//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The Building // Story: Devil's Regret // by All American //------------------------------// Author’s note: If you haven’t noticed, I like to consider myself an intellectual. I actually kind of model this story after the Odyssey and Iliad in the way that there is a larger goal but many unrelated challenges. Not to say some of these elements won’t last longer or come up again but it allows me to entertain you with something new and practice my skill at different form of conflict. - I lifted the gun as I let the light illuminate the hallway. The hallway looked exactly like my old one but something was just wrong with it like it had been constructed in a dream. The hallways were a dirty white with pale doors on either side of it. Large florescent lights lined the ceiling, placed every ten feet or so, bathing the hallway in a faint white glow that helped point out all the dirt in the hallway. My old apartment was never filled with savory characters. All of the tenets were either poor or defective in some way. When I say that, I mean they suffered from various mental problems like night terrors or manic depressive disorder. It seemed like every six months or so, a tenet was either being carted out of the place on a stretcher babbling to himself or police were dragging him or her away in a body bag. I walked down the hallway trying to determine if this was a dream or something. I walked over to apartment 100 immediately on my right and tried to listen for anything. Places from my past don’t just show up like this. I could hear nothing though the door and reached down for the knob. I gave it a few jiggles with my free hand before figuring out it was locked. I shrugged and lifted the handgun to the handle, pressing the silencer against it. Suddenly, something bashed into the door on the other side. I nearly shit my pants as I jumped back and kept the gun trained on the door. The door pounded again a few more times before coming to a stop. I slowly approached it again. I have no idea what compelled me to try and open the door again. I place my hand on the knob again and gave it another turn. The handle slowly turned this time even though it was locked just a second ago. I pushed the door in, sweeping the room with my 1911. The room looked like a standard low rent apartment, complete with a large picture of Jesus hanging on the wall on the other end, above the TV. I never was a religious man, in fact, I kind of despised it. There was no place for it anymore anyway. At least I didn’t have mormons coming to my door everyday anymore. I chuckled as I placed the laser sight over the picture and turned around, keeping the gun ready to fire. The apartment’s lights flickered as I walked into the kitchen and opened the door on the dirty fridge in hopes of finding something proving people lived here. As I opened it, a smell worse than death hit me like a train. Everything on the inside of the fridge was rotten. I slammed it closed and choked at the smell for a moment. What kind of mental patient lives or did live here? Everything in the apartment was squeaky clean except for that fridge. I took a few steps back from the kitchen, back into the living room before turning and hastily making my way towards the bathroom. I kicked open the door and walked in. The room was a nasty pink color with a rubber duck themed wallpaper that wasn’t even in style when it was made. I attempted to turn on the sink but nothing came out. I shouldn’t have expected it to anyway. I turned back around and noticed the door had a note hanging on it, the note hanging of a towel hook. I snatched the note off the hook and held it in my hand as I stepped out of the room and back into the living area. I opened the yellowish sheet of paper and was greeted by the four year old with Parkinson’s again. ‘No escaping from the past.’ It read. “Cryptic bullshit.” I said as I folded the note and stuck it into my pocket along with the others. This paper was of human quality, not the brownish scrolls the locals used. Where the hell were they getting it? The only way through to my world was with Celestia’s help and even then you can’t be there for very long. I must have been some special case. I shook my head with a grin on it from some odd reason as I walked over to the bedroom. I wasn’t playing now. I hiked my foot and sent my boot into the door, almost snapping the shitty wood in half as the door broke off one of its hinges. I lowered the gun and searched around the room, not seeing anything of importance. A digital alarm clock kept ringing twelve and a lamp flickered in the corner from a bad bulb. I walked around the room, running my free hand over the whitish plaster wall before my eyes caught sight of a griffon corpse on the ground on the other side of the bed. I jumped back from the unexpected sight. The griffon was almost cut in half with a large branch impaling it through the chest. I couldn’t even cause that kind of damage. Another note hung off the branch. I carefully reached over and plucked the note free. ‘A gift.’ “Just what I always wanted.” I mumbled as I folded the paper. It was bothering me that whatever was controlling this, held all of the cards. From the looks of the griffon, he didn’t even put up a struggle. This thing was going to do what it wanted and I was going to be its bitch. I stepped back and walked out of the room, jogging out of the apartment. I slammed it shut as I gathered myself and lifted my handgun again. If I remembered correctly, my room was 309. That meant I was on the top floor and almost at the end of the hall. I still remember how much it sucked getting groceries up there. I completely avoided the rest of the rooms in the hall before reaching the door to the elevator. I tapped the call button and waited a second. Nothing came. I tapped the button a few more times like it would do something before cursing and looking over to the door that lead to the stairs. It looked like I was going to be taking low-tech route. I walked over to the door and pushed it open, it already having been partially cracked open. The stairs were completely pitch black except for where the flashlight on my handgun illuminated. The concrete walls were in total disrepair, chips lining it as well as a large rust stain under where the old lights hung. It looked more like a staircase from a Chernobyl ruin rather than something in an Ohio steel town. I stepped up the stairs, the faded padding of my boots absorbing the sound. I passed up the second floor hall and immediately ran up the stairs to the third floor. I placed the light over the blue door that lead there and tried to open it. The door wouldn’t give an inch and appeared to be made of steel with bars covering it. The bars were all flaked with rust as I reached a finger between them to rub the dust off of the fogged window. The entire hallway was pitch black. I lifted my light to see inside before I figured out something was just blocking the light. I mumbled a curse and knew there was no way I would be able to get the door open even with my guns. The door weighed at least three hundred pounds, was metal, had a deadbolt, and was most likely rusted in place. “Every time!” I yelled as I punched the door in anger of the delay. I turned back around and ran down the stairs and to the second floor door. I slowly pushed it open and found the hallway had no lights at all. I looked up and noticed they were all blown out, like the pressure inside of them shattered the bulbs. I lowered the gun, letting the light shine down the hall. This hall looked like it had been unattended for decades. The paint was flaking off of the walls and the wood on the doors were warping and becoming discolored. That is what you get from shoddy building materials, I guess. I shrugged and walked into the hall before something pushed me and the door slammed shut behind me. I fell into the ground and put two reflex shots into the door, the silencer only letting out two muffled chirps and flashes of light. I laid there for a moment, expecting something to charge through the door. Light suddenly pieced the holes where the bullets had went through the door. I heard voices on the other side of the door now. They were muffled to the point where they sounded like something out of a Charlie Brown cartoon. I walked over and looked through one of the holes, knocking my hat off my head and onto the dirty floor. I was greeted with the sight of… my mother again. She laid in the middle of the hall, dead with that goddamn crowbar next to her. Something wasn’t right but the pain was all the same. She wore a pair of jeans and an Ohio State jersey that belonged to her girlfriend at the time. I beat my fist against the door a few times as two cops walked up the stairs. The looked over the corpse and pulled out a pen and paper before writing like nothing happened. I slammed my eyes shut as the guilt washed over me for not being there for her. I slid back on my ass and pressed my back into the wall. I looked back at the door and the light was gone just as soon as it had appeared. Something was definitely fucking with me. I only ever told that story to Twilight. I swallowed my guilt and stood back up. I had to continue. I looked down the hall to where the elevator was. A sliver of light kept getting wider and smaller as the doors attempted to close on something. I started to walk in that direction carefully, trying my hardest not to get pushed around again. I still needed to find Dallas and Atlanta. I had not seen them in… sixteen hours? I just hoped they hadn’t abandoned me. Not like they had anything else. They were fugitives like me. I closed in on the elevator and saw what was blocking it. A human corpse was lying on the ground, face first and very much dead. I knelt down and placed my hands on the dead man’s neck to check for a vital. I don’t know why I did this; it was more habit than anything. I got nothing of course. I reached down and flipped the corpse over. I shuddered at the sight of who it was. I looked away as a seed of anger grew in me. I beat my fist against the ground as I looked back and was greeted with an old man in a suit. It was my father. His eyes were open and rolled back in his head with a hole between his eyes. I looked at him and clutched my fist. I felt angry and sad at the same time. I wanted this man dead for so long just to find someone already did the job for me. I reached down into his pocket and felt something in it. I pulled it out and found and envelope. Something was inside of it but I wasn’t sure what. I slid my finger into the seam and tore the envelope open. Another note was in it as well as a key to room 306. ‘Is this what you wanted?’ It asked, almost mocking me. Something was inside my head and it knew me better than I knew myself from the looks of it. I lowered the note and found that my father’s body was gone. “Someone’s fucking with me.” I mumbled before berating myself for thinking like Captain Obvious. I dropped the note and stood back up, looking towards the elevator. It looked like it was about a hundred years old and looked about as sturdy as cardboard and Elmer’s Glue. The yellowish incandescent bulb flickered a few times as I tested the floor with my foot. I never trusted this thing five or so odd years ago and I wasn’t going to start now. If I fell through it, I could kiss my ass goodbye. Even if I only broke my legs, there was no one to alert a doctor or to even get me there, let alone out of the pit. Satisfied after a few good stomps, I walked in and turned back around to see a pair of red eyes staring back at me. I had the gut feeling like it wanted nothing more than to kill or maim me. I started pressing the third floor button in a panic as I raised the 1911 with my dominant hand. The creature looked like nothing more than a solid shadow with eyes. It started to walk forward slowly. As it stepped into the light, the bulb exploded in a shower of light, gas, and glass. I aimed my gun at it, holding the pistol with both hands. As the sight landed on the creature, the laser seemed to go right on through it and the light shut off. I panicked and started firing off rounds wildly. The gun chirped repeatedly as the silencer cut off much of the sound. The rounds passed right on through the creature as I continued to fire. I seemed to finally piss it off and it started charging headlong at the elevator. I kept firing the gun with my left hand as I slammed the close door button with my right. The doors gave a solid lurch before they closed at the speed of a snail across a sidewalk. The doors finally closed as I stepped back and pressed my back into the wall. I let out a relieved huff before looked at the rust colored floor. Various shell casings rolled around on the floor, their brass shine catching the light. I stepped forward to press the third floor button again when the creature slammed into the door. I fell backwards onto my ass before scooting back so my back was to the corner of the elevator. The door was dented in about two inches from where the creature had made contact. I panicked and kicked the control panel with my foot. “Come on you piece of shit!” I yelled at the control panel like it would do something. I heard the hum of machinery start up in the elevator shaft before the elevator started to slowly climb upwards. The creature let out an ear-shattering howl as I ascended to the next floor. I let my head fall back and connect with the wall as I prayed for the safety of Dallas and Atlanta. If I couldn’t kill that thing, I doubted they could. What the hell was it now that I think about it? I had never seen anything like it any equestrian textbooks and I had read a lot in my free time, mostly stolen from griffon towns. I climbed to my feet as the elevator came to a stop with a sickening metallic grinding noise. The doors slowly opened as I was greeted with a half lit hallway, copies of the other two. The lights gave off a slight electric hum as a few flickered lightly. I stepped out of the elevator as the doors closed. With my free hand, I remember the key from the envelope. I jerked out the key and looked over it. It was your pretty standard twenty first century key. It made from steel with Home Depot logo on one side and 306 on the other. I couldn’t quite remember who was living in that unit when I left. In fact, I think it had been empty since I got there. Something about a grease fire came to mind. With the key in one hand as the gun in the other, I switched the under-barrel light back on and walked down the corridor. There were no windows, so I had no idea what was going on outside. I got about halfway down the hallway before seeing the door on my left with 306 printed on a copper-toned plaque. I walked over to it and looked down at the key. “Convenient.” I said with a chuckle before sliding the key into the deadbolt. A growl came from my left, towards the hallway. I looked back and saw that the elevator doors were being pried open by a pair of