Chasing Demons

CHAPTER 2

The green menace

Today was a bad day; I had already decided that as soon as I woke up. My sleep had been awful and the first news I got that day was that we were out of coffee due to supply difficulties, and could I not go help Kevin in accounting. No, my job was not to help Kevin learn Excel, but for some reason, I was asked to do it anyway, not like I had my things to get done like looking over the latest press releases, that were going to be sent back home to the public. Still, I got ready to go do this stupid side quest and resigned myself to drinking tea for the day, like some British dude. My two months at this base had been a chore, and I was nowhere near close to any information about James. It was madding. Walking through the concrete corridor I made my way past the break room and over to where a series of basic offices had been established, it was pretty early so I saw only a few people on the way. I made it to the door, and then alarms started blasting. One of the first things I did when I got here was to get the evacuation system explained. Back then I had been given the impression it was more for show than anything else since it seemed like the officer giving the briefing never expected an actual attack on this base. Probably due to the fact it was located in a long secured area, and far away from the front lines.

So I changed my route to go to the bunker instead. I am pretty sure the soldiers around here were supposed to do something else, but all civilian personnel was meant to meet up in the bunker until the situation was sorted out. I was joined by none other than Kevin "what do you think is causing the alarm," he asked. I was feeling shitty so I replied; "probably the fact the base is under attack, either that, or the base's alarm system decided to have a flip this morning. I mean I would too with the lack of coffee we are trying to survive on" I got a disappointed look for my answer and a tired "you do know I am being serious here, Caleb, we could be under attack by something bad." "Well, I am being serious too; you know I am always serious when I discuss the lack of coffee around here" I cut off my tirade as I noticed shouting up ahead. Call it base instincts, but I dove to the side and just in time as it barraged through the hallway. It was huge, smelled like death, and had enough muscles to make a bodybuilder blush. I am not sure what damage Kevin sustained from being charged at by that thing, but it sounded awful. I did not stick around to watch; instead, I rushed to the nearest room to hide. I threw myself underneath a desk and prayed that thing, no, that orc, was not keen on reading budgets and other paperwork in this archive.

Fuck was Kevin, alright? A stupid part of me got the urge to go out and check, but I could still hear the orc out there too. Seriously brain now is not the time for a guilt trip. But all I could do was to lay here and think and try and make sense of the things I was hearing out from the hallway. My body was going numb from the locked position I was in, but I did not dare move, because that would mean making noise. I froze up even more as I heard something or someone approaching the door. As the door was ripped off its hinges I curled up. Fuck there was no way that could be anything other than the orc. I could not see it as it stepped into the room, but I was painfully aware of it due to its rotten smell. Its steps were heavy as it moved closer to me, I heard an ugly sniffing noise coming from it, and it kept moving closer. Could orcs sniff out people like dogs? I am sure this might have been mentioned in a briefing at some point, and now I was regretting not paying more attention.

My mind must have skipped a few things because I was hiding under the desk and then suddenly I was being carried. Resisting was impossible this thing was unbelievably strong. Around me, I heard screams and then a few gunshots, which deafened me completely. I was still trying to make sense of what was going on, as my abductor carried me outside to meet up with even more orcs. A lot of them had several bullets stuck in them but had not died due to shock. Do orcs even go into shock? The orcs seemed done with their raid as they retreated, meanwhile I was getting nervous. Why the fuck would an orc kidnap anyone? Did they like to eat people or something else equally horrible? I had no idea, but my mind was very eager to supply me with some. Fuck this was a bad day.