Location: Vondel, Netherlands
Date: October 17, 2023
Ethan's "vacation" to the quaint city of Vondel was anything but swell. He and his group of friends were all huddled up together inside of a cell at the central police station. The group had all been hearing rumors buzzing about some things that there had been strange occurrences happening within the closed off city. Ever since the apparent gas attacks there was word of a small war happening within the fenced off walls, and for these self-proclaimed free journalists, Ethan and his friends all felt like they were called to figure it out.
And after a few…questionably legal entrances into areas that the government had closed off from people seeing; it had earned them a one way trip to the slammer.
"Well shit…" Ethan sighed and rubbed his hands across his face, looking around he saw the soldiers present were all of the apparent peacekeeper unit the news had mentioned were aiding the control of the city. This was just a lie-or so. Jake, the group's communication expert, was able to find out [some descriptor for secretive information] while they delved deeper into the conflict. In truth these so-called Peacekeepers were more just members of some mercenary group who were contracted for something they were not sure of. The third member of the group, Anika being a Danish native, she was the translator for this investigation, in fact she was more than eager to enter the locked away city over the group's other plan. "Makes you wish we would have looked over at Al-Mazrah for the rumored fights there huh guys?"
"Vondel was still the better choice, Ethan." Anika objected, her accent thick in her voice. The woman let out a small huff as she slumped back in her seat; "It was closer and better weather…did not think we would have been caught so fast, though."
"Well being locked in a cell won't pay the bills." Jake groaned as he got up, the man paced back and forth, looking for any sort of weakness in the cell for them to escape. "They have all the footage we took…we gotta get it back and get the hell out."
"Do you still care about that footage?" Ethan looked over at Jake with a shocked and confused expression. "It's all useless anyway! Just shots of empty streets and shit–no one is gonna care about that."
"Besides, we don't need the gear anyway.."Anika spoke up, moving her sweater down barely revealing that she had her phone still tucked away. A smug grin grew on her face seeing her friend's reaction to it as she hid the phone once again. "The benefit of being a woman is having all these spots to hide something."
"Anika you're a life sav–" Jake's praises were cut short as two soldiers walked over to the cell, using the butt of their rifle against the metal bars to get the trio's attention.
"Get up!" one of the soldiers said in his rough english as he opened the cell. The second soldier had his rifle at the ready in case one of them had done anything. Reluctantly they all moved out the cell, following the soldier who had ordered them. Walking out from where they were imprisoned, they had noted the sun was beginning to set as the moon was beginning to come into view.
"How long were we locked up?" Ethan whispered to the two who gave a shrug and mouthed out 'I don't know'. The soldier led them to enter one of the armored trucks that had caught the trio earlier in the day. Ethan looked around, feeling an odd sensation. While not the first time the group had all been caught in some legal hot water, this one was far worse. For all they knew this was the last one that they could finally be stuck in a jail cell until the end of time. Looking over at Jake and Anika, the man motioned for the woman to get her phone ready to record. If it was their last showing, they had to make it their best.
The drive was silent among the three and the soldiers all inside of the vehicle, the drive led them down the road and towards the old Vondel Castle, built all the way back in the 13th century, it had withstood the test of time and had become one of the main tourist attractions in the area. All lined across the castle were banners with a red knife pointing downwards with a red outline of a shield along its black background. The car came to a halt near the rear of the castle, towards one of the rear entrances. There people were all waiting, not dressed in soldier attire however. They all dawned thick maroon robes with hoods, lining the robes were sets of yellow sewn patterns and other pieces of jewelry. The soldiers opened the side door and forcibly yanked the trio out of the car and escorted them towards the group of hooded people. One of the members walked over to meet them halfway, and the person began to examine each one of them. There was a moment of silence before the man spoke; "State the reason you wish to trespass on sacred grounds?"
His words sliced the air around them, it had an eerily calm tone to it, but had the same amount of authority and threat as the soldiers had themselves with their weapons. The three stayed silent for another moment before Ethan came up to speak. "My name is Ethan Smith. And well." he took a deep breath in, hoping that Anika was indeed recording all of the strange encounters they could have had, it was with a damn cult. "We…We are just journalists, sir."
"Journalists you say?" the hooded man repeated, his head slightly cocked to the side as they could see by the hood's motion. The man let out a scoff; "And for what do you wish to know? By the tone of your voice I know you are not from around her, Mister Smith."
"You are absolutely right, sir." Jake spoke up in an overly formal tone, an idea popped in his mind. This was the once in a lifetime chance where he could make his big break, uncover that a cult were the ones who caused all this catastrophe in Vondel. Finally get his name and save people in the process, all he had to do was play along and weasel him and his friends from this situation. "We have a very popular news series and as you said, this is some sacred land…perhaps if we can let the people know what is so sacred about them, you can be left alone to your own practices."
