The halls are elegantly furnished, but with a minimum of decor to create a tasteful effect. A soft metal clinking sound is heard causing the group of men to reflexively turn their weapons on the source. The soldiers are tense until they see on their thermal vision a tiny mouse squeaking and crawling past a metal suit of armor.

The men softly release the air they had been holding in. The scout from a few feet away motions for them to move on. The men creep forward and cautiously turn past the corridor. The men come to an abrupt halt as there is no obvious sign of the scout further ahead. The troop leader frowns with annoyance at the rookie getting far too excited for his own good and forgetting the ground rule of the force, never separate from the pack.

Hiding his annoyance, the troop leader moves forward and motions for his men to stay behind. Clearing the area before them, the troop leader searches for the missing rookie scout. Reaching the end of the corridor, the troop leader fails to see the missing scout. Cursing having been saddled with green grass, the troop leader grits his teeth in frustration. He wouldn’t abort the mission because of a brat’s eagerness. If anything happened, the kid was on his own.

The troop leader soundlessly turns around to motion for the rest of the troops to follow him. Behind the troop, leader shadows pool together to form a spider-like creature with a gaping maw. The troop leader turns around and takes a step forward, vanishing right into the gaping maw that snaps shut and swallows him whole.

The troops turn the corner to find the same unnerving scene of before, nothing. Their troop leader was nowhere in sight. The men begin to feel a trickle of dread creeping down their spine. One of the troops fearfully whispers, “Something is wrong.”

“Quiet, I’m sure nothing is wrong,” hissed his companion next to him. Failing to hear a response, his companion turns his head to the side see absolutely nothing. Unease, the man says, “Sir-,” when his voice cuts off mid-sentence.

The rest of the team turn around at the sound to find the two men simply gone. One of the soldiers wildly glances upward in panic as a giant gaping map appears overhead. The soldier's mouth falls open in terrified horror as the hungry jaws swallow them whole. Silence descends over the hallway as shadows drip down from the wall, pooling into an inky pool in the middle of the hallway.

The missing scout eagerly returns to his troops with eager news and freezes at the sight of the inky pool in the middle of the hallway. Perturbed by the inky pool that had not been in the middle of the corridor before, the scout clings to the walls and sidesteps the pool. The pitch-black pool remains innocently still, not even a ripple can be seen on the surface of the inky pool.

The scout fails to see the tiny inky puddle that had mysteriously appeared just ahead. The scout accidentally steps on the puddle and freezes. Nothing happens to the scout’s great relief. He happily takes a step forward and then the other except he can’t. Frowning, the scout glances down and finds that his left boot is stuck to the surface of the inky puddle.

Trying harder, the scout pulls on his boot to no avail. With a sigh, the scout bends on one knee to untie his shoelaces and turns his back on the inky pool. The scout naively loosens the knots on his boot as the sinister pool behind him begins to bubble ominously. From the depths of the gloomy pool, something begins to stir in eager awakening.

The scout perhaps instinctively sensing something was very wrong struggles to loosen his boot laces. In his hurry, his fingers become stiff and fumble the usual easy task. His breath becomes short as his heart pounds with unspeakable dread. Too afraid to even glance backward, the scout reaches for the knife at his side to cut away his shoelaces.

The inky pool soundlessly spurts upward as with each gush, the menacing mass becomes taller and taller. With one swift move, the Scout cuts his laces away and steps forward. Almost tripping from the uneven balance, the scout runs forward at an off-balance gait. Full of fear, the scout races down the corridor as the faces of his newly pregnant wife fills his mind with strength. They had just found out they were pregnant and were expecting their first child. His wife in a fit a positive attitude had already begun decorating the nursery. He was supposed to come back from this mission to help her pick out a crib. He had promised he would come back to her even if he had to abandon his team and mission.

Steady and unmovable in his decision, the scout sprints the last feet of the hall. The scout turns the corner when something wraps itself around his ankle. Glancing down, the scout’s eyes fill with horror as something slick and black pulls him backward. The scout grabs onto the hallway corner wall and glances back. The scout’s eyes cloud with terror at the many inky spider/squid like legs that emerge from the sinister puddle that has grown twice his height and is still growing.

The slick, murky leg tentacle further tightens around his leg and pulls. The scout slashes at the tentacle with his blade. The blades clearly slashed through the slick tentacle as it falls t the floor and evaporates into a thin dark mist that dissipates. The inky mass bubbles sinisterly with rage as more legs emerge from it.

The scout scrambles to his feet with the blade in hand and runs down the corridor. Loud slushes can be heard from behind him as the legs stretch out behind him and miss slamming into the floor with a thundering sound. The soldier expertly evades the slimy limbs and rushes down the next corridor. Hope fills the scout’s eyes as he sees the hallway entrance still open just as they left it.

Sprinting like his life depended on it, the scout moves like he has never moved before. The entrance is within hand reach when something reaches out and wraps itself around a booted ankle tripping him. The scout slams onto his face within hands reach of the entrance. Another tentacle takes the opportunity to wrap around his other foot and swiftly drags him back to the countless waiting arms.

The scout lifts his face as hope can be seen dying in his eyes. With his hand outstretched the soldier is dragged around the corner into the waiting embrace of the mass. The mass pulses hungrily as it swallows its prey and suddenly minimizes itself into a puddle like size. It releases a soundless burp-like gurgle and lurches happily forward until it vanishes into the shadows of the wall. And with that peace and tranquility returned once more to the castle corridors.

*

Vincent instinctively feels a shiver of cold air creep down his spine. Being precautious, he clicks twice on the radio in roll call form. Team Alpha responds with two clicks, then followed by Team Bravo and Team Charlie, but Team Delta never responds back.

Vincent furrows his brows and murmurs out loud, “Something is wrong.” Uneasy now, Vincent clicks one more in roll call form. The clicks are returned once more without any change. Somewhat more subdued, Vincent ponders the situation calmly. Had there been an attack, gunfire would have surely been heard and his men would have reported back. It must be that the communication system is out of range and or is being blocked, which is a rather common occurrence that is known to happen in the field.

Vincent does a fairly good job of convincing himself that is the case as he leans back against a crate. That surely was all that there was too it. But why was he unable to convince himself and unshaken the unmistakable feeling of unease. Every fiber in his body screamed at him to sound the call for retreat, but he had been given a mission. And neither he nor his employer could tolerate failure.