“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”

“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”

“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”

“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”

“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”

“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”

What am I doing? I looked at my hands and at my surroundings.

Do I recognize this place? There was a gun table, a reloading bench and a parts table. I ran my hands over the tools hanging on the wall before me. Cold to the touch, lifeless.

Are these mine? What’s going on? Why am I in a cell? I approached the door and peered through the tiny barred window in the otherwise solid wooden door. Nobody around, not even a guard.

“H- Hello?” I called out meekly before coughing. My throat was incredibly dry; how long was I in here? “Hello? Is anybody there?” I called out again, my voice stronger this time and echoed through the room. No reply.

I turned back into the small room with only a tiny, stained mattress, a bucket and a plate of what looked like… bread? Giving it a poke I determined that it was actually a bunched up, very crusty rag saturated in gun oil. What was a gun rag doing on a plate?

Turning back to the weapon benches, I looked over the gun racks at all the different weapons that hung there: automatic assault rifles, Designated Marksman Rifles, maybe four different sub-machine guns, with no less than twenty different handguns, some with a similar pair that had been modified to a different task.

Picking up what looked like a freshly oiled Glock 18, I gave it a once over and determined that it had been freshly maintained and was just missing it’s slide which sat a little ways away from it’s main body. Sliding the firing mechanism onto the pistol base and inserting the locking pins, I tested the mechanism for motion before setting it down on a couple of pegs outlined in a bit of dust.

How long have I been down here? I wondered again as I ran my finger over a gun at random, wiping off a thin layer of dust. Am I prisoner?

Returning to the door again, I peered through once more for any signs of life but found none.

“Hello! Anybody down here? Can anybody hear me?” I demanded, gripping onto the bars of the window and gave a firm tug to test the solidity of the door. The door seemed to rattle a little bit so I stood back and took hold of the door handle.

Was this always there? I wondered, tracing the knob with a finger. Brass? Artistically designed. Who’d put such an ornate doorknob inside a prison cell?

“H- help me!” A faint woman’s voice echoed from beyond the door. Releasing the handle I gripped onto the bars again and pressed my face into them to try and look as far down the hallway as I could.

“Hello! Who’s there? What’s going on, please explain!” I shouted, growing almost desperate.

“Help… Me…” the voice carried down the hallway again. I backed up and tried the doorknob, giving it a twist then a pull.

Surprisingly the door silently swung open almost of it’s own accord.

“Save… Me…” the voice replied to my departure of my cell and I turned into the darkness where the requests had originated from.

“Stare into the abyss…” “The abyss stares back.” I whispered in reply to the vaguely familiar voice all around me as I took hold of the single burning torch in the cavern and began to explore for the voice’s origin.

Stopping at a similar door, I peeked into the window but saw nothing in the blackness that consumed the room. The same was said for the next three rooms when at the fourth a gust of wind suddenly swept through and extinguished my only, solitary source of light; my safety.

“Please… Save me!” The female voice demanded pitifully again. Had I made a mistake in not bringing one of my weapons with me? Did they have any ammunition? I’d seen a reloading bench but hadn’t seen any trace of completed rounds or full magazines.

“I’m- I’m coming!” I called back, trying to see in the oblivion that surrounded me. My feet slapped on what felt like watery stones as I slowly continued down the hallway. “Don’t worry, I'm coming!”

“He’s- He’s getting closer! Don’t let him hurt me!” the female voice cried out, sounding more and more estranged.

“I’m coming! Just hold on!” I called back and picked up my pace.

“He’s almost here! Hurry!” The voice pleaded through sobs now. Ahead of a single ray of light illuminated a lone doorway set in stone, with the darkness continuing on ahead of me. “Help!” The voice screamed.

“I’m here!” I said. Wait, that wasn’t me, my mouth wasn’t moving. I slid to a halt at the doorway and peered inside. Inside was a matured woman holding an infant in her arms, the red and yellow hair cascading down around her shoulders hiding her face as tears dropped onto the baby’s body; it’s own infantile hair a blend of silver and red.

“What’s wrong?” I demanded, pulling at the door. The woman looked up at me through teary, teal eyes and screamed. “I’m here to help!” I called back but the woman scurried backwards into the wall, protecting her baby.

“He’s here! He’s here!” She screamed, hugging her child to her body. “Help me!”

“Sunset, I’m right here!” I called, shoving my arm through the window to try and reach out to her.

“No, I'm right here!” My voice called out from my right. My head turned to greet the face of me with silver hair and ominously glowing red dragon eyes set into a shimmering silver face.

All I could do was scream.

“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”

“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”

“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”

“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”

Author's Note

“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”
“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”
“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”
“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”
“Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”