***
Up until now Rafe has never encountered such a bloodied mess. He knew when they saw the metal lock-up, worn out and rusting away that they would not encounter something pleasant inside, but he had never imagined this. They knew they shouldn’t have gone so far into the woods, this area was forbidden, marked as another packs territory.
The door may as well have crumbled away in his hands from its fragile state, the sunlight immediately seeps through, slithering onto the pale blue surface of the walls. The plaster, cracked and defaced with smears of hardened blood that had yellowed in age. It looks like drag marks, hands imprinting the walls as they ran down. Before even entering, Rafe along with his brother, Roukan and new-found friend, Cassiel could smell the decay everywhere, the heaviness of blood as it settles in the air, many flies gathering for the feed.
Mustering up the courage, the three enter and despite their supernatural advantage, they did not know what would face them within these hallways and so carry weapons ranging from hand-held guns to double-bladed swords. The darkness seems to engulf them, the few lights eerily flickering repeatedly sounding a strange humming noise. Using the mini flashlights that had fitted into their sizable trouser pockets they scan the hallway, not seeing an end as the darkness travelled deep even with their enhanced vision. The marks continued on the floor, scrapes in a finger-like form as if someone had been dragged down the corridor. Blood marred the whole mass of tiles, the colour so dirtied it was hard to distinguish its original colour. The rotten smell still lingered, clinging onto their clothes like a stain as they went further into the hallway.
The flickering lights ceased and the trio was left in pure darkness except for the almost insignificant light that was given off by their mini flashlights. They stop in their tracks, their breathing and racing heartbeats were the only sounds that could be heard. Roukan took the first step forward, holding his arms in a cross, resting the hand with the gun safely on top of the flashlight.
“Rafe, Cassiel…” Roukan whispers, even his whisper has authority “Keep up, I know you’re not moving.” The two begin walking close behind Roukan with their weapons drawn.
As Roukan made his way closer towards what he believed to be the end of the hallway he felt something strange squelch under his boot, something spherical and about the size of a Ping-Pong ball. He lowers the flashlight to the ground and sees a small trail of blood ooze from under his foot, which he lifts to reveal a crushed eyeball which is still attached to whatever it had belonged to. He follows the cord of the eyeball with his flashlight and was soon startled by a rotting hunk of meat still attached to its bones, exposed organs and old dirty clothes.
He resists the urge to retch and vomit; the creature was skinned by the looks of it and has a few suspiciously large chunks missing. It has a full set of fangs, an arched canine spine and a wolf-like nose. There was an obvious silver bullet piercing the heart, the organ tissue rotting severely around the bullet.
“What… is… that?” Cassiel’s voice came from behind “It looks like… some sort of… hybrid? An experiment gone wrong.”
“Looks like it…” Roukan mumbles to himself “No point wasting our time here, it’s long dead, I suggest we trek on.”
“Whatever you say Alpha,” Rafe replies hastily, still shocked by what he is seeing “It can’t get weirder than this…”
A few minutes of following the corridor, they came across a door guarded by a dead man leaning against it. His uniform was simply black, his holster carrying a handgun than Roukan was sure to contain silver bullets – something deadly to their kind. Whatever is here, it is obvious it is dangerous and has something to do with their world. Cassiel hastily pushes the dismembered figure aside and whips open the door with ease. It leads to a raised metal platform which they follow carefully.
