~ZANDER~
As the creature slowly walked towards us, she kept laughing harder and harder. She scratched the walls with her metal-like nails and violently shook her head side to side, splashing blood on them. Her skin was so pale that I could even see veins through it, and her eyes were covered by it.
Her skin was so pale that I could even see veins through it, and her eyes were covered by it [https://img.wattpad.com/6205fc8b9fc3c99cc32e99dd0f7ea29e44e41fcc/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f7433534f4e595932583064776e413d3d2d313231383534363536322e313665393833313237623262323730333731333331303831363332382e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
I'm frozen with fear as I stared into its bloody pale face. My mind was screaming for me to run, but my body refused to move. I knew that this thing wasn't human. This creature was a demon. But there was no denying it... This was real. It was right in front of me. It was so close that I can smell its stench of death and decay. Its odor made my stomach turn.
"Zander, what are you doing?! Run!" Fey shouted and started running away along with the others.
I snapped out of it and started sprinting for my life. They're quite ahead, but I can still see them. I took a glimpse behind me and the demon started chasing after me. The closer it got, the more I could feel her reaching out to grab me. It was almost as if I could tell I was going to die if I ran just a tiny bit slower. I looked behind me and saw it was getting closer and closer. She stopped laughing and was instead howling in rage.
Oh god. Oh god! OH GOD! OH GOD!!!
*CRACK*
I looked back. Luckily, her foot broke through a wooden plank on the floor. Her trying to get it out will keep me far from the "you are dead" range of her claws. There was some distance between us now, but not enough to stop her from chasing us.
"Hey! Wait for me!" I yelled out to them. They ran a bit slower for me to catch up, and Ethan said, "C'mon, hurry!"
She was back on the hunt for us, and she was getting closer and closer again.
I need to think of something to slow her down!
I noticed the furniture, like lamps, coat racks, and some other stuff we passed through in the hallways. So I tried the best thing I can do. Slowing her down a bit by knocking them down in her way, but it wasn't really doing much. She easily got past them by either breaking them with her claws or jumping over them.
For something with heavy-looking arms that barely fits in the hallway, she was terrifyingly athletic!
Her lengthy arms and nails, but helpful to us because her claws get hooked on furniture and walls from time to time.
"We need to lose her first! We can't lead her to the others! " Ethan starts taking random turns, trying to get rid of her. It was pointless. She was still gaining on us, even with me knocking down the furniture in her way.
"Shit! We can't get rid of her off!" Ethan shouts, "Fey, remember the thing we talked about earlier?"
"Wait, we're going with that plan?! Are you insane?! What if it goes for me instead?!" Fey shouted back.
"Don't worry! They'll go for the light first!"
"And what if they don't?! We're not even sure if that actually works!"
"We either do it, or we keep running forever, and you know the second one is not happening!"
"It's easy for you to say! I'm the only one who's going to die if it doesn't go after you guys!"
Sandra looks at Fey with a terrified look. "Fey, please. We're counting on you. If you don't, we'll all die."
"..."
"Fey, please. I don't wanna die."
"Fine."
"It's right over there," Ethan said, pointing forward to an intersection in the hallways. "You go right, we go straight. Let's stay close to the right wall and hope she won't notice you when we split up. I'll keep the light a bit farther so she won't see you much."
"And what if she don't need light to see?!" Fey yelled.
Ethan was silent and didn't said a single thing. He didn't bother respond and started running even faster, putting distance between him and the three of us.
"Ethan?! ... Damn it," Fey yelled again, but it turned to a worried tone.
He was now a few meters ahead, and we could barely see each other. When we got to the intersection, we kept running straight, and Fey went right, separating from the group. Me and Sandra both looked back and could still see the monster's figure and its getting closer. It was suprising it didn't got caught up to us yet for some reason.
"Ethan, it didn't go for Fey! It's still after us!" Sandra shouted.
"Good! We need to keep running!" Ethan took a left turn, and we followed, "Zander, keep slowing her down. We need to make enough distance between her and us."
"Okay!" I kept doing the thing I've been doing. I still don't know where this plan was going, but I'm choosing to turn this plan of theirs.
We took another left turn.
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As we kept running from her, we started to get exhausted. I kept turning over the furniture as we passed through to slow her down. But I saw something I hadn't seen in the hallway yet—a vase. I grabbed the water-filled vase and threw it right at her. It hit her right in the face and broke on impact, drenching her. She started shrieking in pain while her skin started to peel off.
What was in that vase?!
It suddenly stopped moving and just stared. It was as still as a statue. It felt like it was glaring right at me.
Did I mess up?
We took one more left turn [https://img.wattpad.com/3a6c2b8256925eb6fae145466fceeab8ab249abb/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f5a362d6a444374456d41325a6e413d3d2d313231383534363536322e313665396432613933393862656364343635303335383134363231362e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
We took one more left turn.
The demon wasn't in sight anymore. I think I paralyzed it with the water earlier. Whatever was in that vase, it saved our lives.
...
"Why do I hear galloping noises behind us?" Sandra asked me with a pale look.
I looked behind me and... yup, I messed up!
She was now galloping on all fours, and she was gaining on us fast. TOO fast! She could be slashing the two of us into ribbons any moment now!
"We're almost there!" Ethan shouted.
We could see the intersection from earlier. We kept running as fast as possible until we reached the intersection. And then, "NOW!" Ethan shouted as loud as possible, and someone appeared around the corner.
"DIIIIIEE!!!" Fey roared out a booming shout and—
*SNAP!*
Splinters flew into the air as the wooden rod broke into pieces. She swung her weapon so hard that she managed to knock down the demon backwards. It was still moving so fast that it kept sliding forward, knocking over me, Sandra, and even Ethan, who was a few meters ahead. Just like bolwing pins.
