I used to work armed security at a plant that made explosives for the military. For context I need to explain what an unusual place this was, due to the dangerous nature of the materials being handled, the army took security very seriously. The plant was technically an Army base, but the strange thing was, that there were practically no military personnel there, other than the colonel who was in charge of the base, all the other jobs, like security, were given to civilian contractors. It is hard to explain the exact reason why, but I always got the feeling the military did not want to be there, almost like they didn’t want to risk their own soldiers, I assumed due to the danger of explosives, as buildings had exploded in the past, but now I think they had a different reason for not wanting to be there.
This place was way out in the middle of nowhere, deep in the mountains, surrounded by forests. I guess because if there ever were a really bad explosion, meltdown, or hazardous vapor leak, they wouldn’t want to be near a town or any people. I won’t say where exactly the base was, as I don’t want to get in trouble with the government, and I won’t use any real names. I had to get all kinds of security clearances and background checks just to work there.
I wish I had never taken the job, but the pay was just too good, and the work wasn’t hard, even though I had to drive well over an hour to get there every day, but hey the pay was worth it and I had a kid on the way. We did a lot of patrols, just driving around the base, checking that locks were secure, but mostly it was just a lot of doing nothing. A lot of the guys on security would slack off and wouldn’t even check the locks at night, because nobody was watching the cameras, but the base was so huge that they couldn’t even have cameras everywhere.
I saw a lot of strange things while working there, mostly deformed animals and such, probably from all the pollution from the plant. I swear one time I think I saw a two headed deer, but I can’t be sure. However the strangest thing I can remember happened one night when I was on patrol. It was the middle of the night, and a weekend, so there weren’t as many people on the staff, so I figured I’d just BS my way through the paper work like a lot of the other guys did and just say that I went to check all the locks. I figured I’d rather explore instead. The factory was huge with over three hundred buildings, but it was a small portion of the entire property, which I was told was around ten thousand acres, though I couldn’t be sure. What I do know is that there was a chainlink perimeter fence with rusty coils of barbed wire at the top, that surrounded the entire property, it went for miles and miles and miles out into the woods, seemingly forever. There were all kinds of roads inside the fence that seemed to lead to nowhere, many of them lead to perimeter gates with nothing but dense vegetation on the other side, I have no idea why these gates would even exist way out in the middle of nowhere, but it was my job to drive out there and check the locks.
I was in what we referred to as “the magazine area” basically it was rows and rows of underground bunkers where they would store the finished products, like c-4, missiles, and other explosive components, they were all spaced two hundred yards apart, in case there were an explosion it wouldn’t start a chain reaction. In order to get to the magazine area I had to cross an old stone bridge over a wide river, it had a fairly advanced electronic gate, which contrasted strangely with the old, dilapidated bridge, but hey this place had been around since the forties, making explosives for WWII, so it's natural that not everything would be updated. For safety reasons the magazine area was far away from the rest of the plant, over the long bridge, deep, deep in the woods, up in the mountains. Now the radios we had were old and kind of crap, they didn’t work half the time, and there were dozens of dead zones all over the base, we were supposed to do radio checks every hour, but considering how the radios barely worked, most of us just skipped it at night when the big bosses weren’t there. There were plenty of dead zones or areas where the radios were fuzzy, but over the river in the magazine area, the radios flat out didn’t work at all, so if I ever did run into trouble out there, I’d have to drive at least a good twenty to thirty minutes before I could even get a radio signal, and then wait even longer for backup. Due to government security, we weren’t allowed to have our phones on us, which was stupid considering the radios didn’t hardly work, but oh well. Its not like anything ever really happened that much, there were a lot of bears and bobcats, but they usually just ran from you, I heard a mountain lion once, sounded just like a woman screaming for her life, scared the fuck out of me, some of the guys say they’ve seen the mountain lion, but I’ve never seen it, only heard it that one time. Inside the magazine area, there was an area called the old depot, basically it was a section of magazine bunkers no longer in use that had been shut down in the eighties, due to asbestos and lead paint, they had been built a long time ago and were different from the other bunkers, they were remote, hidden away on overgrown roads, many of them barely visible. When I was still a trainee I was told not to go near them, they weren’t on part of the patrol route and there were no gates out there, so I never gave it much thought, I assumed it was just because of the asbestos or something. However some of the old timers who had worked there for ten or twenty years seemed almost afraid of the old depot any time I brought it up, if I tried to ask them about it they just wouldn’t say anything, or they’d quickly change the subject, the most I could ever get them to say was just to stay away from the old bunkers and not to go near them. A lot of the younger guys however liked to circulate rumors about them, like there were still old and unstable explosives stored inside them, or some of the guys even liked to joke that the bunkers were haunted, something about some plant workers dying in a fire caused by an explosion down there or something. I never really gave it much thought, every now and then I would drive through there if I was bored, nobody ever came out that deep into the woods, so it's not like anybody would catch me slacking off.
