DUNCAN
10:10 A.M.
TEAM FOUR HALLWAY
-X-
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Princess? I mean… Eva would definitely be more helpful than the lovebirds over here." I point to Geoff and Bridgette, who are passionately sucking face.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing," she starts. And I really mean starts. "I used to be a C.I.T., remember?"
"Yes, Princess, we know."
"And quit calling me 'Princess'!"
"Then quit calling yourself a 'C.I.T.'!"
"MAKE ME!!"
Alright, NOW I'm frustrated. Damn, she's so annoying!
…
And boy, does it turn me on.
"I have to agree with Courtney on this one. Eva's anger issues could result in scratching my pretty eyes out, and I don't want that."
I stop and turn to the "handsome hunk" walking beside me. My jaw drops. "Holy crap! You can talk?!"
"…Uh, yeah. Duh."
I blink a few times. This is very surreal.
The hallway makes a sharp left, which confuses me. Where the hell does Team One go, then? We'd be cutting in front of them if their hallway was straight on like ours was.
We come across two doors—one in front of us and one to the right—and my thoughts are interrupted by (take a guess……………too late) Courtney. "Let's see… Going straight would mean we'd probably end up in another team's hallway… which is good, considering that way we can follow them secretly and take advantage of them by having them solve all the puzzles themselves, whereas if we go right, we'll have to figure out these puzzles on our own. Weighing our choices down, I say we go straight."
I shake my head, and Courtney frowns at me. "What? Mr. Tough Guy has a better reason to go right?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," I say. "Doors straight ahead of you are always the obvious choices—too obvious, if you ask me. Plus, what if one of the other teams is supposed to come from that way?"
"Then we'll end up back at the start and we'll start over," Courtney answers, but I still stick with my idea. I open the door on the right, despite her protesting. "What do you think you're doing?"
"If this is the part where we split up, then so be it," I say, "…Unless, of course, you reconsider."
She scoffs. "…Alright, fine! Let's do what you feel like doing! Don't listen to the Counselor in Training!"
"I've already been doing a good job at it."
She growls, and I laugh. Man, am I glad I'm on her team. This is so much fun!
(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)
We're in an empty room, one that surprisingly is even filthier than the hallway.
"Eww!" Courtney cringes. "This smells worse than you!"
"Me nothing, this smells worse than Owen," I reply.
"No, nothing smells worse than Owen. You know that."
"Hey, Duncan?"
…Oh, right. Justin speaks now.
"Where are the Siamese twins connected at the mouth?"
…Huh. I can't believe I didn't notice the sloppy and slurpy sounds disappear. "Maybe they're still in the hallway?"
"Oh, who cares?" Courtney scoffs. "They were only holding us back."
"Oh, screw it, I'll be right back." I head back through the door we came in.
(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)
Huh… That's weird… Where the hell are they?
…Oh, I get it. They went through the other door… probably to make out in private or something…
Well, let's have a look-see, shall we?
(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)
OH MY GOD!!
Geoff! Bridgette!
What the fuck happened to you two?!
The door to the left is open. I hear screams, and I freeze up.
"NOOOOO!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!"
H-Heather?!
I hear a long, blood-curdling scream, and I cautiously look through the open door…
I throw up.
-X-
10:20 A.M.
UNDETERMINED TEAM FOUR LOCATION
-X-
"Duncan!" Courtney shouts as I slowly reenter the room. "Where the hell did you run off to?" I'm too shaken up to respond right away. "DUNCAN!!" That woke me up.
"Guys, w-we need to get the fuck out of here!" I say, but Courtney glares at me.
"No! I am NOT going to give up my million dollar dream because YOU say so! Besides, you're probably just trying to trick me so YOU can get MY million dollars!"
"I am serious! Geoff, Bridgette, and Heather are fucking dead! Harold was right all along!"
"Oh, so now you're siding with that thieving bastard, huh?" God, this woman is insufferable! And under any other circumstances I'd probably enjoy it, but right now we need to get the hell out of—
…Wait…
Gwen, Trent, Owen… they're all still in this hellhole… with those things…
…Ah, who am I shitting? Gwen's the only one I'm truly concerned about.
I mean, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't just abandon those guys or anything, but if I had to choose…
"Duncan!" Courtney has the door to the next room open and Justin has already gone through. "Hurry up! Let them make out on their own. If they don't want to win a million dollars, that's only better for me! …I mean us."
"Courtney…" I growl, but I stop there. She's too stubborn—she won't listen to anything I say, and she certainly won't listen to anything Harold originally said.
Until, of course, we run into one of those things.
…
But I hope we don't…
(The door opens and shuts quickly.)
There's nothing much to say about this room, other than the pool table in the middle of it.
Courtney goes over to the next door. It's locked.
Great.
This must be one of the "challenges" Chris told us about.
Now, you're probably wondering why I'm still going along with this instead of going back to the entrance and finding Gwen and the others before someone or something else finds them. But you have to keep in mind I'm not just going to abandon Courtney, either. And there's no way in hell she's going to agree to come back with me to look for the others. She'll probably think it's grounds for disqualification or some such shit.
