When Eric, Jason, and Nick got back to the temple, they set Salim in a chair in the main archeologists tent and set up an area for Eric to dissect the creature Salim and Nick killed. After he was set up, Eric told Jason and Nick to set up cameras and some explosives in case the creatures tried to attack them. Before Eric began his autopsy of the creature, he was looking through the pages they had found of Randolph Hodgson's journals, scouring anything he might have written that could give him a clue about these creatures. The only thing that Eric found interesting was Hodgson mentioning the crew finding something below. He looked at the Caelus scans and looked at the part that was labeled 'unknown structure' and it wasn't the temple as it was much, much further down below the earth than the temple.
Eric had no idea what this unknown structure could be or how deep the whole thing went, but hoped they found more of Hodgson's journal to gain some sort of idea what it was. Eric picked up his water canteen and took a drink from it. Eric than looked towards Salim and walked over, offering him a sip. Salim may have been their enemy, but Eric wasn't going to show him no human decency. Salim looked at the water canteen and then away from it.
"Suit yourself.' Eric said.
Eric looked back at the creature, still barley able to believe what he was seeing was even real. It was already clear enough that this temple wasn't the chemical weapons silo and it probably wasn't anywhere near where they were and he didn't know if the Iraqi's even knew about this place. Eric however needed to make sure the Iraqi's didn't know about this place and decided to ask Salim some questions.
"I want you to tell me everything you know about these creatures." Eric said, turning back towards Salim. "Have you seen them before? Do you know where they came from? How many are there down here?"
Salim looked up at Eric.
"I hope you're a believer, brother. When those things come back, you're going to need a higher power to pray to." Salim said.
Eric didn't respond to that and just went to autopsy the creature. Before he did, he quickly checked in with Jason and Nick for an update of the task he assigned them. Jason reported that the cameras were set up and anywhere the creatures could come in were sealed up if they were able to be. Eric than tasked them to sweep through the eastern corridor and to be on guard as they did so. Now, Eric turned on a recorder and spoke into it.
"My name is Lieutenant Colonel Eric King of the United States Air Force. I'm a chief nuclear engineer of the Iraq Survey Group, tasked with locating hidden chemical weapons. Our mission has uncovered something… Unexpected. I will now begin an autopsy of an unidentified life form." Eric spoke into the recorder before beginning.
Eric studied the creatures' height and wings and the shininess of its dull grey colored skin.
"At approximation, the creature is 8 feet tall, bipedal, winged. Wing webbing appears to be affixed to its forelimbs and to the digits of its hands. Epidermis looks to be smothered in some sort of excretion. Underneath it is… diseased, almost. The creature is starting to rapidly decompose in death." Eric observed.
Jason radioed in again to let Eric know that he and Nick were approaching the eastern passage and Eric looked on the monitors, noticing them.
"I see you. Kolchek, Caelus scans have picked up a much larger structure below the temple. Stay on your guard. There's something huge down there. Over." Eric said.
Eric turned back towards the creature, about to continue with the autopsy, but thought more about the unknown structure. He wondered if there was a slim chance it could be the weapons silo and the Iraqi's just coincidently found this temple and decided to use it as a cover up and they just happened to build it where these creatures lived and didn't know about them.
"Were you guarding chemical weapons?" Eric asked Salim.
"What?" Salim questioned.
"When your men attacked us at the village, was it because you were guarding chemical weapons?" Eric said, grabbing the Caelus scans and pointing out the unknown structure. "We're close, aren't we?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. The only thing that's down here are these demons." Salim said.
"Demons?" Eric replied.
"Yes, demons. Demons from the very pits of Hell itself." Salim said.
Eric glanced back at the creature and back at Salim.
"I don't know what these things are, but they're not demons. They're just some kind of undiscovered animal and I'm gonna find out what they are." Eric said.
Eric began walking back to examine the creature until he turned back towards Salim.
"Okay, if you can't tell me anything about these creatures or chemical weapons, here's something you can tell me about: How many soldiers are present in the tunnels? When the ground collapsed, how many fell down with you?" Eric asked.
Salim didn't answer, knowing in his heart that the rest of his squad, like the rest of the Americans' were already dead.
"Were you alone when you attacked us earlier?" Eric asked.
Salim looked at Eric, confused.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Salim said.
"Liar!" Eric shouted.
"I didn't attack anyone!" Salim said, defending himself.
