Prologue
The first thing that struck Major Mark Teague
as he slowly came to consciousness was the intensity
of the headache that seemed to have a will of
its own; presently, it seemed to be bent on searing
the receptors in his brain. Gradually however,
as his eyes began to adjust to the gloomy darkness
of his cave-like surroundings, the headache began
to subside, eventually de-intensifying into a
throbbing, pulsing shaft of pain above his left
eyebrow. All that Teague could recall in regard
to ending up unconscious was that he had a little
too much to drink at the Seafarer’s Club
and being escorted into a large white sedan by
someone familiar. Who that someone was and how
had he come into that person’s acquaintance
were still considerably vague areas, but of one
thing he was sure: that that someone had been
known to him. Strangely enough, this feeling of
familiarity was something was particularly a result
of the lingering scent of roses in his nostrils.
And even weirder, he thought as he futilely tried
to get to his feet, was the fact that he associated
this scent with someone whose familiarity he was
convinced of in a way that inexplicable but nevertheless
strong …he was sure he would be able to
divulge the truth if he tried hard enough. It
dawned on him with a dreamlike slowness that he
couldn’t get to his feet since he was tied
down to some sort of platform.
He couldn’t even raise his neck more than
a couple of inches since there appeared to be
a cord around his neck. This cord seemed to be
either tied down or embedded into the surface
of the platform he was on, each end of the cord
going in at opposite sides of his neck. Well what
the hell, he thought, it seemed more important
to come to conclusion as to the identity of the
person who had brought him here and detained him,
the person who’s identity was so close,
yet so far away. He concentrated harder, and feeling
that he was about to breakthrough, probed even
deeper into the recesses of his brain. Before
he could push himself further, however, he suddenly
felt a sharp, tingling, not altogether unpleasant
sensation around his neck he began to drift back
into blissful unconsciousness.
Chapter I: Red Six
Approximately five minutes after Teague lapsed
back into absolute unconsciousness, a figure dressed
in dark shades entered the room; barely a silhouette
against the soft gloom of the cavernous chamber.
The entity moved towards the head of the makeshift
metal bed on which lay the now-prone figure of
Major Mark Teague of the US Army’s elite,
clandestine Special Forces unit, the Red Six.
The figure stood over the head of unconscious
Teague for about 30 seconds before moving back
into comparatively murky areas farther away from
Teague, and there it seemed to meld into and become
part of the shadows. A clandestine unit that existed
exclusively for the purpose of perfecting biochemical
and technological weapons for the use of urban
warfare, the Red Six was feared in all circles,
military as well as political. The Red Six was
renowned for its utter ruthless in terms of the
limits to which they went in order to test the
potential of their ever growing and diversifying
armament of the high-tech, high-fatality biochemical
weapons. Indeed, Red Six was actively involved
in providing the black markets in various politically
ravaged third world countries with weapons such
as grenades and mid-range missiles [fired from
shoulder launchers] with monumentally fatal chemical
cores integrated into them. Furthermore, in addition
to this, Red Six also provided such countries
with state of the art merchandise in terms of
more conventional weaponry, such as guns, ammunition,
bombs, and mines and even, in some cases, a Black
Hawk helicopter or two. This was something that
had been going on for an indefinite number of
years before something went wrong; indeed, something
went very, very wrong.
Chapter II: The Beginning of the End
Red Six had just finished the initial development
phase for their latest weapon off the drawing
board in November; an unconventionally high-tech
mine that was supposed to do more in terms of
human fatalities than structural damage; it was
labeled the Silent M. Partially operating on the
basic premise of a radio scrambler, this mine
needed to be placed in the respective enemy territory
after which it would be activated via remote or
radio control. Red Six hadn’t conducted
tests on any animals larger than lab mice since
venturing into an unknown area of such vastness
spelt out obvious consequences. The results of
the experiments that had been carried out, however,
were stunning to say the least. The electronic
emissions or waves given off by the Silent M had
the capacity of disturbing the bio-molecular structure
essential to all living organisms, consequently
resulting in the instant death of the life form
in particular. The Silent M would do no harm to
buildings and other inanimate objects around it.
However, instant death and even possibly absolute
disintegration, as was displayed by more than
a few experiments conducted on the mice, would
greet any living things, larger than insects that
happened to be within 30 to 35 feet of the mine.
Clearly a weapon that would place its welders
in a farm more superior position than their foe,
it is no surprise that first 100 units of the
Silent M, were purchased from the respective black
markets literally within hours of their being
put on display. Thus began the havoc.
Barely a week later, startling reports from US
secret service agents stationed within the respective
third world countries began to filter into the
Red Six headquarter; the Silent M was effective
alright, but in a very different way compared
to the ideas of Red Six. It turned out that the
first time the Silent M was used it resulted in
the elimination of both sides, those who had used
it as well as those who it had been used against.
There was only one survivor, an American and an
army expert by the name of Mark Teague. Teague
was a Red Six agent and he had been stationed
in the country to gather as much as data as possible
about the actual radius and extent of damage exerted
by the Static M. When he was relocated by Red
Six, however, the team sent to extract him found
him in a very excited and disturbed state. Not
only that, the visage of his body seemed to fade
and flicker before the very eyes of the soldiers,
giving off the appearance of a TV screen that
doesn’t quite have the correct transmission.
Before the stunned soldiers could react, he disappeared,
leaving them completely bewildered, and leaving
Red Six with a case to cover up from the media.