And besides, if… what was Heather's team again? The third team, right? If Team Three was going to end up coming through our hallway anyway, then I bet we'll meet up with Gwen's team at some point.
Provided, of course, they'll still be alive when we meet up with them…
Grr! Quit thinking like that, Duncan! Gwen's tough! She even took down a fucking psycho killer with a chainsaw and a hook! I'm sure she can handle a few… undead monsters.
…
Still, it wouldn't hurt if we found her…
…or the others, of course…
"There's no keyhole!" Courtney's shouting breaks me of my thoughts. "How do we unlock a door without a keyhole?"
"Well, it wouldn't matter if you don't have the key, genius," I retort.
"Oh, screw you!"
"I would let you if we weren't in the middle of a fucking horror film." Hey, I've gotta keep my spirits up somehow.
I look around the room, and I notice a plaque on the wall. I walk over to read it.
BILLIARD BUST
Eight Ball in Corner Pocket
…That helps.
…Wait a minute…
I look around the room… and spot it.
In one corner is some sort of box jutting out of the wall. There is a circular hole in the front side of the box.
I look over at the pool table, taking special note of the eight ball. I pick it up and examine it.
One side of the Eight Ball has NOT an "8", but the Umbrella symbol.
I chuckle, confusing the hell out of Justin and Courtney, I can imagine. "Tricky bastards. Very elaborate, I'll give them that." I take the Eight Ball over to the box and insert it "Umbrella-side" inward.
I hear a sound… an "unlatching" sound.
The door's now unlocked.
"Too easy," I say with a smirk before getting serious again. "Now, let's find the others."
"Now why on Earth would we do that?" Courtney asks, giving me a stern look.
"Oh, I don't know… Maybe it's because, oh… let's see… I don't want to die!"
"Oh, pfft! You're just trying to scare me, Duncan, and it's not working."
"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you, Princess."
"I'm… gonna stay out of this," Justin mumbles as Courtney opens the door.
"What? You just started talking, dude. Don't shut up now."
(The door opens and shuts quickly.)
This room looks like some sort of commons, which would explain the billiards room next to it. A couch and a large television are in the room.
Courtney goes over to the door on the other side of the room. It's locked. "Great! Well, smart guy? What's your plan this time?"
Hmm… This one's tricky. "Is there a keyhole in that door, babe?"
She checks. "…Yes. And don't call me babe!"
I smirk. Good, so my theory may actually be correct. "Alright, if there's anything I know about couch potatoes, it's this." I begin to search between the couch cushions. Sure enough, at one point I find a key. "Things always slip between the cushions, my dear."
"Don't call me that either!" she shouts, taking the key from me. She unlocks the door, and we go through it.
(The door opens and shuts quickly.)
We're in the middle of another hallway. Unlike the one we had been in before, there were several doors to choose.
"Now where do we go from here?" Justin inquires, and Courtney quickly answers before I get the chance to.
"Let's split up. Justin, you take the doors on the left. Duncan, you check the doors on the right. I'll check the one in front of us. Got it?"
"Aye aye, Princess," I salute, and with a scoff from Courtney we are off.
I check the door kitty-corner to the door we came out of first. Locked. Okay, now let's check the one across from it.
But as I get closer to it, my eyes widen as I hear screams on the other side of the door.
"OH MY GOD!!!"
I could practically feel my face get paler.
"OH MY GOD, IT'S THE SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE!! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!"
"Oh, shit!" I run. I admit, not the bravest act I had ever done, but damn it if that didn't scare the shit out of me!
"And where are YOU going?!" Courtney shouts at me as I'm about to head back the way we came in.
"I'm getting the fuck out of here!" I shout back… before realizing someone was missing.
Justin.
Fuck! Which rooms did he check?!
I check the door right next to the door we came in…
"HOLY CRAP!!!"
I quickly close the door and throw up again. Courtney, now (finally) concerned, rushed to me. "What's wrong?"
I look up and gulp, despite the horrid taste of puke in my mouth. "Justin's not talkin' anymore…"
"Well, duh! He hardly ever does anyway…"
"N-no…" Oh, God… how do I explain this without actually showing her what I just saw? And I can't risk opening that door again. That… thing… might be right there waiting for us…
"…Duncan?"
"…Courtney… What I mean is… Justin's face… ain't so pretty anymore…"
In a nearby room, a typewriter is being used…
-X-
Alright, to clarify exactly what's going on here:
First of all, the room Duncan finds Geoff and Bridgette in is in fact the same room that Heather was about to enter at the end of Chapter Two. The two paths were supposed to intertwine here.
Second, the room Duncan finds Justin in is the room that Team Two had entered the hall through. If you recall, that's the same room with the "sleeping" intern.
Third, the hallway Team Four is in now (the same hallway Team Two was obviously in before) was the point where all four paths would eventually come together. Unfortunately, as you've already read, the other two groups didn't quite make it to this hallway.
For those of you still confused, I am attempting a drawing (via MS Paint) of the "floor plans" to the facility (in an RE-like style), and once it's done it'll be uploaded to DeviantART (unless I forget). That should clear up a few things for you guys.