"You attacked me! You attacked my wife!" Eric accused, thinking Salim was the Iraqi soldier than had attacked him and Rachel earlier.
"Your wife?" Salim questioned.
"Yes! On the cliff. She fell." Eric said.
"I'm sorry." Salim genuinely apologized.
"You will be, I promise you that." Eric said bitterly.
Eric returned to his autopsy of the creature.
A COUPLE MINUTES AGO
Jason and Nick were in the small chamber where they had found the God of Sumer book earlier. As Jason was setting up cameras to keep an eye out for the creatures if they came this way, Nick was setting up explosives in the hole in the back of the room, planning to seal it off so none of the creatures could come through it and attack them. When the charges were set, Jason and Nick got out of the way, Nick ready to press the detonator.
"Fire in the hole." Nick said and then pressed the button.
The charges went off, filling the room with dust and sealing up the hole.
"That's the last one. Should at least slow 'em down." Nick said.
"Long enough to spot them on the cameras." Jason said.
Jason and Nick walked out of the room and made their way towards the room where the tripwire had been set earlier, which they reset. As they did, Nick couldn't help but think about all the situations they had been in together ever since they joined the army.
"We've been in some fucked up situations before…" Nick said.
"Never as fucked as this." Jason said, finishing what Nick was thinking.
Nick nodded; Nothing they had been through was ever easy, but compared to their current situation, everything else had more or less been a walk in the park. Nick was glad to have Jason by his side, feeling that he wouldn't have made it this far without him watching his back.
"If I gotta fight these things, there's no one else I would want by my side." Nick said.
"You know I always got your back buddy, come what may." Jason assured. "But still, don't go banking on anything. We're gonna have to work pretty hard just to stay alive."
"Me and you, though, we can handle that shit." Nick said confidently. "What would I do without you?"
"Yeah, well, you find yourself alone, you're gonna have to put on your big boy pants and fight 'em" Jason teased.
"I don't think my mom packed them" Nick said, laughed.
"I'm serious sergeant." Jason said, being serious this time. "You hear me now. If you find yourself alone, you fight like they do. You hit them hard and fast before they even know you're there and then you go back into the dark. That understood, sergeant?"
"Yeah, understood." Nick said.
Jason and Nick carefully stepped over the tripwire and made their way back to the temple. Jason suddenly thought back to when they found Eric and how he said Rachel fell into the chasm and back to when Nick told him on the helo that the two of them were seeing each other. Nick noticed Jason stop and looked back at him.
"What's up?" Nick asked.
Jason didn't answer at first, hesitant to bring up Rachel and Nick's relationship.
"Whatever it is that's on your mind, just spit it out!" Nick said.
"Does Eric know about you and Rachel?" Jason finally asked.
"Don't know. Don't care." Nick said.
"Cut the bullshit, Nick. I know you and I know you care. What'd you think's gonna happen when Eric finds out you've been sleeping with his wife?" Jason asked.
"Wife? You think what they had resembled a marriage?" Nick asked. "No, that shit was over way before I was on the scene. Anyway, if he does know, he's playing his cards pretty damn close to his chest."
Jason thought about what should be done about the situation between Eric and Nick with Rachel. On one hand, Jason thought Eric deserved to know the truth and that Nick should come clean and talk to Eric about it man-to-man, because if Eric found out himself, Jason was worried that he might hold it against Nick when it matters most. However, on the other hand with where they were and what they were facing, the tension it would cause amongst the group would be no less either way and it could possibly lead to getting them all killed. There would be a time to get it all out in the open if Nick wished so, but that time was not now.
"You make sure that Eric does not find out. Last thing we need is more fucking drama down here." Jason said.
"I ain't having this conversation." Nick said.
"He can't know, it'll break him. He's still hurting bad about what happened to Rachel." Jason said.
"And you don't think that I am?" Nick snapped.
Nick shook his head and walked forward into the temple, Jason following close behind his friend.
"This is something else." Nick said, looking around the temple.
"You think?" Jason replied.
"Wonder how many places like this we've bombed without a second thought." Nick wondered out loud.
"These relics are better off in the dust." Jason said.
At that, Nick looked towards Jason. He knew Jason talked big a lot about fighting the enemy and other things, but it was at moments like these when he thought he was going overboard with it.
"What's your problem? These people didn't ask for this war." Nick stated.
