Water bubbled up inside the glass container, sloshing up onto the insides of the handle, and with a final pull of his lungs, the young man tilted his head backwards and let loose the air inside him. Thick bellows of smoke blasted the air like a canon, swirling about the dimly lit basement in a hazy current of air. He coughed into his hand while setting down his instrument. He flicked his long hair aside from his face and turned around, “I don’t see why you have to be an Eldritch Knight, just be a Paladin, man.” He picked up his instrument again and sucked out the remaining smoke inside.
“I just don’t want to be tied down to any god, I like my freedom.” His friend turned the pages of his thick book as he went on, “I can mix my might with my magical attacks. The Eldritch Knight gets the Wizard’s spells to choose from, and those just beat out the Palys’. Just get used to it, dude.” He scratched his pockmarked neck and turned back to the Fighter’s section, “Fighter it is.”
“Bleh.” The young man waved his hand at his friend. “The power to invoke your god’s wrath with Divine Smite is just too much to pass up. Your damage would be through the roof. Just sayin’.”
A series of loud bangs came barreling down the stairs as a young woman entered the smoky basement. She threw her bag down next to the couch, “Seriously, it’s like a dive bar down here. Open a window before you smoke us all out, Ian.” The girl moved over to the nearest window and propped it open. The smoke instantly began to drift towards the freedom the window provided. Barking filled the air as several dogs around the neighborhood became restless. “Damn dogs.” She turned back towards Ian, “Your grandparents offered to feed me again. They think I’m too skinny to be running around with you guys.”
Ian handed his instrument over to the girl as she sat down on the couch. “Yeah, they try to fatten up everyone they see. Look what they did to Shaun over there.”
Shaun looked up from his player’s guide, “Haha, you’re so funny. I could crush you right now with just one body slam.”
“Yeah but you’d have to get up, which would take you an hour.” Ian threw a pillow at Shaun, who in return chucked it right back.
“Ass. Don’t make me take this to Smash. We can settle it like men.” Shaun grinned like a child that was just handed candy. “We can show Hannah who is the best smasher here.”
Hannah pulled her head up from her instrument, letting bursts of smoke escape her mouth as she spoke, “We all know I’m the best here.” She took another lungful of smoke before she wiped the dark brown hair from her face. “When’s David going to get here?” She looked over at Shaun.
The chubby kid shrugged without his nose leaving his book.
Ian pulled his phone from his pocket, “He should be here any minute now. Let me give him a call.”
“So you finally decided on what you’re going to play? We’re starting up tomorrow night, and I don’t want to sit around for an hour while you make your character.” Hannah took another drag of smoke.
The dogs’ barking outside became louder and more frequent. Shaun glanced at the window, his eyebrows pressed together in annoyance, “Yeah, I’m going to be a Fighter. Figured I’d play a handsome sell sword, chasing the gold wherever it presents itself. Then maybe with a run in with a Wizard, I gain the knowledge of magic.”
Hannah smiled, “Ah, Eldricht Knight. Good choice. Just be careful of your abilities getting spread too thin. You need intelligence for your spells.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Shaun turned back to the colorful pages of his book. “I can’t wait. It’s gonna be a fun night.” The dogs outside barked up even more of a storm as the trio sat inside their comfortable basement lair. “What the hell is going on out there, damn.” He looked over to Hannah. “Can you shut that window?”
Ian looked around, “Yeah, I’m trying to get ahold of David, and I can’t hear shit.”
Hannah stood and made her way to the window, “I figured some fresh air would help clear your high minds enough for a game of Smash.” She reached upwards and grabbed the edges of the window. The barking of the dogs instantly stopped, not even the crickets were singing. “What the hell?” She looked around the yard outside.
The jingle of a cellphone rang outside the window. Hannah squinted as she looked out of the window and into the darkness. “I can hear his phone outside.” The phone stopped ringing abruptly. She turned to Ian, “Call him again.” As Hannah turned back to the window, a massive foot stomped in front of the window. She gave out a scared yelp and covered her mouth. The foot moved away from sight before she could make out what it was. There were multiple large toes sprouting out from a large stumpy leg, at least that’s what she thought she saw.
Ian and Shaun stood and looked at Hannah. Ian stepped forward, “What’s wrong.” He leaned over and grabbed his baseball bat from the floor.
