https://youtu.be/ZoltmTANsk4

October 21st, 1973, in Pella Iowa, Gabriel Anderson was performing what could be his last exorcism. Despite splashing holy water on the possessed man's face and preaching the gospel of God, Gabriel found no success expelling the demon. As he flipped through his bible for a new passage, speckles of dust froze in the air, and he felt the tug of a tractor beam.

Gabriels's mouth fell agape as a soft yellow beam of light encapsulated him, and his feet lifted from the floor. His thick brown hair stood on end and his throat became dry as he saw the demon lifting with him.

Sweat curved the edge of his brow as he tried to push or kick against the tractor beam and found that only his eyes could move. Gabriel tried to close his eyes, but he could not. Through the haze of yellow emerged milky white eyes framed by black pits.

Black and sharp teeth surfaced from behind a gaunt smile. Gabriel's heart sank as he tried to look away, but he could not. His skin crawled as his stomach turned on itself. The world around him faded and then everything became black.

Gabriel thought, 'please, God, rescue me from this unholy nightmare. Wake me, wake me now. I am an agent of yours, please rescue me from this evil.'

Gabriel lay on his stomach and the world was sideways as he looked forward. Before him was a cracked pane of glass and upon it rested splatters of crimson liquid. He sat up and his muscles ached, and his neck was stiff. Gabriel rubbed at the nape of his neck and felt a hole the size of a pencil eraser.

He studied his fingertips and smelled it. Gabriel swallowed the knot which had been forming in his throat, and realized he was in a nightmare he cannot awake from. As his hands began to shake and pressure built in his ears, the silence of his room became deafening. His ears rang and his eyes widened as his senses returned to him. The air tasted stale and smelled like a mixture of burnt rubber and oil.

The walls were made of three-foot white tiles and the floor was a single sheet of stainless steel. Gabriel began to shiver as the cold air gripped him. He stood tall and examined his own body. His cassock was still clean and did not show any signs of stress or tears. Beside him, in the corner of the room, sat a small leathery bag.

He opened the bag and studied the contents of it. Inside were two bottles of holy water, a bible, his cross, car keys, wallet, and a watch. Gabriel removed a bottle of holy water and his cross, and cast his mind back.

Gabriel had been dispatched to Keith Fisher's ranch a few days prior. Keith had been acting beside himself. His wife, Carol, had found him brooding and painting pentagrams on the walls of the basement. She found the paintings of pentagrams to be an amusing quirk. That is until she discovered crimson streaks across the living room floor.

The trails began on the front porch and ended in the basement. Carol then understood why her goats kept disappearing. Keith had been gutting them and using them as a sacrifice. Late at night the coyotes would come and feast on their carcasses. Keith began to mutter to himself that he needed something more.

A child.

His son, Scott.

Once Carol had learned of this, she bound him to the bed. It took three days for Gabriel to arrive, and once he did, he agreed that Keith had become possessed. Where the demon came from didn't matter. It had housed itself in the soul of Keith for a few days now.

While Gabriel sat in his cell, he tried to remember if Scott was abducted. He stood up and approached the cracked pane of glass. Before him were rooms like his own. Silver floor, three white walls, and a glass pane facing the corridor. A thin haze of dust clung to the air, and the room closest to his was different. Where a glass pane should have been was nothing, and in front of the cell glittered the remains of shattered glass.

Something had broken out of its prison.

The lights above were dim and bathed the hall in a soft blue glow. A grating in the floor split the hall in two, and on each side were pipes which snaked off to places unknown.

Rectangular lights, which were fifteen feet in length, illuminated the dim corridor. Between each light was an air vent. The breeze pushed from these vents was silent and did little to eliminate the foul odor of this mechanical labyrinth. Machinery hummed from locations unknown.

Aside from the subtle blowing of air from the vents, the hall was silent. Gabriel knew the demon was responsible for the shattered glass. He surmised that it was also responsible for his cracked cell wall.

Gabriel traced the glass with his fingertips, and it felt unstable and sharp. He pushed against a piece of glass near the top and the split snaked downward. The sound of cracking ice rang in his ears as the split grew. He stepped away from the wall as the glass popped and the split completed its descent to the floor.

A good push or kick would knock the glass out, but he wasn't too certain. He removed his cassock and wrapped his foot with it. Gabriel leaned back and kicked the glass pane. It fell into the hall and shattered upon impact.

Gabriel shrank back into his cell and feared his abductors heard the crash. His hands trembled as he searched his bag for a cross. Once found, he gripped it tight and held it against his chest. He whispered a silent prayer as he scooted to the back of his prison.

An epiphany had occurred: there was nothing between him and his captors, nor the demon he believed was hunting him. Sweat formed at the edge of his hairline and he felt the urge to vomit as he choked on the cold stale air.

Gabriel whispered, "God put me here for a reason. Find Scott. Go find Scott," he sighed, and continued, "I hope to God he is not here."

His eyes opened and he summoned the courage to pass through the opening. As he stepped into the hall, glass crunched beneath his feet, and the thick odor of machinery pressed upon him.