Chapter 05
After the autopsy on the alien corpse, the men tried to get back to their regular routines. The whole idea of something as bizarre as that in the camp left many of the men with a bad feeling...
Hojo and Gast disappeared to go think more about the implications of the find they had made that day. This was their usual way; they had things to think about and mysteries to unravel at the moment, so they had separated themselves from the rest of the team that night.
Cid had decided to start staying in the main camp for a while, at least until the encroaching storm cleared up. So, he had moved some things and some clothes of his and taken up in one of the extra rooms that were not being used for storing research equipment.
.o.o.o.
Reno walked into the room that he shared with Tseng.
The chief mechanic was there in the room, lying on his bed in his long underwear, watching television. Reno looked up at the screen and saw that he had one of the old tapes playing in the VCR. Reno watched it for a moment.
There was a blond woman on stage; she was standing next a small black cat that was sitting on top of a giant stuffed Moogle. The cat was wearing a little crown and a small red cape. It spoke up to the woman. "Okay, now, Linda, you can pick from Door #1, Door #2, and Door #3." He said in a row as he motioned to the three large doors. "Anna's given you good advice so far, so it would be pretty reasonable that you listen to her one more time." Suggested the little cat.
Reno frowned as he watched the episode play out. He recognized the show: 'Mystery Doors, with Cait Sith'. He stepped forward. "I've seen this one before," He remarked. "I know how it ends." He continued as he pressed a button on the player and ejected the tape. He retrieved another one and inserted the video, and then pressed play. The screen quickly flickered to life.
The red-haired mechanic sighed and sat back down on his bed as the dirty movie started playing. After a moment, he lit the joint he was holding. He took a long drag off of it and let the sweet smoke stay in his mouth for a few moments before he allowed it to begin oozing back out.
Reno looked over to his left and saw that Tseng was holding his arm out, his hand was open. The red-head took another drag off of the joint and handed it to his friend.
Tseng accepted the offering and took a nice drag off of it, too. He looked back up at the screen as it emitted a warm glow into the room, as it was the only source of light for the two men.
.o.o.o.
Cid looked across the chess board at Rude as the man prepared to execute his next move. The pilot shifted in his seat as he waited for the move to come...
Dyne took a drag off of his cigarette as looked at his hand of cards. He was playing a game of poker with Hozloff and Wedge.
Gast and Reeve were sitting down in black, leather-bound office chairs that were back up against the wall, on the right side of the room. The two of them were reading thick technical booklets on various science fields.
Rude moved his rook across the board. "Check." He announced.
Cid suddenly perked up and quickly had to get out of the 'line of fire'. "Damnit!" He exclaimed.
No one noticed as the husky walked into the room...
Biggs turned on the jukebox and flipped through the selections. He eventually decided on playing Sephiroth's "One Winged Angel".
Over at the pool table, Zangan was busy playing a game by himself.
Everything continued to go on with its comfortable silence as the men enjoyed the break from the usual drudgery of their day-to-day routines.
Dyne is till playing cards with his two friends when a jolt shot up through his body as something casually brushed up against his leg.
Everyone stopped what they were doing when their colleague suddenly jumped and called out loudly in surprise. Dyne looked around in embarrassment, having not yet completely recovered from being shot yesterday, he was still rather tense. "Ahh, Damnit!" Dyne exclaimed as the dog quickly emerged from under the table and walked away.
The meteorologist turned around to face the sturdy looking dog-handler across the room. "Damnit Zangan," He yelled. "Would you put this mutt with the others!" He exclaimed through gritted teeth.
The man looked up at him, but made no reply at first. "Yeah, okay." He finally replied in his usual deep monotone voice. He casually walked over to the dog and gently took hold of it by the collar and led it out of the lounge.
.o.o.o.
Zangan opened the door and stepped into the dimly lit hallway. He cast a brief look down the hall before softly stepping foot into the dark corridor. He walked along at an even pace, past the oil drums stacked up against the wall, the dog walking along with him, remaining at his side.
The tall man stopped as he passed by a sign that had the words "Dog Town" Written on it. The sigh was hung above the door to the kennel. He quickly undid the latch and opened the door. Both the man and the husky looked into the cage, which contained seven other sleeping dogs.
"Well, go on in." Zangan spoke to the dog, gently coaxing it into the kennel.
The husky slowly walked inside and lay down on all fours between the other dogs, which were lying down comfortably against the walls on either say, on the straw covered floor.
Zangan smiled one last time and closed the door to the kennel. He walked away to leave the animals to themselves.
None of the dogs really paid much attention to the new comer; they were busy trying to sleep.