Hannah was about to speak when she heard the ringtone again, but this time, the sound came from right outside the window. She looked on in horror as David, her friend, was dragged right past the window. His face was contorted, stuck with the fearful gaze of impending doom. Hannah dropped down, “David!” She managed to gasp as she filled up with terror.
Ian ran over to the window and looked out the small opening. He could see a large figure stomping across the ground. Its impossibly long arms were dragging a body followed by David’s ring tone from his favorite band. “What the…” Ian turned and ran into his room and returned holding a pistol. “That thing’s got David!” He cocked the gun and stepped towards the stairs, “We gotta help him.” He pushed his long hair out of his face. “What are you guys waiting for?”
Shaun looked down at Hannah. She was tearing up, her hands holding her face. “What about her?” Shaun white knuckled the bat in his hands.
“What about David?” Ian pointed with his gun at the window. “My dad left me this piece before he disappeared.” Ian took another step up the stairs, “Let’s kill this thing and save our friend.”
Shaun gripped his bat tight to his chest, “We should call the police, and maybe…”
“Maybe what?” Ian looked his friend in the eyes, “They wouldn’t believe that thing has our friend.”
Hannah rose to her knees, tears still in her eyes, “Okay, let’s do it.” She wiped the tears from her face, “You got anything for me?”
Ian smiled, “Under the couch.”
Hannah lifted the blanket that covered the couch and pulled out a machete. “This works.”
She looked over at Shaun, “You a Fighter, huh Shaun?”
Shaun glanced at the floor for a moment. “Let’s go monster hunting.” He gave a fake smile before he chased Ian up the stairs with Hannah right on his heels.
The group ran up the stairs and past the living room. Ian’s grandpa was passed out in his recliner, while his grandma sat knitting on her chair with a cat across her lap. She glanced out of the corner of her eye as the kids ran to the front door. “There’s food in the kitchen if you’re hungry dear.”
Ian swung open the front door, “Be back in a bit, Grams!” He sprinted out into the driveway and looked in the direction the beast was going. The cool night air swept over his glazed eyes. The new setting inflamed his senses as he looked about the neighborhood.
“There!” Shaun pointed with the tip of his bat, “Behind that alley.”
The shadow of the large monster tugging their friend vanished back into the dirt road across the street. Ian looked at his gun. His bravado had worn down since he was in the basement. “We sure about this.” He looked at his friends.
Hannah stepped forward, “David would come to save us if we were taken, so let’s go save his ass.” She swiped the air with her machete.
Shaun smacked the pavement with his bat a few times, “Awooo!” He howled into the night, “Let’s do this.” His adrenaline coursed through his veins with the purpose to fight. He was ready. He was a Fighter after all.
Ian held his gun firm, “Alright. Let’s do this.” He took off into the alley with his friends behind him. His heart beat like a battle drum. He had never shot his gun off at something living before. He gave it quick thought as he rounded into the alley. There was a first time for everything.
They entered the alley and searched the darkness for their lost friend.
“There!” Shaun pointed to the last of David’s body being pulled down into a sewage drain. “The Underdark.” He looked over at Ian. “I don’t know about this.”
Ian pulled out his phone and started up his flashlight app. “We got lights. We gotta save him, man, what else are we going to do? Tell the cops we were high and a monster took our friend away?”
Hannah stepped forward, “He’s right Shaun. It’s up to us.” She pulled out her own phone and started off towards the large underground pipe. She hoped down into the rushing, knee-high water. The light from her phone glinted off the specks of water splashing up from the drainage. She looked up to her friends standing above her, “I don’t see anything, but this is where it went.”
Ian and Shaun hoped down into the water and shown their light into the dark as well.
Ian looked at his comrades, “Into the depths we go.” He held his gun hand against the wall for stability, feeling each grove in the metal pipe as he walked onwards through the dark cavern.
The water fought the adventurers as the trudged through the treacherous cave. Their weapons grasped firmly in their hands as they held their torches high. The light bounced and danced about the ancient walls of this long deserted dungeon. Only their strength and their wits could save them from the danger lurking in the darkness ahead.
Ian’s hand slipped from the side of the wall. He plummeted down into the rushing water, dropping his phone into the murky depths. Shaun pulled him up and planted him on his feet.
“You okay, man?” Shaun brushed some algae from Ian’s face.
