A/N: I thank everyone for their wonderful reviews and support. I hope my story continues to please you!
Welcome all readers, both new and old! Please enjoy!
Song of the Day: "Shadow of Doubt" by Yoko Kanno
(Waylon)
Some people may say it is impossible for time to slow down, but I disagree.
The moment Miles' foot made contact with the ledge, everything went into slow motion. The wood shattered into tiny pieces and Miles began to fall back. Without thinking, I held my arms wide open and Young-ja was thrown into them, sending the both of us tumbling backwards.
Then time suddenly sped back up and I sat up to see Miles' hanging off the edge, trying to reach for his damn camcorder!
"Miles!" Young-ja shot forward to grab his hand, but I pushed her back just as the boards cracked beneath Miles' grip, and I dove down to snatch his hand up in the nick of time. But the moron kept struggling against me and reaching for his fucking camcorder, and I felt what little patience I had left snap.
"IT'S NOT WORTH YOUR LIFE, YOU IDIOT!" I screamed, using all of my strength to yank him back onto what little remained of the platform. And the moment Miles was by my side, Young-ja launched herself onto him, insulting her husband while also clinging to him for dear life.
While I left Miles to endure Young-ja's wrath, I closed my eyes and tried to calm my racing heart.
But, it sped right back up when Miles said we needed to go after his camcorder.
"You're not saying…" I gaped, pointing to the death abyss below. 'Did he leave his brain behind after making that jump?!'
"Yes." Miles answered, crawling to his feet and taking his wife with him. "We need to go after it."
"Miles, you can use my footage! I've recorded enough fucked up stuff too!"
But the huge dolt was ignoring me and making his way to the edge of the platform, looking for a way down.
'Why do I even bother?'
Then Miles, having noticed a pile of crates he could jump down on, turned towards the two of us.
"I'll hurry up and grab the camcorder. It could be dangerous, so I want you guys to wait here."
Before I could even blink, Young-ja had snagged Miles' shirt in her hand and was leering up at him.
"I…spent hours….looking for you," she panted, pulling him down to her level with each syllable. "I…will not…go through that…again."
"Young-ja," Miles placed his hands on her shoulders, attempting to reassure her. "I'm not going to drag you through that again. Waylon will be with you unt-."
"Didn't you promise…to protect me?"
"Yes." He answered without missing a beat.
"Then..I'm coming with you. And that's final." And she pushed him aside and limped to the edge of the platform before hopping down onto the crates below.
I had to turn around and stifle my laughter at how Miles' looked exactly like a large tree blowing over in a hurricane. He had this sheepish expression on his face while rubbing the back of his neck, very unlike his usual snarky demeanor.
'Score one for Young-ja! Haha-!'
"Ack!" I gasped when Miles slapped the back of my head. "What was that for?!"
"So you would wipe that stupid look off your face." He shot a deadly glare at me before following after his wife. "Let's move, Park."
"C-coming." I stuttered, still trying to hide my smile.
(Young-ja)
I had enough at that point.
Every time I had to split up with someone, nothing good happened to either of us. So if Miles was going back for his camcorder, then we would all go with him.
End of story.
The boys quickly jumped after me, and Waylon took the lead this time since he had the only light source. After hopping over a few pitfalls, we made it to the next room, and I was thrilled to see that the floor was still intact. But the piles of broken bed frames and mattresses still posed as irritating obstacles.
There was a bathroom on the far side of the room with water spewing from one of the toilets. Waylon made a sound of disgust as he waddled through it. It appeared that the water was flowing towards the last stall, and when we opened it, we found a gaping hole in the ground.
Waylon went down first, landing on a conveniently placed desk before Miles and I followed suit. The hole led us to a locker room, much like the one I found Miles in. The mirrors were scratched beyond all repair and painted over with blood.
As we stepped out into the hallway, lightning struck and I was reminded that it was still raining outside. And it was at that exact moment the batteries in Waylon's camcorder went out.
"Shit!"
"What the hell, Picles?" Miles pushed Waylon's shoulder roughly, making him bump against the wall. "Shouldn't you carry extra batteries?!
"Well, I'm not the one who dropped their fucking camcorder! So I don't want to hear a word out of you!"
"Oh bite me."
