Crash—!
Glass exploded in all directions, the sharp shards spinning through the air as withered, mummified hands clawed their way through the broken windows. My thoughts shattering just as violently, spiraling into panic as I immediately looked down.
The silhouette that had been there only seconds ago was gone.
Vanished.
As the moonlight spilled through the gaps of the windows, casting multiple shadows through the chaos, a chill raked down my spine.
Had it moved? Was it closer now?
Or worse… was it watching?
A dreadful silence pressed in for a moment, heavy and… suffocating. I could almost feel something breathing just beyond the edge of the windows, looking for something.
Looking for…
Me.
But at the same time, it almost felt like it was looking aimlessly. As though it couldn’t quite pinpoint me.
A thought crossed my mind then.
‘…Wait, could it be that with all the noise, it can no longer see me?’
My brows rose up at the thought.
It made sense!
‘With all the noise that was happening around, it was probably hard for it to spot me, and hence it decided to directly send the bodies to attack anything that is in sight!’
Crash, crash—!
The joy was short-lived. Suddenly seeing more glass break, and even more hands emerge, my heart sank.
They were multiplying. Crawling in from every direction.
While one probably was solved, another one had arrived.
It was never-ending.
I quickly scanned my surroundings, hoping to see some sort of way out, but my heart quickly sank when I saw that the weird desiccated corpses were coming from all directions, leaving me with no room to escape.
‘What do I do?’
My breathing was already rough, and looking around, I felt a growing sense of unease form inside of my gut.
‘Come on, come on, come on….!’
I bit my lips until they bled, letting me think more clearly.
‘No, I need to calm down. I can’t panic just yet.’
My game development senses suddenly kicked in. Despite the overwhelming fear that I was feeling, I still managed to rationalize my situation. Eventually, my gaze fell in a certain direction.
The stairs!
‘I don’t hear any sound coming from upstairs, meaning that there’s no weird creature coming from there.’
The stairs were also narrow enough for me not to be surrounded by whatever those things were.
Crash—!
“…..!”
Seeing another window break, I didn’t hesitate to rush towards the stairs, eventually stopping and turning around as one of the figures moved towards me rapidly.
Without thinking much, I turned off the camera’s connection, and my expression changed upon seeing it charge me. I braced myself, teeth clenched and body tense, before driving the knife into its skull.
Puchi!
Steel met brittle bone with a sudden crack, the impact reverberating through my arm as the blade eventually drove deep into the creature’s skull. Before I could process the muffled sound of its collapse, I yanked the knife free and stumbled back, socks skidding over splintered floorboards.
Simulatanously, another one of the dessicated creatures lunged my way as I hurriedly raised the knife in the air and stabbed once more.
Puchi—!
The result was the same as before. They weren’t very hard to handle, but… There were numerous. My stomach churned after seeing just how many there were.
Thankfully, before things could get too bad, a figure appeared before me, its hands moving forward to form some sort of shield.
I stood still for a while, staring at the creatures trying to get past the Dreamwalker.
Eventually, lowering my head to stare at the knife, I gripped the handle tightly and brought it forward.
‘Quickly die before I have to puke!’
***
“Did you detect anything abnormal?”
“No…. morning yet.”
Raymond shook his head, looking towards the distance with narrowed eyes. His eyes, usually brown, were now a deep shade of red as his eyes briefly paused on the deserted road and the empty, rotten houses.
The air was stale, and the silence that answered felt tense.
Raymond licked his lips before speaking once more.
“I don’t notice a single thing. Everything looks and feels the same. There… is nothing near us.”
“And you’re sure of this?”
Raymond turned to Zoey before nodding his head.
“Yes, I’m fairly positive.”
He was quite confident in his ability to detect abnormalities in the surroundings. Though he was nowhere near the best, he was still good enough to be in the elite squad.
Not many things could escape his eyes as he looked towards the distance where the street stopped, in its place a large and thick forest.
His steps paused.
“I can sense that the inmate is over in that direction. If I had to make a guess, he probably ran away there after spitting something.”
As Raymond’s eyes glowed a deeper shade of red, he was able to confirm his thoughts as he saw a silhouette in the distance, walking around aimlessly.
“Let’s go. He’s not far from us. Let’s collect him and leave. This place leaves me the creeps.”
As Raymond murmured the words, he moved ahead with Kyle and the others following him from the side.
Rustle~
Entering the forest, several beams of light shone throughout, illuminating the path ahead as Raymond guided them towards the inmate.
Raymond moved in eerie silence at the front, every footstep muffled by moss and decay beneath him.
Then he froze, his eyes scanning the forest with deep apprehension. His brow creased into a tense frown as his gaze locked on something just beyond the next several trees.
“What’s wrong? Why did we stop?” As one of the other people in the squad asked, Raymond didn’t answer immediately as he kept his gaze firmly locked on the silhouette in the distance.
At first glance, it looked like one of the many trees that surrounded them.
However, unlike the others…
This tree seemed to be moving in their direction.
Something about it felt off to him now that he had gotten a closer look at it, and as the bushes ahead rustled, his expression quickly changed as he realised something.
That tree…
It was none other than the inmate.
He was different from how he had last remembered.
He was way taller than he was supposed to be. Not only that, but his back was hunched, and as the lights flashed in his direction, a pair of blank and soulless eyes met their vision as the inmate’s entire body was twisted in a way that made it look like some sort of tree.
“What sort of..”
Before the others could even have the time to process the situation, Kyle lowered his head to stare at a small bracelet, and his expression quickly changed.
Trrr—!
“Shit!”
The others all looked at him.
“What happened?”
“What’s going on? Why are you acting like this?”
Kyle didn’t answer as he looked at the bracelet in his hand. Eventually, lifting his head up, he looked at the others with alarm.
“My house has been breached! Several anomalies have been detected there!”
The faces of the others quickly changed as Kyle turned back and rushed towards the house, his heart pressing tightly against his chest.
‘Shit, shit, shit…! How is it possible? I made sure to detect everything beforehand. There shouldn’t have been anything. How did it suddenly pop up out of nowhere? This makes no sense at all!’
Kyle was extremely alarmed by the situation. However, he had to push his alarm down and quickly rush towards the place.
Seth was in danger!
As a regular human, he wouldn’t be able to put up a fight.
‘No, no, no… please be safe.’
Kyle felt a massive knot form in his stomach as he rushed ahead, until eventually spotting the house in the distance.
The others trailed right behind him, their steps just as fast as Kyle’s, but his face changed as he saw all the broken windows of the place.
“No!”
He shouted in panic, rushing forward.
Clank—!
Smashing the door open, he entered the place, desperately looking for Seth until…
His eyes locked onto the figure in the room’s center: bodies lay scattered at its feet, their bodies completely unresponsive. In its hand gleamed a cruel, razor-edged knife, dripping with its last victims’ blood.
Kyle froze on the spot, feeling a certain chill run down his body. The same was for the others.
And then—
The figure slowly turned their head, meeting their gaze to reveal an all too familiar figure.
“Oh.”
He said, his voice a little hoarse.
“… You’re here.”