Izaya was excited for whatever was inside the building. He was impatient, teetering forward slightly as Shizuo put on his shoes one after the other. His excitement was a large part in knowing that Shizuo would regret coming in here.

Seeing all that blood, Izaya could just imagine it like a disease clinging to a monster as it should. Shizuo looked the best when he was covered in blood. It didn't matter who's, just that it was there, seeping a deep ugliness in him.

Tainting him, tarnished beyond human recognition.

That would be spectacular.

Izaya went through their black bag and pulled out the lantern. The dim light didn't travel far.

With the first step into the doorway, Izaya bit his bottom lip in growing anticipation. The door closed with the unmistakable click of a lock. It darkened considerably and he couldn't see beyond the glow of the lantern.

"Oh, we're locked inside," Izaya mused with a hum, "maybe that's why it's so bloody when the people trapped right here couldn't open the door and something got to them."

He didn't have to lift his hand so high to see how much the walls were splattered with blood. Some of it was still shiny wet. "Look at that line there, that must have been from the carotid artery. Hey, it's even on the ceiling. But over here...it's just everywhere."

"Would you shut up?" Shizuo said with a low, throaty glower. "Point the light forward, can't see shit in here."

"Well, that might have something to do with the sunglasses you're still wearing."

"Guess so," Shizuo let go of his leg briefly and removed the sunglasses. He hooked it in one of his front belt buckles. "No, it's still dark."

Which was true. The light wasn't strong enough, it was just a dim dying haze—a ghostly shroud. "You could open a wall if you want to."

"Shhh, you're so freaking loud. And I told you to point the light forward."

Izaya delicately placed the lantern on Shizuo's head, but with a sudden halt, the lantern almost fell. Izaya caught it and instead rested his arm on a taut shoulder as he held out the flickering light.

Shizuo still didn't move. "This is stupid," he finally said. "The whole place smells like shit, and I hate it."

Izaya tipped his head forward as if in agreement. "Well, it happens sometimes when someone dies, depending on obvious factors and how the body is handled."

"Would you stop talking about dying people?"

All right. Izaya needed to be sure that Shizuo got the point.

"Okay, people shat themselves here. How does that make you feel?"

"...like I want to wipe the floor with your face. Ugh. Just because I say it smells like shit, doesn't mean that it actually smells like actual shit."

"So all those times you were saying that I reek, it's not actual," Izaya said as he peered over Shizuo's head into the darkness. He really couldn't make out anything. Were all of the windows covered up?

"You do. Just not, y'know, like shit shit. Just shit. Kind of like bullshit." Shizuo took a few more steps forward.

"Uh huh..." Izaya said with amusement. "So let me get this straight. Not human excrement, but bull excrement. Now that's insulting."

"No, I just told you not the literal kind, it's like...metaphorical shit."

Izaya smirked. "I should never ask you to articulate your thoughts. Ah, language is wasted on you."

"As if you have anything meaningful to say! Damn, what was I getting at before...oh that's right. This is a shitty idea." Shizuo stopped once again.

"Hmm? Well yeah, it was your idea. You scared or something?" Izaya looked back, and he could just barely make out the outline of the door. It was definitely the bloodiest there.

"Shut up," Shizuo hissed, "it's like you're trying to announce your pain in the ass presence. And I'm not scared, I'm pissed off for some reason."

Izaya's eyes were better adjusted in the dark. It looked like a long corridor ahead without any additional light source.

"We came all this way, and now you want to go back?" He leaned closer forward so that he could whisper half teasingly and half sardonically by his ear. "Yeah, and where else will we go? To another building? You have ten hours left, Shizu-chan, so choose what you want wisely. There could be a clue here, maybe a map."

Dead bodies too and hopefully something to bleed Shizuo crimson. Make him howl like a dumb animal.

Shizuo tsked. "Fine, we can look around, but for only five minutes. And give me some of that gum. Like hell, I'm breathing this in straight."

