Chapter 6
Royden jabbed the down button next to the elevator angrily. He pulled the pendant out of his pocket. It was very beautiful and probably cost a fortune. That didn’t matter much. He had it and that’s all that he cared about. Unfortunately he would have to find these gremlin creatures Master Morrid told him about. If they were anything like the Morrids it shouldn’t be so bad. But if they were more like the siren then that might prove to be a problem.
The elevator opened its doors and Royden stepped in, hit the basement button, and sighed. This was turning into some day.
The basement only had two rooms, the laundry and pool rooms. Surely the gremlins couldn’t be in either of those. Royden thought they might be in an even deeper basement, but where could that be? As he walked around looking for stairs down to a deeper level he came across the long hallway with a door at the end. Keep out Employees only, the door said. That sounded like as good a starting point as any. He tried the door. To his immense surprise it was unlocked.
“Wow,” he said to himself, “this just got a whole lot easier.”
Royden peeked inside. He couldn’t see a thing, it was too dark. With a deep breath and a nod he opened the door wide and let the light flood in. It was a tunnel. At the very end another door could be seen. Royden sighed and started in. Upon entering the tunnel the door behind him slammed shut.
He jumped. His hands reached out and grabbed the handle. It wouldn’t budge. His ears picked up the faintest sound of crawling right above his head. Something was moving away from him down the tunnel. Royden breathed deeply and quietly, trying to compose himself. He strained to hear the sound until it disappeared somewhere in the distance. He put his arms out and touched the sides. The walls were rough and sharp. With all the courage he could muster he moved slowly to the door he had seen, now completely invisible in the absolute darkness. The whole time his ears struggled to find the crawling sound. Whatever was in there with him must have left. He was afraid it might try to come back and do more than just close a door.
Royden slowly and methodically traversed the tunnel. He brought his left arm in and held out the back of his hand a few inches away from him so it would find the door first. He used his right hand to occasionally touch the wall to make sure he was going straight. He feared his feet coming across something that wasn’t the floor.
He continued like this for what seemed a long time. After a while he was afraid that he might not ever come to the door. If sirens and gremlins existed then endless hallways wouldn’t be too farfetched. All of the sudden he extended his right hand out to find the wall and it hit wood. He pushed, the wood hit the wall and bounced back. It was the door. Someone or something opened it in the dark without a sound.
Royden found the doorframe with his hands and stepped through. He could tell this room was much bigger, his hands couldn’t find the walls and his steps echoed. His feet carried him slowly into this new room, or cavern, or whatever it was. A few steps in his left hand touched something and a loud crash filled the air. Royden jumped back and slipped, hitting the floor hard. He let out a cry and covered his mouth. Everything was still again.
Somewhere deep within the darkness a soft sound emerged above the silence. Royden moved his head toward the sound a little. It came from far away, off to the right slightly. He tried his hardest to decipher it. It came in short intervals. It filled the stiff uncomfortable air for just a second, then drifted off into silence. And then it returned and drifted off again. It continued on indefinitely.
Royden got on his hands and knees and moved slowly toward the sound. His hand came down on something cold and metal. It must have been what caused the great crash. He went around it and continued. He came upon other things on the ground. None of them were the same. Some were hard and cold with sharp edges and others were large and felt like plastic. He moved away from all of them and found a path across the floor toward the sound.
As he got closer he could hear it a little better. He listened carefully and distinguished a rhythm. The noise came in perfect intervals. It sounded like a long drawn out and very quiet heeeeee, drifting to nothing and then returning. It was whiney and course.
A chill shot through Royden’s body when he found a word for it. Breathing. He was listening to something breathing softly nearby. It was watching him. Staying completely still somewhere above him in the dark.
Royden moved very slowly on his hands and knees, continuing toward it. He thought of the painters who were only a few hours away from being a pool monster’s dinner. It gave him the necessary courage to continue.
His hand came down on something else on the ground. It was soft.
“Ugh!”
Royden instantly recoiled. Whatever he touched was alive! He felt his finger that touched it, it was wet. He lowered his head close to the floor.
“Hello.” He whispered.
“Ugh. Is it a real man I am talking to?” A tiny voice asked.
“Well I’m only a kid.” Royden said.
