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Inferno - Chapter 8: Nightmares
Posted By: Skul<skulkrusha2000@hotmail.com>
Date: 20 July 2007, 1:00 am
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0014 hours, June 12, 2553 (Military Calendar) / Fire Base Alpha Zulu Foxtrot, Planet Earth
Captain Osmond slammed his hands down on the conference room table, making everyone else in the room twitch involuntarily.
"Okay, I want somebody to tell me just exactly what the fuck is going on!"
For the past two hours, no information had surfaced regarding the large pentagram that brooded just outside the base's walls. The team that had been sent out to the pentagram had still not reappeared and all efforts to try to locate or contact them were given up quickly – anyone approaching the pentagram became overwhelmed with terror. It was impossible to find the missing team's FOF tags, as the pentagram produced too much interference for a positive scan, but everyone had already guessed the unfortunate souls were dead, anyway.
Osmond looked around at the officers present – Lieutenant Earl Keaton, Lieutenant Joe West and Sergeant David Fielding.
"Well? I'm waiting for an answer!" said the Captain, loudly, his scowl darkening.
"Sir, we really have no idea," answered Lieutenant West.
"I've been hearing that for hours, Lieutenant, and it's just not good enough," replied Osmond in a low, dangerous voice, his scowl replaced by a smile that looked about as friendly as an angry Brute.
The Lieutenant had no response to this and averted his gaze to look at an empty spot on the polished, metal conference table.
"So…" said Osmond, "Anybody got any answers?"
No sooner had he finished his question than the single square light set into the ceiling of the conference room exploded, plunging the room into near-total darkness. From the weak light filtering in from outside through the long window to his right, Osmond saw Fielding holding his temple. Blood was slowly trickling from behind his fingers and leaking into his eye.
A piece of glass must have hit him, thought Osmond.
Silhouetted in front of the window was Keaton, who was looking around the dim room, confused at the sudden reduced visibility.
"What the hell…?" West's voice came from Osmond's left, the Lieutenant barely visible.
Osmond gave a frustrated sigh, "Damn it! Everybody out."
"Uh, sir…?" began Fielding as they moved out of the room.
"I know. Get yourself to the medical lab."
"Yes, sir."
"Anyone else hurt?" asked the Captain.
Apart from a couple of light scratches, everyone else, including Osmond, was fine.
Suddenly, every light in the base went out, plunging the building into darkness.
"Oh, what the hell is this?" asked Osmond in a confused, irritated voice, "I'm gonna have to talk to those damn technicians. Everything's fine? Yeah. Like f—"
A dull, muted thump resonated through the base, cutting him off in mid-sentence.
"What was that? Why aren't the emergency lights coming on?" whispered Keaton.
Another thump answered him.
"Let's see if we can find some flashlights," said Osmond. He felt his way along the walls, trying to find the handle of the emergency supply wall cabinet he had passed on his way to the conference room. After a few seconds, his wrist bumped into something, coincidentally at the same time as the strange, distant thump. He felt the metal object and smiled in the blackness; he had found the supply cabinet. Lifting the cover up, he reached inside and grasped a cold, cylindrical object. Taking it out of the cabinet, he ran his fingers over the cylinder and quickly found a raised bump. He pressed it firmly and a beam of white light shot from his hand.
Osmond shone the flashlight over at where the officers should have been. He frowned when his flashlight illuminated nothing but the far end of the corridor.
"Marines?" he called.
There was no response.
"Report!"
Thump.
Osmond slowly walked forward, his hand on the butt of his pistol, ready to whip it out at a moment's notice.
The corridor turned left and ended after a few feet. The door to the conference room was set on the right-hand wall. The marines were not in this part of the corridor, either.
They must be inside the conference room… Osmond thought with a sigh.
He walked towards the conference room door, letting his guard down a little. The door slid left and a gore-covered skeleton leapt out at him, its bloody, grinning face regarded him with a single, bloodshot eye that shone dimly in the beam cast by the flashlight.
Osmond fell backwards, screaming in surprise and horror, losing his grip on the flashlight. It clanked to the floor and rolled, casting a curved, moving light.