"Well, I don't remember them showing much respect for New York City, couple years back." Jason said, voice full of resentment.
"So, now all brown people gotta suffer, that it?" Nick questioned.
"That's not what I meant. You know me better than that." Jason rebuffed.
"Yeah, I thought I did." Nick said, not really buying it.
"All I'm saying is that this country has it's fair share of monsters, right." Jason said.
"Does it now?" Nick questioned.
"When we're back home, we'll laugh about it." Jason said.
"Yeah, maybe you can tell me how you feel about us black folks." Nick replied.
Before Jason could even attempt to respond to that, Eric's voice came over the radio, asking for an update.
"Two-One Actual, receiving. Cameras are green and the holes have been demolished. Over." Jason informed.
"Good work, Lieutenant. Sweep through the eastern corridor and be on your guard. Over." Eric replied.
"I hear you. Over and out." Jason said as he and Nick made their way to the eastern corridor, turning his radio back on when they got there. "Dropkick, this is Mailman Two-One Actual. Approaching eastern passage. Over."
"I see you. Kolchek, Caelus scans have picked up a much larger structure below the temple. Stay on your guard. There's something huge down there. Over." Eric said.
"Will do Colonel." Jason said. "Hmmm, wonder if it could be the silo or most likely these fuckers' love nest."
When they got to the eastern corridor doors, Nick and Jason looked at the door, which was ridden with holes fired into by the machine gun.
"Christ. These doors took a hammering!" Nick said.
"Those things must have come through here in force." Jason assumed. "Whoever manned that weapon took a stand and held them off."
"Before they got massacred from behind." Nick commented.
"These creatures aren't dumb. They're predators. Bet your bottom dollar, if they came this way before, they could come again." Jason stated.
Jason and Nick climbed over the sand and stone blocking the doors and came upon some stairs, leading further below. They descended the stairs, which led into a room filled to the brim with human bones and there was a large hole, which seemed to be a well, in the middle. Jason walked up to and looked down into the well to see even more bones.
"This is the closest I've been to Hell." Nick said, looking down the well himself.
Jason spat down the well and backed up from it. When he turned, Jason saw a dead body leaning against the wall, but this one wasn't a skeleton yet and he seemed unnaturally thin. Curious about the body, Jason walked up and examined it.
"It's gotta be one of those explorers." Jason said.
"Looks like he's been drained dry." Nick observed, noticing how unnaturally skinny the corpse was.
Jason didn't know exactly how to respond to that, not even knowing how someone, much less a dead body could look like they were drained of their fluids. As he stood up, Jason noticed strange puncture marks on the corpses neck, but thought nothing of it. Circling around the room, Jason found a tablet depicting two men watching another burn in flames.
"Well, what do you know, these bastards predicted Salem." Jason joked to himself.
Still circling around the room, Jason spotted a piece of paper on the ground, another of Hodgson's journal pages.
"Hey, Nick, found another one of that explorer archeologist guy's notes that Eric wants us to find." Jason said.
"What's it say?" Nick asked.
"The bottom of the chasm stank of death and was littered with corpses, fresh enough to be covered in flies. Crow thinks that local bandits must have tossed their victims down here after robbing them. I pity those hapless wanderers; the fear they must have felt as they tumbled to their doom. But this was not what he wanted to show us. An unearthly light pierced the rocks. When Mary asked us what it was, Bradshaw nodded to Crow, who broke open the dynamite. She said she intended to find out.
Blowing a hole through the rock face, we found a gateway to a strange world below. A phosphorescence emanated from beneath, casting its eldritch light over us all. Lady Bradshaw was insistent that we descend further. Perhaps Mary is right and Bradshaw is becoming reckless and uncontrollable, but I can't stop thinking about what's down there. I am now working with Crow and Pulman to set up a winch and elevator to descend into the shaft. What mysteries lie below, I wonder, undisturbed by the world above?" Jason read.
"Says they found something weird down here." Jason said.
"Yeah. No shit." Nick replied.
Nick than saw something behind Jason and pointed it out. Jason turned and looked to see that it was another corpse, one appearing to be that of a woman wearing a hat.
"You think it's that Lady Bradshaw broad or Hodgson's wife?" Jason asked.
Nick just shrugged. Continuing to look at the corpse, Jason noticed that stuck into her chest was an iron tent peg.
"Fuck'd she do to deserve that?" Jason wondered.