shadowy claws. I panicked before opening my door as the creature climbed out of the elevator shaft. It gave me a death stare before charging at me again. I fired to rounds from the hip before running into the door and slamming it shut behind me, leaving the key in the deadbolt. The door warped as the creature bashed into it once. I peered to the right of the door and saw a bookshelf. I ran over to one end as the monster slammed into the door again, making the wood splinter. I placed my hands at the top left of the piece of the furniture and tipped it over. It crashed down spilling books all over the floor and blocking the door. The shadow thing slammed into the door one last time before it stopped for some reason. I placed my hands on my knees as I knelt forward and caught my breath. That was something I hadn’t experienced before. I looked over my shoulder and saw a semi-modern living room. The apartment copied the floor plan of the one downstairs but this looked like it was lived in by someone with an odd sense of taste. The TV was on and nothing but static played on it. It was a large flat screen with two speaker towers on each side. A videogame console sat under it on the entertainment center but I didn’t have time for any of that. I turned my head and wandered towards the bedroom with my gun drawn. There had to be a reason for that key being there. I walked over to the door and opened it as I swept the room with the gun, seeing nothing but a single composition notebook on the foot of the bed. I was tired beyond belief at this point, having a ten hour day of driving under my belt and all this. I knew this was no place to stop though. I walked over to the notebook and picked it up. The cover was in the standard static black and white pattern with Alex’s name on the cover of it. I cocked my head seeing this, my heart wrenching. It was unpleasant every time I thought of him. He was my only damn friend in that entire world, no, my only family in that world. He looked after me after my mother died and protected me throughout school. I felt bad and grateful know that I thought about it. He took more than one beating that was meant for me. I just wished I could thank him for it now. I owed it to him to go to his grave site at some point if Celestia was nice enough to give him one. I cracked open the notebook and flipped through a couple of pages covered in hand-drawn maps with names like Iraq, Pakistan, and Niger on them as well as a few operation notes. He always had a knack for drawing even though he never used it. I kept flipping through pages before coming to one labeled ‘Unknown’. I looked over to where the map should be and was met with a big question mark. I flipped the page and was greeted with a few logs. ‘DATE: ?/?/?? LOCATION: Unknown territory OPERATION: Unknown EVAC: Unknown and unlikely DETAILS: I have no idea where I am or how I got here. I have all of my gear but my radio is dead and I am carrying no GPS system. I keep trying to raise anyone over the radio but nothing is there but static. My location is a colder climate, similar to Germany from what I can tell. No snow yet so weather isn’t an issue. I’ll head south until I see something or and pointed in another direction. DATE: ?/?/??+1 LOCATION: 5 miles magnetic south of original location OPERATION: Unknown EVAC: Unknown and Unlikely DETAILS: Came across a creature while on the move. I was wearing my ghillie suit at the time but the creature still spotted me. I have no idea what it is or it origins but I have never seen anything like it. It was roughly six feet tall and five feet long. It looked more or less like an eagle. Strange thing is, it was wearing armor and spoke. It addressed itself as ‘Gilda’ and posed as a soldier from some unknown country. She attempted to arrest me but I fired my weapon and prompt escaped. DATE: ?/?/??+2 LOCATION: 17 miles magnetic south of original location OPERATION: Unknown EVAC: Unknown and Unlikely. DETAILS: Killed a few of the soldiers that accompanied Gilda today. They are chasing me now with the intent to kill or capture. I’m running low on ammunition and food. My situation is falling apart rapidly. I’ll update when I can. DATE: ?/?/??+? LOCATION: Equestria? OPERATION: Unknown EVAC: Unknown and Unlikely DETAILS: A lot has happened since I last reported. I stumbled into a cave and was met with a strange form of creature. Insect like from what I can tell. I killed a few more griffons as well before escaping from their grasp again. I pasted out from exhaustion and was helped out by someone named ‘Golden Heart’ (strange name). I stole a map before leaving and continuing south. I found out that the land is called Equestria, wherever that is. Maybe I’ll find a friendly town where I can get answers.’ The journal came to an end there. I snapped the book shut and held it in my hand for a moment before sitting down on the bed. The bed squeaked under me as I leaned forward and looked down at the ground, my gun in one hand and the notebook in the other.