My Great Uncle Joe- yeah, let’s call him that- and I were never really close. I didn’t even know I had a Great Uncle Joe until I was in college- I was bored one day and complaining to my mom about how there was nothing to do around here when she mentioned him. He was staying in a nursing home close by- and though she had made an effort to stop by, understandably, given how far away she lived.
I decided to drop by one weekend. Unfortunately, he had a rather advanced case of dementia- which was why he was in the nursing home in the first place.
Still, I did drop by, if only for the fact that I had no close family living nearby. And Great Uncle Joe did have his lucid moments at times- he seemed to remember who I was during some visits.
There was one thing that he would always go back to though- a secret hideout of sorts. At first, I thought that he was talking about something like a tree fort that he made during his childhood. When I suggested that, he stared at me like I was crazy.
No, he said. This was a real hideout- a steel-clad fortress hidden in the woods, meant as a fallout shelter in case the Soviets ever decided to end the world. I would’ve written it off as just some useless ramblings- but he seemed oddly focused while describing it. He described a location in the woods- near a stream and by a patch of trees that I committed to memory.
I would go on walks in the forest from time to time anyway, and it was a few weeks later on one such excursion that I realized that I knew what Great Uncle Joe was talking about. I thought it was just coincidence- but that rock formation really did look like what he described. I’m keeping this vague here so that no one wanders into it like I did.
Underneath a rock, hidden by a patch of grass so well that you’d never find it in a thousand years unless you knew about it- I felt it. A steel hatch, and with a huge amount of effort I opened it. I felt a manhole there- just barely big enough to let me squeeze through and find my footing on a ladder.
I switched on my phone’s light and descended. The ladder went about fifty feet deep before there was a sharp turn. I saw some old broken light bulbs scattered around as I made my way to a door and fumbled it open.
There were two light switches- one of them didn’t work but the other one turned the lights on.
The place was huge- almost as big as my whole dorm in college. It had five main rooms and about a dozen smaller one, probably meant to be used as family rooms. In all there were four generators though only one worked.
I could’ve easily spent days crawling through the place- though a thick layer of dust covered everything I still could see that there was so much in there that was very valuable. Some of it was directly valuable- in the form of dollar bills, while there was also a stash of gold coins somewhere. They were probably prepared for everything.
But that wasn’t all. There was a library with books and newspapers- even a few comics which I think would fetch a pretty penny. There was food and basic medicines- the water purifier had broken down, but I think that was to be expected.
There were a few things missing though- there were weapons but no bullets for some reason. I even saw some empty shells on the ground as if they’d been fired.
I took some stuff (I was a broke college student, don’t judge) and made my way out, making a note to come back some time later.
I went back to Great Uncle Joe the next day first- I didn’t know how aware he was of things but I was sure that he would appreciate the knowledge that someone had found what he had built so long ago.
As I began talking about it, something flashed across his eyes. It was unmistakable- fear.
He grabbed my hand and started babbling about how I must never go down there. I asked him why- and he just kept saying that they had locked ‘it’ down there.
“What’s ‘it?’”
“…evil.” was all he said before he went back to sleep. I couldn’t get him to say anything about it afterward.
When I went back to the same spot, I noticed something… odd. Near the entrance, there was a muddy spot as it had rained the last night. I saw a footprint- but it was massive- nearly the size of my torso. I had never seen anything like it- it was a talon, though it had six toes.
Unmistakably- something had wandered out of the shelter.
I now understand why it was abandoned- why no one else had gone down there. What the bullets had been used for- in vain. It wasn’t a shelter, though it had been built as one- it was a prison.
And I had let the prisoner escape.
A chill still creeps down my spine when I think about how fortunate I was not to have run into… whatever it was down there. Maybe it was sleeping, or just didn’t find me interesting enough.
Eight people- eight people have recently gone missing in this area. For some of them remains have been found, though only bits and pieces of what were once people.
I don[‘t go out at night anymore, and I make sure all my windows and doors are locked.
Because I’m terrified of what I’ve just unleashed.