Maybe the gum would mask the smell, but then it just reminded him of the smell being ingested. Though as he took in another breath, the metallic tang was heavy in the air, and maybe the gum wasn't half bad of an idea.

"All right." Izaya pulled his good arm back. The black bag was secured between his front and Shizuo's back, creating a small buffer. He was able to squeeze his hand through the handle of the lantern as he then rummaged through the bag. Around them darkened for a moment before he found the container of gum. The little hard pieces shifted loudly in his hand as he popped the top open.

He paused his hand, thinking for a moment that he would have to hand feed this monster, put his fingers near a jaw that could crush metal. But it wasn't the thought of pain that halted him. It was something much softer with an edge that could cut him deeply.

His thoughts really didn't need to go there.

With the container tight in his hold, Izaya none too gently aimed it where he thought was accurate enough, and he tilted the container so the gum pieces could slide out. Hard pieces clattered against the ground. He brought his hand back.

"What the fuck?" The growl was mitigated between chewing sounds.

"Trust me, you need it," Izaya said as he popped some gum in his own mouth with a grin, then put the container away.

"Maybe I should drag your sorry face against the ground, right? You need that." Shizuo said as he chewed.

Izaya's left leg was dropped. He quickly snaked his arm at Shizuo's neck, against the metal of the collar. At his wrist, the handle of the lantern dug into his skin, making it hard to get a good grip on Shizuo's shoulder.

The hand propping up the back of his right leg withdrew.

"Hey! Stop that!" Already, as he struggled just to hang on, he knew his legs wouldn't be steady enough to support his weight. He'd collapse- land right in still drying blood. "Is there an end to your stupidity?!" Izaya spat. "If I fall then I'm going to make sure to get blood all over your pants."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Then don't drop me, moron! Because I swear, I'll literally bloody your ass."

"...you'll what my ass?"

"Bloody it!" Izaya snapped. Which wasn't all too convincing when his front was getting a little too personal with said ass. "It isn't a metaphor!"

There were a few tense seconds where it seemed like Shizuo was considering his options. Seconds that made his still weakened arm throb in pain. He was beginning to slip. Breathing hard was making him lightheaded again. He even considered biting him, but that would only break his own teeth.

He was never more relieved to feel Shizuo's hands at the back of his thighs. That train of thought only made him annoyed.

Stupid Shizu-chan.

"Hold the light steady," Shizuo said. Izaya lazily did so with an exaggerated sigh.

Finally, they began to walk forward. Shizuo's steps were an occasional wet squelch. There were obvious drag marks and the occasional footprint on the concrete floor.

It didn't matter how he angled the lantern, the light wouldn't stretch any further. Shizuo didn't slow his pace as they neared an entranceway missing a door. The sharp shadows cut diagonals as they walked closer, and Izaya half expected something or someone to be hiding in the darkest corners.

The room was bare. A sewage drain caught the light from the center of the tiled floor. Bolted to the wall was a blackboard with white lettering in many languages. From what he could translate in the languages that he knew, it all read the same.

"The toll to exit is a pound of flesh for a pound of flesh," Shizuo read aloud as he found the Japanese on the right-hand side. "Is that some kind of riddle?"

"I'm guessing that it's more literal. Kill someone to leave. Hey maybe there's a meat grinder somewhere and you gotta measure it out right."

"...gross...that's really gross," Shizuo muttered. He turned around and was ready to move on.

The darkened cracks in the floor were wet like veins. "I'm curious. If the antidote was hanging from a pit that had to be filled up with mashed up bodies in order to be reached, would you put anyone in a meat grinder in order to live?"

"No. That's disgusting." Shizuo hitched him up higher.

"Not even me?" Izaya asked with a sweet taunting lilt. The light dimmed even more, threatening to shut off completely.

"Don't ask me that kind of shit." He said in a low voice.

"Hmm."

