The following story is a work of fiction. Apart from being based on Doom 3,
the work itself has no ties to id Software whatsoever.
No parts of the story should be used without consent.

by Nick P.

Special thanks to Tim Corwin for helping with the story and of course, Paul!

After figuring out where exactly in the research facility we stood, Frederick was not too happy (judging from his groan). His reason for being sad was that we were several kilometres off-course. To this, I said, “Just how big is this dump you call a research facility?” Yet again I simply received an angry glare as my answer. This glare could’ve stood for many things, many of them quite offensive and unnecessary to write here. Nonetheless, the news of our mistaken decision-making was no good.

            Frederick was still murmuring under his breath about what idiots we were when we headed one of the long metallic corridors that we had grown accustomed to. In fact, it seemed that since his headache faded away, he simply wouldn’t close that articulating hole of his. Several times I considered contacting my fist with the back of his head in hopes of him regaining his headache. However, the thought that humanity was screwed without this asshole kept me away.

Well, one time I really would’ve spread some justice with my hands, if it wasn't for a sudden banging noise ahead of us.

            Banging noises spelled unpleasant things for ourselves. We halted and looked ahead.

            I prepared my shotgun; I knew that I was gonna need it.

            The noise came again, followed by the creaking of bending metal. A portion of the metallic wall on the left of our corridor began to bend outward. More creaking came as this protrusion grew.

            Tim and I glanced at each other. Now what?

            Another bang came and finally the wall burst. Several pipes were twisted and ripped, resulting in a hissing noise issued by the gas escaping from them. I hoped that the gas was in no way poisonous (hey, you never know what these idiots experiment with in these secret installations).

            And from the hole in the wall squeezed the most ugly, disgusting, filthy thing I have ever seen. And immediately I recognised it; I had seen it before.

            No, it wasn’t Briggs. It was the same monster that I had seen in that bathroom shortly after Tim restored the power. I hadn’t seen its face then.

I had been spared a whole lot of repulsion. Until now.

            It had a large head that blended into the body, no neck. At the bottom was the biggest damn mouth I’d ever seen. Even while it was closed, the fangs protruded outward, like those of a crocodile. Except these fangs had a different shape and must’ve been twice as big. Above the mouth was a long, smooth curved surface… No eyes, nose, anything. However, I had a feeling that concealed beneath the smooth dome were some sensors that replaced the need for other sensing organs.

            From behind its empty mug came an exposed spine. From the sides sprouted the front legs, muscular, ending in three-toed stubby claws. And from the waist down, the beast was entirely mechanical: its rear legs, its rear end.

            This four-legged monstrosity finally squeezed out and turned to face us. I couldn’t help but notice the saliva dripping off of its bared, gigantic fangs.

            I wasn’t the only shocked person.

            Tim finally started firing the machine gun. Meanwhile, I took aim and shot the monster right over its mouth, where one would expect to find its brain.

            It wasn’t too pleased with this course of action. It reared up and began slashing wildly.

            While backing away, I took another shot.

            The monster couldn’t take much more. After a few lingering shots from Tim’s machine gun, the beast crumpled to the ground and a horrid stench filled the air.

            Frederick had been cowering behind us the entire time. Not that it’s a bad thing; that’s what we told him to do.

            Feeling somewhat shaken, we circled around the corpse of the disgusting giant dog-thing and headed onward.

Not much happened for a while after that. We were rather pleased to run into several imps, all of which met the same fate. Frederick seemed to know the way, though to me it seemed like we were going in circles. The labyrinth quality of the base was not too appealing to me. Especially when knowing that there were numerous ‘Minotaurs’ of all shapes and sizes prowling around.

            Soon, we left the corridors and came onto a rather open space. In fact, it was unmistakably a platform. And there was a train settled upon the tracks that ran through the centre. The doors were open, almost welcoming.

            Tim smiled, as did I.

            “Uh,” said Frederick. But before he could finish his undoubtedly stupid thought, three of those freaky spider monsters descended from the ceiling and landed in front of us. The disfigured human heads they had for a body all hissed at us in unison.