"Killed by a stake through the heart." Nick said inquisitively as if he was trying to put something together.
"Pretty sure those creatures didn't do this. Who did?" Jason said, pulling the tent peg out of the woman's chest.
"Don't know, Buffy?" Nick said.
"Who?" Jason asked.
"Maybe you should hold onto that." Nick suggested.
"Never know when you're gonna need a sharpened stake, right?" Jason said, tucking the tent peg into his belt.
Jason and Nick entered into a hallway lined with many pillars and statues of Pazuzu and unsurprisingly, filled with more human bones. They passed a wooden crate and Jason saw that it had a cylindrical object on it. Jason picked it up and observed it, but there was nothing useful about it.
"More crap." Jason said dismissively.
"It's beautiful. Check out the carving on it." Nick said.
"Right now, I couldn't give a crap if it was the crown jewels of England." Jason said, handing the object to Nick.
Jason turned towards the pillars and examined them. They were perfect to set up some explosives to slow down and kill some of the demons if they came this way.
"This looks like a good chokepoint. Any of those freaks coming up from below are sure to pass through here. Rig these pillars for maximum coverage." Jason said.
"They're more likely to see the tripwires though. You think those things can tell the deference?" Nick asked.
"We shouldn't underestimate them." Jason agreed.
"We mine the sides, we're more likely to catch 'em out. Smaller spread, but the explosives are better hidden. What do you think?" Nick suggested.
"Those things are devious fuckers. You're right. We plant the charges to the side of the hall." Jason agreed.
"Alright. They won't see this one coming." Nick said.
Jason and Nick began to set charges against the walls and on the sides of the pillars. As they did, Jason heard Nick sigh for some reason.
"I can hear you're brain ticking away. What is it?" Jason asked.
"We should have given her a second warning." Nick said.
Jason immediately knew what Nick was talking about. He was talking about the woman they had shot at the checkpoint.
"Fuck man, I wish I hadn't asked." Jason exclaimed. "I'm through talking about this."
"Yeah?" Nick replied.
"What's left to say?" Jason questioned. "You know that checkpoint was a prime target for suicide bombers. We had to act in the moment. We had to make a call!"
"It was the wrong call. It was just a bag of groceries. We fucked up." Nick said as he finished setting up the charge and then got angry. "Why is it that no-one ever tells it straight? Everyone just makes up bullshit to get by. That's why we're in this sandbox in the first place, right? I just want the truth, Jason. Shooting that woman messed with my head. Are you seriously going to tell me it didn't mess with yours man?"
"Those demons down there will kill you, but the demons in here…" Jason said pointing to his head. "Will eat you from the inside out. You gotta let it go man. I'm serious."
"Oh, so that's you. All moved on." Nick said.
"Yes, I have. I sure as Hell have." Jason stated.
Saying it that way, Nick immediately knew Jason was lying.
"Nah, I know you too good. When you lie, you always say things twice. First one to see how it floats, second one to nail it down." Nick knowingly pointed out.
"Nicky… come on." Jason said reluctantly "Either way, there ain't nothing that can be done about it. Not Now. Not ever. It's done with."
Jason and Nick returned to setting up the rest of the hallway.
"What I had with Rachel, it put me together again." Nick said as he finished with his charges. "Just this morning, I had a future. But even she couldn't tell it straight, not with Eric at least."
"I'm sorry, Nick. I really am." Jason said genuinely.
They made their way towards the door at the end of the hallway. When they opened it, they saw stairs leading even deeper into the temple to God knows where.
"Dropkick, this is Mailman Two-One Actual. We're at a stairwell leading down into a maze. Please advise. Over." Jason spoke into his radio.
"Acknowledged. Pull back now and secure the perimeter. Dropkick out." Eric replied back.
Jason and Nick mounted a camera and headed back to the main temple.
Meanwhile, nearly four hundred feet below the surface, Rachel, who had fallen over two hundred feet after cutting the rope tying her in Eric together was regaining consciousness. She soon realized that she was completely covered in blood when she tried to wipe her face. She didn't know where exactly she was at, but when she looked around her, she was completely terrified by what she saw. There was a large lake of blood with random debris, patches of fire, and piles of skeletons and other decomposing corpses everywhere. For a moment, Rachel thought she had literally fallen into Hell with how horrific wherever she was, was, but quickly got a hold of herself.
