A (0:00)

Greetings travelers. In between seasons, I set aside some time to introduce you to shows I think you'll love, and I'm so glad to present to you the first show I'll be sharing this season. What you're about to hear is the Liminal Lands. Not only is it a show I love, it's created by a creator I personally admire who's also a dear friend. It's the story of a man who finds himself in a hostile new environment and must set out to find his family. It's a story of survival in a world of danger, intrigue, mystery, with characters I know you're going to adore. Waymond Alexander is the creator of the Liminal Lands. Me and Waymond began our shows around the same time and since then have found that our respective listeners are often fans of the other show. Even though the subject matter is vastly different, there's a humor and heart to it that seems to find a common ground that speaks to both sets of our listeners. This found footage style podcast is a labor of love that only becomes richer and more engaging the longer you listen. I love it and I know you will too. And if you do, please take the time to leave a kind rating and review wherever you listen. Nuff said. Prepare to get lost in the Liminal Lands with the first and second episodes. Find a link to the show's website in the show notes or look for the Liminal Lands wherever you listen to podcasts.

B (1:21)

Foreign welcome to Episode one of the Liminal Lands Prologue or a Journey of a Thousand Miles I honestly don't know why I'm recording this. I've never kept a journal or anything like that before, not even when I went through one of those really awkward, moody teenager phases. I guess I'm just doing this to help collect and organize my thoughts. Who knows, maybe I'm doing this so that later when all this shit gets figured out, we can all have a big laugh at my expense. Lord, that sounds divine. Just being the butt of some kind of gigantic joke would be heavenly. But that's sometime in the future. Or I hope that's in the future and it isn't why I started this recording. I think I mostly started this because I've finally come to a decision. But to set up for that decision, I actually need to go back a couple of days, explain some things. If this was some sort of TV show, now would be when the screen goes all wavy, some bells start chiming, and the flashback begins. So imagine that if it makes you feel better. But a couple of days ago Well, I use a couple. That's not really the right word, even the way I normally use it, because time just doesn't seem to be the same right now. But let's just go with a while back. Or a handful. Whatever. A handful sounds, right. Oh, Lord. I'm stalling and I'm just talking to myself here. I've heard you can pull everyone but yourself, but I think that's absolute horseshit. Hell, I can fool myself better than I can fool my wife. You know, one time I. Damn it. Stalling again. I just got to rip this band aid off and start. Where was I? Yeah, a handful of days ago. So, opening weekend of muzzleload deer season, I always take off work and I go out hunting. Mom comes over and she stays with my wife, helps her watch the kids. Having three crotch goblins under the age of six is pretty difficult to wrangle all by yourself. Or on his lease. Way back in the woods, just off the Cossatot river in the Ouachita Mountains. I've heard a few old timers pronounce it Owacheeta Mountains, but man, that just sounds so dumb. Anyways, I was out in a part we call the golf course. We call it that. Ironically, it is one more bitch of a growed up mess. I only explain this to kinda try and paint a picture in your mind. Even for Arkansas, this place is way out there. When you're out there, civilization is like a daydream. Sometimes the closest people to you are on a plane passing overhead. I mean, that's where all the big bucks are anyways, you know, I'm stalling again. All right. Pictures painted. That's a really long way of saying I'm out there. With no cell phone reception, it's actually one of the charms. So it's Sunday and I'm out there. I'm up in my tree stand on a stand we call the Honey hole. And that's a name whose meaning is lost to time. Get there a bit before sunrise. I climb up into my stand, sun comes up, and I guess that's really where I make my first mistake. I fell asleep. And if there is a hunter on earth who doesn't admit to falling asleep on the stand, that man is a liar. Hell, some of the best sleep I've ever gotten is whenever I'm supposed to be out there hunting. But not this time. No, this time I had nightmares. And I don't really remember them exactly. Sometimes I wonder now if I could remember them, if they might explain some of this crazy shit all I really remember is a vague sense of dread trying to run from some dark shapes, some unknown horror all around me. You know how it is. And I don't know if that's what woke me up or if it was something else. Whatever it was, I jumped awake. I shot up out of my seat. I think you can kind of see where it's going from here. I fell. I don't remember what I hit that turned out the lights. I don't know if it was a limb on the way down. The ground itself. I don't know. And I don't guess it really matters. They went out and I woke up sometime later. I mean, I don't wear a watch. Who the hell wears a watch anymore? I tried checking my phone, but as you can imagine, it didn't take to the fall any better than I did. Screen was shattered and the