[Content warning: Mentions of disgusting elements.]
Emyln opened his eyes to be faced with utter darkness. Immediately standing up, he swiftly observed his surroundings; it looked like he was in a corridor of some sort. It was an odd place, dark, but somehow, he could see just enough to navigate through it.
He decided to change positions instantly, everyone knew one of the worst places to stay in a horror genre was a dark corridor.
‘What exactly is the purpose of this trail though?’ Dina wandered to Zero while trailing through the corridors with light steps.
Emlyn noticed the unnatural amount of doors that kept appearing across the corridor. He had only walked a minor distance from his original position but somehow crossed past five doors already. What were these doors for?
“I’m thinking it’s to kill all the participants miserably?”
Dina: (¬_¬)
‘Is that so? I would’ve never guessed even with that bitchy voice screeching it into my mind the whole time. Thanks for reenacting that; now tell me something useful,’ Dina replied sarcastically while leaning onto the walls, floors, and doors to check for any clue.
However, disappointedly, there was nothing; it was either that or she sucked at this.
Ignoring Dina’s sarcasm, Zero replied, “There’s little to no clues to make a viable conclusion. You’d have to keep going until you find something useful.”
Dina scowled in displeasure, but she knew he was right; there were too few clues to conclude. They needed more clues, but how would they get them?
Just as she was still considering entering the doors, a shrill scream tore through the unusually silent corridor, and the pitter-patter of panicked steps was heard as someone presumably ran in terror.
Without even bothering to check it out, Emlyn immediately turned in the opposite direction and dashed off madly. The clues would have to wait for now, survival was crucial!
After running for a while he was met with a dead end and was trapped. Hearing the approaching noise behind him, he decided to enter the nearest door, and opening it slowly, he walked right in and shut the door softly.
“Good, there’s no monster.”
He had avoided making any ruckus as he entered in case there was a monster here then he’d at least have a chance to stumble back and try another door before they even noticed his presence.
Entering the door proved to be the best decision because soon, gruesome screams of a male and the bone-chilling sound of flesh being ripped into and consumed echoed through the corridor, causing Emlyn to gulp nervously. He was only a door away from imminent disaster, these trials were terrible.
Looking before him, he was relieved to find nothing, just an intersection that led to another set of corridors. Pondering on whether to stay still, move forward, or wait for the other monster to finish his business before leaving… he tossed away that idea quickly; if the monster was intelligent enough to ambush him, he’d be done for.
‘But I need to gather more clues, staying here doing nothing isn’t safe either. It’s not like there’s a designated spot for the monsters to spawn so waiting here is equally unsafe…’
After contemplating, he decided to take the risk and move forward. After all, this situation was legendary: damned if you do, damned if you don’t; might as well pick a much better way to be damned.
Walking down the brooding surroundings, Emlyn made sure to soften his steps as much as possible. Most times being the first to see the monster was enough head start to outrun it and survive.
Dina suddenly felt pity for those who couldn’t run for the life of theirs, unfortunately for them, they were more than doomed unless their luck suddenly decided to explode and somehow the sorceress spared them, although that was impossible. There was no evidence, but Dina was sure the sorcerers were watching their movement somehow, and even if one managed to escape the first time, definitely not the second.
‘This is why exercising is good. I remember a friend of mine who hated exercising a lot; thanks to her excellent genes, she could eat as much as she did without even exercising and still look as fit as ever. You know how I managed to convince her to begin exercising?’
Zero: …am I supposed to ask… fine.
“What?”
‘Since she loved the horror genre so much, I asked her: if you were to be in a horror situation, with how unfit you were, would you be able to survive? And that was all it took her to buckle up and begin exercising!’
“That’s great then,” Zero replied soullessly, but Dina was too engrossed in her story to notice.
‘It is. Sadly, I ended up being the one in a horror situation. Isn’t life unfair? (￣Д￣),” Dina groaned sadly.
Zero: Frankly, I couldn’t care less.
“Yeah, very unfair.”
‘Damn, your displeasure couldn’t be more evident; fine, I’ll stop talking, you killjoy,’ Dina, who had since noticed his nonchalantness but kept on talking to ease her fear, finally decided to let him be.
Zero: After all my efforts am still a killjoy? Fine, I’ll sure you the true meaning of a killjoy (≖_≖).
Dina: I suddenly feel a chill down my spine, ugh (＞﹏＜).
Emlyn had barely gone halfway from his original position when his ears sharply caught onto something. They were very soft but could still be heard— it was footsteps.
The threat wasn’t the steps but who had them. It sounded human, but Emlyn knew better than to be that naïve, after all, humanoid monsters existed as well. He decided to take the risk and confirm who it was.
Taking a good amount of steps backward and being in a position for a mad dash in case whatever came out was not an ally but a fiend, he knocked three times at the wall, the crisp sound echoing through the dim corridor.
The footsteps stopped, and soon, a bright light shone through the corridor, illuminating its path. Looking forward, the sight that greeted Emlyn was of a female with an afro that fell loosely to her shoulders and warm brown eyes filled with visible worry, which morphed into joy at the sight of him.
“Oh my gosh! Thank goodness! You’re human!” The female exclaimed with obvious glee at the sight of a human.
“SHHHH!!!” Emlyn motioned fiercely while gesturing at the excited female to keep calm. No one knew what was in these shadows, and he sure didn’t want to find out.
“Am so sorry I got too excited! Can I come closer? My name is Danielle,” she said apologetically.
Remembering Emlyn’s settings and the OOC penalty Dina decided to act accordingly. Normally, Emlyn was unsocial, but even he would adjust in such a situation, right?
“I don’t care; I just hope you’re not a threat,” Emlyn replied coldly, his glare piercing through Danielle, causing her to shiver. She could tell, he meant every word of what he said.
