HELL IN THE CELL '98

Banging from the restart shook the foundations of the facility, and in the silent moments following, it seemed to have awoken some angry residents. Michelle had gone missing. “It’s alright, guys.” I attempted to reassure my associates, “It’s not a big facility. We will find her.”

“Bro, nah, I’m more concerned about whatever that thing howling out there in by those Tanks.”

“It’ll be fine. We prepared for this.” I lifted up my rifle, “If we take it slow and keep a full 360 look out, we will be able to handle whatever it is out there… We only need to go down two hallways and up a stairwell…”

“…Like we handled Mister Bullet-proof upstairs?”

“Russel is exceptional, I’m sure, Thomas.” I looked over to see Anders drinking from the bottle of whiskey on the Manager’s desk, “Hey, come on.” I snapped my fingers waving him over.

“He’s not coming back for it…” He replied, setting it back down. “I’ve never even handled a firearm, let alone used one!"

“It’s a gun, not some confounding alien mechanism.” I demonstrated for him the basic functions, “now, point in the desired direction, and squeeze the trigger.” We huddled by the door. There was quiet stirring beyond the door… dragging, scratching, chittering, groaning…

“Alright… I’m ready.” Shalaly’qua breathed calmly.

“I’ll take point, Shay will cover the rear. Tom, Anders, stay in the middle. Watch your muzzle.” The door unlatched, and groaned. The squeaky hinges echoed out over the Tank bay. Below, the mist stirred, and formless creatures milled and stumbled about in the dark, hissing and gnawing. We crept along the catwalk above the hideous black pool. The red emergency lights shown down, swallowed by the dark but for the occasional glint from the hollow eye of an odious creature. We proceeded cautious to not alert them to our presence. We crossed the catwalk toward the thin metal stairway up. “Just up here is the hallway past the storage rooms…” a slug slipped from an air duct from above, plopping onto the ground.

BANG

Smoke wafted from the barrel of the rifle clutched in Anders’ shaking fists. He looked up from the splattered green mess, pale as a ghost. He stared at me with wide eyes… sheer panic gripped him. A moment later, a guttural screech belted out from behind, deep inside the murky pool. We hastily shuffled up to the corridor. Doors once sat ajar, slowly opened. Clawing, and scraping approached from behind, crying and choking. Twisted and misshaped creatures slumped and slithered from their dark corners, into the putrid tunnel’s red glow. The biomass twitched and swelled, belching its noxious perfume. “Change of plans, Run fast, shoot whatever moves.”

The Beasts were alerted, ravenously screeching, they tore after us. They filled the hallway, the floors, the walls, clutching to the ceiling, falling over themselves in hungry desperation. Shadows shifted, blocking out the light cast from below. I didn’t think much of it at the time, though these creatures appeared to have a stark incongruency with their anatomy, having seemingly emerged from the same source. All the same, we started moving. I lead on using muzzle flashes as a torch as though I was a miner upon a vein of fleshy gold. These demons lounged upon our formation with reckless abandon. Dead on dying they piled up before us, climbing over corpses behind.

We approached the Atrium stairwell, finally breaking thorough the onslaught. The way ahead looked clear, the tunnel we left now entirely full of creatures, both alive and dead. They plowed though, as we scaled the flight. Anders tripped, crying out for help. I spun around reloading, emptying into the wave of flesh, unable to tell one from the next. Tom grabbed hold of his collar, yanking him up as the wave crashed down. He scrambled to his feat, finally reaching for his weapon. He engaged once more. We cleared a way toward the second floor to an open sprint to the Service Elevator.

For a moment, it appeared we could outrun the deluge, though that was short lived. From the office nook, there tumbled a larger monster. Boney appendages jutted out of its thin, emaciated frame. it hobbled around on four legs, stretching and writhing. “Holy SHIT!” Tom cried out. Immediately, I engaged, though it seemed to make it angry rather than dead. It charged after me.

“Run past, get to the elevator!” I demanded. It struck me with its forearm. I was tossed into the office nook, where from the Break room, another beast emerged. It was hunched and demented. Trying to make distance between it and I, it leapt toward me, but slammed into the former creature. I made my escape under its legs. I was halfway to the cargo elevator, as I looked back to see the two larger beasts attack and devour the smaller ones.

They didn’t seem to concern themselves with me, since being treated to such a buffet. I slipped through the door to the elevator room as Anders and Tom slammed them shut. Anders stood, leaned against the door, then slowly slid down to the ground. He was covered in green and red slime, eyes wide open. “Are you okay, pal?” He looked up at me, but leaned in from the Tinnitus.

