"What was that?"

They all stopped listening intently, the silence between them filling in.

"…What was what?" Czech managed. Her mouth was dry.

"I heard something; someone`s here, I know it." Italy whispered, his large brown eyes darted to the sides as if expecting to see someone creeping out of a dark corner or something.

"Italy, quit messing around. No one is here we are alone." Germany insisted, impatiently. "Stop acting like a paranoid-"

"Wait, I hear it too." Japan interrupted.

Everyone remained silent again in the dark hallway listening. At first, there was nothing, and then they heard it: it was a slopping noise, like someone was chewing with their mouth open. It was faint, but still audible in the silence, seeming to increase in volume the more they became aware of it.

It seemed to becoming from somewhere down the hallway.

Japan reached for a nearby steel pipe, holding it tightly in his hands.

"Japan, what are you-"

He placed a finger over his lips, before turning and slowly walking down, his feet making no sound as they moved forward. Germany followed, leaving Czech and Italy behind.

Czech turned to Italy, swallowing hard. He was trembling, and she felt it hard to control her own shaking.

She held out her hand, and he took it, and together they followed Germany and Japan, hand in hand like two children venturing forth into the attic where they heard the evil ghost cackling.

As they drew closer, the chewing became more fierce – more savage. It grunted, blowing air from its nose.

Japan stopped in front of a door that was slightly open, a bit of light shining through. He slowly pushed it open, allowing enough space for both him and Germany to see.

There was a dog – a big dog – eating the flesh of another dog below him. It was badly injured, blood gushing from a wound in its head, but it did not seem to mind it. He dipped its head down into the open stomach of the animal below it, tearing off something pink… and that`s when it saw them.

Its black eyes landed on them suddenly, and Japan held his breath. He felt sick watching the atrocious sight before him, and when those small, vicious eyes landed on him, he felt the fear leap from his belly.

"Germany," he whispered, and he heard Germany stir in his horrified trance. "We must-"

The leapt forward suddenly dashing after them, leaping forward at the foot of the door, its gaping jaws revealing the gums that were eaten away.

For a moment, everything was silent, as Japan`s eyes met with that of the dog, and all he saw was pure evil. It seemed as though the dogs sole purpose was to kill him, to pin him to the ground and devour him like he did the dog only moments before.

A crashing sound exploded in the room, like a firecracker went off right before him. He heard Czech and Italy scream, mixed in with that of a high pitched whine that he was not sure came from. The dog was suddenly on the ground, blood oozing from his head forming a puddle.

Japan stared dazed, his eyes wide, his mouth open, and his body frozen.

"Japan!" Germany bellowed, suddenly shaking him by the shoulders. "Snap out it! Let`s go!"

Japan blinked, dumbly staring at the German in front of him. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the low growling that filled his ears.

The dog rose from its feet the bullet shining through his skull. They heard a cough coming from the room, and they watched as the dog, its belly opened, and the insides spilling out, slowly stumble to its feet, spurting blood from its mouth.

Japan slammed the pipe against the dog`s head, Germany pushing Czech and Italy forward, yelling for them to run, with Japan close behind.

His mind raced, and it suddenly came to his mind the dangerous situation they were in. They were trapped, with no way to get out, being hunted like small defenseless animals…

"Italy?"

His brown eyes turned towards her, and he smiled kindly, her heart skipping at the sight. He was just like a child to her.

She reached out, taking his face in her hands, her fingers resting on his cheeks, and she felt the urge to reach forward and kiss him.

The blush crept up her cheeks, but she ignored it, bringing her face forward, and then her eyes opened. His kind face was gone, suddenly, replaced with that of a vicious snarling dog.

It growled, but the growl came out as words she understood.

"What`s wrong, Texas?" the voice taunted. "Why can`t you kiss me? Too good for a dog are you?"

She screamed, and the dog`s jaws clamped on her shoulder, the hot blood pouring down as she screamed and screamed.

Her eyes popped open, her breathing hard, the lasting images of the dog in her mind.

"Italy," she whispered, a tear running down her cheek. "Oh, Italy…"

Texas cried on the floor, not aware of another`s eyes on her…

"Dudes its totally dark in here!"

"Shut it you git! You don't know what kind of things might be lurking here!"

"Horrible, terrible things. Creatures that haunt the deepest corners of your nightmares and drive you into insanity. That would be a nice experience, da?"

Both of the more normal Nations went quiet, slightly creeped out by Russia's words. Their hands carefully grazed over the dusty surface of the dark wall, searching for anything to give them a light source. Feeling a change in the wall America flipped a switch and bright while lights flipped on.

The room was white with dusty tales and a few computers. The appearance made it look like the devices haven't been used in some odd years. The Brit placed a hand on one of the old monitors, he felt strange and certainly wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. He couldn't place the source of his anxiety, but he didn't like it.

"The whole place looks old, we supposedly stopped using the building because it became too much of a problem so we just built a new one. That was fifty or some odd years ago, if something was going on after the closing then I don't know about it."

"I still think that's rubbish; this was your place so you must know something!"

The two blonds began another round of quarreling as Russia proceeded to boot up a computer and hack into it. The system was unbearably slow but it was manageable. Russia began to print out any documents that looks of interest; an old diary, research data about a virus, a map, emergency protocols, ect. and so on.

"I have gather the information we need, da? We should go back to the safe room now." Neither Country wanted to go against the frightening Nation so they silently obeyed, each carrying a stack of papers as they snuck out of the room.

"A human name? But you're a Country and I'm a State Italy. What's the point of human names?"

"Ve~ I just thought I'd ask! I think my name would be Feliciano Vargas! What do you think Texas?"

"The name really suits you, I like it."

"Yay! What do you think your name would be?"

"Well, Alexa is a nice name so I would think that would be my name. But I also like Iris too…"

"Oh I know! When we're alone you'll be il mio fiore amato!"

"M-my beloved flower?"

"Yeah! An iris is a flower after all! So you'll be my flower!"

"Haha then I'll be your iris then!"

Back in the secluded hallway there was a large puddle of blood where Texas once lay. The blood on the wall had dried and next to it was an ink drawing of an iris. Texas had a habit of always carrying one of her favorite pens with her, the problem was that the ink always took a while to dry and even a small touch would smudge the ink. The drawing on the wall was still wet and untouched; drops of blood lay on the floor. Texas had gained enough strength to walk down further into the darkness, unsure if she was getting herself into danger or if she was going toward safety. The bite wound burned and refused to stop bleeding, the young State was worried yet was unsure what exactly to do.

"Ah…the world around us…can be seen…through the stroke…of a single brush… Damn it…my arm hurts so much…" Texas clutched her arm and walked into a more open room; feeling weak again she sat on the dirty floor, not really caring at this point about the dust. A growling sound circled around her as another pack of dogs gathered around her and eyed their prey. The Texas felt the fear in her rise again but had no strength; she let out a terrified scream and called out to the person that was always in her mind. "ITALY!"