Grave Beginnings (The Grave Report, Book 1)

by Virdi, R. R

  The rest of the creatures followed the lead of the first and shivered terribly until they too had a line of flames running down their backs. The slowly began to crawl down the glass door and onto the floor, some fell rather unceremoniously down, taking a shortcut as they plopped down onto the wooden floor. Once there, the entire group shook once more in unison until their entire bodies burst into flames!

  “Um Norman,” Ortiz began in an unusually calm tone, “WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO NOW!?” She screamed.

  The entire floor slowly began catching fire, small flames were spreading out from the jelly like substance the creatures oozed and left in their wake. The flames were beginning to spread and lick their way up everything, walls, doors, furniture and more.

  “Now, we run!” I yelped, grabbing her hand and yanking forcefully as I led her past the small mob of flaming Salamanders. We quickly fled the room, easily avoiding the flames and small pack of fiery monsters and began running down the stairs. While not all too fast, the creatures did manage to put up a good chase, following behind us and leaving their flammable gel like secretion everywhere, which of course soon led to everything catching on fucking fire!

  The vast majority of the upper levels of the penthouse were ablaze and the rest would quickly follow, I had to get Agent Ortiz and myself the hell out of there.

  “Come on!” I snarled as I helped her up after she had stumbled in the kitchen. The pack of Salamanders was only yards behind us and rapidly setting the kitchen afire, their ooze was spreading faster and faster across the penthouse. There was a thwup noise as a small glob of venomous looking green spittle landed in front our feet and then proceeded to hiss and smoke…as it ate through the floor!

  “You didn’t tell me they could do that!” yelled Ortiz in an accusing manner.

  “I didn’t know they could that,” I yelped defensively, yanking Ortiz’s arm rather hard as I pulled her along with me, forcing her to break back into a run right behind me.

  Soon all I heard was thwup thuwp thuwp as it began raining acidic goo, the floor quickly becoming peppered with holes that left the surface beneath us very brittle. We kept running, trying to avoid the flames and the weak spots in the floor that were beginning to crumble around us.

  “How far does their spit keep going?!” Ortiz shouted over the now roaring fire and sounds of cracking and crumbling structures.

  “I don’t know,” I shouted back, “it’s supernatural, wouldn’t be surprised if it kept going ‘till the bottom.” I finished.

  “I hate you for dragging me into this!” roared Agent Ortiz over the sound of the blazing fire and the typhoon of corrosive spit raining down around us.

  “Me?!” I shouted indignantly, “you involved yourself!” I added, trying hard to shout over the sound of the fire alarm, I must not have noticed it going off before, what with the impending death by immolation and what not. The fire alarm must’ve caused one or more of the Salamanders some offense because it quickly fell victim to a cascade of acidy spit and shut up.

  We raced through the living room, jumping, diving and rolling over, through and past anything and everything in a frantic panic to escape. Nearly every inch of the penthouse was ablaze now and considering that it was a rooftop house, one that belonged in a prominent hotel, it was a safe bet the fire department would be here soon.

  Yup, they would be here just in time to pull both of our finely charred asses out of the burnt remains of this place.

  I could see the door ahead, the flames hadn’t reached it yet but were close, I pumped my legs furiously, hand outstretched and reached for the door. I grabbed the handle and wrenched on it. “Damnit!” I swore as white-hot searing pain lanced up my hand, I reeled back and looked at the imprint that was scaled into my palm. I gritted through the pain and I knew the wound would heal so I reached out again, about to turn the handle when I was impacted heavily by Agent Ortiz and driven into the ground.

  “Down!” she shouted just as I heard a series of fwup sounds, which was followed by a number of acidy globs hitting the door. The solid metal door began hissing and dissolving; a giant hole was quickly beginning to form in the middle of it and starting to spread outwards. “Come on,” Ortiz said as she hauled me to my feet and led me out literally through the now gaping hole in the door.