“Yes... I promise. But can we please work together?” Danielle pleaded helplessly. If she could help it, she’d rather not work with this stuck-up but what choice did she have?
From Emlyn’s memories, Dina could tell who this person was, the leader of the female track team. This meant she could run and probably won’t be an obstacle. Also, company was more than appreciated in times like this, so why not?
“As long as you don’t endanger me,” Emlyn responded harshly causing Danielle to smile back awkwardly with a nod, dang, this asshole was rude.
After forming their not-so-perfect team the duo went on ahead with Danielle leading the way. She didn’t mind being in the forefront at all because to her she was the least disadvantaged. Firstly, if danger came from the front, it was easier to detect, and most importantly, she was fast enough to escape it; she was even more confident in outrunning the dude behind her.
Of course, Emlyn had also considered that, but he believed he was safer at the back. After all, compared to the unknown before them, he knew very well what was behind him, and that was all he needed to feel safer.
Regardless, both students felt relieved having someone accompanying them, despite the possibility of being betrayed, having a human beside them was enough to reduce their anxieties by more than 50%.
They continued walking forward softly; no one knew exactly what this trail was for, the goal, or how to survive so all they could do was keep moving to hopefully collect some clues.
Just as they entered a corner in the corridor, they heard the sound of feet madly dashing towards them, and before they could react, a bit farther from them was a terrific sight. A boy with glasses was running speedily towards them away from a monster who was chasing… more like swiftly crawling after him.
The monster was more disgusting than terrifying. The thing had multiple mangled-up limbs stretching out of its torso, which it used to crawl through the walls after the male. It was like a doll that had its limbs ripped apart and then randomly jabbed into its torso with extra limbs.
It had so many limbs that its torso was barely visible and the only thing in sight was a pile of wriggling limbs and a bald head more hideous than the monster’s body. Its face was large and bloated with empty socket holes and a wide-opened, decaying mouth that flapped about with every movement.
The most unnerving part of the monster was the maggots that were crawling all over its face, feasting on it alive, which was probably why it had no nose and in place of its nose cavity was a glaring hole. Its entire nose had been eaten off.
Danielle gagged in disgust but was quick enough to recover and, with a sharp turn, ran away from both the boy and monster while dragging after Emlyn, who was lagging. One had to admit, she was fucking fast.
Maybe it was because of the unnatural amount of limbs the monster had. Even with a head start, it was still closing in on them, but even more impressive was the speed of the boy behind, who had quickly caught up to them in all the chaos.
Seeing how quickly the monster was catching up to them, Emlyn decided to take a gamble; there was no guarantee the other monster he had escaped from wasn’t still out there, and if they were unlucky enough to get sandwiched by two monsters, it was game over.
After considering that, Emlyn decided to take the risk and, reaching towards the door closest to them, stumbled inside, dragging in Danielle, who was still holding him, before reaching out to shut the door. However, he was astonished the next second when the boy who had just been a few steps away from them swiftly burst in before slamming the door shut. How fast was this dude?!
Instantly leaning unto the door to hold back the monster with their weight in case the monster decided to break in, they stayed in that position for a while until the monster's footsteps became distant. Luckily the gamble paid off as the spider monster walked right past the door. It seemed his guess was right; the monsters couldn’t follow them into the doors; what a relief.
This thought was shattered instantly when a tight grab by Danielle brought him to reality. He was just about to angrily berate her when his eyes caught sight of what the girl was pointing.
Dina’s mind completely blanked out as she stared up at the monster before them, just like the others.
It was just like the spider monster they had run away from… but much more humungous. It had hundreds of limbs attached to its torso which had completely disappeared in the stack of limbs jam-packed closely together and slithering about like multiple snakes. Its head was as big as a toddler with a pair of huge rotting eyes dangling before it while its face was completely covered in maggots with not a flesh in sight.
Its body spanned across the edge of the room, and using its limbs, it slowly but steadily crawled towards the trio, its terrifyingly large body filling up their vision.
Dina was so paralyzed with fear she could barely hear whatever Zero was rattling about nor did she notice that the duo beside her had long fainted in shock. The only thing she could hear was the resounding beat of her heart.
This was a different kind of fear, it wasn’t the type that rattled one’s entire being; it was the type that froze every function of the body. From the head down to the toenails, everything would pause like a time pause machine had been clicked, and this was the first time Dina had felt this kind of fear.
As the large figure approached Emlyn steadily, he felt his vision blur, and right when the monster’s face was just before his, his eyes rolled backward, and he passed out just like his companions.
***
Emlyn opened his eyes with a grunt; he was still processing his surroundings when he felt an urgent but light tug at him, prompting him to face Danielle, who was tugging at him, only to see her lifelessly gazing at something.
Looking up in confusion, his eyes widened and he fully processed just what was happening. After passing out they had woken up. Only, they had woken up in the exact position they were in… with the monster still before them.
*’’ ‘
A/N:
Hi guys, I am back. And we have three more chapters for the week to go, yay! I just wanted to shine some light on my FB group, Rara's Ebooks for those on Facebook who are interested. I'll be really glad if you join as that'll be a means to interact with one another and share your thoughts with me on WAST.
On another note, I opened a space for character art in the reviews below, but they're also available in the fanart chapter as well.
Lastly, I'd really appreciate it if you guys would make an effort to appreciate this novel and my efforts. Am not really asking for much, comments, reviews, Ps stones are appreciated, anything you can. It saddens me when there's barely any activity (｡•́︿•̀｡) and I wonder if I even have readers at all…
Anyway, I wish you guys a great week, and don't forget to check out my FB group if you're on Facebook. Bye!