Escape - Chapter 3.1
Chapter 3.1
Multiple spotlights pierced the darkness, but the surrounding area remained empty. The silence was so profound, it felt almost tangible. As the last of the team emerged, Damian signaled again, and the rear guard sealed the door shut.
Footsteps echoed softly. Dozens of figures moved, their breathing held tight. The corridor stretched straight ahead, the floor even and smooth. Despite the ease of passage, sweat beaded on their brows as if they were enduring a grueling endurance march. One hundred meters wasn’t a significant distance. Alone, they could run it in twelve seconds. But the weight of the group seemed to stretch each meter into a kilometer.
Time dragged on, seemingly endless. Sweat soaked their protective gear, the confined space thick with the heat radiating from their bodies. They were reaching their limit. Finally, Damian, at the head of the line, stopped.
“They can’t be dead, can they?” one of the team members asked hopefully. Damian, instead of answering, slid his light across the floor.
Just a few steps away gaped a massive hole. They had arrived. This was the so-called “First Trap,” designed to lure and capture Serpiente that ventured near the city, providing test subjects for their research. It was engineered to prevent escape. The bottom was littered with rotting meat, the walls studded with sharp blades.
The team encircled the pit, their lights plunging into the darkness. As one, they raised their weapons.
Luce licked his lips. “Aim for the eyes when they appear. Ready.”
The metallic click of safeties disengaging echoed in the confined space. Any second now, those repulsive creatures would emerge—their shimmering green scales, their spidery, crooked limbs. Then, a swift end, retrieval of the bodies, and a safe return…
“Wait.” Damian abruptly raised a hand, causing several sharp intakes of breath.
‘Why? At a time like this? What was there to hesitate about?’
Luce stared up at him, confusion etched on his face.
His expression was strange. “It’s not a Serpiente.”
“What?” Luce whipped his head back, peering into the pit. Not a Serpiente? That had never happened. It was impossible. Nothing but Serpiente roamed these corridors…
“A person?” …Impossible.
It was a foolish thought. How could a person be down there?
Damian, staring intently into the pit, as if deep in thought, murmured, “It’s a body.”
His voice was a low growl. A body. A human body in a Serpiente trap. Nothing made sense.
“Looks like the Serpiente have decided to use our traps as garbage disposals,” he scoffed, trying to lighten the mood. But Damian didn’t laugh.
“It’s a trap.”
Luce’s forced smile froze.
Then, a scream ripped through the air. Luce barely managed to keep hold of his weapon as he leaped back. One of the team members yelled, “Above! Above us! The ceiling!”
Startled, the soldier next to him swung his light upwards. A screeching sound filled the air.
“Aaaaagh!”
Click. Bang! Bang! Bang!
Another scream, this one cut short. Everyone pointed their lights at the ceiling. And then, from above, the monsters rained down. Reptilian yellow eyes, slitted pupils, serpentine green scales, vaguely humanoid in shape, but with the grotesque, spidery limbs. Serpiente.
Not just one or two…
“Damn it. How many are there?”
Bang! Bang!
Hundreds, it seemed. Maybe more. They clung to the ceiling like cockroaches, their presence undetected until this moment. They’d been so focused on the walls and floor, they hadn’t thought to look up.
Past encounters flashed through Luce’s mind. This wasn’t his first time facing Serpiente. But then, they’d had the advantage of numbers. Then, he’d been able to aim his weapon without fear. But he wasn’t Damian. He wasn’t a hero. He’d taken this mission because it was supposed to be a simple procedure. If he had known he would die, he would have found any excuse to call in sick.
“L-Lieutenant! Aaaaagh! Help me! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts so much!” Trembling hands clutched at his ankle. He looked down to see the freckled soldier who had asked the question earlier, tears streaming down his face, clinging to his leg. His lower body was already ravaged by the Serpiente.
“Damn it, let go—”
A screech cut him off as a Serpiente lunged from the side. A sickening crunch echoed as massive jaws clamped down on the young man’s throat. Blood sprayed as his neck snapped, severed like a rag doll’s.
It was a massacre. A slaughter. There was no other way to describe it. Everywhere she looked, blood gushed.
Luce, trembling, shifted his gaze. Amidst the carnage, Damian and a few others were fighting. Yes, fighting. They were the only ones.
