The DOOM Chronicles

Chapter 04: Midnight Distress

It was the middle of the next day and nothing was better.

After spending the night with Jennifer again, they'd both gotten up a little before her roommate was supposed to get back, (Jack still didn't know the policy on fraternizing but figured it was pretty lax like most other policies up here), grabbed a light breakfast, and then hit the gym. That first section of the day seemed almost regular. The power surges weren't quite as consistent, the techs and Space Marines populating the hallways and junctions and mess were talking about other things besides all the weird shit going on lately. Well, sort of.

The infirmaries weren't full.

But not long after his shift started, that feeling of unease began again. He wasn't just patrolling corridors today, now his orders stipulated that he had to check out a number of rooms that he passed along the way, most of them storage rooms or maintenance areas. He just had to basically step inside and make sure that 'nothing was out of order', whatever the hell that meant. Of course, he was on his own again today, no partner.

The third room he'd checked out was a small, square thing that housed a stack of crates and a dirty, oily workbench scattered with tools and spare parts. There was no one in the room. That was creepy enough, because it looked like someone had been in the middle of fixing something at the workbench. There was some kind of piece of equipment there that Jack didn't recognize, some complex thing of circuitry and bright chromed metal, and it was partially disassembled. What was worse, however, was what was scrawled on the wall above the workbench in black, oily writing that looked like it had been done with someone's finger.

THE END IS NEAR

The oil had run, giving the words a creepy, melted look.

Jack had called it in and hung out there until a pair of stern looking Corporals showed up to check the room out. And probably clean it up. He'd resumed his patrol, but all of the vaguely comfortable feelings he'd been gathering over the past several hours were immediately ejected from his skull and replaced with a slow, cold, creeping horror that he'd been experiencing ever since he'd gotten the word that he was getting upshipped to Mars.

Of course, it had never truly left him, hiding in the background ever since he'd seen that shredded corpse. His mind kept wanting to get away from it.

Jack stepped into a bathroom and swept the room with his gaze. It was a thing of polished white tile and silver divider walls between the urinals and toilet stalls. Jeez, what was it with this place and polished everything? It was like a universe of chromed silver. Well, it certainly gave the place a hi-tech feel, which was probably what the UAC wanted to exude, even when you were taking a dump. Jack moved slowly through the room, seeing that none of the stall doors were closed. He had the place to himself.

He checked out the stalls and a little maintenance closet at the back of the room, finding nothing out of order and began to head back out. That was when his helmet radio crackled to life, causing him to freeze in place and his heart to jump in his chest.

"Ward, got new orders for you. We've got a scientist that's gone MIA. Last time he was seen, he was heading into Mars City Underground. I've updated your PDA with a map and proper clearance. Get down there, find him and convince him to get upstairs, to the nearest infirmary. Do not hurt him, we believe that he may be having a panic attack. Over," Blackwell said.

"Understood, Sergeant. I'll get right on it. Over."

"Tell me something, Ward," Blackmore continued as Jack checked his PDA and then started making his way towards the nearest entrance to Mars City Underground. "I read your file, I know about what happened in Keferistan. Do you regret it?"