Ian turned and looked at the hole in the wall. It was about a foot above the water and carved out of the pipe with some crude tool. He ran his fingers along the edge and caught a strip of clothing. He held it up to Hannah’s light, “This is David’s.” He looked into the path dug into the dirt beyond the pipe’s edge. “He’s down there.” Ian turned to his friends, “If you guys wanna turn back, now is the time. Anything could be down there.” The gun in his hand rattled slightly as he swallowed the lump in his throat.
Hannah grabbed his hand and steadied it. She smiled slightly, mostly out of nerves, “We got your back.”
Shaun nodded in agreement.
Ian turned towards the hole in the side of the pipe and climbed through. His feet sank into the muddy path below him. He sloshed his way down the long corridor of dirt, the only light shining behind him. His shadow scouted ahead of him, clearing the darkness of any monsters, or so he hoped.
They trudged down the hole until their ears started to pop from the pressure around them. Ian held out his hand as the tunnel came to an opening into a larger cavern. He poked his head around the corner and saw a trail alongside the caverns wall. The continued sound of rushing water boomed from below the cavern’s edge. The pathway was large enough for a car to move down, with a set of metal tracks laid down the center.
Hannah and Shaun moved up behind him to get a better look. Faint light was produced from old lanterns placed every fifty feet or so.
Ian could hear the sound of metal grinding on metal, the same sound he used to hear when he helped his dad out on the rail yard. A bright light came whizzing down one of the rails to the left, heading straight towards them.
Ian flung his arm out and pressed his friends against the wall behind him. “Kill the light.” He whispered to Hannah, but it felt more like he was a barking dog. His heart beat pounded in his chest. He looked at the faces of his friends and could tell they were experiencing the same feelings, the same mix of dread and marvel, terror and amazement.
The light zoomed past the group and Ian could make out an old mine cart with some people inside. Before he could get a good look, the cart had moved down the tracks and around a bend.
“Left or right?” Ian looked around the cavern, waiting for another clue to where his friend was taken. He stepped out onto the track and looked around. “This is crazy.”
Shaun and Hannah followed him out onto the tracks. They were all shivering now from their soaked clothes. A draft was flowing down the cavern and headed down the bend the cart disappeared to.
Shaun looked up to a makeshift sign made of old road signs and planks of wood, placed right next to the tunnel they entered from, “Hey.” He walked closer to the sign. One arrow pointed upwards and read ‘Surface’. Another arrow pointed to the bend and read ‘Meat farm.’ The last arrow pointed to the left, ‘Babylon.’ Shaun turned around, “I say left. Babylon sounds better than meat farm by far. What the hell’s a meat farm anyway?”
“Let’s not find out.” Hannah started along the path to the left, “What happens if another cart comes?” She looked towards Ian for an answer.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. He wasn’t quite sure why they had come down here, to save a friend? They hadn’t the first clue on how to do that. “We hide, if we can.” He took lead and started walking down the hallway, “And kill if we have to.” His words left them all in silence. “We head to the right.” Ian looked at his friends, “They are going to eat him. They brought David down here to eat him. I know it.”
Shaun shook his head, “It’s what the monsters do. I don’t like this. Let’s hurry up. I don’t want to be down here any longer than I have too.” He wrung his hands on his bat. His nerves were starting to get the better of him now. He felt like he should have stayed in the basement.
The other two nodded and the trio began to run down the tracks in the same direction the cart had vanished in. Their breaths were heavy now. They ran for what seemed maybe a mile or more. Shaun was starting to lag behind. His body was struggling in each belabored breath he tried to take in. “Guys.” He wheezed out. “Can we take a short rest? I can’t keep going.”
Ian looked around the dimly lit cavern. He couldn’t hear any carts or see any lights approaching. “Okay, just a quick rest. We have to catch up to David before…” He stopped as he could only dream up what these monsters would actually do to his friend.
“Let’s just get him and get out, okay?” Hannah smiled at her counterparts. They were in over their heads now.
Ian sat down with his friends. There was nowhere to hide here, so if they were caught, they would need to fight. He looked down at the gun in his hand. It was their only means of saving David, and themselves.
“Humans?” A deep silky voice washed over the resting party. “Hmmm, I think a tasty human snack will be yum yums.”
The group shot up and looked around the cavern path. Water rushed far below them off the side of the path, but the voice was still clear. It was close.
“Don’t fight, tasty snacks, just let me have a taste.”
