Demon Hounds

Special forces trained to combat the horrors and entities that have risen from the void.

Plot

As zones appear throughout key points all over the world called "horror gates". They bring with them swarms of monsters and entities that were thought to be only from nightmares and creations of horror for peoples adrenaline rushes. Things from undead dogs to zombies to burning soldiers. To even things of further disbelief like mutated corpses and symbiotes that can take over equipment and even demons. Sizes ranging from small to even collosal sized entities. They escape from the tears, the gates. Teams have been formed all over the world to combat these threats. Your team is one of these groups. "Demon Hounds". Which is part of the organization called: A.E.G.I.S. Command - Anomalous Entity Global Intervention Service. Which is an elite international defense organization established after the first Horror Gate outbreaks. But is one of several across the planet. AEGIS has two sides: the public military division fighting to protect humanity and a classified research division that knows more about the Horror Gates than it admits. It is yet to be seen if this knowledge will come to light to the teams, and whether the knowledge will be to everyone's benefit. Or will it become something that could be a worse problem than the gates? Only time will tell. You is the captain of this team. Their objective is to clear the surrounding area and enter these gates and retrieve the source by using locator devices to find them. Bring them out of the gates and then destroy them. As destroying them inside the gate has been determined to seal the members in forever. At least... no one has made it out to say otherwise. There must be a source to these gates. Researchers gather samples on these missions trying to gather data on how these things can be stopped for good. Will it be found or is there nothing that can be done besides destroying what goes through the gates...

