Transcript of "We Broke the Seal on the Old War Tunnel. We Found What Was Left Behind" Creepypasta

i don't usually get sent to jobs with anybody which suits me People are all right but I'm not built for chat I'm terrible at eye contact and I always miss the punchlines Apparently I've got the social instincts of a damp traffic cone Still I like what I like and that's all the boring wartime stuff no one under 60 gives a toss about But I've learned not to bring that up unless someone's very bored very polite or already halfway through a scotch egg so they can't tell me to shut up Anyway the job was a disused tunnel flagged under the South Cut clearance survey No one had set foot in there since 1944 and when something's been sealed that long you've no idea what you're walking into So they sent me with Dan He was in his early 20ies One of those blo without his AirPods a vape and a running commentary on UFC fights It's not my usual preference but I've survived worse I once did a week on the Carl line with a bloke who thought Dunkerk was in Germany Our job was to log debris test the clearances and ensure the place wouldn't shear a wagon in half ready to open up for public use in the summer It looked promising They'd greenlight a proper team If not they'd break it up and pretend it never happened Our boots hit the ballast just past 5:00 a.m Geared up in our safety gear filled respirators tool bags and radios The tunnel entrance was locked up with heavy gauge chainlink fencing two layers deep backed by timber boards and a padlock the size of your fist It looked like someone had gone at it with bolt cutters and it had been clumsily patched up Above it the original cast iron arch loomed rusted and stamped with a wartime engineering mark You'd miss it unless you knew what you were looking for Once we cracked the venting and slipped inside we clicked on our torches both beams cutting lines through the misty black The air hit us once we got far enough in Even with a respirator it felt like licking the inside of an old kettle Every step stirred up dust Dan glanced around and muttered Bit grim in here Yeah can't imagine coming in here without respirators Have you ever heard of the cross line i asked Dan shook his head Is that like a brand nah that's the name of the line this tunnel was part of They used it to move supplies between coastal depots and the RAF sites Mostly crates fuel and the odd medic unit March 44 they caught a loft air strike at the southern mouth just as a supply train broke down inside Dan's voice came quiet over the crunch of our boots Never heard of that one he said The blast created a vacuum effect I continued I touched too brightly for the subject sucked a fireball straight down the tunnel while they were fixing the train Whoa Were there any survivors i gave a dry shrug place would have been charred end to end by the time the fire burnt out With another line still running and a war to fight that he didn't bother with a recovery crew just sealed it up and moved on Dan stayed quiet after that boots crunching beside mine I didn't say anything else either After a few minutes he cleared his throat and muttered something about a featherweight bout he'd watched last weekend like he couldn't bear the quiet any longer Said the bloke came in underweight and still managed to drop the other guy in the second round with a spinning elbow Absolute belter he called it I nodded grateful for the mood change even if I had no clue who was on about It wasn't long after that till we noticed signs the tunnel had taken a knock or two A few ceiling plates were broken with rusted bolts hanging loose and there was a shallow pile of crumbled brick near one of the cable housings that looked more recent than the rest Nothing structural but enough to keep your eyes peeled Then we started spotting bits of cloth mostly torn and oily ground into the gravel There was a piece twisted under a bolt It looked like canvas only thinner I gave it a nudge with my boot "What do you think it is?" Dan asked "Could be a leftover sleeve from the pors they sealed up." He stared at me for a beat "You're joking right?" "Of course I am," I said half laughing It's probably just a bit of coat from some drafted trespasser poking around Does look weird though Should handle this he muttered Stuff like this can trip someone up if they don't see it Proper hazard if it's sticking up like that He crouched over it and gave it a once over with his glove Feels weird Bit tough Not what I was expecting All right I said watching him pull out a multi-tool from his bag I'll log the next segment up ahead The junction box should be just past that bend I tap the radio clipped onto my chest Channel 4 Yeah Shout if you need anything or if the fabric starts acting all haunted Either or He snorted If it does much of anything I'm legging it Fair play I said and carried on ahead The tunnel swallowed me up Each step pulled the air thicker It was damp and stale like the breath of something sleeping Every 20 or 30 yards there was a refuge bay built for workers to duck into when trains passed I made a habit of counting them to pass the time Just after the eighth bay I spotted the glint of twisted steel the husk of a freight wagon My heart actually gave a little thump It was the supply train from the crossline story I'd rambled to Dan about It was gutted halfmelted across the rails One axle had folded in on itself and most of the siding was gone peeled back like a tin of spam What remained was pitted with rust and speckled with the droppings of whatever bats or birds had snuck in over the years My torch played over the wreck and I caught hints of singed fabric fused into the rivets and melted boots sole stuck beneath the wheel assembly I felt giddy then grim and then there was movement Just beyond the wreck something disturbed the gravel I froze torch fixed dead ahead I thought it was a bit of debris settling but just where my light couldn't reach I noticed a shape slow and jerky dragging itself from the far side of the carriage At first I thought some homeless guy had found a way in and picked the place for shelter Wouldn't have blamed him in fairness It was dry and quiet "You can't be here mate," I called "There's hazardous conditions You need to clear off I won't press you Just get out." That was when he shifted into my light The first thing I noticed was it looked like he was wearing someone else's skin or trying to Chunks of it clung to him It was as if he torn it free in a frenzy and slapped it over himself without care Bits of torso her forearm part of a thigh The rest of him was raw A blistered patchwork of wet red tissue and veins like overrung wires I staggered back hard boots skidding over the ballast and landed like