damn thing was damn near broke in half. I looked up at the sun, thought maybe I could at least try and get an idea of how long I'd been knocked out. I read somewhere that being knocked out for a long period of time is actually really, really bad for you. I guess it's just another way some action movies are just not realistic. I mean, I can't exactly tell you the time down to the second by glancing at the sun, but it should have at least given me an idea. And it didn't look like I'd been out for very long. I have reason to believe now that trying to use the sun would have been just as useless as anything else. Either the sun's moving differently now, or time is more mutable than it used to be. Something so there's really no telling how long I was actually out. Man, I am really dragging this out. Partly it's because I don't like to think about it. I guess partly because I really don't know what to think about it all. Hell, at this point, I'm not even sure I know how to think about it. The only way I even know how to try and describe this to you is by using a. A movie example. You know, in those zombie or apocalypse movies that trope where somebody wakes up in a hospital bed all alone, they finally make it outside, all the streets are empty and everything. Yeah, it was kind of like that, only different because I don't live in a city. But basically, this was a backwoods version of that. I woke up, blood all over my head. Head wounds bleed like a bitch. And I started trying to go home. Four wheeler wouldn't start, truck wouldn't start. I Started to walk back to town, no vehicle, no phone, what else are you gonna do? When the first couple of houses I got to were empty, I just assumed I was having the world's unluckiest day at that point. By the 9th or the 10th empty house, even someone as slow witted as me starts to figure out something's going on. It was about that time I decided to borrow a vehicle. I tried, I think an old Jeep Cherokee to start. It didn't start. I think the last one I tried was a newer model Lexus. That was probably vehicle number 30 that I tried. I can't even begin to tell you how many houses I checked, how many different driveways I walked down. It might have been the 30th vehicle, but I could only try vehicles with keys in them or ones where the keys were easy to find hanging on a hook by the door or in a fruit bowl or something. And yeah, by this time, you bet your ass I was breaking into houses, I was already gonna borrow a vehicle. So some light breaking and entering really wasn't gonna make much of a difference at that point. And if I'm gonna be honest, and I don't really see a reason to not be, at this point I was already panicking. There's only so many empty houses you can go into, so many miles of highway you can walk down without seeing another soul before reason starts to take a back seat and that primal part of your brain starts taking over. Every time I opened a door to somebody's house or slid into the driver's seat of somebody's vehicle, I was almost praying to hear somebody shout at me, what the fuck do you think you're doing? I mean, even if I had to explain myself, I at least wouldn't be alone anymore. At that point I would have taken the sound of somebody pumping a shotgun. Normally that's one of the scariest, most pants shittiest sound you'll ever hear. But by that time it would have been its own special form of music. At this point, if I was telling this story to my wife, that's probably when she would politely tell me that I was being a bit long winded. I'll try and pull a little less, get a bit more concise. So I walked at least 50 miles by the time I got home and that was just on the highway. That doesn't count all the driveways I went down. How long it took me to walk out of the woods. You know, I read somewhere that a league used to be how far a person could walk in an hour. And that's generally considered to be about three, three and a half miles. If I do some rough math, that puts it at about 15 hours to go 50 miles. And you add in all the time I was breaking into people's houses or screwed around trying to get a vehicle to start. That's gotta be at least 20 hours. Nevertheless, the sun was only just starting to go down by the time I got home. You can kinda see why I don't really trust time anymore. It's just as messed up as everything else in this hell I've found myself in. And of course, my kids, my wife, mom, they're gone too. Just like everybody else. I came so close to losing it right then. Sometimes too much is just too much. But after all of that, I didn't even have the energy to have a really good breakdown. Instead, I ate a cold can of ravioli. Had to eat it cold because along with everything else, electricity seems to have up and vanished. I'm not really surprised. If there's no people, why would I expect any electricity? So I ate, fell down, exhausted. And that pretty much brings us up to date to where we are now and the decision I was talking about earlier. So I'm woke up, found this old mini tape voice recorder somebody got me for Christmas a few years ago, shoved some batteries in and started talking. I briefly considered ending it all, just taking a shotgun to myself and checking out for good. But I can't do that. You see, I may not know what's going on here, where everyone's went, what's happened, but my family might still be out there somewhere. And if they are, I'm not gonna check out and leave