The depths of the underground  

 {pictures} 

While Breder sat in the depths of the city's underground organizing his troops, he could feel the war... The deaths… the screams… the smells…it excited him just as much as it broke his heart… he hated to watch his children die… but this was war… and like all wars… troops die… but that pain aside, the underground dwelling he was in, began to collapse in on itself at the building on top sank beneath the destruction from above! 

As the rocks fell and the bodies washed in, Breder crawled out of the hole and into a strange building… a building made of solid metal and rusty rocks… a place that looked odd… like the walls were peeling themselves apart… were strange fog made of steam roamed the halls… 

{what is this place…} said Breder to himself as a few of his kindred pulled themselves out of the muck. 

[father…] said one kindred 

{silence!} replied Breder as he felt the wind shift suddenly 

As the fog fled with the shifting wind, Breder saw a red light in the shape of a triangle, that looked to be scanning the area. Quickly hiding to observe, he felt the wind move again, and this time with the moving wind, the sound of a plasma round rang! Curious Breder waved through the fog carefully as he inched closer to the action… 

Through the pipes and rusty metal, Breder saw what looked to be something like a turret one would normally see in a military base, but this clearly wasn't a normal one made by humans… the aesthetics looked more alien… while avoiding the scanning turret, Breder eyes fell upon a blood trace… wondering if he should follow them, he looked back at his kindred and noticed that they were only drones… weak ones that just hatched not long ago… umm… Not wanting to lose one under his watch if he could help it, Breder gave up on the thought of following the blood trail, until one of his kindred said: 

[father… that blood trail… what is it? That blood doesn't smell like it's from a human… should we chase it?] 

{no! That blood… it… It makes me feel uneasy… It reeks of decay…} replied Breder 

[decay? Father… you mean like a corpse?] 

{yes, like a corpse….} replied Breder through squinted eyes… 

As Breder said those words with puzzlement, his kindred looked at each other in a worried gaze, as they had never seen their father acting this way before… but as the sparks continued to buzz and above ground, a fight between two monsters was going on, Breder decided it would be better not to dwell here for long…but as they left the blood behind, Breder couldn't help but wonder why it smelled like that, and hope it wasn't what he thinks it might be… 

{listen... Just follow me! We're headed back up and out of this building!} continued Breder as they traced along the walls. 

But while they continued to crawl along the walls, they ran into several more gun placements and had to keep changing directions! 

{dammit! Why do they have so many guns? They're even in the vents! Better yet how are they still functioning?} question Breder to himself as he got increasingly agitated 

[Ding! Breder… I think I know why… those placements are very old… and not fully man-made…] said Vice 

{not fully man-made?} replied Breder 

 [yes... And it's a good thing you haven't tested them against your armor yet… it might have ended badly for you if you had…] replied Vice 

{okay… thanks for the heads up, but then that begs the question... What are they?} replied Breder 

[...] 

[I... don't fully know… I think…] said vice before being interrupted by a loud bang! 

With that bang, the noise carried in the dark waterlogged hallways for a while before finally echoing out… feeling a little on edge, Breder scanned the area, only to see nothing… with a sigh, he took one step forward, when they heard a roar like that of an elk or deer mixed with something else… a disturbing calling roar to be sure…. 

But with nowhere else to go, Breder followed after the roar… while getting close to where the roar was, Breder walked past huge claw marks against the walls! Studying the marks for a moment, Breder began formulating what the creature in this building could be and he was hoping he was wrong… 

{decaying blood… A deer call… and now huge claws marks…} thought Breder to himself, as he arrived closer to the roar… 

But once he made it to the stop where he was sure the roar came from nothing was there… nothing but destroyed bars… and a terrible odor 

[ding!] chimed Vice suddenly! 

{Ah! Damnit! Vice! don't do that!} yelled back Breder in his mind as his kindred saw him jump like a scared kitten for some unknown reason. 

