《Hardcore HELL》Chapter 1: Terrible I Know But I Have To Go Again
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The cool wind wandered through the station before the tunnel was illuminated with light. Sound is slower than light, but before the lights of the subway, the tunnel would be curved, the sound of the tracks was heard. Some people wanted to get out of work tired and go to their warm home as soon as possible. What they all wanted was to get on the subway they were patiently waiting for.
The subway finally entered the station. The cool wind intensified. Some of them kept their hats. The subway approached the station and opened its doors to its prey like a hungry tiger. People swiftly stepped into the mouth of this hungry tiger. They left themselves to the benches. The subway was waiting. It was the last session of the night. The subway was waiting more than it should be, hungry, waiting for more prey to come to his stomach.
Escalators were working but nobody was using them. Iron wheels were adding a new one to their spinning thousands of times. An uninvited guest had stepped on the tired escalator. The man let the ladder bring him down. He seemed not at all concerned about missing the last subway of the day. His steps were lazy and lethargic. He swayed down the stairs to the subway. He stood before him without going through the open doors. He looked at his watch.
23:59
The departure of the metro was made.
''The last session of the night begins. Please do not try to get on the subway after the signal sounds. Do not cross the yellow line.''
The man entered with the signal of the doors closing. The doors then closed and the last session of the day began. This was no ordinary session. Being the last session of the night didn't make it special. Nobody traveling on the subway at that time knew that this was the special line to hell. Everyone was sitting, only the man who got on the subway at the last minute was standing. There were vacancies but he did not sit. Tired eyes fled after staring at him curiously for a second or two.
The man did not look at any of the passengers. He didn't need to look. He knew this session was special. This was not his first time going to Hell. He's been to hell like this before. He was gone and was able to return. But now he had to go again.
Nobody would want to go back to that disgusting place. The man was not going willingly anyway.
He had an unfinished business down below, in hell, figuratively below. Things would not be like the first time. This time he was prepared. The subway shook. This was not a normal swing. The passengers didn't even realize the difference. The subway's rails had changed and went straight to the next station, hell.
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The shakes increased. The lights went out several times. The passengers looked out of the window but saw pitch black. Just like a normal tunnel. A monster, hellhound, freak, whatever the hell was coming to collect their sweet souls, would be there soon! The man's palms were sweaty. He clenched his fists. He slowly put his hand in his jacket pocket. Cold sweat ran down his back. His eyes were staring at the subway windows.
The man said, ''Which side will it come from? Right? Or is it from the left?''
The subway shook again. It was tougher than it should have been. The man looked up.
''From above!''
The metal sheet was torn like paper. The pointed claws grazed the man and got stuck in the ground. The passengers started screaming and walking away from the creature. Their screams and panic caught the creature's attention. The creature smelled of fear in the air. Its favorite thing was fear. Creature loved the taste of fear in the hearts of the humans it would hunt.
The creature's long tongue came out of its mouth. It showed its sharp teeth. While browsing through its delicious food, the man next to him pulled a gun from his jacket. He fired at the creature's head three times without hesitation. The bullets hit the creature's head, but could not shatter it. The creature held the back of its head with a tingling sensation. A small amount of dark blood smeared on his hand. He roared at the man, opening his mouth wide.
This time the bullets split the head and went out. The creature screamed in pain and fell to the ground. The screams of people continued unabated as the subway approached the hell station. The man sat on the ground with his shaking hands. He still didn't get used to it. His teeth were banging together in fear.
The creature felt no pain from its outer body, the only way to kill it was to shoot it from within. The man's hands were shaking. He took out the magazine of the gun and threw it away. He pulled out a new one, but his shaky hands wouldn't let him insert the magazine.
The subway had not yet reached the final hell station. The walls of the dark tunnel were lit with red lights. The man's heart rate slowed down. His shaking hands calmed down. He put on the magazine. He had to recover before the subway stopped. This time he would survive longer.
