Ghost Stories
Their flashlights illuminated the path before them as they navigated down the stairway further into the darkness. Occasionally, Anna marked an arrow on the wall to her right with yellow chalk so in the event they became lost, they would only need to put the arrows to their left and follow them out. As they descended, the temperature grew colder by a few degrees and the air seemed to grow more still; heavy with the silence and the weight of the mountain.
Eventually, the stairway levelled out into a narrow corridor, the ceiling of which had partially caved-in and allowed only enough room to move forward in a crouch. They pressed forward, Elsa taking the lead, Anna in the middle, and Kristoff behind.
"Better be careful in here, watch your- ow!" Elsa warned before she banged her head against a low passageway.
Anna laughed. "Watch my ow?" she teased.
"Shut up," Elsa's grumbled
Kristoff quietly snickered to himself.
Eventually, the ceiling rose again as they cleared the caved-in section behind them and entered a large hallway. It stretched away before them and linked up with a junction further ahead. On the far wall was a tattered Nazi banner that hunt completely still in the motionless air.
Elsa approached it slowly, casting the beam of her flashlight around cautiously. "We're definitely in the right place now," she muttered.
"Oof, I just got shivers. This place gives me the creeps," Anna said, shaking herself to ward off the ever-present chill that had settled in the bunker complex.
"Well, it was your idea to come here," Kristoff replied, walking forward. "Gotta say, you have a funny idea of a mountain getaway."
"Come on, give me a little credit, at least the hike was nice right?" Anna replied.
The junction branched off down two different hallways. The one to the right was partially collapsed, leaving only the hallway to the left. As they turned, they entered a large cavernous room, meant to be a staging area or a motor pool of some kind. Far ahead of them, parked in neat rows were all sorts of trucks, half-tracks, armored cars and even a tank. Though, they were all corroded and rendered inoperable by the passage of time. To their left, far at the other end was the iron door that led outside. To their right, the room stretched onward, with wooden crates and containers piled high to the ceiling.
"Whoa," Anna said in wonderment as she gazed around the room. "Do you think we could drive that thing?" she asked excitedly, pointing to the tank.
"Oh, I didn't know you knew how to drive a tank. Please, by all means, hop in and give it a whirl," Kristoff said sarcastically. "I doubt that thing could even run after sitting in here for so long."
"Okay… that's cool. Not like it's something that I've always wanted to do or anything," Anna muttered to herself. "Would have been totally awesome though," she glanced at Elsa, who shot her an understanding look.
"Hmm? Say something?" Kristoff asked as she lifted the cover of a crate to inspect its contents.
"I just said, you're totally right Kristoff. Gosh, I'm so silly. What a silly idea," Anna said dismissively. "Find anything interesting?"
"Some helmets," Kristoff stated as he examined one more closely. "Standard issue Wehrmacht. A bit out of fashion these days."
"You don't think they could have stashed the artifacts in one of these boxes do you?" Anna asked doubtfully as she pointed the beam of her flashlight over the stacks of wooden crates.
"I don't think so. This looks to be more of some kind of supply depot," Elsa replied. "It must be deeper in the complex."
"Let's hope so," Anna muttered. "I would hate to be stuck down here for long," she came a little more closely to Elsa's side.
Kristoff looked nonplussed as he started walking ahead. "What, are you afraid of a little dark?" he teased.
"No, no, just not entirely thrilled at the idea of being trapped underground with you, that's all," Anna replied easily, then smiled at Elsa. "I don't mean that about you, of course."
Elsa shook her head in amusement and sighed.
They passed on from the supply depot onto another long hallway that branched off down several other corridors. Some stretched away so far into the inky blackness that the beam of their flashlights could not pierce them, while others ended in piles of rubble from more cave-ins. The trio found themselves at an intersection. Three long hallways stretched away before them, one to their left and right, and one ahead of them.
"Crap, which way do we go?" Anna muttered, shining her flashlight down each direction in consideration.
"Maybe we can split up? Cover more ground," Kristoff suggested.
