Darkness Depths

“Convoy two has been spotted. We’re currently passing them. Beaches are clear of any life. Making another round.” The lead of the first convoy reported.
“God this is fucking boring. I want to be up there. This place is huge, which means the city must be. Or at least the castle. I can see parts of it from down here.” The gunman for the lead Walker complained.
“I know what you mean. But there isn’t much we can do. We’re the hired help, remember?” The driver recapped.
“It still fucking sucks. Whoa, I’m getting something up ahead. Do you see that?”
“Yeah, it looks like something’s digging.”
“The second convoy didn’t notice that? Really?”
“Must not have happened on their watch. Convoy 2, do you copy? We’ve got a bit of a disturbance in the ground here, over.”
“We see the same thing. Checking it out?” Convoy Two replied.
“Yeah, we’ll keep you posted.”
The convoy halted, as a few soldiers exited from their Walkers on both sides of the faux-island.
“It’s digging alright. Be at the ready gentlemen.” One soldier instructed.
“What could be digging?” A young soldier pondered out loud.
“I don’t want to find…” A massive ground serpent exploded from the ground, screeching wildly. The monster looked like a nightmare, as it bore down on the soldiers. The men fired, but it wasn’t enough to even injure the creature. It opened its shredder-like mouth and consumed Walkers along with soldiers, kicking up sand and blood alike. It began entrapping the soldiers, using it’s lengthy body to circle around them. The men fired off as many bullets as they could, in vain attempts to halt the serpentine creature. The monstrous fiend stopped, then constricted the men within its circle, crushing every bone in their bodies. It continued to squeeze until each one popped, like meat-filled balloons. The serpent continued on its rampage, eating the vehicles that tried to escape.
The same events transpired on the opposite side, as another serpent flailed about, launching Walkers and soldiers about. Using it’s bladed tail, the behemoth smashed a soldier out of the sphere, sending him into the red abyss. Instantly, the pressure crushed his form, molding it into as small a shape as possible, until he disintegrated away into nothingness.

. . .

“That should do it.” Jess finished. The newly repaired Lugnut stood up. He looked like a robotic patchwork, but operated better than ever.
“Thank you for repairing me, Jess. You have saved my life.” Lugnut thanked.
“Please, least I could do for the robot that saved all of ours.”
“Lugnut, how did you get here?” Juliet wondered, as the squad mobilized out of the building and to the castle.
“I managed to escape the collapsing chasm. But I was damaged. I swam to the Abyss, and an odd current caught me and carried me along. Next thing I realize, I was thrown here.”
“So the current stayed…Interesting. Hey, I still see the others. They haven’t entered the castle yet. We can still catch up with them.”
“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Abioye urged.
The squad then heard a faint roar on two different sections, and the faint sound of gun fire. The noises stopped within seconds.
“Doesn’t sound good at all.” Jess mentioned obviously.
“Let’s just get going.” Juliet led.
The squad eventually caught up with Ms. Wilson and the others as they prepared to enter the castle.
“I’m pleased you all managed to catch up. And it’s nice to see you’re well, robot.” Ms. Wilson commented as she primed her weapon.
“I wish I could say the same.” Lugnut responded, causing the other group members to snicker.
“Ignoring that. Okay, we’ve reached the castle. We’ve almost completed it. Untold riches, ours. An entire kingdom, lost to the ages, discovered by us. We’ve accomplished what so many could only dream of doing. We’ll find a way to make Atlantis surface, and we’ll show the world that the Wilson family name will go down in history. That I will go down in history.”
“You mean we. We will go down in history.” Jess corrected.
“Ah…yes…We. We will all go down in history. Ladies and Gentlemen, let’s go.”
They entered the castle, moving passed the unhinged doors. A gust of strong winds blew, impeding the group momentarily. Juliet heard whispers similar to the voices she from her descents into insanity, and her heart dropped. She clutched her weapons tightly, as she looked around with the others.
“Is anyone noticing how there’s nothing here?” Clairette asked aloud, irritated.
“But…this can’t be…There’s supposed to be the throne, and untold riches…This can’t be!” Ms. Wilson slowly came frantic.
