Post by Kalidah on Nov 20, 2022 8:41:50 GMT
“Fall in people!”
Three simple words. It sounded like such an easy order to give, and yet it took every nerve in Red Tiger King’s body not to keep his voice steady. Despite his calm words to Sunfire, he was far from cocky now. This whole thing had gone sideways far too quickly. He knew this had been too good to be true.
After months of searching, he and his team of specially trained soldiers had finally tracked down the target who had been alluding them for so long. He was known by many names, but the one Sunfire had given him seemed to suit him the best, “El Diablo”. He had been seen entering this abandoned building and RTK and his team had quickly rode in to capture this individual, dead or alive, but of course it couldn’t be that simple.
Now making his way up the stairs, surrounded by what was left of his team, RTK wondered what had happened to his other two squadrons. Black Squadron, headed up by his mentor, Victor Ades, had been tasked with holding the main floor, while “Big” Joe Maiava and his Blue Squadron had been ordered to search the building’s second floor. RTK’s Red Squadron had lost contact with both of them shortly after going to investigate the basement. Red Tiger King hoped it was a simple case of radio interference, or bad batteries, but he doubted it. Besides, it was far too quiet upstairs. The men and women under his command might be good at their jobs, but there was no way it should be as quiet as this.
“All clear, sir,” his front scout whispered as RTK stepped out onto the main floor.
“Any sign of Ades and Blue Squadron?”
The woman shook her head. “Not that I can see, sir. Do you think they fell back to the trucks?”
“Possibly,” he answered, frowning as looked around. “Everyone spread out and search for the others, but stay in groups of four. I don’t want anyone by themselves, understand? Until we know for sure what’s happened to the other squadrons, I don’t want anyone taking unnecessary chances here. We’ve become compromised enough as is. Okay, fall out.”
The main floor was quickly searched and it didn’t take long for RTK’s fears to be founded. There were signs of Black Squadron setting up their center of operations and weapons scattered around., but something was off. There were signs that a large portion of the squad had headed up to the second floor, but there were also knocked over chairs and traces of blood on the walls, as if what remained of the squad had been attacked.
And there were bullet holes in the walls.
“H,” Sunfire hissed, coming over to talk quietly with him, “the radios are working. They started working the moment we came up from the basement.”
RTK nodded his head. He had feared as much.
“We need to get out of here, Sunfire. Look at this place. Bullet holes in the walls, blood everywhere. There was an attack here and we didn’t hear a goddamn thing downstairs. ‘He’ didn’t slip up, he wanted us to find him. We’ve walked right into his trap!”
Their conversation was cut off when a soldier called out and everyone rushed into the kitchen to find Victor Ades lying in the middle of the floor, surrounded by lit candles. He had second degree burns on his face and hands, but it was unclear if he had sustained any other injuries. He actually laughed when he saw RTK and Sunfire approach.
“Sorry, kids, the monster got the drop on us the moment you went downstairs. He knew we were coming, we never stood a chance.”
There was a scream and the sound of gunfire. RTK and Sunfire spun around to see two of their soldiers being dragged into the walls by dozens of hands. No, it wasn’t the walls, it was the shadows. Whatever was attacking them was pulling their people into the darkness, to only God knows where.
“Everyone into the kitchen,” RTK heard himself shout, “Let’s get this place lit up with every light possible. I want this place so bright the neighbors will think we’ve got the sun in here!”
The words sounded stupid in his ears, but if any of his remaining troops thought so they didn’t say. Soon every corner of the kitchen was alight, with those that remained using their own flashlights to light up the arenas their other lights failed to do so. There were only fifteen of them left, including Sunfire, Ades and himself. Less than a quarter of those who had come in on this mission remained.
RTK wanted to get more information out of Ades about what had happened after they went downstairs, but he had passed out from the pain from his injuries. He left medics to attend to his mentor's wounds and went to check the perimeter and speak with the others. Escape at this point was out of the question, not while it was dark outside. They would simply have to bunker down until the sun came up to chase the shadows away and give them clear passage to the vehicles parked outside.
An hour passed without any change. The eerie silence that seemed to surround his squadron down in the basement returned. It cut off all sound outside the kitchen, preventing the few survivors from even hearing the sound of vehicles driving outside. The silence had an unnerving effect on those huddled up in the kitchen and RTK felt powerless to ease their concerns. Food rations were handed out, but no one was hungry. How could anyone think about food in a time like this?
Another hour passed and RTK began to relax somewhat. The situation wasn’t ideal but his team was finally settling in. All they had to do was bunker down for a few more hours and they would be able to make their escape.
That’s when the laughter began. It pierced the silence and put everyone back on edge again. The laughter filled with malice. Instantly guns were drawn and lights were shown in every direction.
