THE FOLLOWING FILE CONTAINS THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE RECORDED INTERACTION BETWEEN ANDERS, EMMA, BLAINE, BARTOSZ, AND THE CATHOLIC PRIEST AND HIS PROTEGE.

--File 037: Forgive Them, Father--

The video begins in a small church. It is clearly well cared for and well loved, though there is a sort of bland, emptiness that suggests that tithes are not as forthcoming as they could be. The church is built in the cruciform style, an homage to the shape of the cross, and there is a large, wooden crucifix that is hanging on the wall of the nave, just behind the altar. Classic, unadorned Bibles sit in each of the pews, almost undisturbed; attendance must be low.

Anders and Blaine are in the lead, with Emma standing behind them. She doesn't have her backpack with her, nor is the game console currently visible, as is display when Blaine swings the camera around for a moment to catch the whole of the inside of the church.

Standing before them is an aged old man in a black, collared shirt and black slacks. Beside him is a much younger gentleman, who seems unsettled by something, as he is looking at Emma with a surprising amount of alarm. Bartosz is currently speaking.

Bartosz: "-is my friend, the one I was telling you about, Jim Anders. He's one of the only ones who stuck to the field. That there is Blaine [BEEP], he's stuck in all this- uh. You know. Anyway, lastly, that's Emma [BEEP]. The game seems to favor her, for whatever reason."

Priest: "Hello, my friends. I'm sorry to have to meet you in such a way. I'm Father Perez, and this is my protege, Alex. I have been attempting to get to the root of the corruption here for almost thirty years of my life, since being sent here by the Church."

Emma: "I'm surprised they let you. We've seen evidence of them getting rid of anyone who gets in their way."

Father Perez: "Your guess is as good as mine. At times, they seem so easily threatened- they've gotten rid of more than they've ever reported on. At other times, however, they seem so utterly comfortable- like with me. I have never threatened them enough to do away with me, though there are members of this town who openly avoid my Church."

Blaine: "You don't mean that the Church actually scares them?"

Father Perez: "If it did, they would've found a way to do way with it long ago. I think it's more a nuisance. I've tried all manner of tricks of my trade to influence them, to free them, to unfetter their slavery to the Devil, but... to no avail. The most I have received is laughter."

Anders: "We've uncovered a lot of information in that library, Jakub. They didn't try to stop us at all."

Emma: "Do you know why they seem to be completely unphased by me? They're not afraid of me at all. If anything, they all seem happy to see me."

Father Perez: "The presence of the game seems to mean something to them, I confess. Do you have it with you?"

Emma: "I didn't bring it in, but it's probably around here somewhere."

Blaine: "Hey... do you have a problem with Emma?"

Blaine is addressing Alex, who, noticeably, has said nothing this entire time, and has continued to stare directly at Emma. He appears to be in his late twenties, but there are gray hairs on his head already, and a certain haunted look to his features that seems omnipresent. He startles at Blaine's question, the rest of the room going very still, including Emma.

Alex: "I... no. No, of course not, it's just..."

Alex hesitates, and looks back to Emma again, looking almost puzzled.

Alex: "I feel like I've seen you before."

Blaine: "How could you? We're from out in California."

Alex: "No, of course not. I'm born here. It's just... it's the darnedest thing. I have this strange feeling that we have met before, and that there is... something I am forgetting."

Father Perez: "Come. We have much to discuss, and you'll need to get home before too late, so as to be able to deal with that game."

Emma: "If you want to see it, it's just right there."

Emma points off to the side, and sure enough, the game is sitting quietly in a pew. The timer is still ticking down as before, steadily and without ceasing. Alex's head jerks around, now, to stare directly at the game, eyes trained on it; the haunted horror that had been a hint in his expression is now out in full force.

Alex: "I... didn't see you bring it in."

Anders: "She doesn't have to. It follows her- and her, specifically."

Father Perez: "Yes. From what I've seen of these things, that seems to be the case. It identifies its target, and it will not release them until either death, or success."

Emma: "You know about the games?"

Bartosz: "You never mentioned knowing anything about them to me, Father."

Father Perez: "The information I had was surprisingly little, until some years ago, and at that point, I wanted to respect the privacy of my protege. You see, he has completed the game."

A stunned silence falls on the room. Alex continues looking at the game, somewhat pale and very uncomfortable.

