Artificial Earth

                         Chapter 05

        Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have love the stars too fondly, to be fearful of the night.

                                -- Sarah Williams

                                 40

Necropolis
An hour ago

        CHESTER, SHEATH AND GARRET Ascended the first flight of stairs, the beams of their lights crisscrossing like lasers in the dark. Sheath was upfront, he was the teams sharpshooter or what they call their sniper, behind him was Chester, the teams communication and tech expert, covering the rear was Garret, weapons and combat expert.
    "Chester... You really think the signal's gonna get better when we reach the top floor?" Sheath asked as he reach the end of the stairway.
     "I'm not sure, why do you ask?" Chester asked back.
      "Because this place really gives me the creeps, like we're being watched. Have this bad feeling...." Sheath replied.
       "Don't worry, soon as we get there, I'll set up the com link, it will probably take less than fifteen minutes to know if the signals getting through or not, then we head back as fast as we can." Chester explained.
      "We're not in a war zone,...this here's a Mausoleum, so you can relax, there's nothing out there but the dead and the dead can't hurt you." he added.
     
       They reached the second floor of the Mauseleum, the stairs leading towards the third floor was at the other end of the hallway. Large old paintings hung a few feet apart on the walls. Portraits, Landscapes and Still Life works of art, once beautiful, now faded by time.
    "Hey...Check this one out..." Sheath said, stopping in front of a large painting.
     "That's a wierd piece." Chester said, looking at the painting. "Hey Garret...Come look at this."
      Garret casually walked towards the two, stopped then looked at the painting on the wall.
       "Who is that?" Garret asked.
       The painting was old and huge. It was encased in glass, it's frame was made from a metallic material and rust had covered nearly all of it's surface. A portrait of a man in his mid thirties holding a scepter encrusted with diamons was standing next to a black panther, a falcon lazily resting on his other arm.
         "Must be royalty." Sheath replied as he inched closer. "There's a name below but some of it's faded...says Baron something..." he added.
      "Maybe he owns this place." Chester said.
       "Could be.." Sheath replied.
     "We better get going guys." Garret finally said, turning towards the other end of the hallway.
       Reaching the end of the hallway, the trio began moving up the stairway leading to the third floor. A smaller hallway with several windows greeted them on top. One way led to a dead end at the far side while another led to a curved hallway on the opposite side. Flashes of lightning from outside reflecting on the windows illuminated the hallway every few seconds, while the sound of pouring rain was muffled slightly by the closed windows. Chester laid his backpack on the marbled floor and took his equipment out.
      "Okay, here we go." Chester said aloud.
        "Sheath....I need you to go to the far end of the corridor and open the last window a bit,..here...take this." Chester said, handing him a small black box with two thin silver pointy rods.
     "Uhmmm, What is this anyway?" Sheath asked, holding the box.
    "It's a portable signal booster that I made." Chester said as he switched his equipment on.
     "Am I just supposed to hold this?" Sheath asked.
      "After opening the window a bit, hold that slightly over your head for a few seconds..." Chester was saying.
       "Hahahaha...ahem." Garret went, stiffling laughter.
        "What's so funny?" Sheath asked, looking at Garret.
         "Nothing man, I mean...hahahaha..ahem..ahem." Garret replied, stiffling another bout of laughter.
     "Garret...take this." Chester said, handing him two long silver metal rods with thin wires connected to them. "Go with Sheath, climb up the window and hold them rods as high and as far as you can outside." he added.
     "Hahahaha!" Sheath bursted out.
       "What the hell is this?" Garret asked.
         "They're Antennas." Chester replied.
        "Hahahaha!" Sheath laughed again.
         "You serious?" Garret complained.
           "Hurry up guys. The sooner you do this the sooner we finish." Chester said, checking the wires.
            "Jeeez." Garret said.
        "Come on buddy..." Sheath said, placing his free arm around Garrets shoulders. "Let's just go and get this over with." he added, smiling smugly.
       The two walked towards the end of the hallway and did as they were told. Wind and rain immediately assaulted both commandos, drenching Garret as he climb and stood on the windowsill, pointing the antennas as far and high outside.
       "How's this?" Garret hollered, squinting his eyes.
        "That's great!" Chester cried back, making adjustments on his equipment.