There was a lingering smell of flowers in the
shanty cottage where they had seen him disappear,
giving all the indications of the unbelievable
prospect of being teleported into another world,
another dimension...
Chapter IV: The Ending
Slowly, Teague began to come back to this senses,
aware of the fact that he was no longer suffering
from a headache and things had changed. He wasn't
tied down to the platform, now discernible as
a makeshift metal bed in the corner, and was sprawled
on a couch in the centre of the cave-like room
that his comparitively clearer mind now conceived
as a well-proportioned, warehouse type of structure.
The quality of his perceptual clarity was improved
even further by hue tinge of luminiscient blue
that flooded onto the distant roof of the room
from no apparent source; the glow seemed to be
coming directly from the stones comprising the
rock roof. All of a sudden, with the intensity
of water bursting forth from a dam, Teague recalled
all of it. It was to India, he recalled, that
he had been sent in order to monitor the effects
of the active use of the Silent M, an inevitability,
considering that his unit, Red Six, had taken
the utmost measures to ensure that the mine be
delivered into the hands of the more aggressive
of the two militant Indian factions at violent
warfare with each other. Hardly two days had passed,
however, when, on his way out from the Seafarer's
Club, he was approached by an Indian mystic who
appeared, at first impression, to be calm and
composed. The mystic's temperament, however, began
to rapidly escalate as he rapidly related to Teague
the need for the American to be gone from India
before it was too late.
The mystic gave off an almost palpable scent
of roses and his features reminded Teague, in
a way that he couldn't quite determine, of numerous
pictures that he had seen in his scholarly journeys
throughout the terrain of Hindu mysticism. The
reason for the feeling of familiarity had It had
dawned on him suddenly, only to be discarded by
his mind on account of the utter incredulity of
the implications. The mystic's features were strongly
reflective of the countless pictures that Teague
had seen of the main Indian god Rama, and he continued
to persist with his warnings in spite of the American's
ill-concealed haste to be on his way. 'Too late
for what?' Teague had finally asked, with more
than a hint of exasperation in his voice; it was
now a question that was answered on account of
his surroundings gave tangible answer to. The
mystic had gone into a brief, yet intricately
detailed account that bascially implied that the
American's, in as much as porpagating the use
of the Silent M, were meddling into matters of
nature that were far too complex for them to even
begin to understand. The mystic was especially
adamant about the Silent M being capable of completely
rupturing the curtains between the various realms,
each superimposed upon yet inaccessible to the
other. The world would eventually be in chaos,
predicted mystic. and not a thing could be done
about it now that the plan had been laid. However,
he warned Teague to leave since staying back would
be synonomous with signing his own death warrant:
'The gods' according to the mystic 'had revealed
that the American would die were he to be present
in India at the time of the detonation' of the
Silent M.
Epilogue
Although something about the confrontation had
disturbed Teague on a very deep level, he was
more inclined towards his professional training
and eventually diregarded the warnings as being
nothing more than senselessly fanatic propaganda.
Moreover, he was sure that he was right in doing
so when the Silent M was activated and nothing
happened to him. This releif, however, was short
lived, for suddenly, there appeared a dramatically
huge void of utter blackness beginning in place
of what had, only seconds before, been the front
lines of the militant faction who was being favored
by the US. The void stretched right up from Teague's
side to approximately the place where the militants
had planted the mine; it was diffused to a purplish
hue at the edges. Gone were the trucks and soldiers
of either side, and all that remained was the
fragrance of flowers. This fragrance began to
grow stronger around Teague, and just as he looked
up to see what appeared to be US Army uniforms
bursting through the door of the cottage where
he had been stationed, he felt the sensation of
literally being pulled out his body. It was a
feeling similar to the one experienced when suddenly
plummeting from a great height, and before he
knew how to react, it had stopped; all was blackness.
He finally understood now, as he gathered what
little of his rational senses were remaining.
It was clear that Red Six had finally outstepped
its barriers this time, consequently incurring
the wrath of the entities that had survived without
being disturbed, probaly for eons, within their
respective dimensions. The molecular excitement
incurred by the Silent M wielded the capacity
of permanently teleporting humans into random
dimensions, which was apparently where he was,
in one of the indefinite number of existing dimensions.
His train of thought abruptly changed course as
he felt rather than heard the presence before
seeing it. He discerned the vaguely human figure
of a being wrapped from head to toe in white cloth,
and with a face that would have made even the
most horrific nightmare pale in comparison. The
eyes were grotesquely misshapen and the forehead
was pointed outwards. The creatures chin had three
holes in it and in place of its nose was a snout-like
appendage that kept extending towards him. Again
he felt the strange feeling around his neck, and
again he felt his senses beginning to recede.
But this time he realized that with each tingling
spasm that passed through his body, creature appeared
to grow more satisfied, as was indicated by the
pleasurable grunts and graons that were issueing
from its throat. Looking down towards his neck,
Major Mark Teague was greeted by a sight that
instantly and effectually drove him out of his
mind; there was a small, pipe-like appendage sticking
out of his throat from approximately where the
Adam's apple was supposed to be, and out of this
pipe was issuing Teague's own blood and tissue,
dripping to the floor where it was ravenously
being lapped up by large worms with bodies that
were 4 - 5 feet in lenght. Some of these worms,
apparently those satisfied, were making towards
the entity with the dark garb, and this entity
was busily scooping them up and ingesting them
via the snout...
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