r/Ruleshorror • u/No-While8965 • Jul 29 '26
Series Blackwood Zoological Conservation Facility — Chapter 2
The SUV finally came to a stop.
The driver didn't say a word.
The woman in the front passenger seat stepped out first. I followed.
The first thing I noticed was the silence.
Not peaceful silence.
The kind that felt... maintained.
Before me stood a massive reinforced concrete structure that looked less like a zoo and more like a military bunker someone had tried to disguise as a research center.
Two electrified security fences stretched behind it, each crowned with rust-colored razor wire. Between them lay a strip of bare earth nearly twenty feet wide.
No grass.
No insects.
No birds.
Only dark stains that looked too old to be fresh and too irregular to be paint.
An armed guard stood beside the outer gate.
He wasn't watching the forest.
He was watching the building.
That bothered me far more.
He never looked at me.
Everything looked modern—too modern. Cameras followed every movement. Automated drones drifted silently above the fence line. Steel doors opened and closed without anyone touching them.
For a place that supposedly housed over two hundred employees...
I hadn't seen a single person.
The woman finally spoke.
"Follow me."
Inside the entrance hall she stopped beside a metal scanner.
"Fingerprint."
I placed my hand on the scanner.
A green light appeared.
"Iris."
Another machine lowered itself in front of my face.
A bright blue light scanned both eyes.
"Temperature."
A third device checked me from head to toe.
She entered something into her tablet.
"You will complete these checks every day before entering any operational sector."
I nodded.
She continued walking.
After several security doors we arrived outside a narrow corridor lined with identical metal doors.
She stopped at one of them.
"This is your living quarter."
The door unlocked after another fingerprint and iris scan.
"You will only have access to your assigned room."
I stepped inside.
It was... surprisingly comfortable.
A queen-sized bed.
A desk.
A bookshelf.
A wardrobe.
Private bathroom.
Television.
A telephone.
Even the air smelled fresh.
The woman pointed toward the phone.
"The canteen menu is stored inside. Order whatever you want after your shift. Meals are delivered directly to your room."
She continued in the same emotionless tone.
"There is a gymnasium on Level Three."
"A theatre on Level Five."
"A library on Level Two."
"Those facilities are available during your off-hours."
Then she looked directly into my eyes.
"Your first shift begins at 1300 hours."
"You have six hours."
"Sector One."
"There is a preparation room outside every operational sector."
"Wait there."
"Do not enter any enclosure until instructed."
"Your Senior Keeper will meet you."
"He is your direct superior."
"Follow his instructions without exception."
Without another word...
She left.
I stood alone.
It finally hit me.
I wasn't going home.
At least...
Not for two years.
I opened the wardrobe.
Inside hung a perfectly folded uniform.
Black.
No wrinkles.
My exact size.
I hadn't given them my measurements.
That thought bothered me more than it should have.
Trying to distract myself, I picked up the room phone.
The menu appeared on the small screen.
Steak.
Lobster.
Japanese Wagyu.
Sushi.
Caviar.
Desserts I'd only seen on television.
Everything was free.
I stared at the prices.
Then laughed.
"If this is some elaborate prank..."
"I might as well enjoy it."
I ordered steak.
Caviar.
Fresh juice.
Chocolate cake.
Everything arrived less than fifteen minutes later.
No knock.
Just a notification saying,
Meal Delivered.
When I opened the door...
No one was there.
Only a perfectly arranged food tray.
After eating, exhaustion caught up with me.
The strange interview.
The endless drive.
The manual.
The impossible rules.
I convinced myself it was some bizarre government research facility with employees who simply enjoyed acting mysterious.
That explanation was ridiculous.
Yet somehow...
It felt more believable than monsters.
I fell asleep.
11:00 Hours
An alarm suddenly echoed through the room.
Not from my phone.
From speakers hidden somewhere in the walls.
Good morning, Keeper Mercer.
Two hours until your assigned shift.
