An Average Day at Laminax

Chapter 22

I think this has been one of the most unusual weeks of my life. Seeing Laminax on the news constantly, all the controversies being discussed in talk shows, footage of the humanitarian aid with Laminax workers collaborating with UNICEF and the UN as sort of a last ditch effort to save their reputation, and even some online forums with people discussing their experiences with or at Laminax. There were some stories of the news of people fighting back against the Gootraxians, gaining weapons and going on a mass Gootraxian killing spree, despite Laminax's public announcement to let them take care of them. Two young Australian men called Dylan Smith and Stephen Greco drove to Melbourne International Airport, where they both travelled to Indonesia and gained access to one Bushmaster rifle, two pistols and two pump action shotguns. They then went into a thick area of the Indonesian forest outside of Jakarta, where a high Gootraxian count was. They then apparently killed about 24 Gootraxians combined before getting arrested by Indonesian authorities and getting deported back to their hometown of Bendigo. But it got weirder. A former Applebee's employee from Bellevue, Washington named Charles Morrissey spent three days in his garage, crafting homemade pipe bombs. In the fourth day he placed the pipe bombs into a duffel bag, then bought ammo for his father's hunting over and under shotgun that was gathering dust in his shed. He then drove to a dangerous area of the Washington woods with yet again a high Gootraxian count. He managed to kill three Gootraxians with the homemade bombs and killed eight more with the hunting rifle. He too was arrested. The last one was so weird that when I first heard it, I thought it was a fake story. A 63 year old veteran called Bill Hollinger living outside of Asheville, North Carolina allegedly bought an M60 machine gun and attached it to the back of his truck. With his friend, Lance Dietrich driving the truck, they drove all the way to a small part of the Appalachian Mountains where you can guess, Gootraxians were. And he didn't kill 24 Gootrax, or 11 Gootraxians. He killed 78. 78 Gootraxians. His friend drove through the woods while the veteran stood in the back of the truck and wildly shot around. The veteran escaped authorities, though his friend was arrested.

All of these people were taking matters into their own hands, fighting back against the Gootraxians in a desperate attempt to regain a sense of control in a world that had been turned upside down. So, it looks like Richard was right when I said that it was going to be difficult for me to readjust to society, at least for the public. As the week continued on, the news stories got more unbelievable, in a literal way. And there was one news report that stuck out from the rest. You wouldn't believe it, but apparently four people had managed to enter an alternate dimension where the Gootraxians came from. And among that group was no other than Adam Cambridge. And the other three are still confirmed to be known, but their identities are being hidden for their protection. Adam had left his hotel in Vienna and flew to New York, abandoning his second conference meeting in Switzerland. The reasons why are still unknown, but Adam had allowed the three to sneak into the laboratory unnoticed by coming up with fake names for them at the receptionists desk, saying that they were new recruits. Some theories on why is that the three are part of a anti-Laminax group that somehow bribed Adam into doing this, or that Adam secretly joined a anti-Laminax group during one point in his career, and now Adam is in hot water, as you can imagine.

Apparently, Adam and the trio went to the crystal cave, where they found a portal that somehow led to the Gootraxian dimension. I'm not sure if I believe it, and I don't think I ever will, unless I see more solid evidence of it. Why is this even in the news? And why would Adam do this? I was confused myself when I heard the news. Anyway, now Adam is under investigation. He was demoted, and "digitally transferred" to the Atlanta branch, where he attended meetings by Zoom and did all his work online in his home. The media was all over it. In the more recent footage that was shown on the news just an hour ago, Adam was a mess. His hair was now messily sticking up into the air, as if he had just woken up, his beard was longer, his glasses had changed, and he looked like he hadn't slept for ages, due to the dark circles that were under his eyes. I felt bad for him, though I still wasn't sure on why he had left Vienna, as the details aren't being fully revealed, as Richard said. Two days ago, it was revealed that after being infected, there was a chance that some people may be able to retain their human mindset, and as it turns out, it was more common for that to happen than we originally thought.