This was just another part of the underground caves; just another, terrifying part of the underground caves. Rachel got off of the pile of dead bodies, dropping into the lake of blood and looked up towards where she had fallen from and called up Eric, Nick, and Jason, hoping one of them was up there and could hear her. No one shouted back down to her, which meant she had to get out of this Hell on her own. Rachel suddenly heard from behind her, the clicking she and Eric had heard either, which didn't help the feeling of terror this place was already making Rachel feel.
"Oh shit." she breathed.
Rachel trudged her way through the blood river, which was somewhat difficult to move in due to how partially-congealed it was and it being up to her chest didn't help either. Rachel stuck to the walls, where it was slightly shallower. As she edged her way along it, she came across some debris that had what looked to be an ID card among it, from what it read it appeared to belong to an Aid Worker named Marie Vinay. That name instantly struck a spark in Rachel's head, because back at base they had gotten reports of bandit activity and Aid Workers gone missing and Rachel remembered a Marie Vinay being mentioned among them. Finding this card means that she had gotten down here somehow and Rachel assumed it was bandits that were to blame and that the worst had happened to Marie.
As Rachel continued forward, she came across a surprising sight and a terrifying one considering where she was. In the center of this lake of blood was a large statue of the demon, Pazuzu. Rachel, kept her gaze lowered, unable to bare looking at the statue. Rachel jumped back in fright when suddenly in front of the statue, the blood started to churn and splash as something was moving underneath it. Whatever was under the blood appeared to move off and go down a dark passage and against her better judgement, Rachel followed it, wanting to know what it was.
Rachel grabbed out Nick's lighter from her pocket and flicked it on, giving her a small source of light as she entered the dark passage. However, the lighter's flame soon went out, leaving Rachel alone in the dark and the sound of splashing blood in front of her.
"Fuck's sake." Rachel cursed as she tried to turn the lighter back on.
Rachel's first try to reignite the lighter gave her light for a brief second but went out. The second attempt was no better, however, during that brief second of light, something jumped out of the blood in front of Rachel. Rachel screamed as the force of whatever jumped sent her reeling back, nearly falling into the blood. Rachel stood there in the dark, heavily breathing in terror at what just happened. She didn't get a good look at what had jumped out, but Rachel was certain that whatever it was, it didn't look human.
Rachel tried to turn the lighter back on and thankfully the flame stayed alight. She quickly looked up towards the ceiling of the dark passage to see if she could spot that creature, but the lighter didn't give Rachel enough light to see. So, Rachel carefully continued down the passage, which turned out to just be a loop as it led her back to the Pazuzu statue. Rachel gave a sigh of frustration as she now felt that going down that passage had just been her probably risking getting herself killed for no reason. Rachel noticed something next to the statue and moved forward to see that on a rock was a basket with a bit of archeological gear in it and what appeared to be another one of Randolph Hodgson's journal notes.
Rachel picked it up and saw that it was indeed one of Hodgson's notes and read it, hoping it could somehow help her get out of this literal bloodbath.
"13th December. Crow, Bradshaw, and I descended in the elevator. As we left, I was struck by the change in Bradshaw's temperament. She seemed eager, almost manic, in the face of our new discovery. When we reached the bottom, Crow could not prevent himself from letting loose an oath. There before us, set in a dizzying vault lay a city. It was loathsome, colossal, and sleeping, a great carcass built in some ancient age before man. Overcome with awe, I fell to my knees.
28th December. God, forgive us. For days we have studied this dead, silent realm and its entombed abominations. Now, the horrors have come for my own dear Mary. Crow found her unconscious in the Star Chamber, her notes scattered around her. He carried her back to our supply room and laid her down in one of the cells. When Bradshaw learned what had happened, she was evasive about Mary's work down there. As I cleaned my wife's face, she spoke to me in a fever, sounding distressed and confused. I have resolved to keep a vigil over her. I pray her fever abates so we can escape this cursed place."
Rachel set the paper down, wishing she hadn't read it. She wondered what this 'city' 'entombed abominations' and 'Star Chamber' that Hodgson wrote about were, doubting they had anything to do with the Sumerians and the temple. Rachel walked around the statue to see if there was anything else from Hodgson she could find. She didn't find anything of his, but what she did find was an ancient helmet with three long, vicious looking gashes that seemed to have been made by something with razor sharp claws on the back of it. Rachel had no idea what could have done this, but it terrified her even more to think about it.
