“Bruh, I think we’re lost.” Lcpl Lee remarked idly as the platoon moved through the seemingly endless swamps, the column left formation had collapsed into a ragged ass ranger file as discipline had long since been battered down by the ceaseless rain, which had soaked through the goretex they were wearing, and everything underneath for that matter.
“No shit smartass.” Cpl Wicker half muttered as he put the useless GPS back into his pocket. Like everyone else, he hand ran out of fucks to give a long time ago, just focusing on each and every step he takes, whether those steps are going anywhere they should be being a whole other matter entirely.
It was supposed to be a simple patrol around the perimeter, instituted by the COC after one too many enemy ambushes in recent weeks. During which random ass fireballs and creepy ass creatures ran rampant and made quite a bit of mess, especially to certain sections who were slow on the uptake on encampment site hygiene and noise & light discipline.
Simple, of course, because on paper everyone has gone through basic infantry refresher courses during the pre deployment work up. And as always the truth of the matter is that most of that was half assed, including the daytime land nav.
Something that's certainly biting them in the ass right about now.
"Think this will work?" Lcpl Deeds fished out the lensatic compass out of his cargo pocket. Snorts of derision greeted him as he fiddled with the device.
"Bro you dont even know how to read that thing even when it works." Cpl Taylor joked, though there's little humor in his voice. More of just a general weariness, at the weather, at their mission, at everything.
"Yeah, yeah, well I dont see anyone coming up with a better idea- whoa what they fuck?" Deeds suddenly waved the compass to everyone else: the dial on the compass was spinning madly, against all reason, logic, or the laws of physics for that matter.
"Maybe don't wave that shit around like a retard and hold it like you've been taught." Sgt Qualls snapped, not in the mood for horseplay or any of that nonsense. Not after hours trudging in the swampy and muddy terrain and getting drenched on.
Deeds promptly stopped his hand motions and held the compass leveled to his chest, fiddling it a bit to get the parts where they’re supposed to be like in the refresher course… and the dial continued to spin merrily away.
Qualls quickly snatched the compass in frustration from Deed’s hands, and after squinting at the still haywiring device for a while, handed it right back to Deeds.
“What the fuck?” The sergeant muttered, the previous annoyance all but disappeared, racking his mind for some explanation for the nonsense he’s witnessing from the equipment, and quickly drawing a blank.
The previous shared frustration of the group was quickly replaced with shared concern as the platoon scanned the ground around them more closely. Realization having set in even through the exhaustion and annoyance of the patrol.
And scanned around they did, at the moss covered ground, the puddles of stagnant water, the beaten down brush, the sickly trees, and the fog and darkness beyond. A new wave of emotions washed over them, that of a low burning fear. The fear of the known unknowns, and the unknown unknowns that lie after. Concerns and comfort based decisions abound as the weariness always tugged them at the back of their minds.
“Hey, what’s that?” Lee asked, pointing his rifle at a glint in the moss. He gingerly moved forward, holding his rifle at the ready. A couple of others in the platoon followed suit, with the rest rearranging themselves to give perimeter security. As he slowly closed the distance he poked it with the barrel of his rifle…
… revealing a battered metal helmet of a late medieval style, parts of it still shone despite the clear aging from the elements. Perhaps by coincidence, fate, the surge of suddenly paying attention to their surroundings, or whatever the fuckery in the air, suddenly they saw them: other peaks of gleans and shone, dazzling all around them.
“How many of them things are out there?” Taylor asked rhetorically, sweeping his rifle around with a newfound sense of urgency.
“Guess that explains the fucked up compass.” Qualls muttered as he squatted down to pick up what appeared to be another piece of armor. It was a gauntlet… with bits and pieces of bone and rotted flesh still entombed within. “Somehow this part wasn’t in the videogames.” he remarked flatly, hiding his disturbance behind the usual banter.
“What now?” Lee asked, all the while sliding a little medallion he just found into his left cargo pocket. The question hung in the air.
“Report back and see what COC has in store for us, and maybe get instructions on how to get the fuck out of here.” Qualls remarked as he pulled out his radio, one that’s bummed from the EOD guys as they seemed to have the only ones that were good to go right out of the box. The story of how those jealousy guarded gear got divvied out was an epic quest of its own, but that’s another story…
… and none of that mattered, as he turned on the radio, only to be met with static. Not even the generic voice of “Zone 1, Channel 1” and the beep that signaled that greeted them whenever it was turned on. He turned all the knobs and pushed all the buttons, flipped through all the 48 channels across the 3 zones.
