Okay, you guys, I know I haven't updated in quite a while, and for that, I apologize. But I'm about to make up for that, I hope. I worked really hard on this chapter, and I really hope all of y'all like it. Miles doesn't have much of a back story in game, so I kind of gave him one that goes with my story's plot. Let me know what you all think of Miles, Karsyn, or the story as a whole. Or anything you may want to talk about. I'm rambling now Sorry. Hope this chapter meets all your expectations!
~•Karsyn•~
With there being no other options, Miles and I stepped into the decontamination chamber, watching as the green smoke shot out at us. Once that was done, the doors opposite us opened, and Miles and I walked through, coming into a dark room with a staircase leading to the upper floor.
A small, white plaque on the wall read: A Block.
"Well, might as well keep going," Miles stated with a shrug, beginning his descent up the stairs, me following behind him. We reached the platform leading to the second set of stairs, looking at the bloody arrows pointing upward.
"I wonder what Father Martin wants from us," I said softly.
"It's hard to say. My personal goal for this is to figure out why he wants us here." Miles replied.
We reached the top, Miles stopping abruptly, my forehead smacking into his mid-back. I groaned. I really wished he'd stop doing that, I was tired of bumping into him. I wish he'd remember that I have short legs and can't stop as quickly.
I poked my head around Miles, gently pushing my way from behind him to his side. We saw a man whom we assumed to be a patient, standing just in front of us, moving left to right, lightly touching the wall in front of him, whispering loudly.
His whispers were the words painted in red: DOWN THE DRAIN.
"Only way out is down... Down the drain.. With the blood, he said.." He continued to whisper as Miles and I carefully walked by him, me keeping my eyes on him the entire time. While he didn't appear to notice us, I didn't want to take any chances.
The metallic stench of blood stung our nostrils as we jumped down the drain, coming to a halt as we saw an elevator, which we couldn't use, a puddle of blood, and a desk and some other things blocking the exit door across from us. There was another door to our left, but it was locked.
Lacking any other choice, we made our way to the only available door, open just a crack. Miles pushed it open carefully, and soon we found ourselves in a dimly rit room, complete with prison cells.
Paper littered the floor. Miles and I could barely make out the dark silhouette of a patient, locked in his cell, just staring at us, his fingers wrapped around the bars.
Then, he spoke in a hoarse whisper: "They weren't experiments. They were rituals. A conjuring."
Miles's eyes went wide and I felt my own heart sink into my stomach.
"What do you mean, rituals? A conjuring? Sir, what are you talking about?" Miles asked, keeping his tone level, an undercurrent of alarm lacing his voice. The patient just stared at Miles as if he was looking through him, before muttering something that we couldn't hear and shaking his head, backing away from us in his cell.
Seeing as he was unwilling to say anything else, Miles and I walked into the next room, which was illuminated by the light, revealing two lockers, but no other doors.
"Guess we should go back the other way," I said, and Miles and I headed back out into the hall.
"I wonder what kind of rituals he was talking about," Miles said to me as he climbed over the desk, heading to the open exit door leading into yet another corridor.
"I'm not sure. This whole place is strange. Something tells me that this was no ordinary insane asylum," I replied as I climbed over the desk.
Miles and I nearly jumped out of our skin when we reached the next room, hearing the shout of an angry patient.
"SHUT UP!! JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME THINK FOR A MINUTE!" The man shouted furiously. I felt my heart begin to pound in my chest, my hands shaking as I clenched them into fists, my nails biting into my palms.
What the hell was going on?
Miles and I quietly crept around the corner, listening carefully as the patient continued to shout. My whole body was trembling.
"QUIET! QUIET!" We heard the patient shout, then he began to grunt and Miles and I heard the sickening sound of what sounded like bones cracking, the two of us wincing a bit each time we heard it. I reached forward, my hand clamping around Miles's jacket, and he turned his head to face me, studying my face carefully.
I realized how close we were, and my heart started to pick up again, and I pulled myself back slightly.
"You okay?" He whispered.
"Y-yes," I managed to squeak out softly.
"Good. We have to keep going. I know you don't want to, hell, I don't want to. But we have to. See this big glass window?" Miles asked, pointing just above our heads where we were crouched down.
I took a deep breath, willing myself to stop shaking and to calm down before I let go of him, my palms sweating.
"Yes," I said quietly, and the two of us peeked into it, ever so slightly. What we saw nearly made me want to bolt right then and there. The patient's back was facing us, and he was yelling furiously as he kept bringing a crowbar down on a man who appeared to already be dead.