"No way," Anna turned and pointed the beam of her flashlight directly in his face. "That's how people die in horror movies!"
"Agh, Anna, do you mind?" Kristoff said as he shielded his face. "And despite what you may think, life is not like a movie."
Anna scoffed and place a hand on her hip. "We're in a secret Nazi occult research bunker in the middle of nowhere looking for clues to a lost treasure, and you're telling me this isn't like a movie?"
"Name one movie that's anything like what we're doing right now," Kristoff crossed his arms.
"Hellboy. Easy," Anna said quickly. "Come on, dude."
"That's a good one," Kristoff nodded as he conceded the point. "Yeah, you got me there. Name another."
While Anna and Kristoff fell into a small exchange, Elsa sighed and rolled her eyes to herself. More often than not, she simply didn't understand whenever Anna made one of her frequent references to pop culture. Something on the ground caught her eye, so she knelt to examine it more closely.
"Hmm, what's this?" Elsa muttered, focusing her light in the center of the intersection where three barely visible lines of faded and chipped paint split off in each direction.
In the darkness, none of them had noticed these lines before, and even under the light of their flashlights, they were easily missed. Next to each line were faint signs that indicated where each corridor led to. Elsa read the German words out loud as she considered each one in turn.
"Barracks. That way," Elsa read the sign to the left. "Research lab" she read the sign to their front. "And… armory," she read the final sign to their right.
"I'm just saying, we are poking around an ancient Nazi bunker, maybe we should be a little careful and, gee, I don't know! Maybe not split up so we don't get devoured by molemen created by some fucked up experiment or something," Anna turned away from Kristoff. "Elsa, what do you think?"
Elsa came up back to her feet and pointed her flashlight towards the research labs. "I think we should go this way," she said.
"I was asking about- wait, what?" Anna shook her head and looked puzzled.
"Look," Elsa pointed out the signs.
"Oh," Anna muttered softly.
"Huh. Well that's, uh, that's convenient," Kristoff remarked. "What does that say?"
"Research lab," Elsa replied.
Anna walked up next to Elsa and smiled brightly at her. "Did I tell you how glad I am you decided to come, Elsa?" she asked sweetly.
Elsa swallowed a lump in her throat and pushed down the sudden feeling of guilt that welled up from within. "It's nothing, really," she said quietly. "Come on, let's keep going."
They proceeded down the corridor in front of them, and made it perhaps a dozen meters before it abruptly ended in yet another cave-in.
"Damn," Anna and kicked a loose rock. "How do we get through this?"
"I didn't bring my shovel, guys," Kristoff added.
Elsa frowned then turned back the way they came "Maybe we can cut around through the barracks or armory?" she suggested.
Backtracking, they returned to the intersection and Anna marked the arrow she had made on their earlier pass with an X, designating a dead end. Then, they proceeded towards the armory, following a long corridor to a large rectangular room with racks of weaponry lining either side. In the middle were neatly arranged crates similar to the ones in the supply depot.
"Woah," Anna muttered in awe at the implements of war. "Maybe there's something in here we can use to blow that rubble aside?"
"Aaaaand bring down the whole mountain on top of us while we're at it," Kristoff replied.
Anna frowned, but conceded the point.
They split off towards opposite ends as they explored the room. Kristoff eyed the weapons on the wall and found all sorts of rifles, automatic guns and ammunition. He lifted an MP40 submachine gun from the wall and blew a little dust from its frame. The gunmetal was dull and corroded. With some effort, he removed the magazine, and observed that it was kept loaded then regarded it a moment longer before setting it back on the wall.
Anna made her way over to a stack of crates and lifted the cover of the top one, inspecting its contents. Inside the crate was a small arsenal of stick grenades nestled on top of a pile of straw. She made to pick up one when suddenly, Anna thought better of it and lowered her hand.
"Better not play with these," Anna muttered to herself.
