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Description
Chapter 4: The Choking Man and the Hand

"Damn it, it's locked."

The fire alchemist tried to open the heavy door behind him, but it was in vain. He must find another way out once he rescued the woman in distress. The yells and screams of this poor damsel in distress continued as he silently followed behind the arranged and well placed wooden boxes.

The warehouse was populated by small crates and huge metallic containers about twice his height or even more. However, they weren't the important thing at the moment.

The woman's pleas echoed back and forth from the warehouse's walls, before they finally ceased after a loud noise. When Roy found the back door, he could barely hear anything from the wooden door. Thinking of his reward, the colonel took out his revolver and prepared himself for the danger ahead. In front of the door, he used the weight of his body to lunge himself in the room. The door immediately succumbed to the colonel's attack and presented only darkness.

In the dark room, he couldn't hear the woman's voice; he feared the worst. To add salt to the wound, his ears heard a strange muffled sound coming from - what appeared at first glance - a sitting man with something sharp in both hands ready to strike downwards.

"Army! Drop your weapons, now!" he yelled to the faint shade in the shadows.

There was a heavy silence. The room was filled with nothing more than the colonel's deep breaths and stranger's muffled voice. The assailant's breathing had something wrong to it and somehow reminded him of squashing meat. The mysterious attacker in the shadow got up from its sitting position and slowly turned its head toward the alchemist, still holding the knives in its hands, but now the sharp edge was in front of it at the level of its neck. Finally, the shade moved, but its footsteps were sloppy and they were heavy when they hit the cement ground.

"Don't move or I'll shoot!" he tried to intimidate toward the shade.

However, his words fell on deaf ears. The shade made another step and Roy remained in his position ready to shoot and kill the figure. The few rays of light finally revealed the assailant's weapons. They weren't knives; it was a sharp-edged disc at its neck level and it was attached to its throat. Caught by surprise and terror, Roy took several steps back, his eyes wide open to the horror and his heart was racing. He was out of the room and so was the shade.

No... He couldn't describe it as a shade, but now only as a repulsive monster.

It was taller than Roy and it was slim, almost anorexic. The arms were wrapped in blue and blood-stained clothes. It didn't take long for the colonel to figure out it was the Army's uniform ripped apart becoming this thing's clothing. Its head was bald with no eyes or nose to speak of; he could only see the depths of the body parts on its humanoid face. The mouth was open to the limit of the thing's muscles as a black mass was formed into its mouth. Its skin was rotten and rusty, must be the consequences for having this heavy and dirty disk attached around its neck. The disk in mention was some kind of a nightmarish design; barb wires were stitched to the monster's skin to maintain the heavy disk on the creature's shoulder. The disk's edge was recently sharpened and the utility of it was left to the colonel's imagination.

Roy's fingers were having a troubled time to keep the gun in his possession. The monster in front of him was beyond his imagination and its repulsive appearance was without a doubt making him afraid. He couldn't speak or let a sound out his mouth, as he thought of something horrible; is it one of Samuel's victims? On the shock, the monster tried to lunge its body at the alchemist. He had very little time to evade, but the colonel moved away at the last second. However, the disk surrounding the monster's neck managed to slightly cut his cheek. He didn't feel anything and immediately opened fire on the monster. He directly hit the thing in its chest two times and the miserable monster fell on the ground with the cutting disk hitting the floor first followed by its fragile body as its head was suspended in the air by the disk.

Roy took a minute to reclaim his calm, but he could barely find it. The adrenaline rushed through his veins and his instincts made him shoot the monster. To Roy, this thing was a monster from a demented man's nightmares. It was somewhat human, but did he or she knew who it was or not? Probably not, he or she must have lost its mind once transmutated, maybe.

Roy approached the thing and when he got close to it, he put his unarmed hand on his nostrils and mouth to block the smell. The poor victim smelt horrible as it must have being in this state for years. The monster had that common smell from dead and decaying bodies, but there was something more into it. It smelt like burning flesh. Something within Roy's mind was then triggered and his stomach forced him to withdraw, to empty his stomach behind some crates.

"Wh-... Just what's going on?" he whispered to himself as he cleaned his mouth with his sleeve. "Manuel told they were all dead. So how could it be alive?"

