For Your Eyes Only

We started down the intersecting hallway, no longer single file. As there were no doors along this path, it seemed rather pointless. Ironside took his place beside me, staring ahead with a grim determination. I hadn’t heard him say anything in a while, and started to wonder just what was going through that head of his.

After turning another corner, we paused. There was a door on the right side of the hall. A dim light glowed, showing through the crack under the closed passage. I stepped slowly towards it, keeping myself close to the wall. I reached out a hoof and tapped once on the metal door.

“Stay away! Get away from here!” A panicked voice yelled from inside.

“Doc?” I said, startled. “What the hell? Is that you?”

“C-captain?!” The voice replied. After some shuffling and banging, the door slid open to reveal a frazzled and shaking Doctor Opal, a pale orange light radiating from her horn. “How?” She asked, he voice quavering. “Never mind for now. Get in here, all of you!” She said, moving back into the room.

We followed her inside, and she closed the door. “How did you find me?” she said, her eyes wide.

“We saw a light from under the door.”

Cursing, she jumped up and grabbed some of the papers that littered the floor, shoving them into the crack between the door and the floor.

“I’ve been in here for hours.” She said, turning around. “They’re everywhere.”

“What are they?” I asked, moving towards her.

“I don’t know. This place was supposed to be empty…” she replied, trailing off. She sat down on the floor, staring at an errant scrap of paper. “I wasn’t willing to believe you.” She said after a moment. “After we found Tom, I ran off. I figured if I could find something, anything…” She looked into my eyes. “…It would make all this worth something.”

“And?” I asked.

“I didn’t find anything. They found me.” She looked back down, shaking. “I couldn’t see them very well, but I knew they were there. They chased me for a while, but I managed to lose them. I had no idea where I was anymore, and eventually I found this room. It seemed safe enough, so I holed up in here.”

I sat down next to her and put a hoof on her back. She turned to look at me, tears in her eyes.

“I need you to tell me everything you know about this place.”

She sighed, glancing at the two remaining staff she had. “I haven’t been entirely honest with you two.” She started. “I knew there was something wrong with this place before we came here.” She looked back at me, continuing “I wasn’t entirely joking when I said we weren’t the first team out here. There was one before us.”

The two researchers sat up, listening intently.

“Doctor Greenhorn led the first team out here. It was a similar setup to the one we had. Eleven soldiers and seven research staff. We never heard anything from them after they left. That was over a year ago.”

Tears were forming in her eyes again as she continued to speak. “We figured something had happened to them, but the project was too important. We began planning for another expedition, and as I was the highest ranking member on the team, I was chosen to lead. I didn’t think it would be like this…” she said, lowering her head again, beginning to weep.

I stood up and walked over to the Sergeant, who was leaning on the wall to the side of the door.

“Well, we got our answer finally. All it took was six deaths and getting chased by some sort of underground horror to knock the bitchy out of her.” He said, standing up straight.

“We can’t stay here too long. If we could find her this easily, they’ll be able to. Get some food in the troops. I don’t want to be here more than fifteen minutes at the most.”

Sergeant Flathoof walked over to the gear bag and pulled out the meager provisions we had remaining, divvying them out amongst the group. Ironside remained sitting where he was, staring at the ground. I sat down next to him.

“What’s going on, son?” I asked. “You haven’t said a word in hours.”

“I’m sick of this, sir.” He replied after a moment.

“We all are.”

“No, sir. I’m sick of running away. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I was supposed to be able to look the enemy in the eye. I was supposed to be able to see what I was fighting.”

“War isn’t like it looks in the books. It’s rarely a fair fight. If you’re lucky, the deck’s stacked in your favor, but more often than not the enemy has the upper hoof.”

He looked up to me, his face grim and angry. “We can’t keep running. They’ll just pick us off one by one. We have to fight back.”

“I know. It’d help if they stayed still for a moment though.” I said, chuckling.

“It’s not fucking funny, sir.”

“No. It’s not. But if we stay this tense for too long, someone’s going to crack.” I stood up and said “Go get something to eat. We’ll be moving in a few, and I doubt we’ll have time for luxuries like this again anytime soon.”

We ate in silence. I’ll admit, I was a bit ashamed at how hungry I was, considering what had been happening. Still, we had to get something in us, or we’d be useless soon enough.

“Speedy, you’re off bag detail. Shores, you’re up.” I called, raising from my haunches. One of the researchers stepped up and said “Umm, sir? I can take it for a while. I’m just an assistant, so I’m used to carrying junk.”

I looked over the thin grey pegasus for a moment. She didn’t seem like much, but I decided to give her a chance. If anything, it’d give Speedy and Shores a bit of a break.