Anders: "You never told me this. Why keep this from me? You knew how important it was that I get this kind of information, Perez. I needed to know this."

Father Perez: "There was not much you could have done with it. For one year following the completion of the cursed object, Alex was in a coma. Following that, his memories were fragmented; he remembered very little, as it was, about the game console."

Emma: "I don't understand. You were given a game?"

Alex: "It happens occasionally to someone in town. The game shows up, and the second the intended owner finds it, the countdown starts, and the race begins. Very... very few win at the game."

Emma is eager now, stepping toward Alex, a shining light of hope in her eyes.

Emma: "But you did beat it, and you did survive it? Everything turned out okay?"

Alex exchanges a worried look with Father Perez.

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Father Perez: "Not... exactly, my dear. Alex was found, comatose, among the remains of his home. His mother, his sole remaining relative, had... passed on."

The delicate tone of his voice suggests that there is more to this statement than he is letting on, but he doesn't elaborate. It is clear though that the passing of Alex's family had to do with the completion of the game, and Emma deflates, looking suddenly horrified.

Emma: "Are you telling me that even if I beat this damned thing, no one around me is safe?"

Father Perez: "We aren't positive. Death is the ultimate goal of the game's creator; even if you do win, his desire is to see suffering."

Emma: "Why? Who is behind this? Is it Weiss?"

Bartosz looks up, alert and startled, and turns to Anders.

Bartosz: "Just what exactly did you turn up? Who the hell is Weiss?"

Alex: "Weiss Holtman is the most dangerous man in this entire town, and yes. He is the creator of the game."

Emma: "What is he playing at?! Why is he doing this?!"

Father Perez: "Why do any serial killers begin doing what they do? Control, my dear. He wants control in a life where he had very little of it."

Emma: "So the rest of us have to suffer because he did?!"

Emma is clearly near hysterics now, and Blaine quickly hands the camera to Anders, who takes it gingerly. Blaine takes Emma by the shoulders and quickly pulls her toward him in the first on-screen physical sign of affection; perhaps because of this, Emma sags against him and bursts into tears.

Father Perez: "I am sorry. I know this is all hard. That timer on that game is more than just a timer to the next level, my dear, and it is important that you know that."

It is a few long minutes until Emma stops crying enough to speak; in the interim, Anders quietly catches Father Perez, Bartosz, and Alex up on what they discovered in the library, showing them the articles they found. Blaine says nothing, watching them, but neither participating nor releasing Emma until she finally moves away. When she pushes herself back, the others immediately turn to her to include her in the discussion.

Emma: "I'm sorry."

Bartosz: "You don't need to be."

Emma: "I'm sorry for crying, and I'm sorry because you're all in serious danger around me."

Anders: "Neither Bartosz nor I can walk away from this. The risk of the game is something we're more than willing to take."

Blaine: "I think at this point if you go down, I'm going down, too, no matter where I am. Better to be here."

Emma: "Is there anything you remember about the game? Are they all the same?"

Alex: "I still don't remember a great deal about what I played, but I remember enough. I've never been able to really talk to another victim. What have you completed?"

Emma: "We're going through Jake Grantham's life right now. His mother clearly abused him."

Father Perez: "Ah, yes. Matilda Grantham. I was here, in town, when she died, and I could not gather very much information on her; I was turned away at the door when I offered my services to the young Grantham as a Priest. He wanted nothing to do with the Church, and Weiss Holtman, in particular, hates the Church with a violent fury."

Alex: "If you want to get away from him, the Church is a good place to go. Something about it makes him mad, and I've lost some followers just by stepping in through the front doors."

Blaine: "I wonder why, if it's not because of the power of God, or whatever."

Alex: "We theorize it is maybe the power of our faith. If their cult is powered by their faith, then perhaps our faith directly challenges their's."

Emma: "Seems like they'd want to destroy the church, then."

Father Perez: "We can never entirely rule it out. If their main goal is to keep tabs on you, they may not like your interacting with the church, or bringing the game in here. For all we know, this may elevate our threat level. We shall have to remain vigilant."

Bartosz: "I'll be staying here with them, while you lot get around and look into things. My face doesn't inspire a lot of friendliness on either side of things."

Anders: "You seen the smiles yet?"

Father Perez is noticeably startled at this question.

Father Perez: "Have you seen the smiles, then? Their true faces?"

