I used to love my job, but as of late I’ve had several reasons to march into my boss’s office and give him my letter of resignation. I never worried about the danger when it came to the job. I’m stationed in the tower located in the middle of the national park I work in. This is because I’m the person you call in when crap hits the fan. Whether it be to tranquilize and relocate bears due to them getting to close and friendly with hikers or to give backup to other rangers due to drunken and violent idiots getting too rowdy.
Id always loved basking in the sun on the deck of my watch tower, sipping my coffee while looking out at the vast beauty the beauty of the wilderness. I could always catch the slightest glare off the glass of the other watchtowers just on the horizon of my view. I grabbed my radio and called for a fire check from the other towers. I heard three voices in chorus of “Clear” sound off one by one through the crackling of the radio. Three towers around me and all three sounded off. I breathed a big sigh. Suddenly my radio in the tower crackled to life. “Sir I see a campfire about half a kilometer from my tower. It’s not a registered site” I grabbed my radio off the receiver. “Okay take the ATV and your rifle. Go investigate and get them to move on. Keep me posted if it goes south and you need help”. The voice came back through confirming they understood.
I put the mic back on the receiver and went to grab my binoculars. I aimed it towards the tower of which the call came from. Sure enough, there was a trail of smoke coming from about half a klick from their tower. My blood ran cold at the sound of a faint crack ringing across the valley. To the untrained ear that may sound like wood splitting… but I knew better. That was a gunshot. I rushed back inside to grab the radio but before I could, the rangers voice came back through the speaker. “That wasn’t me sir, but I heard it too”. I put the mic down for a second. Hands shaking, I pressed the mic button to speak.
“I’m glad to hear that. Had me worried” I said into the mic. I took a sip of my cold coffee I made a while ago. “uh, sir you’re gonna want to see this” the ranger voice came through….it was wrong though. They sounded scared. Ok return to the tower, I’m headed over there. Once I get there, we’ll go over together. Mark the sites location on your GPS. I’ll be there soon.” I grabbed my colt 45. 1911, my rifle, and my satellite walkie talkie and left the tower. Making my way down the stairs to my ATV. I get to the bottom of the 40 ft tower and take my key out of my pocket. I hop on and start zooming towards the tower. I don’t want to waste time due to the gunshot we heard. The next one could be at my ranger so I don’t want to take chances.
After about 20 minutes of racing through the trails I pulled up to the tower. However, they weren’t there. I Immediately began to sweat. My hands became clammy, my pulse quickened. “where are they?” I thought to myself. I brought out my GPS and loaded up the coordinates they had dropped me and peeled out of there, my tires throwing dirt up behind me. I could still see the smoke rising above the trees just 500 meters to my south. It took me less than 5 min to get to the illegal site. I parked about 20 meters from the site. I killed the engine and immediately hopped off. Racking the slide on my bold action rifle to make sure a round is chambered. I slowly walk up on the site with my rifle in my hands. Not up and aimed but I was walking in a manner that allowed me to quickly shoulder it if needed. I called out.
“Hello? If there is anyone here make yourself known!” I broke the tree line and walked into the camp, no answer. A dread filled pit formed in my stomach. Something was horribly wrong and it wasn’t discrete. My ranger wasn’t here, in fact nobody was. I walked around the site. Everything looked like it was just left there. I found some bear traps with blood still on them. “crap” I muttered under my breathe. The dread pit growing faster. However, what stopped me in my tracks had me dumbfounded. There was zero noise at all. No birds, no wildlife, hell not even the wind was blowing and on the other side of the site was my rangers ATV. It was half sunken into the earth as if swallowed partially by quick sand. The engine was off and key was in the ignition but there was no sign of the ranger.
I called out one last time “Park Ranger! If anyone is here make yourself known!” No answer. I grabbed my walkie and called over the open channel. “crew roll call!” …Only two came back…. The third ranger (the one I had sent to investigate the site), did not. I turn on the safety on my rifle and slung it over my shoulder. One of the rangers who answered the roll call radioed me. “uh sir why did only two of us answer?” I grit my teeth and swore under my breath. “Don’t worry. I just sent them off to check on something they probably can’t hear us over the sound of the ATV. They had to take it to check a site.”
