Truly, something was off.
He stared into the darkness, his body tense. The flashlight's beam flickered across the crates, casting shifting shadows in his peripheral vision.
What was happening? Had thieves somehow managed to sneak in without him noticing? There were no cameras in this section - no way he could have seen anyone breaking in. And if someone actually was here, they had likely sensed his presence by now. After all, his flashlight wasn't really low-key in the absolutely dark environment.
... whoever was here could be watching him right now, too.
The silence of the vast hall suddenly pressed down on him, oppressive and suffocating. He swallowed hard. What was he supposed to do? Run? Call out and demand whoever was there to reveal themselves?
'Dammit. I didn't actually get trained for such a situation.'
Before making any further moves and while still pondering, Reno allowed his gaze to drop onto the metal crate he held in one hand while his other gripped the flashlight tightly.
The scratch marks scarring the crate's smooth surface stood out under the light, jagged and deliberate, like a warning etched into its surface.
A troubling question ran through his mind.
What robber scratched up their bounty like this, not taking the insides and abandoning it here?
"This is so weird," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
Just then, a sound shattered the silence, sharp and jarring.
"Boom!"
The metallic clang echoed through the vast hall, freezing Reno in place. His body reacted on instinct, spinning toward the source of the noise and whipping the flashlight's beam across the space. The light landed on a veiled box about 15 feet away from his current position.
The grey fabric covering had been ripped open far above the ground level, and metallic crates lay scattered on the floor beneath it. But it wasn't the disarray that made Reno's pulse spike.
His breath stagnated as his gaze locked onto something perched atop the box.
There, illuminated by the unsteady beam of his flashlight, was a creature unlike anything he had ever seen.
The thing was very vaguely humanoid, standing between four and five feet tall, its burly body covered in dark, scaly skin that shimmered faintly under the flashlight's glare. Its legs were bent at unnatural angles, supporting a grotesque frame, while its weird-shaped arms ended in long, razor-sharp claws.
But what held Reno's attention the most were its eyes - cold, dark, and eerie, each only containing a single tiny red dot that seemed to glow faintly, like embers in the dark.
Atop its reptilian head were two slightly curved dark horns, giving it an almost demonic appearance.
Well, maybe it actually was a demon; he couldn't be sure. Ironically, this gallery was supposed to be centered around medieval things, after all, so it would be pretty fitting. Sadly, Reno was really not in any mood for jokes.
Instead, his chest tightened even more; his breathing had already stopped. He felt as though his heart might give out, its relentless pounding a deafening drumbeat in his ears.
His mind raced, and panic and confusion tangled his thoughts. He was confused, not because the dark monstrosity was unfamiliar to him but because he recognized it almost immediately. Its frame and appearance matched those of one of the statues he'd seen just a week ago in this hall.
What the hell did that indicate?
Reno had no time to ponder that question or any other questions about the situation. Even though the creature seemed momentarily stunned by the sudden light, its hairless eyelids narrowing against the glare, he was sure it wouldn't take long to refocus.
It hadn't taken Reno long to understand that something weird was happening that he couldn't explain. As he had already recognized, this was clearly no damn normal robber. It wasn't even a human.
His common logic couldn't explain it, but the moment he laid eyes on that dark monstrosity, he felt as if it was about to devour his entire being in one gulp, even though it was smaller than him in body size.
He knew that he wasn't imagining things either, as his anxiety felt way too real. He also knew that he had to either run away or fight.
The exit was roughly 45 feet away. Reno's mind churned with frantic calculations. Could he make it? Would it catch him before he reached the veil? He didn't wait to find out as the creature now had almost recovered from the flashlight's glare.
His survival instincts kicked in, and he willed all his strength into his legs. Then, without wasting any more time, he bolted away in the direction of the exit.
He sprinted through the rows of crates, the flashlight bouncing wildly in his grip and throwing erratic beams of light across the dark room. Behind him, he heard the unmistakable sound of the creature landing heavily on the floor, followed by the rapid "clack, clack, clack" of claws striking the floor as it gave chase.
He had had a faint hope that the thing might just let him run away, but no.
His anxiety went through the roof, knowing that he was now actually being hunted down, and he willed his legs to run even faster.
Reno knew that he had a head start of about a second and the initial 15-foot distance between them, but that wasn't a lot, really.
Even so, he kept sprinting, not letting himself succumb to his worries or fears.
After a few harrowing moments, he reached the exit and bolted through the dark veil blocking the view into the hallway behind.
During this maneuver, his head was spinning while he was trying to find a solution to his predicament. He wasn't sure he would be able to outrun that thing as his stamina wasn't the best. He wasn't really fit, as most of his time until now had been dedicated to studying and sleeping.
