AFTER READING THE third log entry, I sat the book on the table. The events were so intense and so familiar. “The book—I wasn’t just reading it. I was living the events, feeling them,” I said to the priest.
“It was intended that way. You see, feel, and experience the entries as if you were there,” Daniel said.
“How…?” I asked softly.
“The power of God,” Daniel replied. We all looked at each other. Eventually, our gazes settled on the soldier; he would be on the forefront of the physical battle, while Daniel would be on point for the spiritual war. Accepting his role, David raised his rifle and walked to the heavy door that separated the bunker from the tunnel system.
Daniel turned to face me. “Ghost hunter, you’re with David. Frank, with Jason, Rick, with Joel. I’ll take up the rear.”
The door opened like a hatch. David and I each turned the heavy wheel with one hand and pulled the door open. Cold, stale air rushed past, and distant whispers beckoned to us. Shadows darted in the distance, and we felt a presence. David nodded. With my pistol in my right hand and the EMF meter in my left, I followed right behind him as he entered the tunnel.
My head lamp was on, as was the flashlight on David’s rifle. Still, the darkness seemed thicker, almost impenetrably heavy. There were faint EMF readings, but nothing definite. The voices continued, but I could not tell whether they were really faint whispers or just my imagination.
The other five men followed behind us. The tunnel was surprisingly well kept with fresh concrete. Someone had been there recently. But whom?
The tunnel split, branching left and right. As I stood wondering if we should split up, my EMF meter spiked. Something moved through the intersection, something quick. A shadow?
“We’ll split into two teams. We have no radio contact, so meet back here in ten. Move!” David ordered. Frank, Rick, Joel, and I turned right, peering into the dark tunnel ahead. Jason, David and Daniel took the left. The temperature became colder as we went. The meter still registered faint EMF readings. What was lurking in the shadows?
We passed along the winding corridor, ignoring other tunnels that branched off the main tunnel making it seem like a maze. Suddenly, the EMF meter spiked!
“Where is it?” Frank asked, playing his flashlight beam along the walls.
“Just ahead of us,” I said. I moved forward slowly. The readings grew stronger and stronger, and I spotted decayed remains just ahead of us. Something loomed over the remains, something unlike the demons I had seen while reading the book. I could smell sulfur.
“Whoa!” Rick cried. He turned and stumbled backward. Frank and I turned around quickly.
“What was that?” Frank asked.
“A cloaked figure, just a few inches from my face,” said Rick.
The hair on our bodies began to stand up straight. Something scraped against the floor,
and we heard rattling, then footsteps. When we turned back to continue on, we saw the decayed body rise and stumble toward us, moaning.
“What’s going on?” I cried out as we stepped backward. The body reached a hand toward us, dripping rotted flesh, and we opened fire. The thing roared and leaped up. Clinging to the ceiling, it crawled toward us. I drew my BAR and opened fire. The creature jumped to the right, then the left, and soon the walls and ceiling were riddled with gunfire. Frank took careful aim and fired a burst into its skull. The creature fell to the ground, motionless.
“That was…interesting,” Joel said, breathing heavily.
“Yeah, you could say that.” I approached the creature. It didn’t move.
Frank crouched near the spot where the remains had been when we first spotted them. He was examining the satchel he’d found. He removed a pistol and a book. The pistol looked different; it had no clip and was white, appearing to give off a faint light. Frank raised the weapon and fired it into the shadows. It released a beam of light, narrow and fast.
“Awesome!” he said, standing up. He tossed me the book.
I turned my head lamp toward the pages and began reading:
Day 1
I have volunteered for a test program. For a thousand dollars, how could I refuse? It will initially be a psychological examination—something about understanding fear. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but with the money I’ll be able to buy what I’ve always wanted.
Day 2
I’ve arrived at the facility. From there I will be transported to another testing area. The initial evaluation went well; apparently I deal OK with fear. The second phase of the program involves facing my greatest fear—the dark. No idea how this will play out, but I can’t back out now. They probably wouldn’t let me anyway.