I hoped that would be enough to convince them. I didn’t want them worrying about their missing coworker. Especially considering they’d want to join in searching for them. I’m a veteran in the park ranger industry but the others are mostly kids. Taking a summer job to make some money before having to return to the stress filled life of college. The ranger I had sent to the site I was currently standing in was no older than 25. She was short blonde woman with green eyes and she confident and very passionate about the wildlife here and the worse part all, she’s my daughter. Now she is gone without a trace and all I have to show for it is a half-buried ATV and an empty illegal hunting camp site.
The sun was going down at this point and I had about 30 minutes left until this valley was cast into almost absolute darkness. I brought out my GPS and made a note in my notepad to radio back to headquarters to report my missing ranger. As the light began diming towards twilight I decided to take the keys from the ATV just to make sure that no one were to steal them if they found the site. All the ATV’s that we use have a universal key. So that way if necessary we could borrow another one of our coworkers’ ATVs’ if one was in the shop for repairs. However as soon as my hand contacted the keys the ground seemed to shift and vibrate to the point of blurring. I felt my stomach rise into my throat as if I were falling. I felt something firmly grasp around my ankle and suddenly I was yanked downward. I passed through the ground were a mirage or a hologram. I felt immense pressure build and I passed out.
I heard a low pitch droning sound. No not a droning sound, but a hum. As if a wasp were flying next to my ears. I slowly lifted my head. I was sat up against the bottom of a wall. My rifle lay a few feet away from me. My head pounded and my vision was blurry so I took time to let my vision return to me. One thing was certain, I was not in a forest. Hell, I wasn’t even outside. My hand was in something wet. Was sitting on a damp and dank brown carpet. I slowly began to take in my surroundings. I was in a basement of some sorts. The old ones with the ugly yellow 70’s wall paper and shag carpet. Except this was way worse. Black mold was speckled up and down the walls. Ugly yellow stained florescent lights shined down on me from ceilings about 10 feet high cross matched with old white tiles. The kind that hum like bug zappers. The kind you see in schools when you were a kid. It smelt of must and rot.
I fought the urge to vomit from the stench assaulting my nostrils. I looked around the room. There was a hallway to me left and a larger room with a ceiling of at least 20 feet attached to the one I’m in to my right. I walked into the room, not because it was my preferred path, but because there sat the ATV I had found. Earlier. It was damaged badly. A hole was broken open in the tile above me. Seeming to open into a pitch-black void above. “Through the ceiling? Is this all underground?” That’s when I noticed I was still holding the keys from the ignition earlier. I pocketed them. I took a second to assess the situation.
“No, it couldn’t be. I’m part of the cave emergency response team here in the park. I’ve mapped out every cave we know of inch by inch. I would’ve noticed something like this…wouldn’t I?”. A pile of dirt and grass lay where the ATV rests. “Where ever I am, I don’t want to be here one minute longer. This place has to have an exit” I said to myself. I ran back over to where I woke up in the next room and picked up my rifle and slung it over my shoulder. I then unholstered and drew my Colt 1911. It had a flashlight mod clipped under the barrel, in front of the trigger guard. Using it to illuminate my way as I aim my pistol. I intended to use it to keep a journal of what happens and to keep record of what would come. Just in case if I didn’t make it. Maybe someone would find the journal on my phone if I’m found dead.
Anyways where was I. Oh yes… I turned and made my way down the opposite hallway of the room I woke up in and as I rounded the corner at the end my blood froze. There laying on the disgusting carpet was a park rangers’ hat…. but what made me feel worse is that it looked as if an animal had mauled it. I took a second to absorb what that meant to me at the time. I did have to fight off tears as I forced myself to continue.
I was wrong. I was so wrong. It hadn’t been an underground facility. I’ve been walking for hours and I haven’t seen a single sign of anybody. There is no damn way that this is all underneath the park. Its practically endless. I’m not even sure if ill escape, as I haven’t seen a single door. I have seen several Vents however. They were oddly large. Like some have been big enough I could walk into them and others as small as 4 to 5 inches. However. I’ve been finding batteries and bottles of this weird almond water. I got really thirsty and I’m not desperate enough to drink the damp carpet water. The stuffs delicious. I immediately felt energy pour into my system, but there’s something really bothering me about this place.
