Apocalypse of the Dark Forest

In 1975, an abnormal phenomenon appeared in a forest in eastern Poland.

The trees along the forest’s edge began growing wildly, forming a wall that seemed to separate the forest from the outside world. In some places, the wall of trees reached fifty meters thick.

At the same time, a mysterious plague quietly broke out inside the forest. It infected the creatures and people living there, and every infected human and animal began undergoing horrifying mutations.

The Soviet Union quickly established an investigative committee, and engineer troops began digging underground beneath the forest. Three years later, they had finished excavating a network of tunnels beneath the entire forest. But these tunnels were not designed for rescue missions. They were meant to deploy investigation teams.

In 1987, after receiving authorization from the investigative committee, Machek’s team entered the forest through the tunnels. They were attacked, and one researcher went missing.

No one knew what had become of the researcher transferred from Warsaw. The forest had swallowed him up. For various reasons, the tunnels buried deep underground were gradually abandoned in the years that followed.

The forest’s inhabitants were forgotten. All that remained outside was a wasteland overgrown with weeds, with crows perched on the abandoned guard posts.

A rusted sign, weathered by wind and rain, stood by the ruined roadside.

It read: "Dark Forest"