Mono awoke with a start.

He sat up, rubbing his head and looking around. He was in a dense forest, bushes littered about and trees spanning out in every direction. The trees were mostly tall and thin, towering above him. It was already pretty intimidating, but to make matters worse, it was night time, making the forest seem darker than it should be... or maybe it was the heavy curtain of branches and leaves up above that blocked out any sunlight.

As he surveyed the location, he noticed something behind him. Sitting in the grass a little ways away was a television, though it was either large compared to him, or he was small compared to it. It seemed dead and lifeless, and rightfully so, as there was no cable coming from behind it to plug into anywhere, let alone any outlet being available to power it.

"Where am I...?" Mono said, confused.

He didn't want to speak too loudly, as this whole forest felt like dangers were lurking around every corner. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be drawn to him from his voice, though he wasn't going to take any chances.

"Well..." He looked about and shrugged. "I guess I should find somewhere where there's shelter. I don't wanna be in the open here... I feel too vulnerable."

He set out through the forest, his bare feet brushing against the grass and stepping over dirt and small stones as he walked. Indeed, the entire forest seemed to be dead, or maybe lying in wait. A few crows flitted through the air, cawing as they flew through the trees and vanished into the darkness beyond.

Mono soon came across a cage that seemed lodged underneath a large tree, surrounded by rocks. Upon closer inspection, however, he noticed something strange about it. There was darkness in the cage... a deep kind of darkness, as if there was a tunnel leading somewhere. He grasped the metal handle of the cage and tugged on it, the door swinging open with a creak. His suspicions were confirmed; there was a tunnel leading through the dirt, with smaller stones littered about and some of the tree's roots poking through the ceiling.

"That's convenient," said Mono.

He knelt down and crawled into the cage, then began crawling through the tunnel. As he stepped into the actual tunnel part of it, he noticed the back of the cage was knocked off and lying against the side of the tunnel wall. Somehow, it disturbed him, as if something was once trapped in this cage and it broke out and burrowed through the earth in order to escape.

The tunnel ended very soon with a hole that was sizable enough for him to exit. As he stepped out, he noticed a dip in the ground, but hovering over the dip in the ground was something that made his breath catch in his throat. Hanging from the trees, like a giant uvula, was a large trap net, full to the brim with what looked like dead bodies. Arms and legs poked out from a few places in the net, and flies were buzzing around the whole mass. A few shoes were even scattered beneath the net. If he didn't know any better, he would've sworn that this group of bodies were all part of one congealed form.

"Geez..." was all he could manage upon seeing it.

This was enough confirmation for him. Something was living in this forest, and whatever it was was dangerous. Carefully, Mono walked past the hanging cluster of bodies, minding that the net didn't suddenly collapse and crush him. Along his route was an old rotten tree trunk that had collapsed partway over a deep cliff, hanging enough to serve as a bridge for Mono to walk along and jump to the ledge across it.

Just over the ledge, however, was another trap, though this one hadn't been sprung yet. A rope, secured by two planks of wood, was strung across his path. Looking above, he could see a huge cage hanging up in the trees, ready to drop down on whoever was unfortunate enough to trigger the rope. Just beneath the cage was a clump of indistinguishable dead flesh with a cluster of flies around it, indicating that something did fall victim to the trap at some point. Mono narrowed his eyes as he stared at the roadkill on the ground.

"I'm not gonna end up like that," he muttered.

Jumping over the rope and heading past the cage up above, he continued on his path, seeing another dip in the road with a rectangular crate standing vertically on the edge of the dip. On the other side of the dip in the road was a ledge, seeming too high for him to reach, but he wanted to test it. He walked past the crate to the ledge and jumped for it. His hands fell a few inches shy of the edge. It was indeed too high for him. He walked back to the crate and pushed it over into the dip, sending it on its side, then pulled it over to the edge so he could climb up it.

This felt easy for him, but he still couldn't relax. The fact that there were two traps set up back there meant that something dangerous was in these woods, and he couldn't help but feel that, at any second, he could suffer the effects of a trap he doesn't notice or get grabbed by whoever set them up.

"Who made those traps?" Mono wondered to himself. He found a small, stony tunnel and crawled through it, pushing through some tree roots on the other end. "It had to be someone who's smart... something that acts on instincts couldn't have done that. I'm gonna have to pay more atte-"

A loud crackling sound behind him interrupted his thoughts. Turning around, he saw a huge log lying on its side above the tunnel he exited, starting to roll down towards him.

