GHOST: From the shadows

Chapter 1

Location: ???, Iris City

Time: 12:45am

Narrator's POV

CREAK!

The slightly rusted metallic "garage" door gave a slight creak as it was forced open by a group of men, who made their way into the dark room behind the door.

"Ugh! This place stinks!" One of them commented, immediately putting his hand across his nose to block out the odor emanating from the room as he surveyed the place with the flashlight held in his hand

"It IS in here right?" Another man commented, his flashlight clutched tightly in his hand. Like the first man, and probably everyone else in the room, he was also irritated by the smell from the room, the first man was only one bold enough to voice it out. He didn't like this place one bit,and really hoped what they were after was in here.

"That's what the sources say, now quit your whining and let's get going." A third man said. eliciting a slight stir among the other men. .

"Why are we always tasked with doing the boss's dirty work. The boss could do this himself." The man who spoke first grumbled, he was visibly irritated, but there was nothing he could do about it

"Quit complaining! We've done worse in the past. Besides our mission this time is simple; retrieving the goods from here and ensuring it gets to the buyers safely." A fourth man, presumably the one in charge, roared. He was already used to his men's grumbling, even inspite of the fact that they had undertaken worse missions in the past and their current mission was rather less stressful.

"Besides why're you guys complaining?" He continued "It's not like we don't get paid everytime we do the job well" "Besides.." He went on, "... the boss said so himself, if we do this right, we get double of what he normally pays us"

As soon as the words fell out of his mouth, there was a joyous stir among the men, everyone chattered amongst themselves, marveling at how generous their boss really was.

"He really said that? Wow! Can't wait to get my own money!"

"Me too, and all for an easy mission like this? Is this package REALLY that important?"

"Who cares how important it is, as long as I get my money, that's all that matters."

"Yeah, I could finally get that money for child support."

The men continuously chattered among themselves,trying to ease the tension brought about by the darkness of the place. Eventually their chatters became too loud for their leader to bear.

"SHUT UP YOU LOT!" The leader ordered, everywhere going quiet almost immediately. He takes one look at each of his men, before continuing. " If you have time to chatter, then get to work, the sooner we find it, the sooner we get outta here, got it?"

With an air of finality, the leader successfully quieted the group as they made their way further into the dark, quiet, eerie looking warehouse

"This place is starting to give me the creeps" One of the men voiced out. Even though his voice was somewhat calm, there was a hint of fear laced within it.

"Scared? You could always tap out y'know. But then I get your bonus." Another man jokingly patted him on the shoulder with those words. The man who spoke earlier scoffed, he'd be damned if he didn't get that money.

"Haha..Screw you! I'm seeing this to the end."

With the following words, and his strength seemingly reinvigorated, he braced forward. His flashlight steady in his hand as he, along with the rest of the men, made their way further into the building. The building was pretty big, and wide too. He wondered how long it would take before they—

CREAK!

"Did you hear that?" one of them asked, point his flashlight agitatedly in the direction he felt the creaking sound came from

"Probably just the roofing." Another man dismissed, trying to pacify him. "This place is pretty old after all." He added

"Nah I think it's more than that." The man still sounded unconvinced. "It almost sounded like…"

"Hey have you guys seen Tom?" Another man pointed out. Tom was the one who had complained about doing the boss's dirty work. He had been behind them all this time as he was rather reluctant to enter the building in the first place

"Strange. I thought he followed us in?" The leader asked surprised, Tom had been the one to voice his complaint earlier, so where was he? He wondered. Something was not right

"He probably stayed outside after all." Another man said, making little of the matter in front of them. "That guy is such a coward…" He continued, annoyed at Tom's slacking off "... I'd ring him right now" He said, pulling out his cellphone to dial Tom's phone number.

RING! RING!!

As he pressed the call button, a loud ringing noise was heard, however, it didn't come from outside. The men were puzzled, where was Tom? They wondered. Tracing the ringing, they eventually found his phone not far from where they were, however Tom was still nowhere in sight. "Isn't that his …cell?" One of the men pointed out

"Okay.. now I'm getting a little freaked out" Another man stated, visibly shaken

"TOM!" The leader called out, hoping to receive an answer, but the only thing he could hear was the echo of his voice within the walls of the big warehouse. While the men combed the area in search of their partner, one of them stopped a short distance from where the ringing cellphone had been. With his dim flashlight, he noticed a stain of a crimson dark liquid on the floor

"Strange…" He thought, squatting down to observe the liquid better. Was that blood? He thought and in that instance, he began to fear the worst for his partner, Tom. "What could have…''Raising his flashlight upwards, he caught sight of Tom's lifeless body hanging from a cord as blood seeped out of it. And beside the gory sight was a pair of white eyes, belonging to something whose entire body was shrouded in the darkness.