Later, same day
I’ve been taken, along with five others, to an underground complex, deep within some thick woods. The place gives me the creeps. They gave the six of us a brief weapons demonstration, then handed each of us some sort of laser gun. I was stuck with the pistol. It’s white, wimpy looking. I didn’t admit it, but I’m afraid, and I don’t know what to do.
Later that day we were sent into a maze of tunnels with walls of rock and dirt, like mine shafts. The only lights we have are the small flashlights they gave us. There are whispers all around, and something keeps moving in the shadows. Either that or the shadows themselves are moving. I can’t tell.
One guy from the group has already disappeared. Another guy got maimed by something—I couldn’t see what it was—and I think he’s dead. The four of us left just ran away. We’re hiding in a niche right now as I write this. I was such a fool to come here! Why did I have to be so greedy? I know we will all die down here, at the hands of something dark and sinister. Our weapons seem to affect the creatures, whatever they are, but I don’t know if they damage them at all. God help me…
I read the diary aloud, and we all grew silent. The diary writer and the other five had been completely unprepared for the evil that awaited them. Were we destined to end up the same? We, too, were venturing into the heart of darkness, looking for answers to a question most people didn’t even know enough to ask. Yet we were there by God’s will. The power of Jesus would protect our spirits; I wasn’t sure, though, about our bodies. What if it was God’s will for us to die down there? Somehow, I didn’t think so.
“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not giving up,” I said. “These people were deliberately tossed into danger, and I intend to avenge them.”
“I’m with you,” Frank said as he holstered the dead man’s laser pistol.
“Let’s rip this darkness a new one,” Joel said strongly. Nodding, we ventured farther down the tunnel.
I wondered what was happening to the other team. Were they OK? Had they, too, met up with an animated dead man? A voice in my head answered my question.
I am with your friends. Do not be afraid, the voice said. It was a woman’s voice, soft and soothing.
Who are you? I thought.
Like you, a piece to the puzzle. See now what has been done, she said.
I began to see what appeared to be memories, though I didn’t know whose. They moved fast at first, making them difficult to focus on. Someone received a letter about a program needing test subjects. There followed a brief memory of driving to the facility, being met by a person in a white lab coat, and a briefing—all lies, I knew somehow.
The memories felt like those I’d experienced when I read the diary, except these memories belonged to someone else, someone who was able to read others’ thoughts. This person had known that he was being misled, that they were hiding something, and he had sensed the dark presence in the forest. And they knew he was different, which was perhaps why he had been chosen. But who were “they” in all this?
The man in the memory was given a laser rifle, a weapon much more powerful than the pistol. He and the others were forced into an entrance on the other side of the bunker from the tunnel entrance we had used. Immediately he knew what was lurking in the shadows, and he attemp
ted to convince the others. They wouldn’t listen, didn’t believe in such things.
He persisted, explaining that just because they didn’t believe in something didn’t mean it didn’t exist, but they laughed. They said that shadows were just that: shadows. The danger was all imaginary—just in their minds. This was true, to a point. The initial battle was with their minds.
I had learned that much from ghost hunting. Evil entities always attempted to make me fear them, because that would give them power over me. This was different, though. These creatures weren’t just frightening people; they were killing them.
A member of the test group was killed almost right away, torn apart by the shadows. Another went missing. The man whose memories I was living had done his best to keep the group together, but like sheep they had all run to the slaughter. Finally, he was alone, firing his laser rifle into the shadows that encroached. He had an edge over the others; he knew when the creatures were near. He found food and water and lasted in the tunnels for days. He was a survivor.
In the next memory, Daniel and the others found him. He was so relieved to see them. He could feel their auras, their presence, and he knew they had been chosen and sent by God. We all had been. Now that the Survivor was to join us, I wondered if our team was complete or if there were still pieces missing from the puzzle.
“—and I’ve been looking at this laser pistol, and…” Joel was saying. Apparently, he had been talking the entire…five minutes?
“What…?” I said apologetically.