Shouldn't he be overjoyed at the thought of really crushing him? Like he always shouted out in the streets of Ikebukuro.

Izaya was sure that Shizuo must have imagined a vending machine crushing him, but was his imagination vivid enough to envision the reality of that? A crushed body was never a pretty sight. Bones fractured, skin torn, body caved in and out, and the blood pooling around a contorted mess; no it wasn't pretty.

He blew a small bubble and let it pop.

The minty flavor did help mask the somewhat sour and heavy smelling air. He could hear the light chewing noises that Shizuo took.

They neared another doorless room. By now they were a good short sprint from the entrance way. He didn't even know if there were any windows. Maybe they were purposely covered in blood. Ah, fresh air would do him wonders. Maybe he could get Shizuo to really open a wall.

The light weakened even further.

"Doesn't that get any brighter?" Shizuo asked

"Nope."

"What about your phone?"

Izaya shook the lantern and the light flared briefly. "What about it?" Izaya said, being purposely obtuse.

"Doesn't that have a light or something?"

"Well, yeah, duh. But it's more exciting like this." Izaya peered down the remaining amount of corridor. There weren't that many rooms left.

"What!?" Shizuo said louder than he probably meant. It echoed in the narrow hall. "Shit."

"You know, to set the mood."

"Mood? You want a mood? That settles it," Shizuo growled. "You're going in the meat grinder."

"Aw!" Izaya chuckled. "All right, all right. Check the room first."

Shizuo did so, taking a few steps closer and standing in the doorway. It was the same as the other room with words on a blackboard. They had to get closer to read it. Izaya found it in English first:

What has six fingers, four faces, one voice, and two eyes to see? Answer this correctly and win your prize to be.

"This one is definitely a riddle. Riddles piss me off. Always misleading on purpose." Shizuo said. "What has four faces, one voice, and two eyes? It's gonna be them for pissing me off. Now get your cell out."

"That's a pretty good guess, Shizu-chan," Izaya said, "but not quite." He slid his hand from the handle of the lantern. The light was only a small glow the span of a lit birthday candle. He laid it down on the black bag.

It was while he was reaching for his phone that he heard the barely there whisper of an echo.

"You now have 34 days remaining. Good luck."

Izaya paused and he looked back towards the empty doorway. "Oh! Did you...hear that?"

"Shh," Shizuo hissed as he also turned around.

The hold on his legs tightened. Izaya pressed the power button of his phone without needing to look down. He swiped the screen left first then up.

Under his forearm, resting on Shizuo's shoulder, the muscles there tensed like steel cables going taut. The light brightened and he brought up his cell forward. It wasn't much better.

"I'm gonna put you down. I might need my arms for this." Shizuo was already lowering him to the floor.

Izaya wasn't all too sure if he liked that. Then he wouldn't be able to enjoy whatever was out there. "What, and miss the perfect opportunity to use me as a human shield? But I have your back, Shizu-chan."

"As if you do."

"Then how about making a convenient hole in the wall for me? You know, just in case."

"Too loud. Just shut up. We agreed on five minutes, right."

"Four now." His heels touched the ground. He had to lean against the wall to stay upright. The same painful tingling traveled throughout his legs and he gritted his teeth from the pain. "And I kind of want to live longer than the next four minutes."

Shizuo looked at him and grinned. "Relax, this will only take a sec."

Izaya narrowed his eyes. The concrete was rough through his thin jacket. He wasn't able to say anything that would change either of their minds to not do this because he knew this was the best thing. It was necessary to dirty this monster. This was what he wanted.

"Give me the light," Shizuo said while looking down at him.

Izaya hesitated for only a second. Nothing could be heard beyond the room they were in. "It's in the black bag."

Shizuo took a step closer and reached over. His skin was pale in the faint, almost blue light.

Izaya looked up towards the doorway, half expecting something to be standing there. Still, nothing was. His back was firm against the wall, and the bruises at his shoulder blades stung.