[sorry, Breder… I didn't mean to scare you, but those bars are made of a type of precious metal that is extremely hard to find… after all, it is a metal only that could have only come from the stars!] said Vice excitedly 

{from the stars? You mean someone like me?} asked Breder 

[Correct! And I suggest you collect it! It will prove to be useful for you later, but you will need more of it…] replied Vice 

{how much more?} replied Breder 

[that would depend on what you want… but let's worry about that later… what you should be worried about right now, is why is this precious metal doing here? And shaped into bars like a jail cell…] replied Vice 

At the word jail, Breder's eyes widened as he looked further into the cell, for in the cell stood a strange open-ended coffin like that of a piece of metal strapped to the wall covered with broken guns and specially made straps! 

Aaron and Marvin POV: 

While recovering on the roof, Aaron asked: 

[so… who are you really Marvin? I doubt you're just some random busybody] 

[what? Can't you tell… I used to be a cop in this town.] replied Marvin while strapping his leg up. 

[how can I tell? You look nothing like a cop… much less act like one other than saving my butt back there! Oh! And thanks for that… you saved my life…] replied Aaron with a smile 

[Ya… thank you to for not leaving me… and I… no longer wear the uniform… I don't deserve to… not after my precinct was overrun by those things…] replied Marvin with heavy eyes. 

[Anyway, I rather not talk about that… we need to quickly leave town and we landed on the worst possible building…] replied Marvin 

[worse? What is so bad about this building? Is it not just some random warehouse?] replied Aaron confused 

[This was originally a warehouse but as you know, with the monsters encroaching into the cities, we lost most of our jails! And I shouldn't need to tell you why that's a problem… after all, a huge influx of scared people into a small area is bound to breed problems! So, the former mayor changed it into a new jail. 

But with the death of the 'mayor,' and the pirates taking over, the building became like a mini fortress to control the people who were… less inclined to their presence.] replied Marvin with a feeling of uneasiness. 

[oh…OH!] replied Aaron as it dawned on him... 

[this is going to be annoying…] continued Aaron as he counted his bullets, 

[I agree, the way down will be a mess while assuming the monster didn't get to them first…] replied Marvin 

[monsters? I was more worried about all the locked doors! Or any surviving guards mistaking us for monsters or prisoners and shooting at us! Or hell even any trap-like mechanism set up by the pirates!] replied Aaron 

[Umm… traps… you know Aaron…] replied Marvin 

[what?] replied Aaron 

[just pray that if we do fall for any traps, that they are indeed set up by the pirates… at least that way we may actually have a chance…] replied Marvin with squinted eyes 

[well, that wasn't crypted much… what is that supposed to mean?] question Aaron with a raised brow. 

But Marvin didn't reply to Aaron's request, and so with their injuries wrapped up the best they could be, the pair made their way down the stairs. With walls covered in thick layers of dust and rust, where the heating and cooling were long since abandoned, the pair entered a pitch-black hallway where the only lights were the fires that they could see right outside the windows. 

[Dammit! It's so dark! Do you have a light Marvin?] replied Aaron as he was feeling a little jumpy. 

[umm... the only light I have is light from a lighter I used to smoke my last batch! Sigh, I could really go for a smoke right about now…] replied Marvin whipping out the lighter. 

But with its tiny flame, the hallway let up to blood and gore as corpses piled makeshift cells, were in the very halls were painted rusty red… And with the smell of rot, Aaron asked: 

[what… happened here? The bodies…. They don't look like they were all done in, by the monsters… most have gunshot wounds…] 

To Aaron's words, Marvin bent down near the corpse of a guard's men… and while he studied the corpse, he noticed the killing blow wasn't done by what he normally saw by these monsters… concerned, he asked Aaron to help him check out a few more corpses… 

[mutiny or prison break…. Which you think it was?] asked Aaron 

[possibly both… some of the corpses do have gunshot wounds, but… something not right…. I just can't place my finger on it… some of the corpses just feel out of place…] replied Marvin with stress. 

