The masked men walked out of sight, and I climbed out of the chest as my heart began to race.
“Alright, what do we do?” I asked Vova. He took a few seconds to answer.
“Well… I guess we just have to find a safe way out, I’ll try to find a way to get us both out, then I’ll try to find your dad and Paul,” he replied to me, and then he began walking to the left, I took the opposite turn and went right.
I then began to hear the sounds of heavy footsteps, and I jumped inside of a locker and I saw a humanoid figure walking by.
It appeared to be about 6’6 and it seemed to be wearing some sort of trench coat, the creature was wearing black pants with large boots. He passed by and said, “Come out wherever you are! You can’t keep old Jack waiting for long…” That’s how I found out his name, and as I later learned, he wasn’t a new species, he was one of a kind.
I felt my heart begin to race as I slowly crept out of the locker, I made my way down the hall and began taking a path around and around, I had no idea where I was going but I would do anything to escape.
I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the masked people nearby, although I could see now that it wasn’t natural bone, just silicone. I ran back and then ran out of breath.
Then, a loud bang sounded throughout the facility, and the screaming began. It reminded me of a monkey because of how wild it sounded. I heard someone shout, “CHARLES SEEMS TO BE ON THE HUNT RIGHT NOW, I THINK WE HAVE THE LOCATION OF THAT BITCH!” I heard a man shouting, seemingly overjoyed.
That’s when I saw Charles for myself, he looked practically identical to Jack , although he was maybe an inch taller, and his face had a very sad and mournful expression, looking as though he could start crying.
Charles began screeching, and he spoke to me. There wasn’t any sound coming out of him, but it was like a form of telepathy.
I KNOW WHERE YOU ARE NOW, THERE’S NOWHERE YOU CAN HIDE.
I began to run and I took a corner, this was of no use though as he phased through the wall behind me. By that, I don’t mean he teleported through it, he literally walked through the entire thing.
And then, sirens began to sound. And then a message from a female voice sounded over the radio. “It appears there has been a problem with the facility, all minions are to report to the cafeteria, our members will look into the issue.”
And as I was about to run back to where I came from, the floor collapsed and I began to fall.
I heard the splash of water as I landed, I was in a dim room with shallow water coating the floor.
I don’t know how I wasn’t injured, but I guess that’s not important since I lived. I stood up and began to walk around and then I saw the door. It looked rotten as though it had been there for a very long time.
I opened the door and nearly had a heart attack as I saw a creature walk by. Although when I saw it, it looked like some sort of female deer without eyes, like they were smoothed over with clay.
The thing also had no body hair that I could see, and its skin was a light blue color.
There was a hallway with a door where the creature went through, which I decided to stay FAR away from.
I walked down the dark hallway, seeing a large chamber at the end with a few lights around.
I noticed a discarded flashlight laying on the floor. It was a little cracked but still seemed to work.
But as I turned it on, it barely lit up the path ahead of me. Normal darkness is the absence of light, but here, the darkness swallowed the light.
I began to walk around, my footsteps echoing in the huge room. I am not sure exactly how large it was, but judging by the abyss of darkness above me, it was at least 40 feet tall, possibly twice that amount.
The floor was made of stone, and it was abnormally cold to the touch. In the darkness, a voice sounded, “Oh little piggy, how dare you enter me and my brother’s lair? Don’t worry, you won’t feel this fear anymore… nor will you feel anything at all!” Jack’s voice echoed from some sort of speaker, I had ended up in Charles and Jack’s lair. Just my luck.
Then, a feeling crept over me, like when you know something is with you despite not seeing, tasting, touching, smelling, or even hearing it. And it was telling me that something horrible was about to happen if I didn’t hide.
I began to run around as a ringing sound began to grow in my ears, I then jumped into a shelf, I’m barely 5 feet tall and kind of skinny so I was able to slide in, I was also hidden by some junk on the shelves and some crates in front of me.
Right as I was hidden, I saw light appear in a familiar humanoid shape, then it was slowly replaced by Charles, his dark gray skin blending in a good bit with the darkness, minus his glowing eyes and mouth.
He began looking around, visibly confused. After what was probably a minute or two of him looking, he transitioned into the figure made of light again and vanished.
I don’t know how long I hid there, but eventually, I slipped out.
I started walking, being careful to make as little noise as possible. There was a door, but it had a padlock on it. My heart started racing again when I heard footsteps accompanied by giggling echoing in the room. I knew Jack was with me in the room, and I began to search for a place to run.
I found a door and opened it, but it wasn’t the light-swallowing abyss that I was inside of, instead, it was a part of the outside world.
