Shadowveil - The Forgotten

Chapter 9: A Formless Descent

Samantha dashed across the muddy, darkened fields trying her best to avoid the many pitfalls as well as the creatures chasing her. Their chilling cries could be heard from behind as she zigzagged between safe spots that were still intact. She ran up a small hill of shuffled bedrock, created by whatever event had caused the devastation. A feeling of hopelessness washed over her as she scoured the area from the lookout. The surroundings were completely consumed by the transformation taking hold of the city. Even though she couldn't see very far due to the limited visibility, she gleaned a narrow path leading farther down the shadowy field. Despite her anxiety, she put all her hopes on that the path wouldn't lead to an early end.

Samantha took a deep breath after hurtling down the slope and reaching the first part of the unstable natural walkway, and then darted off across it without delay. She veered off towards a stone platform and its adjacent stone mound some ways to the right, hoping to evade her relentless pursuers and escape the park field. Just as she leapt towards it, the wet soil beneath her feet gave way, and she slipped and crashed into the ground, slamming her shoulder into a rock. The fall slashed up her jacket and ripped open a flesh wound in her upper arm.

"Aaaahhh!" she cried out in pain and strongly grabbed her arm. The creatures were jumping across the ridges towards her, and started screeching in unison when they noticed that she was wounded. She was panicking and looked for some way to escape. "L-leave me alone!" she howled and desperately threw some rocks at the creatures that had by then surrounded her. One of them suddenly extended its mucus-covered hand towards her bleeding arm and pushed its finger deep into the wound. "Aaaarghh, what the fuck?!" her terrified scream echoed in the vicinity. She clutched the rock in her hand and slammed it with all her might into the creature's face. Blood splattered over Samantha's clothes and on the ground as the monster declined to the ground, bleeding to death with gurgling sounds. The others in the area took a few steps back, bewildered by the turn of events.

With every ounce of her strength, Samantha stood up and started climbing the mound. Her arm was numb and her body started cramping as the shock from blood loss set in. She lost her footing and fell back to the ground, bringing with her a large rock that crashed into a stone platform jutting out from the edge of the ridge below. The platform broke off and she found herself sliding closer to the edge. As the creatures tried to grab her, a crack ran through the foundation and split the rock formation in two, sending both Samantha and the creatures tumbling into the depths underneath the park field.

*

When she regained consciousness, Samantha found herself at the entrance to some kind of tunnel at the bottom of a long mudslide extending upwards. Darkness lay thick over the area and the only source of light was the strange orange sheen that seemed to glisten in the air every now and then. No more had she woken up than she remembered the wound. Her wound was still bleeding but it had clotted in and around the fabric of her ripped jacket. She wasn't out of danger yet but at least it didn't bleed as much as before. The creatures that had fallen down with her weren't as lucky as she had been. Some of them were impaled on metal rods sticking up from the crumbled mess of rocks and concrete while others had crashed into stones or stalagmites.

"Wh-what is this place?" Samantha asked weakly into thin air, as if hoping for someone to respond. When someone actually did, she was more than a little shocked:

"It's part of the city's underground tunnel system."
"What? Wh-who's there?"

"Well, I guess you could call me... the caretaker of this place," continued the voice with a slight pause. The silhouette of a woman then emerged from the darkness, snapping a glow stick that bathed the area in a warm red light. "I bid you welcome to the Warren, Samantha," she said and crouched down. It was a beautiful brown-skinned woman who seemed to be in her forties. She was wearing a leather jacket and black jeans, and a blue-tinted mascara accentuated her alluring green eyes. A holster on her belt held a handgun as well as a reel holder with a keycard.