Chapter 10[/u]
A Mask of Tragedy[/i]
They were at the base of the structure around ten minutes later, and the entire group had stopped several feet ahead of them. The fog had cleared mostly, revealing the ancient structure in full. Raynolds glanced back at Terrick, who was behind him. Wondering why they had stopped, Raynolds was about to ask the nearest person – Gerald in this case – what was going on. Instead, as he approached, he saw where Gerald – and the rest of the team – was looking. Following the gaze, Raynolds took pause and tried to process what he was seeing.
On the side of the structure, at each of the floors going up, the doors had been closed the last time they had come here. Raynolds had distinctively remembered being denied permission to open those doors, despite the possibility of them containing supplies. They had left the doors as-is.
But now, all of the doors were open. It was too dark inside to see anything, but from the looks of it, something might have been in those rooms at one point of time. Raynolds thought he could see some white material reflecting the dim sunlight, but he couldn’t exactly be sure.
From the front of the group, Bosch spoke up.
“This isn’t a very good sign. When doors open up on their own, it means that either the place is haunted by ghosts, or some unknown mechanism is starting to activate. It’s best we make top speed for the control chamber.”
The others nodded. This was eerie, to say the least. With the howling of the wind gone, only a silence hung over the entire installation…much like an ancient graveyard. It was so quite, that Raynolds could swear he could hear his own heartbeat. The group slowly started to climb up the long flight of stairs.
Along the way, Raynolds glanced back at Terrick, who was struggling with the bag he was carrying. It contained all the tools they had used for digging the graves earlier, as well as some other trinkets. Raynolds stopped and turned around, he pointed at the bag and asked.
“Terrick – need to change bags? Its best not to keep the last member bogged down.”
Terrick, for his part, simply shook his head. He pointed to one of the straps on the bag and shook his head, cursing.
“Nah…stupid strap refuses to stay on my shoulder for some reason – most likely shoddy workmanship I bet. I’ll be allright.” He indicated for Raynolds to continue on.
Raynold’s didn’t go on however, instead he waited for Terrick to right the bag. He turned around then and continued.
Glancing back, Raynolds spoke to Terrick softly, so that the others wouldn’t hear.
“Er….Terrick, mind if I ask you a small question?”
Terrick looked up and nodded.
“Go ahead.”
Raynolds glanced down to catch his step – he was now on the first level while the others had reached the second already.
“I hope you don’t mind…but if you do go back, who are going to stay with? I don’t think the GTVA are going to be very happy to see us back again.”
Terrick paused and stopped in his tracks. He thought for a second, before glancing around a bit. Finally, he looked down and sighed. Looking back at Raynolds, he replied.
“I don’t know Raynolds. Most likely, I’ll end up going to my sister’s place, if it’s still standing. But there is a better chance of her throwing me out than anything else, especially after all we’ve done for him.” Terrick spat out the last word with a burst of anger and rage. It was clear who he was referring to.
Raynolds sadly shook his head and replied in an equally angry tone.
”You’re probably right…after what we’ve done in his name, I doubt anyone is going to accept us back anymore. And now he wants to abandon us? Get real!”
Terrick paused for a moment. He looked out at the field behind them before turning back and continuing the climb. As they climbed, they continued to talk.
“Yeah, but at least we got the Shivans at our back – at the very least, I bet they could prove we were right.”
Terrick responded, wheezing a bit from the effort in carrying the bag. Raynolds glanced back, but continued nonetheless.
“Maybe…but Bosch still hasn’t told us how they are the key to saving humanity. Technically, we’ve already saved humanity – hell, as long as the Shivans stop attacking, everyone should be safe…”
He heard a slight thunk sound from behind him, along with Terricks reply.
“Hold on a sec, just gotta adjust the strap again.”
Raynolds was at the second level now. He leaned against the central structure to his left, not looking back. Instead, he looked up at the door and the others. Bosch and Gibson had already made it to the top, with the former working at the control panel. The others were at the level just above them, and some were sitting on the stairs and resting as they waited for the door to open. Raynolds continued to speak, looking down at the ground. He closed his eyes, thinking carefully as he spoke.
“That bastard, Bosch. All he thinks about is this mission for humanity. He still hasn’t specified what needs to be done, or how he’s going to go about doing it. For all we know, we could just be dooming everyone by pissing off the Shivans in some way or the other.”
“yeah, maybe. But we could just be pissing them off by not doing what they want.” Terrick replied from behind him.
Raynolds looked up at Bosch and the others again, before continuing.
“Maybe…but still, I cant help but think that there is something that Bosch isn’t telling us. And it’s probably the fact that he doesn’t know what to do either.”
Raynolds paused. He continued, somewhat angrily. “You know what? I bet he doesn’t have a damn clue about this entire operation either, and that he’s guessing as well. Whatever is up at the installation will be his ticket out, and if it’s not what he wants, I bet he’s going to find some good excuse to get rid of us as well. What do you think, Terrick?”
There was no reply from behind him. Frowning, he simply shook his head and sighed. Closing his eyes for a second, he whirled around, speaking.