“Fifteen birds in five fir-trees,
Their feathers were fanned in a fiery breeze!
What funny little birds, they have no wings!
Oh what shall we do with the funny little things?”
The singing caused almost everyone to jump to their feet. The words caused confusion to most of the group, but not RTK. He knew that song all too well. He had learned it when he was a child. Instantly he was barking out orders.
“Everyone to me, now!”
It was too late though. The windows in the kitchen shattered and all the doors around them flew open. A great breeze blew through the kitchen, blowing out the candles around them. Instantly causing the room to darken.
“Keep those lashlights on,” RTK barked, “No one leaves the light. Do you hear me?”
A scream behind him caused RTK to spin around and he watched as two men and a woman were dragged into the shadows. A fourth was dragged off before RTK could call out for everyone to circle in closer. By this time it was too late, another five were taken and with each of them gone the light in the kitchen grew more dim.
Now there were only six of them remaining. They huddled closer together and tried their best to keep the room lit. The hands continued to reach out from the darkness, grabbing at their feet and arms, trying to drag them away, only to retreat when a light was shone directly on them.
That’s when Red Tiger King saw ‘him’, that unmistakable mask starring him out of the darkness. RTK nudged Sunfire and they both turned to look at their tormentor. He cackled at them from the darkness.
“Why are you doing this,” Red Tiger King found himself asking. “What do you want?”
The masked man laughed.
“It’s you, it’s always been about you.”
There was a cracking sound and RTK had just enough time to grab Sunfire and roll out of the way. Where they had just been standing, the floor collapsed leaving a gaping hole. In the confusion, everyone dropped their flashlights,dimming the room even more. More hands appeared and dragged the last three of RTK’s squadron down into the hole, leaving only him, Sunfire and Victor Ades.
RTK tried to pull the still unconscious Victor away from the hole, but a scream stopped him. He spun around and saw Sunfire being dragged into the hole. Instantly Victor was forgotten. He leaped forward and grabbed her hands. Using all his strength, he tried to pull her to freedom but suddenly the hands let go of her. In an instant he was on his back with Sunfire landing on top of him.
RTK didn’t get a chance to relish this small victory because he felt hands wrapped around his ankles and he himself was suddenly dragged towards the hole. He cried out in panic and grabbed at anything that might help him to no avail. Sunfire grabbed his arms and tried to pull him to freedom, but there were more arms this time and they were both getting dragged into the darkness.
Meanwhile, the man in the mask stood in the darkness. His laughter echoed through the room. It seemed to bore its way into every fiber of RTK’s being.
Losing hope, Red Tiger King tried to shake himself free of Sunfire.
“Save yourself,” he yelled, “Get out of here while you’ve got a chance.”
He was almost completely in the hole and his strength was waning. Sunfire refused to let go of him though.
“Never,” she screamed, “Tú eres mi hermano. You’re the only family I’ve got!”
More hands reached out of the hole and grabbed onto Red Tiger King. The laughter was almost deafening now. RTK felt himself losing what little grip he had left. Sunfire lost her hold on him and he slid further down the hole.
“Tell Lucky I love her,” he begged Sunfire. “Tell her I…”
Behind Sunfire there was a loud crash and a large sports utility vehicle smashed through the wall. Its headlights flooded the room with light. Instantly the hands loosened their grip on Red Tiger King and Sunfire managed to pull him back up. A large Samoan man jumped out of the SUV and grabbed hold of RTK, helping Sunfire drag him to safety.
“Joe,” Sunfire exclaimed.
“No time to talk, little sister,” the big man roared, “Help the others get Victor to the car. We’ve gotta get out of here now.”
Free of the hands, Red Tiger King climbed to his feet and helped Sunfire pull Victor to the SUV, where a few others were there to help get him in. RTK climbed in behind Sunfire and yelled at Joe to get them out of there, but even as they pulled out of there he heard the sounds of laughter coming from the darkness and heard the voice of the masked man calling to him.
“It’s you. It’s always been you!”
Those words echoed through his head as Big Joe put the SUV into reverse and pulled away from the building. He put the vehicle back in to forward and sped away as quickly as possible, putting as much distance between them and “him” as possible. Once they were safely away though, the big Samoan turned his head back to look at Red Tiger King.
“Sorry, Boss, those hands caught us off guard upstairs. A few of us managed to get out the windows and to the vehicles but it was a close thing.”
“Yes, too close,” RTK agreed, “Way too close.”
“But we were right, weren’t we,” the big man pressed on, “It was him, wasn’t it. That dude from the hotel?”
Red Tiger King looked over at Sunfire and Victor, who had yet to wake up, before slowly nodding his head.
“Yeah, it was him alright.”
He swallowed hard and looked out the window, into the darkness outside.