The alchemist knew that from here, things must just be getting worse, but he had to find a way out of this bad place. With a deep breath of fresh air and some courage, he passed by the smelly corpse and entered the darkened room. When he entered, he tried the circuit breaker; it wasn't lighting the room. The electricity was out of service, making it impossible for the alchemist to see other than vague shadows. Roy tried to find something he could light to make a homemade torch or something, but instead his luck smiled on him. Thanks to the small rays of light, they showed him a usual object: a lantern. He opened the small glass door and tried to use his alchemy to light it. After a couple of times, a tiny flame appeared inside the lantern and grew by the seconds.

It was than he could saw the room and the biggest missing element. There was no one else. He remembered clearly seeing two human forms entering the room. Furthermore, the monster couldn't be the assailant; its arms were wrapped up in those bloody, blue clothes and seemed stuck in it. Therefore, it was impossible to drag the woman in the room. The veteran was confused, but he tried to remain focus on his new objective: finding a way out of this warehouse.

He was searching the room when he found notes left by the warehouse's warden and a town map, which he gladly took, under the notes. The notes of the warden were unreadable; it was equivalent of a child's imaginary language. The only few words he could read were: 'Dogs', 'prison', 'Manuel' and 'Samantha'. Without a concept, he couldn't clearly understand the meaning of the words, but it was enough to know that the warden knew General Manuel and a certain Samantha, whoever she was. When he put down the useless notes, he heard a small noise to his feet. He looked down and took the small object to his feet. It was a bunch of small identical keys. They have been in the end of the notes or between two pages he hasn't read.

Each key had a two letters on them; LA, RA, LL, LG, H. It must be a code, but the alchemist couldn't think of anything.

"I should keep them. With a bit of luck one of them would open the entrance door." With that in mind, he took the lit lantern and walked to the locked door.

He was mad; none of the small keys would open the door. What's worse was that they all fit in, but none unlocked the heavy door. Frustrated, he had only one option in hand, literally. After putting one of his gloves on, he snapped his fingers together and a stronger alchemy reaction back than the warden's room was triggered. A burst of flame hit the door, but to his unluckiness it didn't move an inch and there was no scratch. He was about to do it again, when he was stopped by a noise. It sounded like growls, canine snarl. He turned to the sound, but didn't see anything even if the growls continued. He removed his gloves and replaced it with his gun. Armed, the snarls stopped and the colonel's mind flashed him an important conclusion of a disastrous event.

"I must find another way," he said after accepting the mistake he just committed.

It was stupid; he knew it, but he also was reminded by his conscious of the risk of using his alchemy in an enclosed place. He could make something catch on fire and the warehouse was completely locked down. If the place was about to burn down, he wanted it to burn without him. Maybe it was due to his emotion that blinded him of the consequences of his alchemy, but the warehouse hadn't caught on fire and he was still breathing. He decided to look around the warehouse to find another exit.

He looked around for anything with the locks to match with the keys he found. He walked around and searched for any locked up crates or containers, even a door would be the best outcome. Thankfully, it didn't took him long to find the specific locked, metallic, and large container. There were five locks on it, all linked to one another by many chains to keep the door closed. Roy took the bunch of keys and started to guess. To his joy, it didn't take long and the large container was free from its bonds. He grabbed the door's handle and with his strength he struggled to open the heavy door.

Once opened, nothing seemed out of the ordinary within the container. However once he used the lantern to chase the darkness, something stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Nothing..."

There was absolutely nothing inside the container. No dust, no boxes, no items or furniture, nothing. Roy wasn't going to go inside the container since nothing caught his eye and it was apparently useless to get inside. He wasted precious time to only find an empty space. He sighed of frustration and turned down the flame of his lantern.

Then, something grabbed his leg.

"What the...?" he shouted out by surprise and fear.

He didn't see what the attacker was, but it was impossible that it could be a human. The gray hand was gigantic and its grasp was holding his entire leg. The sudden grab more than surprised the colonel as he lost his balance and hit the floor. The hand started to drag him within the container.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!"

Panicked, the colonel held on the door's edges. The hand tried to pull harder, but the colonel wasn't going to let go easily. However, the thing squeezed its hand harder and he could have sworn all his leg's bones shattered. He let out an ear-piercing scream as the pain coursed through his body, forcing him to let go of his safeguard. The hand finally gave a last swing and the alchemist's entire body was within the container. His screams for help could be heard from the metallic box's gap, but no one could help him. The doors closed behind him, leaving no trace of his existence in the warehouse.

*****

Thank you to WargishBoromirFan for the beta-reading.