“Terrick – if you’re having too much troub-“
He paused mid-sentence as he opened his eyes only to see…nothing.
Only the bag lay on the ground behind him, leaving no sign of where Terrick had gone to. Frowning, he called out, looking left and right for where Terrick might have gone.
“Terrick? Where the hell did you go?”
Walking down the steps, he reached the first level and looked around the structural piece there as well as on the other side. Still no sign of Terrick, however.
The others saw this and Gibson called out from the top, his voice echoing off the walls of the canyon. “Raynolds – what’s going on? Where’s Terrick?”
Raynolds just looked back up and shook his head. He shouted back, just as loud.
“I don’t know – he just vanished! I can’t find him anywhere!”
Gibson frowned again, and was about to reply when his eyes went wide in surprise. He shouted something at Raynolds, but the voice was drowned out by the sound of something landing very heavily behind him.
Whirling around, he looked around, trying to identify the source. Finally, he looked down and gasped. The shock forced him to take a step or two back. Lying in front of him was a body, covered almost entirely in blood and missing most it's limbs and it's head. The environmental suit had been breached and ripped apart in several locations by what appeared to be teeth marks. Then realization hit Raynolds like a kick to the gut: this was Terrick's body – but how did it get to how it was...or more importantly, what dropped it behind him?
A low growl from above him answered the question. Raynolds slowly looked up at the source of the growl. Perched just above him on the divider between the sides of the staircase was it. What it was, however, bore similarity to a myth, a legend from old human history, perhaps. It appeared to be a giant lizard, on a similar scale in size to a large dinosaur or such. However, this was no dinosaur.
The skin had a motley pattern of different shades of green, yellow and brown, and was almost entirely covered in small spikes and scales. The spikes seemed to be in significant prominence around the creature's eyes and around the triangular head. The body itself was huge and appeared heavily armored. Raynolds was surprised that it could even perch itself on the support without breaking it, or the small, thick hind legs upon which it rested. The forward arms were short, yet thick and muscular, ending in hands that held an opposable thumb and four fingers worth of incredibly sharp and incredibly dangerous claws. On the back were two massive wings that slowly unfurled themselves, stretching out for several meters. From the other side of the barrier, a long tail appeared. What was most shocking, however, was the blood all over the mouth and the teeth. An arm stuck out from the side of the mouth, still encased in it's environmental suit, and as Raynolds watch, the thing took it in, biting the suit and cracking it open easily.
It stared at him with bright green eyes that seemed to shine much like a jewel would. The eyes seemed to drill holes into his head with a burning glare, one that prevented him from looking away. The calls of the other members seemed to disappear as he continued to stare into the eyes; it's pull seemingly unbreakable. Finally, after what seemed like ages, Raynolds took another step back and then blinked.
In that one blink, the world disappeared around Raynolds. He was no longer on the ring, or indeed, anywhere near the structure he stood on just a fraction of a second ago. The world here was far, far different. He was standing in the middle of a tiled courtyard, around a hundred meters long and several meters wide. To his left was a stairway leading to another smaller courtyard that was a little ways below this one. Surrounding this courtyard were several very tall, very high structures – each with significant windows, and more surprisingly, he could see people in those windows. He instantly recognized them as apartment complexes; albiet, significantly old fashioned ones. He'd seen them in history books – such structures were only seen on Earth, and even then apartment complexes like these were rare, not to mention were torn down several years before the subspace jump collapsed. They had been replaced with the standard light-plate alloy that made up of most of the GTVA's structures.
His thoughts were interrupted, however, by a loud tapping sound coming from nearby. It was constant, repetitive...as if someone was typing away. Looking around, Raynolds traced the sound and found where it was coming from: there was somebody nearby. The person was male, and was seated in what appeared to be a small patio or the like that was in the garden. The person was around a dozen or so meters away, and appeared to be typing furiously away at something. He didn't turn or look back at Raynolds.
Deciding that standing around would do him nothing, Raynolds took a step forward and tried to say something, only to find that he couldn't move his feet at all. Looking down, Raynolds saw in shock and horror that his feet had disappeared into a black void that slowly rose up. He could still feel them, oddly, but it was just that he couldn't move them an inch. He looked up again, only to find that the surroundings had changed once again. This time he was in a dark room. It was small, and completely plain. To one side was a small bunk, and to another a small toilet. He recognized it immediately as a jail cell of sorts...but whose.
That of the creations, of course
He whirled around in surprise, unsure where the voice had come from. There was nobody behind or around him.
“Who are you?!” he shouted out, looking around for a possible source, or speakers.
Such ignorance...it is....amusing. Typical, of a creation.
The voice spoke out again. This time, Raynolds could trace it; it came from outside the cell door. There was a small window built into the door, where food was passed through it. The window was open now, but all Raynolds could see past it was a black mist. The low light in the room wasn't enough to penetrate the darkness beyond...yet, he could make out a figure in the darkness. It was moving towards him, slowly, steadily. Against, the voice spoke.
The important question is never always who....but why.
The figure was at the end of the myst now, and Raynolds could almost make it out. It was definitely humanoid. He blinked, trying to focus on it. But within that blink, the environment once again changed. This time, the cell was gone, leaving only the black myst surrounding him.