"Guys." I gasped, immediately silencing their bickering and pointed down the hallway.
Another flash of lighting hit and the silhouette of someone standing at the end of the hallway was illuminated against the large window before it slowly went dark again. Then a moment later, another flash hit and the figure was gone.
"You better hurry up and find your damn camcorder, Upshur." Waylon mumbled, his hand trembling. "I've had it up to here with mysterious figures stalking us."
We slowly made our way down the hallway, on high alert and on edge. When we reached the large window, we took a sharp left and saw a faint light coming from one of the rooms. As we drew closer, a figure suddenly sprung out of the darkness and grabbed Miles.
"Hey!" Waylon pushed me out of the way and wrapped his arms around the Variant's back, trying to pry him off Miles.
But, like most of the others, this Variant had inhuman strength and wouldn't budge an inch.
Panicking, I looked around for something to distract him with and noticed a wooden plank discarded on the ground. Snatching it up, I twirled around and smashed it against the Variant's head.
Disoriented, he stumbled back and Miles took the chance to shove him off. But the Variant easily threw Miles to the ground, bucked Waylon off his back, and raced off with pieces of the plank still embedded into his skull.
"Are you…alright?" I bent down next to the guys as they rubbed their heads and groaned in pain.
"I'm fine. Thank you, Cara Mia."
"Bet…you're glad…you brought me along now, right?"
"Definitely." He smiled and helped me back up before turning to Waylon and doing the same for him. "Obrigado, Picles."
"Thank God." Waylon smirked, dusting his jumpsuit off. "I thought you were going to forget about me for moment and go off into La-La land with your wife."
We entered the faintly lit room, discovering the light was coming from the lightning outside. It was a circular room with floor-to-ceiling windows on each wall, and at every window, there was a Variant either slamming their head against the glass or curled into the fetal position and muttering to themselves. To the right, there was a pair of double doors that led into a winding hallway. It was difficult to navigate since the corridor did not have windows and there were obstacles at every corner, but we were able to make it through.
When we reached the end of the hallway, I could make out a faint blueish glow in the middle of the room and knew we had finally found Miles' camcorder.
"There it is." Miles sighed in relief, scurrying towards it while Waylon and I trailed behind.
Miles picked up the tiny machine, cradling it like he did to Ae-cha every night and check for any injuries.
"Screen is a little cracked, but the memory seems to be fine."
"Good," Waylon groaned. "Then let's hurry up and ge-."
The sound of wood cracking behind us cut Waylon off, and all three of us slowly turned around to investigate what caused the sound. Behind us were five Variants with weapons ranging from hacksaws to steel pipes, all making their way towards us.
"Time to go!" Miles bent down and threw Waylon and me over his shoulders before bolting back down the hallway.
I could hear the Variants chasing after us and just silently screamed, while Waylon actually did.
"Shit! Shit! Run faster, Miles!"
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'M DOING, PARK?! SKIPPING?!"
When Miles finally reached the locker room, the sounds of the Variants faded away, but he didn't slow down at all.
He hopped back onto the desk and tossed Waylon and I up onto the bathroom floor before following suit.
"Hey, batteries!" Waylon smiled, grabbing a pair of AA batteries from behind one of the toilets before we were scooped up once more.
Then Miles hurried out of the bathroom, through the pile room, and climbed back up the crates to the broken platform.
There, Miles finally put us down and I heaved a sigh of relief.
"Good job, Noble Steed." Waylon leaned over to pat Miles' head; Miles decked him in the abdomen before falling back and patting his chest.
"Don't…don't make me regret not leaving you, Picles." Miles panted, trying to catch his breath.
Waylon just laughed before looking at the entranceway behind us.
"So where does Father Martin want us to go now?"
I noticed a directory hanging on the wall and squinted to see what it said.
"It….says…Administration Block." Then everything became crystal clear and I felt like kicking myself for not noticing sooner. "Of course.."
"'Of course' what?" Miles asked, sitting back up.
"Father Martin is leading us to the chapel." I sighed and closed my eyes. "He must finally be ready to bring this wretched night to an end."
A/N: Since the last few chapters have been pretty long, this is one is pretty short since it is a transitional chapter between the previous and upcoming sections of the game/story.
Please look forward to the next chapter! :D