I stepped out and shut the door behind me as quietly as possible, I felt the cold air touch my face as I turned off the broken flashlight. There was some slight snow but not too bad. But something about this place seemed… familiar.
I saw iron bars in the rock, it was some kind of window. I peeked through and saw a place that looked a lot like the labyrinth I found in my dad’s basement. I also saw one of the Gray Men walking in the hallway, looking for a victim.
I slowly pulled my head away as I didn’t want to be seen by the creature. I started walking along the stone as the sun began to set. I looked up to see that I was in some sort of fissure in the ground. Bridges and doors were lining it and they seemed to lead back into the facility.
Eventually, I came to the end of the trail and found another door, I stepped inside and entered another part of the black hole that was the twins’ lair.
I turned the light back on as I started exploring, and the same bad feeling crept over me. I hid underneath a table and Charles appeared in the same way again, but he didn’t vanish as quickly. I held my hand over my mouth so he wouldn’t hear my breathing.
After a while, he vanished again and I crawled back out from under the table.
I began to walk through the place, unsure of where I should go. I felt an unnatural coldness in the room.
As I was wandering in the dark abyss, I heard something crunch underneath my foot. I looked down and gasped when I saw a human rotting human corpse on the floor.
From what I could tell, it was a woman’s corpse, and it seemed to have been there for quite some time. But the thing that made it stand out was the neck, it was… twisted. And I don’t mean to the side, it was twisted completely backward, and although it was difficult to see the woman’s face, the small fraction I saw displayed an expression of shock and terror.
I wanted to throw up at what was below me, but then I heard crazed giggling and rapid footsteps echoing through the dark.
I began to run forward, but the sounds didn’t stop, in fact, they only got louder.
A doorway appeared in front of me, and I ran through it into a series of hallways with mirrors aligning the walls and ceiling. Unlike the abyssal chamber I was just in, this place had pretty bright lights inside of it in between mirrors.
I felt like my head had begun to spin due to the sheer amount of reflections looking back at me. But in every one of them, I could see that I wasn’t alone in there, and Jack was just behind me.
“COME HERE YOU HOPELESS BRAT!” I heard Jack shout, there was still his usual joyous tone as if he took pleasure in my suffering. But I also picked up on a bit of anger behind his words.
I took the first turn I could, and then Charles appeared in front of me, and he spoke to me again through telepathy.
THERE IS NO HOPE, GIVE UP NOW. THERE IS NOWHERE TO RUN.
I very closely dodged Charles as I began to sprint away from the twisted duo.
I felt my legs burn and my body ache, but I kept going for god knows how long. But my adrenaline kept me going, I was not going to be caught by Jack. But, to my horror, I was caught by him.
I don’t know what it was, maybe I took a wrong turn and fell over my heel, or maybe some kind of rise in the floor caused it, but I fell over and hit the hard concrete floor.
Jack began to laugh as he approached, slowly this time. He then spoke while I was trying to get back up and run. “Oh, dear! A young girl losing to the happy twin Jack? Oh, how tragic! But I must say that I am impressed, it’s such a shame…”
I then heard him scream in pain as he was knocked to the floor. I looked up and saw my dad, he looked dirty and worn out, and I saw the pipe segment in his hand.
He helped me up as I began to run aimlessly again. Eventually, we reached a more cave-like area over what seemed to be an underground river of some sort. It was too far below to tell, but I heard the water rushing as we stood on the small metal bridge.
Jack then came charging at us, and I panicked. I searched for some kind of weapon and found a flat-headed screwdriver. I slashed at him with all the force I could muster and a large cut formed on his torso.
He then screamed in pain and I used this opportunity to kick him into the deep pit below. I heard the sound of a splash in the water, probably him landing in it. But this wasn’t the last time I would see Jack or Charles.
“Alright, are you okay?” Dad said, putting down the pipe. “Yeah… I guess I am… where’s Vova and Paul?” I asked him in between pants. “Well Vova got me out of my cell, he’s somewhere above. But I don’t know where Paul is.” He replied.
Then I heard Vova’s voice over the radio in my dad’s other hand. “Alright, do you have Samantha and Paul?” My dad looked down into the radio and then replied, “I have Samantha with me right now, I don’t know where Paul is but I can keep looking-“
“No no, don’t. I know your location, I may have only been able to see what happened with those two damn brothers, but you’re still not safe. Jack is still not dead, he’s only been slowed down.”
My heart sank a little as I heard that, but now was no time to panic.
Me and my dad crossed the bridge, there was a ladder at the end.
“Go ahead Samantha,” Dad said, and I started up the ladder first.