“It was Kalidah.”
Three simple words. It sounded like such an easy order to give, and yet it took every nerve in Red Tiger King’s body not to keep his voice steady. Despite his calm words to Sunfire, he was far from cocky now. This whole thing had gone sideways far too quickly. He knew this had been too good to be true.
After months of searching, he and his team of specially trained soldiers had finally tracked down the target who had been alluding them for so long. He was known by many names, but the one Sunfire had given him seemed to suit him the best, “El Diablo”. He had been seen entering this abandoned building and RTK and his team had quickly rode in to capture this individual, dead or alive, but of course it couldn’t be that simple.
Now making his way up the stairs, surrounded by what was left of his team, RTK wondered what had happened to his other two squadrons. Black Squadron, headed up by his mentor, Victor Ades, had been tasked with holding the main floor, while “Big” Joe Maiava and his Blue Squadron had been ordered to search the building’s second floor. RTK’s Red Squadron had lost contact with both of them shortly after going to investigate the basement. Red Tiger King hoped it was a simple case of radio interference, or bad batteries, but he doubted it. Besides, it was far too quiet upstairs. The men and women under his command might be good at their jobs, but there was no way it should be as quiet as this.
“All clear, sir,” his front scout whispered as RTK stepped out onto the main floor.
“Any sign of Ades and Blue Squadron?”
The woman shook her head. “Not that I can see, sir. Do you think they fell back to the trucks?”
“Possibly,” he answered, frowning as looked around. “Everyone spread out and search for the others, but stay in groups of four. I don’t want anyone by themselves, understand? Until we know for sure what’s happened to the other squadrons, I don’t want anyone taking unnecessary chances here. We’ve become compromised enough as is. Okay, fall out.”
The main floor was quickly searched and it didn’t take long for RTK’s fears to be founded. There were signs of Black Squadron setting up their center of operations and weapons scattered around., but something was off. There were signs that a large portion of the squad had headed up to the second floor, but there were also knocked over chairs and traces of blood on the walls, as if what remained of the squad had been attacked.
And there were bullet holes in the walls.
“H,” Sunfire hissed, coming over to talk quietly with him, “the radios are working. They started working the moment we came up from the basement.”
RTK nodded his head. He had feared as much.
“We need to get out of here, Sunfire. Look at this place. Bullet holes in the walls, blood everywhere. There was an attack here and we didn’t hear a goddamn thing downstairs. ‘He’ didn’t slip up, he wanted us to find him. We’ve walked right into his trap!”
Their conversation was cut off when a soldier called out and everyone rushed into the kitchen to find Victor Ades lying in the middle of the floor, surrounded by lit candles. He had second degree burns on his face and hands, but it was unclear if he had sustained any other injuries. He actually laughed when he saw RTK and Sunfire approach.
“Sorry, kids, the monster got the drop on us the moment you went downstairs. He knew we were coming, we never stood a chance.”
There was a scream and the sound of gunfire. RTK and Sunfire spun around to see two of their soldiers being dragged into the walls by dozens of hands. No, it wasn’t the walls, it was the shadows. Whatever was attacking them was pulling their people into the darkness, to only God knows where.
“Everyone into the kitchen,” RTK heard himself shout, “Let’s get this place lit up with every light possible. I want this place so bright the neighbors will think we’ve got the sun in here!”
The words sounded stupid in his ears, but if any of his remaining troops thought so they didn’t say. Soon every corner of the kitchen was alight, with those that remained using their own flashlights to light up the arenas their other lights failed to do so. There were only fifteen of them left, including Sunfire, Ades and himself. Less than a quarter of those who had come in on this mission remained.
RTK wanted to get more information out of Ades about what had happened after they went downstairs, but he had passed out from the pain from his injuries. He left medics to attend to his mentor's wounds and went to check the perimeter and speak with the others. Escape at this point was out of the question, not while it was dark outside. They would simply have to bunker down until the sun came up to chase the shadows away and give them clear passage to the vehicles parked outside.
An hour passed without any change. The eerie silence that seemed to surround his squadron down in the basement returned. It cut off all sound outside the kitchen, preventing the few survivors from even hearing the sound of vehicles driving outside. The silence had an unnerving effect on those huddled up in the kitchen and RTK felt powerless to ease their concerns. Food rations were handed out, but no one was hungry. How could anyone think about food in a time like this?
Another hour passed and RTK began to relax somewhat. The situation wasn’t ideal but his team was finally settling in. All they had to do was bunker down for a few more hours and they would be able to make their escape.
That’s when the laughter began. It pierced the silence and put everyone back on edge again. The laughter filled with malice. Instantly guns were drawn and lights were shown in every direction.
