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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 6285182" data-attributes="member: 3285">Chapter 69: KingThis story hour is from "King" from Cthulhu Brittannica by Mike Mason, Alan Bligh, John French, Keary Birch, and Paul Fricker. You can read more about Delta Green at <a href="http://www.delta-green.com" target="_blank">http://www.delta-green.com</a>. Please note: This story hour contains spoilers!Our cast of characters includes:•    Game Master: Michael Tresca (<a href="http://michael.tresca.net" target="_blank">http://michael.tresca.net</a>)•    Sebastian “Caprice” Creed (Fast/Smart Hero/Techie) played by Bill CountissWhen Bill's work schedule changed so that he couldn't play, we considered just killing his character off.  But then I had a better idea – what if I ran a campaign by email that just dealt with what happened to him?  It wouldn't end well, of course – he still couldn't get his schedule to work – but as I discovered I've run campaigns long enough for Matt to leave for Australia and then return to the States three years later.  Never count anyone out for long!What's fascinating about this scenario is how I was able to manipulate the tension because there were only text descriptions.  Particularly because the protagonist begins playing blind, it's very difficult to play this scenario as if the characters were blind unless you have complete control of your surroundings.  I don't know about you, but there's no way I could have an audio-silent room – be it birds outside, people in the house, or just other players making noise.  In email, the only noise is in your head. Defining Moment: Caprice finally tears off his blindfold. Relevant Media    Ramsey Campbell's Goatswood and Less Pleasant Places: <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=24385&it=1&affiliate_id=34014" target="_blank">http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=24385&it=1&affiliate_id=34014</a> <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/cthulhu.jpg"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cth:" title="Call of Cthulhu    :cth:" data-shortname=":cth:" />PrologueIn the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed man is king.-Erasmus, “Adagia”    MAGONIA, ENGLAND— Caprice was lying face down on some sort of bed. His head was held up by a firm, circular cushion of some kind, while his hands were level with his head, restrained by medical restraints. Indeed, wrists, ankles and forehead were all held by Velcro restraints, ensuring that he did not move from their current position.Caprice was laying on something soft. His eyes were closed. A faint smell of disinfectant lingered in the air and he could hear a soft humming sound…perhaps of a fan. Beneath him, Caprice could feel the crispness of fresh sheets. He was comfortably warm.He opened his eyes. Darkness. Total darkness.There was the rattle of a trolley moving closer, a slight change in air pressure and the noise of a door being opened.“Good morning,” came a female voice with a pleasant British accent.  She sounded youthful, yet professional. There was a smell of perfume, which was quickly overpowered by the smell of burnt toast.“Have some breakfast,” she said. “I’m afraid it’s just the usual, orange juice and toast. You can’t have anything more substantial until the doctor gives you the once over.”He heard the sound of furniture moving – perhaps a small table, and the squeaking of metal underneath his face. Caprice flinched as something plastic was pushed into his mouth, past his dry lips – a straw? Tentatively taking a sip, he felt the sweet taste of orange juice in his mouth.The nurse went round to the other patients in the room.  Caprice gathered it was the crew.  Given their predicament he guessed none of them were his fellow agents."What…happened?" he croaked.  He remembered tentacles, and screaming, and free falling.  The glass of his helmet shattered, and hungry mouths…"You've undergone eye surgery—" The noise of a door opening cut her off in midsentence.There was another change in air pressure and Caprice heard a door open and close. A male voice, with a distinct far eastern accent could be heard.“Good morning, everyone. I hope you had a comfortable night.”The man seemed to shift about the room as his voice grows and diminished in volume as he moved around. He appeared to be stopping at each bed and picking up something, making “hmmm, yes,” noises –studying medical charts.“Yes, all quite good. Each of your eye procedures has gone very well,” the man said, somewhat smugly. “Now, you need to rest for another twenty-four hours. I’m afraid we can’t have you moving around as it may cause complications, hence the restraints. Yes, face down and no exposure to light. We don’t want any of that! None of you would like to have any disastrous complications, eh?! Don’t want anybody going blind!”"What happened?" Caprice asked again.“You have each had your eyes rebuilt.  I then replaced the emptied eye cavity with a gas bubble. Since gas rises and the macula and retina are at the back of the eye, you must remain face down in order for the gas bubble to apply pressure to the area in need of healing. And so, allow the macula or retina to re-bond to the eye wall and a new vitreous to replace the gas bubble. Although vitrectomy has a strong, successful track record in improving vision, the recovery from it is often far more challenging as patients must put up with the discomfort of being held in a face-down, post-operative position for a further twenty four hours. As I said, we don’t want you going blind!”After a cursory examination of each of the patients, the doctor pronounced that he was happy with everyone’s progress."The nurse shall return shortly, should you require anything further."Caprice's thoughts roiled.  What happened?  He caught the British accent, but he didn't recognize the other one.  They were over the Pacific Ocean, right? What was he doing in a hospital? And what in God's name had happened to his eyes?A terrible female scream snapped him out of his dark thoughts. It was from somewhere close to, yet outside the room, followed by the sound of someone running. It was followed by a strange, high-pitched, twittering sound that seemed to appear from nowhere.Caprice gasped.  He knew that sound.  It was the thing…the thing in the air that was trying to – no had succeeded in – eat his eyes.More screaming. A male voice shouted something in a foreign tongue, and more footsteps. It was followed by a sucking noise that rose in volume.Then silence.