Chapter 19

"Shhh, quiet" I whisper to everyone.

I can hear them slamming open the doors on the first floor.

"What do we do?" The boy next to me asks worriedly.

"You guys hide, for now, I'll think of something," I answer him.

If we stay here, barricaded, they'll find out since they're checking all the rooms. Maybe I should go out and try to stop them.

But how!?!?! Ugh, if only Alex was here.

"Ok, listen. I'm gonna go out now. Don't open the door. Stay hidden and grab any sharp object you can find. And shut the door behind me. When I want to come in, I'll knock 3 times. Got it?" I tell them. They all look at me and nod.

"But...they'll kill you," the boy with the buzzcut says anxiously.

All of a sudden, the sound of a gunshot is heard from the other building. It pierces the silence like a knife.

Oh no...I walk up to the window and look over at the building. Did someone get shot? I really hope they're all ok. I'm starting to get worried.

"Don't worry. I'm gonna be fine." I smile at them cheerfully as calm my nerves.

I go over to a broken wooden chair in the corner of the room and break off a leg from it. This may be the only thing I can use as a weapon.

Pushing aside the shelf, I open the door and walk out.

The hallway is dark with the faint moonlight shining from the window at the end of the hallway. I can still hear them searching down there. Gotta hurry before they come here.

The door is closed behind me and I turn towards where the staircase is. I have to try and ambush them. They have guns. No way I can fight them. The only thing I have is the element of surprise.

As I walk towards the emergency stairs, flashlight off for safety, I begin to feel like...I'm being watched.

"Alex...?" I lightly whisper. But no answer.

The floor beneath my feet creaks with every step. As I walk further looking ahead, I get this feeling that someone is standing there. Looking at me silently. Gulping hard, I turn on the flashlight and face it ahead.

My heart almost skipped a beat! I was right. There really WAS someone. Standing right next to the emergency exit.

It's a little girl, with long hair and pitch-black eyes. She's wearing a white dress with bloodstains on it. Clearly a ghost.

She just stands there staring at me. I've seen many ghosts like her. It's not out of the ordinary for me. But the problem is the TYPE of ghost she is.

There's a dark and ominous presence surrounding her that makes me hesitant to get near her. Even from this distance, I'm getting chills. I can feel my legs wanting to run away immediately.

She's a vengeful spirit. Stuck in this world due to her intense hatred and thirst for revenge. But it's surprising how young she is. Usually, kids don't experience that extreme level of negative emotions. She looks at me blankly. Not flinching or giving any kind of reaction even after I flashed a light at her.

She then moves her head towards the door.

"One of them is coming up here," she says in a soft voice.

Hold on...does she know I can see her? Well, I did flash my light at her. But more importantly, one of the men is coming now. I have to ambush him.

As I step closer to the door, the girl stays there and looks at my slightly shaking feet. The more I get closer to her, the more nervous I get as the intensity of her dark energy slowly increases. Just...try to ignore her.

"Why are you scared? Is it because I'm scary?" She asks.

I stay quiet and stand in front of the door. Placing my ear next to it, I can feel the footsteps coming up.

"Although, he said I was the prettiest," she says with a slight smile.

Who's he?

I stand beside the door and hold up my phone. Covering the flashlight with my thumb. Hope this works!

"He's here," the girl says and thankfully steps back a bit from the door.

The footsteps get closer and closer.

My heart beats fast with every sound. And my head starts to fill with doubts. Will I be able to pull this off? Am I gonna die?

The door slams open just as I expected. A pair of hands holding a gun stretches out. As fast as I can, I turn towards him and flash the light in his eyes.

The second he shuts his eyes, I lift up my foot and launch at his stomach, pushing him down the stairs. He screams as he tumbles down to the last step.

I was hoping he'll hit his head and go unconscious but unfortunately, that's not the case.

"You little shit!" He yells as he holds his head. It IS bleeding.

Suddenly, I notice his gun isn't in his hands. Hold on...where is it!?

"Here," the girl nudges me. She's holding the gun and offering it to me.

"T-Thanks," I say awkwardly. Turning my head towards the man on the stairs, whose trying to stand up, I flash the light over him.

"Don't you dare. Give the gun back" he says.

I point it towards him. Should I kill him?

Images of me stabbing Irma comes to my mind. Another person. Am I going to kill another person?

When I see him standing on his feet, I fire at him.

Two shots.

One I miss. The other pierces his right leg calf.

He groans and loses his balance. I point the gun at his other leg and shoot.

It hits his thigh. He falls down. Now he won't be able to move.

"HEY, MAN! WAS THAT YOU?" I hear the other guy coming.