I haven’t been able to sleep and no matter what I try, I haven’t been able to fall asleep. The only thing that seems to give me energy is this almond water. I also have not been the first person this has happened to (If it wasn’t obvious by the ranger hat mentioned earlier) I’ve found backpacks and other random items in the odd room that I wander through. They’ve had photos and other personal belongings you wouldn’t want to leave behind. The worst thing I’ve come across. Is blood. A lot of it. Smeared everywhere all over the walls. Someone was brutally massacred there and the evidence was abundant that whatever it was big. Big enough to literally tear someone limb from limb.
Of course, I did manage to stomach the ability to scavenge my way through the remnants of death that filled corridor I had found myself in. Just at the end of this corridor was a body. Well, or at least what’s left of one. Due to the condition of the remains I had no ability if identifying the gender but I did however manage to pull the backpack off of what was left of there torso. I know that these actions will haunt me for the rest of my life but at the time all I was focused on was survival.
As I was struggling to get the backpack off the corpses back one of the strap clips unbuckled and the corpse fell forward and hit the floor with a heavy thud. I would’ve celebrated the small win over the getting the backpack free but something made my blood run cold. It was a scream. No, more like a war cry, but it was wrong. It sounded like something screaming not in fear or despair. No. This was rage. Murderous blood boiling rage. It vibrated the walls as dust fell from the ceiling tiles. To make it worse it sounded anything but human.
It was so loud. I ducked into a little gap between two walls. The walls were perfectly aligned to cast a complete black shadow where I was sitting, completely hiding me. I covered my ears, afraid my ear drums may rupture. Remember when I said I took place in that darkened gap in the wall? Well that ended up saving my life. That yelling was getting closer. That’s when I felt it. I felt ground shaking steps coming down the initial gore covered corridor and they were running. Shaking the ground beneath me. I looked up from the cover of my dark shadow just in time to see a man in head to toe hunting gear with a rifle across his back, run past me. I wish I had looked away but didn’t have time to as. I watched what chased him pass me. A massive humanoid shape made up of some black sludge and metal rebar.
I had to clasp my hands over my mouth to stifle my scream. I wasn’t eager to be its next victim. I very slowly peaked around the corner in the direction they ran. I heard the hunter scream. As my eyes caught site of him he let out a gurgled scream of anguish. The Thing whatever it is, was slowly forcing its arm down his throat. I watched in horror as his cheeks split wider and wider. The last thing I heard as I looked away was a single scream turn into a wet crunch. The sludge thing let out another scream of pure rage. I had only looked away for two seconds. When I did turn back to look all that was left was a small pile of entrails and some skin flaps on the ground… and an AR 15 I left my hiding spot to observe what was left. A blood trail led from where they were standing down a hall I had just come from. I did a silent thankyou to whatever god ran this damn labyrinth for taking them away. I was reaching down to grab the AR move from the bloody mess when a thought occurred to me.
“Why didn’t I hear it move?… The things screaming and footsteps shook the damn place. So how did it manage to sneakily lumber away while pulling a corpse so fast?” I decided to put it off my mind for a split second and focus on getting the ammo off the tatters of clothing that were left. That’s when a small black blob of goop dropped onto the back of my hand. I felt all the blood drain from my face as I heard a low growling sound behind me. My mind froze. “How did it sneak up on me. Why is it so fast?” I asked myself. On instinct alone, I tossed myself into the gap I had hid in before when it had chased the hunter.
The gap was only a couple of feet wide but not wide enough that this hulking monster could fit through. I landed on my stomach and began to army crawl as fast as I can. I had just gotten about 6 feet into the gap when I felt something wrap around my ankle and began to immediately constrict my bones. I screamed in anguish, from the sensation of my Achilles tendon being slowly crushed. I grabbed my pistol. Struggling to unclasp the safety latch so I can draw it. I started to feel my bones grinding together as the grim on my ankle tighten and begin to drag me out. I rolled over on my back to look behind me. I really wish I hadn’t.
