Red droplets slowly trickled from the ceiling into a puddle of blood. In the surrounding darkness of an unlit room, mountains of corpses littered the floor. The air was chokingly humid, drowning out the pleas of anyone left alive. Atop the peak of the bloodied mount, a fresh body plummeted from the light that poured in through the ceiling. Blood sputtered from its mouth as it reached its arm upward, toward the roof of the confined space. It persistently stretched and grabbed to no avail and after a moment of meaningless rebellion, the arm limped and acted as if it had never existed.

...

After laying there for some time, the light soon faded and another corpse fell from the roof. The two bodies collided, suffocating the former as it attempted to crawl out from underneath. Clawing for freedom, the corpse-like person rolled down from the pile of bodies. As the figure barrelled downward, they splintered into an old wooden door afoot the flesh mound. This frame revealed an entirely new room, a torture chamber of sorts. At the centre resided a surgical station and a chair with restraints along the armrests. The walls were decorated with torches and cabinets of various stature. In one corner, light seeped underneath another door. However, in the opposing corner, a body shackled to the wall could be made out in the dim light.

“Is… is someone there?” the old man meekly muttered.

The figure, still sprawled on the floor from the crashing into the door, lifted its head and silently stared.

“If someone is there… please come closer near the light.”

Hesitating, the corpse-like person analyzed the elder. He appeared non-threatening and they crawled closer.

The elderly man had no shoes, wore white pants stained by blood, and was rippled with bruises on his torso. He appeared starved and in a severely weakened state. His face was dishevelled with ashy short hair and an unkempt beard. The old man shifted his body and leaned forward slightly.

“Ah… a survivor of the body bank? Quite a rare sight.”

Turning his head left and right, he brandished the shackles that had chained him to the wall.

“Do you mind, friend? Releasing me that is.”

The elder watched as the figure attempted to stand. They struggled dearly but eventually made their way onto their feet.

Once the figure rose from the shadows of the floor and into the dim light from the torches, their features became more visible. She had long dark hair tinged slightly violet and determined eyes. Her attire was simple, a murky green tunic and brown hemp shorts.

“Oh? I did not imagine my saviour to be a young miss. Intriguing… how did you ever manage to survive the body bank?”

Without answering, she moved toward the cabinets, rummaging for anything that could have helped in this endeavour.

“Try checking that top right cabinet. The monster that trapped me here opens that one quite frequently. Perhaps the keys to my cuffs are in there.”

Opening the cupboard revealed a ring filled to the brim with metallic keys. Upon seeing the numerous keys, the old man merely sighed and began speaking in an unfathomable language. Once the chant was completed, he quickly uttered a description.

“Find the rusty copper key that has blotches of blue on it.”

After hearing the depiction, the girl started flipping through each key, checking for any that had matched the description. Soon she came across a rusty old mortice key that housed oxidized blue spots. She then inserted it into the cuffs and a subtle click sound could be heard.

“I’m finally free of those filthy shackles! Now, time to escape with haste, my friend.” He said while rubbing his wrists.

The two then made their way toward the next door, however, the jingle of keys that the girl had pocketed would make their covert mission quite difficult so the old man paused and began chanting once more. A glow shimmered around the pocket where the keys resided and soon, the sound of their jingling faded. Enamoured by this, the nameless girl tugged at the hem of his pants and gestured frantically with her hands.

“You want to know how I silenced those keys?”

She fiercely nodded with a glimmer in her eyes and the elder chuckled.

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“I’ll teach you once we depart from this forsaken hell hole. The name’s Wiseman by the way.”

Wiseman stared expectantly at the girl but she drooped her head and appeared uncertain. She did not seem to have a name or at least one that she knew of.

“Hmm, I suppose we can save the pleasantries for later. In any case, if I recall correctly, we will be needing those keys very soon.”

The contents behind the next door displayed a plethora of jail cells replacing the walls of what should have been a simple hallway. In each cell were people similar to Wiseman, but, rather than chained to the walls, they were simply trapped by the iron bars of their cells. Before moving forward, Wiseman turned around and looked at the nameless girl.

“Let’s free them, we’re all in the same boat after all.”

She hesitated but ultimately decided to aid the prisoners. His reasoning did seem to make sense. As the two began unlatching the locks on each cell, the remaining survivors cheered and praised their efforts. However, some continued their silence and appeared somewhat mentally unstable. Regardless, their headcount now increased to 13 people. With Wiseman and the girl leading the group, they made their way toward the next exit point. There lay a staircase toward the lobby of the establishment.

