Darkness Risen by Richard Shekari (small books to read .TXT) 📕

“Put the damn lights back on, Karen!” He said, as he stood to his feet. “The army brought this here?” He added, taking his goggles off as the lights came on, “You think it’s…Think it’s from another world?”

“Oh my God!” She laughed, “You should’ve seen the look on your face!” Karen tried to hold on to her breath, she wiped the teardrop that found its way down her left cheek.

The dark figure stood seven-feet tall before them, motionless.

“See, its calm!” She said, “Don’t be scared, baby!”

“You were struck with fear too!” He said, “This is not funny!”

“I know, right?” Karen responded, still overwhelmed with laughter.

Jeffery once again walked towards the glass box. He noticed the beast was still staring at him. It began hitting its hands on the thick glass furiously with its heart burning brightly. Sparks of fire hissed from its erratic, dark skin, setting its entire body ablaze.

Jeffery could understand that it can inhale and exhale as humans do, and the fire spread round its body like blood in a normal human circulatory system.

“I don’t think it likes you, Jef!” Karen added, she pressed the Record button on the remote control she held. “It has never reacted like this before! The guys would be amazed”

“How long has it been here?” He asked.

“Today?” She responded, looking at her wristwatch. “144 hours, 66 minutes and uh…6 seconds! There, yes!”

“Its body,” said Jeffery as he observed the figure. “Like it’s made up of…”

“Coal!” They both said in unison.

“Its body is kind of like, carbonized matter!” She added, “I literally walked into that box days back and scraped off some samples for Doctor Melanie!”

“Where did they dig this thing from?” He asked.

“I have no idea,” she replied. “Maybe Doctor Melanie can answer that!”

“Unbelievable,” Jeffery whispered. “You never told me this will happen this soon!” as though talking to himself.

“Jeffery,” Karen said. “Who are you talking to?”

“Never mind!” He said, taking a step back. “There’s something I need to tell you, Karen.”

“Oh, seriously? Now?” She said, “We had a perfectively good time the other night and you didn’t care to say anything, until now that this thing came to life? Oh how great, Jef!”

“It’s not what you think,” he said.

As Jeffery opened his mouth to talk, the beast began to roar, striking its head once more against the thick glass, trying to break its way through as it gazed directly at the necklace hanging from Jeffery’s chest. The young man noticed a crack on the glass as he held firm the small golden cross, he took a few steps back.

“Karen! Your blast-proof glass has cracked!” He yelled, “I don’t think we’re safe down here! We should get the hell out of here!”

“I think so, too!” replied Karen. She tossed the remote control away and began walking backwards.

By the time the steel doors came open, the beast had broken free; shattering and spewing jagged pieces of glass in every direction. Karen and Jeffery ran out as the doors went shut. The beast came ramming its head on the thick steel doors.

The fire alarm came on.

“Oh God!” Karen cried, “This better be a dream!”

They both ran into the elevator, which came down just seconds after hitting the button several times.

“This is a good sign!” He said, “Imagine if it took longer than that!”

Karen swiped her keycard on the small screen, “This damn thing!” She lamented.

“Welcome Dr Keaton.” said the computer once again, “Destination?”

“First floor!” They both hollered.

“Voice Recognition Error!” said the computer, “Please, say command again!”

“First floor!” She said, enwrapping her hand around Jeffery’s mouth.

“First floor-Access Granted!” The computer said.

 “We need to warn the others!” She recommended, breathing heavily. “Did you see that?”

They both laid their back against the wall laughing at each other. Panting and gazing into each other’s eyes, followed by an affectionate smile.

“Would you like me to play you a rock song?” said the computer.

“No!” They both shouted.

“Command Granted!” said the computer as a rock song pelted through the speakers from above.

“Jesus Christ!” said Karen, shaking her head. “This is perfect! Just perfect!”

The duo continued to laugh.

Jeffery took his eyes away from her and set them on the digital display above the elevator doors as they ascend. It felt as though the numbers aren’t counting. They both stared at it as though hypnotized.

Karen’s senses were so high up. They just couldn’t wait to get back up. Jeffery turned to gaze at her once more, she smiled fondly at him. They again turned their eyes back on the digital display.

“I’m going to have a headache!” She said, with her hands on her chest.

There was a loud bang. The elevator came to a halt and the lights went off.

“Jesus, this is not happening!” Karen said, turning to him. “What the hell just happened?”

“I think the building just lost power!”

“Great! She responded, “Just great!”

Jeffery kept pressing the buttons repeatedly, nothing happened. He pressed the emergency button to make a call but no response. He then pulled out his cell phone, it had no signal.

“Lord!” He exclaimed.

“We’re about eight meters below the first floor,” said Karen. “You can’t get signal down here!” holding on to Jeffery’s hand firmly, “The standby generators will come up, right?”

“I pray so,” he said. “What the hell was that thing, Karen?”

“Doctor Melanie called me this morning and told me we got work to do on level 6 so I thought to myself, how about I have a look at the lab before she and the rest of the guys arrived this morning.”

“But you told me it has been here for about 144 hours!” He said, “What’s going on? Where did you guys unearth that thing?”