Ahead of them lied a chamber, completely empty. The center was bathed in light from the large stained glass windows, yet there was nothing else. No extra corridors, no doorways, no stairs, absolutely nothing.
“No wonder the bloody place sank.” Abioye grumbled.
Ms. Wilson moved to the center, sheer disappointment coming in like waves. Once she was in the middle, she dropped to the ground, anger devastating her.
“God dammit. DAMMIT. This wasn’t supposed to fucking happen!” Ms. Wilson cried out, slamming the ground with her fists.
“She’s taking it a lot harder than I am.” Juliet whispered to Lugnut.
“People died for nothing. All of this was for absolutely nothing.” Jess growled.
“Not true! We did technically find Atlantis…It just wasn’t we thought.” Juliet encouraged.
“This is bullshit.” Clairette exhaled.
Ms. Wilson continued to pound the ground, tears of defeat dripping off her face. The chamber then shook violently, Ms. Wilson ceasing her actions.
“I’ve got a really bad feeling about this.” Abioye spoke up, looking around the chamber.
“Aw dammit, you never say that! Then something bad…” Juliet’s voice dropped as the floor beneath them crumbled away. The members and soldiers fell, crashing into a strange, unearthly fleshy corridor.
“….I told you, asshole.” Juliet moaned as she tried standing back up.
“Shut up, Stonebridge.” Abioye rubbed his head, throwing debris off of him.
“How come none of you flew?” Lugnut asked the group.
“Stow it or I will rip your wiring out, robot.” Anthony snarled.
“What the hell is this shit? Ugh it feels like we’re in someone’s intestines.” Clairette noticed, feeling the floor.
“Whatever it is, it leads somewhere. Down there, I see red lights.” Jess pointed ahead.
Each individual walked towards the light, noticing a humming along the way. They walked on the odd material, getting increasingly more disgusted.
The team entered a new chamber with no dead ends. But this chamber was more nightmarish than all of the castle outside. The room was immersed in a red light, with torches lined all over the corpulent walls. In the very center of the room was a throne, made from charred bones and skulls. Resting under it was a pile of decaying bodies, of unknown origin. The floor itself was divided into sections, either made of cage or the substance that made up the other corridor. Lying under the caged sections was lava, molten and blistering. At different ends of the room, there were three diverse corridors, humming sounds echoing from each.
“I guess…This is where we split up…” Juliet mumbled in fear.
“Seems like it. I’ll take my squad to the middle corridor. Juliet, you all go left. Anthony, you take right. Keep your communicators on.” Ms. Wilson drilled.
The squads split apart, carefully entering the unknown. Their footsteps dulled by the flesh on the floors as they carried onward. Terror was as present as Juliet, and as real as the planet they lived on.
“Guys, I don’t like this at all.” Juliet muttered.
“Neither do I. Something doesn’t feel right. None of this feels right.” Jess reinforced.
“I want to know what that humming is.” A soldier spoke up.
“Me too. Then again, part of me doesn’t want to find out.” Abioye mentioned as he marched forward.
Juliet’s heart beat fast, as they all walked down in silence. Her vision began fogging up, and mumbled chants entered her mind. The heart pains from before restarted, impeding her progress. Her eyes went black, but instead of making her blind, Juliet was able to see what lies ahead in the corridors.
“Ahead. There’s a pit and another hallway.” Juliet chanted in a distorted voice.
“Juliet…?” Jess touched Juliet’s shoulder, noticing the change in voice.
“Ahead. There’s a pit and another hallway.” She continued.
“Stonebridge, what’s going on?” Abioye turned her around, and Jess let out a gasp.
“What?”
“Wait…You just had black eyes again…” Jess was dumbfounded at the sudden change.
“I’m fine…We need to keep on moving.”
The squad found themselves in an expansive room, with a large pit in the middle. Stairs led down the pit, and to the right of it was a hallway.
“What are we going to do?” Juliet asked.
“I’ll take the three soldiers and head down the pit. You three go to the hall. Lugnut, you stay behind Jess and Juliet, got it?” Ordered Abioye.
“Settled then. Let’s get a move on.” Jess confirmed.
