Matthew Bennell

Biography
Matthew Bennell was a health inspector working in the city of San Francisco, California in the 1970s. Bennell took his job very seriously and was not above embarrassing and threatening to revoke the licenses of restaurant owners by pointing out violations. In at least one case, the employees of a restaurant repaid Bennell for his comments by smashing the windshield to his car with a wine bottle.

Bennell's life changed forever the day his close friend and colleague, Elizabeth Driscoll told him about her boyfriend Geoffrey. Elizabeth was convinced that Geoffrey was literally not himself and took note of the man's recent cold and dispassionate behavior. Matthew didn't care for Elizabeth's "crazy dentist" boyfriend to begin with, but this was largely due to the fact that he harbored a secret crush on Elizabeth himself. Despite this, he wanted to help her sort out her anxiety so he recommended taking her to see a psychiatrist he knew named Doctor David Kibner. Elizabeth was reluctant to accept aid from a psychiatrist, but agreed to see him and Matthew made the arrangements.

In the days to come, Matthew began to understand Elizabeth's concerns as he started to notice people that he knew acting strangely. A man named Mister Teng, who owned the dry cleaner that Matthew visited, commented that something was "wrong" with his wife.

When Matthew met back up with Elizabeth, he drove her towards a book store where Doctor Kibner was making a special signing appearance. Along the way, a crazed man ran up to his car screaming, "They're coming! They're coming!" Moments later, the man was struck and killed by a passing motorist. Bennell took note of the blank expressions on the face of the witnesses at the scene.

When they reached the book store Matthew tried to call the police to report the accident, but the police appeared to be more concerned with Matthew than they were in the accident victim.