We avoided hitting our heads by covering it with our hands and landing on our shoulders. Same with Ethan while keeping the lamp safe.
The demon tried to get up but it was too injured to get up properly and dropped back down.
"DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING GET UP!!!" Fey's voice trembled with a mixture of fear and rage. She ran up to the demon on the ground and began repeatedly striking and stabbing its head and neck with what was left of the wooden rod she was holding.
Sandra stood up and rushed over to Fey. Fey's hand started to bleed from the splinters from the rod, but she kept stabbing the demon again and again. To the point where the skin on the demon's face was completely off and the neck was covered in cuts.
"Fey! Stop! Your hands are bleeding!" Sandra grabbed Fey's arms, trying to stop her.
Fey stood up, panting, and threw the piece of wood into the body on the ground. She looked at her wounded hands and tried to wipe the blood off them, but it was still seeping out.
Ethan walked up to us and said, "We need to go back. If we don't hurry, you might get an infection."
Fey said, putting her hands in her pockets. "No, no. I think I'm fine."
"If you say so. By the way, did you kill it?"
Fey had messed up the demon a lot earlier. She stabbed the body quite a lot, to the point where the face was barely recognizable. I guess that WAS a menacing stick of power.
We looked where the body was earlier and... It was gone. Only a puddle of blood was left.
All three of us had the same shocked and confused expressions. It didn't even make a single sound! How?!
"Um..." Sandra broke the silence, "Can we go back to the courtyard? I don't feel comfortable staying here anymore."
"Yeah, sure," Ethan led the way.
We were finally on our way back to their group again. We went back to walking in that little formation we had earlier before whatever that was started chasing us—Ethan and Sandra at the front, and me and Fey at the back.
"How does he know where to go? This place is pretty big. And he still knows where to go after all that running," I tried starting a conversation with Fey.
"Now that you mentioned it... Hey, Ethan. How DO you know where to go?" Fey said to Ethan.
"The doors," he replied.
"Huh?"
"Look at the doors. What do you think they all have in common?"
Fey looked confused and says, "I-I don't know! Just tell me, you don't have to make this into a riddle."
"It's the aura of the doors, my friend."
"Excuse me?"
"You can feel the spiritual energy flowing from the doors. Can't you feel it too?"
"Um... No? What the heck are you talking about?"
"As we get closer to the heart of the stucture, which is the courtyard. I sense the powerful force resonating from the doors getting stronger. Do you now understand, my friends?"
"Dude, I think you hit your head really badly," Fey scratched the back of her head.
"Nope, not even a tiny bit," I replied to Ethan.
"I stopped paying attention the moment you said auras," Sandra replied.
Ethan started chuckling, "Geez, I'm just messing with you guys. I might be dangerously wrong but I'm following those marks to get back," He pointed to many things. He's pointing at scratch marks on the walls, and then at blood stains that makes symbol that looks like a sword or a tip of a spear. "They sometimes appear on the way, and they seemed to always point which way's the courtyard."
My head started to ache as the voices returned again [https://img.wattpad.com/50a61def7d38accbe9af0d4fe6e62bed3fd7435b/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f394b4770733972447751744a43413d3d2d313231383534363536322e313665613137343966666331613561643936393636313936303132382e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
My head started to ache as the voices returned again. This time they were screaming in fear and in terror. But I was starting to notice the voices were quieter compared when I was at that room. I felt like that symbol was very important to me somehow. I couldn't seem to recall anything.
"I might sound like a broken record, but..." Fey said to Ethan, "Don't risk our lives for your stupid intuition!"
"Hey, it helped us most of the time. And this area looks familiar, so we're going the right way."
"That's the thing! It's most of the time, not all of the time! What if we died by your own hands because of a stupid choice you made?"
"C'mon, have some faith on me. I only did two mistakes so far."
"'SO FAR'! See the problem there, genius?"
As the two blabbered on I tried to star a conversation with Sandra get more info about them.
"By the way, how long have you guys been here?" I asked Sandra.
"I believe it has been almost a week since the first time I woke up in the courtyard," Sandra replied, "I really do hope we can escape this place soon. My family must've been worried sick about me. I don't want to be here any longer."
"Fey, how's your hands?" Those two seemed to stopped talking, so I tried starting a conversation with Fey again.
She looked at her hands and said, "They stopped bleeding, so I guess you guys don't have to worry."
"Oh, great. Um... you still don't trust me?"
"If you're worrying about that, don't worry. I already trust you after all that."
"I'm glad to hear that. You smacked that demon in the face quite hard earlier. I'm not sure if that stick was really brittle or you were just really strong. "
"Thanks, I used to be a great baseball player back in school, but I suddenly stopped playing, and now I'm here in this hell hole. Maybe that's why I'm here," she laughed at her own joke.
We countiued chatting on as we walked back to the courtyard. We were quite loud, hopely we won't encounter that demon again.
***
After half an hour of walking in the dark hallways, we finally saw a big archway that led to the open air. We were now in the courtyard, and it was WAY bigger than I expected, spanning about 100 square meters. The area had so much foliage that it was big enough to be considered a small park. This place was breath-taking... If I could see all of it. It was so dark that I could barely see the rest of it. In the middle of the courtyard, I saw a bunch of people sitting on a campfire next to a big fountain with a statue of a woman. When they noticed us, some waved, some just stared, some even walked towards us. But they were all doing one thing the same—wondering who I was.
[To Be Continued...]