Demons from the Dark

The chamber we were in was immense. Huge blocks of what looked like solid granite made up the walls, with towering pillars of marble scattered throughout the room, forming an awesome sub-terranean hall. Towards the end of the great hall was a table with two statues depicting some sort of monster, each facing outwards towards the advancing party. Although perhaps only waste high, the statues were enough to unerve most of the members of the group.

"Spread out along the walls, keep an eye out for anything suspicious." Called out the Lt. He was the good sort, not treating you like you didn't know what you were supposed to do, and didn't waste his breath when it wasn't needed. Sarge signalled me off to the far side with Jenkins.

It was my first mission that I was authorised to use deadly force against any hostile force either perceived or otherwise, and I was scared. I probably wouldn't have been scared as much if they had given us some idea about where the enemy was going to be, or what was to be expected, but they just said to be careful and look out for anything that might be considered dangerous. No recon, no intel, no nothing.

Our team formed up on the wall and slowly moved towards the table, scanning the area and keeping in visual contact with the other groups slowly doing the same. We had opted not to use night vision, because the snooper goggles sometimes interferred with depth perception, and you never did know if that crevace under your feet was 2 feet down or 7. Instead, we had our tactical flashlights on, and the thin beams of light leaping out from my mates didn't ease my fears of the place.

We were supposed to go in, grab anything of value, and get out. No one really knew what were in there to get, although I'm pretty sure Lt. knew more then he was telling us. Sure, you know how often that happens, when officiers don't bother to tell you anything, but on these types of missions, it really starts to nag at you.

"First squad, halt your advance and setup for covering fire if needed." Sarge's voice ordered over the radio. Eddie acknowledged, and we took positions along the wall and the nearest pillar to use as cover for us. As my luck would have it, I was placed in the middle of the floor, with nothing stopping whatever would come at me from reaching it's target. Grumbling slightly, I lay prone on the floor and slithered up to Jenkins who was in the same predicatment as I was.

It all didn't take more then a couple seconds to ready ourselves, and I had hunkered down so quickly I actully had a breather, and could look around. I tracked the thin beams of light back to it's source on the other side of the hall, and saw 3rd sqaud doing exacly what we were, waiting for the group in the middle in the hall to move up to the table. Jenkins beside me was also looking around, but he seemed to be starring intently at the pillar to our right.

"Do you hear that?" he hissed to me. I couldn't hear anything strange, except the soft padder padder of our soft soled boots against the stone as the team in the middle moved closer to the table.

"There it is again!" he thought silently. He rolled over on to his side, his head passing through my light and I could see a look of terror on his face as he lit up the top of the pillar that he had been starring at. Or tried to, at least. What we didn't know was the hall we were in was actully really, really big, and Jenkins couldn't see up to the roof, only the pillar that continued unimpeded through the darkness. But all that didn't really matter, because suddenly I heard it too.