She set the helmet down and continued to look for a way out, eventually coming to a space in the back wall of the chasm that seemed to lead into a narrow tunnel and hopefully a way out. Feeling a small sense of relief and hope, Rachel rushed for the opening, but screamed and covered her face with her arms when a large swarm of bats flew from out of it.
"The Hell!" Rachel exclaimed as the bats flew harmlessly past her.
Rachel told herself to get her shit together and peeked into the space to see if it was safe and it seemed to be. Rachel tried to turn her head light on, but it wouldn't come on. From a pile of corpses, Rachel grabbed a thigh bone and ripped off the her long-sleeve's remaining sleeve, the other one having been ripped off during her fall, wrapped it around the bone to make a torch and held it into a patch of fire. Thankfully the sleeve was dry enough to catch fire and once it was lit, Rachel crawled into the narrow tunnel, where the blood continued. As Rachel trudged along the tunnel, she passed more patches of fire and many more piles of bones.
Rachel couldn't help but wonder just how many people must have died down here; it had to be hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, something beyond count to create a lake of blood like this. With the discovery of that Aid Workers card and the highly decomposed, but still fresh bodies she was able to make out, whatever happened to these people down here still had to be going on. It had to be the bandits from the reports that did this. Rachel than thought back to the people in the village and wondered if they were part of this. They had guns, gas masks, and then there was that weird symbol they had hanging in the wall of that room where she first interrogated them and one of the shepherds saying she'd find out what it meant.
We're they the reason that Hodgson and his crew seemed to have not made it back to the outside world with their discovery of this temple, if they were then why did they do whatever they did to his expedition and what exactly were they, some sort of cult? Rachel couldn't think of a solid answer, but told herself to focus on surviving first and getting answers second. As Rachel rounded a corner, she saw what appeared to be a giant wheel and beyond it was an ominous, eerie green glow.
"What the Hell is that light?" Rachel wondered.
She walked up closer to the wheel, climbing on top of the dead bodies and looked through the spokes to see where the green light was emanating from, but couldn't see where and it didn't seem safe to explore beyond the wheel either. Rachel decided to continue following wherever this passage led and maybe she'd come across wherever this light originated from or better yet, she'd reunite with Eric, Nick, and Jason and they could safely investigate together. Rachel slid down the bodies and begrudgingly back into the river of blood and continued forward, but as she did, she noticed some more debris with a note on it. Rachel picked it up, hoping it was one of Hodgson's journal pages, it wasn't, but what was written on it was just as interesting. On one side of the paper was a drawing of some mouth with two long, protruding upper fangs in the very front of it, while on the other side was what appeared to be science notes.
It talked about how they collected this black saliva from cocoons and how just the very smell of the substance caused a heightened sense of fear and 'odd visual effects' reported by some and at the bottom, it was written that the sensation was similar to experiences with mushrooms and ended with the word 'Psilocybin!?' It also talked about someone named M being attacked.
"Well, this place just keeps getting better and better." Rachel sarcastically commented.
Rachel was confused to what the point of these notes were but thought it would be best if she brought them with her. Rachel already felt that something wasn't right with this place and if these notes could somehow give them some sort of advantage against what she didn't know, that it'd be smart to take them. Rachel thought back to the page from Hodgson's journal and thought that she should go back for it and bring it with her to, so began to double back for it. However, as Rachel started her way back down the passage, she heard a splash from far down it. Rachel had no idea what could have made that splash, trying to rationalize that it was just some rock that finally broken lose and fell from the tremors earlier and that she was jumping at nothing, but Rachel knew it wasn't, that it had to be whatever had jumped out of the blood earlier when she followed whatever it was.
She decided to cut her loses and resume following the passage in the direction she was before and that she'd just try to memorize what the journal had said. Rachel followed the passage, but as she did, she continuously heard the splashing of blood and it never seemed to get any distant, she was being followed. Eventually, the sound of splashing stopped only to be followed by another, more horrifying sound, a clinking sound. Rachel stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned her head, catching just on the edge of her vision a shadow being cast against the wall, a shadow in the shape of what could only be described as a monster. Unfortunately, the shadow wasn't the only thing Rachel had to worry about as the monster came forward revealing it's horrifying appearance, a creature with winged limbs, two lines of spikes protruding from it's back, and some sort of gills on it's head that moved whenever it made that clicking.
