The theme for this story was not made by me, it was created by a true artist of stick figure stories and I respect him more than any other web cartoonist. He is my inspiration and well... the reason I have created this "Fan Fiction."
Silence hung in the air like a ghostly sheet, echoing through the dark halls and caverns. Nothing stirred.... Suddenly there was a loud explosion and a section of wall was cleared, smoke rising in it's place. Three people stumbled out; a man in a white lab coat holding two books and an orb, a soldier pointing his rifle into the darkness, and a girl wearing a ceremonial dress clutching the pendant around her neck.
They were all breathing hard, and looked panicked. "What do we do now Doc?" asked the soldier. Glowing eyes appeared in the darkness and he fired, blood came back at him staining his uniform even more. "We must get back to the courtyard; I can set up a temporary inter-dimensional portal there and we can get back to the base but we have to act fast." he said in a heavy German accent.
"Alright, i'll try to hold them off." he said shooting again. He managed to take out his last pistol from the holster on his hip. "Go.... Now!" he yelled taking one step back from the hole in the wall. He grabbed a bomb from another pouch at his hip and threw it to the wall just above the hole; it stuck and started beeping loudly. The doctor grabbed the girl's hand and ran, the books and pistol in his arm while the orb was in his coat pocket.
There was an open archway a few feet ahead of them, but the stone door was slowly starting to sink down trapping them in this hell hole. The doctor stopped for only a moment, to turn the girl around. Then he shoved her through the archway and dove under the door as it got lower.
"Professor!" she exclaimed, helping him back up picking up one of the books that had fallen from his arms.
"I'm alright.... " he assured her, patting his coat pocket. The orb was gone. The girl noticed and looked around wildly, then spotted it a few feet away. She went to it and bent down to pick it up. "Wait! Don't touch it!" he said loudly, walking to her side briskly with a piece of cloth now in hand. "We don't know if it still has any of it's original power, but after seeing what it did to Malich.... I don't want to take any chances."
He gently pushed her aside and picked up the dim orb, wrapping it in the cloth then putting it back into his pocket. There was another loud explosion from inside the cavern, and several high-pitched screams that sounded much like bats when they're frightened. "We have to go." he said and they started to run again, along a wide open bridge with no rail and atleast a twenty-thousand foot drop below.
Thankfully nothing spotted them as they were running out in the open, with the courtyard just up ahead. "Quickly, take this and shoot anything you see. Aim carefully though; there are only so many bullets." he said crouching on the ground, sliding the worn backpack from his shoulders. Inside there was a large tin box, with a red button on the top of it. He was just about to push it when the girl fired, and he looked up about of instinct; there were atleast a hundred of those monsters coming at them and no where to hide.
He shoved the books and orb, still in it's cloth holder, into the bag and closed it tightly. "Naomi! Take these and run. Hide somewhere and get back to safety. Hurry!" He snatched the gun from her and shoved the metal box into her arms, putting the bag ontop of that. "Just press the button ontop and it will--" he was cut off as there was a loud screech above them. It was like one of the monsters ahead of them, only more muscular with large black wings and a tail where legs would have been. "Run!!" he shouted and started to fire at the monster.
She turned and sped off heading for another stone archway on the other side of the courtyard. It wasn't closing but she felt like the flying monster was breathing down her neck, ready to strike at any moment. There were more monsters now, the flightless ones. Though they lacked wings; they had claws that made them excellent climbers and their agility was far better than her own.
They clung to the wall above the arch like spiders, their glowing eyes meeting her own as she got closer... and closer.... She sprang through the archway, her eyes closed as she felt the wind from their claws and teeth on her neck and back, only centimeters from connecting. She landed with a thud on the ground, the bag and metal box still tightly in her arms. She picked herself up and started to run again, looking around for a place to hide.
Then she saw it. There was a crack in the wall, not too large but just big enough for her to squeeze though. She shoved her things through first, sliding them across the floor into another room that she hoped wasn't already filled with those monsters. Then she wedged herself through, closing her eyes tightly so none of the dirt blinded her incase she needed to take off.
There was no one there. Infact, it wasn't a hallway at all but a small room that had already been blocked off by the falling rocks from above the archway. One of the men must have already been here.... she thought. Her eyes scanned the rock pile and she saw an arm sticking out from the rubble. It was wearing one of their uniforms. Her first instinct was to try and dig him out, but then she thought that it would cause the other rocks to collapse; possibly ontop of her.
There were scratching noises down the hall as the creatures looked for her, hunting her. She hugged herself against the wall next to the crack hoping desperately that they didn't find it too. There was a moment only of those awful scratching sounds; scraping against the stone as they climbed the walls and ceiling on the other side of the wall.