them in this place alone. You see, that's. That's my decision. To live and to get my family back. It's still dark out. I really don't know how long it's gonna stay that way. But I'm leaving as soon as I gather a few things. If anyone ever hears this. Just have to say to my wife, Nicole, to my kids, Leonard, Renee, Willow. If you guys are out there somewhere, I'm coming for you. And to whatever or whoever has taken my family from me. I'm coming for you too. And there is nothing on this earth that can stop me. Welcome to episode two of the Liminal Lands A Single Step. Well, it seems the sun finally decided to show itself. I guess that means it's as good a time as any to stop and take a break. I mean, considering time is doing its own thing right now. I can't help it. I keep thinking of things in an hour, minute, second type of way. But that isn't helpful. Or hell, isn't even useful right now. I'm trying to change the way I think. Instead of thinking in time, I'm trying to think in matters of distance as instead of just miles per hour, dropping the per hour and just thinking in miles. With that said, I've gone about 10 miles since I left the house this morning. Means I've got about two miles left before I hit the highway. And that's where I'm gonna have to decide where I'm going next. Filled up my hiking bag with supplies before I left the house this morning. You know what, let's take a quick inventory. Let's see what we got here. Got my multi tool bowie knife. Let's see, emergency poncho. Got a small hatchet, collapsible poop shovel. That's super important. Got my sleeping bag over here. Paracord, Plenty of paracord. There's about a million things you can use paracord for. I can't think of any of them right now, but by God, I've got it. Anyways, I have a little P38 can opener. There's a water bladder built into the hiking bag. Got a medium sized tarp, small first aid kit. Let's see, just a few other various odds and ends. Like my hobo tool. Although I guess it really isn't PC to call it that anymore, but that's what I grew up calling them. And calling it a camping travel cutlery set is just a bit too much of a mouthful. I also made sure to pack my life straw. Supposedly you can drink stagnant water without having to worry about getting sick or catching giardia or whatever it is, but let's hope it doesn't come to that. And lastly, I've got some of the various food things we had around the house. Couple of granola bars, canned food. Actually, speaking of food, I think it's time to sit and eat. Oh. Oh man. What the hell? Oh, that is disgusting. Well, that. That changes things a little bit. I ended up opening every single piece of canned food I brought from the house. Every single one of them was bad. Some were, shall we say, more bad than the others. The tuna was particularly disturbing. I can't even begin to describe to you the smell. Hell, even if I could, I wouldn't. If anyone ever does listen to this tape, trust me on this, I will carry that spell with me the rest of my life. I really just hope I only mean that figuratively and. And the smell doesn't actually cling to me for the rest of my life. Some of the stuff I brought from the house might have almost been edible if I'd still had an appetite after being subjected to the tuna, but I'm not quite that desperate yet. I checked the expiration dates on everything, and it all should have still been good. But, you know, I thought the ravioli I ate last night tasted a little off because it was cold, but now I'm beginning to think it was already starting to turn. Just what in the hell happened here? All right, hypothetical future listener, let me try and recap events so far. Talking out loud kind of helps me collect my thoughts. And since all I have to talk to is this daggum tape recorder, I'm gonna make it listen. I go hunting. I fall out of my tree, get knocked out. I wake up and nothing works. I have to walk home. There is no one that I can find. And for some reason, days seem to last twice as long or more than they should. My family is also missing. I decided to set out to find them and food that should be good for over a year, yet smells like it's over 20 years out of date. There. My thoughts are all collected, and we've got a full recap. Trying to think this through logically, I can really only come up with two options that kind of make any sense out of any of this. So when I fell out of the tree, that's when things changed. So option one, the fall from the tree killed me. And I admit I'm not exactly a liturgical scholar. You know, I'm not even sure I'm using the word liturgical rat, but this really doesn't seem like any heaven or hell I've ever heard of in any religion. But even with my admittedly limited understanding, I would think that some kind of afterlife would at least be more populated. So let's slide that to the back burner for now and go on with option two. Option two is that the fall from the tree knocked more than just a few screws loose, and I've gone completely around the bin, as crazy as a shithouse rat as my daddy always liked to used to say. And, man, am I leaning towards option number two. I'm probably safe and sound in a padded room somewhere. You may be right. I may be crazy. Or maybe I'm still in the woods somewhere, running around like some sort of mountain man, sleepwalker, covered in my own talking with the squirrels. Squirrels. Hang on a minute. Okay, I'm back Whatever happened here, the