{"sf1_id":480403,"sf2_id":"rm84RJym","title":"Ancient Evil","author":"Acchan Escovar","words":3732,"posted_at":"2012-12-31T00:17:00.000Z","tags":["Adventure","Alternate Reality","Canine","Cannibalism","Dark","Death","Deformity","Fantasy","Horror","Military","Multiple Species","Muscle","Mythological Creature","Post-Apocalyptic","Raccoon/Fox","Sci-Fi","Science Fiction","Space","Straight","Torture","Undead","Violence (Not In Yiff)"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/480403-ancient-evil","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/rm84RJym","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=480403\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"If you could leave a comment telling me what you thought, I'd very much appreciate it \u003c3","content":"WARNING! I OWN ALL CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY! THE ENTIRE WORK IS MADEUP! DO NOT COPY OR TAKE IDEAS!\u0026nbsp;Sorry for the legal stuff, but it had to be said. \u0026nbsp;Anyways. \u0026nbsp;This story takes place in the year 3047 A.D. \u0026nbsp;It's through the eyes of a miner on the Cruiser SSC-447, which lands on a distant, alien planet in search of a rare mineral known as XPR-17C, which is used to power the Earth's defenses. \u0026nbsp;There will be blood, gore, evil, torture, and death. \u0026nbsp;It will be graphic, it will be disturbing, reader discretion is advised.\u0026nbsp;\n\nI opened my eyes while laying on the stiff-matress of the cot. \u0026nbsp;It was a boring, dreary room, chrome metal everywhere, and the closest thing to color was the hinted grey-blue of the floor. \u0026nbsp;I lay there a minute, wondering if I should just go back to sleep, but it would be a cramped slumber. \u0026nbsp;My tail couldn't even stay on the damned mattress. \u0026nbsp;I sighed and stood up, stretching from the stuffy nap.\n\nWith a start, I remembered that we will finally be landing today! \u0026nbsp;I rushed over to the porthole, and I could see a huge, brown mass of a planet. \u0026nbsp;There must be some XPR buried here somewhere, if not everywhere. \u0026nbsp;It looked like it hadn't been touched in years! \u0026nbsp;I quickly got dressed and opened the door, and was immediatlly greeted by a crowd of other miners jostling andrushing to get to the cargo bay, to prep the machinery. \u0026nbsp;I heard my name being called, \"Louis! \u0026nbsp;Hey, over here buddy!\"\n\nI grinned and caught up with my friend Richard, who is a guard for General Tenatz. \"Richy, pal, why arent you up with Tenatz?\" \u0026nbsp;I clapped him on the shoulder, and he grinned a very wolfy grin.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"I've been assigned to guard your mining expedition, along with 4 or 5 other guys. Though I don't know why, if anything we'll probably just run into a few bugs or something. \u0026nbsp;No big deal, even you miners could step on them.\" \u0026nbsp;He laughed heartily, and I joined him on the way to the cargo bay. \u0026nbsp;He was a big, stocky wolf, he walked, talked and moved with confidence, and was always kind. \u0026nbsp;He was always wearing the ceramic armor that was assigned to him, I think it was because he was always wanting to be prepared for an emergency. \u0026nbsp;His gun was always on his back, the stock folded over and the barrel void of rounds. \u0026nbsp;He only took it off to sleep and clean it. \u0026nbsp;\"here we are, pal,\" \u0026nbsp;he looked around the cargo bay, admiring the huge machinery and containers.\n\nThe assorted miners were getting to their pre-determined equipment, ecstatic to finally get off this ship and feel soil on their paws again. \u0026nbsp;I found my expedition team of about 7 other foxes and wolves. \u0026nbsp;We were waiting on 3 more, a fox and a raccoon. \u0026nbsp;The expedition leader stood up and called role. \u0026nbsp;\"Mokkan?\"\n\n\"Here.\"\n\n\"Heather?\"\n\n\"Here.\"\n\n\"Louis?\"\n\n\"Here.\"\n\nThis went on for about a minute, with the leader checking off a list and then flipping through papers to write a sentence. \u0026nbsp;Finally, we heard the intercom crackle to life.