The Tomb | Teen Ink

The Tomb

October 3, 2019
By Anonymous

Twoheadedegg: I did it hoggy!!!11!!!!!!1!!

Hogjop11: You said that yesterday.

Twoheadedegg: Yesterday I was a retard. Today I’m as smart as einstien.

The_Wizard: It’s spelled Einstein. 

Flagfinder: cords or fake

Twoheadedegg: No cords, just general location.

The_Wizard: so nothing new as always.

The_Wizard: fucking applaud this man, boys

Flagfinder:*claps*

Hogjop11: Anything more specific about this general area?

Twoheadedegg: I’m glad you asked.

Twoheadedegg: The answer is….

Twoheadedegg: Drumroll please….

Flagfinder: just say it already

Hogjop11: say it

Twoheadedegg: You guys are no fun. It’s out south of Casper Mountain. If you went to the peak and drew a straight line southeast you’d find it within 20 miles.

The_Wizard: that’s only a huge area to search

Flagfinder: not to mention hard to get to

The_Wizard: see egghead, this is what we mean when we say you aren’t good enough

Flagfinder: we’ve got me to disable the system, hoggy to find the damn thing, wiz to get all we need out there, and you. you are nothing.

Twoheadedegg: Shut up! I’ve done more for you all than you’ve done for me so far. Anyway none of you matter. You up for searching the area Hog?

Hogjop11: Well seeing as I’ve been meaning to quit, my family needs money, and I want to live in an underground bunker with you guys. Not to mention how much I’ve prepared myself for searching an

Hogjop11: *and how ready to claim my rightful inheritance from the old man I am…

Flagfinder: nobody likes paragraphs here hogface

Hogjop11: Yes I’ll start tomorrow.

 


10/5/38:


The forest was slowly getting darker. The road was completely empty and the sun had finally set low enough to stay out of Greg’s eyes. After a long day of searching he had still found nothing. They had promised an old abandoned cabin with a large tomb underneath it. In the middle of the woods off the most beaten trail it would stand, but barely. One wall would be collapsed in from a branch and the other three would be slowly rotting. There would be an old mattress and an older stone oven filled with various dents inside. There would also be a pannell. It would take time, the lock on it was the newest thing about the cabin afterall, but Greg could pick it eventually. Once he did he could climb underneath the ruin and see the worlds most modern tomb. Inside lay Fredrich Dobson. A former rich and paranoid man typical of the top 5% in his time, now known to be undeserving of his vast wealth. Vast wealth the psycho had converted into gold and stored away for his corpse to enjoy. 


The tomb would be a sight to behold once Greg entered. Large lead doors hooked up to even larger machines protected Dobson from the outside world. Past the doors was an underground mansion. Complete with robotic servants to guard and maintain it Dobsons slowly rotting body would have all the amenities the man had in life. Except now it was all useless to him. The old ungrateful man had no use of an automated farm and food production plant, no use of his media center said to contain every song, book, movie, show, and game in the world, no use for his vast amount of wealth in gold, but Greg did. Greg finally reached the town then drove straight to the motel. In his room he had a minifridge and a microwave. Enough to make dinner. He settled in for a night watching whatever was on TV and thought more of the next day. 

 

10/6/38


The next morning Greg woke up in the afternoon. Less time to search more time to sleep. It was a sacrifice he had began to make more and more often. As Greg once again packed his gear, started his car, and began the drive out to the forest he could only think of the old cabin. He had found an old cabin a month ago. Not the right one, but interesting nonetheless. It had all four walls up and looked halfway livable. He still pulled up all the floorboards over a day looking for the entrance. He still scouted out the area looking for the old dented stove and mattress. He almost moved into that cabin that night. He would eventually if he had to. Once his money ran out. For now though it was cheap prepackaged food and a motel room that had begun to feel more like home than the old house his wife insisted he buy for her and the kids ever did. He didn’t miss her much anymore. They didn’t reach out anymore. Greg had made a happy family.


