The group fumbled around with Calvin at the lead.
Scarlette who was catching up to him suddenly collapsed on the stairs.
Hugo scooped her up in one fell swoop.
"Shit! They are catching up!"
Philip's panicked voice rang from behind.
"Jane! Zahra!" Scarlette cried out in horror.
The stairwell of the asylum mansion wasn't that wide. With a dozen people simultaneously crammed in one space, it was inevitable that someone would fall down. Scarlette saw that while Jane was trying her best to catch up to the others. Philip suddenly shoved her to the side so he could get a headstart.
"Jane!"
Zahra cried out in alarm and she stretched her hand out to help Jane stand up.
"Let the bones be burned!"
A grating masculine voice rang from behind Jane and Zahra.
Both simultaneously trembled in fear.
They were here already?
Too fast!
"Hugo!"
Calvin gestured for Hugo and before he could even complete his shout...
Hugo was already in the air.
He planted a kick on the face of the patient.
The force of his kick was too immense that the patient was knocked backward and even fell down the stairs.
"Curses!"
"God, oh god... Help me!!!"
"Eat the flesh, season it well with salt and pepper. Burn the bones like firewood!"
The patient that Hugo kicked rolled downwards like a bowling pin. He struck the other patients and all of them rolled down the stairs back to the flooded basement.
"Strike!" Philip screamed in excitement.
"Why did you stop moving? Go! Go to the bathroom in the left corridor!" Calvin fiercely scolded.
"Y-Yes!" Philip hurriedly straightened his back before dashing towards the bathroom in the left corridor like mad.
The others followed suit.
They didn't dare to breathe loudly until Hugo who was the last one to arrive closed the door shut.
"Wheeew..."
"We're saved."
"That was intense."
Nicholas collapsed on the bathroom floor.
Thankfully, for some reason, this particular bathroom was kept quite clean and neat so he had no reservations on sitting directly on the floor.
Roy let out a sigh of relief, while Ray commented with gusto and a smile on his face.
Meanwhile, Calvin had a serious look on his face as he stared at Philip.
He saw how Philip shoved Jane backward in order to escape. Philip could reason out that he was just in a panic at that time and that he didn't understand nor realize what he was doing. But for Calvin, a person like him was walking time bomb. He had no need for such a person who could quickly forget camaraderie whenever there was danger.
The solemn look on his face was noticed by Hugo.
He quickly saw through what Calvin was thinking, but he didn't say anything.
"Jane! Zahra... Are you okay?" Scarlette rushed to the two.
Jane and Zahra's faces were still pale from that close encounter with death. They stared at Scarlette with dazed eyes and upon realizing that they were now safe. Tears dripped down their eyes as the two of them tightly hugged Scarlette.
"I was so scared..."
"I thought for sure that I was going to die..."
Calvin maintained his silence.
It wasn't appropriate to speak when someone was crying.
But then, Jane suddenly raised her head and glared at Philip.
"Why did you push me?"
"Why did you push me down earlier?"
"You tried to kill me!"
"Wh... What?! What are you talking about? You're slandering me!" Philip's trembling voice came out of his throat.
He pointed a finger at Jane and even shouted as if he was mustering his courage.
"There's no need to lie, Philip. I saw what you did earlier." Scarlette fiercely replied.
"What...? I didn't push her! I was just trying to escape!"
"Yes, you did!" Scarlette wasn't having it at all.
Everyone's narrowed eyes landed at Philip.
Under the immense pressure, Philip's mental faculties collapse.
"Yeah, I did push her, so what?! What are you going to do about it, huh?! Will you go ahead and blame me for trying to save myself from death? Does that even make sense?!"
Tears threatened to fall down Philip's eyes as he started his rant, "Don't act like you're such a kind person! I'm pretty sure that if you were in my situation, you would also push her down to save your own life!"
Slap!
Zahra sent a fierce slap across Philip's face.
Silence descended.
"Scarlette isn't like that!"
"Don't you dare bring her down to your level, you asshole!"
"I..." Philip's eyes were wide with shock upon realizing that he was slapped across his face.
Seeing the condemning look on everyone's faces.
He gnashed his teeth, entered a bathroom stall, and slammed the door shut.
