Diary of a madman. (Black Madonna Outline)

[Admin]

This background is leading into the Black Madonna module. I am modifying the module and dates.

July 24, 1999
I haven't had time to write anything for a while because we've
been running ever since Lask. We got hit by Polish horse soldiers
about ten klicks out of town, and lost the last of our vehicles
except for the Hummer. We nailed 'em pretty hard, though, and
they didn't chase us.

July 26th. 1999
The Lt. says that we ought to head for Chestoshova because
that's probably where that cav troop we met last week went.
Bailey and Carter said they'd rather head for Krakow and see
what they could find there. We split up our gear and separated.
They headed southeast on foot; Lieutenant Anderson and the
rest of us kept going south in the Hummer.

August 18th. 1999Just North and east of Klobuck we were crossing a stream
and bottomed the Hummer out on a rock. We lost most of the
oil out of the crankcase, and that stopped us for good and all.
You can run a Hummer on alcohol, but you can't fill a crankcase
with creek mud and expect to get very far. We stripped the Hummer
of everything useful, took what we could carry without killing
ourselves, and buried the rest.
We figured we could come back and get it once we had
scoped out Chestawhatsis.

August 20th. 1999
Alvarez and me went ahead to scout Chestushova. The place
was in worse shape than we thought. I guess they worked it
pretty good. In town it was a nightmare. Rats the size of cats,
cockroaches the size of volkswagens (God only knows what
they've been eating lately), flies everywhere. It stunk worse than
anyplace I can remember. The Lt. said to meet on top of the
hill on the edge of town where the monastery used to be. It was
twilight when we got back to the hill, and Rudy had dinner
waiting.

August 22nd? 1999
I wish Davis hadn't seen those bats. Later on on the 20th,
Davis saw a bunch of bats coming out of the ground. The Lt.
said where there's bats there's a cave, and where there's a cave
there's good shelter. So we all had to pull up stakes and go exploring.
I thought it was a great idea at the time ... everybody
knows about the treasure that crazy polock colonel buried in
Chestyshova ... and gold is a meal ticket for a long time in
Krakow, I hear.

We found the entrance where Davis saw the bats. It looked
like the rain had washed it open a couple of days before. We
made some torches to save our flashlights (we only had two
an ywa y) and headed in. We ended up in a sloping passage that
went on downward for a while, and we followed it. Pretty soon
we heard the sound of rushing water. We went on a little more
and it got louder and louder until the tunnel leveled off and we
ran into this big ditch.. .it looked like a storm drain or something.
Alvarez said something about it being the river sticks and
laughed like she made a joke. I didn't get it, but the Lt. told her
to shut-up. Lt. Anderson was really getting nervous.
We lost Jenson crossing the whatever-it-was. It was only
waist deep, but he slipped and went under. There wasn't a yell
or nothing. He was just there one minute and gone the next.
He had one of the flashlights.

We went on along the passage on the other side. It went up
a little bit then levelled off. We walked for a bit. It's hard to tell
how much you move underground. None of us were pacing it
off. After Jenson, we were all pretty spooked. We came to a
bunch of other passages that went off right and left. Then we
came to these little rooms full of piles of bones. God, there must
have been everybody that ever died in Poland down there. I
never saw so many bones in all m y life. Alvarez was praying
out loud, she was really spooked, then she stopped, and her
eyes got wide as saucers. We could all hear it then. It was a
low moaning sound. The Lt. said it was the wind. Well, Alvarez
lost it. She just broke and ran. I don't know where. Down one
of those tunnels I guess. I was too scared to stop her. She had
the other flashlight. We couldn't see where she had gone, and
the L t. said we had to stick together anyway. He said she would
be OK, she'd come to her senses, and find her way out.
We lit the rest of the torches and went on. A couple of minutes
later we heard a scream. I never heard a sound like that come
out of a human throat, but it must have been Alvarez. Lt Anderson
didn't say anything, but I could see him s wall0 wing hard,
trying to look like he wasn't scared.

After a while the Lt. said we shouldn't just stand there 'til
our torches burned out, we had to go on, and so we did. It
seemed like hours, but I think it was just a few minutes. A couple
of times I think we went over the same ground, but I'm not
sure. We finally came to a place where there was a faint light
coming from the passage off to the right. We went down it and
we came to a large room.

It looked like a chapel or something. There were torches and
candles burning, so somebody else was must live down there
or visit once in a while.

Then we saw them.

They were Polish paras. I know the uniform. They were stood
up against the wall like an honor guard, only they were dead.
Every one of them was dead, and had been for some time.
There was a raised altar or something at the far end of the
room. There was a body lying on it. It was an officer, and he
looked like he had been praying when he died. Up on the altar,
there was an old picture. It was dark, and hard to make out,
but I saw that it was a painting of the Virgin Mary and the Christ
child, like on an old-time Christmas card. The frame was covered
in gold and had jewels all over it. I saw more gold near m y foot,
and I bent to look more closely. There were piles of the
stuff on the floor, like it had been hauled in there and dumped.
I saw a gold cup, and reached out to pick it up. When I touched
it I heard Davis scream, worse than Alvarez. ljumped up and
saw the body on the altar was moving! As God is m y witness,
it was standing up! I looked around, they were all moving. All
those dead paras. Davis collapsed. I didn't see what happened
to anybody else, I just ran. I remember running forever. I
remember crossing the ditch again, and running some more.
Then after a while I was outside, and I kept going. I don't know
what direction I went, or how long I went. I wanted to put as
many miles between me and that place as I could. When I
couldn't run any more, I stopped. I noticed that I'd cut myself
pretty bad on something. Laid open most of my left arm. And
I still had the cup clenched in rn y hand. I guess you do weird
things when you panic.

August 24?. 1999
I've been walking for days. I don't have the faintest idea where
I am, or what day it is. My arm is pretty stiff, but I don't have
anything to treat it with except a little of the hooch we saved
back last time we cooked fuel for the Hummer. I put half of it
on the arm and half of it in me. Felt better for a while.

August ? 1999
Found cave, built fire.
Hard to write arm hurts, eyes spin.
Food OK, fire OK, for a while.
?
hear dogs or something outside
too weak to get wood
gun after fire gone
save last bullet