“What’s your name, kid?” I asked

“Rainy, sir. Rainy Skies.

“Alright, Rainy. Shores will help you get the bag on. When we get moving, keep close to Glass. Anything happens, you follow him. Lose that bag, and I’ll make sure you don’t out of here, got it?” She nodded silently, and as she turned towards Shores, I saw the faintest smile on her face. Maybe there was more to her after all.

We gathered at the center of the room as the Sergeant opened the door and peeked out.

“All clear.” He said, glancing left and right.

“Alright. You should know the drill by now. Ironside, you take point with me. Glass, stay in the center. Rainy, keep close to him. The Sergeant will bring up the rear. Everyone else, keep close to the group. Wander off, and who knows what’ll happen to you.”

The others began to exit the room, taking their positions in the hallway. Dr. Opal walked over to me and asked “How can you be so damn calm?” her voice a harsh whisper.

“You saw first-hoof how well panicking went. Try listening to us for once, this is what we were made for.” I replied, walking towards the waiting group.

She stood in the room, staring at me for a moment before running to catch up.

“Doc, you keep near Glass as well. Trade off on light detail with him once in a while.”

We continued down the hallway, the green light from Glass’s horn leading the way. I noticed that the hallway had been sloping downwards slightly for the last few hundred yards, but decided not to say anything. No sense in getting them riled up over potentially nothing.

After a few minutes of walking, we found ourselves staring at another door, similar to the one we had entered this forsaken place through. It was seven feet tall, three feet wide, and had a wheel on it like the others. To either side was a smaller door like the ones we had seen throughout the halls all over.

One of the doors slid open on its own, and we began to back away.

Silence. Nothing but our heavy breathing.

A low, guttural growl arose from the open room, followed by a sickly pale appendage reaching outward. Searching. The creature emerged from its darkened tomb into the light.

Hunched over, it was at least four feet tall. Its skin was pale, translucent, and blue veins showed just under the surface. I had noticed through my life that in nature, things tend to be somewhat symmetrical. This had to be the most unnatural thing I had ever seen. Its limbs were twisted and malformed, its arms elongated to a ridiculous proportion. Bulbous growths covered its entire body, giving it the appearance of a walking bag of potatoes. Its head, if you could call it that, seemed to be fused to the torso, requiring it to turn its entire body, rather than just its neck. Its eyes were pale and sunken deep into its malformed skull, its nose two thin slits. It stared at us, a look of pure hatred in its eyes. Its misshapen mouth opened in a wet, coughing scream as it moved closer, its freakish arms dragging it along, one leg dragging behind uselessly. It reached out and grabbed one of the scientists with a speed it didn’t look like it could possibly possess. In an instant, it brought the screaming pony to its mouth and bit down on his spine with a sickening crunch. His eyes fluttered, his neck had gone limp.

I didn’t think, I just reacted. I pulled the mouth blade from its sheath. Using the point, I pressed down on the lever of the strange metal pole still attached to Ironside. An explosion rang out, and Ironside screamed, clenching his eyes tightly. The chunk of metal flew from the pipe and tore into the monstrosity before us. It reared up, screaming in agony. A small piece of golden metal ejected from the side of the pipe, tinkling as it bounced off the metal floorboard.

“Don’t worry about me, sir! Keep doing whatever that was!” Ironside yelled, his eyes still watering.

I pressed the metal lever again. Another explosion, another piece of metal tearing into the creature. It began backing towards the huge door behind it, its eyes darting wildly between us.

I kept pressing the lever, more metal striking the creature. I just kept going, not realizing the banging had since ceased. Rather than an explosion, only a small click came from the pipe. The Sergeant grabbed me by the shoulder, snapping me out of my movements.

The blade dropped from my mouth, clattering on the ground as I came to. I looked to the creature, now dead. It lay in front of the large metal door, oily black blood oozing from the fresh wounds I had inflicted.

Ironside was sitting on the ground holding his head in his hooves, his eyes closed. I picked up my blade in my mouth and walked over to him. The metal pipe dropped to the floor as I cut the ropes away. I noticed the side of his face had been burnt. I reached out a hoof and placed it on his shoulder.

“You okay?” I asked, sitting down next to him.

“I’m fine, sir. My ears are just ringing. It worked though, didn’t it?”

“Yeah. It worked fine.” I said, getting up. I walked over to the Sergeant.

“Well, looks like your gamble paid off to some extent.” He said, staring at the corpse that lay before us.

“Yeah. I’m just worried I may have rung the dinner bell while I was at it.”