Chapter 1, The evil down below

[Greenstar]

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As the helicopter landed, Vinny hopped off onto the sandy ground. He looked to
the pile of rocks ahead. Booster ran towards it. “Looks like an entrance alright,”
he laughed. Chad grumbled. “Why is he always this enthusiastic?” Galf walked
out of the helicopter and the pilot took off. “So, let’s go see then, shall we?”
Vinny looked up to the sun. “Better take a good look at it guys,” he said, “because
I’ve got a hunch we won’t be seeing it for a while…” He walked towards the entrance.
Chad looked down the shadowy tunnel. “I think we’re going to need our flashlights,”
he said. “Let’s go! Wheee!” Booster yelled as he ran into the tunnel. Vinny and the
rest followed. After about half an hour they reached a dead end. Vinny shined his
flashlight towards the wall. “These rocks look like they collapsed from a tunnel.
There was a way through here not so long ago.” Booster smiled. “Blow it up!
Blowitupblowitupblowitup!” Chad grumbled. “I tell you, if he were a little older, I’d
kick him in the…” “Silence!” Vinny shouted. “Galf! Set the charge! Stand back!”
Galf moved towards the rocks and planted a seismic charge against the rock wall.
He set the timer and stepped back. “Three… Two… One…” then, with a soundless
burst, a shockwave of seismic energy emitted from the charge, shattering the rock
around it. As the rock crumbled down to dust, the team looked upon a passage
above steaming lave, stretching out to the horizon. Vinny moved onto the path.
Ahead, beside a cliff, they saw a patch corpse. Booster ran up to it. “Ooooooooh…
Gorey!” The body didn’t look too well. It was ripped to pieces, organs lying beside
it, oil all over the place. Booster bent over the body and poked it. “Booster! How
many times do I have to tell you not to poke dead people!” Chad yelled. Galf
walked up to the body. “If I link up to his memory core I might be able to recover
his last words…” He took out some cables and a laptop out of his backpack and
cut open the unlucky patch’s head. He removed the memory core and plugged it
to his computer. After a few minutes the computer beeped and Galf pressed a few
buttons. The computer started playing the damaged sound recording, a series of
screams and desperate begging. Vinny looked toward the long path. “That patch
sure wasn’t very lucky. I just hope that we don’t meet whatever killed him…”

[Greenstar]

Vinny jumped down the cliff, followed by his teammates.
The team started to move down the path. “What are we looking for again?” Booster
asked. “We’re looking for information as to the function of this place. Maybe there’s
more to this place than just a sewer…” After several hours the team reached the
end of the difficult path. “Phew,” Galf sighed, “that was quite some path.” Booster
laughed. “Getting a little old, are we?” Galf grumbled. Vinny looked at the large open
gate in front of them. It had a dark feel to it. “Look,” Chad said, “there are more bodies
over here.” Vinny moved up to one of them. “These don’t look like normal viruses…”
Galf took his laptop. “There’s nothing in the database…” Vinny moved through the
gate. “Let’s go. Booster, you’re the scout. You go ahead first.” Booster ran past him
into the cave. There were dead bodies lying all over the camp-like area. “These
strange viruses were all brutally murdered. Who could have done this?” Galf knelt
over one of the bodies. “These, unlike the other bodies, carry the marks of a patch…”
“Guys!” It was Booster. He had found something. “Look over here!” The rest moved
towards Booster. “It looks like an entrance. It leads into a sewer system. Maybe the
one we were told about?” “Probably,” Vinny replied. “Let’s go.” Booster ran into the
maze of tunnels. The rest followed. Booster’s clanging steps echoed through the
tunnel as the team moved on. Eventually, they came upon a room, with concrete walls.
On one side, there was a metal plate with locks. Before it laid another strange virus,
with a large bullet hole in his head. On the other side, there was a large, old computer.
Galf moved to the computer. “This is an ancient model,” he said as he looked at the
large, beeping computer, “it seems to be programmed as radar.” “Does it work?”
Vinny asked. “Hm…” Galf looked at the screen closely. “It seems to display that
there’s someone else in these sewers left alive…”

[Greenstar]

