Mona turns it around.
It was a strange sensation – trying to find a monster, that is. Up to now, she'd just been running away. Fighting was an absolute last resort and had produced mixed results.
Things had changed, though. Now she had a gun again. A big gun. She could blow away anything that got in front of her now. She didn't have to be afraid anymore.
But that wouldn't really matter if she couldn't even find this thing. Had she managed to lose it completely? That didn't sound right. In fact, she could still hear something squelching across the floor somewhere.
As powerful as she was feeling, she didn't dare tempt fate by calling out for it. That was quite literally asking for trouble. While she was prepared to fight now, there were any number of things that might go wrong once the battle started. Would the gun jam? Backfire? Explode? Turn out to be made of cardboard?
Rounding a corner, she finally found something to put all of that to the test. While it wasn't the grotesque creature she was looking for, it was certainly not a human. It might pass as one from a distance, but the disproportionately long limbs, sallow skin, and bulbous head protrusion and lack of a face would alert most people to the reality of the situation.
It wobbled towards her like it had just gotten home from the bar, steps unsteady as it clumsily moved from one wall across to the next. As it stumbled closer, part of its head split open, a sandpapery tongue falling out to trail against the floor.
That was enough of that. Taking aim, Mona squeezed the dual triggers. Buckshot erupted out of the barrels, Mona herself being flung backwards from the recoil. A little more kick than she expected.
After a few moments of feeling the world spin around her, she shook off the confusion and ringing ears to sit up. Immediately, a chill ran down her spine as she realized she'd dropped the gun when it knocked her over. Shit.
As her eyes darted around the darkened hallway, her fears alleviated somewhat. Not only did she find the gun laying just a few feet away, but also the monster. Looks like it didn't take much to put them down when she was packing this thing.
Retrieving the weapon, she opened it up again, dumping out the spent shells and loading two more. Better to do it now than risk getting panicked during a fight. The good news was that she had plenty of ammo to go around. Even so, she didn't want to waste it by charging in guns blazing to take care of every obstacle that came her way.
She said that, but that seemed like what she was going to have to do now. That gunshot was evidently too loud for someone's liking, the sound of something big thundering towards her from down the same hallway as the thing she'd just killed.
A shrill cry confirmed its identity, as if she had any doubts. Steadying her shaking hands, Mona widened her stance to try and make herself a bit more stable when shooting. Aiming probably wouldn't be that big of a deal given how huge that thing was, but she couldn't afford to be getting knocked on her ass every time she fired her gun.
This was it. As the monster came into view, Mona held her breath. A few more steps and she'd fire. Maybe she'd get lucky and it would only take one hit like the last thing. Maybe this would finally be over when it fell.
It lumbered ever closer, the crying only growing louder. Just a bit closer. It was hard to resist the urge to shoot wildly every time that meaty hand reached out towards her. But she had to be patient. The closer it was, the harder she'd hit. Less missed buckshot. Just a bit closer.
In truth, she was scared shitless. She wasn't so much waiting as trying her hardest not to completely freeze up. All she wanted to do was run, but she wasn't letting herself do that. In response, her body decided it didn't want to do anything. Too scared. Too tired. Too thirsty. Too hungry.
Do or die. It was almost literally on top of her now. She found the strength to raise the barrel up, aiming towards one of the jittering, glassy eyes. Biting her lip, she couldn't stop herself from closing her eyes. The last thing she saw was that hand reaching out for her. Instead of the floor, this time it would definitely grab her.
The first thing to register was a heavy pain in her shoulder. If she had to guess, she'd say it was broken, though that might be an overly dramatic assessment of the pain. The next was the sound of the monster's screams. These weren't the same cries as before. If anything, it sounded like it was in pain.
Finally, she opened her eyes, catching a glimpse of the smoke rising off the end of the shotgun. Her body hadn't let her down this time. The creature was writhing on the ground, white fluid leaking across its face from where one of the eyes had shattered. It was hurt.
As she stood there like a gormless fool, the monster swiped its hand at her. Too distracted by her own success, Mona took the attack she should have otherwise been able to avoid. It knocked her off her feet, though it thankfully failed to grab hold of her.
Regardless, this left her scrambling back to her feet as her pursuer turned back over. It was mad now, or at least it seemed that way. The screaming grew louder, its pace faster. While she had no way to know if it actually breathed, she could swear she felt it against the back of her neck as she ran.
Reloading a gun while fleeing a monster was a lot more difficult than you might expect. If not for the creature's lack of usable limbs making it impossible to attack her and move at the same time, she'd certainly be dead now. Every second wasted fumbling with the barrel, removing the shells, and reaching into her pocket to pull out new ones was another second closer to that becoming a reality.
After a torturous eternity of attempting a reload, Mona slid another shell inside the gun. She felt like she only had time for the one right now with the monster so close behind her. Regardless, she was ready to attack again.
Finding a corner, she turned down it before immediately spinning on her heels. As soon as the creature's head came into view, she fired again. Shoulder screaming from being yet again punched by the gun's stock, she had to ignore it long enough to reload and fire again. Lucky for her, this thing didn't seem to react well to being shot.