The lead dog, Hogan was lying near the front left corner of the pen with one of the female dogs, Mika, snuggled up against him. Hunk and Valley, two brothers from the same litter were lying across from each other in the back in opposite corners, concealed within the shadows.
The other, older female dog, Nana, was lying by herself. One of the younger male dogs, Shackelton, was laying a few feet away from her. The last dog, Fritz, was lying across from her, asleep.
.o.o.o.
Hozloff walked into the radio room and looked down at Coats, he frowned when he saw that the operator was asleep, his face was laid across an open magazine and his mouth hung open slightly, emitting a quite sound as he slept.
Hozloff listened to sound of gentle snoring, and then leaned over him and reached over, grasping one of the knobs on the radio controls and turned it.
Coats jumped to alert with a scream, like the devil himself was at his heals. He frantically looked about, trying to get his bearings as he had been violently torn from his sleep. Finally, in an aggravated voice, he spoke. "Um... er... what do you want?!" He exclaimed.
The Commander's expression soured. "Damnit, Coats, get off your ass and find someone." He instructed him. "I'm sick and tired of arguing with you about this, we need help up here." He explained.
"Hozloff," He began. "We're in the middle of nowhere, next to nothing!" He replied. "I doubt if anyone talked to anyone else on this entire continent!" He added, indignantly.
Hozloff looked him the eyes and fixed him with a glare. "Keep trying, Coats, keep trying!" He replied and walked out of the room.
.o.o.o.
Hours later, after most of the team had gone to bed; the sound of barking could be heard, coming from the Kennel. Several of the man had started yelling at Zangan to go see what the hell was upsetting the dogs so much.
After a few moments, he got out of bed and pulled a pair of pants up over his long underwear and decided to just slip on a parka instead of his shirt and vest. He crammed his hat over his long white hair and left the room.
Zangan walked down the hall towards "Dog Town". The sound of whimpering and barking were becoming increasingly louder as he drew ever closer to the Kennel.
He reached out and unhooked the latch to open the door. One of the dogs went flying out at him and knocked him down. The sturdy man was caught off guard and fell to the floor roughly, just in time for another one of the dogs to lunge past him. Somewhat dazed, he looked over his shoulder as the dogs ran off through the open door at the end of the hall, escaping into the main complex.
Curiosity soon got the better of him as he heard a strange slapping sound coming from close to the kennel door. He looked down at his feat and instantly recoiled when something fell across his work boots. Several sinuous tentacles lashed out at his feet and he could hear terrible noises coming from within the shadows. A chill ran through him as he shook his feet violently to remove the strange thing from him. He kicked the door shut and locked it, he stumbled up onto his feet and ran for help.
.o.o.o.
Cid stepped out of the room he was staying in and walked down towards the kitchen.
The blond-haired man walked into the large kitchen to grab a bear from the fridge. He looked over and noticed Biggs sitting next to his boom box. The cook was quietly singing the lines of the song to himself.
"Hey, Biggs." Cid replied as he reached into the large refrigerator, quickly producing a bear in one hand as he closed the fridge with the other.
Biggs leisurely turned around and looked at him, he smiled. "Hey, Cid, what's swingin'?" He asked calmly.
Cid shrugged. "Nothing really, I'm just getting something to drink." He replied.
At this point, Henson stepped in and looked at Cid. He didn't respond right away... "Oh, Cid, you're up, too?" He asked after a lingering period of silence.
Before Cid could reply, the sound of terrible barking and howling could be heard from off in the kennel. Biggs shot up out of his seat and looked at the other two men in confusion.
Without hesitation, the pilot ran over to the fire alarm in the kitchen and pulled down the handle. Instantly, the complex was filled with the grating sound of the alarm going off and echoing down through the halls.
.o.o.o.
Cid came flying into the hall with the two others behind him. He looked towards the end of the hall. "What the hell is happening?!" He exclaimed as he turned to the two men behind him.
Cid took off down the hall, towards the kennel, in hurry.
By now, everyone had been brought to alert by the glaring cacophony of the fire alarm system. The entire facility was filled with irate and confused men.
Everyone began stumbling out of their rooms in confusion. Many of them were still trying to get dressed.
Mideal stumbled around awkwardly as he tried to get his pants on. "What the hell is going on?!" He exclaimed as he struggled with the unruly buckle of his jeans.
Other men were also trying to get dressed in a hurry. Most of them ended up just wearing pants and heavy coats over their long underwear and pajamas.
.o.o.o.
Zangan stood by the door, clutching the fire axe in his hands and waiting for the others to arrive. Just then, the door swung open and Cid and Hozloff walked in, others were streaming in behind them. Cid was carrying the shotgun he had with him from the other day.
