272: Cremation of Care

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Dear Patrons,

Here's another special day, of Thanksgiving, yet another day of feasts, what better to celebrate that than a roast turkey of a slender and forbidden sort.

Some news, I have opened up a new option via Cash App, for those who would like to support me and my works through this platform, you may contact me or email me at (forbiddenfeast -- at -- gmail -- dot -- com) or send me a message via the Contact Form to receive the Cash App address and some instructions. As an added bonus, subscribers through this method can receive a discount $25/month instead of the usual $28/month DISCIPLE tier.

This is one of my most inspired updates, epic even, with three new, fully colored pieces and one doozy of a story, where we revisit the investigations of the Doe Patrol, or what was left of them. Lots and lot of work and passion poured into this one and I hope I'm not exaggerating when I say that this update will be one of the classics. 

And with that, hopefully to keep you nicely satiated in the thick of these winter months, I say bon appétit! "Gobble gobble... as we gobble her up!"

Click on the link below to join Forbiddenfeast's Discord Community to keep up to date with exclusive news and updates:
This link is viewable to ACOLYTE, DISCIPLE members or higher & valid for a month as of 23 Nov 2023. If the link has expired, message me and I'll create a new link.
 

I. THE REUNION (3 full color artwork for DISCIPLE members or higher)

Thanks for seeing me again.

Yeah. Man, how have you been? Things were never the same again ever since...

Please don't say her name.

Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. Emmm... how are things?

Quiet. Laying low. Moved back into the family home, could you believe it, when I said I would never step foot back there again?

Yeah. I get it. I heard the news. Sorry about your mom, by the way, I never got the chance to --

No need for that. How could you? I practically ghosted everyone from that life. But yeah. I'm back home, fixing up the old house, might even live in it instead of flipping it for a profit. But enough about me. Still working on the case, I see. I get curious sometimes... I see your posts on the board. Somehow, I can tell if it's really you, and not some impostor trying to be you. 

You know me too well. Not surprising you know, after the shit we've been through. After what we've seen. I can't seem to find a way to let this go. But you know, I'm more careful now. The message board gave me much more anonymity and reach than the newsletter could have offered.

But you still have trolls putting out noise either for attention or perhaps, a psy-op from the other side. Still working through that?

At the beginning, it used to bug me, but now... I just don't care as much. Let the people decide. Believe or not believe. I just put my findings out there. In the end, that's all that ever was about. And somehow, organically, against all odds, it still manages to work!

Still got the A-Team?

Well, not exactly. If you're talking about the old gang, it's just me now. The rest, we've lost touch ever since... well, you know. But things are different now. I have my little online army. Doe Patrol 2: Doe Harder. -- chuckle -- They're strangers behind pseudonyms, but somehow I consider them family, just like how we were back then. But we're doing good work. Real good work. Uncovered a lot more and covered more ground than I could ever have with our small team and the newsletter in the old days.

The changing times. And yet, they're still out there, the cannibals... doing their thing. I see they've even become a little more bold. Stuff's out there, but it's like the sheep don't care that there are wolves hunting them. Nobody cares. Or just nobody cares to look because they don't want to know. There are easy horrors, and then there are unsettling horrors.

I know. But wasn't that what the spirit of the Doe Patrol was all about? To give names to the missing? And the Lantern Bearer... we said it time and time again... in times of darkness, we bring the light, no matter how dark. That's all we can do. Let the others do their thing, the cops, the lawyers, the politicians. Let them be inept, corrupt or worse. But we... you and me... we do our job. We might as well be Sisyphus rolling that rock up that hill but God damn, we do our thing because if not, us, who else can it be? 

You still believe that?

Yes. We're not alone. We've got more people looking into this than ever before. The Websleuth Army. The Doe Battalion. That's what we call ourselves these days. A bit of an upgrade to our small little squad we had. I miss you, man. We all miss you. And we could still use a good head like yours leading the rat pack. And yes, it's a crazy world we live in. 

Sometimes I wonder, during the fall of Rome, Greece or the Ottoman Empire, did they ever have their own versions of Doe Patrols like us about to uncover a great conspiracy only at the end, to see their civilization crumble? All their work trivialized to become the dust of history. Makes me wonder if the Circle, behind their shadowy power and influence, are they causing all of this worldly turmoil, just like how they've been so successful in covering past crime scenes? 

You're being a little too pessimistic, my friend. Nobody can be that powerful. Not even the Third Reich could hide their atrocities.

And you're a little too naive.

...

Since you're still on the case, I have something for you. Your post last month about the Georgia Crematorium. You know me... you're great with the internet stuff but I'm more of a boots on the ground kind of guy. So... out of curiosity, I checked it out. 