The Monster had his one arm stretched out and wrapped around my ankle. I finally got my clasp open and I drew my pistol. Leveling the sights with his head, BOOM. Everything stopped for a second. I couldn’t see the creature atm due to the disorientation of firing in a small area. My vision was blurry but I swear I felt its grip loosen slightly on my ankle, but before I could pull my leg free the grip around my ankle tightened twice fold. I felt something pop in my ankle. I screamed in pain and rage filled frustration and unloaded my mag into its ugly blob of a head. With every bullet loosening its grip ever more slightly. I unloaded my clip into then kicked as hard as I could.
The monster screamed. Loud enough to leave my ears ringing and stumbled back as I kicked my foot free. I didn’t wait to see if I killed it. I got up and turned around to flee. The gap acted like a super thin hallway. I could see light at the other end. So, I ran. I ran in the opposite direction through the gap. I realized my ankle felt either broken or badly sprained. It definitely was swollen badly but I couldn’t focus on that now. I rather not be ripped limb from limb. No thank you.
I squeezed myself out the other end of the gap. Finally taking a second to look back…. “What the fuck!?” I swore aloud. That thing… was still alive. It stood at the other end. It didn’t have eyes but I could feel its murderous glare on me. I remember trying to come up with a reason 12 bullets to the head didn’t put it down but I could think of nothing. That’s when I heard a different sound. “Daddy?” my whole body froze and my heart leapt. I slowly turn around to find the one thing in this universe that makes my suffering worth it. My beautiful daughter. “I Found you. It’s okay now” Tears began freely falling her face. She ran and jumped into my arms, sobbing uncontrollably. I broke too. Finally confirming my daughter is alive has made all the hell I’ve been through worth it. I broke down crying too. My entire world is in my arms at the moment and I feel whole again.
For context My daughters’ name is Tes and her mom passed when she was 12. So, I’ve been all she’s had and vice versa. Her mom was the glue that held our family mentally together. She would always force us out of bed on weekends to go on a hike or do something together. Tes was never into it all that much, but when her mom passed, she dove in headfirst. Shed always be asking me to take her on her mothers’ most favorite nature park trail. Now standing at 5’6” with her hair blonde and shoulder height. She looks just like her mother. I squeezed her tight.
I had been a Nature reserve park ranger for 20 years. I remember the day when I saw her name pop up on the ranger registry. I was so proud I cried. I never told her to do it. I’ve always been the parent to encourage my children to reach for their dreams and beyond. I’d always do everything to make sure Tes had what she needed to pursue her dream. So, when I saw her name pop up on the registry I cried. After all these years she STILL decided to become a ranger and work with her Dad. I truly am the luckiest dad ever. Her 5-year anniversary with the rangers is coming up. Now she may have to celebrate it here about that because of this purgatory of a place.
“Baby I’m so glad you’re okay!” I said between sobs. “I found a shredded ranger hat and assumed the worst” Tes stopped hugging me for a second to wipe my tears. “Don’t worry. I had the best teacher.” I was an emotional wreck not going to lie, both of us were. After a few minutes of hugging we let go and mentally recollected ourselves. “Dad where the hell are we?” Tes asked. “Not a damn clue to be honest. This place seems almost infinite. She looked over my shoulder at the AR15 slung over my shoulder. “Where’d you get that?” Tes asked. I shuttered at the thought of what I had seen. “I saw some poor hunter get ripped to pieces just through that gap over there, I waited until the thing was gone to grab it.” I answered.
“The hunter I found in the camp had an AR on him. I had just arrived and called him over to my ATV to tell me what he was doing out there and when he came within 5 feet, everything went black and I woke up here and he was nowhere to be seen. I ran into this big black goop and mold covered humanoid creature. I barely got away but it got my hat” she replied. My blood ran cold. “That sounds like it may have been the same creature that tore the hunter to pieces in front of me”. “Figured” she replied. We decided to setup camp in the nook we were in. It was a small room with two small gaps like the one I had escaped through earlier. We would rest here until we were officially ready to move out after taking stock of our supplies.
