Chapter 14: Hidden Piece 2

He decided against the better judgment of surviving and followed after the creature, slowly and carefully. Along the side of the ledge, he didn’t want to even come closer to the railway system as it is usually extremely high voltage that would turn him to cooked meat the moment he touched it. His shoulder brushed clammy tile; his eyes flicked between the black ribbon of rails and the faint scrape marks the basilisk had left against the wall.

But immediately after that he realized, the power shouldn’t be on, otherwise even that monster would be shocked with how much electricity is running through these lines. The thought of turning on the power or at least finding the faulty area and then fixing it to fry the Boss was appealing, but by the time he does that, the creature would probably be long gone. He filed the plan away like a tool he might reach for later, tempting, not practical now.

Kael soon was able to see the slithering form of the basilisk, which was slowly moving ahead, relative to its size, but it was still faster than Kael’s walking speed, as even the creature seemed to be careful about not rushing things. It moved with the patience of something that had never been prey. The goblins hung silent now, shock or lack of air having dulled their protests. After passing through another station, which, once again was completely destroyed. Only this one was in a far worse condition than the later, there was less light here, just barely enough to showcase the slithering spiked tail of the basilisk for a second before it was submerged in darkness. The tail’s barbs clicked faintly against stone, a sound like knives being set carefully into a drawer.

The bodies of what looked like several officers were lying on the ground; only bones and rotted uniforms were left of their bodies. Unfortunately, no weapons were on them. He crouched, fingers hovering over a badge half-fused to fabric, then withdrew his hand without touching it.

It felt wrong to disturb what little story remained. But one of the officers had a flashlight on him. As if it were a gift from the gods, especially after his helmet had lost all power, he immediately grabbed the torchlight and turned it on. It was bright and good enough to last him a long time. The beam bit cleanly through the gloom, catching dust like a swarm of tiny moths.

He turned it off and hopped back onto the ledge to follow after the basilisk. Kael didn’t dare light the torch in fear it might alert the basilisk, and since the light from behind him was still, though hardly showing the silhouette of the creature even in the dark, he felt that he didn’t need to use it right now. He trusted the outline, the gloss the faint backglow gave to stone and rail. His ears did most of the work anyway, hunting the scrape and hiss ahead.

Just then, almost as if it were a magic trick, the whole creature simply disappeared, nowhere to be found as if it was swallowed by earth itself. The rails lay blank and innocent, the smear of greenish residue ended in a clean seam of darkness. Kael hesitated in moving any further. The quiet that followed felt deliberate, as if made by something that had learned when to be silent. “Just my damn luck,” he thought about using the torchlight for a second, until curiosity got the better of him.

He flicked it on, but at the same time covered the head of the light with his hand, making sure to only use minimal light to see ahead. The heat of the lamp pricked his palm; the narrowed beam painted a thin blade across the track.

Seeing nothing worth noting at first, Kael removed his hand to have a better visual. Green blood streaked along the path forward, and from the looks of things, there was another door on the ledge that led to another power grid. The smear shone dully, sticky against concrete, and in it stuck a scrap of rough cloth that might once have been a goblin skin-guard.

The door, however, seemed to have a bolt lock on it with a rusty and degraded lock hanging from it. Kael felt thankful that the one he came out of didn’t have the same issue. Still, there was something strange about this door; it was slightly bent outward, as if it were holding something back. The metal had a bow to it, a subtle flex that set his teeth on edge. Hearing no noise and feeling no presence beyond the door, Kael got curious. He grabbed the lock at first, thinking whether he should simply strike it down with his hammer to see what was behind the door, but the lock itself simply broke; it was too old. It crumbled under his grip with a sad little snap, flakes of rust dusting his hand.

The bolt lock, on the other hand, seemed to be made of far better materials, so he slid it across and opened the door only for him to slam it shut immediately after. In that heartbeat between open and closed, he saw too much.

Panic settled in him for a second before his heart abnormally slowed down once again. The first wave of heat in his chest cooled to a dense, steady throb. Taking deep breath, Kael thought about what he saw. Hundreds upon hundreds of what looked like standing corpses. Bodies that felt alive and dead at the same time. They had the patient sag of things that wait, heads tilted at wrong angles, hands hanging like they had forgotten purpose.

The notification confirmed his suspicion.

[You have discovered a new hidden piece]

[Zombie Horde, Inactive 20 Days Remaining]

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