The Captain pushed the skeleton with its single, unblinking eye, off of him in a panic. The bones made a horrible, hard, rattling sound as they hit the floor.
Osmond reached over for his flashlight and shone it on the skeleton. He nearly dropped it again when he saw that the skull was turned to face him. The eye seemed to stare directly at him.
He was about to stand up when he noticed something about the floor. It had dark red splotches and smears over it. Then he saw it on the walls. Lifting his gaze and flashlight up, he saw it was on the ceiling, too. A bad smell crept into his nose. It smelled like wet, tarnished copper and confirmed what he feared the red stains were. Blood. Fresh human blood. It was everywhere.
There was a hoarse, throaty, hissing sound close to his left. Osmond swung his light to see a dark brown humanoid figure. It was naked, but he could see no sexual organs, not even nipples. What he noticed more than anything was that the figure was shaking and convulsing constantly, as if it was being electrocuted. The rapid and frenzied hissing and gasping sounds were coming from the creature. The head had no distinguishable features. There appeared to be a face, but at the same time, there was nothing.
More gasping, hissing sounds came from Osmond's right. Two more quivering creatures stood in the blood-drenched corridor, cutting off his escape. They didn't appear to be looking at him, but he could feel a sense of malice directed towards him.
One more loud, strangled cry came from directly above Osmond. He swung his flashlight up, shaking in terror and saw one of the dark brown creatures apparently lying on the ceiling. Like the others its body was overcome with shakes and convulsions.
Breaking out of his terror, Osmond yelled and drew his M7A, firing at the figures around him. Osmond fired round after round at the creatures. They exploded into gory chunks of brown, rotted flesh when the bullets struck them, but whenever he turned his light away from them and back, either they had returned, or another one took their place.
The pistol clicked empty and the creatures started to slowly glide towards him, jittering and quivering. The Captain cried out as their bony arms reached for him. Their fingers almost touched him and then they disappeared, along with the bloodstains and the coppery smell. The lights remained off and Osmond could hear the dull thump in the distance, again.
Getting up slowly, Osmond slowly swung his flashlight around the black, empty corridor. The beam of light illuminated something big on the floor. The Captain gasped and pointed his pistol at it. It was the one-eyed skeleton that had leapt out at him. The eye was still staring unblinkingly at him. A gory skeleton with one eye was creepy enough, but it was the fact that the eye was looking right at him that disturbed him the most. It was almost as if it was watching his movements. It should have been staring blankly at the wall, not making eye contact with him.
Osmond shivered and turned to the conference room. Tucking the flashlight under his arm and reloading his pistol with shaking hands, he walked towards the door. He hesitated, and then stepped forward, the door sliding open, detecting his proximity. He took a quick step back in case any more skeletons were waiting to jump out. There was nothing.
The Captain was about to go in when he stopped and thought.
Did that skeleton jump out at me? No… no, that would mean it was alive, or something. Somebody must have pushed it out… but I didn't see or hear anybody. That skeleton definitely mo—
He turned and trained his flashlight on the inert skeleton once more and froze. The eye was still looking directly at him. He slowly aimed his gun at the skeleton, fully expecting the gory spectacle to get up and come snarling towards him.
Thump.
Nothing happened. The skeleton didn't move and it made no sounds. Osmond lowered his M7A, frowning, and turned back to the conference room.
The moonlight from outside was very weak and hardly lit the room up. On the floor next to a wall directly across from the door was another gore-covered skeleton, this one, however, had no eyes. It lay on its back, the blank sockets staring unseeingly at the barely visible ceiling. Osmond swung his flashlight left and saw another skeleton in the same eyeless state as other one. The table and chairs in the centre of the room obscured the lower half of its body.
Thump.
Captain Osmond moved slowly into the room towards the skeleton directly across from the door. He had just reached it when he heard a hard clunk from the opposite end of the room.
He quickly turned towards the sound and couldn't believe what he saw – the other skeleton was walking around the table, getting closer to the door. The Captain sensed its intent to block the exit and was about to act when he felt something grabbing at his leg. Pointing his flashlight and M7A down, he saw what he expected. Without hesitating, Osmond fired a round into the skeleton's skull. Expecting it to let go, he turned to the other skeleton, which had now almost reached the door, and felt another bony claw wrap around his calf. The claws began squeezing with incredible strength.
