Chapter 4
Black Site Entrance
I’d rather not talk about how much roadkill I’ve made up to this point.
I mentally sob as I see that the front of my car now has the entire color spectrum’s worth of blood on it. It looks like I hit a unicorn…
Actually, I’m pretty sure that was a unicorn.
Luckily, things are quieter as I drive off the gravel path and up to the entrance.
After slamming the car into park, my hand reaches for the door handle but freezes just before opening it.
Prim’s words ring in my head as I slowly retract my hand and look toward the glove compartment.
Prim has taken me to the shooting range only once, and that was only because I lost a bet to her. But the risk of not having a gun in this situation outweighs the risk of me having next to no experience, right?
“Pull yourself together, Monarch,” I say to myself after releasing a long and heavy sigh.
My hand trembles as I reach for the glove compartment.
Inside is a black box just barely hanging on for its life. I carefully remove the box and open it, revealing a pistol and a fully loaded mag next to it. A note on the gun reads in Prim’s handwriting: “Always count your shots!”
I ensure the pistol is clear, insert the mag, and chamber the round.
… I should probably keep the safety on until I actually need to shoot. Hopefully, it won’t come to that…
Finally exiting the car, I practice trigger discipline as I make my way towards the entrance to the hill, only to slow down when I notice something off…
…The doors are wide open.
That should… never happen at a black site, right?
My breath becomes shaky as my grip on the pistol tightens.
I begin to weigh my options on whether to enter the site or not.
1. Prim DID ask me to come here, and she is the one person I REALLY want to be with in this situation…
2. I don’t want to think about the amount of gas I burned getting here. Who knows how far my car will actually go? Plus, that would mean leaving Prim…
3. The alternative is running around the woods with 12 bullets with god knows what’s lurking. I don’t know if twelve shots will be enough to take down an angry wyvern, and I don’t plan on being the one to find out.
I take out my phone.
37% battery left.
I head to recent and call Prim. No answer.
Sigh
Steadying my breathing, I look at the flickering lights in the titanium-plated hallway.
…
…
…
A few pieces of aimless paper drift by me as the gentle yet chilling breeze blows in from the hallways, causing my eyes to dart at any movement to perceive if it’s a threat. A soft low rumbling can be heard as the air and water systems are still operating. The sound of short, jagged breaths and slow steps echo back at me as I press deeper into the place. The fire alarm system occasionally strobes light flashes, briefly illuminating some office areas.
The computers at the cubicles are still on and are displaying governmental alerts urging employees to take their emergency kits, seal off areas, and await security.
Judging by the now desolate office space, either security worked VERY quickly, or nobody listened to them at all.
Either way, everyone clearly left in a hurry.
I take a step further in, slightly jumping short after. A loud enough crunching causes me to quickly move back and inspect the spot where my foot was just at.
“Wha…” Is all I manage to get out.
That tiny section of the carpet is completely charcoal colored in contrast to the rest of the grey floor. A burnt smell reaches my nose as I start to look at similar marks all over the floor. I guess that’s why the fire alarm is on… but what caused this? No way everyone simultaneously decided to hit a blunt once things outside started to hit the fan.
I continue maneuvering around cubicles as I hold the pistol and phone in my hands with the flashlight on to illuminate my way as the way forward becomes darker and darker.
The atmosphere of this place causes my legs to feel numb. Genuine discomfort spreads all over my body.
Where the heck is Prim?
Turning around a corner, I notice a faint orange glow coming from the elevator me and Prim had taken earlier. The burn marks on the floor are also leading toward the elevator.
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I raise a single eyebrow at the glow and open my mouth as I’m about to ask if someone is over there; however, a distant yet familiar yelp reaches my ears and causes my muscles to tighten, my eyes to widen, and my heart to sink.
“PRIM!” I scream at the top of my lungs.
I sprint towards the elevator as fast as my body allows. The air around me begins to heat up dramatically as I approach the elevator. I am greeted by a peculiar sight once I close in.
The glass that has my mother’s logo on it… The “O” in the middle now has a giant hole in the center with remains of the glass on the outside of the whole.
It almost looks as if something… melted through it?
Through the hole, my ears begin to make out sounds of fast movements, my sister’s voice, and a… dog?
I look through the hole and down at the research center/hanger, and I am greeted by the site of my sister fighting something resembling a dog.
Except, there is clearly something off about this dog. The dog is very dark, yet… it glows a bright orange?
A heat chill climbs through my spine as my peripheral vision catches something.
I quickly turn around and see the same orange glow from where I had just ran from.
Slowly walking around a corner and staring me down is the exact same type of dog, but now I can see much greater detail.
This dog… if it can even be called that, has no pupils at all. Instead, it has glowing orange eyes that I can still feel looking directly at me. Instead of fur or meat, the body seems like it’s made of dark charcoal/obsidian with trails of what I am guessing to be lava traveling all over its body as if it is its veins and arteries. Every step it takes burns the ground beneath it.
If I had to compare it, I’d say it’s about as big as a grey wolf.
A… hellhound?
My breathing becomes rapid as a primal fear begins to spread within me. But I can’t let it overtake me just yet. As crazy as it may be, It’s still a wild animal.
