When Shadows Fall

 

Keith arrived at the digsite in no time, stopping by the water station to gulp a couple glassfuls down. The coolness of the water soothed the rawness in his throat. He shook his head to clear his mind, “Damn, something just isn’t right here. I knew I should have never taken this job. I just knew it.”

A yell caught his attention. It was one of the workers at the main site. The artifact was fully uncovered. It was finally time to see what had caused them so much trouble up to this moment. 

He made his way over to where the worker was waving at him. He shook his hand and looked down into the site where a giant stone rectangle sat. The chill settled over his spine once again and he had the sinking feeling that something was going to happen. He just didn’t know what. He climbed down the ladder and moved toward the stone. A thumping could be heard, slow and steady, like a heartbeat. Keith shrugged it off, thinking that he was just hearing his own heartbeat echoing in his chest. He was finally standing next to it when the voice of Mr. Setek reached him from above and he craned his head to look up at him.

“Check each side of the box carefully. Make sure there are no cracks in the stone.”

Keith nodded his head, “Will do, Mr. Setek.” He took a deep breath to calm himself. Just this one last thing and I will finally be done with this job. About damn time too.

He reached at his belt and grabbed the flashlight from and shined the light onto the edge closest to him. Seeing not even the tiniest crack he proceeded to check the rest of the corners. When he finished checking it over, he stepped back in shock. “No cracks, no cracks at all. Its completely intact. What in the h-”

"What is the prognosis, Mr. Grayson?"

Keith turned and looking up, he replied, "It's completely intact, boss. No damage at all."

“That's very good news, Mr. Grayson. Now I want you to check the contents. Don't worry about the stone, it is nothing more than a worthless container. What's inside is of more value to me and I want to see it with my own two eyes.”

Keith did a double take at his words, ‘What's inside? How would he-‘ Again he shook his head to clear his thoughts. ‘Don’t ask questions, Keith old boy, you only get into more trouble that way.’

He motioned to the workers still in the digsite with him. A few grabbed crowbars while a couple of them grabbed chisels and set about carefully removing the seal on the stone box, which closely resembled a sarcophagus, although he knew better than to think that. From what he could remember they only had those in Egypt.

The sky darkened around them as the crowbars slowly chipped away at the edges of the box. The sound of their blood pulsing through their veins was drowned out by the rumble of thunder as it crashed. Lightning streaked through the air as they continued to work methodically to remove the seal. Slowly as piece by piece, the seal fell away, the erratic thumping evened out and grew louder. A faint light emanated from the gap causing two workers to drop their crowbars and back away from the giant stone box in fright. 

Keith wouldn’t admit this outright but seeing that light coming from a ‘only God knows how old’ stone box, he was scared out of his wits, but this was his job. If he wanted to get the money that he was promised, then he had to do what the boss told him to. No questions asked. 

“You two, pick up those crowbars and get back to work now.” He urged the terrifed workers. They didn’t move from their spots against the dirt sides of the digsite.

Mr. Reinhardt shouted down at them, “Get to work, you two or else!”

Still they didn’t budge and Keith cringed as they dropped to the ground, gripping their heads, screams ripping from their throats as blood seeped from their eyes and ears. The sight and sound of the two writhing in agony pushed the other workers to keep moving, not wanting to suffer the same fate as their comrades.

“Continue your work, Mr. Grayson, or you will be taught the same lesson again as well.” Mr. Setek stated, a sinister edge creeping into his voice, “Open it now!”

Keith nodded and the three of them knocked the last bits of the seal away and stumbled back from the glowing strip of light that was visible now. As they did, thunder crashed again, and then there was nothing but darkness, save for a dim glow coming from the gap between the lid and the edge of the box.  The thumping was still there, a steady 'ba-bump, ba-bump' in the air.

A loud grinding noise drowned the beats out as the lid was slowly pushed off until it just stopped. Then all of a sudden it flew off the top and crashed to the ground with a thud, still completely intact. The dim light grew brighter and brighter until it exploded into tendrils of blue light that faded into a deep red.

The red swelled up and slowly flowed down the sides of the box. It flowed until it reached the edge of Keith’s boots. It looked like...

"BLOOD!" He screamed and stumbled backwards, tripping and falling to the ground in horror as a hand slowly emerged from the box to grip the edge.

The hand gripped tighter, causing the knuckles to whiten as it pulled the rest of itself up, and he could make out a red-stained figure slowly emerging part by part. It finally slipped over the edge and fell to the ground with a wet thud, twitching and jerking as it struggled to right itself. The realization that the thumping he heard was not his own heartbeat but the heartbeat of this crimson soaked mass twitching in the mud washed over him like ice-cold water.

The only thought running through his mind was, ‘What the hell have I gotten myself into?’

The figure righted itself and began gripping handfuls of the earth and slowly started to drag itself forward toward him. As the figure slowly started making its way toward him, he scrambled to his feet, turning to run toward the ladder and stopped as he came face to face with the blood soaked creature. It stood there unmoving, barring his way out. That's when he was able to get a good look at the creature, noticing a distinct feminine outline to the body.

He gasped in terror. It wasn’t an artifact that was in the box;

It was a woman. 

He raised his hands up in a surrender gesture, smiling gently at her. 

"H-hey there, you okay?"

She didn't reply, only tilting her head and smiling back at him eerily mimicing his previous movements, showing a set of unnaturally lengthened canines. It grabbed his throat and lifted him off the ground with abnormal strength. It threw him back towards the box and he hit the stone with a smack. He groaned in pain and his vision swam as he tried to move but couldn’t.  He could only watch helpless as the doubled visage of the blood covered woman moved closer and closer with each shaky step. 

He shook his head to try and clear his vision was as his hands scrambled through the mud, until one came across something solid. It was a crowbar that one of the workers had dropped. As it reached down to him, he hit it across the face with the crowbar, making it take a step back. 

A voice caught his attention, it was Mr. Setek. “I wish you wouldn't do that Mr. Grayson that would make me quite upset."

Keith continued to back away from the creature brandishing the crowbar like a shield. "Mr. Setek, that THING just came out of that damned box you asked me to dig up! I'm no lightweight, and that thing picked me up like I weighed next to nothing and threw me over it's shoulders like a sack of potatoes!"

"Now, there is no need for hysterics, Mr. Grayson. Altough I must say I am quite happy with your results, Mr. Grayson. The artifact is still in excellent condition. She is rather marvelous, isn’t she? Now I did promise you a payment for job well done, didn’t I Mr. Grayson? I hope you enjoy it as much as I will. Goodbye, Mr. Grayson.”

The color drained from Keith’s face as the creature crouched down on all fours, and letting out a guttural growl and leapt at him. His screams were cut off as his neck snapped in her grip. 

The other workers were silent in their terror as they slowly backed away from the two figures calmly watching what happened down below.

Setek turned to Reinhardt with a pleased look. “You may now dispose of any unnecessary baggage, Mr. Reinhardt.”

Reinhardt removed his sunglasses to show a hint of glee in his pitch-black eyes. “Of course, Master. It will be done.”

As he turned to leave, he was stopped by Mr. Setek’s voice once again.

“Quickly, Reinhardt, no playing around this time.”

He nodded, a little disappointed, and turned to the terrified crowd, laughing. “Now who’s next?”

With those words, the workers screamed and all scrambled to get away.

Setek threw his head back and laughed deeply at the carnage surrounding him.

"Now the humans will bow to us once and for all! The world is ours from this day forward and no one will dare try to stop us!"