They turned around as the voice hit them from behind. Along the side wall of the cavern came something hideous crawling down to the path. Hannah took a step back. Shaun covered his mouth, turned, and puked through his fingers.
Ian stood his ground and raised his gun at the beast. “Don’t come any closer.” He uttered his words as his mouth was starting to chatter out of fear.
The beast’s engorged head came into view and it smiled through its disfigured mouth. Random tusks shot in every direction. It was easily nine feet tall with one eye placed high up on the right side of its head. It scanned the group, while its left eye was sunken down and rolled around in its socket lazily. It looked like a baby’s head, but ten sizes bigger than an adult. Out from its left side shot eight long, jointed, hairy legs that clung to the rock face with ease. They sprouted from between the ribs and shoulder blade of the creature’s back. Flapping about its body was its left arm, shriveled and limp. It hung at the size of an infant’s limbs, while its left leg mirrored the arm above. The thing brought its right arm, rippling with muscle mass, up and pointed at the group while it held a massive wooden club. “What are you looking, hmm?” The thing touched down on the path with its massive muscled right leg. The tarantula legs sprouting from the left side held the beast up, “Beautiful baby wants a snack for his tum tum, hmmhmmhe.” The thing chuckled as it shambled closer to the group. It stumbled about like an infant learning to walk, crashing down several times before standing again to move closer.
Ian froze. He had never seen anything like this before. How could something like this be allowed to live?
Shaun gripped his bat tight, vomit oozing from between his fingers. He looked at Ian and Hannah and decided it was up to him to save them. He was a Fighter after all. He was a proud knight. He charged in at the beast, not thinking twice about his actions. He could hear his friends shouting for him to stop, but it didn’t register in his brain. He had to save them from the beast. It was up to him. He let out a war cry and twisted his body slightly to swing his bat.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The large baby beast looked at the charging human with its oversized eye. It chuckled again as it quickly took a step back and swung its colossal wooden club with incredible speed. The club smashed into Shaun in a blink of an eye. He let out a heavy breath as the club connected into his chest and sent him flying to the wall. The club met the wall with Shaun in-between. With a crunch that sounded like a roach being stomped out, Shaun turned into a glob of viscera and gore as his insides escaped from any opening they could.
The giant baby pulled his club to its mouth and started gnawing off some of the gore, “Tasty tender, mmmhmm.”
“You bastard!” Ian pulled the trigger on his gun, over and over again. The bullets smacked the creature in the oversized head time and time again. The baby reeled out in anger and pain as it was forced backwards. One of the shots smacked through the large eye and the beast crumpled to the floor.
Ian kept pulling the trigger until the gun clicked empty, and even then, he pulled the trigger endlessly.
Hannah stepped forward and put her hand on his shoulder. “It’s dead.” She looked at the pulp formerly known as Shaun. She had no clue what they were doing down here. This was something way over their heads. If they stayed, they would all end up like Shaun. David would have to be on his own. It was now time to save their skins.
Ian let his arm sag as he looked at the baby creature. He couldn’t believe Shaun was dead now. This wasn’t a game. This was real, and he was in the middle of it. He was jolted from his thoughts as Hannah was shaking him by the shoulders. He turned to look at her and her words finally broke through his thoughts.
“We need to leave, they’re coming!” She pointed at the beams of light that could be seen down the path. They were accompanied by the shouting of voices. Hannah grabbed Ian’s hand and began to pull him back the way they came.
Ian finally began to run with her. His mind was coming back and his fear took hold, jolting him into reality. The two rounded a corner and stopped dead in the tracks as more lights could be seen from up ahead. They looked at each other and knew what the other was thinking. They were trapped between two groups of monsters. Ian glanced over the ledge of the path, down into the rushing waters deep below.
He held onto Hannah tight and stepped up to the edge of the path. “We can either die like Shaun, or take our chances in the water.” His eyes burned deep into Hannah’s own. She swallowed hard and shut her eyes. She nodded and jumped with Ian into the deep below.
Their hearts sprang into their throats, and their stomachs took up lot in the vacancy of their chest as they fell down the vast drop. The water lapped up and swallowed them whole as they finally met the bottom of their plummet. Ian kicked with his feet as hard as he could, but his shoes were making it harder to swim. He finally surfaced and looked around the cavern. Water lapped up onto the walls as it gushed downstream at a fearsome rate. His arms struggled to keep him above the waves as he searched for his friend, “Hannah!” He looked left and right, but he couldn’t see her.
