Hide and Seek

Samara immediately stopped herself from uttering such words as she silently gazed at what she saw with her jet-black irises. She couldn't believe what she saw with her own two eyes. It was exceedingly unbelievable, and it was a shocking scene to see such a monstrous abomination within the school building.

The monster was something that shouldn't exist, but unfortunately, at the moment, it does.

The only thing Samara could do was accept what was before her as something genuine and dangerous. It wasn't something created by her maddening mind. It resided in the real world. And it was nothing more but a predator to those that survived heaven's fall.

With this in mind, Samara furrowed her eyebrows as she stopped peaking through the hallway. She took a deep breath as her muscles tensed up. She shivered as a result, and chills kept resonating within her spine.

Samara found herself fearful of this abomination, and she wondered what would happen to her if the contact was made. Would she die before she could even meet her family? Would she be left alone in the school, with her corpse decaying like the others?

Such was the depressing questions within Samara's mind.

Anyhow, there was one thing Samara was sure of. She wouldn't die without doing a single thing to guarantee her life. Upon this thought, Samara began surveying the nurse's office for a hiding place. There were a lot of them, but she needed something... A plan that would help her survive.

"I must survive..."

Meanwhile, the monster slowly turned its head towards the entrance of the nurse's office as it smelled something of it. It quietly growled and crawled towards the office through the ceiling. *GRRR!!!* Its growl became louder along with time as the scent it smelled became clearer.

No one knew what kind of monster it was, and it was new, something that was outside of this world. The origins of such an abomination were unknown, and its capabilities remained hidden until documented.

Dealing with a dangerous and undefined beast, something that resembles a human would be nothing more than suicide.

A few seconds later, a skinny pale white hand emerged from the entrance of the nurse's office. The fingers on it were thin, long, and extremely sharp. The spoken hands were murky and bony in structure. A bit more time later, the humanoid monster emerged in its complete entirety.

It was sticking on the ceiling while sniffing for its newly found prey. With its complete revelation, it became a lot scarier than before. The features of its body became crystal clear, and those who had seen it would have felt shivers within their spines.

The monstrous abomination looked somewhat humanoid. But it was wholly different from a normal human being. Other than its strange fingers and arms, it was long and skinny. It had its sharp spine protruding from its back. And the monster was hairless. Though, it did have a few strands of hair left on its head.

The abomination's eyes resembled that of a fish. While its mouth was expansive and circular, where dozens of dagger-sharp teeth resided. For the most part, it looked violent and scary.

After it entered the nurse's office, the monster began investigating every nook and cranny of the office. It sniffed for its prey while walking through the ceiling, making scary dark shadows on the floor. Its growl quietly echoed as each of its steps sounded with complete clarity.

It then stopped as it realized something important. Surveying the nurse's office while crawling in the ivory ceiling didn't seem to work, so the monster hopped out of it and landed on the floor.

Its landing made a thud resonate throughout the nurse's office and the hallway beyond it. The monster began going through every bottom of each bed where someone could possibly hide and reached the end of the intact part of the nurse's office. It saw the crushed corpse and ignored it, seemingly wanting to find its prey.

The monster had investigated the entirety of the nurse's office. It turned its head towards the bathroom, which had its ceiling lights opened. It was the only place that remained with the scent of its prey. With this in mind, the monster walked toward the bathroom and entered it.

Fortunately, it didn't notice Samara, who hid in the closet beside the wooden cabinet. As the wooden cabinet stood beside the closet, it was hard to see it with the eyes. And partnered with Samara's quick thinking, she painstakingly managed to disperse her odor through the sanitizer and alcohol in the first-aid kit.

She didn't know if it had worked or not, but she appeared to have avoided death.

Samara sighed as she felt her heart beating wildly. She was afraid and didn't want to leave the closet, wanting to hide in this place forever to avoid the dangers of the things from the outside. But of course, she knew that hiding wouldn't be able to solve anything.

And sooner or later, the hiding place wouldn't be able to protect her.

'What do I do?' Samara thoughtfully questioned herself as she needed to leave this place. She was somewhat fearful of what could happen to her if she dared exit the closet. Yet, she was also afraid of what would happen if she got cornered in the closet.

The uncaring and emotionless Samara wasn't a robot who couldn't feel fear. She always felt the emotions of sadness, happiness, disdain, anger, and fright. Samara was simply good at hiding it during the sum of her life.

Anyhow, Samara wanted to find a way to survive the abomination. She didn't have any information on where it came from. But from how it looked, it was clearly a dangerous creature. If Samara wasn't careful enough, she might get eaten alive with her blood splattered throughout the walls and floor of the office.

That conclusion was something Samara would rather avoid.