In Shizuo's hand, the lantern had a dark yellow glow that barely reached an arms width away. "My lighter is brighter than this. Just hand over your phone."

"Are you kidding me? You're going to break it." Izaya whispered harshly.

"I won't."

"You can smell your way in the dark, right?"

"Just give it to me." He grabbed the corner of the phone and Izaya reluctantly let go. "Here," Shizuo passed over the dying lantern. "I'll be back soon." He barely gave him a second glance before turning and walking out the doorway.

"Great," Izaya muttered. "You better come back a mess."

He was growing impatient once more as the seconds passed.

As gently as he could, he passed the handle of the lantern over his left hand. The lightest touch anywhere above his wrist aggravated his wound. It wasn't burning anymore though, but that could just be the paralyzing agents from the poison. The weight of the lantern was an effort to hold up so he set it on the floor.

From his coat pocket, he pulled out one of his knives and flicked it open. The doorway was a block of darkness that he warily stared at.

He could only just sometimes hear Shizuo's steps getting fainter.

It wasn't likely that anything could actually take down Shizuo. Nothing had so far, not even Shizuo's own stupidity had killed him yet.

He chewed quietly. The weight in his hand was comforting.

"Ah, fuck." Izaya heard Shizuo curse. A moment later came a sharp tug of an engine, a quick wind-up bursting in the silence. It was a deafening buzz equipped with a spinning chain, charging the air with a different kind of paralyzing effect: cutting deep as he took a sharp breath of stale air.

Perhaps people really did shit themselves in fear. Izaya smirked and let all of the air from his lungs out in a fit of laughter.

Ah, this was perfect! Better than he could ever have hoped. He could picture the annoyance on Shizuo's face clearly. The unknown man rushing forward with a chainsaw high in his hands. Would Shizuo jump back, or would he rush forward as well?

The light faltered. If anything it wasn't so much a light source as it was an obvious marker of his whereabouts. He clicked the light off with his foot and he was smothered in pitch black.

Would a chainsaw be tough enough to cut through Shizuo's bones? Nah, definitely not! Would Shizuo catch it in his hands and then break it in half? Or would he somehow use it to cut off this poor man's limbs?

He wished that he was witness to what was going on.

Izaya's mouth felt dry, even with the gum. He swallowed some mint flavored saliva painfully.

There came an even greater rumble and the concrete building shook. So Shizuo broke down a wall? Did he then fling a piece of concrete at the man? He did, didn't he?

When the hum of the engine wasn't crushed in a heap of useless metal, Izaya felt his stomach clench. The rumble was only getting louder as it ricocheted off the walls. Louder and louder.

Izaya frowned. Had Shizuo left him here? Made his own escape route?

Maybe he did have half a brain after all, and had decided that it wasn't worth coming back for him. Because that would be what Izaya would do.

His body felt heavy. It was as if there was something not right with his blood flow. It was loud in his ears.

The chainsaw continued its growling purr.

Being in the vicinity of a chainsaw-wielding maniac wasn't exactly part of his calculations. Not if Shizuo wasn't in the direct path of a spinning blade.

Izaya's irritation grew, settling deep in him.

The angry buzzing grew louder, and Izaya could only struggle to keep standing as gravity made him sink closer to the rust-colored floor.

It reminded him of a forum in a chat room he once visited, where a man had these continuous vivid nightmares of being chased by a shadowy creature while his legs were turning to stone. He'd wake up exactly at three each night. Sometimes the creature would look like a man, but other times he'd get on all fours like an animal. Izaya had followed his posts for two weeks, until they ended suddenly without warning. Izaya liked to think that the creature had finally caught up to the man.

Now he could kind of understand what it felt like.

Except he couldn't just wake up.

"You should have broken the wall first, stupid Shizu-chan."