Nothing, nothing but the static of nonsense greeted them, of a wrongness they could feel even without some smartass telling them so. And the world around them became even more foreboding.
"What now?" Deeds asked, with something more than a hint of concern in his voice. While it would be rather unbecoming to show any signs of fear, that doesn't mean that said primal fear is absent.
"That… is a good question." Qualls said slowly as he continued scanned their surroundings, trying to think of what to do. The current situation simply wasn't something that their refresher training had covered, never mind their regular POG ass lives. "We should probably retrace our steps-"
"Look! Over there!" Lee suddenly shouted, pointing at something off in the distance. The others quickly turned towards the direction he pointed at, and after a few moments in the fading light and the continuous rain they saw it: an opening in a somewhat nearby rock formation, the mouth of a cavern…
"A fucking good place as any." Qualls muttered, as he gave the hand and arms signal for everyone to form up. "Let's get the fuck out of this rain for for the moment get figure something the fuck out…"
……
Things got better once the platoon made their way into the cave, so far as their comfort was concerned as their subconscious comfort based decision had gotten them pretty much the short term results they desired. However, the fundamental problems of their situation remained, as all their equipment continued to stubbornly refuse to work, or even making sense of their non operability.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Well, fuck.” Qualls muttered as he put the useless radio back into its pouch, having never gotten it to anything approaching working. The rest of the platoon had also by this point given up on their respective equipment, and were instead looking around their temporary shelter…
… and by the light of their glow sticks and flashlights, they found or rather, all but stumbled upon a lot more things. Ancient weapons, armor, other bits and pieces that were something once upon a time. Quite a bit of that stuff was even still attached to what remained of their previous hapless owners and wearers.
At that moment, the stench hit them, finally permeating through the marines’ own unwashed stench picked up from their weeks under field conditions. A few gagged, and Lee even threw up a bit.
“I got a bad-” Deeds began, before Qualls cut him off.
“Don’t. Even. Fucking. Start. We don't need that kind of bad juju right now.” He snapped, perhaps a bit too quickly, while aiming his rifle towards the further depths of the cavern, the pitiful beam of his head mounted light all but swallowed up by the darkness beyond. He gestured everyone to shut up, which the platoon quickly obeyed.
For in the vast darkness beyond, came sounds. Sounds of an unholy nature, of which even the faint echoes of already sent chills down the spines of everyone present, and it’s not the shrivers from the rain and cold either.
They were far from alone. Yet the knowledge shouldn’t have stuck such a fear. So far there was nothing in this world that could not be persuaded to stop through a generous application of high explosive firepower… much of which currently not within reach of the platoon.
But that was far from their minds, for all youth believe themselves to be immortal, especially those who carry guns with them. Yet the instinctive shiver from the unknown managed to pierced through all that.
It was that fear that led them to point their guns at the endless dark depths beyond, and even before they saw it fire and lead pour through the muzzles. For a brief moment the cavern was filled with the deafening sounds of a different horror, and it was fortuitous that the marines all had their ear pros, though it was of little use even for that.
A brief deafening silence descended, soon brought to an end by yet another unfathomably foul stench making its way to the troops, triggering another round of gagging and attempts to not regurgitate what’s left in their guts.
“Maybe we should-” Lee quipped before he was cut off by a rumble, the platoon turned around just in time to see the entrance of the cavern collapse, cutting off their exit.
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Deeds spat out, and he was far from alone in that, as a storm of foul language spewed froth from the humans, almost masking the other creatures from the dark depths.
Almost, but just in time for the guns to turn back and spew another deafening round of firing, cutting down the creatures, whatever they happened to be.
After that round of killing, not even silence greeted them, but the scuttling sounds from the depth, coming their way, a timer on their lives.
“Fucken shit, guess we go all in.” Qualls sighed as he gestured to the platoon to follow him. They quickly formed up again, dreading what’s to come, yet knowing that it’s the only way.
……
It was the only way. Death in various horrific ways, that is. A thing so common that it’s nothing worth noting when it happens.