Ian turned when he heard the sound of a deep breath being taken behind him. Hannah had just surfaced. Wet hair was cemented in her face as she tried to fill her lungs with the sweet air around them. He swam over to her and pushed the hair from her face. She flinched as he touched her, but as soon as she saw who it was, she embraced him tightly.
“Thank God you’re still here.” She spoke just loud enough for him to hear.
Ian smiled, “I’ve got you.” He struggled to hold her with one arm as the other was wadding in the rushing water. He held her for countless minutes. He wasn’t sure if they had been floating for a few minutes, or several hours. His limbs were tiring and his mind was waning. It had been a hell of a night. Two of his friends had died while the third was close to losing her mind. He was come close to it himself.
The sound of rushing water became louder now as they floated into a thinner causeway. Ian looked around at the steep walls above them. He hadn’t seen any more monsters, but who knows what will be around the next bend. The rushing water started misting ahead of them and Ian started to get worried. Mist could only mean one thing, water going airborne.
He shook Hannah, “Hold on tight. This might be it for us.” He kept his gaze straight ahead as the looming drop off approached them. The walls were too sleek for them to hold onto or climb. He looked Hannah in her green, emerald eyes. “I…” The water beneath them gave out and the two fell downward into darkness and the unknown.
Ian closed his eyes. He didn’t know why. He couldn’t see, but it seemed like the natural thing to do. A bright light then phased through his eyelids as he fell. “What the?”
They smacked the water below like a car smashing into head on traffic. Again they swam upwards, this time into a murky surface. Bright lights could be seen through the surface of the water. Ian saw something move at the edge of the large pool. He burst through the surface and wiped the water from his eyes. He looked around at all the things that surrounded the pool. They held baskets of clothing. They were cleaning the clothing in the pool he was wading in. They seemed like humans, but their appearances were far from human.
“Humans!” A bald headed creature pointed at them. Her skin was a reddish-brown and her limbs were skin and bone. She brought her arms to her stomach and cradled five bulbous growths jutting out from her body. Their little faces sported eyes, a nose, and a mouth. The little things all let out high-pitched, shrill screams. “Don’t kill my babies!” She turned and ran, toppling her basket into the pool. The other figures at the pool all turned and did the same.
Ian swam to the edge of the pool and pulled himself out. The things were running about small streets and steps into houses carved into the sides of the rock of the cave that surrounded them. He turned and grabbed Hannah, hoisting her out of the pool and onto her feet. He looked around the pool to find some sort of clue to where they were.
The shouting from the things at the pool had started to attract attention from the other things in the underground chamber. Ian looked at one large pipe leading from the pool and down the side of the rock into an alleyway behind some rock houses. He heard the shouting of some of the things getting closer. He grabbed Hannah’s hand and sprinted off to the alleyway. Their sopping wet clothes left a trail of water behind them, but Ian didn’t want to wait around to be caught. The two stopped behind the alley’s edge and looked at some more monsters coming down one of the stone stairways. They had spears clutched in their hands and they raced down to the pools edge and searched around for something. One of the larger things shouted out, “Find the humans! We can’t let them ruin the Prophet’s speech.” He grabbed one of his subordinates by a little gimpy wing on its back, “Today is too special for humans to ruin.” He tossed the subordinate down and began to sniff the air.
Ian grabbed Hannah again and ran down the alley and up a set of stone stairs. He didn’t stop running until he reached the top. His eyes came over the top of the landing and he froze in place.
Hannah looked behind them to see if they were being followed. She turned back to Ian and nudged him, “Why’d we stop? They’re right behind us. They’ll be here any second.”
He pulled her up the steps, “Look.” He stood motionless as she gazed on the same sight he did.
Below them, the stairs stretched deep down into a massive bowl and became lost in a tangle of streets and alleys filled with the same hideous creatures that they left behind them. Hundreds, thousands, the number was too large to count as they scurried to and fro. They entered and exited stone buildings carved into the rocks, while other houses built from sheet metal and plaster and whatever goods that could be made into shelter were erected wherever space permitted. They covered the stone buildings, street corners, the sides of buildings, and in some places, they were built on a boardwalk over the streets themselves. A massive white tower stretched from the center of the bowl up to the very top of the rock ceiling. Below it was four large screens attached to the sides of the pillar. On one side of the pillar was a large hole in the ground. Rock stairs led outwards to the cavern’s rock walls, creating similar living quarters like the one they were standing in. Nothing went to waste in the city. Every inch of the bowl was covered in some sort of creature or makeshift building.