Osmond cried out in pain and fired two more rounds, one at each arm. The humerus bones of both arms cracked, but the pressure was still being applied. Osmond wrenched his leg away, snapping the bones and severing the arms from the rest of the body. But the skeletal hands continued to apply pressure. Osmond let out a yell of pain as the fingers punctured his skin. He dropped his flashlight and pistol and used his bare hands to pull the claws off him. In the dim light, he could see the hands wiggling around, clutching at thin air. He threw them as hard as he could at the sound of the other skeleton, which he sensed was closer. There was a loud crashing of bones hitting metal as the skeleton fell. Grabbing his flashlight, the Captain searched for his pistol on the floor and moved his leg away just in time as the skeletal creature snapped at his shin with what was left of its ruined skull. The movement caused fresh pain to course through his leg. With his free hand, he clutched at his calf muscles while he continued to search for his dropped weapon. He saw it – under the armless skeleton. Taking a deep breath, he kicked the thing, grunting at the pain he received. Ignoring it as best he could he bent down, grabbed his pistol and twisted around to see the other skeleton creature with its bony arms raised. From its collarbones hung the two arms he had threw earlier, swinging disturbingly. Reacting instantly, adrenaline pumping through his body, he pushed with both arms and knocked the creature back down.
Moving quickly, he retreated to the far side of the room, skirting past the armless creature still trying to bite him lying on the floor. With his back against the wall, Osmond fired again at the skeleton on the ground, sending shards of bone flying everywhere. The skull was completely destroyed, but the creature still slid towards him, using its bony legs to push off of the wall and chairs. Osmond fired round after round into it until his clip ran empty, by which time there was nothing left but some of the spine, the pelvic bone and a leg surrounded by large chunks of bone. The leg still tried to move, but was unable to get anywhere, allowing Osmond to concentrate on the other skeleton coming towards him, again. He reloaded his M7A and shot out the creature's thighbones. It fell to the ground and started crawling. Osmond, breathing heavily, fired at its arms and skull until only the torso lay on the floor with the two disembodied arms trapped beneath it. Rocking from side to side, the torso appeared to be trying to move towards him.
Don't these things ever give up? thought Osmond.
He moved towards the door, being careful not to touch the skeletal torso or any of the larger bone fragments. Reaching the door, he took another look around the room, but nothing came after him. The only sounds were the scraping of the skeletal leg and the odd rocking sound of the torso. He backed into the hall and suddenly remembered the one-eyed skeleton. Swinging around quickly, he scanned every direction, but it was nowhere in sight. Listening intently, he head nothing but the faint scraping from the conference room and the distant, dull thumping sound.
Moving slowly, he approached the corner of the hallway. A gory, bony hand whipped around as he approached. Crying out, Osmond involuntarily fired a round that impacted the wall just above the hand.
The one-eyed skeleton peeked out mischievously from behind the wall. Aiming carefully, Osmond fired at the eye staring from inside its socket. The bullet blew through the eye and both it and the skull exploded. The force of the impact blew the skeleton back. Almost instantly, it got back up. The Captain used the same tactic he did on the last skeleton – he destroyed the limbs and head, leaving only the bloody ribcage lying on the floor surrounded by bone shards.
Wasting no time, he ran down the narrow corridor, driven by fear. His legs felt like jelly and he almost fell when he turned the corner. Before exiting the hallway through the door, he turned to make sure nothing was following him.
At the far end of the corridor, he saw the bloody ribcage rolling towards him. He shook his head.
"Fuck this," he said and went through the door leading to the main hall. A few seconds later there was a thunk from behind the door, followed by the mysterious thumping sound. It was louder, now, and Osmond could feel the vibrations it made.
Looking around with his flashlight, Osmond saw that the hall was completely deserted. Light from the moon and stars did little to banish the darkness.
Moving forward carefully, limping, the Captain headed for the medical lab, hoping that everybody else was okay, unlike the three officers that had disappeared. However, Osmond thought he knew what had happened to them. He didn't understand it, but he knew whom those three skeletons had belonged to.
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