Elsa rooted through a desk, turning over old reports, documents, and manifests. She picked up a stack and leafed through the yellowed papers, noting that the last report was dated over a year before the war ended in 1945. Finding nothing else of interest, she set the stack of papers back down on the desk
"This room is a dead end. We should check out the barracks," Kristoff called as he reached the end of the armory.
Backtracking once again, they proceeded straight through the intersection and towards the barracks. As they approached another large rectangular room, the air gradually filled with the foul scent of ancient decay.
"Something smells rank," Anna waved the air around her nose. "Ugh, what the hell, Kristoff?"
"Ha ha. Very funny," Kristoff grumbled.
"We better put on our masks," Elsa said.
They paused to don their respirators that they each carried before proceeding through to the barracks. There they found bunk beds and lockers arranged in narrow rows. Randomly strewn about the room were mummified corpses dressed in the tattered remains of their uniforms.
"What the hell happened here?" Kristoff wondered aloud, his voice slightly muffled by the respirator he wore.
Anna gasped and recoiled in horror, backing up until she collided against Elsa. Without looking, she reached for her hand and grasped it tightly for comfort. Elsa squeezed her hand reassuringly.
Kristoff knelt and examined the macabre scenery before them. Everywhere he shone his light, more and more corpses were revealed. Some lay in their bunks, some remained seated upright in chairs, and others were scattered across the floor in all manner of positions. The air was heavy with death and entombed in silence. It was clear that the bunker and its deceased occupants had been undisturbed since they met their mysterious fate.
"I don't know," Elsa muttered. "Let's keep moving. I don't want to stay here for long."
"Yeah. Don't have to tell me twice," Anna replied.
Carefully, they made their way to the opposite end of the barracks, picking their way over corpses and taking extra care not to disturb them. At the other end was an exit that led down another hallway. As they followed along, it linked up with the same hallway they had initially tried that was blocked by rubble, and the faint white line leading towards the research labs became visible again.
Upon sighting it, the trio quickened their pace, eager to leave the barracks behind them as they proceeded towards their objective. Along the way, they passed through empty medical examination rooms, chemical storage units, and testing chambers. Marking the walls to her right as they went, Anna continued to keep track of their progress as they followed the line down a flight of stairs and towards a set of heavy wooden double doors. They were locked with a heavy rusted chain and padlock just on the opposite side, meaning that whoever closed it had done so from within.
Elsa went up to the door and gave it a tug. "Locked," she looked over her shoulder. "Anna, think you can pick it?"
"I don't think so, this thing is rusted to hell," Anna muttered as she reached through the narrow gap between the doors and examined the padlock beneath her light. "Besides, I didn't bring my lock-picking kit."
"What?" Kristoff said. "You didn't think something like that would be useful?"
Anna looked up and around, then settled upon an air duct that stood high above them to the side on the wall. "Hmm, maybe we can get around through that vent?" she suggested as she pointed towards the open vent.
"You want to crawl in there? It's got to be all rusted inside and who knows what else is in there," Elsa said.
"Well, do you have any better ideas?" Anna asked.
"Sure, sure, we can do that," Kristoff said then took an easy step up towards the door. "Or, we can use a bit of muscle."
"Kristoff," Anna scoffed. "You can't just-"
Before she could finish, Kristoff kicked the doors right in the middle. Given their age, they snapped apart easily and the doors burst open, permitting entry.
"Oh look at that, it opens," Anna chuckled sheepishly, then looked at Elsa who simply shrugged. "Nice work," she clapped Kristoff on the shoulder as they strode through.
"Nothing to it," Kristoff replied casually. "Thing was about ready to come apart on its own anyway."
They found themselves in a large room, where in the center sat a large platform with a map of the world. To one side of the room lay an impressive array of radio consoles and equipment. To the other, tall shelves stacked with books lined the walls. Ahead of them, a long corridor was lined by a number of offices.
"This has gotta be it," Anna said excitedly, shining her flashlight directly at Elsa's face.
The bright light illuminated Elsa's pale complexion and she appeared for a moment as if a ghost had manifested itself in her place. She scrunched up her face and screwed her eyes shut, shielding them from the light as she raised her arm.