Finally, when we got to the top we reached the surface again. I embraced the moonlight and soft breeze as I climbed up into the forested area we ended up.
“Why… why is the queen sending those THINGS after us?” I asked dad, I already knew she was thirsty for blood and hungry for power, but I was in a state of hopelessness; I felt as though I would spend eternity running from Grey Men, Skull Horses, The Twins, and countless other monstrosities.
“I guess she was just raised in the fires of hell.” He responded, I felt my eyes begin to tear up, but I did my best to hide my emotion. I can get emotional a lot, but I have always tried to hide it from everybody.
We found another abandoned home, this time it was a small cabin with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms.
Hours passed, and my eyelids grew heavy, but then I heard the door open but lock again. “Alright, I’m here.” I heard Vova’s voice as he entered, still in the state he was.
He then began digging in a pocket of his pants, he had his old tuxedo back on. He pulled it out and it was written in some foreign language. I found myself lost in the beautiful writing and curvy lines.
“How clever Charles must have thought he was, writing it in Georgian, his native language. But little did he know that Georgian is the second of the MANY languages I’ve learned. If you’re curious Samantha, English is my 14th.” Vova stated, and I felt the same amazement at just how many languages he knew, whereas most people I know can barely speak their first language: English. But I guess being centuries-old has benefits.
He cleared his throat as he began the translation. Here’s what he read from what I can remember.
We don’t have to worry about aging as the queen gave us some of her blood, now we’re… perfect. Aging was a burden that I’m glad is gone for us now, but Jack seems a little… off the walls about this.
He was slightly paranoid and schizophrenic back near Tbilisi, but it wasn’t anything compared to Stalin I guess. But now he’s going a little crazy, I’m worried.
But even with this now permanent frown on my face, I smile knowing that the disgusting aspects of living beings will be gone if we set up shop here and succeed.
-Charles Momedov-Giorgadze
P.S. If anybody finds this, DON’T LET MY BROTHER JACK MOMEDOV-GIORGADZE SEE THIS.
Vova chuckled at the letter and then said, “Ah yes, your queen who has ruined so many lives and torn apart so many families, what an angel, goddess even!”
Time passed by and everyone was asleep, I felt startled when I saw Vova’s floating horned skull of a head when I walked into the living room but that feeling quickly faded, as I had another feeling inside of me.
I locked myself in the bathroom, I looked in the mirror.
I began thinking of my mom… was she safe? I hoped so, even though I resented her choice of divorcing my dad, I was still her daughter, and I still loved her.
Paul was gone, my mom was gone, and I had no idea what happened to either. My throat grew tight, my mom, my friends, the boy I was planning to ask out, I had no idea if any of them were safe.
I couldn’t handle it, I began to cry loudly, I felt tiny and hopeless. Then a new feeling replaced my despair, it was a feeling of rage and vengeance towards all of those creatures, and the cult with the queen behind it all.
I could have gotten with that boy who I couldn’t keep my eyes off of for a second, my parents could have worked things out and gotten back together to take care of their daughter, but now those possibilities were severely delayed at best, and impossible at worst. All because of this goddamn cult.
I heard Vova knocking on the door, “Samantha, what is troubling you at this hour?”. I began to slightly weep again, “Go away!” I shouted back, the anger and sadness overthrowing my mind.
“Samantha, I’m going to find out what’s upsetting you, because whether you like it or not, we’re in this together,” he replied, sounding a little saddened but also quite assertive.
I reluctantly opened the door, my vision slightly blurry now. I must have looked like a wreck to him, as I saw his look of pity even if he didn’t want me to see it. “Samantha, come into the living room with me, let’s talk,” Vova told me, a little more softly this time.
We both took a seat on the couch and I was inconsolable for at least half an hour.
Once I calmed down a little I finally let loose the beast which was the sadness and anger I felt. After I said all of that, we hugged tightly and he told me, “Samantha, I know exactly how you feel. I was exactly like you after I was banished from my home village and this was back in the 1720s. Not to mention that I boasted the title of the strongest and tallest man in the surrounding area.”
I felt reassured slightly, and he continued. “Do you want to know a secret Samantha? The witch who transformed me wasn’t a normal dealer of black magic, nor was she human at all. The evil black magic sorcerer was none other than the queen of the hivemind.”
I then smiled slightly as I looked at the ground, tears still oozing from my eyes. “Well, that bitch had better watch out, because her judgment day is rapidly approaching.”
“I feel the same way, but it is late now. It’s best if we go to sleep.” Vova responded, and we both went to the place we claimed as our bed. However, I knew something when I laid my head down, the journey to get home was over, and the battle against the cult had now begun.