“I don’t know,” she said with tears in her eyes as fear took over her. “The thing is; these group of experts were to show up yesterday. Oh well, we later got a call that the research has been cancelled and they intend to move the specimen down to IMRC!”

“The International Military Research Centre?” He asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “And the whole thing is classified. I only wanted to show you what’s down there…Before they show up. That’s all! I’m going to lose my job, Jef!”

“No, you won’t,” he tried to console her. “Don’t say that. I’ve got your back!” He held her in his arms.

“What am I going to do?” She asked.

A sharp blow came from beneath their feet. The car shook.

“Well, first…” he said. “We need to find a way to get the hell out of this tin can before angry ember down there gets up here and vaporise our butts!” He looked up at the car ceiling.

“Please don’t leave me,” said Karen. She tightened her grip on him.

“Let me give you a lift!” Jeffery said, “When you get up, turn that red thingy anticlockwise and push the cover up.”

“I don’t think I can do it!” She said.

“I don’t think you wanna stay here and be eaten by a living coal that pumps fire through its arteries! Trust me!” He said, “I saw fire, woman! Fire! That thing has got like gills below its ears, that jets out steam?”

“I am scared, Jef!” She said, “Are we going to die?”

“No!” He tried to reassure her, “No one is dying tonight. Not on Jehovah’s watch! We’re getting out of here! Now!”

Jeffery held her firmly below the hips and lifted her up. She followed his instruction as she steadily climbed up onto the roof of the car. He then jumped and made his way up.

“I can’t climb up there,” she cried. She looked up at the thick cables holding the car, “I can’t!” Karen shivered as she held him, gazing deep into his eyes.

“Don’t worry,” he said. Jeffery switched on the light from his cell phone, “I’ll help ya! First we have to get rid of your coat!” He assisted her, and immediately taking off the one he wore as well, as he managed to resist the temptation from her luscious lips.

Her breast pressed gently on his chest, they could hear each other’s heartbeat.

Abandoning the warmth feeling of the momentary flash of their newly found affection, on recalling the impending danger, they began to wonder how to mount their way up through the elevator shaft.

As Jeffery used his phone to light the shaft, the arm of what was chasing them burst through the floor of the car, shaking them off a bit. His phone fell down through the hatch opening. Karen and Jeffery watched as the beast used its hand violently to search the floor for their feet, it then ripped off the floor and made its way up into the car. They could see their pursuer in the car looking up at them through the hatch, sniffing. Its weight pulled down the car, straining the cables.

Karen and Jeffery didn’t think twice. They quickly begun climbing up, and with a little help from him, she forged ahead.

The electric power came back on and the car began to pull up but jerked and went to a halt. The beast tore off the ceiling to climb up and the power came back on again, the car moved up a bit and came to an abrupt halt, again. Losing its grip, the beast fell down into the car and through the hole it ripped on the floor.

Karen and Jeffery continued to make their way up quickly as the cables holding the car clapped. They got to the next level, placing their feet on the small floor space on the base of the glass elevator shaft door.

“Help!” They cried out repeatedly as they hit the glass door. No one could hear them. Jeffery removed his shoes and began hitting the glass door harder. Luckily for them, the glass door made them visible to a security guard, an older man who was passing by.

The old man kept pressing the button from the other side but it did not come open, another security guard came to help. Karen looked down below and was frightened by the size of their pursuer on top of the car, engulfed in flames, trying to make its way up.

“Oh my God, Jef!” She said, “It’s back! Hurry! Tell them to hurry!”

They could hear the sound of the cables as though they were about to snap. Her keycard fell and in coming into contact with the beast’s forehead, the keycard incinerated.

“Get the fire extinguisher!” Jeffery yelled, pointing his finger at it on the wall, behind the guards.

One of the guards went for it, and on his return, Jeffery held Karen on one side as the doors came smashing in.

“Run! Run!” Jeffery and Karen hollered at the security guards.

Wearing his shoes back, Jeffery held her hand as they made their way carefully through the Shards of glass scattered on the floor and did not hesitate to run after warning the guards.

“Doctor Karen, Jef!” said one of the guards, “Calm down, it’s only a power outage, and it’s been fixed!”

“Run! It’ll kill you.” Jeffery said, “Run for your lives!”

“We grew up without electricity in my days!” said the old mocking guard, he giggled. “Modern day kids. A minute without electricity and they’ll go loco.”

“They act like they’ve seen a ghost!” remarked the other as he shrugged, “Let’s have a look!”

Laughing, the guards shone their searchlights down the elevator shaft.

As Karen and Jeffery turned, they sighted the guards trying to look down into the shaft. Jeffery and Karen shouted at them, telling them to run. Ignoring the warnings, the beast jumped and crushed the old man’s skull with its bare hand.

The second guard fell on his knees in shock as he trembled.

“Freeze or I’ll shoot!” He said, pulling out his handgun from its holster.

The beast roared down at him.

With his shaky hands and wobbly knees, the terrified young man fired multiple shots at the beast; a bullet ricocheted, hitting the guard on his kneecap. He moaned, dragging himself towards the wall. The young man put his handgun into his own mouth in fear as he cried, after squeezing the trigger several times, he realized he ran out of bullets.

Jeffery and Karen watched as