Chapter 9: Fox-trot Uniform

The rays of light fell on the fur of a large, Snarbolax looking creature with a flat bone on its head. It appeared less than a meter before PJ. They stared at each other for a moment, but before PJ snapped out of the shock, the beast jerked its head, slammed it into PJ, which sent him head first into the wall. His wounds would be enormous, if it wasn't for Rhino, who jumped into his path to serve as a pillow. But it still knocked him unconscious and stunned Rhino. With the Striker and Guardian down, the fight was all up to the gals. Neither Blackcat nor Shadow had much time to react as the monster charged at them, waving its paws around. While Blackcat leapt aside, Shadow was a bit slower to react and only managed to turn around. The beast struck her in the back and sent her to the ground. The impact was so strong it cracked some of the tiles on the floor. The beast didn't pay any attention to Blackcat and turned toward Shadow. She was lying on the floor, groaning in pain. She rolled to her back only to see the beast standing over her. Believing Blackcat to be unconscious, Shadow covered her eyes and waited for the strike.

The strike came from a different direction. A quiet whistle could be heard as the Tempered Honor Blade pierced the air and penetrated the beast's hide. The monster flinched to shake it off. Blackcat didn't have time to let go of the sword and as the beast flinched, it sent her into the ceiling and than she fell onto the ground. She saw a black curtain coming down over her view and then nothing.

Meanwhile, Rhino was getting back up to his feet. He checked if PJ was still alive and as he was about to attack the beast, Blackcat smashed onto the ground next to him, falling unconscious. As a guardian, he became furious for not protecting his comrades. Wanting to avenge them, he charged at the beast, utilizing every curse he knew, swinging his sword over his head, delivering a powerful blow. The sword hit the beast's head with so much force it made the beast to fall off of its feet, briefly stunning it. As he recovered from the strike and prepared to deliver another one, the monster also got back on its feet. As Rhino swung his sword, the beast lunged at him with immense force. When he got hit by its head, it knocked all the air out of his lungs. He landed on the ground next to PJ, who was just regaining consciousness.

PJ heard loud yelling and recognized Rhino, sending someone or something back into hell. A moment later, he heard a thud and Rhino landed next to him. PJ reached out to him, but his hand dropped of exhaustion. But than he saw the beast. It was slowly walking toward Shadow. With the last remains of his strength, he pulled out his needle shot and fired a burst.

One of the bolts hit the beast's leg. It began screaming. Shadow noticed an opportunity. She primed her Ash of Agni and threw it at the beasts head. The bomb fell near the monster. It probably thought it was a part of a knight. Determined to cause harm, it bit the bomb. The following explosion sucked most of the oxygen from the corridor. They were lucky there were two long, narrow vents leading to the surface. It could be about ten to twenty meters. It also knocked them back a bit, effectively waking Rhino and PJ up. After a brief moment, Blackcat came to her senses as well. The explosion turned the beasts head into dust.

PJ was dizzy, Shadow could barely walk, Rhino was mostly fine and Blackcat had trouble moving her right arm. Rhino was supporting Shadow and they went a bit back. They went past the room with their dead comrades, taking their ID modules and setting up a camp near the surface. They barricaded themselves inside a room with only one entrance and two vent shafts to keep themselves alive and hoped to wait out the night.

PJ had horrible nightmares during the night. He kept dreaming about the beast they encountered. In his dream, the beast tore the squad apart. He was the last. It charged at him and tore him in half. This dream kept repeating over and over and over again. Shadow had trouble even falling asleep. Her legs, ribcage and head still hurt from the impact. Every time she took a breath, a spike of pain struck her chest. Rhino slept well, except for waking up every hour to check on everyone else. He suffered the least damage, being the only one who could fight at nearly 100 percent. Blackcat slept the whole night. She had to lie on her left side because of her wounded right arm. Their armor was dirty, their shields bent and their morale devastated. PJs helmet display wasn't working. In the morning, they knew they couldn't stay in there for too long. But to get home, they first had to find a way to the surface. After seeing what lurks in these ancient ruins, nobody wanted to return there and look for a way out. But they had no other option.

"Running around here, hoping to find a way doesn't seem to be the way to go to me. We know we're not far from the surface. The only thing we don't really know is how to get topside. But we could use these vents to do it."

"What do you mean?"

"If we could find a rope, long enough to reach the surface, maybe we could climb out of here."

"That's a good idea, PJ, but A: we don't have a rope, B: there is no way Shadow can climb up."