Description
Chapter 4: The Choking Man and the Hand

"Damn it, it's locked."

The fire alchemist tried to open the heavy door behind him, but it was in vain. He must find another way out once he rescued the woman in distress. The yells and screams of this poor damsel in distress continued as he silently followed behind the arranged and well placed wooden boxes.

The warehouse was populated by small crates and huge metallic containers about twice his height or even more. However, they weren't the important thing at the moment.

The woman's pleas echoed back and forth from the warehouse's walls, before they finally ceased after a loud noise. When Roy found the back door, he could barely hear anything from the wooden door. Thinking of his reward, the colonel took out his revolver and prepared himself for the danger ahead. In front of the door, he used the weight of his body to lunge himself in the room. The door immediately succumbed to the colonel's attack and presented only darkness.

In the dark room, he couldn't hear the woman's voice; he feared the worst. To add salt to the wound, his ears heard a strange muffled sound coming from - what appeared at first glance - a sitting man with something sharp in both hands ready to strike downwards.

"Army! Drop your weapons, now!" he yelled to the faint shade in the shadows.

There was a heavy silence. The room was filled with nothing more than the colonel's deep breaths and stranger's muffled voice. The assailant's breathing had something wrong to it and somehow reminded him of squashing meat. The mysterious attacker in the shadow got up from its sitting position and slowly turned its head toward the alchemist, still holding the knives in its hands, but now the sharp edge was in front of it at the level of its neck. Finally, the shade moved, but its footsteps were sloppy and they were heavy when they hit the cement ground.

"Don't move or I'll shoot!" he tried to intimidate toward the shade.

However, his words fell on deaf ears. The shade made another step and Roy remained in his position ready to shoot and kill the figure. The few rays of light finally revealed the assailant's weapons. They weren't knives; it was a sharp-edged disc at its neck level and it was attached to its throat. Caught by surprise and terror, Roy took several steps back, his eyes wide open to the horror and his heart was racing. He was out of the room and so was the shade.

No... He couldn't describe it as a shade, but now only as a repulsive monster.

It was taller than Roy and it was slim, almost anorexic. The arms were wrapped in blue and blood-stained clothes. It didn't take long for the colonel to figure out it was the Army's uniform ripped apart becoming this thing's clothing. Its head was bald with no eyes or nose to speak of; he could only see the depths of the body parts on its humanoid face. The mouth was open to the limit of the thing's muscles as a black mass was formed into its mouth. Its skin was rotten and rusty, must be the consequences for having this heavy and dirty disk attached around its neck. The disk in mention was some kind of a nightmarish design; barb wires were stitched to the monster's skin to maintain the heavy disk on the creature's shoulder. The disk's edge was recently sharpened and the utility of it was left to the colonel's imagination.

Roy's fingers were having a troubled time to keep the gun in his possession. The monster in front of him was beyond his imagination and its repulsive appearance was without a doubt making him afraid. He couldn't speak or let a sound out his mouth, as he thought of something horrible; is it one of Samuel's victims? On the shock, the monster tried to lunge its body at the alchemist. He had very little time to evade, but the colonel moved away at the last second. However, the disk surrounding the monster's neck managed to slightly cut his cheek. He didn't feel anything and immediately opened fire on the monster. He directly hit the thing in its chest two times and the miserable monster fell on the ground with the cutting disk hitting the floor first followed by its fragile body as its head was suspended in the air by the disk.

Roy took a minute to reclaim his calm, but he could barely find it. The adrenaline rushed through his veins and his instincts made him shoot the monster. To Roy, this thing was a monster from a demented man's nightmares. It was somewhat human, but did he or she knew who it was or not? Probably not, he or she must have lost its mind once transmutated, maybe.

Roy approached the thing and when he got close to it, he put his unarmed hand on his nostrils and mouth to block the smell. The poor victim smelt horrible as it must have being in this state for years. The monster had that common smell from dead and decaying bodies, but there was something more into it. It smelt like burning flesh. Something within Roy's mind was then triggered and his stomach forced him to withdraw, to empty his stomach behind some crates.

"Wh-... Just what's going on?" he whispered to himself as he cleaned his mouth with his sleeve. "Manuel told they were all dead. So how could it be alive?"