At another part of the labyrinthine location, Clairette and Anthony found dungeons upon dungeons. Skeletons scattered the floors, and liquid dripped from the ceiling. What troubled the group most was a buzzing sound resonating in the halls.
“Fuck this place…I swear to God this place came straight from a nightmare.” Clairette complained.
“Quit your whining. We won’t be here for long.” Anthony demanded.
“What makes you think that? You do fucking realize that the Potestas crashed, right? And it crashed on land. Even if we could fix it, there is no way we could push it out into the ocean again!”
“We’ve got Walkers.”
“How the hell do you know that those will keep us safe? There’s something unholy about this place. I don’t think it matters what we have protecting us. I think it won’t matter in the end.”
“If it comes to the end, I’m going down fighting.”
“Same with me, but it isn’t supposed to be the end! We were supposed to discover Atlantis, and maybe resurface it.” Clairette went on, trying to avoid silence.
“Ever since that attack, I knew things weren’t going to be how we thought.”
“That doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t. I just want fucking out of here. Stop acting like such a statue! I know you have some fucking emotion!” Clairette yelled at Anthony with panic.
“Sir, ma’am, do you hear that?” A solider questioned as he listened close.
Everyone fell into silence as they listened in. Afar, the sound of a single bell rang continuously. Clairette’s heart sped up, as the bell ringing sustained.
“Yeah…I do. Maybe it’s one of the others. I’ll call it in.” Clairette walked a few steps away as she tried reaching the others.
One of the soldiers stepped away to sit down. He leaned against a wall and breathed heavily. Next to his boot, a spider scurried along. The soldier lifted his boot, allowing the spider to go under, and then dropped his foot, crushing the little arachnid.
“Who would have thought there were spiders down here?” He commented to himself.
In the dungeons behind the soldiers, the floor started to shift slightly. Shuffling grew, and slowly moved to the soldier. By the seconds, more and more spiders appeared, crawling faster onto the combatant. At first he was unaware, casually taking off his gas helmet for a smoke. When he looked down to light his cigarette, he noticed the spider.
“Oh God what the fuck!” The soldier explained, frantically trying to kick off the arachnids. The others turned to see the soldier being consumed by the spiders as he tried shaking them off. In two of the far cages behind the group, a hissing sound was emitted.
“Help me! Get them off! They’re biting! Help me! Help!” The spiders started crawling into the soldier’s mouth, nipping away at his insides. At the bite points, grotesque boils appeared. Soon, they were all over the man’s body, the others helpless to do anything.
“We need to go! They’re coming to us! We can’t help him!” Anthony barked out, shooting his rifle at the floor around the doomed soldier.
At the far cages, the bars commenced being struck, and in seconds, were knocked down. Two human sized spiders jumped out, hissing even louder.
“There’s bigger ones! Move! MOVE!”
The remaining members of the squad ran through the dungeon halls, looking for an exit. The boils on the condemned trooper started popping, blood releasing from the cysts. His screams echoed in the passages, as one of the bigger spider sliced him at the knees, severing him from his calves. It then sunk its fangs into the soldier’s chest, as he was still being consumed by the smaller spiders. The large spider ripped off the man’s torso, as he ultimately slipped into death. Blood was spewed across the walls and on the floors as the spiders, both big and small, joined in the pursuit of the other squad members.
“Spiders! It had to be spiders!” Clairette whined as she fired behind her.
“Be happy it isn’t scorpions!” Another soldier urged, unloading his her clip into the wave of spiders.
“Up ahead! There’s a door!”
The squad members sprinted to the door, and one soldier held the gate open. Clairette, Anthony, and the two other soldiers dived through, as the female soldier closed the door behind them.
“Get going!” She yelled between gun shots. “I’ll hold them off!!”
“God dammit…” Clairette continued running, feeling guilt towards the soldiers inevitable demise.
The soldier blasted her gun and tossed grenades, holding the spiders back. Fortunately, she managed to splatter one of the larger ones. Unfortunately, there were more than just two.
“Come on! I’m not afraid! Come on!” The soldier fired her last bullets as the spiders approached. She took out her pistol and fired one shot at a time, taking out many smaller spiders and injuring the giant ones.
But she knew she wouldn’t last.