"We keep moving. But we'd better-" Miles stopped speaking when the patient stopped, turning around.
He was now facing us. I felt my eyes go wide as I jumped back, Miles standing up calmly, not taking his eyes off of the patient. We backed up until our backs were pressed against the wall.
The patient studied us momentarily, holding his crowbar as he spoke to us.
"I'd like you two to stay quiet," He said hoarsely.
Miles kept his composure very well. If he was as terrified as I was, he didn't show it. I, on the other hand, didn't bother to hide how freaked out I was. I was hyperventilating and trying to calm myself down as I nodded at the patient, Miles watching him as we made our way past him.
"Karsyn, we're okay now. Just take some deep breaths. We're going to be okay. If you're going to be a successful investigative reporter, you need to learn to calm yourself better. Freaking out doesn't help," Miles snapped quietly at me.
Angry, I snapped back, "Great advice coming from someone who got fired. Maybe we should turn back."
That was petty in me, I know. But I had nothing more to say in my defense and we both knew it. I should have handled myself better, especially after everything we'd witnessed at this point. I could have easily gotten us killed with how loud I was breathing. Miles just glared at me.
"You know what? This really isn't worth my time. I'm not arguing with you. We have to keep going. If you want to turn back, go ahead. I'll go with or without you. Doesn't matter to me." He said coldly.
I stood there, rage pulsing through my body. He probably would keep going. We hardly knew each other anyway. What difference did it make either way? But if I turned back, what good would it do? My bag with my cell phone and all of my other things was gone. Even if I had my phone it wouldn't work. I had no other choice but to keep going.
I had a son to come home to.
"Let's see what's on the other side of that security door," I said.
Miles looked surprised for a moment, before pushing the door slightly.
We saw yet another male patient, standing in front of a bunch of security cameras. He was talking to himself.
"Trying to trap us in here-" The patient never finished his sentence. He caught sight of Miles and I immediately, and to our horror, he began to sprint at us.
"RUN!" I shouted, as Miles stepped back, shutting the door.
~•Miles•~
Adrenaline pounded into my bloodstream as Karsyn and I bolted, the Variant bursting through the door a moment later, screaming as he chased us.
"YOU TWO! YOU'RE THOSE MURKOFF PRICKS, AREN'T YOU!? I WILL RIP YOUR GUTS OUT!!" He shouted as we ran past the Variant, still standing at the glass window, watching everything unfold. Karsyn was in front of me, which, for some reason, despite her being annoying at times, I preferred. She was quick, I'd give her that. At least this way I could keep an eye on her.
We burst into the corridor, Karsyn hopping over the desk, nearly stumbling and slowing herself in the process as I hopped over as well.
"DON'T STUMBLE!" I shouted, trying to motivate her to keep going.
"I'M GOING AS FAST AS I CAN, I HAVE LITTLE LEGS!" She shouted back, and had we not been in a dire situation, I probably would have laughed.
But this was life and death, and I was in no mood for bickering. I saw that the door with the room of the cells was still open from where we'd been exploring.
"Sweet salvation," I muttered as I made my way in, making sure Karsyn was in too before I slammed it shut, making my way into the empty cell and ducking under the bed, Karsyn squeezing herself under next to me. Somehow, we both managed to fit.
We were both breathing heavily, trying to calm ourselves as the Variant was beating the door in.
"Who's.. Overreacting.. Now.." Karsyn gasped in between breaths.
"Oh, shut up!" I snapped back as the Variant burst into the room, the two of us quieting ourselves immediately. We watched as the Variant looked around briefly, before turning and making his way back out the door. We listened intently above our heartbeats, hearing the creak of a door, and then..
Silence.
We stayed quiet for a few more minutes, and when we heard nothing else, we carefully made our way back to the security room, where I saw a button on the desk.
I pushed it, and light flooded into a decontamination chamber, the words FOLLOW THE BLOOD sticking out like a beacon in the night. Karsyn and I froze as we heard footsteps making their way back to us, and I scrambled under the desk in front of the large window, while Karsyn bolted under the desk across from me.
She and I kept eye contact as the Variant with the crowbar walked over to the button, my heart pounding as I shifted back a little farther, his legs right in front of me.
I noticed Karsyn frown down at something on the floor, before picking it up as she quietly moved out from under the desk. I squinted into the darkness, barely making out what she had in her hand: A paperclip.
Just what the hell was she planning to do?
