The DOOM Chronicles

Chapter 47: Before the End

Kyra phased through the unreality that was Hell and appeared in a worryingly small room.

The surfaces were all made of different colors and types of rock, and the ceiling was barely half a foot over the top of her helmet. The room itself was perhaps ten feet long by six wide, with no obvious way out, and that made for a hell of a claustrophobic environment. Which only grew more so as the others teleported in behind her.

The only thing she had for company besides them were some really red torches, burning silently in each of the corners.

"Well this is a bad start," Carpenter muttered.

"Yep, start looking for a way out," Kyra replied.

They each began moving around the small room, checking the walls, but as Kyra walked up to the one at the front, a narrow strip of the floor, right up against that wall, began to lower slowly.

"Think I found it, Linaweaver, Falcheck, onboard! You two wait here and cover our six," she said.

The two joined her as it continued to descend. For a few seconds, they remained in a tight, enclosed space. But then, suddenly, the wall in front of them ran out, and their view was opened into a vast red place.

"Shit guys, jump! It's still descending!" she called. "Off the platform!" she added to the others, to make room for Carpenter and Powell, as the way ahead of them was just a five foot drop that was getting closer even as they spoke.

They dropped off, onto a shelf of green rock with walls of cracked stone behind and to either side. Carpenter and Powell grunted as they made the drop out of the initial room, and landed shortly before the descending platform settled into place.

"Fucking-my knees are gonna blow out," Carpenter groaned.

"Whoa...holy fucking shit, this place..." Powell muttered.

"That's a lot of blood," Linaweaver said.

Kyra had agree. She was still taking it all in. The plateau they now stood on let out into a vast cavern, the walls and ceiling of which were made of that green-brown rock. The floor, which was a solid twenty feet down, was covered in blood, a small ocean of blood. In the middle of this vast room was a tiered stone island, home to some more torches and, at the top, out of sight, the piece of demon tech they needed to sabotage.

As it stood right now, she had no way of getting there. Even if they dropped down into the blood and walked over, then she gave one of them a boost up, the lowest tier of the island was too high to reach that way. And there was no immediately obvious way of climbing, either. It all looked smooth. No handholds, no stairs, no ladder, no nothing.

In fact, she wasn't even sure how to get off this place without jumping. She looked around and spied a button behind her, to the right.

"Everyone get ready, I'm gonna push this," she said.

They all readied their weapons. Kyra hit the button. With a loud click, something began grinding into place. She followed the source of the sound to a path that, as it locked into place, connected their little platform to something out of sight, around a wall to their left. She heard the unmistakable sound of Imps somewhere nearby, and the groan of a zombie. Hefting her assault rifle, she stepped up to the narrow pathway.

"On my six," she said, and set off.

They were close, they were so close. She just wanted this done and over with. She wanted out of this wretched abyss. The pathway led to an area clinging to the side of the vast stone walls, with tiered flooring of white cobble, and a platform with slanted walls and green-flamed torches centered around a skinned corpse hanging from a chain around his neck. A few Imps and zombies were hanging about, and she blasted them with a series of quick, well-place bursts, killing each and dropping them like bricks on Jupiter.