The two stood there without a movement as they looked on the massive city below. It was horrifying, yet marvelous. These creatures had created a beautiful masterpiece out of such garbage.
A clattering came from behind them and snapped the duo out of their trance. Ian and Hannah looked back at some of the creatures entering the alley. The one who was tossed around had tripped and sent his spear clattering against the stone stairway. The leader of the group kicked him aside and pointed his spear at Ian and Hannah. “Get the humans! They can’t be allowed to leave!” The guards chucked several spears up the stairs at them.
Ian pulled Hannah along again, this time down the windy stairs and into the city. They jumped several stairs at a time, glancing back only to see if the creatures were gaining on them. A spear flew past his head and crashed into the stone wall next to him. “Shit.” He jumped down and landed on the bottom of the stairs. He looked around and the only way to lose the guards was to enter the city with more of the creatures about.
Hannah pulled back when she saw what he was thinking, “No, not in there.” She shook her head. She was tired and beaten, but they had to go on.
“If we stay here, we get speared.” Ian looked behind her at the creatures running down the stairs. He grabbed her arm and yanked her along, “We’ve got no choice.” He ran up to a clothes line hanging low across the street. He looked around at the empty street and wondered where all the creatures had gone to. He grabbed some blankets from the clothes line and tossed one at Hannah. He covered up, Hannah doing likewise, and he tugged her off into the city. As long as they could stay hidden within the blankets, the creatures wouldn’t run off like the ones at the pool.
They ran deeper into the city, encountering more of the creatures as they went. They dodged them as much as they could, zipping in and out of the sparse crowds before Ian hung a right and entered an alley. There were several large baskets of clothing placed against the walls. He pushed Hannah down and climbed on top of her, lying as still as he could. He pressed his finger up to his mouth, “Shh.” They both waited for several moments until the guards that were chasing them scattered past and deeper into the city.
He turned back to Hannah and she stared at his eyes. She wrapped her hands around his head and pulled his lips to hers. She kissed him tenderly before sneaking her tongue into his mouth for a minute before pushing him back. She smiled, “In case we don’t make it.”
Ian smiled too. He stood and pulled her onto her feet, “We’re going to make it, don’t worry.” He moved to the edge of the alley and looked into the street.
“Last call on meat!” A heavy thing with flaps of skin drooping from random parts of his body was yelling out to the few creatures still in the streets. “The speech is starting soon!” A few of the creatures pulled out some currency and grabbed several packages of meat. “Praise the Prophet! His new meat initiative has filled our bellies to the brim.” A slew of praises rang out for the Prophet.
A very slender thing handed over some coins, “When’s the next fresh shipment?” He scratched his arm nervously, “I like it fresh.”
“Morrow morn, comes in on the carts. Just make sure you pay your respects to the Prophet. Cities all round the world are able to eat now, because of him. All meat is cheap and affordable. Now get on down to the speech afore they take you off to the Depths.”
The slender creature nodded and grabbed is packaged meat before running down the street. The shop owner shut down a metal grate over the front of his small meat shop, and followed the slender thing off to the speech they were talking about, his flaps of fatty skin dragging against the dirty street as he raced off.
He turned back to Hannah, “Looks like they’re all at some speech. We should be able to sneak out of here easy enough.”
Hannah took his hand and stumbled to the street with him. She looked down the street at the fleeting creatures that lived below the surface. “I don’t know if I can make it.” Her legs shook as she held her blanket tight around her.
“You have to make it, okay? I need you to make it. We have to tell everyone about all of this.” Ian stood up straight, “We can’t let David and Shaun die for no reason. We have to bring these bastards down.” He pulled her along and she shambled behind him. Hannah took a deep breath and let her head hang low.
Ian kept his eyes up, looking for any sign that the surface was nearby. He had no idea where to find an exit. They traveled in the canal for miles maybe, and now they were even deeper underground. They moved through the city with only their thoughts to keep them comfort.
An explosive cheer lit up the underground city. A thunderous applause quickly followed with a chant calling out ‘Prophet’ in rhythm blotted out any sounds in the city.