<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/cthulhu.jpg"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cth:" title="Call of Cthulhu    :cth:" data-shortname=":cth:" /> Part 1 – Exercising RestraintCaprice called out. “Can anyone see?”“That you, Caprice?” asked Agent Seabiscuit’s voice. He was the surveillance operator for the plane Caprice was on.“Yeah, it’s him.  We’re here,” said Agent Hooch, field engineer. “And so’s Boner.  I can hear him breathing.”“Very funny,” said the unfortunately named Agent Boner, communications. “Can any of you see?”"No,” said Seabiscuit.  “And I can’t move either.  What the hell is going on?”“Maybe we’re tied up to protect ourselves,” said Hooch.  “The doc said something about our eyes exploding…”“I’m a little freaked out right now,” said Boner.  “You guys are freaking me out.”“Calm down,” said Seabiscuit.  “We’ll figure something out.”"Well at least we're together,” said Caprice. “Let's work on trying to get at least one hand free. Who's closest to me? Maybe we can shimmy closer and attempt to assist getting these restraints off"Caprice attempted to shift his table to whoever was closest in an attempt to assist in the removal of restraints.“We’re strapped down,” said Seabiscuit.  “But I think if I…unh.  No good.”Hooch muttered. “Me neither.  I get the impression they meant to keep us in here.”“You’re the strongest of us, Boner,” said Seabiscuit. “Give it a try.”Boner grunted.  A second later he sighed.  “No luck chief. But…” Caprice heard a body shift and wheels creak. “Yeah! Caprice, where you at?”Caprice called out and Boner inched closer.  It seemed to take forever, but eventually his bed bumps into Caprice’s. “Okay, I’m gonna try to reach your…” Caprice felt Boner’s fingers brush his wrist, then grab hold of the restraints. “Buckles?  Son of a…”“We ain’t got all day here,” said Seabiscuit in irritation.  “Whatever was out there may be still lurking around.”“I’m trying, I’m trying!” shouted Boner. “Don’t rush me!”“Yeah, don’t rush him,” grumbled Hooch.  “I want to get out of here before I die of old age.”Finally, Boner unbuckled one of Caprice’s wrists.  He was free.Caprice kept the blindfold on and made his way over to the next guy and unbuckled his restraints. “Everyone tuck their chins and hunch over slightly if you have to. This will keep our heads in the same face down position that we were restrained in. Let's form a chain and keep your left hand on top of the left shoulder of the man in front of you. The two highest ranking form the beginning and end of our chain. Any breaks in the chain speak up. Let's get the f*&k out of here."Caprice felt his way over to the other guys and pulled off their straps.“Caprice…this is freaking me out,” said Boner. “Will our eyeballs fall out if we take these blindfolds off?”“If it’s a pressure thing, we’d be bleeding already,” said Seabiscuit.  “I’m sitting up and my eyeballs haven’t exploded yet.”“You don’t know that,” snaps Hooch.  “Could be a delayed reaction.”“Maybe we should just take the damn bandages off,” muttered Hooch.  “I ain’t holding your hand.”“He said shoulders, not hands, Christ!” growled Seabiscuit.  “Anything’s better than sitting in here.”There was more shifting of movement.  Caprice could hear the pad of men getting to their feet.“Ready!” chirped Boner.“Fine, you lead,” said Hooch. Caprice felt a hand on your shoulder. “Hope we don’t walk into a pit…”<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/cthulhu.jpg"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cth:" title="Call of Cthulhu    :cth:" data-shortname=":cth:" /> Part 2 – The Thing Behind the DoorThe room was very cold, the concrete floor icy to the touch.  Caprice felt around for dressing gowns in bedside cabinets which provided some relief from the cold, although the lack of slippers or other footwear meant that his feet started to feel like blocks of ice. He opened the door.Caprice could hear a woman’s voice echoing down what sounded like a hallway, tinny and electronic.  “Hello? Can anyone hear me?”Caprice led the train of men towards the voice. "I can hear you, can you see me?” he asked. “I'm coming down the hall."Caprice kept one hand against the wall and the other in front of him as he moved the train. They made their way way down the hall.“Yes, I can see you! The security protocols are in effect!” said the woman. It’s clear she was communicating through a speaker.  “Whatever that…thing was, it tore out the security guard’s eyes.  I think the door’s palm activated. Can you feel around for his hand and put it up to the panel?”As Caprice made his way to the door, he felt something cold and wet near his bare feet.  His hand brushed against a cool panel on the wall."Are you sh**tting me?” Caprice sighed. “Okay guys change of formation. Everyone shoulder to shoulder with me on the far left. Once we're all lined up let's get on all fours and slowly move forward, and all together maintaining shoulder contact. We're looking for human hands. Oh and Boner, if you find his dismembered penis try and resist jamming that thing in your ass until we get out of here."Boner laughed nervously.  “Hey guys…hey.  My feet are sticky.  Why are my feet sticky?”“Did you piss yourself again?” asked Hooch.“Not funny man.  I think this thing on the floor—I--I think it’s a dead body.  I don’t want to touch it…Christ.”“Fine.” There was some muttering from Seabiscuit.  “Yeah, dead body here all right.  A lot of blood near his face.”“Are his eyes missing?” asked Boner, voice rising.  He was on the verge of hysteria.“The f**k if I know! I’m not trying to make out with the corpse, Boner.”“Sounds like the thing that…” Boner swallowed audibly. “We heard outside our door...”“Caprice, grab his arm and let’s go before Boner completely snaps,” growled Hooch.Caprice helped lift the dead guard to the security console and put his hand to the pad. He slapped the dead guard’s palm to the raised panel on the wall and let the corpse’s arm slump back to the ground.There was a quiet hiss as a door on the far side of the wall opened.“Hey guys,” said Boner.  “I uh…there’s another body over here.”  Caprice could hear him shuffling around in the hallway. “It’s a woman.”“Don’t tell me…” begins Hooch.On the far side of the door, metal bars whisked into hidden compartments. Several heavy locks clicked open, one after the other.“…I think it’s the nurse,” finished Boner.