"Mr. Pnycheon, can we go look inside the basement alone first?" Xerxes rose back up and asked.
Mr. Pnycheon paused and stared at them for a minute before replying, "No, I should accompany you; after all, you are my guests," he smiled.
Well, I tried...
Xerxes gave Kia an apologetic look and grabbed his hand, signaling for him to stay close to him.
The basement's trapdoor wasn't covered by the carpet. This time it was only latched on slightly.
Mr. Pnycheon opened and entered the basement without any hesitation. He led the way with the oil lamp. It was Lucas and Alexa's first time in the basement, so they were quite conscious of their footings. It was supposedly Sam's first time in the house too, but his steps were much more confident than the others.
The dimly lit, shadowy, and narrow basement was creepy to anyone with the sense of sight. The grimy jars were placed randomly on the shelves, and the corner table had a mess of various tools on it. Nothing in the basement had a judgable purpose.
Mr. Pnycheon stopped in the middle of the room, holding the flickering oil lamp, while they spread out to thoroughly investigate everything.
Xerxes stayed close to Sam, lest he end up finding something useful. He had directed Nova to stay close with Kai, who was obsessively smelling the left side brick wall, which looked newly constructed among the other brick walls.
"When was this wall constructed, Mr. Pnycheon?" Nova, standing just behind Kai, was facing the man.
Mr. Pnycheon unperturbedly put the oil lamp on the table behind him, which barely had enough space for it, and walked with steady steps to the wall in question.
He traced the bricks reminiscingly, his face devoid of any emotions, only having an arrogant smirk as he answered.
"I believe it was just recently."
"How recently?" Nova persisted.
"Probably about a week ago?"
The timing of it definitely overlapped with the missing of his wife.
Is there a connection between the two of them? If so, how... wait, don't tell me!
Kai got closer to a certain brick in the wall; it seemed a bit loosely placed. In the blink of an eye, the brick was gone. Kai was holding it, somehow watching the other bricks in the wall shake.
Little by little, they started falling from their original places.Xerxes had a bad feeling about it; he instantly called out.
"Kai! Nova! Get away from the wall!"
They had moved a few steps back to be safe already, and with Xerxes's urging, they took a few more steps backwards when the wall fell apart completely.
The bricks fell with a loud crash, but after the solid bricks, something soft and moist fell on top of them.
Xerxes had a flashback to the boy in the box seeing it because it resembled a body unrecognizable but definitely a human body.
They were too stunned by it; the body was wearing a white, modest gown, the loose hair had crawling maggots coming and going through the melted skin of the face, making it hard to identify it, and the last noticeable thing was the locket hanging down from her neck.
The woman's eyes were still open as if they were still experiencing something terrifyingly unbelievable. The deep cuts on her back were vomit-inducing. The woman was curled into her own body as if hugging herself, trying to keep herself safe.
Upon a closer look, the rancid smell was unbearable, but in the hold of Elizabeth lay another body of a petite black cat, which had almost zero external injuries, and it lay in her arms peacefully with its eyes closed.
Xerxes had yet to believe the truth when a shout hit his ears.
"XERXES, GET ASIDE!" Nova shouted, pulling Kai behind him again.
"THIS OLD MAN HAS GONE CRAZY!" Alexa screamed sharply.
Xerxes knew the man was probably behind him; he turned to grab Sam before moving away from him when the swish sound of an axe slashing the air and piercing a skull followed it.
Splash.
The fresh, warm, red blood covered his vision, some of it coming into contact with his eyeballs due to not closing his eyes on time. His face and clothes were covered in Sam's blood.
Mr. Pnycheon had killed Sam in a swing of the axe that was among the tools on the table behind them, and Xerxes was unable to move away from the cruel scene of the man butchering Sam's body.
Xerxes's eyes were bloodshot as he watched everything in slow motion; after multiple hits of the axe into Sam's body, he went for him next.
Mr. Pnycheon had the appearance of a crazed serial killer indulging in his pleasurable hobby of killing innocent lives; Xerxes's body was frozen in comparison.
Move Xerxes! You'll die for real this time if you don't move right now!
As always, his body had wished differently from his mind; it wanted nothing more than to be obliterated to pieces by the man. That was probably why he didn't move away; he couldn't move away.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Three consecutive bullets flew at the man; one hit his arm and the other two his head. The axe in his hand slipped to the floor, and his body fell backwards on the ground.
"What are you doing?! Are you planning to die??" Nova yelled breathlessly.
Xerxes's body turned at the sound; he saw Nova holding a gun with both hands, and his expression was a mix of scared and shocked at the situation.
Xerxes took a step towards Nova when the image of him sliced into multiple tiny bits and his body felt lighter.
***
"It's the third day. No one has died yet, but they still have a chance of clearing it, Caitlyn," the guy in a black suit spoke.
"Evacuate the premises and look for another team. I never had much hope for—" Caitlyn had yet to finish her words.
A bright blue beam of light blinded them.