Jude Branson didn't know why he was tagging along so diligently. Every single instinct he had was telling him to head home and forget he ever went down here.
Jude didn't always play football so well - before, about two years ago, he was just another nondescript and skinny, easily pushed around nerd. Nowadays? He was stunning, a member of the varsity football team, and a staple of the parties and social occasions his fellow teammates went along to. It turned out, having someone with this kind of logistical ability and aptitude on the football field was a boon. More than a few games were turned around or won due to Jude's unique understanding of mathematics and movement.
Half African American on his mother's side, Jude had gone from a stick in a pair of pants and a t-shirt to a muscular, brawny man - he owed it to the health scare his dad got that Sophomore year of high school. His dad had gotten quite fat, and seeing him go through a strain in his back had been what it took to convince Jude he needed to take his health more seriously. Now, Jude's light caramel skin was pushed out by hard, well honed muscles, including a six pack he absolutely loved flaunting whenever possible. Jude's height of six foot three no longer made him look gaunt - now it made him imposing.
The old t-shirts that once billowed over his body now strained to cover his built, sturdy pecs.
Jude's hair was curly and light brown in color, and his eyes were a striking deep blue. All these things contributed to Jude's turn to one of the most desired bachelors of the senior class. Once he graduated, Jude looked forward to the college parties and the women there. He certainly knew that 2 years ago he never would've dreamed of this... or scavenging around in an old tomb for that matter.
Yes, right now the big man on campus had followed his teammates along for a dare. Jude was not the sort to let any perceived challenge to his masculinity go - especially not after all he went through before getting his muscles all built up. So when Chad Harwell brought forward the dare, Jude went right along with it among the other members of the team.
Present there was Chad, a blue blooded preppy with medium length blond hair, pale skin, and a well muscled build if a bit roided up, Daniel, a handsome Eurasian man and son of a local business owner, Thomas, the kicker from the team and more built in his lower body than his upper, and Zeke, the linebacker - a guy who seemed half muscle and half fat, his shaved bald look only accentuating his intimidation factor with his weight of 325 lbs.
The tomb was an old dug out place just outside of town, and the adults around there had a number of horror stories about it. So of course, the teens had decided, their eighteenth birthdays behind them, to rifle around there. Chad in particular attached zero reverence to the old place.
Jude was more inclined to just leave it alone, but when Chad insinuated he was scared and had tiny balls, that was all it took to incite Jude to lead the way right down the long stairwell into the depths. It sure seemed like a well constructed tomb. Though there were some oddities about it. The construction was distinctly Viking-like, and Jude knew enough about history to know that some Vikings had indeed made landfall in that area on the coast of Maine.
Cupping his chin, he found himself wondering if it was a Viking crypt. But that didn't make much sense considering how intricate it was. The Vikings hadn't stayed very long. So unless this was a splinter group who didn't get while the getting was good...
Jude turned when he heard Zeke gulp and say, "Guys, I-I really don't like it down here. Can we just...count this good enough?"
Chad scoffed, "There's nothing down here but bones, stairs and dirt. The adults think this stuff is good enough to scare us. Aren't you the least bit curious? I mean, maybe you're too much of a wuss to brave it out."
Zeke sighed, "I'm not..." He looked back, and kept going.
Jude smiled bitterly and kept moving forward, leading the way further down the stairwell. Chad's family was religious, but he himself privately and among friends voiced a deepseated disdain for those kinds of traditions and such. As far as Chad was concerned, curses, horror stories, and such were all just superstition. Just the same as his family's religiosity. Jude found he could get along with Chad a fair bit, considering both were pretty logically minded - though Chad had some honest trouble with his book work.
By the time they got to the bottom of the stairwell, Daniel chuckled, "See? Nothing to be afraid of."
Thomas responded, "Then why were you shaking all the way down?" Thomas looked at Jude, "What do you think? Does this match up with anything you're familiar with?"
"I wasn't the kind of nerd that studied EVERYTHING," Jude said with a sigh, and started examining the walls, "But I know Viking symbolism when I see it. Yeah looks like this place was some kind of Viking place. Probably a burial area or something, going by some of these pictographs."
Zeke said, "Okay, we're down here now, how long are we---"
"Guys! Guys! Look over here!" Chad cut Zeke's caution off with an excited shout. He was pointing at what looked like some sort of strange metallic door on the side of the wall. Jude's eyes widened when he looked at it. Yeah this was definitely not Viking. It was not the kind of metal they worked with. Looked like... steel? Titanium? Some kind of dark metal whatever it was. Jude started examining it. More runes, more symbols of Viking origin - despite the fact this door did not match up with anything else in the Viking repertoire.
"Weird..." Jude murmured, trying to figure out what it was and whether it could still open.
Chad started examining it as well, leaning against it more heavily than Jude was. When Jude saw that he shouted, "Chad, dude step off of tha---" He was cut off as the door started letting out a strange noise, and Jude's nose was assaulted by an odd stench. Odd, something he had never smelled before - a distinct unwelcome stench that made him take a step back. "What'd you do!?"
"I dunno!" Chad shouted back as the door started opening on its own.
Zeke cowered in the corner, while Daniel looked excited at whatever this might be. Thomas likewise crossed his arms, the daring young man eager to see whatever it was, even as he registered that Jude was taking steps back.
That was when the doors slid open, and some sort of green steam seemed to pour out all at once, Zeke letting out one last scream as it happened. The others were more profane in their outcries "Oh shit!" "What the fuck!?" "Dude!!" "Chad you fucking---!!"
The steam seemed to swirl and overwhelm them with strange sensation - before long the entire friend group from the football team were all unconscious on the floor - the steam seeming to take on an odd look almost like faces before swirling around them and flowing inside their noses, ajar mouths, ears and so on. The doors shut again while the young men rested, unconscious, unaware of what was to come to them.
About an hour later, they stirred, and Jude was the first to get back up, groaning, "Chad what the fuck did you even do...?"
"I have no idea..." Chad moaned and got up, he was feeling weird - like his whole body was tingling just from sitting up, "We...we should get outta here."
"I've been telling you guys that!" Zeke had his moment of I told you so, and Jude sighed.
"Fine...yeah, let's...let's get outta here. We learned all we could down here." He assuaged himself, even though, to be honest, they really didn't go down there to LEARN anything. Though chances were, not that Jude knew, they would be learning quite a bit in the coming days.