\n\n\"ALL DEPARTING PERSONELL, TRIPLE CHECK YOUR EQUIPMENT, TAKE THREE ROLE CALLS, MAKE SURE MORALE IS GOOD, AND PREP FOR TOUCHDOWN IN T-MINUS 4 MINUTES. \u0026nbsp;THIS MESSAGE REPEATS.\"\n\nAnd it did repeat, the only difference was the countdown. \u0026nbsp;Richard came over to the group and sat down next to me, tapping a claw on his chair from nervousness. \"Hey, Richy, it'll be fine. \u0026nbsp;Try to calm down, I know it's a big thing, we've been on this ship for years now. \u0026nbsp;Try to make it a good thing.\" \u0026nbsp;I patted his back, avoiding the gun, even if it was empty. \u0026nbsp;He licked his lips and nodded, a far away look in his eyes.\n\n\"Well, you know Louis,\" \u0026nbsp;He told me, still staring off,\"There's a rumour floating around that we're not really here for the XPR, that it's for some..thing.\" \u0026nbsp;I looked at him quizzically and he flustered. \"Well, I, I mean, it could be anything, right? \u0026nbsp;I mean, like, the XPR supply has been above substantial when we left, and it would have stayed that way. \u0026nbsp;Why would we need more? \u0026nbsp;Is there like some secret race we haven't been told about?\" \u0026nbsp;He shook his head and closed his eyes.\n\n\"ALL DEPARTING PERSONELL, TOUCHDOWN IMMINENT, PREP FOR IMPACT. \u0026nbsp;EQUIP MASKS AND SUITS, DOOR OPENS IN ONE MINUTE.\"\n\nEverybody slipped on their masks and suits, which were made of a fabric and loose plastic. \u0026nbsp;The only part still sticking out was everyone's tails, which seemed pretty funny to me. \u0026nbsp;Then a jolt knocked everyone off balance, and the speakers announced;\"WE HAVE IMPACT. \u0026nbsp;WELCOME TO PARADISE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.\"\n\nThe big cargo doors opened, which were about 200 meters high and 450 meters wide. \u0026nbsp;I heard Richard sigh, and everyone else stood there staring into the sunlight. \u0026nbsp;After a little while, everyone started moving. \u0026nbsp;I walked out behind the tractors and drills, with my expedition. \u0026nbsp;The ground was vibrating, pebbles were jumping from the heavy machinery. \u0026nbsp;I could barely hear myself think, let alone talk. \u0026nbsp; I opened a text channel to Richard, who was facing the same epidemic. \u0026nbsp;I sent him a message saying 'so, u ready to go spelunking in the depths of an unexplord alien planet's bowels? \u0026nbsp;XD' \u0026nbsp;He tapped his tacpad on his wrist, read it and shook his head laughing. \u0026nbsp;I received; 'O yeahh, cuz u know i like dem bowels. ;)' \u0026nbsp;I laughed to myself, and the expedition stopped at a hill.\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nHe was still sleeping, dreaming of his past, thousands of years, buried in the depths of this rock, reliving the defilement, worship, and the pain of his imprisonment. \u0026nbsp;He started feeling something new, a vibration, moving the rocks around him. \u0026nbsp;He awoke, finally, feeling the power surging through him, the power he forgot he had, and started pulling the rock away, to his side. \u0026nbsp;He felt a gush of cold his his hand as he pushed it through, and he welcomed it, and pulled himself out. \u0026nbsp;He was in a cave, his niche, the one he had lived in for years. \u0026nbsp;It still had all his things in there, the wall paintings, the gnarled corpses of his offerings, nothing but string and marrow now. \u0026nbsp;The ground was still vibrating, but more so, and he could tell something was happening. \u0026nbsp;More offerings. \u0026nbsp;\n\nGood. \u0026nbsp;He was hungry.\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\"All right! \u0026nbsp;Start drilling here!