A Nameless City (H.P. Lovecraft Tribute)

The Temple- II

"Run, go go go!" Gunther heard behind him. He twisted around, his flashlight barely piercing the dark of the tunnel behind him. He let his machine gun fire, in short bursts. He remembered seeing almost one hundred of those crocodile mummies entombed as he moved along. They were luckily past them, but he could see their short forms moving in the light of his muzzle-flash. He kept firing, eventually switching to automatic, hearing the growls and groans from the monsters. He gritted his teeth, remembering his forefathers, and their own bravery.

Johanson moved as fast as he could through the corridor. He could hear Private Bricco behind him, brething heavily and rapidly.

"Come on, just a bit farther. Then we can find a way out." Johanson tried to keep the young soldier moving, before they heard the feral growling of the mummified monsters behind them. They could hear the big machine gun Gunther carried, its sound rebounding off the stone walls. They had made a good distance before they heard the screaming. Gunther was screaming, and Johanson thought of the wall art of the creatures tearing a man apart.

They reached the end of the tunnel, when a blast of wind caught them. It tugged at them, trying to push them, but they fought on. They finally reach the end, and found themselves in a circular cave. They couldn't tell how far down it went, but there was no seeing the bottom, even though a blue light illuminated the entire cavern. In catacombs, row after row, side by side, hundreds of reptilian monsters. More than hundred- Veritable thousands. He saw that it spiraled up and down, passing each catacomb.

"Come on, the exit has to be that way!" He ran up the spiral, the smooth, gently sloping ramp. He hoped that Bricco was following, but was assured when he heard his breathing. They stopped halfway up their fourth full circle. He looked at the catacomb beside him, and watched with terror as a cold eye opened, and focused on him. Looking back, every mummy they had passed was slowly coming to life, while more poured out of the tunnel opening.

They kept sprinting, up, up, up. They finally found a tunnel showing some ambient light, and ran through it. It was low, so they had to crouch, but terror pushed them on.

"Go private! Warn everybody, and take this flare," He pressed the flare gun into the private's hand, and turned, hefting his rifle and pulling a grenade from his belt. "I don't know what the hell these things are, but I'm gonna kill as many as possible." Johanson took one last look at a photo of his family, pulled a letter from his jacket, handed it to the private, and went back through the way he came.

He emerged at the spiral, and saw monsters beginning to run up. He aimed his rifle, and one by one, shot each one. They kept coming, but he knew he had to buy time. When he saw a very large group heading up, actually pushing corpses in front of them as body shields, he rolled his first grenade down. It rolled amongst their feet, before exploding, raining flesh and ground particles everywhere. It launched beasts into the pit. He didn't wait to see the results; Instead, he went back to killing.

Bricco was crying in terror. He scrambled out of the cave, hands shaking, holding the flare gun and the Lieutenant's note. He finally emerged in a temple, and shuffled to the doorway. As soon as he tasted fresh, albeit dry, air, he fired the flare. It was green, and signaled all the troops to return to the main square. He sprinted to the square, never stopping. He heard the gunfire and explosions stop behind him, redoubling his fear.

When he got to the square, the men were ambling about, in confusion. Upon seeing Bricco, Lieutenant Themsy, a Canadian, took Bricco to one side, while the men set up a defensive perimeter.

"Easy son, what did you see?"

"I...I...I...Mummy...Everyone...The pictures...Monsters...They're coming! Oh god they're coming!" Bricco held out the note from Johanson, before crying more.

"Okay son, just sit tight, we'll be done here soon enough." Themsy gave the note to a young soldier, and pointed to a motorcycle which was just unloaded, and told him to go to Maherty with the letter.

The ground rumbled. The men shifted nervously, sharing the occasional chuckle, but all feeling cold fear.