“Wait,” said Seabiscuit.  “If the nurse is a corpse…”“Then who did we just let out?” finished Hooch. Alarm klaxons begin wailing all around them.<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/cthulhu.jpg"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cth:" title="Call of Cthulhu    :cth:" data-shortname=":cth:" /> Part 3 – I Can See Clearly Now…"We never actually asked who we were speaking with, so there's no way to know for sure if it was or wasn't the nurse,” said Caprice. “It could have been anyone, including the creature that may have or may not been trapped on the other side. We're not being torn to shreds at the moment so we can figure it either isn't on that side or isn't interested at the moment. Let's move forward. Now should we lock up behind us in case the creature is behind us? It's possible that whoever wanted that door open may have hid in fear that the creature would move in with us. She survived so she may have another safe area. Let's hope for that.  Okay, line up and let's bring this body with us so we have the option."“Thank you for releasing me,” husked the woman’s voice.  It was electronically communicated through the speaker, but the sound was so close that they could hear her through the door as well.   There was a wet plopping sound from inside the room, like someone dropped a bag of meat.“Okay, I’ve had enough!” shouts Hooch.  “I don’t care if my eyeballs fall out!”“No, wait—“ begins Seabiscuit.“We will be free soon, and then I shall thank you appropriately.” The response was deeper, alien.  But this time they could hear two voices, speaking in unison.Hooch began panting hard.  He must have removed his blindfold.“Hooch, you’re scaring me man.  What’s going on?” asked Seabiscuit.“Did your eyes explode?” asked Boner.“No…”“I’m taking mine off then,” said Seabiscuit.  “…Jesus.”There was a thump.  A wet sound, like that of a rag being slowly moved across a glass window.  It was right near Caprice’s face.Hooch, the most sarcastic of the three, sounded distracted. “WHAT. THE F&*K. IS THAT.”“Oh come on you guys…Fine!”  Boner yanked his blindfold off.Then he just started screaming.<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/cthulhu.jpg"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cth:" title="Call of Cthulhu    :cth:" data-shortname=":cth:" /> Part 4 – Patient ZeroCaprice, his bandages still on, ran back the way he came.  He tried to and find a way to lock himself in the recovery room where they all started out…Only to slam into Boner. The two of them bounced off a wall in the confusion. Boner flailed, still screaming, and over the klaxons it was nearly impossible to get one’s bearings. If Hooch and Seabiscuit were still there, Caprice couldn’t hear them.“Don’t leave me!” screamed Boner, clawing at Caprice. He managed to shrug him off and stumble down the hall.Caprice’s open palm slapped against a doorframe.  After slamming into the door with his shoulder several times he burst into another room. His knee thumped into a metal chair, which he managed to pop up against the door.As Caprice plastered himself against the wall to catch his breath, he realized the klaxons were barely audible.  The room seemed air tight. He could still, faintly, hear Boner screaming.Then he heard the wheezing.  Slow, unsteady, deep. It was coming from the center of the room.Caprice double-checked the security of the door and crawled over toward the center of the room."It's okay, you're not alone. Can you talk?” he asked. “If you can understand me but can't speak tap on the floor or something."He felt his way to a tent at the center of the room.The breathing stopped for a second.  A deep breath.  A dry, whispery voice said, “I want to die… Can’t take it anymore…The invisible monster!""What is this place?” asked Caprice. “I'm blind so visible or invisible makes no difference to me. How do we get out of here?""You really have no idea, do you?" He hacked out a cough.  It sounded productive, like he was spitting up phlegm...or worse. "My name's Lee.  Lee Coleman. This SHOULD be Dartmouth Prison, but they transferred me.  I am..." he coughed, "I used to lead the Army of the Third Eye. We've been fighting the ghosts from space.  They've taken over the government.  If I had my guess...we're in their secret prison, Magonia.  And nobody leaves Magonia."Gunfire rattled the hallway behind Caprice.  He could hear men shouting orders over comms."So that's how you got out?" More coughing.  "You let Edith out, didn't you?" More noise came from his throat -- could be a laugh, could be another cough.  "Oh that's a great going away present."A long pause.  If it weren't for his unsteady breathing, Caprice would have suspected that Lee had expired on the spot. The gunfire in the hallway was followed by booted footsteps."There's a...thing.  They call it an Ocularon.  It eats...it uses...eyeballs. It's from another dimension, a dimension opened by the Nightmare Wave.  Now the...things that have taken over the government are scared.  They're worried about losing control, that their secret plans are being disrupted by this...intrusion. It's why they fear and hate Edith. They captured the Ocularon.  They've been feeding it.  Feeding it my eyes. But I’m guessing they didn’t have as much control over it as they thought…got tired of eating the same old dish…"Screams in the hallway.  Some human, others shrieks of pain and rage.There was a sucking sound.  Lips pulling back from teeth.  "That's what happened to you, isn't it? That's why you're wearing that blindfold?  Did the old doc tell you the same bulls*&t about your eyes falling out?  It's a little game they play.  See, you're my replacement.  Doctor Funikoshi Tenaka is trying to create supersoldiers with nightvision, using what they've learned from the Ocularon.  He keeps regrowing eyeballs in my sockets, then lets the Ocularon tear them out."  Lee begins to sob. "There's no anesthesia in Magonia."The gunfire stutters, then stopped.  Something heavy slams against the door.  Gibbering.  Then heavy footsteps slid down the hall.  Doors were torn from their hinges.  Something fantastically strong was ripping the place apart."Director Hampton!" shouted the singsong, husky voice Caprice heard earlier. "We'd like to speak with you!"Lee stopped weeping.  "Listen.  Listen to me."  He wheezed.  "You've got to get out of here.  The Ocularon must have caused this.  