  We were in for a helluva surprise as soon as we exited the penthouse, the rest of the floor had already caught fire, the other penthouse doors were flung open and I could see the fires blazing within the rooms. The fire alarm that had gone off in the janitor’s home must’ve been linked throughout the hotel and set all of the others off as well, not to mention the sprinkler system, which was good. Chances are that those people had made it out safely since they were warned.

  The sprinkler system tried to combat the fire but was failing miserably, it would’ve worked under normal circumstances but then this was a supernatural fire, every time it was doused, it ignited once again. This only led to a blanket of steam quickly filling up the floor, making it somewhat difficult to see. The water in the system must’ve been depleted as the sprinklers stopped their downpour soon after starting, leaving the fire to continue its carnage.

  The elevator was ahead of us but wasn’t the best probable root of escape, but the door besides it that led to the stairs was. I sped forwards; Agent Ortiz was only a few steps behind me when the path before us erupted into a wall of fire.

  “Jesus!” I shouted in surprise, grinding to a halt before the flames that stretched from wall to wall and licked their way up to the ceiling and effectively cut us off from the stairs. The flames flickered for a moment, almost giving the illusion that they were fading away before snapping back into fiery clarity. Everything behind us was quickly catching fire, not to mention the pack of Salamanders was advancing towards us whilst Agent Ortiz and I however, were transfixed by the wall of flames. Something was moving with in them; I could see something forming, something taking shape deep within.

  “Norman,” gasped Agent Ortiz, “what the hell is that?”

  It was hard to explain but inside the massive wall of flames was another set of flames, they were almost like a shadow being cast inside the already existing fire. I could barely make them out at first, the smaller “ghost flames,” if you will, moved separately from the surrounding fire. It formed a thin narrow tower of flames that began to rapidly fill out, forming into the lithe figure of a woman. A petite foot and narrow leg stepped out from the wall of flames and then another and soon there was entire woman of flames standing before us.

  It, she, was about the height of Agent Ortiz, long locks of hair made purely of fire fell down to her shoulders, behind her back and before her breasts. You could actually make out individual strands that were a multitude of hellish oranges, yellows, reds and whites. Her eyes were pools of deep fire set in sockets what looked like obsidian lines with glowing red cracks. Her mouth followed this pattern too, a wide demonic smile, lips made of volcanic rock and an open mouth with a volcanic fire burning within. There were more obsidian like protrusions running down her spine that ultimately culminated in a thin wispy tail that stretched out like a whip behind her. It was lengthy and was segmented with more bits of volcanic rock that looked more like beads strung in between the length of its fiery tail. The floor beneath her fiery feet was burning but the flames weren’t spreading towards us, no, they stayed centered around the creature.

  “An Elemental,” I whispered as more of a curse. As if the pack of Salamanders wasn’t enough, now I had to deal with an eldritch creature of fire, a physical manifestation of an inferno and had the temperament to match.

  The wall of flames behind the Elemental subsided and the pack of Salamanders stopped converging on us as well, the building however was still burning. We surrounded on all sides by fire in a way, the raging inferno that was reducing the upper floor of the hotel to ash, a pack of angry fiery amphibians behind us and then, there was the hellish flame woman before us.

  Atleast I knew one thing now, I knew that
the Elemental was calling the shots with the Salamanders, it had enthralled them and I had a pretty good idea what was pulling the Elementals strings.

  It cocked its head quizzically to the left, surveying the situation before she pointed forwards with an outstretched hand and wailed.

  “Move!” I shouted, pushing Ortiz forwards as hard as I could, sending her staggering past the Elemental moments before a gout of flames lashed out to the very spot she had been standing seconds earlier. The carpet burst into to fire with a hiss and crackle, steam shooting up from the ground besides me. I could feel the heat from its strike even amidst the already burning building, which is saying something.

  The Elemental spun in a slow graceful manner to face Agent Ortiz, who was now righting herself after having been staggered by my push. If I didn’t do something quick it was safe to say that Ortiz was going to be incinerated.