“Really?” Vinny asked. “Yep. We should go check it out…” “I have a bad feeling about
this,” Chad said. Booster looked at the radar. “It’s that way!” he said as he enthusiastically
pointed to one of the sewer pipes. He ran into it. The rest followed. They moved through
the dark sewer system, unknowing of what was coming… Suddenly, Vinny stopped. “Wait,”
he said, “hear that?” Everyone stopped and listened closely. Suddenly, they heard a sound.
”Clang… clang…” The sound of something slowly moving along a metal surface. The sound
came closer. “Let’s keep moving,” Galf suggested. Vinny looked back suspiciously and
nodded. The team moved on, through the maze of tunnels. After a few minutes, Vinny stopped
again. The clanging noise was getting louder and louder and then… It stopped. Vinny stared
in the distance. For a second, nothing happened. They just stood there, in the middle of the
tunnel. Galf looked behind him. Possibly the worst mistake of his life. His face went pale. “G…
g… guys…” he stuttered. The others turned around. There, at the other end of the tunnel, it
stood. A creature, like none they had ever seen. It looked like a scalper, only it had no blade.
Its claws were immensely larger, and its face looked different. It was taller than a normal scalper.
Its eyes had a blank stare. It looked at us, silent, motionless. Vinny looked at the large monster.
”Let’s go,” he said calmly, “I don’t think it’s here just to say hello…” “What?” Galf said. “Look at it!
I can take ‘em!” Which was an even worse mistake. And the last mistake of his life. He ignored
Vinny who tried to stop him and charged toward the strange being. He readied his blade and
slashed at the large monstrosity. He readied himself for the usual slashing noise, but then… No
slashing noise. It took him a while, before he saw that his claw was lying on the other side of the
tunnel, and his arm was twice as short. The being stared at the surprised Galf, who was trembling
in fear. Galf looked at the being. At the last moment, he thought he saw a small grin appear on the
monster’s face…

[Greenstar]

On the other side of the tunnel, the others watched. Suddenly, Vinny turned to Booster. “Booster,
turn around. NOW.” “But…” “NO Booster, don’t argue. You’re too young to see this…” Booster didn’t
quite understand, but he listened to Vinny and turned around. But it didn’t stop him from hearing
Galf let out a chilling scream. Vinny and Chad watched as the large monster stuck his claw right
through Galf, and then ripped out his cooling cylinder as if it were nothing. Galf screamed again as
he saw the monster crushing his cooling cylinder before his eyes. As the helpless Galf got ripped
apart, piece by piece, Vinny turned around, grabbed Boosters arm and without looking back once,
he ran through the tunnel to the first turn he could find. There he sat down, Booster by his side. Chad
came too. Now they could only hear Galfs screams as he pleaded for mercy. The helpless screams
went on for several minutes, and then, it stopped. But then, suddenly, a power core flew through the
air and landed right before them. The cables were sticking out, severed. It let out a final charge before
it went dead. Booster stared at the power core, with tears in his eyes. “We need to go.” Vinny stood
up and started running through the tunnel. Booster hesitated and quickly ran back out into the other
tunnel and picked up Galfs dead power core. Then he saw it. Pieces of bot, organs and oil all over
the place. And the big monster closing in on him. “Booster, you fool!” Chad yelled as he dragged the
stunned young bot by the arm. They ran through the sewer system, taking all the turns they could,
closely followed by the murderous being. After several minutes, it seemed like they lost it. Vinny
stopped. The clanging noise faded. “We need to get back. Booster you’re the scout. Where is the
way back?” Booster remained silent. “Booster!” Booster didn’t respond. He just stared in the distance,
holding Galfs power core in his hands. Vinny grabbed Booster. “Where is the goddamned exit???” he
yelled as he shook Booster about. “Leave him alone,” Chad said. He’s clearly too traumatized to know.
”OH yeah?” Vinny said, “well I don’t see YOU getting us out of here!” Then Vinny went silent. The
clanging noise once again approached…

[Greenstar]