It eats eyeballs..."Something clawed at Caprice-- not quite a hand, but perhaps a finger, confined beneath a sheet. It brushed his face."And for Christ's sake take that damn blindfold off..." Another fit of awful coughing.  "You're going to need to see...just don't read whatever Edith...writes..." This time the breathing stopped entirely.  The hallway was silent.  The room was silent.The silence was interrupted by the door being shoved open, knocking the chair to the ground. "Caprice?" asked Seabiscuit. "You okay?"<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/cthulhu.jpg"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cth:" title="Call of Cthulhu    :cth:" data-shortname=":cth:" /> Part 5 – Animal Farm"F*&k no I'm not okay!” shouted Caprice. “I just found out we're being farmed for eyeballs for that thing!" He tore his blindfold off. "Let's gets out of here. Who's still alive?"As he tore the bandage off, Caprice felt it squirm in his hand.  When he looked down with his newfound sight, which was crystal clear (better, he realized, than it ever was – he used to wear contacts) he saw a squirming mass of tiny purple worms on the inside of the bandage.Seabiscuit saw it too.  “What the F*&K?!”  He looked from the bandage to Caprice.  “Jesus, you’ve got…”Caprice could can feel them.  Squirming.  Writhing.  They were nested there, dormant, under his eyelids.  Now you he could feel them, like ants marching across his eyeballs and for a second he seriously consider tearing his new eyes out. He screamed and clutched his face as one wiggles across his iris…Then it stopped.  When Caprice open his eyes again they were gone.  There was just a greasy smear on his palms, and the bandages.“I don’t…” Seabiscuit shook his head slowly.  “I don’t think we had those under our bandages, but…maybe.  I didn’t look.  I was too freaked out by what I saw in that room.”  He shuddered and then noticed the sheet.Now that Caprice could take in the room he could see that he wasn’t missing much.  It was bare, except for the chair and the bed, which was covered by a containment tent.  The tent had collapsed somewhat, pressing itself against a tiny form.  Perhaps that of a child – but Caprice knew it was a man, which meant beneath was just half a man, his legs missing.  A slow, red stain spread from where the shape of a nose might be."Guess he’s not coming with us,” said Seabiscuit slowly.  Recovering from his shock, he ducked his head out into the hallway again.  “It’s all clear, Hooch!” he whispered.  Seabiscuit turned back to Caprice. “Whatever that thing was tore the guards apart.  There’s nothing but stains everywhere.  Hooch hid in what I think was the operating theater for this place.  And I found…” he hesitated.  “It’s better if you see for yourself.”Hooch entered with Boner in tow.  “Look who I found,” he said with a grimace.Appraising Boner, Caprice could see why.  He looked dazed, disheveled in his hospital gown.  But it was the bite marks on his shoulders that draw Caprice’s attention.The sleeves of his gown were torn off. There were two gouges, as if something – certainly not human – bit into his shoulders, deep.  Bruises from big, meaty fingers left ugly marks on Boner.  “She must have grabbed him by the shoulders,” said Hooch.  “That’s when they bit him.”“We’ve got to stop the bleeding. There’s gauze in the storage room.  Come on.”  Seabiscuit stealthily padded out of the hallway.All Caprice could think of was: how did “she” and “they” grab Boner and bite him at the same time?<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/cthulhu.jpg"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cth:" title="Call of Cthulhu    :cth:" data-shortname=":cth:" /> Part 6 – Tag, You're It"Well I'm officially freaked out,” said Caprice. “Any objections for getting the hell out of here? Let's get a move on before that thing has another bowl of eyeball soup."He crossed the hallway.  With blood spattering the walls and limbs torn, half-eaten bodies kicked into the corners like so much refuse, what was once a creepy hallway now seemed like a gateway to hell.  At the far end was the end of the hallway, which terminated in an elevator shaft.  The doors were wrenched open by something, something big enough to gnaw on the doors as it tore them free.  The alarm lights still flickeed a fiendish yellow, painting the blood in an odd green light.But their destination was across the hall. Once inside, Caprice discovered a storeroom of sorts, containing two medium-sized industrial refrigerators and three tall cupboards – all of which were unlocked.  In the cupboards were surgical tools, including scalpels, bone saws and the like, as well as towels, spare scrubs, linen and bandages.“We ducked into this room when the s*&t went down,” said Seabiscuit.  He fished out bandages from the cupboard and tossed them to Hooch.  Hooch began binding Boner’s shoulders with pad and gauze. “They brought some serious firepower down here against that thing we let out of the room.”At the mention the thing, Boner started trembling.  He was still in shock.“Can we not talk about it right now?” snapped Hooch.Seabiscuit frowned.  “Why don’t you take Boomer into the bathroom, clean his wounds out.  I saw a restroom down the hall.”Hooch nodded and shuffled the still-sniffling Boner out of the room.“This is what I wanted to show you.” When they were gone, Seabiscuit opened a refrigerator door.Caprice looked inside. The inside of the refrigerator looked back at him.It contained a number of specimen bottles of varying sizes, each containing an eyeball. Dozens of eyeballs, different colors.  Blue, hazel, green, brown.  They floated, socketless, bereft of a skull to hold them. If they ever belonged in a skull at all. In the back were other organs, also bottled. Each bottle was labeled with a bar code. A number of blood pouches, each labeled by type, were piled next to a carton of orange juice.“What the hell is going on here?” asked Seabiscuit."We got the munchies but our good guests don't have anything worth snacking on,” said Caprice. “I'm guessing after they farmed a new pair of eyes they would scoop out whatever the creature didn't want and store it for later.  Maybe it was backup for when that guy in the tent died in case they didn't have a new group to harvest from.  You know, insurance.  Let's each of us take a jar in case we run into that thing, it might buy us some time as it scoops up the tossed eyeballs. "He toss the orange juice to Seabiscuit. "Here. Just in case we are wrong and all the damn thing wants is somevitamin C."Seabiscuit looks askance at the bottle Caprice called orange juice.  “I wouldn’t drink this for breakfast…” He shrugged and places the bottle on a table. “Unless you’re planning to shove these bottles up your ass we’re gonna need to change.”  He tossed Caprice some purple scrubs.  “Found these too.”Hooch returned with Boner in tow.  He was carrying an armful of blood-spattered guns.  “We might want to carry these with us while we’re at it.”They all changed into scrubs.  Boner did too, though he was strangely mute through the whole experience.  It’s then that caprice notice something, but kept it to himself, hoping Boner wouldn’t notice.In purple scrubs and packing a pistol, Seabiscuit looked like some kind of deranged orderly.  “We’d better go, those guards will be back with reinforcements.” After checking the hallway again, he ducked out.“The elevator’s open, but we’re gonna have to climb it,” said Hooch.Prodded by Hooch, Boner followed a little less enthusiastically.  But before he Caprice heard him mutter something about barcodes.And he knew Boner was right.  There were bar codes on each of their wrist tags too.<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/cthulhu.jpg"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cth:" title="Call of Cthulhu    :cth:" data-shortname=":cth:" /> Part 7 – ShaftedCaprice checked his weapon and made my way into the elevator shaft to climb down with the othersBelow was a yawning abyss, dimly lit by strange violet rays at the bottom of the shaft.  It's clear the elevator snapped, or blew open, or was torn open.  Judging from the bloody tooth marks on the edges of the elevator doors that lay in the hallway, something terrifically strong ripped them off their hinges."It's pitch black down there," said Seabiscuit mournfully."Whoever Edith is, she is one pissed off bitch," said Hooch, shaking his head. "We don't have any flashlights, so I'm not sure how we can get down there without breaking our necks."Caprice looked back down the elevator shaft.  The shaft was hardly what he’d call dark.  In fact, it was illuminated by a purplish glow.That's when he caught Boner's gaze of horror.  "His eyes! Look at his eyes!" He pointed an accusing finger at Caprice."Hey guys, don't freak out, but I can see perfectly,” said Caprice. “Let's get through this and then we can scoop my eyeballs out if it freaks you out too much. This must have been what that guy in the tent was talking about. They were trying to grow special eyes for their soldiers. I guess this one worked. They must have done something different with mine.""Yeah, maybe you can see in the dark," said Seabiscuit, "but you don't know what you look like. Let me show you."He ducked back out of the hallway into the storage closet and returned with a small mirror.  "Now look."At first Caprice couldn’t make much out in the dim light of the hallway.  But when he stuck his head back into the shaft and checked the mirror again he was startled by two pinpoints of yellow glaring back at him. His eyes. His iris was a ridged five-pointed star of a pale yellow color. It looks a lot like the symbol Archive always carried with him.Shaking off the fact that he now had eyes shining in the darkness like a cat, he looked back down the shaft.  He could still see just fine, but it's apparent that the illumination wasn’t really there -- EVERYTHING was limned in a purplish glow.Caprice could see an elevator cable dangling down the length of the shaft. "Well at least I'll save some money on the energy bill when I get home. Okay, guys let's make our way down."Steeling himself, Caprice took a running jump and crossed the gap to one of the dangling cables.  To his relief, it held.For once Caprice was glad he was the only one who can see in the dark – the others were edgy enough without seeing him freak out. He waited a moment until his nerves finally calm down, then begin swinging over so the other guys could grab hold of the cable.Somebody chuckled up above but he was too busy concentrating on not slipping to his death to look. Good, everyone’s staying cool. Caprice began humming the theme song to “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” as he inched his way down the cable.  He hummed the tune, G, A, F, (octave lower) F, C so that the other could gauge his distance from them. “What the hell do you think that thing was?” came Hooch’s voice, oddly distant in the echoes of the elevator shaft.“The eyeball thing?” asked Seabiscuit.“No, you know…the big mother…”Caprice hummed the first three bars: G. A. F…“I don’t know, Hooch.  I don’t think I wanna know.” F. C.“Where is she? She tore the elevator apart.  Took those guys out with guns…”G. A. F. He was almost at the bottom.“I don’t know man.”F. C.“Can we NOT talk about this now?” whined Boner.“Sorry Boner,” muttered Hooch.  Caprice never heard Hooch apologize to anybody.  The experience had changed them all. He could see the cable stoped a few feet above the top of the elevator.  Caprice hopped the short distance and clamber down into the elevator proper.G…The first thing he noticed was the ammunition.  Someone expended a lot of bullets.  Shell casings were everywhere.A…The second thing he noticed was the blood.  There wasn’t a lot of it, unlike the hallway.  It was rough, violent blood spatter – someone strong struck with something sharp.  Brutal.  Messy.F…Then Caprice looked out beyond the wrecked elevator doors.  He was sorry he did.F…Stretched before him was a rocky, rough-hewn tunnel. The area carried a strong, earthy smell and was illuminated by two large open fires set in the middle of the cavern. Around the fire pits were rough, woven straw mats. Also arrayed around were numerous tools including mops, buckets, wrenches and spears. In the far left corner, beyond the sleeping mats, was a heap of rubbish.C.Bodies.  Dozens of them. Small dark-skinned males.  Caprice couldn’t tell their race because none of them hadfaces.  Every single one of them had their face chewed off with horrible, lamprey-like efficiency, like their faces were torn off as easily as Halloween masks.  They faceless bodies were blessedly in the shadows beyond the reach of the fires’ glow.Boner landed behind him first.  “Whoa,” he whispered.  “What do you see?”