Deep Cosmose

by Project Kyle

  But it was too late. Mr. Howard had already reached the room’s center. He reached out to shake what he thought was his captain’s hand, but as soon as he made contact, the door behind him closed, and he was cut off from the rest of the group.

  Captain Baker and Lieutenant Collins vanished, and a large purple crystal took their place. But the disappointment that Mr. Howard felt was nothing compared to the fear that followed, as he noticed the skeletal remains of the former victims who had failed this test before him scattered around the floor.

  Mr. Howard looked up; there were iron bars on the ceiling of the room, with an iron door in the center of it. He could hear the sound of stone doors opening above the caged celling, and at first, he could not figure out what was going on above him. But his questions were soon answered, as water began gushing in, filling the small room at an alarming rate.

  The door was about 30 feet high, but it wouldn’t take long for him to reach, as five feet of water had filled the room in under ten seconds. Mr. Howard was soon lifted off the ground and swam as he made his way closer to the door. Now 20 feet of water filled the room.

  Mr. Howard knew that he had to keep himself in the middle of the room if he stood a chance, so he used all his strength to swim towards the room’s center, but the harsh flow of the water kept pulling him away from it.

  It wasn’t long before Mr. Howard was able to reach the door handle. He grabbed the handle with his right hand, grabbed an iron bar with the other, and attempted to open the door.

  No! The door is locked! Mr. Howard could not believe it. After he had fought so hard to stay alive. But he was not about to give up. He continued to wiggle the door handle in a hopeless attempt to make something happen. The water level soon rose above the barred ceiling, and Mr. Howard took one final breath of air before he was completely submerged. He continued to work on opening the iron door, but he was unable to.

  Finally, after being trapped for 40 seconds, he realized that escape was impossible. He let go of the door handle and iron bar. He could feel his consciousness fade, as a deep sleep was about to overtake him. A deep sleep he would never wake up from.

  Mr. Howard was finally at peace with the thought, but just as he was about to give up, the sight of the iron doorway opening caught his eye, and a dark hand made its way towards him. Mr. Howard reached out and grabbed the hand, and felt his body being pulled from his watery grave. As soon as he had emerged from the water, he felt himself being thrown over his savior’s shoulder, and he was now being carried away from the room. The sound of water rushing could no longer be heard, meaning that the room was no longer filling up with water. Just enough to drown the victims trapped on the other side of the iron cage, he thought to himself.

  As soon as Mr. Howard was out of the room, his savior dropped him on the hard ground and shut the Temptation room’s door. Mr. Howard coughed and gagged, as he had been holding his breath for well over a minute. He then opened his eyes and looked at the man who had saved his life. The room was dark, and Mr. Howard could only make out the man’s shadow. He didn’t know who it was, nor did he care at this point.

  The man took Mr. Howard’s gun and began looking it over. He seemed interested in it but had made no hostile motions upon acquiring it. It really didn’t matter anyway. The man had saved his life. He took a deep breath and did his best to speak to the man.

  “Thank you,” he said to the man in a raspy voice. Mr. Howard’s gratitude suddenly turned to fear when the man’s eyes started glowing with green energy. It was Experiment-1. “You!” he blurted in a harsher tone than before. “It’s you! You’re the one who killed my friends!”

  “Yes,” Experiment-1 agreed.

  “And you enjoyed it!”

  “No, I did not. But it had to be done.”

  Mr. Howard was very confused.

  “Why should I trust you? Why should your words mean anything to me?”

  “You shouldn’t trust me. I am your enemy, and you are standing in my way.”

  “Then why did you go out of your way to save me?”

  “It’s a rule I have, a rule I keep close to my heart. I will never stand by and watch someone drown. It’s a dreadful way to go, and my conscience won’t allow it.”

  “I see. I guess there is a little light left in you after all…even if it’s very faint.”

  “Yes…I suppose there is.”

  Not a moment after he spoke these words, he took Mr. Howard’s gun, aimed it at his head, and shot him in the face.

