Chapter 14: In truth I liked writing Chapters 1-10 the best. Those were 'the good times'. The times when I was oblivious and carefree with how many Chapters I consumed. Now I have to be frugal with them, cautious that I don't end with too few or too many (I want to break even at twenty-five.). I'm really nervous about writing now, as I'm walking the tightrope over a pile of horse manure: if I fall, I'm in deep shit.

Chapter 14: The Bowels of Madness

It was three o'clock when we reached the café. Instantly I felt that uneasy feeling. At first it looked normal: like nothing had ever happened. The corpse had rotted away, leaving a swarm of maggots in its wake. They swarmed the bloody spot as if there was a nest there. I didn't want to know.

Anna vomited, but I didn't care. I was being cold to her, and I was not ashamed. I was consumed with a strange hate, one I can not describe as it had no origin. I'd had it ever since I met her. I considered shooting her straight between the eyes. I could not do such a thing. Not again. Not to another Anna. If it had been her I'd have cared less, and might not have been here. But I killed the Anna I loved, and to add another murder would be too much.

The chainsaw hadn't been used much, just to kill a mannequin or two. The road here was strangely easy. This café wasn't on the map, but it was seared into my memory where we were, even after I was thrown by an Angel. My power tool was beginning to feel heavy, and I felt the need of sleep. I left the restroom without Anna.

'Wait for me,' she said. I walked behind the counter and looked in the kitchen. Nothing. I looked in the pantry: there was a long steel pipe (about three and a half feet long) curved at the end. A note on stationary beside it said: If those pesky thieves come back, give 'em what for!

I took the pipe and put it on my belt loop. I descended into the cellar. At the foot of the stairs my flashlight died. As I replaced the battery in the dark, Anna appeared and called 'Marcus?'

'I'm here!' I called back, 'My flashlight's battery died.' I flicked the switch and there, before me, stood a mannequin. I cried out and swung the chainsaw; the beast grabbed and pulled it off my arm. It then punched me in the chest. I flew back, dropping my axe, my bag, and the revolver. I landed on something wooden, and as I stood it broke. I fell down a pit.

It seemed to go on for minutes, until I landed on a gurney. I hit it sideways and bounced off it, landing on a stone floor. Suddenly I felt something cold hit me hard in my back. I reached around as I screamed and took it by the handle. It was my revolver.

I luckily kept one little chamber in my shirt pocket, and I stood. I reached on my belt loop and took the pipe off. I put the revolver in its holster and proceeded with caution. I was in a strange place. The walls were wooden, and the floor too. There was a strange oppressiveness in the chamber, so I–without any delay–ran forward. I ran down a long hallway, stopping to deal with a mannequin.

I simply bashed it with the pipe repeatedly until it died. I ran past it and just kept running. When I came to the end, there was an elevator beside me on my right, and a staircase leading down on my left. I was about to call the elevator when the doors sprang open. Out stepped Anna.

I sighed relief and lowered the pipe that I had raised by habit. Anna took one look around and shuddered. I shrugged and searched the duffel she had brought: sure enough, my axe and all were inside. I put my chainsaw on, put the pipe in the bag, and readied my axe. We took the stairs. The only enemy we encountered was a nurse demon. She fell with a chainsaw wedged in her cranium.

We proceeded down with caution silence. She was so dead silent nearly all the time. At least Ray and I would talk a little. I found myself missing his company, that shotgun and that wicked hammer. I wondered how he and 'Sahara' were doing.

I was brought out of introspective by a duo of nurses at the bottom of the stair. I hewed one's brain, but the other landed a vicious blow to my hip. I fell, cursing, but, came up with an equally vicious chainsaw swipe, taking its legs out with it. I stood and buried my saw into its throat. With a moan it stopped moving.

There were two doors before us: one wouldn't open, and the other barely did. Inside was a small hallway with two doors on either side, and one at the end. I told Anna to go inside the alternate door, and she did. I entered the left-side door, and found a key labeled 'Ce–mo-y', with parts rusted over. I also found a nurse with a large, black dagger pierced through her throat. I ripped it out, hewed her once, and put the dagger in the bag. I then left.

I entered the right-side door and found Anna was nowhere inside. I did find, however, a great sword-like weapon and a blood-soaked spear. It didn't take much for me to realise they were Pyramid Head's. I stood agape. I sent a girl who was barely armed with a pistol and probably three bullets into a room with Pyramid Head. I pretty much had committed murder once more.

There was a small chamber of revolver rounds laying on the table. I took them and continued searching. There was a chainsaw, very long and extremely rusty. I took mine off and inserted my hand into this one: it didn't start, and it was much too heavy. I pulled my hand out and found it orange with rust. I wiped it on my jeans, and took my good-old saw back.

I left the room, glad that Anna was gone but feeling guilty. Now I was alone in the dark once more, but I knew the darkness now. I started alone, I could end this alone. In the door at the end of the hall I knew I'd find locked. I used 'Ce–mo-y' to open it. Inside there were braziers blazing with a crimson fire. It was cold. Lynx-devils flanked them in twosomes, and instantly were alerted to my presence. I pulled the revolver out and blasted their brain matter out. I then put it away; my ammo was scarce enough.

Upon the wall, covering a door, was a body with a slit in its chest. Written in blood upon his chest was: When the sins I have committed pierce my soul, your Road shall become clear. I didn't want to, but I slowly inserted the black-knife into the slit. The thing jolted to life, stared at me with lifeless white eyes, and opened its mouth in a silent scream. I fell back, mortified, and urinated as the thing let out a bloodcurdling scream. It was a deep wail, and as it did so the thing melted into a detestable pile of matter.

I pressed on, an urgency within me that I cannot describe. I, despite any ill feelings, was searching for Anna, the other Anna, to apologise. Two Anna's I had wronged, and it was a hammer-blow to my heart. I continued through the door, coming to a small elevator. A note was upon the door: The Elevator to Punishment, which leads to Void and opens to Chaos.

'Getting closer,' I mused, 'and it's only a matter of time.' I must admit, it is unsettling taking an elevator to 'Punishment', but I shrugged it off.

Anna Thurdon, my wife, was waiting.