<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/cthulhu.jpg"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cth:" title="Call of Cthulhu    :cth:" data-shortname=":cth:" /> Part 8 – What's for Dinner?"It looks like a mass grave, all dark-skinned individuals with their faces munched off,” said Caprice, trying to make light of the situation without freaking Boner out. “Well, you know what they say....once you go black... There is lots of blood down here, but not all of it appears human. I can't see to the end of the cavern, but I can't imagine it being any prettier.  Should we go back?"Seabiscuit and Hooch landed shortly after Boner. Seabiscuit looks back up the shaft.  “Go back where?  I’m not climbing up there again.”“Screw that,” said Boner, suddenly decisive. “I’m starving!”He made his way over to one of the fires.  It was the main cookery area, complete with roasting spit, chopping boards, large evil-looking knives and bottles of barbecue flavored sauce. Meat roasted on the spit.Caprice’s stomach rumbled in response.Boner took a hunk and tore into it.  “Pork!” he said around a mouthful.Caprice slapped the meat out of his hands. "Are you insane?! That is probably a human chicken wing you're eating! Why are their spears on the ground? Everyone here has machine guns, and there are spears on the ground."Boner’s eyes glazed as he looks down at what he was eating in the flickering firelight.“Oh Jesus!”  He wailed, tossing the meat to the ground, and then stumbled into the shadows, heaving in the direction of the tunnel. Caprice noted that at the far end there was a slight glow – that of an elevator button perhaps on the far side of the cavern.Caprice immediately regretted his crystal clear vision in the flickering darkness. There was a wrinkled tattoo visible on the hunk of meat. He could make out a buxom woman astride a phallic-like rocket.“What the hell is wrong with you Boner!” Hooch snatched up the meat and held it up to the firelight. Then he saw that tattoo too. “Oh God…”He staggered backward, hands to his mouth, tears in his eyes.  Caprice had never seen him like this..“That tattoo,” whispered Seabiscuit, who saw it too. “That was Rocket’s.”Rocket was one of the pilots on the plane.  Caprice had wondered if he survived. Now he knew for sure.Their morbid thoughts were interrupted by a familiar clicking and high-pitched twittering sound behind them.<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/cthulhu.jpg"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cth:" title="Call of Cthulhu    :cth:" data-shortname=":cth:" />Part 9 – Boned"I guess back isn't an option, RUN!" shouted Caprice.  He darted ahead into the unknown. Hooch turned to run but it was too late.  Shimmering tentacle-blades snakeed lightning fast towards Hooch’s face.  Caprice didn’t stick around to watch but his screams painted the picture.  It was taking his eyes.Caprice booked towards the far hall.  There was an elevator, but there was no way everyone would make it.Boner wailed, scrambling on hands and knees towards Caprice.  “It wants our eyes!” he screamed.  “IT WANTS OUR EEEEEEYYYYYEEESSS!”Seabiscuit began to run but he fell face first with a grunt, the wind knocked out of him.  The eye-thing was about to claim its next victim. “Caprice!” Seabiscuit shouted.  “God damn it help me!”Caprice fired at the tentacles below where they had him as to avoid hitting Seabiscuit with tons of hot lead. "Break free!!!"He sprayed bullets into the thing, but they just punched through it as if it were cotton candy.  Hooch was hoisted in the air like a puppet, dangling helplessly by his eye sockets as he was tossed back and forth by the flailing tentacles.Tentacles snapped forward to encircle Seabiscuit, who crawled toward Caprice. “Throw the jar you f*&king idi-iccKKKHHHHH!”  One tentacle snapped around his neck and yanked him backwards.Unnoticed, at least for the moment, Boner fast-crawled towards Caprice."Hey!! Try these tasty treats!” Caprice threw the jar of eyes at the foot of the beast. Boner crawled past him and began pounding on the elevator button.The eyeballs sloshed around crazily, gazing every which way, as the jar tumbled end over end towards the thing.  For a split second Caprice thought the beast might not even notice.But then, like a football player chasing a Hail Mary, every tentacle released its prey to catch it.  Seabiscuit, eyes still intact, stumbled forward, practically body-slamming Caprice into the elevator doors just as they closed.  It whispered shut with a pleasant DING!<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/cthulhu.jpg"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cth:" title="Call of Cthulhu    :cth:" data-shortname=":cth:" /> Part 10 – RevelationsIn the elevator they were treated to Seabiscuit’s panting, Boner’s sobbing, and the soothing sounds of “Girl from Ipanema” playing softly over the elevator’s speakers.DING! The elevator opened into a wood-lined corridor that went on for twenty feet and ended in a wood-paneled door.Klaxons were no longer wailing but yellow and red lights spun a silent testament to whatever took place.  There was gore spattered all across the hallway.The carnage was even worse than the hospital corridor.  It looked like whoever ran the facility made their stand here.Their efforts were not in vain. The corpse of an obese, naked woman lay face down on the floor.  Caprice could only tell that it was a woman because of her flaccid, massive breasts – there was no head. One arm was a stump.Seabiscuit didn’t wait.  He shoves his way past them down the corridor and opened the door. Beyond were two more doors: one with a frosted glass window on the left, and a plain wooden door to the right. He yanked open the door on the right and peered inside.  “Our stuff!”Boner fumbled with the door on the left, hands shaking, but managed  to get it open.  He stood, agog, bathed in the light of a flickering monitor in the dark room.“That’s her,” he whispered like an abandoned child."What are you talking about?” asked Caprice. “Where?" He moved past Boner for a better position to view the monitor. "Who's that?"Seabiscuit handed Caprice his stuff as they took in the other room. The office beyond the door is well maintained, modern and very tidy. A large oak desk dominated the room, behind which were plate glass windows. To the left hand side of the desk was a tall metal filing cabinet. Opposite the door from which they entered was another wood paneled-door.Atop the desk was a reading light, a collection of neatly arranged stationery and a name plaque for a “Doctor Funikoshi”.  A monitor has been turned to show a video footage from a security camera playing over and over.  Caprice recognized the hallway, the room, the door.