  Chapter 20 The masked monster

  Nerd was desperately trying to find a way to unlock the door where his companion had been taken, but there was nothing he could do. Mr. Howard was on his own, and given the severity of the tests that they had encountered before, he was likely in grave danger.

  Tom analyzed the situation and concluded that there would be a better chance of finding Mr. Howard if they continued their journey.

  “I’m sure the rooms connect eventually,” Tom said. “Let’s move on. Howard has probably left the room and journeyed through the temple by now.”

  Nerd was going to argue his point, as he knew danger lurked in the room Mr. Howard was locked in, but before he could get the words out, he was interrupted by another text from Experiment-1.

  Unknown: Worried about your friend, I see?

  Unknown: Well, out of the goodness of my heart, I would like to inform you that you no longer have to worry about him.

  Unknown: Because he’s dead! I killed him!

  Nerd’s hands began to tremble. He punched the granite door and growled in both pain and anger.

  “Easy, brave human!” Alcanore said. “If you break your hand, you will have a difficult time getting out of here in one piece.”

  “He killed Mr. Howard!” Nerd said.

  “What? Wait…have the two of you been texting?”

  “Yes, he can text anyone he wants. I don’t know how he does it, but it’s getting on my last nerve! I was hoping to slow him down or distract him. He is going to get angry if I don’t reply…but I’m done. I won’t be acknowledging him anymore.”

  Alcanore looked at Nerd with a renewed sense of paranoia. He was uncomfortable with the fact he and Experiment-1 were conversing. Especially considering the killer seemed to know where they were all the time. Still…if legend were true, it was in the stalker’s nature to make a power-play like this. Alcanore chose not to call Nerd out on it, but he would keep a closer eye on him, as he was beforehand.

  With the news of Mr. Howard’s death, Nerd saw no reason to wait around. He signaled his team to follow him through the other door and led them to the next room.

  The surviving six members made their way into the room. It contained a rotating stairway that made its way up the tall tower, curling around the perimeter. Sadly, it didn’t have any rails to stop anyone from falling off the sides. It went so high that they couldn’t see the top. Nerd was amazed, but he also felt sick at the idea of walking all the way up. Still, they had reached the tower of legends, meaning their journey was almost over.

  Nerd began the long journey upstairs, and the others followed. Flight after flight they walked up, until the ground was no longer visible.

  Forty minutes had passed when the top of the stairway came into view. This was good news, considering that they were exhausted from the long trek upwards. Everyone, with the exception of Grunt, was panting heavily. Sweat was rushing out of their pores like a stream, the stench getting stronger and stronger with every step they took. A few of the members had become lightheaded; Tom had gotten so disoriented from exhaustion that he nearly lost his footing and fell down the long drop. Thankfully, Henry was able to grab him before that happened.

  “Whoever designed this should die!” Sophia snapped.

  “Agreed!” Nerd responded, still panting from exhaustion.

  The stairs were only four feet wide, meaning that there was not a whole lot of room for error. Each member went one by one. Nerd was in the front, Sophia was behind
him, next was Henry, Tom after, then Alcanore, leaving Grunt in the back.

  The journey was quiet and uneventful at first, but fear soon returned, as Experiment-1’s voice could be heard from the top of the stairs.

  “Well done,” he said to them. “You’re still alive…for now. I must admit, you did well surviving the challenges. If it wasn’t for me, none of you would be dead right now. Well, maybe Mr. Howard, but he was too stupid to live anyway.”

  “Ignore him,” Nerd commanded. “He is just trying to discourage us; don’t let him get into your head.”

  “Very good, David! Again, you show me you have potential. Sadly, I plan on doing more than discouraging you. I plan on crushing one of your very souls! The big one, Alcanore, he has a weakness. Do you know what that is?”

  “Keep going! Don’t let him break you.”

  “He feels compassion for the weak, the frail, the ones who can’t take care of themselves. Why do you think he is so protective of his little Grunt friend?”