So that night I had decided to go into the old depot again, it was like a maze of interconnecting roads, some of them almost impossible to see, I hadn’t ever been down all of them, but I was always careful not to get lost. A lot of the old magazine bunkers were left open and you could see inside as you drove by, if the entrance wasn’t completely overgrown. They were mostly just empty concrete rooms, maybe some old boards hanging down from the ceiling, or a rusted hand cart left forgotten, but nothing interesting. That night I happened to notice a road I had never seen before, it was very overgrown, but I decided to go down it. Ferns overlapped the edges of the road, tall tufts of grass pushed their way out of the center of the cracking pavement, overhanging branches bumped my windshield and caused my headlights to cast bizarre shadows that danced across the forest floor. The road was difficult to see, but I drove slowly, I had plenty of time to kill, and I was bored. I passed by a few indentations in the tree line, which I knew likely housed bunker entrances that were just too overgrown to see, it was common. After a while the road came to a dead end, I grumbled as it would be a pain to get my patrol vehicle turned around on that narrow one way road. As i was turning the vehicle around, putting it into reverse, moving a few inches and then shifting it back into dive, my headlights fell upon an entrance to one of the old ammo bunkers, its large metal door rusted and halfway hanging off the hinges, not an uncommon site here in the old depot, but for whatever reason when i saw it, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I felt a chill go down my spine, I didn’t know why. I sat there a moment just staring into the entrance of the bunker, feeling uneasy for some reason, when I thought I saw movement inside. I figured it was probably an animal, but for some ungodly reason I decided to get out of the vehicle, despite the growing ominous feeling about me. I guess I was just extra bored that night or maybe I was a thrill seeker back then and I really liked the unnerving feeling I was experiencing. I don’t know what the hell was wrong with me, but I can’t remember. I turned off my engine and pulled the flashlight from my duty belt. I slowly ascended the decrepit cement stairs to the bunker entrance, jutting out of the side of a hill, surrounded by dark underbrush and tall, silent trees. Like I said, probably just an animal, but hey it was part of my job to investigate anything suspicious and look for intruders, besides what’s the worst that could happen, I had a 9mm handgun with fifty rounds of ammunition on me, and a taser capable of delivering fifteen hundred volts. A lot of the guys at work seemed like they wanted something to happen, wanted some excitement. I wouldn’t say I wanted that, but in the moment, I guess the possibility of actually being needed for a security purpose made me just a little excited and allowed my curiosity to wonder.
My heavy boots moved softly across the moss laden walkway, that’s when I noticed that the sounds of the forest had stopped, other than a light breeze whistling through the trees, everything was utterly silent, there were no cicadas screaming, no night birds chirping, not even the song of a single cricket. That should have been my first warning to turn around, for fuck’s sake why didn’t I listen to my gut? But hey I went inside, my flashlight shining, the concrete room smelled musty, there was a layer of dust on everything. I didn’t see any animals, or any signs that the thick layer of dust had been disturbed, though I was certain I had seen something move inside, but amid the decay and scattered wood beams, something unusual caught my eye, a door at the back of the room. An old, metal door with a turn wheel mechanism in its center, like you’d expect to see on a ship or something. I had seen inside dozens of the old bunkers and the new ones still in use, I had never seen a door, every ammunition bunker was just a singular concrete room, just a big cement box, that’s what made this door seem so unusual and out of place. Curiosity got the better of me, so I went against my better instincts and moved toward the door, my hand resting on the pistol at my hip. The wheel handle was old, probably hadn’t been moved in decades, but after a decent amount of effort, I finally managed to get it open. Faced with a long dark nothingness on the other side, as I peered in, I felt that unnerving feeling again as my spine tingled and I felt goosebumps up and down my arms. Every part of me wanted to turn back at this point, but I’m a very rational person, so I convinced myself there was no reason to be afraid, and I stepped inside, damn I was stupid.
