Earth Lost (Earthrise Book 2) by Arenson Daniel

Author:Arenson, Daniel [Arenson, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Moonclipse
Published: 2016-07-17T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

They walked down the tunnel, nineteen soldiers, flashlights strapped to their helmets, guns held before them. Sergeant Stumpy walked with them, a flashlight attached to his miniature uniform. The walls were crude as if carved by a living creature. The ceiling was so low it grazed Beast's helmet. The train tracks stretched onward, and the tunnel sloped, moving deeper underground. The overhead lights flickered on for just an instant, revealing words painted onto the wall in what looked like blood.

Marco spoke the words in a low voice. "Turn back. Death below."

Addy hefted her gun. "We are death."

The lights gave another flicker, then died again. Marco hoped that meant somebody was alive below, working at fixing the power. The soldiers kept walking. Wind blew from the depths, cold and rancid, smelling of old meat and worms. The wind moaned like a dying man. Booms and thuds sounded in the deep, clanging metal, a muffled cry. Marco couldn't tell if he was hearing survivors, scum, or just the machinery of the deep flicking on and off, sending echoes through the dungeon.

They kept walking down the tunnel, moving hundreds of feet along the rails. The stench grew with every step, so intolerable that Marco and some of the others pulled on their gas masks. The stink of death.

A few more steps and Marco froze.

He raised his flashlight.

His heart burst into a gallop.

"Who's there?" he cried out, raising his gun. Around him, the others raised their weapons too. They shone their flashlights ahead.

A figure. A figure stood in the dark. Black, thin. No, not stood—hung.

They approached slowly, guns raised, casting more light on the figure.

"God," Marco whispered.

Elvis covered his mouth and turned green.

The man hung from the ceiling, a chain wrapped around his neck. His face was bloated, his tongue dangled from his mouth, and scratches as from fingernails had torn his cheeks. He wore a blue uniform, the logo of Chrysopoeia Corp still visible on the shirt.

"Poor bugger," Addy said, poking the corpse with her muzzle.

"Don't disturb the dead," Lailani said, crossing herself. "They will curse you if you taunt them."

Marco stepped closer to the corpse, grimacing, thankful for his gas mask. The man's belly was already distended with the gasses of death, and he was dripping rot. A piece of paper was folded in the corpse's hand. Marco pulled it free and unfolded it.

"What does it say?" Addy said.

"Wait, step back," Marco said. "Give me room. Away from the corpse. Thing stinks." They took a few steps away, and he read from the paper. "'They took them. All of them. My wife. My children. I saw them, I saw what they are, how they crawl, how they begged me. They are everywhere. They are in the machines. They are in the water. They are changing. I won't become one. I won't grow. I won't let them. They are everywhere. I hear them now, coming closer, the ones with the claws. If you see my family, do what I could not. Kill them.

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