"No," I mouthed at her, but she tossed it at the Variant, which made him tense and turn to face her. Crowbar raised, he charged at her, and she screamed, bolting out of the room, me following behind the Variant. He had his crowbar raised, ready to strike Karsyn, and I lunged forward, tackling him onto the ground.
"MILES!" Karsyn yelled, rushing over to me as the Variant struggled against me holding him down, thrashing his crowbar wildly.
"GO! I WILL MEET YOU IN THE DECONTAMINATION CHAMBER!" I shouted back.
She stared at me momentarily, and for a minute I thought she was really going to run off without me. Granted, I could hold up well in a fight, but this guy was a few inches taller than me and he had a crowbar. Then, Karsyn lunged forward, kicking the Variant in the face, hard, and blood began to spurt from his nose. He yelled in pain, dropping the crowbar and clutching at his nose.
I jumped off of him, shoving Karsyn forward.
Once we were safely inside the decontamination chamber, I whirled on her.
"What in the HELL were you thinking?!" I demanded, walking towards her. I was even more angered when she looked genuinely confused.
"What do you mean?" She asked, frowning.
"That back there! Throwing that paperclip!
You could have gotten yourself killed easily!" I shouted, exasperated, trying to understand what went through that brain of hers when she made that reckless move.
"I wanted to turn his attention away from you! Do you not understand that!? You could have been killed!" She stood on her tiptoes, yelling in my face.
"WHY WOULD YOU RISK YOUR LIFE FOR SOMEONE YOU BARELY KNOW!?" I demanded back, leaning down into her face. At my saying this, Karsyn's face softened, and she stepped back, her eyes not breaking contact with mine.
"I guess it's just the mother in me. When you have a child your life becomes all about them. You'd do anything for them, because you love them. Not that you're a child and can't take care of yourself. That's not what I mean. But when I had Noah, I promised myself that if I could help anyone at all, I would. No matter what risks it entailed." She replied, "When I was in college partying all the time before I got pregnant, I was all about myself. Noah changed me. He made me better. So, like it or not, if I can help you out, I will. Even if it's a risk to myself."
I stared at her, taking her words in for a moment. In that moment I had a higher respect for her. My mother was a single mom, and I watched her struggle as I grew up. It wasn't easy. When I got older I got a job and helped her with whatever I could. So a part of me could understand.
"You're something else, you know that, you dipshit?" I said, cracking a smile.
"I may have heard that a time or two." She replied, smirking back.
The doors then opened, and Karsyn and I walked through to the the other side, continuing down the hallway.
I stopped, staring down a corridor, through the barred doors, seeing the twins from earlier.
Karsyn stared at them in shock.
"Like what you see, pretty girl? Perhaps I could have your ovaries." One of them said, before the other held up his hand, shaking his head.
"No, no. We're after him. We gave him a chance."
"I'd say we were more than fair."
"Paragons of patience."
"Job-like in the supression of our desires."
"But now."
"Now."
"Now we indulge."
"Yes."
"His tongue and his liver."
"Yours."
"Mine."
I noticed an open window, leading into another room. I climbed over it, hanging onto it, nodding for Karsyn to follow. She climbed over, shifting to the right as we climbed into the opposite window, finding ourselves where the twins just were.
At the end of the hall, we noticed a bloody arrow pointing to the left.
"Those twins give me the creeps," said Karsyn.
"No kidding. Well, there's only one thing to do: Follow the blood." I replied.
"Wait," said Karsyn, stopping in
front of a broken decontamination chamber, "Let's see what's in here."
I followed behind her as we walked through, stopping when we saw Chris Walker on the bottom floor.
"We have to contain it," He said, before ripping a patient's head off, blood spurting everywhere as his lifeless body slumped to the ground. Karsyn covered her mouth, I suppose to stifle a scream, while I stood there, horrified.
Contain what?
Something gold glimmered in the darkness, catching my eye. I picked it up, seeing that it was a keycard.
"I'm guessing that's for the shower room we passed," Karsyn said, and I nodded.
"I hope you're right. Let's go," I replied.
~•Karsyn•~
We made our way back to the showers. Miles held the keycard in front of the sensor, and we heard some locks click. Then, he pushed the door open, and we once again found ourselves in the dark, though we could see the shapes of lockers in the room.
I guess a storm was brewing because we could hear the low rumbling of thunder outside.
"Stay by me," Miles whispered, making his way down the hall, me following behind. I heard the rain pounding relentlessly outside, and my eyes darted left and right.
Who knew what was waiting for us, here, in the darkness?
