My job as a Search and Rescue Officer is the most rewarding job you will ever have, and I hate it.

My job as a Search and Rescue officer is the most rewarding job you will ever have, and I hate it. <br><br>I’ve been in this line of work for 16 years. I have unofficially saved 545 lives. <br><br>The training is extensive, and your background is scrubbed before you get in. Why? Well, the government won’t admit it, but Search and Rescue was the first line of defense when the children started showing up. We are the first ones in, and the last ones out. We do the groundwork they can’t afford to pay an agent for. <br><br>The first time I saw a child, I had only been with the department for two months. I was a rookie. I didn’t know my ass from a hole in the ground, and my boss knew it. He kept me out on the streets, but in areas that were easy to get to, and didn’t require any real work. It was 85 degrees that summer, and the man who called in a missing person’s report for his son couldn’t have been more than 25. When he asked me to find his son, he was frantic. I gave him the same speech I’ve given hundreds of times since:<br><br>>“Sir, I am going to do everything in my power to find your son, but you need to understand there may not be a happy ending. If I find your son, he is not going to be the boy you are looking for. I will not be able to tell you what has happened while he was gone. But I will do everything I can to get him home to you.”<br><br>I will never forget the look he gave me. It was a mix of horror, understanding, and determination. He nodded and I left to find his son.<br><br>We are given a GPS location for missing persons that have been taken by the children. It doesn’t require a lot of work, really. At the time, I thought it was a device to help us locate the missing person more easily, and it is. But how it actually works, I didn’t find out until much later. I just turned on the device, read the coordinates, and headed out to get the boy. <br><br>I was 24 years old at the time. I had no idea what to expect when I found the boy. But that first time, it stuck with me forever. <br><br>I found him in an old, dilapidated barn. It was the only structure for miles, but the GPS device had directed me straight to it. It was twilight, and I remember thinking that it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen until I stepped inside. I turned on my flashlight and saw slabs of concrete where animals would have lain, but instead of animals, there were children. <br><br>As an adult looking back, I realize that the children must have been taken over the course of centuries. They were all at different stages of decay. The worst part? Some of them were still alive.<br><br>The first child I saw was a little girl. She was sitting up, her eyes had rotted away, and her skin was gray and decaying. I can’t begin to describe it. She didn’t respond to me when I talked, she just sat there. I gave her a gentle hug and assured her that I was there to take her home, and I did.<br><br>It was the first time I had ever experienced something that I can only describe as "The Calm". Now, experienced Search and Rescue officers can recognize the symptoms and prepare for it, but when I was a rookie, I didn’t know any better. As soon as I hugged her, I felt it: indescribable peace. I felt like I was home; like I was exactly where I was meant to be. <br><br>I remember my training, and I knew this wasn't right. I tried to call for backup, but my radio wouldn’t work. I tried to call on my cell phone, but there was no service. All I could do was sit there, in The Calm. <br><br>I have learned, over the years, to recognize when The Calm is coming. You can fight it, and as a rookie, my inexperience kept me from fighting as long as I could now. I didn’t sit there for more than 20 minutes before I realized I needed to get out. I shook the girl, I yelled, I did everything I could to "wake myself up". It's hard to describe. But I knew I wasn’t really there. <br><br>So, I stood up and carried the girl out with me. On the way to the car, I noticed the barn was full of animals. It was as if they were protecting her, or keeping her there. I can’t tell you how many there were, but the barn was infested. I remember looking up and seeing owls sitting in the rafters, watching me. <br><br>When I looked down, my vision blurred and I fell to my knees in pain. I don’t know why, but looking up at the owls brought me immense pain. I think, looking back, my eyes were adjusting to what I couldn’t handle. I will never forget the feeling of my eyes drying out. The burning. It took every ounce of strength I had not to claw them out. I will never forget that feeling, but since then, I have learned to avoid looking directly at the children. <br><br>I only saw two children that day: the girl, and the boy I was looking for. <br><br>I took the girl to my boss's house. She’s still there. He and his wife have raised her, and she’s as much a part of their family as their own children. All Search and Rescue officers keep the children they find. <br><br>I learned that, the day I took the little girl to my boss. <br><br>After that, he took me out for a drink and told me the truth about Search and Rescue, and the truth about the children.<br><br>The children we find are taken by The Kids. That’s what we call them. They aren’t human, they can’t be human, but they look just like children. They can’t be described. No two are the same, but they all take the form of children. Why? No one knows. They are just part of human history now. <br><br>Sometimes The Kids will bring their children with them when they take someone. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they take someone for a day or two. Other times they are gone for years, or even centuries. We locate them based on reports, but they don’t have a specific interval of activity. <br><br>The device we use is called an LS and it’s a Locator's Device. We have to interact with the missing person for the LS device to work for us, though. We have to touch them, hug them, hold their hand. Anything that shows our intent to help them. If you interact with their body and not them, the LS device will not work for you. <br><br>The children we find when out on calls are considered to be children that we have saved. If we can get them out, we can help them live a normal life. Anyone taken by The Kids will never be the same. <br><br>No one knows how many Search and Rescue operations are run by the government, but those of us on the inside know that we’re pretty much the first line of defense. <br><br>No one outside Search and Rescue knows what goes on behind closed doors. <br><br>No one knows where The Kids come from or how old they are. <br><br>No one knows how to stop them. <br><br>No one knows how they pick who they take. <br><br>No one knows anything about The Kids. <br><br>Ironically, Search and Rescue Officers are the only ones who can rescue the people taken by The Kids. <br><br>But there are otherSearch and Rescue operations that exist, and those you do hear about on the news. Those Search and Rescue operations are ran entirely by the government, and they can’t find anyone. Or can they? <br><br>A man in the United States walks into a bar. After a few too many drinks, he starts talking about his job as a Search and Rescue officer. He tells the listener that he’s been doing it for 16 years, and has unofficially saved hundreds of people. He talks about the children, The Kids. <br><br>Word gets back to the government. <br><br>The man who was listening to the Search and Rescue officer is an agent. <br><br>The Search and Rescue officer is picked up out of his home and never heard from again. <br><br>No one knows what happens to him.