I slowly walk over to the buttons to not provoke the creature and press the only other floor button on the elevator.
DING DONG
The hellhound quickly changes from a slow stride to a rapid approach, releasing loud, disturbing, and distorted barks as it beelines toward me.
Panicking, I point the pistol at the creature and fire as fast as my fingers allow, at least somewhat trying to put the gun back on target after each shot.
The hellhound begins to tumble a bit but is still running at full speed at me, with the air becoming hotter the closer it approaches. Small fires are left in its trail of rush.
Just as the beast makes a jump for me, the elevator doors close, and the machine begins its descent to the research floor.
The sound of snarling and claws scratching against titanium slowly go away the farther down I descend, replaced with only my heavy breathing.
Sweat pours down my face as I wonder how many bullets I just fired on that thing…
DING DONG
The elevator reaches the ground floor, and I waste no time speeding out. But, just as I make it out, I whip my head over to see another hellhound hitting the ground and rolling with a yelp.
I look over to see where it came from, and it’s nonother than Prim, getting up from the ground, grabbing a submachine gun of some kind, and unleashing a hail of bullets upon the recovering canine.
With a final yelp, steam rises from the ground as the hellhound bleeds lava, causing the floor under and around it to start breaking. Then, the orange in its eyes and all over its body begins to fade, eventually resulting in a lifeless black rock shaped like a canine.
My head turns towards Prim, breathing heavily with the submachine gun still pointed at the corpse with a fierce look on her face.
There are scattered burn marks, ranging from her arms to legs, with even a few on her hip and midriff.
Yet she stands in a dominant position with a focused look as she scans for any movement from the dog.
I stare at my sister in awe. For just a few moments, all there is the sound of me and Prim breathing. Then, finally, her peripheral vision catches me, and her eyes go wide.
“Monarc-” Is all she manages to get out as she is interrupted by a disturbing series of distorted barks. A hellhound rushes up and jumps on her just as she turns around.
With a few gasps, screams, and yelps, my sister and the hellhound tumble to the ground as her gun slides away. The hellhound is trying to bite whatever it can, and my sister is punching its nose.
Snapping my brain back into action, I clutch my pistol and aim, hoping to God that the shot I’m lining up is clear of Prim. Then, I feel my eyebrows lower, and my eyes bulge. I inhale a sharp breath through my teeth.
I squeeze the trigger.
Click
“Always count your shots!”
Well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions.
But I can’t just let it maul my sister!
With barely any thought, I chuck the gun at the hellhound with all my might, landing straight on the forehead with a powerful clunk. Earning me the irate look and deep growling of the hellhound as it now stares me down.
I may or may not have thought this through.
Darting to my left, I scamper as quickly as my legs will take me as my flight instincts activate. I gauge the distance I have from the hellhound by paying attention to the amount of heat and orange light behind me as my adrenaline reaches max.
“There’s gotta be something! ANYTHING!” I attempt to yell, but I’m pretty sure it comes out as incomprehensible screams as I run.
It turns out the entire facility is not only devoid of people, but dolls, weaponry, and just about anything helpful in this situation. Everyone must’ve panicked and taken everything when they left.
The sight of the empty weapon racks horrifies me as my head pounds, trying to find a solution.
Just then, I feel a source of heat on my backside slowly start to ascend. My instincts speak to me, and I listen as I juke to the right. I look behind to see the hellhound returning to the ground after making a leap for my back, snarling as it returns to pursuing me.
As I begin to sprint once again, I notice something. Possibly the only piece of military hardware left in this building…
Inside that glass capsule from before, the one the doll couldn’t identify…
It’s a suit of some kind? It’s human-shaped, but there’s armor all over it. There are angles and spikes all over the armor. The neon green visor fits with the other glowing lights outlining all around it. Peacefully pulsing with a deep bass.
My observation, however, is thrown out of my brain as I feel a blazing heat smash into my back, forcing me forward to the suit and its capsule.
I can only get part of a scream out before my chest smashes into the console attached to the capsule, causing a loud clang and a vast amount of pain in my torso as gravity quickly puts me on the hard floor, gasping for air.
My body refuses to move whatsoever as I feel the air next to me heat up. I can only stare in terror as the hellhound recovers its footing from its tackle and begins a slow stride toward my limp body.
“MONARCH!!!” Prim screeches into the air, followed by a submachine gun's loud, sharp, yet short blazing. I roll my head to catch a glimpse of Prim halfway off the ground with her eyes wide, gun raised, and muzzle smoking.
The hellhound, now panting, bleeding lava, and struggling to stand, uses all of its energy to charge toward the source of bullets as Prim scrambles around the floor, likely looking for another magazine.
“P-Prim…” That is all I can whisper as I hopelessly watch the beast begin to charge toward my sister.
But my ears and peripheral vision direct me toward what might just be a bigger problem.
The sound of heavy metal hitting the ground with a thunderous clunk and a deep-breathing electric bass reach my right ear as I can only slightly turn my head towards the source.
That white and green armor… it's now out of containment.
And its cold yet bright green glow is now staring me down.
[https://i.imgur.com/WN7w8Lb.png]