Underground

• Maddie Black, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2014

"Uggggh."

I sit up and open my eyes but immediately lie back down, feeling a massive throbbing in my head. I lie there trying to regain the feeling in my fingers and taking in my surroundings. The walls and roof are made out of metal covered in a navy blue paint, there are no windows and the only light comes from a small bulb on the roof hanging by a chain.

I look down and notice I'm on a solid metal bench suspended about 7 metres in the air. My hands and feet are trapped by metal chains.

"Where am I?"

"Charli, is that you?"

I look to where the voice had come from.

"Sam!"

"Charli are you okay?! We need to get out of here! Jordan's just below me."

I look down again and realise that I am not the only one in the room. There are hundreds of metal benches just like mine filled with people of all ages.

At the bottom of the room there was a workbench with tools hanging off the side and a rack of guns standing next to it. What really caught my attention though was the creature. The creature had a jackals head attached to a spiders body with human hands. Coloured all black it looks like something out of a nightmare. In it's hand is a tattoo needle with some sort of tube on the end filled with a green and black mixture.

People are struggling against their restraints and yelling out to others in the room. It is complete chaos but the creature on the ground doesn't seem to notice.

A loud, ear piercing scream travels through the room. Everyone goes silent, searching for the source of the scream.

"Lucy!"

Everyone looks down to where the man's gaze is. There stands a girl of about five years old hugging a teddy in her bright pink pyjamas. Tattooed on her left cheek in bold, black ink is the hotel symbol.

As the yelling, crying and struggling began again, there was an overpowering noise and then heavy steps again the wooden floor. I look down to find (presumably) the father of the little girl running across the room. I was about to lose my view of him behind a metal bench below me when he stopped.

"What's happening Sam! I can't see!"

"Ch.... Charli h..he's....."

"What Sam!"

"There's a gun!"

BANG

I shudder as the man falls to the ground.

My senses start to block everything out. The screaming, shouting, smell of blood and sweat, nothing no longer reaches me. By now the mans shirt is soaked crimson time the father's shirt.

I must fight.

I launch into a battle with the chains that hold me down but after a few minutes I give up. An ear piecing screech cut through the chaos like a sharp knife and then the wall moves down. What the heck? The wall comes to thump. Oh no Jordan's at the bottom now! I pull harder against my chains but it's no use. That's when it comes to me. I know what I must do.

"Arrrhhhhh!" I scream as the pain through my shoulder increases. Even though the pain running through my arm is excruciating I force my self to stand up and jump. I land on the floor with a thud then quickly dodge behind another bench in case the man noticed me. Then I get up and sprint across the room.

I'm still running across the room, panting from exhaustion and the increasing pain in my arm. It feels like forever before I reach the pale man lying dead on the floor, but I don't stop there I continue running towards the gun rack. I figured if I was to get out of here alive I needed one of those guns.

I reach out towards the rack, my fingertips are what it seems an inch away from freedom.

Thump thump thump.

What is that? It sounds like footsteps. But it can't be, could it? NO!

I yelp as I'm pulled back by my hair and dragged across the room.

"Jordan, Sam, HELP!"

But they are not in a situation that can help me. Then I realise I could die here right now in this room, on this cold metal floor. But I can't. What about my family, friends? I need to stay alive to help them.

I grab hold of his arm and pull myself closer to him. Then I bite. He lets out a low groan and let's go of my hair. I stand up and run. Adrenaline pumps through my blood as become closer to the guns.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

I can hear him behind me.

THUMP THUMP

The heavy footsteps so close I can feel the vibration through the ground.

THUMP

I dive at the rack, pull out a gun and fire.

BANG

The room goes into silence once more. The demon is gone now.