I reach out and grab Pewdie's hand. He tightens his grip on it, and we start walking ahead. There is no way I'll let go of it; I don't want to wind up alone in this place of nightmare. I can't help but flex my other hand on the knife's handle, feeling it become harder to grab onto as my hands slowly become clammy from the stress's effect. After a few minutes of walking in this corridor, almost blind, I start being able to make out some vague shapes. I make the difference between the floor and the walls without having to scratch my blade against it. It's for the best; the sound was way too similar to a banshee's cries for my liking.
As we keep walking, my eyes wander around. They find very little to hold onto in this almost absolute darkness. From time to time, the same question pops up in my mind; why is the ground so soft? It feels like I would be walking on wet sand. Sometimes I hear crunches under my feet, like a branch snapping in halves. I really wonder what it is…
After what feels like hours or even days of barely visible surroundings explored in total silence from the both of us, after yet another corridor and the corner at its end, I see something flash for a second far ahead. My head turns to look at Felix but all I see in the dark is the vague shape of his face. It feels a bit like looking at Slenderman. Nevertheless, I gather my courage and my breath and ask with a voice so tiny I almost don't hear myself:
"You saw that…?"
Pewdie nods in answer and I glance again towards the strange happening. Felix gets back to walking, and I follow reluctantly. A few meters farther, we reach another of those numerous corners, and Pewdie looks around the corner. Without waiting, I do the same.
I don't see anything at all. Or at least, I don't until I realize I am looking at the most enormous room I saw in my life. The room goes, by the tiny bit I can make out, for meters each way. The shape is that one of a half sphere. Slowly, side by side, we walk towards it. We enter it, and I stop. I look around around, letting go of Pewdie's hand in amazement. I stand by a column, and I can make out three other that with the first seem to hold the ceiling up.
I hear a strange sound coming from behind me, and I begin to turn around when the ground shakes once, and I see a few mini rocks fall. Unable to express the fear that grabs onto me suddenly, I fix my stare to the door as a second, more powerful shaking of the ground takes on. I hear a great cracking sound, and a pile of rocks booms in place to block the door we came in here from.
Right after, iher /i laugh echoes throughout the room as all the place becomes illuminated by torches I hadn't seen before. I instinctively cover from the over-bright light, but I take my arm away right away when I hear a scratching sound. My eyes settle on the floor, and I freeze.
"Hu-human-…"
Human flesh. The floor is completely made of flesh, wet, rotten and of a sick red flesh. It all looks like it was shoved in a blender and puked in here. Some bones come out at random places, jaws, clavicles, ribs, tibias… they all seem fragile as glass. It's probably what was making the strange branches' sounds. I feel my stomach jump and writhe as bile crawls up my throat. I can feel I'm on the verge of throwing up. Feeling my head go light, I extend a hand to hold onto the column by me, only to move it away lightspeed when I realize it's made of the same material.
I back up a few steps and stare at the column in disbelief, and my eyes widen when I see waves appear on its surface. Without any other sound than my own accelerating breath and my violently loud heartbeats, a hand crawls out of it. Its nails are yellow, and one of the fingers is missing. Its color is the same as the one of the floor and the column, barely distinguishable from it. It takes hold of the column, and starts to drag out a body, torso first. I back up slowly, unable to believe what I see.
"Pewdie…"
I hear his breath stop for a second as his eyes fall on the column and the thing crawling out of it. We both watch as the thing finally frees itself from the flesh that kept it prisoner. As I look at it, I jump when I realize it is the exact same thing as that dead body we saw in the house just before.
It turns its empty putrefied eye holes towards us and cocks its head to the side in a surprisingly fluid move. Its mouth opens and a few seconds pass. I am starting to wonder what is happening when I feel a chilling wind pass between me and Felix. I can feel the temperature go almost a dozen Celsius degrees down as ice appears before it starts to melt again. The wind enters the dead from the mouth, and a wicked and distorted smile appears on what is left of the walking dead's mouth.
"iWe meet again./i"
The voice coming out from the body is very feminine, but there are some very grave notes, as if a man was talking at the same time than the first voice.
"iThis time, there is no escaping. bYou will die/b/i"
And on those words, ice surrounds the thing, creating an armor. The dead's head moves back into place with a crack, and it starts walking towards us. I hear the Woman's voice in my head, repeting iyou will die…/i endlessly. At the back of the thing's eyes, a blue glitter has settled, telling of the ghost's presence in this body.
I snap out of my stare when I realize it's coming right at us. I grab Pewdie's hand, and I start to run away from the dead. I look behind just long enough to see iit/i get faster into a jog before it accelerates and starts running. I feel my eyes widen and my face go white, and I go even faster. I feel Felix stumble and stagger behind me, but I don't slow down, because I know it would be both out deaths.
I look around and finally, my eyes settle on a wooden door. I angle our run towards it and a bit before we reach it, I howl to Pewdie:
"Shoot its leg!"
Rapidly I hear a shot and the falling of a mass on the floor. We reach the door, and I open it. I shove Pewdie past it and as I reach out for the door I banged open, my eyes settle for a second on the dead that is getting back on its feet. It looks up and a howl gets out of its throat, five voices at a time, angered:
"iNooooo!/i"
I shut the door. The sound of the word stops and I look behind. We have been Transported again. It looks a lot like the manor where Felix woke up. Right and left, lit down torches are on the walls, awaiting for one to bring light in here. The corridor is going straight, leading to a staircase.
I help Pewdie get back up to his feet and I am about to say something when he opens his mouth first and says:
"I'm tired…"
His voice breaks and I stare at him, unable to reassure him. I know of what he is tired. But what would be the use of saying it? We both know what is tiresome in here. He looks at the pistol.
"Just before, I was shaking so much, I almost missed the thing's leg. And we'd have been dead."
He gets his glance back at me. I see his eyes very clearly, as if they were shining.
"I just- I'm tired."
Wait a minute. They ARE shining. I can see a blue glitter in them.
"Pewdie…"
He ignores me and goes on.
"I can't take any more. My nerves are cracking. I went through all I could. I'm tired of all this."
I extend a hand, but before I can stop him, he aims at his head from under his chin and pulls the trigger. The sound of the detonation is deafening, and when it stops echoing, I see Felix's body fall to the floor. I stay there, unable to believe what just happened. She… She made him suicide.
I don't know how long I stay there, until I gather my senses again and crouch. I close Pewdie's eyes and I grab his gun, my knife in the other hand. I get back up and without a glance back, I start walking towards the staircase. A song comes to my lips, and I can't hold it back, so I sing it:
"I will find the exit
No one will stop me
All I have to do
Is walk to it…"
It goes on and on, looping in my heads and in the air as I sing it. After the first staircase, I arrive to another corridor, and then another staircase. I only walk and climb for what feels like months, with the only company of the dancing notes in the atmosphere. As I arrive on yet another floor, I see a door at its end. I go to it at the same pace, mistrustful. When I reach it, I turn the knob, and open it.
The light floods in, making me whine in pain. After some seconds, I open my eyes again and see the outside. It's lighted, and I hear birds singing. In my surprise, I let go of the door, and it closes behind me. I turn around as it bangs, and I see its edges fade until it disappears. I feel my hands empty and realize both my weapons disappeared alongside the door.
When I finally understand I am back to the real world, my legs give up under me and I start crying. I cry of that happiness of finally being out of there, of having beaten that ghost and still being alive. But I also cry of having lost my friend, and of all the horrors I have had to see to get out of there.