The Eyes of Fate (Currently in Rewrite)

Sidetracked

Vyper

The Church of the Guarded Heaven Training Grounds

Oklahoma, USA

December 6th, 2019

"Vyper, we've got incoming," Chesyr said.

Vyper set down the charge he had been setting, hiding it against the door frame of what he figured was a load-bearing wall. He had made enough charges with Ranger that they should be able to spread them out enough to bring down the whole place.

"How many?" Vyper asked, standing up and dusting himself off. He glanced down the darkened hallway, unable to see anybody even with how good his night vision was.

"More than I want to fight in here right now." Chesyr threw open the door to the next room they were supposed to search and waved Vyper in. "Come on."

Vyper darted into the room, not even bothering to try and hit the lights. Chesyr followed him, shutting the door quietly behind her. Not two seconds later they heard feet come pounding past their door. They heard another door open and shut before somebody spoke.

"The prisoners are still secure." The voice said. Female, with the same southern accent that Vyper had heard from all the locals they had talked to. "Looks like you were wrong, Daniel."

The smell of rot hit Vyper's nose suddenly, so strong he couldn't believe that he hadn't noticed it when Chesyr opened the door. It was sickeningly sweet, thick enough that he could practically taste it. Bile started to rise in his throat, and he swallowed hard several times to keep from losing his lunch.

"It just doesn't make sense that that demon would come here all by himself," Somebody else, Vyper assumed it was Daniel, said. "Why would he walk right in the front door and start a fight? Where are the rest of the demons that Brother Wist was warning us about?"

Chesyr put her hand on his shoulder, squeezing, and Vyper turned to look at her. Her could see the same thing in her knew that she had realized the same thing he had: Whatever else was in this room, it had been dead for quite a while. At the very least, that meant that it wasn't Sentinel and Stellan. Vyper silently prayed that the prisoners the woman had referred to were their friends.

"Who knows," The first girl spoke again, "But they aren't here, that's for sure. Let's go see if the rest of our brothers and sisters killed that demon without us."

The voices continued talking as the sound of footsteps went away, slowly fading until they were gone. Vyper silently counted to thirty before tapping Chesyr's hand with his own. She clicked on her flashlight, and together they turned and looked at the rest of the room.

Three corpses laid there, each in various stages of decay. The furthest one back looked like it was melting into the floor, while the closest one to them didn't look more than a couple of days old. All of them showed silent evidence that their deaths hadn't been easy ones. All of them were missing their eyes. Vyper gagged for a moment before getting himself under control, and he heard Chesyr swallow thickly.

"Christ." Vyper breathed.

"Doesn't look like they're in here," Chesyr said, her voice thick. "Let's get out of here."

"Yes please," Vyper said. As they stepped back into the darkness, their comms crackled.

"Vyper, do you read me?" Ranger's voice, sounding as calm and collected as ever.

"Yeah, I read you. What's up?" Vyper tapped his own earpiece and turned to face Chesyr, allowing him to see both her and the hallway behind her. She turned towards him, and he knew she was doing the same thing.