“Thank you for releasing me,” husked the woman’s voice. The camera panned from caprice, blindfolded, his head near the doorway.  And then seconds before the door whisked open, he see what was inside.  What killed all those men.  What lay headless now in the hallway.Edith Hammond. The video clip shivered and repeated, over and over and over.Caprice could make out writing scrawled along the back walls of Edith's chamber, in blood and feces.  He could almost read it..."Hey, any of you guys computer savvy?” asked Caprice. “We need to zoom in over here" He pointed on the screen to the writing on the wall. He was able to make out a few sentences: When his name is spoken or read he comes forth to be worshipped or to feed and take on the shape and soul of those he feeds upon. For those who read of evil and search for its form within their minds call forth evil, and so may Y’golonac return to walk among men…Before he could finish, Caprice noticed a presence standing very still next to him.  It was Boner. He was looking behind Caprice, at Seabiscuit.  “You read it,” his gaze unwavering.  “You read it…like I did…”“That’s quite enough,” said an accented voice.Dr, Funikoshi held a .22 to Seabiscuit’s head.  “Your little adventure ends now.”<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/cthulhu.jpg"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cth:" title="Call of Cthulhu    :cth:" data-shortname=":cth:" /> Part 11 – End GameCaprice flicked the monitor off, aiming his weapon at Dr. Funikoshi.  "For such a smart guy you're not very clever,” he said. “You're outnumbered. Now drop the guy before I drop your ass and serve you up as fresh sushi to that thing."It wasn’t completely dark as Caprice had hoped. The glass windows behind him opened into a lit hallway illuminated by sunlight, and possibly escape.Funikoshi’s calm demeanor begins to crack as he looked past Caprice. “Outnumbered?  Oh I’m afraid we’re all outnumbered here.”He took a step back, dragging Seabiscuit with him, eyes wide, hand shaking.  Funikoshi turned the pistol on something above and behind Caprice. “No!  We killed you.  Edith Hammond is dead!”Behind Caprice was the sound of wet flesh on bone.  Boner’s shadow loomed large over him, stretching and pulling. He was growing, growing, growing in blubbery folds.  Two voices from opposite sides of the room boom in chorus, “Dr. Funikoshi, we never die.  But we feel pain.  Oh yes.  And now you will too…”The floor shuddered with the rapid thuds of something heavy as a rhinoceros barreling towards Caprice’s back.Caprice dove to the side, hoping to avoid certain death. "Get the hell out guys!"He whirled as the massive bulk springs.  If the horror before him was once Boner, there was no way to tell – he was now a buffalo-sized headless mountain of fat, the remains of Boner’s clothing hanging in loops around its trunk-like legs.  But the part that burned in Caprice’s memory forever were its hands, the hands that were formerly spread wide and talking from each palm.There, nestled in a place where no mouth ought to be, were fanged maws.  The creased palms open wide with teeth like a shark, bloodless lips, and a long, prehensile tongue.  The twin throats – where did they lead? – opened into darkness as if there were far more space within the thing’s wrists than any humanoid form could contain.It cleared the distance to Funikoshi in three steps, but before it could reach him the doctor kicked Seabiscuit straight into the thing’s waiting arms.Caprice sprayed gunfire into the back of the thing as it begins feasting noisily on Seabiscuit’s face.  Temporarily preoccupied, Funikoshi crawled over to his desk and hit a red button beneath it.The klaxons that were whirling yellow and white, turned blue.  New warning sounds, more urgent, began blaring.One hand interrupted the thing’s eating, still punctuated by Seabiscuit’s horrible screams, to face Funikoshi.  “Flooding Magonia will not stop me from feasting on your loins,” it hissed.Funikoshi paled.  “You’re right.”  He pulled out a yellow-and-black striped device from the desk.  Taking a key from around his neck, he inserted it into the device.  The glass top popped up, and Caprice could see it was a bright red button. “But this will.”  He pressed it and the light died in his eyes. Funikoshi had just signed his own death warrant.The lights changed to green.  A countdown began on the device. Five minutes.  Not enough time to escape.  Not enough time to do anything but die.Funikoshi remembered the pistol in his other hand.  He pointed it at Caprice. “I’m afraid this facility has been compromised.  Nobody leaves.  Magonia will be flooded with seawater in the next minute and minutes after that a thermonuclear device will destroy this entire island.”The faceless hole that was Seabiscuit’s head lolled to the side as the thing tossed him to turn, leisurely, towards Funikoshi.  “I’ve still enough time to taste your suffering, good doctor.” It took a lumbering step forward.Funikoshi put the pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger, but Caprice was already at the door on the other side of the room before he hit the floor.The two mouths in the thing-that-was-Boner’s hands screeched in rage at having lost their quarry.  But it had other prey. It turned, unhurriedly, to face Caprice.He tore open the door just in time to see a wave of seawater blasting books, shelves, and furniture down the hallway.  You slammed the door shut, but it was a futile gesture.  The ocean would not be denied.Caprice turned to face certain death, sandwiched between a literal rock and a hard place.  This was it.But what was Boner stopped in its tracks.  The two gibbering mouths paused. They stretched into awful, terrible smiles.  The hands waved goodbye.And then the seawater splintered through the door.  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/cthulhu.jpg"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cth:" title="Call of Cthulhu    :cth:" data-shortname=":cth:" /> ConclusionCaprice was propelled forward from the crushing force as the room filled with water.  The gasp of air he took before the wave hit was lost as the force of the water battered the air from his lungs.  Verging on the gray border of unconsciousness, Caprice could taste the salt of the water in your mouth. It tasted like freedom.He opened his eyes.  He was underwater, in another world where gravity was meaningless.  Pens and paper floated aimlessly.  