“What?” He spoke loudly, “Yeah, I’m okay. I’m okay.” He wasn’t okay.

I hurried over to the panel. The controls appeared to be working, “Hey, let’s get going!”

“But we haven’t yet found Michelle!” Anders shuffled onto the elevator platform, “I don’t suppose she would have handled something like that on her own… I can’t think to imagine it.” I chose to keep moving, though I was, too, upset with her missing.

“Well, what can we do? Go back out there?” I then pressed the button to send us up to the topside cargo bay. The lift squeaked and groaned, lifting towards the dark passage upward.

A banging above startled us, to my terror, a creature fell from beyond the darkness. It crashed into the platform jeering it, causing it to jam up. The demon stretched out, slashing into the control box with its large sabre clawed arms. It has completely destroyed the panel, spewing electrical sparks. I dove away, us standing on one side, that cruel abomination the other. The Platform then shuddered once more, dropping us back to the ground. It stood up on what functioned as legs from its rear. It spread out its six appendages that were approximately symmetrical. Its first pair of limbs were large curved singular claws, its second pair were longer though slender ending with what appeared to be fingers. its rear legs were thick like a horse, even sort of a hoof at its end. It stood, leaned to one side, bent and shaking. Its face held a hideous toothy grin, uneven, top and bottom interlocking.

“Scatter!” I shouted, as we ran about in different ways. “Target those eyes, we may be able to incapacitate him.”

The monster flailed its massive limbs. From all directions, we fired upon him. It lumbered about, crashing into walls, diving after us without success. I feel like the lights were blinding it, now that the power had been turned back on. We would have been slain immediately if any one of those blows landed. It’s torso was now a waterfall of blood and flesh, as it exhausted its last remaining strength. It collapsed, squealing in pain.

From the rubble off to the left of the platform, a weak voice called out. “Hey, Is that you Tellurius?”

A dirt covered Michelle emerged from the dark hole in the wall. I couldn’t believe my eyes. “How did you get back there? Are you okay?!” We rushed over. Anders was investigating the hole.

“There are stairs in here!” He cheered. “I think these were used during construction and closed of sometime along the way.” It was only prudent to throw Michelle over my shoulder and hurry up this staircase.

we arrived at the top to a door labeled, SHIPPING/RECIEVING. Beyond the door, was a large bay filled with palletized cargo. “A box truck! Perfect. We can take this out of here!” Anders rushed over to the a small office to find the keys. Tom opened the bay doors, and the sunlight poured into the dark shipping dock. He took a deep breath and smiled.

“Hey, finally some fresh air!”

“Help, Michelle into the truck.” As she slumped into the back, over the shoulders of Tom and Shalaly’qua the elevator shaft echoed a bang from deep down. Hollow banging and the snapping vibration of long steel cables.

“What is that?” Anders was fumbling with a key ring, hurrying to the driver side.

“It’s our que to leave, I reckon.” I readied my .50Cal rifle, for what would be assuredly Round 2. “Okay, start the car!” The engine turned over with a roar, and in the rearview mirror we saw a clear get away. Anders threw it into reverse and slammed on the gas. Our escape was cut short by a familiar fellow who tumbled into our path. Russel stood on his feet and charged.

“OH SHIT!” Anders slammed on the breaks, throwing the wheel to avoid collision. Barely missing, Russel rushed past the front of the vehicle and we reversed into a pole. Just then, the large six limbed beast crawled from the shaft. The monster rushed forward and pushed over Russel, but was blinded again by the daylight beaming from behind our van through the door.

I looked forward to see a second large truck just ahead of us. “AirGas…?” I scanned its cargo, “Hydrogen…” I unslung my large rifle, “Drive past that AirGas truck, and circle around. It will flow us and I can hopefully blow it to pieces as we leave!” He nodded and took off straight, as I hung out the back door shouting. The sprinted after our van, tripping as we circled around to escape.

“Okay, Ahead is clear!”

I flopped onto the floor of the van, attempting to take a stable firing position.

I took aim.

BOOM

I fired, landing a hit on the tank. Gas erupted out, though no spark ignited the gas.

BOOM

I fired once more. I damaged a second tank, but no explosion. “We’re almost out!” Anders shouted, as I slammed another round into battery…

BOOM

The beast clamored around the truck as it erupted into a ball of fire, swallowing it in flame. The flame tore out in all directions, shattering the glass of the office, throwing gas tanks every direction. The whole structure caved into the ball of fire as we fled into the street.

“Go ahead and drive right to Eugene’s house. I don’t want to get hung up with the imminent Police Presence.”

“You got it, Tellurius.”