Rachel's mouth fell open in a silent scream as she saw the creature, it was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen in her life. Rachel hoped that the creature wouldn't notice her and go away, but unfortunately it did and screeched as it lunged for her with it's terrible claws. Rachel screamed and dove out of the way, tripping and falling into the blood and losing grip on her torch, which fell on a pile of bones and ignited into a patch of fire. Rachel resurfaced and ran for her life as the fire momentarily disorientated the creature. Rachel came to a large stone that she attempted to vault over but slipped as she tried to.
"Shit!" Rachel exclaimed.
From behind, the creature lunged at her, throwing her farther down the passage onto a large pile of bones. The creature loomed over her, placing it's massive, clawed hand on her chest, holding her down. The creature leaned it's terrible face close down to Rachel, where she could see terrible black saliva dripping from it's maw, which Rachel had read in the note. That's when Rachel realized that this creature, whatever it was, it had to be responsible in some why for what happened to Hodgson and his crew and if so, whatever it did to them, it was now going to do to her and whatever it was terrified her like nothing else did. Just when Rachel thought it was all over, a red light suddenly came from out of nowhere, rushing towards the creature and waving at it, saving her.
Rachel looked at the red light and saw that it was a flare and the person holding it was Clarice.
"Clarice!?" Rachel gasped, wondering how she got down her.
Clarice looked towards Rachel.
"Run! Now!" Clarice said.
Rachel didn't argue and ran further down the passage as Clarice held the creature off with the flare, slowly backing up. Clarice backed up until she got to a wooden pole, holding some rocks up. She pulled it out from under the rocks, which collapsed in front of her and Rachel, cutting the creature off from them and leaving the two women safe for now.
"Clarice, oh, oh my God." Rachel said, placing her hand against her pounding chest. "Clarice, what are you… when did you… how did you get down here?"
"Long boring story, I'll tell you later. For now, follow me, I got somewhere I've been holding out that's safer." Clarice said, taking the lead.
Rachel just nodded and followed Clarice, wanting to get as far away from that monster or demon or whatever it was as possible.
Meanwhile, back in the temple, Eric was still working on his autopsy of the creature. As he was, Salim watched, still wondering about Eric's wife that he mentioned earlier.
"Can I ask what her name was?" Salim asked.
"Whose name?" Eric said, pretending not to know who Salim was talking.
"You're wife. What was her name?" Salim asked.
"You don't get to talk about her." Eric said.
"Please, I don't mean anything by it. It's just… we are stuck here together." Salim said.
"You want to talk? All right! Why are you still fighting a war that you've already lost?" Eric questioned.
"You think I do this out of choice? That I want to be here? I fight so my son can go to university, so that he can have a better future." Salim said.
"We could all use some of that." Eric replied.
"My son, his name is Zain." Salim said.
Eric looked towards Salim.
"Her name was Rachel." he revealed.
Eric than resumed his autopsy of the creature, switching the recorder back on.
"The creature has powerful claws and fangs, formed from hardened, unidentifiable tissue. Two of the incisors appear grossly malformed and discolored. Oddly out of place. The membrane surrounding the specimen seems to originate from its mouth. Blood is like nothing I've seen." Eric observed before grabbing his UV light wand. "I will now perform a UV sweep to further inspect the fluids."
"Hey! Some advice. The demon does not react well to sunlight. I would be very careful with that light." Salim advised.
Eric looked towards Salim, confused by what he meant by the creature not reacting well to sunlight.
"I'm sure I'll manage." Eric replied.
"Oh boy." Salim said, knowing this wouldn't end well.
Eric turned on the UV light and swept it over the creature's body and almost instantly, it exploded into flames. Eric jumped back safely away from the flames and stared dumbly at them, not know how the creature's body having this reaction to UV light was possible. Salim stood up out of the chair to get further away from the flames.
"Don't move!" Eric demanded.
Eric suddenly heard something from behind him that sounded like walking and turned but saw nobody.
"Kolchek, is that you?" Eric asked.
No one responded back, confusing Eric and making him wonder if some kind of joke was being played on him. Eric wanted to investigate, but he had to put out the fire, which was starting to spread to some of the tent. He grabbed a fire extinguisher from under one of the archeologist's tables and sprayed it on the tent, saving it from burning down and then on the creature's body, putting out the flames. Eric gave a sigh of relief and then ran to see who it was he had heard behind him a moment ago. Eric spotted someone heading through the doors towards the perimeter, where he and Rachel had been shot at earlier and it wasn't Jason or Nick as he had thought.