\" \u0026nbsp;said the expedition leader into his radio, and the huge drill pounded into the top of the hill. \u0026nbsp;The dirt and dust it dug up flew high into the air, and when it fell it coated everything in a thick blanket. \u0026nbsp;I was talking to Richard over the text channel for about 10 minutes, and my body had grown accustomed to the vibrations. \u0026nbsp;I sent a text to the leader asking when we'll start mining, and he said the drill was making a tunnel for them to take an elevator through, to get at a system of natural caves. \u0026nbsp;I gave the ok, and switched back to Richard's channel. \u0026nbsp;When I was in the middle of typing a message, the drilling stopped and the crews started to set up the elevator. \u0026nbsp;It was frighteningly quiet, and still. \u0026nbsp;Richard and I just opened a regular voice channel.\n\n\"So, Louis, you really think we're gonna find any XPR in here? \u0026nbsp;It seems like too dry a place to find anything like that.\" \u0026nbsp;Richard stood watching the crews set up, with his arms crossed behind his back.\n\n\"XPR is like a fossil fuel, if anything of any organic material has ever lived here, it'll leave XPR for the taking. \u0026nbsp;Meaning, that there doesn't have to be any water for their to be life. \u0026nbsp;Besides, \" I said, \" Sure as Hell beats sitting on that ship another hour.\" \u0026nbsp;He nodded. \u0026nbsp;The crew finished the elevator, a real basic platform, and the mining expedition climbed on board. \u0026nbsp;I took a deep, shaky breath, and pressed the button to go down.\n\nThe descent was slow, a little rickety, and made me filled with anticipation. \u0026nbsp;I was tapping my paw the entire time, looking around at the other miners who were doing the same. \u0026nbsp;One of the vixens piped up, \"Hey, Chief, how's the air here? \u0026nbsp;Is it breathable? \u0026nbsp;This suit is really starting to make me chlaustrophobic.\" \u0026nbsp;\n\nThe Expedition leader, who from now on I'll call Chief, looked at his wrist pad. \u0026nbsp;\"As a matter of fact, you can change it off. \u0026nbsp;Once we get to the bottom, the crews will have it airlocked. \u0026nbsp;You can change then, but you'll just have to suffer a little longer Heather.\" \u0026nbsp;He looked at her and smirked, and I just looked away.\n\n\"Well, when do we get to the bottom?\" \u0026nbsp;asked Heather. \"I'd like to get out of this suit ASAP, it's too small and crampy.\" Chief laughed to himself and a jolt answered her. \u0026nbsp;\n\nChief stepped off, and said,\"Alright, you all know the drill, digging team every 40 meters, 2 miners per team, and farthest miner gets the guard.\" \u0026nbsp;Everyone started taking off their suits, stretching and sighing from the release from the cramped thing. \u0026nbsp;I rolled my shoulders, stretched my arms and legs, and grabbed my gear. \u0026nbsp;\n\nRichard stood next to the Chief, \"Alright, whoever feels like taking a hike on top of the digging, you're with me.\" \u0026nbsp;No one wanted to dig without help, so nobody went. I walked up to him and we went off. \u0026nbsp;He smiled, knowing I was the only one who would stand to be around a guard.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"Louis,\" The Chief pulled me to the side before I went,\" Make sure you keep constant radio check, I don't want to lose you on the first expedition.\" I smiled and nodded knowingly, and he turned to the rest and said, \"Well? \u0026nbsp;What are you all loafing around for? \u0026nbsp;Let's find some XPR!\"\n\none hour later\u0026nbsp;\n\nRichard and I had set up the digging equipment, a small drill and crank, set up to deliver the mineral to a transport to take the dirt elsewhere. \u0026nbsp;I started the machine, and started to use an old fashioned pickaxe that everyone had. \u0026nbsp;It was a metal alloy, meaning that it was virtually indestructible. \u0026nbsp;That didn't mean the same thing with the handle. \u0026nbsp;I took a swing, and the head flew off the handle. \u0026nbsp;It went over a pile, bounced off the wall, and around a corner. \u0026nbsp;I laughed a little, and asked Richard if he could pass it to me. \u0026nbsp;He nodded with a smile, and went to get it.\n\nI started tinkering with the drill, checking the blades, belt pressure, and I heard Richard screamed and stopped abrubtly. I spun around quickly, vaulted over the pile of rubble, and went around the corner. \u0026nbsp;What I saw was nightmarish.