The hooded man was silent for a moment as he thought of the words that Jake had told him. The trio looked at one another with some concern in their looks, praying that the lie would be more than enough to make it out alive. Finally the hooded man motioned with his right hand and the soldier backed away from the three as other members of the cult approached. The hooded leader removed his hood to reveal an old man with thinning hair, and a white beard. "We would be honored to have you join us tonight. As our Lord shall arrive tonight once the moon hangs over the castle."
"Wonderful.." Anika uttered out of her mouth, keeping her phone still tucked away, they were given back the bag carrying all of their recording gear.
"Please, follow Sister Johanna so you may set up for tonight." The leader motioned to one of the hooded individuals. Jake, Ethan and Anika reluctantly followed, grabbing their gear and moving into the castle.
Inside of the castle it was all dimly lit, only the outside light and a trail of wax candles shines to lead a red carpeted path towards the bottom chamber. The trio looked around at the castle, it had been in modest conditions but with the current lighting conditions was nonetheless unsettling, even without taking the crazy cult into account. Anika tugged at Jake's sleeve and leaned in to sharply whisper to him. "The fuck was that? You know how stupid that was? We could have been killed!"
"You mistake our intentions here, travelers." Sister Johanna spoke up as she entered the circular brick staircase to the lower level of the castle. "We do not harm those who would be interested in learning more about our Lord."
"Yeah? So why did all this in Vondel have to happen? The bombing or gas attack?" Ethan questioned, the sister let out a small scoff at the comment.
"Such lies. The residents here in Vondel were more than aware of us here. Had they remembered our traditions then they would have prepared for what is to come."
"Prepared? Wait, you're saying you didn't cause any of this?" Ethan pressed further.
"De Volglers do not commit acts of terrorism." Johanna said sharply. "This was foretold, when the people of Vondel would stray too far from his teachings, that he would unleash a powerful blast and rise when the blood moon hung high above the castle."
"Right…" Jake answered, not believing a single word the woman in front of them preached on. 'These cults make anything up.' he thought to himself. Reaching the bottom levels of the castle was a small entry hole that led to the water that filled the moat around the castle. The room was lit up with a set of candles all around, giving an orange hue in the room. On the floor was drawn a series of alchemy looking symbols with different designs such as the skull of a bird facing forward. Sister Johanna motioned over to the corner of the room.
"Set up those cameras there, make sure they do not block anything on the floor." Johanna moved to the other side of the room as she began to light a few more candles in the area. Anika, Ethan and Jake looked at one another with some questioning glances of what they had found themselves in, but began to set up the cameras anyway. For all they knew this was going to be nothing more than just incoherent ramblings from some old nutjob. After a few moments the trio had all their cameras ready as more and more of the hooded members walked into the room. All adorning golden masks, almost like ones seen in old theater productions.
"Looks like the old highschool theater room right now." Ethan whispered over to Anika who stifled her laugh as the cult members all gathered on the opposite end of the circle. Finally the leader of the group-the same one who had given the three permission- entered, his attire was now adorned with two large stones on the shoulders and his golden mask was more defined with features to represent the face of a man with a beard. Upon the leader entering the room everyone stood frozen in place before they chanted: "Rost være kaos!"
"Translation?" Jake leaned over to Anika as he hit record on his personal camera.
"They said 'praise be to chaos'."
"Ah…" Ethan muttered in response. The main leader reached an open space before facing his followers.
"Brothers and Sisters. Tonight is the moment we have been waiting for a long time now. Our Lord has let us know of his arrival a few weeks ago, when he had an explosion set off in the town square of Vondel.I know there have been questions and doubts even of his existence amongst some of you–I shall admit even I had some when I first joined De Volgers. But…But now we shall see him before us in the flesh as he takes us to the new future."
As the leader continued to speak, an object was brought before him–it was no larger than a hand mirror lined with a silver and nickel pattern, in the hand of another was a small object. The Cult Leader was presented with both of these as he held each in one hand. Outside, the Moon began to turn red–the Blood Moon was in place.
"It is time for our Lord's arrival! Prepare the offering!" the leader pointed at the trio, more specifically at Ethan. In a blink of an eye, they found the cult members surrounding them, all going after the man.
"Hey! Back the fuck off!" Ethan threw a few weak punches in vain, as did Annika and Jake, but in the end was a vain attempt as the numbers were overwhelming and the cult forcefully dragged Ethan towards the center of the circle. The Cult Leader raised the artifact in his hand and put the two pieces together as a blinding light flashed the room.