Suspicious of who this person was, Eric decided to check it out, but before he did, he had to check in on Salim. However, when he did, Salim was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn you!" Eric cursed, rushing out of the tent, looking for Salim had run, but couldn't find him. "Shit!"
Eric rushed to investigate who the person he saw exiting the temple was, planning to look for Salim afterward with Jason and Nick's help. Meanwhile, Jason and Nick were investigating the area where Eric and Rachel were shot at earlier. They came upon a crane that jutted out over the chasm and it had wires on it.
"Looks like a line out." Jason observed.
"Maybe we can get the radio working and send a signal out. It's worth a shot." Nick suggested optimistically.
"A long shot. We don't even know if there's a working transmitter on the surface. Those wires got to go somewhere though." Jason said. "You think they still work?"
"Looks to me like they're just snagged up." Nick observed, the wires leading up to somewhere.
"Just as well. Don't feel much like climbing out there to…" Jason began to say before he was suddenly tackled from behind.
Jason and what tackled him went dangerously rolling out onto the crane. Jason looked up at what had attacked him and was shocked to see that it was Joey, yet at the same time, it wasn't Joey. Joey's skin had gone from fair to an unnatural pale grey and his eyes were milky white, but worst and most terrifying of all, Joey had what appeared to be two horns sticking out of his forehead and his two front teeth were sharp elongated fangs. Joey hissed and attacked Jason like a wild rabid animal.
"What the fuck, Joey!" Jason yelled as he held the savage marine back.
Joey's attacks sent him and Jason dangerously rolling across the crane. Back on the safety of solid ground, Nick raised his rifle, knowing if he didn't do something, Joey was going to send both himself and Jason falling to the chasm. However, Nick hesitated, worried he might accidently hit Jason if he fired.
"Shit, Joey! It's me." Jason tried to reason.
"Joey?" Eric exclaimed as he just came from out of the temple.
Eric looked and saw Jason and Joey on the crane and Joey attacking Jason, putting them both in danger. Eric rushed for the crane, knowing he had to stop Joey before he got himself and Jason killed. Jason was struggling to hold Joey back at this point and he had to do something before Joey killed him in whatever madness he was in or sent them both falling to their deaths. Jason grabbed the iron tent peg he grabbed earlier and stabbed Joey in the side and arm with it, which caused Joey to get off him. Jason kept the peg raised to defend himself if Joey continued to try and attack him, which he did and Jason had the opportunity to stab Joey in the chest, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, not wanting to hurt Joey further if there was something they could do to help him.
Joey knocked the peg out of Jason's hand into the chasm. Jason tried to crawl back to safety, reaching for Nick's outstretched hand, but Joey jumped onto his back, pulling him away from Nick.
"Shit! Take his fucking head off!" Jason shouted desperately as he and Joey were now hanging halfway over the crane, about to fall into the dark, seemingly bottomless chasm below.
"I can't get a shot!" Nick shouted.
Jason grabbed onto Joey and rolled, trying to give Nick a clear opening to shoot. Joey punched Jason in the face and Nick took the shot, shooting Joey multiple times before he could strike again. Nick quickly pulled Jason to safety as Joey backed up.
"Stand down, Corporal Gomez!" Eric demanded as he made it to Jason and Nick's sides.
"That thing is not Joey!" Jason shouted, realizing this thing, whatever it was, was not Joey, not anymore.
Joey or whatever it was that was possessing his body, looked at the three and hissed.
"Oh my God." Eric gasped as he saw what Joey looked like.
The creature rushed at them and without thinking, Eric took out his UV wand and shone it at Joey. Instantly, the young marine's body, like the creature's he examined earlier burst into flames. Joey flailed around before he fell off the crane and into the chasm, the light of the fire slowly being swallowed up by the darkness. Eric, Jason, and Nick stood there, completely shaken up by what just happened and wondered why Joey or whatever that was that looked like him attacked them like that. Their thoughts were soon interrupted as the sound of what sounded like hundreds of the creatures screeching from the darkness of the chasm below.
The three looked at each other, knowing that this wasn't a good sign. They had to find a way to contact help or if they couldn't, get ready to fight for their lives because very soon, all Hell was going to break loose.