            By now, Tim and I had gotten pretty good at exterminating these sad excuses for arachnids.

            Two shotgun blasts and some machine gun fire later, the floor was very slippery.

            We ran up to the train, and Frederick followed.

            “Could this take us anywhere near our final destination?” Tim asked.

            “Well,” started Frederick. “Yes.” His finish was rather reluctant.

            “What’s wrong?” I asked.

            “I get motion sickness—”

            I frowned. “But this way is shorter, right?”

            “—my balance sensors are damaged and can’t ride in trains and things of that sort. It was rather a miracle that I made the shuttle ride to Mars successfully…”

            “Couldn’t we take this train a while back?”

            “Well, yes…”

            “Jesus!” I yelled. “You’ve been avoiding this train, even though it could get us there in a heartbeat, just because you get motion sickness! We could’ve already been there! You idiot!”

            “I never take the train, I always walk—”

            I could take it no longer and punched him square in the face.

            Tim looked at me. “Thanks.”

            “No problem.”

            “I mean,” he said with a grin. “I don’t approve of this behaviour, Corporal, but thank you.”

            “Any time sir.”

            And with that, we dragged Frederick’s limp body onto the train. Tim went ahead into the control cabin to get the train working while I stood guard, making sure some monster didn’t sneak onto the train.

            There was a humming sound as Tim powered up the train. Then came a beeping, announcing that the doors were about to close.

            I backed out into the train just as the doors slid shut.

            With a quite more powerful kick than I anticipated, the train started. I nearly lost my balance there.       

            And Dr. Frederick here was complaining about his poise. 

            I examined exactly how much damage I had inflicted on the poor guy’s mug. Judging from the large amounts of blood pooling from his nose, I had broken it. That, and he was unconscious again.

            “Suits you,” I mumbled under my breath.

            There was a loud clang coming from the rear of the train.

            As I mentioned, loud unusual noises were not welcomed by us.

            I walked to the very rear of the train.

            The train itself was speeding at an amazing speed; metal beams, tracks and all else were a mere blur.

            So, it was a complete mystery to me how an imp had managed to jump and grasp on to the rear of the train.

            Its now-familiar façade was conveniently pressed against the window.

            I raised my shotgun and fired. The glass shattered and went flying with the imp. The monster flew backwards and was out of sight in a matter of seconds.

            I kissed my shotgun. Another job well done.

            Too bad I had only 3 more shots.

            I walked back to the compartment with Frederick in it and sealed the door behind me. Just then, the train stopped and Tim came walking back down the aisle.

            “Why’d you stop?” I asked.

            “I figure we might sleep and rest here. Besides, we don’t know where to get off, now that you put Frederick out of, uh, working condition. He needs to direct us.”

            “Yeah,” I agreed. “Still, at least he isn’t complaining or throwing up right now. If I hadn’t taken action, he’d be tap dancing on our nerves right now.”

            “Alright, you deserve kudos for that. Still, this is a delay.”

            I felt anger surge upwards inside me again. “Still, not a delay as costly as that rendered by Dr. Frederick here. The idiot has been guiding us the long way, avoiding the train just cause he gets sick on it. Can you believe that! All of humanity is at stake—”

            “I agree,” said Tim in his usual calm voice. “But there’s little we can do now. At least we’ll cover those lost kilometres with the train.”

            “Yeah, but we should’ve done that a long time ago.”

            Tim nodded, then asked, “How do you stand ammunition-wise?”

            “3 shots. You?”

            “48, which isn’t a good thing considering that my gun eats up bullets by the dozens. That, and your pistol still has around 7 bullets.”

            I nodded. “So one of our priorities at the moment is to find some ammo.”

            “Right. But now, we rest.”

Yet again I shook my head in accordance.

            Tim had stopped our train in its tunnel, far from stations and corridors holding beasts and freaks. I felt safe, and it’s this feeling that allowed me to drift into sleep with ease. I cleared my mind, though the image of the disgusting dog-beast drifted into my head. Once again I pulled the image from my mind, yet couldn’t drift into my dreams. Maybe I was trying too hard to sleep.

            With this final thought, unconsciousness washed over me.

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