Chapter 1 (Episode IV)

Chapter 1 (Episode IV) is the first chapter of the fourth SURFACK story, SURFACK: Episode IV - The Return of Zero, and the first released chapter in release order.

Plot
A Shadowy Figure infiltrates a guarded building in search for something from a dark past that his mysterious cult wants to use in their latest evil plan.

Full Chapter
We open during the dark night outside the COUNTY RECORDS OFFICE BUILDING, a ten floor concrete building. Inside the lobby, a DESK GUARD is sitting at the front desk. He is reading a magazing as his back is facing several monitors. One of the monitors shows the LOCKING GUARD locking the doors throughout the first floor not far from the lobby.

IN AN OFFICE

The Locking Guard opens the door to one of the offices and peeks inside. He sees that there is nobody in this office. So he switches off the light and steps out before locking up it and moving on. However, moments after he walks away from the office, one of the closet doors from inside the office opens. Stepping out of the closet is -- A SHADOWY FIGURE WITH A WHITE MASK AND BACKPACK. The Shadowy Figure has been hiding in this closet since before closing time in order to be inside the building after hours when there's less people. The Shadowy Figure pulls out from inside the closet -- THE DEAD BODY OF COUNTY OFFICIAL ROBERT MILLERTON (50s). He had killed him moments before closing time and hid the body inside the closet with him. The Shadowy Figure pulls out a knife from his pocket and aims it at Millerton's hand.

HALLWAY

The Locking Guard hears a door being closet from a corner of the hallway that he just locked up. Curious about this suspicious door closing, the Locking Guard turns back to that section to investigate. He makes the turn to the corner only to see -- NOTHING. He turns back when -- A KNIFE SLICES ACROSS HIS NECK! The Locking Guard grabs his neck as it bleeds out. He drops to his knees before dropping to the floor to his death. The Shadowy Figure looks down at his victim, whose blood is forming a pool around the body.

LOBBY

The Desk Guard is still reading his magazine, ignoring the monitors that he's charged with monitoring. The monitors now reveal that the Shadowy Figure is heading in his direction. The Desk Guard continues to read the magazine when -- SPLAT! The Desk Guard's body falls foward, revealing A BLADE IN THE BACK OF HIS HEAD. The Shadow Figure walks away from the front desk and heads for the stairs.

ON THE THIRD FLOOR HALL

A THIRD GUARD is patroling the halls of the third floor. He makes a turn only to find that an office door, which he had locked earlier, is wide open. It's very dark in the room. So he can't see anything. He approaches the open door to investigate it. However, just as he gets to the door -- THE SHADOWY FIGURE POPS OUT -- and tackles the Third Guard to the wall across the hall. The Third Guard attempts to fight him off. But the Shadowy Figure stabs him multiple times in the chest. The Third Guard's body slides off of the wall.

The Shadowy Figure walks through the hallway until he finds a door to -- EVIDENCE LOCKER. There is a scanner and a keypad by the door. The Shadowy Figure pulls out from inside his jacket -- MILLERTON'S SEVERED HAND. He places the severed hand against the scanner, which scans the hand. The scanner recognizes Millerton's hand, who would be authorized to enter the evidence locker. After the scanner confirms it's recognition with a BEEP, The Shadowy Figure enters Millerton's code into the keypad. This makes another beeping sound and the door is unlocked.

EVIDENCE LOCKER ROOM

The Shadowy Figure turns on the lights and the locker room is revealed to be filled with lockers all around the room and in the middle with multiple aisles of lockers. The Shadowy Figure strolls through the lockers, searching for a particular locker. He finds the locker that he's searching for and unlocks it with Millerton's keys. He pulls out a large plastic black bag. He digs through the bag and pulls out -- A WHITE LATEX MASK of the SAD DRAMA FACE. There are red tear drops around the eye holes. Most likely painted with blood. He also finds a large black jacket.

OUTSIDE THE RECORDS BUILDING

The Shadowy Figure nonchalantly walks out of the building like nothing happened. He walks over to a bush and proceeds to remove branches, where it's revealed to have a hidden motorcycle under it. The Shadowy Figure gets on the motorcycle and rides off into the night.

BAR

The Shadowy Figure drives his motorcycle into the parking lot of a busy bar. He parks his motorcycle in a parking spot that is reserved for him. It's revealed by the sign that his name is DURK. Durk gets off of his bike, removes his mask, and enters the bar. He is greeted warmly by everyone at the bar. Both customers and staff talk to him like he's an old friend of theirs. He clearly comes here a lot. He walks into the back hall and opens a door, which leads down to the secret basement. He goes down the stairs to another door. Like the door to the evidence locker, this door has a scanner and a keypad. He scans his own hand this time, which recognizes him, and he enters his code. This results in the door opening and Durk enters the basement.

SECRET BASEMENT

The basement is filled with people like Durk. They're all wearing black jackets, hoodies, or cloaks and white masks. This is the LEGION OF GHOSTS aka LOGS. Durk approaches a GHOST MEMBER sitting on what appears to be a THRONE at the end of the basement. This is THE GHOST KING -- A black and sinister figure. Even more so than the other LOGS members. It appears that he is wearing a white silicone mask. But the question is; Is this really a mask or his actual face? It's a very terrifying image. The "mask" moves along with his face with every expression his face makes. It's almost like he's not human.

Durk bows to his King as he's greeted warmly by him. "Evening, Durk. Did you succeed in your mission, son?" asked the Ghost King with a terrifying and sinister voice. "I did, your Majesty." Durk confirms as he pulls out the mask and jacket from his bag. He hands the masks and jacket to the King, who observes it and rubs the mask with love and care.

"At last...tomorrow night...we free Zero. SURFACK will relive the terror and be wiped out. Logs Forever!" said the King. This is responded by everyone RAISING THEIR KNIVES UP and chanting, "LOGS FOREVER!"

Deaths

 * CD = Chapter Death (Deaths in the chapter)
 * SD = Story Death (Overall deaths in the story)

Trivia

 * Like Star Wars, this story begins as the "Fourth Episode" and with a scroll giving a background on the story.
 * The first chapter to introduce the dark and mysterious evil cult called "Legion of Ghosts", shorten as "LOGS."
 * First appearance of LOGS leader "The Ghost King."
 * First mention of Zero.
 * First mention of SURFACK.
 * Despite Zero being the main killer of the story, not only does he kill anyone in this chapter, but he does NOT appear until Chapter 3.