228 Fear

I looked down the dark, gloomy hallway. The light bulbs in our proximity still swayed about like a pendulum on a string from the impact that earlier collapse had inflicted, causing the small circle of light that it sprayed onto the old, wooden floor to also sway in accordance to the frequency of the pendulum. I looked over my shoulders to check on Muria, and although she still appeared somewhat shocked by what had happened and by her separation from Mura, she seemed to be slowly recovering to her usual self. That is to be expected because there is no way that she would be defeated by something like that.

We proceeded on in caution, but we moved at a faster pace than before now that it was only the two of us, meaning that it will be easier to keep quiet. However, it was also scarier than before. In addition, we do not have Loyd's flashlight, meaning that our path was mainly in darkness with the occasional dim illumination provided by the old light bulbs overhead. When that is combined with the fact that dust floated about in the air, our vision was even more obscured.

Our situation right now, although is more complicated than before, it is still simple. We have to make our way all the way around the building to the stairway. However, there is just the possibility that we will come into contact with that man... He did go in the direction that we were headed in, so if he did not make his way up the stairs or retreat to any of the rooms, there is a great chance that we would run into him on our way or would be ambushed from behind. The difficulty of this has just been raised many levels.

The walk was rather eerie in nature, almost as if we were walking in place with how long the hallway was. However, familiar scenes confirmed with me that we were still making progress. We saw the office room where we found that disturbing journal and later on, we found the kitchen that we rested in first.

"Behind those metal doors," Muria commented as we walked past the kitchen.

"Human corpses," I responded in a silent voice. "All cut up and butchered corpses. Still not rotten, so maybe it's the missing hikers."

Upon revealing to Muria what was behind that metal door, I frowned as I thought about our situation even more. If we were caught by that man and is unable to overcome him, we'll end up like those hikers, butchered and consumed as food. Just the thought of a butcher's knife cutting open my stomach and gutting me made my stomach uncomfortable. However, what little food we were able to consume from earlier must stay down.

I do not know if we were lucky, but we were able to make it to the entrance of the building without ever encountering that hideous monster of a man. Even though I should be relieved, I cannot bring myself to relax. The feeling of anxiety just overpowered any seeds of relief, murdering them in the cradle. Because of that, each second that passed by that we did not encounter that man increased the strain on my mind like a slow and gruesome mental torture. It was so agonizing for my soul and it has its burden on my body as my heart continued to palpitate without stopping. This drained away at my stamina, causing me to fatigue quicker than before. Looking over at Muria, I believe she was in the same condition.

When we finally heard footsteps, I was unable to feel any relief as well. Immediately, my body tensed up even more from caution as I held my breath and listened to determine from what direction that beast is coming from. However, my rapidly beating heart proved to be a huge obstacle in this task, making external noises almost inaudible to me as the pumping sound echoed in my head at an annoying frequency. The inability to quickly locate the source of the footstep combined with the gradual increase in its loudness made caused my mind to endure even more stress. He is slowly approaching us, so we must do something about it.

"In here," Muria broke the silence and tugged on my arm, directing me towards a door that she had just opened.

As I was being dragged into the room, I saw something obscure the light in one of the light circles at the depths of the dark hallway. That something was the man. That large and deformed figure...it could only be him as he patrolled the hallway to catch us. Hopefully, he didn't see us enter this room.

The first thing I did after closing the door softly was press my ear against the door to listen in on the footsteps. Next to me, Muria had a perplexed and worried expression on her face as she frowned. I must be frowning as well as when I realized, my facial muscles were all rather tense and somewhat sore from that as well. The footsteps outside became louder and louder as expected, and soon, it became quieter and quieter as the man had walked past the door. He must not have noticed us, but just to be safe, I continued to hold my breath and listened for a few minutes more.

"I think he's gone," I let out a sigh of relief and backed up from the door.

Upon realizing that Muria and I was safe for the time being, I felt my leg muscles give away as I dropped down to the floor. My body must have yearned for this moment of relaxation desperately as I was only able to barely force myself off of the ground after resting for a minute.

"We should rest up a bit before continuing," Muria sighed.

"Yeah," I nodded.

Just being able to allow our bodies to relax and be deprived of the fear that at any second we could be attacked was the greatest gift that I had given it. Being able to lower my guard was a bliss, something that I had taken for granted before.

"..."

From the corner of my eye, I saw that on Muria's face was a severely disturbed expression and her body was trembling, not from the temperature, but from fear. Her eyes were wide and appeared to be horrified to the brink of tears as she kept her eyes fixed on something. Immediately, I turned my head so that I was looking at what she was looking at. I did not know what it was that caused her to be in such a state of fright, but when I trained my eyes on that object, for some odd reason, I also felt discomfort.

A large portrait of a man dressed in Jorzan military uniform was framed on the wall. Nearby, lights were trained and shined on that painting, illuminating the portrait so that it was visible in its entirely. The man in the portrait appeared to be obviously a high ranking official in the Jorzan military based on the style of uniform he wore, and on his face, there was a long scar that went from his left forehead down his left eye and ending at his left cheek.

Upon seeing this portrait, I also felt discomfort. It was a sense of discomfort that was way worse than the feeling of being hunted. It made my body to tremble somewhat as well, making my chest feel heavy. I began gasping for air as I grasped my chest, hoping to calm myself, but it was to no avail. For some reason, this man seemed oddly familiar to me, and in my mind, there existed a deep hatred for him.

Suddenly, I felt a pain shoot through my head, a pain that is as if a bullet had just passed through my brain. Suddenly, there were visions the flashed by in my mind. These visions...it was almost as if it was a video that is under rapid rewind. Scenes just started flashing by without any context, leaving me baffled by the meaning of them, but finally, the rewind stopped and it was as if those visions are finally being played in my mind.

The surrounding buildings seemed to be built with the architectural style found seventy years ago. A hand is reaching out in the direction of a group of Jorzan soldiers, one of which was the man in the portrait who was unbuckling his belt while other soldiers were holding down someone, a woman.

Are they...raping her? I asked myself. And...who's perspective am I seeing this from?

That vision quickly flashed by, leaving me confused as to what had happened. I trembled as I stood there in place, feeling a desperate sensation of cold and despair.

Why?...Why am I feeling this?

Suddenly, I felt a warmth press against me. Looking down, I saw that Muria had pressed her body tightly against mine as her hands gripped onto the front of my hoodie. There were tears in her eyes that reflected some of the light in the room, and her body was still trembling greatly.

Subconsciously and out of my control, I found that I slowly brought my arms around her.