Greg got out of his car and dug his pack out of the back seat. He picked up a large stick off the side of the parking lot and walked onto the trail. Within an hour he was off of said trail and onto his own. He navigated the forest through markings he had made days before on trees following a different sort of path. By now though he knew where he was. He had scouted this particular area for the past week. He could still get disoriented easily enough, but as long as he kept the idea of his way in his head he was fine. 


The sun rose and the sun began to set. But this time when it did Greg was still deep in the forest. He was hiking back along his marked trail, but this time was different. After about half an hour he realized he couldn’t see another marked tree. By now the sun was down and his eyes had adjusted to the low light. Looking around at the unfamiliar trees Greg realized he was stuck until morning at least. He sighed, grabbed his flashlight, and decided to look for somewhere to set up shelter. He didn’t have many supplies to get him through an overnight. Not even a blanket like twoheadedegg had told him to pack. As he walked in a direction he was positive wasn’t northwest like he needed to go he saw a silhouette in the distance. As his light hit it he began to think he had lucked out. The old cabin. Four walls and a roof. Good enough to last a night and the next day he could just go back. As Greg rounded the cabin he saw something peculiar though. The fourth wall was missing. His hopes now exponentially high he shone his flashlight around the room to reveal a mold covered mattress and a dented old stove.


Greg was the happiest he’d ever been. Immediately his mind jumped to his family. They would have a home again. His Alice would love him. His boys could learn survival in the woods by day and play games in the media center all night. Greg dropped his light and threw down his pack then started furiously searching for the lock. After kicking around some leaves and twigs he found it. It was unlocked and a foot away from the entrance. Greg paused. It was supposed to be kept shut. Nobody was supposed to know of it. He wasn’t alone.


Greg stepped back and took a moment to think. Right now he was thoroughly lost. He wouldn’t be able to retrace the way back to his path until at least morning and even that would be a challenge. Inside he might be able to find a map and get out or ask for help, but he might also get caught by the security system or intruder. There was always the option of sleeping on the old moldy mattress, waiting for morning, contacting the others, resupplying, and then returning. Although if he did that he would actually have to tell them the location. Then wait as they got their own things together and wait more for them to come out. His wife wouldn’t understand and he couldn’t put his children at risk. No, Greg had  to do this alone. Briefly considering once more the option of the mattress Greg took a deep breath and opened the hatch. 


Below him was a simple metal ladder. It went too deep for him to see the bottom, but when he shown his flashlight over he was greeted by the horrific sight of a rotting corpse. Whoever it was looked old. His initial assumption was that it was Fredrich Dobson himself, unable to even reach his proper burial ground. Having no better option Greg descended. The smell was horrific and even covering his nose with his shirt wouldn’t help, but a smell couldn’t be what kept Greg from his new home. 


FInally after almost vomiting onto the old mans corpse Greg got off the ladder. Before him wasn’t a locked lead door. Instead there was a pristine hallway. Fluorescent lights shown above him and reflected off the clean white tiles. To either side of him were white walls lined with metal doors and a long handrail. At the end of the hallway was one final door. There was no map, no indication of what might lead to what, no homey feeling as he had expected. Just a long hallway that eerily reminded him of a hospital. Greg stepped in then looked behind him for a way to close himself off from the corpse. Fortunately he found the activation for the lead door and with the press of a button it shot out from a gap in the wall and locked him in the tomb. Suddenly he remembered, the security system. He didn’t know what it was, but he had to shut it off if he had any hope of staying there long term. He’d also need to remove the corpse, but that could happen later. For now the security system. He dug out a J drive from his backpack and looked for anything to plug it into. 

The door activation was just a pannel with two buttons to control it. One for open and close and another for lock. Along the hallway he didn’t see any other panels or buttons. He also didn’t see any security robots, cameras, or traps, but there had to be something somewhere. Greg decided to start with the closest of five doors on his left and go around until he found what he needed. 