You did? But it all burned down in the three-alarm fire. There was nothing left but ashes. Crematorium, cremated. There's a joke in there somewhere.

Hah. Well, you didn't let me finish. Right on the day you made that post about the private Thanksgiving party. Well, I told you I was out... and I'm right. I'm still out, OUT. But seeing that your army is a bunch of keyboard warriors who'd rather stay at home instead of getting their hands dirty, I just can't leave an old friend hanging and you know, now that I was in the neighborhood, I went there the next day... 

Holy shit.

... yes, Holy shit. I went there... before the fire.

...

You were right. Something did happen there that Thanksgiving night and it's not just some Bohemian artsy after-party either. First off, I pretty much had the whole night to dig around. They did try to clean up as best as they could. A little too clean. I'd expect a regular party to leave a lot more trash behind, especially at a building old and abandoned enough to be condemned. Swept floors, left some furniture but nothing too out of the ordinary. I was nosing around, feeling a little nostalgic from my urbex days, and I was looking at the morgue refrigerators, you know... those large big coolers that they store the bodies in so they won't decompose and stink up the place? I looked into all six chambers. Nada. I was about to chalk this off as bust and go home for some hot chocolate until I realized that the mortuary refrigerators seemed a little too... clean. They were still old, mind you. But they seemed refurbished. I'd assumed junk thieves would've stripped the hunk of metal for parts, but I saw no missing parts. So my gut told me to check. And guess what? I turned it on and it hummed as if it was brand new. I waited long enough to feel that it got cold inside. so yeah, it worked! Odd, especially in an old abandoned crematorium. So now, yeah... now I see we're both on the same page... for sure, that's where these strange motherfuckers would keep the food. Now, if this worked, what else should work too?

The incinerator?

Bingo. I went down into the basement and saw that the furnace also worked but not in a way you'd expect it to. It was tampered to put out heat at a lower temperature instead of a blazing fire. Just enough to...

Cook! But that's not enough. Everything burned down along with all the DNA samples that we could have found. Anyone can chalk this up to just strange rich people staging a weird event in the name of modern art.

Again, you didn't let me finish. I didn't say I came away with nothing.

Go on.

You see, by then, I've started combing the place with a fine tooth comb, to find anything... anything at all that felt out of place. I had been a little facetious when said that the Circle was always successful at covering up crime scenes. Well. Almost. I found this tucked at a corner. They cleaned up well, but they left this behind. 

Wait. What? Is that what I think it is?

You and me, we've been doing this for far too long that we're starting to think like these people. You hit the nail on the head when you proposed the theory of the Dine n' Dash. The Movable Feast. It's a perfect cover. We're on the right track here. Now this, it could be just another innocent body scraps that escaped the incinerator when the building was still a crematorium and not a macabre banquet hall for all I know. But you and I both know, it looks a little too fresh and... greasy. Just send it to a DNA lab and see if it matches with any of the missing girls. Oh, and if anyone tries to nail us like we were the murderers or something, send them this too. This hard drive's got the video of me digging around the building.

Dude!

This doesn't mean I'm back in. I don't want any credit. Just say you filmed it, not me. Between you, me and the rest of the world, I'm still a guy at the bookstore living at my parent's old house. I like my life now. I like sleepwalking and not knowing, watching my Falcons blow another 4th quarter lead. But hey, at least I finally did my part.

I don't know what to say. Thank you. Hey... let me get you another drink.

Thank me later, I gotta get back to the bookstore anyway, I'm already late as it is, but I will have a double-shot flat white to go if you wanna get me something.

Sure, buddy. Anything for you. You know you're welcome back to the team, anytime. You have my number.

Naaah. I'm good. Maybe if there's another thing you can help me with. This question's been bugging me for years ever since we started finding out who these people were. 

Go ahead.

After all these years chasing these people, did we ever ask ourselves the fact that we're chasing them, was it because we wanted to take them down? Or that some part of us wanted... an invitation?

...

I'll confess this, for a time back in the day... when we've spent so much time chasing after these wealthy and powerful people and get a peek into their lifestyles of the rich and famous. I did get a little resentful, jealous even, seeing how much they're enjoying their lifestyles and their... food. I know it's sick. Getting into their heads, learning how they think. The euphoric sense of power and domination over another human being. You see how these people are. They're hunters. Our superiors... and for a time I wanted to join them. I wouldn't mind it. That was until...

I know. We won't have to say her name.

Thank you.

-- the end? --

II. WORKS IN PROGRESS (4 sketches & works in progress relate to this story for Disciple members and higher)