  “Nerd!” Alcanore shouted. “Make him shut up!”

  “Do you know why he is so protective? It is because he failed to protect someone who was dear to him. Or rather, a small handful of someone’s. He let them die, and it torments him day in and day out.”

  “Stay strong, Alcanore,” Nerd said in a bold voice. “We are almost out of this.”

  “I couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain he would feel if he were to fail yet again. If something were to happen to Grunt, I have to assume it would have irreversible effects. Maybe it would even drive him to lose his will to live…meaning that whoever could succeed in killing Grunt would succeed in breaking the most fearless of legends ever to step foot in your galaxy.”

  Nerd felt his heart accelerate. He knew Experiment-1 was about to strike again, and this time, he was going to hit hard.

  “Don’t do this!” Nerd yelled. “He has barely had a chance to live!”

  “And that someone will be me!” Experiment-1 said, ignoring Nerd’s response. “In exactly three minutes and 5.2 seconds, your Grunt friend will no longer be with you. This room has a security feature, in case any unwanted guest were to attempt to make it to the top of the tower—a feature that I am about to activate.”

  Suddenly, sounds could be heard from the bottom of the room, and the more they went on, the louder they got.

  “Don’t worry.” Experiment-1 continued. “The impact should only hurt for a second. The fall, however, will be…most terrifying.”

  It wasn’t long before the crew noticed where the sounds were coming from. Each stair in the stairway leading up to them was retracting within the wall, and it was moving towards their position at an alarming rate. They knew they were in danger and needed to move quickly.

  “We’ve got to get moving now!” Nerd shouted.

  The team made their way up flight after flight. The stairway continuing to retract behind them. They were already exhausted from the long walk up, but a life-or-death situation gave them renewed energy, at least enough to get to the top.

  Nerd was relieved to see that they were on their final flight of stairs, and before the stairway could retract, Nerd had made it to the top. Sophia was right behind him, and so was Henry. Tom, however, had fallen behind, slowing Alcanore and Grunt down, as they didn’t want to risk knocking him off by passing him.

  Nerd panicked when he saw how close the retracting stairs were getting to them. He wasn’t sure if all three of them would make it in time.

  The three made it up to the top right as the final stairs were about to retract. Tom made it to the top just in the nick of time, but Alcanore and Grunt fell as the stairs were removed from underneath their feet.

  Henry Smith walked over to the edge and fired his grappling hook at the two that were falling. He fired his other at the wall behind him, as he knew the weight alone would pull him down with them.

  Alcanore saw the hook coming towards him. He grabbed Grunt with his right hand and the hook with his left. It worked, but the weight of the two creatures was too much for Henry’s grappling hook. The impact broke both retractors, and he was not able to lift the two up automatically. Instead, Nerd, Sophia, and Tom all began to pull the two up themselves, slowly but surely.

  Nerd panicked again when he saw that the cable supporting Alcanore and Grunt was starting to break. Each steel wire was snapping piece by piece.

  Alcanore and Grunt both noticed this, and Grunt was no longer going to hide behind his primitive mask. He had done the math, and he knew that both could not survive.

  “Cable break before Grunt and best friend make it up top,” he said to Alcanore. “Grunt no let that happen. Alcanore live, Alcanore live life without Grunt!”

  “We’ll be fine!” Alcanore insisted.

  Grunt, however, knew they couldn’t possibly both get up in time. Weight needed to be shed. He reached over with his other hand and loosened Alcanore’s grip.

  “Bye bye!” He said.

  “Grunt, no!” But it was too late. Grunt fell into the tower’s abyss, vanishing into the darkness that covered the hard ground below. A loud thump that sounded very much like a balloon popping echoed up the walls…and then silence. It was over. Alcanore’s best friend was now dead.

  The three were able to get Alcanore to the top. The cord snapped right as they were lifting him up, proving Grunt’s theory correct.

  Nerd timed the events that had just taken place in his head. The moment of Grunt’s death had taken precisely three minutes and 5.2 seconds on the dot. That creep did it; he predicted all of this!

