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A Darkened Figure
1,475 Words
Something was down there; Hans was sure of it.
He had been against boarding the HMS Dunedin, a drifting cruiser in the middle of the Atlantic, but as a lowly Matrosengefreiter Hans had no say in the matter.
Now he was sure his commanding officer was dead. While he remained on deck, Schwarz had descended into the cargo hold with three other men; six minutes later Hans heard muffled screams and gunshots. By the time he worked up the courage to descend the stairs himself, the struggle was over.
Erie silence inundated the ship, only broken by the hull creaking in protest against the cold, rising waves breaking upon it. Hans gripped his Kar98k and felt the salty Atlantic sea spray pelt his exposed face. The rest of him was covered in a wet parka. Swallowing his fear, Hans slipped his bayonet out of its pouch and over the muzzle of his rifle and took the first step of the stairway carefully.
He held the rifle in front, his finger around the trigger and the safety off. A round sat ready in the chamber. As he passed a caged bulb set into the stairwell, his shadow danced across the left wall and disappeared into the blackness below.
Coming to the base of the metal stairway, Hans cautiously turned the corner, leading with the gun, and sighted down a long, empty corridor lit by three more caged bulbs. The moonlit deck and noises of the ocean were replaced by the stink and vibrations of the dank, musty bowels of light cruiser on wartime patrol.
The long hallway had four doors, two per side, each set opposite another. The corridor ended in an additional that ran perpendicular to the first, forming a T-shape. A body lay in the second door on the right side, the heavy, metal hatch half-open. A dark liquid pooled outside the opening. Similarly colored spray was slowly running down the wall at the end of the passageway, flowing around two large gashes in the metal and a scattering of bullet holes.
Hans crept forward, never lowering his rifle, and tested the handles of the first two doors on each side. They were locked. Coming upon the last two, Hans moved to the side of the body in the door. He glanced down the corridor, found it still empty, and knelt down to check the kriegsmarine-uniform-clad corpse. A lengthy, deep gash cut into the right side of Schwarz’s neck, almost severing his head. No more blood came from the wound; all of it had drained onto the floor.
Releasing the body and taking up his rifle again, Hans stepped over the coagulated puddle and prepared to enter the intersection of the two hallways. Just before reaching it, a loud "clang" sounded from behind him. Turning, he saw a grate had been pried from the floor.
His previously swallowed fear crept back up, and he unconsciously stepped backwards into something leathery. Hans wheeled around and slashed upwards at a dark figure. An inhuman scream emanated from it. Hans froze for only a moment before turning and sprinting back down the corridor towards the stairs. A padding, scraping, galloping sound followed close behind him. He turned at the base of the stairs and blasted a round toward the creature.
The muzzle flash illuminated a gaunt, dark face drawn tight around an elongated skull, jaws open in a scream to reveal rows of jagged teeth. Two stark white, pinpoint eyes looked back. The round struck the monster in the shoulder, and it stumbled into the wall, black liquid splattering its surface.
Hans turned again and ran, now driven purely by fear. Up the stairs he bounded, coming to the deck and leaning over the railing. His ship’s lights beckoned in the distance.
Spinning one final time, Hans saw the creature clawing out of the darkness below and onto the deck. They locked eyes.
Hans pushed himself over.
Just as he cleared the edge, a scream came from right behind him. Hans felt a sharp pain draw across his side as he plummeted into the dark, frigid, water below.
I recently came across some interview and incident reports that seem to pertain to SCP-015-IT. These go back further than any Foundation and Brotherhood of Saint George's Knights records I've been able to find. Oddly enough, there seem to be no official Kriegsmarine reports to corroborate them.
-Dr. Lander
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