“Oh, shit!” Vinny said. He started running as the clanging came closer and closer. Chad and Booster
followed closely. They ran through the sewer system, closely followed by the heavy footsteps. “At this
rate, we’ll never lose him!” Vinny yelled. “We need to find a way to slow him down…” “How are we
going to do that?” Chad asked. Vinny looked at Chad. Then he looked back, at the monster coming
closer and closer. Suddenly, Vinny pointed his gun and shot Chad in the leg. “Chad!” Booster yelled.
Vinny grabbed booster by the arm and ran onward. “Let go of me!” Booster said as he struggled to
get loose. But Vinny was stronger. “It’s either him or all of us, pal.” Vinny said. His voice was cold and
emotionless. The helpless Chad, lying on the floor, looked at the two. “Curse you, Vinny!” He said as
the terrible monster looked down upon him. “CURSE YOU!!!” Holding Booster tightly, Vinny ran away,
through the maze of pipes. After a few minutes, he stopped. “I think we lost him…” He said. Booster
looked at him angrily. “How could you??? Chad was our teammate, our friend!” Vinny walked up to
him and hit him in the face. “Don’t you get it? It was the only way to slow that thing down! If Chad
hadn’t been sacrificed, it would have caught up and killed us ALL!” Booster looked at him. With fear,
remorse and anger in his heart, he nodded slowly and followed Vinny as they moved further into
the sewer. Suddenly, at another intersection, Vinny halted. He quickly turned left and ran around the
corner. Booster ran after him. “What is it? What’s wrong…?” As he too came around the corner, he
saw it. The sewer pipe was larger, and a giant gate stood in the middle. “What is this…?” Vinny said
to himself. He walked closer to the gate and examined it closely. It looked modern, and it had the
traits of virus design, but what would it be doing here? Vinny looked around. Then, a large lever in
the wall caught his attention. He moved closer and pulled it down. The gate made a noise of engines
activating, as if they had been dormant for years. Slowly, the gate opened…

[Greenstar]

Vinny stepped inside. Behind the large gate was an enormous room, like a factory of sorts. Booster
came in. “What is this place?” he asked. Vinny didn’t look like he knew either. From the ceiling hung a
large room like structure. It looked like the control room for this facility. But what was this facility for?
Booster looked around. There didn’t seem to be any signs of life. The large room was as good as empty,
besides a few strange structures in the middle. “There’s probably a way out somewhere in this facility,”
Vinny said. He looked around. There were a several doors leading out of the room. There were several
metal gantries against the wall, leading to doors on what seemed to be a second floor. There didn’t seem
to be any stairs leading directly to them. Vinny walked to one of the doors on the ground floor. “We need
to get to that control chamber. There’ll probably be information on the exit routes there. Let’s go.” He
pressed a button on the side of the door. The door slided open. They walked into a narrow hallway.
In the sides, there were many doors. Vinny walked through the hallway, closely followed by Booster.
They reached a stairway, leading to the second floor. There, they came upon another hallway. Vinny
moved back in the direction of the large room. “If I remember correctly, there was a staircase from the
gantry leading to the control room. We should…” Vinny turned around. “Booster?” Booster was on the other
side of the hallway. He was just standing there, looking at one of the doors. Vinny ran back to him.
“Booster! What’s gotten into you??” Booster was staring at the door. “This… This door… There’s… There’s
something in that room...” Vinny looked at the door. “It’s just an ordinary door, how could you know?” Vinny
pressed a button next to it, and it slided open. “See there’s n…” Vinny couldn’t finish. Behind the door
was a room, filled with large medical tanks. In the tanks… Creatures. They seemed to be in hibernation,
kept alive by the many tubes and wires connected to them. Vinny walked up to one of them. It looked
like one of the outcasts. Only… different. “What the hell is this?” Vinny asked to himself. Booster walked
through to the other side of the room. There was a tank larger than the other ones. It had a big hole in it,
surrounded by cracks in the glass. Outside of it lay small shards of glass. It was as if whatever was in it
broke out. “Could this have been…” Booster said to himself, “That monster’s doing?”

