Editor's note: this story contains scenes of non-consentual or reluctant sex.
Allie Green fancied herself to be a pretty good, not to mention artistic, photographer. Throughout high school, she would take pictures of herself and her friends at parties, like most teenage girls, but she'd also just wander around her town, taking more composed, artistic photos of whatever caught her eye - empty playground equipment, the view from her bus window, shoes that had been tied together and thrown over power lines - the usual things that all photographers thought were unique. But there was something particularly interesting about the abandoned military research facility in the woods just outside town.
Every time she'd drive past it on her trips to the city, the creepy, isolated building occupied her thoughts for the remainder of the trip. It sat just off the road, with no pretence about trying to hide the building, unlike with other top-secret facilities. Architecturally nothing more than a two-storey concrete box with windows and assorted aerials on the roof, it sat in the middle of a huge clearing of the forest, surrounded by a chicken-wire fence, topped with razor wire. The ground must have been contaminated somehow, as no grass or even weeds ever seemed to grow within a 10 foot radius outside the fence, leaving only dirt. The chains and padlock holding the gate closed had started to rust, leaving Allie with the impression that the facility had been abandoned since before she was even born. But what really attracted Allie to the place was the incredible vacuum of noise that seemed to surround the area.
Either side of the location was bustling with life - birds sang in trees, larger animals stalked their prey, nature was everywhere - but in the clearing, not one sound could be heard. The few occasions Allie had summoned the courage to step up to the gate, her footsteps on the ground were so...detailed. She could hear each pebble crunch between the earth and her sneakers and could almost hear each grain of sand fall from her shoe after each step. Even though that kind of atmosphere could never be captured in photos, Allie was still confident she could do the creepy place justice with her photography. So, after almost a lifetime of doing nothing except talking about it, one summery Saturday morning, Allie picked up her most expensive camera and equipment and set out for the long walk to the abandoned government facility, never to be seen again.
Sure, she could have driven, but it was such a beautiful day, and besides, long walks never bothered Allie, who had always been thin and energetic, much to the envy of her friends. She made short work of the hike, arriving at her destination a little over an hour after leaving home for the last time. As always, her footsteps were deafening on the hard ground, and her camera's shutter echoed for at least 10 seconds after each photo she took of the complex and its imposing, dangerous fence. But today, something was different about the lack of sound... Almost as if something was making a sound that she couldn't hear. Allie was in such a rush to leave home that morning that she had forgotten the blanket she'd planned to throw over the razor wire on her climb over the fence.
"Well, shit," she thought. Despite the rust, she knew the chains and padlock were still too strong to break, especially with her thin arms. Not wanting to give up now that she was finally here with all her equipment, Allie started circling the fence, hoping - praying - for a section that some other intrepid explorer had already peeled loose from the poles. With a huge sigh of relief, she found it. A corner of the fence had been ripped free of the supporting pole and Allie just managed to crawl through the small opening. Now that she was actually inside the barrier she always thought was impenetrable, Allie had no idea what to do next, it was almost overwhelming. She took a couple more photos (black and white, naturally) of the exterior on her way around to the front doors. They were seven-foot high and made of some kind of thick, grey metal. Knowing that she was pushing her luck and should probably just break a window, Allie tried pulling on one of the doors.
Astonishingly, the door creaked and groaned as it opened outward for the first time in years. Expecting darkness, Allie was instead greeted with a bright hallway, thanks to the generous windows surrounding the building.
Stepping inside, she let the door close behind her. The noise of the heavy metal door slamming ordinarily would have made Allie jump out of her skin, but she was just too damn excited and she barely heard it. Taking more photos of the abandoned building, she wandered room to room, amazed at the building's incredible emptiness. There were still a few desks and swivel chairs left in the offices, but whatever wasn't bolted down must have been taken when the facility was days away from closing. The photos Allie was taking probably would have gotten a few million hits on one of those "abandoned building" websites she went to. She was right in thinking that these were the best photos she'd ever taken - knowing she was alone allowed her to study and ensure each shot was perfectly framed and composed, just the right amount of light and shadow contrast, and a bit of depth-of-field play to make all the right things stand out. It really was a shame that nobody would ever see them. After about 20 minutes of taking photos and exploring, she heard it.
A faint, deep hum was coming from somewhere in the building. Allie knew she wasn't imagining it outside. Surely it was just some kind of generator, one that hasn't run out of petrol in... shit, 20 years? Well, whatever it was, the naturally curious Allie was determined to find whatever was making that odd, pulsing hum. Carefully treading closer towards the room with the hum, she knew it was on this floor. Which was good, because who knew if there were even steps up to the next floor. Her search led her to what must have been some kind of dining hall. It was a huge room, with enough aluminium tables and benches to seat at least 500 people, Allie calculated. Here, the noise was loudest, but as she searched, she still couldn't find its source. But it had found her, and was waiting for its moment. Soon, it found it.
Allie had just given up her search for the hum and turned to walk back to more interesting, creepy rooms when she spotted something in the corner of her eye. Something black that stood out against the silver and white of the dining hall. She turned to face it, and immediately wished she hadn't. She should have just ran. She should never have come in here. As she gazed at what can only be described as "the creature," in her mind she asked the government who had shut the place down "Oh shit, what were you doing here?"
In her 19 years of living what she considered a very full life, she had never seen anything like this before. It honestly hurt Allie's eyes and her mind to stare at the creature. It certainly was the source of the humming, but once she saw it, the humming (acting as some sort of demented siren's song) ceased. The creature itself appeared to take on several forms, depending on the angle and whether or not she had blinked. Sometimes it resembled a giant 10-legged spider, other times it was a sphere-like shape hovering above the ground, and still other times it looked more like a massive salamander with no tail. This was simply a trick of the human mind as it attempted to make sense of the horrible, alien form. However, throughout its shifting shapes, one thing remained constant: coating its skin (or perhaps instead of skin?) was a mass of black, slimy tentacles that writhed and undulated under and over each other like Medusa's hair.
