Into Dante's Inferno

[Doomguy]

As I continued to track what might have been either my key out of here or a massive waste of time, I started to wonder why there tracks were still around. I don't mean why some made them in the first place, that's fucking obvious. But rather I noticed that there was some effort to cover them up, someone raked over the path to break up the prints. But this wasn't outside in real snow, there wasn't going to be any new snow to cover it up, the rake marks were blindingly obvious to anyone looking for them. And perhaps that was the point: just enough to not been seen by someone that's just bumbled around them but drew in anyone who was on the look out. Who ever made them wanted to be followed. So the question became: was it a trap? Not that I expect there to be much of a threat, but then the people down here would not have assumed that who'd they attracted was a heavily armed space marine. But if there was some other reason, what could it have been.

It was a moot point either way, as the trail decided to disappear through a wall.

"The fuck?" I asked out-loud as I saw the tracks seemed to go through the heavy steel wall in front of me. This wasn't exactly new, since I saw the walls move to block the hole I made in the side of the prison, but now I needed to get away around and pick up the tracks again, which for all I knew could have made an L turn somewhere. Frustrated, I looked long the length of the wall and saw a hallway that cut inward not too far away. Wasted time, but if I move a bit faster I might just be able to avoid detection.

And then all hopes and dreams of that were snuffed in an instant when I saw the massive shadow grow on the wall ahead of me as someone drew behind me.

I didn't cover my own tracks. I knew the risks of that, I hoped that speed would off set the need for caution, and it didn't pay off. I spun around and in the same motion drew my shotgun to face it down. What I saw contrasted greatly with the bleak and grim faced wall of the prison. It towered over me with a found body on little legs that had no right to hold it up, a short fur across most of it's upper body that didn't look like it could survive the cold yet was completely unfazed by it. And yet it was the face that caught me off guard. A big red nose with snot dripping out of it, cutesy small beady eyes that gave an unfocused stare, and small wing like ears that came out of the side of its head. It was almost pathetic in how comical it looked.

Which was offset by the long-spiked brass knuckles that it clenched its fists around.

"Minotaur. Right" And in the next instant the both of us struck.

Finally, some action!

My shotgun rose up as I pulled it from the holster on my hip, and leveled it at the bigg'un's face. I fired it without brace like a pistol, and the force of the explosive buckshot threw my aim up and my arm back in a violent lash. It threw one arm up to protect itself, puffs of blood sprayed where the pellets hit. It seemed more surprised that I was actually armed that hurt from the attack itself, which was a downer for me. It countered with a left hook, a fist like a wrecking ball nearly crushed my rib cage as I jumped back, the long spikes scratched across my chest armor and pushed me even further away.

With no one shot kills, we readied for the long haul brawl. I brought my shotgun down to my shoulder and held it properly as I pumped another shell into the chamber. The second shot rang out, wounded the beast's stomach, and I was in the middle of ejecting the empty shell onto the frozen floor when it let out a roar that shook the walls around me. It charge, and I made the sensible decision.

I ran like Hell in the other direction.

When faced with a superior force, facing them head on is the quickest way to get your head caved in. Even someone as badass as me could get in over their head. It wasn't brave, but survival was more important than a brave corpse. It was nothing I haven't taken on before, but a glance at my map HUD told me that I couldn't waste my time: red dots swarmed towards my position, hostiles heard my shotgun and I was about to be neck deep in trigger-happy stormtoopers. If I could fend off mister runny nose then I could find junction to loose him in, but I had to get to that corridor first.

Numb legs were forced forwards, blood and adrenaline pumped though my heart as I raced down to the safety of the corner. I was close, my hand nearly grabbed the end of the wall as I reached out for it. But a blunt force caught me on the side, long spikes pierced the underside of the armor, and I was sent flying away from where I was trying to get and down into a dead end. I skipped across the floor, snow and ice thrown into the air where I landed, until I finally skidded to a stop. It's a feeling that started to feel old hat by that point. I flipped back up to my feet and loosened the death grip I had on my shotgun before I lost any more feeling in my fingers. The furry dipstick across from me looked pleased as a smile spread cross his fat lips.

"You like that, you overgrown rug?" I asked as got into stance, which only made the jailer's smile grow wider. I grimeced at the sadistic bastard, but I quickly replaced it with my own toothy grin as I reached down to my belt "Oh so do you understand me. Well, smile at this" In one motion I slipped my shotgun back into its holster with one hand and pulled out a grenade with another. A quick twist of the primer armed it and I flung it right at the assload's feet.

