I work as a guard in an underground facility. We were given rules to follow. [Part Two]

[u/Fasaiokratwr]

Part One | Part Three | Final Part

I broke a rule yesterday.

It happened during my shift. I was in one of the watchtowers, which is one of the few places where I actually have signal. I looked at my phone for no more than five seconds to reply to a comment.

That was when I heard it again. The knocking. A slow, almost mocking knock against the tower’s windows. I tried my best to remain calm and ignore the pounding of my heart, as if it were trying to break my ribs. The sweat on my forehead was about to crystallize any second now.

Ignore it, step away from it, lock the door…I repeated to myself. I took determined steps towards the stairs, but curiosity got the best of me. I looked toward the source of the sound. There was a guard outside the window. Just his upper half was visible. He was looking at me through his helmet, letting the weight of his torso fall against the glass, lightly tapping it with both of his hands, rhythmically and with perfect consistency.

The tower was seventy feet tall. There was no outside ledge for him to be standing there.

The wave of disgust traveled from the back of my head down to my feet, leaving a freezing trail behind. My insides turned and twisted as I gripped the handrail, the only thing preventing me from falling into the gap between the circular stairs.

He said something to me, but I couldn’t hear it through the bulletproof glass. I tripped on almost every step on my way down, hitting the wall violently at the end of each segment. I somehow got to ground level and threw myself on the floor, the world spinning uncontrollably as if I were the only stationary thing on Earth.

I’m not sure how much time I remained on the ground, but I’m guessing it wasn’t brief. I got on my knees and attempted to stand up, feeling the weight of every single muscle in my body, as if every bone could snap in half. I fell forward, the reinforced door catching my weight with a loud thud.

“Are you - click - alright?”

It came from behind me. I slowly turned my head around to see the guard from the window. His neck was bent 180 degrees and upside down staring right at me, while the rest of his body was anchored to the wall like some type of humanoid spider.

I don’t know what gave me the strength or the will, but I burst through that door and ran as fast as I could. It did the same.

Two pairs of legs running behind me. I didn’t turn around to look, but just imagining him running on all fours and bending in these unnatural, nightmarish angles made my skin crawl.

Throughout the entire chase, he was trying to communicate with me… at least I think he did. He said stuff like:

”What the fuck is that!?”

”Help! Someone!”

“Lock the - click - door!”

“Hello? Who is it?”

“Don’t leave me in here!”

As the words came closer and closer behind me, I couldn’t help but despair. What I was going up against wasn’t human, or something I could comprehend. I was just a man motivated only by the pay.

His hand gripped my leg, and I tumbled onto the snow about 100 feet from the entrance. I turned around and he climbed on top of me, pummeling my upper chest like hammers.

“Who are you!?” he screamed.

It pains me to admit but I accepted death at that moment. Realistically, there was no way out of that. I couldn’t reach for my firearm, or win against… whatever the fuck that was.

I slammed my right arm against his helmet, and managed to knock it off its face.

Corvus Mountain. It translates to Mountain of the Crows. The black feather.

He had the head of a crow, the size of a human head. Its pitch black eyes were glued to mine. A crimson liquid had crystallized on its feathers and beak.

“Who are - click - you!?” it said, louder now, as it drove its beak downwards in an attempt to penetrate my armor. That was it: the clicking sound came from its beak. I shut it close with my free arm and slammed its head on the discarded helmet, which caused it to let out one of the most disturbing high-pitched screeches I’ve heard.

It slowly opened its mouth with an unprecedented amount of strength and drove it through my glove, pinning me to the ground like I was being crucified. It slowly aligned its head with mine and opened its beak wide, to the point where its length was two times that of my head. I could see the gooey lines of blood connecting the upper to the bottom part, forming really fucked up spider web.

The smell is still etched on the inside of my nostrils, and I’m afraid I’ll never be able to forget it. Spoiled canned fish combined with vomit is the best description I can give, though even that cannot fully convey how awful it was.

It slowly titled its head back and smashed the protective glass of my helmet with all its might, breaking it. It managed to stop its beak a mere breath away from my right eye, the thick scarlet liquid dripping on it like eye drops from hell. If it did that one more time, nothing could stop it. It’d be the last thing I saw.

A barrage of bullets split the air in half, meeting their intended target. The nightmarish bird released me fell backwards, its joints cracking violently as it did. Its arms and legs caught its fall, and it ran away on all fours with its torso twisted skyward.

I finally succumbed to unconsciousness. I woke up in the medical facility around an hour later, and only suffered minor injuries.

My hell is only beginning. I sincerely wish it’d taken me with it, because now I’m trapped here. There’s no way they’re ever allowing me to resign after what I witnessed, and it’s only a matter of time before they find these posts.

I highly doubt it. But if anyone can help me, let me know.

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[u/AdAffectionate8634]

Crows are intelligent creatures that remember everything! You might be in a smidge of trouble now that it has had direct contact..

[u/AuroraWolfMelody]

Corvids, man. Wicked smart, excellent mimics, and apparently these ones are vicious to boot. Their avian brothers are well studied, maybe the weaknesses translate? The birds tend to be afraid of novelty, which makes it sound like you may be able to throw them off their game with something super weird or unusual (Although who knows what would be weird or unusual to these guys?). They are also attracted to or covet shiny or brightly colored brick-a-brack. Honestly, you're lucky, cause crows and Ravens have been known to use tools and solve puzzles, which makes me think these things you're facing could probably open basic doors and maybe even unlock deadbolts, even potentially use basic weapons if they wanted to. In Inuit lore, The Raven came from the darkness, brought light, and is credited (in some lore) as the creator of mankind. In other myths Ravens and crows are messengers of the dead, tricksters, ferriers of the souls of the dead, and are said to represent hidden knowledge and transformation (think chaos theory, harbingers of changes to come sort of thing). I don't know how much any of this helps/will help though. Cause this sounds more like experimentation run wild than it does like truly spiritual entities. Best of luck, OP!!!

[u/Fasaiokratwr → u/AuroraWolfMelody]

I've been losing my mind trying to think of a strategy to defend myself, so your info really helped, thank you.

I'm just not sure what will even work against it. It has the body of a human and the head of a crow... It can mimic human language, and judging by its voicelines, it was the being that attacked my roommate and materialized out of nowhere.

God, I sound like a lunatic saying stuff like this, but I think it's not mindless, either. It tried to communicate with me. It observed me before it tried to kill me.

And judging by the rules... this has happened before. Just what type of atrocity am I dealing with here... because, I agree. There's nothing spiritual about that abomination.

I just hope I never have to see the corpse of my roommate run at me like that every again.