           "How long are we gonna keep this up?" Sheath asked, hollering back, looking at Garret.
            "Give me a minute or two more!" Chester shouted back.
            "This sucks!" Garret cried out.
       "You'll owe us big time for this Chester!" Sheath cried out, wiping his face with his free hand.
         "Hey Chester! How much longer?!!" Garret asked.
            "Chester?!!" he cried out again.
             "Damn it Chester! You better hurry that up!!!" Sheath cried out, turning around.
                "Chester?" Sheath asked, looking at the silhouette of their bags and equipment down the hall.
          "Chester!" Sheath called out.
                     S I L E N C E
      "Garret get back inside!" Sheath said, tugging at Garrets pants.
       "What?" Garret asked, bewildered.
     "Something's wrong." Sheath said, placing the black box on the floor.
      "Chester! You better be not fooling around buddy!" Sheath called out.
        "What's wrong? Where's Chester?" Garret asked, climbing down the windowsill.
          Lightning flashed, a shadow of a figure of a man appeared then quickly disappeared on the other end of the hallway.
           Sheath picked up his riffle while Garret closed the window. He then picked up the black box he laid down moments ago and stuffed it inside the pocket of his black fatigue uniform.
            "Chester?" Sheath called out again. "That you bro?" he asked, pointing his riffle in front of him as he slowly, step by step, advanced towards the other end of the corridor.
          "Bags and equipment are still there..." Garret whispered, catching up with Sheath.
           The two walked slowly, cautiously, reaching the spot where they left their belongings. No sign of their comrade. 
"Everything seems to be here..." Garret whispered.
     "Shit. Told you I have a bad feeling about this." Sheath whispered back.
        "Think he just left to pee or something?" Garret asked.
        "No. He would've told us."
     "This is not good.." Garret said.
        "Didn't hear anything too, no struggle." Sheath said.
       "I don't like this...I don't like this one bit." Garret stated, his eyes searching the area.
       "Damn it. What do you think happened?" Sheath swore.
       "I don't know. No time to ask questions. Whoever took Chester couldn't have gone too far." Garret said. "Let's move. Follow my lead. " he added, springing into action.
      Moving stealthily, Garret rushed forward along the curved section of the hallway on the opposite end of the stairway, followed closely by Sheath with their riffles drawn. Staying close to the wall, Garret positioned himself on a corner and took a quick peek at the opposing corridor. It was empty.
     "Well?" Sheath asked.
"Let's go." Garret said, rushing in. On the far end was a single door,.Garret stopped.
     "Voices." Garret whispered. "On three." he added, preparing to bash the door open.
       "Ready when you are." Sheath said.
        "One...Two...Three!" Garret counted, throwing his weight on the door.
      The old door gave under Garrets weight, slamming hard on the marble floor. Sheath threw a thin transparent card into the room, it spun, hovered, then immited a soft glow illuminating the entire room. Garret was kneeling with one knee, pointing his riffle back amd forth across the area as Sheath walked inside, riffle up. Rows of long wooden chairs filled with dust and cobwebs faced the duo, on the center, on the far end of the room, hanging on the wall was a man. His body was hung in a crucifix like position, both arms stretched out, feet dangling, bloody. His clothes were torn open revealing his chest riddled with claw marks.
       "Oh my God.." Sheath whispered out, shocked.
  "Get him down!" Garret cried out, snapping Sheath back, rushing ahead.
The two cut the ropes that held Chesters body up and laid him gently to the floor.
      "Chester..Chester!" Sheath cried out, mildly tapping Chesters face. "Oh God..."
    "He's still alive. We'll need Doc." Garret said, pushing the com link on his shoulder. "Eagle! Man down, I repeat, man down!"
     "Dammit! Something's interfering with the com, there's no power." Garret swore.
     "That's impossible." Sheath said.
      "I know! Shit! We have to carry him and get back, warn the others. Those responsible might still be around." Garret said.
    "Those are claw marks....must be some sort of animal." Sheath said.
     "That explains that. What I don't get is how can an animal crucify a person?" Garret pointed out.
    "What the hell's out there?" Sheath asked, looking at Chesters wounds.

----------------------------------------------------------

Authors Note

Hi there! Thank You soooo much for staying! Things are getting crazier and there's a lot more coming so please stick around! If you enjoyed reading, please give it a vote, leave a comment or share the story...tell your friends! Thanks again!!!