\n\nA creature the size of a truck was holding down Richard to the ground, it had long, gnarled claws, arms that looked like a tree trunk, it's legs were stretched taut with muscles, it's tail was long as a whip, constantly flicking around behind it. \u0026nbsp;It's face was like a bear's, except more ripped apart, the cheekbone was showing, bleached a bright white. \u0026nbsp;It was breathing heavily, hard, ragged breaths, it's eyes were a faintly glowing yellow, never blinking. \u0026nbsp;I stopped in my tracks, watching with horror. \u0026nbsp;\n\nThe Beast put it's face close to Richards, who was breathing heavily and trying to look away. \u0026nbsp;He started hyper ventalating, and looked up to see me standing there. The Beast raked Richard's chest with it's claws, and Richard started spitting up blood. \u0026nbsp;The life was slowly draining from his eyes, and he mouthed a word, with blood seeping from his mouth; run. \u0026nbsp;The Beast then ripped him open, it's claws tearing into his gut. \u0026nbsp;It sighed, then started pulling out his organs. \u0026nbsp;Richard's face was locked in pain, still staring into my eyes, and I felt myself tearing up. \u0026nbsp;Then I remembered the pistol, I've always had it, but never acknowledged it. \u0026nbsp;I drew it, and when I looked back up, the Beast was gone.\n\nAnd so was Richard.\n\nI backed up, the gun held tighly, my knuckles turning white through my dark fur. \u0026nbsp;I spun around, my heart beating in my ears. \u0026nbsp;How could this be happening? \u0026nbsp;Why? \u0026nbsp;Dear God, Richard. \u0026nbsp;Richard was dead. \u0026nbsp;I sat down and sobbed quietlly, shaking and shivering uncontrolably. \u0026nbsp;Why did Richard have to die? \u0026nbsp;I hope he is dead, I thought. \u0026nbsp;Better than living through that. \u0026nbsp;I had to tell the Chief, I had to tell General Tenatz, everyone. \u0026nbsp;The radio! \u0026nbsp;\n\nI picked it up from the cart and tuned to the Chief's channel with shaking paws. \u0026nbsp;I almost dropped the radio, and I put it up to my head. \u0026nbsp;I pressed the call button, and the Chief picked up. \"Hello? \u0026nbsp;Louis? \u0026nbsp;Louis, do you copy?\"\u0026nbsp;\n\nI gulped and said into the mouthpiece, \"Richard's gone.\"\n\nThe Chief said,\"I knew it, we should have had a different guard. \u0026nbsp;What the hell was he doing?\"\n\nI started to feel my eyes burn and my throat get dry, and I told him,\"He was getting eaten alive.\" I dropped the radio and started sobbing again.\n\nThere was silence. \u0026nbsp;Then I heard the Chief's voice,\"Louis? \u0026nbsp;You come back here, I've called the General, we're pulling off this planet. \u0026nbsp;Louis? \u0026nbsp;Do you copy? Dammit!\"\n\nI layed there, shivering, my tail curled up tightly around my chest, crying silently. \u0026nbsp;What if it came back for me? \u0026nbsp;What if it didn't even know I was there? \u0026nbsp;It must have, because it fled so quickly and took Richard. \u0026nbsp;How'd it even MOVE that fast, anyways? \u0026nbsp;It doesn't matter. \u0026nbsp;I need to get out of here. \u0026nbsp;I slowly got up, still shivering a little bit. I took a few steps towards the entrance, and I heard rocks fluttering, bouncing down the cave, the roof, the ceiling. \u0026nbsp;Was it coming back for me? \u0026nbsp;Could it be stalking me now, the entrails of my friend being melted away in its gut? \u0026nbsp;I started running for the entrance, paws pounding the ground.\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nGeneral Tenatz was calling for an ERTB, or Emergency Return To Base. \u0026nbsp;Miners were coming back to the ship in a huff, thinking it was just a drill, and they all wanted to continue mining. \u0026nbsp;He began to make his announcement over the intercom. \u0026nbsp;\"I doubt almost any of you know the reason for this ERTB. \u0026nbsp;I'm not going to lie to you all, but one of our expedition teams has been lost. \u0026nbsp;An unknown hostile has been reported to be 'eating a guard alive'. \u0026nbsp;We do not know just how accurate this is, but I'm not going to lose any more lives in the name of fuel. \u0026nbsp;We will be sending in an extract team to try to fetch them, take down this hostile, and bring as many of our personell home safely. \u0026nbsp;We'll be making a straightshot back to Earth, Give these people luck and your prayers.