  “Ortiz!” I shouted, “the stairs!” I said, indicating the emergency staircase that lay several feet before her but was cut off to me due to the Elemental standing right in front of me.

  Agent Ortiz took one look at the staircase and turned back to nod at me before shouting back, “what about you?” she asked as she slowly began inching backwards towards the stairs.

  “Dunno,” I called back, “I’ll figure it out and meet you below, GO!” I shouted.

  The Elemental turned back around to regard me and then craned its neck back to take a look at Agent Ortiz who was less than a foot away from the entrance to the stairs now. I didn’t know if it could understand human speech but it seemed to have a pretty good idea of what was going on. It pirouetted with supernatural grace and was now facing Ortiz again, letting out a high-pitched wail as it raised both of its fiery hands.

  “No!” I snarled as I looked around panically for something, anything to help me divert the Elementals attention from Ortiz. There, on the wall, this whole Goddamn time was one of those glass cases that contained a fire extinguisher. I must’ve been all too preoccupied to notice it before, what the burning building, gaggle of incendiary Salamanders and the now Elemental all setting this place ablaze.

  I dashed forwards as fast as I possibly could, swinging my fist into the glass case and causing it to shatter. Shards of glass bit into my fingers and knuckles, slicing away at the already tender skin due to the burn I had received when I tried to open the heated up door back in the penthouse. I worked through the pain and wrenched the fire extinguisher from its resting place.

  The air was suddenly filled with a very familiar sound, I leapt back instantly as a torrent of acidy spit fell on the spot I was just moments ago. My sudden rush towards the extinguisher must’ve prompted the Salamanders from the idle state they had been in seconds ago. Their acidy projectile spit quickly began eating away at the wall and the floor below us. I ignored the fact that the floor beneath me was literally crumbling away and yanked the stupid health and safety tag and pin off of the extinguisher.

  “Hey ash hole!” I called out at the Elemental. It wasn’t my best material I admit, I must’ve been more concerned with trying to not be immolated than being witty.

  It didn’t matter how corny or stupid it was because it got the attention of the Elemental, which turned around to face me. I didn’t hesitate for a second; I quickly depressed the handle and began covering the Elemental in smothering foam. It began to stagger back and flail wildly, screeching as it did, I didn’t stop though but instead spun to begin spraying the pack of Salamanders behind me.

  While doing so, I turned to look over my shoulder at Ortiz who was standing a mere foot away from the staircase and staring slack jawed. “What are you waiting for?” I snarled, “GO!” She nodded and bolted down the stairs.

  I turned my attention back to the pack of Salamanders, which was entirely coated in fire suppressing foam; I knew that something as simple as a fire extinguisher wouldn’t keep them down for long though. The supernatural didn’t play by our rules, the Salamanders and Elemental would be hurt for a moment but that was about it. An angry hiss and wail confirmed my suspicions as I spun around to see and an enraged Elemental rising back to its feet and beginning to burn a variety of blues and whites and smoke rising from its mass.

  “This hotel has a no smoking policy,” I growled as I depressed the handle once more, the Elemental shrieked again as it was smothered in foam. It collapsed to the floor writhing and flailing around, I turned to regard the pack of Salamanders, which had recovered and now was storming towards me. I pressed the handle again to spray them down and all that happened was a small amount of foam dribbled out of the nozzle. “Oh, well shit,” I murmured.

  The entire pack leapt towards me in unison, bodies afire and spitting a mass of material dissolving saliva at me, I did the only thing I could think of to escape. I looked down at the rapidly deteriorating floor and closed my eyes; this is going to hurt, I thought. I jumped up, tucking my knees to my chest and moments before coming back to the ground, I kicked down with my legs, as hard as I could and crashed them into the floor. The result was instantaneous, the floor gave way and I found myself hurtling down to the floor beneath the one I was on.

  I don’t know how far the drop was, I’d wager atleast somewhere from twelve to sixteen feet, I don’t know if four feet makes a difference in how much it hurts.

  For the record, it hurt a damn lot!

