Halfway to 19th floor, I have to stop because a terrorist suddenly shows up from the 19th floor's doorway.
It's a big guy, probably 180-ish centimeters tall, and he's using a spear. A low levelled spear obviously, with wood for bar and cheap looking iron which tip had already been chipped off.
I thought he was going to go downstairs, but it turns out he walked upstairs. I don't wait until he's out though, I tip-toe upstairs and just slip myself into the doorway right before he turns on the halfway of the next floor.
Contrast to the 10th floor, this floor is quite messy. Well, maybe it was because I entered through the emergency door which was closed that time. I didn't check the other part of the floor, so I didn't know.
There are papers strewn around in the lobby, blood on the wall, and well, one would know there's been an attack in here. I don't remember this scene in the game specifically. I hope there's nothing too bad going on in here.
There are three doorways in the lobby. One is to my left and the other two is on each side of the receptionist's counter. The one to my left leads to a closed janitor room while either one of the two near the counter leads to the Control Room.
I choose the left one first. But before I go, I hear the distinctive and familiar sound somewhere. It's just like when the door in 10th floor was opened. You know that sound of a door opening in a spaceship in sci-fi movies? That one with that ZIITS sound? Just like that.
"Could it be that the terrorists managed to enter the Control Room?" I suspected.
It is then followed by another sound, like a thud, but I'm not sure.
I immediately venture the doorway on the left. It only leads to a storage room with no door and another room with a door. The door is locked, and when I see the inside through the small window on the door, there are racks with boxes and crates. But nothing seems to be out of place.
The sound echoes still, and since this is not the right way, I return to the lobby and go to the other hallway. I'm looking for a similar looking door with key panel on it like in 10th floor.
This hallway leads to a corridor which floor is a bit bloodied, it's different from the clean-looking 10th floor and—something made me pause my steps.
There are two dead bodies on the floor. Each is several feet apart, and they're wearing yellow shirt and jacket like that technician from 9th floor. One corpse has a big cut across his chest, and the other on his back, it resulted in a big pool of blood under them. It's clear that they were killed by someone wielding a big slashing weapon. A big blade, maybe? But I don't remember there's any terrorists with a big blade here. Or maybe, I just forgot?
The game was years ago. Even though I remember what are the goals in every incident, I cannot remember all the enemies in every single places. In this certain mission, especially, I can only remember Direwolf, Sujin, and Terrorist Boss. Of course, also the boss's underlings which I had fought on the way here, but since they're just too much and insignificant, I don't think it's worthy to remember all of them.
A banging interrupts my line of thought. It's the sound of metal against metal. It sounds so close, I think it's from the nearest corridor just several meters ahead.
I walk over the dead bodies carefully, making sure to not slip on their pool of blood, and quietly make my way to the corridor.
The banging is getting louder as I approach the first corridor. I stop at the corner and peek to the right.
There, several feet into the corridor, is a tall terrorist who is hitting a door with a rather big axe. The axe's blade is wider, it's even wider than that man's head. It does nothing to the door though, but I realized that he's hitting a door that looks similar to the Control Room in 10th floor.
'Aah... Seriously? This sucks…' I pout as I realize what kind of situation it is. I have to beat him before I can enter the Control Room.
But with an axe that big, I couldn't help but feel that the corridor is a bit too narrow. I need bigger space. I instantly thought of the lobby and plans to bait the man there.
I take Jake's bat and hit it on the wall corner a few times. The sound echoes through the corridor and it should easily attract attention. But the man is not distracted at all.
'Ah, I forgot. They're charmed.' I clear my throat. "Hey, you jackass! Over here!"
Still, I'm not getting any attention.
"What the fuh— Now I know why girls said it's so hard to get a guy's attention." I mumble to myself as I approach the criminal.
"If someone is calling for you, answer it, DAMN IT!!" I raise the bat and hit the guy directly on the back of his head.
The loud thunk echoes as soon as the metal hits the man's skull. The sudden attack pushed him forward and his forehead got banged on the door.
The man falls to the ground on his knee and drops his axe in reflex. Seeing the man is very wide open, I decide to just beat him right here.
I move behind the man, and before he can stand, I ram the bat to his upper arm. It succeeded in making the man fall to the right. Then I start hitting him everywhere in his body. When he tried reaching for his axe, I hit his right hand and kick the axe away.
However, the axe turns out to be too heavy, so I just hit his upper right arm so hard so that he'll fall to his left side. Then I hit his head again right on the center, not that hard this time because I'm afraid too much strength will instantly kills him.
Then I pull his hoodie to his head and down, while also kicking him down. Then I beat him multiple times on the back.
He's grunting and growling, like an animal, and he tries to get up but thanks to the wall, I can propel myself from it and kick the guy down.
He's quite occupied in getting his balance back, so I immediately pull the axe away from him. Since I could only nudge it with my foot earlier.
I didn't pull it too far, just out of his reach. The guy managed to get up as I was doing this, so I immediately drop the axe and run at him. I bring my right foot up in attempt to kick him, but unknowingly, he grabs it and yanks.
I fall forward into his lap, and his hands immediately grabs my neck and face.
His hands are surprisingly large enough to cover my entire face that I struggle to breath. Not only that, the side of my face and my nose is in pain. It's like he's crushing my face. As if that's not enough, he's also choking me by the neck, further hindering my breathing.
"Ackk!"
For an unconscious person to be able to produce such strength… I can't understand how that logic works, but DANG this is VERY PAINFUL!!
I muster up all my strength and hit the guy with the bat again and again.
But his hold on me doesn't lessen at all. In fact, I feel it getting tighter and tighter. At this point, I'm already choking. But I still try to suck in breath through my mouth even if it ends up in me coughing again. My brain needs air!
I know I have to do something. So I drop the bat and try to sneak my fingers under his hold, to try to lessen it somehow. My fingers feel like jelly, but I don't want to give up.
Suddenly, small dark stars invaded my vision. It's so different from the time when I was dying, but somehow, I could feel that the abyss is closing in.
It's very hard for me to move, and there's no one here to help me now. If I don't change the situation, I could very well die.
'No! I don't want to die! Urgh!! Move, fingers!!' –is what I'm screaming in my mind. But I cannot slip my finger between his hand and my neck at all. There's no space.
Then I feel very tired. My energy is leaving me, and everything is becoming numb. I also feel my consciousness drifting away.
At that exact moment, the Control Room's door opens. I feel something on my hips and then I hear a gunshot.
The man immediately lets go of me and I could feel something wet trickles onto my face.
Air immediately invades my airways and I fall to the ground, coughing.
Sense gradually returns to me, and I force myself to open my eyes.
There's a young man standing in the doorway while holding a gun. My eyes dart to the left, towards the terrorist that was holding me in a chokehold. He had also fallen to the floor, but on his back. But he's not moving, and I don't even see the man's chest moving.
'He's dead?'
I dart my eyes back to the guy with the gun, and I realize he's holding MY gun.
I frown. "T-That's…"
"Hurry! Get in!" He doesn't give me a chance to speak as he drags me inside the room.
The door then closes with a ZIITS.