Stepping up to the door and pulling on the handle revealed it to be unlocked and opening it revealed a kitchen complete with an empty fridge, breakfast nook, electric stove, empty walk in pantry, and all the utensils, pots, and pans Greg’s family would need. It also had three exits. He chose the one to his immediate left and walked into a luxurious dining room. It had a table fifteen feet long lined with plush dining chairs and already somewhat set. He was somewhat bothered by the lack of food but assumed there was a storage room near. The next door took him to a more moderate dining room. Smaller table meant for 4-6 and a light up above. The final door took him to a room with a long couch and coffee table to match. In front of the couch was a nice looking TV. Fredrich had made a place to eat in any way he felt like. Wondering where the storage was Greg moved back to the hallway and onto the next door to the left. 


This door took him to a hallway lined with rooms. One large bathroom complete with a jacuzzi, shower, and two sinks, and multiple bedrooms. The master bedroom had a king sized bed with a plaque on the end talking of Fredrich’s life and his wish to be left alone for eternity in his tomb. Greg barely skimmed it before moving on. The last door at the end of the hallway wouldn’t open no matter how much Greg pushed and pulled on it so after a few minutes waster effort he was forced to move onto the doors on the right wall. The first he tried opened up to an elaborate bar. Booths and tabled lined the edges of the walls and in the center was a pool table lined with intricate carvings. At the far end of the room was a bar, completely unstocked except for a single glass container of brown liquid. Greg approached and pulled the lid off the bottle only to learn that somehow the liquid was completely scentless. After a brief consideration he decided to save the liquid for later and examine the final room. 


In the final room he found the mechanisms and machinery keeping the tomb functioning. Here he found the port he needed and plugged in his prepared J drive to the most central looking computer. Luckily everything was already on for him and all he had to do was wait. Then he heard a beep. The lights went off. Guided by the light of the still on computer Greg found his flashlight and decided the malfunction was just part of the process. A loading bar appeared on the screen at a measly 1% and upon seeing how long it would take Greg lost all the adrenaline that had kept him awake. He picked up his pack and shoved his way through the doors and into Fredrich’s tomb so he could finally sleep.


10/7/38


The next morning the lights were still off. In fact the entire tomb was dark and quiet. He hadn’t noticed it before but there had been the buzz of the air conditioning and a light thumping coming from somewhere. Now it was dark. Greg fished out his flashlight and went to get the tomb up and running again. Now he just had to figure out where he was and his plans would be complete. Greg had to push his way through the doors now as whatever mechanism had helped him open them was gone. He first checked the computer room where he found every machine off. He pulled out the drive and cursed Flagfinder for his inability to make a good, working program. Giving up on finding a good meal before he left, Greg went back to the main hallway and pushed on the unbudging exit. Whatever mechanism had previously been on and previously helped to move the heavy lead door was off. Immediately Greg shoved open every door in the tomb and began to search. Somewhere, somehow there had to be a way to turn on the door. 


10/8/38


There wasn’t. Greg woke up in a cold sweat on the floor of the hallway. He was dehydrated, cold, and would do anything to leave and never come back. Slowly he forced himself up and against the wall. Once again he started to bang on the door.


10/10/38


It hurt. Greg was collapsed on Fredrich Dobson’s bed. His throat burned and his limbs were sore at his side. He stared up at the ceiling and wondered if whoever found the tomb next would mistake him for Fredrich. Greg Dobson had really, finally done it. Maybe his wife was right.


1/1/39


The_Wizard: Happy new year!

Flagfinder: only if you’re on the east coast

Twoheadedegg: Ain’t the same without Hogface. 

Flagfinder: it will be better soon

Flagfinder: i think i found another

The_Wizard: About time

Twoheadedegg: This time I’ll be going out too. Can’t shake the feeling Hoggy was more of a pig then he let on.

The_Wizard: Good, the more men on the ground the better

Flagfinder: well lets hope you like him then

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