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“Chronicles of the Eclipses”

**~Troubling Mass~**

‘What was I thinking going through this idea? I could have been safe and sound at home but instead I’m stuck in a dark hallway with strangers to save them and get rid of boss with no intention of letting me out alive.’ Coral thinks to herself as she leads the group of men down the hallway. She was beginning to get aggravated with the idea of the gang and just wanted out now.

The soft shuffling of the footsteps behind her reminds her that she was not alone in the hallway. She hears Brian gasping as he softly steps back in the dark, gulping.

“Brian what is it?” She hears Kevin ask as he begins whining.

Coral gazes over at the four men who seem caught up in something behind them down the hallway. “What do you see Brian?” She quakes out, shivering from the sudden soft cold breeze that filtered through the seeps of the grated ceilings above her.

Smiling for a moment, she almost breaks into a laugh never noticing the escape found right above her. But before she can state the idea, she needed to see what was keeping the guys so preoccupied. Brian gulps and points to an estranged shadow slowly coming towards them.

Coral softly shivers, watching the shadow inch closer to them. Nick gulps and backs into a wall eyeing the shadow which brushed past A.J. quickly.

“What the hell…” A.J. hisses out, grabbing whatever pushed him against the wall across from him. Gripping his hands around an arm, A.J. narrows his eyes and snorts, glaring back at Howie. “Well, well. Look who decided to join the party.”

Howie snorts, rolling his eyes as he pushes past A.J. “We’re in trouble Connie. Ana went out on her own.”

“I know. Look, I found a way out of here. We need to get up to the grate before more of those things appear.” Coral whispers out, indicting to the black grate above them.

“Easier said than done.” Kevin murmurs, gazing up at the ceiling that seemed to go on forever.

“We’ll never be able to reach that.” Nick whispers out, his echo in the eerily quiet hallway vibrates.

“Yeah I know, but maybe if we can support each other and climb up, I can reach the grate.” Coral plans out the idea.

Howie shrugs, “Might as well, I mean we don’t have any other ideas.” He glances back at A.J. who growls at his direction.

Nick gulps as he hears the sound of growling emitting from around them. “Oh God, their around us! Those things are here!”

“Nick relax.” Brian whispers out nervously, placing a hand on the man’s shoulder as Kevin begins to call A.J. over.

“Alright guys, look we’re gonna make a ladder, Nick get on my shoulders and we’re lift Connie up to the grate.” He states hurriedly grabbing the blonde haired man, the sound of the zombies moaning and groaning echo off nearby.

“Ohhhh man, they’re around here.” Brian whispers out hoarsely, nervously watching as Nick leaps on Kevin’s shoulder, straddling his legs around Kevin’s neck. Slowly standing, Kevin grips Nick as Nick reaches for Coral and lifts her up near the grate.

“Can you reach it Connie?” Howie calls out as the sound of the zombies seem only feet away from them in the dimly lit hallway.

“Almost” Coral grunts out, her hands grazing the side of the black iron grate above her.

“See if you can push it up or something.” Howie calls out as Kevin winces and grunts out in pain.

“Hurry up…Nick isn’t exactly light.” Kevin groans out as A.J. watches snickering.

A.J. leans against the dingy wall when from the corner of his eye he could see a small crawling decaying human corpse on its hands. The matted bloodied stained hair and gray skin of the zombie seemed sickeningly enough as it moans and drags its body towards A.J.’s feet.

A.J. paralyzed in fear, watches the corpse approach him as it opens its gaping rotting mouth to reveal a row of razor sharp teeth. Gasping quietly, he stumbles back as the zombie in more of the visible dimming white light seemed to be missing its lower half of its body below its torso. A large streak of crimson blood smeared behind it as it drags itself towards A.J. moaning out, gazing at the man with its hollow black eye sockets.

A.J. clutches his stomach at the revelation of the beast and sees Coral struggling to open the grate above her. “HURRY UP!” He yells out in fright as the crawling zombie grabs a hold of A.J.’s ankle and bites down on it.

Shrieking, A.J. kicks the corpse away from him, reaching for his ankle immediately which seemed to be soaked in either his or the zombie’s blood.

“He…he bit you?” Howie chokes out, gazing at him nervously.

Snorting, A.J. rolls his eyes: “So, its just a small wound. I won’t change into it.”

Coral glances at A.J. wearily and sighs, “We’re gonna have to get that checked out. Vincent uses the chemicals of the zombies to react to those of human flesh. You’ve all seen it happen back at the medial room with the other zombie.”

“You think I’m gonna change into one of those things?!” A.J. cries out in despair.

“Oh man, he isn’t gonna right?” Brian gulps down, looking at the crawling zombie coming towards Kevin’s direction. The streaked blood trail behind the zombie seemed to draw in more of its kind as more than ten of the dead creatures slowly emerge from either side of the hallway hissing and lashing out at them.

Brian shivers and turns pale at the thought of the creatures coming close to them.

Kevin grunts and tries to keep his hold on Nick and Coral above him.

“Can you open the grate now?!” Nick yells out as Coral growls and shoves her hands against the black grate above, pushing up on it hoping to get it to pop open somehow.

“Any day now, before I start looking like one of these things.” A.J. hisses out kicking away the legless zombie and stepping on its head the force causing the zombie’s head to get squished against the ground. “Egh…yuck man! This is sick!” He cries out, walking away from it, almost sliding across the ground into another zombie, this one standing fully erect and alert.