"What the–"

WHOOSH!

Before the man could react, the creature lunged at him with incredible speed.grabbing him almost effortlessly and whisking him upwards

"AAAAHHHHH!!!" The man let out an excruciating scream of pain, alerting the rest of his comrades.

"SOMETHING'S IN HERE!!" One of the men raised an alarm

PA! PA! PA!

Almost immediately, the sound of gunshots filled the air as the men rained fire sporadically in attempt to pin down the creature. "Did we get it?" One of them asked as soon as they had run out of bullets.

Silence filled the room as they were unsure if the creature was dead or not. What was that thing? And how did–

WHOOSH!!

"URGH!!!" In the next breath, another one of the men was whisked away by the creature. "It's… not dead after all!" The leader thought, immediately realizing that this was a batte they could not win

"FALL BACK! EVERYBODY FALL BACK!! NOW!!" He ordered his men and turned tail almost immediately, running as fast as his legs could carry him. his men followed suit. The primary priority was getting out of here alive he thought as he made his way towards the entrance they came through

HUFF! HUFF!! HUFF!!!

Came the leaders exasperated breaths as he made it to the entrance. Finally. He thought, a sigh of relief escaping his lips. "We'd come back here tomorrow, in the daytime." he addressed his men, turning around to face them, However...

"What the...?"

He stared blankly, unable to believe his eyes. Staring back at him was the dark, empty void that was the old warehouse. His men were nowhere in sight.

He was the only one left...

"Oh,your men?" A voice, cold as the darkness, echoed from within the warehouse, a mirthless chuckle escaping It's lips " I disposed off them. No one's left but you."

PA! PA!

Pulling out a second gun, he pulled the trigger repeatedly, aiming at directions he felt the creature move in. After a few seconds,, he stopped, unsure if the creature was still alive or not, even then, he knew better than to let his guard down.

WHOOSH!

in a matter of seconds, the humanoid creature whooshed towards the man with incredible speed, barely leaving him room to react

WHACK!

it's right leg planted itself into the man's stomach, sending him crashing against a wooden table

CRASH!

The table toppled over, landing him on the ground with a light thud.

"ARGH!!..." He groaned, coughing up a mouthful of blood. " is that thing even human?" he thought, slowly crawling his way to the entrance. That was a kick? It felt more like a sledgehammer had be swung directly at his stomach. If it weren't for his bulletproof vest, he'd have been dead right now. He thought further, getting even more scared as he could hear the creatures footsteps behind him. Upon trying to crawl faster, he suddenly came face to face with the creature

How did it get in front of him? He barely saw it move. These and many other thoughts raced through his mind as he stared at the figure of the humanoid creature in front of him, his eyes slowly filling with dread as he finally got a good look at it for the first time.

It looked like the figure of a young man, who seemed to be wearing a black hood, which covered his face completely. Every part of his body was pitch black except his eyes, which were ghostly white and carried a cold look as he stared down at the human crawling for it's life beneath it

"Oh and as for the "goods" ?" The figure remarked sardonically, with a bit of emphasis on the word 'goods' "... They've been moved." His tone grew darker as he squatted, narrowing his cold, empty eyes at the man on the floor

"What?" The man said, not knowing when the word left his mouth. Moved? Had the boss known that? perhaps he had sent he and his men on a wild goose chase? He kept thinking, his head was spinning and he definitely wasn't sure he knew anything anymore. in a fit of rage, and confusion, he pulled out his gun

SWOOSH!

Before he could pull the trigger, the figure moved quickly, knocking the gun off his arm

CRACK!

With effortless ease, the figure bent the man's arm, snapping it like a twig.

"AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!" The man groaned, an inexplicable surge of pain washed over him.

"Hurts… doesn't it?" The figure asked. Not a shade of concern could be glimpsed in it's cold eyes.

"*Huff*... *Huff*..." The man panted repeatedly, trying his best to ignore the pain from his now broken arm. This thing DEFINITELY wasn't human "...What ...are you?" He managed to say

"Hmph" The humanoid creature smirked mirthlessly, taking off it's dark hood to reveal it's face to the man on the floor. Upon seeing the person's face, the man's eyes widened in shock.

"It… can't be!" He stuttered, his eyes reflecting terror. “But How? "You're supposed to be … dead!"

"You're right… I AM." The figure growled slowly, before lunging at the man with incredible speed.The sound of blood splattering and human screams filled the air, disrupting the quiet night, which went back to silence in a matter of seconds.

"One down." The figure muttered coldly, wiping the blood off the blade on his hand as he stared at the body of the now lifeless man in front of him. He had gotten what he wanted, it was now time to leave. With that thought in mind, The figure dissolved into the pitch black darkness.

He was gone...