"Come forth–Faderen!" the leader's words echoed. The light ended, Annika and Jake looked one to see the circle's designs glowing and orange and black light as orbs floated all around the room and moved out towards the exterior of the castle and up the chamber. The orbs ignored all the cult members and even the two of them–almost as if there was something protecting them. The same could not be said about the soldiers above as there were sounds of blood curdling screams echoing the halls, followed by an eerie silence.
"What the fuck just happened–" Jake asked before Ethan collapsed on the ground, letting out a sharp grunt in pain.
"Hrrgh…Oh….god.." Ethan moaned out, before anyone could ask, his right arm shot perpendicular to the ceiling, the pop sound echoed from his arm as he screamed in pain. His left arm repeated the same pop as he shot outwards as well. His body began to contort in unnatural ways, his legs let out a loud, bone crunching snap as they positioned to bend in the opposite direction. "Aghhhhhhhh! Maaaakkke iiit" Ethan could not finish the sentence as his back bursted, the scapulae and trapezius exploded out as they continued to expand, the bones breaking as they extended further out, the muscles stretching out further than they were as they formed what appeared to be a set of wings.
Anika was left in shock, seeing her friend's screams and began to shake as his bones and flesh were reforming in new shapes and formed, his fingertips were slashed through to reveal large bear-like claws pierce out and bone's now too large exposed from the muscle. Jake meanwhile, while also horrified, looked on with some awe, as did the cult members who were kneeling down and muttering in prayer.
Ethan continued to try and scream out, however by now his words were illegible, now only coming out as grunts and growls, falling back down on the ground, Ethan let out a piercing howl as his lower jaw expanded forward, his teeth turning razor sharp as they snagged any of his lip and ripped it off. Finally his eyes turned a crimson red glow.
"Ethan…?" Anika questioned the creature as it took deep pants and looked around the room. The creature let out another loud howl into the night as the sky began to turn red.
"Praise our Lord, Faderen has returned to our world." The Cult leader dropped to his knees and moved towards the monster. "Oh great Faderen, teach us…teach us how we may ser–"
The Cult Leader's words were stopped as Faderen swiped its sickle claws at him, leaving deep slashes along the man's chest and dislocated his jaw. The old man could only let out gargles of blood, raising his hand up before another powerful slash killed him.
"What is happening?!" one of the cult members asked, getting Faderen's attention to them. The monster's crimson eyes glowed brightly as it leapt over to the group.
"You were supposed to be our salvation!" Johanna's voice screamed before she was silenced by the creature's maws. Biting down there was a loud crunch, Johanna's body falling limp and the half not in the creature's mouth dropping down on the ground.
"We need to go–NOW!" Anika tugged on Jake's shirt as Federen attacked the cult members. Jake stood motionless, locking his fight or flight instincts. Anika tugged him towards the stairway. Coming back from his trance for a moment, Jake looked over to the camera, it was still recording.
"The camera…we need the camera!"
"Forget the fucking camera, we need to leave!" Anika yelled over the dying cult's blood curdling screams and Federen's growls and roars. Jake tugged his hand away from Anika and made a run for his camera. Anika paced back and forth for a moment, not wanting to leave Jake behind.
"Alright, I got it, let's go!" he yelled. The two sprinted up the stairs. Federen paused for a moment, the cultists all laid mutilated and lining the floor with their blood and gore. The creature stood up on his hind legs and sniffed the air, its mouth curled into a snarl. Federen stepped out into the water entrance and began to flap its massive wings before it took flight in the night sky.
"That was fucking stupid!" Anika scolded Jake as they paused for a moment to catch their breath. "Risk your life for a camera?!"
"That's our damn job, Anika!" Jake snapped back as he examined it, still had more than half battery life left and was still recording. "People gotta know about all this. The Cult…this-this fucking monster.."
"What about Ethan, asshole!" Anika barked. "Look at what happened–how the hell are we going to tell his family? And all you care about right now is some fucking online celebrity credit and to act like a hero?"
The two's arguments were cut short by the sound of something crashing up the flight of stairs and the lights going off and leaving them in darkness. Jake jolted the camera in that direction, switching it to night vision to see in front of them. "Stick close…" he muttered under his breath as he took careful steps forward. They had not forgotten the screams echoing earlier and kept it slow. There may be another monster like Federen close. Jake took small steps as he stared at the camera screen. Ahead of him appeared to be someone standing idly, dressed in military attire; it had to be one of the PMC soldiers.