We had enough small food rations to last us a couple days at most. Between the two of us we had two rifles, my pistol, a machete of which Tes had on her when I found her, a small hatchet, a flare gun, our hunting knives, and our flashlights. I had found an old duffle bag back in the gore filled corridor I escaped from earlier. “Dad where…. no. What is this place?”. I took a deep breath. “To be honest I haven’t a clue. I’ve never seen a building this size nor have we seen any windows. Plus, that thing from earlier was not anything I’ve seen before”
As we rounded the corner I could see that the lights on the ceiling were becoming less common. Forcing us to advance in darkness. We’d be screwed if not for our flashlights. We suddenly found ourselves walking into a large open room. Hallways going off on either side. The problem was that this room was pitch black. The darkness seemed to just swallow the light. “It’s too dark here. I got a bad feeling about this. Let’s turn around and find a different way.
As we turned around we froze in our tracks. The path from where we came was dark now to, however that’s not what made us freeze. What made us freeze was the two-golf ball size white orbs fixed over a far too wide smile, full of sharp crooked teeth It was only about 20 meters behind us. How had we not heard it. It stood about 10 feet tall and the worse part was that through the flickers of light I saw it was dragging something. A body. Horribly mangled and chunks missing. My feet felt like concrete, but it was Tess’ voice that brought me back. “DAD, RUN!” as gun shot rang off next to me snapping me out of it. My hearing came back. As I was turning to run with Tes, I heard a sickening growl come from the behind me
We began sprinting as hard as we can down the massive room. “What the fuck is that!?” Tes cried out while sprinting next to me. I was about to reply, when I saw something up ahead. “THERE!” I yelled. It was beautiful. A metallic door with a green exit sign over it. “How long is this damn room!?” Tes screamed. I was wondering the same thing. I could hear a repetitive booming sound coming from behind us. Not from explosions no but from an abomination running us down. We had gotten within ten meters of the door when I risked a glance behind me. As I began to look a mangled mass of red flew past our heads at blinding speed and slammed into the wall with a sickening splat. It was the corpse the thing had been dragging. Had that thing really chased us all this way while carrying a corpse.
Then another though occurred to me. This creature just hurled a fully grown human at blinding speeds over a distance of probably 30 meters and it had hit the wall hard enough to splatter. It just tried to kill us with a corpse. The viscera from the body had coated the door and soaked the carpet that we were now making our way towards. I shouted at Tes to “get through the damn door!” as I pivoted 180 degrees and in one fluent motion drew the AR and let loose a barrage of bullets behind me while baking towards the door.
It didn’t even flinch. Not so much as a hesitation in its forward running momentum. As if the bullets passed right through it as if it was made of water. I felt a hand grip the back of my shirt collar and rip me backwards through the viscera caked door I landed on a hard-cold concrete floor, smacking my head. My vision was blurry as I watched Tes slammed the big metal door behind us. “Dad! Are you okay? Please tell me your okay?!” She collapsed on my chest in sobbing uncontrollably. My vision began to clear as I raised my arms and enveloped her in a hug. “I’m fine Tes, it’s okay” I sat there holding my sobbing daughter.
When the tears began to dry up, between hiccs from her sobbing she asked “Where are we? This place is different.” I looked up and she was right. We were in some sort of maintenance tunnel. Pipes ran the length of the corridor for as far as the eye can see, which wasn’t very far to begin with. The lighting seeming to sparsely line the tunnel off into its distance. “Seems like some kind of maintenance tunnel”. “We should follow it” she recommended it. Before I could think of an answer I realized the door behind us had disappeared. More pipe filled corridor stretching out into the distance, in its place.
“Well shit. Guess we don’t have much of a choice” I replied finally. We collected ourselves and our belongings, making sure to reload our rifles. We flicked on our flashlights and continued on into dark depths of the maintenance tunnels. A nagging suspicion in the back of my brain telling me that we haven’t seen anything yet. I wish I had listened to it.
Part 1 complete. Part 2 coming soon