"Ahhh!" he yelled in shock. Immediately, he whirled around and started running quickly down the hill, the log tumbling and rolling after him. The forest was too dense on either side for him to duck out of the way... he just had to run and hope he was faster. As he passed by a large tree on his left, the log caught up to him and got stopped by the tree, one of its ends lodged against the side of it. The force of the crash sent Mono stumbling for a few steps, nearly falling over.

"Whew..." he breathed, turning around and looking at the log. "That was close... lucky that it didn't flatten me."

Steeling his nerves, he continued through the forest.

As he continued, he soon came across some bear traps, clumps of meat laying in the middle of them. Whoever made the traps was definitely a more intelligent being. Cautiously, he walked around the bear traps, not wanting to get within a foot of any of them. Across a fallen tree, he could see a bear trap that was closed, a long stick poking out from its metal jaws. Nearby it, he saw another hollowed-out tree trunk that served as a tunnel, though an open bear trap was right in front of it.

"Okay, so I'll need to trigger that bear trap without stepping in it," said Mono. He looked at the bear trap with a stick caught in it. "Hang on, I've got an idea..."

He walked towards it and tugged on the stick. After some resistance, the stick jolted loose. Its weight was such that Mono couldn't hold it upwards, like some kind of weapon, and instead needed to drag it along the ground. He dragged the stick to the open bear trap in front of the tree trunk tunnel, then raised the stick above his head and brought it down, all in one consecutive motion. The stick struck the bear trap, causing it to snap shut on the stick and bounce up from its spot, landing out of the way of the tunnel's opening.

"Perfect!" he said. He couldn't help but smile a little.

He crawled into the tunnel, though didn't get farther than ten steps before the tunnel dropped and he began sliding down. He landed in a bunch of dead leaves, sending lots of them flying. Seeing the dead leaves made him jump to his feet in an instant, remembering how they were used to cover a net trap before. As he looked ahead, to his horror, he could see the leaves spread out much, much farther, with only a boulder, a wide flat rock, and a fallen tree serving as any platforms to cross.

"Oh no," he said, worriedly looking at the leaf-laden ground. "There's gotta be like hundreds of traps in here... how am I gonna get through this?"

Mono looked around, and lying to his left was another stick, the same kind of length and thickness of the one he used to trigger the bear trap earlier. It was like he was handed a gift from above, a chance to make it through alive. He knelt down and picked up the stick, also needing to drag it with its weight. He brought it down on a section of the leaves in front of him, sending the leaves scattering, though no bear traps were revealed. He didn't want to take any chances. He dragged the stick further forward and brought it down on the leaves again.

This time, a bear trap snapped up the stick, and the force of it bouncing up triggered several more in the area, jumping up from the leaves as well and snapping down on nothing. When the leaves settled, there were enough of the bear traps used that cleared a path to the boulder. Mono wasted no time climbing onto the boulder, then jumping onto the wide flat rock.

The fallen tree was too far away for him to reach, and he didn't want to try to jump for it, for fear of landing in the leaves and getting crushed by a bear trap. He looked around for another stick for him to use, but there weren't any about. However, he did notice a dozen or so large pinecones bunched together near him. Picking one up, he turned to the fallen tree and threw the pinecone as far as he could. It landed in the leaves, causing a bear trap to snap shut on it, and again, several more of them were triggered from their hidden positions, though a good amount of the area was still veiled by the leaves.

"That can't have been all of them," said Mono.

He picked up another pinecone and threw it into an undisturbed part of the leaves. Sure enough, another bear trap got triggered, followed by several more. There was enough of a path cleared for him already, but he wanted to be sure. He jumped onto the fallen tree and walked carefully along it, making sure to not slip – it would only take one slip for him to fall into the leaves, and if there were any remaining bear traps left untriggered, he'd be a goner.

At the end of the fallen tree, another tree jutted out of the leaves, this one being several partway up and with planks nailed into its side, serving as a ladder. Seeing what he had to do, Mono jumped and grabbed hold of the ladder. Once he did, the plank his feet were supported on suddenly gave way and fell into the leaves, a bear trap springing up and snapping shut inches from his feet.

He jolted from it, hurriedly climbing up the ladder the rest of the way and looking down at the triggered trap. "Yikes..."

As he hopped off what was left of the tree onto the other side, past all the bear traps, the path left for him was simple. The ground had gotten very grassy again, inclining upwards somewhat and leading to a huge, rundown cabin. Empty cages were littered about in front of it, all of them empty. The cabin had a porch with a few steps leading up to it, sheltered by an overhang that was supported by pillars. Under the overhang, against the wall, was a closed door and an open window, a yellow light shining from the window. The white paint on the cabin was worn away in many places, showing the aged wood underneath.