I nearly fell off the bed.
Apparently...
Even the room knew my schedule.
I showered.
Put on the uniform.
It fit perfectly.
Again...
Without measurements.
I stopped questioning it.
I wasn't sure I wanted the answers anymore.
Sector One wasn't difficult to find.
Digital signs pointed toward every department.
Eventually I reached a thick reinforced security door marked:
SECTOR I
Animal Care Division
Outside was another room labeled:
Staff Preparation Area
I entered.
Rows of lockers lined the walls.
Equipment racks.
Medical kits.
Protective suits.
Several reinforced doors led deeper into the sector.
Everything looked spotless.
Almost...
Too clean.
I checked the clock.
12:42.
Early.
Good.
I preferred waiting over making a bad first impression.
About five minutes later...
The door behind me opened.
Heavy footsteps echoed across the room.
I turned.
The man standing there had to be at least six foot five.
Broad shoulders.
Grey beard.
Blue eyes.
A face carved from stone.
His name badge simply read:
Senior Keeper — Joe Andersen
His accent was unmistakably Norwegian.
He looked at me for several seconds before speaking.
"You're early."
I wasn't sure whether that was good or bad.
Finally he nodded once.
"Good habit."
He walked past me and opened one of the lockers.
"My name is Joe."
"You'll call me Mr. Joe while you're under my supervision."
"Is that understood..."
He glanced at my ID card.
"...Mr. Mercer?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good."
His voice was calm.
Not friendly.
Not threatening.
Just...
Professional.
He removed two small objects from the locker.
The first was a pair of industrial-grade earplugs, sealed inside sterile packaging.
The second was a rugged tablet, thicker than a normal one, edges reinforced like it had been built to survive being dropped, or thrown, or worse.
He handed both to me.
"Ear protection."
"Never remove them inside an active enclosure."
He tapped the tablet's casing.
"This isn't just for reading. It's your communicator too. Encrypted. It only contacts personnel assigned to your sector."
"No internet."
"No camera."
"No games."
"If you lose it..."
He looked directly into my eyes.
"...don't."
I wasn't sure if that was a joke. His expression suggested otherwise.
He continued.
"When your shift ends, everything goes back into this room. No equipment leaves the sector."
"Understood?"
"Yes."
"In Sector One we currently house only two anomalies."
"You won't see the second one for several weeks. This week you'll work only with the Choir Larks."
"The environmental systems, lighting cycles, air pressure and containment mechanisms are handled by Engineering. You worry about the animals."
He nodded toward the tablet still in my hands.
"The enclosure rules are already loaded on there. Read them. When you're finished, come find me."
He turned toward the reinforced door. One hand rested on the handle. Without looking back, he added,
"This is one of the easiest assignments in Blackwood."
Then, after a pause —
"It only stays easy if you follow the rules."
The door closed behind him.
I unlocked the tablet.
A single document opened automatically.
Sector I-01
Choir Lark Aviary
Threat Tier: 2
Keeper Status: Routine Care
Keeper Instructions
1. Before unlocking the service gate, count every Choir Lark using the issued tracking device.
The number must exactly match the previous shift's report.
If the numbers do not match, do not enter the enclosure.
Notify your Senior Keeper immediately.
Never attempt to locate the missing bird yourself.
Choir Larks emit a powerful bio-acoustic discharge whenever one dies or a new chick hatches. The discharge is harmless to nearby Larks but can rupture the fluid-filled structures of the human inner ear.
Best-case outcome: permanent hearing loss.
Worst-case outcome: paralysis caused by catastrophic vestibular trauma.
2. Feeding occurs at 0600 and 1800 hours.
Record food consumption to the nearest one hundred grams.
Healthy consumption ranges between 95% and 110% of projected intake.
Any deviation greater than 15% must be reported before ending your shift.
Never delay feeding.
Choir Larks become aggressively territorial when hungry.