"Ah, Anna, do you mind?" Elsa protested.
"Oh, heh. Sorry. Just got a little excited," Anna apologized.
"I know, let's take a look around," Elsa replied.
They approached the map in the center of the room, shining their lights on it as they examined it. Several points across Europe were marked with circles crossed by an X, likely indicating locations that had been searched by the Nazis. Other marks were found across the world as far away as Antarctica and Tibet. However, what caught their attention were two circles over the middle east on the Arabian peninsula.
"What do you suppose these mean?" Kristoff asked, pointing to the two locations.
"Don't know, but these guys have been all over the world," Anna replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe they planned to search these places as well."
"Let's split up and poke around. There have to be answers here," Elsa said, as she stepped away from the map and turned to explore the rest of the room.
Kristoff strode over to the communications equipment and started busying himself by turning various dials, Anna made her way to the offices and at the other end, and Elsa went over to the book shelves and pulled one down at random. She set her flashlight in the crook between her neck and shoulder as she blew a thick layer of dust away from the cover and opened it.
The contents inside were written in a language she couldn't understand, but Elsa recognized that it was Hebrew. Elsa glanced up at all the other books as a chilling sense of realization settled upon her.
"Oh my," Elsa muttered.
"What is it?" Kristoff asked as he walked over. "Hitler's secret diary?"
"No, no. These are some of the books the Nazis stole from across Europe," Elsa closed the book and set it back on the shelf. "So much history and culture that they wanted to erase forever."
Kristoff nodded solemnly, then gestured with his thumb over his shoulder. "Come on, let's go see what Anna's getting up to."
Meanwhile, Anna had wandered towards the offices, peering through windows and doorways until she reached the end where a single office stood apart from the rest. She looked through the window of a wooden door frame, shining her light through to reveal a square room that held a large wooden desk in its center.
Slumped over the desk was another corpse, dressed in the uniform of an officer. Anna eased the door open and stepped through, peering around the rest of the room as she did. Aside from the desk in the center where its current occupant sat, the room was furnished with tall bookshelves and filing cabinets that lined the walls. In one corner sat a vintage phonograph next to a small end table which held an empty crystal decanter.
As she approached the corpse slumped over the desk, she noticed the handgun still clutched in its skeletal hand. It was then she also took note of the dried blood and gore splattered over the wall behind it. The hole in the back of the corpse's head told the rest of the short tale, and the grimace frozen on the dried and mottled flesh of the officer's face stared hauntingly back at Anna.
On the desk were a few scattered papers and a single gold bullion bar that had been used as a paperweight. The metal shone as Anna passed her flashlight over it, glinting softly out of the darkness. Anna picked it up, and examined it more closely. The gold bullion bore the emblem of the reichsadler, as well as its weight of five hundred grams.
"Cool," Anna breathed as she turned it over in her light. "Guys! Come take a look at this!"
A few moments later, Elsa and Kristoff poked her head through the doorway.
"What is it? Did you find some- oh," Elsa stopped suddenly as she spotted the bizarre scene before her.
A dead Nazi officer slumped over the desk and Anna standing next to him, holding a gold bar in her hand.
"Check it out," Anna said, tossing the gold to Elsa.
Elsa caught it with her free hand and turned it over. "Real Nazi gold," she muttered then passed it to Kristoff.
"Find any more of these?" Kristoff asked, hefting it in his palm. He tucked it away in his pocket for safe keeping.
"No. Just the one," Anna replied. "And, well, this guy," she pointed to the dead man.
"So the Nazi bastard blew his brains out, what's to tell?" Kristoff crossed his arms.
"Something awful must have happened here," Elsa said as she examined a few documents lying on the table.
A bloodstained report caught her attention so she slid it over and began to read.
June 3rd, 1944
The war is all but lost. Fearing the worst, Himmler has executed the Dornröschen protocol and sealed the bunker complex to prevent the secrets of his work from escaping. We are shut inside and cannot leave under pain of execution, or death at the hands of our enemies.