"There," Mono breathed. "That should give me a good spot to hide for now... but if something's living in it, then I've gotta keep moving."

He hurried up the hill and onto the porch. Putting his ear to the door, he listened for any signs of life inside. Aside from a little buzzing from flies, it was very quiet in the cabin. He walked over to the window, climbed onto a crate that was sitting underneath it, and then climbed through the window and into the cabin.

The room he had entered was a kitchen, and one in a horrible and dingy state. Dirt and grime was strewn across the countertops, and a stack of filthy dishes were piled into the sink. The drawers and doors of the cabinets were mostly in good condition, though the edges of some of them were chipped and worn away. A large wooden table in the center of the room was illuminated by a single lightbulb hanging over it, flickering at times. The table had a bottle, a mug, a tin can, a plate with cutlery, and a large cooking pot filled to the brim with some sort of stew, its broth spread around the table. A few chunks of meat and what appeared to be a child's body, their head and limbs severed, were lying next to the pot, so Mono could guess what the stew's ingredients were. The sight and smell of it made him want to vomit.

Reaching under his mask to pinch his nose, he rushed towards a door on the opposite end of the kitchen, pushing it open and running through. He leaned back against the wall, panting and holding his stomach, trying to suppress its contents from coming up. As the nausea subsided, he slowly straightened up again and adjusted his mask on his head, exhaling slowly.

Right before he could take another step, something occurred to him. There was a sound playing from a room in the cabin... a soft, gentle, yet foreboding jingle of a music box. It seemed to be coming from a door, slightly ajar, that was down the hall on the left.

Curious, Mono headed to the door and slipped through. The door led to a staircase that curved along the wall and ended on a lower floor of the cabin. A couple of steps were broken at the foot of the stairs, as if something heavy had fallen on them and crashed through them, and there was a door right next to the staircase. As he descended the staircase, he could see many large sacks of stuffing lying around the wall, and a tall table with an electric sewing machine and a few spools of thread atop it was resting against the wall as well. Could the owner of the cabin be some sort of tailor or seamstress? Given the state of the place, he didn't imagine so.

Past the table and all the sacks, on the far wall, was a closed door. It was heavily cracked and worn away on its lower half, with even a large gash in it. The jingle from the music box was coming from behind the door. Mono headed to the door and peeked through the gash in it to see what was inside.

There was indeed a music box in the middle of the room, and sitting by the music box was a girl. Her hair was short, though her bangs were long enough to nearly cover her eyes, and she wore a faded blue jumper and white shorts. She was slowly turning the crank of the music box, around and around, in a clockwise motion.

Mono frowned. The girl seemed somewhat familiar to him. He felt like he had seen her before, but he couldn't remember where or under what circumstances. Whatever it was, he knew that she couldn't possibly be the owner of this cabin – whoever lived here was keeping her prisoner.

He stepped away from the door and looked around. Stuck into the side of a crate next to the stairs was a machete. Mono thought back to when he used the sticks to strike the bear traps and trigger them. Surely he could utilize this machete in a similar way to break open the damaged part of the door, right? He walked over to the machete, grabbed its handle, and tugged. It held fast. He tugged harder, much harder, and the force of it sent him sprawling on the floor, the machete's handle snapping off.

"Darn it," he said, looking at the now useless handle. "Now how am I gonna get into that room...?"

He tried going through the door that was next to the foot of the staircase, just to see if he had a second option. It only took him a few seconds to see an axe, lodged into a pile of crates against a wall of the room and the handle jutting out. He jumped up, grabbing onto the handle and pulling down on it. After some resistance, the axe came loose and clanked on the floor.

"There we go," said Mono.

He picked up the handle of the axe and dragged it out of the room, the back of the metal blade scraping across the floorboards. It was heavy, much heavier than the sticks he used earlier, and it was taking nearly all of his strength to pull this tool. He dragged the axe over to the door, and with every ounce of his strength, pulled the axe above his head and brought it down against the damaged part of the door.

The blow broke a chunk of the door off, and through the hole it made, Mono could see the girl scramble back from the music box, crawling under a bench that was in the room. He swung the axe at the door again, splintering a few more pieces of the door. One final swing broke apart a hole in the door big enough for him to walk through.

He dropped the axe on the ground and walked into the room, looking around and taking it in. It didn't have much. A couple shelves with small logs on them, a large cage with a crate on top in the corner of the room, a few metal hooks hanging from the ceiling, a large rug in the middle of the room and a smaller rug folded up under the bench... he noticed some chalk scrawlings on the wall, too. A couple vague figures were drawn on the wall, and above the bench was a drawing of some sort of tower sending circular ripples from its peak. It was an odd image, but what unnerved him more was the sight of tally marks lining the bottom part of the walls. Just how long was this girl trapped in this room?