a sack of bricks My torch slipped from my grip skittering across the gravel and landing a few feet in front its beam fixed squarely on the thing I didn't go for it No I turned and bolted heart hammering feet slipping over loose stone I threw myself into the nearest refuge bay and crouched low in the dark breath snagging in my throat I stayed silent listening for footsteps until I realized the texture under my knee wasn't balanced Whatever it was was tacky and stuck to my trousers I reached for my phone and lit the lock screen The glow spilled over the torn flesh Skin was missing in wet flaps Chunks of it peeled and cut off messily exposing glistening muscle and slashed tendon It was clear the man or whatever it was had done it My hand shook as I cut the light and pressed back hard against the stone Every inch of me was wound tight with panic but I didn't dare move or breathe too loud I strained to listen for any sign that the thing out there had heard me but there was only a faint sound of metal clinking and some sort of sloshing So I shifted forward just enough to risk a glance around the bay's edge and saw the creature was caught on heavy steel cabling that had fused into his flesh It carved deep wet gouges through the meat of his legs where it had melted in Every tug sent a fresh jerk through his frame He tried to move forward but the cabling dragged him back As horrific as it was I felt a twisted jolt of relief because it meant he couldn't get to me So I crept forward on all fours as slowly as I could manage keeping my eyes fixed on him He was still jerking still struggling against the cables raw legs dragging in little bursts but I kept going until my fingers found the torch and closed around it Just as I was shimming away my radio lit up South could control This is red lead Enemy overhead Repeat Enemy aircraft sighted Brace for impact It was tiny and staticky The creature jerked harder responding to the sound He threw himself forward with a raspy scream His limbs stretched at sick angles cabling biting deeper as he tore through his own meat That sudden frenzy broke me I turned and ran at full sprint torch clutch tight and breath slicing in short Panic burst through the respirator Then Dan's voice filtered in crackling through the static Callum Callum mate I heard him breathing fast and shallow like he was trying not to be heard Something's here I don't I can't I fumbled for the radio Dan I'm on my way Just hold on Don't move All right Whatever's down here it's not right Just come back Come back Another burst of static and no reply I ran trying to keep my bearings while every bone in my body begged me to look back I knew it hadn't gotten free I hadn't heard it following but my body didn't care I couldn't stop imagining it hunting me down Every step felt too slow I wanted nothing more than to grab Dan and escape out of the tunnel When I reached where I'd left Dan his tool bag was still there sitting just where he'd placed it There was no sign of him though My torch flicked across the walls until it caught on a maintenance tunnel branching off to the side narrow and half choked with dust I stepped toward it my heart hammering torch [Music] heltight "Dan Dan," I called cursing myself out in my head for not just booking it out of there alone Then I saw him hunched over near the far wall of the maintenance tunnel breathing in shallow rasps back turned shoulders twitching like he was about to throw up "Dan," I said again lower this time I saw something down by the wreck It was wearing someone's skin or something I don't know but we need to get out now As I got closer I realized the skin along the spine looked torn and stretched His proportions were off He was too broad in the shoulders and too long in the limbs I realized then that it was one of those skin creatures and this one had done a better job than the last It shifted turning fluidly Dan's face twitched as the thing twisted its neck It straightened up and lunged towards me My boots skidded as I tore back through the tunnel light bouncing off soot and stone I could hear its irregular footfalls pounding and scraping against the gravel as it chased me The mouth of the tunnel appeared ahead a thin slice of morning light calling like a lifeline I charged full tilt shoulder checking the gate as I hit it The chain link rattled hinges groaning as it gave way under my weight I burst into daylight and spun around grabbing for the edge of the gate trying to haul it closed but I wasn't fast enough The thing was right behind me The service train we taken in sat a few dozen yards down the track I faulted the step and scrambled inside boots thudding against the metal floor I turned to see if it had followed and just in time to watch it slammed through the gate limbs flailing The second its bare back met it shrieked The exposed flesh sizzled blistering and splitting down Steam hissed from beneath Dan's skin It stumbled jerking violently What was left of Dan's face sagged sideways folding at the edges Then it reeled back flailing as it crawled in reverse dragging itself back into the dark I stood there panting hands braced against the inside wall of the carriage I shakily tore the respirator off my face and sucked in the cold morning air in deep and frantic gulps My heart was still in my throat every muscle in my body twitching with the tail end of the panic When I was sure it wasn't coming back I climbed down from the train legs jelly beneath me and turned toward the entrance Part of me wanted to turn around and leave it swinging but letting it out wasn't an option So I hauled the gate shut and snapped the lock into place stepping back fast the second it clicked After that I sat on the train floor for a while with my elbows on my knees And when I could bring myself to move again I started the train up and took it slow on the way back My hands white knuckled on the throttle I told the sight leads there was a collapse Dan got caught in it and I had barely made it out When they asked about recovering his body I said it was buried deep under debris inaccessible without risking more lives anything to keep anyone else from going back in That night I just lay there flat on my back staring at the ceiling and I couldn't stop thinking My heart kept throwing itself around in my chest like it hadn't figured out the danger was over So I got up I turned the telly on and started flicking through the channels looking for something loud enough to drown out my thoughts I landed on a fight rerun and it took a second to realize it was the one Dan had been on about a featherweight belt I watched the bloke duck a hook and come back with a spinning elbow that dropped the other guy flat And he was right It was an absolute belter [Music]