[Greenstar]

Suddenly, a heavy bang echoed through the area. “What was that?” Vinny exclaimed. He looked at Booster.
”Wait… The gate! Did you close it?” “N… No…” Booster replied. “Shit! That thing is here!” He grabbed
Booster and ran out the room. “Let’s get to that control room!” He ran to the end of the hallway. He opened
the door and ran by the gantry to the stairs. He pressed a button and entered the control room hanging
above the large room. Once inside, he stopped. “This… This isn’t a control room…” The room was filled
with computers and laboratory equipment. In the middle of the room stood a medical tank. Booster walked
up to it. “What the hell?” he said as he observed the tank. This one had a large hole in it too. But the glass
was shattered in a very unusual way. The shards lying outside of the tank were perfectly square. And the
remaining shattered glass was shattered in a perfectly straight, with corners of exactly 90 degrees.
Booster picked up one of the shards and put it in his bag. Vinny looked at Booster. “What the hell are
you doing?? Let’s go!” He grabbed Booster’s arm. “There seems to be another door here. It must lead
to the exit. He opened the door. There was a metal bridge. Leading over the large room to a door in the
wall. He ran to it. Suddenly, another bang echoed through the room. Booster looked down. “Oh my Digit!
It… It… It’s here!” Vinny looked down. He saw the monster climbing up the wall towards them. “Shit…”
He said to himself. He looked at Booster. Then at the monster. “Booster… I’m sorry… But your sacrifice
is necessary!” He yelled as he grabbed Booster and threw him off the bridge at the monster. He opened
the gate and went through. He closed it behind him. He was in what seemed like some sort of engine room.
There was strange machinery filling the room. He walked through the room. At the end of the room there
was an elevator. He opened the door and activated the elevator. As it moved up, Vinny thought to himself.
”I made it! Finally I can get out of this rotten place…”

[Greenstar]

The elevator came to a halt and the doors opened. But instead of the exit Vinny had hoped for,
he was now in a large room with computer desks, files laying on them, and all sorts of things you’d
expect to find in an office. He looked around. There was no one. He walked to one of the desks and
looked on it. There was a file on it marked ‘Top Secret’. This caught his attention. He opened the
file. The first few pages contained info about a genetics experiment, designed to make the ultimate
virus. Then there were a few pages about a series of failed attempts, and how they were either disposed
or dumped in the nearby old sewer. “Those creatures from earlier?” Vinny said to himself. He read
on. The next page was even more interesting. It read: “Research developing well. Experiments have
begun on the test subjects who have shown signs of severe progress.” Further down the page stood:
”Test subject #23 is showing signs of heavy aggression. The shipment of sedatives hasn’t arrived yet.
If the shipment doesn’t make it, I fear we will not be able to keep it asleep. The council has decided to
kill of the specimen, as it is too dangerous to control. The order has been sent to…” Vinny stopped reading.
Could it be? That monster, genetically altered to be the perfect virus? He thought to himself. What
would happen if it gets loose? He turned the page and read on. “Test subject #25 is developing quicker
by the hour. The test results have turned out that this may well be the conclusion of our research.
If the final tests are done, it may very well be that we have created the perfect virus … We’ve put test
subject #23 to sleep for good now. At first, he didn’t react to the chemicals we gave him, but eventually
he shut down. In the end, it seems that the heavyweight virus approach was never … The test results
are in. Test subject #25 is now officially the perfect virus. We’ve begun producing similar models
in the lab. Once the shipment of negaculite extract is …” There was a bit more uninteresting babble
further down the page, until the last line of the last page: “We haven’t heard from the laboratory section
ever since the elevator malfunctioned and put itself in emergency lockdown. We’re trying to override
the lockdown to see what’s happened down there…”

[Greenstar]