But not knowing what to make of the corpses, the pair continued to walk through the eerie hallways with cautious silence... with only a faint lighter to light their way, where each thirsty step was met with a quenching bloody pool! 

[squash...squash...squash…] 

Each squashing step louder than the next, for with each step their nerves increased, as the bodies of the dead increased… and then they heard it… a creaking noise from somewhere in the dark… with a quick eye exchange the pair tensed up. With their guns at the ready, they saw a quick shadow moving through their dim light across the hall! 

After waiting what seemed like hours, the pair continued their walk across the dead, but when they arrived where they believed the shadow had moved, they were met with the corpse of an alien! Wanting to examine the body further, they slowly approached it but stopped shortly after, for they saw steam that was filled with the sounds of cracking! They figured what they were seeing and hearing must be because the acid blood was eating away at the floor! 

Afraid the floor might give, the pair refused to get any closer and were debating how to cross when Marvin noticed something odd about the corpses on the floor: 

[Is it me… or does it look like the corpses around the alien are missing their jaws?] 

[it's not just that! Look at the monster! It looks like someone was trying to eat it!] replied Aaron in disgust. 

[you don't think the people here actually tried to eat the monster's corpse... right? I mean we all know about their acidic blood…] continued Aaron with nerves 

[honestly… I don't know what to believe anymore…] replied Marvin as cold sweat began to drip down his back. 

But as the two stared silently at the crossroad, the sound of a tin can rolling suddenly broke the silence! Feeling invisible pressure, the pair decided to quickly leave going down a different direction, when they heard violent vibrations from the pipes above their heads! 

Fearing the worst they picked up the pace, from a light jug to an all-out sprint as the vibration of the pipes seemed to follow their every step! With fear on their back, Marvin with his injury, trips over a corpse that was in the way! Quickly turning around with his gun in the air, he noticed all was quiet… the vibrations of the pipes stopped… even Aaron stopped abruptly and didn't dare move! 

Confused Marvin slowly got up and was about to touch Aaron on the shoulders, when he noticed why Aaron stopped moving… why he was so quiet… for in the shadows stood a figure of a man… but it wasn't normal… It was twitching… and growling in low murres… thankfully his back was towards them but still… it felt wrong… 

With his finger against his lips in a hush fashion, Marvin moved closer with his lighter… but when the dim light touched the man's back… Marvin saw horns made of bone sticking out of the man's head… she saw blood dripping down his onto the floor! He noticed the man's hands weren't that of a human but of something more feral… Marvin then made a mistake… 

[sir… are you alright…] 

He spoke! And to his words, the man suddenly turned around! With dead eyes and a chest ripped open! With teeth of that of an animal! 

[oh! Shit!] said Marvin and Aaron simultaneously! 

With a loud growl, the man charged at them! Marvin then quickly shot the man in the chest, but it didn't stop him! The man just roared more and with a hand ready to grab Marvin, when Aaron shot in the head! Blowing half its face off! But with a half-open skull and what looks to be like a black tar substance oozing down its head, the man wouldn't die! 

[is it an undead?] yelled Aaron in disbelief 

[that is not possible! That's only an old folk tale!] screamed Marvin as the man in front of him unhinged his jaw and with a fattening throat, made a horrible roar that sounded similar to a deer call. 

Scared the pair were about to keep shooting it when a black tail came from above and skewered the man through the chest and took him above pipes! Realizing what the tail was, Marvin screamed! 

[run!] 

Running, the pair could hear multiple roars behind them; they could see the corpse at their feet begin to move! Their hands reaching out and their mouth muttering nonsense! Fear couldn't describe what the pair were feeling… As countless undead men would rise up from the side! 

And so, to the tune of roars and creaking, the pair just ran past all the zombies until they arrived at a rusty patchwork door made by the pirates! Wasting no time, the pair both used their bodies to slam it open! But as they fell through the door, they broke its locks! And through the dark, they could hear them coming!