“Fifteen birds in five fir-trees,
Their feathers were fanned in a fiery breeze!
What funny little birds, they have no wings!
Oh what shall we do with the funny little things?”
The singing caused almost everyone to jump to their feet. The words caused confusion to most of the group, but not RTK. He knew that song all too well. He had learned it when he was a child. Instantly he was barking out orders.
“Everyone to me, now!”
It was too late though. The windows in the kitchen shattered and all the doors around them flew open. A great breeze blew through the kitchen, blowing out the candles around them. Instantly causing the room to darken.
“Keep those lashlights on,” RTK barked, “No one leaves the light. Do you hear me?”
A scream behind him caused RTK to spin around and he watched as two men and a woman were dragged into the shadows. A fourth was dragged off before RTK could call out for everyone to circle in closer. By this time it was too late, another five were taken and with each of them gone the light in the kitchen grew more dim.
Now there were only six of them remaining. They huddled closer together and tried their best to keep the room lit. The hands continued to reach out from the darkness, grabbing at their feet and arms, trying to drag them away, only to retreat when a light was shone directly on them.
That’s when Red Tiger King saw ‘him’, that unmistakable mask starring him out of the darkness. RTK nudged Sunfire and they both turned to look at their tormentor. He cackled at them from the darkness.
“Why are you doing this,” Red Tiger King found himself asking. “What do you want?”
The masked man laughed.
“It’s you, it’s always been about you.”
There was a cracking sound and RTK had just enough time to grab Sunfire and roll out of the way. Where they had just been standing, the floor collapsed leaving a gaping hole. In the confusion, everyone dropped their flashlights,dimming the room even more. More hands appeared and dragged the last three of RTK’s squadron down into the hole, leaving only him, Sunfire and Victor Ades.
RTK tried to pull the still unconscious Victor away from the hole, but a scream stopped him. He spun around and saw Sunfire being dragged into the hole. Instantly Victor was forgotten. He leaped forward and grabbed her hands. Using all his strength, he tried to pull her to freedom but suddenly the hands let go of her. In an instant he was on his back with Sunfire landing on top of him.
RTK didn’t get a chance to relish this small victory because he felt hands wrapped around his ankles and he himself was suddenly dragged towards the hole. He cried out in panic and grabbed at anything that might help him to no avail. Sunfire grabbed his arms and tried to pull him to freedom, but there were more arms this time and they were both getting dragged into the darkness.
Meanwhile, the man in the mask stood in the darkness. His laughter echoed through the room. It seemed to bore its way into every fiber of RTK’s being.
Losing hope, Red Tiger King tried to shake himself free of Sunfire.
“Save yourself,” he yelled, “Get out of here while you’ve got a chance.”
He was almost completely in the hole and his strength was waning. Sunfire refused to let go of him though.
“Never,” she screamed, “Tú eres mi hermano. You’re the only family I’ve got!”
More hands reached out of the hole and grabbed onto Red Tiger King. The laughter was almost deafening now. RTK felt himself losing what little grip he had left. Sunfire lost her hold on him and he slid further down the hole.
“Tell Lucky I love her,” he begged Sunfire. “Tell her I…”
Behind Sunfire there was a loud crash and a large sports utility vehicle smashed through the wall. Its headlights flooded the room with light. Instantly the hands loosened their grip on Red Tiger King and Sunfire managed to pull him back up. A large Samoan man jumped out of the SUV and grabbed hold of RTK, helping Sunfire drag him to safety.
“Joe,” Sunfire exclaimed.
“No time to talk, little sister,” the big man roared, “Help the others get Victor to the car. We’ve gotta get out of here now.”
Free of the hands, Red Tiger King climbed to his feet and helped Sunfire pull Victor to the SUV, where a few others were there to help get him in. RTK climbed in behind Sunfire and yelled at Joe to get them out of there, but even as they pulled out of there he heard the sounds of laughter coming from the darkness and heard the voice of the masked man calling to him.
“It’s you. It’s always been you!”
Those words echoed through his head as Big Joe put the SUV into reverse and pulled away from the building. He put the vehicle back in to forward and sped away as quickly as possible, putting as much distance between them and “him” as possible. Once they were safely away though, the big Samoan turned his head back to look at Red Tiger King.
“Sorry, Boss, those hands caught us off guard upstairs. A few of us managed to get out the windows and to the vehicles but it was a close thing.”
“Yes, too close,” RTK agreed, “Way too close.”
“But we were right, weren’t we,” the big man pressed on, “It was him, wasn’t it. That dude from the hotel?”
Red Tiger King looked over at Sunfire and Victor, who had yet to wake up, before slowly nodding his head.
“Yeah, it was him alright.”
He swallowed hard and looked out the window, into the darkness outside.
“It was Kalidah.”