Descending Ch. 01

Just as he was tipping his head back to get the last drops of coffee, he heard a strange sound in the night. It sounded like a choke. Jason wipped his head around, looking for the direction the noise had come from, then heard coughing coming from the watchtower at the corner of the two 20 ft high walls. Jason realized it was just a guard coughing, but couldn't shake off his jumpiness. He watched as he smoked another cigarette to appear casual, that no one was manning the two spotlights pointed in towards the base or outwards. He didn't see any evidence that there was someone there at all. Something didn't seem right at all.

Jason went back inside to use his walkie talkie without being heard. "Anyone out there on tower 2? Over."

Complete silence for a full minute. Jason was about to order someone over there and then finally, "Leuitenant, I just arrived to swap posts with tower 2 and there seems to be nobody here. Over."

Before Jason could respond, the soldier called back, "there is an abandoned weapon on the ground at the base of the tower. I can see it over the edge of the rail. Over."

Jason sucked in his breath. "Soldier get backup immiediately! We may have a security breach! Over."

Suddenly there was a loud crack on the other end and then complete silence. Jason ran back out to the balcony and drew his M16. He was sure that someone or something had just taken out whoever he had been talking to on the tower. He felt panic rising in his chest as he sensed that there was somone close who had already made 3 of his soldiers disappear.

He took quiet and slow steady breaths to still his pounding heart. He couldn't tell where the sound was coming from but he heard a faint cracking. He strained his ears to hear better and to his horror he heard a wet cracking sound like bones being broken and a splash as blood spilled out on the iron overhang above his head. Suddenly there was a ripple in the air above him and as the lightning turned the night white for a split second, he caught sight of an enormous pair of bat-like wings slicing through the air about 20 feet above him and a shriek as if there were more than one beast fighting over something. He heard a loud thunk on the iron above his head and jumped, his heart racing. Then whatever had been on the roof rolled down and fell at his feet where the overhang stopped.

Jason's mouth turned dry and he felt like screaming in horror at what lay at his feet. It was the head of one of his soldiers. The head had been ripped from the body, taking part of the spinal column with it. It was the most gruesome thing Jason had ever seen and he felt his dinner lurch in his stomach.

He snapped out of his stupor and realized he needed to get the fuck out of there before something came to retrieve the head. He needed to alert all the other soldiers too.Would anyone believe such a thing?

Jason pushed back his fear and snatched the gory head off the floor and ran to the door. Once inside he looked behind him and caught a glimpse of claws about to climb off the overhang onto his porch. He slammed the door shut, heard a screech as he startled the creature, and drove the deadbolt into the lock as fast as he could. He locked the other 2 locks as well. He felt like falling to his knees and thanking God for the heavy duty steel door protecting him from that monster.

With disgust, Jason dropped the head into his trash bin and tied the plastic bag shut as quickly as possible. Then he ripped his radio off his belt again and yelled into the reciever. "Red alert, red alert! This is Leutenant Griffin and there are unidentified airborn deadly forces outside. Everyone get to safety immiediately and arm yourselves! 2 men are missing and one is confirmed dead. I repeat, arm yourselves immiediately and find safety inside the base!"

Jason grabbed the bag and holstered his M16 on his back, also tucking a .22 in his belt. He grabbed the bag containing the head and strode out the door to the hallway as the hinges of his door groaned under the force of something with horrifying strength steadily pushing it inwards.