There was a noise ahead, and Izaya looked unseeingly towards the entrance. Someone had entered the room. The vibrations of the chainsaw shivered up and down his skin. He didn't dare say anything. It was so incredibly loud. Then the chainsaw stopped abruptly and all he could hear was thick breathing.

He couldn't see anything infront of him, but he could hear as someone approached. Scuffling, sniffing, with breaths drawing in heavy with each exhale, the man entered the room and Izaya's legs tremble from the effort of holding himself up. The knife in his grasp was sweaty. Izaya closed his eyes tightly as his vision swayed with his body.

"Hey! You freak!" The chainsaw came to life as if tore the air around the man. It took long seconds later to realize that the sound was fading as the man had already left the room. Pins and needles were making his legs feel useless, and Izaya slid to the floor. Less than a minute later, after more shouts and the walls rumbling around him, he was approached again. A brighter light was pointed downcast before lifting and hurting Izaya's eyes.

"Hey! Izaya!" Shizuo came closer. "There's an asshole with a chainsaw!"

Izaya laughed through his unease. "Oh, so those chainsaw noises were from a chainsaw! I would have never guessed."

Shizuo rushed over and lifted him in one quick movement that Izaya had no way to prepare himself for. He was pulled right over Shizuo's shoulder as if he were only a jacket. He almost dropped their bag and lantern. Shizuo only had one arm holding him precariously in place. His stomach felt like it had flipped flopped and had gotten sucker punched.

"Ow..." The blood was rushing to his head now. He wasn't sure his vision was going dark because of the lack of light or from the feeling like he was going to pass out.

He lifted his head. Now he could dizzily make out what was chasing him. The sound of the chainsaw this close was disorientating.

The man, who was more horrifying than the object in his hand, lifted his arms high. He was a few centimeters taller than Shizuo, bulkier too. There was something odd about his face. Like it was askew and the mouth was stretched open too far.

Maybe this was a nightmare like the man's in the forum. Because why else would someone look so disfigured, ugly, and drenched in blood so black it looked like tar.

His eyes were as hollow and gaping as his mouth.

Then Izaya figured out why.

He wore a mask with cut out eyes.

Once he understood that, it took him no time at all to realize the mask was a human face. There were more of them too, crudely sewn around his head like a distorted ski mask.

"Ah!" Izaya yelled. "The riddle! He did it!" This man figured out the riddle, and his prize was a chainsaw. What an interesting man, to be wearing the faces of the people he killed. He lifted up the chainsaw higher, showing the sweat stains under his armpits. This was obviously way too close to his liking.

Then he remembered something important. "Why didn't you kill him yet! Why are you running away?"

"You think I'm dumb enough to run towards a chainsaw?"

"Yes, now turn around. You think I want to be between you and him?"

"Shut up! That's just too bad for you. Didn't I say that I'd throw you in the meat grinder. Well this is pretty close, huh!"

Izaya felt his body lift up, and he thought that he'd really be thrown, but he was settled roughly back on a hard shoulder. Shizuo had only slipped for a moment on a pool of blood.

Maybe this was Shizuo's plan all along. Make it into an accident. Make it so that Izaya would finally become useful, by giving Shizuo some time to escape as he was being butchered up. That way Shizuo could keep his hands clean.

Or maybe he was slowing down on purpose so that when the chainsaw cut into them, it wouldn't be enough to cut into hard muscles and bones. Just Izaya.

The way the chainsaw wielding man was slanting in the air, it was as if Izaya was falling and he just didn't know it, like he really had been thrown.

When the chainsaw hit the wall and kicked back, the harsh rumble finally snapped as the chain whipped off and cut into three of the man's faces; across a flat nose and an eye socket, as if these cutout faces were crying with their own blood and not from the blood of their murderer. For a moment they were all as one.

But there was only one voice that could cry out, and from two mouths came a long moan of pain.

"Oh..." Shizuo was beginning to slow down as he looked back over the shoulder Izaya wasn't occupying. "Well shit." He stopped and turned around.