“But you are a being? Not some other horrid creature?” The tiny voice inquired weakly.
“I guess, and what are you, a gremlin?”
“No, thank Master. I am a Morrid true and true.”
“Oh, you’re one of the soldiers that was taken away!”
“That I was, brave soul. I know not why you are here, heroic child, but you need to leave immediately.” The tiny little person cried out. “You don’t know the horrible creatures you are so near. Can you hear it, the devil sound?”
Royden’s ears picked up the whiney breathing coming from above. “Yes.”
“It is waiting,” the tiny soldier lamented, “for the time when I shall leave this world.”
“What?” Royden moved a little forward, covering the tiny man with his body.
“Why have a snack struggle?” The tiny man breathed feebly.
“That’s not going to happen. I won’t let it.” Royden announced loudly, making sure the creature above could hear.
“You don’t know.” The soldier said tensely. “These are terrible creatures. Please leave now. Do not let it get you.”
“It won’t. I’m bigger than it.” Royden said. Though of course he had no idea how big the creature really was.
“No, there are more! There are too many. My fellow soldiers and I were not a challenge. They will see you as one. If they get you all of them get a piece.”
Royden’s body tensed up. His breathing grew shallow as he imagined a bunch of hideous creatures tearing him apart. He suddenly wished he hadn’t spoken so loudly a moment ago.
“I need the comb that was taken from the Morrids. Do you know where it is?”
The soldier coughed and grunted sadly. “They have it. They go after objects of all kinds. It must be in this their hideout somewhere. Don’t waste your life looking for it. Please leave at once.”
“I can’t.”
The soldier let out a cry. Royden almost did as well. The crawling he heard earlier returned. But this time there was more of it. It came from all over. Some came from above and crawled across the ceiling while some crawled near the ground over all the junk. Crashes rang out as metal things hit the ground or were moved across the floor. The creatures came closer, closing in on all sides.
“Run! Now, do it or it will be the end of you.”
“I’m not going to leave you.” Royden yelled above the crawling and crashing.
“I’m gone! Save yourself young hero.”
Royden did as he was told. He jumped up and ran. He had no idea where he was going. After only a few seconds he hit something large and tumbled over it. He smacked the ground hard and groaned loudly.
The whiney breathing grew loud and was now accompanied by the most terrifying screeching, far worse than anything Royden could have dreamed up in his own mind.
Sharp claws grabbed onto his arm. With grea
t and sudden anger Royden grabbed something hard from the ground with his other hand and swung it with great force to where he thought the creature was. The object hit something hard with a stomach-churning crunch and the claws fell away. Royden swung the object around wildly, sometimes smacking things, other times finding only air. He ran around with the only goal being not to be torn apart. He collided with things everywhere he went but continued on. He swung and hit the wall hard. He held the object out with one hand and felt around the wall with the other. His hand came across a shelf. He felt around and found what he hoped was a flashlight. As far as luck is concerned, Royden hit the jackpot. He found the button and light flashed away the darkness.
Royden gasped as his eyes took in the frightful scene. The room was a junk heap. It looked as though a tornado crashed through a thrift store. The floor was covered with a little bit of everything: lawnmowers, desks, blankets, sports equipment, office supplies, and so much more lay at odd angles all around.
Little creatures the size of small dogs ran out of the gaze of the flashlight. Their skin was dark and leathery. Their eyes reflected the light. They had claws several inches long that shined bright in the flashlight’s gaze.
Royden threw the beam of light all over, watching as the gremlin creatures scattered. He stepped over junk back to where he thought the little soldier was. Nothing was left save for a wet red streak and a teeny shoe. He picked it up and put it in his pocket.
Claws latched onto the back of Royden’s shirt. He quickly rose his arm up and shined the light directly down on himself. The gremlin shrieked and jumped off into the darkness. Unfortunately they were smart. Another jumped from the ceiling onto the arm Royden held the flashlight in. Royden took the thing in his other hand, which he could now see was a metal bucket, and smacked the gremlin away.
“You want to mess with me?!” Royden roared. He was terrified, angry, and deeply saddened all at once. The emotions brought out a side of him never unearthed before. “Come on you hideous monsters!”
