The Gates of Hell

[warri0r45]

Chapter 1: The beginning. (it gets a little hairy towards the end. Any feedback is welcomed i.e. do you think I rushed it a bit?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The night air was dry and musky, as if the room had never been opened to the world in decades. Cobwebs had gathered in the corners and odd looking machinery lined the walls. This was a colony on a distant world, long forgotten to the human race, until tonight. The call had gone out to a lone marine who was told of disturbances in energy patterns throughout the facility. He was told to investigate and knew he was a pawn; a tool used by the government for any operation they saw fit. He didn't mind. He enjoyed the solitude from his own race, like a lone ranger riding off into the sunset. But there was nothing sunny about this place and nothing inviting either. He walked from corridor to corridor, with pistol in hand as he was ever the pessimist, expecting the worst. Of course this wasn't a combat mission, but this marines insecurities led him to carry a weapon almost everywhere these days. He came closer to the suspected source of the energy fluctuations expecting one of the high tech gizmos to be broken down or severely damaged from the cold due to heating equipment being shut down years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He had made it to the room adjacent to the source when he stopped to listen. He thought he heard somethingÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâæ Nothing. There goes that pessimistic nature again, always assuming an axe murderer to be lurking around every corner, possibly due to years in civil urban combat in problematic countries peeking around every corner with no team mates to watch his back; only the enemy surrounding him. He was a hardened combat warrior, this particular marine, and had only taken one bullet in his lifetime, against all odds, due to his quick thinking and espionage training.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He opened the door to the suspected source with caution and peeked in. Nothing; it was completely empty and by far the darkest of all the rooms he had traversed thus far. Except for one dimly lit corner of the room which seemed odd in comparison to what he had seen throughout the facility and come to expect. He cautiously walked over towards the dim light to quickly realise it was a computer monitor, left on a particular screen which read ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¹Ãâuploading project beta: 96%.ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ Curiously, he began to stare into the screen which, oddly, started glowing brighter. It was as if it craved his attention and sensed a strong biological presence in front of it. Weird. He didnÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t feel to good abut this at all and gradually began to feel physically ill. He had to leave the room temporarily to regain a clear head. He then attempted to make contact with earth and state he had found the source of the disturbance, but oddly, his communications system had shut down and wouldnÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t work or cooperate. ItÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s as if being in that room had shut it down somehow. Compelled to find out more, he decided to do a radiation test on the monitor in the other room. Again, he moved cautiously into the room and walked towards the glowing screen with radiometer in hand. As he got closer and closer, his suspicions were materialising into truth as the needle began to jump up and down erratically. This particular radiometer could also detect what isotopes were present in a sample, yet, oddly, it could not detect what radioactive materials were in this sample. He put the radiometer away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He looked into the screen and too his shock, it now read ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¹Ãâuploading project beta: 98%.ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ It seems it had been triggered by his very presence in front of it. But how on earth could that happen? The marine was now more insecure than ever and decided he should turn on some lights and look around for clues. He walked over to where he suspected the light switch would be, cautious as ever. He flicked it on and there was light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¹ÃâAAAAARRGHHHHHH!!ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He let out a screeching scream as he looked up at a wall in the now fully lit room. There, mutilated and preserved in a grotesque mounted position, was a carcass of what he could only assume used to be a human being. The crimson blood shined like hot toffee that had dried in drip lines beneath the corpse. The skull broken and void of anything but the stale air that filled the room. The flesh free of most of its skin and maggots pulsating as if it was something from a horror movie. Looking around the room, he saw another mutilated corpse, in an odd symmetry with the other, it's ribcage craked open as if some creature had performed some crude open heart surgury. How could this happen? What on earth could have done this?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disgusted by the very presence of the mutilated bodies, he tried desperately to draw his mind away from them. His glazed eyes peered back to the monitor which now read ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¹Ãâlaunching project betaÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ as the screen faded into what seemed like a picture. This was all far too weird; far too paranormal to be natural. He feared the worst as the picture became clearer on the screen.