Industrial Nightmare - part 8

'A Close Encounter'

As the strange little rail car picks up speed Skinner is carried through a maze of dark tunnels winding one way and then another, lurching violently at times. He holds onto the painted yellow rails and chokes as the car careens through a toxic smoky tunnel.

Quite suddenly the tunnel curves sharply and the car enters a well lit large industrial room with a low ceiling of cement rafters. Several hundred feet ahead Skinner sees what appear to be armed sentries ...three of them... standing near the rail platform. They are hulking deformed creatures ... mutated though vaguely human... heavily clad in crude metal armor. In fact the armor seems self-fashioned from any bit or scrap of junk metal they could find and rivet together. One of them is smoking a pipe... an ocher-colored smoke drifts downward from it and past a rusted yield sign which forms his breastplate.

The rail car is slowing down now and Skinner crouches down, clinging to the rail, moving to keep the main body of the car between himself and the sentries. As the rail car passes by them, a deep gravelly shout is heard.

"Now for it boys! Boss said if we miss this ride we'll be fuel for the blast furnaces!"

Skinner can see the platform ahead another hundred feet. Much to his dismay, the sentries have broken into a run to catch the train. They haven't seen him yet so he decides to make his break. With the car still moving at a good pace, he swings around to the front and leaps mightily to the opposite side of the elevated tracks.

Ohmygodohmygod!! Adrenalin courses through his veins and Skinner finds himself quite unexpectedly higher in the air than he should be. In a flash he sees his landing spot on a patch hard cement floor ten feet below him between a cacophony of ventilation ducts which stretch in every direction along the room.

this is going to hurt like a bitch. he thinks while sucking his breath in.

When Skinner hits the floor he feels the jarring impact from his ankles right up to his knees. He rolls awkwardly and is still rolling when he collides with the hard metal side of a vent shaft. For a brief moment the air leaves his lunges completely and he struggles with an overwhelming wave of nausea, laying there dazed and confused.

"There he is! ... never mind the train! We'll grab a prize for the Boss! GET HIM!!"

Skinner does not even look to see how close his chasers are. He jumps to his feet... sharp pain from his legs courses through his body but he has a fleeting moment of relief. I can still move ... and I ain't dead yet. he thinks while frantically searching for an escape route.

A crude spear whistles by his head and he ducks while he runs. Another spear, this one a filed handsaw blade strapped to a mop handle, strikes the vent shaft ahead of him and pierces it.

Fuck! get me the hell out of here!! Once more our hero, seemingly deeper in trouble than ever, finds himself wishing this nightmare would end...


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<sub>The story thus far:

Industrial Nightmare 1
Industrial Nightmare 2
Industrial Nightmare 3
Industrial Nightmare 4
Industrial Nightmare 5
Industrial Nightmare 6
Industrial Nightmare 7


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It's been 3 months since the last installment of this series. There are still one or two shots I still have to take when I get a chance to revisit the 'The Nightmare'.... the whole series was shot to this point in this old abandoned grain elevator complex using natural light and with HDRi in mind .. three shots for each.

Oh ...and a word to my new watchers who may be unfamiliar with my antics... I ain't ALL nature

Thanks for reading y'all! cheers!

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If you'd like, please have a gander at my mini-gallery devoted to Conceptual Portraits

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