Vinny looked up from the document. He wondered why there were no people – not even dead ones
here. He put down the document and looked for exits. There was a door opposite of the elevator.
He walked to it and opened it. Vinny stumbled back in shock. Behind the door… Stood Booster.
He had a large scar on his face and a murderous look in his eyes. “Well, well, if it isn’t Vinny. Did you
have fun surviving?” he asked with a dark tone. “Because if you did, the fun’s about to end…” He
charged at Vinny and knocked him back. Once Vinny realized what was going on, he recoiled and
launched a counterattack. Booster blocked the attack but was pushed against the wall by its force.
Vinny took the prototype rifle off his back and pointed it at Booster. Booster ran to the side, only just
dodging the rain of bullets following him. He jumped behind a desk for cover. Not for long, as the
bullets just penetrated the desk and continued chasing Booster. The young patch took a flash bomb
out of his backpack and threw it at the source of the hail. The bomb let out a short thunk as it hit the
floor. A flash of light filled the room, making Vinny stop his assault. Not long after, Vinny was hit
in the back, making him fall to the floor. As he got up, his eyesight slowly recovered. “Do you really
think you can beat me, Booster?” he said. “You’re outclassed, Booster. Give it up.” He looked around.
Booster was nowhere to be seen. “Heh. I knew he wouldn’t have the guts to…” Suddenly, Booster
came down from the ceiling, right behind him. He grabbed Vinny from behind. “Wha… Let go!” He
tried to get loose. He looked at his gun lying on the floor right before him. He tried to move closer.
Even though Booster was restraining him, Vinny was stronger. He used his foot to kick the rifle up
in the air and headbutted the trigger. Booster let go just in time to avoid getting hit… Anywhere vital.
The bullet punctured his right arm. Booster let out a scream of pain. Vinny used this chance to
punch Booster in the guts, followed by an uppercut. Booster fell backwards to the floor. Vinny moved
in and struck Booster in the chest with his elbow. “I warned you,” Vinny said. Booster, still lying
on the floor, grinned…

[Greenstar]

“What are you laughing for?” Vinny asked agitated. “Heh. I’m laughing because this is the end of you.
I’m going to make you pay for Galf. For Chad. For me.” Vinny put his foot on Booster’s chest. “And how
did you think to accomplish that, exactly?” Booster smiled. “Here. Catch.” Booster threw an object at
Vinny. Vinny quickly caught it. “WHAT?” Vinny stumbled back from the shock at what he was holding…
A grenade that was about to go off. “Where’d you get th…?” He didn’t finish. To his horror, he realized
that by his surprise, he had let go of his hold on Booster. “I’ll see you in hell, Vinny.” He said as he kicked
Vinny in the chest. Vinny flew across the room… Straight into the elevator. “You…” Vinny muttered as
the grenade emitted a flash of light, moments before going off. Instantly, a large gate closed right before
the entrance of the elevator, stopping the blast from spreading. A female voice spoke from a speaker in
the room. “Explosion detected. Blast gates have been sealed. Please contact your supervisor.” Booster
sighed. He walked to the thick gate in front of the elevator. “Vinny? You still alive?” he asked. He heard
a short mumbling coming from the other side. “Good,” he said with a grin. “I wouldn’t want you to miss
your going away party…” “Going… away… party…?” Vinny muttered. “Yeah. There’s a friend of yours
waiting down there. I’m sure he’ll come up soon to say goodbye once he smells you…” It was quiet for
a moment. Then there was a sound of bashing against the door. “Open up Booster! Goddammit, let me
out of here!!! Booster, if that thing climbs up here, it’ll kill us both!” Booster grinned. “Not a chance. This
gate is especially designed to keep explosions from spreading. It can withstand any force.” “Booster!
I’m sorry! Just let me out!” “I’m sorry, I can’t do that. I’d have to consult the supervisor. And he’s dead.”
Booster turned around. “Have fun. I’m leaving.” Inside the elevator that had become a cage, Vinny
was heavily knocking on the gate. “Booster! Don’t leave me here! Booster?” He put his ear to the wall.
Nothing. “No… No…. NO!!!!!” Suddenly, he heard a clanging sound. And another. It was coming from
below him. And closer. He could hear his core beat faster. Vinny moved back against the wall and sat
down. “This is the end. I’m going to die.” He said to himself. He took his handgun. “I’m not going to wait
here for that thing to kill me. Goodbye.” He pointed the gun to his head, muttered something about
his mother and pulled the trigger. *Click*. The gun blocked. Vinny felt everything turn to despair and
then suddenly… A large claw crashed through the floor. Vinny curled up against the wall. “Please…
please… Booster…” he cried as he looked eye to eye with the terrible monster. Not long after, one last
thing passed through his head… A claw.