A/n: I am soooo sorry this took so long. I really wanted to get to this point way before Halloween but school was so horrid. The amount of homework I had was a nightmare. But, at least it's still Day of the Dead, so hear you go. We're finally getting to the disturbing part.
A sense of wariness settled into each member of the tiny group as their spherical transport floated into its docking port and was slowly raised up to the ground floor of the city. Each felt themselves go vaguely rigid as the sphere locked into its place now that it had arrived at its destination. They blinked slowly as the end of the ride seemed almost anti-climactic but did not allow themselves to relax.
The world beyond the glass of the door was dark and foreboding but indeed a dry room. Though not fully illuminated, the room outside was lit with the same eerie blueish-green glow as the city due to the light shimmering through the tall window on the back wall of the room. They could see small hoards of sea creatures swimming beyond the window, their shadows being cast upon the floor outside the sphere. Within the room, brief crackles of sparking electricity gave spots of light over the exit of the sphere.
Ever one to stride forward in life, Gibbs released Tony and slowly got to his feet. His joints ached and clicked slightly as he stood tall, the sound seeming so loud in the dead silence of the sphere. He ignored it and activated the door release. The heavy locks slowly unbolted and slid back before the door swung open. The stench beyond took all four men by surprise. It consisted of scents they knew well but did not usually go together. Gibbs steeled himself against the putrid smell of decayed human, rotting fish, and festering mold.
He stepped out of the sphere's entrance as the others stood up behind him. A sickening crunch echoed out as his foot pressed down on something. He looked down, gaze turning into a glare to stop his eyes from widening in shock. Under his foot lay now-crushed bones. In the vague glow of the room he could make out that the bones belonged to a hand that lay connected, by location only, to a human skeleton. He had been in his job long enough to notice the skeleton was decades old but that did take away the bad feeling that was crawling into his gut.
He lifted his foot back up and gently used his foot to push aside the crushed bones out of the path. Whoever this poor soul had been, it had not been a peaceful death. The unwashed stains on the floor spoke of violence; splattered and pooling blood soon joined with spilled entrails. The cold, damp atmosphere of the room and oddly disturbing lack of insects spoke the truth of the filthy grime clinging to the bones and floor. The fact that there was remnants of this poor person still clinging to this horrid place was depressing. The detective in him wanted to take a sample back so they could give the bones a proper burial with a proper name but they neither had the time nor the resources for that.
He shoved down the instinct and walked forward, past the dead man to his right. He knew that each of the men behind him held the same desires but they all strove forth. He stepped off the path from the sphere onto the main floor of the room. The long red carpet that marked his path looked as if it used to be of a smooth regal material but now it was filthy and sodden, stained with splotches and streaks of what looked like a combination of mold, blood, and dirt. He felt a clammy hand slip into his own. He looked over to the side sadly, his gaze catching Tony's as the younger man subtly clung to him.
"Jet, my b-baby's in this nightmare? Whoever lives here didn't even have the decency to lay that poor guy to rest." The fear was evident in his partner's whisper. Gibbs wanted to pull the younger man close and comfort him but knew that such a show of comfort in this hour of need would only throw off Tony's game worse than it was. So, instead, he gently squeeze his partner's hand in a comforting gesture as he watched the other man force his way back into his NCIS training despite being out of the game for several months.
"Chin up, Tony, we're getting her back." He got a quick nod in reply as they moved to stand beside the massive glass window. They were joined by their two companions, all four men gazed up in awe at the window.
"Well now. Tha's not somethin' ya see of'en." Chris commented softly as he pressed his hand to the thick glass. The glass spanned about two feet in length but stretched from floor to ceiling. There was a metal pane horizontally through the middle to split the window into two long rectangles. The light from the outside was hazed by a growth of grime and sea vegetation on the outside. Chris grimaced slightly and drew his hand back from the surface. Their was a film of grime on his skin, he was not sure he wanted to know what it consisted of. He shakily wiped it off on his jeans as a crackle of electricity caught their focus.
They all turned from the filthy glass to look behind them. To their left they saw what was another part of the room. It was a long waiting area with more windows and a stair case that lead up at the end of the path. Hiding their grimaces at the sound the squelching carpet below their feet, they followed the filthy red rug to the stairs. They slowly climbed to where it ended in a slightly crumbling archway. The archway lead into a larger hall with debris littering the ground and flickering television screens at the top of pillars.
The hall was also lit by fading flashes of flickering electricity. Things were hard to make out, showing as only vague shapes in the darkness. Despite the lack of light, this hall felt more relaxing. The stench of death was not so thick and breathing no longer made them want to gag quite so much. At the far end of the hall was a age-dulled spotlight that created a pool of lackluster light on the rubble-covered floor. In the shadows directly behind the circle of light was what look like a hole in the lower part of the wall. It looked to be an exit that had caved in slightly yet what remained looked sturdy enough.
Chris pulled the flashlight from his back pocket and clicked it on. Dwayne and Gibbs followed suit as he then lowered his pack to the ground and began to dig into its contents. The tight knot in his stomach relaxed slightly as he found his other flashlight. After removing it, he closed the pack and stood up. He smiled in the near non-existent lighting of their part of the hall and handed it to Tony. The ex-agent nodded his thanks as he took it and clicked it on. He may have remembered to never leave home without his knife but he had made the common mistake of leaving home without a flashlight.
"Geez, what the heck happened to this city?" Tony said softly as they all moved their beams of light to look over the entirety of the hall, there was blood splattered walls and rubble lying all about in mounds. He winced softly when even his whisper seemed to boom in the silence of the empty space.
"Looks lik' a hurricane 'it this place." Chris commented uneasily. He moved his light away from the smeared remains of what had probably once been human and turned to give his husband a questioning look, "Earthquake?" Dwayne quietly shook his head in reply.
"No, quakes didn' cause this." The elder agent moved his light up the walls, "The walls an' windows aren't cracked in a way tha' speaks tremors. The size of a quake needed to knock loose this much rubble woul' also compromise the main structure."
"This came from the inside." Gibbs rumbled out softly, finishing his friend's thought. His words drew disturbed looks from the two younger men. Tony frowned and lifted a hand to drag his fingers nervously through his hair. He looked up more and swallowed back the bile that was creeping up his throat.
"That only leaves the citizens. But why destroy their home?" He bit his lip gently, worrying it between his teeth, "It looks like it could have been a nice place to live, or, at least visit."
"Humans need sun to live, DiNozzo." Gibbs' words were soft as his gaze drifted over to a bloody smear on the wall, "Without it, they either drown in depression or go insane. The same thing happens while living on the water, can you imagine what living under it for an extended period would do to a person?" Tony winced at the answer and sighed. Thinking about it in that light was sad; all those people that just wanted to try something new and it destroyed them. He dipped his head sadly as Dwayne gently spoke up.
"The ghosts of bad decisions haunt us all. Let us not make new ones by dwellin' on theirs. We ain't doin' the girls any good by staying here." The comment came off a bit cold but his three companions knew him well enough to know that he needed to not dwell otherwise so many useless deaths would drag down his kind heart.
Gibbs nodded at his friend and took point once more. He leaded them towards the spotlight and the large hole at the bottle of the wall behind it. Something about the collapsed entrance just spoke of bad fortune. He took a calming breath as they stepped over the rubble of the bath and entered the faded ring of light. Each man stood still and looked at the hole; there was no turning back now. They were at the entrance to insanity.
~*~Chapter End~*~