Chapter 156 - Urgency

Zwei rushed into the hallway with a sudden urgency, leaving Finn behind.

The cat’s meow had set off the shadows, as if it had awoken the critters in his mind. The entire hallway began to warp as the shadows churned and deepened.

An intense fear built up in his throat as he found himself compelled to follow the meowing of the cat. Even as his instincts were screaming at him to flee, he couldn’t help but run into the darkness.

In three steps Zwei was at the door in the center of the hall. He clutched at both sides of the rotten wood frame as he looked down a stairwell that led into the earth.

He could only see the first dozen rickety wooden steps in the dim light. The narrow stairwell had been haphazardly dug at a steep angle directly into the earth. The dirt walls were uneven with rocks and roots protruding out. A few supporting beams had been built at intervals, though they were rotten and buckling from the weight of the earth.

The darkness was alive with shadows. Elongated, glossy insects with hundreds of legs scurried about, crawling over the round bodies of beetles and worms formed a living carpet on the walls and ceiling. A soft hush of whispers emanated from deep within the stairwell, ebbing and flowing like a soft breeze.

They were calling out to Zwei.

Sweat trickled down the back of Zwei’s neck as his fingers subconsciously dug into the door frame. Blood began to trickle from his hand as the rotten wood caved in and broke off from the pressure.

Down at the limits of his vision, a brown and white tail flicked about. Two yellow slitted eyes shone in the darkness out at him, making eye contact and then instantly turning away and scampering down the steps.

“Ahh!” Zwei let out a cry as he launched himself down the stairs after the cat. “Zwei! Wait!” Finn reached out to grab his partner but missed.

The grey-haired officer cursed as he braced himself against the doorway and looked down into the darkness. To him, the stairwell was dark, but he did not see anything unusual in the shadows.

Still, he’d seen the fear in Zwei’s eyes, and recognized the anxious, desperate way in which he’d thrown himself into the darkness. It was the same fear that had driven Finn to follow the stream of shadows in the woods the previous night. Finn hadn’t heard any cat, but whether it was real or not didn’t matter; Finn understood exactly what Zwei was going through.

“Here we go.” Finn muttered under his breath as he drew his pistol and took off after Zwei.

~

The stairs groaned under Zwei’s feet as he rushed down them two by two, taking a sharp right turn before continuing downward. His hands reached out to the walls to stabilize himself as he descended, the root-filled dirt changing to damp, rocky clay.

The shadow critters reached out to him, pouring down the stairwell after him as he passed. He could feel their fat, wet bodies slap against his skin and clothes as they fell from the ceiling onto him.

At the edges of his vision the cat’s tail flickered just at the edge of his vision. He screamed the entire way as he chased it down into the darkness.

As he landed heavily on a rotten step it snapped and collapsed under his feet.

He tumbled down, bringing down an entire section of steps with him until he finally crashed against the bottom of the staircase.

He groaned, slowly uncovering his head with his arms.

It was completely dark. He couldn’t see a thing as he pulled himself up to his knees. Wooden chips, splinters and dirt tumbled off his body onto the cold earthen floor. He had a few bumps and bruises, but otherwise wasn’t injured.

“Zwei! Are you alright?” Finn’s called down from above him. “Zwei!”

Zwei was about to answer when he felt a presence in the darkness.

His eyes snapped forward as a soft bluish light blossomed and illuminated a figure sitting in the darkness. The figure was limp and motionless, leaning against the wall with his head bowed. His face was concealed by a metallic half mask that was dark and stained.

Zwei instantly recognized him as Locke, their supervisor.

There was a flintlock pistol on the floor next to his right hand, and a gaping hole in the side of his head. His entire body was swarming with insects.

From the look of the scene he had committed suicide at least a day ago.

Zwei raised a hand to cover his nose as he became aware of the terrible stench emanating off the corpse. He stared at the body in shock as he pushed himself to his feet and slowly approached it.

The skittering of the insects grew more frantic as he stepped forward. They poured out of the nooks and crannies of the the heavy trenchcoat and scurried into the shadows. As Zwei continued stepping forward he realized that the bugs weren’t running from the light. No, they were fleeing away from him.

A cascade of whispers emanated from the darkness around him. As Zwei drew closer to Locke’s body he realized that he was beginning to understand them.

A coarse, raspy voice rattled amongst the whispers, incomprehensible murmurings interrupted frequently by hoarse laughter.

“...Locke?” Zwei asked. His mouth was dry as dust.

The laughter continued for several seconds before calming down.

The air became thick as a silence muted the sounds around him.

From within that silence, Locke’s voice said clearly, “Come closer.”

Zwei’s hairs stood on the back of his neck as he took a step back.

“Come closer, Zwei.” Locke’s voice called to him, chuckling playfully, “Help me.”

Zwei didn’t reply but took another step back.

The laughter ceased as Locke’s tone suddenly became violently aggressive as it growled “I said, come close, boy!”

Zwei’s body suddenly jerked forward as he involuntarily flung himself toward the corpse. He landed on top of the body, knocking it to the ground out of its sitting position.

The mask fell off the body and clattered to the floor, revealing the sinewy, skinless face behind it.

“Ahh!” Zwei cried out, straining against the invisible force with every fibre of his being.

The shadows billowed and churned violently as Zwei was forced down on his hands and knees in front of the corpse. His entire body trembled as he was forced to stare into the face of the corpse.

Locke’s sinewy flesh began to shift and squirm as numerous bumps underneath the skin began protruding out. The flesh broke as sharp, glass-like gems pushed out of Locke’s eyes, cheeks and forehead. The softly glowing crystals fell onto the floor, tinkling against each other as they sparkled in the darkness.

Zwei groaned, whimpering as he involuntarily reached out to one of the crystals. His fingers trembled as they scraped forward to clutch at a grape sized gem.

As his skin came in contact with the gem, it liquified and melted into his palm. His hand felt like it was being flossed with barbed wire as a sharp, searing pain jolted up his arm. He screamed even as his hands reached out for another gem.

~

“Zwei!” Finn called down into the darkness, “Zwei! Can you hear me?”

The ash-grey haired officer stood on the last intact wooden step of the staircase. He had proceeded more carefully than Zwei, and had only heard the crash as Zwei took half the staircase down with him. He had been calling out for a minute but had not heard anything in response.

Finn braced himself against the rocky wall as he pulled a match from his pocket and lit it. The matchstick sputtered to life, but its light was too deep to penetrate the shadow below.

Finn had no idea how far down Zwei had fallen, but Finn wasn’t keen on following without a surefire way to get back up.

As the match reached the end of its life he tossed it down into the dark. It sputtered out on the sloped earth before falling too far.

“I need to find a rope or something to lower myself down.” Finn muttered, turning to head back up the stairs.

Before he even took a step he heard a soft voice in his head, “Don’t leave! He needs you!”

Finn spun around in surprise with his finger on the trigger.

“You need to go down there, before it’s too late.” The feminine voice said, “Otherwise a great tragedy will occur.”

Finn’s mind jumped to a conclusion as he spoke out softly, “Are you the white maiden?”

The voice sounded flustered as she replied, “Yes, now go!”

Finn glanced down at the broken steps, hesitating. He’d already leapt off into pure darkness once in the past week. It was definitely not something he wanted to do again.

However, the urgency in the feminine voice forced him to make a decision.

Finn stepped down onto the dirt below the lowest step. Bracing himself against the wall he half walked, half slid down the steep slope into the darkness below.