"It's one of the soldiers," Jake whispered to Anika. He moved carefully towards him, wanting to take his weapon if possible. The closer he got, the more Jake was able to hear the raspy breaths the man took. Jake raised his free hand and took a swift swipe at the soldier's neck to try and knock him out. All he was met with was a stiff jerk of their neck as they continued to stand in place. "What the…"
Jake was cut short by the soft groaning as the soldier turned around, revealing his eyes to glow a bright yellow, his face covered with patches of burned off skin and a more feral look. "Oh shit!" he jumped back as the soldier suddenly sprang back from his catatonic state and lunged over at the two. Anika took the charge and ran in the opposite direction, only to stop seeing more pmc soldiers who had the similar fate.
"(My God!)" she screamed in her native tongue, Jake tugged her out the room and towards they way they entered the castle. The undead let out a guttural roar as they began making way towards them. As they moved Anika was still attempting to process everything they had seen. It was something out of another word, none of it made sense. "Zombies…monsters?! What the hell did we enter?"
"Let's just focus on getting out of here, Annie!" Jake quickly answered, reaching the outside, the vehicle that had brought them here was still parked and by the front lights being on still was on. Jake opened the passenger door for Anika as he quickly ran around to get into the driver seat. He took a moment to set the camera inside of the car. Anika slammed the car door as the undead made their way out of the castle and rushed towards them.
"Cmon, cmon. Move it!" Anika motioned as the zombies already brushed their bodies along the left side of the armored truck. Jake took that as his cue to hop in, slam the door and step on the gas. The wheels skirted on the dirt road as they zoomed out, taking some of the undead along with them as they clung to the sides of the car–they were soon met with a tree trunk the car passed by. "Okay…now what do we do?"
"We head towards the market." Jake answered as he focused on driving. "You still have the key to the safehouse we have set up there?"
"Y-yeah, yeah." Anika nodded her head and rummaged through her inside pocket to reveal it. Jake gave a silent nod as he continued to move down the road. The entire Vondel area had been changed, undead roamed all around as they leapt to the city skylight, the few people who had still been trapped were now being overrun. The local waterfronts had been turned to crimson red. Anika steadied her breath as they reached the market and moved out of the car, almost done now. However before the two could get out of the car there was the thunderous sound that echoed in the sky, Jake and Anika stayed quiet as the sound continued…it sounded like the whooshing of a helicopter blade when it pierced the sky at a much slower pace.
Anika covered her mouth, trying to keep her scream from release and giving them away. A low snarl sent a cold shiver down her spine–it was Federen. The monster that had once been their friend roamed near, its monstrous footsteps shook the ground as it looked around the market, the tent booths set up around gave them some cover. Jake motioned for Anika to stop, he did a double take at her.
"Where's the camera?" he whispered as low as he could muster where he was more mouthing his words. Anika looked at him for his question. Why would a camera matter now of all times? She gave a jolt in the direction back at the car followed by mouthing out 'leave it'
Jake scoffed as he moved back in the direction of the car, despite Anika's silent protest for him not to. Federen's footsteps sounded closer, as did the creature sniffing–it had to know they were close. Not to mention the good chance of the undead arriving at the market as well. Jake however was determined as he reached the car door and carefully leaned in for the camera. He could feel his fingers touch against it before Federen swooped in and snatched Jake.
"JAKE!" Anika screamed as she only heard her friends screams for help as he was flown higher and higher in the sky. The only thing she could make out were their silhouettes as Federen's maw moved down on Jake and snapped shut. Anika moved back a few paces before rushing towards the safehouse. Anika's movements were sporadic as she juggled with the key, the sound of the monster's wings flapping at her growing closer and closer. She twisted the lock and rushed to open and shut the door. Anika had no time to rest as the monster bashed at the door.
"No…no!" she wept and collapsed down at the ground, praying for the banging to stop. Praying for this nightmare to end. "Ethan, stop! Please just sto-o-op!"
The monster continued to bash at the door, the hinges coming loose. Anika mustered what little strength she had to get up and move to an emergency kit they had always carried, inside there was her only form of a weapon: a flare gun. The Danish woman set her phone down inside of the safe house and loaded in a single shot in time for the door to snap open and for Federen to enter–he had patches of dark gray fur growing all around him, appearing more wolf like then before, its crimson red eyes staring down Anika as she aimed the flare gun at it.
Without another word, she fired, sending the creature in a panic, howling in pain as it stepped away, flapping its wings to get away from the fire. Anika hurried to load in another flare and rushed outside. The undead had reached her, moving towards the safehouse, the monster hovered just above as it swiped the flames from its face. Anika looked around in her helpless situation to see something in the sky–it was a plane.
Not just any plane, it was the military!
Anika gave a weak smile as the zombies closed in. There was little chance she'd make it, but at least they would be able to stop the madness. Just maybe…
She raised the flare gun up in the air and fired as the plane flew overhead…