Izaya couldn't see anymore. He took some settling breaths. The fallen man had quieted down.

"Hey," Shizuo took a few steps closer, "so where's the antidote, huh?"

The man was still quiet. "Maybe he doesn't speak Japanese." Izaya said.

"Ah, gross. He's wearing an actual face as a mask. Nasty. Ugh. That's so disgusting."

"Yeah, well if he knew where the antidote was, then obviously he wouldn't still be here. Unless of course he's enjoying this."

"Hey!" Shizuo said louder. "The antidote. Antidote!" He finished in English. Still nothing. "Come on! This is so damn annoying." He passed the man, going further into the building. "Everything is so fucking annoying."

Izaya watched the man on the ground. He had probably fallen unconscious from the force of the trauma. It was hardly the end that he had hoped for, but then again, it could have been much worse.

Shizuo continued to walk. "This is really uncomfortable." Izaya was still over Shizuo's shoulder. "Oi, Neanderthal, do you hear me?"

"Annoying," Shizuo grumbled "can't you walk yet? I bet you can walk, but you're being a lazy pain in the ass."

He hoisted him down to his feet, but the moment the hand supporting most of Izaya's weight left was when uncooperating muscles gave out.

Izaya toppled down. He couldn't land gracefully. He fell so fast he couldn't tell what hit the ground first, but it all hurt on his right side. A wetness soaked into his clothes.

"Sorry, my bad."

He was lifted from the ground by the front of his jacket and he glared up at Shizuo. Definitely part of his hair was sticky wet too.

"You idiot." Izaya clenched his teeth to stop a groan of pain. "Seriously! Do you even think? When you wanted to escape, why didn't you go through the wall? Why were you running towards the locked metal door?"

His cellphone light was mostly downcast, but he could still make out the somewhat annoyed and baffled expression Shizuo was making.

"What are you on about, now? I have one more room to check out, so how about you shut up, all right."

Shizuo swung him onto his back, and he grumbled when he felt the blood on his own skin.

"Told you so," Izaya muttered.

"Yeah, well, it's not like I'm not used to it."

Izaya checked behind him just in case the guy was up, but he had kept to the floor. Shizuo walked ahead. They passed a few more rooms, one which he had been left in. The last one, all the way in the back was the one that Shizuo stepped through.

Immediately Izaya eyed the sign with a red glow that said exit. Under it wasn't a door, but the same oven like door that had been in the last building they had visited. Which meant it probably led to another crematorium.

"So are you going to look inside?" Izaya said, snidely. "The antidote might be there."

Shizuo didn't say anything as he stepped over to the glowing letters and grabbed the bottom of the latch. He took a deep breath before twisting and lifting the handle. It easily opened with a clatter.

Izaya liked being right, but he didn't feel any satisfaction for just how close he had been to the truth. It took some time to actually make out the shapes below them.

With the cellphone light shining tentatively through, as if they had a stream of moonlight in their hands, the mangled and butchered mess appeared as a great mound. All that was missing was the antidote hanging from the ceiling. A cranking noise came above them.

"Point the light up," Izaya said while covering his mouth and nose from the overbearing smell.

He didn't like this at all.

Caught in a twinkle of light above their heads, was a little hanging vial. It was way beyond their reach. It would take a hundred more bodies to touch the level that they stood.

"You've gotta be shitting me," Shizuo cursed.

It was almost as if he was being mocked by someone.

But then again, as he looked at Shizuo and imagined what he could make him do right now, Izaya smirked. It didn't matter if someone was messing with him because he could use this to his advantage.

He opened one of his flick blades and with ease he threw it and the knife cut the chain. The vial fell among the bodies. It stopped against a protruding shoulder.

Even if the smell made his insides want to heave and his eyes water, Izaya grinned from behind his mouth.

"Well," Izaya motioned with his injured hand. "It's not going to retrieve itself, now is it?"