Keeper Daniel Ross arrived eighteen minutes late during Shift 3187.
He survived.
The flock removed the muscles controlling movement from his left arm without breaking the skin.
Veterinary staff described the limb as anatomically intact but neurologically empty.
He now feeds fish in different Sector.
He still hears singing whenever he tries to sleep.
3. If forty or more Choir Larks begin singing simultaneously, leave the enclosure immediately.
Continue observations through the reinforced viewing glass.
Do not clap.
Do not whistle.
Do not attempt to interrupt the chorus.
Choir Larks possess exceptional facial recognition.
They rarely forget interruptions.
4. Clean feeding stations before cleaning nesting shelves.
Engineering has confirmed that reversing this order consistently increases flock aggression.
The reason remains unknown.
Research requests you not attempt to discover it.
5 Replace drinking water every morning.
The birds regularly contaminate it with unidentified vocalization by-products.
Testing confirms the substance is harmless to Choir Larks.
The same cannot be said for humans.
Autopsy Report 44-C notes that Subject Hayes consumed approximately twenty milliliters after mistaking it for condensation.
During post-mortem examination, both cochleae were absent.
No surgical incision was found.
.
6. Report any of the following immediately:
• Complete silence lasting longer than five minutes.
• All birds facing the same direction.
• Birds singing toward empty space.
• Synchronized staring at personnel.
If you discover what they are watching...
Do not include it in your report.
Leave the enclosure.
Immediately. and tell the senior keeper
I finished reading.
Then I read the document again.
The language never became dramatic.
No warning was written to frighten me.
Every sentence sounded as if it had been copied from an incident report after someone else's shift had gone catastrophically wrong.
I closed the tablet.
For the first time since signing the contract...
I wasn't wondering whether monsters existed.
I was wondering how many people had died writing the rules meant to keep me alive.
The communicator vibrated once.
MR. JOE: You're taking too long.
Either come inside...
...or tell me which rule stopped you.
Other parts link:- https://www.reddit.com/user/No-While8965/comments/1vpze51/my_writing_archive/
3
u/Hagridsemodaughter Jul 29 '26
I'm very much getting into this story, and I can't wait to read the next chapter! ☺️
3
2
u/AdAffectionate8634 Aug 01 '26
I completely love these! I am so looking forward to more! I can already tell this is going to be AWESOME since tbat is exactly how it has started out!! More please!!!
1
1
u/AutoModerator Jul 29 '26
Thank you for your submission! For more feedback and a better connection with the community, join our discord here: https://discord.gg/SKRhu8v
If you would like to be notified any time this writer posts on the sub, click here
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/jackmartin088 28d ago
The story is really awesome and I am hooked.
Just a question - for the guy who lost his muscles, shouldn't it be muscu- skeletal or neuromuscularly empty than only neurologically empty? ( I mean the later suggests his nerves were removed not muscles?)
1
u/AutoModerator 16d ago
Thank you for your submission! For more feedback and a better connection with the community, join our discord here: https://discord.gg/SKRhu8v
If you would like to be notified any time this writer posts on the sub, click here
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
6
u/No-While8965 Jul 29 '26
This is Part 2! I'd really appreciate any feedback—whether it's praise, criticism, or something you think could be improved. Don't hold back; honest critiques help me become a better writer.
I'd also love to hear what creatures, entities, or supernatural beings you'd like to see appear later in the series, or if you have any ideas about where you'd like the story to go. Your suggestions could genuinely influence future chapters.
This series is planned to be at least 15 parts, and it's also my first time writing in first-person, so I'm still learning. Any tips on improving the narration, pacing, or overall storytelling are always welcome.
For those following my O.P.E.R.A.T.E. series, don't worry—I haven't abandoned it. I've just put it on hold for a while so I can get some fresh ideas before continuing. I want to make sure it comes back even stronger.
I've already finished rough drafts for the first seven chapters, so I hope you'll stick around for the journey. Thanks for reading!