The people whom he believed as his friends such as Nicholas, Roy, and Ray didn't even dare to stand up to him. It was clear that they found his actions quite despicable, but to be honest. They would probably do the same thing as Philip if they were in the same shoes.
After all, they had just met each other and they had no obligation to save each other's lives at all.
A person only had a single life.
They were willing to do anything as long as they could preserve their own lives.
Calvin shook his head.
Complicated emotions flashed across his face.
"Sigh...'
'Human nature...'
'Even now, I'm still baffled by you...'
He inwardly thought.
Calvin made a sidelong glance at the three women.
Scarlette was embracing both Jane and Zahra.
But the look on her face was remarkably different.
Although none of the others saw that look on her face.
Calvin's sharp and trained eyes noticed it.
'This girl... I hope she's not a walking time bomb just like them...'
Calvin could only shake his head.
To be honest, he would've been happier if he didn't have any comrades and was alone in this madhouse.
With his instincts, prior knowledge of the asylum, and the techniques that he knew and could utilize even though he wasn't a fighter. Even though it would take him quite a long time, he would still be able to pass through this final phase and maybe even acquire what he needed if he was lucky enough.
Sadly, Calvin's wishes didn't come true and he had teammates that he needed to protect.
Calvin instantly saw the potential of these newbies.
They had the potential of being the future heroes of humanity.
However, if they were indeed people that could easily betray their comrades for the sake of their own survival.
He would instantly cut them off like the plague.
Calvin greatly hated traitors.
And that included himself.
He hated himself for being so weak back then that he wasn't even able to defend his own sanity.
Of course, now that he was back. He would never let the same tragedy happen again.
Calvin swept his gaze on the faces of the other newbies.
He decided to take a long break with them.
In the middle of the break, Philip never came out from the bathroom stall at all and didn't even join the discussion.
When it was finally time for them to go to the Medical Ward, he came out of the stall with this scary-looking indifferent look on his face. The eyes were the windows to one's soul and a single look on Philip's eyes was enough for one to see that Philip didn't care about anything anymore.
He wasn't the Philip that everyone knew before that incident.
He was now a different Philip.
A dangerous and unpredictable Philip.
Hurt by the betrayal of his so-called friends, and the frustration of his actions being misunderstood.
Philip had decided to not care about anything anymore.
If he managed to come out of this place alive, then it was good.
But if not, he'll drag everyone with him to hell!
Seeing Philip's expression.
Calvin glanced at Hugo and the two men nodded in tacit understanding.
Although it was such a waste of talent, Calvin couldn't possibly sacrifice everyone for the sake of a single life.
If Philip dared to betray them in the middle of a chase, then Calvin was ready to sacrifice him to the wolves.
The group continued on their journey.
Since running electricity was now available throughout the entire asylum.
It wasn't that hard for them to traverse through the corridors anymore.
They also made a short trip to that room where they acquired the hospital gowns.
After wearing the gowns, they continued on their journey. But they were still moving rather slowly.
It was because now that there were lights, they could finally see the extent of damage that the mad patients of this asylum did to the place.
All sorts of graffiti and letters were scribbled on the concrete walls of the corridor. Most of them didn't make sense, but that wasn't the shocking part at all.
The shocking part was that the words and drawings were all made with blood!
Furthermore, they would also randomly stumble upon body parts on the floor.
There was even an instance where Jane kicked something soft with her shoes only for her to discover that it was a severed head.
Hugo even stepped on something mushy only for him to discover that it was someone's brain matter.
The entire scene was so morbid and gory that the newbies wished that there were no lights at all.
Such a horrifying scene combined with the faint smell of antiseptic and rust lingering in the air made the newbies feel as if they would vomit out the contents of their stomach at any moment.
Fortunately, it didn't take too long for them to arrive at the decontamination chamber that they needed to go through in order to enter the Medical Ward.
Pressing on some buttons beside the door, the hissing sound of hydraulics could be heard as the door creaked open.
The decontamination chamber somehow managed to accommodate all of them at once.
A few seconds later after decontaminating everyone inside the chamber...
The doors opened once again and the soon that appeared in front of the newbies could only be described with a single word.
Terrifying...