Funikoshi’s corpse made a beautiful pirouette. Chunks of trailing red gore, probably Seabiscuit, bobbed aimlessly.  Caprice struggled towards the doorway even though it was hopeless.  He could never hold his breath long enough to make it.  He wasn’t even sure which way was out.  But the opening seemed like a good place to start, and Caprice was’ot willing to give up just yet.Unfortunately, nobody told Caprice’s lungs about the importance of his mission.  Animal instincts took over and he clawed at the ceiling and then, as the interminable seconds tick by, at his own throat.  He was an ant covered in a teardrop of water.  He was nothing.  Caprice curled up to die.And then he took a gasping, deep breath.  He was alive.  What the hell?He was breathing seawater.  That wily bastard Funikoshi did more than replace his eyes.  Caprice could see that now as he looked down at himself in wonder.  His ribcage flutters with huge gills.  He was sure he would have noticed that when he changed clothes.  His body was…adapting?The glowing red timer bobs unhurriedly into view.  Four minutes.When Caprice heard a tittering screech behind him, he suddenly realized he wasn’t the only one who could breathe water.Caprice kicked off my shoes to ditch the extra weight and started swimming away from the creature as fast as possible.He dove like a fish towards the opening.  Caprice had no idea how fast the gas bag of a beast moved, but he got a good idea as he caught sight of its reflection behind him.  The answer: damn fast.It swam like a squid, eye-tentacles darting behind it as it moved in a languid spiral towards him.Then the water current changed.  Suddenly Caprice wasn’t swimming, he was being sucked faster and faster down the hallway.  He was dragged through hallways and meeting rooms, to some unseen source.  The water lowered enough that he could catch air, which he gasped reflexively.  Above water, he could hear the klaxons still wailing.The safety doors began closing automatically.  As Caprice bounced and tumbled through the water, he caught sight of the Ocularon in pursuit.  It wasn’t giving up, and even as one door nearly sliced it in half it squeezed through the few inches before the doors sluice closed.This thing was going to follow Caprice right outside into the ocean, and then it was going to eat his eyes.Funikoshi’s dead body bounced right along with Caprice.  The safety door ahead of him was closing fast and the Ocularon was hot on Caprice’s tail…Caprice grabbed hold of Funikoshi’s dead body, the bullet hole in his skull still blossoming blood and brains.  Maybe there was still one last use for the good doctor.He could see daylight through the narrowing doorway.  Caprice was almost out. There was just one more doorway to pass through after this one.How much time did he have?  Minutes?  Seconds?Funikoshi’s body was surprisingly heavy in the water.  Caprice managed to get it between him and the Ocularon.  He slipped through the door and realized that Funikoshi wouldn’t make it.The doors snapped shut, stuck on Funikoshi’s neck.  It was a second’s hesitation but enough for the Ocularon to slide through.  Tentacles probed the opening and it thrust itself through the slit as Funikoshi’s neck gave way.SNIKT!  The head spun freely on Caprice’s side of the door as it sprayed blood behind it in circles.Just one more door…Caprice dove into the last door, every muscle pumping for all its worth.  Then a tentacle grabbed his ankle and pulled.That split-second hesitation jammed Caprice in the doorway.  Tentacles curled around his wrists and elbows.  He splayed his legs and arms in the door frame and held on tight as the doors begin to close.Caprice was far stronger than he remembered.  The fact he could hold open emergency doors was amazing unto itself – the pull of the current to the outside was in your favor, but soon all the water would flood out of Magonia and then he would lose the tug of war with the even stronger thing trying to eat him.Caprice was screwed – either the door was going to cut him in two or the Ocularon was going to eat his eyes and then the nuke would go off.And yet what a way to go.  Beyond was the roaring ocean, the blazing sun, the fluffy clouds.  Caprice could see the world for miles beyond and it was just blue and yellow and white. If he was going to go, Caprice would die with freedom in his lungs.Funikoshi’s head bumped Caprice shoulder as it was about to be sucked into the ocean.  It looked with an accusing gaze, as if to say – “I may be dead but at least I still have my eyes.”And that gives Caprice an idea.    Two of the Ocularon’s tentacles reared like serpents poised to strike. They were so close Caprice could see the flexing pincers. And he could see every detail because the pincers were perfectly positioned to scoop out his eyeballs.Caprice’s arms and legs were occupied so he could use the only tool left – his teeth.  He bit down on Funikoshi’s hair and, snapping his head back, flipped up the sopping head out of the water. It wasn’t a second too late as the tentacles plunged deep into Funikoshi’s skull.Caprice let the head go as the tentacles dug deep.  Convinced it had fresh dinner in its clutches, the Ocularon let go.Caprice had been holding himself rigid between the closing doors with his arms and legs while water tore at him with the strength of the receding ocean. The only thing keeping him there was the Ocularon.  When its grip abruptly released him, Caprice was catapulted like a slingshot through a drain.He flailed as he sailed end over end.  If Caprice weren’t capable of breathing water he would have surely have drowned by now. He sailed towards a rusty barred grate…And SLAMMED into it hard.  Caprice’s ribs cracked from the impact but the grate gave way and spun into the ocean with him.Caprice could tell he was sailing away from Magonia as the water became colder and sunlight streamed down from above.  He could do this forever, just float in the peace of the ocean.A fish darted past.  First one. Then five.  Then a school.  Then a swarm. They blast past him, fish of all sizes, rushing heedlessly past from an unseen threat.The nuclear explosion reminded him.  The shockwave pounded through the water with eardrum shattering force.  Caprice’s ears were filled with a high-pitched ringing as he got a glimpse of the bottom of the ocean.  He had a first-person view as he rode a tidal wave that sucked the sea clean in its fury.Caprice blacked out before it crashed back down…</blockquote>

Verification