The Vault
Chapter III
Leah stood petrified at the entrance to a large hall. Its stone floors were stained dark red, saturated with blood, more blood spatter coating its walls and it was here that the stench forced her to cover her nose with her shirt. In front of her, lined up on one side of the hall, she could see the bodies, tornadoes of flies swirling around each, far too many to count.
Every part of her wanted to run away and scream, but something wanted her to see for herself, to get up close and maybe even to touch it, because suddenly, it felt like she was only in a horrible nightmare soon to wake up from, soon to be forgotten.
She inched her way closer to the bodies almost screaming when she found her foot submerged in a pool of blood. The blood was still warm. It was then that she saw movement in the corner. There was a girl, chained to the wall, her mouth taped and eyes blind. Just then, the girl banged her shackles against the stone floor.
Leah froze. Could the girl see her? She had no pupils, her eyes just white. Somebody would have heard that and would come. She had to leave.
She quickly started retreating, but then the girl clanged the metal on the ground, this time pointing to something next to her. With her other hand, she motioned for Leah to come nearer.
Should she go? She couldn’t just leave the girl there, what had she been thinking? You should just leave and call the police, maybe take a picture so they don’t think you’re crazy, her mind was begging her to leave. But the adrenaline was flowing again, her eyes already used to the dark, her nose almost used to the smell, what was another minute or two?
She slowly walked over to the girl, who continued to rattle her chains urgently whilst pointing to the ground.
Walking past, she could see the bodies up close now, men, women, girls and boys, all with their stomachs ripped open and emptied, bite marks covering their bodies and huge chunks of flesh missing. The flies were relentlessly picking at the remains; she could even see the maggots crawling all over them. As she drew closer and closer to the girl, the bodies became thinner, the flesh disappeared, puddles of decomposing sludge around what was left. Her eyes scanned the ground expecting to see hoards of rats, but surprisingly there weren’t any. Finally she saw across from the girl a massive pile of bones, all grey and yellow but completely clean.
Forcing her eyes to shift from that side of the hall, she crept over to the girl. Warily keeping her distance, she peered over to what the girl was pointing at. It was a message scratched into the floor.
Save me
As if the girl knew she had read it, the rattling stopped and the girl started sobbing heavily, tears streaming down her face.
“Hey, don’t worry,” Leah almost choked, the girl was in real danger, “I’ll get you out of here, I won’t leave without you.”
Every part of her wanted to run away and scream, but something wanted her to see for herself, to get up close and maybe even to touch it, because suddenly, it felt like she was only in a horrible nightmare soon to wake up from, soon to be forgotten.
She inched her way closer to the bodies almost screaming when she found her foot submerged in a pool of blood. The blood was still warm. It was then that she saw movement in the corner. There was a girl, chained to the wall, her mouth taped and eyes blind. Just then, the girl banged her shackles against the stone floor.
Leah froze. Could the girl see her? She had no pupils, her eyes just white. Somebody would have heard that and would come. She had to leave.
She quickly started retreating, but then the girl clanged the metal on the ground, this time pointing to something next to her. With her other hand, she motioned for Leah to come nearer.
Should she go? She couldn’t just leave the girl there, what had she been thinking? You should just leave and call the police, maybe take a picture so they don’t think you’re crazy, her mind was begging her to leave. But the adrenaline was flowing again, her eyes already used to the dark, her nose almost used to the smell, what was another minute or two?
She slowly walked over to the girl, who continued to rattle her chains urgently whilst pointing to the ground.
Walking past, she could see the bodies up close now, men, women, girls and boys, all with their stomachs ripped open and emptied, bite marks covering their bodies and huge chunks of flesh missing. The flies were relentlessly picking at the remains; she could even see the maggots crawling all over them. As she drew closer and closer to the girl, the bodies became thinner, the flesh disappeared, puddles of decomposing sludge around what was left. Her eyes scanned the ground expecting to see hoards of rats, but surprisingly there weren’t any. Finally she saw across from the girl a massive pile of bones, all grey and yellow but completely clean.
Forcing her eyes to shift from that side of the hall, she crept over to the girl. Warily keeping her distance, she peered over to what the girl was pointing at. It was a message scratched into the floor.
Save me
As if the girl knew she had read it, the rattling stopped and the girl started sobbing heavily, tears streaming down her face.
“Hey, don’t worry,” Leah almost choked, the girl was in real danger, “I’ll get you out of here, I won’t leave without you.”