Royden put down his bucket, picked up a small desk and tossed it into the darkness. It was met with a round of horrible shrieks. He took up the bucket, found a large piece of metal and pounded the bucket against it. The gremlins didn’t seem to like that either. They shrieked loudly from just beyond the light. Royden stopped and listened. They crawled toward him. He looked down and saw claws on the edge of the light that bathed him in security.
Royden held the bucket up just in case and walked around the room, making sure he was in the flashlight’s beam at all times. Surely the comb had to be around somewhere.
He had to be extra careful. If at any time the light shined away from even an inch of him they would pounce. Every now and then he swung the bucket around his arm holding the flashlight.
The comb could be anywhere in that mess of a room. Since it was only recently taken he figured it would be at the top of a pile. His eyes scanned over everything. He could only see what was directly around him. Very swiftly Royden twisted his wrist and shined the light across the room, and then quickly back down on himself. Every time he did this he came face to face with twenty or so bright pairs of eyes while shrieks sounded all around. The shrieks immediately stopped when the light returned onto him. Royden was so irate over the fate of the little soldier he paid little attention to the whiney breathing coming from every direction. They wouldn’t scare him again.
Something caught his eye on top of a tall book shelf against the opposite wall. He moved slowly toward it, making sure to shine quick bolts of light over to it as he got closer. The gremlins backed up away from the light as Royden climbed over junk on his way over to it.
“You all need to get out of here once in a while, that’s your problem.” Royden said to them. He felt braver when he spoke aloud. “But I guess you do looking at all this stuff. I suppose you get out at night when they dim the lights downstairs. I’ll remember to bring a flashlight every time I go out at night from now on.”
He came to the bookcase. This was going to be tricky. He slid the handle of the bucket over his arm and pulled it up to his shoulder. With one hand he pulled himself up the bookcase and made sure the light didn’t move much. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the claws inching forward into the light, waiting for a mistake. He rotated his wrist quickly and let the light go around in wide circles around him. The gremlins jumped back, giving him a little more room. He was afraid another would try to land on his arm holding the light and occasionally flashed a quick bolt up and then back in circles. It gave him enough time and room to reach the top of the shelf. Thankfully a marble comb rested on top of an old book. Royden grabbed it and stuffed it into his pocket.
He looked down and jumped to the floor. His right leg hit the ground wrong and he twisted his ankle. The flashlight fell out of his hand as he instinctively grabbed his ankle with both hands. Terrifying shrieks boomed louder and more sinister than ever. Royden grabbed the flashlight and swirled the light around just in time. Most of the gremlins scattered. All but one. One brave gremlin clamped its claws around Royden’s right hand and wrist, bellowing deafeningly. Its claws scratched Royden ruthlessly. Blood spurted out as the gremlin clawed its way toward the button. Royden swung his arm all around, pulling at the creature’s leathery body with his other hand.
The light flicked off. It found the button.
In his extreme desperation Royden lunged at the wall with his right arm outstretched. Shrieks all around sounded the coming advance of claws and teeth. Royden rammed his arm into the wall and the gremlin attached to it let out a hurt cry and fell to the floor. Royden hit the button on the flashlight right as he felt claws tear at his shirt and skin. The light flashed on with great authority and the gremlins jumped away once again.
Royden wasted no time. He ran for the open door, flashing the light up for an instant at a time. A gremlin jumped onto the handle and the door swayed closed. Royden shot it a flash of light and it scurried away. Royden pulled at the handle. It wasn’t shut all the way. He jumped through and slammed the door closed. The gremlins scratched loudly on the other side. The handle turned. Royden held it closed but they were stronger. He let go of the handle and shined light at the door. It opened and the gremlins shrieked, jumping away from the light. The boy backed up through the tunnel, shining light through the doorway the whole way. The shrieks grew quieter and quieter until he backed into the door at the other end of the tunnel. He tried the handle without looking at it. Still it wouldn’t budge. He shined light on it and found that it had a lock on it. He turned it and the door opened out into the hall. Royden shot the flashlight down the hall. The tunnel was filled with gremlins that ran back away from the light. Royden stepped out into the hall of the basement and closed the door. He ran into the laundry room and sighed in relief at its bright lights. He collapsed into a chair and breathed a little easier.