\" \u0026nbsp;There was a stunned silence, and everyone returned the equipment to it's places, and all sat down or stood around, waiting.\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nI found two more miners, hiding in a corner, both with pistols drawn. \u0026nbsp;They saw me and joined me in stony silence. \u0026nbsp;We ran through the caverns, and then found more. \u0026nbsp;Pretty soon, the whole expedition was with me, running through the caves, \u0026nbsp;looking for the exit. \u0026nbsp;I stopped suddenly, ears swiveling around to hear something. \u0026nbsp; Was that...crunching? \u0026nbsp;Dear God, it's coming...it's coming... I shouted at the top of my lungs,\"Everyone, get the fuck out! \u0026nbsp;It's coming, run! \u0026nbsp;Run, Dammit!\" \u0026nbsp;I started pushing and pulling in the direction we were running, hearing the crunching getting louder. \u0026nbsp;There, finally the elevator, and the Chief...\n\nThe Chief...\n\nIt was tearing him apart. \u0026nbsp;Alive. \u0026nbsp;Not eating him, but just tearing out his entrails. \u0026nbsp;He was gasping, and crying, his face was blank, but he still shuddered. \u0026nbsp;His eyes swiveled to us, and he started trying to say something. \u0026nbsp;Before he could, the Beast grabbed the top of his head, then ripped off his jaw with a sickening crunch. \u0026nbsp;His tongue dangled there, useless, flopping and bleeding, his teeth on his upper jaw suspended in the air. \u0026nbsp;His eyes had widened in fear, then rolled back in his head. \u0026nbsp;He started to vomit, just, dripping out, and blood mixed with it, making it a purple gooey mess. \u0026nbsp;The creature then stopped suddenly, and stood up. \u0026nbsp;\"I can smell your fear, mortals.\" \u0026nbsp;He turned to face us, and it felt like he was looking at everyone in the eyes at once. \u0026nbsp;Heather aimed her pistol at him and fired, 4 shots, aimed at the chest. \u0026nbsp;\n\nAll four bullets seemed to curve away, not even glancing it. \u0026nbsp;The Beast smiled, showing curved, chiseled teeth. \u0026nbsp;It grabbed Heather, the vixen, who was killed from the Beast smashing her head into a pulp in it's fist. \u0026nbsp;It tossed her corpse to the side, then made a move for the next miner. \u0026nbsp;Me and a few other miners turned and ran, a couple others stood their in shock, the Beast's next targets. \u0026nbsp;I thought with a pang of guilt, at least they'll distract it long enough for me to get away. \u0026nbsp;I had to get out. \u0026nbsp;But we were 100 meters underground. \u0026nbsp;And the only way up is by the elevator. \u0026nbsp;\n\nAnd the Beast was at the elevator.\n\n10 minutes later\n\nI was running in the caves, feeling rocks fall down every once in a while, the lights would blink out everyonce in a while. \u0026nbsp;Occasionally I would hear a scream, then it would abruptly stop. \u0026nbsp;Each time I would pray under my breath that I wouldn't be next. \u0026nbsp;I heard scraping on a wall, and I slowed to a stop. \u0026nbsp;A miner was trying to dig through the wall to get up, clawing at the wall frantically with bloodied paws without letting up. \u0026nbsp;I swallowed, looked down and contemplated what to do. \u0026nbsp;She was probably going mad, but Hell, werent we all? \u0026nbsp;Then again, she could be the only sane one here. \u0026nbsp;I held my breath; there was the Beast, creeping up on her, noiselessly, the only sound was her clawing at the rocks. \u0026nbsp;I could feel my heart racing, and heard it, it was a miracle nothing else did. \u0026nbsp;It jumped up in the niche she dug, she screamed at the top of her lungs and was silenced, and I took off running. \u0026nbsp;I never ran so fast in my life, I felt like my legs were going to fall off. \u0026nbsp;\n\nThere, the elevator, I could see it! \u0026nbsp;Way down the cave, at least 60 more meters! \u0026nbsp;Something grabbed my arm, and I swung out with my fist, and to my surprise it swore. \"ow, fuck, man!