The Gestapo and the SS have already disposed of anyone remaining on the outside who were connected to Himmler's project. All loose ends have been dealt with, except for us. We were all issued cyanide pills when we were stationed here, and were ordered to kill ourselves to prevent our knowledge from falling into the wrong hands.
Tonight, I must address the men that none of us will be going home.
"Jesus," Elsa muttered as she finished reading.
"What? What is it?" Anna asked, her face filled with apprehension.
"Himmler sealed the entire bunker and ordered his men to kill themselves to prevent any knowledge from getting out," Elsa replied, stunned by the horrifying end of the short narrative they had been trying to piece together. "They didn't want anyone else to get their hands on the research they were doing here."
"Guess they had a real bone to pick with him, huh?" Anna grinned at her joke. "Get it? Because of all the… skeletons," she finished quietly.
"Oh my god," Kristoff signed and rubbed his forehead with his hand.
Elsa picked up another document and began to read. "This one is dated from earlier," she said.
July 14th, 1940
Thanks to the work of the Jew researcher, Rahn, we have been able to acquire a tablet bearing the description of the location of the grail. It hints toward a secret entrance to the lost city of Sarras, buried somewhere in the Rub' al Khali desert.
The inscription reads:
"In the holy city of Sarras, three knights did enter, bearing the grail of Christ."
"Seek passage beyond the city on the ocean of sand, through the canyon, and in the hidden oasis."
We have been able to narrow down two possible locations that match this description. General Rommel has provided a detachment of as many men and vehicles he could spare from his Afrika Korps to search the two locations.
The expeditionary force sets out within the fortnight. With any luck, the grail will soon be in our grasp.
"Sarras?" Elsa wondered aloud.
"Sarras… that was the location that Galahad brought the grail to when they returned it to the holy land," Anna explained. "Those two marks on the map! That's what they were searching for!"
Elsa nodded, setting the paper back down as she eyed the one beneath the corpse's other hand. Gently, she pulled it out from it's grasp and read.
May 26th, 1941
The expeditionary force never returned. It would appear that after the force split to search each location, the desert swallowed them whole. The grail, and whatever secrets we hoped to turn up with it, remain buried underneath all that damn sand.
General Rommel is currently occupied with more pressing matters. He is dealing with the siege in Tobruk, and cannot provide any more men or resources from the Afrika Korps. Himmler is similarly indisposed, preparing for Operation Barbarossa and the invasion of Russia.
Our hands are tied at the moment, with resources and manpower being devoted to more important war efforts. Until then, it appears that the project here is being placed on indefinite hold.
"Holy crap," Anna muttered.
"They never found it?" Kristoff asked
"The map! We need to see the map again!" Anna exclaimed as she bounced out of the room.
Before she left the office, Elsa folded up the note with the description of the secret entrance to Sarras and tucked it in her pocket.
Anna ran up to the side of the map table and focused her light over the Arabian desert where it had been marked by two circles. The first highlighted a location near the border of Yemen, and the other pointed out a location a little ways west of the Persian gulf. When Elsa and Kristoff caught up to her, they gathered around the map to plot their next move.
"Okay, just need to get up here," Anna climbed up on the table so she could take pictures with her smartphone. "Actually, Elsa? Just hold the light steady like that, thanks," she snapped a few pictures and once she was satisfied, she hopped off the table. "I think we got everything we need. Looks like we found out where our next heading is, so let's hightail it-"
Just then, a loud explosion suddenly split the silence, booming and echoing through the complex as it shook the very foundations of the mountain.
"Oof!" Anna cried out as she stumbled and nearly fell into Elsa as she found her balance. "What the hell was that?"
"Sounded like an explosion," Kristoff said.
Dust and loose pieces of cement fell from the ceiling around them as the mountain seemed to groan and shift around the bunker complex.
"Then that's our cue to leave, let's go!" Elsa exclaimed, grabbing Anna by her hand and running out as Kristoff followed close behind.
