The DOOM Chronicles

Chapter 44: The Abandoned Mines

"Man, I already hate this place," Hollenshead said as he studied the room they had come to.

"Yeah...I'm not getting great vibes," Cortez muttered. "I mean, I haven't since I saw my first demon, just..."

"I get it," Jack agreed. "Just stay sharp and we'll get through this."

Jack studied the room they'd arrived in, their first stop in the Abandoned Mines. The room the teleport let out into was roughly oval shaped, the floor made of strangely generic wooden planks, the walls of that dark green, bolt-studded plate iron they seemed so fond of in Hell lately, and up above was just rough dark tan rock. The walls behind and to either side of them were solid plates, but directly ahead was one of those switch-buttons, a silver plate embedded in the wall with two squares next to it. One dark and dead, the other lit up red.

To either side of this button were iron cage walls that gave them a view of what was to come. Lighting the way were a pair of brass candle-holders, the bases of which were piles of tiny skulls, and the flames were curiously bright emerald.

Each view through the iron bars let out onto larger rooms, the floors of which were bubbling acid pits, and from the ceiling hung several torsos, some of them upside-down, some right side up. At a glance they appeared to be a random selection of civilians and technicians and a few Marines, based on what they were wearing.

The nearest and most obvious was a man wearing a leather black jacket, hung upside down by his entrails, blood dripping occasionally down into the bubbling toxic acid below.

There were other iron bars in the walls below, and he saw shadowy figures moving around, and heard the strange gurgle-clicking of Imps, as well as some kind of heavy breathing. He could see why the place was called a mine. Somehow, in some way that he wasn't able to articulate, it gave the impression of a mineshaft. Or, at the very least, it certainly gave the impression of being deep underground.

"Now what?" Hollenshead asked.

"Weapons check," Jack replied, backing away from the bars and looking over his own arsenal. "I want to make sure we're all double ready for action. There's bad guys around and I feel like we've had it easy so far. Call me paranoid, but I think we're in for some heavier fighting."

"Probably," Jennifer agreed as she looked over her shotgun. She sighed. "I definitely need something sturdier than this."

"Hopefully there's some heavier firepower laying around somewhere," Cortez said.

A moment later they were all ready. Jack stepped up to the switch. "We good? Anything can happen."

They all responded with sharp affirmations, ready, hopefully, for whatever Hell was prepared to throw their way.

Jack hit the switch. The top red square went dark and the bottom one flared green. At almost the same instant, everyone let out sounds of shock as the entire floor dropped sharply down. It stopped after about ten feet and they stumbled, regaining their footing. Jack now found himself facing an open hallway, the walls of which showed more iron bars, and a Chaingunner stood not four feet in front of him. It roared and began spooling up its weapon.

He didn't give it a chance, blowing its domed head clean off its broad shoulders with a double-barrel blast. Cracking open his shotgun, he hastily reloaded as a cacophony of roars and groans went up. The hallway continued on for maybe ten feet before dropping down. Something was coming, stomping towards him.

A moment later, another bald head with monstrous red eyes embedded in a hideous face began appearing as another Chaingunner stomped up the steps to greet them. Jack switched to his assault rifle and split its skull open with a well-placed burst of gunfire. They waited, but nothing else showed up. Jack sighed heavily.