Sewers (part 1)

The duo of detectives started to walk down the sewers of the asylum. Not even minding walking in the disgusting water. They already knew that they will certainly burn their shoes once outside since with all they can see inside the gross water, they knew it will be impossible to clean them.

"Jesus... Just as expected of sewers... it stinks." said Naegi.

"But these ones... they smell way worse than any other I've been through."

"You've been in sewers before?" asked the brunette.

"Sometimes in old cases." she smiled.

"I'd love to hear about those stories."

"Once we get out of here." Kirigiri promised.

The couple nodded to each other before resuming their journey. They jumped over a wooden board that was blocking the way through a sewer. The light was starting to fade as darkness was setting in, Naegi activated the night vision and took Kirigiri's hand to guide her. They came to a cross way with two directions, on the right was written exit, but it was blocked by giant rocks from a collapse so they had no choice but to go left. Maybe they'll find another exit this other way.

While walking deeper in the sewers, they encounter a corpse of a patient. They immediately understood that they werenot done with the Variants of the asylum.

"So there's also bodies down here… That means we're still not safe." said Kirigiri, staring at the corpse as they moved on.

They got blocked by a wall, Naegi looked around to find no other way to go. It's a dead end. Why would Father Martin lead them here? That was the question until Kirigiri pointed out the small pipe inside the wall, small but big enough to crouch through it. Naegi went first, it was dark but a straight line so he activated the night vision and told Kirigiri where to step. The stench of the inside of the pipe punching his nose like a boxer. Even the female detective was pinching her nose. And she was extra careful to where to step since she was wearing a skirt, so her legs were air free and exposed to the filth that threaten to touch her skin. Something that Naegi was not okay with.

Once Naegi got out of the other side of the pipe he stood up and saw the same vision again. With his eyes and on screen. A floating shadow whispering things as it ran from left to right, down a hallway. Naegi froze. He wasn't moving an inch and was breathing heavily. Kirigiri got out of the pipe a few seconds later and saw her partner once again frozen, she approached him and asked him what was wrong, which made him jump.

He looked at her with shaky and frightened eyes.

"O-Oh my God… oh my god… it's- it's…" he stammered, "It's not a glitch. It was not a glitch!" he almost screamed.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, trying to calm him down.

"L-Look." he said as he showed her the recording.

Her eyes widen in surprise when she saw the big silhouette appear on the screen and glide from one side to the other on the screen. It looked like one of those paranormal shows Hagakure or Yamada use to talk and/or show to the class sometime back in school.

They stayed like this for almost a minute until they decided that it was time to keep going and exit this hellish place. The ghost went to the right, they will go to the left. They found what looked like a ladder leading to an exit but it was destroyed, the remains next to body parts and a note.

"(Found scrawled in pencil on the back of an Admittance form. Handwriting matches samples from patient "Father" MARTIN ARCHIMBAUD.)

This God is real.

What we've mistaken so long for ghosts, spirits, madness.

We were only willfully ignorant.

The scales on Saul's eyes were fear, and when you see beyond it, you truly see.

This is the gift of the Walrider. The Gospel of Sand.

The greatest sin in the world is willful ignorance of God.

To receive a revelation and not spread it to the waiting flock.

This place... To stand in the way of salvation is a sin for which no punishment is too great."

Again about this Walrider. Just what is it? It's certainly not only the name of a project if Father Martin is praising it like this. Especially if the result of the project are those broken patients and Variants.

They kept going through the tunnel to turn right, and right and right again to finally come back to where they were a few minutes ago. There was no other choice but to follow the ghost. It seems that the latter went through two section of wood support, it was large enough to squeeze through, what the couple did. It leaded to a brand new area with a pipe and ladder going down. But there was water flooding it. It seems that they need to go down there: a trail of blood was heading down.

"It seems we need to go further down… But we need to flush the water first." pointed Kirigiri.

"Oh look!" said the ahoge boy, pointing with his finger at a map.

On the map was the location of two valves that must be turned to flush down the water from the lower junction, where they needed to go. Naegi proposed that they separate, each one get one valve to be quicker. He'll take care of the one that seems far away and she could take care of the one that was closer and the path not too complicated. When she asked him why, he lifted up the camcorder.

They agreed and entered the hall that seems to connect both paths toward the valves. There was a lot of boxes laying around and three stacked on top of each other in front of them. As the duo was about to separate, a loud bang was heard from the other side of the room. Then another and suddenly, a giant form fell from the ceiling… It was Chris Walker.

"You gotta be kidding me." muttered Naegi as he hid behind the stack of boxes with his fiancée.

"Why is he so focused on us?..." whispered Kirigiri, looking slightly over the boxes to see the giant walking around, muttering insults.

"... Let's keep up to the plan!" suddenly said the male detective, making his partner look at him in surprise. "Your valve is down this way, once you're in front of a wall, turn right and it's the first door you'll see. Also be careful there's a wooden board blocking the way, you can jump over it."

