YOU KILLED ME. I don't move, the grip that I had on my gun loosens as I struggle to understand what was going on. She doesn't move from the mirror, repeating the same phrase over and over again at an erratic pace. A rustling behind me causes me to jump but I don't turn from the little girl. Everything around the room starts to tremble as she reaches her hand out from the mirror. She starts working her way towards me, the glass that was supposed to barricade her from me starts to melt around her fingers, like rubber being stretched out. I could hear her now, murmuring under her mouth as her face splits in half, revealing the gore underneath as muscle turned to tentacle whipping all around the air.
I shoot at the now pulsating clump of tissue that was her head and blood splatters all over the wooden floor. She does not relent, still inching her way towards me. "What the fuck are you?" It doesn't take me long to realize that I don't need to deal with this and I turn around to sprint towards the open staircase. I feel something grab the holster around my torso and I am pulled sharply backwards. A huge gaping hole emerged from the grotesque head, extending itself to be big enough to swallow me whole as the tentacles continue to pull me towards it.
Shit, I'm fucked! I feel a sharp pain on the arm holding my revolver and I watch it fly into the air, now on the ground away from me. My hand desperately tries to crawl its way in reaching it but I am once again propelled backwards, the monstrosity now wrapped a lot more tightly around my leg. The flip knife I tucked away around my strap was now in my hand and I slice desperately at its hold around my thigh. It screams in pain and I feel my legs being freed.
I dive towards the staircase and I suddenly find myself tumbling down a flight of stairs, a loud thud booms around me as I land on the ground. I swiftly put myself on my back and I'm surprised to see that the staircase was now gone, as if it never existed in the first place. There was no longer any sign of the creature, which brings me some form of relief. My revolver's gone too.
There was something eerie about the hallway I found myself in at the present. For one, there were no doors that lead anywhere, nor any form of décor. Another reason was the fact that there were no corners in sight, seeing how long the pathway was from one side to another. There was barely any light as well, the only sources of any lighting were the torches put on the walls of the creepy hallway.
I wedge one of them off and use it as my primary source of luminance, limping my way towards no direction in particular. Moments pass as I venture onwards, not seeing any difference in my surroundings. Suddenly I hear a loud scream in front of me, but I can't see the source. This is followed by another, and another. More earsplitting screams fill the hallway as it grows louder and louder with each one. I drop myself on the ground as the loud shrieks feel as if they were crawling inside my head. "AAGHH!" I scream along with my pain, my consciousness barely able to hold as I desperately try to prevent any form of sound from entering my ears, my hands trying to suppress them and failing miserably.
"STOP IT!" The screams are different now, more familiar. They were the sounds of the people I've worked with before, the ones I've seen getting ripped apart while I helplessly watch. The ones who sacrificed themselves for me so that I could continue to live. The ones who I couldn't save. The sound of Eve, she screams the loudest and I break down, begging for it to just finish. "NO MORE! PLEASE, NO MORE OF THIS!"
It takes a while before the screams finally subside and I am left there, broken and sobbing, the torch now dead beside me as I can't bring myself to move. I struggle to pull myself up on my feet, using the wall close to me for support. I have to keep going, I have to get to Anthony. "I won't fail, not again." Knife in hand, I continue to push onward in the dark and at last I see the end of the hallway after what felt like eternity. There was now an enormous door looming in front of me as I feel a sense of ominousness in front of it. It felt as if it was alive, like it was breathing.
"WHAT IS IT THAT YOU SEEK?" A disembodied voice fills the hall, emerging from behind the door that lay in front of me. I try to eye it a bit more, making sure it wasn't my mind playing tricks on me. Nothing. There was only silence as I reach for the handle. It won't budge. In an instant, a coil of barbed wire wraps itself around my arm, tightening itself as the blades dig into my skin. Fuck, it hurts!
The blood seeps from my skin and instead of dripping downwards, it crawls its way towards the empty keyhole and the knob loosens. The barbed wire retracts itself slowly and I groan in pain, my bloody arm was an ugly sight to look at and was even uglier to experience. "That's one way to keep a door locked." I twist and as I was about to pull it open, I am flung backwards as another person bursts through the door.
"Michael!" Anthony, uneasy and just as messed up as I am, helps me up with his free hand. All of a sudden, he points his gun towards me, catching me by surprise. "How do I know you're really Michael?"
I put my hands up and try to ease the situation by stating the stupidest line a person could ever say when one is trying to brush off suspicion. "You don't." He fires a shot and I duck and hear a thud behind me. I turn around and see a huge, humanoid figure dissipating into the ground. "Thanks… asshole."