It jumped away from the explosive, smart enough to know a bomb when it saw it, a very distraught look on its face made up for the punch earlier as it fled away. The explosion rocked the area, shrapnel ricocheted off the walls in a storm of death and the pressure wave swept it of its feet. I exploited the opening and busted through into the corridor. If the Imps didn't know I was here before, they did at that point.

A dead sprint that made my body hate me got be me pretty far before I heard the minotaur (although it didn't look very bull-like) restart the chase. I had a good lead, but its longer strides meant I wasn't going to keep ahead of it for long. Mixes of cobblestone walls and flat steel barriers flash by me as I run as fast as my marine training would allow. Maybe I could out have outrun it if I didn't have a hundred pounds of death dealing destruction on my back, but i'd sooner cut my own arms off than abandon my weapons (I wasn't even a fan of melting them down into OM in the first place!). I kept my eyes out for something to get me out of shit creak: hole in the wall, rafters that could support my weight, even a chest high wall to hide behind. All I saw was cell doors, blank walls, more twisting hallways- tracks!

They reappeared out of a random wall down a corridor I had nearly passed by,and I spun around to dive into it, a near miss from tubby as he didn't expect the sudden turn and zoomed past me into a wall with a satisfying "bonk". I followed them as my body strained, my skin pricked as the freezing cold and my overheated body fought, and my heavy breath threatened to fog up the inside of my helmet. If it was a trap, at least now I was going to being my own trouble with me and I'd get to see that shit-show go down.

Unfortunately, what I was led into was another dead end.

"Oh come on!" I yelled fury at the wall, the sound of mister bigg'un still after me. Not to mention what else was about to descend on me "There has to be a secret entrance or something" it was either that or fight my way back, and fuck that idea. A glance down at the wall that blocked my path and I noticed something was off about the bottom of it. I flattened myself on the floor and saw that there was a gap between it and the tile. Just enough to fit your fingers under. It was a long shot, if I could move it then maybe I could get under and behind it, but it was the best option I had.

I grabbed the wall with an iron grip, put myself in the right stance and prayed that my dead-lift training paid off. I pulled up and pushed with my legs, hundreds of pounds of metal inched up as everything on my body bulged from effort. Every part of me was focused on this, I couldn't even look back to see if the supersized guard was about to splat me on the wall. My muscles already burned from no rest, my wounds felt like they were about to rip open, and the all-encompassing cold sapped my strength.

But I would not allow failure. My teeth grit with determination, every iota of will destroyed the weakness in my body. The wall may have been a ton, but it moved. I forced up from its spot until it was up to my waist. The risk was that I was about to be cut in half like a guillotine through an oversized sausage, but it was either that or turned into a fleshy toothpaste. I limboed as far under it as I could support, then threw myself forward as the wall crashed back down into place. And in the next second another crash came when a really big, really dumb jackass smashed into the wall I just got under. I laughed at the fatso from the safety of the new room, swing both middle fingers up and down, and skipped away as important rage slammed into the steel wall.

Where I found myself was still a cold as everyone else, darker without a proper set of lights, but what stood out was the natural rock face that the opposite side of the room was. And carved into it was a door, no door knob or handle but a slide window at head height. This had to be the place, whatever that place was. I walked up to the door, one hand on my pistol, and knocked.

The slide opened up to reveal light, and what stared out from it was a large robotic eye.

"Password?" It asked. And I felt my stomach clench.

"Password?" I parrot out of confusion. Al'ter didn't say anything about a password. But then, perhaps he didn't expect me to find it by myself

"Iiiiiiiiiii'm surethat'snotit" The robot eye responded, and the display of his eye replaced with a countdown timer. The plate underneath me sunk an inch, and suddenly the rest of the floor shot up to surround me. I reach down to the mystical dagger at my side, but I didn't want to waste it. While this looked bad, I had to save it for when I couldn't avoid death otherwise. I wracked my mind as I tried to think of something

"How about a hint?" I asked. Worth a shot.

"Oh, that's original. How about: no" it answered, and I gave it the finger "That's not it either"

I had to think about it, I needed to find something. The timer grew closer to 0, and I didn't want to find out what it had in store for me if I didn't have an answer. Anything, just something that might work.

"45th Marilyn Street" I blurted out, and I smashed my head into the wall to save the robot the trouble of telling me I was wrong. The prophet's cryptic message had been useless so far, why did I think it would work here?

There was a snap. The walls receded back into the floor, the plate I stood I bumped back up, and the slide closed. I stood there dumbfounded, not sure what happened, when the door stung open. I stepped back, and out walked two large body builders. Sculpted features and tiny speedos walked up to me until one was at each of my sides. The wrapped there arms around mine, lifted me by my arm pits, and I was dragged into the brightly lit room.

"Welcome to Newkama Land" The robotic voice told me, and the door slammed shut.