But even if he could keep up the pace, all the exits were closed during the night, so he would have to manually open them with a key, which would take way too long.
No, even if he had the time for it, he couldn't let that monster escape into the outside world.
So Reno kept running. Now, in the hallway, he ran toward the entrance hall, which was the closest lit room in the immediate vicinity. His feet seemed to guide him there automatically as he didn't have much time to consider any other options.
Behind him, he heard something bolt through the dark blankets of the veil and slide into the dark hallway. His anxiety spiked once more, and the adrenaline pushed the muscles in his body further, making his legs carry him at amazing speeds down the corridor and around a sharp corner.
As he turned, his eyes already spotted the shimmer of lights from the entrance hall in front of him. The museum was rather small, after all, so he knew he would get there pretty quickly.
Behind him, once again, he heard the scraping noise of claws along the museum's metal floor. Luckily, the creature wasn't quicker than him while supported by his adrenaline rush, but it seemed to keep up with his pace just fine.
A few seconds later, he reached the entrance hall, the bright lights momentarily disorienting him after the gloom of the corridor. But that didn't stop him from keeping running on.
He only skidded to a stop in front of the locked entrance doors of the room, his chest heaving as he gulped for air.
Turning, he gripped the flashlight and crate tightly, his mind a chaotic blur of fear and desperation. He knew he couldn't keep running. He was stuck.
Not even a moment after this realization, the thing, a demon creature or whatever the hell it was, burst into the hall, its claws gouging the carpet as it charged. Its glowing red eyes locked onto Reno with terrifying intensity, and its scaled body rippled with movement as it ran.
Under the bright lights, the creature was less obscured but no less horrifying. Watching the monster charging at him was a menacing sight.
Reno's anxiety surged to unprecedented heights as he realized he had no plan, no weapon, no idea what to do. He was, in the sense of the phrase, like a cornered animal with no way out.
In this short moment, his mind suddenly changed gears as it finally completely realized his situation. He couldn't run away, so there was only one option left.
Suddenly, Reno was hyper-aware of everything around him. He noticed the flashlight in one hand and the metal case, which he was still gripping tightly in his other. Then his body reacted.
The creature was now almost upon him and pounced at him with its clawed arms stretched out.
Without thinking and only a rough estimation of where to aim the crate, Reno swung the heavy metal box with all his strength. The motion carried every ounce of fear and desperation he felt as it collided directly with the side of the creature's head in a bone-jarring "crack".
The impact sent the creature reeling, but its momentum carried it forward. It crashed into Reno with a force that knocked the air from his lungs. It was heavier than he had expected, weighing him down with ease.
The two of them hit the ground in a tangled heap, claws ripping into Reno's arms and legs as they tumbled. He felt sharp pain slicing through his skin, but adrenaline numbed the worst of it in the immediate moment.
On the floor, with the creature thrashing against him, Reno's survival instincts still having the best of him led his every action. He had tightened his grip on the flashlight even more during the impact.
So again, without much thinking at all and relying on his raw instincts, he used the flashlight's blunt end to hit as hard as he could at the wild, moving creature who was still entangled with him. His aim was the place where he had hit the monster with the crate.
"Thud, thud, thud, …"
It continued to thrash around, trying to claw at him, but was obviously in a state of utter disorientation caused by Reno's direct hit to its head. Still, it managed to create a bunch more wounds on his body during their brutal brawl.
'Die! Die!'
"… thud, thud, thud, thud!"
It continued on.
'Damn it!'
Then, finally, its limps became slower in their movement until they finally stopped altogether.
Reno gave it a last shaky hit before letting the flashlight fall onto the now-blooded carpet.
His breathing was haggard and shallow.
For a few moments, he just lay there unmoving and gasping for air.
Then, finally, with a loud groan, he tried to push the corpse off of him. When he did, though, his whole body was filled with pain. The worst pain he had experienced so far.
His arms, his legs, even his abdomen hurt like hell while his lungs burnt as if he had run a 1000-mile marathon.
'Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!'
His mind and body screamed as the adrenalin seemed to wear off, and he felt the effects of his desperate fight for survival.
'Why is this happening to me?!'
He gnashed his teeth while his face contorted in pain. He needed to get up. Reno needed to assess his wounds and get that corpse as far away from him as possible.
The sight and feeling of the now dead demonic-looking creature with one side of its head bashed in lying partly on top of him made him want to puke his stomach out. Disgust and repulsion were feelings that mixed with his disbelief and pain.
Despite his emotions, he had to act. Grinding his teeth even harder than before, he tried to block out the pain, closed his eyes, and rolled himself to the side. His hand still held the metal case, now colored in an unnatural reddish black from the blood, and he pulled it with him.