Chapter 2: In the Darkness Lies Your Fears
The inside of the mansion was surprisingly small. Granted, it was only one room, or a hall, but it was small. To both our left and right were doors. Straight ahead and around the corner, the hall continued. We weren´t sure of what to do.
"I say the door on the right," groaned Forest, clutching his wounds that freaky dog had given him. Rebecca opened the door.
"Just a bathroom. The bathtub is filled with dirty water, but the water in the sink is good. Forest, come here; let me treat your wounds." Rebecca proceeded to turn on the water in the faucet. I looked around a little. I discovered that the door we came in through was locked on the inside, and there was no key nearby to unlock it.
When Forest was all patched up, we decided to check out the other door across from the bathroom. It led us down a long hall and around a corner down the rest of the hall. It was clearly the corner of the house. We could hear the dogs outside through the windows. Forest had left a pistol magazine on the floor, saying it was in case anyone else found it and needed to get out of a jam. I could see the logic behind it, but I thought it was useless.
At the end of the hall was another door. It was unlocked but I was weary about going through. By listening closely, we could hear a faint groaning noise. Without hesitation, Rebecca opened the door and ran in.
"Rebecca, wait!" I shouted. She began screaming. Standing in front of us was what looked to be a man. It was tall, had brown hair and wore a semi-casual suit. But past all of that, it was a monster. Like the dog, its skin rotted, and its eyes were a milky white.
The creature began to reach out like it was trying to grab Rebecca. I lifted my rifle and shot at it. The thing fell to the floor with a thud. Rebecca ran to Forest for protection.
"I thought that it might have been Enrico or Kenneth," she said crying. "Why is this happening?" I looked around and saw that we were in some kind of art gallery. There were paintings on the walls and in the middle of the room stood a statue of a women drawing water. I saw what looked like a piece of paper in the bowl she carried, but my train of thought was interrupted when the creature on the floor began to moan again.
"Oh shit!" Forest yelled. I looked up and noticed two large doors.
"This way!" I yelled motioning to the door. We ran out of the room and closed the doors behind us. Forest and I held them in case that thing tried to get through.
"We´re in the main hall, guys," Rebecca whispered. Sure enough, we had found ourselves in a large room with several doors, upstairs and down. We had no time to admire the interior design, though. The monster began pushing against the doors.
"Forget this! Let´s get upstairs!" Forest shouted. Without a second thought, the three of us ran upstairs. My radio started acting up.
"Attention Bravo team, this is Jill. We´ve found your helicopter and Edward. If there is anyone out there please respond."
"Jill, it´s Richard! Damn, I´m glad to hear your voice. Jill?" I tried to respond but the radio was busted. It must have broken when I jumped over the fence outside.
"Great," Forest said sarcastically. "Now how the hell are we getting out of here?"
"Bravo team," Jill continued over the radio, "we´ll continue our search. Hang in there, guys."
"We have to make contact with them," I said. We noticed two open doors on the second floor.
"Time to split up," Forest suggested.
"No, I don´t want to," Rebecca protested.
"Don´t worry. You stay with Richard. I´ll go check the door at the far end of the room. It looks like the balcony. I need a little fresh air anyway. I´m feeling lightheaded." Forest put his hand on Rebecca´s shoulder to be assuring.
"Well, okay. But what if there´s trouble?" she asked.
"I have a grenade launcher. I don´t think there´ll be any trouble," Forest said with a laugh. "So let´s get going." Forest left us standing in front of our route. He passed through the doorway and shut the door behind him.
"Let´s go," I said to Rebecca. We entered the dark hall and immediately noticed that the door locked behind us. I wouldn´t doubt if Forest had the same trouble. We looked at each other as if to blame the other, but it wasn´t important. Another of the creatures was staring at us from the end of the hall. It began to walk toward us, arms out like a zombie. I noticed another open door to our right, between us and the monster. I grabbed Rebecca by the arm and ran for the door. The zombie seemed to speed up a little, so when we got in the next room, I slammed the door shut. We made it just in time, closing the door on the creatures fingers, which fell off from the pressure.
The next room was another short hallway, with a pillar breaking the corner into another small corner. Looking around the corner, there was another open door leading to a small stairway and yet another open door.
"This time, no closing," Rebecca sneered. I moved on ahead, careful not to run into any unwanted surprises. The door at the top of the stairs opened into a room that seemed like an attic.
"You better wait here," I told Rebecca.
"Okay. Richard, be careful." She was afraid. I could tell.
Making my way into the musky room, I could see cobwebs covering almost everything. No spiders though. Something caught my eye on a dusty crate at the far end of the attic. It looked like some kind of mask. It probably meant nothing, but I decided it would be best to check it out. Then I heard hissing.