  I ended up landing on my side; my left shoulder and arm took the majority of the impact. I heard a sickening crunch in the area where my shoulder met my collarbone and was overwhelmed by a mixture of white-hot pain lancing up my arm as well a deep throbbing throughout my body. Something either broke or was dislocated, knowing my luck, it was probably both.

  I was tempted to just lie there in my agony but I didn’t have that luxury, nor any others really. It was difficult to raise myself up, as I couldn’t lean up against the walls of the hallway since much of them were already engulfed in flames. I had seriously underestimated just how quick the fires were spreading, if it continued at this rate, a five star New York hotel would be burned to the ground. I had to dive out of the way as more bits of crumbling ceiling fell on top of and around me, a few bits actually managing to tag me and inflict more pain as well as cause me to lose my balance.

  Screams filled the air and they weren’t coming from me. I looked around frantically for the source, as I did, the entire floor was beginning become even more wreathed in fire…if that was possible. I hauled my broken and battered ass down the hall, looking for the room where the screams emanated from. Most of the doors on this floor were left wide-open meaning the occupants had fled from the fire. After making it down more than about two thirds of the hallway, I found a room that was sealed shut and fortunately, it wasn’t a high-end metal door.

  Most people don’t really know how to properly kick down a wooden door, they think they know but they don’t. You aim for the spot right above the doorknob or handle, that’s where the wood is weakest and most likely to give. Oh, you also don’t ram into with your shoulder, that’s a great way to injure yourself and especially so if you just fell twelve feet and are already injured. You take a good step back, step forwards whilst pulling your arms back and kicking with your heel at the spot I mentioned before. The door won’t come off its hinges like in some television shows, what happens is that the wood around the doorknob breaks and the door flings open dramatically. Of course it helps if you happen to have a bit of supernatural strength like I do.

  The door flung open and inside the room against the far wall, where the window was, was a mother and a young boy huddled together. The roof was on fire as well as some of the front portions of the room. I set my jaw, toughing through the pain and managed to sprint over to the them, extending my hand in a helping and friendly manner, “come on, this way!” I shouted.

  She didn’t grab my burned and glass shrapnel filled hand but instead grabbed onto my left forearm, the one that was connected to my broken and dislocated shoulder and collarbone. I didn’t scream…aloud anyways but m
y teeth were grinding as she hauled herself up at the expense of my quickly diminishing pain threshold. She beckoned to her little boy who shook his head and sat there huddled, arms around his knees.

  I didn’t have time for this, I reached down and scooped him up with my burned right hand and threw him over my good shoulder and led them out of the room. I set the boy on his feet and gestured ahead to where the emergency stairs were. His mother mouthed a silent thank you as she took off with the boy. Common sense dictated that I follow them and made sure they got there safely but I was too worried about something else. I hadn’t seen Agent Ortiz yet, we were only one floor down, granted I took an excruciating shortcut to get there, I should’ve run into her by now.

  I immediately began fearing the worst and started looking around hysterically for another extinguisher to arm myself with; hotels of this grade were required to have them on each floor. Hell, some of them even had full-blown fire hoses on some floors, I was hoping that I would be so lucky as to find one, that would put a hurtin’ on any fire based creature. I stumbled around for a few moments, struggling to see through the thickening smoke but eventually coming across another extinguisher. I bothered to take the time to remove this one properly rather than introducing a whole mess of glass into my fist, again.

  After becoming properly armed I began shouting, “Ortiz! Ortiz, you out there?” I began shambling forwards in an awkward manner, the pain and damage to my body was taking a toll. Add to that the fact that the smoke and lack of oxygen was making it hard to breathe and I was beginning to get disoriented. If I was struggling this much, well it made me considerably more worried about Agent Ortiz’s well being. Spurred on by that thought, I continued to plow forwards through the dense smoke and supernatural induced inferno.

  I began coughing terribly and it quickly escalated into a deep painful wheezing, the kind that racks your throat until it’s completely dry and sore. “Ortiz!” I said hoarsely, “Ortiz, you there?”

  No answer.