalous sightings."
"Just me today?" Asked the agent driving. "Yup," Bill responded. "Alright, but you better have a cup of coffee waiting for me back at HQ, okay Bill?" Said Merrick. "Alright M. Over and out." Merrick clicked off the radio connected to his belt and approached the abandoned location.
Around 20 minutes later, the agent parked and found his way to the entrance of the bunker. It looks like an old Cold War bunker, Merrick thought to himself as he looked upon the small, decrepit concrete building beyond the chain link gate he stopped in front of. The metal gate was unlocked, likely from teenagers breaking in and taking a look around. Merrick slowly pushed open the gate, and he started to make his way to the bunker. Graffiti covered the outside of concrete building, and parts of the concrete had started to crumble.
Merrick and his brother used to explore places like these, until he disappeared. I guess that is why I joined up, He thought. The agent approached the large, metal door that led to the entrance of the concrete bunker. It took a lot of force, but eventually the sturdy metal door slowly creaked open. Merrick clicked on the flashlight that was attached to his belt. Inside, it looked like the average abandoned structure: peeling paint, graffiti all over the walls, crumbling infrastructure. Debris slowly trickled down from the ceiling, making his FBI jacket dusty. Merrick slowly and cautiously made his way deeper into the bunker, stepping over rubble and miscellaneous things typically found in abandoned military buildings. Eventually, he found a door blocked by stacks of boxes and a shelf that had been knocked over. After clearing all of the obstacles, he reached a long, stretching hallway. There were rows of rooms with metal doors, most of which looked like solitary confinement chambers. Merrick clicked on his radio.
"Hey Bill? When the local PD sweeped this place, did they find any rooms that looked like prison cells?"
"No, Merrick. They did not."
"Well, I just found some."
"Huh. That's strange. Oh well. Just proceed with caution, alright?"
"Will do." Merrick clicked off his radio.
Agent Merrick slowly made his way through the hallway, peeking through each cell door one at a time. At first, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Each cell in the hall looks like a normal prison cell, with a small toilet and a slab of concrete to sleep on. When Merrick and his brother used to explore abandoned places, they once visited the old Ohio Penitentiary. These cells almost look identical. However, on the third cell he stuck his head through, he saw the worst thing he had ever seen during his career as an FBI-UIU agent.
In this cell, there was a body. Not a fake one like the ones he saw during training. A real corpse. It was horribly disfigured and torn up, and there was dried blood all over the small cell. It seemed as though a zombie had torn through the corpse. The body had multiple missing fingers, and it seems like the corpse's left leg had almost been chewed through. There is also a noticeable (and large) bite in the victim's cranium. Holy shit. It was the most disturbing thing Merrick had ever seen. Merrick vomited in the corner of the cell after seeing the corpse. The agent clicked on his radio and brought it to his mouth to speak.
"B-bill? uhh… I've found the missing body." Merrick stated in a shaky voice.
"For real? How bad is it?"
"I-it's probably the worst thing I have ever seen in my entire life."
"Jesus. Alright, stay put. I'm sending UIU agents and general FBI troops to your location. ETA 40 minutes."
"Shit. Alright-"
"Hello? Is anyone there?" he heard a voice say. The voice was coming from the farther reaches of the dark bunker hallway, far away enough to the point Merrick couldn't see any further even with his flashlight. The voice sounded like a young woman, and she sounded distressed.
Merrick would click off his radio, unholster his Glock 19 and aim it into the darkness. "FBI! Make yourself and your intentions known!" The agent shouted into the darkness.
"Please help! Please!" The voice cried out.
Merrick, upon hearing this, started running towards the voice. Clearly, to him, this person was in danger, especially after seeing the grotesque body of the person in the cell. Merrick passed a lot more cells, some of which were open, and he could see more bodies in them. But that didn't matter to him. What mattered to him was finding this person, and saving them from whatever is doing this. After 10 seconds of running, he reached the end of the hallway. There was no one there. Merrick turned back around. "Where are you ma'am? Come out! I can help you!" The fed shouted into the darkness. Suddenly, Merrick heard a long, metallic creaking sound. He watched as one of the many cell doors was slowly pushed open. "Hey! Come out slowly with your hands up. I can get you help, but I need to know you're not a threat." The agent said, as he pointed his weapon at the cell door.
What came out of that door was horrific. It was a creature. A creature that only vaguely resembled a woman. It was rotting, walking, talking corpse. Maggots were crawling all over it. One eye hung loose out of its socket. Merrick, startled, fired all of the rounds in his firearm into the thing. It did nothing. The creature's mouth started to slowly stretch out to an inhuman level. "Oh, there you are." The creature spoke. This was the last thing UIU Agent Merrick ever heard before the creature lunged at him and chomped down upon his head.
THIS DOCUMENT IS CLASSIFIED. THIS REPORT IS NOT TO BE SHARED WITH THE PUBLIC.
Summarized Incident report
FBI Cincinnati Field Office
Date of incident: October 7th, 2025
Location of incident: [REDACTED]
Description: UIU agent James Merrick was found dead at an abandoned military bunker. Notable injuries include a missing eyeball and large bite of unknown origin on head. His remains were mutilated. Agent Merrick was inspecting the bunker after reports of a missing anomalous corpse. This was under the guidance of Lead Agent Bill Sullivan. Agent Merrick was found dead alongside 12 other bodies, each with similar injuries. One notable body found at the scene is Adrian Merrick, Agent James Merrick's brother who went missing two years ago. This investigation is still ongoing.
Side Note: After this incident, a new rule for the Cincinnati FBI / UIU office has been initiated. No agent shall travel alone under any circumstances while on duty. This rule will be heavily enforced.
-Marcus Bradburn, Cincinnati FBI Field Office Director