Suddenly, a massive force hit him in the front, pushing him backwards several feet. The scene changed again, this time back to where he had just been. Something flew over him, blocking the sky and the installation above them, but he couldn't exactly make out what it was, and within a second, it was gone. The voice lingered on however, leaving him with a parting sentence.
We are but his creations, just like you are...but soon, the tragedy in which he masks our fate will be removed, and the guilty shall suffer for their sins.
With that, the voice faded away, leaving him with short of breath and laying on the ground. He could hear voices nearby – that of Gibson and Sargo. They were shouting something, but Raynolds couldn't understand it.His hearing his was muddled up. He blinked, trying to catch his breath.
When he opened his eyes, though, the lizard thing was directly above him and staring right at him again.
Raynolds cursed, and immediately tried to scramble up. The creature opened it's mouth, revealing something shocking between it's crooked teeth. Terrick's head was still caught there, staring down at Raynolds with an expression of horror and pain.
Time slowed down, and the creature moved to swat Raynolds with it's upper limbs, when, out of nowhere salvation came.
Actually, that was somewhat of an overstatement. What actually came was a pickaxe. It rotated in it's journey through the air, and lodged itself straight into the creature's right eye, causing it to roar in pain and miss Raynolds completely.
Looking at it's source, Raynolds could see Gibson and Venson picking up several tools from their bags, preparing to throw it at the creature. He could hear what they were saying now. They were both shouting at him to run to them now.
And he did. Raynolds got off the ground and began to run up the stairs. He was on the second level, and had only two more to go before he reached Gibson. For their part, both the pair threw whatever they could at the creature to distract it.
Raynolds turned left at the beginning of the next level, ducking past the barrier and leaving it between him and the creature. Just as he crossed the threshold, however, the creature crashed into the struture behind him, collapsing the wall section and breaking it. It roared in pain, nearly deafening him. The debris pelted his back and his legs, causing him to slip and nearly fall face-first onto the stairs. He managed to recover, however, and continued to run up as fast as he could.
But niether Gibson and Sargo were up on the top floor. Instead, he saw both their backs as they were moving away from him and into the hallway. He glanced back, and then realized why. In the sky behind him, where dozens of the things, all flying to their location, and all more than likely hell-bent in killing them all. Then he looked back up at the platform....and saw him.
Bosch was looking up at the creatures as well, before he then turned his gaze downwards at Raynolds, standing stiffly at attention. He had a somewhat sad expression on his face, and simply shook his head. Behind him, Raynolds could see that the doorway was slowly closing shut.
It was only then he realized what Bosch had done, and was doing. He had ordered the other two in, and was closing the doorway. But at this rate, Raynolds wouldn't be able to make it in time.
Bosch was leaving him out here – out here to die.
No. He wasn't allowing that to happen – not after what he had to go through! And those things...that voice.
They met eye contact for a second, and it only confirmed what Raynolds had feared. Bosch then turned around and headed for the doorway.
Using all of his strength, Raynolds ran up the stairways, not even stopping for a breath. He ran up the staircase, not caring of what was behind him. He could feel the creature there somewhat, but it was still recovering from the impact against the wall. However, it would be after him again within a few seconds.
He ran up to the third floor, and changed sides again, in an attempt to dodge the thing. He could hear a loud roar from behind him as it recovered and began the chase again. There was one last flight of stairs to go before he made it up, however. Raynolds took a breath and didn't stop. He ran all the way up the stairs, making a new personal record for himself. He didn't know what made him run up that fast, or how he managed it – it must have been the adrenaline just then. Either way, a few seconds later, he found himself at the edge of the platform, witnessing the massive doors slowly closing ahead of him.
But his speed had paid off – there was still some space left in the centre of the door, near the bottom. He ran forwards as fast as he could, hoping to make it before it either closed, or closed before he was all the way through. The world slowed down as a second adrenaline rushed through his viens.
It was going to be close – but he had a shot at makig it! When Raynolds was around a meter out, he leapt through the air – the door still had around a half a meter wide gap, and it was closing really slow. He was going to make it! A feeling of joy went through him as he flew through the air – nothing was going to stop him – not that stupid creature, not Bosch.
And then, the door suddenly sped up as the mechanism locked it to place, closing it completely. Raynolds only had time to bring down his head and lower the tumble before slamming into the door at full speed. He cried in pain as he hit it, crumpling it and falling to the ground.
A second later, however, he staggered back up, pounding away at the door. He shouted, hoping that someone would hear on the other side.
“God damn you, Bosch! Open this door, open it now!! I'm right here, damnit!”
Then he heard a low growl from behind him. It was the same one as before. Turning around, he saw the thing had landed behind him, and it was now slowly moving towards him. But it moved too slow...as if it was just approaching him, before it then stepped to the side. Behind it, Raynolds could see the other creatures had landed at the bottom of the structure, and were working their way up. He tried looking around for a weapon, something – anything to help him against that thing. If he was going to die, then he may as well do it fighting.
You may try to fight...but know that your fate is not to die.