"Blackcat and I can climb up and pull her up. Rhino can either stay down here to guard her or you can climb first and secure it there. That is, of course, if we find that rope and some sort of grappling hook."

"Than again, we still have no rope, nor the hook."

"Da hook!"

"And this place doesn't seem to be some sort of climbing equipment store, does it?"

"Heh, I'm not getting any valuable input from you, am I?"

"Nah, thinking is something like working on a computer: the more stuff you do, the more it heats up. Don't want to burn my head from the inside."

PJ just shook his head, smiling under the mask of resignation over his friends. He even envied Shadow her optimism. Despite her wounds, she could still come up with something like this. He poke out of the doorway and called HQ.

"HQ, this is Sierra one. We have encountered a massive, unknown creature. We should have two audiovisual recordings of this encounter. But given our status, I'm not sure. We are all injured and unable to get out in a short time. We are trapped in the underground complex of this castle, about twenty to thirty meters below the surface. Over."

"Holy… you're still alive? We thought we'll never hear from you again. Hold on, there is someone who would like to speak with you."

PJ waited for a moment. He could hear something that sound like thunder walking across the floor. Then he understood: a cane.

"PJ, my god. Do you know where you are? What is your condition?"

PJ smiled and came back into the room to others. For some reason, he suddenly felt a lot better just knowing the highest-ranking member of SEC cares about them. He enabled his vidcom and pointed its camera at the four. When the camera begun recording, Mjolnir didn't seem to understand what he saw. They were dirty, their faces were full of scars and Shadow had to be held straight up by Blackcat and Rhino.

"What has happened to you lot?"

Rhino explained: "We've encountered an angry resident who tried to kick us out. He was about 2 meters tall, had four legs and teeth. Whole lotta teeth."

"I see. Can you get at least one of you to the surface and plant a tracking beacon?"

"Not in a short while. We would need a rope and some sort of grappling hook."

"Is there a way to get just the beacon topside?"

PJ scratched his head.

"Hell, that might work. Thanks for the tip. We'll try."

"Glad I could help. I still owe you for the Overtimer incident."

"You owe me nothing."

PJ ended the call and thought about their situation for a moment.

"Okay, you guys find out if you can get that beacon in place. Shadow, you will track my progress. I'm going into the dungeon to find the rope and the hook."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, but don't stall me before I think it over."

He slipped through the barricade and held the torch up high. Shadow was tracking his movement through her helm-mounted display and recording his route. This enabled him to find his way back. He slowly advanced, stopping every few steps to listen to his surroundings. He was making a slow, careful progress, but better safe than sorry. He didn't want to rush into anything like the thing they fought earlier. He went the other way this time. If there was something like a nest there, he didn't want to reach it. The hallway was long and quiet. He came to a sudden opening and saw the clockworks. He couldn't see the ceiling.

"PJ to Sierra Actual, I've found… it looks like a graveyard. Over."

"Actual to PJ, say what? A graveyard?"

"Yep. I'm starting to feel stupid for applying for the army."

"And not a moment too soon, right?"

"Sod off, I'm still in one piece."

"Be careful there and find the goddamned rope. I hate this place."

"Roger, out."

He readied his shield and sword, turned his helmet camera on and continued forward. Graveyards were always freaky, but this one felt different. PJ was passing many graves. One of them was cracked. He came closer to inspect it. The ground shook and he was thrown away by a Dust zombie, crawling out of the ground. Like one man, about twelve more crawled out of graves with dirt piled on top of them. Surprised, PJ jumped back and then charged to strike. He thought it was just a dust zombie. PJ tried to hit its waist to split it in half. His sword, however, didn't come through. PJ couldn't understand it. He didn't have much time to think about it as the zombie bashed him with its hand. He landed painfully on another gravestone.

"Wha…?"

He got up only to gaze the zombie into the eye. With cold look on his face, he dropped his sword, pulled out his needle shot and fired, hitting the monster into the face, disabling both of its eyes. With a slight smile on his lips, he kept firing, further enraging the zombies. The monsters, furious for blood, some of them blinded, charged in his direction. In the blink of an eye, he grabbed his sword and jumped out of the way. The blinded zombies reached the edge. Unaware of it, they tripped over the guardrail and fell down into the depths of the clockworks.

"PJ to Sierra Actual, I've made contact with a large group of zombies. Over."

"Status?"

"I'm still alive." He paused as he looked over his shoulder, "But I feel like being watched."