Coral in anguish pounds on the grates above her, hoping to open it as the zombies begin to surround them moaning and clawing at them. One zombie grabs on Kevin’s shirt while another grips Nick’s foot tugging on it with force. Both men scream as Howie and Brian kick away the hungry beasts from them while Coral struggle with the grates in frustration and fear.

A.J. gulps, tying a dark bandana around his wounded ankle. “I swear if I change into one of those things…don’t hesitate to get rid of me ok?”

“That won’t be a problem.” Howie murmurs out feeling the burning glare from him.

“Yeah right.” A.J. snorts, rolling his eyes as he limps his way over to the others, the growling of the zombies surrounding them seemed almost rhythmic like a heart beat. Finally the remaining zombies make their final attempt and leap to them as Coral pushes the grate above her one last time, pushing the grate up as it slides open.

A.J and Brian scream out in fear as Coral looks down.

“What’s the verdict?” Kevin quivers, looking at an approaching zombie coming towards him.

“I opened the grate.” Coral states loudly, climbing up onto the next floor and taking Nick’s hand to help pull him up. Kevin grabs A.J. and Brian as both men are lifted and climbed up through the open hole above them meters up.

Kevin grabs Howie lastly as he follows behind inches away from getting grabbed by one of the coming zombies as the black grate is slid back in place in time as one of the zombie’s hands was caught in the metal object screaming and hissing out in pain.

“Uhhh yuck! Sick!” Kevin stumbles away from the shaking grate.

“It’s locked right? They can’t get through that?” Nick worriedly asks, his eyes locked on the vibrating grate. The moaning of the zombies seemed to surround them as Coral gulps and shakily stands up.

“I guess for now, that’ll hold them up. But we need to get to an exit now. The faster the better.” She whispers out, brushing back a lock of tangled cinnamon hair behind her ears.

“Right…let’s go. I don’t wanna stay here if they get through.” Howie scrambles off the tiled floor and quietly walks down a hallway as Kevin sighs, following behind him with Brian.

Coral glances at Nick who blinks and looks over at A.J. who was cursing softly under his breath, gripping his bleeding ankle, the crimson liquid staining his once white sock. “Let me see that.” She whispers, kneeling down as she gently removes his hands away and pulls the sock away from the fresh bite mark.

“It’s a deep cut right?” Nick whispers out, gulping, wiping away a faint sweat using the arm of his shirt in the process.

“From the looks of it, he has a layer of skin missing. Looks like the bite tore through his flesh good. A.J. listen to me, I’m gonna try to stop the bleeding a little more but if you start feeling faint or odd let us know in time ok?” Coral gently states, applying pressure on the wound with a piece of her shirt.

A.J. nods and gulps, “I’m not gonna change into one of those right?”

“It all depends on how badly you were bitten and how your body will respond.” Coral informs the man sadly.

“Will I die if that happens?” A.J. trembles out.

Looking away, Coral clears her throat and looks away sadly already confirming the answer he dreaded to hear.

“Can’t you help him if that starts happening?” Nick asks in trepidation.

“I’m not a doctor Nick, you’re asking the wrong person.” Coral frowns sadly, standing up to see Kevin waiting for them to catch up at the end of the new hallway.

A.J. gulps and breaks out in a faint sweat, gulping as Nick helps him together making their way back to the others with Coral.

“So with all this going down, what’s the bad news?” Howie asks, raising his eyebrows at the others.

“The bad news is if we become like them.” Brian points down below the black grate they’re standing on to see a crowd of hungry zombies waiting for a fresh meal.

“Well that’s a nice attitude to have now isn’t it?” Kevin frowns as they slowly ease their way down another dimly lit cement hallway, the echoes of the zombies ringing out around to remind them, they were not alone.
~*~

She looks around the new vacant rather polished room with its shining metal tiles beneath her. Arianna’s light eyes take in the new environment in the rather circular room. She eyes Vincent who goes up a level of metal grated stairs to reach the platform where an observatory room was located, the windows clearly showing the inside of the control room. Racing up the stairs behind him, she follows him into the control room only to see on one side of the room antique cabinets with medications and substances in it while the side facing the clear windows stood a metal machine with rows of switches and buttons. Standing near the machine, Arianna watches Vincent carefully messing with the switches, pulling and flicking the lit buttons on. Gulping Arianna presses her warm forehead on the cold glass, looking out in the bare room below her as she hears a strange beeping sound emit from below at the room.

Watching curiously, she sees a group of ten young men around the ages of twenty or so entering the room below her, standing stark naked as what seemed like a gang member enters with a hot iron rod swinging it around for amusement in front of them. Arianna tries to take all this in, not understanding what was going on as the gang member strikes one of the nude men brutally on the head.

Arianna gasps out loudly as Vincent laughs manically, enjoying the view from where he was standing. She felt force to watch the brutally of the men in the room, eager to turn her head away yet waiting to look on to see if what she was watching was really occurring. “What…what are you doing to them?”

“Me?” Vincent scoffs, “They were the ones that trespassed this place and now they must suffer. Too bad too, they were good access to the gang. But well you gotta get rid of the trash to make for something better.”

Arianna gulps and watches the men in the room below them getting tortured as a bright fire flame erupts from one of the men who were sent on fire alive screaming for mercy and help.

Arianna watches helplessly, holding back the bile in her throat at the horrendous torture. Another one of the men was stripped of his flesh with each hit from a nail clawed weapon that yanked off another piece of skin painfully. She closes her eyes at the sound of the raw agonizing screams that filtered the room below her hoping that she can somehow get rid of the man in charge once and for all.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**