apocalypse, the Exodus, rapture, whatever it was that made everyone disappear and left everything else alone, it didn't take everything. I slipped off the road and went out into the woods. It took me about 20 minutes based on my internal timer, but who knows how good that is. But I did finally see another living creature. It wasn't a squirrel, but I did see a red tailed hawk. I caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye and I saw it take off from its perch. I lost track of it pretty quickly through the woods, but I did finally see another form of life. I am not alone. I am not alone. Oh, God. I'm not alone. Right, okay, it looks like it's recording again. So, dear hypothetical future listener, something, something is after me. I don't know what it is. I saw it when I first got into town. Just out of the corner of my eye. Just a moving shadow, really. I didn't think anything of it at first, but I kept seeing it. I went to the gas station and tried to find some food. Pretty much the same story there with food as the food I brought from home. And I know what you're thinking. I did check the Twinkies. Let me tell you, when that cream goes south, it goes all the way south. But never mind that. I'll tell you about what I got to eat later. My stalker. So I left the store and I saw it again. It was sneaking behind a nearby store. I looked right at it before it got completely out of my side. And I have never, ever seen anything so dark in my entire life. I'm sure you've probably seen images of that Fanta black paint shit somewhere. Now imagine that on something that vaguely looks like a big feline. Nothing in the natural world has ever been that dark. There have been rumors and sightings here of what people call a panther. I know there aren't any panthers here in Arkansas, black, pink or otherwise. But I always kind of thought maybe there was a mountain lion with melanism running around. And let me tell you, even if that is true, and there is something like that running around, that isn't what I saw. I kept looking for it. I kept catching glimpses of it out of the corner of my eye. But I'd only catch a flash of it as it disappeared behind something or dropped into deep, deep shadows. But, you know, every time I saw it, it was closer somehow. It kept getting closer without me seeing it, of course. That really, really started to freak me out. Then it started to get dark. That's true. I've got a really bad internal timer. And it's true that even if I had a really really good one, it wouldn't help much. But it got dark unnaturally early, even in this unnatural place. That's when I decided I needed to get indoors and quick. I just started towards the closest house. I think it's one of the Richardsons. And I swear I felt it behind me. I know I heard it. I ran. I can't know this for sure, but my heart tells me that I barely made it here in time. I don't know much. I don't know much about this strange new place I found myself in. But there is one thing I'm sure here. There be monsters. Well now I'm positive that this is one of the Richardson's houses. Because even for around here they have one more hell of an impressive collection of guns. This place is almost a damn armory. Plus there is a nameplate on a pretty impressive set of antlers hanging from the wall. If you can't tell, I'm in a bit of a better mood right now. It's because I'm loaded for bear. I know that thing is still out there. But now I'm ready for it. Whatever the hell it is, it isn't going to survive a couple of shots from some 12 gauge single aught buckshot. And when the sun finally decides to come back up, I'm gonna turn the tables. I know this is a huge cliche, but the hunted is going to become the hunter. It's dark. It's very dark. I don't know how long the sun has been down. I've found some flashlights but the batteries just drain so fast it's unreal. Just like everything else. I guess it kind of makes me wonder how much longer the batteries in you are gonna last. Little type recorder. Your little red light is already starting to dim and you can't have even been used more than 45 minutes altogether. I can't sleep. Every time my eyes start to close. Yeah, that. I don't think I can wait until the sun comes up. Because let's face it, who knows when the hell that's gonna be. And if I have to sit here and listen to that until then I'm gonna go crazy. I mean if I'm not already. When I can get my courage up, I'm gonna try and shoot that damn thing. Even in this pitch black darkness. My plan's pretty simple. I'm just gonna wait until it starts one of those hellacious screams again, Kick open the door and shoot at the sound. If it's as close as it sounds, I should be able to pull it off. Wish me luck. This is it. The next time that damn thing opens its mouth, I'm gonna. Oh, no. Hey, Jason. Not much. So, listen, I just. I just called to see if my husband was over there. No, he hasn't made it home yet. I thought maybe he had shot one late and was over there skinning it out. I'm kind of starting to get worried. He usually doesn't stay gone this long. Listen, I know it's late. I really hate to ask, but do you think you could drive out there and check on him? Yeah, he told me I was. He was gonna be at the Honey Hole all weekend. Can you find it in the dark? Thank you so much. You're a lifesaver. Okay, talk to you soon. Bye. As always, guys, thank you for listening. Until next time, beware of doorways.