Mono peeked under the bench. He could see the girl there, cowering in fear.

"Hey," he called out softly. "I'm not gonna hurt you. Are you all right?"

The girl cautiously crawled out, looking up at him. He could tell by her expression that she was ready to run away at any moment, if she needed to.

"I'm sorry I scared you," said Mono. "I'm wanting to leave this place. You wanna come with?"

After a few second's hesitation, the girl nodded.

He held his hand out to her. "C'mon, let's get out of here."

The girl crawled a little closer, slowly reaching her hand out to his. Right as he was about to take her hand, she suddenly got up and pushed past him, knocking him down and running out of the room.

"Wh – hey!" Mono got to his feet and ran after her. "Wait up! I helped you out and this is what you do to thank me?"

As he got to the staircase, he saw that she was already at the top of it, running through the door. He hurriedly clambered up the staircase after her, seeing her go through another door at the end of the hall to the left. He didn't know how she was so fast, but he didn't question it as he ran after her.

When he entered the room she went into, he was startled by what he saw. There was a table with three chairs, and each chair was occupied by a large figure. However, despite looking lifelike, each one seemed dead, unmoving, almost like they had been taxidermied. One was an old man with a wrinkled face, a bald dead, and a missing arm. Sitting across from him was a lady, who looked mostly fine aside from her face looking like nothing more than a burlap sack. The third seat was occupied by someone smaller than the other two table guests, though this person's eyes were glossed over and its right eye looked large and sagging out of the socket. The table was littered with spoiled food and grimy blood, and it was lit by a single light bulb hanging over it, similarly to the kitchen's table.

Across from the eerie scene was a cabinet and some shelves. The girl had climbed up the shelves and was already crawling through a vent opening in the wall near the ceiling.

"Just... freaking slow down," Mono murmured, climbing up the shelves and into the vent opening.

The opening might as well have just been a hole in the wall, as once Mono went through it, he immediately dropped down into another room. The girl was in the center off the room, jumping up and grabbing onto a handle hanging from the ceiling. She tugged on it, and part of the ceiling shifted, as though it was going to give way, but didn't. The girl let go of the handle and landed back on the ground, and when she looked up, she locked eyes with Mono.

"St-stop!" she yelled, holding up her hands defensively. "Don't come any closer!"

Mono held up his own hands as well, as if trying to settle her.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said, trying to remain calm. "How did you get into this place?"

"Are you working with him?" the girl asked, her voice still choked with panic.

"Who?" Mono asked. "I don't know what's going on. I was looking for shelter and I found this cabin, and when I went into it, I heard a music box, so I followed it and saw you. I can tell I scared you when I had to break open the door, and I'm sorry. I wasn't going to attack you."

The girl visibly unclenched a little.

"There's a man who lives here," she said. "He's huge and terrifying... he's wearing a sack with a hole in it on his head, and he's got a lantern and a rifle. He found me in the woods and caught me, and I've been stuck here for..." She paused. "... how long was I here? It felt like weeks..."

"I've no idea," the masked boy replied, "but if you want to escape, I'm not gonna stop you. If anything, I'd like to help, 'cause I want to get out of here too."

The girl slowly lowered her hands, seeming to be thinking things over. She looked up at the handle hanging from the ceiling, then looked back at Mono and beckoned to him.

"C'mere," she said. "If you want to help me, you can start by giving me a hand with opening this."

"Sure," said Mono. He walked over to her, and she knelt down, cupping her hands together. He stepped into her cupped hands and she boosted him up, letting him jump up and grab the handle. The ceiling shifted again, though didn't move any more than that.

"It's not..." He tugged some more on the handle. "It's not working, I can't-"

The girl jumped up and grabbed onto his ankles, tugging on them.

"-hey!"

The handle pulled down more, and the ceiling opened up, a long ladder rolling down from above and thumping on the floor. Mono let go of the handle, and the two kids fell down on the floor.

"You okay?" the girl asked.

"Y-yeah," said Mono, getting up and dusting himself off. "But warn me the next time you do that, okay?"

Just then, some muffled grunting and thumping footsteps could be heard, on the other side of the wall.

"What the heck is that?" Mono wondered, looking in the direction of the noise.

"It's him!" the girl squeaked fearfully. "He's here!"

"What? That's the guy who caught you?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, okay, calm down..." Mono said gently. "We'll get out of here, don't worry. Let's get a move on."

He began climbing up the ladder into the hole in the ceiling, the girl following close behind.