She held her breath and shut her eyes tightly, waiting for pain to shoot through her body as their claws shredded her open; but it never came. Silence echoed again, they had left the halls. With a quiet sigh she rose up carefully, grabbing the metal box. There was a large stone dais at one end of the room, and throughout the middle and other end she saw stone benches now over grown with ivy, stained with blood.
"I wonder why these monsters would need a place like this.... where there people here before them? Or had they once been human?" she pondered these thoughts but quickly shoved them aside. She had to get the artifacts back to the base. She placed the box behind the stone dais, so it couldn't be seen from the other end of the room.
Taking a deep breath she pressed the button on the top of the box and watched it come to life. It opened much like a box at first, then two thin metal rods stuck out from each side and they mechanically grew longer, reaching for the ceiling until they bent and connected at the top; forming a door way just big enough for her to jump through when she would need to. There was a spark and an electric blue light grew from the center of the 'door way' until it lined the metal rods like a sheet.
It was indeed and interdimensional portal, she could tell that easily though it wasn't as big as the one they had at base that allowed them to fly through with their helicopters. The noise must have been louder than she thought because there was a loud screech from out in both halls; They'd found her.
The creatures began to claw at the fallen rocks, with the smaller ones trying to get through the crack in the wall. "I have to go now!" she set the coordinates for the base, and was about ready to spring when something crashed from behind her. She turned and came face to face with one of the larger creatures. Muscular like the flying ones, but no wings and it had strong legs for jumping... or chasing it's prey.
She fell back to the other side of the dais, as it loomed over her. It's claws were already piercing her stomach and scraping her sides. She cried out in agonizing pain, her head resting on it's side; she didn't want to look. Then she saw a gun, a rifle. "The soldier's...." she mumbled and quickly reached out for it, trying desperately to grab it.
Her body clenched as she felt the monster's teeth. The other creatures were in the room now, but the one attacking her was screeching out; claiming her body as it's own meal. She lunged her bleeding body, and managed to grab it. Swiftly, she turned back and pressed the end of the gun to the monster's throat as it screeched again. She closed her eyes and fired.
It's cries were cut short and the things body fell off to the side. It lay there while the other monsters just stared, in either confusion or fear. She dared to move, and picked herself from the ground sitting up as she felt the blood from her wounds making a puddle at her side. The other monsters screeched loudly, all at once as the smaller ones lunged first.
She fired again and shot them all then pulled herself up, leaning against the dais for support. She fired again and again and again as more and more of the monsters came for her. She must have been lucky because one by one they all fell but they also just kept on coming. She needed to act fast... Then she spotted it. One last grenade attached to the soldier's rifle.
She couldn't help but grin as she grabbed it in her hand, and pulled out the metal key with her teeth then threw it to the center of the room. The creatures stopped attacking and stared at the object; the only ones to have seen it before were turned into bloody bits. It began to beep, the creatures got closer. Slowly, the faster and faster it beeped until it was silent.
Her broken body fell just as the bomb exploded, sending the bodies flying in pieces; smacking into the walls as everything was destroyed. She lay there for a few moments then managed to sit up again looking around. The stone seats were shattered, even the dais had a chunk taken out of it but most of it was still there.
She turned to the portal again. More of the demons would get here, that much she knew. I'm not going to make it.... she thought gasping for air. Her whole body was wrapped in pain and she just wanted to lie down and die. She couldn't though.... There were still the artifacts... No one... should ever see this place... No one... should suffer like we did. she grabbed something else from the bag.
It resembled a PDA somewhat, though the symbols and words seemed to come from another world completely. She grabbed a pen, still closed and began to write on the digital screen. A message... in case someone ever found the books. She had to warn them, the base would try to come back if she sent them there. Some where else....
She made sure everything was in the bag and closed it tightly, using what little strength she had left. The portal was still intact but she could already hear more creatures on the way. She managed to stay alive still, to set the new coordinates. A canyon; larger than the one famous once long ago. It was once a trench in the pacific ocean, a thousand miles off the coast of the Galapagos Islands; in the middle of the ocean.
Now the land was dried up and it was a huge crack in the Earth’s surface. No one knew what was down there, so nothing was disturbed. With a depth of over seven thousand feet, it seemed that there was a whole other world below in the shadows of the rock. It wasn’t even confirmed as whether anything actually lived down there but it was rumored that creatures of shadow haunted every rock and crevice of the chasm walls, constantly defending their territory and killing anything that threatens it.