Zangan took a step towards the pilot. "Cid, there's something in there, and it's pissed. I don't know what it is though." He quickly announced to the Cid and the other men. Cid and Hozloff stepped forward and then led them down the hallway towards the kennel. There was a terrible racket coming from the darkened cage.
It wasn't long at all when the men had reached "Dog Town" and Cid walked up to the door and pulled it open. He clicked on his flashlight and shined it into the room.
Slowly, the spotlight moved forwards, across the floor until it came to something quit unbearable. Others were now shining lights into the kennel, resulting a chilling silence that fell upon the assembled group as they looked on.
Some sort of thing was situated in the middle of the kennel. Whatever it was now, it was no longer the husky that had come to their camp. Several of the men recoiled back and covered their mouths when the saw the thing before them.
Cid stepped back as he looked at the creature. It now appeared to be some disgusting pile of bloodied flesh and disjointed limbs. The monster's fur was now gone and the surface of the fleshy exterior had a sickening gloss to it. Dozens of sensuous tentacles were slithering across the floor and spider-like legs had sprouted out of the thing's back and were moving about uneasily. The furless, mutant dog-head was attached to the end of a long, distended neck. The slanted, jagged jaw opened and emitted a horrible, hellish howl that sent chills through everyone there. It's glazed, back eyes sat in the sockets motionless as it writhed about.
Everyone watched as Cid shined the flashlight around the kennel, revealing yet more horrors. One of the dogs was on its side and its bloody, torn body squirmed in pain as it was engulfed in a slew of fleshy blood-red tentacles, the beast emitted a weak, pathetic whimper as it was smothered under the grip of the monster's numerous writhing appendages.
Another one of the dogs was being held up against the wall and being cruelly strangled by the attacker.
By this point, Zangan was behind him and looking into the kennel frantically. Hozloff was looking through the wire at the monster with a sickening expression on his face.
Cid shakily turned to Dyne. "Go get Tseng, make him bring the flamethrower... quick, go!" He shouted and then turned back to the monster. He pumped the shotgun and aimed it at the monster.
Hozloff stuck the barrel of revolver through the wire links and pulled back the hammer...
The two men began unloading shotgun shell blasts and solid lead rounds into the monster, firing shot after shot at it. As the blast continued to bombard the monster, jets of thick green and black fluids sprayed and gushed out from the various wounds it was receiving from the two men. A shotgun blast hit the abdomen of the dog that was being strangled; the act was the mixed result of the confusion and pity running through Cid's mind.
In the chaos, Zangan lunged at the blond pilot and screamed out, grasping his collar. The men right behind him had to pull him off of the man.
"Damnit, Cid!" He yelled as the men held onto his arms. An intense glare flashed between their eyes as they looked straight at one another.
At that moment, the monster suddenly sprouted massive, sinuous arms from its side and the two limbs reached up for the ceiling beams above it.
Tseng came running into the hall from the door on the other end of the hall; Wedge and Reno came running behind him with fire extinguishers in hand.
Cid turned to the dark-hair man and yelled at him. "Hey, get over here!"
The mechanic ran into the kennel just in time to see a hideous creature pull itself into the rafters above the kennel. He looked up at the amorphous beast above him. Suddenly, its twisted stomach split open and a massive flower-shaped claw extended out and down towards him.
Tseng's jaw dropped as he stepped back and squeezed on the trigger of the flame thrower in his hand. Quickly, the fuel flowed out and created an intense stream of pure fire, which set the monstrosity ablaze.
Tseng stepped back to where the others were as the burning body writhed in agony and eventually fell down onto the ground.
The assembly waited a moment as the hideous corpse burned, eventually parting to let Reno and Wedge and a few other men put out the fires in the room...
Everyone was quiet as the silence pervaded the scene. Cid fell back against the wall and closed his eyes while Hozloff had to step back to try and regain his composure.
Zangan silently left the hall...
Kennings had to run outside and vomit...
Gast looked as if he was about to have a nervous breakdown, and Hojo was still crouched down and starring- through the chain links- at the burnt, bloodied corpse without saying a word. His long black hair hung down his head messily, instead of being pulled back into its usual ponytail.
Mideal had to stop his hands from shaking as he stared at the dead monstrosity in the kennel.
Dyne, to his amazement, found himself praying for the first time in years...
Cid began to wonder why he had taken this job in the first place.
So, now it seemed that silence was the rule of the night, and no one dared speak now... not after what had just happened.
They had seen something out of the very depths of hell itself, a vile apparition that tugged on the nerves of every nightmare that had been known since the days that men first dared dream... What it possible that they had truly dipped into hell itself?
Silence... Just silence...
.o.o.o.
End of Chapter 5