"OVER HERE! KILL THESE BRATS!" This man yells.

I quickly enter the emergency stairs and run-up to the third floor. Need to get them away from the second floor. The heavy sound of my footsteps echoes throughout the space.

"Where are they!? What happened to you?" I hear the other guy ask the injured man.

"FORGET ABOUT ME! that girl went to the upper floor, go after her and kill her!" Is the last thing I hear as I enter the third floor and look around. Running towards the fourth room on the right, I enter and hide.

Taking deep breaths, I try to calm myself as I sit down.

"What are you going to do next?"

The voice of the little girl suddenly startles me. She's sitting right beside me now. Guess I was so anxious about what happened that I didn't notice her.

"Thanks for what you did back there. But why are you helping me?" I ask her curiously. I hear the footsteps coming up the stairs.

She looks at me with her black eyes then looks away.

"Because...you smell like him." She answers.

What is she talking about? Ugh!That Alex! Why isn't he here! Why does he mistrust Theo so much? I need more help here!

"Smell like who exactly?" I ask her. I feel like I made a mistake because the atmosphere suddenly feels cold.

"A monster. I wanted to kill you at first but then I realised you're the only ticket to get to him," she replies in a deep voice and looks at the wall.

I hear a room door in the hallway slam open.

He's here!

I get up and stand beside the door. I can't push him like I did before. I have to try hitting his head with this wooden chair leg I brought with me and most importantly, take the gun away from him.

All of a sudden, I faintly hear a series of gunshots being fired. It must be from the other building. What the hell is going on there!?

The next-door slams open and the man goes inside to look for me.

"Why not just kill him?" The girl asks me curiously.

"No...I just need to incapacitate him." I whisper to her. True it would be considered self-defence but no. It reminds me of my past. I don't want more blood on my hands. I raise the chair leg up with both hands, ready to strike.

"That would have been easy." She yawns and looks at the door.

"He's here"

The door opens and I stick to the wall while holding my breath. Again, a pair of hands holding the gun peeks inside along with a flash of light from the torch.

With all my might, I hit his arms with such a force the makes him yelp and drop the gun. I quickly slide the gun away with my foot but as I'm about to hit his head, he hits me first.

He punches my face so hard, I lose balance and fall down. An excruciating pain circulates in my face. My left cheek stings and my eye feels swollen. Looking up at him, I didn't realise he was tall.

The kid silently sits on top of a table in the room and watches.

"You've caused enough trouble." He says...oh no...I remember this voice now.

It's Martin's! That tall strong man! Just my luck...

"I feel so stupid, you know. You tricked us so easily." He says as he gets near me. His gun is few steps away from me. Reaching for it won't work. My own gun is tucked behind my jacket right now. Shooting him is the only way I can win against him.

"First things first," he says and grabs my foot, dragging me towards him. Lifting it up, he looks down at me.

"Where are the kids and how many of you are there?" He asks as he begins to twist my foot.

I try to resist the slowly increasing pain in my ankle. I need to quickly take out my gun and shoot this bastard. But how! He'll see me!

"I asked you something." He says and twists it more causing me to scream.

He suddenly stops. His eyes widen in surprise and he smirks at me.

"Oh, so you're a girl! Man, you really lucked out back there being among us. But hey, your lucks run out now." He says and graces my feet with his fingers.

Wasting no time in taking out the gun, I randomly shoot at him. It hits his shoulder and he lets go of my foot.

Quickly getting to my feet, I fire some more shots at him. One hits his hand and the other, his thigh while the rest 3 I miss. He screams and falls to his knees.

"He seems like a monster too," The little girl says getting off the table.

I hesitate for a second as I look at him on his knees trying to stop the bleeding.

The girl simply walks up to him. It's then that I notice the dark energy taking the form of black smoke. Soon the room is filled with black smoke swirling around the man.

"What's going on!?" He yells, clearly frightened.

I step back as all the smoke enters inside him through his nose and ears. In a few seconds, the room is back to normal as before but Martin's eyes are closed. The girl is also nowhere to be seen.

He opens them but his eye colour is changed to blood red. Getting up, he walks over to where his gun was laying. He calmly picks it up and points the barrel to his temple. With one press, his head is blasted. The wall next to him is smeared with blood, bits of brain and hair. There's blood everywhere. As he falls down, the black smoke emits out of his nose and ears. It keeps coming out until it takes the complete form of the kid.

"All done," she says with a smile that sends chills down my spine and leaves the room. This is the first time I'm witnessing something so gruesome. I didn't realise I was shaking with terror this whole time. Body possession was something I've never seen in real life.

I touch the bruised side of my face and wince as it stings. My foot hurts too. This isn't good.