Naomi reached back, the bag in her hand, and threw it; letting it fly away then fall into the endless pit. The light died from the portal, and the machine retracted into a cold metal box once more. She stared at the dais, blue light still glaring in her eyes. She blinked once… twice… then fell to the ground again, her face lying in the dirt; eyes closed. Soon enough her breathing slowed, and then her chest failed to rise at all. She went out like a bright flame in a dark tunnel, silent and cold.
_________________________________________________
“You okay up there Alex!?”
“Yeah! Give me a minute and I’ll be down there!” she yelled turning her head and looking down. There was about thirty feet between her and the next stable cliff on the rock wall. The others were already down and waiting, but she was in charge of the camera so they had to wait for however long she needed. It was her job to photograph all the plant species that she saw, at least the ones she didn’t have recorded in her field journal already. Most of the earth’s plant species had died out a long time ago but the scientists had kept DNA samples so that one day when they revived the world, they would be able to bring back and stabilize all the species that lived in the habitats that had been destroyed.
She stretched back as far as she could and took the photo; it was an older camera that produced the picture a few seconds after taking it. She pulled out a wide brown leather book and opened it to a blank page. Taking out a paperclip, she attached the developed photo to the corner of the page and grabbed the pen she had clipped to her shirt pocket. With a quick description of the plant and where it grew, she returned everything to its place and dropped down the ropes. She landed with a soft thud and a smile to the others.
“A lot of that plant is covering these walls so I don’t think I’ll have to stop for a while but holler if you see anything new.” She said glancing down over the edge at the dark abyss below them. From here on out they would need to use the lights on their helmets if they wanted to see each other. It was still fairly early in the day; so much of the sun was blocked by the high walls. It was guessed though that about mid day, the sun would be directly above them giving an hour or so of light to see their environment better.
“Alright, let’s keep going and hope we hit ground before noon. Make sure those clamps are secure and don’t do anything dangerous.” Said Malich, giving Alex an exceptionally long stare. She smiled and nudged him lightly.
“I’m not going to do anything. Just relax.” She said with a small shrug, pulling another camera and taking a few more photos of their surroundings. This one was digital, so there was no need to pull out anything else to store the pictures in. The lighting wasn’t as good, but she also didn’t want to blind anyone with the flash; which would inevitably cause them to fall to their death.
“Just be careful, and don’t stop to take any pictures. We don’t know how stable the rock is down here.” He said, attaching his harness to the ropes. With a last worried look in her direction, he slid down after the others. From below she heard shouts between the team, each letting the others know where they were so no one would slide down too fast or too slow. She hesitated for a moment, then put the camera away and double checked that everything was together and nothing would fall off.
She hooked herself to the ropes, double checked the main line though it was held down by at least four other hooks that were jammed into the rock walls. She took a deep breath and started her way down into the dark; using only the cries of others and beams of light to guide her way down.
They climbed what seemed like forever, with everyone constantly yelling their positions. They weren’t in the best situation for such a dangerous climb, but their employer had been offering a very generous amount of cash for this expedition. It had been simple: Go out and collect samples of everything. Find any new or rare species that would need to be saved before, the great ‘flood’ came.
In the last eight years, scientists had discovered a chemical that enhanced the rain cycle in the air. They were able to create miniature storms and produce enough rain to fill three fishbowls with one drop of the chemical. Ever since, they worked day and night to make more of the chemical so they could release it into the air and bring life back to the dried up planet.
So that’s what they were doing, searching for anything new; unusual and unseen by anyone before them. She almost thought that it was going to be another boring adventure like the last two before this one.
Suddenly she heard a noise off to her left, something scraping against the rock knocking a large boulder from the wall. After a few moments she heard it crash to the ground.
“Did anyone see what that was?” asked Malich; his voice was shaking. No one spoke up.
“Maybe it was just a falling rock; you did say that we didn’t know how stable the rocks were.” Alex said looking down only slightly. She tried to make sure she sounded confident so that the others wouldn’t be afraid and they could continue their journey.
“Right, let’s keep moving!” he added. She felt the ropes moving and knew the others were starting down again, one thing was for sure; they weren’t alone down here.
Another hour went by and they still weren’t down to the ground. They’d been calling out to each other all that time, by now their voices were cracked but they’d fallen into a steady rhythm so no one was yelling much anymore.
“Ground!” yelled the girl at the very bottom of the line. There was a huge sigh of relief and now it seemed that they all noticed the dark, wasn’t as dark as before. Alex looked up and noticed that the sun was almost directly over them.
She was just barely able to see her watch in the low lighting. It was fifteen minutes until noon, "Alright everyone; quarter 'till! Let's get started." The others spread out a bit around in a small circle, looking around with their helmet lights still on; it was clear to see that they were still worried about the falling rocks.
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