Claustrophobia

Chapter 1

My name is Vanya.Today,my nation declared war on the APF,I was included in the front line force.All of my comrades but one were slaughtered.Most before we even got out of the landing craft.But I intend to survive.I intend to outlive everyone.

Right now I'm in a dark tunnel with my newfound friend Vladislav,trying to light a fire for warmth.We managed to take a medical officer's kit.In there we found rations,medical supplies and various other items useful for survival.Such as a lighter.

We know the rations won't last us too long so we'll have to go search for more soon.But for the time being,we're just waiting in this cold and dark tunnel,waiting for the rain outside to stop.There is a single door with cold concrete steps leading up to it,but we haven't worked up the courage to search in there yet.We have our fire in between two parallel railway tracks,and if there was to be a train today,then we would not live another day.

There was a large factor my nation's military generals,had not considered.It was soon to be Winter.A time when the hellish things on Earth can become even more hellish in such a radioactive environment,it was cold,and the snow provided great cover for the demons.

It was still raining,we were getting hungry,as we had finished up all the rations already.We had a thought about exploring what was inside that door on the side.Vladislav picked up a torch and everything else we had,so no one took it while we were exploring.I stamped out the fire.

Our boots echoed against the concrete steps leading up the door.There were five steps,and a rusty handrail on either side.Why?Who knows,it doesn't seem very necessary,considering how wide the steps were.Perhaps it was because of some useless safety regulation.

Vladislav wrenched the door open.I stepped in after him.He clicked the button on his torch and a circle of light appeared on the wall in front of us.It seemed there was already a bend to the right.Unfortunately as soon as he had let go of the door handle,it started slowly closing,perhaps because of the wind,or some forgotten soul who had nothing else to express his boredom on.

I could hear water dripping,then the door slammed shut behind me,wind I think it was,but who knows,perhaps it was some supernatural being,perhaps God had come back to look over his children.

But all I could hear was the dripping of water,and all I could see was what the circle of light shined on.There was a rusty green box with a Red Cross on the front mounted onto the wall.I opened it,inside was nothing but an empty painkiller jar.It seemed someone had already taken it all.

We walked through the cold,damp and silent corridor.We went around bends until the circle of light came to rest on a path barred by rusty iron bars,with a rusty door at the side.The hinges looked completely destroyed,and there used to be glass in the door,but it was all smashed now.Instead we focused on the fact that the hinges were so rusted away that it looked like we could just pull the door out of the frame.

I motioned to him to take one side.And so he grabbed one side,and I the other,and we wrenched the door from the frame and we tried to lay it gently on the floor,gently we did not however.The door hit the concrete floor with a loud clang which echoed through the quiet corridor.

There was not much dust on the ground here.We simply tread further through the corridor,there was a fuse box on the wall.The front seemed to have been taken off,inside there were shredded wires.A loud clang made me jump.Something had fallen over.

We pointed the torch's beam further down the corridor and it rested on an overturned table in a chamber which was also made out of concrete,however it seemed to have basic furniture.I whispered to Vladislav to point his torch beam at a shape in the dark.He pointed his beam at it,the light revealed four legs and a..... seat.It was a simple wooden chair,the wood was rotting slowly away however.

I could sense an ominous presence in the tunnels.I took my gun off my back and pointed it into the room,Vladislav followed suit,but since he was holding the torch with one hand,he only took out the medical officer's pistol so he could still hold the torch.A flash of light illuminated everything in the room,it was a bar,there were people here having drinks,they were having conversations and laughing at jokes they made,we walked in,lowered our guns and said hello in English,though we were not sure what Earth country we were in.But these jovial people did not acknowledge our presence in any way.Suddenly it was all gone,there were no longer any people,no light,it was dark again.The table was on its side again.I am not sure what this was,perhaps a vision,or a daydream for what once was,maybe my mind was seeing things it wanted to see,perhaps it had grown so delusional that it wanted simple peace,a nice jovial sight for it to enjoy,however untruthful it was.

Vladislav was once again moving his torch beam around,until it came to rest on a light switch.He motioned me forward,I put my finger on it and pressed,but nothing happened.I had forgotten the fuse box was destroyed."Doesn't work" I said.So he continued to swivel his beam around the room,it swept over dusty glasses resting on a bar counter.I walked over to it to see if there was anything under the counter,something crunched under my feet.I looked down,the ground around the bar was coated with glass shards.There was a solitary shotgun shell resting on a shelf under the counter.I reached down and picked it up.

Vladislav once again swept his torch beam around the room,when once again a bright flash of light happened,the room was no longer dark again,and there were people enjoying drinks and happy conversations,more than I could ever hope for,however I wanted to converse with these seemingly immaculate people,without a care in the world,however all of them ignored me.At last I saw someone who seemed willing to have a conversation leaning on the wall,he outstretched his hand to me,I extended mine to meet it,but then I heard something crunch.I was standing on what appeared the bones of a forearm.All of a sudden it was once again dark,all of the bliss atmosphere had disappeared.All I could see was Vladislav's torch beam resting on a skeleton who was leaning against the wall,one arm reached out,however it was missing the forearm.Its mouth was eternally open in a joyless smile,a joyless laugh.A cobweb was suspended in one of his eye sockets.A spider was sitting further back inside his skull,where there seemed to be no end to cobwebs.I suddenly felt anger at the spider,to violate the corpse of a man like that,to treat his head like a place to eat,sleep and kill in.It didn't respect this man.It simply sat inside his skull,not caring to think about the indignity of the man.

I turned my gun around so I was holding the barrel,and I swept the stock into the skull from my shoulder,the skull exploded into a thousand fragments,the old pieces of bone flew everywhere,and I could no longer spot the spider.The deafening shattering sound echoed in the small room.I then realised what I had done.I was worse than the spider,I had thought the spider a disrespectful monster who violated this man's corpse,but I,I swung a gun into his head,and broke it.

I motioned to Vladislav,who was quite obviously confused as to why I have done that,and he followed me through the door way,through more damp concrete corridors.

In the further cold dark tunnels,there was still nothing but the sound of dripping water.Then I realised something.What had overturned that table?And is it still here?I can't help but notice how a rusty ventilation grille is on the ground,and there is a rectangular hole on the hole,it's too dark to see what's in there,but I know it can't be anything good.

Vladislav reaches his hand in to see what's inside.He pulls his hand out,clutching something in it.He opens his hand.It's a finger.A human finger.And it looks like something had nibbled on it.He drops it instantaneously.I nudge him,and motion with my hand to keep walking.

The torch's circle of light revealed what seemed to be an elevator,there were five buttons.Four were labelled 1-4 and the last one was a word in a language we didn't understand.I pressed the 4,assuming it would take us higher.I assumed wrong.

The elevator shuddered,and started moving with a grinding sound,age old machinery was moving for the first time in what seemed like years,and it took us further down into what I would later learn was hell.