“Now everyone, we must act with extreme caution. As we all know, this inn houses monsters of rainy origins and I suspect it lies in the lobby.” Wiseman whispered toward the group behind him.

Together, the group carefully tread up the stairs into the lobby of the building. The sounds of flesh and bones being gorged upon became louder in doing so. Moonlight shone through cracks in the roof, displaying tables and chairs that decorated the lobby alongside a bar countertop to the group's immediate right. The staircase to the second floor could also be seen next to the counter. Across the room was then the entrance to the establishment as well as a reception desk.

‘The exit!’ thought the girl.

However, her thoughts quickly dissipated as the location of the feasting sound could be finally identified. At the centre of the lobby was a lump of muscular flesh. It was kneeled over a miniature pile of corpses, stuffing its mouth with limbs and fingers. Overall, the monster was humanoid-shaped but had a larger stature than the average man.

After finishing a general inspection of their surroundings, Wiseman motioned for the group to follow him toward the reception desk. However, before they could reach halfway to their destination, a few members dashed for the exit in fear. One slammed through the door into the outside and another followed suit. Soon, the entire group had stampeded the exit door, leaving just Wiseman and the girl.

‘Those blistering imbeciles!’ the old man scolded in his mind with a contorted expression.

Before Wiseman’s anger could be properly expressed, the duo froze as the lobby no longer housed the sounds of feasting. Rather, a low snarl could be heard. The monster had stopped gorging on carcasses and shifted its body to face where the exit was. It had yet to notice the two but its features could now fully be visualized. The head of the monster had no eyes or nose, instead there was only a mouth dripping with blood. Its chest then had one giant eye which was currently staring at the group that had run outside. Accompanying this enlarged eye was a pot belly for the sole purpose of digesting multiple bodies at once.

‘What… what is that thing!?’ the girl thought.

Still frozen in fear, something reached over her shoulder causing her to jump a little. Turning around, Wiseman had put his hand on her shoulder and made a gesture with his other hand.

‘Shhh’ with his index finger on his lips.

Noticing that the monster was distracted, the elderly man guided his finger to the staircase. The two must make their way to the second floor before the monster had begun patrolling for stragglers who have yet to escape. However, this plan fell short once the two reached the base of the stairs and horrific screams could be heard from outside. Crimson liquid started to seep into the cracks of the inn and droplets landed on the nameless girl’s hand. Upon closer inspection, the liquid squirmed in her hand like worms touching salt. It then quickly dried up and disappeared into her skin.

“Blood rain…of all times, why did it have to be now…” Wiseman quietly muttered.

His complaining was quickly replaced by the inhuman shrills and yelling outside. While the girl could not directly see what was happening to the group of survivors, their shadows demonstrated a transformation of sorts. Soon enough, it would be confirmed as a few came inside to avoid the rain. However, it was already too late as they screamed in pain while their bodies contorted in various directions. Some grew horns and others had tails. Regardless, they were now monsters transformed by the blood rain.

Amidst the commotion, the girl could feel the stare of something else in the lobby. The head of the monster that had been originally feasting on the pile of corpses was now facing her direction. Even without eyes, she could feel the burning sensation of eye contact with the horrific being. Then it began moving, shifting its entire body weight into a full sprint. It created a noisy gurgling sound as it charged the pair on the stairs.

No longer frozen from fear, the girl’s body kicked into action and swiftly made it up the stairs. Wiseman, however, struggled as his body had seen better days. He was old, starved, and currently very frail. By the time the creature reached the bottom of the stairs, Wiseman was only about halfway up. As the girl watched the situation, she frantically checked her surroundings for anything to slow the fiend down. With a miraculous turn of events, fortune favours the observant.

“Dodge old man!!”

As Wiseman gasped for air, he looked ahead and saw a massive wooden block come rumbling down. Grasping the railing with both hands he braced himself alongside it as the piano rushed past. With a loud clang of musical notes, the heavy instrument knocked the monster back down the stairs.

“Good timing young lady!” as he moved with haste and rejoined the girl.

Momentarily stunned, the monster rattled its head to regain its senses and sauntered to the top of the stairs. It no longer had visuals on its prey and instead turned toward the mindless abominations that had just reentered the establishment.