When he first came to Hell, he could do nothing out of fear and became a meal to the creatures. He still remembers his pain. He was dead but returned to earth. He didn't know how or why he was able to return, but for some reason he was still alive. The fact that he died once here would not have made him step back. He would come again every time. He would find out why his brother died.
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The subway approached the gloomy stop. The station, filled with dried corpses and skeletal remains, looked like those in the modern world. Half-cast tiles, broken pieces of concrete, red fluorescent lamps. The station was the same the first time he came here. Everything looked the same. Time seemed stuck here.
The subway opened its doors and waited for the food in its mouth to come out. Passengers could not step out of the subway out of fear. The man stood up. He was calm enough. His time was precious. The first time he had wasted his time looking around in fear, and he had become the food of the horde of creatures.
He would quickly move away from the station and from there to the unknown. He did not look at the passengers who could not get out of the subway. He just looked at the woman crying out of the corner and left. They would die in minutes. The fates of those people had already been determined. He wasn't sure they would reawaken up above when they died like him, but it would feel good in conscience to hope so. Today was the day they would all die.
The man moved to where the creatures had pinched him the first time. He recognized his skeleton, whose bones remained, by his torn jacket. It didn't have an arm. The creatures must have been ripped off after they killed him. He stooped and looked at his own body. It was a strange feeling. The corpse in front of him did not feel like his own. It looked like an ordinary corpse and smelled bad.
He didn't know why he woke up on earth when he died. He doubted the existence of Hell before he came here. Now that he knew that hell was real, he was not surprised why he could be resurrected when he died. Everything had an explanation. He had not yet found answers to the questions he had.
Howling sounds made him out of his deep thoughts. Had to move forward. Anywhere. He knew that if he stayed here he would die just like the first time. He ran away from his corpse into the unknown. He could still hear people screaming even after moving forward.
Fear lingered in his bones, but the confidence of the gun in his hand calmed his fear, even if only a little. He learned that everything would not end when he died. His goal was to get as far as possible. He didn't think he could find his brother right now. He was trying to find his way forward for his next arrival, to see the enemies he might face.
He had thought of hell as a hot place covered in flames, but it wasn't hot. It was a stinking place, with brutally dismembered corpses everywhere. It was no different from the cave.
''How were people paying for their sins here? If everyone is dead, it makes no sense to search my brother.''
He would see it with his own eyes. He would find out if there were anyone who really lived, who suffered his punishment.
He hadn't gone far, and one of the creatures hanging from the ceiling jumped over him. People weren't really looking up. The creature caught him off guard, and before he could let him fire his gun, he smashed his head with its powerful jaw. His body collapsed after his head burst like a balloon. Before he died, his feelings of fear and anger quickly faded.
Baran jumped up from the bed. He was sweating and was breathing deeply. He held his head. He checked every part of his head, which just fell victim to fangs. It stood in place as it should have been. He felt the pain for a second, then woke up. He hurriedly grabbed his pillow and threw it to one side of the room. Through the thick curtains, the sun was trying to come in.
The sunlight came right into his eyes from the narrow gap where the curtains met. He sat up from the bed. He took his head in his hands. He looked at the parquets blankly. Letters of the flame appeared before him again.
6 days 23 hours 36 minutes, Esenler Street, Store Number 7
The first time he woke up in his bed when he died. He tried to believe that everything was a nightmare, but the letters of the flame that appeared before him hit the truth in his face. Flames pointed to an address and a timer, just as they now show. The fire did not burn him but passed through him when he hesitantly brought his fingers to the flames. At first, he wondered what the weekly countdown was. He had come to the subway at the specified time and address. The flaming letters told where to go to hell again. Now he died again and woke up in his bed at home.
The flaming writing flew away. Baran got out of bed wearily. He went to the bath and turned on the tap. Cold water hit his face. He looked at himself long in the mirror.
"I have to wait another week.''
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