Emma: "More times than I'd like to admit."

Alex: "That's... strange. Openly? Out and about? Around other townsfolk?"

Blaine: "Unfortunately."

Father Perez and Alex exchange worried glances, obviously concerned over some new variable in what they're used to.

Father Perez: "In all my time in this town, they have only shown themselves to me once. To Alex, only after he had completed the game."

Alex: "And you said they've shown themselves multiple times to you?"

Emma: "An entire squad of Police or whatever at the Diner was infected- or whatever- and the Librarian, too."

Alex: "There's... a lot more of them than we though."

Anders: "And who, exactly, is 'them'?"

Father Perez: "The Others."

Emma: "We saw that in the newspapers, once Valentine Alexis started writing for the Journal."

Father Perez: "Yes. We know very little about what this really refers to, but we know that's what they call themselves. Following the murder of Jake Grantham's father, a surprising amount of good things started to happen for a certain group of people in our town. Fortunes flipped; previous unknown names suddenly rose through the ranks, and the town has flourished ever since, even when- by all rights- it should not have."

Alex: "If they have been quietly getting more and more people to join over the years, it would explain why the congregation has been dwindling."

Anders: "And why would that-"

Emma: "Guys!"

There has been, for almost a minute, a nearly unnoticeable beeping that has been going on in the background. Emma has suddenly run over to the game console, which is sitting on a pew; Blaine rushes forward, grabs the camera from Anders, and jumps to her side to look at the screen. A new set of words and a new timer has replaced the old:

"GET OUT"

The timer is counting down rapidly from an hour, though at the rate of the numbers flying past, it will be perhaps two minutes, at most, until it hits zero.

Without preamble, Emma turns, the game in her hands, and sprints towards the front entrance of the church, Blaine hot on her heals, Anders hot on his. Emma shrieks ahead of Blaine, but apart from a stumble, she keeps running until she has landed on the sidewalk outside the building, at which point, she quickly puts the game console on the cement; her arm are covered in enormous maggots, eagerly climbing their way up, and she is panicking, attempting to try to drag them off.

Blaine nearly drops the camera in his haste to get to her, and though the video is tilted, we can see that he is ripping the maggots from her arms. We can also see that they aren't alone, though they haven't noticed this; moments later, Anders and Bartosz join them, and though they DO notice that they are joined by others on the street, they, too, quickly set to on getting the maggots off of Emma's shaking arms.

When she is clear of the offending insects, Anders and Bartosz immediately turn to face the street; there is a group of individuals standing in the middle of the road, shown now as Blaine rips the camera from the floor and back up into the air, breathing hard.

The individuals are all dressed in nice, albeit perfectly normal clothing. The only thing marking them apart is the freakishly large smiles and the over-sized eyes in their faces- all save for one, in the center of the group- and all have their attention trained on Emma, who is currently ringed by Anders, Bartosz, Blaine, and, belatedly, Alex.

Figure In the Center: "Alex. You should have stayed away and counted your blessings."

Alex: "You're not allowed on hallowed grounds. Get away from here!"

Emma: "The hell is going on?"

Figure on Far Right: "It has been decided that the church is a no-go. Step foot inside, and you shall discover how dangerous the game can be."

Emma: "Are you serious? We too close to something for you tastes? Who decides this, anyway?"

The figure in the center steps forward. He is dressed perhaps the most unassumingly, wearing a sweater, jeans, and simple sneakers. He, alone, does not feature the overly wide smile and eyes.

Figure In the Center: "I do."

Blaine: "And who the hell are you supposed to be? The leader?"

Figure in the Center: "No, not the leader."

Bartosz: "Then who, huh, fucker? You gettin' your rocks off on scarin' the shit out of a young girl?"

Emma: "Of course he is."

Anders and Bartosz- and presumably Blaine- all glance in alarmed confusion toward Emma, who is staring at the man in the center with a frightened expression. Beside her, Alex says nothing, looking at the figure with an expression of grim, unnerved discomfort.

Anders: "You know something, Emma?"

Emma: "He's Weiss. He created the game."

The figure in the center- Weiss- smiles, a perfectly normal, perfectly charming smile. He has icy blue eyes, brown hair, and seems, in every way, unremarkable.

Blaine's camera slips from his hands, and the footage ends as it strikes the cement.

--END TRANSMISSION--