Walking through the door, Vain saw that space started to twist around him. Everything appeared normal, until the space that appeared to be brighter suddenly darkened, then the surroundings showed a hallway looking exactly like level 3.
"F***"
Standing stunned in the hallway, Vain almost couldn't move. He now understood that there were only two ways out. First is death. The second is to wait until he passes the so-called test.
Unfortunately, he couldn't keep cursing all the time since a few Smilers were already heading his way causing him to run a full sprint in the opposite direction. Vain could hear the soft laughter of the Smilers behind him.
While running and checking a few doors every now and then to escape the Smilers, Vain could keep a constant pace of 50 meters distance at the least. Smilers are known to have a lunge attack that leaves ten meters around them to be a danger zone.
After half an hour of nonstop running, Vain found himself in front of a huge group of entities coming directly at him about a hundred meters away. Cursing, he could only check all the nearby doors in case he could escape to another place.
Luck was on Vain's side and he was able to escape after checking five different doors. Although both groups of entities got a tad too close for comfort, having the big group of entities only ten five meters away before he would have to fight even if he didn't want to.
The next area luckily didn't have any Smilers, but still, like usual there was a group of entities, but this was one group he had to fight no matter what to be safe.
After nearly an hour of non-stop fighting, Vain was able to kill the last of the entities. Again taking a break and patching up his wounds, Vain was just about to get some type of rest while he still could, but then somewhere he heard a voice talking in a quietish voice.
A woman's soft voice sounded, "Why haven't we met anything after that hell? It has been an hour we have been walking. Why are we moving this way anyway? We both just heard the screeching of entities in this direction."
A man spoke back this time, "I know, but listen. The screeching ended. If we see bodies of dead entities we will know we can meet a group that could offer us some support to help us escape. We are too new we need someone experienced."
"But..."
"NO! No buts. Without anyone who knows their way around, we will only end up like our group!"
"Sorry... Your right... Hey look you are definitely right! There are some corpses this way!"
A sound of running footsteps sounded.
"Wait! Cover your mouth! Crawlers."
The footsteps stopped. Then a short while they continued only more softly as if they started to walk in the direction instead of running.
Vain stood up and waited for his new visitors. He was also slightly excited to see more people he could travel with since it was not only boring but frightening to go alone in these halls. Going alone will only make someone go crazy.
Stepping past the large pile of corpses with holes in their heads or cuts, a pair walked in Vain's direction. The man was a handsome dark-skinned man who was about 5' 8'' and the woman beside him had caramel-colored skin, with a height of 5' 5'', and was also beautiful. The pair both had guns, but their main weapons were obviously the two crossbows that hung at their waists.
Smiling at the pair, Vain waved at them, "Hello! It is good to see more people."
The pair both looked surprised. The man was the first to speak, "Hey where is your group? There are a lot of bodies here, so there should be at least five more people. RIght?"
The woman next to him spoke nodding her head rapidly, "That's right! Where are the other people? We saw all those bodies, so how can one man be the only one here? OH! I know! I see you were injured, so they must be assholes and left you right?"
The woman sounded so sure of herself as if she couldn't accept any other answer other than what she had 'figured out' what had happened.
Stifling his laughter, Vain spoke in a loud voice, "I wish that was the case! At least then I would have someone to talk to! I'm sorry to disappoint, but I am the only one who was here when the bodies started to drop!"
The pair both looked at him like he was crazy. The pair looked Vain up and down inspecting him before the man spoke up loudly, "OH! I get it! you must be one of those people who look young when you have been here for a long time. Or maybe you are a person trained especially by a secret organization! I heard that they are super professionals trained from birth."
Vain couldn't help but remember Xavier who was actually one of those people. Shaking his head, Vain could only laugh while explaining how he wasn't in any of those options, "I'm sorry to tell you, but I am a person who was originally a transfer. But I was trained by a real professional who was one of those people who look young while being old."
The man and woman both looked at Vain skeptically, but still, the woman smiled and reached out her hand, "Well no matter what my name is Samantha. This man beside me is Jacob. Even if you don't want to tell the truth, if you would, we can work together so we can be safer as a group?"
The man took Samantha's hint and stretched out his hand as well, to which Vain also shook directly after shaking Samantha's hand.
"Well, Even if you don't believe me, my name is Vain. I would love to have some type of company through this hell hole. Even if I have to be the one protecting you." Vain spoke while shaking their hands while joking slightly about being the one to protect them.
"So I heard your voices say your group died? Are you comfortable sharing what happened for you two to end up on level 3?"
Jacob sighed and nodded his head, "Well we all originally planned only to get some metal in the Pipe Dreams, but when we were cornered by too many entities since we were being chased and didn't kill enough, we were left with only one choice, which was the one open door to the Electrical Station. We thought it would be the best option.
Next thing we know we are still just running till the same happens, just much more quickly. Surrounded, but this time there was no escape. We killed until only me and Samantha were given a path to escape. Jason... He said there was no way to escape with all of us alive, so he forced us to leave and live while the group slowly died one by one...
Now since I told you my sad tale, why not give us more of an explanation yourself?"
Vain nodded and spoke calmly, "So you guys experienced the usual of not understanding situations enough and most of the group pays if not all. Jason was it? He was smart. Anyways for me, I met an unknown entity on level 5 which took away my only group member and threw me here. So far it is nearing day five since I have been stuck on this level. Should be in just a few more hours.
As for the rest, let us forget about it. Let's just start to move since we have spent too long here."
The newly made group started their new journey together. In hopes of escape.