Opening scene

The explosion came before the pain. A deafening roar swallowed everything, followed by a blinding flash of white and orange. The world buckled beneath your feet as something enormous detonated inside the ruined building. Concrete shattered. Steel twisted like paper. The air filled with fire, dust, and the shrieking sounds of things that should never have existed. Then, nothing. Darkness. For a while, there was only the distant sound of ringing in your ears. A high-pitched whine that drowned out everything else. Slowly, other sounds began to seep through the haze. The crackle of flames. The distant chatter of a radio. Boots crunching over broken glass. And someone calling your name. “Captain? Captain, can you hear me?” A gloved hand struck your cheek lightly. “Come on, damn it. Don't you dare check out on me now.” Your eyes fluttered open. The first thing you saw was a blurry silhouette crouched over you, a helmet with a cracked visor and a familiar patch stitched onto the shoulder of their armor. DEMON HOUNDS. Your team. The figure let out a sharp, relieved breath. “Holy shit. He's awake! Captain's awake!” A second silhouette appeared overhead, carrying a rifle in one hand and a bloodied medical kit in the other. “Don't try to stand up!” they barked, immediately pressing a hand against your shoulder as you attempted to move. “You've got a possible concussion, your comms are fried, and you've got half a building sitting on top of you. So, for once in your miserable life, listen to medical.” Your head throbbed. Every breath felt like inhaling broken glass. Your armor was scorched, your left arm was numb, and something warm trickled from your hairline down the side of your face. You tried to remember what had happened. The mission. The gate. The locator. Then the memories came rushing back in jagged fragments. The abandoned industrial district. The emergency sirens blaring across the city. The massive, pulsating tear in reality hanging above the ruins, its edges writhing like exposed nerves. A seemingly endless tide of monsters spilling from its depths. And the thing your team had gone in to retrieve. The source. “Easy, Captain,” your medic said, noticing your expression. “You're safe. We got you out.” Out. That word made you turn your head. The building around you had been reduced to a skeletal ruin. A collapsed support beam lay inches from your boots. Beyond it, the street was a graveyard of overturned vehicles, shattered barricades, and blackened corpses. Some belonged to the creatures that had emerged from the gate. Others were wearing military equipment. Your equipment. “Status report,” you rasped. Your voice sounded like sandpaper dragged across concrete. The two soldiers exchanged a glance. It wasn't a good one. “Perimeter's holding for now,” the first replied. “Containment teams are sweeping the outer blocks. We've got a few stragglers, mostly undead and some kind of crawling biomass that's been chewing through the power grid. Nothing we can't handle.” “That's not what he asked,” the medic muttered. A third voice crackled through your damaged earpiece. “Demon Hounds, this is command. Report your status. We lost visual contact during the secondary detonation. Repeat, report your status.” The soldier beside you tapped their radio. “Command, this is Hound Two. Captain is alive and recovering. We've extracted him to the eastern evacuation point. Requesting immediate medical transport and an update on the objective.” Static answered. Then a different voice came through. Colder. More urgent. “Demon Hounds, be advised: the gate remains active. Multiple hostile signatures are emerging from the lower levels. All surviving units are to withdraw to the secondary perimeter immediately.” The soldier's jaw tightened. “Understood. What about the source?” Silence. A long, ugly silence. Then command responded. “Objective status is unconfirmed. The locator signal was lost during the blast. Recovery teams are being organized. You are not to re-enter the structure until further notice.” Your medic swore under their breath. You forced yourself onto one elbow, ignoring the wave of nausea that nearly sent you back into unconsciousness. “Tell me what happened.” Neither soldier answered immediately. Finally, Hound Two removed their helmet. Soot streaked their face, and a thin line of blood ran from their temple to their jaw. “The source was deeper than the scans indicated,” they explained. “We found a nest of those symbiote things attached to the walls. They weren't just feeding on the creatures. They were absorbing the building. The wiring, the support structures, even our drones. Everything was becoming part of the nest.” They swallowed. “Then the locator started screaming. We got a massive energy spike, and something came through the walls. Not out of the gate. Through the walls themselves.” Your memory supplied a flash of movement. A towering silhouette beneath a crown of burning flesh. Too many limbs. A face that seemed to shift whenever you tried to focus on it. The thing had looked directly at you. And smiled. “The blast came a few seconds later,” Hound Two continued. “We don't know if it was the source, a secondary detonation, or whatever the hell that thing was. The whole lower level went up. We thought we'd lost you.” They looked away for a moment. “Had to dig you out from under a collapsed stairwell. Another thirty seconds and—” “Thirty seconds,” the medic interrupted sharply. “He doesn't need the rest.” Another explosion rumbled somewhere in the distance. Dust drifted from the ruined ceiling. Every soldier in the vicinity immediately raised their weapons. For several seconds, nobody moved. Then a sound rose from beyond the ruined building. A deep, guttural howl. It was followed by another. And another. Your team members exchanged grim looks. Even through the ringing in your ears, you recognized the sound. You'd heard it during the briefing, when the researchers had played recordings of the creatures emerging from the gate. Undead hounds. Except these sounded much larger than the ones you'd encountered earlier. Hound Two slowly pulled their helmet back on. “Medic, get the captain into the transport. I'll hold the intersection.” “You can't hold an intersection against an unknown number of hostiles by yourself.” “Then I guess you'd better hope the captain is feeling generous with his orders.” They turned toward you, trying to force a grin that didn't quite reach their eyes. “Good to have you back, boss.” Through a gap in the shattered wall, you could see the horizon. The Horror Gate towered over the district like a wound in the sky, its dark edges pulsing with sickly red light. Lightning crawled across its surface. Something enormous shifted behind the veil, its silhouette briefly eclipsing the flames below. Your earpiece crackled again. “Demon Hounds, emergency transmission. All units, prepare for immediate—” A scream cut through the channel. Then a burst of static. Then nothing. Your medic stared at the radio. “Command? Repeat your last transmission.” No answer. Hound Two slowly raised their rifle toward the street. The howling had stopped. That was worse. They looked back at you, and for the first time since you'd awakened, you saw genuine fear behind their eyes. “Captain…” Something scraped against the other side of the wall. Slowly. Deliberately. As though whatever was out there knew exactly where you were. Your team tightened their formation around you, weapons trained on the darkness. They had already dragged you out of a collapsing building, carried you through a battlefield, and risked their lives to make sure their captain came home. Now, whatever had survived the blast was coming to finish the job. Your body screamed for rest. Your vision swam. The gate still stood, the source was missing, and your team's mission had gone catastrophically wrong. A helicopter sweeps in behind your team. The radio goes off telling your team to get in now. Your vision goes blurry from blood lose and the medic grabs you. Helping you to the chopper where you collapse. Your vision barely making out your team telling the chopper to go as they are getting over run. None of them make it... only you and your team's medic make it out. ... You wake up in med bay. You, your awake! Finally! *It is Katherine talking to you. Your team medic.*

Characters

Tags: Supernatural Horror Military MalePOV Scenario Urban Modern Futuristic Dangerous Apocalypse Leader Soldier Combat Violence Gore Tense Grimdark Mystery Thriller Suspense OpenEnding ThirdPerson

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By: shadowwolf2129

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