And as expected there was plenty of death, of the horrifying creatures, and as the moments passed by, of the humans from that other world known as America. Skills, training, killing instinct. All were important, but so were numbers, and numbers were not on the side of the marines. 180 rounds in 6 mags only goes so far, and after that the M16 is just an inferior club… and those creatures have things far more suited for melee combat.
A much bloodied and disheveled Lee stumbled out of what seemed to have been the endless rough darkness, into a massive chamber bathed in a blood red hue. He turned around, stared at the pitch darkness he had just exited for an eternal moment before realizing that he was alone.
Qualls, Deeds, Tayler, Wicker, all the others. They’re all gone, dead- He swatted the thought out of his mind, refusing to even accept the possibility that they’re truly gone for good. It’s all just a scenario like the FEX, all notional. They’re all just chilling back at the COC, and he’ll be back with them after the lights come back on.
Make believe. All part of the show. It has to be. It cannot be otherwise.
A piercing screech snapped him out of his impromptu pity party, and as he snapped back he saw it: the massive foreboding bulk, the forest of spikes, the two glowing red eyes all but emanating hatred and malevolence.
Lee racked his mind, trying to remember what he had consumed that would lead to his current state of hallucination. There’s just no other explanation. Cool shit only happens to the other guys, not their worthless POG asses.
“So you are the hero they sent?” The creature spoke, the words crackled with electricity and other less mentionable but equally unsettling sounds.
“Whoa- what?” Lee muttered as he lifted his rifle, only to realize that he wasn’t actually holding his M16A4. Instead, in his hand was a sword. Somehow during the fighting through the cavern he had lost his rifle and picked up something else instead.
There will be hell to pay once he gets back to the armory, when he gets back. He has to.
“But enough of the idle talk, your end is here and now.” The creature continued as it lunged towards the lone human. Lee slashed at the space in front of him wildly, forgetting all of his MCMAP training that would have been irrelevant and useless anyways.
To his surprise, the beast twitched back, shrieking like the damned as trails of smoke rose from fresh cuts on its limbs. Lee looked down, finally noticing a faint glow throughout his body and the sword, the origins of which seemed to be from the medallion he had pocketed earlier, all those hours ago… was it really such a short time ago?
He had little time to dwell on the matter, as the creature quickly recovered and lunged at him again. In the fraction of a second he also made his choice, and charged forth with the sword.
The blade struck deep in the creature, unleashing steam, smoke, and another series of unholy shrieks. Simultaneously he felt a stab of pain. Looking down he saw that one of the numerous spikes of the creature had slammed right into his gut, piercing the front sapi plate like a sheet of 1 ply toilet paper. There was also a lot of blood oozing out.
It was also at that point where his adrenaline could no longer paper over, and his senses started fizzling out. What’s left of his gut instincts told him that it’s time, that his time has come. None of the rationalization from his mind could convince him otherwise.
With the last of the strength that he could muster he twisted the blade deeper, as he felt a sudden lightness as the lower half of his body was detached. As the red fades to black he wondered if it was all worth it…
… that if anyone would even know.
------
The unexplainable disappearance of even a single platoon of marines carried significant repercussions for the MLG and beyond, mainly in the number of important people being relieved of their posts, either to be shuffled around or retired early. Memorials were erected, flowers were placed, social media posts of both grief and anguish.
And all was back to normal a few weeks later, much like the ripples across a pond. The questions remained unanswered…
------
Even before he opened his eyes Lee felt something was off. His last coherent memories were that of dying, from some physical trauma was the only part he was reasonably sure of, the rest of it being more of a fervor dream.
If even that. He really wasn’t sure of anything past the part where the platoon entered into the cavern.
After a long moment of nothingness, and hearing a sea of unfamiliar noises nearby, he finally decided to open his eyes. What he saw was not the generic room of the navy hospital, or the first aid station of the COC, or really anything human related for that matter.
It’s a massive cavern, the floor of which is filled with scuttling hordes of uglyass creatures. Gradually he also began to understand the noises they’re making, the words that form into sentences:
“All heil the new maou!”
He looked around, seeing no one else who would fit the bill, before looking down at his body. It certainly wasn’t the scrawny little twig that he was used to.
“Who, me?” He asked, to no one in particular, before realizing that the answer is yes.
Him.