I Am Chosen

Descent

There was a button set into the wall, across from where the secret door had swung in. Kacey assumed the button would close the door but there was no way she going to try it and find out.

She shared a look with Hollis and then down the stone steps they went, side by side. Both carried mag lights that illuminated the enclosed space. The deeper they descended, the cooler and stuffier the air became. After proceeding for several feet, they came to a landing and a turn in the stairs. From then on, the cut of the treads was much rougher; the stones more worn. Here the gray/brown rock on either side revealed streaks of white, like lightning bolts; further down, the white stone above and on either side dominated. Kacey stopped, shining her light on the milky rock wall. "What is this?" She asked.

"Quartz would be my guess," Hollis answered. Kacey reached out, rubbing her hand against the wall's rough texture before moving on.

After two more turns, the air had become thick and their breathing became labored. Their exhalations misted in front of them as the white stone gave way to a dismal gray/black. They slowed, as each of them felt a slight vertigo coupled with lightheadedness. Their flashlight beams weakened as if the surrounding darkness was competing with the light and winning. A wind-like sound reached their ears but no air blew against their faces. The struggle to breathe was much more pronounced as Hollis and Kacey at last reached the bottom of the stair and stepped onto level ground.

For Hollis, it had started as a headache, just after they passed the quartz deposits. As soon as they set foot on that stone floor, a migraine-level pain shot through his brain. Things became fuzzy. His thoughts refused to focus. Very quickly, logic and reason became much more difficult to grasp. Inexplicably, he became angry; deeply bitter, resentful. Of youth, of the careless morons caught up in their electronic devices... of their recklessness; thoughtlessness. It was that very same stupidity that had taken his family from him; the idiocy of boys and girls pretending to be men and women. Young, foolish. Dangerous. Like any other menace to society...

Like his partner.

No.

"I can feel it," he said to Kacey, stopping. She turned to him. "I can feel it inside my head."

Yes.

The world would be better off without her.

Kacey could tell just by looking at the old man that he was on the edge; teetering on the brink of surrender to the thing that lurked down here; the Traveler That Walks Unseen, or maybe it was The Lord of the Flies. Or maybe it went by many names.

She snatched the gun from his hand, pushed him back toward the steps and said "Go! Go back, hurry!" Hollis nodded weakly and complied as Kacey watched, preparing to follow. They could always come back now that they-

It was then that she heard-just above the blustering wind-sound-the thumping of rapid footfalls from deeper in the tunnel; she swung her light around to reveal a thing speeding from the void; it was on top of her before she could raise the rifle but she did maintain the presence of mind to drop her flashlight and utilize one of her favorite Judo techniques: tomoe nage. It was a sacrifice throw, which required the thrower to fall onto their back, planting one foot on their opponent and tossing the attacker head over heels.

Kacey held on to the lapel of whatever rushed her, so she could roll over backward and end up on top of it. The rifle had remained in her grip; the discarded flashlight's beam splashed across her enemy's head, revealing, in half shadow, what had once been Valerie Griffin.

The woman's eyes were black orbs. As Kacey watched, transfixed, something beneath her/its blonde hair shifted-appendages, like spider legs emerged, unfolding from her scalp. The Valerie-thing opened her mouth and black mandibles, like an ant's, pushed their way out and opened and closed, making a sharp clacking sound.

Whatever had existed of Valerie Griffin was most definitely gone.

Posturing upward, Kacey jammed the Winchester barrel into the Valerie-thing's mouth and pulled the trigger. The head jerked and black blood fanned out from beneath. The mandibles ceased their clacking and the body beneath Kacey lay still.

Struggling to catch her racing breath, her pulse thundering, Kacey grabbed her flashlight. She then gained her feet, backed away and shined the light up the stairs in hopes of seeing Hollis.

He had made it up several steps but was now on hands and knees, clearly in immense pain. Kacey raced up, slung the rifle over her shoulder and pulled the old man to a standing position.

"Let's go, let's go," she said.

The ascent was arduous but after several minutes they came to the white quartz layer. It was there that Hollis's breathing became suddenly even. He grasped Kacey's sleeve and said. "That's better! Oh God, that's so much better. I think it's gone, I don't feel it in my head anymore."

Kacey eyed the white mineral that surrounded them. "Hunh," she said. "You sure?" She eyeballed Hollis, wary of any deception by the thing that had controlled him.

Hollis actually smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I feel good. What happened back there? The gunshot-"

"We can play catch up later. Let's just get the hell outta here."

Hollis agreed. The rest of the climb was spent in silence, with both of them looking constantly over their shoulders waiting for some other nightmarish thing to come charging up from the depths. But no other attackers came, and Kacey and Hollis were both winded when they finally neared the top. Kacey eyed the white rectangle of the doorway when just then, her phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, she was surprised to see that it was J.D.

"J.D.?" Kacey answered. "You okay?"

The doorway was just a few steps away.

"Yeah," J.D. answered. "Look, I have some ideas about what's going on with your case. I think I can help you, if you'll let me."

"Really?" Kacey answered as she and Hollis reached the doorway. She was excited that her brother was finally reaching out to her, though she wasn't sure what he knew, or what he thought he knew. Either way, this was huge. "Well cool, let's-"

Kacey stopped, staring out at the expansive recreation room. Five people were gathered there, or at least, they had been people at one time. Now they were like Valerie-freakish mockeries of the men and women they had once been. They stood a few feet apart, facing the secret doorway that Hollis and Kacey stood in.

"The staff," an awestruck Hollis said from beside her. "Good God, this is the staff..." As one, the servants began closing in.

"Kacey?" J.D. said on the other end. Kacey tossed the phone onto an air hockey table a few feet away, dropped her flashlight, and raised the Winchester.

"Are you there?" J.D.'s voice continued from the discarded cell phone.

"Kacey!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well... now we know what waited for them down the stairs, and what was waiting back at the top. All Kacey and Hollis have to do now is get out of this alive. See you in one week!