Trying to remember how many times she fired and reloaded was useless, her mind and body going into autopilot as she unloaded shell after shell into the monster. Rotted organs and that sick fluid splattered across the fleshy walls with each blast, the infant-like cries emitting from the thing's mouth growing quieter with each attack.
Reloading after another direct hit, she paused to catch her breath. She hadn't realized until now that she'd been holding it all this time. Lungs grateful to finally purge the stagnant air inside them, she kept the gun trained on the now motionless monster. Most of its body had been decimated by the buckshot, the head appearing dented and cracked.
She was almost relieved enough to let herself drop her guard. Almost. Naturally, that wasn't the end, and she'd learned that by this point.
Seeming to have sensed that she wouldn't be fooled, the monster's head cracked even more without her assistance. Suddenly, it split open down the middle, a final ear-splitting shriek ringing out from its mouth.
A metal spike shot out of the opening, Mona stepping to the side to avoid a spray of the burning liquid that came with it. Looks like he was up next. Of course it was him. It was always him. Of course he'd be related to this.
Her hands shook once again, though it wasn't out of fear this time. She waited patiently as one arm, then the next emerged from the darkened insides of the previous monster's head, seemingly much larger on the inside than it appeared from the outside.
With another metallic thrust, her father's head appeared out of the opening. That was the moment to strike. No sooner had the metal piece retracted did she shove her gun inside and down his throat. Teeth gritted and nostrils flared, Mona ignored the all-too-human sounds of gasping and choking that came from him as she fired one last time.
The recoil knocked her back again given how unstable a position she was forced to shoot from. It didn't matter, though. As she prepared to reload, her hands stopped moving to watch her father's body fall limp and tumble the rest of the way out of the other monster's head. Aside from a few twitches and a splurt of the white fluid out of his neck stump, he was well and truly dead.
"Fucking...choke on it," she coughed, still shaking and struggling to stand back up. Before she had the chance to try, the siren sounded. Despite her better instincts, she couldn't help but feel relieved to hear it now after all that had happened. Maybe things would finally slow down.
The meat that had previously overtaken the walls melted away, the world restructuring itself around her yet again. Before she knew it, she was back at the hotel. Back in the room where all of this started. So was her father, now looking more like he did when he was alive (sans head).
She sat there for quite some time, feelings she couldn't quite describe washing over her and growing in intensity the longer she stayed there. What was it? Relief? Sadness? Rage?
Maybe it was all of them. Whatever she felt, it reached its boiling point. Suddenly, Mona's breathing turned ragged, her eyes watering. Before she knew it, she was screaming at the top of her lungs. She could barely recognize her own voice, the pained, guttural noise she let out so unlike how she normally sound.
She sat there screaming into the air longer than she would have liked, her throat ending up even sorer than before once she finally finished. All that was left for her now was a sense of relief paired with an immense pain in her shoulder. He was finally gone now. He was gone forever.
Finally, she got back to her feet. Taking the chance to reload, she found she still had five extra shells left over after reloading two more. Not too bad. She needed more, but this would do for now.
She kicked at her father's body for longer than she cared to admit. Just had to be sure. He came back once, didn't he? Nothing said he couldn't again. Just had to be sure.
All that kicking did seem to serve a purpose, at least. Poking out from his neck, she spied a twinkling bit of gold. It couldn't be that, could it?
With a sigh, she realized what she'd have to do to confirm it. Kneeling down, she took a breath, plunging her hand into her father's neck stump. His blood was at least red this time, but it didn't make this experience any less horrible or disgusting.
She worked as fast as possible here, wrapping her fingers around something long and cylindrical. She let go immediately once she realized it was far too organic to be what she was hoping for. Trying again, this time her fingers found something a bit more plastic.
Pulling it out in one swift motion, Mona had finally been reunited with the sword she lost what felt like eons ago. "You better be worth it," she muttered, shaking it a bit to try to knock off some of the blood.
Didn't seem like she'd have to wait long for that answer now that she was finally free to walk towards the outside door. An enormous lock was placed in the middle of it, held in place by rusted chains and a gnarly-looking clamp to hold it shut. Curiously, the lock didn't seem fitted for an actual key, but something much more esoteric.
It was worth a try. Mona held up the toy sword, sliding it inside the lock with surprising ease. Once pressed up to the hilt, she gave it a turn and watched as everything holding the door shut fell away. Simple as could be.
Rubbing at the bridge of her nose, she couldn't find it in herself to complain. She was getting out of this horrid building. Don't look an incredibly hard-won gift horse in the mouth.
Taking one last look back at the body she was leaving behind, she turned back to the door. Turning the knob, she finally opened it. Good riddance.
Looks like we finally booted up this old save. Good thing we did, since we're about at the middle of the game.
Surprisingly, there's not much else to say. Thanks for reading. Share if you're enjoying. Always remember to hold guns properly or risk injury.