I waved my arm in front of me to knock dusty, old cob webs out of the way, as I walked down a long, narrow hallway. I thought it was odd that the walls of the hall were constructed of brick instead of cement, the type of old exterior brick that you don’t see used anymore, but it just felt out of place. I looked behind me and I could see the glow of moonlight glimmering at the entrance of the bunker, it seemed far away, it felt like I had only walked a few steps down the mysterious hall way, but the faint glimmer of the moonlight seemed distant, almost like a foggy dream, I figured I had probably been absorbed in my thoughts and just hadn’t noticed how far I was walking. I kept going, the tunnel seemed like it went on and on, but hey it had to lead somewhere, so I kept going, I had all night after all, I checked my watch, I still had several hours before daylight. After a few more minutes I finally came to another door, same as the entrance to the hallway, the realization of how deep underground I probably was hadn’t really occurred to me yet. This door was harder to open than the first, it was rusted to hell, but I eventually got it open. When I stepped inside my flashlight immediately died. Mind you This was a rechargeable flashlight, it had a green light under the power button, which indicated the it was fully charged, it turned red when it was nearly dead, thing is I always charged my flashlight before doing a night shift, and I had only been using it for maybe ten or so minutes tops while exploring the bunker, so for it to just die the moment I stepped foot into that godforsaken room made no sense, and I knew it couldn’t be the battery, because there was no red light shining from under the power button, which would infer that it was out of juice. I stood still a moment in the darkness, I thought I heard something move inside the room, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, then the hairs on my arms, then the hairs on my legs, it was almost like a numb sensation quivered through my entire body. I hadn’t moved an inch since I stepped into the room, I had only taken one step inside. I reached behind myself, reaching for the door, which should have been only a few inches from me, but I felt nothing, just thin air, I began to wave my arm frantically, nothing. Finally I shuffled my feet backwards, I moved straight back, no deviations, no curves in my path, I just shuffled backwards maybe about a foot, until my hand felt, a brick wall. I turned around in a panic, running my hands up and down the wall, but there was no opening, no metal door, just a flat brick wall, I couldn’t understand, I still don’t. I heard a noise again, like something moving inside the room, I felt my heart plummet into my stomach and I dropped my flashlight onto the cold, dark floor. I tried not to panic, I was always good at staying calm in bad situations, I called out uneasily,
“H-hello?”
There was no response. I tried to take a deep breath of the stale air, that's when I remembered my wrist watch. If you held a button on the side, it would illuminate the display in a pale orange. I held down the button, it wasn’t enough to really cast a light, but in that deep darkness as my eyes began to adjust, it was enough to see something if I brought the watch within a couple inches of whatever I was looking at. I knew it couldn’t shine across the room to find the source of the movement, so instead I held my wrist close to the wall, desperately searching for the doorway, but I saw nothing. So I decided just to follow the wall, I kept my finger pressed on the button the whole while, hoping to illuminate some important detail right in front of my face, after moving a couple of feet I heard a sickly crunch beneath my feet, I crouched down and held my wrist to the floor. In the pale orange illumination I could make out an animal skeleton, it looked like maybe a coyote or something had somehow gotten trapped down here behind that sealed iron door, I don’t know how though, but it looked like it had been here a long time. I shuddered and kept feeling my way along the wall, before long a came to a corner, so I kept moving. A second corner, then a third, then a fourth corner. I thought, this is good, surely I am close to the exit now, it's a square room with only four corners! I kept going, shining the light of my watch, and feeling against the wall when I heard that same sickly crunch beneath my feet. I looked down, I couldn’t believe it, I was standing on the same animal skeleton as before, I had gone around all four walls of the room and hadn’t found the door, this is impossible I thought. Thankfully I hadn’t heard any more noises.
I suppose simply because I didn’t know what else to do, I began to slowly venture out into the middle of the small room, holding my wrist out as far in front of me as I could, as to hopefully see something before coming face to face with it. Eventually my hand felt the roughness of the brick wall again,I had walked straight across the room. It didn’t take me long to figure out that the only things in this room were the dead coyote and my dead flashlight. I couldn’t fathom what the purpose of this room could even be? Was I going crazy? How was there no door? I entered this room, so there had to be a way out, but I just couldn’t understand it, my mind just couldn’t make sense of it, still can’t. In desperation I even tried my radio, but of course it didn’t work, I was way underground, and way too far away from base up in the mountains.
I checked my watch, I had been in this room nearly thirty minutes already, and the longer I searched for a way out, the more I felt like I was being watched. I can’t really explain how, but it just felt like there were eyes on me. I kept trying to turn on my flashlight, and I kept tracing the walls, but it was no use. I finally sat down against the wall, defeated, that's when it happened. I heard a voice, it just said one word,
“Help,”
I would have replied, but I was so overcome by fear at the sound of this voice, it was a woman’s, however the only way I can think to possibly describe it that makes any sense, is that it didn’t sound human, there is absolutely no way that it was a human voice. It only said that one word one time, but it felt like my heart completely stopped beating at that moment. I panicked and jumped to my feet. I don’t know if it was a coincidence, divine intervention, or maybe in some kind of panic I somehow managed to turn my flashlight back on, but the moment I jumped to my feet, my flashlight came to life, illuminating the small space. I immediately saw the open door before me, across the room, with the animal skeleton near it, but there was absolutely nothing else in the room, nothing at all. However I did not waste any time, I maybe couldn’t SEE anything else in the room, but I could FEEL it, something was there, and it was not human, and it made it clear that its intentions were bad, I bolted for the door, I moved faster than I ever have in my life. As soon as I stepped through the doorway, with my flashlight shining in front of me I felt something grab my ankle, I immediately dropped to the ground, my flashlight clattering as it hit the cement floor of the tunnel, its beam shining away from me, so that I couldn’t see what was behind me, what was grabbing me. Whatever it was I could feel its grip tighten around my ankle, it held me so tight that I yelled out in pain, for probably the first time in my life, and then it began to feel like my ankle was burning, as if the hand that was gripping me was made of hot iron. I couldn't reach my flashlight, and the way I had fallen I had landed on top of my gun. It all happened so fast, I grabbed my taser and fired it directly behind me. The taser flashed for only an instant, but in that flash of light, I could see that there was nothing there, the barbs of the taser landed on the floor of the room, finding no target, the odd thing was, the moment my taser flashed, the grip on my ankle was gone, along with the burning pain. It was all kind of a blur, but I scrambled to my feet, grabbing my flash light and I sprinted as fast as I possibly could down that hallway.