'Should I continue hiding in the closet and wait for it to leave? Or should I escape the nurse's office and run away? Maybe I should fight it and kill it with a surprise attack.' Samara had numerous ideas going through her head, though the pros and cons followed such thoughts.

Continued hiding within the closet would give Samara a good chance of survival from the monster. Unfortunately, though, she would die the moment the abomination corners her. There was no escape route other than a single door, making Samara trapped in the office along with a damn creature.

The other idea was to escape the nurse's office and run away from it. At first, it would be a good idea as the monster was currently searching through the bathroom. But Samara didn't know the capabilities of such an abomination. It might be faster and more agile than her, resulting in a playful tag between the two.

The final one was standing her ground and fighting against the monster. Upon reaching this idea, Samara shook her head at how stupid it was. It doesn't give her any pros other than killing the creature. Some might think killing it would be a good idea, but Samara doesn't live in a game world.

If she fought against the monster, even if she won against it by some miracle, she would be heavily injured afterward. She might even die because of excessive bleeding. She doesn't heal after killing the monster. And she learned how wounds work the hard way.

Long ago, Samara got hit by an incident in their gun store. It was the first time she found herself under a severe condition.

For some reason, some bastards thought that robbing a gun store was a good idea. Such idiocy brought more things into the equation, and as a result, Samara got accidentally shot in the stomach. The wound was awfully gut-wrenching for her. Only the painkiller could help elevate some of the pain.

After that unfortunate accident, Samara got banned from the gun store, so she stopped doing the chores at the gun store and got forced to take a rest.

How someone who was typically behind the counter got shot was always a question for many, even Samara herself couldn't believe it. It was as if the bullet followed her and hit her stomach, making her slightly think she was cursed when she was a child.

Of course, it was nothing but a useless thought brought upon by excessive paranoia.

The wound also brought upon an unwanted short trauma of gunshots. So instead of being pissed by getting banned from their business. Samara took it as a tiny and coincident blessing.

In any case, that was a couple of years ago before the current year. The wound had completely healed, but it took a long time and a lot of effort. Samara understood the seriousness of a severe injury, and at the time of a disaster, it was no time to play along with foolishness and idiocy.

"The one that gives me a good chance is the escape plan. At least I won't be cornered in a hopeless situation. I only need to rely on my speed and stamina, which doesn't rely on luck and fate." Samara quietly uttered as she had concluded the things she planned to do.

The first plan of staying in the closet relied on luck and fate, which Samara would rather avoid. The third one relied on killing the monster and expecting to go through it unscathed. It was nothing more but a stupid plan, especially with Samara's weak strength.

With the conclusion within her mind, Samara took a deep breath, wanting to calm her heart and mind to prepare for the escape. She was scared, and the adrenaline was going through her body. There was one thing Samara needed to do, survive and meet her family.

The monstrous abomination then exited the bathroom after investigating it. It still doesn't seem to be planning on giving up. It sniffed as its fish-like eyes turned towards the direction of the collapsed part of the nurse's office.

It then ran towards the edge and hopped without a single ounce of hesitation, thinking that the one it was trying to find must have been hiding within the rubble.

A second later, the closet opened as Samara emerged from it. She surveyed the surroundings and immediately ran towards the dusty bed. She placed the sanitizer and alcohol back where they belonged and brought the first-aid kit along with her as she might need it.

'I have a few seconds before being noticed.' Samara worriedly thought to herself as she hastily exited the nurse's office and headed back to the school gymnasium's direction. There was no place better than a location where most people gathered.

At the very least, Samara wouldn't have to do tasks alone in this disastrous situation.

In the long hallway of the school building, Samara ran with all her power and might to give herself a better distance away from the monstrous abomination. Cold sweat dripped from her forehead as her heart wildly beat in the process of her escape.

'Run, run, run...' Such a thought kept repeating and echoed within Samara's heart and mind. It was the only thing that occupied Samara's attention. And it was somewhat understandable.

After all, a few seconds later, while running away from the nurse's office, a burst of sound escaped from it. *GRAEEHHH!!!* It was a distorted roar that rumbled everything. The sound of destruction then crackled from the nurse's office as the monster destroyed everything on its path.

Samara felt a chill within her spine after hearing the distorted roar.

And unfortunately, the shocking circumstances kept getting worse.

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[Survival without Power]

●[Personal Quest(Hard)]

●[User Samara Grimes must survive the chase of multiple creeps and escape from their clutches alive. To succeed on the mission, one must be alive the moment the clock hits an hour after the beginning of the chase. Good luck!]

➤[Quest Reward: Random Skill, Random Equipment.]

―<●>―

A digital notification display emerged before Samara.