Ian saw some of the guards coming up the street. Before they could spot the humans, Ian quickly ducked into a building and cut out through the back. It was filled with crates, wooden, plastic, Styrofoam, anything that could hold something was in use here. The cheering was getting close now. He stepped out into a back alley with some sort of loading dock. Ian looked over a stack of boxes and ducked instantly, pulling Hannah down with him. He peeked out onto the white tower that he saw from above. The four large telescreens were covered with the picture of a man in a black mask with three eyes.
His arms were held high as all the creatures, all around the stage, and up the sides of walls, and streets, and everywhere they were able to stand, they cheered.
Ian couldn’t even begin to count, thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe a million.
The screen zoomed out a bit and the man on stage let his hands fall. The crowd instantly became silent. Four more figures moved up behind him and stepped down onto a second platform right below him. There they stood there with their hands behind their backs. One was a massive creature, his muscles rippling from his four arms. Another was a sleek woman, or at least it would have been if not for the six spider legs stretching out of her back. The third was short and squat. It had one arm, while the other was a long spike that it used as a crutch. The fourth’s head kept turning left to right with quick jerks, like a bird perched up high. In front of each of the four creatures, were four more creatures bound up on their knees.
“The Great Mutator has sent me to lead you onto the surface! I have brought you shelter! I have brought you food to fill your bellies, some more than others!” The crowd chuckled a little to his comment. The creature on the top platform began speaking to the crowd, pacing slowly on his stage.
“That must be the Prophet.” Ian turned to look at Hannah. She was slumped down on the ground, her face exhausted. She slowly turned to him and rose up to see over the boxes.
“The Great Mutator has sent you a prophet in your time of need. Most of you have graciously accepted The Great Mutator’s gift to you, but some of you think I am a fraud. Some of you think of me as nothing but garbage, just like the humans upstairs!” He pointed upwards to the ceiling. A booing rushed over the city as all the creatures shouted out curses. “And what do we do with theses traitors, hmm?”
“The Pit!” Was screamed out of all the creature’s lungs. They began chanting like a cult, blending their voices together seamlessly.
“The Chosen have spoken!” The Prophet pointed to the four creatures below him. The four masked creatures then pushed the traitors down the pit in front of the stage. Their yells were short lived as a deep growl emanated from the pit. The heavy vibration rattled around in Ian and Hannah’s skulls. They grabbed their heads while all the Chosen around them shut their eyes and embraced the pain, some even smiled.
The vibrations dumbed down and the crowd held up their arms in praise. The Prophet held his arms up as well, “The Tower of Babel is completed! Soon the surface will quake in fear from the Chosen! We will rise up from the squalor of our undercities and take the surface from the unworthy humans! They kill their planet without a second thought, and they toss aside those they have created without care! We are the new rulers of this planet! We…The…Chosen!” The Prophet brought his arms down and the crowd cheered again, but this time they were in frenzy. They thrashed about and yelled. They danced and rejoiced. Some bowed to the Prophet while others offered up their bodies to him.
Ian turned his head slightly, not taking his eyes off of the crowd, “We need to get the hell out now.” He turned when Hannah didn’t say anything back. She was staring in fear at something behind them. Ian turned to see a massive leg coming down into a stump with big toes sprouting out of it like fungi. He looked upwards at the creature staring back at them. Its head looked more like a warty growth with several noses, and eyes, and one large mouth where its neck should be.
The creature’s eyes all blinked separately from each other as it spoke, “Humans?” Its voice sounded like it was choked from its throat. Its large hand grabbed Hannah by the leg. Multiple thumbs stretched out as long as a forearm and wrapped around her leg. Hannah let out a scream and started to thrash about. The creature was startled and shot backwards before it swung Hannah at the rock beneath them, “Quiet!”
She slammed down and went limp. Her bones cracked and her skin tore open. Ian couldn’t believe what had happened. He turned around and saw a large group of the mutants coming to investigate the noise.
The large creature then threw Hannah’s body as far as it could. She flew through the air, twirling about as her limp body soared high and then crunched on the ground within the crowd. The creature puffed out its chest and roared, “Humans!”
Ian shot up and ran between the creatures legs. He was the last one left. If only they had stayed in his basement smoking weed and playing games. Tears began to streak down his face as he realized there was no more false hope. He would die down here too.