  The three hugged the old warrior as he growled and gritted his razor-sharp teeth.

  “I don’t care what you tell me, Nerd,” he said. “If I see that honorless pig again, he’s going to pay for what he’s done!”

  “I won’t try to stop you,” Nerd said. “Trust me…this time I understand. Do to him as you will.”

  “Nerd,” Tom interrupted. “I know this is not the time…but I heard Experiment-1 call you David. Is that your real name?”

  Nerd didn’t even care at this point if he was discovered, but he couldn’t risk discouraging Tom. He needed him to continue fighting. “I will explain everything once we are off this planet,” Nerd said to him. “You have my word.”

  The surviving five looked at the final room. The door was left open and there were no words above it. After catching their breath, they continued onward to finish their journey.

  The room had one sign with two arrows: one pointing to a stairway leading up, the other pointing to the left. Nerd’s communicator deciphered that up was the very top of the tower, and the side entered the training room, where only the strongest warriors could train.

  “We’re almost there!” Nerd said. “Just keep your guard up. We know he’s—”

  The crystal lights began to flicker on and off, and it was difficult for them to see what was going on. Only a few seconds after this had started, Sophia’s scream could be heard loud and clear. Nerd knew their enemy was now going to make a move on her. He tried to find his friend, but he was unable to comprehend what was going on with all the flashing lights.

  After ten seconds of flashing, the crystal lights finally went back to normal. Sophia was gone, nowhere to be seen or heard. Henry, on the other hand, had fallen to the ground. He had a black eye, and it was evident that he and the killer had gotten into a quick fight.

  “Oh, David…” Experiment-1’s voice sang, echoing through the left side of the room. “You must be so terrified right now. Your perfect little angel is gone. Where did she go? What horrible things am I going to do to her now? She’s at my mercy, David. I can do whatever I want to her, and the most wonderful part about it is…it’s all your fault!”

  “If you have done anything to hurt her,” Nerd ground out, “I swear—!”

  “If you want to save your friend, meet me on the far end of the training room. If you choose to destroy the device before saving her, I swear she will be most disfigured by the time you fin
d her…”

  Henry staggered back to his feet, with Alcanore and Tom looking on in amazement.

  “What happened?” Tom asked.

  “I tried to save her,” Henry responded. “I saw him enter the room, so I stood in between him and Sophia, but he was too quick. He decked me in the eye and threw me to the ground before I could even react.”

  “Wait! You were able to see him through all that? How?”

  “One advantage of living such a wild life—I’m used to strobe lights. There isn’t a nightclub around that doesn’t have them. This was no different to me. I would brag…but I failed to protect Sophia, and now that creep has her!”

  Henry was clearly shaken, but for Nerd, the incident hit home on a much more intense level. His face was red with anger, and for the first time, Henry saw a side of him that was eager to kill. However, despite his emotional state, Nerd considered the situation carefully. He knew it was pointless to take everyone with him, as Experiment-1 would only pick them off one by one as he had before. Instead, he decided to go with a different strategy, one that the Lord of Sorrow had most likely overlooked in his impulsive capture of Sophia.

  “Henry, Tom, Alcanore,” he said. “You three take out the device. I will take on Experiment-1 alone.”

  “No!” Alcanore protested. “You’re no match for him! We will—”

  “I’ve outsmarted him many times before. Trust me, I know what I’m doing. The fewer people around me that he has the chance to kill, the better. Besides, after I save Sophia, he will no doubt be on our tail. That will be your chance to fight him.”

  Alcanore didn’t like it, but he knew Nerd was right. They needed to keep the strategy going if they were to win. Besides, as powerful as Experiment-1 was, he was still only one man. Splitting up would make them a harder target.

  The three men agreed and began winding their way up the stairs. Nerd disappeared into the left corridor, which led into the expert training room. Henry and Alcanore were so far ahead that they didn’t notice the absence of Tom, who had slipped away and decided to follow Nerd into the left corridor.