Chapter 14: Danger in Walleye Warehouse

"There's violence echoing."


Callie and Marie reach the building within minutes, both panting heavily. They took some time to catch their breath before looking for a way inside.

The building's external lights were on, giving the girls a clear view of a side entrance that had an 'employees only' sign labeled on the front. They might've not been employees, but they needed help from some. Luckily for them, the door wasn't locked for whatever reason. Marie wouldn't question it, quickly ushering Callie inside.

Once inside, Marie believed they were safe, so she began calling out for help. "Someone! Help! Please!" She yelled, startling Callie for a split second. Her voice echoed throughout the building, which resembled the insides of a warehouse.

Marie recognized the place as Walleye Warehouse, a particularly new building Inkopolis had constructed. She only knew that because it had been advertised on TV an obnoxious amount of times.

For something that's supposed to be brand-spanking new, it sure felt empty. "Hello?! Anyone there?!" she yelled again, receiving only silence. Where is everyone? Marie thought, thinking there should at least be one person somewhere. Does nobody in the big city work nights?

"M-Marie." Callie hugged her arm, trembling slightly. Marie wasn't sure if her tremors were due to the cold or because she was scared. Most likely both. Regardless, she reassured her cousin with a soft pat on the head.

"It's fine," Marie said confidently, though deep down, she was anything but.

Callie and Marie ventured further into Walleye Warehouse, looking everywhere for a person. But as they got deeper into the warehouse, they both realized how quiet everything was.

There was no wind, no ambiance from the light panels, and no distant chatter. Had the place not been in pristine condition, Marie would've thought the warehouse was abandoned a long time ago.

It made no sense. People should've been here. So where was everyone?

As Marie pondered why the warehouse was so empty, she absentmindedly looked up. Suspended in the air was a large black and white rectangular shipping container—the kind you'd see at docks. Holding it in place was an even larger crane.

Neither the crane nor the container were out of the ordinary, but the thing on top of the container was. When Marie realized what, or rather, who, it was, she grabbed Callie and bolted backward.

"M-Marie? What's wrong?" her surprised cousin inquired, only to get an answer seconds later when something heavy landed in front of them. The force from its impact sent the two tumbling back.

When they got up, they were met with Sake's immense figure. The ceiling lights could not reach the front side of his body, shrouding most of it, his face especially, in darkness.

"Nowhere left to run." He declared, gazing at them with eyes full of anger and hostility.

Callie shrieked. Marie responded by grabbing her wrist and making a run for it through the warehouse.

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!" Sake roared, immediately lunging after them.

The cousins made a sharp turn into another aisle, managing to keep their balance and not lose momentum. Sake attempted the same sharp turn, only to slam violently into a rack chock full of crates. A few of those crates tumbled onto Sake, further slowing him down.

Marie looked over her shoulder to see his fumble only delayed him for a minute as he effortlessly tossed all those heavy crates off of him. He began charging at them on all fours once more, rapidly closing the distance.

Thinking quickly, Marie darted to the side, pulling Callie along through the racks. Both of them were small and nimble enough to squeeze through the crates. Unfortunately, Callie ended up hitting her head against one of them due to Marie moving too fast. The former wept in pain while the latter profusely apologized, but neither stopped moving.

Sake wasn't as flexible or small as the cousins, so naturally, he couldn't squeeze through the crates. Instead, he pushed against the crates to move them out of his way, which took significantly longer. Despite that, the gap the cousins created was quickly reduced as Sake simply closed the distance...again.

Speaking of again, the cousins darted to the side, slipping past Sake's grasp through the racks once more. This time, Sake didn't take nearly half as long as he did the first time to push the crates out of his way. Perhaps that was because the audacity of them doing the same trick angered him greatly. So much so, he practically destroyed the crates when coming onto the same aisle as them.

This resulted in a bunch of items, ranging from weapons to clothes, scattering across the floor. Instead of simply pursuing them again, Sake grabbed the hardest and heaviest objects he could find before chucking them at the cousins.

Callie and Marie narrowly avoided a few of them. Each object they dodged hit the concrete floor with a heavy clang. Some even left an indent in the ground.

Tragedy struck when Sake got a lucky hit on Callie. A heavy splatling nailed her right behind the left knee, eliciting a horrifying, painful scream from the child. She fell, and the heavy splatling kept her from getting up. Upon seeing this, Sake continued his pursuit.

"CALLIE!" Marie shrieked, kneeling to her cousin, who was now sobbing in excruciating pain.

Inklings had no bones to speak of whatsoever. However, with the way the heavy splatling landed on Callie, you would've thought something of hers was broken. Part of her leg had bent to an unnatural angle and was horribly discolored. To say the sight was not pretty would be an understatement, as Marie struggled not to vomit.

She drew her attention away from the leg and focused on moving the heavy splatling off of Callie, but the weapon was too heavy. Each failed attempt only allowed Sake to get closer and closer.

Eventually, Marie gave up and decided if Sake wanted to hurt her cousin, he would at least have to go through her... which he would no doubt do effortlessly.

With that thought, she threw herself over Callie, then closed her eyes and waited for a world of pain.

Right before Sake made contact, the sound of a charger went off, followed by gagging noises from Sake.

Confused and in shock, Marie looked up to see Sake taking multiple steps back while gagging. As he gagged, he spat up a yellowish liquid. She watched it drip from his black lips as he coughed out an excess amount of it.

She had no clue where the liquid came from. That was until she heard a very familiar voice come from behind. "Not another step, bucko."