He wiped his tears with his sleeve and spotted a mine cart and a tunnel near the meat stand he had been by. It was his only chance. He ran up to the cart and took a quick look at the machine. A small engine had been rigged up to one side of the cart in a crude fashion. He climbed inside and yanked a small cord that was attached to the motor. It looked like something his lawnmower would use, but it was all he could see to start it up. He pulled once. Nothing. He pulled twice and the engine started up. “Yes.” He muttered.
“Ahh!” He tumbled inside the cart. A large laceration was spewing blood out down his arm. His shoulder was cut badly. He grabbed it and squeezed. The cart started moving up a small ramp and into the tunnel. Ian stuck his head out and saw several creatures throwing spears at the cart. They soon disappeared and he entered the dark tunnel. The only lights were those strapped on front of his cart. He slumped down and let out a sigh. He just might make it after all.
He sat quietly as the cart carried him down the endless tunnel. He didn’t know how long he was on the cart, hours maybe, which was just fine as long as the creatures weren’t around. His shoulder hurt badly, but the bleeding had stopped. He pulled himself up as the motor started to sputter out. He started losing momentum until the whole cart stopped dead on the tracks.
Ian climbed out of the cart and looked both ways. He couldn’t hear the water rushing like the tunnel by his house, but there were two tracks on the ground. He walked to the front of the cart and ripped one of the lights off and shone it across the wall. He spotted a sign similar to the one they first saw when entering the undercity. The only words that mattered to him were, ‘Surface’ and the arrow pointing up a tunnel next to it.
That was all he needed as he ran up the tunnel. Fresh air rushed across his face and the sound of cars driving about could be heard. He pushed onward. His legs were tired and shaky. His brain was exhausted from the endeavor and his friends were all dead. He couldn’t stop to think of them yet. He needed to get to the surface and warn everyone about the monsters living beneath them.
He ran up to the entrance to the tunnel and grabbed onto the metal grate closing it off. He pushed with all his might and the grate swung open. He stepped out onto concrete littered with garbage, and he looked about. He was under a bridge next to a river. The cars above rumbled past, causing a loud rolling noise. The sky was a dim blue. The sun would be up soon. The long, deadly night was over.
A light caught his attention. He looked over to his left and saw several black cars parked nearby. The light got closer and a man in a black suit came into view, “What are you doing here?” The man reached down to his hip, readying to pull out a weapon.
Ian held his grungy hands out, “No, I need help. There’s things down there! Monsters!” He pointed down the tunnel with his hands, “They killed my friends, and tried to kill me!” His words were frantic as he spoke. He was short of breath and tired.
The man nodded and relaxed a bit, “There’s someone who needs to know about this.” The man took his black jacket off and wrapped it around Ian’s shoulders. The man put one arm around him and started walking him to the parked cars.
Ian approached a small group of armed men, their eyes all on him. There were two black sedans and a black limo. He was led passed the guards and up to the main man, who was dressed in a sport coat and jeans. His back was turned to Ian.
“Sir.” The suit let go of Ian and saluted the man, “This kid here says monsters killed his friends. Could it be the ones we’re looking for?”
The man handed something black to one of the guards in front of him. The guard tossed it into the black limo. The man turned around, fixing the collar of his coat jacket. “Hmm,” he scratched his chin. “You survived down there, boy?”
Ian nodded. The man looked familiar. He had seen him recently, but where.
“Alright, come with me. We got to get someone on this. These creatures you saw could be a threat to our great city, maybe even the country.”
Ian looked at the front of the limo. He could see all the flags stuck on antenna on the front of the limo. “Wait. You’re Reynolds Tehporp!” Ian couldn’t believe it. “The new President.”
Reynolds turned around slowly and smiled, “You betcha, son.” He held his hand out, “Come on now. Let’s get you cleaned up.” Reynolds helped Ian into the limo, “About these monsters, son.”
Ian nodded and jumped inside the limo. He dropped into one of the bench seats and let out a long sigh. The President climbed in after him and waved to his guards. The cars started to roll out and drive up across the bridge.
Ian looked at the seat across from his. The black object that was tossed in sat their staring back it him. His heart sank and dread filled his body.
The black, three-eyed mask, was sitting there right on the seat. Reynolds was looking Ian right in the eyes, “So,” he crossed his hands across his lap, “No human enters Babylon and lives. That is the law. What should we do to fix that, boy?”
Ian swallowed hard and took the last breath he would ever take.