\" \u0026nbsp;It was a guard! \u0026nbsp;\"Where's this 'killer'?\" \u0026nbsp;He said sarcasticly, he obviously thought it was some accident, and I felt like I wouldn't be able to tell him in time. \u0026nbsp;I looked back at the elevator frantically, escape was so close, so close. \u0026nbsp;\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\"Are their bios on screen?\" \u0026nbsp;asked General Tenatz, looking at a computer moniter.\n\nA scientist pressed a few buttons on her wrist pad, \"They are now, sir. \u0026nbsp;All 6 soldiers are being tracked and monitered.\" \u0026nbsp;Tenatz nodded, biting his nail, staring at the screen. \u0026nbsp;\n\n\"And the camera feeds?\" \u0026nbsp;he asked. \u0026nbsp;\n\nThe same scientist tapped more icons, and 6 videos appeared on another screen. \u0026nbsp;Another scientist was sitting at that moniter, and was listening to audio with a headset. \u0026nbsp;\"Is that...\" He started, unplugging them,\"growling?\"\n\nA deep, rumbling noise came through, then cracking along with it, and the second feed was finding something. \u0026nbsp;\"Put it on the main screen,\" Tenatz ordered. \u0026nbsp;The scientist tapped in some keys, and the second camera feed stopped dead in it's tracks; \u0026nbsp;the biggest abomination they had ever seen was tearing a miner open, who was twitching every once in a while, the creature was pulling out his intestines, sliding it over one hand like a rope coil, setting it off to the side. \u0026nbsp;It then pulled out the liver, and it cut it open and wrang out like a rag. \u0026nbsp;Tenatz felt naseus, several in the room vomited. \u0026nbsp;He held down a key on the computer and ordered,\"Corporal Howwit, light that fucker up.\"\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nI heard a machine gun fire off a dozen or so bullets, and the soldier loosened his grip on my arm. \u0026nbsp;I backed away from the gunfire, because that meant the Beast was near. \u0026nbsp;The other soldiers started shooting too, and I ran away, hearing bloodcurdling screams, bullets pinging off equipment and rock, and I ran into the elevator. \u0026nbsp;I pounded the button, and the door started to close. \u0026nbsp;I breathed a sigh of relief, then, right before the door closed, I saw the Beast walk over, bit the head off a soldier, saw the door and dropped the corpse and bolted for it. \u0026nbsp;I backed into the far corner, and the elevator started to move ever so slowly. \u0026nbsp;But the beast didn't come after me, as far as I know, and I noticed I had escaped. \u0026nbsp;I was alive.\n\nI was alive. \u0026nbsp;I thanked God over and over, praying for those who had died, and the elevator stopped. \u0026nbsp;There. \u0026nbsp;The door to freedom. \u0026nbsp;I started laughing hysterically, kicked it open, and started running to the ship. \u0026nbsp;The Cargo Bay doors were open! \u0026nbsp;They were waitting for me!\n\nI started to lose my breath from exhaustion, but I noticed with a chill running down my spine that I couldn't get it back. \u0026nbsp;I had forgotten the suit. \u0026nbsp;The fucking suit, and after everything I had just been through. \u0026nbsp;I could feel my breath leave, and I breathed in nothing, it was all in vain. \u0026nbsp;Well, hey, at least I would get to see Richard again, right?\n\nLouis died that day, he suffocated from lack of air; the soldiers and miners were all killed in the cave that day also, from the Beast. \u0026nbsp;The Beast went back into eternal slumber, fresh corpses decorating his throne room.\u0026nbsp;General Tenatz ordered for the planet to be marked with a planetary strike, and for all future mining sites to be thouroughly searched for any bio-signs.  \n  \n\n"}