The alchemist knew that from here, things must just be getting worse, but he had to find a way out of this bad place. With a deep breath of fresh air and some courage, he passed by the smelly corpse and entered the darkened room. When he entered, he tried the circuit breaker; it wasn't lighting the room. The electricity was out of service, making it impossible for the alchemist to see other than vague shadows. Roy tried to find something he could light to make a homemade torch or something, but instead his luck smiled on him. Thanks to the small rays of light, they showed him a usual object: a lantern. He opened the small glass door and tried to use his alchemy to light it. After a couple of times, a tiny flame appeared inside the lantern and grew by the seconds.

It was than he could saw the room and the biggest missing element. There was no one else. He remembered clearly seeing two human forms entering the room. Furthermore, the monster couldn't be the assailant; its arms were wrapped up in those bloody, blue clothes and seemed stuck in it. Therefore, it was impossible to drag the woman in the room. The veteran was confused, but he tried to remain focus on his new objective: finding a way out of this warehouse.

He was searching the room when he found notes left by the warehouse's warden and a town map, which he gladly took, under the notes. The notes of the warden were unreadable; it was equivalent of a child's imaginary language. The only few words he could read were: 'Dogs', 'prison', 'Manuel' and 'Samantha'. Without a concept, he couldn't clearly understand the meaning of the words, but it was enough to know that the warden knew General Manuel and a certain Samantha, whoever she was. When he put down the useless notes, he heard a small noise to his feet. He looked down and took the small object to his feet. It was a bunch of small identical keys. They have been in the end of the notes or between two pages he hasn't read.

Each key had a two letters on them; LA, RA, LL, LG, H. It must be a code, but the alchemist couldn't think of anything.

"I should keep them. With a bit of luck one of them would open the entrance door." With that in mind, he took the lit lantern and walked to the locked door.

He was mad; none of the small keys would open the door. What's worse was that they all fit in, but none unlocked the heavy door. Frustrated, he had only one option in hand, literally. After putting one of his gloves on, he snapped his fingers together and a stronger alchemy reaction back than the warden's room was triggered. A burst of flame hit the door, but to his unluckiness it didn't move an inch and there was no scratch. He was about to do it again, when he was stopped by a noise. It sounded like growls, canine snarl. He turned to the sound, but didn't see anything even if the growls continued. He removed his gloves and replaced it with his gun. Armed, the snarls stopped and the colonel's mind flashed him an important conclusion of a disastrous event.

"I must find another way," he said after accepting the mistake he just committed.

It was stupid; he knew it, but he also was reminded by his conscious of the risk of using his alchemy in an enclosed place. He could make something catch on fire and the warehouse was completely locked down. If the place was about to burn down, he wanted it to burn without him. Maybe it was due to his emotion that blinded him of the consequences of his alchemy, but the warehouse hadn't caught on fire and he was still breathing. He decided to look around the warehouse to find another exit.

He looked around for anything with the locks to match with the keys he found. He walked around and searched for any locked up crates or containers, even a door would be the best outcome. Thankfully, it didn't took him long to find the specific locked, metallic, and large container. There were five locks on it, all linked to one another by many chains to keep the door closed. Roy took the bunch of keys and started to guess. To his joy, it didn't take long and the large container was free from its bonds. He grabbed the door's handle and with his strength he struggled to open the heavy door.

Once opened, nothing seemed out of the ordinary within the container. However once he used the lantern to chase the darkness, something stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Nothing..."

There was absolutely nothing inside the container. No dust, no boxes, no items or furniture, nothing. Roy wasn't going to go inside the container since nothing caught his eye and it was apparently useless to get inside. He wasted precious time to only find an empty space. He sighed of frustration and turned down the flame of his lantern.

Then, something grabbed his leg.

"What the...?" he shouted out by surprise and fear.

He didn't see what the attacker was, but it was impossible that it could be a human. The gray hand was gigantic and its grasp was holding his entire leg. The sudden grab more than surprised the colonel as he lost his balance and hit the floor. The hand started to drag him within the container.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!"

Panicked, the colonel held on the door's edges. The hand tried to pull harder, but the colonel wasn't going to let go easily. However, the thing squeezed its hand harder and he could have sworn all his leg's bones shattered. He let out an ear-piercing scream as the pain coursed through his body, forcing him to let go of his safeguard. The hand finally gave a last swing and the alchemist's entire body was within the container. His screams for help could be heard from the metallic box's gap, but no one could help him. The doors closed behind him, leaving no trace of his existence in the warehouse.

*****

Thank you to WargishBoromirFan for the beta-reading.