"Wait, I'm not okay with this!"

"We have no time to think." he says as they heard Chris' footsteps getting closer, "Be careful." he said as he quickly pecked her lips.

He quickly stood up and ran towards the tunnel leading to the second valve, yelling: 'HEY! OVER HERE!" to the giant man who immediately started to follow him with a growl.

Naegi disappeared inside the darkness of the tunnel, Chris Walker got wrapped by the same darkness a few second later. Kirigiri stood up and ran inside the other tunnel, just like her fiancé said: there was a little wooden board. But she easily jumped over it. She couldn't see anything in the dark, fortunately enough the door she needed to go through was under a working lamp, only source of light in the dark tunnel. She opened the door and closed it behind her just in case. The valve was right in front of her and she quickly turned it.

The sound the engines made was very loud. And attracted the monster of the sewers.

In the other side of the area, Naegi was also turning the second valve.

"Little pigs…" groaned Chris Walker as he extended his massive hand to catch Naegi's neck, but the smaller man ducked before turning left.

Chris did not let his white glaring eyes go from the running form of the human in front of him. But his chase came to a halt as the small man squeezed through two sections of wooden support. The big guy tried to reach for him but failed to grab him.

"I'll get you later, you whore... " he spat as he saw the brunette run inside a room.

And that's when he heard it once, a loud noise from the other side of the area, then again but right next to him. The woman was there too. He turned his back and walk toward the other room with the valve.

Naegi sighed once the valve turned. He deduced from the loud noise that echoed in the sewers before he turned the valve that Kirigiri also turned hers. He walked out of the room and squeezed again through the wooden sections. He walked carefully so not to attract Chris Walker attention. Without too much problem he reached the 'hall' with the boxes. He hid behind the pile of three boxes, waiting for Kyoko.

She appeared some seconds later, but she was running fast, looking surprised and afraid.

"Kyoko!" he called out.

"Makoto! To the ladder, hurry!" she ordered as she ran towards it.

Naegi immediately obeyed as he saw the silhouette of Chris Walker emerge from the shadow, roaring "Little pigs!" at the couple.

Kirigiri jumped down the hole, sliding the rail of the ladder. Naegi quickly jumped after her. Barely avoiding the grasp of a giant bloody hand. They escaped the big bastard.

They reached the lower junction of the sewers, and the first thing they noticed was that it was pitch black. The brunette immediately activated the night vision and took his partner's hand. As he guided her through the dark tunnels, he told her that there were corpses all around the place. Hanging over the pipes, under the filthy water or just laying around. They reached a ladder bringing them up again. Kirigiri went first followed by her companion.

During the ascension, she stopped and gasped mid-way as she saw a patient poking his head over the end of the ladder to look down and disappear one second after. She yelped in surprise when Naegi's head bumped her buttocks.

"S-Sorry! It was an accident!" he stammered, probably red.

"It's alright. There's a Variant up there be ready." she responded, a hint of pink on her cheeks, but no one would see that in the dark..

"Alright."

But once they both got upstairs, there was no one. Just a grid on their left, blocking the way to another tunnel. It was pitch black behind the grid. They were about to resume their journey when voices from the darkness started to scream. One of them shouted 'WALRIDER!' before more screams of pain as noises of flesh being ripped apart were heard. After some seconds, silence. Both detectives looked at each other, their eyes full of fright and confusion. Whatever happened down there… could happen to them.

They continued their way down the sewers in silence. After a minute of walking a shining light flashed on their eyes. Then it turned away and they heard someone singing. Naegi recognized the voice: it was Father Martin's.

"What the hell is he doing here?!" he said.

Both detectives called out for him, but the voice turned and ran away, Naegi saw him running. The fake priest was lost in his delusions, as he kept singing his prayer. They tried to follow him but giant rocks were blocking the way. They have no other choice but to go through that door they saw earlier, just next to them.

But when they opened the door, what they saw stopped them on their tracks. A Variant was waiting for them from behind what looked like a little house made from broken tables. The patient looks right at the couple and quickly said:

"You don't have to be scared of me. I can tell we're the same. You still know what's real." he started, "The Doctor's dead, you guys know that right? DR. Wernicke. Died before he even started working here."

That's… new.

"What kind of experiments does a dead doctor perform on living patients? That's the question…" he concluded.

Just what is PROJECT WALRIDER?

To be continued…

In the next chapter of Survival at Mount Massive Asylum…

"How is that possible…?"

"He should be dead, right? What is that patient saying?"

"So that's where they drop the corpses…"

"It's too dark and it seems that… Here take the camcorder."

"Are you sure?"

"MAKOTO!"

Darkness await them.
Their stalker will never stop his chase.
The nightmare has no end.
Is death the only solution?