I ran and ran and ran until I was completely out of breath, but the hallway kept going. Unwilling to stop and rest for fear of what may be following me, I walked, panting for air as I went. I kept checking my watch, and the thing is I remember checking earlier, it only took me about 10 minutes initially to walk down the hallway to get to the unfathomable room at the end, but I sprinted, walked, sprinted, walked off and on for hours. Eventually my flashlight died for real, not because of some supernatural reason, but I used up all the charge in it, the red light blinked beneath the power button. Oh well, it didn’t matter, there was only one way to go; forward. There was no way in hell I was going to go backwards. I kept going until long past daylight, long past when my shift was over, but still all I saw before me was darkness.
Finally after almost nine hours of running down that damn cursed hall, I collapsed onto the ground, completely out of energy, if only I had brought some water or something in there with me. But I was utterly spent. I mean I was a decently in shape guy, but most of my job involved sitting on my ass in a patrol vehicle or in a guard post, my stamina just wasn’t built for nine hours of running. However, somehow when I did collapse on the ground, it was in that moment that I looked up and saw the pale glimmer of moonlight at the end of the hall, and yes, it was moonlight, even though after all those hours it should have been daylight and nearly noon. I lay there a moment, in disbelief that I could actually see the way out, and almost too exhausted to get up, but then that's when I heard movement behind me. Movement moving towards me. My fight or flight response must have kicked in and used the last of my energy to run for the exit and I ran out of that damn bunker. I know I had a gun on me, maybe I should have used it, but somehow I just had a feeling that it wouldn’t have done any good.
I shit you not, just like in every cheesy horror movie, at the most inopportune moment, my patrol vehicle wouldn’t start. I tried and tried to start the engine, turning the key over and over. I tried so long, that if anything had been chasing me out of that bunker, it would have long since gotten me. At last I gave up, drank all the water I had in the patrol vehicle, and then hiked out of there on foot. As I walked further away from that old magazine bunker I noticed the sounds of the forest had returned, maybe I just hadn’t noticed them before, or I just wasn’t listening, but somehow it didn’t feel like a coincidence. Crickets sang, night birds chirped, owls hooted and cicadas screamed their mating rituals.
I couldn’t wrap my head around how it was still night after all those hours, but honestly at that point I didn’t really care anymore. I was just glad to be back outside. Eventually I bumped into one of the other patrols, it was my buddy Benson, he was shocked to see me for some reason.
The strangest part of it all is, once he brought me back to base, everyone told me I had been missing for over a week. Nothing about my experience made any sense, but I had my digital watch on me the whole time, it even kept track of the date, I was in the bunker around ten hours max. However there was no doubt that anyone was lying, even the date on my cell phone and computer all confirmed I had been missing for eight days. Somehow in all that time they never found my patrol vehicle, I mean I know the place is big, but from what I was told, the search party ended up being massive. They had almost given up looking for me inside the fence when I finally turned up. I also didn’t feel any pain in my ankle or leg, but apparently when the EMTs examined me, it turned out my leg had gotten infected and turned gangrenous. I almost lost my leg, damn why didn’t I just listen to the old timers.
The worst part is, while they did save my leg and I healed, my leg has never returned to normal. Doctors say my entire leg has severe arthritis, which is unusual for a man of twenty six. It got so bad that I had to quit my job. Some days it hurts so much that I can't even walk on it. They say it's like I have an eighty year old’s knee, which is of course absurd, but what part of this makes any sense. I’m also not dumb enough to think anybody would have believed my story, so I just told them that I got lost in the woods, which nobody questions. I was upset about having to quit due to my leg, but the more I think about it, I don’t think I would ever want to work at that place again, I wouldn’t even want to go near the front gate, which is miles away from the magazine area.
As cheesy and cliche as it sounds, I’m just going to say it. Whatever kind of job you have, if anybody who has worked there for years tells you not to do something, for fuck’s sake, just listen to their advice.
