Urbex

The Unknown

Nolan's POV

"Blimey nasty bugger." I pull the hammer back on my Webley, delivering three quick shots into the thing's head. It seems shaky and uncoordinated as it reels around looking for me. I fire a fourth round, center mass, and the corpse dies. "Double tap seems quite appropriate." I decide, firing the last two bullets into the corpse's head. I reload again, starting back down the tunnel to find my friends, hoping they had faired as well as I had.

Fenix's POV

The beast lunges for another pounce and I swing my baton, fast and with great force. The creature is caught off guard as it's struck in the nose with a wet sounding crunch. "Yeah, come on little bastard." I mutter. The beast seems disoriented but I decide against approaching it. It stands, screams another awful hiss, and disappears into the shadows, the glowing eyes never breaking their stare into mine until it's very far away. I take the opportunity to check my watch on the status of the backup, only to see that I had no network in the area. "Shit. The message never sent." I look around, seeing the eyes moving toward me again. Quickly I bring up my 1911 and aim right between the eyes. The room is illuminated for a brief moment once I squeeze the trigger, and the beast screeches in pain, attempting to retreat again. "Not this time!" I yell, running over and kicking the beast onto its side and dumping the rest of my mag into its head. There's not a lot left of the thing's face when my slide locks back. "God I hope there aren't more of you." I say as I catch my breath. Slowly I start down the tunnel through which I was dragged. The floor is covered in a good bit of blood, so I feel around for any wounds. There's a good-sized scrape on my lower back from where my shirt must have come up while I was being dragged, bleeding quite badly. I pull off my undershirt and wrap up the wound with it, keeping pressure on it with my off hand. "We gotta get the hell out of here."

Sig's POV

The door creaks, the hinges grinding from years of misuse and rust. I click on my flashlight, illuminating a bare, sun-bleached plank floor, and a trail of dark red blood extending into the shadows. "Aw hell." I breathe, moving in slowly, my shining .44 ready to go. I ponder yelling to see if anyone was there. "Best not, I'd rather have the element of stealth." I decide. I continue moving and come to a very narrow hallway, the walls paneled in the distinct 80's style. The hall ends in a door. I reach for the handle, but stop... Footsteps? The almost silent sound of sneaking feet becomes audible, but I can't quite make out the source. Is it behind me? Or in the room? Quietly I look over my shoulder. Darkness. Then I hear something. Dripping. I bring up my .44 above my head and fire, hearing a hideous shriek as a ghostly pale, gangly creature falls from directly above me, its left arm severed by my shot. I narrowly dodge the falling ghoul and it crashes into the floor, and I fire another shot into its head. Suddenly I'm tackled to the floor, and another shrieking bastard slaps my gun from my hands, quickly moving to bite my throat. I feel a surge of power course through me and my clothing tears as I return to beast form. I grab the creature by the neck, standing up. I squeeze, and the creature's neck snaps, its body going limp. I throw it back down the hall out of spite and rip the door off the hinges in my attempt to open it. This room looks much better than the rest of the cabin, as if it had been sealed shut for a long time. In the center of the room is a black wooden desk, seemingly made of ebony, and on top of it, in a glass display case, is a golden gilded crossbow. I reach around for the spot on my back and apply pressure, feeling myself slowly return to human form.

Fenix's POV

I finally reach the fork in the mineshaft, stopping for a bit to catch my breath. I hear Nolan's voice down one of the forks and I rush in to find him. The tunnel is freezing cold and I spot Nolan shivering away as he walks toward me. "Come on, it's warmer up here." I say. "Fenix? Oh thank god you're ok. Some seriously fucked up shit just happened in that tunnel. There was ice and this gnarly looking-" "Tell me once we find Sig." I say, cutting him off. "He's not with you? Ah shite." Nolan says. Once we're safely back in the mineshaft, Nolan takes a minute to warm up before we start down the third tunnel, and as we head into it I notice how humid it's getting as we go along, as well as an earthy smell. We emerge into a large swamp, several sagging trees and mossy rocks surrounding us. In the distance, I can barely make out a cabin. "This way, he's probably around here somewhere." "Let's hope." Nolan remarks.

Sig's POV

My human hands restored, I carefully open the display case and lift out the crossbow. Looking at it closer, it seems to have a drum magazine of sorts, and a beautiful cherry wood stock. Also in the display case is a name placard "Arqueline." I read. Beside the placard is a loaded drum for the crossbow, seemingly loaded with solid silver darts. My pockets obliterated by my transformation, I had to find something else to carry the extra drum in. I opened a drawer on the desk to discover several papers detailing the crossbow's workings, how to make the ammo, and other details. I set these next to the ammo drum and kept searching. Eventually, I came to a closet containing dusty but usable clothes. I took a red flannel shirt, oversized but with a pocket suitable for the papers, and a pair of grey jeans, also oversized but luckily with leather suspenders. Once dressed, I gathered everything up, including my revolver from back in the hallway, and made a quick exit via a large hole in the wall. I found myself ankle-deep in black mud. "Gotta get out of this damn bog." I muttered as I trudged along, eventually coming to the front of the cabin. "This should be close to where I came in." I think to myself, scanning around with my flashlight. No sign of a tunnel, or at least not one I could see through the thick fog. I'm jolted by the sound of a snapping twig, and I quickly bring up the crossbow. "Who's there?" My voice booms. "Easy it's just us!" Fenix says, emerging from behind a tree with his hands raised, Nolan close in toe. I sigh in relief and trudge over to them. "Listen we've gotta get out of here, this place is crawling with horrors." I say. Fenix nods and leads us back to the tunnel. Soon we arrive in the mineshaft and rush toward the exit as fast as we can. I notice Fenix dragging behind. "You ok?" I ask. "I've got a..." He trails off, turning around and lifting a blood-soaked rag from his back. He looks pale and ready to pass out. I feel myself shifting to beast form as I run over to help. I pick him up and carry him over to Nolan. As I try to tell Nolan we've got to get Fenix to a hospital, all that comes out is a menacing roar. Nolan screams in surprise. "You scared the shit out of me. Is he hurt?" Nolan asks. I nod and start running toward the mouth of the mine, Nolan close behind. We emerge into the bright sunlight, and as my eyes adjust, I see what must have been a hundred soldiers in white uniforms, along with several helicopters, all aiming at us. Nolan's voice is shaky and rough. "What have we gotten ourselves into lads?"