H lp e plea e - th res a m nst r

Hiroshi whimpered as he looked outside. It was dark, that was certain.

Actually...

Let's have a little back story on this predicament before we get into the details...

Hiroshi had been deployed to a secret location in Japan to supervise diamond mining for construction of a new .sSTAT facility which uses diamonds for the walls and lighting structures. All was going according to plan. That is, until the team members began disappearing one at a time.

He stayed in the office doing paperwork after each member vanished until it was only him. Now, onto the present moment...



He had called for backup earlier that day and was to receive help later that evening. The darkness outside seemed all consuming. The moon wasn't out and the forest was thick.

The young man sighed and was about to go back to his computer when he noticed something outside. A strange creature was staring at him from the edge of the forest. He stared for what seemed like forever until the monster darted off.

Hiroshi whined loudly and ran back to his desk. He got online to search the description of this creature. It was hunched over and it's forearms seemed much longer than it's legs. It's eyes had a glow to them. Looking at the image results, his jaw dropped.





It was called The Rake. . .


Suddenly Hiroshi's phone rang loudly. He screamed like a girl and for once was glad he was alone so as not to be embarrassed. But only for a minute. He looked and saw that it was Kado. With a heavy sigh he answered. "H- hello?" he choked out, his throat tight with fear.

"Hey, I'm on my way to see how the project is coming along. I'll be there in a couple of hours. 4 tops." Kado was sitting in a jet plane, on it's way to Japan, in his usual clothing black everything. He was making a surprise visit to see how it was going, he wanted to see t before they had a chance to clean it up. To see how they keep their work environments.

"Kado, listen to me!! There's something outside. All the workers... They're gone! It took them and now it's after me!!!" Hiroshi was practically crying. "Please... Do something! It saw me! It's--"

Suddenly something scratched against the iron reinforcement door causing a horrible screeching sound. Hiroshi dropped his phone and covered his ears.

"Someone tell this pilot To go faster, I need to get there as soon as humanly possible" Kado sat in his seat, very nervous, worried about his friend and business partner.

Hiroshi uncovered his ears when the noise finally stopped. His eyes were closed as tightly as possible. He didn't want to see it staring at him. With his eyes closed he felt around for the phone and his desk. Finally he found them.

"Kado, are you still there?" he whispered into the phone, crawling under the desk.

He heard his phone, "yes, yes I'm here."

Mae rolls a food tray up to kado dressed as a flight attendant. "Care for a drink sir?" She says in the worst British accent ever, making a cross eyed face. "You have terrible security. "

"Kado," he continued, whispering still. "I don't know what that thing is... It's not like the things we usually deal with. It- -- -- an--- "+*## Hiroshi's cell phone began to lose signal. Then, the glass shattered and he let out a loud yell.

Shuffling could be heard, and a loud inhuman screech. It almost seemed like it said something...

Hiroshi yelled again, this time with a pained sound as he was injured by the thing. He ran through the door with his phone and pulled his tanto out of the side of his belt as he headed for the mineshafts. The sound of leaves and twigs snapping beneath his boots could be heard between the static of the phone.

"-ado, -an --u he-- -e??! I'---eadi-----the minesha---!! HELP!" The phone died. "Fuck!!!"

Kado threw his phone "FUCK!" He put his head down and thought about the final things he heard "I eadi the minesha... I eadi the minesha.. I'm heading to the mineshafts!" He pulled out a small map of the location and looked, he seen the future building and there was a mine near it. "That must be it, what else could he have said." He looked at the flight attendant "No thank y-.. What the fuck are you doing here??!"

"How else do you think i get to japan the same time you do? Whats going on anyway?" Who were you talking to?

((" in wrong spot))

Hiroshi finally reached the mineshaft. He didn't know how close the monster was, but at least it wasn't killing him right now.

He climbed down the long dimly lit tunnels, tripping on rocks often and slightly spraining his ankle. This however was the least of his pain.

He had been scratched by the monster's long claws. A large gash was open across his chest and he was bleeding profusely. He hoped the monster wouldn't smell or see the blood and track him, but that was unlikely.

The young man sighed softly as he found the reinforced panic room. It was 4 feet of solid steel all around, made to withstand the mine collapsing. As soon as he limped into the room the lights in the tunnels all cut out. That thing had cut the wires. Hiroshi closed the door behind him and collapsed to the ground after locking the door. The generators kicked on in the room and he could see that the emergency phone was lit signaling that it worked.

"How else do you think i get to japan the same time you do? Whats going on anyway?" Who were you talking to?

"I don't know, we'll be there in about 20 minutes, so I don't care why you're in the plane, you can stay with me or leave when we land, but if you come with me it isn't for fun and games" he quickly stood and started back to the huge locked door at the back of the plane.

Hiroshi limped over to the emergency phone and dialed Kado's number. He waited impatiently as the creature began banging and scratching at the door.

"Kado who was on the phone..?" Mae asked somewhat distraught. She pulled out her hin strapped to her leg. "Why are we headed for japan on such a hurry?"

"Salem is in trouble.." He said quickly unlocking the huge door, he opened it then stepped it, revealing a secret armory. He stepped in looked around at his weapons, he picked up the notorious Luger, and a Scorpion, he slid the Luger into his holster and put a strap on the Scorpion, letting it dangle off of him.

[phone still ringing]

"Someone is calling your phone" Mae said helping herself to your weapons. She grabbed her favorite, an M-16 with laser sighting, and a double barrel sawn off shotgun. She stuck some ammo in her bag and kissed a pendant dangling from her neck. "I'm ready when you are"

He quickly answered his phone walking into the main room of the plane after stocking himself with a shit load of clips and a couple boxes of bullets, put in a duffle bag, tied to a belt loop on his jeans. "hello?" He said sticking his fist into the hair signaling something to his flight attendants, they all quickly sat down, putting a seatbelt on them, and closing doors behind them, locking themselves in one side of the room, while Kado was standing where the door to the plane was.

"Kado! I'm in the emergency mine shelter! It's still out there. I'm injured pretty badly.." He looked down at the gash on his chest. "I might pass out, I've lost a lot of blood..."

Mae stands closely to kado prepared to jump from the plane if need be. "Tell him we are on our way" she places her hand on the handle of the door.

He quickly tries to pull open the door with your hands on it, and the door wouldn't budge, he quickly puts his foot on the door, and kicks once, doesn't budge, he kicks again, it slightly moves, he backs up a bit, had looks at Mae "move" he quickly runs at the door, and rams into it, it breaks the hinges and Kado falls out, and starts to free fall, not controlling himself.